Dark Fate: Book 2 – The First Night
: Chapter 14

The dungeon core glowed with a green light as I approached. It was a very rare thing to see a core unprotected, in the open, vulnerable. Once they got established, with boss monsters and traps, the core would always hide itself away behind defenses to keep people from doing what I was about to do.

When I touched the crystal, the System sent me an offer from the Dungeon. It was too young, too raw, to be sentient yet. Eventually, dungeons grew to think for themselves, but that took time, and experience. This dungeon was just acting on instinct.

Oh, the offer to make me, the strongest creature it had encountered, the Dungeon Master, was legit enough. That was the best way to increase its chances for survival, after all. The message was a generic one, of course, created by the System. The young core did not have enough intelligence to piece together a trap like that.

Many creatures, if they read that message, would be instantly enticed by the possibilities. Becoming more powerful? Gaining effective immortality? Those were all powerful lures. And that is what made the trap so effective at drawing in creatures.

Of course, every trap has a sting. This one’s sting was that becoming the Dungeon Master meant that you were bound to the dungeon. You couldn’t leave the physical area of the dungeon again, and you were forced to fight the people who sought to take the dungeon’s riches for their own. Worse, you were not so much the ‘master’, but rather the highest-ranking slave. The core was the master and the Dungeon Master its general, leading the monsters in its defense.

Naturally, I refused. I had no intent of being locked into this basement, defending an insignificant core for all eternity. The fools who were blinded by the promises of power deserved what they got when they took that tainted deal. No, I was not going to be a slave to anyone or anything.

“[Slave Brand].” Mana flowed through me, and black lines engraved themselves upon the dungeon core. I was surprised that the MP cost, which was barely 50 MP for Talia or Hibari, swelled to 3000 MP to sketch my brand upon the surface of the dungeon core. I knew that different types of creatures required more MP to enslave, but for it to be such a massive difference? That was crazy!

The title I got confirmed what I had heard in my last life. Those who enslaved or destroyed dungeons to use as tools for their own advancement suffered as a result. Sure, people who followed some god of Order would hate me, but they weren’t going to be wild about me to begin with, so it was no loss there. After all, what would they do, try to kill me extra hard?

The damage boost against dungeon creatures was another of the System’s traps. Looking on the face of it, you got a bonus to damage against dungeon creatures, that scaled both with your level (where you would do more damage anyways) and with the number of dungeons enslaved or destroyed. That meant if I could enslave or destroy another nineteen dungeons, all my damage would be doubled! It was truly a massive damage increase, when you looked at it like that.

But that was the trick. It wasn’t commonly known, but most dungeons had some limits on their functioning. It wasn’t completely understood how it happened, but most dungeons conformed to certain guidelines. With this title, any dungeon I went into would be free to use all of its abilities and minions as it pleased, actively seeking to take me out. Such things like sealing off a room and then filling it with water, without any means of escape or detecting the trap beforehand, were just the tip of the iceburg. Any time I walked into a dungeon, I would be taking my life in my hands.

There were ‘sanctioned’ dungeon destroyers, of course. I’d never met any of that secretive bunch, so I didn’t know whether they were just that badass, or if they had some kind of secret that allowed them to not suffer the title’s negative effects, or avoid getting the title altogether. Either one was possible, of course. It could simply be a special title or profession that they picked up from a System-approved source.

The dungeon firmly under my control, I ordered it to release Hibari, before I turned my attention to the next bit of business. With a command, I had the core display to me all the items it could make. I did not mind the ninja being naked, but the woman would be far more useful to me if she was properly attired and armed.

I nodded as the dungeon produced the items that I commanded it to. None of them were all that special, but they were improvements over the starting gear most people had. When Hibari finished getting dressed, she started to truly look like a ninja. Her twin blades gave her some flexibility, as well, which was always useful.

Hibari unsheathed her swords, and examined them, for weight and balance. Finding no complaints, she turned to look at me. “May I take this to mean you wish for me to learn how to dual wield blades, Master?”

I chuckled at the slightly incredulous tone she had. “Yes, I am well aware that the practice is not an overwhelming benefit like the media would have people believe, but it will provide you with options, either for attack or defense. Additionally, the second blade makes it easier to fend off groups of foes than is possible with a single blade.”

Hibari nodded sadly. “Yes, Master, unfortunately, when my husband and son fell, there were simply too many for us. We each had used only a single blade, but were taken down by multiple foes working together. It was a brutish tactic, but it worked.”

I smiled at her, and clapped her on the shoulder. “Finesse has its place, of course, but all the finesse in the world cannot stop a large rock falling from a great height. However, there are many times when the subtle blade can accomplish wonders where a brazen blow would do nothing. Don’t worry, Hibari. I have no intention of wasting the lives of my servants.”

With that said, I turned my attention back to the dungeon core. Grasping the crystal firmly, I said, “Let go of this dungeon. You will reestablish yourself at a place and time of my choosing. Go to sleep until I have need of you.” As I gave that order, the dungeon core shuddered slightly, and its glow dimmed. I felt the ambient mana retreating into the crystal, becoming disorganized as I picked it up off the pedestal that it was no longer stuck to. Without much thought, I tossed the crystal into my inventory, where I could keep it until I needed to establish a new dungeon.

“All right, I don’t think there’s anything more we can do here.” I concentrated for a moment, and shifted back into my ‘human’ form. There wasn’t anyone nearby who could prove a threat to me, not yet, but I knew that people would react badly to the whole ‘demon’ thing, at least until they got over some of their pre-Apocalypse prejudices. Turned out that, once you got past the religious programming, Angels and Demons were just different flavors of assholes. But it would take some time for that realization to reach people.

Heading back to the stairs leading up, out of the basement and the now collapsing dungeon domain, I looked back over my shoulder at my pets. They were following obediently at my heels, which brought a smile to my face. Still, I probably ought to keep them from advertising their new status too widely. “Allow me to do the talking when we meet people, my pretties.”

“Yes, Master,” they answered in unison.

As we made our way to the lobby lit only by the emergency lighting, I heard voices from in front of us. Checking my watch, I found that it was already nearly 10 PM. Probably getting late for anyone who hadn’t found shelter. This first night wouldn’t be too bad, but after that, more dangerous spawns would come at night.

Turning the corner, we came face to face with the surviving residents of the building. Well, those that were close enough to get here by now, at least. There were twenty of them, out of a building that had well over a hundred living here. It was a grim toll for the first day, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that. The whole world would be reeling from all the changes and deaths.

These residents, however, seemed more shocked that there was anyone left in the building. Judging by the looks of some of them in front, you would think they were seeing ghosts. One of them opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a woman pushing past him to the front of the crowd.

“Talia! Thank goodness you’re alive!”

It seemed Talia’s friend, Rachel, had made it home after all.