It felt fear for the first time.

Things were going normally today. It had been defending itself as usual, making sure that no intruder got too deep into it. It didn’t think it could be defeated at the pace it had been going, that is, until the demon came. The demon looked like any other intruder, a sword at her side and a determined glare in her eyes.

She started going forwards, slashing through the defenses like a monster in the guise of an intruder. Hacking down swarms that took months to fully form, slashing down the bugs that had been doing just fine earlier; All while having that hateful, determined, vengeful glare in her eyes.

It thought that glare was for anything but it. It hadn’t done anything to the demon personally, had it? Had it annoyed the demon with showers of small bugs? No, no it hadn’t. It didn’t understand. What had it done to deserve this? It didn’t enjoy it when its’ bugs died. That was a normal part of life and each of them would return in time, but all of them dying at once like this? No. It did not like this.

The demon had continued into the dungeon, slashing at walls that were going to ambush and removing threats before they had a chance to retaliate. The demon’s sword was bathed in flame, matching the golden hair and orange eyes that the demon had. Adventurers and intruders didn’t have orange eyes, from what it had known… Thus, it concluded that the demon couldn’t be part of them. The demon was something else.

It watched in fear, growing more panicked as it started throwing everything it had at the demon. Bugs, spiders, ants, flies, moths, butterflies, anything. The bugs and spiders got quick slashes, left to perish; The ants and flies couldn’t escape the fire from that unholy sword, as terrifying as it was; the moths and butterflies couldn’t help a single bit against stopping the demon’s path, weak and frail.

It felt terrified. It didn’t want to shatter- It had so many plans for the future, plans for floors, for bigger bugs, better defenses, it didn’t want all of those plans to go off course because of a monster it couldn’t handle-

The gift giver had rushed into the core room unexpectedly, yelling, making sounds at the demon. The demon didn’t seem convinced and walked forwards, grasping her sword as she explained things that the dungeon didn’t understand. The gift giver talked and talked, made sounds, but the demon didn’t relent from her goal.

It felt confused. What was this? Was the gift giver defending it from the demon? It couldn’t tell. The demon took out her sword, and the dungeon knew what would happen next.

No. The dungeon felt a denial in its’ very core. No, don’t take the gift giver away. Don’t take him away from me. It didn’t think that adventurers could respawn; It had absorbed two before, and had never seen them again. It didn’t want to absorb the gift giver even if the gift giver did perish in battle. It wanted the gift giver to keep visiting.

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It didn’t want the gift giver gone. The gift giver was its’, and nobody else’s. The gift giver belonged to it. It watched the gift giver defending it, battling with the demon. Deciding that it refused to let him go, it sent out a small, invisible tendril of magic. This magic couldn’t harm if it wanted to, nor could it ever do anything noticeable if things remained safe. However, the dungeon knew what it could do; If the gift giver was torn away from the mortal plane, the string… That little string would force him to come back.

Feeling somewhat secure now that it had tied an invisible, intangible safety net over the gift giver, it watched with fear as the gift giver and the demon fought. Clashing sword to sword, watching as the gift giver’s hands got burnt in his goal to protect the dungeon, watching as the demon took one scratch for every scar the gift giver got. It attempted to help when possible, with the little defenses it was spending most of its’ magic to create.

It felt safe again when the gift giver finally managed to get rid of the demon. It was a little confused while it looked at the gift giver, how he stared at the demon while she was on the floor. The only reason that it hadn’t absorbed the demon was because it didn’t know if the gift giver wanted it to or not, but after a moment of silence, it allowed itself to absorb the demon.

The magic received was more than the other two gave, but it wasn’t very satisfied. The magic it needed to use in order to secure that safety net for the gift giver was immense, and it wouldn’t be able to make its’ third floor anytime soon. If it wanted to do that again, it would need to sacrifice another chance at a third floor… But that was alright with it. The thing that made it unhappy was the fact that it would take some time for it to create its’ defenses again.

It didn’t want its’ favorite people hurt. Not now, not ever. The stronger it got, the more magic it could contain within itself, the more strings it could create. Strings turn to ropes, ropes turn to chains, and it won’t need to worry about its’ favorite people.

It did not forget this.

Lemrio did not forget this.

He knew that when the time came, Fizz would have a safety net, too. Lemrio didn’t need more floors; He didn’t have a use for them at the moment. Lemrio didn’t need to protect his core as much; He trusted in Fizz and John to protect him from the true threats. Lemrio’s priorities made his instincts cry in protest, and yet, he overcame them regardless.

Lemrio loved his friends. If he had a say, then nothing would forever hurt them ever again. He refused to make a statue of the demon; That thing had nearly killed John and left him with scars he had to hide.

But, if John or any of Lemrio’s friends died in the dungeon… Well, he would bring them all back. It didn’t matter if they wanted to come back or not; He refused to let them go. Were his goals selfless or selfish? He didn’t know… But it was all going to be okay. He knew that humans were a little reckless at times, and that was okay! Getting a little scratched up was part of life, in Lemrio’s opinion.

But he would make sure that his beloved friends don’t stay down when they get scratched.