Hades raised his arms and the cave shook. The ground cracked open in a dozen places and skeletal warriors clawed out, scrabbling to their feet with weapons drawn. More and more poured from the widening gaps until Calvin, Amy, and Freya were surrounded by an army of the dead.

Hades pointed at the trio. "Destroy them!" he commanded.

The skeletons surged forward, bony feet clacking against stone. Calvin drew his spear and slashed wind blades at the approaching undead. Amy activated Death's Door and appeared in the center of the mass of bones before unleashing a wave of venom and blinking back to her original position. Skeletons died by the scores. Their bones sizzled away as the caustic cloud ate away at their bodies.

The horde was unyielding and unending.

The undead crashed against them like a wave. Calvin's spear flashed, as it sliced through bodies with ease. Beside him, Amy surrounded herself in the blades of Stinging Swarm. Toxic daggers flew into the mass, each one punching through empty rib cages and delivering a fresh dose of Bile Bloom toxin.

Freya leaped and tore, shredding through desiccated flesh and snapping bone.

But no matter how many they destroyed, more emerged from the darkness. The trio were forced back against the cave wall, hemmed in on all sides. A spear grazed Calvin's shoulder while an axe glanced off Amy's leather armor. They panted with exhaustion, muscles burning.

Hades watched impassively, arms folded across his chest. "It is pointless to resist."

Calvin stabbed out in fury, impaling two skeletons at once. "We haven't even gotten started."

"So be it."

Hades made a pulling motion with both hands. Ghostly chains burst from the cave floor, shooting upward to encircle the trio's arms and legs. The links tightened, yanking Calvin, Amy, and Freya down onto their knees. The chains glowed red-hot, searing their skin.

"You sought to steal from the God of the Underworld," Hades intoned. "Now you shall remain here, bound for eternity as slaves to my kingdom."

The skeletal army raised their weapons and cheered as the trio struggled helplessly against their bonds. Hades gazed down at them, deathly pale face betraying no emotion.

Calvin gritted his teeth against the searing heat of the ghostly chains. All around them the army of skeletal warriors jeered and brandished their weapons, awaiting Hades' command to end the intruders once and for all.

Amy struggled futilely next to Calvin, the glowing links biting into her skin. On his other side, Freya snarled, thick cords of metal pinning the great wolf to the ground.

Calvin exchanged a look with Amy.

Suddenly Freya threw back her head and let out an ear-splitting howl. The sound reverberated through the cave, raw primal fury given form. Calvin's skin tingled with gathering energy - Freya was calling a storm.

Calvin immediately activated Stormwalk and vanished in a crackle of lightning. He reappeared an instant later directly in front of Hades, electricity still dancing across his skin. The God of Death's eyes widened in surprise.

With a shout, Calvin slammed his spear down.

A nova of lightning erupted from the point of impact, washing over Hades and the nearby skeletons. The undead warriors flashed into dust, bones charring black. Hades crossed his arms defensively, divine ichor leaking from cracks in his alabaster skin.

Before Calvin could press the attack, the god dissolved into oily smoke. He reformed twenty feet away, features twisted in annoyance.

"Insolent mortal," Hades rasped. "You dare strike-"

His words cut off as inky darkness bloomed underneath Amy. She dropped into the pooling shadows cast by her Miasmic Shroud. Free once more, Amy blinked behind Hades and jammed two daggers right into the back of his neck. The explosion from Sonic Edge nearly tore Hades' head clean off. However, his flesh knitted together as if he'd never even taken any damage. He exploded in a shockwave of force, sending Calvin and Amy flying back and slamming them into the far wall.

Hades surveyed the trio with narrowed eyes. When he spoke, his voice was cold and soft. "It seems I underestimated you."

He raised a hand wreathed in dark energy.

"That was a mistake I shall not repeat."

The dark energy grew in power. An oppressive aura radiated from it and Calvin could feel the waves of power slamming into him as the intensity grew.

Hades pointed his hand at Calvin. "I wanted to make you my slaves down here. I wanted to make you suffer for daring to think you could come here and do as you please. Unfortunately, your insolence cannot be tolerated, even as slaves. Now, you die."

A pulse of Dark energy blasted out from his hand straight toward Calvin.

Calvin shut his eyes, knowing there was no hope for him to escape this attack. He was wounded and it was simply too powerful.

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Freya summoned a treat from her collar and chomped down. This wasn't just any old treat though, it was a behemoth-essence infused treat that she'd stored away in Cerberus' pendant.

In an instant, she grew to six times her normal size. Her fur radiated with intense electric flames as she activated Lightning Fang to intercept the strike headed for Calvin.

The dark energy slammed into her and was absorbed. Her teeth crackled with a fierce dark lightning. That was the thing with her Lightning Fang. It absorbed a portion of the damage dealt and empowered her next bite attack. At six times her normal size and empowered with both behemoth and Cerberus essence, her Chimeral Guardian skill had transformed her into an absolute monster. A monster who now had a supercharged bite. With her Fangs of Fenrir, she launched at Hades and swallowed the top half of his body whole before chomping down and ripping him completely in half. She threw the top half into the wall and picked up the bottom half, shaking it furiously until there was nothing left.

Calvin and Amy watched in shock as Freya absolutely brutalized Hades.

She bounded over to the half she threw up against the wall and shredded it into tiny little 'God of the Underworld' pieces.

And just like that, Hades, the ruler of the underworld was dead.

In the center of the room, a crystal pillar engraved in runes rose up from the ground. On top of the pillar was a key. A key Calvin suspected would open the lockbox he'd looted.

"Nice job Freya. Remind me never to upset you." Calvin said.

"I second that." Amy said.

They both gave the gigantic wolf some well-deserved scritches on her haunches.

"Well, you ready to crack open this chest and get the hell out of here? I'm ready to have a nice meal at Ambrosia followed by a long nap."

Amy nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, lets get out of here please."

Calvin plopped down the lockbox and inserted the key.

He lifted the lid and inside the box were three items:

Charon's Pouch (Platinum): Inside Charon's pouch, vials of the river Styx are generated slowly. Splashing the contents of the vials on any enemy will briefly transport them for an agonizing and soul rending dip in the river Styx. This temporarily removes them from the battlefield, returning them a short while later. Many living things may not survive this. Those that do will have suffered greatly.

Satchel of Drachmas: This satchel contains 25 drachmas. The currency of the underworld. Drachmas may be exchanged while in Olympus. A special store will be available to holders of drachmas where they will be able to purchase from a selection of goods only available within the underworld. As the dungeon of the underworld evolves, the store will evolve with it.

Rune of Hades' Command (Platinum): This rune inscribes a piece of gear with the enchantment Hades' Command.

Hades' Command (Enchantment): The holder of this rune gains temporary command over the undead. Slain foes may be brought back to life for a brief period of time to fight. These undead are far more resilient as their life force is already gone. This ability has a long recharge period.

"Alright, not quite what I expected, but this seems like great stuff. I'm really interested in that new store option we've got now. You all ready to get out of here?" Calvin asked.

Freya yipped and bounded in circles. She was still about fifteen hundred pounds, so it was a pretty silly sight to behold.

"After you my leige." Amy said with a wink.

Calvin shook his head, then placed his hand on the crystal pillar.

DUNGEON OF THE UNDERWORLD - FLOOR 10 - COMPLETE

Exit?

Calvin selected yes and soon they found themselves blinded by the sunlight of the open sky. They were right in front of the dungeon entrance, back home in Olympus.

Calvin flipped through the quest rewards they'd gotten for completing the floors. They'd been so caught up in everything, he hadn't had a chance to dive into them just yet. All in all, they earned 15 more drachmas, 80,000xp, 500,000 credits, Recipes of Elysium (Cookbook) and three Charon's coins.

The cookbook was pretty self-explanatory and he'd get that over to Stan asap. The coin was interesting. It would teleport them to the end of the highest floor completed in the dungeon next time they entered.

Asher paced back and forth in front of the dungeon entrance, peering anxiously into its inky depths. When Calvin, Amy and Freya suddenly materialized in a flash of light, he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"You're back!" Asher exclaimed, clasping his hands together. "When you didn't return after the first few hours I started to worry. How did it go in there?"

Calvin rubbed the back of his neck, still feeling the phantom weight of the chains that had bound them. "Honestly, it was a bit of a wild ride. Nothing like we were expecting."

Amy nodded, absently massaging a lingering burn on her wrist. "The dungeon was strange. It didn't seem to match your description at all."

"Oh?" Asher tilted his head curiously. As the appointed Dungeon Keeper, the intricacies of this place were his responsibility. Anything out of the ordinary warranted investigation. "What exactly did you experience?"

"Well, after passing the initial challenges on the first floor, where we fought a minotaur and a Sphinx, we entered some kind of mishmash between all sorts of ancient cultures, primarily ancient Egypt." Calvin recounted.

"Yes, and there were tunnels filled with traps and puzzles," Amy added. "We fought living statues, mummies. At one point we even faced the god Anubis."

Asher's eyebrows shot up. "Anubis? The god of the dead from Egyptian myth?"

"Yeah, he put me through some kind of spiritual trial." Calvin frowned. "And then we ended up in the Greek underworld, encountered a drunk Dionysus. Battled our way through hordes of skeletal warriors, did a quest for Cerberus, and then fought Hades himself."

"It was intense. The environments and enemies were nothing like you described, we thought it would be 10 floors of increasingly difficult monsters, but we ended up encountering Gods and having our souls measured." Amy said. "Any thoughts on what happened?"

Asher tugged at his beard, looking utterly baffled. "I'm afraid I haven't the faintest idea. Perhaps the system generated some sort of anomaly?"

Calvin shared a look with Amy. It seemed their experience had been unique even within the already fantastical realm of the system. Just another mystery to unravel.

"In any case, while your journey may have differed from expectations, it still proved fruitful," Asher continued brightly. "By clearing ten floors, you've earned a significant amount of dungeon experience. We're nearly ready to advance to the next tier."

He clasped Calvin on the shoulder. "Well done, my friend. Whatever strange forces were at work, you triumphed nonetheless."

Calvin managed a tired smile. After the ordeals they'd endured, he was more than ready to return to the comforts of Olympus for a long rest. But Asher was right - their efforts had pushed the dungeon closer to growth. And more power was exactly what they needed if they hoped to someday match the vast forces arrayed against them.

"We'll dive back in soon," Calvin promised. "But first, I think we've all earned a vacation."

Asher laughed heartily. "Indeed you have! Go and enjoy the spoils of your victories. The dungeon will be here when you return."

With final farewells, the trio turned and headed back toward the distant glittering spires of Olympus. Adventures and mysteries awaited them there, to be sure. But for now, rest.