"You shitty dungeon, you can't be serious!"

A child-like voice booms through the room, "about what?"

(That wasn't you, Elly, was it?)

(No, but I heard that as well.)

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

"Oh, you heard me this time? I tried to talk with you before but you didn't react..."

(Elly, this joke is going too far.)

(I swear that wasn't me. Seriously.)

I look around but see no one. The town is quite a bit away as well.

"Where... who are you?"

"I'm... uh, I think I'm the dungeon? I'm not sure actually."

"No, no, don't stop there. Explain yourself."

"I don't know what's there to explain. Until... recently I used to be a monster just like you, roaming through the dungeon, playing with things until either of us breaks. Just having a good time. And then... I was here. Though this is the first time I heard that one of us gets to occupy the dungeon heart."

"You were just a monster before?"

"Yup. Kinda miss it though. No need to eat or obey rules. Just play to the death all the time. I didn't even have to think."

"That sounds sad actually."

It gets very enthusiastic, "no, no, no, it is super cool! I'm looking forward to going back. I just... need you to quickly leave here."

"That's what I'm TRYING to do but someone has closed the doors on me."

"Yeah, about that. I've... observed you since you got here, you've kinda caught my attention since... well, we're both 'defective' in a sense right now. And truth be told you're kinda weak for what you are - or should be. So I'm curious how far you can go in this cycle."

"Yeah, tell me about it...", I already know that I'm weak, don't need to have that rubbed in by a monster or rock or whatever of all things.

"So I've been moving some bosses around, adjusting some mob spawns, just to give you a better shot. 'cause if you die too soon none of us get to enjoy playtime."

"You're the cause of that wall monster going missing?"

"Yeah, I thought it would make for a more enjoyable final boss for you than the tea witch. I'm not even sure what her deal is. She's creepy."

No, I'd rather 'talk' with her than face the overpowered green wall. I might even be able to learn their language from her. She at least seemed to try to get me to enjoy my stay there... I've been a bad guest to her, haven't I?

"Say, if you're the dungeon now, do you know what is up with the stairs behind floor 120? I mean I cleared the dungeon up to that endpoint, shouldn't I get the reward for that?"

"Reward? Uh, maybe? I'm not entirely sure how that works. Never had to care for that."

"Figures..."

"I think I'm currently on floor 212 so technically you'd have to reach me here to get your reward - if we go by the rules I 'feel' to know."

"How would I even do that with the door sealed off?"

"I could open it if you want but... trust me you don't want that. I've no control over the area between me and there and there's some weird stuff going on in there."

(So probably even more uncontrolled glitch crap.)

"Yeah, I can pass on that. Probably not even remotely worth it."

"But if you want the reward I have an alternative offer - not that you really have any choice in the matter. I want you to play with my friends here."

"You mean the pretend humans in that fake town?"

"Exactly. Just look how bored they are. They must be looking forward to some play and death."

What a twisted freak...

"And what if I say no?"

"Then the door stays closed. Trust me, you'll feel much better after letting loose and playing with us."

"Fine, I'll play along."

"Wonderful! Is there anything special you would want as a reward? I've some control over what you get. Though I'm fine with leaving it up to the thrill of chance."

I'm still not certain what his goal is. At some points he wants everyone to kill everyone else, calls it 'playing', and other times he genuinely offers help.

I need a long while to think about it.

"You wouldn't have a book called 'Maniac's Monster Manual' in there?"

"Not sure", the voice gets hesitant, "I can check. Anything else you want?"

"As you said earlier I'm weak so anything to get significantly stronger, I guess. A 'Class Core' would be nice."

"Strange wish but I'll see what I can do. I think I've enough of an idea so go and entertain us well."

I'm half expecting evil laughter after this statement but none comes.

(Really now, what is its goal here, Elly? Why would someone want their friends to kill each other? It doesn't make sense.)

(Yeah, who can really understand the mind of a monster besides other monsters.)

(I am one myself and I don't. So keep those generalizations to yourself.)

(Someone woke up on the wrong foot today, Jared.)

(And someone else is begging for an early bedtime, right Elly?)

(...no, am not.)

(So given that I can't just break walls I really have no say in the matter, do I?)

(Don't think so either, Jared. But what is the issue? They are just monsters after all.)

(So am I. ...I was so close to saying that even humans respect their fellow humans but we all know that to not be true, see war, genocide and reality TV for details.)

(Then see it positively. It wouldn't make you any less human than you were before.)

(Wouldn't it then by that logic make me even more human than I am?)

(That's a low blow.)

I go back and observe the situation some more. If I am to 'play' with everyone here I need a defensible position. Even if they are below me in level for a change over a thousand opponents are just way too much to take in a fair fight.

The only seemingly safe-ish places seem to be roofs that are otherwise not accessible without ladders or flight ability. Too bad I have neither.

Evening turns to night and the celebrating imitations turn home leaving some behind that have passed out from too much partying. As if they have nothing to be afraid of. Aside from me, that is.

But can I blame them? They are monsters and so far I've seen no monster attacking their own kind and nothing else lives in this dungeon. The only thing that is a danger to them is - reluctantly - me.

(Seriously, if I didn't have the ability to throw [Appraises] around for days I wouldn't have known that they were fakes until way too late. Someone is just messing with me here... and it isn't mister dungeon. That would be way too obvious.)

Through the cover of night, my [Stealth] skill keeps me undetectable. With that I follow some lonely wannabe humans and finish them off, killing them instantly by draining their blood.

Little miss crybaby boss was the first monster I drank blood from. Before that, I lived under the impression that it would taste like the mud blood of Ted. I have experimented since a little bit and have come to a conclusion that was now again confirmed: pure monsters with monster class and race contain none of the life energy I need to sustain myself in them, their blood tastes like sand or worse. Any form of undead does the same. But monsters that are otherwise human in nature - like these people here - are alive enough for my taste. The taste of life may be diluted but it is there. Though that is maybe one percent at best in terms of nutritional value compared to real human blood.

Earlier I was afraid that my victims would leave behind corpses to complete this mockery of human civilization but they dissipate like all monsters before them. Might give me a few extra days to whittle down their numbers before they catch on.

I need a moment to order my thought. Deep down I know they are just monsters but this still feels wrong... or rather it should feel wrong but it doesn't. Rather I enjoy the hunt... too much even.

After making sure no one is watching I also dispose of the passed out men in the town square. This feels needlessly dangerous, but what must be done must be done.

Before the night is over I've already reduced their total number by over fifty.

Over the day I just keep out of town. If those were real humans they'd have already connected me, the new arrival, to the disappearance, whether they have actual proof or not.

The next night I again pick off some that are walking home by themselves. Foolishly I try to turn one of them into a ghoul to cause another ghoul outbreak here but as before they are not under my control and attack me as well. I'm surprised no one heard that battle. At least I got some use out of [Vampire Hierarchy] for once.

I check the surrounding houses and none of them are locked. In fact, they don't have locks in the first place. Who says vampires need to be invited to enter? We're not too dumb to operate door handles. At least not all of us.

I exploit this carelessness and clear out a couple of houses. It takes some time but that is about thirty more victims.

During the day I make one of the outer houses my 'base' so to speak. My chosen new home is one of the few where inside are stairs to the roof. In the face of lacking locks, I place a lot of furniture I plundered from other houses to block the entrance. With this, once it inevitably comes to the showdown I'll have a slightly defended position. I hope.

The next night some of the imitations are now patrolling the area, though not in groups. I still manage to pick some of them off from behind and clear out a few more houses. I have to be much more careful now than the days before but can still take out a small neighborhood.

The next two nights are more of the same just with increasing patrol frequency. The total casualties have already gone past a hundred and fifty.

The day after that I can witness that they are holding a public gathering. Seems like I'm getting very popular recently. Must be my high charisma value at work. Clearly the summoning class is not too far off anymore.

The temptation is high to just hurl a couple area spells into the masses and then run off, but can I really get away from hundreds of angry mobs and reach my base in time?

Fuck it. I need to strike while I have the initiative. I throw two ice spells in quick succession and get running before the first even hits. The system message tells me about sixty percent of the monsters that were hit are already suffering from the cold. Considering their low level I doubt many could even survive three direct hits.

While running I look behind me and they've really taken chase but I make it without extra trouble back to my base and manage to blockade the door with furniture. After breathing a sigh of relief I take the stairs to the roof and block those off with more furniture as well. Better safe than sorry.

I look down and see the mob trying to break down the door but it seems they fail to inflict any actual damage to it.

I throw some more area cold spells into the masses while looking around. After some time I spot a group bringing a ladder. I take the opportunity to cast two [Blood Bursts] on some of the hurt monsters down below then focus the created blood bullets on the ladder carrier.

To my surprise, the ladder doesn't just drop down but actually dissolves together with its carrier.

I have enough SP to cast four bursts. I cast one more and keep the remaining three in case of another ladder. With SP at 660/1260, I can afford to activate [Intimidate] without losing any of the remaining SP.

That skill is at level 2 so I expected it to deal damage to the level 1 monsters at least but it doesn't. Seems the threshold counts total level and they have one class - one race and the monster extra. Maybe some day...

One group isn't deterred by the lack of a ladder and tries to boost one of their own up. To their detriment fear triggers when he stands before me. I grab the poor guy, bite him with intend to turn him into a ghoul and throw him back down to his soon-to-be former friends. All of them fall over from the impact. Strike!

After a moment of screaming in pain, the gain finishes his transformation into a ghoul. I should've expected that he won't attack the other monsters down there because of the [Mindless Monster] skill bullshit but to my surprise, the other monsters scream in terror and attack the ghoul first. A level 1 ghoul may go done quickly but it still manages to bit two of the others causing some more chaos. Though that zombie apocalypse is quickly ended once the level 7 to 8 guards get to do their job.

After a few more minutes and using all of my MP up, most of the fakes have run off in terror or died.

Suddenly the... dungeon voice speaks up, "Hey, uh, bats, seems like I missed the whole fun?"

"Yeah, you kinda did. Any idea how many are left?"

"About thirty to forty. Seems you were thorough."

What else am I to do? You won't let me leave until all of them are dead...

I take a break to recover my resources a bit and process what has just happened.

Before this floor, I've only fought and killed monsters because they were a threat to me. But those here? Seemed innocent. They behaved just like normal humans until they got hunted by another monster but the dungeon voice said that it was just 'playing' to them. I don't know what to believe here.

But then the dungeon won't open the door for me until I'm finished here... so what choice do I really have.

After getting enough MP and SP back I start to track the remaining imitations down. When I can I just end down by draining blood since that doesn't waste resources. Most of them offer no resistance. Full of fear and terror they've given up. One of them even goes insane and attacked his own friends. They fight back and kill each other before I can 'assist'.

By my count that leaves only one.

I track the sole survivor down in one alleyway. A frightened young man with a familiar face.

He points his spear at me, his hands shaking. I grab the spear and wrest it away from him.

"4̷̣̒7̸̭̃6̴̛̰f̷͎̎6̶̖̃4̵͓̑6̴͚͛4̶͓̈6̷̘͊1̸̰͒6̵͎͝d̵̼̈́6̸̣̅e̸̡̓6̵̥̓9̴̹̑7̵̳̓4̴̻͂2̴̠̑1̶̜̓2̸̢̛0̸̖̕ ̸̧̋4̸̘͗ĕ̴̹6̵̗́f̶̙̾7̵̗͘4̴̼̕2̴̮͂0̴̤͆ ̴̫̓6̷̟̐1̵̥͠6̷͖̽7̶̼͐6̶̞̐1̵̟̋6̴̜̉9̸̭͘6̶͇̈ė̸̠2̶̩͒1̵̰͠ ̷̪́"

I ignore his screeching voice and take a few steps forward. He tries to muster his strength to fight me off with his fists if he has to but the fear won't let him. Then I bite him and drink his blood. The taste is as thin as of all the others but the taste is as familiar as his face was.

"Goodbye, fake 'Tevin'."

(What did you mean by that, Jared?)

(Exactly what I said. He looks like Tevin, tastes like Tevin, clearly must be a different person.)

(...I'm not sure what you are getting at. Do you want to say that was him? But you, err, unalived him weeks ago!)

(...correct. Those imitations were far too good. Not even appearance and behavior-wise but even down to the blood taste. It is especially unnerving that they got it mostly correct for someone I knew. Where did they get the necessary data?)

(That I do not know. And it is too much of a coincidence to get right by chance.)

I make my way towards where the exit initially was. If the dungeon is true to its word it should now be open. I don't care if that allows me to make progress I just want to leave these reminders of the tragedy behind me.

Finally, the dungeon voice speaks up again, "that play was amazing! I wish I could've participated. Will you invite me next cycle?"

"Eh, sure. Whatever floats your boat. How did everyone else like the massacre?"

"I talked with them and most of them LOVED it but some complained that you didn't talk with them, so it'd be nice if you could work on that for the next cycle. And two said something about a 'deyawoo', no idea what that is. Do you know? Is it tasty?"

So they had that feeling too?

"Only if you like bitter stuff."

"So like chocolate? Urgh, I hate that stuff. Always gives me cramps."

(So he was a dog-type monster or something before? I hate dogs, one bit my grandma.)

(I don't think that is related, Jared. Monsters don't follow our rules.)

"Say, do you have a name? If I have to endure your presence for another 30 floors and some change I'd like a way to address you besides 'hey you'."

"Name? Uh, name... I think I once had one. A thousand cycles ago or so..."

"What are even these 'cycles' you speak of?"

"Uh, you don't know? All of us monsters should."

"No, I don't know. So, what is it?"

"Just every time a dungeon ends the next cycle starts."

"And you've been through a thousand?"

"Sure have. It was a lot of fun. Even if I died a couple of times. Now, what was my name again..."

(Elly, I had some hope that killing the monsters here actually achieves... something. That we'd at least wear down their numbers over time but...)

(Yeah, that seems to not be the case. I wonder if this resurrective immortality also applies to the monsters outside.)

(That would at least explain why there are more and more monsters each year.)

(Maybe that goes back to what you read in that book. The point of destroying the dungeons by taking their cores might be to cut them off from that.)

(Then it is a double-edged sword at best. We'd lessen the floods, but obviously lose access to all of the resources. I doubt a lordless fortress can even generate enough food for everyone without that. Not to speak about everything else. Where would you gain materials to craft more weapons?)

(Yeah, any mining operation is doomed to fail. At best you can keep that up in the few weeks between two floods. Otherwise you just lose everyone there for nothing.)

"Oh, I think I recall", the dungeon seems to remember now, "I think I was called... Dan?"

A literal Dan-geon... great...

"What an... unusual name."

"Yeah, not very monsterlike. So that might not be right. Ah, what does it matter."

I arrive at the floor exit - but it is still closed, "umm, can you open the door now? I upheld my end of the deal."

"Oh, right, right, right, give me a moment."

rumble rumble

The passage slowly appears again.

"There you go. So about the reward stuff I promised... I've got bad news."

Great. First, you get me to commit genocide and then don't even have a cheap souvenir for me...

"The book you wanted is unique so I can't give you a copy."

"Unique, huh? Would you have an idea where that one is then?"

"Hmm... 'outside close by' is the best I can give you."

"I guess that narrows it down quite a bit actually."

(Actually not much, Jared. We don't know around which 'point' this close by is or how generous the area is. As loose his grasp on reality seems he might even consider a different planet 'close by'.)

(Yeah, well, the book is not that important, I guess. Knowing a bit more about what we're dealing with here might be nice but it doesn't change our main goal.)

"Any more bad news on the other stuff?"

"No, I think I got something nice for you."

Ḏ̶͝a̵͎̐n̴̤̚-̶̤͝G̸̙̎e̶̙̓o̸͓̾n̵̜̓ transferred Title Card and Monster Core to you.

"Thank you. I'm not sure what those are though."

"I'm not sure about the card either but the core should let you repair yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"Uh, you know how you are defective? Missing... essential skills of us monsters. This lets you fix that."

"Yeah, grrreat... well, I've got stuff to do. Talk to you later."

(We'll check that stuff out later, Elly. I'm really not in the mood for that crap right now.)

(Understandable.)