Falling isn’t hard. Eve could do it with her eyes closed, in fact. Falling from the ceiling without causing damage to anyone beneath was a smidge more difficult. The solution was to drop just out of range, but close enough to give the jump scare required. Accompanying her fall was the loud screeching wail of a banshee’s death music. In a darkened room, with no light, and a frightening noise people do not calmly respond with logic as Eve well knew.

No, in such situations people respond with instinctive fight or flight responses. Eve thought watching as the attacks struck her Witch’s Dust shielding. Even worse, when you take away the ability to flee by the Dungeon closing both exits…

Eve didn’t even blink as swords, spears, three arrows, and multiple bursts of elemental blows struck her shielding. Shrugging, she verified that the entire group of twenty dungeon raiders was now tagged as counter-attackable.

Light flooded above both groups as multiple people used their enchanted items to dispel the darkness of the room in a display of good sense.

Eve had already sealed the space around the room as it was one of her ingrained combat habits now. Return stones, scrolls, and other such tricks were common to escape a dungeon after all. The light, while dispelling the darkness, also provided her with a clear view of her targets. In a show of mercy, she didn’t strike to kill. These were merely hired hitters, not true enemies. In the interest of possibly hiring them at a later date, Eve showed mercy.

Of a sort.

“Ribbit, Ribbit.” Eve said looking at all twenty fighters before the silver flash of a Curse flickered in the bright lights. Where twenty opponents had stood, now only twenty freshly made frogs existed.

Even if they want to talk about me, the Curse won’t let them. Eve thought with satisfaction. As for finding a kiss to break the spell, that’s not my problem.

A chunk of rock collapsed from the ceiling instantly killing the twenty frogs and causing Eve to stare at the dungeon’s ruby crystal eye with a gimlet glare.

“Safety first.” the ruby observer said sagely.

“Well, I tried to be merciful this time,” Eve muttered before shrugging. The dungeon quietly smoothed over the fallen rubble turning while absorbing the corpses. Soon, there was no trace anything had ever been there. The rest of the room quickly shifted Moving without haste, she used Spatial Step to arrive before the Daedric Doorway once more.

“There will be stronger ones arriving soon,” Eve said to the red cube crystal eye.

“Food is food.” the red crystal chimed.

“Stop pretending to have a lower intelligence for a moment, please,” Eve said looking dead at the red cube.

“Fiiiiiiiiine.” the ruby replied.

“There is a unique opportunity before you to turn this potential disaster into a profitable one.” Eve continued. Within moments she felt the full weight of the dungeon’s attention upon her.

“How?” the dungeon asked finally.

“Let me teach you a little bit about a few subjects from my homeland starting first with, economics,” Eve said with an evil grin.

Several hours later Eve finished discussing things with the dungeon core. She watched the ruby shift over to her side as people flickered into existence through various forms of teleportation. It appeared as though Rex had managed to handle things without much fanfare.

A young man appeared from shadows as if stepping out of a pool of tar.

A slightly older man appeared from the earth as a figure made to the flesh.

Two women appeared in a gust of wind and burst of water respectively.

An elderly gentleman popped into existence with a flash of flame.

Finally, like her, a single middle-aged man popped into existence.

Each of them oriented spotting the others before gathering together. The middle-aged man stared at the Doorway for long moments before turning to scan the room. Spotting her, Eve watched as he led the group over to where she was currently sitting in comfort.

“Greetings, young lady. I am City Lord Ohm, and these are the respective representatives of the five families.” Ohm, the middle-aged man, said as he pointed towards each.

“Nick.” the shadow user bowed slightly.

“Tom.” the earth user bowed.

“Savelle.” the water user gave a sharp nod.

“Catherine.” the air user gave a gentle nod.

“Max.” the fire user simply stared at Eve with a burning gaze.

“Eve,” said Eve with a gape-toothed grin.

“We’ve all signed Contracts in regards to the situation. Is it really as you described?” Ohm asked.

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Eve sent party invitations out to everyone. Moments later as experience messages scrolled across various expressions occurred. The women had excited gleams, while the men wore hungry wolf-like looks.

“Exactly as described. However, to take full advantage will require bargaining with this guy next to me.” Eve said pointing at the ruby cube representing the Dungeon.

“Have you already completed a bargain?” Ohm asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course, I was here first,” Eve said without backing down.

Sour looks passed across the faces of all the men, while both of the female nobles approached Eve with hopeful expressions.

Eve nodded at the wind and water user saying, “My agreement covers myself and all-female associates that choose to bank on it in exchange for a small portion of their experience.”

Both women’s eyes sparkled before Savelle asked, “Can I see the agreement.”

Eve nodded and created a parchment floating it over to the younger-looking woman water user.

Catherine and Savelle looked at the agreement checking the terms before they both nodded and said, “We agree to the terms.”

“Sign at the bottom then,” Eve said with a casual wave.

Once both women signed they moved to stand to Eve’s left, turning her from an island into a solid voting block.

The younger shadow user, Nick, said, “This is ridiculous. Everyone should get the same privileges and priority, not just one old hag and two younger hags.”

“Agreed,” Max said as flickers of fire appeared around him.

“The early bird gets the worm. Is this not ancient wisdom from our forbearers? True, it is unfortunate we were late in discovering this, but we will still profit immensely.” Ohm said moving to talk with the ruby dungeon core’s cube.

The earth user approached Eve’s party before shifting into a female form to ask, “Will the agreement count even for those who were not born a woman?”

Eve blinked before she said, “Not a problem, as long as you maintain the female form while taking advantage of the agreement, sister.”

To the gaping shock of the three remaining male members the earth user, Tom calmly signed the parchment and moved to stand on Eve’s left.

“You hide deep,” Savelle said with a sharp grin at Tom’s female form. Catherine nodded giving a gentle smile that hinted at hidden depths.

“Sickening,” Nick said with a disgusted look.

“Don’t worry, he’s just jealous,” Savelle said with a smirk.

“Either that or he’s hiding his attraction with hate,” Catherine said sinking the knife in deeper.

Nick rolled his eyes as the other male members gathered to negotiate with the ruby eye of the dungeon core. Once negotiations were completed a few minutes later, the dungeon shuddered before splitting the room into a fractal design. With enough dedication, a dungeon could separate ‘instances’ with their spatial skills so that parties didn’t encounter each other in the same rooms.

Each of the members around Eve vanished as the ‘room’ with the Daedric Doorway was split into segments.

“Safeguards are now in place.” the ruby eye of the dungeon said to Eve.

“Enemies?” Eve asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Assigned by Tier. The strongest to the strongest. Safeties in place to prevent being overrun.” the dungeon’s red cube replied.

“Excellent, and my cut?” Eve said as she banished the chair beneath her.

“Nine percent confirmed.” the dungeon replied.

“Then my work here is done,” Eve said as she watched her experience slowly ticking up without any effort. The fire trap would remain on her ‘instance’ feeding the experience directly to her. Only those enemies of her own Tier would be allowed through the Doorway. The dungeon had copied her trick and improved it separating those entering the room into spliced ‘instances’ to be killed. In the event of a worst-case scenario, all those farming would be cast out of the dungeon while the Daedric Doorway’s room would be collapsed into non-existence.

However, for now, the dungeon stood to make a tidy profit, just like Eve would.

“Good doing business, Witch.” the ruby-core said before melting back into the floor.

“Indeed,” Eve said as she used Spatial Step to exit the dungeon.

Now that things would run smoothly without her interference, it was time to deal with the Cardinal. Eve didn’t want to leave any loose ends. Returning to the temple was no more effort than a single step. Finding the Bishop was another step and the clergy beast showed no shock at her arrival.

“Going after the Cardinal?” Bishop Rightworthy asked from behind his expensive wooden desk. Papers piled higher on the left than the right indicating the poor beast-man was beset by the vilest enemy of all leaders.

“Yes,” Eve said glancing around at the office. It was sparse compared to most, a bookshelf on one side holding holy tomes that could have come from any mass printing store. Pictures lined the right wall, and it was here that Eve saw the Cardinal in her full regalia.

“She was a great woman once.” the Bishop said setting his quill-pen down and looking at the picture Eve was examining.

“They always are.” Eve said with a sigh before she continued, “It’s that very greatness that makes them slowly detest the ineptitude they find around them. Eventually, it turns out one of two ways, they quit and find happiness…”

“…or they try to control everything with greater power so they can attain the vision of perfection they seek.” the Bishop finished.

“I’m not here to purge the corruption from your temple.” Eve said ignoring the sigh of relief from Rightworthy, “I’m merely here to remove a piece from the board that can cause my own allies issues.”

“The temple will investigate her death, you understand what I’m saying right?” Rightworthy said.

Eve looked patiently at the clergyman before she said, “Divine me.”

“Say what?” Rightworthy asked confused.

“Go ahead, divine me,” Eve said tapping her cane down as she approached his desk.

Bishop Rightworthy stared for a few solitary moments before muttering a short prayer and looking at Eve aghast.

“Unless I’m mistaken, your deity has just informed you that I don’t exist,” Eve said watching as the Bishop’s expression turned to fear.

“Impossible!” Rightworthy whispered as his hands clenched on his desk.

“No, just extremely difficult,” Eve said as she looked at the elderly beast-man.

“Are you going to kill me for knowing this?” Rightworthy asked tensely.

“No, Maxine is a wonderful example of sanity. I have no interest in causing her to lose her smile. I am simply providing a warning.” Eve said as she turned away moving to the door, “If the temple causes me problems, I will be forced to take steps to remove them. Make sure I don’t have to do so, it should be easy since the Cardinal’s killer doesn’t exist.”

Eve stepped out of the Bishop’s office as her Witch’s Dust rippled through the city in ever-expanding rings. After confirming the Cardinal wasn’t in the city, or the dungeon she used Spatial Step to exit the dungeon.

A quick query to the System pulled up the Cardinal’s information.

Cardinal Rachel Morningstar

Tier Six

Lv. 7500

Bounty: 11B SS

“Well that’s disturbing beyond all belief,” Eve muttered looking at the bounty number. The cardinal was worth almost ten times less than Nox had been. It painted a very unhealthy picture when the person responsible for almost destroying a dungeon city was worth almost nothing compared to her previous bounty target.

No use crying over spilled milk. Eve thought as she moved to track the Cardinal through the desert.