Its been six months since Lilian and I became dungeon bosses, we are 3 years old now. A lot has changed around here both inside and out of the castle. First off is that all our minions are no longer lesser creatures and are now the normal version.
Neither of us have ranked up during this time but we grow stronger each day through training. And hunting in the dungeon as well as the power we are suppose to get from our followers. A month after rats, rabbits and crow from both upper and under world appeared, the demons and celestial monster established a food chain in the castle.
How? A few of the empty rooms within the floors they lived in were transformed by the dungeon core in breeding grounds for each type of animal. This also caused larger boss class creatures to appear for each one but as the main breeder and couldn't compare to the miniboss. With an increase in low class monster, new high class ones started appearing being attracted by the new hunting ground. Large demon wolves took up residence on the fifth floor and hunts in the lower floors. They were led by a powerful alpha wolf which was taller than Lona standing at 2 and a half meters tall with black metallic colored fur.
Rachet called that alpha a minI boss because it was a boss monster in its own right but it wouldn’t match your strength because the monster that appear can only appear below a certain amount of strength compared to the main bosses.
After he took up residence on that floor we had the entire first and second floor cleaned of miasma which made it safe for the town folk to use the workshops, though we did leave a few guards since monsters move around. This left the 3rd-5th floor as demon hunting grounds with black miasma covering it. From the sixth floor to the eighth floor Lilian purified the miasma making a celestial monster hunting ground which attracted its own monsters, a pack of large powerful eagles who nested near the ceilings on exposed support beams and cracks, which the dungeon itself made in the castle to give them homes.
A month after we arrived here mother finally arrived as well, being sent by the church to allow Slade to return. In her arms she held a young child a few weeks old.
She explained that this child was blessed by a lesser god of war called Ares becoming his champion. Valeria had mom pick him up to train him with us here so he will know the difference between good and bad demons and angels. She also continued to train our minions in light and water magic, which Slade started, while Lilian and I taught them other forms of magic.
The imps currently looked like orange skinned 4 year olds and unlike the normal dungeon Imp they were fit and had lean muscles thanks to the training they did. The most extra ordinary ones were the ten "elites". On my side the strongest was the female imp that stood on my shoulder when she was still tiny. As an imp she is always either running next to me or clinging to my leg or back. The others weren't as close thought I had more intimacy with these five because they are always with me and I consider them brothers and sister.
From strongest to weakest of my elites their names were, Lily (girl), Ro (boy), Kia (boy), Mia (girl) and Ideo (boy).
Lily took up duel sickles as the main weapon. Ro, Kia and Mia took up swords or dagger while Ideo went for bare fists. Each are really strong especially Lily who looks like a reaper.
From Lilian’s side there was one girl cupid who had an edge on the others. Literally, while all the other cupids had bows created from their infant bodies creating their Lesser Cupid Bows she gained Lesser Cupid Twin Dagger. We don't know what made her different but she is really strong with those daggers and can match Lily in a one on one with Lily using her duel sickles against her. It might be Lily that did that but we don't know for sure.
From strongest to weakest, Lilians elites are called Jesse (girl), Flow (girl), Aiden (girl), Mason (boy) and Lax (boy).
Besides Jesse who has dual daggers the rest use bows and mana arrows. Cupid are interesting because they can only use spells by flinging them from their bows as arrows which then activates after launch. Which makes it impossible for Jesse to use magic except body enhancement.
Ironically I learned how to make spell bullets for my gun by training with the cupids.
Now for outside. The town has finally started to grow. Before they had mediocre equipment but now that they have quality workshops, the town has started getting bigger. Demon and celestial monster leather is the main attraction of the town. I had to ask the paladins to become the guards of the town until we can build enough strength to protect the town.
Thankfully the accepted and its good they did cause soon adventures and foreigners started to appear hearing a demon town appeared selling demon leather equipment.
They appeared three months after we became bosses and coincidentally the lords of the town. The crime rate rose quickly and because of the influence of the church it died just as quickly after the paladins taught a few of them a lesson.
A chapel to Valeria was erected in the town. Besides the image of her, there were two different smaller statue next to her. Looking similar to the goddess herself, a statue of a 12 year old girl with two large wings hugging her from behind stood their. At the base the name showed who it was. "Lilian, Angel messenger of the Goddess of Light and lord of Galton" was written in bold letters on the base.
The other was of a man the same size as the girl with features similar to a crow having feathers on his arms and back. There were equally large wings on his back which were folded not showing its true size. Even though he was a demon he still held himself with pride and honor and gave the feeling of a noble. "Baal, Demon Prince and Lord of Galton" was written on the base.
We had talked with the town folk and we removed Galtons name from the castle and named the town in his honor.
With a statue of Lilian in town, the people of town, who knew her kind nature and love towards the demons, couldn't help but feel love towards the little angel. As for me seeing the words Demon Prince and seeing the noble standing there they felt awe and honor of having a real demon royalty as their lord. Most of the townsmen were in awe seeing the statues of their lords displayed like idols of gods.
The statues were special, blessed by Valeria herself, it changed its form when we ranked up as well as changing the title if it changes.
The chapel drew a lot of attention towards the town since their were two statues next to one of the greatest goddess and it was told by the priests that the goddess herself told her followers to do the so.
It didn't take long for the towns people to become followers of their two lords both as citizens as well as faithful religious group. That said our group still were considered a branch under the church if light. We didn't try to split from it because we liked the people from their and it was obvious a new religion especially one to two beings not even gods wouldn't last without the protection of a more influential group. Also we wanted the forming religion to be like Valeria's, where you treat all those around you fair unless a good reason is given.
Though, even with the support of the Valeria's Church there were still those who still considered us evil. Who are they? Well the five high priestesses who stand before me of course. Every one of them from one of the other great churches.
(Each dedicated to the gods with the title of the creators, Fire, water, earth, air and darkness. With Steph now being High priestess of light.)
Mom is the only one defending. Us but it doesn't seem to be working for these hard headed women.
(A.N. I will be calling each high priestess by their alignment since I’m to lazy to think of a name for each one)
Steph: I told you already, my children would never cause problems.
Fire: Right I wonder how much brainwashing that demonic brat has done on you already.
Steph: What did you say! Both my children were abandoned by their parents and from their world because they were cursed by the god of evolution. I've raised them from day one. You have no right to say they would brainwash me especially since I would have felt the magic being cast.
Water: As we have said we just came to warn your kids to remain far from those under our protection. Should they cause trouble near our churches domain they will be hunted.
Steph: Whats going on!! Valeria said she spoke with the other great gods about this why are they threatening them. No matter we can have them grow with the people of our domain and the hidden demon tribes throughout the land and as long as nothing bad happens they can travel through the other gods areas. As long as they don't cause trouble they can travel in the domain of your churches correct.
They all nodded and she let out a sigh of relief.
Steph: *Sigh* I was worried about what would happen when they come of age and want to adventure beyond the protection of our goddesses reach.
Air: They should still best be careful. Even if we don't attack, foreigners who can see beyond illusions such as theirs, will see their true forms.
Baal: You don’t need to worry about that its a God rank illusion spell that was cast. For a foreigner to see us they must have some grandmaster level magic and I don't think even that will work.
Dark: I see, your goddess sure took many precautions to safeguard you two.
Lilian: Thats why we love her.
Baal: She hasn't once judged me for being a demon it makes feel happy.
After saying that, it caused the women to smile. A few liked it but a few made wary smiles.
Fire: *sigh* I find it hard to think of these kids as demons when they are in human form, especially after hearing something like that. Demons normally have some feature that shows them as demons even in human form. Just be careful with high level foreigners, they don’t care if you're a goddess or the demon lord they will attack even with a fabricated truth.
Baal: Don’t worry we will. Would you like to stay the night here in the castle. The travel here must have been long.
Earth: I will stay the inn. Though I know you mean well this is still a dungeon with monsters walking about.
Lilian: Monsters can't survive in this floor because it was cleared of miasma. It leaves even the strongest monsters weak and our minions walk around at night keeping watch for these stragglers.
Fire: We still wish to stay out.
Lilian: If you say so.
Steph: I'll escort you. I've learned about a few shortcuts.
Mom smiled and lead them into the throne room. We both followed. She guided them to the side and I flew up to the crystal and touched it. Lilian does the same and we start pumping mana into it. At the center if the room a glowing circle begins to form both on the floor and the ceiling
Dark: Wha!! Magic Circles how do they know how to use it.
Steph: They don't, they are building a magic one use dungeon trap for us to teleport us to the entrance. They just need to give the order to the dungeon and feed the mana and the trap will form.
Water: Awesome! I've always wanted to see a living dungeon heart in action.
Steph: The core here is unique because they are boss together.
Dark: Perfect balance.
They looked in wonder as the portal was being made. Its a well known fact that magic circle formations are a lost art. Its said that magic circles create the most powerful spells even if its a simple fire ball it will have much greater power because it has a much more stable form because of the circle. What the five priestesses don't know is that the library here holds a few books on how to use it and they were found hidden away at the top floor of the library at the highest shelf of the bookshelf in the furthest corner. It was a lucky find because there was a mischievous little imp on my back while I was picking up books who pulled the books and the top shelf books fell down.
After I found the book I looked harder for them and found 3 other books that talk about it. One is an ancient spell book which has decayed a bit but it has a few spell formations in it. The second book is about how the circle is supposed to be made and the last one talks about possible uses that magic circles had during its time. At the time people could make efficient circles as small as their palms and could cast powerful spells like today and not even need incantations. Though large scale spells do need it no matter how good someone is. Teleportation spell for one that needs many requirements and even needs its own special circle that is physical constructed with ingredients like demon horns or angel feathers.
As the portal finishes it gives off a faint glow. Mom gestures forward and the six walk into the circle which shines brightly and the light from both circles makes a kind of tunnel before the six women disappear followed by the circles vanishing as well.
Lilian and I both land and collape on the ground breathing heavily.
Baal: Its *huff huff* finally *huff huff* over.
Lilian: *huff huff* Yay.
We just lay there letting our bodies recover. One back draw to using magic formations is the massive mana requirement. The proper way to use a teleportation portal is to make the circle and let it slowly absorb the mana from the air until its ready but here the needed to pump mana in so it would work at once.
Baal: How long *huff huff* before the cupids train *huff huff* enough to use them.
Lilian: Its going a bit *huff huff* slow because of *huff huff* the mana that is needed. They can *huff huff* set up the circle *huff huff* well enough to activate *huff* during combat but it takes a while before it activates.
Baal: Powerful magic but with a annoying balance for it.
Lilian: The people who made this magic were really powerful to use it so casually.
Baal: Ya but for now lets train along with our minions. This will be a good trump card for large scale battles.
Lilian: But I want to learn to use it on a regular basis.
Lilian gets up and with her hand aimed forward, a huge blue circle 4 meters in diameter appeared. She sighed as she saw the size of the circle. Because of the complexity of using magic circles you need to be very smart to make them smaller. It works like components in a complex puzzle. To say you need to be smart to make these smaller is an understatement. Sometimes you try making a circle you would encounter parts that contradict itself and you need to expand the circle to make it work making a simple spell a complex job to do. The cupids discovered a way to work around this. They work in units of up to 6 when making a circle. It lifts the burden and it allows for many to work at one time. They still have to use their arrows. They gather the mana and intentionally fire at the ground where the piece should be slowly building the circle while distracting the enemy while making them think they are missing. This allows for the circle to form and already have mana stored up since it will use the arrows to power the circle. This is the reason why a 6 man cupid unit can hunt a pack of wolves in the dungeon.
Imps developed a different method. Two of the 6 in their group distracts the prey while the other four stand on the four corners perfectly at 90o from each other. These four then build the circle on the ground in between all of them and once its done the distractors jump out of the circle and are the ones that supply the largest amount of mana to complete the spell. In all the effectiveness of the circle formations depends solely on team work for now.
I stand up on wobbly legs and walk out and into the bedchamber. I jump onto the bed with a loud thud and was instantly asleep. Watching from the side in the shadows was Lily who soon jumped next to me and went to sleep as well.
Rachet PoV
I’ve been the general of Lucifer’s demon army for hundreds of years. Since a demons lifespan can reach hundreds or even thousands I would be called fairly young only at 330 years old. After being exiled I thought I would have died from my wounds, my blocked mana system or just by some random human. Instead I find myself in a castle dungeon which had just been cleared and became the dungeon of Lucifers exiled son. How did I know he was his son. It was his scent. The boys scent says it all. His royal blood flows with mana like any gods would have just the same way his father does. He was a fool to exile this boy. Baal is far greater than those brats he kept. Any being that goes through the entire rank up will always be more powerful than those who do not. I was told Baal was only 2 and a half when I met him and at that moment he had just ranked up to higher demon and a tengu at that. For normal demons it would take at decades of hunting and killing their own and demon beasts to be able to rank up even once but the boy has gone from a lesser imp all the way to higher imp and into a tengu in a bit over 2 years. To say I wasn’t amazed at this boy is an understatement.
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Many would think that I would want to kill everyone that was related to Lucifer but I’m not like that. The boy has never known him and I follow the beliefs that a child is born baring no sins so what Lucifer did to me will be him paying the price not his children. I will serve Baal until my revenge comes.
Now as for what a royal demon general would do in a newly made dungeon with only lower demons inside. Easy I took all the minion creatures as well as both the bosses and I’m pounding their tiny weak bodies into shape. Baal and Lilian have great form but they still have to much wasted movements, random amounts of strength with each thrust or swing its all over the place.
I am really interested though in the fact that they discovered tomes on magic circles. It is a rare find and implementing that into their training, and my own as well, we began developing the magic technique once again.
At the moment I have taken all the minions with me outside of the city and into the a near by monster dungeon. I want to test the teamwork between the imps and cupids. In the half year that we have lived here they have learned a good bit of combat skills and magic. The cupids have learned more magic because of their nature. Its interesting to see how they use spell. They simply pull the string and choose the spell. The shaft then spins into existence, it is made of pure mana but it is the tip that contains the spell. It is in the shape of a small heart (which I find ridiculous) but the color changes depending on the spell. They mostly know basic level spells for most systems but what is interesting is how they use their spells in sync with the imps attacks. The most impressive is when they reached the boss room.
The dungeon was a normal goblin dungeon. 4 floors, first floor only goblins, easy enough with their superior strength the imps won without help. Floor 2 Goblins and Hobgoblins, needed magic support and some healing. Floor 3 was a floor with 4 elites. This room was somewhat hard for them. The elites weren’t a joke even with their mediocre equipment and weapons they were still fast and strong. They had what humans would call a balanced party. A powerful tank, a stealthy female, smart mage and tactical archer.
The battle here took quite long really first the elite female which I had to force to come along with the twin dagger wielding cupid rushed in to keep the tank from getting in the way. The archer then started to be a pain and fired out volleys of pinpoint shots towards the two. The two dodged by flying or ducking and blocking and finally reached the tank who was nearly double their size at the size of a young adult human with very well developed muscles. The imp swung both her sickles at the incoming rusty sword and was pushed back and had to start dodging arrows again.
In the back the archers started to fire at the group but all missed and hit the ground and slowly making a circle around the group. The mage started to fire magic towards them but his magic was hit by a few magic arrows. The arrows continued on flying missing all but the magic attacks that was fired at them. The imps had taken action as well and were being a pain in the ass for the archer getting in close forcing him to use a dagger he had hidden instead of his bow.
Jesse: Get back and Get ready.
Lax shouted and the imps moved back while magic cover was given. They gathered all around the outside of the circle that had formed with the arrows. They were all grinning which unnerved the gobs. Half a dozen of them crouched down and touched and arrow and began feeding magic and once it reached its peak the magic circle suddenly appeared below the enemies feet.
It was a bright red color and on the outer corner there were many inscriptions while on the inner circle there was a picture of a flame.
“””[Imp Fire]”””
All the Imps that were holding onto the arrows said the same thing and slammed their other hand down which held a small ball of imp fire.
From the center of the circle a large pillar of fire erupted for a few seconds and subsided. The area was filled with smoke. With an arrow with wind magic shot the smoke was cleared and it showed the group of elites all on the ground. The archer and mage were dead the tank was faced down breathing heavily while the stealth female hobgoblin was gone.
Suddenly the clash of swords appeared and when they looked at the source they saw jesse in a fight with the female. They were quickly exchanging blows with their daggers.
Suddenly the clash of swords appeared and when they looked at the source they saw jesse in a fight with the female. They were quickly exchanging blows with their daggers. It was kind of annoying to see that the hob was of par with her. I have been training them for so long so that it wouldn't be so equal but I calmed myself down after I told myself that the hob was a rank above the little elite.
Actually, looking close, I saw that the hob girl had a slight edge and she clearly noticed this because she was grinning but like every cocky person, their overconfidence comes back to bite them right in the ass. She let up her guard slightly to increase her attack and that opened up a few weak points which were totally abused by our elite.
During the whole confrontation none of the others attacked and were watching the fight for dominance. It seems they already understand the meaning of honoring a life and death one on one fight.
With a stab below her ribs and one on the elbow the hobs mobility was crippled and it didn't take much effort after that for her head to fly.
As she hit the floor all the elites bodies turned to dust leaving some hobgoblin skins, old ripped leather armor, which is weaker than what they have, and the mage dropped a staff.
Rachet: That went well. Seems as a group you guys can kill something a rank higher than yourselves. Now lets see how you do against an ogre.
I was grinning but the kids were all slightly pale hearing about their next opponent.
Now started the preparations for their next fight. All the imps pulled out a few stone blocks as big as their hands and sat down and started to sharpen their weapons. Three of them made small camps and were making some cooked goblin meat. The cupids began making tons of mana arrows and were putting them in a quiver on their back.
Rachet: Seems they get understand that pain is coming and are getting ready. I'm hoping to see if a few rank up.
After a nice break in the room repairing gear as best they can and preparing as much as possible they moved in. I stood at the front to stop any preemptive attack that would kill the brats before they can do anything.
And that is what happened. When I walked in I had a great sword fly at my head which I simply grabbed before it reached me. Looking at the hilt I saw the ogre. A normal orge would stand at nearly 3 meters tall with large dense muscles but this one was at 230 cm with lean and even dense muscles but normal green skin.
Rachet: A variant orge impressive.
Ogre: Demon, why do you invade my home.
Rachet: I'm training my lords soldiers.
He grinds his teeth which show this large lower jaw fangs. While holding the sword I spun and tossed him at the opposite side if the room. He landed on his feet very angry. The imps spread out around him while the cupids readied their arrows.
Ogre: What is this joke?!
Rachet: They are your opponents obviously.
Ogre: You bring brats to fight me while you watch!
Rachet: Stop talking crap, I'm far superior to you, you wouldn't even get me serious.
Ogre: Are you looki...
Before he could start a barrage of arrows landed around him. Then a new group of dark red tipped arrows were fired inside the circle. As soon as it landed on the ground a large red circle with a design with fire in the middle circle.
Ogre: What!!!!!
[Flame Bomb]
From the circle a dome of fire formed in the circle before compressing and exploding. It made an incredible shockwave and it was obvious that it did substantial damage.
As the smoke cleared the Ogre appeared. He was panting with his body completely burnt. His leather armor was totally destroyed and he had his arms crossed over his face to protect it. His green skin was now black or red in a few spots were all the skin had been burnt off.
Rachet: You should focus. Their young but their teamwork is solid.
Ogre: *huff* I'll *huff* kill you *huff* all!!!
As if a signal was sound the tiny army rushed him. The twin sword cupid and the five elite imps rushed at the front to tank for the others. The rest spread out around the back and flanks. The ogre's sword was launched far away and embedded into the wall so when the six elites reached him he used bare fists to hit all of them rapidly making them fly. What followed was a volley of spell arrows. Half of were attack magic while the rest were immobilization magic. He dodged effectively most of the paralysis arrows and punched away half of the attack arrows. The ret either hit him or missed. After the volley passed the imps sneaked in while the dust was still raised and began hit and run attacks.
As the dust settled the ogre appeared bloodied and battered. Above him his health showed at 30%. The imps even with hit and run didn't escape completely. Several took hits and were in critical condition being heals by a few cupids.
Ogre: *cough out blood* What scary brats. *cough*
Rachet: Shouldn't have been careless at the start.
He grinned and touched his chest before it started glowing. His health raised to 50% before it stopped.
Rachet: Impressive. How did you learn magic?
Ogre: I found a book on magic on some stupid adventurer. Thats how one of my friends became a mage.
His face became disfigured with anger and his blackened green skin turned red.
Ogre: I will kill you all for killing my family.
He began releasing an immense killing intent and his steam started to rise from his red body.
Rachet: Everyone retreat. He’s berserk I’ll deal with him. Provide support when possible.
The cupids quickly descended and scooped up an imp and flew near the wall while I walked up. The Ogres eyes had turned completely white and he was running on instinct.
When I was 5 meters from me he looked at me with those blank eyes and rushed forward. The Berserk state is something that can happen to any creature no matter their nature as long as they experience intense emotions. The effects are nearly always the same. Depending on the level of anger it will increase their strength. At this point he looks to have at least tripled his power. How do I know? He sent me flying into the wall. The punch hurt like hell but the beating Lucifer gave me hurt hundred times more. As I walk towards him I start releasing my own killing intent and infuse mana throughout my body to strengthen it. With it my miasma starts to leak and gives the appearance of black flames. Even as a mindless monster he flinches because his instincts tell him I’m a dangerous threat.
Out of fear he rushes me again and punches just like the first time, right in the gut. When his hand made contact their was a cracking sound from his hand. He howled in pain and held his arm which had broken from the rebound. Before he could react, I grabbed his head and tossed him up enough for me to punch his gut and delivered a punch which imbedded him in the wall. (like this >)
The red skin died down back to green and above his head his life was at 5%.
Rachet: sturdy bastard ain’t ya. Hey finish him off.
I direct the minions to finish their job and they launched a new magic circle formation into the wall. With one more explosion the ogre finally died.
You have cleared the Goblin dungeon.
Seeing this I confirmed they were all dead and began to check with the minions their levels.
The 2 strongest elite from each race reached level 100 below them the other elites were in the mid 90s. The rest ranged from high 80s to low 60s.
Rachet: Alright go search all the floors and map the place out. If you find any adult goblins kill it. Any infants you bring in. Mortal world troops are easier to train than others, so it would be useful to have a few species of them under us. Especially a very adaptive species like goblins.
After they all left I looked around the boss chamber. The place had many scorch marks because of the magic. I closed my eyes and spread out my mana and from it I started feeling around and found what I wanted. I walked to the right corner of the room and as I reached the spot I wanted I pulled back my fist and punched the wall revealing a further cave within. It was dark with no torches or anything inside but since I was used to the dark I wasn’t fazed and walked right in.
Inside I found just what we were looking for. Cowering in fear were child goblins and babies. From the head count I could see I would guess around 20 infant babies that have yet to undergo the speed growth into larger goblins while their are still some 30 child goblins who are at the size of a 1 year old, which is a step before becoming strong enough to leave. They should reach adult size tomorrow from the looks of it. Monsters are different from demons and angels. They have a limit to their growth depending on when you start training them. If you take a 10 year old goblin and train him he could possibly turn into a hobgoblin but would definitely bottleneck at level 100 and not move forward. On the other hand if you take a baby goblin and train him from day 1 and lets say you make him walk down the path of a tank, as foreigners call them. He will grow into a powerful ogre easily within the first year if you pit him against many powerful foes and always make him hunt stronger monster. Even then he could still grow stronger.
I wait at the door watching the goblin brats while the imps and others check upstairs. They return after an hour of searching with no obvious success though there was no need. I order 20 cupids to take the babies while the remaining minions take the rest. Our destination was back to the castle barracks where was just outside on the castle grounds. I cant wait to have these goblins trained into ogres. They would be the perfect guard units to protect the town. I will need to send quite a few of them to the library and to learn magic and archery. So we need to raid maybe 2 more goblin dungeons before we have a good number. I’ll have that brute woman take the minions tomorrow after the elites rank up.
We reach the castle quickly since it was nearby with our catch. The citizens looked curiously at us bringing in the goblins. I explained what was happening so as not to worry them but contrary to my expectations they were happy and some children from the town even came up and were asking to join in as well. Looking at their parents, who were smiling showed that they would allow it. Most of them were from various demon races ranging from Naga, Harpy and even Gargoyles. The parents were all peaceful people and not fighters so they didn't have the same strong look a normal demon would have, at least in the underworld where everyone needs to know how to fight. Most of these species are higher demons but I have already worked with many of them so I know how to go about training most of them. I just need to discover family traits and see how much the power has weakened from the underworld ones. This will definitely take a while to return the power to these demons which slowly escaped them after so long without fighting. I can’t wait.