Serenity caught himself with a step backwards. He’d deflected the strike instead of trying to block it, but it was clear that his opponent was stronger than Serenity - significantly stronger. Serenity didn’t have time to Analyze him to find out his Tier, but it was definitely higher than Serenity’s.

He was clearly recently possessed, but it seemed that he wasn’t weakened by it. If anything, he was growing stronger, even as Serenity pulled Death energy away from him. It was closer than it probably should have been, but Serenity wasn’t going to win this one if nothing changed. “Cheating is always an option,” he muttered as he stepped backwards and moved into a position to easily respond to attacks.

The best trick Serenity had available was Eat Death, but it wasn’t enough on his own. That was one of the advantages of an Aspect Form: it would supercharge any related abilities. His wasn’t available yet - he wasn’t high enough level - but he knew a trick. His Time Affinity had always been marginal for it, barely able to fool Time for a few levels’ worth or a single battle, but Serenity’s SpaceTime Affinity was much, much better.

It would take some time to set up the braid, but all he had to do was twist time here and weave it backwards there and flip it around his body-

The braid of Time fell together naturally. It was like he was doing something he’d practiced dozens of times. It still took long enough that Serenity could have been hit, but his opponent seemed puzzled when Serenity stopped moving and didn’t attack for several crucial seconds. Serenity suppressed his surprise as he felt the braid fall together and his opponent roared in triumph.

Serenity triggered his Adept Aspect Form using his Incarnate of Death and felt all of the Death mana surrounding himself pulled into his Eat Death ability. It then slid into the Aspect Form, allowing him to keep the Form running longer.

It was good to know that Eat Death could be used to fuel any Death-based ability, but it was even better to see the shadows of Death surrounding his opponent and his opponent’s sword shiver apart, turn into mana, and fuel their own destruction. Serenity struck out at the dead man, but even though he hit it didn’t do much. Whoever this was, he’d been higher Tier - probably Tier 3 or Tier 4 - and physically oriented at that. His gear reflected that Tier, at least, and a simple hit from Serenity wasn’t going to do much to it.

The possessed man lunged forward. His sword sliced through Serenity’s armor at his side, but Serenity didn’t feel anything other than a drain on his Death mana. At this moment, he was made of Death mana - that was what an Aspect Form was, after all - so as long as he had Death mana, injuries didn’t mean much.

He wasn’t going to run out of Death mana here. The entire dungeon was filled with it.

The problem with the skill was its limited duration; while he might not run out of mana, he would eventually run out of the stamina needed to fuel it. If he had more time, the right move would be a slow, drawn-out battle. Get close, weaken the enemy progressively.

Instead, he needed to take the initiative. He could take risks, since the only damage that would be done was to his equipment, and it could repair itself.

Serenity stepped to the side, readying a large strike. He needed to get his enemy to create an opening, and the best opening would come when the man thought he couldn’t take it. He shifted his grip on his weapon and deliberately bobbled it.

His opponent roared and lunged forward, most of the way into Serenity’s enhanced aura, and even his body began to fail. He still struck a nasty blow on Serenity’s midsection, but once again Serenity felt nothing other than a temporarily increased mana draw as his nearly incorporeal form pulled itself back together behind the sword. The blow wasn’t as strong as it should have been, and it pulled his attacker slightly off balance.

That was enough for Serenity to sweep the butt of his naginata into his opponent’s legs and drop him the rest of the way to the ground. Now that he was next to Serenity, Serenity could focus on pulling the Death mana out of the corpse.

He had to prevent it from rising a couple of times, but it grew progressively weaker and easier to subdue. The fight took longer than Serenity wanted, but eventually the body started to dissipate into dust and Serenity turned his attention to the back of the room.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

This fight wouldn’t be over until he dealt with the Dungeon Core, and if the Core was producing creatures that could possess people, it was not a Core that was worth saving. For all that defeating the enemies could give decent Death-based treasure and sometimes the goods other adventurers had taken into the Dungeon, the experience tended to be poor compared to the danger - and the danger was high. If a group trusted each other, they’d hesitate to attack a possessed ally even if the ally was dead - and if they didn’t trust each other, it was an even faster death sentence.

There were exceptions, of course, but they were all Kept dungeons where the dungeon core could be kept within bounds and used as a training tool. Blackthorn Academy had one of that type. It would release people if they were sufficiently hurt - but Serenity doubted this one would.

The Death energy here reminded him of a nasty trick he’d used himself: fueling a spell with death. In this case, using a person’s death to power the spells trapping their abilities and possibly their mind. The magic wasn’t well developed; it was slow and seemed to have trouble adapting. The puppets didn’t act like real people, they acted like puppets.

Serenity was uncertain how much of the original person was left. Probably not much, though there seemed to be more in the one he was fighting now - the one with a hole in its chest - than the one that looked like animated armor or the apparent mummy. Those two had moved slowly and jerkily, like a movie monster zombie. They’d also fallen quickly and easily when he pulled the Death mana away from them. There hadn’t been much to drain.

He’d already pulled more away from this one than the other two combined, and it hadn’t slowed down yet. Serenity suspected there was a singular controller that had trouble concentrating on multiple things; he should have left the other two up and made it split its attention, but he hadn’t known.

The magic used on this one must have been better, as well. It almost looked like the man had done it to himself, which would fit the dungeon’s “Possessive” type. That might explain the improved magic; someone sacrificing themself was usually stronger than someone whose life was being stolen, because they fought for you instead of against you. Serenity knew several variants on the magic, but it wasn’t a method Serenity wanted anyone else to know.

It was a sort of Death magic that seemed to come naturally to people from Earth, but which was very rare elsewhere. But then, Earth had an extremely unusual connection to Death. Serenity wasn’t sure if the same mindset applied to other magic. There was a good chance it did, but he’d never known or cared. What mattered was that tricks that seemed obvious were strange and new to the outside universe.

Serenity pulled his thoughts away from his past and headed towards the back of the room. He had limited time, even with the strong Death energy extending it. Shadows filled the back of the room, and as Serenity stepped up to them, he saw that they had an actual physical presence, almost like a gel.

It didn’t matter; they were made of solidified Death mana, and Serenity’s aura pulled them apart almost as fast as he could walk into them. He headed for behind the throne; that was the most likely place for a Core.

He didn’t see anything until he turned around. There wasn’t a pedestal or a passage into another room; instead, the dungeon crystal was set into a hollow in the back of the throne.

Serenity picked it up, expecting it to break as he pulled Death mana off of it, but it didn’t. He tried to squeeze it, but it resisted his strength. Serenity wasn’t sure how hard Cores were to break - the only times he’d ever traveled into a Dungeon intending to destroy the Core, it was with a specialist. This was much, much harder than a level crystal.

He swung the Core against the back of the Throne and it rang a low tone, but it still didn’t even start to splinter.

Until it was broken, it could spawn monsters unless he took it out of the Dungeon, and Serenity was about to pass out when his Adept Aspect Form skill ended. He was almost out of stamina, and that would end the skill even though he still had mana available.

He wasn’t sure he’d trust this Core, even out of the Dungeon. He’d never heard of a Core that could do anything other than be used as a power source until it broke once it was removed from a Dungeon, unless the rumors about some Paths using them to set up new Dungeons was true. Even the rumors meant he couldn’t trust the Core to be safe without destroying it.

Well, he’d been eating level crystals in the Great Tutorial Dungeon, maybe he could eat this to destroy it?

Serenity licked the Dungeon Core. It had no particular flavor, but he didn’t get the impression he couldn’t eat it, so he swallowed it whole.

It felt like eating an entire hot pepper. It was definitely not the hottest pepper out there, but Serenity had never been all that fond of the idea of eating hot peppers without food to go with them.

After a moment, the burn disappeared as though it hadn’t existed, and Serenity felt coolness fill him as he started to pass out.

[Field Dungeon: Last Refuge of the Deathless (Corrupted) - Unrated Special (Death, Undead, Possessive) Conquered]

[Contribution: ...

Everything blurred as Serenity passed out. His last thought was that he hoped the other people present wouldn’t attack while he was unconscious.