My Dungeon Life: Rise of the Slave Harem

Chapter 1334

“Little… uh, zombie queen, we need to face and defeat him.” I explained in as polite a way as I could.

It was the next morning, and I was getting ready to make my next move. Until I got my dungeon built, I wouldn’t be able to learn much. Those pieces of lore had been interesting, but they were severely lacking, and a little kid definitely wouldn’t be able to help me find my girls. At my words, terror-filled her face, and she shook her head aggressively.

“Until he’s defeated, we’re not going to be able to expand at all.”

She looked up at me tearfully. As much as I hated to admit it, it was difficult to command her to do anything. She had such a helpless expression on her face that you just wanted to protect her. Were all monsters this difficult? Selena often acted the same way, but her manipulative tendencies seemed to sway me a lot less than this girl, even if they were a lot alike in different ways.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t afford to go after another boss. I have an advantage against… well… let’s just say I’m confident when facing your father. Even if I could find another boss, I would not be able to defeat them.”

That was the bitter truth of it. The Deep hosted some rather powerful mobs. Even playing to my strengths, could be a challenge. However, based on my ability to take on the zombie queen, I believed I’d be able to take on her father. I wouldn’t be trying to tame him and use him. Rather, it was the mana he was sitting on top of that I wanted. If I included the zombie queen in that battle, then the fight might not even be necessary. I had hoped that the king might still have some awareness and surrender because of his daughter. I wasn’t intending to tame him, but if it happened, I wouldn’t reject it.

Unfortunately, the zombie queen harbored some trauma and seemed afraid to approach him. It made this whole thing difficult. My words seemed to not convince her, as she still turned her head away in defiance.

“I will be going with or without you.” I finally declared. “You can come with me or stay behind.”

I ended the conversation with that, getting up and walking away. Her hand reached out as I walked away, but she didn’t say anything, and eventually curled up in a ball. I walked over to the Pait and Dav, who were outside of my soul world for a bit since we were currently in a safe place, protected by a literal horde of undead.

“We’re going?” Paid asked.

“You want to come?” I raised an eyebrow in surprise. “I figured you might want to stay behind where it is safe.”

He looked around, covering himself and shivering. “I told you before. In the best of times, I don’t like the underground. Being surrounded by the undead is not what I consider a good time. Besides, if you die, our chances of making it back to the surface are almost none. I might as well stay in that fancy place of yours. If I’m being honest, I had rather needed a vacation, and getting to relax in a warm cottage and read has been quite nice.”

Dav nodded. “I’ve been also quite happy getting to spend time alone with… ah… in a cottage.”

I had a feeling she was going to say spending time with Pait. He didn’t seem aware of it at all. Why was Pait so oblivious to her true feelings? Should I push them along a bit?

As I put them back in my soul world, I felt a tug on my shirt and glanced to the side to see the little girl there.

“What is it?”

She gave a single nod, not looking at me while holding my arm.

“You’re willing to go?”

She gave another nod, her cheeks turning red. I gave a breath of relief. It seems like she had changed her mind, although it was anyone’s guess why.

Chapter 1335

I had already formed a good idea where the final boss room was even if the zombie queen didn’t tell me. By letting her take me to each of the former safe rooms, I was able to map out the former dungeon. Although its structure as a former dungeon was broke quite a bit, I was still able to approximate things. It was kind of difficult because at first, the rooms appeared to be strewn around randomly. That was when I realized that the entire dungeon was built as a spiral disk.

It was a combination of the horizontal and vertical dungeons I had seen in the past. One spread deeper like roots digging into the Earth, while the other spread out wider like the rings of a tree. This one had seemingly grown a single path that wrapped around the center like a spiral. Each ring around denoted the passage of time and growth. The only area we had avoided was the center of this spiral. That had to be where the remaining dungeon boss resided.

“Are we ready?” I asked the zombie queen.

She gave a thumbs-up, and I looked back behind her to see nearly a hundred undead lined up like soldiers. My greatest challenge would be to avoid hurting them as collateral damage, but with a hint of my mana flowing through them, they should be protected against my strongest attacks.

I raised my hand, and then lowered it out, and we began our march. Even when it was just the zombie queen and me, all of the enemies made scarce. Now that we were moving with a small army, there wasn’t another peep.

Our group moved on through the halls at a steady pace. The zombie queen looked frightened still and was clinging to my shirt, but I was confident in our ability to face him. I had strength against the undead, and I also had the army. Of course, there was the possibility that he had an army too, and possibly a bigger one, but I wouldn’t hesitate to destroy it with impunity, and when it came to this battle, I wouldn’t risk it.

The marching took about four hours before we came to a set of double doors that reminded me of the boss rooms of old. Even down here in the Deep, it seemed like dungeons never changed. Well, there was the difference. There was no safe room and the dungeon doors were closed. Usually, there would be a room before the boss room, and the doors would be wide open, inviting us to our doom.

The area in front of the doors was a wide-open space, almost like the safe room, and had been blown away in some kind of fight. This was also why the level-like nature of the dungeon was obscured. Levels had broken into other levels. We might have had to march another 8 hours if there weren’t breaks in the walls and collapsed sections allowing us to progress faster than the original spiral intended.

“It’s time,” I spoke ominously, raising my foot and kicking open the door.

They cracked open in a way like they might fall off of their hinges at any moment. The group of us began to march forward, heading into the dimly-lit boss room beyond.

Chapter 1336

Unlike the room that the zombie queen had chosen as her own, this one had a much darker feel to it, making it a bit more difficult to see. I was relieved when I determined that it wasn’t filled with zombies. Another hoarder versus horde battle would have been annoying. I let the zombies flood in first, and then I entered the room. The zombie queen was shaking, holding the back of my shirt nervously.

The doors behind us snapped shut, and silence prevailed as the zombies spread out across the room. My eyes darted around the room, looking for the king. The room itself didn’t have the appearance of a banquet. It didn’t have the appearance of life at all. Lines of coffins filled the walls. I was a bit worried zombies might pop out of those at an inopportune time. This place had the feel of a tomb. It was old, rotting, with a feeling of darkness.

The mana seemed to be resonating at the end of the room, behind a throne. That was when I finally noticed him and I nearly jumped. The boss had been exactly where one would expect, sitting on a throne at the end of the room. Yet, he had remained so motionless that I had barely noticed him.

He was a short man with a crown on his head. His hair was red, with a massive beard spilling down his chest. He was wearing armor, and in his hand was a large sword, although night as big as Alysia. His eyes were closed, and the remarkable part of him was that he didn’t show any signs of being undead. He looked to be a young man. If he shaved the beard, he might have been in his twenties. His skin wasn’t pale, and other than a sheen of dust over him giving him a grey look, he looked perfectly healthy.

“Master…” Alysia cautioned.

His eyes snapped open and his mouth moved slowly, speaking in an ancient-sounding voice. “Adventurer… why have you disturbed my sanctuary.”

“I’m looking for people that matter to me,” I responded. “I need to make use of that mana your holding.”

“Mana? Heh… so you’re just another parasite.” He sighed. “And I allowed you in hoping that you might be the one.”

“The one?”

“The one who can end the Deep Dwarves curse. To free us from the darkness. I’ve only been able to hold it back for… how long has it been? I can no longer count. My dungeon has died keeping it at bay, and I’ve given everything I have. Soon, I will be destroyed, and there will be nothing keeping it from the surface. Tell me, boy, do the surface dwellers know? My people, are they safe?”

“Know wha-” I stopped myself just as I said that. “Your people made it to the surface safely.”

“So, you rejected them… and sealed your fate.”

“How did you-”

“Read the lore of your soul? It isn’t hard. Some things are on the surface, clear as day.” He shrugged, his voice holding no emotion. “Your soul is interesting though. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Regrettably, you would fail. The darkness inside you would consume you. Reading your story may provide me some interest though.”

“I’m happy to tell you my tale” I responded. “And perhaps I could help you.”

The more I talked to him, the uneasier I got. There was something I didn’t know, a piece to the puzzle I hadn’t learned. I had hoped that bringing his daughter back to him would do something, and yet he hadn’t glanced at her once.

“Help me?” He let out a dry laugh. “Yes, you will help me. You will die, and your power will help sustain me for a few more years. Perhaps another adventurer will come pure of heart. You do not qualify.”

“Don’t qualify? How do you know that?”

“I can feel your thirst for power. You came to the Deep like all the others, looking for the lost wealth of people. I can feel it coming off of you.”

“I already said I was here to save my friends…”

“Perhaps that is true, but so is the first statement. You came down here to steal from the Deep Dwarves, just as you came to gain power.”

“I came at the behest of the Deep Dwarves, I brought you your daughter, she…”

“She’s not my daughter!” This is the first time anger flashed on his face. “She’s but an abomination! A shadow created to mock me.”

The girl hid behind me even more, whimpering.

“It’s good you brought her to me though. I couldn’t bring myself to kill her without knowing my daughter’s true fate. Once the dungeon collapsed, I no longer could easily reach her. Since I now know my daughter must have died fleeing to the surface, I can finally destroy this abomination and use her energy to continue my battle. It’s time to die!”