‘DAMN YOU JIWAAAAAAAA!’

My voiceless scream echoed through our link, sending over my frustration to all my creatures. And through the same link, I sensed various reactions from them. Some flinched, some became more aggressive, and, I didn’t know if it was a coincidence, but one of the frog evolutions - a big-eater - actually started to evolve.

At the time, a portal opened and a form I had never seen came into my heart chamber. “Greetingsss, massster,” the creature said while making a deep bow.

At the upper side was a female humanoid body with reddish dark skin and an expressionless face. The many antennas on her hairless head entangled each other, forming a crown-like feature. At the bottom part, below the waist, was her original ant body, although it was much bigger than the last time I saw her.

‘What do you want, queen?’

“My people ready, whenever massster want hiss rrevenge.”

‘... Yeah? And how’re your people going to help? It’s a long journey to the north, your tiny people will likely to run-out mana and die on the way. They can’t even fly.’

“...”

‘What? If you’ve nothing else to say, get lost! I’m not in the mood for a useless chat,’ I scold.

The queen gi-ant made another deep bow and opened a new portal behind her. Before she left, however, I called for her.

‘Wait,’ I said, feeling that I might have been too harsh. As she stopped and looked at my dungeon heart, I said, ‘Thanks. I’ll consider it.’

She bowed and said, “I’ll fix what massster ssaid.”

I nodded, in my mind. ‘Oh, one more thing. Next time, wear some clothes,’ I told.

She expressionlessly looked at the heart’s direction for a while, before opening her mouth. “Iss that an order?”

‘Order? No, not really. Just… a suggestion.’

It probably just my imagination, but for a brief moment I thought I saw the gi-ant leader’s mouth curled a bit into a smile, before turning expressionless again. “Then I prefer not. Humanss clothess aren’t comfortable,” she said.

‘... I see. Then, if there’s nothing else, you can go,’ I dismissed.

She bowed and obediently disappeared into the opened portal.

Once she left, I let out an imaginary sigh. It was then when I realized the useless little chat had been able to help lowering my tension from the battle before.

Now I had calmed down, I tried to reach spidey through our link. Unfortunately, I got no response. Either it was still unconscious, already dead, or the distance was simply too great.

For the meantime, I dispatched my s-flies to look for Jiwa. If I wanted another showdown, I would need to know my target’s location or if he ever changed his location.

Still, I regretted that not only I failed to save father, I had lost two of my trusted companions. Next time, I need to plan it through, although I wasn’t sure where to start.

(What do i do?

(Going there alone won’t help, the gap of our abilities are just too great.

(Should I bring an army like queen gi-ant suggested? Maybe a mix with stronger monsters?

(But, there are problems in that.

(First is of course the logistic. Like I said to queen, it won’t do if everyone run out mana on the way.

(I can make them able to absorb mana from the air, like the s-flies do. However, considering how thin mana in the air are, is it a good idea at all? When they all gather in the same area, isn’t it like putting so many people in a limited oxygen space?

(Second, how will the locals react with an army of monsters passing through their territory?

(It’s different with going alone, I suppose going undetected is impossible. If the authorities decide to send their own force to intercept and we clash, there will be a lot of casualties from both parties. Then if the news spread, others may send reinforcement and unnecessarily drag the conflict. In the worst case, my monsters will be annihilated long before I can reach Jiwa.

(Not good.

(That aside, assuming I can safely confront Jiwa with my army intact, how many of them can actually withstand his mind attack? And the illusion mind trick, to what extent can he uses them? Can he make my monsters killing each other? There are also the troublesome telekinesis and the that killed both me and tig with a single touch.)

In my mind, I scratched my head and made another sigh.

(Well, let’s focus on one matter before jumping to another. It’s a given that I can’t face Jiwa alone, so no matter what, I need to bring over my army, don’t I?

(Hmm. How do I attack a far enemy base in a real-time-strategy game, other than capturing point after point all the way?

(Let see… If it’s a modern setting, I can use a long-range attack like missiles, aircraft bombers, or some paratroopers. And if I’m advanced enough, I can either launch nuke, shoot satellite’s beam, teleport tanks, or send an overpowered mecha.

(If it’s fantasy setting like this world, shoot a global magic or dispatch flying units like gryphon riders or dragons.

(Hey, maybe it doesn’t have to be a full army at all?

(If it’s a squadron of high-ranking monsters that equipped with mid to long range of highly destructive attack, won’t it be enough?

(Right, I don’t have to worry of a high-ranking monster running-out mana. Also, if it’s only a few of them, being undetected should be possible, especially if I add the terrortula’s stealth ability. With the flight capability and the long range attack, I can bombard Jiwa in a preemptive strike, hopefully killing him or at least giving enough damage before he can retaliate.

(Not too bad, if I say so myself.

(With my current mana rate, speeding up lizards evolutions until they become dragons should be no problem.

(Nevertheless, I think it’s better if I can understand more about before I intervene with the evolution, so I won’t miss any countermeasure I need to prepare.

(Still, without father, who can help me?

(Let see... May be Tsalja or Halili?

(Neither of them specifically study , but they may have heard one or two things from their masters.

(Especially Halili, since that girl can access the Association’s files, the chance of she can help is higher.

(Alright, my next course is decided then.)

Afterward, I opened the dungeon overview for the first time after a long time. Just seeing the amount of mana I have was enough to heighten my mood. I then continued with opening the biological overview and found several new races in my dungeon.

Dungeon OverviewDungeon TypeCaveLevels3Rooms82Biological Types34Non-biological Types7Drops Types20Dungeon Skills5Titles1Mana Points341,300

Biological TypesPlants (2)#N/AFerns, MossesAnimals (16)#N/AAnts, Bats, Centipedes, Cockroaches, Flies, Frogs, Lizards, Monkeys, Mosquitoes, Moths, Rats, Snails, Snakes, Spiders, Tigers, Wildcats, WolvesMonsters (19)#N/A

Ants

Bats

Flies

Frogs

Golems

Lizards

Mosquitoes

Rats

Snails

Spiders

Tigers

WildcatsGolems, Morphers

Gi-Ants

Great Bats, Stone Bats

S-Flies

Poison-spitter Frogs, Big-eaters, Voracious-eaters

Fighter Golems

Raptors

Mana-suckers

Fierce Rats, Rattibulls

Rock-shelled Snails

Lesser Tyrantulas, Tyrantulas, Terrortulas

King Tigers, Sky Kings

Cave Pumas

(Uwaah, amazing, almost three hundred and fifty thousands?

(Around a hundred and fifty probably comes from the magic items I purchased, so the rest are from the adventurer’s tributes and my mana-sucker’s collections?

(I see. The settlement must have grown quite large since I left.

(Anyway, I should support the settlement to grow even more. I guess I’ll add new types of drops to make my dungeon more attracting.

(Next, the creatures...

(Hmm. This voracious-eaters, is it the big-eater which just evolves? Oh, it can eat something without physical substance too now? Wait, by without physical substance, does it include things like mana or a casted-magic too?

(No further explanation. Nevermind, I’ll test it myself later. It would be nice if it’s true.

(The other new races… Stone Bats, basically the same as Great Bats but with stone skin and heavier weight, which increased both their defense and attack power.

(Then, Rattibulls, which are aggressive bull-size rats. They even have a small pair of horn.

(Last one, cave pumas, just big cats with fur patterns that blend them well with the cave surrounding. Oh, wait, there’s more. They can also walk on walls and ceilings? Cool.

(Still, I was hoping the cats would evolve into tigers. But seeing the cave pumas, it’s unlikely without my intervention. Ah, I miss tig already *Sigh*.)

Satisfied with my dungeon progress, I was thinking of what to do next, whether I should visit Halili right away or not. It was then when one of the s-flies notified that Crystela was calling for me in the first room.

Thus, I used and created a new Dungeon Lord. Once again I chose humans for the race, because I was used with the body and it was easier to communicate with my customers, which mostly humans.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Mana began to gather in front of my dungeon heart, swirling around forming a condensed mist. Then, I felt my consciousness was being pulled into it. An image of the same version of my previous Dungeon Lord appeared, a blur at first but rapidly became more vivid. When I opened my eyes, I already inside the human body.

(Ah, it’s good to feel limbs again.)

I replicated some clothes for my own use, the same set as before, and they materialized from the light particles in front of me. After finish changing, I used to open a portal and went into it.

The portal didn’t connect to the first room, however. It felt like I was truly their pet if I came whenever they called me and I didn’t like that sort of feeling. Therefore, I made a detour.

The place I came into was the room with a higher temperature than the rest, where lizards and raptors had their nest together with many smaller creatures. Previously, it was an enclosed room safe from predators, but since raptors appeared I’ve opened an entrance and made it a dead-end room.

The raptors itself were cunning predators that hunt in a pack. They could use things like diversion tactic or throwing small rocks to maim their prey as the result of my early meddling in their lizards phase. Although they used four legs for a fast run, they mainly stood using only their hind legs with their long tail as the counterweight while their shorter front legs acted as a pair of arms.

Strong teeth that could crunch bones, pair of arms which thumb’s position suited for gripping in addition to the sharp claws, powerful hind legs for jumping and running, and heavy long tail that could shake the earth, all covered with dark hard scales which had minor heat resistance.

When the raptors first appeared, they reached one meters long, including the straightened tail, and about a human adult’s knee height. Now, however, their average size had grown about twice, around a human adult’s stomach height.

Clapping my hands, I get their full attention. “Raptors, gather here,” I ordered.

Once they did, I pointed one which seemed the smartest of them. “You. Pick another ninety-nine of your brethren and go there,” I told while opening a new portal. “We’ll do a mock battle. Wait for me there while I’m picking your opponent,” I said.

The idea was simple, I wanted to raise their combat experience and survival instinct. Compared to other creatures in my dungeon, lizards and raptors live in relatively safe place all this time, even after I opened an entrance to their room. That was why, before I eventually helping them get stronger with evolution, they had to get better by themselves first.

After I told the raptors their task, once again I used and went into the rooms of fierce rats, which I had chosen as the other participant of the game I was about to start. The monsters once hold the top position of food pyramid in my dungeon and were one of the top race in the terms of collective battle.

The fierce rats were slightly bigger than the raptors. They were also more agile and more experienced in battling and surviving against both adventurers and other dungeon’s creatures. On the other hand, raptors could utilized their hands better and their hard scales gave them better protection. At the same time, both parties were excels at hunting in pack. In my opinion, there was a good chance the fight would turn stalemate if the fierce rats couldn’t overrun the raptors in early phase of the game.

“I need a hundred of fierce rats to come with me for a mock battle,” I told the curious looking creatures. “No, you bullrats can’t participate, maybe next time.”

Then, followed by a hundred of the rat monsters, I passed through another portal to the huge empty room of ten cubic kilometers, where a hundred of raptors had been waiting. It was the only room in the second underground level besides my heart chamber.

Using , I raised two high platforms at two opposing corners, making them into two hills. Once I finished, I left my Dungeon Lord and returned to the dungeon view.

(Ah, I guess seeing my own body from above will always feel wrong, no matter how many times I’ve done this before.)

Pouring my mana, I made a wide river, and I meant wide, between the two hills and split the room into two. Afterward, I poured more mana to soften the rocky cave ground and grow numerous plants, using the knowledge I got from the various plants within the claimed surface area, and created a vast forest.

Weird enough, the ceiling began to shine a dim light. I took a look out of curiosity and found the light sources, which were innumerable fist-size rocks called that embedded in the ceilings. However, there was another type of rock that embedded alongside called , which I assumed would glow in turn when the day time came.

(Hey, I know these stones! They’re popular among elemental-users as effective catalyst to increase magic output of and respectively.

(So they come from a dungeon, huh? This can be a good drops addition.

(Maybe I should take one too for my staff… later. Now back to work.)

Next, I turned onto one of the hills. The first thing I did was adding a tall yet simple stone structure in the center of the hill, which would serve as the symbol of headquarter. Afterwards, I created a core using and put it into the corner side wall of the hill and imagined a mana emitting wall that would restore of my monsters. I released my influence to what I would call it wall of recovery, and it began to work right away.

Then I turned to the other hill and did similar things there, preparing another headquarter symbol and wall of recovery. After finished, I took a round to recheck my work.

Feeling satisfied, I had my attention back to the groups of fierce rats and raptors around my stood still Dungeon Lord. Because they were all basically touching me when I was in this dungeon view mode, I had no problem feeling their core. What I did next was transferring a hundred mana points to the core of every participants of this game as a bonus, before finally returning to my Dungeon Lord.

“Alright. You’ve all received the gift for participating, now listen for the rules,” I said. “Look at the hills. Fierce rats team and raptors team, each of you’ll take one as your starting base. Your mission will be protecting the stone structure there while destroying the other’s structure,” I explained and took a pause to see if they understood so far.

“Now for the details,” I continued. “If your stone symbol is destroyed, you lose. If your team numbers is reduced to 40%, you lose. If the same happens to your opponent, you win. Every method you can think of to achieve victory is allowed.

“During the game, I’ll limit your link to your own team only. I’ll grant every survivor a grand amount of mana at the end of the game. That’s why, stay alive. The wall of recovery at your base can help you on that.

“I’ll also dispatch some s-flies to watch the game in my place. They’ll help me to judge individuals of each team who contribute the most in reducing their opponents and destroying the stone symbol, whom I will give a mana bonus. Of course, every members of the winning team will receive another bonus.”

I looked at them all. Because no one asking question, I would assume they understood. Hopefully they really did. Therefore, I opened two portals leading to the two hills. “You can start. Good luck.”

I watched as the participants left for the portals and cut their access through our link, before opening another portal from which dozens of s-flies came into the room. In the meantime they moved, I called the queen gi-ant. “Hey, queen, come over here.”

Once again a new portal opened. “Masssterr,” the queen entered and greeted with a bow.

“I want to give you another task,” I said. “Observe this mock battle, learn, and find a better way to achieve the set goals. Next time, I’ll have you lead one of the parties, may be with more races involved and different arena. Understand?”

“Yesss, masssterr.”

I nodded, “Good.”

Because the notifications had been more intensive for a while, I decided I shouldn’t delay the matter with Crystela any longer. Thus, I opened a new portal. “I need to go now,” I told.

“Pleasse take care,” she bowed.

It couldn’t be helped that I stole a glance to her naked chest every time she bowed. Only, this time our eyes met and I swore I saw she smiled for a brief moment, just like earlier in the heart chamber. It caused my heart to beat faster.

(Uwaahh, she’s doing this on purpose, isn’t she? Choosing this form and wearing nothing.

(Not good. Stop thinking lewd things, me, or I may end up pushing her down.

(Uh, Alv, please return soon, I may about to reach my limit.)

I looked away and fastened my steps to enter the portal. The thought was soon blown off from my head, however, as the first room I came to had a completely different atmosphere.

“At last! Where have you been, Dungeon Master Arz?” Crystela asked impatiently.

Somehow her tone irked me. “I’ll come whenever I want, be grateful I’m still coming at all. So, what do you want?”

She obviously unhappy with my answer. Looking around, I noticed not only Jowsar-Star members who were present but many other adventurers as well. They were all standing around with anxious look.

(... Did something happen?)

“Very well,” the blonde defender said and took a deep breath. “Dungeon Master Arz, do you realize you’ve breached our agreement?”

“...What?”