The dungeon door slid into the floor, revealing a medium sized room. The walls and ceiling were made of blue wooden planks. The floor was covered in volcanic rock and wet sand. The room was lit by three floating sprites glowing a faint green. Their random movement cast shifting shadows from the waist high rocks and random wooden detritus. There was a salty sour smell in the air.

The first impression was one of tarnished glory. This room had once been the pride of talented craftsmen but those days were long past. Now there were gaps between the planks and once beautiful furniture lay shattered in piles.

“Gus. Stay in the doorway. This room is small enough that it makes sense to have them come to us. Give them a little roar,” Max said.

Gus turned and gave him a grin. Then he turned to the room and bellowed. The sound was loud enough to shake dust off the ceiling and rattle the blue wood furniture.

A half dozen monsters appeared, scattered across the room. White fish rose up from shadows across the room. They were four feet long with six fins and a bifurcated tail. They turned and swam through the air towards the massive troll in the doorway.

As they swam, they changed color, morphing from bone white to a pale gray and back again. Max fired his crossbow as soon as the lead one came into range. The drill-bolt activated midair and a yellow light speared out its tip. The bolt pierced through the fish and halfway into the one right behind it.

Both monsters crashed to the ground, one dead instantly, and the other flopped on the sand like it had just discovered it was on dry land. Pale blue blood spurted from the wound, painting the ground. The other four monsters ignored the dying fish and sped up.

They opened their mouths, revealing long thin teeth. Max braced for a shriek, but they were eerily quiet.

James flicked out a trio of glass shards at the fish on the far right. The first one shattered on its bone scales, but the other two drew blood. The monster slammed its mouth shut and shook in place. That only made it easier for James to follow up with a shard to the eye, killing it.

Simultaneously, Bisrat tossed out a pair of stilettos. The first one passed right through the fish like it was an illusion. The second knife punctured deep into the monster’s brainpan. It crashed to the sand a moment later. Max ignored the multiple notices about gathering minor amounts of essence.

Lily’s drop bear made its move then, dropping from the ceiling on top of the trailing fish. The impact sent them both to the ground. The fish shook off the summoned monster and attempted to take to the air. Its spine had broken in the attack and it flopped uselessly. The drop bear swung its claws into the fish Belly before the summon’s timer ran out and it dissolved into mana. The fish died a moment later.

That left one monster fish, the one that had phased through Bisrat’s knife. Gus stepped forward and swung hard, activating the long hammer as he did. A blue force field appeared over the hammer’s head and slammed into the remaining monster. The impact burst the fish like popping a balloon. Pale blue blood splattered everywhere.

Max spat and heaved with revulsion. Some blood had gotten into his mouth. “Gus, you maniac. You didn’t need to use the super strike. The fishies would have died without it.”

Gus wiped blood off his own ugly face and shrugged. He didn’t seem bothered at all. Then he pointed to Max’s hammer and motioned to swap them.

“No way! I’m not going to swap hammers after you just wasted your charge. Keep your big hammer and use the magic of muscles to kill monsters.”

Gus grunted and rolled his eyes. He couldn’t say anything of course. Max was starting to wonder if it was worth it to keep giving him cores to keep it that way.

No, that would be a waste of money. As tempting as it was, Max wouldn’t keep feeding Gus cores to shut him up.

“Very impressive,” Bisrat said with fervor. “You cleared that room easily. The way you talked earlier, I thought this tower might be a challenge for you. It clearly isn’t.”

Max nodded. “This is considerably easier than the last dungeon we ran. These monsters are small and weak. Thank you by the way. You are pretty handy with those knives.”

“Thanks,” Bisrat said and smoothed her quill hair.

James smiled and said, “You and I make a great team, Bisrat.”

Bisrat did a little wiggle. Max thought it was cute, but the translation magic let him know she was uncomfortable.

“Moving on,” Max said. “Does this look the same as when you ran the dungeon before, Bisrat?”

“Yes, it’s the same theme. The exact number and placements of monsters will change, but every room should follow the same sunken ship theme I am used to. More wraith fish, metal urchins, and shadow kraken await us. Watch out for blade traps starting in the fourth room.”

“Blade traps?”

“Yes, they look like discarded piles of weaponry, but when you get close enough to trigger them, they explode outward in spinning blades.”

“That sounds nasty,” Max said and winced.

“It can be. Most people that climb the Blue Forest Dungeon wear better armor than...” She trailed off.

Max nodded. Lily and Yang wore broken chitin armor, but they were the only ones. The only armor James and Max wore was the gauntlets he made them. Gus didn’t need armor in his troll form, but a blade trap would still hurt a lot before it healed.

“Yeah. One of the many reasons we won’t be trying to climb the whole dungeon,” Max said. “We just aren’t equipped for it.”

Gus grunted and motioned for everyone to follow him.

They formed up at the next door and the troll slammed his palm into the hexagon in the middle of the door. It slid into the floor, revealing another room, much like the first. Gus roared and they were off to the races.

The second room was much like the first, only with eight wraith fish instead of six. It took them a bit longer to kill the monsters this time. The monster fish pulled the insubstantial trick a few more times in this room. It only prolonged the inevitable. It wasn’t too long before Gus splattered the guts of the final monster across the floor.

The third room introduced a new monster type.

“I gotta admit. I was expecting something different when you said metal urchins,” Lily said. She shuffled to stand behind Gus.

“Uh, yeah. Without armor, I’m not sure we should even attempt this room. I’m assuming they can shoot their spikes, right Bisrat?” Max said and took a step back.

The blue wooden room in front of them held three ‘metal urchins’. The monsters looked more like a carpet made of foot-long steel spikes. They undulated across the room in a random pattern, climbing up and over wreckage and furniture. They were slightly faster than walking speed and were five feet around.

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“No, actually. They attack by wrapping themselves around their target and squeezing. Their strength is formidable, but as long as you don’t let yourself get caught, you will be fine.”

Gus grunted and stalked forward. The metal urchins hadn’t reacted when he roared at the entrance to the room, they clearly couldn’t hear. When he was close enough, he slammed his hammer down onto the monster’s spines.

The tungsten war hammer shattered a half dozen spikes. The metal urchin rattled its spines and wrapped itself up and around the hammer and halfway up his forearm. Gus warbled in pain and yanked his arm back.

The metal urchin came with it, spines piercing deep enough to hold on. Gus’s cries grew louder as he flung his arm about. The monster hung on, digging deeper into his right arm.

“Hold still, hold still!” Max said and stepped forward with a hammer in hand.

Gus continued to flail as the monster climbed higher. Despite the wild gyrations, the metal urchin was slowly enveloping his arm, inch by inch.

Max gave up on getting Gus to hold still. He stepped forward and grabbed the troll’s arm with his left hand and swung down with his right hand. The war hammer impacted the monster’s swinging body. Max activated the super strike and squinted as the blue light flashed out and pulped the monster’s hanging midsection.

Minor amount of essence gathered

The remaining monster hung off of Gus’ arm in two parts. He yanked them off with a growling hiss. Blood poured out of dozens of puncture holes. The wounds quickly closed up as the troll’s constitution healed him.

Gus tapped his chin and brought his hand down; sign language for thank you.

“You are welcome, but next time hold still. I could have pried it off you sooner if you weren’t flailing around,” Max said.

Gus shrugged and said, “Þú reynir að sitja kyrr.”

Max shrugged back, having no idea what Gus was trying to say. He turned back to the room. The other two monsters hadn’t come any closer. The spiny carpets were still climbing over furniture and wreckage. Being deaf protected them from Bell cards, but it made working together with other monsters difficult.

Gus took a step into the room, but Max stopped him. “Lemme see if I can tag them from here.”

He pulled out his crossbow and aimed at one of the wandering monsters. Even with unfamiliar ammo, he should be able to make the shot. He slowly exhaled and pulled the trigger.

The long thin drill buzzed through the air. A bright yellow light extended from its point. The makeshift bolt dropped, too heavy to fly straight. Max had accounted for that, and the magic pierced the metal urchin, nailing it to the floor.

The monster rattled all of its spikes at once, a clanging sound that vibrated the wood floor beneath them. The other metal urchin spun and dashed over to where the other monster was calling for help. Unfortunately for it, that was most of the way across the room from the source of the danger.

Max carefully loaded his second drill bolt and aimed it at the new arrival. A few seconds later, it was nailed to the floor as well. The monsters rattled their metal quills and yanked themselves off the floor, tearing a hole in themselves in the process.

The moment they were free, Lily struck. First the drop bear struck from above, thudding into the monster. It poofed into mana a moment later. Then the mushroomantis struck, leaning over and slicing deep into the monster. Most of its mantis blades were stopped by the metal quills, but the summoned monster had many scythes under its cap and it attacked with all of them. Blood spurted from the monster a few moments later.

The mushroomantis sped up its attacks, but got too greedy. The metal urchin jumped onto the summon’s mushroom cap and squeezed. Scythes fought against quills on all sides, blood flying. Mushy lasted longer than he used to, but it was only a matter of time before he puffed back into mana. The monster died from its wounds a few seconds later.

Minor amount of essence gathered

James attempted to help with his magic glass shards, but he couldn’t get past the quills on the last metal urchin. Bisrat didn’t even try. Gus carefully walked up and slammed his war hammer into it. He struck again and again.

Minor amount of essence gathered

“Gus, it’s dead,” Lily said.

He gave her a look and slammed the tungsten war hammer onto the monster’s corpse once again.

Max rolled his eyes and recovered his two bolts. He wondered if he should stop and wait until they were recharged. After a bit he decided against it. This dungeon was already much easier than the last one. They would be fine. He would just make sure they were recharged before they tackled the final boss of this level.

They lined up in front of the next room and Max gave Gus a nod. He pressed the button in the middle of the blue wooden door and it slid into the ground.

He was immediately attacked on all sides.

This room held five wraith fish and four metal urchins. All of them were crowded by the door. They pounced on Gus as one, biting and stabbing from all sides. The troll garbled a cry and stumbled back.

One of the fish phased right through Gus and aimed for Lily. She yelped and backed up, holding her drill in front of her to ward off the monster. She was substantially shorter than Gus, so the fish missed its first attack and swam through the air for another. Max wanted to help her, but he knew Gus needed his help more. He would have to trust the other two to help her out.

Gus was flailing about in the doorway, keeping the monsters back but not leaving room for Max to assist. He wished he could help from a distance. Then he remembered he could. Probably. He held out his hand and focused.

Moments later a blue hand shot out, passing just under Gus’s arms. The magic smacked into the closest monster and pushed. The hand dissolved a moment later, but it did what he wanted. It gave Gus some room and fouled a few of the monster’s attacks.

The effort gave the massive troll a second to collect himself. Gus refocused and swung out with his war hammer, catching two of the fish with a single blow. The other monsters avoided his next two strikes, but that bunched them up.

Max stepped in then. His left hand held his last charged drill. He pointed it at the massed monsters and activated the spell. The bright yellow light pierced through five of them, killing three in a single blow. One of the metal urchins was winged, and one of the wraith fish swam out of the way just in time.

Gus stepped in and swung his hammer at the urchin, trying to catch the fish at the same time. The strike whiffed through the insubstantial fish, but shattered the spines of the metal carpet.

Max watched the wraith fish, waiting for it to phase back into reality. It seemed like they couldn’t control it, they just cycled through phases over and over again. When it was bright white, he raised his hammer.

He was too slow. Bisrat caught the monster in the eye, killing it with a single knife. She helped kill the stragglers as Gus pounded the metal urchins to pulp. Everyone got notices about minor amounts of essence gained, but that didn’t stop him.

Max turned back to check on Lily. She was laying on the floor, holding her side. The chitin armor was broken through and blood seeped through the cracks. A wrath fish corpse lay a few feet to the side. Apparently it had got in a good blow before it died.

James yanked his bag open and pulled out his first aid kit. He knelt by Lily’s side and gently pushed her hands away so he could see the wound. Blood was seeping from a long gash along her side. He pulled her broken breastplate off and tore her gambeson so he could better get at the wound.

Lily cried out and covered herself back up. “No, not like this. Not like this.”

James shook his head, confused. “I’m trying to help.”

Yang appeared out of nowhere and pushed him out of the way. “Turn around. She’s embarrassed.”

James swiftly turned as his face turned red. He seemed to realize for the first time he had exposed her breasts when he was trying to bandage the wound.

Max made an about face and gestured to Gus to turn around too. Lily didn’t need to worry about modesty when she was getting bandaged up.

“How bad is it?” Max said to the wall.

“It’s not good,” Yang said as Lily moaned in pain. “But not too bad either. If we were still on Earth, I would say we must go to the hospital. But here? She will maybe be fine tomorrow.”

“Maybe we should turn back. Fighting injured is dangerous," Max said.

“No, I can keep going. I’m fine. Just stick me in the back with James,” Lily said. Her statement was undercut when she gasped in pain a moment later.

“I thought you already knew this, but we can’t turn back,” Bisrat said.

“What? No. We don’t have a mandatory quest for this tower. Are you saying you do?” Max said.