“Don’t ease up, almost there,” Rhen said from behind Olliat.

Flecks of stone pelted her leather apron and metal face shield as she punched away at the stone with her hand drill. The flecks turned to sparks and Rhen tapped her shoulder.

“See that, Lafite!”

Olliat cut the drill and inspected the hole she’d made. “Nice vein.”

“Nice work.” Rhen patted her on the back.

He moved on to the next mining station that was excavating some more padreote—these gems even more potent for their lack of father’s fennel leaching the power out. They were in a rush against time, Rhen told them as much, but as for why, he kept the details sparse. “There’s an opportunity that won’t be available forever,” was all he’d say. But he paid good wages—thirty percent of whatever they pulled out divided amongst them—and provided syntial upgrades without restrictions.

They’d discovered a few new abilities from the jelly-birds, an ancilla addon to defender’s cry like Rhen had assumed, and a venom sting Rhen set his sights on. If he could combine that with anima rot, he’d have a powerful physical attack that would debuffed the enemies anima use and poison them with a painful blinding effect.

“Rhen, ready to go?” Jakira asked, her green-glowing {Bone Club of Life Drain} hefted over one shoulder. The damn thing was a masterful piece of equipment, and Rhen would never doubt Wyland again. He probably should’ve paid more for it than he had, but the trade benefited Wyland better in the end. He was able to sell a few new weapons to some of the delvers that had joined Rhen’s crew, and that suited him fine, too.

“Ready as ever.”

Aki and Joseph met them at the tunnel entrance down to the unexplored chamber to the north. It was a bit overkill to have two bruisers on the team, but Jakira needed to learn somehow. With Aki serving three purposes, control, damage, and healing, Rhen was certain they could take anything the dungeon had to throw at them—except maybe the giga-fish guarding the nexus node.

Not their objective today, in any case. They were on the hunt for a resurrection node, something Rhen was adamant about finding before they took on the nexus boss. He wouldn’t have anyone forever-dying on his watch.

Rhen took the lead, shrouded in shadows. The go-between tunnels from chamber to chamber rarely had monsters, but it was good to be prepared just in case.

The tunnel sloped down and the air grew thick with fragrant moisture. The darkness was punctuated by spotlights coming from white crystals lining the ceiling of the tunnel. Rhen stopped to inspect one.

He touched the smooth surface and felt the anima surge below it. It must’ve been the same kinds of crystals as those in the lake chamber.

“We might be able to harvest these,” Rhen whispered to the party.

“Less gawking more stalking,” Joseph said in his rough, poetic way.

Rhen smirked. Bruisers were de facto delve leader in most cases, so Rhen fell in line with his order. “Yessir.”

There were a few precipitous drops they were able to navigate with some anchored ropes Jakira put down, and the humidity increased again. If it hadn’t been for the warmth and floral scents, Rhen would’ve thought they were nearing the lake chamber.

The tunnel widened more and more, the light growing, until at a final turn they were released into a thick jungle. Broad green leaves unlike the ones up top at the camp, hanging vines, bright pink, yellow, blue, and purple flowers, whistling noises of birds—perhaps more jelly-birds, and sounds of insects. Finally, they’d found an eco-chamber.

A chamber with its own closed eco-system was one that was rich indeed, and one so full of life as this would undoubtedly hold a resurrection node.

The broad leaves provided enough shade from the glowing crystals far above that Rhen could steal from shadow to shadow, remaining hidden. Tall trees with pale bark and thick pink and blue fruits peppered the landscape. Streams of glowing silver water carved a path through the underbrush, and fragrant bushes weighed down by berries and flowers filled the spaces between.

The heat from the crystals above felt good on his skin, almost like it was regenerating his anima. Rhen could see himself being in this chamber a lot for relaxation.

A low click-click-click caught his attention, and he stopped, hunkering down in the shadows. A response click-clackackack in a higher pitch alerted Rhen to the danger he’d so eagerly snuck himself into. He looked back to see Joseph a good thirty paces behind him, scanning the forest.

A hazy outline of something bigger than Rhen, on two legs, with clawed hands blurred into view. Another creature, larger still, parted the leaves ever so gently and emerged beside the smaller one. They were cloaked in the same stealth Rhen had used to get this far.

They weren’t looking at Rhen though, and that gave him the advantage. The monsters divided, one to each side of the path, waiting for Joseph and the others to bumble into their ambush. Too bad Rhen had an ambush of his own to unleash.

The smaller monster clicked, nodding at the larger, and Joseph stopped the team with a raised hand. The larger monster held still, but the smaller one moved forward. While the larger was distracted, watching the little one move in to execute a sloppy ambush, Rhen snuck up behind it.

Rhen targeted the creature’s lower leg, going for the hamstring, and gave it two quick cross-slashes. Instantly, the monster curled back and snapped at Rhen. He triggered swift twitch, dodging backwards just in time to not lose his face. He deactivated caress of night and pulled in a deep breath for a blast of flames.

The monster revealed itself, too; nine feet of sharp beak and beautifully vibrant feathers. It looked something like a big, colorful chicken, aside from the razor clawed hands and feet. Behind the larger monster, Rhen heard Joseph engage the smaller.

The ache in his lungs was too great, so Rhen lowered his weapons and exhaled hard, releasing the fire. The terror chicken spread its arms, fluffing out the brilliant feathers and threw back its head. The wings pulsed with anima and the beast click-clacked, chanting as green magic swallowed up Rhen’s fire.

The flames guttered and the last of the energy flowed into the beast. That same green magic flowed through the monster’s feathers and down into its bleeding ankle. The flesh mended itself before Rhen’s eyes, and he stared, mouth agape.

Rhen looked up at the terrocken and saw a gloat in its stupid beaked face. It had seriously just sucked up his spell like it was nothing and then used it to heal itself.

Well, that nixed most of Rhen’s syntials, then. He’d have to go blow for blow with it.

The terrocken clicked and stalked forward. Rhen activated swift twitch and lunged forward. He dodged under the creature’s swipe and slashed across its belly. The blade slid off the feathers to a sound of metal on metal, his blade completely ineffectual. Rhen stepped back, but too slow as the monster whipped its fat ass around at him, hip-checking Rhen’s shoulder.

Rhen bounced into the underbrush and rolled to his feet. The terrocken advanced on him, snapping its long beak. Rhen moved both blades to his right hand and held up his left, unleashing anima rot laced tremor blast in a narrow beam directed at the monster’s face. The vibrations hit the creature’s eye and it staggered back, blinking.

Rhen swapped back to his blades and moved in, targeting any area not covered in the magical feathers—of which there were few. Under the creature’s arm, next to its beak, its lower legs and… that was it.

A loud screech turned the terrocken’s head. Rhen glanced to see Jakira landing an undoubtedly killing blow against the smaller monster, smashing its skull with her massive bone club. The larger monster turned, whipping its tail into Rhen’s gut and knocking him to the ground again.

Rhen gasped for air and crawled to his hands and knees, then charged after it. “Look out,” he tried to shout but wheezed instead.

Joseph swung in from the side, smashing his axe against the terrocken’s shoulder and throwing it off course. It staggered, right arm hanging uselessly at its side, but didn’t take its gaze off Jakira. Aki’s lilac magic surged toward the monster, but with a flare of its feathers, it absorbed the anima. Its dislocated arm snapped back into place, and it shrieked.

Rhen slammed his hands against his ears to block the noise that shook his eyes and turned his stomach. Damn, every creature had defender’s cry! Rhen finally caught his breath, and gained his feet.

“Screw you, too!” Jakira screamed back and the terrocken flinched. Her voice carried through the forest, hitting Rhen with an invigorating wave of power. He triggered swift twitch and leapt up onto the monster’s back. He squeezed his legs under the terrocken’s arms and pinned them back, then laid his head against its feathery neck and held on tight.

The beast bucked and kicked, but Rhen held fast. It turned its head to snap at Rhen’s shoulder, sending a lance of pain down his arm and up to his neck. There was a loud clunk and the terrocken staggered sideways. It collapsed, tossing Rhen to the ground onto his bleeding shoulder.

Rhen cursed, dragging his legs out from under the monsters. Jakira and Joseph whacked at the terrocken’s head, ensuring it was good and truly dead.

“Sit still,” Aki said, coming to Rhen’s side. Blue-green infused light poured from his tentacles and wrapped Rhen’s bleeding shoulder. Like he’d seen with the terrocken, the flesh mended itself before his very eyes—to a point.

Aki went in for another round of mending, but it seemed the wound wouldn’t stitch any further than it had already. His own swift healing was going to work on it, and the bleeding had mostly been stopped, but it still hurt like the gods’ fire.

“We need those feathers,” Rhen said through clenched teeth. “For armor.”

“You are being impatient. Give it a moment, you are injured.”

“I’m fine. We have to pluck as many of those as we can before the bodies disappear into the dungeon.”

Rhen staggered to the biggest terrocken, inspecting the feathers, claws, and beak. Endless possibilities laid out before him as he catalogued the monsters. The feathers weren’t metal, but something the terrocken had done had made them resist piercing damage. Wyland would figure it out for a few hundred coin, Rhen was sure.

Some of his flesh dangled from the monster’s hooked beak. Rhen gingerly touched his shoulder at the thought of it. The beaks were raptorial, curving down and sharply ending in a point. They could make interesting fist weapons for Eli, if he so wanted.

The claws were a bit less useful, but Rhen removed them anyway, storing the bloodied stumps in Jakira’s large pack. They dug out the cores next, and while Rhen wanted to take some time to claim the bones as well, he knew they needed to keep moving forward.

He looked around at the forest. It was as if he were outside. The cavern ceiling was so far away and shrouded in mist, he couldn’t see it. The trees towered thirty feet up or more, and the vegetation was thick. There were sure to be more of those creatures in here. He’d get their bones yet.

Jakira touched his uninjured shoulder. “You okay?”

“Fine, like I said.” Rhen gave her a smile to set her at ease, but it seemed to do the opposite.

Joseph and Aki moved on through the path in the underbrush, leaving Jakira and Rhen some distance to speak.

“Aki is right. You’re rushing. What’s going on?”

Rhen shook his head. “We don’t have time to waste. That nexus is going to close, and then… What if the dungeon dries up?”

Jakira smiled kindly. “That won’t be for a while. Look at this place. Even if you don’t get the nexus node, this dungeon will be profitable for a while. You can buy another plot, a bigger one.”

“But nexus nodes are so rare. And if the vision was true, and there’s another realm on the other side of it, this could be the only chance to connect. An eighteenth realm, Jakira… there could be another sapient species, but even if not, there’s so much to discover and explore in a whole new realm. Think of all the inns you could build.”

She smiled and shook her head, sighing. “Okay. Let’s keep doing our best, but really… you’re going to get yourself killed if you keep going like this.”

“Once we find the resurrection node, that won’t matter so much.” Rhen grinned.

Jakira rolled her eyes. “Lead on, fearless dummy.”

They spent all afternoon in the rainforest chamber, hunting terrockens and finding other small prey type creatures that would be delicious in stew. Rhen hoped there was a predator for the scary chickens too, because so far, his dungeon was not revealing a lot of new realm-shattering abilities.

They didn’t manage to find the node before having to turn in for the night, but Rhen stopped at the control node on his way out to see all they had mapped. There was quite a bit of black blobs still obscuring the rainforest chamber.

Pressure, like a tight band, snapped around his head. There was so much left that was unexplored, and too few delvers to take on the gigafish even if they did find the resurrection node. He needed to move faster, fight faster, recruit faster.

He needed to return to Desedra.