by Marc Robert
“It’s the word for ‘a dragon shit’ in my people’s tongue.”
The dungeon lord shook his head: “That’s an awful thing to say.”
“But a true thing. You know that it’s true … He has so many other thralls and minions bound to his soul.”
“Don’t think about that now,” Osman said: “Eat … ” He tilted his wrist down, offering her the mushroom cap.
However, instead of snatching it from his palm with her fingers and popping it into her mouth, the dark elf dipped her head down like a doe and ate directly from the dungeon lord’s hand. He could feel the warmth of her lips and her tiny forked tongue on his skin, tickling him as she gobbled up the red cap.
She acted like a little animal sometimes … and he really liked that!
Rania stared up at Osman as she chewed the mushroom, the vertical black slits of her pupils locking onto his own eyes and holding him transfixed in her gaze. But this time she didn’t try to cast some charm spell on him. She just looked at his face — taking him in in all his glory — and thought of all the things that he had done for her, and all the things that he still could do.
She swallowed the thick paste that the red cap had become in her mouth and raised her eyebrows as if to say: “See, G.O.O.D. good!”
{+19 HP} appeared above the dark elf’s head in that gleaming green font and she smiled, the healing warmth passing through the whole of her body.
“Not bad … ” Osman said, looking up at the notification, “Not bad at all. That gets you almost halfway there.”
“That’s good enough for now,” Rania beamed, “Now you eat one.”
“Not yet. I want you to have one more.”
“But … ”
“No ifs, ands, or buts. I want you to be totally healed. Or, at least, as healed as possible. There’s no telling when Bock will come back, or who — or what — he’ll bring with him when he does come. We need to be ready if we want to repel him a second time.”
“That reeky hatchling? He won’t be coming back. Not after the beating you gave him!”
“He wasn’t just any old raider, you know.”
“What do you mean?” the dark elf’s eyebrows knit together: “What else was he?”
“You let me worry about that,” Osman said, standing up. He walked over to the mushroom patch, crouched down, plucked another red cap and brought it back to Rania as carefully as he had done with the first one. He knelt by her side again, and — again — she chose to eat from his hand, licking his palm clean with her tiny serpent’s tongue for good measure.
{+27 HP} coalesced above the dark elf’s head and she gazed up at the number: “I’m … I’m almost there,” she whispered huskily and winked at Osman, scrunching up her nose.
He knew that she was deliberately trying to make this whole exchange super-sexual, and she knew that he knew it. However, the dungeon lord was intent upon not getting distracted by all that, at least not right now. He was serious about them needing to prepare for Bock’s return, and he had a rather serious question he wanted to ask the dark elf — a proposal to make, so to speak.
“You smell nervous,” Rania said.
Osman’s eyes widened: “You … you can smell me?”
“Of course.”
“Oooookay … ”
“I bet I know how I can make you … relax,” she grinned.
“I know how you can make me relax, too.”
Upon hearing his words, the dark elf’s grin grew even wider, thinking that they were both finally on the same page again …
But then Osman said it: “I’ve seen your Soul Stats,” and Rania’s smiling face deflated. She blushed and looked away. “That’s … those are private,” she said.
“I had to look. You were dying! I had to see what I could do to save you.”
“How do you even have THAT power?”
“I don’t know. I was with you on that muddy road, and then I died and … ended up here. I don’t know how. How did it work with your lord and master? How did he become a dungeon core?”
“He’s never talked about that, not with the likes of me anyway.”
“There’s … a lot of things that he hasn’t done with you.”
“So!” the dark elf said, getting angry: “So what?!”
“As one of his thralls, you’re under his aegis. He’s obligated to protect you, and to cultivate you. Not doing so is … sadistic.”
Rania blushed an even deeper shade of red at Osman’s insight into her predicament. She bit her bottom lip and tried to muster up a certain amount of snark to deflect her humiliation over what he had discovered. “How did you become such an expert, Dungeon-For-A-Day?” she asked as sarcastically as she could manage.
But it was a venomless strike.
The dungeon lord could feel that her heart wasn’t in it — that her heart was, in fact, conflicted.
And he couldn’t blame her. He totally understood about retreating into sarcasm whenever a topic became too tender or raw to discuss head-on. And it wasn’t his aim to make her feel bad that she was bound to someone so neglectful and cruel. He just wanted her to know that there was a way out for her, that’s all.
“The obligations a dungeon core has to its followers are not so different than the obligations of a high-level paladin, actually,” Osman said: “Protect those in your charge. Mentor them, and help them to grow. Aid them in becoming the best possible versions of themselves. Can you seriously tell me your lord and master has been living up to his end of the bargain?”
Rania got quiet when he said that and couldn’t quite meet his gaze. She stared down at the cold stone floor for a long, long time. But then she whispered: “No … no, he hasn’t been.”
“Well, there’s something we can do about that.”
The dark elf’s eyes widened and she glanced up at the dungeon lord. She was on the verge of tears. “I … I can’t leave him,” she said, “I can’t break the soul-bond.”
“No. But I can!”
Tears did begin to streak down Rania’s cheeks then.
“If you want me to,” Osman said, “I can do it. You can stay here with me and help me run this place.”
The dark elf took his hand in her own and squeezed it: “Would … would you really do that … for me?”
“I would,” the dungeon lord said.
She bit her bottom lip so hard that it drew blood, but then she nodded.
Osman squeezed her hand in return and opened his mind’s eye, activating his newly-acquired {Soul Binding} ritual. After a brief moment, he could feel the dark magic gusting in the air and he breathed deep. He wasn’t quite certain if it was only the power within himself that he felt or also the raw power of this place, which was some part of him, but — so or so — whatever it was, it was about to do its uncanny work.
Rania gasped, as if someone had just stabbed her straight in the gut. Her mouth opened preternaturally wide and she screamed, but completely silent — without sound! — her whole body writhing back and forth on the stone floor, as if a devilish spirit were being yanked out of her being through the phantom wound in her belly. It went on like that for several seconds at least, but felt like days, before her mouth clapped shut and her body grew utterly still.
She stared up at Osman, her amber eyes bulging in their sockets, unsure of what exactly was happening to her … or if she would survive it!
The dungeon lord squeezed her hand again, trying to reassure her, even though he himself wasn’t sure what was about to occur. And then …
… then …
Then the soul-bond began to form between them, like some kind of ghostly umbilical cord snaking out and tethering them together: no, not at the heart, but at the navel, no matter land nor sea, air nor Hell, space nor time, nor even … the grave!
Rania moaned when she felt the bond take root inside her and, suddenly, she grew wet between her legs and warm all over. She had cum again, from whatever it was that had just happened.
Brrr-br!
{Congratulations, you have bonded with your … FIRST THRALL}
Osman felt a glowing warmth inside himself too, and he pulled the dark elf close: “You’re under my aegis now,” he said, “I’ll take good care of you.”
“I know that you will,” she whispered, snuggling up next to him.
They smiled at each other for a long moment, and then she lay her head on his shoulder.
Brrr-br!
{You have leveled up. You are now … LEVEL 4}
Osman grinned at the notification, but then a tiny yelp drew his attention. And then another yelp … and a bark … and a … a fart!
It was Plex!
He had regained consciousness and was trotting over to them on his stubby little legs, still a bit disoriented … and just a little bit gassy, too. He cocked his head to one side: “Wha- what did I miss?” the corgi asked.
“Quite a lot,” Osman said wryly, “Quite a lot … ”
“Who’s this cute little guy?” Rania cooed.
“WHO are you?” the dog asked the dark elf in return, immediately suspicious of her.
“Don’t be rude,” the dungeon lord said. “This is Rania Ahmen’sur. She saved our lives. If it wasn’t for her, those raiders would have finished us off and stolen my core.”
“Oh,” Plex said, “So you’re the shrieking girl who was curled up on the floor.”
“Not one of my finer moments,” Rania blushed.
The corgi looked from her blushing face to Osman and then back at the dark elf again. “Oh … oh, okay … okay, I get it: you two, you aaah …” he winked rather theatrically, “Just how long was I out for?”
“Long enough,” Osman said flatly.
“I’m sorry, chief. That bitch-ass interloper got the best of me.”
The dungeon lord arched his eyebrows at the corgi’s choice of words. Just what kinds of movies was the dog watching over there in null-space?! But then he said: “It’s all right, boy. You tried your best.”
“I did, didn’t I!” Plex beamed.
Osman laughed, which also brought that fanged little grin to Rania’s face. “How did you end up with such an adorable little pupper as your first minion?” she asked.
“Who you callin’ ‘little,’ Toots?! That’s the second time you said that: ‘little!’” the corgi grrr’d.
“It’s a long story,” the dungeon lord said. “His name is Plex. And he’s got a size thing and … and a … a dragon thing!”
“Grrrrrrr,” Plex growled again, low in his throat, but it was really more just for show and not fiendish at all.
Rania’s brow wrinkled and she turned to Osman as if to say: WTF?!
“Like I said: long story.”
“Well … I’m looking forward to hearing it.”
“And I’m looking forward to telling it to you,” Osman grinned. “But now we need to prepare for when Bock comes back. And for whoever … whoever this Crafter King guy is.”
The dark elf tilted her head. That moniker did sound kind of familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it: “The Crafter King?” she asked, scrunching up her nose.
“That’s what Bock called him.”
“Sounds like a Batman villain!” Plex snorted.
Osman was taken aback: “You know Batman?!”
“Sure … The World’s Greatest Detective,” the corgi replied, totally serious. But then the dog saw how Osman was looking at him and said: “What? The AI gave us TiVo.”
“TiVo?!?!” the dungeon lord and Rania both blurted out at the same time.
The way they said it made Plex’s bushy eyebrows droop. He wasn’t sure if the pair of them were making fun of him … or not. “Whaaaaat?” he asked again, bewildered.
“Nothing,” Osman said, and started to scratch the corgi behind the ear, which completely distracted the dog and got his back leg going something fierce.
Rania nestled closer to the dungeon lord then. This felt cozy … homey … way better than all those years she had spent cooped up in that endless labyrinth under The Stel’arc Mountains serving an unloving master.
Osman hugged her close and glanced around at the cavernous room:
… at the rocky walls made from the rubble of some ancient fallen temple …
… at the forty-foot high ceiling and all those menacing stalactites smiling down …
… at the tiny, little mushroom patch and the single red cap that still remained …
He looked again at the gorgeous dark elf and the loyal corgi by his side and said: “We need to be ready for whatever’s comin’. We’re gonna build a better dungeon, the three of us, together.”
∆∆∆
I hope you enjoyed Book 1 of Legendary Dungeon Seed!
If you want to start reading Book 2 right now, you can already find chapters from it over on my Patreon page. I post new chapters there every week as well as tons of extra content including ultra-lewd side quest stories and behind-the-scenes secrets. Plus you can also vote on what kinds of dungeon minions & monster girls you want me to include in future books. Check it out here: https://www.patreon.com/MarcRobert
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The dungeon will forever be in your debt!!!
Acknowledgements
A big thank you to my awesome beta readers:
Ingrid Eisele
Steven Gene Mills
William Knight
Edward Smith
Dennis Bond
and Julian Alford
And also, for their continuous support during the writing of Book 1, a very special thank you to:
Christopher Grabato
Deric Norris
George Graham
Michael Hayes
Ingrid Eisele
and Minka The Cat
And an extra special thanks to:
Ryan Adams
Ryan was the one who suggested the corgi during the first Dungeon Minions Poll that I did and Plex has turned out to be one of the most rambunctious and fun characters I’ve ever written ;-)
And, if you’re asking yourself right about now: what does he mean … Dungeon Minions Poll?!
Well, about that …
Our little corgi friend was actually born out of a story poll that I did in the Dungeon Corps Facebook Group in the fall of 2019, asking readers what kinds of dungeon monsters they would like to see in Book 1. Over 50 monsters were suggested — from goblins, kobolds, and slimes (which are definitely more typical for the genre) to more … atypical things like: a giant armadillo with bioluminescent “death ray” powers or a corgi who thinks that he is a dragon.
After gathering all the suggestions, I let the group vote on which creature they would most like to see become Osman’s first minion and, well … the corgi won!
Help Me Create --> LEGENDARY DUNGEON SEED
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eased
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