~ Chapter 96: Calamity unleashed ~

[Illsyore's point of view]

Using [Broadcasting], I transmitted the following message all across my Dungeon Territory, which had a radius of 50 Km around me:

“Listen to me, inhabitants of Pirate Island! I hereby claim this entire island as my possession. IF you wish to be spared and allowed safe passing off the island, then leave behind your slaves and children, alive, as tribute to me. The parents who do not wish to forsake their flesh and blood may stay as well, if they dare. You have one week to comply, but if you kill them, you'll only anger me.”

I canceled the spell after I finished saying this and repeated the message in my mind. It didn't sound as intimidating as I initially thought, more like a bad prank of sorts. That was why I decided to fly down to the port where we docked today and use my dungeon-building skills to change the scenery a little bit, maybe summon a weak monster or two to make them scream.

When I reached the place, as expected, they were treating it as a prank and currently looking for the culprit.

Let's see... I thought and then focused on several areas on my Dungeon Territory where I wanted to build a simple wall.

Unlike before when The Darkness had yet to become a part of me, I had a lot more control over what I could build and how to build it. Nanya said that this new ability of mine was normal among most high ranked Dungeons, but none of them were able to use it at the scale I did.

As a matter of fact, after I fused with The Darkness, I understood that my ability to create a building or item from a template I had stored in my memory was something none of the other Dungeons thought of doing before. I sort of doubted this because it made building a dungeon so much easier. Maybe none of the Dungeons I had met so far did?

Thus, when I activated the skill, several large walls appeared all over the settlement, cutting off roads and stopping people in their tracks. The way they were placed created a maze with one exit: the docks.

“What in the name of all the sea demons is going on?” someone said.

“What be this?” another asked.

“That ain't normal.” another pointed out.

“It be food?” some quack asked.

This was how a lot of them suddenly reacted, while in some cases, they were a bit more violent and tried to break down my walls. Try as they might, but those things were sturdy enough to survive a Supreme's punch.

“Now! Moving on to Phase 3!” I said with a smirk.

At this moment, I summoned the weakest monster I could possibly think of: the imp. In several places all around this port town, just one of these creatures appeared out of a summoning circle.

“Monster!” the sea of screams formed.

I watched as they moved away from the imp, while the guards prepared to combat him. In my mind, I calculated that the monster I summoned was going to need at least 5 guards to take down.

Unfortunately, I made a HUGE mistake...

“UGAAA!” an imp screamed and then shot a lightning bolt at the first guard, turning him into charcoal.

Before the others could even move, the imp dashed towards them and impaled them with his sword. One slice was enough to cut two adult men in bloody halves. Thus, the massacre began...

“Oops...” I said with a poker face.

The mistake was the level...

Most people on this island were far below level 200, probably around 40 or 50. Meanwhile, the Imp I summoned was considered Easy picking by me and my wives. This thing couldn't even face a single T-Rex. The giant lizard would usually just stomp on him and walk away.

Indeed, he was that weak, BUT... he was still level 1000. Yup, this was a level 1000 Imp with full enchanted armor and weapon as well as the ability to cast spells and use skills. Although, for some strange reason, these guys NEVER wore boots.

Back on Boss Island, when I tried to give a pair of shiny new enchanted boots to an imp to wear, he grabbed them, bowed to me, then jumped back in the summoning circle. I stood there looking like an idiot for a few minutes trying to understand what just happened.

At that time, I became aware of the fact that summoned creatures had the ability to banish themselves without the summoner's direct order or an enemy's attack as long as the summoning circle was intact.

Well, that being said, everyone inside this port city ran away as fast as they could from the overpowered imp that could turn them to paste with one slap of his tiny hand. His attacks were merciless, crushing the ones who dared to defy him and smashing any door or non-dungeon wall standing in his way.

As soon as I saw the immense damage they did to the town, despite him being a complete weakling, I gave all imps the order not to move more than 20 meters away from their spawned point. If I let them loose, by the time the sun had set, this whole town would have been reduced to rubble.

“Well, with this, they should be taking my warning seriously now.” I nodded to myself, then I moved to the port up to the north.

There, I raised the walls as I did in the other town, but instead of summoning level 1000 imps, I summoned level 500 ones and gave them the same order of staying withing 20 meters of their spawn point.

After 20 minutes had passed, I was hearing only the screams of horror and fear of the pirates who tried to run away from an imp only to stumble upon another. The town became a bloodbath, and I kept staring at it from above with dead fish eyes.

These pirates were even weaker than level 500 imp...

“I don't get it...” I said as I flew back to my body, floating around like a drunk light bulb.

Once I returned, I told everyone what I did and what were the results. The first one to react was Nanya. She face-palmed herself and let out a sigh.

“You summoned a level 1000 imp?” she asked with a groan.

“More than one actually...” I pointed out.

“That's quite cruel, Illsy.” Shanteya pointed out.

“Huh?” I blinked surprised as I looked back at her.

“Indeed, you pitted such a terrifying foe against them.” Zoreya agreed.

“What?” I was getting confused.

“Nya~ but level 1000 imp is a weakling, right?” Tamara asked.

“For us, who are Over Supremes, but most of the people out there are around level 100 at best...” pointed out Nanya.

“I doubt even if we were to slaughter every living being on this island, we still wouldn't be able to rise in level.” Ayuseya nodded to herself.

In this world, the concept of Level was used only to describe the strength of a Dungeon, but not long after we arrived on the Boss Island, I began to teach my lovely wives about how it was applied to monsters and sapient species. Nanya was also a great help with the explanations of stats and such.

I also worked on a spell capable of reporting an individual's status, but I still had some bugs with it... The numbers displayed on it were all over the place, only the name, species, and level were right for the most part. They could all use this broken spell called [Status Window]. In time, I planned to fix all of its bugs.

“So, what now?” asked Nanya.

“Well, I will say it again... I summoned those guys by accident! But right now, it's too late to do anything about it. What I plan to do is create a secure location for the slaves and children, then using the AGLMC Lasers I placed around the island, I will sink all the boats of the fleeing pirates once they are out at sea and far enough into the horizon. Meanwhile, I want Tamara and Shanteya to sort out the survivors. Ayuseya should sort out the slaves as well. Make a list of who ended up as a slave and for what. As for Nanya, I want you to go through each town and secure any slaves or individuals you deem worthy of saving. You may rampage as you like. What do you think?” I asked with a smile.

“Well, it's better than not doing anything.” Ayuseya shrugs.

“What about mating time?” Tamara asks.

“Postponed until we sort out this mess.” I declared.

“Then I will make sure to do my job extra fast!” she declared with a victory pose.

“Who will be the first one to sleep with Illsy afterwards?” Shanteya suddenly asked.

I gulped.

“Well, I have work to do. You know what to do... aaand I'm out of here!” I said as I left my body.

“AH! He's running away!” Nanya pointed out.

“Guess we'll do this the usual way...” Ayuseya let out a sigh.

By usual way, this meant competing against each other in some sort of fair game. One that would take into consideration Shanteya's pregnancy. Speaking of which, I planned on shortening her time of work to take care of herself. Moving around was good and all, but if she pushed herself to much it wasn't going to be good for the babies. Well, I hoped my other wives would point this out as well. This tendency of hers to overwork was something that remained from her days as an assassin and then as my maid.

Leaving aside the women, I decided to name the town we docked in as Town A and the other one in the north as Town B, since it wasn't worth remembering their real names.

So, I flew down in Town A and checked upon the pirate ship that brought us here, if they were still alive. Several of them were loading supplies, while another was tending to his wounds. That one probably ended up caught in an imp's attacks.

“How's it going?” I announced my presence.

The pirates jumped and looked around like scared chickens.

“I be hearing the voice of the cap'n husband, but I see him not.” one of them said.

“Aye...” another confirmed.

“At ease, I'm not a ghost, I'm a Dungeon.” I told them.

“Shiver me timbers... Please spare us!” one of them knelt on the ground and started praying.

“I'm not going to kill you... I think. Anyway, I see you haven't left the town yet, good.” I said.

“Huh? How that be good?” one of them asked.

“Well, you sort of missed your chance to flee...” I told them.

“Huh? But ye promised!” one of them cried out.

“Yes, I do intend to keep my promise, but as I said, things have changed. Leave your cargo as it is and set sail right now. Once you have left the port, turn a hard right and sail around the island until you don't see the port anymore. Drop anchor there and wait patiently for a sign from me. Don't set foot on the island. Don't let anyone else know what I just told you. If you do what I said, I'll let you live. If not... well, you'll die.” I told them and at that point, I set loose a [Wind Scythe] on a spying rat behind a barrel not far from the boat.

The man hid right when I announced my presence, and by the looks of things, he wasn't of the good bunch.

When they saw the barrel cut in half and blood spurt on the deck, they all gulped in fear.

“Snitching Joe...” said one of them.

That man had such a coincidental name.

“May we ask a simple question?” asked one of them as he took off his hat.

“Sure, what?” I replied.

“Why you be sparing us?”

“Simple. The gods of Justice are offering you a chance to repent for all of your crimes. I know it's not easy to change, but your very lives are on the line. It's easy, change or die. And to change, all you have to do is change your pirate ways. Just try and think... What would a pirate NOT do and do just that.” I told them and then left.

Once they realized I was gone, they set sail and did as I told them. They were a bad bunch at the start, but if by the end of this weak they decided to change and really tried to do so, I was going to spare them, if not... well, I wasn't going to go back on my word.

Afterwards, I went around the town to check upon the damage caused by the imps. They were in the process of leveling to the ground every building around them, while the pirates figured out that they couldn't go outside of a certain range. Some of these scums tried to use ranged attacks on my monsters, but they were worthlessly weak against them.

Besides the destruction caused by them to nearby buildings, there were many who lost their lives in the commotion that ensued. The trails of blood were everywhere, while the sobs and shouts of anger filled the air. It was as if a calamity had struck them... well, I believed I was worse than that.

Even so, as I watched the dead humans, I understood that while I was the cause of their demise, it was also their fate to end up like this. Maybe there were some good people among the dead, maybe a loving mother or father, an innocent child, or a bighearted grandpa. I wouldn't know and I wouldn't want to find out either. Feeling remorse or pity now was too late. Being a Dungeon helped me a lot because my former human self would have been driven mad by guilt.

As I flew around, I noticed something on the ground... I flew close and looked at the scene that caught my attention. Hiding behind a fallen wall, a mother with a broken leg was crying and praying to the gods for help. In her arms was her infant child. There were blood stains on him and her, a sign that someone most likely met their end in front of them.

“Please... Someone... Save us...” she whimpered.

I approached her and saw as tears flowed down her cheeks and slowly washed away the blood on her child. Looking at her carefully, I saw that if she wanted to, she could have left the child there and tried to crawl away, but she didn't wish to let go of him.

“Please...” she cried.

“Will you kill?” I asked.

“Huh?” she was surprised and looked around for my voice, but she could not see me.

“I can save you, but will you kill your child in exchange for your life?” I asked.

It was a question no sane man would pose to a crying mother, yet I knew that mankind was not that easy to trust... Only in times of great peril would they show their true colors. Only then could one see if a man chose love, friendship, and kindness over greed and material desire.

“NEVER! Kill me if you must, but not my child!” she retorted as she hugged the baby tightly to her chest, trying to protect him as best as she could.

Despite the pain she must have felt because of her broken leg and the fear of imminent death, she decided to protect that one small spark of life in her arms. She did not even hesitate in giving her answer.

“I accept your bravery, human woman. But I ask, do you know why this calamity was brought upon you?”

“N-No.” she replied shaking her head.

“You are pirates who stole, killed, pillaged, destroyed until the gods above have forsaken all of you. I'm here to act as their voice and sword. Your hate for their creations made their decision final.” I told her.

“But... But I never did any of those things! I'm seamstress... I never set sailed... My hands were never stained by blood!” she retorted.

“What of your hate towards those who were not human?” I asked.

She looked down and bit her lip.

“...” she mumbled something, but I couldn't hear.

“Speak up.” I ordered her.

“At least this child... Please... He's innocent, so at least save this child.” she begged.

I looked at her for a moment and closed my eyes.

Now that I have seen and talked with her, I couldn't allow myself to kill her in cold blood. Unfortunately, the woman was an adept of the human superiority ideology, a hater of non-humans.

Maybe there's still hope? I wondered.

Letting out a sigh, I told her. “I will give you a choice, mortal. If you listen and obey, you will be able to stay together with your child.” I told her.

“Anything!” she replied with a glimpse of hope in her eyes.

“I will heal your wounds and allow you free passage to enter the camp for Slaves and Children placed outside of this town. There, you will be tested to see if you still hold the same belief and hate in your heart for non-humans. If you do, you may say farewell to your child for you will die. However, if you manage to cast it aside by then, I will forgive you and allow you free passage off this island. Try and leave by a boat with the rest of this scum, and I will kill you myself. Also, speak none of this to anyone on the island unless I say otherwise. Do you understand?” I asked in a stern tone of voice.

“Y-Yes!” she nodded.

“Good.” I replied.

Removing the wall was easy, I just had to absorb it. Then I used my Magic Energy to carefully repair her broken leg while applying anesthesia on the right nerves. I could have used a spell I designed called [Healing Spell 1], but during the healing process, she would have felt all the pain that went along with it. Also, the name was like that because I couldn't think of anything better at the moment...

Once I was done with this, I used [Body Scan] to check for any other injuries on her body and her baby. Both turned out alright.

“Done. Move north of here, towards the forest. Don't worry, the imps won't attack you.” I told her.

Technically, they would... But I planned on changing this with a new order I was about to give them, so technically I did not deceive her.

“Thank you...” she replied and made a bow at the air to my right because she couldn't technically see me.

“Just don't forget what I said. If you will keep your life or not depends only on yourself.” I told her and then left.

As soon as I did so, I ordered all imps not to attack any slaves, children, elderly, or adults with children or babies unless they attacked first.

With this, all that was left was to create a temporary camp for them, so I flew towards the edge of Town A and absorbed a part of the forest near the walls, leveling the ground in the process. Afterwards, I raised about 100 tents and prepared some boxes with supplies. I summoned a level 1500 Minotaur and placed him at the entrance.

This guy was wearing enchanted armor just like the imp, and he could use skills and spells as well. I could have chosen from several variants, including a golden one and a darkness one. They were quite varied after level 1250, almost like they were evolving into something different.

Now the reason why it had such a high level was because of his intelligence. Up to level 1000 they were usually as dumb as a rock, but afterwards, they began to think a little bit, even use strategy. A level 1500 Minotaur could also obey more complex commands.

I gave him the same non-attack order as I gave the imps, then I told to make sure nobody in the camp was going to fight each other or start to act up. Next to the supply boxes, I made a wooden board and wrote several rules on it regarding how those living here should behave. Among them, there were rules that forbid fighting and ordering the slaves around. If someone broke the rules, depending on the severity, the Minotaur would first give them a warning first, a growl or something like that, then he was free to beat them to a pulp, but not kill the guilty ones.

With these rules set, I made an exact copy of this place next to Town B. Now all that was left to do was to announce the situation to everyone on the island.

Thus, I flew up in the air, and let my voice be heard through my spell [Broadcasting].

“This is the master of this island speaking. I expect everyone got acquainted with my little pets, the imps? They are the proof that I am not joking around.” I spoke in a harsh tone of voice. “Now then!” I coughed and continued to speak “I order you, if you value your lives, to send ALL of your slaves to the camps outside the city guarded by a Minotaur. He will not kill the slaves, but everyone else is minced meat.” I laughed. “Ah, but taking all of the slaves is no fun... I know! Send all those you think they might act like a landlubber as well as all of your children. Parents who do not wish to part with them are welcomed too. In front of the Minotaur declare out loud that you renounce your connection to them for a free passage off the island. Simple, right?” I said and then stopped the spell.

It struck me then, but I didn't tell the Minotaur what to do when these pirates will come over and say all those things...

“Sigh... I guess this whole situation is having me on edge. I keep making simple mistakes.” I said and shook my invisible head.

Well, it was no biggie. I just flew back to each camp and order them to listen to them then pointed at the message board next to them. If they pushed forward the person they 'gave up', then the Minotaur was going to nod his head once and let that person pass through. As for the other one, he wasn't allowed to step into the camp, but he wasn't going to end up attacked either.

Overall, I hoped there were not going to be any major problems with my orders.

With a sigh escaping my lips, I flew up into the sky and opened a map that showed all the lifeforms on this island. It was one of my new spells: [Life Signs Detection Map]. It was based on my Dungeon Territory's inbuilt Life Signs and Allies sensors, and what it did was basically show those signals on the holographic map of my territory. I changed all children and slaves to neutral to keep the monsters from attacking them as an extra safety precaution.

If they were set to neutral, an intelligent monsters could still attack them if they were seen as a potential enemy. Only allies were completely ignored by them. Hence why I had to give them a verbal command. That one worked no matter how I perceived their status.

As for allies, only my wives were shown, and they were currently moving as I had asked them to.

“Hm, I wonder who won their silly competition?” I said to myself.

All that was left to do now was... to wait.