For the first time in five days Marcus and his team were able to breathe a bit easy.
They had finally made it to the heart of the monster army and destroyed the vats of mysterious green liquid that had been spawning them.
Now all the monsters in the area were gone and the ones that they had blown past outside the large room they found themselves in were held up by the spells they had used to seal the entrance.
"It might not be much, but I hope you can all enjoy your first hot meal in a while."
Marcus had whipped a quick pot of stew by adding some stock he had prepared along with numerous dry rations.
He did not have the time to make many preparations but considering all they had been eating for the last five days were jerky and preserved fruits, it was very welcome.
"Are you not going to have any?" Mrazivý asked as she sat down next to Marcus with a full bowl in her hands.
"No, I do not need to eat so it is best if I leave it all to the rest of you. Anyway, we do not have all that long. Hurry up and get your fill and rest while you can." Marcus replied.
However, instead of eating the spoonful she had scooped up herself, Mrazivý shoved it into Marcus' mouth.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Sure, you do not need to eat, and you have practically unlimited physical stamina, but your mental fatigue builds up just like the rest of us. I know you enjoy eating for the taste, so how about you stop being on edge for just a bit and enjoy this slight respite we have earned." Mrazivý said with a grin on her face.
Relenting to her forceful feeding, Marcus allowed himself to relax, and the two do them shared a couple of bowls of stew together. Forgetting for a few moments that they were in a dungeon with monsters trying to kill them at every turn.
Sadly, the peaceful break they were all enjoying soon came to an end and they had to get back to exploring before the monster army broke through.
Still the slight breather they had been able to take had a marked improvement on their team and wiped away some of the weariness that had been building up.
"I guess we go straight ahead at a reasonable pace. Let us go see what lies at the end of this place."
All of them quickly broke off into a run that even Alaric the member with the least amount of stamina could keep up for hours.
To most people they would have seemed to be traveling quite fast at over thirty miles an hour, but for all of them it was actually a fairly leisure pace.
'That looks promising.'
Within just fifteen minutes they came across a large metal door that was placed into eh wall of the facility they found themselves in.
If they were lucky, they would find a teleportation circle that would lead them out of this place and back into the real world.
"It is not tapped or locked as far as I can tell. Maybe we already got through enough and we just need to open this door and that will be the end." Marcus said hopefully.
Of course, it was not going to be that easy.
On the other side of the door was a large man who easily stood twelve feet tall sitting at a large desk with two tanks filled with the dark green liquid they had seen in the vats outside.
But that was not all. He also had long leather wings like a bat's coming out of his back. and two long horns that hot out of his head and curved slightly before coming to a point.
His hair was a dark red and he gave off a chilling aura.
At first Marcus thought that the man was some type of demon, since the aura was somewhat similar to what he had felt from them.
All demons gave off a sort of oppressive aura that made every other type of living being wary of them.
This man was emitting something similar, but it was sharper and less wild than that of a demon.
"Ah, it seems that my guests have finally arrived. I was beginning to think that I would need to come out an greet you myself." The man said as he turned around to face Marcus and his group.
'He talked!'
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmSurprise was written all over Marcus' face as he heard this tall redhaired man speak.
So far none of the entities within the dungeon had said anything, or really possessed any mott of intelligence.
In fact, the only creature any of them had come across that seemed to have any will of its own was the Shinigami that Marcus had fought, and it had only exhibited the subtlest of gestures.
However, before them now was a completely intelligent man, or perhaps monster.
'Mraz can you get a read on him?' Marcus asked.
'Yes. But I have never even heard about what he is. His race is listed as an Archdevil. His level is eight-four, all of his stats are incredibly high and overall better than any of ours. And he had six unique skills and plenty of powerful and high-level normal skills.'
With this information relayed from Mrazivý, their entire group became far more wary, and Lyra and Marcus exchanged knowing looks.
While the others who had originated from this world had not heard of devils before, Marcus and Lyra had.
"Now that was certainly rude. Here I am trying to be a good host, and that little girl there uses some strange power to peak at my status, and all of you start radiating hostility. I have done nothing to any of you." The Archdevil said while feigning a hurt expression.
"You say that, but was it not this place that was producing the monsters that have been attacking us for five days straight. You seem to be in charge here from what I can see. Not to mention that you are a dungeon monster. Surely you are just a construct meant to challenge us." Marcus said accusatorily while holding his scythe out.
At this the Archdevil began laughing and turned his gaze right towards Marcus with an evil smile on his face.
"Yes, I do run this facility as per the contract I have signed. But I did not order the monsters to attack you. They were simply following their programming so to say. Though it would have been much easier for me if all of you had just perished out there. Still, I have not been maliciously attacking you in anyway, and there are other ways to get what I want than simply killing all of you. And allow me to correct a misunderstand you seem to have; I am not a monster made by this dungeon. I was forced here by a less than favorable contract. Unfortunately, that bully of an administrator gave me little choice in the matter."
Taken aback by this Archdevil's words Marcus could not tell whether it was telling the truth or not.
However, the fact remained that it did not act like anything else they had encountered in this dungeon, and that it had mentioned the administrator.