Fuzem couldn't keep going like this. She had spent days pushing their mutation manipulation forward, and she simply couldn't keep doing so. Even with the assistance of the new Diligence ability they had gotten from some other powerful entity, she simply couldn't keep this up as she had been.
She had no indication of her progress towards the seventh tier of the perk, and she had only gotten the sixth after half a week of nonstop work. At least their ability to convert mana to intuition was able to keep up with her expenditure. Otherwise, she'd have given up this task on the first day.
Since she could only increase the size of the spider by 6% with their current perk, that's what she did.
[You have created a mutated monster. You have gained title: Playing God]
[You have gained a quest: Raison D'être]
[Raison D'être]
[Your patron dungeon god has bestowed upon you a simple task. As a Dungeon Manifest, you and your champions cannot open holes to allow challengers to enter and exit. Instead, you must seek out others. Do so, and allow others to grow through adversity.]
[Objective: Assist a lifeform in some form of advancement (0/1)]
[Common]
[Dungeon - Repeating]
[Rewards: Additional poten depth (random), 1,000 DX, 1,000 DP, additional assistance from your patron.]
[Penalties: N/A]
[Time Limit: N/A]
The new quest startled her. Assist a lifeform in some form of advancement? That seemed awfully broad for a simple quest. It also implied that their monsters weren't lifeforms, which disturbed her a bit.
Even so, the rewards were too high for her to ignore, so, regardless of her desire to wait, she began to think up new plans.
She had a simple one up until now, simply getting a few of the nightshade reculses to set up webs in the tunnels to block possible enemies from entering, or at least slow them.
So far, none of the fauna from the biodome at the other end of the tunnel had made an attempt to enter the tunnel despite the increased mana, though that seemed reasonable. Nicholas had only observed a few predatory species, and the dungeon offered herbivores little beyond the new dome constructed for the sake of the rabbit-kin.
She didn't want to change that. Random invaders would likely interrupt future plans, so setting up the webs to keep them away from the dungeon was the obvious solution. However, that came with its own problem.
The tunnel to the biodome wasn't part of the dungeon, as it wasn't carved by the dungeon itself. So the normal monsters couldn't enter the area unless they were within the aura of a champion, which was why she needed several of the reculses. They would all be champions to create nodes of the dungeon's aura and allow the other monsters to venture into the biodome.
She'd wanted to raise up some champion ants as well, but the soldiers and workers spawned by the five queens were apparently invalid targets to become champions. She assumed it was for the same reason that their Duplicate Summons perk specifically mentioned that additional monsters couldn't become champions.
But that wasn't the dealbreaker she assumed it was at first, after she checked and was reminded that the dungeon also had access to blueprints for the soldier and worker ants of the same species. If she created a few champions from them and sent squads of the spawned ants along with them, it should allow them to finally push into the biodome.
She wanted war, and she wasn't willing to wait.
Lord Bloodskull, the lord of ten thousand kin, had discovered a strange town in the mudwood region.
The mana in the region was unusually high in both density and quantity, leading to higher-ranked monsters spawning more frequently. Luckily, Mudwood had a natural density closer to nickel-rank than zinc, so most of his soldiers could easily deal with the accelerated monster spawns.
He was reminded of the times in the depths when monsters would spawn by the dozen. The humans called it a monster surge, and the alvod a labyrinth's bounty. He wasn't sure of either, but preferred the term monster surge. It reflected the scenario much better than the term 'labyrinth's bounty.'
But his kin were more than strong enough. Orc and goblin alike, most green, though some of the rare variant kin were sprinkled across the lines against the humans and monsters both. He rarely had to emerge from his command center, which was unfortunate, but the humans didn't have many worthy of his attention. How they had so few emerald rankers in their number was something he'd have to ask the next prisoner.
But this wasn't the time. He had a few scouts checking over the town, and kept finding strange phenomena. Signs of more than twenty teleportations out of the town, and some spatial ritual circle in the center of the settlement. His men were still having trouble deciphering the runes carved into the cobbles surrounding the well.
He did slightly regret sending Dur and Kurdan to train the rising candidate, but also knew that the kid would eventually join his number, and needed to be prepared for when that day inevitably arrived.
He did still call upon the forces of nightshade, in the form of some of the great ants and the lich. He had caught a scent of heroism, and while he wasn't sure, he knew someone who could confirm. Of course, she was also training the candidate, but her colony had sharp enough senses to pick out the similarities. That was the great thing about ants, with certain workers specialized in their own tasks, they could hyper-specialize in their given role. He had to learn many things to be a good leader to his people, and his soldiers had to learn more each day in the fighting arts and practices of advancement. But an ant simply had to reach their zenith and serve their function.
The air shifted before a hole in space was ripped open by an oversized blue and silver ant, quickly followed by a dozen ants with overlarge heads and extra furry antennae, the small hairs better able to sense the arcane energies of the town.
Behind them came the lich, his mycelial eyesockets shining with annoyance. Annoyance that swiftly shifted to curiosity as he rapidly began to cast a half dozen complex spells.
Bloodskull had no doubt the lich had attained the spells as abilities rather than simply memorizing the patterns, a great benefit of the lich's diamond rank, he supposed. But even so, it was impressive to watch the mighty spellcaster work.
One of the ants came over first, shifting from a hexapedal giant ant to a tall humanoid woman covered in chitin plates. She was still two and a half heads shorter than Bloodskull, even in his current shrunken form, but he couldn't judge. He was huge, even for an orc.
"Lord Bloodskull, it is as you believed. There is a high density of heroic essence in this town. It's likely a proper hero was either summoned or born here."
"Do you think the alvod have crowned their king yet?" He asked.
The lich replied, "Yes, seven months ago. Just days after the previous one attempted to reach the oceanic depths."
"How did he do that again?" Bloodskull asked.
"Tied rocks to his feet." The lich replied flatly.
Bloodskull winced, but the lich continued.
"More importantly, there's a bunch of very strange dimensional fluctuations around here. Mostly astral ripples, but with some echoes of a couple of other realms. There are some additional ripples reaching my senses from far below."
"Ripples, from which realm?" The ant asked.
"Mostly the elemental plane of gemstone. There's apparently a peculiar natural treasure about four kilometers down. But the echo of the plane carries part of the same fluctuation as I feel so intensely up here."
Bloodskull looked down, but before he could begin to order his kin to begin exploring the region's depths, the lich stopped him.
"Don't go for it. It's about as strong purely rank-wise as you are, Bloodskull. It's probably stronger, judging by its connection to the natural world. I don't want to see you dead."
Lord Bloodskull was touched by the concern of his semi-mentor. The lich rarely showed how he cared for the candidates, with the exception of Krelli. He took the lich's concern to heart and didn't push down. They still had to free the surface territory from the humans.
Fuzem's plan was quick to start. After the first mutant spider was turned into a champion and placed a half meter from the dungeon's entrance of the tunnel, she created a second. She placed that one another meter away and made it begin to weave its web as well.
She quickly discovered a boon to using spider monsters rather than the vague information Nicholas had about regular spiders. Their webs were made through mana, and due to the high density of dungeon mana, the webs would be stronger and much longer lived. It also allowed them to simply keep feeding the spider mana from the dungeon nexus to create more complicated and dense webbing.
She didn't care about making holes large enough for most champions to leave the dungeon through the tunnel getting the arachnid sentries. If Errazorrus or Nicholas wanted to leave the dungeon as a puma or orc, they could carve a different tunnel into the biodome. That other tunnel would have the dungeon's aura and would probably be safer than this one.
She did make the spiders leave a hole in their web large enough for the ants and other small monsters. Her plan to launch attacks on the colony of the biodome and perhaps other beasts, or even the plants of the location, relied on the ability for small groups of monsters to leave the dungeon and enter the biodome directly.
They also might be able to explore the further tunnels with non-combatant ants, but that was a plan for later. She didn't want to sprint and trip when a slow stride was more than fast enough. She fought down her instinct to consume all in the biodome and expand to assist the dungeon as a whole. She knew that her instincts weren't as useful as those of her spiritual cohabitants and wouldn't let them control her.
She spawned spiders one by one, placing each one a meter from the last until finally, a web was close enough to the biodome that the next would actually be within it.
She couldn't make the spider champions push their auras out to their full extent all the time, but that's why her plans revolved around squads of smaller monsters instead of a constant stream of them. That, and she didn't want to overwhelm the biodome. Even though her instinct was to consume everything, she knew that was wrong. Unless they fed the biodome, it would run out of resources, and she would eventually starve.
She wondered briefly why her instinct to consume was so overwhelming. Why she was born with the devouring ability that evolved to dungeon devouring after they attained Beelzebub's blessing. She knew of no other lifeform–monster or beast–that had the same instinct to destroy and consume until nothing was left.
That line of thinking brought her nowhere. It never did. So she stopped it in its tracks and returned to her plan. There was a colony of ants, and they were her first target. Ants that died in the combat would be brought back to be consumed for their records and additional biomass for the dungeon. Monsters that were slain by the ants would hopefully assist in the continued growth of their colony, and assist the dungeon in continued expansion in turn.
Each champion, of which she had created nearly forty to reach the biodome, cost ten DP to advance, and she wasn't done yet.
She sent mental commands to the ant queens. They were still living in the pile of junk Nicholas was apparently trying to organize by carving a new room with his fists. But building them a proper expansive nest would be for later. She first turned the five into champions to improve their cognitive ability, then commanded them to congregate a hundred workers to head into the biodome. This would be her first attack of many.
Finally, she created an ant soldier champion. She used their ability to alter their monsters a bit to enhance its antennae by 6%. It wasn't a huge bonus, but small bonuses stacked.
She vaguely remembered that champion monsters could advance, unlike the regular dungeon monsters. So she hoped that repeated expeditions and combat would allow this soldier to advance, even if its lesser kin couldn't.
The ant crawled its way from the giant eye in the beating heart. An eye that followed the quickly ascended champion ant as it crawled to its kin.
She had been worried that they wouldn't recognize each other. Wolves of different packs didn't cooperate often, and apparently, ants were worse. But that fear was immediately put to bed as the champion soldier released its aura, and the other ants quickly gathered around it.
She commanded the champion to lead the others through the tunnel towards the colony of the biodome, and keep its aura only wide enough to encompass the other ants.
Its journey was painfully slow. Barely six centimeters long, the ants couldn't cover ground quickly. Even with the enhanced power of their tin-rank bodies, they couldn't move as quickly as a wolf or even the two slime champions.
The champion had to match its pace with the others, despite its larger size. It was only eight centimeters, but that was pretty substantial compared to the regular ants.
Soon enough, however, the ants arrived in the biodome and began to seek out the other colony. She jumped into the ant champion to observe. She didn't understand how Nicholas could hop between different bodies so easily. Going from orc to slime, even if he used the slime to turn into another humanoid form, was a larger jump in capability than she was comfortable with.
She had to just watch through the ant champion's compound eyes from the safety of its soul while the ant remained in control. But she was okay with that, she guessed.
Eventually, they found some of the enemy colony. They were carrying pieces of carrion through the tall purple and brown grass of the underground realm. The moment the other ants sensed the monsters, they sped back to their colony. The monster ants on their heels, the ants returned to their colony and found soldiers already emerging. Soldiers much larger than the worker monsters.
The worker monsters put up a good fight, biting into the larger soldiers with sharp bites. They even managed to take one down under the lead of the champion by pulling the large soldier's legs off. But that wasn't enough to do much to the colony of infuriated ants. They outnumbered the monsters a thousand to one, and even in the small quantity the colony sent to fight the monsters, the dungeon's forces were still easily overwhelmed.
Soon enough, the soldier champion was the only one left and found itself swiftly ripped apart by a dozen soldiers of the rival colony. Fuzem sat through it all, allowing Stabbing and Slicing pain resistances to reach 0.05% and 0.04% respectively. She felt the ant champion get ripped apart, but monsters didn't struggle to survive. They struggled to kill more.
Soon enough, she found herself once more in the pool within Azotreh's soul with one refunded DP for the death of the champion. But the attempt was still fruitful and proved her concept. She would have war.