I didn't want to kill it.
The instinct to draw my Nail and settle into a life-or-death struggle was screaming in my veins, but the creature before me silenced it. This wasn't a standard spawn. It wore tattered scraps of leather armor and a faded blue scarf that had seen better centuries. Its scales weren't the dull, stony grey of a typical Lizardman; they were a deep, shimmering emerald that caught the dying light of the crystals.
It wasn't charging. It was staring at me as if I were the demon. Given the literal sea of gore I had just created, I couldn't exactly blame it.
"Um... hello," I managed, my voice still raspy from the Great Scream.
"Eeek!" the creature yelped, nearly tripping over its own tail.
He definitely saw the massacre, I thought.
"Wait," the monster rasped. The voice was like grinding stones—raw, unpracticed, and heavy with effort—but the word was clear Koine. A chill ran down my spine that had nothing to do with the Dungeon's damp air.
"You... you can talk?" I feigned surprise, trying to mask the fact that my System had just given me a full documentary on his species.
His posture softened slightly, though his eyes remained fixed on the exit. "I dream," the Lizardman replied, his tail twitching nervously, sweeping a path through the dust. "I dream of the surface. Of the great red ball in the sky you call the sun."
"..."
Why the hell are you telling a stranger your dreams? You really are a 'Fool,' aren't you?
"That's nice," I replied with a bright, forced smile that probably looked terrifying given the blood on my face. "For me, I dream of creating a family and living happily. Maybe some peace and quiet."
For a fleeting moment, the weight of the Great Dungeon seemed to vanish. There was no Guild, no Familia, and no "Monsterphilia." There was only a man and a creature, staring at each other across an impossible divide.
"Alright, this is awkward. My name is Allen. You?"
"Lid," the creature whispered.
"Good name. What were you doing here, Lid? This is deep territory for a solo Lizardman."
"I... I just came out. I don't know where I am."
So, he just respawned, I realized. The Dungeon spat him out right into my path, and I almost added him to the quota.
"Maybe you should leave before—"
Phew!
The hiss of an iron bolt cut through the air. I simply reached out and caught the projectile inches from Lid's shoulder.
"Look at that! A talking lizard!" a voice jeered from the tunnel entrance.
A group of five adventurers emerged, their gear polished and their expressions twisted into masks of greedy excitement. These weren't low-level fodder; their aura suggested Level 4 "vultures"—veterans who prowled the Deep Floors to scavenge rare drops and wounded prey.
"Step aside, kid," the leader, a scarred man wielding a heavy mace, barked at me. "That's a 'Special' specimen. The Guild will pay a fortune for its head, or we can sell it to the black market alive. Either way, it's our payday."
Lid was trembling so violently I could hear his scales rattling.
Crack.
I snapped the iron bolt in half with one hand and looked at them. My eyes didn't glow orange this time; they were cold, flat, and dark.
"A specimen?" I asked, my voice low and steady. I didn't draw my weapon, but my shadow seemed to stretch toward them. "He's a person."
The adventurers erupted into jagged, ugly laughter. "It's a monster, boy. It's got a stone in its chest and malice in its blood. Move, or we'll collect your drop item, too."
My hands began to glow a soft, ominous white.
"Okay, look, I'm on a schedule, so I'll only ask one question," I said, a thin smile playing on my lips. "Are you with Evilus?"
The leader narrowed his eyes, his silence serving as a confirmation.
"I'll take that as a yes."
I didn't attack them directly. I turned and punched the wall behind me.
—BOOM—
The structural integrity of the floor buckled. A massive fissure tore through the stone, and from the darkness of the "Dungeon's wound," a Juggernaut began to pull itself into existence, its black, bone-like armor gleaming.
"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" the leader screamed, his face paling as the ultimate exterminator manifested.
The group turned to bolt, but I appeared in front of them in a blur of gold light. I unleashed my Pressure, a crushing weight that locked their joints and pinned them to the floor.
"I hereby state," I whispered with a cheerful grin, "that anyone who moves without my permission dies."
"H-hey, Lid, come here," I beckoned. The Lizardman ran to me like I was his only hope in a world gone mad.
The Juggernaut's upper torso was fully formed now, its scythe-like arms clicking as it sensed its prey. One of the adventurers, a thief trembling with terror, broke.
"SCREW THI—"
Splash.
A small, white dagger of Void-energy punched through his skull before he could take a step, the impact making his head erupt like a melon.
"I said don't move," I reminded the remaining four. "And that includes your mouths. Wait for it..."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
Clap.
I triggered a spatial shift, disappearing with Lid just as the Juggernaut completed its spawn. The adventurers didn't even notice our departure; they were too busy screaming as the black monster fell upon them.
The Inventory Space
Lid looked around, his jaw dropping. We were standing in a vast, black void—a pocket dimension that seemed to stretch forever.
"W-where are we?" he stammered.
"We're in, uh... my inventory," I said, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly.
"Inventory?"
I pointed downward. Lid looked, and his emerald face turned a shade paler. Below us lay a literal mountain of magic stones—thousands upon thousands of them, glowing with a faint, ghostly light.
'At this rate, our entire race will go extinct because of this man,' Lid thought with a bitter, terrified smile.
"There's more," I said, looking down at the "viewing window" to the floor below. "But I stopped because I ran into you."
The Juggernaut was currently chasing the survivors. It was slowing down on purpose, enjoying the terror. It seemed... happy. Unknown to me, this Juggernaut carried the genetic memory of the two I had killed earlier. To him, it was a vacation. It wasn't hunting a Level 6 monster like me; it was just squashing bugs. It was a "Tom and Jerry" chase, if Tom were a twenty-foot bone-monster and Jerry were a screaming cultist.
"Hey, Lid," I said, turning back to the Lizardman. "When we finish with this, can you help me pick up the rest of the stones?"
I paused. Wait, that might look like I'm asking him to help me bag his cousins.
"Sure," Lid said with a shaky, submissive smile. He knew better than to say no to the man who carried a graveyard in his pocket.
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I'm sorry everyone for not dropping a chapter for a while.
When I noticed that it's been more than two weeks I was shocked because for some reason it felt that the last chapter I dropped was like two days ago.
So forgive me for this and I hope everyone have a good day.