"Rise and shine.."

 

A raspy yet charismatic voice echoed in 18's fluffy ears.

 

Her eyes slowly fluttered open.

 

What came into her sight was a familiar rocky ceiling, only that it was now in the light of the sun.

 

Her ears twitched at the crackle of a nearby fire, smelling smoke, she suddenly remembered what happened.

 

"I was captured by a demon! She wanted to eat me!"

 

Panicking, she abruptly sat up. She looked around with darting eyes to see if she was being cooked for dinner but the reality was different from her thoughts.

 

18 was bound tightly but not in any immediate danger, she sitting was at the mouth of the dungeon she had escaped from, right next to a fire.

 

She could see the outside clearly as it seemed to be midday with the various birds tweeting and insects chirping, clueless of the nearby danger.

 

What caught her attention was the demoness who was sitting beside her, giving her a fright.

 

There was a bit of fear in 18's eyes. She had seen a few demons in the southern valley, but they were always of the lesser kind and quite a distance away as she was usually holed up in one of the various taverns with her group.

 

She had never seen one up so close, not to mention one that gave her such a great sense of danger.

 

The demon gave her a casual glance before munching on a cooked leg of deer.

 

18 also noticed the 6 skeletons that were keeping watch, the one with daggers in it's eye sockets giving her a particularly long stare.

 

And then she turned her head and looked across the fire.

 

There she saw a man in bloodied leather armor sitting quietly, long black hair cascading down his shoulders.

 

The man's features were sharp and flawless . His brows gave him a natural cold stare and his eyes were completely black like to voids which drew in all surrounding light.

 

They gave her a feeling of bottomlessness and a hidden terror that seeped into her bones.

 

Up above his eyes was a peculiar black crystal.

 

"You're finally awake. I see you had a good dream." The man smiled.

 

Remembering the nightmare that had given her many sleepless nights before, 18 gave a frown before spitting in disgust.

 

"Good dream? What a joke!" 18 scoffed.

 

The man's smile grew wider, he slowly stood up and walked over to 18.

 

"W-what do you want!" 18 backed away fearfully until her back hit the wall of the cave.

 

"I'm not joking child. Only good dreams could elicit such beautiful tears of suffering." The man reached out with his pale finger grazed her cheek with it.

 

On his finger was a single tear, glittering in the sunlight. He looked at it with wonder in his expression, seemingly admiring it.

 

She looked up at the man with a baffled expression. "He's a crazy.." She thought.

 

The demon noticed 18's expression, a look of understanding appearing on her face. She nodded with a similar thought. "He is indeed lacking a few screws."

 

18 collected herself and snorted angrily. She moved her bound hands and rubbed away the tears.

 

Flicking the tear into the fire, the man clapped his hands. "Now onto business, tell me child, why did you come here? Where are you from? Are there more of you?"

 

18 gave the man a look of disdain and sneered. "Why should I tell you? You're going to kill me anyway.. probably eat me too.."

 

When 18 mentioned being eaten, the man gave an eye roll towards the demon who chuckled in response.

 

"Look child I changed my mind, I'm not going to kill you." The man smiled.

 

"I don't believe it." 18 gave a skeptical stare.

 

The demon also had a look of disbelief in her eyes.

 

"Believe it or not, I see great potential in you. It's in your eyes." The man responded.

 

"What is?" 18 blinked her yellow eyes, still not convinced.

 

"Although it is a small flicker of what it once was, smothered by time and hope... it still persists. I see despair." The man's smile changed to an eerie one, more stretched and exaggerated but it seemed to be true as if his previous smile was just a fake.

 

18 shivered instinctively, she felt as if the abyssal gaze of the man had seen through her completely.

 

"Despair, torment and insanity. These are the keys that allow one to unlock the door and see the truth."

 

"Truth?" 18 pondered with a frown.

 

"That is.. the great silence."

 

Charlotte's pointed ears perked up, her eyes narrowing with interest.

 

"Though it would be useless explaining it. It isn't something so easily understood. Only when you see it yourself will you truly understand." The man said with a gesture of his hands.

 

Unknowingly, in the dark of the cave, Marion had appeared. She seemed to be nodding her ghostly head in agreement with a joyful smile on her face.

 

"If you co-operate, I will allow you a chance at life and maybe a glimpse at the great silence, that is if you have the resolve; but if you choose otherwise.."

 

18 gulped nervously.

 

The man continued. "I don't mind sending you on your way. The great silence benefits either way."

 

18 bit her lip. "I don't want to die.. but I still don't trust them, demons especially...but I don't have any other choice, worse case they'll just kill me anyway."

 

18 lowered her head and said. "Fine! I'll tell you what I know."

 

The man grinned. "Good!"

 

He pointed towards the demoness. "Though you'll have to convince dear Charlotte first. Although I don't mind letting you live, I still respect her opinion."

 

18 looked towards Charlotte fearfully. "What d-do you want?"

 

Charlotte looked at her with her violet eyes, opening her mouth she licked her lips hungrily. "Give me your arm."

 

"Oh?" The man's brow raised with interest as he looked at 18.

 

Charlotte's answer caused 18 to reel in fright, the mere thought of her arm being taken made her loose what semblance of composure she had regained.

 

Replying through gritted teeth, she said. "Fine! Take it!"

 

Charlotte smiled viciously, her sharp teeth in clear sight. Standing up, she walked over to 18 and picked her up.

 

Offering no resistance, 18 saw Charlotte undo her bindings.

 

"Which is your dominant arm?" Charlotte asked.

 

Shivering, 18 replied. "R-r-right."

 

Charlotte chuckled as she gripped 18's right bicep, fingers just below the armpit.

 

18's heart jumped as she shouted. "W-Wait!"

 

A tremendous force pulled against 18's right arm, first her arm dislocated from her shoulder and then came the tearing of flesh as her arm separated from her body.

 

"AHHH!!!" 

 

18 screamed with all the might of her lungs, the agony shaking her body in waves.

 

It felt as if there were countless little bugs biting at the open wound her absent arm left.

 

Going into shock, 18's eyes rolled back as she fainted. She didn't even feel the pain of the hellfire which Charlotte used to close her wound.

 

Satisfied, Charlotte placed 18 on the ground and then went over to the fire to cook her meal.

 

Nero chuckled as he shook his head. "Look what you did, she's fainted again. It'll be a while till she wakes, the poor girl."

 

Charlotte snorted as she remarked. "I could have taken a leg but I saw the big picture. A cripple would be useless, unable to help around with hunting animals and fending off intruders. My selfless self decided to be the big demon this time and take a loss."

 

Nero sighed as he watched Charlotte carefully barbeque the little wolfs arm over the fire. "Make sure to keep the bones intact, I have a good use for them."

 

Charlotte raised her brow, a small smirk on her face. "You want the marrow? But that's the best part! Not giving."

 

Nero laughed. "Don't be silly Charlotte, although missing an arm is not completely crippling, it's still inconvenient. I'll be using the bones to form a new weapon for our newest family member."

 

"Oh? How so?" Charlotte asked curiously.

 

"I don't just have the ability to raise the dead Charlotte, I do have other tricks up my sleeve." Nero smiled.

 

Yes, apart from dungeon management and undead creation he also had his self upgrades which granted him unique abilities.

 

Nero opened his grimoire.

 

The pages of the fleshy book flickered until it came upon the self upgrades page.

 

Nero's eyes gleamed as he explained the concept of dungeon generals to Charlotte who was carefully still carefully cooking 18's slender arm.

 

"Necro-Armament? Interesting.." Charlotte muttered with a thoughtful look.

 

She seemed to recall something in her mind. "I remember hearing about Demon-Armaments from mother one time but... I can't remember what she said. Could these Necro-Armaments be related to Demon-Armaments?"

 

Charlotte sighed and shifted her train of thought. "These Necro-Armaments sound quite powerful from what Nero said but the price of obtaining one was far too high."

 

Although she would like to possess such a weapon, the thought of her soul being bound to Nero was something she would never willingly allow.

 

"It would definitely be a big help having another strong helper around who could think clearly." Charlotte remarked as her gaze landed on the unconscious half-breed.

 

Nero nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, we're quite low on hands at the moment."

 

Regretfully, Nero lost four skeletons to the dwarf's last stand, his three new ghouls and one of his zombies to the powerful skill user, leaving his total forces quite thin at around 12 skeletons and six zombies.

 

This wasn't helped by the fact that only two of the intruders died within his dungeon domain.

 

While Nero did believe that the group of intruders this time would not enter and investigate his dungeon because of the strange crematory he had on display, the seven graves that were hastily dug didn't help either.

 

He was still grumbling about Charlottes shoddy work but he didn't blame her. There was just not enough time to prepare and hide the graves properly.

 

Thankfully, his soul points had filled up past his prior estimations to 230 soul points.

 

This was surprisingly due to the dwarf that was killed. Apparently he possessed revered soul worth 200 soul points.

 

When Nero asked Charlotte about this, she told him a bit of general info she knew about them.

 

Although Dwarves rarely leave their underground cities, they are not as isolated as the elves.

 

They do have quite a few merchant powers in the surface world, not to mention their master smiths which are highly sought after and handsomely paid. Even their warriors leave their cities for fortune and training.

 

She also mentioned their powerful innate strength and their long lifespans which last around seven centuries.

 

This information somewhat explained their powerful souls, though it didn't clear all of Nero's questions.

 

"Maybe it was their strength or their lifespans which caused them to far outclass humans in soul points." Nero thought curiously.

 

Needless to say, the dead dwarf left him feeling restless. He hoped some more dwarves would visit his little dungeon in the future as their soul points would gladly be appreciated.

 

The discovery of the dwarfs soul value also made Nero quite interested in finding new races and seeing how high their soul ranking was.

 

The soul ranking in the general info of his grimoire listed as such.

 

 

Nero returned his thoughts to his future new general, the unconscious wolf girl. "When she wakes, I'll be able to find out about these frequent guests and where they're coming from..."