One of the many reasons the dungeon had not been cleared yet was because of its size. It was large. This was a sort of anomaly. A dungeons size came with their rank, FF tier dungeons were usually only a room, whilst S tier dungeons could be an entire kingdom.

This dungeon was gigantic. It had multiple levels, multiple empty rooms, multiple corridors. All of them are infested by rats, scurrying around feasting on insects. Horrid smells, and broken lanterns were everywhere.

Shadow continued growling. There was no rats within sight. Arne walked slowly, concentrating ahead. The tunnel split into two. One of them continued forward whilst the other one went downwards.

Arne could feel a heavy ball in his stomach. He had never walked this deep into a dungeon. He’d have to find the dungeon core if he wanted to walk out. He stopped and took a deep breath, the smell of shit still permeated the air, he walked downwards.

It was offly quiet. Nothing charged at him. It wasn’t at all what Arne expected, something felt incredibly wrong about the scene. Shadow had not stopped growling. Arne clenched his bow tightly. He held an arrow in the other hand.

He marched deeper into the dungeon. Light came from the end of the tunnel. Arne approached it and realized that it was an opening. There was a staircase at the end, Arne peered over it and saw a giant room with many different entrances.

The bottom of the room was layered in grey cut stone, a mist floated, Arne saw no crystal. He was about to walk down when he heard a small echo, multiple steps. They became louder, a cacophony of steps, louder and louder.

Rats came flooding out of the twenty some tunnels.

Arne didn’t need another sign to run. He heard maddening squeaking behind him. He turned and sprinted away, Shadow was ahead of him. They had passed on another route earlier, they ran down that route.

They still heard the squeaking behind them. Arne followed Shadow, taking rights and lefts and more lefts. But then the tunnel suddenly stopped. A dead end.

Arne almost squealed himself when he saw the man. A snow white man with a bent back and yellow teeth approached him. Shadow barked. The man whispered.

“You need help.” Arne could hear the squealing coming closer from behind him and nodded.

The man laughed. He spun around, looking for something and seemed pleased with himself when he saw it. He jerked over to Arne almost making him flinch.

He whispered, “Grab your dog.”

Arne did as told. The squeaking had gotten much more clear and loud. The man brought his spiny arm around Arne and began chanting. Blue light appeared around them, a piercing headache, Shadow barked like mad. Arne could see the rats.

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Silence. They were in a pitch black room. He heard a giggle. Looking around he saw an exit illuminating light. He felt Shadow in his arm, he was completely silent. He felt the spiny cold arms grab him again.

“Hello.” The man said, “I haven’t seen another human in a long time.”

Arne felt disgusted by this man's arms and cringed out of them. He marched towards the light, the darkness felt disturbing.

“You seem mad. I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

Arne said, “Who are you?”

“I’m Folum. I live here. Welcome to my humble abode. Wait. Right. You can’t see anything. Come here.”

Folum walked ape-like towards Arne and flicked him on the head. The darkness quickly disappeared. He found himself in a white dirty room. Two white objects were on the floor.

One was long and shaped like a bed, the other one like a table. On the table there were countless insects, some of them still moved. He looked back and saw the man, he hadn’t noticed it but blood was smeared all over the man's mouth.

Arne gagged, almost throwing up. “You’re an archer I see. I’m a mage.” Folum said. Arne looked at the man confused. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you live here.”

“I was cursed, and I’m not strong enough to destroy the core

“A long time ago I entered with friends. After foraging deep within the dungeon we were trapped.” He stopped, and began whispering. “I left them to survive. When I tried to leave I realized that I couldn’t. I’m trapped here.”

“Perhaps. Perhaps you could save me. Get me out of this spot. Perhaps you could do so. What tag do you have?”

“Iron:”

Folum choked. He started at Arne as if he didn’t know him. His attitude completely changed.

“What were you thinking marching so deep into a dungeon alone then?” There was a lot more authority to his voice.

Arne couldn’t reveal his system. He had figured this out a long time ago. What would the nobles do if they realized that he had a sort of magic that made him stronger. They would slaughter him for it. He needed to keep it an utmost secret.

“I really want to clear my first dungeon.” He blurted out.

Folum, even though he could straighten his own back, even though he feasted on insects, pitied Arne at that moment. “ I-I-I can teleport you out. just come back with more aid.”

“No.” Arne interjection. “I need to clear it.”

Folum looked really confused. He gave Arne the strangest stare ever, Folum thought, “How crazy is this person.”

Folum said. “okayy… Then. Well. This room is a safe zone I guess.”

The walls were white, plastered with insect blood and shit, but one spot, one spot was an entrance to the sewage. He walked to that spot.

“If you go through here. You’ll enter the sewage. “ He walked out. “Come here.” Arne walked over there, and into the sewage. When he looked back he realized that there was a brick wall where he’d come from.

Folum walked through the wall, and said, “You can walk in here whenever you want to quit. Please don’t die. Remember this location.” Arne touched the wall and his hand fell through.