After the entire venture within the dungeon where that minotaur was, Issei and Kuroka took it easy for a bit. In fact, Issei decided to use this time to power through his quest that required him to get his magic game on. His fire magic was already all done for, meaning he still needed to train with his water magic and get some healing magic lessons in. Lucky for him, Solomon had him covered. In the week they were to spend relaxing, it was decided to return to their home in Mei, leaving Kuoh only for a couple of days.

Being back at their Mei house was nice, especially as they had their own hot spring. It was not separated, however, nor do they need to separate it. A towel was enough for the two of them, or no coverage at all. In the first days, they simply relaxed and went to the hot springs as well. However, there Kuroka got to see the wound better. She could have used her magic to make the scar go away, but just as he refused her back then to do the same for the one on his arm, he refused her now. Scars were like reminders, or so Ddraig once told him.

A scar reminds you of the painful lessons you learned in life and acts as a permanent mark of it.

So, aside from that, it was mostly relaxing in the hot spring and some making out. God, he loved making out with his girl. Granted, the next after they arrived, Solomon woke him up early, at 6 AM of all times. So far, he relied on the system teaching him most magic, but now Solomon was taking a more direct crack at it. And did his training prove fruitful…He got 3 more points in MGI. In addition, he worked hard to achieve more spells for his magics, but things proved difficult. Why? Because water magic sucks balls!

It is shit for defense and offense! Solomon did make sure to remind him that Water Magic is one of the most versatile of the magic types he wielded, and it just may have some uses, but he still didn't quite like it. He did get two new spells for it, called [Water Whip] and [Water Blade]. The whip was meh, but blade was more like it. When he cast it, Solomon instructed Issei to make a sweeping motion with his arm, which is what sends it towards the targeted enemy.

At rest, Solomon also tried to take a crack at Issei's healing magic, which resulted in him having the poor boy study medicinal books and the like. Barely helped! After earning himself multiple headaches, Issei was on the last day back in Mei with barely any progress! Currently, Kuroka was back in the house while he rested at the hot springs, the steam coming from the hot water he was resting in helping him relax. "This is such a pain…Remind me again, guys, how long do we have left until Kuoh starts?" He asked.

"Around one month." Solomon replied. "Should be enough time to conquer the last of the two dungeons."

"What about that journal we found?" Ddraig suddenly asked, which had Issei perk up.

"Shit, we have not read it at all!" He said, then he went to his inventory, bringing out the journal. "We were so busy with the training in magic that we completely forgot to check this out."

"Well, on the off chance it contains some kind of vital information, I say we open it." Solomon suggested, and Issei didn't waste a lot of time opening the journal. It apparently belonged to the commander of that base from the Red District. Like the other places, most other documents were burned, but some seemed to have luckily survived.

"I still cannot believe how lucky I was to land this spot of all bases in this wretched town." It read, already giving Issei an impression of their opinion of Kuoh. Or humans, for that matter. "Commander of the resting base, where soldiers literally come here for one week to recharge their batteries by drinking, fucking, and entertaining themselves with some good old-fashioned mud fighting. Not the overly important position I expected, yet I won't be complaining. All personnel permanently stationed here barely does anything aside from the general upkeep of the place and providing the rare need for reinforcements. I will be writing in this journal here from time to time, trying to record my time here until I am transferred to another base."

Flipping the page, Issei went to the next ones.

"Met the Puppet Master today. Interesting kid, I say this much. They were still working on their golems to help reinforce our ranks more. Yeah, as if we need more men and women. We all know that the Snake of Adam makes up more than 20% of the Old Satan Faction - fuck! We are their entire military structure, right here!"

"Now that is interesting!" Ddraig spoke up, having caught the details. Issei also remembered when Ddraig told them about the Old Satan Faction, whom he briefly met with a past host. Apparently, they formed after the civil war, being composed of the old government and the descendants of the original seven ruling houses. "If this journal is to be believed, the Snake of Adam is not a person."

"But the name of their military." Solomon continued. "My Lord, and what a force…A fifth of the Old Satan Faction, and boasting about being their entire military structure? Hoho! That explains a lot more."

"Wait, guys, there is more."

"And lemme tell you something! One of the guys who worked in the base located in Kuoh Park, the one where they usually store the weaponry, apparently said that their commander has ordered an entire set of Enchanted Steel Armor, with custom chosen enchants! Fuck, whose dick did he suck to get such a thing? Apparently, he said their commander hid it behind a fake wall within one of the storage areas. Which one? No fuckin' idea!"

"I will keep this in mind…"

"Ugh…Those fuckers really know how to sour my day…Just talked with some buddies of mine, saying something about catching wind of some sensible information regarding the Leviathan halfbreed. Now, I only heard rumors, saying that a son of the Leviathan house fucked a human woman, and out came a child. I swear, those guys need chastity belts. I get that they should try and bolster their numbers and make sure their lineage doesn't go extinct altogether, but seriously, would it kill them to keep stuff in the family some more? Ewww, that sounded like I suggested incest, forget I wrote that!"

"Anyway, yeah. I wanted no part in what they were planning, however. Make no mistake, I am not afraid of the guys in the Five-Leaf Council, the 5 colonels who manage the army in the absence of our General. Now RIGHT THERE is a man no one in the Snake of Adam wishes to get on the bad side of, and this entire idea just screamed trouble once news reached him. And who is likely to receive most of the heat? The captain of their unit! This is why I made sure to remain a simple First Lieutenant."

"This is even more interesting!" Solomon said. "This Snake of Adam seems to act with its own, separate leadership system! If I know my rank well enough, a colonel is below a general, and when they mentioned their general, they only mentioned one man…Which is curious."

"Why so, Solomon?" Issei asked.

"Well, why are the colonels in a council, handling the leadership, if they have someone of such a high rank?" The wise king asked.

"That is indeed true. From their writing, it didn't seem like they said the general is part of the council either." Ddraig pointed out further. "But then comes the other thing they mentioned…A hybrid of the Leviathan house."

"What do you think it means?" Issei asked, unsure of what to think. This journal proved to be a well of information about their apparent opponent so far and even gave them more than they could imagine.

"Whatever it means, Issei depends on what is written further," Solomon said, which got them to resume reading.

"We got the orders to clear the base today…Can't say I enjoy them, none of the troops do. This place had it all, and we were not punished for enjoying it. Drinks, women, men - you name it. We were also told to clear out any documents, but I will keep this journal intact, hidden inside my desk. If anyone finds this, that being said…And you are part of the Snake of Adam…Please do not snitch on me."

"Looks like not a lot." Solomon corrected himself. "This page is written on the day when they cleared the base, meaning it is likely nothing else written on here."

"Still, the amount of information we got was more than enough. So, to review, the Snake of Adam is part of the Old Satan Faction, and they are their main military force."

"Which operates with some kind of independent leadership council named the Five-Leaf council, made up of five colonels." Issei continued. "They also have a general somewhere. In addition, they seemed to have done something with this hybrid mentioned…What, however, we have no idea."

"Very, very intriguing." Solomon said, rubbing his beard. "This was a very enlightening journal, full of intelligence. Whoever left such a thing behind truly deserves some disciplinary actions." He added, mostly referring to how stupid it was for the lieutenant to leave behind such a journal, giving any potential enemy potentially critical pieces of information.

Issei, however, didn't care much about the author, instead, he simply leaned back and put the journal aside. He let out a tired sigh. "Man, can this stuff get any worse…Never mind, it can. I feel a headache coming." He added, which had his two inhabitants worried.

"I thought we were past that point?" Ddraig asked.

"We are, it is a normal one this time around. The stress of everything must be getting to me." Issei whined, feeling his headache intensify. It helped if he kept his eyes closed, at least, but he really wished he had something for more subtle stuff. Pain with a clean source like a wound is easy; you heal the wound, and the pain is expected to mostly go away. Mostly. Like, can't his system do something about it?

Wait…Maybe it can. Healing Magic is something that is not meant only to recover HP, but also to aid the target by removing negative effects or helping with smaller things. Putting a hand on his head, Issei focused his magic a bit. Despite still being somewhat slow at it, he was improving by leaps and bounds by Solomon's account, so now he was trying to use healing magic to simply get rid of his headache. His hand let out a soft glow, and slowly, ever so slowly, even after he began to slowly remove his hand, he felt his headache clear away.

Then the notification came.

Skill Acquired! [Ailment Remove] (Level 1| 103/400): Another simple spell of healing magic that enables the caster to rid themselves of all ailments/negative effects once casted (Does not work on certain Status Effects). Consumes 50 Mana per casting and has a cooldown of 4 minutes.

"That is the stuff…" He said to himself, relaxing back as he felt the headache completely disappear. Who said being selfish a bit with your magic doesn't bring advantages from time to time? He could clearly see this being useful in the future, in case he gets poisoned or something of the like. Not to mention it seemed to also act as a means to ease his pain. That had him wondering for a bit, looking at the hot spring he was in. He could just cast it on himself to get rid of the pain, but what if he used it on the hot spring? Or at least the water currently in here?

What if he tried to combine his water and healing magic together?

"A brilliant idea, Issei!" Solomon suddenly said, having read his thoughts most likely. Well, now that he had Solomon's nod on it, he began to slowly focus his magic. Creating water, fire, etc came with the respective magic, and didn't consume Mana, but in exchange, he could only produce a very small amount of it. He focused the water magic into a ball, then focused his healing magic into it as well. The result was a golden ball of liquid. Ok, he will admit, that sentence sounded better in his head, but in reality, it sounds as if he is holding a ball of piss.

Well, fair be fair, it is glowy. However, he was getting no new spell just yet, meaning it was incomplete. Usually, he needs to use them for them to be registered, but maybe it doesn't have to be like that for all his skills, right? He was starting to figure out how this entire skill-creating business worked. With a sigh he dropped the ball and got out of the spring, believing it was time to get out. However, as he climbed out, he slipped on the wet stone, causing him to land awkwardly and slide. "Agh! You mother-" He said, getting up and holding his shoulder.

He had a bit of a scratch and did lose a few HP points, but nothing too severe. One use of his new healing magic and- wait…He summoned the ball from before again, and this time, he applied it to the wound. The liquid stuck and seemed to focus on the wound, and the pain faded. When the liquid dropped on the ground, all that was left behind was his smooth skin, freshly healed.

Skill acquired! (SUB-SKILL) [Aqua Heal ] (Level 1| 103/400): This Sub-Skill created by combining the Proficiency Skills: [Water Magic - Novice] and [Healing Magic - Novice] enables the user to create a small ball of healing water which, upon being used on the caster or another person with a visible open wound, will focus on that area to heal it. Currently, this skill can only heal minor wounds, and restore around 100-500 HP at the cost of 100 Mana with a cooldown of 5 minutes.

He wondered if, since it was a sub-skill of both, under which of the two it will count under-

Quest Complete!

"Wait, what?" Issei muttered.


Mister Magician.

Objective: You had to put your money on magic, didn't you? Regardless, your objective this time is to learn more magic! In total, you need three different types of magic, your fire magic included already, so two more to go! HOWEVER, as an additional challenge, you also need a total of 3 spells for each type! -Complete

Quest Time Limit: N/A

Reward: 10 MGI Stat points, 1 [Rare] Random piece of equipment, 10K EXP.

Failure Penalty: Possible Death, like always, however, if you fail to become the Magician of Rias Gremory, meaning that you went and tried WITHOUT completing this Quest, then you will also automatically fail the Beat the Fire Chicken quest.

Do you wish to claim this quest's rewards?

Y/N


Unbelievable, that sub-skill spell counted for BOTH his healing and water magic?! That was awesome! That meant he could now enjoy the spoils of his work and claim this quest! He wasted no time tapping on the 'Y', and sure enough, more notifications came.

Since your MGI is now at 50 or more, your [Above-Average Magic Affinity] perk has evolved into the [High Magic Affinity] perk.

And what is more, he also got a pretty nifty new piece of equipment. Checking his inventory, he saw that he had another ring in there, which he took out. It was quite a beautiful design as well. It was golden with an amber stone in it, upon using [Observe] on it, it was revealed the name and what it did.

[Ring of Heat Imprisonment]

[While the user wears this ring, they gain the ability to absorb heat and store it, which has the extensive capability of weakening any fire-based attack or ability overtime.]

Not bad, and since he didn't have other rings to wear apart from his [Ring of Fluid Motion], he put it on. It was next to this other ring, resting upon his middle finger while his other ring took his ring finger on his right hand. Also, his newly acquired magical affinity was bound to make things easier in terms of leveling those up. Regardless, with the quest finished, he went to dry off and went to sleep, cuddling himself next to Kuroka. The next day, they had it planned to hit the dungeon presumingly hidden in the park.


Returning to Kuoh went without a hitch, and before they knew it, they were already on their way toward the dungeon located in the park. However, as always, they needed to first locate the entrance to said dungeon. Easier said than done. In the other locations they were in places with plenty of hiding spots for the entrances, but here it was all empty. Only grass, trees, benches, and the fountain - which they inspected already. There was nothing at the fountain, and after a good bit of searching, time in which night came over them, Issei was growing restless.

"Where is it?" He asked himself as they continued to look around. "The map says it is supposed to be here, yet where? There is barely any place to hide an entrance here without it being discovered."

"Maybe they were clever this time around?" Kuroka proposed. "Used magic to conceal the entrance."

"That is a possibility." Solomon said. "However, I think you would have felt it if it was something of the like, correct?"

"In most cases, yes." Kuroka replied. "However, certain means of casting illusions can evade even the senses of a Youkai."

"Meaning they are using one such method." Issei said, then he took a moment to think. He looked around, trying to notice anything out of the usual. However, it has been a good decade since he has been in Kuoh, so his familiarity with the area was low. He might have been raised here for the first eight years of his life, but his memories were hazy. But something did scream at him. Something he recalled, which was not here anymore. "There." He pointed towards an empty spot between two lamp posts.

"Ummm. Issei? There is nothing there." Kuroka remarked.

"But there was!" Issei said, going to that location and checking the ground below, his fingers tracing the edge of the pavement. "Before, when I came here with my parents, there was a lamp post here."

"Are you sure they didn't move it?" Ddraig asked.

"That's the thing, my parents used to complain that the lamp post was not working, yet no one was doing anything about it." Issei continued, then, suddenly, one of the pavement parts clicked upwards, allowing him to lift it and find a small level there. Kuroka leaned over, seeing the lever, then Issei flicked it. They looked back at the fountain, seeing it move to the side to reveal a set of stairs going down.

"Sneaky." Solomon said.


Alert! You are about to enter the Dungeon: Abandoned Base. The Recommended Level for this Dungeon is 15. Do you wish to enter?

The Level cap for this Dungeon is 65. Individuals above this level cannot enter.


"I still cannot go in, but…the cap has gone up." Kuroka remarked, which worried her a bit. "Does this mean this dungeon is more dangerous than the previous ones?"

"If it is, I have little in terms of choices." Issei said, activating his Sacred Gear. "It is do or fail, really. Don't worry, Kuroka. If anything there starts to overwhelm me, I will make sure to try and run and return later."

She sighed. "I just hate those dungeons. Last time you came back with a scar on you!"

"Yeah…I promise to not die?"

"Just…Please make sure you do. Having you roughed up is better than having you die. I will remain here, on guard, to make sure no unwelcome guests creep in." She told him. "Be swift."

"I will." And so, Issei went deep into the dungeon. If the journal was to be believed, this place was supposed to be where they kept the heavy guns at.


And like always, this place was dark and the stairs were long and boring. At least he is getting a good leg workout out of this. And his [Night Vision] skill was going to gain some levels. Maybe. Hopefully. Going down, he didn't notice a lot of other things around, but when he got to the bottom of things he found himself sitting at a large collider, no door. If he remembered the journal right, one of those rooms might contain that set of armor the journal spoke of.

There were three rooms on each side, making them a total of six. He took a step forward, but then the doors all opened up to reveal multiple wooden golems pouring out. However, this time they were armed. Using his [Observe] he found that they were not any different from the ones he fought so far. They were all Superior Wooden Golems, equipped with basic, iron weapons. However, they had a pretty variety.

Swords, axes, even one with a chain. There were about 20 of them, but the hallway made it so only three could come at him at once. Luckily, the last fight with the minotaur saw him with a new skill perfect for this scenario. [Firestream]. He unleashed it upon the golems before they could properly charge at him, burning them to the ground. A lot of exp was coming in from them as well, which was welcomed, as always.

Each of them gave him between 800 and 1000 EXP, eventually totaling around 18600. Not bad.

Skill Level-up! [Firestream] is now level 2

When he was finished, the wooden golems were all smoldering piles of ash and cinders. Granted, that did cause the room to be filled with smoke. It made him caught, but luckily, it was traveling up the way he came and out. Then, he walked through the ashes he caused, going into the first storage room the golems were in. The place was almost empty, but he did find some healing potions in there, which were going to prove very useful. However, when he went to the wall at the end of the room and knocked on it, he found it to be solid concrete behind. This was not the room. The next room was the same, having 3 bottles of Stamina potions in, but no secret room.

The third room, however, had some more encouraging results. He found a different kind of HP potion in there.

[Intermediate HP Potion]

[A potion used to recover HP when in a hairy situation. Upon being consumed, it will recover 20%% of the user's total HP]

Higher HP recovery, so he stored this only bottle in his inventory for now. He moved to the fourth room, finding nothing worthwhile inside it. Absolutely nothing. He even checked the wall and nothing. However, the fifth room, although it also had nothing, had something interesting. The wall, when he knocked on it, was hollow. There was something behind it. "Bingo." He said and pulled back his fist, using [Power Kick] to break down the was easy, it was a wooden wall. However, walking past it, he found what he was looking for. An entire suit of armor glowed in the dim light of the torch inside this place, and a pretty broadsword was added to the set as well.

Issei touched it, and a notification popped up, asking him if he wished to equip it. He first used [Observe] on the pieces, getting some information about them.

[Enchanted Steel Helmet]

[Armor forged from pure steel using supernatural means and heavily enchanted. This armor piece offers a 3% damage reduction against both physical and magical attacks. Additionally, this armor's Durability can be replenished via its enchant by feeding it mana. 2 Mana = 1 Durability point restored.]

[Durability: 50/50]

[Enchanted Steel Chestplate]

[Armor forged from pure steel using supernatural means and heavily enchanted. This armor piece offers a 5% damage reduction against both physical and magical attacks. Additionally, this armor's Durability can be replenished via its enchant by feeding it mana. 2 Mana = 1 Durability point restored.]

[Durability: 70/70]

[Enchanted Steel Vambrace]

[Armor forged from pure steel using supernatural means and heavily enchanted. This armor piece offers a 2% damage reduction against both physical and magical attacks. Additionally, this armor's Durability can be replenished via its enchant by feeding it mana. 2 Mana = 1 Durability point restored.]

[Durability: 30/30]

[Enchanted Steel Graves]

[Armor forged from pure steel using supernatural means and heavily enchanted. This armor piece offers a 4% damage reduction against both physical and magical attacks. Additionally, this armor's Durability can be replenished via its enchant by feeding it mana. 2 Mana = 1 Durability point restored.]

[Durability: 60/60]

He equipped the armor bits. The armor was designed more after that of british knights, but he used his cosmetic option so he didn't need to look awkward wearing it. However, as he equipped it, he saw how the protection was not stacked, but separated based on the armor location. His head, which was covered by the helmet, his torso, covered by the chestplate, the arms covered by the vambraces, and the graves on his legs. He was all equipped.

Next, he checked the sword that came with it, noticing how it glowed by itself from the enchants.

[Enchanted Steel Sword]

[A sword forged from pure steel, then heavily enchanted. Durability can be replenished via its enchant by feeding it mana. 2 Mana = 1 Durability point restored. Additionally, this sword can be made to extend up to 5 M by feeding Mana into it, with 10 Mana being equal to 1 M. This sword adds 20% more damage based on the STR of the user. ]

[Durability: 100/100]

"This is some good armor." Issei said, equipping the sword as well and watching it suddenly appear on his hip. With the armor and weapon found, he felt pretty confident about the boss of this dungeon, so he went to the last storage room to check it, finding nothing there aside from a few components used for the wooden golems. Coming out of that room, he went further into the dungeon, searching for anything else of interest. And sure enough, he did locate something pretty interesting at the end of it, namely how it opened up into a large room.

The other dungeons had such rooms as well. Most likely a gathering area for those stationed here. There was nothing here at first look, but then his [Danger Sense] went off, making him look up to see no less than 4 concrete golems drop from the ceiling.

[Concrete Golem]

[level 10 D]

[HP: 8000]

Lucky for him, they were all the kind he faced before - wait…He spoke too soon! As he checked the last of the group, he was met with surprises, the nasty ass kind.

[Reinforced Concrete Golem]

[level 18 D]

[HP: 12000]

A new kind of enemy has just appeared, this one looking like an enhanced version of the normal concrete golems. And his sword was only good with enemies NOT made of concrete! He was looking forward to using it as well. Oh well, it was time to play the cat and mouse game again from the looks of things, knowing the golems were somewhat slow, he began to run around the room, however, the reinforced one turned quicker than the others, picking up some of the old furniture and throwing it in front of Issei, making him stop in his tracks and allow one of the golems to leap for him.

He used [Power Jump] to avoid being squished. Seriously, this skill has already saved him more than once! But simply dodging was not enough as another one of the golems managed to strike him while he was off the ground, resulting in him hitting the wall hard. Luckily, his new armor seemed to help tank the damage better than his body does. However, he didn't have time to think as he needed to move. Using his skill again, he avoided being crushed by the incoming golem, and he landed on its back.

Using his position, he fired a [Dragon Shot] at it, striking hard and causing the golem to stumble forward, its rocky body crumbling. He jumped off, checking the damage. The golem lost a good chunk of its HP, but it was not out of the fight just yet, not to mention there were others in here with him that needed to be turned to gravel.

The other golems charged at him from two directions, trying to strike him, but Issei outsmarted them by dodging the last second, resulting in the golems striking each other. One of them, seeing as its arm was already cracked, was critically injured and lost the arm. Issei, taking advantage of this, used his [Dual Use] together with [Wyvern Shot] to repeatedly strike them until they fell. Before, they were more sturdy, but it seemed that now he could hold his own against them. The golems were like basic mobs, relying on more numbers to be a danger. And so far, he was not seeing any superior numbers.

Skill Level-up! [Dual Use] is now level 4!

Skill Level-up! [Wyvern Shot] is now level 6!

The golems fell, and Issei was left with only two of them. He has yet to use his Sacred Gear, meaning his stats were high enough now to deal some better amounts of damage. However, the one that tried crushing him before and the reinforced one still remained. The reinforced one also made him uneasy, seeing as it was not moving that much from its spot, and simply watching.

Still, the other one got up, and Issei quickly turned to it, delivering a [Dragon Shot] that struck the orb in the head of the golem. Using past experiences to recall the weaknesses of his enemies, and taking advantage of them. Since that also counted as a critical strike, the golem collapsed, leaving Issei only with the reinforced golem.

He got some EXP from the golems he did kill, however. Three of them, and each gave him around 1200 EXP, meaning he got 3600 EXP. One step closer to another level. He went closer to the reinforced golem, noticing how it seemed more…sturdy. He noticed some bits having metal here and there, which likely is the reinforcement of it. Issei didn't take any chances, and used his [Explosion], activating the 4 [Boost] stored within, and then charging in at the golem. Despite the creature having a larger size than him and being superior to the others, it seemed to be perhaps stupider.

Oh, how wrong he was.

As he charged in to deliver a strike with his covered hand, the golem caught his fist and yanked him towards it, delivering a hard punch over his head that sent him reeling back. He felt his brains rattle from that! If not for his helmet, he might have even broken his head! He switched to ranged, once again using his two skills from before to shoot the golem, which seemed to make it move finally toward Issei…While also taking multiple [Wyvern Shot] strikes, making sure to protect the orb in its head.

Shit, it was smarter. Despite getting some damage in, Issei was ultimately forged to narrowly avoid a hard punch that dug into the wall behind him, but the golem was able to instead deliver a knee strike to his abdomen. He felt his stomach rise into his chest, making him want to puke, but using this opportunity he grabbed the golem by its face and activated his [Dragon Shot].

The close-range proximity made it so he also took some damage from it, namely his hand looking like it was in an oven, but it did its job and put a hole through the head of the golem, which was a fatal strike and took it out for good. From this guy, he got 1500 EXP. Not bad.

Issei pushed it away with a [Power Kick], getting some more breathing space as he sat down and took out his basic HP potions, drinking one and one stamina potion. With those done he went in further, arriving in the next room of the dungeon. This one resembled some kind of meeting area, and Issei looked around for anything…other than ash. He could only tell it was a meeting area by the large table, or rather, the large half of a table. The rest was ash.

Looking around, he noticed a few spots colored strangely. Green even, and fresh. Wet too. Curiosity eventually made him look up, and when he did, he let out a scream and collapsed into the ash. "What the fuck…?" Above him, sitting suspended like the other golems must have been, was a big, spider-like golem of sorts, with a clear tube of what he assumed to be poison on its back. His skill told him what it was but without any stats.

[Broken Spider Golem]

Spiders…Of all things on this earth, why did it have to be a giant ass spider?! It also looked to be made of metal instead of wood or concrete?! Was this another step up in terms of difficulty?!

"Issei, please, be calm." Solomon told him. "It is broken, so we don't have reason to worry. You better keep your fright for a functional one."

"How is that supposed to make me feel any better?!" Issei replied, then he slowly got up, eyes glued on the spider above before he noticed a door and went through, leading him to a hallway. Going through it, he kept his guard up, feeling his skin crawl. The design of that spider was like looking at one with a magnifying glass. Continuing through the hallway, he eventually came upon a fork, and he went to the right. He ended up before a metallic door, which once he opened it, he was met with a sight to behold.

A big old pile of scrap! He inspected it, looked at it, and noticed how it seemed to be composed of broken weapons, armor, and even golems!

"This might have been a place to store broken equipment." Ddraig said.

"But for what?" Issei asked.

"Likely to recycle it." Solomon suggested. "It is very likely they do not have the funds to constantly purchase newer equipment, so they recycle old ones."

"That is indeed possible, yes." Ddraig said.

"Then again, it doesn't look like they took those when they left." Solomon said again as Issei went closer to the pile, and suddenly, he heard a sound coming from it, seeing a busted helmet roll down to his feet. Looking up, he saw what knocked it down. Granted, he might have nightmares tonight as a wooden golem, by looks, raised a sword and tried to jump him. However, Issei easily dodged and let it strike the ground, which killed it instantly.

"The hell, those things are still kicking after being scrapped?" Issei wondered aloud, looking at the broken golem.

"They must have some kind of source of energy keeping them moving." Solomon suggested. "Maybe some kind of seal we missed? We never did quite inspect the golems up close and carefully."

"You have a point." Issei replied, then he looked at the golem, turning it on its back and looking at it. He made sure to rip out its arm, though, since it only had one, so it didn't do anything terrible to him. He looked at the head and torso, not noticing anything in particular…Then he knocked on the torso and heard a hollow patch. He used his Sacred Gears, allowing him to pry open a small hatch, showing him a seal of some sort.

"I knew it!" Solomon said. "This here is a seal that links the golem to an external source of mana."

"Wait, you mean these things were running on some external battery all this time?!" Issei asked him. "Why couldn't we just find those to disable them in each place?"

"Because there was no battery in those places." Ddraig added. "I recognize high-quality work when I see it. Wherever this source of mana, it is likely not anywhere near. This kind of seal can carry mana for good miles."

"But this is still good, correct?" Issei asked, hoping for some good news.

"Quite! Now we at least know where the seals on the wooden ones are! If we strike there and destroy it, we can instantly take them out!" Solomon stated. "Or, we can simply continue to burn them as we have done so far."

"All things considered, either method works."

"Yeah, Ddraig is right…This is good information, but it would have been more useful before I had fire magic." Issei added, then they heard Solomon sigh.

"Well, at least this is progress. I doubt the seals are on the concrete golems in the same places, but their heads did seem detachable." The wise king suggested. "But until we don't get our hands on one, which I severely doubt is stashed here, we may not know for sure."

"Until then, let's keep going." Issei said, and then went back the way they came, going the other way this time around, and turning a corner…And another corner…And another, until, finally, after almost going in circles, they reached what seemed to be a room with an office inside. "Nice! Here we usually find all kinds of goodies!"

"The office? Isn't this place available to use usually AFTER the boss?" Ddraig asked, feeling suspicious. "Something is off."

"Who cares? Let's get to looting this-" Suddenly, a large rumbling was felt throughout the dungeon. "Ddraig, I sincerely hope that was your stomach."

"If only I had a stomach to make such noises."

His [Danger Sense] went crazy again, just before a golem broke down the wall and door, revealing a large area in the middle. But this golem was…beast-like. It resembled a centipede, made entirely of metal. It grabbed him with its mandibles, dragging him into the middle where Issei came face to face with something he didn't think he'd see. The body of the reinforced golem from before, and the spider golem he saw before too! In addition, he saw a giant arm he recognized from before as the same type the armed golem used being carried here by wooden golems on the verge of breaking.

"Ummm. Guys? Remember when we watched Transformers 2?" Issei asked.

"Yes?" Solomon replied, looking at the gathering of bits closely.

"Remember the scene with the Decepticons at that quarry? The one where they combined and turned into a bigger, nastier robot?"

"Oh, fuck me sideways…"

The strange spider golem, despite its damages, was attached to the combination as the new head, folding and changing shape until its eyes lit up, a sickly green light coming from the three pairs of eyes as the abdomen went towards the lower back where it fixated, having a new canister of poison with no leaks and a hose that was not yet plugged anywhere. But that was about to change as the centipede golem that dragged him hopped into the mix, attaching itself to one of the arms and allowing the hose to connect into the back of it, the mandibles becoming like a pincer claw of sorts.

The Golem then let its right arm fall, attaching the cannon brought to him. The lower section of the centipede which was not acting like a poison cannon went to the front, creating a frontal armor for the golem. The new being looked at Issei, and in some strange way, he felt like the golem was mad he blew its head before.

He used [Observe] on it, checking its stats. But what he found shocked him.

BOSS

[Reinforced Concrete Golem]

[level 23 D]

[HP: 18000]

[Superior Arachnid Golem]

[level 23 D]

[HP: 18000]

[Centipede Golem]

[level 23 D]

[HP: 18000]

Fucking hell, this thing had multiple health bars! However, it also seemed to be the boss. It suddenly raised its arm, firing at Issei. However, he was able to deploy his Balance Breaker in time, helping him tank the strike better, even if it pushed him all the way into the wall where the boss then proceeded to jump to him and bury a leg into his abdomen. "AGH!" Issei shouted in pain, but then he began to use his [Boost] to increase in power, popping a total of 5 for safety, and then he started to fight back. This time, it didn't catch his [Power Punch] resulting in the golem being pushed back a bit and allowing him to get up properly.

The damage was delivered to the spider-bit since that is what he hit, but then the golem put its poisonous cannon up, shooting it at Issei and covering him. His skill that lowers damage from poison was really going to be tested here. The poison was painful, but not severe or anything. It was a minor grade of poison. However, after it sprayed him, Issei stretched out his arm and fired a couple of [Wyvern Shot] rounds, multiple of them striking home. However, he noticed that the reinforced golem was not taking any kind of damage, instead the centipede was. Damn it, the armor was actually helping!

Skill Level-up! Your [Martial Arts: Asura Style - Novice] skill is now Level 3!

He then charged in at the golem, getting up close and more personal as he continued to land punches on it, one after another, his Stamina draining quickly due to both that and his Balance Breaker. However, despite his attacks, the golem eventually managed to push its cannon against him and fire, striking Issei right in the chest and sending him flying. Damn it, if he didn't have his Balance Breaker and new armor, that might have scored a fatal!

However, he still lived, and checking the status of the boss, he noticed how the centipede was under heavy strain, same with the spider part. His skill revealed them to be weakening while the central part, the reinforced golem, remained mostly intact. Then an idea struck him, especially as the golem put both of its cannons up, firing recklessly and following Issei with the poison and ray it was outputting.

But, luckily for him, he noticed a weakness on the back of the golem. The hose! If he can destroy that, the poison was done for! Knowing that he brought out his sword and charged in, managing to slip behind the boss and cut the poison hose, causing the poison to come out like a fountain from within due to the pressure. However, it seemed like the boss was now having some issues with its arm from that, so Issei took the chance and swung his sword, using his [Slash] skill and managing to cut the abdomen of the spider off entirely.

Skill Level-up! Your [Slash] Skill is now level 3!

The boss seemed to be dealing with some issues as a result of that strike, so Issei took the chance to attack its exposed back, deciding to use that new combo skill. He activated [Furious Fist], combining with [Power Punch] and starting to really dig into the bastard with repeated strikes which only grew in damage every time.

Skill Level-up! Your [Power Punch] skill has reached level 5, and as such, it has grown!

He will check the changes later! For now, he was putting the work into the bastard! The main reinforced golem was finally taking damage, and even after it seemed to recover and turn to him, he just landed a solid right hook on its head, crushing the bits from the spider and blinding the golem yet again. The reason why the golems were different from stuff like the minotaur or Asura was, in the end, intelligence. One might be able to make them somewhat smarter or better fighters, but an intelligent living being was always to be a better fighter.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Issei yelled as he stopped his barrage of strikes, and instead, he took his sword and used it to [Stab] the abdomen of the golem before he lifted it up and threw it away into the wall by his sword. He will use his mana to restore durability later. The critical announcement played out before the golem was thrown, but then, Issei watched it get up, slowly. Issei was also tired, but he still had the stamina to fight. His [Boost] was going away soon, however.

But, to his surprise, what happened was not what he expected. Instead of the golem coming to him again, the top part of the centipede's body began to try and move by itself, trying to detach without success. This had him confused, then Solomon spoke.

"We have likely destroyed the seals of the spider and reinforced golem during the battle." He suggested. "Right now, only that golem is left, and from the looks of things, it cannot really move."

"Indeed." Issei replied as he checked, and true enough, it was only the centipede left. He put his sword aside and went to the golem, catching it by its pincers before he roughly pulled it off along with the rest of the arm it was attached to, which caused it to shriek out before it stopped moving. Issei dropped it on the ground.

Congratulations on defeating the boss and clearing the dungeon! Here are your rewards:

-15000 EXP
-10K Yen

- Mystery Reward Box

-Dungeon Seed

Congratulations! You are now level 17!

Quest Updated!


CONQUER THEM ALL!

Main Objective: Clear all the dungeons market on the map you recovered! Progress: 4/5

Quest Time Limit: N/A

Main Objective Reward: 10K EXP, ?, 2 Skill Books(?), Access to the Shop.

Failure Penalty: Death.


Hell yeah, baby! Another level earned! And he also got another box of random goodies, but he will check it out tomorrow. Right now, he was sore, and he wanted to check the office. While still in his Balance Breaker, he flew to it and then dismissed it. At least this time he didn't come as near to death as before, which was a relief. Now, as he looked around, he didn't find a lot of interesting things. This time around, the office seemed clearly pretty empty, with nothing of interest within.

The only thing he did find was a few notes, revealing to him just WHERE and HOW to enter the last dungeon, the most dangerous one, which is right in the heart of Rias' territory. But with that being said, he also wondered what he got. The dungeon seed seemed off to him, so he decided to pull it out of his inventory to check it, and his skill revealed something he won't ever say was unfair.

[Dungeon Seed]

[A special item which, when used for the first time, will create a fully custom dungeon for the user. More details upon usage.]

His own motherfucking dungeon?! Let's fucking go! Issei was shaking with anticipation of the things he could do with this! His own dungeon, one he can apparently customize! Oh man, oh man, he cannot wait to see what kind of cool things he can put within! Maybe even have it as a place for him and his future harem to retreat to for some sexy time.

The possibilities…But right now, he wanted nothing more than to rest and sleep. Seriously, that was still a pretty difficult fight! And he had one more dungeon! At least after that he will also gain access to the shop and see what he can get from there.

Maybe there will be good things because honestly, he also hoarded a small fortune in his inventory. With that in mind, he began to go out of the dungeon, but something else was going down there.

Unaware to him, he had failed the secret objective. Deep within the pile of scrap, he dismissed earlier, something began to move, and eventually climb out. It revealed only one singular red eye as it used the scrap as some kind of spare parts resource. Its body was also not what someone would call state-of-the-art. It was random bits of rusty and broken armor covering what looked to be a metallic skeleton.

But as Issei went out and left with Kuroka, this being made its way to the main area where Issei fought the combined golem, and the strange being started breaking them apart, piece by piece, to add to its own dismantled body.


"Another surge…" Rias said as she looked through the window, having felt the surge of power Issei put out inside the dungeon, yet deciding not to do anything. However, she was growing frustrated. And curious. Every time the Red Dragon Emperor left, they made it a habit to check his scene of the crime, finding more of the golems. The most recent one too, although they barely found traces of the golem within the main room.

Or rather, they did, but there was so little left they assumed the Red Dragon went to town on it. But every time, for some time, it was like the Red Dragon was growing more and more powerful at an unnaturally quick rate. The golems they found, including the ones made of concrete, were nothing to them, KIba could slash them in the blink of an eye.

But that didn't ease her worries that the Red Dragon was hiding more than just being a skilled magician. Still, she had other duties to attend to. Kuoh was opening its gates soon to a new batch of students, her included, and despite securing a place for her and her peerage, and establishing the Occult Research Club in the break period, the need to attend classes would cut into their time for other duties.

Going back to her office, she leaned on her chair, thinking. Strangely enough, lately, Koneko has been more relaxed than before. More so, she caught her training earlier with her Nekomata traits exposed. Either Kuroka's presence was making her act like this, or something else was going on. She just had a bad gut feeling, but maybe it was due to her approaching marriage with Riser that was making her feel like this.

Ever since they began allowing the Red Dragon to act freely, his movement has become bolder, and the surges of power…She was worried she made a mistake, but she was a woman of her word, meaning she needed to keep it. They said they would stop chasing him, and they are, but she wished that, for once, they would know where he was going to strike next. At least one clue would be a miracle!

"President!" Suddenly, Kiba came barging in, looking out of breath.

"Kiba? What happened to you? You look like you just ran a marathon." She said, going to him and offering him some support as she helped him to the couch. "What happened?"

"I…Found one."

"Found what?"

"One of the bases, just like those the Red Dragon was raiding." He said, which immediately got Rias' attention. "I went into it to inspect it, but I was overrun by an ambush of those wooden golems, not to mention they were armed. I managed to take out a good number of them, but there were likely more within. Their numbers were…great."

"Where?" She asked.

"It's not far from here, roughly two blocks. A client of mine found the entrance and wanted to ask me to watch the entrance as he did some 'business' with his friends. They were cut to bits by the golems before I had the chance to save them." He explained. "What are we going to do, Rias?"

Rias thought about it for a bit, then, a smile crept on her face. "We promised not to chase the Red Dragon anymore, but we didn't say anything about protecting our territory. Those golems are a threat, and as such, we will get rid of them first thing in the morning."