“They're moving this way, and there are a lot of them,” Kira communicated using her earring. “A little more than a minute.”

“Fras, finish up as many of those wires as you can, then get back here,” I responded over the connection. “Isamaar how’s the wall?”

I ran up behind the Dwarf, as I eyed the monstrous ice shelter that sloped into a dome at the top and had an elongated tunnel entrance leading to the temple.

“I’m done but it’ll be weak on this side,” he said, looking up at his handy work while continuing his spell. “It’ll only last a little while if they realize they can break through, but it should do its job for the time being. I’ll keep strengthening it until they get here.”

“Trennel, keep an eye out for attempts to break out, while you are in there,” I said, the young noble joining us by the ice wall. “Join the rest of us as soon as they break through or get too close to you.”

He looked unsure as he played with the edge of his chainmail, but ultimately nodded. “Got it.”

“The rest of us will stay together but move independently, since we don’t know what will work best, and should rely on our strengths until we feel comfortable with each other's fighting styles.”

“Aye, I doubt the lass and I are the best fit for direct confrontation and would do better on the outer perimeter, with the giant near me so that I can have more freedom to venture out and you nearest Kira to help in case she gets overwhelmed.”

“I don’t need protecting, especially from a Beginner. I’m capable of defending myself.” Kira stated angrily, joining the rest of us, with Fras following closely behind.

“We are here to watch each other's backs and protect one another,” Isamaar said in a scolding tone, losing his standard jovial attitude. “You’re a scout type and need to have the freedom to fight from the side of the battle. The only one I’m confident will be fine out of the three of you is the boy. So I either need to watch both of your backs, as well as do my job or you can show some confidence in our team leader.”

“And she called Colossus over here rude,” Mel said, shoving her thumb in Fras’s direction. “How would she react if she knew what your real Level was?”

Probably not well.

“If she doesn’t want you, you want to watch my back instead,” Fras joked, pulling his large shield off his back, and lacing up the strap to fasten it to his left forearm.

I grinned, causing Kira to shift her brows into a frown. Putting my hands up quickly in apology I said, “I’ll watch your back if you get into trouble, same as the others. This strategy makes sense formation-wise, given the information we have on each other’s skill sets. Besides we are running out of time. They’ll be here any second, so we’ll stick with this plan. Once Trennel joins us, we will place him at the back helping where he is needed and using his Automatons to clear some of the larger groups.”

“We’ll keep one hundred paces apart, starting from here,” Isamaar said. “I’ll continue on the wall until they arrive.”

Nodding we all hurried to our places, a hundred paces between Kira on my left and Fras on my right. I stared at the temple entrance in anticipation of the upcoming battle. My heart rate increased and I flexed my hands to keep them from shaking.

Mel placed her hand on mine. “Calm down. They’ll be here soon enough.”

I looked to my left and caught her eyes, shining a brilliant violet in the rays of sunlight. I quirked the corner of my mouth but held my fists firm.

After waiting in silence for another few seconds, the first sign of movement finally appeared, but not from where we had expected.

An avalanche of thousands of manes of bright orange fur and root-like appendages flowed out of the top of the pyramid, running down the broad side straight for us.

“Trennel,” I called out over the earrings. “New plan, come on out.”

He popped into existence a few paces outside of the ice wall near Isamaar. Looking up at the cacophony of limbs hitting stone his face fell immediately. “Oh.”

“Can we go inside the trap?” Kira asked, worry tinging her voice.

“With the weakness of the outer wall, it wouldn’t hold up as a shelter,” Isamaar answered.

“How long would you need to change that?” I asked.

“Fifteen, twenty minutes.”

“Kira? Can you tell if there are any of those creatures left in the temple?”

Placing her hand on the ground she shut her eyes. “I can’t tell, there is too much interference.”

“Alright, I have an idea. Isamaar and I will stay back while the rest of you head off to the west, baiting the creatures into following. Kira will act as the main distraction with her auditory cues. The rest of you protect her. I’m going into the temple to see if I can collect the Relics while they are out here.”

“That’s incredibly stupid,” Kira said.

“I agree with the lass. That is not a smart idea. There is no way of telling how many of these are still in there,” Isamaar said.

“We have about fifteen seconds,” I said. “Do you have a better plan?”

After a moment of silence, I nodded. “Right. We’ll stay hidden in the tree line, you all stay together but get moving. Take out as many as possible while still staying mobile. As soon as I’m done, I’ll send out a message and we’ll regroup to discuss our plan to get to the top of the Altars.”

Not wasting any time, Isamaar and I ran back to the closest edge of the clearing and ducked under the thick underbrush, squatting down to peer out to watch the others make their way to the east as the thousands of creatures turned to follow the group.

After waiting a few minutes I saw the last of the bright orange manes disappear into the trees.

“Get started reinforcing the trap,” I said to Isamaar. “If any make it back this way, let me know and try to make it to a safe place until we can regroup.”

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“Are you sure you don’t want me in there with you?”

I thought about it, going over the pros and cons of having him with me.

“While it would be safer, we have to think about the others as well. They will need somewhere to make a stand against that many summons. The faster we can get the trap up and running, the sooner we can deal with the monsters.”

“Aye,” Isamaar replied, still looking uncertain.

“I’ll report anything strange, and I have a Warping anchor set out here if I need to retreat.”

This seemed to calm him as his face took on a firm resolve.

“Let’s get to it then.”

We left our place in the underbrush, running toward the temple entrance while keeping our eyes peeled for any creatures that had stuck around. As we approached the ice wall, Isamaar split off and began reinforcing the weak sheet of ice, while I continued toward the steps and quickly climbed them.

Making my way into the darkened hallway, I pulled out the ring Trennel had crafted in front of me and created a small orb of fiery light that bobbed gently in the air above my extended hand.

Giving Mel a sharp nod, we both stepped further into the ancient temple.

Turning several corners, I found the first corpse of my earlier rampage. Its face was as horrifying as the image in the textbook and its fur covered in a thick and crusted green icor. Averting my eyes to focus on the path, I continued, quickly arriving at the scene where I had regained control of my body.

The holes in the walls were still there, leaving an opening into the higher floors and a crater in the stone floor. I looked around at all the corpses. Having a tangent thought, I checked my ring for any of the loot that the creatures should have dropped.

Not a single Core or item was there that I hadn’t already known about, creating more confusion.

Curious, I walked over to the closest intact creature and poked it, its Core depositing into my ring as soon as contact was made.

Lesser Beast Core

(Novice)

Affinity: Death

Quantity: 1

Alchemy Ingredient

Odd that it wasn’t automatically looted.

I poked the next corpse with similar results, with the addition of an Item this time.

Greater Beast Core

(Beginner)

Affinity: Death

Quantity: 1

Alchemy Ingredient

Refined Numblique Bark

(Beginner)

Affinity: Death

Quantity: 1

Crafting Material

“At least the entity in your head didn’t get the loot,” Mel commented.

Yeah.

“Come on let’s get these looted so you can begin looking for these Relics.”

I ran around quickly poking each corpse and checking the haul quickly. Three more Bark’s and sixty-four Cores, mostly Beginner.

Where do you think I’ll find them?

“My guess? Probably with the queen or in some equally convoluted place.”

Do I stay on this floor or go up through the hole I made?

“If what Isamaar said about things being straightforward is true, then the best course of action to move forward would be to continue straight as intended. If you bypass the levels, you may miss one of the Relics. On the flip side, you might be able to circumvent the possible obstacles that may plague your path.”

So which one should I take?

“Are you afraid of some puny obstacles?” She teased.

You're not going to be able to goad me into making a dumb decision.

“No, all I have to do for that is leave you be.”

Dick. I laughed at her mock hurt expression. Forward is probably the best option anyway.

I heard her chuckle in my mind but ignored it as I stepped around the crater and continued down the dim hallway.

Looking at the smooth walls, I noticed for the first time that the murals that had occupied the wall space in the entry hall had ceased and been replaced with a grey stone that had no seams or grooves, proof that it was created using some type of Earth-shaping ability by either the Dungeon itself or whatever supposedly built the temple in this scenario.

Running my fingers across the smooth surface as I walked further in, I kept my eye out for any difference in the texture that could indicate a door or any other diverting path that would take me off the main branch of the hallway.

It only took a few more minutes before my finger caught on an indented groove that ran the height of the hallway.

“A doorway?”

I don’t know. I thought as I continued my search for a matching seam that would be present if this was indeed an intended doorway. Finding it rather quickly I tried to give it a push.

The section of the wall sunk in as I heard a mechanical clicking sound before a grinding metallic noise rang out, obliterating the silence of the empty hall, and began to open inward.

As the door came to a rest I peered in, pushing the floating orb into the new room. The orbs' light cast the shadows of the miscellaneous pieces of stone furniture onto the wall on the farthest side.

In the center of the room stood a waist-high white pedestal with intricate carvings depicting several figures with four arms and a wide set of bat-like wings. Upon it sat a palm-sized sculpture of one of these figures in a kneeling position, its head bowed and all four hands raised to the sky, palm up, as if in offering to a greater power.

“There is no way that it’s that simple,” Mel said incredulously.

Definitely some kind of trap.

“You’re not going in there, right?”

The only thing I can think of is to lasso it with some rope, but that might break it if it hits the ground before making it to me. It’s not worth the risk.

“And walking straight into a trap by yourself is?”

No. Probably not. I looked around the room trying to see if there were any noticeable traps that I could spot.

At about chest height, there were six holes in the walls that were perfectly circular.

“Arrows or darts most likely.”

I nodded, taking a step back into the hall, the door swinging shut in front of me. Conjuring one of my talons I carved a mark into the stone to indicate the door and turned to continue on my way.

I’ll just mark the rooms where I find any of the other Relics and we can come back with the team. Hopefully, we can figure out a way to cheese the Dungeon.

I heard Isamaar’s voice come over our communication Item. “How is it going in there?”

“I found one of the Relics but it’s in a trap room. I’m marking it and moving on to search for the others. How is it going out there?”

“Almost done with the tunnel to the temple, another ten minutes or so for the dome. The others said they are on the far West side staying a good distance ahead and should be back around this way in about twenty minutes if they keep the same pace.”

“When you finish let me know and I’ll come out and join you to wait for the others.”

“Aye.”

Shifting the target of the earring, I contacted Trennel. “When you make it around to this side of the temple, enter the dome through the tunnel entrance and teleport the group over the murder hole to join Isamaar and me at the far side to make our stand.”

“Will do.”