Bob stood alone in a vast expanse of sand. From his feet to the horizon, it was all flat desert, not even a sand dune was in sight. At that moment, he understood just how random the teleportation point in a Broken Dungeon is.
"Tsch, that Calamity Wolf could be anywhere. If this Broken Dungeon is a large, or even extra large one as well, that's the size of a small country....My own Dungeon was only an extra small one, the lowest of the low, and that was already a fair size!"
Bob closed his eyes and lifted his head up slightly, his nose exposed to the slight wind that permeated the desert. Utilising his sense of smell, his hearing, and his innate predatory instincts, he delved into his search.
"I can't find a single trace of that barbecued monster, but....I can smell the faint smell of plant life in that direction. It's ridiculously faint though"
Bob faced the direction he sensed the plant life and set about walking. He was unsure how far it was, and with the large sun in the clear sky that was beating down incessantly, he wanted to conserve energy.
At first as he set out walking, his feet sank into the sand with every step, but pretty soon he got the knack of it. Distribution his weight across his entire foot, and also using his internal energy to coat his feet, he was able to walk unimpeded. The loose sand particles clumped together under the force of his energy, proving just strong enough for his steps.
His travelling became a lot smoother, with his progress going twice as fast, just from that little trick.
Within a snowy forest, a small hill of loosely packed snow had a strange, human shaped hole in it. A few small rabbits with pure white fur, and four eyes were close by. Tentatively they approached the snow pile, after being scared by the sudden appearance of a person. The little bundles of fur looked exceedingly cute, with their four eyes being pink in colour, they were a girls dream pet.
Well, most girls.
The pile of snow suddenly exploded outwards, revealing a woman in jet black clothing, with matching raven hair. Not a speck of snow marred her clothes. A strange aura of heat emanated from her, completely eradicating the bone chilling temperatures.
The snow white, fluffy rabbits saw her and locked eyes. Acting as cutely as possible, they hopped closer to her while making adorable noises.
"Pyon, pyon!!.....Pyon, pyon!!"
Henrietta did not budge, her look just as neutral as it was before.
"Do you think I'm a first time idiot?"
The moment Henrietta uttered those words, the rabbits and their actions completely changed. Their pink eyes turned blood red, with accompanying tears of blood staining their fur. A horrendously murderous aura emanated from them, and their bodies started to change. They grew rapidly, their front paws turning long and muscly, with razor sharp claws on them, and their back legs became strong and stout with large feet. Their bodies grew thick like a tree trunk, and changed in posture to one of an upright mammal.
Their bodies ultimately resembled a cross between an abominable snowman, and the Calamity Wolf......Or well it should have been that way, if they were given time to mutate.
"Like I'd give you enough time"
The rabbits were not even half way through their transformation, before they were massacred. Henrietta smirked as she held out her hand.
At the same time, the rabbits all self combusted, shooting up in flames. Their once pristine white fur was now black and burnt, but only for a moment. It was only a matter of seconds later before their bodies turned into piles of ash, not even leaving their bones behind.
"Your weakness was fire and you bumped into me, that's some shit luck right there"
Ignoring the black patches that surrounded her, Henrietta raised her hand up and looked at her watch, before speaking into it.
"Show time dilation and find my Red"
The screen on the watch changed to show a series of numbers, before it changed to a map showing her location, represented by a gold dot. At one edge of the map, a faint red dot could be seen, pulsing every few seconds.
"Hmmmm, for every 10 days in here, it's 1 day outside.....This could actually be a boon for Red"
The watch that Henrietta was using was exceedingly rare and valuable, the same as the other small technological devices that she wore. The common notion of the populace was that no technology can be used within a Dungeon, as passing through the portal renders them all devoid of function. The Adventurers in the know however, knew that technology created with resources from within the Dungeon, could be used.
Although, that was just speculation.
For the top Adventurers though, each of them possessed several pieces of technology created solely from resources from within a Dungeon. Many different governmental, and private companies claimed stake to Dungeons, harvesting them for resources. It is even said that a microprocessor company, created a whole factory within a Dungeon, creating their products on site.
Henrietta faced the direction of Bob and started walking. Her figure flickered in and out of reality, before it vanished from all senses.
Within a luxurious looking palace, its main hall was not any less exquisite. With its large size, the sides were supported with rows of ornately carved pillars. High above were numerous chandeliers, created from rare crystals that refracted the light from central light emitting ones. A deep red strip of carpet led from the entryway, directly up to a large elevated platform.
Sat atop a domineering throne, a monster that resembled the Calamity Wolf, only with some highly visible differences, looked on coldly. The monster was significantly larger, with dense muscles and sharp claws that gave you the feeling of imminent death, from only just staring at them. To his rear were two large black wings, tucked tightly up to his back. Nestled neatly between its eyes were a third, all three of them an icy blue, and just as cold. A pair of dark blue horns sat atop his head, finishing off his imposing figure.
The monsters appearance was utterly demonic, and just as terror inducing.
Struggling to cling to life, was the very same Calamity Wolf that Bob had been chasing, but it was now kneeling on the floor and trembling. Its injuries had not been healed yet, with only the bare minimum been done to maintain its life, until it could finish its report.
A deep and growling voice came from the monster on the throne.
"You had one job, to create a base and deal with the radiation, until it is safe enough to inhabit......And how did you go about this, by propagating the inferior monsters in hopes they would absorb all the radiation! Ha Ha!....You really are a fool! That was the solution you came up with to the problem!?....IDIOT!......And now you come back a defeated mutt......Now speak, trash!"
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All the while the monster was speaking, the Calamity Wolfs vigour was draining rapidly. Within his mind, he cursed at the monster to hurry up and finish, as he was literally dying. Yet, all he could do was stay silent. Now it was his turn to talk, he let out the tension in his body and spoke.
"My Liege, please forgive this humble dog. I was attacked, everyone, all of them were wiped out! I only just survived, but......He came, he followed me through the portal!...My Liege, he's dangerous...He's coming!"
With the release of the tension in his body, and the air being expelled out of his lungs while he spoke, his body finally hit its limits. He fell flat on his face, barely a breath of life still present.
The monster on the throne looked incredulous, showing no concern for the state of his servant.
"What!? He? A Human killed everyone, just a solitary man!?...How brave of him to enter my territory.......Send out a message that a Human male has entered my Dungeon. I want him dead! Who ever brings me his head will be rewarded!"
Once the final word fell, immediately several monsters from within the shadows of the pillars, left to carry out his orders. Two Calamity Wolves that stood with a stooped posture, bore obvious signs of age, and sported many old injuries, approached the near dead monster on the floor.
One of them presented a green crystal and crushed it above the injured monster. A swirling mass of green energy then was absorbed by the injured one, bringing his breathing back up to that of a heavily injured person, instead of a dead one.
The other monster turned and respectably spoke to his master.
"My liege, his condition is now stable. He will be in a coma for a while whilst he heals"
The monster atop the throne paid him no heed, only answering by waving his hand lazily.
The two elderly Calamity Wolves politely bowed to the throne, then dragged the injured party off by his arms.
After traversing the seemingly never ending sand plains, Bob finally saw signs of plant life far off. Right at the edge of his vision, he could barely make out the colour green. The sight made him pick up his pace.
"Ahhh finally! I didn't see any monsters either"
At that precise moment, the ground underfoot began to rumble. Only a slight vibration was felt at first, before the intensity increased ten fold, and was strangely localised to directly beneath himself.
"Tsch, me and my big mouth......Well, it I can just ask this guy for directions, he shouldn't be being controlled by the Core......Eurghhh actually, if he's on the same side as that Calamity Wolf...."
Bob shook his head to brush off the worries in his heart, then dove to the side, landing into a roll. Not a second later, the ground where he was just stood exploded. A pile of rock debris and plumes of sand filled the air, as well as a large, black object at its centre.
Bob had come out of his roll, crouching down with his spear in hand and aimed at the newcomer.
When the sand cleared, a giant pincer of the same colour sliced through the air, followed by a poison laden stab. An enormous scorpion landed on the ground, with a furious look in its beady eyes. A chitinous sounding shout vibrated through the sand.
"AHHHH! You bastard, Human intruder! Die, Die, die, dddd....Eh?"
What started as a fearsome war cry with a challenge to battle, somehow lost its steam before ending in confusion.
Bob who witnessed the missed attacks and subsequent verbal tirade, relaxed his body slightly once the monster finished talking. He was happy the monster was seemingly prepared to talk, and he also had a hopeful guess as to his words.
Bob stood up straight and slammed the base of his spear into the sand, with its point facing the sky. Wearing a look of fake anger, he began to play his part.
"Why the hell did you attack me!? How dare you try to kill me. We should be fighting Humans, not each other dammit!.....Well then, answer for yourself!?"
The monster understood how much of an error it had made. He did not want to imagine what would of happened if he would of killed the Lizardman, and especially with the law being passed that no monsters can harm each other. With the Dungeon Break, the monsters were no longer controlled by the Dungeon Core, and could leave of their own volition.
The strongest monster in the Dungeon took full charge at the time of the Dungeon Break, controlling everyone, and passing down laws to better facilitate their survival.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Please don't tell his Majesty about my indiscretion! I was too excited thinking I had found the intruder"
Bob calmed his fake anger, but morphed his face into one that was frowning. With him being a Lizardman, it was unknown if the monster could even tell his different facial expressions. In the reverse, trying to tell the facial expressions of a scorpion was as difficult as counting all the grains of sand in the desert.
The monster in question was an Assassin Scorpion, named as such for their usual method of attacking. That being silent and deadly, but, it just so happens this particular one was over excited and ended up making as much noise as possible.
A terrible assassin if there ever were one.
The Assassin Scorpions body ranged in size from as small as a car, to as large as an armoured tank, with the fully evolved version rumoured to be the size of a battle ship. Its appearance was similar to a typical scorpion, with two pincers and a stinger on its tail.
The monster had two noticeable differences to its non-monster counterparts. Those being that it also has chitinous, overlapping plates of armour, that resembled scale mail on its underside, with toxin sacs hidden underneath. Once threatened, it can release their contents and create a poisonous gas cloud, all around the fighting scorpion.
The second difference, was that its colour was not fixed, with it changing depending on its surroundings. It was highly adept at camouflage, much like a chameleon.
"Hmmm, I suppose I can let you off, but I'll need compensation.....Information, that'll be the price......To start off, who is 'his Majesty'?...And what's this about a Human intruder?"
Cocking its head to the side, the scorpion did not speak at first, leaving an awkward gap of several seconds. Suddenly it seemed to have become enlightened. Straightening up its head, it spoke again.
"You're a Lizardman! There aren't any Lizardmen in my Dungeon....Where have you come from?...Actually, when did you get here?"
Employing his best piece of acting since he was born, Bob took it as good practice for when he will have to lie to the Humans.
"Hmmm it should be about two years ago now. I came from outside, but confined myself so I could get rid of the radiation that had saturated my body....I finally managed to cleanse myself, only for the first person I meet to be Mr kill first, ask questions later!.....As you can see, I have no knowledge whatsoever about this Dungeon"
The Assassin Scorpion slammed its head into the ground, sending up a plume of sand as he hurriedly replied.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to suspect you or anything....I had no idea you've had it so bad because of those bastard Humans!......Don't worry, I'll tell you everything you need to know and guide you around, on my honour as a Dungeon Break monster!.......First of all our Majesty, he is the Devil Wolf of Pride!"
Now it was Bob's turn to be utterly shocked, with even a twinge of fear reverberating through his body. He could not believe such an entity was in the random Dungeon he decided to invade. Not to mention he is the boss of the Calamity Wolf, he had to kill no matter what.
"The Devil Wolf of Pride! One of the seven Demon Generals!?"
The scorpion seemed extremely satisfied and proud with Bob's reaction.
"Indeed, the very same one!....His Majesty was originally a Desolation Wolf, one evolution higher than a Calamity Wolf, and the strongest monster in our Dungeon.....But when the Dungeon Break occurred, he evolved into the Devil Wolf of Pride, and led us to attack the Humans and conquer their world!....If it wasn't for the Humans disgusting nuclear weapons, forcing us back inside the Dungeon, their whole world would be his Majesties by now! Hmph.......Ahh but don't worry Lizardman, his majesty sent out one of his trusted subordinates, and many lesser wolf monsters to deal with the radiation problem!"
Bob heard every word he said, and if he was not controlling his face so much, it would be exceedingly clear how ugly his expression was changing.
"Damn! A Desolation Wolf would be bad enough, but he had to go and evolve into a Demon General as well!...Each General is the embodiment of their given sin. The sin of pride, for such a Demon General to be pushed back into his Dungeon, it shows just how bad the fighting was.....It seems this scorpion doesn't know that Lizardmen are neutral-good aligned, so stand opposed to the Demon Generals, and evil aligned monsters in general.....I need to kill him, he's too much of a threat to Henrii, myself and other non-aligned monsters!...But for that, I need to train more. I'm sorry Henrii, I'll have to miss our appointment"
Letting out a long breath, Bob tightened the grip on his spear and steeled his nerves.
"That's amazing, it really is!.....So this intruder, what's that about?"
The scorpions expression changed, with it snapping its pincers through the air and striking its tail at nothing at all.
"Tsch, intruder! Wait till I catch him, I'll chop and stab him to pieces!....I don't know everything, but his Majesty sent out an order that a Human had intruded into the Dungeon, after attacking his subordinates outside in the Human world.....We will keep an eye out for him while I show you around....Jump on!"
A grin coupled with a vicious glint appeared in Bob's eyes, but only for a moment before it vanished. Without another word, Bob took the scorpion monster up on his suggestion and leapt onto its back. Sitting comfortably on top of the monster, Bob rested his back against its tail and began to formulate a plan.