Dungeon POV

The time has finally arrived, the first adventures, invaders, whatever they wanted to call themselves. They had arrived at Alaric's entrance and had begun their descent into his dungeon. Alaric himself was giddy as a child receiving a new toy, the only question he had, how would his dungeon and monsters handle the would-be invaders?

“This is gonna be amazing. I mean I knew people would get here eventually but I didn’t think it would come so fast.” Alaric was nearly salivating at the prospect of what they would show him.

“Okay boss calm down. Take some deep breaths or something. I know you're excited, hell I’m excited too. But you need to be professional about this.” Umbra said around mouthfuls of popcorn.

“I would but some of us can’t stuff our faces with popcorn while we wait.” Alaric replied.

“Touche.”

“Besides, I need to alert my monsters so they can be ready.”

“You can but where's the fun in that? I mean how are you going to see how effective they can be in a pinch if you warn them beforehand?”

Umbra made a decent point, but if Alaric didn’t bother to inform his monsters, then a threat that is beyond them could result in a loss of life on his part. There would come a time when he wouldn’t have to tell them when a new challenger approaches, but for now he decided to compromise and only alert his boss and mini-boss monsters.

“Cicatrix, Hail, Atrocity, Savvy, Thrush, Trixy get ready, we have company.”

“So, you're not taking my advice this time I, see?”

“No Umbra I’m not. I’m sorry but this feels right to me.”

Umbra stopped eating for a second and smiled. “Good while I can give you advice and help, you must trust your own judgment.”

Okay, gonna mark that down on my I didn't expect Umbra to say that long, but she's right I need to have more faith in my own actions. I can do this, I will keep us safe and have fun doing it.

So, let's see how far they’ve come this time, and they haven’t left the entrance yet. The fuck are they doing, there's only one way in. Why are they still there?

“I think the kid looked at Vanity’s door. Poor sap, he never stood a chance. Also don’t even think about it, you were warned not to remember.”

How could I not? But I want to know what's going on. “Can I at least listen in?”

“Go for it.”

…many have fallen for the looks and temptations of Vanity don’t become the latest in that line…

He seems caring, but he is wearing a cardinals cassock. I guess religion here works differently than back on earth, because I sure don’t remember cardinals going off into dangerous situations. Nor do I remember nuns having such a dangerous vibe.

“Well, I hope you enjoyed your little detour, I had originally planned to test your knowledge of the Nether Gods but that can wait. It looks like we may be getting lucky. I don't think the dungeon has expanded as much as we originally thought.”

“How does she know?”

“I mean she has a point, Alaric?” Umbra said while still eating popcorn.

“I know she has a point but how would she know?”

“She did mention the Nether Gods so she may know more than we do.”

“Guess we'll wait and see then. Might just get something good out of it.”

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“I think you're right, and that moment may be now listening.”

Back at the entrance the nun continued ranting. “Those of us who aren’t apparently blind and stupid can see that only one door way is currently active. Plus, since that door happens to be Havoc’s who is the goddess of challenge, conquest, destruction, disaster and war it doesn't take much thought to realize that without anyone coming in here before us that it hasn’t gotten a chance to expand much. So, I don’t really expect it to have more than two floors, three at the most.”

Holy shit did she just?

Congratulations, you lucky little core. Quest Complete: Understand My Ways, Learn 3 of the 5 domains of Havoc. Progress 5 of 3. You overachiever.

1 floor dedicated to Havoc has been awarded.

New Quest Generated: Challenge the Weak, Activate a premade challenge on 5 floors.

Well, I guess she was right. I do have three floors, and a new feature to add to my dungeon. Let's focus on that floor first. The more space between them and my core the better.

Error cannot add floor to dungeon.

Why? I meet the requirements right, I should be able to add it.

2nd Floor Boss Not Detected.

Oh, come on. Well, I can check out those challenges it mentioned but first some needed information. “Umbra, do you know how much longer till Rage Fueled Supremacy procs again.”

Umbra looked up and said “3 weeks, 52 hours, 27 minutes, 17 seconds exactly. The timer reset when we breached the surface otherwise it would have activated tomorrow.”

That’s news to me. At least I know how much longer till I can add a third floor. Now about those challenges for the first and second floors.

Havocs Challenges Are A Set Of Premade Trials That Can Be Attached To Floor In Order To Increase The Difficulty Or Test A Specific Aspect Or Trait Of A Delver. Now Generating List Of Available Challenges.

Headhunter: Forces all invaders on a floor to collect 20 heads each from dungeon monsters before they are allowed to leave the floor or exit the dungeon back to the surface.

Boss Rush: Invaders must defeat all mini-bosses before they can face the actual boss of a floor. Mini-bosses can be fought in any order but leaving the dungeon will reset all progress.

Test Your Might: A single monster chosen at random must be killed using your bare hands, use of weapons will invalidate the challenge.

Survive: A totem will appear at random on the floor where this challenge is active and enrage half the floor's monsters until destroyed. As long as it is active invaders will be marked and visible to enraged monsters who will attempt to track and kill them. Respawns are automatic if this one is active.

Time Is Up: Invaders will be given a reward if they can complete the floor within said limit. Can be placed but will only activate for those who have already cleared the floor.

Those challenges are kinda nice and will be a welcome addition to the dungeon; the only question is which to activate for the first and second floor. I don’t want to kill too many and scare people away, but I don’t want an easy one to go first. I know I’ll check on the current invaders' progress before I make my decision. Depending on their strength I’ll make a choice. So where are they exactly?

They hadn’t made it that far, only just inside the door to the first floor. The nun and cardinal, while appearing to be relaxed, were clearly expecting a fight. The noob on the other hand, I mean he had to be a noob, stood there gawking at the scenery and almost lost his head because of it. One of my savage goblin scouts had hurled a decent sized stone right at his head but the cardinal saved him at the last second. Then the nun shot some kind of red crystal at him, and fucking hit him in the throat. She wasn’t even looking in that direction, just turned and flicked her wrist toward a tree.

The ease with which she did that sent up some red flags about her skill level and her words really hammered home how skilled they all were. “Alright boys time to do what inquisitors do best and kill anyone stupid enough to get in our way!”

Those words sent chills through my core and in that moment, I made a panicked decision. Select Boss Rush as the first floor challenge.

Boss Rush Confirmed As Active Challenge For First Floor. Please Note That Challenges May Be Swapped Out When Cleared. Have Fun.

“Damn, I’m not going to try and lie to you boss but that may have been the best decision you could have made in this situation.” Umbra said with wide eyes.

“How can this possibly be a good thing Umbra. I just signed a death warrant for my mini-bosses.”

She stared at me for a few seconds before replying. “Because if you remember that can be brought back with their memories intact, and this will be good practice. I mean they are all probably going to die but they’ll still reap the rewards of experience. Plus, while you had that little freak out, they fetched the fort.”

Shit, shit, shit, what to do? Maybe they won’t die. Maybe this is a dream and didn’t happen. Maybe I can make this right. Maybe I …

“Alaric calm down. I might not be able to hear you thoughts but I can feel your unease through our bond. What's done is done, there's no going back now, but you can learn from this and do better in the future. So, for now, be at peace and let's see how this all plays out.”