My Dungeon Life: Rise of the Slave Harem

Chapter 1121

I started walking forward into Chalm. Of course, there was the option of portaling directly into the city, or even into Xin’s boss room. Sadly, I couldn’t do it. Portal depended on me having the area I was visiting on the Map. Over time, analyzing space laws with the Blue Mage job, I had come to realize that Portal did not depend on any kind of visual understanding of the land. It came from mana sense. I hadn’t realized it, but my mapping skill used mana like a sonar. This is also why creatures appeared on it, even hidden ones I couldn’t see. The only way something couldn’t be seen is if it didn’t emit any mana signature at all.

The dungeon and the city inside no longer had the same mana signature they once had. On my Map, it showed a blank space encompassing the large barrier dome over the city, and it was as if I had never visited this place before. That was ultimately why I had decided to go to Chalm Crossing first rather than directly to Chalm.

As we reached the barrier, I was able to take a closer look at it. This wasn’t like the priest barrier that had once been set up. Rather, one could say it’s the exact opposite. That barrier had been erected to block the spread of the miasmic contamination. This was because Karr’s dungeon was originally too volatile to destroy, and the church wanted to use the cursed city as a deterrent to hold back the wilderness from spreading into Aberis.

This barrier, on the other hand, was created by miasma, and while I wasn’t nearly as experienced with such things as the likes of Elaya, I could tell that it seemed to be designed to condense miasma. It was cycling miasma, absorbing it, and then redirecting it into a certain spot. That spot, if I had to guess, was the former fairy spring. In short, it was a miasma generator that was skillfully built to service the dungeon.

“I’ve never seen a dungeon like this,” Alysia spoke in wonder.

“This isn’t the dungeon,” I responded. “Most dungeons you’ve seen have been contained using special spells and barriers so that the miasma doesn’t leak out and affect the area. Good enough barriers can even allow a dungeon to be right in the middle of a city. Wild dungeons, on the other hand, don’t have such a restriction. The miasma usually spreads from the entrance, and you end up with an area around the surface that is corrupted and contains monsters. This is also where most surface monsters that eventually acclimate to a non-dungeon climate come from.

“Elaya didn’t turn all of Chalm into a dungeon, but she did allow it to influence all of Chalm. The real dungeon is still underground, and there is no telling how big it’s gotten in the last two months. Two months ago, it had been heavily damaged in the fight against Demon Lord Aberis. Now though, with Astria dumping mana in to protect Celeste and Elaya turning the fairy spring into a miasma spring… I can’t tell you what the dungeon had evolved into.”

“I see…” She responded somberly.

Alysia had dedicated her life to fighting back the dungeon threat, but most of the dungeons she had visited were tame ones. She resented them for the people who died in them, but compared to a wild dungeon, they were nearly as tame as dogs. As a result, she barely knew anything about what dungeons were actually like. Well, every dungeon was practically a living creature, and if I ever got old enough to retire, I could probably write a book on categorizing dungeon types and giving out wisdom on their nature.

After determining that walking through the miasma barrier wouldn’t harm us, I cautiously began to move forward. With a step, I passed through the miasma barrier. Every miasma was different. They each had a unique signature to them. For example, the miasma from the Malacrum dagger that I took from Astria and now had in my Inventory had an extremely aggressive miasma. Even when I had a blessing that made me immune to the negative effects of miasma, that only accounted for some of what the miasma did.

It still could attack my soul, and it did so aggressively to the point that I barely survived. It wasn’t until I ended up with a god soul that I had truly become immune to miasma. Now, it rolled off of me with ease. What made me uncomfortable was that this miasma no longer welcomed me. This was miasma from my own dungeon, but after our bond was broken, the miasma had somehow changed its signature. It was no longer mine. I realized it wouldn’t be enough just to walk into the dungeon. I’d need to challenge it, and become the Dungeon Master.

Chapter 1122

Despite everything, I wasn’t actually the Dungeon Master of my own dungeon. I had built the dungeon, and the miasma that coursed through the dungeon had my own personal DNA, but I feared that if I had become a Dungeon Master, I would have been linked to the dungeon, unable to move. It was Xin who had been given the responsibility of managing my dungeon, and it was her existence and soul that were tied to it.

It stood to reason that with the close relationship between Xin and Elaya, that Elaya had essentially taken my role as the builder, while Xin continued to be the dungeon’s master. Things were different now, however. I believed that with my Mimic job, that I could be the Dungeon Master, while not being stuck in the dungeon. Essentially, I’d create a duplicate identity as myself, make that the Dungeon Master, and then whenever I left the dungeon, I would just change identities, obscuring that one for a time.

I had thought about this for a bit, and I was pretty sure it would work. Thus, me becoming the Dungeon Master was possible now. Of course, if I died again, and it severed the bond, the dungeon would fall about and disperse, rather than going out of control like it did this time. That’s why I couldn’t afford to die anymore. Besides, no one but Miki would have the ability to resurrect me if I died anyway. The larger the soul, the more demanding the Resurrection, and my soul, especially after being tempered in the soul dungeon, in the same way that it was difficult to destroy, it would also be difficult to resurrect.

I stepped into the city of Chalm. The barrier had blocked out the light, leaving the place completely dark. I used the Light spell to create a circle of light around me. This was a powerful dungeon spell that I didn’t always appreciate, since the circle of light that it created only worked for me and those in my party. It was like those circles of light in certain hack-and-slash role-playing games. In theory, I could knock out the lights and then use my Light spell, blinding my opponent while only I could see. Well, that didn’t usually work in dungeons, because most animals down there were acclimated to being in that environment.

Thus, while I could see around me, they couldn’t see me. As for who they were, as soon as I stepped into the city and turned on the light, I could see a group of five people. They were standing there aimlessly, not taking a single step. I realized that they were the people of Chalm. Several of them were animalkin of various types. However, their skin was deathly pale, and they weren’t moving like normal.

One of them had lifted his head in my direction. His eyes were completely black without a hint of white. He let out a low growl in my direction as if he had sensed me. He must have heard me. I realized that I should have equipped some dungeon skills that allowed me to hide my presence and sneak. Accessing them now would only cause my tattoos to glow, and that is something these creatures would see.

The man suddenly let out a barking screech that sounded inhuman. The screech was repeated by dozens, and then hundreds of voices all around us. His eyes were directly on me, and the other four individuals I could see looked in my direction as well.

“I think I’m going to need to run,” I said to Alysia.

“I agree.”

Chapter 1123

I ducked into an alley. A dozen or so screeching people ran past the entrance a few moments later. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to be as smart as they were in the past. I let out a breath. I didn’t know what their intent was as they ran at me screeching with black eyes, but it couldn’t be good. They actually reminded me of zombies, not the kind I fought in Mina’s dungeon, but the rage virus kind. I had already had a hint of this when I encountered that crazed man, but it looked like the entire town was infected with a miasmic curse.

As I was catching my breath, I heard a crashing sound behind me. A cold chill ran up my spine as I turned around. Slowly, crawling out of a trash heap, was a little girl. She had her hair over her eyes, and she looked filthy. Has she been surviving here this whole time in this city? I felt sympathy, taking a step toward her and holding out my hand.

“Little Miss, are you alright?”

The girl lifted her head, revealing black eyes.

“Screeee!” She let out a cry.

“Nope!”

I jumped up kicking off the walls until I was on the roof. I then began to run as I heard more screeches off in the distance as her call sent others coming. I jumped from rooftop to rooftop, but this was impossible to do without being noticed. More and more screeches occurred and I could hear villagers racing around on the streets below as they scrambled in my direction. If I kept this up, I was going to get the entire town into a frenzy.

I stopped for a moment, glancing around worriedly.

“Master?” Alysia asked.

“I need to get to the dungeon entrance. I was trying to get in the mansion so I could skip straight down to the boss level, but I’m starting to realize that is impossible.”

As I looked out toward my mansion, the vast majority of infected were huddled in a horde right at the entrance. Getting past them would be near impossible, even for me. They were like the perfect alarm. However, on the outskirts of town opposite where I was, the true entrance sat unprotected. I didn’t think these villagers would follow me into the dungeon, so all I had to do was cross the entrance, and then I’d be in the normal territory. On the other hand, if I entered the mansion, a horde of them could end up following me and trampling through it.

These were still people, so even if I could outrun them through the mansion, that many close together were bound to trample some of them and potentially kill them. There were even children in those crowds, so getting them riled up wasn’t an option.

Making my decision, I turned to the outer entrance. However, I barely made it a step before one of the zombified residents leaped up from the street and onto the roof. It was an extremely impressive jump. This man wasn’t even an animalkin, which made the feat even more impressive. However, this happened to be a person I recognized. My face turned pale.

“Guild Master?”

The Guild Master of Chalm looked at me with his solid black eyes, and then let out a screech.