“Ah, Ochako-chan comes to check on me after I was injured!” Toga says meekly from her bed. She has been bitten multiple times and received a pickaxe blow to the shoulder, but the bleeding was staunch with bandages and the accelerated healing was already working. “That has to be one of my cutest fantasies ever!”
And she’s not alone.
Toga squeals (still meekly) when Uraraka pulls a chair from under the table and sits on it by the edge of her bed.
“That’s even better.” Himiko then says, prompting Uraraka to give her a wry look.
“Just so we’re clear there, don’t get injured just so that you can get visited by us again.” Uraraka then informs Himiko. “That’s a one time thing, got it?”
“Sure, sure.” Toga nods. “It’s great that it happened at least once, though! It’s like a dream come true to me! Although, is Izukun only going to be watching? That’s fine with me, but I’m not sure if he’s into watching two girls go at it.” She grins faintly. “Though I’d prefer it if he did!”
Go at …
Ehhh?!
Uraraka sighs loudly. That’s… about what she expected to happen, just… not so quickly and not so thoroughly.
“Looks like a certain cat’s never going to change.” Uraraka rolls her eyes around. “I think that I can imagine how that particular ‘cutest fantasy’ of yours ends. And the worst part is that while I want to uphold the ‘be horny, get a bonky’ rule, I’d feel bad hitting an injured person.”
“Maybe you’ll at least kiss my oowies goodbye?” Toga replies hopefully, only to grab Uraraka’s hand when she begins to stand up from her chair. “Wait, wait! Just kidding! It’s fine if you just sit there, okay?”
“Better.” Uraraka informs her. “You’re learning. Good job in the fight, by the way, though you still let yourself get surprised by the enemy. You gotta get better next time, alright?”
“Not getting surprised by your enemy is not as easy as you’d like to think, at least when you are there, fighting, covered in blood of your enemies and having the liveliest expression on your face I ever saw.” Toga pouts. “But I can try.”
“Absolutely irredeemable.” Uraraka shakes her head with an exasperated look on her face.
Yeah, Izuku at this point is almost certain that those two are friends and this is still somewhat confusing to him. And he is almost certain that this is confusing to Uraraka as well. Their life was a mess.
***
The next step in their expansion plan is making a ‘growing’ level. Why is it going to be beneath the mining area? Well, sue them about the lack of realism, it’s not like it’s a natural cave, right?
They might change that to be more ‘logical’ once they have, like, fifty levels going and they’ll have more Residual Mana than they can spend. In the meantime, though, they’ll work with what they have.
Just in case, Izuku asks Monoma about it.
“No.” He replies immediately. “Shiozaki-san will not enjoy being turned into a demon with an additional a in the name. Trust me on that, the answer’s no.”
That’s making things complicated.
I figured out that she’d be a perfect match for the Hamadryad.
“Look, I appreciate you wanting to make one of my teammates into a daemon, which is apparently more than just a mere mortal here…” Monoma replies. “... like the ones that your own teammates and the villains became. However, this is just not a good idea. Shiozaki isn’t… flexible. Like, say, Uravity is. So, to get into this job you’d have to first bring her as another character, then give her a few weeks to get used to the whole ‘isekai into different words where pagan gods are real’ situation, and then ask. You don’t have that much time, hmm?”
No, no I don’t.
What about Komori-san?
“Well…” Monoma scratches his chin. “That’s definitely a better pick. Just… you know that I can’t guarantee you that she won’t panic and do something weird, especially as I don’t even know how being a daemon compares to being a human, alright? Komori-san was always a person whose personality can be summed up with words ‘fuck it, we ball’, and I’m nearly certain that I’ll know how she reacts, but… people sometimes react not in the way you expected them to, get it?.”
Yes, and while losing a Hamadryad will be a blow, it won’t kill us.
I think I heard that ‘we ball’ phrase somewhere
Shut it, Shigaraki.
***
Some time later they’ve managed to create a completely new 2nd Level, pushing the past 2nd Level into being a new 3rd Level, past 3rd one into new 4th Level and so on.
It was going to be a much more different place than their remaining Levels. To begin with, it was going to be an extremely small one… at least theoretically. As they’ve decided to take advantage of a previously unused feature of the Dungeon.
They’ve decided to create their first [Hall], the [Underground Ecosystem]. And damn, if it didn’t turn out to be a potent feature.
image [https://images.squidge.org/images/2024/05/16/imagedfba5e8df05ade60.png]
From the outside, the [Underground Ecosystem] looked only a few times larger than their Throne Room on current 5th Level. From the inside, when they focused their minds on their inside or when it was visited by one of their servants, it was much, much larger.
By Izuku’s estimation, it was a cave more than two hundred meters long and fifty meters wide, with a larger crack in the ceiling that allowed rain and sunlight to get inside, giving birth to a surprisingly vibrant ecosystem scattered throughout its messy and uneven interior.
Oh, initially there was nothing there. But then, things began to grow. A lot of plants grew on their own, lacking any sort of useful properties, but some of the plants that Toga recovered from the hamadryad’s grove on the surface seemed to have minor healing properties.
They’ve focused them in several places scattered through the location. Because, yeah, it turns out that [Growing Area]’s can be put inside compatible [Halls], like the [Underground Ecosystem] was.
Behind the [Hall], there were two other places of note. One of them was a [Hamadryad’s Grove], which - when set up - quickly developed into another area with a crevice in the ceiling, just a more circular one, letting in enough sunlight to allow a quite large oak to grow up in the center.
Around it was more life. Bushes, grass, moss on the wall, even some mushrooms. Oh, and also a Node, because they had to place it somewhere there (thankfully, it was compatible), and it looked pretty when partially enveloped by nature.
The [Rooms] appeared to be much more flexible of a designation than they thought, being clearly able to be designated on a part of a literal ‘room’.
The other location was the [Floor Guardian Room], connected with the [Hamadryad’s Grove] with one more secret ‘maintenance’ tunnel, allowing the [Hamadryad] to spend her time in the Grove, but move over to their boss arena if she needed to intercept an enemy.
And then, they decide to create [Lesser Hamadryad]... with Kinoko Komori’s soul inside of it.
I’m genuinely confused by you
Huh, why?
Because to avoid having to ‘enslave’ a barely sentient daemon you’ve instead elected to have its soul devoured entirely and be replaced with that of another entity whatsoever
Which is… better according to you?
Priorities, amiright?
I hate it when you put it that way.
That’s why I’m putting it that way
Also, that’s not an answer
I invoke the Dogman precedent.
The hell?
There was a dog born with a quirk in the United States a century ago, which could transform into any species that it ate some flesh of.
It was, regretfully, mistreated and used in some dog fighting ring, which lasted until it bit someone and proved to have a quirk by changing into a human.
It was still behaving in an animalistic way despite that, and once the local heroes shut the ring down, it was quite a debacle over whether it could be classified as a ‘human’ and should be given human rights.
Since no attempts to teach it human ways succeeded and it was still attacking everything that tried to get close, it was eventually decided to be an animal and was appropriately put down.
The hamadryad is clearly a similar case, in that while it does have a human form, it cannot be reasoned with and attacks everything that comes close to it with lethal force.
I see.
Yaoyorozu told you that, didn’t she?
…
yes.
There goes my fun.
The situation wasn’t perfect. While [Lesser Lignomorphs] have the perfect ETL to populate the level, [Lesser Hamadryad] has an ATL requirement of 0.1 too high for even a [Node Room]. [Floor Guardian Room] is fine, but where would Komori rest?
Well, this lasts until they discover something that they’ve previously overlooked.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Placing creatures in appropriate [Lairs] lowers their maintenance. A fact that they only noticed when they tried to place a creature in a [Lair] that had a slightly smaller AML limit. This led to them doing some quick experiments.
What was the result of this discovery?
They could put creatures up to 0.2 AML level above the floor’s average, for as long as they were placed in their appropriate [Lair] for maintenance. And there was a limit to such placement.
In short, only one such creature could be placed there and be maintained that way, creating a sort of… Lair Guardian creature? Was that an official term in this world? Well, for them, it now was.
They’ve expanded the population of the two [Spider Breeding Chambers] on 1st Level with a [Spider Maiden] each acting as their Lair Guardian, together with two more that were hanging around (permanently) in the [Floor Guardian Room] as a dual boss fight.
The problem with Luna’s UI design was that it accommodated for the fact that Dungeons were supposed to expand over time, while simultaneously improving their understanding of themselves, which unlocked new features that weren’t earlier listed in their System.
If they even had such a System, instead of running things purely instinctively.
As a result, until they tried to do something like this, they didn’t know that it was possible. After they did, there suddenly was a [Lair Guardian] slot in the [Lair] creature settings for them to be filled.
Some time later they spend 20 Residual Mana to create a [Lesser Hamadryad] after using the [Soul Management] section to install Kinoko Komori’s soul in her body.
***
The similarity was definitely there.
The entity that was born out of this merger was best described as an odd cross between the [Lesser Hamadryad] that Toga slew and the Kinoko Komori that they remembered from Earth.
The haircut was the same as they remembered, mostly obscuring her eyes. The color wasn’t - it was an odd mixture of dark green and dark brown and all the colors in between that definitely made them work as a camouflage in a forest environment.
There were no clothes, but instead most of her body was covered by moss, plant shoots, flowers and a few things that looked like mushrooms (a definitely new addition to that particular body).
She was, naturally, extremely confused.
“Eh?” Komori blinks at the group gathered in front of her. She was standing right in front of ‘her’ tree. “Monoma-kun? You’re alongside guys and gals from 1-A and you’re not saying anything?”
That is not the initial reaction to becoming a daemon that Izuku expected.
“That’s truly a shocking thing, I agree.” Yaoyorozu says dryly. Komori glances at her and Izuku can see her now green eyes grow larger when she notices the ears.
No, he can’t hijack Komori’s senses. It seems to only be working with their servants. Their mortal servants, not the daemons that just happened to set up shop in their Domain. Similarly, they cannot grant her skills, and pulling her soul back can only be done through the [Soul Management] menu.
“You remember the edgy isekai fantasy stories that Kuroiro was so much into?” Monoma asks her instead.
I think I heard those words already, just about the birdboy from your class
I think so as well.
Can Monoma do anything else that’s not copying other people?
His quirk was literally about copying things, what do you expect?
Originality?
Yeah, but we didn’t tell him that, right?
So why does he unconsciously say what others already did?!
I’m confused
Hello confused, I hate you.
…
That’s not how it was supposed to go but I think that I’ll take it over you telling me a dadjoke
I’d rather die than be your son
Most people would rather die than be your father, so I guess it checks out.
Oof.
“Yes?” Komori looks back at Monoma, confused. “What about it?”
“Well, that’s what we’re dealing with right now.” Monoma replies, making Komori blink at him a few times in short succession. “Look, you’re now some sort of a dryad, and a spiritual being, have fun and please don’t forget to kick ass or we’ll still be the sidekicks to the former 1-A people.”
…
“You’re absolutely atrocious at explaining things to people, you know that?” Yaoyorozu then asks him.
“I just don’t think that there’s a good way of describing the situation we’re in.” Monoma replies dryly. “And besides, wait for it.”
“Wait for what?” Yaoyorozu asks him, now suddenly confused.
“Wait, so we’re in a fantasy world?” Komori asks them, clearly still processing Monoma’s words. “And I’m… like a dryad? Like, a nature spirit?” Monoma nods, with a completely deadpan expression on his face. “That’s… that’s shroomtastic!”
“Eh?” Yaoyorozu lets out, while staring at Komori in shock. That seems to be the popular response to the statement, as Uraraka, Kirishima and even Toga and Spinner are also staring at her in shock.
“Cut it with the mushroom puns, you’re more of a general nature spirit.” Monoma informs her. He still looks absolutely done with his life. “Also, we haven’t done anything that warrants being continuously suffocated by your puns.”
“Oh, alright.” Komori replies while looking down at her hand, which in an instant partially untangles into a long tendril that could be used to grab nearby people. “This is so cool.”
“To quote Komori: ‘I’d sell my soul for being allowed to be some form of a monstergirl or a magical girl.’” Monoma says dryly. “She thought that it would make her dream idol career easier. Or is just a weirdo. Like everyone else in 1-B.”
Wow, and I thought that the League was full of fucked up people
And Twice
What?
League of Villains is full of fucked up people and Twice.
He doesn’t count.
What the hell is with you and Twice?
Well, I’m cool with him?
why though
Why not?
Can you list one super weird thing that he does?
Talks to himself?
That’s barely weird compared to Dabi or Toga, now is it?
…
Mr. Compress is just a kleptomaniac, so he is almost in the ‘pretty normal’ category.
No he’s not
What?
His hobby is wearing the creepiest clown costumes imaginable, staring at random people in random places and using his quirk to make himself disappear when a car passes between them or something else breaks the line of sight
I
I just don’t know how to comment on that.
Wait.
Have you ever tried to use that to gaslight a pro-hero into doubting his own sanity?
STOP HAVING BETTER VILLAINOUS IDEAS THAN I HAVE!
I don’t think it’s possible to have worse villainous ideas than you have.
…
oof
I’d legit prefer you to just punch me in the face than to have to hear your words over and over again
Trust me, I’d prefer to be able to punch you in the face too.
“This is so cool!” Komori exclaims again why firing some needle projectiles at the distant wall. “I’m a nature spirit! Wow! This is awesome! This is… wait a moment, Monoma-kun? Are we going back to Earth?”
“No.” Monoma replies dryly. “But we aren’t exactly the same people that we remember ourselves as. We’re supposedly copies of them, or more like just new beings with memories of our world, the jury is split.”
“Oh, so there’s another version of myself that makes sure that my other friends, my family and my fans aren’t left alone?” Komori asks him back. Monoma nods. “And I can fully focus on being the best version of myself that I can in a fantasy world?” Monoma nods again. “This is the bestest thing that ever happened to me!”
The look on Monoma’s face can only be described as ‘haunted’. Izuku still considers the option that they were all hallucinating.
“I hope that it finally occurred to you all…” Monoma then says as he looks at his companions. “... that 1-A didn’t have the monopoly on flashy and weird personalities, people with strange backstories and Daddy Issues. T. M.” He does as he adds the mock ‘trademark’ symbol to the term.
…
Oh no.
***
Once they managed to more or less calm Komori down, they were naturally most interested in how different her perspective was. They were curious how the daemon differed from humans in a way that could only be told from the first person perspective.
The unexpected thing was that Komori herself was really confused as to the subject, and wasn’t sure how to describe what she felt.
She knew that she was now immortal. She knew that she would be immortal even if she wasn’t bound to the Dungeon.
Even if she was ‘killed’, it would just knock her out of this world, making her reconstitute herself elsewhere.
At some point in the future. Distant future. Timeline differences between the worlds were pretty wonky, and Komori knew that it could be a moment for her but it could as well be decades or centuries for the Physical World where she would be ‘killed’.
And a few worlds closer to the World Engine.
She could be bound. She could be summoned. She had a deep instinctual understanding of the nature surrounding her. She was infinitely curious as to how the world outside looked like, but she was spiritually manifested and couldn’t leave the Dungeon.
She could even order [Lesser Lignomorphs] that began to spawn and spread through the [Underground Ecosystem]. Even without using words. They just did what she wanted them to.
Oh, and she could also sleep. In a tree. Literally just return to a tree. Because apparently, she was the tree in question, both of them being a single thing that split into two, the soul of a tree emerging from it to act independently.
How did she know that? She just did.
Izuku could only wonder how the ‘reject human return to tree’ (as Tomura called it) worked for them when they were physically manifested. Well, he’ll eventually get to see that, right?
“By the way, can I ask you something?” Uraraka decides to speak for the first time since the start of this talk. “Who did you mean when you mentioned your fans?”
Monoma suddenly makes a thousand yard stare in the background.
“By my fans I mean my fans, obviously!” Komori smiles widely behind her hair. “I’m… well, I was actually a V-Tuber! I went by Shroom Queen!”
Gasp
Did you just… make a sound?
No, I didn’t
“Trained myself to be in the center of public attention a bit, before becoming an idol.” Komori continues, unaware of the exchange. “Well, a hero idol. That’s like twice the public attention, right? I was pretty popular, even though I had to downscale my internet activity after joining the Hero Course.”
“R-right.” Uraraka nods, clearly unsure how to respond to all those revelations. So, she decides to just drop that subject entirely.
So, I guess that we’re almost done with the first segment of the Dungeon, we just have to add the elemental zone and it’s done, right?
Yes. Will we put it as 2nd or 3rd Level?
3rd one
You sure?
ETL-wise, the elementals aren’t much
It’s not about their personal strength, it’s about the diversity of their attack methods
We can make them annoying as shit if we plan it correctly
Wait, you’re actually considering synergy between your available units?
What a shocking development, Shigaraki!
Just… shut the hell up, okay?
Okay?
I’m so fucking tired of this
but guess what
IT DOESN’T MATTER
BECAUSE WE AREN’T GETTING THE NEXT LEVEL UNTIL AFTER WE GET TO MANIFEST OURSELVES AS DUNGEON LORDS
WE HAVE FIVE LEVELS ALREADY
I DESIRE FREEDOM
FREEDOM FROM YOU
That… that actually sounds like the best holidays in my life.
Definitely the most earned ones.
They quickly confirm that the Menu expanded and does allow them to manifest themselves in a temporary body made based on their available skills, abilities and species. The cost is pretty substantial (doing that for them both at the same time would cost more than twice the cost of a [Hamadryad]), but they both agree on one thing.
It’s definitely, absolutely and totally worth it.