Red took a deep breath, more than aware that he had no lungs in the mana projection he was using to understand three-dimensional space. That did not stop him as he raised up a faceted finger and pressed the ‘purchase all’ button on the storage request. He felt a strange feeling in his gut, as if he had eaten the metal hinges on the door when they disappeared from reality. That would have to be explored later, as it was time for an army of bugs to go to war against undeath itself.

New Intruder detected! Swamp Ghoul - Crazed!

The door fell forward as the beast bashed its body against it, the sentinel of wood having stood still when the hinges had disappeared. The creature fell forward and Red felt like he was going to be sick at the sight of it. A gaunt pale figure, skin almost papery white was laying on his door. Blood stained in a sloppy mess around its mouth and hands from where it had greedily enjoyed previous meals. What little clothes the creature had barely hid the emaciated form as it struggled to get onto all fours. Though he snapped himself out of his stupor as it screamed, that horrible high pitched noise dropped the temperature of the room well below the comfy level the core had created. It had seen Addison.

“Charge!” Red roared at the crawdads that all swarmed the edges of the door before beginning to pinch at the ghoul’s hands and legs. The creature let out a growling his as its papery flesh was torn open by the sharp pinchers of the crawdads, the little mudbugs fighting against this immense enemy. “Aerial support!” Red ordered before Lotus came in with a shock of electricity against the Ghoul’s back, the magic making it convulse and shake as dead muscles were forced to react. Though that didn’t seem to stop it, a clawed hand pushed forward onto the ground as it began to crawl towards Addison. It didn’t even seem to be registering the attacks when its goal was in sight.

Addison was a pleading mess, praying for whatever god that would listen to protect her from this horrible fate. The second fairy swooped down between the limbs of the ghoul, waving its hands at the door that was below it. Green magic flowed from the fairy’s outstretched palms, the wood of the tree suddenly springing to life as it began to grow and root the ghoul in place. The beast's knees, feet, and one of its hands were firmly locked onto the wood. That seemed to be enough to register the defending army. It swatted a fist down, smashing one of the crawdads in a single blow. The remains of the creature pressed into the mud as its brethren continued to fight in its honor.

Red was watching this unfold, trying to think of what to do as he realized that they weren’t doing enough damage to the creature. It would destroy all of his forces before he would be able to actually end its life. He racked his brain, trying to think of what to do from countless zombie movies that he had watched during his human life. That was when his eyes went wide, realizing just what he was doing wrong. He turned towards Lotus, the fairy having just released another gout of electricity, making the ghoul convulse harder as it began to swat at the flying pests around it.

“Lotus! Grab a crawdad! Put it on this thing's neck!” He commanded firmly, the fairy floating up out of the ghoul’s reach before giving a firm nod. The blue fairy dive bombed towards a crawdad and wrapped her arms around it. She seemed to struggle for a moment to lift the crustacean that was almost as big as herself. Though with effort, she managed to bring it up and drop it onto the twitching back of the ghoul.

“You! Your name is Snips!” Red shouted firmly at the crawdad that was on the ghoul’s back, watching it raise its claws before the golden dust enveloped it. The change was different between creatures it seemed, as the crawdad now named Snips did not grow in size, but rather gained metallic claws in place of chitin. “Glad that worked. Alright! Snips! Attack the base of the skull! Burrow into the fucking thing if you have to!” Red roared before the pointed legs of snips danced across the ghoul’s back. The bladed claws sunk into the top of the ghoul’s neck, right where the spine would meet the skull. It began to claw and snip violently at the parchment-like flesh of the undead, congealed blood gushing down the back and shoulders of the creature. It let out a ghostly howl at the damage, ice beginning to form around the stagnant pools of water in the hut.

“You can do it, Snips! Everyone! Keep up the assault! Don’t let this thing focus on Snips!” He ordered, Lotus shocking the thing’s hand and causing burns to form across the flesh. That was enough to keep it’s attention for a second longer while the named crawdad did the task it was made for. The bladed claws sank into the flesh deeper and deeper, before they finally made enough room around the cylindrical goal. The ghoul suddenly stopped its movement, shuddering and trying to look back at the thing that was now gripping onto one of its vertebrae. That was its final mistake, the motion giving enough room for one of the claws to sink into the intervertebral disc. A sickening pop was heard as the cushion between bones was popped like a balloon. Spinal fluid coated the crawdad’s claws as the bladed tools snipped through all the neural pathways of the ghoul. The body went limp, the head making horrid noises as it remained the only active part of the body.

Red frowned before waved at the crawdad army, now only eight in number after Snips was promoted and their brother had fallen. “Finish it.” He said firmly before looking away, the crawdads swarming over the head. Red didn’t want to see it, instead directing the fairies to make sure that the little girl under his bed wasn’t looking either. He waited until the ghoul’s mana was collected before he finally gave a sigh of relief.

Large Intruder defeated! Please select one of the following options for the remains:

Store in inventory

Leave to rot

Convert to Mana

Disassemble and store in inventory

He frowned at the options, having not realized that the flies had just sort of… faded away over time. He pressed the option to convert it into Mana, knowing full well he didn’t want to see whatever it was that the mudbugs had done to its head. Though apparently it had managed to bite one of them in half during the remaining struggle, meaning he was down to seven ordinary crawdads. That wasn’t too much of a loss, especially considering the massive amount of mana he had just absorbed from both killing the ghoul and absorbing it.

Before he checked in on Addison, he fixed the door with its hinges properly in place. He made sure to have the door locked once he was certain that his little slice of peace was protected from whatever hell existed outside his four wooden walls. “You can come out now. You should be safe here.” Red said softly, wishing that he could actually convey feelings with the little boxes. Though after the girl read it, she seemed to believe him as she crawled out, more mud staining her pretty dress from her time under the mattress. She looked around cautiously, her eyes still red and puffy from crying and her throat no doubt hoarse from the screaming, pleading, and praying that she had been doing.

She slowly stood and Red looked closely at her. “Character sheet.” He asked the air softly, glad to see that a box didn’t appear in front of Addison. He just wanted to take a cursory look at the girl and make sure that she was alright. At the very least he could get some info on the world at large and where she came from.

Warning! Guest is not affiliated with the dungeon! Information limited!

Character Sheet

Name: Addison Cloudwatch Von Zinglemeyer

Age: 10

Height: 4’2

HP: 4/8

Stamina: 1/9

MP: 6/6

History: [Restricted]

Family: [Restricted]

Special: [Restricted]

Skills: [Restricted]

Religion: [Restricted]

Personality: [Restricted]

Likes: [Restricted]

Dislikes: [Restricted]

Race: Half-blood (Angelic)

Equipment: Silver-weave dress (soiled), Blessed Boots (Soiled), Undergarments [Unspecified for Modesty]

Description: Silver hair, violet eyes, Caucasian, multiple scratches across her body from running unprotected in the wilderness from a crazed Ghoul.

Red couldn’t help but blink in shock at the heavily restricted information that was laid out in front of him. With some thought on it, he did realize that any other information could be used by a dungeon to play unfairly against someone. So he decided not to dwell on the information, and instead just focus on the girl. She sat down on his mattress, frowning slightly at the mold and decay but not saying anything about it. It was clear that she at least had some manners. Then again, she probably was also trying not to sound ungrateful to her savior.

“Thank you for saving me, I thought that ghoul was going to kill me.” She said softly as she gently laced her fingers between her hands, the cuts and bruises obvious as she sat there. She was just a little girl, and no doubt a good girl if she was part angel. Red sat down next to her on the bed, putting a hand on her shoulder before it simply passed through. He would have to get used to the feeling of being a ghost, even if that wasn’t exactly right. “It’s no problem, you needed help and I wanted to help. Do you have some way of going home?” He asked softly as he looked at her, watching the box appear. As she read it, he realized just how lucky he had that the girl actually knew how to read. He didn’t know much about this world, but it seemed like it was still before standardized schooling. The thought was washed away as the girl sniffled, tears down her cheeks again.

“I don’t know. All I heard was… was them screaming while I ran.” She whimpered as she grabbed the pillow and buried her face in the ratty thing. The fairies quickly swooped in, sitting on the small jawbreaker sized core so that she wouldn’t see it. It was also so that Lotus could zap any flies that happened to buzz close to her. Though the girl was much too busy crying into the decrepit old piece of fabric that was once considered a pillow.

“Hey, it’s alright. How about you stay here until someone comes to find you? That way I can keep you safe.” He said with a smile, the pop-up appearing but not acknowledged because of her covered face. He frowned as he watched the screen sit in the air, patiently waiting to be acknowledged before it could disappear. Slowly but surely, Addison lowered the pillow and looked at the box. A few more tired sniffles came from her as she read, seeming to get a worried look on her face. “A-are you sure I can stay here? Dungeons aren’t supposed to protect people.” She muttered as she looked at the box, acting like that was his face.

Alert! Addison Cloudwatch Von Zinglemeyer has requested [Protected] within the dungeon!

Accept?

Deny?

“What the hell does that mean? Can I please get some info on this?” Red asked the system with a frown as he tried to hurry along the process. As much as he wanted to offer this status, he also needed to understand what he was getting himself into. He gave a small sigh of relief as a new pop-up appeared and began to describe what exactly [Protected] meant for a dungeon.

Description: A sentient being requests to stay within a dungeon for the sake of their own protection. This means that the creature will be considered as part of the dungeon, but exempt from having to perform any tasks required by the dungeon. The dungeon will provide magically created food, shelter, and entertainment for the protected individual. In exchange, the majority of the individual’s daily mana production will be paid towards the dungeon. The amount of mana will be automatically calculated by the system based on multiple factors.

“…Does this make me a slumlord now?”