"I'm glad that you are safe, Lord Spirit." Duchess said in gratitude, "I was afraid all along that something bad happened to you."
"As long as Secret Society is functional, it means nothing had happened to me." Compass Carburettor laughed, patting Duchess on the head, noticing the dark bags under her eyes, a show of her stress and lack of sleep.
"I realised that. But…" She sighed, wiping her tears, "When I failed to receive any message, I had expected the worst."
He then asked through telepathy, "What is the status of Regriel?"
"He's already entered the Great Megwest Empire." Duchess replied through telepathy, "And, he'll arrive here by tonight. Based on his flight speed, we have less than three hours before his arrival."
"Dammit!" Compass Carburettor got up with a start, hurriedly looking at the Dungeon Boss as he said, "There is a terrifying enemy that we have to face next. Based on what Meharb said to me, the enemy we face is somewhat connected to Mellatico."
"Really?" The Dungeon Boss frowned, expressed killing intent, "If he dares come here, I'll shred him into pieces."
Dungeon Boss!
His killing intent was so powerful that Compass Carburettor fainted immediately.
Upon seeing his state, the Dungeon Boss hurriedly retracted his killing intent, watching Compass Carburettor get up with a start a minute later.
"So, what type of enemy is this?" The Dungeon Boss asked.
"He's the type that is aware of our plans the moment we think of him." Compass Carburettor said, switching over to telepathy, "So, only when you are conversing with me through this will he not detect the information. Now, I'll relay the plan that Meharb had refined over the past week."
Once he finished relaying the plan, the Dungeon Boss summoned for all the Haggons to come before it. In the meantime, Compass Carburettor noticed that his skin was faintly changing while his body was increasing in size a little.
And, an intense sense of hunger enveloped him. As he relayed the details to Hekatra, she quickly sprinted towards a lake nearby and brought in a large batch of fish that he devoured voraciously. As his teeth grew stronger, he shattered the bones of the fish before swallowing everything whole.
And, as he continued to eat, his body continued to change, increasing in size little by little. Soon after, once he finished consuming a truckload worth of fishes, he had turned into a Haggon, a Dungeon Monster that spanned five metres in height.
Such a massive difference in the body stature disoriented his senses, for a moment failing to even move his body. He just wasn't used to the notion of being able to do so in such a massive, heavy creature.
Thankfully for him, turning into a Haggon also increased his Darlac reserves, causing it to surpass 100, allowing him to expend 100 Darlac and turn into a human. He noticed that his appearance as a human remained the same, sighing in relief.
Moreover, he had indeed eaten a lot while as a Haggon, so a constant stream of Darlac was generated, refilling his expended reserves.
"I have around 120 Darlac now." Compass Carburettor nodded, "This is great!"
In the meantime, a lot of Haggons had gathered near the entrance as the Dungeon Boss pointed at some of the Haggons, "They were originally my citizens. Please save them."
"Definitely!" Compass Carburettor nodded as he was carried by Hekatra, shielding him from any harm. Thankfully, the command was from the Dungeon Boss, so none of the Haggons tried to attack him, allowing him to plant the symbol of Secret Society in their bodies.
Suddenly, their eyes became clear as they mumbled, "What…happened to me?"
"Welcome back! A method to retain your sanity is here now." The Dungeon Boss said as all the Haggons that became members of Secret Society kneeled before him.
"There is still plenty. But, each level of this Dungeon spans 1200 kilometres in radius. So, it would take them many days for them to arrive from the bottom levels." He continued.
"That makes sense." Compass Carburettor nodded before saying, "Let's proceed deeper into the Dungeon. That way, the Mental Energy consumed to save Regriel would be higher due to the distance of escape involved."
He arrived before the entrance, taking out a scroll from his backpack that he half inserted into the ground, placing it beside a boulder. It was the bait he had prepared to lure Regriel deep into the Dungeon.
Now that he was privy to the truth of the situation, he noticed that the forged scroll he prepared didn't have any mistakes in it, "This might have been the reason the Slave-Harem System believed it in the first place."
After placing some of the Haggons belonging to Secret Society in discrete places, made to mingle with the many Haggon groups there, the remainder headed deeper into the Dungeon. Along the way, the Dungeon Boss pointed at every Haggon that had once been a human.
Compass Carburettor made them all into members of the Secret Society. He didn't have any problems with Mental Energy. After all, just the thoughts from the Dungeon Boss were enough to generate a massive amount of Mental Energy to satisfy all his needs.
So, he was able to condense as many symbols as needed. Moreover, since Hekatra already possessed Secret Society, she took on a different route, bringing in another stream of members.
Thanks to the orders from the Dungeon Boss, every Haggon's loyalty crossed the minimum threshold. And after enough were made into members, Hekatra sent out a group of them to scout Mohart City.
This way, they'll be alerted the moment Regriel arrived. It was a race against time as they had to finish all preparations before the System Host reached Mohart Dungeon. And, just traversing through the Dungeon levels would take them ages.
After all, they planned to keep the fight at Level 5. This way, the distance necessary to teleport towards a safer place in the upper levels—if in the case the Slave Harem System bought such an ability—would be high, and hence, the expended Mental Energy would also be high.
After all, based on Regriel's Darlac reserves, teleporting to faraway locations would be impossible.
Three hours later, when the group was only running through the halfway point of level 1, a small team arrived at the entrance to Mohart Dungeon, right as predicted. They were led by a handsome man that shared zero resemblance to his initial obese self.
The Main Character Squad!
