Part 66

As I held the dungeon core in my hand, I found myself getting lost in it. It was a dark grey color, almost similar to gravel. Inside the core was what looked to be a ball of smoke that spun around. My core back home was a clear silver, almost blue, and was completely plain. As I picked the core up, a notification appeared.

『 Core Theme: Stone 』

"My last core was draconic," I muttered, "So this one is stone? If I'm able to create the monsters in the cave, then I won't be disappointed."

As I continued to stare at the core, Hazel walked up to me and joined me at my side. She ended up staring at the core as well, almost hypnotized.

"Is that what I think it is?" She asked. I looked at her, a big grin on my face, and nodded. Hazel stared at me for a moment, bewildered, before her eyes widened in shock. Her grin copied mine as she hugged me close. I made sure not to drop the core, but still had enough time to hug Hazel back.

The two of us began celebrating for a moment. Both of us cheered and laughed, then turned to Icarus. Icarus watched from a few yards away, confused.

"Where are you going to put it?" Hazel asked. I looked down at the core and began to wonder about that myself. Then, after a moment, I turned my gaze back to Hazel.

"Not here," I told her as I shook my head, "This place is too far away from home. I want to put this in a place that I can feel confident about. Harpies are too strong for me to deal with, especially if they travel in groups larger than five."

"So you'll make it closer to civilization?" Hazel asked. I nodded, then brought my backpack off of my shoulders. Then, once I placed it on the ground, I carefully dropped the core into my backpack. I gave the pack one last check to make sure the core was secure before putting it back on my shoulders.

"Yep," I nodded, "Humans are weak and easy to pressure into making mistakes. They'll betray each other if it means survival, which is something most monsters don't have. They'll fight with as much ferocity as they can manage, but are also stronger than humans. That'll make it harder to fight against them."

Hazel nodded, but then she looked at me with a confused expression.

"Are you going to make a dungeon similar to your first? One with one hundred floors?" Hazel asked me. I looked at her and almost nodded, but then stopped myself. Wasn't this a perfect learning opportunity? I could create a brand new dungeon in whichever way I wanted. Plus, building this core into a dungeon the same as my last one sounded boring.

I wanted something new, so I looked back at Hazel and shook my head.

"No," I told her. Then, after her confused expression grew stronger, I began to explain, "Something has been bugging me for a while. When I first unlocked my dungeon I was told that my monsters had the option to reproduce and live lives as if they weren't dungeon monsters. The system warned me about overpopulating, of course, but that means that creating a city inside of a dungeon isn't impossible."

"A city? You'll create an entire city?" Hazel asked, shocked. I laughed and shook my head.

"No. No, that won't be enough. The first floor of my first dungeon is as large as Hewe, yet I'm planning to create one hundred of them. Why would I create a dungeon just to stop with one tiny floor? No, no I'll create something bigger," I smiled. As I spoke, Hazel's eyes grew even wider, "I'll only stop when there's enough room for an entire nation. Then, and only then, will I stop."

I looked at Hazel, who was busy staring at me with a shocked expression. For a moment, her expression didn't change, but she eventually exhaled and blinked.

"Wow," She muttered, "Every time I think you've found a big enough goal, you create another one. Are you sure you'll be able to do that? You're already busy enough with your first dungeon."

I smiled, then nodded.

"I can do it," I reassured her as I nodded. Hazel sighed, then smiled. I looked away from Hazel, then turned my gaze back to Icarus. He was still a few yards away, sitting on the ground as he watched us in silence. As I looked at him, my eyes drifted to his two sets of wings. My expression dropped as I remembered the target on his back, "Why don't we go back to grinding for XP? We need to be prepared for whatever happened to Icarus."

Hazel nodded, then turned around. I turned my gaze as well, then saw the door on the other side of the room. The door was a lot like the gate I had burned down just a few hours prior, but it was already open and not nearly as sturdy. Once we noticed it, I sighed as I saw the size of the doorframe.

"Looks like we'll stay in this form for a while," I muttered as I began walking. Hazel nodded, then followed me as I walked to the door. Icarus followed her, glad to be moving again. He had been bored for the last few hours while I was training with Vildalhall.

Once I got to the door, I took one last look at the room behind me, then smiled as my eyes lifted to the high ceiling in the distance. Then, without so much as a word, I turned back around and began to walk down the hallway.

The hallway was longer than I thought, so I was easily surprised.

"Did he teleport us into there?" I muttered in shock. I remembered when we walked through the gate we appeared in Vindalhall's room within a few seconds. Now that we were walking back, there was a massive hallway in our way. I groaned, then continued walking forward.

The hallway was wide and tall, to the point where it was just smaller than my dragon form. This allowed me to walk through it with comfort, as the walls were at least two yards away from me. Icarus, because of his small size, was happy to fly around and expend some of the energy he had in his body.

As we walked, I noticed the lack of corners or openings leading to another part of the complex. The hallway was completely straight, almost like it was twenty thousand copies of the same room.

After ten minutes of walking, we finally found our first enemy. All three of us stopped when we saw it, then began to walk toward it with caution. Once we were close enough, my heart dropped.

"It's one of those stone things," Hazel said. She was correct. In the middle of the hallway was one of the stone monsters from earlier. It seemed to be wandering around as if it was lost and didn't appear to have noticed us yet. Hazel's eyes darted around the walls, her expression growing frantic, "Where are the others?"

"I think it's alone," I said. I brought out my sword, then pushed mana into it. The blade quickly caught fire, which seemed to grab the attention of the stone monster in front of us. The monster turned around and groaned from its stone mouth. I smiled, then prepared myself for battle, "I wonder how expensive something like you would be?"

﹃

Stone Golem

Race: Puppet

HP: 140

MP: 100

AC: 140

DMG: 20

Rank: C

﹄

'A C rank? That would explain why so many were able to withstand my attack,' I thought to myself as I observed its stats. As I looked at the monster's name, I chuckled. This golem was nowhere near as well made as Vindalhall. Its body was ragged and uneven while some of its joints cracked with every movement it made. The golem walked forward, its arms hanging in the air like a zombie, as it wandered over to me. As it got closer, it began to swerve.

A moment later, after it swerved once more, the golem completely turned its body and walked into the wall. I looked at the golem, confused. My eyes drifted to its head, where a large rock was covering where its eyes would be. As soon as I saw it, I gasped.

'It's blind,' I realized. Vindalhall and the others weren't yet this one had managed to blind itself somehow. I turned to Hazel, then put my finger over my mouth to signal my intentions. Hazel nodded, then slowly backed away. I turned my attention back to the golem, who by now had already turned around and was attempting to find its way back to me.

As the golem wandered around, I did my best to stay silent. I lowered my body and positioned my feet to prepare myself for a sharp dash. Then, once my legs were in position I moved my sword. The golem turned toward me, but by then it was too late.

I charged forward, my body dashing through the air like the wind, as my sword swung through the air. An arc was created as my arm moved. The arc quickly left the sword and traveled forward like an arrow before striking against the golem's torso.

『 20 DMG 』

'Only twenty? I should be doing at least double that!' I thought to myself in frustration. I swung the sword again, this time twice. Two other arcs of flame dashed forward and struck the golem. By now the golem had discovered where I was so it charged forward, ignoring my attacks as I sent them.

The moment I saw the effectiveness my attacks had on the golem, I stopped moving my sword and quickly jumped to the side.

﹃

Stone Golem

HP: 60

﹄

'I still do a lot of damage, but I'm disappointed that I'm not doing more. My usual arc attack does 80 damage, but this thing's AC is too high for that,' I thought to myself. The golem turned toward me, then charged once more. This time it reached me far before I could jump to the side, so I was forced to dodge three of the golem's attacks. The golem's attacks were rough and untrained but seemed to contain a lot of power to them.

After three attacks, the golem slowed down. I quickly turned my hand, then struck my sword down with as much force as I could muster.

"This ends now!" I yelled as my blade met against the golem's shoulder. As I attacked, I also used my『 Crescent Flame 』attack. I felt confident that I could kill the golem if I attacked it with as much power as I could channel through my human body, but my hopes were quickly squashed.

『 40 DMG 』

"Fuck!" I yelled. The golem grunted, then slammed its hand into my side. I felt my insides shift as the impact sent a shockwave through my body. My hands let go of the hilt of my sword, which seemed to have wedged itself into the golem's shoulder, and my body instantly began to sail through the air.