The monster festering in the next chamber, as Tarnis had said, seemed absolutely terrifying at first. Known as a Fleshara, the Level 21 monster had a body made of clumps of skin that had spread all over the room. Its numerous arms, which hung from the ceiling and each featured a large orange talon, swatted at Kanda and the Fledglings. The sounds the creature made, however, were something else entirely.

Yip! Yip!

“What the actual fu—!” The now cured Juno jumped backward to avoid one of its talons.

Zap!

Zola kept on firing at the Fleshara as she summoned Yomini, who flame-bladed into one of the clumps of flesh. Fiera did the same to a pair of talons using her fiery tail.

Yip! Yip! Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip! The monster shrieked in a high-pitched voice as Alistair hit it with Lightning Firestorm.

“Too much fire!” Kanda coughed into her arm. “Remember where we are.” She took hold of some of the wind and rushed over the flames, which filled the underground chamber with thick black smoke that soon filtered away.

“We need to get these talons off the ceiling,” Juno said as they repeatedly struck the ground.

Yip! Yip!

Ziggy rushed to avoid one only to be cleaved in half by another. It cut right through him, ripping the slime apart.

Ghost: Get your damn slime, Alistair, or I will!

Alistair was just touching his chest to summon Ziggy when the slime snapped back together, it did so around one of the ceiling talons and snapped it in half. Squish!

Ghost: Hell yeah, that’s the Ziggy I know.

“I have an idea!” Rather than tell them what he planned to do, Juno used a spell known as Tectonic Tremor, which caused the ground and the ceiling to shake.

“Are you an idiot!?” Zola cried as stones and some of the Fleshara’s guts dropped from the ceiling. This was followed by dust and a loud, lurching noise above.

“It worked, didn’t it!” Juno asked as the creature’s talons ended up piercing its own body, which quickly killed the creature. The monster barely let out a death rattle as it gave up the fight, some of its clumps still on fire, all no longer pulsing.

Juno spotted something. He picked it up and nodded. “Is this the femur knife we needed? I think it is.”

“Looks like a femur knife to me,” Zola said, only then realizing how weird that sentence was. “I can’t believe it’s come to this…”

“Alistair, Noctarii,” Kanda said. “Make sure we can get out of here.”

Alistair summoned the shadow fae, who took one look around and gasped. “Why is it that every time you put me away and bring me back out, everything always seems twice as fucked as it was before? What the hell is that thing?” The fae gestured to a clump of flesh.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kanda told him. “Make sure we can get out of fear.”

“Kandy, I hate to be the one to tell you, but I only take orders from—”

“It’s fine,” Alistair said. “She’s in charge. We need to know we’re not trapped.”

“If anyone is in charge, it’s me,” Noctari grumbled under his breath as he departed.

Squish? Ziggy touched a piece of the monster and it collapsed. Squish!

“Careful, Ziggy.” Alistair tapped on his shoulder and slime bound toward him. It hopped up onto his shoulder and settled. Squish…

“I can’t believe this stupid thing didn’t even drop a card.” Juno kicked one of the clumps the viscera. “This would have been cool for your deck, Zolski.”

She looked at him in horror. “No, it wouldn’t have. And remember, right now I’m holding something for Tarnis.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

[Damn right, you are! And you shouldn’t have killed the Fleshara because I would have liked to get my hands on that one too, however mutated it was. But you did it. You really did it, this time. Just wait until the fae returns.]

“We’re stuck in here,” Noctarii said after he returned.

Tarnis roared with laughter.

[That’s right! Your little antics have now trapped you in this dungeon! The only way out is me, and if I’m going to let you out, I need you to do something for me.]

Kanda glared at a point on the ceiling in front of her. “Tarnis, we will get the dungeon core and we have the monster you wanted. Plus, we got the blade. That’s the deal. Those things for the dungeon core card, and the quest reward. That’s the deal.”

[You will make a shit Solarian one day if you don’t learn the art of negotiation.]

“We’ve already negotiated with you.”

[True, and now you’re trapped in a dungeon.]

“Are you sure you want to play this game? If you don’t help us, we will kill the monster we’re holding for you and destroy the dungeon core.”

[You would destroy a dungeon core?]

“I would. Why not?” Kanda asked. “I don’t care about this dungeon.”

[There are a million reasons why you shouldn’t destroy a dungeon core, not to mention it may kill you.]

“We have ways to shield ourselves.”

[But… but you’re underground.]

“Temporarily, yes. Are you going to continue to hold up your end of our agreement or do we need to escalate this? We’re good either way.”

Juno sent a message to all of them.

Juno: I’m not good with being stuck down here, if anyone is asking. This place sucks ass. I already lost my face, remember? Are you sure you know what you’re doing?

Kanda: Of course, I know what I’m doing. I have a Forbidden Card that provides immediate exit from a trapped location. It can only be used once. Do I want to use it? No. Will I use it if necessary? You bet, I will.

Juno: You’re officially a badass, Kanda.

Kanda: I try. Trust me, this will work. Tarnis wants the core more than he wants to torment us.

Sure enough, her words rang true a few moments later.

[Fine! Fine, Skyward, I’ll get you out of here. Just get the dungeon core for me and be careful with it. You must be careful with it!]

Kanda turned to Alistair. “Why don’t you do the honors? We’ll stay here.”

“I can’t go with him?” Juno asked.

“Stay here and wipe off the guts on your overcoat,” Kanda said.

Juno looked down at the mess on his arm. “Ah, I just had this one cleaned, too.”

Alistair moved into the next chamber, where he found the dungeon core suspended in air, vibrant blue light filtering around it. The core consisted of two cubes that were able to join in the middle via a mechanism that locked into place.

He summoned Lionel.

“Yes?” the strange summon asked as it boiled up from the ground.

“Can you hold this for a bit?”

Lionel moved closer to it, the light reflecting onto his inky black featureless face. “A real dungeon core? Certainly.” He reached his long fingers toward the dungeon core. It sizzled in his hand and then disappeared. “Is there anything else, Alistair?”

“No, that should be it for now. Thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

“There is something else,” Ghost said, taking over before Alistair could withdraw the summon. “We are staying at an assassin’s mansion tonight, and I’ll need you to keep to the shadows. I would send you ahead, and maybe I should, but there are other assassins who have knowledge of Resonant Mana and relics that can detect it. So that could be risky. But we will be working either tonight, or tomorrow.”

“And by work you mean you will be sending others to the shadows?”

“Precisely.”

“I look forward to it,” Lionel said.

Ghost relinquished control and Alistair brought Lionel back into his chest. He reached the previous chamber to see that Kanda had summoned a square on the ground, one rimmed in mana. Juno and Zola were already gone.

“Do you have the core?” she asked.

“I do.”

“Jump in.”

Alistair did as instructed and landed directly in front of the abandoned dungeon next to Juno and Zola.

“You good?” Juno asked, who had been examining the femur blade he’d found in the Fleshara’s chamber.

“I’m good.”

“Thanks for saving me back there. I know I didn’t say it at the time. I was sort of shocked by the goblin guts on my face but really, thanks.” Juno smiled. “One day, I’m going to save you.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“It’s not right now. But it might be later, and when that time comes, you know I got your back no matter what.” He turned to Zola. “Stop laughing.”

“I’m not laughing. That was just cute. You guys are besties.”

“We’re more than besties. We’re roommates, Ghost and Wraith are our codenames.”

Kanda landed quickly, causing Ziggy to squish in fright. Alistair was glad she appeared suddenly, before Ghost could say something about Juno’s last comment.

“Right,” the older girl said. “Everyone’s here and Tarnis is no longer going to fuck with us. Let’s get the two of you back to the portal, and then Alistair and I have some things to attend to.”

“You sure you all will be fine?” Zola asked her.

“I’m sure of it. Even if my uncle wants to punish us by forcing us to wear shitty outfits.”

“What kind of outfits?” Juno called to Kanda as they headed in the direction of the portal Alistair had set.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”