Dungeon? This Tree? Why Don't You Join Me for Lunch? (Dungeon Core)
Chapter 50: The Army Grows!

Chapter 50: Chapter 50: The Army Grows!

All of us, my fifty new sons and I, managed to get out of the dungeon. My oldest, who also seemed to be the chief, and I named Bob after the gnome chief, was carrying the food.

As soon as Solas saw us, he ran to me and hugged me.

"Brother!" we were both blonde, but that didn’t mean that I wanted to be called brother by him.

Still, I valued my internal organs, so I just patted him on the back.

"Hey, sweetheart," Nate had a smirk on his lips. I nodded at him, looking around for Aron. "He went on a skirmish."

Ah, Nate had always managed to understand me. I smiled. Aron was going to be just fine.

"Skirmish," Solas asked, chuckling. "Is that what we call it these days?"

I started to blink. Wait! What was that?

"He got offered a throne," oh, yes, that was nice, I thought to myself. "And a bride."

I balled my fists.

"Well, Sylvan, why are you angry?" Nate asked me, as he patted my behind. "When you do the same all the time?"

He knew!

"But, hey, you are just an old pervert," he told me, as he shrugged. "And I think I can do better."

I looked back at the entrance of the dungeon, then at Nate. I scanned his mana, then I scanned the mana in the dungeon.

"You lying sack of shit!" it bubbled out of me. The anger that he could have cooked with me from the start. The fury he let me into Aron’s arms!

Because now that I knew what I was looking for, Aron’s mana and Nate’s were very similar.

"To hell with men!" I yelled, as I turned my back to him. "We are at war!"

I took over the Mammoth Graveyard. It was not like a Boliarin could use a dungeon core for long. Even one which was inactive.

Nate snorted. I could hear him eating an apple.

The spite boiled inside of my veins. Oh, I could take his good looks away from him. I could make it so, that he would look like death warmed over once more, but...

He did give me all those ogres. Probably using his own mana.

I decided to let him stay pretty. Besides, I had to admit as I rubbed at my eyes. Thinking about what I had lost. He did have a point.

He was the second choice.

When he should have been the first one from the start.

But what was done was done! I decided to treat the whole dungeon business like I treated cooking!

Obsessively...

0000

"Edda, stats," I said, as I went back inside of the Mammoth Graveyard. Solas was teaching the ogres formations and how to be a part of an army.

And I... I was teaching myself how to become a murder core.

"You have 100 mana towards your dungeon regen," she wrote to me. I could guess that she didn’t believe in me. That she didn’t think I had it in me.

But, hey, I could prove her wrong!

"And about 10 gold coins," which was something I could fix! I ran down the halls, retracing my steps. Now I was grateful that I was looking at the walls as I made my way down these halls the first time!

As I finally made it to the cavern with the riches, I saw it! A sign!

"Go back to your tree, Sylvan."

There were no coins to be had. There weren’t even any lamps to be had.

Only the sign.

And there, near it, mocking me, was a steaming bowl of my cheesy mashed potatoes. And near it: perfectly fried potato peels!

I narrowed my eyes.

"I’ll go back to my tree," because to be fair, Solas was probably too busy with the war to bother with me. "But I won’t leave Solas’ side!"

Now, I am not going to lie. I wanted for Nate to think I had joined Solas’ harem. If Solas even had one. He probably did.

I mean, he needed an heir.

Doran was going to be a problem, but I didn’t bother with it all. After all, I had a gift for the general!

I dumped him the Mammoth Graveyard as his personal dungeon grounds.

Before I could even blink, I was out of it and ogres were streaming outside.

Marching towards the treeline from where I could feel a coldness.

"Thanks," Doran threw his cigar and took out his sword from its scabbard. "We can finally win the war."

I blinked.

"But... there is no way that you can create enough ogres to defeat King Alexios!" And I really believed in that. More than Doran even knew.

Because I was worried about the man. He always asked for seconds. And that is touching, in a way I couldn’t explain.

"Well, no. But that’s beside the point," Doran smiled, as he pointed at a giant green cloud. "No, Solas is already fighting. And that bastard has a lot of hate to urge him on."

Doran licked his lips. Suddenly, all thoughts that I could ever use Solas to make Nate jealous flew out of my mind.

No, Doran was going to ring my neck if I tried.

"Then," I asked, as the black cloud which was fighting the green one was becoming smaller and smaller. "What now?"

I didn’t feel fear as the enemy undead charged our undead and alive soldiers alike. I could feel Desmond charging at the frontline.

Nate close behind.

With Nick holding the rear.

They were powerhouses! How was this possible?

"Look," Doran made a couple of steps forward, showing me his back. "Your cooking changes people. It’s what you are good at. Leave the fighting to those who can fight. Start a business. You are a dungeon core, Sylvan," Doran began to glow green. Holy shit, he was a Forest Demon! My cooking created a Forest Demon!

"And make the world a better place. A place where the dead stay dead."

He took off running.

Edda teleported me back to my tree, as the world shook from an explosion which ruffled the branches of the Tree of Memories...