My Dungeon Life: Rise of the Slave Harem - My Dungeon Life – Chapter 1268-1270

Chapter 1268

“We don’t have any additional time to waste. Shao, do you know where Miki is?” I asked after hearing the limited timing that we had.

“Only that man knows the method of getting to her. You will need to work with him.” Shao gave a displeased look in the direction of Hero.

“I could destroy him and take away his karmic debt.”

“Are you sure you can?” Alysia asked.

I frowned. “What are you implying?”

She raised her hands. “I don’t mean any offense! It’s just if he is how Miki thinks of you, what if she saw you as undefeatable? Then, would you be able to defeat him? He might even be more powerful than a dungeons final boss, depending on Miki’s image of you.”

“As much as the cheap imitation irritates me,” Shao added. “I must admit that she is right. You’ll waste precious time and energy battling him, and even if you do take over his karma so the dungeon sees you like him, you’d be weakening the overall team. Rather than replace it, it might be better if you just make use of him.”

I nodded after considering their argument. It would be convenient if I just took his role. After all, Miki secretly wanted me to fulfill his role and complete this lore created within her mind. However, I’d only be satisfying my wounded pride. It seemed like a smarter decision would be to work alongside this guy, even if it irritated me.

“Then, Alysia, get him moving.”

“M-me!”

“I’m apparently just a tag-along in this narrative,” I explained, glancing at Hero. “Since my role is currently being filled by someone else, you’re the catalyst to push this story to a conclusion.”

I had reasoned out a bit about this world of Miki’s. Whatever they had done to her, she had created a means of saving everything. Built into the lore of this dungeon was a way to save all the souls she was taking, and also to save herself as well. It was truly amazing and spoke to Miki’s incredible ability as a spiritualist and her tenacious will. Most dungeons had a goal, but they had no clue what they wanted nor how to achieve it. Miki’s dungeon, on the other hand, had a very clear goal.

Then again, that goal depended on a man Miki believed to be dead. She didn’t believe I would be coming to save her. That’s why the spot that needed to be filled was for someone else. Specifically, she believed that at one point of her friends, one of my former slaves, would come and get swallowed into her dungeon. That’s when the sequence would initiate, and they’d have a chance to complete the lore and save her.

This was why Alysia had drawn Hero’s interest in the first place. She met the criteria of being one of my slaves. So, I would have to depend on Alysia for now. At least, that was my reasoning.

Unfortunately, there was a tiny problem with the plan, and that was timing. I had arrived at the very end of the dungeons feeding cycle, and Miki’s dungeon was on the verge of evolving. I had no clue what that evolution meant, but I did know that a tsunami of miasma would flood this dungeon, destroying every soul in it and resetting the dungeon, much like the Maid’s Lament. Our only chance now was to complete the lore in the next few hours.

I nudged Alysia forward with my shoulder. We had to get moving.

Chapter 1269

“D-Deek?” Alysia called out, but the guy ignored her and she glanced at me.

I clenched my teeth slightly but I nodded. “It’s fine.”

“Master?”

The Hero who was still playing around with the girls as if he had a carefree life turned to Alysia and smiled. “Yes, my beautiful little flower?”

Alysia’s mouth twitched. “Um, it’s best if we get a move on. We must rescue Miki quickly. There is little time.”

He had Lydia in one arm as she rubbed against him, and boobs… ahem… Celeste with her boobs pressed against his other arm. He straightened up and let go of Lydia as he put on a heroic façade.

“Since you’ve decided to become my woman, I naturally couldn’t say no. Let us go off and save her!”

As if that was all that needed to be said, he started strutting off. The other girls immediately began pulling him. Even Shao seemed to be drawn as if tied by some force.

“Come on…” She hissed, as she backed away.

Alysia and I shared a glance and then started to follow the party. They walked straight out of town, seemingly moving in a straight line down a long rocky road that led away from the city. The movement was extremely steady and they moved in one direction.

“How far away is she?” I asked.

I was feeling just a bit rushed, given the situation. However, my voice seemed to be met with deaf ears. Although he had engaged with me naturally when he was rescuing me, from the moment Alysia had agreed to join him, it was like a switch had been flipped. Incidentally, I had become an NPC, and there was no programming between him and me now that this portion of the story was unfolding.

I had entered this world through a video game, and this world had been filled with various game-like things. This was the first time I realized how true that was. In a way, the lore of a dungeon was just like a video game as well. There were levels, and as you progressed down the levels you gained increasingly larger portions of the lore. Some games were open-world, some games were puzzle games, and some games were walking simulations. Dungeons even had assets they could use, and you could gather or accumulate more assets based on a principle of input and output.

I had once had a physics teacher who even suggested that real-life was just a simulation, just one more complicated and open than our brains could comprehend. Would someone in a video game realize they were in a video game? It truly was a new way of looking at dungeons that I hadn’t considered before.

However, for the moment, I had to focus on staying alive. When he didn’t answer me, I turned to someone who he was perhaps coded to speak to. Alysia nodded and then repeated my question.

“Far away.” He responded, “The journey will be filled with danger. We’ll have to cross rivers and mountains. We’ll have to forge through unspeakable horrors! We’ll brave the icy cold and the scorching heat. Only then will we finally arrive at the… we’ve arrived!”

“Eh?” Alysia blinked.

“We’re here. Good journey everybody. I’m gladdened we’ve made it all in one piece.”

All of the girls began crying and holding each other as if they had just done what he had spoken about.

“Th-this dungeon was just made a short while ago…” I explained. “Perhaps… she hadn’t had a chance to grow such features yet.”

Dungeons grew as they got older. The lore grew and became more complicated. However, if you jump in a bit early on, every intended event might not be implemented yet. It looks like we had skipped a major portion of the lore. Or rather, we skipped the boring middle portion and arrived at the final chapter. Given the short time involved, that suited me just fine.

Chapter 1270

The final dungeon was a cave. It was a dungeon inside a dungeon. That wasn’t quite right. If you saw this dungeon as a series of acts, then the first act was appearing and being saved outside the city, the second act was joining his team in the city, the third act was the grand journey that was severely shortened, and then we’d be on the final act, the one where we finally saved Miki. Some dungeons existed as a progression of levels, but the progression of this dungeon was also a progression of a story, the story of Miki’s rescue.

As soon as we entered the dungeon, Alysia let out a noise of surprise. I had to agree with her, as this place was immediately recognizable. This place was the dungeon where Lady Death was made. This was a replica of the laboratory dungeon we had ventured down before. That shouldn’t be so surprising. This place was the source of Miki’s trauma, so why wouldn’t it be the place she’d find her soul trapped. It was where she had become a cursed monster that walked across the land.

Furthermore, one of her first acts had been to consume the lore of the laboratory dungeon, so she had all of the laboratory’s assets and story and would be able to replicate it perfectly. However, unlike the one we had entered which was a dead husk, this one was very much alive. As soon as we walked in, a catkin guard stepped forward.

“You can’t be here! Turn away!” He demanded.

Hero pulled his sword arrogantly. “We are here for the girl! Release her immediately!”

“Die!”

The catkin raced forward, and nearly a dozen more seemed to emerge from the ceilings and walls to join him in his fight. The girls began to battle the catkin. Alysia and I fought as well. Without Alysia as my blade, my damage output was reduced, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t still capable of fighting. The six of us took care of the twelve enemies and then moved down to the next floor.

On the next floor, we didn’t just encounter crazed scientists and guards but also experimented on Foxkin which acted more like monsters than humans. We fought our way down another stairway where we started encountering mutated beasts and ghosts. The party was able to make good speed, but it still took nearly an hour for the first three floors. That’s when we passed an area I was vaguely familiar with.

“Wait… this is where I encountered the head scientist.”

“Hmm? Oh yeah…” Alysia nodded.

“We’re running out of time. This evolution could start in an hour, or maybe even sooner.” I spoke feeling the wall. “Maybe it’s still here…”

Click. I found the button the man had used, and a secret passage opened up. I let out a breath of relief. This laboratory wasn’t the deepest dungeon, but I didn’t want to risk taking too long.

“Hey, guys!” When none of them looked back, I glanced at Alysia.

“There is a shortcut here!” Alysia announced.

“Wonderful!” Hero declared, walking back and glancing around. “Where is it?”

He asked, but the entrance leading down was directly in front of him. It was something he could not miss. Like how mobs couldn’t see saferooms, was he unable to see the shortcut?