Whether Ruby would confirm or deny Miki’s speculation, an answer never came. That’s because the door burst open a few moments later, and a scout from the adventuring guild popped his head in.

“The Osterians identified a group of several hundred animalkin approaching Chalm!” He declared.

“Another attack?” the guild master cursed.

“Deek, you should resolve this immediately!” Ruby declared, and when we all looked at her, she blushed. “What? It’s important!”

Well, she wasn’t wrong. Did the animalkin decide to invade? A group of several hundred, were they underestimating us? In all honesty, if those few hundred were all knights or something of equal ability and power, there was a time not too long ago where it would have been enough to wipe out Chalm. My army could only grow so fast, and besides the Osterians, they were only a few hundred strong and only had been training a few months. To be honest, our strongest had always been my slaves and the generals, most of which were absent right now.

I supposed I could pull on the power of the dungeon, or depend on Elaya and Astria, to wipe out the threat, but first I needed to confirm it. I pulled up my Map, and immediately located the group that was entering the edge of my territory. Since I had soul-linked with the dungeon, the dungeon’s mana was now my mana. In short, around Chalm, I was extremely powerful.

The farther from Chalm I got, the weaker that connection became, but there were exceptions, such as in a dungeon battle, where I could call forth that power like it was right next to me. It was an interesting experience, and one of the most interesting things about it was an extremely long Mapping ability, which also simultaneously carried out a sense life. I could see every life form in the city, and for those, I bothered to remember their mana signatures, I could locate them at any time. My only blind spots happened to be near the god spouts. There was such a rich degree of mana and miasma spurting from them that it would be difficult to detect life.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

My sense extended outward, the dungeon acting much like a magical satellite dish, and the reach of my sense even covered Chalm’s crossing, although it didn’t reach as far as Deeksville… yet. As the dungeon grew, so would my range. There might be a time where my senses crossed all of the wilderness. Furthermore, this was my center of power. I truly began to understand the depths of power a man like the demon king would possess.

I had already predicted that the dual dungeon that people often spoke about, The Demon Castle and Hell, were a god dungeon just like mine! Hell must be the soul dungeon that resided in the demon king, while the Demon Castle was the physical manifestation. That was my prediction, although I had no one to confirm if my theory was right.

Since I could see these enemies, and I was at my seat of power, I might as well greet them head-on. Miki grabbed my arm, and I raised an eyebrow.

“You’re coming?”

“Mm!” She nodded.

I could see a look of worry in her eyes. She felt responsible for this group coming to us. If it didn’t have anything to do with Lady Death, then I’d be completely surprised. I lifted my hand and opened a portal that was a few hundred yards in front of these enemies, and then with Miki on my arm, I stepped through.

When I reached the other side, I did not see what I expected. The thing I saw was far worse than I would have predicted. It was a group of people I had hoped to never see again in my life. These were a rag-tag group, dirty, sick, and dying. They looked like they had been on a pretty bad journey the last few days, and had crossed the wilderness on foot, braving many potential attacks. I didn’t know why they had bothered though.

A man stepped forward, taking off his hat and pressing it to his chest, his fox ears lowered, his tail slouched. “Lord Deek…”

I didn’t say anything, but Miki took a step forward in front of me. “Hello, Father.”