A Demon's Core

After a whole day has passed since Igneous left to scout out a new home for us, he has yet to return. I am beginning to worry, but it may be too soon for that. The request was for him to find a place far away from the humans. I knew this was going to be a long mission, so I just need to be patient.

Rose managed to set up a functional watch schedule with only a little bit of complaining from some of the imps. All except the two newest imps are aware of the threat the humans pose so they understand the reason for it. And besides that, none of them would disobey Rose anyway.

Calla insisted on being a part of the rotation as well even though she was not expected to participate due to her age. But she was adamant that she be allowed to help, so her parents take turns being her watch partner. She also always has at least Noctis with her, if not the whole pack of hellhounds.

I do not know how Rose keeps time but she seems pretty consistent when informing imps of their turn to be on watch. Though my own ability to tell time is mostly based on estimation, so it is hard to tell.

Violet, with help from a few others, has managed to make holes through almost all the floors, from the top all the way down to the second floor. Only the ground level has yet to be breached as it has such a different layout to all the floors above, so she was not sure where would be best to dig through.

Though I can not see what is on the ground floor for myself, in previous conversations with my imps, I have been told that there are two other entrances to the building. One is at the opposite end from the main entrance, near a room that Rose says was probably used for laundry, the other is by the kitchen. I suggest that those would be good rooms to dig into so they can be near the exits.

She is even working on digging through the walls of adjacent rooms on each floor which will allow imps to move quickly and easily throughout the entire building. That could open up some additional defensive options if we do end up staying here.

Sneak emerges into the hallway from Room 4. This immediately draws my attention since he is supposed to be on watch with Jasmine at the moment. He must have come down through the access holes in the ceiling.

Did you see something? I ask him as he runs across the hallway and he comes to a halt just as he enters Room 5.

“Four humans coming.” He reports, breathing heavily from the exertion of rushing down from the roof.

They are on foot? Did you see a vehicle nearby?

“Yes, on foot. Can’t see vehicle anywhere.”

Are they wearing armor like the last humans who attacked us?

“No armor, I think. Just clothes.”

Good. Did you notice anything about them that stands out? His brow furrows as he thinks for a moment.

“Don’t think so. Just look like humans.” He confirms.

Thank you for your report. You have done a great job. Take a minute to catch your breath if you need to, then return to your watch.

“I good at seeing humans. They not sneak past me.” He declares, beaming with pride.

He does not wait around at all and rushes back to Room 4 before I can stop him. I did tell the imps not to use the holes to move between floors unless it is an emergency to limit the damage to the walls. Wanting to report seeing humans as quickly as possible is acceptable, but returning to the roof afterwards could hardly be considered an emergency. I shall have to remind him of that later.

For now though, I inform Rose and Violet of the situation. Violet is currently on one of the lower floors so she is in a good position to ambush the humans from behind if it becomes necessary. I will hold off on alerting everyone else until I have a better idea of these human’s intentions.

I can feel all four humans coming up the stairs as they pass the third floor. When they reach the fourth floor and head to the meeting room, my first assumption is that William is back again, hopefully with good news.

So it is surprising when I see that it is not William, but rather Jenna and her friends. Jenna flinches when I appear in the room and turns to where I am standing. I have never seen William or Cassandra react to my presence like that. Maybe she is just more sensitive than they are. However, I am sure those two honey badgers noticed when I teleported around, so maybe William and Cassandra could sense it too, but just did not want to tip their hand that they knew I was there.

She tries to approach me and I take a few steps back. She waves her hands through the air where I had previously been but does not follow me any further.

“What are you doing?” Machete guy asks as he flops down on the couch.

“I felt something as we entered the room, like a faint surge of mana.” She replies. The others immediately become tense, gripping their weapons tighter and looking around for an unseen enemy.

“Is it something dangerous?” Johnathan asks.

“I don’t think so. It was only for a moment. I can’t feel it anymore. Just some kind of random mana fluctuation maybe?” She suggests, dropping her hands back to her sides.

“Is that something that happens in dungeons?” Bow guy asks, looking nervous, his eyes darting around the room. Jenna shrugs in response.

“Just stay on alert until we can be sure that it’s safe.” Johnathan commands.

So while she can feel the slight mana pulse when I appear in a room, she is not able to sense my presence beyond that, even though my body is entirely made of mana? Maybe it is not enough compared to the ambient mana in the dungeon to be noticeable. An interesting revelation, but not particularly helpful right now.

Why are they here and how should I deal with it? I do not want to talk to them. I would rather make them leave and maybe just kill them if they try to refuse. But they probably would not have come all this way without a good reason. Waiting in the meeting room means they must have something they want to talk about.

I observe the humans as I deliberate. Bow guy sits on the couch next to Machete guy, casting furtive glances around the room. I still do not know either of their names, not that I really care to.

Johnathan is standing by the table, but elects not to sit. He looks apprehensive and alert. Shield half raised with a solid grip on his spear. He is keeping an eye on the door as though he is expecting an attack. I have not yet ruled it out as an option so I suppose it is not unreasonable for him to be wary.

Jenna is wandering around the room, opening doors and testing the boundaries of my territory, much as Cassandra had done. She seems relatively unconcerned compared to the others. What makes her so calm? Surely she does not think they would win if I decide to get rid of them right? Or maybe she is just confident that it will not come to a fight.

“Do you think they know we’re here?” Bow guy asks, fidgeting nervously.

“I’m sure they do. Dungeon controllers supposedly always know when people enter their dungeon.” Johnathan replies.

“Well then why are they keeping us waiting?” Machete guy complains, leaning back further into the couch.

“It’s only been a few minutes. Try being patient for once.” Jenna chides. “Though it’s possible they might not want to talk to us. The little red demon, Rose I think, she seemed pretty angry last time we were here.” She considers.

“What, because they were attacked? That’s hardly our fault.” Machete guy retorts.

“Isn’t it though? Would they have been attacked if we hadn’t found them first?” Jenna replies.

“All we did was report what we found, like we’re supposed to. It was some DMO guy who leaked that information. Should we really be blamed for someone else breaking the rules?” He argues.

As much as I hate to admit it, it is hard to deny there is at least some validity to his argument.

“Regardless, the fact is, their existence became known because of us. When they were attacked, their friends died and justified or not, they blame us. That’s why we need to apologize.” She chastises. They came to apologize? That is not something I expected.

“Do we know if that’s actually true though?” Bow guy interjects. He shrinks back into the couch when Jenna cast a him withering glare.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She demands.

“W-well, I mean, they claimed they lost some friends, but it’s not like they showed any evidence of...” He trails off as Jenna continues to glare at him.

“What reason would they have to lie about something like that?”

“To gain sympathy and leverage during negotiations maybe.” Machete guy suggests.

I do not appreciate the insinuation that I would lie about my imps dying for undeserved sympathy. They are already on thin ice, but he is really pushing it. Jenna sighs and shakes her head.

“I know you two are into conspiracy theories and stuff like that, but that sounds a bit ridiculous. Besides, I believe there is evidence.” She declares.

“Oh really? Please elaborate.” Despite his sarcastic tone, he and Bow guy both perk up at the mention of evidence. Even Johnathan, who has not had much to say so far, turns to listen to her explanation.

I, too, am interested in what she has to say.

“Violet, the purple demon we saw last time we were here. She was pretty hot, wasn’t she Mark?” She says, directing a smirk towards Machete guy, whose name is apparently Mark. He groans in response.

“And how is that evidence?” He drawls.

“Well, do you remember the first time we were here? There was that one who was bigger than the others that you couldn’t stop ogling?” She continues.

“Do you really have to keep bringing that up?” Mark grumbles.

“Mark.” Jenna looks at him with a serious expression. “I will never stop bringing that up, until the day that I die. Maybe I’ll even have it engraved on my tomb stone. ‘Remember that little red demon that Mark thought was kinda hot?’” She teases, eliciting a snicker from Bow guy which he turns into a cough when Mark glowers at him. Even the normally stoic Johnathan has a smirk on his face.

The idea that a human might find my imps sexually appealing seems a little odd, but I suppose it is not the strangest thing I can imagine.

“Fine, whatever, but what does that have to do with your ‘evidence’?” Mark demands.

“William talked about Violet being a ‘guardian’. I asked him about what he meant. He told me that every dungeon has one creature that’s bigger and stronger than the others, that’s the guardian. When a guardian dies, it will later be resurrected and come back even stronger than it was before. Their appearance can also change when they return, often getting larger and sometimes their colour might change as well.” Jenna explains.

“So you think Violet is biggest of the demons we saw the first time we were here, but her skin changed colour after that because she was resurrected?” Johnathan infers.

“Exactly! But to be resurrected means she had to have died first.” She confirms.

Now that is interesting. I had already come to suspect some of that after experiencing it first hand, but having actual confirmation is reassuring. Though it does raise some more questions.

She said ‘one creature’ will be a guardian. That is obviously Violet, but what about Noctis? She is also significantly larger than her peers. If that was the only difference then maybe I could dismiss it as her just being unusually large for her species, but there is also the way she communicates with me. None of the other hellhounds seem able to communicate like that, even when I speak to them directly. In addition, the mana cost when I summoned Noctis was also much greater than the others.

Unfortunately, the easiest way to know for sure is to see if she can be brought back after she dies. I would prefer not to have to find out that way. But if she is also a guardian, that means I am not limited to only one. Could I have more? What of Igneous? I do not have any other gargoyles to compare him to, but he was the first that I summoned. If the pattern holds, then he would also be a guardian.

Could I intentionally create new guardians? This is something I need to investigate. After I deal with these humans. They did inadvertently give me some useful information, so I suppose the least I can do is talk to them. I may even be able to learn some more useful things from them. Well, the sooner I hear them out, the sooner they can leave.