362: The Strange Dungeon Part 1

The Strange Dungeon Part 1

"It's fine. As you are my husband only, you do not need to worry about the other girls' missions. I will not let you be treated unfairly." I replied with a chuckle as I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his lips.  "Let's head out, we only got a few days, and It will take two days to reach our destination."2

Diablo nodded, and the two of us headed out. We were heading toward the northern woods, where a new dungeon had appeared. It was surrounded by a thick fog making it hard to traverse, so I was asked by the Dean to take a look. He was trying to make use of me before I became Empress, and he could no longer make such requests so easily. Although I am sure, he still will.

Which I will not mind since I have a backup king to take my place. If the king thinks he will be able to get away with all his scheming to make me take the crown so he can go on a vacation, he is seriously in for a surprise!

We got to the entrance of the northern forest within a day thanks to Diablo carrying me on his back and running there which was faster than any known method of travel besides teleportation. When we reached the forest edge, I  flew up into the sky to locate the area that was covered in fog, and luckily it was not too far into the forest and would only take an hour at most to get to even if we walked at a leisurely pace. But for Diablo, it took us ten minutes. And that was with him running at a medium speed.

So currently, it was already nighttime, and we were standing in front of the thick fog. "What do you think?"

"The dungeon is probably in the center, and the fog is coming from the dungeon itself," Diablo answered. 

"That was what I thought too. But I worry. The dungeons seem to be changing the areas around them. If they continue to change the area around them, what happens if monsters start exiting the dungeon?" I frowned just thinking about it. Powerful monsters roaming the lands would not be ideal. While it could help people level up if they already had system stones, not every civilian was cut out to be able to handle a monster, even at the lowest level. And that was just the monsters we already had roaming around naturally. 

"In the demon world, our cities and towns are all guarded by high walls as the devil beasts that live there are dangerous. Sometimes we have to fight off waves of monsters known as monster tides, and this alone can kill many soldiers. If these dungeons keep evolving, then it might be a good idea to start thinking about town and city defenses." Diablo's suggestion made a lot of sense. And with the new tech we had we could easily make use of the weapons we create to make mounted turrets that even normal people could use. 

"After my coronation, I will begin compiling a list of changes that the kingdom needs to undergo. It will have its name changed from the Gravos Kingdom to the Cyrilia Empire. Our size is too big to be considered a kingdom anymore. I want border defenses beefed up as well as city and town defenses. But this would also require a lot of infrastructures to make possible, such as roads and more airship docks.

"We will also be doing a huge draft for those who wish to join the new military I plan to establish. Our national defense will need to come first. This will also help the people who will be able to gain paychecks. So the poor people who have no other options will have new options because they can even learn trades for after their service if they so choose to leave after a few years." I had many plans rolling around my head, but there was not much I could do about it at this time as I was not queen as of yet. 

"I am sure whatever you do will benefit the kingdom as a whole. So I am sure the people will support you in any way. But don't most of the towns and cities already have walls?" Diablo asked.

"They do, but they are not able to hold up against an attack from a power monster. So we will need to find a solution to that. While we can use barriers to reinforce the walls, if someone level 600 shows up, we will not be in a good spot. Even I, who am level 258, is not sure if my barriers will hold up to such a monster.  Until I am high enough level to ward off all threats no matter where they come from or what level they are, I will not be able to feel at ease about those I care about being safe." This was my drive to continue to leveling up. People can now live much longer lives if they leveled up and expanded their mana pools, but this was only short term. At most, they could live a few thousand years if they did nothing but expand their mana pool per level. But this was not possible in a short time. Only my and Adel's rewind spell could, in theory, allow someone to live forever, especially now that I can choose what to rewind.

"I am sure you will get there. Until then, I will do whatever I can to assist you." Diablo said as he put his big hand on my head. He really had a habit of petting me.

"MMm… Thanks, Diablo." I replied with a smile. But I do hope in the future, I will be even more powerful than him. I was supposed to be the one protecting everyone, after all! 

  We moved quietly through the fog, checking every so often our direction by flying up past the fog. Otherwise, with how thick the fog was, we would probably end up getting lost and walking around in circles. 

But when we did reach the center of the fog, what we found kinda sent chills down my spine. A massive bee's head with its pinchers wide open revealing a portal of some kind was the entrance to this dungeon…..

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