How devastating the battle had been was clear to see when you looked at the mess it left behind.. A number of Zombies laid flat on the ground, unmoving. Dead minotaurs were piled up in the corners of the throne room. Siege weapons had been broken to pieces and were unrepairable. Mechataur was barely able to function after the overexertion of its new mode and many others just lied on the floor from exhaustion.
Probably the only few who were left standing were Zeru, Shu and Moloch. However, even the Ancient Treant had spent most of his magical powers on the previous root entrapment spell it had cast on the bull behemoth.
“Looks like you did not give it your best shot, which was commanded by your Master.” Moloch casually remarked towards Zeru, who came forward to pick Jin up.
“As a bellator, it is indeed crucial for me to follow the commands of my master. And I did execute that technique to the best of my ability.” Zeru carried Jin towards Milk and Peppers. “But I am his master too. And being his master, I am obliged to take care of my disciple to make sure he does not come to any harm but also push him past his limits. It looks like you did the same too. You look powerless and all, but I can sense that you are hiding more than you are showing.”
“Good insight and foresight.” Moloch did not speak any more as he walked alongside Zeru.
At this moment, Yun appeared from a portal, which startled Moloch. She was carrying a crate full of potions and with a snap of her fingers, the boar knights emerged from her phone. Without any commands even voiced out, they immediately assisted Yun by distributing the potions to the fallen monsters.
Yun walked towards Jin and his bellators before she personally took out a unique golden bottle and slowly fed its contents into Jin’s mouth. Jin also used all his leftover strength to sip the potion and force it down through his throat.
Fortunately, the effects were rather immediate. Jin could eventually stand and walk but was still suffering from a bad migraine. “Careful! Overexertion of chi has left you weak. The potion enables you to recover faster but you still need proper rest once you have finished with matters here.” Yun and Zeru rushed to steady him
“I would like to say that I’m fine but it looks like I will need to rely on both of you for a while. Thank you.” Jin whispered as he looked at Moloch.
“No, Thank you Master Jin for an excellent battle.” Moloch bowed in front of him.
“Now, I believe some questions need to be answered.” Jin stared sternly at Moloch.
“Please understand Master. Those questions can wait. We should initiate the dungeon town fortress before our rewards are forfeited by the dungeon core.” Moloch gestured with his hands towards the direction of the exposed dungeon core and Jin reluctantly walked towards the dungeon core with the help of Yun and Zeru.
It was not that he did not trust Moloch, but from the expression Moloch had during the battle, it felt like there were some things that had been… forgotten. Maybe Jin did not ask the right questions, which was why Moloch did not explain.
Still, it was obvious that Moloch was withholding information. For example, how did he know there was a Phase 2 of the guardian? Is it common to have a Phase 2 or was it only for this particular dungeon guardian? Surely being the lord of this dungeon fortress would come with its own perks. Such as knowing a thing or two about the guardian manifestation of this particular dungeon core.
In any case, Jin did not have any strength to fight back verbally or physically and decided to just go with the flow. Moloch reached towards the dungeon core and wanted to place his hand on the core’s metallic ball body but he halted midway.
“I too have questions for you Master, for I am curious. You are indeed the epitome of mystery to me too. Most summoners can only summon one or two monsters. Very high level summoners can control only 10 low level monsters at once. Even the world’s strongest and mightiest summoner would probably only be able to control a few extremely high level monster at once, mainly because they have mutual respect over a long bonding period.” Moloch explained his curiosity to Jin.
“But here, not only have you surprised me time and time again, you have defied the meaning of a “monster summoner”. I mean, HUNDREDS of zombies? Various humanoids/humans under your command? Take away all that, but what about the capturing process. I expected you to capture me with a summoning ritual contract but no. You just hit me with a metal plate that shone and I was under your command.”
“I do not feel obliged to serve you, like what I felt in the presence of Demon King Baal. Instead, I feel as if I was willing to serve you all along as if it was a natural given for me to protect you. I must say, in my eyes, you are not just a Legendary level summoner. You might, in fact, be a Demigod or God level summoner. “
“However, from this fight, I can see that you still have yet to reach the full potential of your powers, which is frightening, to say the least. But my pet peeve is that you seemed to act as a warrior rather than a mage, which kind of contradicts the meaning of being a summoner. Argh, it’s just me ranting anyways.” Moloch could see Jin was looking pretty annoyed. Moloch had stopped him from asking questions but right now, he was talking non stop.
“Erm, anyway. Because of all these weird traits you possess, I was wondering if you would like to try and see if you could activate this dungeon core. For fun really. I would like to see if a summoner of your capability would be able to create an affinity with the dungeon core, seeing as you have such a high affinity with monsters already.” Moloch shrugged his man puppet’s shoulder and Jin nodded his head gently.
He moved forward beside Moloch and following his instructions. Jin placed his hands against the dungeon core. “Welp, I guess you are just a normal human.” Moloch felt a little dejected to see that nothing was happening.
“Jin, place your phone on the core instead.” Yun, who was beside Jin, whispered.
Suddenly Jin felt chills running down his spine. Previously, it would indeed have been a no brainer to put the phone down so that the System within him could control the town fortress. A choice he would have made in a heartbeat.
However, after the incident he had had with the System, he wasn’t so sure. He still hadn’t forgiven the system for throwing him into a moral dilemma, though he did regret not thinking straight. It was true that if he let the system control it, the fortress would definitely be better managed in a more efficient manner than what Moloch could have done. However, wouldn’t that go against Moloch’s idea of becoming a lord?
If that was the case, maybe Moloch already knew that humans could not activate the dungeon core and wanted to quell the thirst of greed by allowing Jin to try it for himself. This was so that he could avoid the “if only I had touched the dungeon core instead” scenario. Hence, Jin would undoubtedly place his trust in Moloch and he would have full control of the town.
Of course, Moloch had been captured by Jin but after the dungeon core guardian battle, Jin was wondering if it had really been a good choice to let someone so mysterious and secretive take over the dungeon town fortress.
Both choices had their pros and cons that would impact the future of this dungeon town fortress. In the long run, Moloch would be able to do well if he and Jin were able to overcome the obstacles, namely King Baal. This was because Moloch knew what he wanted but it would be tough.
On the other hand, giving the system the dungeon core would guarantee the short-term safety of the town. This was because the system would definitely utilise resources from its own stockpile to maximise the town’s defences since it would be protecting its own interests as well. However, this was still a dungeon TOWN fortress. Jin had no first hand knowledge on how the system would handle the citizens.
“What are you waiting for?” Both Yun and Moloch spoke at the same time, which caused Jin to get irritated.
“I just want to sleep…”
