In the cavern, both Nero and Charlotte were sitting on a pair of boulders chatting.

 

Charlotte was narrating on her circumstances while Nero occasionally nodded his head or commented.

 

After a quarter of an hour, Nero patiently finished listening to Charlotte’s story which was more simple than he had imagined.

 

It turned out that she is from the demonic lands. Her entire race had spawned from a dungeon similar to the Nero’s, a dungeon from the beyond.

 

It resulted in the demon calamity that swallowed several ancient kingdoms and half of a powerful empire.

 

After many great wars, the world settled once again. The demons had shown their impressive might and carved out their place in the continent, much to the dismay of the other races but they had no choice but to accept.

 

Many years of peace passed as the demons consolidated their powers forming the royal family and noble houses, made up of only the most powerful of demon kind.

 

Charlotte herself was a member of one such noble house until it was completely eradicated under the vicious schemes of house Monad.

 

This of course wouldn’t have been possible without the tacit agreement of the royal family.

 

As such, Charlotte was now the only remaining member of her family. She fled, taking away her house’s greatest inheritance, the secret materials and knowledge to create a beyonder dungeon.

 

“Interesting.. “ Nero stroked his chin as he said. “No need to worry, your revenge will come. In fact, it’s an inevitability.”

 

“I can’t wait to see their deaths..” Charlotte said with a deep bloodthirst in her violet eyes.

 

"In time Charlotte, now...I can assume we're not in demon territory right?" Nero inquired.

 

"That's...right, how do you know?" Charlotte asked with a pondering look.

 

"Seeing how thorough those of house Monad were, I conclude that staying in anywhere within their reach would would be a foolish endeavour and I'm in the assumption that you are not so foolish Charlotte." Nero smiled.

 

Charlotte rubbed the dry blood stains on her black plate armor as she chuckled mirthlessly. "Was that a compliment?"

 

"Perhaps.." Nero replied, his expression unchanging.

 

"We are not within the demonic realms. Right now we are located just outside its border, at the very edge of a human kingdom called Rudenfell." Charlotte explained.

 

"Very good, I need easy prey to feed this dungeon of mine." Nero sighed.

 

Charlotte frowned and said. "The mana vein here should be plenty enough for the early growth of your dungeon, I chose this place for a reason."

 

"My dear Charlotte, my dungeon doesn't feed on mana....it feeds on souls." Nero said as a light flashed in his dark eyes.

 

"Really?" Charlotte's eyes opened wide as she shivered.

 

"Yes...killing is intrinsically tied to the strength of my dungeon, both for sustenance and growth." Nero remembered what was written in his dungeon manager.

 

Soul points were converted from the souls of those who died in his dungeon, for example, a human would grant a grand soul worth around 30 soul points. In comparison, a normal demon would usually grant a master soul worth 300 soul points.

 

But soul points weren't just constrained to those numbers as they served as more of a reference.

 

Some beings may become stronger than what is normal for their race thus elevating the strength of their soul, or they may even go through qualitative changes evolving further.

 

For instance, Charlotte as a high class demon would still grant a master soul but it would be very close to the quality of a Grand Master Soul.

 

One may think they could just breed rats and harvest those for souls as indeed, animals had souls too but they would be mistaken. The souls of weaker life-forms like rats, chickens and bunnies would provide no meaningful nourishment for Nero's dungeon.

 

"Terrifying..." Charlotte muttered with a complicated look in her eyes.

 

"It is a horror indeed, this dungeon of death." Nero commented in agreement. Though his thinking was different from Charlotte's. In his mind, being undead was truly a sin, just as life was. In truth, undeath was still a form of existence, therefore it was out of the embrace of the great silence.

 

"I must correct that when this world is cleansed..." Nero thought.

 

He turned his gaze to the fleshy book in his hand once again, the eye on the cover blinking at him curiously.

 

Opening the book, the first blood red page came into view. The words inside were written in a black ink, though they weren't static. They shifted and vibrated like they were living life forms that could change at any minute.

 

Flipping to the Undead section, Nero carefully inspected the current undead available to him.

 

Nero's brow raised as he saw the note in the ghost section, a faint smile rose on his lips. "So she followed me here...truly my most loyal cardinal."

 

His smile faded when he saw his current soul points. "20 soul points, not enough. Let's fix that."

 

As he was about to send his two zombies out of the dungeon to look for prey, something quickly caught his attention.

 

"Oh?" Nero looked towards the nearby cave tunnel.

 

"What is it?" Charlotte asked with an alert look.

 

"We have visitors Charlotte..." Nero chuckled as he slowly stood up from his boulder seat.

 

Charlotte's next words were caught in her throat as she noticed something dangling in front of her.

 

Nero returned his gaze back to Charlotte, a rare look of confusion appearing in his eyes. "What is it?"

 

"You.. should take care of that." Charlotte said as she pointed at Nero's crotch, a faint smile emerging from her lips.

 

Nero looked down. Letting out a gasp of surprise as he discovered he had yet to put on any form of clothing.

 

He said in a casual tone void of any embarrassment. "Oh my, forgive me Charlotte for my vulgar appearance. It shall be remedied soon."

 

"Go on, greet our guests." Nero said to the two zombies who were standing several meters away.

 

Weak groans left their rotting lips as both zombies stumbled down the nearby tunnel at a slow pace.

                                                                                    

                                                                                     *********

 

The trio of bandits had already reached the mouth of the cave, In their hands were lit torches that flickered in the cold night wind.

 

"I don't like this Grog." Hob said as he inspected the cave with his sharp eyes.

 

It was quite large, around 10 meters wide with several forest bushes hugging it's edges.

 

Ignoring Hob's remark, Grog walked forward.

 

The moment Grog stepped into the cave, his body felt a wave of energy wash over him causing him to shake for a moment.

 

"This! I know what this is!" Grog said excitedly with shining eyes.

 

"What is it?" Bull asked, afraid to step any closer to the cave.

 

"This boys, is a newborn dungeon!" Grog let out a loud laughter. He had previous experience exploring dungeons and energy he felt previously felt extremely familiar.

 

"Are you sure!?" Hob's eyes lit up in surprise.

 

"Yeah, absolutely. This one doesn't feel as strong as the one I entered before so it must be young." Grog replied with a giddy expression.

 

"And that means it's weak!" Bull added with a large grin.

 

"We must claim it before anyone else finds it. Fuck, with this, giving up that artifact will be no sweat." Hob chuckled.

 

"Come, lets find the core. It'll be worth a fortune back in the city." Grog said, entering the cave without hesitation.

 

The other two bandits nodded eagerly as they followed behind.

 

"Grog, what kind of dungeon could it be?" Bull asked as he gripped his hammer cautiously.

 

"Most likely a beast dungeon or elemental dungeon, we ain't gonna find a skill dungeon this deep out in the wilderness." Grog guessed as he laid his longsword on his shoulder.

 

The trio walked down the tunnel for around 40 meters before reaching a cave.

 

"There's practically nothing here but moss, this dungeon must have just appeared." Hob speculated as they entered the cave.

 

"Fuck! What's that stink?!" Bull covered his nose in disgust.

 

Grog's eyes narrowed as he readied his sword. "That smells like rotten flesh..."

 

The bandits spread out through the cave which was around 20 meters squared and around 6 meters high, stalagmites naturally formed on the roof though a few had fallen in the previous quake.

 

Hob was the first to discover where the smell was coming from as he shone his torch on the floor of the cave, near the center.

 

"I found two dead bodies!" He shouted.

 

Hearing this, the other two bandits gathered to his side.

 

"This.." Grog gasped.

 

"The fuck?!" Hob looked around vigilantly.

 

"How could this be! I know this wench!" Bull shouted as he pulled one of the corpses into view, tugging at its shredded shirt.

 

It was barely clothed woman with her eyes gouged out. Her rotting face showing a deathly expression with a hint of terror.

 

"We killed these two when we stole the artifact! They should be rotting in a ditch in the next forest over." Hob blurted out loudly as he drew an arrow.

 

"Who the fuck is playing games! Come out!" Grog shouted as he cast his gaze into the dark of the cave for any movement, his voice echoing loudly throughout the cave.

 

His shout was not answered, the only sound that could be heard being the low hum of their burning torches.

 

"This isn't good Grog, we gotta get out of here!" Hob said nervously.

 

Just as Grog was was about to reply, he heard a guttural scream from behind him.

 

"Ahhhhhh!"

 

Turning around, he saw the previously dead woman sinking her teeth deeply into Bull's throat.

 

"SHIT!" Grog leapt over and sunk his sword into the back of the dead woman, though she didn't even flinch and bit deeper into Bull's jugular.

 

As he pulled out his sword in an effort to plunge it in again, the dead woman pulled back with her head ripping out a huge portion of bulls throat.

 

Blood splattered outward like a fountain getting directly into Grogs eyes, blinding him.

 

Making a futile attempt to wipe the blood away, he heard Hob shout. "Watch out!"

 

He felt hands grip his legs, and then something bit into his inner thigh.

 

"Fuck!"

 

Hob watched in horror as Bull laid on the ground gripping his throat as blood uncontrollably splurted from it. His body giving the occasional twitch as the dead woman pulled back his leather armor and begun eating her way into his stomach.

 

While nearby, Grog was screaming, waving his sword around like a madman while the dead man ate at his legs.

 

Hob pulled his bow back and shot an arrow at the dead man, hitting him directly in the head, though just like the dead woman, he wasn't fazed at all and just kept eating away at Grog.

 

Seeing this, Hob shivered and nearly had a nervous breakdown. Suddenly he made up his mind.

 

"Fuck this shit is crazy, i'm outta here!" Hob shouted backed away to the tunnel from whence previously they came.

 

"You fucker! Don't leave!" He heard Grog's crazed shout, causing his heart to tighten. Though the small shred of guilt in his heart dissipated when he saw the dead man bite through Grog's leg right to the bone which swiftly let out an audible crunch.

 

"Ahhh!"

 

Hearing that scream only caused Hob's steps to quicken. When he was near the entrance of the tunnel, his back suddenly hit something hard.

 

His body froze as he slowly turned around, what came into his sight was the back of a tall woman covered in black armor, she seemed like a mountain to hob's small frame.

 

Her blood red hair shielding her face, though he could see two horns sprouting from her head.

 

"Fuck a demon!" 

 

He heard a beautiful husky voice resound in his ears. "You're not going anywhere human."

 

Before he could say anything, the demon in front of him became a blur as he felt a massive impact in his abdomen.

 

Hob flew backwards, his eyes rolling back and froth leaving his mouth, he fell right beside the two zombies who had just finished killing Grog and Bull. Leaving their mutilated meals, they quickly pounced onto the fresh meat that had just appeared before them.

 

"Ahhhh no stop!" Hob's terrified screams quickly became whimpers and then nothing at all but that sound of chewing.

 

Charlotte lowered her leg as she watched the grim sight. She felt a gagging sensation in her stomach so she turned her gaze away.

 

"Get used to it Charlotte....you'll be seeing far more horrific sights in the future enough to leave marks upon your soul forever." Nero appeared beside her.

 

He was now wearing clothes he scavenged from Grog and Bull, making him look like a rather handsome bandit. The bloodstains, were still wet however though he didn't seem to mind.

 

"You seem happy." Charlotte muttered.  She could hear from Nero's tone that he seemed rather cheerful.

 

"It's always a good day when I send some new people off to the great silence." Nero replied .

 

"The great silence...what is that?" Charlotte asked in confusion.

 

Nero looked at Charlotte, a wide grin on his face. "The end of all things..."