Tam was sure that something odd was going on in this backwater village that he and his team had been assigned to. Not even something bad, just odd.

Villages that tried to survive outside of Iruvel’s borders simply didn’t make it, at least the ones he’d ever heard of. Being outside the borders meant you didn’t have access to the kingdom’s Dungeons, and not having access to the Dungeons meant you didn’t have access to the functions and materials they provided.

Normally this wouldn’t matter as much, the average human could survive as long as they had large enough numbers and managed to form a settlement of some sort with defenses and farms and things like that. Tam was hardly an expert on agriculture or village building, but it didn’t seem like it would be that hard.

No, the primary problem encountered was the fact that monsters existed. Not in quantities great enough to level someone up consistently, but plenty enough to be a threat to anyone who tries to settle a land without clearing them out regularly. Wolves, already the bane of farmer’s existence, would occasionally take in mana and mutate into a more monstrous form. Snakes, insects, it didn’t matter what kind of life it was, it could become a monster of some sort that easily threatened an entire village.

He and his team had met Dutch, and the old man was strong. Much stronger than them, but he was also old, and was strong long before he crossed the mountain pass and joined Home. The problem was, any other adventurers the village managed to field, while decent, were all also just as old as Dutch, if not more so.

Those that reached higher levels, especially those with higher amounts of vitality, often led significantly longer lives. That was the only thing that Tam could think of that explained how Home wasn’t just a burned out, smoking carcass with a large number of dead townsfolk marring the countryside.

From the small history lesson they’d been given, Home had been around for nearly 50 years.

Time enough for any adventurers they might have had to grow old, and the older ones that helped establish the town to die out. It was an interesting train of thought, if only because it wasn’t sustainable, and the town likely wouldn’t have made it another 30 years if Iruvel hadn’t apparently decided to begin expansion across the mountains.

The Adventurer’s Guild had sent them as a ‘scouting party’ though he hesitated to call it even that. They mostly wanted to know that Home was still standing (A caravan came through every once in a while, but it could be years of waiting for one of those) and to receive an update on the village and surrounding lands.

Sterick, the ranger of their party, had been sent to scout out the forest and surrounding area, which had led to a rather astounding revelation. There had been signs of someone, or apparently something, that had been hunting to the south of Home, past the graveyard and in a couple mile-wide radius.

Apparently it was an accident that he had discovered it to begin with, but it was that accident that led to them learning about the nascent Dungeon that had spontaneously appeared in the aforementioned graveyard.

When he had asked why in the gods' name they hadn’t mentioned it, every villager he’d spoken to had simply said ‘Dutch had it under control’, or something very similar. At first, Tam could scarcely believe it. After all, leaving a Dungeon to grow unimpeded was a recipe for disaster. Even with their departure from Iruvel proper, did they not remember the tales told of Barrowton? Or Felren?

One was now a high leveled Dungeon that only allowed in mid to high Gold-Tiers at the lowest due to its uncontrolled growth. Iruvel wouldn’t have even known of its existence if it hadn’t had a Dungeon Rampage. The sudden wealth of high leveled monsters, towering flame elementals and rampaging magma slimes had alerted the kingdom and the guild to the Dungeon’s presence, but the town was a total loss.

They’d managed to get it under control and kept it from growing any further, but the risk was ever present of something going completely and utterly wrong, so it received regular visits from Iruvel’s Grand Mage.

Felren had occurred shortly thereafter. Yet another Dungeon the town felt they didn’t need to report, except this one remembered it could build up when said town was directly above it. Naturally the presence of humans prevented it from actually building anything on its new ‘floor’ but its possession of the entire town's ground meant it could just as easily cause cave-ins and started dropping every single structure into a yawning abyss, where death waited for the townsfolk who survived the landing.

Letting Dungeons go was just a bad idea, no matter how competent Home’s adventurers were.

So naturally, his team was forced to go inside and check it out.

He told Sterick to stop his explorations for a time and gathered Anya and Tullius, their cleric and mage, respectively. Iruvel was a predominantly human nation, and though he naturally felt that humans were the best that didn’t mean he thought everyone else didn’t also have a place in the world. Dwarves and elves were the next most common races seen, though they tended to stick to the lands they owned and adventured out only when they needed to. The Dungeons were a common place to see a larger variety of races, as everyone wanted adventurers.

In fact, that’s how they’d all met Anya. The three humans, himself, Sterick and Tullius, were recent friends and had decided to form a party. The following day they found Anya twiddling her thumbs outside the beginners Dungeon, looking utterly lost. Tam wasn’t one for charity, but he’d extended a helping hand and things had actually turned out. Anya’s support was no joke, and her offensive capability was equally potent when she called upon her god’s favor.

As a follower of Nor, the goddess of rebirth, timely endings, and new life, the common patron of many other elves as well, she was blessed with a wealth of tools to bolster their stats or to inflict damage upon their foes.

If what he’d heard of the Dungeon from Dutch was true, and he had no reason to doubt the seasoned adventurer, then her abilities would be one of their biggest boons. That, and Tullius’s tendency towards pyromania, but that was a personality thing rather than an actual power thing.

After they’d all assembled, they marched forth to the graveyard and after some preparation, entered the vestibule of the Dungeon. Tam’s sword and shield were ready, though entrances to Dungeons were never allowed to be dangerous, he preferred to follow his instructor’s wisdom. If one was always wary then it wouldn’t be a surprise that killed them, but their lack of ability, and that was something that could be trained.

The others were suitably alert, and Tam allowed them to separate and explore the initial room once they’d cleared it and checked it over. The signs were interesting, and the Rules even moreso. While they had in their possession the tools required to prevent a Dungeon from growing any further, despite the doubt they’d be needed originally, it wasn’t as simple as walking straight to the core and performing the ritual and setting up the items needed to give them some breathing room.

Instead they would have to explore the Dungeon, learn its tricks and once they had it down, they would do a core run where they could maintain a Dungeon dampener until a more advanced Dungeon management team could arrive. Which meant they would be following this ‘Rule 2’ for now.

Anya looked uncomfortable when he mentioned the plan, but he was confident she understood why they had to do such a thing. The danger was… Immense, if left alone.

Dutch had reported on what each room contained, and as such he knew that they only really cared about the primary entrance under the sign that read ‘Where Evil Dwells’.

They poked their heads into the others for good measure, and though the kitchens creeped him out they didn’t find anything truly noteworthy. Dungeons often grew things inside of themselves and tried to make things to arm their monsters, though the effectiveness of the practice was questionable.

Some hyper-focused older Dungeons actually got to the point their crafters were worth bargaining with, as it wasn’t like someone could threaten the crafters into making them something. Death wasn’t something they feared.

They moved on to the primary entrance and cracked the door. Anya immediately was able to confirm the presence of the undead. “I can feel the Death-Aligned mana, though it's harder to tell with the diffusion of Life-Aligned mana also permeating the air… but there's enough that there should be primarily undead ahead, like Dutch warned us of.”

Tam nodded and prepared himself. “Then let's go. This Dungeon only has 2 completed floors; the undead should mostly be the basic units. You know the rules though, if we see anything that looks like a death knight, vampire, any kind of lich, or higher tier, thinking undead, we need to get the hell out. Even if you’re the only one left, just save yourself. If this Dungeon is farther ahead than Dutch reported and is at that level, we need to get the word out. Don’t forget our duty.”

Sterick and Tullius nodded grimly, and though Anya nodded she looked distracted. Tam didn’t push her on it, as the presence of mana aligned with her god’s alignment wasn’t overly frequent. Any Dungeon that grew any sort of greenery or spawned basic undead units required either Life or Death aligned mana, but normally it was in smaller amounts.

Tam wasn’t actually particularly worried about higher tier undead appearing, as there was only ever one Dungeon in existence to have ever featured any, and it was one with a particularly long and bloodied history, and eventually was actually destroyed due to difficulties controlling it.

The undead were simply one of the many tools it had used to kill adventurers, however, so it was less the type of monster and more what it meant the Dungeon had done to get them was the warning they represented.

It was always good to be prepared, however.

The first room they encountered was cleared fairly easily. Mere skeletons and zombies, completely unupgraded, and too slow and clumsy to do anything more than be an annoyance. Even in great numbers, as long as they had room to maneuver, they could handle them. The ghouls were more dangerous, but they were called out by Sterick and incinerated by Tullius before they could get too close.

They passed several tombs or coffins along the way, and though he watched them closely, nothing ever emerged or even so much as twitched.

The second room was more of a swamp, and if he was honest the sucking mud was more of an annoyance than the basic units in there. The strategy was much the same, except they were forced to make a stand at the highest point of the room since trying to move about while fighting in the conditions present was tactical suicide.

They had mostly cleared out the chaff after about a minute when the floating longsword appeared. “Cursed sword! Cover Anya while she takes care of it!”

The group of Silver-Tiers quickly reoriented so Anya could see the sword, but was protected from the stragglers remaining in the room. Cursed swords were particularly dangerous because simply trying to bludgeon them or cut them to death was folly - a higher tier adventurer could with ease, but at Silver-Tier Tam lacked the raw strength to do so. His rather plain sword also likely wouldn’t survive the encounter.

Instead, their best option was to allow Anya to burn it with holy magic. Which is what she did - a brief chant followed by her pointing the staff in her hands and a lance of holy flames was called from the ‘sky’. The god’s blessings could reach anywhere, and a lack of actual sky meant nothing to them.

The sword briefly resisted the attack until it was overwhelmed by holy wrath, and fell to the muddy ground in a steaming, twisted wreck that swiftly disappeared into motes of mana.

The final few enemies were slain and they took a moment to recover. “Nobody injured? Anything anybody noted before we move on to the boss room?”

Sterick shook his head. Tullius made a small note of the mobs they’d seen. “The monsters so far fit with a brand new Dungeon using whatever monsters it thinks will work best. Once it gets more experienced and an actual specialization, I'm guessing we’ll see other types of mobs appear.”

Undead types of mobs required a really high level of Death-Alignment to actually go anywhere noteworthy, and new Dungeons simply used whatever monsters they had available. Lower tier undead were common to see throughout many Dungeons, and as such it wasn’t particularly concerning yet.

Anya still looked distracted, but it hadn’t affected her performance so he left it alone for now.

They crossed into the next room, and faced a large, strong-looking ghoul. “That beasty is definitely upgraded and with the floor boss boost it’ll be no joke. Be careful, everyone.” Sterick was usually pretty good at identifying monster’s weak points and pointing them out, so if he hadn’t mentioned anything then it likely wasn’t going to be a much different fight than usual.

Tam stepped forward and engaged his taunt skill, ensuring the monster attacked him exclusively. It didn’t work on the higher tier, thinking monsters, but against the baser creatures it helped a lot, which covered basically everything the Silver-Tiers were allowed to fight.

The ghoul roared a challenge, and a phantom wind stirred the sands that lightly covered the floor for some reason. Small eddies swirled back and forth, but otherwise didn’t do much. Maybe it was supposed to reduce their grip on the floor? Tam was extra careful with his steps just to be safe.

A clawed hand slammed into Tam’s shield, and he was impressed by its strength, it was certainly higher than he expected. The incredibly quick follow up was more than he was prepared for, however, a clawed hand gripped his sword arm and tossed him aside like a child’s doll they were done with.

He wasn’t scratched, thank the gods, but his teammates were wide open.

Sterick was trained in more than archery, for just such a scenario, and drew his sword and dagger. He stepped between the boss and his teammates, presenting his steel as a deterrent for the ghoul.

The undead seemed to appraise him for a moment, before approaching in the odd, shuffling gait some of the quicker undead had, and made an overhand strike. Sterick crossed his blades, forcing the monster to abort its strike or risk losing its hand. In its moment of delay, the ranger planted his boot into its chest and forced it back several steps.

His defense had allowed enough time for Tam to reorient himself and get back into position. Instead of Sterick re-equipping his bow, he remained by Tam’s side with his sword and dagger in hand. “Switch to the normal single target strategy, everyone. Keep it together, we got this!”

When one had three ranged members in a party, it was important to have a plan for when all three couldn’t actually attack at once for risk of hitting their other members. They had practiced for this, however, and prepared for the change in tactics. Tam engaged the ghoul, and Sterick moved to strike from the opposite side. They weren’t perfectly opposite each other, instead they remained closer to their teammates to prevent the ghoul from just rushing them instead.

Ideally, this positioning meant that the monster would stay engaged with either Tam or Sterick, and be distracted by their flanking maneuver, allowing either the mage or the cleric, preferably both, to strike it with impunity.

For the next nearly five minutes, the monster danced between their strikes and spells, looking like he was simply flowing around their attempts rather than the jerky movements most undead operated with.

It was concerning, but all floor bosses usually had some quirk to them that made them unique. A more graceful undead was odd, but not totally unexpected.

Anya proved to be the clincher for them yet again, as her buffs supported them, healed any damage they took, and the few times she landed a holy spell dealt significant damage to the beast.

It took them the better part of 10 minutes, but they emerged victorious over the first floor boss. It had been more challenging than most of the other floor bosses they’d fought in the Silver-Tier approved Dungeons, but that wasn’t saying much.

Their attacks and defense hadn’t exactly been perfect either. The ghoul had managed to get free of both Sterick and Tam multiple times, and right near the end Tullius had been struck and paralyzed in short order, due to lacking any and all armor to stop the claws from digging into him.

They had held the line, however, and emerged the winners.

Still, they decided to leave afterwards to rest and recuperate. Learn from their mistakes, come back again later and do it all again.

The following two weeks were filled with nothing but Dungeon delving for the Silver-Tiers. Dutch appeared concerned when they recounted their first experience with the Dungeon, but didn’t explain what exactly he was worried about.

As time passed they grew better and better at swiftly eliminating the basic undead, learning more and adapting to the environments presented.

They cut their teeth on the second floor for a long time, after learning how to deal with the first floor boss without injury (most of the time). It was scary smart, and actually adapted to their strategies if they tried to use the same one too many times in a row, which was normally a red flag but not something that Tam felt was a terrible sign. The first floor boss was unnaturally tough compared to most others, but the Dungeons did get lucky sometimes with their upgrades to their monsters.

This one was likely just something along those lines.

The long crypt rooms and dense fog took a long time for them to work their way through, as the upgraded enemies meant they had to be even more careful to ensure their run wasn’t cut short. Yes, the Dungeon wouldn’t try to kill them, but that didn’t mean a fireball wouldn’t put someone out of commission for a while as it healed, even with Anya’s assistance.

Tam still expected something to pop out of the coffins and tombs they passed by, but throughout their many delves nothing had occurred, but his instructor’s warning ensured he never truly dismissed them.

Shortly after their first week in Home, they finally reached what looked like a natural cave system, though they obviously knew better, and ran into another incredibly annoying problem.

The Dungeon had added multiple entrances and exits to the room, allowing them to think they were going the right way while actually just dumping them out right back to where they started, and they didn’t know any better because each room looked remarkably similar. Of course, the inability to see more than 10 feet in any direction thanks to the fog didn’t help.

They eventually learned the correct paths to take, and simply trusted their sense of direction to get them to the right entrance from memory. When they finally, finally managed to get past the cave system, they encountered their most difficult challenge yet.

The Battlefield. Tam had no other word with which to describe it, as it was a large, open field. A false sun pierced their eyes, forcing them to squint and block it out with their hands. Lines upon lines of upgraded units faced them, and a small defensive outcrop sat in front of them to use.

“I suspect the three of you are going to get quite the workout here, my friends. I will guard you as best I can…” The others all nodded their assent and held grim looks in their eyes, but they prepared as best they could. Anya buffed them, Sterick checked his arrows and prepared his specially made ones, and Tullius got his reagents and spellbook into optimal positions.

Then, they fought for their lives.

They hunkered down and only popped up to snipe or smite down another undead that had begun advancing on their position, ducking to avoid returning spellfire and projectiles.

Throughout their many attempts at the Battlefield, Tam watched and waited for something unexpected to happen… But it never did. The ‘army’ simply marched on their position and attempted to overrun them. They started from just far enough away that their own ranged folk could take out most of them, and though he had to stay close to the ground to avoid the hail of arrows and magic bolts that rained down on them, Tam was able to defend his group from the rest.

The Battlefield presented the first time they actually needed Rule 2 to make it out alive. The first time they tried they would have surely perished under the onslaught, unprepared as they were.

Luckily the moment someone was down on the ground and the fight had left them because of their wounds or because they were simply surrounded, the undead simply stopped and let them get up. Their vacant, empty eyes would watch them until they left the room, but otherwise did nothing to prevent them from healing up and departing. He suspected if they tried to restart their delving from that point, it would be breaking the spirit of the Rule, and if there was one thing that simply wasn’t done, it was mess with the Rules.

Nothing ever good came about because of that.

But nearly two weeks after they had arrived, they finally beat it and actually made it through relatively unscathed. The few burns and scratches they’d accrued were healed by Anya, and they made their way to what was undoubtedly the second floor boss. Theoretically the core was shortly past it, and following the rule they could at least look at it and see where it was, if nothing else. The Dungeon likely had made some changes to its third floor as well though, so it might be down there now.

They took a brief rest, grabbed a snack or two and took a swig from the waterskin. Then, the Silver-Tiers marched into the second floor boss room.

The room was decently sized, and lined with flickering torches, casting shadows that danced and ebbed across the ground. They would easily have enough room to spread out and cover each other, but the boss hadn’t actually appeared yet, so he didn’t know what to expect.

Carvings littered the walls, random things that depicted a wide variety of scenes and art. Several depicted the sun being swallowed, which seemed a little odd without context. Others featured a skeletal figure with a massive blade that, if he understood the art correctly, was illuminating or shining light upon other beings as they raised their hands to block the light.

Other even stranger pieces littered the wall, but didn’t help him determine what they would be facing at all.

A slightly raised dais on the far side of the room suddenly lit up, drawing all of their attention to it. Light bent in strange ways as a figure formed from thin air, the distortions increasing until they snapped back, fully revealing the boss they’d come to fight.

It looked like a wraith, but not one like the drawings he’d been shown, nor the exact description from other, older adventurers. The one thing they always noted were the glowing red eyes, the strength of that glow normally indicating the strength of the wraith.

Instead it had two blazing eyes of gray light that flickered and undulated like a living flame, set inside the hood of its cloak which was pure black. Despite the initial distortions finishing and vanishing, the light still seemed to actively bend around the creature’s presence, giving it an eerie look. A truly massive sword floated behind it, its coloration split perfectly in half between silver and black. Each side emanated its own glow, one red and the other gold, and it was all the more ominous for it.

“Thoughts, Sterick?” The ranger was perhaps the only one in their party who had done more research into monster types and Dungeon lore than Tam.

“None, other than be extremely careful. Tullius, Anya, what about you?” Neither had any further insights into the beast.

So, they did what they needed to, and fought.

In the chamber echoed the clash of steel and the twang of arrows, the shouted words to a cast spell and the grunts of exertion. The most disturbing part of the entire fight for Tam was the utter lack of sound the strange wraith made, its gray, gleaming eyes tracking each of them perfectly. Its sword certainly made noise, but the wraith itself was utterly silent, its footsteps resulting in nothing and the movement of its cloak lacking a single rustle.

The sputtering torches were louder than it, by the gods.

Then, to their amazed horror, they learned of what made the creature so special.

Anya landed a perfect holy fire, and Tam expected a significant amount of damage to be dealt by that, which for some reason the strange creature didn’t even try to dodge. His internal confusion was answered when the light faded, and the perfectly unharmed and seemingly amused wraith came at him again.

The cleric's buffs prevented the worst of the necrotic damage the sword caused, even through shield contact, but when it switched sides and swung the silver edge towards him and he felt the sting of holy energy burning him, he realized they were in trouble. He pulled back and received a quick heal from Anya, just enough to take the edge off, and jumped back into the fray.

To his great surprise, they were actually able to beat the strange hybrid monster on their first try. It didn’t move particularly fast, it telegraphed its attack quite clearly, and it didn’t indicate it had the usual ability of wraiths to phase through walls or even have any extra monsters to aid it.

Now that Tam thought about it, neither had the first ghoul boss, which was odd, but they were each uniquely strong, so maybe that was fair.

In fact it was primarily Tullius who helped beat the fiend they faced, though it took a significant amount of effort and would have rendered him useless for the rest of the Dungeon if they were to continue on after.

Their mage’s fire spells didn’t do overly much to the wraith, but when he began using ‘bombs’ of force energy to smash it into the ground, that did more. It also allowed Sterick and Tam to get in there and hack off one of its arms, which despite its ethereal nature, remained cut off afterwards.

The actual casting of the spell by Tullius wasn’t exactly difficult, but charging it with enough energy to affect the boss was challenging. Doing it enough times eventually netted them a victory, but with a totally dry mage who was risking mana-sickness if he drank any more potions.

They found the core, still sitting in the room behind the second floor boss room, verified its position, and left.

Home’s only inn was where they stayed, so they returned there and decided to conclude their plan the following day before the final boss changed its strategy on them.

Anya approached him before the night was over, while they sat and recuperated from their earlier exertions. “Tam, I’m a little concerned about the Dungeon.”

“Well of course, that’s why we’re here and fixing the problem!” She shook her head.

“No, that’s not what I mean. After spending enough time in there, I think I’ve finally figured out why the alignment of mana in there felt off from the start.” That was good, as Tam had noticed Anya’s concerns and strange looks while they were in the Dungeon. He simply gestured for her to continue, taking a drink from the better than he expected ale provided by the locals.

“The undead emanate Death-Aligned mana, regardless of the alignment of the Dungeon, and we thought it was young enough that it likely hadn’t chosen any particular direction to go in yet. But after seeing the second floor boss, I’m even more convinced I’m right… The Dungeon has enough of both types of aligned mana flowing through it that it could be both Life or Death-Aligned, and the presence of the undead monsters indicates the second.”

Tam considered her thoughts, and couldn’t help but agree with them at least somewhat. He wasn’t sensitive enough to detect mana at all, unless it was in vast, overwhelming quantities, and thus far Anya had proven quite capable.

“That is very concerning. But that doesn’t change what we need to do. We know how to clear each floor, we know how to defeat the last boss, and we know where the core is. If we don’t do this now, then the…” He leaned in closer to whisper so he didn’t offend the few other patrons, “rather ignorant locals won’t all be like lambs to the slaughter when the Dungeon grows tired of growing downward.”

Anya snorted briefly. “Elves deal with Dungeon’s differently, but I understand all the same. Doesn’t the fact it's providing training to the locals imply it's not necessarily about to snap and start spewing undead creatures forth? Most young Dungeons never display that level of thought.” Tam nodded, but knew what they had to do. The risk was too great.

“I agree it's rather amazing, but it's not like we’re going to destroy it. Just keep it contained till someone better prepared to actually handle it arrives, then it can be allowed to grow more and continue helping out. The risk is simply too high to not do something.”

Anya nodded. “Of course. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

She departed and headed to her room. Tam stood to do the same. “Come on Sterick, Tullius, we all need a good night's sleep before we do this. No more drinking for you, either, Sterick.” He smacked his old friend upside the head before heading up himself.

Something that had always worried Tam when he first started a team was, to be totally frank, managing his team members. He’d never even necessarily wanted to lead, and liked to believe he was a laid back individual most of the time. Copper-Tiers were, more often than not, hand-held the entire way until they graduated and became Silver-Tiers. It was at that point they began forming their own teams and were actually able to do things on their own.

So when teams began to form, before he met Tullius or learned Sterick had followed in his footsteps, he was very worried after hearing some of the stories older, experienced adventurers had told him, about stronger Silver-Tiers taking advantage of their weaker (or even equally strong) members. It wasn’t common, but the fact it happened at all disgusted Tam.

He wasn’t worried about his teammates (or himself) specifically when Anya had joined, but that concern had become rooted deep inside and he feared introducing a female into their team, especially an elf, a race of natural beauties, would somehow ruin things.

Luckily his friends were all mature individuals and as things turned out, he had nothing to fear.

With faith in his friends and their new, yet undeniably reliable, cleric, they would push through the challenges they would face and help keep Home safe.

When they entered the Dungeon the next day, the very air itself felt like it was charged, an electric tension causing the hairs of his arm to stand on end. An aura of danger practically exuded from the gaping maw that was the entrance, and each step deeper inside felt like a step into his own grave.

Tam chalked it up to his rampant nerves, knowing that any and all leniency the Dungeon had given them to date was about to dry up in the blink of an eye. They approached the Rules board.

He felt it was disrespectful to do any less, so he announced their presence loudly. “Dungeon, we are here to ensure you are not allowed to harm any innocent people through our own inaction. We accept Rule One.”

The entrance to the depths of the Dungeon slammed open, and a musty wind brushed past them and he felt something focus on him, the first time he’d ever felt something even remotely like this - a crushing weight, bearing down on him, emanating a sense of… Sadness?

To their confusion, a figure emerged from the entrance they planned on going through. Tam realized it was a woman, dressed in a worn-looking blue robe with various attempted patches sewn on, with a shock of red hair traveling down her back. It was the monstrosity that followed her, however, that truly shocked them into silence.

It, at first glance, was a stocky, 4-legged creature with a long tail stretching into the darkness behind it with a solid stance and wide feet with odd, multi-segmented limbs comprised of numerous bones. His attention was drawn from its body and limbs and odd composition to the five heads that emerged from its ‘neck’, each with what looked remarkably like a monstrous wolf’s skull serving as a head.

They each swayed with independent motion, one separate head each watching each of their party members, and the last sweeping its gaze across the entire room, their vacant eyes somehow radiating an unexpected level of intelligence. Tam finally realized he should probably speak. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

The woman simply smiled, a small, weathered thing, before speaking. “We do not wish to kill you, adventurers. This fight is not one you can win. Turn back now, while you still can. We will happily accept you if you follow any of the other Rules… But don’t throw away your lives like this, please.”

Tam glanced at his companions, and Anya specifically looked quite intrigued, but he firmed his resolve. They needed to do this to protect Home. “I’m afraid that isn’t an option, miss. For the safety of everyone nearby, and those who will follow us in the future, we must stop this Dungeon from growing until someone can come from Iruvel to manage it.”

The young woman looked at them beseechingly. “The Dungeon saved me, it doesn’t want to harm anyone except those that wish to harm it. It doesn’t want to kill you, but it will if you try and advance. Please, please listen to me. Don’t throw away your lives like this.”

Anya turned towards him. “Tam, we’ve never seen that thing before and this changes things. We need to reevaluate and figure out a new plan!” The words were practically hissed at him, though if the Dungeon was listening it probably didn’t matter.

The presence that bore down on them shifted slightly, and now he felt only expectation, and a certain weariness.

Tam normally would agree, but he’d grown up in Iruvel and had the damage Dungeon’s could do if unmanaged his entire life. It was practically the kingdom’s mantra - uncontrolled Dungeon’s lead to death and despair. Enough survivors lived through the few that had broken free or caused so much mayhem on their own they would go down in legend, and the stories were true.

Dungeon’s simply couldn’t be allowed to grow freely. The risk was far too great.

“We cannot turn back now… If we do, and it turns out we were the ones who allowed a Dungeon Rampage to happen and all these people lose their lives… I could never forgive myself. We must do this.”

Tullius and Sterick appeared to agree with him and braced themselves, preparing for whatever may come. Anya still looked unsure, but didn’t seem like she wanted to just leave them, which was enough for Tam. The Dungeon tried to kill all who entered its depths, so she would fight all the same if she followed them in. The woman who had emerged from the Dungeon simply sighed.

“So be it. Despite your idiocy, I will pray for your souls, and that you find whatever afterlife you wish to go to.” With that, she turned away and marched deeper into the Dungeon. Tam was almost tempted to try and grab her, to demand more answers and figure out what in the hells she meant, but the massive creature remained standing there, bones rattling in an ominous rumble until she was completely gone. After a few moments it too turned around and disappeared into the darkened room beyond.

“Remember, people, this is for the good of everyone. The Dungeon can’t have changed too much, so just keep an eye out. I have no doubt it will be even more challenging, but we know most of these fights and areas. Remember what we’ve learned, and we’ll pull through.”

The next two rooms were a slog. Sterick had immediately gained a large gash on his leg, nearly hamstringing him, when the ghosts appeared for the first time. They were then forced to spend nearly 30 minutes in the first room alone, dealing with the highly aggressive mobs and ensuring the ghosts didn’t kill someone with an unexpected strike.

Despite the setback, Tam was still confident they could clear the Dungeon. Ghosts were challenging, but not impossible with a well-prepared cleric at hand.

The second room was even more challenging, but they pulled through with only minor injuries and entered the bosses chamber.

The ghoul stood before them, patiently watching, waiting for them to move. They rested for a moment, and prepared to enter combat. The ghoul had become fairly easy as they’d gained practice against it, and even if something had changed, they had handled worse before.

What he didn’t expect, however, was for it to talk to them. It’s voice was dry and raspy, and sounded more like a growl than a normal talking tone, but it was understandable nonetheless.

“I am Biyaban. Welcome to my chamber.”

That was Tam’s first warning that something was incredibly wrong.

“I have fought you all many times. You are all far too weak to truly face me. I do not wish to include in my legend the slaughter of the undeserving, so turn back now please.”

The second was the fact that the first floor boss was speaking. Intelligent monsters were a sign of a highly advanced Dungeon. Not one with two and a half floors.

“Well? Go on, little children. Come back when you are at least Gold-Tier, and we will have a true match. Then, you will be a worthy addition to my legend. I will carve your noble sacrifice into these walls, that all might remember your valiant fight. But this will not be that, and I have no desire for it. Go.”

Anya was tugging on his sleeve. “We should really listen, Tam!”

But Tam, despite his otherwise friendly and optimistic demeanor, was stubborn to the bone. This helped him grow as an adventurer and helped him develop his team. That stubbornness, in combination with his adamant belief that uncontrolled Dungeons were some of the most dangerous things in existence, would prove to be his undoing.

He rushed forward, confident the others would support him, grim determination etched into his features. Biyaban simply stood there, waving back and forth as though swaying along to an invisible breeze. His sword bit into the floor boss and cleaved through it, spraying sand from its mortal wound.

Sand?

The false figure of the boss collapsed into a pile of the material that covered the ground, and a sudden agonized yell pulled his attention away. Tullius was being lifted into the air, single handedly, his stomach pierced by all five claws of the ghoul as it casually killed one of his friends.

Tam let out a yell of anger and frustration and used his taunt skill to try and save Tullius. “My instincts already scream to me, crying out for me to slaughter you where you stand, human. You think I need more reason to kill you? So be it.”

Biyaban’s other hand clasped the mage's arm and bodily threw him into Sterick, who had been frozen with indecision as shooting would endanger Tullius. Something could be heard snapping, and Tam couldn’t tell who was hurt worse. He did the only thing he could, which was furiously charge the monster hurting his friends with a wordless yell.

“I tried to warn you. You have accepted your fate. Prepare yourself.”

Tam learned that Biyaban had been holding back significantly before. A Gold-Tier could likely keep up with him, but Tam was without support. Anya seemed to be in shock, and both Tullius and Sterick were groaning on the floor in pain. Tullius was also likely totally out of the fight, if the stomach wound wasn’t enough the paraytics delivered by the monster’s claws would ensure he couldn’t move.

Claws flashed around him and his shield rang as he blocked what he had to, deflected what he could, and tried to survive what he couldn’t. The ghouls fetid breath and rotted fangs were mere inches from his face at one point, and it was all he could do to not gag at the smell or the sight of its flesh peeling from its face, various patches simply rotted away leaving an actual hole revealing the monster’s skull or teeth.

They parted, and Tam’s arms felt like they were about to fall off. Offense simply wasn’t an option and his sword became another tool he used to deflect or deter attacks. They danced for a while, but he grew more and more weary and Biyaban simply seemed to be an endless well of energy.

Which made sense, being an undead fueled by Dungeon mana.

As the fight neared its end, Tam realized he was going to die. And it was going to be entirely his own fault.

But there was nothing he could do to change that now. Tullius was likely already dying, if not already dead, and Sterick would be shortly thereafter. Anya really was the smartest of them all, in the end.

The elf’s expression of complete shock was the last thing Tam saw before a pair of long, razor-sharp, terrible claws managed to knock his sword aside and plunge into his throat, and he knew no more.

Anya panicked. The boss - Biyaban, as he’d called himself - he just killed Tam. She never had the chance to even process that fact before the ghoul appeared above Sterick and Tullius and swiftly ended their lives as well.

In her stunned state, she couldn’t help but note that Biyaban looked absolutely disgusted - as much as its face was capable of, anyway. She had no more time to think as the creature, finished with the entirety of her party, appeared before her. The young elf stared at the monster before he, blood dripping from its claws as it stared at her.

Preparing herself for her end and to see the ethereal skies of Nor’s Shaded Grove, Anya was not at all expecting the creature to crouch down so it was nearly at eye level with her where she’d fallen onto her butt.

“You tried your best to warn them, didn’t you?”

She nodded dumbly.

“Tell me, little elf. Do you want to live?”

Uncertain as to what she was hearing, she nodded again, hoping against hope.

“Then leave this place. Warn the others. If you come back and continue to use the Rules appropriately, you will be welcomed back with open arms. We do not seek your death, but we cannot allow the Dungeon to come to harm. Do not interfere with us, and we will help you. It is simple, really. Do you understand?”

Anya nodded again.

“Good. Then leave this place.”

She stood on shaky legs, leaning on her staff to support herself, and summoned her bravery for one last thing.

“Wait!”

Biyaban, who had turned to begin dragging the other’s bodies away, faced her again, its yellow, decayed eyes boring into her.

“What is it you want, little elf?”

Though her courage fled her immediately at the sight of those sickening eyes, she spoke anyway.

“That girl… What is going on with her? I could tell she wasn’t a Dungeon monster…”

The ghoul pondered her for a moment.

“I will say this, elf. Take it as you will. Not all monsters.” He gestured to himself. “Wear a hideous skin and a twisted appearance. Not all monsters live in Dungeons or in the wilderness. Remember that, elf, and it might save your life someday.”

His piece said, Biyaban turned and continued dragging the bodies away. She didn’t dare ask to have them back, not after what she’d just seen.

Anya fled, never looking back. On the edges of her vision, she saw skeletons and zombies that had already respawned simply milling about, utterly ignoring her. She burst from the exit of the Dungeon and sucked in the crisp, morning air, the intense sensations of fear, worry, trauma, and everything that had just occurred, sending the young elf to her knees.

She sat there a few moments, simply trying to process what had just happened, until a shadow large enough to completely cover her blocked the sun. Anya looked up to see Dutch, lightly panting, looking as though he’d ran quite fast, knelt down to bring himself closer to her level.

“I came as soon as the barkeep told me what he’d heard. It seems I was too late. The others didn’t make it?”

Anya could only shake her head. “How far did you make it?”

Although it took some time, she managed to recover her breath enough to speak. “B-before, we managed to make it to the core. T-this time… T-t-this time Biyaban… Stopped us.”

Dutch let out a long sigh. “I’m not surprised. That ghoul is far scarier than they have any right to be. I’m terribly sorry for your loss, girl. How did you get away?”

Anya glanced at his eyes, but saw no judgment there, just curiosity.

“I argued… I argued that after being warned, that we should turn back. The Dungeon knew we were going to try and control its core, so it sent a human messenger to tell us to flee. Tam didn’t listen.”

Dutch nodded, rubbing a hand through his beard. “I see. And how did you escape the boss room?”

Boss rooms are locked until the boss is defeated, or some specific requirement is met.

“He let me go. He knew I tried to convince Tam to turn back and change his mind… And he told me to warn the others. That even I was welcome back if I followed the Rules… And that not all monsters look like one.”

Dutch grimaced. “Well, while that’s an odd piece of advice, it is definitely true. You always have to be careful, girl. Though I’m sorry that you had to go through this. It sounds like you did everything you could, so don’t blame yourself for this. Iruvel believes very strongly in how Dungeons should be handled, and it can be quite hard to change how people think after being trained a certain way their entire lives.”

He shook his head. “But that doesn’t matter now. Let me help you get back to Home, we’ll get you something warm to drink and some company. Kurell is our elder, but he's also a good friend of mine. You’ll feel better after talking to him, trust me.”

With that, they marched back to town, and over the next weeks Anya would find herself coming back to visit the Dungeon despite her traumatic memories.

I was far more upset that the adventurers had forced me to kill them than the fact I actually killed someone. Self-defense was simple and clear cut, but… Watching someone who was, from what I could tell, a good, decent person who was just doing what they thought was right effectively commit suicide, infuriated me far more than the actual act of killing them. Granted, I didn’t do anything, I simply let Biyaban loose.

The point still stands, and I’m fucking mad.

But I’ve grown a lot in the past two weeks, and I’ve learned even more. If what I heard from the mutterings of the adventurers while they were delving my Dungeon was true, then I need to prepare further. The same kingdom that raised these control-oriented young adventurers is now also coming to Home.

Which means I'll be dealing with situations just like this, inevitably.

While I can't find it in myself to be incredibly upset about defending myself, how long could I keep this up? Until my walls and floors are drenched in an ocean of blood? Until the bodies of adventurers are piled atop one another high enough to touch the ceiling?

Though I'm ok right now, I can't help but wonder when I'll reach a breaking point. Maybe I'll just stop caring about human life someday, rather than continue to feel.

Heh, seems like I need to be a bit more like Biyaban. I'll need to carve out my legend and make it abundantly clear that if you play by the rules, you'll grow and succeed. Don't, and suffer the consequences.

Time to get started.