Moonlighting 8 (2/2)

“Yup,” said Boxxy nonchalantly.

Dungeon cores were a curious thing whereby each and every monster bound to its service would have their perceptions twisted into believing the dungeon was absolute. This was something the shapeshifting chest understood firsthand, which was why it didn’t want Fizzy as its dungeon master. The golem would not be useful if she was forever bound to a dungeon, and had already pledged herself into its service, so having her fill that role would be counter-productive.

However, this ancient-yet-naive dryad had willingly become ensnared by it. It was honestly surprising to see how quickly she recognized Boxxy as the supreme authority within her own body. Which was good, because the Mimic honestly couldn’t trust her, nor did it want to be on hostile terms with her. Although the dungeon core’s Basic Appraisal of her was unable to tell her Skills and Attributes, what it did reveal still told a rather terrifying story.

A Level 50 Primordial Spirit, Level 50 Tree Spirit, Level 100 Semi-divine Being, Level 100 Dryad and Level 100 Hamadryad. Over 30,000 years old and with a staggering Level of 400, she had clearly reached the zenith of her evolutionary path. But most terrifying of all, was her literally infinite HP. She was not only immortal, but outright indestructible so long as her tree was in good health and she remained in close proximity to it. And yet, despite all that, she was strangely powerless in the face of some termites. It would seem even Ambrosia, a being that could rightfully be called a demigod, had some things she could not deal with. A harsh truth that applied to all things, probably even the actual Gods themselves.

“Dungeon Management.”

Not much had changed since it last checked on the dungeon, other than the Integrity had improved a little and that the Mana Collection had auto-regulated itself to prevent the core from overloading. The dungeon’s ever-expanding sphere of influence had at one point allowed the core to absorb nearly 120 MP per second from the surrounding area. And although that seemed a lot, it actually wasn’t.

Regulating the Monster Spawner, for example, could demand up to 30 MP per second in order to perform its function to the fullest. It wasn’t needed right now, though, as the only monsters that could appear within this tree naturally were termites, and Ambrosia and the demons already had a handle on those. The Surveillance Net, on the other hand, had a very light, almost insignificant upkeep.

However, the advanced features were even more taxing than that. Although Terrain Sculpting and Nexus Access were functions that consumed a chunk of MP with each use, each trap, guardian or prisoner would be a constant drain on this precious resource. That’s why Boxxy had to make sure it didn’t strain this place too hard. Even if the brainwashing on Ambrosia appeared to be working as intended, it didn’t want to push its luck and drive her to starvation. A monster driven to starvation would definitely try to break free from its dungeon, as not even the core could completely suppress its survival instincts. Heck, that was how Boxxy broke free of its dungeon in the first place. Therefore, it decided it would only do as much as was necessary, and no more.

And first things first, it needed to provide Fizzy with a place to stay, as well as a good way for her to move around this place.

“Terrain Sculpting!” it chanted.

The wooden surface of the surrounding cavern suddenly became covered in countless, bright blue lines, as if someone had covered the walls and floor with a net of light. The golem next to it didn’t seem to react, meaning this was most likely only something it could see. It walked over to a good-looking spot in the ground and made a gesture with a tentacle as if it was lifting something off the ground. Part of the intangible wire mesh suddenly jumped in response to its actions, which was followed by creaking and rumbling sounds as the wooden surface twisted itself to conform to the new shape. It took only a second to form a gigantic pillar of wood that was over 15 meters tall.

“Woah! That’s so cool!” exclaimed Fizzy.

Boxxy turned its attention towards the gnome and realized that the lines only it could see around her were tinged red. It would appear that the dungeon core was unwilling to perform terrain changes if there was an intruder within 5 meters of the spot, probably as some sort of failsafe mechanism. That crystal ball had a lot of those to make sure that the one using it didn’t accidentally cause a calamity. The God of Causality probably knew of a way to bypass those safety measures by force, as the Mimic realized it was normally impossible to overload the core with mana even if it wanted to.

“Fizzy, stand back,” it ordered, “I have to build a thing.”

“Ah! You got it Boxxy!”

The offending golem walked further away, allowing Boxxy to finish what it was doing. It extended the wooden pillar further upward, steadily draining away thousands of the core’s MP reserves. The Mana Collection automatically kicked into high gear and began replenishing them at a rate of 135.6 MP per second. The impossibly tall wooden pillar was attached with branch-like growths to the surrounding caves, plateaus and walls, which would serve both to keep it from collapsing under its own weight and as well as providing access to those parts of the dungeon. The massive wooden pole was then steadily turned into a grand circular staircase. Boxxy and Fizzy started climbing it as the monster made some adjustments here and there as it saw fit.

Ambrosia: Milord! What art thou doing down there?!

This window that popped up into the Mimic’s consciousness was a communication function of the Surveillance Net that allowed notable individuals within the dungeon to exchange messages. It wasn’t quite as convenient as the telepathic link with its familiars and consumed a negligible amount of MP, but it was still very useful. The monster briefly wondered why the dryad used this instead of showing up in person, but it didn’t really matter much.

Boxxy: I’m just making your insides a bit more accessible. Is it unpleasant?

Ambrosia: Nay, though it doth tickle verily!

Boxxy: I’ll be done soon, so please bear with it.

Ambrosia: Understood, milord.

Boxxy kept climbing the ever-growing staircase until it reached the platform where the dungeon core was. It was a good 120 meter climb, although neither it nor Fizzy were tired in the slightest. A monster’s endurance really was on a different level.

“Oh, so that’s the core?” asked the golem while looking up at the yellow orb floating in mid-air.

It bathed the surroundings in a bright light, almost as if it were a miniature sun. She had spotted the glow from the base of the impossibly tall chamber since it was the only source of light, but seeing it up close was really something else. Her eyes still had trouble penetrating the darkness, so she had to rely on a flashlight she made to assist her vision. However, that wouldn’t be a problem so long as this thing shone its reliable light on her.

Boxxy was also slightly taken aback by the sight before it. Not only was the dungeon core shining with its favorite color, but it also made Fizzy’s mithril frame practically dazzle and sparkle. It wanted to lick and touch her all over, wrap itself around her and keep her to itself for all eternity. Well, it would get plenty of chance to do that in the future if it played its cards right, so it withheld itself and turned its attention to the scene that was developing directly underneath the dungeon core.

Although Kora and Xera were busy performing lewd acts as expected, it would appear they have mixed things up for once. The succubus was currently suspended in mid-air, with numerous vines wrapped tight around her arms and legs. They were violating all her holes at once, while also simultaneously whipping her plush ass cheeks and mercilessly groping and mauling her soft breasts. It was a blatantly obvious recreation of Boxxy’s ‘Shapeshift practice’ from awhile back, and the wanton slut was enjoying every moment of it.

Kora on the other hand was sitting off to the side, with her legs spread wide and Ambrosia’s face buried in her crotch. All four of the demon’s hands were hanging onto the antlers on top of the dryad’s head and forced it up and down her engorged length as she eagerly fucked her face. The plant lady’s throat bulged out obscenely as it stretched to accommodate the fiend’s impressive girth, but she neither struggled nor protested.

“What the hell are you doing?!” asked Fizzy when she saw the bizarre scene.

Since Boxxy’s familiars were extensions of its magic power, the dungeon core recognized them as co-owners, of a sort. As a result, they could access all of the core’s functions, although Boxxy had forbidden them from doing so without permission. It also meant that the dungeon master - in this case Ambrosia - would willingly and eagerly obey any order they gave her. And it was quite clear that they had told her to ‘attend’ to their needs.

“Oh! Hey - Umpf! - squirt!” called out Kora in-between grunts. “I’m just- Umpf! - breaking in - Umpf! - the new girl’s throat! Umpf!”

“Yeah! I can see that! But why?!”

“Well, she - Umpf! - doesn’t have - Umpf! - anything between her legs - Umpf! - so I’m making do! Umpf! It’s surprisingly - Umpf! - hot though, so - Umpf! - I don’t mind!”

“That’s not what I- Okay, never mind!”

“No, for real! Umpf! She swallows like a champ! Umpf! Watch!”

The fiend then growled and roared as she ejaculated down Ambrosia’s throat, who just sort of stood there and gulped it down as if it were her mission in life.

“Ugh,” scowled Fizzy as she turned away in disgust. Those meatbag processes were as repulsive ever.

Boxxy on the other hand didn’t really care one way or the other. Its sex drive was still as non-existent as ever. Although it did learn to find some pleasure in the act recently, eating tasty things or playing with shiny things were far more enjoyable in its opinion. Still, it had work to do, so it quickly made the girls stop their antics and gave them their orders.

Arms and Snack were to help the golem set up an Artificer workshop, including a forge, but using the dungeon core’s power. Boxxy then laid out some spike and dart traps around the entrance to the sewers that should be enough to take care of any wandering creature or vagrant that stumbled onto this place. They’d also activate when Fizzy used the passage, but her mithril hide would have no problems deflecting that level of damage. The dungeon core would maintain and re-arm the traps as needed, so Boxxy didn’t need to give them any special attention.

The Mimic wanted to build a few more things, but the dungeon core was rapidly running out of MP, not to mention that the monster was running late and had places to be. It therefore decided to wrap things up for the day and return to maintaining its facade as an apprentice Ranger. The Job itself was more than just a cover, of course, as the Mimic legitimately thought it would be a great asset to its toolkit. Unlike that other Job its Cadaver Absorption picked up a few weeks ago, or the thoroughly useless Divine Attunement Skill it got off a Priest. Well, the former turned out to be a bit convenient in some unexpected ways, while the latter unlocked the advanced Faith (FTH) Attribute, so it wasn’t like their acquisition was a bad thing.

The spider-chest leapt over to the edge of the plateau it was standing on and clung onto the far wall. It used a combination of Terrain Sculpting and Dungeon Expansion to make a tunnel into the side of the tree, one that led straight to the outside. The narrow passage opened up into the side of the Hylt tree’s trunk, with nothing immediately around it. The city of Azurvale stretched out underneath, dyed a vibrant shade of red by the setting sun, meaning its position was actually much higher than it thought at first.

After getting its bearings and making sure to memorize this entrance’s position, Boxxy sealed the tunnel behind it, turning it into a very shallow cave that was still technically part of the dungeon. In the future, it would just need to enter this tight space and transport itself into the dungeon proper through Nexus Access. That way, even if this hole-in-the-tree was discovered, nobody would be able to gain entry through it. Realizing that the rectangular hole it made in the side of the tree was clearly unnatural on its own, it decided to camouflage it with a special door courtesy of the Trap Construction module.

Satisfied that its secret entrance was now complete, it changed its coloration to dark brown, matching that of the bark behind it, then climbed down the tree. On second thought, it might have to revise this entrance’s location as it felt exposed, but it was probably good enough for now. It passed by the tallest branch with people living on it, and kept going down until it reached a lonely, cheap-looking house built into the side of the Hylt tree.

Standing in front of its fake home, it actually found itself looking forward to getting some actual rest instead of pretending to sleep while working on its Meditation Skill. It had the effect of passively increasing its automatic MP recovery, so it was well worth the effort. Still, these past few days had been slightly more mentally draining than usual, so it decided to take its bi-weekly dose of sleep a bit earlier than usual. It quickly ducked behind the house and changed into its fabricated persona, the same one it had been adopting ever since a week ago. Once it was sure its form was complete, it opened its Storage and deftly took out some clothes and chainmail armor, which it put on immediately. After making itself decent, it walked around the house while equipping a set of three high-grade magic items it acquired on the way to the capital.

Your mass has been reduced by 40%.

Your weight has been reduced by 40%.

Your resistance to electricity has increased by 15%.

Satisfied with the trio of silver rings on its slender right hand, it started releasing lust-inducing pheromones, put on its ‘game face’ and opened the front door boldly.

“Honey, I’m home!” it called out in a cheerful voice.

“Welcome back, Keira,” answered Rowana with a wide smile.