LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 7: New Units
"I know what to do with the other dungeon!" Azuma declared confidently, standing proud as he finally worked out a plan.
The F-Rank dungeon that he had conquered had gone completely to waste so far, but he had finally come up with a good idea of how to use it.
"Oh, speaking of the other dungeon!" Ravel appeared seemingly out of nowhere, pushing through the curtain separating the mining tunnel and the main room.
"I have a suggestion, Master," Ravel said, looking at him for permission to speak. He nodded, and she continued.
"From the map that we have from our scouting units so far, there appears to be one dungeon to the far east and one to the far west," Ravel started to explain, and Azuma nodded at her words.
His dungeon was wedged right against the 'wall' - which was what Aphrodite called the border of the map. According to what Azuma had painstakingly gotten out of Aphrodite, the 'wall' was essentially the border around each floor. It acted as a barrier between dimensions, and his dungeon was covering the only, to Aphrodite's knowledge, hole in the wall - which was the passageway between the Monster Realm and the DxD Realm.
Because of his dungeon's great placement, he didn't have to worry about attacks from the South, as the wall was there. From his partially filled-out mini-map, there was one dungeon to the far east, nestled between the south and east wall, and another one in the far west corner, which was nestled between the south and west wall.
Both of those dungeons were far away - being at least a week of travel each. At this point, Azuma didn't even have confirmation that they were actually dungeons. The units he had sent in both directions on his second day in this world had all eventually died before returning, and the only results of their labor were two large highlighted squares on the map.
"Those are the only other dungeons we know of so far, but there are bound to be more further into the floor," Ravel continued, "We could put some units in the other dungeon to act as scouts. If any other dungeons send forces towards us from the north, then they would see it and we'd be able to prepare."
"That's a good idea," Azuma hummed, nodding at her words, "A lot better than mine, anyway. Let's do that."
"What was your idea, Master?" Ravel asked curiously, tilting her head cutely at him.
"To make it a literal sex dungeon," He shrugged, looking past her as he looked back at the TV hanging on the wall.
"A-A sex dungeon?!" Ravel squeaked, her face turning beet-red at his words.
"Yeah. I'll have a harem eventually, and it'll be weird doing anything with all these monsters around," Azuma said, waving lazily at a goblin that was casually sitting on the floor in front of the TV and drinking a juice box, "I was thinking that I could just make that dungeon into a 'fun' area. Y'know, get a couple of beds, maybe a few ropes, toys, that type of stuff."
"W-We can still do that!" Ravel shouted abruptly, her face flushing even more red as Azuma looked over at her, "I-I mean, um, you shouldn't change you idea just for me, Master! Let's do what you wanted to to!"
"Nah, you were right," Azuma hummed, pushing himself out of his comfortable bed and stepping past her, "I'm an arrogant dickhead, but I can at least admit when I'm wrong. Your idea is definitely better. I'll start looking for some units to send over now."
"D-Damn it… why do I have to be so good at my job?" He heard Ravel mutter behind him but ignored her.
"I'll be back soon, Master! I have to go have lunch with my family quickly!" Ravel announced behind him, a magic circle appearing under him. As she did, he merely nodded, waving back at her as she vanished in a flash of light.
Before he brought up his new units, Azuma quickly checked his stats again, looking at his total points.
[Azuma Kaito]
[Dungeon Master]
Dungeon Rank: F (17,955 D-Value)
Level: 8 (3,775/5,000)
HP: 6,125/6,125
MP: 12,500/12.500
STR: 117
AGI: 115
END: 82
INT: 129
CHA: 5
LUK: 5
HPREG: 80
MPREG: 80
Abilities: [Time Dilation], [Health Container]
Dungeon Level: 2
Dungeon Boosts: None
Points: 9,770
I feel like I'm missing some. Did I really use that many already?
He had already used some of the points from the dungeon conquest the night before, but he still had a lot left over.
Going after that dungeon was definitely worth it. I pretty much doubled my net worth.
Now that he had transportation units as well, the long journey to reach another dungeon was less disgruntling.
I'll need to go take over some other ones soon.
So far, conquering dungeons seemed to be the most efficient way to gather points. Considering even a weak one like the F-Rank orc's dungeon had given him a lot of points, he could only imagine how many he'd get for taking down someone who was competent.
But that's for after I finish the preparations in the DxD world.
The resort was almost ready to be opened, and his meeting with Rias was set for tomorrow.
"How many points do I need to reach E-Rank again?" Azuma asked Aphrodite casually.
"Um… a lot?"
"Yeah, about what I expected," Azuma sighed, wondering why he even bothered asking the bimbo goddess.
He quickly pulled up his dungeon menu, glancing at his new array of units.
[LVL 1 Dungeon Transporation Units]
[Large-Shell Tortoise] - 5 Points
[Goblin Porter] - 10 Points
[Seven-legged Mule] - 20 Points
[Undead Horse] - 25 Points
[Carrier Bats] - 50 Points
[Carrier Moles] - 50 Points
[Carrier Cheetah] - 100 Points
[Winged-Horse] - 500 Points
Azuma stared at the list of options, torn about their level of usefulness.
Seriously, a tortoise for a transportation unit? I know it's the cheapest option, but seriously? A fuckin' tortoise?
He was also starting to question the laziness of the system maker as he stared at some of the later options, which were essentially just animals with the word 'carrier' attached.
But, hey, I gotta respect that level of not caring. They didn't even try to make them sound cool.
As an aspiring 'worst dungeon master' in the making, he couldn't help but be impressed.
That last option is good. Really good. Like, way to good to be worth 500 points, but it makes sense. When the fuck would anyone use a flying horse in a cave?
Considering that the system was designed for Dungeon Masters - the majority of which who lived in the underground layers of floors, aside from the few powerful ones who ventured to the surface - this seemed pretty useless, thus justifying the not-to-extreme price. Luckily for Azuma, he happened to be in a rare situation where it could be useful.
I have access to the DxD realm. I doubt I'll need to transport anything there that I can't just use Ravel's magic circles for, but having a flying horse is badass. I can ride him into battle and look cool as fuck.
Who cares about practicality or usefulness when you look cool as fuck?
However, this wasn't the right situation to bring out the flying horse. Instead, Azuma looked at the option that would be best for transporting units from his dungeon to the conquered one. As he raised his finger, ready to tap on the third option, he abruptly stopped. He stared at the option again, the words finally fully registering in his mind.
How does a mule have seven legs?
He could see six, or even eight, but seven? Where the hell does the odd leg go?
Slowly, ever so slowly, Azuma glanced down at his crotch.
It… it can't mean…
Slowly, Azuma raised his hand to the fourth option. He didn't know where the seventh leg was, but he didn't want to know either.
He tapped the [Undead Horse] twice, and instantly two large horses appeared next to him.
"That was almost bad," Azuma deadpanned, looking at how the horse's heads were only a couple of inches below the roof.
They almost got spawn-killed by suffocating in the roof.
The two horses were a lot more disgusting than Azuma had expected, as an actual dead, or previously dead, horse was rather gross. They were a mixture of green and brown with rotten flesh, had holes all along their body that showcased their bones and innards, and had pitch-black lifeless-looking eyes.
"..." Aphrodite silently wrinkled her nose, quickly turning around and flying away as she wanted to be anywhere else but near the disgusting horses.
Azuma was silently thankful for the dungeon system's desire for cleanliness, as neither of the horses smelled at all despite their appearances.
As Azuma raised his hand to bring up his own units, he stopped himself.
I didn't look at the orc variations yet because I thought they'd be useless, but I should at least check.
[LVL 1 Dungeon 'Orc' Units]
[Gathering Orc] - 5 Points
[Mining Orc] - 10 Points
[Orc] - 20 Points
[Orc Archer] - 50 Points
[Orc Giant] - 100 Points
[Orc Warrior] - 150 Points
[Orc Mage] - 500 Points
Could be worse.
Azuma hadn't gotten the entire 'orc unit' package, as he didn't have access to all offense, defense, worker, and support units as he did in his dungeon. Instead, he seemed to have gotten a mixed bag.
He wasn't sure if this was meant to be a 'game balancing' mechanic by the system, or if the orc had really only had access to this small number of units.
But mine are better. I'll build a pretty well-rounded squad, just in case they get attacked by anything.
Azuma pulled up his dungeon units. He had already seen the new additions before, as he couldn't resist checking, and they weren't disappointing.
[LVL 2 Dungeon Offense Units]
[Goblin] - 3 Points
[Rat] - 7 Points
[Orc] - 15 Points
[Slime] - 20 Points
[Zombie] - 35 Points
[Skeleton] - 40 Points
[Kobold] - 200 Points
[Ogre] - 400 Points
[Skeleton Warrior] - 500 Points
[Elemental Golem] - 1000
[Minotaur] - 2000 Points
From leveling up, the price of every level one unit had been decreased a bit, and there were three new options: Skeleton Warrior, Elemental Golem, and Minotaur.
They're expensive, but are definitely good.
Azuma hadn't expected to see the Minotaur option this early - it was understandably 2000 points, but his dungeon was still F-Rank and only level 2.
The other two additions were less exciting but still decent. He wasn't sure what a Skeleton Warrior was, or how it differed from a normal Skeleton. Elemental Golem sounded a lot more appealing, but he wasn't sure what that entailed either, and he wasn't willing to spend 1000 points to find out.
I'll send a couple of offensive units - probably just a Kobold and a couple of skeletons or somethin'.
He didn't buy the units yet - he decided to look at the other categories first to make sure they synergized well together.
[LVL 2 Dungeon Defense Units]
[Shield Goblin] - 10 Points
[Turtle Guard] - 20 Points
[Golem Wall] - 40 Points
[Gremlin] - 60 Points
[Harpy] - 120 Points
[Kobold Defender] - 215 Points
[Naga Defender] - 250 Points
[Troll] - 400 Points
[Mimic] - 800 Points
[Rhino Defender] - 1000 Points
[Centuar Defender] - 2000 Points
In a similar way to the offensive units, the defense ones had all decreased in price along with three new additions: Naga Defender, Rhino Defender, and Centuar Defender.
The title 'defender' led to the assumption that he'd unlock an offensive version of all these units eventually. Overall, Azuma was mixed on how to feel about the new additions.
Naga Defender seemed to be similar to Kobold Defender - as they would've been the same amount of points if the level one unit hadn't been discounted. The Rhino Defender seemed pretty good - having a huge body to block the entrance to the dungeon sounded appealing, but the Centuar Defender sounded disappointing.
We're in a fuckin' cave.
Azuma wasn't sure how useful a half-horse half-man would be in an enclosed cave fight.
I'll probably send a Kobold, a couple of gobbys, and maybe a harpy or two.
Next, Azuma turned his attention to the worker units.
Might as well send a couple of workers as well. They can expand it some more and look for ores while they're there.
[LVL 2 Dungeon Worker Units]
[Worker Goblin] - 7 Points
[Mole] - 20 Points
[Earth Imp] - 30 Points
[Kobold Miner] - 60 Points
[Salamander] - 100 Points
[Myconid] - 220 Points
[Earth Elemental] - 400 Points
[Golem] - 800 Points
[Gremlin Miner] - 1000 Points
[Giant Mole] - 2000 Points
Azuma was also a bit conflicted on how to feel about this one - as the three new additions were: Salamander, Gremlin Miner, and Giant Mole.
None of them had a defining characteristic to them.
Is it just a salamander? A regular ass salamander? A gremlin holding a pickaxe? Why the fuck is the gremlin so expensive?!
The only one that really made sense was the third one, which was very self-explanatory.
A giant fuckin' mole.
None of the new options looked that appealing, but Azuma just shrugged.
I'll send a Kobold and a couple of goblins - oh, and a salamander too. I just wanna know what the fuck a lizard is going to do to help expand a dungeon.
Finally, he turned to the support units.
[LVL 2 Dungeon Support Units]
[Will-o-Wisp] - 5 Points
[Imp] - 20 Points
[Fairy] - 40 Points
[Fae] - 40 Points
[Dryad] - 45 Points
[Nymph] - 45 Points
[Gremlin] - 750 Points
[Shaman] - 1,500 Points
What is this damn inflation?!
Of the three new options - being Will-o-Wisp, Gremlin, and Shaman - two of them were a lot more expensive than any of the other support units. Previously, the highest-cost unit had been 50 points. Now it was 1,500.
Not to mention how incredibly unhelpful the names of each unit were.
The fuck does a will o wisp do? A gremlin? A fucking shaman?
Azuma decided not to think of it. He'd find out more when he had more points and was willing to waste 1,500. He quickly maneuvered through the menu, buying units from each page. In the end, an unruly collection of monsters stood in front of him.
The offense group consisted of a kobold, who was clad in light leather armor and came with a sword, along with a group of skeletons holding bows with quivers on their backs.
The defense group looked a bit different, though it was still led by a kobold, who looked near-identical to the other one except it had a shield and a small dagger instead of a sword. Next to the kobold was a collection of goblins. Finally, two harpies floated above them, flapping their wings slowly. They had wrinkled red skin, bat-like wings, and were, frankly, ugly as hell.
The worker unit was also led by a kobold, who looked the same as the other two but was holding a pickaxe. Next to him was a collection of small, rather cute looking, moles. They looked surprisingly normal for a dungeon monster - black hair, a pink nose, and four little paw-hands. Overall, they looked like normal moles. Finally, the salamander capped off the worker group - and said salamander was just a big human-sized orange lizard which was standing on two feet and holding a pickaxe.
Finally, the support group. A collection of small fairies floating in the air, looking essentially like a bunch of miniature women all in different colored thin dresses. But, the human-like fairies weren't what caught Azuma's attention the most.
"Why'd you make the dryad's hot, Aph?" Azuma deadpanned, looking over at Aphrodite, who was floating in the air as she watched the TV and tried to stay away from the group of monsters. She was also far closer to the screen than she had to be, blocking it from view as a duo of goblin miners tried to look around her.
"I didn't make them anything!" Aphrodite huffed, turning around and flying closer to Azuma, "I'm just borrowing this dungeon systems power, I didn't have anything to do with making it! And I can't believe you just called a monster hot, there's no way a gross monster would be…"
Aphrodite trailed off as she spotted the dryad standing next to the collection of monsters, "...wait, you're right! Why is that dryad hot?!"
"Right?" Azuma hummed, leaning closer to the dryad as he inspected her. She looked very human-like, looking like a woman in her mid-20s. She had long red hair, a curvy body that enunciated her large breasts and plump ass, along with said body only being covered by green vines crossing her body and covering her privates.
"Total babe," Azuma hummed, then jumped back slightly as the dryad actually answered him.
"Thank you, Master," The dryad nodded, smiling cheekily at him.
"You can talk?" Azuma deadpanned, "Why did the system creator make dryad's OP? The other units aren't hot, and they can't talk!"
"They can talk!" Aphrodite countered, floating up next to him as she gestured at a nearby kobold.
"Oh, you can?" Azuma asked casually, turning to the kobold with a raised eyebrow.
The kobold opened his mouth, giving a very eloquent answer, "Grrashgrh!"
"You were saying?" Azuma deadpanned, looking back at Aphrodite.
"He can talk! He just speaks Koboldese!" Aphrodite countered, "It's not his fault you don't speak his language!"
"Yeah, yeah," Azuma hummed, turning back to the sexy dryad, "You're a babe, so you can stay here instead of going to the other dungeon. Do you already have a name too?"
The dryad shook her head, and Azuma thought for a moment. He stared at her face, his eyes trailing around her body, and couldn't help but feel like she looked familiar.
She looks like someone I know…
Azuma's face twisted in thought, his eyes closing as he thought long and hard.
"Are you constipated, Azuma?"
"No! I'm thinking!" Azuma growled, waving off Aphrodite as she poked a finger into his cheek. He opened his eyes again, looking at the dryad for a minute before a name appeared in his head.
"Ivy!" Azuma shouted, pointing at her dramatically, "That's who you look like!"
The red hair, beautiful face, and sexy body all fit the image - she looked scarily like Poison Ivy.
"Ivy?" The dryad asked simply, tilting her head at him.
"Yup!" Azuma confirmed, nodding wisely, "We need to get you some lipstick and eyeliner, but then the look will be finished. It's official, you are Ivy! Our resident sexy dryad!"
"Whoo! Sexy dryad!" Aphrodite cheered, "Welcome to the dungeon, Ivy!"
"T-Thanks?" Ivy said, obviously confused on what was going on. Azuma couldn't blame her - she was summoned to assist a dungeon master in battle but was instead given the role of being eye candy around the dungeon.
"Anyway! Let's get this mission on the road," Azuma hummed, looking at the other group of monsters.
"I'm back, Master!" Ravel cheered, appearing nearby out of a magic circle.
Damn, she ate quick. It's only been, what, 5 minutes?
Azuma had no way of knowing that Ravel had practically inhaled her lunch in order to get back quicker.
"Perfect timing, Ravel. It's time to see the soldiers off," Azuma nodded sagely, and Ravel fit the role perfectly as she stepped up next to him and gave a cute salute.
"Alright, troops! You're going to head to the other portion of our dungeon, and you'll guard it! Workers! You'll work on expanding it! Just start swinging your pickaxes into a wall wherever you feel like it!" Azuma ordered.
"I'll come show you where to dig later!" Ravel whispered shouting with her hands cupped over her mouth as Azuma told the units a terrible plan. The workers looked at her with an appreciative look in their eyes.
"Offense and defense troops! You will guard the dungeon!" Azuma ordered, pointing his finger at the two groups, "Watch out for any attackers! If you see anything suspicious, then report it immediately! In the meantime, since I know standing guard is boring as hell, I'll send some cards and dice with you guys! You can play poker and gamble your boredom away!"
"If you slack off to play poker, I will burn you alive," Ravel nodded, her smile overly sweet as she caused the group of monsters to flinch.
"Finally, supports! Your job is to look cute, do whatever the fuck you want, and then heal the front line if there is an attack!" Azuma ordered, pointing dramatically at the group of fairies.
"...Master is right this time," Ravel nodded next to him, "You guys can do whatever you'd like inside the dungeon. I'll bring over a TV and some snacks later so you aren't too bored."
"Now! I only summoned two horses, but you guys can all fit, right?" Azuma hummed, looking over at the rather large undead horses, "It might be a bit tight, but meh, it'll work. You guys can carry a lot of weight, right? Well, if you can't, I guess you're dead already, so it's fine!"
"Um, Master?" Ravel looked at him, tilting her head cutely, "Since we've been there already, I can use my magic to transport them there."
"I didn't forget about that," Azuma nodded, then held up a finger dramatically, "But that's lame! Riding on an undead horse is way cooler!"
"B-But they won't have enough room, Master! It would be very uncomfortable!" Ravel countered, looking warily at the two large horses, and then at the huge group of monsters they would be carrying.
"This is when you must ask yourself a very important question, Ravel," Azuma hummed, closing his eyes for dramatic effect, "Would you rather be lame as fuck, but comfortable? Or be a total badass, but want to die for every excruciating minute of the trip?"
Ravel stayed silent for a moment, then slowly muttered, "...be comfortable?"
"Exactly, be badass! Get on top of the horses, men!" Azuma ordered, pointing at the two horses. The various monsters around him started climbing onto the horses backs, pressing into each other as there was clearly not enough room for all of them.
"...I fear that horse might die, Master," Ravel said dryly, watching as one of the horses was stumbling under the weight as it tried to carry both a kobold and multiple goblins.
"It's already dead, Ravel," Azuma waved her off, "It can't die again… probably. Alright, get to moving, troops! You have a lot of days of walking ahead of you!"
Azuma slapped one of the horse's legs, and it took off into the tunnel. Behind it, the other horse followed, its back bending unnaturally from the weight.
"G-Good luck guys! I'll come check on you later!" Ravel waved, watching as the horses limped away.
"Alright, now that I'm done with that, time to plan some more," Azuma hummed, turning away from the tunnel, but was interrupted soon after.
"Um... M-Master…" Mittelt called, the girl standing awkwardly in the middle of the room as she had been watching the exchange.
"You can just call me Azuma," Azuma said casually. Mittelt nodded, opening her mouth to rephrase her sentence, but was cut off before she did.
"If you call Master by his first name, I'll turn you into a burnt crow," Ravel whisper-shouted with an overly sweet smile.
"R-Right! M-Master," Mittelt started again, nodding rapidly at Ravel's threat, "I was, um… wondering if you could upgrade me? So I can get more wings!"
"Upgrade you?" Azuma asked, raising an eyebrow at her, "Nah, I can't do that."
"You dare to ask Master to use his precious points on a lowly fallen like yourself!" Ravel huffed, taking a step towards Mittelt, "I'll burn off your wings for even suggesting that!"
Ravel hadn't been very welcoming to Mittelt, mainly because she viewed her as her competition. The two girls looked remarkably similar - as both were petite, blonde, and had twin tails of hair.
"Not because I don't want to waste points," Azuma deadpanned, grabbing the back of Ravel's shirt and casually pulling her back, "But because you're an attendant unit. I can't upgrade you."
Ravel blinked, looking up at Azuma, "You can't?"
"Nope, there's no option," Azuma said easily, not having looked into why he couldn't any deeper.
"It's because they grow stronger as you do," Aphrodite explained, "When your level and dungeon level rise, they'll also get stronger."
"They will?" Azuma asked blankly, and Aphrodite nodded.
"Ravel's probably already a bit stronger than before," Aphrodite continued, "Even though you only recently got to the high-class devil tier."
Azuma turned his head, looking over at Ravel and pulling up her stats.
[Ravel Phenex]
[Dungeon Attendant]
Level: 15 (17,578/40,000)
HP: 8,575/8,575
MP: 57,750/57,750
STR: 78
AGI: 122
END: 59
INT: 570
CHA: 100
LUK: 75
Abilities: [Phenex Regeneration], [Flame Magic], [Demonic Magic]
Dungeon Boosts: None
Azuma blinked, staring at her stats.
It's not by much, but she did get stronger even though she hasn't been training.
"You're right. Good thinking, Aph," Azuma hummed, nodding appreciatively.
She can be smart sometimes.
"Thanks! Oh, right, Azuma! The space where we're going to plant the berries is finished!" Aphrodite explained happily, pointing in the direction of the mining tunnel.
"Already?" Azuma asked, "Damn, you got that done quick. The meeting with Rias and Sona isn't even until tomorrow. After that, we'll still need to file some paperwork on the human side before we can officially open it."
"Yup, but I wanted to be prepared! So, I used our points to clear out the room! It was only a couple thousand," Aphrodite nodded, looking proud of herself.
"You… used the points?" Azuma asked dryly, "We have like a thousand fuckin' goblin miners - why would you use the points and not just tell them to dig it out? They probably would've found some ores while they were doing it too! How the hell did you even use the points? You can't access the system."
"I can't, but she can," Aphrodite said, pointing at Mittelt as she blatantly threw her under the bus.
"S-She told me to do it! She said you'd be super happy and upgrade me to four wings if I did!" Mittelt shot back, pointing accusingly at Aphrodite.
"Well, I thought you would be happy about it," Aphrodite huffed defensively.
"Even if I was, I can't upgrade her, and you knew that," Azuma deadpanned.
"Oops, I hadn't remembered that yet when she asked," Aphrodite said unashamedly.
Whatever. I have more important things to worry about.
Azuma glanced over at a small piece of paper lying on the sole table in the room. On the top in big letters was 'Plan For Meeting.'
After all, I've got a big titty redhead to meet with tomorrow.
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AN: Thank you for reading! The next chapter will be out next week, or you can read the next one 'A Devilish Meeting' right now at Patreon.com/Koyon !