The gang made their way to the dungeon core’s chambers. But even that short distance was perilous, the Mana golem that was scouting ahead of them had triggered several different traps. From poisonous darts to hidden spikes, it’s as if the sentient dungeon took a cliché traps 101 course. And the closer the gang got to its residence, the more traps it was throwing at them.

When they finally stepped into the boss’s room, they breathed a sign of relief, even though they were about to fight the strongest foe yet.

“These damn traps are so annoying, I want to smash something already.” Helios blurted out furiously.

As they were looking around the room, expecting to see some hideous beast that they would have to vanquish, they saw a child.

“Oh come on, not this shit again.” James sighed. “We just went through this with the whole chained man begging for help incident.”

This time, Helios and Lunaris were on the same wavelength as James, and they readied their weapons.

“I know what you’re thinking.” The child spoke. “Yes, I am the dungeon core. But I am not trying to deceive you. This is my true form, after all I have only been alive for a few years. I know you want to kill me, but I beg of you, stop and let me live. Like all living things, I don’t want to die.”

Hearing its earnest plea gave pause even to the cynical James for a millisecond. But it was obviously a trick, they weren’t idiots, they were used to the dungeon’s M.O. by now.

“You say that after throwing countless traps at us? Come on, stop stalling and let’s just fight already.” James said with a grin. This thing thought it could outsmart him? Just how many times did it try to deceive them already? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice – can’t get fooled again.

“You came to this dungeon intending to kill me, who wouldn’t defend themselves?” As the dungeon core was speaking, it really looked and sounded like an innocent child, its voice soft and weak, eyes watery.

Even as James was preparing to fight it to the death, entirely sure this thing was evil incarnate, he couldn’t help but doubt himself involuntarily. It may be a monster, but if it remained in this form, fighting it would feel horrible. It was indistinguishable from a human child.

“The only reason we’re here in the first place is that you killed people.” James answered while forcing himself to look right into the thing’s eyes.

“What would you have done? Not long after I spawned into this world, people tried to kill me. And the more I grew, the more valuable I became. So when anybody stumbled upon the dungeon, their greed made them want to kill me. If you were in my place, you would have killed them just like I did. Or would you just let yourself be killed?”

What the dungeon was saying made sense. But James’s caution was at its max. He even constantly checked if he was dizzy, ready to bolt or attack at a moment’s notice.

He stood there motionless but ready to strike. The dungeon core wasn't attacking yet, it was obviously counting on this ruse to work. Without taking his eyes off the core, he contemplated for a while.

And then he figured something out.

“Guys, don’t let your guard down for even a second. This must be its most powerful weapon. I think this right here is the reason why people say sentient dungeons are so dangerous. Because even if you reach their core, they then manipulate you and when you’re doubting yourself, that’s when you die.” James whispered to his friends. “By the way, our faces are too serious, let’s pretend we’re slowly falling for its tricks with our body language and facial expressions. As if while we’re whispering to each other, we’re convincing ourselves that we shouldn’t fight it.”

“Anyway, think about everything we’ve seen up until now. This isn’t an innocent little thing. Let’s use our logic here. First of all, if it didn’t want people wandering in, it could’ve hidden and blocked the entrance to the dungeon. But it basically invited us in.” James whispered without letting his guard down for even a moment.

“Secondly, its words lure us into a black and white way of thinking. Those weren’t its only options! If it’s smart enough to think of all these traps, it’s smart enough to find ways to avoid needing traps in the first place. You said there were dungeon cores at Hedonia, right?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Yep, there sure are. They’re very nice too, can’t even tell the difference between them and a human.” Lunaris answered.

“Well, there you go. Those cores probably just figured out a way to stay safe and just go about their life like all of us. This guy though, he must’ve liked how killing felt. Or he liked the power he gained from slaying humans.”

Each of them ruminated those facts for a few seconds.

“Well, I’m convinced. Its appearance does make it hard to even think of attacking it, but we have no choice. This thing is evil and has killed before, we need to put it down before it hurts anyone else.” Helios said valiantly.

“I agree, what James said makes sense. It tried to make us believe it had no choice but to kill, and that’s complete rubbish.” Lunaris added.

“Alright then. It let us talk for a while because we were pretending to be fooled, but it’s waiting for us to let our guards down. It hasn't taken its eyes off us for even a second. Let’s turn the tables while we still can.” James said.

While still maintaining his nonchalant body language and facial expression, James was preparing himself to make the first move.

They were going to do to the dungeon core what it wanted to do to them. They'd ambush it and strike first.

But the first strike was just too important. At this moment James was regretting the fact that he was a “Jack of all trades”. One single strong attack would be much more effective in an ambush than his entire arsenal of spells, none of which would do enough damage to the dungeon core, whose level he couldn’t even see. But it was safe to say that it was stronger than anything he had ever faced before.

James decided that it would be a waste of a perfectly good ambush if he were to attack first. But he had something else in mind. If only he could hold the dungeon core still for a while, his friend’s attacks would devastate more than anything he could throw at it.

“Helios, as soon as I move, attack it.” James whispered.

Helios nodded, but he didn’t move a muscle either, from the outside it looked like they were convincing each other to not attack the dungeon core after all. Pretending to almost let their guard down.

After he saw Helios and Lunaris control the battlefield so well when they were fighting the demons, James knew he had to develop new crowd control abilities. Earth magic was way too simple to control powerful monsters in the heat of battle.

Since then, he had been scouring his mind, trying to remember any crowd control spell he had ever read about or seen in any movie. And he knew just the thing that would do the trick.

He had to make it count, so he poured all of his mana into his hands in an instant, launching chains made out of mana straight at the dungeon core. James poured an excessive amount of mana into them, just to ensure that they would bind the enemy for at least a short while.

[Skill unlocked: Mana Chains]

James had never used this skill before, but he was sure it would work. He was quite used to manipulating mana by now. And having consumed so much fantasy literature in his past life, something like chains made out of mana was too simple a concept. All he had to do was pour mana into it, and his vivid mental picture could turn into something real. Although the damn things consumed way too much mana.

Not even a tenth of a second passed after James launched the chains and Helios had already leaped into action.

Aiming for the thing’s head, he unleashed a sword skill which seemed to warp the air around it with its might, even though there was no fire at all.

James’s chains were holding it for now, so it couldn’t dodge at all.

The next thing they saw was its head rolling on the floor, staining the floor with blood.

Helios didn't keep attacking after he saw the head flying, but James instantly shouted. “Don’t stop, it’s definitely not dead just from that.”

James then dematerialized the chains, drank a potion and started throwing ice bolts at the dungeon core.

Hearing James’s warning, both Helios and Lunaris started unleashing blows on the dungeon core as well.

That’s when the walls started shaking and a deep voice echoed throughout the rooom.

“Who the hell are you?! What kind of cold, calculated bastard would attack without hesitation even after they saw a head rolling on the floor?” The voice asked, after which the headless body of the dungeon core started glowing, quickly growing and transforming into a giant dark red crystal, which was already partially cracked.

“To see through my ruse is one thing, but to attack so mercilessly even after decapitating your opponent, I’ll make you bastards regret this.”

The ambush had worked. Because of Helios’s initial attack, in addition to the onslaught that followed the decapitation, the dungeon core had lost a good chunk of its power.

The group could deduce this from the amount of cracks in the crystal.

But as soon as they saw that, they were also able to see something else.

[Level 150]

“Oh my God, that’s way too high. Should we teleport away?” Lunaris asked immediately, concerned for the safety of her friends. It was good to have her rational presence in this group.

“Its level is way too high for us right now, but we also seem to have cracked it quite a bit. It’s a lot weaker than it would usually be, so it’s now or never. We won’t get a better chance.” Helios then looked at James. “It’s James’s choice.”

James didn't spend more than a second thinking about it.

“Let’s do it.” James didn’t hesitate this time. He didn’t want to continue being the weak, constantly hesitating person he was before. Decisiveness was a prerequisite of strength.

The group thus decided to fight an enemy 120 levels higher than them.