"Mum?" Kina called out softly, tilting her head to the side as she carefully observed her mother tightly hugging their target. "What's going on?"

Startled by her daughter's question, Isana quickly let go of Kiefer, wiping the tears off her cheeks as she pats down her ruffled dress. Her cheeks were slightly blushed, showing a tinge of embarrassment while her lips were curled upwards ever so slightly. As she set Kiefer down on the ground, Isana bent down into a half squat position, taking a longing look at the stranger in front of her, then averting her gaze to her daughter.

"Come here Kina," Isana instructed, waving her smooth white hands at Kina and beckoning her over. She had no idea how she was going to introduce Kiefer to his daughter, but she was too elated to think of an elaborate plan. All that mattered now was that her family was whole again, and she just wanted a great family hug. As Kina cautiously tread over, She was suddenly caught in a vice-like hug by her mother, together the young elf. Isana was rubbing her cheeks in her daughters hair, unable to see the disgusted look on Kina's face as her face and the elf's were pressed up against each other in a tight hug.

"Uggh! EW mum!" Kina exclaimed as she struggled futilely to escape the clutches of her mother. "Let go! We need to quickly surrender this pipsqueak over so we can continue with our adventure!" She continued as she desperately pushed against Kiefer's face with her palms, squishing his soft elven cheeks and lips.

"Young lady! Show some respect to your father!" Isana bellowed at Kina, dropping a bombshell on her daughter unintentionally.

Kina's expression immediately froze, as if her brain couldn't process the information and just stopped working, a BSOD flashing at the back of her eyes. For one thing, this was the first time her mother scolded her, much less even raise her voice at her. The other was that her mother had just said that this young elf whose age was obviously still in the single digits was her father. "What the hell?" was running through her thoughts right now.

"Sana…" Kiefer sighed as Isana let go of the two children. "Why are you yelling at the child? And who is she…… anyway… wait. Did you say father?" Kiefer stuttered, as he too had had a bombshell dropped on him. "She's my daughter?"

Isana quickly clasped her mouth shut with her two hands as if suddenly realising what she had just said. Her eyes widened as she quickly studied the expressions of the two children in front of her, one her daughter and the other her husband. At this moment, even her brain was in a mess as she was scrambling to find a way to resolve this situation.

"F – F – Father?!" Kina exclaimed out loud, switching glances between Kiefer and Isana.

"Yes," Isana replied softly, smiling sweetly at her daughter. "His name is Kiefer Trishen."

"Bu – but… You told me my father died a thousand years ago… This midget has yet to reach even puberty yet, and he's an ELF! You said my father was a human." Kina argued, not willing to accept the fact that Kiefer was her father.

"Baby…" Isana sighed audibly. "I don't know how it's possible either. I just know that he's your father for sure. The way he carries himself, his aura and even his skills, there is no doubt that he is your father."

"Wait wait!" Kiefer interjected them. " A thousand years!?! What happened after I died? To me, it's been barely over a week since I died on Aioa."

Isana stared at him, unable to comprehend what he had just said. Knowing that there was a ton of catching up to do, Isana took out a small tea table and a set of chairs as the trio sat around at the entrance of the dungeon, catching up with each other over what happened while they were apart. The blood moon set and the morn came around quickly, without the Titans realising, the town was starting to fill up with adventurers and merchants once more.

As the adventurers tried to approach the trio, they would be met with a force that threw them back or prevented them from moving closer. It was either a strong gust of wind or silver ropes that flung them back, followed by a series of ice shards that shot into the ground at the feet to warn them. The spells were executed in complete harmony, without so much as a glance from the casters or even a verbal spell chant.

The sun was already high up in the sky by the time Kiefer, Isana and Kina concluded their little chatting session, finally getting up from their chairs and heading towards the dungeon together. The furniture mysteriously disappeared into thin air as the adventurers from a myriad of races stared in awe.

Kina was silently walking behind her parents, a little ashamed of her mother's actions. Isana had been acting like a teenager in love ever since they entered the dungeon, clinging closely to Kiefer and not letting go of his hands. Had any other adventurer seen the scene, they would have thought that Isana was giving preferential treatment to Kina's younger baby brother.

"Humph!" Kina scoffed silently as she stared daggers at the backs of Isana and Kiefer. "Mum is blinded by that guy! Acting like a stupid little girl! Even I don't cling so closely to Seras."

"So we are trying to get the soul flower that is at the end of this dungeon?" Isana asked again nonchalantly for confirmation as she pinned a minotaur to the dungeon wall with a hail of ice shrapnel.

"Well, I'm not even sure there is a flower in this dungeon. I'm just curious that's all." Kiefer replied, tearing all four limbs off another minotaur with his mana ropes as the blood splattered onto its brothers. "These cows are not very bright are they? They can't even gauge the difference in our strengths and attack us mindlessly," he continued. They were currently strolling through the 15th floor of the dungeon, exterminating any Minotaur that approached them, leaving Kina bored as hell.

[[Another two weeks later]]

"Muuuumm…" Kina groaned, "Are we there yet??"

"Almost there baby," Isana replied, looking to Kiefer for reassurance. Kiefer nodded in reply, sensing the powerful aura getting thicker. The dungeon had been getting increasingly warmer the further they progressed. Had it not been for Isana's aura, no one would have been able to withstand the temperatures for long unless they had a competent ice mage and plenty of mana potions.

The family walked down the ramp as they left the 95th level behind them. It would have taken any experience veteran adventurer party at least three weeks to get through the level, but the family blew through it in seconds. The 95th level had no mobs, but an ever changing dungeon structure, with real and illusionary walls forming at random to throw any intruders off. The floors spun and turned at junctions, making it impossible to map and orientate themselves.

Kiefer though had no problem. His mana pulse accurately pinpointed the exit where the aura was the thickest, and they just moved in a straight line towards the exit, demolishing anything that blocked their path.

As they descended the spiral ramp, they came up to a level that was flooded with steaming water. It was not boiling but had constant wisps of steam rising from the surface, with the ever so occasional bubble or 2 popping on the surface. Not the least bit taunted by the hot water, Isana and Kiefer stepped onto the surface of the water, making contact with a thick layer of ice. Kina followed closely behind, not wanting to risk dropping into the hot water.

Kiefer and Isana had been chatting non-stop since they had entered the dungeon, making Kina wonder if they would ever run out of things to talk about. The conversation would occasionally move towards Kina as Isana chuckled and expressly described Kina's embarrassing moments only to have Kina scream at her in anguish. Kiefer laughed alongside Isana in such cases, making Kina fume even more. However, aside from those moments, Kina never interrupted her mother. In all her life, she had never seen her mother smile so much, and she knew that her mother was truly happy for the first time since she hatched.

The atmosphere had been really light hearted despite the dungeon having been designed to be devastatingly destructive to both mind and body of any who had ventured this deep. Kiefer suddenly stopped walking as he stared into the ice floor that they stood on. Isana followed suit, leaving Kina, the only one without a powerful mana pulse confused.

"Why'd we stop?" Kina questioned, looking at Isana.

"The exit is underwater," Kiefer replied swiftly, thinking of a way to get down. Then without warning, Kiefer began smashing the ice around him, storing large chunks of ice away in his PD as he proceeded to freeze the water that flowed in. Isana saw what he was doing and did the same, and within moments, they were standing on the true floor of the dungeon, having frozen, broken and stored away every last drop of water on the level, revealing a bed of purplish weeds at the bottom.

Unknown to them, this level was designed to make adventurers come up with a way to traverse underwater while avoiding or killing the weeds that would actively seek out and entangle the adventurers, trying to drown them in the hot water. However, with Kiefer and Isana's absurd methods, everything had been rendered useless the moment they stepped foot on this level.

The ramp to the 97th level led to a large door that only opened after Kiefer placed his hands on an orb which drained a fairly large amount of mana from him. This would have been lethal to any mage but was insignificant to Kiefer, who replenished the mana in a few seconds. The doors opened to reveal a chamber which Kiefer assumed was meant to drain the water out before they could proceed to the next level.

The 97th level was oddly similar to the 96th, except it was a sea of molten lava that was bubbling furiously. Even with Isana's aura and Kiefer's permafrost spell, the molten lava did not cool down in the least bit. Even emptying out his entire PD of stored ice from the previous level only managed to cool the lava down long enough for it to solidify for a brief few seconds, quickly melting again, not giving them enough time to set foot.

"Ahaha… talking to you has distracted me so much." Kiefer joked to Isana as he remembered a very easy way to overcome this obstacle. Without much thought, he stepped forwards onto a shimmering silver platform that spread out a metre above the broiling lava that lit up the entire dungeon floor. The family strolled towards a large fountain of molten lava that spewed the lava high into the air, creating a curtain of lava that constantly fell from above.

"The exit is behind this curtain," Isana explained to Kina, who was staring at the sight in awe. Even in her aunt Fiora's volcano, Kina had not seen such a magnificent sight before.

"Mum! We should ask Aunt Fifi to install one of these in her home. It looks so cool!" Kina exclaimed as she admired the spectacle.

"Aunt Fifi??" Kiefer repeated after his daughter, looking at Isana.

"Fiora," Isana replied, chuckling a little, to which Kiefer laughed as well. "Sure thing babe, if we make it back home."

Kiefer erected his Dome shield, and the family walked through the lava, watching the red hot molten rocks flow over their heads and form a spherical glowing orb. As soon as they passed the curtain, they arrived at the exit, which surprisingly led upwards to a level above them, not below. This was a first as the previous levels all only headed downwards. They quickly made their way up the ramp, to be greeted with a sight they had not expected.

There, in front of them was a lush green field with pockets of flowers growing vibrantly. The ceiling of the dungeon was brightly lit by shards of white and yellow crystals that covered the entirety of the level. There was no maze whatsoever, just a flat open field as far as the eye could see. One large tree stood alone in the distance, enforcing a dominating aura over the rest of the field. There was even a gentle cooling breeze blowing over, making the ankle high grass and stalks of flower sway. It was the pictorial depiction of a paradise of peace and serenity.

Kiefer was truly suspicious of such a scene. As he activated his mana void skill, He only noticed that the crystals on the ceiling above him dimmed greatly. The grass, the wind and the silence continued, proving that it was all real; at least they were not a mana based illusion. Feeling slightly relieved, Kiefer sat down on the lush grass, running his hands through the blades of green grass. Isana and Kina sat down for a break too, her emerald eyes gleaming brightly despite being surrounded by so much greenery.

The level had been designed as a resting spot for adventurers to take a break. If anything, it were a place for adventurers who made it this far to rest in peace, having gone through the ordeals of the previous levels, this would have been their final resting ground. A place filled with tranquillity where they could let their worries and headaches go, an ideal and perfect place to serve as their graves. It has yet to be defiled by anybody, seeing as this dungeon was fairly young and no one that wasn't a monster had made it past level 20.

However, as peaceful as this place was, it only meant one thing to Kiefer. The next level would not be as simple as the last 97. As in a game, he knew shit was going down if they gave the players med packs and a resting place, he knew the next level would be designed to be torturous, at least for normal people.

After a brief break, the family of Titans sprinted towards the large tree where there was an opening large enough for a car to fit through. It led to a spiral stairway that led underground. The trio stopped in front of a wide expansive flat dungeon floor riddled with runic circles. There was no end to the level – Kiefer could not even see the walls of the level.

Picking up a rock from the ground, Kiefer tossed it towards one of the runic circles. As soon as the rock entered the space above the circle, before even touching the ground, the runes lit up, and the rock was instantly teleported to a distant rune, where the process repeated. The rock repeatedly teleported from rune to rune in no specific pattern whatsoever, without spending more than a split second above each rune.

"This looks fun," Kina muttered unknowingly, to which Isana and Kiefer grinned at each other. There didn't seem to be any other effects other than the constant teleportation to disorientate the intruders and give them no chance to react, resulting in them being stuck in a repeated loop of teleportation forever.

As Kina stepped closer to the runes to inspect it, Kiefer suddenly gave a shove and watched as her shocked expression disappear and appear a short distance away. Her angry screams kept resonating from various multiple spots in the endless level. Kiefer and Isana chuckled ad they took their step onto the level.

The runes did not activate under Kiefer and Isana's feet as the void space spell deactivated the runes, allowing the couple to walk calmly while their daughter was relentlessly trying to find a way to stop her non-stop teleportation. Very quickly, Kina teleported in between Kiefer and Isana using her own skill, her hair ruffled and her posture a little disorientated.

"Don't do that to me!" Kina complained as she shoved Kiefer with both her hands.

"Didn't you say it looked fun? Did you enjoy your joy ride?" Isana chuckled.

"There," Kiefer interrupted, pointing off in the distance. "The aura seems to be originating from that rune." Very quickly, the family made their way towards a single rune which did not seem any different from the millions around it. As they stood on the 1m wide rune, hugging tightly to make sure all three fit above the rune, Kiefer and Isana cut off the void space spell. Immediately, the rune below their feet glowed a bright green colour, unlike the blue glow of its counterparts. Then, they disappeared from the spot.

"Where are we?" Isana asked as she studied the small room. It was a large room, but small in comparison to the other levels of the dungeon. A square room spanning 30m on each side with a tall ceiling covered with the same brightly lit crystals as the resting level earlier spread out in front of them. In the middle of the room was a small stone stand with a small colourless clear marble floating above. The marble was only 0.5cm across but had two orbs of fine crystalline powder floating around it.

The shimmering powder seemed to flow from one orb to the other while passing through the marble. The two spherical orbs of white powder rotated around the marble, the direction of the flow changing periodically. It always flowed from the orb that was on top to the one below and the two orbs kept spinning around the marble vertically. Each time the flow changes direction, Kiefer and his family could feel a pulse expand rapidly from the marble.

As the trio walked slowly towards the marble, they felt that each time the pulse passed through them, they felt as if they were stuck in a thick jelly, their movements coming to a halt rapidly before being freed once again as the wave passed. Even their void space did not nullify the effect as they approached the orb slowly.

"What is that? That's not a sOOOOooouuullll Fllloooower is it?" Isana asked, her speech slurring to a slow drag as a pulse from the marble passed through her.

"No. The soul flower does nOOOOoooott LLLOOOOOkk like that. I don't know what it is, but it's powerful for sure." Kiefer replied.

"Ahahhaa!! You guys sound so wEEEEiiiiiiirrrDDD" Kina laughed from behind as she followed her parents.

After an ordeal of multiple waves and uncontrolled laughter bursting from Kina every time a wave passed, the family finally made it to the stand, watching the orbs of shimmering white powder slowly rotate.

"Looks like an – " Kiefer paused as a wave passed through. "Artifact of some sort, resembles an hourglass don't you think so?" he asked.

Hello peeps. I promised you this chapter last week, but failed to deliver. I'm terribly sorry about that. Just been having problems getting around to writing the chapters for some unknown reason. At least i got it done, so i'm still keeping up with my 1 per week quota. once again, sorry for the cliffhanger.