The sound of a man screaming roused Charlie from his trancelike state. A vivid, memory-filled dream. At least he assumed they were memories based on Tirille’s chant.

Orb was on the ground next to him. He must’ve rolled out of Charlie’s pocket after the hexes magic got a hold of them. Tirille laid on her side next to them, her face in the dirt.

Orb hovered a few inches from the earth, still waking up. “Charlie, I had the weirdest dream. I think… Geron had a son?”

“I know. I did too.” He looked toward the wall. The screaming had stopped. He didn’t know if that was a good or a bad thing. He crawled to the wall and ran a hand over it, as if he’d be able to find a weak space to crawl through.

Tirille shot up, struggling to catch her breath. Charlie turned around to face her, surprised by her sudden awakening. Her eyes scrambled around the room. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Charlie.

She lifted a hand, studying it as if she was wondering why it had moved on its own before. Why that magic had left her of its own volition.

“I think…I just had an outburst,” she said to no one in particular.

Charlie looked at Orb, who froze, floating in the air.

Only a few feet to Tirille’s right. “Orb! Hide!”

“If I move, she might see me!”

“She’ll see you if you don’t move too!”

Tirille saw Charlie looking past her and turned.

Her eyes locked right on Orb.

She blinked. She leaned in for just a second before scrambling back. Tirille slowly moved toward Charlie, keeping her eye on the floating dungeon core. She was protecting him, Charlie realized. She held her hands out toward Orb in an offensive posture.

Orb floated higher and back several feet. “Charlie, what do we do?” Orb asked.

Charlie looked over his shoulder at the wall that separated them from Geron and the others. He looked up at Tirille, who he didn’t have time to try to communicate with. If she was right, if she just had an outburst, it wouldn’t be long before she passed out. If the memory he’d seen was correct, at least. There wasn’t time for this. He shrieked frantically, and Tirille, in a panic, turned to face him.

“Sorry, Tirille.” He thought. He opened his mouth.

DEVOUR.

Her panicked scream was cut off as Charlie pulled her into his dungeon. He frowned. “Parent, can you keep an eye on her?” he asked.

“Of course. She’s currently isolated within the dungeon. If she begins to pose a threat, I will alert you at once.”

A threat? Charlie wondered. Orb floated up to him. “What are you doing? Now she knows your secret!”

Charlie shook his head. “I don’t care about that right now. Geron needs our help. I’m not leaving them behind. I’m going to beat that monster up and save them.”

“This action is not one I would recommend. That creature is powerful and possesses unique capabilities.”

“I’m with him on this one. We should get out of here. We ditch Tirille in town, find our minions, break Merlin out of jail…well, that part is optional, and then get back on track. We should focus on getting to Arcadeya,” Orb said.

Charlie shook his head. “No. Geron helped us when Merlin got taken away. I’m not leaving him.”

He held a hand up.

Dungeon Manipulation.

The wall didn’t move, or break, as he hoped. “It worked earlier…” Charlie frowned.

“You caught the dungeon unaware before. It wouldn’t have anticipated invasion by another dungeon. But now that it’s aware of your presence, you won’t be able to do so again. If you wish to break down the wall, you’ll need to transport your own material here. Like you do in combat.”

“Hm. Okay, thank you Parent.” Charlie focused on carving out a hole large enough for him to crawl through.

Transfer Dungeon Manipulation!

Charlie aimed the pillar of rock right at the center of the wall’s crater. He thought it would be easier to break through the already weakened portion of the wall. He thought correct. The pillar punctured it, creating a small hole several feet off the ground.

He frowned at that. He couldn’t climb. His mouth twisted to the side. “Hm…Orb come over here.”

Orb joined him, and Charlie scooped him up with his hand, bringing him close.

“Charlie, what are you doing?”

A moment later, Charlie activated his ability again, confident he’d be able to line it up correctly.

A pillar formed under them and rocketed up at an angle to launch them forward. They shot through the opening and into the room like a Charlie sized football. Charlie landed with a thud on the other side.

The pillar disintegrated behind them.

Orb rolled out of his hands and several feet away. “What the heck, man. You could’ve created like a ramp or something, you know? Just crawled right in. But no. Charlie wants to be a torpedo. Also, I can float, you know? You didn’t have to bring me with you.”

Charlie tilted his head. That was a good point.

Oh well, maybe next time.

A wheezy breathing came from behind them. Charlie turned.

It was Geron.

The color drained from Charlie’s face. Geron was the cause of the crater. Or rather, his body was. He’d been flung into the wall at high speed, and then slid down to the ground. His head was only a foot away from where Charlie had come crashing in.

If he’d aimed any lower…

Geron was unconscious. Still breathing, but he looked bad. A trail of blood ran from his open mouth. His crumpled, battered body sat there. Charlie tightened a baby fist and turned to look around the rest of the room. Samantha had apparently managed to rejoin the fight. At least for a while. Scorch marks from her electric attacks marred the ground around her. She’d clearly been forced to use her abilities closely to herself. Her leg was pinned under some debris. She was out cold now. Far to her left, Roan’s face rested on the wall. He seemed to have been thrown as well. The impact had either knocked him out or killed him. Charlie couldn’t tell at his distance. His back curved at an odd angle.

“That cannot be good for his spine…” Orb said.

Charlie’s eyes turned to focus on the creature itself. It was bigger now. It looked even creepier. More demonic than the last time.

But the truly horrifying realization was that Axel had been the one screaming. The creature now held him up to its mouth. His limbs hung loosely under his elevated body. His eyes were empty and soulless, like he wasn’t aware of his surroundings. The creature grated its teeth over him. It had already torn through his clothing, now it slowly ground away at flesh and bone, like it was savoring a treat. It was going to tear through and eat his heart.

Charlie didn’t hesitate for a moment. He focused on his magic. He’d used a pillar twice now. It seemed simplest to do so again here. The pillar rocketed forward from a portal and shot toward the still chewing creature. It impaled the creature in its side, forcing it to fall backward. Axel fell to the ground, landing with a thud. His katana sat useless several feet away from him.

“It’s important that you do not exert all of your power in the middle of a fight, Charlie. I recommend you are mindful of your limits. Preserve your dungeon integrity strategically. Choose your attacks wisely. Dungeon Integrity currently at 85%,” Parent informed him.

“Also, remember that if your dungeon integrity hits 0—”

Charlie nodded his head. He knew what would happen.

Tirille would die. She’d be crushed by the falling debris.

But if he failed to win, or protect all the unconscious party members, they would die too.

The creature didn’t give him much time to think about it. It roared. It was fully healed now and reached down to scoop large balls of earth from the dungeon floor. It looked right at Charlie, flashed its sharp, bloody teeth at him, and then threw its makeshift projectiles.

At the same time, Charlie crafted a hasty defense.

Charlie’s second barrier was still growing when the attack landed. It was just large enough to protect him. But he could feel how fast the dirt that skirted past his barrier was moving. It was enough to hurt, really bad. He hadn’t tested the limits of his rock skin passive. He didn’t know what it was capable of, and he wasn’t excited to find out.

He turned to look at the first barrier and saw it had done its job. Geron’s body was protected. He loosened his control of the shield slowly. Doing his best to sever the connection without the material from his dungeon evaporating like it sometimes did. It worked. Somewhat. The shield clearly softened a bit but didn’t disappear. It wouldn’t hold up for many more attacks, but hopefully it would keep the creature from focusing on Geron. He hoped it might serve as a sort of camouflage. Still, it would be most effective for Charlie to relocate to avoid any collateral damage.

The creature readied another attack, studying the dungeon floor carefully before digging it up.

Charlie started crawling at full speed.

Orb hovered casually beside him. Full speed wasn’t very fast at all for a crawling baby.

“We’ve gotta teach you how to dodge roll.” Orb sighed.

“I’m doing my best!” Charlie said.

He heard the projectile flying before he saw it. An instinctive pillar rose from just behind him and pushed him forward several feet. He landed on his head and rolled over onto his back. The attack hadn’t hit him, but he’d only barely dodged.

“Charlie! That’s exactly what I wanted you to do. The pillar is a bit much, but if you can just keep practicing, that roll is perfect! Baby Souls here we come!”

The core guardian dropped the other projectile it had prepared. It walked over to the large club it had slammed into the ground in its first fight and picked it up. It charged for Charlie, the enormous weapon swinging wildly over its head. Charlie visualized creating several pillars in the creature’s path, pointed upward at a slant. Then he activated his ability.

“Transfer!”

He blinked, realizing he hadn’t used the combination attack. He’d used Transfer, but not Dungeon Manipulation. To his surprise, it still worked. The slanted pillars rose as one. Rising to meet and deter the large creature. It ignored them, attempting to brush past. But the pillars slammed into its side. It swung its makeshift weapon at them to clear its path. But while it cleared some away, the sharpened stumps of others impaled it further. It stopped its charge, roaring angrily.

Charlie noticed how much more effective the pillars were when sharpened. He’d keep that in mind.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Dungeon Integrity decreased at a slower rate when you manipulated the material before transferring it. I recommend doing that again. Current integrity at 73%.”

The wounds on the creature healed quickly. Far more quickly than before. And then the creature did something Charlie hadn’t known it could do.

It leapt.

It jumped over his defensive pillars and landed right beside him. Charlie looked up, terrified at the looming monster standing over him.

“Charlie!” Orb cried out.

Charlie grabbed the dungeon core on instinct.

The core guardian swung its weapon and this time, it connected.

Charlie’s tiny body flew across the room, smacking through the serrated rows of dungeallis crystal and into the dungeon’s wall.

His head spun, and he gasped for air. He tried to sit up in a crawl, but his legs gave way. He turned to look at how far and high the creature had sent him flying. Charlie was on the second row of the dungeon’s tiered walls. Elevated off the ground. He was now level with the creature’s shoulders.

Orb fought to free himself from Charlie’s hand. Realizing he was gripping his friend too tightly, Charlie let go.

“Charlie…are you okay? That was…”

Charlie shook his head. “I think so, somehow. I thought that was it.”

“The passive, Rock Skin, allowed you to survive what would otherwise be a fatal blow. However, Dungeon Integrity has plunged to 43%.”

“Interesting! So, dungeon integrity is kind of like a health bar and a magic bar all rolled into one,” Orb said.

Charlie’s brows furrowed. “I lost that much off one attack?” he asked. If that creature landed a direct attack on him a couple more times, Tirille would die. Everyone would die. How was he supposed to beat something that powerful?

He didn’t have much time to figure that out. The creature wasn’t giving him room to breathe. It barreled straight for him again. Samantha and Roan were somewhere below and on his left. He needed to make sure he didn’t draw the fight that way. If Bleedy were here, he could move around more, but he was at a massive disadvantage because of his lack of mobility. His only choice was to hunker down and fight.

He focused on making new pillars.

Transfer!

Two pillars shot out from either side of him toward the creature. The creature swatted them out of the air as it approached.

“Charlie…I think it’s time to get a bit more creative with your attacks. You’re using the same move over and over!”

Charlie frowned. “I like the pillar! It’s cool.”

“It’s going to be predictable if you don’t switch it up.”

“Hmph!” Charlie turned his head away.

The creature was close now. It sprinted towards them, bringing its club high above his head.

Charlie tried to crawl away, but realized there wasn’t enough time. He was too slow. He couldn’t dodge it with a pillar, it might send him right off the edge by accident. A shield then?

Orb floated in front of him, obscuring his view. “Orb! I can’t see.”

“Grab on, fast!”

“What?” Charlie realized there wasn’t any time. He grabbed onto Orb.

“Dodge roll!” Orb shouted as he pulled Charlie away. They shot to the side a second before the creature hammered its weapon into the spot they’d been standing a moment before. The quick burst of speed sent them tumbling forward.

“Yes! It worked! We didn’t die!” Orb danced in the air, bobbing up and down.

Charlie shook his head. “That was fast…” The air behind them filled with gemstone dust as the creature continued attacking the wall. It slowly spread towards them. The creature swung blindly now, smashing one area after the other.

Charlie blinked. The dust was making it hard for the monster to see them. It didn’t realize they’d gotten away. It meant they had time. He looked up and his eyes widened.

“Orb! Can you take me up there?” He pointed to the top of the large ceiling dome.

Orb stopped celebrating and spun to face him. “What? There’s no way. You weigh so much more than Mousifer does. We were lucky I pulled you that far!”

The creature stopped attacking; it swatted its hand through the air in an attempt to disperse the dust.

“I bet you can do it!” Charlie said, cheering him on.

They moved to peek over the edge of the wall level they were on.

The creature noticed them. Its black eyes constricting, it roared.

“Charlie!” Orb panicked. It was now or never.

Charlie swallowed, taking one last look at the ground, and then grabbing onto his dungeon core buddy.

Orb shot forward, pulling Charlie off the elevated row.

They plummeted downward.

“Agh!” Charlie yelled. Orb sent him the mental equivalent of gritting teeth.

“A fall from this height will probably incur heavy damage to Dungeon Integrity.”

Charlie winced, bracing himself to smack into the ground.

Orb grunted.

Only a few feet before they crashed, and the creature reached them, he shot to the side, and back into the air.

They were flying.

Or well, hovering, to be precise. Charlie opened his eyes and looked around. The creature turned to look up at them, too. They sailed out of reach, upward, to the domelike ceiling of the dungeon.

“You did it!” Charlie exclaimed.

“Of course I did.” Orb sounded extremely strained.

Charlie studied the creature. It stared at him with hatred in its eyes. It looked back down, studying the surrounding earth. Satisfied, it dropped its weapon and dug again, forming a new projectile.

He had a thought. “Parent, you said that the dungeon core usually can’t be found until the core guardian is defeated. Right?”

“Correct. The core is revealed and left in a weakened state after the guardian is defeated. However, it isn’t impossible to locate beforehand. Technically, if you discovered the core’s hiding place, and destroyed it, the core guardian would be defeated as well. One cannot exist without the other. Assuming normal conditions.”

Charlie had noticed how careful the guardian was about digging up the earth. It broke through its see through prison without care and didn’t concern itself with destroying the walls. But when it dug, it was careful. He thought back to the other memory he’d had. The silhouette of a person chanting over a mound of dirt in this very room. He looked around. There. That was the spot. In the center of the room was the place where the mound had been in the memory. The room had expanded since then, but Charlie could tell. Like the memory was his own. He could tell that the core must be there, buried beneath the earth.

He smiled. He had a plan.

“Orb, I’m gonna let go.”

“What?!” Orb shouted in Charlie’s head.

“I have a plan.”

“Is the plan dying? If so, great plan. If not, back to the drawing board!”

Orb was going to be mad at him for this. He studied the angle. He thought he could pull it off. Charlie waved at the creature. “Don’t throw that! I’m coming to you!” He paused, took a breath, and imagined shifting the material within his own dungeon. He felt a tug as the magic left his body or rather, moved around inside it.

He shouted in his mind.

Transfer!

And then he added, for no reason other than dramatic effect. “Pillars!”

Portals opened all around him, and then, like missiles, they shot outward. The creature readied itself to defend against them. But Charlie wasn’t aiming for the creature.

He was aiming for the dungeallis crystals.

An explosion of gemstone dust erupted. The black, sparkling cloud filled the room below, obscuring his sight of the creature. But the creature couldn’t see them either.

Below, a huge hand swatted away at the dust, trying to clear it just like the creature had before.

“Found you!” Charlie said. “Alright, see you in a minute, Orb.” He let go.

“Charlie, no!” Orb shouted, but it was too late.

Despite being unable to see, and Charlie asking it not to, the creature, rudely, decided to throw the dungeon earth projectile, anyway. Charlie sighed. Monsters just didn’t have any manners.

He transferred the small shield he’d created just in case, and it formed under him. He grabbed onto the two baby-sized handlebars he’d made for it and braced himself. The attack was off, but close enough. Only about half of it hit his shield. The dirt flowed all around him as the projectile battered into his dungeon defense. But the shield did its job. The creature wasn’t able to make the projectiles very quickly, and couldn’t see anything, so Charlie let the shield fade. He forgot it would turn into ash. He struggled to wipe his eyes and spat the crumbling flecks of dungeon material from his mouth.

The creature snarled in frustration at all the dust. But the ball of dirt it had thrown cut an opening through the fog, just long enough for it to spot Charlie free falling towards it.

It opened its jaw really wide, its row of serrated teeth ready to rip and tear Charlie to pieces as soon as he landed.

Transfer!

“Pillar!”

A pillar formed in front of him and shot downward. The creature destroyed it with a powerful swing, sending scattered chunks of it back into the air.

It was then, among the swirling black dust and the fragments of the small pillar, that Charlie found his opening.

Transfer!

“A second pillar! But this one is really big!”

A sharpened column fell from above Charlie. He heard a whistling noise as the pillar cut through the air. The creature didn’t have time to react. It roared, flashing its teeth.

The pillar shot straight through the creature’s jaw and impaled its body. It made a choking noise, and scrambled, clawing at the massive slab of dungeon material.

Dungeon Integrity at 23%.

He realized now, as he continued falling, that he should have verified his assumption with parent before committing to this plan. He should’ve verified any of this was possible.

Dungeon Manipulation!

The pillar dissolved, and the excess material changed quickly, according to Charlie’s will. It surged forward into the air to catch him. He made contact with it and let go. Hoping he’d done enough. He sank the last twenty or so feet and then landed in a pile of softened earth made from the material of his dungeon. He looked over to see the collapsed creature next to him. Unmoving.

Dungeon Integrity at 3%.

Charlie took in a deep breath. It worked.

Orb landed with a thud next to him and rolled over. “Charlie! Are you alright? That was crazy!”

Charlie nodded and reached out to grab onto Orb. He felt his ability Palmar Grasp activate, and he relaxed. “Orb, can you take me over there?” he asked.

Orb rotated and looked. “Uh, sure?” Orb hovered, lifting Charlie’s body and took him to the spot he’d been directed to. He sat Charlie down, and it took everything in his power to sit up straight. He dug with his hands until he found it. A purple dungeon core buried in the ground.

“I thought the dungeon core was supposed to reveal itself automatically when the guardian was defeated?” Orb said.

“Correct.”

Orb and Charlie exchanged a look. They turned around, and the core guardian was back on its feet, its body healing even more rapidly. Its mutilated face reformed.

“How are you supposed to beat something like that?” Orb demanded.

Charlie looked at the core. He could destroy it now. But something inside of him held him back. Like he shouldn’t do that. The creature approached. It looked even larger than before. Charlie squirmed. There was a gnawing sensation inside him.

“Charlie, are you okay?”

“There’s something… happening,” he said. He grabbed onto his face. The dungeon core fell to the ground next to him.

Transfer.

The ability was his. But the voice was not. It was strange. Alien-like almost. His hand shot out, and he could feel the connection between his dungeon and this world open.

He shrieked as a lone tendril shot out of his hand.

It slithered wildly around in the air.

Others followed it until a mass of them swung around.

“Charlie, what are you doing?!” Orb asked.

“I dunno! I didn’t do anything! This isn’t me!”

The core guardian was unfazed by this. It was hurrying now, eager to retrieve the dungeon core in Charlie’s possession. It walked right into one of the tendrils. As one, the tendrils all snapped to attention and surged forward. The core guardian shook, fighting off the new assailants. It ripped, and pulled, and tried to free itself from their grasp.

Charlie tried to fight back. To sever the connection and to pull his hand back. But neither worked. The core guardian roared in anger, but slowly, the tendrils overwhelmed it. They constricted it tighter and tighter until it was firmly within their grasp. The tendrils then, satisfied, started to retreat back into Charlie’s portal. They dragged the guardian with them. Foot by foot, it inched closer to Charlie. Until it reached his hand.

The creature’s body distorted in the same way bodies did when Charlie used his devour ability.

And then the tendrils and the monster were gone.

“Charlie, what the hell just happened?”

Charlie shook his head. “P…Parent?” he asked.

“Unknown. I will commence an investigation immediately.”

Charlie gasped. “That transfer! What’s my dungeon integrity at?” Charlie asked.

“Dungeon Integrity at 3%.”

Charlie blinked. It hadn’t moved at all? That didn’t make any sense. He heard a cough and turned to see Geron starting to rouse from unconsciousness.

“Oh no,” Charlie said. “Parent, is Tirille awake?” he asked.

“She passed out a while ago. I’ve been monitoring her as you asked.”

That was a relief. With the last of his dungeon integrity, he used transfer, and Tirille appeared next to him. Still unconscious.

He looked around for somewhere to hide the core in his hand. It was bigger than Orb. He couldn’t put it in his pocket. But he didn’t want to leave it sitting there either. Once they awoke, how they chose to proceed would be out of his control.

“Tirille? Charlie?” Geron called out. Charlie turned to look over his shoulder. Geron was fighting to keep his head up. He wiped his eyes.

Charlie turned back, so he was facing away again. And then he did the only thing he could think of.

He put the dungeon core in his mouth and swallowed it.