The night before our expedition was filled with merriment and excitement. Tonight the men were allowed to drink and party to their heart’s content, but tomorrow I’d work them to the bone. After leaving Simmon’s house me and Valentia had headed to the local pub most of the other knights seemed to have gathered.

From beside me Valentia finally broke the usual silence “Captain?”

“Remember, it’s just Eli when we’re off work. Surely you’re comfortable enough around me to drop formalities at this point?”

Sighing loudly Valentia tried again “Eli, may I ask for your opinion on this case?”

Always about work with this woman... Vice-captain for almost 4 years at this point and still won’t call me by name. I of course understand this to be part of her culture and tempered personality but such abrasion to interacting with me and the other knights can make things awkward. Regardless I trust her with my life. 4 years of training, fighting, and investigating the country’s worst with someone else at your back creates a certain level of unspoken trust. So while she may be awkward I’d still consider her my closest ally.

“Well the beast theory has some merit I’d wager.”

“Only some?”

Scratching my chin I answered “It’s only a hunch but I’d bet the old man made something. Could be a chimera or some mishandled necromancy but the signs don’t point to that do they?”

“So what does your gut tell you?”

“Well a roaming chimera would attack anything with a pulse in their madness. If that was the real cause we’d be looking at a much higher death toll. It could be undead kidnapping test subjects for their master but that doesn’t feel right either given what we know of Ford. There’s also the mage guild’s strange silence insistence on the subject. Throw in the decrease in wild population and we’re looking at something bigger than just some big monster.”

“Think the rookies will be able to handle whatever it is?”

Shrugging I answered, “If not, that’s why we’re here right?”

Placing her hand over her hilt Valentia let out a small smile “Indeed.”

---

I doubt I’ll ever understand how every single knight in Illia can be such drunkards. We are supposed to be protectors of the people who embody justice itself, but here they are drinking beer out of their helmets for a dare. The captain once explained to me that those who face death everyday know how to party best, but the same can’t be said for me. I’m perfectly content with my water and looking out the bar’s circular window. Doing so let’s my mind blissfully ignore one of the few people in this world I respect challenging his own men to arm wrestling with a face red as a tomato.

While I look upon such behavior as crude, another could say nights like this are what make the captain such a great leader. By having the squad forge such strong bonds with each other it encouraged comradery and increased trust between them during missions. A very different approach to the archipelago’s military which beats every soldier into submission, turning them into living tools. I myself prefer the captain’s methods, crude as they may be.

Stepping out onto the bar’s riverside patio I found myself breathing in the quiet atmosphere of Brooksdam. A small town in every sense of the word. One where every resident knew the others name while eager to welcome and entertain the interesting outsiders. Majority of the stores were grocers run by families selling to each other for generations back, all overseen by a kind mayor with a love of the people. But by far the best feature is the titular brook of Brooksdam.

25 feet across and barely 2 feet deep in the center the brook flowed right through the middle of town. Several bridges dotted the town for those looking to keep their feet dry, bordered by countless fishing poles set up overnight. The sound of running water was always present within the city lines, fading in and out of one’s notice as the day wore on. Originally built as a small community that oversaw and protected the dam as the brook flowed east through the forest, population had eventually grown to match what the town was today. Even with the dam long deemed irrelevant and torn down, the people had stayed. Leaving a town that felt at one with its natural environment.

As the cold night air blew through my hair I made up my resolve. This was a purely peaceful place worth protecting.

---

Promptly at sunset the captain and I began rounding up the knights. Mayor Simmons had organized for some local fishermen to take us downstream towards the cave to save time. Unfortunately they would be unable to bring us back due to the direction of the current and out combined excess weight.

Dividing the squad up as usual I was given 9 men and 6 women while the captain took the remaining 15 for his own. After waving goodbye to the kindly fishermen we followed the Phalen’s map towards the cave. It was around a 2 hours walk in total but that time could easily be cut in half with better terrain and removing the subjugation of a freshly scarred black bear that attacked us from the rear.

Amidst the pines and redwoods I began to realize how long it had been since I’d left Centrilliam. The trickling of clear brooks and crunching of branches under my feet gave a different feel to the standard march. Getting out into nature was a welcome change of pace and I committed to doing so more often.

Coming up to the cave confirmed it was sitting midway up a small stone hill. Unassumingly small you’d never expect 7 people have gone missing in its vicinity. While the less experienced knights rested and our scouts headed inside I took the time to investigate around the clearing. A short ways down south of us I found several bags containing emergency supplies and the remnants of a trail coming from the west. Obviously these both belonged to the militia men who came before us.

Just as I was reporting my findings to the captain our scouts returned drenched in water and ridiculously excited.

Not even bothering to salute Margaret panted “Captain! You won’t believe what’s in there!”

Interrupting her as she let out laborious breaths Donovan said, “I think it’s a dungeon sir!”

Faltering slightly at such a declaration, me and the captain were silent. A new dungeon within Illia’s borders would undoubtedly be international level news. Not only does finding a dungeon without a master only occur once every few centuries, one potentially so young had never been observed before! Although this could also be seen as a threat to the current world stability. Dungeon Wars between both masters and nations have been waged since their discovery. That’s just how valuable a dungeon was for a country to own depending on how the dungeon had specialized before being claimed. Those who owned dungeons are comparable to kings depending on their strength, and in some countries are treated as subjects of worship for creating resources and pseudo living creatures.

“A-are you both sure?” the captain said finding his words.

“I have plenty of reason to believe sir!” said Margaret “The entrance is just a normal cave but after crawling through this small drop and swimming a ways in it’s probably a mile long!”

Critically I asked, “Doesn’t that seem a little large for a dungeon’s first floor?”

“I though so at first too ma’am but there are just too many trees, and absolutely gorgeous mushrooms for it to be natural. You have to come see for yourself!”

Donovan nodded in excitement as Margaret gave her report. Walking away from the pair me and the captain discussed what to do amongst ourselves. In the end we decided to head in regardless, if only to determine whether or not the pair was right. Having both trained extensively in the Dungeon of Arthropods near the capital we believed we could make a definitive conclusion.

Leading our teams of 15 into the cave entrance we systematically swam through the small drop down before climbing onto some enormous mangrove roots. The fact these branches could support 10 or more armored knights at once confirmed for me we were dealing with a dungeon. But that was hardly a needed realization given the foreign environment all around us.

Lit only by hordes of multicolored mushrooms the dungeon’s water covered floor was a sight to behold. Margaret had called them gorgeous but that was almost an understatement. Hundreds of lights lit the labyrinth like root systems further into the dungeon while reflecting off the calm waters below the trees. Occasionally in the distance the calls of an owl could be heard followed by the snapping of branches and leaves.

Pulling the last of the knights up out of the water I smiled at the captain in amazement “I’d say we found a dungeon alright sir!”

Laughing while hanging over the waters with a branch opposite my group’s tree, he yelled back “Indeed we did! Rylens going to go nuts over this!”

Gesturing out at the floor before us I asked, “Should we report back or investigate further?”

Making a judgement call the captain announced “We’ll do a basic scan of the first floor. Keep a look out for Ford, the kid, and the guards. Things don’t look great for them but let’s try. Our goal isn’t to capture this place yet. We’ll inform his majesty and let him select a trustworthy master for this place at a later date. You take your squad right I’ll take mine left. Find anything too dangerous we fall back immediately. Don’t bother with loot either, just get in and get out.”

Raising my hand across my chest I saluted “Yes captain!”

Addressing the knights now he continued “Before you all get yourselves killed listen up. Rule 1 of delving is to never underestimate a dungeon! Sure it looks pretty but everything in this place is meant to kill you and protect the core. Around every corner a monster made of pure mana lies in wait. This is life or death even with both of us here. I’ll end on this, don’t expect to get rich today. This high up in a young dungeon you’ll get maybe 20-30 Rhilos per kill so don’t bother.”

At his last remark the morale of the group fell immensely.

‘Truly the knights of Illia know not greed...’ I thought sarcastically.

Sensing the mood captain Eli broke out in a smile and added “Fine, then. When we get back to town I’ll treat you all to some drinks as a reward.”

Sulking knights attitudes raised again they let out a roaring cheer. His mind spoken the captain gave me a private nod and we both began leading our squads into the dark canopy of tangled roots.

---

It wasn’t long into our dive we found our first monsters. A pack of around 6 seemingly normal Timber Wolves had ambushed us from the dark leaves above. I’d felt them following us for a while but waited in hopes to teach the newbies something. Even if they didn’t notice I could easily handle a few wolves.

The first fell silently towards Ranta as two others ran for Kelly and James. By what must have been pure luck given dungeon monsters are only mana constructs, the last 3 chose to block my path on the thin root.

“Oh shit! [Bounce]!” called Ranta as his shield glowed a bright green.

Kelly managed to activate [Positioning] and slide back a few feet while James was extremely unlucky with his footing and got knocked off the root into the water. My test having proved it’s point I threw both rapiers out of their scabbards into the air in front of me.

“[Blade Dance]” I called activating the familiar skill and feeling my movement fall under my minds control. A much stronger version of [Positioning], [Blade Dance] enabled me to slide across the ground below me at will for a few seconds at the speed of my max sprint.

Grabbing my left rapier I activated “[Gale Slash]” sending a green wind blade out of the sword and through 2 of the Timber Wolves blocking my path, severing them in two. Combining the momentum of my swing with [Blade Dance] I spun on my left heel and launched a kick into the 3rd wolf on my first rotation. Eyes bulging from the force this wolf went soaring out into the murky waters.

Sliding past Markus on the side of the root parallel with the water to catch up with my right blade, I once again increased my speed with [Blade Dance], jumped, and kicked the handle of my sword down with my heel. As I fell back to the tree root my rapier turned projectile pierced through the stomach of the wolf that attacked Kelly and both yellow eyes of the one responsible for shoving James into the water.

The last wolf was sent flying a few feet into the tree line with its own momentum after striking Ranta’s shield while he had [Bounce] active. It attempted to flee but a well placed arrow from Zeera’s [Snipe] skill ensured its fate.

Feeling a slight amount of pride as the rookies watched me in awe I bent down to pick up James. Only he didn’t reach his hand out for mine. Actually... his face was looking a little pale.

“Get it together rookie. James?” I said hoisting him up after getting on my stomach to properly reach him.

But when I pulled James up from the water not all of him came out. The metal armor had largely protected his chest but his arms and legs were almost completely severed from his body. All of his limbs had been so quickly devoured that he’d had no chance to scream during the battle. I had just enough time to spot some small red flakes resting atop his exposed leg bone when the others screamed behind me.

They’d moved off the small bridge to a proper tree’s base to reduce angles of attack. Kelly as the tank had stood at the back to ensure a safe retreat. However this had left her vulnerable to an ambush by the enormous serpent currently coiling around her torso and tugging her ever closer to the water.

“Vice-captain!” she screamed as she activated every strength boosting skill she possessed to contest the snake’s weight.

Zeera began firing arrows at the green and brown reptile but they proved ineffective at scaring it off. Under the weight of such a large animal Kelly was slowly being pulled towards the dangerous depths, despite her obvious skill strain. By the time they’d alerted me her entire right arm had been pulled into the churning murky water.

Screaming even louder as her right arm befell the same fate as James, Kelly gave me a look of sheer desperation. Even surprising myself with my speed I activated the expensive [Blade Dance] for the seconds time and felt some light skill strain in the back of mind. Rocketing towards Kelly I launched twin [Gale Slashes], creating two cross sections at the snake’s neck. As the great reptile went limp and began to tug the still coiled Kelly down with it I shot past and grabbed her in my arms. I’d made it just in time to pull the knight out of the serpent’s grasp as it fell off the wooden path.

“Baldr!” I ordered in the calmest tone my voice could muster as I set Kelly down.

Snapping to attention at his name Baldr rushed forward and began using some emergency healing magic. I did my best to tie a tourniquet around the fresh stub that had been her arm with one of the men’s undershirts while he worked. Baldr was in no way a strong enough combat medic to replace lost limbs but even so his spell seemed to be incredibly ineffective.

“Snap out of it!” I yelled.

Bewildered Baldr cried out “I-it’s not working right! I’m casting the spell like usual but my mana’s being drained somewhere!”

Cradling Kelly in my arms I barked at the remaining 13 members of my squad “We’re pulling out to get her medical attention. Ranta take the front with Joseph for now. Any more of those wolves show up don’t let them push you into the water!”

---

By the time we made it back to the dungeon entrance 4 more men and woman had been shoved or somehow driven into the dangerous waters. The Timber Wolves had managed to surprise Suzy and Haran by clawing at one of the hundreds of glowing mushrooms. Doing so had created a bright flash, and during the commotion caused by our sudden blindness they had shoved them over the root’s rounded edge. Nero and Christoph had died to, as of yet, completely unknown circumstances. As soon as I’d leapt over a small gap in the path leaving them behind, a 10 foot wave of water had thrown them into the torrent of red fish. So many coincidences had left me doubting against my better judgement whether dungeon monsters really were unintelligent constructs after all.

Still carrying the unconscious but not dead Kelly I looked across the entrance to see captain Eli and a much worse for the wear looking squad of 11 knights. His and most of the tank’s armor was dented all over with small footprints, while several more had singed hair and black burns where their skin was exposed. Much like my group it seemed the captain had made a retreat after the first casualty and then faced nonstop harassment on the way here.

“Sir we need to get Kelly immediate medical care! Healing magic is a lot less effective here for some reason!”

Looking down into the water covered exit the captain said “We’ve noticed. Got any ideas on how to get through that?”

Realizing we’d need to make a mad swim through the piranha infested waters a question left my lips accidentally “What the hell is this dungeon?”