Only a fool ignores wise counsel.

Herbert Meadows - Father

And hindsight running through the wilderness might not have been as great of a choice as sticking to the established roads and paths. Twice I had to take detours around large lakes and once I entered a forest that had thick thorny underbrush.

Part way through the third day of running I realized something was up with the map. I stopped and enlarged the map to study all the details. One part of the map which I intuitively knew was 30 miles away, was a dungeon which was marked as a point of interest. In another direction roughly 40 miles away was the waypoint marking the current floor goal. Unless there was an extra dungeon hidden on this floor it looked like the prince had not reached the dungeon yet.

This left me with a couple of options. What Philip the wizard told me, it seemed like the ambush was waiting for the prince in or near the dungeon. So in theory, I could head to the dungeon to discover any ambush and try to clear out any attackers before the prince arrived. However, I didn’t know if the attackers were waiting at the dungeon and I could arrive only to find they were chasing the prince to the dungeon.

I was greatly tempted to go to the dungeon regardless of the goal, as I could see it was also marked as the location of the hidden reward. Ultimately the wording of this floor made me go to seek the prince first.

Goal:

1) Notify the prince of the ambush - incomplete

2) Help the prince escape from the ambush - incomplete

I had to notify the prince first. With how tricky the Tower could be I wouldn't be surprised if I failed the level if the prince was attacked by the ambush before I notified him. Rewards were nice but my life was the most valuable thing in the Tower.

An hour and a half later I came upon an unexpected sight. My enhanced vision allowed me to see more detail at a distance and at first I thought I might have been imagining things. I had expected a prince who was adventuring to be riding on horseback kitted out with armor and a small squad of knights guarding him. What I saw instead was more of a drunken party than an adventuring group. I easily counted 25 carriages. I was used to merchant wagons which could easily be pulled by two or four horses depending on the weight of the goods. Each of these carriages was pulled by six horses; the harness on each of the horses looked more expensive than most of what my father would routinely transport in any guarded wagon. Then there were the carriages themselves. Fine carvings gilded in gold surrounded each carriage and the drivers’ compartments were so overly embellished I could not even see the drivers from the side.

Despite the team of horses pulling the carriages, each moved at a speed more akin to a brisk walk. In the short time it was watching them, the entire convoy stopped twice to allow passengers to move from one carriage to another. Perhaps the most surprising thing was that despite all the wealth and luxury on display. I could only see two guards. And they were clearly guards, not knights. One led the procession and another followed behind. Neither wore armor, only fine tunics with clubs handing down from their sides.

Knowing the prince was probably worthless as a tactician, I instead approached the guard at the front of the caravan. To not startle the man by running straight toward him over a field, I went ahead of the caravan to where I was certain I was out of eyesight and walked along the road to him.

“Clear the road for the prince!” shouted the guard as I approached him.

“I have been sent by the king to warn the prince of an ambush.” I decided a direct approach would be the best. Surely anyone sent to guard the prince had to be open minded and prepared for anything.

“Fuck off or my club will clear you from the road,” said the guard.

“It's the truth. I'm a hero summoned by the king to warn the prince of an ambush and protect him should the attack occur.”

“All right, if you were sent by the king, where is your royal writ?”

“I must admit I don't have one.” Damn where the knights carrying a writ that was to explain my purpose? No that didn’t make sense, if the knights were with me I would have no need for a paper to explain my purpose.

“Uh ha. And if you were sent by the king surely you know the prince's name as well the king's?”

“I didn't happen to get either of those,” I said now feelings stupid. “I was introduced to the king by about 17 titles, not any names.”

“So you're telling me, the king that you can't name sent you to inform a prince who you also can't name, of an ambush without a writ identifying you as a valid messenger. Once again fuck off.” This time when he said it he lifted a large club from his side.

“I'm telling you the truth. I was sent with Sir Gregor.”

“And where is he, might I ask?” the knight questioned smugly. It was obvious I was alone and the area was clear for miles.

“I left him behind because he was too slow.”

“I don't know what game you're playing, but my patience is wearing thin. Of all the knights to send after a prince who is going to be ambushed, why would the king and his advisors send such a worthless knight as Gregor. That bumbling fool lost 40 men to a rogue wizard a year back. Not even some battle wizard, just a skinny man that liked playing with rituals.”

Looks like Sir Gregor was successful in this version of this world. Good for him.

“Again he was too slow. It only took me two and a half days to run from the capital to here.”

“I don't know what you were taught, but even I know there's no way for a horse at a full sprint to make it from the castle to here in less than three days, let alone a person walking from the wrong direction.”

I really didn't want to attack this man, but I was starting to feel like I wouldn’t have a choice. If I was delayed in notifying the prince I could fail the floor if the ambush was sprung. Even if he didn’t want me to bother the prince, I was not risking my life to wait any longer than I had to.

“Is there any way I can prove that I am a hero, sent to protect the prince?”

“Sure that would be easy enough,” said the guard. “All you need to do is knock me off of this horse and dominate me in combat. If you did that I would know you're truly a hero not a charlatan here to waste my time.” He chuckled to himself like he had just told a great joke.

Is that all it would really take? I wasted no time in dashing through the air towards him. In the split second from when I leapt forward and when I reached him, he had just enough time to look surprised. I landed gracefully in front of him. Grabbing his arm, I threw him off his horse. There was no graceful landing for him and before he had a chance to move from the ground, I had pulled my sword from my storage bag and pressed the tip against his neck.

“Done,” I said with a smile. “Now will you take me to the prince.”

The guard was flabbergasted that I was able to defeat him so easily but couldn't find another way to delay me and grudgingly led me to the prince.

Based on what I had witnessed of the party convoy, I expected to find a toad of a prince, completely drunk with scantily clad women hanging off of him. Instead I found a young man of about 20, with a well kept appearance, sitting in his armor. His eyes were clear and he did not appear to be intoxicated in the slights as his face only held a bored but alert expression.

“Your highness this man says that he was sent by your father to notify you of an ambush.”

“No,” I corrected. “I am a hero, summoned by the king, your father. I was sent to notify you of an impending ambush and to protect you when the ambush happens. Despite how I look, I doubt there's anything in this world that could defeat me. No doubt that is why your father and his wizards summoned me. A group of knights led by Sir Gregor were also sent to protect you but I was forced to hurry ahead to ensure that you were safe.”

As I talked the prince's eyes lit up.

“A hero,” he said with genuine warmth. “This is a welcome change of pace. It is a pleasure to meet you, Sir Hero. If you don’t mind me asking, have you defeated many enemies?”

“Thousands,” I reply honestly.

“That's amazing! I had asked to go to the dungeon with hopes of proving myself and instead found myself part of a party wagon. While I am sure a hero such as yourself enjoys a good drink, most members of this expedition care more for getting intoxicated than having an adventure.” The prince motioned for the guard to leave us and he quickly returned to his post as I joined the prince in his carriage.

“Indeed your highness. I'm surprised a man such as yourself would want adventure.” I responded honestly.

“Now is the time for me to have an adventure, Sir Hero. In a few short years I will be wed and my role will become entirely political. That is not to say that I do not look forward to such duties. But a man should have at least a dozen levels under his belt before he takes up such a position in my opinion.”

“Is it not common for royalty such as yourself to level as high as possible?”

“The intricacies of leveling as a royal are quite boring. We gain experience by being a wedded royal in the line of succession. While that experience is not a large amount it is a steady amount daily and over decades it adds up. My father is level 20 and he never adventured before being wed.”

“Be that as it may, my greater concern is the ambush,'' I said, trying to be as cordial as I could while returning the conversation to the danger he was in.

“Indeed, it is a great concern,” he said. “Part of the reason my company is so unguarded is due to the peace we have between our kingdom and the Luthans. Who is it that is planning to attack and what do you know of their ambush?”

Shit. That would have been great information to know. I really should have asked a lot more questions before I abandoned Sir Gregor. Well, I can't change the past and there is no sense worrying about it.

“Unfortunately information was scarce,” I lied. “It was a credible enough threat to warrant summoning me. The conditions of my summoning also state that I must protect you from the ambush so I think it is wise to treat the threat as if it is real and innement.”

“Too true Sir Hero. Are you open to suggestions?

“Of course. Only a fool ignores wise counsel.”

“Since there are only two guards and yourself, it would be best to find an easily defensible location. The dungeon, while dangerous, has only one opening and would ensure we only have to worry about attackers from one direction. I would suggest that we hurry to the dungeon and enter it as soon as possible.”

That actually wasn't a bad plan. There is just one major drawback and fixing it actually suited my purposes anyway.

“That is indeed a wise plan of action. However there is one flaw. We may not be the first ones to get to the dungeon. Your attackers could be planning to ambush you as you make your way lower into the dungeon. I would suggest we enter the dungeon and move as a group to slowly clear it. Once cleared, we can head back to the entrance and prepare for any future attack.

Honestly that was an awful plan. If they were already waiting in the dungeon to ambush us, going into that ambush would be the worst thing we could do. But I wasn't going to tell the prince as I wanted to clear the dungeon and having him come with me helps my goals.

“A brilliant suggestion,” said the prince with a smile that was almost ear to ear. “Will we need to take my entire party or just you and me?”

That was a difficult question to answer. If I left anyone behind and there was an ambush they would likely die. I doubted the two guards would be able to survive any sort of ambush by themselves. On the other hand, if I only took the prince with me I could get further into the dungeon with less effort. But on the other other hand I didn't know if the attackers would actually go after his party members if the prince was not with them. Instead of making the decision myself, I outlined my thoughts to the prince and let him make the final decision. It made no real difference to me as I would be sticking by the prince regardless.

“I understand your concerns. Given that you can only protect a limited number of people, it is more practical for you and me to go alone and explore the dungeon. Perhaps if they are far enough away from the dungeon and myself there will be no attack against them. Better yet if they come across the knights who were sent to help protect me, they can direct the knights to the dungeon and reinforce our defenses.”

The guards were not happy to hear that their prince would be going with me, but at the prince’s order, they stayed behind to defend the rest of the party wagon while returning to the capital.

The prince actually had a personal steed in the convoy and within a handful of minutes we were on the road headed towards the dungeon. Now that he was moving as swiftly as his horse could carry him, we were able to reach the dungeon in a few hours where his initial party would have likely taken a day or more. We found the dungeon entrance unguarded and upon entering were greeted with a prompt.

Dungeon: Luthan Beginner Dungeon

Difficulty: ★

The last dungeon I had completed was three stars. As such I anticipated having no difficulty in clearing this one even with the prince in tow. We made our way inside to find a familiar stone table and a return token.

One thing was different to the previous dungeon: there were no stated goals. I asked the prince what he knew of the dungeon and he quickly explained that it was filled with low level monsters that gave higher amounts of experience then what you would normally receive. For example most monsters were only level 1 and 2 but would give 10 to 20 experience. The paths of the dungeon were well known and the prince even had a map to help guide him. Glancing over the map I was once more surprised that there was only a single level.

Apparently the dungeon constantly spawned monsters and you could wander endlessly, always finding a new monster after a couple of turns in the tunnels. Those with access were able to use this to level without the risk of running into unknown monsters. I was surprised to find that the leader of the country that owned the dungeon restricted access only to royalty. Since most of the royalty viewed fighting as barbaric the dungeon was largely unused.

I took the lead and we quickly found our way to the deepest part of the dungeon. It could hardly be called a maze as its layout was not confusing. This did make me realize a problem with our plan. Simply put there was not a single path leading deeper into the dungeon but half a dozen that all branched off the main path. As such there was no way to know how the enemies would come towards us. If I was by myself, I wouldn't be concerned but with the prince I was worried a single stray arrow would kill him. If I couldn't know what direction the arrow was coming from there was little I could do to protect him.

I decided to search for a better defensible position in the dungeon and spotted a possible area on the map. It appeared to be a dead end, but my treasure finding skill notified me the treasure was there. When we got to the area, it looked like most of the other tunnels except it ended into a smooth stone wall.

The trip through the dungeon had not been enjoyable for me upto this point, but the prince was having the time of his life. Clearly he was not let out unsupervised too often. He even took great glee in slaughtering every monster we came across. His enthusiasm paid off as he managed to increase his level before we found the dead end. As I outlined my plan, he looked disappointed that we had found a defensible location. Surprising me once more he listened to my thoughts and agreed that it would be best to stay at this location.

At no point in my training did trap making or defending a position really come up. Sure we were taught how to guard a moving caravan as well as how to survive an attack from a force who outnumbered us. Simply put those were tools for caravan guards which was the standard work for most Tower climbers when they burned through their funds. But none of that applied to this current situation.

Instead of constructing worthless traps, I instead checked my map and looked to see if I could find the hidden reward that was supposedly at the end of the tunnel. When I zoomed into the map I found that it was actually located 3 ft into the wall. Trusting my instincts, I charged the wall shoulder first, ramming it. Unlike on the second floor where there was just a thin barrier forming a wall to hide the treasure, this one had a few inches of rock. It still gave way under my stat enhanced charge but would have easily held up to strike from a normal man.

As I pushed through the opening I was greeted with a new prompt.

Congratulations you have found a hidden dungeon.

Dungeon: Secret Monster Horde

Difficulty: ★★★ ★★★

Goal: Defeat waves of monsters. Greater rewards based on the number of waves defeated.

Monster waves defeated 0/15

Warning: You are currently in a party of two and the difficulty of the dungeon will be escalated for the increased party size.