Aoi

"I offer you this because I'm impressed."

The Dragon God's voice had no issue filling the arena, even though he did not yell. He was far from breaking a sweat, but I didn't feel tired, as if all this fighting was a warmup for the big battle. My connection to the mana was stronger than ever, and the dungeon had an abundant supply.

"I hate to say this, but I'll accept your offer, Aoi." The paladin said, inviting me into her team with a nod. "These are Omerta, Ember, Nati, and Emi, and that is Gitaut, the shaman. We dragged out Gadurien from Elizabeth's body, but don't worry, I don't trust her either."

"You did pretty well for yourself." The Princess looked up, aiding the black-haired catgirl in a strange task, but I scoffed. I didn't do only well. I did all the hard work here, feeling more capable than ever.

I didn't say anything, needing time to sort out my newfound strength and emotions. I went through hills and chasms until I got here. But even if it was only a sliver of hope, I saw a way out now that wouldn't brand me as an utter failure. I found this power fighting for my life during the so-called ritual as if I absorbed the powers of everyone I slain. I got stronger, instead of tiring myself out in the huge effort.

"The Saipole princess gets it." Addas glanced at me, a brief pause in his duel against the stuffed cat. Was he reading my mind? "I couldn't test my theory on humans, but I'm glad to see that this place has the same effect on them as on the monsters. You did well during the Ritual."

Again with this crap. I didn't need their approval or praise. I did everything for my people and myself. I wanted to answer something but halfway through I missed what he tried to say. The only thing I was sure about was that his so-called ritual worked as a natural selection.

The same ruthless design how we picked out the strongest warriors back home. It meant I was the strongest here, at least from the original participants. But I couldn't explain why I didn't feel tired at all.

"Oh? I gave you too much credit, human?" He kept talking, and I couldn't shake the feeling that my mind was an open book for him. He laughed before continuing, sweeping away an attack from the toy. "It's hard to talk when annoying fleas try to bite me. And you are still not on my level to make it interesting enough, so how about this?"

Doors flung open on both sides of the arena, and dozens of monsters poured in. Minotaurs, harpies, the usual bunch, but I saw no pixies so I felt confident about facing them. I already wiped out all those creatures he pitted against each other during his ritual.

"You get to hone your skills more, but these servants went through the same as you did, and aren't as weak as the ones before." Addas monologued, and Cath was about to lose her patience. The paladin never had too much of it, not even as my prisoner.

She swung her sword towards the floating god, complaining about this strange setup. I couldn't tell if she understood the situation though. Without her guardian, what did she hope to achieve?

"How about you come down and fight fair and square?" She proposed with quite a bit of mockery in her voice. "It's easy for you to float up there and run your mouth ragged while we wipe out wave after wave of your minions. Instead, you should tell us what you are playing at?"

Addas wasn't offended. He seemed amused, hollering before giving us an answer. But all this only gave them more time for whatever they planned. Whoever these beastmen and orcs were, they knew each other and brought the fight to the Dragon God.

While our interests aligned I looked the other way in petty issues like another god being here. I was curious about what the black-haired catgirl tried to cook up. Elizabeth helped her, concentrating on something amidst the chaos. Her behavior changed now that the goddess no longer possessed her. I understood they sealed her into that cat toy, and she helped them in the fight, but the two deities were far from equal.

"All right, I'll explain it before the minotaurs reach you. But I'll be brief," Addas promised while the small group adjusted their formation. They included me in their calculations too. "Dungeons have this closed system, where mana and life are never wasted. It's a strange form of reincarnation. When someone loses their life, the soul, mana, and experience return to the dungeon's core. The rest lives on in the creature that took the life."

I struggled to focus on his monologue when the enemy closed on us. I also felt uneasy about this whole alliance thing. I kept glancing behind my back, not trusting the fighters, but they looked determined. It seemed obvious that we had to work together for a chance to survive, and the Dragon God outmatched us even then.

And what if we win? Beasts, humans from a hostile country, and another deity to make everything worse. I saw no easy way out of this.

"On the surface, life comes from the parents. It inherits traits and knowledge from them, learning and training until death. But in the dungeon, these monsters come from mana." The minotaur formation was getting close but he still talked about this thing.

"Are you ever going to shut up?" Cath asked, but the other human girl waved her off. She looked even younger than the paladin, but not less determined. She had a short sword and a small shield.

"He explains the system of the dungeon. It's like an MMO I played in my world." She said, making even less sense than the god. "I bet the next thing will be about how the monsters level up."

Addas raised an eyebrow, and seeing who his main audience was, he addressed the rest to this girl instead of me.

"They lack even the basic instincts, they won't learn, only follow the will of the core or the ruler of the dungeon." He said as the enemy formation began its assault. "But they can evolve through merging other lives and knowledge into their own. By killing intruders or monsters."

"See, I called it. They get exp from defeating their opponents." Emi claimed as if it made sense. I'm sure it did for her, but time was up, and we had to fight the minotaurs.

They bashed against the two frontline fighters like a wall of flesh. Armed with huge double axes, their muscles rippling below their skins. Right before impact, the catgirl in red summoned a wall of fire on our flanks. It funneled them into a narrow corridor.

I could tell the difference by looking at them. They were a lot tougher than the enemies I faced so far. And if I got away with something from the god's explanation, it was because of how many monsters they killed. They were like me, feeling stronger after each of them, rather than exhausting myself. As the strange human girl said, they must have leveled up a bit.

"Finally someone understands the genius of this dungeon." Addas nodded, watching us struggle with an eerie smile. "Yes, each of these minotaurs has the strength and knowledge of the monsters they defeated. Some of them even developed a semblance of sentience. They learned to talk, and first of all, they are loyal beyond the grave."

And tough. It was incredible how tough they were. Earlier a lighting spell could wipe out dozens of monsters. Now that I tried to pull my weight in this formation, the bolts bounced off their bodies like a mere annoyance. The fire didn't scare them either, and they pushed back our frontline fighters.

The stuffed cat goddess had to intervene, lest we got overwhelmed after the first contact. But this meant she turned her back on the real threat. The Dragon God didn't act on it though, he enjoyed the show.

"Now that's more like it." He hollered, floating around the arena. "I always wanted to see them fight against the Imperial Companies. Or something even tougher, but luck was not on my side until now."

"It's not fair, Aoi had a headstart and hogged all the exp from us. Now we have to fight the tough ones right off the bat." The young human girl complained, and I was about to protest when the Black Cat interjected.

"Emi, this is not a game!" She yelled, looking up from whatever she was working on. She seemed upset, her eyes flickering at the girl. "I shouldn't have let you come with us. There is no second chance if you die."

"Says the guy who already died." She shrugged, distracted from the battle. An axe got close to chopping her head off, but Nati wouldn't allow it. A purple beam emerged from her palms, blasting the minotaur away.

I only saw that spell from the Dragon God a few moments ago and couldn't believe she already learned it. I got used to the magicule density in the dungeon, but her attack almost swept me away, even if it wasn't aimed at me. Addas only laughed at this new development, and the monsters pulled back by a few steps.

"You are quite something, Black Cat." He noted, floating a little closer to the ground. "You and the shaman have potential. But the golem is right, the Saipole princess had all the fun defeating the weak monsters. It's only fair if I provide you with the same opportunities. So how about this? I reanimate the corpses for practice, and find the adventurers who left the toys behind."

It was nothing but a game for the Dragon God. He used us to experiment and for his amusement. He let me get stronger in this weird ritual so I could entertain him more. And resurrecting a thousand monsters I defeated took no more than a flick of a finger for him. Now they surrounded us, but he yawned.

"I already saw this part though, so excuse me..." He said and flew off towards the distance. No matter how far he got, his voice remained the same volume, even though he didn't use telepathy. "While you level yourselves up, as the golem girl put it, I'll find you some interesting opponents. But don't worry, I'll be back soon."

I wasn't worried about that. Rather, the hundreds of minotaurs and harpies he left behind. I knew they weren't as strong as Addas, but they were the ones facing us. Yet they didn't attack.

With their leader gone, they stayed in formation, ready to strike, but didn't move. The reanimated monster horde wasted no time and swarmed us. The human girl seemed enthusiastic about them.

"Finally, here is my chance. The left side is mine!"