Lylah: “Master! Tobes is under attack by monsters!”

Lylah’s words echo in my ears, without me being able to grasp their meaning for a few moments, or maybe it is just that I can’t believe it.

Belinda: “Two-Twelve…Two-Twelve!”

Belinda snaps me out of it… I anticipated that the failed dungeon cores might attack Ceres or myself, but I never anticipated they would attack the town itself. I quickly send a message to all of my monsters telling them to meet at the house at once, and at the same time the sounds of bells ring out in Tobes.

I quickly cast [Gate] and I am half surprised it even worked, but this attack has to be the failed dungeon cores, so we have no way of knowing how long we will be able to use teleportation magic.

“Belinda take Rory and go to your father!”

Belinda: “But I can help!”

“I know you can, but we have to get Rory to safety first. Once there you can open another [Gate] and get your father to send as many soldiers through as we can before the failed cores stop [Gate] from working.”

Belinda: “You’re right… I’m sorry.” –She says scooping Rory up in her arms. I give them both a quick kiss, and Belinda disappears through the portal heading to the capital.-

The girls start arriving at the house in a panic as the warning bells chime.

Scylla: “Master, what is going on?”

“We are still getting information. Lylah, where are they coming from?”

Lylah: “It’s the far side of town near the university, but they aren’t attacking from the road, but coming out of the forest.”

I quickly open [Menu] to show me the edges of my dungeon, and there are hundreds, if not thousands of monsters pouring out of the woods into the new section of Tobes. They were caught off guard, but the soldier’s fort is nearby, and they have already begun to mobilize.

There are a few higher ranked monsters in the mix, but the majority of them are goblins, kobold, and the like, but in their numbers the normal townsfolk won’t stand a chance.

“Lylah, gather everyone at Ceres's dungeon. I don’t know how much control Ceres gave us over her dungeon, but tell the ones supervising our people to gather theirs to help as well, if they can.”

Zoey: “Boss, what about us?” –She says using [Menu] to equip her armor.-

“I’m sorry, I am sure you are worried about your families as well, Take Listel and Wolfric to the capital as well, while there is still a chance.”

Scylla: “It won’t matter where they are if the dungeon falls, so I would rather have Listel close, The dungeon core room would be the safest place for them right now.”

Roxy: “She is right, if we get stuck in the capital unable to return to help, I would never forgive myself.”

“Alright, Leveret, Lily, and Levi, you have all been training hard to control monsters, but not leveling yourselves. You take the little ones to the dungeon core room and take care of them for now. Lila, I want you to gather all the demi-humans other than the fairies, and bring them to Tobes. Leila, send the fairies through the dungeon to inform all the adventures in the dungeon that Tobes is under attack, if they are willing, transfer them out of the dungeon and into Tobes to help.”

Leila: “What about them finding out about the dungeon?”

“That isn’t important right now, we can say it is the fairies doing, or the dungeon giving permission, or whatever, but right now we need their help.”

Leila: “Understood…”

“Lala and Lele, I want you two to gather all the dwarves and anyone else bound to the dungeon I may have forgotten about, and get them to the front lines as well. Azami, you have the most magic, but we don’t know how long teleporting is going to be possible. Get as many of the townsfolk to safety as you can, if not by [Gate] then transfer anyone willing as far away from combat as possible. Anyone that can wield a weapon, summon one if you have to, but get them armed.”

Bell: “Where is Sofia?” –She says in a panic looking around the room.-

“She was having a lecture at the university, so if she isn’t already aware of what is going on, she soon will be.”

Bell: “I need to make sure she is ok!”

“Alright, but just like with Azami, many of Sofia’s students have at least basic combat experience, so put a weapon in their hand and have them help save Tobes.”

Scylla: “What do you want me to do?”

“You’re the mayor. You need to coordinate things between the townsfolk, soldiers, and dungeon. You help get the ones fleeing from battle to a safe place, and sending the ones that can fight in the right direction, and make sure they don’t start attacking the demi-humans by mistake. Kline, I need you to find Doug, he needs to give Scylla a hand from the soldiers side of things. He is currently the highest ranking officer in town, so he needs to stay safe and give orders, and if it isn’t too much trouble, try to find Tanya and Exavier, we don’t need to start a war with Exeter on top of everything else.”

Kline: “Just make sure you heed your own advice, I know you want to jump in the middle of things to help, but our lives are tied to yours, and if something happens to you everything will fall apart.”

“I know…”

Everyone starts transferring from the house to do their part, while I send a message to Dyson, Ceres, Ithros, and anyone else part of our group that might be of assistance.

Vetala: “What about me? I’m not bound to your dungeon, but I can fight as well.”

“I need you to go to the Mage’s Guild. I am sure they are already beginning to move, but you have a good relationship with them, so if something where to happen and you were to get hurt, the Mage’s Guild Elders know that you are an undead and would be the best equipped to help you.”

I pull some gear from the dungeon inventory for her to use, and Vetala takes it while running out the front door. It feels like I am running and hiding, but I can keep an eye on things much better from the dungeon core room than here, so I transfer there to meet the trainee bunnies, Listel, and Wolfric.

Wolfric is young enough he doesn’t know what is going on, so he is having fun playing with some of Leila’s massive collection of stuffed animals, but Listel is old enough to read the mood of those around her, and understands something is wrong, even if she doesn’t know what.

The trainee bunnies are born from the dungeon but they are practically children themselves, so even though they know what they have to do, they are still barely holding it together. I pull up one of the seats the bunnies use, and then bring forth the rarely used screens that show the town, eclipsing the ones that show the dungeon with them.

The streets are in utter chaos, people running in every direction, some trying to flee without a clear destination, others trying to locate loved ones, and others trying to seek safety at the guilds. The soldiers have indeed begun to mobilize, but most of the soldiers are rookies, here to train in the dungeon, so there's barely any real, professional soldiers at the fort.

I was trying to get Belinda’s siblings to safety, but I had forgotten about Quinn, and as he was at the university, he is right in the thick of things. He must have been in Sofia’s lecture because she is engaging the monsters nearby, but Quinn is fighting recklessly trying to show off, and even if they are just goblins and the like it is going to get him killed if he isn’t careful.

Bell just arrived. I send her and Sofia a message, asking them to keep an eye on him if possible, because I don’t want to be the one to explain to Belinda’s father that we failed to protect him….

Most of Tobes deals with the dungeon in one way or another, even food production has really come a long way in the dungeon, so thankfully we have a higher-than-average amount of fighting-able people in town.

As such, once the initial panic wears off, more and more people begin to show up in the frontline to ward off the monster tide. That isn’t to say we aren't taking losses, but once the Mage’s Guild shows up, the rate at which the monsters die compared to the townsfolk starts growing lopsided in our favor.

An hour since the beginning of the attack, and everyone has joined together. The monsters seem to be thinning out. Even Belinda returned with several companies of soldiers. She was disappointed her father didn’t send more, but I can understand that if Tobes is under attack, he had to tighten the defenses of the capital as well, in case we are not the only target.

A downside is, it was pretty late in the afternoon when the attack started, so the sun has already started to set, and this time of year, that means cold. Thankfully, by the time the last rays of the sun disappear and true night falls upon us, the flow of monsters seems to have ended.

Teleportation and [Communication] never became hampered, so I am left wondering if this attack truly was from the failed cores… There is a massive amount of corpses around, so once the monsters have been completely dispatched we start dealing with the dead, and treating the injured.

The demi-humans helped in the fighting, but that doesn’t stop rumors wondering if it is possible that the dungeon was behind the attack. We try to put a stop to such rumors before they spread, but even though the monsters were all quite low ranking, there was still a huge verity of types of monsters, so if they didn't come from the dungeon then where did they come from?

We continue working late into the night burning monster corpses, identifying and dealing with our own dead, healing the injured, and assessing the damage. Long after midnight, I collapse into a chair in Scylla’s office so can try to make sense of what just happened.

Scylla: “I don’t know if you would call it lucky or not, but the death toll was 73 people. That is a lot of people, but if the attack targeted the residential area instead of the university, or our response was any slower, or they were any stronger, we would have lost a lot more people…”

“Not to mention the reinforcements that Belinda brought from the capital, if this was the failed cores’ doing, it seems they weren't trying… Even just one of those items of theirs would have drastically changed the battle.”

Scylla: “The town itself also took very little damage. Most of the damage was caused in the newer sections of Tobes, so many buildings there are either still being built, or are far sturdier than the ones in the older sections of the town.”

“I thought maybe this was just a distraction, so I tightened things down in the dungeon to make sure that even if so much as a mouse entered the dungeon I would be informed, but nothing…”

Belinda: “I get the feeling that this isn’t the end…”

“I agree. I don’t think these monsters could have come from anywhere but the failed cores, but it was just a prod to check our reaction times, gauge our strength, and just gather information. In that regard I think we might have made a mistake.”

Belinda: “How so?”

“We went all out from the get go, because we aren’t used to Tobes coming under attack, so if this was just a measure of our strength, I think they got a pretty accurate test of it…”

Scylla: “Well if they try anything else we will be more prepared. With the troops from the capital, we have made a pretty decent perimeter around town, so if monsters do attack again, the townsfolk should know it roughly at the same time we do.”

“I am also worried about the rumors involving the dungeon.”

Doug: “The soldiers are helping to quell those rumors, because we've had men stationed at the dungeon at all times, but they are starting to talk about a hidden entrance, or a new dungeon entirely.”

“What about Ceres’s dungeon?” –I ask one of her members that I invited to the meeting.- “if they go looking for this new entrance or new dungeon, and stumble onto the opening of Ceres’s dungeon, there will be trouble.”

Ceres’s representative: “You don’t have to worry. They won’t ever find the entrance to her dungeon unless she wants them to.”

Belinda: “What about Ceres, is she coming back?”

“I kept them up to date on everything that happened, and if we are to lose contact or get attacked again they may return with a justicar teleport, but I told them that things are under control for now. We need Ceres to recover more power, and can’t just pull her out of that job if we can help it.”

Kline: “So what do we do now?”

“Get some rest… If another attack comes we will be notified immediately, but the longer we stay up the worse off we will be if another attack does come.”

Belinda: “I am going to head back to the capital and make sure Rory is ok. I will ask father if he can watch her for a few days just to be safe, and then I will be back.” –She then gives me a quick kiss before using [Gate] to disappear.-

“Alright, everyone else get some rest, because we don’t know what'll come next…”

I told everyone to rest, but I don’t think anyone went home after splitting up. Scylla and Kline remained at the city hall building to help out, and I headed to the dungeon core room.

Lilah: “Master should be getting some rest.” –She says, placing her hand on my shoulder.-

“I’m sorry you had to come back so soon…”

Lilah: “Of course! If Master is in danger, this is where Lilah has to be!”

“Once we are sure everything is safe, I'll make sure you get a proper vacation, alright?”

Lilah: “Lilah rather not… Lilah knows she made a mistake, but she didn’t like being in the capital. She'd rather be at home…”

“It wasn’t even 24 hours since you left, and you do need to broaden your horizons.”

Lilah: “If Master insists, Lilah will visit Denova’s brothel and hire a man there, but please don’t send her away again.”

“That isn’t what we meant at all… We want you to be happy, but I can’t be the one that does it. How about this… What is it about me that you like?”

Lilah: “Master is Master!”

“I mean things about me that you like. Instead of focusing on me, think about those things, and try to find someone with those traits. I am sure you'll find someone out there to make you happier than I could.”

Lilah: “Lilah wants to just keep liking Master…”

“I’m sorry, Lilah.” –I say taking her hand off of my shoulder.- “It would be best if you'd just get some rest for now.”

Her ears hanging low, she goes to bed, and I think I heard her starting to sniffle… I hate to see her hurt, but what else could I do? I don’t see how Dyson does it… I am just not built that way. I love Belinda, and can’t imagine being with anyone else.

I let out a deep sigh and focus on [Menu], to do what I came here to do in the first place. We've been spreading out the dungeon as Tobes expands, but that left the monsters right on top of us before we knew it, so I take what little xp we acquired from the attack, along with the xp from the start of the new day and spread the dungeon off into the forest around as much of Tobes as possible.

However, Tobes has grown large enough that even with the amount of daily xp we take in nowadays, I still couldn’t come close to surrounding the entirety of town, so I had to pick the areas that seemed like its biggest weak points.

Even with that, if there is another attack, and the monsters move through the forest at any considerable speed, it isn’t likely to give us much more of a warning. It is all I can manage right now though, so I close [Menu] and head to bed.

Dyson’s PoV

“I'd ask what took you so long, but I have a pretty good idea of what the answer will be. You know, as cute as it is to see you fall in love all over again, you do need to prioritize. You are no spring chicken anymore, you know?” - says Ceres as we enjoy the best breakfast the innkeeper ever managed to put together, having paid him more than enough for the wrecked room he could probably renovate the whole floor.

“What can I say? We all got a little enthusiastic last night. We're even considering adding someone new into the family.” - I reply while enjoying a half decent egg with, surprisingly for this region, pepper and sea salt. The innkeeper is really trying his best, I see.

Ceres: "I thought you had decided to stop filling your bed with new women every time you turn around?"

“Well, to be fair the girls thought that same as you.” - I continue - “I brought it up thinking about having a child of our own. It seems [Menu] has made it possible again.”

“Oh, congratulations. So, which one is the future mother, or is it both?”

“None right now. I wouldn't drag the mother of my unborn child out into the field with us, would I? And I am sure she'd resent being left to stay behind, though they did had the same train of thought you did, and Desiree suggested a few things for this theoretical newest member in our lives.”

“I... contributed as well.” - adds Angela while looking at her plate as if it was suddenly the most interesting thing in the room

“Yes, they each had two pages worth of suggestions. Each. I wonder if Two-Twelve will have an issue following a script.”

“Oh, this I have to see. May I?” - asks Ceres, and I hand her the small sheets - “It really was four pages long... let's see... Hmm... Uhu... Alright... I see... there is at least one grievous oversight I spotted right away, though.”

“What? Where!?” - Desiree leans over with curiosity, and then sighs as she probably got the answer right off Ceres's mind - “Your hair color is not a requirement for beauty, you know?”

“Says you! Other than that... no beauty spot?” - adds Ceres

“Beauty spot, is it?” - I inquire

“Most of the highest ranked beauties through old history had a cute little mole somewhere. Either close to an eye, the mouth, atop their breast in a zone that was equally easy to display, yet slightly demanding of higher-than-average skin exposure... it was called the beauty spot.”

“You don't have one, and I suspect you got to design your own looks.”

“Totally wrong face structure. Besides, I was going with 'cute and friendly,' not 'sex goddess,' you see? Here, let me draw you a portrait...”

It seems our resident former deity has a whole shelf of unexpected talents, because she very quickly and deftly draws the portrait of a woman that I must admit, could indeed pass as one of history's top beauties. She even gave her hair the right shade while using only a charcoal stick in order to make it clear she is a blonde, and I must admit that the 'beauty spot' does add a somewhat sensual, slightly indecent air to the whole, even without the openly proactive expression on her face.

“I see...” - nods Desiree in an approving manner - “That's the beauty spot, is it?”

“Indeed.”

“Can you add a few of the things from the list to the portrait?” - asks my succubus as she hands it back to Ceres

“Sure, hold on... from what I read, you are aiming for either an insect-type demi-human, or a fairy, is that correct?”

“Yes, Master seems to have a theme of girls with wings going on right now. I see no reason to step outside of it, though some variety would be desirable. Thus, neither bat nor bird wings this time, which leaves...”

“Insect wings, was it? How about leaf-like wings? Insect wings come in two varieties, and I can't imagine either being ideal for your... vigorous night life. The rigid type would either get bent, break, or at best have to be worked around, and the type that goes limp or rigid is quite delicate in its own way, which leaves the sort that shrinks under a protective chitin shell when not being used, and I don't think you'd find an armored humanoid very fun... a flower-type fae on the other hand, has either petal or leaf-like wings. They're soft and pliable, so they should be safe in” - she clears her throat - “Any position.”

“Oh, a flower fae sounds nice!” - chirps in Angela, who seems to have recovered from the hypnotic effect of her breakfast

“And Two-Twelve thinks I'm callous with women. The three of you are plotting, planning and deciding her whole being with a singular purpose in mind before she's even brought to life.” - I point out with a smirk

“Well, it is what we want her for, don't we Master?” - Desiree smiles in such a way that I am sure the rest of the patrons also having breakfast in the inn's common room, already entranced by Angela and herself, are more than grateful to be sitting right now.

“Oh! Could you do a few more illustrations?” - asks Angela

“Sure thing.” - replies Ceres as she rubs the charcoal stick against the edge of one of the sheets to sharpen it a bit

Back in Tobes

I don’t know how long I was asleep, but it was already well past midnight when I went to bed, and it feels like I just closed my eyes when something starts softly hitting my face again and again. I open my eyes to find a bright eyed little redhead smiling as she sits next to me.

Rory: “Daddy!” –She exclaims shoving one of her fingers into my nose.-

I quickly shake my head and sits up. “Rory, what are you doing here!?” I say while Rory just happily chuckles as she hugs me.

Belinda slowly opens her eyes from the other side of the bed and props herself up on her elbow. “I’m sorry.” –She says sleepily with a yawn.- “But after I went back the capital to check on her, I just couldn’t leave her there.-

I check the time in [Menu] and it is still a few hours until sunrise, so I got a little under 2 hours of sleep.

“But we still don’t know if there will be another attack. It isn’t safe right now.”

Belinda: “When I went to check on her, she was still awake! I don’t know if it is because the way I dropped her off, or something else, but the maids taking care of her at the castle said that she had been throwing a fit and calling for us from the moment I left.”

I hug Rory back and run my hand through her hair - “If the monsters attack was the doing of the failed cores, and I don’t see how it could have been anything else, then there is a chance we won’t be able to get her to safety next time.”

Belinda: “The dungeon core room is as safe of a place as possible, perhaps even more than being at my father’s, and she would at least still be with us. Besides you thought it was safe enough for Wolfric and Listel.”

“I don’t know about Wolfric because he is technically one of my boss monsters, but Listel is bound to the dungeon, so if something where to happen to me, then it wouldn’t matter where she was at, but Rory is a dungeon core herself. She would survive my death, but I don’t want her to end up trapped in the dungeon core room with no way out.”

“I have faith that no matter what those failed cores throw at us, you will take care of it.” –She says while rubbing her hand through Rory’s hair as she kisses me.- “Now, it’s still too early, so let us try and get some more rest.”

“Just promise me, no matter what happens, if I tell you to take the kids and run. You'll do so without question.”

Belinda: “I promise.” -She says picking up Rory and trying to get her to lay back down.-

Rory fights to sit back up, but when I lay down, she grabs my arm and settles down next to me. Belinda picks her up and adjusts her position slightly so she can scoot closer, and lets Rory’s head back down on both of our shoulders as Belinda stretches to give me another kiss while intertwining her fingers with mine.

Rory seemed wide awake not even a minute ago, but now she's sleeping soundly, Belinda and I start to settle in to go back to sleep ourselves, when I get hit with a sudden alarm from intruders making their way to Tobes through the forest.

I have no choice but to quickly transfer to the dungeon core room to see what is going on. I quickly send a message out to all my monsters to inform them another attack is coming while opening screens to display the forested area around Tobes.

Belinda transfers into the room holding Rory, whom luckily is still sleeping. The twins were on night duty tonight, so they are still awake as well, but I can hear the other bunnies quickly waking up after receiving my message.

The twins are working, but they are both wearing colorful pajamas, and when the others begin to arrive from their rooms they are in various stages of dress. The conservative Lila is completely dressed, but Lilah is wearing that almost see-through nightgown of hers.

I guess I can’t really say much because I am only wearing a simple pair of trousers, and Belinda is in her own nightgown, which isn’t much different from Lilah’s. Plus there are much more important matters to attend to right now.

I can see movement though the trees though the screens, but seeing it though the screens rather in person makes my skills of being able to see well in the dark irrelevant. From what I can make out, they do look larger than the goblins and kobolds we faced earlier, but not by much, so hopefully we can manage to hold them off again.

The others start arriving in the dungeon core room as well, and like Lila, Scylla and Kline arrive fully clothed as well. While Scylla asks for a situation report, Kline seems rather embarrassed, not knowing quite where to look, but when Zoey and Roxy arrive he quickly covers his eyes.

Roxy’s nightgown is a thin and short thing that doesn't leaves much to the imagination, but it isn’t really worse than Belinda or Lilah’s. Zoey on the other hand, is only wearing a tiny pair of panties. She is already sliding a shirt down her arms and over her head as they arrive, but honestly it would have been faster to get fully dressed using [Menu] than it is to grab the shirt and put it on.

Scylla: “Zoey, have a little decency, there are men in the room!”

Zoey: “We're all adults. It isn’t anything they haven’t seen before.” –She says with a smirk.-

Scylla: “I was referring to the two impressionable young rabbit beastkin that you are flashing your backside to!”

Zoey flicks her tail and shakes her butt at Levi and Leveret, causing the rabbit beastkin to blush right out of their drowsiness.

Zoey: “They stare at the dungeon screens all day, I am sure they have seen much worse.”

Roxy lightly hits Zoey on the shoulder while I say. “That’s enough! We have more important things to be dealing with right now. Everyone equip your gear, and let’s get started!”

The attack is coming into Tobes from a different location this time, and unfortunately it is towards the residential side of Tobes, which is composed by the oldest, most feeble buildings in town. I guess the dungeon sections I expanded into the forest didn’t help much, because before we make it into the scene, quite a few homes have already been set on fire, and the town warning bells are already ringing loud.

Everyone was at least on standby this time, so we don’t have to wait as long to gather everyone together, but this part of Tobes is also more confined, which makes fighting the monsters much more difficult.

I stay in the core room with the children , while everyone dons their gear and joins the battle, including Belinda this time. This wave is made of rather basic monster types, just a few ranks higher than the monsters in the previous one, but that by itself is enough to give a hard time to the townsfolk that were just able enough to fight against the previous monster wave.

I was able to get information out to Dyson, Ceres, and the other dungeon cores that we trust about being under attack again. Dyson and Ceres were sure they are getting close to another one of the divine relics, and asked if I could hold out long enough till they were able to acquire it.

We were doing pretty well at the time, so I said we'd try, but then the higher level adventurers, mages, and my own monsters had to split up because several other parts of town came under attack as well. Most of the higher level people are doing fine, but we are quickly losing the normal townsfolk.

I tried to contact Dyson and Ceres again, but after receiving no reply I try and fail a teleport spell, confirming that we've finally been affected by one of the failed core’s items. We were surprised they hadn’t used one last time, so we agreed to send a message every half hour for updates.

That means that by now, Ceres and Dyson know we are being blocked, but the question is, will they rush to return, or will they try and recover the divine relic first?

With no signs of Ceres or Dyson though, we've managed to hold them back so far while losing the outer edges of the town, but our casualties are already past the three digit mark and climbing fast. If things keep going like this, we'll eventually be able to clear out the monsters, but will lose all the normal townsfolk in the process.

So, we decide to reposition towards a more defendable position after daybreak, with sturdier buildings, though sadly wider streets, which means we can't funnel them into bottlenecks in the same way we could in the old section of town. This leaves my own home outside of the perimeter, with fires spreading across the area. That leaves me with no other choice but to move our house's imitation crystal further down into the dwarven tunnels.

I don’t know if my dungeon is the target, or just the town, so I summon a few strong monsters into the tunnels, just to make sure that if they are discovered, the imitation crystal will not go down without a fight.

Now I just hope we can hold until Ceres and Dyson arrive…