Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Chapter 191: The Mutation Menace (2)

Irene who was staring at the [Main Menu], pointed out "It seems to be the effects of the mutation brought out by the Scarlet Mutation Crystal. The entire ecosystem had been flipped upside down, the Direwolves and the Stormwolves that you had spawned here are in danger".

Simon blinked his eyes unable to believe what he just heard. Putting the comment about the ecosystem aside, the wolves are in danger? What kind of joke was that? 

The Dire wolves and the stormwolves are the apex predators of this floor. For her to say that they were in danger, he didn't understand what she meant by that. However, he knew more than anyone that Irene wasn't the kind of person who would joke in this kind of situation.

So that could only mean that the wolves colony here are really in danger. "But they are the strongest monsters here, who could potentially be a threat to them?" Simon asked perplexed.

Even if it was the creature that underwent a mutation after eating the flesh of the stormwolf, it shouldn't be able to threaten the colony of the wolves.

Hurriedly opening the [Archive] options, he saw for himself that the population of the wolves had indeed gone down drastically. From their initial numbers of more than two hundred, only hundred or so remained.

That is to say, only after five days, their numbers have been reduced by half. It was as Irene said, he has to do something, the Direwolves and the Stormwolves were truly in danger. But before that, he wanted to know the cause of this mess, who and what was it that had created such trouble here.

Looking towards the [Helpers] for an answer, they looked remorseful for a while before pointing towards the heap of rubble. "Lord Simon we are truly ashamed to let the situation develop out of control, but even we weren't able to exert control over those creatures". 

Simon was stunned once again, even the [Helpers] weren't able to exert control over it. [Helpers] although did not enjoy as much authority as a Guardian would, it was still a role ȧssigned by the dungeon to them.

It was only now that Simon realised the true extent of the ability of the Scarlet Mutation Crystal. And to top it off, the grade of the crystal he got from the pond was still the lowest at [C] rank, he couldn't imagine what kind of storms higher grade crystals would bring.

Deciding that he couldn't give a free rein to this unknown creature, he would bring it under his control. Simon was the dungeon master and no matter what he had absolute control over all the monsters inhabiting the dungeon.

The [Helpers] when they saw that their lord had no intention of blaming them for their negligence in supervision, their mood lifted a little and the dreary atmosphere around them disappeared.

Coleus, one of the [Helpers] came forward and recounted everything that had happened after he had left the dungeon five days ago.

The monster or more like the monsters that were eating the flesh of the stormwolf was other the Fanged Mouse. However, it was not only one or two of them but their entire colony.

What was more surprising was that after eating the flesh of the stormwolf, all of the Fanged Mouse started mutating. Each of them had undergone so many changes that it was hard to tell which race they belonged to.

Some were as big as two meters, others not even half a meter. Some were golden striped, while the others were fully crimson. Every day a new mutated one would be spotted and it would be hard to discern which race they belonged to.

And before the [Helpers] even became aware that it was not just one or two monsters that had mutated, the situation had already become out of control.

The fanged mouse after eating the flesh of the stormwolf, started eyeing the apex predator of this floor as their prey. The mutation that they had undergone made it all the more possible for them to contend with the wolves and hence the predator and the prey on the 15th floor had changed places.

The numbers of the mutated Fanged Mouse kept on increasing and before long the wolves found themselves in a position where their numbers were continuously declining. To make matters worst, when the [Helpers] approached them aiming to control their destructive behaviour, the Fanged Mouse were completely unfazed by their commands.

The colony of the mouse not only ran rampant on the 15th floor, due to their mutation wherever they went, their flammable body would light a fire and before long the entire forest was burning.

It was precisely because of this ability of their that the Direwolves and the Stormwolves weren't able to defeat them as their bodies would burst into fire killing the wolves along with them. An ability that made the other cower to fight you.

Hearing the detailed report, a big frown was hanging on Simon's forehead. There were many things in the report that didn't make sense to begin with like how a single Scarlet Mutation Crystal eaten by a stormwolf was effective enough to mutate the entire colony of a Fanged Mouse.

How they were able to dismiss the authority of their [Helpers] and their high effective ability.

Simon could see why the wolves were beaten until half of their numbers were gone and if the situation continued like this they would go extinct on the 15th floor.

Opening the [Archive] function of the [Main Menu], he was befuddled by one more fact. The main culprit behind all the mess, the Fanged Mouse, their numbers were shown as zero. That is to say that their entire race had changed and because of that their current numbers had eluded the observation of the dungeon.

Looking at the heap of rubble, he pointed out "So they are living underground and this is their lair?".

"Right" Irene said as she answered his question before speaking in a speculative tone. "Since the dungeon is unable to display their race and numbers, it highly possible that their race is not registered to the dungeon yet and because of that, this race is also able to dismiss the authority of the [Helpers]. A species that had undergone mutation under very special circumstances and is yet to be recorded. It might be possible to register them back to the dungeon".

On that note, he agreed with her. The fact that he was not getting any DP from them meant that the dungeon still regarded them as its spawn. The Dungeon was an extension of his which meant that as long as he saw and recognised them, it would be automatically registered to the dungeon.

Once registered, they will no longer be able to dismiss the authority of the [Helpers]. But to do that, Simon has to see them with his own eyes.

"Alright, I'm gonna move the rubble away from here" He declared looking at [Irene] and the [Helpers]. All of them wore a strange expression on their face before backing down a little.

The most unusual reaction amongst them was Irene as she directly blinked a few meters back saying "You should be careful, don't scare them by causing too many vibrations".

It was his first time seeing Irene behave so strangely. Simon did not know why she would say something like but he simply nodded his head.

"Cecilia it would be good if you back down too" he said addressing Cecilia.

Cecilia nodded her head and immediately ran to where Irene was. 'Alright, I don't know what kind of species you are but don't think that you can just crash in here without the permission of the dungeon master and destroy everything' he thought internally before using his Gale magic to slowly lift the mountain of rubble.

As soon as he moved the rubble a little, an intense heatwave like that of a mouth of a volcano brushed past him and the entire temperature around the area started rising.

Slowly, a crimson glow started coming off from the bottom and a wide hole could be seen. When the rubble was completely moved to the side, Simon was astounded till his eyes went wide at the scene that lay before him.

"Kyaaaaaaaa" Cecilia cried out loud, tightly hugging Irene beside him. A skin-tingling sensation ȧssaulted all the observers as they saw the scene.

In front of them lay a huge gaping hole glowing crimson from the heatwave and inside it one could see hundreds no at a glance there were more than thousands of what looked like mice frolicking around.

The sheer quantity of them inside it made all of them wince their eyes as they slowly started backing down.

Simon was the only one who did not suffer from such symptoms as he carefully observed the monsters in the number of thousands inside the hole.. Some of them had golden stripes, other were covered in crimson furs, their features matched with the description of the [Helpers] just that each of them were describing a different one.