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Maybe Half an Hour Ago

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After gathering all the Skeletons on the Third Floor, leaving enough for the Mimic to protect the lower levels, Sammy went up using the Skeleton’s Dungeon. There were some adventurers on the First Floor that were surprised by the Skeletons walking away and became afraid when they saw the incoming army.

Many tried to flee, but Archers and Gunners peppered their backs, making it to where they wouldn’t rise ever again…alive, that is.

No one was able to prepare for the onslaught of the Skeletons that appeared and it didn’t take long for one of the only five Ability Users to appear. Without sparing a glance, Sammy left twenty Level 2 Skeletons to swarm the User but leave him alive. He needed the Skills, after all.

Upon reaching the center of the little village the Clan had set up, Sammy noticed the several dozens of people tied up. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find the two friendly Ability Users. One of them was the pretty girl, so he kind of expected to find her at the leader’s tent. However, the other was a young man that tried drinking a Slime to see if it held water.

He became a Gelman, a monster Slime with a Human’s appearance. Fortunately, he earned his reward, so he had become something like a Variant after he died. The reward came from being the first in the Region, so Sammy had sent several Slimes to Andrew who made some more Gelmen, capable of retaining their memories. People payed a lot of GP to lose their Humanity.

But that was beside the point. Even if they didn’t become Human again, they still turned into Gelmen, so Sammy sent some Slimes to enter the bodies of the Clan members and watched them die by drowning. They flopped on the ground, mercilessly punching their stomachs and scratching at their throats to remove the foreign objects.

He turned away to find the leader’s tent, but noticed three more Ability Users. In the background, Sammy noticed a puddle of ooze, the same color as a Gelman. So they killed him. Then there must be a sixth Ability User here.

Sammy was furious, not even paying attention to see which Users had which Skills. He sent the first one with the hacked off limbs to the Mimic to feed on while he had these three surrounded in an instant.

The Guardians removed all escape plans and the fear could be seen on the Users’ faces. They turned into silent screams as several Level 2 Skeletons were directly promoted to Level 3s. Their bodies became red and their presences became stronger.

Sammy set out once more to find the tent, ignoring the Level 1s and 0s who were running around like chicken with their heads cut off. Not even five minutes had passed when a bright light illuminated the day time sky. It was a bright orange ball that spanned several yards across and emitted heat that one could feel from across a football field.

So they have a Fire Mage.

The Guardians got in place and stopped the small sun at the cost of two Level 2s. It wasn’t much, but it still left Sammy with a pain in his empty chest. The Guardians knelt down, revealing the line of Archers and Gunners interspaced between each other. They released their shots at the Mage who couldn’t deflect all of them.

He died easily, one Gunner becoming a Skeletal Flame Shooter, a turret wielding Skeleton with red bones and shot wave after wave of flame bullets. Looks like Sammy found his boss for the Fourth Floor. Now the Mimic could move into another Dungeon and leave him alone.

The Mimic was now Level 5 after killing that other Ability User, after all. There was an alert and everything. Of course, if he had thought about it, Sammy would have realized that he himself was technically Level 6 by now. He had his own Area and several Ability Users under his command!

He was now on the same Level as Andrew!

Well, not really. Andrew was close to having his fifth Region and Sammy hadn’t but this small Area. Also, he was technically a subordinate to Andrew…

But that was beside the point! For right there, standing behind the fallen corpse of the mage, stood the Clan leader! He had a torn shirt and looked like he suffered from bad self-esteem, with his trashy appearance and terrible choice in clothing. A wife beater and boxers made him look like a sleaze bag.

Cowering behind him was a shivering girl with a ripped outfit. Thankfully, she was still dressed, but Sammy wasn’t even paying attention. He pointed at the leader and the Flame Shooter unleashed his Fire Wave Skill. It couldn’t use magic, but this was the Skill it had earned.

All of the magic bullets were of the fire element and burned everything around the leader to ash, cornering him and driving him into a small circular disc on the floor.

The next moment, two rows of small metal spikes clamped down on the leader’s leg like a bear trap, the teeth biting clean through his muscles and bones, making him fall to the ground.

He had gotten surprised by the flame and took a misstep, placing his foot directly on the trap he laid! How stupid! Well, Dani had actually moved it there using her plants, but that wasn’t found out til later.

Much to both the leader’s and Sammy’s surprise, the girl rushed forward, her tearful face changing into a face full of hatred. She sent a green whip at the man and it coiled around his neck, suffocating him to death. Tears continued to stream down her face while she did so.

Aware that the trouble was over, Sammy began to go back to the Dungeon, but was stopped by the crying girl.

“Why?! Why are you leaving?!”

“Because I have a job to do.”

He didn’t really want to listen to her because she was too naïve. She had spent her time using her plant Skill to help raise the crops nearby, but she never killed unless she wanted to eat. So she never went passed the First Floor.

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“Can you help us?”

“How? Help you to defeat me? No way. Get stronger by yourself.”

He had conveniently forgotten when he himself relied on others. Oh how easy it was when you had power, wasn’t it? But, he had a point. She did have power, she just chose not to use it. Because of her lack of actions, several people died, including her own mother and father who tried to protect her.

She was filled with regret at her actions and desired to change that.

Sammy was busy communicating into the monitor, but when he finished, he continued talking to Dani.

“The Lich Lord desires your services. Take some people with you and leave. This Mimic will go with you.”

He promptly turned back around and left for the Dungeon, letting the red Skeleton with white clothes lead the way, guarded by ten Level 2 white Skeletons. The journey was quiet and uneventful, but upon arriving, the people were welcomed and gifted several GP to get started with their new lives.

They could now survive!

But Dani’s job wasn’t finished. She used to have the Florist Job, helping plants grow quickly, but now she could have the Trap Maker Job. This came from the previous Clan leader’s Trap Creation Skill. Using the available materials, she could instantly craft a trap or mechanism. And combining that with the Job, her Traps would become even stronger.

She was given the Southwest Tower and used her Green Thumb Skill and Trap Creation Skill to make living traps that were placed all around the Castle and even surrounding the Capital. She spent her days easily and without troubles, getting to know the other Tower Keepers who happened to be a young boy that acted and dressed like a girl and a beautiful mature lady that helped keep the Prison running smoothly.

It was on one of these days that the three of them…no, make that six, since Andrew’s mistress Rebecca and her daughter and adopted daughter joined them, talked.

Their topic of conversation today was who they liked.

It was obvious that Rebecca liked Andrew, much more than he actually knew, and Sarah was too young to understand. However, they all thought Lucy would have started to like Jeremy, the leader of the smaller Clan, but were surprised to hear that she liked Andrew, too. They just chalked it up to admiration, not actual feelings of love.

Whenever Jane talked, it was always about Spot. She was obsessed, they quickly realized, so they shut her up before she could continue.

“Dani, do you have someone you like?”

She thought long and hard, but could not come up with an idea. But, an image of a steadfast warrior who could easily sweep across the place, leaving nothing but ruins flashed in her mind. She was curious, seeing as how she never really got to know the Skeleton Commander back at the Dungeon, but she was disturbed even more so.

Why an Undead?!

“No, I don’t think so,” she said, shaking her head adamantly.

“Oh, for shame. Maybe, I can tell you about me and Spot, it may”

“No.”

“Aww…”

Soon, Sam spoke up.

“Is no one going to ask me?”

Jane joked,

“There’s a guy you like?”

“Yep!”

The adults in the room strangely looked at each other, afraid to continue the conversation. The tomgirl looked to the side and saw his personal bodyguard, an average man with an average dagger strapped to his side. The man rolled his eyes and Sam stuck his tongue out.

The ladies were all aghast with shock, but soon relaxed when Sam reached over and gave the figure next to him a big hug and kiss on the cheek.

“I like Cammie!” he cried.

“You do know that he’s mine, right?”

The man in the back couldn’t help but retort.

“Poo! He will be mine eventually!”

“Yeah right, good luck.”

A small smile flickered across the man’s face before he stood at attention, mimicking the Dolls that lined the room.

The ladies in the room couldn’t help but awkwardly chuckle to each other…