Interlude

On the same planet as our dungeon, far away from the freezing island of ice.

A group of eight children are huddled together hiding from a slave trader in an abandoned mine. They left their village in a rush as their parents held back the man who came hunting for them. They are frightened and don't know what to do.

It's been a couple of days since they started hiding and they are worried about food and water. Most of all though they are all depressed knowing that their village is probably gone. It's just a matter of time before they are found. They are just kids.

The man who had been tracking these kids for days had a strong body and didn't tire easily. He destroyed their village and killed everyone who lived there.

How was he supposed to know the kid he was hunting could smell the malicious intent on him and fled quickly with his friends. In to the abandoned mine that was like a maze.

He didn't care about all of the children just one in particular. Thanks to his skill Dragon hunter he could track dragon blood, even if it had been mixed.

Dragons were a rare species. Not a part of the beast people or considered a monster. They are an entity all of their own. It was hard to describe.

People said they came from another universe but that was just a myth in his opinion; there's only one universe.

Dragon blood was great to strengthen the body so he hunted all the dragons he could find, even the mixed breeds. A dragon heart is a dragon heart in his opinion. He used slave trading as a cover up to find information.

The children were beginning to panic. They could hear something getting closer to them and they knew it wasn't good.

They no longer tried to hold back the noises they were making and began to pray to the system like their parents had taught them to. They just wanted to live, they were so young and had barely even tasted life.

After a few seconds of praying they all heard a ding but were confused as their system really didn't interact with them much yet. The system was there from the moment you're born and given a name, but it doesn't really start communicating with people till they were twelve.

Only one of these kids was twelve and the rest were seven to ten years old. The oldest opened his notification panel and saw the message and quickly urged the others to do the same.

[Congratulations! The Goddess Niamh has chosen to send you to a dungeon. It will be dangerous but you will also gain power. Do you accept? You will be transported away if you accept.]

It wasn't ideal but it was better than staying here and becoming slaves. The oldest urged the group to click accept and one by one they all disappeared until he was the last one standing there.

By now he could see the outline of the man down the tunnel and he was sweating fiercely. He quickly pushed accept and disappeared from the mine as well.

The man paused before roaring angrily, his prey had been right there in front of him so how the fuck did it just disappear?! He ran to the end of the mining tunnel to be sure.

He could see where the children had huddled together, but they had completely vanished. He roared in anger again but then he heard his system ding. He frowned and pulled up his panel to see the notification and snorted in derision at the system.

[Would you like to follow the children to a dungeon? They might already be dead though. Are they worth it? Wouldn't it be better to conquer a dungeon that can make you all the dragons you could want. Do you accept? You will be transported away if you accept.]

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The system had sent children to a dungeon? He found that hard to believe. The whole thing smelled like a trap. But he wasn't worried. He had killed countless dragons before this and had the strength of ten men. He clicked accept and disappeared in a flash of light.

Back in the dungeon

I was watching the fox girl celebrate when the system dinged and I jumped a little. I had only been out for the night. I had come back to find the fox girl making the wheat bloom. I didn't do anything wrong. I pulled up my notifications and jumped right in to action.

[Your Patron Goddess has found a group of children, they are running from a serial killer. She has offered them the chance to come to the dungeon. Only one child is old enough to start gaining levels. Send them to the second floor with Katherine and then kill the serial killer who may follow closely after them.]

I'm so confused at this moment but I don't have time to question anything before tiny children start appearing at the entrance of my cave. I urge my foxes to gather them up as they appear and start herding them through the dungeon towards the back stairs.

I can tell they are extremely scared, I don't know how to comfort them though. Finally the last one pops into existence and seems taken aback by the situation. I really wish I could talk right now. I'm panicking because I don't know if this killer is going to come or not.

The late arrival wants to stop the progress I'm finally starting to make so I send some wolves in to show him who's boss. He quickly calms down and follows the group across the floor. Thank the system.

At the same time I send some of the swift foxes to Katherine? Is that her name? I know she's in the safe zone but I could really use her help right now. I tell the foxes to get her attention and lead her to the stairs if they can. I'm hopeful she will get the hint.

The children continue to walk across my first floor. It pained me but I sent them the long way so they wouldn't be tempted by the cabins on the first floor.

Just as they were about to reach the stairs I realized that a man had shown up at the entrance of my dungeon. I ran my senses over him and hiss in surprise. He's so strong. I don't think my wolves and foxes alone can handle him.

I quickly summon three polar ice bears and put them between the children and the man that was swiftly making his way towards them. I'm so panicked I'm not sure what to do and then I remember the remote type function of the time affinity and hit pause on the first floor.

This is so weird. But I take a moment to sigh in relief and check to see if my swift foxes have been able to get the attention of the girl. They have. She's following behind them with a confused look on her face. Once she starts climbing the stairs I hit play and time continues to flow.

Katherine Pov

This is so weird right now. She was just excited about learning a new spell when she heard a group of foxes start chittering at her to get her attention. Hesitantly she stepped out of the safe zone ignoring the ding.

The foxes take a few steps towards the stairs before looking back to make sure she was going to follow them. This scene seemed fairly familiar to her so she just went with the foxes. They led her to the stairs to the first floor and seemed expectant for her to go up them.

She was curious but she was also a little scared. She took a step on to the stairs and took a deep breath and smelled humans but she also smelled dirt, urine, sweat, fear and desperation. It was a familiar smell actually, she had once smelled like that. She ran up the stairs to find an unexpected scene.

There was a group of children surrounded by foxes hesitating by the stairs as three giant monsters she had never see before blocked their path of retreat. Beyond that she smelled danger, she didn't know how else to describe it.

Her blood seemed to freeze at the thought of confronting it. She quickly pulled out her scepter to clear her mind and grouped up the children and began pushing them down the stairs.

She couldn't understand a single word they spoke with a tone of despair. She just wanted to get a whole floor between her and the danger so she ignored them.

She used her scepter to herd them down the stairs. Desperate to not be the last one on the stairs anymore. She could hear fighting behind her and it was terrifying.

Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, she did her best to knock them out of the shock of seeing so many monsters crowding around the area by the stairs by pushing them forward.

She was relieved, not scared to see that all the monsters on the second floor had begun to gather around the stairs to the first floor. Just in case those three giant monsters weren't enough.

She pushed and pulled them all the way to the safe zone before she pushed the five boys to the near by cabin and took the three girls in to the cabin she regularly used and considered her own.

She did her best to stop the panicking in her heart, she felt a strange relief at seeing three dresses laying on the beds for the little girls. She felt confident the dungeon had prepared something for the boys as well.