My Dungeon Daddy System: Raising Monsters and Waifus Underground-Chapter 87 - The Matriarch

Reed stood frozen, the heavy weight of the Weed Whacker harness suddenly feeling very useless.

He looked at his team. Terra was a statue. Seraphine was a museum exhibit. Grika was a bug in a jar. They were alive, he could see their eyes moving frantically inside the amber, but they were completely neutralized.

He looked at the woman hovering in front of him.

Amara, the Matriarch of the Rotten Garden. She was beautiful in the way a storm or a forest fire was beautiful. There was an ancient, terrifying majesty to her.

She drifted closer, the vine-throne moving silently over the pool. The scent of her perfume, lavender, rot, and old lace, washed over him, threatening to trigger the [Seduction] debuff.

"Elara," Reed thought, panicked. "Ice. Now."

I’m trying, Elara whimpered. But she feels... familiar. The Void in her... it calls to the Void in us.

Amara stopped three feet away. She leaned forward, her vine-hair reaching out to caress the air around Reed’s face.

"You changed your skin," Amara noted, tilting her head. "I liked the bones better. You were taller when you were a Lich. More... rattling."

She sniffed the air. Her eyes fluttered shut.

"But the smell..." she moaned softly. "Oh, the smell is the same. Cold. Empty. Infinite. It’s you, isn’t it, my love? The Verdant Rot has returned to his garden."

Reed’s mind raced.

She thought he was the previous Dungeon Master. The Druidic Lich who had built this floor two hundred years ago. The Void Shard in Reed’s chest was the same power source the Lich had used. To her feral, plant-based consciousness, they were the same person.

"Concentrated power," Reed corrected. "Efficiency."

He moved his hand toward the trigger of the flamethrower.

[ODDS CALCULATION]

[Fuel Remaining: 1 Burst.]

[Enemy Status: REGENERATION (God-Tier).]

[Chance of Victory via Combat: 0%.]

If he fired, he might burn her face off. But the floor would collapse, his team would die, and she would probably just grow a new head before he could reload.

He took his hand off the trigger.

"Combat is a fail state," Reed realized. "I can’t kill her. I have to manage her."

He stood up straight. He adjusted his velvet coat, which was currently encased in the hydraulic harness. He let the [Overlord Aura] flare, turning his eyes a bright, commanding violet.

"I have returned," Reed said, his voice deep and steady. "But I am not the Lich, Amara. I am... evolved."

Amara’s eyes snapped open. She drifted closer, invading his personal space. A thick vine wrapped around his leg, not to crush, but to pull him in.

"Evolved?" she whispered. She reached out and placed a cool, green hand on the metal casing of the Void Engine on his chest.

She didn’t recoil from the heat. She absorbed it.

"Yes," she purred. "Warmer. Stronger. You finally figured out how to make the fire stay."

He ran his thumb over the vine. It pulsed under his touch, warm and wet.

"And you," Reed said, looking up at the massive flower-woman. "You have grown. You have made this place... magnificent."

Amara preened. Literally. The petals of her throne fluffed up, turning a deeper shade of pink. The pheromones in the air spiked, becoming thick enough to taste.

[Resistance Check: PASSED (Thanks to Elara/Void Shield)]

"I kept it for you," Amara whispered, a manic glint entering her black eyes. "I fed the roots. I ate the intruders. Look." She gestured to the walls, where the ancient adventurers were trapped in amber. "I kept them. Batteries. To keep the lights on. To keep the bed warm for your return."

She loomed over him, her shadow engulfing him.

"But I was so cold, Husband. The soil is cold without you."

She looked past him, at the frozen statues of his harem. Her expression shifted instantly from adoration to cold, murderous jealousy.

"And you brought... weeds."

She moved. Fast. The vines in her hair hissed like snakes.

"Who are they?" Amara asked, her voice trembling with restrained violence. "Why did you bring trash into our sanctuary? Are they food? Or are they..."

She looked at Seraphine’s trapped form. Even in amber, the Lamia was beautiful.

Amara’s face twisted. The Yandere switch flipped.

"Are they replacements?"

The room shook. The roots on the ceiling began to writhe.

"I waited!" Amara screamed, her voice distorting into a roar. "Two hundred years! I kept the soil wet! I ate the intruders! I made the nectar! And you bring... WHORES?!"

A massive vine lashed out, cracking against Terra’s amber shell.

Reed knew he had about three seconds before she crushed them all into paste out of spite.

He had to go big. He had to out-crazy the crazy plant lady.

"SILENCE!" Reed roared.

He didn’t just shout. He dumped 500 points of Void Mana into his voice.

[SKILL: OVERLORD COMMAND (MAX OUTPUT)]

The shockwave blasted through the room. The pink mist scattered. The vines froze. Even Amara flinched, recoiling slightly from the sheer pressure of his aura.

Reed stepped forward. He didn’t back down. He walked right up to the edge of the pool, towering over her as much as he could while she hovered.

"Do not speak of my staff with disrespect," Reed snarled, channeling every ounce of ’Toxic Dungeon Daddy’ energy he could muster. "They are not replacements. They are subjects."

He pointed a chainsaw gauntlet at her face.

"And you are forgetting your place, Amara." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Amara blinked. The rage in her eyes flickered, replaced by confusion, and then... submission.

The Void Shard pulsed. It was the signal of the Master. The signal she had been programmed to obey two centuries ago.

"My... place?" she whispered, shrinking back slightly.

"You think you own me?" Reed scoffed. "You think because you kept the lights on, you have the right to question my inventory?"

He reached out. He grabbed her chin with his gloved hand. It was a gamble. If she bit him, he lost a hand.

She didn’t bite. She shivered.

"I am the Lord of this Mountain," Reed declared, staring into her void-black eyes. "I have conquered the floors above. I have enslaved the rock, the snake, and the machine. And now, I have come for the Garden."

He leaned in close.

"I don’t want a wife, Amara. I have plenty of those. I want a Department Head."

Amara stared at him. Her mind, fractured by centuries of isolation and dark magic, tried to process the new data.

He wasn’t the Lich. He was stronger. He was meaner. He was... hot.

"Department... Head?" she tasted the words. "Is that... higher than Wife?"

"Much higher," Reed lied smoothly. "A Wife just waits. A Department Head produces."

He let go of her chin and gestured to the room.

"I see your potential, Amara. You have grown strong. But you are wild. You are messy. You are inefficient."

He pointed to the amber prisons.

"Release my assets. Now."

Amara looked at the amber. She looked at Reed. She felt the crushing weight of his Void Aura pressing down on her soul. It felt like a warm blanket. It felt like purpose.

"Yes, My Lord," Amara whispered.

She waved her hand.

The amber liquefied.

Terra, Grika, and Seraphine collapsed to the floor, coughing and covered in sticky goo, but alive.

"Don’t attack," Reed signaled them with a sharp hand gesture behind his back.

He turned back to Amara.

"Excellent," Reed said. "Now. The Tribute."

He pulled the crystal vial Vesper had given him from his belt pouch.

"I require the Nectar. The pure stuff. Not the diluted sludge you feed the drones."

Amara’s eyes lit up. This she understood. Providing. Nurturing.

"The Nectar," she cooed. "Yes. I have the best vintage. From the Heart."

She drifted back to her throne. She reached into the center of the giant flower bud. When she pulled her hand back, it was dripping with a thick, glowing, neon-violet substance that smelled like liquid magic.

She floated back to Reed. She didn’t hand it to him. She held it out, her eyes pleading.

"Take it," she whispered. "Feed on it. Become strong for me."

Reed filled the vial. It glowed in his hand, heavy and dangerous.

[ITEM ACQUIRED: HEART NECTAR (Legendary)]

[Potency: 100% Pure Void Catalyst]

He corked the vial.

"This is acceptable," Reed said. "For a first offering."

"Will you... stay?" Amara asked, a vine curling around his ankle again. "The soil is warm. We can grow together."

"I have a kingdom to run upstairs," Reed said, stepping back. "But I will return. I need you to grow things for me, Amara. Not just nectar. Food. Herbs. Poison."

"I can do that," she promised eagerly. "I can grow anything for you."

"Good. Then consider yourself hired."

Reed turned to his team. "Let’s go. Before she changes her mind."

Seraphine glared at Amara, wiping slime off her spear. Amara glared back, her vines twitching.

"He is mine," Amara mouthed silently to the Lamia.

"We’ll see," Seraphine mouthed back.

As the team retreated up the path, leaving the glowing heart of the jungle behind, Reed finally let out the breath he had been holding.

His knees were shaking inside the exo-suit.

"Elara," he thought. "Status."

She bought it, Elara whispered, sounding awestruck. You lied to a demigod plant monster, and she thanked you for it.

"That’s management, baby," Reed muttered.

[QUEST COMPLETE: THE GARDEN OF SIN]

[Floor 4: SECURED]

[New Staff Member: Amara (Head of Agriculture)]

[Relationship Status: It’s Complicated]

Reed looked at the vial in his hand. He had the ingredients. He had the bridge. He had the dungeon.

Now, he just had to brew the illegal drugs for the Shadow Broker before the Inspector shut them down.

"Easy," Reed lied to himself. "Piece of cake."