It was Jacob’s third delve into the system of caverns that delvers had recently started calling the dungeon. No one knew who had started it, but the name had stuck, and after just a few months, even the commanding officers had started referring to the training grounds as the “dungeon.”
Jacob was not a new recruit, like his teammates, but was instead a seasoned soldier with five years of experience in the army. He already knew that his relatively mild personality and commoner background would prevent him from rising through the ranks, but he knew how to follow orders and get his job done, so he was regarded as a good soldier who would likely make a career of the army, even if he never became anything more than a grunt.
He had recently been placed on a new training team so that the officer in training and the fresh recruits who had only completed basic training a few months ago would have a seasoned perspective to help them.
They were certainly green, but there was a reason they had been chosen to train in the dungeon, and it was certainly not only because the new officer was the son of some noble Jacob had purposely ignored hearing the name of.
Each delve had seen the team push further and further into the dungeon, and though it was only their third delve, they were all hoping to be able to complete the powerful guardian of the third level of the dungeon. Each first accomplishment in the dungeon saw the entire team rewarded with a portion of the gains from their delve, and that extra income had allowed Jacob’s nest egg to grow considerably. If they could finish the third level, he would be halfway to having enough to buy the inn he intended to run upon his retirement.
It sounded like such a cozy job, running an inn or a tavern, and it seemed the perfect way to enjoy his time after leaving the army…
“Jake, would you quit your daydreaming and join the rest of us up here?” their captain, Sean, called out, shaking Jacob from his thoughts and forcing him to realize that he had once again fallen behind his team.
Blushing slightly, he hurried to catch up with the rest of the team. While he had no issue focusing during a job or in battle, Jacob simply could not keep his mind on the present when things were even a bit relaxed, which had landed him in trouble on more than one occasion.
“Thought you were supposed to be our babysitter, Jacob, so why does it feel like we’re the ones keeping an eye on you most of the time?” Holden, one of their shield users, teased.
“Leave him alone. You all know that he’s saved all of us on more than one occasion, and we only left this damn place the first time because of him. So what if his mind’s a bit in the clouds?” Even though Thomas sounded like he was defending Jacob, he was actually the most relentless in harassing the slightly older soldier. While it was all well-intentioned, it still grated a bit at times.
Jacob moved up next to Holden to take his place with the other defender.
Like almost all teams, they had a scout, a pair of defenders, and a pair of attackers to round out their team of five. While a few teams would have six members, for the most part, five was considered ideal for a dungeon delve.
The team pressed on. They had already defeated the guardian of the second level, and had just finished resting in the tunnel to the maze. It was time to push through the final section and, hopefully, challenge the final guardian. Doing so was regarded as successfully passing the training in the dungeon, which would see them well compensated and moved back to active duty in the army. Jacob had no idea what would happen to him. Some dungeon teams were kept together as a squad when returning to active duty, while others were separated and broken apart.
Jacob’s mind snapped back to the present when their scout, Gavin, returned and took his place at the rear of the team. The man’s presence meant that they were about to meet their first opponent, and Jacob and Holden stepped forward to ensure the rest of the team remained safe.
The sight of a beetle made Jacob grimace, as these robust little devils were nearly impossible to put down. In fact, they had been regarded as indestructible without a mage priest on the team until one group of delvers had discovered a specific weakness in the thick carapace that could be penetrated with a piercing attack. Unfortunately, that weakness lay on the beetles’ bellies, which meant that they first had to be flipped over, but all of the delver teams were provided with information on all of the dungeon’s creatures, as well as the recommended tactics to deal with them.
While some of the guardians could still catch the delvers off guard, all of the other creatures in the dungeon had been thoroughly tested, probed, and studied so that everyone knew the best way to deal with each one. For the last few months, the only deaths that had occurred during dungeon training had been due to carelessness or pure accidents. The survival rate had risen to higher than most of the battlefields that Jacob had seen.
The team cooperated smoothly; Jacob held the beetle back while Holden moved into a position that allowed him to flip the beetle over onto its back. Before the beast could right itself, Sean slipped forward and a sword pierced between six legs, instantly ending the beetle’s life.
The entire thing took less than a minute, as they were already quite practiced against such opponents from their second delve.
They steadily pressed forward, efficiently eliminating each and every monster that they encountered.
Despite their youth, Jacob had to admit that his teammates were not impulsive or reckless. They kept to a steady pace through the dungeon, just as had been found to be the safest and most efficient manner to proceed, and it served them well also.
They had arrived in the third level of the dungeon without suffering a single injury or mishap, and all of them were quite optimistic about their chances of completing the third level and graduating from dungeon training.
Their luck held out, as the guardian of the third level that they faced was a well known beast: a centipede. So long as they avoided its pincers and poison, they should be relatively safe and be able to defeat the guardian.
As always, Holden and Jacob protected the team, preventing the centipede from even approaching anyone else. The two shield bearers took turns blocking the beast and distracting it from focusing too intensely on any one person.
After a rather lengthy battle, mostly stretched out due to the fact that the centipede’s carapace was so difficult to penetrate for members of their team, they happily collected the guardian’s drops for the camp outside the dungeon, and stepped forward to claim their reward.
The fact that some of the dungeon’s beasts left behind body parts had been studied extensively, and some efforts were being made to see if such things could be used for weapons or armor, though with no success so far.
The five men stepped forward so that Sean, the only one among them who could actually read, could see the writing on the wall and they could collect their reward from the short pillar.
It had become something of a tradition that no one would tell the delver teams what was written behind each level’s guardian, as reporting what was written was an excellent way for people to prove to the commanders exactly how far they had reached in the dungeon.
Still, while the exact message was kept secret, everyone had a general idea of what the messages said.
It was the commonly shared knowledge of the dungeon that caused tremendous confusion within the team when they reached the end of the third level of the dungeon, as they were not met by the expected sight.
Sure, the short pillar holding their reward was still there, and there was still writing on the wall, but given Sean’s reaction to the writing, as well as what else they all were looking at, not one of the members of the team could avoid being shocked.
There was another tunnel leading deeper underground.
After a few moments, and a nudge from Holden, Sean regained a bit of his senses. “Um, well, I’m not sure what was written here before, but this is definitely new. It says:
Well ye have done, to have reached thus far,
Great risks overcome, great treasures gained.
Yet more there is, for ye to obtain.
Step forth and seize thy erstwhile dreams.
“It’s as bad as the rest of them, but it suggests that we can get something more valuable than anything we’ve picked up so far in the next level.
“I’ll be honest with you all, we’ll already be rewarded for reporting that there’s a new level and that the dungeon has changed, but if we can report back on what this next section holds, we might all get promoted. I won’t give any orders, but I want to keep going. We’ll only proceed if everyone agrees, but I say we see this through as far as possible.”
Jacob was the oldest and most cautious member of the team, and given the fact that even he was eager to see what this new level held for them, everyone quickly agreed to continue as deep as possible, provided that they kept their safety their top priority.
Excited, none of them even checked on the gemstones they had been awarded for finishing the third level, and they quickly entered the dark tunnel. Different from any of the previous tunnels, this one felt different, as just approaching the dark entrance saw the air temperature rising. All five men were sweating as they rested in the tunnel. Given the unknown level that lay before them, they wanted to be fully rested and recovered before testing this fresh mystery.
The sweltering heat made it difficult for any of them to rest, and they ended up continuing forward a bit sooner than they had anticipated. However, trying to take any longer in the tunnel would only see them further exhausted by the heat they were dealing with.
As they moved forward, they soon saw a glow that signified the next level. Gavin moved forward while the rest of the team waited for his initial report of what awaited them. Oddly enough, this glow was not white, yellowish, or even the colder blue of the third level, but instead seemed to be the orange-red glow of a fire.
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Gavin soon returned, appearing a bit shaken by whatever he had seen. He gestured for everyone to move a bit deeper into the tunnel before he was willing to make his report.
“Well? Out with it. What’s in there?” Sean eagerly prodded.
Gavin flinched slightly, and hesitated a bit longer before answering. “Well, Captain, I don’t know how well we’re gonna do in there. I don’t see any way through, but we should probably test things out a bit. I know we call some of the beasts in the dungeon monsters, but that is exactly what we’re about to face in this level.”
Noticing the visible confusion on his team mates’ faces, Gavin quickly continued, “The beasts in there don’t just have magic. Well, I didn’t actually see any of them use any magic, but that’s actually not important. What matters is that they shouldn’t be alive at all!”
This explanation did not help to clear anything up, and Sean reached out and placed a hand on Gavin’s shoulder. “Gavin, pull yourself together and give us a usable report. What’s in there?”
Gavin seemed almost startled by Sean’s comment, but he still took a breath and gathered his thoughts. “The whole damn place is on fire. The rocks are burning, there are lakes and rivers of fire, and burning rocks are even falling from the ceiling like waterfalls. Worse, the monsters in there are walking and swimming in the fire! Some of them are on fire themselves, though they don’t seem to be hurt at all. The whole place is lit up by the burning rocks, so there’s no light on the ceiling.”
“Is there a path we can walk on? We can’t wade through fire, so is there even a way forward?”
Gavin nodded at Sean’s question. “There’s a path, and even some bridges that go over the rivers of fire, but I don’t see how we’re gonna be able to fight anything that’s in there.”
Sean nodded, the scout’s report acting like a bucket of ice water on the team’s excitement. Sean took a moment to consider whether they should push forward or not, and while he did that, Jacob and Holden both turned to look towards the reddish glow at the end of the tunnel.
While it did sound frightening, it also sounded amazing, and Jacob wanted to see it for himself.
Less than two minutes passed, and Sean came to his decision. “We’ll go ahead, but we’re going to do this slower than ever, and we’re not going to do anything stupid. We face one beast at a time, and make sure that nothing else gets close. After the first beast, we’ll retreat back here and discuss whether we keep going or pull back. Got it?”
Everyone nodded, and Gavin visibly steeled himself. Jacob and Holden moved to the front, and all five men walked towards the light.
The heat grew along with the glow from the next cavern, and Jacob could feel his heart rate pick up.
They stepped up to the entrance to the cavern, and Jacob was met by a sight that he literally lacked the words to describe.
The entire cavern was covered with low hills and was illuminated by the burning rocks that Gavin had mentioned. Given the location of Farun kingdom, none of the soldiers had ever seen lava or heard mention of a volcano, so they had no idea what they were looking at, other than that it seemed to be burning rocks.
Lava fell from the ceiling in three locations that the soldiers could make out, feeding the rivers, streams, and ponds of lava that filled the floor of the massive cavern.
In between the lava flows were hills of rock and dirt, and the men could make out different beasts roaming about on both the solid ground, and swimming in the lava.
They saw flaming salamanders, fire birds, and hounds covered with flames instead of fur.
All five men just stared at the hellish landscape, trying to process just what they were seeing.
After a few minutes, Sean was the first to regain his senses. “Alright, let’s go after one of those dogs. No idea what they are, but they seem to be the smallest and most reasonable targets for us to try to go after. We’ll lure one over here and try to deal with it close to the tunnel so we can retreat if needed. Gavin, how close do you need to be to get one with an arrow?”
The sudden sound of someone’s voice made four men jump, but then their professionalism returned. Gavin looked around, searching for an ideal target. “If we move up just thirty paces, I can get one and try to pull it to us.”
“Then let’s go.”
The team stepped forward, Holden and Jacob at the front, followed by Gavin, whose bow was already nocked and ready.
As soon as one of the hellhounds was in range, Gavin nodded at Sean, and loosed an arrow. Immediately, all five men retreated to be closer to the tunnel, even as the hound chased after them.
As it drew close, Jacob stepped forward to block the burning hound with his shield, automatically stabbing at it with his short sword.
The beast leaped, trying to go for Jacob’s throat in the same manner a wolf would. His shield rose, and as the hound landed on the shield, his sword stabbed upwards into the hound’s belly.
Shockingly, that seemed to end the battle. The sword had reached the hound’s heart, killing it instantly.
The five men glanced at each other, a bit taken aback at how easy their first battle had been.
Still, they had decided to be cautious, and they stepped back a bit to check each other for any unnoticed damage, as well as to check Jacob’s sword and shield for damage from the hellhound’s flames.
As the men checked on each other, the hound started to fade away, just the same as all of the dungeon creatures.
In a massive surprise to everyone, the hound left something behind, just the same as the final guardians of each level. However, instead of a tooth, claw, or hide, this time a glowing book appeared.
Seeing the clearly magical item that had appeared, all of the soldiers became hesitant and nervous, uncertain how to proceed.
After a moment, Sean nudged Jacob towards the book. “It was your kill, so you can take that back to the camp and get credit for it. Go on, grab it.”
Jacob knew his captain was just trying to avoid taking the risk himself, but there was also nothing that Jacob could do about that. He had been given an order, and in the army, orders needed to be followed.
The shield bearer hesitantly stepped forward, his shield up and sword out as he moved closer to the book.
Nothing happened.
Jacob hesitantly sheathed his sword and reached for the book, his shield still up in a defensive posture.
He reached out to grab the book, and then…
The moment he made contact with the book, it transformed into a stream of light that shot into Jacob’s forehead and heart.
It happened too fast for him to react, but his four team mates all shouted. Two stepped towards the cave, while Holden and Sean stepped towards Jacob to try to save him.
The light almost instantly disappeared, much to everyone’s relief, but Jacob did not move.
Sean hesitantly approached, and then circled around to the front while calling out, “Jake? You alright? Can you hear me? Jake, I need you to answer me; what happened?”
When Sean arrived in front of Jacob, he saw the shield bearer’s eyes had rolled back so that only the whites were showing, and the man was completely unresponsive.
Holden circled the other side of Jacob, wary of any possible attacks from other sources as well.
Just a few breaths passed, and then Jacob sucked in a gasp of air, and his eyes returned to normal as he gasped for breath and sank to his knees.
“Jake! You alright? What happened? Are you good? Jake!”
Sean and Holden continued to try to get a response from Jacob as Gavin and Matt hesitantly started to approach as well.
As for Jacob himself, he did not even hear anyone’s voice, as he was lost in his own mind. That stream of light had been a burst of information, and his mind was still trying to process all it had received in that sudden inundation of knowledge.
As things started to connect and piece together, Jacob’s head snapped up in shock as he suddenly realized what he had received: magic!
He had just received a fire affinity, as well as the knowledge of how to use fire mana to form a barrier around himself.
Wait, how?
It was a well known fact that all magic came from the gods, which meant that only their priests could wield the forces of mana through their prayers and intercessions. How had Jacob just received that ability himself?
Still lost in his own thoughts and oblivious to the mounting concern of his team mates, Jacob examined what he had just gained.
There was no prayer, nor any chant at all. Jacob had not gained the ability to control mana, nor do anything at all other than release a single usage of fire affinitied mana. He could almost instantly create a barrier, but could do nothing with fire or his mana to try to attack, or do anything else at all. In fact, as he examined it, Jacob felt that he had gained an ability very similar in form to the swamp level’s blade birds. This barrier seemed to be more of an innate ability than a spell, it was simply fueled by mana, which was exactly the same as magical beasts.
Several minutes had already passed, and once Holden and Sean grabbed hold of Jacob’s arms and tried to drag him back to the tunnel, the man finally returned to the world around him.
“What? Wait! I’m alright.” Jacob sputtered a bit when he nearly lost his balance after being pulled by the two men.
His sudden response both startled and relieved the other soldiers, and Holden even smacked Jacob’s helmet. “What the hell is wrong with you? You scared us half to death! Why didn’t you answer?”
Sean just stared at Jacob, clearly aware that something more had happened than Jacob simply ignoring his team mates.
Jacob shook his head, uncertain of how to reply. “This might be easier to just show you. Step back a bit. I’m not sure how much room this is going to take.”
Gavin and Matt practically fled, while Holden and Sean both stepped back about five paces.
Upon seeing that everyone was—hopefully— a safe distance away, for the first time in human history, Jacob activated a Skill, and a flaming barrier appeared around him.
The flames could be seen through, yet they created a sphere about a meter away from Jacob’s body.
Gavin literally fell over as he tried to scramble back. Matt was frozen stiff, and Holden jerked backwards.
As for Sean, he flinched briefly, but then his eyes grew wide, and they only grew larger as his mind started to race and he processed what had just happened and what he was seeing.
This was impossible, and yet it was right before their eyes. While the fact that magic was a gift from the gods was a widely known fact, being the son of a minor noble, Sean had far more information about the matter than anyone else present. After all, one of Sean’s cousins was a priest.
After a moment, the fire surrounding Jacob disappeared, and he seemed a bit winded from the effort.
As Jacob tried to recover a bit, Sean instantly spoke up. “We need to leave. Now. This has to be reported to the commanders immediately, and until then, Jake, don’t use that again. The rest of you, I’ll execute you myself if you breathe so much as a single word of what we all just saw to anyone other than the general himself. Understood?”
Jacob and the others were all a bit confused, but were also accustomed to following orders that did not make sense to them. All soldiers were.
As soon as Jacob had recovered enough to be able to move, Sean gestured towards Jacob with his head, indicating that Holden help the man. Gavin and Matt kept their distance from Jacob, still terrified by what they had just seen. Sean held his position in the middle, keeping everyone within his line of sight.
As soon as Holden had Jacob’s arm around his shoulders and his own arm around Jacob’s chest, the team moved out. Sean set a grueling pace, clearly intent to leave the dungeon as quickly as possible.
As for Jacob, he just wondered how deep in it he had fallen.