Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

Elsewhere, in the previously secret dungeon of the Galeburst territory...

"Pitiful" A harsh voice said simply. The bloodied young man standing in front of the speaker of these words felt that these words were more excruciating than their beaten and battered body.

"Let… Let me go…" The young man said for the umpteenth time while struggling to grip their sword. They then performed a pathetic swing at the undefeatable enemy.

"Ironically, without that armor you are but a shell of a human" The imposing figure before him was relentless with their insults, however. The prized dragon scale armor of the dynasty had been stripped of their body and they were now nothing but a weak pushover.

"Let me… I'm hungry…" The exhausted and nearly dead man was about to plead for mercy once more before finally giving in and saying something different.

"Hungry?" The dragon was piqued by the change in the human's state of mind, humans were fickle beings.

"Ah, right" Thanks to the dungeon's influence the dragon had practically forgotten about the basic needs of living beings. Without further ado, the dragon allowed for some fruits to grow in the boss arena and fed them to the injured man.

"Cough Cough" The young man coughed. They choked on the fruit which was being stuffed down their throat by the dragon's magic. It seemed that the dragon's generosity was deadlier than their attacks.

After a couple of minutes of arduous eating, the young man was finally well fed to the point of bursting.

"How about it? Do you have enough strength to finally continue your pointless attacks?" The dragon asked the human condescendingly.

"No…" The Galeburst dynast said dejectedly.

"I'll never be able to beat a dragon…" Alastor now knew for certain that he was not the descendant of a coward, but of a loser.

"I can't anymore... Kill me" Alastor said finally giving in to reality.

The dragon looked at Alastor with unbridled disgust.

"You humans are really just too pitiful and weak" The dragon couldn't help but say to Alastor. He didn't even respond to the taunt, Alastor was used to them by now.

He didn't know how much time he spent in the torture chamber the dragon dared call the boss room but he did believe it to be a week at the bare minimum. How Alastor managed to survive that long was a miracle.

Silence now enveloped the room. The great nature dragon only looked down at Alastor with sharp eyes while the latter looked at the ground with dejection. His eyes were soulless and he no longer exuded any bravado.

"Sigh… You humans are really just too much" The dragon who was for the first time in a week bored realized that it would have no choice but to kill the thing if it couldn't even provide it with entertainment.

"Hmmm…" But then it realized there was a problem with just killing the human. If it did... it'd be bored for an undetermined eternity.

Thankfully, dragons were smart creatures. The solution to this problem came almost too simple to the dungeon boss.

"I'll teach you, that'll be your life's greatest privilege so stand up!" The dragon roared after coming to the conclusion that this would be the best compromise.

With their ability to grow things, the human wouldn't go hungry, and also thanks to their attunement to nature, the human would not fall ill and even if it did the dragon would have no problem healing them. These things considered keeping a human for a while shouldn't pose a problem.

Hearing this, Alastor only looked up at the ferocious creature with a hint of vexation.

"Is this… are you toying with me again?" Alastor asked tearfully.

"It's your privilege to learn from me! Your life is in my claws so stop asking stupid questions!" The dragon shouted.

After hearing this, Alastor's eyes which were void of life now had a kindling of hope. Could it truly be that the dragon had Alastor's interest in mind?

"You... Alright" Alastor said regaining some confidence. Alastor agreed that learning from a dragon is a privilege so he forced aside his hesitant thoughts and readily agreed.

"I'll be your greatest student" Alastor declared in return.

Alastor planned to take the oncoming lessons very seriously. After all, his life or death depended on him growing strong enough to match the dragon's strength or at least buy enough time to form a way to escape.

Why escape? Well, Alastor still firmly believed he was being toyed with to a certain extent. After all, once Alastor proved himself an unworthy disciple wouldn't the dragon finally finish him off?

How to form an escape though… It was yet to be determined if it was even possible but Alastor remained hopeful. If they managed to get out of this alive they could only benefit.

"I'll get back my dynasty…" Alastor muttered. The dynasty belonged to him more than any other of his cousins and siblings because he was the strongest dynast! The name of Alastor was renown across the entire dynasty and his journey into the hellish dungeon was well known.

So what would happen if he emerged from its depths? If he, in a way, came back from the dead?

Alastor smiled at the mere thought of it.

With the strength provided by the dragon, the faith of the people, and his own brilliance, Alastor didn't think it impossible to even swallow up some neighboring territories.

The dragon unaware of Alastor's thoughts and emotions had its eyes curved upwards in delight. In its mind, it was fooling the foolish human into spending a long and plentiful life alongside it!

"Wait…" The dragon then realized a problem. Didn't humans actually value long and plentiful lives? It only wanted to torture them for an eternity!

It looked like this great dragon would have to make the training regime much tougher to compensate for the student benefit of a long and plentiful life.

***

Elsewhere outside of the dungeon, in the Galeburst dynasty, the citizens were thrown into an uproar.

"Why did that damn brat have to fail?!" An elder of the Galeburst family shouted angrily. Alastor had assured them that he would be able to achieve victory as long as he received the treasured dragon scale armor of Augustus but what happened in the end? Nothing!

To make matters worse, not only did they now live, but they sacrificed themselves? Who did Alastor think he was? Some sort of superhero? To the elders of the dynasty, he was nothing but a fool!

"Ruler, you'll have to explain yourself!" A gray-haired elder said angrily at an imposing and burly man sitting upon an elegant chair.

"My son messed up, and I as a father should have known better than to throw him into danger… but now is not the time for this!" The ruler of the Galeburst dynasty said before bursting into anger.

"The Volcan army is still pestering our border and you want to bicker over who lost what? If this keeps up we won't only be losing a piece of armor! We'll lose our entire territory!" The dynasty's ruler was a man with a short fuse. He was was also an expert with the wind and the sword. Why did this matter?

His words carried weight.

The dynasty's elder hall became silent. But there was actually still someone who wanted to speak their mind.

"A piece of armor?!? That was our most treasured family heirloom! How can you just toss aside tradition!?" A sickly elder roared.

"Father, your time has passed" The ruler said coldly to their father.

"I should have handed the damn family seat to one of your-" The ruler's father had their words suddenly stop after a pressuring wind surrounded their entire being. No matter how he roared now his words were met with nothing.

"Sigh…" The Galeburst ruler let out a deep sigh.

"We shouldn't be bickering amongst ourselves" He said as he quietly contemplated something.

"Send my elite squad to the battlefield, have them quell those Volcan pests" The emperor then ordered.

The elders remained silent for a bit before they all started to answer one after another.

"If that's what you desire your majesty" "No problem your majesty" "As you wish your majesty" All of them solemnly said these agreeable words causing the ruler to scoff inwardly.

The words of these elders were nothing more than a facade. They were pushing for something like this to happen for a while after all.

The ruler's elite guard was a group of individuals in charge of protecting the ruler exclusively. While they could be sent out on missions, it was ill-advised since it would put the person they were supposed to protect at risk.

Seeing the reactions of the elders, the emperor was certain that all of the old men wanted to try and usurp the seat of the family head. But how could he blame them?

With Alastor out of the picture, the most likely to succeed him, and the conflict with the Volcan empire now was a perfect time.

The Galeburst family had a longstanding ancestry but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. So many centuries had passed to the point where even some commoners of neighboring countries might carry some of their blood.

With so many descendants, there were a lot of people technically eligible to vie for the throne. Where fame and riches were concerned, blood was just something to be spilled in battle. 

Slowly but surely, the elders made their way out of the hall. The Galeburst's ruler, who liked to be addressed as a king or emperor, could only shake his head. The words of the elders at the end were only made to sound pleasant to the ears.

"I can't be outdone by a brat" The ruler was a burly man with a grizzled but still healthy beard. They were nearing their 60s but looked like someone in their early 40s. They had the charisma of a young man but the wisdom of an aged person, how could they be outdone by a brat that betrayed their own kin?

"Mite Volcan…" They would kill that brat, painfully.