The Antlered Elk King was dead.

With the jaws of the dire wolf who lost his mate having dealt the killing blow. He eagerly climbed atop the corpse and with blood drenching his muzzle made a victorious howl.

The remnants of the Elk Kings small army broke upon hearing the victory cry. The deer turned and scattered into the woods, never again would they rise against their hunters in such a way again. The bugs became lethargic and confused, having the being who was controlling them shattering any resolve the simple beasts had. The wooden centaur-like abominations just stopped moving and collapsed into a heap wherever they stood, as if puppets who had their strings cut.

Sigard, still sprawling on the ground, was relieved that it was over. He was currently unable to move because of his injuries, which included multiple broken bones and ribs. He was in an excruciatingly immense amount of pain, luckily he suffered worse as a slave, at least this time he wasn’t forced to jump back to work hauling supplies or treasure around.

Mazia continued to stay by Sigard’s side, tending to his wounds as best as the limited capabilities of her current human body could manage.

The Golden Tiger and the Mantis Queen both returned to Sigard’s side with the rest of the monsters soon following. The victorious wolf triumphantly dragged the elk kings corpse closer to Sigard, obviously presenting it before his master. With the corpse brought forward Mazia observed the body and commented.

“Master, this deer is ancient and the body is saturated in Quintessence. Eating certain segments of the corpse will result in a transfer of the energy onto oneself. The consumer will gain immense power from this body.”

“Really?” Sigard turned his attention to the wolf who brought down the beast. Who lost his intended mate to this thing. The wolf was now starting to look like the leader of the Dire Wolves of the Twilight Forest.

Sigard had decided on a certain reward for his wolf.

“Well since that oversized buck had such an ostentatious title I give you one as well, from now on you’ll now be known as, the Twilight Wolf King and you’ll rule the Twilight Forest in my stead. I’ll also let you the first taste of this beast.” Sigard stated as dignified as he could manage in his current state.

The newly named wolf had grown proud with the title. Upon hearing the second part of his reward, the Twilight Wolf King was overcome with excitement and quickly went to work with the corpse, ripping open the chest and crawling in to drag out the organs. He pulled out the heart and the liver, which he ate with fervent gusto. After that he would feast upon the meat and drink the blood of the elk king.

A visible change could be seen beginning to take hold after consuming the organs. The flesh beneath the fur started to undulate, strengthening and expanding. He was beginning the process of evolution into a more powerful form. Even as he continued to gorge on his fill, the changes rippled throughout his body and would continue to do so for long after this day, possibly for weeks.

Both the Golden Tiger and the Mantis Queen were also eagerly awaiting their opportunity to pick over the corpse. Once the Wolf King had finished the tiger immediately lunged on the body, tearing at it with powerful jaws. This elicited a hiss from the Mantis Queen, not because she wanted monopolize the corpse but out of respect for Sigard, he was their master and thus had right to the beasts flesh first.

Successfully cowed the Golden Tiger gave a small whimper in guilt for a moment. Then grabbing a leg with her teeth, ripping it out and trotting over to Sigard to present him the leg while purring. Sigard for his part was amused at how his big murderous monster was acting like a mewling kitten, he reached up his hand to scratch her chin enjoying the tiger’s reaction to his petting.

A celebratory atmosphere began to unfold from there, as the meat was distributed amongst those present.

---

After the impromptu party Sigard and Mazia had returned to core room. Getting Sigard back in his present state was an…interesting dilemma to say the least. Considering that several of his rips were broken, as well as his spine. They were eventually able to get him onto the Golden Tigers back by having the Mantis Queen lift him, as delicately a giant mantis creature was capable of handling an injured man.

Mazia inspected his condition soon after getting settled. She had taken off his shirt and placed him on his stomach to better examine the injuries.

“Don’t forget to get the muscles in the lower area, I’m feeling tense there.” Sigard joked with casual smirk.

“Master! You’re spine is damaged, if this one doesn’t work quickly then master could be paralyzed for life.” Mazia reprimanded Sigard with worry leaking through her usually flat tone.

“Eh, I’ve suffered worse.” He replied to her concerns with smile. Looking back at Mazia’s frowning look for a minute he got serious. “That’s got a joke, I have.”

Mazia silently stared at Sigard for another minute before calmly resuming her inspection of his physical condition. Checking each vertebrae as she made her way down the spine. Her plan was to use a technique where she released miasma into Sigard’s body, the miasma being Quintessence in a state of decay would react to Sigard’s injuries, allowing her to sense the full extent of the damage. Once she had identified every point that required attention she would then replace the miasma with mana to invigorate Sigard’s bones with its dynamic nature, speeding up the healing process. She intended to work quickly and thoroughly in the hope of achieving a full recovery.

But something intrigued her while investigated Sigard’s body, that some of the damage was already repaired. This wasn’t a small amount or at a slow rate either, but a complete regeneration of the body. Mazia calculated that if the current rate of mending continued that Sigard would be fully healed within the week. Astonished, she extended her senses across the entirety of his physique, discovering that Sigard’s bones and muscles were saturated with Quintessence. This amount would allow a mage to be master of his craft or a warrior to be supreme on the battlefield, and yet this Quintessence seemed to be only designated for the purpose of healing.

“Master, how long have you been entering the Maze?” Mazia inquired.

“Hmm, soon after I was enslaved, and that would have been…twenty years ago?” He stated while rotating his hand back and forth to express his own confusion.

‘That was it.’ Mazia thought to herself. That explained the amount of saturation in Sigard’s body, and unfortunately, why the Quintessence seemed to be used things such as healing. Having lived and worked as a slave, Sigard’s body acclimated to such tasks and the Quintessence that seeped into his body also was tuned to the tasks of a slave.

This was a problem because with the current level of saturation it would be difficult inject more into Sigard, meaning he was essentially stuck with the enhanced abilities…of a slave. It meant that Sigard will have difficulties obtaining abilities useful to a dungeon master.

“Mazia. Mazia!” Sigard’s resounding voice interjected Mazia’s contemplation. She looked down at Sigard’s face, to see that he was that he was staring back at her with a serious look.

“Master?”

“You were just sitting there with a blank look. I wanted to know what’s on your mind.” He stated with an inquisitive look.

“…This one was reviewing the overall state of Master’s condition.” She said while trying to maintain her usual mechanical tone. She had elected to not reveal her masters physical complications at this time, but she was already contemplating the various scenarios for her master’s future.

“What are Master’s current plans?” No longer worried about Sigard’s health, Mazia was now concerned with Sigard’s position as a ruler.

“What we’ve already talked about, securing this core room, expand territorial control, and send infiltrators to the surface to ferret out the Relentless Stalkers.” Sigard answered firmly. “In fact we should take care of that right now.”

Mazia complied with Sigard’s desire and helped him to her main body, the Core.

Placing his hand on the Core, Sigard accessed the catalogue. As his mind was once again flooded with information he focused his attention on monsters who could slip unnoticed into human society. He received a flurry of entries that fulfilled his requirements, vampires, changelings, doppelgangers and even rakshasas. Calmly going over every entry he eventually came to one listing that caught his interest, Werewolf. As soon as his mind fell on this particular entry he thought of his newly elevated Twilight Wolf King, a beast who’s loyalty and tenacity was something Sigard valued.

Choosing a Werewolf to be an infiltrator, the Core went to work collecting Quintessence to create the beast.

Once the creation was finished, Sigard turned towards his new subordinate. He saw a naked, pale skinned woman with long, wild hair that was silver-grey in color and the tips changing to black exactly like that of a wolf’s fur. Her exposed body revealed all of the shape and curves it had to offer, a beautiful and healthy body that was displayed only to Sigard and Mazia.

“My Master, what is my purpose?” She said dropping to her knees, her gold and black eyes staring directly at Sigard.

“You will go up to the surface, blend in with the adventurers that invade this Maze and gather information on one Adventurer Company in particular, the Relentless Stalkers. You can think of yourself as my spymaster.” Sigard dictated decisively and with a commanding tone.

“Yes my Master.” She said with a bright smile, her figure bending over as she bowed her head before Sigard. For a moment her bare back, nape and ass was exposed to Sigard’s gaze before she arose, displaying her chest while slightly tilting her body to one side so that it would jiggle. It was obvious that she was tantalizing him with her body. “Is there anything else that you require of me, my Master?”

“You’re just tempting me now aren’t you?” He stated plainly.