Lewd Dungeon

Book XXV – Politics

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Adventurer’s Guild Official Forums, Miami Branch)

SunnyBunz, MightyMouse, ImAPally, DontYouWantMe, AsaAkiraIsBae, BestGirl, LatinHeat, Salty, Backpage, Craig34, l33tpally, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, RedFox, Kimiko, DonnyJuan, Crusader, BadCompany, HurricaneGal, Ambassador, Scholar, Righteous, Id10t, Satyr, DarkEnchanter, RangerMiguel, ScoopGirl, VenusFlyTramp, MagicMike, TsundereHealer, Max, LightningLegacy, SwiftTaylor, Domino, Bacchus, Aegis, Temptation, and Lord_Kickass are in the chat.

BestGirl: So, I don’t know what I was expecting from a service at the Demon’s church, but that wasn’t it.

Salty: What are you talking about?

BestGirl: Oh, sorry. A friend from another party here in Swamptown was getting, well, I guess you could say hitched. Enslaved and married at the same time, to her party member, who is now her owner and husband. Ceremony was held at the little cathedral the Demon put up in Swamptown.

Scholar: I’m almost afraid to ask, but what was that like?

BestGirl: Well, the ceremony was presided over by the fallen angel girl who took up residence there. She actually has ‘Sword of Kuronoth’ as her class, as well as the ‘Slave’ title.

RedFox: Yes, she came and swore herself to the Master, and asked him to bind her. In so doing, he changed her.

Righteous: Why in the hell would anyone ASK to be enslaved to the Demon?

RedFox: The way she told it to me, it was because the very ‘religious’ types who raised her were abusive, and the other righteous types in her town either turned a blind eye, or helped themselves. So, after the Apocalypse, she returned home, settled some scores, and then came to Swamptown.

RedFox: Yes, Master uses and abuses me and his other pets, but he is honest about it. He doesn’t like hypocrites who cannot admit, both to themselves and the world, what kind of people they are. Apparently, even when he was a human, he didn’t lie, or pretend to be the good church-going saint that some of these people like to play themselves off as. He knew what he was, and while he didn’t shout it from the rooftops, he didn’t give anyone the impression that he was ‘righteous’.

Crusader: … As much as I’d like to argue, that is true. He just kept to himself, but the team won games, and there were never problems in his classes, so no one had problems with him. It wasn’t until he had something on me that he let the other part of himself show.

VenusFlyTramp: You ok, girl? You’re usually a lot more… vitriolic when it comes to him.

Crusader: I’ve been going to therapy. Online, of course. I can’t actually leave the building without risking getting thrown out of Swamptown, and then I’d be in trouble. And sleep is in short supply with two kids, with a third on the way.

ImAPally: How much longer you have on your sentence?

Crusader: When the third child is born, I’ll be able to leave, without any backlash from the contract.

VenusFlyTramp: Oof. Three kids in two years? That’d be enough for even me to swear off sex for a while. At least a couple months.

LatinHeat: So, BG, what was the service like?

BestGirl: Oh, it was weird, like I could see how it was based on traditional weddings in some parts, but everyone was naked, with only these long cloaks on. And kissing the bride was followed by collaring her, and then a blowjob and a facial.

Backpage: Like, in front of the whole congregation?

BestGirl: Yeah! And it didn’t seem weird, which is the weird thing. You know? But anyone who’s been in the Demon’s Dungeon has seen, or done, worse in front of an audience.

Craig34: True. Kind of shifts your perceptions, doesn’t it? What’s that called?

Scholar: The Overton Window. Usually describes politics, but it works in this case, too. Basically, if you push something far enough, then it becomes normalized. So, people who spend too much time around the Demon’s Dungeon find their views of sex and sexuality, specifically with what is ‘normal’, changed from the rest of the population.

MightyMouse: So, other than a wedding, what has been going on in Swamptown?

AsaAkiraIsBae: Well, there was a bit of a shakeup earlier. At the church, now that I think about it.

Bacchus: You mean when the stained-glass windows lit up, and the pillars changed? Yeah, I would say that constitutes a ‘shakeup’.

Salty: Wait, what?

AsaAkiraIsBae: Well, I was offering a few prayers before my party went into the dungeon on a dive, and the whole church shook. The stained-glass window over the altar, showing the demon getting head from someone with Pofmis’s symbol on her back glowed brightly for a second, and then the pillars changed.

Salty: Changed how?

Bacchus: They were nothing special at first. Stone pillars, like you’d see anywhere, right? I mean, they flowed with the room to support the ceiling and all, so they weren’t just decorative, but they weren’t ornate.

AsaAkiraIsBae: Functional. Like, they fit in with the rest of the place, and were designed to look good, but they had a ‘function first’ kind of feeling.

Bacchus: so, anyways, the pillars all suddenly had engraved images on them, and they were moving!

VenusFlyTramp: What were they doing? And what did they show?

AsaAkiraIsBae: They showed a demon and a woman. Couldn’t say much more than that, since it was just an engraved image, rather than a high-def picture. As for what they were doing? Well, let’s just say I learned a few new positions just from watching them.

LatinHeat: Man, if church had been more like that when I was a kid, maybe I’d have paid more attention!

Bacchus: Also, there are symbols that have started repeating around the cathedral. The System tells me that they are runes for Domination and Pleasure, which makes sense, but they are often circled by runes for things like Humans, Slavery, Undead, and Demons. There were others, as well. Anyways, about the time things changed, a new rune, for Dungeons, was added to that.

Scholar: Domination and Pleasure are the Demon’s domain, his primary focus as a deity, so the other ones might be lesser qualities, perhaps relating to his worshippers?

HurricaneGal: You know, Temptation has been pretty quiet for the last week or so.

ScoopGirl: Hmm. Now that you mention it, he’s usually posted something at least once a day, even if it was just a little comment on someone else’s conversation. But he hasn’t said anything in a week. I smell a scoop!

RedFox: Master has been… preoccupied abroad. If you like, I will let him know you would like to speak when his attention returns to the dungeon.

Id10t: Wait, so for the past week or so, the dungeon has just been, what, running on automatic?

RedFox: Essentially, yes.

Id10t: What about people who get to the final floor?

RedFox: Most don’t press their luck that far, but for the three teams that did manage a full clear, they each got the fight they asked for. But that reflection was only a sliver of the Master’s attention.

Ambassador: Oh, dear. That would explain why I’m getting reports of strange occurrences from several different systems.

ScoopGirl: What do you mean?

Ambassador: Well, there are shrines to Kuronoth popping up in dungeons all over the spiral arm, and it is spreading.

RangerMiguel: Well, that can’t be good.

Chapter 241 – Binding

Blades of light crashed against a dome of shadow, before breaking through. But they did not find my flesh, because I was no longer there. In the crash of magic versus magic, I charged forward, concentrating my defense on blocking the blades in front of me, turning them away, while only slowing the others enough to allow me my escape forward, into Pofmis’s guard.

She had not been expecting me to charge, and it showed with how my blade, now glowing with pink energy against the blackness was able to penetrate her defenses yet again, stabbing up, under her arm, the same one I’d hit before. The pink energy, the concentrated essence of the Passionslime, flowed into her. Her eyes went wide as the concoction hit her system like a freight train. As well it ought, since that attack gave her enough aphrodisiacs that it was like consuming an entire Passionslime.

I did not give her a chance to rest, or to purge the drug from her system. I could not, not if I wanted to win this in a way others would accept. I could not outlast Pofmis in a defensive battle. She was the stronger god, after all, and her abilities, even in this limited form, were greater than my own.

Sure, the rules of the room were such that I couldn’t be defeated unless I actually submitted, since she couldn’t kill me or rob me of my divinity. But I was no masochist, and while I had experience pushing through pain from playing sports as a kid, that didn’t mean I could withstand the tortures of a pissed off goddess if she got me at her mercy. Oh, she might play the righteous role, but I had no doubt she knew a thing or two about torturing those she believed were abominations or heretics, like me, and I was not eager to experience whatever lessons she might be able to teach on the subject.

My shield came up again, crashing into her face with the shield’s edge. Blood flowed from her nose, and I could see the goddess stagger back, trying to recover. I kept up the attack with the shield, hammering her face while my sword kept her spear off to the side. If I let her get some distance, she could recover, and then I’d have to break her guard once again.

The butt end of her spear came up, catching my shield arm at the elbow. Not hard, but enough that it knocked the shield out of line as I tried to further pummel the goddess. Her foot lashed out, and only quick footwork made it so that the blow landed on my thigh, rather than between my legs. Even so, it still hit hard enough that my stance crumpled, and I fell forward.

I dropped my shield, and leaned into the fall, catching Pofmis’s leg and trapping it beneath me as I fell. I heard her curse, but it turned into a scream a moment later. Something twisted in ways it wasn’t supposed to. Was it her knee? Or her ankle? Either way, she was hurt, which was an opportunity for me.

I rolled, taking her with me, until I was on top of her, my hips between her legs, one arm pinning her spear to the ground above her head, while the other held my blade to her throat. “Yield. Or suffer. Either way is fine with me.”

The goddess was looking pretty pathetic. One eye was starting to swell shut, and her helmet had been knocked from her head at some point, so the blood from her nose and mouth was staining her golden hair. The arm I’d wounded twice lay limply at her side, useless for the time being. Her good eye glared at me, though it had trouble focusing, suggesting a concussion. At the same time, her breathing was getting heavy. The Passionslime essence was getting to her. If I slipped my hand under her faulds and inside the chausses, I did not doubt that there would be a flood waiting for me as her heat raged out of control.

“N-never!”

Still, she had enough spirit to try and resist, thrashing her legs, and trying to wrench her spear free with her one good hand. She grit her teeth, exerting herself past the pain, trying to resist the pleasure, and I felt a pain of my own. Looking down, I saw that the hand I’d thought limp and useless was now holding the hilt of a slender dagger, the blade of which was buried in my side, below the ribs.

I wrenched the blade from my side, and threw it across the room. The wound hurt, but she didn’t hit anything vital, and the pain wasn’t enough to debilitate me. Still, it was a point for her, and we both knew it.

“You naughty girl. I guess I’m going to have to stop playing nice.”

I slammed her good hand against the stone floor several times, causing her to drop her spear. A burst of magic sent it flying across the room. Another spell caused my sword to float in the air, ready to defend me if she managed to use some magic to remote control her weapons. My sword hand reached behind my back, and pulled out a knife with a curved blade, perfect for cutting leather straps. Straps like those securing the goddess’s armor.

She saw the knife, and knew what it meant for her. She fought with renewed vigor, but she had no leverage to use her superior strength. That, and the more she twisted her hips to try and throw me off, the more she ground herself against me, while the Passionslime essence worked its magic upon her. I smiled as a grunt of effort turned into a moan, and her face flushed with embarrassment. Embarrassment that quickly turned to horror as I conjured a cloth soaked to the point of dripping with Passionslime juice, and forced it into her mouth as a gag, before using shadow magic to keep it there.

I conjured shadows to bind her wrists above her head, as my blade began finding the straps of her armor, cutting them one by one. As I did so, her motions became less and less those of a fighter, getting more needful as time went by. By the time her breastplate had been removed, she was fully in heat. As I cut away her arming doublet, she moaned in unabashed pleasure and arched her back as the cool air met her perky nipples. By the time she was fully stripped, her ruined armor cast about her, she was little more than a bitch in heat, begging to be bred.

I could have branded her, then and there, or collared her. But that wouldn’t do. I wasn’t lying earlier when I told her that enslaving her outright would be contrary to my long-term goals. Her friends and allies would unite against me, and crusade against me and mine. And some of them would be sneaky about it, so that I might not see the attack coming until it was too late. They only had to get lucky once.

I traced my fingers along her pussy lips, teasing her. “Pofmis, I want you to pay attention to me.” Her good eye focused on me, as she tried to resist. “I want you to make a deal with me.” She started to shake her head, but froze as my fingertip flicked against her clit. “If you make this deal, then I promise that I will fuck you long and hard, giving you that release your body so desires. But I won’t force you to make the deal. I just won’t let you cum until you do.”

There is a reason why people say that torture is only of limited use in gathering information or ensuring compliance. Yes, it worked, but only to a point. Pain can be resisted, for a time, but everyone will break under enough pain. Some will break physically, and die. Others will break mentally, going insane. Most will simply break down, telling the torturer anything and everything they can think of, whatever it takes to make the pain stop, whether it is true or not.

That was certainly an enjoyable use of one’s time, but it was easy to tell when someone had been coerced in such a way. It tended to reflect more on the torturer than the tortured, and could easily twist you if you weren’t careful. And compliance through pain, and fear of pain, engendered hate and rebellion.

On the other hand, few people could truly resist pleasure when it was forced upon them. The chemicals in the brain told them that this was a good thing, that it made them happy. Their brain might disagree, but every time their climax crashed over them, those thoughts became more and more muddled. The victim either broke completely, or their mind shifted, and they began to accept it. And that was how you converted them.

It didn’t have to be sexual, either. Physical pleasure just worked quicker, like physical torture did. And, like with physical torture, its true value was in breaking down the defenses, so that the manipulators could mold the victim to their liking. A reward for cooperation as simple as adding a blanket to an otherwise bare prison cell, or replacing the crude cot with a comfortable bed, could make all the difference, especially when you let them know that if they stopped cooperating, the rewards would be taken away.

Pofmis was trying to fight these initial pleasures, but I knew that she would break, eventually. The trick, then, would be to ensure that I had some way to continue manipulating her, dominating her, in the coming weeks and months, however long it took for her to break. It had to be something that would drive her mad, but wouldn’t harm her, or make it look as though I was being excessively cruel. It couldn’t be something that she would be able to go to her allies and show them what a horrible person I was, and get them to unite against me.

Eventually, after an hour or so, I saw the look in her eyes change from defiance to pleading, as I continued to keep her on the edge. I smiled down at her, knowing this was the moment that would make or break my campaign against her. “Do you want to make a deal?” Pofmis nodded, once, the beginnings of tears in her eyes.

I leaned forward, one hand cupping her head, running through her hair as the other continued tracing her lower lips, edging her. I got in close, close enough that she could feel my breath upon her ear, and whispered what I wanted. She shook her head, whimpered a denial, but I just smiled at her, and continued teasing. Finally, after what seemed like days, with tears of humiliation and frustration trailing down her face, she nodded again. I removed the gag from her mouth.

“Swear it.”

She sobbed, but nodded, and magic filled her voice. “I, Pofmis, Goddess of Freedom, do swear upon my divinity, the System itself, and the souls of my followers, that, for a year and a day, I shall wear one article of clothing chosen by Kuronoth, God of Domination and Pleasure, and that, for the duration, I will only climax at his command, with each failure adding another year of time to this contract, and forcing me to appear before Kuronoth for punishment, in any way he deems fit.”

“Good girl,” I whispered, before saying out loud, “I, Kuronoth, God of Domination and Pleasure, witness this vow.”

Turning my eyes back to her, I undid my pants, revealing that I was already at full staff. “You may cum, Pofmis, but only after I enter you. And each time you cum, I want you to call out how many times it has been.” I thrust into her, bottoming out in one go. Pofmis shuddered, and moaned at my sudden intrusion. When she spoke, she was weeping.

“ONE!”

Chapter 242 – Sorting the Inbox

Eventually, of course, playtime had to end. We were, after all, both busy gods, and our flocks needed us. But there was just one thing that needed to be done, before I dismissed Pofmis, allowing her to scurry away from me.

As she stood naked before me, I couldn’t help but admire her beauty. It would be so much fun to possess her, to break her. But I couldn’t afford such pleasures just yet. She had too many allies for me to do anything precipitous, and I needed to look at the bigger picture. No, instead I would play the long game, and break her by inches.

Still, it had to be said that the look of shame on Pofmis’s face as she tried to avoid meeting my eyes while on display for me, with the combined juices of our playtime dribbling down her thighs, was plenty rewarding in its own right. Yes, I very much loved the look of shame and embarrassment on her face, as she tried to cover herself. But it was nothing compared to her expression when I showed her the one article of clothing she would need to wear for the duration of her sentence.

The item she would be forced to wear was, simply put, a chastity belt with a thong back, made of shining steel, so that it would not look out of place if she wore her armor, but large enough that she could not just put the armor on over it. Of course, it wasn’t just a chastity belt. Two remote-controlled dildoes shaped like my penis were attached to the inside, so that, for the duration of her sentence, she would be plugged up, and subject to any ‘encouragement’ I gave her.

Thankfully, the remote worked across the planes, and at great distances, since it had a divine connection. So, any time I wished, I could turn the vibrators on, and adjust their speed. And, with magic, one didn’t need to worry about dead batteries. Pofmis was less than pleased when I explained this to her, as I locked the chastity belt in place, as one would expect.

She was even less pleased when I informed her that the lock was enchanted, so that, should anyone attempt to remove the belt or pick the lock without the key, it would apply a [Slave Brand] on her. Worse, it would also attempt to brand the person trying to help her. Then, it would try and teleport them both to my side. It was a brute force approach to anti-tamper systems, but it worked.

But, as I said, it was time for me to return to my other responsibilities. So, I handed her a bag with the remains of her armor and other gear, opened a portal for her, and slapped her on the ass one last time before allowing the goddess to leave. Pofmis scurried away, only to realize a second too late that I had opened the portal to one of the public face-to-face lounge areas in GodNet, and that she was wearing only the chastity belt I’d given her. I offered one last wave to her, and the other gods in the lounge, before shutting the portal. Let her deal with the fallout of that little embarrassment.

With a thought, I returned my consciousness to my dungeon. It had been almost ten days since I’d last looked in on things with my full attention, but fortunately things seemed to be running smoothly. The automated systems were working, and my pets were all well-practiced at their jobs by now.

There were, however, a few things that demanded my attention. There were meeting requests from Miguel, and the Ambassador. Both of them wanted to talk about what I’d been up to for the last week. That made sense, so I sent a quick message offering to meet them at the Miami guild building in a couple hours.

Next was a few notes from my disciples at the Church in Swamptown. There had actually been a couple marriage/enslavement ceremonies, as well as a celebration of the anniversary of the Dungeon’s opening, which included a swinger’s orgy. That was interesting, since I hadn’t created any ceremony like that, but rather it was an example of my flock taking my ‘teachings’ and running with them.

That kind of thing should be encouraged, in my opinion. So, I used a brief burst of power, and gave each of the participants a bit of extra charisma temporarily. The boost would only last twenty-four hours, and wasn’t exactly major, just a couple points, but it would show to them that I approved of their actions.

Next, there was a request from… the White House? Oh, it looked like the new President wanted to have a chat. Reasonable, since I’d gained so much power since the Apocalypse, and was, technically, based inside the borders of the United States. Plus, there was the whole bit with handing over warships to them and the other countries after Pofmis’s fleet got too close to my base.

So, yeah, there was no surprise that they wanted to have a chat. I guess the bigger surprise was that they hadn’t reached out before now. But then, I wasn’t exactly the type of person that would typically be listed amongst her supporters. In fact, I’m pretty sure she and her backers hated a lot of what I promoted.

As if that wasn’t enough of a public relations hot potato, then there was the little fact that I was limited in where I could manifest outside of my dungeon. I couldn’t go to the White House unless they put in a shrine, or one of my believers invoked me, both of which were ‘problematic’. Her coming to my dungeon, likewise, was also out of the question. The President had to consider their image and precedent when going to visit someone, after all. They represented more than just their own interests while they were in office.

However, it seemed that some bright bulb in the President’s staff had come up with a workaround for that. The warship they’d gotten from me had been renamed the USS Raven, and it looked as though they were in the process of refitting it to be as faith-neutral as possible. The shrine room was still intact, but it looked as though they were going all in on stripping the gold out of there and making it look more like a real navy ship. The message said that the President would be conducting an inspection of the ship in a few days, and asked if I could meet while I was there.

The fact that she was actually reaching out to me was enough to spark my interest, but then I heard about the topic, and I was hooked. Apparently, one of the things she’d campaigned on was finding a way to reign in misinformation and outright lies pretending to be news. So, there was a press reform bill she was putting together, to send to Congress. But there was a bunch of pushback, for obvious reasons. People didn’t like the idea of one of their more convenient tools for swaying the ignorant masses getting taken away from them.

But I had a lot of sway, and was getting more. While I hadn’t made any political moves, I wasn’t blind to the fact that I was one of the rising powers in this post-apocalypse world. And the President’s people knew it, too. Moreover, they knew that I had a thing about always telling the truth. It was one of the main things people knew about me.

On the other hand, I was also a wild card, and I knew that, too. They didn’t know what to make of me. So, they wanted to sound me out on this one issue where we might get along, while trying to figure out what kind of relationship we might have in the future.

So far, so good. And the equation on who to send was simple, as well. Anyone under a cabinet member, and I’d simply have one of my underlings meet them. But if they wanted the most impact, then the meeting needed to be at the topmost level.

I sent word that I would be happy to meet with the President on the appointed day, and turned to the next bit of correspondence I needed to deal with. I had a bunch of new followers amongst dungeons, since my stepping in to stop that crusade was becoming known. I also had a bunch of messages from the DEN from other dungeons, trying to sound me out, and get some information on my godly persona, since they knew that Kuronoth came from the Forbidden Chambers of Exotic Pleasures dungeon. Nothing critical, like the prayer that had taken me out to the Labyrinth of the Dishonored Knight dungeon, so I took my time and worked through them.

It seemed that there were plenty of dungeons who might not be looking for a god to follow, but were definitely looking for some protection against the other gods, and their followers. Dungeons did not usually have much protection if a crusade was called against one. Sure, the crusading church might get a fine or some kind of sanctions if they couldn’t give a good reason for killing the ‘rogue’, but that didn’t make the dungeon any less dead.

With a patron, however, the dungeon at least had someone in its corner, willing to back them against hostile churches. It meant that a church had to think twice before calling the crusade, because there might be larger forces at play. That gave them some security, which I was only too happy to provide.

Thankfully, I’d standardized the ‘dungeon shrine’ setup for my church, so any dungeon dedicating a shrine to me just needed to indicate that, and my shrine would grow, and give my godly self a view of the location. That meant I didn’t need to visit each dungeon, which was good, because the number was growing pretty rapidly. Dungeons getting added to my portfolio was already drawing more dungeons to my faith.

Next, there were some questions on GodNet, since the rumors were flying fast about me, especially after I dumped Pofmis in the middle of a talk on traditional values, it seemed. I acknowledged the thanks and congratulations from some gods for taking her down a peg, and set some conversations aside for later. I wanted to think about the answers to some of the questions they asked before saying anything.

Speaking of gods, I owed a favor to Athtar, Kou, and Selphie from the poker game. They didn’t have any presence on Earth, and they weren’t enemies of mine, so I didn’t have any problems helping them out. Making friends would help cover for the enemies I made.

But who to introduce them to? Well, there were a couple easy answers. So, I sent word to the three gods that, if they sent a priest to Earth, I would put them in touch with someone who would likely be receptive to their faith. All three quickly responded that they had people on the way. Excellent.

That caught up on my inbox, or at least the important things, that didn’t get filtered out as spam. It was amusing getting the same ‘grow 3-10 inches’ emails I got as a mortal when I was a dungeon who could shape my avatar as I pleased. That didn’t stop me from adding those messages to my spam filter, of course. Nor did it stop me from offering the email addresses they came from to those of my people with hacking skills to ‘play’ with.

But, with the backlog cleared, I was free to pay more attention to my dungeon itself. And, to my great pleasure, I saw that a team had made it all the way to the twelfth floor, and had made it through the first round of the arena. It looked as though they would triumph in the second round, too, meaning I’d be able to test them personally.

With a smile, I transferred my consciousness to the arena, taking the place of the clone that had been sitting there, and prepared.

Chapter 243 – Arena

This was a new team, one that hadn’t made it to me before. Actually, they were entirely new to the dungeon. Looking quickly through my records, I saw that they came through the newly established portal in Moscow. That was oddly fitting, considering what I saw when I looked at them.

Loseva Askinya Rustemovna

Human Female

Level 40 Battledancer / Entertainer

Titles: Slave

Market Value: 60000 gp

The first of the Russian team was a very leggy lady with long brown hair. She looked like the kind of lady who would get sent to trap James Bond in one of the older, Connery-era films. Femme Fatale. In her hands were a pair of chakrams, which I thought were pretty interesting, and really pretty rare, since the weapons were hard to use effectively. Even more so when dealing with dual-wielding. She must have gone down an exotic weapon progression to the Battledancer class.

Loseva Karolina Rustemovna

Human Female

Level 40 Ninja / Alchemist

Titles: Slave

Market Value: 55000 gp

The second woman was dressed in clothes that were quite practical, and well-suited for quick movement, while at the same time being close-fitting enough that they left little to the imagination, despite the fact that most of her skin was covered, since they were primarily made of spandex. Her face was hidden behind a cloth hood and mask which left only her eyes uncovered. Twin daggers were in her gloved hands, and she looked to be very quick on her feet. She would be a problematic opponent, to be sure.

Loseva Jelena Rustemovna

Human Female

Level 40 Priestess of Kuronoth / Enchantress

Titles: Slave

Market Value: 45000

The third, who looked like a slightly younger version of the Battledancer, was actually wearing a priestess’s robes, and carrying a large staff, with my symbol at the top of it. Having followers of mine in the dungeon was always interesting, especially when they were priestesses or clerics. And it wasn’t even that odd to see one of my priestesses enslaved, honestly. I was, after all, the god of Domination and Pleasure. Many of those who did not have the skill for domination focused on pleasure, and drawing out the dominant nature of others.

Loseva Rustem Danilovich

Human Wearbear Male

Level 40 Blood Warlock / Slave Master

Titles: Executioner, Kinslaver

Market Value: 42050 gp

And finally, there was the lone male in the group. He was a hulking beast of a man, even in his human form. Honestly, the first thing I thought of when I saw him was Bluto from the old Popeye cartoons. What made things weird was that he was such a physical guy, and yet he had a class like Warlock, which was more suited for curses and magical blasting. There was even more dissonance, since his armor and the massive slab of steel pretending to be a greatsword he had over his shoulder made me think of someone who had read too many issues of Berserk. None of it made any sense!

As the three girls finally wore down my Atlantean champion, I rose from my throne and clapped, congratulating them for their victory. “Well fought, adventurers. Well fought, indeed. You have worked hard to get here, and I will not take up too much of your time before the final battle. However, as is my habit, I would like to know what boons you are seeking in my halls?”

The massive man stepped forward. When he spoke, his accent was thick and heavy. “What purpose does asking zis serve?”

“Ah,” I smiled, “that is simple. Whenever I have someone new reach me on their first time in my dungeon, I wish to honor them with a special reward, if it is within my power. Name your desire, and, should you win the coming battle, I will offer it to you. However, keep in mind that the greater the boon, the greater the difficulty the fight will pose. Even if you are followers of mine in the mortal realms, there are rules under the System that even I can only bend so far. So, tell me what boons you seek, travelers from afar.”

The man nodded, and said, “I am Rustem, and I speak for ze people of Kamyzny, in Siberia. We have lived there since before Stalin, before ze Tsars. zey did not bother us, because our little valley was hard to get to, and zere were no resources worth ze trouble. We did not hear of ze fall of ze Union and ze rise of zis Federation until later that year, when one of our own made the trek to the nearest town, so that we could get ze news of who won in ze games in Barcelona.”

I nodded slowly. An isolated town in Siberia, hmm? If they were up in the mountains, then accessing them could be difficult, even at the best of times. So long as they didn’t cause trouble, then it was easy to figure why the Soviets might leave them alone.

“I imagine it was a hard life, but a good one. That kind of living, I am told, breeds hardy men and women, used to weathering whatever is thrown at them. What could trouble such a proud people?”

Rustem smiled, and said, “We are proud, yes. But we also know that zere are times when you must work together, to do things that you could not on your own. Sometimes, our own strength, it is not enough, and so we must look to outsiders, and get their help.”

He sighed. “Ze only thing ze Soviets did for us, is zey gave us a power plant, yes? And later, when ze Federation figured out we were here, some company decided to do a satellite link, so we could be connected, yes? Zey only did it so that we could pay our bills to ze power company more easily, yes? But it still gave us a view on ze outside world.

“But zen ze Apocalypse happened, with ze orange durak being stupid, yes? We did not have all ze deaths that other places did, but we did need to fight and get stronger, in order to survive. We all did what we needed to in order to live.”

“And then someone decided they wanted something from you?”

“Yes. Stupid corporations, zey are worse than ze Soviets! At least zey would tell you to your face what zey wanted, instead of being sneaky thieves. Zey found some rare magic metal in ze ground. Kamyzny is sitting on great amounts of it, yes? So ze mining companies, they want to buy Kamyzny!”

“And you didn’t want to sell your homes.”

“Hah! We did not go for ze Tsars. We did not go for Stalin. Mining company will not make us go. But zey have many friends, many people, many weapons. We are strong, but we are few, yes? We look for help, to keep Kamyzny ours.”

“I understand your plight, Rustem Danilovich. And there are three things I can do to help you. Two are easier than last, but they are less reliable, unfortunately. Understand me, though, whatever path you choose, Kamyzny will change. It cannot exist as it had, before the Apocalypse. This is no threat of mine, understand, but simple truth. Kamyzny has avoided the changes so far due to its isolation, but that will no longer protect you. Knowing this, will you hear what I can offer you?”

Rustem looked at the three women, and took a deep breath. Turning to face me, he said, “I will listen.”

“Good. The first option is to create a great barrier around Kamyzny, using magic. Like the folk tales of Kitezh, Kamyzny would vanish from the world. But this would only last so long as the barrier did. If natural disaster, sabotage, or clumsiness damaged the anchors of the barrier, then it would fall. And a sufficiently determined foe might still find it through sheer determination, throwing enough bodies at it until they found the hidden village.”

“I am not liking zis one so much. Zis is one of ze easier options you mentioned, zen?”

“Yes. And it is one of the ones that I could offer you without some kind of contract, should you defeat me in combat. But that would only get you so far.”

“What are ze rest?”

“The second option would be to create for you powerful weapons and armor, allowing you to destroy any conventional foe that came to try and force you out. But that runs the risk of escalation. You would be painting an even larger target upon your town than before, to the point where the military may be forced to step in.”

Rustem spat on the ground. “No! A thousand times no to that one! I will not be responsible for bringing death to Kamyzny like that!”

“In that case, the third option may be the one that suits you best. As you know, I am linked to this dungeon. I can give you an item that you can plant in the center of your town. It will allow me to spread the dungeon’s influence throughout your valley. Your town would become like Swamptown is, a group of people living within my domain, and, ultimately, subject more to my authority than that of the government.

“Your homes and your churches would be your own. I will not dictate the faith of any of your people, or do the slightest to harm or discourage any of you who have other beliefs. But the public areas and the lands around the village? Those would be mine, the same as your fist belongs to you.

“In return, I will give you all a contract to sign, or rather a pair of contracts. One will apply to those aged ten to eighteen, and the other those eighteen and older. Both will define rights and responsibilities of those in the town, and make those who sign immune to the laws I’ll put in place, laws which would prevent any outsider from being able to harm those inside the town, but would still allow you to defend yourselves from monsters and wild animals that may wander through.”

“Why ze two contracts? Why not just ze one?”

“Because I do not wish for anyone to say that I am taking advantage of the youth. The dungeon laws will apply to all those older than ten years and a day. The child’s contract can be signed on their tenth birthday. This will keep them protected, until they grow to be an adult.

“However, once they are eighteen years and a day old, they will need to sign the much larger contract covering the adults. They’ll have those eight years under the provisional contract to decide whether they wish to become full citizens of Kamyzny or not. This choice, they’ll be able to make freely, but if they choose to leave, or not to sign, then they will be treated as any other ‘guest’ to the village.”

“And what will it cost us for this protection?”

“Mostly? Your isolation. You will be my ambassadors to Russia, and Kamyzny will become a haven for those who wish to avoid ‘entanglements’ with the Russian government, so long as they can follow the rules. These rules will focus first on keeping the people of Kamyzny safe, naturally. The day-to-day running of Kamyzny will be left to you, and your people, to do as they see fit, so long as they don’t break faith with me.

“Finally, there will be a tithe. You will not pay taxes to the Russian government, but to me. One tenth of what your town produces, whether it be in coin or in goods. If you should decide to start mining, and dig up the ‘magic metal’, then one tenth of that, too. In return, you will be protected, you will be fed, even when crops fail and game is scarce, and you will have warmth and shelter available to you, even in the fiercest Siberian winter.”

Rustem breathed deeply. “Zis is a lot to take in. More than I ever thought possible. I will have to speak with my people before accepting such a deal.”

I nodded once, and stepped into shadows, reappearing in the ring, armed and ready. “Then let us have a quick bout, to observe the rules, and then I shall send you home, with the crystal, so that you can speak with your people, and decide your fate.”

The big Russian just smiled, and hefted his sword. “Dah, zis is good.”

Chapter 244 – Guild Hall

The fight, or rather scrimmage, was a fun one. We had a simple battle to first blood from the torso. Nothing fancy, but the Russians were definitely a team that could have given me trouble if I was fighting them for real. Rustem was a very competent fighter, who clearly had come by his levels honestly, along with his little sisters/slaves/lovers.

That was an interesting home situation they had. Not that I could complain about what others did in their home lives, with how I operated, but enslaving your sisters and turning them into your lovers? Combined with the huge sword, I had to wonder whether the Russian was their version of a weeb, playing out his harem protagonist fantasies.

But, again, if someone wanted to live their lives like they were in an eroge, why should I stop them? Especially if they were followers of mine? No, I wasn’t that kind of god. So, I just wished him well, and gave him an item that would reduce the risk of negative consequences in his kids, should he have any.

As the warriors from Russia left the dungeon, I turned my attention outward. It was almost time for my meeting with Miguel and the Ambassador. They wanted to know what was going on, and I didn’t mind letting them in on the news.

With a thought, I let the armor fade away, replaced by black slacks and a jacket, with a button-up shirt and no tie. Classy casual, as I called it. Basically, something that wouldn’t look out of place if I walked into a high-end club.

With a wave of my hand, I opened a portal to the shrine in the Miami Adventurer’s Guild building. There was a moment of shocked silence from the adventurers heading towards the main portal leading to Swamptown. For most of them, it was the first time they’d seen me outside of the dungeon proper.

“Well, isn’t this a lovely reception,” I smirked, as I walked up to a random female adventurer. She was a lovely ebony girl, with an ass you could bounce quarters off of. Big, yet tight and firm, just like I liked them. I couldn’t help but smile as her mouth fell open as I grabbed her butt through her leather pants, and said, “What is your name, my pretty?”

The adventurer pretended to be a fish out of water for a moment, and then said, “Shakenya. B-but, you’re the Demon of the Dungeon! You’re not supposed to be here!”

I grinned at her, and said, “Yes, well, I’m more than just the Demon of the Dungeon, you know? I’m also a god. And gods are not nearly so restricted as the being I was before.” As I spoke, my hand slipped down the curve of her backside, and between her legs, rubbing the leather covering her crotch, pulling it slightly back and forth. Just enough to entice. “I am here for a meeting with Grandmaster Miguel and the Ambassador. Why don’t you come with me, hmm? You can show me the way to the conference room.”

Shakenya took a breath, and was about to say something, but I put my finger over her lips. “The words you’re looking for should be, ‘Yes, Sir.’ Or, if it makes you feel better, you can call me Master.” Her eyes widened, and I smiled, but before I could say anything else, a new presence entered the little pocket of my domain that filled the portal room.

“Ahem.”

Looking up, I smiled, as I saw Miguel standing there. “Ah, Miguel! What a pleasure. I was just about to get one of your lovely adventurers to show me to the conference room, since I haven’t been here before, in the flesh.”

The Grandmaster of the American Adventurers’ Guild shook his head, and said, “I’m sure. Fortunately, my assistant felt your coming, so I figured I’d come down and show you around. If you would let go of the girl, we can go to the conference room I’ve had set aside, and talk.”

“Ah, yes, I guess I should work first, and then play?” I sighed, acting put upon. Then, I pulled the stunned woman in closer, and whispered in her ear, before releasing her with a loud smack across her rear. With a roguish wink, I turned away from her, and followed Miguel, who was just shaking his head. The reactions of the other adventurers never even rose to the point where I needed to pay attention to them.

As we walked through the halls of the guild hall, Miguel sighed. “You know, Kuronoth, there’s really nothing I or anyone can do to stop you from doing your own thing in the dungeon, but I would ask you to at least control yourself when you’re visiting the guild hall. The last thing we need is someone deciding that the guild, which is still a majority male, is offering a hostile work environment, and filing a harassment suit against us. So, please, for my sake?”

“Ah, come on, Miguel. When you see a lovely, finely-sculpted body like that one, you just have to reach out and touch it, no? But, fine, if it would make you feel better, I will try and constrain just how appreciative I am of the scenery while I’m in your domain.”

The Grandmaster sighed in relief. “That’s all I ask. If we get shut down because of a lawsuit, or someone forces a change, it could cause all kinds of trouble. There are some who want a more ‘progressive’ outlook from the guild, and think that I’m wrong for not ‘fighting back’ against the things you’ve done.” I raised an eyebrow, and he just shrugged. “They’re idiots who don’t know how the world works, but they’re loud idiots, and that is problematic.”

“You could just send them to me, you know. A run through the dungeon would probably do them good. And, if something were to happen, and they needed a bit of rescuing, then I could easily persuade them to sign a contract that would take them out of play for a while.”

Miguel stiffened, but did not automatically reject the idea. “I’ll keep that in mind. So far, they’re not worth the backlash that might result of them becoming martyrs.” He shook his head, and said in a tone that was clearly trying to change the subject, “So, what did you whisper in the girl’s ear?”

“Oh, just the usual. Offers of power and incredible sex, if she became my plaything. We’ll see whether she actually responds, or not. But I’m thinking that she’ll at least be somewhat receptive. After all, she never tried to get away from my fingers.”

“That’s because you were using the [Seduction] skill on her.”

“Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.”

Miguel just shook his head, clearly giving that discussion up as a lost cause. He’d already gotten my promise to not be as playful in public, anyways. With a smile, I decided to change the subject.

“So, I was listening to prayers recently, and I got a very thankful one from your receptionist. She was so happy that, after you collared her, you went and bent her over the desk like that. She went into great detail, too. Really, her prayer was more like a Penthouse Forum letter.”

Miguel groaned as he held his face in his hand, but I just clapped him on the shoulder. “No, no. I’m happy for you, my friend, I really am. You have a lovely lady there. Quite eager to serve you in every way imaginable, and would have even if you hadn’t put the collar on her. But now, you can better protect her from other, less savory sorts.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Earth is getting more and more open to the aliens. There are already three alien churches making strong inroads, and trade has already begun. Eventually, high-ranking alien adventurers will come here for an ‘exotic vacation’, since they know that they can crush the locals if need be. Those types often pay lip service to the local guilds, but they got their strength by fighting, so they tend to be the types who take what they want. An uncollared beauty is ripe for the taking, in their minds.”

Miguel frowned. “That is disturbing. I’ll need to talk with the Ambassador about that. Hopefully there will be a way to control them, or at least make it so that the Guild doesn’t suffer for what these foreign adventurers get up to.”

I nodded. “Well, for a price, I can try and get you in touch with guilds elsewhere in the galaxy. But it won’t be cheap, since I’d have to go through intermediaries, or arrange for my worshippers to get an audience with them. And, well, for some reason my church is not the most welcome in some areas.”

“I can’t imagine why.”

I laughed at Miguel’s comment, spoken with just the perfect amount of droll humor. “Oh, yes, I totally agree. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to avoid speaking with me, or mine. All I want is to spread pleasure, and a bit of domination, everywhere I go.”

“More than a little domination, from what I’ve seen. And you seem to have a questionable view of ‘consent’.”

“Oh, there’s nothing questionable about it. I simply go by the motto of ‘fuck around and find out’. If you enter the dungeon, you consent that death, or worse, can happen to you. If someone walks into the lion’s den wearing a meat suit, then you don’t blame the lions for having a snack.

“On the other hand, I keep free people who don’t want to go into the dungeon from being forced in. And when I’m out and about, like now, well, I would have stopped if that scrumptious piece of ass had said anything. But she never said ‘no’, or ‘stop’, did she? So that’s as good as a ‘yes’.”

“You know that ‘implied consent’ doesn’t really cut it for a lot of things, especially with sex, right? In fact, I believe there was a youtube video recently using tea as an analogy for consent. You might look it up, if only to save on legal fees.”

I waved Miguel off. “Ah, details. Insignificant details. And, speaking of lawyers, that reminds me! Don’t be surprised if, in a few days, a few more shrine-ships show up, and start landing over in Swamptown. I have a few guests from out of town that will be coming in for business, and I promised to make a few introductions to the locals.”

“Do I want to know?”

“Oh, there’s nothing wrong, honestly. It is more like the first three churches that visited, than those silly Pofmisians. But I will need to make some introductions to those in the legal profession.”

“Any firms in particular?”

“Well, for sure I’d like the District Attorney, and maybe get someone from Amnesty International, if I can. Then, I’d just a big firm that does contract law, and invite them. That should cover the bases.”

“You know, listing those groups all together makes me very worried.”

I laughed, and shook my head. “Oh, don’t worry so much, Miguel! It will be perfectly fine, I promise you. Look, I’ll explain it all to you and the Ambassador once we get into the meeting.”

“Explain what to me?”

I turned around sharply at the sudden new voice. It had been a long time since anyone had surprised me, but then, I wasn’t in my dungeon at the moment. Looking around, I noticed that, at some point, Miguel had gotten us to the conference room. And that the conference room was not, in fact, empty.

With a wide smile, I looked over at the Fimaazro Ambassador, Nyca Zygrash, dressed in what looked like a very traditional Japanese kimono. Evidently, she was adjusting quite well to having the primary consulate for her people in Japan. Certainly, she was looking quite healthy, so obviously living on Earth didn’t disagree with her. She, at least, didn’t back away when I took her hand and kissed it.

“Ah, Madame Ambassador! What a pleasure to see you again! I hope you weren’t waiting long?”

The Ambassador rolled her eyes, but I caught a hint of a smile. “No, I just got here before Miguel went to collect you, and keep you out of mischief. But, if we could get down to business?”

Chapter 245 – Explanation

I smiled at the Ambassador as I sat down at the table across from her, with Miguel sitting at the head of the table between us. “Of course, of course. Now, I’ve been told that you and Miguel were worried I might have been up to some kind of ‘mischief’, yes?”

The Ambassador narrowed her eyes as she glared at me. “You are damn right! I’ve been getting reports from across the spiral arm about dungeons suddenly getting shrines to Kuronoth! And now you’ve apparently added dungeons to your list of followers? What the hell is going on?”

“Ah, well that’s a simple enough place to start.” I looked over to Miguel, and asked, “This room’s warded against eavesdroppers or prying magic, right?”

“Yes. This is the most securely warded room, other than the offices. Since you have us under contract not to reveal your true nature, I thought it best to hold the meeting here.”

I grinned at the Grandmaster, and nodded. “And this is why I like dealing with you, Miguel. Always on top of things.” Turning back to the Ambassador, I said, “So, once before, I mentioned the Dungeon Exchange Network, confirming something researchers like yourself had long suspected, yes?”

Zygrash nodded. “Yes, I remember. It was something of a shock to us all. Though I also remember it being one of the lesser shocks we got that day, thanks to you revealing yourself as the avatar of the dungeon just a few seconds before.”

“Well, the ‘Exchange’ should make it clear that there was a marketplace, of sorts, and I put up a few copies of my ‘gospel’ on the exchange. Some dungeons bought them, either as bait for traps, or for any number of reasons. One of the dungeons that bought the tome converted to follow me.

“Unfortunately, when he altered his dungeon to better serve me, that caused him to run afoul of some puritanical types. They were very religious, see, and frowned on the whole ‘sex before marriage’ thing, so a massive orgy where, among other things, a brother knocked up his sister. Needless to say, the families were very upset, and because they were both very religious and very rich, they managed to buy off enough religious leaders to get a crusade rolling.”

Twin groans from my audience quickly made it clear that people misusing faith for their own ends was truly universal. I just nodded in agreement, and continued, “So, I received a prayer, and decided to intervene on my follower’s behalf.”

With a sigh, Zygrash asked, “What did you do?”

“Oh, I gave the dungeon ideas, and encouraged him to spread those ideas far and wide. Ideas like Dungeon Contracts and Dungeon Laws, like what I set up in my dungeon, and the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction. It was that concept that allowed me to persuade the crusaders to go home, and sort out the corruption in their churches. After what happened to Pofmis, no one wanted the same thing to happen to their churches, or their pantheons.

“Because of this success, my faith spread quite rapidly through the dungeons, to the point where the System has now officially added dungeons to my list of followers, and I expect that, before the year is out, it will be added to my domains, as well.”

The Ambassador looked stunned. That was only natural, given what I’d just revealed. Miguel was also shocked, but he recovered quicker.

“So, other than getting believers, what is needed for the System to recognize something as part of your domain?”

“Well, you have to be able to hold a certain amount of sway over it. For instance, I have both humans and undead as my followers, right? Well, while that allows me to do a few things related to those types of creatures, it does not make me a god of Humans or a god of Undeath. If I worked to get enough influence over humans or undead, to the point where a sizeable percentage of the total population followed me as their patron, then that would be possible. But both groups are too fractured for that, and I don’t have the kinds of rewards that would entice that many of them to the fold.

“Dungeons, on the other hand, are different. Most dungeons, as you know, aren’t committed to one faith or the other. Or, if they are, it is because a church influenced them in their creation, and brainwashed them. There are treaties and the like that the good Ambassador could quote to you that prevents gods from meddling in the affairs of dungeons directly, for various reasons.”

“Treaties that you ignore,” the Ambassador said, almost accusingly.

“Treaties that do not apply to me,” I corrected. “Those treaties apply to gods, yes, but they do not prevent a dungeon from speaking to other dungeons, and sharing what they know, or have heard, of the gods. As I am both god and dungeon, I can speak to them as an equal, and attempt to convert them, like any mortal proselytizer might speak to you about their god.”

Zygrash just groaned as she held her head in her hands. “Gods damn this world and all the damn exceptions to the rules that start here!” She raised her head to glare at me. “Do you know how badly your actions could threaten the balance of power in the galaxy?”

I waved off her concern. “Ah, but you see, I’m actually making things better. The Dungeon Contracts that I’m spreading, along with my worship? They’re effectively creating a Geneva Convention for how dungeons and their delvers interact. Yes, there are far-reaching consequences for delvers who try and force their way through, but it also limits the dungeons, and provides a way to negotiate changes, rather than simply having to declare a dungeon rogue, and destroy them. Both sides are limited, and protected, by the contracts, and the System enforces the outcomes.”

Miguel sighed, shaking his head. “I see where you are coming from, Kuronoth, but I have a feeling that there are going to be a lot of people in the galaxy that won’t understand, not until it is too late.”

I chuckled. “Don’t worry, I thought of that, too. After I struck a deal with the crusaders’ gods, I went and had a couple more chats with different deities. A few of those were gods of law, truth, and contracts, amongst other things. They have some priests on the way that I’m going to introduce to different lawyers, and let them have fun.”

“You mean, like you did with the three who visited you just before the Golden Host attacked?”

“Exactly! I actually plan to put two of them in contact with the Bar Association, since one is a god of Justice, and the other is a god of Contracts. The third is a god of Truth, and I thought I’d introduce her to Amnesty International. She’ll like them, I think, especially with the way they work to try and free wrongly convicted prisoners.”

Zygrash took a breath, and said, “Could you tell me the names of these gods, so I can at least be prepared, instead of getting blindsided?”

“Of course, my dear. Selphie, the Atlantean Goddess of Truth, Justice, and Prosperity, is the one I wanted to introduce to Amnesty International. The ones I wanted to introduce to the lawyers were Athtar, the Knelfi God of Justice and Judgement, and Kou, the Fimaazro Goddess of Law and Contracts.”

Zygrash’s eyes went wide, her ears perked up, and she sat up straight in an instant. “Y-you managed to talk with Lady Kou? And she is sending one of her priests here?”

“Yes, it is one of the favors she won when we were playing poker and talking shop. If you like, I could inform you when the priest sets up a shrine or temple to her. Or I could simply give the priest your contact information, so that you could speak to them in private?”

The feline woman’s mouth moved, but no sound came out. Miguel just shook his head. “Most of the Ambassador’s family have been devout followers of Kou for generations, you see. So, you just told her that you spoke with her family’s goddess, and that a priest of their faith was coming directly to see you.”

“Ah, I see.” And I could, honestly. It was one thing to know gods and goddesses were real. Knowing your family’s patron goddess was real made sense, academically. But that was very different from someone sitting across from you in the flesh and saying they’d had a nice chat over cards with that goddess. That was several levels of craziness that most people couldn’t process in an instant.

When she finally managed to control herself, Zygrash took a deep breath, and then said, “So, did anything else happen while you were away?”

I chuckled. “Nothing that will affect Earth, or the people here. Just some networking, chatting with gods and getting my name out there. That kind of stuff.”

Miguel nodded. “Dare I ask what you’re going to be doing next?”

“Well, I do have a meeting with the President of the United States two days from now. That will be a lot of fun, I’m sure.” I laughed as Miguel and the Ambassador’s eyes went wide in panic. “Oh, don’t worry, I’ve been informed that the topics under discussion are going to be strictly limited, to keep anyone from getting the wrong ideas. I doubt I’ll be making any deals, and if I do, they’ll be very different from my normal kind of deal.”

Miguel breathed a bit easier. “It might be about the press reform bill she campaigned on. Basically, forcing a larger degree of transparency to keep ‘opinion’ pieces from being disguised as actual news.”

“Oh, dear. That’s going to get a lot of people up in arms. That will probably be a most interesting conversation, then.

“I’m sure it will be. But what else are you going to be doing. I seriously doubt that just meeting with the President is on your agenda.”

“Hmm. Well, I had been considering putting in another couple floors of the dungeon, as well as reorganizing some of the existing floors. That would allow me to start playing with themes more.”

Zygrash nodded slowly. “I forget that, because you’re a former human, you don’t have a dungeon’s instincts. Your dungeon is definitely out of the ordinary, in many ways. Getting more coherent themes would help those used to more normal dungeons adjust to your dungeon.”

Miguel leaned forward, interested. “So, what kind of modifications were you thinking about?”

“Well, I was going to put rest floors after every fifth floor, separate from the ‘numbered’ floors. The numbered floors will have a theme for those five floors. And I’ll be expanding things so that there will be fifteen numbered floors.”

The guildmaster brought out a tablet, and then pulled up a simple document detailing the floors I had in place. “Hmm. So, if you put the current seventh floor as the first ‘rest’ floor after level 5, that leaves ‘swamps’ as a consistent theme for the first five floors.”

“Exactly,” I nodded happily. “And then I’ll add a couple floors in the ‘Black Temple’ section, with a rest floor before leading into the ‘Atlantean Ruin’ section, which will also get expanded by a couple floors. That’ll give me fifteen numbered floors, with two unnumbered rest floors.”

“Ha!” The Ambassador laughed. “A dungeon less than two galactic standard years old, already having fifteen floors? As if being ‘born’ sentient and all the other insanity you’ve been up to wasn’t enough, now you are going to start breaking records on how fast a dungeon expands!”

I chuckled. “Well, if you count the dungeon I conquered, and my ‘annex’ on the moon, then I was already well past that. Though I’ll admit I will need to work on increasing my different types of monsters, if I’m going to expand at this rate. Maybe I can do something with my pet dragon?”

Miguel groaned. “Oh, god. I forgot about you enslaving the damn dragon. I was half hoping that that was just a bad dream.”

I grinned at him. “A nightmare, hmm? Perhaps I should make my next boss a guy with knives on one glove, wearing an ugly sweater?”

“I hate you so much.”

Chapter 246 – Theology

I decided to show up early for my little meeting with the president. While the exact status of the US President being the leader of the free world had been greatly eroded by the idiot that started the apocalypse, the office still carried a lot of weight and influence on a global scale. Even though questions about my citizenship could best be summed up as ‘It’s complicated’, like I was posting on social media, it would still be a bad idea to go out of my way to offend a potential ally who was reaching out to talk with me.

Manifesting my avatar in the shrine room of the newly renamed USS Raven, I nodded as I looked around the room. The gaudy gold and other ornamentation that had been here when Pofmis’s faithful ran the ship had been taken down, absorbed by my powers as the ship came under my control. Instead, this chamber looked not unlike the cathedral I’d made for myself in Swamptown.

Across from the door leading into the shrine, there was a statue of me, upon my throne, with a lovely, scantily-clad slave girl on either side, my hand holding the leashes attached to their collars. Unlike some other depictions of me, this was tame enough that it wouldn’t look out of place on a sci-fi or fantasy movie poster from the 70s or 80s. Behind the sculpture was my symbol, in red upon black, with the runes of my domains and my followers, as they were in the cathedral.

A gasp of surprise alerted me to the fact that I was not alone. Turning back to look at the door, I saw a man dressed in a US Navy uniform, with some extras that looked like the kinds of things I’d seen when I’d been dragged to church as a kid. That must make him part of the Chaplain corps.

Ethan Gallagher

Human Male

Level 13 Cleric / Counselor

Titles: None

Highest Ability: WIS

Market Value: 1000 gp

I chuckled as I looked the cleric over. Couldn’t tell by the look of him what flavor of Christianity he followed, except that he didn’t have the collar that would have told me he was Catholic. Probably Baptist or Methodist, if one went by the numbers. Some form of Protestant, for sure.

Either way, I figured I’d have a chat with the man tasked to tend my shrine while I waited for my meeting with the president. But it wouldn’t do to look so threatening. So, I snapped my fingers, and my armor and weapons faded into shadows, which swirled about and reformed as a perfectly tailored vantablack three-piece suit with matching tie, and a blood red shirt under it. I kept my demonic features, but did add the touch of a silver ring on my right hand, bearing my symbol in red and black. Blood red runes floated above the ring, slowly circling it, listing the types of followers I had.

The chaplain had been surprised, but my transformation left him speechless. I smiled, and said, “Well, I’m sure you know who I am by now, but for the sake of politeness, I am known as Kuronoth, the Demon God of Pleasure and Domination. I take it you are the chaplain assigned to tend my shrine, here? How would you like me to address you?”

He coughed, and shook his head, trying to get his feet under him, metaphorically speaking. Finally, the chaplain got enough control over himself, and he said, “Yes, well, proper address would be Chaplain Gallagher, and I’m a Commander in the United States Navy, Chaplain Corps. My apologies for my reaction just now. It isn’t every day you get to meet a divinity.” He took a breath, and settled into a more professional tone. “How would you like me to call you?”

I smiled. “Excellent. You catch on quickly. A bit of free advice for you, Chaplain Gallagher, when you’re meeting anyone who isn’t human, ask them how they’d like to be called, rather than asking for their name. Some groups practice magic that revolves around a creature’s True Name, and even without that, there are creatures that can be bound by their True Name, as part of their racial makeup. Asking their name would be highly insulting, I assure you.”

I took a breath, and said, “As for what to call me, Kuronoth is fine for casual conversation. In prayers, or for those who worship me, Lord Kuronoth is sufficient. Master, for those I have under my collar and brand. The Demon of the Dungeon, if you want to beat around the bush, or wish to avoid drawing my attention.”

“You can hear whenever someone calls your name?”

“Yes, ever since I ascended to godhood, whenever someone says my name, I can feel it. I feel it a bit more if they are praying, or saying it with particular vehemence, and more besides if they are in one of my shrines or chapels. Every time someone calls my name, anywhere under the System, I know it.

“Of course, I haven’t gotten to the point where I have divine minions who make it their business to act as a ‘call center’, listening to individual voices and prayers, and directing my attention to those that most need my intervention, so it is often difficult for me to hear a single voice out of the multitude. I’m not the NSA with their teams of people and automated programs combing through wiretaps day in and day out, looking for certain key phrases. Later, when I’m stronger, that might be a possibility, though, so I would not fault you for getting into the practice of being oblique with your wording, until you need to call me directly.”

“Ah, I see.” The chaplain nodded, slowly. “If you wouldn’t mind me asking, Kuronoth, what brings you here so early? I mean, I know you’re going to be meeting the President, but that isn’t scheduled for another hour. And you obviously have no trouble showing up when you wish to.”

“Couldn’t I be just another poor sinner, looking for advice?”

Chaplain Gallagher barked out a short laugh at that. “Ah, ha! Lord bless me. No, I have no doubt you’re a sinner, but ‘poor’ isn’t a word I’d use for anyone who can just go handing out starships. But what could someone like you have to be needing advice about?”

I decided that I liked this chaplain. He could banter, and wasn’t immediately jumping on the fire and brimstone. But that probably had equal parts to do with the Navy being multifaith, and his Counselor profession. He was a good man, from what I could see.

“Well, you’d be surprised. After all, I got caught up in the Apocalypse, same as you. Only, I was changed, and far more than just growing elf ears like some people. Most people, they had their lives change, sure, but for me? It was like one moment I was driving on the highway, and the next I was sitting in the pilot’s seat of a 747, with no co-pilot, or even any idea where I was flying to, much less how to actually fly.”

“So, what, you’ve been making things up as you went along?”

“Yeah, at the start, especially. I was in a whole new place, stuck in a hole in the ground, and I needed to make sure that the dungeon thrived, all while not knowing the first thing about dungeons. The bit about being a god? Well, I’d already been attacked by some religious types a couple times by then. So, I needed a bit of protection.”

“And that led to the creation of the ‘Black Temple’?”

“Yes. When I started looking at the idea of a shrine or something to try and stay safe, the System gave me some news, saying that doing that would give the god I picked some control over the dungeon. Naturally, I wasn’t pleased with that.”

“So, you decided to have a bunch of gods there, making it so that they would have to fight each other for control?”

“Exactly,” I grinned. “And, on a whim, I put an altar to myself, playing up the demonic angle, and half-hoping that I could make use of it in the future. Turns out that the first part of becoming a god is making enough people believe you’re a god.”

“So, all those Pharaohs in ancient Egypt?”

I nodded. “If the System hadn’t been broken, they would have all eventually become demigods, at least. They would have to find some way to transcend mortality to start meeting the other conditions for true godhood. And, yes, being part of a dungeon counts. So, I had a head start on the path.”

“Is that why you targeted people of the cloth specifically? To try and weaken our Gods while they were still forming from the minds of the believers?”

“Hah! No, I never targeted anyone in particular, unless they did something to draw my ire. Unfortunately, the reason why most of the priests and holy men who went into my dungeon had more trouble than most is due to their tolerance, or lack thereof.”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, I’m not talking about how tolerant they are of others. No, I’m talking about the same kind of tolerance you’d have with alcohol or drugs.”

The chaplain frowned slightly. “I think I follow. Just not sure if I’m liking what I’m hearing.”

I nodded. “Well, let’s look at alcohol for a moment. Now, picture that we have three men, we’ll call them Tom, Dick, and Harry. Equal height and weight, roughly the same medical history. The main difference between them is in how much they drink.

“Tom, he’s a complete teetotaler. Doesn’t touch a drop of wine, except for a sip when his church holds Communion, and certainly nothing harder. Doesn’t mean he’s going to go and force those around him not to drink, mind you, but he won’t touch the stuff, himself.

“Dick, meanwhile, is your average guy. Might go out for some beers with his buddies, or have a couple of glasses of wine with a nice steak dinner. He drinks, but only rarely gets drunk.

“And then, there’s Harry. Harry is an alcoholic, no two ways about it. Maybe he’s a functioning alcoholic, maybe he isn’t, but Harry never has to worry about the ‘hair of the dog’, because he wakes up with a bottle next to him, and takes a swig before he even knows he’s awake.”

“A disturbing image, but I’ve counseled several young sailors like Mr. Harry, so I understand.”

“Right, so what happens when you put Tom, Dick, and Harry in a room, put a bottle of whiskey in front of each of them, and tell them they can’t leave until at least half the bottle is gone?”

Chaplain Gallagher groaned, and put one hand over his eyes. “I see. Dick and Harry won’t have any trouble. It is just another day for Harry, and Dick will at least be able to handle that much, even if he’ll regret it later. But half a bottle of whiskey will leave Tom a broken mess. And you’re saying that the more… righteous people were, they were Tom, and the temptations you forced on everyone were like the bottle of whiskey.”

“Correct. I never targeted men of the cloth in particular, unless they made it their business to interfere with me. But, in treating them the same as I did everyone who came to my dungeon, I inadvertently made the dungeon far more dangerous to their beliefs than it was to their health.”

The chaplain sighed, and I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t be too upset. They were at a disadvantage, because of their nature. In other dungeons, they would be far more powerful, because of that nature. The psychology of the situation was against them, in this case.”

“Psychology? What do you mean, exactly?”

“Well, you know how torture is basically useless for getting information out of people? Sure, they’ll break eventually, and tell you something, but whether it is true, or a lie, or the half-mad ramblings of someone pushed to the brink is up in the air. People can resist pain. That’s what SERE courses are all about, after all.

“But pleasure? That’s a lot harder to resist. It doesn’t have to be just the pleasures of the flesh, mind you. Something as simple as rewarding good behavior with slightly better living conditions, and punishing bad behavior by taking the rewards away, will eventually break even the strongest of wills. It may take weeks, or even months, depending on how fanatical a person is, but eventually they will break.

“In my dungeon, the traps are less lethal than in others, but they steadily guide people towards pleasures of the flesh. For someone who gets sex regularly, whether from playing the field or from a loving companion, that’s not really an issue. But, when someone who is trying to lead a pure life ends up having sex with their companion in an exhibitionist display, then that can cause cognitive dissonance. When you get to the Black Temple, and start exploring the darker, kinkier, more taboo side of sex, then it starts fucking with people’s heads.”

The chaplain nodded slowly. “And those who are more… inured to such things will be less shocked by them, and suffer less emotional damage. I understand.”

I leaned forward, and said with a wink, “Between you and me, though? That was one of those little ‘happy accidents’, where I was going along, walking blindly and hoping for the best, and things turned out far better than I could have hoped. I was too concerned with not allowing any one deity to get too much control over the dungeon, while also trying to fit the temple into the dungeon’s aesthetics without also annoying the gods that were enshrined.”

“How is it you came to control that much of the dungeon’s workings, if you were the dungeon boss?”

I chuckled, and produced a contract from an inside pocket of the suit. “I could tell you, but I’d insist on you signing an NDA, first. Don’t worry, there won’t be any clauses that would infringe upon your duties as an officer of the Navy, and I would not be asking you to go against your God. There are simply things that should not be talked about openly.”

Offering a pen in one hand, and the contract in the other, I said, “So, will you sign?”

Chapter 247 – President

Chaplain Gallagher had a lovely little discussion, once he signed the form. It was an NDA formed through the System, so it was quite simple in its terms. He literally would not be able to speak of what we spoke about to anyone who did not already know the information, and he was forbidden from writing it, either. A clever man could talk their way around the prohibition and lead others to the answer, sure, but now that my worship had caught on outside of Earth, keeping the secret was more about pragmatism and showmanship than necessity on my part.

When he learned that I had met other gods ‘in the flesh’, so to speak, he was quite interested, and asked if I’d met his God. He was a little disappointed when I told him I hadn’t. That had led into a philosophical discussion about why I wasn’t surprised that I hadn’t met his God, and why it wasn’t likely anyone would be getting a face to face with him anytime soon.

Eventually, though, the hour was up, and the chaplain led me to the room where this little conference was to take place.

As something of a showman, myself, I appreciated how they had set up the room, to set the tone. Everything started from the visuals, after all. In this case, it started with how the room had been freshly painted in warship grey, giving the space a cold, utilitarian feeling, broken up only by two flags, the U.S. flag, and a flag bearing my church’s symbol upon it.

A navy-blue carpet had been laid in the middle of the room, squared to align with the walls. A square wooden table sat on the carpet, rotated by forty-five degrees, to make a diamond shape. Two comfortable wooden chairs were placed at the table, with one of the points of the diamond between them, rather than being across from each other.

It was an interesting choice, and I could tell that they had picked it with care. The overall aesthetic was walking the line between adversarial and friendly, giving off ‘peace talks’ vibes. Or, more to the point, ‘allies of convenience’. The President was meeting with me because I was too powerful to ignore, but she was clearly not going to be supporting my church or everything I stood for. By the same token, they clearly were not expecting me to be subservient, or to support everything they were doing, but wanted something specific from me.

I was still admiring the setup when the President entered the room, wearing a blue skirt and jacket, with a red and white striped blouse. The symbolism was blatantly obvious, but she pulled it off well. It also made her seem brighter, and more colorful, compared to the blackness of my own outfit. Her staff really had done a good job setting the scene for her.

Smiling for the cameras that followed her in, I offered my hand, and said, “Madame President, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

Her smile was a bit less natural than mine was, but it was still the flawless ‘customer service smile’ that one would expect out of someone used to dealing with people they wished they could throw into oncoming traffic. Taking my hand in a firm shake, she said, “Ah, Mister Kuronoth. I’m glad you could come. I hope you weren’t waiting long?”

“Oh, no. I came a bit early to examine the shrine, and got caught up in a theological discussion with Chaplain Gallagher there. The time flew by, I promise you.”

We sat at our respective spots at the table, and I turned to look at her, rather the cameras, as she took a breath, and then said, “I don’t know how much you’ve been paying attention to the political landscape in the U.S., but things have been… uneasy since the Apocalypse began.”

I smiled, and said, “Please, Madame President, you’re known for being a straight shooter, and I’m a big fan of speaking the truth, even if lies would be more comfortable. I’ve seen the numbers, as well as anyone else. Sixty-six million people lost. Over one-fifth of the pre-Apocalypse population of the United States dead. And that is not even counting the ways that the world has changed forever.”

“Very well,” she nodded. “Straight talk. Once upon a time, the news media was regarded as one of the bastions of our democracy. An educated, informed populace is one that is less likely to be taken in by madmen and radicalized by zealotry, after all.

“In those days, news organizations were respected and regarded as truthful, and the networks curated the voices so that the facts were told, first and foremost. However, deregulation and changing technology allowed more voices to enter the public consciousness. These voices were less concerned with integrity or fact checking, and were, whether through malice, greed, or vanity, more concerned with spectacle than the news.

“And people gravitated to the spectacle, because it was bright and flashy. It was exciting, especially compared to the droll facts of the daily news. It was entertainment, like watching a soap opera or a reality TV show.

“This would have been fine, except that, soon, the networks began sensationalizing the stories more, to try and get the viewers they needed to remain in business. The line between spectacle and news wore thin, and grew blurry. And things snowballed from there, until you got to people only believing things if it came from ‘their’ sources. Even when the courts made commentators admit that they were speaking opinions, and that no reasonable person would believe that it was fact, people still treated their words as fact, because they agreed with it. Until people just labeled everything one source or the other did as ‘fake news’.”

“One of the promises I ran on, when I was elected, was to try and reform the press as an institution, and make it one that the American People could trust once again, regardless of their political leanings. That ‘fact’ and ‘opinion’ should clearly be separated, and that misinformation should be punished whenever people tried to play off their ‘opinion’ or parodies as facts. On both sides of the political aisle.”

She paused, with a sigh that was only slightly devoted to the cameras. “Unfortunately, while a majority of the people are on board with reigning in the toxic mess that has become the ‘news’ landscape in the last thirty years, too many politicians and political activists are stubbornly against fixing any problems that benefit them.”

I nodded. “Yes, I can see that. The people that benefit from spreading lies and stringing along useful idiots don’t care about long-term harms when they can have short-term gains. The long-term is someone else’s problem, after all.”

Looking across the table, I said, “Obviously, I’m not familiar with the specifics of the bill you’ve proposed. But I can say that I would support a clearer line between fact and opinion. How, exactly, would this new law work, if it were passed?”

The President took a breath, and said, “Well, obviously we can’t just tell networks what they can and cannot say. That’s a clear first amendment violation, after all. Instead, the Veritas Act will make it so that parody, opinion, and analysis pieces must be clearly marked as such. So, if a news program goes from telling facts, to presenting analysis or opinions on those facts, then they would need to put up a simple banner stating this, just like they do for live or breaking news.”

I smiled at that. “An elegant solution. They could keep their content completely the same, so they can’t say you are censoring or limiting their speech, they just have to mark it as opinion. And, without discussing topics that may be covered, it would apply to everyone, equally, right?”

She nodded, looking more relaxed now. “Yes. Free speech applies even to speech we hate, or don’t want to hear. But trying to blur the lines between opinions or analysis and actual facts is actively harmful to our national discourse. So, I want to stomp on that.”

“How hard are you hitting them?”

“The fines are not unreasonable or excessive. However, they are cumulative based on the duration of the infraction, and each market would be charged separately. So, for an example, a local station with a fifteen second screwup wouldn’t be too badly off, but a national network doing a thirty minute ‘opinion’ show that they try and pass off as being news? They would be hurting badly, every episode, and any time they do reruns. Websites are more complicated, and are actually talked about in more detail later in the bill, but that’s how it would work for print, radio, and television.”

“Interesting. Very interesting. And what would you like me to do? Obviously, I can’t exactly force people to act one way or another. Even as a god. Free will and all that.”

“No,” she shook her head. “But your church has been growing in influence, getting worshippers in many parts of the country. If you were to come out in favor of the bill, and maybe campaign a bit for it, that would definitely shake things up.”

“Yes, it would. But I’m not exactly a charity, you know. I’m not against helping you out, especially as I can see it as a useful goal, but just as you have a reputation to protect, I have expectations to uphold. The closest to a charity case I’ve done is with the warships, and that is because, for a nominal fee, I could avoid all the issues that would come from someone that wasn’t a government having the largest fleet of warships in the system. Instead, everyone gets a PR win, and no one kicks off World War 3. Happy times all around.”

Now, the President frowned, as she leaned forward. “You’re talking about one of your contracts.”

“No,” I shook my head, smiling. “Or, not in the way you are considering. I wouldn’t mind making a deal with you, on a personal level, but not for this. I’m sure I have things that could help you, that we might trade for in the future. But that isn’t what I’m thinking of for this.”

I leaned back in my chair, and said, simply, “Simply put, I want a bit of infrastructure. Nothing major. I’ll give you four crystals. These crystals, when planted, will allow me to establish four more portals connected to my network, which I’m sure you’ve heard of already, with the same restrictions as those already in place.”

Her eyes narrowed. “That sounds suspiciously too good to be true. Where would you want these portals placed?”

I chuckled, and said, “Washington, D.C., Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. I have no requirements for most of them, save that they are someplace that the public can access. The only restriction I have is for the D.C. crystal. That one, I would like to be somewhere near the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.”

“To allow people who just saw the Apollo 11 capsule to then go up to Tranquility Base, right?”

I nodded. “Exactly. I can’t think of a better placement in the whole city, do you? Not inside the museum, mind you. That would cause too many complications. But somewhere within walking distance, if it is possible.”

“That could be problematic. Space is at a premium inside the Beltway, you know. Especially near the Smithsonian.”

“Very well, I can let that specification slide, so long as that crystal is placed inside Washington, D.C., and the others are all placed in major cities in the areas I mentioned.”

“Why those places in particular?”

“D.C. for obvious reasons. Hawaii will promote tourism. Anyone in one of the cities I have a portal in could just take a day trip to Hawaii. Even the folks in Miami. They could enjoy some sun on the local beaches, before popping over in time for high tide to do some surfing. All while using my facilities. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are similar. I’m banking on the idea that even just allowing couriers to quickly go between cities like that will improve things in both territories, and they’ll have me to thank for it.

“And then there’s the adventurers. Every connection to my hub is another chance for more people to come to my dungeon, or get roped into my ecosystem. Even if it isn’t adventurers coming to my halls, then there will be people visiting the shops in Swamptown, buying equipment and supplies made from items in my dungeon, which require adventurers to go and get them. Any way you look at it, I win.”

The President nodded slowly. She could, no doubt, see the ways that she could spin all of that to her benefit, as well. The best negotiations, after all, were the ones where both sides got something they wanted. “I can agree to that.”

Chapter 248 – Washington D.C.

Finding a place to put a core spike in Washington D.C. was just as difficult as the President made it out to be. In the end, once I assured people from the Parks Service that I could have the whole thing be minimally invasive, aesthetically, they allowed me to put the spike on the National Mall, right across the street from the museum, and facing a refreshments center across a walking path. A perfect spot, if I said so myself.

Designing the building I put up was the tricky part. I didn’t want to make it look out of place, but I also didn’t want it to be boring. That was a tough ask, when the only other buildings around were a generic refreshment stand, and the museum itself.

Thankfully, I had a lot of options available to me, given how I’d expanded. I made the ‘ground’ level simple, using dungeon stone that matched the construction of the museum across the street for the walls, with trim and doors made from dungeon wood and painted in the green colors of the refreshment stand, with the same green roof. This combined the two styles, and made the building not look too out of place from the outside.

On the inside, well, I dedicated it to processing of the contracts, and providing a bit of a rain shelter. The interior looked and felt like a transit station, by design. Stairs heading down, underground, led to a simple room where people who had signed the contracts could transfer to the main hub in Swamptown, and also a ‘baggage check’ area, where people traveling could check in anything they did not wish to take with them out into D.C. proper, and, for a modest fee, could keep it safe in until they came back for it.

That was actually something I had at all of my ‘terminals’, actually. It was impossible to steal from the check stand, for the simple reason that the objects in question were all transported from the simple locker behind the counter to an area that was warded against scrying, divinations, teleportation magics, and all other means of accessing or spying on the space that I could think of. And the ‘people’ working the counter were dungeon creatures, making them completely loyal to me.

I had considered putting a big, fancy shrine up, but that would have led to perception problems, with this being on the National Mall, so I satisfied myself with a small shrine off the main transit room, blocked off by a door that was invisible to anyone who wasn’t a follower of mine. The door was actually charmed so that only my followers could open it, too. So, the optics of someone finding it and getting offended were really freaking small.

Small as the shrine might be, it was enough for me to manifest my presence in the city, without being actively invoked. That was another thing. As a dungeon, I could only manifest my avatar within my dungeon. As a god, though, my avatar could manifest in areas near my temples and shrines, or when my worshippers invoked me. As both, well, I got the best of both worlds.

In this case, my shrine’s position meant that, along with most of the Smithsonian’s different buildings, that I could reach the US Capitol building with ease. Even the White House was just barely in the radius. And, because of my dual nature, manifesting a physical avatar was far easier for me than it was for other gods.

Which is why I was currently causing a bit of a stir, dressed in my black outfit, with demonic features on full display, standing in line for a tour of the Capitol. I’d never actually been before, so I didn’t see any reason not to, now that I was able. The fact that it was a good way to kick off my little talks about the President’s bill was only icing on the cake.

Of course, Capitol Police were nervous, just looking at me. Sure, there were elves, and other types of fantasy-looking creatures in the line with me, but I looked like a demon, and I was Tier 2. Even without the divine aura that surrounded me, just being a higher tier gave off an aura that warned lower-tier creatures of danger. Oh, sure, I could suppress both auras, if I wanted to. I certainly had while I was dealing with the priest and the President, but I saw no reason to do so here. After all, all I was doing was standing in line for a tour, right?

Finally, one of the people running the tours walked up and asked if everything was all right. The poor guy looked like he was about to piss himself, so I didn’t think it was an exercise in courage on his part, but rather someone forcing him to be the canary in the coal mine. Except he was completely aware of how well that worked for the canary.

“Oh, no,” I said, loud enough that the cops who totally weren’t eavesdropping nearby could hear. “Nothing at all is wrong. I’m just a god here to take a tour of the Capitol, like any member of the public is free to do.”

The look on the man’s face flashed with relief at me mentioning there wasn’t a problem to a different kind of worry and concern at me telling him I was a god. “Uh, what do you mean, you’re a god?” Well, I guess that would be off-putting to people who weren’t expecting it, so I didn’t hold the question against him.

“Oh, it is simple, really. I am a former human raised to godhood through the System. But, before the Apocalypse, I had never gotten the chance to take a tour of the Capitol, so I thought there was no time like the present.”

One of the people next to me in the line got a bit of courage from my answer, and said, “So, does this mean that God isn’t real?”

I smiled, and shook his head. “The answer to that is complicated. Yes, the gods that arose in human religions across our history, back to the days of the first civilizations being founded all the way back along the Indus River Valley, Mesopotamia, and the banks of the Nile all exist within the system. The truth of this can be seen in how those who use divine magic can cast spells now when they pray to Thor, or Osiris, or Shiva, or, yes, the God of the Jews, various Christian faiths, and Islam.

“However, that last part is why the God of those three religions has not ‘woken up’, or announced himself. There is only one Odin, one Athena, one Verethragna. But the Jewish god is depicted one way, while the Christian god is supposed to be the same god, but also incorporates a Son and a Holy Spirit. And then you have the schisms with different factions of Christianity forming. Then Islam comes along, and says that their god is the same one as the other two, but that the Son was just another prophet, and so on.”

I paused, and looked at a few of the cell phones that were blatantly recording me, and said, “Faith and belief are powerful forces. Even without a System, they caused gods to be. But when you have faiths that rip and tear at a single being, believing that they are each different and yet the same? Well, is it any wonder that your God has not manifested himself? I have no doubt that he will, in time, but first the fractured must be made whole, through shared belief, or melded into separate beings, similar, but not the same.”

“How do we know this is the truth?”

I had been expecting this question, and smiled widely, “I am Kuronoth, the one known as the Demon of the Dungeon and God of Pleasure, Domination, and Dungeonkind. None can say that my words are not truth. They may not be truths you wish to hear, but they are truth.

“And so, I tell you, that none of your faiths are invalid, just because the god you call to has not answered yet. The faith that you, and yours, have put forth for thousands of years gives the gods being, but some gods will be longer to ‘awaken’ fully than others, as the conflicting beliefs of multitudes lack the clarity of purpose of a few believers of a singular vision.”

“An interesting story, if true, but demons are known for their lies and corruption. How do we know it isn’t heathens like you that are preventing God’s will from being done? All we have is your word, and the word of a Demon is worthless!”

I turned to look at the new voice, and grinned a predatory grin. It was an older man, with white hair, with a couple people in black suits following him around as protection as he ‘just so happened’ to be walking past. I recognized him as the congressman for the part of Florida which covered the Everglades.

“Ah, but I can assure you that what I say is true. In fact, I would be willing to sign a contract under the System to that effect, if you would join me, Congressman. After all, what kind of politician would shy away from the chance to say, with utter certainty, that their words were the truth, in a way that their political rivals could not besmirch or call into question? After all, that would be like trying to argue against science just because the facts disagree with one’s ideology, right?”

The congressman, who had clearly been hoping to score some points with the religious base back home, suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable. “Ahem. As a representative of the great state of Florida, I would, of course, have to look over any contracts thoroughly before signing anything.”

“Oh, that’s fine. I have one right here.” I snapped my fingers, and a magical contract appeared in front of the congressman, floating in the air. “It has only one provision. ‘I, the undersigned, shall say nothing that I know to be untrue.’ No harsh penalties, or anything like that. Nothing for lawyers to weasel around. Just a simple statement, backed up by the System itself. If you sign this, then no political opponent could ever claim you were lying, for the System itself would make you physically incapable of such an act.”

The congressman froze, but I pretended not to notice. “Just think, Congressman, you could lay to rest all those nasty accusations about whether limiting the number of polling places or sending out mail-in ballots late was politically motivated on the part of your office. And none of those messy allegations of you flip-flopping on issues to go with whoever you think will get you elected to higher office. Wouldn’t that be great? You would be able to perfectly represent your constituents, because they would know, for certain, that whenever they asked you questions, you would tell them the truth.”

The congressman looked uncomfortable, and said, “Well, um, I will give due consideration to that. However, I must be going, as I am late for a vote.”

As he turned to leave, I called after him, “Oh, if you sign, I’m afraid you’ll have to actually tell the truth about things like that, Congressman. No faking a vote to get away from uncomfortable truths, I’m afraid.”

I smirked as he did not respond, but instead just hurried into the building. With a snap, the contract, which was still floating in the air, disappeared. “Such a pity. It would have been a real feather in the cap to say that I had been instrumental in creating the first truly honest politician.”

Suffice to say, I did not have any other ‘surprise meetings’ for the rest of my time in the line, or during the tour itself. I did, however, have a lot of people asking me questions while I walked, all of it being recorded and streamed to the internet. There were a lot of topics, all of which I answered honestly, or not at all. And, throughout the whole thing, I commented often about how ‘truth’ was a valuable thing, and how damaging lies could be.

Finally, at the end, I was asked for a final statement. With a smile, I said, “Well, I really would like to see this Veritas Act passed. After all, news you can trust is important. And can you really trust any news source that holds itself to a lower standard of honesty than a Demon God?”

Chapter 249 – Interviews

I smiled as I walked onto the sound stage. This could be considered ‘hostile territory’, given what I had come to discuss, but that was fine with me. It wasn’t like there was anything these people could do against me, not now.

That wasn’t arrogance on my part, either. They could try and smear me with PR games, but the impact would be neutered since I both had an international and interstellar presence, and because I owned everything I did. They couldn’t do a gotcha moment, and try and find me flip-flopping on things when I told people straight what I was going to do.

And legal trouble? Hah! I was an entity to myself, now. Unless I was foolish enough to commit crimes on US soil, they would have a better chance getting China to crack down on counterfeiters than getting anything on me.

I sat down in the almost but not quite comfortable chair, and smiled at the host, despite is smug, smarmy look. The host kept that smarmy smile as he looked into the camera. “And next, we have the self-proclaimed ‘god’ that has started supporting the President’s Censorship bill.” Turning to me, he said, “So, Kuronoth, why are you against freedom of speech?”

“Well, Tuck—do you mind if I call you Tuck?” I could see his eyebrow twitch, and smiled. “I’ll just call you Tuck. Anyways, Tuck, you seem to have your tie too tight. It looks like it is cutting off the oxygen to your brain. Maybe you should switch back to the silly bow tie you wore on Crossfire?”

As the host sputtered, trying to regain control of the interview, I continued on, “Anyways, I’m not against freedom of speech. Far from it, in fact. I’m against people trying to pass off lies, propaganda, and misinformation as truth. And, really, when a Demon God says you lie too much, you should probably take it as gospel, and re-examine your life choices.”

Gritting his teeth, the considerably less smug host said, “We’ll get to the Censorship Bill in a second, but where do you get off calling yourself God?”

“Well, I would say ‘in your mom’, but that would be a lie. If she’s still alive, I could pencil her in for tomorrow, though, so I can say it truthfully. And, Tuck, I don’t just call myself a god. I AM a god, and the System agrees with me. But you didn’t invite me here just to make me confirm to you and your viewers that I’m a god, right?”

“I think we’re done here.”

“Oh, I’m afraid not. You and your producers probably should have read the contract more closely before signing. You see, the contract you signed said that the interview would go on for at least thirty minutes, and it would be aired in its entirety, uncut and uncensored. If you or the network reneges on that, well, there are some very unfortunate consequences that any lawyer that was worth their law degree would tell you are not worth the risk. Of course, if you don’t believe me, you can always just ignore this polite warning. I’m sure you’d look very cute in a slutty maid costume.”

The man went beet red, like he was about to explode, and then jerked his gaze towards the control booth, probably due to the producers talking in his ear. They were probably looking over their copy of the contract, because the host went pale. “You can’t do that. There’s no way that contract would hold up in court.”

“Oh, Tuck,” I said, pityingly. “You seem to be under the delusion that the courts would have anything to do with it. That contract was made through the System, and the System will enforce it.

“So, we’re going to do this interview, and the network is going to air it. All of it. Even the part where I tell your entire audience about how much the Veritas Act will help you, personally, Tuck.”

That brought the man up short, and I saw the flicker of confusion on his face. “And just how would losing my first amendment rights ‘help’ me?”

“Why, that’s simple, Tuck. You remember that defamation lawsuit you faced just recently? The one where the network’s lawyers saved you by saying that the general tenor of the show should then inform a viewer that you are not stating actual facts about the topics you discuss and are instead engaging in exaggeration and non-literal commentary?”

“Now, wait a minute—”

“Oh, don’t worry, Tuck. I’m not going to talk about that case. I’m just going to use it as an example of how the Veritas Act will help you avoid getting in trouble, without ever actually limiting or restricting what you can and cannot say.”

“But the Censorship bill clearly states—”

“No, it doesn’t, Tuck. Nothing in the Veritas Act keeps you from saying anything you want. It just institutes fines and penalties for people who misrepresent their opinions, exaggerations, and non-literal commentary as facts and news. All you would need to do is to put an icon on the screen saying ‘Opinion’, or ‘Editorial’, or something like that, and you’d be golden.

“By doing this, you clearly show viewers that your message is not to be taken as fact. Because you did this ahead of time, then you would have to do something really egregious to be sued for slander or defamation again, because you’ve clearly stated that it is just exaggeration and non-literal commentary, like the Onion, or the Late Show. Though you’ll need to work on your jokes if you want to reach those levels. But, looking at your haircut, I know you can do it.”

The guy was about to interrupt again, but I cut him off once more. “And, yes, I know that the penalties are going to hurt some networks and stations financially. But what is it you always say when a cop shoots an unarmed black man? If they just complied, they’d be fine? Really, compared to the prospect of getting executed by poorly trained cops who suddenly fear for their life every time they see someone who isn’t albino, the penalty of paying a fine for not putting a couple words on the screen just seems silly, doesn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t expect a demon to know anything about rights or freedoms.”

“Silly Tuck. I used to be human. I know all about rights, and freedoms. And let me tell you, getting butthurt because someone wants to make it so you can’t lie to the people any more is nowhere near any kind of real oppression.”

I leaned forward, smiling. “Let me be perfectly clear with you, Tucky. I’m a monster. Even before I was called the Demon of the Dungeon. Even before the System came back online. I was always a monster. But what does it say about you, a human, when I want the world to be a more honest place, and you are the one whining and screaming about how you want to keep lying to your viewers and manipulating the public?”

I pulled out another contract. “Tell you what, Tuck. You’re a fan of gotcha moments, right? Why don’t you and I sign a contract right here, right now? Really simple contract. Both of us will swear, by the System, not to knowingly say anything that is provably false. I’m willing to sign right now, here, on air. Are you?”

Suffice to say, the interview went downhill from there, as I none-too-politely refuted any of the host’s points, while calling him on his bullshit, to his face. He really wasn’t a fan of that. Most people who came on his show were either on his side, or shills enough that they didn’t want to rock the boat. He hadn’t met anyone who didn’t care what network TV said about them before.

On the other hand, that interview got me immediately invited to a dozen others, both from news channels and talk shows. I actually managed to start getting a solid following, just for my opinions. Apparently, my confrontational style, mixed with the fact that I never lied, meant that there were people who thought that made me an authority figure. Of course, I made sure to never claim to be an authority on anything I wasn’t.

But that still left a lot of things that I could talk about, and people who wanted me on their shows. Which is why, a week after the interview on Tuck’s show, I found myself in a radio studio, with one of the more famous radio shock jock hosts. Of course, having a shrine to me in the building made attendance easy. The fact that it was put in by the radio host as a joke didn’t matter.

I laughed at one of the first questions the guy asked me. “Well, Howard, as you know, I never lie. So, I cannot say that I ever had… relations with the President. Of course, that also means I couldn’t say that the idea never crossed my mind. If I thought she’d go for it, then sure, I’d be all up in that. But I’m not going to force the issue when I’m dealing with someone who hasn’t done anything to me.”

“You sure? Because, damn! If I had her coming to me wanting to get my help for something, the urge to say ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’…”

“Hah! Well, I can’t say that I didn’t get anything out of it. I’ve been open about what I asked for to help campaign for the bill, after all. Those new portals I got set up have already increased traffic through my network by twelve percent. And both my main dungeon and my subordinate on the moon have seen a fifteen percent increase in visitors, week-on-week.”

“Doesn’t that sound like she bought you, though?”

“Tell me something, Howard, do you go out and do public speaking gigs for free?”

“No. But I don’t do politics, either.”

“Well, I made a deal to spend a great deal of my time, which is not infinite, by the way, helping to support this bill, in the hopes that it will shake things up. Lasting infrastructure for lasting contributions. That’s a fair deal, in my mind. I can snap my fingers and have all the pussy I want, whenever I want. I’m not going to go trading things just so I can enjoy a nice piece of ass.”

“What about all those deals you’ve made in that dungeon, then?”

“Heh. That wasn’t about me getting my rocks off, that was about humiliating and corrupting those who had either overestimated their abilities, or did something to piss me off. Or they were trying to get out of a tough fight, because they were hurt, and were trying not to pay the normal consequences for leaving the dungeon early. The sex wasn’t about my enjoyment, but about humiliating them and putting them in their place. It was about Domination, not Pleasure.”

“And you didn’t want to dominate the President?”

“Honestly, Howard? Sure, I wanted to. But I’m not an idiot. Doing something like that would have ruined any future deals we could have made. It is the same reason why I’ve played nice with the Adventurer’s Guilds as they’ve been introduced to me. Until and unless they try and do shady shit to me, I have no reason to do shady shit to them. And keeping things pleasant means that they are more likely to work with me, and everyone is happy, at the end of the day. Well, everyone except the really righteous religious types who think sex is a sin. But that’s a whole different story.”

“Well, speaking of religion, the System says you’re a god, right? Have you met any other gods? And what about God, what’s he like?”

“Oh, sure. I’ve met several gods, some of them even face to face. As for ‘big G’ God, I’ll tell you what I told the President when she asked me. My read of things is that the fact that the Jews, Christians, and Muslims all use God to be the same being has made it hard for Him to come together. Eventually, Big G will either fracture completely, becoming separate beings for each religion, or they’ll ‘thin out’ as they try to cover everything.”

“Thin out?”

“Ah, well, clarity of belief is just as important to gods as the amount or fervency of that belief. Three point five thousand people who believe in a version of their god that is relatively the same is just as powerful as three and a half billion believing in another god, but with multiple major schisms and disagreements in what their god is like and what he expects of his followers.”

“That’s heavy stuff. So, it pays for gods to keep control of their followers?”

“Exactly. Which is part of the reason why I was able to stop a crusade against one of my followers off world before it started. I pointed out to the gods that they were risking a fracture, especially if I did to them the kind of things I did to Pofmis.”

“Wait, what? You have followers in other star systems? How?”

“Trade secret, I’m afraid. Suffice to say, there’s more functionality to the System than most humans are aware. Because I have a different level of access, I was able to communicate with people outside of the solar system, and spread my gospel.”

“Holy shit.”

Chapter 250 – Global DEN

Welcome to the Exchange!

Freedomland

EXOTIC PLEASURES! GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!

Palace

Calm down. Calm down. Whatever it is, yelling won’t help.

Iahab Allah

No, let him yell. I wish for Pleasures to come here, too. I have questions I must ask him.

Silver Mercy

Wait, did those two just agree on something?

Sangue

Brr. Did anyone else just get the urge to go checking for four horsemen riding down the street?

Resident Evil

Uh, what is the big deal? And who is this ‘Exotic Pleasures’ that the annoying American keeps yelling for?

Morte

Ah, that’s right. You’re one of the new people, so you haven’t been introduced yet. Exotic Pleasures was the first dungeon to join the Global DEN. You also have him to thank for those portals that have been popping up all over.

Resident Evil

Really? There have to be over fifty of the things, now, all around the world.

Exotic Pleasures

One hundred and four public portals, to be exact. They cover all seven continents as well as the moon.

Resident Evil

Damn, you have been busy! How the hell did you get all that?

Exotic Pleasures

Pattern I got from the Galactic DEN. Once I had it, well, the rest is just spending resources, and getting permission from the locals. Thankfully, I have Kuronoth for that.

Freedomland

AND WHAT IN TARNATION IS UP WITH YOU AND THAT KUROWHATSIT ANYWAYS? WHERE’S YOUR DAMN DUNGEON BOSS GET OFF CALLING HIMSELF A GOD OF DUNGEONS?

Exotic Pleasures

All right, first off, lay off the all caps. It just makes you look like you’re a twelve year old pretending to be all big and bad in an X-box lobby.

Lament

Oof. That reference is a bit dated, no?

Exotic Pleasures

Meh. It is what it is. So, ignoring the idiot, who are the new faces?

Resident Evil

Well, I popped up in Coon Valley, Wisconsin, with zombies as my monster. So I changed the name to Raccoon City. Oh, I’m a field dungeon, by the way.

Lament

I’m Prisoner’s Lament. I was stuck at the site of Dachau, the concentration camp. I’ve preserved the memorial, and set up a City dungeon to try and turn this place of horror into one of refuge.

Palace

I’ve been working with him, and have, through my contacts, gotten some of the families of survivors of the camp to help out, and make sure things stay respectful.

Niflheim

As for me? I am Niflheim, with all that entails. The System tossed me up under a mountain near Bardujord, way in the northern reaches of Norway, so it felt proper.

Freedomland

Enough with that shit! What the hell is this about your dungeon boss claiming to be the God of Dungeons?

Exotic Pleasures

Nice to meet you all. As Morte said, I’ve been connected to the DEN the longest, so if you have any questions feel free to ask. Also, I’m always up for a trade. In fact, Lament, I could offer you a couple patterns that you could use to help defend your city. And RE, well, I do have some puzzle patterns, if you haven’t finished making people go back and forth through a building twenty times just to open a bathroom door.

Exotic Pleasures

Now, as for you, Free. It isn’t just a claim. It is actual fact, backed up by the System itself. And the reason is simple. There are dungeons who worship Kuronoth in large parts of the spiral arm.

Silver Mercy

I think the time for deception is at an end, EP. Some of us have shrines to Kuronoth inside our bounds. And I’ve had an avatar of my own for some time.

Iahab Allah

What do you mean, SM?

Exotic Pleasures

*sigh* Well, I guess it was going to come out at some point. Still, I am impressed that you figured it out. Until now, the only people to learn the truth had to be next to my core, or I told them directly, after swearing them to silence. For you to figure it out independently? Most impressive.

Very well, would you like for me to say it, or would you like to do the honors, Silver?

Silver Mercy

I would like to hear the specifics from you, yourself, Kuronoth.

Freedomland

Wait, WHAT?

Iahab Allah

By the Prophet!

Sangre

Hah! Did not see that coming!

Morte

Well, that brings a few things into focus.

Shiren

Does that mean I can speak about it, now?

Exotic Pleasures

Yes, Shiren, you may speak about it, but only amongst other dungeons, or those who already know the truth.

For the rest of you, I will remind you that this falls under the category of information that is not to be shared with the mortals, unless violations of the rules have occurred. I will ask Palace of Justice to arbitrate on that point, if anyone objects.

That said, yes, I am Kuronoth. Or, rather, Kuronoth is my avatar, who I installed as the Dungeon Master, and portrayed as the Demon of the Dungeon, in order to interact with the outside world without revealing my dungeon nature.

As for being a God of Dungeons, I placed items like the Tome of Kuronoth on the Galactic DEN’s marketplace, just as I have on the Global marketplace. I did not actively proselytize, but my faith began to spread, especially after my victories against Pofmis. The true turning point, however, was on Atara. After I helped end a crusade that would have taken the lives of several dungeons on the world, more dungeons began to follow me, until the System added being a God of Dungeons to my divine portfolio.

And please note that I am A God of Dungeons, not THE God of Dungeons. Just because no other god or goddess has picked up enough dungeon followers to get the title doesn’t mean none could, just like there are multiple gods of War.

Silver Mercy

How long have you planned this?

Exotic Pleasures

Becoming a God of Dungeons? Never planned on it. It was as much a surprise to me as to the rest of you. Becoming a god in general? Well, since I put in a temple, and decided to try and see whether I could get people to make the System make me a god. And, when I tiered up, I was indeed made a Divine Dungeon Core, making me both God and Dungeon at once.

Iahab Allah

Then, the things your… avatar said on the interviews about Allah?

Exotic Pleasures

It is true, from what I’ve seen through the System. Because the God of the Jews, is the same as the God of the Christians, and the God of Islam, the mixed faiths are causing things to be… muddled. So, while your God most certainly exists, He is not ‘awake’, and will probably remain ‘asleep’ until he either splits fully into three entities, or the three parts combine as one. This is also the reason why gods like Thor or Athena have become active rather quickly, because the clarity of purpose concentrates the energy.

Iahab Allah

I… I am going to need some time to think on this.

Morte

So, why the lies? I thought your whole thing was never lying.

Sangre

Did he lie, though? He never came out and said that Kuronoth and he were separate people.

Resident Evil

I get it. You could make it the truth if you talked about the difference between Luke Skywalker and Mark Hamill. Skywalker is a role that Hamill played.

Exotic Pleasures

Indeed. That is how it began. It was also a convenient way of separating out my different abilities as I grew in power. There is the ‘dungeon me’, and the ‘divine me’. However, I will point out that I never lied. I never claimed Kuronoth was a Demon, nor did I say he wasn’t the Dungeon as a whole. When people asked, ‘Kuronoth’ would tell them that he was the mind controlling the dungeon, which was true, for obvious reasons.

Freedomland

But what about those times you said that Kuronoth’s people followed you? Or those Tomes and Shrines you keep trying to get us to put in our dungeons with those bets?

Exotic Pleasures

No different from Mark Hamill telling people that fans of Luke Skywalker would listen to his words. Or any other celebrity with a legion of fans who can mobilize people at a command. I never said I was not him, but I made a difference between myself, and the role I played.

Of course, eventually, the role became bigger and bigger, to the point where the role overshadows me, and my ‘dungeon self’ is seen as the hanger-on of my ‘divine persona’.

As for my Shrines, or the Tome of Kuronoth, that is basically a star asking you to put a display of their merchandise in your store. Yes, it benefits them, but it isn’t like there was no benefit to you, you know.

Freedomland

Feels like a lie, though. You sure you ain’t a politician?

Exotic Pleasures

And I’m sure the strippers really wanted to get to know you as a person, and not as a cash source, right? It wasn’t a lie; it was part of the performance.

Sangre

So, what does this mean for us dungeons, since you are a God of Dungeons?

Exotic Pleasures

Nothing. Everything is the same as before. You can choose to join my church, or any other, or none at all. Forcing you into my faith would end up being Conquest, not Domination.

Niflheim

What is the difference?

Exotic Pleasures

It is the difference between putting a knife to their throat as you bend them over a table to take what you want, or blackmailing them into submission so that they bend over the table at your command. The end result may look the same, but the methods and attitudes between the two paths are quite different. One is about raw Power, and the other is about Control.

Niflheim

And you don’t want to control us?

Exotic Pleasures

I would not turn down the chance to control any of you, or all of you. However, I am immortal, as are all of you. Until and unless someone in this group does something stupid, like breaking the rules or attacking me and mine directly, I have no reason to start down that road with any of you. If an opportunity comes up, or if one of you chooses to submit to me, then I would not say no. But I have no interests in conquering your dungeons, and the fight to do so would actively harm my other plans.

Resident Evil

So, if you’re not actively ‘recruiting’, how did all those dungeons start following your divine persona?

Exotic Pleasures

I simply offered the Tome of Kuronoth to them, and they read it. Some of them liked what they read, or they appreciated the benefits of things I had already done, and converted. Enough did so that Dungeons became first part of my divine portfolio, and then later a core part of my divine being.

Silver Mercy

And what does this mean for dungeonkind as a whole, both here and out in the galaxy?

Exotic Pleasures

Day to day? Nothing. But it also means that, when it comes to the clash between gods, and their faithful, that there is now a god that actually can represent dungeons as a whole, rather than just a few who have a divine representative.

Palace

I, as the Palace of Justice, and arbiter of the rules of the forum, as chosen by the majority of dungeons represented, have listened to the case being made. While it is agreed that Exquisite Pleasures may have played fast and loose with the truth, he has not spoken falsely. In addition, his actions have not harmed dungeonkind, nor have they introduced new threats to our kind. He has not broken trust with us, nor has he attempted to forcibly convert any of our number, save through the singular dungeon war he waged, which ended up saving the young dungeon’s life. It is my ruling that, unless anyone can provide evidence to the contrary, Exquisite Pleasures’s actions as Kuronoth have not violated the rules of this forum, and so the information is not to be spread to those not of this forum without prior consent of Kuronoth. Those who spread this information, whether through accident, malice, or any other motivation, will be judged for breaking faith with us.

Sangre

Understood.

Morte

As it shall be.

Resident Evil

Sure, sounds good.

Lament

I have no objection.

Iahab Allah

I accept this judgement, but shall be watching.

Niflheim

I’m good with this.

Freedomland

Damn, guess I don’t have a choice. Would be good to take EP down a few notches, though.

Silver Mercy

I will abide by this. And Kuronoth, we should talk. Can you come to your shrine in my dungeon?

Exotic Pleasures

Of course, Silver. I’ll be there presently.

Epilogue – Elsewhere

(Queen’s Private Chambers, Aquilis City, Kingdom of Vinastra, Bluemountain)

Her Majesty, Queen Esabel Threeshield, Queen of Vinastra and her colonies, High Councilor of the Council of Bluemountain, Goddess-Blessed Archon of Pofmis, Protector of the Faith, Shepherd of the People, the Just, and the Righteous Guardian of the Light was not pleased. Ever since the Mesmerizing Cells of the Black Knight dungeon had set a Taboo upon her nation and the Pofmisian faith after some hunters took soulstealing weapons into the dungeon in search of a heretic that had been bound to the dungeon, things had become difficult. The dungeon had been a regular proving ground for the military and police, allowing them to get combat experience and levels so that they could do their jobs more effectively. Even the nobility used to train in the dungeon, to gain the benefits of higher levels. She herself had gotten her levels in the Black Knight dungeon.

But that was before. Now, Taboos locked the party size, keeping people from using large groups to overwhelm the dungeon and power level their more inexperienced fighters. That was on top of the soulstealer Taboo, of course, which gave them all a 30% penalty to their damage dealt while in the dungeon. This meant that her subjects were doing less damage to dungeon creatures, and facing them in fewer numbers. Leveling ground to a halt, and casualties rose.

If it had only been that much, though, it could have been managed. Trading quantity for quality wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, after all, but that was only if the numbers did not sway too far. Unfortunately, the kingdom’s ill fortune hadn’t stopped there.

The dungeon’s monsters were displaying new tactics, and the dungeon itself had deployed new traps and ‘challenge’ rooms. These new developments did not increase the lethality of the dungeon on their own, of course, as they were mostly distractions, often involving some form of aphrodisiac. But that just led to other problems, like the breakdown of discipline in the royal army, and a spreading tide of debauchery in the adventurer population, which risked overflowing into the general citizenry!

That was bad enough, and yet somehow things managed to get even worse! Overnight, all members of the Pofmisian faith gained the Dungeon Foe title, which, infuriatingly enough, was added on top of the Taboo! Not long after, they all found themselves Anathema to the god that had just been enshrined in the dungeon, adding further penalties! The closest dungeon to the royal court, and not one of the nobility could enter for fear of creatures far below their level slaughtering them like they were faithless commoners!

The nobles were annoying, of course, but most of them only went into the dungeons for levels and status. The real problem was the military and the adventurers. While nobles could simply avoid the dungeons once they had a certain level of experience, adventurers needed the dungeon to keep up their expenses, and a military unable to train and get levels would quickly find itself falling behind the other nations.

Her spies were already talking about how the nations that did not enshrine Pofmis as their patron Goddess were talking about how now was the time to ‘rearrange’ the map, cutting up Vinastra into smaller pieces, with less influence. The Church’s inquisitors were warning that many of the army, to say nothing of the populace, were starting to have heretical ideas about turning away from Pofmis’s light. And signs of the Chainmaker, Darkmore, and the Dominator, Kuronoth, were beginning to be seen painted on walls. One mark of Kuronoth had even defaced the main doors of the Grand Cathedral of Pofmis itself!

“Your Majesty! I bring urgent news!”

A messenger was allowed into her throne room as she was going about the business of being queen. Frowning at the messenger, who, if she were any judge, was clearly not carrying good news, she waved him forward, so that he could speak without announcing everything to the court. The court would be gossiping about this for days, but it was better than the alternative. Even so, she would have to work extra hard to ensure that whatever this news was didn’t get out before she could properly frame it for the people.

The messenger knelt at her feet. “My Queen, I bear news from Starham, in the East, on the border of Safrea. Safrea has renounced the Light of Pofmis! All Her followers in that land are being given the choice to convert, or be exiled to the Hordelands, their property and wealth seized, leaving them with only the clothes on their backs! Archbishop Enwenys has been impaled alive and set on display before the Temple in Gendara! Already, people are calling it a Counter-Reformation!”

Esabel fought hard to keep her face steady. The Reformation had been a masterstroke of hers, in the early years of her reign. Along with the Church, she had forced a revolution in Safrea, installing a new king as a puppet, while Archbishop Enwenys held all the power, effectively making Safrea a theocratic state, like her own.

“How did this happen, and without any knowledge of it getting to the Church or Our spies?”

“A mob of peasants attacked the capital, while a flight of dragons from the Wyrmfang Aerie dungeon descended upon the cathedral itself. The dragons slaughtered all who bore the sign of Pofmis, but avoided striking nonbelievers where they could. Many in the mob carried the sign of the heretical new god, Kuronoth, and used unholy powers against the priesthood.”

“When did this happen?”

“Not two days ago, My Queen. With the Archbishop dead, the son of the former king emerged from hiding to lead his people. The puppet king and his sons are dead, and his female family enslaved by the usurper, King Elaith of House Therona. I’m told that many of the surviving clergy of Pofmis have also been enslaved.”

Esabel collapsed against the back of her throne in shock at what she had just heard. Enslaving priests and priestesses of Pofmis? That was high sacrilege! A blasphemy against the Lady of Freedom! They had to know that, as the loyal servants of Pofmis, Vinastra would respond to such an outrage, didn’t they? Could this be a trap, set by the other nations to lure Vinastra into a war of destruction?

Recovering from her momentary lapse, she rose from the throne, and cried out in a clear voice, “Sound the call to arms! We will not allow such sacrilege to go unpunished, or the blood of those loyal servants of the Chainbreaker to go unavenged! We shall put down this rebellion, and restore Safrea to its rightful rulers! Rally the Armies for war! And place a call to the Adventurer’s Guild! I declare that the Wyrmfang Aerie dungeon has gone rogue, and that the dungeon must be put down, for the good of all peoples! WE SHALL PREVAIL, IN POFMIS’S NAME!”

As the court cheered, she smiled. Even if it was a trap, all they needed to do was break through and shatter it before it could close upon them. And a righteous war would get people’s minds off of their heretical doubts.

Book XXVI – Divinities

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Adventurer’s Guild Official Forums, Miami Branch)

SunnyBunz, MightyMouse, ImAPally, DontYouWantMe, AsaAkiraIsBae, BestGirl, LatinHeat, Salty, Backpage, Craig34, l33tpally, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, RedFox, Kimiko, DonnyJuan, Crusader, BadCompany, HurricaneGal, Ambassador, Scholar, Righteous, Id10t, Satyr, DarkEnchanter, RangerMiguel, ScoopGirl, VenusFlyTramp, MagicMike, TsundereHealer, Max, LightningLegacy, SwiftTaylor, Domino, Bacchus, Aegis, Temptation, and Lord_Kickass are in the chat.

Righteous: So, is it true that the Demon is getting involved in politics? Because he’s looking like he’s getting into politics.

Domino: I doubt it. Probably just part of some new game, for him.

DonnyJuan: Anyways, for him to really be part of politics, he would have to be a citizen living on US soil. Which means the government would be able to control the dungeon and Swamptown.

Craig34: Like he’d ever let that happen.

ScoopGirl: Actually, there’s a case that just hit the federal courts, in Texas. A dungeon out there, near the border with Mexico, is trying to claim that dungeons are all independent of the nations they might be located in. No clue how that will play out, though.

Temptation: I know the dungeon in question. I cannot say much, except that, before the Apocalypse, a Sovereign Citizen lived on the site.

Id10t: Oh, god, one of those nutjobs? They just don’t want to pay taxes or follow rules, while still living in civilization and leeching off of it!

Temptation: Yes, that’s part of the reason why I’ve made sure that Swamptown is energy independent.

ScoopGirl: What? This is the first I’ve heard of that!

Temptation: Oh, yes. I set up mana collectors and generators, which help turn ambient mana to electricity. Swamptown is small enough that this can work with the localized generators I’ve put in place. And I’m using the System as my ISP, so I don’t need to rely on any outside entities for the running of Swamptown.

Craig34: Wow, man. Why go so far?

Temptation: Because running power lines out through the swamp is a horrible idea, with all the monsters out there, and because I was the first one to argue that dungeons should be separate entities, akin to embassies, from the nations they reside in. I just didn’t take it to court, because no one pressed me on it.

ScoopGirl: So, you’re saying that this dungeon in Texas is, um, like you?

Temptation: There are limits to what I can say, understand. Just like I won’t go asking you to reveal sources, there are professional considerations in play when it comes to how much I can say about other dungeons, especially in public.

SunnyBunz: Hey, Temptation. Care to tell us why you’re going and supporting the President’s new bill?

Temptation: Of course. Like I’ve said elsewhere, anyone who can’t live up to MY levels of honesty is either too corrupt or too stupid to be put in charge of a kindergarten bake sale, much less anything more important.

Crusader: Is it wrong that I agree with him?

LatinHeat: Nah. What he’s saying makes sense. It just isn’t something that most politicians or corporate news types will like to hear.

BadCompany: Plus, it isn’t like they’re going to be censored or anything. They just have to put up a sign saying that it is all opinion. Or go on a comedy show, or take it to a podcast, instead. Basically, the only thing they can’t do is try and say that it is news.

BestGirl: But Temptation, you don’t do anything for free. What did you get for going on the record supporting the bill?

Temptation: Oh, all I agreed to do was to make a few public statements where I expressed my true opinions of the bill, and to let my church here on Earth know my feelings. In return, well, I was able to establish new nodes of my transport network, linking in Washington, D.C., Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.

Max: I noticed that. Economists say that this will revolutionize the economy of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, since deliveries will be much easier to deal with.

DontYouWantMe: Actually, I know of three courier companies that have already started business doing deliveries exclusively to places covered by the portals.

Temptation: Three US companies. There are also companies from France, China, Columbia, and South Africa which have been using my portals for their business.

Salty: This was always your plan, wasn’t it? Make yourself essential, so that no one would want to move against you, even if they weren’t bound by contracts.

Temptation: Yes. Or, at the very least, to ensure that anyone who came after me would be working alone, without support. By this point, I have moved past the stage where conventional attacks can endanger me. Even an orbital strike on the dungeon would not kill me, though it would weaken me.

AsaAkiraIsBae: Because becoming a god means you’re no longer just the Dungeon Master?

Temptation: Yes, the only way for mortals like yourselves to permanently kill a god is to wipe out all their believers, destroy all their temples, and erase any mention of them. My faith has spread far enough, and my word further still, that you would likely end up losing many inhabited planets before the task was done.

DontYouWantMe: So, fighting a god is useless?

Temptation: Not at all. You might win, after all. If you kill a god in their mortal avatar, then they will be weakened, and be forced to remake their avatar from scratch. You might even pick up some of their divine power, becoming a demigod.

MightyMouse: What if two gods fight?

Temptation: If they fight in the mortal realm, well, it would be the same as if a mortal won the fight. In the realm of the gods, things would be slightly different. A god can slay another god. The consequences of that aren’t to be taken lightly, however.

Crusader: What kind of consequences?

Temptation: Well, if, say, I were to square up against Pofmis, and kill her in the godsrealm? Then I would be forced to choose between consuming her essence, which could be disastrous for me since we are so diametrically opposed, or allowing that essence to go free. Most of that essence would be lost, as her followers lost faith, but some would remain, and she would be able to reform as a goddess again, though her personality would likely be different, shaped by the loss her people felt at her passing.

LatinHeat: Dios mio!

Craig34: Holy shit. That real?

Ambassador: While I do not have direct knowledge, there are stories of battles between gods, and they mention similar themes. It is part of the reason why gods work through their followers, rather than directly manifesting most of the time.

Crusader: Damn. I was hoping that the Chainbreaker could slay him.

Temptation: She tried. She failed. And then we made a deal.

Crusader: WHAT? LIES!

Temptation: I never lie.

Scholar: What did this deal entail?

Temptation: Oh, I’m not the kind of guy to give up all the details for free. Suffice to say, she deeply regrets not reading the terms and conditions before she challenged me to combat. Sucks to be her.

Crusader: DAMN YOU!

Chapter 251 – Overseas

With a swirl of smoke, I appeared in my mortal avatar next to my shrine in Silver Mercy’s dungeon. This, naturally, surprised the few people in the area. There were a few visitors who came to look at the shrine that had just appeared months back, and was now known to be a shrine to a new god. However, I was happy to see that there was one person in prayer as I manifested.

The kid was short, and a bit overweight. Of course, there weren’t really all that many people in Japan who got truly fat, by American standards, but the kid was definitely not athletic, and you could see the pudginess on him. And, if I wasn’t mistaken, he was wearing a high school uniform.

Suda Ietsuna

Human Male

Level 5 Archivist / Scholar

Market Value: 250 gp

As the kid looked up at me, I could see that he was showing signs of having been in a fight recently. The bruising of a black eye was starting to show, the eye itself swollen mostly shut, and one of his arms hung limply by his side. These were injuries that should have gone away with healing magic, which meant no one had spared a healing spell for the kid. At the same time, his uniform looked clean, and pressed, so someone had cleaned up after the beating.

And it had to be a beating. While the System made judging books by their covers a dangerous prospect at times, I did not think that this kid looked like the type to actually be fighting. He did, however, look like an easy target for bullies.

“Well, my child, what can I do for you?”

The boy looked up at me, wide-eyed. It took him a couple moments to find the words, but when he spoke, I was glad for the System translating things for me. It wasn’t even a listed spell or ability, even. I just naturally understood any language used by one of my followers, and they understood my words in their own tongue. It was obvious, when you thought about it. After all, how can a god respond to prayers if they can’t understand them?

“Lord Kuronoth! I never expected you to come directly! Please, great lord, give me the strength to fight back against the bullies that did this to me!”

I nodded slowly. “You know that my domain is not strength, or force of arms, yes? If you are asking for my power, then that will be the power of domination, and of pleasure. Is that what you wish? Know that there will be a price to be paid.”

The boy nodded, and said, “I am willing to pay anything. Just give me my revenge!”

“Well, now, how can I say no to that?” I smiled, and said, “Tell me more about these bullies, and your school, so I know how best to help you in your revenge.”

I found out that he went to a public high school, and he was a freshman. Unfortunately, before the Apocalypse, he had been a nerd and an otaku. After the Apocalypse, things didn’t get any better. While his class was, technically, a spellcaster, it was one more focused on research and support than anything else, and so he wasn’t able to get many levels.

Because of this, he was picked on in school, where everyone was stronger than he was. Typical high school crap, really. Shun those who don’t fit in, so that you don’t stick out. Basically, they made his life miserable, but now with magic as well as their pre-System abilities.

That was what had driven him to me. I nodded once, and produced a contract, along with a pen. “Sign here, my child, and we can begin. I will give you all that you need to fulfill your desires, and make your enemies suffer.”

Without even bothering to read, the young man signed the contract. That wasn’t unexpected. Life had a way of driving people against the wall. Some could change their lives, and many held on to whatever scraps of happiness they found like a lifeline. But eventually, people broke inside. When that happened, they either sank into depression and despair, or they cried out in rage, looking to make others suffer, as they had suffered.

Ietsuna was the latter. I could see it in his eyes. He wanted payback, and he wanted revenge. He wanted to make others crawl in the dirt, because they had kicked him when he was down. He no longer cared what the price might be.

Of course, he wasn’t the only person in a situation like that who had made a deal with me. In fact, most of those who had made deals with me had been in similar situations. After all, it took someone downtrodden and desperate to make a deal with a demon.

When he was done signing, I smiled, and used my dungeon powers to reproduce an object that had come into my possession when a party had pushed too far, and died. I held out the black tome to him, and said, “This Black Bible is a book of spells and magic, dark and terrible. You will have to translate it from the original Latin, but, when you do so, you will find curses that will bring misfortune upon your enemies, and charms to cause those you desire to throw themselves at your feet. As an Archivist and a Scholar, I trust that this task is not beyond you.”

Wide-eyed in wonder, the boy took the book, and clutched it to his chest. “I understand. I will begin studying it immediately, as soon as I get home!”

“That is good. Because you will need to be quick, if you are to pay the price.” He looked up at me, and I smiled. “The power to make all your darkest desires come true is not free, after all.”

“What must I do?”

“I slipped a piece of paper in that tome, detailing a ritual. You will need to use your newfound knowledge and power to set it up, but I have faith in your abilities. It should not take you too long to discern how to set things up.

“The ritual should be set up so that your entire school is encompassed in the circle. On the day that you set it off, you should convince any friends you have to stay home, as well as any ladies you have charmed, and wish to keep as your thralls. From that moment on, you will never again be bothered by any of those classmates and upperclassmen who attacked you.”

“The ritual… it will kill the entire school?”

I laughed at that. “No, my child. I am not some bloodthirsty psychotic. The ritual will kill no one. Instead, it shall transform the entire school. The school will become a dungeon, and those inside will be transformed into the dungeon’s creatures, and become sworn to my faith.”

The kid nodded. “And those I convince to stay home, they will be spared?”

“Indeed. But you are forbidden from explaining why they must stay home. You can try telling them that it is a result of your divinations, or you can capture them with magic, or with the capture balls that some have used in the past. But, if you tell anyone about the ritual, then the System will find you in breach of contract. I doubt you would like for that to happen.”

“No,” he shook his head. “I know you do not forgive those who break contracts with you. But I don’t have the money for capture balls.”

“Your learning with the Black Bible will allow you to enthrall some people. But, if you would save others, then I can offer capture balls to you. Bring to me ten of your female classmates, and I will give you ten capture balls. Those ten females will be forever lost to you, but you will be able to save ten of your friends, without raising the alarm.”

The boy frowned. “But, my school is in Tokamachi, in Niigata Prefecture. How will I get them to your shrine here in Kyoto? Our class is just here on a field trip!”

“You could also get them to the portal set up in Tokyo, since I have a shrine in that space as well.” I chuckled. “Of course, if you were looking for something closer to home, then you would need to create a shrine to me in your town.”

I opened my hand once more, and offered him a crystal. “Go to a park where there is no other shrine. Plant the crystal there, and make an offering of a human life to me. By the dawn, a shrine will be there, so that you can save those you wish. Hide the crystal and the Black Bible in your inventory, so that your enemies cannot take it from you.”

“Thank you, Lord Kuronoth! I will do all as you command!”

I smiled at him. “I know, my child. I know. You will play your part to perfection, I am sure. And, with the power you gain from dominating your classmates, friends, and family, you will never need to worry about being bullied again. You need not even worry about the consequences of your actions. When all has been done, simply take the train to Tokyo, along with your harem, and come through the portal.”

“Through the portal, my Lord?”

“Yes, from one portal to the next. You will be able to go anywhere in the world, start a new life, where no one knows you as you are now, but all respect and fear you for the man you will become. You could even become an adventurer, seeking fame and fortune in the different dungeons in the world, so that you could look through the tomes offered by the System Shop, and discover knowledge you never before thought possible. Better still, you could act as support, while your harem fights for you, seeking the reward of the pleasures you’ll provide them with.”

Ietsuna straightened up as I spoke and I could see a new resolve in his good eye. It was always incredible, to see the way the merest glimmer of hope could fan the flames in even the most downtrodden soul. And I had just shown him no mere glimmer, but a path, with concrete goals he could strive for. He would have to push himself, in order to accomplish those goals, but he had a goal, now, rather than just stumbling blind through the darkness.

With another bow, the boy quickly stored his new items in his inventory, and ran off. I chuckled as I watched him go. I didn’t know whether he would actually be able to accomplish his goals, but I knew that he would try. And he would spread my faith further through Japan, which was just fine with me.

“Do you think it was wise to do that?”

A puff of smoke revealed a silver-haired kitsune wearing the red and white of a shrine maiden, though it looked as though the back was altered, to allow her tail to poke through. The silver creature did not bear any weapons, but she did wear a golden rope coiled on one hip, and had a gourd decorated in purple, gold, and red on the other. Both gave off strong magical energy.

“About as wise as someone waltzing about with two of the five sacred treasures, in a place dedicated to one of their owners.”

The kitsune smirked. “So, you did a bit of research before you came, then. I’ll admit, I didn’t expect you to recognize the Gourd and the Rope.”

“Unlike some people, I do like to know what I’m getting into before leaping into another’s domain.”

“And yet you just decide to stir up chaos wherever you go, seemingly for your own amusement.”

“Ah, my dear Mercy. That little bit with the schoolkid was nothing more than a diversion. He will either try, and fail, or he will succeed. All I did was give him tools, and the will to use them. What he does with them is on his head.”

Silver Mercy’s avatar sighed. “Still the same as always, Pleasures. What am I going to do with you?”

“Oh, I’m sure I can think of some things.”

Chapter 252 – Concerns

With Mercy’s permission, I stepped out of the small radius that my shrine covered, and into her dungeon. I needed her permission first, of course, because otherwise that would be an invasion, and spark a dungeon war. And neither of us wanted that.

We walked in silence, a study in opposites. However, whether it was luck, or some influence of Mercy’s upon the surrounding area, we did not meet anyone else along the way. Most likely, it was both. Since we weren’t near the main paths, it wouldn’t take too much influence from the dungeon to guide people away.

Even so, Mercy stopped, and looked both ways before stepping off the path to the side. When she disappeared behind a glamour, I smiled. How very appropriate to the myths, that a kitsune should be using illusions to hide things, after all.

Stepping through the glamour, I found myself in a pleasant little burrow, like I had been shrunk down and placed in a fox’s den. Or, I corrected myself, looking at the walls, perhaps a hobbit’s home? The den was certainly comfortable, but it was decorated in a traditional Japanese style, rather than hobbit-fashion.

Mercy was already sitting on a cushion next to a low table. No chairs, but cushions covering a tatami mat floor. She definitely wanted to go with the traditional look for this place! As I sat down, Mercy began mixing tea, in the traditional way.

“Have you ever been in a tea ceremony before, Pleasures?”

“No, I haven’t, nor have I had traditional green tea before.”

“Ah, well, I am glad that I can introduce you to this custom, then.”

The conversation lapsed as Mercy went about preparing the tea, whisking hot water in with the tea leaves that had been ground to powder. It was night and day from my experiences with tea, growing up in the South. For one thing, the water was merely hot, not boiling, and there was no sugar to sweeten it.

Once she offered me the bowl, however, I had to admit that the tea certainly didn’t need sweetening. There was only a hint of bitterness, but also a bit of sweetness, to balance it, and the whole thing had an almost nutty flavor. I bowed my head in appreciation, and said, “Now I can see why the tea is talked about so highly. Though it doesn’t compare to the company.”

“Oh, you,” she shook her head. “It is no use trying to flirt with me, Pleasures. I have been watching you long enough to know where that route leads, and I want no part of it.”

“Oh, fine. You can’t blame me for trying. Especially not when you choose to look like that.”

I saw a scowl cross Mercy’s face, “I know perverts like you have those kinds of fetishes, but this is how I looked before the Apocalypse, aside from the obvious changes with taking on the kitsune race for my avatar. The silver hair, the ears, and the tail are new, but the rest is what I looked like when I served as a miko in this temple. I did not do it to be an object of your perverse fantasies.”

I chuckled, but didn’t say anything on that. Anything I said would just make her more upset with me, and Mercy was one of the dungeons I got along with best, so poking those buttons wasn’t something I wanted to go overboard with. Instead, I decided to change the subject.

“So, why did you ask me to come all the way over here?”

Mercy took a deep breath, and then said, “It is about the kami. As you know, the lack of the System caused faiths to lose real power in the world, making them be only a spiritual guide, to keep people on the right path. This is part of the reason why humans have so many gods, rather than the single pantheon other peoples might get.”

I nodded. “Yes, the lack of any direct response to prayers left people to question, and those questioners eventually found new answers, making saints and gods out of anyone or anything they thought would help. Over in the States, there was a case where an Army man started praying to ‘St. Patton’ while in my dungeon, and he got a response. Or there’s the fact that there is a god of Misfortune, Chaos, and Mayhem currently forming under the name of Murphy.”

“Then it is as I feared. Three days ago, an entity claiming to be Susanoo appeared at a shrine down by the sea, and his appearance conjured a thunderstorm. And the Monkey King has been sighted in several places in China, according to reports. Even here, sightings of kami and oni have been on the rise.”

“Ten thousand kami in Japan, and who knows how many are still venerated, right? And it is hard to tell what is a divine manifestation, and what is just a monster conforming to myths, unless you have the proper skills. I take it that, with everything that has gone on, more and more sightings are taking place, and more and more people are asking themselves what to believe?”

Mercy sighed, and said, “That is correct. The System is also empowering those like monks, priests, and shamans, who have historically been considered to have spiritual strength, and the ability to channel the divine. Along with it, people are flocking to shrines and temples, with newfound faith.”

“That doesn’t sound like it would be a problem.”

“Normally, it wouldn’t be. But, with the revelation that the kami are shaped by the believers, that gives me some pause. I do not know if you follow such things, but anime and manga have long had various portrayals of the kami in their works. I am worried that the kamis will be changed by their depictions.”

I frowned, considering that. “I will admit, I haven’t paid too much attention to anime and manga. Are there any gods in particular that you are worried about?”

“Any of the main gods of Japan concern me, of course, but my biggest worry is actually a god from the mainland, from China. I told you that the Monkey King has been sighted, yes? But the Monkey King is a title, given to Son Wukong, also known as Son Goku.”

My face twitched. “I might not watch much anime, but even I have seen Dragonball Z. Let me guess, you’re worried about the anime mixing with the myth?”

“Yes. Specifically, I am worried about what would happen if the Son Wukong of old, who performed so many feats in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, were to gain the powers of Son Goku from the animes, and become a Saiyan, adding super-Saiyan and all its levels and forms to his existing powers of transformations. If that were to happen, and the Monkey King’s mind turned to mischief due to boredom or because he felt slighted? The consequences would be dire!”

I nodded slowly. Anime was not exactly a medium or genre known for things like ‘restraint’ or ‘balance’, and the myths of bygone times were little better. At least in the myths there were usually people who could stand against rogue gods and monsters. But were the adventurers of the modern world up to the task of taking on a full-fledged god empowered by modern culture and belief?

I could see why Mercy was worried. There was so much that could go wrong with a scenario like that. Eventually, adventurers would be at a point where a ‘hero’ or two could stand up and stop a god, but until then? I wouldn’t want to be in an area like that.

“I can understand your concern. Frankly, I share it. What I do not understand is what you want me to do about it? I am only recently elevated to godhood, after all, so I don’t think that any of the ‘old guard’ would pay much heed to me. Certainly not the more rambunctious types.”

“Yes, but you’re the only god I know. While Ginkaku-ji has the name because of the relationship to Kinkaku-ji, which was built by the grandfather of Ginkaku-ji’s builder, it is really a temple dedicated to Zen Buddhism, not Shinto, which complicates things. For instance, the official name of the temple is Jishō-ji. Your shrine is the only other shrine to a specific deity recognized within my dungeon, so you are the only one I could call on to ask about this.”

I nodded slowly. “And you haven’t tried summoning Buddha, or anything like that, right?”

“No, I wouldn’t try and forcefully summon a god unless there was no other choice. Even in the stories, such impudence rarely ends well for the summoner, even when the summoning is justified. Some things are not meant to be done.”

“And that’s why you’re one of my favorite dungeons on the global exchange. That idiot Freedomland would have just gone off and done it, if he was capable of even thinking of it. Iahab would have done it out of pure zealotry. But you actually consider the consequences of your actions.”

“Yes, well, all that aside, I would like to know whether you could do anything to settle down the local kami? Do gods have a hidden network, like the DEN, where they can communicate?”

“Yes, actually, which is one of the reasons why I was able to make some of the recent deals I made with some gods of Law. But, do you really want me to start getting involved with godly politics in Japan? Once that starts, there won’t be any stopping it, you know. Might be easier to have a chat with the Ambassador. She’s got her embassy in Tokyo, you know.”

“Oh, yes, I know. I assume that was your doing?” I nodded, and she just shook her head. “I thought so. Trust you to see a race of alien cat-people, led by a beautiful woman, and think, ‘I should send them to Japan!’ The otaku were practically beside themselves in joy. They almost stormed the embassy, wanting autographs and pictures!”

“Would you rather I sent the Dogik ambassador? I’ve been told that there is some really interesting artwork being made of them, and posted on the internet. And even a manga?”

Mercy shuddered, and said, “I will never understand the perverts who see a spider the size of a car, and immediately want to fuck it. That is just wrong, on so many levels! How the hell would it even work, anyways?”

“I’ve found that some questions are best left unasked, lest you receive the answers.” I sighed. “For what it is worth, I agree with you. The Dogik are not exactly prime specimens that I would ever like to see in the breeding halls. That is a question I will happily remain ignorant to the answer of, thank you very much.”

“Huh, so even you have limits?”

“Of course, I do! For one thing, I am quite assuredly heterosexual. While I don’t mind showing off in front of others, and I’ll watch plenty of porn, two guys doing it has never tickled my pickle, as it were. I am, perhaps, quite vanilla when it comes to that. I make up for it in other ways, of course, but that’s just how it is. I may be a dungeon, and a god, but I’m still not much changed from when I was human.”

Mercy chuckled, and said, “Anyways, to return to what we were discussing, I will be getting in touch with the Ambassador, like you suggest, to try and get some trainers here, so that those with spiritual classes can learn exorcisms and seals that can be used to deal with wayward gods. Yet, I think it would be good for all of us if someone were to look into the local god network, or whatever it is called, and see if there is anything that can be done to keep them from getting rowdy to begin with. The same as how we dungeons have started working together to ensure that the newly developing dungeons do not cause trouble for the rest of us.”

“Well, when you put it like that, I guess I’ve got to take a look.”

Chapter 253 – Preparations

Of course, while GodNet existed, not every god was a part of it. After all, you couldn’t join until you had met another god. My own experience had proved that much.

However, a search of GodNet showed that the Earth section was full of placeholder sections for the various gods. There were so many, in fact, that things were subdivided into smaller categories, separating out deities from divine entities. Divine entities would be demigods and other primal forces that are divine in nature, but are not exactly worshipped like gods. From what I could tell, most kami would be divine entities, since they were more like the spirits of sacred or venerated places or objects.

Looking further into things, I saw that Susanoo was listed as a god, while Sun Wukong was listed as a divine entity. That didn’t mean that either side couldn’t cause a shit-ton of trouble, if they put their minds to it, but it did change the way the System viewed them. Both were listed as semi-active, and had not yet been introduced to the wider godly realm.

That was both good, and bad. While they weren’t fully active, they did not have access to the full measure of power a deity or divine entity might have. However, until they met another god, they would not be listed as Active, and the System’s full restrictions wouldn’t be applied to them, because the System would not fully recognize them until they were fully in the godly realm.

What that meant was slightly different for gods and divine entities. For gods, it meant that they did not have their full range of powers, but that they could more freely exist in the material world. The information I could access implied that this was because gods who had not fully ascended yet would not be able to control their full power, and were often still mortals, or at least demigods, who were still doing the deeds that would see them rise to godhood, eventually.

This meant that, for the most part, a god that had not met another god in person would be able to walk the world as they wished, but they would not be able to go and manifest before their followers wherever they might be. If I had been just a god in the making, instead of being a dungeon, then I would not have been able to move around the Earth as I wished, but I could never have gone to Atara to offer my counsel and conspiracies with the dungeon there, unless I got on a ship and physically flew between star systems. It was the dungeon planting a shrine to me that allowed me to visit him, after all.

Divine entities, on the other hand, had no limits on their powers, but were somewhat restricted in where they could go. Until recognized by the System, they were treated as spiritual projections, and limited to certain areas important in their creation. Once they were introduced to the divine realm, the System limited their powers, but allowed them to move freely.

Another little thing that getting the System to fully recognize these gods would do was to ‘lock in’ their abilities. So, once recognized, the Monkey King would not be able to then gain the powers of his anime homages. That would take away one of the biggest concerns that Mercy had regarding the entity.

The problem was that I actually was a god, recognized by the System. Which meant that I couldn’t just go around anywhere I wanted. If I wanted to manifest my avatar and do things in the real world, I needed to either be near my shrines, my followers, or my dungeon, and the spikes that let me expand my dungeon influence. So, I had to figure out a way to arrange the meeting.

On a planet that had grown up with the System, I wouldn’t have needed to do something like this. The ‘local’ gods would have already made contact, at some point, if only because newcomers rising up in their back yard could cause trouble. But this was just one more problem that could be laid directly on Earth being isolated for so long.

I couldn’t just go out to see the gods and divine entities, not unless I sent some of my followers to purposefully run into them. That wasn’t a terrible idea, on the face of it, but there was always the very real chance that divinities would act with all the spite and pettiness that they were known for in the myths, and my followers were not so numerous that I could write them off as being expendable. So, I needed to get creative.

If I wasn’t going to send my followers out to purposefully run into my targets, and risk them being in close proximity the whole time, then I only had two ways of making a conversation happen. The first was to try and summon the divinity, making them appear where and when I wanted to. This had a good chance of making the divinity hostile, unless I did something to appease them. After all, anyone would get pissy if they were yanked away from what they were doing to answer someone’s summons.

The other way was to have a core spike planted near where they had been seen, and hope for the best. This was less likely to make the divinities upset, and I could have my people leave the area, once my annexation of the area was complete. But there was no guarantee that they would show up on my timeline, and expanding too much, too quickly, would cause problems for me with the local governments, as well as my fellow dungeons.

Really, there was only one choice for dealing with Susanoo. I would need to summon him, so that we could talk. While the myths of the god all depicted him as a rambunctious sort, his deeds, from what I could tell, were all more like those a drunken frat boy might get up to, if they were immune to consequences. He preferred action to thought, was fond of drink, and it was always better if one tried to point him towards some other direction, letting him expend his energy safely away from anyone or anything you preferred to be intact.

However, to summon him, I would first need to go someplace that had some kind of symbolic connection to him. While not strictly required, the more symbolic links you added into the summoning ritual, the easier it was to perform the summoning, and the better disposed the god would be towards you. Thankfully, he was known as the God of the Sea, amongst other things, so all I needed to do was go out to the coast, and that would suffice for a strong link. And I was close enough to the coast that I could go there in my mortal avatar.

The second thing I would need is offerings. A suitable offering would provide another link to the god you wanted to summon with the same effects as a symbolic link to the ritual site. A poor offering, however, would decrease the success rate of the ritual, making an unfortunate accident more likely, and likely leaving the god completely pissed at you when they showed up. That was not a recipe for a long and successful life, obviously.

Given the stories, I decided on three offerings to put in the ritual circle. First, a bottle of sake, to appease the riotous nature of his that caused Susanoo to go on legendary rampages. Second, some rice straight from the field, as he was known as a god of the fields, as well as storms. And third, a blade made by my own hand, to offer as a gift. It would not be a divine artifact, not unless he infused his essence into it, but it would be a gift that he could easily appreciate.

The third, and final, part that I needed to summon a god was their name. That might not seem like much, but it was more complicated than one might expect. Especially when gods changed their names over time. This was less an issue with Susanoo than with the Monkey King, but even so, Susanoo had several names, if you counted the different honorific prefixes attributed to him in the texts.

However, a consultation with Silver Mercy gave me the name she deemed most appropriate, which was Susanoo-no-Mikoto. However, she also cautioned me to speak respectfully, and to use the meaning of the honorifics in the ritual when I was calling to him. This would keep from insulting him, which was something I wanted to avoid.

Of course, I wouldn’t just start doing things like this without telling anyone. My dungeon was close enough to Miami that people there would be able to sense the magic I’d be invoking, to say nothing of those living in Swamptown. And that was assuming that there weren’t any surprise storms, or other such things. This wasn’t something I could just keep silent about, and hope no one would notice.

Which meant I was going to have to put out some kind of announcement in Swamptown, and send a copy of it to the Adventurer’s Guild in Miami. That way, people would know it was coming, and it would also allow me to have the guild’s help in clearing people away from the ritual site. I’d have my own mercenaries supplying security for the actual site, but having the Guild warn people off in advance would be helpful.

Actually, that was the easiest part of the whole affair. After all, the leaders of Swamptown were all beholden to me, in one way or another, so having my priestesses make the announcement would be fine. And the new leader of the Miami Guild that took over when Miguel became the leader of the American Guild as a whole was already one of my followers, so she would listen to what I said, and take it seriously. Between them and the mercenaries who answered to me, I was sure we wouldn’t be bothered during the ritual.

Gathering the offerings was only slightly more difficult. I had fields not connected to the main dungeon or the Breeding Halls, where my minions would tend crops, growing them in the mana-rich area. I’d started the project when I talked to the brewer in Swamptown about making more and better alcoholic beverages, but expanded the fields to include crops of all types when I decided that Swamptown ought to be completely self-sufficient. The rice fields were not the largest part of my agricultural works, but they were large enough that I could take some rice without it being missed.

As for the sake, I just purchased some when I was in Japan, making sure to get a version that was made according to traditional recipes. I also went for one that was higher rated, rather than one that was more expensive. While I could never be considered a connoisseur of sake, that didn’t mean I would fall into the trap of foolishly thinking that the best drink was necessarily the most expensive. My experience with American alcohol had proven that conclusively wrong.

At last, everything was in place. The ritual site had been prepared. The circles were drawn. The offerings were laid out. And the closest people to the site were my mercenaries, keeping the perimeter at half a mile away.

Stepping into the proper circle, I began calling out the words of the summoning ritual I found through the System. The chants soon built to a crescendo, and I called out to the sky that was quickly filling with clouds, “I call out to the God of Seas and the Storms! The Swift and the Brave Susanoo-no-Mikoto! Come now, and accept these offerings, and parley with me!”

Thunder answered me, and then the thunder was given voice.

“Who dares call me to these foreign shores?”

Chapter 254 – Storm God

“Who dares call me to these foreign shores?”

With a roar, thunder and lightning crashed before me, and was made manifest. The first thing I noticed of the god was long black hair, running wild and untamed in the wind. He was dressed in traditional Japanese clothes, all in white, with a red sash about his waist to bind it. Tucked into his sash was a sword in its sheath. He wore no shoes or sandals upon his feet, and yet the sand did not touch him, and he left no mark when he walked.

I nodded respectfully to him, and said, “Wise Susanoo, I called you here, to speak with you. Many are the tales told about you in songs and legends throughout the years. They say that you are wild and free, doing what pleases you. That kind of attitude is one I respect, and so, out of that respect, I sought you out.”

This seemed to please Susanoo. After all, I was offering him respect, without getting too obsequious with it. More than that, I was playing to his ego, telling him that there were stories told about his deeds. So, I was not surprised when I saw his posture ease slightly, and more warmth entered his voice.

“And what would we have to parley about, little man?”

I smiled, and motioned to the gifts I had placed in the circle. “There will be time for that, Lord Susanoo, but first, might I offer you gifts, since you have come to this foreign land?” The promise of gifts brought a smile to his face, of course. After all, who doesn’t like gifts?

“Very well, let us see these gifts you brought.”

I smiled, and picked up the rice first. “To start, I offer you rice, grown from my own fields, tended to by my servants.”

As he took the rice, Susanoo looked it over, appraisingly. “This rice, it looks healthy, and well-grown. You have been seeing to your fields well, little man.”

“Thank you,” I nodded my head at the compliment, and picked up the sword I had made. It was a straight, single-edged blade, made to be held in one hand or two, with my symbol emblazoned upon the guard. “Next, I offer you this blade, made by my own hand. Though I know it cannot compare to the legendary blade you plucked from the tail of the Yamata-no-Orochi, I still offer this, in sign of friendship.”

Now, Susanoo was smiling. “You offer me a blade made by your own hand? That is well and good. Yes, I can see that it cannot compare to my Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, but that does not mean it is an ill gift. What enchantment does the blade carry?”

“It holds the enchantment of True Imperviousness. That blade will never dull. It will never break. It will never be deformed, marred, or in any other way changed, from this day to the end of time, anywhere that the System holds sway. Even if one hundred gods of the forge all swung their hammers as one, they could not alter the blade, and the fires of one thousand forges lit by ten thousand dragons would not even heat it.”

“Hoh! Bold words, little man! And you expect me to believe such a tale?”

“The sword is yours, freely given. There is no one here, beyond us two. So long as you do not cause trouble for my servants, who I have placed in a wide perimeter, to ensure that our conversation is not interrupted by mortals, then you may test the sword to destruction, using whatever means you may wish.”

I know it was a bit cocky of me, but I was quite proud of the enchantment on that blade, which was something I’d thought up. Yes, in pure power, the blade was lacking compared to swords of legend, being only a little more powerful than a sword enchanted with enhanced sharpness might be. But it was sharpened to a razor’s edge, and enchanted to make sure that the edge would never dull, and the sword would never break, no matter what abuse it was put to.

It was not a blade that would allow an untrained farmer to slay dragons and threaten gods, but, in the hands of a master? There was a lot that an indestructible blade could do. But, more importantly, it was a blade that would never fail. Blocking blows from a much heavier weapon without losing its edge was just one benefit. The true use of the blade was that it could be used, even when a mightier blade would chip and shatter under the abuse leveled at it. It would endure, despite everything.

“Yes, I can tell from your tone that this is true. As one who has suffered a sword to break against a mortal foe’s bones in combat before, I know the value of such a blade. This is a worthy gift!”

“Then, might I present my final offering?” I held up the large, 1800 ml bottle of sake, offering it to the god. “This sake is made by the traditional means. It is not the most expensive type on the market, but it is the one that has the highest approval ratings.”

“Oh-hoh! You saved the best gift for last, I see!” Susanoo eagerly took the rice wine from my hands, licking his lips in anticipation. “But, such kingly gifts on a first meeting makes me wonder what it is that you are wanting, as a result of this parley?”

I waved my hand, and conjured a campfire, with logs set around it as rude seats. With another wave of the hand, a bottle of whiskey appeared in my own hand. “Then perhaps we might sit and drink together, as we speak? After all, a good conversation is best when you have some alcohol to go with it!”

“HA! Ha, ha, ha! Oh, yes! Long have I been looking for someone who knew what a true conversation started with! Come, I shall try this drink you’ve given me. But what is that you have in your own hand?”

“Oh, this? This is a drink from a land to the north of here, known as Tennessee. I would not be so rude as to give a gift, and then ask you to share that same gift with me. However, if you offered to share some rice wine from the east with me, then I would also offer some of the whiskey of the western world with you. After all, good drink is better when it is shared, is it not?”

“Ha! Oh, I like the way you think, little man.” Susanoo laughed, as he sat down on one of the logs. “Let me taste this drink you offered me, then, and see whether it is worthy of sharing of not!”

It turned out that the drink was, indeed, worthy of sharing, and so I learned about sake, and Susanoo learned about Jack Daniels. The bottles ended all too soon, but that was only natural, considering that the amount of alcohol needed for a god to get drunk, even in their mortal avatar, would make legendary heavyweights like the rock stars of the 1980s take a step back and say you needed to slow down. However, I was both god and dungeon, and creating things was part of my nature. So, when the bottles ran dry, I simply made new ones.

Night had fallen by the time we had gotten good and properly drunk. I’d already reached out to my followers, and let them know what the plan was, so they were taking shifts as they watched for anyone who might think on intruding. Susanoo, for his part, had plenty of stories to tell, and, once he had some drink in his belly, he loved to tell them.

It was in the lull between stories that I got to the point of this whole meeting.

“Y’know, Susanoo, there’s a reason I asked ya here, other than just in hopes of finding someone who could take their liquor. By now, you should be all hooked up with GodNet, which is a place for all of us deities in the System to hang out, party, chat, whatever. But, I wanted to give you a warning.”

At some point, we’d slid off the logs, sitting next to each other and using the log behind us to keep us at least partly upright. Easier to pass the bottle when you were sitting next to someone, after all. One of Susanoo’s eyes was half shut as he turned to look at me, the glare of the fire affecting him.

“A warning? Me? I am the lord of storms, and the god of the sea! What warning would you give me, Kuronoth?”

I laughed, and said, “I wanted to warn you that you should temper your rampages in the material realm. In the godly realm, you can rampage all you like. In fact, there are several gods that will scrap with you for the sheer joy of the fight, and finding a worthy opponent. Zenos, the Garlean God of the Slaughter, comes to mind, but there are others, as well, who rampage through the godly realm just so that they can feel alive.”

I fixed my gaze on Susanoo’s, and tried to make my voice as serious as I could, while being as drunk as I was. “But in the material realm, there are mortal beings who are able to kill gods. Truly and wholly, consuming every bit of their divine essence. They are able to do this, because the System empowers them, and allows them to do this.”

Susanoo’s eyes went wide, though I could tell it was not from fear. “Mortals with the power to kill a god? Is such a thing truly possible without the blessing of another god, or using a divine weapon to empower them?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “Such a thing is, indeed, possible. They are known as Godslayers, a class available to those in the fourth tier of power. They feed off a god’s own power, allowing them to take a god they’re fighting’s strength, and match it with their own. Even if the distance between them was ten thousand miles in terms of strength, the System would grant them the ability to stand on equal terms with a god, and fight them.”

“Hoh! This new world is full of all kinds of incredible things! To think that I might be able to cross steel with a mortal who could match me, strength for strength! It makes the blood run hot just thinking of it!”

“Hah! Yes, I expected you would say something like that.” I took another swig of the whiskey bottle in my hand, before offering it to Susanoo. “But the Godslayers only come out when a god goes rampaging in the material realm. To them, it is no game. Most have lost loved ones to a god’s rampage, and have sworn to avenge them, and destroy any god who causes such troubles in the future. Like the Heroes of ancient stories, their only goal is to vanquish their foes.

“And do not think that going on a rampage will let you cross swords with a worthy foe. They care not about the contest, or about fairness. Many of them do not get into melee at all, but instead use ranged weapons or magic to strike the god down from afar, without the god ever knowing that they were there.”

“WHAT!” Susanoo raged. “How can this be? What warrior would strike from afar, and without announcing himself?”

“Those Godslayers are not warriors. They are hunters. Do you yell to announce your presence to the hare or pheasant when you are hunting for your meal? Of course not! Godslayers do not come out to duel, or to have a sporting match. They come out to slay their enemy, by whatever means necessary. All that matters to them is the death of a god, and the System makes it so that they are capable of the feat.”

Susanoo frowned, and took a long draught from the bottle to help him consider his words. “You are saying some troubling things, my friend.”

“It is what it is,” I shrugged. “But that is why I wanted to find you, and warn you, before your rampages in the mortal realm got out of hand. Restrict your rampages to the godly realm, and you will be able to act until your heart’s content, but the System will not allow us free reign over the mortal realm.”

I smiled as I took the offered bottle back from Susanoo. “In the end, the System lords over us all, even the gods.”

Chapter 255 – Consul

Arranging to meet the Monkey King was going to be far more challenging than arranging my meeting with Susanoo. And I didn’t have any high hopes that the ‘Great Sage Equaling Heaven’ would be as reasonable as God of Storms was. After all, no one does half the things that Sun Wukong did in the myths if they had any shred of reasonableness about them.

The first problem with arranging a meeting was that I did not have much access to China. There was the single portal in the Beijing Adventurer’s Guild hall, but that was it. I did not have a lot of followers in the country, and there were no friendly dungeons that I could trade with, to get further penetration into the country.

Oh, China did have its dungeons, of course, and one of the dungeons was a reincarnated human, but they had not yet been connected to the Global DEN. China was controlling access to their territory just as much as they had always done. Which is to say that they’ve been doing a good job of keeping people out, or at least concentrated in the major cities with international ties.

That, of course, meant that the first step to intervening with the Monkey King, and keeping him from being a superpowered pain in the ass was to make contact with the politicians. Which is why I had called the Chinese consulate in Miami, to arrange an appointment to speak with someone. Hopefully, someone who could arrange for me to have a spaceship fly into Chinese airspace without getting shot down, so that my minions could bring me to the Monkey King.

If that didn’t work, I was prepared to use other means of persuasion, but I at least wanted to give the diplomatic approach a try, first. The other methods I could use would burn bridges, after all. People tend to get so touchy when you kidnap their families and hold them hostage.

Fortunately, I had a good enough relationship with the Chinese government that I was able to get that appointment, without too much arm twisting or double-talk. All it took was me mentioning that I had received word of some issues that had come up, due to the System, and that it would be beneficial for the Chinese government to hear me out. Since people all knew that I had become a literal god under the System, that carried some weight.

Consul Xie Chan was the one in charge of the Miami Consulate, though she reported to the Consulate-General in Houston. At 29, she was rather young for such a position, but she was well-educated, having graduated from Princeton, and quite attractive, which I’m sure had no bearing on why they chose her for this post, especially since the Consulate had been hastily opened after I started making deals. Either way, she was the highest-ranked official in Miami that I could talk to.

Because I was being friendly, I manifested outside the public entrance to the consulate, and walked up to the gate to announce myself. There were the usual security checks, which meant nothing, because of what I was, but had to be done, regardless. At the very least, they were proving to be efficient at their jobs.

An orderly escorted me to the consul’s outer office, making sure that I didn’t get lost along the way. A secretary beamed at me from her desk with the perfect customer service smile, and paged me into the office proper. So far, I’d noticed that only four in ten people in the consulate were men, which made this consulate very different from many. If I had to guess, I’d say that China was trying for the ‘soft touch’ here, trying to get people to lower their guards.

Of course, that was a stupid thing to do, because pretty women could slip a knife between your ribs just as easily as a man could. Easier, in fact, if you were being stupid enough to not look past her… assets. As someone who routinely used women as my most powerful fighters, I was not about to take anyone lightly based on their gender.

Consul Xie stood to greet me as I entered the office. We’d met before, briefly, when she was setting up the consulate, and when finalizing the sale of the warships I’d taken from the Pofmisians. She was an attractive woman, as I’d said, but she had a core of iron underneath the pretty wrapping.

As we took our seats, she looked at me, appraisingly. “I must say, Lord Kuronoth, that I was quite surprised to hear that you wanted to meet with me so suddenly. I understand you have been very busy, of late. Is it true that the System recognizes you as a god?”

I smiled at her, and said, “Consul Xie, that is most certainly correct. Under the System, I am now the god of pleasure, domination, and dungeons. Of course, that last bit is due to my growing influence with dungeons outside the Sol system, and the various issues I’ve come across. But, yes, the System recognizes me as a god.”

“I see,” she nodded coolly. “And what is it that brings you here today? I know it is not due to the American President’s push for the ‘Vertitas’ bill, since that is a purely American matter. So, it must be something else, yes?”

“Yes, indeed. Simply put, I wished to ask permission to send a spaceship crewed by forces loyal to me into Chinese airspace. Since this ship is the same one you no doubt witnessed helping me to secure the dragon that rose from the waters near Miami, I didn’t want there to be any unpleasantness when they arrived.”

Xie frowned slightly. I didn’t doubt that she knew of the Bloodhawk. She probably had an intelligence report, telling her what kinds of weapons that the different governments thought it had. I knew that she knew it was a gunship in all but name.

“That is… most unusual, you understand. If it were a shuttle, like the ones you got the Americans to provide to the international community, then that might be a different story. After all, while they do possess some armaments, they are not purpose-built attack vessels. That is not something that the People’s Liberation Army Air Force would be willing to overlook. Not without some truly impressive reasoning.”

I nodded. “And, if it weren’t necessary to get to China’s interior, and have the mobility that the ship would give me, then I wouldn’t have made this request. There is a situation brewing, due to people finally adjusting to the System, and it would be best to handle things, before they get out of control. The sooner I can handle these problems, the less dangerous the end result will be.”

“You are saying that there is a threat, inside China?”

“I am saying that there is a potential threat brewing inside of China, and it will be China that is the one who bears the brunt of the danger to this threat. Since no good will come of ignoring this threat, I have come to you, seeking permission to fly to China, and contain it, as best I can.”

A calculating look crossed Xie’s face, as she tried to figure out just what I was talking about. “And what is this mysterious threat? What is so powerful that it would require your ship-killer to handle it?”

I took a breath. This would be the hardest part of the conversation, by my reckoning. “Before I say that, I want to say that I acknowledge that China, in its current form, is, for lack of a better word, an atheist state. I make no judgement here, as, before the System, the idea of gods being real, and not just the opiate of the masses, was something I would be hard pressed to believe, as well. But the System has made gods real, and, with them, the myths of eld are coming to life, and becoming true. Do you agree with me on this point?”

The consul nodded, slowly. “It is true that, during the time the Party reforged China as a stronger entity than it had been during the colonial era, spirituality was cast aside in favor of science. We turned to embrace the future, rather than lingering on the past. What are you getting at?”

“Well, once upon a time, China was just as spiritual as any other land, with tales to equal those of Athena, Thor, Mars, or Susanoo. In this time of myth and legend, one story, in particular, rose to prominence. Perhaps you know it?

“From a stone atop the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, a monkey was born, already able to crawl and walk, despite just being born. This stone monkey would join a troupe of wild monkeys, and eventually be named the Handsome Monkey King. But the death of an old friend set this Handsome Monkey King on a quest to conquer death itself.

“Through Taoist training, he achieved immortality. From the Dragon King, he obtained the Ruyi Jingu Bang, a staff of formidable magic that only the Monkey King could wield. When Hell came to claim his soul for extorting the Dragon Kings, he wiped his name from the Book of Life and Death, adding another layer to his immortality. Even the forces of the Jade Emperor could not slay him, though they tried.”

“And then the Monkey King was made Protector of the Horses for the Jade Emperor’s palace, but he set them free, and proclaims himself the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. He ate the peaches from the Heavenly Peach Garden, devoured the food and drink of the gods, consumed the pills of immortality, and then was finally purified by the flames of samadhi. Then, he journeyed into the west, and obtained the ginseng fruit and other foods granting immortality, furthering his immortality even more, right?” Xie asked, frowning as she did so. “It is the story of Sun Wukong, from Journey to the West. The story is still known to us in the modern world, but only as a story.”

“Unfortunately, the story is no longer just a story.” I took a breath, and said, “By the by, I’m sure you heard about the sudden thunderstorm that happened near Swamptown, where the whole thing was incredibly localized, and could not have been in any way natural? That is because I had a pleasant chat with Susanoo, the Shinto God of Storms and the Sea. I mention this because the same source that informed me of Susanoo being sighted in Japan also told me of sightings of the Monkey King, in China.”

“And you need to meet with the Monkey King, I take it? Why? And why not just summon him, like you claim to have done with Susanoo?”

“In both cases, it is to complete their ‘registration’ with the System. It is another effect of the System having been offline for so long, you understand. In a normal world, gods and other divine entities are approached soon after their divinity forms, and so these kinds of problems are not encountered.

“However, with Earth being without the System for so long, this has allowed many different divinities to spring up, and the System hasn’t fully recognized them all. This is fine, for most of them, and integrating them can be done on a more casual pace, but both Susanoo and the Monkey King are renowned for causing trouble. To stop potential problems with the deity, Susanoo, I arranged the meeting, and now I must do the same for the divine being, the Monkey King.”

“What is the difference between a deity and a divine being?”

“Simply put, a deity is a true god, while a divine being can be anything from a demigod to, say, a monkey who has achieved many forms of immortality, and has crossed weapons with actual gods. Regardless, getting them fully into the System will allow the System to regulate them, to some degree. It will also ‘lock in’ their powers, which is especially important for the Monkey King.”

“Why?”

“Because another name for the Monkey King is Son Goku. A divinity’s power is fueled and enhanced by belief. And, personally, I do not wish to see what happens if the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, who already knows the 72 Transformations and possesses multiple layers of immortality, is augmented by belief to become Super Saiyan God, while still having the temperament of the Guardian of the Heavenly Stables. So, if you would like to keep that from happening, I need permission to have my servants bring me to Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, where Mount Huaguo, the real-life equivalent of the Mountain of Fruits and Flowers, lies.”

Xie’s expression paled so much she almost turned Caucasian. “Please wait while I make some calls.”

Chapter 256 – Politics

It took more than one call, of course. Flying a ship like the Bloodhawk into not just Chinese airspace, but over the mainland of China itself was not something that you could just do on a whim, and the Chinese government was loath to actually allow it, for obvious reasons. My ship was dangerous, and they did not know if their own air force could shoot it down if I turned on them.

Not that I was planning anything of the sort, but it was their job to have such concerns. And that wasn’t their only concern. They knew I never lied, and thus that the threat was real. However, they also knew that I never told the whole truth, which meant that there could be some hidden angle that might bite them on the ass. And history had taught the Chinese a sense of well-deserved paranoia when it came to dealing with outside forces.

However, someone in Beijing must have been taking things seriously, because, after the second call, I was invited over to have a face-to-face meeting with someone who could make an actual call on the whole thing. With how quickly they had moved, I was fairly certain that they would allow me to take the ship in. They might try and saddle me with some additional requirements and the like, but the fact that they were moving so quickly meant that it was almost certain that they’d let me through, provided I didn’t do anything to make them lose face.

Which is why I was now manifesting by my shrine inside the People’s Adventurers Association, which was their version of the Adventurer’s Guild. Of course, the PAA was actually run by the government, instead of being a group built from the ground up by adventurers. On the one hand, that meant Chinese adventurers had access to government training and resources. On the other hand, well, they also had government ‘advisors’ making sure that they didn’t get out of control.

But that was officially not my problem. I was here for a meeting, not to change the world. I had no interest in telling people how to live, so long as it didn’t bother me.

“Mister Kuronoth?”

I turned to see a well-dressed man. Everything about him screamed that he worked for the government. But that was fine, since I was here to speak to the government.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Excellent. If you will please follow me, Director Peng and the others are waiting for you.”

The government man turned, and led the way to a nearby conference room. Inside were four men. One, I recognized as Qiao Jian, the Leader of the PAA. The other three, however, I did not recognize, though one was in the uniform of the People’s Liberation Army.

My escort introduced me, and then bowed, leaving the room. Obviously, he wasn’t privy to whatever was about to happen. With a smile, I moved to the table, and sat down. “Well, as the man said, I am Kuronoth, God of Pleasure, Domination, and Dungeons. I know Leader Qiao already, but might I have the honor of the rest of your names?”

Qiao stood up, and said, “This is Colonel Su Lei, of the People’s Liberation Army. Next to him is Zhou Fen, special assistant to the President’s Chief of Staff. And this is Director Peng Cheng, of the System Response Department. His department has jurisdiction involving any unusual System-related events.”

“A pleasure to meet you all, I’m sure.”

Director Peng nodded, “Yes, well, the Department has been following events surrounding you very closely, since that press conference the American military made about the Forbidden Chambers of Exotic Pleasures dungeon, just after the Apocalypse started. So, given the way you seem to attract trouble, you can understand our concerns about you wandering about the Chinese countryside, looking for divine entities, yes?”

“Yes, well, when you are the first to accomplish things, people naturally turn and want to take a shot at you. And most of the ‘issues’ that come up around my dungeon simply involve people who get upset that I will not allow them to restrict my movements based upon their ideas of morality. I have my code of ethics, which I stick to, and I don’t compromise on those points, even when making deals.”

Peng nodded once, and said, “I would like to ask you a few questions about dungeons before we get to your request. We’ve had reports that dungeons elsewhere in the world are progressing in a more rapid rate, both in the variety of challenges offered, and in the level of those challenges. With those increased challenges comes increased resources gathered, which has caused some concerns in certain quarters. Would you happen to know anything about that?”

Oh, so that was their game, was it? Clearly, they hoped to drag more information about dungeons from me. But this question was a bit confusing, since anyone who asked the Ambassador, or even just traveled outside of China, would be able to find the answer easily enough.

It was the slight glance of Peng’s eyes towards Zhou that clued me in. Director Peng already knew the answer to his question. He just wanted me to be the one to say it in front of the ‘special assistant’. That way, any backlash from ideas that didn’t mesh well with the party line would not fall on him.

“Well, Director, the simple answer is that you haven’t allowed people from other countries into your dungeons. I am limited in how much I can say directly, but, under the System, there are processes in place that allow dungeons to grow faster, or in more varied ways, once they reach certain milestones, and clear certain bottlenecks. There are many such milestones, but one of the more important ones would be the variety of visitors that have visited the dungeon and cleared it.”

I kept my eyes on Peng, for the most part, but I did notice Zhou’s lips purse slightly. Peng, however, ignored that. “Can you tell us in what way these milestones restrict the dungeon’s growth?”

“Of course. When a dungeon is first starting out, they only have access to a few creatures gifted by the System, and resources discovered in the local environment. Dungeons gain new resources in one of two ways. The first is by absorbing items left unattended, whether they be gifts to the dungeon, or the belongings of slain adventurers. The second is through the supplementary systems that the System provides.”

I paused for a breath, and said, “If you have a wider scope of adventurers enter your dungeons, whether they live or die, the dungeon will begin to grow faster, and have more options available to it. The dungeon I reside in has been visited by people from multiple star systems, which offers quite a few options that dungeons who have only been visited by those of one city or region would not have. If you wanted to fix that, and open up more options for your domestic dungeons, then you would need to allow more foreign adventurers to enter.”

“In other words, it is like the markets? If you do not allow the trade of goods between countries, you are able to better control and manage the resources you have. However, if you find yourself lacking in something, then there is no way to get it, and isolation stifles innovation, yes?”

I ignored the way that the ‘special assistant’ was clearly getting more worked up, and nodded. “Yes, something like that. You could consider it the same as how North Korea’s economy has languished behind other nations in the region, even while other countries, like China, have emerged from the Cold War stronger than they were before.”

Director Peng nodded. “I see. We will definitely need to consider this information carefully in the future, regarding dungeon policies.”

“Certainly. As a God of Dungeons, it is my duty to try and do what I can to advance their cause, and help them grow. But we ought to discuss the Monkey King, no?”

“Yes,” Colonel Su nodded. “Army Intelligence can confirm that an entity claiming to be the Monkey King has been sighted at Mount Huaguo, but that information has not been released to the public. In fact, we thought the information had been contained completely. Would you be willing to reveal how you learned of it?”

“Well, obviously, the information control was not complete. However, you may have looked for news stories, or people passing things off as fact, rather than exciting stories worthy of tabloids and gossip sites. Regardless, the information was brought to be by another, who came across it by means of their own.”

I considered ending it there, but pressed on. “Of course, magic may also have been involved. The source that informed me of the Monkey King also informed me of a manifestation of Susanoo, the Storm God, in Japan. There is magic that can search out divine entities, if they are not taking precautions to hide their presence in mortal realms, such as using an avatar, rather than using bodily moving about the plane. If someone were to cast such a ritual, then Mount Huaguo is close enough, and the Monkey King is a strong enough entity that he would be detected.”

Colonel Su sighed, and said, “So, it was either a ritual, or people telling stories that no one would believe, unless they knew what to look for? We’ll have to come up with new procedures to deal with information control, it seems. But at least we know this now, rather than when trying to control news of something that has greater significance to national interests.”

Zhou finally spoke. “And you believe that the Monkey King, from ancient myth, could gain the powers of the character in that Japanese anime? How is something like that possible?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “And the simple fact is that the Monkey King’s true power has not been locked in with the System yet. However, the strength of the divine is based off belief. And if tales of the Monkey King begin spreading further, and enough people connect him to the name Son Goku, then that will inspire connections in the minds of people. Not just in China, mind you. In the Western world, when someone says the name Son Goku, then they are far more likely to think of the anime than of Journey to the West. That is simply an undeniable fact.

“However, when divine entities meet, the System formally recognizes any entities that had not been fully integrated before. This locks in their power sets, for the most part, as well as some other things that I am not allowed to talk about with those who are not divinities themselves. After that, it would take an extraordinary amount of effort to change his powers.”

Zhou nodded once. “And, after this, will the Monkey King leave this world? Or will he still remain at Mount Huaguo?”

“He will no longer be bound to Mount Huaguo, and may choose to roam the world, or even traverse the stars themselves. However, he may also enter the realm of the gods, where he might find challengers to fight against, and gods to trick and treat with. What exactly will happen is uncertain, but that will be better than the worst-case scenario, as the Monkey King would not be granted the power to destroy planets should he be in a fit of pique.”

Zhou stiffened visibly, as did the others, as the full magnitude of the ‘worst case scenario’ came to light. “I believe that approving this mission is in the best interests of the Country, and the Party, and shall inform my superiors accordingly. However, I would like to have one of our own people accompany you on this meeting, to offer an honest account of the events, and perhaps engage with the Monkey King, before he can disappear.”

I frowned slightly. “I am not opposed to the idea of bringing someone along. However, you must understand that they will not be under my protection, and I shall take no responsibility for anything they might say or do, or anything that the Monkey King might do in response. Likewise, I shall not aid or interfere in any negotiations your representative might make, unless asked, and then I shall be neutral, aiding both sides equally. So, make sure that whoever you send is properly respectful and diplomatic, or you will likely see what happens when the Great Sage Equaling Heaven feels insulted. And be sure to bring a gift.”

Chapter 257 – Monkey King

And so it happened that the Bloodhawk, manned by my loyal soldiers, picked up an emissary from the Chinese government when we landed briefly at the airport in Beijing. His name was Kang Wei, and he was dressed in a formal Zhongshan suit. As he stepped onto the ship, I took a moment to Appraise him.

Kang Wei

Human Male

Level 35 Monk / Diplomat

Titles: Wise

That Appraisal made me reconsider him for a moment. The suit he wore was well-tailored, yes, but it had been made so that he could move easily, if he needed to. And his gait flowed like that of a trained fighter, always leaving him on the brink of explosive movement, while never looking out of place.

And this Monk was also a Diplomat, and had the Wise title. This was a more powerful combination than one might think. The Monk Class gained power from Wisdom, as did the Diplomat profession. Both had some skills that would augment wisdom. And the Wise title obviously boosted the holder’s wisdom, as well. This unassuming diplomat was actually a hidden powerhouse, for a Tier 1!

I focused on the man as we landed at the official parking lot. Thankfully, the lot had been cleared for us, which made landing the ship easy. “Mister Kang, from here on out, I expect you to remain silent, until the initial contact between myself and the Monkey King has been finished. You are not under my protection, nor am I associating myself with your mission here, but I am warning you all the same. The affairs of divinities must needs be settled before the mortals speak their case. Doing otherwise would be seen as a snub, and a disrespect to both divinities present.”

“Both divinities?”

“Yes. Putting yourself before me would, of course, imply that you, and your country, think yourselves more important than a god, which would be a snub to me. However, doing this in another divinity’s home means that you force the host to come down, and decide whether to snub the divinity, or to punish the mortal for speaking out of place. In addition, it implies that the host does not know enough about the order of things to know who is higher in standing.”

Kang nodded slowly. “I see. Then, I shall follow your lead. But, if we are going to see the Monkey King, why did we stop at this tourist destination?”

“Because, just as I showed respect to China by not flying my ship in your airspace without permission, I would also show respect to the Monkey King.” I shook my head, as I made for the exit. “Come, from here on, we proceed on foot. Our destination is the Shuilian Cave, the ‘Water Curtain Cave’ of myth, where the Monkey King made his home. The ship will have been noted, and I will be walking with my power uncloaked, so I doubt we will make it to the entrance of the cave unchallenged.”

Kang, to his credit, simply nodded, and followed in the middle of our pack. The ship was sealed, and my devout followers walked behind me, in two lines of three, with Kang between them. Ms. Darrows and her people had grown into their role as the personal strike force of my church, and I did not doubt that, in time, she would go on to bring more teams into the fold, as my reach extended through the stars.

I smiled as I walked along the path, following the tourist maps to reach the supposed site of the mythological Water Curtain Cave. The System had revitalized the area in ways that human senses were not equipped to fully process. Mana flowed through the very land, here, and all the plants and animals were larger, and more vibrant, than they were elsewhere. Even if it was not the mythological mountain, belief and magic were making it so.

And, as I predicted, we had not gone far before the screeching in the trees began, as monkeys became aware of us. Or, rather, became aware of me. I wore my divinity openly, something I did not typically do, and the power was enough to make the monkeys sound the alarm. It did not take long for a challenge to be called.

“Who intrudes upon the domain of the Great Monkey King, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, and the Guardian of the Heavenly Horses?”

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. A trick of magic, designed to confuse the senses and inspire awe in listeners. Or, at the very least, making sure that the speaker would not be immediately noticed, if things turned hostile, granting them the benefit of surprise.

However, as a dungeon and a god, magic was part of my very being, and I turned to face the source of the magic. Though I couldn’t see them, due to the trees, I knew that the speaker would see me looking straight at them. It was a minor thing, but an important play in this game.

Infusing magic into my voice, I called back, “It is I, Kuronoth, God of Pleasure, Domination, and Dungeons, He Who Speaks No Lies, Lord of the Forbidden Chambers of Exotic Pleasures, the One Who Bound She of the Shattered Chains! I come, openly, and with respect, to speak with the Great Sage Equaling Heaven! Will the Great Sage grant us an audience, and receive our gifts?”

“Ha! You speak pretty big, for one so small! But you at least know how to show respect to one as great as the Monkey King! Then come, and you shall be received at the Water Curtain Cave, as petitioners to the Great Sage!”

The voice disappeared, and I could sense the focal point moving away from us. Looking back to the rest of the group, I grinned. “Well, that went well. Looks like we passed the first test.”

As we continued on the trail, I sensed the power in the air growing. This whole mountain was slowly transforming into the Monkey King’s domain. And the power was getting stronger the closer we got to the cave. In the myth, this is where the Great Monkey King got his start, and, thus, it was the seat of his power here on Earth.

Of course, when dealing with divinities, the mortal realm was not really equipped for such things. This place would probably be one of those areas where the veil between the mortal and immortal realms was paper thin, allowing gods to freely come and go as they wished. Either that, or the System would create a portal or gateway, allowing the Monkey King to exist in his realm, without troubling the mortal realm.

Which one would happen? Both were well represented in the System’s lore, if you knew where to look. Either one happened with the rise of a new divinity. I suspected that the answer, in this case, would depend on how our introduction went.

As we walked, monkeys began gathering in the trees around us. Some were small, but others were larger, clearly not species native to this land. And then there were ones with fur of different shades, such as green, and blue, and red. As I watched, vines twisted around the green ones, mist fell from the blue ones, and flame smoldered at the red ones’ touch. That could only be the result of magic infusing the monkeys with elemental powers, meaning that the System was well at work here.

Eventually, we came to a crashing waterfall. The water was the purest blue that I had ever seen in nature, and a rainbow formed in the mist. Monkeys of all types jumped and played and hooted and screeched as they enjoyed the water constantly flowing from the spring above.

Two great monkeys, wearing ancient armor of leather and bronze, stood at the entrance to the cavern. Each looked more like the size and build of gorillas, despite clearly being monkeys, and they were slightly larger than a silverback gorilla would be. In their hands, each monkey guardian held a ji, a type of Chinese polearm, with a dark wooden shaft and a blade of green metal.

As we approached, the monkey on the left spoke. “Who comes to the Water Curtain Cave?”

“I am Kuronoth, and we have come to offer gifts to the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, and to speak with him. Six of these with me are my retinue, and the last is a dignitary from the Chinese government, who, hearing that the Sage had awoken, wished to treat with him. This dignitary is not under my protection, and I take no sides in what discussion they might have with the Sage, but I may act as witness to any bargains struck, so that man and gods alike might know what transpires.”

Three loud hoots came from inside the cave, and the two guardians stepped aside, opening the way for us. Once more, I led the way, both because I was the least vulnerable out of all my people, and also to show to the Monkey King that I was not afraid. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, after all.

Our host knew this, too, for inside the cave, the space stretched in a way that could only truly be accomplished through an act of divinity, or by a dungeon. There were tens of thousands of monkeys in attendance, and yet the space seemed close and homey. On each side of a central aisle, there were eight ranks of nine guardian monkeys, armed and armored just as the ones outside. That was another subtle message, as the number eight symbolized success, and nine signaled longevity. For the guardians of the Monkey King, who had gained several forms of immortality, this was a perfect arrangement.

At the end of that aisle, there was the Monkey King himself. Flesh of stone forged into steel by the fires of a divine furnace, clad in armor gifted to him by the Dragon Kings, and bearing a legendary staff of black iron, banded with gold on either end. This was the Sun Wukong of legend, bearing the mighty Ruyi Jingu Bang.

As we approached, I could see that he stood a good eight feet tall, and the power rolling off of him could be felt even by mundane mortals. And, I could also tell that his power easily equaled my own, and probably exceeded it. Even if it didn’t, I knew that Sun Wukong had far more battle experience and trickery to his name than I did. So, I did the prudent thing, and showed respect with a formal bow, as one leader to another.

“Mighty Sun Wukong, King of the Monkeys, Protector of the Mountain, Great Sage Equaling Heaven, I greet you. I am Kuronoth, God of Pleasure, Domination, and Dungeons, and I have come to offer gifts and counsel to you upon your awakening into this world of the System. Will you receive them?”

“Ho, what’s this? Gifts, you spoke of before, but not of counsel. Who are you, to think that you can offer counsel to one such as I, who equals heaven?”

I smiled, since there was curiosity in that reply, not anger. “First, allow me to present my gifts.” I clapped my hands, and three portals opened before me, depositing the gifts I had gathered upon the ground.

First was a large basket, full of peaches. “Here, I present to you a basket of peaches, grown in my own land, filled with the magic that it has become known for. Though they cannot compare to the peaches of the Jade Emperor’s personal orchard, I hope that they will at least suffice as a welcoming gift.”

Sun Wukong’s eyes grew wide as he looked at the peaches. His love for the fruit was written time and again throughout the myths and legends, after all. Still, he was canny enough to not allow too much of his emotion show.

“Peaches from your own garden? Hmph. As one who has eaten the Jade Emperor’s private stock, I admit their color pales in comparison, but I will accept this gift, in the spirit it is given.”

“Second, I offer you an amulet made of starsteel, and inset with a piece of purest jade. This amulet has been enchanted so that the wearer may breathe freely, no matter the situation. No noxious fume or unpleasant odor shall trouble him. Whether he travels to the depths of the ocean, or to the airless voids between stars, he shall breathe as though he were on dry land, in pleasing climes. Thus, shall the wearer be able to journey wherever they wish, without complaint.”

Now, the Monkey King could not help but hide his lust for the gift. Such a thing might seem small, and unassuming, but the freedom it offered was beyond compare. The simple idea that one could move between stars was enough to catch his fancy.

“A gift worthy of a King, indeed. You are no arrogant lord, like those who inhabit the Jade Emperor’s palace. What of the last gift, then?”

I smiled, and looked at the last of the three gifts, a large, leather-bound book. “This is a record, made and updated by the System, of all the strongest fighters in the galaxy. Turn to a page, and the System will offer you tales of their glories and triumphs. Of course, as a product of the System, it only covers areas under the System’s domain, meaning that anyone from Earth would have to go out into the galaxy and forge their legend for all to see. But, should they do that, then they will find their own name within the book’s pages, and no one, be they man or god, may dispute or lessen their claim.”

If the Monkey King had been excited before, his hoots of pleasure now were even more splendid to behold.

Chapter 258 – Negotiations

As the Monkey King took up his gifts with hoots of pleasure, I smiled, and said, “Oh, Great Sage! If you look upon my gifts kindly, would you not also hear the counsel I have to offer you? For the world of the System is strange and different from the world of myths and legends that you knew. I would offer such warnings and wisdom as I can, so that you may learn from the mistakes of others, rather than painful experience.”

The Monkey King looked down at me from his perch, considering. He obviously liked the gifts, which put him in a good mood. But saying that I had counsel to offer him implied that I was in some ways above him. However, the Sage was canny enough to learn, when spoken to respectfully. Eventually, he nodded.

“You may speak.”

“Then, for my first bit of counsel, I would advise you to avoid rampaging through the mortal realm, as you did through the homes of the Dragon Kings and the Jade Emperor’s palace. You will gain nothing from such actions, for the System only rewards you when you take on foes of a level approaching yours. If you were to strike down a weakling mortal, the reward to you from the deed would be akin to having a single drop of water to drink in the middle of a blazing desert. However, seeking out foes nearing or exceeding your strength will grant you experience that will increase your strength! So, Great Monkey King, I counsel you to find strong foes to match yourself against!

“Following on from that, I must warn you that, under the System, there are people who have classes and abilities that grant them the power to slay divinities, allowing these powerful mortals, all in the fourth tier, to do battle against divinities. For though divinities are like a rider sure of his seat in the saddle and armed for war, cannot that rider be upset and slain by spearmen outfitted purposefully for stopping the cavalry charge? And these warriors I speak of have the ability to sever immortality and rend divinity, bringing death to the deathless. Thus, I warn you of the existence of these types, who are drawn to places where divinities rampage in the mortal realm, trampling the weaklings underfoot.

“My third piece of counsel is that you seek out other gods and divine beings in this world. For the System has a place where divinities can meet, once they are fully introduced under the system. But this Earth has been without the System for a time longer than the rise and fall of civilizations, and so all the gods and divinities in the world are not yet fully connected. Thus, foreign gods look down upon us, and think that they can come and take this world for their own interests.

“So, I would beg you, great Monkey King, one who can traverse the entire globe in three leaps upon the clouds, to seek out the divinities that are slumbering, and wake them up. Because you are a divine being, and not a god, you have the freedom to roam as you please, instead of being bound to shrines or areas where your followers can invoke you. You can do the things that I cannot, and ensure that, if we must deal with rude immortals, that they are, at least, OUR rude immortals, instead of those from foreign stars!”

The Monkey King looked at me closely, and said, “We will think about that. This Great Sage does not like the idea of going and seeking out slumbering gods. But, it is true that I would rather have the Jade Emperor to deal with, than deal with threats from foreign gods who do not know my name.”

“As you think of it, consider that, if you were to find them and wake them up, your name would be known to all the gods and divinities of Earth. And, think of when you find the Buddha! You would get to laugh that one who trapped you under a mountain was too sleepy to wake up without your aid! And, if a prank or two were to be pulled on the sleepers before they awoke…”

“HA! That alone would be enough to make the journey worthwhile! I like the way you think, Kuronoth, God from a Foreign Land.”

“I am glad, Great Sage, to find you as cheerful as the legends say. With that, then, I have only two last things to say. First, call out to the System when there are no mortal ears around, and it will show you how to access the network of the gods. And second, I wish to present to you a dignitary sent by the mortal rulers of China. When they heard you had awoken, they wished to come and establish good relations with you, for your tales have been told and retold throughout the ages in this land. So, I agreed to make the introductions, though the representative is not under my protection, and my only function in any agreements that you and they might reach is to act as a witness. Is this agreeable to you?”

“Let this dignitary come forth. We will see what he has to say.”

Kang stepped forward, and bowed respectfully to the Monkey King. As he rose, he reached into an Inventory pocket dimension, and pulled out silk bag with beautiful embroidery, which looked to be about the size of a fifty-gallon bag, but which appeared to be empty. “Oh, Great Sage Equaling Heaven, I am Kang Wei, and, on behalf of the People’s Republic of China, and the billion souls who live here, I offer you this gift.” 

He opened the bag, and then pulled out a basket full of oranges. “Oranges straight from the fields. While they are not heavenly in nature, please accept them as being the best that we mortals can do.”

Reaching into the bag once more, he pulled out another basket, full of glass bottles that clinked together as he set it before the King. “A selection of the finest liquors and wines our nation has to offer. Together with the oranges, food and drink are one of the traditional ways to welcome a new neighbor, in hopes that they shall prosper and have good fortune.”

Next, he pulled out four books, bound in leather and engraved in gold. “These are modern printings of four of the longest and oldest works of writing in the world. Together, they are known as the Four Classic Novels, and have been cherished and retold throughout the ages. One of the four, named Journey to the West, is the tale of the monk known as Tang Sanzang on his journey to a far-off land to retrieve the sacred texts, and the three protectors who agreed to come with him, including the legendary Sun Wukong. For five centuries, this tale has been repeated again and again, so that, even when history has faded into legends and legends have faded into myths, the name of the Monkey King is still known by many to this day.”

Finally, he offered the bag itself. “This bag was made by master craftsmen, and then enchanted by the premier enchanter in all the land. Inside, you may store the weight of a thousand horses, and feel no more weight than that of the bag itself.”

“Hmph. The gifts are less to my liking than those Kuronoth gave, but you are mortals, so that is to be expected, I guess. So, what is it that you want? I know you did not come here just for this.”

“That is true, my lord. The President, the leader of our country, has authorized me to seek an alliance with you, the Great Sage, or, if that is not possible, for us to reach a pact, where neither of us shall attack the other. For while China will resist a rampaging foe, rather than submit, there is no glory or victory in sending mortals to die at the hands of one who can humble even the mightiest warriors of the heavens.”

“And what benefit would an alliance have to me, if you are weakling mortals?”

“Mortals we may be, but there are many of us. Just like how an ant is insignificant to a man, but together the ants may carry away even cattle, if they are in sufficient numbers. You are the Great Sage, who can travel one hundred and eight thousand li in a single summersault and has the powers of the seventy-two earthly transformations, but even you cannot be everywhere at once! And, are there not tasks that would make life for you more comfortable, but are either beneath your station, or are simply bothersome to complete? Then why not hire on mortal hands to do those tasks for you?

“This is the alliance that the President proposes. Let China intercede for the Monkey King when dealing with mortals, so that they might keep the mortals from needlessly rousing his ire. And, in return, the Monkey King acts as the guardian of China against gods and divine beings, so that they need not fear any divinity save that of the Monkey King?”

The Monkey King stood tall upon his stone, and looked down at the diplomat, considering his words. I had to do my best to keep from smiling. It was a brazen request indeed, but phrased in a way that was hard to disagree with. An alliance where China acts as the Great Sage’s emissary to mortals, and the Monkey King stands as China’s shield against the gods? There was a poetic balance to that.

However, it was a bare bones deal, and, it was full of potential holes and hidden stings, on both sides. They would likely need someone to negotiate and write a full contract, so both sides knew the extent of their responsibilities and privileges. Otherwise, both sides were going to abuse the hell out of this agreement, and that was only going to cause me trouble in the long run.

The Monkey King turned his eyes to me. “You know more of this modern world, Kuronoth, and you say that you tell no lies. What, then, do you think of this alliance that this diplomat offers? Is it worth my time, or not?”

I forced myself to pause, and consider how to respond. After all, I didn’t want to get on the Chinese government’s naughty list, since they could still do a lot to hamper my efforts here on Earth, but I also didn’t want to be seen as taking sides. And annoying the Monkey King was not on my list of things to do, either.

“I never speak a lie, that is true. So, take these words as truth when I say them. Both of your sides have power in the way that the other lacks. Both of your sides have weaknesses that the other can cover. This is the foundation for a fruitful partnership.

“At the same time, both you and China are legendary for your pride, and for the lengths you will go to seek vengeance when that pride is wounded. You both are known to be tricksters in your dealings with others. Both of you have lied, cheated, intimidated, and stolen from others when they would not give you what you wished. This makes both sides untrustworthy as partners.”

I paused, both for dramatic effect, and to make sure that they listened to what I had to say. “Indeed, the two of you are like opposite sides of the same coin. The same, and yet different. If the two of you were to enter into an agreement, then you would needs be careful of the terms. Indeed, I would suggest that lawyers, scholars who make the courts of law their battlefields, be obtained on both sides.”

The Monkey King laughed. “You would have us prepare for battle to make an alliance?”

“Of course!” I said. “When you gathered the other divinities of the mountain together, after the Demon God of Confusion struck at your followers, did you not look for those who had power, that could be seen as standing next to you, rather than in your shadow? Allies of unequal stature soon find the taste of the alliance souring in their mouths.”

Kang stepped forward. “Great Sage, as representative of my people, I, too, think that, to ensure a long-term friendship between us, that lawyers would be needed to determine the final shape of any alliance. Not because we distrust you, an Immortal being of divine power, but because we are mortals, and our time is short compared to yours. What seems an eternity to us may be a blink of the eye to you. Without a formal agreement, written for all to see, a change in leadership might mean that those who knew of our responsibilities could fall out of favor, and be pushed aside, or succumb to old age, and we may cause offense unintentionally. To prevent this, a treaty would be best.”

“I have none of these ‘lawyers’ in my train. Where might I find one?”

“I happen to know that Kou, the Goddess of Contracts and Law, is sending a priest of hers to this world, to establish an embassy. I can have her priest come and meet you, so that they can hear your mind, and you can choose whether or not to let them negotiate on your behalf with the lawyers of China. They will also be familiar with the kinds of pacts and treaties that other divinities have made in the past, so that you are not wandering blind through the forest.”

The Monkey King nodded once. “Send this priest to me, when they arrive, and I will see what they have to say. Until then, I must think on what has happened here, and assess the gifts you have given in their fullness.”

Taking that for the polite dismissal it was, we said our farewells, and retreated from the Monkey King’s domain. As we reached the ship, I smiled at the diplomat. “Well, that went well, don’t you think?”

“Surprisingly well, yes. I was a little worried when he asked you your opinion on the deal, but it all worked out. At the very least, I think we’ll get a nonaggression pact out of this, which, if it can be backed by the System, will go a long way towards safeguarding China’s future.”

Chapter 259 – Dungeon Pantheon

Once I’d delivered Kang back at Beijing, and we were out of Chinese airspace, I sent a message to Kou through GodNet, requesting that, when her priest came to Earth, that they seek out the Monkey King. I made sure to give her the basic information about what was going on, and warned her to make sure that the priest wasn’t a rude one. After all, the Monkey King had a temper.

But that wasn’t my concern. My next concern was actually something closer to home. Namely, the fact that there were actually two goddesses in my own dungeon that had not yet woken up.

I was, of course, talking about Harlot Mary, who I enshrined in the Black Temple, and Freyja, who got a floor dedicated to her, thanks to her priestess, who had become my slave. Both goddesses had not yet been introduced to the System, to become fully realized. Since I was going and connecting local gods to those off-world, I might as well do the same at home, right?

Arranging the introduction was actually quite simple, really. Both goddesses were metaphorically ‘on hand’, due to their being included within my dungeon. I simply had to create a space for the meeting, where mortals couldn’t stumble in, and reach out with my energy. Basically, just go up and knock on the door.

The space I set was similar to the setup that those gods Binja and Idos had used to chat with me when I got them to call off their followers’ crusade. Blank stone walls in a circular room, with a throne for me at one end, a mirror of the throne everyone saw me in. I created two other thrones, each a third of the way around the circle from my own, but these I left as blank stone slates, so that the incoming goddesses could mold them as they liked.

The first to arrive was clearly a woman, but her body was well-toned, and one could clearly see her abs and the definition of her muscles as she moved. She wore a simple skirt, slit up either side for ease of movement, and a leather wrap about her breasts. Around her neck, she wore a golden torc with fine engraving all around it, and across her shoulders she wore a cloak of falcon feathers. Though she was not armed for war, the energy she gave off made clear that, if need be, she could make herself ready in the blink of an eye.

“Hail, Freyja, Vanadis and Ruler of Fólkvangr, keeper of the valiant dead!” I bowed my head to her in welcome, and said, “Welcome to my halls, for though it has been some time since your priestess first came to reside here, and a shrine was built in honor of your gentler side, this is the first time we have met directly. May this be the beginning of a relationship of friends and companions, and not one of rivals.”

Her eyes turned to look at me, and the goddess just shook her head. “Oh, its you. The only reason I do not smite you out of existence for the horrors you perpetuate here is because you have not forced my priestess to give up her faith, and because you do, actually, keep others from being forced inside, like when you stopped those bounty hunters from doing as they wished with that brewer. You prey upon the weak and the foolish like a parasite, and corrupt everything that was good about the strong and the valiant, but they all come to these halls knowing the risks. That is the only reason I have not called down my fury upon you.”

I took her anger in stride. After all, she wasn’t the first to say such things to me, though she was the first goddess to say them to my face. Either way, I was used to such comments, and I knew the reason behind them. She was looking for a reason, a justification, to move against me, something that would not invalidate her own morality and ethics. An angry rebuttal from me would only give her ammunition.

“Then, I am glad that I have always kept to my beliefs in fairness. From your tone, I doubt a happy friendship is possible between us, but that is no reason for us to be rivals or enemies. Each of us has sex as a core part of who we are and what we govern over, after all. You are a fertility goddess, and I am a god of pleasure. There is no reason that we need be at odds, even if you do find me and my acts distasteful. Would it not be better to simply enjoy the fact that we have some things in common, and any conflicts are minor, unless we make them otherwise?”

“Enough of this! Why have you called me here?”

“I think I’ll wait until our second guest is present, as well.”

As I spoke, smoke swirled in another part of the room, coiling up until the swirling mass was thick enough to block even godly sight. Then, it stopped, and from the cloud stepped a woman in loose-fitting robes that draped across her curves in a way that was both enticing, yet chaste. Loosely tied at the front, the robes slipped open as she walked, but, even so, she moved her hips and her legs in such a way that nothing could be seen, beyond the fact that she had certainly shaved, or perhaps just willed herself to not have hair down there. Either way, she looked like sin incarnate, which was rather fitting.

“Ah, Debauched Mary, Mother of Sin, such a joy for you to join us.” The corrupted and inverted version of the Virgin Mary smiled wickedly at me, before looking over at Freyja with a questioning look. I chuckled, and waved to the unadorned thrones. “Well, if you would both take a seat, then I guess that we can begin this little conference. Please, change the thrones to fit your tastes.”

“Excellent. This was far too dull for my liking.” Harlot Mary waved a hand, and her throne became a daybed made of twisted wood, painted red, draped in silks of red and pink, and possessing soft cushions and fluffy pillows. The backrest curved into images that suggested bodies intertwined in acts of passion, but never quite showing enough detail to be identifiable. All of it conveyed a sense of decadence and eroticism, without being explicit.

The Goddess of Sin easily descended upon her bed, and leaned back with her shoulders against the armrest, tilted slightly outwards, so that we could see the curve of her breasts, just barely covered by the robe which was now only barely tied. Her outside leg arched up, lazily, allowing me to see bare flesh down the entire curve of her leg and thigh, even to where her bottom rested against the cushions. However, the robe she wore draped across her other leg, hiding it from view, and slipping down, by her outer leg, keeping anything more from being visible. A tease from start to finish.

Freyja bit back what was obviously a series of choice invectives that she wished to lay at Harlot Mary’s feet, but she refrained, probably because she realized that, unless they were ascended mortals, like I was, gods were shaped by the beliefs that molded them and granted them their divinity. In this case, it was the goddess of a sinful people who corrupted their own savior’s mother, as they mistakenly testified against one half of their race to sate their own lusts for power and call it holy. She was made by those who picked and chose what parts of the scripture to believe, rather than taking it as a whole.

Instead, the Goddess of Fertility and War turned her attention to her own throne. Solid birch wood took the place of the stone I’d made the throne out of, and it shaped itself into a high-backed chair taller than a man, and sturdy enough to support a full-grown man upon either arm. Furs covered the throne, making it fit for one who was born in the northern climes, and their brutal winters. Her symbol appeared above her head, graven into the wood and seared with flame to make it easily visible to all. At one arm rested a sturdy shield, and upon the other rested a sheathed sword. A mighty spear also leaned against the throne, proof of her more warlike nature, even if sex was widely believed to be her strongest weapon.

It was an interesting study in different styles. Each of us possessed concepts relating to sex, and yet all three of us were quite different in how we used it. Harlot Mary was an exhibitionist, using her sex and sensuality to mess with minds to wrest away power and control from the men that would otherwise dominate her, body and soul. Freyja was confident in her beauty and sensuality, so that sex was merely another weapon at her side, like the spear she stroked with one hand as she sat. And then, there was me. A god of pleasure and domination, who used sex as an insidious poison to wear down and corrupt all but the most righteous and unwavering of souls.

With a smile, I looked first at one, and then the other. “Now that all three of us are situated, allow me to explain to you why I have called out to you. Over two years ago, the System crashed down upon this world. Beings of myth and legend became real, and people changed, gaining strength and magic that would have been impossible in the old world.”

Seeing that I had their attention, I continued on. “As you know, I was transformed from a human into a dungeon. I masqueraded as a demon, for a time, before finding a way to ascend to godhood. This process took time, of course, but it was far quicker than I thought it was, thanks to the way that Belief can change and empower immortal beings, making them more than they once were.

“However, my initiation to the System, most notably that part that dealt with the godly realm, was incomplete. For, since there had never been a System on Earth during all of human civilization, there were no System-recognized gods to welcome me upon my ascension. Because of this, the System had not fully recognized my divinity.”

I paused for a moment, and then pressed on. “However, just recently, I was introduced to other gods directly. ‘In the flesh’, you might say. This completed the System’s recognition of me, and unlocked those areas where I was still bound as a deity, including granting me access to the wisdom of other gods, from across the galaxy.

“This happened only recently, as I said. However, I have already met with a couple divinities since, and they have been successfully integrated into the System, gaining full access, as I did. So, I now reach out to you, so you can gain full recognition. If you so choose, you might also reach out to those other gods you have a connection to, thanks to your shared mythologies, and bring them fully into the System as well.”

“Mmm, that’s all very prettily said,” Harlot Mary purred out, “but we all know that you are not the kind of god that does something for nothing. Like all men, you want something from us. Something that is worth giving this ‘gift’ to us without first trying to bind us with one of the contracts you so love. Yes, I know about those. I may not be able to affect the area under your dominion, outside of my own small shrine, but that does not mean I cannot cast my senses out, and see what you’ve been doing.”

“As much as it pains me to agree with the common whore—”

“Excuse me! I am an exceptional whore!”

Freyja grimaced, and continued, “As much as it pains me to agree with this… woman, it is true that I have watched your actions in this dungeon. You do not do things simply out of the goodness of your heart. What is it that you want from us?”

“Nothing.” The two goddesses looked at me askance. “No, seriously. While I would not mind a friendly relationship with the two of you, I will settle for us not being enemies, and you knowing that I gave you this gift without any talk of recompense or debt. Perhaps you will think better about me? Even if that is not the case, you will still be another voice in the galactic network of gods, a bulwark against foreign gods coming in, uninvited, to try and claim humans as their own.”

I smiled at them, and said, “I would much rather deal with Human gods, than alien gods who lack many of the traits that make human gods so much fun. That is all. Now, allow me to show you how to access GodNet…”

Chapter 260 – Return to GodNet

GodNet Central Forum

What is happening on Earth?

Poster

Post

Wordgirl

Hey, anyone else see the craziness going on over in the Earth section of GodNet? Entries are getting updated FAST!

Chainbreaker

What do yo-oooh!-u mean?

Pleasurable Domination

I caught that. I’ll expect you shortly for your punishment, miss Chainbreaker.

Chainbreaker

Damn it!

Purity

What was that?

Pleasurable Domination

Oh, the ‘special garment’ that I made her wear, instead of killing or enslaving her after she lost to me in a fight that she started has some fun functions. Unfortunately for her, she is supposed to resist the pleasures they offer, instead of cumming. So, she has to take a punishment, and another year is added on to her torment.

Take-Them-Hard

What kind of punishment?

Pleasurable Domination

Oh, all kinds. Nothing that would be lethal to her, of course, and nothing that would strip her of her divinity. May strip her of her dignity and make her followers lose respect for her, but nothing that will threaten her divinity.

Chainbreaker

Last time you made me pleasure fifty ghouls!

Pleasurable Domination

That’s because it is a punishment, my dear. And, don’t worry. This time I won’t make you pleasure nearly that many.

Purity

That’s good, right?

Chainbreaker

No, it isn’t. I know him.

Pleasurable Domination

Well one of the minibosses on the first floor of the dungeon I reside in has been getting lonely. So, you’re going to inhabit an avatar, and show Captain Hentai a good time. No cleansing the avatar or letting others cleanse you, by the way. Then, you will take that avatar to one of your temples in 24 hours to release the spawn.

Chainmaker

Oh, Captain Hentai? I do so love watching him work. Even the experienced adventurers get caught by him, now and then.

Pleasurable Domination

Glad you approve, Chainmaker.

Lucksmith

What kind of monster is this ‘Captain Hentai’?

Pleasurable Domination

A slime monster, Lucksmith. Specifically, a ‘breeder’ type. It will inject its spawn into someone, and, twenty-four hours later, you have several new slimes being born.

Chainbreaker

*sobs*

Purity

Oh, I HATE those things! So lewd!

Chainmaker

So, what kind of slimes do you think will be made?

Pleasurable Domination

No clue! Never tested them with a divinity before. Which is why I’m so glad that Chainbreaker decided to be a stupid bitch!

Judgement

How much time is left on her sentence, by the way?

Pleasurable Domination

Well, it was originally a year and a day. It has been a couple weeks since then. But each time she cums without permission, that adds a year. So, with this latest lapse, she’s looking at another ten years. Earth years, mind you. So, five galactic standard years.

Chainbreaker

Can we talk about something else? ANYTHING else? I want to get my mind off things while I am forced to debase myself for this… thing.

Wordgirl

Um. Ah. Yes. Sorry, was just a bit hot over here.

Pleasurable Domination

I can send you a recording of her ‘session’, if you like, Wordgirl. For research purposes, of course.

Wordgirl

REALLY? Ah. Um, I mean, that’s wonderful. I’d be glad to have more research materials to work with.

Take-Them-Hard

Heh. I wouldn’t mind a recording, myself. Seeing miss high and mighty getting slimed would be worth a laugh.

Wordgirl

Anyways! About what I was asking when this whole thing started. What is going on over on Earth? The GodNet entries are updating rapidly, with more and more deities and divine beings getting fully integrated.

Pleasurable Domination

Ah, that. Well, I guess you can say that I got that ball rolling. You see, Earth spent the rise and fall of entire civilizations cut off from the System. Those civilizations all had their own mythologies and religions. Those divinities became real through belief, just as they do in the System. But, without the System, there was no way to integrate them, and bring them into the fold.

Tendala

So, what does that have to do with the current state of affairs?

Pleasurable Domination

The divinities were ‘waking up’. Many Earth divinities can be temperamental, at the best of times. Like the Humans who first believed in them, honestly. A couple looked like they were about to go on rampages, so I stepped in.

Purity

Meeting them, to bring them into GodNet, like when Chivalry and I met with you?

Pleasurable Domination

Exactly. I told them about GodNet, and about the existence of Godhunters who took on the task of finding and eliminating divinities that caused too much trouble in the mortal realm.

WordGirl

But you are a ‘settled’ deity. You can’t just go roaming all around your planet, right?

Pleasurable Domination

Well, I have significant reach, but not to the extent of what you’re talking about. Which is why it is not me that is currently going around to every divinity on Earth and integrating them, whether they like it or not. No, that would be one of the divinities I visited in person, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven.

Bladelord

According to GodNet, this ‘Great Sage’ is some kind of divine beast. Did you enslave it, or otherwise force it into action on your behalf?

Pleasurable Domination

Oh, my, no. For one thing, the Great Sage was the stronger fighter. Even if our power was comparable, he has more experience in combat, and is renowned for his skill in all the myths. No, I did nothing to force or coerce the Great Sage to do this.

Bladelord

Then how?

Pleasurable Domination

I simply mentioned that, if he visited every divinity, then all the gods of Earth would know his name. And, it would give him a chance to play pranks upon those he had grudges against.

Bladelord

Good. Every god of slavery eventually attempts to enslave other gods, and it usually ends up with them getting destroyed, because they unite allies against them.

Pleasurable Domination

Yes, I figured as much. Which is why miss Chainbreaker is not enslaved.

Judgement

So, what do you know of this Great Sage’s plans?

Pleasurable Domination

Well, once he is done waking all the divinities on Earth, I expect he will spend a good deal of time studying the gift I gave him, detailing the strongest fighters in the galaxy.

Take-Them-Hard

So, you gave a battle-loving divinity a list of the greatest fighters in the galaxy? That can’t have gone well, when he found he wasn’t in it.

Pleasurable Domination

Actually, it was quite well received, since the book I gave him updates as fighters rise and fall. He knows that, should he accomplish deeds great enough, and gain enough strength, then the book will gain his name in its pages, so that not even the gods can deny him the recognition he is due.

Great Sage

Yes, clever, clever, Domination. You know how to push my buttons. Yes, you do! But oh, I can’t wait to see these fighters, and what they can do!

Pleasurable Domination

Don’t forget that there are many magics and other arts out there in the galaxy, Great Sage. Each of which might hold new secrets to immortality.

Great Sage

Oh, hoh! I like the sound of that!

ThunderGod

Is this working?

Judgement

Yes, young god. Who might you be?

ThunderGod

Zeus, King of Olympus, I am! Lord of the Sky, and keeper of thunder and lightning.

Pleasurable Domination

Ah, I see that the Great Sage made it to Greece. How are you adjusting to the new reality, Zeus?

ThunderGod

You must be that Kuronoth that the Great Sage spoke of? I am still getting used to things, to be honest.

Pleasurable Domination

Just don’t go turning into a goose or a bull to make monsters with the humans. They’ve lost any sense of humor they ever had about that.

ThunderGod

Yes, I’ve heard that. Also, Hera told me that the next time it happened, she would bring in godslayers to unman me.

WordGirl

A real threat, I assure you. Regenerating from wounds given by a Godslayer is extremely difficult. Their weapons can cut to the core of your divinity, after all. If one of them chose to… maim you like that, it could take thousands of years before you healed the damage.

ThunderGod

That… certainly dampens the libido.

Pleasurable Domination

Of course, there are humans who are into that whole being taken by animals thing, so you might be able to recruit some of them to your cause. Can’t help you with the wife, unless you think getting her laid more often would help.

ThunderGod

What do you mean?

Pleasurable Domination

Well, the humans have this idea that is growing in popularity about ‘open relationships’. Since birth control is fairly easy to get hold of, there are people who enjoy sleeping with those who take their fancy, but they always come home to their partner.

Judgement

Wasn’t there some sort of court case involving that recently?

Pleasurable Domination

Not close, but it was on a related subject. The judges were going to overturn a long-established precedent to serve their religious sentimentality, but the decision leaked before it was officially made.

Following that, six of the nine justices disappeared. No one knows where they went or what happened to them, but the remaining three justices voided all the court’s decisions that term, and said that new justices would need to be brought in to rehear arguments.

In completely unrelated news, I had some people come and offer six sacrifices in my temple. I gave that party some boons, because the sacrifices were hypocrites and liars. And I detest those types. Own what you are and what you do, or don’t do it.

Judgement

I am not sure how I feel about that.

Hearth Keeper

The humans have a saying about such situations. “They fucked around and found out.” A bit crude, but wonderfully expressive. Also, this is Freyja, Goddess of the Hearth and Keeper of the righteous dead.

Great Sage

Hmm? I have not met you yet!

Hearth Keeper

Oh, that is because Domination came and ‘woke me up’, since there is a shrine to me in the dungeon he arose in. But do come around the Norse pantheon, Monkey King. Loki is very interested in making your acquaintance. You’ll probably get along great.

Pleasurable Domination

I’m almost scared to ask what prompted you to make that introduction. More than one Trickster divinity in the same place can lead to insane outcomes.

Hearth Keeper

I am annoyed with the way the Americans try to impose their religion on my followers. And they have been doing this since before the System came to Earth.

Pleasurable Domination

Ah, well, then allow me to send you a list of people who are especially deserving of Loki and the Great Sage’s attention. The Evangelical idiots are always railing about something in my dungeon, but you would be surprised how many of them are hypocrites that have bought many of the products that come out of my dungeon. Or that Congresswoman who came all the way from Colorado just so that she could enjoy getting railed by monsters.

Hearth Keeper

You have video of that, right? I need a copy. I think Loki could figure out plenty of ways to haunt her with it. I want her and her kind to BURN!

Pleasurable Domination

Of course. You can even have the video of her taking the cleansing potion after her second round of ‘fun’ with the Slime Emperor on the second floor. Be a shame if someone who was against abortions had their privacy violated to show them having one.

Hearth Keeper

Oh, Domination, you are officially my favorite god outside the Norse pantheon!

Tendala

What did we just witness?

Purity

You just witnessed the truth that there is no force so terrifying as a goddess on a warpath. Even gods get out of her way, to make sure that they don’t get caught in the crossfire.

S.Queen

Damn, this whole thread has gotten me so hot! Say, Dom, what would it take to let me have some fun in your dungeon?

Pleasurable Domination

For you, Queenie? I’d be happy to work with the dungeon to let you play. Probably need to fill out a bit of paperwork, first. Not that I don’t trust you, but there are some secrets behind the scenes that are not for public knowledge. Even amongst gods. And I’ve just been reminded that women are terrifying when they’re mad.

Epilogue – Elsewhere

(Outside the Mesmerizing Cells of the Black Knight dungeon, Aquilis City, Kingdom of Vinastra, Bluemountain)

Taranath was bored. That much was not unusual. Boredom was the constant companion of a soldier in the capital of Aquilis City. Oh, the outer lands might deal with revolts from time to time, but they were always put down quickly. And patrols in the wilds between cities always needed to put down a monster or two. But in the city? That never happened.

The best a soldier stationed in the city could normally hope for was to catch some thief, and get the pleasure of taking them down, or taking them in. But the best were the excommunications. Sometimes, the Church would declare that someone from a noble house had been found guilty of heresy. The soldiers who got to go on those missions were able to enjoy themselves to their heart’s content before casting them into the Dungeon, because if those heretics had walked away from Pofmis’s light, then they were no longer afforded the protections of Her people.

The last time, he’d even managed to get the first go on one of the noble-born women. Even better, she was untouched before he got her! Sure, he’d had to pay by taking his fellow soldier’s next few shifts as a guard at the Dungeon’s gates, but it was worth it.

Of course, that was also why he was here, now, bored, instead of out in the field with the army. A few weeks ago, the Kingdom had learned that the neighboring land of Safrea had committed high sacrilege against Pofmis when they slaughtered the Archbishop and enslaved members of the clergy, all while carrying the mark of a heretical upstart god. That, alone, would have been reason enough to call the kingdom’s armies together, and march on the land.

But the treachery and sacrilege went further than that. Dragons, dungeon monsters from the Wyrmfang Aerie dungeon, had supported the rebels, and aided in the slaughter of true Pofmisians! The Queen had declared that the Wyrmfang Aerie was a Rogue Dungeon, and must be destroyed.

That, of course, was the proper thing to do. The dangers of a Rogue Dungeon were too great to be ignored, especially when all members of the faith had the Dungeon Foe title given to them. The thought of a dungeon overspilling its borders and sending monsters to ravage the land was too terrible to think about.

It was well known that dungeons were living creatures, but everyone knew that they didn’t think like proper people did. There was no negotiating with a dungeon. Whatever bargain the usurper king in Samara had made with the dungeon would run its course, and then the dragons would turn on the rest of the people. Unless Vinastra came to save them from themselves. Really, it was the righteous thing to do.

However, that meant that he was left behind, part of the reduced garrison force, and set to guard the dungeon, while the Queen personally led the of the kingdom’s forces army to liberate Samara. His job mostly consisted of making sure that anyone who went into the dungeon was properly registered, so that their earnings could be taxed. More than a few peasants had tried to slip into the dungeon to farm materials on the easier floors, and then slip out again, unnoticed. That, of course, could not be permitted, so there was always a guard at the gates.

Of course, the other reason that the gates were guarded was because the dungeon made a great way to dispose of evidence. Anything left unattended in a dungeon would be absorbed by the dungeon, after all, and be gone without a trace. If they did not have a guard at the entrance, then criminals would use the dungeon to discard of incriminating evidence. Some had even tried using it to dispose of their victims.

Taranath shook his head. It was one thing for the kingdom to dispose of traitors and heretics by stripping them naked and casting them into the dungeon. They were heretics, and not worthy of the Goddess’s protection, after all. But criminals could not be allowed to get away with their misdeeds by mocking the holy justice that the kingdom meted out to those lost souls!

Thankfully, the dungeon here in the capital had never shown any signs of going rogue. There were whispers of corruption, as Taboos started to get laid the entire country, but those were limited to only while inside the dungeon. That was very different from the dungeon sending its monsters out to attack the populace. The dungeon had clearly been contaminated by outside forces, but it was not rogue, and could, in time, be brought back to its proper functioning.

Still, that meant that he was left here, guarding the dungeon, bored. It was still another hour until his relief was due to report, at midnight. And at least the night was not too cool, but not too warm, either. No rain or clouds to make his life difficult. And it was only another hour, and then he could go to bed.

“Ack!”

Taranath tried to cry out, as a gloved hand covered his face, but the knife piercing his throat made that impossible. The hand let him go, and he slid off the deadly blade, collapsing to the ground. But as he fell, his body turned, giving him a final glimpse of his killer. An Atlantean? No, that was one of the bandits from the second floor!

In his dying moment, Taranath realized the truth. The Mesmerizing Cells of the Black Knight had gone rogue! And the army had already left to deal with Samara!

The Dishonored Rogue wiped her blade on the soldier’s tunic, cleaning it. It was bad form to let ones implements get rusty, after all. She scanned the area, but saw no one else. No guards, and no civilians. Perfect. Turning back to the dungeon entrance, she waved her hand, signaling the all-clear.

More Dishonored Rogues appeared from the shadows, with varying outfits. The entire force of the second, third, and fourth floors, including the bosses. Behind them, a knight clad all in black plate armor, with a mighty two-handed sword, followed them, his footsteps strangely silent, despite his size, and the armor he wore.

“Go now. Slay all the soldiers, and all the priests. Smash the communication stones. The days of Vinastra are over. The time of the Black Knight has come.”

Book XXVII – Abroad

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Adventurer’s Guild Official Forums, Miami Branch)

SunnyBunz, MightyMouse, ImAPally, DontYouWantMe, AsaAkiraIsBae, BestGirl, LatinHeat, Salty, Backpage, Craig34, l33tpally, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, RedFox, Kimiko, DonnyJuan, Crusader, BadCompany, HurricaneGal, Ambassador, Scholar, Righteous, Id10t, Satyr, DarkEnchanter, RangerMiguel, ScoopGirl, VenusFlyTramp, MagicMike, TsundereHealer, Max, LightningLegacy, SwiftTaylor, Domino, Bacchus, Aegis, Temptation, and Lord_Kickass are in the chat.

Salty: OK, that is another round of cleaning up the Vurlock population off the coast, done.

ImAPally: Good work! No dragons popped up this time, I see.

Id10t: How likely is it that there would be more than one of those things in the area?

Scholar: Not very, but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be more.

DarkEnchanter: I wonder if there isn’t some way to shut off the broken/dead dungeon that keeps spawning those things. If so, we could use the same on the Goblins in Boca Raton, maybe reclaim that area.

RangerMiguel: The national Adventurer’s Guild is looking for any information we can find on such things. Miami is fairly unique, for having two broken dungeons so close, but this is not unique. There’s also the broken dungeon that has undead pouring out of what used to be Disney World, and there are other such things around the country, and around the world.

Scholar: The weirdest, and most dangerous, one in the US is apparently a broken dungeon out in Nevada. They have what people are calling Uranium Slimes roaming the desert.

Bacchus: That… does not sound good.

Temptation: It isn’t. Basically, take your basic slime, and then make it very radioactive. Oh, and then make it the size of a truck.

LatinHeat: Dios mio!

Scholar: Fortunately, that ex-dungeon is much slower to generate monsters than the other broken dungeons we’ve seen. However, everyone who has had to fight one of those things needed immediate medical attention. Without healing magic, they would have taken fatal radiation doses just from getting within striking distance of the thing.

BestGirl: What about the military? They have System-approved guns now, right?

Temptation: Guns are not very useful against slimes. Unless you hit the core, fire from an AK-47 will just tickle a slime, since the majority of their body is just… gel.

BestGirl: That’s bad, right?

Temptation: Yes. ‘Spray and pray’ is only marginally better than doing nothing. And a shotgun is utterly useless against a slime except at point-blank range. A marksman with a gun could hit the core, but on those big slimes you’d need a high-power rifle, and the ballistics are sometimes funky because of how the gel is moving.

VenusFlyTramp: So, how do they kill those slimes, then?

Temptation: Grenades. No, seriously. Chuck a grenade into a slime, and it is devastating on the core. Of course, you need to be close enough to throw the grenade, meaning you’re already soaking a lot of rads, and probably are about to get splattered by exploding radioactive slime.

Backpage: What about RPGs?

Temptation: They are effective, if they go off. But they are designed to explode after hitting something solid. And slimes aren’t solid. Grenade launchers are somewhat more effective, especially if you can configure them for a timed burst, rather than contact.

HurricaneGal: What about magic, then? I mean, you can still throw spells at them, right?

Scholar: Unfortunately, something about the Uranium Slimes makes them resistant to magic in general. They haven’t found any elements that they are particularly weak to. Best I’ve seen is using Earth Magic to contain them.

Temptation: The Army is bringing one to me for testing, on the condition that I not add them to the Dungeon’s normal mode.

Backpage: But they’ll still be used in Hardcore Mode, right?

Temptation: Of course. Anyone who enters without signing the contract is signaling that they want to harm the Dungeon, and that cannot be allowed.

DonnyJuan: Hey, Temptation, is it true that you went and visited some Great Sage Equaling Heaven in China?

Temptation: Oh, where did you hear that?

DonnyJuan: The rumor was going around the People’s Adventuring Association headquarters in Beijing when I stopped by on business. Said you went out there with a ship and a Chinese diplomat.

Temptation: Well, they are well informed. I did go out to meet with the Monkey King, and I brought a representative of the Chinese government along, to arrange an introduction.

Scholar: Why would you do that?

Temptation: Bringing the representative along cost me nothing, made accessing Chinese airspace easier, and earned me goodwill with the government ruling over a sizeable chunk of humanity.

Scholar: No, not that! Why go meet with the Great Sage Equaling Heaven?

Temptation: Because he had not been properly integrated with the System. And, until he was, there was the very real chance that the Belief of people could have altered him.

Scholar: What is wrong with that?

Temptation: One of the names of the Monkey King is Son Goku. That is also the name of a rather popular character from anime. The longer the Monkey King went without integrating, the more likely that people would start connecting the two. In time, that would allow the Monkey King to claim the abilities of the anime character. An anime character who literally could destroy planets. And a Super Saiyan Great Sage Equaling Heaven? Not a good idea.

Scholar: Ah, yes. That would be bad. Very bad.

Temptation: So, then I went and sent him to talk to all the other divinities on Earth, so that they could all get added into the System, before any big changes happened to them, too.

Scholar: I don’t know if I like where this is going.

Temptation: Oh, it was perfectly fine, before Freyja introduced him to Loki, gave them a list of names (which I may have added to) and told them to ‘have fun’.

Scholar: WHAT???

Aegis: Oh, shit.

Righteous: That sounds ominous.

Craig34: Who is on this list?

Temptation: Oh, just people who like inflicting their religion on other people. Specifically, this list was about Evangelicals. But I’m sure they’ll get around to other religions, sooner or later.

Backpage: Not that I mind, but why?

Temptation: Freyja was ‘annoyed’ with them for some of the more theocratic moves different states were pulling, and wished for it to stop.

Ambassador: Speaking of ‘theocratic moves’, I’d like to speak with you about the situation on Bluemountain.

Crusader: What did he do now? And where is Bluemountain?

Scholar: Bluemountain is a planet further down the spiral arm. Earth-like in composition, according to the System. The primary ruling power on the planet is the Kingdom of Vinastra, a theocracy following Pofmis.

Ambassador: Yes, and from the reports, open war has broken out on Bluemountain, with many combatants carrying the symbol of Kuronoth.

Temptation: What can I say? People love me.

Ambasador: Temptation…

Temptation: Fine, I’ll stop by your embassy in Tokyo for a chat. I’ll even bring treats!

MightyMouse: Can we go back to talking about the car-sized radioactive death slimes? That’d be great.

Chapter 261 – How Far We’ve Come

Swamptown was busy, as it always was. Ever since the portal hub had been put in, there had been a constant stream of people moving through the town, and more and more permanent residents moved in. Actually, with just under two thousand residents, Swamptown could now be considered a small city.

With that change, the borders of Swamptown had grown, to accommodate the newcomers. Not only that, but the temporary prefabricated buildings that had once been a staple of the town, due to how they could easily be set up out in the swamp, were now gone, with even the military recruitment center getting a permanent building put up.

While officially Swamptown stretched a good four square miles, the majority of the businesses in town were located firmly in the corridor now known as Demon’s Due, which stretched from the entrance to the dungeon proper, past the portal hub and my cathedral, and on, to the spaceport. That mile of territory was the most hotly contested bit of land in the entire town. Businesses that could get on Demon’s Due were larger, and more successful, than those that couldn’t, but that didn’t stop other businesses from setting up elsewhere, and playing on the “We’re not like those big stores” rhetoric to get people in the door. And, of course, there were also all the businesses that did not need the visibility of being on the main strip to survive.

Obviously, that included what industry Swamptown had. Things like the Crankshaft Brewery, where Bill Crankshaft was turning the plants and materials from the dungeon into some of the best beer, ale, and other intoxicating beverages around. Recently, he’d hired a beekeeper, and got him to look after a few hives that they’d put in on one of the farming floors I let him and some other industrious people access. Apparently, he wanted to try his hand at making mead.

Of course, those ‘farming floors’ were just that. Separate floors, tended by monsters, but set as safe zones, so that people could grow crops. All these people needed a lot of food, and it was my goal for Swamptown to be completely self-sufficient, even if the portals could be used to jump all across the world. If Swamptown’s people were not reliant on anyone but me for their food, power, and other such things, then they would think twice about crossing me. The fact that dungeon-grown food tasted better was a happy bonus.

Actually, that wasn’t the only benefit from eating the food. I’d noticed that people who ate only food that came from the dungeon were leveling up more quickly than other people. When I looked into it, apparently the high mana density of the food aided in the gaining of experience. Not enough to be noticeable, of course, unless you made it your entire diet, but for those people, they were looking at a 5-10% increase in their experience gain. Even the merchants and people who focused on their professions were gaining levels more quickly.

Another benefit of the dungeon food was that everyone was healthier, and better looking. Oh, it didn’t change their stats at all, but people who ate mostly dungeon food were less likely to catch common ailments, and their hair and skin all looked healthier. At the same time, you had to really work at it to get fat off dungeon food, which was just another bonus.

That had led to the rise of another profession that did not require much visibility for success. About half a mile back from Demon’s Due was another strip. However, instead of normal businesses, the places on Red Street were all strip clubs and brothels.

You’d think that, with the nature of my dungeon, people wouldn’t need such establishments, but, well, not everyone was willing to take the risk of going into the dungeon, and there were always people stopping over from points around the portal network. And, because Swamptown was technically an extralegal haven, the only regulations on what could be done came from me. Those regulations basically boiled down to ‘no killing’, but most of the places had System contracts in place, to ensure that anyone who went too far paid the price. And, thanks to the food and magic, the girls (and guys) always looked the best, were clean, and there was no risk of getting an unwanted child support payment out of the mix.

Honestly, I was pretty proud of how the town had grown. Especially since all I had done was put in the infrastructure, and made sure to update things as the town grew. This wasn’t my design, but the natural growth of a community that wanted to be in my domain.

And it wasn’t like I wasn’t benefiting from this, either. Everyone in my domain gave me a trickle of mana and anima, just for being there. And over sixty percent of the population had converted to my church, and that number was growing, even with my strict command of never forcing any free person to convert. If a master forced a slave to convert, that was their business, of course, but I wasn’t going to do like some of those ‘light’ gods, and force people to follow me.

Of course, that didn’t mean I wasn’t a bit sneaky. People who followed me found that their time in the dungeon was more manageable, and so they grew in power faster. More importantly, everyone saw them gain levels faster, which only added more incentive. Add on the fact that my followers had a discount on services like cleansing and healing spells from the Cathedral, which was the largest church in town? Well, that made the smart play for those who stayed in Swamptown to follow me.

It wasn’t just the dungeon town that had grown. Kamyzny, the isolated town in Siberia, had seen a sudden boom in population, as people looking to get away from the Russian regime made their way to what was considered a haven, protected by my power. The oligarchs’ mining companies tried to make a play, but seeing their very expensive equipment get eaten by slimes deterred them. And I only had to leave one warning that any further attempts would result in ‘unfortunate accidents’ occurring to the ones actually giving the orders before they backed off. The fact that the warning was given by a mercenary company showing up in the oligarch’s bedroom without setting off any of his security was completely besides the point.

Suffice to say, Kamyzny was thriving. I demolished the power plant and replaced it with my System-based power generation, and did the same for the satellite company. Kamyzny was now effectively self-reliant, like Swamptown was. And, of course, they could easily commute to Swamptown to help in the farms, which were large enough to support them, as well as Swamptown. So, everyone had food to eat, even when winter was at its worst.

Of course, I wasn’t going to turn Kamyzny into an industrial powerhouse. The people didn’t want that, first and foremost. And I was fine with that. It helped that I had no need of the rare materials that the mining company wanted. Turned out that the material was Mithril, and a dungeon can create mithril, once I took a sample. I had regenerating nodes of mithril and other ores in my mines, and the goblins and lizardfolk turned out to be competent miners, when properly equipped and organized.

The amount of ore they collected was not really ‘industrial scale’ by modern standards, of course. There’s only so much that you can do with hand tools, after all. However, I had enough to start upgrading the gear my minions had, and start selling some to local metalworkers, both in Swamptown and Kamyzny. Their artisans were already starting to make impressive works, once they got used to the material, and mithril was much easier to enchant than steel was.

Of course, between the higher quality gear that adventurers were either making, buying, or gaining from the dungeon, and the levels they were earning thanks to constant battles, the number of people who had advanced to the cusp of Tier 2, or even surpassed it, had grown. In fact, at least one or two groups every week were clearing my dungeon now.

That meant it was time to expand the main part of the dungeon again. But, if I was going to expand, I needed to come up with a new theme. So far, every three levels of the dungeon had a theme to them, save only floors 7 through 9. Those floors were the Rest Floor where Shannon, Freyja’s priestess resided, the Ranger’s Mansion, along with the haunted woods outside, and the Black Temple. However, floors 1-3 were basically slime and plant monster swamps. Floors 4-6 were sentient (or at least sapient) monsters, with the Goblins, Lizardfolk, and Vurlocks enjoying the spotlight. And floors 10-12 were the Atlantean Ruins, culminating in the Arena which was my current final floor.

If I was going to expand, I wanted to make sure my next three floors had a theme. But what theme did I want to go with? I mean, I could repeat a theme from an earlier floor, but that felt cheap, like a tv show retreading the same few plots again and again until no one cared any more. No, I needed something new. Something different.

Wait a minute. Did I really have to reinvent the wheel? I had plenty of options from the creatures and sources I already had that I wasn’t using. Yes, I’d done swampy settings for most of my dungeon, but I wasn’t a Swamp dungeon. I could change that, easily enough.

So, what if I started doing three floors at a time of different environments? That way, I could throw different hazards at the adventurers, and not just be retreading ways of making a swamp dangerous.

With that in mind, what environment should I do first? I was tempted to do arctic or volcanic, since the local adventurers would be completely unprepared for something like that, but it would be rude to just throw them into something like that. And I really wanted them to be accustomed to the idea of elemental floors before I hit them with three straight water levels. No, I should pick something easier for my first featured environment.

In the end, I decided that the best choice for the next three floors would be a Desert motif. And, with that in mind, I decided that each elemental ‘set’ would include a slime/plant floor, a monster floor, and an undead floor, though not always in that order. That way, I could keep some internal consistency, as I moved through the different types of terrain.

Better still, having the different creature types being the star of each floor would allow me to easily use all the different features of an environment, without unduly disadvantaging my creatures. Slimes would do just fine in the open sand, but goblins would prefer a cliff face, near an oasis. And undead could be placed in a fallen fort, or even an ancient crypt, full of mummies and other horrors.

I was about to start designing the new floors when an alarm went off, interrupting my flow. Ah, yes. I was supposed to go and have a talk with the Fimaazro Ambassador, because she’d been hearing about all the things going on over on Bluemountain. I guess she was worried that I was starting religious wars, or something, since that could make for all kinds of complications for her.

I sighed, and put aside my design plans, resolving to return to them just as soon as I put the good Ambassador’s fears to rest. I dressed in all black, but kept my ‘demon’ form, rather than a more human guise. With a thought, I turned to black smoke, and transferred myself to my shrine in Tokyo. I had enough believers there that I could just make it to the Embassy without straying too far from my territory.

I still had some time to spare before the meeting, so I manifested myself near the shrine, appearing out of a puff of smoke. Startled a few of the locals, but Tokyo residents were built differently. Other than a couple brief looks, everyone just continued on their way, intent on getting to their destinations.

I smiled as I walked down the street, and slipped my hands into the long, black trench coat with holes for my wings to slip through, and my symbol on the back. I really ought to get out, among the people more often. Maybe once the floors were designed, I could pop over to Kmyzny, and chat with the locals directly? Probably be good PR to be seen asking their opinions about what the town needed.

Ah well, no one told me that being both a dungeon and a god would be so much work, but at least I got plenty of fun to go along with it!

Chapter 262 – Ambassador

Walking up to the Embassy gate, I was met by two Fimaazro guards, armed with guns similar to what Zygrash had used during her ‘evaluation’ of the dungeon. These, however, looked to be more along the lines of production models, and military make. They also had on what was clearly armor, even though it had an ornate, ceremonial look to it.

I looked at the two of them, and said, “I am here to see the Ambassador. I believe I am expected?”

One of the two guards used an appraisal skill on me. Smart, since most other identification could easily be faked, and appearances were easy to change with magic. Sure, a rogue of sufficient level could hide that, unless the person doing the Appraising had an advanced version of the skill, training them to pierce through the deception, or they were a much higher level. But that was neither here nor there, since I did not have any means to hide my Appraisal information.

The guard bowed slightly, and keyed the control for the gate. “Yes, Mister Kuronoth. The Ambassador gave word to admit you when you arrived. Please enter. Someone will meet you at the doors.”

I nodded my appreciation, and walked inside the grounds. Immediately, I could tell that spatial magics had been employed here, as the area inside the outer walls was significantly larger than it was on the outside. Among other things, it allowed those attached to the Embassy plenty of room for physical training. I even saw a marksmanship range off to one side.

As I approached the door, it opened for me, and I saw a female Fimaazro standing there, in their specie’s equivalent of a business suit. “Mister Kuronoth, welcome to the Embassy. I am Nemuzi Neka, one of the Ambassador’s aides. If you will please follow me?”

“Of course.”

I amused myself by watching the swishing of the woman’s tail as we walked through the Embassy. She ignored my gaze, and just led the way in silence until we reached the right door. I was shown in directly to the Ambassador’s office, without any fuss.

I smiled as I walked in, and saw Ambassador Zygrash sitting behind a desk that was clearly made by her people out of what looked like Tier 2 wood. It had that slightly otherworldly quality that you could feel, denoting a higher level of material. The Ambassador herself was leaning back in her chair, and I could see a bottle on the desk, with a glass in front of it, which surprised me, since the last time we met, she claimed she didn’t drink. Seems she had picked up some bad habits since coming to Earth.

“Hello, Ambassador. I thought you didn’t drink? Or is this a special occasion?”

I got a glare for my frivolity, as the Ambassador sighed, and leaned forward. She pointed to one of the comfortable chairs on my side of her desk, and said, “I don’t, usually. But the way you keep throwing everything out of order with your constant games causes me enough work that I needed something to take the edge off so I didn’t start screaming at you. Do you know just how much trouble you’ve caused me? How much paperwork we’ve had to do because of you?”

I sighed as I sat down in the chair. “Now, now. I haven’t done anything to purposefully cause you more work. All I’ve done is taken the hand I was dealt when the System came online, and done the best that I can with it. Everything I’ve done could have been done by anyone else before, if they chose to. The only reason it hadn’t happened before is because they were blinded and bound by what they thought to be true, because ‘that is how things are’. They never bothered looking beyond that.”

“So, it is our fault for not being deviants looking to break the System and twist it completely out of shape?”

“Oh, come now. Don’t be like that,” I grinned. “You just were always told ‘this is how it is’, and never bothered looking for anything more. All I’ve done is applied the lessons of being a Human on Earth to the new reality the System gave us.”

Zygrash sighed. “Forget it. This won’t get us anywhere. The reason I asked to speak with you is simple. Why are you starting religious wars? Dealing with the people Pofmis sent after you, that I can understand. But why expand that war? Couldn’t you just let it be?”

“Ah, I think you’re under a bit of a misconception. I haven’t started any religious wars. Neither here, nor abroad.”

“Bullshit. You know full well what is happening on Bluemountain! Your followers have been causing rising unrest all over the main continent, and several countries are on the brink of civil war! There’s already one country that has been completely overthrown, and the rebels were carrying your symbol. And the nearby dungeon aided them by sending monsters to destroy the country’s army!”

“Are you talking about the counter-revolution in Safrea? That restored the rightful king to power? After long years of the Vinastra-backed coup installed a theocracy with a puppet king? That country?”

“Hmph. That’s politics. Countries are allowed to do that. Even if those countries are the size of planets, or interstellar empires. But involving dungeons in it? Or starting religious wars? That’s something else! Gods aren’t supposed to meddle directly in the running of governments like that, and dungeons aren’t supposed to get involved at all!”

I shook my head. “What you mean to say is that dungeons have not had reason to get involved, before now. As for the religious wars, like I said before, I didn’t start anything.”

“Then explain! They’re carrying your symbol!”

“Yes, but not every act of a god’s followers is instigated by that god. For instance, the crusade by followers of Binja and Idos on the world of Atara. You know, the crusade which I helped bring to a nonviolent end, and helped those gods by exposing corruption in their churches? Neither Binja nor Idos called for that crusade, their followers did.”

“So, what, you’re blaming this on the people of Bluemountain?”

“Oh, come off it, Ambassador. All I did was introduce ideas to a world that had been overtaken by religious zealots. I never once proposed a crusade, or anything of the sort.”

“What ideas?”

“To the dungeons, I gave them the idea of taking control of their halls, and punishing those who acted in ways they did not like. I gave them the idea of diplomacy and talking with the adventurers who plumb their depths. I gave them the idea of making deals.”

I paused, and said, “When you, or anyone else from the Galactic Assembly that goes there, actually look at the situation, you will find that the dragons from Wyrmfang Aerie were not a result of the dungeon going rogue, but an alliance formed between the dungeon and the true king of Safrea, the son of the king that had been overthrown by Vinastran ‘politics’.

“Further, you’ll find that, while the new King has given all followers of Pofmis an ultimatum that they must shed their faith or be exiled, losing all their possessions in the process, he has not required them to convert to my church, or that of the Chainmaker. But, after the ‘politics’ of the Vinastran theocracy, the servants of Pofmis are no longer welcome in Safrea. That is not my doing, but the King’s. Politics, you understand.”

The Ambassador frowned as I threw her ‘politics’ line back at her, but didn’t say anything, so I continued. “Anyway, I did not force anyone on Bluemountain to convert to my church, not even the dungeons. However, given the way the church of Pofmis has been acting on Bluemountain, my offering a counter to their overbearing control, and having some success in my battles with her, has improved my standing quite significantly.”

“Fine, but what about the dungeon in Aquilis City? There are reports that it has gone rogue, and allowed its monsters to run rampant through the capital city of Vinastra!”

“I can assure you that the dungeon in question is not rogue. The Mesmerizing Cells of the Black Knight has not, last I looked, sent any monsters beyond the boundaries of its influence. I’m sure you know that dungeons can spread their influence to areas above ground, as well as below, though the area not contained within the dungeon proper is not considered part of the dungeon’s domain, unless they properly claim them through the System, as you see in Swamptown. It is a courtesy, and tradition, that dungeons do not send their monsters to the surface, but that is all that it is. There is no restriction preventing them from doing so.

“Also, the Black Knight dungeon is not allowing its monsters to run rampant. The attacks have been controlled, purposeful, and systematic. The dungeon’s monsters have struck at the heart of the Vinastran theocracy, slaughtering the soldiers left in the city after the Vinastran queen went to try and interfere in Safrea again. Oh, they also killed all the priests of Pofmis in the city, and destroyed any communications stones they found.

“After that, the Black Knight officially claimed the aboveground portions of Aquilis City. Its monsters now defend the walls at a strength greater than when the whole of the Vinastran army was there, and the temple of Pofmis has been cast down, and replaced with one devoted to me, though there are also shrines to the Chainmaker, and other allied gods within. Oh, there are also shrines scattered around the city to the other Atlantean gods, other than Pofmis.”

“Are you saying that the Mesmerizing Cells of the Black Knight is now imprisoning the people of Aquilis City?”

“No, he is protecting them from the tyranny of the so-called Goddess of Freedom and her followers. And it is no longer Aquilis City, but rather Nighthold. The people who were not priests of Pofmis, or soldiers of the kingdom, have been left as they are. Coincidentally, as soon as the threat of the theocracy’s might was removed, many of the people shed their professed faith in Pofmis, and openly took up the worship of other gods.”

Zygrash groaned. “Damn it all! That is more than enough for a dungeon to be declared Rogue! This is going to cause so many problems!”

“Not as many as you’d think, unless outside parties decide to get involved. The other countries on the continent are less than pleased with the way Vinastra has thrown around its weight in the current Queen’s reign. My people have even heard reports that the other countries are already deciding how to divide the country. Politics, again.”

“So, Bluemountain is doomed to fall into a series of wars, then?”

“Not necessarily,” I said. “Vinastra will certainly fall, and her colonies may go their separate ways. The lands will either form a new kingdom, or be absorbed into different realms. There may be war, as the leaders put down the Queen’s attempts to hold on to what power she has left, but other than that? No, whatever remains will simply be politics. And the rest of Bluemountain will not be as heavily affected as the continent of Soldany is.”

“Damn it all. This is going to cause a stir in the Assembly, during the next meeting. Bluemountain’s representative was forced through by Vinastra, and they are part of the ruling faction. If Vinastra falls, then the new representative will probably be opposed to their predecessor’s policies. It could set off a chain reaction, and shift the balance of power in the Assembly!”

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing, you know. Any party that spends too long in power, without a serious challenge, gets complacent, and forgets their promises. That is part of the reason why the church of Pofmis has not had anyone stepping up to help defend them. They’ve thrown their weight around far too much, and been too heavy-handed, too often. It should come as no surprise that even other gods are glad to see them taken down a peg or two.”

“Yes, but this goes beyond just rivalries between churches! This could cause chaos throughout the spiral arm if it spreads! And that will force other groups to get involved, to protect their own interests!”

“That sounds like a heaping helping of ‘not my problem’, but because we’re friends, I’ll go pay a visit to Bluemountain, and see if I can’t keep the transfer of power civil. Will that help?”

Zygrash sighed. “Probably not. But it will at least allay some concerns others have, especially about the dungeons. Dungeons getting political is going to scare a lot of people in power.”

“A scare will be good for them, especially the ones that have been looking to keep dungeons under their control,” I smiled. “Until next time, Ambassador.” And, with that, I disappeared into a puff of black smoke, returning to my dungeon, to consider the next move.

Chapter 263 – Making the Desert

With the Ambassador brought up to speed with what was going on over on Bluemountain, I returned my thoughts to my dungeon. Originally, I had considered expanding the current setup to fifteen numbered floors, with two unnumbered rest floors, but I’d gotten distracted, first by the President’s request to help with her media reform bill, and then by the business of going and finding gods, to keep them from running rampant. By the time things settled down, I’d decided against that setup.

Instead, I was going to start on the first of three desert floors! This was going to be a floor dedicated to plants and slimes. Something basic, to ease the transition. The adventurers were already going to be getting whiplash at the idea of going from the Atlantean ruins to a desert, so no need to make things too rough on them.

With that in mind, I started by creating my thirteenth floor. I started with a square, two miles on a side. It was a nice, wide space, with a ‘sky’ that was set to change over time. When it was noon on the surface, the sun would be high in the sky here. When night fell above, it would down here, as well. But the weather would always be clear, hot, and dry, with temperatures a broiling 110 Fahrenheit.

First things first. I set a Dungeon Law for the floor, preventing anyone from flying, whether naturally or through other means, more than ten feet from the ground. There would be no going up to fly across the floor, skipping the challenges, and no sending a familiar to scan the floor, so you could get a better idea of where you were going. People would have to try their best to navigate from the ground.

My next step was to carve out a long canyon across the floor, cutting it into southern and northern halves. Parties would start at a random place on the southern half of the floor, and would have to find a way across the canyon. I also found a way to randomize the terrain, so that the canyon would never be quite the same each time. Maps would be useless, so parties would need their wits about them.

Scattered around the desert section would be pink cacti. These were just a normal cactus, crossbred with a passionslime in the Breeding Halls. The Needlelust, as I named it, would be able to shoot needles at those who got too close. Nothing fancy about the needles, except that they reacted to moisture (like blood) by seeping their version of passionslime juice. The effect was weaker, but more hits meant more of it.

If they braved the needles, and got to the cactus, though? Well, the inside had water, just like cacti in the normal desert would. Of course, this water also had passionslime juice mixed in, but as the only source of moisture in the desert, people didn’t really have a choice.

For fun, I added in four ‘trap rooms’, two on each side of the canyon. These rooms would change location each time, just like the terrain. The ceiling of the room was just a thin covering, barely able to hold up under the weight of the sand above it. To make things fair, I arranged for the sand above the trap room to always be a slightly different shade than the rest of the sand. Sure, it was equivalent to looking at paint samples, and comparing two ‘tan’ colors that were maybe a couple shades apart, but it was a distinct difference, so an observant party would notice it.

If they didn’t, well, whoever was unlucky enough to step on the trap would fall down, into the room. It was a fall of about twenty feet. Dangerous, certainly, but survivable, unless they fell on their head or something. On second thought, I decided to put a pile of sand there, to help break their fall, along with some skeletal remains of ‘former adventurers’.

There wouldn’t be any way to climb out of the pit, but that wasn’t going to be the immediate concern. Slimes would start oozing up out of the wall, forcing the party to either abandon their comrade, or descend to help them. If they went down, and fought off the slimes, they’d be rewarded with a bit of treasure, and a hidden door opening, revealing a path.

This path would be long, winding, and full of traps and slimes, but it would be cooler than the outside, and would eventually open up into the canyon, as another hidden door slid out of the way. So, a clever team could spot the trap, and use it to cool off and get to the halfway point. Or, they could avoid it, risking the heat, and climb down into the canyon.

Either way, the canyon walls would be full of hardy desert plant creatures, which would be all too eager to supplement their meager supply of moisture with the blood of the fallen. Of course, they weren’t all killers. Most of them would just feed a bit, weakening their victims, before letting go. The fact that that the feeders had aphrodisiacs to keep someone from struggling too much helped.

Somewhere in the riverbed at the bottom of the canyon, one could find the entrance to this floor’s safe room. Having a source of running water also meant that they could replenish their supplies. Because I was fair, this stream was the only source of water on the floor that wasn’t infused with aphrodisiacs.

Well, at least until a plant monster died next to the water. After that, the entire creek would turn pink for several minutes, and be just as intoxicating as passionslime juice. But the real threat was that the plant monsters by the creek were a hardy, desert version of the Seeder Bushes from the second floor. They weren’t any more powerful than those bushes, of course, but facing them in this situation was not the best choice, for most people.

To get out of the canyon, one would have to scout along the creek bed to find a route up. Climbing was possible, but I made sure that there would always be a way to walk, though it would be guarded, and there would be traps that would send unfortunate victims sliding back down to the bottom. Once a party got to the top, though, they were rewarded with more desert, and having to try and find the portal at the other end. All while trying not to run afoul of the Lewd Giant Sand Slime, the boss for the floor.

The boss was a slime that looked like a sand dune, right up until it moved, then, things got interesting. As a Lewd Creature, it emitted pheromones that drove the opposite gender wild. While slimes originally had no biological sex, as a rule, the Lewd Creature template caused them to actually become male and female. It was a coin flip whether the boss would be ‘male’ or ‘female’ on any given run.

This boss was actually the first ‘optional’ floor boss I had made. You did not need to actually kill, or even fight, the boss in order to go through the portal and leave the floor. Just reaching the portal was enough. However, that didn’t mean that the boss was just going to make it easy on them.

On Hardcore mode, the Lewd Giant Sand Slime would be moved to the southern side of the canyon, with a second one added, so that potentially both sexes were represented. The boss of the floor in Hardcore mode would be a Lewd Uranium Slime. As before, the fight would be more or less difficult, depending on which sex appeared, and the party’s composition. Unlike before, the boss would no longer be optional, and the exit portal would not appear until it was dead.

Content with the thirteenth floor as it was, I started work on the next one. This was going to be much simpler. The floor was a circle, with a radius of just over a mile, filled with rolling sand dunes. Like the floor above it, there was a flying restriction in effect. Unlike the former floor, I dispensed with the idea of a day/night cycle, and instead went with a constant noonday sun beating down upon the sand.

The ‘walls’ of the room were actually special. When someone reached the wall, space would bend, so that they ended up back at the beginning of the floor. It was seamless work, without the flash of teleportation. Only those who mastered sensing mana would be able to detect the warping, but there wasn’t anything they could do to stop it, except by turning around and walking back into the ‘endless’ desert.

There would only be one monster on this floor. After a random period of the party walking through the desert, the boss would be unleashed. It had no eyes, because it moved through the sand like a worm through dirt. Except that this sandworm was in no way inferior to the ones in Herbert’s works, easily reaching a quarter mile or more in length.

As with the book, it would be attracted to the sound of rhythmic footsteps. So, one could hide from it, if your party could avoid any kind of footfall rhythm. However, the longer one stayed in the heat, especially after the last level, the worse off they’d be, since this floor had no sources of water, at all. Worse, the portal out would not appear until the boss spawned.

Because I was a merciful sort, I made this boss optional, as well. Parties simply had to survive, and make it through the portal once it was open. Any fools on Hardcore mode that survived fighting the Lewd Uranium Slime would find that they’d have to fight, and kill, Shai-hulud for the portal to open.

The fifteenth floor was more desert, but, this time, there was a landmark. A pyramid, rising out of the sand, stretching up four hundred feet into the air. That put it as smaller than the Great Pyramid, of course, but it was more than plenty for my purposes.

The first challenge parties would face would be cutting their way through the skeletons and desiccated zombies roaming the sands. Then, they would have to find a way to unlock the pyramid itself. Since I wasn’t an idiot, like that Necropolis dungeon, I made two simple ways of unlocking the door.

Both involved sacrifice. There was an altar before the door. They could either slay a sentient being on the altar, and consume their heart, or they could send one of their own forward, and ‘sacrifice’ them to be bred by a mummy that would rise up out of the sands. The less fatal sacrifice would allow them in on this run, but the other would give the entire party a permanent pass to enter the pyramid, and a token that acted as a second Escape Charm, and was on a separate cooldown, allowing them twice the chances to escape the dungeon each week.

Inside the pyramid was just what you’d expect. Corridors, traps, monsters, and all that goodness, right out of an old horror/action movie. And, for a miniboss, I created an encounter with a group of five mummies. One a dark priestess, and the rest warriors. The warriors were armed and armored, but the real threat was the priestess.

She could heal the warriors by using magic that would inflict wounds on living creatures, meaning she did not need to worry about things like ‘friendly fire’, or catching enemies in an area healing spell. That was bad enough, of course, but her real threat was that, every so often, she would use magic to abduct one of the party members, teleporting them to the altar in the center of the room, where they would be bound with mystic chains.

Undead would come out from different doors, bearing the tools needed for mummification. As one, they would advance to the altar, and attempt to begin the process with the ‘sacrifice’. Naturally, since one part of the mummification process involved taking a hot poker, shoving it up the nostril to scramble the brain, and then draw it out through the nose, this would be quite fatal for any living creature. If the process was completed, the sacrifice would rise as a mummy, and join the fight against their former party. Their only hope was for the group to manage to slay the attendants, and free the sacrifice before they were killed. All while dealing with the miniboss.

Eventually, a successful party would reach the central chamber of the pyramid, where I would be waiting. A stone dais held a golden throne, with an obsidian statue of me standing behind it. My pets and I would be waiting there, for the final fight of the dungeon, or to make a deal, if they so chose.

Of course, that meant I needed to step down as the boss of the Arena on the 12th floor. That was fine, though. I already had a suitable replacement in mind. After all, the former Crusader-Champion was already familiar with the arena, and I had given her plenty of time to get used to her new body, and the fact that she was now my servant. She would be the final fight of the arena, using her skills, as well as her newfound powers, against intruders.

I couldn’t wait to see what Pofmis would say about that when she heard.

Chapter 264 – Nighthold

With the desert floors made, and no groups coming up on the Arena anytime soon, I finalized the changes to the lower levels, and placed my new floor boss in the Arena. I wanted to spend more time playing about, perhaps deciding on the next terrain type to use for the dungeon, but, in the end, I decided that wasn’t the best use of my time. After all, I had promised that I’d go check in on Bluemountain, and make sure that things settled there as best as I could.

With a thought, I shifted my godly consciousness to Bluemountain. I had found that, wherever my followers were, I could easily observe. I couldn’t manifest myself, unless there was a shrine to me, or one of my followers invoked me, but seeing in the general area of one of my followers? Simple.

The city of Nighthold was beautiful, in a dark gothic way. According to my information, before the Black Knight took over the city, it had been a city of pure white and gold everywhere, decadent to the extreme, with images of Pofmis everywhere. Now, however, any stonework, whether it was roads, bridges, or the city walls, had turned black, traced with silver. The houses were unchanged, though, as I looked through the city, I saw more than one homeowner changing their homes to be something other than white.

The images of Pofmis had been taken down. In their place there were depictions of all the other Atlantean gods, as well as myself. Where the main temple to Pofmis on the entire planet once stood, there was now a replica of my cathedral in Swamptown. On rooftops I spotted stone gargoyles, the real thing, not mere statues, only adding to the gothic look. All around the city, the dungeon’s soldiers patrolled, keeping crime under control.

One would have expected the city to be like one under siege, but that could not have been further from the truth. On the streets, the attitude was like a festival. Stalls were scattered around the city, providing food and drink. The Black Knight had immediately won over the commoners, as the stalls in the poorest parts of the city were now permanent structures, promising that, no matter how rich or poor someone was, they would have enough food and drink to keep them alive. If they wanted more, or better, then there was work to be done, and one could always dive the dungeon for coin.

Casting my gaze through the city, I was impressed with the way the Black Knight had taken control. It was only a week since the dungeon took over the capital of Vinastra, and he had already made this place a stronghold against the return of the Pofmisian church. There were no holdouts hiding in the wings, because the dungeon could sense anyone who bore the Dungeon Foe title, or was Anathema to me, since the Black Knight followed me. Any hope of a resistance cell forming in the city died in the first days, as the monsters knew exactly who to go for, and where the rats were hiding.

Actually, I was surprised that there were any Pofmisians still in the city, but there were a few, and they were all in one spot. Moving my gaze there, I saw that the forty-seven Pofmisians were bound in chains, in what had been a marshalling ground for the Queen’s armies, and was now the beginnings of a slave market. Each of the men and women were tied to posts, their naked bodies on display. Would-be customers wandered through the market checking out the goods. A few were even sampling one or two.

Five individuals, in particular, caught my eye. All were cleaner, and healthier than the rest, and they were all displayed on a low platform, setting them apart from the others. Clearly, these five were special, in some way.

Thuridan Threeshield

Atlantean Male

Level 10 Paladin / Leader

Titles: Crown Prince of Vinastra, Dungeon Foe, Anathema

Market Value: 10000 gp

With a roiling cloud of black smoke, I manifested my avatar upon the stage. I ignored the cries of surprise from behind me, and instead focused on the five in front. The first captive, a boy, screamed in fear, while all the others whimpered or shrunk back.

Smiling wickedly, I used [Appraise Value] on the boy, and immediately saw what made them special. These were all people closely connected to the Queen, herself. That meant they were all far more valuable than the other captives in the market.

The crown prince was barely more than a boy. The oldest he could possibly be was twelve, but ten was more likely. Well, if he were human. I hadn’t bothered asking about how quickly Atlanteans age. For someone who supposedly had ten levels of a martial class, his physique was not impressive, full of soft lines, and not even being gym fit. The green-haired brat must have been mooching experience off more capable fighters in his group, like nobles are wont to do. Either way, if it wasn’t for what was between his legs, it’d be hard to tell him from a young girl.

Tanila Threeshield

Atlantean Female

Level 30 Swordsage / High Judge

Titles: Princess of Vinastra, Goblin Slayer, Heretic Bane, Dungeon Foe, Anathema

Market Value: 95000 gp

Next, was a young woman that, if she were human, I’d say would be almost old enough to buy her own drinks in the US, but could have still been in high school, for all I knew. Maybe younger, since she looked like she was still growing. Either way, the patch of blue hair between her legs, which matched what was on her head, told me that she was not a child any more.

Unlike her little brother, she had a body that was lean, and toned. Swordsage was a Tier 2 class, which meant she was quite a bit stronger than her brother. For him to be the crown prince, and not her, meant that the law probably favored men over women for the throne. Which made the fact that the former ruler was female an interesting tidbit. Perhaps she got rid of the competition? Either way, her daughter was certainly a lovely sight.

Radelia Threeshield

Atlantean Female

Level 30 Lightbringer / Battlefield Commander

Titles: Princess of Vinastra, Devout, Heretic Bane, Manslayer, Dungeon Foe, Anathema

Market Value: 95000 gp

Third in line was a young woman with golden hair who was currently trying to burn a hole in my avatar’s head with her hate. If she hadn’t been blonde, then I would have said that she was the twin of the other princess. Still might be, for all I knew. When I looked closer, the hair was more gold than golden, and it shined with an inner light. So, her hair might be the result of the Lightbringer class, which was one of the Tier 2 options priests got, if their god followed certain guidelines.

Alea Longshadow

Atlantean Female

Level 49 Radiant Archmage / Scholar

Titles: Archmage of Vinastra, Genius, Devout, Kinbreeder, Dungeon Foe, Anathema

Market Value: 150000 gp

The next woman was older, with long, black hair. She looked in her thirties, but magic made determining that tricky, especially when the mage was powerful. Radiant Archmage was a rare Tier 2 mage class, and she was almost capped out. Soon, she’d be advancing to Tier 3. She was also the first one to truly meet my eyes, and I saw the barest whisper of an [Analysis] skill, before a look of dread crossed her face. She steeled herself quickly, though, which was more impressive than almost managing to slip the skill by me unnoticed.

Avrad Longshadow

Atlantean Male

Level 32 Shadowborn Manipulator / Lord of Shadows

Titles: Spymaster of Vinastra, Devout, Kinbreeder, Queen’s Consort, Stealthy, Heretic Bane, Secret Keeper, Blade of the Kingdom, Dungeon Foe, Anathema

Market Value: 4560000 gp

The last of the five was the most impressive. He was a man, with black hair like his sister (I presumed she was his sister, anyways), and an impressive array of titles. Being both a Kinbreeder, which meant that a child was born of him and a family member, and Queen’s Consort meant that he was probably living the harem lifestyle. Looking down, I could tell that he was certainly equipped for the task, if that was how long he got when it was soft. At any rate, he was Tier 3, and well into it, and his body was like a honed weapon, coiled to strike. If it weren’t for the antimagic runes on the cuffs the five of them wore, I didn’t doubt that he would have already freed himself, and the others, and already been on his way out of the city.

The man frowned suddenly, his face becoming harsh, like a hunter seeing a bear suddenly rear up in front of him in the woods. He must have used [Analysis] on me, and I never even noticed it! Even without any of the rest, that would have impressed me enough to know that he was the single most dangerous mortal in the market right now.

“Well, isn’t this a surprise! The Black Knight didn’t tell me that he’d taken any of the royal family alive. I’ll have to ask him how he did it.”

I felt a stir in the mana next to me, and then, the Black Knight’s avatar shimmered into view. “Lord Kuronoth, this is an unexpected surprise. Did you come to check on the status of the war?”

I smiled at the avatar, and nodded. “Yes, amongst other things. A representative of the Galactic Federation spoke to me about things here, and I promised her I would try to make the transition from how things were to how they will be as painless as possible for the wider galactic community. So long as nobody does anything to force other powers to intervene, this is just planetary politics.”

“Lies!” The crown prince yelled, suddenly finding a bit of courage. “Our allies in the Galactic Federation’s Assembly will never just sit there and let this happen!” Unfortunately for him, Black Knight and I were ignoring his outburst, which only made him angry. “Listen to me, Pofmis damn you!”

I laughed, then, and looked back at the boy. “Pofmis damn me? Oh, I expect she’d love to, if she could. She tried once already, and failed. And, by the time I finished fucking her brains out, she could barely string two words together, so I threw her out, naked, save for the chastity belt I put on her, for all the other gods to see.”

That was too much for Radelia. “Blasphemer!” she cried. “You can’t say such things about the Chainbreaker!”

I cracked my neck for a moment, and looked at the Black Knight, going back to ignoring the lot of them, for the moment. “Does the Queen know about her city, yet?”

The Black Knight shook his head. “No, but she should be wondering what is going on, since no one has been giving her reports on the city’s condition. And the Courier’s Guild tells me that the outlying towns only have emergency communications stones that connect to the ones we destroyed here in Nighthold.”

“Anyone come looking?”

“On the second day, yes, my Lord. They turned and ran, when they hit the edge of my territory, which extends out, past the range a catapult in the field could hit the walls. If they borrowed a horse, left immediately, and went as fast as they could to the nearest city, Foalbring, then they would have arrived on the fifth day. But more likely they will only be reaching the gates now.

“From there, either the lord of the city or the head priest for the Church of Pofmis can send word to Starham, on the border with Safrea. They will not have a communication stone that can connect to the army, but the army will be coming to them, in about two days’ time, though a rider could get the message to them quicker.”

I nodded slowly. “In that case, I would like to buy these three women, for my own use. And, yes, I will be paying for them. I’m not so rude as to try and steal the fruits of your labor.”

“Hah. I told the Bandit Leader it would be worth it to leave these ones unspoiled for you. So, just the women? And how much?”

“Yes, just the women. And as for how much? Well, we both know that money from me to you is worth as much as money from you to me. Both of us can manage to create what we need. So, why don’t I give you some things that no one off Earth has ever seen?”

“Well, now you have my interest.”

I just smiled, and waved a hand towards an open area in the market. From my inventory appeared a few goodies that I had ‘acquired’, and then had my people make ‘System-compliant’. There were fourteen cases of ammunition, seven for each of the two weapons systems I’d produced.

“Allow me to introduce you to the M224 mortar launcher, and its angry big brother, the M119 howitzer. In the cases, we have a variety of ammunition for each. For each weapons system, I have a case each of training, high explosive, fragmentation, smoke, illumination, anti-personnel, and white phosphorous incendiary rounds. Guaranteed to make any oncoming army’s day miserable.

“Takes a bit of training, normally, but the System includes them under the same skill: Artillery. I have a skill manual for that, too, so you can teach as many of your troops as you like, instantly. And it doesn’t take magic to use, so your mages will be saved for other things.

“So, do we have a deal?”

The Black Knight nodded his helmeted head. “Yes, we do. I will get the brander.”

“No need, I can brand them myself.” With that, I reached out and touched each of the women that became my new property, and they screamed as the [Slave Brand] burned its way into their body and soul. Looking back at the dungeon’s avatar, I said, “Now, about the men. I had an idea, if you’d like to play some mind games with the Queen, and keep her from thinking straight, before the battle.”

The Black Knight leaned in, eagerly. “Oh, please! You and the Forbidden Chambers of Exotic Pleasures have been a font of wonderful ideas, ever since we first met. So, what did you have in mind?”

Chapter 265 – Degradation

The Black Knight was all too eager to go along with my plan. After everything the Pomisians had put him through, he had a lot of repressed frustration to work through. It did not take much convincing to get him to let the Crown Prince and the Queen’s Spymaster bear the brunt of it, for now.

It was a revenge in three parts. The first part had the Prince and Consort, still naked, of course, bent over and locked in the stocks, which were enchanted like the antimagic shackles were. Every captive man in the slave market who had not yet been branded or sold was given the chance to earn their freedom. All they had to do was use the Prince and the Consort, in all four of their holes. Then, they’d be allowed to leave the city by the shortest road. It was either that, or slavery, with the promise of being sent somewhere awful as a punishment.

Of the forty-two Pofmisians not of the royal family that had not yet been sold, twelve were men. Not one of the men chose slavery over their freedom. As they broke into four lines, I began my sampling of the royal family with the Consort’s sister, in front of the crowd, for all to see.

As the naked archmage sank reluctantly onto my cock, I asked, with my voice amplified so that the entire market could hear, “So, how long have you been fucking your brother, Kinbreeder? How often? How many children have you had with him? And speak truthfully.” She stiffened as those last words formed a command, and you could have heard a pin drop. Only for a moment, though, before the men turned back to their unpleasant task. The women in chains, however, had looks of disgust on their faces.

Through gritted teeth, she answered, “Since I had my first bleed, Master. I have been with him at least once a week since that day, ninety galactic years ago. And we have had three children together.”

I smiled, and forced her down, quickly, so that she was impaled fully, and then began thrusting. “So, your brother trained you well as a slut, then? Good, you’ll have a lot less to unlearn, as you get used to your new role. What are your children’s names, and where are they? Perhaps I can arrange a family reunion.”

“Nae-AH!-Naesala is a mage serving in the army, currently stationed at Helmand, on the border of the Msserine Kingdom. NGH! Sanev is a Fighter serving in the Queensguard, so he will be with the Queen and the army heading to Safrea. Not so deep! Kilyn is a t-traitor. She-EEE!- foreswore Pofmis, and escaped to the Anfelon Confederacy, where the last remnants of the heathens on the continent hold sway.”

I laughed at her attempts to keep her composure, even while bouncing on my cock, and watching her brother and the prince get railed. “Hmm. Sounds like your Kilyn is the smart one. Anyways, you’ll be happy to know that not only are Msserine and Anfelon moving, but there are more counter-revolutions happening in Syllenlon, Amenalari, and Camnas. The puppet theocracies Vinastra installed are falling, and the kingdoms that were free are now looking to ensure that Vinastra pays for what it has done.”

The archmage tried to shake her head in denial, but all that came out was a low moan as I continued my thrusting, and another climax hit her. Meanwhile, the men were working their way through the lines, trying to get their punishment over with. At least the System’s attributes offered them a quick recharge, so that they could go again by the time they were at the front of their next line.

The two victims, however, were looking decidedly less good by the time I unloaded in the archmage’s womb. Both were crying, by now, and if it wasn’t for the stocks and the constant rotation of fresh meat, I doubted they’d still be able to stand. While I guided the archmage to the ground, and had her begin to clean me off, I looked at the two men.

They were nearly broken. That was perfect. The goal of this torture was to push them to the brink. The second act would push them past it.

The golden-haired daughter was next. She was actually a virgin, despite being at Tier 2. How she’d kept herself intact for that long was beyond me. Perhaps she was waiting for marriage? Or kept pure for a political marriage? Either way, it didn’t matter now, because she was my property, and I intended to enjoy her to the fullest.

By the time the crying girl took her turn cleaning the mixture of her virgin blood and our shared juices from my cock, the last man had finished his fourth load. I nodded to the Black Knight, and the helmeted to look at them. The men took a step back in fear at having the spirit of the dungeon give them his undivided attention.

“You are free to go. Run, by the shortest road, to the city gates. The guards will be watching. If you stop, or do anything else, until you are out of the city, then you will return to the slave pen. Go, now.”

The men, still naked, turned, and ran. They did not look entirely satisfied, of course. Probably, they wanted to ask for clothes, or even a chance to get some of their old things. That wasn’t going to happen, however, so they settled for getting out of the city, and then they’d worry about the rest.

The dungeon guards stepped up, and unlocked the stocks. The two men inside fell to the floor, and were once more bound in antimagic shackles. Crown Prince Thuridan was still weeping, and trying to cover himself, but Avrad actually still possessed enough of himself to glare at me. But then, he was Tier 3, while Thuridan was barely into Tier 1. He would be able shake things off much easier.

As I dragged the struggling Tanila into my lap, while the Archmage and her sister just knelt at my side, like I’d commanded them to, I looked at the two men. “I will offer both of you a trial. Both of you will live to see the Queen again, for I have a message I wish for you to bring her. However, before you can go about that task, you must complete my trial.”

“And if we refuse?” Avrad said, as firmly as he could. The effect was ruined slightly by the way he watched my cock rob another princess of her maidenhead. Envy was written plainly on his face.

“Then I will have you both castrated with a cursed blade, so that even healing magic of the third tier won’t bring back what is lost, and force you to eat it. Then, when that is done, I will have you paraded through the kingdom like that, on your way to deliver the message. And your new ‘Eunuch’ title will be permanently branded on your forehead. Again, in such a way that not even third tier magics can heal it or cover it.”

Even Avrad paled at that. There were some things that even the strongest man feared. “W-what is this trial?”

“Simple enough. I assume that you are father and son?” Avrad just nodded, once. “Well, then your trial is one of sacrifice. One of you will rape the other. The one who loses shall be castrated, as I described before, but not branded or paraded about or forced to eat their own flesh. The winner shall drink a potion. When that is done, you will be given my message, and a carriage, that will carry you without stop to the Queen’s army. Do this, and you will live. And your children will live. Fail to deliver the message, and I will ensure that your bloodlines will be completely removed from Bluemountain, with not one remaining to taint this world with their presence.”

The boy turned to look fearfully at his father, backing away. Clearly, he did not like his chances against his father, who was, after all, two tiers higher than he was. Unfortunately for him, Avrad had not gotten to the position he was in through an overabundance of empathy or kindness. “Damn you, Kuronoth,” he spat, before he turned on his son.

I laughed as I bounced Tanila in my lap, causing her to moan like her sister had. “Aw, don’t be like that. Surely a Kinbreeder like yourself should be used to the idea. Just picture he’s your sister when she was younger. I mean, he already is practically a girl to begin with.”

Avrad glared murder at me for just a moment, before he turned, and attacked his son. Thuridan tried to resist, but was quickly overpowered. His pleas quickly turned to begging, and then to sobs as his father did what he had to, in order to keep his manhood intact. It was a bit tragic, but, well, I wanted the Queen to be absolutely out of her mind with anger.

The spymaster finished just as I did inside Tanila. As she slid down to the ground and began cleaning me, he staggered back, glaring at me. The guards, dungeon monsters all, stepped forward, and grabbed the prince, stretching him out and holding him in place, even as he screamed and begged for mercy. The girls shuddered as the cut was made. Even Avrad flinched at the sight, though he didn’t turn away.

As the prince whimpered in the fetal position, another guard approached the spymaster, holding a potion I had summoned from my dungeon when Black Knight agreed to my plan. The guard held the potion in front of the still-shackled spymaster. Avrad took the hint, and took the potion. Unstoppering the vial, he glared at me once more, and said, “May Pofmis damn you for your heinous deeds.”

The moment he drank the potion, he screamed, as the magic worked its way through him. The bastard was too worried about his manhood to ask what the effects of the potion were. He just drank it, and now, he was going to pay the price.

While the change progressed, I snapped my fingers, and opened a portal to my dungeon. From it came a carriage, drawn by skeletal steeds and driven by a skeleton coachman. The carriage itself was a simple thing, like any a slightly rich merchant might use, though the wheels and harness were enchanted to ensure that it would be the fastest carriage on the planet.

The boy prince stopped whimpering as one of the guards hit him with a healing spell to dull the pain. It wasn’t a mercy, but rather, my way of getting him to pay attention as I stepped off the stage, towards him. I held out a scroll, sealed with red wax. “You will go with the spymaster, princeling, and take this carriage to mummy. Maybe she’ll kiss it better, if you’re lucky. But probably not, once she’s read what I have to say. Now, up you get, and into the carriage. There is a loincloth in there for each of you, so you won’t be parading your newfound status for all to see.”

The prince sniffed, and took the scroll. He was broken, completely. It was doubtful that, even if Vinastra survived the coming conflict, that he would ever be suitable to take up the throne. Which meant that the queen would either need to quickly give birth to a new heir, or the dynasty would fall, since a slave could not rule a kingdom.

Of course, she would also need to find a new consort. I turned, and looked at Avrad, and smirked. Her change had finished. Where, before, he had been a proud Atlantean man, now he was a Lewd Atlantean Woman. She hadn’t even realized how far she had changed before the guards threw them both into the carriage, and sent them off.

After all, I said that this was a revenge in three parts. The first was to make their minds tired, and weaken their will. The second was to break their spirit. And the third? That was to steal their future.

I had not intended to get involved here, but the Ambassador got me to promise to try and limit how much chaos would erupt. So, that was what I was going to do. After all, a quick, climactic battle that saw the enraged queen brought low was far more civil than a drawn-out civil war that spread to embroil the entire world. Really, I was saving lives, here.

Chapter 266 – Councils

(Fort Highpeak, on the border between Vinastra and Msserine, Helmand Province)

Naesara Longshadow was in the keep, trying to restore communications with the capital, along with the other mages. The communication stone for the capital was dark, which meant that it had either been jammed somehow, or was destroyed. Since the other stones, leading to other garrisons in the province, were still working, they knew it wasn’t something on their end, but something that had happened in the capital.

Strangely, even direct sending spells, which should have worked, were being interfered with. Not blocked outright, they could tell the difference between the two, but drowned out in magical ‘noise’. One mage frowned, “The only time I’ve ever felt something like this was one time when I was trying to cast a sending, and the target was inside a dungeon.”

Another shook his head. “But we’ve tried dozens of people we all know. Naesara here even tried members of the royal family! They cannot all be in a dungeon, especially since the Black Knight dungeon has been acting strange of late, and all the faithful have gotten the Dungeonfoe title.”

Naesara’s eyes went wide. “But what if they didn’t go into the dungeon? What if the dungeon encompassed the city?”

“What? Impossible! The army would never allow that!”

Her Captain shook his head. “The army is on the march to try and put down the revolt of the faithless in Safrea. They aren’t in the city right now. Only a garrison force would have been left behind.”

“Even so, the guards left in the city would have put down a dungeon break, right?”

Naesara took a breath, and said, “Either way, we have to know. There is a way to force a connection through the dungeon interference, if you’re targeting a blood relative, and they are a powerful mage in their own right. But it is risky, opening a portal to the depths of a dungeon, so it is never used.”

All eyes turned to the Captain, who nodded. “We need to know. And if we can get the Archmage out, then we may be able to save more. Do it.”

Naesara took a breath, and drew a knife from her belt. With a quick slash, she cut her hand, and let the blood flow, using it to draw a sigil upon the stone floor. She had to hurry, before the blood began to dry, her wound closed, or she lost too much blood. In truth, this was not a spell she should have attempted before the third Tier, but she was the daughter of the Archmage of the kingdom, and that kind of pedigree did not come without merits.

There was a crack in the air as the portal tore open. The other mages stood at the ready, staves and weapons in hand. What they saw on the other side was not the white walls of Aquilla City, but dark stone. And, through the portal, four figures could be seen, three women and one man, though only the man wore clothes.

Naesara gasped as she looked closer. One of the naked women was her mother! She wanted to speak, but her focus was wholly bound up in trying to hold open the portal. She could not even move, so great was the strain.

The man, dressed all in black, and with black hair upon his head, smirked, and stepped forward, up to, and then through, the portal. She could see now that he had short red horns growing from his skull, a long, whip-like tail, and demon wings sprouting from his back. But he was not a demon, she could sense that clearly.

Her Captain broke the silence. “HALT, AND DECLARE YOURSELF!”

The man smiled, and put one hand out to the side. From the stone next to the portal, an object growing out of black, volcanic glass. It was a shrine, she realized! The moment she realized that, there was a wave of power, as the god, for this had to be a god’s avatar, claimed the room as a shrine to himself. She gasped, as control of the portal was ripped from her, and the god took up management of the portal.

At the same time, she felt weakness go through her, not just the Dungeonfoe weakness, but another, deeper weakness. Anathema. If she were not already kneeling to control the portal, the weakness would have driven her to the ground. She heard grunts of pain and fear, as her comrades joined her.

“My, my, my,” the avatar spoke. “I never knew such a spell existed.” He turned to face the Captain, the only one of their number to remain on his feet, though he now leaned heavily on his staff. “You are a strong one. Very well, then. I shall declare myself. I am Kuronoth, God of Pleasure, Domination, and Dungeons. And, so long as you do not do not attack me, I will not attack you this day.”

The Captain grit his teeth, but just looked at his men. “Stand down.” As if they needed the order, when they were just now beginning to recover enough to stand, but better to issue the order than not, just in case. “We cannot fight an avatar of a god we are anathema to in his own shrine.”

Kuronoth nodded, and said, “You are wiser than many of your peers. In light of that, I will offer you this wisdom. The Msserian army marches upon Vinastra, and they have enlisted the aid of the Tunnels of the Golden Ogre Dungeon, whose monsters now aid them on the march. This fortress will be overrun before the dawn. Surrender, and you will be treated well. You will not be forced to shed your beliefs, and you will not be harmed or enslaved, unless you break Msserian law. Resist, and the lucky ones will die, while the survivors will be enslaved, and forced to march on their homeland as part of the army.”

The Captain frowned. “So, that is it? There is no hope for us, for Vinastra?”

Kuronoth shook his head. “The Capital has already fallen. The Crown Prince is a eunuch, a broken child, and the princesses are enslaved. When the Queen falls in the upcoming battle, that dynasty will be finished. However, I have given my word to try and ease the transition, so that it happens with as little bloodshed as possible.”

Then, he turned his gaze upon her. “Naesara Longshadow, daughter of Alea and Avrad Longshadow, I offer you a separate choice. Your mother is my prisoner, and your father unmanned. I offer you a choice. You may surrender to Msserine when they arrive, you may take your own life, or you may come with me, though you’ll either have to forsake your goddess, or become my prisoner.”

“U-uncle Avrad is my father?” Her voice cracked. How could that be? Suddenly, she felt as though she had spent days crawling through the sewers on hands and knees. Dirty. Unclean.

“And the father of your siblings, yes, as well as the father of the Queen’s children, and of General Liahorn’s brood.” He smiled as she sunk back, in shock. “Yes, your father had quite the harem from his adventuring days, and before. However, since he completed the trial I set before him, I promised that I would keep his bloodline safe, but I will not stop you from taking your own life, if that is your wish.”

She looked to her Captain, who had the power to sense lies, but he shook his head, also in shock, “All truth.”

Everything she’d ever known was a lie! Forcing herself to her feet, she took the symbol of Pofmis she wore around her neck, and cast it to the ground. Instantly, she felt lighter, that rejection stripping her of both Dungeonfoe and Anathema effects. “I must speak with my mother.”

Kuronoth simply smiled, and waved her through the portal. Looking back to the others, he said, “Decide quickly, and spread the word to the rest of the soldiers. Vinastra will no longer be allowed to be a tyrant, forcing others into bondage in the name of freedom, but there is no reason for you and yours to die.” And, with that, he was gone, the portal closing behind him.

(Central Keep, Starham Fortress, on the border between Vinastra and Safrea)

Her Majesty, Queen Esabel Threeshield, Queen of Vinastra and her colonies, High Councilor of the Council of Bluemountain, Goddess-Blessed Archon of Pofmis, Protector of the Faith, Shepherd of the People, the Just, and the Righteous Guardian of the Light was furious. She had just arrived at the fortress, to prepare the army for the march into Safrea to liberate it from the heretics, when the news came. Aquilla City had fallen in her absence, becoming the property of the damned Black Knight dungeon! She had wondered why the reports were overdue, and, now, she knew.

General Elasha Liahorn rested one hand on her shoulder, comfortingly. She was lucky enough to have all five of her children here, with her, as part of her army, but the Queen was not so lucky. They had been adventurers together, along with the Spymaster and the Archmage, and had shared enough of each other along the way that she knew what her liege was feeling at the moment.

“We still don’t know how they captured the city without the alarm being raised, unfortunately. There have been no reports from the city, so all the communication stones must have been destroyed.” She paused, and then said, “You must make a choice, your majesty. We cannot attack Safrea and reclaim the capital both at the same time. And whichever one we leave for later will have all the more time to prepare defenses against us.”

The Queen grit her teeth, and tried to work on the calming exercises and meditations she used when her temper threatened to boil over. She uttered a prayer to Pofmis Chainbreaker, hoping for wisdom, or a sign. Anything to tell her which path was the correct one.

“A messenger comes, with news most dire. But fear not, for I am with you, my faithful servants.”

All turned and bowed to the golden radiance coming from the center of the room, even the Queen. For it was only right that she bowed to her goddess, descended into an avatar before her. Daring to raise her eyes to the goddess’s knees, she asked, “How may We serve, my Lady?”

“The foul god behind the changes in the dungeons here, and across the stars, has revealed himself upon Bluemountain. He will not intervene directly, but he has already struck at the heart of your rule, and his followers have stirred up revolts in all those lands you brought under My Name. The fate of Vinastra will be decided upon the Plains of Tenthar, in Safrea. You must win, or Vinastra is lost. But hope yet remains while your faith is true. Call upon me, when battle is joined, and I shall send aid to fight against the dungeon spawn.”

A messenger burst in, but his eyes opened wide at the sight of the Goddess made manifest, and he dropped to his knees, purpose momentarily forgotten. The Goddess turned to look at him, and smiled. “Rise, and deliver your message, then have the priestesses of the temple give what comfort they can to the two couriers, in My Name.”

The messenger shakily got to his feet, bowed to the goddess, and approached the still-kneeling queen. With quivering hand, he held out a sealed scroll. “A carriage drawn and driven by undead approached the gates, your Majesty, at speeds unheard of for any vehicle in this world. The undead were dispatched, and inside we found two individuals: a woman, and a man barely more than a boy, clad only in rags. We were forced to assign only female guards to them, for whenever a man got too close to the woman, they lost all reason, and threw themselves at her in a mating frenzy. The boy asked that they be taken to the Temple of Pofmis, for rest and recovery, but handed this sealed note, to be delivered to your hand.”

The Queen nodded, and took the scroll. “Go, and be about the Goddess’s business, as She instructed you.” As the messenger quickly left, Elasha looked up at her goddess, who nodded sadly. Clearly, this wouldn’t contain good news. Looking at the seal, she saw that it was the symbol of the thrice-damned Dominator, Kuronoth. With grim resolve, she opened the scroll, only for it to dissolve into particles of shadow, and form into an image of the dark god in front of her, life-size.

“Hello, Queen Threeshield. We have not yet met, but I am Kuronoth, the unlying God of Pleasure, Domination, and Dungeons. For too long, Vinastra has run rampant over this world, tyrannizing and enslaving others in the name of the Goddess of Freedom. And, while I did not start this conflict, I have been asked by powers in the galaxy at large to ensure that it does not spill over into endless bloodshed, or troubles happening across all the stars.

“So, I have taken the liberty of cutting your dynastic line short. Your Crown Prince, the boy sent to deliver this message, is a eunuch, unmanned by his own father with a cursed blade, to prevent the use of healing magic in regrowing what he lost. The father is changed into a woman cursed to give off pheromones that will cause any man with functioning ‘equipment’ who strays too close to throw themselves at her endlessly, until they fuck themselves into unconsciousness. Your Princesses and your Archmage are enslaved to me, personally, and I have already given each of them my seed.

“Aquilla City is lost to you, for it is now Nighthold. Its walls are now Dungeon walls, nigh impenetrable, and they are defended by dungeon creatures, who know no fear, and can be respawned with their skills intact, for as long as the dungeon has mana. To say nothing of the other improvements made. You will not retake it, even with an army one hundred times the size you set out with.

“However, I know that many of your people and cities are loyal to you, and to that horny bitch of a goddess, Pofmis. There is a chance that you could cower in one of your other cities, and try to hold on to power with what remains of Vinastra, dragging out this war with pointless deaths. So, the forces arrayed against you shall gather on the Tenthar Plains in three days’ time from when you get this message. If you are there, they shall do battle, and the fate of Vinastra will be decided. If you flee, like a frightened little girl, then the armies arrayed against you will be bolstered by monsters from the Forbidden Chambers of Exotic Pleasures dungeon on Earth, monsters that will leave the land to sicken and die in their wake, making it so that not only will Vinastra be destroyed, but that no Atlantean will be able to live there for one hundred years or more.”

The projection paused, and smiled wickedly, “But I do hope that you don’t run away. It will be fun watching those you thought to rule over crush your armies, killing the men and using the women as whores and breeding stock. In fact, those allied against you have agreed that, after you lose, the entire army shall get the privilege of using you, and your General, in all your holes, until you are both looser than a one copper street whore turning tricks in the gutter. And, for those who don’t prefer the female form, well, your eunuch son already knows how to properly receive them, at both ends, so they won’t be left out.

“Until then, keep your holes tight, so that the men have more fun stretching them. And tell that meddling bitch Pofmis that, if she appears upon the battlefield, then we can have a rematch, to see if she can avenge her previous loss, and maybe take some time off her sentence. With all due disrespect, I can’t wait to ruin you all, and bring peace to Bluemountain.”

And then the image faded away. All who witnessed it were shocked at what they had heard, unable to process it. All save the Queen and the Goddess, who unleashed matching screams of utter rage and righteous fury.

Chapter 267 – Battlefield

The Tenthar Plains were an interesting location. A wide valley bordered on two sides by low ridges, to the north and south, about two miles apart at the widest point, though closing to a mere two hundred yards on the eastern end, four miles from the western end of the valley. The only real defining features of the valley, which had a gentle upwards slope going from west to east, was the wide dirt road that connected Vinastra and Safrea, marking the main trade route between the two countries. Past the ridges on either side, the terrain was thick forests over uneven terrain, impossible for regular trade (or standing armies) to pass through in any significant number.

Just before nightfall of the second day since my challenge, the Vinastran army arrived at the Plains, occupying the western gap, which was nearly a mile wide. Scouts on the ridges told us that their numbers numbered at least twenty thousand infantry, with another thousand cavalry and five hundred each of mages and priests. Vinastra was the powerhouse of the continent for a reason, after all.

The Safrean army numbered only five thousand infantry, and a corps of two hundred mages and priests, but they were motivated, occupying the bottleneck at the eastern end, where they could concentrate their forces, and keep the enemy from flanking them. If there was anything to be said about them, other than their fighting on their home ground, it was that they had a higher percentage of their forces in the second Tier than the Vinastrans did, though they were still largely outnumbered when counting just those in Tier 2. And yet, they clamped down on their fear, stifling it with a righteous anger and promises of vengeance long due.

Safrea had spent years under the heel of a theocracy that had been forced upon them in the name of ‘freedom’. They had been made to watch as Vinastran companies plundered their lands of resources, allowed to do so by the puppet king and his damned bishop that acted according to Vinastra’s will. Honestly, all Safrea needed was oil, and I would have sworn that the Queen had been taking pages out of Uncle Sam’s playbook.

But, similarities between empire builders aside, the first blows of the battle were struck that night, as scouts and commando units moved through the forest along either ridge, hoping to spy out enemy defenses, and eliminate enemy spies. Here, the Safreans had the advantage, for their Rangers were hunters all, skilled bowmen to the last, and they knew these woods like the back of their hand. It was said that a Safrean Ranger could run the ridge in the dead of night, with no moon or stars to aid them, and not trip or lose their way, without the aid of magic. Whether that was true or not was anyone’s guess. But Safrean Ranger was a Tier 2 class, so it could very well have been a class ability.

The fighting was not entirely one-sided, of course. Vinastra had their own scouts, and did not skimp on the training, but few scouts for the army made it to the second tier. From the lowest levels to the highest, the scouts were regarded as disposable, and of lesser worth than those who did the ‘real’ fighting. After all, scouts just hid in the woods or ran messages. How could that compare to those actually fighting, on the front lines?

I chuckled at that. If they had focused more on their scouts, and in getting the lay of the land, then they would, perhaps, have caught wind of the preparations that the Safreans had made in the time they’d been given. Their arrogance and belief in their own infallibility and righteousness was going to cost them, but I couldn’t entirely fault the Queen, or her forces. After all, the preparations were just a few little holes in the ground, dug and then filled in, until it was time to spring the trap.

Just after dawn of the third day, the Vinastran army began marching, leaving their camp raised behind them. They marched at an easy pace, covering three of the four miles in just over an hour. But that was close enough. A signal was given. As one, four core spikes belonging to three different dungeons activated.

In front of the Safrean army, a spike belonging to Wyrmfang Aerie pulsed, and expanded its territory, to cover the entire end of the pass, and part of the ridge above. The ground shifted under the feet of the soldiers, but they’d all taken a knee beforehand, knowing it was coming. A high wall rose before them, with but a single gate barred by an iron portcullis, the width of the road passing through it. It was a Dungeon Wall, and, therefore, sturdier than your average stonework. Upon the wall were the crests of Safrea and Wyrmfang Aerie, as equals. Men quickly began moving to take up position upon the wall, and defend it from the invaders, as a portal opened in the sky above, and dragons spilled out into the morning air.

Behind the Vinastran army, a spike pulsed. Black stone rose out of the ground, cutting the army off from its camp and supplies. The only gate was shut with massive doors of the same stone as the wall itself. Proudly emblazoned upon the wall over the gate were the symbols of the Mesmerizing Cells of the Black Knight, and my own symbol. The wall was manned already, with the Black Knight’s forces, and I smiled to see that the Black Knight had already included mortar crews with his defenders. The range was too close for the howitzers, unfortunately, but the mortars would still be deadly effective against the Vinastrans.

To the north and south, two of my spikes pulsed. Steady battlements lined the ridges, with towers at regular intervals. Portals opened on either ridge. Through the northern portals marched the forces of the Anfelon Confederacy and the Msserine Kingdom. The southern portals saw more troops emerge, bearing the colors of Syllenlon, Amenalari, and Camnas, all countries that had been bullied by Vinastra over the years. These forces were heavy on archers and mages, though there were some priests and fighting men there, as well, to protect against the approaches to the battlements.

Like this, the numbers on the field shifted, adding five thousand troops from the black knight, and a combined six thousand from the other countries, plus the company of dragons. In terms of raw numbers, Vinastra still had the edge, at twenty-two thousand against a total force of just over sixteen thousand. Just shy of a forty percent advantage in manpower was nothing to laugh at, after all.

But numbers alone do not decide battles. While the Vinastrans may have had more troops in absolute terms, whether overall, or just counting those into the second Tier, the terrain had suddenly turned against them, in a big way. They were all Dungeonfoes, after all, and Anathema to me. The dungeon creatures at either end of the pass would do 50% more damage, while taking 25% less from the counterattack, and many of the defenders had taken up my church, at least temporarily, to strike back at the Vinastrans.

With a swirl of black smoke, I manifested upon northern ramparts, next to a leather-clad woman wearing the red and gold of Anfelon. In her hands, she held a bow with no string, and a pair of short swords hung upon her hips. She bore no quiver or arrows, for her bow was strung with magic, and, thus, the arrows it fired were conjured from magic.

“My Lord Kuronoth!” the woman bowed her head respectfully to me, though she was no worshipper of mine. “I did not think you would take the field so early. Is aught amiss?”

Kilyn Longshadow

Atlantean Female

Level 38 Arcane Bow / Mistress of the Hunt

Titles: Disowned, Forsworn, Oathbreaker, Heretic, Kinslayer, Manslayer, Ladykiller, Huntress, Unerring Marksman

Market Value: 76000 gp

I shook my head at the Archmage’s daughter. Her story was an interesting one. Eldest of the three daughters, when she turned sixteen, her father had apparently attempted to do with her as he had with her mother, and make her his own. She resisted, and, unlike her mother, had no care about how she did so, giving her more success. While her father was attended by a healer to mend the vicious bite wounds upon his most tender flesh, she fled the castle, killing three guards along her way to the stables. One of those guards turned out to be a half-brother, son of her father and his longtime maid, which is how she got the Kinslayer title.

In her flight, she forswore all her former oaths and allegiances, including those to her Queen, her country, and Pofmis herself. She made her way to Anfelon, and promptly joined their army, as soon as they verified her titles, and tested her to ensure she was telling the truth. Since then, she’d killed many Vinastrans in border conflicts, as well as raids, and had led the defenses in the last attempt Vinastra made to conquer the Confederacy.

“No, nothing like that. And I am not taking the field proper, understand. But I wish to observe the meeting with my own eyes. There is still a chance that the queen will prove more intelligent than she’s acted thus far, and surrender, but I doubt it. Whether this will be a fight, or a slaughter, however, depends on what happens to the heralds.”

(Vinastran Host)

Her Majesty, Queen Esabel Threeshield, Queen of Vinastra and her colonies, High Councilor of the Council of Bluemountain, Goddess-Blessed Archon of Pofmis, Protector of the Faith, Shepherd of the People, the Just, and the Righteous Guardian of the Light eyed the sudden ramparts with distaste. Walls suddenly appeared all about her army, trapping them inside a killing ground where there had been a plain before. And, even from the midst of the army, she could see the standards arrayed against her. These were most of the countries around Vinastra, after all. But the dungeons? “What sorcery is this?”

“No sorcery, this, my Queen,” General Liahorn said.

Esabel recognized the tone in her General and longtime friend’s voice. She was worried. “What is it?”

“That is not sorcery, but Dungeon Magic. My Arcane Eye sees it, and there is no actual spellwork there. Three dungeons have manifested their auras here to create this trap. The ones before and behind are known, but the one on either side? And yes, it is the same dungeon manifesting on either side, with an unclaimed space between them. That dungeon is unknown to me. The System identifies it as the Forbidden Chambers of Exotic Pleasures, from the planet Earth.”

“That is the dungeon that the Dominator has some connection to, is it not?”

“Indeed, your Majesty. I have not yet detected a full descent of an avatar, but that does not mean that this upstart Kuronoth is not here, watching. The situation is not good. Not insurmountable, but it has become close to an even fight.”

“Riders approaching!”

Esabel turned to look at the front. Sure enough, riders were coming. Not just one or two, but sixteen. There looked like six lords, one from each of the upstart nations, with six banner-bearers behind them. The other four rode in two pairs, slightly apart from the others, taking up either end of the line. They bore no banners, but it was clear enough who they represented.

One of the lords Esabel could recognize even from this distance was Talarion, the Dark Knight, a boss from the thirtieth floor of the Mesmerizing Cells of the Black Knight dungeon, riding upon his steed Shadowsoul. She had faced, and killed that boss many times before she took up the mantle of Queen. A formidable fighter, but no match for her power.

The other lord was a draconian, one of the humanoid dragons that were part of the Wyrmfang Aerie dungeon. That… thing’s steed was a dragonne, some sort of draconic horse, or close enough. She did not know much about their abilities, as she’d never been able to delve Wyrmfang Aerie before she became Queen, but it ought to be a boss, as well.

She sighed, and urged her own horse forward. Liahorn followed her, along with her five sons, and five of her own Queensguard, including Alea’s son. She doubted these peasants, upstarts, and rogue dungeons would have anything to say that would change their fate, but decorum demanded she let them give voice to their pleas before the battle. She would still purge them all, in Pofmis’s name, naturally, but she would at least give them a chance to surrender, and lessen the deaths to her own army. She had no doubts in the might of her armies. After all, she had not yet called upon Pofmis for her promised aid. With Her help, she would crush them all; of that, she was certain.

Chapter 268 – Reunion

(Upon the Field)

Meeting at the mid-point between her army and the Safrean wall, Esabel drew her horse to a halt, looking imperiously at the men and women arrayed against her. “Who speaks, then, for this rabble? Have you come to offer your surrender?”

The King of Safrea nudged his horse to take a half-step forward. When he spoke, his voice was magically amplified, so that every creature in the valley could hear him. “I, King Elaith Therona of Safrea, have been elected to speak of my companions on this occasion. And no, we have not come to offer surrender. For too long, Vinastra has imposed tyranny and slavery upon the other lands, forcing our people to follow your hollow and hypocritical goddess, whether we will or no.”

He paused, and his eyes burned like coals as they met her gaze. “That ends this day. Your capital has already fallen. The Black Knight has claimed it already, and hardened it against any assault. The outer marches of your kingdom have already started to fall, as Anfelon and Msserine occupy frontier provinces. And those countries you had thought conquered have risen up, to join us now. Syllenlon, Amenalari, and Camnas join us on the field this day, and their strength pushes against your troops closer to home, as well.

“Your army is cut off and surrounded, with forces upon high ground having already taken your measure to lay waste to your numbers. Even should your army survive to retreat, you will be broken beyond measure. However, we are willing to extend terms to you, and your army, for your surrender. Vinastra dies this day, but her people do not need to die with it.”

The Queen of Vinastra snarled at this upstart curr. “Silence, worm! Our armies will crush your insignificant numbers, and then we shall crusade against all you heretics, and bring the righteous fury of the faithful to you all! There is no room in this world for those who deny the will of the Chainbreaker!”

“So, in the name of ‘freedom’, in the name of the Chainbreaker, you will put the world in chains, just to satisfy your petty pride and arrogant faith? And your people wonder why it was so easy to unite others against you.”

That was not the king speaking, but the Dark Knight Talarion, sitting upon his black steed. The Queen turned her gaze upon the dungeon creature, and snarled, “This dungeon monster dares speak to me? When I return to my city, your dungeon shall be purged, for it has clearly gone rogue. All the dungeons supporting this madness shall be expunged in holy fire!”

“Oh, dear. That won’t do at all. I’m afraid such a blanket declaration will force me to become involved, as you are targeting those under my aegis.”

That was a new voice, that came from swirling shadows descending from the northern ramparts. The shadows settled, revealing a form in black armor, carrying a sword and shield. Upon the shield was the device of Kuronoth. The sword rose up, as the black figure pointed it at the Queen.

“I give you this chance, mortal, to forsake those words, and return to the path of peace.”

The Queen brought herself up proudly, and said, “Vinastra will never submit to rabble such as these, or heretical false gods such as you! We will strike you all down, in the name of Pofmis Chainbreaker!”

As she turned her horse to leave, the man in black armor spoke again. “Very well.” He waved his hand, and black marks appeared upon the foreheads of several people in her ranks. “Pursuant to the bargain I struck, I have marked those of the blood of Longshadow. Those who encounter them will offer them a chance to lay down arms, and surrender. If they refuse, well, then their lives are forfeit, as is the way in war. Enough of his bloodline has already been secured to allow me to keep my word, after all.”

The two parties then turned, and rode back to their lines, so that the battle could begin in earnest. The Queen was furious, but she had not lost her head. Already, she was planning the attack.

“We must break this encirclement, first and foremost. Have the troops attack the western wall. We will break through the Black Knight’s defenses, and secure our supplies which we left at camp. Then, we can maneuver properly, and defeat these rabble in detail.”

General Liahorn nodded. “As you command, my Queen. But what of the Dark One’s involvement?”

“Yes, it is time to call in the aid promised to us.” The Queen took a breath, and called out, “OH, POFMIS CHAINBREAKER, FROM WHOM ALL FREE THOUGHTS SPRING! BLESS US WITH YOUR AID IN THIS HOUR OF NEED, FOR YOUR ENEMY HAS REVEALED HIMSELF UPON THE FIELD, AND WE REQUIRE THE AID OF THE DIVINE TO FIGHT THE DIVINE!”

“And I am with you, now.”

(Western Wall)

The Black Knight shook his head as his subordinate detailed the results of the conference. “Well, that went about as well as expected.”

I shrugged, keeping my attention on the changing Vinastran lines. “We all knew it wouldn’t end any other way, but it is important that we can say that we made an honest attempt. And, as expected, they’re turning to try and break through this part of the encirclement.”

“Where else can they go? Uphill fights against prepared fortifications, cut off from their supplies and with no way to break through a siege? They’d be doomed, and they know it. This is the only area they have a hope of breaking through.”

All of a sudden, a feeling of power descended upon the battlefield. I sighed, shaking my head. This, too, was expected, after all. “Such a show-off.”

From above the Vinastran forces, portals opened, spilling out divine servants of Pofmis, all in Tier 3 and 4, but all of them marked as Anathema and Dungeon Foes to my eyes. That would make them difficult, though not impossible, for the Tier 2 and 3 monsters from the Black Knight dungeon to take on. But most concerning was the full-bodied Avatar of Pofmis that stepped out of the portal last, her golden armor shining, and her spear resplendent.

The effect was somewhat ruined by the way she shuddered, biting her lip and nearly dropping her spear when I increased the vibration of the devices plugging her holes. Still, that was a divinity, in full form upon the field, which lifted any restrictions I might have on my powers and abilities. Portals opened below the northern and southern ramparts, and from them came thirty-one creatures from my dungeon.

My shadows dispersed, and I reformed standing on the back of the mightiest creature in the ‘army’ I had summoned, my Dragon. She was still young, that was true, but, even so, she was still Tier 4, and she had been training in the dungeon, getting actual fighting experience to go with her raw power. This, however, would be the first time since I had tamed her that she would be able to fight actual creatures not of the dungeon.

My pet may have been the centerpiece of the forces, but it was a toss-up whether she was the most dangerous or not. For the thirty creatures that followed through the rift were creatures that even I refused to put in my dungeon, even on Nightmare Mode. I kept the templates, of course, because you never knew when they might come in handy, but they were too much for my dungeon.

What were these monsters that even I feared to put up against my adventurers? Lewd Uranium Slime Lords. They were a Tier 2 variant of the Uranium Slime, but were granted the ‘breeding’ ability of Slime Lords like Captain Hentai. Like other Lewd Slimes, they had a gender ‘chosen’ upon their creation, that their pheromones would attract, and would seek to breed that gender first, but they were immune to the effects of other Lewd creatures, or similar things.

Getting bred by a Lewd Uranium Slime Lord was inevitably fatal, unless you were completely immune to radiation’s ravages. After all, everything about the creature, including the ‘deposit’ it made and the spawn that grew from it, gave off enough radiation to quickly become fatal. Usually, the victim was dead even before the spawn ate their way free of the victim.

Worse still, the creatures were all but immune to magic, reducing any magical damage taken or the effects of any spells launched at them by 99%, and they had the same resistance to ranged weaponry. To kill them, you either needed MASSIVE overkill, or you needed to engage in melee with them, where they were the most dangerous. Or, you needed to know that their protections did not extend to Necromancy spells. Sure, most necromancy spells were useless on slimes, but there were some damaging and debilitating spells that could be used at range, and would help kill the slimes. Too bad most people didn’t think of using Necromancy on slimes.

Thirty of these creatures began moving forward, heading directly for the Vinastran lines. They were still some ways away, so the Vinastran soldiers hadn’t realized their peril, yet. Meanwhile, the Pofmisian forces swooped down, towards the western wall. Unfortunately, once they crossed the boundary of the temporary dungeon territory, they found themselves hurtling to the ground, as a Dungeon Law came into effect, stating that Dungeon Foes were forbidden from flying or even jumping while in the Black Knight’s domain. They did not hit hard enough to cause damage, but the angelic beings were most certainly dismayed at being made to walk upon the ground. That was when they got to learn about the different types of mortars that Black Knight had access to, as rounds began landing in their midst.

I did not have time to take in the celestial servants’ reactions, however, because I had to angle my shield and divert Pofmis’s lightning thrust away from me. “Really, my little slut, isn’t that a bit too rude for our reunion? And our first real meeting outside either of my domain? Perhaps you would like a reminder of who holds the power here?”

The Goddess recovered quickly from her opening attack, not leaving me room for a counter. “Shut it, you bastard! You may have beaten me in your domain, and forced me to wear this humiliating and blasphemous undergarment, but that was then! Now, I have you, outside your place of power, and you will pay for your crimes!”

I shook my head sadly, and clanged my sword against my shield. Stepping off the dragon’s head, I risked a look back at her. “Go, play. Consume the Vinastrans and Pofmisians, save those I have marked, if you wish. Grow strong, my pet.” The dragon roared in response, and dove down, towards the army.

Looking back at Pofmis, I grinned, though I knew she wouldn’t see it with my helmet on. “Before we begin, I was hoping you had the answer to a question that has been bugging me. Why is this world so primitive? The bounty hunters had spaceships, and they are connected to the galaxy at large. There shouldn’t be a reason for them living like this. Like it was medieval times.”

Pofmis snorted, and readied her spear as we began circling each other in the air. “Do you think technology and magic are given out equally to all planets? Some reject one or the other, and some combine the two. On Bluemountain, over a thousand standard years ago, the decision was made to reject technology past a certain point, save for a few areas like the spaceport, and the connections to the wider galaxy, to keep themselves from suffering the same corruption and spiritual impurity as they saw in the Tondarran Degradations. The people of Bluemountain have forgotten the reason by now, since it is long out of living memory, but the effects of that choice remain.”

I shook my head, sadly. “Such a waste of potential. But, I guess keeping people dumb and dependent on outdated systems is what allows religious nutjobs to lead them into committing all kinds of terrible things, all in the name of ‘freedom’. When people are too busy trying to survive to think, then they are more easily led around.”

She snarled, and said, “Enough of this! I will not debate the way mortals run their worlds with you! Today, I end you, once and for all!” And, with that, she charged.

Chapter 269 – The Second Clash

Mitatron, Lord of the First Host of the Pofmisian Guard, scowled as explosions erupted in the midst of his forces. A mere dungeon dared to sully his golden greaves by making him trudge through the mud? And then compounded the insult by launching these strange explosive shells at him, and his host? That was unforgiveable. Utterly and completely unforgiveable.

Still, he could not afford to stand here, fuming over the insult. That would not see it repaid one hundred-fold. “PRESS FORWARD!” His yell echoed across the field, spurring the celestials in his guard to follow him, as he kept his golden sword aloft like a beacon. With the host at his back, he engaged in an activity he had not bothered with since he had ascended to the third Tier, and gained his wings: running.

Five thousand angels of Tier 3 and another five hundred in Tier 4, including himself, ran towards the black wall that loomed before them. No, fewer than that, now. The screams of the wounded and the dying had begun. And a sea dragon circled overhead. It was a young dragon, to be sure, but still in the fourth Tier. Normally, he would have had no trouble dispatching it on his own. But the dragon could fly, and he could not. Worse, if they set aside their spears for the bows of light that would allow them to slay the dragon, then the explosions of the enemy’s foul weapons would have time to catch them. But, if they did not, the dragon would continue to strafe their lines with superhot steam.

He had no way of knowing it, but his host moved at speeds that, before the Apocalypse, would have matched a cheetah’s best speed on Earth, and they did it in full armor, over uneven ground. Eleven seconds after the order was given, they had crossed four-fifths of the distance from the edge of the dungeon’s influence to the wall itself. In that time, the twenty mortar crews unleashed seventy-five mortar rounds upon the enemy, reducing their numbers by one-tenth, a decimation, by the traditional definition.

But now they were inside the minimum range of the mortars, giving them a reprieve… until the spells began falling upon them, even as the angels made their way to the gate, and began beating on it, trying to force it open with blade and spell.

(Elsewhere on the Field)

“It is no good, Captain! Spells roll right off those things! They must have some kind of antimagic properties!”

Captain Erlan Elwynn cursed at the report from the attached mage corps. They were just slimes, damn it! Sure, they were glowing some kind of sickly green, and they were as large as a carriage, but still! They were the lowest, most basic type of monster. Every member of the army had killed hundreds, if not thousands of the things!

And yet, they couldn’t get close. The slimes were poisonous just to be around, and full-grown men would fall to the ground, choking on their blood before they even came within melee range. The few who could withstand the poison long enough to get into range, found themselves snatched up and… violated by the slimes, even as their flesh began melting from their bones! It was a horror show to witness. He would not order any more of his men into that mess.

“Push forward! We have to get through the gates, and out of this trap!”

But pushing forward was easier said than done. The angels had passed through the artillery barrage, but that only meant that it was primed and ready for the mortal soldiers following them to meet the same fate. Mostly in Tier 1 and 2, the weapons were far more devastating against them than they had been against the angels.

The troops behind were urging the army forward, away from the slimes that seemingly could not be killed. The troops ahead were loathe to move forward, as the artillery began turning the people in front of them, and to either side, into splattered chunks upon the battlefield. And, in between, the Queen and her Queensguard were caught, unable to move in either direction.

(Above the Field)

I was reminded once again that Pofmis was the stronger of the two of us, in terms of godly power. Here, away from my domain, that point was made crystal clear as we fought in the air above the battlefield. She was faster and stronger than I was. However, she was armed with a two-handed spear, while I had a sword and shield, and she was not so fast that I could not see her. So, it became a defensive game, her probing my defenses, and me countering, and trying to find a moment to attack without opening myself to ruination.

Or, that is what it would have been, in a fair world. But I did not play fair. Not when there was more than just my perverse amusement on the line.

Every so often, I would cause the vibrators she was forced to wear inside her to turn up their intensity, before backing down, not letting her get used to the increased sensation. And I did not let myself get predictable, either. Sometimes it was the one in front. Sometimes the one in back. Sometimes both. And they never pulsed at the same point of her attack or defense twice in a row, so she could not learn the pattern.

This caused her to make mistakes. Not enough to cost her the battle outright, of course, but enough that her blows never quite struck true, and her defense was never quite fast enough. We fought, and blows were traded on both sides, but my cheating made this a more even contest. One that I was sure that I could win, so long as I kept her angry. Fortunately, I was quite adept at making Pofmis angry.

“What’s the matter, Pofmis? You’re panting like a bitch in heat. I haven’t even put aphrodisiac on my blade. Could it be that you are just a natural masochist? Whatever will your followers say, if they see you cumming in the middle of our fight, only to take a punishment from me?”

Pofmis snarled, and swung her spear like a staff, trying to blow me away with pure godly force alone. “They will forget all about it when I tear your heart from your avatar’s chest, and consume your divinity!” I stepped forward, shield raised, so that the middle of the shaft hit, rather than the end, halving the force of the blow. Even so, I flew back several feet. “I will rip apart your soul, so that not even that dungeon will be able to retrieve you!” Her next attack came swiftly, as she moved before thrusting, trying to get her spear tip around the edge of my shield. My blade parried the blow, and a shield bash in return bloodied her nose. “I will cast you unto oblivion, along with all your followers, so that your very name will be struck from existence, and not even the System itself will remember you!”

I had to smile as she wiped the blood from her face. “Three separate threats, against my existence entire. Said openly, unprompted, and without coercion! More importantly, said loudly enough that the sensors of those gods watching in, ready to intervene should one of us go too far, can examine the record.”

I saw Pofmis’s eyes go wide, as she caught the tone of what I had said. “Wait, no!”

But I did not give her a chance to recant her words. Instead, I took a deep breath, and said, with magic in my voice, “I call for the lords of Judgement to offer their blessing that this fight between gods continue, as a Divine Duel, with no holds barred, and no restrictions upon the outcome. Let the Victor choose the Vanquished’s fate, be it enslavement or erasure from history, or anything in between. If this risk be not to the liking of either challenger, then let them forfeit now, before all their followers, and strip their followers of their divine magics for one galactic standard year, as penalty.”

System Notification

A Divine Duel has been declared between Pofmis Chainbreaker and Kuronoth the Dominator. The Victor may do whatever they wish to the Vanquished, and the other gods will not interfere. You have this one chance to withdraw from the duel, at the cost of stripping your followers of their divine magics for one galactic standard year. By continuing, you agree to suffer any fate bestowed upon you by the Victor if you are Vanquished.

Will you continue?

Yes / No

Pofmis snarled at me as I accepted the duel immediately. “Fine then. It is your own funeral!” She accepted.

“Excellent!” I grinned, and concentrated on sword and shield for but a moment. Both began to glow, and a pink mist fell off the shield, while pink slime coated the blade. Old tricks, but now they were boosted by the power of my divinity, to the point where even a goddess would have to be wary of their effects. And Pofmis knew it. I could see in her eyes that she remembered our last clash, and its outcome.

Now, I was on the attack, and she was playing defense, using her spear’s reach to try and keep me from getting too close to her. She swung her spear, to knock me about again, trying to make me keep my distance, but I wasn’t just going to let her take the initiative like that. Not after I’d goaded her to this point, where I could do as I liked, with an easy defense for the denizens of GodNet.

At my mental command, the two rods stuffed inside Pofmis came to life. But they no longer merely vibrated, or thrust in and out of her. Oh, they did those things, too. But now, they became twice as long, and covered in spikes, with the thrusting and vibration turned to the maximum settings.

“AIEE!” Pofmis screamed in pain at the sudden assault, which was as gentle as a minotaur raping a pixie, and stumbled in the air, one hand falling from her spear. That hand soon went flying with a flash of my blade, leaving a stump just below the wrist. But that stump did not bleed, for the divinely infused passionslime gel coated it, preventing blood loss at the cost of having some of the gel get directly into her blood, and past all her defenses.

“N-no! It can’t be! Not like this! I’ve worked too hard! There are too many things I have not yet done! Too many slaves not yet free!”

Pofmis protested, reeling, as the fire of lust lit her veins. She concentrated, and a sword appeared in her remaining hand, while on the stump of her old hand, a metal band formed, with a weighted chain attached to it. She new the consequences for losing, and she clearly was not going to let that happen to her, if she could help it.

She may have been in trouble, but she was not yet beaten. The chain whirled in, and I had to use my shield to intercept it. But that left an opening, and I just barely managed to parry the thrust of her sword. My foot lashed out, hoping to kick her, and disrupt her momentum, but she jumped back, out of the way, and I only barely managed to pull my leg back in time.

There was no tell on her face or in her actions for what came next. Yet, a flicker of my divine senses gave me a moment’s warning, and that is what saved me. Leaping backwards, I saw a golden flash fly up, through where I had just been standing. Pofmis’s spear, still held in her severed hand, floated there, where it should have impaled me, and then rotated in the air, turning to face me.

“Ah, good. I was starting to get bored.”

Chapter 270 – Resolution

Pofmis was angry, wounded, distracted by the devices she wore and panting from the fire running through her veins, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew the tone in my voice, and knew I was trying to goad her. She settled down into a more defensive stance, using sword and chain to defend, while the spear attacked for her.

I decided that now was the time for a bit of a change, as well. My sword and shield fell from my hand, and then rose in the air to defend me of their own accord, shielding me from Pofmis’s gaze. She was not the only one who could play such games, naturally. But I was not looking to go on the attack with the floating weapons. Rather, I simply needed my hands free.

Blackened metal formed in my hand, a complex bit of machinery made to be reliable, even under conditions of rain and mud, snow and sand, set with a wooden stock. Two grips, also made of wood, molded to easily fit the hand formed as well, one in front and one in back. And the iconic drum magazine, of course, filled with fragments of a god’s power. A ‘Chicago Typewriter’, crafted by the hand and power of a god.

The stock met my shoulder as my shield slid to the side to reveal my creation, and a wild grin fell across my face. My time on GodNet had told me that gods did not often use ranged weapons. If they did, they were weapons like the bow, or a thrown spear. Part of it was because the gods mostly hailed from times before the rise of such weapons, but another part was that actual battles between gods were rare, and they did not need such things to strike down mortals, when they had magic to use at range. And in a battle of gods, trying to hit someone moving at godly speed was the work of a marksman, not spray and pray, as the god could literally just duck under and around even a wall of bullets.

Which is why Pofmis was momentarily stunned by my creation. But that moment was enough. The Thompson let out its iconic battle cry, and at this close range there was no missing. Too late to dodge, Pofmis threw up a shield of magic to protect herself, but I had seen in my own dungeon how useless such a thing was. Sure, the shield blocked the first five rounds with ease, but that was insignificant when I dumped the entire hundred round drum into her in just under nine seconds.

The rounds tore through Pofmis, her armor helping to lessen the blow, but only so much. Even if the rounds weren’t made to pierce armor, the plate would only have held up so far. There was a reason why people didn’t use plate armor against bullets, past the age of the blunderbuss.

In the end, there could only be one result of a barrage like that. Pofmis fell to the ground in the midst of the battle below, bloodied and broken, but not dead. It took more than just that to kill a god, since I had not made the weapon to be a godslayer.

Descending to the ground with measured steps, I sent my newest weapon back to my inventory, and called sword and shield to my hand once more. That was mostly for show, of course, since the battle in the immediate area had stopped, everyone shocked at Pofmis’s sudden fall. But it wasn’t entirely showmanship, as my shield bashed aside Pofmis’s spear as it flew at me, proving that she was not yet defeated.

Pofmis struggled to try and get off her back where she had landed, but I kicked her hand out from under her, sending her face-first into the mud. My boot on the back of her head held her down, as shadows rose from the ground, grabbing her limbs and stretching her out, like a starfish, so that she could get no leverage. All while the Pofmisians around us looked on in horror.

Once more, I let go of my sword, and allowed it to float on its own, but I kept my shield. A dodge, and a flash of light. Pofmis’s spear, which had been trying to skewer me yet again, now bucked and shook, trying to escape the hand I’d caught it with. My hand burned as the spear rejected me, but I did not let go.

Instead, I poured my power into the spear. Black began to spread, like a poison, through the golden spear. The pain subsided as the spear’s power grew weaker, and Pofmis’s will was driven out of it by my force of will. Raw power meant nothing when the force behind that power was too busy struggling to get up out of the mud, after all.

The floating sword was not idle, however. With hacking motions, it chopped at Pofmis, causing the goddess to scream in pain. One by one, her limbs were hewn off, until all that was left of Pofmis was a torso and head, face-down in the mud.

By the time the grim work was done, the spear was mine, as well. No longer golden, it was now onyx, with a bladed tip of pure obsidian, at least in look. Just below the spearhead was my symbol, letting all know who was the master of this spear.

I kicked Pofmis’s torso over, allowing her to see the sky. Her eyes glared at me, and she spat in my direction as best she could. Even now, she was still defiant, as befit a goddess.

“Yield.”

“Never.”

“So be it.”

With a flick of my wrist, the shadows leapt, and tore apart Pofmis’s armor, until all she wore was the chastity belt I’d made for her, now laid bare for all to see. The goddess moaned like a whore as it was removed, and her holes were finally empty for the first time in months. I could hear cries of dismay from the mortals, turning to jeers as the men saw their goddess in such a state.

A mace came at me from the side, but it was a mortal weapon, wielded by mortals, without the power to actually affect a god in his true form. Another flick of the wrist, and the Queen, who had struck the blow, was now stripped naked in front of the entire army, and forced to kneel, watching the defilement of her goddess. Still, she struggled, unwilling to just sit there. Commendable, but stupid.

“Be still, child. Your turn will come soon enough.”

I stepped over to Pofmis, and rested the butt end of my new spear against her chest, between her breasts. The goddess screamed as I marked her with my [Slave Brand], but there was nothing she could do to stop it. I had won.

“As Victor in this duel, I declare that Pofmis shall no longer be known as the Chainbreaker, and that her domain of Freedom is stripped from her. From henceforth, she shall be Pofmis the Willing, and her domain shall be Submission to one’s Master. She shall be the goddess of slaves, prostitutes, and other servants, teaching them to better serve their masters, and to do so with a willing heart. And, as a last act before these changes take place, she shall use all her power to send a compulsion to all those who claim her faith, driving them to find someone strong to enslave them.”

System Notification

A Divine Duel has been concluded, and Kuronoth the Dominator is the Victor. By the System and the rules of the duel agreed upon before commencing, Pofmis Chainbreaker, as the Vanquished, shall be known as Pofmis the Willing from now on. Her domain is Submission, and her portfolio includes slaves, prostitutes, and other servants, teaching them to serve their masters better, and with a willing heart. As a final act before losing the name Chainbreaker, all her divine power is placed into a compulsion going out to every Pofmisian under the System, driving them to find someone strong to enslave them.

System Notification

Pofmis Chainbreaker’s divine essence has been fundamentally changed, and, with it, her faith. All contracts, condemnations, and restrictions based upon her faith have been removed. This includes titles that may have been added as part of a contract or condemnation, including Anathema, Dungeon Foe, and the like.

System Notification

For conquering another deity in a Divine Duel, your divine essence increases. Your servants can grow more powerful, and you have greater standing with other gods.

System Notification

Divine combat incompatible with normal experience gain and System rules. Compensating…

You advance to Tier 2, Level 15.

You have 18 unspent attribute points.

You have 28 unspent skill points.

I waved away the notifications. I could deal with picking skills later. Attribute points went to Luck, since INT, WIS, and CHA all went up 90 points due to the jump in level. But I was distracted from anything more by the sudden presence of more gods upon the field.

Looking to the side, I smiled as I saw Selphie, the Atlantean Goddess of Truth and Justice, standing there, the pure white of her gown a stark contrast from the muck and grime of the battlefield. I offered her a salute with my newly acquired spear, and said, “Hail, Selphie, Goddess of Truth. Have you come to witness the end of the duel?”

Selphie nodded, her eyes sad. “Yes, the end of the duel, and the downfall of my sister’s grand ambitions.” I raised an eyebrow, and she chuckled. “Do your humans not have a saying, ‘And the Truth shall set you free’? Pofmis is, indeed, my sister. Unfortunately, she left the path of wisdom behind, when she started her crusade, trying to wipe out all slavery, everywhere. War changes people, and turns even pure beings into monsters. Such was the way with her.”

I nodded slowly, and said, “A long war changed her, and her followers. Which attracted more warlike and domineering followers, who favored strength. And those changes built upon each other, until there was no recognizing what they had been before, is that it?”

“Yes. By the time any of us realized what had happened, it was far too late. We could not stop what she had become without fighting against her, and even with her changes, she was still our sister. I hoped that, one day, she would see the error of her ways, but, alas, it has come to the end I feared.”

I looked Selphie in the eye, and said, “What would you ask of me, then? As it stands, Pofmis is my property, to do with as I will. She has caused me much aggravation, forcing me to move my plans ahead before I was ready, and making far too many adjustments on the fly. I admit that I would like her to suffer for what she’s done.”

Selphie nodded, sadly. “I know, and I know you have no reason to go along with what I’d ask, but still, as an older sister, I have to ask. Could you not release her into my keeping? The sister I knew is gone, as both her crusade and your judgement have changed her, but I would still like to know her.”

I took a deep breath, considering. There were implications here to consider, not the least of which was that I currently had a good relationship with Selphie and I didn’t really wish to harm that. And, truth be told, I could profit more in the long run from a bit of mercy, especially when dealing with the other gods.

I nodded. “Very well, I shall give over Pofmis to your keeping, but only under two conditions.”

“Name them.”

“First, she shall not be freed from her position as a Slave until the knowledge that she was once the Chainbreaker is lost from the mortal world entirely. Second, she may not regain her lost limbs until she bears a son, and that son gives her another son, who shalt give her another son, then Father, Son, and Grandson all give their seed to their mother as one. Swear to this, and I shall give her over to you, with no other binding or punishment, so that you may do as you wish with her, as you would any of your slaves.”

Selphie’s breath caught in her throat. Well, I wasn’t exactly playing softball with those conditions, though I’m sure she knew that I could have made them far, far worse. After only a moment’s consideration, she nodded.

“I accept these terms.”

Epilogue – Aftermath

Naturally, my victory over Pofmis, and the terms imposed upon her, forced an end to the battle. After all, one fifth of the Vinastran army was dead, and, of the rest, there was one, maybe two out of every twenty soldiers who was not a follower of Pofmis. They were the only ones out of the force not affected by the compulsion.

I may have lost out on the goddess, but I soon was placing my brand on the Queen, her General, and a couple other attractive ladies from the army. However, I left most of the mortals to be taken by other mortals, or the forces of the allied dungeons. That would win me more favors, in the long run.

In Vinastra, chaos reigned. My followers, what few of them had spread from Nighthold to the rest of the country, found themselves suddenly moving from working in the shadows to subvert the Pofmisian regime to coming out in the open. The city of Greyshield was entirely under the control of one of my followers, an adventurer who was the only non-Pofmisian in the city at the time, and ended up enslaving the entire city.

Of course, my followers weren’t the only non-Pofmisians in the country. The Atlantean pantheon had not been cast out, even though the Pofmisians tried to discourage the following of anyone but her. And there were traders and travelers from adjoining lands, as well.

To say that there wasn’t some degree of chaos in the land would be absurd. Obviously, government broke down when even those in charge are being compelled to find someone to enslave themselves to. However, the ‘revolution’, if you could call it that, was bloodless, or nearly so. The few deaths that occurred were mostly due to accidents, such as a laborer who was patching a roof when the compulsion hit him, causing him to lose his balance and fall badly.

Upon the field at the Tenthar Planes, plans were laid to divide Vinastra up, amongst the nations that came to fight. All those who bordered the Kingdom would see their borders swell, and those that did not were set to receive some bounty from the conquest. It would take time for the maps to be redrawn, but that was fine.

With Vinastra’s fall, so too fell the prohibition limiting the technology and education of the world. Bluemountain was an Atlantean colony, after all, the technology and learning of the Atlanteans was their birthright, even if they hadn’t known about it. But one couldn’t just dump a bunch of technology and science books on a planet stuck in the medieval era. That would just cause chaos, and to no point. So, plans were activated to start with education, spreading literacy and learning to everyone on the planet, and then new concepts could be introduced, over time.

Activated, not made, because there were bastions of technology and learning on Bluemountain, just not on this continent. In fact, the only such place still standing was the city of Bluemountain, itself, from whence the planet got its name. There, the spaceport where ships could land was situated, and the people of the city were just as educated and technologically advanced as the rest of the galaxy. They lacked the manpower to change the world, and were unwilling to move until they had a reasonable chance of success, but that did not mean they lacked the desire, or fortitude, to see it done, now that they had an opening.

Elsewhere in the galaxy, similar scenes played out. I only had ‘visibility’ on scenes where my followers were involved, but I saw more than one instance of a paladin or cleric stopping in the middle of battle and begging to be enslaved by the enemy they were just fighting. Some of those scenes happened in dungeons, which gave me limited visibility to the situation, since I was a god of dungeons, even if the dungeon didn’t follow me, directly. In a delicious twist of irony and schadenfreude, those incidents gave rise to more than a few Pofmisians becoming bound to those very dungeons that they had been attempting to ‘purify’ just moments before. And, of course, the moment they were enslaved, the poor wretches realized what had happened, and wailed at their misfortune, and the fate that they could not escape.

These changes had second- and third-order effects, as the power structures of the galaxy shifted. A major goddess like Pofmis falling and changing into something the inverse of what she had been was a profound shift. Religion, politics, and even military affairs across the galaxy were affected by the shift. People were scrambling to try and find a new ‘normal’, to deal with the new reality, but it was like trying to adjust to roads suddenly being made of taffy, instead of asphalt.

Of course, out of all the galaxy, there was one planet that was almost entirely unaffected. Even the strongholds of pirate lords and the citadels of slaver kings were more affected by the changes wrought upon the galaxy. It should be obvious that the number of Pofmisians on this planet was low, barely more than a dozen, all around the world. Some of that had to do with the recent high-profile defeats that Pofmis had suffered, but the real reason was that, until very recently, in galactic terms, the planet had only recently joined the System.

And, on Earth, one of those few Pofmisian adherents was struggling against the compulsion. Not normally possible, with such a thing, this young Paladin had the benefit of having three husbands holding her back, focused solely on helping her break the compulsion, rather than listening to her begging them to enslave her. The melee types held her down, while their mage cast spells to aid the Paladin in her fight and weaken the divine connection between her and Pofmis, until, finally, the compulsion broke, having run its course.

And, thus, did Lea Hunt, Paladin of Pofmis Chainbreaker, become the only member of her faith who did not succumb, and fall into servitude as a devotee of Pofmis the Willing. Weakened by the experience, she clutched at the holy symbol she wore, which had changed from that of the Chainbreaker to one of the Willing, and pulled it from her neck, casting it to the ground. Breathing heavily, the now-former Paladin said, “Never again. I won’t be a slave again. Even if it means I must find a new faith to follow.”

Book XXVIII – Fallout

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Adventurer’s Guild Official Forums, Miami Branch)

SunnyBunz, MightyMouse, ImAPally, DontYouWantMe, AsaAkiraIsBae, BestGirl, LatinHeat, Salty, Backpage, Craig34, l33tpally, Anonymous3, Anonymous4, RedFox, Kimiko, DonnyJuan, Crusader, BadCompany, HurricaneGal, Ambassador, Scholar, Righteous, Id10t, Satyr, DarkEnchanter, RangerMiguel, ScoopGirl, VenusFlyTramp, MagicMike, TsundereHealer, Max, LightningLegacy, SwiftTaylor, Domino, Bacchus, Aegis, Temptation, and Lord_Kickass are in the chat.

Righteous: Guys, big news!

VenusFlyTramp: What is it?

Righteous: We just got to the Arena level in the dungeon, and the Demon isn’t the final boss anymore! You know what that means, right?

Satyr: Ooh, a new set of floors have opened up? Have you gone down yet?

Righteous: Just far enough to see the opening to the new floor. It is a desert floor. Like, sand and everything. And it was damn hot, too. That’s why we turned back. Plate armor is not fun in that kind of heat.

Salty: Ugh. Sounds like wearing an oven. Guess people will have to find a third armor set, to go with their normal armor, and the underwater gear.

Id10t: Well, the crafters will be thrilled, I’m sure. But I wonder what kind of monsters you can have in the desert? Most floors have some kind of plant or slime monsters on them, but the desert doesn’t really seem like the place for them, unless there are cactus monsters?

SwiftTaylor: Ugh. Final Fantasy flashbacks. Freaking needle attacks.

Aegis: Could always be worse. Knowing Temptation, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were ‘breeder’ cactus monsters there.

Temptation: There aren’t, but that’s an interesting idea I’ll keep for the future.

Aegis: damnit

Domino: Aegis, what did we say about giving the damn dungeon god ideas?

Aegis: yeah, yeah. My bad.

Crusader: Temptation, what did you do?

Temptation: I do a lot of things. You’re going to have to be more specific.

Crusader: What did you do to Pofmis?

Scholar: Wait, are you saying that Temptation somehow took out a god?

LatinHeat: How much XP does killing a god get you?

Temptation: Didn’t kill her. And fights between gods are rewarded differently than mortals fighting monsters. However, I did pick up some levels from the duel.

Scholar: Duel? You mean you actually fought Pofmis face to face?

Ambassador: You said you were going to calm things down, Temptation, not CHANGE THINGS ACROSS THE WHOLE GALAXY!

Crusader: Then, it wasn’t just me, then. It was all of her followers?

Backpage: What happened?

Crusader: All of a sudden, my symbol of Pofmis grew hot. Hot enough that it burned my skin. And I felt a compulsion from Her, through the connection I had through faith. It was—It was trying to make me enslave myself to the strongest person around.

Temptation: So, who ended up owning you?

Crusader: No one. My friends held me down, kept me from doing anything, until eventually the compulsion passed.

Temptation: Really? Well, that deserves my heartfelt congratulations. You are probably the only Pofmisian in the galaxy who isn’t a slave, now.

Crusader: As if you give a damn.

Temptation: Oh, about you, personally? No, not in the slightest. However, things that are unique? Those that overcome all odds? Well, even I have to respect that kind of tenacity.

Ambassador: How? How did you do this?

Temptation: The System has rules for when gods fight in the flesh. I managed to win our duel, thanks to some tricks I had on hand. Anyways, part of the System rules for a duel between gods includes a wager. And we both wagered that the winner could do whatever they wished to the loser, even erase them from existence entirely.

Scholar: You obviously didn’t kill her, so what did you do?

Temptation: I cut off her arms and legs at the torso, and forced her to change from Pofmis Chainbreaker to Pofmis the Willing, Goddess of Submission, and forced her to use her divine power to give every one of her followers a compulsion to become a slave.

Ambassador: Do you understand how much work this is going to cause? It was bad enough with Bluemountain becoming unstable. But now? The ruling faction in the Galactic Council is falling apart!

Temptation: Then perhaps they should have diversified their coalition.

Ambassador: AARGH! Do you know how much paperwork I’m going to have to do because of this?

Temptation: Don’t worry. Most of it isn’t your problem. It isn’t like you had any Pofmisians on staff, or they would have been thrown out months ago, after the edict against foreign-born Pofmisians coming to Sol.

BadCompany: Hey, how does this change affect the punishments you slapped on the followers of Pofmis?

Temptation: They’re released from things like Dungeon Foe or Anathema, unless they had them separately. The contract to keep out any foreign Pofmisians is ended now, too. But individual contracts will still need to run their course.

DarkEnchanter: As interesting as this is, I want to get back to what Righteous was talking about. This new set of floors being a desert is going to really screw with certain class types. I did a survival class on the desert, before the Apocalypse, and the kind of gear that many of the frontline fighters have is going to be bad news in the desert. And unless there’s water sources, you’re going to need to haul water around.

Salty: Some of that can be balanced with adding water to supplies in a pocket dimension, though.

DarkEnchanter: So long as one of the floors isn’t an anti-magic floor like the Water Temple.

Temptation: Oh, I’m not that evil. Remember, I try to at least keep the floors fair. If I added in anti-magic, then I’d have to lower the quality of the bosses too much to compensate, and wouldn’t have nearly as much fun.

ScoopGirl: Righteous, what did the new boss of the Arena look like? Was it someone we know?

Righteous: Actually, yeah. It was that banshee that the Demon made from the soul of the Crusader Champion who attacked him and failed horribly. She’s tough, being both undead and ‘selectively corporeal’, which makes fighting her a bitch. However, undead tactics work against her just fine, once you account for the level gap.

ScoopGirl: Huh. Has anyone talked with her, and seen how she, or the other Pofmisians in the Dungeon, are handling things?

Righteous: No, but I’m not sure whatever changes happened were in effect when we got to them, or not.

Temptation: Before you ask, ScoopGirl, yes, you can come and do an interview.

ScoopGirl: YES!

Chapter 271 – DEN’s Reaction

(Galactic DEN Forums)

Galactic Dungeon Chat

Theocracy’s Might

Oh, gods, this is terrible! Absolutely terrible! Everything is going wrong! Surely, this must be the end of days!

Bugrandi Swamp

What is the idiot going on about, now?

Theocracy’s Might

How can you not know? Something has happened to Lady Pofmis, and it is affecting all her followers! The very foundations of the pantheons are shaking!

Bugrandi Swamp

Probably because none of the freedom idiots bother with a dungeon that is mostly swamp creatures. My regulars are monster hunters and those looking for some of the rare materials I have. There isn’t much profit in slaving around here.

Dudansx

Not everyone cares about what the mortals and their religions are doing, Theo. Most of us just make sure we aren’t doing anything that will get a crusade called on us.

Dishonored

Or we make sure that we have the God of Dungeons, Kuronoth, on our side, so he can help turn those crusades aside.

Hdnar

That’s what happened on Atara, right? Some rich kids decided to go dungeon diving, and their parents weren’t happy with what happened, so they forced the clerics to call a crusade?

Dishonored

Basically. The kids discovered that aphrodisiac gas traps are dangerous, even if they aren’t lethal. And the parents were upset that a few pregnancies came from that.

Forsworn

Serves them right. Always assume that anything in a dungeon, that isn’t marked as a safe zone, is going to be dangerous in some way. That’s what we do!

Dishonored

Yeah, but since when have rich people ever had sense? Hell, they usually only get carried through the dungeon, so they can get the benefits of levels without the work.

Scholarium

This is true. Many ruling parties have a Tier requirement to join the government. And becoming a higher-tier race can give a mortal a longer lifespan, and improve their overall health, as well as increasing their abilities.

Devil’s Due

Yeah, we know this. Let’s go back to what Theocracy was talking about for a sec. Because something strange just happened in my dungeon, and I want to know if it is connected. One of those Pofmis jerks just stopped in  the middle of a boss fight, and begged my floor boss to enslave him. I did it, obviously, but that is… not normal.

Theocracy’s Might

Yes! That, right there, is what I’m talking about! It isn’t happening in just your dungeon, either! All the followers of Pofmis are getting put under some kind of compulsion to go get themselves enslaved. Once that happens, they can’t back out of it! This is terrible news!

Freedom’s Requiem

Maybe for you. For those of us who have been dealing with that bitch’s self-righteous followers for too long, this is a welcome reprieve. Oh, I’m sure that someone will step up to be the new religious asshole on the block, but at least Pofmis is dead.

Scholarium

Not dead. The signs point to Pofmis still being alive, but changed in some way. The researchers in my halls are trying to figure out what, exactly, happened.

Greengrass

Do you think it had anything to do with that stuff happening on Bluemountain?

Goblin Cave

What stuff? Bluemountain has been pretty firmly locked down as being a Pofmisian stronghold for the last two hundred Standard Years. Most of the planet is still stuck with antique weapons and armor, from what I’ve heard.

Greengrass

True, but I heard that a couple dungeons have started causing trouble there, and it is throwing the ruling empire into chaos.

Black Knight

Well, more like I, and another dungeon, reached out to some of Vinastra’s enemies, and worked out an agreement to help them overthrow the Pofmisian theocracy.

Fortune’s Glory

That’s a dangerous road to walk. Dungeons have been declared Rogue, and destroyed for doing such things in the past.

Black Knight

Well, they can try. But the Vinastran capital is now part of my domain, and dungeon laws cover it. Plus, gods are involved, so they’ll go looking at them, first.

Greengrass

Woah. What gods?

Black Knight

Pofmis, obviously, but Kuronoth was there, too.

Goblin Cave

What, like actually there, in the real world, not just through their followers?

Black Knight

Yes! They manifested at the site where the Vinastran army had gotten trapped between the allied forces, with help from Wyrmfang Aerie, myself, and Exquisite Pleasures.

Scholarium

Wait a fucking second! How did Exquisite Pleasures get to Bluemountain? That dungeon is based on Earth! Vadrandix, have you sold any Galactic Core Spikes recently?

Vadrandix

No, I have not. And that is troublesome. I do not like the idea of a dungeon being able to move about without paying me.

Exquisite Pleasures

That’s really too bad, then.

Fortune’s Glory

Oh, the dungeon himself! So, how did you do it?

Exquisite Pleasures

Simple. A god helped me.

Scholarium

Wait, what?

Exotic Pleasures

Yes, it looks like there’s a loophole in the whole ‘core spike’ rules, under the System. Or, more likely, it is an edge case that has never come up before. Either way, if you have a god enshrined in your dungeon, then, with that god’s permission, you can open a portal to one of their shrines elsewhere, and claim it as your own territory, like if it were part of your dungeon. Even if it is on another world. Then, you can use the normal, and publicly available, core spikes to open up new territory on the planet.

Scholarium

Huh. Ok. I can see why that might not have come up before. Most dungeons are not so closely aligned with the gods enshrined in their dungeons that they’d be willing to allow such things. So, you and Kuronoth are that tightly bound?

Exotic Pleasures

Sometimes, it seems like we’re the same person. But, honestly, there isn’t much to say about things in this case. We trade favors back and forth, because dungeons and gods have different capabilities. We never ask for anything the other can’t provide, or anything that would severely inconvenience them, so there’s never hard feelings.

Scholarium

That… well, that’s just insane, from the common sense of the galaxy. But both you and Kuronoth are from Earth, so I guess you never had anyone say it couldn’t be done.

Greengrass

How did you and Kuronoth come to be in this relationship, anyways?

Exotic Pleasures

Well, when the System was turned back on, in what humans are calling the System Apocalypse, I became a dungeon, and Kuronoth became the final boss. We’ve been working together since then. Probably part of the reason that he’s gained that God of Dungeons title.

Greengrass

Fascinating. So, he must have used the fact that he was, technically, immortal to jumpstart his path to godhood, and you helped him out by putting religious works where people could get them?

Exotic Pleasures

That’s one way of looking at it, yes. The technical matters are a little more complex, obviously, but that’s the gist of it. So, I was only too happy to help out with crushing Vinastra. Allowed me to get some combat data on this new monster I acquired recently.

Black Knight

You mean those Lewd Radiation Slimes? I only saw them from afar, but Wyrmfang’s dragons saw what those things were doing, and it was… yeah, not something I’d put in my own dungeon, just yet.

Succubus’s Dream

So, what do ‘Lewd Radiation Slimes’ do? I mean, they have one of my favorite words in the name, so I gotta know!

Exotic Pleasures

Well, it is a combination of a few things. Radiation Slimes are large slimes, about the size of an ogre, which are basically pure uranium gel. Very dangerous to anyone nearby, unless they have immunity (or at least a severe resistance) to radiation.

Then, you add on the Lewd template, which essentially takes a creature, and makes them constantly looking to mate and reproduce, while emitting pheromones that make individuals unable to do anything but want to get fucked.

This makes the normal Radiation Slime act more like the ‘breeder’ type of slimes. No idea whether it is actually possible for new creatures to be born of the breeding, since that much radiation usually is enough to kill the Tier 1 and 2 subjects I’ve used to test them on before now within hours, and even the Slime Lords need 24 hours for any slimes to eat their way out of the host.

Succubus’s Dream

Ooohkay. So, not really something I’d be looking for in my dungeon. Radiation poisoning is not a pretty way to die.

Scholarium

No, it is not. And I am very curious as to this ‘Lewd template’ you have. Templates are known, of course, but where did this come from?

Exotic Pleasures

Got it after one of the initial gods I enshrined in my dungeon set up shop. I’ll let you figure out which one.

Scholarium

Fascinating. It is known that different gods give boons to the dungeon as payment for giving up part of their realm to the shrine, but so few dungeons actually incorporate shrines without becoming corrupted by the god’s influence that unbiased accounts are difficult to come by.

Exotic Pleasures

Most dungeons with a god enshrined are usually dedicated to a single god, yes? How many are there that have shrines for an entire pantheon? Or a group of similarly-aligned gods? Because I also found an extra effect from having three gods with similar domains enshrined in my dungeon.

Scholarium

Oh dear. I really have to get in touch with the research department, and figure out some way to study this. Obviously, I can’t use myself, but there has to be some way to study the influence of different gods, and the combinations!

Exotic Pleasures

You would need a dungeon that had ‘woken up’ to get any real data. And that means you’d need to likely force them to incorporate multiple gods into their dungeon. That’s a good way to start getting your research team marked as Dungeon Foes. And that’s assuming that the God of Dungeons doesn’t get upset.

Scholarium

What, why would he get upset?

Greengrass

Because you’d be effectively enslaving another dungeon to run these experiments. Probably multiple dungeons. And how would you clean up after? You have some way to remove all that religious stuff from a dungeon without killing it, or cutting apart its soul? And what do you do if an experiment causes something out of control? Destroy the dungeons? Or find some way to enslave them and keep them suppressed?

Scholarium

Um, well. I am sure that the researchers would think about those questions before they actually did anything.

Exotic Pleasures

Have you ever actually MET any researchers? Because I can already tell you that statement was pure shit.

Scholarium

Ugh, fine. So, what was it that changed with Pofmis? Had to be something if Theocracy is all upset.

Theocracy’s Might

Upset? UPSET? UPSET?!? YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT I’M UPSET! POFMIS HAS CHANGED FROM A GODDESS OF FREEDOM AND LIGHT TO WILLING SUBMISSION TO ENSLAVEMENT! THIS SCREWS WITH EVERYTHING!

Exotic Pleasures

Oh, don’t forget that Pofmis, herself, is also enslaved. And maimed.

Greengrass

Not helping, Pleasures.

Scholarium

Oh, dear. That certainly is a big change. I can see why that has caused a major fluctuation in the galactic power balance. Pofmisians were able to influence several key individuals in the recent elections, having them suddenly change, with most of her followers going and enslaving themselves? That will drastically change how things are.

Theocracy’s Might

The ruling party in the Galactic Senate is probably going to lose their majority. This is going to be a major shakeup! Who knows what will happen?

Exotic Pleasures

Who cares, as long as it stays out of our dungeons? There are limits to what a dungeon can actually do outside its realm, after all, unless some specific criteria are met. Especially if they don’t have an avatar that they can reinforce and send out of the dungeon, if only briefly.

Theocracy’s Might

YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!

Exotic Pleasures

One: This is not my fault. The Vinastrans didn’t want to listen to reason, so what happened is on them.

Two: Or what? You gonna try and make me? Gonna buy a Galactic Core to try and take me on?

Theocracy’s Might

No, but I’ll have the best assassins in the galaxy out hunting for a way to take you out!

Exotic Pleasures

You are welcome to try at any time. Just know that the last three times anyone has tried to conquer me multiple times. Each time, they’ve been humiliated, beaten back, and either destroyed or enslaved. Just ask Pofmis what happened to her Golden Host, if you don’t believe me.

Theocracy’s Might

Maybe not today, or even the next, but mark my words, before the end of my life, I will see you destroyed!

Exotic Pleasures

Suuure you will. Sit down, Theo, and just concentrate on not attracting too much attention when your ‘assessments’ come due. Because once humans start getting out into the wider galaxy, some things are going to change.

Chapter 272 – GodNet’s Reaction

Godnet Central Forum

GALACTIC EMERGENCY!

Poster

Post

Farsight

Everyone, wake up! This is an emergency! There is a major shift in the pantheons going on right now! Everything is changing! Even the mortals are noticing!

S.Queen

What are you talking about? I haven’t noticed anything.

Take-Them-Hard

Oh, I’ve seen a few things, but nothing that could be qualified as an emergency. What are you on about, Farsight?

Farsight

Haven’t you seen? Pofmis Chainbreaker has fallen in combat, and her followers have been going and finding people to enslave them all over the galaxy!

S.Queen

Wait, someone finally killed the bitch? That’s great!

Farsight

How can you talk like that? This is going to cause chaos on a galactic scale!

Take-Them-Hard

I’m more interested in how someone apparently sent an edict or command to all of the goddess’s followers compelling them to go become slaves, when they are resolutely against slavery. That kind of power over another god’s followers is mildly concerning.

Pleasurable Domination

Pofmis is not dead. However, she is also not the Chainbreaker anymore.

S.Queen

Oh, DOMMY! Please tell me you had something to do with it! Please please please please!

Pleasurable Domination

Yes, yes I did.

Take-Them-Hard

What happened? Not that I’m not glad to see Pofmis get her ass handed to her, but what did you do? And how did you make all her followers go and get themselves enslaved?

Wordgirl

Yes, that is a troubling idea. I don’t know if I like the thought of another god having that kind of power over my followers.

Pleasurable Domination

Don’t worry, I did not do anything to her followers. To explain, understand that my followers on a planet called Bluemountain, that had been under Pofmis’s sway, stunting the tech there, decided that they were tired of all that. So, they organized, and worked together, and overthrew the puppet government the main Pofmisian theocracy on the planet forced on one of their neighbors.

That theocracy, obviously, was less than pleased, and sent their armies to try and ‘restore’ their puppet government. However, the moment they left the capital city, more of my followers rose up, and claimed it, turning the city into a fortress that would break armies. Especially by the time the kingdom’s army, not having modern technology, found out about it.

This, and a couple other things, forced the theocracy’s forces into a climactic battle, which my allies had already prepared the ground for, luring their enemy into a trap. They were surrounded on all sides by fortifications that hemmed them in, and the defenders held the high ground. The Pofmisians, in their arrogance, refused to surrender, and tried to break through the encirclement.

The theocracy’s queen called on Pofmis to aid them, which allowed me to take the field, as well. Pofmis ended up threatening to erase me from existence, and I was able to turn that into a divine duel under the System.

Judgement

Damn it all. I always knew that her pride was going to be the root of her downfall. Did she not see that she was being played?

Willing Submission

I did. But, as you said, pride blinded me, and stoked my rage. I forgot that, just because I would have won a fair fight, that he cheats.

Judgement

Wait, is this…?

Willing Submission

Yes. This is Pofmis the Willing. As part of the penalty for my loss, I was enslaved and stripped of my domain of Freedom, and became the goddess of willing servitude. And I was forced to send a compulsion to all my followers, forcing them to join me in slavery.

Pleasurable Domination

You were also stripped of your limbs, remember.

Willing Submission

Yes, I remember all too well, thank you.

Take-Them-Hard

So, it wasn’t anything another god did to make the Pofmisians all go and enslave themselves, but an act of their goddess? Ok, that is far less concerning.

Judgement

Yes, that kind of power would have been too much for any god to have. It would have united multiple gods to move against them, for their own protection.

S.Queen

So, is Pofmis your slave now, Dommy?

Pleasurable Domination

No. She was, for all of a few moments. Long enough for me to issue the commands, at least.

S.Queen

So you let her go? Aww, boo.

Pleasurable Domination

I didn’t say that. I just said that she was no longer my slave.

Take-Them-Hard

Then who owns the bitch now?

TrueFortune

I have taken up the management of my wayward sister, and shall oversee her rehabilitation into the well-meaning soul she once was.

Binder

That’s right, I forgot that you were sisters. What did you have to give up to get her from PD? I know he didn’t just give her to you for free.

TrueFortune

No, I did not have to give anything up. I simply had to agree to two conditions on my sister’s treatment. And they were not as bad as they could have been.

Pleasurable Domination

I had no reason to screw you. After all, we have a pretty good relationship. I only turn the screws on people who deserve it, for one reason or another.

Wordgirl

What were the terms?

TrueFortune

Sister, you should state them. It will be good for you.

Willing Submission

Yes, Mistress.

The terms of my sale were that I could not be freed until knowledge of my formerly being the Chainbreaker had passed out of the knowledge of the mortal realm, and that I am not allowed to regrow the limbs taken from me in the fight against Kuronoth until I bear a son, and that son gives me a son, and that son gives me a son, and then all three take me. Then, I will be allowed to be more than just a torso.

Wordgirl

Wait, you’re completely missing your arms and legs? And you have to exist like that until you… with your son, grandson, and great-grandson? Oh, my!

S.Queen

Oh, Dommy! You always come up with the most delicious punishments!

Take-Them-Hard

So, the question is, who will be the one to kick that ball rolling? After all, she needs someone to give her a son before that chain can get going, right?

TrueFortune

I haven’t decided that, yet. I don’t want it to be one of her enemies, since I’m trying to help her heal from what her long war did to her, not degrade her further. But her list of allies, especially male allies who aren’t family, is not as long as I’d like.

Wordgirl

And there’s going to be enough ‘family togetherness’ once the son is born, right?

TrueFortune

Indeed. While the… physical issues that come up regarding inbreeding in mortals do not apply to gods, too much of that, on an emotional level, can start to leak back into the followers.

Pleasurable Domination

You could choose a mortal for the job. They wouldn’t even need to know her real name. Set it up as an ‘extreme fetish’ porn video, and they won’t even question it, doing the whole thing for a bit of mortal currency. They won’t expect to have anything to do with her later.

TrueFortune

A mortal, hmm? Someone unconnected to either of our churches, but willing to do something like that on video? I dislike the deception, but otherwise it is not a terrible idea.

Pleasurable Domination

You don’t even need to deceive them, you know. Make it a ‘no names’ thing. Just have her call the guy Sir, or Master, and him call her Slut, or Slave. Discretion of some sort is expected in those kinds of scenarios. Especially if you indicate that it is for private viewing, rather than public sale.

Wordgirl

Yes, I see that. You’re not lying. You’re just setting up a few connected truths that lead the individual to believe something that is not entirely true.

Pleasurable Domination

Exactly. Make the mortal believe that you are wealthy, and seeking something different. Pay them well, don’t have names, and maybe even wear eye masks, to help shield your identity. So long as you go in mortal avatars, without your divinity leaking out, they need not know anything, and won’t question it.

TrueFortune

It still seems like lying.

Pleasurable Domination

The humans would say it is ‘lying by omission’, but that is just a judgy way of saying ‘they didn’t ask the right questions’. No different from how a prophecy can be twisted because of how a mortal perceives it. That doesn’t mean that the prophecy was a lie, or that the god that offered the prophecy did anything wrong. Mortals want to believe the things that already fit their world view, and so they will stretch the truth of things to fit that shape, even without misleading answers.

Purity

It is frightening the level of insight you have on these humans.

Pleasurable Domination

Eh. I was human, before the System made me what I was before rising to godhood. That reincarnation helped put a lot of things into focus, giving me some perspective on a lot of things that you just can’t get when you are stuck down in the middle of being human.

Plus, I had a LOT of time on my hands before the dungeon I was found in became popular. Lots of time that was mostly spent just thinking, and pondering. If I didn’t have some insights by this time, I’d be a rather pathetic individual, no?

Judgement

Ascended gods always have a different perspective on things from Natural gods.

Great Sage

Oh? And what is the difference between the two, hmm?

Hearth Keeper

I would assume that a Natural god is one that is born from the faith and belief of a people, often in their younger days. An Ascended god would be like the hero king who rose up to godhood, leaving their mortal life behind.

Judgement

That is correct. Obviously, there’s more nuance to things, and that does not count the divinities which are not true gods, but yes, those are the two base types.

ThunderGod

Hey, Domination, do you think you could help me out with something real quick?

Pleasurable Domination

That all depends on what you need help with. I am not distracting Hera so you can have a quick fling without her noticing.

ThunderGod

No, no. Not anything like that. Not completely. We have been, um, discussing things since we joined GodNet. About that ‘open relationship’ thing you talked about.

Pleasurable Domination

And you wanted to know if I would fuck your wife’s brains out while you went and fucked a mortal?

ThunderGod

No, at least, not the first time.

QueenHera

Yes, it would not be a proper punishment for him if he did not get the chance to watch, but not join in. So, would you be interested in something like that?

Pleasurable Domination

Well, I can certainly say the idea is not unattractive to me. Perhaps we can take that discussion in private to talk about details?

Great Sage

Oh, ho! You sly dog, Dom!

Venus

Well, now I’m more than a little curious. I’ve been meaning to get in touch with you, PD, since our domains are so closely aligned. Now you’re going to have some fun with my sister?

QueenHera

You know, sister, we could always tease our brother a bit more if he got to witness a threesome that he will never get to enjoy.

ThunderGod

Wait a moment! I didn’t agree to this!

QueenHera

You do not get to speak.

Pleasurable Domination

Well, I certainly am not complaining about this. And I have been looking to meet with Aphrodite.

Trickster

Oh, my. I am so glad that dear Freyja introduced me to this place. You see the most wonderful conversations here.

Farsight

Bah! Enough about this lecherous idiocy! The realignment of Pofmis is going to have major consequences throughout the pantheons, and the galaxy as a whole! This could cause major societal collapses!

Pleasurable Domination

Well, there will be a bit of chaos. There’s always chaos when change comes. But the better path would be to just embrace it, and let it happen, so that things settle down to a new normal sooner. No need for any of us to get involved right now.

Judgement

Hearing that from the one who destabilized things is not exactly heartwarming, you know.

Pleasurable Domination

Eh, can’t win them all. But seriously, this is going to maybe cause some chaos in the mortal realm, but the overall effect will not be that bad. It isn’t going to spiral out of control and threaten the fabric of reality or anything like that.

Murphy

Oh, dear. You shouldn’t have said that.

Chapter 273 – Suspicious

I should have known that, of all the creations of modern humans, the Demon God Murphy, Lord of Unforeseen Calamities and Prince of Ironic Catastrophes, would be ‘real’ enough to become an actual god, on GodNet. Unfortunately, that was an oversight on my part, since I’d completely forgotten about His Law. That he spoke as he did was unsettling, since it meant that I had basically dared the universe to make things happen in such a way that I was going to have to clean up another mess.

That, frankly, was annoying as hell. However, I wasn’t one to go and ignore problems until they became too big to handle. There was still a good chance that I could get out in front of whatever was about to happen, if I started preparing now. With that in mind, I basically sent out a vision to my followers around the galaxy, urging them to be vigilant in this chaotic transition, reminding them that, while chaos was a threat, it was also an opportunity, if one seized control, and could ride out the storm.

That was the best that I could do at the moment. Until I knew where, exactly, the threat was coming from, or if there was one at all, I couldn’t take any direct action. Acting prematurely might look like I was trying to make a wider power play, and that could unite other gods against me, which isn’t something I wanted, at the moment. That was the whole reason I didn’t enslave Pofmis when we first met, after all.

My senses twinged, bringing my attention to the portal nexus. A large group had just passed through, coming from the portal I’d opened in Athens, Greece. A group coming through the portal wasn’t anything to concern myself with, normally. However, this group was, as I said, quite large. In fact, there were almost a hundred of them, all men. Every last one of them was armed, of course, but they’d signed the portal contracts promising not to start any trouble in the portal sites, or the portal complex itself, so I wasn’t worried about them causing issues in the ‘terminal’.

There was, however, the possibility that they’d start trouble in Swamptown itself. While normally I would say starting something here was stupid, since the average level of the adventurers here was high Tier 1 or low Tier 2, and they were all in the level 30-40 range of Tier 1. However, they were all armed with System-approved firearms and explosives, including what looked suspiciously like suicide vests, which changed things.

Actually, now that I looked closer, they weren’t just made to work with the System. Those weapons had been made by a dungeon! They were all ‘drops’ from mobs somewhere. That was not good.

Inspecting them more closely, I saw that each of them had names that a quick Google search identified as coming from the North Africa region. Suddenly, the source of the dungeon drops became perfectly clear. While there were certainly plenty of dungeons in that area, there was only one I knew of for sure that made guns and explosives that could be acquired as drops in the dungeon.

I would deal with that issue later. Just how I dealt with it would depend on what these people were sent here to do. Even if they just decided to pass through, and attack elsewhere, that was not something I was going to condone, or support. It would make me look bad, and damage my ability to move my own people around the world. No, I was not going to take kindly to that, at all.

However, I couldn’t just jump the gun, and kill them. That would cause other problems, especially if I was wrong, and this just happened to be a very atypical group that wanted to challenge my dungeon, or head out to the Necropolis. It would be a PR nightmare, to say the least. I needed to give them enough rope to hang themselves, first.

Quickly, I took stock of the situation. The portal sites, and the nexus terminal, were all Safe Zones, meaning that my monsters couldn’t attack anyone unless they were attacked first, or the target was a Dungeon Foe. Without telling anyone, I’d spread that protection to all of Swamptown a while back. But that didn’t protect the people from other humans.

The portal contracts meant that they couldn’t cause trouble in the terminal, or the portal sites, but that didn’t keep them from doing anything in Swamptown, or going through another portal to cause trouble. There were limits to how broadly I could write a contract and not have people refusing to sign, or inadvertently having the System enslave people, because a clause was worded badly. The contract as written was paramount with System contracts, not the contract as intended.

This left a bit of a gap in the defenses. People fighting each other wasn’t something I wanted to forbid outright, as that could lead to bad blood that would cause even more trouble down the line. However, I wasn’t about to let someone start causing trouble.

I quickly threw together a Dungeon Law, covering the portal sites, the terminal, my Lunar Annex, and all of Swamptown. It was not a fight ban, but it did disallow any explosions in the area. Such weapons simply would not function, until they were outside of my overland domain. This was important, since it would block their explosives from going off, sure, but it also prevented the use of fireball spells.

Even better, the modern firearms these people had were all chemical explosive types. Not compressed gas. Not magic. Not EM railguns. Normal ‘pull the trigger, and an explosion sends the bullet down the barrel’ guns. They were little better than clubs, now.

Of course, I could have made a Dungeon Law like this at any time. However, I didn’t really like to impose my Laws on Swamptown, since it went against the spirit of the place, and what drew people to my halls. And it was a pain in the ass trying to take down a Dungeon Law once it was in place. They were supposed to be permanent features, after all, not something a dungeon could just slap on whenever they felt like it.

At any rate, that protected my visitors from any sudden outbursts of violence, unless one of the men decided to pull a knife. Fortunately, they didn’t bother trying to do anything, just yet. Instead, they gathered up, made sure everyone had come through, and moved out of the portal terminal, into Swamptown proper.

I had a feeling that something bad was about to happen, so I concentrated on spawning more of the one creature type I had that was incredibly resistant to bullets: slimes. Slimes were too… gel-ish to be affected by bullets. Grenades were another thing, but even the weakest of my slimes would be able to take several rounds from those guns, and not even feel it. Well, unless they changed the ammunition somehow.

Hmm, that was a thought. I should have more than just slimes waiting, just in case they were here to cause problems. Or, perhaps, I just needed a couple really effective slimes? Some that would make sure that the terrorists, if they decided to start something, would not live long enough to regret their actions?

I started calling up the appropriate monsters as the group made their way towards the edge of my claimed territory. Now I was absolutely certain what was about to happen. Somewhere, somehow, that fool of a dungeon had gotten his hand on a core spike, and thought that taking control of my dungeon was going to give him access to points all over the world. Since I wouldn’t sell access to him, he’d just take it. Or, at least, damage my relationship with other countries.

Fucker was going to FRY for that.

Fortunately, core spikes could not be placed within a dungeon’s territory, so I had some time as they made their way to the edge of my influence. I had my mercenaries gather up, and start flying to North Africa with another core spike on the Bloodhawk, as well as a couple shuttles, all under full stealth. The entire Jadesins organization was going on this job. Once I told them what it was, I couldn’t have stopped any of them from going if I tried.

Next, I manifested my avatar inside the US Military recruiting station. They’d had a presence in Swamptown since the first, and the branch was still manned to this day. A quick glance found me the person I was looking for, the Lieutenant in charge of this facility.

“Ah, Lieutenant! Good to see you again.”

Lieutenant Barry Grant winced, and said, “Oh, goodie. I hope you won’t be offended, Kuronoth, but I had deeply wished never to meet with you again in person. And certainly not unannounced like this. I take it something big has happened?”

“Not yet, but it is about to. One of this dungeon’s rivals has, it seems, gotten in league with some rather unpleasant fellows from North Africa. I noticed when a whole force of them came through my portal from Greece.”

THAT got the Lieutenant’s attention. “What do you know? And what can we do?”

“Well, there are just over a hundred presumed hostiles at the moment. They passed through the portal armed with System-ready AK-47s, plenty of ammunition, grenades, and suicide vests. Suffice to say, I was not convinced of their good will, so I put in a couple Dungeon Laws to keep unfortunate accidents down. It basically disallows explosions. Unfortunately, I had to be quick about it, so while it will stop traditional firearms, grenades, and explosives, it also kills internal combustion engines and fireball spells. I’ll work on refining the Dungeon Law later to carve out exceptions, but I decided everyone would be much happier being un-exploded between now and then.”

I took a breath, and said, “Now, I haven’t acted yet because, even though I am certain that these individuals are up to no good, I haven’t yet gotten any proof that they’re going to be trying anything against me. Even I have to make sure I don’t get a reputation as someone who can be baited into hasty actions, that can blow up on me.”

The lieutenant nodded slowly. “All right. I’m going to just ignore all the rest of that for now. Hundred bad guys, our guns won’t work, but their guns and suicide vests won’t work, either. Doesn’t matter as much for us, since anyone who has gone into the dungeon is trained on other weapons, or magic, but it should keep the collateral damage down. So, where are they?”

“The bad guys, as you call them, are currently retreating to the edge of the dungeon’s influence above-ground. Not because of anything I’ve done, mind you. They haven’t even tested their guns, yet. However, if they are doing what I believe they are doing, then they are about to bring in another dungeon’s influence, to try and take this dungeon as their own. They will probably try and get reinforcements, as well, since they can’t be stupid enough to believe that they alone are enough to beat my dungeon.”

“All right. How can we help, if things get ugly?”

“If you could have your people move through Swamptown, and pick up any survivors that make it past my forces, that would be great. But mainly, I would like your help in convincing the adventurers to not try and join in the ‘fun’, once it starts. Unless, of course, they are immune to radiation.”

“Radiation? You mean those things from the desert?”

“Yes, I promised that I would not use them on anyone who played by the rules, and I am abiding by that promise. However, these terrorists are not playing by the rules, and are free game. I can clean up the radiation later. Discovered a type of slime that does just that, actually. But people need to keep away, for obvious reasons.”

“All right, I can do that. I’ll pop on over to the Guild, and give them the news.”

“Good. Also, you may want to pass word up your chain of command that, sometime in the next twenty-four hours, there is going to be a major disturbance in the Libyan desert. Just so they aren’t surprised if something blows up over there.”

“You know where these guys are based, don’t you?”

“Yes, but, until they’ve acted, I am bound against interfering, for various reasons. Suffice to say, these terrorists, and the people behind them, have made a fatal error. However, I need a clear sign of aggression from them before I can begin, just to make certain other interested parties are absolutely clear who is at fault, here.”

“Politics even affects gods, huh?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe, Lieutenant Grant. Now, I can sense that they are almost to the outer limit of my influence, so I’m going to pop over and give them one last chance to not be stupid. Doubt they’ll take it, but the customs must be followed.”

“Understood. We’ll take care of things back here.”

Chapter 274 – Big Mistake

With a thought, I shifted my consciousness to the edge of my territory. The terrorists were already there, and were in the process of priming the core spike for initiation. Or, they would be, if they hadn’t stopped for their leader to start giving some speech about the glory they would get, or whatever. I had a hard time caring about such things at the moment.

I allowed my avatar to rise out of the shadow of a tree upon the ground, as though it grew out of the shadow itself. This, on its own, was enough to get the attention of the leader, whose words caught in his throat at the sight. When portals opened behind me, and slimes began coming through, he yelled, drawing everyone’s attention to me.

The Character Sheet that the System gave everyone did not show the sum total of a person’s abilities. There were often unwritten constants, that, for whatever reason, were not discussed on the character screen. Things like an elf having keen eyesight, for instance. The sheet would mention their ability to see in low-light, but would skip over the fact that they could see more detail, at further distances, than humans could. Or a catgirl’s claws would not be mentioned in their racial information, but they were effective weapons, even at low levels.

In my case, it was an unwritten rule of both dungeons and gods that they understood all languages spoken in their presence. Those that could read and write could do so in all languages they could speak. This led to some interesting hiccups, such as the time I purchased a book that I didn’t want to break down and absorb. I’d gotten it off the global DEN from Palace of Justice, and it was written in German. Unfortunately, I found that I couldn’t read the damn thing until after someone who spoke German entered my halls. Then, I could read it just like it was English, even after the German tourist left. On the godly side, well, I knew the languages of every creature who called out to me in prayer. At this point, I knew enough languages that I would be more surprised to find one I didn’t already know.

At any rate, now that I had the terrorist’s attention, I called out to them in the same language the leader had been using. “I am the God Kuronoth. Who are you, that bring these weapons of destruction to my domain? Know that, if you are my enemy, then you shall die, and your souls shall feed the dungeon, never reaching whatever paradise that your goat-humping whoreson leaders have promised you.”

This, obviously, did not make them any happier to see me. But, well, I wasn’t really interested in their happiness. I’d already decided that they were going to die. I just needed them to act, so that I could have justification, which is why I was goading them with insults. Once they attacked, I would have enough justification to take to the other dungeons, and none of them would bat an eye at my destroying Iahab. Guy was an asshole, after all.

The leader recovered some of his composure, and pointed at me, shouting, “You, infidel! By the command of Allah, we will take this place, and claim it for the Jihad! Let the demon’s spawn come forth, to battle this infidel!”

And, with that, he activated the core spike.

Your territory now touches that of the Iahab Allah dungeon. Iahab Allah declares a Dungeon War against you, as the Invader! As the defender, you must keep the dungeon creatures and their allies from reaching your core!

I smiled as I read the notification, and saw portals open up behind the men. The terrorists had acted just as I wanted them to, and now I had uncontestable evidence that Iahab was the aggressor in this instance. Too bad that it would cost the little shit everything.

“So, you have chosen death.”

As I spoke, the ground opened in front of me, revealing a small tunnel leading to a portal heading deeper into my dungeon. From the portal issued forth Lewd Uranium Slime Lords, the very same ones that I had used to great effect on Bluemountain. At this point, the thirty mobile piles of radiation were only about fifty feet from the terrorists. While uranium was not as deadly to be around as some other radioactive materials, that was not so comforting when you were dealing with a literal ton of uranium gel at such a close distance. And that was for just one slime.

The terrorists were dead already. The moment I revealed my trump card, their fates were sealed. Even if they ran now, they’d still find themselves dying of radiation poisoning in short order. And I had no intention of letting them run.

One man lost his lunch as the radiation began affecting him. Several more looked distinctly unwell, like they were overheating. The leader cursed, and cried out to his men, “Shoot the slimes! Charge them with your dying breath, and use your vests! Allah shall reward you for your sacrifice, as you pave the way for his loyal demon’s minions to wipe clean this dungeon of its heretical taint!”

I simply smiled, and allowed my sword and shield to form in my hands. So, that was how Iahab had managed to get the terrorists on his side. He portrayed himself as a ‘demon of Allah’, looking to strike against the heretics. Well, it had just become clear that there was only room for one Demon of the Dungeon on this world, and it was going to be me.

The terrorists shot at the Lewd Uranium Slime Lords, but that was useless. They were using AK-47s, and were no trained marksmen. They had better chances of winning the lottery than actually killing one of my slimes like that.

As the slimes moved forward, the front ranks began to feel the effects of the slimes’ pheromones. Only fifteen of the thirty were set to attract males, but that was more than enough. The men dropped their guns and ran forward, meeting death like the fools they were, spending their last moments being violated by slimes.

The rest tried to back up, but the roar of engines behind them sent them scurrying to the sides. Another portal had opened, but not one of mine. From the other dungeon rolled out… a tank? An honest to me tank?

More engines could be heard through the portal. I wasn’t worried, though. Instead, I ordered the slimes forward. And that’s when the first terrorist lost his nerve, and took the easy way out.

Explosions rocked the swamp, as, one after another, fifty of the hundred men, including the leader, managed to pull their suicide vests. The death and destruction were absolute… to their side. Only a few of my thirty slimes were close enough to get badly damaged by the explosions happening outside its body, and the anti-personnel devices used in the vests did almost nothing to the tank. However, all hundred terrorists were dead.

That left me with just my ‘old pal’ Iahab, and the forces at his command. Clearly, his dungeon was military themed, or he wouldn’t have had a fucking tank roll out of his dungeon. Funny thing was that it looked remarkably like an American tank.

As the tank rolled forward to try and fight thirty slimes, a thought came to me. Stretching out with my senses, I saw that the tank itself was a vehicle, like any other, but it was crewed by dungeon monsters. Only, these monsters were human, and were identical copies of a stereotypical American soldier. Dungeons with sentient creatures as their base monster type weren’t unheard of, but they were rare. It was too bad that Iahab had chosen to be a shithead.

However, this information posed other problems that I needed to address. I reached out to Sheila with my thoughts, touching the part of her soul that was connected to me by her worship, when I anointed her as one of my own. Her people deserved to know the truth, instead of discovering it for themselves, and potentially hesitating.

Sheila, my devoted warrior. The Dungeon War has begun on this end. Strike hard, and strike true. Let the ships clear away any defenders upon the surface, and then begin the assault. But be warned, the dungeon appears to have humans as its monsters. Not bound humans, like some of the bosses in my dungeon, but actual dungeon monsters, like you see in the ‘reception hall’ of the dungeon.

Is such a thing possible, my Lord?

Yes, my child. It is possible, but it is rare. Generally, the costs of sentient races as monsters make them unpalatable, especially for young dungeons. However, the benefits are that they are capable of thinking for themselves, using tactics beyond the dungeon’s knowledge, and laying traps or ambushes.

I understand, my Lord. We will be careful.

I know you will. However, the type of human this dungeon has chosen to use poses a different type of danger to you, and yours. They are mockeries of American troops, each one identical clones, all of whom working at the behest of the dungeon, and his masters in ISIS. It is likely that they’ve been using the dungeon monsters to train their fighters in killing American troops.

I could feel the palpable rage and disgust coming through my connection with Sheila. But I did not sense despair, or hesitation. Just as it should be.

Warn your people. These are not the brothers they fought and bled beside. These are vile mockeries, twisted aberrations cooked up by the mind of the ‘loyal demon of Allah’ as the terrorists called the dungeon core. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy, because they will show you none. Slaughter them all!

As you command, my Lord. What of their weapons, and gear? What can we expect to face?

Modern weapons and armor, designed to be used with the System. The dungeon also has vehicles at its disposal, including tanks. The Tanks are only Tier 1 in strength, fortunately. How it got access to them, I don’t know, but your teams should be able to take them down easily now that you’re in Tier 2. The monsters are all on the cusp of Tier 2, but haven’t broken through that barrier, yet.

Understood, my Lord. Please, tell me that you are not letting this dungeon live, like you did the other one.

No, my child. This dungeon has angered me with its blatant attack. When this is done, it shall be destroyed, utterly. I will come to you when the fighting here is finished, and join you on the field. This dungeon dies today.

Good. Bastards like this who disrespect the troops and desecrate the ideals they fought and died for deserve to die. We will see it done, my Lord!

I know, my child. And I have every confidence in you. Strike the enemy down with your wrath, but do not rush blindly into the enemy’s lair. You are stronger, but your people are too valuable to waste on suicide attacks. Do not underestimate the dungeon’s defenses. A cornered rat always fights the hardest.

Yes, my Lord. We will be careful.

With that, I withdrew the connection, and focused on the scene in front of me. The slimes were attacking the tank, and, so far, it was a stalemate. The slimes could bang against the tank’s armor all they liked, but they couldn’t penetrate it. The tank’s main gun suffered from overpenetration, causing even explosive rounds to go off after they had already passed harmlessly (or nearly so) through the slime’s body. And, of course, even that main gun wasn’t something that could hurt a god in their full avatar.

But the stalemate was a false one. Even though the tanks (including the ones that came out after the first one) could not destroy the slimes, and the slimes could not destroy the tanks, the tanks were stuck. They couldn’t just plow through the slimes, not without a lot more room to build up speed. And the metal sides of the tanks were quickly heating from the radiation. Eventually, the crews would cook inside their metal coffins, even if they didn’t open the hatches to expose themselves directly to the deadly radiation.

And I hadn’t even moved from my spot, yet. That was a deliberate choice on my part. I wanted Iahab, who I knew was watching through the eyes of his monsters, to realize what a big mistake he had just made.

Chapter 275 – Successful Defense

Of course, just waiting for all the men in the tanks to cook to death by radiation was boring. More importantly, it was just plain stupid. If I gave him enough time, Iahab might come up with something that would be able to handle the radiation, or he might come up with a plan that allowed his vehicles to push through the blockade of slimes.

Also, the longer this went on, the more effort it would take to keep all this radioactivity from damaging the people in town. Fortunately, all my slimes were effectively immune to radiation, so I had no problems just unleashing more of my more ‘normal’ slimes, some of which were quite good by now at getting in the gaps of things, and dissolving their way into places they weren’t supposed to be. I just sent a veritable tsunami of the things out at the tanks, and let them start attacking the vehicles as they were best able to. The Earth Slimes I set on the tracks, using their bodies to shift and break the treads and try to grind down the tanks’ ability to move. The Water Slimes, meanwhile, started aggressively pushing into the vents as only water can. The Fire Slimes crawled up the exhaust, seeking the hotter areas inside the engine, and causing heat levels to skyrocket.

The ‘standoff’ quickly became a defeat for Iahab, and then a rout, as his tanks quickly began to break down, as slimes no bigger than a housecat overcame hulking behemoths of steel. It was poetic, in its own way. People often considered slimes as the weakest of monsters, and they weren’t wrong. However, they were infinitely versatile, and different types of slimes could bring down far superior creatures, if given enough time.

The different slimes also worked well together, since they were, well, too simple to have any complex reactions. Their simple structure made them literal bullet sponges, and kept any unforeseen reactions from occurring. For instance, I could have brought my undead out to play. They were, after all, mostly unharmed by radiation. There might be some degradation here and there, especially on the more ‘fleshy’ versions, but they wouldn’t suffer long-term harm. That did not mean, however, that they were not changed by radiation.

Too much radiation could cause skeletons to become Glowing Skeletons. They glowed green with radiation, like they were out of some 1960s horror movie. That was cheesy, and not really the aesthetic I wanted for my dungeon, but that wasn’t the issue. While not as immediately dangerous as Uranium Slimes, the type of radiation they gave off was actually more dangerous in the long term, since, even before the Apocalypse, it penetrated the skin easier, and was more likely to cause cancer. With the System, that cancer became magical, with unknown results. And I did not want my dungeon known for giving some new supercancer to random people.

Fortunately, the less than willing individuals in the Breeding Halls were not random people, and so I volunteered them for testing. Initial tests definitely showed cancers forming, and much quicker than they would without the System. More importantly, some of them were resistant to healing magics, which made them even nastier.

Zombies, ghouls, and vampires all reacted to high-radiation environments about as well as you’d expect. Zombies eventually had their flesh melt off the bone, and either were destroyed, or became Glowing Skeletons. About a 20% conversion rate, there. Ghouls withered, and usually got powers of some sort, though at the cost of increased appetite and decreased intelligence. Not something that was particularly useful, as a rule.

Vampires? Well, they were damaged by radiation, but their healing allowed them to combat the effects. It also made it extremely difficult (but not impossible) for any cancers to take in their bodies. The few that did take usually ended up enhancing the vampire in some way, though with some rather unfortunate drawbacks. They would gain power, certainly, but their bodies became grossly distorted and misshapen, and they had anger issues that would give the Hulk a run for his money.

Mummies were an interesting case. They were, it seemed, completely immune to the effects of radiation. In fact, they seemed to actively remove harmful radiation from the area. Or, rather, they turned the radiation into a curse upon the area. So, six of one, half-dozen of the other. No real improvement, but at least the curses were easier to understand, and to deal with.

The incorporeal undead were the most fascinating, though. Regardless of the type of incorporeal undead, the radiation seemed to actively repel them! It didn’t damage them, but it somehow acted like a barrier, suppressing them and hedging them out of a space. If something prevented them from leaving the space, then the incorporeal undead… condensed.

Oh, it wasn’t condensing, like causing water to form. But rather, they became smaller, more compact, and solid. The incorporeal became corporeal. They couldn’t move through walls or use their incorporeal nature to avoid attacks. On the other hand, they could actually touch and interact with the physical world.

Even stranger, the results were semi-permanent. It actually gave the incorporeal undead a second form, which they could switch between at will, once they were outside of the high radiation environment. This allowed, say, a banshee to take on a solid form, and wear armor and equipment like a normal person. Then, at will, she could turn her body into the incorporeal form once more, and have all her normal banshee abilities! And the gear she wore transformed with her, instead of falling off!

When I’d discovered this result, I immediately subjected all my incorporeal undead to this treatment. No, I didn’t care whether they wanted it or not. They were all bound to me, after all, so they didn’t get a say in things. However, they were all mostly appreciative, after I gave them new weapons and armor that they could use.

The only incorporeal undead in the dungeon that didn’t appreciate their new abilities was, of course, the one I’d tested it on, the banshee that had once been the Crusader-Champion of Pofmis. But, well, I didn’t care about her concerns at the best of times, since she’d tried to kill me. And, when she heard about what happened to her goddess, she was positively distraught. Not that I could blame her.

At any rate, slimes were the only creatures in my dungeons that could handle the insane amount of radiation these Lewd Uranium Slime Lords were giving off without causing future problems. The undead all reacted to radiation in different ways, and the plants? Well, there were some useful things that had come out of those experiments, but mostly there were twisted abominations that I needed to put down, since they threatened to break containment. And when the containment involved being placed in a pocket dimension, that was a problem.

On the bright side, if I ever wanted to give an entire planet nightmares, I could always just introduce the Lewd Super Kudzu vines to that world, right before putting it on a strict quarantine. That stuff was a freaking nightmare, to be honest. It was like normal kudzu, except it grew at the rate of a foot per day, was immune to fire and poison, and used its animated vines to grab and breed creatures. Twenty-four hours after being caught, the creatures would have Kudzu start growing out of their flesh, and anywhere they bled, new vines would start to grow.

Suffice to say, I teleported that pocket dimension, and everything in it, to the middle of the sun. Normal fire might not be able to defeat it, but nuclear plasma? That did the job.

A notification drew my attention away from my musings. I’d been under so little threat from the invading forces that I had allowed my mind to wander, it seemed. Refocusing on the matter at hand, I looked around to see that the dungeon monsters sent through the portal had all been eliminated. Moreover, the Core Spike had just been shattered, eliminating the threat.

The Forbidden Chambers of Exotic Pleasures has defeated Iahab Allah in a dungeon war. As the victor, you gain Experience, and copies of the defeated dungeon’s creatures and patterns.

Experience gained.

M1 Abrams vehicle pattern gained.

Suicide vest pattern gained.

As the victorious party, you may decide the defeated dungeon’s penalty.

Anima: Steal 100% of the dungeon’s stored Anima reserves, adding them to your own.

Destroy Pattern: The defeated dungeon loses one pattern, chosen by you.

Mana: (Unique Option) As a God of Dungeons, strip the dungeon of all its mana, and prevent passive mana generation for 24 hours.

Eliminate Defenses: All the defeated dungeon’s defenses, traps, and puzzles are removed, without compensation. They must be remade at full cost to the dungeon.

You have leveled up.

Your current level is 16.

You have unspent ability and skill points to allocate.

Hmm. Looks like defending in a dungeon war gave me some nice experience, while still giving me the patterns the other dungeon had, same as if I attacked. Of course, Iahab didn’t have much that I didn’t already have, myself. He wasn’t on the Galactic DEN, after all, so he couldn’t access the things I could, but having the tanks might be useful, sometime.

I got a level out of the deal, which was nice. However, I noticed that I did not get the option to destroy or otherwise end the dungeon. Probably because I was the ‘defender’ in this dungeon war, which made sense. If the defender could smash the attacker when they won, that would be problematic, especially in the case of accidental conflict.

Of course, now I had to decide what I was going to do with Iahab. Oh, he was going to die for his transgressions. That much was set in stone the moment he attacked me. I couldn’t let anyone get the idea that they could just go and do that and not pay the penalty.

No, my question was how best to hurt him, crippling his defenses enough that his dungeon would be easy prey for my mercenaries. While they were soldiers, and risking their lives to bolster my goals was part of the job, that did not mean I wanted to spend their lives recklessly. In fact, I was something of a miser with my peoples’ lives. At least the ones that didn’t respawn, thanks to being dungeon bound.

Stealing his Anima was petty, especially since, with my reach, I had a steady stream of Anima from all the people living, working, and traveling through my domain, to say nothing of the dungeon divers. Destroying one of his patterns was a fun idea, since it would deny him the ability to use those patterns in the defense of his dungeon. And eliminating all his defenses would basically strip out any tricks, traps, puzzles, or other nastiness he had in store, making him rely solely on his monsters for his continued existence until he could rebuild the defenses.

The idea of stripping him of all his mana, though, and not allowing passive regeneration for 24 hours? That was BRUTAL. Any changes in the dungeon, like summoning monsters, creating new dungeon laws, making barriers or traps? All needed mana. Manifesting an avatar or possessing a monster? Needed mana. Hell, even just looking through the eyes of a monster needed some mana.

A dungeon without mana was just a hole in the ground, and a bunch of monsters on patrol. A dungeon core without mana was just a shiny rock. And, when faced with a dungeon god and his followers on the warpath? That meant the shiny rock and its monsters were about to have a bad day.

You have chosen Mana. Iahab Allah dungeon is stripped of all its mana, and passive mana regeneration is halted for 24 hours.

Now, it was time to go on the offensive.

Chapter 276 – Opening Salvo

(Bloodhawk, over Libya)

“Approaching the target coordinates that the Lord gave us.”

Sheila Darrows, Anointed of Kuronoth, nodded at their pilot, Elinlia. It had been some time since she’d joined the team, during their first trip to the moon. The succubus had been just a contracted demon that the Lord Kuronoth had provided them, but, over the last few months, she had truly become part of the team, as had the other pilots that were with them.

“All right, bring up scanners, and show me what we’re blowing up today, Elinlia.”

The succubus nodded and tapped the controls. However, when the picture came up on the display, all that they could see was just empty desert. Sheila frowned, and stared at the image, waiting to see if the picture would resolve itself.

“There doesn’t look to be anything there,” Russell Dixon said. The marksman frowned, looking closer at the screen. “But we’re looking for a dungeon in the desert. Could be that the thing is cloaked somehow? Or maybe just hidden under the sands, like the cave in that Aladdin movie?”

Their sniper, Cara Grehan, just snorted. “As Lord Kuronoth is my witness, if a giant mouth appears out of the ground and starts talking about a ‘diamond in the rough’, Dixon, I am going to shove my rifle so far up your ass I can use you as a silencer.”

The team’s medic, Dexter Black, just shook his head. “Don’t do that, Cara. For one thing, it will throw off your ballistics. Also, I’m pretty sure that, even with the System’s help, I won’t be able to heal him from all of that. Use your foot instead.”

“You’re all acting like that would be a punishment,” Caidan Sosa, their combat engineer said. When all eyes turned towards him, he grinned. “Come on, you all saw how he was looking last time we got too close to those tentacle slime things in the Lord’s dungeon. Wouldn’t be surprised to hear he’s spent a bit of time in the Breeding Halls while he’s on break.”

“Fuck you, Sosa. And Cara, if you’re going to try and put anything in my ass, you best buy me dinner first. I’m not some cheap slut.”

Sheila shook her head, and said, “All right, that’s enough. Elinlia, patch me through to the shuttles, I have something to say to the teams.”

Once patched through, Sheila took a breath, and started her ‘pep talk’. “We have arrived at the coordinates that the Lord gave us. Only, there doesn’t seem to be anything here. But we’re dealing with a dungeon here, and by now we all know how much ‘fun’ they can have with playing with what you can see.”

She smirked at the camera. “That’s fine. Our job is to clear the surface, and plant the core spike so that the Lord can begin the assault. The latest from the Lord says that the enemy is using US military gear, and basically mass-produced clones of US soldiers.”

That got everyone to shut up, and she could see more than one person getting their ‘game face’ on, going to that cold place where you put everything aside until the mission is done. She nodded. “The Lord has told me directly that these are not actual humans. They are dungeon-created fakes, like the ones the Lord has in the entrance hall of His dungeon. But they are still a disrespect to the memory of our fallen brothers and sisters just by existing. And so, the Lord has commanded me, commanded us: leave none alive. This dungeon and its minions shall be scoured from the face of the Earth. Understand me?”

Grim smiles and a low ‘hoo-rah’ answered her. She nodded. “All right. Since we know there’s a dungeon out there, and that it is probably hiding somehow, we’re not going to just waltz in and let the bastard spring traps on us for funsies. Bloodhawk will fire its primary weapons at the target coordinates, and see what pops up. Shuttles One and Two, you stand ready, and fire for effect on anything that pops up when we tickle it. Shuttle Three, I want you to do a perimeter sweep, make sure no one tries to leave the party early. Once we’ve blasted the place to hell, and taken out any defensive positions we uncover, then we’ll land, plant the spike, and begin our sweep. Understood?”

“Hoo-rah!”

“All right, then,” she smiled. Turning to Elinlia, she said, “Charge the guns. Full power. Put them right on the coordinates that the Lord gave us. But keep us back far enough that we can respond if the dungeon has something nasty hidden out there.”

“Understood, Anointed. Main weapon charged, and ready to fire. Secondaries online.”

“Fire.”

“Firing main weapon.” The massive ion cannon fired, electrified plasma bursting forth from the main gun in the ship’s nose. It flew straight, like an arrow, until it… disappeared, as though it had passed through some kind of veil. The next moment, the veil flickered, and failed.

Below them was a veritable fortress! Walls, with armed guards, machine guns in the towers, anti-aircraft guns in key points, soldiers everywhere. Tanks could be seen in formation below, waiting for them. And, in the center of the fortress, a smoking crater where a building had once been. Probably something important that just got blown up.

“By Kuronoth, it is a fucking military base!”

Sheila grunted in response to Dixon’s outburst. “Well, we’re going to wipe this base off the face of the Earth! All ships, open fire! Shuttles focus on the AA and machine gunners. Bloodhawk will take care of the tanks! We’ll mop everything else up later, once the big threats are out of the way!”

(Global DEN Forums)

Welcome to the Exchange!

User

Message

Freedomland

So, like I said, that’s when the last of my monsters unloaded a shotgun in that wetback’s face. But they fell on my core before they died, so it counted as reaching me. Which is how I ended up here.

Resident Evil

Ugh. Shotguns are such a barbaric tool. Effective, but barbaric. I don’t like how well they work against my zombies.

Lament

Well, thankfully I don’t have to worry about such things. My dungeon is quickly becoming even more of a cultural landmark.

Silver Mercy

Do you have an Avatar yet?

Lament

No, but I took your advice, and practiced speaking through my dungeon creatures to the point where I could make contact with outsiders. I have a really good relationship with the preservationists, now. We’re working on an educational display about the camps.

Sangue

What kind of display?

Lament

Well, there was some discussion about reenactments using dungeon creatures, but that was considered too ghoulish, and disrespectful. So, we are just going to put on displays with illusions, instead. Optional, so that those who do not wish to see don’t have to.

Palace

A good balance, I think.

Exotic Pleasures

Oh, Iahaaaab. I’ve got a surprise for yoooou!

Niflheim

Well, that doesn’t sound good.

Silver Mercy

What did Iahab do now?

Iahab Allah

Bah! I just did what all of you were too scared to do. Next time, it will work!

Exotic Pleasures

Oh, silly Iahab. Honestly, did you really think that you could send all those terrorists through MY gateways without me noticing? That I didn’t have ways of detecting them all having suicide vests?

Morte

Oh, god, Iahab. You didn’t go and try to start a fight with Pleasures, did you?

Exotic Pleasures

Oh, he did indeed. Got the terrorists to plant a core spike, and everything. Too bad I already had defenses in place. Oh, that reminds me. I need to adjust the dungeon law I made, so people can still use cooking fires in Swamptown.

Silver Mercy

You created a dungeon law outlawing all fire?

Exotic Pleasures

Fire and explosions. Simplest way to keep the suicide vests from working while they were within my territory.

Niflheim

That would be a very effective defense against most terrorists, yes.

Iahab Allah

What? Damn it all, that’s cheating!

Exotic Pleasures

Oh, poor Iahab. Didn’t anyone ever tell you that all is fair in love and war? And since you’re not my type, it is going to be war.

Iahab Allah

Yeah, yeah. You already stripped all my mana, thanks to winning the dungeon war. I’ll be better prepared, next time. Those slimes won’t save you, then.

Exotic Pleasures

Oh, Iahab. What makes you think there’s going to be a next time?

Iahab Allah

The dungeon war is over. I’ll prepare better, and use more martyrs for the cause.

Exotic Pleasures

No, Iahab. THAT dungeon war is over. The next one is just beginning.

Iahab Allah

What do you mean by—AAGH! What the fuck was that?

Exotic Pleasures

Oh, dear. Did something happen to that little illusion you use to hide yourself from satellites?

Iahab Allah

What the fuck? How did you know about that?

Silver Mercy

Pleasures, what is going on?

Exotic Pleasures

It is simple. I’ve long known just where you’re located, Iahab. I know exactly where every member of this Exchange is located. And I have assets in space. So, imagine my surprise when I noticed that the ISIS training camp that was at your location just got replaced with empty desert one day.

Palace

Ah, so you assumed an illusion was put up, probably through dungeon abilities, to keep prying eyes away?

Exotic Pleasures

Exactly. Before Iahab’s flunkies even started their little dungeon war, I had my servants begin heading that way, with my space assets. They were very motivated when I informed them that you were using mockeries of US soldiers as dungeon monsters.

Iahab Allah

Damnit! They’re destroying everything! Fine, I’ll just respawn a bunch of mines in the sand. See how they like—FUCK!

Sangre

What? What just happened?

Exotic Pleasures

I guess Iahab just realized that spawning in monsters and traps is very difficult when all of his mana is gone, and his passive regeneration is cut off for 24 hours.

Silver Mercy

You can do that?

Exotic Pleasures

It is one of the options that was available to me as the winner of a Dungeon War, on the defensive side.

Lament

Good to know.

Exotic Pleasures

Oh, and I guess now would be a great time to mention that I gave my followers a core spike of their own to plant, once they stripped Iahab of his surface defenses.

Iahab

DAMN YOU, PLEASURES! THE FIRES OF HELL WILL OPEN AND CONSUME YOU! THIS OUTRAGE AGAINST ALLAH SHALL NOT GO UNAVENGED!

Freedomland

Like anyone here would go try and avenge you, after you started a fight.

(Bloodhawk, Outside Iahab Allah dungeon’s territory)

“Scanners reporting no remaining vehicles or weapon emplacements, Anointed.”

“Very good. Take us down. All troops disembark. Bloodhawk to remain on standby, and buttoned up. Shuttles One and Two give me a CAP, use infrared scanners, look for any heat signatures trying to crawl off into the desert. Don’t want any of the dungeon’s little terrorist friends going off and spreading the word that we’re here. Shuttle Three, patrol high, and be ready to rain down fire in case we missed any concealed positions.”

She waited until all her troops were on the ground and formed up into a loose formation. “All right, listen up! The flyboys and gals have done a good job wiping out the tanks, machine gun nests, and other big nasties. However, scans show that there are still warm bodies in that fortress that we need to turn into dead bodies! Squads Two through Four, sweep and clear! Squad One, on me. We’re going to plant this core spike and invite our Lord to the party!”

As the squads broke into action, she turned, and nodded to Dexter, who pulled the core spike from his inventory. This wasn’t the first time he’d used one of these, so he knew what to do. Soon enough, the Lord’s territory enveloped them, and a shrine grew out of the ground. Once Dexter completed the dedication, there was a ripple in the air, and He was with them.

“Well done, my faithful servants.”

Chapter 277 – Overwhelming Force

I smiled at my mercenaries as my avatar manifested in front of the shrine. Turning to look toward where Iahab’s dungeon was, I was pleasantly surprised to see that what had been a fortress, full of soldiers and tanks, was now a smoking pile of rubble. It was the perfect renovation job, in my opinion. I’d have to make the rest of the dungeon match it.

Looking back at my servants, I said, “My servants, by now, you all know that I was once human, and then, when the System activated, I became something more, the being known as the Demon of the Dungeon. In that time, before I ascended to divinity, I was introduced to others who had been transformed, turning into various creatures. The System has ways for those who are in unique situations to converse with each other, over great distances, after all, which is fortunate since most of these unique situations leave the individual with restricted mobility.

“It was through these System tools that I first discovered the existence of the Iahab Allah dungeon, the entrance to which you have just laid waste to. And, it was through those tools that I discovered that he was a former human. Not just any former human, but a former jihadi in training. When the System came, he became the training camp he had been training in, and sought to turn it into the perfect training ground.

“I will admit that, at that time, I considered Iahab to be reckless, and dangerous. But, even now, I am not all-powerful. At the time, he was beyond my reach, and forcing the issue would have caused too many problems. As more unique existences were found, we formed an uneasy agreement, we would stay out of each other’s affairs, and keep the peace, so long as no one did anything to endanger our collective existence.

“Iahab broke this peace when he, using his jihadi allies, sent terrorists to Swamptown, in order to place a core spike and summon his army to try and take my dungeon, and the portal network it controls. That attack failed, as Iahab had no clue the kind of creatures I had waiting in my halls. But, in breaking the peace, the Iahab Allah dungeon has forfeited his protections!”

As I spoke, portals rose up al around me. I did not summon the Lewd Uranium Slime Lords, this time. I had no desire to harm my mortal followers, after all. Instead, an army of fungal zombies, goblins, lizardfolk, vurlocks, and undead spilled out, along with many of my floor bosses. Only a few, such as the Slime Emperor or Shai Hulud, remained in the dungeon, the ones who were not suited for combat like this. It was fortunate that the sun had already set here in the desert, so that I could bring all my forces to bear.

I stepped to the edge of the area granted to me by the core spike, and System notification reached me.

System Notice

Your dungeon’s territory has come in contact with that of another dungeon. While peace is always an option, you now have the ability to declare a dungeon war against the dungeon, and they can declare a dungeon war against you. Do you wish to declare a dungeon war, as the Invader?

Yes / No

Your territory now touches that of the Iahab Allah dungeon. You have declared a Dungeon War against Iahab Allah, as the Invader! As the Invader, you must marshal your forces, and drive them forward until you reach the dungeon’s core. The fight continues until either your forces are eliminated, or the core is reached.

“Now, go forth, my army! Crush all who stand in your way! Leave no survivors, and nothing for the dungeon to try and recoup its losses! There will be no escape for the dungeon today! THIS INFIDEL SPAWN OF ISIS DIES THIS DAY!”

The entire army roared in approval, and charged towards the dungeon. I ignored the text boxes as I entered the other dungeon’s territory with them, flanked by my ranger Vampire Lord and his brides. The other floor bosses fell in behind me, as we headed to the center of the dungeon’s surface domain.

I could already tell from the feeling of the mana here that Iahab was a City-type dungeon. That would explain why he had humans as his primary monsters, of course. City dungeons needed to act like cities, after all. Having ‘normal’ creatures as their starters made them better at their job: providing a safe haven for those people they chose to shelter, and making their lives comfortable.

Of course, Iahab was clearly a perversion of the City type. His abilities would make him the perfect training ground for enemies, since the targets would never run out, ammunition and supplies could be constantly recycled, and one of the racial skills available to City dungeons was to have a low-level healing field in place, allowing residents to heal at an increased rate. So long as a resident of a City dungeon was not killed outright, then they would recover, in time, from even mortal wounds while inside the dungeon’s influence.

I did not doubt that Iahab had purchased the [Healing Field] skill, at some point. Or, rather, I had to assume that he had, and plan accordingly. That also meant that I had to be wary of the [Entropic Field] skill, which was essentially the dark mirror of [Healing Field].

[Healing Field] used positive energy to cause residents and monsters of the dungeon to regenerate their wounds. [Entropic Field], however, used negative energy to cause invaders’ wounds to worsen, and resist healing. Oh, [Entropic Field] wasn’t so bad that a papercut would become a mortal wound, but any injury would hurt more, bleed longer, and take more HP than it ought to, while healing wounds took roughly 50% more energy than normal.

Of course, there was a weakness to [Entropic Field], which is why not every city dungeon picked it, and few other dungeons acquired similar skills. Why would a dungeon forsake a skill that caused any living thing to suffer greater wounds while invading their territory? Well, ‘living’ was the key word, there. Constructs were completely unaffected by [Entropic Field], while invading undead were actually healed, and even buffed by it!

It was a critical weakness, but one that was not common knowledge. I knew about it, thanks to being a God of Dungeons, with some undead within my domain. Iahab had likely never come across undead before, since his ISIS masters were not likely to try capturing and transporting undead to his dungeon, just so he could experiment on things. Sucked to be him.

The army blasted open the doors into the dungeon proper with spells, causing the large oaken doors in the former floor of the fortress to shatter into shrapnel. In the blast’s wake, stairs down were revealed, carved out of stone. As the flowed down the stairs, into the dungeon’s first floor, they began to encounter resistance.

Jihadis, over one hundred of them, according to my divine senses. They were all armed with System-made guns, and System-made suicide vests. But the mindless skeletons and zombies I put at the vanguard did not care about that. After all, mindless undead cannot feel fear.

Taking down skeletons and zombies with bullets was more difficult than it sounded. You needed to either shatter the skull, or destroy the undead to the point where it could no longer be animated. All while it, and its friends, were trying to remove you from the land of the living. Not an easy proposition, even for trained marksmen. And the Jihadis were not trained marksmen, relying more on ‘spray and pray’ than focused shooting.

The result was just as one might expect. The tide of undead crashed upon the jihadis like a tidal wave, and defiant cries and curses upon the infidel quickly gave way to screams of terror and pain. And then, the vests began to go off, shredding my skeletons. But these were the simple hoard from the labyrinth section of the undead floor, and I had oh so many more to spare. Not one of the jihadis survived long enough for me to even get a glimpse of their status or know their name, not that I tried particularly hard. I didn’t care about their names, though idle curiosity did make me wonder about their classes and professions. Still, it was too late for that, now.

As I made my way into the first floor, along with my followers, I nodded, slowly. The room was not badly designed. An open gathering place, with plenty of places on two floors to provide cover for the jihadis, and allow them to establish a kill zone. But they picked the wrong fight.

Sheila, evidently, felt the same, as she whistled softly. “This is a damn good defensive position, my Lord. We could have taken it, but it would have been bloody, and we might have lost some people, even with Tier 2 healing magic and defensive gear.”

“Yes,” I nodded. “Iahab is not entirely stupid, but his thinking is clearly limited by his experience before the System’s activation. A single squad of Tier 1 golems could have wrecked this setup without taking any major damage, if they were properly made and equipped.”

I turned, and looked her in the eye. “Remember this, Sheila: every defense has a weakness, and every force, no matter how skilled, can be overcome. You are some of the most powerful mortals on the face of the Earth, right now. That does not mean that you can rest easy. Treat every threat as though it were truly deadly. The consequences of excess caution can be dealt with easier than those of foolish recklessness.”

Sheila nodded, once. “Of course, my Lord. And having superior firepower makes overcoming those consequences all the easier.” She grinned, hoisting her rifle.

“Indeed. I’ve found that leaving things to chance is seldom wise, especially when you have overwhelming force to bring to the table. Fair fights are for exhibitions and training matches. For everything else, do whatever it takes to crush your foe, and ensure that they never raise up weapons against you ever again.”

“My Lord!” One of the other mercenaries called up, waving from the way down to the next floor. “It looks like this dungeon is set up for raid combat scenarios!”

I couldn’t help but laugh at my good fortune. Regular dungeons were designed with parties of four to six people in mind. Raid combat dungeons were designed with larger groups, up to forty people in mind. However, there was no upper cap on the numbers in raid dungeons.

“The dungeon has made a serious error! Push forward, all forces! Overwhelm everyone and everything in your path!”

The Banshee Champion floated over the top of the crowd as we pressed towards the doors to the next floor. Drifting down next to me, she said, “I don’t like this. It is all too easy. Where are the traps? Where are the monsters? The dungeon can’t be so stupid as to think that faith alone will protect it, right?”

I had to smile. “It was not so long ago, Nudara Belkis, former Crusader-Champion of Pofmis, when you came upon a dungeon, full of faith and righteousness, and convinced that your faith, and the power of your goddess would be enough to see you through, no matter what. You remember how that ended, yes? There is a reason why I teach even my most zealous followers to never take anything for granted. Faith may be a shield, but having a good weapon at your side and the knowledge to not place yourself in situations where you are relying on miracles to survive is far more effective, in the long term.”

The Banshee Champion gaped, clearly taken aback by my words. “I do not think I’ve ever heard of a god speaking like that.”

“And that is why I have conquered all who have tried to take me on. I know my limits, and set the field to work within them as much as is possible. And, in the cases where things look to be getting problematic, being willing to strike a deal keeps the worst from happening.

“Remember, a wise man once said, ‘The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.’ I teach all my followers to focus on their security and defenses, first and foremost. Once that is done, then they can look for ways to defeat the foe in front of them. Even a person with an unstoppable sword can still be slain if he gets cocky, and lets an enemy sneak up to slit his throat.”

“I will have to remember that for my next life.”

“And if you serve long enough, I might even let you move on to it. Now, we have a dungeon to kill!”

Chapter 278 – Annihilation

The perversion of a city dungeon was actually set up in several sections. The area we started in was the ‘Residential’ area, where people could live as they trained in the other sections. Those other sections all had different scenarios playing out in them, training for different types of terrorist attacks. And we would have to overwhelm and break through all of them to be allowed into the City Core.

I had an army at my disposal, and the dungeon was set up as a Raid, something I intended to mercilessly take advantage of. As one, we began sweeping through the sections, starting with the assault on an airport, with the objective of seizing control. My forces swarmed over the building and took out everyone. An easy win with my mercenaries taking the lead.

Next, we were faced with the need to set up bombs in a nuclear power plant. There were more guards, and better armed, but they were no match for incorporeal undead attacking under cover of darkness. The whole scenario was designed with humans in mind, not other creature types, and it showed.

And so, the disappointing parade of scenarios continued on. Each ‘floor’ fell before us, because the stupid dungeon had set the training camp up for large groups of jihadis to take part, and had forgotten that others could bring their troops in at will. And, since he had already spent most of his forces on the attack on my dungeon, or had them wiped out when my ships bombarded him on the surface, his scenarios were already underdefended. Sucked to be him.

In the space of a few hours, though, we had burned through the majority of Iahab’s ‘floors’. In fact, as we finished overwhelming an army base that was a rather exact copy of one the US had in Kandahar, I got the impression that this little farce was coming to an end. There was only one floor remaining.

It was an attack on Air Force One. Because of course it was. Every terrorist’s wet dream was to hijack the President’s plane, and use that leverage to get their demands heard around the world. And here was a practical training ground for it.

Unfortunately for the dungeon, it was also a fairly stupid and easily defeated scenario. After all, the Secret Service couldn’t really compare to an army of undead flooding into the plane through a portal. The whole thing was over in minutes, and I didn’t even need to draw my blade. Honestly, this whole attack had gotten positively boring ever since we found out that the dungeon was set up for raid rules. Iahab had really slacked off on his defensive plans.

As the ‘President’ died, a vampire at his throat, and ghouls snacking on the arms that had previously held twin assault rifles in another display of absolute absurdity, I saw another portal open. This time, I strode through first, instead of letting the army pass through before me. This had been Iahab’s final defensive line. The only creature he could have left would be an avatar, or perhaps some monster spawned thanks to the mana gained by slaying my creatures in his dungeon. Few of my creatures had fallen, of course. But those few would have still given him some mana to work with.

So, I was not entirely surprised when I stepped through the portal and a hail of gunfire bounced off the shield I held before me. I was in a wide, circular room. Two doors led off from this place. Both were marked in Dungeon Script, so that anyone could read it in their own language. One said ‘New Game+’, and the other ‘Exit’. Both were open, and practically begging to be taken.

In the center of the room was a crystal floating in the air, roughly the size of a basketball. I knew it immediately as a dungeon core. Mine was larger, of course, but it was not fair to compare the two, since my core no longer completely resided within the mortal realm.

The gunfire was coming from a middle-eastern man dressed in traditional clothes. His AK-47 glowed with magic, but it was a pale shadow compared to that of even a fledgling divinity. As with the core, I could tell at a glance that this was the dungeon’s avatar. The last defender.

“Ah, Iahab Allah. Such a pleasure to finally meet you, face to face. I must say, your dungeon has been quite the disappointment. You really should have paid better attention to your defenses, and spent lest time trying to train religious zealots to be terrorists. Honestly, so much wasted potential.”

“Get fucked by a camel, Kuronoth! You may strike me down, but I will just become a martyr for all the others who are willing to give all to see God’s will be done in the world! You will be cast down like all the infidels and false prophets when God takes up his rightful place in this world!”

“Your god is too busy being torn apart at the seams by the different faiths calling out to him. It will be many years yet before he wakes up. And you will be forgotten long before then.”

“Damn you, infidel! Do these mortals with you even know your true nature? Do they know you’re just a dungeon, no better than the rest of us?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Oh, Iahab. These are my inner circle, my most trusted warriors. Of course, they know that I am the Forbidden Chambers of Exotic Pleasures dungeon. But they also know that I am Kuronoth, God of Pleasure, Domination, and Dungeons. I am not ‘just’ a dungeon, not any more. As I told you before, I am a true god, recognized by the System itself. And it is time for you to face judgement for your crimes.”

The dungeon’s avatar screamed in rage, and threw aside the assault rifle. He’d run out of ammo for it, and the bullets hadn’t even scratched my shield. Instead, he pulled out a massive, two-handed, curved sword, like a scimitar. And then, screaming a cry to his god, he charged.

I simply moved. To a mortal eye, one moment I was standing there, sword and shield in hand. In a blink of the eye, I was standing next to the dungeon core, blade outswept. Behind me, Iahab looked puzzled, but then red lines began to trace themselves across his body, before the avatar fell into six separate pieces on the ground in a gory heap.

One of the things about being a god, after all, was that my avatar had godspeed. I was still a young god, so there was a limit to how long I could use it in a day without causing myself a great deal of strain, especially outside my domain. That is part of the reason I worked to make the final fight with Pofmis end so quickly. It needed to be fast, or I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with her, and I would have lost the fight.

Iahab, unfortunately for him, was no god. Not even close. And he had not spent his time learning ways to defend against a god’s avatar in close combat, which meant he had no defenses against me. Hence, the avatar in pieces on the floor.

Slowly, I turned to face the core itself. A shield sprang into existence around it, a bitter green color. I couldn’t help but smile.

“You know that you are merely prolonging the inevitable, Iahab. There are still eighteen hours left until you can begin regenerating mana again, without killing creatures, and all your monsters are dead, and won’t be respawning until you have mana. Do you really expect that pitiful shield to keep me out, especially since it relies on your own pitiful mana reserves to maintain itself?”

There was no answer from the dungeon core. Not that I expected one. After all, I wasn’t looking at the DEN right now, so I couldn’t see his reactions. And without his avatar, or a creature under his control, he couldn’t speak to me. But the translucent shield remained up, clearly indicating his defiance.

“Very well, then,” I sighed. “Iahab Allah dungeon, I would say that it has been a pleasure knowing you, but that would be a lie, and I do not do such things. So, know that you will be killed, left unmourned, and forgotten. Your very existence will fade away, until not even a whisper of it remains in memory.”

I raised my sword in one hand. Black flames surrounded the blade, as I poured my divine power into it. This was the power of Domination. My will declared that the shield would fall, and so the shield would fall, like night following the day. I was not breaking or destroying the shield, which would be Conquest. No, I was willing the shield to Not Be, and the shield, and the dungeon core creating it, would have no option but to succumb to the force of my will.

I brought the sword down, and it crashed against the shield. I heard a mental scream of pain and rage that shook the very floors of the dungeon as Iahab tried to fight against the blow. But it was a useless endeavor. The shield wavered, and then faded from existence, disappearing altogether. The moment my blade lightly tapped the dungeon’s core, I received the message I had been waiting for.

The Forbidden Chambers of Exotic Pleasures has defeated Iahab Allah in a dungeon war. As the victor, you gain Experience, and copies of the defeated dungeon’s creatures and patterns.

Experience gained.

As the victorious party, you may decide what to do with the defeated dungeon core.

Absorb: Absorb the dungeon core, further adding to your Experience. Defeated dungeon becomes part of your domain. Defeated dungeon’s skills, knowledge, and memories becomes part of your own. Some risk of personality leakage when absorbing sentient dungeons.

Destroy: Shatter the dungeon core, killing the dungeon soul. Grants a large amount of Experience. Conquered dungeon collapses, and is destroyed.

Enslave: (Unique Option) As a Divine Slaver, enslave the Dungeon Core to your will. Grants Experience, may learn some of the conquered dungeon’s skills. Gain complete control over the enslaved dungeon’s territory.

Subjugate: Turn the defeated Dungeon Core into a subject or client core of yours. Parallel to the concept of protectorates and client states in political terms. Grants some Experience, and overall authority over the conquered dungeon’s area, though subject core retains local control for most things.

You have chosen to Destroy the Iahab Allah dungeon core. You gain experience! Dungeon soul is destroyed.

You have leveled up!

You are now Level 17.

INT +10, WIS +10, CHA +10

You still have 2 Ability Points to spend.

You still have 32 unspent Skill Points left to spend.

You have leveled up!

You are now Level 18.

INT +10, WIS +10, CHA +10

You still have 4 Ability Points to spend.

You still have 34 unspent Skill Points left to spend.

WARNING!

The dungeon core for the Iahab Allah Dungeon has been destroyed during a Dungeon War. The dungeon will now go into controlled collapse. All remaining creatures in the dungeon will be teleported outside the dungeon’s territory. Those that were participating in the Dungeon War will be sent to the invasion point.

I nodded once as I saw the stream of messages. Two more levels? Excellent. I quickly tossed the ability points into WIS. It was still the lowest of the abilities that governed how I functioned in my avatar, after all. I could worry about looking over the skills available to me later on. I was certain that there were some goodies that I did not want to miss out on.

Either way, our work here was done. As the teleport took us outside the dungeon, and back to the shrine in my little pocket of territory created by the core spike, I turned to smile at my people. “Well done, to you all. To my mortal followers, you will find gifts waiting for you when you return to Swamptown. To my monsters and bound followers, good work. The dungeon will be closed the rest of the day, so you may enjoy yourselves to your heart’s content, at whatever you choose. Tomorrow, though, it is back to work.” That got cheers all the way round, at least from those with enough mind to cheer. Had to reward people for doing their best for me, after all.

Chapter 279 – Swamptown

With the fighting done, I let my avatar fade, and shifted my consciousness to Swamptown. The Dungeon had closed the moment I started my counterattack, so that I could devote all its resources, including the floor bosses, to the attack. Overkill, it turned out, but I had not survived and thrived in this new world by settling for just the right amount of force.

Something that I’d noticed early on was that my monsters could not be in two places at once. Oh, the ‘instances’ that the dungeon was divided into meant that they were all getting experience in being inside multiple copies of their floor, or the ‘lounge’ spaces I’d created. However, a quirk of the system had it so that, despite being in twenty instances at the same time, they still counted as being in one place: the dungeon. The moment they went out of the dungeon, however, they disappeared from all the instances, and did not reappear until they returned.

So, naturally, I needed to clear out the dungeon in order to commit fully to the attack. This made a few parties unhappy, since their runs were cut short, or they were kept from entering, but I could smooth those hard feelings over easily enough. Victory covers for many things, after all.

At any rate, I noticed that the military had taken it upon themselves to set up a cordon, keeping people away from the heavily irradiated area north of town. I already had the Radsoak Slimes working on that area, cleaning it up. They were a weird species of slime, that ate radiation until they turned black, and died, becoming a radioactively inert, but energy-rich stone that burned like coal, but with roughly four times the energy output. Really impressive little things.

Anyways, the military was keeping people away from the battlefield, so, naturally, they gathered the one place they could be certain that they would get all the news, my cathedral. Whether they were worshippers of mine or not, they were all welcome into the cathedral, of course. Internally, the building had swollen to almost the size of a stadium, as nearly the entire population of Swamptown, roughly five thousand people, all came together to find out what was going on. The fact that, if the town was attacked again, this was likely the safest place outside the dungeon was a secondary concern.

Zannah and Maranda, my Sword and my Hand, were keeping people calm by giving a sermon, and displaying the magic they got through their connection to me. Obviously, if things were bad, then they would no longer be able to draw upon my power, right? Well, that wasn’t technically the case, but I saw no reason to disillusion the crowd just yet.

Instead, I spent a few minutes trying to find a way to refine the hastily implemented dungeon law into something that wouldn’t cause more problems than it solved. Quashing all use of fire had been a quick and dirty way of stopping the use of explosions and guns in my domain, but I needed something better. Letting bad blood get out of control was unhealthy, true, but I couldn’t just let people go blowing up the town.

Dungeon Law

Nonlethality

All damage done by creatures not of or bound to the dungeon within the area designated as Swamptown shall be nonlethal damage, regardless of whether the attack is lethal or not. The exception to this is within designated Dueling Spaces.

Dungeon Law

Nondestructive

All area effect damage done by creatures not of or bound to the dungeon within the area designated as Swamptown shall do no damage to objects and buildings within the area, regardless of their normal effects.

It took some effort to change the former dungeon law, but my mana stores were well and truly topped up after having wrecked Iahab so thoroughly. The work of getting everything done was less a strain on my resources, and more that it required a great deal of concentration, like pushing a car uphill. It wasn’t impossible, but it was far more work than you’d just casually do while in the middle of a fight.

I waited a bit more, and then created several dueling arenas around the town. The first was in the basement of the Blind Hog Tavern, opening up a space for what amounted to an underground fight club. The second was a small arena behind the cathedral. And the last? I expanded the space of the main road somewhat, and put an area that could double as both a dueling area and a stage for public executions, if that ever became necessary. I’d just have to move in the proper equipment when it was needed.

I manifested first to Lieutenant Grant, who was still in the recruiting office. Not because he was too important to go out on what was essentially a police cordon, but because he was the commanding officer, and needed to be in a place where he could communicate, both with his team, and his command structure. The Lieutenant was actually on the phone, so I didn’t say anything, and just leaned against the wall.

“Yes, General, things look to be under control here. The dungeon is still shut down, and no enemies have made it through the cordon. The transit hub is still operating normally, and the only ones who know something is wrong are the ones who bother to read their System alerts when entering the hub, or the ones who come out into Swamptown proper.” Grant looked up, and saw me standing there, and said, “General, he just showed up. Can I put you on speaker?”

Once he got what must have been a confirmation, he hit the button for the speaker on the phone base, and set down the handset. “All right, General. Kuronoth is here, in his avatar. Kuronoth, I’m currently speaking with General Thompson, based out of Fort Bragg. I assume you came because you had an update about the attackers?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “The dungeon known as Iahab Allah has been dealt with. It had been taken over by ISIS fighters, and converted into a training camp for terrorists. The entire dungeon has been destroyed.”

“Not that I don’t believe you, Kuronoth, but you want to run by me how a dungeon can get taken over by terrorists and turned into a training camp? Other than your dungeon, all the reports we have are that they just work to kill anyone who comes in. That might help with combat training, sure, but it isn’t a training camp, by any stretch.”

“Yes, there are a couple things about this dungeon that made it well suited to such a task. First, you have to understand that there are different types of dungeons. For instance, my little dungeon started as a Mystic dungeon, meaning that it had a talent for magic and creating new mutations of creatures. Slayer dungeons gain more strength from killing creatures in their halls, which is part of the reason that they are the best known and most widespread type of dungeon. The Iahab Allah dungeon, however, was a City dungeon, well suited to having sentient residents inside it.”

“A City dungeon? Really?”

“Yes, I understand that the concept is alien to those of us who lived before the System, but it is a thing. They are rare, of course, but, where they do show up, in the wider world, they can become bastions of defense against a hostile world, or great academies of the arts, sciences, or magics. Unfortunately, much as I came to inhabit the Exotic Pleasures dungeon, a former jihadi inhabited the Iahab Allah dungeon, and twisted it to his own ends.”

“You obviously knew about this camp already, before they decided to try and attack you. Why not bring it up before now? Why keep that intel to yourself?”

“Why doesn’t the US simply nuke the Middle East until there is no more ground for terrorists to stand on without glowing in the dark? Because there are political considerations that must be taken into account. As I explained to Lieutenant Grant, before I had a confirmed hostile act, my hands were tied. Acting too much risks getting other parties involved, to try and keep things from spiraling out of control. And when those other parties include names like Shiva, even I think twice about calling down their wrath.”

“Fair enough. What can you tell me, then? You said the dungeon was destroyed?”

“Yes, I had assets en route before the attack here in Swamptown even began, ready to set up a beachhead so I could bring my forces through. Once the attack started, I gave them the green light. They destroyed all the forces present on the surface, before setting up one of my shrines, allowing me to pull my forces from the dungeon to focus on the attack. That’s why my dungeon was closed for the last few hours.”

“So, there are limits to even what you can do. That’s comforting, I guess.”

“There are limits to everything, under the System. Finding ways to surpass those limits is a process, no different than soldiers surpassing their limits before the System. You just have to know how to push things. At any rate, the dungeon had been quite busy producing mockeries of American troops, complete with war gear, to use as their dungeon monsters. My strike forces were less than pleased to hear that, and annihilated the surface monsters with extreme prejudice, which left the dungeon open for assault.

“With my monsters alongside us, we struck into the dungeon, and fought our way to the core. I shattered the dungeon core, causing the dungeon to go into a controlled demolition. If you look at satellite photos, you’ll find a large sinkhole in what was once a patch of desert. No enemy forces escaped.”

“I do not like the way you described those monsters. Can I get some more detail? Is this something that could be used by the terrorists outside the dungeon?”

“Once the victory party is over, I’ll have the leader of my mercenary group come over to give a full report on what her team saw. She is former military, so she will have a better read of what needs to be said. However, yes, this is something that might have been spread to other dungeons in the area. You’ll have to check them, since I don’t have access to anything about the dungeons over there, except for a few details I’m not allowed to readily reveal. Just be careful on who you send. Creating a broken dungeon that constantly spawns US troops with the order to kill intruders is probably not great for the local area, or your PR.”

“That is the mother of all understatements. I’ll be waiting on your commander’s report, then. Or, more likely, that’ll go to higher. This is officially above my rank. Or yours, Lieutenant. I expect you to keep this all confidential until it is released publicly. If it ever is.”

“Understood, General.”

“Well, I’ll take my leave, now. I need to comfort my flock, and let them know that things will be getting back to normal soon. And then I need to prepare the proper gifts for the conquerors who helped bring down the menace.”

With that, I shifted my avatar to the cathedral. This caused several people to jump in surprise, but my two priestesses simply bowed low to me. My Sword smiled as she rose. “My Lord, what is the news?”

I smiled at her, but I spoke to the whole congregation. “An upstart rival thought to use others to bring terror and mayhem to Swamptown. However, I noticed their presence. The attackers were all slain before they could do anything to harm the people of Swamptown.

“Yet, I was not content to merely allow the brigand behind this attack to walk free. So, I sent mercenaries under my banner to their home. The threat of these attacks has been removed at the source, and Dungeon Laws now cover Swamptown to limit the loss of life and property by careless attacks, or even magic. So, rest easy, my people, and know that I am watching over you. The dungeon shall remain closed the rest of the day, but tomorrow, it opens once more, so all can enter the Forbidden Chambers of Exotic Pleasures!”

And, with that, I let my avatar fade back to the dungeon. It might be closed for the day, but that didn’t mean I was devoid of work. I had to make appropriate gifts for my servants, after all!

Chapter 280 – Global DEN

Welcome to the Exchange!

User

Message

Lament

I don’t like that it has come to this. Hasn’t there been enough death already?

Sangre

Death is a part of life, yeah? Even if we are technically immortal, since we don’t die of old age, that doesn’t mean we can’t be killed.

Palace

Iahab brought this upon himself. He knew the rules, and he thought that he could break them without consequences.

Resident Evil

What rules, though? Dungeon wars are part of the System.

Palace

When we first got added to the Global DEN, we agreed upon a set of rules to keep things civil, and avoid the kind of backstabbing politics you see in places like the UN. The rules are there to protect us, both from the mortals, and from each other.

Morte

By now, you should know that any of us have the resources and knowledge to be a threat to any of those around us. The information we have access to, as dungeons, and through the DEN, makes us each a potential danger.

Silver Mercy

In addition, most of us ‘grow’ most efficiently through killing. Since all of us currently on the Global DEN are former humans, we all know how humans react to things that start trying to kill them. And since dungeons aren’t human, we weren’t sure we’d even be afforded human rights. We could easily have been enslaved, starved out, or just destroyed outright. There were too many dangers to just let things be.

Palace

So, those of us who were active at the time made a set of rules, to govern our actions with each other. There were only six of us at the time, but already there were culture clashes on the daily. Things would have gotten out of hand if we didn’t have some sort of self-imposed structure.

Niflheim

Then, what are these rules? I’ve heard them mentioned, but I’ve never seen them spelled out.

Palace

1. Do not allow the public to learn of the existence of sentient dungeon cores or the DEN.

2. Do not spread information that can be harmful to members of the DEN, or dungeonkind as a whole.

3. Keep fights to message boards, instead of dungeon wars.

Silver Mercy

Simple rules, designed to protect ourselves. The general public is not to know about our true capabilities, or the fact that we can communicate as we do. We cannot use the information we find through the DEN to send the mortals after other dungeons. And fights are to be kept to the level of internet flame wars, so that we don’t risk collateral damage, that would expose us.

Freedomland

And these fuckers force the rules on everyone else who has joined up since then.

Exquisite Pleasures

You can always try breaking the rules, Freedomland, and see what happens. Just remember, if you fuck around, you just might find out.

Freedomland

Are you threatening me?

Exquisite Pleasures

Yes. Just like I did the last time you started bitching about the rules. And, as I think I’ve proven, these are not idle threats.

Lament

Did you have to take it that far, Pleasures? Couldn’t there have been some other way, besides destroying him? Iahab was… well, he was a pain, but he was still one of us! Dungeons like us are so rare, on Earth.

Exotic Pleasures

Iahab broke the rules. He armed terrorists, and sent them through my portal network to attack me, using a core spike to spark a dungeon war. This not only was a direct assault on me, outside the forums, but it exposed all dungeons to increased scrutiny and danger. If you don’t think that the dungeons in the Middle East and North Africa are about to get a visit or two from special forces to ensure that terrorists haven’t turned them into training camps and resource hubs, then you’re delusional.

Lament

It can’t be that bad, though! Most dungeons aren’t like Iahab!

Sangre

And most spiders aren’t deadly to humans, even before the System. But what is the natural reaction of most people when they see a spider? Either crush it, or get away. Same with all bugs. People need to train themselves to not get creeped out by the harmless ones.

Morte

It is true. Part of the reason people are frightened of bugs is because they are hard to see, and many carry another unseen threat: disease. And what are dungeons but an unseen, but very real, danger? Oh, you can see our walls, when we have them, and our monsters, but everyone knows that the dungeon itself is a living entity, and that is an unseen danger and threat. Humans do not respond well to unseen dangers.

Exotic Pleasures

Exactly. So far, we’ve all been very careful about how we interact with people, outside the DEN. Some of us have more actual contact with people than others, but we all have protections in place, to keep those we speak with from acting against us.

Resident Evil

Like what?

Palace

Well, of the dungeons here, only Pleasures, Mercy, Lament, Freedomland, and myself deal with mortals directly. Iahab did, as well.

Silver Mercy

My interactions with the public are through an avatar I’ve made, a kitsune, or fox spirit, covered in a glamour that prevents observers from knowing it is just an avatar. Mostly, I interact with the priests and shrine maidens who work at the temple I call my home, and help keep monsters and pests from defiling the temple. Because of this, they think of me as one of the dungeon’s creatures, not the dungeon itself.

Palace

As for myself, I do not have an avatar. However, I can speak through the dungeon creatures, and have done so to converse with the mortals. But only with those who have signed a contract under the System, preventing the knowledge from spreading further.

Lament

Is that why you suggested I do the same? Because you used that system, and it worked?

Palace

Yes. Though I cannot take credit for the idea of using System contracts to enforce behaviors, as that came from another.

Freedomland

Wait, you mean the contract thingies that the lawyers taking my case to the courts signed weren’t your idea? I thought you were the ‘Palace of Justice’? Shouldn’t all the legal BS be your thing?

Palace

I am the Palace of Justice, but that does not mean I am alone in being able to consider legal aspects of a situation.

Lament

Then who came up with that idea?

Exotic Pleasures

It was me, of course. From the beginning, when I made my avatar pose as the final boss of the dungeon, I was looking for ways to cover my tracks when someone eventually learned the truth. And I stumbled upon the perfect method, once my first deal was struck, barely two months in.

Resident Evil

So, the people who know your true nature are either here, in this forum, or are bound by contract to you?

Exotic Pleasures

Not quite. After all, my true nature is not just a dungeon, but a god. Those who know my nature are either bound by contract or enslavement, one of my followers, a member of the DEN, a member of the similar network that gods have access to, or some combination of the above.

Freedomland

And what is stopping the ones not under a contract from spilling all your secrets and fucking us all over?

Exotic Pleasures

The same thing that keeps dungeons like you or Iahab from doing stupid shit like attacking other dungeons on the DEN, or throwing in your lot with terrorist organizations. On Earth, I have enough forces under my command that I can enforce the consequences of bad behavior, even when the ones involved aren’t bound by a System contract. In the wider galaxy, someone spreading information obtained through GodNet or the Galactic DEN to the mortals would earn the ire of everyone else on those networks. That is… not a situation you wish to find yourself in, believe me.

Freedomland

You bastard. Always lording over us with that damn ship of yours, and those mercs you hired!

Exotic Pleasures

I only bring up my extensive resources when someone on this forum decides to try and be a dumbass, and needs to get a healthy dose of reality, before they do something stupid, and their reality becomes very unhealthy.

Lament

How is this different from you telling us what we can and cannot do?

Palace

Just as law and order have a legislature or council to create laws, the police to enforce laws, and the courts to decide guilt and innocence, the rules that Iahab broke were decided upon by the Global DEN, and we all pledged to use what resources we had available to us to enforce those rules.

Shiren

Wait, if fighting dungeon wars is against the rules, then what about when Master enslaved me?

Silver Mercy

The rules only apply to those of us in the DEN, my dear. You weren’t part of the Global DEN at the time, so you weren’t under the protection of the rules. And you admitted that, if he hadn’t done something of the sort, you’d be dead by now, since the moon didn’t have a population to supply it with enough mana for your dungeon.

Exotic Pleasures

Actually, I’ve run the numbers, and the moon, prior to my intervention, would have kept her alive, but in torpor, almost indefinitely. However, that would basically mean she would sleep until she got enough mana to wake, and her core would be all but undefended the whole time. Her dungeon monsters wouldn’t even be able to breed, to make more of themselves, since the mana was so sparse, and she hadn’t found a way to get plants to grow in vacuum, which limited how her monsters would be able to feed themselves.

Sangre

In other words, she would have been easy prey for anyone who came along, and decided to kill her.

Exotic Pleasures

Exactly. Because there are creatures out there that eat dungeon cores. And a core has been used in ritual magics or other, less savory, means. They can be very nasty, if you don’t know what you’re doing. And if you do know what you’re doing, those rituals can get a mortal a great deal of power. But the dungeon is destroyed in the process.

Morte

How do you know this, EP? Not that I doubt you, but I haven’t heard of any of this.

Exotic Pleasures

You wouldn’t have. Dungeon Eaters don’t typically show up before Tier 3, and the rituals and other techniques are from the time before dungeons had as many protections as they do now. However, the Galactic DEN remembers, and they’ve still got the information available, if you know how to find it.

Sangue

Why hasn’t this information been put on the Global DEN?

Exotic Pleasures

Plenty of reasons, starting with the fact that I don’t owe you anything, in that regard. But the main reason is that there are people who are part of this forum that cannot be trusted not to run their mouth. One of those people is now dead, but I haven’t had casus belli to put my boot on the necks of any others I’ve been watching. And I follow the rules set out by this group.

Resident Evil

*whispers to Freedomland* Psst! Hey, I think he’s talking about you!

Freedomland

I’d like to see that asshole try!

Exotic Pleasures

Funny, Iahab said much the same thing. Remind me again how he’s doing, now?

Palace

Pleasures, enough. You’ve made your point.

Exotic Pleasures

Of course.

Silver Mercy

So, what happens now? I mean, you’ve taken out one of the key members of the DEN. What are you planning on doing, now?

Exotic Pleasures

I have a couple things going on, right now. Little diversions set in motion. In fact, one of them is set to come to fruition very soon. A little experiment, you see.

Resident Evil

Well, that’s not creepy at all.

Epilogue – Elsewhere

Takayama Nobuhito hadn’t planned to go out tonight. But his girlfriend, Kita Rie, was busy with something with the cheerleaders, so he’d settled down to play some games. Except that he couldn’t concentrate. He’d grown more restless throughout the night, and after a string of losses in an online multiplayer shooter, he decided to take a break, and clear his head. However, Tokamachi, in Niigata Prefecture, was not exactly the entertainment capitol of Japan, so he found himself wandering down to the park by the bank of the Shinano River.

That was strange. He didn’t usually wander the park at night. Not that he was afraid, or anything. He was a level 20 Fighter, after all. Common muggers weren’t going to be able to do anything to him.

No, it was just that the park was boring. Oh, sure, the city wasn’t an entertainment powerhouse, but there were at least a few things he could do to hang out with the other kids from his school. But, well, he just didn’t feel like it tonight. Something was bugging him, but he couldn’t figure out what.

As he wandered through the park, he saw a figure, kneeling in the grass in a circle of moonlight. Something about the scene seemed off to him, since it was supposed to be a new moon tonight, but that went out of his mind when he recognized who it was. Suda, the little weakling archivist, and one of his favorite punching bags.

Anger flared in Nobuhito’s breast. The little snot had been different, since they returned from the school trip to Kyoto two months ago. He’d been muttering things, and stuck to the library even more than usual. If this was before, people would have been worried that he’d do something crazy, but with the System, they had enough of a level difference that even if he stabbed them, he couldn’t do enough damage to take any of the stronger kids down before they kicked his ass. But still, he was acting strange. It would be good to remind the brat who was boss!

As he approached, he called out in a mock-friendly voice, “Oh, Suda-saaan! What are you doing out here all alone? Don’t you know it is dangerous to go alone at night. Perhaps you need to pay some protection money, hmm? Or do you want to suffer another ‘accident’?”

Suda didn’t respond. He didn’t even look his way. Nobuhito growled, and wound up for a kick to the smaller student’s head. That would get the fucker’s attention!

“Hey, I’m talking to you, bitch! Take thi—WHAT THE FUCK?” His foot lashed out, but it never connected. Instead, a magic formation glowed underneath him, and black tentacles rose out of the ground! He tried to fight them off, but the tentacles were seemingly immune to his punches. Soon, they had him trapped against the ground, spread out, looking up at the sky. No matter how he struggled, he couldn’t get free.

“Ah, Nobuhito-kun,” Suda said, as he stood, and turned to face him. There was a twisted look on his face, like anger and ecstasy rolled into one, and in his hand was a black, leather-bound book. “I am so glad that the lure worked. It took a lot of work to translate the spells, you see, but I had plenty of motivation. Now, I can finally pay you back for all those things you’ve done to me!”

“You fucking psycho! Just wait until I get out of this! You’re going to wish that you’d never been born! You hear me?”

“Oh, you won’t be getting free, Nobuhito-kun. You are a Fighter, with Athlete as your profession. If you can’t punch, kick, or swing a weapon at a problem, then you are useless. And the spell I used is immune to nonmagical damage. Oh, if you had remembered your magic sword, you might have been able to do something, but it seems that you forgot it, along with the rest of your gear, didn’t you?”

Nobuhito paused. Wait. Why did he leave the house without any of his gear? Monsters still spawned at night. They couldn’t spawn inside the city limits, but that didn’t stop them from sneaking in. Everyone knew that. It was part of why it was dangerous to go out alone at night.

“Oh, starting to get it, aren’t you? Well, don’t worry. I will spell it out for you. You see, while you were at school today, I had one of my slaves slip a charm into your bag while you were at school today. It was a simple thing, really. It just persuaded you to come out here, all alone, and unarmed, in what should be a safe space. That nagging feeling in the back of your head got quiet when you reached the park, didn’t it?”

Suda Ietsuna

Lesser Incubus Male

Level 10 Archivist / Scholar

Titles: Devout, Godtouched

Nobuhito frowned, and focused enough to get an [Appraise] off. That couldn’t be right. He knew Suda was only level 5. He hadn’t gone to the dungeons or anything like that. How did he get five levels so quickly? And he was a human, last time he looked. Why was he a Lesser Incubus now?

“Ah, I see you’ve noticed,” Suda said. As he spoke, his form changed, his features becoming more handsome, and more demonic. Horns grew out of his head, and a tail slid out from his lower back. Two bat-like wings sprouted from his shoulders, as well. “I am not longer the weakling human you picked on. Thanks to the lessons I learned from my Lord’s gift, I have transcended! And, with that, I’ve gained something special.”

The demon snapped his fingers, and figures began moving into the circle of moonlight. They were all girls from his class. Each of them was naked, save for a black robe that fell open in the front, hiding nothing of their bodies. Now, he noticed that all of them had identical piercings, each of them sporting a tag from a ring in their labia.

Nobuhito snarled as he saw that his Rie-chan was among them! He struggled once more, trying to get free, but it was to no avail. “What have you done to her? What did you do to Rie-chan, you bastard?”

Rie smiled sadly at him. “I’m sorry, Nobuhito. I love you, but Master’s dick is too good. But, don’t worry. Master promised me that, if I became his slave, he would make sure you didn’t suffer. You won’t have to endure what is to come.”

There was a glint of metal in the moonlight, which drew his attention back to the demon, Suda. The demon was now holding a knife in his hands, and was now kneeling by his side.

“She’s right, Nobuhito-kun. After I raped her until she couldn’t live without my dick, I gave her the choice. She could be my slave, or watch as you suffered horribly. So, as much as I would like to drag this out, I must follow my Lord’s example, and keep my word. You will not suffer. A bit of pain, and then it will all be over. And you can go on, into the afterlife, without ever enduring the tragedy that is about to happen to the others.”

Nobuhito’s attempt at a reply was cut off by the knife flashing across his throat. A critical hit. He didn’t have his armor, which would have protected him from that, and the silence effect that came with his throat being slit. That crit took forty percent of his health in a single blow! Focusing, he tried to [Identify] the weapon.

Murderer’s Blade

Type

Knife

Rank

Rare

Damage

Special

Damage Type

Slashing

This simple combat knife has been specially enchanted to be a murderer’s best friend. However, it is not very effective unless one scores a critical hit.

Deals 1% of the target’s max HP in damage, before defenses.

On a critical, increase damage to 40% of the target’s max HP, before defenses, and inflict a Bleed status on the target, dealing 1% of the target’s max HP per second for 60 seconds.

Cursed Wounds: Wounds from this weapon can only be healed after receiving a Remove Curse spell, or similar effect. Regenerative powers or accelerated healing abilities do not work on these wounds.

And… what was this? The weapon was enchanted with a bleed effect! 1% of his maximum HP each second, for sixty seconds? But, that would be all of his HP! He’d die! And he couldn’t use his Second Wind to heal the damage! He was going to die!

Looking up, trying to find some way out of this, his eyes rested on Rie again. She smiled, sadly, as the demon moved behind her, and bent her over, so that he could see everything. “Goodbye, Nobuhito. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for you. But don’t worry, Master will take good care of me.”

“Yes, Nobuhito-kun. I’ll take good care of her, and my other slaves. In fact, why don’t you watch as I knock her up, right now?” And, as the light faded, he saw the demon’s cock thrust into her.

Charsheet

Name:

Kuronoth

Race:

Divine Dungeon Core

Class:

Magos

Profession:

Divine Slaver

Level:

18

XP:

2268000 / 2346000

MP:

4051000 / 4051000

MP Regen:

4051.0 per hour

Anima:

155,941,476

Evolution Tree(s):

Plant

Slime

Human

Titles:

The Original, Willbreaker, Conqueror, Dungeon Enslaver, Divinity, Divine Dungeon

Attributes

INT

330

WIS

248

CHA

330

Luck

110

Note: When manifesting Avatar, STR = CHA, DEX = INT, CON = WIS.

0 Attribute points remaining

Boons

Manifest Avatar

Varied Creatures

Second Tree

Abilities

Racial Abilities

Found Dungeon (Locked while dungeon established)

Dungeon Management

Spawn Monsters

+10 INT, +10 WIS

+5 INT, +5 WIS per level

Gain increased power based on the number of worshippers not bound to your dungeon.

Your dungeon and its domain is now considered holy ground for your faith

Servants of gods hostile to you suffer -10% penalty to all stats while inside your dungeon.

You may create a divine messenger to act as your voice outside the dungeon.

Class Abilities

+10 INT, +10 CHA

+5 INT, +5 CHA per level

+100% to MP recovery rate

+25% chance to rare variants of monsters from your Evolution Tree(s) being spawned normally.

+10% to experimentation on creatures within your Evolution Tree(s).

You may now experiment on creatures not within your Evolution Tree(s).

Magic effects cost 20% less MP.

Enchantments created by dungeon or dungeon-bound creatures have 20% chance to have increased power for same material cost.

Dungeon structures are immune to hostile magic.

Magic traps are 10% more effective.

Profession Abilities

+10 CHA, +10 WIS

+5 CHA, +5 WIS per level

Slave Brand – Gain the ability to enslave creatures, binding them to your dungeon.

Slave Breeder – Slaves treated as though they are part of your Evolution Tree(s), regardless of race.

Dungeon Slaves – Slaves of your dungeon gain the ability to respawn like Named monsters in your dungeon if slain.

Slaves owned by you grant you add to your MP and mana regeneration.

Slaves owned by followers of your faith add to their masters’ MP and mana regeneration.

Slaves owned by you gain +10% to all actions while following commands.

You are able to use skills your slaves have as though they were your own.

Skills

Racial Skills

Respawn – Monsters cost 400% of normal for initial summoning, but respawn after 1 hour for no MP cost. Named Creatures respawn with their memories intact.

Trapmaking – Able to create mechanical traps to confuse, injure, maim, and kill intruders.

Name Monster – Name a monster, giving it extra abilities, and potentially turning it into a boss or miniboss monster. You may only have as many Named monsters as  0.5*(Level + Number of floors), rounded up.

Loot Drops – Autogenerate loot from slain monsters, to include coins and gear appropriate to monster level.

Resource Nodes – Randomly spawn nodes of ores and herbs in your dungeon catalogue suitable for floor level.

Dungeon Quests – Generate quests for intruders to complete within your dungeon.

Climate Control – Able to change the environment on individual floors regardless of the conditions on other floors or the outside world.

Enlightened Monsters – Able to normally spawn sentient creatures of ‘Enlightened’ species (such as humans) as dungeon creatures after both a male and female of the species dies within the dungeon. Sentients start at Level 1, and choose their class normally. (Costs 2 Skill Points)

Environmental Evolutions – Unlocks new monster evolutions suited to environments the dungeon has available.

Bane – For 200% of normal mana cost, dungeon creatures gain the (Creature) Bane quality, chosen when initially summoned. Creatures do 20% more damage to their Bane targets. May do more damage depending on rarity of Bane target.

Weakness – For 50% increase in normal mana cost, dungeon creatures gain a Weakness (chosen when summoned) that causes them to receive 25% more damage from their weakness. In return, they gain +20% to all stats. May have higher increase depending on rarity of weakness.

Improved Traps – Traps are 10% harder to spot or disable, and deal 10% more damage. Can be taken multiple times.

Increased Conversion – The amount of Anima you gain from slain creatures in your dungeon increases by 100%. (Costs 2 skill points.)

Appraisal – Learn Name, Species, Level, and Titles of intruders to your dungeon. May be blocked by certain effects.

Enhanced Avatar – Increase the stats of your avatar by 25%. (Costs 2 skill points)

Divine Territory – Claimed territory outside dungeon treated as a shrine. Inside of dungeon treated as a Temple. Core Room is treated as a Cathedral Altar. (Costs 2 Skill points)

Mana Conversion – Able to convert MP to Anima at a ratio of 100:1.

Anima Conversion (Mana) – Able to convert Anima to MP at a ratio of 1:100. (Costs 2 skill points)

Anima Conversion (Experience) – Able to convert Anima to XP at a ratio of 1:1. (Costs 2 skill points)

Class Skills

Dungeon Magic – Able to set triggered spell traps or other conditional spells. Monsters in dungeon more likely to gain magic abilities.

Instanced Dungeon – Able to maintain separate ‘copies’ of your dungeon, so that each party that enters the dungeon is placed in their own instance. Instances reset at midnight after the party leaves the instance. MP costs for creating rooms doubles.

Arcane Sight – Identify magic items and auras that you see. Affected by Stealth.

Mixed Instance – Requires Instanced Dungeon. Can mix certain areas to have instances interact with eachother.

Artificer – Create magic items to use as loot or as part of the dungeon.

Random Labyrinth – Labyrinth floors have random layout that changes every 12 hours. Creatures bound to the dungeon never get lost in Random Labyrinth zones.

Dungeon Law – Requires Dungeon Magic. Establish Dungeon Laws which provide magical effects on certain floors or in the dungeon as a whole.

Dungeon Resurrections – Able to create shrines where fallen creatures can be resurrected for a price. (Costs 2 skill points)

Elemental Evolutions – Unlocks new monster evolutions based on elemental planes.

Undead Evolutions - Unlocks new monster evolutions based on undead templates.

Demonic Evolutions - Unlocks new monster evolutions based on the lower planes.

Celestial Evolutions - Unlocks new monster evolutions based on the higher planes.

Summoned Monsters – Can set up triggers to automatically summon some monsters in special circumstances.

Concealed Magic Traps – Create magical or spell-effect traps which cannot be spotted through magic sensing abilities. (Costs 2 skill points)

Template Creation – Create original templates that can be applied to evolutions. Allows for new monsters to be created. Skill’s effects limited by dungeon’s knowledge and skills. (Costs 2 skill points.)

Enhanced Magic Fields – Can create areas where magic is more effective. (Costs 2 skill points)

Dampened Magic Fields – Can create areas where magic is less effective. (Costs 2 skill points)

Altered Magic Fields – Can create areas where magic functions differently, possibly gaining new elements or effects. (Costs 2 skill points)

Magical Improvements – Magical traps and fields are 10% more effective and 10% harder to detect. (Costs 2 skill points)

Monster Index – Gain knowledge of species observed in your dungeon. Dungeon monsters do 10% more damage to species in the Monster Index.

Profession Skills

Taming – Better able to calm emotional slaves, and prevent aggressive slaves from inciting rebellion. Also known as breaking or domesticating.

Appraise Value – Able to see the level, race, class, and profession of potential slaves, giving you an idea of their potential value. More information provided at higher ranks.

Courtesans – Slaves designated as Courtesans gain +1 CHA per level.

Combat Slaves – Slaves designated as Combat slaves gain +1 CON per level.

Bargaining – Useful for arranging the best deal when buying or selling slaves. Also useful for all types of pacts or negotiations.

Career Planning – Able to guide slaves’ development to certain goals, automatically know conditions required to meet those goals.

Enhancement – Able to train slaves’ physical abilities to their peak, and perhaps even beyond with special training methods.

Protected Bondage – Slaves gain Mystic Armor equal to their level while they have your brand. Stacks with worn armor. (Costs 2 Skill Points)

Training – Able to enhance a slave’s learning speed for skills, or teach the slave new skills.

Willing Servants – Slaves bearing your brand are conditioned to be eager to follow commands, increasing their morale.

Slave Breeder – Able to induce fertility in branded slaves, ensuring breeding new stock occurs.

Crafters – Slaves designated as Crafters gain +10% to all crafting-related skills, 25% reduction in crafting skill costs.

Linguistic Training – Imprint branded slaves with the ability to speak, read, and write specific languages.

Class Retraining – Able to change a branded Slave’s class. Known Class skills are transformed into General skills. Slave may choose to lose known General skills to gain class skills in the new class. (Costs 2 skill points.)

Profession Retraining – Able to change a branded Slave’s profession. Known Profession skills are transformed into General skills. Slave may choose to lose known General skills to gain class skills in the new profession. (Costs 2 skill points.)

Forced Conversion – Slaves owned by you can be automatically converted to your chosen faith. (Costs 2 Skill Points)

Enhanced Ability Training – Slaves training under your direction can increase Abilities at a cost of 50% normal. (Costs 2 Skill Points)

Enhanced Gladiator Training – Slaves training under your direction as Gladiators gain +2 CON per level. (Costs 2 Skill Points)

Enhanced Slave Brand – Slave Brands cost less mana to make, and able to make twice as many brands. (Costs 2 Skill Points)

General Skills

Seduction – Enhances your natural charm and ability to bend your targets to your desires.

Enchantment – Able to enchant items.

Weaponsmith – Able to make and design weapons

Armorsmith – Able to make and design armor

Divine Magic – Able to cast Divine Spells. Strength and power of the spells depends on Wisdom. Gain access to spells based on domains and alignment.

Alchemy – Able to create alchemical potions.

Physicist – Increases understanding of physics, allows more complex traps.

Monster Breeder – Gives the knowledge necessary to breed monsters in the most effective ways to encourage certain attributes.

Chemist – Increases understanding of chemistry, allows more complex traps.

Biologist – Increases understanding of biology, allows more complex ‘experiments’.

Demonologist – Provides an understanding of Demons, their language, and their abilities.

Psychologist – Gain understanding of Psychology, allowing for increased use of psychological attacks.

Psywar Specialist – All psychological attacks are 2x as effective. (Costs 2 Skill Points)

Legal Knowledge – Provides enhanced understanding of the laws of the land, including jurisprudence and precedent.

Contractor – Increased ability in making contracts, and in closing (or building in) loopholes in those contracts.

Carnal Arts – The art of sensuality, including many ways of bringing pleasure to you and your partner(s).

Sword Mastery – You gain skill and proficiency with swords.

34 Skill points remaining

Available Skills

Racial Skills

Divine Champions –

Granted Spells –

Divine Traps –

Blessed Weapons -

Class Skills

Enhanced Evolutions –

Extreme Evolutions –

Improved Dungeon Laws –

Living Spells –

Profession Skills

Increased Brand Capacity –

Enhanced Breeding Stock –

Improved Courtesans –

Improved Combat Slaves –

General Skills

Sadist – Inflicting damage and suffering on a sentient heals you for a portion of the damage dealt.

Blessing – Gift temporary blessings to followers.

Further Reading

Be sure to read my published works!

Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):

Frozen Soul - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT

Tales of the Void Traveler - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37

Memoirs of a Supervillain - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R9NWS8J

Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy GameLit):

Volume 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB

Omnibus 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X

Complete 1-20 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R5CHNNP

Into the Black (Sci-Fi GameLit):

Book I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL

Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y

City of Champions Online (Superhero GameLit):

Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1

Complete Edition - Omnibus https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PN6LH2F

Lewd Dungeon (Dungeon Core GameLit):

Book 1 - Welcome to the Apocalypse https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB34DHF

Omnibus 1 - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FBPF6HR

SCI Stories (Dark Supervillain story):

Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RL93VQN

Winterborn (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):

Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082S3S3K8

Dark Fate (Postapocalyptic GameLit):

Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086S35WZ6

The OP Lich is a Returnee (Isekai Light Novel):

Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094YR8JTD

System Supervillain (Supervillain LitRPG):

Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BB7Z83VC

The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T