"W-we made it!"

Exclaimed an out-of-breath man, clutching his chest and clearly exhausted. He was not alone; his friend was curled up on the side, clutching onto something entirely different. His gaze fell on that item, a small monster cage used for transporting milder species. Inside was a small white ant, twitching around.

“You still took that thing with you? There is something wrong with you…”

Eugene sighed. During their escape, he had abandoned the cage, prioritizing his own life. Alanna, on the other hand, insisted on bringing the monster with them. Now, they were certain that this ant was not born in the dungeon. A monster could not leave the dungeon it was created in, and even the strange armor that had chased them could not break this rule.

Alanna, despite the exhaustion etched on her face, cradled the small cage gently. The Gleaming Ant inside twitched, its silvery-white body reflecting the moonlight. Eugene shook his head in disbelief and looked around to make sure that they were truly safe. Four adventurers were with them but some guards had also spotted them and began to approach.

“We can’t rest yet. We need to get to the guild and report what happened,”

Said one of the adventurers, his voice steady despite the fatigue he was feeling. The group knew that the armor inside the dungeon was dangerous, it needed to be subjugated. With the darkness skill around its body, it could not be killed by low-level adventurers like them.

“What’s going on here?”

“Glad that you asked.”

One of the guards sprinted over to the adventurers to ask about the problem. However, before they could answer a high pitch screech erupted around them. Everyone found themselves covering their ears. Alanna took the brunt of this audible attack as the source was the cage with the Gleaming Ant inside. The small creature was giving out a spine chilling sound as it had awoken inside of a cage it didn’t want to be in.

“Calm down, no one is going to hurt you.”

Alanna shouted while quickly pressing one of the magical symbols on the cage. In a flash, the piercing sound was gone and even though the ant continued, no one was affected by the skill it was using. The group of people turned to her with puzzled looks. The girls responded by laughing nervously.

“Everything is under control now!”

She assured them while the ant continued to rattle inside the cage. It was clear that the creature didn’t want to be there, but it also couldn’t escape. The strange magical symbols around it seemed to be draining its stamina, and it was already injured. Soon enough, the monster tired itself out and slumped forward, its insectoid eyes glancing at the entrance to the dungeon from which it had been forcibly taken, as if longing to return.

*****

“I can’t…”

Within the same dungeon a lone living armor stood, slamming his fists at a strange invisible wall that it could not cross. He had chased down the humanoid beings that abducted his friend but was forced to stop, right before he could cross the threshold of the dungeon's entrance. Rusty, as the armor had come to be known, pounded against the unseen barrier with a sense of desperation. His friend was right there but there was no way of progressing any further.

“What can I do? I need to think…”

Rusty retreated a few steps, trying to get a grip on the strange emotions he was feeling. He wasn’t sure what to do; his friend was now gone, snatched away right before his eyes, and he had been powerless to stop it. During the chase, he had constantly used up the mana crystals he had taken from his previous lair, and only one remained. The swirling darkness around him could only function with the aid of magic doping, a state that would not be sustainable in the future.

While thinking, he recalled a scene from the past. He had shot an arrow at adventurers on the second floor and missed. Once they were gone, he thought nothing of it, but they called for help from stronger people. It was now quite probable that after making such a huge scene, people would be after him. Staying in this location was dangerous, so he needed to retreat first and then think of a new plan. His aim was to save Gleam, but to do that, he needed to survive first.

“Don’t worry… I’ll find you Gleam…”

He glanced at the dungeon stairs that he couldn’t approach, then finally turned around. The swirl of darkness emanating from his body subsided as he decided to conserve the rest of his mana. Soon he was making his way back into the dungeon that had become quite chaotic. A lot of monsters had followed after him and the adventurers he was chasing and now they had caught up.

It had been a while, but Rusty had been created on this level. Navigating them was rather easy, and even though the monsters here were now aggressive towards him, they didn’t pose much of a threat. A few skeletons charged at him, but even after their blades connected with his body, they didn’t cause any damage. His durability exceeded the attacking power of these low-level F-rank monsters and wouldn’t even cause him to lose a single hit point.

You have gained +1 experience points.

“They are really weak… weaker than those insectoids…”

With just a single hit, the skeleton was defeated, and its friends followed suit. Rusty could see how much he had grown, as dispatching the other living armors could be done with a few shoves and strikes to their body parts. Normally, he would be feeling ecstatic, but without Gleam around, it didn’t feel the same. The other adventurers were luckily also busy with these monsters, which allowed him to head back down to his previous hiding spot on the first level.

“I hope they will have an answer…”

Rusty found himself at a loss for what to do. The situation had taken a turn he hadn’t predicted, but all hope was not lost. While Gleam was not here, there were two other beings he could turn to for help. The Hero and the Demon Lord had experienced this world for longer than he had, and perhaps they could show him the way forward. Thus, after making sure that he was alone, he activated the skill that would call both the guides here at once. While he knew that this would cause his mana to run dry fast, he was desperate.

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“Well well, if it isn’t Rusty, that was quite the spectacle, are you perhaps trying to become the next demon king?”

First appeared Aburdon, the fallen Demon King, in the form of a black orb of light. He seemed rather amused by the predicament Rusty had found himself in and couldn't stop himself from silently laughing. Next, the orb of white light appeared, representing the betrayed hero Alexander, who showed a bit more concern about Rusty’s situation.

“It’s not easy to lose a friend, you could at least try to show some empathy.”

“Empathy? Friend? Hah, none of those are needed to become a king of demons!”

Just like many times before, the two started arguing with each other about things of the past. If Rusty were a being of flesh, he would be sighing now. However, this was not the time to listen to these two bickering around. He needed knowledge about how to proceed, and he needed it now.

“Enough, stop! I didn’t summon you here for your squabbling. I need your help,”

“Oh, how forceful? Did you really care about that little ant that much? You can just make another bonding contract later, what’s the big deal? How about you worry about yourself instead.”

The black orb replied and tried to shift the conversation in a different direction - survival. It was clear to everyone there that once things settled down, another party of adventurers would come to flush him out, just like before. And this time, they would likely do more than just toss him down a chasm.

“I am but… I have to save Gleam first, but I don’t know how to do that…”

His metal head dropped as if he was at the end of his wits. He had thought that he had evolved enough to leave the dungeon by now as the voice wasn't affecting his body anymore, and even the other monsters saw him as an outsider. However, for some reason, he was still unable to leave.

“Well, there are a few ways of getting out of the dungeon. You did leave it already once, right?”

The hero brought up this point, and Rusty realized that he was right. After falling into the chasm, he miraculously left the dungeon and the voice behind. That approach had many problems, though, as he would be attacked by shadowy spiders, and there was no way of knowing if any of those caves and tunnels led outside of the dungeon.

“Good point Hero, we just need to build a ballista and fire Rusty out of the dungeon.”

Aburdon continued cackling while trying to make a joke but it seemed that the Hero had put some thought into this plan. If they accounted for Rusty’s restorative powers, it was plausible to perform an escape like this.

“Why a ballista? If he could throw his helmet far enough, couldn’t he just restore himself on the other side?”

“I’m not sure if that will work and even if it did, then what? Once he steps out the dungeon, he’ll be as good as dead.”

“That’s… probably true…”

There was one exit to the dungeon, and both of them knew that it was heavily guarded, with many adventurers moving between it. Even if Rusty managed to get outside, he would likely be swarmed by enemies from all directions. He could slip away, but it was quite a risky plan, not something that either of his consultants could propose.

“Then what can I do? Are there other exits?”

“Probably not.”

“But there has to be a way to get out…”

“Hm… there might be, but you’ll probably be just wasting your time. Even if you find a new exit or tunnel yourself outside, you’ll still be unable to leave.”

The demon lord cackled again as if he were having fun teasing the desperate piece of armor. Even if Rusty discovered a different exit, he would still be locked inside the dungeon.

“However, I didn’t say there isn’t a way out of here.”

“Then stop wasting time and tell me!”

“So impatient~”

Rusty found himself shouting at the darkened ball of light and the power he held over the former demonic king was activated. Aburdon felt himself compelled to give a proper answer to the question and quickly answered.

“Then listen to Rusty. You are a monster born of the dungeon, a creature summoned by the Dungeon Heart. If we consider this, then there are a few possibilities.First, if you destroye the demon heart… you will be free!”

“Destroy the Dungeon Heart?...”

Rusty knew by this point that the voice inside of his head was this supposed dungeon heart. It controlled all of the monsters inside of the dungeon and was in a sense the dungeon he was in.

“Are you mad? Do you know what happens if you destroy a dungeon heart?”

“The dungeon will collapse but he will have some time to leave, that is, if he doesn’t crumble with the other dungeon monsters.”

“Don’t listen to him, Rusty. The monsters that were summoned by the dungeon heart will all disappear if it gets destroyed.”

There was a big problem with this tactic, and both Aburdon and Alexander knew it. While Rusty was a special monster and there was a possibility that he could survive, there was a significant chance that he wouldn’t. This was already evidenced by his inability to leave through the front exit. It was clear that he was still considered a monster born of the dungeon, and the heart didn’t wish for him to leave.

“Are you tired of living demon king?”

“Not really, I was just answering the question, that was just one of the paths Rusty can take. Considering his special deposition, he might be able to survive but… can you stop interrupting and let me finish?”

Rust nodded to indicate that he could continue with his proposition as perhaps one of them would end up saving Gleam.

“I would also discourage you from destroying the demon heart. The whole place would probably collapse before you could find the exit.”

“Then what should I do? Reason with it, with that loud voice?”

“Funny you mentioned that, Rusty, because that's similar to what I was thinking.”

“What are you saying? How can he talk to a dungeon heart?”

“You humans are really something. You use these dungeons to get stronger, but you don’t even know what they truly are.”

The hero was confused by the cryptic proposition, but there was apparently more to the dungeon than he expected. Alexander, like the other adventurers, had used the dungeon to get stronger and richer. Never once did he think about what these dungeons were; to everyone, they were more like natural resources than intelligent beings.

“The dungeon hearts aren’t quite intelligent beings but they act like them and this we can use to our advantage. If my speculations are correct, then if our little Rusty could present himself as a big enough threat to the dungeon heart, it would sever the connection by itself.”

Soon, Aburdon laid out his entire plan, and Rusty started listening to the theory. It was rather simple: the dungeon heart apparently had a connection with each monster inside the dungeon. Through this connection, the dungeon monsters acted as a sort of antibodies, protecting the body that was the dungeon. Everything was connected and in a sort of balance. However, once Rusty appeared, it affected this balance, and the dungeon heart saw him as an anomaly.

While the dungeon saw Rusty as an anomaly that needed to be purged, it still maintained its connection to him. It didn’t want to destroy him but rather have him die once and restore him to the being that had been summoned. In this way, it would get rid of the anomaly without losing the resources it used to create him.

“But how will I cut this connection with the dungeon?”

“I see a few ways. One possibility is to simply get stronger. Perhaps once you evolve, the connection will be severed. Other than that, you could create some chaos. Kill as many monsters as you can, and if that fails, perhaps injuring the dungeon heart could work. Once it sees you as a true threat, it will probably cut the connection. Remember, the dungeon heart is a living being, and every living being feels fear…”

Rusty processed Aburdon's words, feeling some apprehension about the deed. Destroying the dungeon heart sounded incredibly risky, but if causing enough chaos or getting stronger was something he could manage.

"Do you really think this could work?"

“It sounds plausible and the skill compels him to speak the truth…”

“Hey you two, I can hear you!”

Rusty asked Aleksander for confirmation before trusting the words of the demon king. It seemed that a plan was forming. To save Gleam he need to cause enough damage to the dungeon for it to see him as a real threat and for this to happen, he would need to delve deeper down and face stronger foes…