Chapter 136: Alchemist Dragon

Whilst occupying Aura's body, Styx exerted his strength on the ground and gravity seemed to simply vanish. He seemed to fly over the treetops before dropping back down and dashing through the forest so fast the naked eye could no longer track his form.

With Aura controlling all the skills according to his control, he activated Phantasmagoria and completely vanished from the world. He dashed through a city on a broken moon, howling ghosts haunting the world, before stepping upon an open prairie. Each scene flashed before his eyes like clips in an old film reel and they seemed to hold no connection, but he understood.

He leapt out of the phantasm realm and returned to reality, now deep in the heart of the Abyssal Forest.

Styx's senses spread out and immediately located Dragon's presence. He had also detected him, or at least he had detected Aura, but held no hostility towards him and produced an inviting signal with his aura.

He followed that Aura to a gigantic cave, the sounds of modern industrialisation faintly echoing from its depths.

Just as he entered, Dragon appeared with the four-winged fallen angel Loreley in tow.

"If it isn't our neighbourly wolf coming to visit. Are you here on Styx's commands? Do you need some more nationless villages?"

"No, that's not it."

"Hmm, so what is it?"

"It's about the angels," 'Aura' said as 'she' looked at Loreley, indicating for her to approach.

Loreley didn't fully understand but she still followed the gesture and approached the wolf Monster Lord. She was a Fifth Step existence after all, and whilst the fallen angel proabably could have bested her originally, that was no longer the case once Styx helped her level up and unleash a century of built up potential.

Just as Loreley go close, Styx controlled Aura's body to shoot her hand forward with the utmost precision. That hand was too fast for the fallen angel to defend against and firmly latched onto her breast before squeezing.

Loreley blushed slightly, but her expression twisted in anger far more prominently.

"You…!"

"Apologies, it must put you off balance to only have one side grabbed."

Without any sense of shame or remorse, Styx had his other hand shoot grab the remaining breast before Loreley could try escape.

"Styx?" Dragon's brow raised in surprise as he quickly paired the speech pattern not to Aura, but to Styx instead.

"You are surprisingly sharp."

"Enough!" Loreley burst out in anger and tried to shake Aura's iron like grip free.

"It's pointless, I have caught you now~"

Styx teased her, whom had previously always prevented his advances, was finally caught off guard and fell into his hands. He wasn't about to let her go that easily.

As she struggled, Styx spun her around in his arms and embraced her from behind, trapping her arms to her side whilst still fondling her through her clothes.

"I will not forget this…" Loreley said in an ominous tone.

"Neither will I~" Styx teasingly quipped back in Aura's voice.

"Release me."

"Don't be in a rush, I have finally captured you, I am going to savour it for a while."

Styx leaned Aura's head forward and exhaled in her ear, but didn't make any further sexual advances. He had no reserves in doing anything to convince a woman to become his, but he would never physically force her.

"Come," Dragon sneered arrogantly, his actual emotions being friendly and welcoming counter his expression and tone, "I had always wanted to show you my dungeon. I also want one of those mana shafts you built… but… I will provide some good stuff, okay?"

Styx thought about it and grinned inwardly, "Oh, no need to worry, come help me for a couple of days and I will help build you one."

Styx eventually released the disgruntled fallen angel who would occasionally send him angry glares. He followed Dragon deeper into his dungeon and was astonished by how much progress he had made.

The caverns were enormous, flora and fauna flourishing deep within. He couldn't alter many types of plants like Styx, but had apparently stolen a few without Styx realising. Dragon has also apparently forgotten and avoided eye contact when they were spotted.

Instead, he drilled giant holes out into the world above, causing sunlight to enter enormous caverns and provide enough sunlight for many plants to thrive in this strange ecosystem.

Third Step and even some Fourth Step monsters lurked in the shadows, watching the group progress. They were well behaved with Dragon and Loreley present, but the ferocity given off by their bodies showed that they were all combat veterans and likely fought each other often.

Deeper inside the dungeon, the lower levels were sculpted with much more care. Strange arrays to manipulate the environment also functioned all over the place, created artificial golden clouds that could even be walked on.

A certain fallen angel's smug expression showed that this was all her design.

Styx detected breeders off in another area, using local monsters to produce dungeon minions for all purposes.

Dragon had set up several production lines with devices he had traded from Styx, even producing some of his own machines under his own ideas and Loreley's engineering. He seemed to enjoy metals and was constantly working on producing new variants.

"What's the purpose?" Styx asked whilst looking at the strange production lines.

"Every metal has countless variations and uses. Iron is but a common ore, yet it can create steel and empower mortal humans far beyond what they were originally capable of. It can protect them too."

"Of course, but what about it."

*Ahem*

Loreley cleared her throat before explaining for Dragon.

"Dragon is deeply interested in alchemy. He wants to create stronger and stronger product. His goal is to create an armor that would allow a Fifth Tier existence to be able to block attacks from a god."

Dragon handed Styx a small plate of metal the size of two palms with a smug grin that could only be seen as arrogance.

"Break it."

Styx held the plate between his hands exerted Aura's strength onto it. He abruptly raised his brow when he felt how powerful the plate was. He had seen how easily Aura broke his own metals. Even eternium that was used to restrain criminals all over the kingdom was torn to shreds in her hands.

He bit it with her teeth and manage to deform it, but it still didn't break. He eventually activated Phantasmal Fangs and was finally able to break it.

He then activated Sin of Gluttony, turning the two broken pieces into shadows before completely devouring them and turning them into a huge amount of energy that filled Aura's body with power. It was a strange skill that cost no mana to use, yet would devour anything and supplement her vitality, stamina and mana.

"I look forward to all the metals you have and will create in the future."

"Oh? Do you want some?"

Dragon snorted and spoke like a gangster this time. Styx was used to these odd attitudes and merely accepted them.

"What is this metal called?"

"It has no name currently."

He then had a tour of the rest of the dungeon and arranged for Dragon to visit several days later before returning to his own dungeon.

Back in his territory, he could now safely detach from Aura. Motes of light drifted out of the wolf girl's body before coalescing and becoming Styx's avatar.

Her body fully under her own control again, Aura looked at her hands and tugged her tail whilst smiling sheepishly when nobody could see her expression.

"Do it again," She said like an addict, wishing to become one with her mate again.

"Next time. There are other things to do first."

~~~~~

⠀

"No."

"...Refuse."

Aura and Everest immediately rejected Styx, the latter glaring at them for rejecting his commands.

"You cannot refuse. The sooner your task is complete, the sooner you can return. Whitecliff City is currently in a very precarious situation whilst the demon army advance is getting closer every day. I need you to go to Whitecliff City and either subjugate or kill the nearby Monster Lord. You are both going for your own safety."

The two Monster Lords couldn't resist Styx's commands for long considering their bond with the dungeon lord, especially Aura.

"Aura, this is a chance for you to level up too. There is no need to restrain yourself agaisnt the monsters down there. You getting stronger is the same as protecting me better, don't forget that."

This caused the wolf girl's tail to start swaying in excitation, her motivation immediately improving.

"Everest… We will make more babies once you are back."

With this, both Monster Lords were much more eager to complete this task and departed shortly afterwards.

~~~~~

⠀

The town outside the entrance of the dungeon was getting closer to a city now, extending all the way to the border. Most of the more indoctrinated citizens from Lagoon Porter City moved into here, setting up an entirely new community and trading post.

Traders passed through much more frequently, whilst the dungeon residents would venture out into the city and interact with them too.

This created a bit more of a buffer for Lagoon Porter City as the entire city was still adapting to the changes. Monsters roamed the streets as a part of the Core Guard.

Dungeon products were entering the market too as Styx created new production lines and mining points below the city. He was also in the process of digging a new mana shaft below too.