Victor led the way away from the vehicle, his team falling into step behind him. He could feel the tension in the air all around him, and he was certain the rest of his team could feel it as well. They had pulled off the highway partway between Toronto and Oshawa, driving down the smaller roads for some time before pulling off even that. Thankfully, the dungeon entrance was still fairly easily accessible, despite the wooded area it seemed to be deep within. Some sort of forest park filled with hiking trails nestled in between farmland and more urban environs.

  Thankfully, there weren't any people around as far as he could tell. Did even the uninitiated feel the tension from this dungeon? That idea only added to Victor's growing unease. The normal people, those not connected to the System in any way, shouldn't be able to perceive the existence of a dungeon at all. The idea that a dungeon might be influencing normal people with its presence alone was doing nothing to alleviate his concerns. A few minutes later, the dungeon entrance came into sight. It looked normal. As normal as a six foot wide spherical tear in reality could look at any rate.

  "Alright, same as always, Alex and I in first, followed by Soph. Mat and Dave bring up the rear." Victor's voice was filled with the familiar authority of someone who was used to commanding the people around them. One who was well respected by their people. He received nods and affirmatives from his squad as Alex stepped up beside him once again. Sharing a look, the two men reached out towards the dungeon entrance with their hands.

  As their hands breached the shimmering barrier, an unsettling chill ran through Victor's body. The sensation was far more intense than usual, causing him to hesitate for a split second before steeling himself and pressing forward. Alex seemed to experience the same discomfort, his jaw clenching visibly as they stepped fully into the dungeon.

  The world around them shifted, reality bending and warping as they transitioned into the extra-dimensional space. Victor's eyes adjusted quickly, taking in their new surroundings. They stood in a dimly lit cavern, its walls glistening with an oily sheen that seemed to shift unnaturally. The air was thick and heavy, carrying an acrid scent that burned the back of his throat.

  He and Alex marched forward several steps, shields coming up in time as they waited. The standard procedure was to clear the entrance to make way for the rest of the squad coming along behind them. Of course, the entrance room was always empty and was considered safe, but it never hurt to be cautious. Particularly with the way this dungeon set Victor's teeth on edge. A single tense moment later, Victor heard Sofia enter the dungeon behind them, and then Matt and Dave behind her and the team was assembled.

  "Role call, sound off," Victor commanded, his voice echoing ominously in the cavernous space.

  One by one, his team members called out their conditions, each sounding more uneasy than the last.

  "All clear, but... something feels off, Vic. More than usual." Sofia said, he could hear the underlying nerves in her voice.

  Victor nodded grimly, feeling the same inexplicable wrongness permeating the atmosphere. "Stay alert. There's something different with this dungeon, and we don't know what." The air was filled with a low buzz as the drone joined them. Thankfully, the Banner's drones could pass in and out of dungeon entrances without issue. It would have been a pain to have to carry them in and out. The team proceed forward at a slow walk in a 2-1-2 formation with Victor and Alex in the lead, followed by Sofia, then Matt and Dave. Normally, there would be a sixth person in the team, preferably a healer and the formation would be a 2-2-2. Unfortunately, healers were in short supply more often than not, especially these days with the situation up north. On the other hand, their team was used to working without a healer, so it normally wasn't an issue. Victor just hoped that trend would extend to this dungeon as well.

  The team advanced cautiously through the twisting cavern, their footsteps echoing softly off the slick walls. Victor's eyes darted constantly, scanning for any sign of movement or danger over the rim of the heavy kite shield he held in front of himself. The drone hummed quietly overhead, its sensors probing the darkness ahead.

  "Hold," Victor whispered, raising a closed fist. The team froze instantly. "You hear that?"

  A faint scratching sound echoed from somewhere deeper in the cavern. It was barely audible, but unmistakable in the eerie silence.

  "Weapons ready," he ordered quietly.

  The sound blades being drawn and the rustle of arrows pulled from quivers whispered through the passage. Victor shared a quick glance with Alex, seeing his own unease mirrored in his partner's eyes as he drew his own blade. Victor had always favoured the sword and board approach, a long or short blade paired with a shield. Preferably a kite shield, large enough to give him good coverage but not so large as to be cumbersome like a tower shield.

  "Move out. Slow and steady."

  They pressed forward, senses on high alert. The scratching grew louder, joined by an unsettling chittering noise that set Victor's teeth on edge. They'd faced countless monsters in dungeons before, but something about these sounds felt... wrong. Unnatural, even by dungeon standards, which were far wider than that of the natural world humanity had mastered.

  “Contact,” Sofia called, a note of urgency in her voice.

  They came into view then, skittering from the shadows. Small, grotesque figures that resembled warped versions of rats, their bodies twisted and limbs elongated unnaturally, patches of rough fur bristling with strange black chitin from underneath. They moved with a jerky, erratic speed that was difficult to predict. Victor barely had time to process the sight before the creatures were on them, a writhing mass of fur, chitin and teeth.

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  “Engage!” Victor’s voice was clear and commanding despite the chaos.

  His shield came up automatically, blocking the first wave of the creatures. Despite their lack of size and muscle, they hit with a surprising force, the impact reverberating through his arm. Victor's blade flashed out, cutting through the cluster of bodies with practiced precision. He heard the twang of a bowstrings behind him and knew Mat and Dave were already picking off targets. Arrows whistled past, striking true and felling several of the creatures. A moment later, a cascade of arcane bolts washed over his head as well as Alex's. Sofia was their saving grace against hordes of smaller monsters. She had a handful of area of effect spells she could use to great effect, as well as dumping out large amounts of projectiles with relative ease.

  Victor could see Alex beside him, cutting through the horde with brutal efficiency. It was controlled as always, but there was a wildness to his movements that he was sure the others could see as well. Alex had always been able to tap into that when needed, where most would let it control them, Alex exerted control over it. It helped, of course, that these creatures weren't nearly strong enough to do any real damage to Alex. Admittedly, Victor was a little jealous of Alex's [Steel Aegis]. The base level of durability it provided him was a huge boon to a front-line fighter, given that it allowed him to shrug off the scratches and small wounds that would normally build up and cause problems for other Rankers.

  The first wave thinned quickly, and the remaining creatures hesitated, skittering in confused circles.

  "Push through!" Victor ordered.

  They advanced, driving the creatures back and into the chamber they had charged out of. The scratching and chittering sounds faded as the surviving monsters retreated into the shadows. The team paused, catching their breath.

  "Everyone alright?" Victor asked, scanning for injuries.

  "Yeah," Dave called from the back of their group.

  "All good," Alex replied, wiping something dark and oily from his blade.

  "Same," Sofia chimed in. "But what the hell were those things?"

  "Don't know," Matt answered, his voice steadying as he replaced an arrow in his quiver. "Never seen anything like them before."

  Victor frowned. Dungeon-born monsters or not, the creatures were unlike anything they'd encountered before. "Whatever they are, we can handle them. Stay sharp, I don't want anything sneaking up on us."

  He felt the itch of unease at the back of his mind, the wrongness of this place like a constant low-level static, like white noise. Looking around the chamber, Victor found there wasn't much to go on. Just blank stone walls, one exit, one entrance. There was a lot of variation in what dungeons could look like. He'd fought his way through shrines high in the mountains, open grass plains, and across moving ships on the open ocean in one particularly desperate dungeon dive. One that he had no desire to think about whatsoever. This dungeon was giving them very little to work with beyond following the chambers from A to B to C.

  They had only gone a few feet into the room when the monsters retreated. Victor's head whipped around when Alex stepped further into the room. In that moment, the hair on the back of his neck stood up, and he felt a mindless desire to flee the area. Flee for his life, abandoning his comrades to whatever fate lay in store for them in the dark depths of the dungeon. In a combination of sheer instinct and the repetition of training, Victor activated his [Rallying Cry] Skill, and the fear vanished from his mind. Now recognizing the magical effect for what it was, Victor's senses were on high alert, searching for the attacker. He twisted, bringing his shield up over his head and over Alex's as well, as something crashed into them from above.

  The impact was jarring, forcing Victor and Alex to their knees beneath its weight. A sharp pain shot through Victor's arm, but he gritted his teeth and held steady, the weight pressing down on them both. It felt alive, a writhing, pulsing mass that clawed and scratched with intent.

  "Ambush!" Victor yelled, his voice a lifeline in the chaos.

  Sofia was the first to react, a quick murmur of a spell on her lips. A rush of arcane energy blasted overhead, illuminating the cavern with a brief, blinding light. The force of the spell struck true, the weight on Victor’s shield lifting as the mass writhed and shrieked, dislodged by the attack and hurled across the cavern.

  "Up top! They’re on the ceiling!" Victor called out, rising to his feet and pulling Alex up with him.

  The cavern erupted into chaos as more of the creatures dropped from above. They were larger than the first wave and very different. Three-foot-tall humanoids, with pale, leathery white skin stretched tight over grossly elongated limbs. Hunched over the long claws that were in place of their fingers, they dragged across the stone floor of the cavern. Empty black sockets stared at Victor and his team with what he could only describe as a ravenous hunger.

  "Regroup!" Alex's voice cut through the din as he deflected one of the falling monsters with his shield, the force of the impact barely causing him to flinch now that he was prepared. The cavern was filled with whistling howls now as the monsters were clearly unconcerned with stealth after being discovered and their ambush having failed.

  Victor moved with practiced precision, taking advantage of the open space to back up towards the cavern entrance and regroup with his team. The creatures were relentless, their shrieks echoing as they leapt from the walls, limbs flailing and claws extended. His shield absorbed the brunt of their attacks, but there were dozens of them, an overwhelming tide of flesh and bone.

  "Soph, cover!" Victor shouted, twisting away from the worst of the onslaught and bringing his sword up to cut down two of the creatures that had drawn too close while he activated another of his Skills. Voctor's [Shield Wall] spread outwards from his own shield to the left and right as well as above and below, forming a barrier that stopped the monsters cold. It would only last moments, but in battle, a few moments could be an eternity. Besides, Sofia only needed one moment.

  "I'm on it!" Sofia's voice was sharp, focused. A wave of blue energy erupted from her hands, rippling through the cavern and casting the monsters in stark relief. The spell sent them sprawling, stunned and vulnerable. Sofia was very glad she'd spent the time to add the new spells to her list that she did. After facing down Aiden during his assessment and fighting alongside him several times afterwards, she'd been made aware of the gaps she had as a single combatant. She had set about trying to close them by adding more utility to her list of Spells. Fortunately for her, gaining new Spells as a Caster Class was significantly easier than trying to gain new Skills.

  "Now! Push!" Victor commanded, seizing the advantage even as others leapt forward to take the places of the stunned enemies.

  Alex was already in motion, his shield swinging out and carrying with it the explosive power of his [Concussive Retaliation] Skill, which had been gathering charge ever since the battle started. As his shield struck the nearest monster, true to its name, it detonated, blowing back several of the creatures and bowling others over. His blade was already in motion as he stepped forward, arcing through the air with deadly efficiency to cleave through his target. He tore through the stunned creatures, the fury of his attacks leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. Victor followed suit, his sword and shield working in tandem as they pressed the assault.

  Magical arrows rained down from Matt and Dave, each shot finding its mark with precision that spoke of years of practice. The system enhancements of their Skills were somewhat flashier than Victor's or Alex's Skills. Arrows coated in flames or covered in sparks were launched into the monsters, arcing over the front line combatants. The creatures fell in droves, but more poured in from the edges of the cavern, skittering over the walls and floor.

  It was several long, frenetic minutes of pitched battle with the monsters before the tide came to an end, and Victor's team were left breathing heavily in the cavern. Victor scanned the area, but he could detect nothing, whether that was because there was nothing to detect or because the wave of monsters had finally spent their last, was a question up for debate.

  "Clear," Alex grunted as he kicked the last of the things off his blade. It hit the ground with a wet splut. The others sounded off the same, each keeping a wary eye out for any more attackers.

  Once bitten, twice shy and all that.