The group of slaves, led by Shivas, made good progress both towards the second floor and on it, reaching for and exploring areas of the floor they had not yet mapped.

“Where the fuck is the third floor entrance! I don’t have time to waste like this!” Shivas cursed as usual. He was however, understandably irate.

This floor would soon be swimming with delvers, as he had sold the info and map information that he had, to the guild. There was little choice on this matter, if you waited too long before selling it, the guild may no longer want your info, having already obtained it from others. Unfortunately, that also means that soon, everyone would know how to find this floor, well at least those that were smart enough to buy the information from the guild.

It did not pay to be stingy on buying information on virgin dungeons, especially when you’re contending for the discovery fortunes.

Adding to Shivas’ frustration, was that the group had surely mapped most of the second floor by now and not found the entrance to the third. It was fast turning into one of those ‘in the last place you look’ type situations. Either that or this entrance was also well hidden.

Having sold this information to the guild already, Shivas was of course in a hurry to move on and get ahead of the pack.

The party made their way to one of two areas that they had not yet finished exploring. They fought many monsters on the way, the ants, the hornets, and the occasional annoying exploding mushroom threat.

The party no longer struggled with most of these encounters, having gotten used to fighting these monsters and only sustained light injuries. Certainly no one was dying this time around. Undoubtedly Shivas’ assistance in the fights played a large part in this.

But also, their group had fast learned to work together and have each others backs. There was a sense of camaraderie that Andaris couldn’t quite put his finger on, but felt it all the same, as did the others it would seem.

Andaris wondered when and if they would encounter whatever type of monster had made that hole. They had seen no such thing so far, nor had they seen any other holes.

“FUCK!” Shivas proclaimed, annoyed. Andaris could see based on the map he was busy finishing up with, that this had also been a dead end. There was only one area left to explore and it was close to the other side of the floor. They would be passing near the floor one exit to get there.

The group set out once more only having to fight a few monsters this time as they were mostly back-tracking and had killed pretty much everything along the path.

Eventually the group caught sight of the floor one exit in the distance. And they paused.

Not because they were about to pass the exit, but because of the dozen or so corpses scattered about and in some cases, pieces of corpses.

What had happened here? Most of the corpses were slaves, but Andaris recognised at least two men that were likely wardens.

Shivas pushed one of the boys forward. “Go loot the bodies.”

The poor slave gave him only a brief terrified look, before he gulped and gingerly approached the bodies. Andaris felt sorry for him. Whatever did this could still be around after all, especially since dungeons tended to absorb dead bodies and dropped gear, it took some time, but it meant that this slaughter could not have happened all that long ago.

What had done this? Andaris could not imagine any of the monster types they had encountered so far pulling off such a wholesale slaughter like this. Most of the bodies were facing towards the exit and most close together. It was like they were all killed in seconds while they were making a run for the exit.

It had to be whatever made that hole? It also didn’t add up though, the second floor should not have something this dangerous. Shivas still seemed like he wanted to stick around though. After all, he hadn’t given any indication he was heading for the exit. The man’s greed truly knew no bounds.

The slave that started collecting belongings: mostly from the wardens bodies, the slaves had little aside from primitive weapons after all; moved slowly and quietly. The only real sounds he was making was the rusting or jingling of the things he collected.

It had not been quite soft enough though.

“In formation!” Shivas commanded suddenly, facing something in the darkness.

The slaves scramble into position.

Andaris was for the first time truly scared. Not for reason of the carnage that lay strewn around them, but because when he caught a glimpse of Shivas’ expression, the man was clearly scared. And Andaris and never seen him scared before. The man was also a seasoned delver in his own right. So that only served to deepen his worries.

The group waited tensely as the sound of a monster drew closer. Eventually it emerged from the shadows, a large black creature. It was massive! A giant version of those ant monsters. The word “elite” flashed across his mind.

Of course he did not know for sure, he had never seen one before, but he knew of them. Special rare monsters, usually the guardians of great treasures, or barring entry between major multi floor divisions of a dungeon. He certainly knew they were not supposed to be facing one down on the second floor already, no matter what the difficulty of the dungeon was.

“Defensive line”. Andaris’ heart sunk at the sound of the command. The men formed up in a line, forming a wall between Shivas and the elite monster. Andaris and pretty much everyone present knew the command had been given because Shivas did not fancy their chance of survival and was ready to use them as a distraction and make a run for it. Speculation, but likely the case.

And he didn’t blame him, Andaris didn’t see them living through this either. This thing would aggro them, one by one as it slaughtered them if it had to, and Shivas would have enough time to reach the exit. For whatever reason, monsters, especially elites, tended not to leave their designated floors.

Suddenly the monster burst into motion and surged forward. Andaris barely registered the flash of one of its long clawed limbs lashing out as it reached them. Andaris had managed some degree of evasion in time as the flash of the blade passed right by his face.

He had made it! He had evaded that ridiculously fast attack! Except, the side of his head was hot and he felt something warm and sticky running down his jaw. Andaris cupped his hand over the side of his head and stumbled back a step in shock as he realised a part of his ear was missing. He had not fully escaped that swing.

As the heat intensified and the pain finally began to register, Andaris noticed the boy next to him slump to the ground, a large portion of his head rolling away from his body.

Andaris panicked, where was it now? Stay focused!

The monster had moved on. It was headed straight for Shivas. Andaris’ wits were no longer entirely there and he only faintly registered that there was something really weird about the monster going after Shivas, whom had already started running away.

Shivas spun around at the fast approaching monster and lashed out with his whip. The monster actually shifted its posture as it moved forward, evading the strike without even slowing down! But Shivas yanked on the whip and changed its direction, still catching the monster.

It roared at the outrage of the offensive pain the whip induced. Shivas did not waste a second to gain more ground while it was temporarily stunned. It did not last long however, and the monster charged at him even more ferociously.

Shivas knew he would not make it and grabbed a bottle from his side pack containing a murky liquid and tossed it at the monsters feet. It instinctively hopped backwards out the way, as if it was smart enough to recognise a throwable weapon. The monster's feet had barely touched the ground before the area it was in previously was engulfed in bright flames.

It hissed once more in frustration. Shivas actually laughed as he knew he was going to make it to the exit before the creature could go around.

The monster knew it too, it didn’t even bother going around. Instead, it launched itself into the air with such force that it ended up impacting the cave ceiling. It had spun itself around mid air and landed upside down against the cave ceiling, with enough force to rock the whole cave system.

The creature then launched itself off the roof immediately, before gravity could kick in and landed right between Shivas and the exit, just before he could reach it. It impacted the ground with enough force to kick debris in all directions.

Shivas tried to stop his momentum, a full blown run, that now carried him straight into the maws of death, but he had not been prepared for something this ridiculous happening. The monster simply skewered him with one of its blades, just before they were about to collide.

Shivas let out only a grunt of pain, as though being impaled through the gut was only a minor inconvenience. He raised his whip arm ready to retaliate, despite his position. The monster simply swung one of its spare limbs and Shivas whip, along with part of his arm still attached, fell to the ground.

Shivas grunted a lot harder this time.

He then reached out with his left hand and grabbed one of the monster’s mandibles.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret,” he practically spat through his clenched teeth, “It’s not the whip!”

The palm of his hand glowed faintly pink and the elite monster arched its body and roared in pain. A pain it had never felt before and never would again.

But Shivas’ grip on it was ironclad he roared as well, hanging onto that mandible with everything he had. The monster could not pull free. It jerked its head back so hard, that the mandible actually tore right off, still inside Shivas’ hand.

With one final pissed off roar, it reached forward and bit Shivas’ head clean off. The elite monster then spat it out instead of eating it, like it was deeply offended by it.

The five remaining slaves, could only watch in horror as Shiva's head rolled to their feet, a scowl still on his face. The monster was between them and the exit. They would not be leaving here alive.

The monster regarded them coldly. After a few moments passed and it was certain they would not be making for the exit, it burst forward, intent on finishing the job. The fire between them had already almost completely died out, as if the flames were not allowed here, as if the dungeon sapped the very life out of the fire itself.

The monster clearly did not mind what few flames were left as it rushed through them.

One of the boys tried to defend himself, but failed completely and was cut through in the very first strike. The monster then turned and impaled a second slave that was closest, impaled right though his head, the boys skull providing absolutely no resistance to the powerful monsters attacks.

It turned its attention to the next slave and moved to cut him in half as well. Antonio, being close enough to the boy, actually saw the strike in time and attempted to parry its path away from the boy. The blow connected with his shiv and Andaris could see Antonio grunt with the weight of it, but it had almost no effect on the monsters powerful attack and the other boys head was lopped clean off all the same.

The monster turned its attention to Antonio.

Before Andaris even knew what he was doing, he burst into motion. As the monster drove one of its claws through Antonios abdomen, Antonio, having no chance of getting out the way in time, was pinned to the ground instantly, while Andaris leapt at the monster.

He drove his shiv into the monsters armour, or at least he should have, after pulling out a powerful strike from a running jump like that, but the shiv simply glanced off the monsters powerful armour, barely leaving a scratch.

The monster, annoyed, tried to spin around to swing a blade in Andaris’ direction, but he managed to stumble out of the way in time, thanks to the awkward angle of the attack. At least the monster had let go of Antonio in the process, leaving him bleeding on the ground, with a substantial hole in his gut.

The monster, having missed a strike with one of its front legs, then kicked out with one of the middle ones, that was closer to Andaris. Andaris could do little to avoid such a close and fast attack, and the non bladed part of the monster's leg connected with his body in a brutal blow.

Andaris temporarily lost track of his surroundings as he spun through the air, barely registering that many of his ribs and surrounding bones were cracked.

He felt a crushing pain as he collided with the roof of the cave.

More spinning.

Another collision.

The floor?

His head was awash with white fog.

Things were broken. So many things.

Andaris looked up, through a haze of red blood that was pouring into his eyes from too many wounds to even consider. He looked up at the monster through a haze of white and crimson, as it only glanced in his direction for a moment, before turning its attention back to Antonio.

Antonio was going to die.

He could feel the pain of the thought, even through his pain wracked body.

The wrongness of it.

He didn’t want that.

Antonio needed his help.

Antonio needed someone to save him.

He tried to get up, but there was little he could do with his body, the most of which was no longer functional, some of it twisted in directions it shouldn’t be, the rest simply losing far more blood than it could spare.