The guard couldn’t follow me inside. I knew that, but still, I felt like I was being chased. Maria hadn’t recovered from that guard’s last remarks either. Entertaining the idea that the dry man only wanted her for the sake of killing her made me nauseous.

I couldn’t imagine delivering this little girl, who wasn’t even ten, to the jaws of death. Yet, I had little choice in the matter as of right now.

I continued to debate my options as we headed deeper and deeper into the mine shaft, the previously rocky walls slowly turning as white as marble as we progressed. Eventually, the wooden support beams turned into strange animal bones, and the white dust at our feet continued to pile up. Here and there, rusty weapons were dug into the floor and walls, as if they had been left there by fallen warriors.

In time, our surroundings could only be described as a mess of bone and metal, a grave site rather than a dungeon. Thankfully, no monsters had come to attack us yet.

At some point, Maria had stuck her head over my shoulder.

“Is daddy really going to kill me?” she asked. I winced. Some part of me had hoped to spare her innocence throughout all this, but that hope had been naive, in hindsight.

“I... don’t think so. Why would that guard speak the truth? He’s the enemy.” I attempted to convince her.

Maria shook her head defiantly. “I don’t care what happens, as long as daddy is happy. He sent you to save me! If I die, daddy can kill all of them, too.” She said, determined.

My eyes went wide and a pang of pity appeared in my gut, but it was quickly replaced by rage.

“YOU DON’T KNOW A THING ABOUT DEATH, MARIA!” I shouted, unable to hold back. Maria recoiled and hid her face in my back. I calmed myself down, then resumed. “Listen...” I spoke in a harsh whisper, “Your father would have told me to simply kill you if your death was necessary for his ascension, but he didn’t. He wants you to live, Maria. I don’t think he would be happy at all if you died.”

“...” She stayed silent.

“Just... just put what those bad guys said out of your head, all right? Everything is going to be fine.” I attempted in a more gentle tone. Unfortunately, she still wasn’t responding.

A few minutes passed in silence as we delved deeper into the bony mineshaft. Its layout was a confusing mess; the dungeon seemed to rearrange itself sporadically. Either that, or my sense of direction was significantly more impaired than I had originally thought.

Eventually, the mineshaft led to a wider chamber, that left enough space for a small group of people. At its centre a small campfire had been made, though it had long since gone out. Who knew when people had been here last? What I did know, was that some battle must have taken place here, because a random collection of intact bones were strewn across the room. None seemed to be human, strangely, their shapes and sizes varied widely.

Hesitantly, I took a step inside, expecting some kind of ambush. I ended up being half right, because the bones in the room started to rattle, and the old rusted weapons shook. The pieces dislodged themselves from their place and flew towards the center of the room, where they slotted together to form one creature. I was faced with some kind of cat-like creature, the size of a horse.

Its skull was made out of small fractured bones, while its teeth were actual daggers. Some spears stuck out of its ribs, and sickles formed its claws. The strange amalgam of bone and metal took a moment to form, giving me time to hush Maria out of the room and draw my sword.

Once it finally finished forming, however, it wasted no time and leaped at me with the desire to kill. Aware of Maria behind me, I opted to parry, and threw the creature halfway across the room with a single swipe of my weapon, which astounded even me.

The creature quickly recovered and tried again, only to be thrown into the wall a second time with minimal effort on my part. Was this the result of my newly improved physical stats? Tier 3 creatures weren’t my match before, but this was getting ridiculous.

Due to our lack of time, I had little opportunity to test my stats, unfortunately. Afraid that overloaded orbs could collapse the mineshaft, I used my onyx chains instead. They constricted the creature, which wasn’t smart or fast enough to react, and squeezed it till it broke.

After a moment where nothing seemed to happen, I realised that this dungeon’s monsters’ specialty must be resilience. That meant that my chains didn’t have enough killing power to finish it off. Instead, I used them to hold it in place, before chopping off its head with an empowered overloaded sword. The skill had, thankfully, remained usable, even after it evolved into [Sword laser].

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Annoyingly, the creature was somehow still moving. Even without a head, the undead tiger was clawing at my chains, and the head was trying to bite me by snapping at the air. Seeing no other option, I used an overloaded orb and stuffed it down its gut, which finally put the cockroach to rest. No level up, though.

Seeing that the creature had died, Maria shuffled back over to me. She had hidden around the corner, and been wise enough to stay there while I dealt with the threat.

I put her onto my back once more. Time was of the essence.

As we headed deeper into the dungeon, in search of the exit, Maria broke the silence.

“Wh... What will happen? Once we’re on the other side, I mean...” she asked hesitantly.

I took a moment to gather my thoughts.

“Uh... I guess... things will go back to how they were before? You’ll stay with your dad and... be free? Happy, too. I hope so, anyway.”

“With daddy?”

“Yup. Do you... remember him?” I asked cautiously, not sure of the timeline of events. For all I knew, Maria had been kidnapped when she was a babe...

“Of course!” she began enthusiastically. “Daddy used to give me sweets, and read me stories, and teach me... many things!” she spoke happily.

I nodded. Surely, a father like that wouldn’t kill their child, would they? Then again, the dry man was centuries old... Maria’s life had been only a blip of time to him... Compared to the opportunity to reach tier 7, something so many classers craved...

In an attempt to take my mind off of it, I resumed the conversation.

“What was your favourite story?”

“Uh... ‘Sword in the stone’! Dad read it to me so many times already!”

I cringed. I had briefly perused ‘Sword in the stone’ what felt like years ago, though I didn’t remember where I had read it. If I remembered correctly, it was about some kid that became a king after pulling a rusty sword out of a stone. Still, I continued. Anything to keep the kid’s mind off of what that guard had said. Never again did I want to hear a child accept death...

“Why do you like that story so much?”

“Because in that story, even a boy my age can become strong! Arthur didn’t even need to wait for his awakening! If I pulled the sword out, then I could help daddy right away!” she said happily, “Then I wouldn’t be taken by bad people...” she added quietly.

“My name is Arthur too, you know...” I grumbled.

She seemed to perk up when she remembered that fact.

“Oh yeah! Is that why dad told you to come save me?! Are you the king? Is that the sword from the stone?!” she asked, pointing at the great sword that currently hung from my hip.

I moved to respond negatively, but Maria continued to rattle question after question.

“Did daddy give you a quest, then? Will he reward you with great riches when I’m safe? Will there be a story about us soon?” she spoke excitedly.

With a wistful smile, I decided to indulge her.

“Yes to all of that. The book will be called ‘The princess in the tallest tower’.” I joked.

Clearly, the joke flew over Maria’s head, because she actually squealed, unable to contain herself.

Thankfully, I was saved from my plight by another open chamber appearing in the distance.

We repeated the same process as before. This time, I had to defeat three foxes, that were similarly made up of metal and bone fragments. They fought viciously, and their speed was nothing to scoff at, but in the end they fell in the same way the tiger had. These monsters were though as nails, but lacked ranged attacks and versatility.

After having picked up Maria again, we went on our merry way.

For a few more hours, we encountered chamber after chamber, with no exit in sight. My instincts told me that the tougher creatures would be closer to the boss chamber, so I decided to head away from those chambers whenever I could.

We encountered a variety of undead beasts, including a bear the size of Revan, though neither of them could fit in the tight mineshafts, as well as swarms of smaller animals and packs of medium-sized animals.

It quickly became apparent that just like its monsters, this dungeon’s main strength was its resilience. It tested its delvers’ patience and toughness by throwing the same challenges at them over and over again, room to room.

Thankfully, my hunch eventually proved to be correct. By searching for and following the weaker rooms, I found my way to a mine shaft that slowly became less and less dusty. The metal weapons stuck in the walls became less frequent, and wooden support beams replaced the bony structures that kept the dungeon stable otherwise.

Though the journey through the mineshaft had been tedious, it hadn’t come without its rewards. I opened my most recent system notification and dismissed the rest, while also investing my free points equally into my physical stats, bringing each of them up to 509 exactly.

Ding! Combat finished. [Hollow Ding! Combat finished. Congratulations on reaching [Hollow essence Knight] level 19!

Four entire levels from as many hours spent delving into an easy, albeit tedious dungeon. Maria had spent that time prattling on and on about her favourite story, while I played along to keep her happy. By the end of our journey, I had to admit the girl had grown on me.

Unfortunately, with the end in sight, I still had no answer to the dry man’s possible intentions.

Keeping Maria from him would result in my death, while giving her to him could result in hers...

I sighed. This was where I drew the line. I wouldn’t sacrifice an innocent child to save my own skin.

I had one option. Nobody above tier 3 could enter this dungeon, and it wasn’t that dangerous in here as long as you avoided the chambers. I wasn’t willing to stay here permanently to hide from the dry man, that was just a stay of execution, but I could at least leave Maria here for a few minutes, while I got my bearings and had a talk with the dry man...

I decided upon this course of action, when, suddenly, the dungeon shook and a loud crash resounded throughout the mine. Something had just blown up, and it wasn’t far from here...

Shit. Maria couldn’t stay here, the pursuers would get to her first!

I resumed my sprint, and saw light at the end of the tunnel.

Time to face the music. Hopefully, I could keep Maria safe, somehow.