"Okay then, who will be our first volunteer?" Coach Russell asked. His face beaming with barely suppressed giddiness. A sentiment that did not waver when none of us came forward.

"What? No one wants to be the vanguard? Even with all the advantages that position gives you? Even after all those stat points just laying there on the floor, begging to be picked up?"

No one was dumb enough to take the bait.

Yet, coach Russell did not look like minor details such as a healthy sense of self-preservation would stop him. His big brown eyes moving over us in a manner that was shockingly reminiscent of a viper's glare as it hovered over a bird's nest filled with hatchlings.

"Elsie." He began with enthusiasm. His bushy beard shaking as he bellowed. "Since you're the highest levelled pupil here, the honor of leadership should naturally fall unto you! Why don't you go out there and show the rest of us what you're made of!"

It was phrased like a question, yet his tone betrayed the fact that it was anything but. His smile being wide and manic as he stared Elsie down.

There was a budding feeling in my heart then. Barely a whisper in the darkness. A small, nigh imperceptible feeling of pity. Of genuine worry, as Elsie's auburn hair swirled around her whilst her face shot towards coach Russell's own. Her deep blue eyes filled with a small amount of trepidation, instead of the usual impish glee they held.

Then, she nodded. Striding forth with newfound confidence.

She turned the corner with steady strides. Her feet gliding past the earth as she picked up speed. Her running shoes blurring as she leapt past half-a-dozen steps at a time.

There was silence after that. A lack of sound that permeated into the very stones.

"Excellent start. Right then." Coach Russell began. "Time to send the second wave in. Julian. Fernanda. You're up. I want a running start as you go in. Find cover and start drawing in other monsters. Or don't. I'll leave it to your discretion. Take note of what monsters are heading towards you and act according to what you think the biggest threats are. Marco. Sean. You'll follow up after them. Start transforming now so you'll be good to go as soon as..."

His voice got cut off, as the sounds of explosions rang out. The loud booms echoing across the walls. Bouncing around them over and over until the shriek drowned out all other stimuli.

Soon after that, Elsie showed up again. Her armor and the pretty dress beneath blackened and charred, while soot stained her face. The ensemble was completed by the fact her auburn hair was blasted back. Sticking to her head, while becoming stiff and pointy. Not unlike certain toons on TV.

"They have grenades." She said, coughing a bit more after the fact.

"Grenades." Ramji repeated.

"Yes." She confirmed.

"The green beans have grenades?" Yuann asked.

"Yes, Yuann. The green beans have grenades. And landmines. What more would you like me to tell you?"

"How?" He asked.

"I don't know!" She snapped. "All I know is that the sea gargoyles are dead. Just like the frogs ad the eels and the lizardmen and most of the monsters that used to live there. The beans somehow booby trapped the dead bodies so they'd explode. Don't ask me how."

"Probably a buildup of methane in their systems, followed by some chemical reaction or a rapid change in pressure." Sean wondered aloud. Doing that thing with his fingers as he did so. "It could be some sort of post-mortem parasitism. Or it could be that the beans have somehow developed carnivorous inclinations like those of modern day Venus flytraps. Only with the added effect of them setting up further kills down the line. That kind of planning would imply higher cognition, as well as a deep awareness of themselves and how their own powers may interact with their surroundings. Perhaps it might even hint at a complex social structure between individuals or possibly a hivemind of sorts."

The sinister motions of his fingers sped up as he cackled to himself. His oily, shoulder length black hair bobbing up and down.

"Hmn. Yes indeed. I can see it now. Exploding velociraptors that charge to meet the enemy. Cornering prey using normal pack hunting tactics, with an extra recourse to dissuade predators or to break down entrenched formations of smarter monsters. Yes. That could work. I am learning so much. So very, very much."

He licked his lips in a sinister fashion.

"Soon. The grand design will be done soon. And dinosaurs will take their rightful place as the rulers of earth once more!"

I turned to the others.

"Seriously guys! I can't be the only one that gets worried about this stuff!"

"He's always like that." Drew reminded me.

"That doesn't make it better!" I bit back.

Coach Russell wasn't listening though. His eyes were fixed upon the entrance to the fourth floor some ways off from our position. deeper within the spiraling coral-lined staircase. He whistled.

"Not bad. Cecil. Not bad at all."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"What are you talking about?" I said, turning to him. "This looks like a terrible outcome. It means I couldn't control the monsters I made."

"True." He answered. Ceding the point. "But it also means that spending a good chunk of your current stamina pool creates an effect potent enough to crush resistance up to the fourth floor. That is no easy feat. Especially not at your level."

His grin turned feral once more.

"Which is why we have to focus on your mistakes and work to improve upon them."

"Okay?" I responded. My stomach turning into knots as I started seeing where he was going with this.

"Right now, that means working on your control. Including the ins and outs of your finer, less intrusive transformations."

"Right? With you so far..."

"So, it stands to reason that this could be an excellent opportunity to test some of your limits. Since you have a full team to watch your back. Now that miss Robertson back there has hopefully learned the lessons I wanted her to take away from this, it's your turn to take point."

He looked me up and down once again.

"We'll start by forming a layer of armor around yourself. Should be easy enough, as you've already done it before. Simply imagine drawing a layer of warmth from your core and then pull it over yourself like a blanket. If you're still having trouble, take a peek at how Marco and Sean are doing it."

He turned to them as well.

"Boys, time to start showing off. Marco, turn big. Sean, turn into a dinosaur."

Sean started licking his lips again, as Marco merely grew in silence.

"Yes coach. These poor fools shall now look up to me and know the glory and the majesty of the true rulers of..."

"Yeah, yeah. Get on with it."

Sean shot coach Russell an insolent look, but ended up complying anyway.

His fingers lengthened into sharp talons as a layer of emerald scales erupted across his skin. At the same time, his teeth burst from his mouth. Growing sharper and sharper by the second, even as Sean himself kept growing in size. Not as quickly as Marco had moments earlier, but the effect was still astounding to behold.

When the change ended, Sean stood some three meters tall. Where Marco stood four and a half meters in height. The latter was undoubtedly bigger and stronger looking all around, yet there was something about Sean that was more ferocious. More primal.

As if he were a saltwater crocodile waiting patiently for some poor critter to step into his waters.

'Or a serpent coiled to strike.' I thought to myself. 'I don't care what the others say. This guy means business. I feel that same hunger about him. That same urge to kill the bears and gorillas had had.'

Indeed, if I hadn't known better, I might have confused him for a Boss monster.

"Well Cecil? What exactly are you waiting for?"

"I'm on it. Coach." I replied on instinct. Realizing then that I had been staring.

My own transformation felt rather, bland by comparison. I felt myself growing more exhausted. Weakening my reserves even further, though I hadn't yet recovered from the earlier burst of magic. Still, that ended up helping.

I could feel the warmth a bit more clearly as it left my core. Guiding it more easily now that it was a somewhat turbulent stream and not a furious river buffeting against its own borders and threatening to overflow into a deluge.

I felt the magic enveloping me and enlarging my arms, my shoulders, my back, my hips and my legs. Boney plates manifesting as my new suit stretched against the sudden changes.

When it was done, I stood at roughly 2 and a half meters. Still shy of what Sean had accomplished.

Yet I could not find anything to complain about.

Unlike the earlier exertion of power, I felt, like myself. Fully in control, despite the presence of the hunger and the urges that came with it.

Coach Russell looked me up and down, before nodding with smug satisfaction.

"Right then, what are you all waiting for? A pep talk? Go kill some monsters!"

Marco merely nodded and started making his way down the spiral staircase. His steps making the stone steps shake and quake as he passed. In contrast, Sean moved quietly, despite his size. Moving with a callous grace as he clawed his way across the stone wall. Brushing past Marco and rushing towards the archway.

'Forget dinosaurs. He's more like a gecko. A gigantic, hulking gecko. Yeah. Never mind. He might actually be scarier this way.'

I followed them closely, with my ears picking up Ramji, Drew, Emma, Julian, Fernanda, Yuann and Elsie coming in after me.

I... I honestly don't know what I had been expecting down there, but the scene I saw blew whatever preconceived notions I might have had out of the water.

An apt description, since, unlike the last time I was down here, there was no water.

The lake, which had been a staple of the fourth floor since the first time I had descended, was gone. In its place was a pit with two dozen thick green roots coming out of them. The structures flexing and churning as if they were human arteries pumping blood across a body.

Connected to those roots, were collections of bipedal moving plants. With strange, ear-like growths instead of eyes and bodies that looked as if they were straw-filled dolls that somehow gained sentience. Only the clothes were outer layers of thickened plant matter interposed with patches of solid bark.

Yet another odd feature, was the disfigured right arm they all shared. The limb looking more like a series of balloons attached to tubes than anything else.

Those limbs and indeed, all of their bodies flinched as soon as we got close. Their ear-like growths swaying back and forth in silence as if tasting the air.

I stayed perfectly still. Admiring them and the way they coordinated with each other, despite the hunger I could recognize within them.

'They aren't like the bear or the gorillas at all.' I realized. 'They are, more aware. Of themselves. Of their surroundings. Of me.'

Sure enough, I felt a sense of connection with them. My own magic exiting my body in thin, ethereal strings until they brushed against their own bodies.

There was another, deeper pang of recognition and I confirmed that they, despite their inherent bloodlust, saw me as a parent. As a guardian, of sorts.

I was already making my way towards them, when I felt Ramji and Drew grabbing me by the shoulder. Marco's oversized hand cutting off my means of approach while his other hand pointed downwards.

Only then did I truly see the aftereffects of the beans' invasion.

The bodies.

The hundreds, the thousands of bodies.

Green sprouts erupting from open, dried up wounds covering their beings.

Innumerable eyes staring upwards. Unblinking. Into the abyss.

"Holy cow Cecil." Ramji began. "This is freaking terrifying."

"Oh yeah." Drew agreed. "Total horror movie material."

Julian walked in front of us. Carefully taking note of where he was stepping.

He too took a gander a the spectacle and grimaced.

"Well, at least it's strong, as far as powers go."

"You guys are a bunch of sissies." Emma protested from the side. "So what if the monster died from being shot or from being burned alive? They're dead aren't they? They'd be just as dead if you or I got to them first so it doesn't make sense to be that surprised."

"I don't want to hear anything from the pyromaniac." Julian snapped. "You wouldn't know disturbing if it ran you over with a truck. You're scarier than half the monsters in this forsaken place."

Fernanda backed up her brother as Yuann tried to break them up.

To my shame, I too had my attention stolen by the verbal lashings. To the point where I didn't notice Sean stepping closer and closer to the main mass of greenery anchored to the pit where the lake had been.

Not until I heard his otherwise silent claws stepping on a half-buried corpse.

From there, the peace was shattered as the air came alive...

With explosions, and shotgun-like bursts of fire.