Lair

Chapter 013 - Foundations

By Skalsar

The magic power from the [Dungeon Heart] is tremendous.

Patching it up is harder than I thought.

Not that it's really needed anymore, after both "Hivemind" and "Hivemind" merged together.

The other "Hivemind" is very happy about this situation. But it's hard to distinguish between the two after the merge was done. "Hivemind" told me not to differ between them, for they are one.

On another note: Because the other hive was devoured, our hive grew by ten layers.

That is awesome! It has seventyseven layers now!

Humans would already name it a [Greater Dungeon], if they knew!

But the most they can reach yet is the sixth layer.

Well, back to the [Dungeon Heart].

I'm allowed to fiddle with it to some extend.

Because of that, I learned how to improve cores.

My skills [Creation - Crystal Heart] improved to [Creation - Soulstone].

[Dungeon Walk] improved too, it's now called [Black Gate].

The difference seems to be that I can go everywhere I know now.

Even the wall the humans built around our hive doesn't stop me anymore.

Better we don't let them learn about that.

It even works in combination with my [Drones], because I'm linked to them directly.

But I can't really travel around right now because I have to fiddle with the cores.

Not for new creations, but for those who are already there.

There is always space for improvements.

"Hivemind" got some new creations either way, because of the merge.

[Woodler], a wood type creature that attacks with its branches.

[Wolly], a sheeplike creature with horns. More of a Ram. The fluffy stuff is a pretty good protection against cuts.

[Spitter], a froglike creature. But much bigger. It spits acid.

And also that [Guardian] the other hive came up with.

Those are just a few of them.

Also because of my fiddling and the new knowledge, variants are possible too.

I mostly learned how to add elements and magic to creatures.

A [fiery Wolly] is really impresive to watch.

Burning from top to bottom and spreading fire everywhere while its charge.

Quite costly though.

I also started to improve my own core a bit.

"Hivemind" says I might become the first variant for a breeder if I do a good job.

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In [Mafay Village] an emergency meeting was held.

Just an hour ago, Rego was informed about what had happened near [Quon Village].

'If the two told the truth, the [Quon Village Dungeon] was still alive and moved away.'

Rego explained to the other villagers.

'There is no danger to [Mafay Village], because we already have a dungeon here.

What we have to worry about are the [Merchants] who travel with carts.

As long as we don't know where the dungeon takes root, the traderoutes are in danger.'

That was the current situation.

If a hive takes root somewhere on a traderoute, monsters might appear and kill travelers.

For the growing village, that was a great risk.

They would have to stay vigilant.

For now the meeting was over.

They will have to send scouts and guards to secure the traderoutes for a while.

And something else was worrying Rego.

If the [Quon Village Dungeon] was still alive, it would draw away attention from the [Mafay Village Dungeon] and get less adventurers to [Mafay Village].

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At first.. I only knew how to devour.

Devour and devour. And then devour some more.

After my birth, there was only emptiness.

I traveled around until something tasty appeared.

After devouring some more, thoughts entered my mind.

The emptiness became cloudiness.

I noticed the differences in my prey.

Everything I lure in is devoured, but different prey gave different amounts of satisfaction.

After devouring even more, I understand more.

There was prey called humans. Tasty humans.

From them, I learned about words.

They use a "voice" to communicate.

Words help me describe my thoughts.

The more humans I devour, the better.

If the prey is strong, it has more magic power.

With magic power, I grow.

I naturally knew how to imitate prey, forming magic power into weaker shapes of the prey.

To help me lure in prey. And to defend me against strong prey. Need to get more prey.

But that was complicated. I know about some other creature as well.

A breeder.

It's sole purpose is to do that for me.

So I created a breeder.

Living got much easier by doing so.

I only had to tell it how much I want to devour.

The rest was converted.

Everything in my body is connected to me.

I'm called a dungeon.

But it would be more correct to call me a hive.

Live is well.

It doesn't stay well.

I was too greedy.

Consuming too much.

Strong prey came.

Very strong.

It killed many creatures.

Survived many attacks.

I'm scared.

It's a human.

Humans are dangerous.

What should I do?

Just a few more layers and it will reach the [Dungeon Heart].

...

Oh..

It died.

Just like that.

Humans are stupid.

I believe he never guessed he would die like that.

He stumbled when dodging.

Fell down.

That wasn't the problem.

But he lost something.

Something that saves prey from poison.

It's called [Antidote].

He got poisoned shortly after.

So he died.

The magic power was delicious. But I was still scared.

Near me is a [Village].

It's too strong already.

Endangering me.

So I use all the magic power to create creatures.

I will devour the whole [Village] and go somewhere else.

This place isn't save anymore.

But I have to do so fast.

I take some strong energy from the strong prey and give birth to a second breeder.

Two is better than one.

My attack goes smoothly. The [Village] is devoured pretty fast.

And the second breeder seems to be a bit special.

I don't really know why.

...

Oh.

Finally I understand.

His counsciousness is special.

Maybe because of the strong prey he is created from.

Humans have [Souls].

It must have carried over.

From the brain of the strong prey, to the core of the new breeder.

But that is alright.

I can see everything in his mind, he is loyal.

He likes me very much.

A good child.

I will give him more freedoms for his crazy little ideas.

He calls them [Hiveworkers].

I like them. They feed me well.

Even without prey.

They just find the tiny little bits of magic power in plants and water.

And they let me see the world around me.

He likes to work on improvements.

That's funny.

I teach him many things.

Even the other breeder wants to help him.

I allow it.

They even find a way to weaken the humans that settled around me.

But just when I believe that I'm save, another hive attacks me.

I don't understand it!

Why does it do that?!

It's mean!

Don't even think about devouring me!

But it's hard to defend..

It's stealing my children..

Oh!

Lucky!

I'm very happy!

My second breeder really is special!

He pushed back the other hive!

Fun!

I will be the one attacking now.

Let's show the other hive what I can do.

Second breeder will go too.

He found a way to go to the other hive.

Weird enough, the [Dungeon Heart] wasn't on the deepest layer.

How is that possible?

Can it survive on another layer?

After I think about it, I notice.

The [Lair] has a high potential, just like the deepest layer.

The [Dungeon Heart] might survive there.

That must be it.

And just like that, the breeder finds it in the other hives [Lair].

I win.

But I don't devour him.

My breeder said it would be a waste.

I guess he is right.

...

New knowledge floats through me after merging with the other one.

I grew quite a bit.