—–
Nyzzet, the Dragon God of Thunder, was currently resting inside of his Divine Realm, atop a large bed made out of dark and thundering clouds.
He glanced as Kireina slowly explored his dungeon with her family, having some fun.
"I don't know why does Kireina-sama wants to explore such a dungeon, it will not bring any benefit to her to explore and kill such low-leveled monsters with her current strength…" thought Nyzzet while yawning… he was a Dragon God and they always liked to take long naps, he hasn't slept long naps in a while, and he was feeling the effects.
Due to the large and powerful bodies of Dragon Gods, which were comparable to Divine Beasts, dragon gods were often fond of taking naps to rest for a few dozens of years to a hundred of years, so they could recover energy.
Although Nyzzet had been sleeping every time he wasn't interacting with the other gods, he was still very sleepy, and wanted to go back to sleep, but was glancing at Kireina if she needed anything from him.
"Yawn… Hm?"
Nyzzet yawned again as he heard from Kireina and her party anecdotes of their first visit to this dungeon. They were talking about the High Ice Fairy Empress Lazuli, which they wished for to appear in the Boss Rotation.
"Lazuli? Very well"
Nyzzet used his control over the dungeon to switch the current boss to Lazuli, who appeared through a magic circle that recreated dungeon boss bodies, one of the many devices that Dungeons possessed.
The dungeon then automatically put her soul into the body, as she was once again revived.
A dungeon boss couldn't be revived without the data of their former bodies inside their souls, this is why it was necessary to always have the soul… also, if the body was created without inserting the soul inside, or putting another soul, the boss monster would lose most of its power and would become a corpse or a crazed beast that doesn't know how to use its powers.
Lazuli's Rank 1 Living Deity Soul held a strong power above mortals, as it was even capable of producing Divine Energy and had a Divine Core and a Divine Realm… however, when she was kidnaped by the mysterious demigod helping her sister Tundra, her Divine Realm was stolen from her through a technique similar that the Demon Gods used with Megusan, and her Divine Core, the area that produces Divine Energy in a Divine Soul, was sealed and greatly weakened.
Her soul was then sealed once again various times, alongside her physical body. And because Lazuli was a mere Rank 1 Living Deity against a Demigod of higher power and Rank, she couldn't resist such Divine Techniques, even her body succumbed to it and became as weak as a mortal.
Her original body was destroyed the first time that she fought an adventurer in the dungeon… it was cut apart and then sold as materials in the guild offices of the Evergreen Town… the seal was so strong that her body had completely transformed into mortal materials, but with higher rarities…
Her physical body was now, most likely, some kind of weapon, equipment, or potion.
Nyzzet glanced at her simple, white, blue-colored soul, which did not seem to have anything different than any other day, and then glanced at Kireina as she slowly walked towards the Boss Room.
"This should please her- huh?"
However, the moment Kireina stepped inside the Boss Room, a strange power leaked from within her existence, covering Lazuli and making her awaken something from within.
Nyzzet saw as Lazuli slowly broke out of a seal that was sealing her thoughts and personality, alongside slowly eroding the seal that was stopping her from manipulating her own body with it.
"What the?"
Lazuli began to suddenly exude a weak, yet notable Ice Attribute Divine Power, leaving Nyzzet in disbelief.
"What is happening?! Lazuli has Divine Power?! How?! Isn't she… just a monster?!" shouted Nyzzet in bewilderment.
The Dragon God quickly began to recall how he bought Lazuli alongside many other Boss Monsters sold by an anonymous god in the Interdimensional Merchant Shop.
In the society of gods, the selling of many types of goods was commonplace. And with such an easy to use Skill and area of transactions such as the 'Interdimensional Merchant Shop', any god could easily sell whatever they had in thereby leaving a small 'area' inside, with an artificial will of theirs to attend any buyers as if it were an AI.
Between the society of gods, when the creation of dungeons became popular and widespread as an excellent way to gather Divine Energy through their interaction with mortals, the market of Dungeon Bosses was born.
Before this, buying mortal monsters and beasts was a complete waste of Divine Energy Crystals for many gods, as they couldn't bring anything to the gods, their materials were weak and feeble compared to divine beasts, and their meat was not nutritious enough like the meat of Divine Beasts.
It was possible to nurture monsters until they became Divine Beasts, but it would cost so many resources that it was more convenient to just buy young Divine Beasts and raise them themselves inside their Divine Realms.
But when Dungeons appeared, the market of mortal monsters and beast, especially those strong enough to challenge fitting of their dungeons blossomed.
By the decree of the World's Will and every Supreme God, the dungeons were given a few rules and regulations, alongside their maximum capacities per level and rank.
Dungeons were needed to have mortal monsters and beasts, but not Divine Beasts. Divine Beasts were too much of a challenge, they were on a completely different level than the dungeon's target audience, it was foolish to think that it would be a good idea to add them into a Dungeon whose audience were mortals such as humans and demi-humans.
After all, the initial creation of dungeons was as a way to both strengthen mortals, bring them resources to survive and thrive, and also as a way for gods to benefit from it by gathering Divine Energy.
The Market of monster species and dungeon bosses then became a commonplace between gods, and many special, rare breeds of monsters that would never be seen in the outside world began to appear in the market, powerful and strange monsters that could net great treasures to the mortals that slain them but were still mortals that could be easily revived through the dungeon's reincarnation cycle.
Nyzzet was a young god when he was trying to get his dungeon filled with strong monsters that he didn't just found around in the wild… as very too often those monsters would be hard to control and would usually run away from dungeons.
Specifically buying monsters from the market and then making them into dungeon monsters gave them the ability to revive endlessly through the reincarnation cycle of the dungeon, while also giving them the basics instincts of protecting the dungeon, attacking invaders, and never leaving the dungeon.
Nyzzet found a mysterious god that has not been seen before selling monsters. It was a 'special discount pack' of monsters, that had many Ice attributes monsters of rare species brought from a far away realm, it even came with three boss monsters for a few Divine Energy Crystals! It was really a good deal, Nyzzet did not want other gods to buy it first, so he bought it all in a heartbeat, leaving the market with a happy and satisfied look on his face.
The mysterious Demigod that sealed Lazuli made sure to mask her identity as he sold her, by putting many strong monsters alongside her, and a few hundreds wild Ice Fairies to mask her true origins.
Nyzzet saw the good bait and took it without any issue… unaware of the issue he was getting into.
If Skadi were to know that Nyzzet just bought her beloved daughter as a product, Nyzzet would be surely frozen and then split into pieces by her mercilessly.
Nyzzet, of course, wasn't aware of Lazuli's backstory at all, but was deeply intrigued in how did a dungeon boss developed divine power… or already had it?
"What is this?! Is this even possible? Could this dungeon boss evolve into a Divine Beast through the years…? …No, I do not remember giving it any material or resources to let it to do such a thing, to begin with! Since I acquired Lazuli, she had been just dying and reviving… t-this… I cannot figure anything out…" muttered Nyzzet in a daze, glancing at Kireina who was walking towards Lazuli.
Lazuli was kneeling, after being embraced by Kireina's existence… it was as if she had been guided.
Kireina's enlightenment began to seep through the weakened seals put into Lazuli's entire soul, her consciousness was unsealed, and so did her ability to show emotions and manipulate her body.
Kireina glanced at the scene in front of her with her entire family… the dungeon boss was crying and asking to be saved.
What will Kireina do?
—–
The sealed Divine Presence inside of Lazuli, the High Ice Fairy Empress, a Dungeon Boss which I never recalled showing emotions until now, called upon me.
"Save me… please, save me��� I implore of you…"
She is asking me to save her… From what? Being a Dungeon Boss?
Even if there are some Dungeon Bosses with intelligence such as the original Athos, it is not like I cared about them to the point of saving them… unless I had some interest in them from the beginning.
Athos is a very good source of resources and quality meat, and Experience Points for my Empire, so I didn't free him.
But Lazuli was a rather low-level dungeon boss, and it would not be as impactful to free her… and unlike Athos, she had a strange divine presence, unlike any boss monster I have seen. It also felt as if such presence was tightly sealed inside her own soul… but that seal was slowly dissipating as I approached her more and more.
I decided to ask her who she was direct to see the reason behind her intelligence.
"Tell me your past, and I might consider it," I said with a stoic look.
Lazuli glanced me back with her aquamarine eyes as tears began to fall from her beautiful eyes… Damn, do not give me that look.
"I am Lazuli… the daughter of Skadi, the Great Goddess of Eternal Winter and Njord, the Great God of Sea Winds and Fortuitous Wealth… I was destined to be the future queen of the Realm of Eternal Winter, Niflheim…!" said Lazuli.
"Okay, that's a pretty big background… I guess your Divine Energy is enough proof of it, or at least most of it"
I considered things out, for a few moments. She was a weak boss, so her materials would not be as needed. Her experience points were small as well, and her background was just too big to ignore, even if she was lying, she was still a Divine Entity of some rank that was sealed, I could eat her to gain some strength, but it would be preferable to leave her alive if her background is truth.
And seeing how I also saved Palikoi or Blaze from Hephaestus's Dream World… perhaps more heroic acts would fit me more now?
Well, not like I will ever convince anyone of being a 'good person', but I like to be flexible, you know?
After all, she will be quite useful if I ever want to contact a Realm like Niflheim.
Hm, now that I recall it, I think I once had the choice to evolve into an Ice Fairy from Niflheim.
Lazuli approached me as her divine power began to grow wider and expand… it was the divine power of a Rank 1 Living Deity, nothing compared to the gods I talk with, she was in fact even weaker than Blaze or Mohini.
"Honey, why is she…?" asked Zehe.
"What's going on? Isn't she a dungeon boss, guu?" asked Rimuru.
"And that's Divine Power, isn't it?" asked Brontes.
"Indeed, it is! Mommy, is she a friend? Can she be my friend? She's a fairy-like me!" asked Vudia who hasn't seen Lazuli before.
"But I am pretty sure that she didn't have such abilities before!" said Amiphossia.
"Yeah… what the hell?" asked Ryo.
Lazuli, after being rained with stares and words, could not help but cover herself with her arms in a fetal position… she was showing great vulnerability.
"Please… I don't want to be here anymore…" she said.
.
.
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