"Good," he whispered to himself quietly, voice drowned out by the noise. "Then let’s make this hell worthy of them."
Kaiden’s work continued in silence.
He moved deeper, carving out multiple chokeholds, narrow tunnels that suddenly opened into vast, yawning caverns. To a normal adventurer, they might look like welcome breaks in the suffocating dark. A place to rest, to gather breath. But, of course, Kaiden wasn’t running a charity over here. Whatever kind of system governed the dungeons didn’t force upon him anything such as breathing rooms between monster encounters.
Despite many other dungeons he’s been in or heard about having some of these. Not necessarily dedicated safe zones, just places where no monsters or other hazards bothered the invading awakened.
He would have no such place.
These chambers were slaughterhouses.
Each one would serve as a perfect ambush point. A squad would push through the tight corridor, one by one, until they stumbled into open ground where they’d finally be able to spread out.
That’s when it would happen.
Kaiden stood in the heart of one such cavern, the glow of the interface painting his face in cold light as he scrolled through his available options. His eyes reflected the screen’s blue hue at first, then something darker, crueler.
These were things built for terror.
He confirmed the purchase with a flick of his hand. The air quivered as shapes stirred in the shadows. He moved from one chokehold to the next, repeating the process.
Every chamber was unique in structure, but identical in purpose: a bottleneck turned into a tomb.
As he dug through the abyssal rock, he suddenly broke through and faced a black abyss.
[Territory Limit Reached: 1 km² Maximum Expansion Achieved]
He was at the end.
Kaiden brought up the interface.
[DMP Remaining: 700]
He froze.
"Oh... shit."
His eyes darted over the numbers again, but they didn’t change. Seven hundred. That was all he had left.
He turned, looking back at what he’d created — a sprawling labyrinth of chokeholds, kill zones, magma rivers, and abyssal corridors so dense with traps and monsters that even a seasoned raid team would need divine intervention to make it through.
It was a masterpiece of death.
It was also, unfortunately, completely unlivable.
Kaiden groaned and ran a hand down his face. "Great. I built the perfect murder maze... and forgot I actually need a place to live."
The realization hit harder than he wanted to admit. He wasn’t Calypso. The demoness had fewer traps, much simpler terrain, and while her monsters numbered higher, their levels were lower. But what she did have was a towering palace, ornate halls, and crystalline balconies.
Him? He had rock. Hot, black, and utterly depressing rock.
His girls were not going to live in this.
He simply refused to have them live such a miserable life inside his own domain.
He sighed and opened the Landscape Menu, scrolling past the exotic and expensive entries. There were plenty of options, all beautiful, all far out of his price range. After all, he still had to build on top of them.
[Obsidian Ravine] – 250 DMP/km²
[Twilight Sink] – 400 DMP/km²
[Hollow Peaks] – 450 DMP/km²
And many, many more.
Kaiden scrolled past them all with a grimace. Every one of those was combat-oriented, and none were suited for living. He didn’t need another battlefield. He needed a home.
So he kept scrolling.
Past the elite zones, the exotic regions, the flashy death-trap designs, until, buried at the bottom, he found something almost comically mundane.
[Verdant Expanse] – 100 DMP/km²
A temperate landscape of fertile soil and mild climate. Rolling meadows, lush forests, freshwater springs, and scattered wildlife. The air is rich in natural mana, encouraging plant growth and gentle weather patterns.
Kaiden blinked. Then he smiled.
The kind of smile that reached his eyes.
The Abyss does not care what you build. Only that you have the power to shape it.
He hadn’t even looked at the rest of the Dungeon Master Interface yet.
The holographic panel unfolded before him, and he swiped to the next tab: [Items & Decorations].
Rows of greyed-out icons filled the screen. Fountains, statues, torches, banners, each with a DMP cost that made him wince. But at the very top of the list, one item gleamed with a soft, blood-red hue.
[The Abyssal Lord’s Throne] – Cost: 0 DMP
He blinked.
"Free?"
Curious, he expanded the description.
—
[The Abyssal Lord’s Throne]
This is the heart of your domain. The symbol of rule and defiance. It marks the end of the dungeon, the final chamber, where the Dungeon Master awaits.
Should intruders reach this throne and slay its master, the domain is conquered and its power lost.
When the Dungeon Master takes the throne, they may channel the dungeon’s essence, gaining command, insight, and perhaps even strength drawn directly from the abyss.
—
Kaiden’s breath left him. The image that formed above the text was unmistakable.
"The same one from Calypso’s palace."
He stared at it for a long moment before closing the preview. His hand curled into a fist.
"So this must be protected at all times."
And with that, it was time to end the creation of his new home, show his girls around, and then face a shocking surprise.
Perhaps this was what they needed to finally end Maximilian’s existence.

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