*Four Days Ago*
In a relatively dark room, there was a faint glow of swirling light converging around a blue crystal orb. This light, which seemingly was drawn in through dirt walls without any openings, had a beautiful yet eerie tint of yellow and orange bonded together.
A strikingly handsome young adult sat lazily against a wall as he casually spun the orb that floated in front of him. His olive complexion of perfectly blended light and dark tones had a unique splash of crimson, producing an exotic and alluring appearance.
Smooth ebony curved horns adorned the sides of his head, separated by his equally dark tied-back hair.
The shine of his deep red pupils stood out even above the surrounding glow of light coalescing within the orb he played with.
"What do humans call this again? Ah, the sorcery of our Evil God, right? Haha."
The demon, Israfel Mersik, spoke merrily to himself as he celebrated his twenty-fourth birthday in solitude. Whether his actual mood was joyful, or his cheery tune was an attempt of his to not feel down, only he knew.
In addition to being his birthday, the day itself also marked his one-year anniversary of living in that dungeon. But for Israfel, it was just another day. None of his routine activities were going to change.
His undead were following set commands to patrol, so he'd only occasionally tap into their senses and check out the situation. Otherwise, he spent most of his focus on continuing his grandfather's research.
In the morning after waking up, he'd first check on the various herbs and fungi he was cultivating, primarily moss and mushrooms. He'd observe their growth, nourish them with the potions he'd concocted, and harvest a portion of each type to work on later.
After eating some less-than-savory food to get him by, he'd relax and laze around a little bit next to the portal he guarded.
Finally, he'd begin extracting the essences of his harvest and creating more potions to repeat the cycle the next day.
That was life for him after leaving behind his home. No matter how monotonous and repetitive it felt, he didn't have a tinge of regret. He knew his decision was for the best. He knew there was no other choice.
The only contact he had since crossing the portal was with the scouts of the Adventurer's Guild that discovered his hideout. The repulsive bunch tunneled down to where he was, observed him and the area he was at with a bit of disdain, and left him to his own devices.
Both parties were well aware of the situation. He wasn't going to leave, since they'd just trace his location. As for them, they'd be back routinely to collect whatever magical lifeforms began to develop. That is assuming that they didn't return with the intention to exterminate his dungeon after one of their 'assessments'.
Israfel wasn't too concerned. More often than not, lower-level dungeons were allowed to remain as a means of resources for the humans. The dungeons most likely to be eliminated were in the higher tiers, since the number of adventurers to manage them wasn't without limit.
Besides, the demons that guarded the portals served their own roles for the humans. If non-sentient monsters crossed over like in portals not managed by demons, it'd be their responsibility to eliminate them. The humans thought they did this to show their use in order to be spared. However, it was simply because the Demon Lord had tasked them with that duty.
So, Israfel considered himself safe from human raids. He simply had to showcase some herbs growing in the dungeon that didn't interest him and hide away the ones he was cultivating. The foolish humans with little to no understanding of alchemy would be happy at the sight of anything growing with meager value.
At least, that's what he had thought. It was true that they had a more difficult time appraising the value of magical lifeforms compared to demons, but he had underestimated their greed. Just a few magical herbs did not satisfy the first adventurers that came to collect.
As he was flicking the orb and watching it spin, a vision suddenly popped into his mind.
To be more precise, it wasn't simply an image, but rather a replacement of all his senses. One moment, he was sitting on the floor in the core region of the dungeon, and the next he was at the periphery of the passage the humans made.
This was a special ability that dark mages had to share information with their undead. Typically, to discern less noticeable details the undead wouldn't pick up on their own, the mage would have to actively take over their senses. However, if the undead did notice something deemed important by the summoner, they were set to automatically draw in their mind so long as there was no resistance.
Not resisting, Israfel found himself looking at a standard four-person human party. They didn't have any weapons drawn and were just arrogantly waltzing in, so he rightly deduced they were there for collection.
Controlling his zombie, he approached them.
There were three men and one woman. Only one of the men felt powerful to Israfel. He determined the others were in a realm beneath him, and that the one man, who was likely the leader, was as strong as he was.
Disgust colored their faces at the sight of his zombie. It had most of the usual features of a demon, being the corpse of one. Slightly dark skin with a shade of red, dark black horns, and crimson eyes were all preserved. The obvious irregularities were patches of black on the surface of the skin, showing where darkness energy had to replace the deteriorated flesh of the corpse, as well as cold vacant eyes that only gained a slight glimmer when controlled by a necromancer.
Other demons would be nonchalant in the face of this, but humans would always put on twisted grimaces. Israfel marveled at the different manners that each of the humans managed to distort their expressions.
"Stop! That's close enough."
'Looks like I was right. This fellow is the leader.'
Israfel mentally noted that the one to step forward and order his zombie to halt was indeed the one with the greatest aura.
"Easy now. I just figured I could be of assistance in helping you find what you need so that you can be on your way."
The zombie gave an amiable smile after speaking, creeping the humans out at the sight of a few teeth as black as night. Its words suggested it'd be of help, yet the implication was that it wanted to get them to leave as soon as possible. The party didn't mind. They too didn't want to have to stay a second longer than necessary.
"Hmph, at least you demons know your place."
One of the men remarked in disdain, but the zombie didn't even glance at him. Israfel couldn't care less about the thoughts of these humans.
"Very well. Show us what has developed here, and we'll be on our way. I'll put in a good word for you at the guild for your cooperation. Maybe it'll end up in your favor during the next dungeon assessment."
The leader spoke with great confidence, gaining a simple nod from the zombie in response. He turned around and began walking away towards some algae developing on the walls nearby.
"Because the portal hasn't been open for very long, there is only one species of algae that has begun showing some special properties. It has a very faint repulsion to darkness energy. I'm sure you can find some uses for it in developing protective equipment against us demons."
"Oh, you even studied the properties of it? You're surprisingly capable as a member of the cursed race."
'I don't particularly want to hear that from a race far behind us in terms of botanical and alchemical research.'
At the leader's condescending remark, Israfel barely restrained himself from voicing out his thoughts.
"Well, it's not like I have anything better to do while living down here."
"You probably should've considered that before invading our territory. Anyways, just this, huh?"
When they reached the destination not far from their starting point, the leader reached out and scooped up some algae from the wall in front of him.
"You say this repels evil energy?"
"Yes, as you can see, there's a slight dark mist hovering slightly away from it. It is preventing the darkness energy from settling on its surface."
"Hoh, interesting. Alright, Khisam and Guther, you two start gathering. Fia and I will keep an eye on our host."
At this command, the two other men started scraping the algae off the walls and storing it in bags. Israfel inwardly sneered at their barbaric method of harvest but outwardly showed a friendly smile. Of course, the smile was by no means a pleasant sight in the eyes of his guests.
After everything was collected, the one the leader referred to as Khisam went up and whispered in his ears.
"Arth, this demon is giving this away too easily. Although they never resist, they've also never been so helpful before. What if he's hiding something good?"
Israfel felt a sense of foreboding as he watched the two humans whispering to each other. It didn't help when they cast serious glances in his direction.
"Okay demon, I'm quite satisfied with the help you've shown so far, but I've got another tiny request for you. Why don't you show me your portal room?"
"Excuse me?"
The amiable smile Israfel had the zombie displaying disappeared.
'This fucker wants to see the portal? In his dreams.'
"You see, my companions and I have some concerns about your over-enthusiastic behavior. We're wondering if you might be storing anything more precious away. So, I figure what better place to hide it than your most protected location? Don't worry, as long as we get everything of value here, we'll leave and put in that good word for you. If you're not hiding anything, there's nothing to worry about, right?"
Ridiculous is the most apt word to describe such a request. Even if it isn't a dungeon raid, a demon would never willingly reveal the dungeon portal. Why would they just put forward what they were sent to protect? Not to mention that Israfel was, in fact, cultivating various flora near his portal room.
He narrowed his eyes. He didn't even bother to try to talk his way out of it. He simply acted.
The man, Khisam, that just whispered in Arth's ears, slowly drew a dagger as they all stared at the zombie Israfel inhabited. His companions either didn't notice or thought it to be an attempt at intimidating the demon.
Suddenly, he struck his arm to the side in one swift motion, plunging the blade directly through the eyeball of Arth. Its blade extended directly into his brain, killing him instantly.
As a tier 5 rogue, he normally wouldn't be able to beat his tier 4 warrior leader. However, because he used his speed to take him by surprise and pierced a spot that lacked defense, the strongest of the group was felled easily.
"Mind control! Guther, we need to leave!"
Fia, the cleric of the party, had no way of competing with the demon's mental influence at her level. Their leader was dead and their rogue was now attacking them. Guther and her despaired at the realization that the demon possessed such an ability.
It was hopeless. Zombies and skeletons came out of hiding and surrounded them as their ally bombarded them with a flurry of attacks. The zombie they were speaking to didn't even move. He just watched on coldly until their last breath.
"Shit, I probably shouldn't have done that."