Candle Style was renowned as one of the oldest martial arts. King Tallow practiced in his personal dojo of the castle. Candle golems shot balls of hot fire at him, and he dodged with ease. Meanwhile, clay dummies charged at him by the command of the court wizard.

Tallow made his fist turn waxy as he struck the first golem. He ignited his magic at the same time, creating a fiery explosion.

Anyone who saw the art used, would soon figure out the true danger of Candle Style. It was a double layered attack. First the punches would cover the body in wax, and then the ignition would create sticky, fiery explosions. Even more dangerous was that he could even attack from a distance.

With a point of his finger, a large string of wax wrapped around a dummy like a rope. He pulled it in and smashed the face with his fist, sending shards of clay golem flying everywhere.

The last dummy was the least fortunate. The king held out his hand and sent a huge glob that covered the golem’s body. With a snap of his finger, a small flame ignited. He sent the flame spiraling towards his opponent, erupting it into a pillar of flames.

The candle golems firing at him from the sides stopped with the death of the last clay contraption.

The hag court wizard clapped. “Well done, Your Majesty. It seems that age has not slowed down your movements in the least.”

“Someone has to keep this old art from disappearing, especially since it seems my children will not be able to use it.” The king could hardly understand why the candles rejected his children, even as he was hailed as the greatest Candle Style user in history. “It should see some use on this endeavor, however.”

“It seems you troubled yourself with another interesting prospect,” the court wizard said. “Just be careful, My Liege.”

King Tallow chuckled. “I never feel weary around her. Perhaps I will be able to learn a lot from our new witch friend.”

“Don’t push your luck. Remember that the heroes are in your care. If they happen to die on this journey, I hate to think what the citizens will say. Or the nobles.”

Tallow sighed. “You are always so practical, but I suppose, that is what makes you a great woman to have in my court.” He smiled at her. “If you are that worried about it, you can simply join us on the expedition.”

The wrinkled woman smirked. “My, you are ever the flirt as always. Suppose, I tell your wife?”

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“Good luck with that. First, you’d have to die.”

“Well, I do have a foot in the grave already.”

“Haha, who are you kidding, Brynya? I think you have at least one hundred years left.”

“Please, don’t make such jokes,” Brynya said. “I would rather not serve you for another century.” She laughed before turning stern. “Be careful. Just in case, I will be asking Reddul for a huge batch this time.”

“Don’t worry so much. We will have all of the heroes and adventurers to accompan—”

“That’s the part that worries me. Or did you forget that you are a king?”

///

To most, the origins of dungeons were a mystery. Many claimed that the goddess, Kreah, made them. The scholars didn’t agree. But none of that mattered to the creature known as Cerumen.

The ginormous glob of wax sat on the last floor of the dungeon. It spread it’s wriggling ooze into tendrils. The tendrils spawned more and more paraffin—candle monsters floated out of their lord, gliding up to the lower floors.

Cerumen was a conscious being, clinging to life at the bottom. He didn’t always look so hideous. Back when he was an unevolved paraffin, he’d been visited. Someone calling themselves The Lord of Gluttony had awoken the paraffin to his current state. And now all of the candle monsters listened to him. Cerumen had never felt so powerful before.

Yet, even with all of that power, something was always missing. He’d always need more and more food for his paraffin. He hadn’t managed to completely conquer the dungeon. Even after reaching the pinnacle and becoming a core, the upper floors still held monsters of varying types.

Not only that, but stragglers from the outside would wander in. In his current state he wasn’t strong enough to maintain total dominion. The previous lord had abandoned this place, but the dungeon still favored lizardmen, even with that lower dragon gone. However, Cerumen’s core was evolving.

With each defeated monster, he’d gain power. He would spawn new minions. Cerumen had dreams larger than a simple twenty floor dungeon. After capturing this, he’d expand his territory into surrounding dungeons and gobble them up.

He’d sent scouts to another dungeon. Small wax creatures—no bigger than a fly—flew further away. They reached a plant dungeon towards the coastline, and Cerumen had plans of conquering it.

That was until someone else captured it and destroyed it. A small unassuming girl with a pointy black hat was the obstacle. The scouts confirmed it. Not only did that little girl destroy the dungeon, she also cleared the miasma simultaneously. Without it, there would be no possibility for a new dungeon to spawn for centuries at least.

All Cerumen could do was focus on strengthening his wax army. If the worst should happen, he’d abandon this place.

“It seems you really are doomed to fail, my precious.” His thoughts were interrupted by a high-pitched and childish voice. “Normally, this would not be a cause for concern. After all, it’s usually survival of the fittest.”

The nearby paraffin readied their flames to shoot at the intruder, but Cerumen stopped them with a wave of his wax. He knew instinctively not to get on her bad side. Gluttony could easily consume him, rendering his plans pointless.

“But your awakening is going too slow…” The horned girl said, slowly walking closer to him. She put her hand against Cerumen’s wax. “I guess I should speed up the process.”