The beating of the drum continued on and on as the party followed its sound and shockwaves.

Logan flinched ever so slightly as each wave washed over his body. He could feel a slight anger rise in his stomach before falling away into nothingness, a byproduct of the Come Forth effect trying to affect him, but recognising him as an ally so it stopped doing so.

Countless footsteps and claw marks could be seen across the floors from monsters making their way towards the sound. Even if the effect didn’t fully encapsulate them, the monsters could still hear the noise and would want to go investigate.

Pulling out the enemies at the far reaches of the lowest and highest floors indeed showed that Cassius wasn’t being passive on the middle floor. If anything he was probably biting off more than he should have. But his vitals were still fine on Logan’s party menu. It was a sure bet the man could survive the worst this place had to offer, if not solo the entire dungeon.

“Looks like we’ll have a clear run to the final room with this going on”, Koma mentioned at the head of the party.

“Why not use this at the beginning, where we could have pelted the single corridor?” Logan asked from the back.

“It would have pulled creatures from outside, and if there were any traitors following us it would have taunted them too. The item has a few day's cooldown anyway, so it’s best to use it near the centre.”

“Using it where he currently is also means the shift wasn’t as bad as it could have been”, Marcus added in the middle.

“Fair enough, I suppose it’s too risky to use in higher-rank dungeons.”

“That it is, we didn’t use it in the bubble forest”, Koma replied as she continued to climb the slope.

“Wait, is he only using it now? Not yesterday? Or the day before?” Logan asked.

“He may have borrowed Prevesna’s after our forest dungeon. Meaning this would be his second. Patavava can also channel spellforce into them to make them last a bit longer than usual.”

“So Cassius is fighting them all, on his own?”

“Probably, sounds like him.”

Passing by several corridors on either side, Logan was able to combine Echo Radar with feeling the shockwave directions to find the right paths to take. The sound got louder, as well as the pulses got stronger as they approached.

It took a few minutes of walking before the pulses stopped, the drum going inactive in the distance. Thankfully enough, the party were able to follow the remnants of the waves to their source, the slopes eventually taking them to the middle floor without any interruption from monsters.

Exiting another corridor, the party found themselves on the middle platform where they had all been split up. Cassius had held in his hand a different shortsword from before, two on the floor having been broken in the previous encounters.

The floors were full of corpses, both large and small. Logan quickly noticed all types of creatures here, even the white wargs he had faced at the top that weren’t in the intel. By Cassius’s side was a foot-tall drum, made up of light brown leather and topped with a black hammer attached to its side, possibly drumming itself via magic.

Seeing his allies return at the end of the drum’s noise, Cassius smiled wide as she shouted over to them, “Ho there! Glad to see you all unharmed, or at least healed after the fact.”

“Finally, I can stop channelling”, Patavava added as he sat down, his hands bracing on the floor behind him.

“Good to see you two, no issues I take it?” Koma asked as she climbed over the bodies.

“A few monsters with poor intel, but all fine the same. How did you lot fare on your paths?”

“We dealt with over fifty foes, mostly frost snakes”, Logan informed.

“And I was hit with an alarm, turned the whole place red and summed a couple of hundred goblins”, Marcus added as he slid down a corpse pile.

“That’ll be two shifts then, we may see one more as we finish this place up”, Cassius calculated.

Logan and Marcus hadn’t talked about the goblin mage much to Koma, they thought it best to hide the talk of “champions” in case it led to Logan’s reveal as an oracle. That would only cause some issues for Marcus after Logan left.

“How’re your supplies? We good to continue on?” Koma asked.

“I used a few potions to charge the drum, but otherwise I can go on”, Patavava replied as he looked through his pack.

“Give me a few minutes rest and I can lead us”, Cassius followed as he sat down, “Logan, mind using Clean on us?”

Logan accepted the command as he jogged over, using his mick to make his companions sparkly clean. Cassius eyed up the elementals in the back, as well as Marcus no longer having his normal dagger or staff.

“Seems you lot were set upon enough for a whole team. Glad to see you reach the other end.”

“We’ll all be getting reassessments when we get back I’ll take it”, Logan said with a chuckle.

“You’ll be allowed harder contracts when you do, possibly other invitations to join guilds”, Cassius spoke, lingering his gaze on Logan towards the end.

“Maybe. Recent events have coloured my ideas on those kinds of things”, Logan replied, looking down a bit.

Koma moved to start Harvesting parts from the countless monsters in the room while Logan rested with the others. At least in a guild party, it seemed the tasks were divvied up a bit more than in normal groups. Logan’s arms were getting a bit tired after all the cutting he had done on the lower floors.

“Have you moved much from this chamber?” Marcus asked.

“We did some scouting after the first drum ended, wanted to make sure there wasn’t a quick way back to you lot”, Cassius replied.

“We didn’t even notice the first drum”, Logan mentioned.

“The shift ice floors must be incredibly thick, probably a few dozen feet. Anyway, we didn’t find much close to us so we came back here. Seems you lot explored further if you met back up.”

“We got ambushed a few times, but we found a cannibal hoard room, and then a ladder room that went to the bottom.”

“Cannibal?”

“It dumped corpses and gear, seemingly had outside corpses too, and was pulling the spellforce out of them. No monsters had been made though.”

“Below, that doesn’t sound good. I’ve engaged one dungeon with those sorts of rooms before. We referred to them as devour rooms, as the dungeons aren’t the same ‘species’ as the creatures they ate. Was a nightmare to clear, the monsters came back in a matter of hours”, Cassius explained as he drank from his waterskin.

“Really? Koma thought it might be to aid in the Ice King’s revival.”

“Sounds solid. If there weren’t creatures in the rooms that could be it. The Ice King would be a strong monster to form, and since it is reviving him and not making a new one it probably takes a bit more. Though”, Cassius replied as he looked to Marcus, “if you killed a few hundred foes, combined with the others that’s over three, with us, over six. This place might just be horde city.”

“It might be something for the MT”, Marcus put forth.

“We can send a report off to them. They do investigations like this, below, they did one before we started. With how thick the ice is though, they most likely didn’t detect those rooms.”

Logan could hear his elementals in the background aiding in Koma’s Harvesting, their endless stamina certainly made them amazing assistants.

“So, what’s the plan? Think the number we’ve dealt with means we can get through the rest quickly?” Logan asked as he checked his mini-map.

“The drums took out a large area, and a bit beyond, we shouldn’t have to face much more”, Patavava added.

“My mace took a beating from the golems, but it can handle many more”, Cassius mentioned, flexing his gauntlet with the ring underneath. “After Koma is done taking what we hadn’t already, we’ll set off. You can cartograph this place, right?”

“A bit, yeah.”

“You’ll be making an updated map for the G-Hall then”, Cassius said with a grin, “we’ll track down the hoards and take our fill, then move to the throne room.”

“Will the throne room be easy to find?” Marcus asked.

“Below it will. Major monsters like that are often held behind Madamra doors. Big, posturing, and gold inlaid. The interiors are reminiscent of the halls you’d find at the castle.”

“What?” Logan thought to himself as he was taken aback. “You mean golden carvings with a large monstrous head?”

“Yeah, looks like a half-breed orc and ogre.”

“Fuck, that was what we found in that dungeon we cleared out to save Evén. I’m glad we didn’t do anything to it now”, Logan praised in his head, sweat beading down his cheek.

“You’ll find them in a few dungeons, both spellforced and not, that have a creature only a full team can take on… or one real tough adventurer. Since the Ice King hasn’t returned it should be empty except for an artefact and maybe a retainer or two.”

“What… what if the Ice King is in there?” Logan asked timidly.

Cassius scowled and took on a serious look, so that none would take his words lightly, “Then we run the below out of here and regroup. You two will be in danger at below rank 16 if we’re taken by surprise.”

“Quite a high rank, the G-Hall said we’d get the first crack at the Ice King if we cleared this place”, Marcus mentioned.

“Yeah? And their intel is bare and outdated. The reports noted this place was around one hundred strong. It’s been six times that. Now, I am unsure how early the place was cleared in previous runs, but this place has changed a lot since last time. It’s not uncommon to find a dungeon is different than last time, but to this degree, I will be putting in an adjustment.”

“When we cleared out a naegren nest the guy at the counter said the pay was set as dungeons always change”, Logan replied.

“Guilds get a bit more power on that side of things. Since guilds are typically the ones clearing the bigger dungeons, the adventuring society doesn’t want to piss us off. We have more than enough components to show this place was highly undersold. Your first group could have handled a lot of this place, if not for the Lieutenant Frosts, but the timescale would have been elongated.”

“Are you sure they could have prevailed?” Patavava asked.

“Sure, they had three combative casters. Enough Flame Walls in a corridor would turn almost any force to ash. Just alert the foes, retreat, put the Knight in front, and fire it up. Would just take several days to recharge spells”, Cassius explained to his ally.

“The monsters here are quite eager to rush in, even with so many dying”, Logan explained.

“The goblins, icebolds, and frost snakes are just a bit wiser than wolves. Their orders, with talk of the cannibal rooms, is to fill them with corpses. I doubt they cared much about dangers in their path, Madamra asks something and they don’t even care to ask how high”, Cassius replied.

“The wargs we fought were a bit smarter at least.”

“The golems too, those are the problems here. At least the golems were noted in the intel, the wargs would just end up being a skirmish that ended in wounded allies.”

“It is a shame so many newcomer adventurers think they can take on larger dungeons like this”, Patavava added.

“Eight groups. The G-Hall should have made the minimum requirements higher. For something that only happens every ten years, I suppose they didn’t have enough info on it beforehand. I will be adding to my adjustment that it should be rank 10 minimum.”

“What about the Ice King follow-up?” Logan asked.

“That’s against a single foe, as far as I know. So the team that clears ‘should’ be able to take him on with all of their resources, plus potions. But it is risky, depending on the team makeup.”

“Was the number of foes because of my changes too? Or was it just the yetis?” Logan thought to himself.

The group continued to talk about the cavern they found themselves in and how it compared to previous dungeons, passing the time while Koma worked.

Cassius stood tall, stretching out his arms to the ceiling and going onto his tiptoes, before landing solidly into a normal stance. “Alright, that should be a long enough rest.”

“We should be fine to leave most of the materials here”, Koma mentioned as she tied another bag closed.

“Seems the drums will be out of commission for a week or so, we used them for quite a bit of time”, Patavava informed.

“There should not be a need for them anymore. Let us just keeps our eyes and ears alert”, Cassius replied as he drew out a normal shortsword.

“If they aren’t needed, I can have my summons take the bags to the entrance”, Logan offered.

“That will save time later, do that. They should be able to catch up easily enough if they follow the same corridors at a run.”

Logan looked to his elementals that gave varying signs of acceptance from enforced salutes to thumbs-ups. They all moved to pick up a bag each and started running ferry missions to and from the middle floor.

Cracking heat gravel rocks in their mouths, the party began to explore the rest of the frosted caverns.

A trap room with four blue goblins here.

An ambush of seven frost snakes there.

“Level up! Gain: 8 HP, +1 Str, +1 Agi, +1 Con, +1 Int. You have gained one additional level 1 and level 2 spell slot, and three level 3 spell slots. You have 1 attribute point to spend.”

The fights were easy compared to before, Cassius took down most foes even without his blade, whereas the team dynamic made it hard for the elementals to even get an attack in. It didn’t matter in their case as they couldn’t gain any further XP, but Marcus made damn sure he could hit with his crossbow or heal an ally for each fight.

With Logan’s third-level spells unlocking he felt a tinge of excitement at the new possibilities, as well as more spells for his lower levels. He couldn’t access the new slots as it was still the same day, and it would alert the others to his level if he did. It wouldn’t raise much concern though, as others were levelling in this dungeon alongside him, but hiding his third-levels would remove any questions thrown his way.

Fol did speak to Logan on his new level, “Your first-level spells will stop their passive progression from here. At level 16 and Intelligence 50, they have reached their limit outside of mastery.”

Logan’s power continued to rise. Comparing it to his first day, the wolf that had bit his hand and just narrowly allowed him an exit. Logan could kill such monsters with a single dagger swipe, and if he had Advanced Micks, a single Force shot. He could survive massive slams from just as large weapons, could he survive bullets back on Earth?

Questions ran through his head as his party found another hoard of loot, without the devour room designs. Piles of shining equipment and coins spilling from pouches started to lose their lustre in his eyes, he wasn’t going to need them where he was going.

The corridors seemed countless, Logan’s map a mess of dead ends and linking lines. The long walk was more arduous than walking on the surface, but with the aid of the heat gravel and his higher attributes, he felt the fatigue less and less.

His mental fortitude was tested however when his new team found another devour room which housed what Logan recognised as the remnants of his previous team. Kreya’s bent shield lent against a wall, a shattered mace strewn over the floor. Picking at the cloak that Araxie once wore.

All their gear had been destroyed in the combat or eaten over time in this room. Their bodies were probably already picked apart into spellforce in the twelve days he had been gone.

Noticing Logan and Marcus’s change in attitude to the room and its contents the others gave them a few minutes, waiting in the hallway till they were done.

Cassius looked over the two bags he had retrieved with the gear of Tsuker and Cerall. Under his breath, he prayed, “Skearos, treat them kindly.”

Marcus moved his fists near his stomach to make the normal symbol for Pondress and gave his own prayer.

Logan stared at the bent shield. What should he say? Should he say anything if he followed no deity? In his mind it was their fault that his allies had died, they made this dungeon harder than it had to be. But then Logan brought them here. Before his thoughts could wander further, Marcus placed a hand on Logan’s shoulder.

“It’s time to go.”

“Still got a mission to do.”

The two walked out of the devour room, the air thick with spellforce had made the few steps out a bit difficult.

“The enemy numbers aren’t a concern, we’re back to normal group sizes. I doubt we’ll face any more, and if we do, minuscule groups”, Cassius spoke as the team continued down the hallway.

Cassius’s words rang true, corridor after corridor, no enemies assaulted them. Holes in the walls were devoid of any monsters, and traps were met by no hiding foes. If there were any invisible enemies, none made themselves known as the party pressed on.

The ease of their travel ended when the party came up to a larger corridor that was blocked at the far end by a colossal door. Inlaid with golden carvings that depicted a large monstrous head, something of an amalgamation of orc and ogre, with four sets of fangs.

“This door”, Marcus said under his breath.

“A Madamra Rampart. They signify the leader of a dungeon”, Cassius re-explained.

“Is it to keep them in?” Logan asked.

“Magi sometimes place seals on these doors to make sure they do not open, sure. But typically they are warnings. If you enter, you can’t leave until the denizens are defeated.”

“What about teleportation?” Logan followed up.

“You’ll find that spellforced dungeons make teleportation beyond sight-based ones difficult. Unless they are meant to function within it. Even if not, inside those rooms, you cannot teleport out unless it lets you”, Cassius replied.

Placing his sword onto his forearm, Cassius had it sucked into his ring, summoning Blazing End back out again. “Marcus, increase all our Agility, and my Strength as well. Doesn’t need to be Sustained.”

“Got it”, Marcus replied, following on with the longer format casting of his Enhance spell.

--- *** ---