Floor 11 to 19 were very troublesome. In all these floors there were huge graveyards full of different zombies and skeletons that caused few deaths. If dealing with them was annoying then finding a stairway to the next floor was even more tiresome. I was already fed up with this shit so, I had to step up and help others find the entrance to the next floor otherwise it would have taken don't know how long. Still, we reached the safe room in four days.
In the safe room, I was sitting around the fire along with Amelia and Myra. I saw loli approaching me while taking little steps. I had a vague idea of what she wanted from me.
"Hey, dimwit you are not that useless as I thought you would be, let's discuss tomorrow's strategy," she straightforwardly said.
"Show some respect to master, breathing the same air as you ants, is already hard for him" Amelia replied with disdain in my stead.
"Fufu shut up bitch, there's no place for a servant like you to reply when someone is talking to your master"
"Y-You how dare you?" Amelia stood up.
"Calm down big sis Amelia, first let's hear her out," Myra said while pulling Amelia's hand.
She composed herself and looked at me I nodded then she sat down while gritting her teeth.
"Okay let's hear what you have to say," I said.
"I was going to say that we have already lost many people so far, you rarely participate in frontline and let these two fight..."
"So, you want a mage in front instead of warriors?" I said without letting her finish.
"Geez, let me finish, what I am saying is stick back like usual but protect others from getting hurt or worse, I know it'll be easy for you"
"Sorry, I only bother to help if either someone is my woman or my subordinates but these are neither"
"So, you want me to give leadership to you? I can't do this without guild perm..."
"I never said I was interested"
"Then, I'll give you 15 percent more than your current reward, consider my request"
The offer was tempting but these adventurers scums were already getting on my nerves, at first they looked down on us then they made Myra fight a far stronger opponent on purpose and cheered when she was injured then after winning the duel they had hostile attitude and this annoying list goes on. Defending them? They should be grateful I haven't started the slaughter. And loli bitch, she isn't the type who would ask me so many times for help, she would have already left while throwing insults when I first rejected her, she is clearly sent by adventurers after they saw how useful I've been in a past few days and she herself doesn't want to lose more subordinates. Plus, it seems like she's up to something but can't seem to find the opportunity to put her plan into action.
"It won't change my mind. Like I said I have no obligation to protect them, the only thing I care about is my party"
"Fine then, don't come crying to me when you need help"
"Master will never need help from the likes of you"
"Y-You just wait..."
She stomped her little foot while her boobs jiggled and left with a red angry face. I do really like seeing her resentful face.
"Master why'd you put up with her attitude?"
"She's interesting,"
"That's only your reason?"
"Yup!"
'Besides, I myself is never at my best behavior either' I inwardly thought.
The next day started with Claire's usual speech.
"Today I don't know what kind of Boss we will encounter, I want everyone to do their best. Don't only care about only your party but also look out for others around you. Act as a single party. We have already lost so many people. If this continues then later floors will become even more difficult to clear," she spoke in a loud voice and all the time didn't look at me.
Everyone roared, agreeing with her. Then we took the stairway that led to Boss Room, except it wasn't a Boss Room and more like a huge graveyard. covered in so much mist that you could only see a few feet ahead of you.
"Stay close to each other, getting separated in this thick mist means death," loli instructed.
Everyone stuck to each other like glue, even Myra pulled on the sleeve of my rob.
"Just relax, I'll not let you get hurt," I gently said.
"I know, it's just this mist is giving sinister feeling," she replied in low voice.
"Amelia, this fight might be too much for her, focus on protecting her," I said.
"Yes, Master," Amelia said.
"No, I won't back down from this fight," Myra said with a serious look.
"As you wish, just stick close to Amelia or me," I said with understanding.
We walked for a few minutes and mist grew thicker. Finally, someone at the front saw Floor Boss that I had already discovered hundreds of meters ago.
"I-It-It's Mi...stcreep P-Plague Bearer" the guy in front shouted.
Mistcreep Plague Bearer was a big grey skinned monster whose flesh was decayed and hanging. It had a huge belly that looked like a balloon that would burst upon poking needle at it. It had red bloodshot eyes. When he looked at the adventurer, he gave a blood curdling scream. The adventurer took three or four steps back in fear and ended up stepping on a grave.
From that grave, a hand came and pulled on his leg pushing him down and then another hand grabbed his other leg taking him by surprise, in no time the full zombie emerged from the grave and bit on his neck, giving him no chance to resist, other than his screams that too only lasted for a few moments.
With another shriek from Mistcreep Plaguebearer that was louder than before, all the graves in the surrounding opened up with dead rising from them.
Mistcreep Plaguebearer then puked up some kind of green liquid that fell on an adventurer. He fell and started twisting his body in strange angles, looking like he was suffering while making weird noises.
"Hey, you alright? What that monster did to you?" his friend got on his knees and put his hands on that poor adventurer's shoulder. He turned around, his eyes were red and suddenly took a bite right from his friend's face. The guy who got bit soon also turned into a zombie. With a missing face, he looked more terrifying than your usual zombie.
Mistcreep Plaguebearer kept throwing up his green infected vomit with a short break and with his occasional screams this large graveyard had not many dead bodies left in graves, almost every zombie had risen. In less than ten minutes many adventurers were turned into zombie and the one who left couldn't cope up with the situation. Already with limited visibility, they were having a very hard time fighting.
Myra was also struggling very hard but she had it easy as compared to the others. She had to focus only in front of her while the other three sides were being easily handled by Amelia. As for me, I was chilling out in the back with barrier erected, any zombie who stepped into barrier gets turned into dust.
Loli bitch was trying her hard to fight through hordes of zombies to get to Floor Boss but with so many of them, it'll take a while for her to actually reach Boss and by that time more than half of the adventurers would be dead.
In the middle of battle she looked at me with teary eyes, she wanted to shout and beg for my help but no words were coming out, her face looking so desperate on verge of tears. Seeing her despaired cute face even my heart melted. My inner lolicon shouted 'Must Protect'. That time I knew I must take action or suffer her hatred for the rest of my life.
Author's Note: You guys suggested very cool floor bosses but sorry I couldn't make them all floor bosses. That doesn't mean they are useless, I'll use them later in the story because having a list of badass monsters is never enough. This Mistcreep Plaguebearer is inspired by the comments of @Gibberish285 @Atrenoch, combined with ideas of my own. Thanks for all the suggestions, keep commenting to motivate me, together we will make an interesting novel :D
My inner lolicon shouted 'Must Protect'. That time I knew I must take action or suffer her hatred for the rest of my life
Omg what a heroic personality LMAO. Doesn't care tens of people dying beneath him and what drives him into getting to action is a Loli with a teary expression. Wtf lol.
I hate fake MCs that deny there a Loli-con when they totally are, but he fully embraces it so props for his self honesty! And hey Tsunders are not honest till you make them cry.
@Harem-Fan he is true to his desires which makes him a great mc unlike the ballless or beta jap mcs
Wow, I didn't expect a constituent of the monster that I suggested to actually make it into your story lol.
Another monster that I was going to suggest to you but didn't have a chance to was some Undead Phlegethonian Overlord / Hegemon / Monarch (depending on your naming preferences). It's named after one of the rivers of the Underworld from Greek mythology, which burned with flames (Phlegethon). He was cursed to forever be engulfed in flames and being near his flaming nimbus will result in deterioration of one's health. He's covered in either viridescent flames or violescent flames which indicate its cursed nature. Breathing in the malefic fumes will also result in the deterioration of one's health. He could also command the flames and shape them into weapons such as swords, spears, halberds, pikes, etc. or just simply hurl them / blast them into the air. Whoever gets killed by his flames will be cursed to become an Undead Phlegethonian (basically a subordinate zombie that's also engulfed in cursed flames).
You could add in some backstory about how he used be some pious man who was a priest, but angered somebody one day which resulted in him being cursed and to forever be in pain due to the flames.
This type of monster can be introduced as an intelligent villain with some tragic backstory and who hates the world now.
@Bone_Crusher should be dungeon master or final boss of said dungeon
What kind of tsundere are we dealing with? If its a class 2 (manic extreme bipolar mood swings) then I might save her, but cut ties soon after and pray I never encounter her again.
So far she seems to be a class 1 (purely horrible shrew at first, but tamable into an actually decent human being later) just in the MC has to put up with her for a (potentially NSFW) character development arc for her to be tolerable.
Lol interesting classification you made. She's definitely in class 1.
Is the loli that mentally challenged or is her leadership just that bad? This chapter and the last one makes me think that a lot of adventureres are just canon fodders, who are incapable of thought. Would have thought they would be more sinister or devious to keep their poor life intact.
I'll mention in the next chapter why the difficulty of the dungeon is high and why adventurers seems like cannon fodders.
Thanks for the chapter ?
THANKS FOR THE CHAPTER
How dare these adventurers laugh at an inexperienced villager girl , ohhh the tradegy . My fist clenches up in rage how dare they beg for help when people are dying
Thanks for the chapter!