Chapter 40: A Time Honored Tradition
With Zorin sitting on the floor staring at her regenerating arm stubs, my minions and I went to work.
Facilities, facilities, facilities, it was time to search for them.
Slimey quickly gathered the manacyst crystals that came out of the mana heart, storing them in her body whilst Buttstalion went to work healing Zorin.
The stallion lowered its head, its horn touching Zorin to transfer healing mana into the reptile.
I contacted Ayaka, requesting a sit… sitrep? What's a sitrep? Requesting an update on the Dragon Slayer situation.
“All Gooooooooowd.” A response from the giant arachnid that was almost drunk.
Huh? Is everything ok?
“Y-yup! All good Lord Hiro!”
Hmmmm. Suspicious. But for now I would let it go until the ransacking was complete. Oh, and finding Zorin's cut off hands that were laying around somewhere.
Those were important too.
Slimey duplicated herself, allowing the main body to walk me around the statue garden as the other two halves roamed around in search of loot.
We spent some time in the garden, mostly me cataloging each and every petrified monster.
Wyverns.
Minotaurs.
Gorgonus.
Kobolds and humanoids of various species.
All of these boss monsters…
If I could cure and dominate them…
An army in waiting. But now that begged the question, why were there a bunch of boss monsters frozen down here?
My attention turned to the shattered demoness. Maybe a falling out? It wasn't unheard of for demons to fight each other. Killing each other was practically all they did. At least… until Barborall showed up.
Then they became a unified front, the demons once mindless in their bloodshed evolving into a hierarchy that gave their loyalty to the one they called Lord.
Hundreds of demons bent the knee, answering his summons, the Demon Lord Barborall amassed an army unlike any seen in this world.
Maybe after my defeat there was a coup? An uprising now that there was no Hero to stand against the darkness. No foe or army left to challenge so they descended upon each other?
Speculation.
That's all I had.
But… maybe I could find some clues with Alexios?
If I could cure him then I'd have all the answers I'd need. Of course only if his mind was still intact.
“Your eminence.” Slimey Number 2 and 3 said, bowing before the minified Slimey that held me in its arms.
“Speak.” Slimey One said, almost as if a separate entity.
“We've located the facilities.”
The trio of slimes merged their forms, shifting back into the tall Slimey.
Before long, we were in a tunnel leading to a series of chambers. Chambers filled with deflated organic material and manacysts of various types.
Unlike my blue crystal cultures, there were greenish ones surrounded by beds of grass. Anima mana no doubt, a good addition to my collection that would hopefully expanded my building options.
Collect it. Collect it all. I ordered, Slimey quickly doing as commanded with a snoozing Zorin being dragged over by Buttstalion for her storage device.
We spent a few more minutes scouting the chambers and garden, finding nothing else of use besides a few Manacyst clusters and a colorful stone I thought was neat.
There wasn't anything special about the rock, it was just colorful. Oh and really smooth.
After checking with the sleeping Zorin whose hands had been re-attached, my army and I returned home, this time as successful conquerors with spoils of war.
****
Entering into my throne room, I could see Ayaka leaned over in a corner, the massive arachnid’s face turned away to face the wall with her head buried.
Ayaka?
*Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck.*
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Suddenly a sucking sound struck my senses, my core flaring up with anger as Ayaka ignored my calls for her attention.
Ayaka!
The Juggernaut at its side backed away as Slimey and I made our way to the massive arachnid sucking on the Dragon Slayer.
What the?!
More specifically, the spider monarch was sucking up the black ick that coated the sword, black mold that had somehow appeared and grown on the legendary weapon.
But more than that, THE ENEMY CORE WAS STILL FUNCTIONAL!
The blade was shifting violently, still attempting to move with Ayaka preventing it from doing so with her iron grip.
*Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck.*
Great.
Well, at least now we can try and pry the core off the sword.
I sent Slimey ahead, my holy slime attempting to wrap around the dungeon core to detach it from the blade, however, there was just one problem.
AYAKA KEPT TURNING AWAY!
BAD AYAKA! GIVE US THE CORE!!
*SUCKSUCKSUCKSUCK!*
Ayaka began suck more violently, spinning in circles to flee Slimey with the giant arachnid more akin to a dog with something in its mouth it didn't want to get rid of.
Ayaka!
*Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck.*
ARRRRRRRGH!
*Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck.*
Ayaka! I am ordering you to give me that core!
The arachnid shuddered, momentarily stopping, its body vibrating violently but still managing to turn away but not before hitting Slimey over the head with the massive blade.
*Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck.*
That's it! Everyone out here now!
I summoned all forty of minions. Slimes, spiders, skeletons, and goblins, my entire army coming out with one order on their mind.
SEIZE HER!
On my command, every monster I had began a charge against the mighty monarch, my goblins with their nets and ropes, my spiders with their silk, and even my tiny slimes that went to work binding her legs.
“NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Ayaka screamed, attempting to buck and run. Fortunately, her Juggernaut stepped up, the big armored bug stepping atop his queen to pin her down with its armored appendages.
“TRAIIITRRRR!!!” Ayaka screamed as every monster descended upon her.
*****
*Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck.*
After safely extracting the core, I left Ayaka to suck on the sword. The mighty monarch in a corner laying down with the Legendary weapon stuck in its mouth.
With the Dungeon Core in hand, Slimey immediately began to absorb it, gaining a new ability along with experience.
[Ability Obtained: Telekinesis LvL 1]
Nice.
With that taken care of, I would let Ayaka suck on the sword for the time being, something to calm her down whilst I began dividing the loot of my latest venture.
Zorin emptied the storage device, dropping the crystals beside my own mana heart. The gems suddenly turned into vapor, entering my beating heart and adding to my stores.
[Dungeon Management Panel]
[Active Dungeon Heart LvL 1]:
HP: 1000/1000
Manacyst: 370
Anima: 296
Holy: 9
Dark: 55
[Manacyst Production]
Dark Manacyst Culture: 2/2(2/24H)
Quite a hefty haul. I think?
Dark Gestator REQ: 100 Dark Manacyst.
Graveyard REQ: 50 Dark Manacyst, 10 Anima Manacyst.
Guardian Room REQ: Any Manacyst 50.
Composter REQ: 20 Dark Manacyst.
Lots of anima manacyst but not enough dark. I suppose I could create a graveyard to bury and summon new minions.
Hmm. Guardian room perhaps? Would make sense given that Ayaka was permanently stuck in this room and I had no use for the surplus yet. Sadly despite having all this anima manacyst I couldn’t do anything with it.
Yeah, Guardian Room.
I selected the option, my consciousness lifting from my shell with my point of view shifting to a bird’s eye view of my territory.
Looking at my domain, there were a few areas and chambers I could select that were a part of Ayaka's original layout of her nest.
From above, I could see a few of my goblins using one chamber as a room, whilst my spiders used another.
Interesting… I wonder if I could eventually create living quarters for the goblins. Or workshops for that matter. Maybe have Alexios start a forge and arm my goblins and skeletons hehehe.
In due time Hiro, in due time!
Selecting my throne room as the Guardian Room, a visible change occurred almost instantaneously in the chamber.
At least, it felt that way. Unlike the other chambers in my domain that were highlighted blue, this was now yellow with an influx of mana filling the air. There wasn't a visible shift, but rather an intangible one as unseen mana began to flood into the room.
[Guardian Selection Available!]
Of course I choose Ayaka, the bug shifting uncomfortably in place with no other noticeable change.
Hmm. That's it? Bit disappoint-
[Skill Obtained: Summon Guardian.
Once Per Day, you may Summon a Designated Guardian to your location.]
Ha… haha. AHAHAHAHA-ehem…
The possibilities! OH THE POSSIBILITIES!
[Quest Complete!]
[Reward: 1000 EXP]
[New Quest Available!]
[Level Up Mana Heart!]
A new option appeared on my dungeon menu, an option to level up my mana heart that would require a thousand Manacyst.
Guess I need those composters.
I built them in a chamber once used to house Ayaka's spider eggs, now, a cave holding all the carcasses of my enemies including a certain squirming dryad.
Pits opened up in the earth, dark crystalline filled holes that reeked of undeath.
Moving on, I had my goblins throw all of the left over bodies of dead goblins and spiders, until the composters listed as full with a [Processing] symbol above them.
Alright. So…. What's next on my to do list.
Locate Treasury.
Dominate the Dryad.
Train goblins.
Take the Dragon Slayer from Ayaka.
Find a cure for Alexios.
Find a cure for the monster garden.
Dominate the monsters in the garden.
Clean out the sewers and surrounding area.
Breach the surface of the Demon Lord’s castle.
Dominate the world.
Fight God.
Not exactly in that order but this was what I had on my shortlist.
A rubber duck and his monster army versus the world.
I turned my attention to the injured dryad squirming around, the monster being held down and tickled by my goblins who found it fun to torture it.
Slimey. Bring the dryad before me, it's time we welcome another into our fold.
The slime changed colors to an odd orange, vibrating slightly before setting me up on my throne and doing as ordered.