[Hey guys, the first chapter was kinda weak, but don't judge it too quick. Stick around till at least chapter two—I've added some funny stuff there to mix with the story and give you a laugh]
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"So, this is my new workplace, huh?"
He said this while glancing around the room. Dust and cobwebs covered every corner.
"Well, it's... a bit filthy."
He sighed and added, "For a weak demon like me, who already messed up managing my last dungeon, even this is more than I deserve."
With that, he sank into an old wooden chair, which creaked loudly under his weight.
"Ugh... Even for a rank-G dungeon, this place is way too shabby..."
"Hey, boss, am I supposed to be the final boss of this dungeon now?" A towering man, nearly two meters tall, bald-headed with two small horns, entered the room and asked this.
The man's upper body was bare, with two leather straps crossing over his chest. A massive broadsword was strapped to the leather harness on his back.
"Yeah, Greg, this is all I could get after the mess I made," the young man sitting on the creaky chair said with regret.
"Honestly, as a rank-B ogre, you're probably way too strong to be the final boss of this dungeon. But hey, maybe this way we can draw some attention to this place." The young man spoke with a confident tone that made him seem trustworthy.
Alright, let me introduce myself. I'm Noir, a low-ranking, weak demon who struggles to even take down a goblin. I'm a hybrid, born of shadow demons and vampires.
A few years ago, I was the manager of a rank-B dungeon. Not because I was smart or strong—honestly, I'm neither—but because I had connections with someone high up. That's how I managed to land the position.
But… well, I messed up, and the dungeon got cleared out. Luckily, I escaped unharmed. And now, after all these years, I've finally managed to become a dungeon manager again.
But not of some impressive, high-ranking dungeon. No, this one's at the very bottom of the ranks. Here, only low-level skeletons spawn, and they don't even have weapons. And even then, the spawn rate is ridiculously low.
Why do demons even bother managing dungeons that reward other creatures when they're cleared?
Well, the answer is… I have no idea. I'm just a low-ranking demon, and that's one of the many secrets of the demon kind.
"Hey, boss, when are we starting?"
Greg's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
I glanced at him from the corner of my eye before replying, "Soon. Our first visitors will be here shortly. And as you know, anyone who dies in the dungeon gets absorbed by it, making it stronger. So, you need to kill them all without mercy. Got it?"
Greg grinned widely and said, "Got it. Leave it to me. For Lady Liliana, I'll crush every intruder who dares step into this dungeon." He pounded his chest as he said this.
'You bastard, could you at least pretend you're doing this for me instead of trying to impress my sister?!'
Of course, I didn't say that out loud. Instead, I just smiled in response.
"Alright, then head to the boss room as quickly as you can."
Without saying anything extra, Greg left the room.
*Sigh... Even though Greg has no loyalty to me whatsoever, I should still be grateful to have him...* Noir muttered this in a bored and exhausted tone.
"Anyway, I need to prepare myself for what's ahead. This dungeon is near one of the major hubs of the human world, where plenty of adventurers are active in the central guild..."
Although this dungeon is currently ranked very low, its location gives it a chance to develop rapidly.
To start, I need to add a few stronger monsters to it. Sure, the ones I'm planning to bring here won't respawn after they're killed, but given how weak this dungeon currently is, they could be really useful for now.
For the moment, this is the best I can do.
Now there's just one more thing I have to handle myself...
[ One Week Later ]
×××
"Don't you think this dungeon's been way too easy?" A red-haired boy said this as he kicked aside a few scattered bones.
"Yeah, it's been, like, thirty minutes since we got here, and all we've run into are skeletons that don't even have weapons," another boy replied while inspecting his sword.
"Yeah, it's been about thirty minutes since we entered this dungeon, and all we've seen so far are skeletons that don't even have weapons," another boy said while inspecting his sword.
"Guys, no need to worry. I'm sure we can clear this dungeon. Even though we're beginners, this is the lowest-ranked dungeon out there."
*Grrrrr... Grrrrr...*
"What's that sound?" The red-haired boy was startled by the sudden noise.
The other boy, holding his sword, stood up and assumed a defensive stance.
As he stared into the depths of the dungeon, he suddenly spotted several small green creatures with bald heads, pointed ears, and large noses.
"Guys, goblins are here! There are four of them!" The sword-wielding boy shouted loudly.
The red-haired boy revealed flames in the palm of his hand and smirked as he said, "No problem, we can take them down easily."
The girl stood up from the ground, holding a small cross in her hand, and smiled warmly as she said, "Don't worry, boys. I'll take care of you—I am, after all, a healer."
The swordsman glanced at his younger sister and gave her a faint smile in return.
Seconds later, the goblins reached them.
*Grrrrr... Grrrrr...*
The goblins charged at them with their small daggers. The swordsman blocked the first attack with his blade, while the other boy hurled a fireball, engulfing one of the goblins in flames.
But right at that moment, another goblin lunged at the swordsman with its dagger. He managed to dodge the attack, but the blade left a small cut on his arm.
The wound quickly vanished as the girl healed him with her abilities.
They were completely absorbed in the fight and didn't notice the goblins sneaking up behind them through a hidden passage.
The secret pathway was cloaked in an illusion, so they thought it was just like the other walls of the dungeon and passed by it without a second glance.
*Whoosh!*
Several small, poisoned arrows struck the swordsman's neck.
"Ugh… What was that?!"
He turned his head to look behind him and saw the red-haired boy being stabbed in the neck by a goblin wielding a dagger.
Frantically, he turned toward where his sister was—and what he saw froze him in place.
The goblins had pinned his sister to the
Ground, tearing at her clothes.
Her beautiful golden hair was scattered across the cold floor, and she was crying out in fear, tears streaming down her face.
"Brother, help me!!!"
The swordsman's son was terrified upon seeing this scene and tried to go towards her, but the poison had taken effect... He couldn't move even a step and fell to the ground.
Helplessly, as he lay on the ground, he stretched out his hand towards his sister, who was being raped by the goblins...
" A-Angela..forgive me." The boy said these words with the last strength left in his body and his hand fell to the ground and his eyes...closed.
When his eyes closed, scenes flashed before his eyes...
A house was burning on fire... and a large green creature was holding a beautiful woman's golden hair in its hand and licking its tongue while looking at the woman's face.
"Hehe, even though you let your children escape, you couldn't escape yourself, I'm a powerful hobgoblin, and I'll make sure to enjoy your body... hahahaha"
He said this and started to tear the woman's clothes. The woman screamed with tears flowing from her eyes...
About ten meters away from this scene, a little boy with hair the color of the woman's hair was hugging a little girl, so that the girl couldn't see anything.
"M...Mom…"
From that moment, as he witnessed the unimaginable, the boy made a solemn vow to himself—he promised to become strong enough to protect the one remaining member of his family, his sister.
But now, that same boy lay sprawled on the cold floor of a dungeon, gasping out the last breaths of his life... Just a few steps away, history was cruelly repeating itself. The same terrible fate that had claimed his mother years ago was now reaching out for his sister.
Gradually, the echoes of his sister's desperate cries for help began to fade, swallowed by the chilling silence of the cave. And soon, he heard nothing at all—except the haunting screams of his mother on that cursed day.
Noir took a sip of the whiskey sitting on the table beside him, his lips curling into a satisfied smile as he gazed at the unfolding spectacle.
"Well, well, it seems building that secret path turned out to be quite a smart choice after all."