The days continued like this, and I established a small base. In a battle, I lost my right arm, and it took a long time to recover. It reminded me of past events, but back then I was more naive.
"Mantis, come here," I said, and the Mantis came over. I gave it the essence of life, and it improved a bit -at least physically-.
I had a total of three soldiers: one Mantis, one Giant Tortoise, and one Basilisk.
Yes, a Basilisk, a large earth dragon! It was truly powerful, but due to my Necromancer-like ability, it came under my command. Although I still think it's better than a necromancer.
Just imagine, being resurrected while still alive. It has the advantage of weight and mana. But of course, there is a limit to what my willpower can handle. Right now, it's probably around 30-40, and it varies even more when combined with the monster's power!
"Basilisk, you found a Naga dungeon nearby. Take me there." I stroked Basilisk's face, and it seemed to enjoy it. "It's so strange, they can really feel some emotions."
After hours of travel, they arrived at the entrance of the Naga Dungeon on the back of the giant turtle. If even the creatures outside the dungeon are this powerful... and considering that it has been in existence for a long time, our task won't be easy.
But I need to become stronger, and for that, I need life essence. I sense a core here. If there's a mana stone, the little spirit can absorb it.
The mana level of the little spirit is truly high, believe it or not. It is equivalent to a mid-high level demon in terms of mana level.
The entrance of the dungeon strangely resembles a fortress. 'I don't really care, though.' All I need is life essence and a body.
As soon as Basilisk arrived, it attacked directly and killed the -guardian- chimeras of the fortress. However, since their heads were severed, I can't use them anymore, even if I wanted to. Even if I were to implant the mushroom, reattaching those two limbs would be troublesome.
I entered the interior of the fortress, and the rooms greeted me. After a long battle, Mantis lost its left arm, Basilisk suffered a severe eye injury, and a part of my lung was exposed.
'Once this task is finished, I urgently need to use the clean water source.' I broke the door of the throne room with the Great Turtle, and inside, there sits a fat, old Naga King. 'Disgusting.'
The source of the overall disorder and weakness within the fortress became apparent; they probably couldn't resist us due to excessive exploitation.
Even if they are stronger than the others, it's not the kind of power befitting an SS-level entity. After all, the boss of an S-level dungeon is usually at the SS level.
I glanced at the King, and suddenly everything began to shake, and stone columns rose from the underground. The Great Turtle and I couldn't escape and suffered a significant amount of damage. Basilisk and Mantis were engaged in battle with the King's guards and couldn't come to our aid.
Without delay, the little spirit used magic to melt away a portion of the rocks, allowing me to escape. However, this time, small stones flew towards me from all directions, covering hundreds of kilometers. They grazed my ear and other parts of my body, but a few managed to pierce through my chest cavity. It would make sense for the little spirit to create a flame shield, but it wouldn't be able to stop stones moving at such speed.
I took refuge inside the Great Turtle and after minutes, everything came to a halt. 'For God's sake, how much mana does it take to cast such a massive spell?!' The dungeon boss truly lives up to its reputation. Suddenly, one of the guards behind me slashed my back with his weapon, but Basilisk swiftly killed him. Basilisk and Mantis are exhausted, I am heavily wounded, and the Great Turtle's shell seems on the verge of breaking. "Damn it..." Minutes passed, and I released life energy from my body into mushroom spores, scattering them towards the King.
At first, he didn't understand what was happening, but thanks to the Little Spirit, I detonated the mushroom spores filled with life energy, causing the Naga King to sustain severe injuries. I approached him with blood flowing from my body and decapitated him, killing him.
I looked at the corpse, washed it with the blood flowing from my body, and then kicked it, causing the King's body to roll. I neutralized the guards who were still alive and took the King's skull and half-meter-long spine. I held them in my hands and placed them beneath my feet.
'I am the winner,' I thought with empty eyes.
"This place is mine now!" I declared, but the possibility of it being a prison crossed my mind. However, it would be more sensible to tend to our wounds first since we are injured.
I took water from the well in the center of the castle and boiled it with the help of the Little Spirit. One by one, I cleaned their wounds. "Grrrr..." Basilisk seems a bit timid about this. Well, maybe it's because I tried to take its spirit while it was severely injured. 'I don't know.'
Once Basilisk was done, it was time for my own open wound. I tightly tied my mouth shut. Maybe it's because the water was boiling, but the areas it touched initially boiled and burned my flesh. My lungs filled with water and immediately emptied. I covered the open lung wound with a piece of cloth, but it's unbelievably painful. Then there were minor scratches, the wound on my back, and the stones inside my body.
Well, you might wonder how I'm still alive. The probable answer to that is mushrooms. They constantly send life energy to that part of my body, suppressing internal bleeding. So it's only a serious wound in appearance!
Once I finished my task, it was time to tend to the Great Turtle's minor injuries, and that was quickly done as well. Unfortunately, since we don't know any healing magic, we had to clean the wounds with plain water.
We had to boil it because we didn't have any saltwater. I climbed onto the turtle's back and tried not to move too much. I'll be feeling better in a few hours, but for now, I'm still in a precarious state. However, Mantis's lack of one arm is a bit of a problem.
"Nagas, guard the entrance of the castle. If your bodies are weak, eat and drink!" It seems like my crowd control and leadership abilities have improved.
I asked a Naga about the path to the prison and he showed me the way. Since the tunnel was narrow, I rode on Basilisk's back and left the other two behind.
There are a total of 6 people in the prison, 1 human, 3 Nagas, and 2 Angels.
"Angels? Now that's interesting." I whisper.
"You, feeble beings. This castle has been seized by me. Introduce yourselves and don't dare to utter even a gram of lies."
Initially, the human spoke, "M-my name is Netov! I'm an S-level adventurer, and I came here after raiding--" Before he could finish his sentence, I turned his brain into ashes with a fire spell. I don't know if he was lying or not, but it was a decision that had to be made.
After all, I have no way of knowing if they are telling the truth or not. Those who are smart enough would assume that since I have a Naga soldier with me, I might have already heard about it. 'Let's hope they think that way.'
"As I said, even a gram of lies will have consequences for you." The Angel, whom I suspected to be of high rank, bowed and placed one hand on the ground and the other on his chest.
"Your Excellencies, my name is Bultar, and this person beside me is my spouse, Malefit. We attempted to infiltrate this Naga dungeon, but unfortunately, we were caught. They imprisoned us and tried to corrupt us, but we proved to be resilient. While we were preparing for the next torture, we heard a loud noise, and everyone rushed outside... We pledge our loyalty to the person who saved us."
"Good, you can leave. Well, as for the others, I won't wait forever," I said, and the others quickly spoke up. I released the rest of them as well.
I went outside with Basilisk and noticed that the prisoners in the prison were very hungry. I asked the Naga beside me if there was any food, and he said there was. I instructed him to prepare it and called everyone to the place where the former king used to have his meals.
It seems that these Nagas were loyal soldiers of the previous king, but since the previous king was overthrown, they didn't pledge their loyalty to the one who killed him. The followers of this new king, however, convinced them that they should not be killed. That's the general idea.
I went to the dining hall and realized that both Angels were already there. Even though I didn't give them weapons, they are still dangerous. If possible, I would like to eliminate them, but it's impossible. They would be more useful to me alive.
One day, those bastards will come here, and I need to become stronger so that I can destroy them. I handed the dungeon stone I took from my pocket to the small spirit, and it started to assimilate it slowly.
Now that I have finished this task, I must gain their loyalty and resolve it without shedding blood. If that's not possible... I will have to resort to force.