Tie was breathing hard after her long run in the dungeon obstacle course, this was her team's shiny moment, they would take over a legendary dungeon like no team has ever done before, fighting hundreds of boss monsters and thousands of beasts and other monsters, even the four near sentient tribes of goblins, merfolk dragonkin and the weird glowing things, weeks of fighting and dodging traps all leading to this final test.

Nosh their healer was occupied with the floor map, it was a giant riddle worked like a clockwork mechanism where you had to finish some fight and then run with the runestone back to the stone pillar and you would open another segment, they were almost at the center, the time lapses were cutting short and even tie's empowerd stamina and dexterity was at its limit to finish the long runs back to the pillar.

Grinding their teeth the team of seven greatest adventurers in three countries joined together to do what no one has done before, conquer the heart of the legendary Azure caves, when the final rune was placed in the correct slot out of hundreds a great booming sound was heard, the whole platform retracted down into the floor opening the huge room and revealing a domed ceiling soaring dozens of meters into the air, with runes shining like stars all over the the pseudo sky.

Azeb was unimpressed with the light show, all he wanted was the prize, not some fancy display of dungeon magic, he nontheless clung on to his shield and axe, waiting for the coming boss fight. When the roar of a giant beast shatterd the mystical mirage Azeb was alert for it, he cought the tail swipe with his shield and smashed his enchanted axe into the scaly skin of the monster that dropped from the fake sky, darker than night and mightier than any mortal beast the purple and black dragon was already casting a spell while crashing its enormous tail into the group, had Azeb not been ready they would all be dead there and then.

Sahemo countered the night dragon's spell that would have ignited the runes to scorch them and quickly cast a reinforcing chant on Azeb to help him counter the massive physical attack.

Tie ran along the creature's body, quickly climbing its front foot and surged to strike at its gaping maw before it could breath its lethal weapon of yet unknown type and magnitude, but while her attack was successful the monster was too quick, it clumped its fist and crushed the rogue's legs then threw her at the wall.

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Nosh hurried to Tie's side casting on the run, he could save her if only he was quick enough, earth mounds erupted to his left and right not letting the beast crush him with its massive body. He got to Tie just as he finished chanting his strongest spell that let him reverse time on a single wounded being, only effective a few minutes after taking damage and unbearable for more than once in at least a month of temporal stability its limits forcing Nosh to use it very sparsely during their quest to the dungeon heart.

Kine was ready, her earth magic was invaluable in tight corridors and under ground, she helped Nosh reach Tie on time and now she was ready, forming a magnificent image in her mind she called forth a gargantuan stone golem shaped like a rhinoceros, the stone beast drummed the ground, lowered its head and its stampede caught the dragon by surprise, the huge four meters stone horn impaling its side and dragging it over twenty meters, the dragon cried in pain and rage and smashed both fists on the rhino golem's head turning it to dust. But the damage was done, black sizzling blood oozed from its wound and puddled to the ground.

Azeb wasted no time and charged at the wounded darkness, a flight of arrows whistled over his head as Crib let loose with all his powers, the arrows all sinking into the gaping wound, a final roar and a slash of an enchanted axe later the beast was down, it glowd and shattered into a million lights that floated to imbue the runes on the domes ceiling, another boom and the sound of gears when the floor in the middle of the room opened to a majestic staircase.

The dungeon was dreaming of its glorious past, remembering the mightiest heroes to brave ita halls, now it had other brave heroes of a different kind, children dreaming of one day fighting giant beasts in magical caves would come to him and swing between the vines slashing wooden swords at fairy lights.

The stone altar in the central cave was placed there not long after its lost one of his precious wards, her name written in the ancient scripts caused some uproar and many pilgrims to come into his domain but they lost interest soon, her brother would come every year to sit by the stone pillar and sometimes he would cry hugging the stone, other times he would just sit there contemplating. Her father tried to destroy the stone, but he couldnt, not even the town mason could do it and so it was left there.