One week later, Lucyna received the message from Meryl saying that they were already on the way back, so she informed Billy of that. Billy just nodded instead of being satisfied with that. He was satisfied that his rails had already reached the entrance of the fourth floor. His plans regarding the scales and tyrant hearts were also going fairly well. The only problem was that his wives had way too much energy now, thanks to the meat, and they were using it on the underground training arena instead of spending on him.
Around that time, Billy finally had a chance to test his powers to drain the experience from these tyrants, and while he succeeded. It was a very, very slow process… Fortunately, it was worth the hassle since he learned Mana Cannon when he used it for the first time. He wanted to learn the poison breath skill as well, but he always got the experience of Mana Cannon first… He couldn't understand why that was the case, but it wasn't exactly a problem. The only issue was the fact that the more rare and powerful the skill is, the harder it becomes. Billy couldn't imagine himself getting the effects of the artifacts he made using the blood of the others.
"I can't control it yet, but it is only a matter of time," Billy thought.
Since they had to fight against different monsters, Billy had the chance to finally practice that technique. Still, it was hard to find the right circumstances to do so. Speaking of circumstances, Billy recalled that he probably had to experiment with his other innate skills. Since his own let him move the experience from one skill to the other, mind control and summoning probably had some gimmicks as well that he had yet to learn…
"Well, everything in its due time…" Billy thought.
Since he could use Enhanced Thievery, Billy wondered if he could replicate what Lucyna could do by buffing others, but it would be weird to ask how that skill worked. While he had his own support spells that boosted the parameters, it was probably leagues below that one. At least the ones that weren't Destructive Aura.
The next few days, nothing major happened. Billy and Lucyna managed to work together and finish the rails up to the sixth floor before Icarus and Meryl arrived. It had been quite the scene to see so many demi-humans leaving the buses while they were completely dizzy due to the motion of the vehicle. The terrain of the continent wasn't appropriate for that kind of vehicle, after all.
"Hey, it seems that you guys have up to something weird," Icarus said when he saw them unloading the loot of the dungeon. "It will take a while for the camp to be completed, so I guess using the dungeon is the only thing that we can do."
Billy ignored the small talk and waited until Meryl showed up. They didn't mention before about the possibility of the dungeon breaking since they were driving, and they would need all of their focus on that task. Still, now it was time for that.
"I always thought it was weird that the dungeon cores could have so much power, but now it makes sense," Meryl said after she heard Billy's explanation. "Still, it makes me wonder how trees and vegetation around here grow so fast… I thought that it was due to the mana in the ambient, but if that mana is always being drained… there are many things that we need to learn about more. Nevertheless, we must focus on preparing for the next battle."
"Speaking of that, you didn't say much about the maker aside from the fact that he is powerful and that he defeated five others like us," Icarus said. "Does he have an army or something?"
"Ah. I never mentioned it… he indeed has an army, but it has been a while since we saw any of it since he found the fire dragon's dungeon," Meryl said. "In fact, the vast majority of the tribes of this continent decided to join him after being ultimately defeated. Those who didn't surrender in the end got decimated."
Billy always thought that the tribes of the continent had been mostly destroyed due to the continuous wars, but his guess was wrong… Still, he didn't expect that the majority of them would be on the side of their final enemy. That made things complicated. It also didn't explain why some people joined Meryl and the manipulator when the maker was willing to accept everyone on their side.
"So, he wasn't that bloodthirsty before killing five reincarnated individuals?" Billy asked.
"Yes, but given the situation, I can't say for sure if he still is treating his subjects like before," Meryl said. "I am pretty sure that his actions speak louder than words… he has been using a dungeon for two years. He doesn't care about the strength of others. Only his own."
Meryl had a point. If he still truly cared about his subjects, he wouldn't be so focused on strengthening himself. Also, no one could enter his territory, and leaving probably was impossible. Still, they had to be cautious about the possibility of the maker using some type of minions, so they would need Meryl's underlings as well.
"It seems that you have been taking the scales and hearts to your continent. Are you selling them to people of trust?" Meryl asked. "You said that you didn't want to make this continent known yet, but…"
"I am, and even if something happens, I am sure that the people from here are way stronger than the people from there," Billy replied.
"I will trust you with that," Meryl said. "Regardless, our goal now is to strengthen our forces and then clear the dungeon. That should give us an edge over the maker, who probably didn't do the same. After that, we will investigate his territory in earnest."
Both were easier said than done, and Billy was aware of it since he only now learned that the enemy had many more minions under his control…
