“Are you sure you can’t come with us, sensei?” Mark asked.

 

The men were dressed to impress each with heavy backpacks, canteens with fresh water, a survival knife, and a signal flare in case they got lost. None bothered wearing armor because their ki armor would be stronger than anything money could buy.

 

“If you run into any trouble, don’t be afraid to retreat; this Dungeon isn’t going anywhere. When you’re alive, you can always try again.” Vergil said.

 

Vergil felt his senses expand with his observation Haki; it was like an alarm was blaring in his head. Something was coming, and it would be safer if his disciples were out on a dungeon’s first floor. The lot of them could handle it. Vergil believed in them.

 

Over 200 men superhuman men should be able to conquer a dungeon. If they couldn’t manage it, they needed more training. Though it wasn’t like they would be alone for long. Vergil fully planned to go in after the problem was taken care of.

 

It was thanks to his observation Haki that he remained behind instead of leaving his Sect unguarded.

 

The golden doors to the Black Water Mystery Dungeon opened. He sat on a gold-plated throne surrounded by eagles with an American flag draped over the back. Vergil had wanted to wear a cape, but that might have been too much. One of the pokémon he had to get was a Mismagius; he couldn’t wait to explore the Dungeon; there were so many pokémon Vergil wanted and no limits on what he could capture.

 

A thought occurred to him. Could he capture them and make them into sect disciples? Vergil opened up the system guidelines and searched for rules disqualifying dungeons from supplying disciples. After a little looking, there were limits. Only two per Dungeon per person counted as disciples. He would need disciples to invite the pokémon to his Sect, but the limit was two each. Still, he could have all the pokémon waifus he wanted. Realistically he might get two or three even though there were over a thousand choices. That included legendaries. Vergil always thought Mew would be a milf if she had a human form. Then again, Galar Rapidash was beautiful.

 

A spike of Haki alerted him before his door swung open, revealing a man in a pink long coat with kill you written on his coat. He had a pencil-trim mustache, and his hair was tied back in a long braid.

The head of Sly was tossed in and rolled to the foot of Vergil’s throne. Tao stepped inside with a cruel smirk before scraping dog shit on Vergil’s carpet. Observation Haki told him what the dog had eaten in the last day, how terrified Sly was before he died, and how the fibers in his carpet would never be the same. Vergil stared to the side, where a massive column of indoor shoes waited to be swapped. There was a side path to a room for replacing shoes to keep the Sect clean. Then there was his disciple’s bloody head still rolling on Vergil’s carpet. But, of course, the blood and sweat of loyal disciples was a holy thing and not something that could ever stain his carpet, even if he vacuumed on occasion.

 

“He was just a boy, a child of my Sect, and you killed him,” Vergil said.

 

Vergil felt his fingers crack loudly in the room as he opened and closed his hand. Tao took a bold step forward and let the door shut behind him.

 

“You should have taught your students to respect a master. What a gaudy ugly Sect; it's no wonder all your disciples can do is run and struggle.” Tao said.

 

Vergil locked the door behind the man. His disciples were either in the Dungeon or out of the way. Nothing would stop Vergil from taking care of this threat.   

 

…

 

They moved in groups of five under the sun's heat. Large purple-furred rats leaped from the grass biting ankles before running away. The few his men could stomp to death left behind small square purple spray bottles. Along with the potions, a small red device fell on the ground after each person made a kill. Once it was picked up, their name appeared inside it, and they could communicate with each other with them on video.  

 

Unfortunately, the person Mark needed to talk to most was Shiro, and Mark didn’t like the smug bastard’s face.

 

“Team C say they saw a purple cobra near the edge of the grassland. My team will check it out; maybe we can make a capture with these pokéballs the birds drop. Have you gotten any pokéballs yet?” Shiro said.

 

“Are you sure you can handle it? It may be tougher than a rat or a bird.” Mark said.

 

“Oh, haha, so far, nothing in here can even slow us down. I’m starting to think we should have gone with the Soulsborn Dungeon. How much money has your team pulled so far?” Shiro asked.

 

Mark thought about it. “About 50 zenni; what about your team?” Mark asked.

 

“Really, only 50; we have four times that you should go after the birds; they pay better than the rats,” Shiro said.

 

Mark didn’t want to fight anything too much tougher than the rats. Sensei told him that dungeons are built to kill people who act too daring. This place was supposed to benefit the Sect, not benefit from the Sect. If Sensei had been present, all of this would be different.

 

“Shit, what is that thing,” Shiro yelled.

 

Arrr Bkk

 

Mark saw the ground swinging as Shiro ran for it. “It's chasing us into the swamp, Mark; we need reinforcements. Giant variants of pokémon lay ambushes and lead the smaller ones one bit through Fast Johnny’s ki armor. It let go and let him run, and I know Johnny is poisoned, but we don’t have anything to help him.” Shiro said.

 

He converged on their location while calling the other team leaders to act as backup. Mark wasn’t going to let anyone die on his first mission. They were on the first floor of a dungeon; nothing was expected to be too dangerous until the third.

 

When he saw the giant purple cobra, he took a picture with his pokédex.

 

Arbok – This pokémon is terrifically strong to constrict things with its body. It can even flatten a steel oil drum. Once Arbok wraps its body around its foe, escaping its crunching embrace is impossible.

 

Mark had pushed himself in the weight room and struggled to reach the advanced stage of prenatal cultivation. He cultivated for long hours and used his ki to lift heavier weights. Sensei was the only one to spot him when Mark used the magnetic bench to push himself. He struggled through sweat and tears to push himself to enter the World Martial Arts Tournament and win. All that weight training had to amount to something.

 

When he saw the snake about to enter the swamp and chase down his fellow disciples, he knew he had to stop it before it entered. Once it made it into the swamp that was the Arbok’s territory. He grabbed the monster’s stubby tail and pulled. The monster’s momentum nearly snapped Mark’s arms off.

 

He stabbed a foot in the mud, only for a big blue pokémon to run up and bite him on the shin. Mark’s Ki armor survived, if only barely, as Mark took a step back. The snake turned about to wrap up Mark when Mr. Satan roared, twisted, and tossed the snake in the air. The Arbok was airborne momentarily before a powerful yank from Mr. Satan slammed it hard into the ground. He unsheathed his knife before lunging forward.

 

He felt his knife sink through the back of the monster’s head, killing it instantly. Larry, a teammate, tackled the monster biting his leg and snapping its neck.

 

From the giant Arbok, a neat stack of 2000 zenni appeared, a one-use scroll with the ability shed skin, and two bottles containing general antidotes. Since he had a moment, he looked at the swamp before him.

 

Bugs the size of dogs buzzed in the air, nesting in cypress trees covered in white hanging moss. The swamp had no sunlight, but Mark could see large shapes moving deeper within. He moved out of the way of a wasps stinger and punched the creature with a power-up punch. That 50% boost in strength gave him the power to finish off a group of beedrill following their buddy. After the beedrill drops, he had 6 more antidotes and a few abilities. He scanned over the sniper hidden ability before reading it. Suddenly when he dealt a critical blow, he would do more than double the damage. Mark had 8 antidotes and four disciples with him.

 

The rest of the Arboks still chased Shiro’s team deeper into the swamp. He prepared to lead his team into a poisonous hellscape to rescue them.

 

…

 

Yellow light filled the room as a Dodan ray slammed into his ki armor before dissipating. It had much more power than Vergil suspected; he even felt some heat from the attack. Tao shot forward and jabbed out for pressure points while Vergil weaved through Tao’s blows with Haki. He was getting the feeling that the Dodan ray wasn’t that powerful Vergil was sure he could replicate it if he had the mutation found in Dragon ball ki. All he needed was to leave his Sect, and so much power would be at his fingertips.

 

Vergil sighed as he grabbed Tao’s finger mid-jab and broke it. Then he grabbed the man by his scrawny neck.

 

“What,” Vergil punched him repeatedly in the gut until blood started spraying from the mercenary’s mouth.

 

“Luck is opportunity and preparation. I knew that if I let you believe you had the advantage, you would flash your techniques like a cheap whore.”

 

“Now I can teach my students the Dodan Ray and your pressure point nonsense. It will be valuable against opponents who don’t wear ki armor.” Vergil said.

 

The man tried to plead for his life, and Vergil crushed his voice box and stopped his movements with telekinesis. Then Vergil crippled the man’s arms and legs. Afterward, he called in two of his disciples who remained in the Sect.

 

“Sect Master, what can we do for you.” John, one of the less experienced disciples, asked.

 

Vergil pulled a key out of Mercenary Tao’s Long coat and handed it to the man. “Go to central city and place the door in a crowded area.”

 

John ran off after his orders were given.

 

Vergil turned his attention to the other disciple standing prepared. He purchased a spike for impalement from his Sect System. For the wooden 6ft long spike, it was only 20 zenni.

 

“Drag this piece of trash out of town, impale him asshole first, and make sure no one spares his life. He killed at least two of our people. It's your job to make sure he dies nice and slow.” Vergil said.

 

A croaking voice sprayed static as mercenary Tao pleaded for his life, or maybe he was begging to escape his misery. His disciple saw Sly’s head, and any pity he might have felt vanished. With his job done, a quest appeared.

 

Quest Rescue Disciples

After entering the exciting Black Water Mystery Dungeon, your disciples have discovered that poison swamps are deadly even with superhuman abilities. So save them like a good Sect Master.

Requirements

Defeat Toxicroak

Defeat Galar Slowbro

Defeat Matron Salazzle

Rewards: 100SP, Random Die Utility, Random Die Offense,  40,000 Zenni

 

…

 

Entering the swamp had been a bad idea. Mark ran with two members of his own team, while Shiro ran with a member of his. Three disciples were dead, one of them from Mark’s team and the other two from Shiro’s. They were not ready for the Dungeon, but it would have been different if Sensei had entered with them. So what was their Sect Master thinking, leaving them alone. It was a casino that killed people before they could make it out with the casino’s money so a casino.

 

He looked behind him as he trudged through waist-high water as a lizard creature lazily swam behind him. It had to be at least 15ft long from snout to tail; it didn’t care that they were running away. It knew it could get them if it waited patiently.

 

It lunged forward, and he shot out of the way moments before the jaws closed. The monster lazily continued moving towards them, conserving its energy, confident they couldn’t escape. The shore was still 20km away. They weren't making it if help didn’t arrive, but he didn’t want to say it even while his stamina was running on empty. His shoulders felt ready to pop off; it would be easier if he dropped his cargo, but he refused to leave his fellow disciples to die.

 

He looked back to see hundreds of the male variants of the pokémon. Poisonous gas filled the air as the effect of Mark’s last antidote started to wear off.

 

In the trees, a monstrously strong blue frog creature hung back while a pink-skinned pokémon with a shell biting its arm moved slowly and bobbed out of the water, watching the chase. Mark saw a flare in the distance, and the pink pokémon moved toward them.