Netherborne [An OP Monster Isekai]

“Let’s talk.”

Despite Victor’s somewhat serious tone, Alice did not feel threatened. Instead, she felt comforted that Victor was still around. “What about?” she asked with a smile as she crossed her arms.

Victor’s many blue eyes that floated aimlessly around his shadowy mass all stared at her, but she was used to his intense gaze.

“Congratulations on your evolution, but are you still…you?”

Victor let the words hang in the air as Alice’s brain froze. She felt different, sure. But that was expected after evolving into a higher lifeform. She took a hesitant step back and looked at her arms wrapped in darkness. Am I still me? What defines me as me? That flesh suit I was born with or my thoughts and feelings? Do I have a soul?

“Alice, you need to understand…” Victor’s tone turned deadly serious. “You may not remember how you evolved, but I do. I watched as you were ripped apart, piece by piece, until nothing was left. You died, Alice. The Alice I know is gone. You are something else, a mere mockery of her.”

“No, no, no, what do you mean I died?” she stuttered as many thoughts raced through her mind. I passed out and woke up on a bed with an improved body… What is he talking about? I died? Ripped apart?

“What are you? Think about it.” Victor floated there, and his presence weighed on Alice far more than before. In all their time together, he had never accused or threatened her over anything. Being looked at like an imposter rekindled the fact he was a void creature that could obliterate her with a single spell, and it sent shivers down her spine.

Genus remained silent on the side despite the tension and watched Alice with his rainbow eyes as if looking for a single fault in her character. What am I? That thought ran through her mind in endless cycles as she stood there staring at her potential death. Her path to greatness had only just begun. She needed to convince Victor that she was still her. But how?

Alice thought back on her status screen. “I am a Darkness Mana Body…” she hesitantly responded. It sounded wrong now that she said it out loud. What even was a Mana Body? Also, her race still showed question marks on the status screen. Not even the System knew what she truly was; maybe she was some mere mockery of her past self.

“So the System claims,” Victor persisted. “And what is a Darkness Mana Body exactly? Think about it. Is there a physical stone inside you holding that mana body together? What keeps you in that shape? If you were truly a mana body, couldn’t you take any shape or form?” He took a deep sigh and then continued. “I always thought of the System as an add-on, an extension of one’s self, and with its intervention, it could forcefully upgrade or improve a lifeform. But you have reached the supposed peak of evolution according to the System. You have become pure System. There is nothing of you that remains. The System is what binds you together, maintains your form.”

Alice just stood there stunned. She had no idea what to say.

“If the System vanished tomorrow, would you remain?” This was Victor’s concern. He was getting increasingly worried about how much authority this System had over the world. As a creature from the void, he knew his place. He was their enemy. The world and the lifeblood of the System, mana, naturally opposed his existence. “My existence and origin confuse me greatly, but there may be a day I stand against whatever controls the System or the System itself. When that day comes, can you stand by my side, Alice? Will the System use you against me?”

Alice looked straight into his eyes. “I don’t know.”

“Then do we continue—”

“But I don’t care.” She ruthlessly cut him off. “Whatever the system says, I am me. Whether I am a blob of mana with human emotions or my soul has been reborn, I make my own decisions. Whatever happens, I am staying right here. With you.” The expression of self-doubt vanished, and she had a ruthless grin. “You ask if we continue? Fuck yes, we do. That goddess has some questions to answer, and there’s no better way to reach her than to bang down her front door.”

“The goddess resided at the bottom of the dungeon?” Victor couldn’t help but ask. Back on Earth, the consensus was that the gods lorded over the mortals from above the clouds, but on this planet, the gods hid down below?

Alice shrugged as the darkness that wrapped her form swirled around her as she hovered a foot off the wooden platform. “Maybe, maybe not. It’s all legends and rumors at the end of the day. No way to tell if we don’t make it down there.” She then grinned. “Now tell me where there’s something I can kill. Got some things I want to test.”

“You know,” Genus lowered his head between the pair and watched them both with his eyes, “you two become more similar every day.”

The two exchanged a look and laughed. Then Genus gestured for them to leave with his paw. “I need some rest or my beautiful scales will never return.”

“All right, come with me. I will explain everything on the way.” Victor cast his Stealth skill, and Alice had no issues with following him as she activated her Void Eye. With a wave of goodbye to Genus, she divebombed off the side of the floating platform. As they shot down toward the snow dragon that had crash-landed, Victor began explaining.

“You passed out right as we were about to leave the fiftieth floor. At first, we had no idea what happened to you, but before we could do anything, you began your evolution process. I won’t go into too many details, but it was ugly.”

Hearing about her evolution process reminded Alice that one thing had bugged her. “Do you know anything about greater reality manipulation?” she shouted over the wind that howled in her ears as they rapidly descended. Despite the arctic conditions, she felt perfectly warm. I guess there are some benefits to becoming a mana blob, she thought.

“Yes, Genus used a spell to protect you from the Fleshtrees while you were obliterated by the System and turned into…whatever you are now. Anyway, that’s not important. What’s important is that you started evolving over a week or so ago. It’s hard to tell down here.”

“It took that long?” There were few records or even rumors about evolution, but due to human greed and the desire to be something greater, the tales of becoming a higher lifeform were widespread and often wrong. This was mainly because, much to the general population’s confusion, the Delvers who managed to evolve usually decided to remain and live in the dungeon. I always found that bizarre, but now I’m a mana blob, I understand my fellow mana blob people’s woes. The feeling of this dense mana is intoxicating. Alice almost jiggled in excitement at how refreshing the mana on the lowest floors must be. I can also imagine how suffocating returning to the surface must feel. It’s not even that nice up there, considering everyone would harass you daily for information about being a higher being. Much nicer to stay down here.

Alice’s wandering mind was brought back when Victor answered. “Yes, it took that long.” He sighed, similar to annoyed parents after a tiring outing. It was long and deep, filled with annoyance and exhaustion. Can a void creature even get stressed or tired? she thought with amusement.

“So there I was, with a stupid dragon that had decided to make himself useless by casting some overly fancy but ultimately pointless ancient dragon magic and a girl that decided to die and then be reborn in a terrifying display of the System’s capabilities. Not to sound dramatic…but we were surrounded on all sides by mountain-size carnivorous Fleshtrees and innumerable vines that were relentlessly trying to drag you away the second I looked away.” Victor approached the snow dragon’s corpse that had smashed a tunnel into the ice with only the tail and two legs poking out. Despite the violent impact and horrendous burn marks covering its left flank, Alice could tell from a glance that this snow-white dragon was of similar size and shape to the female silver dragon that died outside the jail cell.

“So they caught up to us, huh?” Alice noted, and Victor nodded.

“Annoyingly, the dragons have been assaulting us over the last week. This is the twentieth one I’ve killed.” He materialized from Stealth. Despite the dragon’s leg being three times taller than her, Victor towered over the corpse and had to bend down slightly to touch it with his claw. Alice then saw in her Void Eye a giant blob of energy fleeing the corpse and entering Victor.

As Victor cast his Raise Undead spell, he continued, “In fact, they caught up to us during my three-day battle, and it was only thanks to their corpses that I could get you and Genus out of there. Those flying platforms were easy enough to make. I just needed something powerful enough to lift them with Genus’s weight. He is one heavy boy.”

Alice giggled at that comment. Today had been a weird one, but she was feeling much better. Trying to ignore the fast winds that kicked up loose snow and rustled her hair, she asked, “So what’s next?”

“To be perfectly honest,” Victor floated back as the snow dragon’s muscles spasmed back to life and ruthlessly broke itself out of the ice, “getting to the bottom of the dungeon is only a matter of time. I have a fleet of undead dragons and a hundred million lifeforce to play with. My only real concern is keeping Genus fed as it’s been a week, and we have only made it down one floor, and I have seen nothing but ice.”

“So what has he been eating?”

Victor pointed to the dragon’s corpse.

Alice held back her disgust at the idea of Genus eating his own kind and decided to change the topic. “So we are on the fifty-second floor then?” she pondered as she looked around. All she could see for thousands of miles was flat ice with the occasional ridge here and there.

“Yep, it took four days of constant flying to traverse the fifty-first floor, so I suspect it will take another week for this one. I have said it before, and I will repeat it, I refuse to believe normal people ever got to the bottom of a Grand Dungeon. It would have taken lifetimes to cover this distance and the distance we will need to cover on foot.”

“Who said they were normal?” Alice said. “The other well-known Grand Dungeon is in the center of the mystic lands. Nobody over there is normal.”

Victor paused for a while and seemed to be focusing on something else. Alice gave him space for a few minutes and chose to scroll through her menus again.

Eventually, he turned to face her, his many eyes floating around as the newly risen snow dragon rose to its full height, stretched out its wings, and towered over him with flakes of ice sliding off its scales. “Speaking of the mystical lands…” he said, and Alice raised a brow. Anything involving the mystic lands was always trouble. “A fancy-looking convoy bearing a flag that Toby claims belongs to the Mystical Realm has just arrived at the outskirts of the cursed forest.”