“Let’s just head to the cave entrance, for now, we’ll figure out what all the buildings are for later,” Gary said as we walked between the large stone buildings outside of the cave entrance. The sun had just come up and there were a few other teams of hobgoblins walking towards the dungeon as well. We continued down the path until we reached the large cave entrance, passing by a few large training yards just outside of the cave.

“That’s a lot of hobgoblins, why aren’t they in the dungeon?” Gabrielle asked breathlessly as we walked into the crowded cave. I could see dozens of small groups of warriors resting inside the cave, although a few groups were waiting to enter the three dungeon portals at the back of the chamber.

“We’ll see, let’s get in line and see what information we can find out,” Zack headed towards one of the portals and I followed behind as I studied the other groups in the cave. I saw a few more of the Duergar spread across the room, but the room was full of hobgoblins; they seemed to make up most of the Warband from what I had seen. Although everyone here seemed strong, no one gave off an aura like chief Duskar or the mage who captured us.

The portal we moved towards had four groups waiting in front of it and a few attendants sitting at a table in front of it. We settled into line a few meters away from the group of hobgoblins waiting in front of us. A few minutes passed before a group of Duergar came out of the dungeon portal. The next party spoke with the attendant shortly and then headed inside. The group stayed inside the portal for about ten minutes before they came out, sweating and with fresh blood scattered around their enchanted equipment.

“It must be a large group of monsters at the start, for everyone to leave so quickly,” I mused quietly as we moved up another spot in line. Another few groups had fallen in behind us and I thought I had figured out the system. A group would challenge the dungeon, then rest around the portal until their Essence recovered before getting up to fight again. If this dungeon was that challenging and we were able to constantly drain our Essence from fighting we would be able to advance faster than we ever had before, here.

“Definitely,” Garry nodded agreeably. “I think we’ll be defending our position near the portal until we run out of Essence and have to retreat, but we can’t make a plan until we know what we’re up against.” A few minutes later we found ourselves waiting in front of the drow elf seated at the desk by the portal.

“Humans, are you new to the dungeon?” the drow elf asked while she nonchalantly studied each of us.

“It’s our first time here,” Gary replied cautiously.

“Well, welcome,” the woman spread her arms grandly with a smile, “only the finest dungeons in Ascended Skorv’s territory,” she laughed. “The Demon’s Wasteland is a very good training ground for Bronze Awakened, such as yourselves. The demons have various forms and will rush you mindlessly as soon as you descend from the portal.”

“Thank you for warning us,” Zack nodded to the drow elf and I thought about what she said while we waited. We should be able to hold our position with Gary’s Fortress and Gabrielle’s Wall of Flames skill, at least until their Essence ran out.

“I can have someone join your team during your first attempt if you’d like?” The drow elf asked a couple of minutes later.

“No, we’ll be all right,” Gabrielle replied coldly. I sighed softly and exchanged a disappointed glance with Gary before he shook his head lightly. The drow elf nodded casually and soon after the team exited the portal in front of us.

“Good luck, don’t go far from the portal,” the woman gestured towards the glowing dungeon portal.

“Let’s go,” I said excitedly before leading my team towards it. I could see the anticipation on everyone's faces and I knew everyone had to be looking forward to using their new enchanted equipment, like me. I cast Barkskin on all of us as we waited for a step away from the portal, and I had over three-quarters of my Essence remaining.

“Time to see what we can do,” Zack grinned and held up his steel mace, enchanted with Lesser Strength. Gary headed through the portal at Zack’s side and I followed through a moment after.

I gasped as I entered a dungeon far different from any we had been in before. We were in the center of a flat plain, full of cracked earth and thousands of monsters in every direction. Everything I could see was a dark shade of red, including the sun hanging low in the sky. We stood on a small hill beside the dungeon portal, but a short walk down the hill monsters were scattered in every direction around us.

“Is this even a dungeon?” I asked hesitantly to the rest of my team.

“We’ll discuss the dungeon later, let’s move before they start grouping up at the base of the hill,” Gary spoke up before anyone else. “Let’s clear out an area as soon as we get down there. Zack can set up a barrier to protect our sides while we handle a few at a time after we thin them out.”

“All right, I’ll cast a meteor once we’re close,” Gabrielle responded seriously. We dropped our packs by the portal and started down the side of the short hill. I studied the demons as we got closer and saw that although their forms varied greatly, most of them were about the size of a goblin. The demons fought each other everywhere we looked and I saw bigger ones in the distance rampaging through the smaller ones that filled the dungeon.

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

Gabrielle sent a Meteor into the packed demons that had started to gather at the base where we were descending to. The explosion killed dozens of the small monsters and I rushed into the gap.

“Thornbolt,” I sent a thorn through a snarling demon’s skull as it dashed towards me. Zack was pushing further out from the hill while Gary was clearing out the monsters to one side and I quickly spun to face the opposite direction. A few arrows and Fireballs helped clear out a few of the larger groups and I charged a lone demon with a stab. The demon dropped to all fours and my strike barely cut the monster's shoulder. I backed up cautiously as I pulled my spear back and the monster flew forward to slam into my chest. The demon scratched wildly at my brigandine and I hurriedly shoved the lighter creature off me and slashed through its neck. They were weak and easy to kill but incredibly quick.

“Fortress,” Zack brought thick walls up from the ground to block both of our sides and I turned to face the only opening besides the hill behind us. He left a large gap up front, wide enough for two or three of us to hold easily.

“I’ll hold with Zack, stay close and ready to support,” Gary called over his shoulder as I jogged up. I stopped a few paces behind them beside Aaron and Gabrielle and started sending Thornbolts into any demon that got close. The demons were rushing us so fast that I was able to kill almost a dozen of the charging demons before Gabrielle sent another meteor over Zack and Gary to give us a moment to breathe.

“I’ll join upfront,” I moved towards the edge of the opening quickly before the demons could group up and rush us again.

“Bigger one heading towards us,” Aaron shouted before a barrage of Drill Shots went flying into the towering demon. I didn’t have time to study it as I focused on shoving one demon back with my shield and stabbing another through the chest. I cast a Thornbolt to finish off the one I stabbed and slashed the other across the throat.

“Snaring Roots,” I turned to face the front and saw the dark red, hulking demon taking leaping steps towards us. I sent roots crashing up through the rocky floor to grab the demon's heels as it touched the ground. The monster crashed into the ground face-first and Gary charged forwards with a skill. I turned to face the mass of demons and cast Thornbolt as quickly as I could without worrying about my fastly draining Essence. I glanced towards Zack and Gary and saw them facing a second of the larger demons, the first one on the floor and being used as a platform by the smaller demons.

“Nearly out,” I heard Zack shout while I swung my spear in an arc to buy some room. I was close to running out as well and I steadily started walking backward while striking the growing group of demons where I could.

“Wall of Flames,” Gabrielle cast and blocked off the gap with flames as tall as me.

“Keep moving back!” Gary yelled while I fought the monsters in front of me. I bashed two of the jumping demons with my shield and jogged back. I saw Aaron standing a few meters up the hill shooting at the demons chasing behind me and quickly sprinted up to join the rest of my team. The demons stopped chasing once we started moving up the hill and I slowed to a walk shakily as I tried to let the adrenaline drain out of my body. I had enough Essence to cast one more Thornbolt, and barely that much, although we had only been fighting for four or five minutes, I thought.

“That was a rush,” Aaron grinned at me and continued, “I can’t even imagine how you're supposed to beat this dungeon.”

I shook my head, “Well, we did just reach E-rank, or early Bronze, I guess.” I followed Gary out of the dungeon portal and found myself back in the large chamber with the drow elf looking at me with a smile.

“Good job, humans,” the woman nodded before turning to speak with the next group heading towards the dungeon portal behind us.

“Come on,” Gary led us to an empty area along the wall of the cave and we all took a seat. “Good work, everyone. Before we got all of this enchanted gear I doubt we would have lasted nearly as long in that dungeon. I think we handled it pretty well, good job-saving Essence for a Wall of Flames at the end, Gabrielle. I was completely out after that second big demon, I could barely pierce its hide, even with Impale.”

“This place is incredible,” Zack shook his head with a smile, “and yeah, my two Lesser Spirit enchants are the only reason I could hold my Fortress up for so long.”

“Drill Shot reached level nine during that fight,” Aaron grinned. “This new bow is unbelievable. I could kill those smaller demons in one shot, without a skill. It would have taken me a Drill Shot for every one of them if I had my old bow.” I nodded as I thought over how my new spear had performed during the fight. I was able to stab the demons as if they were as tough as a hobgoblin, but I could tell from when they struck me that they were much tougher.

“No wonder Satar is so weak compared to the Warband if they have places like this to train,” Gabrielle said with a frown.

“Yeah, I’m not too worried about the month-long wait to enter the Depths, anymore,” I laughed. “How long will your Essence take to recover, Zack?”

“A little over an hour, I think,” Zack replied after a moment. I was surprised but I realized my Willpower was likely a good amount higher than his so it made sense for it to take him so much longer. We had some small cuts from the demon's claws in the gaps between our armor and I cast Rejuvenation on each of us while we waited for everyone to recover. As we waited I pulled up my status curiously.

Eli - Lvl 5 Druid

Experience - 4010\10000

Strength-11

Dexterity-14 (12+2)

Perception-10

Vitality-11

Spirit-18 (14+4)

Willpower-14

Barkskin - Level 8\10 Upgradeable

Experience - 7020\12800

Thornbolt - Level 6\20 Upgradeable

Experience - 3390\6400

Rejuvenation - Level 5\10 Upgradeable

Experience - 3180\3200

Snaring Roots - Level 4\10 Upgradeable

Experience - 460\1600

I gained three hundred experience from one run through the dungeon, and we had the rest of the week to fight it. I tried to do some math in my head to figure out how much experience we would earn and ended up confusing myself. It didn’t matter, I could tell we were about to advance faster than we ever had before.