As soon as they entered the throne room, Seneos winced when a certain unrecognizable mass of bones and flesh came into view. He had forgotten about the Tank, Sung. The healer girl, Jimin, had been devoured by the wolves so he hadn't seen her, however, the tank was still there.

While the beast and Vodka went to the makeshift throne while moving away the rubbles, Sen took small steps towards the corpse.

'I can't even take it back with me to give it to his family. Everyone would be suspicious of me If I did. You'll remain here forever....' Sen thought about it a bit more and yelled at the beast.

"Hey ! Do you think we bury the corpse somewhere ?!"

The beast turned around and eyed the corpse with something akin to regret.

"We certainly could, I don't know which place would be the best though." The beast shrugged his shoulders and sat down on the massive set of stairs leading to the throne. It was made with the size of the Orc Boss in mind so it was massive, however, it was made out of scrap metal, wood, and bones. It didn't look good in the slightest.

Seneos bit his lips and decided to come back to bury the corpse later. He needed to think of the best place before burying him and it wasn't like the corpse was going anywhere.

He advanced towards the throne, and once again that feeling of immense happiness filled him. It clawed at his heart, whispering in his ears that finally, he was to become more than a failure.

He climbed the stairs, taking all of his time to savour the moment. He imagined what it would be like once he had soldiers. Would he feel like an actual king, climbing up those stairs while the cheers of his thousands of subjects rocked the entire room.

As he ascended towards the throne, a fairly arrogant thought graced him.

'I'll need a much better throne. If I can finally become something more...I shouldn't settle for some makeshift throne, right ?'

Humans naturally sought validation be it from others or from themselves. The mere fact that after all those years he ended up being happy with himself, ever so slightly, made some of his more rotten traits retreat.

He sat down on the throne and regretted it right away. A pulse sent his upper body forward, a lump going up inside his throat as he felt the need to puke everything his stomach contained. His hands trembled as did his feet, while something cold caressed his back from up and down.

"Leader ? What is happening to him, guide ?" The beast asked, a bit of panic clear in it's tone.

"It appears that just as my data stated, the dungeon is creating a link with the overlord. It is a positive thing, although my data did indicate that the Overlord would only feel bad if the process took more time than was necessary. I wonder what is causing this." Vodka observed as Sen began to thrash around in the big throne that left him more than enough space to hit his hands and head freely.

"I can guess a little, but I wouldn't want to assume. It seems like there is quite the rebellion going inside his body. Perhaps something was awakened by the process when it shouldn't have been. " The beast remarked, a disturbing fascination in his orange eyes. He poked Sen's body, but the reaction that followed was not predicted in the slightest.

"ARGHH !" Seneos screamed, almost roared, as he lunged forward and tried to plunge his teeth into the finger of the beast. The fingers were not entirely covered in scales contrarily to the rest of the body, but the dark skin that acted as a barrier for the softer flesh lying beneath was strong enough to resist. Only a bit of blood was drawn as the beast smiled.

" Going for one of my weakest points ? That is not good." It said, shaking the finger as though it was a reprimanding parent. 

Seneos' thoughts were in complete shambles as he ground his nails against the scrap metal that made up the armrests. He couldn't feel any pain contrarily to what his body language expressed. He wasn't thrashing around in pain. His body was moving on it's own as if it was trying to push something else.

He didn't notice a purple aura leaking out of the back of his brain, but the beast and Vodka certainly did.

"And what is this supposed to be ? Is it his magic evaporating ?" The beast asked, however, Vodka hummed to answer his questions. He was starting to understand her various hums and this one meant no.

" By binding itself to the Overlord, the dungeon will impose it's will on him just he will, in the future, impose his will on it to change it, upgrade it. It is trying to change him, push back his ugly side so that only the best remains. Yet, it appears that it cannot do that, hence the thrashing. I do not know if the dungeon will continue it's attempt or stop.  " She explained, prompting the Beast to nod his head in understanding.

"Just like I thought, something is very much against the idea of going away. I happen to know that humans are really prone to....Having a few screws loose, I think that was the saying I heard. Perhaps the madness inside of his mind refuses to let go. Bah ! I never understood how humans worked anyway." The beast groaned and sat down, feeling that the process might last more than a few minutes.

It was proven wrong when Sen released an ear-piercing roar, before spitting some blood.

"T-That was....What the hell happened to me Vodka ?!" Sen yelled as he checked his body, making sure that he didn't have any injuries.

"...I am not exactly inclined to explain everything once again. Just know that this was a normal process required by the dungeon itself. You are now linked to it. It is yours, now and forever, until death do you apart." Vodka said, eliciting a tilt of the head from Sen.

"You make it sound like I married the dungeon or something."

"You are now required to make it prosper, to make it thrive. You are now required to help it just like It will help you. In more ways than one, it does sound like you Humans' version of marriage. Or as it could also be called, a give and take relationship." Vodka responded, making Sen gulp.

He couldn't help but recall what she had said a few hours prior when she first appeared.

' Whether you want it or not.....So I really have no choice.'

It wouldn't deter his mood though, it just couldn't. He was already a man with no prospect in life anyway, having to work for the dungeon just like it would work for him wasn't that bad. At least he would get to grow, something that would never happen if he continued to take random jobs as an F rank Hunter.

Vodka made a sound, as if she clearing her throat, and brought the attention back to her.

"Now that you are here, we will be able to review the various menus that are available to you. This...Is your Dungeon Overlord System." She spoke in a small voice as a screen appeared. It was like a holographic representation, a game menu more realistic than any other popping right in Seneos' face.

The screen was easy to understand for Seneos who had played games during his entire life, though not all the menus appeared to be accessible. What had popped up was of course the main menu, a list of all the various options that the Overlord could browse through. 

There was the inventory of the dungeon, the information sheet as well as the upgrade menu. Seneos didn't need any explanations to know what they were for. The other menus that were available for now though, took a little more than a second for Sen to understand. The placement menu allowed Sen to decide where his different subjects would be placed in this miniature world, as well as where each zone would be. What stunned him was that he could actually place the zones wherever he wanted, meaning he could change the location of the ruins at any moment. The recruitment menu was easy to get, though Seneos had to actually click on it to gain a full understanding of it's function.

He had thought that the recruitment of creatures was an automatic process, the creatures being summoned after their deaths. However, it wasn't the case. The menu even had a little help option which explained that not all creatures had the same chances of being recruited. The chances depended on the condition of the corpse, as well as the difference in strength with the already existing force of the dungeon. That in itself was good news because it meant that the beast counted.

Otherwise, Seneos would only be able to recruit creatures as weak as himself. It also meant that he should strive to recruit the strongest creatures possible since they would also boost his chances. 

Looking at the wildly moving eyes of Seneos as the Overlord made plans in his head, the Beast smiled softly.

'So there is a lot of hope for that one after all.' 

**********

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