Lv1 Skeleton

I left the burning blade inside its mouth for quite some time, before finally pulling Krishna out.

"So, are you feeling a bit more humble now?"

"Ask me anything… I"ll answer."

"No, I can"t feel that you are being earnest."

I stick my sword back into Harpok"s mouth.

"Stop… just hold up one moment! I promise I"ve become more humble, give me a chance!"

"Hmm… I just have trouble believing you, why is that?"

"No, no, truly ask me anything and I"ll answer you to the fullest of my abilities."

"Ok, I"ll believe you for now."

I look down at Harpok with Krishna resting on my shoulder.

"Are you a G.o.d?"

"That"s right, I"m a G.o.d."

"Then have you heard of Metatron?"

"Of course I know him, he"s the one who imprisoned me in this jewelry box."

I level my gazed at him and waited a moment before continuing.

"What is your relationship with Metatron?"

"He had some secrets which he wanted to pry out of me, so he kept torturing me to such an end."

"Torture? How can that have gone one for any significant amount of time? You fold far too easily to pain."

"That"s because something is special about your sword. Normal weapons aren"t capable of harming G.o.ds. That thing must be an Artifact cla.s.s weapon"
"Is it? I have no idea, so then it"s possible to harm a G.o.d with these so called Artifact weapons?"

"Yes, in fact it was the very reason that Metatron had been pressing me for answers. He wanted an Artifact weapon of his own."

"Oh so it"s something that can even harm a G.o.d, that"s good to know."

"Master, have you finally recognize my value?"

"Right, it appears that you will be quite useful indeed."

"Well, even if it"s an Artifact then it can only harm minor G.o.ds. It wouldn"t be able to even scratch those High G.o.ds, not to mention anyone those G.o.d Kings."

" G.o.d Kings?

"For example, Skyfather and Metatron who were both on about the same level."

"Oh, then why was it that Metatron was so interested in getting his hands on an Artifact?

He couldn"t possibly be so concerned with killing some minor G.o.ds right?"

"No, it"s just that Metatron"s ability is to slow down time and enhance certain attributes. If an Artifact were to be enhanced, then it"s possible that it could be used to harm even the High G.o.ds."

"Hmm… slowing down time was his ability after all, I wonder how I can even counter that?"

"So, did you resist his torture and not tell him how to acquire an Artifact weapon?"

"No, I ended up caving and told him that to acquire an Artifact would require the sacrifice of a G.o.d, but I knew that he would fail. "

"I see… so you lied to him and led him into a trap."

"Well… I guess so, it was a small sacrifice for the peace of the entire world."

"Should I stick Krishan back into you? Are you lying to me right now as well?"

"To you? No, no I would never, anything but that burning sword!"

"You were scared of him which is why you talked, well at least he didn"t succeed."

"Well… all"s well that ends well, right?"

It could see it"s eyeball swirling from side to side, it was obviously trying to come up with some excuse and appeared nervous just like a human might.

"So the reason you"re locked up was that Metatron failed and took his anger out on you?"

"No, actually after Metatron failed he came back to me and asked me what the proper way was.."

"Hmm… then how did you answer him?"

"Well… for the sake of peace in this world, I sent him elsewhere."

"To another universe?"

"Right, a parallel universe. I told him that in there he could increase the strength of an Artifact  by absorbing the life essences of countless insignificant beings."

"Oh, how many is countless?"

I asked with a large frown.

"The magic required to enhance such a weapon would certainly require the sacrifice of billions of lives."

"So in order to save the lives of those in this universe, you sent him to reap the lives of billions in this parallel universe, right?"

"Yes, something like that. What happens in another universe isn"t of my concern so it seemed like a good option."

I gnashed my teeth in anger.

"I see, then how do you think someone from that other universe would react if he heard such a story?"

"I couldn"t possibly fathom how a mortal thinks."

"Then what if that mortal felt like thrusting his sword in your mouth at this very moment?"

"Wa… surely you aren"t from that universe. Truly this was never my intention….No, Woobwwob"

I stabbed Krishna deeply into him.

"Should I kill this piece of s.h.i.t?"

"Master I"d suggest you put this guy to good use instead of simply killing it."

"Johra it would be far more beneficial to squeeze out all its knowledge rather than simply killing it."

Krishna and Lena both advocated for me to stay my hand, but I wasn"t yet ready.

"Because of you, all life on Earth is now dead! Countless of beings across the universe have been sacrificed! What right do you have to continue living?"

I kept my burning sword in him for quite some time, until his chin was lopped off and his tongue and inner mouth had completely liquified and spattered on the ground.

Shhhhh Shhhh

Harpok still wasn"t dead though. A G.o.d"s vitality was truly incredible, and it"s entire mouth was regenerating at a speed visible to the eye.

"Johra you"ve chosen wisely. Simply killing it wouldn"t have been the right choice. After extracting all the information it has, it won"t be too late to then kill it in the most painful and brutal way possible. It should be subject to 100 times the suffering which those from our world suffered."

Lena was burning with fury at this latest enemy. Perhaps it was the will of her human creators which had seeped into her code and affected her judgement.

"Thanatos are you there?"

"Did you call, Master?"

Thanatos arrived and prostrated herself at my feet.

"I"m giving you permission to torture this thing in the most brutal way possible. I"ll lend you Krishna, so be sure to extract everything it knows and then report back to me."

"It"ll be done as you say, Master."

After borrowing Krishna from me, she grabbed hold of Harpok and with a wicked smile, vanished into thin air.

"Johra, that being which used to be Melpomene is an unknown existence. Even the materials which make up her body are unknown and don"t exist in this world.

"Oh, well it would be strange if death itself could be categorized as a material. Sigh…I am exhausted, I"ll be heading back."

My heart was heavy after finally learning the reason behind the extermination of all life on Earth from Harpok. No, it wasn"t only Earth, since Metatron must have likewise targeted countless planets. The thought of so many lives being extinguished simply so that one being could enhance his personal strength was sickening.

Upon returning the my dungeon manor I first checked up on the Princess" condition, before going to our bedroom to meet Viezda.

"You"re back Johra."

"Yes, but it"s been a long day."

"Oh, what"s happened?"

"I finally learned the reason behind a tragedy which has occurred in my past."

I collapsed on our new bed, completely exhausted. Viezda came up and snuggled up to me, while stroking my head in an attempt to comfort me.

"I"m not sure what has happened, but since it"s already in the past then there isn"t much you can do about it now.

"I suppose you"re right."

"Is it possible to prevent that same tragedy from occurring in the future?"

"I don"t know, possibly."

"If you can"t do it, Johra, then no one can."

"Do you truly think so?"

"It isn"t only a question of ability. You are always going out and try your best to do the right thing. I don"t think you need to worry about things which have yet to occur.

"Hmm… even though it is something which concerns the lives of countless beings?"

"The fault lies at the feet of the evil people who are the ones that are doing the killing. You can"t blame yourself for every wrong ever committed."

"Is that so? But I feel like that is just taking the easy way out…."

"Right, but you can"t right every wrong, so don"t beat yourself up over it."

Hearing Viezda"s comment I suddenly remembered a conversation which was buried deep in my memory.

"Right, I had made some promise, and something about some trial which would be unavoidable…just what was it already?"

"Johra you sound tired, why don"t you go to sleep?"

"Yeah… that sounds like a great idea."

As I tried hard to remember, my body succ.u.mbed to fatigue and I fell into a deep sleep where I once again met that person in my dreams.

"I remember."

"Do you though?"

"Yes, are you a ****"

"Similar, I suppose, but still different."

"Different? In what way?"

"That"s all I"ll say for now."

"I have a faint recollection of a promise."

"Indeed, when the time comes you"ll know."

"By the way why are we meeting in my dreams? I feel like I"ve known you for quite some time."

"This conversation isn"t our first, nor will it be our last. You will undoubtedly forget, but I"ll repeat it once more. I"ve opened the path to the destruction of all worlds in order to keep the promise between us. Present, Past and Future are all rushing towards the same continuum and the destruction is beginning to accelerate, you"d best hurry."

"What is that about, I still can"t entirely remember my promise. What if I don"t hold up my end? Will the entire universe be destroyed?"

"Leave it at that for now. The flow of destiny is like a bubble underwater. It is hidden from sight, but as it grows larger and larger it will eventually rise to the surface and vanish. I am the embodiment of our Promise, Destiny, if you would."

"What are you talking about? I can"t understand it at all."

"Goodbye, and until next time."

"Hey, Stop! At least let me know when we next meet!"

I woke up and realized I was simply talking to myself. Viezda and Vez were sleeping beside me, while the moonlight controlled by Lena filtered into our room.

"Lena did you record all that?"

"Yes, just as you instructed."

"Great, I"ll go watch it in the lab."

I headed underground to watch the video of my muttering to myself in my sleep. I was hoping to gain some understanding as to who I was speaking with and what it was about, but….

"What! Why is it that the audio is cut off everytime I speak his name? Can the file be restored?"

"It"s strange, I"ve even tried restoring the sound by using the vibrations in your jaw bones but isn"t possible for some odd reason. I will investigate my own algorithm."

It felt like a conspiracy that all the important audio was cut off and that even Lena wasn"t capable of restoring it.

"Could it my some kind of magical interference? No, that shouldn"t be possible since I personally placed several layers of magical protection spells which Lena had come up with.

But if it isn"t magic then just what could have caused this?"

My intrigue towards the contents of my dream grew even larger. Not matter how hard I tried to remember what it was I dreamt about, nothing stuck.

"Could it be some huge secret which if it were to be known could cause the immediate destruction of the universe?"

I tried pouring over the recordings for anything which might jump out at me, but saw nothing of interest.

"Could it be that it wasn"t a regular dream… but then what was it?"

I watched the same recording over and over again, but learned nothing new. Likewise Lena was incredible frustrated.

"Johra I"ve run a scan of my algorithm and everything seems fine. I don"t seem to have any corrupt data, so I have no idea what could possibly cause the audio file to fail. According to Ockham"s Razor, it might be background noise, but that just doesn"t make sense.

"Lena, continue to a.n.a.lyse the footage. For some reason I feel that you"ve touched on an important point, but can"t quite put my finger on it.

"Yes Sir!"

The next day I once again set out with my party, as we prepped for the last two dungeons.

The Parli and Baror dungeons were located in the New Continent. These largely undiscovered lands didn"t have any established means of transportation so I ordered Lena to create a submarine. The reason was that I didn"t want others to see us travelling on a modern boat, so a submarine would be stealthier.

"Johra it should be easy enough to a.s.semble it, just carry these pieces over.

Lena had prepared and the parts for the submarine in 1000 different wooden boxes.

"Hm… that"s a lot of work."

"After arriving to the beach I teleported the boxes over and it took 10 days time to finish a.s.sembling it.

"Johra I"ve named this aircraft, the Nautilus."

"Wait, wasn"t it supposed to be a submarine?"

"Well it could function as a sub, but it could also fly in the air or even into s.p.a.ce if needed."

"You"ve definitely gone overboard again, no wonder it was so hard to a.s.semble!"

"It might prove useful someday."

The Nautilus was a relatively small submarine, being 20 meters long and 4 meters high. It was a total of 300 tons and could navigate under in any condition.

"What is that in front?"

"That is a mini version of  the Tri-force laser cannon we installed on Valen."

"It"s a bit too much, were you planning on blowing up a star, Lena?"

"Well, you know what they say, better to ask for forgiveness that permission."

I naturally used it as its intended submarine function in order to cross the sea. It had its own autopilot function so I could enjoy the scenery of the deep sea. Unlike on Earth these waters were teeming with aquatic life.

Along our ride there was even a 40 meter long Ichthyosaurus and a giant looking Octopus which which appeared like one of those mythological Krakens which considered the Nautilus as prey and tried to attack. Suffice it to say that things did not end too well for them.

"Johra the entire sea has been mapped out."

"Huh?Was this the reason we"ve been moving so slowly?"

"It"s like killing two birds with one stone, the map might prove useful."

"Lena, in the future please focus only on the tasks you"ve been a.s.signed. You sometimes go overboard which results in large inefficiencies.

"Okay!"