Isoldea sank her fangs into the neck of Lord Zodark. He went still and stopped breathing.

“[Blood Coffin]!” she pricked her finger and her blood flowed around her liege’s body. When it had wrapped around him fully, her blood crystalized.

He was safe now.

The fumes had covered the cave chamber. Isoldea was undead, her lungs were long dead. These fumes couldn’t poison her.

“Who are you?” she shouted out to the voice.

“Just die already, Lady!” the voice shouted.

“No.”

“No?”

“Yes, no.”

“Do you know who I am? Do you know what I’m capable of? Do you know the many souls I’ve taken?”

“No. And I don’t care,” she said frankly.

“When you visit the afterlife, you’ll know me then! BAHAHAHA!”

Vines burst from the cave ceiling. They shot at her.

“[Stoney Gaze].”

Just as the vines were about to touch her, they got petrified into stone. She pulled out her chain sword and whipped the vines until they shattered into many pieces.

Then spikes shot out of the cave walls and struck Isoldea.

Her face, arms, legs and body were covered in spikes.

“How annoying,” she moaned. “[Repulse].”

The spikes fell off one by one. The open wounds they left behind closed.

“You’re not making it easy to kill you!” the voice cried in annoyance.

“I’ve been told many times I’m too stubborn,” she responded. Her eyes scanned the cave chambers.

“Do you have any other tricks for me?” she asked.

“Tricks? Bitch, I don’t do tricks! Magic flows through me!”

The ground shook. It cracked apart and revealed hot magma flowing underneath.

Isoldea produced a lance from her [Inventory].

She did her incantations.

“Swifter than the wind, stronger than steel, breaker of chains. I call upon thee, creatures of Darkness. [Reinforced Magical Strength]. [Reinforced Attunement]. [Greater Piercing Damage]. [Total Damage Impactor].”

The lance glowed bright red.

The ground she stood on shook as more of the floor broke apart and was swallowed by magma.

“You’ll both die now! It’s quite unfortunate. I would’ve enjoyed absorbing all your mana. But I must teach you a lesson!”

“One shot, one kill,” she said softly.

“What are you whispering about?”

Isoldea spun herself and threw the lance at a cracked spot on the cave ceiling. Thanks to the numerous spells she had cast on the lance, it shot out of her hand as though it was a bullet coming out of a gun’s barrel.

When the lance struck the cave’s ceiling, there was silence.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Then the cave dripped blood everywhere. The fumes disappeared.

“H-How did you know,” this voice struggled speaking. “How?”

“The level of control you had to manipulate the cave only meant one thing. You’re a Dungeon Core that is sentient somehow. There are no deeper levels to go from here so this was the final stage. You had nowhere else to hide. And every time you used your spells, you emitted a faint signal. And when you angrily destroyed the floor in order to drown us in magma, I was able to detect your exact location.”

“You tricked me? You made me angry so that I would slip up!”

“Being emotional can be costly.”

The voice went silent.

“I don’t… I don’t want to die like this, save me…”

“No.”

A crystal ball fell down from the ceiling. It had to be the Dungeon Core. It had cracks and the crystal was dull in colour.

“Save me…”

Isoldea lifted her foot to crush the ball.

“Save me. I’ll let your friends go. That’s why you came here, right. Save me or else they’ll die with me…”

Isoldea stared behind. Lord Zodark remained in that crystal cocoon she created. Even if she released him, it would take hours for him to wake up from the coma she had put him in.

She had to make the decision herself.

“Hurry up already!” the ball screamed out as best it could.

“Prove to me you have them.”

A hole opened in the cave wall nearby. A familiar furry arm popped out. A finger twitched.

Leofric was still alive, she smiled.

“[Heal]!”

The cracks around the ball faded away. Its colour turned from dull to a clear blue tint.

Isoldea tightly grabbed the crystal ball.

“Release them all or else I’ll smash you right now with my bare hands.”

“There’s no need to resort to violence,” the ball begged.

Fifteen slits opened around the cave wall. And out came the guards, mages and even Leofric.

They collapsed on the ground, unconscious. Thankfully, the lava had now cooled down and became solid rock. There was no way they’d sink and drown into it.

“Could you lend me more of your mana?” the ball asked sweetly at Isoldea. “Without your friends, I have no mana to run this cave.”

“That’s your problem.”

“Wait! If I don’t get mana soon, this whole island will go under the sea.”

“And why is that?”

“I’m the one who created it. In the beginning, this island was nothing more than a patch of sand drifting in an endless ocean. But due to my ingenuity, look how far I’ve grown this island. Now Frost Giants and several animals call this place home.”

“You kidnapped my friends. You think I’m going to forgive such a transgression?”

“Come now, be reasonable. Your friends invaded MY island. Killed MY giants out of fun and you expect me to have done nothing? If I allowed them to continue their carnage, they’d probably destroyed the whole island with it.”

Isoldea stared at the ball.

“You misunderstood their intentions. They came here to clear out the Frost Giants so that we could extract resources without fear of being assaulted,” she explained.

“I see. Then we can make a deal. As overlord of this island, I can tell the Frost Giants to leave you alone. You can then extract resources as you please but I get mana in exchange.”

“What’s stopping us from just taking everything right now?”

“Well, the whole island would sink to the ocean floor. We both won’t benefit from such an outcome. Let’s make a deal.”

Isoldea stared at the crystal ball. She didn’t know if she could trust it.

…

…

When Lord Zodarkm, Leofric and the others woke up, Isoldea caught them up with what had happened to them.

Leofric, seeing that Lord Zodark had travelled away from the Demon Palace in order to save him, apologised profusely.

“I deserve to be punished a thousand times for my failure, Lord Zodark,” Leofric cried. “I should’ve never underestimated that cave. I allowed my ego to cloud my judgement and I endangered the whole mission.”

Lord Zodark seemed unconcerned by the whole thing. “So long as you’re all safe. That’s what matters.”

Isoldea felt warm in her chest seeing the amount of mercy that Lord Zodark gave to those who humbled themselves before him.

She didn’t want to get too lost in thought though. She informed Lord Zodark of the deal that the crystal ball had proposed.

“Do you trust that thing?” Lord Zodark asked her.

“My view isn’t important, my lord. I was giving you the full picture so that you can make the final judgement,” she said back to him.

“I trust your judgement, Isoldea. Do you trust this ball?”

“Not fully, my lord. But I think we should take the deal. It will benefit both sides.”

Her liege nodded at her words.

“Very well then, let’s get it done."