30 minutes ago

A week had passed and Dia was just laying in Jack’s hat. Her tears were stifled and her cheeks red.

“Missy, don be glum. Ya can control da dumb ones soon,” he said.

Dia didn’t react, she just rolled around and sighed but then suddenly gasped. Her body began to tremble and glow.

Restriction of the theme change has passed. Total control of dungeon monsters has been regained and the dungeon will start to gather mana once more.

“I-It’s back!” Dia shouted.

“Dat’s gud missy. Let git dem idiots in dere place,” Jack said.

Dia was about to nod but her pupils shrank as she shrieked. Shadows seemed to extend around Dia as if trying to grab her.

“MISSY!” Jack shouted.

“J-JACK! SAVE ME! WAAA! PAPA!! PAPA!!!!!” Dia shouted crying as she suddenly bolted into the air while these strange arms tried to grab Dia.

The arms soon began to appear from the shadows like specters.

“Death! Kill! Murder! Kill! Kill! Kill! DEATH~!” these shadows kept whispering and seemed to go after DIA.

“JACK!!! JACK!!! PAPA! SAVE ME!” Dia cried.

Jack tried, he hit these shadows but they were insubstantial shadows. His mallet could not even touch them even with earth magic.

The snow elves and others began to come out hearing Dia’s cries and when they saw the black creatures, they exclaimed in shock before they suddenly whipped up a blizzard that seemed to disperse them, making them howl in pain.

Seeing the blizzard work, Dia looked at the snow elves. “SAVE ME! SOMEONE! JACK! PAPA!” Dia shouted mentally and soon the image of one of the male snow elves twisted in her eyes. She kept shouting ‘Jack’ and slowly she, using a kind of self protection instinct, caught a memory of a mythical creature with the same name as the giant.

Before anyone could react, Dia vanished from the sky then appeared next to the snow elf and grabbed his arm before she vanished again.

They appeared at the mana pool that was starting to gather mana. Dia vanished several times and she brought back three snow elves and ten winter fairies. To their shock, in her franticness she even savagely rippled three branches from strong treants and appeared once more. The three large branches were floating while she touched them and they began to literally weave itself into a thin spiral which formed a two meter long staff with a C shaped tip and looked old like the dried arms of the treant.

She then varnished several times and brought five winter fairies and without asking them, she fused the five into the staff and tossed it into the mana pool. It began to drain the water that was slowly flooding back into the mana pool.

The howls of the shades began to appear and Waid appeared as well, “DIA!” Waid shouted just as she pulled out a very powerful ice cane that emitted a savage cold.

She turned around and grabbed the elf she had a strange delusion of while holding the staff in one hand.

“Are you going to make a monster!? I’ll help!” Waid said and reached quickly but the next moment he felt a savage barrier smash into him.

“GET AWAY FROM PAPA!” she shouted and he was sent flying as she entered creation mode. All the spirits and snow elves were absorbed into the snow elf and Dia handed it the staff that merged down to the soul with him. His size began to grow and he grew to the size of an adult. Dia used all her strength and forced the image of her father, as well as her memories of him, into the image of the creature. What appeared was a handsome younger form of her own father in his youth with not a single hair on his face. His skin and hair were white while he wore the same clothing of the snow elf, a simple coat and white shirt with cotton pants. In his hand was the cane. She then thought of the myth he represented even with the image of her father superimposed on top of it.

Dia let go and let the transformation happen and suddenly, the mana pool completely drained. The mana in the dungeon began to surge up.

The greatest feature of the new dungeon was the still unknown fact that the mana pool is just excess mana that the dungeon stores for unique purposes such as making unique monsters. The rest of the dungeon’s mana was within all the dungeon channel network and the air itself. Not giving time to recharge the mana pool and making a creature that was much stronger than the floor it was on used that mana.

When the figure was born a message appeared.

You have created a completely new race. Please name your race.

Sniffing as she knew she had to do this first she held back her tears, “Winter Elf.”

The race, winter elf has been created.

Winter Elf

A unique race of the elven bloodline. This creature was created by a young dungeon to make a kind parental spirit. They are a kind and caring spirit race that saves those lost during winter blizzards.

You have created a unique variant of the winter elf race.

“Y-Your name is Jack Frost!” she exclaimed.

Even more mana flooded into the spirit.

Jack Frost

A unique variant of the winter elf race. He was created by a young dungeon with the picture of a father figure. His cane holds immense power and amplifies his control over ice and snow. His purpose is to protect the essence of a child’s joy and playfulness. His power is derived by the belief in him and from the joy children experience when playing.

Because the power of the dungeon race and creature far surpasses the power level of the dungeon, the power is restrained by 45% to match the floor level. If this creature is moved to a higher floor, the restrictions will decrease as it will be supplied with more mana. For complete control of its power, it should live on the tenth floor.

As he came to, Dia began to cry as she jumped into his arms, “P-PAPA! SAVE ME!” she shouted as the howling came even louder from the shadows who were coming like a black cloud.

Jack just turned around to look, dazed, but as he saw the wave of black shadows, his eyes cleared and his blue eyes shined. He struck his cane at an angle and from the staff ice thickened and suddenly a massive wall of spiked ice suddenly appeared.

BOOM!

The entire floor shook as a large number of waves surged with the sudden eruption of the mountain of ice.

Inside, the shadows were howling in pain and slowly faded. The remaining shadows all howled in fear and rushed back into the shadows of the dungeon until it was all quiet again.

What followed was Dia’s crying and Jack Frost who looked down and put on a gentle smile, the girl was holding onto his neck while wrapping her legs around his chest like a little monkey. He put one arm under her and helped lift her more which let her get a better hold on him.

After several moments of him gently petting her hair she finally spoke, “P-papa! C-can you stop everyone fighting!?” she said in a small voice.

“Okay, tell me, where are all of them fighting?” He asked. Wind gathered under his bare feet then he began to float and soon left the boss island. Dia just told him which way to turn and stopped after reaching a specific place.

She just pointed down but didn’t lift her face, “There!” She said.

“Okay, you don’t have to worry anymore, I’ll make sure to take care of everything,” he said petting her head before taking the staff from his left hand that was under her on his right. He lifted it up and slowly it began to cover in frost before tiny white sparks began spark off it and he pointed it downwards. A bolt of concentrated ice mana smashed into the cloud sea and penetrated while freezing part of the ocean. It then began to spread and break down, forming a clear tunnel through the sea.

He slowly descended with Dia in his arms and stopped in the air. He took one look around and saw Hook and Peter. One power he has was to sense the source of Dia’s negativity. This power derived due to her wanting a protective father figure. “So these two were the ones that caused all this? They have the ability to resurrect.” he thought and narrowed his eyes after his mind brought up this knowledge through the dungeon instinct.

Present time

Mir explained everything clearly and Jack looked around slowly, “There will be no more war, once the two I killed resurrect we shall gather and set rules for this ‘Nation System’. Conditions, regulations and rules of war, these will all be discussed. Before then, not one nation is to battle. If any two groups start to war again, I will eliminate the entire race!” Jack said in an absolute zero tone.

Every race was shivering in fear of Jack. Although he has the same name as the giant, his attitude was completely different from the laid back giant. No one dared not agree with him and everyone retreated back to their own national capitals. Jack, Dia and Mir returned to the sixth floor through the tunnel which closed up and melted as they rose up under Jack’s control.

When Mir saw the large mountain of ice, her stomach clenched as she thought of being trapped in that. Jack didn’t even care to melt that as they headed to Dia’s house.

They found Waid moaning with Pearl taking care of him. She then began to explain what happened and how Dia smashed him away injuring him and made him go unconscious.

Dia had fallen asleep in Jack’s arms so he put her gently in her bed and covered her up before taking the little stuffed polar bear doll that Nick had made for her and put it in her arms. She gripped it and fell into a comfortable sleep.

Outside, Mir waited with a frown, “So, what do we do about this?” She asked.

“You will manage your nation, I will raise Dia like she desired when she made me with the image of her father,” he said.

“And what of the motherly figure?!” Mir asked.

“The female fairy taking care of the boy is more than enough, go,” Jack said then turned before walking inside and shutting the door.

Mir sighed and rubbed her head before spreading her wings and flying back down to the floor below.

At the same time, the royal dwarfs rose up to the sixth floor and were about to head to the castle they were slowly constructing when a very loud explosion was heard and the castle was suddenly blown to bits.

“WAT IN BLOODY HELL!” The king dwarf shouted as they all jumped back.

When they turned, a figure appeared in the dust cloud of the castle with a very frightening aura and a scowl on his face. Jack, the gentle giant, had reached a fever pitch and could no longer contain his anger after what he saw was hunting Dia. He blamed it on the warring races. The only ones he could reach were the dwarves and so they were the unfortunate target of his rage.

“Ya all put missy in danger!” He growled, “GET OFF DIS FLOOR!” He roared as he slammed the hammer down and huge pillars of stone burst out grabbing ahold of every noble ranked dwarf then stuffed them into a large rock with just their heads free.

“Jack! Wut ya doing!?” The king dwarf shouted and was picked up by Jack.

“AHHHHH!” he roared at him, “Ya de cause of de shadow ghost dat hurt Dia! Na more! Dis ‘nation’ ya made! TAK IT TA DE FLOOR BELOW!” he shouted and walked to the opening in the island and threw the dwarf wrapped in hard stone like a cannonball, slamming down on Hook’s boss island below.

All the nobles were gathered and were similarly slammed down to the floor below.

Finally Jack turned to glare at the dwarfs and runts, “Nah on will mak ah nation in dis floor. Not till missy mak floor 7!” he growled at them and everyone shrank back nodding from fear of seeing the full extent of the rage of the still controlled giant.

They knew that if he wanted to, they would be dead. What is more, the entrance island was made of stone and underground was a huge city of dwarfs. It was a simple task for him to crush them all before anyone could react. They hadn’t taken him seriously because of his race name but now they knew, he was a calm man with an explosive temper. It took a lot to anger him but once angered, it will not end well.

The Under Field nation has been expelled from the sixth floor. All islands they possessed on the sixth floor have returned to being neutral without command. The aura of the dwarves has vanished and the natural evolution process shall return to these islands.

***

Three days after the end of the war, Jack Frost and Jack the Giant sat side by side. An unearthly pressure came from both pressing onto all the monarchs.

The calm giant was gritting his teeth as he looked down at them. They had cold sweat as they were looked down on two people who had the true power to rule the dungeon even without being dungeon bosses.

The mana had thinned out greatly due to Jack. He had fully formed and no longer absorbed it, but the mana didn’t refill quickly. Only around 100 children were called residents and were inside the dungeon in Peter's island. A dungeon this size required a huge number of visitors to produce and gather the abundant mana it needed.

“You feel it, don’t you?” Frost asked. “The mana is incredibly thin,” he said.

“That’s your fault!” Hook sneered.

“And by chance do you even know why I was born? It was because while you fools were being consumed by the chaos, Dia was attacked. Attacked by dark specters born of some unknown malice. While she was crying, you were blindly warring. You all caused all the dungeon residents to flee out of fear because you even attacked safe zone islands. Now, the dungeon is left with a handful of weak orphan children who can barely provide for themselves supplying mana to the whole dungeon,” Frost said coldly.

Hook could not reply to that, it was the full truth. What is more, they had long learned about the black specters that attacked Dia. Only she knew the despair she felt as she frantically made Jack Frost.

“I shall make this very clear. This… freedom we have in making nations, there will be none of that anymore. From now on, we will make rules… no! A set of laws, unbreakable laws that I would withhold down to the last word!” He said.

“You’re abusing power! This is for Dia to decide!” the bell empress complained.

WOOSH! BOOM!

A bolt of blue lightning flashed next to the bell empress’ head, “This isn’t for you, someone who selfishly went to war while Dia wanted peace, can decide on,” Jack said.

They slowly turned back and saw the giant wall of ice behind her. They were on the frozen ‘island’ that had formed by his attack when he appeared. It had melted significantly but there was enough to gather still.

“Anyun dat don agree…” the giant said simply and said no more but no one needed to know the rest, the fact that he had expelled the dwarf nobles from the sixth floor was proof enough that he is pissed off.

“Good! First law, from now on, no one can recklessly make a nation, by this, it means that you can’t proclaim a nation formed without authorization of Dia and us.” He said.

Everyone was surprised, “Second law, no one can have more than five islands on any one floor. For you Hook, I am counting the boss island so you had better only hold four islands when there are enough,” Jack said.

Hook scowled at these words.

“Third law, all races wanting to set up a nation will have to obtain approval from me, there must be a monarch rank person and they cannot recklessly war for an island,” Frost said. “Law four, there will be no ‘surprise’ attacks or wars. If you want to ‘war’ you will challenge the other nation for resources or control of an island and they will have to battle. You either do battle with a fleet, a group or single combat,” Frost said.

“You said control an island, so we can still expand?” the dwarf asked.

“Floors 3, 4 and 5 have few islands to begin with, the battle for control cannot pull more than five islands,” Frost explained.

“And what happens if we take more than five?” Hook asked.

“Then I will go and kill every last person related to your nation’s nobility on the island as well as an extra island and take away an island as penalty, allowing the others to obtain it or leave it as a loose island,” Frost replied.

They all felt chills but nodded.

“Fifth law, NO ONE from below floor 5 can advance above this floor,” he said glaring at them.

“Dats bullshat!” the dwarf shouted. “Ah ‘ave dwarf up der! Wa cant I expand?!” he asked.

“Because I said so, if you don’t agree and try returning, you won’t be simply thrown off the floor like he did,” Frost said

The dwarf was indignant but he truly feared both the giant and the winter elf who had the strange cane that had a similar effect as the gentle mallet. For the giant, the mallet improved his physical damage more than magical but the elf was the direct opposite and it directly improved his ice magic’s power just as much as the mallet strengthened physical damage. There were even a few thoughts of the fact that they had similar spirit weapons meant that they were like some guardians for Dia because compared to everyone else, they were the only ones that truly maintained their calm and thought only of Dia.

Thinking of them as guardians for the little dungeon made them tremble because they wondered if even more of these monsters would appear which made them extremely wary now. The giant’s power was more than obvious and Frost was able to one shot Hook, even though it was a sneak attack, if Mir sneak attacked, it wouldn’t be as fast or as powerful. Her power is indeed limited to the fifth floor and she would need a new evolution to continue up.

“Are you in agreement to these laws?” Frost asked.

“Not like we can disagree,” Peter said irritated.

“If something happens, there will be more laws added. Make sure to properly spread the word and by the end of the day, you had all better not have more than five islands on each floor if you can help it,” Frost said.

They simply grunted and the others soon left but Mir remained, “I really don’t want to continue, I was made the queen because of the conflict and thought I could resolve it,” she said.

“Just resign and leave someone in your place. You aren’t required to be a monarch, just find a replacement if you do not wish for it,” Frost said and slowly the island began to tremble under Jack the giant as it broke, lifting him up. Frost began to float on the cold wind and the two began to move. “Don’t do anything stupid once more to make Dia sad,” Frost warned her and the two left.

Mir sighed then spread her wings and headed down. The dungeon that had risen up almost out of the atmosphere, had dropped down and approached the town they had been hovering above for almost two weeks.

Mir descend, bowed to all the people and explained the situation that went completely out of hand until Jack Frost appeared. She then guaranteed that everything was under control thanks to the new most powerful creature Dia made to handle the possible problems.

Many people were fearful but they saw how sincere she was and after some time, they finally began to climb up again.

After that, all the nations released their surplus islands and those lacking on some floors took the extra islands that were given up on. The average number of islands was 21 for each nation with the max being 5 on each floor. The first three floors had all nations maxed out while the upper ones had much less.

Slowly the residents began to return and with the boats and escorts, they returned to their homes. As a result, the mana of the dungeon once more began to increase as the residents and adventurers returned to flow through the dungeon.