Super Death Chasm of Ultimate Death led Null up to a wall in the room, and a hidden door opened up.


    "Welcome to my training course. Since this is just for testing purposes, my plan will just be to spawn in some slimes, you collect the cores and then try to absorb them. We''ll see what happens from there."


    Sounds good to me. Let''s get started.


    With that, the slimes were spawned in and Null got to work killing them! Or at least, he tried to.


    Why are these things so good at dodging?


    "Oh. That''s my bad. I normally spawn them in for the security teams to use as target practice. Good training value, you know? Force of habit. Sorry."


    Well, I can imagine it does!


    Null tried aiming another punch at the slime, but it once again dodged out of the way.


    "If you''d like, I could have the ducks come in to clear these out and..."


    Nope. I got this! It''s good practice for using this suit anyway.


    "Fair enough. I''ll leave you to it then. Let me know when you''re done"


    With that, Super Death Chasm of Ultimate Death went to go check on his ducks while Null continued his quest to hunt down the slimes. It took Null a while, but he was starting to learn their habits. By the time thirty minutes had passed, he still hadn''t killed a single one of the five slimes, but he was getting closer. After another painstaking fifteen minutes, he''d come up with a strategy and finally managed to smash one with a stomp. Null let out a cheer.


    "Yes! I got one!"


    Null picked up the slime core and then turned towards the other four slimes which were still hopping around. He then proceeded to take another thirty minutes before he managed to out another one. And finally, after another hour, he''d managed to take out all five slimes. With another cheer from his victory, Null took the five cores he''d gain back into the main room where, once again, Super Death Chasm of Ultimate Death was chasing around his ducks.


    Those things really don''t like behaving themselves, do they?


    "Eh. It makes life more interesting in between the times where I''m able to kill demons."


    You know what? That is a fair point.


    "You got all the slimes?"


    Yep! I did manage to get them all.


    "Time of two hours and fifteen minutes. Respectable."


    Is it a record or something?The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The larger core let out a laughing sound.


    "No. That would go to a Corporal Vane with a time of twenty-two seconds."


    Null gave out a laugh as well.


    You know what, that makes sense with how strong he seems. Actually, now that I think about it, why is he on the Special Production team rather than security?


    "Oh. That''s easy. They needed someone who could hit things really hard to test their durability."


    Alright. I have no further questions about why he is on the team.


    "Back to business then. I see you brought the five cores with you?"


    Null held out his hand, showing Super Death Chasm of Ultimate Death the cores.


    Yep, all five of them right here.


    "Good. Now we can try out you absorbing cores. First things first, open up the chest of your Magimech."


    Got it!


    Null went to open up the chest of his Magimech.


    Umm... Actually, now that I think about it, they never told me how to do that. Is there a button or something?


    Null went to check for a button.


    Nope, no button here...


    Super Death Chasm of Ultimate Death gave out a sigh.


    "Well, that plan is ruined for the time being."


    What''s up? What did you figure out?


    "Well, I''ll put it this way. Normally, when a dungeon core has something armored protecting them, the button to open up said thing is on the inside. Normally trivial. The core is perfectly capable of opening it on their own."


    Wait, you mean I''m stuck in here?


    "Eh. I could get you out pretty easily. That being said, we should be within range of the demon king''s forces within the next hour, and it will take another half an hour after that to reach the demon king itself."


    I can definitely wait then.


    "Good plan. Still, I''m a little disappointed about the whole thing. Here."


    Super Death Chasm of Ultimate Death materialized a backpack that perfectly fit Null''s body.


    Wow. That''s impressive.


    "Eh. Not really. It''s made from woven mana and will decay over time. It should be good for a week or so."


    That''s a thing?


    "Yeah. It''s a bit complicated but you should be able to do it yourself once you reach tier ten or so?"


    Hmm. Yeah. I did hear the basics about the tier system from Lieutenant Delars. He said that absorbing cores would grant you stats and if you absorbed enough, you would be able to increase your soul tier. He didn''t exactly go in the specifics though.


    "I''m assuming they didn''t give you a SPAD yet?"


    SPAD?


    "Stat point allocation device. Nifty piece of tech. You can do it without one, but honestly, it''s a pain to do so. Once you have one it will be way easier to explain."


    Fair enough.


    "Yeah, I''ll make sure you..."


    Super Death Chasm of Ultimate Death suddenly stopped.


    "Well... that''s new."


    Suddenly Null felt an explosion rock the fortress.


    What was that?!?


    "Alright. So apparently the Demon King figured out how to open portals on the sky fortress."


    Another explosion rocked the sky fortress.


    "Damn. That''s two out of the three of our shielding arrays. Alright we got to get going and we got to get going fast. The last shielding array is right near here. We need to go help defend it or the fortress isn''t going to survive the demon king."


    Null was feeling a bit overwhelmed, but figured he didn''t feel like dying today. Super Death Chasm of Ultimate Death opened both doors to the airlock using some kind of magic, but just as they were about to proceed, a portal opened up inside the room, and a very large creature with red skin and fiery horns walked out of it wielding an enormous battleaxe. It swung at Super Death Chasm of Ultimate Death but a shield quickly stopped the axe. A large alligator materialized directly above the demon, chomping onto its shoulder briefly before the demon ripped it off, tearing it in two as it did.


    "Demon Champion. Well damn. Alright. Null, follow the ducks. I''ll deal with the champion and catch up with you. Trust me."


    Got it. Kill that thing quickly please.


    With that, Null and twelve very angry looking ducks ran out airlock. Looking back, Null could see that other demons had also started pouring out the portal, but at the same time, it looked like Super Death Chasm of Ultimate Death was happily able to match their numbers with more numbers. The doors to the airlock slid shut, leaving Null to follow several Ducks on the path to protect the shield array.