Chapter 17: Myth Are Lies ( End of prologue )
The world-type dungeons really deserved their names. They were gigantic. Of course, they all varied in terms of sizes, but the minimum ever observed was the size of an entire castle, which was more than most basic dungeons.
This one however seemed so much bigger. Seneos had only been in it for a dozen of minutes, but he was already feeling a bit dizzy.
"Overlord, please go to the throne room as soon as possible." Vodka's voices reached him and he looked behind in fright.
"Damn it ! I am never getting used to this." He said before gulping. At least her main voice was quite cute. He would be definitely more than a little frightened if she went back to some of the voices she had tried out.
"That is unimportant right now, Overlord. I received a stream of information when I passed through the portal. Those information circle around the dungeon itself and what you, the overlord, can do with it. The throne room will be a safe place to discuss all of this." Vodka urged Seneos who rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well...I guess I'm gonna have to sprint all the way to the throne room. It's good that it's not at the other end of the dungeon."
Seneos looked around the massive room with the equally big pillars and found a small room on his right. It had three wooden doors and was devoid of any furniture. Seneos opened one of the doors without even thinking about it and saw a long corridor stretching on at least a hundred meters.
"Maybe you shouldn't open doors randomly, Overlord. I have data regarding traps in dungeons, crypts, and such locations. It appears to be quite a dangerous thing to do." Vodka noted.
"Don't worry about it. All traps are deactivated when the dungeon is conquered. Even though it did not disappear, it has been conquered, right ?" Sen asked Vodka who hummed in response. It appeared to be quite the habit with her.
Sen walked into the corridor and observed the walls filled with the same primitive drawings as the throne room had been. They depicted various types of orcs going into battle against wolves and other creatures that lived in the dungeon.
'Did the monsters of the dungeon have a war or something ? They do fight between each other but it's never on a big scale, at least I think so. I should've listened more in school now that I think about it.' Sen thought embarrassingly.
He opened the door at the end of the corridor and did a double-take once his eyes fell on a massive cave that seemed to continue on hundreds and hundreds of meters.
"Hmmm...I didn't go that way the last time. I thought I could find a shortcut, but seems like it ain't the case." Seneos said to Vodka who observed the cave too.
"I don't think you actually have a choice on the matter, Overlord. The wolves picked on your scent" Vodka said as Sen snapped his head towards the corridor. He heard distant howls and darted off faster than he ever did.
"FOR FUCK SAKE ! COULDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER ?!" He screamed as he went up the cave. He had no desire to go deeper into it and meet some other creatures. Since the high ranking team had missed those wolves, it might have missed a whole of other monsters.
"The throne room should be at the very center, I just need to go right as soon as I reach the surface. The path goes up and the dungeon is a miniature world, there should be a surface...Yeah" Sen said to himself out loud in between two breaths.
The path going up and leading to the outside was filled with rocks and Sen nearly fell quite a few times. However, he started to mind his steps once he heard the wolves getting closer. If he fell, he was done for. He could only hope the entrance of the cave was located in an area where he could hide from the wolves. If it was a plain field, he was even more done for.
He reached the entrance and climbed over the rocks to find himself inside a forest. The wolves would be able to smell him even if he hid, so he had to find a way to mask his smell, and fast.
He looked at his left, nothing. Same for his right. In the end, he searched for some mud and covered himself in it. It wouldn't completely mask the smell, but he ensured his plan would work by rubbing himself all over some trees to apply his smell everywhere.
' Dear Lord, if I knew Jeol's teaching would become so useful one day. I never knew why she taught me how to survive in a forest, but I'm so going to thank her to the death once I am out.' Sen thought happily. This wasn't a perfect plan, however, it would separate the wolves somewhat and then if he was lucky, he could either run or pick some of them apart.
Reducing their numbers would help, at least he thought so. He hadn't looked back, so he didn't know their exact numbers. And he wasn't good enough to guess from their howls.
As soon as the wolves came into view, Sen hid inside some bushes and slowed his breathing. Weirdly enough, the wolves actually continued to run.
Sen watched them run past him and then scrunched up his face.
"....What the hell ?"
Vodka hummed and answered his question a second later.
"It appears that I was wrong. They didn't pick on your scent...They were running away from something."
As if the gods themselves were out to curse Sen, a loud noise was heard as soon as Vodka said that.
Sen's eyes bugged out of their orbits when he saw the entrance of the cave exploding. In fact, it hadn't exploded, it had been destroyed by a heavy blow. A gigantic hand came into view and Sen gulped once he saw the scales on it.
'T-The secret boss !'
He could only watch, his body refusing to move as another hand appeared. The creature continued to lay waste on the entrance until it was wide enough to let it pass. It crawled out of the hole and it's burning eyes immediately picked on Sen.
There was no use trying to hide. It already knew.
"V-Vodka...What do I do ?" Sen asked. He wasn't even trembling at this point, he found himself unable to. This time, he couldn't hide to avoid it. This time, he faced the horror that the other hunters had during the raid, and he couldn't help but feel immense respect for them. This thing felt like the devil itself. Sen's vision started to darken, and he could only focus on the burning eyes as well as those antlers that were like the devil's horns to him.
The beast advanced and bent forward to glare directly at Seneos. It opened it's mouth and spoke, however, the result left Seneos confused.
"I did not think you would show up this early, leader."
Seneos blinked once, then twice, and a low 'what' left his mouth. The beast's eyes went to the left and it spoke to Vodka.
"I can sense you, specter. Are you supposed to be the voice of the dungeon ? I found that it was missing only a few hours ago." It asked vodka who hummed in response.
Seneos found himself slightly jealous of Vodka. She was able to react with such neutrality when he was there, nearly about to piss himself.
"I am....Yes, I suppose you could say I am the voice of the dungeon. I wonder what you could be though. My data doesn't speak of a dungeon boss that makes the creatures of his own dungeon run away in fright." Vodka shot back.
If she had a body, Sen was sure she would have a smug smile on her face at this exact moment. The beast scoffed and went back to Sen, completely ignoring Vodka.
It suddenly extended a hand and grabbed Seneos who screamed. He only calmed down when the palm of the hand opened and a bright light hit his eyes. The massive head of the creature suddenly moved and shielded Sen from the light of the sun. It smiled at him and he furrowed his brows once he saw that it's eyes had changed. They were a normal orange now.
"No need to be afraid, leader. I am under your orders now. I will not eat you or anything. Not that I eat humans anyway." The beast said. Though Sen thought about the things it had said during the raid and doubted it's honesty.
Vodka's disinterested voices came next, and from the beast's left shoulder at that. Sen could only wonder how she climbed it so quickly.
"Your behavior is strange, beast. My data does not speak about loyalty being forced upon the soldiers of the Overlord. You are too friendly."
Sen realized that it meant that his soldiers actually had no real reasons to listen to him and bit his lips, while Vodka and the beast spoke to each other.
"I have intellect, you would do well to remember this specter. The wolves would listen to the leader only based on his or his other soldiers' power. Intellectual creatures such as myself know of the meaning behind his position. A dungeon has several leaders, and the bosses stand at the top, while having a hierarchy between themselves. " The beast explained. Vodka tried to correct him, saying that Sen was an Overlord and not a mere boss, but the beast merely smiled smugly while listening to her. As if it knew more than her, something that Sen doubted a bit.
"Wait for a second you two ! Now the fact that you are with me is good, hmmm...Whatever your name might be. H-However I am not even sure how I am supposed to process all of this. And actually, what are you even ? I never heard of a creature like you. I can't c-command someone without knowing them." Seneos interjected. He felt really weird trying to speak to the beast. His fears were not forgotten, he merely tried to rein them in.
The beast looked at the horizon in the distance and blinked a few times before answering.
"I don't think my kind is all that rare in those dungeons. Maybe you were simply too weak to know. That will have to change though...I will not be lead around by a weakling." It said, it's face suddenly moving towards Sen and stopping only when the two orange orbs were a few inches away from the cowering man.
"Y-Yeah...But I don't know how I am going to get stronger. I mean I get the whole recruiting process, but I am not going to suddenly be able to recruit monsters. I can only get the weakest right now. Maybe goblins or wolves if I can get them away from their groups." Sen pleaded his case. He really felt like the monster would crush him just because of his weakness.
The beast let out a might huff and lowered his fingers so Sen could take a look at the dungeon from this height. Sen turned around and was hit with a wave of cold wind. However, it didn't really bother him.
He looked at this miniature world and felt something weird inside. The beast continued to speak to him from behind as Vodka merely listened.
"There are many opportunities to become stronger, especially for one like you, leader. You will find that this world and yours, offer many possibilities for those bold enough to take them. I do not know how you humans work, but I am sure you will be able to get much stronger. The universe is wide, the universe is marvelous!" It exclaimed as it lifted him even higher. He now stood over the entire dungeon. He hadn't even noticed that the beast had actually climber on the tallest tree, it's hands now resting at two hundred meters in the sky.
The feeling wouldn't leave Sen now, it only got stronger. A light pink color dusted his cheeks as he edged forward. He wasn't even scared to fall from those hands.
He watched this world, his world. He watched the long river that went through the entire dungeon. He looked at the ancient ruins where the entrance and the throne room were. He saw the small mountain with some snow sitting at the top like a crown. He smiled widely without even realizing it.
The beast went on again, pushing Sen even more, as though it wanted to make him realize how happy he was allowed to feel at the moment.
"Being weak is never easy for anyone, I can only guess that It is the same for you humans. You feel smaller than everything around you as if you were nothing more than an ant standing amidst giants. However you can become a giant, hell you can even become a dragon if you want ! There is no limit, but do you know why ?" The beast asked.
Sen did not even bother answering. He was now laying on the beast's fingers, moving his head frantically to capture all the moments, all the views, he could. In that single moment, he felt like he could allow himself to regain some of is childlike curiosity and glee.
It was exhilarating. Was he finally able to be...Happy ? To have perhaps for once, a moment in which he wasn't reminding himself of how much a failure he was ? He was aware that society did not naturally push him down, he knew he was the own instigator of his downfall...But it felt so difficult for him to see himself as something else than a disappointment.
He had wanted to be a proud warrior, and he was a drunkard with a dagger.
"You can become whatever you want, because myth are lies...."
The beast was now closer than ever to Sen, it's mouth right beside his tiny body.
"From dragons to gods, from ancient relics of immense power to legendary weapons wielded by heroes of old.....From powers only depicted in what were seen as fairy tales to abilities that a human mind cannot even conceive !!!!"
The beast's face was graced with an excited smile, as though it's own words were reanimating a flame it had once thought extinguished forever.
"Everything is possible, everything is real !"
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