The swamp we had been dropped into had a DTER, but it took us a few minutes to realize what it was instilling in us. It didn’t exude fear, or panic, or alertness that the ones we were familiar did, but a small amount of lethargy and indifference. It was so out of character that I couldn’t help but feel stressed as to why CC felt the need to alter it in such a way.

  That helped me remain vigilant, of course, and I kept the rest of my team on track. With the constant aura of complacency trying to bring us down, it was better to be safe than sorry.

  Not that it was hard; the weight of what had happened before we entered the portal hung over us all. Ferrisdae, especially, was fidgeting more than usual. Not only was she fond of Liddy, but she had no idea if her family was okay. Even if she didn't want to get into everything with her mother, it was clear that she was worried.

  I checked the Sending Stone once again. There were messages from the other groups asking for details, but nothing from Justisius yet. I put it away once it became clear we weren’t going to find out anytime soon. Right now it was just being a distraction.

  Cojisto walked at the head of the party with a ten-foot pole to make sure the ground ahead of us could bear weight. So far the mossy areas of the swamp had been fine enough to step on, even for someone as heavy as Moose, but there were several pools of water all over the place. It was impossible to see through the thick green algae that floated along the surface.

  Every so often, though, we could see black eyes looking up through the water. They always ducked back underneath when they were caught, and I had to stop Cojisto from jumping in after them at least four times before he got the picture and just kept testing the path.

  The creatures were big and nasty, but they were also mostly harmless. That was what Knowledge Check was telling me. They were some offshoot of alligators that were larger than what we were used to. Not monstrous, just bigger. If we stayed out of their domain, they would leave us alone.

  “Cojisto, find a path to the right,” Ferrisdae requested, and the pugilist wasted no time trying to find a route that led us further that way.

  “What do you see?” I asked, squinting as I looked in that direction. The trees were thick and I couldn’t see far, but I knew both she and Dalsarel were using magical enhancements to their vision.

  “There’s a lot of mana up ahead, just past that tree that looks like it had been struck by lightning,” the Forest Elf replied, moving out of formation to better show me.

  I didn’t chastise her for being out of position, and I followed her pointing to the tree in question. It was thick at the bottom before becoming thicker and growing upwards at an almost uniform size, like all the others, until it was split in two. One half continued to reach the sky as normal with leaves still growing while the other had become wedged between two other trees.

  “Define a lot of mana,” I requested, frowning as we continued. “Are you sensing creatures or objects?”

  “Definitely objects, unless it’s some kind of swamp Golem that isn’t moving,” Ferrisdae responded before looking back at Dalsarel. “Do you see it, too? It’s very densely packed.”

  “I do,” the Dark Elf confirmed, though she only gave that direction a brief glance before resuming her vigil. “It’s stationary at the very least, whatever it is. Probably magic crystals given that we haven’t found any yet.”

  “Alright, then it’s worth checking out,” I said. “Good work.”

  I consulted the map. The area we were in was one of several scattered throughout the continent that Porolo Sitchken, the world’s most prodigious cartographer, hadn’t been allowed to enter. We still didn’t know why, exactly, but the most popular theory was that these areas were too important to CC to let him wander through.

  It was a surprise to see that my Minimap ability had evolved again and was filling in the blanks on its own. While I never shied away from doing a little cartography on my own and actually found the process both fun and soothing, this was much more efficient since I didn’t have the time to stand around and do it myself.

  Minimap didn’t show everything, however. When taking the time to study it while everyone else kept an eye out, it appeared as though only a small area around us was getting filled in. There was a path leading back from where we came from, but both sides of it remained blank. The direction that Ferrisdae was pointing us towards was near the middle of a large bubble.

  Cojisto, happy that we were no longer aimlessly wandering north, wasted no time finding us a safe pathway towards the source of mana.

  “Stay vigilant, and be prepared for combat,” I warned everyone as the trees opened up into a wide clearing that was filled with a thick mist.

  The ground here seemed stable, though there were huge swathes of water surrounding the area. Several of the same aquatic creatures from before were watching us, as if we had come into their territory, but none approached us despite our trespass. They didn’t hide on sight, either. It certainly seemed like some place we weren’t meant to be.

  At the center of the clearing was a white stone monument. It was short, only about half as tall as I was, but it had a huge radius. There were walls all around it except for where a trio of stairs let one climb. A large magic crystal, yellow in color, jutted out of the pedestal in the middle. It had been shaped to look like a sword, and I immediately outpaced Cojisto to get to the front of the pack.

  I went up the stairs to get a better look. There were words carved into a plaque on the pedestal, but they were in some language I hadn’t seen before.

  “It’s a long shot, but can anyone read this?” I asked, drawing attention to the writing.

  A chorus of negatives rang out from everyone except Ferrisdae, who had her arms crossed as she stared at it. “It looks familiar.”

  I turned to face her, though I also scanned our surroundings to make sure nothing was trying to sneak up on us through the mist. “Can you remember where you saw it from?”

  “Give me a minute, I’m thinking,” she replied, moving closer to the plaque. The Forest Elf smacked the back of her hand with the other before wiping it off on her robe. It seemed as though she had been bitten by a small bug.

  “That sword is what’s giving off all the magical energy, by the way,” Dalsarel pointed out as she drew her own. Something about this place clearly unsettled her.

  I moved around the pedestal to the other side where the crystal was obviously meant to be pulled from. It had been sculpted into a double-edged blade with a winged crossguard. If I had to guess, it looked like some kind of arming sword. One-handed, for sure, unless it was far too heavy for that. Half of the blade was lodged into the rock.

  Setting my Hilt of Holding down beside it, I stepped up onto the pedestal to examine it closer. Whoever had sculpted it did a beautiful job, and I remembered the magical crystal shaped like a tropical tree back in the Laroda Jareet Desert. It, too, had been carved from a bigger piece.

  Just as I was about to reach for the magical crystal’s hilt, Ferrisdae snapped her fingers. “Oristrella!” she exclaimed, looking up at me with excitement. “This language looks almost identical to the one she was learning from her rectangle.”

  “You managed to see some of it?” I asked, furrowing my brow. The White Wyrm had done what she could to keep it from me.

  “Not a lot, obviously, but she was much less guarded against me than she was you,” my junior pointed out with smug satisfaction. “I managed to take a few peeks and memorize what I could, which was only a few words, I think. There’s no way I would call myself proficient in the language, I just recognize it.”

  “Okay. That’s something,” I said, ignoring her gloating. “Take some charcoal rubbings of the stone. I’m sure we’ll meet Oristrella again and she’ll be able to translate it then. Hopefully, at least.”

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  “You think it’s important?” Cojisto asked, smacking his chin as a bug landed on it.

  “We found it on a giant monument holding a magical crystalline stone in the middle of a swamp,” I replied, keeping my voice even. “I think there might be some significance, yes.”

  “It certainly looks like some kind of historic site,” Tabitha agreed. She waved Britear in front of her face, having also been assailed by a few bugs.

  “Huh, yeah. I suppose,” Cojisto said with a shrug before nodding towards the sword. “What are we doing with that?”

  “It’s a magic crystal, so, we’re going to take it,” I answered.

  That was protocol. Not only would it help us and the army as a source of mana, but it would also mean the enemy was denied more of their resources.

  “Do you guys hear buzzing?” Dalsarel asked, frowning.

  “It’s these damn bugs, but it does seem to be getting louder,” Tabitha said, and everyone else quieted down to listen.

  While they did that, I turned back towards the sword and put my hand on its hilt. When I tried to pull it out, it didn’t so much as budge. With a frown, I put two hands on the crossguard and tried to lift it that way. I was short enough that I could push upwards while trying to straighten out my body.

  At first, it didn’t seem like it was going to work. My muscles strained and my back started to hurt from the effort after just a few seconds. It was stuck in there tight. Muttering a short prayer to Cheroske under my breath, the pain in my body disappeared as my strength was renewed.

  The sound of crystal on stone could be heard throughout the clearing as I pushed the sword out of the pedestal, which now had a crack in it. I almost fell backwards when it happened, but Cojisto had climbed up while I was working and steadied me with a hand on my back.

  Once I got my footing, I looked upon the sword. I had once found it glorious, but now it seemed kind of okay. Nothing to really get myself worked up over. The craftsmanship was nice, sure, but it wasn’t any better than my own weapon. In fact—

  I paused as a bug landed on my cheek and bit me. It didn’t fly off, but I didn’t do anything about it, either. The buzzing noise they had been talking about did get much louder, and I looked around to see where it was coming from.

  The mist had disappeared the moment I pulled the sword, allowing me to see a solid sheet of black flying insects coming right at us. They were too small to make out the details of, which meant there had to have been thousands of them emerging from the swamp. It was almost fascinating to watch. I had never seen so many bugs in one place in my life.

  And above them was the biggest one yet. It was about the size of Moose with black and white patterns along its sides. The single set of wings looked absurdly small when it came to the rest of its body, and I could see some red liquid sloshing around in its puffy abdomen.

  Something in my mind recognized it as blood, which made sense given the large, stinger-like appendage on its face, and I suddenly slapped myself. The bug that had been feasting on my cheek perished with one swing, and was made aware of all the others floating around.

  I hadn’t been the only one caught by the sudden intensification of the DTER’s indifference aura, or whatever it was. Clearly, it was meant to make sure we wouldn’t fight back while we were eaten alive by bugs. That sounded like a hideous way to go.

  “Tabitha!” I yelled, jumping over the pedestal and crashing into my wife with enough force to move her back a few feet, but not enough to knock her over.

  She blinked rapidly as she came back to reality and made a face as she slapped around her body, killing the stinger bugs that were currently sucking her blood. “What are these, Badger!?” she screamed, hating every moment of what was happening.

  “No time!” I replied. “Time to live up to the new class you were given!”

  Tabitha paused for long enough to notice the wall. Recoiling at the sight, Britear’s head lit up in emerald green flames. The intelligent axe had always preferred my wife to be her bearer, but now they were connected on a level that would have likely put Moose and Cojisto’s to shame. Their fire erupted high above our heads, knocking the others out of their forced lethargy, and spread out through the clearing.

  It was quick, violent, and, aside from the fact that these flames were green, reminded me of the demonstration I had seen from Teladora when she burned down a dungeon for us. The fire spread through the air, whirling around us without harm, and the droning buzz of bugs was quickly overcome by the sound of Tabitha’s attack.

  All I could see for a moment was green, and then it was over. The thousands of bugs that had been coming to eat us alive had been completely disintegrated by my wife’s efforts. It seemed to have taken a lot out of her based on the way she was panting, but she looked both satisfied and thrilled.

  The bugs’ humongous leader leapt out of the water. Its body was scorched and its blood bag of an abdomen had been burst open. While the rest of it seemed intact enough for a fight, its wings were completely gone. I could see little arms fluttering as if trying to fly, but there wasn’t anything left to fly with.

  Just as I jumped down the pedestal and activated my shield, the water behind the bug churned. It turned around and backed away, some blood dripping from it, when a giant reptile sprang out from the water. The monster was easily caught in the newcomer’s long jaws, getting crunched repeatedly by several large teeth.

  It fought back, attempting to jab its face-stinger into the reptile’s scaly hide, but it couldn’t find purchase. The bug was pulled backwards easily despite its mad scrambles, and disappeared into the algae-thick water. It bubbled for a moment as we all stared at what we had seen.

  But there was only silence.

  “Badger,” Ferrisdae said.

  “Yeah?” I responded.

  “Why aren’t we more worried about what’s in the water?” she asked.

  “Because Knowledge Check told me that we were only in danger if we went in there,” I answered, still staring just in case. “And now we know what happens if we go in the water. I don’t think I need to tell you that it’s bad.”

  “No, I think we’ve figured that out,” Cojisto said with a weak chuckle, and Moose stamped his foot.

  A thin, red line appeared not far from where the bug had been pulled into the water, and I grimaced. The Dungeon Master had told me that I could take over dungeons just like CC had, but that would require physically touching the string. I wasn’t about to wade into the swamp for it, though.

  “That was the dungeon boss,” I informed everyone else. “It has a connection point. That’s probably why the DTER became stronger.”

  “Do you think CC set it up that way?” Ferrisdae asked, joining me as she looked for the red string, though no one here could see it except me. “To become stronger like that, I mean. And if so, why? It’s supposed to be spread out throughout the dungeon.”

  “You’re asking a big question, there,” I sighed. Plunging the magical crystal sword into the dirt, I retrieved the Sending Stone out of my pocket and offered it to her. “I’m going to cut this thread and kill the dungeon. Go ahead and warn the others about the ways the DTER might be changed. They know it’s not all dread and alertness, but this is new.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said with a nod, getting to it immediately.

  “And thank you, Cheroske, for my martial arts back,” I said as I moved to what I felt was a safe distance away from the water.

  The black, beady eyes unnerved me, but I ignored them. I dialed in my holy sword on the Hilt of Holding and summoned it before pushing power into it. Not the divine kind like when I’m smiting evil, but energy of my own. My blade glowed a bright blue before I performed a simple horizontal slash.

  For a moment, nothing happened.

  Then, everything in front of me was cut. The red line that only I could see, the trees beyond it, and anything beyond. A pulse of force flew through the area just as it had when I had severed Abara’s connection point, but we were too far away for it to do more than nudge us. I wasn’t sure how the alligators would respond, though.

  When I backed away, however, nothing came for me. The waters quickly stilled with the cut trees floating above them. I panned my gaze as far as I could see through the mist, which only really affected the clearing, and didn’t see anything coming our way.

  Nothing, except for an almost comically fat ostrich that was approaching us from the north.

  I did a double take as I looked at the feathered creature. It was exactly like something you’d see a satirist draw. Their eyes held a surprising amount of intelligence, however, and if I didn’t know any better I’d say that they were smiling. They seemed to dance across the ground, raising its wings and making noises that I couldn’t understand. Except for the whoops, which seemed to be celebratory in every language.

  “Is… is that bird talking to us?” Dalsarel asked, joining me in the front as she pointed at it. “Why does it sound like it’s celebrating?”

  “Yes, I do believe it is,” I answered, trying to hold back a sigh. A quick check of my emotions showed that the DTER was, in fact, gone, so there wasn’t any dungeon to worry about.

  However, there was a slight tingle in my chest, a divine feeling that everything was going to be okay. Normally I’d frown at such a thing, but this was a paladin thing that I had taken upon myself and not something forced upon me. I thought I knew what Cheroske was trying to tell me.

  “No aggressive moves, everyone,” I ordered, retracting my blade. “Stay on guard, but don’t take any hostile actions. I’m… going to try and talk to it, I guess.”

  Five pairs of eyes turned to me, and I hung my head. Diplomacy wasn’t my strong suit, but it was still a part of my job. Unfortunately, I was likely the only one able to do the job.