Hrulf shuddered in fear as if he were a mortal wolf pup upon feeling Lady Crawline's anger. If her wrath had made him so afraid, despite her being so far away, he couldn't have imagined what Vaani and Rukla must have felt being right next to her. The news spread quickly through the links between allied denizens. The Ent scion of Westwood, Vaani, had suffered horrendous wounds when he covered Rukla and three Mortals from the acid spit of a giant Serpent. Unfortunately, Rukla, the Kobold scion of Glimmervale, was not a healer but a Battlemage, so she could not ease his pain. Fortunately for the remaining Mortals and two scions taken off guard, Lady Crawline wanted to see and praise both of them for handling the saved people so gently. Then the unthinkable happened. Not so long ago, Hrulf would have been as confused about Lady Crawline's wrath as the Twilight Cave Dungeon and its minions. But right now, he was as furious as she was. After spending time with Mortals and befriending many of them, he learnt to appreciate their individual traits and ingenuity. The unprovoked attack on the Mortals was not only considered a crime among all the Dungeons of Arcadia and their denizens but also one of the gravest sins. This shift in their perception of Mortals showed, like anything else, the fundamental change that all of them had gone through. Yet, Lady Crawline's wrath was something else entirely. There was little that could terrify the effectively immortal beings; nonetheless, she managed to scare all allies and enemies alike.

Before that attack, the joint army fought the enemy Dungeon without hate or grudge. They simply followed the order of their Lord. However, the influence of their King was not merely inspiring; it had fundamentally changed their alignment. From all shades of evil, the Dungeons of Arcadia were shifted towards neutral, if not lawful outright. Such was the power of the Righteous title of their Master; all who served him were not simply obliged but forced by the World's Words to follow his set of rules and laws. But while the kingdom of Arcadia, its inhabitants, and the King's Vassals enjoyed the dawn of the golden era, the King's enemies had much to fear. The Immortal Legions were far away, but the new force in the service of the King had just awakened. At the same time, the denizens realised that only they could protect the fragile people of the world from their own kin. All of them would respawn if killed, but if Mortals died, it was nigh impossible to bring them back. With new, cold resolve, all the denizens in the King of Arcadia's service decided that their peers and their Master required a stern correction.

•••

In terrified awe, she watched the behaviour of her assailants change. Before they attacked in a fairly chaotic front like she had expected the forces of the other Dungeons would. But now they mixed their ranks, formed battle lines, and attacked her denizens more akin to the mortal armies. However, that was even more difficult for her to counter. Her strongest monsters had died in scores and entirely in vain, mercilessly shot by Hobgoblin archers or blasted into smithereens by Kobold mages. The lesser monsters stood no chance against the fangs and claws of the Beasts since they could barely scratch the massive Ents. It was painfully obvious that her self-proclaimed might was only an illusion. She couldn't understand the sudden wrath of her enemies and what could cause it. The attack on the two scions? Perhaps. But why was that terrifying Spider asking about mortals? That made no sense...

"My Lady... Ssss..." the Serpent scion hissed. "We ssshould attack them. We are easssy pickingsss here."

*NO! You shall defend that room. You will protect me,* she mentally lashed out.

"If we stay, you will die," an Earth Elemental scion said sadly.

*You will obey me!* she screamed at them, terrified they might abandon her.

"As you wish." The Earth Elemental bowed towards the core.

Suddenly, the Serpent Scion darted towards the entrance to the room and caught something. But the moment he rose and tried to return to his position, a golden streak of light crossed his body, and he stopped in his tracks. At first, no one understood why he froze motionless, but then his body split into gruesome halves. Poisonous blood formed a slowly growing puddle near the carcass. Before anyone could react, a wave of immense heat filled the chamber, making all gathered denizens feel like they were being boiled alive. However, there was no fire, only an unbearable heat that seemed to suck away even sound itself. With each moment, it became harder to breathe, but as the monsters were about to panic, the heavy thump of feet sounded on the border of their visibility.

"Show yourself, cowards!" the Earth Elemental scion yelled into the darkness.

He raised his hand, and a yellow magic circle formed at his fingertips. From this circle, a sharp stalagmite started to emerge, ready to be fired at anyone appearing at the entrance. But instead of someone, a chilling roar boomed through the cave, so deafeningly painful that it disrupted the casting of the Elemental's spell. It forced the Twilight Dungeon creatures to cover their ears; some even closed their eyes. Then, the sounds of killing erupted. As the Earth Elemental scion opened his eyes, one-third of their monsters were already dead. He was expecting to see a large number of enemies, but there were only a dozen of them. A large Wolf-like creature had melted rocks beneath its paws as it moved from kill to kill. A black Lion just as enormous had also effortlessly slashed everything in its way into pieces with its impossibly sharp talons. A Hobgoblin archer, who had not missed a single shot, killed scores of the precious Spore Carrier monsters. The Kobold Battlemage skillfully nullified each more considerable spell that her Fey had tried to cast on the enemies. Behind them came the Ent, angry and menacing as he hurled stones and commanded the other nearby plants to harm the Twilight Dungeon's servants. But all five of them were a mere prelude.

•••

When Hrulf saw the sea of enemies before him, he almost panicked. The task that Lady Crawline had given them seemed impossible to fulfil initially. But as Leo the Black Lion stunned the enemies in the cavern, the five scions noticed in bemusement that all their enemies recoiled. That opening was all they needed. Hrulf activated his skills and jumped inside, pouncing on the lesser minions as if they were bugs. Leo followed closely behind him, shredding the enemies and laughing, amused by their previous hesitation. The two quickly realised that Lady Crawline must have done something to the Dungeon Core because the enemy minions lacked any coordination now. Moreover, Rango, the Hobgoblin archer, and Rukla, the Kobold Battlemage, made quick work of any ranged enemy. Vaani the Ent entered the cave as the last one and tore away a part of the cave wall. He hurled it at enemies with a small exhale, crushing ten of them at once. Hrulf, however, had no time to admire his friend's work as the enemies began their counterattack.

Leo laughed in delight as the surprisingly weak enemies died. He rushed inside the cave despite Hrulf's warnings. Just a month of intense training had changed him so much. He slashed and bit the enemies, each kill granting him hefty amounts of experience, but despite that, the next level still seemed so distant. The battle lasted almost an hour, during which he and the rest of the scions managed to kill many strong and weak monsters. However, despite his newfound might, he was in a pinch. It was only thanks to a lightning bolt cast by Rukla that he had a moment to breathe. He wasn't overrun, but his stamina was slowly running out, and Leo realised that his initial overconfidence had carried him away. Fresh enemies replaced the original ones that he had slain. He momentarily hesitated as he couldn't decide if he should try to return or not. Before he could act, Leo roared in pain as half of his vision went dark. A giant Serpent had used that moment to bite his rear leg, shattering the bone.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Watch out, Leo!" Rukla screamed at him, and the Lion turned just in time to slice the throat of a Fey with his nails.

The decision to retreat had been made for him, so Leo slowly limped towards the cave entrance. However, the Lion scion knew he was too far away. Vaani, however, wanted to help him. Despite his wounds, he pushed forward, stomping flat a few monsters that tried to stop him. The biggest of Feys conjured the flames and tried to stop Vaani. She managed to strike him once, but that wasn't enough to stop him. The Ent grabbed the Fey scion of the Twilight Dungeon and tore her in half. With a blood-curdling scream of unimaginable pain, the Fey died. A second softer scream abruptly marked the agonizing demise of Rukla. Without Vaani's protection, the fragile mage could only count on her runic shield, which couldn't withstand the barrage of spells that hit her directly. But it was the Earth Elemental scion that had managed to shatter her barrier and pierce her, pinning her to the wall with a rock needle. The Kobold grasped the needle and tried to break free, but her moves were slow and clumsy as her blood and life flowed away. Vaani grunted angrily and tossed a large boulder at the Earth Elemental scion. The impact was so immense that it shattered the stone into a hail of splinters that instantly killed a handful of monsters nearby, tearing away the Elemental’s arm in the process.

"Leo!" Rango screamed warningly, but the wounded Lion had no chance this time.

Five Serpents attacked him at once from all different directions, entangling him and crushing him under their collective mass. Vanni roared in anguish as violent fire briefly erupted on his back. Instinctively, he tried to roll and extinguish the flames, but that was precisely what the enemies were waiting for. The Ent died as the wounds and enemies piled on him, mercilessly chopping and hacking his body. Rango swiftly raised his hand and took out his last arrow. With an angry roar, he sent it flying, striking down the last Fey mage before putting away his bow. He took out a slim, leaf-blade spear from his storage space and quickly jumped back towards Hrulf.

"Well... Leo got carried away."

"I will laugh at him so much after he respawns," Hrulf chuckled and conjured the hellfire that consumed a few more bold enemies. "Heh. I told him not to charge in."

"Yup. You did." With a swift thrust, Rango pierced the Spore Warrior that had tried to sneak up on the Garmr. "I think we made the statement..."

"Maybe...? I'm sure we keep them occupied long enough." Hrulf shrugged and stepped back towards the cave entrance. "Anyway, how many you have killed?"

"Fifty-nine... That's sixty now!"

"Pheeee! Rookie numbers! Seventy-two!"

"Oh, c'mon! You filthy cheater." The Hobgoblin spun towards the Garmr, and with a wide cut, he split open the jaw of a Serpent. "How?"

"Haha! Skill issue, boiii!" Hrulf laughed and barked, using the Chains of the Damned to kill two Earth Elementals at once. "I'm no Fenrir, but as you can see, Hound Guardian of Hell is not too shabby either!"

"Humpf! Show-off." Rango concluded as both of them returned to the entrance and could only hope to keep the enemies at bay. "Soooo... Is this the moment we die?"

Before Hrulf could respond, all the Serpents in the chamber recoiled. Some of them dropped dead, but others looked around and lashed out at random, attacking their former allies.

"Nope..." With a comically looking wide and overhead motion of his front paw, Hrulf cast a Firewall that created a barrier in front of them. "Lady Crawline made it in time."

"That's good because I'm way too tired..." Rango leaned over the cave wall and took out a mana potion. "Take it, big guy."

"And how am I supposed to drink it?" Hrulf heavily sat and grudgingly showed his upper paws to the Hobgoblin.

"I'll help you..." Rango mustered all his resolve not to laugh at the Garmr, who looked like a big pup begging for a treat.

•••

The Core froze, unable to do or think about anything else. Time had stopped for her. In the darkness of the narrow passage, right in front of her last line of defence, the golden-red eyes of the Spider dimly glowed. With growing panic, the Core of the Twilight Cavern dungeon realised that she must issue orders, but she could not focus on anything else but those glowing eyes. She couldn't see the spider's body itself, as if the darkness covering it wasn't just a normal lack of light but some kind of spell or skill. She was briefly aware that her denizens were begging for her guidance, but she was afraid to lose sight of the Spider. However, the massacre of her minions finally snapped her out of the terrified stupor, and she started giving desperate orders. But, it seemed it was too late. Of her four scions, two were dead, and only half of the remaining monsters were able to fight. Fifty of her denizens writhed in convulsions, bleeding out and dying in other painful ways. But the enemies weren't unscathed either. The Ent had finally succumbed to his wounds; the Lion lost its eye and now limped, unable to fight anymore. The Kobold was dead, pierced to the cave wall by stone rods. Only the Wolf and Hobgoblin were holding their ground. As the Lion was finally slain, the duo slowly retreated towards the cavern entrance, taking cover behind a wall of flames.

The Twilight Dungeon relaxed far too prematurely as she sensed more of her denizens approaching the inner sanctum. Suddenly, they all died at once. The Spider! The thought crossed her mind, but the glowing eyes in the darkness had disappeared. She lost sight of her, which spelled her doom. Where the glowing eyes had been, only darkness remained. An unknown feeling pierced her; it was painful, as if something had chipped a corner of her Core Gemstone. She had been deceived, and now she would pay dearly. The main Serpent spawner, where her scion was respawning, was destroyed abruptly. She used her build vision to locate that accursed spider, but she screamed in fear and shock, unable to believe what she saw.

Somehow that spider was powerful enough to destroy spawners. Some Serpents disappeared outright as if they never existed, while others fell to the ground in convulsions. However, a few of them went feral and started attacking anything they saw, even others of their kin.

The next were the Earth Elementals. In horror, she watched the magical creatures unleash their magic upon the Feys and Spores. Her scion remained loyal but became useless; he was now mortal without a spawner. He lost his powers and could only cower in fear. The Spores that tried to stop the denizens that went feral couldn't withstand the magic of the Elementals, and the last of them succumbed shortly after. Somehow, the Spider had found the secret chamber where her most advanced spawners were. All of them were the spawners for her scions. Enraged but powerless to stop the monstrous Spider, she could only watch her destroy her most expensive spawner: the Spore spawner. Only the Fey spawner remained. At that moment, she realised that she was made a fool. The five scions who had attacked the Hall before the Sanctum were only meant to distract her. All the other monsters attacking her had fought the denizens that tried to protect the spawners.

"Surrender..." The spider stopped in front of her last spawner with a raised blade-limb.

The pride wrestled with reason and swiftly received much-needed help from her self-preserving instinct. Something told her that was her one and only chance.

"I surrender!" she screamed right before the Spider was about to cut down the spawner. She repeated in a bitter voice, "I surrender to your Master."

"What a shame..." The spider sighed but stopped her attack.