We waited for half an hour, in silence. Alice meditated to recover her MP while I spent the time checking my gear one more time. The routine check soothed my mind and brought to the fore of my thoughts the times my father taught me how to do it. After the check was done, I took a loop of fine rope and practiced knots. They too brought me closer to the unattainable. Feeling my father's presence next to me.

We were both grieving. Perhaps this delve was a farewell party, in the way only Adventurers knew how to party. The Dungeon was an interstitial space where we could be away from the gruesome reality of the world above, where we could pretend everything was fine.

A low rumble made Alice open her eyes. "The wave is climbing up from the third floor. Prepare. George, I want you to shoot each monster once, focusing on the smaller and weak-looking ones. I will have to attack as well but I'll try to target away from where you are shooting, to see if the System doesn't treat us as a party. Don't worry about using up all your arrows. Once you are out of projectiles, I'll take over. I wish we could use the blindfold scouting trick again but I cannot let the wave move past this room. Some stragglers are fine, the Guard on the surface is well-trained to keep the monsters inside. But they cannot face the whole wave or the city might suffer a lot."

I could only nod. It was my duty and oath to protect the city. Though it wouldn't be my warning that saved the day, it couldn't be helped. I was too weak to do a Scout's job. The point of this delve, besides grieving the loss of my father, was to make me strong enough. I drummed my fingers around the shaft of Scout's Oath. My other hand plucked the string like a delicate harp. The bundles of arrows were arranged around me. I drew one from my quiver and nocked it.

Minutes later, hell broke loose. A throng of monsters rushed out of the boss room, some on foot, some on wing.

I let my arrow loose. It flew true and struck an Acid Bat in the mouth. The bat went stiff and dropped down, dying instantly.

> For killing level 11 Acid Bat, you gained 511 Experience Points.

I ignored the notification and fired another arrow. This one struck a fire monkey that was jumping from monster to monster. The monkey clutched the arrow lodged in its belly and yanked it out. Terrible idea. It started to bleed profusely. I was already firing another arrow at a Stirge. The bird-like monster was little more than a bag of blood with a sucking beak. When the arrow struck its round belly, it burst like a balloon, killing the Stirge.

> For killing level 9 Necromantic Stirge, you gained 613 Experience Points.

The weight of rarity. This Stirge must be several rarity classes above the Acid Bat. Forget it. I had to focus on shooting.

Some monsters noticed us on our little corner fortress and tried to approach. Alice conjured sharp, elongated icicles, and shot them toward the monsters, intercalating the icicles with explosive fireballs that rained on the monster wave below. In just a couple of minutes, the smoke, the heat, and the stench of burnt leather and charred meat made it impossible to see or fight.

I was almost reaching level four. Before I devolved into a coughing fit, I took a handkerchief, dampened it with water, and wrapped it around my mouth and nose. It lessened the amount of smoke that reached me but it was still bad. I could hear monsters approaching.

"Wall of Fire! Wall of Fire! Wall of Fire!" Alice frantically cast the spell over and over to block the exit tunnels. Once she was sure every tunnel was blocked, she started a long chant in Elvish. The only word I could understand was "Sylph."

An elf-like creature made out of wisps of white fog and wind eddies appeared. It had feminine features but no definition to its contour. Alice talked to it and the Sylph flew off our elevated fortress and into the smoke-filled room. With the summoned entity's magic, the smoke and soot cleared from the air, giving us a clear sight of the room again.

The frenzied monsters tried to cross the wall of fire but all they got were third-degree burns, dead, and to clog the tunnels with corpses. I had no doubt some monsters managed to cross the walls but they were a minority.

I sought targets that were away from the wall. Shooting at the burnt ones would mean nothing to me, as Alice was so high-leveled that the System would award all the Experience to her. Power leveling a neophyte required people around their own level, not a monstrous powerhouse like Alice.

Level four came and I dumped my points as I planned, nine in Strength and six in Intelligence. Scout's Oath's draw strength increased again and my arrows became that much faster and deadlier. I took a peek at my current Attribute points.

Strength 44 Dexterity 43 Endurance 42 Intelligence 35 Wisdom 38 Clarity 10 Charisma 11

Things were looking particularly good. Strength would soon surpass Dexterity but I wasn't too concerned with that. Dexterity would catch up when I started to scout quests for the Guild.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

With the air clear, we resumed shooting arrows and spells at the crowd of monsters. Alice swapped the fireballs and icicles with blades of compressed wind.

Piles of bodies started to form around the room as the monsters pushed their dead brethren aside in a desperate attempt to reach the surface. Though I had no doubt they could notice our presence, the imperative to go and exit the Dungeon was too strong, too compelling to make them stop and attack us. Only those we attacked were broken from the trance and came after us.

My arms started to burn from the repeated effort. I had already fired four of my five sheafs of arrows, plus what I brought in my quiver. I had reached level six by that time and the monster wave had no end in sight. At level five, I gained my first Perk.

> You gained the Perk, Wilderness Survivor: When in any natural setting, your needs for sustenance are reduced by (25 + Endurance / 10)%, to a maximum of 95%.

Great Perk. I got incredibly lucky. That should help with prolonged periods away from civilization but it was useless right now. Perks had a randomness to them if they weren't outright a lottery. I heard many, many stories of people getting useless Perks. You gained what you gained and not what you wished to have. A useless Perk could be discarded for one percent Attribute Efficiency. It was one of the few ways to improve efficiency.

I soon ran out of arrows, before I could reach level seven. Without anything better to do, I just sat down and waited. Sylph vanished when her time was up but Alice kept the barrage of spells. She swapped the wind blades with her cones of hail and frost, freezing dozens of monsters and turning the room's temperature around. I had to wrap my cloak around me to endure the cold.

*

*

Two hours later, the wave was over. A cold mist covered the room and the stone fortress was slick and damp with moisture. I was almost asleep despite the carnage down in the room. Alice stirred me awake by tapping on my shoulder.

"George. Wake up. We need to go down there and harvest the Cores."

I sighed. Some monsters could crystallize their Mana inside their bodies, forming a monster Core. These Cores had the property of absorbing ambient Mana and storing it, making it an invaluable commodity in our society. From Gnome Clockwork contraptions to enchanted wards defending important structures, almost anything could be powered by Cores.

We left the fortress and walked around the frozen, dead monsters, harvesting Cores and monster parts like horns, pelts, fang, and claws. Alice declared that her satchel was full after putting twenty times the bag's exterior volume inside. We had so much loot to carry that I didn't even bother to retrieve the arrows I used. A single core could buy twice as many arrows.

It was dark when we reached the surface. I was exhausted even with my improved Endurance. The gate was down but we expected nothing different. It was night outside and the inverse fortress was illuminated by torches and magical lanterns. It was very dark and eerie. I had to remind myself that this was Yolanthe the Witching Sun's reign,

"Who goes there?!?" A guard barked through the bars.

"Guild Master Alice, of the Adventurer's Guild!" Alice shouted back. "The wave is over, raise the gate!"

"What about the Dungeon?" I asked.

"It's extending its influence on the upper floors again,' She replied while the guards cranked the wheel to raise the extremely heavy metal portcullis. "By tomorrow morning it should be back to normal."

I sighed in relief. The portcullis fully retracted into the gatehouse and we walked out in the open. My legs were burning with exhaustion but it was a good delve. Many say that any delve you came out of with all limbs intact was a good delve but this one was... perhaps an ordinary delve, now that I thought of it. For someone of Alice's level, the amount of loot we got would barely amount to anything. I am fairly sure she wouldn't even consider taking anyone down here for the value of the things we brought back.

The Guard had us declare the loot we brought and then they appraised the value. We had to pay a one-percent tax on the Dungeon loot but that was Alice's rate. A normal delver, depending on their backing, would pay anything between ten and twenty percent. It also deterred people from killing and looting others down there, as the extra gear would become very obvious and lead to uncomfortable questions by the Guard. It was the only way they could stop PK from happening.

Alice called a Wagoneer to carry our loot to the Guild and we hopped aboard.

"I don't want you to argue about loot distribution," Alice told me. "We are splitting it in half."

"Are you sure you don't want to—"

Her glare stopped my sentence dead in its tracks. "One more word and I'll have you take it all but a single copper."

I rolled my eyes and yawned. "Oh, please, Guild Master, do not punish me with wealth!" I drawled, sarcasm oozing from every word.

Alice chuckled. I could see that she was as tired as I was, despite having a physicality dozens of times stronger than mine. She used a fuck-ton of magic down there. I doubt either of her summoning spells was less than a thousand MP.

The wagon stopped in front of the Guild. Alice jumped off and waved her hand, causing the doors to slam open. Some drunk Adventurer groaned from inside. She glanced back at the sacks of loot on the wagon and waved her hand. A disk of translucent energy resembling glass appeared underneath the bags and lifted it, floating slowly toward the doors.

"Go home and take a bath before you fall asleep," Alice told me. "I expect you here at the guild by noon."

I waved at her and crossed the street. Instead of taking a bath or soiling my bed sheets with Dungeon grime, I barely had time to set my bedroll on the living room floor before I went to dreamland.