Mathew ran forward ignoring the large fight. He trusted his summons to keep everyone busy long enough so he could claim the core and force the parasites to either take the portal home or be stuck here on Earth only to be wiped out over time

He skirted around the main fighting force, but a couple of the fighters broke off to chase after him. A wolf dashed toward him and instantly caught up to him. Mathew created a spear with his mana and thrust it forward with the gray-hued tip of the weapon.

The spear impaled the wolf at its shoulder joint, causing it to fall and trip over its damaged limb. Mathew created another spear and stabbed it through its side into the ground, pinning it. The wolf thrashed about trying to dislodge itself, but Mathew ignored it and kept moving.

He looked to see two humanoid figures running toward him, and he continued to walk backward toward the core while readying himself to fight.

Mathew saw one human had a large sword, similar to the one Henderson used. The other was the infernal humanoid with a pair of shorter blades with a reverse grip on both of them. Mathew had less than half of his maximum mana supply, but the steady supply from his rod and ring was enough to keep him going so long as he didn’t overdo it again as he did with the exploding staff.

The large swordsman moved first. Mathew launched his chains at it only for them to be bashed away by the blade's flat. He took two steps forward toward Mathew only to get smacked in the chest by a [Mana Bolt].

Mathew had another spell charging through [Doozkora’s Rod] as white energy started to pool around the tip of it.

The dual-wielding human threw one of the blades. It spun in the air, catching Mathew off guard as it sliced across his thigh. The blade left behind a stinging wound, and Mathew could see blood already seeping out.

He threw the [Fracture] spell at the giant blade-wielding human, for it to land against the blade. Cracks spread across the metal blade, but it didn’t fully break. Mathew guessed if he swung it too hard against one of his shields, it would finish shattering.

That didn’t stop the human as he charged forward, swinging the blade back to hit Mathew with it. Mathew jumped to the side only to be forced to roll as yet another short sword flew through the air toward him.

The blade smashed into the ground next to him, not yet broken. The swordsman used the blade as a fulcrum and kicked out at Mathew connecting his foot against his chest.

Mathew caught himself from falling and raised a [Mana Shield] to block the follow-up from the twin bladesman who struck out with both blades in a melee attack.

He was on the back foot, constantly moving to avoid the combination of attacks from the two infected fighters. He swapped his rod out for his spear and spun it around him to force the infernal back a step.

Mathew took a fighting stance, relying on experience to carry him through the fight. He was still dozens of feet away from the dungeon core. It was left unguarded as far as he could tell, but he didn’t trust that it was truly undefended.

Using his left hand, he threw a [Mana Bolt] at the larger swordsman before gripping his spear with both hands and thrusting towards the infernal. His fast movements were boosted by the lightning elemental coursing through him, which was all the speed he needed to land a solid hit on the infernal.

Mathew spun his spear again and took two steps back, closer to the core. The human swung his giant blade again, Mathew layered two [Mana Shields] just in front of his left arm in time to block the heavy blow. It broke the first shield, and the blade itself shattered on the second.

The exploding blade threw the human off balance and Mathew stepped forward with his grey glowing spear and stabbed through his chest. He pushed the shaft upward, forcing his enemy to fall backward, and pinning him to the ground.

Mathew left the spear there as he created a mimic of the spear with his own mana. The infernal moved quickly despite his injury, reminding Mathew these were not normal people who reacted to pain.

The two dodged each other's attacks, two small glancing blows connected with Mathew as he returned only one shallow cut. He found himself moving slower suddenly, he looked down to see the arcing electricity was gone.

“Damn it, he must have hit it or it has a timer of some sort.” Mathew saw a small opening and he swung the spear wide before stepping forward to pierce the infernal’s shoulder. The exposed tissue showed dozens of parasites working to reconnect the tissue.

Mathew saw the larger human was already getting up. He had rolled enough to dislodge the spear and was working on removing it from his body. The infernal didn’t move toward Mathew just yet, waiting on help it seemed.

“They just won’t stay down! Even if I rush toward the core, I need time to claim the core. I need to kill them, but I can’t burn them down as Agnox can.” Mathew recalled his [Quiq’s Spear] back to his hands, seeing that the larger human was about to break it over his knee.

He pointed it toward the two humans backing up slowly. Mathew then realized he had made a hindering error in judgment. Running alone like this was the wrong move. Against almost any other type of enemy, this would have worked. Even the undead can succumb to their wounds, but these parasites seem to not be affected even with their heads missing.

“Wait a minute, that’s it. I’m focusing on killing them, not stopping them.” Mathew dismissed his spear and brought his rod back out. If he couldn’t kill them, he would just force them to yield to him by force.

Mathew took a steadying breath as the two realized he had dismissed his weapon and were charging forward. Mathew didn’t move. He waited till they were closer. Too close to avoid what he had planned.

Mana swelled in [Doozkora’s Rod] just as the faster infernal was within striking distance. Chains covered in frost flew outward and wrapped around the infernal. Mathew didn’t waste a moment and sent a second volley of chains at the larger human. His Axiom of Cold had the idea of draining within it, which would empower that part of the ability.

Mathew watched them both fall to the ground struggling against the chains. The chains visibly dug into their flesh, causing frostburn. Mathew could see a chunk of parasites fall to the ground dead.

He stood over them, watching their movements slow down from the cold. Mathew could still feel his connection to the chains and pushed on that mental connection. Forcing the parasites within to die a slow death.

Once the both of them were no longer moving with hostile intent, Mathew looked to the battle happening with his summons. More explosions of flames from Agnox could be seen, but it was obvious who was winning.

Mathew still rushed to the dungeon core, not wanting his summons to fight much longer. The giant crystal was unguarded still. Nothing came to stop Mathew as he placed a hand on it. A single prompt appeared asking him if he wished to claim the core.

He hit the ‘yes’ option and a ten-minute timer started. Everyone else was nearly a hundred yards away from him. He couldn’t leave this undefended otherwise someone could just stop the timer and reset it.

Mathew waved his arms toward his summons, hoping they would start moving toward him. As he did, he watched as the bird spirit get taken out of the air by a bobcat, and killed.

He grimaced, but thankfully Cherry seemed to have seen him. She was yelling toward Agnox and pointing in his direction.

The imp glanced toward Mathew and gave a thumbs up as he jumped and started to fly above the battle. Soon, his four remaining summons started to work their way in his direction. Wispy was hovering above Cherry, helping her with its rapid-fire attacks.

Mathew went to meet them halfway, and all five of them moved together to the core. Only a minute had passed, and they turned to the remaining horde to fight them off.

“Mathew, you are an idiot,” Cherry said between heavy breaths. “You didn’t try the chains sooner?” She pointed to the chained-up pair.

“Sorry, my fault. I didn’t think of it till the last moment. The downside is the sheer mana cost. I can only do it once more if I want to still use magic, twice if I don’t.”

“I think it was smart Boss! But I agree, that would have been a more useful use than just fighting them. But since it’s mana heavy, you still got me to finish them off!”

Mathew threw the first attack at the incoming horde. It reminded him of fighting the beast horde in the world dungeon. Except for this time, he didn’t have outside help. Just him and his summons.

The horde was thinned quickly, as the timer continue to tick down rapidly. Just when Mathew was feeling the effects of being low on mana for the first time the portal opened up next to the core.

That caused all the infected they were fighting to stop. That didn’t mean Mathew and his summons stopped fighting. Just as Mathew was about to stab a wolf, it rushed to the portal as did all the other creatures and humans.

Mathew just let them go, not wanting to give them a reason to stop and keep fighting. He was covered in sweat and exhausted.

“I didn’t think they would leave,” Cherry said. She had fallen to a sitting position as soon as the fighting stopped, far more exhausted than anyone else.

“I had assumed, but it was a risk. One that we got lucky with.” Mathew said with relief.

“Boss, I think you spoke too soon,” Agnox said as he pointed to the Dungeon portal that led back to Earth. Coming through were dozens of beasts. More bears and wolves with a few deer and birds coming as well.

“Shit,” Mathew said as he reached out a hand to help Cherry stand up. “Be ready just in case guys.”

As the monsters got closer, he noticed a few of them were injured. Wounds similar to that Agnox inflicts with his burning sword. He didn’t question the injuries, since none of them moved to attack Mathew. They all rushed through the portal that took them back to wherever they came from.

Behind them were a couple more humans, with two more infernals. Just behind them, a lone human came through, but this one shouting. “Get back here! I’m not done killing any of you yet!”

Mathew was too exhausted to use his Axioms anymore. Yet the voice was familiar to him. He narrowed his eyes in slight disbelief.

The human lept forward in a giant arc and slammed a giant glowing sword into the ground, cleaving one of the infernals in half.

Now closer, Mathew knew who exactly it was. He was confused for several reasons, one of which was because she had been missing for nearly a month. “Henderson? Is that you?”

Captain Henderson looked over at Mathew and pointed at him. “What the hell are you doing here? This is my dungeon punk!”

She marched over to him, ignoring the now dead infernal who couldn’t recombine his two singed halves. Mathew saw her eyes were golden, and she had put on a considerable amount of muscle. “Henderson where have you been? Everyone has been worried for you. Search parties were sent to find you! Just what the hell happened to you?”

Mathew was a mix of relief and concern for her. It wasn’t characteristic of her to abandon everyone for such a long time. Plus something was off about her. It wasn’t just the physical changes, but the way she walked.

Even as she got closer, Mathew could tell she was going to do something. Yet, he did not believe it was hostile. There was no reason for that unless she was being forced to.

Mathew didn’t have time to react thanks to his tired body as Henderson grabbed him by the arms and pulled him in for a deep kiss. His eyes went wide from shock. He tried to pull away, but she held it for a moment longer before pulling back.

“Damn, she has been wanting to do that for a long time. She’s pissed at me because I did it, not her.” The gruff voice said with a laugh.