He was focusing on the traps and was surprised when Jill stopped him. She pointed further down, and Mash barely managed to identify the monsters. They looked like moving mounds of dirt from this distance, and he was surprised that Jill could make them out from here. They were larger than the lizards, but still a lot smaller than the snake from earlier. They slid along the walls, edging closer to the beasts.

Upon getting closer, Mash got a better look at the creatures. They were the size of horses but had morphed lizard heads. They had long snouts that were filled with rows of sharp teeth, and eyes along the sides of their heads. Its skin was a mix of fur patches and reptilian scales that fused together horrifically. The creature was scary in its appearance but felt so small compared to the Snake.

The snake’s power was so much more profound, and he found himself feeling disappointed at this lesser creature. He never wanted to fight the snake, but these lizard things would be far too weak. He already developed a few strategies to deal with the creatures and shared them with the others. They had all been doing similar things, and Jill had come up with the best plan.

“I think we should throw javelins; I doubt these creatures would be able to survive.”

“You jinxed us if something goes wrong now it’s your fault. “

Mash and Red groaned as they heard the words. Red elaborating on their unified reactions. She sounded offended as she spoke. Mash didn’t blame Red; Jill had basically just stepped on a trap. The creatures though didn’t seem very dangerous.

He felt no fear as he handed javelins to Jill and Luke. The monsters didn’t seem particularly fast and they should be able to kill them from this distance. They prepared for a few seconds and launched their projectiles at the creatures. One had been hit in the head, while two more were impaled by long wooden spikes. Red formed needles as well and penetrated the eyes of one of the creatures.

None of them dropped to the ground, even the one with a javelin through its head. They roared furiously and charged at them. Mash stepped forward to intercept them, he was eager to fight in melee. The lizards had required his javelins, and he found himself feeling comfortable as he held his swordstaff. His armor flared out into sharp spikes as he stepped toward the first creature. Since impaling its head didn’t work, he tried instead to cut it off entirely. His blade sunk into its thick neck but was stopped by its dense muscle.

He didn’t let go of his weapon quick enough, and he wasn’t strong enough to resist its movements. It swung its body in a half circle, sending Mash rolling across the ground. He got up in a smooth motion and watched as an enlarged Luke stopped the rest of them. The other two monsters crashed into Luke but were stopped by his transformation. He was even bigger now, his size must have been dependent on a stat. He was almost double Mash’s own height, but he was much bulkier. Luke’s scorpion tail stabbed into the one that had thrown Mash.

Red attacked one, trying to saw through it. She literally formed a saw, and it was spinning quickly as she violently hacked at the two that were blocked. Blood sprayed around her, only making the saws grow bigger. She seemed determined to cut through the body, and was venting her anger. Mash tried again to slash through its side, but to no avail. Its muscle was too dense. Jill had given up trying to kill the creatures and was aiming for their legs. She was kicking at them, aiming precisely at their joints. It was smart, and he followed her example.

He formed a new weapon and attempted to break their legs. He went for a sledgehammer and smashed at the knees of the monster that tossed him. The hammer looked more like a quarterstaff with a rock stuck at one end. The sound of breaking bones cut through the fight. He didn’t stop moving and was ready to help with the other two monsters, but they were being similarly handled. They were just lying there and screaming in agony as they couldn’t move. Mash felt the mana expand, as the creature before him bloated.

Mash screamed in warning as he tried to grow his hammer into a wall. He only managed to get out one word, before the creature exploded.

“Block!”

He yelled the word clearly. Fire exploding outwards, crashing into his half-formed shield. He managed to block his upper body, but his calves and feet were still unprotected. He didn’t have time to increase his shields length to fully protect himself.

The fire washed over the bottom of his legs, and he dropped to his knees using the shield to cover his entire body. The fire poured out along the sides of the shield too, and he was constantly forming more wood to maintain it. The heat was penetrating the air though, and he was finding it more difficult to breathe. Each lungful of air was hot and felt like it was scalding him, and he struggled to maintain his consciousness.

He didn’t know how long he had been sitting there, but each second felt like it was growing longer. When it had ended, he tried to move his legs, and realized he couldn’t move his feet. The fire had burned through his armor and pants, but his legs were still intact. It was all he would need, Red and Luke couldn’t bring back lost limbs, but could heal almost anything else. He was in pain, but it was not as excruciating as he expected, his nerves were probably damaged. Thankfully, that let him maintain his focus and persevere through the explosion. He looked towards the others, afraid of what he would see.

Red and Jill seemed mostly fine, but Luke had taken the brunt of the fire. He must have shielded them, relying on his transformation to protect him. Mash couldn’t see his scorpion tail, and his whole back was covered in deep burns. Red was already healing him, as he returned to his human form. His back was blistering and bloodied, and Mash watched as the healing seemed to undo the damage. Mash didn’t know if his tail would come back when he transformed next, but they would have to check. Mash needed to heal his own wounds and started meditating.

The meditation did little to help with the pain. At first, he was watching the healing with curiosity, seeing the burns seem to peel of his skin like a fruit. However, he stopped looking when the pain of regaining the feeling in his leg grew excruciating. It felt like he had an open nerve, and it was being pulled and stretched out. He was trying to stop himself from screaming and grit his teeth. They scraped against one another, echoing within his skull. He managed to hold back his wails though.

Mash took a while to heal his injuries on his own, but he was more worried about Luke. Luke was still unconscious, needing all of Red’s mana to partially heal the wounds. She would need multiple sessions to heal him properly. Mash and Jill traded off checking on Luke and got Red whenever a few hours had passed. They spent several hours treating the wounds and were already behind schedule. It didn’t matter though, as Luke finally managed to wake up. He coughed a little but said nothing as he began healing his own wounds. Red joined in and he started healing a lot more quickly.

They couldn’t rush the healing and needed to wait for Luke to get back to fighting shape. They could handle the creatures now, but without Luke would have to rely on Red for healing. The creatures were self-destructive, but easily disabled. They would just break the legs of a creature, before immediately running away. Mash’s shields could block the fire, so he mainly positioned himself to be able to protect anyone if necessary. Mainly Red, since she was the weakest defensively. Her blood wouldn’t work as a shield against the fire. She had tried it to protect Luke, but it ended up just boiling and splashing over Luke. It was too dangerous to use for defense.

The sun was finally lowering, but they didn’t accomplish as much as they hoped. That last fight had gotten Luke and Jill up to the same level as them, and they allocated their stats as they recovered. With all the time, Mash went to check out the corpses, but found nothing. Their bodies turned to ash under the force of the fire. They spent a few minutes talking and coming up with a better plan. They had been waiting for several hours already, and they were all eager to get moving again. He would be ready for the next pack, and they began progressing again.

They ran into another pack soon after, but this time there were only two of the horse-lizard things. They managed to kill them easily but had to pause again after disposing of them. Mash had to block each explosion draining a lot of his energy. It seemed like it took more energy to block fire, but it was the only solution that they had. Thankfully, nobody else got injured from the fights.

They ran into a few more packs and traps, everyone gaining a few levels. The next pack was too large though with almost 10 monsters in it. They came up with an easier method after the last pack and strove to use it effectively. Jill ran in and drew the monsters towards her, and then she would turn around and run back to the group. When she got close, she teleported the rest of the way.

Half the monsters were closely grouped together as they ran towards the nearest group. Mash had been standing nearby waiting to spring their trap. He let go of his control when the monsters entered the range of the trap. It was like letting in a flood, and many spikes had grown directly through the things, and it would be an effective way to kill them.

Spikes shot out of the walls, impaling the five creatures. They were riddled with holes from the traps but had still been twitching as they fell to the ground. It had worked effectively, and Mash gained another level despite not directly killing the monsters. It seemed like they were gaining levels as a group, while in the dungeons, and was glad at how quickly these new monsters had benefited them. The resulting explosion had destroyed the traps, and left Mash on low energy.

Mash meditated for a little bit to recover what he lost, while Jill baited the other group of monsters over, and they repeated the process from earlier. They broke the legs of the creature and waited for the explosions. It wasn’t particularly difficult, but he felt the rush of power as he leveled again. The monsters were beneficial for his growth, but were too risky for Mash to fight alone, instead he waited for the opportunity to make his defenses for the team.

Night fell soon after they finished the fight. It seemed like the day had ended and they were waiting to see how the dungeon would shift. Once they were out of sight of the creatures, Mash started preparing for dinner. Mash knew that his turn cooking should’ve already happened, but he wanted let Luke rest. Plus, he enjoyed cooking. Today, the mission was mostly a success and they ended up watching the moon as the day ended.

The dungeon shook beneath his feat and Mash moved his attention back towards the pathways. He watched as the darkness of night seemed to fall over the paths like a curtain. The paths seemed to be absorbed into the night. The darkness eventually consumed even where they were sitting, and it covered him completely. He investigated it and felt the familiar mana of the snake wrap around him. They didn’t hear any words but watched in awe as their little piece of the labyrinth moved through the endless possibilities. It felt like their location had been tossed into the void of space, stars zooming past their sides.

The shifting didn’t last too long and stopped abruptly. Soon after the shifting had ended, they found themselves in front of a pedestal of some kind. The room itself was made of ornate wood and had a marble pedestal at the center. The room was a circle and contained a single small item on the pedestal. Mash hadn’t been able to identify the item from just looking and got closer to use his mana sphere. There was a small key on the pedestal, but it had been almost a foot long. He didn’t know what it was for but wanted to grab it. It was not invisible but shrouded in a shadowy veil. He watched eagerly as the rest of the group made their own decisions.