Mash stepped away for the most recent monster. It had been another bird-like creature, and he had needed to fly to get at it. It threw small balls of water from its mouth. It had a large beak, that hide a wide bottom section. It seemed like I was used to holding the water that it shot. It seemed to fill the sack-like beak. The feathers were a beautiful shade of white, and he should probably collect them but didn’t want to waste the time or effort.

After killing the final bird, he landed upon the blood-soaked sand that was the arena’s ground. The many monsters he had fought contained a wide variety of blood. A toad-like creature even had golden blood. Honestly, this type of dungeon was quite annoying given his circumstances. Normally, the opportunity to kill hundreds of monsters would be great, but he couldn’t gain any more levels at the moment. Killing these monsters was just growing annoying. After the tenth wave of worthless monsters, he was growing increasingly bored. At first, he thought that the difficulty had been steadily increasing, but this last wave was weaker than the first one had been.

Was it just random? Then was the dungeon a timed trial, rather than a combat-focused one like he initially thought? Maybe it would be better to stall his fights and make them drag on. Find an enemy that was weak enough to trap, and just leave them in a cage for a few hours. At the very least it was something different to try. With a different plan in mind, Mash watched as the portal closed and another took its place. As with everyone before, a monster leaped out of the black portal. It was obviously an insect-type monster, as it had eight legs and a visibly hard exterior. Dozens of eyes opened across its body, several of them appearing even on the monster’s legs. It was about the size of a dog, and Mash made a wooden cage to contain the beast.

The insect didn’t run at Mash and instead tried to flee back through its portal. It seemed to have a degree of intelligence that was beyond that of any monster he had encountered in the dungeon so far. Even still, Mash didn’t hesitate in closing the distance and slamming the cage into the ground. He made sure to give it some pointed ends so that he could drive it deep into the stone. The creature tried to scurry out, but Mash pushed the cage down until the monster was pinned to the ground.

From all the monster corpses the imitations of Priscilla had eaten, Mash was boosted by a lot of bonus stats. Enough to make most monsters simple.

The creature had mandibles and they were clicking loudly in panic. Mash left the creature in the cage, falling to a sitting position beside it. He stared at the black portal, watching as it remained there. It didn’t move or dissipate like the other portals, so Mash decided that he was probably fairly safe at the moment. Knowing that there would likely be more fighting to be had, he took the opportunity to meditate. With his domain, he would know if the monster tried something, or if something happened to the portal. He felt comfortable meditating, and he recovered his energy.

The portal remained open for over an hour, and Mash quickly grew bored of waiting for something else to happen. He considered killing the monster but was curious to see what would happen if he let it return through the portal. Maybe, killing the monsters wasn’t the actual purpose of this trial. Lifting the wooden cage, Mash watched as the spider-like monster crawled across the ground moving straight back through its portal. A moment later it closed like the previous ones.

Mash was surprised when another portal didn’t immediately show up. Even if letting the insect back through hadn’t been the right decision, it did cause something different to happen. However, it didn’t tell him anything and he had no idea what to expect next.

The answer turned out to be nothing, as the minutes stretched to hours. Nothing changed in the arena for a while. It gave him the opportunity to explore the rest of the arena, and he found it as empty as it had initially seemed. He had tried breaking the walls too, but they didn’t even scratch no matter what he tried. Even his dragon form had failed. The room seemed impervious to any real damage. He didn’t know if that was a good thing or not but decided that the dungeon was giving him a break. Perhaps, the next set of monsters would be harder, and the strength went up in large groups rather than in every fight. It was a possibility, as he heard of some dungeons that operated like that.

Accepting that as the most likely reason, he decided to eat a quick meal. While letting his wooden creations eat the monster meat was useful, it did little to appease his actual hunger. That was something that he needed to handle on his own. Opening his storage space, he grabbed some of the fruits that he had stored, eating them slowly. He saved the seeds, thinking he might be able to plant them given the opportunity. Normally he would just eat everything, but he would miss the fruits if he could never have them again.

Eventually, a portal opened up, though he didn’t know what triggered it. He couldn’t keep track of the time and couldn’t tell if that was the cause. Although, it didn’t really matter, and he watched the next portal carefully. A monster stepped through, one that Mash recognized. A demon, its pitch-black skin, and deformed body were easily recognizable to him. The clothing was knowing though, and Mash wondered why the other demons hadn’t possessed such clothing. This demon was wearing thick black robes, that seemed like they would be better designed for winter than casual wear. The robe was covered in white lines that he could now recognize as glyphs, or something similar at least.

He was relieved to see that it wasn’t a purple one. While he had become stronger, that monster still seemed like one that he couldn’t beat. Though, this was something he could handle. The demon began turning invisible.

“A powerful soul. How I will enjoy feasting on it.”

It took a second to realize what Mash was hearing. Somehow, he was able to understand what the demon was saying, and his eyes glanced at the tattoos around his arm. Well, he didn’t think he would get to test the item so soon, but here was the evidence. It worked exactly as he wanted. Still, Mash wasn’t sure about trying to talk with a demon but decided to satisfy his curiosity.

“Wait! We can talk, I want to know why your people are invading mine.”

Mash waved his hands in a warding manner, making sure that the demon knew that its invisibility was useless against him. Hopefully, that would be enough to dissuade it from doing anything stupid. Mash wasn’t stupid though and let his dragon transformation start covering his body. The demon was startled, and he could see it hesitate within his domain. That was a good sign. He probably would have to fight the demon anyway, but he wanted to know why they were so keen on invading. Maybe, the monster would have some insight, into some of the other things that were going on. At the very least, he would receive some information.

“Foolish thing, believing you have the right to speak with me. A lesser being should no its place!”

The hostile tone was only slightly surprising, but the superiority was expected. Mash’s fight with the creatures had shown him that they possessed arrogance. The demon lunged at him, its fingernails growing and coating with their sickly black flame. Mash amplified his anti-magic grabbing the creature’s hand easily. It stopped, and Mash squeezed hard. The crunching of bones could be heard, and the demon began screaming incoherently. It was funny to realize how much of a difference in strength he had compared to a demon of a similar level.

The demon’s screams didn’t process as words to his item, so Mash assumed that it was just nonsense. Soon, Mash heard something he could understand though.

“Please spare me! I didn’t realize…”

“Just tell me why you guys are invading my world.”

Mash cut off the demon, not really wanting to listen to its excuses. The monster was obviously violent and cruel. Listening to it prattle on about unimportant things was not something he planned on doing anytime soon. The monster must have recognized the coldness in Mash’s tone because it started acting far more obedient.

“It is just what we do. Just like any good species, we seek to conquer other lands and raise them to greater heights. “

The words sounded like a lie, and one someone might tell children. Deciding to take that as an insult, Mash swung his other hand into the demon’s face. It wasn’t hard enough to break bones or kill the monster, but it would leave a black eye. Well, that was assuming it could get one. The monster’s black skin would make it near impossible to see bruises or injuries of any kind.

“Cut the lies, I want to know the truth. That’s the only way you get out of this situation alive.”

The demon didn’t seem to hear most of what Mash had just said. It still seemed to be recovering from the punch. Maybe, he had used a little too much force in his punch. Seeing the monster’s broken state didn’t make him hesitate in the slightest. Instead, it only made him angrier as he realized just how petty these monsters were. Despite the weakness of their own race, they used racial superiority as their justification for slaughter. It was just so stupid. While some demons were strong, Mash was certain that his people were the more powerful.

“What do you want to hear from me? Our people only do the same thing as yours.”

The demon sounded frightened, or at least his item was able to convey the tone along with the translation. The demon’s noises sounded like strange whistling, but Mash seemed to be able to understand what it was trying to say anyway.

“What exactly does that mean?”

Mash let his angry tone drop, as he was startled by the reply. The demon sounded sure in its belief that they had only done what his own people had. Mash wanted to know what exactly that was since he had never heard of anything like that.

The demon's face shifted slightly, though it was hard to read the change of expression he saw on the monster. One thing Mash could read about the demon's attitude was the building smirk on the demon’s face. Whatever, the demon was about to say, Mash knew that he wouldn’t like it.

“How about we make a deal? I tell you what you want to know, and you let me go back through my portal?”

The demon was starting to sound more confident, regaining some of the arrogance it had lost. Mash considered it. He cared more for the information than killing the single demon, and there was no reason to disagree. Mash could just kill the demon afterward, regardless of what he said in response. With that knowledge in mind, he answered the demon confidently.

“Fine.”

Mash let go of the creature and took a step back. Then he felt something in his domain and saw as it traveled from the demon to him. It felt like something had closed around his heart, a chain of some kind that seemed to connect him to the demon. Mash stared down at the chain, before raising his gaze back at the demon. He didn’t bother to conceal his fury and jumped at the demon closing his hand around the monster’s neck. He should’ve known better than to trust a demon.