My Dungeon Life: Rise of the Slave Harem

Chapter 1301

“Do… you want to hear a secret?”

The travels of Terra and Garnet continued. The longer they went, the dirty they appeared. It was hard to tell given the breaches in memory just how much time had passed. However, it was clear they were still working their way down. The two girls were sitting, and for some reason this night they didn’t set a fire.

“What is it?” Garnet asked.

“I… hate dungeons,” Terra spoke uneasily.

Garnet looked up in surprise. “Seriously?”

“The dark, the cramped spaces… they remind me of back then.” She lowered her head, looking like a wilted flower. “When I dragged the clockwork dragon with me down into the underground, I created a dungeon to trap it, but that dungeon wasn’t just its prison. It was mine too. I lived in that grave… the grave of my village, for longer than any human should be alive. The only reason I didn’t go insane was that father had designed the golem to have such a failsafe.

“So, I held on, year after year, isolated, alone, in the dark. Then, Master came. He came and he took me. He spared me from the darkness and brought me into the light. That’s why… that’s why I’ll do anything for him. That’s why I love him so much. He saved me from a living hell, and I can never repay that.”

“But, you’re an Earth Manipulator. You’re at your best underground. You go into dungeons with Master all of the time.”

A small smile formed on her face, her eyes filled with tears. “I’m just putting on a front. Acting brave. The other girls are so strong and so fearless. If… if I let my true feelings out, then I’ll be left behind. Besides, it never felt bad, because Master was by my side. I could feel the bond, and it was like Master was beside me. I knew that no matter how deep I went into that darkness, that a familiar blue light would appear, and Master would come out and grab me.”

“Was…” Garnet bit her lip.

“The bond was cut. Even if he’s safe, he won’t be able to come down here. He won’t be able to find me. I’m alone.”

“Terra.” Garnet reached out and touched her leg. “You’re not alone. I’m here with you.”

“Y-yeah… I know.” Terra grabbed Garnet’s hand and held it. “I know.”

For the longest time, I had always wondered what the girls saw me. In my arrogance, I had always just put it up to my Charm Up, and my Slave Affinity. I had convinced myself that their love was just a random byproduct of me being me. Even when I came to accept their love, I continued to hold to this belief and instead accepted that charm was a natural aspect of a person and not something I should feel bad about.

I was afraid to take on the responsibility. I was afraid to understand and to listen. Seeing how Miki truly felt, I began to realize just how much these girls had been through. Some were slaves, living long lives of rejection and fear. Others were prisoners, trapped in dungeons and forced into a role they were never prepared to take. I knew their history, but I never focused on it. I was too busy moving forward that I never thought about looking back. Before I knew it, I couldn’t go back.

“Master…” Alysia could feel the emotions I had the strongest due to our body. “We’ll find them.”

I reached out toward Terra’s sad expression, “Don’t worry… I will pull you from the darkness, always.”

Her image disappeared, and new memory began.

Chapter 1302

The image lit up, and I blinked a bit as the girls walked through a crystalline cave. It resembled the Mirror Labyrinth quite a bit, although while those crystals were all clear and reflected light into prisms, these were different colors. Some crystals were red, others were blue or green, and then there was just about everything in between. Based on where the girls stood, their faces were a different color. It was like walking through a kaleidoscope.

“It’s beautiful.” Terra gasped.

“Useless…” Garnet sniffed.

“Eh?”

“They’re pretty, but they’re also brittle. They have no magical value and they’re too weak to hammer into anything of use. A complete waste!” Garnet declared.

“You know, some things can be pretty just for the sake of being pretty…” Terra responded.

“Maybe, but wouldn’t it be better if something contained both form and function?” Garnet shrugged. “There are things that look just as pretty that have far better uses.”

“I guess…” Terra didn’t look convinced but didn’t continue to argue with Garnet either.

“Come on, we’re almost to the Deep.” Garnet waved her hand.

The pair left the pretty crystalline cave, walking through a grouping of sharp stalactites and stalagmites that were dripping water into a long rocky tunnel.

“A-almost? We’re not there yet? Didn’t you say the Deep was larger than the journey to it?” Terra had an exasperated voice.

“True… but the pathways and caverns are much larger. We’ll be able to move faster. If we can find a fog beetle, we could be there in a few days.”

“A what?”

“They’re giant beetles you can ride. They move super fast! Ah… I wish we had Master here. He could tame them for us easily.”

Terra’s face went white. “A giant beetle? Gross!”

“Don’t tell me you hate bugs too?”

“I do!”

“Aiii… well, it’ll take longer, but we can walk. I can’t promise we won’t encounter anything though. Traveling in the deep is a lot like traveling through the wilderness.”

“That dangerous?”

“Did you think dungeons are unique to the surface? As long as they have an outlet, they can even be this deep. No… it should be said the ones this deep are all mega-dungeons. They’re the most dangerous ones because they’ll take on an innocent path, like a tunnel worm.”

“A tunnel worm?” Terra’s voice rose an octave.

“Yea, those guys are the worst.” Garnet didn’t seem to notice the worry on Terra’s face as she continued to speak excitedly. “The tunnel worms eat a tunnel and then open their mouths right at the entrance. Their insides look just like an extension of the tunnel, so unknowing prey just walk right into their stomachs.”

“H-how can you tell?”

“Well, they usually have stalagmite and stalactite teeth around the entrance. You’d also feel a warm breeze, but it would be hot and humid. That compensation is rare down here. It’s usually wet and cold or warm and dry, depending on how close you are to a volcano vent.”

“H-hey… do you feel a hot and humid breath suddenly?” Terra’s voice cracked.

“Huh? Oh yeah, it tastes kind of salty. Wait…”

“And those stalactites and stalagmites we just past… don’t they kind of look like teeth?”

The two girls looked back in the direction that had just come from, and then back at each other.

“Run!”

“Ahhh!”

I tensed as it flickered, but when the memory returned, they were still walking normally. The girls looked even more haggard. They were tired and looked like they hadn’t bathed in a month.

“We made it.” Garnet suddenly declared. “We’ve reached the Deep.”

Chapter 1303

“It’s so big…” Terra spoke, looking up into a distance that the imager didn’t reach.

“We need to be careful from here on out.”

“I apologize for freaking out about the fake tunnel worm.”

“Let’s forget the tunnel worm! As I said, there are a lot of dangers in the deep. On the surface, mana is mostly dispersed so we don’t get many powerful monsters, but down here the mana is allowed to congregate.”

“Didn’t you say there were a lot of dungeons down here? Wouldn’t they eat all of that mana?”

“They do… but because of the high pressure and potential seismic events, dungeons will also collapse and be destroyed if they grow too big or act too recklessly. That causes all of that miasma to explode out. That’s not even mentioning the monsters that escape the dungeons and are free to procreate and expand unhindered.”

“It’s dangerous. I got it.” Terra responded. “I’ll try to keep a scout by feeling for vibrations.”

“Even so, can you even feel the ceiling? Anything could drop down on top of us at any time.”

“I-I can’t! I thought I’d be glad to be in a spacious area. I’m suddenly missing the claustrophobic corridors. This is somehow worse.”

“I’m just trying to keep us safe. I promised I’d bring you down here and get you back. If I failed, Master would be angry. We’ll be fine. Just stay aware.”

“I never thought I’d say this, but I’m suddenly missing Celeste. Her ability to feel air vibrations would be really useful. Then again, Lydia’s scouting and leadership, Miki’s ability to calm the people around her… heh, even Shao can see in the dark and isn’t scared of anything.”

“You’re really good friends, aren’t you…”

“We have to be, Master is-“

Flicker.

“There is something wrong.” Garnet frowned. “This has been far too quiet.”

Flicker.

“Do you-”

Flicker.

“Do you hear that?”

“Something in the darkness… it sounds like footsteps.”

“Are we being followed?”

“I don’t…”

Flicker.

The images were starting to break down. Occasional distorted images and voices appeared. I leaned closer. This was getting toward the end. This was the point where I found out what happened to them.

“We need to run!”

“It’s coming!”

“Garnet…”

“Just keep going…”

“I’m not leaving you…”

Although the recording supposedly took a 3D image and wouldn’t be a victim of shaky came or darkness, the image was still strangely obscured. The girls appeared blurry and blotched out. Their voices sounded like they were coming through water. I could hear the panic and fear in their voices.

Flicker.

Terra was alone. Garnet was missing. She was curled up in a fetal position.

“Master… I’m going to send this up through a vent. If it somehow reaches you…” She swallowed hard. “I’m sorry… we should have told you about the risks before coming. We should have turned back when the bond broke. We should have…

“Please, listen carefully. There is something down here. The Deep Dwarves…” The sound and image flickered and for a second, I feared losing the whole message before her face returned. “Don’t come down. Don’t come to find us. It’s already too late. Ah… what’s that… no… it’s coming… no! No!”

The image flickered out. There were no more memories.