Contrarily to Sen, Jeol was quick to react when she heard the strange voices. Given how it sounded like hundreds of voices hunched together, she looked all around her for hidden figures. There was no one in that office besides her and Sen.
"Who are you supposed to be? Show yourself at once!" She exclaimed, her palms gleaming with a pulsing green light. She had gotten into a defensive stance in a split second, her reflexes acting up before even her mind understood what was going on.
The voices were heard once again, this time the most prominent one being that of an old man. It was raspy and carried the consequences of ruined lungs.
"There is no need to react in such a way, Jeol Jong. I am in no way a danger to you, and you cannot attack me."
The voices got closer until Jeol could feel something or someone right in front of her face. She couldn't feel any breathing, but she just knew there was a creature only a few inches away from her, looking her up and down.
"I wouldn't need to react in such a way if you didn't show up unannounced. Also, if you are here to talk, do show yourself." Jeol spat out while moving towards Seneos slowly, one of her hands going in front of him just in case.
For some reason, he was in a sort of trance. He might have been a weak hunter, but that being didn't emit any energy. Hence he shouldn't have been stuck in a stupor.
"Showing myself? I do not have a body, Jeol Jong. I cannot show any form to you. My voice is the only thing that I can use to interact with you people. I am not even sure of how I can feel like I am standing there. I should not be anything more than a voice in your minds." The being answered, this time its most prominent voice being that of a little girl.
Jeol tapped Sen on his shoulder while standing in front of him, and he quickly got out of his shocked trance.
"Huh, what? What's going on?! I heard a voice and-Hmmm!" Sen found himself unable to speak once Jeol put a hand over his mouth and pointed at...Nothing. She pointed at her desk, as though something was sitting on it. However, there was nothing.
Sen was about to ask what she was doing until the voices came back. Jeol spun around and pointed her glowing hand at something behind Sen.
"I trust that you know who or rather what I am, Overlord. Do calm your friend down before she starts attacking a voice with no forms." Snarked the voices. They sounded much more sarcastic than Sen had thought they would. Of course, he knew what they were, he remembered what happened once he left the dungeon.
He tugged Jeol's sleeve and nodded at her once she turned her head around to face him. She appeared a little tense, but she still nodded back.
"You must be the voice of the dungeon. Every hunter that finished a dungeon knows about it. However...You are supposed to be a neutral and robotic voice. Not some sort of mix of hundreds of voices, human voices. "
At this, the voices all laughed at the same time. Jeol grabbed Sen's right hand in an instant and gripped as hard as she could. Maybe the being hadn't tried to sound terrifying, but it was. It was to a point where even Jeol herself was shaking.
Thankfully, it noticed after a few seconds. This time, a middle-aged woman addressed them.
" I am terribly sorry for this. I am still...Adjusting, so to speak. I shouldn't be feeling anything, and yet you can hear that it is not the case. This is all too strange, but I can only guess that it's more so for you two. I am indeed the voice of the dungeon, or rather a random voice replacing the actual voice of the dungeon. You must have heard before I appeared and it simply faded away. " Seneos tried to calm down his breathing, he tried to stop tapping his right foot successively because of stress, yet he couldn't. This thing was doing a poor job at appearing harmless. Perhaps it couldn't mute out the other voices, but it was still problematic.
It was Jeol who spoke next.
"What do you mean? The voice can only be heard once the dungeon is completed. However, the team was defeated and fled."
The being chuckled before looking at Seneos, or at least the man thought it was looking at him. He could feel two orbs boring into him.
"Ah yes...I kinda forgot to explain this. I did not want to speak about it before, since the inspector was here. I wasn't really sure if it was a good idea to mention it with him in the same office. The dungeon....Well, the boss fight was an arena-type battle. I hid behind a corpse during the fight and once the team fled, the hidden boss left the arena. It thought there were no more enemies to attack. It walked out of the arena and since the healer didn't make it out of the dungeon, I guess the dungeon considered I won all on my own. It's weird that the voice only appeared after I left though." Seneos explained. Jeol turned her head to try to look at the being, yet she felt it had moved away. It was now right behind the two. She could almost feel it wrapping its arms over their shoulders.
" Well, that seems to be because of me, once again. I was not supposed to be here...Or was I supposed to? I cannot tell. I just came to be and felt like I should contact you, Overlord. Just like I am currently feeling like I should explain to you what your victory entails. You are the owner of this dungeon after all. " The being dropped the bomb on Jeol who couldn't snap her head towards Sen any faster.
"What...What did it just say? You are the owner of the dungeon? The dungeon you conquered by hiding from the hidden boss somehow ?" She asked, trying to remain calm. She wasn't usually this stressed, but the situation was a bit too much for her. It was most likely because she was a high-ranking hunter and could sense danger better than Seneos. The being was harmless, she knew it. Yet her hunter's sense told her that she had to run away from the office.
Well if anything happened in that office, she would be happy if nothing important was destroyed. She hadn't moved any of her stuff in it yet.
Once again the voices continued the conversation, this time the dominant one sounded very sinister and feminine. However, it was a male voice that merely sounded more feminine than it should have.
" Allow me to answer in his stead. Because he was seen as the hunter who conquered that dungeon, he was the one who received the reward. However the dungeon, at least I can only guess it was the dungeon itself that saw it that way, considered that the Overlord had done so all alone and in a small amount of time. I assume that it counted only the time after the team had left, so it would make sense. Now the Overlord was given the highest reward possible, the dungeon itself." The Being seemingly congratulated Sen once more by saying this. However, its voice didn't really convey happy feelings.
It was so unnerving that Seneos couldn't take it anymore. He jumped out of his seat and stuck his back to Jeol as she did the same. His hand went on the sheath of his dagger and pulled on the handle hard enough to force the weapon to jump, making it fly all the way to his head. He grabbed it mid-air and scanned the room with his panicked eyes.
Jeol's cracked voice betrayed her anxiousness in that situation, but she still spoke to the being.
"S-So, Sen is going to become the master of the dungeon...And then what? What will he do? Also, there have been many hunters who cleared dungeons on their own and in very little time. They never got rewarded with the dungeons themselves as far as I know. The hunter society places a huge emphasis on security and the protection of information regarding the hunters, however, something that big would be common knowledge. "
Sen couldn't help but agree, but he merely nodded. He didn't want to speak anymore. He only felt like slashing at wherever he thought that voice was, even if he knew it wouldn't serve any purpose.
The voice responded quite quickly, this time sounding fairly neutral and calm.
"I have no idea as to why only Seneos was rewarded with a dungeon, my limited data doesn't help to answer that question in the slightest. It appears that me replacing the actual voice messed up the whole process of my creation so to speak, I wasn't completed when I first spoke after all. I do not possess all the data I should have. However his role is very simple, Jeol Jong. The Overlord will reign over the world of the dungeon in however ways he sees fit. He will have the possibility to recruit all creatures defeated by his hand or in his name and will be able to upgrade the world of the dungeon itself. He will be a king, a monarch, a sovereign...Pick the word you want, the one that I am forced to use is Overlord. The Dungeon Overlord. "
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