TDH Vol. 2 pt. 1

“There, there. You did your best. That is all that matters. Besides, it is not as if protecting the dungeon truly matters anymore. I have all the power needed to protect all of you now,” the dungeon master said to the giant rat known as Cheese, petting her atop her head as she rested it on his lap. “Honestly, I would rather none of you fight at all. It pains me to see you go through so much pain—to die over and over again, but I know that you would all get bored without fighting.”

Despite Cheese being able to talk to him and him being able to understand her, she preferred to communicate through feelings and body language. That wasn’t any more difficult for the dungeon master to understand, of course, considering that he was linked to every single one of his beasts. He knew exactly what they felt and were thinking at all times.

“What a selfless girl you are,” the dungeon master continued. “Truly, all of you are selfless. Even when I was but a simple core in need of protection, so many of you sacrificed your lives for me. I could never repay the kindness you have all treated me with.”

Cheese nudged his hand.

“You may tell me not to worry about that, but I always will until I somehow find a way to pay you all back. It is only what you all deserve, after all. Though, perhaps I should try and find you some hobbies? If I could find you all some hobbies… maybe your favorite form of fun would no longer be these imitations of battles. How about that? Does knitting a sweater not sound better to you than dying every single day in fights where you have to be held back?”

Cheese shook her head.

“What? You don’t like sweaters? Ah, you simply do not understand their appeal. Now that I think about it… the only other being who has ever shared my interest in sweaters would be… him. Sweaters and thighs. Of course, neither could compare to his love for himself, but at least we shared a common interest in sweaters. Hah. I remember the last time we fought. He said he only spared me because I was too ‘cultured’ to let die. All because I liked sweaters. Oh, how I wish I could rend his soul and permanently end his existence. I would invite him over and set a trap to kill him if I didn’t know that he would somehow get out of it no matter how flawless the plan is. Persevering through brute strength simply isn’t fair. More importantly, hobbies. You all need hobbies. What about games? I know some of those Chosen up there recently invented a new technology that allows them to manipulate artificial beings on a screen using a controller of sorts. That sounds quite entertaining. Hmm. Maybe I should demand that we are given some of those. After all, all I must do to get whatever I want is threaten to disallow entry to the dungeon. Yes, I think I will do that.”

Cheese sighed before looking around the room at everything else the dungeon master requested but never made use of. There were countless books, toys, tools for various hobbies, and more that he demanded from the Chosen yet never used more than once. She had no doubt that this latest invention would end up in the pile of everything else that he never actually used.

“Ah, somebody else is about to enter your chamber.”

Cheese immediately perked up with twitching ears and a tail that almost looked like it was wagging.

“Are you truly so excited to run off to your death again?”

She nodded.

The dungeon master sighed before snapping his fingers, opening a portal linking his personal room to her boss chamber right in front of her. “Well, good luck. Try to put them in their place this time. It pains me to see you lose… even if I am the one who holds you back from your true power.”

Cheese, caring only for a fun fight, rushed through the portal which closed as soon as her tail made it all the way through.

It was the dungeon master’s turn to sigh now. “I swear… what have I done to deserve any of you? You should not be so eager to serve me only because I created you. I wonder… perhaps I should kick them all out and force them to go live lives of their own. Ah, but I would be far too lonely if I did that. A lose-lose situation, is it? Either I feel crushingly lonely, or I feel guilty about not being able to do anything for those most precious to me.” He slumped his shoulders, stood up, and walked over to the grandiose bed made of marble with a golden trim, fell onto it only to sink into the thick, soft mattress, and then rolled over to look up at the ceiling. Though, it wasn’t the ceiling he was looking at for long. He swiped his hand through the air above his head to create a display of light that showed various prisoners within his dungeon.

In the lead were those who survived on previous days and got to resume their progress. The lowest floor somebody was on was the forty-second floor. She was a muscular, blonde woman covered in scars surrounded by some of the deadliest beasts that the dungeon had to offer. Winged abominations with red skin wielding magic-enhanced weapons. The terrain around her was much more open than it was on the higher floors, and it was composed of red rock and lava flows.

Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t going to last much longer seeing as how one of the beasts just split her back open using a mighty axe. At least she created a pile of corpses around her first to prove that she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

About ten floors higher was another criminal doing something different from what most others did. He was sponsored by a blacksmith, and he was given a pickaxe to take into the dungeon to gather valuable materials from some of the ore nodes placed by the dungeon master. After all, those who could survive a day in the dungeon were allowed to take whatever items they received with them back into the world above. Though, only materials from the environment and beasts were allowed to leave the dungeon’s territory. Items such as armor, weapons, jewelry, and so on were forbidden from leaving.

The man made up for the boring show of swinging his pickaxe over and over again by telling jokes to the orb following him around. As the dungeon master learned, if those within the dungeon wanted to do boring tasks, they had to make up for it by having entertaining personalities.

Then he looked at his new favorite duo. Well, they were less of his favorite duo and more of his favorite criminal who just so happened to be a part of a duo. The Vellfalan girl with void magic was of no particular interest to him, but he did have an interest in her obsession—in the small beast who traveled with her through the dungeon.

And surely enough, the two were taking a break after making it to the seventh floor, and said break included the woman rubbing her face all over the beast’s body. She especially liked to rub her face against his belly. Just when she started lowering her face even more toward his privates, the beast placed his feet against her head to keep her from getting any closer, much to her dismay which prompted her to pout and whine.

“You have turned out so much more entertaining than I could have hoped for,” the dungeon master said. “To have accepted your new body so quickly—I assumed you would struggle to adapt and think of it as hopeless, yet you seem to have fully embraced it. Though, I do wonder just how much of that is because of her. To find somebody willing to accept you regardless of your physical form… perhaps that helped? Maybe you would have fallen into despair over your body if nobody expressed interest in it. Hmm… that is an interesting thought. If only I could perform an experiment where you were changed without ever finding such support.”

The dungeon master received a painful feeling before he could continue his thoughts. With the next portal he opened, the corpse of one of his other bosses appeared on the floor in front of his bed. The beast was the boss of the tenth floor—a large, fur-covered beast who walked on four legs similar to the small one with the woman. Only, this beast’s fangs were as long as that beast’s entire body was, and her body was huge enough that she stood taller than adult Chosen while on all fours.

“Ah, my Midnight. What have they done to you this time?” he said, looking the beast over and noticing the dozen arrows stuck into her side. There were another couple of arrows in her neck that caused her black fur to take on the color of her blood instead.

Fortunately, healing her was a simple thing for the dungeon master despite her being dead. All he had to do was wave his hand over her which restored her body to its original health. The arrows simply disappeared while leaving no trace to prove that they ever existed in the first place. Next, he held out his hand and summoned her soul into the palm of his head before sending it into her body.

No more than a few seconds later and the beast known as Midnight opened her eyes and wagged her tail, jumping up onto the dungeon master to knock him down and lick his cheek.

“Easy now,” he said, but it didn’t stop her from licking his face. “I suppose times will never change. I remember even when all the others were afraid of showing me any affection, fearing to disrespect me, that you never cared about formalities. Now, hundreds of years later, you still disregard proper behavior.”

Midnight proved his point by ignoring everything he said to continue lapping at his face with her tongue, covering him with her saliva.

“As much as I love you, I do not love being covered in your drool.”

She kept doing it anyways.

That is, she kept on doing it until she noticed what he was watching on that display which remained over his bed. Midnight jumped up onto the bed and tilted her head to the side when she saw the smaller beast on it that looked like a tiny version of herself.

“Interested in him, are you?” the dungeon master asked.

Midnight barked. And because he could actually understand all of his beasts, he could translate that bark into a “Yes!”

“You may get to meet him soon, assuming that he does not die before making it to your chamber.”

“I want to meet him! He’s like me!”

“In appearance only. His soul remains that of a Chosen.”

“Oh. I still want to meet him!” Midnight’s tail wagged faster and faster.

“I have never seen you so interested in anybody else.”

“He’s cute and tiny! I want to play with him!”

“If only all those men and women you have torn to shreds could understand you. I wonder how they would have felt about a woman happily cheering about playing with them while tearing them to shreds and devouring them alive.”

“I wonder if he tastes good… I can’t wait to taste him.”

“I am almost tempted to give the woman he is with the ability to understand you just for your fight. The result of that would surely be entertaining for all… but I cannot give an unfair advantage to somebody. Oh well.”

As for the couple they were both watching now, their break was over and it was time for them to continue their journey.

The small beast took the lead while the woman followed behind, tilting her head from left to right to follow the casual motion of his tail with a wide, rather creepy smile on her face. She received far too much enjoyment from watching his tail. Though, it seemed like Midnight was joining her in that now as her own tail ended up synching up with the other’s.

“I consider myself one of the smartest beings to have ever lived… yet I still fail to understand women,” the dungeon master said before getting back on his bed.