Ryan woke up while feeling his face being licked by something, and when he opened his arms, he saw Furball near him covered in blood. While his eyes weren't showing any violence or hunger, he sure looked ominous.

"Hey there, buddy," Ryan said. "I hope that you aren't trying to make my meat tender by licking me all that much."

When Ryan got up, he noticed that his clothes were almost gone. Thanks to it, he recalled the last events… he even recalled Femradiel using Teleport. Still, it looked like he didn't escape unscathed.

"It looks like you saved our asses, Femradiel," Ryan said. "… It is hard to admit, but I messed up this time. To think that Poseidon would have minions powerful as that…"

Ryan expected to receive a scolding, but he didn't hear anything. The silent treatment was something… However, Ryan soon realized that something was off.

"Come to think of it, buddy, why are you outside of the dungeon?" Ryan asked as he turned around and saw hundreds of corpses of monsters.

Furball was covered in blood because of those monsters. It looked like he protected Ryan while he was unconscious. As expected of his loyal squire… such thoughts disappeared from Ryan's mind when he saw the corpses of Banshees nearby. Femradiel didn't reply, the banshees managed to move quite a bit away from their dungeon, and lastly, Ryan recalled that he was losing power in his draconic form when those weird guys erected a magic barrier.

Ryan checked his status, and he still had Draconic Transformation and the other things he received when he made a pact with Femradiel. Still, for some reason, only Draconic Transformation couldn't be used. He tried to summon Femradiel's familiars, but Ryan failed. He couldn't even feel their presence, not even Femradiel's.

"Shit… don't tell me," Ryan bit his lips in annoyance. "Their plan was to capture Femradiel and make me lose my powers? No, their ultimate goal was to kill me by weakening me, but… Shit! Shit!"

Ryan not only lost a reliable ally but also a massive boost in his powers. His first thought was to invade Poseidon's domain and then kick his ass. Still, since he failed at defeating a single one of his minions, that was impossible.

"Shit, why… didn't I lose those skills?" Ryan suddenly frowned. "The pact hasn't been severed when they managed to take away Femradiel?"

If the skills were there, then it means that Femradiel still was alive. That was weird… why those guys didn't kill her? Ryan recalled that she didn't have a physical body, so that was probably the reason. She couldn't be killed because she wasn't exactly alive. Regardless… those guys made sure to take away her spirit since Ryan couldn't talk to her.

"Fuck… such a mistake from my part," Ryan said and then kicked the ground. "It is okay, buddy. I will bring back our friend, but for the time being, you will be the one to guard this place… it seems you are already strong enough to do that."

Furball

Health: 45.852/45.852

Mana: 25.632/25.632

Stamina: 33.523/33.523

Strength: 4523

Dexterity: 5522

Speed: 5486

Intelligence: 3512

Endurance: 4451

Control: 4632

Mentality: 2563

Luck: 7536

Recovery: 7562

Willpower: 2452

Coins: --

Status: 00

Skill List

Offensive Physical Skills: Charge Lv 123, Body Slam Lv 99…

Passive Physical Skills: Improved Strength Lv 88, Improved Speed Lv 81, Improved Recovery Lv 73…

Spells: Fire Bullet Lv 118, Electric Bullet Lv 103

Support Skills: Fire Resistance Lv 145, Cold Resistance Lv 92, Electric Resistance Lv 75…

"You grew a lot since the last time I saw you, and you will grow even more," Ryan said. "You can eat those fuckers as much as you want. Now, I just have to make sure that you have an environment good enough for you."

It has been a while since Ryan checked the dungeon master's system, so he had a lot of coins and mana to use. That being said, he even left the level up of his dungeon behind and focused only on increasing the size of his army and the level of the barrier.

Area Lv 27: 75 square miles

Level UP cost: 690.000 coins or 6.900.000 mana

Monsters Book Lv 10

Level UP cost: 5.500 coins or 55.000 mana

Barrier Lv 29

Level UP cost: 89.000 coins or 890.000 mana

Army Lv 41

Level UP cost: 750.000 coins or 7.500.000 mana

Dungeon T1 Lv 85 (71%)

Level UP cost: 104.000 coins or 1.040.000 mana

Coins stored: 333

Mana stored: 541

At some point, the price to level up his army and barrier skyrocketed. Still, Ryan didn't mind that since it was within his expectations. Besides, he gained a lot from it. Now he could register more than twenty thousand creatures in his domain.

"That is all very well and good, but first, I have to summon enough creatures for that," Ryan said. "With all that many monsters, the barrier should obtain enough mana to withstand the attack of even massive armies for a few hours."

Congratulations! The skill Rage has leveled up.

You obtained 01 status points.

Ryan messed up once, so he couldn't mess up again. While Furball was probably strong enough to deal with all the monsters Femradiel's familiars were fighting, the bosses were another matter. Not to mention, Ryan's most powerful skill was sealed, so he will to make up for it with strategy since brute strength wasn't in his favor against Poseidon.

While Ryan was summoning golems, he recalled the events before his defeat. Mostly, he focused on the actions of those ten weird humans. Despite everything, they gave Ryan plenty of time to act, so it wasn't like they were that good at tracking. Also, despite everything, their strength wasn't absolute, not even underwater.

"In the end, things happened just as expected," Ryan shook his head and then sighed. "I overused that skill and then ended up ignoring my real strength that comes from my stealthy attacks… I won't make that mistake again and it looks like I will have to rely on that kind of strength to solve this issue."