[Current location: Golem Dungeon]

"..."

(Weird....) – thought Thauma as it was using its scout golems.

(No attack.)

(No preparations.)

(No base.)

(Nothing.)

(I see scouts from time to time.)

(This....)

(Okay.... WHAT ARE THEY PLANNING?!)

(I mean, weren’t they planning on doing some sort of hidden assault on my golems while they were hiding?!)

(Shouldn’t by now they had gathered their army???)

(WHY AM I NOT GETTING ATTACKED RIGHT NOW?!)

(I’ve been experimenting, developing and all sort of things.)

(I’ve grown my dungeon.)

(Many monsters had fully manifested and brand-new ones had already being prepared.)

(This.... This isn’t normal.) – thought Thauma as it put away its control headgear into a stand with several other different looking heard gear, which had in the middle a bell like stand attached to it.

(Why.... Why there was not any attacks.)

<<This was beyond something what I was expecting.>>

<<I was expecting the enemy to try and attempt to do a mass scale extermination while my golems were spread around.>>

<<But nothing.>>

<<I was expecting a massive scale attack to came my way.>>

<<But nothing.>>

<<It already been sometime since I’ve made retreat order.>>

<<And yet.... Peace.>>

<<Did by any chance yet another war had occurred in the outside world?>>

<<No.... No, this isn’t it.... Is it?>>

<<Still, I can’t let my guard down.>>

<<That is the main problem in this whole situation.>>

<<...>>

<<I’ve managed as mentioned before produce large number of new monsters.>>

<<But this wasn’t all.>>

<<Dungeon research.>>

<<I was able to conduct it.>>

<<And I’ve obtained new mana crystals and some bit stronger mana gems.>>

<<With these materials AND black iron, I will be able to produce new generation of golems.>>

<<...It will take time.... But at least defenses of the dungeon will strengthen.>>

<<But still.... I can’t believe it.>>

<<I mean, not the attack part.>>

<<But the amount of DP I have.>>

<<422 032 DP>>

<<This is.... I just can’t believe it.>>

<<The quality of sacrifices was low compare to the adventurers, but the sheer quantity made up for it all.>>

<<My golems murdered hundreds I think.>>

<<People.>>

<<Animals.>>

<<Even objects.>>

<<Most of the victims were farmers, but from what I saw, there were also several strong sacrifices in the mix... Maybe they fought my golems?>>

<<This is the total of the DP I’ve had obtained from ALL of this.>>

<<I’ve already used up some of that DP, but still! The pure amount of it that I have!>>

<<...And those are from rotting sacrifices.>>

<<The rotting bodies.>>

<<If I had brough ALL of these people into the dungeon and killed them here.... This number could had possible doubled or more!>>

<<Wow.... Just wow....>>

<<This was not only able to fund my dungeon research, my own research, the dungeon growth, but also allow me to produce many monsters!>>

<<AND I STILL HAVE A LOT OF LEFT OVERS!>>

<<WOW....Just.... Wow....>>

<<I will be able to do many things at the same time for a long run with all of this.>>

<<Still, the change will take time... But the fact alone that I just have THAT much DP gives me a lot of options.>>

<<Not only that, the outside base that my golems are building under my instructions is nowhere near being finished, however it is usable, giving me SOME additional advantage against the attackers.>>

<<And if it is finished in time, I can use the dungeon expansion to devour that base, make it part of the dungeon.>>

(BUT WHERE IS THE ATTACK!) – thought Thauma as it slammed the table in anger.

(Why are they not counter attacking!? Why are they not building their base!)

(Everything is okay! NOTHING WRONG ONE BIT!)

(If I was them, I would had attacked the dungeon while the golems were scattered.)

(Or if they had realized WHY I had ordered my golems to hunt the village, THEY SHOULD HAD SENT ARMY HERE NO MATTER WHAT AND DESTORY MY GOLEMS BEFORE THE NUMBER OF MY OUTSIDE ARMY WILL INCREASE!)

(Just what are they doing???)

(Are they.... Are they scared?)

(NO!)

(EVEN IF THEY ARE SCARED, THEY SHOULD STILL DONE THE MOST LOGICAL MOVE HERE!)

(...)

(No.)

(They will come.)

(The fact that they are not attacking me right now can only means one thing.)

(They are preparing a massive force.)

(Humans wants to reduce casualties as much as possible.... So, they will be aiming to use that strategy once again.)

(Overwhelming numbers.)

(The next time they will launch attack, it will be once again an attack like non before... Pretty much once again repeat of the same problem that is only getting worst and worst each new time.)

"..."

(Guns.) – thought Thauma as it picked up several guns it had on the table... However, they were not the guns it had obtained from adventurers and soldiers.

No.

These were the pistole guns that Thauma had forged.

(These are just prototypes... They can fire, but I don’t know if they will really be good in real combat.)

(Still, I should make is soon usable in that area.)

"..."

(But again... I’m once again terrified.)

(The next attack maybe really something problematic.)

(And.... There is good chance that the hound bombs won’t work.)

(Those Crow Watchers back then in the came somehow knew about the attack incoming and ran away in time.)

(They either had some sort of magical tool for communication that warned the people in the camp... Or somebody escaped the forest and warned the camp.)

(Either way, there is good chance that I won’t be able to use my strategy with bomb golems again.)

(....Yeb.... This won’t be easy.)

Thauma mind once again was filled with doubt, anxiety, questions and fear.

It knew it had became stronger AND it still cane become something more.... But even so, the fear never left the golem even once.

It is always scared, always questioning itself.

...

But even so, it is still moving forward.

It never stops, even when it is scared.

It seeks the answers.

And once it obtains them, it "evolves".

But not alone.

No.

Whenever Thauma "evolves", so does the dungeon.

This is the simplest truth.

A search to never ending "evolution".

...

However, as Thauma once again returned to its research, something or more specifically, somebodies were approaching the forest.

"Ah! I finally getting near the forest edge!" – said the middle-aged male human on the horse.

"So.... This is the infamous golem forest?" – asked the merchant looking woman who rode her own horse.

"Yeb. That is, it." – replied the middle-aged man.

"The forest of golems."

"Where the golem dungeon is located."

"And that is our destination."

"Aren’t you excited?"

"..."

"..."

"?"

"Hey. What is up with the sudden silence?" – asked the middle-aged man as the woman suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"...What is wrong?" – said the woman as she clenched her lead.

"...Why..."

"Fuck it!"

"I don’t know if you are going to kill me or not."

"But I fucking can’t hide it anymore!"

"Okay. I’m fucking done."

"What the fuck are you playing here at?!"

"Ariava?!" – asked the woman as she lifted up her hood, revealing herself to be non-other than Porai Kuris.

"First you out of nowhere, without any freaking provocation appear in the middle of the day."

"You kidnap me and my team, before then extracting any information we had.... And then you fucking killed them, leaving only me behind."

"Then you just fucking said ’Okay. Come on. We are going’. Straight up forcing me to come with you against my will and forcing me to spill out any special information I had left on me, while we were heading here."

"Then you suddenly went forced me to use me in the extermination of that guy Anderson."

"Making me watch as you torture the living hell out of him to the point where he had no choice but to speak if he wanted to die."

"And now you are fucking brining me to the golem dungeon?!"

"I’m FUCKING DONE!"

"I kept fucking quiet because I was scared that you would kill me the moment I speak without permission."

"But I don’t think I will survive in the end no matter what."

"So what the fuck are you doing?!"

"This isn’t some random ass attack or sabotage."

"No."

"You are in hurry."

"You did everything so quickly for a reason."

"Not only that, you know what sort you are making! You are fully aware!"

"You are not doing this without carrying about consequences! You fucking know everything.... So.... Just...."

"WHY?" – the vampire asked in desperation, demanding the answer.

The vampire and her group of elite members were eliminated like nothing in the brough daylight.

The vampire leader was enslaved and told to tag along, making her be the companion of this "monster", who then upon arriving at the cursed territory procced to deal with vampire agent in some manners beyond inhuman fashion.

And then just telling her to go towards the golem dungeon.

It was just straight up nonstop instant chaos with the woman.

A chaos that filled the vampire with so many questions to the point she could no longer hold it together, making her straight up snap at the one who had "befriended her".

The vampire was scared, at the shapeshifter could clearly tell it.

However, the vampire at the same time was brave enough to "bark".

And that caught the shapeshifter attention.

And smile.

"..."

"I mean, do you want to know?" – asked the middle-aged man who was in reality shapeshifted Ariava.

"Honestly, I was planning on telling you everything when we reach the dungeon.... But honestly speaking?"

"Heck. All you had to do was ask and I would had explained, even when I first captured you."

"..."

"You... You are fucking with me right now!" – said pissed off vampire who didn’t trusted Ariava.

"No, I mean really. Heck. I was quiet surprised that you never asked question like ’why’, even when I straight up ripped off that man’s eyes over and over again while healing him each time." – said Ariva as she approached the vampire.

"Yet you never raised a complain or begged me to kill him."

"You acted obedient all this time."

"But now?"

"You are barking."

"You are not some obedient pet."

"You are somebody who can think, don’t you?" – said Ariva as she gotten dangerous close to the vampire, making Porai sweat profusely in panic.

"..."

"I like you." – said Ariva with a smile as she tabbed the vampire woman’s shoulder, trying to relax the vampire whose face was still consumed with fear.

"I really like you."

"Don’t worry."

"I won’t hurt you.... Nor I will break you.... Yet that is."

"But don’t think I’m not watching."

"And we both are fully aware what will happened if you dare to betray me."

(Fuck! Don’t you think I don’t know?!) – thought panicking Porai.

(She didn’t took away my weapons, nor has she put anything like curse or seal on me.)

(No.... I’m "free".)

(But....Fuck me.)

(This monster can just kill me with a snap of her finger.)

(She fucking straight up did it with the others when they stopped being "useful"! Snap! And gone!)

(Just fucking blood left behind.... Fuck me...)

(But still... What worries me the most is her speed.)

(She is doing everything organized and one by one in perfect rhythm.)

(And this is something that shouldn’t be possible.)

(Unless... She knew everything from the start.)

(The hidden agents.)

(The communication towers.)

(The crows.)

(She even knew my true name.... And she even spoken THEIR name when she was interrogating me.)

(She truly KNEW everything.)

(There is no other physical explanation behind that whole "rushed" thing.)

(But that doesn’t answer the main question.)

(WHY IS THAT MONSTER HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?!)

(She is the fucking boogie monster to many vampires!)

(FUCK!)

(Did those bastards picked a fight with THAT monsters or something without telling anybody?!)

(No! That bastard is nowhere near dumb enough to do that! Nobody of them is! There are some idiots in between, but they would be fucking killed by him or them the moment they fucking pull any stupid crap like this.)

(So.... If that is the case, then WHY is she truly here?!)

(AND WHY IS SHE KEEPING ME ALIVE?!)

(SHE ALREADY GOTTEN ALL THE INFORMATION OUT OF ME THAT I HAD!)

(Why isn’t she going to make me "disappear" as well???)

(Either way.... This whole plans of their may end up being destroyed.)

(Since this monster is on the loose.)

"Anyway, hurry it up." – said Ariva as she started moving once again.

"I would rather meet up with my child before this day ends."

"..."

"Wait..." – said vampire.

(DID SHE SAID "MY CHILD"?!)