My mind was not in the right frame for this dungeon, but sometimes you just have to Marine on, URAH. Yay, yah, it’s soldier on, but I’m a Marine, what do you expect? The rest of the team was there, with the exception of the Earl, which I expected. Everyone must have heard about what was going on, because they all gave me space. Or else it was just the look on my face that said stay away. Not quite sure.

  Tayla came over slowly, intentionally. She made sure I noticed she was coming. When she got close enough, she said “Are you ready for this? You have been through a lot since last night. I just want to make sure you are okay with delving today. If not, I am sure we can get another person to take your place.”

  I looked her squarely in her face and said “I am fine to do my duty. As long as duty doesn’t require a lot of conversation.”

  Noone else came to ask how I was doing, which itself told me a lot about my companions. I am beginning to regret coming to this dungeon very much. So far, any of my students could have cast the healing spells that had been needed. The dungeon was much easier than everyone thought. Did I really need to be here?

  During my internal musing, Earl Donnert showed up with his entourage. Including Ruberm. I went over to Ruberm. We exchanged cordial, if cool, greetings and then I asked him to return the scrolls I had given him earlier. I wouldn’t say he was shocked, maybe a little annoyed. He reluctantly handed over the scrolls. I thanked him for holding them.

  It was time to enter the third floor. Justinian opened the door and the team entered.

  All politics went out of my mind when we entered the dungeon. I was only focused on finishing the dungeon. I wanted nothing more than to finish it and go home.

  The third floor was a swamp. Hot, humid, and sticky. The air stank of decay. Dead plants, dead animal, and a million insects buzzing around. It is pretty much my idea of hell.

  We trudged through three inches of water. Thankfully, I had high water proof boots on already. I could tell some members of our party weren’t so lucky. Tayla was the first to start to hover above the water as we travelled. She had been one of the unlucky ones. After a while, everyone was doing the same because walking through the mud was tiring and irritating. Frankly, it sucked. But flying/hovering a few inches above the water was wonderful.

  We were making our way toward a pillar of smoke; we had seen in the distance. Along the way, Tayla would stop and pick plants. She explained that she had the herbalism skill and these were rare plants that could be used by alchemist in Forest Glen. The rest of the part just floated along keeping a careful eye out for monsters.

  As we approached the pillar of smoke, we noticed the insects had all gone quiet. The air was still. It just screamed ambush. Justinian held up his hand for us to stop. He sniffed the air, looked around, then brought out a device. I couldn’t get a good look at the device, so I wasn’t sure what it did. However, Justinian motioned for us all to settle back down into the muck. We did, quietly.

  Justinian used our party communication to say there were 5 invisible monsters in front of us. They were all in stealth, which would break when they attacked.

  “Can we just Fireball them?” I asked.

  “They are snakes, hiding under the water. I don’t think Fireballs will do anything but piss them off. I think Brakford to Taunt them, and the rest of us will pick them off. Everyone got the plan. Good. Brakford, whenever you are ready.”

  Brakford yelled “Snake skin boots.” Okay, he didn’t really yell that, but he should have. Brakford activated his Taunt. The five giant snakes came rushing up out of the water toward him.

  Tayla reacted first with a Fire Spear spell. It hit the lead snake in the face, but didn’t appear to do much. Earl Donnert followed up with an arrow that hit the second snake in the nose, causing it to stop. The rest came forward.

  The snakes were at least 20 feet long. They seemed to be constrictor type rather than poison type. The scales were like sandpaper and colored light brown, like the mud. When they attacked Brakford, they tried to surround him rather than fight head on. Brakford was able to hold their attention, while Yuri, Gorver and Justinian attacked with swords. Earl Donnert and Tayla were dealing with the stopped snake, hitting it with spells and arrows. I watched ready to engage or heal as needed.

  It wasn’t. Yuri, Justinian and Gorver killed their snakes easily. Brakford was able to kill the last charging snake by himself. Earl Donnert and Tayla killed their snake with a variety of Cold base spells and arrows. Just a nice warm up.

  Of course, now there was blood in the water, literally. We looted the corpses then I put one of the corpses in my storage ring. I thought maybe the skin could be used for armor or snake skin boots. I noticed that Yuri did the same. After that we moved on.

  We were wading through the muck and the mud. We couldn’t get 50 feet with being attacked by a group of snakes, each one bigger. The snakes numbered between 5 and 6 and ranged between level 21 and 30. As you can imagine, I didn’t have much to do. The team was still overpowered compared to the dungeon. However, that was about to come to an end.

  Dry land. A lot of it, right where the smoke pillar was located. And next to the smoke pillar was a Drake. A powerful Drake, surrounded by at least 10 snakes. Drakes are the last stage before becoming a full adult Dragon. It resembled a 30 foot long cross between a lizard and an elephant. It had a lizard-like head with a bulky body covered in blue-gray scales. Tiny wings on either side. Definitely not large enough to fly.

  “Those wings mean it is at least level 40, maybe 45,” said Justinian, “and its elite. The snakes are all in the mid-30s and elite.”

  “Do we draw out the snakes first and then attack the Drake? It seems a bit much to attack them all at once.” Yuri asked.

  “If, and I mean if, we can draw out some of the snakes without alerting the Drake. I think that is the best plan. However, we need to be prepared to fight everything all at once because as far as we know as soon as we step onto dry land, everything will come for us.” Gorver added.

  “Do we split the party? Have Justinian and Tayla attack the Drake, while the rest of us deal with the snakes? Can the rest of us deal with that many snakes?” replied Brakford.

  We asked more questions and debated the best approach. Finally, we had a plan. A good one I thought.

  Justinian stepped onto the dry land. Everyone one else was hovering just above the ground ready to move. The snakes did not react to Justinian stepping onto the dry land, so we moved slowly toward them until we came within Chained Lightening spell range, then Tayla and I would let loose. Chained Lightening lit up the sky. Tayla and I had selected different snakes to target, maximizing our damage. My first cast killed a snake outright, and damaged two more. My second cast killed two more, then the snakes were too close to cast that spell. Tayla had a similar result, killing 3 snakes also. That left four elite snakes to our teammates. Oh, and also the Drake, which was now following the snakes.

  Justinian, as planned, broke through the snakes to engage the Drake. If he couldn’t kill it fast, his job was to delay it until the rest of the team had killed the remaining snakes. Brakford and Gorver were fighting two snakes, while Yuri and Earl Donnert engaged the last two. Each pair fought well. Brakford using his shield to protect Gorver, who was doing massive damage with each strike. Meanwhile, Yuri was the focus of the other two snakes. The Earl took advantage of this and was able to land a killing blow to the head of one snake. It dropped instantly.

  With only one snake left to him, Yuri quickly took advantage and began carving huge chunks of its flesh. Ten strikes in and the snake was done.

  Justinian was fighting the Drake to an even draw. It didn’t look like he was in trouble and was always just out of reach of its bite. That’s when the Drake breathed fire. A jet of ultra hot plasma shot out of its mouth and hit Justinian. I watched the fire start to die down and teleported near him ready to heal. But then I saw that Justinian has a barrier surrounding him. He stood there unharmed and laughing at the Drake.

  Tayla hit the Drake with a massive Lightning bolt spell from out of nowhere. It torn up the Drakes hindquarters, causing it to fall onto its haunches. While it was distracted, Justinian launched himself forward and started hacking into the Drakes flesh. The Drake tried to fight back, but Justinian, somehow, was always just out of reach.

  Then the rest of the team joined Justinian in dispatching the Drake. It took longer than I thought it should. That was one tough monster. Identification showed it was a level 45, so taking it down wasn’t a short process, but with Justinian and Yuri leading the way, we triumphed.

  The team worked well together against the Drake, defending and creating openings for each other. It was nice to see the team gelling together.

  The treasure chest contained a mithril cowl, a bottle of magic ink, and a tome of Fire Stream. Tayla already had the spell, so they gave it to me, along with the bottle of magic ink. The ink was given to me, after I promised to create two more tome of minor healing.

  *---------------*

  The fourth floor looked to be a cave system. I may not like caves anymore, but I was more than happy to be out of the swamp. At least here it was dry and I wasn’t being actively hunted by every insect in the vicinity.

  Both the floor and walls were rough. It looked like a natural cave system, rather than being carved out. The width and height of the passage varied. Sometimes we had to move in single file, or bend over to get through.

  We were moving at a brisk pace, when Justinian signaled for us to stop and be quiet. Something was making a noise. It was faint, but I swore it was a language. A second later, I understood it. It was Goblinese, the language of Goblins. I let everyone know using the party communications.

  “Goblins. Damn, I hate goblins,” said Yuri. This is the first time I heard Yuri give an opinion on anything. He must really dislike them.

  “The problem with Goblins is that they travel in bunches. I expect it will be thirty or forty at a time in this dungeon. As soon as we see a group, Tayla and Trevor, you need to unleash spells that do area damage. Fireballs are good, because Goblins take extra fire damage. Everybody else, use shield and short swords. We will create a shield wall. The Goblins are stupid enough to attack the shields rather than the holders. It will be a grind, but we can easily defeat a horde of Goblins. As long as we aren’t surrounded.” Earl Donnert provided the battle plan, now we just had to implement it.

  We travelled quietly, thanks to Tayla’s Quiet spell, for another 10 minutes until we reached crossroad. It was a larger opening and there was at least 50 Goblins camped out there. At least half were sleeping, the other half was eating. They didn’t have any guards or lookouts.

  Tayla and I readied our spells. We would both start with Fireballs. The Goblins panicked when the first two hit. Before they could get their bearing, two more Fireballs hit the camp. Everything was on fire, including several Goblins. Then one Goblin pointed at us and screamed “Kills dem dere”.

  Two more Fireballs hit the mass of Goblins before they stared to move toward us. More than half of them already dead, and more dying from the burns, but they charged at us. Tayla cast Fire Stream and raked it from side to side, killing more Goblins. I activated Slow Time and cast Wind Blade rapidly, killing Goblins left and right. Tayla and I had killed over 40 Goblins by the time our shield wall came to the front.

  The melee fighters quickly killed the remaining Goblins. Unfortunately, we could hear one or two Goblins scream for reinforcements as they ran away.

  At this point, we needed to decide if we were moving forward, or wait for the Goblins to come to us. I thought that we should wait, create some fortifications if possible and defend from strength.

  “There could be a thousand Goblins in these caves. If we stay, then we will have to fight them all, without rest or back up. If we move forward, we may be able find the nest and destroy it. That will depower most of the Goblins, but the nest will be heavily protected.” Earl Donnert continued, “The Goblins know the tunnels better than we, but Tayla can use Earthen Wall”, (because of course she had that spell also), “to block the passage behind us. Stopping us from being attacked on two fronts. I suggest we move forward.”

  Nobody disagreed. Forward we moved into the crossroad. We listened to see if we could hear any Goblins. The passage forward seemed our best bet. We walked forward and Tayla raised a wall behind us, blocking any Goblins.

  Ten minutes later, we came across another crossroad. It appeared to be empty, but something wasn’t right. Call it a feeling, but I knew there were Goblins nearby.

  “I think there are Goblins waiting to ambush us at the crossroads,” I said.

  “That would be typical of their behavior,” Earl Donnert replied. “I suspect they laid traps in the center also. I would suggest a couple of Fireballs to set off the traps, and hopefully panic the Goblins into attacking us.”

  Tayla and I again took our position at the front. We each cast Fireball at the center of the crossroad. Tayla’s Fireball just sat there burning. Apparently, hers had to hit something to explode. Mine, on the other hand, I could explode whenever I wanted. So, I exploded mine next to hers. Since hers was bigger than mine, I hoped to set hers off also. It did and it covered the entire crossroad section.

  Earl Donnert was correct. Traps exploded, and the Goblins panicked. After a few seconds of chaos, the Goblins rushed at us en masse. More Fireballs from Tayla and I hit them. Causing them to die in droves, and slowing down the rest. Slowing them down enabled me to throw more fireballs and Tayla to cast Fire Stream. We effectively killed most of the ambushers, and our melee fighters easily finished off the rest.

  We continued this approach for a few hours killing hundreds, maybe thousands, of Goblins and wandering through the tunnels and passages. Finally, we found an opening to a large cavern. This would be the place of the boss battle.

  The first thing I noticed was the cavern was huge. You could easily fit two football fields inside it. The second was the mass of Goblins. They were living on the far side of the cavern. There must have been hundreds of them. And in the middle of them, was a large Troll. A giant green Troll with a large glowing club.

  A giant green Troll with a large magical club and two-foot tusks. Normally, Trolls weren’t so bad. Yes, they could regenerate, but this party would be able to take it apart. Normally. In this instance, it was surrounded by hundreds of Goblins. Goblins that we would have to kill before we could engage the Troll.

  How does a party of seven attack hundreds of Goblins without getting swamped by sheer number overload?

  First have a powerful party. Ranging from level 30 to 50. This gives each individual an overwhelming advantage against each individual Goblin. Second, have a mage with Earthen Wall.

  Next against the back wall, construct high walls to prevent attacks from the side and rear, while giving plenty of space for your party to fight. After that, narrow the front opening to only allow a few Goblins to attack at a time.

  Have your fastest runner go out and aggro some Goblins, hopefully not more than 50 and kite them back to your fortification. Have your Tank waiting behind the opening and your melee fighters waiting on the side. The Tank taunts the Goblins and your melee fighters kill them quickly. Rinse and repeat. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

  Unfortunately, it didn’t work like that. Sure, we were able to create the fortification and the first pull was about 40 Goblins, so everything looked to be working.

  The second pull, unfortunately, pulled about 100 Goblins and got the attention of the Troll. Seeing this, Tayla and I float up and started casting Fireball spells and Chain Lightening. The spells were fast and furious, killing at least a hundred of the Goblins. That only left about two hundred more and a very angry looking Troll.

  The Goblins had some archers and started shooting arrows at Tayla and myself. I didn’t mind, since I had Arem’s Defense and they weren’t high enough to overcome it. Tayla on the other hand had to get behind the wall. I continued to cast Fireball, which had levelled several times since we began the dungeon, now being level 8. The Fireballs continued to take their toll, but more than fifty Goblins had reached the fortification and the rest of the team was engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  I was keeping an eye out on the Troll to see if he would follow, but for now he just watched. His Goblins were getting decimated, but he didn’t seem to care. He just stood there looking at the Goblins run toward their deaths. I wasn’t going to provoke him, so I didn’t throw any spells at him. The Goblin archers had given up on hitting me and joined the others in their attack.

  This did not stop me from casting more Fireballs at every opportunity. I was only able to do this, because when I turned into a Nephilim, my mana pool increased by at least 300%, and it was still more than half left. I had plenty of mana to light these Goblins up.

  The team was handling the Goblin surge well. I told Tayla the archers had stopped, and she floated back up and began to cast her Fire Stream at the Goblins just outside of the fortification, where they were bunched together. More bang for the buck, I guess.

  It took about an hour, but we finally killed all the attacking Goblins. It must have been over 400 of them. That left around 50 wandering around the Troll. When the last of the attacking Goblins died, the Troll started to slowly move, like he didn’t have a care in the world. He moved to a pile of small boulders, each about two feet across. He picked one up and threw it at the fortification. The fortification was over 200 yards away, but the rock sailed through the air. His aim was slightly off, and the rock crashed against the wall of the cave.

  Damn, if that rock hit the fortification, it would have crushed the earth walls. My teammates rushed out of the fortification. Another rock came sailing toward us and we scrambled to get out of the way. The rock hit the left wall of the fortification, spraying rock slivers everywhere. Luckily no one was seriously hurt. The team had no choice but to spread out and start running toward the Troll.

  As soon as we started moving toward the Troll, the last 50 Goblins ran toward us. Tayla started casting Fireball at them, but the incoming rocks caused her to stop. Everyone had to concentrate on not getting hit by the rock throwing Troll. The rocks also disrupted any formations that my team tried to form.

  I thought that when the Goblins and us met, the rocks would stop. I was wrong. The Troll didn’t care if he hit his own Goblins, he was just trying to hit us. I flew up and toward the Troll, hoping to distract him, I cast Fireball at him. Since it was a long distance, he stepped to the side to avoid it. However, what the Troll didn’t know was that I was a silent caster. As a silent caster, I can control the flight of my Fireball and I swerved the Fireball into him. It went off with a bang. It didn’t do much more than irritate him, but he was no longer throwing rocks at my teammates.

  My teammates fight was fast and furious. Hack, slash, defend, stab. Everyone was fighting at their full potential. Yes, even Justinian. Even though the Goblins were only in their low to mid 20s, there were still so many of them that you couldn’t make a mistake. Yuri and Gorver were fighting back-to-back, as were Earl Donnert and Brakford. Justinian was fighting by himself, a whirlwind of death. Tayla had taken to the air again and was casting Wind Blades at the edges of the fight.

  And I, I was flying away drawing the Troll further and further from the rock pile. That Troll was fast, so it was all I could do to keep ahead of it. When I tried to double back, the Troll cut me off and batted me out of the air. Luckily, none of my bones broke from the hit, but I would be one massive bruise.

  I didn’t have time to cast Heaven’s Heal. I barely had enough time to call Balmung to my hand. I had to face the Troll alone. Hopefully I could last long enough for my team to finish off the Goblins and come to my rescue.

  As I fought the Troll, I realized that it’s Regeneration was off the chart. I would cut deep into its arm as it swung at me. By the time the Troll’s arm came back around the cut was gone. Damn, this is bad. Fighting this this was hard. It would swing one hand, followed by its tusks, and then the other hand. I had never fought anything even remotely like it. I just wasn’t used to its fight style. Even with Slow Time, it was hard to defend, because it moved so fast.

  I was able to maneuver the fight back towards my team. That was the advantage of fighting defensively. The Troll didn’t care how many times I cut it, or even when I cut its hand off. The cuts healed and the hand regrew. It just continued to hammer at me, trying to wear me down, and it was doing a good job. I could tell I was getting slower in my counter attacks.

  I don’t know how long I was fighting it, but it must have been a while, because the team arrived. I noticed because a lightning bolt hit the Troll. This was followed by a Taunt from Brakford. The Troll immediately turned away from me and moved to attack Brakford. Brakford held his ground. Justinian and Yuri attacked from the sides, whittling down the Trolls health. Earl Donnert peppered the Troll with arrows, hitting sensitive spots causing it to be enraged. Its hits started getting harder and heavier.

  The team was slowly winning. Or at least it looked like that, but when we got the Troll down to half its hit point, a force threw all of us 20 feet away. As we recovered, the Troll was changing. It spit apart into two Trolls. The Trolls had very little health, but were quickly regenerating.

  We picked ourselves up and ran to engage. The less they regenerated the better. We split into two team, Gorver, Yuri, Brakford, and myself in one team, Justinian, Earl Donnert, and Tayla in the other. As we ran to our Troll, I cast Chained Lightning, hoping to stop their regeneration and do some damage. Damage I did, both Trolls health dropped by on half. They had less than a quarter’s health.

  “They are weak to Lightening,” I yelled over our communications channel.

  Next thing I know a Lightning Bolt hits the other Troll, as does a Lightning arrow. Gorver’s and Yuri’s swords now crackles with Lightning. I don’t have any more lightning spell to throw, because we are too close now, so I took out my Lightning spear and went to work. Knowing their weakness, my team was able to kill the two Trolls. Lightning prevented the Trolls from regenerating, and that was their biggest advantage. Without it, it wasn’t that hard of a fight.

  Two Trolls dead and a treasure chest appears. Inside the chest, seven rings of regeneration. Everybody got one. Even though I didn’t need it, I took it. I could always give it to someone or sell it. My own Regeneration had already healed me from Trolls earlier body blow. My teammates assumed I healed myself, so they still did not know about my Regeneration, which is why I took the ring.

  Justinian stood to the side of the door to the fifth level of the dungeon. Brakford stood in front. Justinian grabbed the handle and …

  I found myself alone in a small room, it was 10’ by 10’. Walls were of stone. It could have been a prison cell, except it was very clean. There was no furniture either. Not even a straw bed. It was empty as could be. Maybe it was just a clean cell. I tried using Party Communication capability to talk with my teammates, but got no reply.

  I was facing a normal looking wooden planked door. Well, everything was normal, except it didn’t have a door knob. There was no way to open the door. Maybe it wasn’t a door, but a wall decoration? No, I don’t think so, because I could see light leaking in from the bottom.

  I pushed, I pulled, I tried sliding the door to the side, then up and down. Nothing. It looked like my only option was to break down the door. I took a half step back, and kicked the door with all my might. It flew across the hallway just outside and hit the other wall, before falling down.

  Quiet, it was not. It was really loud, so I went into the hallway, stopped and listened. Nothing. No raised voices calling alarm, no heavy footsteps of men racing toward me. Nothing.

  I was at the end of the hallway, so I didn’t have much choice in which direction I needed to go. As I moved down the hallway, I would stop at each door and listen, then I would open the door. Each was a room similar to mine and all were empty. The hallway ended in an opening into an arena. Just like the arena one the first floor. As soon as I stepped in, the disembodied voice spoke.

  “Our newest arrival, Trevor of House Tierra. You’re early. We just finished up the previous two contestants, but no matter we will continue with you. Ladies and Gentlemen. This invader is the party’s healer, so I don’t expect much from him, except to die quickly like the others, as he faces the eater of men’s souls, devourer of their bodies, and killer of their minds, the terrifying Mind Flayer, CA TI CUS.” He sounded like a boxing match announcer.

  I saw Caticus on the other side of the arena. It was a humanoid shaped thing, with a head made almost entirely of octopus tentacles. I couldn’t see any eyes or ears, just a mass of wriggling tentacles. It was a bit horrifying. Identification showed:

  Monster: Mind Flayer

  Name: Caticus

  Health: 5000

  The health was a concern, but really the announcer already told me everything else I needed to know. I assumed from its monster type, most of its attacks would be mental, but didn’t rule out either magic or physical. I had enough mental protection, Earing of Control, Unbroken Mind, Nephilim resistance, to not be overly bothered by its name.

  I move forward slowly, as did Caticus. I drew out my sword. I could already feel it trying to get inside my mind. My normal strategy was to go into a defensive posture and find a weakness, then attack. This had served me well in the Dungeon so far. But I assumed the Dungeon had been watching all our fights and knew that, so had matched me with a monster that would only get stronger as we fought.

  So, I teleported next to Caticus, hit him with my sword causing him to fall down to the ground. Then I pulled my Lightning Spear from my Inventory and stabbed it through its stomach, driving the spear deep into the ground. I then teleported 20 feet away. At this point Caticus, strangely silent, grabbed the Spear and tried to pull it out of the ground, but couldn’t. Caticus was stuck, which was part of my plan.

  The next phase consisted of my casting Fireball onto Caticus. One after another after another. My Fireballs may not be as large as Tayla’s but they burned hotter and had more explosive power. After two minutes, I was sure he was dead, but I continued to cast Fireballs for another full minute. Short fight. Just the type I like. When I win that is. Then I approached slowly with Balmung drawn and ready.

  I didn’t need to, because Caticus was burned to a cinder. Literally. No more wriggling tentacles, no more human shaped body. Apparently, no bones either, because all that was left was ash and a grease stain on the ground. Unfortunately, my spear was also a casualty. It was burnt and charred along its shaft. When I went to pull it out of the ground, it broke, leaving the spearhead in the ground. I still put the shaft into my inventory. Someone might be able to use it.

  Surprisingly upbeat disembodied voice said “What a surprise Gentle Beings, we have an upset. Trevor has not only beaten Caticus, but destroyed it. No regeneration will bring it back from that trouncing. I never did like tentacle face anyway. Oh wait, are you still here. Back to your cell.”

  I found myself back in my cell. Of course, the door was still gone, so I simply walked out, down the hall and back to the arena. This time I stopped before I enter the arena proper and observed.

  A vaguely humanoid shaped was making its way across to the area I fought the Mind Flayer. It was small, looked half ethereal with a solid top and ghostly bottom, wearing a long cape with a high collar. The size of a child, it still radiated power. My intuition told me this was the disembodied voice. So, the Voice had something to do with the dungeon. Maybe was the dungeon core made manifest. A bold plan came to mind. Capture it and clear the dungeon.

  I waited until its back was completely turned, then teleported right behind it and grabbed the Voice by the neck with one hand.

  “Surrender or die,” I said as I placed my knife’s blade against its throat.”

  The Voice tried to escape, and probably would have, if I didn’t have a Nephilim’s strength. But I did and with that strength, it had no chance of escape. I held on. I increase the tightness of my grip and pushed the tip of my knife’s blade into its throat causing it to begin to bleed. The Voice caved.

  “I surrender.”

  “Bring my teammates here, now” I commanded.

  Four live teammates and two dead manifested in the arena. Brakford and Tayla didn’t make it. Justinian, Yuri, Earl Donnert and Gorver were all okay. None of the survivors had had to fight yet.

  ‘What’s going on” asked Earl Donnert.

  “I have captured the disembodied voice we all heard earlier. Apparently, it is part of the Dungeon, if not the Dungeon core itself.”

  “Yes, I am the Core. You have captured me and now control the Dungeon. Please let me go, you are hurting my neck.”

  “Bring my teammates back to life,” I said.

  “I cannot, that is beyond my power. I only control the monsters and the floor layouts. True Life is beyond me.”

  “Stay here” I said as I released my grip.

  I crouched next to Tayla. She had been killed by having her heart torn out. I cast Heaven’s Heal to replace her heart and restore her wounds. It didn’t bring her back to life, but was necessary for the next step. I pulled out a Resurrection scroll. Carefully sounding out each word, and keeping the proper tempo, I cast the spell. One minute, then two minutes passed before she took in a sharp breath. Tayla was alive. Probably in shock and would have PTSD, but alive. Gorver and Earl Donnert helped her up.

  I went over to Brakford. He was covered in wounds. Apparently, he had put up a hell of a fight. It took two Heaven’s Heals to bring him to a survivable state. Again, I pulled out a Resurrection scroll and carefully cast the spell. Again, two minutes passed before he was alive again. This time Justinian and Yuri were the helpers.

  I turned back to the Voice, and asked “What is your name?”

  “I do not have one. As my master, only you can give me one.”

  “I will think on it.” I am horrible at naming things, so thought I should get some advice before I finalize it.

  “What should we do next, Lord Donnert? I am at a loss.” I asked.

  Earl Donnert turned toward me and said “I think we should go to the Dungeon Core room. That would qualify as clearing the dungeon. What do you think Justinian?”

  “I agree Lord Donnert. Let’s finish the clear.”

  “Is it safe from my team in the Dungeon Core room? Can you teleport us there?” I asked the Disembodied Voice. D-Voice, or D’Voice. I like it. Who said I was terrible at naming things.

  “Yes, it is safe, and yes I can teleport us there.”

  “Then do so, D’Voice. That is your name. D’Voice”, I said.

  We appeared in a spacious room. In the center was a pedestal, and on that pedestal was a large clear crystal sphere with a soft internal glow. The Dungeon Core. I walked over and touched the Core. A message appeared on my HUD.

  You are now the owner of this Dungeon. Do you want to close the dungeon, reset the dungeon level, or destroy it?

  “What do we want to do with the Dungeon, close, reset level, or destroy?”

  “Can we close it and use the Dungeon Core to create a new dungeon? One closer to Forest Glen?” asked Justinian.

  I looked over at D’Voice. “Yes, if you close the Dungeon, then you can take my Core and create a new one there. You can design it to your specifications, and I will create it. It may take up to one year for it to grow, depending on how many levels you want.

  “Please remember, that if you don’t clear the dungeon at least once a year, it will overflow, like it does now. I have no control over that.”

  Wow. I can create a farmable dungeon. Forest Glen is going to explode with new opportunities. I can see it now. Adventurers from all over will come to run the dungeon. Gorver is going to have a lot of paperwork. The thought made me smile. I looked over at Gorver. He saw that smartass smile and said “What?”

  “You are going to have a ton of paperwork with this new dungeon.” I said and laughed. Everyone joined in the laughter. It was probably from the relief of being done with the dungeon more than the joke.

  “My Lord Earl, are you okay with my closing this dungeon and reopening one neared to Forest Glen?”

  “Yes, in fact, I would be grateful for that. We can decide on the exact location later. But yes. Let’s close the dungeon and head back to Forest Glen.”

  With my hand on the Dungeon Core, I commanded it to close the dungeon and the next second I found myself, my team, D’Voice and a few rangers outside by where the trap door used to be. The Dungeon was gone.

  After the initial surprise, everyone was relieved to be done and outside. Brakford let out a joyous yell. It was a warm sunny day with a few scattered white fluffy clouds. Everyone was taking a moment to themselves before heading back.

  I decided to read some of my notifications.

  You have received the title Goblin Bane I.

  All Goblins hate you. They will attack on sight. You gain +50% damage against them. This title may be turned off outside of dungeons but is always on in a dungeon.

  Fireball is now level 8.

  Goblin Bane I has been upgraded to Goblin Bane II.

  All Goblins hate you. They will attack on sight. You gain +100% damage against them. This title may be turned off outside of dungeons but is always on in a dungeon.

  Chained lightning is now level 2.

  Goblin Bane II has been upgraded to Goblin Bane III.

  All Goblins hate you. They will attack on sight. You gain +150% damage against them. This title may be turned off outside of dungeons but is always on in a dungeon.

  Goblin Bane III has been upgraded to Goblin Bane IV.

  Goblin Bane 4

  All Goblins hate you. They will attack on sight. You gain +200% damage against them. This title may be turned off outside of dungeons but is always on in a dungeon.

  Fireball is now level 9.

  Chained Lightning is now level 3.

  You received the Title Dungeon Master I.

  Dungeon Master 1

  Congratulations. You can now own a dungeon. Your dungeon can produce up to level 25 monsters and be up to 7 levels deep. The special bonus of Themed Dungeons is granted.

  You are a dungeon owner.

  You have closed the Dungeon. Dungeon Core has been placed in your inventory. You have one year to create a new Dungeon or Dungeon Core will pass on to another owner.

  Congratulation you are now level 44. New level based on monsters killed, Dungeon levels completed, Dungeon capture and Titles gained.

  Nephilim must progress or die

  That last one was scary. I wondered if the Nephilim from my dreams had access that allowed it so send System Notification. It certainly seemed so.

  While I was reviewing my notifications, the Earl had sent the rangers back with orders to prepare the camp for departure. The team was alone, and this was a time for goodbyes.

  “I want to thank each of you for helping with this momentous task. Ten years free of monster waves, that is not an inconsiderable achievement. Each of you will receive an award specific to you. If you have any wants, let me or Ruberm know and we will try to fill it. The people of Forest Glen will be eternally grateful for you and what we have accomplished here. I will raise a statue of each of you in the courtyard for all to see. Even though the trial we went through will never be known outside of this team, know that I will forever keep it in my heart, and hopefully you will too. What happens in a dungeon stays in a dungeon. Now the most important part. Treasure.”

  The team split the items we found in the dungeon. I didn’t want any because I already got more than anyone else, because I got the Dungeon Core. They still gave me the cat statue. I would give that to Ramram. Everyone seemed happy with the distribution, especially Tayla since she got her Sun Gem.

  By the time we made our way back to the Camp, they were all packed up and ready to go. Ramram had all our stuff loaded into his storage ring and our horses were saddled and ready to go. Hell, I was ready to go home too.

  Countess Majora came to the Earl and asked what happened to the Dungeon, because she was scheduled to run through it next. Unfortunately for her, the Dungeon was gone so there would be no next for that instance of the Dungeon. I am sure the Earl will placate her somehow.

  It might have taken us six weeks to get to the Dungeon location, but it only took us two weeks to get back. We rode longer, ate lunch in our saddles, and generally travelled at a faster pace. It seemed that I wasn’t the only one anxious to go home.

  During the ride home, Gorver made sure I understood that if the Death God’s priest found out that I had resurrected anyone, they would send Death Merchants to kill Tayla and Brakford. That’s why ‘What happens in a Dungeon, stays in a Dungeon.’” He also said that they would not look ‘kindly’ on the person that thwarted Death’s will. I took that to mean Death Merchants for me too.

  Hope you enjoyed the chapter.