Dungeon of Lust: Managing Otherworldly Beauties

Chapter 296: Anti-Lust Alliance

Vale skipped the Council of Vice, instead opting to sit in on a council led by Sandra, updating those stationed in his Dungeon about the war.

It had been a month since his run-in with Diligence, and six, almost seven, since he’d woken up in the Dungeon Core.

In that time, an odd tranquility had befallen the Scar amidst war.

Though that tranquility was undercut by the reason it existed...

Not only had Celestia arrived, as expected, but both sides had begun setting up their fortresses — both looked impenetrable, even if the Scar weren’t between them.

But that wasn’t even Vale’s main concern.

Nor was it the few additional Envy Warriors that had slipped in...

It was the sheer amount of dungeons that had begun spawning all over the area — thirteen as of now, all of which were at least Emergent and fairly high-ranked, all in close proximity.

Each Master showed a high level of intelligence and a tactical mind.

The culling of the gorge had died down and dwindled into something systematic and controlled. The new Dungeon Masters only took what they needed instead of excess...

Something horrifying for Vale.

As it suggested a scary thought: unification and governance.

Vale’s presence as a Vice was impossible to hide: all now knew of his existence, and his very existence was a threat to all who called the Scar their home.

Mias had even seen dungeon delegates peacefully entering and leaving different dungeons.

It was clear what was happening.

The thirteen new neighbors, alongside the four Aberrants which had been there, had decided to team up and evict Lust.

Something they had made no move to act upon directly — revealing that the politics behind this alliance ran far deeper than surface-level convenience. This wasn’t a simple "let’s fight together."

No.

The seventeen dungeons were converging into a single will — likely under the dominion of one, or perhaps a carefully veiled few.

This made disrupting their alliance something nearly impossible...

But at least they seemed to have a policy that rejected Envy’s machinations, as Mias witnessed a few of her Warriors being executed by them.

Sadly, there wasn’t much Vale could do to counter their current operations other than prepare — not defensively, but offensively.

It was apparent more and more dungeons would spawn over time. More recruits for this anti-Lust alliance.

Meaning the clearest and most obvious step for this congregation was to passively let their powers swell until they were so great that not even a Vice could stand up to them. Not to mention they’d also centered their hunting grounds in front of Vale’s dungeon, making it so his forces had to travel further to gather resources, strangling Vale’s growth.

And while Vale’s forces hadn’t been ambushed yet, that was simply because their capabilities were being assessed. It wouldn’t be too long until skirmishes broke out.

So, that led to his current goal:

Finding the weak links and removing them, diluting their collective power little by little.

While finding them wasn’t too difficult, Vale had been slightly apprehensive about what to do. While he could easily measure the force needed to conquer a dungeon, he couldn’t accurately assess how many reinforcements would arrive.

Salome alone was able to destroy all four Aberrant dungeons, but what would become of her if the Emergents trapped her in a collapsing dungeon with a mass of forces — forces which weren’t inherently weaker than her, even individually?

So, yeah, that was Vale’s current dilemma — a dilemma which had stalled his participation in Akkruon’s war above to focus on the war below.

At least his own forces were continually growing. About 75% of the Aether he acquired went to summoning Archers, Workers, and Warriors, while the rest were invested into Champions.

And, speaking of Champions...

Vale had just acquired the eightieth Satisfaction point — the last one he needed to summon a new one, something he was going to do the moment the current meeting he was in was over.

As for Floor Two, where all of this Satisfaction gathering now took place...

The Workers, most of whom had become Bloomed Miners, had cut out nearly the entire clearing to the tree line, giving Vale an inordinate amount of space for himself, Toy, and Awilix.

As for what else the Workers did down there...

Tanner had created a tanning and leatherworking station.

Ember was using an outdoor forge crafted by Larry. She also had a kiln to make pottery from alluvium.

Hope, Slip, and Shit had begun lumbering.

Larry, Marvel, and Dickless Jr. had started to use the lumber to make crude buildings without the blueprint — buildings whose structural integrity really came into question.

All were developing new Traits, and a few had begun to level up.

Though something odd happened to those that did.

They seemed incapable of developing Traits that didn’t suit their focus. The tradeoff was an increased potential under their focus.

Beyond the workers...

The crystal they mined turned out to be a resource much like stone, though it was much more resistant.

Once they mined a few dozen more, Vale had it in his mind to build himself a crystal palace.

Until then, he slept outside on the bed he’d dragged to the meadow.

The meadow was much more peaceful than the cave of Floor One, even with the nearly 200 imps running around.

As long as they went far enough away, the screams were distant and hushed by the calm wind. They also had a stone wall they’d created to hide the imps’ view of them for the other reason.

Speaking of those other reasons...

It was something liberating to do it outside, like he was attuning himself to nature.

Embracing carnality and eutierria at the same time.

Letting the winds carry away all his cares.

Not that those cares didn’t come right back around.

After all, there was another discovery they’d made about Floor Two: it curved...

Suggesting it was like a mini planet — one where if you walked in one direction, you’d eventually end back where you started. Though that would only be truly confirmable once they’d removed all the crystals...

Which seemed to be something that would take at least a year.