Dungeon energy...overload?

Lucien subconsciously stood up, grabbing his head and pressing it.

He almost couldn’t read the words, his vision doubling.

The energy from the main dungeon soared like crazy and the excess hit the slime dungeon hard.

Bang!

The slime dungeon shook.

Cracks appeared on the slime lake’s crater, the water instantly leaked out, seeping into the cave floor.

Glurgggg!

The slimes rushed out of the lake, hiding at every corner, even climbing the walls.

Bzzztt!

A red panel popped up, flickering ominously.

[Slime dungeon’s durability: 10/100]

[Warning! Warning! The slime dungeon’s durability has reached a critical threshold!]

[Forcibly drawing energy ••• ]

[ Energy -5% ]

[Durability +50 points]

[Slime dungeon energy reserve: 15%]

[Durability: 60/100]

[Number of slimes: 300]

The cracked crater slowly regrew, rocks grew back, but the spilled water remained.

Seeing the slime dungeon’s low energy, Lucien’s mind moved.

Transfer...energy.

Lucien’s eyes shifted to the dim blue crystal floating in front of him and he flicked his wrists.

Wongggg.

The blue crystal separated from the circle, obediently going to Lucien’s hand.

Without touching the crystal, a stream of energy poured from the purple energy crystal through Lucien’s hand, entering the blue crystal.

Woooongggg.

[+75%]

[Slime dungeon energy reserve: 90%]

The blue crystal glowed brightly and the purple crystal’s blinding light slowly dissipated, the rampaging energy died down.

[Main dungeon energy reserve: 100%]

As the number dropped, the splitting headache in Lucien’s head slowly subsided, his vision clearing up, but the system panel immediately popped up again.

DING! [Your main dungeon energy reserve is full]

[You may close the gate]

[Open House skill duration: 00:40:00]

"Close the gate?"

Lucien mumbled.

He looked at the slime dungeon and his main dungeon’s almost full energy reserve. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Then, he looked at the slime dungeon’s durability number glowing in red.

Yeah. He should close the gate.

This is enough.

The moment Lucien had the thought, the fullness in his stomach disappeared and a deep, primal hunger gnawed his inside.

—No...not enough.

Lucien’s inner soul yanked his hair, his eyes unfocused.

But the dungeon...

—More...

Grrkkk.

A sharp, stabbing pain prickled his tail bone and a sharp tip slowly pierced out.

"Ugh..."

Lucien felt his stomach hollowed out, all the way to his chest.

It was as if the energy in his body leaked out.

His whole body itched, burned, tearing open.

—More!

Grrkkk.

The black bone slowly pierced out of Lucien’s tail bone, a layer of transparent slimy liquid coated it.

Lucien’s inner soul screamed without a voice, his stomach plastered to his back.

Yeah. Why close the gate now?

It’s definitely not enough.

He needed more!

A strong hunger for power completely took over Lucien’s inner soul and his cold voice rang.

"Don’t close the gate."

Grrrkkkk.

The black bone grew to half a meter long and the sharp knife-like edge cut through the air.

Whip!

The slimy liquid coating the black bone touched the tile and the tile immediately turned black.

Sizzle.

DING! [Body synchronization: 60%]

Lurenzo, who was trying not to look at Lucien this whole time, finally stiffly turned his head around.

The moment he saw the tail slapping the tile gently, his mind went blank.

W-what...?

Lucien’s four green eyes rolled, all eyes fixed on Lurenzo’s face.

A chill went down Lurenzo’s spine and he subconsciously blurted out.

"Who...are you?"

You’re not Luen.

You’re not...human!

Lucien was silent. He slowly sat down, the tail coiling around his leg.

His eyes never left Lurenzo’s face.

A sense of hunger crept over.

...energy.

Drip.

Saliva dripped down Lucien’s lips and his red tongue stuck out, licking his fangs.

High quality...energy.

Shiver.

Lurenzo felt like being watched by a beast.

No, even worse.

It was as if he was standing in front of a hungry— dungeon boss monster.

"M-my lord?" Lurenzo took a step back.

Mumu in his arms squirmed, slowly waking up.

"Muuu?"

He smelled something different and sniffed around, his eyes landing on Lucien.

"Muuu..?"

Bad uncle?

But...it didn’t feel like the bad uncle.

Lucien’s eyes shifted to Mumu and the same urge bubbled, but a sliver of thread held him by the neck.

A sense of familiarity enveloped him.

Tenant one.

Lucien’s eyes flicked to Lurenzo.

Tenant two.

Hmmm. Not food.

Lucien ignored the two people and looked at the entrance of the gate instead, his heart racing.

Outside, more...energy.

More power.

Wooonggg.

Outside the gate, the Youth Guild hunters went into an uproar.

"Healer! Find a healer! His life force is declining!"

"Energy potion! Help! The guild leader overused his skills!"

Soron laid on the street, unconscious.

The hunters around hurriedly took him away but after a while, someone noticed something.

"Where are the other hunters?"

"Are they still inside?"

The gate never closed, so they didn’t know.

But after waiting for a few more minutes...

No one came out.

A bad premonition crept up everyone’s mind.

"I-it can’t be, right..."

"B-but the guild leader is the strongest..."

He awakened as a Fire Warrior, definitely a strong hunter for their small city.

If he came out in this state...

Everyone quickly took a step back from the swirling gate, sweat drenched their backs.

"R-report."

"What?"

"Report to the mayor! This gate is not normal!"

"O-okay vice leader!"

The entire guild was thrown into a disarray and in less than five minutes, the news spread on Civil City’s local internet.

[An instant dungeon wiped out the entire Youth Guild’s elites?]

[The mayor and the local bureau claimed they will investigate the gate ••• ]

[Civil City suspected to have a mutated instant dungeon ••• ]

The few hunters and awakeners in the city immediately steered clear from the gate, not approaching it at all.

The mayor and the local bureau who said they would conduct an investigation didn’t even appear, all eyes focused more on the expedition team at the Death Zone next door.

Lucien waited and waited for an entire ten minutes.

He felt that his veins had already been gnawed by countless ants several times, yet—

No new lambs entered.

Lucien’s four eyes flashed coldly.

He carefully felt the presence around the gate and there wasn’t even a sign of life.

It was completely empty.

Lucien tilted his head, his tail slapping the tile irritability when the system popped up.

DING! [You may close the gate and open a new one]

[Estimated energy needed: 50%]

Lucien paused. His slender human fingers scratched the armchair repeatedly, numbers flashed in his mind.

50%.

Five or more lambs.. could earn it back.

"Close the gate."

Lucien decisively waved his hand and the gate slowly closed with a creaking noise.

Woongggg.

The next second, the entire gate disappeared, leaving only the slightly twisted void.

[Main dungeon’s energy reserve: 50%]

DING! [Choose a new gate location!]

[Civil City]

[Grindhall City]

Lucien’s instinct tingled at the words Grindhall and a smile slowly bloomed on his face.

The exact location—

Lucien’s mind flashed with the image of the spider Dungeon’s encirclement camp back then and his finger moved.

Click.

Woongggg.

The same gate slowly tore through the void, appearing at the same place as the previous spider Dungeon’s gate.

It had only been a day since the spider dungeon disappeared, so the camp had not been disbanded yet.

Under the moonlight, the void twisted and the dungeon energy detection in the camp blared.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

[An F-rank instant dungeon is detected!]

The machine’s cold voice rang throughout the camp and the hunters who were discussing yesterday’s spider dungeon disappearance sprang out of their tents.

"What? A new F-rank dungeon? Here?"

"Didn’t the Dungeon Management Bureau say new dungeons won’t appear so quickly in the same place?"

"Maybe this place is so blessed, attracting one gate after another."

"Yooo, just right! We need a new farm dungeon! This one will do!"

A lot of hunters casually grabbed their weapons and gears, trotting towards the glowing white gate.

The gate was opened wide, the darkness inside swirling, waiting for new hunters to conquer it.

The hunters cracked their fists and grinned.

"Let’s go! Let’s go! First come first serve!"

Ten whole hunters bursted into the gate’s range and all ten of them disappeared.

At the same time, Lucien finally felt a new presence at the entrance of the slime dungeon.

The energy smelled even more enticing than the previous ten lambs.

And their faces...

Were familiar.

Lucien looked at the current slime and spider dungeon, his face cold.

This won’t do.

Stronger lambs... needed a sharper blade.

Lucien’s finger paused midair.

That one design revision chance.

He had saved it...for this.

"Begin."

Woongggg.

The glowing blue arc, the portal between the spider and the slime dungeon slowly shifted.

Crack.

The void trembled slightly.

Lucien immediately felt half of the energy in his body rapidly leaking out.

Throb.

His mind ached. Stomach gurgling, burning.

The spider Dungeon’s green crystal slowly dimmed.

[Spider Dungeon’s energy reserve: 30%]

Lucien’s cold voice echoed in their mind.

"Phase two."

"Kiiik!"

The spiders crawled to their positions, laying new webs on the ceiling and hid the hanging threads deeper.

Some took down the hanging cocoon and carried them away.

"Kiik!"

Splat!

The gatekeeper spiders spat out webs, their thick threads covering the entrance ground completely, turning it into a tangle of huge web balls.

Once the glowing arc stopped moving, the system’s panel popped up.

[Spider Dungeon’s durability: 20/100]

That’s enough.

"Spiders. Get ready."

"Kiiik!"

Lucien’s four eyes squinted into a smile as he watched the hunters walking towards the slime maze.

His stomach gurgled even louder.

Your beloved "farm" dungeon is back.

But this time...

You are the harvest.