~Day 161~

Today, Cadiz told us that soon we would arrive at a small outpost. An old military fort that had been converted into a settlement of sorts, filled with soldiers and farmers. It happened to be built on top of one of the rare small jungles on the continent.

It also happens to be about a days walk away from the dungeon we would be going to, this wasn’t a coincidence, the fort was built as close as possible so that the soldiers stationed there could train.

So, the plan was to walk as normal today, as we wouldn’t arrive till late tomorrow anyway. Then when we arrive, we’d split into two groups, those that want to visit the dungeon and those that don’t. Those that don’t will stay behind at the fort and resupply if needed and otherwise get on with anything that needs doing. The rest of us will spend a few days with the dungeon.

In all honesty, my blood is already pumping. I haven’t had a good go at a dungeon since I delved into the one Venya was a boss of. If Venya could make one and leave, does that mean I could if I choose to? I don’t exactly have fifty years on my hands to craft one though.

Those of us who wanted to went leveling as well today, there was no reason not too, we won’t be reaching the Labyrinth for a few days yet. Oddly enough, Wrok came with us today. He didn’t kill anything, he just sort of relaxed with Vinn. The mushroom didn’t seem to mind, he seemed to quite like the company actually. Neither of them made any noise, just sort of walked together. Yet it somehow didn’t look awkward.

It was a relatively more successful day today on the whole. Alvir managed to bag himself three more level ups, whilst I got one. Which is better than none. I’m gaining levels at a snails pace at the moment. I just hope I can get at least a little stronger in time. Even just to evolve once before we face off against Levias would be nice.

I don’t know if anything interesting happened with the rest of our party, but other than a pretty decent outing the rest of the day ended up quite boring. The scenery around us was still awe inspiring, but it was also the exact same as it was an hour ago. I think I’m starting to get bored of sand, it’s dry and rough and gets in all my armour. Half of our time at camp is spent maintaining our equipment.

I couldn’t wait to get to sleep that night, it meant one day closer to this bizarre dungeon we’d be going to. I don’t think I’m the only one either, I could hear Alvirs excited growls as his tail swung from side to side.

There was also the faint sound of planning coming from Odwiffs tent. I thought it could have possibly been him finding a way to make the most of our time, but I swear I heard him start to talk about making sandwiches in case the rest of us got hungry. The old Dwarf really does channel his ‘Dad’ powers sometimes. After a small chuckle to myself, I felt my eyelids begin to grow heavy.

~Day 162~

It wasn’t too far in to travelling today that the jungle began to appear, a few trees littered around the path was the only evidence to begin with, but a few hours later they gave way to a full jungle.

To me it was hard to believe that this would be considered a small jungle by the Demons, It was large enough that I could not see the sides. I suppose on a continent of this size this isn’t much.

We were not far into the jungle when we began to see the first signs of intelligent life, there were a lot more travellers on the road walking through the jungle. As is with all the oasis jungles, there are many settlements scattered around. According to Cadiz the Demons have built anywhere and everywhere they possibly can, yet they are still quite spread out.

After another hour we reached a block in the path, two felled trees to be exact. I’m sure it’s not exactly rare for a tree to fall in a jungle, but the way these two were positioned they must have been cut down purposefully. Whether it was by bandits or something else we would never get to find out as no one appeared before us as we tossed the trees aside. They were either scared off by our groups size or by the fact Gial and I could each pick up a tree with little effort.

Finally, early afternoon we arrived at our destination. It was clear this place was a fort, the walls stood tall and strong. The trees around it had been cut making it stand out. Soldiers manned both the wall and the gate. There also happened to be a small queue in front of us, of course Cadiz just walked straight past them.

As soon as they spotted the crest of their Lord approach the guards scrambled to open the gate, clearly not expecting such an important visitor. Our entire party was let in ahead of all those queuing, I don’t know how long they had been waiting for, but they didn’t look too happy.

I do wonder why there’s so much security for a fort turned settlement though. Other than it’s close proximity to a sky dungeon I don’t see anything special about this place. Is this just the Demons being extra safe with the risk of rebels and everything? Every place we have been to so far has had something similar.

The fort itself wasn’t anything too special, it had the interesting Demon architecture and a few odd looking buildings, but other than that it was just a big vaguely square fort with a small hamlet inside.

Those of us going to the Labyrinth had a few hours to kill before we left, we wanted to get there as soon as possible, so even if we arrived at night we wanted to leave today. Saying that however, we were all a little tired from walking through the jungle, so most of us wanted a rest first.

There was a small tavern in the centre of the fort, so Odwiff, Venya and I decided to hang out there for a few hours until everyone was ready. The Demons had been giving us odd looks since we arrived in the fort, but I don’t think any of us felt as unwelcome as we did in the tavern.

No one outwardly did anything as we had their Lord with us even if she was outside, however the looks they were giving us could pierce steel. We decided as a group not to stay there any longer than it took to drink our first round. The difference between here and the coast was ridiculous, heck even in ‘the Red Beacon’ the people at least pretended to be friendly.

If we had traveled without their Lord would they have even let us in to the fort? Well it wouldn’t have bothered us much, just more an inconvenience. It would have meant those of us who were originally going to sit the dungeon out would have had to come along anyway.

As we had nothing else to do, we left to the meeting spot, in another hour those that were there would be leaving. It was just outside the northern gate as our destination was north east.

When we arrived there was only one other person there, Wrok. He was quite a surprising edition to our dungeon delving party. He claimed he happened to be quite curious about the sky dungeons and it couldn’t hurt for him to train in combat once in a while. We sat with him and waited for the rest to arrive.

One by one several others trickled out of the gate and made their way over to us, when it was finally time to go a good fifty percent of our group had come. Neither Gial nor Alka came, as much as Gial wanted to he and Alka had too much work to do. So they stayed behind to discuss politics with Cadiz. None of them seemed to be happy about it, but as a leader talking is something that’s done often.

Finally just as we were getting ready to leave Kuuli and Bear turned up, Lason had been taking up most of their time on this journey so they hadn’t had much chance to let loose. With Lason secured and safe in the fort they were free to enjoy themselves for a few days. The Demons may be a bit hostile, but they’re not going to attack a heavily injured man. Especially not with the company he keeps.

It was very lucky for us that the Demons made a specific path just to reach the labyrinth, I don’t think any of us would have been able to find it without a clear way. The jungle was thick, hot and very sweaty too. Is that the difference between a forest and a jungle?

It was another relatively boring leg of the journey and the excitement most of us felt from the dungeon only proceeded to make it feel longer. Finally after what felt like a timeline we reached a large open space in the middle of the jungle. Two slopes lifted up from either side of a cliff on the opposite side of the clearing, almost like a fancy mansions staircase. Attached to it was a stone bridge that led to the entrance of the labyrinth. Looking up, it seemed as though this floating labyrinth must have been at least twelve floors tall. Well depending on how large the floors are.

As we reached the plateau at the entrance of the dungeon we spotted several camps dotted around. There were a few below the cliff too, although those were mostly empty. The ones up here were numerous and a lot more populated. A few didn’t seem bothered by our presence, yet just like the tavern there were those that clearly did not take kindly to us being here. Or being alive, it was difficult to tell what their angry faces meant.

The Guards with us went over to a small group gathering to talk to them, after a few moments a lot ot their expressions changed significantly and they went back to mind their own business. It seemed at least for now they were going to leave us alone.

With that mostly sorted, we found a large enough empty spot to set up our own camp. Even after than there was a little light left in the sky, even so, the sun was touching the horizon. A trickle of Demons came out of the door as the sun lowered, if they were retiring for the day there wasn’t much point to us going in.

I have to wonder though, how are there still monsters in this dungeon? If there are still Demons coming to this dungeon then that means there are still Monsters. How exactly are there still monsters after all this time, surely they should have been wiped out by now? I’m not going to complain about it, I just want to know how it’s possible. Not like I can ask anyone around here though, I’ll just have to ask Cadiz when we see her again, see if she knows.

With everything set up I let Alvir and Vinn go and play in the forest, which meant something very different for both of them. The rest of us prepared our food and settled in for a long night of unhappy stares from the Demons around us. Although, I did notice one particular camp seemed to be staring at us more than the others, it consisted of just one Demon. A short woman, she looked to be in her early twenties if going by human aging. The roots of her hair were pitch black, yet eventually they faded into a bright white by the ends. She had a single, stout horn protruding out the center of her forehead. .

She caught my curiosity, not because she gave us more attention that the others, but because her attention did not look to be hostile. The expression she showed us was not of anger, but of wonder.

Later on in the evening, she finally made her move, standing to her feet. She made her way over to us, her walk was brisk and her eyes betrayed excitement. “Can I sit?” She asked as soon as she arrived next to our fire.

I looked at the others faces, they all showed me a similar expression. One that said ‘why not’. I turned back to the woman. “Sure go ahead.” I replied.

The woman nodded her head and quickly sat down near us. “Thanks.” She replied bringing her hands up to the fire.

I looked back at Odwiff who lightly shrugged his shoulders. What exactly did this woman want. “Did you need something from us?” I asked her rather bluntly.

She looked up from the fire and her expression turned to a sort of blank smile, she then proceeded to blink a few times. “Oh!” She exclaimed. “Of course! I completely forgot.” The odd demon slapped her head lightly.

I shook my head in disbelief. “I’m uh. I’m sorry, you forgot way you came over to us?” I asked her, my voice betraying my confusion.

She nodded her head quickly with a beaming smile. “Yeah, you see. I was so excited about meeting you guys I forgot about my actual reason for approaching you.” She rolled her eyes. “Can you believe that?” She laughed.

My brain began to ache lightly. “No, actually.” I answered her with a sigh. This girl was an odd one, and what does she mean she was excited about meeting us? Everyone else has been shooting us death stares. “So what was your actual reason?” I strained worried about the answer.

“Ah!” The Demon exclaimed. “Yes, of course!” She carried on. “You see. I am a mage. So I’m not very good at the whole hitty thing.” She mimed swinging a sword. “But a lot of the Monsters in there are very into that particular thing. Which makes life for me; as I’m sure you’ll understand, quite difficult.” She explained.

I felt my mouth hanging open, that’s not how you explain things, my brain could not comprehend how hers functions. “So… You want to join us in the dungeon lass?” I turned to see Odwiff leaning in towards us looking equally as confused as me.

The Demon nodded her head. “Yes, yes that. I tried a few of the other parties, they’d take me along for a bit but it always ended up with ‘we already have a healer’. Or ‘you might burn us alive and leave our partners as widowers’.” She rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to us. “So what do you think?” She grinned.

I felt near speechless, but she seemed nicer than any of the other demons round here. It might be a good idea to bring a local along with us whilst we’re here. “I mean. I don’t see why not.” I replied. Well there were many things that could go wrong, she could be a very weak mage, or she could… Well, burn us alive and leave our partners as widowers. Not that I have a partner, well not yet at least. I’m just a little worried as to why no other group would party with her for long.

Her face lit up even more at my answer and she bounced a little on the floor. “Really? Oh thank you so much. Wow! I can’t believe my luck, to meet outsiders and have someone finally take me into the Labyrinth. Today is my lucky day!” She grinned, happy as can be.

I’m not going to complain about her being so happy that we’re helping her, a smiles is a welcome change. I am, however, quite confused as to why. “Can I just ask you something?” I pointed a question at her. The Demon nodded enthusiastically. “Demons don’t really seem to like outsiders, but you were excited to meet us. Why?” I asked furrowing my brow.

The Demon nodded her head, her smile turning somewhat sad. “I know how my people treat outsiders, I don’t understand why it’s like that, but they do. I myself was brought up by a mother who adventured with Human, Dwarfs, Elves and heck even Monsters. So even from a young age I was taught to think a bit differently to most.” She shrugged. “Course I’m not sayin’ I’m the only one that likes outsiders, I mean clearly our lord does.” She said motioning towards the two Demon guards we had with us. “Anyway, to answer your question, you guys are the first outsiders I’ve ever met. And what a group to meet!” She clenched her fist and looked ready to squeal with joy like a child.

I looked back behind me feeling a little more perplexed. Is there something special about our group? Before I had even finished turning my head, it hit me about how stupid I was to even have that thought. Of course, she’s wanted to meet outsiders and our group has every kind of ‘outsider’ possible. Monsters, Humans, Elves and a Dwarf. A whole collection for a rather curious Demon to see. Even so, I know they aren’t too common, but other races come to the Demon Continent, I mean Gial has come before, he had to to have met Cadiz.

On top of that, there must be sentient Monsters around, A few Goblins tribes, Orcs, Treechildren or something. How could we be the first race other than Demons she’s met. I saw Venya lean forward to the left of me, she had stayed quiet the entire conversation yet it was clear she had been listening. She often doesn’t say much when we meet new people. “So you mean to tell me we’re the first intelligent races you’ve talked to. In your entire life.” Venya nodded her head in a mocking way, it would see she was thinking very similarly to me.

The Woman in front of us pulled back a little she chuckled nervously. “Oh, you know. Just, uh, bad luck I guess.” She coughed. “Anyway I should… Uh- probably get back to my camp.” She quickly stood up and pointed at her fire with both hand.” So uh. See you guys tomorrow.” Her body began to move before she even spoke.

I sighed shaking my head. “At least give us your name before you go.” I raised my voice slightly as the Demon had already begun to rush away.

She stopped for a moment with a puzzled expression. Then after a few seconds clicked her fingers before proceeding to slap her forehead. “Of course. You’re gonna need my name aintcha?” She shook her head. “I can be such a clutz I swear. Anyway, you can call me Aedi.” Aedi placed her hand on her heart.

I smiled back at her. “Aedi is it? My names Ellena.” I told her, then I pointed at the others around me in turn. “That’s Venya, Odwiff, Wrok, Bear, Kuuli, Alvir and Vinn.” I finished.

She furrowed her brow then grinned. “I wont remember all that, but it’s nice to meet you all.” She replied before turning around. “Looking forward to working with you!~” Aedi waved her hand towards us as she walked off. I noticed a few Demons grunt at her as she made her way back to her own camp.

I turned back around to face the others properly. “She was uh… Lively, huh?” Odwiff looked up at me from under his thick brows.

Kuuli let out a deep sigh. “That’s one way of putting it. The one inland Demon we meet that doesn’t shun us and it’s her?”

I shrugged my shoulders in response. “She’s a little weird, but she doesn’t seem like a bad person. I’d say that’s a win.”

Odwiff chuckled. “S’ a point. Course, most of you youngins are a bit off ain’t ya?” He grinned.

Venya elbowed him playfully. “Oi. What d’you mean like that old man.” She replied.

A little off? He can’t mean me surely? I don’t think I do anything off do I? Well it’s not like it matters, everyone seems in good spirits. So if anything I can at least say that’s something Aedi did for us. No one here hates the Demons for their hostility. It’s not like they hate us either, they’re just cautious.

Even back in my time they didn’t see the other races much, they’re often not used to it. I don’t know if that’s exactly the reason or if it’s something more inbuilt to their culture. I’m sure the fact that we have Orcs with us doesn’t help, there are quite a few Orc Warbands that wander the Demon Continent, at least as far as I know.

For the rest of the night until we all called it a day the mood was good in the camp, of course we didn’t stay up too late drinking or anything. We didn’t want to keep up any of the other camps around here, in our situation making a bad first impression is a very bad idea.

Although it took me a while to actually fall asleep, as I felt was a steadily growing excitement. I’m sure on the first floor that I’m not exactly going to be able to let loose, but it will still nice to get back into a dungeon. I’m not too ashamed to admit to myself that I miss it.

~Day 163~

The first thing we had to decide this morning was whether or not to bring Vinn along. As it is I don’t want to leave him out here on his own, but he also would not enjoy being inside. What we eventually chose to do was to have the Demon guards stay out here with him too. He still looked a tad upset as we headed across the bridge though.

The first thing I observed as we crossed the bridge was how unusual this place just was, I mean a floating tower of different shapes and sizes is unusual enough, but the fact that it’s somehow made of bricks. Then there were the various outcrops with different flying monsters nesting on dotted on the walls.

It was quite clear, however, that the tower got wider and wider the higher it got, even then the bottom level was nothing to scoff at. Obviously as many others use this dungeon the path to the next few floors will be clearly mapped out, even so we have decided to split into groups. I decided to bring Alvir, Odwiff, Venya and Aedi with me, I wanted to see for myself how powerful her magic is.

Speaking of which the mage in question rested against the entrance of the dungeon holding what looked like two twigs in either hands. I furrowed my brow and looked over at Odwiff. “What are those?” I asked him pointing at her hands.

Odwiff strained his eyes before reeling back and blinking. “Aye. They’re wands, but, the lass has two of ‘em?” Odwiff scratched his shining scalp. “Who in Amiers sh*t duel wields wands?” He grumbled.

I think I heard Odwiff use that expression once or twice all those years ago, I never had the heart to ask who Amier is, but my guess is it’s another Dwarven hero. The Dwarves have a tendency to honour ancestors and heroes by using their names in expressions. I feel sorry for whoever this one is to be honest.

I have actually heard of wands, made the same way as a mages staff, yet they can’t hold as much power. To make up for it they’re smaller and make the user more nimble. I guess having two would mean she can use two spells at once? I don’t know much about magic.

Aedi noticed us and waved us over as she pulled her body off from the wall. “Hey there! I’ve been waiting here for ages where were you guys?” She asked us as we walked over.

I looked around a little confused. “I mean, we were just over there. You can literally see our camp from here.” I replied pointing at the various small groups still wandering around our camp.

The strange Demon rolled her eyes. “Yeah I know that. I meant where were you, timewise? Look at the sky!” She complained pointing upwards.

I looked up, the sky was orange from the early morning sun. “It’s just past dawn.” I said. “We already had enough trouble waking Venya up now, any earlier would take a miracle.” A sigh escaped my lips.

Aedi began to open her mouth before stopping and looking us up and down. After a few moments she scrunched up her brow. “Sorry. A bit unrelated, but I feel as though I need to know. Which one of you is Venya again?” She asked.

Venya trudged forward yawning. “It’s me. The Frog B*tch. S’not hard to remember.” The Frog b*tch answered. She then suddenly stopped and blinked a few times. “How long have you been here for then?” She asked the demon.

Aedi brought a single finger up to her mouth and looked to the sky. “For about an hour I guess?” She tilted her head.

I raised an eyebrow. “Did you even get any sleep?” I asked her.

“She’s f*cking nuts to wake up that early.” I heard Venya mumble behind me.

A small smile appeared on the womans lips. “I’m used to waking up early, don’t worry about me.” She waved her hand. Either she heard what Venya said and elected to ignore it, or her hearing is going awfully early.

“Right then? Should we proceed ladies?” Odwiff appeared in front of us, I think he was more eager than he let on to go in the Labyrinth. The Dwarf didn’t get to let it go too often either.

I turned my head round to look at Aedi beside me. “You want to lead the way?” I asked her.

Aedi looked taken aback. “Me? I’m not leading this party am I?” She sounded shocked.

“Well, I guess not. We don’t really do the whole leader thing, so no one is leading the party. I just mean that you probably know your way around better than any of us.” I explained.

She nodded her head with a confused expression. “You’re not in charge?” She asked me.

“What me? No?” I replied, feeling quite confused. Why would she think I’m in charge?

Odwiff made a sound of disagreement. “I don’t know lass, I think mos’ folk generally consider you to be the boss.” He folded his arms a smirk on his lips.

I shook my head scoffing. “No one considers me their boss… Well except maybe that group of Goblins, but let’s not get into that.” I replied, memories of my much smaller and cuter self surfacing.

I felt a hand tap my back and turned to see Venya looking concerned. “I don’t know if you noticed Ellena, but you’re often the one leading.” She told me.

Am I? Since when? I mean sure I guess you could say when we went through Venyas dungeon I may have led a bit, but I wasn’t in charge. So I suppose if I led in that dungeon then I can lead in this one, but I’m definitely no leader. That was my last life. “I’m really not much of a leader.” I ended up replying.

The old dwarf and frog exchanged a look of disbelief. “Yeah sure, keep tellin’ yaself that one lass.” Odwiff replied turning to walk in the dungeon.

“You’re going to have to accept it at some point Ellena.” Venya shrugged and followed Odwiff.

I looked on in disbelief before glancing down at Alvir who was eagerly wagging his tail beside me. “Since when were those two so synchronised?” I asked him.

The Wolf looked up to me and breathed a strange whimper before scuttering off to catch up with the two ahead of us.

Him too? “What’s his problem.” I muttered.

I felt a hand tap my shoulder. “Do you not want to accept leadership?” I heard Aedi ask me. I guess since she didn’t know our situation she wouldn’t understand, but I’m not leader material. I can fight, I can even talk a little, but I don’t think I’m a leader.

I let out a sigh. “It’s nothing. Lead the way.” I told her.

Aedi shrugged and began to walk with me following close behind. It was finally time to set foot in this Labyrinth. The only problem, was that there were quite a few others inside too. The monsters that we actually ended up finding were quite few and far between at least on the first level. Aedi was leading us directly to the fourth level as quickly as possible. It was the floor that the bulk of those that came here would focus on.

I was glad to be honest, the first floor consisted of enemies that couldn’t even scratch us. A few small Bats, the odd predatory Bird and a surprising amount of rats were all that greeted us. Aedi didn’t even bother to fight them, this floor was a floor for beginners and none of us were that.

Without gaining a single level we arrived at the stairs to the next floor, they were north east of the entrance and they were quite unusual. In the middle of this bricked dungeon was a large doorway leading back outside. A mossy stairway led up to the next floor surrounded on all sides by the walls of the dungeon. It was like a hole through the middle of the dungeon. Looking up there were a few walkways above us extending from different floors beyond the one we were at.

Aedi explained that as we gained floors we would start to see more bridges and dangerous areas of the dungeon that led outside yet still often held monsters. If we were careless whilst fighting said monsters then the chance of falling off the side or down a hole was very likely. I believe I could survive such a floor, Venya probably could to, but Odwiff I can’t imagine being okay. Perhaps he would have been fine a few hundred years ago, but now, at his age, I can’t imagine so.

When we arrived at the second floor we didn’t have much better luck. Just like the first floor this one was also long winding mossy brick corridors complete with torches. Whoever the dungeon boss is, they seem to like the tradition, other than well, floating.

The monsters got a little more interesting though, bats about twice the size of those before and now with four wings. They still didn’t present much of a threat at all, we just battered them away like flies. Alvir chased a few which ran away terrified, I’m feeling sorry for these low levelled monsters to be honest.

The door for the next floor was through the boss room, however, the boss must have been killed just before we got here. A large green rat lay in a bloody heap to the side of the giant room. Four waterfalls cascaded down in each corner with no indication of where they came from or where they lead to. Vines crawled down each wall and hung from the ceiling.

It turned out that the way to the next floor wasn’t a stairway, it was a vine. One particularly thick vine that could be climbed up. None of us had any trouble making our way up, but what we found at the top left us disappointed. Another large room, must have been around the size of the one below it, completely void of monsters, living ones at least. The sound of fighting could be heard just around the corner. I breathed a sigh at the sight. We had been here an hour already and had yet to face anything stronger than a slightly large bat.

“Is something wrong?” Aedi asked me looking confused. She had been leading the way down what I’m sure was the quickest path. Even so this place was huge and only getting larger.

I shook my head. “It’s nothing, just a bit disappointed in this dungeon so far. Barely any monsters and no big ones to fight.” I told her.

Aedi shrugged. “That’s why you have to be early, if you leave it too long you miss the best monsters to fight.” She explained.

I scrunched up my brow, maybe Aedi can answer my question. “That actually reminds me, how exactly can this dungeon get a whole dungeons worth of new monsters every day?” I asked her.

“Aye I was wonderin’ that too.” Odwiff nodded along. “Ain’t never seen a dungeon like this before.” The old Dwarf sounded impressed.

The odd Demon grinned raising a finger near her head. “I have no idea.” She proudly stated.

I felt my expression sink. Looking over at Odwiff I could see his did too. “Ya have no idea?” He asked, his voice monotone.

Aedi nodding cheerfully. “Well,technically speaking no one does.” She replied.

I scratched my head. “You’re telling me that with all the Demons that come here everyday not a single one knows how it works?” I asked her in disbelief. She nodded with a large smile. “How. Has no one ever reached the dungeon boss to ask them?” I continued.

Aedi frowned. “Oh yeah, there have been quite a few that met him, he just wont tell anyone.” She sighed shaking her head. “Kind of annoying really.”

“You’re telling me. Could have used that in my du-. Could be useful to know.” Venya joined in the conversation. She must have thought it would be too much hassle to explain how she has a dungeon and is not currently in it.

Either Aedi didn’t notice what she said or just didn’t care, either way she didn’t acknowledge it. “There are plenty of theories of course. Most people believe ‘the spawning pit theory’.” She stated.

“What’s that then?” I asked.

She began playing with the tip of one of her wands. “Well most folks believe it’s a unique skill of the dungeon boss. Like some sort of magic or something that lets him spawn fully grown monsters somehow.” She answered. “Don’t know where the name comes from though.” I heard her mutter on the end.

That’s a little terrifying, if he has that kind of power he could surely be almost unstoppable. In a way we should be happy that all he wants to do is create a dungeon good for training soldiers, if that is how he does it of course.

I suppose in the end, how this dungeon works doesn’t really matter to us. All we need to know is that if we want to get the most out of it, we need to wake up very very early. That much has been made quite clear.

With our little line of questioning over, our crawl resumed. Outside of the starting room for the third floor was a small corridor and then a long bridge outside. Long enough to have several crossroads leading to different entrances back inside. As we have begun to reach greater heights in the dungeon, we could see several small nests along the wall filled with passive monsters. Small birds that couldn’t harm us if we wanted to. Dungeons are entire little worlds in their own way.

Ahead of us on the other end of the bridge a group of Demons were fighting against a group of Wolves. Aedi was leading us through another doorway, so clearly that is not the fastest route to the next floor. That group is most likely happy on this level, or they don’t know their way around. I have to ask though, how come there are always Wolves in every dungeon? Even in this dungeon, which is in the sky. Do Wolves like the sky? It’s not exactly their element.

It doesn’t really bother me in any actual sense, other than the fact that they probably wouldn’t attack me or those with me, so I would feel bad about killing them, but other than that it doesn’t change anything. Just why Wolves? I was expecting just bird or other animals that live high up.

We started to see more groups as we ventured on, Aedi told us quite a few settled on this floor, however every group that partied up with her before us had gone straight to the fourth floor. Venya asked her if anyone ever went to the fifth floor or beyond. She said that whilst there are plenty that go to the fifth floor and beyond, the average soldier and adventurers limit is the fourth.

Our group carried on walking and killing monsters when we could, this floor seemed to have a lot of bridges, some of which did not have sides. I’m surprised that so many choose to stay on this floor, the monsters may not be too tough, but the layout leaves a lot to be feared.

The entrance to the fourth floor wasn’t in the boss room this time, so we skipped that completely, there was no way the boss would be alive on this floor so to go there would be pointless.

I can’t say I liked the entrance to the fourth floor though, it was a borderless ramp over open air with quite a few vicious predatory birds guarding it. Aedi called them Lesser Vultures, apparently they’re the staple prey of adventurers on the fourth floor. I didn’t really care at the time of course, as whilst the birds couldn’t really hurt me, they were big enough to push us all close to the edges. Why is this dungeon used so regularly again? It’s giving me a fear of heights I never realised I had.

I think I might also see why the other groups got rid of Aedi, even now as we reached the fourth floor she still didn’t do anything. Just dodged and weaved through the birds, rather gracefully though. She was certainly experienced and really quite fast. To be honest it was only me and Odwiff that had any real trouble with those birds, I may be fast, but my large body makes me a target and I couldn’t exactly just sprint out as they swarmed me, I could sprinted right off the edge. Odwiff, whilst, obviously a hardy tough adventurer, but not exactly a fast Dwarf.

Still we made it to the fourth floor safe and sound, Alvir wagging his tail with his fur covered in bird feathers. Even if we weren’t against anything challenging the Wolf was just enjoying the fun.

After I had caught the little breath I lost, I noticed that this floor we were on was the first truly different one. The previous three had subtle differences, but this floor, whilst still being a labyrinth was different to any I had seen. The walls were not attached to the roof, and the walls themselves plastered in web. Not that saying that did it justice, each thread of web was as thick as a line of string, each web the size of Odwiff, some even larger. A few webs stretched from the wall to the ceiling.

My guess would be, there are spiders on this floor. Which got me confused. “Didn’t you say the common monster for this floor was the Lesser Vulture?” I asked a beaming Aedi.

She turned to me and nodded. “Mmhmm. They most certainly are. Would you believe it, these peckers like the taste of spider?” She shrugged in a what can you do way.

I heard a gulp from Venya behind us. “Wh-what about the spiders, how many are there?” She asked.

Aedi tilted her head. “Well, a lot. If you haven’t noticed the walls.” She pose pointing at the closest wall.

Venyas face grew pale as she backed up a few paces. “Oh. I see.” She replied shakily falling against the entrance to the fourth floor which wasn’t covered in webs.

I felt myself frown. “Venya. Are you afraid of spiders?” I asked her.

Her body flinched from my question. Venya hid her face behind her arms bringing her knees up. “Maybe a little.” She replied.

“How come?” I asked. I suppose it could just be a phobia, but I haven’t really seen Venya afraid before.

I spotted a single eye emerge from behind one of her hands. “Well. When I was a little frog on my journey to finding my first home, I came across a cave of spiders. I didn’t think much of it, until they came out at night and started hunting. They were f*cking massive, some as big as you.” She said pointing at me. “One paralyzed me and they took me into their cave to eat me alive, just like a bunch of other monsters they caught.” She shivered. “It was… An upsetting night. I only survived because I managed to wriggle my way out of the web when my paralysis ran out. If I was as dumb as the others, I wouldn’t be here now.” Her expression turned to dread.

I turned to look at Odwiff who gave me a sympathetic smile. “You know Venya, this is only the fourth floor. You’re probably a long stronger than anything that exists here.” I tried to reassure her.

“Oh most definitely. From what I’ve seen of you guys this should be a breeze.” Aedi gave a big thumbs up as she complimented us.

Not sure if that was the best reaction, but it’s better than her telling us we’re going to die or something. “It’s not about how strong they are. Even the tiny little ones scare me now.” Venya trembled lightly behind her hands.

So it’s a full blown phobia then. I can’t exactly expect her to help us fight through this floor if she’s terrified of the residents, at the same time, however, we can’t exactly leave her here. She’ll either have to go back on her own, or follow behind us until we reach the next floor, which will hopefully have less spiders. I suppose that’s what we need to do then, this floor shouldn’t be too hard with just Odwiff and I. Although I would prefer it if Aedi helped us, it would get us to our destination even quicker.

With a short breath I stood back up and turned to face the others. “I think we can just let Venya rest this floor. She can follow behind us.” I told them before turning back around. “If you think you can do that?” I asked the cowering frog.

She looked up at me and nodded meekly. “As long as I have my hands to cower behind I should survive.” She joked with a tremble.

I returned Venya a smile and helped her to her feet, making sure she was alright to go, we pressed on ahead. Just as Aedi told us, this floor for some reason was dominated by Vultures, or rather the air was. The floor was dominated by Spiders, a lot of spiders, with a lot of varying sizes.

The yelps and screams of Venya rang out everytime we came across any group of the creatures, it was a noise that I could not get used to. It was like hearing a little girl talk like a grizzly old man or something. That’s probably quite an exaggeration.

We walked past several groups, all fighting their own individual battles, we even came across a few large rooms which had been completely cleared out, they must have been where powerful monsters resided.

Eventually though, less and less groups appeared before us, Odwiff and I were speeding through this floor just like the other floors, but the Demons who came here seemed to largely be satisfied with the Spiders and Vultures.

Aedi told us we were close to the fourth floor boss room, however the way to the fifth floor was a little beyond it. So the boss wasn’t necessary to reach the next floor, that doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t fight it of course. Alvir Odwiff and I were all very eager to fight a boss as we hadn't had the chance yet, so we decided to head there first. That’s not to say of course that the boss would definitely be there waiting for us, just because most Demons were happy on this floor doesn’t mean they all were.

A short amount of walking later we had reached a part of the floor that had clearly not been reached yet, at least today. It was also clearly leading up to a boss room. We had to fight through a group of ten spiders that must have been elites. Each one had ten legs and were larger than the vultures. Piles of dead vultures littered the corridor which they guarded.

Of course they weren’t much of a match for us, Alvir ripped in to two before the others had much of an opportunity to react. Then just as the others began to realise what was going on, Odwiff and I crushed them up against the walls.

We then carried on down the corridor, if the guards were still there today, then the boss must be too. A short walk brought us to a large opening in the corridor, it was odd looking. Up to this point every wall on this level had been coated in spider webs with brick behind them. Yet this giant doorway had neither brick nor web, just a large rocky cave-like entrance with what seemed like a giant spider web just beyond.

“Looks like a giant spider web.” I observed.

Odwiff nodded his stout head. “Aye. That it does lass.”

“So it’s gonna be a giant spider right?” I asked him folding my arms.

The old Dwarf nodded his head again. “Aye lass, I believe so.”

After a pause I turned to Venya. “Want to stay out here?” I asked the trembling Frog.

Venya looked around my shoulder into the room, then slowly backed into the corner and sank down the wall. “Yes please.” She squeaked.

I looked back and Odwiff and shrugged my shoulders. “After you?” I asked him. He gave me a smirk hauling his warhammer over his shoulder and strolling into the room. “You two coming?” I asked our other companions.

“RUFF!” Alvir barked gleefully as he sprinted past me with Aedi following closely behind.

I took one last look at Venya to make sure she was alright, then followed in behind the others. Whether this spider proves to be a tough opponent or not, it’ll be nice to fight something a bit more challenging.

The spider web strung across the floor was surprisingly unsticky, I can’t imagine much would get caught in this giant spiders trap. If there even was a giant spider, from what I could see it wasn’t anywhere. The room was empty.

I looked over to Aedi. “You know more than us, any information on the boss of floor four?” I asked her.

Aedi placed her finger on her cheek and thought, then raised her finger. “Up there! I heard it hangs from the ceiling.” She told us satisfied.

Odwiff and I both looked up, this room must have been several floors high as we couldn’t even see the top, it was shrouded in darkness. I looked back at Aedi and tapped my foot. “I can understand if it wanted to spring a surprise attack, but we’re in the center of the room, why hasn’t it attacked us?” I threw the Demon another question.

She shook her head with nonchalant expression. “Maybe it’s scared.” She mused.

I sighed with disbelief, I don’t think I’ve ever come across a scared boss monster before. Well unless I count Venyas weird tortured frogs, which in this case I’m not. The only choices we have are to move on or to get it to come down. I narrowed my eyes and searched for any sign of movement through the darkness.

The darkness must have been of the monsters own making, even with my vision I could barely see through it, almost as if it were somehow… Thick. For a split second however, I felt as though I saw something glint. I concentrated my gaze on the spot that I saw movement. Sure enough a few seconds later something appeared. The tip of a leg to be exact, it must have been as thick as my body. Who know how large the spider is.

I pointed towards the spot. “It’s up there.” I informed the others. “Now we just have to get it down somehow.” I looked around for inspiration. I could throw some of the armour left over by corpses, but I don’t know if that would even bother it.

“Fire would be good.” Odwiff commented scratching his thick beard.

I blinked a few times. “Fire?”

Odwiff nodded. “Aye fire.”

“How would we use fire in this situation?” I asked the Dwarf bewildered.

The aging warrior scrunched his hairy brow. “L-light up the area.” He seemed to shrink even more at the expression of disbelief on my face. “G-get a better look.” He muttered.

Was the old man going senile? “Odwiff are you okay?” I sighed.

He chuckled and began to scratch his balding head. “Sorry lass, I think I’m just a little over excited about adverturin’ again. Brought me back to ma brasher, less wise-old-man phase, ya ken?”

I started to feel a bit bad, I was also a little over excited so I couldn’t exactly get annoyed at him for it. “It’s not like fire wouldn’t help, just how are we supposed to get any up there? Throw it?” I asked him.

Odwiff chuckled. “Well lass, if we had a mage they could fling a bitta’ fire magic up the-” The Dwarf paused then turned around. Realising why I did the same.

We were both staring at Aedi. We did have a mage with us, a mage that other than being a guide had not contributed to any of the battles so far. Aedi blinked innocently before she tilted her head. “You want me to use my magic?” She asked.

We looked at each other and nodded. “Well yeah.” I replied.

A smile twitched on the young Demons face. “You absolutely sure about that?” She asked.

I started to feel a little worried. “...Yeaah?” I replied, this time with a lot less certainty.

Aedi grinned widely. “YEEES!” She shouted before pointing both of her wands towards the spider. The air around her seemed to start crackling, then with no warning two small balls of fire formed at the ends of her wands.

After that something I truly was not expecting happened. The two balls combined and turned into a beam of fire. Although saying beam, is putting it incredibly lightly. It was almost the size of a small house.

The beam flew towards the spider with ferocious speed as a hot wind burst out from it’s flames. Aedis hair spun wildly as she laughed with glee. Odwiff and I however, exchanged glances of surprised as a few of Odwiffs precious few hairs singed of his already hairless scalp.

After a few seconds the beam of doom dissipated and a huge figure dropped down from above us. With an explosive thud the spiders already scorched corpse created a crater in the ground in front of us.

I just stared at the corpse, unable to believe what I had just seen.

“Well… Sh*t.” I heard Odwiff quite rightly exclaim next to me.

“Wooo.” Aedi let out a satisfied breath of air. “That was great, no one ever lets me use my magic.” She commented stretching her body.

I stood, still speechless at what I had just seen. I couldn’t believe the power that had come from that one attack, is magic always this powerful? Not from what I had seen, even so, only one thing was coming to my lips. I pointed my finger towards the smoking spider next to me. “I was looking forward to fighting that!” I complained at the slightly terrifying Demon.

Aedi jumped a little. “Well you were the one that told me to do it.” She pouted fiddling with her wand.

I nodded my head blinking. “Yes, yes I did. Because I wasn't expecting you to vaporise it! I mean what was that? You keep going on about our strength, but you never told us about yours!” I began to rant.

Aedi looked taken aback. “Well that’s because you’re much stronger than me. I mean sure if I managed to hit you it might hurt you, but it takes a while for me to recharge my mana and I have practically no health and stamina..” She shrugged. “I wouldn't stand a chance.” The Demon explained.

Odwiff sat down next to the spider and wiped the soot that had formed on his brow. “Lass, would’ya care to explain? Is it something ta do with your two wands there?” He asked.

Aedi fidgeted a little, but sat down nearby regardless. “It’s a little embarrassing actually.” She chuckled nervously.

“Don’t worry, we aren’t going to laugh or anything.” I reassured her. To be honest I have a very hard time finding that super doom beam funny.

She took a deep breath and looked us in the eye in turn. “Well, it’s just from the day I was born I’ve had really really high mana. I got into an elite school for others gifted and was taught by the best teacher around, but… Well, even with their help, I’ve just never been able to… Control it.” She sighed.

Odwiff pulled a bewildered expression. “Control it?” He asked.

The Demon nodded. “Anytime I use magic I just use up all my mana. In one big burst. I do a lot of damage, but I can’t do it regularly.” A sad smile etched on to her face.

“And the wands?” I asked pointing at them.

She lifted them up and looked them over. “If I use just one, it just… Explodes. I need to use two to balance my power of both.” She explained.

Odwiff jaw was agape. “It explodes?” He asked. Aedi nodded with a cheerful smile.

“Do wands even work like that?” I turned to the shock Dwarf.

He shrugged his shoulders with wide eyes. “Must do, evidence is right here.” He replied letting out a long sigh. “Do you have some sorta unique skill that gives you such… Deadly magic?” The aged Dwarf shot another question at our Demon friend.

Aedi nodded. “Yep. That’s a bit private though.” She giggled placing a finger on her lip.

My mind wandered to several placing thinking about why she wouldn’t tell us. Although it’s not exactly odd to keep your skills a secret, I’ve just never had a reason to, until recently. I should really follow in Aedis footsteps and keep mine closer to my chest. With another sigh I shook my head. “Fair enough, we can’t exactly make you tell us.” I agreed. Still it would have been nice to know.

We all sat in silence for a while after that, Odwiff and I just had to catch up with where our minds had wandered off to. When they were finally caught up, Odwiff slapped his legs before standing to his feet. “Right then, we don’t have time ta’ lose. Shall we get a leg on?” He asked a smile forming across his lips.

I nodded, but before I could get to my feet Aedi raised a finger. “Ah! I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that actually. It’s already getting late as it is, and we won’t get far into floor five before we have to turn around to leave again. So since it took us all this time to reach here, do you guys want to camp at the entrance to floor five for the night? Carry on tomorrow morning?” She asked us slapping her hands together.

“Camp in the dungeon?” I asked tilting my head. What she said was true, and we would be here for atleast another day, but is it a good idea to camp in a dungeon?

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

A small hand tapped on shoulder before I could stand up, it was Odwiff. “Aye lass. I gather from your reaction ya’ haven’t tried it yuself before? Tis not an uncommon practise. I’m sure what we saw outside only made up the majority of Demons using this dungeon right now. Probably at least a few parties camping inside.” He explained.

I finally stood up, my brow furrowed. “But how does that work? I mean, surely you’d just get attacked whilst you sleep?” I can’t say I see it as a good idea myself.

Odwiff chuckled lightly. “We used a type of monster repellent on the ship, right? You do the same here. We just stick a few repellents around our little camp and we’ll be fine lass.” He assured me.

Aedi bobbed her head in agreement. “Setting up by the entrance to a floor helps too, less monsters around.” She informed me.

I felt a pang of excitement. “I’m all for it then.” I said grinning. “Although, I feel bad leaving the others in the dark. I’d like to tell them where we are incase they worry.” I felt a little awkward adding problems to the plan, but we couldn’t just go do our own thing entirely.

“I- I can go and tell them.” We all turned around to see a nervous Venya shuffling her way into the room.

I furrowed my brow, Venya was extremely fast, so she could make her way there and back again in a very short amount of time, however, there is the fact she has to get through this floor. “Are you going to be able to make your way back through this floor by yourself?” I asked her feeling worried.

Venya nodded and let out a snigger. “Obviously b*tch, easy.” She quite clearly lied. I cocked my right brow and crossed my arms. “Well… It might take a little bit longer to get through this floor, but the others will be fine.” Venya changed her tone and let out a nervous chuckle.

I thought for a moment before nodding my head. “It should be alright. Just remember we’ll be at the entrance to the next floor, okay?” I told her.

She rolled her eyes and sighed like a teenager. “Alright, don’t worry about it I’ll be fine.” She assured me. “I’ll see you all again soon.” She waved us goodbye before sprinting off, lifting up nearby pebbles as she ran.

I heard a whistle escape Aedis lips. “She’s fast.” She commented.

I lifted the side of my lip and let out a breath of air. “She is that.” I sighed. I do worry about Venya, she’s quite immature sometimes for someone who’s over fifty.

With that odd little interaction finished with, we carried on towards the fifth floor, however it did not take us long at all to reach it. To be honest I felt as if we were setting up camp a little early, sure it would be coming up to night outside, but we still had time to explore some of it at least. Aedi was insistent that we start with the whole day to as she wanted to explore it properly. She had never reached that floor either.

So we set up a small camp at the base of the runic stairs that led up to the fifth floor, each step was floating in the air, an individual stone pillar to stand on. It seemed an even more dangerous way of changing floors than the last one we saw.

Aedi got Odwiff and I to place the wards she had brought around the camp whilst Alvir stood guard. The wards which apparently were made by a Demon alchemist were made to let off the scent of a powerful monster, stopping any weaker ones from reaching us. Unfortunately it had a little effect on other monsters too, so when smelling it I got a large urge to hit something more powerful than me. Not the intended effect I’m sure. Luckily they faced away from us, so they might upset Venya when she catches up, but they won't bother us whilst we sleep.

It hadn’t been the most fruitful dungeon crawl I’ve ever had, but I gained enough levels to be happy. Five to be exact, hopefully now we’re going to higher floors that number will increase. Alvir got himself seven levels, which puts him close to evolving again.

We all sat around for about an hour waiting for Venya to return, in that time we did not see any other adventurers, but we did hear some vague sounds of merriment in the distance. Camping right outside a doorway to the outside let us just about hear the other dungeon goers return to their camps at the entrance. Even though we were only four floors up they sounded so far away.

When Venya did return, she seemed to have a few bruises, she said it was from avoiding any spiders she encountered on the way back here. She must have jumped right into walls just to avoid them. Then there was also the fact she had to make it through the repellent, which for some reason made her want to turn around and go punch the nearest spider. We stopped her obviously.

She told us that the others were fine with our plans and in fact, Wrok was apparently camping in the dungeon too, on his own. When the others he was with went back, he stayed. I’m sure he’ll be okay, but it was surprising enough that he came in the first place.

What’s more, Cadiz stopped by to tell us she would be at the fort for at least a day longer, which means we could stay another day. I want to see what floor we can make it to, five will be a complete unknown to all of us, so the going will be slower, but we should still make pretty good time.

With everything sorted out and all of us looking forward to a whole day with a floor to ourselves, we had a quick bite to eat and then headed for bed.

~Day 164~

This morning I had a bit of a fright when I woke up. Standing over where I lay was a quite sure, yet still rather threatening Orc. He was brandishing a long curved blade and was also dripping in spider entrails. “OHH F-” I stopped myself and took a deep breath.“Wrok, what are you doing?” I finished now much less surprised.

The calm Orc blinked at my response. “Wrok saw you here and wished to ask to join you, but Wrok thought it rude to wake you.” He responded.

“So you decided to just stand over me with a sword in your hands?” I asked him bewildered.

Wrok lifted his sword and glanced at it before bowing his head. “Apologies. Wrok did not mean to startle you, he only had my blade out as he was maintaining it.” He explained.

Oh, so he hasn’t just been standing over my body whilst I slept. He must have sat down nearby then came over when he saw me stirring. I scratched my still groggy head and sat up. “Don’t worry about it.” I replied. “So you want to join us on floor five?” I asked him to confirm if that’s what he meant.

The stern Orc nodded cleanly. “Yes, if possible. Floor five and beyond are unknown to most, Wrok was unable to gather any information on them. So Wrok would prefer to explore it with others, in case something unexpected happens.” His voice didn’t shift as he told me his reasoning.

I rubbed my eyes and let out a yawn. “Well, it’s fine by me, can’t hurt to bring another pair of hands along.” I told him.

Wrok bowed lightly again before sitting back down with his blade. Another party member isn’t going to hurt us, especially when said party member is as powerful as Wrok is. Now all we had to do was wait for the others to wake up.

Aedi herself woke not long after I did, perhaps my raised voice was to blame, if so I don’t think she minded, somehow she was already full of energy the moment she woke. Alvir woke up a short while later as he smelt the small breakfast Aedi was cooking for us all. Finally, just as breakfast was being served we raised Venya from her slumber. The damned Frog has to be woken manually when we get up early, she seems physically incapable of waking up early on her own. Makes me wonder how she lasted in the military back on Ein.

After we finished properly introducing Aedi to Wrok, we set off for the fifth floor. For some reason unlike the previous floors, no monsters hounded our progress up the stairs. The odd floating stairs that made me realise just how high up we were when we climbed them. Slight worry of the height aside, we made it to the actual entrance to the floor without a hitch.

What greeted us was a very dark, very large and very open chamber. To the far left I spotted a door, a small door in comparison to the room, but clearly large enough for something twice my height to get through. A similar door lay on the wall ahead of us. The chamber however, was not an empty one, there were dozens of varying objects scattered around, small walls, large walls, stone domes, ramps and quite a few other oddities too. On top of that there were hundreds of monsters and every single one here had very dark fur.

“So what do we think?” I asked the others.

“It’s a big dark room and it has big dark monsters. I’m guessing theres a theme.” Venya answered.

Aedi pointed at the far door. “You can see light from that one, so each rooms gotta be different right?” She observed in line with what Venya said.

Odwiff nodded his head sternly. “Aye, I’d agree with the lasses. I’d reckon’ this floor is justa buncha big rooms with a theme to them.” He finished the theory.

I agreed with them, although I can’t understand why they did a three way theory there, we were all thinking the same thing, so one of them could have said it and the rest of us would have agreed. “Wrok?” I asked, to see if he had any conflicting thoughts.

“Wrok agrees.” He stated simply. See, it isn’t that hard, the others could have just said the same thing.

I slapped my hands together. “Well which room should we head to first?” I asked the group.

“We should stick to the left or right wall. It’s the basics of basics when in a unfamiliar maze.” Odwiff suggested.

I nodded in agreement. “Alright, opposite doorway then?”

The others all looked content with that decision, so we began to make our way towards the door. Of course, we had to make it through the dark monsters first. I looked over to Aedi and motioned towards a large group of grey lizards. “You want to clear them out for us?” I asked her.

Aedi’s face lit up as bobbed her head enthusiastically. “Yes ma’am!” She shouted as she pointed her wands at the crowd.

With a single blast about 30 lizards and a few other monsters beyond were turned to cinders in a instant. Whilst that was quite useful for us, it also drew the attention of every other monster in the room.

A grin grew on Odwiffs face. “Now lass, now the fun begins.” He told me as he raised his warhammer.

I felt my mouth twist into a smile too, I couldn’t help it, after all, this was what we came here for. Even so I was going to hold myself back today, fight more defensively. With my skills the way they are I had to learn. “Aedi, you stay behind me okay?” I told her. “Alvir, Odwiff, Venya, Wrok… Go have fun.” I told them.

Before I had even finished Alvir and Venya had practically disappeared into the crowd of varying monsters. I could see corpses being flung in every direction which gave me a good idea of where they were. Wrok, in his usual way walked to their front line and began to swiftly and precisely cut them down. Finally, Odwiff just looked at them, chucked and shrugged his shoulders before he too charged forward crushing the skull of an oncoming black bat.

Then it was my turn. An army of small lizards made their way through the crowd first coming straight towards us, probably wanted revenge for their fallen comrades. I activated mushroom shield and took one out that jumped for Aedi. Then with a single swing sent three flying towards a nearby wall.

Varying other monsters then turned away from the three rampaging through them and came for me. As I dodged and swung I sent my Mushroom Shield to batter through the rear of the approaching group. Within a short amount of time I had halved their numbers, yet they had also gotten a few hits on me.

They were certainly tough, the monsters on this floor, or at least tougher than those we had fought till now. Whilst it still wasn’t exactly a struggle to wipe out this room, all of us did end up taking a few knocks, even Venya with her extreme speed didn’t come out unscathed. It was quite satisfying though and I managed to keep any of them from reaching Aedi.

“You did a good job lass.” Odwiff panted patting my arm.

I grinned in response. “Next room?” I asked him.

Odwiff leant on his warhammer. “Aye, jus’ give us a minute. I’m not as young as I useta’ be.” He chuckled.

“Wait. You were young once?!” Venya gasped sarcastically behind us.

Odwiff laughed. “Aye and I’m still young enough to kick your a*se.” The aged Dwarf replied.

As I began to chuckle, I noticed Aedi make her way over to a group of corpses. “What do you think the theme was?” She asked us.

I narrowed my brow and exchanged a glance with the others. “Theme?” I asked her.

Aedu crouched down and pointed at a corpse. “The rooms really dark and spiky and so are all the monsters, so there’s a theme.” She explained.

Venya raised a brow. “So the theme is darkness?” She asked.

No, something was telling me that wasn’t the case. There must be something more than just their shade. “Let’s just get to the next room, we’ve killed the monsters in here there’s no point staying.” I told them.

We briskly walked towards our target door. As we got close I could start to make out more detail from inside. If my eyes were not lying to me it was a brighter room, but from the looks of it had a lot of platforms sticking out of the walls.

Just before we made it through the door, the odd objects around the room suddenly lit up, strange intersecting lines appeared all over them. Then, small holes appeared, a few per object. Without warning they began shoot dark balls out. I watched one sail towards the wall beside us, when it hit a Lizard flew out from the explosion.

“Oh.” I stated. I turned to the others. “I think the theme has something to do with rapid spawning.” I commented.

Odwiff nodded his head with a smile. “Aye, and as much as I’d loveta’ stay and enjoy that, there’s still more for us to discover.” The old man replied.

My grip grew tight around Skullcrusher. This room would be perfect for grinding, if I were weaker than I am. As it is it would just be exhausting for not that many levels. My grip loosened and I let out a sigh as I turned back for the door.

By this point the newly born monsters had noticed us and began to sprint for the door, but before any could even get close we had already made our way to the new room. Curiously, no monster followed us in, they could easily fit, yet they just stood on the other side snarling and growling at us.

Aedi started dancing and blowing raspberries at the monsters to which Venya joined in. I let out a snort of laughter before shaking my head and turning to face the room. Just as I thought, the room had platforms of varying heights around the walls, other than that it was quite normal, but well lit. The lighting coming from a floating blue orb in the middle of the room.

There were comparatively a lot less monsters in this room compared to our first, in fact there were five. Five blue Lizards. They had eight legs and whilst their backs were dark blue their bellies were light, sky blue. Each one also happened to be about twice the size of Alvir though. They noticed us as we walked in and were making their way to us quite slowly.

“It’s a shame there ain’t jus’ one more. Then we could each have one.” Odwiff clicked his tongue, his hands resting on his warhammer.

Wrok sheathed his blade on my other side. “I do not require one.” He told us as he turned and made his way over to the closest platform.

My face turned to one of puzzlement as I observed him climb up the platform, sit down and stare at the orb. I shook my head and turned my attention back to the approaching Lizards. “I guess that’s one for each of us.” I grinned.

Just as I was about to charge I felt someone touch my shoulder, I turned my head to see Aedi. “What is it?” I asked her.

The strange Demon began to scratch the side of her head with a forced smile. “Well y’see, the thing is. My mana isn’t ready yet. So I can’t really have one to myself.” She told me.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. I should have realised that. Mana does not recharge that quickly, I guess I just thought hers would charge quicker due to her skill. I took a deep breath. “How long does it take to charge?” I asked through a sigh.

Her smile turned back into a real smile. “Y’see I have a skill that makes it quicker!” She beamed. “So only an hour.” Aedi explained with a grin.

I wanted to smash my head against the closest wall. Just how much mana did this damned girl have? Mine doesn’t take much longer than that to get back up to full. I looked back up to Wrok to see if he was at all interested in taking Aedis place. His attention, however, was entirely on the blue orb. The way he was staring would probably damage his eyes.

My fingers raised to my nose once again and I let out a rough sigh. “I guess I’ll take two then.” I mumbled.

With a nod towards Venya and Odwiff I charged forwards and brandished Skullcrusher over my head. The Lizard reacted with surprising speed as I brought the maces full power down upon its head as it swiftly jumped back. Without missing a beat I darted forwards again for another attack. Before I could reach it, the beast opened its mouth and a group of blue fireballs flew at me from it’s open maw.

I raised Mushroom shield as fast as I could which absorbed most of the shots, a few were still on target and managed to singe my legs. I let out a small wince of pain and carried on my charge.

Before it could get another volley in I had dodged to it’s side. I pulled back my arm and threw a punch at the creatures partially exposed chin. It’s eyes grew wide as it’s mouth still filled with fire was forcefully slammed shut.

With that single hit the beast flew into the air and embedded itself in the ceiling, before peeling off and falling back to my feet unmoving. Is that it? Is it really already dead? That’s a bit disappointing, there are only five of them.

I looked over to the others to see how they were handling it, Alvir decided to take on two at once, which I suppose one of us needed to. He appeared to have the upper hand as the Lizards couldn’t touch him. Same with Venya and Odwiff. The Dwarf appeared to be pummeling his Lizard into the ground head first, whilst Venya kept placing powerful jabs into every inch of her foes, moving before it could even react. To be honest, I had to question the design of this floor, it didn’t seem that threatening at all to be honest.

Is what I thought before I found myself flying towards a platform and destroying it with my body. I shook the dust out of my hair as I stepped out of the rubble. The others were all looking at me then turned to take a look at where I was thrown from. Without a single scratch on it stood the Lizard I had been fighting. I had definitely crushed it not five seconds ago, yet here it stood.

Odwiff looked down at his opponent and jumped back a few feet as a claw smashed through the floor near his feet. His Lizard then broke it’s way back to the surface. I looked over at the other Lizards too, they also had not suffered physical damage.

I ran back over to my target and slammed my foot into the group using the momentum to smash the Lizard into the far wall. It created a crater in the wall, but as the dust settled it was clear the beast was not the least bit affected

With another sprint I made my way back towards the Lizard, it can’t be invincible surely. “Lass! These things are bloody invincible!” Odwiff yelled to me as he struggled with his beast.

I shook my head. “There’s no way!” I yelled back to him. “There has to be a way to fight them!” I continued.

“There is.” I quickly turned my head to see Wrok stand up and point towards the blue orb.

A smirk flashed across my face. I guess it was kind of dumb of me to think the giant blue orb was just for lighting. “What does it do?” I shouted at him.

Wrok shook his head. “Wrok cannot say. However, every time any of you landed a blow, the orb flashed a shade lighter.” He told us.

“So you reckon if Wrok f*cks that thing up, these things won’t be so tough anymore?” Venya yelled over the sounds of battle.

The Lizard threw another claw at me which I managed to block, my feet dug into the flooring, cracking it, but I held my ground. “It’s worth a shot, even without the whole invincible thing, these beasts pack a punch when they actually hit you!” I complained as I threw the Lizard destroying another platform.

“Then Wrok will attempt it.” He told us with a small nod of his head.

The agile Orc leaped from his platform to another slightly higher one. Clearly he was trying to get close enough to the orb to slice it. I suppose that could explain why the platforms are there, even with how high I can jump I don’t think I could reach the orb without them. It was almost touching the ceiling.

We continued to hold back the undefeatable creatures as Wrok made his way up, clearly he had studied the fastest route as he wasn’t wasting anytime. Even so, the longer we drew out the battle the worse it would get for us. As slow as they are, we’re still taking more damage than them.

Finally, Wrok made it to the highest platform reachable. The orb was just a few feet above, even a normal human could reach it. It was still in the middle of the room though, floating in the air and as far as I know Wrok has no ranged weaponry. I was wondering about what he was going to do, but before I could even make a guess, the Orc unsheathed his blade a leaped towards the orb wielding it above his head.

With a strange crack his blade pierced the orb and immediately began to slide down the side of it tearing a scar into it’s surface. I looked away from Wrok for a moment to see what effect it had on the Lizards. For whatever reason, the Lizards had shrunk to the size of a fist. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t quite that. With a shrug I squashed my previously powerful opponent gaining one level instantly.

Before I checked on the others though, I had to make sure Wrok was okay. Even for him, falling from that height would cause some level of damage. Just as I thought, Wrok had already begun to fall, blade in hand. As soon as I saw him make his leap, I had an idea on how to catch him. With a quick wave of my hand I sent Mushroom Shield directly under his body. “Catch it wrok!” I yelled at him.

As he noticed the shield Wrok nodded and reached aimed for it as best as he could mid air. With a dull thud Wroks feet landed safetly on the shield. I breathed a sigh of relief as I lowered the Orc to the floor. He stepped off it sheathing his blade as he did so. Then placinng both arms at his side he gave me a little bow. “My thanks.” He told me.

I rubbed my aching brow. “What exactly was your plan there?” I asked him.

Wrok looked up to the orb then back down to me with a blank expression. “Destroy the orb.” He stated.

“I meant after that!” My voice raised as I snapped back at the surprisingly careless warrior.

Wrok once again looked up to where he hung previously and then back to me. “I would have survived.” He told me.

A frustrated sigh escaped between my lips. “But you would have still made a small crater in the ground.” I retorted.

He nodded in reply. I thought just as much. Well, as far as I know the Orc isn’t stupid, so maybe he really did make the best calculation. If I didn’t tell Aedi to use her mana in the last room we could have used it here, but there’s no use crying over it.

With another small rub of my eyebrow I looked over at the others, all of which seemed to be alright. Odwiff albiet a little out of breath. “You all okay?” I asked them. Each gave me some form of a wave or nod.

Finally I looked towards Aedi to make sure she hadn’t been injured at all. She looked fine, however she was staring up at the orb. “You okay Aedi?” I asked her furrowing my brow.

She pointed upwards. “It’s still blue.” She stated.

“Well yeah…” I replied. “It’s not gonna change col-” I stopped myself. Wait, it is still blue, bright blue. The light didn’t fade at all, even though Wrok destroyed it. “You don’t think…” I whispered before quickly turning to look at the corpse of the Lizard.

It was still small and still squished. Crisis averted I guess. I saw Odwiff wander over looking up. “I guess the dungeon boss just wanted to make sure the room was still lit?” He shrugged.

I raised my eyebrows before nodding in reluctant agreement. Somehow it’s disappointing, fighting invulnerable beings was exhilarating. We could always come back tomorrow since we have one more day I suppose.

With nothing else to discuss we carried on our day, making our way into each room not knowing what to expect. Certainly each room we went through certainly was different, some had a few powerful monsters, or one powerful monster and some had an army of weaker monsters. We even passed through a few that didn’t have any monster at all.

One room we went through had fifteen foot Ogres with three heads and two pairs of arms. They wielded an odd assortment of four weapons each, one of which chose to have two bows. The room had two doors and was in two halfs. A pyramid sat in the middle, with a different Ogre on each level on either side of the wall, until the top which had one more powerful Ogre and a gap in the wall. We made it through, but the top Ogre was surprisingly tough, not enough to cause a problem for any of us though.

Finally after what must have been over thirty rooms we arrived at a huge chamber which encompassed a space even larger than any of the previous rooms we’d been in. It was large enough that nine doors stood on three walls all leading to different rooms. Eventually, every room on this floor will lead to here, that was my guess. On the final wall lay only one door, a large wooden door. On either side of the door were stairs leading upwards.

Aedi made a strange sound that sounded like she just figured something out. “So we can either go to the next floor or fight the boss? My mana is all good if you guys want to go ahead and do that.” She grinned like a cat.

“No! No, lass.” Odwiff raised his finger up to Aedis suggestion. “No.” He finished in a whisper.

With a confused smile Aedi tilted her head. “You don’t want to fight the boss?” she asked.

Odwiff sighed and shook his head. “I don’t wanna talk for da others, but I do. I just don’t want ya one shottin’ it again lass.” He explained.

“Oh, I guess that’s fair.” If Aedi had cat ears, they would have been drooping.

I shot Odwiff a glare to which he gave me back a guilt ridden frown. He walked up to Aedi and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Listen lass, we all want to have fun fighting a boss too and if you one shot them all, we wont get that chance.” He explained. “You can have the next one, yeah? Take it in turns.” He smiled.

Aedi looked back up at Odwiff with a trembling lip. “Really?” she asked him her voice shaky.

With a nod the old Dwarf smiled gently. “Of course.” He told her with a soft voice. Aedi nodded her head, seemingly satisfied. Sometimes, quite rarely in fact, Odwiffs dad side rears it’s soft spoken head and I can’t say that’s a bad thing.

As Odwiff so correctly stated, every one of us was eager to fight the boss, whether it was powerful or not, it would be an interesting fight. Even Wrok gripped the handle of his blade, which I think is his form of getting pumped up. With a silent nod we walked across the giant empty chamber to the boss room.

I felt my hand twitch and a grin spread across my face. Finally, finally it was time for a real boss. This time we won’t have Aedi one shotting it and hopefully no one else will either. My heart was beating quickly as we passed through the huge doorway.

The creature inside wasn’t entirely unexpected, then again it wasn’t entirely expected either. It was a Lizard, unsurprisingly, a huge round Lizard with large holes in it’s back. It sat in the middle of the room surrounded by vegetation, trees, small mounds of grass and a little stream in the corner.

Of course the attractive scenery wasn’t what was surprising about this beast. On top of grass, half of the room was also covered in Lizard, small, large and strange Lizards. The odd part about this though, was that they appeared to be crawling out of the boss Lizards back.

“A nest?!” Odwiff exclaimed.

I heard a gagging noise from Venyas direction as another Lizard forced it’s way out of one of it’s mothers holes. Venya keeled over. “Urgh. I think I’m gonna be sick, that’s f*cking disgusting.” She commented retching.

I also noticed Odwiff grimacing and trying to look away, whilst Aedi had a slightly disturbing smile on her face. “Aedi, you’re not enjoying what you see are you?” I asked her with caution.

Aedi slowly turned her head to me smile still plastered on her face, then slowly shook her head. Then she turned back to what we were looking at. I can sort of understand what she meant by that, disgusting it definitely is, but it’s hard to look away from.

Of course Wrok didn’t seem affected at all really, although he did draw out his sword quite early. The blank faced Orc looked over to me. “Can we kill it?” He asked. Okay, so maybe he was also affected.

I let out a sigh and nodded my head. “I can’t say I’m really excited anymore.” I complained. Seriously, what kind of luck have we had with bosses in this dungeon? “Let’s go.” I said unenthusiastically.

With that, we charged forward. I leaped towards the big boss first, originally I did want to draw this battle out, but now, I just want it to be done with. Before I reached the beast though, a wall of Lizard appeared in front of me. It was shocking, but I smashed right through them.

I turned around to see the Lizards swarming together, almost forming a solid mass. Somehow they appear to have some sort of hive mentality. I looked over at the others, Wrok was running around the sides of the large group slaying one after the other. Venya and Odwiff were both making a line directly for the boss, yet even Venya was slowed down by the sea of monsters.

Alvir I could spot in the distance, jumping in and out of the swarm. He was the only one of us I think that was actually enjoying this scenario, it’s like heaven to him.I turned back around to see the boss lear up, it’s height now clear to me. It was huge, possibly larger than the Lonely Wolf even.

I could tell it was gearing up for an attack, it lifted it’s claw high into the air. Yet I had time to not only dodge, but also to get a few attacks in myself before it brought it’s claw back down. Or I would have, if it’s swarm didn’t get in the way again.

Whilst the beast itself wasn’t tough, the swarm was a real problem. Anytime we knocked it down, a new wave would spawn from the pores on it’s back. We needed to clear a path through the masses to get a shot at the big guy, of course that’s easier said than done. I turned my head to look back at Aedi who stood in the doorway looking excited. What we needed was a really big explosion.

“Aedi!” I yelled at the Demon to get her attention. She looked a little startled then waved at me. “Do you think you could clear a path for us?” I yelled at her as I smashed my way through another clump.

Aedi tilted her head before quickly nodding. Then she pulled her two wands up and aimed straight for the boss. Within a second another one of her death beams flew past my head drilling a house sized gap through the mass of lizards.

“NOW!” I yelled before sprinting towards the boss.

Even as the words escaped my lips, I could see Venyas blurred form rocket past me, her weapons at the ready. I picked up my speed too, making it through the the already closing hole with the other three hot on my heels.

Before we could even reach it, Venya was tearing the beast apart, cutting holes in every inch of it. Not wanting to be left out I thrust myself off the ground to speed towards the beast lifting Skullcrusher high into the air. Then I brought it down dead on in the middle of it’s Lizard spawner. The giant nests body crumpled and cracked under the force, the room around us trembling. Geysers of blood proceeded to burst from it’s pores and the boss let out a ear splitting scream of pain.

As soon as it showed an opening, the creature was dead and we were all covered in it’s blood. On top of that, the Lizards around us all dropped dead along with it. Odwiff walked up to my side and let out a sigh before wiping blood from his cheek. “I didn’t even get a chance to hammer it.” He complained faintly imitating bringing his warhammer down on the Lizard.

“That’s what you’re thinking about? Not the fact that every single Lizard around us died along with it?” Venya asked motioning strongly with her hands towards the piles of corpses.

Odwiff shook his head before patting Venyas thigh and shooting her a gentle loving smile. “The worlds full of mysteries lass.” He told her before walking past her towards the door.

Venya opened her mouth to say something, before altering her expression to one of minor annoyance. “They must have not been truly alive.” Wrok observed, crouching next to one of their corpses.

Venya looked puzzled. “What do you mean?” She asked.

The usually quiet Orc stood back up and turned to look at the boss. “Without souls, without minds, just another part of that.” He pointed towards the boss.

I nodded my head. “That would explain it.” I commented agreeing with Wrok.

Venya reluctantly nodded her head. “I suppose so, jus’ weird you know?” She replied.

As I walked past I patted the frogs shoulder. “The worlds full of mysteries, lass.” I mimicked Odwiff.

I heard a slight chuckle from behind as we all walked towards Aedi who was waiting by the door. I gave her a wide smile. “Nice shot.” I complimented her. “You saved the day there.” I beamed.

The Demon looked surprised, her eyes wide and her mouth quivering slightly. “Do you really mean that?” She looked up at me, her eyes hopeful.

“Uh well. I mean, obviously we weren’t in danger or anything, but I mean. You really helped us out, like uh.” I felt flustered. I closed my eyes and took a quick breath, before opening them. “What I mean to say, is we couldn’t have done it without you.” I told her.

Aedi face slowly turned to a big grin. “You’re just like my cousin.” She beamed.

I furrowed my brow. Her cousin is a seven foot and a half tall mushroom? “How come?” I asked her cautiously.

“Oh I didn’t mean you specifically, I meant all of you. Everyone else just sees me as useless, except my cousin.” She told us her smile turning sad.

I felt a little hurt at the first part of her reply, but more importantly, they way she said useless. I get the feeling she’s not just talking about her fighting ability. “They tell you you’re useless?” I asked her gripping my fist.

The saddened demon shook her head with a downtrodden smile. “No, they wouldn’t say it out loud. But they don’t need to.” She shrugged.

I understand that there exist horrible people out there, probably far worse than making a family member feel useless, even so, what kind of family would do such a thing.

“Lass.” I heard to the right of me. Odwiff was stood next to me with a serious expression.

Aedi looked surprised and blinked. “Y-yeah?” She answered unsure what to say.

Odwiff slowly walked over to Aedi, his face still serious and grabbed each of the Demons arms making her jump a little from surprise. “There is no such thing as useless, do you hear me?” He looked her dead in the eye making her nod quickly. “I may be a stranger to you still, but I can already tell you that you are very far from useless.” He looked in her eyes intently for a few moments longer before tapping her arms gently and letting go.

We both watched him walk back through the door. “Where did he come from?” Aedi asked in a bewildered voice. “Didn’t he go through the door earlier?”

I chuckled. “Surprisingly quiet for a Dwarf isn’t he?” I responded. Well even then it’s not like he was quiet, we were just too distracted to notice him I suppose. I looked over at Aedi to see if she had cheered up.

It would appear to me she had done more than that. The Demon was rubbing her arm where Odwiff had touched her and had a gentle smile on her face with a slight blush. Don’t tell me, has she taken a liking to Odwiff?

A shudder crawled down my spine making me shake my head. No, no it can’t be, he’s too Dad like. Although, she could be in to that? I began to walk to catch up with the others who had already begun to leave, Aedi hot at my trail. I glanced back at her, her expression had returned to one of joy. I’ll just pretend I didn’t see her blushing.

After an interesting battle, we began our hopeful climb to the sixth floor. The height of this floor was surprisingly immense, so we had quite a climb to make. Eventually, the stairs turned to small ramps and we appeared at the sixth floor.

Which was surprisingly normal compared the fifth. Our small group had popped up in the middle of a moderately sized brick room with green fires lighting the walls. There was only one door and beyond what seemed to be a room that stretched on forever. I could not see a single Monster inside, however I could see rows of huge pillars with a few torches on each side. The room we were in was empty too.

I turned back to the others and was just about to open my mouth before I noticed Alvir lying on the ground, with Odwiffs hand on his head. I felt my heart skip a bit as I jogged back to them. “What’s happening?” I asked Odwiff panicked.

He shook his head. “I don’t know lass, just as soon as we got up here he jus’ lay down.” He told me.

What lay down? Why would he be doing that? I tapped my head. Come on think, what could it be. First of, I should check his stats, if there’s something wrong there then it should be easy to tell.

[Name: Alvir]

[Age: 1 year, 177 Days]

[Species: Alpha Berserker ,Grey Wolf]

[Height: 6'-11"]

[Sex: Male]

[Title: Packmember, Alpha]

{Level: 100] +116

[Health 3520/3520] +2766

[Mana:752/752] +427

[Stamina: 5585/5585] +3352

[Hunger: 5585/5585] +3352

[Attack: 7845] +4649

[Defence: 1509] +876

[Magic Attack: 678] +394

[Magic Defence:425] +339

[Skills: [Packmember lvl 23] Up! [Pain Resistance lvl 10 (Max)] Up! [{Wolfs bite lvl 34}] Up! [Bloodhunter Lvl 9] Up! [Alphas Call Lvl 1]]

Oh, well I think I might know why. How did I not notice? Even before the fight with Ekri he was pretty close to evolving, I’m surprised it took this long. Although, one hundred and sixteen? Has he been holding back? Why hasn’t he evolved yet? That must be why he’s the way he is right now. “He needs to evolve.” I told them.

Odwiff blinked. “Lass, the need for evolution doesn’t do this.” The Dwarf replied.

I sighed. “He’s been holding back or something, he’s overleveled by sixteen levels.” I informed them.

Venya gasped lightly. “Overleveled? Is that even possible?” She looked at each of us in turn.

“Yes. It is possible to fight back evolution and to overlevel. Although it is dangerous.” We all turned to see Wrok sitting against the wall with his arms folded and eyes closed.

“Why would he do that though?” I asked the Orc.

Wrok shrugged his shoulders gently. “Wrok doesn’t know, but you need to order him to.” He opened his eyes and nodded towards me.

I hesitated then nodded back. “You hear that Alvir? You need to evolve for me, I ain’t gonna let you get hurt just cus you’re being stubborn.” I told him. “Whatever it is you’re being stubborn about.” I whispered under my breath.

The Wolf looked up at me with a pained expression before gently nodding it’s head, then just as soon as he had, his expression softened and his breathing calmed. I exchanged a quick look with Odwiff before looking back at Alvir. “Did it work?” I asked.

Odwiff felt Alvir forehead and sighed. “ I have no idea lass. He’s seems ta be alright now though.” Odwiff told me falling back against the wall.

It was unfortunate, but we couldn’t exactly move until Alvir had evolved, and as far back as i can remember, Monsters evolve whilst sleeping. So we decided to camp here for the night. Of course I was disappointed we had only made it through one floor today, but to be fair it was already mid afternoon. Just this floor alone was massive and a pain to traverse.

I looked over at the others who all seemed equally disappointed, except for Wrok who was just meditating as usual. Oddly enough though no one looked quite as upset as Aedi, who held quite a sad expression. I asked her what was wrong and she just told me it was a shame we wouldn’t have enough time to finish the dungeon.

I assured her we would at least complete the sixth floor, although I can’t help but feel there’s something she wasn’t telling me. After all she could always find another group to help her get through eventually surely?

That night, I slept by Alvirs side. There was something else I noticed in his stats. His Alphas Call skill had not leveled up once. So clearly, he hasn’t used it. I have no idea what it does, but my guess would be that it means he can call other Grey Wolves to his side or something along those lines, the only question is why hasn’t he used it? I really need to pay attention to his stats more often.

~Day 165~

Before I had even opened my eyes, I felt something warm and wet brush against my cheek. Then again and again. There was no mistaking it, it was a tongue, Alvirs tongue. Although now it felt bigger. “Alvir, stop licking me.” I told him in a groggy voice.

“Sorry master.” He replied.

I sighed and nodded my head still half asleep. “Good boy.” I replied smacking my lips together.

“Thank you master.” The Wolf replied once again.

I turned round again to have a bit of lie in, however just as soon as I got comfortable me eyes shot open. Without blinking I turned around to face the Wolf. “Did you just talk?” I asked hesitantly.

Alvir bared his teeth in a smile. “Yes master.” He answered cheerfully wagging his tails.

“Uhuh.” I replied blinking as my eyes came in to focus. Alvir had grown slimmer, yet slightly longer. His grey fur has turned into a pattern of grey and black with red highlights. A tuft of fur around his neck almost like a lion's mane turning from the grey of his face to black and then ending in red. He also now had two tails both of which ending the same as his mane.

Of course, he evolved. So now he can talk? “So you can talk now?” I asked him cautiously.

Alvirs tails picked up speed, they looked like they would seriously hurt anyone that came near. “Yes! I should have done it sooner. Now I can talk to everyone too! I bet I’m faster as well, do you think Venya will have a race with me?!” He began to bob up and down excitedly. His voice was gruff, yet a little infantile in a way. There was no mistaking it though, that this was Alvir. I decided to look at his stats once again.

[Name: Alvir]

[Age: 1 year, 177 Days]

[Species: Berserker, Noble Wolf]

[Height: 7'-3"]

[Sex: Male]

[Title: Packmember, Alpha, Noble]

{Level: 16] +16

[Health 5040/5040] +1520

[Mana:962/962] +210

[Stamina: 7051/7440] +1855

[Hunger: 2808/7440] +1855

[Attack: 10695] +2850

[Defence: 1901] +392

[Magic Attack: 860] +182

[Magic Defence: 576] +151

[Skills: [Packmember lvl 23] [Pain Resistance lvl 10 (Max)] [{Wolfs bite lvl 34}]

[Bloodhunter Lvl 9] [Alphas Call Lvl 1] [Nobles Call Lvl 2] New!

[Kingsfoot lvl 1] New!]

Noble Wolf? So he’s still a Berserker, but no longer a Grey Wolf? What is a Noble Wolf anyway? I can’t say I’ve ever heard of such a thing. I know about one of his new skills though, Kingsfoot. I had that quite a long time ago now, but what about this Nobles call? It must have a similar effect to Alphas call, only more powerful perhaps.

Whilst I was lost in thought Alvir had wandered over to Venya, by the time I noticed he had already begun nudging her. “Wake up! Wake up Venya!” He barked eagerly as the Frog began to stir from her deep slumber.

She let out a long groan as her eyes began to open. “Whooozat? What time iss it?” She asked as she furrowed her brow.

“Will you race me?” Alvir asked her raring to go.

Venyas eye grew wide.“F*CK ME!” She exclaimed as she fell backwards. “WHO THE SH*T IS THAT!?” She asked me noticing I was also awake.

I let out a sigh. I’m not sure that’s the correct way of using sh*t, but I’ll let it slide. “We have one Wolf with us take a guess.” I told her.

She turned back to the powerful looking beast in front of her and raised her eyebrows. “Alvir?” She asked.

The Wolf nodded happily at the mention of his name. “Want to have a race?” He asked her again.

“Alvir can talk?” I turned my head to see a groggy Dwarf staring at us with an expression of surprise. Around us everyone began to wake from their own sleeps. It would seem like Venyas expression of surprise woke everyone up.

I shrugged my shoulders. “It would seem so.” I told him.

Odwiff scratched his long beard. “He musta’ evolved inta’ a pretty powerful breed of Wolf then, aye?” He asked yawning.

I gave a the Dwarf an unsure expression. “To be honest I don’t know, I mean it sounds powerful, but, uh yeah. He’s a Noble Wolf now?” I told him.

Odwiff shot upright where he sat. “A Noble Wolf ya say?” He asked. I nodded in response. “Well no wonder the lad can talk. Noble Wolves are just what their name suggests, rare and powerful and above all in charge.” He informed me.

I couldn’t help, but think back to The Lonely Wolf, a Royal Wolf. Are Noble Wolves a weaker version of them, or perhaps they’re servants? “Is that true, Alvir? Are you some sort of Nobleman amongst Wolves now?” I asked him.

Avir who had been listening to our conversation scrunched his brow before shaking his head. “I don’t know.” He answered.

With a sigh I rubbed my eyes. “You don’t know? Then why did you pick that Evolution?” I asked exasperated.

Alvir grinned. “Because it sounded cool.” He beamed.

My head bobbed along with what he was saying. “Of course.” I whispered, That’s what you’d get from a Wolf I’ve been raising really. With another pause I remembered what had happened last night. “So now you can talk, maybe you can tell me why you held back your evolution?” I stared into his eyes.

The giant Wolfs face dropped and his tail stopped wagging. He then looked away with a dejected expression. “Didn’t wa... to ...et ...oo ...ig.” He muttered something under his breath.

“Parden?” I said holding my hand to my ear.

“I didn’t want to get too big.” He said slightly louder pouting.

I looked over at the others who all just looked as confused as I did.

“Too big for what?” I asked him.

He looked down at the ground. “To sit on your lap.” The Wolf mumbled.

My mouth was open in shock. He did something so dangerous, just because he wanted to sit on my lap, he barely sat on it before, just rested his head as he was already big.

After a few seconds silence I heard a snort followed by rawkus laughter coming from Venya. Shortly after Odwiff and Aedi joined in. Venya sat next to Alvir brushing her head up against his with a mocking smile. “D’aaw so sweet. I’ll let you sit on my lap if you want.” She cooed.

Alvir turned his head away, he was clearly blushing at least in the way a Wolf could. As the others laughter began to die down I walked over to him and gently stroked his head. “I’m a tough girl you know? It doesn’t matter how big you get you can always rest on me.” I told him with a smile.

The giant Wolf looked me in the eyes and gave me a quick nervous smile. “I know, I was just being stupid.” He replied.

“Yeah, not like it was dangerous or anything.” Venya butted in before I shot her an angry look.

Alvir’s ears drooped. “I’m sorry.” He whimpered.

I shook my head. “It’s alright, at least you can talk to me about these things now.” I reassured him.

Just as I finished saying so, his tails were already back to wagging. “I can talk!” He barked happily as he began to jump around. I chucked. He was an easy on to please this one, quite childlike. “Can we race now?” He asked Venya.

Venya nodded her head waving her hand. “Sure, sure, just let me get ready first.”

After a short while the two of them stood side by side next to the door, then with no further delay they both took off into the gigantic room. I couldn’t help, but smile at what I was seeing. Alvir being able to talk was surprising, however I already knew he was intelligent and figured it would only be a matter of time until he could talk. Although the fact that his words come out as actual words and not directly into my head like the Lonely Wolf did surprise me. Did that giant Wolf just decide to talk like that?

In a matter of seconds Venya and Alvir were past several of the giant pillars dotting the room ahead of us, so as not to lose sight of them the rest of us decided to follow after them. We wanted to do the sixth floor by today anyway, so there wasn’t any point just standing around.

Even when we were in the room however, there was no sign of any monsters, in fact other than us and the pillars there wasn’t anything. A few minutes passed as we strolled cautiously through the dungeon floor passing identical pillar after identical pillar. The room was just lit up enough to see a faint glow on the far wall.

Within a few more minutes Venya was clearly visible sprinting towards us, with a long slide she skidded to a halt followed shortly after by Alvir. The two were both panting slightly, but neither seemed too worn out. “I… Win…” Venya panted.

Alvir let out a whine. “I thought I had gotten quicker too.” He mumbled making his ears droop.

I reached over and patted his new soft fur. “You have, Venya could barely keep ahead.” I told him with a smile.

Venya chuckled and nodded her head. “I was surprised actually.” She grinned.

“Uh. Did you see any monsters at all?” We turned to see Aedi pipe in, she looked a little concerned.

Venya frowned then exchanged glances with Alvir. “No, didn’t see any from here to the door.” She replied shrugging.

Aedi looked a little dejected and let out a long sigh. “I was hoping we could finish the floor first at least.”

I felt a little confused. “Finish the floor first? What do you mean?” I asked hovering my hand over Skullcrusher.

She looked back at me and shook her hand. “I’m sorry, they just wanted to make sure first. I guess they’re sure now.” She replied. I felt my heart skip a beat, what was she talking about. “Gama? You’re here aren’t you Gama?” She looked around us calling out.

Before another word escaped my lips the pillars around us suddenly faded from existence. They didn’t crumble or shrink or something, they literally just… Faded. “What in the name of Gungils sh*t is going on?!” Odwiff let out an expression of surprise that probably mirrored all of our feelings.

Just as soon as the pillars had disappeared so did every wall around us soon follow suit, as they faded the only thing left in their place other than the small room we came from, were the four corner pillars and one large on in the middle of the room. This entire floor was out in the open on each side, a huge gap in the dungeon.

Recovering from my shock I turned to Aedi who looked a bit annoyed. I reached for Skullcrusher once again as Alvir began to growl. “What exactly is going on here?” I growled.

Aedi let out a short depressed sigh. “We’ve gotta stop early, that’s what.” She mumbled. Her face held a comically exaggerated frown.

As I pondered what she could mean, a loud screech reached my ears. We all turned to the direction it came from, flying in from outside the dungeon was a gigantic bird. It’s wingspan must have been fifty foot, it had pure white feathers that looked softer than cotton. With a powerful gust of wind, the giant beast planted it’s huge claws into the stone floor in front of us. With its legs secure it folded its wings behind it’s back and stared intently down at us all. It had the head of a hawk, but with surprisingly intelligent eyes, four small reindeer like horns sprouted out of the back of its head.

I gripped onto the handle of Skullcrusher tightly. “I assume you’re Gama?” I asked cautiously.

The giant bird tilted its large head down in what must have been a bow. “A pleasure Lady Ellena.” The bird greeted my in a surprisingly feminine voice. She then turned to Venya. “You as well, Lady Venya.”

Lady? “So I assume you know of the Pillars?” I asked her still gripping onto my weapon.

Game raised her head back up nodding it gently. “But of course, we just had to make sure you were truly the ones.” She replied.

Odwiff readied his hammer. “The only ones that know ‘bout the pillars are powerful enemies, or powerful allies. Which are you lady?” He growled.

A low chuckle escaped the birds beak. “Do not threat Master Dwarf, I am an ally. As it Lady Aedette.” She replied motioning towards Aedi.

My grips loosened on Skullcrusher. “Lady Aedette?” I asked looking towards the young Demon. Aedi gave me a nervous smile and a slight wave.

Gama cleared her throat, assuming that’s what that deep guttural noise was. “Yes. Lady Ellena, Lady Venya and the rest of your party. I would like to introduce you, properly this time, to Lady Aedette. Cousin to Varialle Reazandale.” She pronounced, causing Aedi to look embarrassed.

Odwiff lowered his hammer. “Varialle Reazandale? As in the fookin’ Demon Queen?!” He raised his voice in surprise.

Venya gasp. “F*ck me. Aedi you’re royalty?!” She exclaimed.

Aedi weakly raised her arm and waved nervously.

I exchanged a glance with the others, the only one seemingly not confused was Wrok. “Are you telling me Aedi was acting that whole time?” I asked her.

Gama shook her head chuckling. “Oh, no Lady Aedette can’t act. Whatever she was doing that one hundred percent… Her.” Gama drifted off at the end before looking off into the distance and sighing shaking her head.

Ah, for someone of the royal family to have a personality like that, it’s clear that it causes some problems. Still, if she wasn’t lying then that means people do treat her badly, people in the royal palace too. That just doesn’t seem right.

“So, hold on. Does that mean you’re doing this under orders of the Queen?” Odwiff asked stroking his beard thoughtfully.

Gama nodded gently. “We are lucky you chose to go to the same port your friends did. Duchess Cadiz is one of the few Demon Lords fully loyal to the Queen.” She replied.

“Cadiz was in on it too?” Venya asked. Gama nodded. “So this whole time you’ve been, what, testing us?” Venya sounded exacerbated

Gama nodded. “I just needed enough time to study you two, so Cadiz was told to stall as much as possible. I came to the conclusion last night that you two are certainly who you claim to be.” Gama smiled with her eyes.

“You could tell… Just from watching us?” I asked tilting my head.

The giant bird ruffled her wings. “I am possibly one of the few that can make this claim, but. I know you. This is not the first time I have met the Four Pillars.” She claimed.

It’s not like I didn’t guess about my past lives, but to actually hear it, it’s strange. “I don’t understand, how have you met us before?” Venya asked clearly confused.

Gama frowned. “Don’t tell me, you didn’t realise? The Pillars are legendary beings that have been around for millenia. You are born into this world together when it truly needs you.” She told us.

Venya shook her head in slightl disbelief. “But, I only remember my last life. She only remembers her past two!” Venya pointed at me.

The bird sighed. “Your souls have been reincarnated thousands of times, yet for some reason the Gods decided you only have memories of a few. I can’t say why that is, as I don’t know.” She paused looking up to the sky. “The Gods are strange creatures.” She finished.

Venya seemed near speechless before turning to me. “Why aren’t you saying anything? Aren’t you shocked?” She asked me desperate.

I shook my head and smiled at my sister. “I kind of put two and two together. The fact that the Pillars are legendary beings in this world combined with the three lifespans worth of memories I hold. It uh, made me think.” I sighed.

Venya let out a long deep sigh before collapsing against a nearby wall. “F*ck me.” She replied after a brief pause.

Odwiff looked around between the three of us then clapped his hands together. “So. I just found out that the girl I used to babysit when she was but a wee lass is possibly several millenia older than me. But uh, surprisingly I’m more curious about what’s going to happen now.” The old Dwarf stated.

With another small shift of her wings, turned her head to look out towards the south before turning back. “I will take you to the palace, it may be rude of me to presume, but you came to help with the rebels correct?” She asked us.

I bowed my head lightly. “We need the Demon Queens help against Lavias and if that means helping her with the rebels then I’m more than happy to do my part.” I replied.

Gama nodded. “Good. It is just as Lord Avalas said. So here is the plan for now. Walking to the palace will take up to two months. However if I fly you there it will cut the journey down to less than three weeks.” She told us.

Odwiff frowned. “With you flying us there shouldn’t it take significantly less than that? As far as I know birds can fly pretty bloody fast.” He asked.

“If it were you lot on my back, then yes. But we’re talking about all of your group excluding Cadizes retinue. I’ll be carrying you on an skybarge.” She pronounced proudly.

A skybarge? What in the name of anything is an skybarge? “What is an skybarge?” I asked raising a quizzical eyebrow.

Gama pointed outside with one feathered wing. “It’s quite simple. It’s a large ship-like structure made of wood. It’s large enough to carry you all and has ropes attached to a harness for me to carry. Magnabirds are relatively common in the demon territory and some of us choose to carry these barges in return for pay.” She explained.

I think I understand. I’m guessing considering she knows the Queen and knew us in our previous life Gama is quite a special Magnabird though. It’s obvious that this was the best thing that we could do, to cut down travel time will help us all out significantly. Except for one thing. I’ll have to say goodbye to Venya a lot early than we had planned. I looked over to my recently found sister to see a look of realization slowly spread across her face too. She doesn’t like to show it much, but I’ve found her to be quite an emotional person.

On que, Venya let out a short quick sigh. “I’m sorry, but I won't be coming.” Her voice had a slight tremble to it.

Gama feathers ruffled slightly as she pulled a quizzical expression. “May I ask why?” She questioned.

Venya leant against a nearby pillar looking down at her feet. “After we reached the border of Cadiz’s territory I planned to split away from the group to go on my own journey.” She paused. “I wanted to try and find our brother on this continent.” She finished looking up to Gama a little dejected.

The giant Magnabrid leant back, paused for a moment and beamed brightly. “Oh, you mean Vincent? He is already at the palace.” She nodded her giant head.

I was taken a little aback, one of our brothers was at our destination? I exchanged a glance with Venya who had an odd combination of shock and relief sprawled across her face. “So our brother… Vincent. Just happens to be where you’re trying to take us?” I asked her, it seemed a little too convenient.

Gama raised a wing across her chest. “I’m offended that you don’t believe me Lady Ellena. Yes your youngest brother is at the capital. As far as I know he has always been the most inquisitive out of you siblings. As soon as he exhausted the library from his home he headed straight for the Demons capital to make use of theirs.” She paused for a moment letting out a short but deep sigh. “We can talk about your brother on the way to the capital, if when we pass the border you still do not believe me you can still leave on your journey. How does that sound?” She pointed a flustered question towards Venya.

Venya hesitated for a moment, shooting a look at everyone else standing in the room around her. After another brief pause she shrugged her shoulders sheepishly. “I guess that’s fine.” She mumbled as a reply.

Deep inside my soul I felt a ping of annoyance. What a teenager like response my little sister just let out. With a raised eyebrow I buried my face into my palm. “I think she’s saying yes please.” I sighed.

Another beaming smile escaped the birds eyes, she nodded her head with glee. “Good, good! With three of the Pillars help this foolish rebellion may be stopped!” She turned around and lay flat against eh dungeon floor turning her head towards. “Come, get on my back, I will fly you down to the rest of your party.”

I blinked a few times and looked at the others. Odwiff just shrugged with a ‘what can you do?’ expression then clambered up onto Gamas back. Wrok, without a single change in his expression followed closely behind along with Aedi. The rest of us soon followed suit.

The first thing I could say about Gamas feather covered back was that it was soft. The second was just a garbled mess of screams as she began rapidly soaring towards the ground. It took less than a second for us to reach the ground and just as rapidly as she fell Gama stopped. I’m pretty sure some of us would have had some broken bones if not for the softness of her feathers.

It’s safe to say the rest of our party and the rest of the adventurers waiting outside of the dungeon were quite alarmed when a gigantic bird Monster began flying towards them, but they seemed to calm down when they spotted us on her back. As Gama landed gently on the ground a rather confused looking Gial strode towards us. “What is tarnation is goin’ on here?” He asked.

Gama did a double take at the odd Elf. “Tar… Tarnation?” She said tilting her head.

I tapped her wing as I jumped off her back. “Don’t worry about it.” I sympathised.

“I see you’ve met.” I turned my head to see Cadiz also walking towards us from the group. She held a smug expression. “I trust that means you’ve confirmed our suspicions?” The large Demon turned her head to Gama.

The Magnabird raised her head with pride. “Of course, I know pillars when I see them.” She stated.

Gials eyes widened. “I was under the assumption that was not a topic of conversation.” He stated with a shocked sigh.

I opened my mouth, ready to explain the situation, unfortunately before I could I was tackled by an oversized soft blob. A mushroom shaped blob. “Vinn!” I coughed out as my body was being slowly crushed. The huge Mushman began squealing happily like it had been months since we last saw him.

“That Mushroom seems delectably attached to you.” Gama observed, rather unhelpfully.

I just managed to pull the overexcited Mushroom of my chest before it was then tackled in turn by an overexcited Wolf. “Vinn! Look! I can talk now.!” Alvirs tail began to wag rapidly as he rolled around with the mushroom.

Without another word I dusted myself off and turned back to Gial and the others who were now approaching our group. “So anyway, here’s the thing. This is Gam-” I began.

“Wait wait. Are you just going to skip over the fact that your pet dog can talk now?!” Kuuli interjected.

I took a deep breath and looked around at the curious and confused faces surrounding me. With a breith turn to Odwiff who just gave me a shrug I sighed and took a seat on a nearby rock. There was a lot to explain and a lot to talk about, I’m not even entirely sure everyone knew what the pillars are. Then again neither do I.

After telling them all what had happened in the last few days they all just took it in. It’s not like it was anything majorly shocking, the only ones that didn’t really know about the Pillars were Kuuli, Bear and Lason so only those three had anything to really think about.

Gial lent in scratching his beard. So the only thing that’s really changed is that we’ll be gettin’ to the capital sooner, correct?” He asked.

I shrugged my shoulders nodding. “Pretty much. And that Venyas going to be coming with us too.” I told him.

Venya rolled her eyes. “Yes, thank you for remembering me… D*cks,” She grumbled.

Alka, who had been sitting quietly until now nodded her head. “This is good, time was already short for you, any way to shorten the time spent travelling is good.” The shaman continued to nod her head.

Gial shrugged. “I definitely agree that this is best course of action, but I have a question,” He stated before turning his head to Cadiz. “Have you been in on this, the entire time?” He asked.

Cadiz smiled resting her arm under her other arm. “But of course darling. As soon as Vincent turned up at the doorstep of the palace and told us his knowledge of what he was the Queen issued an order to all her loyal subject to keep an eye out for suspicious monsters,” She paused looking at Venya and I. “So of course when I was told that Gial turned up at one of my docks with two powerful looking Monsters and an interesting entourage I sent a messenger to the Queen. Then it was just my job to stall you until these two arrived,” she finished motioning towards Gama and Aedi.

Gial folded his arms before nodding, seemingly satisfied. “So where exactly is this platform y’all were yappin’ on about?” He asked them.

Aedi looked around and pointed back towards the town. “That way.” She replied with a smile.

The big bird standing next to her, gently shifted her pointing arm to left and took a deep sigh. “It’s a little ways outside of the settlement.” She corrected. “We’ll acquire some last minute supplies and leave tomorrow.” She told us.

The giant bird then turned around and flew towards the town. Venya walked up next to me watching the bird fly off and folded her arms. “If we’re not leaving until tomorrow, then why exactly did we have to leave the dungeon so early?” She whispered a complaint.

My expression turned to one of puzzlement. It was a good point. “That’s because Gama likes to show off.” We turned to see Aedo eavesdropping with an innocent smile on her face.

I turned back up towards Venya and rolled my eyes. That would explain pretty much everything that’s happened today, although I’m pretty sure if I was a twenty foot bird I would probably want to show off my abilities too.

I shook my head and waved my hand forwards. “Let’s just go,” I sighed as I began to walk. I could hear murmering as the others followed closely behind.

The other Demons we passed were still giving us looks filled with contempt, but they also averted their eyes a lot. Perhaps Cadiz said something to the authorities around here whilst we were in the dungeon.

When we arrived at the fort Cadiz sent a few of her soldiers to go and fetch supplies and then carried on leading us out another exit towards what I assumed was Gamas camp. Our party made our way through the rest of the jungle, when we finally reached the edge, we could see the platform we would be calling home for the next few weeks.. It was a little longer than the ship we originally came here on, with about half the height to it. It also had a similar shape, but was quite a bit thinner. There was also obviously no steering wheel on it and also the railings on the side were solid with plenty of high walls to shield us for the wind I suppose.

Four long thick ropes were securely bolted on to it, two on either side, they all fastened to a gigantic harness that lay on the floor nearby. The ‘ship’ for lack of a better word, was much larger than I had thought it would considering a single bird will be carrying it. Even so I couldn’t see how we would all fit on it.

When I brought this up with Cadiz, she told me that she wasn’t coming with us. I had completely forgotten that she was originally going to leave us at the edge of her border, however as soon as she said that Gamas head picked up and turned to face us.

“Ah yes. I almost forgot to tell you. Lady Cadiz, at the very least you must come with us. The Queens requires your help,” She informed the demon next to me.

Cadiz let out a thin sly smile. “Ah. There has been progress?” She asked. Gama nodded in reply. “Then the Queen has my undivided attention.” She finished with a bow.

I raised an eyebrow. “Progress?” I asked the two of them.

The large demon gently laid her finger across my lips. “Shush now darling. Things like this cannot be discussed in public.” She replied with a wink.

I folded my arms. “Alright fine, but that best mean I get an explanation when we arrive.” I replied pouting.

Cadizes smile deepened. “All in due time, my dear. All in due time.” The woman then turned around and began walking towards her guards. I suppose even if she’s coming there isn’t enough room for all of her guards and everyone else, so she’s probably gone to tell them to return home without her. At a guess at least.

I can’t exactly say I’m not suspicious here though, what can’t they discuss exactly and who isn’t allowed to hear it? In a way I should be thankful, even now I’m certain those damned Light Elves are watching us and who knows how far they’ll go to get in my way. I can’t give them anything else to use against me or my allies.

With the rest of the day left over to relax, I decided to enjoy the sun. We were sitting on the edge of a huge desert, there was nothing but flat sand and rock for miles around us. I sat in the shade of the ship just watching it, occasionally a horde of strange monsters would walk past, or a travelling demon could be spotted off in the distance. Otherwise it was oddly calming.

By the time evening had rolled around I had already been joined by Vinn, Alvir, Venya and for some reason Wrok who was obviously meditating. Although doing it much closer to us than usual.

It was a peaceful night, and oddly comforting. With the knowledge that we would reach the capital than much sooner, I could relax. I couldn’t forget, however, that my brother would be waiting for us. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that we’re meeting so fast and despite how excited and happy I am, I’m certain it’s a sign of the trouble our world is in.

[Name: Ellena Orcsbane]

[Age: 164 Days]

[Species: Arbor Ferrous, Dryad]

[Height: 7'-6"]

[Sex: Female]

[Title/s: Kin of Ellephwen, Wolfmother, Slayer.]

{Level: 59] +8

[Health: 51855/51855] +4480

[Mana: 8522/8522] + 640

[Stamina: 38919/38919] +3002

[Hunger: 38910/38919] +3002

[Attack: 34728] +2890

[Defence: 61873 + 22000] +5340

[Magic Attack: 9307] + 598

[Magic Defence: 17951] + 1001

[Skills:

[Pain Resistance lvl 10 (Max)] [Poison Resistance lvl 8] [Mind Resistance lvl 2]

[Venom Resistance lvl 8] [Lightning Resistance lvl 5] [Paralysis Resistance lvl 4]

[Night vision lvl 10 (max)] [Amplified Vision lvl 9] [{Mushroom Helmet lvl 72}] Up!

[tough stomach lvl 8] [Unarmed Combat Expert lvl 9] [Polearm Expert lvl 5]

[Demifoot lvl 10] [Warriors Heart lvl 50] Up! [Warriors Will lvl 36]

[Warriors Strength lvl 42] Up! [Greater Regeneration lvl 8] [Guardian lvl 10 (Max)]

[Dryads Charm lvl 17] [Skinning lvl 5] [Tanning lvl 4]

[Leatherworking lvl 7] [Carving lvl 3] [Earth Magic lvl 9]

[{Wolfmother lvl 16}] Up! [{Pillars Aura lvl 14}]Up!