Mud slowly pulled itself towards the lower half of its body, now a heap of unmoving dirt. Several chains could be seen sticking out of the lump, having been sliced off by the powerful blow.

Three health. That's how close Mud had come to death. Supposedly there were procedures in place, and actual death would be prevented. Still, the pain of failure was like an ice pick in the golem's mind. Mud was supposed to avoid damage, yet here it was nearly dead. The Master's property being split in half is completely unacceptable, even if it's Mud's own body.

Even movement felt slower, each unit forward a labor of will. Behind Mud, in the VIP viewing platform, there was hectic movement. A woman in a purple robe flew off riding on a snake of lightning. Thagi Ghul yelled a pause and postponement of the tournament, then scrambled up the arena stands like a monkey, eventually leaping over the edge of the structure and out of sight.

The priest that had tried to kill Mud looked over at the golem's helpless form for a moment. Mud felt a momentary chill of fear. It seems the priest decided against taking advantage of the moment of vulnerability and instead vanished in a burst of rainbow light.

"It seems we will finish this another day. You are saved by fortune this time." Turning, Shin left the ring and ran for the tunnel towards the exit. At this time, the other powerful individuals began likewise making their way towards the exits.

Mud finally arrived at his lower body, and focused on reabsorbing its lost mass.

Leader Ghul was a blur a he ran through the wide streets of Geltheas. At least the arena is close to the dungeon, he thought. But that will do nothing to help those who are already dead, or their families.

Rounding the corner, the dungeon entrance finally came into sight. It was chaos.

The defensive lines had been broken, soldiers scattered and fighting in disordered clumps among a wave of green and pale yellow undulating shapes. The reason for the break was immediately obvious; the tier five Worm of the Tower.

A large beast, it could only barely fit through the upper tunnels. Its body stretched to nearly twenty units. Currently, it wrapped itself around the bank building, making a full circle. Its entire body was a sickly yellow-green. On its lower half grew a number of stubby black legs, and around its head grew a ring of tentacles ending in hooked claws.

The tentacles around its head almost resembled a halo, or the flowing mane of a lion. Combined with the serpentine body, the beast was like a twisted imitation of the Yaldabaoth.

Ghul scowled. Even from a distance, the stench of human death flowed from the maw of the beast. In one of its outstretched tentacles, it clutched the corpse of a soldier; a dog-like demi-human.

By now the priest and the captain had caught up to him, the former appearing in a flash of rainbow light and the latter riding on her spell.

"You two focus on aiding and containing the breach, I'll kill the big one." They leaped into action without the need for further instruction; in matters of the dungeon, Ghul was the authority. Despite their earlier disagreement, the head priest, a man named Dicitiam, was not one to allow his personal feelings to get in the way of doing his duty.

Having finished its current meal, the Worm of the Tower moved the demi-human towards its mouth. Before the corpse could be swallowed, however, the hooked end of the tentacle holding the body was severed, sending it crashing to the stone roads below.

A shriek of rage erupted from the Worm's beak-like mouth. A trickle of blood flowed from Ghul's ear as the concussive wave rolled over him, but he ignored it and tore off another tentacle.

Finally, the Worm retaliated in earnest, dozens of hooked tentacles swiping towards Thagi's position. Ghul threw a torn off tentacle he was holding directly upward, the force of the throw pushing himself downward, just in time to dodge a swipe. So swift was the throw that an impressive booming noise was produced, staggering the beast.

Thagi deftly grabbed a passing tentacle and scampered up the length. Soon, he arrived on the beast's head.

The Worm of the Tower did not stay still during this assault. Its body tumbled and swayed, striking at the nearby buildings. Fortunately, the buildings in the area immediately surrounding the dungeon were built with suitable durability to survive strikes of this power. Less fortunate were the few soldiers who happened to be nearby; they were crushed instantly, unable to resist the sheer size and speed of the beast's flailing.

This needed to be ended as soon as possible, but killing such a massive beast was no trivial task. Even for one as powerful as Leader Ghul.

While the beast's hide was strong and resistant to damage, it was of little concern to Ghul. Even the thick chiton of a Worm of the Tower was like wet paper against his might. The greater problem was getting enough leverage for a good strike, and striking deeply enough into the body for a fatal blow. While the polearm still strapped to the Leader's back was long in terms of a human-sized opponent, against a monster of this size it was little better than his hands.

No, to get the job done swiftly it would simply need to use the more disgusting method.

Placing his hands into the beak of the beast, he tore the mouth open. Inside, sizzling white liquids flowed outward. The characteristic acid of this dungeon's inhabitants. Of course, being the one in charge of this dungeon he had taken precautions. The acid would not hinder him, but it was still stung when it got in his eyes and mouth. And the smell was horrible; it was times like this he wished he could turn off his Unique skill.

Grimacing, Ghul climbed into the mouth of the beast and began ripping apart the roof of its mouth with his gauntleted hands. Handful by handful, he threw hunks of greenish meat to the side.

Thagi could see the wound slowly closing even as he tore, so tenacious was the Worm of the Tower's healing ability. But the healing could not outpace the Leader's assault, and the wild thrashing could not dislodge him from his perch inside the mouth of the beast.

After several minutes of tunneling through the head of the monster, Ghul finally reached his destination. Breaking through the last bits of jaw flesh, he broke into a chamber of much softer material; the Worm of the Tower's brain.

A curious aspect of monster ascendancy in this dungeon was the development of this organ. In the lower tiers, the beasts had no brain, and instead seemed to act only on instinct. Destroying their heads still killed them, but for other reasons. At tier three, they began to develop an actual brain of sorts, and could even begin to learn.

As such, it was vital that Ghul clear out the lowest level of the dungeon regularly, to prevent them from becoming too intelligent. This brain made the beasts much more dangerous if left alone for extended periods of time.

In this case, however, the organ would be this monster's downfall. Spreading his arms wide, Ghul grabbed at the brain flesh as though giving it a hug. His arms tore through the soft meat with little resistance, causing a fresh set of spasms and sharp movements from the Worm. After tearing apart at the brain a few more times, it finally stopped moving, and Ghul felt his opponent tumble and strike the ground heavily.

[Experience gained: 0]

Retracing his path, Ghul tore through the regrown flesh and exited back out of the mouth of the beast. Once outside, he examined the situation.

Priest Dicitiam and guard captain Lgur had worked quickly while he was occupied. All of the escaped beasts had been killed; the majority scorched black by Lgur's lightning. A new front had been established to hold back the tide of newly appearing monsters. On one side, Dicitiam cared for the injured soldiers.

It seems the worst was over. At this time, the slower arrivals from the arena finally appeared. The prince and his group, the tamer riding his raptor, and even the construct and Cithlar's niece.

"You lot, go and wait by the dungeon entrance. We'll be doing a sweep in a moment."

Most of them appeared disturbed by the carnage on the battlefield. Even now, the corpses of several soldiers lay strewn across the grass. One girl, a rookie delver named Novus, even vomited. None of the others commented.

Everyone proceeded towards the dungeon entrance as instructed, with the exception of the prince. Instead, he surveyed the field with a troubled expression. "How could this happen? I thought this town had a perfect record."

"How could this happen?" At the comment, Ghul was overcome with rage. "It happened because of you! This is your doing, 'Your Highness'!" Stepping forward rapidly, Leader Ghul grabbed Cain by the shirt and pulled his face close to his own. "These men died because your father wanted you to look good. Take a good look around you."

Ghul waved his arm towards the surroundings. By far the most deaths were the denizens of the dungeon, but that isn't what stood out. Between the charred green corpses lay men and women, burned by acid, torn apart by claws and mandibles, and crushed by the Worm of the Tower.

A subtle indentation appeared on Ghul's neck as he held the prince. The pressure of an unseen blade on his carotid artery. Ghul released the prince, and the pressure of the blade disappeared.

Prince Cain stumbled slightly as he was released from the grip. Looking across the battlefield, his eyes lingered on the pillboxes constructed at the demand of his father.

Of course, if the wave was even worse, if even the local defenders died, wouldn't that make the stories of the prince's heroics even greater? If the city was pushed to the brink of disaster, wouldn't he be all the more wonderful for saving it? The common people would never know the truth of what happened here. It was doubtful even the delvers and soldiers gathered here now truly understood. To them, this was simply an unusually bad wave. And the legend would be passed down through generations, of the day the hero prince saved the city.