In shadows deep, where whispers call,
The Architect designs a realm for all.
With flowing stone and magic's glow,
He weaves a world where only brave dare go.
With just a single flick of a wrist,
Mana turns to flowing mist.
A master planner, cunning and wise,
He reigns supreme beneath the skies.
So heed the warning, tread with care,
For the Dungeon Architect's snare is rare.
Countless treasures, power's call,
But also a place of doom for all.
-A Poem dedicated to 'The Architect'. Author unknown. Date of creation 38~45 AA.
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Khan was annoyed. To an extreme degree.
It all started ever since he began descending the small corridor after the brief battle with two wolves. Having somewhat replenished his lost power and healed quite a bit, he was looking forward to the hunt and the abundant prey that surely awaited below.
And reality often goes against one's expectations.
At first, when he was walking through the rather wide tunnel, taking in the scents from below along the way, the walls suddenly began to tremble, startling him.
Then, with a rumbling noise, the surrounding walls and ceiling quickly began to close in on him, as if trying to suffocate and bury the tiger alive right then and there.
Khan had been expecting many things from the mysterious and cowardly foe of his, ranging from spikes erupting from the ground to vines appearing out of nowhere to coil around the tiger. For some reason, he didn't expect the most obvious and simple thing that could be surmised to be within the enemy's capability.
The tiger immediately sped up and broke into a sprint; yet, the corridor was becoming tighter and narrower at an alarming speed.
Maybe because the structure had been destabilized, rocks also began to fall from above, forcing the tiger to evade and slowing him down further. And if that wasn't enough, various roots and vines also appeared, trying to trip him or tie themselves around his neck.
Just when he saw the light shining from the end of the twisting corridor, he found himself unable to move. Although the corridor was still wide enough for a human to squeeze through if they made an effort, it was obviously too tight for a tiger of Khan's proportions.
This led to the current predicament, where the mighty conqueror of the wild and feared figure of humans now had to... dig.
Khan ground his teeth in annoyance that bordered on anger as his claws swept away the dirt around him. He cursed and growled along the way, humiliated that he had to do such a thing that only moles would.
"You cursed coward... You dare not face me in battle, so you resort to such tricks? Just you wait; when I get to you..."
The tiger's words were interrupted by another trembling of the ground along with an ominous premonition that ran down the Beast's spine.
Just as Khan quickly redoubled his efforts, unnerved by the change, the light coming from the distance disappeared, and the tiger saw the gap in front of him close up completely, cutting off his line of sight toward his goal.
Khan looked at the scene in disbelief for a moment, before that disbelief turned to simmering rage. He roared in anger.
"You FU-"
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5 minutes ago
Lan was deep in thought.
The reason for that was the overpowered tiger that bulldozed through his entire First Floor. The damn cat had instakilled Tag and Nacht, and if that wasn't enough, he even recovered as if their Heart Cores were healing potions.
While focusing completely, time slowed down as his thinking sped up, allowing the Core to watch the smug expression of the tiger in slow motion. The fight obviously presented no challenge to him.
'Haa...'
Sighing mentally, Lan started to review his actions. When the tiger was in the camp, Lan used various kinds of mana along with simple manipulation to attack. Because the tiger was far away and Lan hadn't yet researched direct means of attack and had to come up with things on the fly, there wasn't much he could have done better back then.
But when the enemy reached the forest under the Tree's control, Lan understood that he could at least supply additional mana to the Tree and the forest to improve their capabilities during their assault.
Then came the last part. The one where he had objectively done the worst.
'...Can I blame it on the suddenness of the situation, or am I just that dumb sometimes?'
Now that he reviewed it, he understood that he had been a total mess just then.
Perhaps feeling his irritation, the Tree reached out to him through their connection. It conveyed various feelings of worry and seemed to pose a question.
'Yeah, I'm fine; just thinking about what to do.'
Looking at the situation calmly, the First Floor didn't stand a chance against the tiger. The Beasts here were simply too weak to fight against the tyrannical predator, and what was worse, they may have even fallen under his control like those that formed the Beast Tide did. Most hid, thankfully, while the rest were ignored.
The problem was that he had practically left Tag and Nacht to die. Though it was true that there was no time for reinforcements from lower floors to come up, Lan could have ordered the pair of wolves to go down instead, saving them from a useless death.
'Maybe I could then collapse the tunnel behind them or something... But that would cut off the flow of mana, crippling me.'
Lan then remembered that he had a companion 'on the phone' due to the feeling of confusion conveyed from the connection. He posed a question while continuing to speak to himself, accompanied by various images for better interpretation.
'Is there another option? Do I have to just make it narrow for just him? Why not? Let's do it.'
Lan acted on the thought, as every second bought would be another second to plan.
He quickly began to manipulate Earth Mana, pulling it into the empty space of the tunnel. The walls and the ceiling followed after.
The tiger was obviously displeased, but the Beast began to dig with its sharp claws to widen the path soon after.
Meanwhile, Lan checked the mana flow.
'Hmm... No major change it seems. Good.'
But looking at the tiger's progress, he knew it wouldn't slow him down for long.
'Not perfect though...'
Nevertheless, he bought himself some time. He needed to prepare for the inevitable battle with the Beast.
Lan wanted to stop the tiger at the Second Floor. He gave out orders through his various connections to all the Beasts present there. After sending various commands, he connected to those on the Third Floor.
It was obvious that sending Beasts at the tiger one by one would only make the enemy stronger, making him harder to kill. And the intruder wasn't just an ordinary challenger; he was a threat. There was no reason not to pull out all the stops to deal with him.
'If I can't deal with you normally, let's see how you like the entirety of the Floor's population at once, followed by simultaneous attacks from multiple Floor Guardians.'
Just as Lan finished ordering the Beasts, he felt a tug on his connection with the Tree, and to his surprise, it wasn't another question but an answer.
Though the Tree wasn't that intelligent yet, it understood Lan's question somehow. It provided an answer to Lan's concerns about mana flow in a series of images.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Lan saw many branches of a giant tree covered in leaves breathe in and out. Some were bigger, some were smaller, but they all fulfilled their purpose, contributing little by little to a larger goal.
Lan then saw another image, which was associated with 'him' as if being his representation in the Tree's vision. He saw a tree with just a single giant branch, mighty yet fragile.
The transmission ended there. Though Lan was briefly confused, he suddenly asked,
'...so what you are saying is if I have just a single path to the surface, I should just make more?'
He received a feeling of confirmation.
'But it would lead to the dungeon having too many openings...'
Lan once again received an image of a giant tree, this time focused on many small branches. He suddenly felt thunderstruck.
'...I just have to make a ton of small ones to make up for it!'
Lan then felt yet another feeling of confirmation. He could swear he heard confetti pop.
'You are a genius! Genius! I don't know what I would have done without you.'
While he was thanking the one who gave him the idea, he was already working on it, as he had no time to waste with an angry overgrown cat wanting to kill him.
He simultaneously created many small tunnels leading from the Second to the First Floor, all of which were the size of a small finger. To make up for it, there were dozens, maybe even close to a hundred, all connecting to the First Floor in various places.
Thanks to their narrowness, it took less than a minute to create them all. When Lan decided he had made enough, he 'sat back' and breathed out mentally.
'Alright. A moment of truth.'
Following those words, he once again manipulated Earth Mana, closing off the entire tunnel in front of the tiger. Lan watched the closing gap with bated breath all the way until it disappeared.
If he was honest, he was prepared to return to the state he had been in before connecting his Core to the outside world. Fortunately, no such thing happened.
Mana flowed just as it had before; Lan didn't go blind, deaf, or numb. He confirmed this due to the reverberating roar he could 'hear' in his dungeon.
"...you FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!"
'Oh. He is not happy.'
Lan watched the tiger thrash around in the tunnel. The Beast even burst into flames yet again, perhaps as a result of intense emotions, his claws leaving burning gashes on the walls where even stone melted.
'I wonder why? Huhu.'
Lan chuckled in schadenfreude; the Tree shared some of his emotion, probably because it did not like the tiger either. Nevertheless, Lan soon focused once more.
'Alright, I've slowed him down some more. Just what I needed.'
Lan had to make various preparations to 'welcome the guest' properly. Lan wouldn't let the enemy benefit the slightest bit from his domain.
Various commands were once again issued, though some of the bolder Beasts had to be threatened with images of a certain tiger hunting them down; they mostly obeyed.
In mere minutes, the entire Dungeon was thrown into motion.
A stag whose antlers coursed with lightning raised its head towards one of the entrances of a chamber it was currently in.
A flock of birds whose wings were as sharp as steel stopped their flight and perched on trees, looking as if they were soldiers awaiting an order.
A mouse emerged from a hidden cave, leaving behind a space that bore traces of intense use of Earth Mana.
A silent hunter stalking the shadows sprinted soundlessly through the undergrowth; even her breathing was silenced by the sound of the river flowing by her side.
A pack of wolves followed their leader, whose eyes were crimson-gold.
Be it herbivore or carnivore, large or tiny, bird or mammal, all followed the will of the very land under their feet. All of them had a common enemy.
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Khan was breathing roughly, and his coat was marred with dust due to his digging. He found his appearance unsightly, but he continued scraping the ground with his claws.
"I curse you... I will skin you alive; I will tear you apart; I will eat your entrails while you beg for mercy..."
He, of course, knew who was responsible for his ordeal; hence he constantly vented his frustration. However, in Khan's mind, these promises were as good as prophecies.
The only reason the tiger hadn't given up was due to two reasons. One, the power he could possibly gain was immense due to how much mana he felt. And two, he had come too far to give up.
So, Khan put up with the disgraceful and monotonous action, continuously digging in the direction he last saw the light.
A few minutes later, Khan suddenly stiffened before speeding up, as he felt the ground become softer, unlike the walls of the tunnel, and more like the dirt beneath his feet.
After a few moments, it gave way, and light flooded the dark tunnel yet again. The barrier in front of Khan trembled and fell as he continued. With a mighty leap, the tiger broke through the remaining dirt and rocks, emerging in a clearing illuminated by a magical light.
Khan roared in delight at finally having freed himself from the confines of the tunnel, mixed with anger at the one who caused him such misery. Of course, he didn't think of the fact that none of this would have happened if he hadn't attacked in the first place.
The scarred tiger then finally examined his surroundings. He saw a forest in front of him, with two obvious paths to the sides. A pillar with a light shining out of it stood in the distance. After a moment of taking in the sight, Khan snorted.
"You think I will fall into your trap by following your plan? Pathetic."
It was quite obvious to him that the paths were traps prepared by his cowardly enemy. He also felt the immense mana coming straight ahead, from the towering pillar. In the end, everything would fall under his might anyway, so there was no reason to waste time playing along with someone's tricks.
So Khan did the very thing he did best: he charged straight ahead.
The trees at the edge of the clearing soon snapped under his unstoppable momentum, but Khan himself almost lost balance due to how tough they were. He begrudgingly understood that they were tougher than those on the surface, and blindly breaking everything was not the solution here.
He quickly began to weave between the annoyingly densely growing vegetation.
'I would burn this all to ashes if I could...'
Khan didn't say that aloud, as the enemy proved capable of listening to him even when not present. The reason he didn't use his fiery breath or claws was the ever-increasing lack of mana.
Although he recovered somewhat after eating those crystals, he was exhausted after digging so much, and using fire could deplete his reserves completely, leaving him nearly defenseless.
While maneuvering between the trees, he also paid attention to his surroundings, ready to respond to any threat or hunt any nearby prey. However...
'Where is the prey?'
He found none. Though the scent of various Beasts was fresh, and some of the tracks were even warm, he encountered none in his vicinity. This annoyed him to no end yet again, as without prey he couldn't replenish his strength. So he continued making his way toward the pillar that drew ever closer.
Despite crossing so much space, Khan wasn't attacked once. Annoyance then turned to tension and suspicion as the tiger didn't understand how such a thing could happen. On the first floor of this place, he had constantly evaded attacks; yet now he walked amidst silence.
The trees soon thinned out, another clearing gradually becoming visible through the gaps. Khan was able to move a bit more freely as there was more open space to walk through, but he wasn't breaking into a sprint, cautiously walking forward while constantly looking to the sides.
However, a period without any traps appearing beneath his feet desensitized him to the threats that could arise from below. And he paid the price for it.
Trying to move one of his front limbs yet again, he found that he couldn't. It was as if it was stuck to the ground. Khan quickly looked downward, only to see his paw ensnared in some kind of substance.
"Silk? No... A web?!"
Just as those words escaped his mouth, he heard multiple things falling through the air. Khan tried to evade, but due to one of his limbs being trapped, he couldn't avoid it completely.
Two of the four objects landed on his back, and Khan soon felt two stings followed by a burning pain.
Twisting his neck, he saw that the 'objects' were spiders, and two of them were currently on his back, sinking their fangs into him.
Shock soon turned to rage as he tugged on his stuck limb with all his might, forcibly breaking free from the web on the ground.
"These vermin dare!"
Khan slammed his back into a tree, crushing one of the spiders to bits and causing another to fall to the ground, only to be squashed under his feet.
As he turned, glaring at the remaining two, he found that they were nowhere to be seen, probably having skittered away already.
Khan then looked around carefully and noticed that nearly every surface to his sides and in front of him was covered in webs. When he turned around to see where he had come from, he saw a dozen spiders fleeing in various directions, a web having been woven between the trees.
The only open path was the one in front of him.
"Damn it..."
Khan leaped over the web on the ground, still remaining unaware of the three-meter-long spider dancing on the branches above him.
As soon as he landed, however, Khan wasn't left alone either.
He felt a rock hit his head and turned to see the perpetrator, a flying squirrel sitting on one of the trees behind him, as if teasing him.
In the brief moment that he turned around, the ground burst beneath his feet, giving way to multiple pairs of claws that dug into it. The owners of the claws were three giant moles that leaped towards the tiger.
Khan himself turned around at the last moment, cleaving apart one of the burrowers, but this gave the remaining two an opening. He felt their claws scratch through his skin, creating shallow wounds, but wounds nonetheless.
"Courting death!"
Enraged, he slammed another one into the ground, breaking its spine instantly, but the last one returned to the hole from which it came, away from his wrath.
Khan felt humiliated that such a paltry Beast managed to wound him, causing him to leap forward with a roar, trying to catch it.
As he did so, a pair of wolverines revealed themselves from between the bushes, ambushing him, one biting into his front limb and one into his hind limb. They scratched as they bit, adding to Khan's pain and fury.
He forcefully turned, flinging away the one behind him, while preparing to bite into the one in front of him.
He was interrupted by a sudden force slamming into his side, sending him tumbling along the ground. A brief look after stabilizing himself revealed the perpetrator to be a large boar.
"You damned swine-"
Khan's words were interrupted again by a roar coming from his side. A great bear came into the clearing as if challenging the intruder. It charged towards the tiger, not even trying to be stealthy.
The tiger responded to the challenge with a roar of his own, and the two Beasts soon collided. He evaded the bear's swipe, attacking with his claws in retaliation.
Khan's claws drew four red lines across the bear's face, causing the great Beast to roar in pain and anger. The bear stood on its hind legs, preparing to slam down on the tiger with all its might.
But Khan would not just stand there and take it. He tensed his legs and prepared to jump backward to evade.
Just as he was about to do so, a loud crackle rang through the air, and Khan felt a scorching and numbing force slam into his side.
The bear's attack landed, slamming the tiger into the ground, which cracked beneath him.
Khan felt his ribs crack, coughing up blood.
He murmured something, causing the bear's ears to twitch. As the great Beast lifted its claws to attack once again, Khan shouted out.
"...these INSOLENT PESTS DARE!"
With a sudden force, he stood back up, and flames engulfed his hide. With a burst of speed, he leaped forward, his flaming claws slicing apart the bear's throat. The great Beast collapsed, confused at what just happened.
Khan, in his fiery form, looked around him, wanting to see who had caused him to be unable to evade.
He then locked eyes with a stag, who stood on the side of the clearing opposite him. A purple light shone in one of its eye sockets instead of an eyeball, and vicious energy crackled through its mighty antlers.
But just as Khan was about to charge forward, he witnessed something that cooled his anger and fervor considerably.
Numerous Beasts emerged from the forest and into the clearing. Bears, boars, foxes, spiders; there were many species whose names he didn't even know.
And the worst part of it all... every pair of eyes was staring at him with bloodlust.