It is now the time for the imps to consume the bodies of the dead. Under normal circumstances, they would have already done so long before now, but I had them hold off as I was concerned that they might not be entirely safe to eat given the circumstances of their deaths.

If whatever killed them remained in their systems even after death, I worry about the possibility that some of their flesh might still be contaminated and potentially poisonous. I do not know how much of their bodies are contaminated or how dangerous it might be if ingested, but I did not want to take any chances.

I am not sure if most of the imps even understand my concern, or why I am particularly worried about Lily with her pregnancy, but Rose believes they should be eaten even if they are poison. Not only is she confident that she can heal any imps that might get sick from it, she even insists that it would be beneficial as it could help them gain resistance against whatever killed them in the first place.

That could be related to the imps' belief that by eating the dead, they can gain their strength. I still do not know much about that, but maybe consuming the flesh of those who were killed by some kind of poison helping them to become more resistant to that type of poison might not be completely implausible. It would indicate a truly incredible adaptive ability, but it is hard to say without knowing more about their biology.

They seem to believe it and I have no specific reason to doubt them, but I can still take precautions. The reason I held them back from eating the bodies until now is to ensure Rose would be ready to heal anyone who gets sick, if it becomes necessary, something I did not want to rely on while she was focusing all of her effort on healing the new imps.

But after spending more than a day putting everything she had towards healing them, they have recovered to the point that they do not require any more of her attention for now, so Rose can save her energy and mana for other tasks, such as healing other imps when they eat something that might be potentially poisonous.

They do not appear to be in any more pain nor have any trouble moving around anymore, though they do seem a little slower than the others when running around so maybe they are not quite back to peak health yet, but Rose can take her time getting them the rest of the way there.

At this point, the only obvious sign that anything was ever wrong with them is the discoloured patches of skin where the blisters had been. Even though the blisters have healed, the imps have been left with splotches of lighter coloured skin all over their bodies that would not fade even with Rose's healing.

None of them seem to mind though, some even like it and a lot of the other imps also appreciate the look. I just hope no one else decides they want to gain similar patterns themselves because I do not know a way to replicate it safely and I would not want to put anyone else through what these imps went through.

Perhaps some kind of tattoos could be a possibility, if I could find a capable and willing tattoo artist, though I would first need to ensure that the inks used would not be harmful to the imps. Body paint could be a simpler solution. A lot easier to apply and probably more fun for the imps too as they could apply it themselves, not to mention less painful. That is something else to add to the list of things to ask William about.

With no more reasons or excuses to stall, I give the okay for the imps to start eating the bodies. That said, we are still going to be cautious about this. I am not going to allow them all to just dig in together until we can be sure that it is safe. One imp will eat first and then we will wait to see if they get sick. Even if they do, I doubt it would be anything Rose cannot heal.

I cannot imagine second hand exposure like this being worse than being directly exposed and she managed to heal that just fine. The only issue came from the quantity needing to be healed. So even if it does make them sick and they still insist on eating the bodies anyway, we will take it slow so Rose does not get overwhelmed again.

At first Rose planned to be the tester herself, but I vetoed that idea. If she is supposed to be the one doing the healing, I do not want her to be the first to get sick. Even after explaining the plan and potential risks to the others, none of the imps seemed to be deterred at all, but it was Violet's sister, River, who was the first to volunteer. She often likes to be helpful when given an opportunity; it must run in the family. She does not get the chance to do so as often as Violet does though, as the larger imp's superior physical capabilities and ability to communicate from outside the dungeon often make her better suited for most tasks that I might need help with.

Even this is something I probably would have asked of Violet if I had not already sent her off on another task.

River kneels beside one of the bodies and takes a hold of one of its arms. Bringing it up to her mouth, she bites into the forearm. Meeting some resistance when her teeth meet bone, she clenches her jaw to crunch through it.

Once she is finished with that bite, I stop her before she takes another and ask her to wait for a while to see if she gets sick from it. After a few minutes Rose asks her how she is feeling and River shrugs in response.

"No pain, discomfort, nausea or anything like that?" Rose clarifies.

"Nope, feel okay," River confirms.

That is encouraging. Based on the descriptions of events given by the survivors, their symptoms began almost immediately after exposure. If River is not feeling anything even after a few minutes, that could indicate that it is safe now.

There could be a few reasons for this; maybe whatever toxins they were exposed to are non-persistent and have already broken down in the time we have been waiting, in which case we have nothing more to worry about.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Alternatively, since what the imps described sounds like what afflicted them was administered in an aerosol form, perhaps it is not as effective when ingested, or maybe it simply did not have time to fully suffuse through the victims' entire bodies before they died. In which case, the extremities, such as the fore arm that River took a bite from, might not be as contaminated as some of the internal organs; lungs in particular.

So we will proceed slowly to ensure Rose will be able to handle any healing, if it becomes necessary.

I usually do not like to watch when the imps are eating their dead, but this time, with Rose's help, we do perform a little bit of an autopsy on one of the bodies, while portioning it out for the others to eat, just to get a better idea of the effects the poison had on them.

As far as I can tell, most of the damage is to the lungs, much as expected. They are filled with blood, though now long coagulated after how long the bodies have been waiting, and some of the interior tissues appear discoloured, having taken on a grey colouring that seems darker than I think should be normal.

Considering the bleeding that occurred from the nose, ears and eyes, I would also like to examine the brain as well. Unfortunately, we lack any tools to cleanly cut through the cranium to get a good look at it. The only option is breaking through the skull by force, causing extra damage and making it more difficult to identify what may have been caused by the poison that killed them.

I also do not know how much blood would usually be around the brain so it is hard to say how much of what I can see is normal.

There is only so much I can discern with my current lack of knowledge and Rose is not much better off in that regard. Perhaps we should make this a more regular procedure going forwards. If from now on, when an imp dies, we take the time to perform a dissection or autopsy before the body is eaten, we can steadily increase our knowledge of how different body parts work and fit together.

Even if we only learn one new thing from each body, no matter how small, we will be furthering our understanding of imp biology. Even with the limited knowledge that Rose has gained recently, she has managed to increase the speed and mana efficiency of her healing. The more we can improve that, not just for her but for myself as well, the better off we will all be.

Just like how the imps believe that consuming their dead allows them to gain their strength, this too will allow those who have died to continue aiding those who still live. In the unfortunate circumstance that we lose another hellhound or one of the gargoyles, we could do the same for them as well, if they are amenable to it. Everything we can learn helps in the long run.

In the end, several of the imps who gathered to share in the consumption of the deceased did become ill, dashing my hopes of the toxins already being broken down. Symptoms ranging from nausea and queasiness to acute stomach pain in some of the more serious cases, but thanks to Rose's intervention, no one was significantly harmed. Lily also received a little extra attention, though she did not report any serious symptoms, so that helped to easy my worries a little.

I suggested that they should not eat anymore when some of them reported feeling unwell, but Rose once again insisted that it is better for them to eat the bodies entirely, even if it does make them feel sick temporarily. I do not want to see them suffer more than necessary, but I will trust her judgement for now.

Notably, none of the newest imps are among those who suffered any serious symptoms with the worst of them only feeling mildly nauseous. It could be a coincidence or maybe there is something to the idea of their high adaptability and being able to improve their resistance to poisons through exposure.

If that is the case, then maybe it is unfortunate that Violet and those at the orchard town are missing out as they will not benefit from it. Ideally though, I hope that we never again have to deal with this kind of toxin.

Even though we never got the chance to get to know them, only meeting them long enough to watch them die, I want to make some memorials for the five imps who have given their bodies to the pack. I ask some of the survivors if any of them had names that they were known by, but none of them did so I will just be making some more small mana crystal statuettes, these ones without name plaques.

I am starting to develop quite the collection of these little figures, arrayed around the countertops of the kitchenette in Room 7. While it is nice having something to remember those who have passed, I would prefer not to have to make too many more of these.

While focusing on my task of creating these sculptures, my concentration is eventually interrupted by a tapping on my core. Focusing my awareness on the Core Room, I can sense Rose standing by my core. She only taps on it like that when she needs my attention, though even then, she would usually just contact me telepathically if she does not know where my attention is currently focused, so I quickly move to stand beside her so I can give her my full attention.

Did something happen?

"Someone is trying to talk to us," she reports, pointing to the radio.

We move over to the radio desk and Rose climbs up on the chair so she can respond, but does not plug the microphone in yet, waiting for my instruction before proceeding. The speaker crackles to life a moment later.

"Come in, Magentam. This is Corporal Jenkins from the Dungeon Management Office. We have a situation. Please respond. Over," says a voice that is higher pitched than William's, but still distinctly male.

At my direction, Rose attaches the microphone and asks what the situation is.

"A group of suspicious vehicles have been spotted driving through the city. Their identity and objective is currently unknown, but it appears that they may be heading in your direction. A unit has been dispatched to intercept them, but be aware that we may not reach them before they reach you, if that is their goal. Over," the man reports.

"What should we do if they get here first?...Over," I have Rose ask.

"The intercept team will be listening in on this frequency. Let them know if this unknown group approaches your location. If you can, try to give us as much information as you are able to about their numbers and equipment. If they are hostile, then you just need to hold out until we get there," he instructs.

Rose thanks him for the warning and disconnects the microphone.

Sounds like we may have some company soon. We need to let everyone know and make sure they are all on alert.

"Should we be getting ready for a fight?" Rose asks, jaw clenched and a slight sneer showing off some of her pointed teeth.

We do not know that they are enemies yet, but we should be prepared for the possibility.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.