New home

"OoOooOooh~ This place dark and big," Nia exclaims, her eyes wide as she surveys the cavernous underground structure. She turns to Eira with a mischievous grin. "Look at this little thing~ How old is she~" she asks Kael teasingly.

With a heavy exhale, Kael rubs his temple, his irritation barely concealed. 'Damn, what an idiot,' he thinks, weary of her antics.

Stretching her arms back, Eira pops her joints and steps forward, not a hint of amusement on her face. "Hmm... I'm not a kid," she mumbles authoritatively as she approaches Nia, crouching down to meet her eye level. She taps her mask, tilting her head while locking eyes with Nia, then grabs her by the chin firmly. "You understand?" she demands, her tone icy.

Nia simply smirks, her tongue flicking across her lips provocatively. Eira stands, turns swiftly, and with a sharp twist, her boot connects with Nia's face, sending a shockwave through the room. "What the hell—" Kael starts, but Eira cuts him off with a click of her tongue.

"She's not dead, I was only testing her defense," she states flatly, watching as Nia relocates her jaw, spitting out blood with a chuckle. "Hehehe, that's going to leave a mark~" Nia comments, her voice dripping with seduction.

"Ugh... And to think I was feeling bad for doing this. Fuck these punks, let's get it set up," Eira grumbles, scratching her head, clearly fed up.

"What exactly is going on?" the crazy fuck asks, looking around, bewildered. His thoughts race: 'This is insane, I can sense all the zombies running around, they know we're here but they're completely ignoring us. There's no way he's human.'

Hearing him, Zelo glares at him, about to speak, but Kael interrupts, "Hey, there's no point trying to 'secretly break free'," he says, gesturing towards the crazy fuck and yawning nonchalantly as he lets go of their restraints.

"Go ahead, try to escape. There's roughly 50,000 zombies above us. See how far you get," Kael challenges with a smirk.

'He's not lying, The stench of death is everywhere. I can hear the footsteps, even if I could use my attribute, getting out of here is a death sentence. If I make it out, I won't be able to escape this forest. Tsk, what a pain.' Ri thinks with a resigned exhale as he takes a seat on the cold, stone floor.

"Hey, get up, let's get out of here," Zelo mumbles, raising his hand to rally the others.

"Stop. There's no point, there's way too many," Ri counters, gesturing towards the audible horde outside their sanctuary.

Nia rolls her eyes dramatically. "Well how great, now instead of being prisoners, we're going to be experiments," she groans, leaning on Ri with a carefree slump that belies her frustration. 'Hmm... I can't do this by myself... this damn seal,' Zelo complains internally as he resignedly puts his arm down.

"Good." Kael nods, observing their interactions with a calculating gaze. 'Okay, for this to work they need to agree... How should I make this work...' he ponders, rubbing his temples.

Suddenly, a purple cube teleports in, hovering silently in the air. "Oh shit, is this your toy?" Nia asks with a smile, intrigued by the glowing cube.

Ignoring her question, Kael turns to Eira. "You have everything set up, right?" He yawns while reaching into his pouch.

"Yeah, yeah. You wanted 12 of those damn chains. Why the hell would you ask them to be made out of nothing but mana stones? Do you know how difficult you made it for me?" Eira responds with an annoyed tone, clearly frustrated with Kael's unusual requests.

"Sorry, for this to work, the chains can't be made of any other material. Did you set the chains up on their respective floors?" He asks, tapping his screen for confirmation.

Eira nods and lays back on a table, her energy spent. "I worked with that cube. Everything is set up, it's your turn to lock them up," she mumbles, barely suppressing a yawn.

Pulling out a contract, Kael stands in front of the group. "You got two options, you die here or you sign this and become my employee," he says with a cheery smile, as he tosses them the contract.

'Huh, what is this? I can't recognize the runic language or magic... What the hell is this? I can't do anything without permission? No leaving this place? Chained up 24/7? No moving from my respective floor without permission? A dungeon boss... What the fuck is this? How does this make me an employee? This is a damn slave contract,' Zelo concludes, scratching his head in confusion.

"Oi oi oi oi oi~ I might be crazy but I'm not stupid," Nia declares, flicking the contract away with a flourish. "I refuse to be some ugly kid's slave." The others exchange wary glances. "How is this an employee contract? We'll have no control over our lives if we sign that," Zelo grumbles, discarding the contract with a dismissive toss.

"Hmhmhmhmhmhm," Kael laughs, covering half his face in a mock gesture of secrecy. "You three were sentenced to life. I'm giving two options: you can take my deal, which will guarantee you a large space for yourself as well as good food, and if there's good behavior, you'll be able to request items you'd like. Or you can die, I won't kill you, but the zombies will," he explains with a shrug, his gaze sweeping the room nonchalantly. "This is a dungeon; your floor won't be small, and your personal room can be made into whatever you want. So, what will it be?" He offers the contracts again.

Nia exhales, seemingly resigned, as she grabs the contract and signs it. "Ugh... this isn't really an option. But I'm curious~ Just how will you keep your end of the bargain?" She inquires with a teasing voice, pointing at the line [Under this contract, you will gain the title of a dungeon boss].

Kael smirks, amused by her curiosity. "Hmm... I'll show you soon."

Zelo clicks his tongue, his frustration evident. "Tsk, what a shitty life. I always get unlucky..." He sighs deeply, his resignation clear as he signs the contract.

Ri contemplates the document, his expression unreadable. 'What a pain... I don't plan on dying... I doubt this will be any worse,' he concludes internally, finally signing the contract with a resigned scribble.

Kael claps his hands together, pleased. "Great, now let's start one by one." The purple cube glows intensely, and they're suddenly teleported into a flow. The environment is dark and cloudy, surrounded by dry and tall trees that are just a small part of the dark forest around them. Zombies and animal zombies roam the area, creating an eerie atmosphere.

"Wow, are we outside~" Nia questions, her eyes wide with wonder and a hint of excitement, her earlier defiance momentarily forgotten as she takes in their new surroundings.

"No, this is floor 29, this is where you'll be staying, Ri," Kael says, gesturing towards a seemingly ordinary cave nestled in the eerie forest. "If you walk into that cave, when you reach the back end, there will be a wall. It will open automatically for you and lead into your personal room."

Ri exhales heavily, a mixture of resignation and curiosity in his gaze as he approaches the cave entrance. "What the hell type of situation did I get myself into..." he murmurs under his breath, stepping into the shadowy maw. "So what now? Am I a dungeon boss?" he calls back over his shoulder.

Kael turns to the cube, "Let's get started."

[I need the contract.]

The contract starts floating towards it, then rests on its surface. Eira emerges from the cave, her arms laden with four light-red chains. "Ugh... How is this going to work? These things are heavy but they're easy to break," she says, setting them down with a thud.

"Don't worry, and look," Kael instructs, a hint of excitement in his voice. As he speaks, the contract melts into a glowing purple goo, which the cube then manipulates expertly. The goo splits into four parts, each droplet landing on a chain. Instantly, the chains begin to glow brightly, the goo traveling within them, transforming their appearance into dark silver with golden hues shimmering along the edges.

"Oh shit, this is awesome, these chains turned into silver?" Eira exclaims, leaning in to inspect the transformation closely.

In a sudden movement, the chains lift from the ground and launch towards Ri. Two pierce into each of his wrists and the remaining two into his ankles. "Fuck, shit this hurts," Ri grits his teeth, dropping to his knees as the chains embed themselves.

The chains pulse once more, glowing intensely before they disintegrate into golden dust and vanish. Ri stands slowly, examining his wrists, feeling nothing but the air. "Where did the chains go?" he asks, bewildered.

"They're still on you, you just can't see or feel them," Kael explains with a yawn, seemingly unimpressed by the dramatic display.

A message suddenly appears before Ri:

[New title acquired] - [Dungeon Boss]-[lvl 0]

[No more data can be disclosed until the dungeon is complete]

Ri raises an eyebrow, his skepticism palpable. 'He really did make me a dungeon boss... I didn't think it was possible. No one has even completed a dungeon, let alone built one. What is this man?'

"I don't have time to explain everything at this moment. I'll make some time to visit you later," Kael says dismissively before they teleport away. As they arrive at their new destination, Nia's eyes widen in amazement. The place is dark and stormy, with a path of dried-up trees leading to the ruins of a destroyed castle. Bones are scattered everywhere, and the path leads to a throne room with no roof, where a skeleton with a crown sits on the throne.

"This is going to be—" Kael begins, but Nia interrupts him, her face alight with excitement. "This is my place!" she exclaims, running up to the throne and sitting on the skeleton's lap. "Hhmhmhm, I love this place~" she says maliciously, caressing the jawline of the skeleton.

'Ugh... I'm glad she likes it,' Kael thinks, relieved, as Eira drags in the chain.

Kael taps his chin thoughtfully and calls up to her, "Hey, come down for a bit."

"No, you come up here," Nia retorts, adopting the tone of a ruler. Kael raises an eyebrow at her audacity and walks up to the throne, pulling out his baby.

"Do you enjoy looking down on me?" he asks, his tone cool as he looks down at her lounging on the throne.

"Of course, I do~ Hey, what is that?" Nia asks curiously, eyeing the gun.

"This? It's my baby," Kael replies, holding up his gun with a smirk. "This toy of mine... do you wanna see how it works?" he teases. 'How dare you, crazy woman. I better educate her or the others might start talking back.' 

"Sure, I—" Nia begins, but before she can finish her sentence, pow! pow! pow! pow! Kael smiles shooting holes right through her wrists and ankles. "Sssshit, it hurtsss," Nia grits out, rolling around in agony.

The cube then moves in, stabbing the chains into the holes Kael created. Once the chains disappear, Nia looks down at herself, her injuries mysteriously healed. "Huh? It healed my injuries?" she mumbles, confused yet intrigued.

A message pops up before her eyes:

[New title acquired] - [Dungeon Boss]-[lvl 0]

[No more data can be disclosed until the dungeon is complete]

"Oh, I got the title! I am now the boss of this place, I demand you all to kneel," she exclaims with a smile, quickly adapting to her new reality as she closes the screen. "I don't want to be here any longer," Kael mumbles, clearly uninterested in lingering in the eerie atmosphere, and he teleports away with the others, leaving Nia to her new kingdom of shadows and bones.