"You heard your mother, it's time to come home," Styx spoke directly into Rebecca Euklid's mind in a grave tone, his mood soured from the earlier piece of information.
"I will be returning to my home, not yours."
"How long are you going to fight it?"
"…You do not understand."
"What?"
"It's not about fighting anything. Nobles enjoy lavish lifestyles and wealthy coffers, but first and foremeost, comes our duty."
"Surprisingly honorable, I wonder how many nobles share such sentiments."
"Most. We become nobles by controlling dungeon cities, and should they fall, we lose our nobility. I may not understand much of what nobles do, but I do know that any incompetent nobles are thinned out naturally through this process."
"I can't say the same about other cities, but what of yours? From what I have heard, you seem to be in pretty dire circumstances."
"During the Myriad Flower Devil Festival, our city of Orchadia suffered a simultaneous beast raid. Our walls were breached and 40 percent of our population became food for monsters. Our defenses were crippled, walls broken, and not enough hands to rebuild, let alone defend it properly."
"So, you abandoned it?"
"No, father can continue acting as the dungeon lord whilst mother and me are here. My siblings are also actively helping… some of them, at least. We need weapons and soldiers, especially if another beast wave comes."
"Why do you not marry me, then?"
"That is impossible."
~~~~~
⠀
"Damned stubborn woman!" Styx cussed aloud back in the dungeon, flinging a dagger at a small rabbit among the bushes in the dungeon.
The small rabbit darted away in fright as the knife landed in the earth beside it. It moves so fast it was a wonder it wasn't a monster yet.
"Styxie~" Vivy, followed by three human bearded males, came running over.
She launched herself over and hugged the dungeon lord.
"Please help me evolve."
Styx looked at the exotic beauty who deliberately exposed her plump thighs before him.
"I don't share my women."
"I know, I know," Vivy wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips close to his ears. "I have given birth to so many monsters for you, all I want is the attribute."
"Do you know the conditions necessary?"
"I asked Bea, who told me what I need to do. I can fulfil those conditions."
Styx looked at the three men, all as attractive as humans came, before looking back at the dark elf whose face was so close he could feel her heated breath. He pushed her face away, but she was determined and used her strength superiority to bring herself even closer to Styx.
"One of those conditions is to accept me in your innermost depths," Styx stalely said whilst he could feel the tips of her lips brush on his ear.
"I love all my men, but you are the only one I would die for. I can evolve, I know I can."
"The next point is it needs to be during your Class Up, you went ahead and did that without waiting last time."
"Of course, I am at the maximum experience threshold of <Lv. 39>."
"Already?"
"I have worked very hard, especially as nobody fills me up like you do~"
Styx knew she meant the way he filled her mana network with his tendrils, expending and strengthening them. He also knew she was overly fond of this and would frequently use the breeders with his automatic processes for it. He had taken to ignoring her during these times as he wasn't the only one 'filling' her during these times, so he had naturally missed how fast she reached the peak of the Second Step.
"Very well, give me some time to organize it and think carefully on what attribute you want. Don't be impatient again."
Vivy hurriedly nodded and forcefully kissed him on the cheek before departing with her reverse harem elites in tow.
She had actually given Styx a form of inspiration.
He already had automatic processes to enable more people to breed monsters and enjoy elevated statuses, but only the direct dungeon wives had access to the possibility of evolution.
He needed to create a system, and even a new breeder design, that would enable people to fill it with attributed mana.
Even if they couldn't evolve, they would at least be able to adopt an attribute and improve their advanced class selections.
As Vivy left the throne room, she ran into Beatrice and Therina who looked at her askance.
"Are you trying to drag darling into your reverse harem again, Vivy?"
"His spot is forever reserved. Therina, you should get him to grow out a beard."
"Why?"
Vivy slyly grinned and whispered into the latter' ear, "Elven men don't grow beards, so we never really considered it, but the facial hair makes things feel so much different."
"It makes what feel different."
"Don't pretend you don't know. I mean when your thighs are wrapped around his head."
Therina merely scoffed, but Beatrice's imagination flew a thousand miles while imagining it. On the outside, she gave a disinterested look at Vivy, but she was secretly considering asking Styx to try it.
As soon as the naiad and phenelf entered the room, Styx had long had a dragon in his pants roaring at the heavens and directly commanded them, "Strip."
~~~~~
⠀
A giant grand stage was constructed in the heart of the town inside the dungeon. It would later be repurposed into plays and creative arts, or a place to garner attention to anything. For now, Styx stood atop it behind a podium and spoke to the thousand plus dungeon residents, to his side all the dungeon wives.
"Do you who call this dungeon home, call it safe haven, enjoy it here!?"
"YEESSS!"
Everyone called out in enthusiasm. The tiger beastkin roared while elves and dark elves tittered their voices. Humans thumped their feet on the grounf and everyone expressed themselves in their own way.
His voice didn't just reached the ears present, but also the ears of human women he had claimed within Lagoon Porter City too.
The barmaid, Hilda, was one of these women. Her long back hair was tied up in a rough bun while several loose locks hung down beside her face.
Still in her work uniform, she sat on an empty crate behind the tavern she had taken over with a smoldering tobacco pipe in one hand. She sat under the fading light of dusk, looking up into the sky with a devout expression while listening to Styx's words in her ears.
"The Maple Dragon Kingdom can no longer tolerate us, so they have sent an elite force of 40,000 to eliminate the dungeon and everyone under its protection!"
The crowd was as silent as it was solemn, many people holding fearful expressions.
"How long will you remain in fear, hiding in the shadows and forever at the mercy of the kingdom. They have revealed their teeth, so we will show equal force in return! We not only have Aura, a dungeon wife and Monster Lord. We also have Dragon, the most powerful Monster Lord in the Abyssal Forest guarding us!"
"Whoooo!!!"
The crowd begun to regain their vigor at mention of the Monster Lords, symbols of terror in the hearts of countless, but now the greatest guardian too.
"We will not hide and runaway from the kingdom, we will fight for our own existence! We must come together more now than ever before! Should we win, we will grow greater and expand faster than ever before!"
"What if we fail, the central armies have weapons that can even repel Monster Lords."
A voice called out from the crown, Styx looking down to see it was, Kristof, the Second Step human ranker who married to Mauve, a Second Step female tiger beastman who was already pregnant with a swelling stomach.
"Repel but very difficult to kill. A battle of this scale is not determined by any individual, but army tactics. Whilst Monster Lords can break this rule, the inherent battle of tactics of formations still remains the same. If they wish to compete with me in tactics, they will receive a very harsh lesson in return."
Styx had almost 4,000 years of knowledge and experience. He had seen every tactic imaginable, even been part or directed several. In his eyes, they were but children pretending to be adults.
"The monsters which keep us safe are still lacking, however! Everyone must do their part, so even if you don't normally breed often, everyone needs to support the dungeon and create monsters. Perhaps one of you will become the next dungeon wife, a position above all others!"
Everyone was excited, especially the women. There were currently nearly 25,000 monsters under Styx's control at the moment, but nearly all of them were of the First Step. Whilst each monster would never be able to stand up to a Third Step ranker, 25,000 First Step monsters could deal a significant blow to a battalion of Third Step soldiers.
Most of these monsters were out in the Abyssal Forest, hunting for meat while also increasing their levels, but casualties were quite high as well.
The dungeon residents would also take part in the battle as well, but Styx was determined to keep resident casualties as small as possible. Monsters were much easier to replace than residents.
"I am also announcing a new breeder design. This allows for you to use an attributed mana gem to inject yourself with and adopt a mana affinity. It is still in the prototype stage, so safety is not guaranteed, but I will do my best to ensure any mishaps are treated immediately."
"The affinity must be pre-approved based on your status, previous mana affinities adopted, and finally your affinity with that element. This not only opens the options for more powerful advanced classes for you all, but also the possibility of undergoing evolution, just like many of the dungeon wives already have!"
"There will be notices posted up all over town on the conditions to be met for you to be able to evolve into stronger species."
Here is the second chapter of the week. I had more to say, but it is late, I am tired, and even more importantly, I forgot what I wanted to say!
Actually, just writing this, I remembered. Funny how that works...
I was slyly peeking at other books and the collections they are getting and couldn't help but feel doubts. This is premium books, but they are getting hundred of collections (people adding it to their library), but other stats are not going up proportionally.
They have more collections than us over here, yet far less reviews/views and traffic in general.
I've called things into doubt before in my mind, and I don't think that's unreasonable. For instance:
When I got a front page feature due to updating every day, our collecitons increased by about 1,000 -1,600 collections. Meanwhile, in the past 10 days it has increase by about 100 collections.
Despite this, I have probably seen just as many new people commenting/voting as during the feature time. It simply isn't proportional in the slightest!
Does this mean we could actually be getting that many readers still, but people just aren't adding the book into their library but reading on the fly? I don't know, but when I make comparisons, it just doesn't add up for me.
Btw, if you are new or a mysterious lurker, make sure you say hello in the chapter comments and join the community! We have grown a lot since we started, so let's all work together to keep it alive~
^.^
Styx was in the subterranean tunnels extending more pillars up into the open world and expanding his dungeon even further.
The town outside the dungeon was growing outwards and upwards as although the merchants were thinning out, more adventurers were coming, sone beginning to move into the town permanently.
The area his dungeon expanded above ground now reached all the way to the edge of the Abyssal Forest. It was a humongous area and was intended not just for expansion, but to serve as a warning sign for when the human army arrived.
Styx needed to know as much as he could about the enemy, from where they were, when they would arrive, and the composition of forces making it up. He sent several harpies and other flying monsters to leave the Abyssal Forest and fly through the clouds.
His dungeon was on the southern side of the Abyssal Forest, so any force from the central regions of the kingdom would have to detour around it to attack him with their full force.
The harpies were joined to Styx's sight, and he closely examined the rolling hills, treacherous mountains, and thick forests as the harpies flew at the front of the scout group.
In this world, air supremacy was overwhelmingly held by exotic race species and monsters that could fly rather than technology or magic. There were some specialized forces which tamed wyverns to battle in the sky, but it was nearly impossible to build any large scale air force until the kingdom had the technology to create spaceships or air fortresses.
Due to stray monster flock, or strong predators, Styx had forced his scouts to descend out of the sky ahead of time. The harpies had excellent eyesight and senses and would detect Second Step monsters ahead of time, whilst Third Step monsters were disinterested in killing First Step monsters unless provoked or the heart of their territory was invaded.
Styx's monsters were even more powerful due to all the bonuses from his titles and breeding partners. Each harpy for instance could battle a weaker Second Step monster one on one.
Searching through valleys and mountain passes for days, several of his remaining monsters reached a crystal clear lake that was so large it extended beyond the horizon and almost seemed like an inland sea more than a lake.
It was currently late at night, the full moon reflecting off the surface of the lake like a mirror.
A dungeon city built on giant artificial islands floating on the lake, wide, arched stone bridges connecting it to the land outside. Lights lit up the streets while rivers of fluorescent jellyfish created a milky way across the lake.
These jellyfish weren't to be underestimated. There were millions of them, each at the Second Step. Even Fourth Step monsters in the lake would avoid them, and by placing the dungeon city where it was, they formed a natural barrier for any lake-based monster waves.
Whilst there was the danger of lake monsters, this city was incredibly safe from any terrestrial creature or exotic race attack, which could only come from several narrow paths. The city defenses would wipe out most of them before they could even reach the city.
The harpies hid amongst the crowd and spied on the ground, where a giant battalion of Third Step royal guard army and hired warriors camped outside of the lake. They all had basic tents, while poles with light arrays inscribed in them were inserted into the ground and lit up the camp like countless tiny fireflies.
The monsters could see other lights moving along the bridge in and out of the dungeon city. Some of these were adventurers or mercenaries, but other were obviously this armies logistics squads. They were resupplying the soldiers rations and any equipment needing replacing or supplementing.
As Styx was controlling the monsters hiding in the clouds observing the intimidating force, the area in the underground tunnel where he was rapidly turned eerie.
It was already quiet beforehand, but for some reason the air seemed to feel sticky while his avatar could hear its own hearbeat. A powerful and instinctual sense of dread welled up from the bottom of his heart.
His core could look into the air from its omnipresence viewpoint, but what his avatar saw seemed different and gave him a powerful sense of disorientation. This was due to a Time Stagnation skill being exerted in the area. It was powerful enough that ten minutes inside was ten seconds outside of it, and experiencing both at the same time is what caused his temporal nausea.
Thin threads glistened in the air all around Styx's avatar, threatening to cut him into several pieces should he move, whilst a giant 4-meter-tall Arachne stepped out from a slit in space behind him.
Her body was pitch black with white rings and deadly barbs on it. The human torso section was completely bare, long silky white threads of hair extending down her pale body and swinging breasts.
"You are here again," Styx's expression hardened as the Monster Lord's power washed over him and an instinctual terror arose. "Dragon is a protector of this dungeon, are you picking a fight with him?"
"No. Attack. Make. Stronger."
A spider leg that was more of a scythe extended over his should and threatened to carve him up into pieces.
Styx wanted to send an SOS to Aura, but if he did that, the two Monster Lords would undoubtably fight until Dragon arrived, or one of them died. Either way, his dungeon would suffer extensive damage once again which he couldn't afford in leu of the coming battle.
He forcefully controlled his mind to calm down and think rationally, tepidly touching the blade edged spider leg with his finger.
"Only if you surrender."
"No."
The Arachne pulled her claw closer to Styx cutting into him with the blade edge so sharp he barely even felt it before his blood stained his clothes.
"Killing me will get you nothing."
"Accident."
"…Then apologize."
Styx was pressed down to the ground by the Monster Lord's pressure. He could feel his bones cracking and couldn't breathe.
The slip of her power also alerted Aura, deeper in the dungeon, and the situation Styx didn't want to see began to unfold.
The wolf-eared woman vanished from her original position and the world around Styx shifted into a desert, where she reappeared.
The Arachne looked around at the surroundings and hissed in rage, poisonous spittle flying and creating a toxic mist which melted the sand into a toxic bile. She grabbed the helpless Styx in her human arms and pointing the tip of a leg at his throat while glaring at the wolf girl.
"Stop. Or death."
Styx tried to wriggle, but her grip was like an iron vice, refusing to budge in the slightest. Her giant breasts were squished against his back, and he wasn't shy to admit he enjoyed the sensation. He used his currently free hands to reach over his head and squeeze the goliath breasts.
He hurriedly sent a mental message commanding Aura to hold back, knowing that she would completely disregard everything and continue attacking otherwise.
Despite being in human form, Aura stood on all fours while revealing sharp fangs and growling inhumanly. The desert began to twist and distort, but soon restored itself to the large tunnel it had previously been.
"What now?" Styx tilted his head up and looked at the Arachne Monster Lord, her bloody red pupils rotating as she looked down upon him.
"Make. Stronger."
"You are at Max Level, aren't you."
"Yes."
"Put me down."
"No."
"…"
"Make. Stronger."
The Arachne Monster Lord seemed to have endless patience, but neither Styx nor Aura had the same.
"I can't."
The Arachne glared at Aura in both hatred and jealousy. After Aura's most recent demonstration of strength, even the spider Monster Lord was reluctant to fight her directly.
"Why?"
"Because you won't surrender."
"I. Surrender."
"Then put me down."
"No."
"Do you even understand what surrender means?!"
"Yes."
Styx struggled in her hands, but the Arachne was immovable. She held him pinned to her human section of her body and retreated into a darker corner, deadly spiderwebs made from space itself branching around the corner and creating a secluded nest.
Seeing the situation wasn't going to change anytime soon, Styx sent a mental message to the wolf girl on the verge of attacking again.
"Aura, go and stop anyone from entering this tunnel. The spider isn't attacking, so just keep the area safe."
The wolf-eared woman bared her fangs but listened to Styx's commands and vanished from the tunnel, reappearing at the entry point and constructing a very thick barrier from her Phantasmagoria skill.
~~~~~
⠀
Styx's avatar was trapped by the Arachne for several days, whom patiently waited for him to make her stronger without tire. She layed down on her abdomen with Styx pinned in the arms of her human torso.
Thankfully, Styx could still control the monsters to spy on the incoming force, although they could only spy rarely during the night without attracting the human's attention and being attack by powerful, long range magic.
At the rate the human army were moving, Styx estimated he had two months before they would arrive. It was a lot of time to prepare everything, but at the same time it was too brief a period. Alas, the humans weren't going to wait just because he asked them to.
"How can I make you stronger when you don't do as I say?"
"Is. Necessary?"
"Yes, it is! Now let go of me!"
The Arachne finally listened and released her arms, leaving Styx to weakly fall on the ground and breathe out a sigh of relief.
"Finally…"
"Now. Make. Stronger."
"Once again, do you not understand how I can make you stronger?"
"I. Surrender."
Her actions didn't reflect her words, which were spoken merely to achieve an end goal.
Styx held up his hand and extended his mana tendrils towards the giant Arachne. Her blood red eyes focused on the mana tendrils in what the dungeon lord could only describe as an ice cold gaze.
"You let me inside of you, after which I help expand your mana channels. The key part is not resisting in the slightest. Completely surrendering yourself to me."
"Is. That. How. Wolf. Stronger?"
"Yes."
"What. Else. With. Wolf."
"We mate."
"Oh."
"Can't you speak more clearly. You are constantly stopping and starting. Just say it all at one in a coherent way."
"Yes."
Styx's mana tendril extended towards the Arachne when spider webs shot through the space and somehow cut them up into small pieces.
"Arghh!!!" Styx cried out in pain as he felt like dozens of limbs were suddenly chopped off.
He wasn't about to simply follow along with Spider's whims though and had already sent a message to Aura to quickly rescue him.
The wolf-eared woman appeared in a fresh change of clothes that exposed her shoulders and a significant amount of cleavage.
She opened up her mouth and the entire area where the spider threads cocooning the area were, simply vanished. She then rushed to Styx, who dove away from the spider Monster Lord, and grabbed him.
He didn't give her any specific instructions and felt somewhat out of place as she held him in a princess carry.
"Liar!!"
The Arachne was completely and utterly enraged, baring her poisonous fangs and spitting venom all over the cave before rapidly fleeing into a crack in space.
Without Styx as a hostage, she was too afraid to face Aura head on.
Here is today's chapter, two more coming tomorrow!
I did a job today for a former head of a large company. They had such a nice apartment and it makes me think, someday I wish to own such a place.
We actually had a good conversation about criticism. I've told many people who are aspiring writers, or even any kind of artist, that they need to grow a thick skin.
Even he, when he was head of the company, had faced public critisism over issues, and at the end of the day, you simply can never please everyone.
By placing yourself in the public like that, regardless as to whether you are an aspiring writer, even some older writers, or the head of the company, being able to handle critisism is a job requirement.
Do you think I'm being too harsh? I can understand that it can be difficult for people in this kind of situation, but I don't want them to be coddled either by cencoring people from having negative opinions..
You are going to fall many times before you can walk, after all, and it is a learning process we all need to go through.
Anyway, it was quite the educational talk, especially when you can find common ground. So I put it to you, have you had any of these kind of conversations before where you have found common ground despite differences in position?