They slowly walked down the stairs as if expecting a trap. Fortunately for them, the trap that was there before when I wanted to go through the dungeon wasn't there. I wanted to keep it, but Ramiris was against it.
They quickly arrived at the second floor, and when all stepped inside, they froze in place.
On this floor, they would need to conquer their biggest fear before getting access to the next floor.
"So, want to place a bet on who will be the first to do it?" I asked Ramiris.
"Sure," She responded before assuming a thinking pose and looking at the adventurers, "I think it will be the mage."
"Fine, then I place my bet on... Ummm..." I started to think my first bet was also on the mage, but I couldn't choose the same, "The shielder."
We waited for ten minutes and nothing.
Another ten minutes passed, and still nothing.
The first hour passed. They were on their knees and crying. Only two were fine-ish, the mage and the shielder.
I sighed, "I didn't think this would take so long." I turned to look at Ramiris, "I'm going to go and bring some snacks. Want some?" I asked, and she nodded, "Ok, I'll be right back."
With a quick shadow exchange, I was back in my room again.
I looked at the shadow I could sense El in, "El make tea and bring snacks for three people. Oh, and make one cup extra small," I said, and I could feel her disappear into another shadow.
She sometimes feels like an extra shadow soldier... Shadow Maid? Now that sounds interesting.
After five minutes, El came back with a pot of tea, three teacups, and lots of different types of pastries, "Where should I bring them?" She asked.
"You will be coming with me," I said and grabbed her before using shadow exchange, and we appeared in the control room again.
I quickly took out a tea table and a sofa from my inventory, "Put them on the table," I said, sitting down, and Ramiris sat on my shoulder, "You can sit down and watch it with us." I said to the maid, who was looking at Ramiris with wide eyes.
"I-I don't think it's a good idea as a maid. I should..." She was saying, but I stopped her.
"Don't worry. Ramiris is nice and won't bite you." I said, pointing at Ramiris but quickly taking away my finger as she tried to bite me, "She probably won't bite you." I corrected myself.
"Hey, I'm still a Demon Lord. You shouldn't talk about me like that!" She then huffed, flew to the plate with pastries, and started eating one.
"Yeah yeah, I know. You said it lots of times already," I said, waving my hand nonchalantly before focusing on the screen, "So, did anyone clear the challenge yet?" I asked.
"No, they are still at it," She said with a sigh, "We shouldn't have made it so difficult."
While we were talking, El poured us tea and, with some hesitation, sat down on the sofa.
We spent about half an hour eating and chatting before the first one cleared the task, and to my and Ramiri's dismay, it was the swordswoman.
"Urgg.." She groaned, "Okay, the next will be the mage!" She shouted.
The next was the lancer...
"Okay, the third will be the mage!"
It was the swordsman.
"You know what? I give up!" She shouted in frustration and started eating another pastry.
But the best part was that the next one to clear the challenge was the mage.
"HAHAHAHA!" I laughed, seeing Ramiris's dead expression. It's good she gave up because the shielder was the last one to finish it.
"It isn't fair I won the bet!" She shouted at me.
"No, you said you gave up, so deal with it," I said while laughing.
"Hey, as a Demon Lord, I should decide the rules!" She shouted, but I ignored her and continued laughing to annoy her even more.
"Oh! We should focus on the screen so we don't miss it." I said and stopped laughing.
We all looked closely as the magic light in the room started flashing red before water burst from the side, the floor disappeared, and they were flushed down to the third floor while screaming.
"HAHA!" I laughed, "Look at their expression," They looked horrified.
"So this is what you've been doing for the when you were gone..." El said, looking at the screen with no emotions.
"Hey, don't be like that, El," I said, seeing her blank expression, "Isn't this fun for you?"
"As much as I like seeing the humans suffer, this seems like a waste of time." She responded with a sigh.
Ramiris and I gasped in shock, "How could you say that."
---
The challengers finally made it to the third floor after being flushed down.
This floor is a simple maze with lots of traps in it.
Nothing special happened on this floor besides the few times someone activated the nutcracker trap.
I winced in pain while slightly regretting putting it there, seeing someone having a small ice spear sticking out between their legs... The keyword here was 'slightly'.
Oh, and there was one time when the girl's hair started burning, and she was basically bald now.
But after two hours of walking around the maze, they made it to the middle, where the one-of-a-kind magic scroll was.
I sighed, "I guess that's all the entertainment we will get today," I said before turning to look at Ramiris, "If you need help with another dungeon, just call me." I said as we saw the group be flushed down again but this time to the dungeon's entrance.
"Sure, but I usually build these dungeons once every few years," Ramiris said, giving me a thumbs up.
I used shadow exchange to teleport El and me back to my room, and she hid the shadow again.
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Author's Note:
Thank you for reading this chapter.
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