Maria ran from the pedestal, and down the left tunnel.

The footsteps of her team echoed behind her. She had briefly gotten a glimpse of Irra, Torrin, and Yarina all dart into their tunnel as well. It was a race now.

Torches lit the way, though she didn’t bother questioning why or how they remained lit for so many years. She scanned the floor for any odd protrusions or suspicious-looking stones. The entire dungeon was made of smooth stone, however, so it was difficult to tell. The surface was marred with cracks, while occasional chiseled decorations adorned the walls. They passed through a hallway with a series of faces chiseled into the walls, their mouths open, with deep holes that spikes or darts could easily shoot out of.

“Do you think there are traps in here?” Maria asked.

“Most likely,” Chariot said, staying close behind Maria. “I’ve ventured through a few dungeons before. Some had traps, others didn’t. We just need to remain vigilant.”

At the end of the tunnel, the trio emerged into a grand, towering rectangular chamber. Numerous levels stretched above them, encircling a colossal gap in the center of each floor. Curiously, there were no guard rails to hinder anything from toppling over the edges, only a series of aesthetically pleasing arches supported by sleek, rounded pillars.

“Maria,” Chariot said. “Move very slowly.”

Maria raised an eyebrow curiously at her, then followed Chariot’s gaze to a bat overhead. It unfurled its wings, and Maria gasped. It wasn’t a bat at all, but a human skull, with eyeless sockets, and sharp fangs. It dropped from the ceiling and flapped itself upright before diving at Maria with a hellish screech.

Deathbat - Lvl 15

Maria ducked out of the way as the skull dove for her. She whipped around and hurled a {Firebolt} at the creature. It struck the skull, and it flapped around widely as the flames engulfed it. Its pained screeching was only silenced when it turned to dust.

“Look out!” Tanalia yelled.

A flurry of Deathbats screeched and flew from the roof of the chamber. Maria drew her Serpents Blade, and whipped the sword, lashing several of the Deathbats with a metallic crack. Despite their level, they seemed pretty weak. At least, on their own. The trio was swarmed, however. Maria yelped as several of the Deathbats bit into her, digging into her skin with their teeth. She flailed, dropping her sword before casting {Flames}. Fire burst from both her palms. She swung her arms around wildly. The creatures were swiftly engulfed and flew away before disintegrating into dust. Maria relinquished her spell and panted. A few were still clinging to Tanalia and Chariot, and she scooped up her sword, reverting it to a regular blade before slashing at the Deathbats.

“God damn it!” Tanalia yelled, grabbing the back of one, and slamming it into the wall. The skull shattered into numerous fragments, emitting a resounding crack that echoed throughout the chamber.

“Are you guys alright?” Maria asked, panting.

“I’m alright,” Chariot said, brushing herself off. Her armor likely protected her more so than Maria. “What about you?”

Maria checked her HP. {869/903}. Beneath that, her MP had dropped to {155/174}. “I’m fine. It just stings like hell.”

“We must remain vigilant for more swarms like that,” Chariot said.

Maria nodded and scanned the bottom floor. It was barren, with nothing of interest, no stone tables, chairs, chests, nothing. She walked around behind the archways and found some gated-off tunnels. The poles protruding out of the floor to keep her out were too thick and close together to slip through. She tried peering down at them, but it was just endless darkness. There was only one path she could find that wasn’t blocked off. It led to a stairway. “Let’s keep moving,” she said.

As the trio moved up the steps to the next floor, something shifted at the top of the steps. A set of luminous, piercing white eyes fixed upon them. The figure stood remarkably tall, necessitating a slight stoop to traverse the dungeon corridor. Its body exuded a sleek, damp coating of black, dripping moss, and its skin was the color of charcoal, wrinkled like a wet, scrunched-up shirt. Gripped tightly in its hands was a gleaming sickle, honed to an edge.

Umbralreaper - Lvl 23

The creature howled with the cry of an elderly woman and threw itself down the stairs. Maria rolled aside just as the creature swung at her. Chariot maneuvered out of harm's way, attempting to strike the monster as it careened past her, but she missed, and narrowly sliced Tanalia.

“Hey! Watch it!” Tanalia said, hastily retreating up the steps as the creature spun around and launched itself back towards the trio.

Chariot parried the Umbralreaper’s attack, then slashed at it. Its HP only went down by a small tick.

Maria cast {Firebolt}, and struck the monster’s chest. It howled as the flames swiftly consumed it, transforming it into a raging inferno. Toppling down the steps, it tumbled and collapsed face-first. Tanalia leaped down the remaining stairs and slashed her dagger through the air four times, each strike leaving behind shimmering trails of black light. The streaks converged simultaneously, launching at the Umbralreaper, and slicing the creature in half.

Maria stood silent for a moment, staring at the monster before it disintegrated, leaving behind its loot pile of slimy substances and its sickle. “What did you just do?” she asked Tanalia.

“{Night’s Edge},” Tanalia explained. “It’s a skill I have. A better question is what was that thing?”

“Another threat to be wary of. It likely wasn't the only one,” Chariot said. She looked back up at Maria. “Don’t suppose you have a spell to enchant our weapons?”

“Enchant?” Maria tilted her head. “You mean like… light your sword on fire or something?”

“Something of the sort. My attacks did little, but the moment you ignited it, its defense dropped. The skill might have put a dent in its health. If you can enchant our swords to deal fire damage this would all be a lot easier.”

“Uh… I don’t have anything like that, not yet at least. I think I can unlock an enchantment spell the next time I get a skill point though. Speaking of, I’ve been wondering. I use my skill points for spells, but you two aren’t mages. What kind of weapon skills do you guys have?”

“A few,” Tanalia said, and opened her skill menu to show her party members.

Dagger Skill

Venom Bite - Performs a very close-range impale with the dagger. Low chance Poison.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Lvl: 6

Cost: 5 mana

Base damage: 95

Dagger Skill

Retrieval - Toss a dagger for extra damage, and summon it back.

Lvl: 3

Cost: 15 mana

Base damage: 45

Dagger Skill

Nights Edge - Creates four slashes of energy to pelt opponent.

Lvl: 3

Cost: 10 mana

Base damage: 90

Bow Skill

Homing Shot - Fires a singular homing arrow at the target.

Lvl: 7

Cost: 10 mana

Base damage: 100

“I’m quite surprised you don’t have any skills here that make your arrows explode,” Chariot said.

“If I did, that would be fantastic, but as far as I’m aware, there aren’t any. What about you, what weapon skills do you have?” Tanalia asked, crossing her arms.

“We’re wasting time,” Chariot said.

“Just show us.”

Chariot sighed and opened her skill menu.

One-Handed Sword Skill

Lunge Strike - Propels the user forward and skewers the target with the tip of their sword.

Lvl: 8

Cost: 10 mana

Base damage: 203

One-Handed Sword Skill

Arc Slash - Sends a horizontal or vertical arc in the wake of a sword swing toward the target.

Lvl: 9

Cost: 10 mana

Base damage: 198

“That’s it?” Tanalia asked.

“A good warrior does not depend solely on skills,” Chariot said. “They use them when they need to.”

Maria stared at the numbers, her eyes were wide seeing just how much damage her two abilities did. “Dear god… why don’t you two use these more often?”

“My mana reserves are smaller than yours,” Chariot said.

“Me neither,” Tanalia said. “I’m pretty sure she and I have the same amount.”

“Thirty-nine?” Chariot asked.

Tanalia nodded. “We need to be more reserved. I used {Night’s Edge} because Chariot’s attack did nothing, and our weapons do roughly the same damage. Those things have a lot of health, so we need to be careful around them.”

“I’m surprised. You’re using caution for once.” Chariot said.

Tanalia narrowed her eyes at her.

“I’m just surprised to see you can do so much damage,” Maria said.

“It’s not a good idea to keep standing here,” Chariot said. “Not unless we want to wait around and see if more of those creatures show up.”

“Right,” Maria nodded. “We’re wasting time. Let’s keep moving.”

The trio moved on up the steps. Ahead was an ‘L’ shaped corridor. Just before the bend, however, was a room with a single pedestal and chest in it. Tanalia practically dove into the room, looming over the embroidered wooden chest, placed so suspiciously in the middle of the room that it looked like a trap. Tanalia drew her dagger and slashed at the chest. Nothing happened. She sheathed the weapon.

“What was that?” Maria asked.

“I’m making sure it isn’t a mimic.”

“Oh, I’ve heard of these.”

“If it is a mimic, usually the loot inside them is much better. I’ll settle for loot from a safe chest though.” Tanalia broke the lock with a hard kick. When she opened the chest, a soft, warm golden glow emanated from seemingly nothing. She reached in, raised an eyebrow, and pulled out a pair of boots. They were made of leather, with both pairs having a set of silver wings bound to a silver band encircling the boots. They were moving ever so slightly as if they were alive.

“What are those?” Chariot asked.

“Boots,” Tanalia said. A window appeared above the footwear.

Icarus Boots

Defense: 50

Physical Attack Boost: +80%

Physical Health Boost: +90%

Mana Boost: -12%

Perk: Allows the wearer to jump once in midair.

“Oooh, interesting,” Tanalia said with a sly grin. She undid her knee-high elven boots and sent them to her inventory before trying on the winged pair.

“How do they feel?” Maria asked.

“Hmm, comfy enough, I suppose. They don’t give me as much defense as my elven boots… or attack power, or health, or mana. However…” Tanalia stepped back and jumped. When she attempted to jump a second time while falling, the wings on her boots fluttered, propelling her upwards, and nearly causing her to hit the ceiling.

Maria couldn’t help but smile with both amazement and jealousy. “Those are cool,” she chuckled.

Chariot crossed her arms, glancing away slightly. “Seems like the perfect gear for someone like you.”

“Oh it absolutely is,” Tanalia said, double-jumping a second time.

“Alright, we get it, let’s keep going,” Chariot said.

The trio forged ahead. Several diverging routes and staircases were leading them up and down the various floors with no rhyme or reason. Curiously, the third-floor balcony of the central chamber could only be reached by ascending from the second floor to the fourth, and then descending back to the third. Despite the confusing layout, the dungeon seemed barren. There was a significant lack of enemies wandering the damp corridors, and next to no traps like Maria had expected. Occasionally, they would encounter sets of vases that Maria and Tanalia would instinctively break. All they found inside though were arrows and small pouches of gold.

There was still one problem though.

They hadn’t found any switches or pressure plates.

“I don’t know, this dungeon feels… empty,” Tanalia said. “I was thinking there would be more enemies.”

“Maybe it’s just a puzzle dungeon,” Maria suggested. “I wouldn’t mind that. My mom and I would do puzzles all the time.”

“Then where are the puzzles?” Tanalia asked.

“Wherever our objective is, we need to move quicker. Otherwise, the other party is going to surpass us,” Chariot said.

“I don’t really care about them,” Tanalia waved her hand carelessly.

“You should care a little,” Maria said. “We are competing against them.”

“What do I get out of it?”

“Uhh… gold?”

“I can live off the gold I already have. Giving up whatever gold I find here isn’t that big of a deal.”

Maria frowned. Even if it wasn’t a big deal for Tanalia, it was a big deal for her. With how Irra had been acting recently she wanted to prove to her she was at least capable of being a great adventurer.

“I prefer getting some XP,” Tanalia continued.

“We need better gear,” Chariot said. “Levels aren’t everything, remember. Your gear—”

“Is just as important, yes, I’m aware,” Tanalia groaned. “You don’t need to keep stating the obvious.”

“I’m simply reminding you.”

The trio emerged onto the third floor of the towering rectangular chamber. Maria peered over the edge. They were quite high up and devoid of any protective guardrails. The potential danger of falling loomed palpably over her, and with nothing but stone to catch them, it made Maria's heart race. There were no other paths to take from the third-floor balcony. All that was on the floor was a lever, just like the one by the entrance. It was on the other side of the balcony, around the giant hole in the floor. Adjacent to the lever lay the putrid remains of a decaying skeleton, reduced to little more than skeletal fragments adorned with remnants of torn cloth.

Maria approached the corpse. “Do people not disintegrate when they die?”

“Not like monsters, no,” Chariot explained. She tapped the skeleton, and an inventory screen appeared in front of her. “Once they’re dead though, anyone can peer into their inventory.”

Behind them, Tanalia approached the lever. She grabbed the leather-wrapped handle and pulled it without hesitation.

“Wait!” Chariot said, shooting to her feet.

“What? It’s the lever.”

Distant clanging reverberated through the tunnels, but nothing else seemed to happen. A moment later the tranquility was abruptly shattered as a tumultuous rumbling coursed through the dungeon, causing violent tremors. Maria held her arms out to steady herself. A series of piercing metallic shrieks reverberated from the depths below.

The trio froze.

“What was that?” Chariot asked.

Maria peered cautiously over the edge and beheld a startling sight. The metal gates on the first floor had swung open. A horde of crawling monsters was unleashed to roam freely. Amongst the chaotic swarm, she spotted a few familiar Umbralreapers but there was also a myriad of other grotesque abominations that she couldn't even begin to describe. Skeletons and mutated creatures blanketed in moss, protruding bones, sharp fangs, claws, and long pointed tails, the features of the creatures below seemed endless. Simultaneously, at the opposite end of the floor, a series of metal spikes erupted from the ground, forcefully impaling the ceiling, effectively sealing off their exit. The temperature within the dungeon surged dramatically. Bursts of fire erupted from the center of the chamber. The flames ascended skyward, their tongues reaching toward the ceiling in timed intervals. The cacophony of shrill shrieks and howls reverberated throughout the halls, resonating like a dissonant choir.

The dungeon had awoken.