Levi splashed water on his face one last time before plopping down, lying spread eagled on the hard stone. He never thought he was squeamish, but to be fair, he was definitely lying to himself. There were a few things he could deal with that were disgusting, and a great deal of things he couldn’t. But ever since he entered the dungeon he had been put in one disgusting situation after another. It was like exposure therapy, and he was the unwilling participant.

He should probably go over and try to eat some of the beast he had just slain. He hadn’t eaten in at least a few days, and his survival skill was telling him the crocogator was edible. Perhaps he would have considered it if he had any way of breaking through its hide and cooking the meat, but there was no way he was going anywhere near his only entry point into its corpse. He did what he had to do and killed it, and now he would scrub that memory forever. Yup, no food here, he would just have to go hungry. Oh well.

A quick check of his status told him he had gained two levels as well as a few skill levels, with the biggest gain in his new Combat Sense skill that shot up all the way to level ten. He put one stat point each into Dexterity and Agility, as the previous points he put into them likely saved his life just now. Each little edge in dodging helped, and it would have only taken one slip up to have the end result be death.

As Levi lay there checking over his leveling gains and doing his best not to think about the corpse lying next to him, and consequently only thinking about that, he remembered something he had forgotten about. You could actually check the levels of dead creatures. As he cast his mind back, he vaguely remembered doing something like that before entering the dungeon so long ago.

Briefly shifting his field of view to the beast and concentrating proved his theory correct, with a feeling of level thirty or thirty-one coming off of the crocogator’s corpse. He kept forgetting that the System didn’t give out any free meals. There were probably fifty things he could be using it for, but since he didn’t know what they were, and the System wouldn’t tell him, he was shit out of luck.

Reluctantly Levi gathered himself and sat up, debating his next move. He now had access to water, so that was good. He didn’t have food, yep no food here, so he should really go try and find some way to cook meat so he could have something to eat. Surviving off of his Constitution would only last him so long. His real choice was to advance or not to advance. He felt like he should have been more tired after the harrowing battle he just experienced, but, other than his life being in mortal danger with every lunge of his foe, he didn’t really take any damage.

With purpose suffusing his every movement, he stood up and made his way over to the doors at the far end of the room. It was time to see if his theory was correct.

The doors were huge; they would have easily allowed the crocogator to go through them with room to spare. It was earie how they almost fit the exact image in his head for what dungeon doors should look like: large, oaken, and weathered, with wrought iron banding holding them up. Levi gently approached them, running his hand over the wood. He could imagine the bloodthirsty grin that crept onto his face. He was indeed correct. This was the entrance to the boss room.

He had his suspicions from the moment he laid eyes on the doors. For some reason they just screamed “boss room here”. He still wasn’t sure what lay beyond, but he knew it was likely the final room of the dungeon. The place where he could take revenge and finally leave this shitty hellhole.

It was strange. The more Levi learned of the dungeon, the more he felt there was more to it. It felt like it was taking his expectations for a normal dungeon and twisting them somehow. But the fact that it even had anything to do with a ‘normal dungeon’ was strange in and of itself. He wasn’t on Earth, that much he was sure of. He was somewhere else in an alien land, and there was a dungeon with a boulder trap. And goblins. Well, he didn’t know they were goblins, but they were a similar analogue. Something stunk.

He turned around and put his back to the door, sliding down it to a seated position, head in hands. Susan would have known what to do. She may not have known anything about dungeons, but Levi just couldn’t picture her not being in control. She just radiated an unflappable aura. And now she was dead, leaving him to carry on in her place. He knew he shouldn’t, but he reached for Aecylic Energy, feeling as it flowed into him, empowering his body and changing his mind.

He stood. The smart thing to do would be to train up, focus on gaining as much power as he could. He knew the dungeon was lethal. But he wasn’t sure how much more he could take, not when he knew that freedom was just on the other side of these doors. He could feel the energy in his veins, singing, calling him to action, begging for a violent release. He gave in, turning and entering the dungeon’s final room. Tomorrow. He would think about things tomorrow. Now it was time to let loose and kill things.

The doors opened slowly, the hinges silently supporting the slabs of wood as they swung inwards, revealing… not much. Levi had grown used to the perpetual dusk of the dungeon, but as he looked into the room revealed beyond, he saw only darkness. There was something about it all, and some primal part of his mind very clearly knew what to do. He entered the room, walking forward into the dark.

He felt more than heard the doors slam shut behind him, locking him in with a dull boom. The next second seemed to stretch forever as he stood in the darkness. Then there was light, and Levi watched as torches sprang to life, fanning out around him, revealing the circular chamber of his final fight. They flared, two at a time, one on each side, stretching left and right, faster and faster until they met on the opposite side of the chamber, culminating in a whoosh as a large bonfire shot gouts of flame towards the ceiling high above before settling back to a steady burn.

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Levi looked around, taking in his final battleground. The chamber was large, perhaps not quite as large as the previous one, but it felt like it, as the ceiling was dome shaped, meeting high above his head. The walls held the now lit torches high above, giving an even illumination to the large space. The floor was sand, a stark contrast to the stone that adorned the rest of the dungeon. The whole thing was reminiscent of a gladiator ring, and as Levi turned his sight to the opposite side of the chamber he could see his opponent.

It was a large, hulking beast, currently rolled up in a ball, protected by what looked like armor on its back. He watched as it unfurled itself, revealing wicked fangs and dark, beady eyes. It looked like an armadillo from hell, its sheer bulk enough to crush its enemies if the multiple meter long claws it sported couldn’t get the job done. It roared as the firelight reflected off the zigzagging lines of red and black that patterned its shell.

And beyond the boss lay his goal. Set in the wall above where the armadillo was sleeping was a platform, home to the bonfire as well as a giant floating crystal. It hung there, suspended in front of the firelight, its many facets reflecting a myriad of colors from the dancing flame. One moment the crystal seemed blue, then purple, then a bright fiery red, and then black, seemingly sucking up the surrounding light, and then the light was back, reflecting off the everchanging colored crystal.

Levi knew without a doubt that was the dungeon core. His goal. But before that, he would have to face the boss.

Concentrating on it, he activated the System to figure out its level. It was forty, a good ten levels higher than the crocogator. He wasn’t intimidated though. He could see his goal, the dungeon core taunting him, almost begging him to come smash it. Soon, soon its time would come, but first it was time to beat the boss.

With Aecylic Empowerment running hot, Levi watched the armadillo, ready to act at a moment’s notice. Unlike the crocogator, there was a clear weak point he could attack here. It was likely the underside of the boss was tough, but nothing like its shell. He wanted to avoid repeating his previous experience if at all possible. While it had worked that time, he shouldn’t do something that dangerous unless it was a last resort. And besides, the armadillo’s eyes didn’t look as big as the crocogator’s. They had been a bit big for its body, while the armadillo’s eyes were more normal sized, still large, but not large enough for him to easily replicate his previous feat.

Unlike the crocogator, the armadillo didn’t immediately charge. That was fine though. Levi would rather wait to get a feel for how powerful it was before engaging in close combat. Closing in on anything with more mass than him was bound to be dangerous, and he wanted a good handle on its speed before he committed. The boss took its time, snuffling around and sniffing the air, seemingly not able to see him despite the light from the torches. Finally, its nose caught something, and Levi prepared himself for battle.

Contrary to its large bulk, the boss was fast, much faster than the crocogator. It made a beeline straight for him, and Levi prepared to dodge out of the way, similar to how he had kited the previous monster. He should have known: never trust the dungeon. He was prepared for a normal monster. The armadillo was anything but, and once it had built up speed, it jumped, curling up into a ball in midair before coming back down with a crash, leaving its rock-hard exterior bearing down on him.

He ran. Levi turned and sprinted to the right, running for all he was worth. Claws, he could dodge. They were fairly easy to predict, especially with his skills. But this was the first tunnel all over again, except this boulder could move, and as he ran the armadillo turned, somehow able to follow him in its rolled-up state. As it neared him, the folds of its shell suddenly compacted, pulling together and digging into the ground, accelerating it toward him in a burst of speed.

Sand flew wildly, and Levi barely managed to dive to the side, sliding face first into the sand to avoid being crushed. He watched in terror as the boss slammed into the wall, the chamber shaking violently, torches sputtering, almost going out from the kinetic energy transferred to the cavern.

He was screwed. Barely even phased, the boss unfurled itself before turned and facing him once more. Levi scrambled to his feet, fleeing for his life as he felt the vibrations in the sand as the boss started its charge anew. What followed was a dangerous game of cat and mouse, or perhaps wrecking ball and mouse. At least with the crocogator there was the potential to counter attack after it finished lunging, a small window of weakness to exploit. While he technically could try and attack it after it crashed into the wall, Levi didn’t want to be anywhere near it when that happened, as the shockwave would likely blow him off his feet, leaving him stunned and in range of its deadly claws.

He needed a plan. Levi’s first thought was to try and go for the crystal, as that might make the boss disappear, or maybe at least lose some of its power. But the crystal was situated high up on the wall, and while he thought he could climb up there eventually, there was no way he was getting up there with the boss attempting to turn him into a pancake. That left him precious few options, options that were steadily growing smaller as the boss seemed to get more adept at reading his movements, timing its speed boost in the optimal way to catch him off guard.

Left with no good options, Levi decided he needed to act. Normally when the boss charged at him he dodged left or right, letting it bypass him and ram into the wall. This time, he ran straight towards the wall, the rapidly rolling rock-like creature rocketing towards him with a rumbling roar. The timing was tricky, but luckily Levi timed it correctly, accounting for its speed boost, and as it was bearing down on him he jumped, running up the wall before jumping backwards, sailing through the air over the armadillo’s back as it crashed into the wall.

He stuck an awkward landing, but he had done it. He had successfully dodged its charge. Levi turned, ready to lay into the beast, getting in as much damage as he could before it recovered. But he had forgotten one thing, and as he neared the rear of the armadillo he suddenly found himself flying, smacked by its tail, soaring through the air before colliding with the far cavern wall.