By now I barely even have to focus on the process of selecting my guardian monster. I simply initiate it and it’s go time.

A vast quantity of mana gathers in my core chamber in preparation for the upcoming magic. And this time, I’m watching it.

Because if everything goes according to plan, this won’t be the last time I do some magic. And if everything goes really well, it won’t even have to be this restricted magic that only allows me to do one thing.

Anyway.

As soon as the blob of mana reaches a sufficient size and/or density (it’s difficult to tell with this supernatural stuff), a pulse of some kind reverberates through it. And then the mana begins to compress to one spot where it disappears.

Huh, that’s not exactly what I expected.

But observation time is over, I need to actually create this vinegaroon. Because as interesting a creature as it is, the mundane version would be less than useful to me.

So, I go with the usual alterations. Bigger, but not as extreme as with the toad. More greenish colouration to blend in with the vines. Ables to sustain itself on the poison “water”. And so on.

Most importantly, I make sure that the acid is much more potent. Enough to react pretty much immediately when in contact with skin. At least for regular humans, not sure how that’ll interact with adventurers.

And then, just like every other time, it’s done. Before me stand a weird arachnid that’s not really a scorpion and only kind of a spider.

But that’s not even the half of it. The creation of this whip scorpion was only the means. Now comes the end.

The last remaining speck mana that hadn’t been consumed in the creation of the vineragoon darts towards me. Where it merges with the last unaltered facet of my crystal core.

The changes are immediate.

The stream of mana exiting me as if water from a leaky faucet just simply stops. That, however, doesn’t mean the river stops going inside.

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So, what happens when there’s input, but no output?

Well, one option is that the environment bursts. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen.

Instead, the mana gets denser and denser, not too dissimilarly to how it did so just a minute ago. Except that it doesn’t stop. There’s no pulse to pull it all into one point, there’s nothing to get rid of it.

And while all that is happening inside my core, outside of it, similar changes happen. But inverse.

The passive mana of my dungeon starts to slowly dip, reducing in amount.

Ah, now I get it. All the sustenance of my creatures that they don’t get the normal way, they pull from the mana I release into the dungeon. The mana that was previously exiting my core. And now that that leak is fixed, there’s nothing to refuel it.

Shit, how much time do I have? No idea.

I need more mana. I just need more mana in my dungeon.

Oh, damn it damn it damn it. Damn it!

Just don’t panic and we can figure this out. But I am panicking! Damn it, let’s just try what I wanted to try in the first place. Yea, that’ll even reduce the number of monsters I have to keep alive.

I order every single one of my guardians to attack the intruders. Every toad, whether the ones in front of the group or the ones I respawned behind them. The single vinegaroon still in my core room. Hell, even all of the vines, though I doubt they’ll do much. Not even the bacteria producing the “water” of my dungeon are spared of the order.

I need everyone to do this.

Hopefully, whatever that extra thing is in the adventurers’ mana will help me. And if not, I’ll at least have a grace period without intruders to figure everything out. Because right now, I’m basically cut off from interacting with the world.

***

No. No no no no! NO!

What’s happening?

As if Matt dying was bad enough already, all of the dungeon monsters suddenly went berserk not too long after that!

And as if even that wasn’t bad enough, they began to appear from behind us too! The only good thing is now we know for sure this is a cursed dungeon. Who’s ever heard of monsters reappearing behind you?

At least the toads have abandoned the little strategy they employed before now. Though even that’s not exactly a good thing, as now they’re hurling themselves at us. That’s arguably tougher to deal with than the shooting tongues.

And there’s no end to them.

The Fierce Four are still taking the brunt of it, but we were already forced to help and at this point it won’t be long before we have to go all out. The tiredness aura of the dungeon certainly doesn’t help with that.

Something flies towards me and, expecting another frog, I move my shield to deflect it. All I hear is a wet splat. And then, sizzling.

A quick look through my teammates reveals a new monster. Some kind of insect or something.

Then, I look at my shield. Which immediately throw away.

Fuck! It’s an acid thrower.

“Watch out!” I yell, “acid thrower!”

The battle rages on, but it’s not exactly looking good.

And then, in a critical error, I step on uneven ground and tumble. Huh? I was sure there was solid ground there before.