Recovering from the sudden shock of hearing a monster talk, I immediately summoned a dozen chains to constrict the armadillo, leaving the pointed ends right near its neck. The creature squeaked in surprise, before starting to shiver in fear.

“P- please, don’t hurt me…” it spoke.

Or rather, it communicated, because I couldn’t actually see its snout move to produce the sounds. In fact, I could hear the voice appear directly in my head, meaning that the monster had access to telepathy of some kind.

“What are you?” I asked, deciding to start at the beginning. As far as I knew, there weren’t any sentient species of monsters. Not at lower tiers, anyway.

“B- before we talk, do you mind…?” he trailed off, staring at the chains wrapped around him, keeping him in place.

“I do mind, actually. Talk. Or die, I suppose. Whichever option you prefer.” I threatened, hoping that could convince the creature to part with its secrets. I lacked the sympathy to care about its mental well-being. After all, we had been fighting to the death but moments earlier, the strange room I found myself in attesting to the fact that this little armadillo had been controlling the golem from the very start.

“I’ll talk, talking is fine!” he hurriedly assured me, before trailing off. “What did you want to know again? I forgot…”

I sighed, lamenting the creature’s terrible short term memory.

“What are you?”

“Uh… can’t you see? I’m a garbador! Surely you’ve met my kind on the higher levels up above?”

I looked him up and down. “You seem to lack certain distinctive properties that the others had, though.”

“Just cause’ I’m tiny doesn’t mean I’m not a garbador! Out of all those lumbering giants, the dungeon made me the boss, didn’t it? I’m better than them!” he practically snarled, his precarious situation all but forgotten.

Looks like I struck a nerve…

“So I see.” I acknowledged. “Were you born here, in the dungeon?” I continued.

“No, I was born in the deeper part of the tunnels that the dungeon hasn’t got to yet. I joined up pretty early on in life, though. That’s why I’m so small, y’know? Never got the chance to grow up!” he replied merrily.

I took note of that comment, wondering whether dungeon creatures could grow or not, as the garbador before me seemed to imply. Still, its story did explain its frightening intelligence. Dungeon creatures were always born without sentience. Even the intelligent ones that could craft things and cast spells typically lacked a personality, only behaving like mindless drones. Dungeons were, after all, classified as hive minds. They didn’t typically tolerate free will.

“The dungeon allowed you to keep your free will? How?” I asked, hoping to get some answers.

“Huh? Whadaya’ mean?” he asked confused. I sighed, wondering what to do. He didn’t look like he was lying about that, and this wouldn’t be the first odd dungeon I delved… But something still bothered me.

Then it struck me. For all intents and purposes, the armadillo in front of me had surrendered. Yet the system hadn’t given me a ‘battle over’ notification yet. At first, I wondered whether this was because I hadn’t technically ‘killed’ anything yet, but when I remembered that destroying a golem counted as experience too, I understood that I was facing a different problem.

Either A, there was another monster laying in wait nearby to ambush me or B, the garbador before me was lying.

Considering the ample opportunity any hiding foe might have had to strike me until now, the latter was more likely to be true. With that in mind, I decided to stop the farce.

“You’re not, are you?”

“I’m not what? You’re not making much sense right now-”

“You’re not a garbador in the first place. Good job, you had me going there…”

“What are you talking about? I mean- look at me! I look exactly like one! I get that I’m small-”

“You’re the dungeon itself. That’s why your voice is directly entering my mind.”

The creature stilled, its beady eyes transfixed on mine. Gone was its cheery body language, meant to put me at ease. Instead, the creature hung limply as I kept it suspended in the air with my chains.

“So you’ve figured it out after all, have you? It wouldn’t be the first time for that trick to work, either…” the voice spoke lazily. The puppet before me didn’t even bother to act like it had been the one to speak. “You had questions, didn’t you? Since you impressed me, I’ll answer two.” It proposed.

I snorted, but decided to stay quiet, considering my questions. Eventually, I settled on two.

“How can you speak to me?” I began. This question was carefully crafted in hopes of getting two answers. One was, naturally, related to how a dungeon could communicate at all. Secondly, I wanted to know how the dungeon had gotten intelligent enough to gain sentience in the first place. This was only a tier 4 dungeon, after all!

“Was that meant to be a two-sided question? Too bad, you’ll only get one answer. The [telepathy] skill tree, combined with some clever puppeteering. Games aren’t fun if you can only watch others play, after all. Next question.”

I cursed myself mentally, being so easily seen through. My second question would have to be more open-ended. More specific questions were all well and good, but only if you knew exactly what information you were looking for. Which, for the record, I didn’t.

“What are you?” I tried again.

The voice snorted. “Good one. I saw it coming, but nonetheless… I could answer this by simply saying that I am a dungeon, but I’ll do you one better, just because. I am a multi-floor dungeon. I have multiple biomes, structured into different floors. Each floor corresponds to a tier and has a boss a the end. What you’ve just faced is only the first floor, actually. Congratulations, I guess!”

My eyes went wide as I considered the implications of that. Multiple floors? This dungeon would be a national treasure if it was located in Roa! The sheer amount of experience…

“Does Dalius know?” I found myself wondering aloud. If he did, would he ever have sent me here?

“Who? Whoever it is, I doubt it. Its been centuries since someone found my second floor, after all.” The dungeon responded lazily. “Ah, but that could be a lie, since your both of your questions have been used up.” It added as a sudden afterthought, making me hopeful about the veracity of its earlier statement.

“I see. Goodbye, dungeon. I’ll return to find your second floor once I am strong enough to face it.” I concluded, not bothering to thank it for the information.

I clasped my hands into a fist, directing the chains wrapped around the floor 1 boss to skewer their victim. The small armadillo exploded into an equally small fountain of blood, dying without a sound.

Ding! Combat finished. Congratulations on reaching [Hollow essence Knight] level 100!

TIER 3 MAX LEVEL REACHED

Advance to tier 4?

Calculating dungeon floor clear award....Awarded the [Mana control panel].

[Mana control panel]

Tier 4 artifact.

This artifact, when connected to a formation or array, allows you to modify and adjust customisable parameters.

Finally the system prompt appeared, though I waved away the tier evolution, postponing it until I reached a safe location.

I took only a few moments to consider the reward I had gotten. It seemed useful and was probably involved in the golem’s creation, but I hadn’t a clue how to operate it. Maybe it would work well in conjunction with the giant gem I had recently gotten my hands on?

There was no point in dwelling on it, though. For now, I wanted to get out of here.

I didn’t waste any time and headed back to the surface, swerving through the winding tunnels as I flew to get there. While the dungeon stayed silent throughout my journey, it saluted me moments before I reached the exit.

“Until next time, challenger… Come prepared, as my next floors won’t be so simple.”

I didn’t grace it with a reply. No matter how much it acted like it, that dungeon wasn’t human. The only reason why it warned me, was because it enjoyed seeing me struggle for a longer period of time, no doubt.

Back out in the open, I noticed that night had fallen. The full moon was reflected on the calm ocean surface, creating the illusion of a second moon being hidden under the shimmering water. As the sound of small waves crashing onto the rocky protrusions near the edge of the island filled the otherwise quiet night, I took a good look at the rest of my surroundings.

The shape of the mountaintops and the cliffs, other landmarks… I would come back here eventually, but I didn’t dare ask Dalius’ people for the location. If they took note of my sudden interest, they might investigate the dungeon more closely. Maybe that was an unnecessary worry, but I didn’t want to take the risk. I would have to find this place again with the help of some people back home.

After giving the proper signal, the portal reappeared where it had dropped me off a few days ago. A moment later, I stepped through and arrived back at Dalius’ hideout, where the same old lady from before awaited me, looking at me expectantly.

“Well? How did it go? You managed, I take it?”

“I did.” I answered dryly. “Is Emeri back yet?”

“No, I shouldn’t think so. She’ll be a while yet, in fact. Her dungeon, an undead one, is useful for experience gain but terribly tedious and slow. Without cheating like you did, there is no way for her to be done within the week. Best get comfortable while you wait.”

I nodded, seeing her point.

“Do you mind getting me a portal to the dry lands, then? I have some business there.”

She eyes me carefully.

“The dry lands? Do you mean the between lands? Whatever compels you to go to that hell hole?”

“Yes, those. Don’t bother asking why.”

She scoffed, giving me the side-eye. “I can see a young man excited to tier up from a mile away.” She teased.

“R- regardless, can you get me there?” I stammered sheepishly, frustrated at being so easily seen through.

After chuckling a bit, she nodded. “I can’t see why you would choose to tier up in the between lands of all places, but if you know someone there that you trust, I suppose it’s fine…” The moment she finished her sentence, a purple portal appeared. Startled but impatient, I said my goodbyes and hurriedly stepped through, not even taking the time to thank her.

When I stepped out on the other side and found myself in the middle of a dirty alleyway, surrounded by the sound of a busy city, I realised that I really should have specified ‘where in the between lands’ when I had asked…