Even if we have a chance, I still don’t like my odds. Leron’s biology makes him resistant to blinding. He can channel mana into his weapons to actually hurt me. I still need more time to saturate the room with my mana, and I have no way of physically harming him. He’s chasing me around with his mana-infused greatsword, leaving me no choice but to evade as best as I can. Luckily, my speed has increased from my days as a wisp, but it still isn’t enough to escape unharmed. Every other slash manages to catch the tip of my mana core, severing off a piece and steadily chipping away at my health. I attempt to diffuse my mana and set up decoys, but it only buys a second each time as he quickly locates my core. He must have a skill or natural ability to see through it. That only really leaves me with ‘Illusion Magic’ and ‘Possession’. My illusion magic went up a level, so I tried it out immediately. I make them in the form of a swordsman, and it comes out in a more detailed silhouette with monochromatic lighting details, but he just ignored them when he realized they weren’t a threat. So, all I can do is evade, hearing the constant clang of metal on metal from Vulcan and Generon’s fight. Fortunately, the worst of his injuries are long, but shallow, scratches. He’s managing to hold his ground, for now at least. As long as his surface isn’t being gouged out, he should be able to endure for a while longer. The only issue is that I’m still struggling, my health having been chipped down halfway. My last remaining option is to try to possess Leron, but I’ll need to drastically reduce his mental state to get the skill to successfully trigger. I think if I can goad him into using ‘Blood Rage’, his mental defenses will go down enough for it to work.
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“Hey, Leron, don’t you think this is a waste of time. De’gon’s just going to throw you away once this is over.”
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His only response was increasing his speed, hitting more often than not now.
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“Aren’t you ashamed? You’ve been ordered to kill a monster that can’t even fight back? Does he have that little faith in you to leave this to you?”
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“Shut your mouth and die already.”
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“How does it feel for your master to value you less than a monster that started as a wisp. You heard him; he was ready to throw you in the dungeon and give me your spot as dungeon manager. You’re so much of a disappointment that he gave up on you.”
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“Shut up, fodder!”
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He’s clenching his teeth, fighting even more fervently than before. I’m getting closer to my goal, but he just needs a little bit more of a push. Forming my illusions to create laughing masks and surrounding him, I continue my verbal assault.
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“This is what most of your life’s been like, huh. Generon’s position was never threatened, so you must always be at the bottom of the dungeon hierarchy. How does it feel to always be in the shadow of your supposed equal?”
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“Get out of my head already! You’re the worthless one!” He was breathing heavily with each swing, anger evident in each swing, as my health was approaching a critical level.
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“And do you know what the saddest part is? You’re doing all of this just for a bit of appreciation, but no matter how hard you try, he’ll always be as thankful to you as the slimes that clean up the corpses littering the dungeon. Maybe even less, since slimes can actually do their job.”
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De’gon, sitting in tense silence this whole time, tried to prevent Leron from activating his strongest skill. “Leron, no! They want you to use your skill on purpose!”
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“AAAHHHHH, I WON’T LET YOU LOOK DOWN ON ME!! ‘BLOOD RAGE’!!
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Finally, he activated his skill despite the dungeon’s mana exerting De’gon’s authority on him, blood dripping down his self-inflicted wound on his chest. The moment I’ve been waiting for finally appeared as Leron’s blood-red aura enveloped his entire body. Rage had overtaken him, so I activated my skill…Success. A chunk of my mana was taken from me, draining rapidly enough to only give me a couple of minutes in Leron’s body. I became able to use all of his skills, although they were all level one. I think this is a limitation from the level of ‘Possession’ rather than his skills actually being level one. I may only have a few minutes in this body, but I’ll take advantage of every second.
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His physical stats appear intact as I dash toward Generon and Vulcan’s fight. Generon briefly glances at me, but quickly looks back at Vulcan. He must not realize what happened to Leron, so I take this opportunity to swing at the distracted Generon. Unfortunately, my skill levels are low and this is the first time I’ve ever had high physical capabilities incomparable to a human. I wasn’t able to properly control my swing and only managed to create a gash on his arm. Now, he viewed me as an enemy, piercing the scaly hide of my leg. I’m forced to retreat a step back as I sense De’gon unfurling his wings and finally joining the fray. Hopefully, I gave Vulcan enough of an advantage, but I have to focus on the next threat. Brandishing his clawed hands, he strikes and tries to pierce through my current heart.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
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“What a disappointment! He couldn’t even handle a monster that hesitates to kill a human with their own hands. Fine, I’ll kill you both if you don’t want to leave his body!”
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Coming at me with a flurry of blows, I do my best to fend off his blows with the greatsword. We repeated this exchange once, twice, three times, until I noticed something. He was fast and strong, but his combat ability didn’t match his physical abilities. Leron and Generon are sent to fight against dungeon delvers occasionally, and may have been natural spawns that had to fight to survive until they were noticed by De’gon. Their skill levels are more appropriate for what you would expect from a higher tier of monsters’ evolutionary line. I don’t know how a dungeon master is first chosen when a dungeon first appears, but if he were always the dungeon master, then he may have never gone into combat himself, leaving it primarily to his minions. This is all to say, we’re basically on even ground when it comes to combat skill. We’re both accumulating wounds with each exchange, but either one of us could emerge victorious. I can’t use any of my skills inherent to my monster race, like ‘Glow’, but I can still use my purchased skills. Specifically, I’m going to try to use illusion magic to gain an advantage. Raising my greatsword above my head with one hand, I reach behind my back and create an illusory knife. Then, I make a side-throwing motion, launching the illusion towards him. It doesn’t have much detail, but it’s enough to make him believe it’s real. He tries to smack away the dagger, but it just phases through his clawed hand. Now off his balance, I swing down the greatsword as my real attack. Still, he manages to throw himself to the side, but not without getting an entire wing cut off. Black blood oozed out of the wound, his fiery, blue eyes flaring in rage and pain. It still wasn’t enough, and I was losing mana too quickly to give him time to recover.
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Launching towards him again, I bet it all on one final exchange to bring an end to this fight. Slashing with all of my force, I began to mix in feints, punches, and shoves, as I got used to fighting with a great sword. Wounds were accumulating faster on both of us as I sacrificed defense to inflict more serious wounds. Blood covered both of us, my mana running out soon, so I went for one more slash. He managed to stay just out of range as my momentum turned my back to him. He lunged at the opportunity, but my tail slammed into his side with all of its weight, smashing him into the wall on his clipped wing. He cringed in pain, struggling to get back up, so I walked over to him to finish this.
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“You can't do this. You need me for what’s coming. Your presence is going to bring calamity to all of the dungeons if you continue on this path. Let me live, and I can help you.”
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“There is no future where I can allow you to live. My life is my own to live. I decide how I want to live it, not you. I will become strong enough to handle any threat to my life or those I care for. If that brings calamity, then so be it. If my existence is a scourge, then the gods shouldn’t have brought me into this world.”
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“Wait!-”
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I plunged the sword down, not making the mistake of hesitating this time. I can’t make that mistake ever again, not if there are others who rely on me. I look over to Vulcan’s fight as the fire in De’gon’s eyes fades and his deer-like skull mask splits in half. Both of them are struggling to the bitter end, low on health all around. One of Vulcan’s arms lies on the ground, scratches and gouges covering the rest of his once-shiny bronze body. Generon isn’t any better, as my slash was apparently enough to even the playing field. His body was bruised all over, his left arm broken and dangling limply by his side. Blood from a head wound dripped down his face, but he continued to fight. His spirit continued to burn brightly, but this had to come to an end soon.
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“Generon, your dungeon master is dead. Will you join me as a dungeon manager? I won’t treat you below anyone else for choosing to fight against us.”
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“De’gon may be dead, but he will always be my dungeon master. If I am to survive today, then neither of you will.”
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“I understand. Then there’s only one way to settle this.”
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Raising my greatsword with what little energy and time I have left, I run forward and thrust straight at Generon’s heart. Generon, facing me with his defiant will, aims for my heart. Instead of dodging, I let it land, as I may not have had enough time after this exchange to kill Leron’s body myself. Both of our strikes pierce each other’s hearts, bringing an end to this battle for the dungeon.
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“This is the path you chose. Do not regret it, no matter what it brings. And do not forget the lives lost on your way to reach your desires.”
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My consciousness faded, and I was pushed out of Leron’s body as my mana had been completely drained. Still, I heard his last words and made sure to keep them in mind. I don’t want to become the kind of person who loses sight of all else for a single goal. If I forgot the people who were by my side through my journey, then there would be no point in reaching the end. Leron lay on the floor, bleeding out the rest of his life, but he was still conscious. He wasn’t able to say any last words, but his eyes were still full of rage and hate towards me. He passed with anger in his heart, but I doubt he’ll be the last if I continue down my path. But I’ll accept that anger as part of my desires. I check on Vulcan, but he’s tough enough to survive this battle. With enough time, he’ll regenerate back to full, even with all of his wounds. As expected, I didn’t gain any experience points or levels from this battle. I never got around to testing it, but killing monsters from the same dungeon, at least, won’t net you any experience.
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At the back of the throne room is a set of double doors. Opening them, it opens into a smaller room with a pedestal and a glowing sphere full of swirling red and golden mana. This must be the dungeon core, so I float over to it. There’s a thin film of purple mana coating the sphere, the same mana of De’gon, but it’s slowly fading away. Having recovered a decent amount of mana, I envelop the sphere with my mana, slowly deteriorating the previous purple glow, until it’s coated in a pale, blue glow. The red and golden mana continues to swirl inside the sphere as it seems to accept my mana. Eventually, a message pops up in my vision.
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Congratulations, you have become a Dungeon Master.
***
End of Arc 1
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