"So, how did you end up here," Gab asked, sitting on a rock with a bleeding nose.

"We two were slaves, who escaped with a group of other slaves from our owner. Unfortunally we ended up getting caught by her," sighed Alex before continuing his narration.

"We had dreams and hopes of getting our freedom back. But after getting caught, we were tortured and used for their sadistic pleasures since they didn't plan on keeping us any longer. Us slaves were starved to our bones, and in the end, we ended up getting thrown into a well. The people getting thrown first ended up dying from internal bleedings, but I and a few others survived since their dead bodies broke the fall for us two."

Gab gulped as he heard Alex's story. 'At least I gotta suffer alone through this hell without my brother. But if the stories about sadistic masters are to be believed, then I gotta hurry up to save Raph.'

"That sounds dark," admitted Gab. Shudders were running down his spine as he imagined the scene that must have happened.

「A scene from Alex's live」

People bound by shackles and whose eyes were blindfolded were slowly led to a well far outside any human civilization. The slaves bound by rustling chains looked more dead than alive, as only saggy skin covered their bones, where one almost couldn't see any muscles. Even though all of them knew that their end was nigh, none of them could even utter a comment nor cry as a piece of cloth filled their mouth.

The only sense on which the slaves could rely were their ears. Unfortunally, one can't orient themselves if one only hears the cracking sound of whiplashes and the muffled cries of people getting whipped.

But their waiting soon had an ending as a woman sitting on a horse stated with pleasure: "We are here. Thoughts and prayers to you all."

After her comment, the first man got thrown into the well. His shrill weeping could be heard as he tried to defend himself in vain before getting thrown into the well.

One guard responsible for throwing him down merely counted down: "One…Two…Three… four," before his count got interrupted by the loud sound of someone crashing against the hard ground of the well.

"Well, you all really need thoughts and prayers to have any chance of surviving it," commented a different guard before they grabbed the next person. The slave only gave muffled sounds from himself, and it didn't take long for the guard to get annoyed.

The guard merely took his blindfolds away before letting him glance at what kind of fate awaited him. His pupils shrank, and one could clearly see the slave's fear as the latter lifted his gaze towards the guardian, who merely laughed loudly before throwing him down with pleasure. And so one after another got thrown to the depths of hell.

Alex was one of the lucky few at the end of the line and survived. There were still a few others who survived. But since they were broke a few limbs, Alex and a few others had to leave them behind as they moved down the hill leading to an underground tunnel.

"We… we will come back after finding something… something to eat… and to drink for all of you," muttered Alex. His heart ached, seeing the ones with whom he shared a miserable live die in front of him and leave the rest who were dying back.

The underground tunnel lead them eventually to the door of a dungeon. But instead of salvation, only death and misery awaited the ones who entered it.

「…」

Gab nodded, feeling a bit of pity for the fate Alex and the others had to endure. Silence ensued shortly after, and only the sounds of the crackling flames filled the air.

In order to break the awkward silence, which ensured after Alex told him the story, the former gave Gab a piece of ration which the latter gladly took. By now, his hunger was almost devouring him from the inside. As Gab accepted the food, he asked Alex, the group leader, another question but to a different subject.

"Could you please tell me what is going on here? What are those creatures, and why do these creatures resemble humans? I've never seen such a monster in my entire life."

Alex merely chuckled at his question, which he already expected: "You and I will also end up like this if we are unlucky and end up getting caught. As you've probably noticed, this tower is filled with all sorts of monsters. These creatures might as well have originated from your worst nightmares. Usually, these creatures can not leave their floor, and even then, they can only climb dungeon floors. Or at least that's what we thought."

The narrator took a deep breath before continuing with his story: "But later on, people who have been here for longer told us the truth or rather the truth in which they believed. Legend says one of the monsters from the upper floors managed to leave its hallway. Such a situation shouldn't be a big problem. But unfortunally, the creature is a hive monster known as 'parasite queen.' It found a fatal flaw in the system of the tower and was, therefore, able to increase her influence to the outside of her own floor, the 5th one.

Even though she couldn't leave her floor, it didn't mean that infected humans that were on the brink of death couldn't do it. These infected beings could only leave their respective floor if they were about to die.

If others can leave the dungeon shortly, why not simply infect them with parasites and give birth to a queen on each floor. Of course, these queens are subsequently weaker, but their sheer number makes them dangerous. The lower floors were quickly conquered by her underlings. On the other hand, the queen left by now her dungeon floor to occupy a higher one. But the monsters and humans there are strong enough to clean these mutants regularly."