Dragon Dungeon Oratoria Ch.1-3 (Patreon)

Dragon Dungeon Oratoria (Danmachi AU/Be the Monster CYOA)

BeTheMonsterCYOAInteractive 

black dragon build: monGbase,HugS,BipedB,fty3,HornsB,MienB,MawB,ArmsB,WingsB,LegsB,TailB,6u7g,qvcj,muna,8kd3,pnz5,8s5a,4km9/ON#1,t86w,CoTa,WeTa,6e6q/ON#3,dnil/ON#7,7mh8/ON#4,2ae6,05u0,2o2n,xlvs,0p5z,8e1b,7zfn,kl6e,vowd,j1p1,NotD1

Chapter 1:

Tiamat slept. Her ability to do so was the only mercy granted to her by her children once they imprisoned her and cast her crystalline cage into the void.

She had thought she would drift into the non-existence between realities forever, but something in a distant world had resonated with her.

She had landed in a world that was not her own. This was not the sea she rose from. Those were not the sky and earth that had been carved from her body.

But she had not been able to admire the world more before her prison got dragged deep beneath the earth.

There was a will, something so similar to herself that she welcomed its approach.

This had been her mistake. The bodyless Will latched onto her prison and drew a link between them. The earth had churned, casting her deeper and deeper as the Dungeon formed around her and she became its core.

Her fertility as the Mother was spread all over the deep chasm that was her second prison. Life took shape and monsters were born from its wall.

The Mother of Monsters and Gods accepted her fate and slumbered. She had lost the concept of choice since her imprisonment anyway.

Even when the gods of this world descended and granted their blessings on the children of the surface, she slept.

When Ouranos sealed the Dungeon, it was but a third lock placed over Tiamat, and so she ignored it.

When one of the monsters born from her stolen authority gained its own soul and became independent from the Dungeon’s will, she pushed against the Dungeon’s will for the first time, creating hidden spots in the Dungeon Walls so that the thinking monsters could survive.

Unwilling or not, those were still her children, so she would try to protect them.

And then, the soul appeared like she did so long ago, coming into the world from beyond the great Nothing. It fell down into the Dungeon, and Tiamat could only watch as it got through the wall of her prison as if the seal that prevented a primordial goddess from leaving was but air.

Before the Dungeon could try and corrupt that soul like the poor Spirits that had wandered down long ago, Tiamat drew the lost one inside her.

It was a strong soul. It had resisted non-existence, but it had been damaged. She could give it a new body, born from her flesh.

For the first time in so long, she could give birth of her own will, not a monster born from the Dungeon’s stolen power, but from her womb. Not a child of the Dungeon’s perversion, but a true child of Tiamat.

She let them choose their own form. It was with happiness that she saw flesh and scales grow. Her child was a dragon like her.

And so, she let the blinding soul gain another chance at life. Her daughter clad in black scales.

[hr]

Ouranos lurched in his throne as the Dungeon shook. He had felt a disturbance like never before. The Dungeon had given birth to something calamitous.

He didn’t know the shape of the monster, but he knew deep inside him, as the god who had sealed the Dungeon and kept it in check for the best part of a millenia, that whatever was born was on par with the last living Calamity. 

Unlike most monsters, it was weak, a newborn foal learning to walk, but it would grow. It needed to die now.

“Fels.” He called out his faithful ally.

The Sage who called himself a Fool appeared in all of its cloaked glory.

“My lord? Are you okay?” Fels had never heard Ouranos sound so worried. Was that sweat going down the sky god’s face?

“The Dungeon acted unusually. In a thousand years I had never felt it do such a thing.”

Fels got closer to Ouranos’s throne, getting worried themself.

“Do what?” 

The sky god shuddered.

“It spoke to me.”

“What?” The Sage was flabbergasted.

“It said ‘Behold my child.’”

Fels did not know what to say to that.

[hr]

Pink, slitted eyes blinked open. A yawn showed a mouth full of pointed teeth. Blue hair fell between her shoulderblades.Black, curled sheep-like horns sprung from the sides of her skull, purple grooves glowing and heightening the perception of their owner. Wings stretched, and a tail covered in black scales and colorful gems the same colors as the eyes swung idly.

Limbs covered in the same obsidian armor flexed as their owner tested their new body.

In the depth of the Dungeon where dragons reigned supreme, where their flames scorched the earth, where their roar shook the walls of their birth, where their step cracked rocks and where they flew through the air, the Last Child of Tiamat said her first words.

“Hello, World.” She declared, happy to be alive once more.

…

“ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!”

She didn’t have the time to appreciate her surroundings as the surrounding monsters finally noticed her and tried to eat her.

Dragons of all shapes and sizes crashed into each other, fighting for supremacy and devouring each other for their magic stones, knowing only the thrill of fighting among themselves after a decade of no adventurers being able to reach them.

The newborn was just another source of sustenance and strength. Jaws opened and flames licked fangs that were bigger than her entire body. The dragons only saw a new prey.

The Last Child of Tiamat fled, the glow of her soul covering her form and acting as a shield against the breath of her mindless brethren. Born just now, she wasn’t yet strong enough to deal with them, but she was still more than able to get out of danger.

“Incestual vore is too much of a niche fetish for me!” She screamed at her dragon bros, who didn’t understand a word she said.

She reached for the surface, not knowing how long it would take her, but she knew Tiamat had only asked her one thing. 

Live.

She remembered being a filial child so she would not be eaten by oversized lizards today.

Plus, her own desire aligned perfectly with that.

She had been reborn as a monster girl and she would have sweet, sweet yuri love with a big-breasted elf girl! She couldn’t die before that!

[hr]

She eventually found her way up. She quickly noticed that the higher she rose, the weaker the monsters got, not radically, but each floor up was a step down in strength. And she was able to take down those monsters. They even dropped loot. A shaggy humanoid beast turned into a fur that she used to cover herself, tearing a stripe to wrap around her breasts, and the rest around her waist as a makeshift skirt.

For a moment, she thought of how much like a rpg dungeon the situation was, but then it hit her.

She knew what a rpg was, but she didn’t remember her own name. She remembered school and the faces of some acquaintances, but not her family. Some of her favorite shows she remembered perfectly but some others, that she was sure she loved even more, were full of holes. And she guessed there was a lot more she was forgetting and she couldn’t think about because she forgot.

It was like her memory had been scooped out at random. Must have been the Void thing Tiamom had warned her about, how her human  soul shouldn’t have been able to survive in the non-existence between worlds.

She shook her head. She needed a new name.

She looked at her black scales and the pink jewels dotting the back of her tail. She could call herself Obsidia, but something in her head told her that was a loser’s name.

When she thought of good dragon girl names to call herself, she got some that sprung to mind and one stood out.

Melusine. But she didn’t want to just steal someone’s name. 

Backwards maybe? Enisulem? Sounded weird.

Shortened? Melu? Mel?

Mel sounded good.

Mel was happy with her new name and dropped her guard.

She stepped on the 61st Floor.

Chapter 2:

Ryuu Lion had faith in her Familia. The Astraea Familia was a gathering of those who sought to uphold justice. They may not have been the biggest Familia in Orario, but they were an elite force composed of no one weaker than a Level 3 thanks to the trials and struggles they faced together.

A year after the Great Feud, and they finally were ready for an expedition to the Lower Floors. Their goal was to go beyond the 30th Floor.

After resting on the 28th Floor, one of the few safe spots in the Dungeon, they had continued their descent.

They reached the 30th Floor without issue, their formation and teamwork perfect as they relayed each other when needed to.

And then, everything went wrong. There was an ambush. The Rudra Familia, one that had joined Evilus, thought they had a chance to take down the Astraea Familia using the same bombs that the cultists had strapped to themselves during the Great Feud.

Yet, it was something Ryuu and the others had gotten used to. They avoided the traps and turned the ambush around. No matter how many explosives they used and how damaged the 30th Floor got, justice would stop the Rudra Familia today.

Or at least, that was what was supposed to happen.

When the Rudra Familia was finally cornered, the Dungeon cried.

Both the Rudra and Astraea Familia learnt that it was a terrible idea to damage the Dungeon beyond a certain point.

It was born, dropping from the ceiling. A black skeletal beast with a goat-like head. As it fell, its baleful crimson eyes found the group of adventurers.

Midair, it pushed off one of the great trees that formed the Jungle Ravine. The next instant, Noin was dead.

Nezze barely had time to call out the name of her slain friend before she was torn apart too.

The beast was a blur that jumped between the trees too fast for even Level 4s to catch up.

Then, Asta was snatched up like a mouse caught by an eagle. Her shield and armor crumpled like tin foil under the monster’s jaw.

Maw dripping with blood, it looked at the dumbfounded girls who had lost three of their comrades before they had the time to react.

Ryuu charged with a howl of rage. The beast’s tail smacked her aside. One blow was enough to make her spit blood and leave her gasping on the floor.

It readied itself for another leap at the elf, ready to finish her off like the rest.

Kaguya interposed herself.

She swung to protect the elf she called her rival.

At that moment, her arm should have been severed.

Instead, a rock came flying out of nowhere, knocking the monster out of its trajectory and preventing Kaguya from being dismembered.

For a moment, there was a lull in the bloody assault, the beast searching for the source of the interference.

The surviving members of the Astraea Familia acted.

Lyra rushed to Ryuu’s side, and with Kaguya’s help, lifted the elf off the floor.

“Get yourself together, you stupid elf!”

Kaguya’s voice knocked Ryuu out of shock and she settled on her feet, ignoring the pain that was blazing through her body.

Celty and Ryana took advantage of the creature’s stillness to unleash their magic. A stream of fire and branching lightning bolts flew through the air.

The Juggernaut didn’t bother avoiding the spells. Its shell glowed, turning into a reflective barrier that sent the furious elements back at their summoner.

Celty died instantly when her own lightning struck her. Ryana suffered as her own flames scorched her lungs.

“Damn it!” Lyra cursed, echoing the feeling that was going through Ryuu’s chest.

The monster didn’t care for their sorrow and had already landed in front of Iska. The Amazon tried to defend herself, but her blows didn’t faze the Juggernaut. She died like the rest.

Maryuu fled, having lost all hope. When the beast chased her, another rock came flying from the other side of the forest, but this time the Juggernaut flipped above it and still swallowed the fleeing human.

Alise, their noble captain, tried to avenge her, only to be impaled on the monster’s claws. 

It threw her aside like a piece of garbage before finally turning toward the Rudra Familia and continuing its ghastly work.

Alise was able to pick herself up and direct herself toward the three other surviving members of her Familia.

Even with an open gut wound, she smiled upon seeing that all three of them were alright.

“I’ll play bait. The three of you, flee.”

“Alise, no!” Ryuu objected right away.

“I’ll only be a burden like that.” The captain replied. She had no illusion of the beast letting them leave. Gaining time was all she could do for the three of them.

The Juggernaut didn’t take long to slay the Rudra Familia. If it had taken down the Astraea Familia so easily, of course it would rip apart the Rudra Familia.

Alise inwardly cursed, showing none of it to her Familia. This thing was easily Level 6, maybe 7. Last time they faced a Level 7, they only won because the witch was literally dying from an incurable disease. 

The Juggernaut looked down on its four remaining prey, ready to lunge at them.

Then the rock thrower finally arrived.

A pair of scaled feet slammed against the Juggernaut’s face, blasting it off its feet.

“Stop killing cute girls! Tiamat damn it!”

[hr]

After weeks of wandering around after managing to escape the 61st Floor, Mel finally heard the sound of people.

She rushed as fast as she could, but midway, she heard the Dungeon’s cries and saw the birth of the Juggernaut.

With the heightened perception given by her horns, she caught the monster slaughtering the first cute girls Mel had seen since waking up in this world, Tiamom not included.

So, she had picked up a rock the size of her torso, the earth eagerly giving itself to her, and she had thrown it.

She continued to run and throw rocks in the hope that it would stop the creature, only to end up in mixed results.

Some of the girls had survived, and she felt bad about the guys who had been slaughtered too, but now Mel was here to save the day!

The Juggernaut bitchslapped her through a tree, a Jungle Ravine tree that was thicker than a truck.

Only her Aureola, manifesting as a white forcefield around her body, saved her from turning into paste.

Mel flared her wings and flew back into the fight. She could have flown up and used her innate magic to attack from afar, but she had glimpsed how the Juggernaut had used a reflective barrier to send back the spells aimed at it, so she would just use her claws and tear it apart.

Two monsters roared and rammed into each other, starting a deadly dance of claws and fangs.

[hr]

The four living members of the Astraea Familia could only watch as the newcomer fought the Juggernaut whereas they had just been lambs to the slaughter.

The girl was weird. Her strength and speed were clearly on par with a Level 5 or even a bit above that, but she fought like an amateur. She only wore some sheep fur wrapped around her body. She had too many animalistic features to be a Beastkin, and not a one they knew shared reptile characteristics and wings. If anything, it reminded them more of a…

“Dragon…” Ryuu voiced it out loud.

Frozen on the spot, the justice seekers of Orario could only watch the beastly duel. They had used the last potions they got on Alise and Ryuu, mostly on the redhead captain so that she wouldn’t bleed out, but neither her nor the elf were at 100%.

Claws flashed and the dragon girl was clearly losing. For every blow she landed on the Juggernaut, the skeletal beast landed three. It was only because of the white glow lessening her wounds, and her body regenerating that she was still able to fight.

But as time went by, The Astraea survivors noticed that the Juggernaut was slowing down. The dragon was landing more blows.

“It’s like Alfia.” Alise realized. “It gets weaker as the fight goes on.”

With the realization that they could finally see the monster moving without leaving afterimages, and that its anti-magic shell was crumbling under Mel’s scaled fists, the four girls joined the fight.

An assortment of Lyra’s bombs landed at the Juggernaut’s feet.

“Agaris Alvesynth!” Alise shouted the name of her spell, covering herself in a shroud of fire. The flames propelled her forward to clash with one of the Juggernaut’s claws.

Kaguya was right behind her and caught the other claw coming for Alise’s side.

The goat skull opened to crush the both of them between its jaws.

An uppercut courtesy of Mel slammed that maw shut.

Ryuu arrived from above, incantation leaving her lips but still able to fight in close quarters anyways. Her sword slammed down on top of the Juggernaut’s head, making it bounce on the ground.

The Juggernaut’s tail tried to impale Alise once more. Mel caught it under her armpit and tightened her grasp on it.

Lyra’s chakrams slashed at the creature’s limbs, the Pallums staying in the backline with her many throwing weapons.

Finally, Mel managed to crack one of the Juggernaut’s limbs, making it stumble.

It tried to get away from being surroundered.

“Mus Mine!” Lyra finished the incantation of her own spell, creating mines of magic that blew up under the Juggernaut’s feet.

The beast collapsed.

“Now!” Alise yelled and jumped on the monster’s back, followed by Kaguya.

They saw a crack on its shell and drove their swords down.

“AAAAAAAAAH!”

“JUST DIE!”

With screams of exertion, they spread the crack open.

“Lion! Get him!”

Ryuu hadn’t waited for her captain’s orders, she had already positioned herself, bouncing off a tree branch to leap above the Juggernaut.

“Let the stardust occupy me and strike my enemy. LUMINOUS WIND!”

With her chant complete, Ryuu’s spell materialized, dozens of wind and light spheres manifesting before flying down.

Kaguya and Alise jumped back just in time for the spell to bombard the crack they opened up.

The Juggernaut cried in agony, unable to use its magic barrier and catching the full weight of the Gale Wind’s wrath.

“AAAAAAAaaaaaaaah!” Ryuu wailed, pouring more Mind into it, not willing to stop until the monster who took her friends was dead.

“Just drop already, you freak!” Mel decided to join the effort.

Her wings flared open, lighting up as her Aureola’s light concentrated itself between the membrane. At the same time, flames spilled from her mouth as she took a deep breath. All at once, she breathed a torrent of fire while beams of light curved around from her wings to strike from the side.

The combined bombardment of Ryuu’s spell and Mel’s dual element barrage was too much and the Juggernaut finally fell as its bones crumbled beneath the combined attack.

Ryuu landed on the ground, her elven grace and agility failing her as she collapsed on the ground. The four other girls followed suit as if it was a signal.

Mel was the first one to get up, her regeneration meaning that she was also the first one to get her breath under control.

“So, what are cute things like you doing down there?” She said, trying to be suave.

The four unimpressed glares sent her way shut her up. 

Chapter 3:

When the survivors of the Astraea finally managed to catch their breath, they counted on Ryuu to use what magic she had left to heal them.

Under the light of her Noah Heal, Alise looked back at Mel.

For her part, the dragon girl was fascinated by the healing spell. Thanks to Tiamat, Mel could wield the elements as she wished, but under her new senses that allowed her to sense magic the way Ryuu used her Mind was neat.

She didn’t need it for herself since her regeneration could eventually even restore a lost limb, but if she ever needed to heal someone, she could just copy the pattern Ryuu was using.

In fact, she could do it right now.

Mel got closer to Kaguya. The kimono-wearing woman didn’t have too many injuries, but it was better to heal her now.

“What?” Her purple eyes narrowed as she saw Mel approach.

“I can heal too, if you want.”

Kaguya kept her suspicious look for a few moments before she sighed.

“Yeah, sure.”

With a confirmation, Mel knelt down and raised a hand toward the Far Eastern woman.

Kaguya wasn’t the only one to be shocked when Mel’s palm lit up without a single word and she felt the very familiar spell hit her.

“What are you?” Kaguya asked.

This was a question Mel had prepared an answer for.

With a skip, she twirled to show her full glory. Her wings spread out fully, her tail lashed out. She bent forward a bit to show off her cleavage. She raised her scaled arms up to the sides of her head and set her hands in a clawing gesture.

“I’m Mel, dragon child of Tiamat! Appreciator of cute girls everywhere!”

Her cheery introduction echoed through the Dungeon.

“Pff! I like her.” Alise decided.

Lyra rolled her eyes.

“Of course you would like this kind of dorky introduction.”

“Iska would have liked her too.” 

Ryuu’s words caused another silence as the situation just came back to hit them where it hurt.

“One of your friends?” Mel asked, her eyes flicking to the bloody spots where the Juggernaut had turned most of the Astraea Familia in chunks of meat.

“Yeah…” Alise confirmed with tears welling in her eyes.

The other three followed suit.

Mel stood awkwardly as the four women started weeping. The only thing she could do was make sure that no other monster would bother them.

[hr]

When they cried everything they had, the girls finished healing and picked themselves up. They then walked to the corpses of their friends and picked what they could.

“Remember the 18th Floor?” Alise said.

“The spot Ryana said she wanted to be buried in?” Kaguya replied while picking up Celty’s staff.

“It was a pretty spot.” Lyra pointed out, dragging Asta’s shield and putting it over her back.

“...” Ryuu said nothing and carried Maryuu’s mace to the pile of weapons and accessories that could be carried back.

When they were done picking up what they could, they started a pyre to burn what was left of the bodies before starting the climb back up.

Mel walked in silence with them, leaving them to mourn and grief.

After an hour of silence only interrupted by monsters stupid enough to attack them, Alise picked up on what Mel was saying earlier.

“So, dragon child of Tiamat? What does that mean?”

Said dragon child perked up.

“Well, it’s kind of complicated because I don’t know the whole story either. I was human, and I died, but my soul didn’t go where it was supposed to and it ended up at the bottom of the Dungeon.”

That caught everyone by surprise.

“The bottom?! What’s down there?!” Lyra asked, wondering about one of the greatest mysteries of the world, one even the gods didn’t know the answer to, unlike the other mysteries they just didn’t want to talk about because of spoilers.

“A prison. One that holds Tiamat, the Primordial Mother. The one who grabbed my soul and gave me a new body.”

The implications of Mel’s words hit the Astraea Familia adventurers.

“...A goddess. There is a goddess at the bottom of the Dungeon.” Ryuu whispered.

“That would explain a lot.” Kaguya said with a grimace. “Gods can’t see inside the Dungeon because of the power of another deity.”

“How did she get down there though?” Alise asked, and the girls turned toward Mel for an answer.

She didn’t know everything, but she could infer some from her basic knowledge of Mesopotamian mythology and what little Tiamat said when she was with her.

“Tiamat got betrayed and imprisoned. The traitors then threw her prison away. It landed deep under the Earth and whatever is at the origin of the Dungeon basically saw her as a free source of power to drain while she couldn’t defend herself.”

“Yikes. That is bad.” Lyra commented. “What kind of goddess is she? You called her the Primordial Mother. What’s her role?”

Mel looked at her a few moments before answering.

“She is a goddess of the sea, earth and sky while also being fertility and motherhood. If something is alive, there is a good chance she was involved at some point. And the Dungeon used that to create more monsters.”

“Makes sense.” Alise nodded to herself before her eyes widened and she gasped. “But that means that if we rescue her, it would weaken the Dungeon and there would be less monsters!”

“Yeah, we would need to get to the bottom of the Dungeon first. How many floors is that?”

Mel shrugged.

“I don’t know, what’s the number of this floor?”

They had been walking for a while and got back up two floors.

“28th. It’s one of the few safe zones.” Kaguya answered.

Mel did a quick calculation in her head, trying to remember how many floors she had climbed.

“Around a 100.”

“Yeah, we are far from ready. Even the Loki and Freya Familia a bit over halfway that, and even the Zeus and Hera Familia only got to like the 70th Floor if I remember right.” The Eastern woman shook her head in derision.

Seeing that the topic died, Alise chose something else to focus on.

“So, if she remade your body, why are you part monster?”

Mel blinked and looked at Alise as if she was stupid. There was the fact that Tiamat couldn’t make more humans for whatever reason, but more importanly…

“Because being a dragon is awesome. Why would I want a boring old human body when I can be a fire-breathing killing machine?”

Alise thought about it for a moment.

“Yeah, I see no fault in that logic.”

Mel then smirked.

“Plus, I can do that now.”

She then proceeded to open her mouth and let a slithering snake-like tongue out of her fanged maw.

She wagged the forked tip and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Nice.” Alise answered the obvious flirt with a wink.

Ryuu blushed and sputtered.

“Prudish elf.” Kaguya mocked the blonde.

As they started to banter, Mel caught Alise looking relieved. The redheaded captain had seen how in the dumps her surviving Familia members had been and asking questions to the monster-girl had apparently been enough of a distraction from their recent loss.

At least until they reached the 18th Floor and built a tomb for the fallen.

A problem did rise.

“If we’re going back to the surface, how are we smuggling a dragon girl?” Ryuu asked the question no one had bothered to consider.

“You don’t have monster girls on the surface?” Mel asked.

Alise shook her head.

“The closest we have are the different types of Beastkin but they only have ears and tails, and horns for the likes of Bulls, but no features quite as advanced as yours.”

Mel was starting to panic.

“I mean, if they see that I can talk and that I’m harmless, it shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

The girls weren’t willing to look her in the eyes.

“The adventurers are more likely to swing first than to listen.” Alise explained. “We will have to talk to Lady Astraea first, to see how we can explain your presence. So, for the time being, you should stay in the Dungeon and wait for us.”

Mel hung her head down.

“Ok, I’ll wait.” 

She didn’t want to have to fight people just because she got too hasty.

And so, they managed to reach the 18th Floor. Thankfully, the spot they wanted to build a tomb on was far away enough from the makeshift town of Rivira.

After finishing the grave and paying their respect, the Astraea Familia departed back to the surface, leaving Mel alone.

“What do I do now?”