So, it can speak?

“Yes… Lord…”

And it appears that even though I cannot speak, my creation can hear my thoughts. Good, this should be useful.

“Will… Serve…”

A pity that it is so slow, though it will undoubtedly level up and upgrade so I can put up with it for now. I will ignore it for now and create another spirit to send out into the world, and with that finished I should decide how I am going to construct my labyrinth.

I was not one for playing dungeon building games, though I might have enjoyed them if there were more of them. It was a fairly small genre, I suppose. For that matter, I haven’t thought about mazes or labyrinths since I was filling out those papers that restaurants give kids so that they will shut up.

According to the menu, I have a limit of four rooms, not including an entrance and boss room. That second part interested me though, a boss room sounds nice to be sure, but for now I should design a tricky maze and then trap it. I will worry about the rooms, and my additional creature purchases, later.

Though, for the record, I have no interest in creating zombies, despite their interesting passives. Maybe on another floor, one that I don’t have to visit much…

*Susan*

Mother was talking to the guild master, who seemed to be reacting with a mixture of fear and disbelief to her words.

“An undead dungeon?” Guild Master Soros groaned and put his head in his hands, “that is not something I need on my plate!”

“It is a very young dungeon,” Mother replied firmly. “If not for my curse and my husbands sickness we could have taken it ourselves.”

“But now it has eaten all of those bandits- who knows how it has grown?”

“It will only get worse if you wait, do you want vampires and zombies to begin turning innocent civilians?” Undead dungeons were incredibly dangerous because of their propensity to cause disaster. Zombies could create other zombies, but in the dungeon the created zombies would eventually collapse and be absorbed by the dungeon. Outside the dungeon, they did not collapse.

So once a dungeon spawned zombies, it could spiral out of control into a full blown zombie infestation and destroy entire cities. After consuming those bandits the dungeon might have the ability to start spawning them now, so this was a top priority.

“I guess I have no choice,” Soros sighed and slumped in defeat. “I will put the request out.”

“Thank you Guild Master.” Mother bowed slightly and got up to leave. “Come on Susan.”

“Yes Mother,” I said and hurried after her. We left the guild and walked back to the inn, but I had to ask. “Mother, what if the dungeon is a good one? The monsters did not attack us…”

“Undead dungeons do not attack everyone usually.” Mother responded absentmindedly, “Likely, we are distant descendants of the people buried there who transformed into a dungeon. In other words, they saw us as family and let us go.”

“I don’t think it was like that Mother- but I can’t think what else it could be.”

We entered the inn and opened the door to our roo-

A sword tip came out of my Mother’s back and she coughed blood.

“Mother!” I scream as a man shoves my Mother away and withdraws his blade from her chest.

“Ha!” The man laughed, “That curse really did weaken her! She died in a single stab.”

Another man laughed as well, “And look, she left us another present. Even younger and prettier!”

“Oi, oi!” The first man glared at the second, “you don’t get a turn this time, you killed the last one.”

I didn’t have time to think about what they were saying, I just turned and ran.

“She is getting away!”

“Running won’t help you girl,” one of them shouted. “It will just make me angry, and that just means you will be hurt more!”

*Dungeon Core*

If it was not for the spirit I had hunting down living creatures outside there would be no way I would have gotten this far. Twisting hallways, a couple of turns, and of course, only one solution that allows you to make it to the next room. This room I had filled with a poison trap in addition to the ghost traps with skeletons and a spectral warrior.

Why not exploit the fact that undead don’t breathe? Maybe a poison marsh floor with zombies might be a good idea. Though it wouldn’t be a floor I would linger on, I am not a fan of rotting flesh and plants.

Still, the bigger issue was my lack of mana!

I had considered creating more spirits to send outside, but I want to have as little impact as possible. And I don’t want to accidentally hurt innocent people, I need smarter servants. Might as well go talk to the spectral warrior and see if it might be able to help.

“Greetings… Lord…”

Hello there, do you have a name?

“No… Lord…”

Hmmm, naming you would possibly make you unique and I don’t know the consequences of that. So I won’t name you, but I will give you a nickname. When I say, or think I suppose, ‘Specy’ that refers to you.

“Understood… Lord…”

So Specy, do you know much about this world?

“Once… Ago…”

Which means you were alive and are now my minion.

“Yes… Happy… Serve…”

Well I am glad that you are happy to serve, it makes my life easier. What can you tell me about this world?

“Long… Ago… Time…”

Ah, you have been dead too long to be reliable then?

“Yes… Lord…”

I see. How unfortunate, still since you can speak Specy you can at least understand more complex orders than your skeleton brothers. So listen up.

“Hear… Obey…”

You are to greet people who enter the dungeon, and advise them to turn back. Any who do not, you may kill, but do not kill those who are unarmed or children.

“Danger… Lord…”

I will assess whether or not any visitors are dangerous, you will simply obey and make certain that your brethren do the same.

“Yes…”