Valens watched as the humans ran from one of the tier three dire hawks. Not that it was doing them much good against a flying enemy. The humans had predictably attracted the monsters walking over the dunes instead of around them. The scant concealment provided by the valleys between dunes didn’t help if you were on top of the dune. While getting spotted by one of the hawks was predictable Valens was honestly surprised they were unlucky enough to attract one of the dire hawks so soon. There weren’t that many of them still, and the floor was very large.

The core checked around the floor and revised his opinion, well maybe they could have avoided the tier three birds if they were aware of the danger. Most of the monsters had taken towards clustering around the oasis and river of the floor. Which was where the intrepid adventurers were heading as well. Valens chuckled darkly as he watched them rush into the tree cover just barely avoiding another dive bomb by the hawk.

He couldn’t decide if this group’s luck was bad or good. Running into a dire hawk in the open sands was usually a death sentence for any creature, but the humans had been just close enough to run for the safety of the oasis. The one place on the floor with large trees made it difficult for the dire hawks to hunt. The bird brains still tried it on occasion, but it rarely ended well for birds. They were too large to navigate the trees quickly making it easy for their wings to get broken by the trees. They might be tier three but their flight bones still weren’t the sturdiest things in the world. Once one of the hawks was grounded they’d be picked apart by the other denizens of the floor, or just destroyed by another tier three monster. Agility and air superiority only helped when you could actually fly.

Magnus yawned widely as the adventurers found another group of goblins. Lucky for them with no orcs in this group. The lazy drake looked around sleepily, What’s going on now Valens, how long was I out?

The core rolled its eyes, his companion was getting a bit lazy. It wasn’t long Magnus, just a few hours at most, which you would know if you bothered checking outside to see where the sun is. The humans managed to get to one of the oases without dying.

The drake yawned again, rubbing at his scaly forehead. Really? Where did you put the exit to the next floor again? Can they just follow the river until they find it?

That would be a little too easy, right? The core commented slyly. The river ends in one final oasis and then drains down to the next floor. However, the normal entrance that they’ll need to take is further past the last oasis in the desert. I made a bit of a crumbling ruin that turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. The entrance to the next floor jutted out of the sand like the broken bones of some long-forgotten creature. It turned out ruins were much easier to make than actual buildings, no roofs and all that. The jagged pillars and crumbling walls were tall enough to hold back the shifting sands and a simple staircase led to floor twenty-two.

I like the columns, but I think you’re mashing together building styles. Those sorts of columns were mostly in coastal settlements, shouldn’t it be a pyramid? Magnus the filthy traitor smashed his wonderful building face-first into reality.

No, it shouldn’t be, it looks great and I’m not changing to a pyramid. The core huffed at his friend, there was no way he got the memories jumbled, no sir. Besides, I might save the pyramid for a deeper floor to change things up. Maybe I could make it blend into the sand so it's hard to find.

Oh, you should also make lots of ruins and not just one, that way they’ll have to poke around all of them to figure out the way down. The drake chuckled evilly as he rubbed his claws together. If you do it well enough, even if they know the right way to go they could still get turned around by the desert and lots of different ruins.

That’s a fun idea, I might only change the lower floors though. Let them get used to the ruins as being the way down before starting to mess with them. He couldn’t change the floor the humans were on right now too much anyway.

New ruins and crumbling pillars began to pop up on the lower floors like mushrooms as Magnus started speaking again. I’m actually surprised that this group is still pushing forward. I would have thought they would have been a bit more hesitant by now.

The core eyed the humans as he continued to tweak the lower floors. You’re right they don’t seem all that concerned now that they got away from the dire hawk. Well, concerned or not, they’ll die just as easily when they start running into more tier-three enemies. The core quickly checked the path that the adventurers were taking. If they keep heading in that direction they’ll bump into a dire alligator first. The enormous lizard was sunning itself on the banks of the river, looking more than ready for a snack or two. Speaking of which, why do all the tier three species names have dire in them? It’s getting a little repetitive.

The drake shrugged. I don’t know Valens, those have been the names as long as I’ve been around. You can blame whoever named them in the first place but I doubt they're around to complain to at this point. The drake yawned massively and settled down again.

Are you going to sleep again? Asked the core.

Not quite yet, I want to see if I win the bet but I’m feeling sleepy again. Magnus yawned cavernously again, showing off his many dagger-like teeth.

I think I’ll watch for a little longer. I don't want to miss the end of their delve.

Ryan was having a very bad day. His rapier sang as he cleaved through yet another one of the stupid goblins. This damn dungeon, first it was slogging through the swamps, then it was freezing cold, and now he had sand everywhere. His blade hummed through the air as he whirled on another of the tiny green annoyances only for an arrow to sprout from its shoulder. The goblin’s thrashing ended as he drew a bloody smile across its throat.

The swordsman sidestepped, a lifetime of combat giving him a preternatural sense of danger. Still, he wasn’t quite fast enough and a stinging pain in his side bowled him over. Curses flew as he righted himself, the blow hadn’t even scratched him, but the veritable tree the hobgoblin was swinging around was still massive. It wasn’t his job to stop stuff like that and cursed his companions for putting him in this situation.

His complaints stopped abruptly as a spear blade sprouted from the hobgoblin’s back. Glancing around he saw the rest of the monsters were on the ground in various states of dying and dead. Snorting he also noticed he was the only one ruffled from their fight, he glared over at the other adventurer. “What were you doing? Why did you let that one get past you?” He snapped out.

“It didn’t get past me, it snuck up behind you, you’re welcome by the way.” The other adventurer scowled darkly, crossing his arms across his chest.

Ryan squinted at him trying to remember his name, then gave up. “If you had been doing your job it wouldn’t have attacked me from behind.”

“If you hadn’t pushed too far ahead it wouldn’t have been able to get behind you.”

Ryan glared at his so-called teammate and then turned away, he didn’t need to keep a pointless argument going. They just need to get this stupid delve over with and collect the generous reward. Though to be honest he was starting to feel like he might just shatter the core when they saw it for all the annoyance it had put him through.

“Come on, we're leaving.” Someone called out causing him to look up sharply, and sure enough, the rest of the party was heading deeper into the trees. Scowling he caught up to the rest of the group, they could have given him a little more warning. He looked around trying to figure out who told him to hurry up but couldn’t figure it out with everyone’s back to him.

A brief walk later and they found the reason there was a forest in the middle of a blasted desert, a river. The beautiful band of blue wound its way between the trees before meandering out of sight. Sighing in satisfaction Ryan stepped forward towards the banks, time to refill his water skin and wash up a little bit. “Careful Ryan, there might be more of those crocodiles around.” He brushed off their concern like the wasted fluff it was. He was much quicker than any stupid animal, and he would notice if one of those giant reptiles was close.

Brushing aside the reeds at the water’s edge he knelt and carefully refilled his water skin. Scornfully he looked over his shoulder to find the other still watching the water warily. With a snort, he turned back and splashed his face with the wonderfully cool and pleasant water. Just a little bit longer and he would get a massive payday, and move to somewhere more civilized. Somewhere it wasn’t burning hot for more than half the year.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the water ripple and leaned back sharply. Massive jaws that could have easily ripped off a limb closed before his eyes with a snick. The white teeth flashed and water exploded in front of him. He felt like the world was moving in slow motion as his eyes dilated and he pushed his reflexes to the absolute limit.

In a single fluid motion, he drew his rapier and lunged forward. The blade caught the monster in its eye avoiding the hard scales just as the beast crashed back down into the water. The oversized lizard began to thrash in its death throws and Ryan sneered, just tier-two trash after all, he wouldn’t even get any experience for it. Gazing wistfully at the dying reptile he imagined how strong he could grow if everything gave him experience.

His momentary distraction would cost him dearly though as another eruption of water came from his left. Pushing his already strained muscles once more, Ryan wheeled to the side, just in time to see his death approaching. Before he could so much as scream, jaws snapped shut like an iron trap around him.

Valens chuckled darkly as the humans stared in shock where their friend had once stood. Even if they weren’t the most populated yet his tier-three floors were dangerous. Maybe if the group had been well prepared and actually working as a team unit they could have made it farther but as it stood it was that much of a surprise that they’d already suffered a loss.

As he watched the humans come to the probably wise decision to leave the dungeon, apparently no amount of money was worth getting almost killed. There were a few that said they’d be back, and the dungeon core applauded that attitude. It also meant he got another chance to try and eat them.

Did this mean Magnus had won the bet? The core couldn’t quite remember the exact terms they had set but still rained a few gold coins on the sleeping drake. His friend didn’t even twitch in his sleep but Valens still chuckled anyway. Sighing he turned his attention back to the twenty-fourth floor, still lots of work to get done. Maybe he’d overhaul the ruins he set up a little before getting back to expanding.