It was almost a week later that the adventurer came back with others. Two men and two women. They didn’t look like the adventurers I remembered from being with my sister. More like the poachers we would chase from our territory. The men all had chainmail like the first adventurer, though it looked a little worse for wear. One of the men had a long spear and a wooden shield while the other had a small bow. The one with the bow also wore a strange hood that seemed to blend with the shadows. The first woman wore a gray dress under a long coat like that first adventurer, but made of much lower quality hides. She carried a staff and had a silver pendant hanging from her neck. The last woman was in bright blue and wore a vest made from the wolf furs the adventurer had taken last time. She had a small length of wood in her hands with a yellow metal handle and a silver cap in the tip. She carried herself like a pup that had never known hunger or pain.

They moved cautiously into my influence, entering at the same point the man had the first time. The Original adventurer was in front with a sword this time. The other man with the shield walked in back looking out for ambushes and the ones with the staff and bow huddled behind the first man like frightened prey. The woman with the wolf fur strode beside them like she was invincible. As they moved forward the original man kept moving his head left and right, checking that there was nothing in the trees.

They came to a small clearing where the paths divided. It was well lit and I gave it a greening glow with the way the sun reflected through the surrounding leaves. Humans always acted odd in unusual light. The first man turned to the others and said, “Wait here while I check these other paths, I’ll be back soon.”

“Don’t just leave us here, Tarkhan,” the woman with the staff said. “What if we are attacked?”

Before the man, Tarkhan, could answer, the other woman spoke up, “Calm down Zaya, we’ll be fine, Kelder and Gavel will protect us. Besides we’re Awakened now, nothing is going to hurt us. We’re like Lord Tarkhan now, heroes.”

“That’s enough, Amala,” Tarkhan said with a blush, “don’t get overconfident. You are all only level one and other than Kelder have had very little practice in combat. Even with the spell I gave you and the wand you will find the beasts in here a threat.”

The girl blushed but calmed down. The warrior looked to the others before saying, “Kelder, you’re in charge, stay alert.”

He then took the rightmost path and slowly checked it. I thought he was trying to find the correct path but it didn’t matter. All the paths on the first floor interconnected. They were meant to be confusing because they all looked so much alike. I watched as he approached one of the crude traps I placed on the first floor. He easily saw the string followed it to where it was tied off. The simple snare adequate for a rabbit, but too obvious for a cautious thinking being. I let him get to the next turn and take a right again before I sent in my pack for the others.

The other adventurers had been on guard for the first few minutes but had started to relax. The big one with the shield, Kelder, still kept watch but was distracted by the one with the vest’s chatter. The other two still held their weapons but had them down. That Zaya woman was even digging in her pouch for something.

Without warning the first pack of [Lesser Wolves] lunged out of the two unexplored paths. I told them to go after the girl with the staff since she was distracted but it was like they couldn’t hear me. Instead they went after the one with the furs on as she was closest. She screamed and danced backwards while trying to pull her stick back off her belt. The lead wolf just missed snapping her leg and veered off to the side so he could come around for another pass. Kelder pushed forward and smashed the next wolf with his shield while stabbing at the next one with his spear. The others quickly crowded behind him and readied themselves. Those first two wolves were already dying but the rest were circling the group waiting for one of them to leave an opening.

The woman in furs shouted as she pointed at one of my wolves with her stick. From out the end of the stick shot a jet of flame a half dozen yards long, incinerating the poor wolf and igniting the leaves of the tree behind him. I saw the trail of Aether left in the wake of the flame as well as the small amount flowing off the other adventurers. I drew it in and savored the musky mix of tastes. The large man was like mutton, full and filling but with a taste you could smell more than taste. The archer was as robust like the stew my sister used to make when we traded for beef bones. The mages magic tasted the best though, fiery like I expected but with a sour tang like an aftertaste of regret. It was almost wistful.

The wolves stopped in shock for a moment at the sudden flames. In that moment the large man thrust with his spear again and wounded one of them. The archer fired an arrow into the eye of another. The two on the far side from the mage lunged in and grabbed the other girl's leg. She screamed and the archer dropped his bow so he could draw a dagger and fall on them.

The mage woman used her wand again but missed the wolf she was aiming at. She then collapsed breathing hard. The spearman brought his spear around, circling the party and keeping the rest of the wolves at bay. The reduced pack backed off, waiting for a better opening.

The other girl grabbed her pendant and closed her eyes. A golden-green light enveloped her for a moment and then centered on her injured leg. The blood seemed to bubble away, like water on a hot pan, then she stood up hale and well. The red woman could do things like this but not as fast. I took a moment to pull in her Aether. I changed my mind, this woman's Aether tasted the best. It was like honey on fry bread. It tastes light and sweet but it still had enough substance to fill you for a whole day.

The healer woman was checking on the fallen mage when the archer killed another wolf. I pushed my wolves to attack before the long reach of the archer could tell on their numbers. Once again it was as if they couldn’t hear me. I was quite frustrated. Another was killed by the archer while the mage got to her feet. A few moments later she thrust out her hand and a small ball of fire the size of a robin’s egg shot towards the previously injured wolf. It struck the wolf in the head and burst into a ball the size of a fist, burning that small part to ash. This was like the red woman’s fireball only much weaker. It was still enough to end that wolf’s life.

The Alpha seemed to finally realize their predicament and gathered all but two flankers to her. She readied to charge when there was a powerful shout from the right hand path. The power of the shout drew all the wolves' attention to the warrior who had just returned. They charged him as if madened. He just stood there and at the last instant called out “Aegis”. A wall of force spread out from his shield in all directions stopping the charging wolves, violently for some. He left the wall there and stepped around it to stab one of the dazed wolves through the heart. He kicked another in the head as it tried to get to him and then drove his sword into the Alpha throat. The other adventurers charged and killed two more before the last three faded with the death of the Alpha.

“Are you all alright?” asked Tarkhan. “Those were a lot more wolves than last time.”

“We’re fine, no thanks to you,” the mage said. She smiled at the spearman. “Kelder protected us while you were off exploring.”

The large man winced, he turned and gave Tarkhan a nod, “We managed but Zaya was hurt. Amala collapsed briefly but it was just Mana burn from dipping directly into her Aether stores to fuel that wand.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

The mage glared at him but the leader ignored them. He looked around and said, “I’ll gather the loot and stand guard while you all cultivate Essence, there is enough here that it might bring you all to level two.”

With that order the four of them all sat and started breathing in Essence. The Leader stuffed the knife and the pelts into his pouch and then set up to watch over his...students? This situation was strange. I was pretty sure that new dungeons were first explored by experienced adventurers. Most of these were only now becoming level two.

“Level Two?” I asked out loud in my core chamber. “Those adventurers were only level one?”

Star swirled in interest. “If there are low level adventurers here then there must be a town closer than we thought. We might have a steady source of food soon.”

“No, there isn’t anything like that up here.” I said. “My sister said no one could make a real town up here in the wilderness for some reason. She talked about coming up here again if she had trouble with a lord.”

“It’s been four years, maybe something has changed?”

“Maybe but I think something else is going on. It smells off as last week’s kill.”

“Well there isn’t anything we can do about it, let’s just watch them. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they will get eaten by wolves.” Star said with a chuckle.

The party had continued deeper into my influence. They fought the second pack about halfway through. This time the leader and spearman blocked the path. The archer climbed a tree, disappearing into the shadows, and shot down on the wolves from above. The mage threw her little fire eggs from between the men and the healer pushed Mana into the men. They killed more than half of the regular wolves before the archer hit the Alpha. The leader watched the last few wolves fade away in confusion before nodding to himself.

When the last pack found them the leader brought up his invisible wall again. He studied the angered wolves for a moment and pointed. When the wall came down the archer fired two arrows into the Alpha while the other warrior just held the lesser wolves back. All the wolves died and the new adventurers gathered Essence again while the leader collected all the loot. I got a feeling I was going to have to rework all my floors.

The adventurers reached the glade after about two hours. They didn’t get lost once, but I think that was their leader having some navigation skill like my sister had. They walked in on guard with the change, looking to each of the open paths expecting to be set on by another pack of wolves. It was very satisfying when my owls dropped onto the archer, savaging his face and arms. The one called Kelder brought the but of his spear around, knocking the birds to the ground. They were dispatched and left two copper trading disks, or coins as the humans call them. Unfortunately the owls missed the archer's eyes, but the healer did need to expend a lot of mana to heal him. This time the leader took a turn cultivating while the others stood guard. Once they all rested and restored their Aether, they moved on to the cave.

The leader went first with the spearmen a step behind. The archer and the mage came next, each positioned to fire around the first two. The healer came last and carried a lamp in one hand, but kept it low enough to only illuminate her and the mage. The leader walked right up to the trick wall and passed through. He stopped at the edge of the pit trap and looked confused for a moment before finally taking another step. The man paused too late as his foot pressed too far down on the stretched hide over the pitfall, pulling it loose and dropping him into the ten foot pit full of razor sharp rocks. His look of panic fled after an instant and I saw a wash of Aether flow out of him. He launched himself up and forward with his back foot even as he fell and cleared all the way to the far exit of the cave.

“Careful,” he called back, “the floor is trapped.”

“No kidding,” Kelder said back. “How in the uncounted hells did you do that.”

“I infused my legs with Ki, I’ll show you how later.” Tarkhan said. “It looks like there is a passable ledge on the right side. Just test it with your spear as you go.”

They regathered on the far side and the archer passed a wooden ring to the mage. Oddly she just nodded and put the oversized ring on her thumb. They continued into the Graymane’s den with the spearman leading, testing each step with his spear. The passage ended in a wide cavern, the same cavern I had originally used to conjure Dream. The adventurer spread out as they entered and all of them but the healer started moving their heads from side to side as they stared into the room. At the far side of the room Graymane lay like a stone and watched them. The party moved into the room and tested the ground. When they approached the middle of the room the healer raised her lamp. The light flashed off Graymane's eyes and she gasped.

The large gray wolf was on his feet and charging faster than the party could react. He slammed into the spearman’s shield with all his might, knocking the large man on his back, before he lunged at the mage and bit down on the hand holding the wand. The man Tarkhan swung his sword down on Graymane’s front haunch, forcing him to retreat. He still kicked his back claws into the downed fighter’s face eliciting a shout of pain. The archer shot the wolf in his chest as he ran by but the arrow just bounced off his iron coat with a dull ring of metal.

Graymane propelled himself off the wall to change direction and moved in for another sweep. This time he aimed for the archer. He was shot twice more to no effect. The archer, seeing he was unable to hurt the boss, dodged out of the way, kicking him away from the group as he did. The iron wolf would not be deterred and spun to lunge at the healer who was even then trying to fix the mages hand. He ran straight into the newly erected barrier from the leader.

When Graymane tried to go around the barrier, Tarkhan moved to meet him. The wolf and man engaged in a vicious back and forth. The man blocked the wolf with his shield and the knife he held in his off hand, striking out with darting slashes and thrusts with his small sword. The wolf lunged at the man with both claw and fang while dodging the man’s strikes with a poor imitation of my once graceful battle dance. The stalemate lasted for half a dozen exchanges until the warrior feinted low and brought up his sword faster than before, lopping off an iron gray ear.

Graymane fell back at that and howled in pain. Rather than continue the fight with the one who hurt it he jinked right and charged the remaining party members. The two men and one of the women dove to the side but the last just stood there and raised her hand. The wand it held erupted in fire.

The fire fell away from his hide but it burned the inside of his open mouth and his eyes. He went insane, whirling and snapping as anything he thought he felt. His mouth frothed with blood and ash as he emitted a horrifying mix of a growl and a whimper. When at last the crippled wolf slowed the large spearman tackled him onto his back and held him there while the leader stabbed him through the heart.

The party congratulated themselves and the leader once again collected the loot. It seemed to be going as planned until they all sat in preparation to cultivate. The leader stopped them and pulled out a large crystal bottle.

“This was a boss monster,” he said. “We will collect its Essence so if something happens, Ganzaya can Awaken.”

The mage walked up to him and looked at him through her lowered lashes. Her voice took on a breathy tone as she said, “If you think we need to, but I don’t think that it’s necessary. You’re much too strong for something to happen to you here. Besides, you said it was important for us to reach tier one as fast as we could. This Essence could bring the rest of us to level three, and we could always refill the decanter later.”

“Well, um, yeah, we could do it later I guess,” the man stammered. “I just thought that getting this done now meant that we didn’t have to worry later.”

“And you were right,” said the healer, giving the other woman a glare. “We should secure your family’s legacy before seeking to make the most of this gift you have given us.”

“Right,” he said. He then sat down and proceeded to draw the Essence of the boss into the decanter. When he was done he made it vanish again. He stood up and looked to the stairs leading down.

He looked at the party and said, “From everything I have read, Dungeons get harder the deeper you go. We are already tired and will probably have to fight again on the way out. We’re leaving for now and we will farm the beasts of the surface floor for Essence over the next few weeks. When we hit tier one we will think about going down further depending on how easily we defeat the boss.”

Having said his piece he led the adventurers out of the dungeon. He didn’t see the sour look the mage gave him. He was proved correct in the fact they were attacked by two of my reconjured packs. He was wrong if wanted to call what happened a fight. Before the wolves even reached them the archer or mage had killed the Alpha and the remaining wolves fell apart. I was definitely going to have to rework my dungeon.