“It doesn’t matter where my lore is. You won’t be able to reach it.” I declared.

“Thankfully, I don’t need to find it. It will present itself once you’re dead.” He chuckled. “To think that you’ve merged a fountain with a dungeon… and something else too. The fountain puts out miasma?” He glanced at the pool admiringly. “How truly interesting.”

“Your harem lost. They were defeated. I already won,” I shot back.

This time, the smile on his face looked somewhat dangerous. “I almost lost, at least these women. However, as you probably are aware, they do not make up all of my harems. There is always more where they came from.”

“Yes, I’ve seen your zombie women.” I sneered.

“They are hardly zombies. These women joined my side because they wanted power and immortality. I gave them both. Their lore will live on in my dungeon for all time.”

“Dungeons corrupt lore! They have no future. Their story will degrade with time, and they will become faceless… just another generic body.”

“Isn’t that their faults?” He shrugged. “If they were more interesting and distinct, then their lore would last. If they were resilient and strong enough, then they would evolve into miasmic creatures.”

That was ultimately the difference between those he fed to his dungeon and the girls around me like Astria, Elaya, Xin, or Selena. Anything a dungeon made wasn’t necessarily a living thing, even if it had been fed that living thing and was just making a copy of it. It took a special something, a kind of spark for someone to become a real person.

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After getting to such a high level in dungeon master, I could see it with a look. I understood when a dungeon creature was more than the copy, and I could tell that all of those women behind him were merely shadows, not much different than the shadow people Twilight used. They were mere puppets to command, their true faces not even remembered. I hadn’t noticed it before, but many of them looked similar, to the point they all could be related. This was because he didn’t bother to remember their faces, and the lore began to blur them all together.

I shook my head. “We still beat you, living women with living women. Are you going bully me with an army I couldn’t possibly be old enough to have?”

I was trying to play on his pride, and by the dark look he returned me, it appeared to be working.

“You didn’t beat all of them. I will acknowledge my mistake.” His eyes shot to First, who shook slightly. “First, come to me.”

She slowly got up from her spot where she had been hiding in a crater. Her clothing was ripped in various places and she was filthy. She walked up to King Roth. He lifted his foot and casually kicked her away. The force was enough to cause her to fly several meters.

“Who said you, trash? I asked for First!” He snarled.

First, the queen lioness, rose from the spot, walking up to him confidently, a smug expression on her face as she gave a small bow.

“Yes, my lord?”

“I was too hasty in taking the position from you. I gave my trust to a failure,” King Roth said.

The magician was still on the ground with her face buried in the dirty, her body silently shaking as she wept.

“My lord doesn’t make mistakes. It was her fault. She squandered your power and wasted it.”

He gave a nod. “You won’t do the same.”

It wasn’t a question.

“I won’t, my lord.”

“Then go, defeat them, and bring me Deek’s head!”