Chapter 778: Champions
Scarlet’s attention shifted to the two of them, and her focus sharpened with genuine interest. The felinid with tanned skin and golden jewelry standing with feline stillness. The red-skinned demoness with horns and a tail and an axe resting against her hip. She looked them up and down with open appreciation.
"Well now. The tanned felinid and the red-skinned demoness." Her voice carried a note of real fascination beneath the casual ease. "To this day, the only two monsters in the world who walk freely beside humans. What exotic young ladies."
""I’m older than you,"" both of them said at the same time.
Scarlet blinked, looked between them, then tilted her head. Being corrected was apparently good news to her.
"That’s a relief. This old girl still got it."
"You’re not old!!" Nyx spoke up, full of defense.
Scarlet shook her head, wry. "I’m already past my twenties... I expect a midlife crisis to occur at any point."
"Nonsense!" Nyx protested. "You could easily make bank just with modeling."
"If you say so, darling..." Scarlet chuckled, petting the needy girl’s hair, while her eyes found Kaiden.
The expression that settled on her face was different from what she’d given the girls. Sharper. Appraising. The furnace behind those orange eyes burning a degree hotter as they took the measure of the young man standing in front of her with his little sister melting against his side and five dangerous women arranged around him.
"And the golden boy himself."
Kaiden smiled at her.
"It’s an honor to meet you at last, Flame Monarch."
"Scarlet is fine."
"Scarlet, then." He glanced at the perimeter behind her, at the Association officers working the outer ring and the Eclipse veterans holding the inner line. "Can I ask what you’re doing here? It’s dangerous right now."
Scarlet’s grin sharpened.
"And that’s exactly why I’m here." She gestured loosely at the chaos around them. "I’m a mercenary, just like you guys used to be before you went and built yourselves a whole guild. Your mother bought my services. I’ll be helping you defend against that howling rock thing."
The reactions that followed were immediate.
Luna’s eyebrows shot up. Aria’s grip on Kaiden’s arm tightened. Bastet’s ear rotated toward Scarlet with sharpened interest. Calypso whistled, loud and impressed.
"Are you sure?" Nyx pulled back from the hug just enough to look up at Scarlet’s face, and the fangirl energy was gone. In its place was genuine concern, the kind that came from someone who had spent years admiring this woman and could not stomach the thought of her getting hurt. "It could be really dangerous..."
"That’s why I charge the big bucks!" Scarlet laughed, bright and carefree, as if the prospect of fighting a mountain-sized creature was roughly as concerning as a change in weather. "Don’t worry about it. We’ll knock that thing down together."
Nyx’s lip trembled once. Then she buried her face back into Scarlet’s shoulder and hugged tighter. "Thank you..."
Scarlet’s hand returned to her pink hair, and her smile softened by a fraction.
Nyx pulled away after a few more seconds, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand in a motion she clearly hoped nobody noticed. Everyone noticed.
"Come on!" She turned toward the gate, grabbing Scarlet’s wrist and tugging. "We’ll show you around!"
Scarlet let herself be pulled along with an amused expression, and the group crossed the gate into the dungeon’s abyssal dark.
...
The Safe Zone closed around them. A hundred meters of abyssal stone, smooth and imperable, where nothing could be placed and nothing could spawn. The Nightclaws descended from their crevices in a rush of chirps, swarming the returning Dungeon Master. Scarlet watched the display with her hands in her pockets, head tilted.
"Cuties."
A Nightclaw landed on her shoulder uninvited. She didn’t flinch.
Kaiden’s mind was already elsewhere. The interface pulsed at the edges of his awareness, responding to his proximity to the throne room’s systems even from here. A notification had appeared during the walk back, quiet and unobtrusive.
[Champion Slots: 5 / 8.]
The ceiling had risen at Rank 3. Three new slots.
He turned to Vespera first.
"Mother."
She looked at him, composed as ever.
"The dungeon has a system called Champions. They are said to be the sworn heroes of the Dungeon Master, recognized as the Master’s chosen in a Dungeon Master Duel." He held her gaze. "I’d like to appoint you."
Vespera studied him for a moment. Her expression didn’t change as she said,
"Of course."
Kaiden selected her through the interface.
[Champion appointed: Vespera Ashborn — The Shadow Monarch.]
A thread tied itself to the dungeon at a depth the previous five appointments hadn’t reached. The sheer weight of what Vespera brought to the bond made the connection hum in Kaiden’s awareness like a low, resonant chord.
Then he looked at Nyx.
"About time!" She was grinning, still a little red-eyed, still buzzing from the Scarlet encounter, but she stepped forward and the appointment went through.
[Champion appointed: Nyx Cosmos — Manifestation of Space.]
[Champion Slots: 7 / 8.]
One slot left.
Kaiden looked at Scarlet.
She was leaning against the corridor wall with a Nightclaw still perched on her shoulder, watching the appointment process with casual interest and no real understanding of what was happening.
He didn’t know who to select. Scarlet was a mercenary. She was here for a contract, not a commitment. Making her a Champion tied her to the dungeon at a depth that went beyond a business arrangement.
But this was not the time for long-term thinking.
If Champions played a significant role in a Dungeon Master Duel, and the system’s own description said they were "recognized as the Master’s chosen combatants" in exactly that scenario, then having the Flame Monarch assigned to his dungeon could be a deciding factor.
"Scarlet."
"Sign me the hell up!"
"..." Kaiden didn’t expect such a quick response, especially considering how little she knew of the happenings.
"It’s a formal bond to the dungeon. Recognized combatants in the duel. I’ll be honest, I don’t know if I can remove it after you’re done here."
Scarlet’s grin split wide.
"It sounds hella fun. I was getting bored of mundane monster slaying anyhow."
"I’m serious. I might not be able to undo it."
Scarlet shrugged, completely carefree. "We’ll figure something out."
Kaiden looked at her for a beat, then shrugged in response. "Okay."
[Champion appointed: Scarlet — The Flame Monarch.]
[Champion Slots: 8 / 8. All current slots assigned.]
Three new threads tied themselves to the dungeon, and the difference between them and the previous batch was immediately apparent. The five girls had felt like threads. Vespera had felt like a chord. Scarlet felt like a second chord, burning where Vespera’s was cold, the two of them anchoring opposite ends of the bond like pillars holding up a cathedral.
Then the chime came.
[Ascension Achieved.]
[Dungeon #A23-6679 — Rank 3 ?? Rank 4]
[Low Tier ?? Mid Tier]
Kaiden stared at the notification.
He had needed five strong girls and 9,900 DMP worth of Abyssal monsters to push from Rank 2 to Rank 3.
He had just added Nyx and the other two women and the dungeon jumped a full tier.
’These two freaks of nature...’
Calypso was the first to notice his expression. "What happened, Darling?"
"The dungeon just ascended to Mid-Tier."
"From adding two Champions?" Bastet’s tail went still. "That is... remarkable."
"Three!!" Nyx protested.
"All you, bestie," Luna giggled.
Kaiden pulled up the interface.
Mid-Tier. The words sat at the top of the dungeon status window, replacing "Low Tier".
It was time to see what the upgrade meant and get ready for defense.
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