The Dungeon Monsters Keep Offering Sacrifices

The dungeon monsters keep offering sacrifices – 035

EP.35 Dungeon Organization Restructuring

– Ding –

– Ding –

“What’s this? Why does the alarm keep ringing?”

My smartphone relentlessly blared its alarm.

“Maru, bring me my phone.”

In response, the skeleton promptly handed me the phone.

A skeleton soldier who had been in the dungeon but was now living with me here. I decided to give him a name instead of just calling him ‘skeleton’. There wasn’t any particular meaning behind it, I simply named him Maru because he obeyed my commands like a puppy.

Now, seeing Maru doing the dishes, cleaning the bathroom, and even cooking ramen made me proud.

I couldn’t help but think, ‘Well done, my boy’.

“Why are alarms ringing continuously?”

I checked the alarm’s contents immediately.

– ‘Red-Headed Tribe’ dungeon master has pledged allegiance to Owner Lee Kang-hyun.

–

– ‘Sticky Puddle’ dungeon master has pledged allegiance to Owner Lee Kang-hyun.

–

– ‘Remnants of the Abyss’ dungeon master has pledged allegiance to Owner Lee Kang-hyun.

–

The alarms continued, and eventually, the last one sounded.

– ‘Natural Inheritance’ dungeon owner has pledged allegiance to Owner Lee Kang-hyun.

–

“What’s this?”

So many dungeons pledged allegiance to me in such a short time…

When I checked the previous alarms’ content:

– Servant Celia attended a banquet of nearby dungeon master.

–

Ah, it was clear. After that alarm and I suddenly received multiple dungeons’ surrender intentions.

Celia hadn’t done anything specific.

“Hmm…”

Well, there was nothing to worry about.

It was good that my dungeon’s influence was expanding. Considering that I couldn’t currently make additional purchases of gems, having monsters increase for free was a blessing.

“Rather welcoming.”

– The number of dungeons swearing allegiance under your command has significantly increased.

–

– We recommend a restructuring of the dungeon organization.

–

“Organization restructuring?”

– A dungeon is similar to a country.

–

– Merge and reorganize the dungeon’s structure for efficient operation.

–

It made sense. When I had only one dungeon, it didn’t matter, but with my influence growing, running it with brute force wouldn’t work.

“More importantly, there’s the loyalty and favorability system here.”

As there hadn’t been any major issues until now, I had forgotten about this system.

Since the monsters from dungeons conquered by Celia and Death Knight had already merged into my dungeon, I hadn’t worried about it.

And…

– Dungeon master ‘Azmo’ of the ‘Temptation of Illusion’ dungeon is satisfied with your grace.

–

– Azmo’s favorability has increased.

–

– Azmo’s loyalty has increased.

–

Even the Incubus dungeon, existing in another dimension and showing loyalty to me, seemed worry-free in terms of loyalty and favorability.

“What did I do for these guys?”

After a moment’s thought, one thing came to mind.

“Oh, I gave them friends.”

Ah, I see, a bit of male camaraderie.

With these guys, even if they exist in another dimension, there shouldn’t be any major problems.

If there was a problem, it was the 26 dungeons I conquered today, they were quite a headache.

“Merging is tricky because the space to place monsters is ambiguous…”

My dungeon was currently overcrowded.

After the final gacha, every area was filled with monsters.

Expanding the dungeon immediately seemed uncertain.

“I should classify them first.”

Leaving over twenty dungeons unattended would be risky.

Their loyalty and favorability were still unknown, so the outcome was uncertain.

It didn’t make sense to conquer them and then immediately grant them independence.

– Two dungeons can be merged into one. Merged dungeons will increase in size.

–

“Oh.”

So, there’s this feature too.

I first examined the species composition in response to the alarm. Then merged dungeons with overlapping species.

“Undead with undead, orcs with Orcs.”

After that process, the 26 dungeons had suddenly reduced to only 9.

“Let’s merge a bit more.”

This time, I merged slightly similar types.

“Goblins and Orcs can coexist.”

Ultimately, the 26 dungeons reduced to 4.

It was extreme compression.

However, I didn’t reduce them further.

Looking at the current dungeon layout, the four dungeons were arranged as if enveloping my original dungeon.

It was a visually pleasing arrangement.

Distributing them like this rather than merging all dungeons into one would make it easier to gather surrounding information.

“Now, I need to pick creatures to monitor the dungeons.”

Naturally, it would be the monsters belonging to my dungeon.

I needed positions to manage the four dungeons while patrolling around.

“Okay, I’ll leave this to Lich.”

Liches were basically undead monsters.

Since they didn’t feel tired, continuously deploying them seemed fine.

Plus, being a 4-star monster, and with continuous replenishment of skeletons, it suited the role perfectly.

I clicked on Lich and assigned its duty from the settings window.

Since there were no specific guidelines, I manually entered the information.

– Lich (★★★★) (Inspector) –

They understood my commands so well that just writing this would be sufficient.

I then removed the Lich assigned to the inspector role from Area 1 and placed it outside the dungeon.

Since there were no restrictions on leaving the dungeon anymore, it was possible.

Now, the Lich would lead my skeleton troops, patrol the forest, and oversee the four dungeons.

“And just in case there’s any rebellion…”

It’s still just my speculation.

But preparing for such trivial things put my mind at ease.

This was reality, and if my dungeon were raided, my life would be in danger.

“Ah, this is for Death Knight. I’ll entrust this to you.”

A unit tasked with suppressing rebellion.

The sight of Death Knight carrying a massive shield was indeed reassuring.

In a way, it was responsible for guarding the dungeon.

Beside Death Knight, I bestowed the title of [Commander].

“Now it feels like a foundation is being laid.”

And the most crucial role for the dungeon.

“This has to be Celia, no doubt.”

She’s been doing well until now, so it made sense for Celia to continue.

Next was diplomacy.

As the dungeon continued to develop, there would likely be external friction issues.

“This too, celia.”

From what I’ve seen, the Celia I know would handle diplomatic disputes smoothly.

Next was legislation.

In reality, Calling it “law” was too grand, but at least there needed to be a presence within the dungeon to establish its internal system.

Someone to discipline those who disrupt the system.

“Hmm…”

There’s only Celia for this too, isn’t there?

Thus, celia took on the role of overseeing the dungeon, strengthening internal systems alongside managing diplomacy.

“And…”

This was quite an important matter, and somewhere, I had seen such content before. It was a story about how assigning ranks to slaves further monitored who would not run away.

“It was who surrendered to me first?”

According to the alarm, it was the owner of the ‘Red-Haired Tribe’ dungeon. The respective owner was none other than an Orc.

– Squall (★★★) –

It was a Unique monster with an actual name.

“As expected.”

There was something exceptional about it.

“I should assign this guy the role of a margrave.”

He would be in charge of defending the nearby dungeons in the future.

Equipment would be necessary as well.

Those who were astute like this guy somehow made me want to give them something extra.

“And next…”

Continuing on, I thought about and assigned the remaining roles.

====

***

====

“Manager, chief Maltis wants to see you.”

At the words of the subordinate, Gurlon lifted his surprised face. he was so surprised that he was almost trembling with fear.

Why would the Chief suddenly want to see him? The Chief that Gurlon knew did not pay much attention, just enough to call a regular manager.

He would give instructions through the Servant manager, and he saw the Servant manager’s face more often than the Chief’s.

‘What could have gone wrong?’

What had Gurlon done recently? No matter how hard he thought, there was nothing significant that came to mind.

The most recent thing might have been visiting the dungeon in the mountain range yesterday.

‘Was my report not well-received?’

Even thinking back, there was nothing that could be criticized in the report.

He had written about examining the dungeon he visited yesterday and his impressions, noting that the dungeon was not of concern to the higher-ups.

‘Is he just in a bad mood?’

The Chief Gurlon knew was competent, so he didn’t handle tasks based on his mood, he solely assessed the subordinate’s abilities.

However, since Gurlon didn’t think he had done anything wrong, he couldn’t understand why he was being summoned.

“Chief?”

After a while of silence from Gurlon, the subordinate called him again.

“Oh… right, I’ll go now. Thanks.”

Gurlon issued an order to the subordinate and prepared to head to the Chief’s office.

He couldn’t go empty-handed, so for now, he gathered documents related to his recent work and headed to the Chief’s office.

– Knock-knock –

“Come in.”

It was just a few knocks on the door of the Chief’s office, but a voice from inside told him to enter.

The problem was that the voice was cold. Very much so.

“Chief, did you summon me?”

He bowed his head respectfully, but a document flew in front of Gurlon.

“Read it.”

The massive figure of Chief Maltis spoke in a low tone.

He had the physique of a huge bear, and his face resembled that of an owl-like monster, an Owlbear.

That was the species name of Chief Maltis.

Of course, there were no high-ranking demons in the bloodline, so there were no ties like that.

He had solely occupied the position of the Chief in the assessment team purely based on his abilities.

Such a figure was already intimidating, and coupled with his expression, Gurlon felt his blood run cold.

“Why haven’t you read it yet?”

Under the Chief’s urging, Gurlon couldn’t resist and picked up the document.

At the top of the document was a concise title.

[Changes in Dungeon Map of the Sael Kingdom Mountains]

The content was straightforward.

It mentioned how the dungeon managed by the merchant Moru had conquered 26 dungeons near the mountains, all on the evening of yesterday’s banquet.

“…

”

Gurlon broke out in a cold sweat.

Was what he was looking at real?

The level of the dungeon he had seen yesterday wasn’t high.

He was sure of that.

However, the content of the document stating that all the nearby mountain dungeons had been conquered felt unreal.

And that too, within a day, during the time of the banquet.

“What in the world is this…?”

Gurlon murmured seriously.

“Because of your report, I’ve been greatly criticized alone.”

Maltis’s eyes became sharper.

A subordinate’s mistake ultimately fell on the boss.

“A dungeon that you claimed didn’t need attention has conquered a whopping 26 dungeons, all at once.”

Practically, it was all the nearby dungeons.

“Despite being dungeons that were not to be noticed by the Demon Merchant. Gurlon, are your eyes just for decoration?”

Of course, the size of the mountain range was massive.

Even if 26 dungeons were merged, it was just a fraction overall.

However, due to the mountain’s nature, being adjacent to the demon realm, it was a place frequently visited by human adventurers, thus drawing attention.

The master of the dungeons in the mountain range seemed to prioritize survival over forming noticeable alliances.

So, they generally exchanged information through gatherings like banquets, not aiming to directly expand or form alliances.

That had been apparent until now.

But everything had completely changed after yesterday’s incident.

“Sure, there have been records of merging other dungeons before, but this incident has escalated too much.”

It had escalated.

That statement meant someone needed to take responsibility, and Gurlon, himself, was the one designated for that. He couldn’t be so incompetent as to not know that.

“I’ll go and resolve it.”

It was a whopping 26 dungeons.

In other words, the 26 dungeons managed by the Demon Merchant had all kneeled at one place.

Of course, that place was also managed by the Demon Merchant, but dealing with 27 dungeons individually versus dealing with one dungeon with the size of 26 dungeons made a big difference.

From the Demon Merchant’s perspective, dungeons they dealt with didn’t want to increase their size.

Their influence increased with the dungeons power.

“Gurlon.”

Maltis’s eyes narrowed further.

“I don’t want another Baalzerith to emerge.”

Gurlon also knew that name well.

Baalzerith.

A 5-star vampire, and she was the dominant force in the region with her adjacent dungeons kneeling before her.

From the Demon Merchant’s standpoint, they had to treat Baalzerith due to her overwhelming power, but they didn’t want another dominant force to emerge.

Certainly, there were other dungeons associated with different alliances or significantly expanded dungeons.

However, the more numerous they became, the more it was a loss for the Demon Merchant, so they just wished for the status quo to be maintained.

The somewhat fortunate thing was that the recent movements of the sect were quite unusual.

“The sect is weakening Baalzerith’s influence. Our Demon Merchant sees that as an opportunity.”

Despite not knowing what had happened, the White Sect had been eroding her influence by subduing the dungeons near Baalzerith.

This was a tremendous opportunity for the Demon Merchant.

But if another dominant force emerged?

That was absolutely unacceptable.

“Do you understand what I mean? I’ve already separately contacted the higher-ups. You are no longer under the Demon Merchant from now on.”

Gurlon stiffened at Maltis’s words.

There was no mistaking the meaning behind it.

To resolve the situation not under the name of the Demon Merchant but under Gurlon’s personal name.

Contacting the higher-ups probably meant they would assign monsters with unclear status to him.

He had to lead them and resolve the current issue.

If successful, it was a gain, but if he failed, he had no future. Just by looking at how Jewel was treated yesterday, the Demon Merchant wouldn’t spare him.

“Understood.”

Understanding the implication well, Gurlon nodded resolutely.