Moloch explained his own situation to Duke Wolte, who listened under the mercy of Zeru. Only afterwards did Wolte relax himself enough to look at Jin with a perplexed expression with his limited slug face muscles.
“So to sum it up: You are now working for that human from another dimension over there?” Wolte slurred as he spoke.
“I know why you would be sceptical, but looking back, I have to admit, that this kind of relationship has been rather mutually beneficial. If anyone stands a chance of defeating King Baal, I think Jin here has more of a fighting chance compared to any other demon or adventurer I have known.” Moloch clarified before looking at him.
“What has actually happened to you, Duke Wolte? I don’t remember you being a slug at all.” Moloch stifled his laugh, and the slug seemed somewhat depressed.
“As you might have guessed, it all started when King Baal became obsessed. But it was not due to his wealth nor his power. It was because of the Crown of Beyond Depravity.” Wolte replied, and only Moloch and his minotaurs understood what that was.
Seeing the confused faces of all other people, especially Moloch’s new master Jin, Wolte decided to explain a bit on that: “It is an item made from a defunct Dungeon Core mixed with multiple rare high grade metals, which high ranking blacksmiths had to sacrifice their lives for to create that crown. But that crown was mostly harmless, simply increasing his powers without any known side effects. That is until Marquis Kiva, the Ravenous Lord Demon of Hunger presented him an ancient gem he found in the depths of his desolate family tomb. It was meant to be a tribute. A simple show of loyalty as well as a nice finishing touch for the crown.” Wolte continued.
“Shortly after he received that gem it changed him. It started consuming King Baal’s logic and harness his greed. It increased his possessiveness in regards to material items, land and power. Before I rebelled, some whispered, that King Baal was secretly creating an army of loyal subjects capable of using the massive power he is currently wielding.” Wolte looked even more depressed than before. Even though he was to be executed, it seemed the slug was genuinely concerned for his King.
“As a loyal subject, I was naturally worried. But when I voiced my opinion and suggested that the crown should be adequately examined as a precautionary measure King Baal refused adamantly. At the time Marquis Kiva was on site. That cowardly bastard even advised the King to be careful against dissidents. King Baal in return agreed and wanted to issue a royal decree concerning the execution of disloyal people the very next day. Marquis Kiva had even dared to object to this, trying to influence the King into issuing it that very day. Unable to challenge the authority of the King, I challenged Marquis Kiva to a duel. After all that silver glibed oversized chicken was only mighty with his words, so I thought I could crush him with my overwhelming strength. Who would have known he was crafty enough, to turn my words around making it seem as if I were challenging King Baal. I unwillingly fought against King Baal. … we both know, that he should have stood no chance against me. It should have been impossible since I was his High General. I was also the one who taught him how to fight. But this time was different. The king had granted me the honour to spar with him many times, so I was familiar with his strength and his power was unbelievable. Two? Three? Heck maybe even five times stronger than me at that moment.” Wolte grumbled and complained about the past, but the rest just listened to it like a bedtime story.
“So erm…want to join up with us?” Moloch who had nearly fallen asleep from the ramblings, had nearly forgotten about their objective.
“You have not answered my question yet! How exactly did you find me? I have been exiled as a ‘last mercy’ as he called it. But officially I should been pronounced dead!” Wolte snarled. He had wanted to fight against King Baal in his own way. Wolte found this defunct core by chance when he was running away from the demons that were chasing after him. He did not know, whether the King had changed his mind, or if that damn bird was behind it, but it mattered little. Duke Wolte never realised that this particular dungeon core was partially defunt. When presented with the chance he immediately accepted, turning him into the new master, allowing him to recreate a dungeon fortress of his own.
In return, the core became a part Wolte. Unfortunately it made him into the slug before them. Nevertheless the dungeon core delivered, what it had promised. Through it Wolte was able to raise an army of his own. He used the bodies of the adventurers and monsters, using their essences as power to function his very own robot slave army. He hoped that one day he would be able to properly rebel against King Baal. If possible he wished to wake him up from the control of Marquis Kiva.
“It may sound dumb, but it was purely coincidental. My maids found this place that supposedly had a defunct core. That is why we came here. Also I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Kiva is no longer merely a Marquis. That fat raven head had recently been promoted. He is now an Archduke and the personal aide to King Baal himself.” Moloch gave Wolte the latest information he had received, before he decided to change sides to Jin.
“That much is no big surprise. Oh well, I mean, you defeated my entire army of robot slaves, hence I am technically under the mercy of you, human.” Wolte stared at Jin, who accidentally fell asleep from exhaustion.
“OEI YOU PATHE-Ow ow ow ow ow” Zeru once again pulled the reins to control Wolte when he wanted to insult the human.
“It will be painless and it will guarantee you joining us.” Zeru gave him a small warning, before he plunged his wooden sword into Wolte without any hesitation. The defunct core disappeared along with Wolte and the dungeon ruins ceased to exist. The once broken ruins became even more bare, with the ruins chambers changing into an empty underground tunnel made out of rock and soil.
“Do you want me to wake Jin up?” Milk asked Zeru who was after all considered as Jin’s master.
“Let’s bring him to the dungeon maker. I believe the System has a sleeping capsule that can allow him to sleep all he wants.” Zeru suggested, until Kraft came into the picture.
“Or we could let him sleep until morning. I have a very nice room in mind.” Kraft smirked, but his suggestion was met with frowns from bellators and monsters except for Zeru.
“Hmm. That could actually be good practice for him.” Zeru thought for a while before giving his opinion, knowing Kraft’s craftiness.
“Oh? So you approve of the High Intensity Mode by the System?” Kraft was surprised that Zeru cordially agreed to his haphazard plan since he actually meant it as a half-joke.
“Yes, it might be the pushing factor for him to go up another Grade up quickly. It might be painful but if he can finish the dungeon in that mode, he can master his techniques faster. With the Zodiac Rats coming into the picture, its best to push him towards the realm of Grade 10 as soon as possible so he can properly utilise your training of the subconscious.” Zeru concluded and Kraft laughed.
“I thought I was evil… but you Zeru. You are the monster here. Never thought being a teacher to someone would make you show so much ‘love’ for your disciple. Fine I will gladly prepare the ‘room’.” Kraft commented and bowed as he left abruptly once more.
“What is this high intensity mode you guys were talking about?” Peppers had not heard of it before neither did Milk. Zeru opened a portal courtesy of Yun and allowed the monsters to return to rest first, leaving the two bellators behind.
“The System has a mode that duplicates yourself into two, three and many more. But all in all, they are but a part of you.” Zeru said as he opened another portal that brought them back to the terrace house with Jin in Milk’s arms while Peppers held on to Bam in Katana form.
“Hahaha, That sounds like one of the techniques like that show currently airing on TV, Maruto.” Peppers laughed as she copied the pose Maruto always did when he summoned his clones out.
“You are not wrong nor entirely right. The System duplicates him into multiple copies, allowing him to do tasks separately, but all of those copies are also part of him. If you damage or say, amputate his right hand off, all of his copies will have the sensation of him losing his arms. The more copies he has, the more emotions, pain and pleasure are going to be multiplied.” Zeru said which somehow made Milk show a repulsive look.
“Urgh, imagine if he abused it and used it to create a circle of playmates.” Milk explained her repulsiveness to Peppers and Zeru.
“I would not be surprised if he did that, after all the System ultimately needs him to reproduce so the Panda Clan can survive. However, I would also be not surprised if he does not.” Zeru somehow had a rather high confidence that Jin was not a player. In fact he was more afraid, that Jin would not take any action at all.
“If given the chance and opportunity, you think he would not do it?” Milk rolled her eyes as she grabbed onto the sleeping Jin a little harder as Peppers opened the door to Jin’s room.
“Actual proliferation of User not allowed during high intensity mode. Substandard proliferation from copies is also not permitted.” System argued, and it made the bellators giggle a little before Milk placed him in his bed after casting a disinfect and clean spell on him. (Milk also gave him a bedtime kiss on the forehead, which later Peppers had to drag her out by the ear because she was giving Jin one too many bedtime kisses.)
