Dungeon Conquest - Ground Floor Pt.I

Keimen City, Noble District

Laying on a king sized bed were three people. One was a fat human noble and the other two were women of different species. An elf and a harpy. Those two laid dead on the bed, grip markings around their necks and bruises and cuts on their bodies. They had just died after having to endure a grueling time with the nobleman.

The fat noble was panting heavily while having a disgusting smile on his face. One that made him seem inhumane. It was out of the feeling he got rom fraping demi-humans and then killing them. It made him feel ecstatic. He brushed his bangs backwards and wiped his sweaty face, then laid back in bed.

"Hahaha! More! More! More! More! I want more! Where is Maude!?"

He yelled at the top of his lungs, signaling for his attendant to enter the room. The large doors burst open and a woman dressed in light armor, with a short sword at her side entered the room. She scowled at the disgusting sight before her then looked at the naked fat man.

"You called?"

She bowed to him, and he sat up.

"Maude! Where is it?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't get you."

"You know, my new toy."

"T-Toy?"

"Yes. I sent for a dhampyr. Hasn't she arrived yet?"

"O-oh. About that."

"Hmmm? What? What? What is it? Did something perhaps happen to my new toy? You know I like my toys in top condition. If something has happened to my new toy I'll kill you."

"Erhm, no. Could you wait a few more days?"

"A few more days? No! No! No! I want that dhampyr now! I want to cuddle it and pamper it. I want to take care of it forever. The one creature that I can enjoy myself with to the fullest. One that won't snap after single use. I want it now!"

"B-but-"

"But what? Are you saying that you will offer me your body?"

The noble tilted his head, inspecting Maude's body. This caused the swordswoman to internally cringe, but she didn't show it.

"True. True. You have a well-endowed body with a slight muscular touch to it. Were it not for that ugly scar on your face I might have considered it."

Maude grit her teeth at the noble's observation and thought to herself.

'Who was it that gave me this scar, you pig?'

"Could you wait a little bit longer? The other package for you just arrived."

"Other package?"

"Yes. Your other package."

Wearing a grin, Maude clapped her hands and a hooded figure in black walked in. His face was concealed with a black mask that had a red jewel on it and on his shoulder was a huge creature with grey skin and purple hair.

"Grimm?"

"Yo, boss! You asked for one Ogre princess? Here she is."

"Ogre princess? I didn't ask for it?"

"Huh? But Maude said you wanted me to get this for you."

Grimm and the noble turned to look at Maude and she had a malicious grin on her face.

"Maude? What is the meaning of this?"

"Well, your birthday is coming up next week and I thought you would want to celebrate it by having the ogre tyrant's daughter to yourself."

The noble man was stunned, speechless and frozen as to how to respond. Soon, he simply smiled and said,

"Maude? You truly are my most loyal servant. Hahaha! All you need now is a good face and you would be perfect."

"Oh thank you. Buutttt…"

"But what? But what? What?"

"Can't you just settle for what we have in the basement until a week's time?"

"Hmmm… In that case, let's move the dhampyr to my birthday and I'll have this one now."

"W-wait. I was thinking, that why don't you have both of them on the same day?"

"Oh? Yes! Yes! Yes! Great idea! Hahaha! I can't wait for a week from now! Ok then, bring in the next batch of monsters."

"As you wish."

Maude and Grimm stepped out of the room, whereas a cat demi-human and lamia were sent in. The lamia hissed and Grimm shuddered at the sight.

"Still not gotten over your fear of other vampiric species?"

Maude asked

"Nope. I hate vampires with every fibre of my being. Even if I am one."

"Tch. You complain about stupid things."

"Hahaha… Same old Grimm you know. Anyway, why did you ask me to get this huge sack of meat?"

"Didn't you hear me back there? I said it was a birthday gift."

"Please, it doesn't take a genius to know you hate your old man. What are you planning?"

"Like I said. Nothing. You are being paranoid. Also, I have a mission for you."

The two reached a cellar and when they opened the doors, it led to a staircase that went further down. They began to go down the staircase.

"If it's another Larm forest infiltration mission, I refuse. I could have died in this one. If we weren't lucky that Derbyshire and his guys were collecting slaves at that moment I definitely would have failed."

"Relax. It's not an infiltration mission. I just want you to find somebody for me."

"Who?"

"It's a dhampyr. According to the slavers, she ran into Larm."

"You literally just said this wasn't going to be an infiltration!"

"Shhhh. Don't worry. She just entered the West."

"T-the West? The Mad Witch's part? And you want me to go? Are you stupid? No!"

"Look at this."

The woman pulled out a scroll with several names written on it.

"W-what is this?"

"It's a list of slaves."

"Huh? But then, why are some of them glowing golden and the others aren't?"

"Heh. You see, it's this new collar the boss made. It allows for us to check the status of those wearing our slave collars, as well as restrict them from using their abilities or harming the boss."

Suddenly, two names disappeared.

"W-what happened? Why did those names fade?"

Maude looked up, and Grimm could tell she was pointing to their boss' room.

"You mean, the highlighted ones are those who are still alive?"

"Yes."

"But then. There's only one highlighted one, now."

"Exactly. Now you know your target."

They finally reached the bottom of the stair case, then walked through a tunnel. When they emerged, they were met with a very repulsive scene. Cages of all shapes and sizes, containing all sorts of creatures. They were being lashed and punished by men and women dressed in armor.

The cries of the oppressed slaves filled the halls and their tears were enough to slightly flood the place. When Grimm caught a whiff of the blood that was everywhere, he almost lost to his vampiric urges. However, the jewel on his mask prevented that.

"Tch… I really hate this place."

"In that case, give me the ogre. I'll take her from here. You, just work on finding my target."

"You sure? She's kinda heavy."

"I'm sure. Now give her to me."

Grimm dropped the unconscious ogre on Maude, then took the scroll she was holding. The woman nearly collapsed under the weight of the ogre, but she wasn't ready to admit that.

"Urgh… Why is she so cold?"

"Well, it's because I froze her blood. She didn't realize what I was doing until it was too late, so here we are."

"Ah, whatever. You can form a team to go in your stead. It would also be a problem on our side if we were to lose you. It's not like we can just waltz into the Realm of Eternal Night and recruit another vampire."

Grimm looked at the name in the scroll.

"Ulva? That's my target? Ok, I'll send some guys in there. I'll give you feedback when I get it.

---

Day 26

'Alright! Let's do it! Let's conquer the dungeon!'

"You are so, going to die today and it won't even be funny."

"Tori-kun is weak, so Tori-kun shouldn't try it."

"Um… did you not nearly die the last time you just stepped foot into the cave?"

"Lady Hinotori, you may be strong, but I think the dungeon is beyond your current capabilities."

I got all these sorts of comments when I asked anyone to go to the dungeon with me. It was depressing and demoralizing, but nothing would stop me. Eventually, after enough bothering, the spider king decided to tag along with me. I finished my daily quests and we headed off towards the cave.

"Lunch, are you sure about this?"

'Yeah, yeah. Don't think too much about it. We'll use just one day to clear it and we'll be legends.'

"Ugh… we are dying today, aren't we?"

'You're too pessimistic. Don't worry. I've prepared tons of stuff and a lot of magic.'

I told her.

"A lot of magic? Bird brain, I definitely have more magic than you do and they will be more powerful than yours hands down, so what's the point?"

'Hmm, you sure?'

"What do you mean, "Hmm, you sure?"? I'm sure! I was born 3 months before you, remember?"

'Ha! Bug eyes, you think inside the box too much! I shall wow you with my amazing magical abilities!'

"Huh?"

'For example, I shall teleport us to the dungeon now.'

"W-what? Teleportation? You can use spatial magic?"

Rather than telling her, I grabbed her and activated the skill. With [Auto Mapping] I could directly map the coordinates, but I had the agent do it for me instead. It was in a sense, more convenient. Shadow Travel only worked in places with shadows. Unlike regular teleportation, it didn't have the disadvantage of me accidentally teleporting into a wall or something. In fact, it could be navigated through. Rather than calling it teleportation, I guess it could be said to be a shortening of the distance between two spaces. The only problem was that it would only work where there was a shadow. Well, that wasn't something I would need to be thinking about at the moment.

After descending into darkness, we reappeared inside the cave.

[You have entered the Forbidden Dungeon]

The system message confirmed this for me.

"A-Are we in the dungeon?"

'Yeah.'

I looked around and could see skeletons starting to rattle. I decided to take a peek at their stats.

STATUS

[Name: -

[Species: Undead Soldier Level 25/50

[Status: -

[Age: 10 years

[Rank: D

[Race Rank: Tier 2

[Talent: E grade

[Titles: |Of World|, |Dungeon Mob|

[Blessings: -

[Level: 45 Exp: 10/2500

[Health: 1300/1300 Stamina: ???/??? Strength: 300 Speed: 270 Defense: 250 Dexterity: 285 Intelligence: 10 Luck: -

|SKILLS|

[Unique Skills: -

[Passive Skills: [Undying], [Weak Constitution], [Slashing Enhancement], [Stabbing Enhancement]

[Active Skills: [Parrying], [Novice Swordsmanship]

[Affinities: [Darkness Affinity]

[Magic: -

[Resistances: [Slashing Resistance], [Stabbing Resistance]

'Ah… they aren't really strong, are they? Even though they have much higher levels than I do.'

I noticed that their levels were quite high compared to me. I guess having a high level didn't necessarily mean you were strong. Well, that would make sense. If there were a level 1 human baby and a level 1 elephant, I guess you could say that the level 1 baby elephant was stronger. So, numbers didn't really matter. It was dependent on skills. That was why someone of a level of 29 like me was already C rank.

"Hmm? I guess not."

The spider said. That was a bit surprising, then again, if my theory of her being from earth was right, I guess it wouldn't be so surprising. Well, it was time to find out anyway.

'Eh? You can tell their strengths? Do you have something like an appraisal skill?'

"Something like it, but better."

'Hmm? Interesting. Could it perhaps be a unique skill?'

"Unique skill? You say some weird things. Why would a spider get a unique skill?"

'True. I guess they don't just give them to stupid spiders.'

"What?!"

By the way, this was her status screen.

STATUS

[Name: -

[Species: Black Vampiric Weaver Queen Level 49/50

[Status: Anxious

[Age: 3 months

[Rank: C+

[Race Rank: Tier 3

[Talent: A grade

[Titles: |Newborn in a New World|, |Survivor|, |Bug Slayer|, |Cannibal|, |Traitor|, |Bug Lord|, |Rare Species|, |Usurper|, |Spider King|

[Blessings: |Blessings of *****|, |Blessings of the Divinity of Dark Nights, Yatendouji|

[Level: 94 Exp: 12,000/ 13,400

[Health: 4500/4500 Stamina: 3370/3370 Mana: 3,900/4,500 Strength: 990 Speed: 1570 Defense: 950 Dexterity: 1285 Intelligence: 90 Magic: 80 Luck: 80

[Skills: -

Yeah, she had me completely overwhelmed stat wise and from the looks of things, she possessed a lot of dangerous skills. She really was a king and so damned close to B rank. I was no match for her anyway I saw it. I really couldn't beat my 3 month old senpai.

[Would you like to form a party with the target, Yokino?]

Ø [YES]/[NO]