The Depths of the dungeon continued and continued. It was a never-ending walk, and I was more and more glad that I hired someone to take care of my slaves. When I got back, they would be nice and malleable after spending weeks in isolation without mental stimulation other than food and water.
That was if the woman I hired did a good job.
Walking through rooms, I now started actually to encounter enemies, unlike on the higher floors. I would enter and encounter groups of goblins and traps that were meant to harm. This would be a problem for most, but I just watched as my pets wrapped through them savagely as I walked to the next room. Honestly, with Zara almost getting hit by a trap, she quickly learned that she should be wary of the traps.
The Dungeon remained true until we reached the fiftieth floor, where the boss was a manticore with a massive axe. He was not much of a challenge. After ripping off his balls, the tigers took him down for the kill. The big change was that it was no longer a cave that sloped downwards all the time. It was a slightly sloped building made of brick and mortar. It was interesting as the roof was stained glass as if it were a hypocritical church from my past life.
The pictures on them looked like demons and humans fighting, and the artwork above was interesting, with no light coming through it. I continued past, and the next rooms did not have the stained glass above, but they were still brick and mortar, and I wondered if the deeper I went, the more the architecture would move forward.
That would be interesting.
Now, the fights were something my pets could actually get a challenge from, and with the next Rest floor being the fifty-fourth, I slowed down for them. Minitours became a staple, and I wondered if they were like cows and I could get some good beef from them. I watched as the massive Minitours on the fifty-first floor started to group them, trying to cleave Kitty as she deftly dodged their strikes. While they were distracted with a loud, "Nyah~!" From my kitty, my tigers would sneak up.
Instantly, they went for the weak points. Genitals, neck, and underarm. They tore them out before the other could even notice and react. When it did, it looked upon its companion with dead eyes and swung its axe towards my lovely tigers, and Kitty was there retaliating by tearing out its throat. But there was more than one room per floor, and two Minitours became the minimum, and I watched as my cuties started to exhaust themselves on them.
So I started to order them, and by my orders, they would go for easier spots that would not require perfect timing. Cuts to the arms to separate nerves that allow the monster to hold its weapon or throw a punch often defused the monster, and you could easily go in for the kill,
Something hit me as I watched a Minitour collapse, roaring its pain as the hamstrings were cut and the nerves on its hands stopped him from being able to use a weapon. The roars were of dissatisfaction, and as Kitty tore out his throat, I could not stop wondering.
"Why do these monsters follow human anatomy so much?" I asked loudly, not expecting an answer.
It was a question that now plagued my mind. Sure, this was a different world than the earth I grew up on. But as a seasoned torturer, I learned a lot about the human body and how it works from playing around. And humans here were IDENTICAL biologically. There were even melatonin differences in skin color. So why was everything like a human? With grown or shrunken human anatomy?
Even the Beast-kin had mostly human Anatomy, but the ears were in a different place, and our spine had been extended and then added a bit of muscle. It was like someone took a human and did a minimal amount of manipulation to change that person into another species with dominant traits.
It was odd how it all fit into an odd question.
Why is everything based on humans?
That made me think of a new theory, as my minitour was being ravaged once again under my new orders to go for easier weak spots, which took them half the time and effort. Maybe evolution was a thing in this world, but the baseline for all these other species is not from humans but from humans. Humans were the monkeys, and we were either artificially turned into beast-kin and monsters or naturally over time.
Both ways would explain the human anatomy in both beast-kin and monsters.
My thoughts were occupied with this when I felt something. I brought out my chained whip from the sheath and used it in short sword form. I brought it up to my neck and noticed a dagger gleaming in my face as a goblin stood there with a sneer on its face.
"You, my pretty, I make many babies with you." The Goblin proclaimed, and I sneered in return.
My body easily twisted, and as the goblin fell back after failing his attack, my foot with claws out slashed his face, ripping through his skull and destroying his brain before I twisted and stood normally again.
I sneered and whipped my foot, and blood and brain matter splattered across the floor. "I guess they finally made the challenge up to the point I have to pay attention," I commented, and we moved on to the next room, and more goblins started to sneak attack us. Shadowy mist covered their body. My claws would meet their brain, and I just continued to kill them if they came for me or used them to blood my tigers and pets more.
Watching them act together was amazing. I started to get more proactive, and they started to take my orders and hand signals faster and faster. They were seasoned more to the simple sounds I made as we finally reached the fifty-third floor, where Minitours came in packs of three with Goblins to torment us. It seemed they really wanted to follow the same recipe: increase the numbers and meat fodder to de.
Hours later, we arrived on the fifty-fourth floor, and I was gobsmacked at the place. This was no longer a village, this was a functioning town. Stone buildings and roads with farms lead up to the stone walls inside the dungeon. The farms looked like they were farming something other than wheat, but it was nice to see some other people. I walked in and saw the guard's smile. "Ah, another adventurer, welcome to the fifty-fourth floor, mark one in the C rank depths of the Dungeon of three. Make sure to rest before continuing. It only gets harder and harder on each floor hereafter."
"Thanks for the tip," I told the guard, tossing him a silver coin for the free information. I headed inside and stopped. "Do you have an Inn that you can recommend?" I asked, "Not the one that pays you to send people to them. The one that doesn't need to ask because it is so good."
The Guard smiled and held out his hand as I put a gold coin in it. "That would be the Broken Tankard. The beds there are soft. The Safes have never been broken into. The doors are solid, and the walls don't leak noise. The food is something to be desired, but," The guard shrugged, "We ain't down here for great food. We are here for the coin. Just go down the main road, and when you meet the major roads crossing each other, go left. Then, you will see the sign after the fourth building on your right. Good luck," The guard finished, and I nodded.
After a five-minute walk, I found the sign just in the alleyway beyond a potion shop. I realized why the walls were thick. I headed in and ordered food for my room, including raw steaks and food for Kitty.
Tonight has potentially marked the end of traveling for now and the beginning of training.
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