Aurora

Now that Twisted Webs was publicly part of my empire, I was able to send down some of my vampires without causing a commotion. I outfitted several groups with charged mana stones then sent them to explore the Labyrinth. The map around Twisted Webs was sorely lacking for my taste.

I returned to my dungeon once I was dealing with Mira and Opal. The two were turning out to be good advisors as well as potential friends. Perhaps they were a reminder of my humanity that was buried under my vampiric body. I chuckled to myself as I settled into my throne.

Clearing my mind of Twisted Webs matters, I turned to things at home. My dungeon aura had expanded a decent amount from the level up during the war. I was disappointed by only gaining one level, but the prey that I killed in my main dungeon was usually brought here against their will and restrained. You couldn’t exactly call it a true hunt. I knew that the game was able to detect things like that before the aliens took over, so I wouldn’t be surprised if those features were even more advanced now.

I used my sight spells to examine my dungeon from my throne. The spiral structure of the main complex had been finished for a while. Plenty of rooms existed for features in my dungeon. I had my demons crafting in the workshops, vampires practicing in the training grounds, ghouls wandering the halls, and more. To me, it felt like the dungeon was well on its way to feeling alive.

If there was one thing that I felt missing, it was the helpful advice from Losa. I never knew I could grow so attached to someone so quickly. I had to get to that Demon Seal sooner rather than later. For that, I had to claim the new dungeon found by Count Drac.

Continuing to study my dungeon, I planned out a few more expansions. My aura had moved up a good deal of the mountain as well as below it. There was plenty of space for additional rooms. The Primal Gold was still providing me with a tremendous boon of mana. I went ahead and set a few more spawn points. I now made a small army every few hours now.

Taking a break from my main dungeon, I moved my mind over to Nature’s Grotto then used the sight spells again to look around the claimed area. I thought it was ironic that Nature’s Grotto was higher level than my actual dungeon, but it had been fed quite a bit of energy during the war. Not to mention, Razz and Maxwell often led parties into the dungeon. It wasn’t often, but I sometimes claim a player life here and there.

“My queen.” I lifted my head at the whisper and paused in my work.

“What is it, Count?” I sent back telepathically.

“The goblins have found the dungeon but were crushed in seconds.” I burst into laughter at the report. They managed to turn an army of goblins and players yet failed to dive a dungeon. When my laughter finally subsided, I asked him to continue. “The dungeon is water based. We’ve scouted a few of the rooms. Unlike Nature’s Grotto, we can conquer this one quickly as the enemies have flesh.”

“Good to hear. Let me know once you’ve conquered most of the dungeon.” I leaned back with a grin. I’ll have to conquer the dungeon as Kaga to claim the core much as I had done with Nature’s Grotto. It would help with my standing with Maxwell’s community if I played my role as guide.

Speaking of which, I had to make a visit to Alflona soon. I had been busy with Twisted Webs for most of the day for the tournament. I might have taken the day off, if I didn’t show myself off a bit some might get suspicious of me. Rowena for one seemed to have a good head on her shoulders, at least compared to Maxwell.

“HEY! Vampire lady!” I froze and turned my attention back to my main dungeon. The woman I had just been thinking about was outside my dungeon with a few wagons. I moved to the entrance with Varroth. The beast growled at my touch. I checked with my sight spell and failed to find anyone else other than the drivers of the wagons.

“Well, Varroth, let’s go see what she wants,” I mumbled petting the beast. We walked out of the entrance and came to a stop on the edge of my aura. “Yes?”

She gave me a sour look before she sighed. “Maxwell wants you to have all of this. He says you earned it.”

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I looked past her to the wagons. From here, I could see that it was filled with gear. “I’m… I’m not sure what to say.” I had completely written off the gear in my mind. This was the last thing I expected to happen. “This was really Maxwell’s idea?” I asked. “Not yours?”

“In all fairness, I was against giving you the items. Considering our current—hostilities,” she remarked with hesitation.

I chuckled. “I see. Thank you for your—honesty,” I replied with the same tone. “Leave them in my aura and I will deal with them.”

“Just as a forewarning.” She gestured at the wagons. “It’s all crap. The entire army was equipped with junk.”

“Yes, I knew that. Hence, why I am surprised that I am getting two wagons full of the junk.” My vampires had been the main ones to scout the goblin forces. I had known what we were up against since they were near enough for me to inspect. Plus, I had looted a few of the goblins during my hit and run attacks.

“See!” Rowena exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips. “I knew it was fine!”

“Maybe, but I can understand the gesture.” I turned around to leave but paused. I rubbed my forehead then glanced back to the beastkin. “I’ve decided to adopt a passive approach to Maxwell’s settlement. I would appreciate it if you expanded north. Scarlet Night will move south. As for east, well, just keep it in line with our current alignment.”

“Ehh. This is surprising. I thought you wouldn’t stop until you destroyed us.”

“I can do that if you wish,” I replied with a flip of my hair.

Rowena shook her head. “No. I think in the end it would be pointless. We’re all players. Even if we managed to destroy our current settings, we would just meet again in the future. Perhaps even as just regular players.”

“Interesting.” I grinned and licked my fangs. “I have to wonder how long it will be before our new alien landlords decide to start playing the game themselves. After all, everyone knows it’s no fun to watch someone play a game.” I snapped my fingers and vanished hoping that I was making a dramatic enough exit.

I left the loot outside the dungeon for the time being. I would have one of the Greater Demons take it and see if anything was worth our time. There might be one or two pieces of gear in there that could give my demons some insight into their craft through deconstruction.

Back in Nature’s Grotto, I got a breakdown of the Lake Ruin Dungeon. Much like Nature’s Grotto, it was mostly straight forward. There was an island at the center of the lake that had a ruin of a castle-like structure. Multiple rooms of the castle were partially flooded. While it was trapped, they were few and far between. The monsters were formidable and relying on assassin type maneuvers.

“Thank you, Count. This report will be invaluable,” I said once he was done going over everything for me.

“I live to serve. We have conquered the dungeon, should you wish to take it.” He handed me a tight fitted gauntlet. It glowed slightly from an enchantment. I looked it over a few seconds before I slipped it on. I felt my personal mana jump slightly. Accessing the item’s menu, I found it was the Gauntlet of the Depths. It gave an increase to mana and water magic.

“Not bad, even if I don’t have any water magic.” I had purchased a few spells from the new Mage’s Tower located in Twisted Webs, but as I feared the resources were limited by the main race of the city. The game was hammering home that the Archnae simply didn’t practice magic. Hence, I had to capture a surface city soon to change that.

“Anything else of me, my queen?” Count Drac asked as I admired the gauntlets. I lowered my hands into my lap.

“Yes, actually. Have you noticed anything?” I asked. Him, Zaras, and Frederick were investigating the other Greaters I’d had at the time of Losa’s death. I knew one of them were guilty of his murder, but I had yet to narrow it down. At present, the main suspect was Roland, but the others were hard to eliminate from suspicion completely.

Count Drac nodded. “They have performed their duties as you require. Roland continues to increase his knowledge of military matters as your Commander. Carson’s magic has grown stronger, though has become stagnant as of late due to a lack of resources to grow with, Derrick and Harvey have not had much growth with your dungeon leaning toward the magical arts.”

“So… nothing that might incriminate them,” I said dryly.

“No, my queen.” The count hesitated, though I could sense that he had more to say. I sighed then waved for him to continue. “I feel that you should simply destroy all four of them. You are a queen of the night. Why are you wasting time trying to find the culprit?”

I stared at Drac for a moment as I thought about what to say. Finally, I shook my head. “Its not that simple. Sure, I could destroy them. They are easily replaceable, ridiculously so in fact. But…” I knew they were bits of code. Ones and zeros in a program… somewhere in the universe, but at the moment so was I. Killing them without a thought was the same as the aliens or whoever simply flipping a switch to turn me off. No. I would treat them with at least a little respect. However, once I found out who killed Losa, I would make them suffer. “But, ultimately, I have my reasons. I hope you will respect that, my count.”

“Of course, my queen.”

“Return to your duties. I am heading to the elf’s town. I suspect that we’ll attempt the dungeon in the next few days. Please make sure to be clear when I send you a message.”

“As you wish,” Count Drac bowed his head then vanished into the darkness of the dungeon.