A Dungeon’s Survival

Connie

After sending Prism back out on the job they were supposed to be doing, I needed an answer to the question of just what kind of, “servants,” Adraugon wanted. If it was only a matter of summoning him his own force of Horned Dracos to command or something similar, I'd have had no complaints and done so without hesitation. Of course, nothing was ever so easy with him.

“No!” he'd immediately rejected the suggestion.

From there, I'd offered him Plated Gators, Lizard Men, and even the final Shade Lurker I could summon, Noctis and Loot still counting toward my limit of three for some reason, but while he did seem tempted by the Lizard Men, he'd refused them along with every other option outright because being difficult was in his nature. After that, I was about to write his request off as unreasonable and not worth the time trying to figure it out was taking me, but before I could, he finally told me what he was actually after.

“I want smart servants! Like corpse's.”

Somehow that only left me more confused.

You want smart corpses? The only type of undead I have are Mimicry Ghouls, and I can only summon one of them. Since we already have Stein–

“–No!” he cut me off, “Servants like corpse's minions, not corpse.”

Ah. Stein is, “corpse,” to you, huh?

“Humph.”

I sighed. Intelligent monsters. He wanted intelligent monsters as servants. That wasn't something I could give him in good conscience.

No, I shut him down bluntly, Released monsters have free will–well, mostly free will, I think. I'm not actually entirely sure how it works, but the point is, even if I summoned some intelligent monsters, whether or not they'd serve you would be their decision. I'm not forcing them to.

Also, why would you want intelligent monsters in the first place? They lose their achievement-related stats when I release them, so comparably, they're incredibly weak, and when they die, they do so permanently. I'm not creating an endless supply of intelligent monsters for you to get killed, so you couldn't take major risks with them. Also, since they'd be disconnected from me, unless they were Horned Dracos in specific, you wouldn't even be able to communicate with them. There's no point in using them for this.

“I want.”

Annoyance flooded through me at his outright dismissal of all the points I'd just brought up. Briefly, I weighed the pros of just giving up and leaving on the spot against the cons of having a disgruntled dragon during the Hero's raid. If it weren't for the risk of him not fighting at his fullest and the possibility of him causing more trouble up until then, I would've. Instead, against my better judgment and in order to keep him happy, I offered him a compromise in the form of a bet.

Fine, then, how's about this? I'll summon one of whatever monster you want and release it. We'll give it the choice, and if it willingly decides to serve you, it can. Otherwise, I'm shipping it off to train under Stein. If it does decide to serve you for whatever reason, though, you have to look out for it and do your best to keep it alive. Okay?

“As if a dragon would disgrace themselves by letting their servants die.”

Ugh, this is serious. Do we have a deal?

“No, I want servants! Not servant!”

By the second, disappearing to get back to my work sounded more and more appealing. I pushed down the thought and amended my offer.

If the first one agrees to serve you, I'll summon a second. If not, I'm not wasting the resources.

“Fine, but I want three!”

No. We have a matter of days until the invasion, and I need more Trentis for what I have planned. At most, I'll summon you two level five monsters. If you want a third, I'm taking their levels from the other two, so none of them will be getting their level five advancement bonuses or the extra stats the levels would give.

“Fine,” he relented, “two, but give aspects.”

That is more doable, but leveling up monsters with aspects using DP is a lot more expensive than without. I'll do two monsters of your choice, the last Shade Lurker excluded, with one aspect on each. Final offer.

“Deal.”

* * *

Half an hour later, once the cooldown on Bond Familiar had ended, I met back up with Adraugon next to my core for what I expected to be a waste of time. I couldn't imagine a monster willingly agreeing to be the little menace's servant, so more likely than not, I was probably going to have to figure out how to slot whatever he chose into Stein's training regimen. For that reason, I could only hope he'd go with a Trenti or a Lizard Man. Still, the choice was his, and I fully expected him to choose the most expensive option available.

Okay, I asked ,what am I summoning? A Plated Gator?

“Lizard Men.”

Well, that's unexpectedly convenient.

“What?”

Nothing. One Lizard Man coming right up.

Without delay, I paid the cost of twenty-four in both available DP and mana to summon the creature in question. It materialized directly in front of us. From there, it was time for the next step.

What aspect?

“Velocity Transference and Flame Gel Excretion.”

I said only one aspect.

“Yes. One, Velocity Transference. Other, Flame Gel Excretion.”

If I had eyes, I would've rolled them.

We're only doing one for now. Since Velocity Transference is cheaper, I'm starting with it.

I waited a moment for some unreasonable objection, but when it didn't come, I slapped the ability on the monster. That was cheap enough, but when I went to level it up, things quickly got expensive. I shuddered internally at the price of one hundred sixteen mana for the four levels. That was the main reason I'd only been summoning Trentis without aspects so far. No matter the order I did things in, when buying monsters both levels and aspects, the costs quickly compounded.

With only a moment of hesitation, I accepted in spite of how much that was going to chip into my workable mana for the day. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't actually all that much, but between that, expanding the farm, continuously supplying Archie with what ingredients he couldn't produce on his own, building the traps Vie and Loot had thought up, creating daily Plated Gators to feed the Trentis and bear with, and everything else I was scrambling to do on short notice, every last point of mana made a difference. Still, I'd agreed to this, so I paid the price and moved on. With a thought, a screen popped up in my field of vision.

[Please select a type of bonus.

Extra Stats / New Spell or Ability / Upgrade]

What will it be for the advancement bonus? I asked Adraugon.

This was actually the first time I was going to see what options Lizard Men had access to. I kind of hoped he'd pick a new ability for that reason. I was curious to see what they'd get. Unfortunately, much to my surprise and annoyance, he answered, “None.”

Uh, what?

“None,” he repeated, “Will get better options later.”

I sent a mental shrug his way at that explanation.

That's actually not a bad call. Okay.

With that matter decided, I activated Bond Familiar. Once the light of understanding appeared in the new reptilian's eyes, I launched into an explanation I'd given so many times it had already become second nature.

Hi there! Welcome to the Dungeon! I'm about to unbind you from myself, but once I do, I'm going to need you to place your hand on my core, the big shiny rock in front of you, and accept a magically binding pact. It's simple and only guarantees you won't hurt me or anyone I care about.

From there, you'll be free to leave if you really want to, but I'd love it if you chose to stay. If you do, I promise to provide for you and to keep you safe as best I can. In return for giving you a home, food, water, and what few luxuries I currently can, I will ask that you help out around here, though! Does that sound good?

“Hmm,” the Lizard man grunted in the affirmative.

Ah, and one more thing. This is Adraugon, I explained as I mentally gestured to the Horned Draco in question, and he wants you to serve him. You don't have to, but you can if you'd like to.

It was a horrible sales pitch, but considering the nature of the offer, that was to be expected. From the looks of it, the Lizard Man in question was about as sold on the idea as I might've expected him to be. That was to say, not at all.

With that out of the way, I mentally dissolved our familiar bond, and once the individual in question placed his hand on my core, I called forth my pact magic. From there, I established the terms of a somewhat lengthy but overall loose and flexible contract that had become my standard. It covered everything from the basics of not allowing him to hurt me or any of the monsters under me to assurances that he would be well cared for, all while leaving him the room to leave should he deem that he wanted nothing to do with this place. Once I finished, he accepted, and that was that.

Unless you actually want to serve Adraugon, you can go report to Stein for training now. He's the ghoul in the room behind me. Lunch will be soon, and if you have any questions, you can ask the Trentis he's currently training. It's good to have you on board!

“Got it,” he said in a guff but not hostile manner.

That was when Adraugon made his move.

“Serve me!” he shouted after jumping on top of my core, somehow using it as a bridge between his mind and Lizard Man's.

I was too taken aback by that to interrupt him or even to say anything at all. Truthfully, I hadn't even considered the possibility that my core could be utilized in such a manner. Adraugon, however, had no hesitation in taking full advantage of it.

* * *

Adraugon

I watched as the lifespring stone was about to send my new subordinate off to that corpse. There was no way I was letting that happen. My body moved faster than I could think.

Serve me! I shouted into the Lizard Man's mind as I landed on the lifespring stone.

I am a dragon! I have hunted more prey than everything else in this place combined! I have assisted in killing multiple second-tier beings, and I will continue to grow stronger until nothing can match my might!

I focused on my connection with the lifespring stone as I spoke. Ordinarily, it was much weaker than the others' bonds with her, but as I was now, touching her directly, I could feel it at its fullest. I could also feel my new minion on the other side of it, and that was where I focused my intent. I directed to him the certainty of my words and sent him memories of my greatest hunts. I sent him images of the strongest beings I'd fought, and I instilled in him the extent of my might.

That wasn't all I did, though. I had just witnessed the lifespring stone form a magically binding contract with him, the same kind she'd had that insect form between us back when I'd first broken my bond with her, and I could still feel traces of that magic through the connection I was borrowing. I reached for it as I spoke.

I am Adraugon, the mighty dragon. I turned a lake red with blood, faced beings far beyond my level, and survived it all. Never have I needed the lifespring stone to resurrect me. All of my accomplishments are my own. Serve me, and I will bring you to the truest heights of power!

As I spoke, I could feel something from deep within me clawing to get out. It was desperate. It needed this. It wanted that Lizard man, and I couldn't agree more. I called on it, and Dragon's Greed bowed to my will, resonating with my words.

Give yourself to me, I ordered the Lizard Man, and as he slowly, hesitantly nodded, everything snapped into place.

I staggered slightly as an immense weight momentarily overcame me from within, but quickly, I shook my head clear and read the messages that had just come to encompass my vision.

[Pact with Lizard Man

The Lizard Man will serve you. It is yours. Bring it to the heights of power.]

[Title gained: Patron!]

[Achievement gained: Overlord!]

[Please select a boon to grant your vassals.]

Even without understanding what it was, something deep within me demanded that I focus on the last of those messages. As I did, options appeared.

[Boon: Pact of Spirit

Description: You offer your vassals access to your overwhelming magic reserves.

Effect: Your vassals can access an adjustable portion of your mana. Mana reserves offered to one vassal cannot be offered to another.]

I dismissed the option immediately. I didn't have overwhelming magic reserves, and I needed what I did have.

[Boon: Pact of Life

Description: You offer your vassals a portion of your immortality.

Effect: Your vassals can channel your form of immortality, “Unnatural Survival”. If they use it, all associated costs and cooldowns apply to you, but only the cooldown applies to them. If you cannot afford the associated costs, it will still activate, but you will pay the price with your life.]

I didn't like that. Unnatural Survival could only activate once per day. It wasn't the kind of boon I could offer multiple servants, and I would have multiple.

[Boon: Pact of Draconic Blood

Description: You offer your vassals access to your draconic bloodline.

Effect: At the cost of a small portion of your potential, you grant your vassals access to draconic power. For each vassal you offer this boon to, you will require 10% more experience to level up, but their class or ability will become draconic, and more powerful abilities may be offered to them.]

I selected Pact of Draconic Blood without hesitation. I was a dragon after all. It was the natural choice.

From today onward, I announced, even as the appearance of my new servant warped and twisted, your name is Hunt!

I then promptly proceeded to loose consciousness.