In an unknown part of the world, a figure walked on the surface of the sea, with the bright sun pounding brightly down onto them. If one looked closely, they would realize that this person resembled a human being of unknown gender. Wearing a hooded robe which shaded all but the bottom half of their face, the being walked along the water at a leisurely pace.
Suddenly, the being stopped before punching the space right before it. This punch moved extremely quickly and powerfully, the force from the punch caused wind to fly out with a terrifying force, and the calm waves were blasted away. A crack appeared and spread in front of the figure, matching the size of its body. The figure used both of its hands to grab at the crack, and with one motion, it tore the crack open with its bare hands. Within the crack, a huge landmass could be seen in the space where there was originally nothing but water. With a smirk on its face, the figure leapt into the crack and ran over the water towards the landmass. Behind it, the crack slowly closed before fading away, leaving behind nothing but the calm sea…
In the space hidden by the crack, the being took a deep breath of air before pushing off from the water’s surface, flying high up into the sky, becoming a little dot if one were to see it from the ground. Flying through the air, the being looked down on the landmass before it. The land before it was absolutely massive; it was the size of a continent. A continent which had disappeared from Thunberg an unknown time ago. Only the figure which broke in and a couple others knew of the true nature of this continent; it was a monster world without an entrance. Additionally, it also served as the entrance to Gehennia’s Dungeon, and both the Dungeon and the Monster World itself were parts of Gehennia’s God Territory due to certain circumstances.
The figure flew over the entirety of the continent within a few seconds; traveling from the South of the continent all the way to the North, where the entrance to the Dungeon lay. While flying, the figure had noticed multiple human villages and even a large city in the southern plains of the continent. The strongest of these humans was a mere (B) ranked individual who ruled over the city. Past the plains were massive sprawling forests crawling with monsters which reached up to the (A) rank; though those were few in number. In the Northern mountain ranges, (A) ranked monsters were slightly more common. Past the mountains was a small valley nestled within more plains and fields of grass. Large crystals were sticking out at random within the valley and surrounding plains, with varieties of monsters fighting endlessly within the fields.
The giant crystals were an incredibly rare type of monster known as Crystal Overlord. Crystal Overlords were a type of monster which couldn’t evolve unlike other species, meaning that they continuously grew in power over time rather than changing their form or body structures. Normally, only monsters which had reached the end of their evolution line, monsters which went unevolved by dungeons, or ancient monsters would grow this way, but in some cases like the crystal overlord, it was natural for them to grow in power rather than evolve.
Possessing skills which likened them to Dungeons; their crystalline body was a core which could defend itself through use of magic. The Crystal Overlords had a skill which allowed them to summon any monster (of a lower or equal rank) which they had directly or indirectly killed from their crystalline body. In addition, the Crystal Overlords could corrupt an area by burying their bodies partially into the ground, allowing them to spread their influence and summon monsters from their influenced area rather than just their main body. Crystal Overlords would be considered a disaster on par with an uncontrolled and aggressive Dungeon, or a Demon Lord to most intelligent races in the outside world, but here, the crystal overlords varying from (F-) to (A+) rank fought aggressively against each other. For Gehennia to raise these crystal overlords required a fair amount of time and some effort in order to raise them to a usable rank due to the fact that they could only be summoned at (F-) rank and weren’t evolvable.
Seeing the crystal overlords duking it out with their summoned monsters in the field below caused a wry yet angry smile to fill the face of the hooded figure. Spotting the entrance to Gehennia’s dungeon within the field, the hooded figure swooped down towards the entrance. The dungeon’s entrance looked like an ancient temple, surrounded by stone ruins, shattered walls and hardy plants. A crystal overlord roughly 20 feet long was half-buried within the roof of the temple, emitting (S) rank fluctuations of power whilst its monsters patrolled the ruins. These monsters could be considered highly dangerous to those of the outside world; sabretooth slaughter apes, rainbow plumage tigers, steel-scale pythons, and other monsters calmly roamed in these ruins where no other crystal overlord dared to act. The hooded figure smirked before landing before the crystal overlord.
“Gehennia…still wanting to play around while your kin are struggling to survive in the outside world?” The figure’s face twisted in anger as it knocked its knuckles against the (S) ranked crystal overlord.
A crack appeared and traveled throughout the crystal overlord’s body in a moment, and the monster’s aura weakened considerably as its power and life faded away. The monsters the crystal overlord controlled sprung to action, surrounding the crystal over lord in an attempt to protect both it and the temple, but by the time they arrived, the figure was long gone.
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The figure was currently on the first floor of Gehennia’s dungeon, floating in the air as it gazed down on a large expanse beneath it. The expanse was of a ridiculous size, extending for miles off into the distances, dotted with sharp rocks and pillars of stone lit up by the scattered crystals on the ceiling. Of course, this figure could easily cross the distance within a moment, but it had stopped due to experiencing something weird. Large piles of white, chalky powder were scattered randomly along the floor. In addition to this, no monsters wandered on this floor.
“What happened here? If I recall, this place was inhabited by the Ancient Tooth Demon…”
An Ancient Tooth Demon was a type of monster which formed after a Demon Duke possessed a human of sufficient talent. Generally, demons, angels and spirits could not be considered monsters due to the realms which they lived in, but certain circumstances could lead to the creation of monsters using either of the three. For instance, a demon possessing another creature would turn the creature into a monster regardless of whether or not it was originally a monster. The same was certain for anything blessed by an angel. Spirits were different, as they could reside within the body without creating a monster. In this case, spirit-type monsters formed due to merging of multiple spirits over time, or the spirit taking complete possession over an inanimate object or corpse. Most of the existences controlled by angels and demons were influenced by the rank of their controller, while spirits experienced jumps in power with each evolution after becoming a monster. Thus, the Ancient Tooth Demon created after possession by a Demon Duke was undoubtedly strong, further proven by the fact that it was the leader of Gehennia’s first floor.
In addition to its frightening stamina and durability, the Ancient Tooth Demons had an ability to create tooth demons from coming into contact with teeth of any species. These tooth demons were created at a set rank depending on the type of tooth they were formed from. For instance, the molars and premolars of any species would create a (B) ranked monster called Baby Tooth Demon. The incisors of any creature would form the (A) ranked Adult Tooth Demon. The canines of any creature would produce a Fang Demon at the (S) rank. A jaw with all of its teeth intact produced an (SS) rank Jaw Demon while both intact jaws created the (SSS) ranked Maw Demon. This terrifying ability to create powerful monsters just by coming into contact with teeth made the Ancient Tooth Demon a hellish existence of the (X) rank.
And that’s why the figure was surprised; those piles of white dust on the ground represented a tooth demon which had been created by the Ancient Tooth Demon. When they died, they fell apart into white, chalky tooth powder. Although the tooth demons created by an Ancient Tooth Demon did not have any magical prowess or skills, their bodies were extremely powerful and durable for their rank. There were undoubtedly a huge amount of the higher quality Fang, Jaw, and Maw Demons which had been turned to piles of powder on this floor. The figure’s anger mildly abated, yet its irritation rose.
Even if you were attacked you couldn’t extend a bit of your consciousness?
Arriving at the entrance to the second floor with its speed, the figure looked down. Right below it, the Ancient Tooth Demon lay. Its body gave off a pearly hue in the pale light of the glowing crystals on the cave’s ceiling, and its eyes were closed. Multiple cracks lined up its pearl-like body, originating from a sword wound which went right through its torso. Both of its beautiful horns were shattered, and its long claws were dulled. Although faint life could be felt from the demon, the figure pondered for a bit before moving on.
The second floor. It was a huge open expanse several times the size of the first floor, except large forests and fields of grasses grew. An orb of light lit up the floor, similarly to the sun. Large mammals such as cows, horses, and bison wandered in massive herds while grazing. The figure looked around and pondered. This floor was operating normally, unlike the first floor. This meant the attacker failed here, was still on this floor, or was that specific God.
Suddenly, the ground erupted amongst a herd of cattle, causing the large animals to run away in shock. A huge pair of mandibles burst forth, snatching a fleeing calf, and the head of the aggressor appeared as the monster pushed itself out of the hole it had created. A World-Turning Ant. Just a single one of these ants was 20 feet long and possessed a powerful exoskeleton. Although the ant was a mere (A+) rank monster despite its size, the ants always came in groups.
As if to confirm the figure’s thoughts, the bodies of several other ants pushed their way out of the hole, along with the 30-foot long body of a World-Turning Soldier Ant. Calmly striding forward, they picked off several of the herd before dragging them down into the depths of their nest. The figure sighed as it watched them go. Undoubtedly, there were hundreds of thousands more of these ants lurking underground. It was unreasonable for a normal attacker to push through all of those ants, but the figure now had suspicions.
Let’s move on then. I will check…the third and fourth floor. The figure thought to itself as its hands moved and it activated a skill. [Fool the World].
With a snap of its fingers, the figure’s shape twisted and disappeared.
After I see the next few floors, I can find out what happened. Gehennia, you still owe both me and this core an apology.
As the figure blurred out of existence, its hand grabbed at a sack within its robe. Within this sack contained the cracked core of a certain dungeon within the Bleak Forest on Luren Sub-continent.