Uno

These invaders seemed much stronger than the earlier batch. Their coordination, training and overall competence level trumped the weak attempts that sentients made before.

If they continued their unimpeded advance my first floor would get conquered in no time. The only minion even remotely able to keep up with them was the Guardian, while the inhabitants of the other rooms would hardly pose a challenge.

It was unacceptable, especially seeing how desired my Crackling maces were. An item that I classified as a consumable given to not very bright undead was being considered a priceless relic. And yet anything easily accessible was bound to get more and more mundane. I had to make them work for it.

Wait.

How did I go from killing them to making some kind of a trial?

Something was seriously wrong.

My thoughts…

Gah.

Anyway the level of desire the red-haired man displayed suggested that they were rare and powerful weapons on the surface.

How?

Was the knowledge of the human race not enough to craft things like these? Impossible. I saw the magical necklace he was wearing. But then most of the party was wearing only mundane weapons and armor. Hardy and all that, but not in slightest bit enchanted.

Only their leader, Agnes and small thief called Tinna were in possession of an “artifact” as it was called by the fire mage. And that was supposedly a powerful party led by a member of royalty.

Their inability to produce magic trinkets was even more unthinkable, considering that mages didn’t seem to be that rare. At least according to my perception, which true - may have been skewed, because as a dungeon the percent of magically gifted guests was bound to be higher. Still, the ones using the mana during battle should be able to craft various items, right?

Not that I was complaining. This deficit raised the possibility of snatching a few of them… After all, I had already mastered the field autopsies. My artificial wire-arms were able to process bodies in pretty much every single part of my domain, as long as there weren't any sentients nearby. Quite fast too.

Back to the present, though!

The team delving in my dungeon had to be stopped right now - and I had just an idea how to do it! I had to send my second-floor creations up, in order to bolster both numbers and strength of my current forces… but it was doable! Especially since some of the new minions were especially interesting! Like, for example - Lebirs of the exploding kind.

Yup!

I made exploding undead!

Or Lebir Exploders, according to the System.

They were even dumber than their brethren, but still intelligent enough to follow basic orders, like “run there” and “use this stick”.

The stick in question was a rod-like artifact capable of stunning enemies and sometimes even spewing out lightning, which jumped from one foe to another. Not like these dumb undead were using it this way. Nope. It was only a way for them to “spark the fuse” since they wore large sheets of energized, volatile metal. This made them easily visible, with their blue “sashes” worn like a piece of clothing, reaching from their arms to the waist.

While I was in the right mood an Electrified version of the basic abomination was also made. The System called them Electro-Touched Lebirs. They were also armed with Electric Sticks, but unlike their suicidal brothers, they were actually trained in their use. In the process of their creation, their bodies gained resistance to electricity, saving them from the fate of being struck by their own weapons. I still haven’t tested them in a real battle, but I had a really good feeling about their performance.

Both of these creatures used a rather large amount of Anima. In the beginning, I wasn’t worried at all, thinking it would refill in time and a limited amount did. The rest however disappeared, making me a bit more apprehensive about using it. While I could circumvent many problems with it there was a feeling of unease and unexpected results when doing so. As such I decided to mostly work with what I’ve got, reaching for this wondrous power only from necessity.

Continuing this train of thought I had converted the two second floor rooms into what I could only call a factory. For the locals, it would be similar to the manufacturing workshop, since most of the process was still being done by hand, not real machines. These were hands of the Lebirs though, so the mechanical part was debatable.

The System even recognized my specially modified undead, with elongated fingers and larger eyes, as a new species, made especially for this type of work. Craft-Lebirs they were called - an innately slow and careful race. I also didn’t use the Anima!

Much.

Anyway - in the factory rooms my creations were gathering the energized metal into plain iron balls and fitting them at the end of a nearly two and a half meter long wooden rods. In the point of contact was a sparker feed from a small, Devourer made battery. When a wielder of this weapon hit something the sparker would come to life and the resulting explosion should take care of the enemies, showering them with iron shrapnel.

There were also hand-held versions and mines being made. Of course the former was a Lebir exclusive as I had no need to actually waste my living minions in a suicidal charge. The latter worked because of simple gravity because the sparker was used as a detonator.

I was able to make timed bombs too, but these would need to be made by the continuous use of Anima. Like I earlier mentioned I was not too fond of doing right now. There was a pronounced sense of incongruity about it especially after I went wild with with using its powers on my second floor.

Like there was something that I was forgetting.

Anyway.

In the manufacturing workshop, whole rows of Lebirs were sitting down - the best of manual workers using their infinite concentration to craft more and more armaments. In the middle of the room, I fitted a long belt kept in motion by another abomination. It was spinning the handle of a simple gear machine. It never tired, never grew bored. An undead. A perfect laborer.

The said room was deathly silent, with only the sound of clanking metal and occasional movement of the abominations breaking the perfect stillness. And even more occasional explosions.

Sometimes the undead screwed up. The unstable materials fell on the floor. Or simply slipped through their fingers.

That much wasn’t really a problem.

The problem was the amount of security I stuffed nearby.

And the fact that some of these guys were of the exploding kind.

Yup. Lebir Exploders.

They saw the metal fall. They tried to help, lifting it up.

With the hand, they held Electric Stick in.

And then… boom.

Haaaaah.

Let’s just say that it was another layer of security. After all only my undead managed to keep up with this amount of shrapnel and electricity constantly sailing through the room.

I won’t even start nagging about the room where I stuffed already prepared Lebir Exploders.

If an enemy walked right in…

*shudder*

It was still worth it though.

Some of the mentioned weapons were also distributed to my Ratling minions. They were especially glad when bombs and similar exploding devices made their way into the Warrens. Or rather down in the tunnels they dug.

Since the day that their Queen begged me on all fours for the blessing of power, I lost any doubt to whenever they were intelligent or not. I still couldn’t understand their language, but a simple form of communication was possible. On my side, it consisted of various shapes made by wires and on her - by different kinds of squeaks, pictures and pointing.

I was making amends too since I already managed to dissect a few of her subjects. Still, as a sole Mother Queen, she was less worried about her people's demise on my operating table than the perspective of sentients invading our lands.

That was why I decided to agree to some of their propositions. The ones I could understand at least. And the less insane of course.

Because of that I now had both an Ironflame Rats Temple Warriors and an Air Force capable of bombardment and boarding. And some kind of Assassin Rats, which were neither stealthy nor deadly.

But they could be!

And that was worth for me these few tons of metal and wood.

Yup!

The Ironflame Rats grew into a significant force in this small Ratling empire. Unlike the ones serving directly under the Queen and working in some kind of a caste system, the Ironflames were strictly a meritocracy. Or maybe I should say - a death-cracy? Was that even a word?

The law of the jungle was their only rule and the rat who managed to wrest the crown from the late King bloodied paws became a new ruler. This created a few new evolutions.

Like their leader was called a Flamecaller and was pretty much three times bigger than the ordinary members of their species. Not to mention some innate abilities and a lack of the word “Lesser” in the species name. He also didn’t really have an ability to invoke flame, being mostly a melee fighter, with an appearance of a gorilla-like rat with very large and sturdy looking fists.

Or how the guards defending the Temple Grounds acquired hardened hides and red, fiery eyes, with a species change to Demonic Rat. Their snouts were hidden behind leather helmets, similar to ones that Roman legionaries were wearing. Only with a mohawk-like plume.

And the flying ones!

Oh, the flying ones…

They managed to tame my Avaricious Glass Dragonflies, literally changing their species to Tamed Enlarged Glass Dragonfly!

Only the smallest of the Ratlings were able to ride them though. Their method of attack was also limited to throwing rocks or diving strikes. Still, the sheer surprise that they brought, not to mention that their mounts had an ability to bite and claw their prey on their own.

There was also this one big rat that desperately tried to fly, but no matter how he tried there simply wasn't a Dragonfly big enough to carry him.

He had a tendency to stare at the flying dragonflies with a clear desire in his eye and a puppy-like stare.

It was both hilarious to me and sad.

Maybe...

No! No Anima!

Anyway.

There were few more rooms I dug out already and few other projects, but…

Was I forgetting something?

…

Right!

Adventurers!

I was going to watch their progress!

Shit.

They’re already battling Jonathan?!