Chapter 207 - Dungeon’s 11th Layer

“Alright, let’s go, meow!!” (Merdie)

“Yes!” (Seira)

“Please treat me well, meow!” (Sally)

“I-I would do my best not to pull you down.” (Lilia)

Only the dog beastkin Lilia seemed lacking a bit in confidence.

They were about to challenge the Dungeon Ruins that Halt had renovated. It was understandable that she would feel that way, given that she was accompanied by the Martial God’s Warrior Tournament’s semi-finalist Merdie, Sally who managed to fight in the actual competition of the said tournament, and the Saintess Seira.

“Lilia, you don’t have to worry that much, meow. I already cleared this dungeon once, and there’s no monsters here that you should be wary of.”

Halt did say that he renovated this dungeon, but it had only been a short time since the Creator God left the management of this dungeon to him.

That’s why Merdie thought that he wouldn’t be able to drastically change the structure of the dungeon and the monsters inside.

But she forgot.

The person who renovated this place was no other than the Sage that could accomplish near impossible feats forcefully through his enormous mana.

And that guy would also force them to undergo such hellish training — it was no other than Halt.

Merdie and the rest of the girls stepped into the dungeon.

At that instant —

“Eh!?”

The scenery before them changed in a blink of an eye.

They were supposed to see the first layer of the dungeon illuminated by the light of the outside world shining through the entrance, but this place was already deep into the ruins.

The patterns of the walls and the general air of this place were similar to the designs they saw on the final layer the last time they conquered this dungeon.

Merdie turned around, but the entrance that they just passed through had already vanished.

“This is the bonus layer, the 11th floor of the dungeon, reserved for the beastkin who cleared the 10 layers and still wishes to become stronger. You are currently in that place.”

Halt’s voice resounded from the bracelet on Merdie’s arm.

It seemed that the girls were directly teleported from the entrance to this eleventh layer, totally skipping the first to tenth layers.

Halt added a magical teleportation circle. When a relatively powerful beastkin decided to challenge this dungeon, they would be teleported to the 11th laer.

“I want everyone to test how far you can go through this bonus layer. I’ll save you right away if things become dangerous. Don’t be reckless and do your best.”

Halt’s transmission was cut-off after that.

“That means Merdie isn’t familiar with this floor too, then?”

“Yeah, I guess so, meow. B-but, there’s no way Halt would place our lives in danger, meow! It’s going to be fine —”

“Ah, Ahm, a monster is coming, meow!!”

Merdie answered Seira’s question, when Sally felt the presence of a monster nearby.

‘Eh, t-that’s—”

Lilia noticed the species of the monsters.

They were B-ranked monsters.

There were five maho gnomes — cow-like monsters that were highly resistant to magic.

Five crenus — monsters that were highly resistant to slashes and impact.

A total of ten monsters charged towards Merdie and the rest.

“S-scatter meow!”

At Merdie’s order, Sally and Lilia immediately dispersed, breaking off the charging route of the maho gnomes and crenus.

Seira’s physical abilities weren’t that powerful, so Merdie carried her as she jumped.

“Eh— KyaaAAAAHHH!!”

Seira screamed in shock at the sudden turn of events.

That’s because Merdie leapt towards the maho gnomes that were charging at them in top speed.

She kicked some of those monsters in the back, and they managed to somehow go past the attack of the maho gnomes.

The maho gnomes and crenus split off, one each, and they rushed towards Sally and Lilia.

“Sally, Lilia!! Just bear with it for a bit, meow!!”

“We’re fine here, meow!!”

Sally and Lilia were already battling the monsters.

“Sally, I’ll do the crenu!”

“Yup! Leave the maho gnome to me, meow!”

The excellent swordsman Sally worked on the maho gnome.

Lilia could use magic, and she skillfully parried the crenu.

“Looks like they can manage it somemeow…”

“Indeed, but what should we do, there are still eight of them following us, right?”

Only two out of ten monsters headed towards Sally and Lilia. The rest surrounded Merdie and Seira.

“It’s been a while since I trained with Halt so I already forgot… That guy will turn into a savage brute when it comes to training, meow.”

“Eh!?”

Merdie seemed filled with deep resentment against Halt when she referred to him as “that guy”, and Seira was stupefied when she heard that.

“I’m not sure about this, but those guys are probably brainwashed by Halt, meow. They will preferentially attack the strong guys, or something along those lines.”

Merdie’s hunch was right.

Actually, it wasn’t brainwashing, he simply commanded them to “prioritize and attack the strong”.

Halt had tamed this monsters and were currently putting them to work.

However, in order to [Tame] a monster, a huge amount of mana was required. Moreover, B-ranked monsters would resist unless it was a high-ranking Tamer.

Taming 10 B-ranked monsters all by himself was a preposterous thought in this world.

But there was a Bakemono that was able to accomplish precisely that.

He had mastered Bunshin Magic.

The Creator God gave him the greatest toy of all, and it was this dungeon.

— And that was the greatest misfortune for all the monsters inside this dungeon from the first to the eleventh layer.

Actually, it wasn’t only the monsters that were currently attacking Merdie — all the monsters in this dungeon were under the control of a single human.

From yesterday noon until this morning, his bunshins teleported to all the world and they tamed valuable monsters without end.

The high orc that stood at the pinnacle of all B-ranked monsters tried to resist, so the clones perceived it as a wild beast and was subjugated.

When the chief of the clan to which the defeated high orcs belonged saw that, he immediately accepted to be tamed right on the spot.

That chief was now the Floor Boss of the 14th layer.

The boss of the inferno wolves’ pack — the most powerful wolf monsters — were utterly beaten by Halt’s clones and flaming knights, and he was tamed afterward. He was assigned to be the floor boss of the sixteenth floor.

The excessive overhunting of B-rank to S-rank monsters occurred throughout the world.

Normally, they weren’t the types of monsters that could ever be overhunted, but they were forcefully tamed by his bunshins and taken away into his dungeon.

Afterward, Halt himself assigned them to their specific strata.

Halt had adjusted this place so that whoever would be able to clear this would possess a power enough to defeat a warlock.

For example, he placed monsters that had high physical and magic abilities. If these two abilities weren’t balanced and powerful enough, this floor would surely give them a hard time.

The third floor was infested with magical insects. If the challenger couldn’t use magic that could annihilate all the surrounding enemies in one hit, then that person wouldn’t be able to proceed.

The pack of inferno wolves well versed in group combat, and excelled in attack power and speed would assault the challenger of the 16th floor. If the person didn’t possess the ability to bring each and everyone of them down while being careful about their coordination, death was possible.

Halt had set a theme on each layer, targeting a specific area to forge.

To begin with, the final layer’s boss was no other than the warlock that Halt tamed.

In order to clear this dungeon, the challenger must defeat the warlock.

His original goal was to create a dungeon that would give the challenger the ability to defeat a warlock, but —

Halt’s bunshins had accidentally tamed the warlock that appeared before them, so it was decided that he would become the Final Boss.

“I was shocked when we were attacked by B-ranked monsters right off the bat, but I think we can do this at this rate, meow!”

She was still thinking that she would be able to clear this dungeon.

It’s no wonder actually; there’s no way she would know that Halt had strengthened all the demons from the twelfth layer onwards.

Of course, the final floor’s boss warlock had been strengthened, as well.

Halt thought that he had regulated the dungeon so that whoever cleared this would be able to defeat the warlock, but that wasn’t the case.

The warlock that he trained had already reached the power at par with a demon class.

If the challenger could clear this dungeon, that would mean he obtained the ability to defeat a demon.