***** Doskan’s POV 11:33 PM *****

“First, you need to fix the central pedestal to restore the power to this room,” answered the golem. “From there you need to fix the surveillance systems so you know when to open the door. Then you can fix the remote door controls. You don’t want to open the door too soon, otherwise, they might try to lock you out of the door systems.”

“Ok, so the central pedestal is the big purple thing over there yeah?” I asked.

“Purple? Uh-oh. Prop me up so I can see it?... Thanks! Oh, dear.”

“What?”

“The color of the pedestal is a high-level diagnostic tool. If it’s that particular shade, then either half the pillar is toast or the secondary power supply to the diagnostic sensor is busted.”

“How do we tell the difference?”

“Take a look at that red circuit on top near the middle. It should look like this.”

I compared his projection with what was actually there, and they matched. Prodded by my curiosity, I then traced the output of these circuits as far as I could, and I noticed that one of the outputs of this circuit fed into a series of dud runes that did nothing other than waste mana. I also noticed that there was an alternate path that led into a set of runes that actually did something, but weren’t currently receiving any power.

On a hunch, I added my own rune to the circuit that redirected the power from the dud runes into the set of runes that would actually do something.

As soon as I finished, the top two-thirds of the pillar lit up green and an oddly flat yet cheerful feminine voice said “Auto repair systems online. Estimated three minutes until full functionality restored to the room.”

“Wow, you’re good,” complimented the golem. “Congratulations, you broke the test. Or at least you would have if this was intended to be a normal dungeon run. And by broke it, I mean you fixed the one system that will fix everything else for you.”

“How? I don’t understand.”

“The power control circuit was modified to direct power through a series of resistors that would duplicate the resistance of the Auto repair systems, except it looks like you gut checked your way into solving the problem. One moment, let me get my limbs working again, then I can teach you how to run the systems in this room.”

“But I thought you said we didn’t have time to replace–” I cut myself off as the broken and shattered pieces of the golem’s limbs flew back together and the golem climbed to their feet.

“You were smart and kind enough to see me as more than just a random piece of detritus. Furthermore, you were smart and curious enough to fix the simulated sabotage. I would have preferred if you had asked me first, but you survived without a scratch – this time.”

“But I thought the dungeon was honorable…”

“It is. However, it is still a dungeon. Even the most honorable dungeon will not tell you how to solve its puzzles and beat its challenges unless the puzzle or challenge requires that it do so.”

“Oh. That’s fair.”

“Now, here’s how the surveillance system works.”

***** Amandine’s POV 11:37 PM *****

With three minutes to spare, Doskan got the vault door open and we charged through to take the defensive position just inside of the door. Fortunately, the door opened quickly and we were able to take the defenders by surprise while they were napping.

“How much longer lady?”

“Two minutes and fifty seconds.”

“Drat.”

“WHO DARES ENTER MY THRONE ROOM WITHOUT INVITATION?” thundered a voice from the darkness deeper into the room. It was clearly female, but it also had a hissing rasp that made it clear the speaker wasn’t human.

More disturbing than the voice was the darkness came creeping out of the room with it.

“Fall back!” yelled Stan, “Don’t let the darkness touch you! Amandine, go!”

I drew my new weapons, channeled the power through them, and charged.

When the shadows acquire an ally that can push the light out of the way for them, wise men run away. Unless that is, they have enough Light to burn them both away at the same time.

Once again, I fervently wished that I had been allowed to teach even two of my troopers to follow the same path that I walk, but there are oaths that I was forced to swear to get this far. Until those oaths are invalidated, I cannot train another in its use.

“They will hold you forever, you cowardly traitor!” whispered the curse.

“Fear not, My Child. Your time will come. Even when you fall, it is not yet your time to walk the Halls of Paradise. Fear not, for I AM,” whispered the voice of my Father in Heaven.

With His words echoing in my heart, I lifted my sword, and put everything that I am, everything that I was, and everything that I would be firmly in His hands once more. I still have my doubts, my fears, my sorrows. I still have questions with no answer, and questions that I cannot yet put into words.

But I also have my Faith.

By Faith, I could hear with my Heart, see with my Soul, and be guided by a hand that I cannot hold.

By Faith, I set aside my fears, my doubts, and my questions, focusing on the here and now, taking this fight one step at a time.

Sword and shield in hand, with my spiritual Father’s divine light shining from every pore, I stepped into the darkness, and it retreated.

“I dare enter your throne room, oh silly little Queen. I am Amandine Straghnarrow, Champion of Light and First of the Order. Who are you to stand in my way?” As I spoke, the darkness retreated further, eventually revealing the room.

Hanging from the back middle of the ceiling was the largest spider centaur thing I had seen yet, hanging at just under ten meters tall. The next thing I noticed was that she was the first of the spiders that clearly had a gender, and it was most definitely female. At least her chest was armored with an honest breastplate that actually tried to protect everything instead of those silly things that would have left gaping holes in her defenses for the sake of putting on a show.

I mean, I understand wanting to be pretty and all, what girl doesn’t want to be pretty? But there are far more important things in the middle of battle than being attractive.

Survival for instance.

Besides, if you go to any halfway competent armorsmith, they can build you a breastplate that covers everything properly and still looks good. It won’t show anywhere near as much skin, but that is the entire point of wearing armor.

The only downside was that she was armed with a fifteen-meter long polearm stun baton.

Great, I can’t let that thing get anywhere near me otherwise it’ll probably arc and stun me.

“YOU DARE INSULT ME?! SILLY LITTLE SHINY SLAVE, NOW YOU’RE MY SHINY LITTLE LUNCH!” boomed the Queen as she dropped to the floor and charged me. “HOLD STILL AND LET ME END YOUR STRUGGLES SWIFTLY! YOU’LL MAKE A LOVELY SNACK FOR MY CHILDREN!”

Typical giant spider. Driven by hunger and reproductive urges. At least she kinda cares for her children.

Then again, she’s a spider thing. She probably has so many children that she doesn’t even bother naming them anymore unless they earn a name.

Suddenly, I was out of time for an internal monologue as she lunged the remaining distance between us and swept her weapon at waist height for me.

With no time to dodge, I braced myself behind my shield and channeled more power through it. I expected to be getting more free flying lessons upon contact.

Instead, I slid back about half a meter and her weapon rebounded like one of those dwarven rubber balls, knocking her completely off balance and leaving some of her legs wide open. While the impact was enough to make my entire left arm numb, I was only slightly off balance.

I’m not sure who was more surprised, me or her, but she was going too fast to stop, giving me a clear shot at the base of her front right leg. Just like the general before her, whatever her leg joints were made of it offered little to no resistance to my blade, and severely hampered her movement.

The thing is, she was a lot bigger than the general, and the addition of the human torso instead of a spider’s head moved her center of gravity up and forwards. To compensate for this, her front two pairs of legs were much bulkier than they would have been in a similarly sized spider. Instead of screaming and gimping around like a normal spider without that leg, she overbalanced and, with a helping hand from her rebounding weapon, faceplanted, briefly lifting her spider body high in the air.

Then gravity and her own momentum conspired against her and her spider body came crashing down onto her human back. The resulting wet crunching would haunt my nightmares for weeks.

I ran over to her in an attempt to give her a mercy killing, except she dissipated into a cloud of smoke, revealing a humanoid set of armor in the dungeon’s colors. It bowed to me respectfully, then gestured at the back wall.

I glanced that way briefly, saw the open door that hadn’t been there before, and turned back to the suit of armor, only it was gone.

I stood there, completely at a loss with the fact that I effectively one-shot a dungeon boss more than ten times my size when the first kobold walked up.

“Hey Amandine, guess what?”

“Uh… not chicken butt,” I said automatically having fallen for that a few too many times from some of my… less mature soldiers.

“Nope, not chicken butt,” she replied.

*dingdingding*

“By the way, my shot is ready.”