“Did Ma Fratelni send ya?!” Copperpot bellowed. “You tell those dwarves dis treasure is mine! Youse want it, you’re gonna have to pry it from my cold dead hands! As soon as I find it, ‘course.”

  The irony was a bit rich, coming from a skeleton.

  The moment Alastair first crossed the threshold, before his foot even set down, the boss whirred to life. The girls scrambled through the opening as the gate slowly fell behind them. It turned out they had plenty of time, because the boss started dialoguing and it didn’t finish closing until he was done.

  The whole thing caught them flat-footed. Having to rush in broke their formation, causing a mad scramble to get behind cover, not to mention the fact that a skeleton was talking to them.

  Y’cennia immediately panicked, thinking somehow they’d come across the remains of a different adventurer, despite the fact that bodies of dead delvers were destroyed completely, getting absorbed by the dungeon. Ellesea had to physically grab the [Alchemist] to restrain her, which was tougher than she expected now that she was much higher level. Jessica herself was shaken. It was one thing to hear the guild explain about “intelligent monsters” and another thing to see it firsthand.

  Not every monster created by mana was mindless, attacking anything that moved on sight. But they were not sapient; nobody could hold a conversation with a dungeon monster. It could not even distinguish between people. To an “intelligent” dungeon monster, Y’cennia was the same as Alastair as far as they were concerned.

  The intelligence was closer to something predefined, like an echo of a memory, incapable of retaining new information and barely able to converse short term.

  Most monsters like this had a link to reality, some base, like an ancient historical figure. Early dungeon scholars found this to be true, as dungeons began forming after major events transpired in the world. Having records and accounts of real events alongside examining those dungeons was one of the big discoveries lending to the belief that dungeons were a sort of historical archive. Several famous dungeons had long since proven this true, with “shades” of known personalities acting out exactly how they once had in life.

  But none of that helped with the spike of apprehension the entire party felt, as each and every one of them instantly zoned in on the boss and cast [Inspect].

  ?

  [Copperpot]

  Elite

  Level: 75

  ?

  The low level compared to everything else in the dungeon was alarming, but the first thing they all saw was the monster icon by the name.

  Whoever Copperpot had been in life, this was how the dungeon remembered him. Perhaps he was an adventurer himself (though not a very good one, Jessica thought, if he was only level 75), and he had made it his life’s work to track the whereabouts of the legendary pirate “William One-Eye” and his fabled treasure. He’d fallen into debt with a family of dwarves, borrowing more than he could repay, and blah blah blah, the group tuned out the rest. They scrambled back into position just as he was wrapping up his speech, all while Ellesea was already preparing a spell. She finished casting right as Jessica let loose with an arrow…for all the good it did.

  The spell fizzled on contact and the arrow bounced off harmlessly, as if striking an invisible barrier. The pair blanched, reconsidering how accurate the supposed level 75 was, but as he stopped talking and the gate slammed shut, things were set in motion.

  The room began to shake violently and Copperpot, who had moved to a different section of the wall away from the door, was cut off as the ground fell away between them. Any thoughts of jumping the gap Alastair may have had were instantly dashed as he glanced into the pit and saw, very far beneath them, an endless chasm of spikes. The entire floor they stood on was being held aloft by dangerously thin supports, and he didn’t trust his own weight not to crumble the other side when he landed.

  He didn’t have long to contemplate any other means to cross.

  Copperpot was putting on a funny pair of goggles and fiddling with some sort of handheld device, and with a touch of a button, a loud whirring sound began above them. Several grates high in the ceiling opened up and a giant mechanical spider clicked and clacked as it crawled down the wall toward them.

  “Oh shit!” Jessica yelped, being the first to spot it. “I think we should have paid more attention!”

  “This thing’s the real boss!” Ellesea yelled, having tried and failed to harm the skeleton with three more spells. They simply bounced off him harmlessly.

  ?

  [Mechanical Widow]

  Elite

  Level: 175

  ?

  “I guess we know why he’s so low level,” Alastair growled as he squared up against the spider. Thankfully there was only one, and it was slower than the rat and hit softer than the squid. “He’s an [Engineer]!”

  In any other circumstance, the group would be intrigued to learn about a boss controlling another boss as a sort of dungeon mechanic, but their focus was already taxed.

  As soon as the spider hit the ground, a large iron ball fell onto the rails and began a very slow, spiraling descent around the room. Y’cennia was the only one at liberty to pay attention to it, and as such was the only one to watch as it passed a colored rune along the wall. As it did so, another rumble shook the room, and a tile fell away from the floor.

  “Guys?!” she yelped. “We’re on a bit of a timer here!”

  Several cries went out as her teammates noticed the fact that their already small arena had just gotten smaller. The part of the floor that fell away was on their side, not Copperpot’s.

  “What the heck are we supposed to do?!” Jessica yelled. “There wasn’t anything about this in the notes!”

  “Well what did they say?!”

  “Only that the real boss here was a puzzle!”

  “That’s not helpful!”

  “You think?!”

  ?

  Due to the much lower level of this boss, Alastair was having a much better time of things, but his hands were still full. Jessica and Ellesea were both busy trying to do as much damage as they could, and the boss was already half dead.

  But for good or ill, Y’cennia’s eyes were locked onto the ball and track. It ran over another glowing rune, causing another tile to fall. There wasn’t a lot of those, maybe two dozen at best, and when each new one fell, their workable area got that much smaller. Her brain was running a mile a minute, trying to piece everything together. She rushed to the center of the room where the pedestal stood, noticing the lever pointed to two different runes. Currently, the one it pointed at matched the one spaced evenly across the track. Her curiosity got the best of her, and without thinking if she should consult with her team first, she pulled the lever.

  “What did you just do?!” Jessica yelled. She’d caught the motion out of the corner of her eye, but she didn’t have the freedom to babysit bored cats at the moment.

  “Look!” Ellesea pointed at the wall, and Alastair had to fight the urge to actually turn and look. He needed every ounce of concentration. “The rune changed!”

  Indeed it had. The runes on the wall matched the one that Y’cennia flipped the lever toward. But Ellesea wasn’t the only one to notice.

  “Hey! Don’t touch that!” Copperpot yelled, pulling a switch on the wall next to where he stood. The rune turned back to what it was originally, and Y’cennia shrugged. All she had to do was keep hitting the lever-

  But when she tried flipping it, it wouldn’t budge. Just then she noticed a small ring of light that was slowly filling up around the lever, like some sort of internal timer between uses.

  “It’s got a cooldown!” she said, feeling her anxiety spike as the ball passed another rune and another tile fell.

  “We don’t have time for this!” Alastair barked. “Girls! Finish this thing off!”

  “On it, big guy!” Jessica yelled, sending off another [Kill Shot]. The arrow flew true, right into the cluster of ruby red eye gems, shattering the cluster and making the boss stutter to a stop.

  But the ball didn’t stop rolling, and the doors did not open.

  “Was that not it?” Alastair asked as he was finally able to catch his breath.

  “Curses!” Copperpot yelled from across the room, once again fiddling with his remote control. While he was distracted, Y’cennia pulled the lever again, and this time he was too slow to react when the ball passed the next rune.

  When it did, the tile that fell was on his side of the divide. Barely a second later the whirring returned as another spider crawled down the hole.

  “Wha…?” The boss seemed to just notice a tile on his side was missing. “Grrr! That’s just one! The treasure is still mine!”

  “Okay, I think I see how this works!” Y’cennia yelled.

  “Way ahead of you, Cennie!” Jessica called back. “Don’t worry about us, we’ve got these spider things! Right, Al?”

  “A little worry might be appreciated!” Alastair bantered back, but in the lull between the two spiders, he had an opportunity to drink a potion, so he was good to go for some time yet. Still, they didn’t have all the time in the world. The floor was steadily falling out from below their feet, and sooner or later, it would all be gone. They simply had to make sure it happened on the other end first.

  Now that they had the mechanics down, keeping the spider-bots at bay was manageable, all the while Y’cennia was on lever duty. After six more cycles of runes, one of which the team messed up and activated on their side, they finally cornered the boss. The room shuddered as the fifth tile shook beneath Copperpot.

  “Eh?” The skeleton paused in his rambling and looked down at his feet. The tile he stood on cracked, splintered, and broke into countless pieces. Copperpot let out a long, agonized wail of “Noooooooooooooo” as he seemed to fall forever. Eventually, and quite abruptly, the wail stopped, plunging the room into silence.

  The ball, which had been the crux behind the entire fight, slid into a groove that changed with the defeat of the boss, landing in a slot next to the exit door, and with a click-thunk of a mechanism, unlocked the door. Next to it, from a small grate in the wall, a small treasure chest popped out.

  “Loot?” Y’cennia asked. The others nodded at her as they made their way carefully to the exit. Just because they defeated the boss did not mean the floor reformed, and they could just as easily join him in the pit of spikes if they took a wrong step. Y’cennia paused to grab the small chest, but nobody stopped until they were well into the next corridor and the threat of falling to their death was far behind them.

  The whole group was exhausted, if more mentally than physically. The fight had been strenuous enough, but adding the need to mentally track timers and moving parts without getting beaten or stabbed to death was more taxing than anybody was prepared for. They sat down for another rest while Y’cennia opened the chest.

  ?

  [Schematic: Serve-o-bot]

  Level: 150

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Requires: [Engineering 150]

  ?

  Interesting. Obviously, gear was common to find as treasure in dungeons, regardless of the rarity of the piece in question. Finding recipes for crafting was a bit more rare. Again, this was on par with the boss itself, who must’ve been an [Engineer] with how he controlled mechanized enemies to fight for him, and again it was useless to [Sunrise].

  A pity, the entire group was curious what exactly a “Serve-o-bot” was or would do, but the schematic itself revealed nothing. Maybe an [Engineer] could tell by looking at it, or maybe they’d need to learn the recipe itself before it revealed its secrets.

  ?

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  The rest lasted longer this time than previously; everybody was weary in a way that simple breaks couldn’t fix. Nobody wanted to get up and continue walking into unknown danger, filthy, soaked, with torn, broken, and mangled armor. Despite the very liberal use of potions to keep themselves healthy, several members were starting to show signs of injury such low level remedies couldn’t fix. Alastair was clearly favoring his left side; whenever he stepped to the right, it was tender with a slight limp. Ellesea wheezed whenever they had to climb over obstacles, her stamina completely depleted. Jessica seemed the most untouched, but even she wasn’t unbothered. Her normal snarky, sassy attitude was nowhere to be seen, having sunk into the mire of grumpiness.

  When the group eventually did move on, it was with slow deliberation born out of stubbornness more than prepared wariness. Their nerves were shot, but they managed the next several fights, all against a skeletal pirate crew, until they came across a huge locked double door.

  “Another boss?” Ellesea asked wearily.

  “Looks like,” Jessica managed to say as she sat down on a nearby boulder.

  “This one’s locked though,” Y’cennia helpfully pointed out, staring at the comically huge lock set into the doors.

  “Gee, thanks, I don’t think I would have noticed,” Jessica snapped before she could stop herself. She saw Y’cennia’s ears and tail wilt and internally scolded herself. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to jump at you. We’re all exhausted and a bit on edge. You’re right. Was there a key in that chest the boss dropped?”

  “No,” Y’cennia shook her head. The chest itself disappeared several minutes after she removed the schematic. She held it up in evidence, but as she did so, a small slip of yellowed parchment peeled away from the scroll. Everybody looked at it in surprise as she bent down to pick it up. As Y’cennia quickly read it, her eyes widened before eventually closing in misery as she let out a pained groan.

  “What?” Jessica asked, too tired to care for games. In response, Y’cennia simply handed her the parchment.

  On it was a comical drawing of a skeleton in a funny hat standing under a spiraling rail with x’s where its eye sockets should be. This was clearly a reference to the boss they just beat. A large arrow was pointing to the ball, which had fallen off the rail and sat next to the door. Another arrow then pointed toward a giant cannon.

  Jessica looked up and stared flatly across the hall, where, about 50 feet away and pointed directly at the door, was a gigantic cannon.

  “I guess I know where the key is,” she said dryly.

  It took another hour for them to backtrack to the boss’ chamber, where thankfully the cannonball had not disappeared, but the floor had not reformed either. Ellesea had the most room in her inventory, so she was delegated the task of stuffing the ball inside it.

  Once they returned, Alastiar halted the group before they could blow down the door.

  “Before we go any further, we need to make a decision,” he started. They were all standing, because if they sat down, they didn’t know if they’d get back up. “From here on out, the notes are very clear. Two more bosses, two more small fights. I think by now we know we can handle the small fry this dungeon throws at us, but the bosses are worrying. Especially now that we’re tired. I don’t know about you, but I’m running on empty. The notes say we engage the next boss right after this door, and I’m guessing blowing the door down will alert it right away. I think we need to be prepared for a fight as soon as we use the cannon.”

  “Do you really think that relic will work?” Ellesea asked, glancing at the ancient-looking cannon.

  “It’s a dungeon provided tool,” Alastair shrugged. “I’d say there’s better chances of it working than not. It doesn’t need to make sense; it’s a dungeon. But that’s not what I’m getting at. Right now, we’ve got a locked door in front of us, two solid walls beside us, and a mostly clear path behind us. We’re not going to find a better place to rest than this. But I don’t think a short rest like last time is going to cut it. If we stop here, we need to make camp. Let’s put it to a vote.”

  “No,” Jessica stated immediately, while Ellesea only groaned loudly in response. Y’cennia looked between her three partners, clearly torn, before looking at Alastair.

  “I don’t know how to decide,” she said honestly. “What do you think? How do you make a decision like this?”

  Alastair took a deep breath to make sure his words were clear and concise.

  “Personally, I also say no. My logic is that we need to rest, but we didn’t prepare to stay overnight in a dungeon. We don’t have bedrolls, food, water, or other supplies we’d need for an extended outing. We also don’t know if, or when, any monsters will respawn. If that happens while we’re sleeping?”

  He left the obvious answer unsaid.

  “No,” Ellesea stated firmly, marching over to the cannon and retrieving the ball.

  “No,” muttered Y’cennia, though the choice seemed to be made for her.

  “It’s decided then,” Alastair said. “We fight. Thankfully, the dungeon is almost over. According to the notes, there’s a lagoon behind those doors with a pirate ship. The next boss we fight is before the ship, and the last boss we fight is on it. Let’s focus on the next boss. Very straightforward. We’re fighting a minotaur.”

  Jessica let out a sharp hiss. Minotaurs were what happened when bull beastkin came out more “beast” than “kin”. Ones found in society were vanishingly rare, but respected. Those who made it to adulthood usually became things like heavy laborers, soldiers, or bandits. Usually anything to do with extreme strength. They were big, tall, incredibly strong, and usually had short tempers. Fighting one as a dungeon boss sounded exactly like the kind of thing Jessica didn’t want to do right now.

  “Straightforward,” Alastair said, likely having the same thoughts. “The notes say it’s more like a duel than anything else. Apparently, the boss likes to improvise weapons once it gets low on health, so we need to be prepared for anything.”

  He only got more groans in response.

  The final checks done, he gave Ellesea, who was hovering strangely around the cannon, the go-ahead to fire. She touched the tip of her staff to the firing fuse as her teammates retreated behind her, and moments later, the whole world shook with the fury of an earthquake as the explosion blew the door to splinters.

  “Avast ye swabs! We’re under attack!”

  A deep, gritty baritone yelled out from behind the musky gloom. As the smoke cleared, the massive figure of a minotaur lumbering toward them could be seen taking huge strides.

  The thing had to be at least ten feet tall.

  Alastair gulped but raised his shield. Bouncing on the balls of his feet, he psyched himself up as he let out a roar of his own, charging forward to intercept his foe.

  “Rrrrrraaaaaaaaugh!!!”

  He caught sight of Y’cennia slipping to the side as several arrows flew next to his ear. The great brute knocked one out of the air with a swat of a gigantic double-bearded axe and ignored the second completely as it dug into his shoulder.

  “Oh balls,” Alastiar heard Jessica mutter, and secretly, he agreed.

  The next few moments were pure torture. The minotaur was very skilled with an axe, but he wasn’t limited to only that weapon. At one point, he threw the massive thing at Jessica, nearly taking off her head as she dove to the side, like it was some common tree branch. He pulled an equally massive hammer off his back and continued wailing on Alastair.

  Every inch of Alastair’s body ached. The whole right side of his body was turning into a gigantic bruise and he was starting to lose feeling in his shield arm. He barely had time to shuffle his feet, dodge blows, and raise his shield to block, let alone get any attacks of his own in. All the potions on his chest were shattered, but even if they weren’t, he’d never have the leeway to drink one. And through all of their assault, the minotaur was still at over half health.

  There was no way they were going to win this fight.

  That was until he heard a fateful word.

  “BRACE!!”

  Instinctively, Alastair glanced behind, but quickly did a double-take. His momentary lapse in concentration allowed the minotaur to land a heavy blow against his hammer arm, shattering the bones with a sickening crunch. But Alastair still had enough wits about him to sprint toward the edge of the dock they were fighting on and dive into the water, all hells be damned.

  Jessica, having seen the same thing Alastair did, dipped low to grab Y’cennia roughly around the middle, throwing the frozen catkin over her shoulder and diving for the water herself.

  Behind them all, where the minotaur was now looking in confusion, was Ellesea, who had not actually entered the fight at all.

  Instead, she was standing next to the cannon, which was swarming with an evil maelstrom of arcane energy. Purple and magenta rifts winked in and out of existence like tears into the void. She brought her staff down, touching a hastily constructed makeshift fuse…and the entire cavern exploded.

  Instead of the blinding flash of a regular explosion, Ellesea’s void nightmare blackened the world. For a brief second, the whole cavern, pirate ship and all, was covered under the veil of unyielding night. When light returned, the cannon itself was gone, the [Mage] sent sprawling on the ground several yards away and smoking with arcane energies.

  Alastair, Jessica, and Y’cennia poked their heads above the water, only to find a stunned and frozen minotaur.

  Half of one.

  Ellesea’s shot hit her mark.

  The monster’s right arm, chest, and ribs were simply…gone.

  “Huh,” it said with its last breath, “Didn’t see that coming.”

  It, too, fell over, extremely dead.

  ?

  Loot be damned, Alastair and Jessica both sprinted on borrowed reserves toward their downed party member. Al lifted her gently and cradled her singed and blackened head. All the hair on her right side was burned away and her face was a blistered mess of raw and boiled flesh.

  She had no pulse.

  “Y’cennia!” Jessica bellowed.

  “Here!” the catkin slid next to Alastair, potion already in her hand.

  It was one of two real [Health Potions] the [Alchemist] had managed to make.

  Not [Minor], not [Lesser]. She’d finally been able to craft a single genuine [Health Potion] when she hit level 300, but it was so poor quality she didn’t stop crafting until she successfully made a second. It was only 3 stars, but it was worth all of her [Minor] potions combined.

  It was her secret weapon, her emergency “oh crap” button, as Jessica would say when things all went to hell. She hoped she wouldn’t need to use it; she wanted to save it for real emergencies, but if this wasn’t one of those, she didn’t think she’d ever see one.

  Alastair kept the [Mage]’s head steady as Y’cennia slowly poured the red liquid down her open throat.

  At first, nothing happened.

  Ten long, anguish-filled seconds passed.

  Then Ellesea shuddered with a choking gasp, spraying the remaining liquid that refused to go down all over everybody.

  Y’cennia let out a relieved sigh and tried again. This time, a little more liquid went down.

  As if watching time itself rewind, the burns on her face began to fade. She no longer looked like grilled meat. Her hair, sadly, would take longer to return if they couldn’t get her to a real healer. Ellesea’s eyes fluttered open, unfocused and confused. Yes, they needed to see a healer as soon as they left this cursed place. She certainly had a concussion, but hopefully nothing worse. Hopefully, no brain damage, which would be devastating to any [Mage].

  “Did…did it work?” Ellesea managed to ask weakly with a small smile.

  “No shit it worked,” Jessica stomped over, but as soon as she was next to the small girl, she wrapped her tightly in her arms. “What were you thinking? You literally blew yourself up. You straight up died, and we’re lucky Y’cennia had something strong enough to bring you back.”

  Ellesea looked shocked to hear this. She stared at Jessica’s uncharacteristically somber face as she held her at arm’s length, drinking her in. Then Jessica’s grin returned.

  “Don’t you ever do anything like that again,” she scolded, but it was ruined by a smirk. “But holy hell, that was cool.”

  ?

  Sadly, there was no loot. While the dungeon couldn’t stop them from using anything at their disposal to defeat the boss, it apparently could punish them for doing so in an “unsporting” way. Or, which was equally as likely, the boss was so heavily mutilated, there wasn’t anything left to create loot. Much like when Melia had destroyed the dragon.

  And didn’t that seem like such a long time ago?

  Ellesea had been incredibly proud of her handiwork until Jessica pointed out her new fashion statement with half her hair missing, which caused a minor freakout. Doubly so when she realized the brand new chatgem their newest party member bought for her was destroyed. Supposedly, some gems like that had safety enchantments to make them more stable, but in the end, they were still small pieces of crystal. No way they could stand up to the unholy arcane mess Ellesea unleashed.

  She muttered darkly to herself all the while the others bandaged her up, touching the side of her head gingerly and feeling where the hair became frayed and bristly like a rough brush. Thankfully, they were almost done. While everybody present agreed they might be able to look back at this whole experience as a good thing, and probably even laugh, they were all ready for it to be over.

  The end was in sight, only one more boss to go.

  The ruins of the dock they stood on connected to a massive galleon, somehow trapped inside this underground lagoon from an era long since forgotten. The group made quick work of the final patrol and walked up the boarding ramp.

  The deck of the ship was empty, and everybody’s nerves were shot. The notes were specific in stating there were no enemies on the ship except the last boss, but none of them wanted to leave anything to chance. Alastair crept forward in the lead, the girls following closely behind. The group made their way below deck and froze at what they found.

  In what they guessed were the captain’s quarters, sat the skeleton of an ancient dwarf…on a mountain of treasure.

  Rather, if Jessica had seen this sight two days ago, she would have considered it a mountain.

  Gems, jewels, pearls, and gold coins glinted and sparkled in the dim light. Enough to satisfy adventurers of their level for…years. Which was a problem.

  This dungeon was forgotten. Nobody in this day and age knew about it.

  If there was a gigantic pile of wealth just waiting to be hauled away, somebody would know about it.

  “There’s gotta be a catch, right?” Jessica asked, her hand frozen halfway toward the nearest pile of coins.

  “Always is,” Alastair agreed through narrow eyes. He had his good arm crossed over his chest, while the other, though healed partially through potions, dangled limply at his side.

  “So…we don’t take the obviously trapped treasure?” Ellesea asked.

  “Too easy,” Jessica agreed.

  “A shame,” came a hollow, heavily accented voice. The group’s eyes snapped toward the skeleton. “I was hoping ta offload some of me curse.”

  ?

  [William One-Eye, Pirate Lord]

  Dungeon Boss

  Level 220

  ?

  Ten whole levels above anything else they’d come across so far. Surely this was going to be their toughest fight yet.

  …in a strange twist of fate, it was not. That dubious honor fell squarely on the shoulders of their fight with the [Rodent of Unusual Size].

  By now, even as tired as they were, they were well into the swing of things and used to this dungeon’s antics.

  Alastair quickly pivoted into his role as a living shield, since all he could do now was defend while his hammer arm was out of action. William fought fiercely with a large scimitar, but even with a higher level, his stats were not as impressive as the minotaur’s, his blows not as bone-rattling.

  The group fought their way back onto the deck of the ship and slowly whittled down the boss’ health through measured, steady attacks. When the dwarf got down to a sliver of health, he cackled madly, pulled out a flaming barrel of oil, and set the ship on fire. From there, the group dodged falling timbers, tangling ropes, and burning sails as the ship sank. It ended rather anticlimatically as Alastair simply tripped and fell forward, crushing the remaining “life” out of the skeleton as he landed on it, shield first.

  When all was said and done, the treasure was gone, and the group had a sneaking suspicion that any coins or gems they could have managed to sneak away would have disappeared upon exiting the dungeon. Not everything that wasn’t nailed down could be removed safely from a dungeon, returning to a magical state of mana.

  They stood upon the floating wreckage of the deck, the largest piece of flotsam that hadn’t sunk into the lightless depths, all that remained of the once great ship. A final, large treasure chest appeared before them, as a swirling vortex of power manifested behind them.

  The exit portal.

  The group let out a collective sigh.

  Alastair opened the chest, pulled out a tricorner [Captain’s Hat], several dozen gold, a large ruby, and quickly stored them for sorting later. Everyone shared a glance and the words didn’t need to be said.

  But he said them anyway.

  “Let’s get out of here.”