Nolan had seen his share of strange days since the System arrived. One of the dungeons they had cleared was low-level, but Nolan had nearly died when he ventured inside as a scout. He wasn’t a commander, able to send another person into danger when he could face it himself. He had been saved from drowning in that water world by the next person to come in, who luckily had the common Aspect of Water and took them both to the single small island in the raging seas of that world.

As one of the strong, Nolan had forced himself to brave the dangers the System visited upon Londomin. If not me, then who? As time passed, he felt less and less able to rely on the other locals with strength. Seth and his scouts had syphoned anyone with an Aspect, leaving him with just the people who wanted to make a difference but couldn’t. It was difficult to send such earnest people into the unknown.

While he had done a good job of avoiding this recently, Nolan couldn’t help feeling like he was failing Naea by not giving her some kind of warning. He simply found it impossible to talk to the fairy, despite it happily chatting away. Was he really taking a dungeon monster to protect his daughter? He didn’t have time to think, nor was he sure he could stop Naea if she made a point of following him.

The creature terrified him with its potential, but he didn’t actually dislike her. She was a bit bizarre to look at with her spindly legs and arms, slightly bulbous middle and insectoid features. Nolan knew Sarah enough to know she would prefer Naea’s appearance over a more “traditional” fairy. The fact she was almost obnoxiously charming, in the way that only a talkative child can be, wouldn’t hurt.

Yet, as they made their way to his apartment, he saw her in action. There were precursor mana formations appearing which monsters would spawn from if not dealt with. Once that was explained to the fairy, every one they saw was smashed apart in seconds. They were no more than cobwebs to Naea, but required a specialised Aspect wielder in the standard case. The casual ease at which she performed the task suggested far greater powers laying dormant.

Nolan set his jaw. He just had to trust Grant. It was simple, if difficult. The boy had come to him with a mostly open palm and Nolan had sent him into the tiger’s den and then wasted everyone’s time deliberating. The trial wave bearing down on them was as much his fault as Seth’s. Nolan could do nothing to stop Naea from following him. He had just as little chance of stopping her from doing something more violent.

Almost on autopilot, Nolan found himself opening the ground floor doors of their office building-turned-apartment complex. “Please don’t hurt my daughter,” he said as they entered the building, the words as unstoppable as a sneeze. Instead of taking offence, the fairy seemed to relax a little. She stopped her random chattering, which Nolan now realised was to make him feel at ease, and smiled gently.

“Grant and I are familiar and patron, do you know what that means, Nolan?” He shook his head at her answer, which she clearly expected. “It means we make each other stronger, and work together - for the most part. Grant likes to do things alone, but I don't. Not really. I was born alone. It sometimes feels like I didn’t even have real thoughts until I met Grant.”

Nolan found himself very interested, but unsure why she was sharing this as she continued and they walked to his front door. “If you don’t know about patrons, then you probably don’t know how much absorbing the monsters inside a dungeon matter to dungeon fairies.” She turned a very serious gaze onto him. “It’s like not being able to breathe without them.”

“Then… why?” Nolan didn’t understand. If going into a dungeon was such a serious thing for a fairy, why was she here with him? Naea just shrugged and shook her head while aiming a wistful looking in what Nolan knew was the direction of the Elite dungeon. Could she sense Grant, or the powerful magics of the place itself?

“Because being with Grant feels even better. He asked me to help you, Nolan, so that’s what I’m going to do.” A weight dropped onto Nolan’s shoulders, palpable enough that he flinched and looked to make sure no one had grabbed him. They hadn’t, but when he turned back to the fairy he could have sworn she looked larger. More imposing. Her features were different, almost lizard-like instead of insect. “Don’t worry Nolan. You and your family are safe. I promise.”

——————————————————————————

I would be the first to say that I did not expect the series of events which lead to me racing full speed towards the Elite Dungeon of Londimin. In the half an hour or so since I had destroyed the wards in the prison, things had continued to deteriorate. People were scrambling from place to place, but by making myself subtle with Dao, we passed through the crowds easily and without being accosted. I was still wanted, technically.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

There were more scouts running around than I expected, which was honestly heartening. It would have been harder to save these idiots if they were all acting like barbarians, but it seemed that at least in this instance, the scouts were doing the right thing. They gathered groups and directed them to safe areas where they could be more easily defended if the walls were breached or a monster appeared within.

The protections the city normally enjoyed were inoperable until someone defeated the Elite dungeon, which meant more than the walls being less defensible. Even as our small group ran towards the airport, I began releasing Mana Bolts to blast apart the congealing dark energies that were appearing. Monsters were going to spawn inside the city, and if they were all over level thirty like the trial wave suggested…

“Wow,” Larry laughed a little too hard as he spoke, “you really fucked that up.” His tone was good natured, but his words boomed all around us. Morris and Rashid flinched, while I winced and nodded. I couldn’t be everywhere at once, which meant people were going to get hurt. We had to hurry.

The Elite dungeon of Londimin was not a secret exactly, so they all knew where it was. They just couldn’t tell me anything about it because no one that had gone in had come out. That helped explain the teeth-rattling terror which the others were feeling right now. There was nothing for it, though. I couldn’t spend any time coddling the men, and I needed them to complete the quest for the town. “How far away are we?” I asked the others.

“It’s another mile, that way.” Morris answered, throwing angry glances at his brother. He had cursed Larry more than a few times for ‘getting them mixed up in this’, so he clearly blamed his brother for their involvement. Larry, for his part, was oblivious. He still wore the large, heavy coat and I couldn’t help wondering why he didn’t put it into his inventory. It didn't seem magical, but perhaps I was wrong and it gave some attribute points or something.

Hearing how far we had to go, I made a decision. “This is going to feel cosy guys, but hold on tight.” Without breaking my stride or theirs, I began to grab all three men. Like I was carrying over-sized teddy bears, they were nearly weightless in my arms once I brought all of my attribute points to bear. “We’re moving.”

There were angry protests at the treatment, but they were lost in the wind as I broke into a sprint. Without turning, I ran straight up a building and began bouncing from roof to roof in the direction Morris had pointed. I layed three Infusions upon each other and tore through the city. With Larry in the middle, his heavy coat to cushion them, the men were mostly fine by the time we arrived at the undulating rift of magic.

Mostly.

After a bout of vomiting from Morris and Rashid, we were ready to enter. “I don’t know about those two,” Larry whispered while they cleaned up. “But I would absolutely do that again if you’re ever willing.” I laughed and told Larry I doubted it would come up again but that I would think about it. If I ever needed money, maybe I could make some working as a personal rollercoaster. I kept my hilarious inner monologue to myself and scouted out the aperture.

Even from a distance, I could tell this dungeon was different to any I had seen before. Each of the previous dungeon gates were a few metres in height and the same again wide. They looked like fractures in space, curved and intercepted light making them hard to look at with the naked eye. Mana, coloured by the world beyond, seeped out and it was possible to get a vague sense of what lay beyond.

The elite dungeon, in contrast, was just a straight up warp gate. There were buildings in the area which were dwarfed by its size. It would be simple for a double decker bus to enter, horizontally if needed. A completely tangible space lay beyond a surging weave which contained the image. If I hadn’t already seen other worlds and planes of existence in the System dungeons, the world through the gate would have been exactly what I imagined instead.

The Tower of London once again came to mind as we found a vantage point a fair distance away. There were people milling around, looking uncertain and scared. I assumed they were there to protect the dungeon for whatever reason. I could see panicked and desperate people getting in the way, so it wasn’t the worst decision. Except, the guards themselves seemed more frightened of the dungeon to their backs than the trial wave everywhere else.

“Do we all have to go inside?” Rashid asked, sounding defeated already. Whether it brought on by the gothic aesthetic of the tomb beyond the magical portal or simply voicing a question now the reality had appeared, I didn’t know. “There are other people inside already, it seems,” he added hopefully.

“Honestly?” I answered, “no. Probably not.” It was true. I didn’t need all of them, most likely. However, that was only if we were lucky. “But people are going to start dying soon. I don’t know what’s inside this dungeon and I don’t know what the rules are for the quest. It’s possible that I could get this done with the people inside, but I don’t trust them like I do you three. There’s a higher chance of success if you all come with me, and I can keep you safe.”

“How can you be sure?” Rashid was beginning to panic as we got closer to potential danger, which was unstandable but annoying. Before I could churn my mana and swell my aura to a point where Rashid would know he didn’t have to worry, help came from the heavily-coated Larry.

“He said he needs our help.” Larry said simply. “People are dying and Grant says he can help them if we go with him. Isn’t that enough?” Not that Larry didn’t talk all the time, but there was a tone to his voice when he droned that made him easy to drown out. When he spoke seriously about this subject, it was harder to ignore him. Rashid shuffled uncomfortably, but I beamed at him.

“Damn, Larry. Well said.” Morris looked genuinely impressed with his brother, pride and resolve in his eyes. Rashid was not as convinced, but he was apparently done questioning things. That was good, because we needed to move. They may lack confidence now, but I expected that to change quite quickly once we were inside the dungeon. I didn’t plan to protect them from everything, after all. They would be fighting, too. They would need confidence to not die at that point. But before that? It was time to power level these noobs.

They just needed to get into the dungeon first, preferably without killing anyone on the way in.