The sight before Gual was one of horror. The sky was blotted by a black mass of birds and bats, all converging above them.

"LISA! We need to leave now!" Gual shouted at the top of his lungs as he placed Fyl on his shoulder and started running, only to realize Lisa wasn't running along with him. Turning around he saw Lisa still staring blankly at the chaos left by the explosion, "LISA MOVE NOW!" This time his shout got her attention. Before she could run after Gual, a red spike pierced the back of her neck exiting just below her chin, and as her eyes quickly became lifeless, Gual met the glowing icy blue eyes of the abhorrent monster which melted back into the darkness from which it came. Silently vowing within his mind that if he ever got out of this accursed Dungeon, he would return to seek revenge.

The Core watched Gual who was carrying Fyl run into the thickest parts of the Swamp seeking to avoid the swarm of Helions and Bats that was descending upon the remains of the two who'd died. It wasn't giving orders to any of the monsters on the Floor, and instead, it merely watched how the Swamp would perform without its orders, which seemed to be doing good except for the luck they had at avoiding anything strong for nearly four hours. It was also pleased at the Mana Fused Leechling which had gotten the first kill among the group and immediately slipped away before they could notice it within the crater.

Gual ran, his breathing coming up short as he spotted a small islet ahead of him. With renewed hope, he put more force in his running, "ARGHH!" That hope was crushed as he plodded on a blood-root concealed underwater. Gual collapsed forward and tried to break his fall with his hands only to have his left skewered by another blood-root, thoughts that he might die within this Dungeon flashed through his mind. His shaken mind was further destabilized when he heard a panicked cry coming from his right, "Ahhh!" Looking over he saw Fyl being swarmed over by small black lumps, and he could visibly see Fyl's skin turning pale. He didn't know what those lumps were only that they were also heading for him. Fear drove him to tear his hand and foot away from the blood-roots which they'd been impaled on.

Slowly he painfully limped towards the giant 'legs' of the colossal tree before him trying to get away from the black lumps chasing after him. Reaching the foot of the tree, he collapsed unable to move due to the amount of blood he'd loss getting to the tree. As the light faded from his eyes, he regretted going against the guild's order and wondered whether they'd honestly walked into a Dungeon or Hell itself.

It watched as the last one bled out on the ground overjoyed that its idea with blood-roots worked and that the Swamp seemed capable on its own. Once he died, it looked to the black box which had appeared.

Level Up!

Level: 12 🠂 14

Maximum Mana Capacity: 630 🠂 730

Maximum Integrity: 150 🠂 170

Intelligence: 36 🠂 44

Wisdom: 18 🠂 22

Luck: 10 🠂 11

Maximum Dungeon Size: 24 🠂 25

Its previous joy was a little dampened when it saw it had only leveled up and gained nothing else, but it perked up when it saw how much its Mana increased every level, and it decided to let the one outside live. As for why? It was because there's a chance he'll cause more of these Humans, Elf, and Beast-kin to investigate itself making it easier for it to level up and evolve its monsters. It was however curious as to how they managed to avoid the monsters prowling the Swamp for so long, making it think whatever that man called Leonis had done caused their immense luck.

Returning to the Titan core to continue filling its Mana it noticed something different about the room, beyond the pond where a solid cave wall used to stand was a hole with tiny bodies scattered around it. Most likely whatever these were had been killed as soon as they stepped out by the Abomination still submerged in the pond, moving over it appraised the largest of the corpses.

Cave Grob Berserker Although tiny Grob Berserkers can still exert considerable strength when wounded or enraged having the power to crush rocks with their bare hands. Grob Berserkers are considered honored among Grobs and often lead war parties against their hated foes, Trogs. Rating: Moderate Common.

Surprise arose when it saw the appraisal after all these were one of the monster races it could've picked in the selection menu, and it assimilated them raising its previous dampened joy back to its full height.

Assimilation complete! Common Cave Grobs have been added as an available monster and may now be created at the cost of 1.5 Mana point(s) per Common Cave Grob.

Its mind was filled with delight at the thought of going to where they came from and using their high numbers to help its monsters evolve, especially the Shade Wing Bats which it noticed regularly go into bloody frenzies. It ordered five hundred Bats, twenty Leeching Abominations including the Progenitor, and two hundred Leechlings to gather in the Titan core's area, and turned to expand the hole so it could bring its monsters with it.