Josh sighed. He watched Ruth continue on to the next two pockets for a moment. Watching her maneuver with her hammer was interesting. She had reversed the gravity for it as well, so she could properly use her techniques to smash the stone ceiling. It still likely would have been easier if he had jumped up and used his [Smash] technique with his [Hands-Free Crafting] spell.

Once the third pocket in the stone proved empty of anything useful, Josh jutted his chin farther west. “There's something that way, maybe forty meters.”

“All right. Any idea what it is?”

“Nope,” Josh said with a pop. “My aura couldn't poke through it. Just a big... blank area.”

Darius turned to give him his full attention. “Do you mean a large cavern?”

Josh shook his head. “I can sense that. My aura covers the area, and I feel that it's empty. You know what I mean, right? You normally run a Healer, you've had auras before.”

“Support auras feel different,” Darius said, which Josh had to admit was true. “Still, yes, I understand your meaning. This was different?”

He nodded. “My aura hit a blank wall. I feel like it might be something.”

“I agree.” The last pocket collapsed in another shower of dust. Ruth flipped back down to the floor of the tunnel a moment later. She shook her head. “It seems that we have nothing better to do.”

They walked west through the tunnels at a casual pace. Josh hadn't sensed any more monsters in this direction, but that was no reason to rush. With the winding tunnels, it took them almost an hour to get through what should have taken ten minutes.

There was a large cavern, but Josh was quick to assure everyone that it wasn't what he had sensed. It was a big, oblong chamber, and Ruth had to carve a few more light runes in order to illuminate a reasonable chunk of the area. It was clearly a natural feature instead of carved by monsters. An underground river ran down the side and disappeared out one corner. Stalagmites and stalactites speckled the cavern like the teeth of a monster, and the stone was smooth with the erosion of ages.

Josh might have said something about that. Given a long whistle and said something about the majesty of the natural world. He had been working on a rock pun ever since they got down here, but hadn't quite gotten one he thought would work. Something about “boring tunnels” didn't hit right.

He might have said something about that, but he was distracted by two things: The dungeon, and the horde of monsters.

Josh recognized the wall of the dungeon immediately. It was seamless white stone and covered the entire wall of the cavern, as if some massive spear had been stuck down into the earth. It was seamless, but not featureless. It was covered in runes and circles of power. That itself was strange enough. You normally only saw the glowing lines on the inside of a dungeon. He didn't know why they would be visible from the outside, but it was still unmistakable.

The floor of the cave was covered in the writhing forms of monsters, chattering and barking at each other even as they roiled like an ocean. There were too many for Josh to get a solid look at any one of them. He spotted a handful of mushrooms like they had seen earlier, as well as small furry things that might be rodents, and shelled things that he couldn't even guess at.

Of course, even the “small” things were at least half the size of Ruth. Their green, moss-like fur made them blur together more than a little, but he was more used to monsters than he would ever like to admit. He had seen hordes like this before. Usually, you only saw them outside a dungeon like this right before the reset. When the Tower was at its weakest, and everything escaped to raid the countryside.

His heart pounded in his chest so hard that he swore he could feel it slamming against his rib cage. If monsters could escape their dungeons before the end of the season, then everything changed. They would have no idea how long the dragon would be trapped in the dungeon. Was this how the elf had received his orders? Was it out even now, just waiting for the right moment to attack?

“This isn't right,” Darius whispered. Even so, Josh felt as though his voice was echoing around the entire chamber.

“Yeah,” Josh said, even quieter. “No kidding.”

Ruth shivered. “They're not supposed to be able to escape.”

Darius looked between them. “What?” he said, sounding genuinely confused. “No, the horde is clearly from the previous reset.” He waved a hand. “They got trapped in this cave, and with no humans around only a few were pushed out enough to explore. I imagine this horde has been building up for a few years now.”

“...okay,” Josh said. “That's, well, that's a weight off my shoulders, I'll admit that for free. But then what's the problem?”

Darius pointed at the dungeon behind the horde. “That is not supposed to be here. Dungeons don't go down this low. Not even close. Every dungeon I have ever heard of starts on the surface, and doesn't go down more than a hundred feet at most. Usually less. They tend to spread wide, not far. Something is very wrong here.”

“Okay,” Josh said again. “Why? Why can't a dungeon spawn underground?”

“Is this the time?” Darius asked incredulously. He jerked his head at the horde. They seemed to be asleep, or at least not actively searching for enemies.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“The quick version, yeah?” Josh wasn't actually all that worried about the horde. They still had their grenades, and they could easily retreat into the tunnels. In fact, they should probably kill as many as they could before retreating. They'd be lower-level than the four of them and thus not worth much experience, but it seemed the stragglers had been picking off delvers.

Darius stared at him for a moment, then sighed. “Dungeons form around rifts,” he said slowly. “Rifts form at intersections of human will. Generally, that means near towns, but not directly inside their territory.” He waved his hand at the dungeon. “That does not fit the pattern.”

Josh nodded. “So, what do we do about it?”

“What do we do!?” Darius was almost screeching, despite still whispering. It would have almost been funny, if not for the real threat of awakening the horde.

“Yes,” Josh said patiently. “This is a clear and present danger to our town. What should we do about it?”

That calmed Darius down. He looked at Ruth, who gave him a beaming smile, waiting for his answer. He looked at Beor, who just returned a blank stare. Finally, he looked back to Josh, who gave him a go on motion. Josh did have some ideas of his own, but he figured it was best to let Darius work things out.

“We retreat,” Darius said at last. “We have grenades, but not enough. This threat has been here for a while. I suspect it's grown worse because the chamber is overflowing, and more monsters are being forced out into the tunnels. Still, it isn't an existential threat in the next five minutes. We can return to town, talk to Anna and Mary, and bring down experts armed to the teeth.”

Josh smiled at that. “Better than a crafter, a bureaucrat, a wrestler, and a girl with a hammer.”

“Exactly.” Darius actually managed a smile and a chuckle. “Besides, I think Mary might actually kill us if we tried to do this without her.”

The very moment he said that, there was a flash of light. Four people appeared in the cavern, next to what appeared to be a completely unremarkable bit of the dungeon wall. That meant they were right in the middle of the horde, materializing in a swirl of white light that was absolutely impossible to miss.

Josh recognized Mary immediately, and Anna was right next to her. The two other people were dressed head to toe in leather armor, and one was almost eight feet tall. He didn't know exactly what was going on, and the whole group seemed almost as surprised as Josh's team. In fact, even the horde of monsters seemed surprised.

For a moment.

There was a rodent-like shriek loud enough to shake the air, and then the horde began to fall upon the newcomers. Mary started firing her guns and Anna swung her twinblade almost as quickly. Josh saw one of the strangers pull out knives seemingly from thin air, and the giant glowed with magical might.

It wouldn't be enough. It wouldn't be nearly enough.

“Ruth!” Josh barked. “Grenades!” He ripped one off his belt, primed it, and then threw it into a part of the horde that was a little away from Mary's team. The others followed suit. His, Beor's, and Darius' grenades all made satisfying dents in the horde, but Ruth's exploded at just the right spot in the air to inflict maximum damage.

It still wasn't enough. So they kept throwing grenades. It felt like they were trying to empty a lake by throwing rocks at it, but they did have some effect. A significant portion of the horde peeled off and came screaming towards them, taking some of the pressure off of Mary's team. Which was probably the best they could hope for.

As the horde got closer, Josh could better differentiate the monsters flowing towards them like a wave. He focused on the front-runner, a lean dog-like monster with fur the color of green moss, a snarling face, and a short tail. It took him a moment to realize it was a dog, of a sort.

Cynomys Burrow Runner Level 15 Monster Oh, this is a fun one. Most monsters of this family focus on digging and building up their burrows. However, most of the ones you see here came from a dungeon, and there's not much that they can actually dig in a dungeon, so they ended up focusing on physical speed and strength instead. This guy is just about to evolve again. Maybe after it kills you, it will decide to evolve into something better at digging!

It was a prairie dog, easily four times the size of a normal one. At level 15, it was less than half his level, and if he was facing a small group, he would laugh at the idea that it would be a threat. But with a horde this size, he'd be worried even if they were all level 1. All their low level meant was that they wouldn't be getting a reasonable amount of experience for killing them.

He threw out an [Empty Chop], splitting it and a couple other nearby monsters in half. One monster survived. It was a pangolin, and honestly didn't look that different from the normal version. He almost thought it was a natural animal before he scanned it.

Pholidotan Roller Level 12 Monster Yeah, it rolls into a ball and charges at you. They're interesting if you fight them when they're alone or in small groups, but in a mixed horde like this? Nah, they can't build up any momentum. Their hide makes them tough, at least.

Sometimes he didn't know whether the System wanted to get them all killed or not. And was it just him, or were these descriptions getting less useful? He felt like when he was a kid, the descriptions included actual combat abilities and potential weaknesses instead of just snark. Maybe it was just nostalgia.

He didn't bother using his art again on this one, instead slamming down his ax. It wasn't a real technique, and he still hadn't put any of his points in Strength, but he was a big guy with a lot of weight to throw around. The ax split the monster's armor, killing it instantly. He yanked the weapon out just as another monster leaped at him, and his shroud manifested to stop it.

Suricatta Leaper Level 20 Monster You just have to piss off the biggest one in the swarm, don't you? You have a Defender, they're supposed to be the ones pulling aggro. Anyway, as you may have guessed, this is a meerkat. Normally, they don't jump at people. This guy is kind of a weirdo. Don't think too much about it, you get weirdos in every breed. This one gave up his ability to dig for more jumping. He might switch back at his next evolution. Assuming, of course, his life is not tragically cut short by a Crafter who is lying about his identity to almost everyone.

Josh's eye twitched. Okay. These notes were getting a little too targeted for his tastes. Still, he unleashed another couple [Empty Chops] to clear out the monsters that didn't come with armor. Then Ruth came in and slammed her hammer down on an armadillo.

She was immediately beset by more monsters, climbing up her back and trying to bite through her shroud. Before she could be overwhelmed, Josh stepped up and started peeling them off, then throwing them away. He didn't trust his aim to use an [Empty Chop] while they were on her.