(35) Free Labour

A few days went by and the number of players that challenged their dungeon didn't decrease. What was peculiar was that the parties were sometimes composed of people that did not look like locals. The locals in the groups seemed to be acting as teachers; showing their notepads, pointing around the room and at the two Bosses time to time.

The night sessions had also turned into practice hours for the Nagas, and Kraton. Every night Kraton could feel the Nagas' progress in their combat capabilities, he also used this chance to pester Lysine for startegies for himself. At first, Lysine just told him to figure it out by himself, however she soon realised that he was absolutely useless is thinking and solving his own problems.

At the end of each training session, there would either be a Nagas versus one of the two Bosses scenario, or a sparring match between Lysine and Kraton. Most times Kraton would win the match, however this seemed due to his instincts and power from his level difference. But when Lysine won, it was a complete humiliation on Kraton's part, Lysine's startegies and techniques left Kraton feeling like a caged rabbit.

On the fourth night, trouble arose. The Garagoyles had came down to Floor Three, most if not all of them looked apprehensive and nervous, they sought courage from each other by sticking together like penguins as they moved on like a massive block of stone.

Countless eyes focused on the group of stone figures, a chill ran through their cold spines and they froze in their step.

"What?" Kraton demanded, his voice sounded cruel and fierce to the Gargoyles, however the Nagas who understood Kraton more, felt mock and humour linging in his tone.

There was no answer from the Gargoyles until an individual got forcefully pushed forwards. the singled-out Gargoyle was Duis, the apparent leader of the Gargoyle horde.

"Ummm, Lord Kraton," Duis shifted uncomfortably under Kraton's imperious look, "We... We Gargoyles want to, would like to, improve as well."

"You want to join in, in beating me?" Kraton scowled when he heard the request.

The Gargoyles, as if in a frenzy, all shook their heads violently. The sea of bobbing and shaking heads made everyone feel nauseated.

"N-no, for stone monsters like us the improve, all we need are rocks... To consume of course." The request was said in a timid voice, fear choked Dios' words as he dreaded be reprimanded and banished.

The look Kraton and Lysine displayed was full of confusion.

"You have bountiful rocks where you are, feel free to go to the surface if you want"

"N-no, you don't understand it yet. For us to grow, we need harder, or rarer stones and ores. If you allow us, we will mine them ourselves, but we need to mine deeper." Dios hastily explained the situation, as if remembering something else, he quickly added, "We will mine a new floor for you if needed, we'll do everything ourselves, we just need.. would like your permission Lord Kraton. And Queen Lysine."

Kraton pretended to think deeply about the matter, causing Lysine to almost laugh out loud, luckily she restrained herself in order to not destroy Kraton's farce.

The whole request was favourable to Kraton, he would recieve free labour and a new Dungeon floor. This meant that he could house more minions, or give more space for the existing minions, furthermore, the Gargoyles would hopefully become strengthened and grow stronger.

Once a new floor of a Dungeon was complete, the owner of the Dungeon could either build their Boss Room in the new floor or change the location, moving the current Boss Room down. How this worked defied all clauses of logic and spacial laws; another unexplained mystery of Dungeons. To move and rearrange all floors, however, was only possible once the Dungeon itself grew an energy source. This energy source was normally a large crystal that radiated unknown energy, it was also called the 'Heart'.

"Sure, but if you find anything worth mentioning, I expect you to inform either me or Lysine. If you are to keep it for yourselves, prepare to bear the consequences of my wrath."

Lysine wondered if Kraton had prepared this speech long ago, it seemed too powerful to be something he made up on the spot.

"Of course, we would never dare to do such a thing!" Dios exclaimed loundly, followed by a chorus of exicited chatter from the rest of the Gargoyles.

Soon after, the Gargoyles disappeared up the stairs, only to come back down a minute later with what seemed like stone gloves with crude talons attatched to the ends. These gloves appeared to be an inefficient digging/mining utensil that mainly protected their hands. Why couldn't they just use pickaxes or hoes?

When the Gargoyles disappeared down the stairs, Floor Three was left in silence, that was, until dulled out sounds started reverberating up the stairs. It was clear that horde of Gargoyles had reached Floor Four and had started mining.

The Floor Three Group carried on with the regular training like normal, but this time they had some background noise other than the clashing of weapons and squeals of pain from Kraton.

The Nagas had improved tremendously, with their flawless teamwork and understanding of each other, they made it seem easy to trap their opponent and attack at weakpoints of a group or individual. Lysine and Kraton watched over the groups of Nagas sparring with each other, sometimes Kraton would be pushed forward to act as a sandbag, other times Lysine would approach a group, giving advice and suggestions after watching their techniques.

When the training finally finished, Lysine felt proud. She had experienced the growth of the Nagas first-hand, from simple Forest Monsters to a uniformed swarm of soldiers. She felt like any Queen should be: proud and happy.

As the pair of Bosses made their ways back down the stairs, the dampened noise of the Gargoyles grew louder. They could now make out the distinct sounds of scraping and crunching of stones. When they reached the base of the stairs, the sight was shocking.

The Gargoyles had already dug a large sloped tunnel around 20 meters down - in vertical height. What was more, their seemed to be little rubble around, the Gargoyles had seemingly consumed most rocks, or had turned it into a paste which cemented the walls. Where the paste came from, it was better off not asking.

Kraton and Lysine entered their Boss Room and prepared to rest in order to reenergize for the next day. However, when they tried to close their eyes and fall into a slumber, they encountered a small problem: The Gargoyles were too loud to let them sleep!

In the end, Kraton stormed out of the room and entered the mining tunnel. Lysine could hear loud, but muffled noises which sounded much like an angry Kraton. Eventually the sounds quietened down and a disharmony of heavy footsteps marched up the stairs and disappeared. Kraton re-entered the room with red eyes and holding his hands against the ears, his movements were wobbly and weak as he made his way to his bed.

*Crash* "Snooooore"