Chapter 145

Thirty days ago, the Dungeon reopened after being closed to create a new floor.

The dungeon had yet to reveal the secrets of its new floor, leaving many to wonder what was occurring. The betting pool continued to grow, with no clear favourite emerging. Elian monitored the situation closely in case someone attempted to manipulate it.

She was alone in her office, trying to sort through the ever-present pile of documents that needed her attention. As she signed off the one before her, she glared with great hostility at the others still waiting. It was very early in the morning, as she wanted to get a head start, knowing that she was still catching up from the attack on the city.

The damage from the fighting was still being repaired. High Healer Selmum had some success in removing the corruption from infected people. Word of the existence of void stones had leaked. Ranus was getting requests for information, access to them, bribes, and outright threats.

Three attempts had already been made to steal them. The local Thieves Guild had received a visit from Arbiter Nextom. She did not know what was said, but they made it known publicly to all their members that they did not endorse and contract to steal them and would not fence them if they were.

The rumour was that Nextom was not the only representative of the pantheon in that meeting. The God of Thieves telling his followers that stealing the stones was a hard no, which was unheard of and unprecedented.

Elian had been ready for the new floor.

The gold-tier adventurers had jostled for the right to enter the new floor. A new team recently arrived in the city and used a Guild boon to get the right to go down. It had caused a brief argument, but she had shut it down.

Many of the regular teams hope to be the ones to get onto the new floor as a matter of pride and prestige. Those who first went to that floor always had bragging rights with other adventurer groups. It also made a good talking point when they were dealing with merchants and nobles, saying that they were the first to explore the floor of this dungeon or that.

She had pulled down another report and started to work through it when she suddenly heard a knock on the door to her office.

“Enter!”

The door opened, and one of the receptionists entered. She didn’t say anything but gave her a simple nod.

“So, the floor is open.”

Elian leant back and rubbed her face. Things were going to be busy today.

## ## ## ## ##

Hella stood with her team outside the building that was the entrance to the dungeon.

The five of them were veterans of countless dungeon runs and guild missions. She looked over her team, knowing that they were ready for what was ahead as well as they could be. They had gone this far by being stupid or arrogant, which was quickly beaten out of them early in their careers. They were considered a high gold-tier team that might make platinum in a decade.

 Toban and Nickus both wore heavy armour and carried large shields. Both men favoured large axes with single flat blades but large mace-like sections at the top of the handles, allowing them to turn them around and batter down some types of opponents with which blunt force was better. She had a long sword and preferred the flexibility of scale mail and the kite shield. All three of them wore helmets.

Margnus, the wizard, was dressed in his usual bright and colourful robes. The man always liked to stand out and was a bit of a peacock, but his talents with magic saved them many times in the past.

Finally, there was Druss. A short, squat man who was often mistaken for a member of the Dwarven race. He was bad-tempered and ill-humoured, but one of the best healers she had ever seen in her life. He was a combat healer from one of the human realm’s armies. He never spoke about his time in service, and no one asked him.

The five of them stood, waiting for the Guild Assessor to arrive.

They had only arrived a few days ago and just settled in. Hella had been arranging to run the dungeon in its entirety, but when she had learnt of the 10th floor and the fact that it had not yet opened, she had used her Guild boon to secure the right to explore it for her team.

While they waited for the floor to open, she inspected the city's other gold-tier teams and adventures. The city had attracted a great variety of her profession, and several might even qualify to join her team, as they were looking for one or two new members. They were short a salvage expert and an archer. In the last few years, they had been trying out different archers to find one that fit the team, but none had cut it in the long run.

“He’s coming.” Toban said. They all turned their attention to the man approaching them. The badge on his jacket clearly identified him as a Guild Assessor.

“Assessor Searider?” Hella asked. She always asked as she had learned long ago never to assume anything.

“I am Team Captain Hella. I am ready to descend when you are.” He spoke with an accent that spoke of nobility.

“Excellent. We should begin immediately, then.” She turned and let her team into the building.

They crossed the first room towards the stairwell to take them into the dungeon. Hella and her team had asked around before entering to determine what they would be up against. What they had learned from the other teams confirmed the stories they’d heard about the dungeon being wide and varied in environment and monsters.

She wanted to make a full run of the dungeon just to see the upper floors, but she knew her team would likely concentrate more on the fifth floor and below. The upper floors would give them a good source of income, but they would provide very little improvement to their abilities and skills.

The stairs leading down left plenty of room for them to walk comfortably. The walls were covered in thick amounts of blowing green moss, which is seen constantly in many other caves. The plant was hardly used in alchemy, so they ignored it. Destroying one source of light was never a good idea.

The moss did have a strange effect, making everything seem strange and alien to them. She heard many theorise that this was an intended effect that the dungeon used to unsettle you, uncertain adventurers.

She could see now why people thought that, but she suspected it was more a matter of practicality.

They went down floor by floor, not being interfered with by any of the monsters on any of them. This stairwell, which provided direct access to each floor, was unique; at first, she was unsure of it. However, after experiencing it, she realised that it would save her and her team a lot of time on every delve into the dungeon. Instead of wading through all the upper floors and their lesser monsters, they could direct themselves to the floors they wished to travel through.

She noted that they would start farming the dungeon from there when they got to the fifth floor. She had heard stories about the worms and that floor and that they were tough. The sixth floor had stakes, and as they turned down passing it, she thought about the long grass and the ambushes they would have to fight their way through.

The seventh floor was the most exciting for them, with an ogre there who could take out entire teams if they were not smart. The eighth floor had a mature pause in rats with our powerful undead revenant at the end. When they came down to this floor, they noticed the change in the atmosphere.

“Feel that?” Nickus asked.

Hells could. “Heat and a lot of it.”

One of the strange effects of this stairwell running through the dungeon was that the air swirled down its enormous vortex-like pattern, causing a draft. The cold air from the surface was being dragged down, but now that they had reached the eighth floor, they felt heat coming up the other way.

“It reminds me of the Inferno Dungeon. We felt something similar when we entered the dungeon every time.” Toban reminded them.

The Inferno Dungeon was one of the few on the continent that survived the Folly. Located far to the south, it was a fire-based dungeon that had expanded and grown over the centuries to add earth and molten mana to its mix, making it a truly dangerous place.

They continued down until they reached the ninth floor. The heat coming up the stairs now was increasing. She knew that they were about to face something quite difficult below. She briefly looked to the cavern, knowing what she had learned about this dungeon had elemental lions scattered around the cavern’s making up the floor.

They didn’t stop to rest or pause and continue down, and the heat got even more intense.

The first adventurer group walked down the final steps, and the new floor was revealed to them.

They looked out upon a vision that some would call hellish.

Before them was a large and long cavern with several sources of magma running through it like a river. A stone bridge was a means of crossing the magma. Stalagmites and stalactites were scattered around the cavern, and there were also many large rocks and rock formations protruding at different angles.

The whole space screened one word at her. Ambush!

“Form up. We advance in, but I want everyone’s head on a swivel. We're most likely dealing with some form of fire or molten-based monster here. Margnus, don’t hold back on the ice and water magic. Assessor Searider wait here in the stairwell room.”

To call it a room was very generous. It was literally just the stairwell coming down and connecting to the ground. There were only signs of one fashioned wall, and I was behind it; the rest was an open-plan space. She looked out, but because of the rock formations blocking the view, she could see the other side of the cavern.

The heat was intense and oppressive. The very air seemed to shimmer, and every breath burned her lungs. What made the space odd was that the light was not coming from above but below. The magma was supplying what little light there was and projecting it upwards this caused large amounts of shadow throughout the space. As the magma was moving and flickering so did the light and the shadows around them giving the whole space and an eerie feeling.

She smiled to herself, knowing that the betting pool in the Guild would be greatly disappointed as this was like nothing that they had seen before.

It only took a few heartbeats for her team to get into formation and start to advance. Toban and Nickus led, with the others just behind them. Everybody was alert and looked around constantly for any sign of danger.

She had set a policy early on that they cleared the location before they searched it for anything of value. She found this to be a sound policy and did not change it, and it became ingrained in her team: danger first, then loot.

They walked onto the floor, moving slowly, checking everything as they went.

They had all looked at each other, giving each other a well-known signal that their skills linked to sensing danger were all going off. Hella felt the same; she was being watched, they all were.

They progressed, reaching the stone bridge. It was quickly checked to see if it was trapped, but it was found sturdy and well constructed. They reasoned that it would require a lot of force to destroy or damage this bridge.

“You think it’s in the magma?” Toban asked, breaking the silence.

“Possibly. It would not be the first fight like that.” Nickus replied.

Hella looked back to see that Assessor Searider had shifted its position to the edge of this cut stone that made up the floor around the stairwell. He was trying to watch the team as they advanced. A natural blockage of stone prevented you from seeing the other side of the cavern, and he would lose sight of them soon.

The team crossed the stone bridge. They were not attacked from the magma, which caused them to all let out a breath they were holding. They were now in a rather large open space, and they continued to scan around looking for the danger that they were sensing.

They continued to walk, seeing a few things they wanted to come back and investigate, but she was worried that….

Something hit from behind, and Druss cried out in alarm, and Margnus cried out in pain. She was locked forward but kept her footing, turning as the other fighters up front did the same to fight whatever was now attacking them.

It was a blur of movement, hitting out in different directions seemingly all at once. She can make out the body wings and some form of tail. Margnus was on the ground, bleeding badly from terrible wounds. Druss was fighting desperately to protect himself while trying to reach his fallen comrade.

Toban and Nickus charged in to fight the creature, while Hella held back to better understand what they were fighting and to direct the battle.

When she finally saw what they were fighting, she was at a loss for the first time in many years. She had never seen or even heard of such a beast before.

It was moving quickly, but she saw it had the body of a lion with great, massive wings similar to a bat's. It had what appeared to be a scorpion stinger for a tail and the face of a man.

It lashed out with its claws on its feet and tail. It was black with a red mane and a line of red fur running down its back.

Toban and Nickus activated their skills to help them in this fight, as they were under immense pressure almost from the start. They had charged in, but the beast had simply counted with even faster reflexes. Both men were throwing everything they had into this fight.

Hella tried to flank the beast to join Druss. As she moved, the monster struck out with its tail, forcing her to raise a shield to block it. The impact rocked her, and she felt the kinetic energy travel through the shield and upper arm.

Druss moved to help her, but the monster's speed was terrifying. It constantly shifted, striking at opportunities it saw in their defence. As he advanced, the stinger struck out again; this time, he was unable to block it in time, and it punched deep into his shoulder, causing him to let out another cry of pain. He collapsed, his face pale.

Hella managed to get over to him and found him wounded but digging through his supplies. She trusted the stubborn fool to keep himself going and blocked another attack that was aiming to kill him.

Toban was visible, but Nickus was blocked from sight by the monster.

“This thing is fast!” He exclaimed.

“We need to…” Hella started to say when the monster did something unexpected. It raked a claw along Margnus’s prone body, causing him to scream in pain. He was still alive!

Nickus pushed forward again, and Hella could just make him out. She realised too late that this was the whole goal of the monster. Before she could try out, a warning, the monster’s body glowed a faint grey.

Something tripped Nickus, and he fell to his knees, opening himself up to an attack from the monster. The monster lashed out with one of its feet, catching Nickus, but she could not see where. The fighter screamed out in pain and collapsed to the floor, and she could not see any more.

“Hella, we need to pull back!” Toban yelled as he struck out at the beast, trying to distract it from his wounded comrade. His acts connected, causing several minor wounds to appear, and the monster was in pain.

The beast did not take his attack well and struck back, roaring up and striking out with its front claws. He got a shield up in time, but the clause ripped the gouges through the wood and metal, knocking him back with the force of its weight behind the strike.

Hella triggered more of her skills, attacking to distract it. Her body strained under the activation of so many skills quickly, but she was focused on saving her teammates. Whatever this was ripping them to shreds, and they had to get out of here.

She scored several strikes, cutting into the wing and the beast's flank. It’s now, then pain swinging around using its wing as a battering ram, knocking back, allowing it to turn. She braced for its attack.

It pounced, knocking her down with the impact. She was trapped under her shield, unable to move, allowing the beast to strike with its tail into her leg. The stinger ripped through her armour, punching deep, and she felt a strange feeling of warmth from the pain radiating from a leg. She cried out in pain, but the beast wasn’t done yet; it leapt off, turning back to Toban. The force of it, using her as a springboard, knocked the air from her lungs.

She was wounded but not out of the fight. As she staggered back to her feet, her leg barely holding her weight, she saw that Toban was being pushed up against the rock face by the ferocity of the attacks he was enduring. Nickus was getting back to his feet, but his race ruined four lines of claws that tore through his flesh and helmet.

The pain in her leg was increasing and was an intense burning sensation. She feared she had been poisoned. Druss was going back to his feet while downing a potion.

“Poison in its stinger.” He called out to them. They had figured that out, but he wasn’t handing out antidotes, which worried them.

Toban was now pinned against a rock, and his shield could not withstand the assault, coming apart as the claws shredded it. He raised his arms, attempting to block another swipe of the claws, but instead, the beast dipped its front down, raising its backend and striking with its stinger. He was not fast enough to stop it, and it punched into his throat.

Whatever he was going to say was nothing but a gurgle of blood and pain. They all saw the sheer shock on his face.

“Toban!” They all called out in unison.

He was dead as he slumped to the ground.

Hella could not grieve. She had to save who she could.

“Nickus, hold it with me. Druss try to get to Margnus!” They were not ready for whatever this was. They had to warn the Guild. If they fell the Assessor would get out, at least she hoped.

The monster had other ideas and was soon countering any move they tried. As they thought, she heard something that disturbed her deeply—the thing was laughing.

This monster was playing with them!

Druss darted forward, trying to grab Margnus’s leg to pull him back. It was hard to tell if he was alive now, as the monster had been treading on him, savaging his body more. As he reached out, the creature lashed out with one of its back legs, catching his arm. Its claws shredded through his armour, causing him to cry out in pain as blood ripped from the wound. He collapsed back, nursing the ruined arm.

Hella made a decision and the call.

“Retreat!” It tasted better mouth but she had to save who she could.

She hoped the monster would let them get out.

Druss got back up I was trying to get away when the monster turned to face him. It opened its mouth and belched forward a stream of flame that was tinted black. It consumed him and caught him and started to burn him alive.

He started screaming as the flames consumed him. He staggered away, trying to extinguish the fire, but tripped and fell into the magma river.

His screams did not last much longer.

Nickus howled in pain and fury, attacking the monster. He had gone berserk, and several of his strikes did connect. The creature was wounded again, but it did not seem to slow it.

The theories of his attacks, however, ended any chance of defence. The claws of the monster ripped out his toe, and he collapsed to the floor, drowning in his own blood.

Hella was crying in grief and pain as this horror destroyed her party.

She stood the best she could and stood her ground. With her leg wound, running was not an option anymore.

The thing turned to her, and she saw a face far too human. Its eyes were black with yellow cat irises.

It looked at her and then smiled.

She raised her sword and faced her death.