Ethan POV

  “Huff, huff.” I could hardly breathe anymore. This monster is just too much, and the commander also disappeared.

  With no one giving orders, the monster was slaughtering us, and it knew we were aiming for the box, but it did not give us any chance, as every time I got closer, it would appear in front of me and attack me.

  Thanks to the others, I survived, but our number was barely above 10.

  No mages, only close-range fighters to fight against this monster.

  We can’t even distance ourselves from it as it will instantly appear in front of us.

  I tried to land a blow, but the monster always dodged at the last second.

  Soon I saw his fist closing on my face, and I knew if I got hit, I would die on the spot with my head flying into the sky.

  But my body was just too tired after the fight and could barely move as my whole body was covered in sweat, and even my equipment abilities were triggered, already making them useless.

  I could only close my eyes as I awaited my doom, but nothing happened.

  “Hey, kid, will you be standing here all day?” I could hear a voice that time did not spare as it was hoarse from the countless times spent smoking.

  When I opened my eyes, I realized in front of me was a man in a sweater with casual pants, and in both of his hands were brass knuckles.

  The monster was standing in front of me with his arm raised and looking at the old man.

  Somehow he stopped the monster from attacking.

  “If your dilly-dallying is over, then leave already, I have to take care of this monster myself.” As the old man said, he threw me away like nothing and hit the monster away with one punch.

  Looking at the old man, his whole body is covered in scars with extremely defined muscles that years of hard work created.

  Short silver hair with deep blue eyes and a mutton chops beard with a small mustache.

  Boom.

  I saw where the monster landed, the ground cracked in as it jumped at the man with speed far surpassing what I could see.

  As I wanted to see what would happen, my vision was obstructed by the dust that was stirred up.

  Soon I felt my eardrums explode as the monster moved at such a speed that it created a sonic boom.

  As the dust settled, I saw the man standing in front of the monster without moving and the monster being stopped by some kind of force as I saw it trying to punch the man but couldn’t move at all.

  “You had your shots, now it is my time to punch.” Said the man as he raised his left arm and prepared to punch the monster in the face.

  Seeing his fist moving forward, but as if the space itself got distorted, his punch landed on the monster's face, instantly sending him flying away.

  “It has been a while since I got such a good punching bag.” Said the man gleefully as he walked towards the monster, but the next moment he appeared in front of the monster, punching him in the gut and caving him into the ground.

  But soon an explosion happened, and the old man was sent out flying with a trail of smoke after him.

  The monster came out of the smoke, and one of his arms turned into dust with a raging expression as it hated being toyed with.

  Getting up from the ground, I saw the old man spit out a mouthful of blood as he was hit by the explosion from the monster.

  “Damn it, I hit the sandbag too hard, and it flew back and hit me in the face. Thankfully those old guys are not here to see my embarrassment.” I heard the old gay saying this to himself, but also to us who are still alive, not to talk about this to anyone.

  “Hey, kiddos, leave the monster to me and seal the gate already. We wasted too many lives for this operation.” Raising his voice high enough so everyone could hear him, he said, while not turning his vision off from the monster.

  With a scream, the monster charged at the old man again with a sonic boom following closely after the monster.

  For the first time, the old man dodged to the side and he kicked the monster away as it was next to him, sending him into the debris of a house.

  But soon after, it jumped out and tried to ram the old man, who, using his ability, stopped the monster again, punching him away.

  The monster after each attack became stronger and faster as it did not care about its injuries, but the dust that slowly drifted off from its body became more and more.

  It slowly started becoming more and more desperate as it could not land a blow on the old man.

  But the old man was not faring too well, as each punch of the monster could, at minimum, break his bones or be fatal.

  What tired him out was dodging the monster explosion that it created with just its body and the flames on him.

  Those flames can burn anything to dust.

  As they fought, I tried to get the boy, but the monster, seeing what we were doing, turned its attention to us, stopping us from doing it.

  The old man did not let the monster run away from him as he used his ability on the monster, stopping him in his tracks, but as he wanted to punch the monster, the monster moved for the first time.

  Overcame the old man's ability.

  Feeling the danger, the old man dodged just in the nick of time as the monster's remaining arm barely scratched across the surface of his face but still drew blood out from the wound.

  “Congratulations, you abomination, you deserve a reward.” Said the old man as he backed away, and soon both of his turned blue and gave off a chilling feeling to anyone who saw it.

  “Eat this! ‘Cryo-Nebula’!” The old man used both of his fists to hit the monster at the same time, sending it flying towards the gate into the space cracks around it, and who knows when the monster will stop from the strike it received as I saw the monster, half of its body freezing instantly.

  As the monster disappeared, I sprinted towards the boy, picked it up, and took the crystal out.

  The crystal received zero damage as the box can stop it from receiving any damage outside of the box in the first place.

  Channeling mana into the crystal, it soon started glowing in my hand as I felt it being charged. I threw it towards the gate, and soon it stopped right outside the gate, floating as the space started cracking with an extremely bright light, blinding everyone from looking at it directly.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I could hear screams that made my ears bleed and even the ground shook as a shockwave came from the dungeon that made me fly out and land heavily in the debris of a house with others who were near me.

  As the flashing lights disappeared, I looked where the gate should be, but there was nothing anymore.

  “Well, fuck I shouldn't have sent him back into the gate.” I heard a muffled voice, and as I turned around, I saw the old man walking towards me while looking where the gate should be.

  “I might get demoted for this.” Said the old man as he scratched his head, he sighed and escorted us back.

  I couldn’t understand what this old man meant, but I soon understood it after hearing the news.

  ***

  -Dave POV-

  I made a big mistake and accidentally killed all the humans in my dungeon, leaving me with nothing to entertain myself.

  Who knew they broke so easily? Just a little push and they became emotionless dolls.

  They did not react to any type of pain at all.

  I didn’t like human meat at all, so what am I supposed to do with them? I could give it to Vorzath, but he already has a ton of material for his art, so I highly doubt he needs something like this.

  As I was lying on my throne from boredom, the servants around me did all kinds of things to make me happy, but it was boring without anyone coming into my dungeon.

  Just as I was about to go on a walk around my chamber, I felt the whole place shaking, and I did not know what happened, as this only lasted 2 seconds, but Vorzath was already next to me to protect me from all dangers.

  But nothing happened as I waited for what was about to come.

  Soon Vorzath went back to continue refining his art while I went around my garden.

  Just then humans came into the dungeon!

  I was so happy that I went back to my room to watch it. I had the impulse to go there personally and enjoy myself to the fullest, but I held back.

  I shouldn’t rush to drink this fine wine.

  As I was watching them, I saw them looking around curiously as if it was their first time entering this dungeon.

  The whole party was decimated by the first floor.

  I did enjoy it, but it was strange that recently the people raiding my dungeon were so strong, so why are they so weak? Even if the people entering this place go solo, they always rush to the third floor instantly without stopping.

  Looking at their equipment, it was rubbish and made me wonder if the humans outside exhausted all their resources conquering this dungeon.

  After the first one did not come back, a second one came in with slightly better equipment.

  This time from the 20 people, 3 made out.

  Using their teammates as bait, they successfully escaped.

  Soon more and more people came inside the dungeon trying to explore it as much as possible, and I did not know how much sensation this brought to the people outside the dungeon.

  Seeing people flowing into my dungeon postponed my plans about going into Hell to fight other dungeon Lords.

  But what surprised me was that the people did not stop coming in and all had the same look of endless greed!

  Not caring about it anymore as I enjoyed the show in front of me happily.

  But I must prepare enough humans for the next time no human goes inside the dungeon.

  So the humans who were left behind by others were kidnapped by Vorzath and put into their new sweet home!

  I could dance from happiness all day seeing my farm going from 0 up to 100!

  Those broken dolls were also placed back into their homes and let the humans know what a fantastic new life was coming for them!

  I stopped dancing around as I destroyed several of my art while I did not pay attention to my surroundings.

  Instructing the servants to clean it up, I started thinking about the next Overseer.

  Not the Floor Guardian, but the next Overseer, as I need a way to go outside the dungeon and gather information, and seeing so many humans coming inside and going out is the best time to blend in and go outside.

  I don’t need someone to fight for me, but someone who can do espionage.

  He can’t work alone, so he needs a way to have servants.

  As soon as I formed the image and my farming started making terror points for me, I had the leisure to make my new overseer.

  Soon my mana started being drained, and I had to use terror points to make up for it, and this lasted for 10 minutes before it stopped.

  I could barely stand, but I could see her as he knelt on one knee and greeted me.

  “What is your wish, my Lord?” Said Strix.

  A regal figure with flawless, ashen grey skin and glowing crimson eyes with long dark hair that resembles the night sky with crystal decorating her body that contains eerie light.

  She wore armor that hid her body behind it, and only her head was not hidden away.

  After going through her ridiculous stats and evolution price and her skills that made me remember Vorzath's status I could only have a dark expression of how weak I am compared to my servants.

  “I command you as your lord to make servants that can be sent out of the gate to gather information of the outside world for me.” I told her what I wanted, as I was too tired to care about it anymore. I went back to my room to sleep a good one, as draining my mana and being pumped with mana again tired my whole body.

  “Do not worry, my Lord, I will do it flawlessly.” As she said that, she waited until I left to get up from kneeling and looking at the servants to escort her away, as she did not speak as she viewed everyone below her.

  To her, anyone who is not an Overseer or her lord is viewed as ants not worth her time.

  But she did glance around the palace corridors, memorizing everything so she could understand her Lord's taste better.