Asher led the way down the new hallway he and the others had found after defeating the birthing blitzer. They were quiet, focusing all their attention on their surroundings, being sure to be careful of any of the traps that no doubt were in this hallway waiting for them. For a little while there was nothing that made the three nervous, as this was a change, and a change in how the dungeon was doing things probably didn't mean anything good for them.

This train of thought by the three adventurers was soon proven right as they set off a new kind of trap. All of a sudden, a beetle head came down from the ceiling, trying to tear through Puff with its mandibles. Luckily he managed to duck out of the way so the beetle trap did not collect its prize.

"Well, it looks like the ceiling is rigged, and we don't have any idea where in the ceiling the traps are." Asher said, stating the obvious but doing so to make sure the situation was clear. "Well, we're going to have to take it slow down the hallway and be ready to dodge out of the way when it's necessary." Asher said laying out how they should proceed going forward, to which both Puff and Distil gave their nod of agreement.

So the party began their slow, cautious descent, watching the ceiling for any sign of movement, gaining quite the sore necks from doing so. But the sore necks had been worth the early warning, as they had been able to see the beginning of the descent of the beetle heads, giving them a few more seconds to get out of the way. Which in these types of situations is the difference between life and death, though this was a rare occasion that death wasn't true, which was refreshing.

So on it went, the three founding themselves in a deadly dance with the stone beetle heads that came to take theirs from the ceiling. Though the farther they went, the worse it got, as the beetle heads grew more numerous, and so each dodge they took merely took them in the path of another. But somehow they found themselves throwing themselves into a large chamber, exhausted and bleeding from near hits but alive all the same.

The three took a moment to get their breath back, the sound of their heavy breathing filling the large chamber they were now in. Then the continuous sound was broken as they got their breath back, causing silence to fill the chamber until it was broken by Asher.

"Well, it appears that the Lord Listex likes his large chambers, doesn't he?" Asher said figuring this was a theme despite only seeing two of such chambers but still felt sure it was rather accurate. As he had to raid many lairs over the years, you got a feeling for the theme of those kinds of things after raiding them enough times.

"Yes, I would say so."" Distil said, scanning the room for any of the earlier goop traps he had gotten good at spotting but not seeing any. While Puff merely nodded his agreement. The three then went to continue looking around the room for whatever danger the room has in store for them but not seeing it. As they could only find beetle faces inscribed into the floor.

For a while longer, the three looked around the chamber trying to find the threat that had to be there, especially as a wall had come down from the hallway they had come from, making sure they couldn't escape. As had happened before, which had to mean they were supposed to be trapped in with something that was supposed to deal with them or something along those lines.

That was when Distil spotted something. "Guys, look!" He shouted out, pointing to a beetle sitting at the opposite side of the chamber that suddenly jumped into the floor and began making its way across the floor. That was until it finally reached one of the beetle faces inscribed into the floor. Then all of a sudden, a huge beetle head burst out of the floor tile, its mandibles reaching for them.

The heroes quickly formed with Asher at the center. Distil to his right and Puff to his left. They held their shields in front of themselves, bracing as the huge mandibles reached for them to cut them in half. They held as the huge beetle head put the squeeze on the three of them. Asher screamed as the giant stone beetle was putting the pressure on him. "Counter." He roared, bringing his mace high in the air; the other fellowed suit brought them down on the head and shattered them into dust.

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They then caught a glimpse of the earlier small beetle that had gone into the floor before the bigger beetle head had burst out. Their observing of the beetle was long enough for a purple stats screen to appear for the creature. It was a rather disappointing read for the heroes.

Hidden blitser - tier two- undead construct- sentinel zombie- Trait: the hidden spine - this beetle can dig into the underground to then create and operate larger beetle heads. Which it'll use to ambush opponens safely from below-description- a small blitzer beetle statue made out of strange brown stone and bone as well as being filled with the ashes of dead blitzer beetles.

"Well, it looks like we're going to be at this a while." Asher said as the three realized this was only the first of many giant beetle heads that would try and chew them up, and they wouldn't stop having new ones to deal with until they dealt with the hidden blitzer. The problem was they had only a limited window after they had destroyed the latest giant stone beetle head it had created, but it's not like they had much choice in the matter.

So on and on it went with the three heroes turning one direction or another to face down the latest stone beetle head the hidden blitzer was trying to kill them with. But they maintained their small line and kept giant stone mandibles from splitting them in half until they could crush the giant stone beetle heads with their giant onion maces.

Though the longer the fight went on, the more tired they became, the three knew eventually they would make a mistake, and then the hidden blitzer would have them. So when Asher and Distil made to crush the latest giant stone beetle head to pop out of the floor to try and kill them, Puff held back as he was waiting for the exact moment the hidden blitzer popped out, and he saw it.

So he threw his giant onion mace in the area where the hidden blitzer would land, causing a small explosion as the filorve of the mace caused the ground to explode and send the hidden blitzer into the air. Where Asher and Distil acted without hesitation and slammed into it with their maces, shattering it and sending its shards scattering all in one direction.

The three heroes played down, tired from the constant giant stone beetle head ambush, and watched as a doorway opened up, leading them further down. "I think we'll just wait here a moment." Asher gasped out, to which the other two gave tired thumbs up in reply.

Simon and Robert watched the three for a little while longer on their TV screens. They hoped that now that the battle was over, they would continue their earlier conversation on Golden's odd behavior. So the two would have more clues to know whether there was an actual brainwashing conspiracy going on or if they were jumping at shadows.

Sadly, they didn't; they merely laid there, gathering their strength before they would continue further into the dungeon. "While it looks like we're not getting any clues for them, Robert at least does not know." Simon stated in a sad voice before continuing in a happier tone. "But the latest showing of the dungeon Listex has impressed the security community, and they are looking to copy his ideas." Simon said he was happy about the positive viewership.

While Robert was disappointed they didn't have any more clues for the possible brainwashing conspiracy, he did find himself wondering once again about who exactly Simon's audience was and why they liked Listex security so much. Then he began thinking about some Cthulhu-looking thing watching him on HD TV and decided he was probably better off not knowing.

"While I'm happy they're improving their safety because of Listex, who we haven't even seen yet. So I suppose we keep watching to find out how it goes next, especially as maybe the groups meeting back up will give us a clue." Robert said to remain positive about the situation.

"Of course, Robert, you will never find me saying no to a show." Simon said, and so both he and Robert turned their attention from each other and focused back on the Listex catacombs to see how the raid would progress next.