When we arrived back, it took a whole day to return to our previous point. Luckily for us, one bone vulture flew past us, reducing the total number to eighteen. We went through seven more before taking a break. The last eleven were hard to find, so it took us a few days to track them down. It wasn't that they were hiding from us, but the space was just so vast. We traversed through it all twice.

Soon after, we found the last one, but this one had a golden bone. From the golden bone, a pure beam of energy formed, but we were faster. The second time around, though, it brushed past us. The time needed to fire was getting quicker, so I had to get faster. Immediately after, I > Persuasion towards the golden bone and Blackmail towards its head. Both swords struck their target, so I took out Pounce and started raining down lava forest arrows, which was enough to stop the beam from working. With its strong bones, I had to imbue Blackmail with electricity then dark elements before the bones began to shatter.

I used > to collect the bones for later, and, satisfied that I had gotten them all, my family and I watched the sky change. The previous message shimmered before disappearing, and a gate showed up, leading to a lush, green garden in the clouds.

We followed the steps that began appearing, although our flight was faster and arrived at the gate. Although we could fly over, I just used the elementary unlocking rune to open it. It turned out the other side was a sub dimensional space. Using > and some MP recovery potions, I led us right through without battling any monsters.

"I like the garden," Bella said. "But, the monsters can be annoying. They fly down to eat the fruits and vegetables growing there. Sometimes, the fairies lock the area down and enjoy the food. We use barriers to prevent the monsters from partaking in their cuisine while we dine."

"I'll cook you something later," I said.

"Thank you, Husband. I love you," she responded.

"I love you, too," I said. "Kylee, Krystal, I'll also get you some food."

"Thank you," they said.

I had a few food items from the treasure I recently acquired, so cooking shouldn't be too difficult—even if I didn't have elementary cooking skills.

On the other side, there was a grassy area with numerous, small ponds. Inside the ponds swam perky fish and lively fish, which seemed to be easy-to-defeat and edible monsters. Bella also said they don't disappear. I used my spiritual fire to grill a couple of them and my mana strings to skewer them. I also seasoned it with some plants from Persephone. Finally, I gave it to Bella and my daughters.

"What seasoning did you use, Husband?" Bella asked.

"It's some plants from my spiritual world," I replied.

"I love it," she said back.

"I've never had fish so delicious," Kylee commented.

"It melts in your mouth and makes you more energetic."

Since they didn't disappear, I took a few and had Persephone try and breed them. That way, we could have even more. Bella soon asked her mother to speak to Katelin. She convinced her mom to get us two spawners.

When her mother heard where we were, she was surprised. She said, usually, only those who work in the dungeon can enter this space. It must have been Bella and my connection as members of the fairy race (even if I was currently an angel) that let us come here, combined with the spatial fold.

She eventually agreed to get us not just two spawners but also two seeds! We could now even create our own spawners. I tasked Persephone with setting it up and created a maximum-security garden to the specific specifications required for these trees to thrive. The spiritual energy in my world was low, so they wouldn't grow nearly as big nor produce nearly as many plants, but, the more I got, I still wanted them to produce some. The animals themselves were more important.

Once we left this area with our delicious food, by floating down from the air, we arrived through a spatial distortion back to the normal dungeon room. Only, this room had the same layout. The difference was that there were actual monsters here.

Appraisal showed they were called Grivinish. They looked almost exactly like flamingos, except their feathers were a darker shade of pink. They were also more ferocious. Looking at their skills, the reason their feathers were so dark-colored was that there were special blood vessels in them that shot them out towards enemies. In this case, it was towards us.

Their blood was sticky as they started shooting feathers, so they were retracted. There were two fatal flaws in their method of attack.

The first was my control of blood, so I siphoned it away from them and added it to my own, even if it wasn't even the size of a single drop when compared to the blood world. The second was that they weren't fast enough. I could > at the feathers before they returned, causing injuries to the monsters.

Two oddly complimentary spell books dropped from the flamingo-like monsters, so I learned them both. One seemed more for defense, the other for attack.

Angel's Dividing line

Level:

Rank: A+

HE use: 100/100 meters

Requirements: heavenly affinity 200% % (human), water affinity 50% (human) or fire affinity 70% (human), air affinity 30% (human)

Description: create a large line of spiritual water or spiritual fire, with wind separating it from the surrounding area. Height is default at one hundred meters but can be altered. Defense increases as affinity and HE used increases.

Vampire's dividing line

Level:

Rank: A+

DE use: 1000/100 meters

Requirements: dark affinity 20% (human), air affinity 30% (human), blood

Description: create a large line of blood, cutting enemies, with wind separating it from the surrounding area. Height is default at one hundred meters but can be altered. Attack increases as DE and affinity increases

On the next wave of Grivinish, I tested out the latter. It took a lot of my DE, but it had enough power to wipe away my enemies. In so doing, I also seem to have absorbed more death energy than when I usually kill them. Overall, with potions, half of it recovered before we moved on. There were more groups of flamingos for us to remove before we could continue. There were also twelve small rooms afterward. Each had a maximum of five Grivinish in it, and we ended up going into all the rooms, even though, if we didn't want to, we may have been able to avoid some of the rooms.

The next room was a similar landscape, although it was larger and contained bone vultures in addition to the Grivinish. There were even a handful of wyverns roving the sky for us to remove.

Easily, we moved past them.

The room after had another type of monster, a black cockatrice. Its tail looked like a serpent's, its legs like that of a chicken. On its body, two, black wings arose. Its head was like that of a rooster.

There were four of them coming towards us, so we decided to each choose one.

"Why couldn't they be normal cockatrices?" Krystal complained.

"What's the difference?" I inquired.

"Their petrification powers are almost doubled. Bella should probably wait this one out," Kylee explained.

"K," Bella said while retreating to my spiritual world.

Now, I had two to deal with. My daughters each took one themselves. The two I was dealing with flanked me left and right. Their eyes opened, showing their blood-red color.

[petrification resistance level up! Level three!]

As I was glad the attack was not effective against me, I sent a > towards their eyes and used > to blind them after. While they were momentarily stunned, I used my swords against the first, which was enough to deal with it. I next immediately activated my twilight ambush and >. This way, I could trap the remaining one before it could sneak-attack me. I pounced, > its eye with Blackmail. I removed my sword and > > its neck, until, finally its head was removed from its body.

I undid my skills, and its body initially went forward. I thought it was becoming an undead, but, luckily, it soon fell and disappeared, leaving behind an EXP shard.

Kylee and Krystal were right behind me, having defeated their respective enemies. Now that we were done, we proceeded forward. A few more of these cockatrices impeded us, but, the three of us combined removed them. I also found a spell scroll that granted petrification resistance, which I gave to Bella. Now, she didn't have to hide. With her SF, she would be able to remove partial petrification easily.

On the other side of this room, the usual orb appeared. There was no indication we were nearing the end, so I was slightly surprised.

[Floor eleven complete. Authority level for floor eleven recognized.]

[Achievement: first time eleventh floor conquered by Earth explorer. Reward: vampiric technique blood petrification. Petrifies blood, spiritual plasma, and other similar lifeforce-sustaining liquids. Angelic technique: light petrification. Uses light to petrify whatever it touches]

My new skills seemed similar to the cockatrices, but they didn't require the use of my eyes.

[Unknown interference detected. Crystal orb error]

"I am Earl Andromalius."

"Welcome," I said.

The other demons below duke also welcomed him.

"Great one, my skill for you is a little different than the others. I hope it is still to your liking. First, though, I must give you the item from previous master's wardrobe. As I am a female, I will give you a jewelry item commonly worn by females."

God's Earrings (broken/growth) (soul bound/unnamed) (Armor)

Durability: infinite

Description: store and project an infinite amount of information. Upon repair, spells and skills can even be projected. Contains a status page unaffected by interference from outside sources.

I wondered what the status page part was about, but I didn't need to know for now. As soon as I named them Pristine and put them upon my ears, the blue gems inside of them reacted. In front of me were numerous actions in a holographic projection.

"Only you can see it," Andromalius said. "You can, however, choose to display it to others."

I did see the option, so I tried it out. The main change was a golden border surrounding the projection. Quickly, I changed the option back. I also messed with a few more.

"I'm glad you are wearing them, Great One," she said next, before returning to silence.

Even though she was silent, I still received her skill.

Demon treasure sense

Description: affinity towards treasures and hidden artifacts, acts as another sense, similar to sight and hearing, to innately know where to go.

I also saw that there was a small girl, sitting above a flower, near the orb.

"What are you here for?" I asked.

"I'm Ginny, a Lilly Enchantress. I'm in charge of noting down strange occurrences regarding this floor's orb."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Roberto, a Deathly Angel."

"I noted down the orb's malfunction, but it's nice to know it was nothing serious. Since you caused it, I can rest easy."

"This often happens to Husband," Bella said, shyly. I was glad she was trying.

"It's quite odd, but it's not alarming," Ginny responded.

"That's good," I said.

We were prepared to go to the twelfth floor when I noticed the pin from Gabriel was lighting up.

"Sorry to disturb you," his voice resounded. "I was trying to get you all promoted, but the Seraphim I discussed with regarding your matters all wanted some sort of concrete reason for it. They would only promote you based on merit. Having you promoted would give you more freedom and keep you better hidden, but, alas, you must perform a task first. I looked through many missions, and I found an appropriate one."

"What do we have to do? We're busy enough with the dungeon," I answered him.

"Don't worry, you all may even gain some rewards for this. Meet me at planet Apex Crest, a smaller world of our Angel Army. The coordinates should already be in this pin. There, go to Mount Dense Fan in the Greenway Continent."

I had put it on previously when the large meeting took place and had forgotten to take it off and seal it. If I had done so, I could have ignored him. Now, though, it seemed like I would have to comply.

"Yes, sir. The squad shall immediately report to Mount Dense Fan, Greenway Continent, Planet Apex Crest."

"One more thing," he said before hanging up. "Prince Keith and King Levi won't be able to teleport here. As this world is deep within our territory, we have certain safeguards so that only angels or those accompanied by them can make it here.

I used the pin's function to find the coordinates and the system added them to the coordinate book.

"Everyone, we have orders from Commander Gabriel," I bellowed, trying to sound like I was in the army.

"Yes, sir!" my daughters responded.

"K," Bella said nonchalantly.

I opened the dimensional tunnel, and we soon departed. I did feel a slight pressure on the way over, which must have been their security system making sure I was an angel. We rested for a little, taking in the scenery of the Blue Flower Continent. This world was about two-thirds the size of Earth, and we were transported to the neighboring continent. It took about two days before we arrived at our destination. It was a little difficult since there were no signs in the sky while we were flying.

"Welcome," Gabriel said when we arrived. "I know this is sudden, but I found the perfect mission for you all to partake in. There's a small world. Well, it's not a world anymore. Without a God's power or a Devil's power, stars will eventually die out after becoming dwarf stars. That's precisely what happened. This place recently lost its world core. It's also very small, so it'll be perfect."

"What do you want us to do, Commander?" I asked.

"Easy," he replied. "Go there and search around. We won't be the only force having a presence. We have an agreement, so there will be five ghost king representatives, six wooden macheteswingers, two vampires, and you all. We had to do so because they are neighbors to us. It's okay even if you don't find anything. There are still two days until we are to convene. The higher-ups are still working to ensure there are no fights, especially with the animosity between vampires and us. Please enjoy them on this planet."

I immediately went to the vampire world, to see if Charon knew anything about this world. As I guessed, he was there when I arrived.

"Welcome back, Roberto. What brings you along this time."

"I heard of an exploration of a now-abandoned world that some vampires would be participating in. Do you happen to know who?"

"These places are so sad. No life can form, and life generated from the planet, unless strong enough, will perish without its protection. If it's planet Ice Hydrangea you're talking about, I've discussed it with my superiors. That world is covered in endless ice, and it's hard for anyone to go there. I, personally, will be our race's representative.

Roberto, I still haven't chosen the second representative. Among other races, those pesky angels will also be coming along. To deter them from attempting to disable us or find this place, why don't you be my second-in-command. With two midnights working together, we could even take some treasures from those winged insects!"

I was glad I had the aura suppression matrix since it protected my dual aura from being discovered. Now, though, I was stuck. Both sides wanted me to represent them, and I didn't know what to do.

"It's decided. I'll go report it to the council, so please wait here for a little."

I couldn't say anything as he immediately left. When he came back, he brought some odd-looking cloth pieces. It looked like a wetsuit, and there were five of them.

"They approved!" Charon exclaimed before handing be the garments. "These are for you, although the skill on the bottom should be enough. It's from the skills of a dusk vampire, so you may not be able to learn the main skill; however, it also contains a simple skill that even elder vampires could use. You can just sell these—they only have basic runes for temperature control, cool body, and heat body, as well as the elementary sweat removal rune. That last's one's interestin'. It's derived from a legendary perfect-body rune, but it is such a small part it downgraded itself to elementary. Oh, and they transform to look like normal clothes."

Even if useless for me with the skill, I still took the suits to give to the other three, to protect them from the cold.

"Thank you," I said.

"No problem. After it's complete, you'll gain achievement here, including access to a mid-sized magic training field. Meet me in the world after one day. Here are the coordinates," he said before vanishing.

Before leaving, I learned the skill. Surprisingly, I guess because of the skill lord class, I actually learned both.

Dusk screams

Descriptions: the darkness descends, using its own power to siphon all energy from all beings whom it touches. The master of the night shall appear, and an orb will be created. Ingesting orb will allow all power and energy contained within to be absorbed.

What was more surprising was a little note at the end, which said that daybreak vampires had a similar skill which would even allow them to gain skills, spells, and memory from anyone during the night.

Body temperature regulation (modified-vampiric)

Description: uses blood to regulate the body's temperature at skill holder's will

It was my first time seeing a modified skill, but it made it easier to use. With my knowledge from the books I've recently been reading, I was able to deduce that this skill used the viscosity of circulating blood. Higher viscosity meant the heat stays internal, like an insulator. Lower would equate to more evaporating, like a conductor. I, however, with my angel-improved spiritual plasma, would not feel any difference in temperatures.

After comprehending this, I returned to Apex Crest and gave the girls wetsuits, just in case. My daughters turned them into military uniforms before I asked them to dress more casually, so they changed to wearing jeans and graphic t-shirts. Bella chose a yellow, collared shirt with white flower imprints. She also wore a short, yellow- and maroon-striped skirt. The sleeves of the shirt were rolled up slightly.

We spent the day walking around and interacting with the local, non-angel population. They weren't surprised to know that we were angels, but we were, once we found out there were no others currently in the vicinity.

Early the next day, December 2nd, Gabriel summoned us back to the mountain we met at.

"Welcome back, everyone. I hope you enjoyed what this little planet has to offer." He began his speech.

"Once again, I, Commander Gabriel, am assigning the squad led by Lieutenant Roberto the following military orders: look for treasure and artifacts on previous planet Ice Hydrangea. I believe you have received the briefing package."

I had received it and quickly scanned it. The planet we were going to was in eternal winter, with temperatures around -260ºC. It had no world core, no sun, and no life. The previous barrier was very strong, and the world liked to be isolated, so not much is known regarding the surface. Overall, its size is similar to America (minus Texas), if it was in a globe shape. That was all there was to it, printed on a single piece of paper.

"Yes, sir, we have," I responded.

"Good, then here are the coordinates. The mission shall launch in thirty minutes and shall end in exactly fourteen days, which, due to slight time differences, will be equivalent to ten days outside. There will be no backup, and you are to communicate with me, your direct superior, using the pin. If any emergency happens, your first action shall be the protection of your lives. Our main enemies consist of the vampires, but both are Midnight Vampires, which is a very strong race of vampires. Retreat and do not engage. That is all. Any questions?"

He seemed very organized, like he had done this countless times before (which he had).

"No, sir!" we responded in unison, saluting Commander Gabriel. This military-like act was sort of fun to put on.

Thirty minutes later, he gave us each a small smartwatch-like object, and I opened the dimensional tunnel. A strong gust of near-absolute-zero temperature wind gushed forth, but we soon arrived on the other side.

There were five specter-like entities, six beings who looked like giant wooden dolls with swords for arms, and Charon.

"I'm glad you're not late, Roberto. It was unexpected that you arrived at the same time as the tiny angels. Come over, and let's begin our search."

Luckily, I had told the girls about the double identity, so they were neither surprised nor mad. They would soon retreat into my spiritual world since, as a vampire, I could take anything I found for myself. As an angel, I would have to give it up if valuable. Instead, I would just say we found nothing.

It's finally time to explore!