Dungeon Creation

The news of Hinata's disgraceful defeat didn't spread widely. The Luminaries tried their best to hide the fact. Who wouldn't? If people knew the Strongest Knight of the West was utterly defeated by a monster, it would cause widespread panic and undermine their authority.

However, there were people from whom the news couldn't be hidden. Among them was Nicolas Spertus, an utterly cold and calculating man described as a 'Devil with a Saint's mask.' He had absolutely no care nor regard for anyone around him, not even the god Luminous that he claimed to worship. He was a true heretic in the midst of the Church, despite being second in power only to the Emperor himself. The one and only person he cared about and truly worshipped fanatically was Hinata Sakaguchi, for whom he even carefully made breakfast.

Cardinal Nicolas was burning with rage after hearing about the humiliation his goddess had to go through. He had some information about who did this: it was a monster who claimed to be Veldora and who was gathering monsters in the Jura Forest under his rule.

As much as Nicolas wanted to go out of his room and destroy the person who made his Hinata-sama suffer, he knew he couldn't win in a frontal battle. If Hinata herself could not win, then how could he?

So, he started to approach the problem another way, devising a master plan that would crush the monster and its nation to dust. An evil, cold smile appeared on his face.

In this regard, Nicolas wasn't alone. Various factions that learned about Hinata's defeat realized the threat Veldora posed. Major forces in the Western Nations started to discuss the matter of Tempest more seriously.

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Inside a luxurious room in Tempest, there were two people sitting: Veldora and a woman named Pipin. Upon closer look, there was also a small fairy with dragonfly-like wings flying around them—it was Ramiris.

Both Ramiris and Pipin had the same kind of ability: Labyrinth Creation. Veldora was now making plans to create his very own dungeon.

After discussing for a while, they came to a conclusion. The dungeon would be a 150-floor underground labyrinth. The first 50 floors would be Pipin's dungeon, and the remaining floors would belong to Ramiris. The entrance to Ramiris's dungeon would be the boss room on the 50th floor of Pipin's dungeon.

One floor took approximately an hour to complete. This figure remained steady for subsequent floors, so a hundred and fifty-floor labyrinth took around a hundred and fifty hours to complete.

They could change the entire structure of a floor in about an hour, although floors could not be edited for twenty-four hours after the last revamping.

There were conditions, of course. They  couldn't make something—plants or other organic matter, for example—out of nothing, so structural changes would chiefly result in staid-looking mazes of blank walls. However, if you simply wanted to redecorate a floor with some materials at hand instead of changing its structure, that wasn't too terribly difficult.

It was also simple enough, by the way, to rearrange a labyrinth's floor order. This, too, was set in stone for twenty-four hours afterward, but that made it no less useful a tool.

Not to mention both of them could resurrect anyone and control everything in their labyrinth.

With that, the three of them went to the part where the labyrinth would be built. It was the southern side of the forest. Veldora used Gluttony and cleared all the trees in that area, and now they had a nice empty space to work with.

And then Veldora put a giant ancient-looking gate in the middle of the empty space, pulling it out of his stomach.

"Connect your dungeon with this one," Veldora spoke to pipin.

She nodded and cast the skill, then opened the gate.

"Master, it will lead us to the first floor of our labyrinth."

With that, the three of them went inside.

They began to lay the basic structure of the dungeon, mostly creating an empty floor and expanding it with magicules. They made it a pyramid shape; the deeper they went, the larger the floor became. Ramiris and Pipin did most of the work while Veldora just provided the magicules for them to work with.

The three of them continued to work on building the dungeon without knowing the conspiracy being cooked against them.

Finally, after a week, the dungeon's structure was complete. Now the dungeon was only 150 floors of hollow subspace.

"Now it's time to fill it with magicules."

With that, Veldora went to the lowest floor and let out all the magicules. It was the first time since being freed from the Infinite Prison that he let out all his magicules into the dungeon.

Instantly, a spectacularly evil aura engulfed the dungeon.

"Phew… Sh-sheesh, that was dangerous," a shaky Ramiris said. "If you didn't protect me, I might've been blown right outta here…"

"W-wow, Master… I didn't think you'd wreck the labyrinth itself…"

Pipin was right. The explosion had caved in the walls a bit; the internal pressures had been too much to withstand. And this wasn't even him attacking! That was just the magicules mixed in with the aura blast, and they came in dense.

The magicules began to flow to the upper floors.

These magicules would have many effects, like spawning monsters and magic ore in denser places. It would also make the monsters basking in the magicules stronger.

"We'd just have to wait for monsters to start appearing. At this rate, I could expect some real juggernauts," Pipin spoke.

"Huh! That was hard work!" Ramiris said as she slowly flew towards Veldora and seated herself on his shoulder.

She looked fatigued. They had been constantly working on the labyrinth for seven days. Veldora was also happy with the work.

"You did a great job. I will give you an assistant when I get back."

"Really?!"

Ramiris's tiredness vanished, and she started flying around Veldora. Veldora watched as Ramiris carried on with her little happy dance—silly, but charming in a way.

"But where are you going, Master?"

"Oh, I am going to capture some monsters for the dungeon. But before that, we should assign some floors to some monsters in Tempest."

"Let's assign Ashley as the guardian of the 49th floor of Pipin's dungeon. We'll make it look like a training ground where he can train the Kijins," Veldora spoke.

As instructed, Pipin began to modify the floor.

They assigned Ashley to floors 49-41, which were occupied by various ogre groups. It wasn't just for fighting; Korobee and the highly skilled blacksmiths would work on the 45th floor. The entire 45th floor would be dedicated to Tempest's high-level weapon production.

The 44th floor would house the group under the ogre named Shiro, who worked on enchanting the weapons.

These two floors would be disconnected from the labyrinth, meaning no one could enter these floors without Veldora's or Pipin's permission.

Floors 40-31 would be under the vampire Prelix. He is strong and good at researching medicines and different types of potions, so these floors would be under him, along with some lizardmen and some dwarves sent by Gazel.

The rest of the floors in Pipin's dungeon would be empty for the time being.

As for Ramiris's labyrinth, Veldora wanted to make it a paradise for himself, with strong females from various races on each floor. However, he also thought about making some exceptions, like having the insect Zegion as a guardian because of his potential.

He decided to do both: collect beautiful females for the dungeon and assign any monsters with potential.

The first monster he chose was the Star Wolf Ranga, who would guard the lowest floor of Ramiris's labyrinth.

He assigned levels 80 to 71 to Zegion and Apito.

Levels 70 to 60 would be sea-themed. He told Ramiris to create different aquatic environments like the deep sea, beaches, and stormy oceans, and appointed Chrays as the boss of the 70th floor.

He left floors 60 to 41 empty for now.

"Hey, Ramiris, can we set up the dwelling of the spirits here?" Veldora asked with a grin.

Ramiris shook her head in panic. "No, Master, we can't do that. If we set up the dwelling of the spirits, they will be corrupted by your aura."

Veldora grinned mischievously at Ramiris. "Come on, Ramiris, think about it. Setting up the dwelling of the spirits on the 40th floor would be amazing."

Ramiris crossed her arms and shook her head firmly. "No, Master. It's a big no!"

Veldora thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up. "What if I offer you something in return?" He pulled out a box of cookies from his storage. "Your favorite cookies."

Ramiris's eyes widened, and she started to drool a little. "C-cookies?"

"Not just any cookies," Veldora said, waving the box enticingly. "These are the super-deluxe, extra-chocolatey ones."

Ramiris hesitated, clearly torn. "I... I can't... But... cookies..."

Veldora opened the box, letting the aroma waft towards her. "Just imagine, a whole floor dedicated to the spirits and all these cookies just for you."

As Ramiris continued to munch happily on her cookies, Veldora knew he had won. "Now, let's get to work on that 40th floor!"

Ramiris wavered, her resistance crumbling. "Well... maybe... just a small dwelling... and only if I get the cookies first."

Veldora grinned triumphantly. "Deal!" He handed her the box.

Ramiris snatched the box eagerly and started munching on the cookies. "Mmm... okay, fine, we'll set up the dwelling on the 40th floor. But we have to do something so that all the spirits don't get corrupted!"

With that, they began thinking and came to a conclusion. They would summon some greater spirits to absorb Veldora's magicules and protect the smaller spirits from getting corrupted.

With that, the 40th floor became the dwelling of the spirits. This floor was directly connected to another dimension where the elementals resided. There was an altar in the middle of the floor.

"Let's try summoning some elementals for our dungeon."

With that, Veldora walked onto the platform. Though Ramiris was curious as to what Veldora might say to attract the spirits, to her disappointment, Veldora didn't speak out loud.

The air around the altar shimmered. A few moments later, bright lights emerged from the altar. The pressure in the air thickened, and four colored lights appeared: one green, one blue, one gray, and one pitch black.

{Summoning successful.}

{[Elemental Lord of Wind] [Elemental Lord of Water] [Elemental Lord of Space] [Elemental Lord of Darkness]}

Four powerful elemental lords appeared in front of Veldora, all of them bowing. Normally, spirits are very sensitive to evil intentions and wouldn't serve anyone with malicious intent. However, the reason so many elemental lords appeared was due to Veldora's ever-reliable probability manipulation and his potent authority over these elements, which made the spirits attracted to him. After this, a few hundred Greater Elementals also came down, but Veldora's eyes were preoccupied by the beautiful elemental lords.

Elemental Lord of Wind: She had long green hair that flowed like a breeze and bright green eyes. She wore a shimmering, see-through dress and had wings of pure energy.

Elemental Lord of Water: Her hair looked like blue waves, and her eyes were sea-blue. She wore a dress made of rippling water, with seashell patterns on her wrists and ankles.

Elemental Lord of Space: She had short, silvery-gray hair that sparkled like stars and deep, night-sky eyes. She wore a dark suit with swirling galaxies and floated slightly above the ground.

Elemental Lord of Darkness: She had white hair and pitch-black skin and deep, mysterious eyes. She wore a white, elegant dress that constantly shifted, and the air around her dimmed with her quiet power.

"We pledge our loyalty," the spirits spoke in unison, their voices resonating with solemnity and commitment.

<<Contract has been formed>>

"Whoa, Master! Isn't there a bit too many powerfull elemental here?" Ramiris blurted out, gesturing towards the sprits. 

"Don't worry, Ramiris. They're here to help."

Ramiris nodded quickly, trying to regain her composure. "R-right, of course! Sorry, I just... wasn't expecting so many of them."

Meanwhile, Ramiris couldn't resist approaching the Elemental Lord of Darkness with an inquisitive look. She leaned in closer, 

"And you! What're you doing here, breaking into my house?!" Ramiris exclaimed, looking up at the dark spirit with a mixture of boldness and humor.

The Elemental Lord of Darkness looked down at Ramiris with a serene smile, her demeanor gentle and indulgent, like that of an onee-san humoring a mischievous younger sibling.

"Oh, Ramiris dear," she replied softly, "you know I couldn't resist visiting such a lively place."

Veldora then reassured Ramiris and began assigning names to the spirits. "Ramiris, don't worry too much," Veldora said. "Let's give them some names  ."

Before ramiris could speak he began naming the elemental lords: "You shall be known as Zephyr," he said to the Elemental Lord of Wind, "Aqua," to the Elemental Lord of Water, "Nebula," to the Elemental Lord of Space, and "Nyx," to the Elemental Lord of Darkness.

As Veldora named them, the elemental lords underwent a transformation, evolving into Elemental Overlords.

{ [ Elemental Overlords] They are the highest form an elemental can evolve into, just below the Eight Great Spirits } Raphael explained

Most of the greater elementals also evolved into elemental lords under Veldora's influence.

At this point, Ramiris, overwhelmed by the events decided to simply go with the flow and enjoy the moment. She munched on the cookies, her worries momentarily forgotten in the midst of the unfolding excitement in their newly formed dungeon.

With that, Veldora assigned Nyx as the boss of the 40th floor, followed by Nebula on the 39th, Aquarius on the 38th, Zephyr on the 37th, and then the other elemental lords, followed by the greater elementals.

These elementals needed physical bodies to sustain themselves in this world. Pipin was in charge of creating bodies for the elementals on the 99th floor of Ramiris's labyrinth. Until then, Veldora instructed the elementals to avoid expanding too much magicules. Since the labyrinth was a trapped space, it wouldn't be hard for them to manage.

With that, the first step of creating the labyrinth was complete. Veldora decided to go outside and capture some monsters for the labyrinth. He turned to Ramiris, who was still nibbling on a cookie.

"Ramiris, help Pipin with creating bodies for the spirits while I'm gone," Veldora instructed.

"Got it, Master!" Ramiris replied, puffing out her chest proudly.

Veldora nodded, satisfied. "Great. I'll be back soon with some new additions for our labyrinth."

With a final wave, Veldora teleported outside the labyrinth.