DD 204 Ch 1

Chapter 1

With Crimson and my party sitting around me, we took turns catching up with each other at the bar. After telling numerous stories and enjoying being together once again, our party retired with Crimson to her room.

Although as we walked inside, I decided that room was not the right term for the giant suite we stood inside.

“Now, what's next?” Crimson’s leather suit creaked as she crossed her arms and plopped down on a chaise lounge.

The Orkai had quite the taste for luxury if this room was any indication.

I joined Crimson on the chaise, knowing that if I didn't stay in physical contact with her, she was liable to grab me and pin me to her side. For how independent she claimed to be she was quite attached to physical contact.

She had been a little handsy while we had sat and talked at the bar, and that was half the reason why I hurried us out of there.

The Orkai tending the bar had given us a few nasty looks, and I didn’t want to run afoul of the giant green fighters in Star City. I was still learning their customs and their rules.

Crimson was likely to just not care, even if she did know the rules. She was too used to just pushing her way through life, even if that wouldn’t work here.

"What's there to talk about?" Des asked, teasing the purple lock of hair that often covered her eye with a heart pupil. "This is the part where you portal us back, and we tell our families that we are still alive." 

Crimson shot a pair of finger guns to Des. "Wrong. Good try though. This is the part where you four go back to the other groups and make sure they all work on the boss and get their asses down here. Do some mixing and matching if you need to. Orkai have a very strict rule about Star City. You can't be carried down here, and even though they're fairly impressed by my portal ability, they will throw an absolute hissy fit if I start using it to bring people here. And when I mean hissy fit, I mean they will most likely smash my face in. Those Orkai are rough sons of bitches."

"In the meantime," I said, pausing to emphasize my next words, "we should perhaps chart a path to the elven world." My eyes drifted over to Fayeth. The blonde elf had been quiet.

Crimson grunted. "Or perhaps you and I take a little vacation," she offered. 

I sighed. "Crimson, we don't have time for that." 

"We can make time," she chimed in. "Especially if you're at least a little creative, Ken." 

I put a hand on Crimson's shoulder. "I will be here with you through whatever the next steps may be. However, we need to start getting Elysara and Neldra back to the elven people." I sighed. "Even Fayeth is going with her." 

Crimson gasped, turning to the elf while asking me. "Who's going to cook your meals then?" 

There was a low groan from everyone in the party. Fayeth was our tank, and while we loved her for all of that, perhaps her most irreplaceable part was the fact that she was the group cook, and damn was she good at making due with what was in the dungeon.

“I’ll leave some recipes.” Fayeth smiled softly, though there was a distinct lack of spirit in it.

"We'll manage," I struggled with those words. Having her leave was going to feel like there was a hole in the party.

"At the very least, we could do some utilitarian cooking like Crimson. Just throw everything in together before mixing in eggs to bundle it into a flat disk. Once we get the elves back, what's next? I assume that’s when we will go home and tell people we were alive?" Charlotte asked, "I'm sure my father is terribly worried." 

"Oh, he is. They all are," Crimson confirmed quickly. "We'll get you all back shortly" she promised. "But rather than answering a dozen questions about who is and isn't still alive, I think I would like to get all of the classes down here and bring you all back at once. That way I’m not having to beat them back as to why they can’t teleport down here to Star City." 

That at least made some sense, if a twisted form of Crimson logic.

"Besides, Star City is a fantastic place for you guys to continue adventuring going forward. There’s a lot to learn here, we don’t want to upset the Orkai." Crimson gestured around.

Even though there were walls around us, the image of almost a hundred sets of doorways to other areas of the dungeon had been seared into my mind. It had been an impressive sight, to say the least. 

"And once you all go back, you can bet your ass that Haylon and the U.G. are going to send some people down here. I will probably have to babysit them while they’re here to make sure they don’t get themselves killed," Crimson rolled her eyes. 

"Poor you," I patted her on the shoulder. "For now, we can send them back to the main group," I pointed at Des, Charlotte, and the others. "And you can have me for a single night." I held up a finger. "After that, we have to bring some people back to the surface, and let others at least have an idea of what's going on." 

Crimson waffled her head back and forth, before sighing. "Fine. Just remember what I said about the Orkai's rules. You get to Star City on your own strength. You don't borrow that of others. So go back up, work in parties, and get everyone down here by mid-day tomorrow. If you do that, everything will be less painful." She shooed Des and the others.

Yet, they didn’t budge. Felin went as far as to hiss back at her.

"And what about you, Ken? What does this mean?” She twirled my hair, staring at the now white color. “How is your apparent race change going?" She attempted to snatch my CID, only to see the same error message I had been getting. 

"I don't know," I told her, "my CID is busted."

Her eyes lifted to the Nekorian in the room. "Why don't you just have her tell you?" Crimson asked.

I felt fairly stupid for a moment. "Well, because we've been a little busy," I said defensively. "You know, with the whole me changing, and then... the Orkai. There were maybe a few other situations going on, taking my attention." 

Crimson chuckled, then planted a kiss on my cheek. "Well, now you have some time. Kitty cat, come over here, and let's all see what's changed with Ken." 

Everyone in my party was excited to find out more, getting to their feet.

I rolled over on the chaise lounge and pulled off my shirt to expose my back. Glancing over my shoulder, it seemed a magical tattoo that Felin had put on me was still there. 

"Easy enough," Felin said, sticking out her tongue. She began a short ritual, bringing her hands over my back before calling on the Great One.

My tattoo began to itch almost immediately. I could feel the ink moving under my skin, wiggling down and making a larger image on my back. 

I handed my CID to Des. "Do me a favor and take pictures of whatever forms." A second later, I heard the click before she handed my CID back, and I read along with them.

Ken Nagato

Class: Emperor

Secondary Class: -

Level: 43

Experience: 14% 

Strength: 153 

Agility: 532 

Stamina: 312 

Magic: 282 

Mana: 148 

Skills: Dark Strike, Earth Stomp, Sprint, Absorb, Discharge, Dark Blades, Shadow Arm, Camouflage, Shadow Ambush, Elemental Shield, Portal [Special] [Restricted], Mana Burn, Vampire [Elysara], Cleave [Fayeth], Spell Mirror, Dungeon’s Blessing, Blades of Shadow, Mana Implosion, Shadow Wave [Desmonda], Revive [Charlotte], Shadow Phase, Dodge, Liminal Speed, Eyes of Wisdom [Crimson], Delirious Pleasures, Triple Breach, Greater Charm, True Demon Form, Charm Aura, Dark Vision, Demon Rank - Grunt.

"Huh," Crimson murmured. 

"What did you expect? That I would suddenly be able to one-shot level 80 orca?" I retorted. It seemed that I’d lost my secondary class, and based on charm and metamorphosis being replaced I’d say that I got several skills for being a demon. True Demon Form was likely a replacement for metamorphosis.

"No, nothing like that. But I wouldn't say your new abilities are particularly," she hesitated, "useful." 

"Well, speak for yourself, woman," Des snapped. "Those are incredible skills. Besides, it's clear that Ken is an incubus. And that skill, demon rank, is certainly interesting in its own right. See what it does." 

Felin did something more to my back and Des read aloud, "Based on the number and rank of creatures that you subjugate and rule over, your status will expand and your power will increase." 

"Well, that seems pretty simple," Crimson said. "We just have you take over Earth and I'm sure you'll be some sort of wonderful demon emperor." She flashed me a smile and I rolled my eyes. 

"I think taking over Earth is not in the cards, Crimson." I was not sure why I felt the need to make sure she understood that fact, but it seemed important.

"Well, then, we'll just have to get you a harem army," Des shook her head as if disappointed by the idea. A small smile couldn’t help but escape her lips. 

"What about you, Fayeth? Have you heard of anything like this?" I tried to include the elf that had been quiet since the mention of her departure. 

"No, I haven't. But it sounds fairly powerful. And I know Elysara's father has a skill associated with being the elven emperor. It's one of the reasons he's so confident in his own strength, though I don't know the details of it myself." 

I nodded along. That made sense. I wondered if anyone amongst humanity had a powerful leader type skill. Perhaps the president of the UG? That would be a question for another time. 

"All right, I think we should take a night and rest. Tomorrow, I think I'm all Crimson's. Meanwhile, you guys go back and get some others to clear the boss and head on down here. It would be good, like Crimson said, if we could go through the portal back to Earth as a larger group rather than trying to explain why we hadn't all come back at once." 

With those words, Crimson snatched me off the chaise and put me on my feet. "If you girls will excuse me, I'm going to take Ken." She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the bedroom.

***

The next morning, when Des tried to sneak into the room, Crimson nearly punted her out. “Get going if you have so much energy.” She whirled away from the door and tackled me back into bed.

I grunted from the impact. "I thought we were about to get up." I teased her.

"We were. Now we're not," she said simply, snuggling against me. "I know you guys want to get back to earth. But Ken, I have to warn you, a lot has changed. Many people died in what happened. And not everyone is going to be excited to see all of you back when others don't come with you." She leveled a gaze at me. "I have to ask, will Prince Albar be returning with the rest of you?"

I had a small tongue-in-cheek moment as I glanced away from her. "Probably not.” 

“And by probably…” Crimson, paused waiting for me to finish the sentence.

“Probably as in definitely. He's dead. In fact, most people saw that death. But he did try to betray us all." I crossed my arms. "He went too far, Crimson. Thankfully that meant I could be fully justified. However, I have no idea what happened to the rest of the Royal Academy, they retreated and didn’t follow us to the safe zone." If I was honest, I didn’t much care. They were likely killed by the dwarves by now.

She held her hands up. "Far be it from me to criticize you for killing someone in the dungeon. The Great One knows I've done it plenty of times." She chuckled, using the Nekorian's reference to the dungeon.

"I gave him multiple chances, Crimson. Probably too many." I hesitated. "But we were all down there together. A part of me was more focused on the group's survival than dealing with any of my own personal bullshit. I was fairly convinced that if people started randomly dying down there while we were trapped, the whole group would fall into chaos."

She kissed me on the forehead. "I don't care. You made it back to me, so everything is okay in my book. As for sorting out to make sure someone doesn't take a potshot at you and the rest when you get back, well, leave that to me. If you said you killed him in self-defense, then that will be exactly how everyone else has to understand it." She nodded to herself several times. "Okay, I don't want to talk about other men anymore. I want to make sure you are okay, and furthermore, I want to ask what you want next, besides getting everyone back, and making sure the elves aren't out of their mind with the princess's disappearance. After those things…" Crimson paused, her eyes watching me closely.

It was then I realized Crimson had a very particular fear.

"After that, we'd go back to diving the dungeon," I shrugged. "This kind of danger was, though unexpected, exactly what we'll be doing eventually, right?” I nodded to myself as my thoughts crystalized on the subject. “This is exactly what it's like diving the dungeon with the best of humanity. You don't know what's around the next corner, what the next floor of the dungeon is going to surprise you with. If anything, it's just about time that we started to train on how to dive the dungeon blind a little sooner."

A giant smile stretched across Crimson's lips. I had been right. She was worried this experience was going to give me second thoughts on diving the dungeon.

"Crimson, this isn't going to stop me. I'm a dungeon head through and through at this point."

She chuckled. "Of course you are. I wouldn't have picked anyone who wasn't, but now that we have that confirmed, I'll do my best to make sure that you all get back in the dungeon as soon as possible after we deal with the other necessary issues."

I kissed Crimson before smacking her on the ass. "Now don't hold me hostage in this room any longer. I want to see Star City." I glanced over squinting at her. "You've been here for how long?"

"On and off. Probably no more than a week total," she said, holding her hands up in surrender "but if it's showing you around, I'm sure I can manage that."

I smacked her rear again, and this time had the desired effect as she leapt to her feet, pulling me along with her.

Stepping out of her room, I was once again baffled by Star City. It was a marvel.

"Could you cut through an entire dungeon floor?" I asked her, curious if Crimson could manage such a feat. 

She shook her head, her long braid lashing back and forth against her red leather-clad ass. "Nope. Not a chance," she said. "Sure, I was able to break a few stones off of the 50th floor to parade around the entrance exams. But when it comes to actually cracking through an entire floor," she shook her head vehemently, "that's way out of my league. The stone gets tougher the more you try and go down. At least, that was my experience from my short-lived endeavor. Perhaps if you gave me an entire year, I could make a hole between one floor and the next, but to actually carve something like this," she gestured at Star City, "no. The adventurer responsible for this is an absolutely incomprehensible monster, even to me."

I swallowed. Crimson wasn't one to back down, That statement told me all I needed to know. Lulu the angel had said it was a level 100 Orkai that cut through the floors and I had to guess he wasn’t your average level 100 either.

"But I don't think it's a big deal. The Orkai, though they posture quite a bit, they don't actually seem that aggressive. In fact, I think they're actually quite thoughtful," Crimson said. 

"Thoughtful?" That was not the first word that came to mind for me.

She shrugged. "You'll get to know them pretty quickly if you're going to stick around Star City. Come on, let me show you around. It doesn’t have quite the glamorous store that the UG has everywhere, but it's pretty impressive in its own way," she said, gesturing for me to follow her down the white marble streets. 

Winged women flew back and forth around the space. Every now and then there was a bare-chested male version of the angels as well, though they seemed to be rather scarce.

In the same thought, I realized I didn't see a whole lot of female Orkai, or perhaps I didn't know how to tell them apart. In a different race, anything could go. 

Crimson walked down the street, completely unperturbed by the sights around her. Instead, her eyes seemed to continue gravitating towards me.

And she wasn't the only one. More than a few of the angels fluttered in place for a moment to stare at me. Some of the Orkai as well.

Though, mostly I figured they were curious to see a demon present. The way that Lulu, the first angel I had met, had made it sound, my race was well known to the citizens of Star City. I was concerned about what that relationship might exactly entail. Did Demons not get along with Angels?

"You see that?" Crimson pointed to a platform ahead of us. "That is how you go up and down." She walked up to it and put a few low rank mana stones on it before tapping something on the floor of the disk. It then slowly began to descend down the levels. "You have to use mana stones to go up and down. Well, you have to use mana stones for actually just about everything here. The city might be grand, however, it's up to each individual adventurer to power through whatever activity it is that they want to complete," she gestured at the platform. "But I figured you'd appreciate getting the full view."

As we went between the floors, I realized that each tier had to be at least 20 feet tall. 

I glanced around, spinning in a circle, taking the city in. Large pillars connected each floor of the city together. It was only every two floors that had stairs.

"Every two tiers have a dozen stairs that lead elsewhere into the dungeon. I think the whole complex is seven floors, two safe zones, and five floors sandwiched between each other, But the city is a dozen layers with the first and last each having their own group of stairs." Crimson explained as I stared at everything around me. 

"That makes sense. It's still incredible to see all of it." We passed by a 10-foot thick band of stone between two of the layers, and I could just imagine how powerful the adventurer had to be for some rough cuts on the stone to have lasted even now after the city had been inhabited for so long. You could almost feel the power that had been used to cut through the dungeon floors. "Do you think whoever made this just cut their way all the way to the bottom of the dungeon?” I focused on Crimson.

She chuckled, "Doubt it. If he tried that, I'm sure the dungeon would have just made each floor more difficult for him to cut through. Or found some way to punish him as a cheater. I think the Nekorian theory that the dungeon has some intelligence is at least partially correct. And there's no way it would let someone cheat. Heck, it enrages monsters if too large of a party is used. Just think what it would do if he tried to cut through the dungeon floors?”

I could imagine some terrible form similar to the smoke panther coming after someone. That was to say, the dungeon certainly had ways to defend itself.

We took the elevator all the way down to the bottom floor. There, I saw an angel flit back and forth through the pillars and up from one floor to the next. She did it easily, without having to use the elevator like we had used.

I then realized one of the reasons the elevator had been so empty and why the angels were likely prized for workers in a place like this.

"So, where's the shop?" I asked, my eyes catching on a particular angel.

This one had black wings, and a black dress, unlike the others who all had white wings and brightly colored clothing. She disappeared before I had time to stare.

"Over here. You'll love the shop," Crimson answered me, walking down the street and into the store. I joined her inside, surprised at how small the store was inside. Yet despite the small space, it was nearly packed with Orkai tapping away at individual screens.

I raised an eyebrow at Crimson, asking her to give me more information.

"Just go ahead, pick a tablet and, I don't know, maybe pick a skill like your lovely [Dodge] ability. See how many they have." Crimson instructed me.

Humoring her, I went over to one of them. But the words were certainly not English. I tapped it a few times before asking, "How do I get this thing to work?"

As I spoke, the characters on the screen suddenly shifted to English as it managed to translate.

Crimson chuckled. "Don't ask. I have no idea how it works either. There's some incredible technology here in this city."

I glanced back at the tablet. The words now made far more sense. It had a number of menu options and I selected skill books before typing 'dodge' into the search bar. It was instantaneous in returning results. To my utter amazement, they had eight dodge skill books for sale. All of their prices were listed out in mana crystals. Though, it was even higher priced than what you could get it for at a UG shop. But it would have more than they could ever supply.

"Shit, this is expensive," I said.

Crimson nodded, "Even I get a little sticker shock here. My best guess is that their economy is a little flooded with mana crystals. I'm not entirely sure what they use them for in the end, especially when they all seem to avoid using the elevators if they can help it. But they have just about anything you could imagine at those terminals. For a cost, of course."

One of the Orkai next to me turned to look at the two of us. He grunted and swiped something on his tablet before leering at Crimson.

'Kodak has recommended you a skill book,' a message popped up on my screen. 

That felt, at least, moderately insulting. But I tapped to see what it was being suggested. It was a Universal Language Skill. This one was actually fairly cheaply priced, especially after just staring at the Dodge skill book.

Crimson leaned over my shoulder. "Oh, are there more of those?" She asked, immediately going to purchase it and tapping her CID against the screen.

A little bar showed up, as if it was draining Crimson's crystals to pay for the abilities. As soon as the transaction finished, a skill book popped out, hovering in front of the tablet. Crimson took it and put it in her CID before tapping and learning the skill.

The Orkai next to her began to speak, and to my surprise, Crimson growled back. And I tapped around for my own universal language skill book, mimicking Crimson as it drained a good chunk of my mana crystals. Suddenly, I was able to join the conversation Crimson was having with the nearby Orkai.