Chapter 417: New Nightmare
[Notice: Dungeon renovation complete. You may now upgrade to C-rank facilities.]
A day had passed.
The basement 2 dungeon was now completely ours. Thanks to the non-aggression pact freeing up our troop deployment, we called in about a hundred ghoul contractors from Raspica and used their labor to clean up basement 2.
We gained three major things.
First, a massive haul of magic stones.
We secured over 2,500 mid-grade magic stones, enough that we wouldn’t need to run the sub-dungeon for a while. It was such a huge stockpile that we could repeat what Halphas had done: cramming in high-level 3-star monsters, killing them, reviving them, and doing it all over again.
Second, an enormous amount of experience.
We slaughtered slime dragons that were probably around level 50 on average, and on top of that, we raided the level 90 Imugilaim. All that experience became our flesh and blood. Rastujad and the twelve apostles, in particular, grew powerful enough to be knocking on the door of level 50.
And lastly, the basement 2 dungeon itself.
The newly opened basement 2 wasn’t just another floor.
It was called basement 2, but judging by the ceiling height, the space was nearly as large as three floors combined. With the open area excluded and the rest of the space mine to remodel however I pleased, I couldn’t help but drool at the possibilities.
"Heh heh, how should I mess with these bastards?"
I already knew where the portal would spawn. The portal Andromalius had opened was positioned at the far end of basement 2, which meant that all future portals would appear in the basement 2 clearing.
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Now I could turn basement 1 purely into living quarters for our main forces, while freely remodeling basement 2 into a massive dungeon designed to intercept enemies. What kind of changes would make invaders curse the place as a living hell?
"Nothing beats gatekeeping them right at the entrance. Heh heh heh. Meri, put up a Virginium Shield right here."
Meri followed my instructions and erected a Virginium Shield at the portal’s entrance. The genital shield, placed about three feet away, would have the power to make enemies turn right back around the moment they stepped through.
"Meri, how long does this last?"
"Hmm... a day? You need to infuse it with divine power using a Holy Sword for it to work continuously."
Meri jabbed the center of the genital shield with her Watermelon Popsicle, poking it repeatedly. Divine power flowed from the Watermelon Popsicle and spread through the shield. The Virginium Shield, which had been fading to a pale pink, was soon dyed a vivid pink once more.
"I see.... Meri, you’ve worked hard managing the barony all this time. You’ll have to work even harder from here on out; are you going to be okay?"
"Are you saying you want me to be in charge of this place?"
"That’s right. I’m giving you full authority over this floor. Think of it as practice for the new dungeon you’ll build...."
Meri covered her face with her hands. The muffled sobs made it look like she was crying.
"Uh, well... sorry I didn’t give it to you sooner?"
"No, it’s fine. I just... it feels like I’ve received a really big gift."
Meri quickly pulled herself together. But her reddened nose clearly gave away that she was only putting on a brave face to keep talking with me.
"Dad, can I really do whatever I want with this?"
"Of course. It’s your dungeon to build. I don’t think you’d do a sloppy job of it."
"I really, truly get to remodel it however I want?"
"Obviously. If every floor has an owner, then Luna owns basement 1, and you own basement 2."
"Then one last thing, for real: I can put whatever monsters I want in here, right?!"
"...Let me hear your plan first."
"Heh heh. I’ll show you once it’s finished."
Meri stuck her tongue out with a playful grin.
"Can I start by borrowing Mama Lime and Slamia for the remodeling?"
"..."
That should be... fine?
***
[Facility Upgrade: Upgrading [Barracks Lv.1].]
[Facility Upgrade: Upgrading [Summoning Facility Lv.2].]
[Facility Upgrade: Upgrading [Bedroom Lv.1].]
[Facility Upgrade: Upgrading [Prisoner Cell Lv.1].]
...
...
...
"Ahh, the system window is flooded with notifications."
Having put it off for so long, the dungeon’s growth was explosive.
Starting with the summoning facility that handled gacha, I upgraded every single facility by one tier: the barracks, bedrooms, Prisoner Cell, and everything else.
"Dad, can’t we upgrade them even further?"
"Unfortunately not. Lv.2 is the cap for basic facilities."
"That’s too bad. If we could keep expanding the barracks, our available forces would grow by a ton."
"Heh heh, the more floors the dungeon gains, the more barracks we can build."
[Barracks Lv.2: A space where subordinates can rest.]
[Effect: Maximum capacity increased by 15.]
[Up to 4 can be installed per floor.]
The four existing facilities on the first floor had already been upgraded to Lv.2. I’d also installed barracks on basement 1, along the path leading toward the dark elf village. Once Meri decided where to place them on basement 2, capacity would increase even further.
My dungeon’s current capacity was approaching a whopping 100. If all barracks across three floors reached Lv.2, the total would hit 200.
"And on top of that... heh heh."
[Construction: Building a garrison.]
[Materials consumed: Barracks Lv.2, 100 mid-grade magic stones.]
[Expected result: Garrison Lv.0 (Maximum capacity: 30.)]
With the dungeon rising to C-rank, new facilities had become available. The old barracks could be reborn under the new name of garrison, and I had materials to spare.
"If I convert all the existing barracks into garrisons, capacity will shoot through the roof. That means even more troops, right? Heh heh."
"When moving between portals, you’d be able to redeploy quickly without exceeding maximum capacity, too."
"Exactly. Advanced garrisons, let’s gooo!"
Ding-dong.
The instant I tapped the system window, light began flashing from the direction of the corridor where the barracks sat. In a day’s time, the old-style barracks, where everyone had to sleep crammed side by side, would transform into a proper sanctuary where our legion could rest in comfort.
"The old barracks were just flat benches, so having sex in there was way too uncomfortable."
"So does that mean it’ll change enough for thirty people to have an orgy inside? I don’t think the space would be that big?"
"...Who knows. Maybe it comes with some kind of spatial expansion spell. We’ll figure things out one step at a time. And besides...."
On top of the existing facilities, there was more than just one or two new options to build.
[Mana Spring: Drains mana from invaders. Stored mana is converted into magic stones.]
[Demonic Forge: Constructs a forge fueled by hellfire from the demon realm. Equipment can be custom-ordered using magic stones and materials, or purchased outright for a fee.]
[Egg Exchange: Auctions off eggs produced within the dungeon.]
[Solomon Bank: Deposits a set amount of magic stones into the bank. Deposited magic stones grow by 3% every designated number of days (simple interest). Magic stones may also be loaned if needed.]
"That’s a lot."
"...I’ll just pick and choose what we need."
As the dungeon’s rank climbed, the facilities I’d only heard about secondhand from Gremory started revealing themselves one by one.
All four facilities required nothing special beyond large quantities of magic stones, wood, iron, and other standard construction materials.
’The Egg Exchange is out.’
The facility was so quintessentially demonic that I didn’t hesitate to pass on it. Sure, selling dragonian eggs could easily net ten high-grade magic stones apiece, but I wasn’t about to let our legion’s strength leak to the outside.
"Dad, I think the Mana Spring is the best one. Should we install that first?"
"You think so? Personally, the Solomon Bank is what scares me the most."
Solomon truly lived up to his title as Demon King. A banking system built on the name, authority, and systemic power of the Demon King was guaranteed to hold a staggering reserve of magic stones.
"...The more dungeon lords use the bank, the more Solomon’s fortune grows. Terrifying. That’s a Demon King for you."
"So you’re passing on the bank?"
"No, we’re absolutely installing it."
If I could withdraw magic stones in real time, there was no reason not to use it. I couldn’t just keep piling magic stones in storage forever. Might as well deposit some in the bank and score points with the Demon King while I was at it.
"And two more. I’m building an incubator and a hatchery."
Two facilities that couldn’t be installed when the dungeon was D-rank. At last, I could finally use facilities specialized in sowing, reproduction, and hatching, just as their names implied.
[Incubator Lv.0: Raises newly born Lv.1 monsters. Monsters level up while sleeping in the incubator.]
[Growth rate: 1 day per level]
[Maximum capacity: 10 specimens]
[Growth cap: Lv.10]
"This one’s pretty useless."
"It’d be effective for other dungeon lords, but...."
"If I just feed them a little demonic essence and run the sub-dungeon, they hit level 20 in no time. Why would I waste ten days letting them sleep? Pass."
Incubator, bye-bye.
[Hatchery Lv.0: An annex to the summoning facility.]
Cares for eggs before they hatch. After a set period, eggs hatch automatically, and the offspring is born with one additional ☆.
[Incubation period: 1 week]
[Maximum capacity: 1 specimen]
[Potential improvement: Up to ☆☆☆☆]
"This is... an add-on?"
"I don’t know what that means, but basically, if you put in babies that would’ve been born as 3-stars through the Family Tree, they come out as 4-stars, right?"
"Spot on, Meri. But this is already meaningless for us. Don’t we have a living hatchery in Levis Ann?"
There was the caveat that it only applied to dragonians born at 4-stars, but we still clearly had one method of producing 4-star offspring. So this didn’t mean much either.
Hatchery, bye-bye.
"But Dad, can’t we just install it and leave it sitting there?"
"Hm?"
"If all it costs is magic stones, we can just build it and not use it. What if the facility levels up later and actually becomes efficient?"
"...Hmm, good point. You’re right."
The incubator and hatchery were unnecessary only because they didn’t matter much right now. Even if they were dead weight at the moment, they might prove invaluable down the line.
"If Levis Ann lays too many eggs and hits menopause, that could be a serious problem. Alright, let’s install them."
Following Meri’s suggestion, I placed the incubator next to the slime sub-dungeon and the hatchery next to the summoning facility. The summoning facility would be out of commission during construction, but it wasn’t like we were in any position to pull gacha right now anyway.
"Alright, let’s go start the dungeon remodel. Oh wait, I need to take care of that other thing first...."
Whirr.
The portal began to shimmer. With the dungeon back to normal, the portal naturally regained its original function, allowing us to cross from Ras Vegas to the main dungeon in a single step.
"Master, I heard you called for us."
"Welcome, Lime. To be precise, it was Meri who called for you."
Together with the slime corps, our engineer unit specialized in dungeon remodeling, I headed down to basement 2.
"...There are a few things I’m going to need your help with."
"Whoa...."
The moment Lime and the other slimes saw the massive Imugilaim carcass sitting in the basement 2 clearing, they started drooling. Holes were punched through the body in every direction, but the thing was so enormous that plenty of it remained untouched.
"It’s a bit much for us to deal with on our own. Wouldn’t it make more sense for you slimes to eat it and grow stronger?"
"Master, isn’t this an incredibly potent aphrodisiac? You sure you want to give it up?"
"Why would I hold back? All of this will become your flesh and blood, and once the aphrodisiac compounds are absorbed into your bodies."
I grabbed Lime and tossed her toward the Imugilaim’s slime. Reverting from her baroness form back to her original appearance that resembled Meri, Lime bounced her enormous breasts and spread her legs wide.
"If I drink your bodily fluids afterward, won’t they make me even more aroused?"
"Master, you’re trying to use us to dilute the compounds?"
"Exactly. If you use this stuff directly on people, they’ll start convulsing the second it touches them. So I want you to eat it and grow even stronger."
Squelch. I smeared the yellow slime over my cock. My already heated shaft swelled up, inflating to what felt like one and a half times its normal size.
"Devour the Imugilaim and become stronger."
"Are you talking about levels, or the aphrodisiac potency?"
"Both."
I bit into Lime’s breast. Sweet slime, like jelly, squirted out like breast milk and coated the inside of my mouth.
"I’m going to sell your bodily fluids after you’ve consumed the Imugilaim."
"How are you planning to sell them?"
"Heh heh. Anti-aging, cognitive enhancement, and...."
Splorch. Lime expanded her opening and took in my enlarged member with ease.
"A stamina supplement slash erectile dysfunction cure."
I bit off a mouthful of Imugilaim slime and pressed my lips to Lime’s, kissing her from top to bottom.