Orloth bowed as the heavy door of the interrogation room closed behind him.

  “Master.”

  “Good job,” Viktor said with a chuckle. “I didn’t know you had that trick up your sleeve. And what the hell was that creature, anyway?”

  “It’s a species of parasite native to the world I come from.” The Acolyte gave a shrug. “We don’t often get the chance to use them in the dungeon. We fight by attacking the intruders from a distance, without showing our faces. On the other hand, using those creatures requires us to get up close to our opponents, and they must not resist during the process.”

  “A parasite, huh?” Viktor brushed the dust from his clothes as he straightened up. “You’re right. It’s not exactly something you’d want to use in combat.”

  Orloth nodded. “Back when I was still serving the Great One and helping Him realize His great plan, sometimes I needed to deal with ordinary humans. ‘Persuade’ them to do what I want, for example. While our leaders, the Prophets, might have more subtle and sophisticated means to influence their minds, we lower-ranking Acolytes had to rely on, well, more primitive methods to yield results.”

  “There are many ways to mess with someone’s mind, and some are more physical and direct than others,” Viktor mused. Come to think of it, he himself used to have a Supreme Thauma that wasn’t so different.

  “Exactly.”

  “So, about that parasite. What’s it doing right now?”

  “Living inside her skull, naturally,” Orloth said with a nonchalant tone. “But it stays dormant. Sleeping. Nicely nestled between the wrinkles of the brain’s surface. It won’t act unless I tell it to.”

  “And when it does act?”

  “I can make my victim feel anything I want. Pain or pleasure. Mostly pain, though, as it’s my specialty. I can let her experience the final moments of someone being hanged. Or disemboweled. Or burned alive. Simply put, I can make her die in a hundred different ways without actually killing her. After all, it’s all in her head.”

  Viktor chuckled. This guy was a servant of a dark god, alright.

  “At what distance can you still give it an order?”

  “Distance isn’t the issue, Master. The parasite is like an extension of my will. As long as we’re still in the same world, it will listen to me.”

  “That’s a ridiculous range,” Viktor said, laughing out loud. Then he asked, “What if something happens to you? What will the parasite do?”

  “If I die, so will she. For real, this time. The parasite will kill the host immediately after my death. In a, well, not very pretty way.”

  Viktor leaned back against the stone wall, thumb brushing across his chin, and let the implications sink in. He now had a firm grip on Yvonne. A single thought from Orloth could bring the woman to her knees. She wouldn’t run. She wouldn’t resist. He could give her any order and she could not disobey.

  “Master, you’re planning to let her go?”

  What a smart man, Viktor thought. “Yes. I doubt she’s going to run her mouth about what she saw in the dungeon, not while she knows there’s a bug living in her head. Besides, I’ve got work for her.”

  “The Reliquary?”

  Viktor nodded. While he could ask her to describe the location, then go there himself to retrieve it, that would be very inefficient. No, better to let her take care of it for him.

  “Tell her that she has three days to return with the Reliquary.”

  “Understood, Master.” Orloth bowed, already turning to carry out the order.

  No need for more words. No need for detailed instructions spelled out. The guy was a professional; he knew what to do. Viktor only had to set the goal, and his minions would handle the rest.

  The gnolls were going to be disappointed, though, as their supposed-to-be meal would walk out of that room alive and relatively intact. Well, there was still that wounded, unconscious man. The beasts would have to make do with that.

  “Celeste, teleport me back to the Core Room.”

  [Understood.]

  The moment she spoke, the world shifted. He found himself standing once again before the crystalline form of his Dungeon Core. The transition was seamless, but he knew time had passed without him noticing.

  He turned, eyes scanning the familiar chamber. The same raised dais stood at the center where the Core hovered, the same sets of chairs and tables of various shapes and sizes filled the space, and the same mural on the wall depicted past victories. It looked exactly the same, but this was actually a different room, on the fourth floor. Celeste had simply moved everything here from the old place.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  He sat down on a nearby chair. “Show me your current stats.”

  [Yes, Master.]

  So, Celeste has just levelled up. Isn’t that nice?

  The amount of essence collected had been low for a while, for many different reasons. First of all, the adventurers had grown more and more cautious over time. The reckless idiots and eager rookies were the first to get killed, so naturally, those who remained were people who knew how to stay alive. Sure, the influx of newcomers to Daelin brought more fools, but it also brought stronger, more seasoned adventurers. Additionally, over time, people came to understand the dungeon’s layout better and could easily avoid the beginner mistakes that could cost them their lives. The first floor had become a cakewalk, while few were willing to venture into the second floor to challenge the Cyclops.

  Then came the ballista incident. Traffic dried up after that poor bastard got skewered, so he had to tell Celeste to soften the place up, to roll out the red carpet for the pair he really wanted, Brynhildr and Dagnar. It worked, and the adventurers were coming back to the dungeon. They now roamed freely on the second floor, tackling the narrow maze, after the Cyclopes had been withdrawn. Some even brought explosives to blast through those thin walls to create shortcuts. He didn’t mind, of course. That labyrinth had served its purpose long ago, so he welcomed the destruction, as it saved him the trouble of demolishing it himself. Soon, he would reveal the true second floor, Khenemhotep’s domain. The kingdom of sun, sand, and the dead.

  “The ‘Summon Earth Minions’ skill has been upgraded from LV1 to LV2, right?” Viktor asked. “Show it to me.”

  Another creature whose name didn’t get translated properly. He had no idea what a Tengu was or what it could do. Well, at least this name was short and easy to remember, unlike the ridiculous one those spider-women had. Maybe he would summon a few of these new monsters, put them under Khenemhotep’s command, and observe how they performed in the field. Trial-and-error was always the best way to learn.

  [What are we going to do next, Master?]

  A good question. His ultimate objective hadn’t changed; everything he did revolved around one single goal: killing Dagnar. And thanks to Yvonne’s confession, he had made significant progress on that front. But it was still not enough. He needed to watch them more, to find out what kinds of Thauma that man had crafted using his power, and what ace up his sleeve he was hiding, the one that had supposedly wiped out a group of elite assassins in a bloody confrontation.

  And when he finally made his move, it would not be on the first floor. Too close to the entrance, too easy for them to escape. No, he needed them to go deeper into the dungeon. Khenemhotep’s desert, yes. That was the right place. But then, he had to reveal it first.

  “For now, we stick with the original plan. We observe them. We study them. We learn their secrets,” Viktor said. “And while we’re doing that, we also prepare for the big revelation. The kingdom of sand has waited long enough. The adventurers have already weakened the second floor’s structure. They’ve been using explosives for weeks, blowing through the maze. So when we decide to open the desert, we simply collapse the barrier wall separating the two areas. Let it look like the result of their own reckless destruction.”

  Was that all?

  No, there was still one more thing. The fate of Yvonne herself. What was he going to do with her once she returned with her Reliquary?

  The simplest, cleanest solution was to have her disposed of. No loose threads, no future liabilities, no survivors whispering secrets that should remain buried in the depths of his dungeon.

  But would it really be wise to throw away such a valuable asset? After all, she was a professional spy, an agent operating under the direct orders of the King of Lyndor himself. Thanks to Orloth’s implanted parasite, he now had a leash around her neck. He might not have her loyalty, which he didn’t need anyway, but he did have her obedience. Why waste good resources when he could just put them to use himself?

  There was more. According to her confession, Yvonne and her companions were not the only ones sent after Dagnar and Brynhildr. If the group in Daelin got wiped out, it would raise suspicion and invite reinforcements. However, if she continued sending reports back to headquarters, feeding them the lies he wanted her to tell, then he could keep the other spies at bay. And in case they did come, she could help him identify them and gut them like pigs.

  But one thing was certain. He had to keep her away from the warrior woman and her good-for-nothing nephew. One of the reasons he wanted the Lyndorian spies out of the picture was the ever-present risk that a single misstep from them could spook the paranoid pair and send them fleeing from Daelin. That meant Yvonne would have to quit her job at the inn. My sincere apologies, Nadja.

  Still, that left the question of what to do with her afterward. He didn’t have a task for her at the moment, but letting her stay idle was not a good idea. More free time meant more plotting, more scheming, more chances for her to slip from his grasp. No, he needed her busy. Maybe he would have to make up some bullshit work for her just to keep her occupied.

  No, wait.

  A name surfaced in his mind. Rennald the Overseer, the most powerful man in Daelin. He had withdrawn from public eyes after Gideon’s murder, but who knew what he might be scheming? Viktor didn’t like surprises, especially unpleasant ones. So it might be wise to keep a close eye on the man.

  “Celeste,” he told his Dungeon Core. “Tell Orloth that when Yvonne returns with her Reliquary, give her new orders. She must leave the Emberwood Inn at once, then seek new employment at the caravan station. She would gather information there, especially anything related to the Overseer, and report back to him weekly. Tell him that from now on, she is his responsibility.”