“Old hag?!” Ellis asked, casting another dozen spell circles. “Why are you here?”

“Nice to see you too, little girl,” Klarissa completely ignored the cat, keeping her focus on the baron.

Around her, people kept on appearing. There were already over fifty, all wearing expensive, though mismatched, pieces of gear. One look was enough—they were all mercenaries. There was something more, though; something that made Theo feel simultaneously at ease and competitive.

“Demon fragments,” the avatar muttered beneath his breath.

There could be no doubt that the people were human, but the heavy presence of evil emanated from them. It was as though this batch had spent a few years in the mandrake mountains, absorbing the effects of the demon hearts there.

“How did you skip the previous floor?” the avatar asked.

“What makes you think I did?” Klarissa crossed her arms, amused.

“The tower would have told us if you hadn’t.”

The statement was part bluff, part guess, but it did its trick. The mercenary shook her head.

“There’s always a missing detail,” she said. “Doesn’t matter, though. We’re already here.”

Several of the mercenaries drew their weapons. Each of them was thick with magic, made all the more powerful thanks to the tower’s boost.

“Gregord’s tower is a pretty neat spell, but it has its flaws,” the woman continued. “His problem, like all mages, is that he thought himself infallible. He considered himself so superior, placing exceptions within his own spells in an effort to mock everyone else. With enough backing, any loophole could be exploited.”

“As if!” Ellis hissed. “If there was a loophole, someone would have found it centuries ago.”

“People have been finding it centuries ago,” Klarissa laughed. “Over and over again. You were too magey to notice.”

It was a strange insult, but Theo instantly knew what she had in mind. That was something he, too, had noticed. There was rarely anyone so set in their ways as a mage. Having the means to shape reality in one way or another, they were so convinced that they were the only ones capable of doing it that they stopped thinking about it. Laws of nature could be broken only according to their complex rules and in no other way.

“Still can’t figure it out?” Klarissa shifted her attention to the white cat. “The keys. They have the power to unlock most locks, to grant entry into the tower, and also to transport a person from one floor to another. Anyone could tell that adding so many ultimate spells within a single item is a recipe for disaster.”

All that power was in a single key? Theo almost felt guilty for consuming the artefact.

“Tell me, little girl, what would happen if all the three spells were combined into one?” Klarissa’s smile widened. “Not only would you gain the ability to create a portal from one tower floor to another, but also open a door to the outside as well.”

“So?” Ellis’ voice clearly showed that the cat was afraid of where that path of reasoning could lead to. Even so, she stubbornly refused to accept it. “If you wanted to leave so badly, you could just have told me. I’d have ejected you out of the tower anytime.”

“Wouldn’t that mean you could bring anyone you wanted to the fifth floor?” the avatar asked.

“I knew you’d get it. A few adjustments and an enchantment that was set to open a door to one place opens a door to another. Seems like there’s one thing you forgot as well.” Klarissa took out an item from her belt. It was a crimson key ring, holding two keys. “What if I had two keys all along?”

An arrow split the air. Flying up, it burst, multiplying into hundreds of copies that rained on the avatar.

The baron was just about to cast an ice shield, when a magic circle emerged above him, swallowing all the projectiles like a black hole. Another soon appeared, throwing them out at the gathered mercenaries.

Sounds of metal striking stone echoed as the fifty mercenaries scattered, escaping from their own attack. Klarissa didn’t move. In her case, parts of aether bubbles appeared now and again, causing all the arrows to bounce off before they could deal any damage.

“So,” the woman said, not in the least impressed. “The kitten can use magic. And it only took a legendary archmage to boost her abilities for her to make anything useful out of it.”

The spite in the woman’s words was palpable.

“How about we make a deal?” The woman took a step forward. “Quit and I get to owe you one.”

“Sure.” The avatar cast three dozen bottled fireballs.

To anyone who had seen the destructive nature of that spell, it would have seemed like he was getting ready for a reckless attack. In truth, it was the opposite. Theo needed the fire in order to look in all directions thanks to his fire scrying ability. The end result wasn’t the best, it was as if he was missing his glasses. Still, it was better than nothing, letting him observe the actions of the small mercenary army Klarissa had brought with her. Based on their actions, there was a very good chance none of them were mages, but they had enough enchanted items to be meddlesome opponents, nonetheless.

“And you’ll remember your promise when you get out?” he asked.

“There’s that, but at least it’s better than the alternative.” The woman tossed the pair of keys to the ground a dozen feet away. “The tower might not be fast enough to get you out before I kill you.”

of that, no one had any doubts.

“I’ll make you the same offer,” Theo bluffed, playing for time. He had absolutely no intention of keeping any promises to her. At the same time, he was smart enough to know that his avatar was at a serious disadvantage.

As destructive as fireballs could become in their present environment, any enemy could boost the effect of their magical shield to withstand them. No doubt there had to be limits to this trial Gregord had set up for them, but it was going to take a bit of experimentation to figure them out.

Taking a deep breath, the avatar cast a multitude of arcane identify spells.

DEMON SWORD Level 5

(Artifact)

A sword created by an archdemon that is capable of devouring flesh, blood, and bone at contact.

The sword can slice through most armor and magic barriers, and can only be destroyed by holy swords or items.

EVIL EYE PENDANT

(Artifact)

A magical device capable of paralyzing any human that sees it from a distance of thirty feet or less.

SHADOW CLOAK

(Artifact)

A cloak made of darkness that has the power to render its wearer invisible for a brief moment in time.

Hundreds of messages emerged before the avatar’s eyes, coming from everywhere. The good news was that the vast majority of items were duplicates. The not-so-good news was that each of them had serious power. Demon heart fragments had proved more than enough to transform ordinary sets of armor into demonic creatures. Given the boost the tower currently provided, the weapons could end up being a lot worse.

“Ellis, don’t look!” The avatar shouted, launching his fireballs in all directions. They were immediately followed by a multitude of ice shards and an ice elemental.

Explosions blossomed everywhere, transforming the entire area into one big blanket of flame. Theo could feel the sensation of heat as if his avatar had tripped into a campfire.

CORE CONSUMPTION

3 Demon Swords, 1 Evil Eye Pendant, 1 Shadow Cloak, and 1 Darkness Shield converted into 5900 Avatar Core Points.

Learning that blessed flames were capable of destroying demonic weapons, and also that these weapons provided core points, was welcome news. Unfortunately, the low numbers indicated that the vast majority of the mercenaries remained unharmed.

Theo was just about to cast out a new wave of fireballs when a trio clad in bronze armor ripped through the flames, charging straight at him. Catching the avatar completely by surprise, they struck forward in unison, piercing the baron’s body in three places.

Everything froze.

All three of the mercenaries looked at the baron’s face. The avatar, on his part, looked back. Moments later, all four looked down to make sure that the blades had skewered their target.

Several types of confusion mixed into one. On Theo’s side, he was wondering why the attacks hadn’t caused him to lose even a grain of energy. Even if their descriptions were vastly exaggerated, they were weapons, and as such had to have had some effect.

From the view of the mercenaries, there was no logical reason for the mage to remain standing. He had to be strong—otherwise, he wouldn’t have made it to this level of the tower—but not immortal. And as they had witnessed several times in the recent past, these weapons had the power to slice through everything, even heroic armor.

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“Ah, I get it,” the avatar said, causing the trio to look him in the face again. “Devouring flesh,” he said in mild amusement. “Pity that you lucked out.”

A new cluster of blessed fireballs emerged, instantly pouring onto the mercenaries.

CORE CONSUMPTION

3 Demon Swords, 2 Evil Eye Pendants, 3 Shadow Cloaks converted into 8400 Avatar Core Points.

The avatar was just about to call out for Ellis again, yet a multitude of spears flew from all directions, piercing him like a pincushion.

This was mildly annoying. The effects of the spears were no worse than those of the swords. However, as anyone who’d been lucky once, Theo knew that relying on the same luck was a one-way trip to defeat. Too many things were happening at once.

Once the flames died out, he’d no longer have the element of surprise, not to mention that the mercenaries would adjust their tactics appropriately. And that was just here. Things in Rosewind were getting a lot more agitated on multiple levels. Even at his current rank, energy, and knowledge, there was no way that a dungeon could handle it all.

Any other time, Theo would have cursed the universe and prepared for the inevitable loss of his much-valued avatar. In this case, though, Gregord had granted him one advantage that could possibly end up being a way out. It was a long shot—the dungeon had only witnessed what he intended to do. Everything beyond that was left to his imagination.

“You better have told me the truth!” he grumbled and cast what he believed to be a spell.

Within the tower, nothing changed. The flames of his fireballs died out, revealing a multitude of very angry mercenaries. Klarissa was among them, surrounded by a multitude of dark silver fragments that circled around her like a ring.

“Interesting,” the woman said.

Almost on cue, the spears ripped out the avatar’s body, flying back to their owners.

“What are you?” Klarissa asked, no longer amused. “Only heroes could destroy those weapons, but even they can’t survive being hit.”

“Maybe I’m the reincarnation of the Great Gregord?” the avatar lied.

To his own surprise, his words caused the mercenaries to pause, covering themselves with demonic shields, flying artifacts, and the occasional protective spell.

“No incarnation returns with their powers or memories,” Klarissa felt the need to argue.

“Maybe I’m a different type of incarnation.”

“You’re strong, I’ll give you that, but you’re not infallible. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be fighting us. Also—” a new smile emerged on her face “—your last spell didn’t do a thing.”

“Are you sure? Maybe it was just one big distraction.”

“A distraction for what?”

The ground trembled. Far in the distance, a new entity had gained form. It was a lot larger than any of its kind. Tall as three mage towers stacked atop one another, it looked at the small creatures in the distance. Among them was its creator, so it couldn’t blindly go on a rampage no matter how much it itched for it. For the moment, the entity had to be content to attack some of the creatures to the side, which it did, shooting two freezing beams at them.

Within moments five mercenaries were trapped in a river of solid ice.

“For that,” the avatar cast a swiftness ultra spell, disappearing from his current location.

Meanwhile, in Rosewind, the sun was setting. Unknown to all but Theo, a chrono spell had been cast within Gregord’s tower. From the point of view of everyone inside, nothing appeared different. And still, time was already moving at a far slower pace. In fact, it was slow enough that Theo could analyze his next movement on a strategic level, while simultaneously multitasking within the city itself. In fact, he had just done so.

That was rather good, since even with Spok and Duke Rosewind’s assistance, it had taken a lot to smoothen the events of that morning. To much disappointment, the tournament had been put to an early end. With only three contenders making it to the final found, it was decided that each of them be declared a partial winner.

There had been a brief moment of boos as the crowd were eager to see a duel between Avid Rosewind and Lilac Goton. It was Liandra who had contained the situation, declaring that she wouldn’t allow anything further to risk the bride. A vague promise was made to continue the tournament as soon as the wedding was over, but it was clear that would likely not happen.

Either by coincidence or deliberately, the feline mages also helped calm the situation. There was something about cats in clothes floating down from the tower above that sparked the imagination.

On the other hand, the presence of royalty had also piqued the felines’ interest. Several of them had floated near his throne, only to be replaced by more important members of the tower. Naturally, Duke Rosewind invited everyone to another of the supposedly famous castle feasts. And, naturally, the cats had gladly accepted.

Ironically, the only person that wasn’t invited, but expected to be there was Theo, or rather the construct Switches had created for him. That had caused some minor issues, since after the damage it suffered, the gnome had to discreetly fix up a few parts. To make matters worse, two of the cats had decided to “drop in” while that happened.

“You made all this?” The fat orange cat asked, looking at a scale model of the gnome’s latest airship. It had an unusually square shape, supposedly to set it apart from all the other airships.

Personally, the dungeon was of the opinion that the shape change was only done for production ease, same as the latest generation of guard constructs that had been built.

“Sure did,” Switches replied while tinkering with the baron’s left arm. Unlike most, he wasn’t particularly bothered by being watched by a large cat mage.

“Anti-magic coating?” the cat asked, tapping the side of the model with a claw. “Does it negate spells in a radius, or just prevents—“

“That’s enough, Gillian,” Ilgrym interrupted in a sharp tone of voice. “We’re not here to meddle in the personal affairs of our loyal benefactor.”

Theo didn’t believe that statement for a second. Seeing how the black cat disliked grand celebrations, there was only one reason for him to be here.

“Your presence is a lot more impressive in person, valued benefactor. Doesn’t having a whole population of humans on you prove distracting at times?”

“I’ve set up boundaries,” the dungeon replied.

“And that’s not a drain on your resources?” Gillian asked. “I’d be glad to assist. Making spells more efficient is my second specialty. I can—”

“Thank you, Gillian.” The black cat all but rolled his eyes. “I’m sure the gnome knows what he’s doing.” It was oblivious that Ilgrym didn’t share the other’s curiosity. “Apologies for our impromptu visit. I didn’t expect the archmage to show such interest. I suppose it’s all to congratulate you.”

“Oh?” Theo feigned interest. He knew all too well what the real reason was.

“The last other participant has been confirmed to have been cast out of the tower earlier today,” the cat continued. “That leaves only you and Apprentice Ellis left, valued benefactor. That all but guarantees your inevitable success.”

“You know I can’t talk about that.” The dungeon felt both threatened and slightly praised.

“Try to move the arm again,” Switches said.

Theo did so, resulting in the construct’s arm rising into the air. Unfortunately, in the process, it had snapped off the rest of the body with such sudden effectiveness that the tail of the orange cat shot up in alarm.

“Heh, heh, heh,” the gnome laughed. “No issue. I just forgot to fasten the connection. Will have it done in no time, Boss!”

Theo didn’t even feel the desire to grumble.

“Say, Ilgrym,” he began.

“Mage Ilgrym,” the cat corrected.

“Are you familiar with magical creatures, by chance?”

“Magical flora and fauna isn’t my main specialty, valued benefactor. My main specialization is—“

“Great!” Theo interrupted. “What creature is invisible and devours flesh and mana?”

The black cat blinked a few times, then tilted his head, tail flicking.

“Is that a riddle, valued benefactor?” the cat asked.

“A riddle?” The alchemist’s voice came from one of the adjacent corridors.

“Not now, assistant!” Switches snapped with far more viciousness than one might expect. “Keep overseeing the construct construction.”

“Yes, chief engineer.” The disappointment in the alchemist’s voice could almost be seen.

“Invisible, carnivorous creatures,” Ilgrym mused. “That’s a bit vague. I assume dragons fit the bill.”

That was the logical answer of anyone who couldn’t think of anything else. Technically, it was correct to a certain degree. While there was a lot known about the creatures, everyone also stressed that there were no two exactly alike. In that way, they were similar to dungeons.

“Possibly aether beasts, perhaps?”

“What are aether beasts?” Theo asked. It was one of those general classifications that didn’t mean anything. Also, he had no memory of seeing that among the giant list of minions he could create.

“In layman’s terms, creatures made entirely of aether. They live in aether, consume it, and are aggressively territorial. There were times when they’d be a blight on towers, but that’s only if someone is stupid enough to erect a tower without doing proper research of the selected area beforehand.”

As Switches snapped the construct’s hand into place, carefully fastening it to the rest of the torso, the dungeon wondered. Could it be that in his sudden growth spurt, he had disturbed such creatures? There were no indications that could be the case. At the same time, there also were indications it could be true.

“And they are invisible?” the dungeon asked?

“Technically, they are the color of aether, but depending on the angle of the light and the natural inclination of the observer, it’s possible that they appear—“ the orange cat began.

“Thank you, Gillian,” the black cat said in a stern tone. “Sometimes,” he added. “It’s difficult to tell. The creatures aren’t overly common and always exterminated as fast as possible.”

Semi-invisible aether creatures… it sounded logical. Would they be invisible for a dungeon, though? Theo tried to ask Spok, but the spirit guide was busy with her other duties—ensuring that the celebration at the castle was going as well as possible. With luck, the dungeon would be able to talk to her the following morning. Until then, all he could do was to plan the future moves of his avatar. Just because things moved at a snail’s pace outside the tower didn’t diminish the speed and ferocity of what was happening in it.

Seeing that the demonic weapons didn’t have any effect on Baron d’Argent, Klarissa had started shouting out new orders to the other mercenaries. The issue was that because of the time dilation, she had only managed to utter two syllables, making any speculation on the dungeon’s part ineffective. As much as he didn’t like it he’d have to wait until the early hours of the morning before he could act.

No new sets of bones were found in Rosewind for the rest of the night. That could be considered a positive development, although Theo hadn’t spotted any of the previous corpses.

Celebrations continued throughout the city until morning. The drunken brawls and petty fights were abundant, but thanks to the new guards built by Switches, they didn’t cause too much additional damage. The dungeon, of course, kept on observing with his wandering eyes.

Night slowly dragged up to morning. Before the sun could peek beyond the horizon, a small procession of carriages beat it to it. It was quickly noticed by Theo’s observatories, long before it got anywhere near the city gates. Unlike the many noble carriages before them, these were rather simple in an elegant sort of way. Made entirely of light oak, they didn’t have crests or emblems, nor an armed escort. The only thing that gave an idea of their occupants was the attire of the carriage drivers—white and green tunics with embroidered hoods.

“Good,” a young woman said, spontaneously appearing on top of one of the dungeon’s observatories. “They’re here.”

The woman was dressed in a similarly colored, though rather strange, attire. A flawlessly green dress flowed down to her knees, clashing with the pair of white adventurer trousers and ankle length leather shoes. Her hair was long and curly, held elegantly in place by a golden wreath.

“Huh?” The head of the observatory moved slightly.

“No need to worry,” the woman said, gently tapping the dome with her hand. “It’s me.”

It took a few moments for the dungeon to react.

“Peris?” he asked, his voice audible in the area of the observatory.

The woman nodded with a smile.

“You look different.”

“Oh, this? It’s based on the new interpretations of my followers. Don’t ask me why. Deity fashion constantly shifts every century or so.”

Other than the face and hair, this version of Peris had nothing in common with the statues of her new cathedral. That just went to show that deities could be fussy about their appearance as well. In typical deity fashion, she had appeared at the very last moment. The actual ceremony was barely a few days away, and no details had been planned.

“The important thing is that I’ve been granted permission to administer the wedding in my avatar form,” Peris said gleefully.

“Great.” The dungeon’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “What are those guys for, then?” A cluster of roaming eyes turned in the direction of the approaching carriages.

“My clerics? It’s tradition. Deities shouldn’t meddle in mortal affairs, so they’ll act as my interpreters.”

“Interpreters? But you’ve visited several times before. Why do you need interpreters?”

“It’s tradition.” The goddess giggled. “You’ll see. It’ll be wonderful.”

For some unspecified reason, Theo wasn’t so sure.