Anna sat on the floor, frustrated. She was excited for her new ability to kick in being in a dungeon for the first time since unlocking the ability.

Ability: Dungeon Mastermind

Dungeon Mastermind

Passive Ability

Dungeons are often full of ways to lead a team to failure; with the Dungeon Mastermind leading the charge, chances of failing dramatically decrease. When inside dungeons, the Dungeon Mastermind is able to spot any traps, tricks, or deceit. Allowing for a perfect run in a dungeon. This is a passive ability.

Their very first room is a monster wave. Her ability is too spot traps or anything of that nature. It appears that their first dungeon as a team was less about traps and more about fighting monsters. This was upsetting. She could recognize that Piper’s ability was going to be and had already proved to be a powerful boon. Levi too, was experiencing a lack of use with his new ability. For whatever reason Anna could not shake the frustration she was experiencing. It was as if the fact that she couldn’t do it made her purpose of being a part of the team worthless. She didn’t want anyone to know that, understanding that they would view it as silly.

So, she pushed herself to her feet as the next set of monsters began to form. The team hadn’t really communicated since entering into the monster waves. There hadn’t been much need to strategize as each monster, so far, had been so numerous that they all could take on their own pack of monsters. That was until this wave. Three rune circles appeared on the ground and three creatures emerged. They were seven feet tall, with different affinities to an element. There was what looked like leaves that flowed in a way that was reminiscent of a person. There was fire that also looked like a person and water that flowed that mimicked the general form of a humanoid. Each of them had different weapons.

“These are elemental knights,” Anna said. “They are extremely hard to kill.”

“Yet, we must,” Levi said. “Let’s get after it.”

“We should team up,” Anna said.

“We can’t it’s three on four,” Levi said. “Piper, you have the most mobility; help whoever is in a pinch. The rest of us do your thang. Anna, which one do you want?”

“Fire,” Anna said.

“I will take the water,” Tycen said.

“I guess I got forest,” Levi said. “You good with that Piper?”

“Yes, I got all of your covers,” Piper said. Without further questioning the group sprang into attack. Levi conjured five orbs of fire and sent them at the elemental knight that he was fighting. The knight raised its hand, and a wall of vines snaked up and blocked the attack. Smoke formed as the fire orbs exploded into the wall. Levi jumped through the smoke with his staff and struck the knight. The knight didn’t see the attack coming. Levi’s staff was glowing with red runes. Each impact would add a small burst of fire bonus.

As soon as Levi’s staff made contact with the knights torso fire appeared where the staff had landed. The knight got sent back several feet sliding on the ground. Vines from the ground wrapped around its legs as it slid back, preventing it from going further backward. Levi continued the onslaught, as the knight stood up two more orbs of fire were sent its way. The forest knight blocked one and the other got through. Vines and branches surrounded the area that was affected by fire and doused the flames. The knight was so focused on Levi it hadn’t noticed several wisps swarm it.

Tycen flew straight for the water knight. He twirled his morning star and swung it hard at the knight. The knight held up a shield made of water, it turned it to ice and blocked some of the attack. The ice shield was heavily damaged with an imprint of Tycen’s weapon. The shield melted and reformed back into its full shield. The water knight got on a hippocampus made of water and pulled out a lance. It charged around chasing Tycen. Tycen flew higher, but that didn’t matter as the knight was able to control how much water it would have under its mount.

Tycen turned on the knight and flew head-on. At the last second, He tucked his wings, dove through the water, opened his wings, and landed a vicious blow to the knight's back. The hippocampus disappeared as the knight went tumbling to the ground, Tycen didn’t stop. He chanted a quick enhancement spell, and his morning star began to glow red like a sun, he flew down with speed. The knight was flailing free, falling toward the ground; it was about fifteen feet from impact when it felt a red-hot object slam into its back.

The impact from Tycen to the knight’s back caused the fall to be casual to deadly. The knight hit the ground in half a second, impacting the ground and creating a small crater; the water from the knight splattered everywhere.

Anna was having trouble with her knight. Her ice attacks would melt as soon as they got close, and her water attacks would evaporate into steam. She elected to leave the elemental spells alone and just use the onyx stone. The knight was effective at closing the distance; it had a rapier made of fire and a shield made of obsidian. It was quick and precise with its strikes. Anna had taken a couple hits, and she was on the back foot. Her pride was preventing her from calling out for help, but Piper was surveying the battlefield and saw who needed what help.

Piper threw her water kunai knives at the knight. The fire elemental knight, having good sense turned and slashed at the knives. Water exploded in its face, covering its body. Anna, seeing the knives get thrown and knowing what would happen when they were blocked, chanted a spell. Spears of onyx that were covered in ice were formed and thrown at the knight. The knight was staggered by some of its flame being doused it couldn’t react in time to the first spear. The spear lodged itself into the shoulder of the knight.

Two more kunai knives impacted the knight’s back, and more water exploded over it, dousing more flames. Anna didn’t stop her attack either, and she kept pushing. Launching two more spears at her enemy, they each made an impact. The knight had three spears sticking out of its body. It could no longer move. Piper came from behind with the short sword and cut the head off the elemental. The rest of the remaining fire all dimmed, and the knight slumped.

“Thank you,” Anna said out of breath.

“Of course,” Piper responded. Piper turned to see that Tycen had killed his knight and Levi was waiting it out. Crystal and Willow were in swarm form and had completely engulfed the forest elemental knight. At the same time, Levi was sending in a fire orb at a time. Each time the orbs impacted the knight there was a small explosion soon. The knight's movements stopped the battle was over.

“How is everyone doing?” Tycen asked. Walking back into the main platform

“I took some hits, but I’m alright,” Anna said.

“I’m good,” Levi said.

“Same,” Piper responded. “You?”

“I took no damage,” Tycen said.

“It appears that I have underestimated our team,” Anna said.

“Nah,” Levi said. “Preferable matchups did the trick. I bet we have the boss next; they were tough.”

“Levi, you didn’t get damaged,” Anna said.

“I rarely do,” Levi said. “I measure it on how many spells, how much strategy, and familiars I use to determine difficulty. Different fighting styles.”

“That makes sense,” Anna said.

As the group was chatting, one solitary rune appeared. The rune was larger than the other ones. The surge of mana that was present while the rune was forming was much stronger than any other.

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“I believe you’re right, Levi,” Tycen said. “This is the boss.”

The rune glowed bright, once the bright light died down a being that was just hovering above the ground could be seen. It was a humanoid monster, that was terrifyingly handsome to look at. It had a monster face that was perfectly symmetrical with sharp teeth popping out on both the top and bottom lips. It had sharp white eyes, pointed teeth, and flowing white hair. The monster wore what looked like priest robes and held a staff with a symbol Levi had never seen before. The monster had gargoyle-like wings that kept it afloat, jutting out of its back. It wore sandals. The aura it presented was arrogant and gave the feeling that it knew how things ought to go.

“This guy looks fun and not like a monster,” Levi said.

“That’s cause it’s not a monster, per say,” Tycen said.

“Then what the hell is it?” Levi asked.

“It’s a creature that fancies itself a superior being. This one is clearly an affinity to whatever element that is on that staff,” Tycen said.

“Any name?” Levi asked.

“I’m not sure,” Tycen said.

“Me neither,” Anna responded.

“Well, let’s kill it an find out,” Levi said.

The boss looked at them and released its full aura attack on the group. Levi felt the attack and blocked it from affecting his team. The boss sneered as it interacted with Levi’s aura. Levi felt the aura of the boss and felt something inside him revolt at the interaction.

“Order Magic,” Serenity said.

The boss lunged straight for Levi, its staff transforming into a javelin. The sharp point neared Levi when he dodged at the last second. He rolled under the attack and used his staff, which was glowing dark red with chaos magic flowing through it. He attacked the belly of the beast. The attack did minimal damage. Levi noted what happened and stored it in his brain. One of the perks of having a high wisdom attribute is that his memory and brain power had increased significantly.

Tycen took the opportunity to attack. The boss was not much bigger than Tycen in height but was skinner than the muscular avian. Tycen used his morning star and swung at the torso of the boss. The boss dropped its staff to block the attack. The chain of Tycen’s weapon looped around the staff of the enemy. Tycen yanked hard and the staff went flying out of the hand of the monster. While the boss was looking in disgust at Tycen several knives landed in the loose robes of the enemy. It turned its sharp white eyes on Piper who was running around the enemy with speed, throwing knives as quickly as she could.

Distracted looking at Piper, the boss was hit with a hailstorm of onyx hail. Several of them impacted before it managed to raise an arm and have all the hail bounce harmlessly off the robe. The hail that missed the robe and hit the boss had left gray blood pouring out of the marks. The boss monster screamed, and a wave of powerful aura sent the team flying backwards. They all acrobatically landed without damage, but the enemy had reclaimed its staff.

“The robes deflect all damage,” Levi said. “We’ll have to attack its head, nothing else is showing on its body that is exposed. But if you see it, attack it.”

The boss monster wasn’t allowing the team to have a long pow-wow in the middle of the fight. It raised its staff and began launching several small orbs of white order magic at the team. A barrage of orbs of order was peppering the team. Levi looked on in awe. That was a pretty cool spell, and he hoped that he could do it with his orbs of chaos. Several drones were manifested and were actively deflecting the orbs from Levi. Anza was helping the rest of the team.

Levi conjured five orbs of chaos that started orbiting around his body. As soon as he did, the gaze of the boss locked onto him. The boss tried to apply an aura pressure down on Levi. Levi’s aura defenses were too strong to be affected. It was clear that this boss hated chaos magic and was having a visceral reaction to Levi whenever he used chaos energy. As the boss locked in on Levi Tycen, Anna, and Piper took this moment to carry out their own attacks. Piper drew a ritual circle directly under the boss. Tendrils of white light grabbed the ankles and wrists of the boss and attempted to hold it still.

Tycen flew straight toward the face of the boss and went to strike. With the restricted movement on its wrists, it was unable to block. Tycen’s morning star landed with a loud crack as it connected with the skull of the boss. As soon as Tycen had made his attack Anna conjured her blizzard. Behind her, a roaring blizzard of ice, chunks of frozen onyx, and pellets of snow were launched at the boss. The boss was pelted, although most of the damage hit the robe of the monster and not the head. Some of it landed and caused more cuts to appear. The boss flapped its wings powerfully to try to escape.

Levi followed Piper’s lead and drew a more complex trap ritual circle. Tendrils of chaos magic grabbed the boss. The boss shrieked as its skin was being burnt by chaos magic. Levi smirked and sprinted towards the boss, still having the chaos orbs orbiting him. A small cloud appeared under Levi’s feet it launched him over the head of the boss. He fired his chaos orbs while over him. Every single orb impacted Levi. Just before he was going to land, the boss used his staff to backhand Levi in the core and sent him flying into the wall of the dungeon. Levi crashed into it with a loud boom, he spat out blood.

The boss monster broke free of the ritual and held out its staff again to try the barrage one last time, this time directly at Levi. Levi looked up and saw the monster hold its staff and have a sinister grin. It didn’t care if it were to die, all that mattered was the vile creature using chaos magic was extinguished from this world. Levi pushed out his aura in a form of attack. The aura held the power of his title, Chaotic Paragon, his power was on full display. The boss trembled for half a second, that was all Levi needed. A rift above the boss opened and down shot bright northern light-like beams from the void.

With each beam landing a successful hit, the boss was being ravaged. In a few short seconds, there was nothing left of the boss but empty robes and the staff lying on the ground. Levi peeled himself off the wall, kneeling and spitting out blood.

“Okay,” he groaned out. “That one hurt a lot… I definitely broke a rib or three.” Piper was the first one who ran over to him. She wrapped her arm around him and helped him to his feet. They awkwardly walked to the platform, Levi grimacing from the amount of pain he was experiencing. Anza went and picked up the robes and staff, as it could be important later. The walls shimmered, and they all received system notifications. Levi ignored his as he lay on the platform, drawing in slow, painful breaths.

The platform glimmered and began to descend further down into the dungeon. The platform descended into a room that looked like an Inn, there were beds, some potions, and a shower. On the walls it read, rest room one of four. Piper sighed a sigh of relief as they walked off the platform. There was a swoosh of magic and a timer appeared on one of the walls. It was counting down four hours.

“We have four hours to rest,” Piper said. “Rest, Levi, you took a beating.” She helped him to his bed and performed a healing ritual on his bed. She drank some potions himself. “We’ll wake you in two and half hours.” Levi didn’t say anything as the pain to breathe was overwhelming he couldn’t imagine trying to exert that breath. He simply nodded and fell asleep in bed.

Levi opened his eyes, and he was no longer in his bed. He was floating in what seemed like space. Next to him was a serpent with scales that hurt his eyes to look at, a light blue glow that emitted from all around it. Levi blinked and saw that the serpent was looking back at Levi with two galaxy reptilian eyes.

“Dameion?” Levi asked. The serpent looked at Levi with thoughtful eyes then approached Levi and wrapped around him playfully. “Hey bud,” Levi said with a smile. “Where are we?”

“You,” a voice echoed all around him. “Have treated my child with much care, Levi Winters.” Levi looked around and saw nothing that was speaking to him. He couldn’t even sense it.

“Of course, Dameion is awesome,” Levi responded. He gave up looking around, if whatever was speaking wanted to be seen it would do so.

“Not many treat beings from the void with love and care, only as tools,” the being said. A blue nebula shimmered into being right in front of Levi. A silhouette of a human stood before Levi, surrounded by a green nebula and small asteroids. Levi felt like he was looking into the creation and destruction of galaxies. This type of power was intimidating. “I am the Void.”

“Whoa,” Levi whispered. Unable to make out any words. The being in front of Levi chuckled.

“There are many great celestial beings in the greater cosmos. I am one of them. I wanted to convey my gratitude to you, Levi Winters. The world where you inhabit currently has never encountered an avatar of mine. The greater cosmos has, many times, very few treat them like family. Dameion,” the Void said slowly. “Has taken a big liking to you. He has asked me to allow his evolution to be early. Use this item, along with the other item, the Orb of me.” Levi snorted at the word choice of the Celestial being.

“Thank you,” Levi said. “For real, this is huge, I greatly appreciate it.”

“Thank you,” the Void said. “Levi Winters, I hope you and Dameion continue to grow and work hard.” The image faded, and Levi was in his soul. Dameion was back to his black hole form and orbiting Levi with joy. Levi looked in his inventory, and he saw the gift item.

Item: Void Stone

Cosmic

Evolution Item

A stone used to evolve any being that belongs or is affiliated with the Void. Evolution is not what it seems; the familiar will undergo a change based on its connection to the void and its summoner. The familiar will still be the same star rank. Would you like to use? Yes/No?

Levi opened his eyes and saw that everyone else had fallen asleep. The clock read that they had two hours left before the platform would move. He pulled out his wand, and Dameion manifested. Levi began drawing a three-star summoning circle. Dameion occupied one rune, the Orb of the Void took another, and the Void stone took the last. The void stone was a circle geode that had a swirling galaxy crystalized.

The surge of magic was strong, stronger than Levi had expected, particularly with the magic he usually uses. The magical surge woke up the rest of the team as they thought they had slept through the platform leaving. They all look up to see Levi performing a ritual with Dameion in one of the rune circles.