I couldn't hold back my tears from relief. When I got caught inside the keep I was sure that I'd have to fight for her life. I thought she could make my escape but the man, Michael, had seen through the trick and caught me by surprise. Of course, I knew how the other races looked and he didn't fit any of them besides the vampires but I had a hopeful thought that maybe I could talk with him and convince him to let me go.

But reality proved to be very different. In a lot of ways, he was like me and was also here against his will. But compared to how scared I was about the entire experience he had this aura of defiance. Just hearing him talk set me at ease about the whole situation. Maybe that was also why I got swept up in this whole idea of clearing a dungeon. He talked with such confidence that it was hard to not get excited about it.

But the closer we got to the dungeon the more apprehensive I became. Like usual I was beginning to doubt myself. My mother told me that I should be more self-assured and assertive in life and not be one of the flock. Maybe that was part of why I did the stupid thing of joining the tournament for their freedom. A halm of grass to grasp on to in a situation I couldn't controle.

Before I even noticed we already made it back to the entrance of the dark tunnel. With practical ease, Michael lit a torch he had brought from the keep and motioned for me to come along. He asked me about some sort of mole fight but I hadn't fought anything inside of the tunnel. All too soon we came to a split in the tunnel I had missed on my trip since the bracelet didn't illuminate that much of the cave. He stepped to the side to let me pass but any sense of bravado left her the further I got away from him and the light.

"You promise that it's a Beginner dungeon," I asked while swallowing at the sight of the now even darker tunnel. A slight nod was his only response. I looked from him to the tunnel and back again. I tried to be brave about it but I couldn't help myself.

"I'm afraid to go alone. Will you come with me?" I hated how that question made me sound weak and pleading. He seemed to only take a second to decide or maybe he'd already prepared for her meek response.

"You'll be here when I come out again, right?"

"Yes, I'll wait for you right here while you're clearing the dungeon, " he assured me.

I balled my fists and stepped through. When I looked back I could still see him sitting with his back against the wall next to his backpack. he had told me I could only exit after the first fight so I slowly made my way forward. Michael had assured me that there wouldn't be any traps and that he'd thoroughly checked himself going forward but I was still carefully placing my feet.

I soon came upon the area he had called an arena in the middle of the egg clusters. I swallowed at the thought of the pull that was coming in soon. Just like Michael had told me it was milder than usual. When I was in position I checked his so-called "field effect area". Just like he told me there were the effects for the spawning spiders.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to center myself. I wish I hadn't but I let out a shriek when I opened my eyes again at the sudden appearance of the first spider. I felt my heart was going to jump from my chest and I placed my free left hand on it. After another few deep breaths, I was able to look at my cards.

I had a normal (1/1) wolf, both of my Proud wolves (2/3), and the matriarch (1/3). I played the only option I had in the normal wolf opposite the spider. Michael had given me the 'down low' and in great detail told me how each fight would play out. While I was lost in thought, the spider and wolf killed each other. It was still a bit unsettling how the violence was so graphical.

I got another (1/1) wolf for my second turn and another spider popped up. I didn't look properly before I played my card and instead of a proud wolf I played the matriarch instead. Even though I picked the front slot it automatically went into the back slot. I looked my matriarch over again and maybe it was because of the rearguard ability. I was shaken from my musing when the spider jumped onto the matriarch's back and bit down on her neck. She let out a howl of pain and the air became heavy. With a bright flash, lightning arched across the matriarch and fried the still-attached spider. A crispy spider corpse fell to the ground a moment later. After my fumble, I paid extra attention to which card I played and the fight soon ended when all the spiders had died.

VICTORY!

You have cleared the first room.

You can claim your rewards and leave the dungeon or press on for additional rewards.

Each dungeon can only be challenged once.

Claim / Continue

We had talked it over beforehand and while Michael was extremely confident in my abilities, he had made me promise that I would at least clear the left-side guardian to get a ring. With slight trepidation, I continued on through the dungeon.

The zombie man fell to the floor and gathered up his cards again when the second battle began. Michael told me the trick was to observe where the zombie looked when playing his cards and then play mine accordingly. It took me a few seconds to figure out how that exactly worked and I wasn't a hundred percent sure I made the right choice but luckily I did and my wolf fought his zombie elf. The bloated and putrid zombie made me slightly gag but my wolves quickly finished it off. Only a few rounds later the fight was over and I had cleared another room.

I entered the hidden room I was told to check out but I only found an empty box. I'd have to tell Michael about it when I got outside but he'd probably ask me about it so the chance that I'd forget was very small.

The statue room sent shivers down my spine. I wasn't afraid of spiders but this was just a very scary place to be. On Michael's advice, I picked the left room. While he'd described it pretty accurately the sight of the very very large spider was one you needed to experience firsthand to make sense of it all. The strategy I was told to use would always be to place the matriarch in front of what I wanted to kill and then keep filling the vanguard slot until it died. The only time I shouldn't do that was if the Matriach would survive the attack and I needed to block another creature to not lose life points. Unfortunately, I didn't draw her this fight. The giant spider gradually lost more health points each round and it was very straightforward to beat it.

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I´d cleared all of what Michael had called the easy rooms. He told me to do the left room first for the equipment reward. Since I had a flawless victory he assumed I´d get a choice option. I now had a choice to make between stopping now or pushing onwards. We'd gone over both fights and while the fourth room would be a bit more technical I was confident that I could beat it.

The further in I went the more uncertain I became. The tunnel covered in spider silk was getting to me in a creepy kind of way. The feeling didn't get any better when the guardian popped out of her spider silk house. I felt my stomach tie in a knot when I spotted the egg clusters on her back. It was too late to turn back now so I would just have to power through this fight.

I had a very good opening hand with two (1/1) wolves, a (2/3) proud wolf, and my (3/5) pack leader. I played a wolf and while it clamped around the spider's leg it was bitten to death in return. I drew another (1/1) wolf for the second turn and played both of them to fight the guardian and her (1/1) spawn.

for the third turn, I drew another (1/1). This was perfect since I could now play both it and the proud wolf. Since the proud wolf had three health points it survived the spider's counterattack. My common wolf fought against a common (2/2) spider which wasn't so great since there would now be three spiders on the field.

The fourth round started and I lightly panicked when my proud wolf suddenly died. The guardian only had two attack points and my wolf survived the attack. I inspected the guardian again and noticed the venomous tag. It had poisoned my wolf and that's why it died. I felt my eyes begin to tear up. It was a silly reason to cry since I had all my life points but I felt like I lost because my lack of attention caught me off guard.

Luckily, I had three cards in my hand since I drew another wolf card and my deck box had given me another one from the five tokens. Since the token didn't cost any crystals to play I was able to block all three spiders with my pack leader fighting the guardian. At the end of the round, it spawned another (2/2) spider but it was also the last round since my pack leader would kill off the guardian and I'd draw another card. I let out a big sigh of relief as the fight ended. I quickly found the second crystal and made it back to the statue chamber.

I took a minute and had a drink while I calmed my nerves. I was afraid of the giant spider I was told about but I had to face my fears and take risks if I wanted to see this through to the end. Other participants wouldn´t be as forgiven as Michael had been. They´d attack me on sight and show no hesitation or restraint. I put the gems into the statues and made my way into the final room.

Michael had warned me and I had tried to picture it in my mind as best as I could but the massive spider still scared me to death when I appeared and I shrieked like a banshee when it did. Michael had been very thorough in his explanation of this fight. My priority was the legs. The quicker I took them out the faster I could focus on the head.

My opening hand was two wargs (1/1), a wolf (1/1), and my matriarch (1/3). I blocked the first leg with one of the wargs. In the second round, I got another warg and played that together with another warg to block off the head and the other leg. In the third round, I drew a proud wolf which I used to block the first leg again. The two damage would be enough to take it out and my last wolf was enough to kill the other leg in the next round since it wouldn't attack this round. I got another token wolf which I also played to attack the head since it would last two rounds.

For the fourth round, I only played my matriarch behind the token wolf. Since another vanguard would immediately die this round I should play it the next round according to Michael. My token got spat on and turned into a puddle of mush on the ground which I had to look away from. The head was now only on three points of life and I played two wolf cards opposite it and with the buff from the matriarch the giant spider head retreated back into the darkness. I sagged to my knees in relief as I won the battle. It had been nerve-wracking but I had won all the fights and I hoped Michael would be proud of me. The sudden thought made me blush and I felt the heat on my face.

A number of screens popped up and I started to claim my rewards. From the second room, I picked the bloated zombie card, I chose the minor ring of stone from the third room, the fourth room gave me a spider egg card, and the fifth room was an uncommon card pack. I ripped it open like unwrapping a birthday present as a kid.

The first card was a common (1/1) Lizardman card, the second card was a common (1/1) spider card, and the third card made me smile since it was an uncommon wolf card. It had the colour of dark earth and its coat seemed very solid.

Earthfur wolf 2

Beast - Wolf, Pack of earth

Block (1)

Attack 2 Health 2

The fourth card was also uncommon but it was another Lizardman card so it wouldn't be of use to me, unfortunately.

Repta scout 1

Scalekin - Chamelos

Attack 1 Health 1

Ten minutes later I was back at the entrance and I was relieved to see that Michael was still sitting there. I stepped out of the dungeon and waved at him.