The cavern entrance opened like a maw before us. Each member of the party stared into the unknown, tension growing in their shoulders as they sensed the danger that awaited them beyond. Each member, save for me, of course. This was not my first dungeon, nor did I suspect it would be my last.

I licked my lips in anticipation. Where there was a dungeon, there would be dungeon monsters, just like the moth we’d already faced. Dungeon monsters were Amsiii’s favorite treats, and the rewards for taking one down were enough to justify the risk.

“Um…do we really want to do this?” Raina asked softly. “Dungeons aren’t common in these parts. Who knows what will lay within.”

“Aren’t you the one with the most experience, here?” Aelisra narrowed her eyes at Raina, but the witch quickly recovered.

“Everyone knows that every dungeon is different, right? We don’t know what’ll be below.” That answer seemed to satisfy the paladin’s curiosity, at least for now.

Aelisra stepped forward, crossing the threshold into the darkness. Immediately, strange runes around the walls glowed to life with the same violet energy of the moth’s wings.

Accepting Challenger to Shaleheart Spring

Minimum challenge size: 3

Minimum level required: 10

Required Challengers remaining: 2

Awaiting further challengers

“Um…did everyone else hear that from the Engine? Or just me?” Aelisra asked quietly. The others nodded.

It wanted more challengers than just our paladin…but why? The First Dungeon didn’t need additional participants in my challenge. It hadn’t even bothered to ask. So, why did this one require more?

System Activation of Welcome to Atria

As a function of Forced Fairness, dungeons may refuse to open for any group or individual who does not meet the minimum requirements. Challenge size refers to the number of individuals who must be a part of the challenging group. Each member of the challenge must be above the minimum level in order to be granted entry.

Another function of Forced Fairness. I’ll admit, while I found the idea of these esoteric dungeon rules to be a great comfort, I was becoming more and more curious with regard to where these rules came from. Who created them, and why did it seem that all dungeons would follow them? Was that a function of Amsiii and its sadistic craving for violent entertainment? Or was it something else?

Terrowin entered next. Once again, the runes flashed and Amsiii spoke on the dungeon’s behalf.

Accepting Challenger to Shaleheart Spring

Minimum challenge size: 3

Minimum level required: 10

Required challengers remaining: 1

Awaiting further challengers

When Raina crossed the threshold, the runes flashed a third time.

Accepting Challenger to Shaleheart Spring

Challenge requirements met.

Shaleheart Spring is now accessible

Stones scraped along the floor as the way opened somewhere in the darkness before us.

“I guess we can go in, now,” Terrowin said, adjusting the grip on his glaive.

I jumped down from Cithrael’s arms so the archer could draw his bow and enter. The runes flared once more when he did so.

Accepting Challenger to Shaleheart Spring

Finally, with everyone inside, I darted forward to join them. However, when I finally entered, the runes flared red.

Blessing of the First One detected.

Adjusting difficulty

Shaleheart Spring Level 2 is now accessible

No longer accepting new challengers

Behind me, the runes began to crackle with the same lightning as the static moth. Strands of light, first three, then four, then eight began to weave across the entrance.

“Run!” Cithrael said. I did not hesitate.

A wave of energy washed over the room, making my fur stand on end. Turning back, I caught a glimpse of lightning as it coursed across the strands of light. Then, dust exploded out from where the strands met the walls.

The ground shook! Rocks cascaded from the roof and walls. I sprinted, keeping pace with Cithrael as we brought up the rear of the party. The light of the sun was blotted out by the boulders and dust.

Only after the ground finally stopped shaking did we slow and stop. The party breathed heavily, their hearts pounding from fear and exertion.

“Is everyone okay?” Raina called. “Does anyone have a light?”

My eyes didn’t take long to adjust, so I was able to see Cithrael pull an arrow from his quiver and light the tip with a tiny flame. It wouldn’t last long, but I was sure it comforted the others greatly.

They huddled closer to the light. I couldn’t blame them. Not everyone could be blessed with superior dark vision like mine. Not everyone was purrfect like me.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

“What was that?” Terrowin asked. Though the question was directed to no one in particular, eyes darted to Raina as the alleged dungeon expert. She paled.

“It…uh…must have recognized my title,” she lied. “Must have needed a second to detect it. I’m just glad Cithrael was able to enter in time.”

She looked at the archer, but he didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he was staring at me with a contemplative look in his green eyes. Though he didn’t say a word, I was certain that he wasn’t buying Raina’s excuse for the timing of events. He’d noticed that the dungeon reacted only after I’d entered. For that, I would have to give him credit.

The elf sighed and shrugged. “I doubt very much this will be the last time someone drops rocks on my head in this line of work.”

“That’s the spirit!” Aelisra said, slapping him playfully on the shoulder. “Now, I believe we have a dungeon to beat up?”

Cithrael took the front of the party, as the only one with a light to see. He was followed by the paladin and the knight. Both had their weapons out and ready, just in case something surged up from the darkness. Finally, Raina took up the rear, scooping me into her arms and holding me with trembling arms.

She was scared. They all were. I could smell it. Not one of them had ever encountered a dungeon before. They didn’t know the rules as I did.

Exiting dungeon safe zone for Shaleheart Spring

Dungeon monsters have been released.

“That’s not what I want to hear…” Aelisra muttered. “Cithrael, why don’t you let us take the lead?”

“But we won’t be able to see,” Terrowin pointed out.

“And if something comes out of the dark, one of us will be better able to handle it at close range,” countered the paladin. “That’s our job, right?”

The party reshuffled, letting Aelisra and Terrowin move forward so that Cithrael could join us behind. We continued down the passage. Smooth gray walls hugged us on either side, forcing us to travel single file as we descended further underground.

As we descended, it became extremely clear that this dungeon had somehow consumed the water nexus from the spring, at least, in part. The air grew thick with humidity and droplets of water dripped down the walls. Through the thick air, I felt the ambient mana levels increasing with each step, and despite the humidity, my fur still stood on end with static.

“So, Raina,” asked Aelisra, “what sort of monsters did you fight in the last dungeon?”

Raina flinched. Luckily, I could actually answer that question. I briefly described the toads, the axolotl, and the rattler to her.

“That one was a lot of poisonous and venomous creatures,” she relayed. “Snakes the size of a large dog, giant salamanders with poison skin, and toads that could flatten Malzy with a single leap.”

As far as Raina’s deceptions were concerned, that description was fairly good. I might have actually been convinced she’d seen such creatures and shrugged them off as no big deal. The others also didn’t question it, though Cithrael did give me a knowing look when I looked over Raina’s shoulder at him.

My respect for the elf was growing by the second. He had already proven one of the more useful of my servants, but his ability to see through our deception and recognize who was truly great between Raina and me? That was gratifying.

“Do you think we’ll find the same creatures here?”

Raina shook her head. “Every dungeon is different from what I’ve heard. If that thing outside was any indication, I suspect we’re dealing with a dungeon with an affinity for lightning mana.”

“So, not likely to know what we’ll find until we find it,” Aelisra concluded. “Love it.”

“We know we need to proceed with caution,” Terrowin said. “With Aelisra only lightly armored and with little light between us, we aren’t exactly prepared for this.”

“It’s not like I presented the job with the knowledge that the spring had been eaten by a dungeon,” Aelisra huffed in annoyance. “Look, if anyone is most at risk, it’s me. We’ll be fine.”

“And, if you die, who do you think the monsters will come after next?”

Aelisra didn’t answer, instead pushing forward into the darkness.

I wasn’t sure what Terrowin was so concerned about. I hadn’t been able to make preparations for the first dungeon either, and I’d come out all right. You just needed to be careful and clever, and everything would be fine.

A purple light flickered in the darkness before us. The party stopped.

“Did you see that?” Aelisra whispered. Heads nodded all around. “Let’s see what it is.” She gripped her axe and stepped forward slowly.

The light flickered again, zipping from one side of the tunnel to the other like a tiny bolt of lightning. Another joined it before dancing down the tunnel and disappearing from view.

Without warning, Aelisra shrieked in terror and began to swat furiously at her head. “Getitoffgetifoffgetitoff!” she cried.

“What is it?!” Terrowin shouted. “I don’t see anything!”

“It’s…I…” Aelisra whipped around, panic in her eyes, but then seemed to calm some. “It’s gone…I must have walked through a spider web or something. It was on me, but now it’s gone.”

“Maybe a droplet of water startled you?” Raina offered. “There’s water dripping all over the place.”

I crawled onto Raina’s shoulders. She was right. The water was everywhere, but a sound that was similar but not quite the same as the dripping water had reached my ears. I peered into the darkness, swiveling my ears forward to try and pick up what it was in greater detail.

It was a dripping sound, but it was not water. Instead, whatever it was fell to the ground with a SHHLLLURFFF sound, before landing with a solid PLOP.

“Raina, something’s ahead,” I said.

“Malzy says something’s ahead. Keep your eyes open,” she relayed.

Everyone went quiet and Aelisra began to step forward cautiously again. This time, she held her axe before her, presumably to catch any of the mystery threads before they reached her face like last time.

The tunnel branched without warning, leaving us at a crossroads. The sound of thick dripping creatures lay before us with two other paths branching to our left and right. Those two were silent.

“Better we sneak up on them and not the other way around, right?” Aelisra said. The problem with that statement was the fact that I was fairly certain that Aelisra’s screams of terror from the imaginary spider web could have been heard all the way back in town. There was no way that the dungeon monsters didn’t know we were here.

Regardless of whether or not the monsters had heard us, it was agreed that we should deal with them first. Weapons were readied, and we pressed ahead.

The tunnel opened up into a large circular room. Luckily, the dungeon was kind enough to provide light for the humans to see by. The ceiling was covered in shifting violet mana which sparked with lightning like a tiny, violent storm. Every so often, a bit of the viscous mana would drip to the floor, pooling into thick puddles giving off even more light.

On the far side of the wall was a plaque and a pedestal. Since no immediate threats presented themselves, Raina split from the party to examine the two objects.

“The way forward lay between the lightning and the thunder,” she read from the plaque. Everyone went silent to listen. Though the lightning above crackled with power, there were no distinct rumbles of thunder. “Odd,” she continued. Then, she picked up the small stone tablet sitting on the pedestal. With it was a stone stick. “Anyone know what these are used for?”

“Didn’t Lizzie have one like that for registering quests?” Terrowin offered. “The stick would be used like a pencil on the stone.”

“But what would we write?”

“Not sure,” Aelisra answered, “but these puddles are giving me a bad feeling, guys. I feel like they’re watching me.” She reached out with her axe and poked one of the puddles, jumping back with a startled yelp as soon as it began to move.

It bubbled and bulged before throwing itself at the paladin. Aelisra dodged to the side, just managing to avoid its leap.

“Slime!” she cried.

Inspecting hostile creature: Level 8 Lightning Dungeon Slime.

A slime formed from extremely dense lightning mana.

Before it had time to react, three arrows and a glaive had lodged themselves in the slime. Not wanting to let good dungeon experience go to waste, I leapt from Raina’s shoulders, calling on the mana within me to summon my small fire.

The slime shied away from the flame, but it was too late! I hurled the flame forward, straight into the slime. It wriggled and wobbled as the mana from my spell damaged it. It was hard to tell how much it actually hurt from the action, though. It hopped back a few moments later, still targeting Aelisra, despite the other attacks on it.

Aelisra backed up from the creature as it hopped closer and closer.

“Ha, it’s actually kinda cu-”

“Aelisra! Watch out!” Raina shouted.

The paladin had backed up too far, but it was too late to stop her. Her foot stepped into another of the purple puddles. This one surged up her leg, climbing up and wrapping itself around her torso.

Aelisra grunted and cried out as the lightning mana within the slime surged. She tensed as the electricity entered her.

Raina and I raced forward in sync, each pulling on our magic to rescue the paladin before it was too late. The temperature in the room fell drastically as Raina and I both activated Drain and Chill in combination. Though my witch’s versions of those spells were much more potent, mine were still nothing to sneeze at.

The slime writhed and shriveled up until the lightning faded and its remnants hung dead from Aelisra’s armor.

Congratulations. Level 8 Lightning Dungeon Slime defeated. Experience split between participating challengers.

“Thanks.”

“No problem,” Raina answered.

“Um, guys?” Terrowin said. His gaze was pointed up to the ceiling where the dripping puddles had come from. The violet mana roiled in a large mass of creatures.

We were surrounded.