Carl Wolfe flicked his gaze from his phone screen to the Mobile terminal and back again.

  "Marlz, and the Recovery team are five minutes out." He announced to the other two men who stood in front of the terminal with him. David nodded in silence while Ed continued working away at the keyboard controls of the terminal. He was operating the drone that was tracking Aiden's progress through the dungeon.

  "Isn't that a little early, Carl?" David asked after a moment, turning away from the whited-out screen to face his Strike Commander. Only moments ago, the boss monster of the dungeon, a Chimera of all things, had blanketed the area in fog so dense the magical drone couldn't see a thing. Chimeras were deadly monsters; they were like the angrier, hungrier cousin of the manticore. Everything a manticore did, a chimera did better. On top of that, they had access to a varying range of spells.

  "Switching to thermal," Ed stated flatly, fingers rapidly working the controls of the terminal; the tap tap tap of his fingers seemed loud despite the activity around them. The screen flicked from white to a myriad of colours denoting different temperature ranges. Thermal vision gave up the details of the regular camera, but they could now see the shape of the chimera again. Along with the massive lump they could only assume was Aiden clinging to its back.

  "I don't think so, David," Carl responded quietly, gaze fixed on the terminal screen. "While I don't think he's been playing with the monster, I don't think he's made a genuine attempt to end it yet."

  David was thoughtful as he turned back to the screen. It was true Aiden hadn't been very aggressive with the chimera in the opening moments of the fight, almost as if he'd been waiting to see what it could do. Drawing out each of the monster's tricks and abilities before he fully engaged.

  The screeching of tires and roar of several V8 engines drew the attention of David and Carl.

  A trio of large blacked-out trucks, marked with The White banner crest on the doors, tore into the area unmolested by all the law enforcement in the area. They knew not to interfere with White Banner personnel. The driver's side door on the lead truck flung open, and the driver stepped out.

  Jack Marlz was a man in his late thirties, his weathered bronze skin indicating just how much of that time he'd spent out in the sun and the elements. David and Carl watched as the stereotypical Australian man climbed out of the truck. Anyone who knew Jack for more than five minutes knew he enjoyed the stereotypes and happily played into them heavily. A single glance at his wide-brimmed hat ringed in gator teeth was enough to tell most people that.

  "G'day, Carl, David." Jack said, walking over with long strides as the other members of the recovery team piled out of the vehicles like a hive of worker bees. They rapidly retrieved their gear and began preparing to enter the dungeon.

  "Jack." David greeted the man with an outstretched hand. David had always appreciated the man; he worked hard and looked after his people. He also disdained the politics of the organization they were both a part of. He favoured the blunt truth and the hard work that had marked his ascent to a team leader. He had precious little patience for those who played at politics rather than upholding their responsibilities.

  "What have you got for me and the boys today?"

  Carl took over the conversation. "We're just waiting on the Boss to go down. Shouldn't be long now." Carl glanced back at the monitor of the mobile terminal as if to confirm. It was a mess of colours that were hard to interpret.

  "Word is you only sent one guy in, an outsider," Jack said flatly, glaring at Carl. He didn't like the idea of sending one man into a dungeon alone. He'd seen his fair share of dungeons and Anchor Entity corpses. They were nasty business.

  "My nephew, yes," Carl responded softly. He'd been bothered by it as well, but what choice had they had? And Aiden had volunteered. He'd turned down their offers of backup rather emphatically as well. Carl had known Aiden almost all his life, and he knew the boy well enough to know that when he set his mind to something, it was best to just get out of his way and be ready to pick up the pieces afterwards. The boy could outstubborn a badger some days.

  "Well, by the sounds of it, he's still whole and near done, so I won't say more on the matter." The group of men were silent.

  "Fogs clearing, switching back to the main camera," Ed announced. "Doesn't look like it'll be much longer."

  “Strewth! Where’d you find a spider that size!? Don’t even see the like back home.”

  "That would be my nephew." Uncle Wolf replied with a shake of his head, looking back at the monitor of the terminal. "Get your people in there, Jack, he's almost done with that chimera, and once he is, you're on the clock."

  "Don't I know it, you folks are always in a rush for the goodies we dig up." Jack laughed, heading back towards his people who were finishing hauling their gear out of the trucks.

  ——

  The goat and viper were dead; only the lion remained. I skittered away from its swiping paws; my mind was still reeling. It seemed like every time I got some sort of handle on how the system worked, it went and did something that upended what little understanding I had of it. After being envenomed by the viper head of the chimera and subsequently killing the viper head, the system forced an upgrade to my [Venom Resistance] Skill, taking it from Common to Uncommon. No alternatives, no choices. Just a straight-up upgrade. I wasn't unhappy with it, but I was struggling to understand why. When I had evolved my [Stealth] into [Ambush Predator], I'd been offered a choice between evolving to a new Skill or upgrading the rarity of the Skill from Common to Uncommon. I thought it might maybe be because the system had deigned to offer me a new Skill as well, the first since I'd escaped the Soul-Sheer. It was marked as Rare, too, the first Rare Skill I'd ever had the opportunity to get my hands on. The choice was obvious.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  I didn't have the time to think about it deeply, but I couldn't help the spider-grin that felt like it would split my face. I'd run across plenty of venomous creatures so far, and I had no doubt I would face more in the future. The idea of being able to assimilate their venom into my own was very attractive. I could feel that the Skill also had a connection to my [Venom resistance] Skill, but I couldn't contemplate the connection right now. Either way, my first Rare Skill was a definite boost to my combat potential.

  I turned my attention back to the chimera. The beast was struggling by now. It was suffering from two big doses of my venom. The first was when I'd killed the goat head, and the second when the viper tail fell. I had no doubt the lion was suffering its effects, though it seemed slower to progress than I'd expected. Was it because the three beasts that made up the chimera were still somewhat separate even though they'd been fused into a single abomination? I had no way of knowing.

  What I did know was that the threat of the chimera was effectively toothless now. It was fast and strong still, but so was I. Without its other advantages, it couldn't hope to match me for long. I wouldn't give it the chance to get one over on me by underestimating the beast, however. The familiar green shimmer covered my limbs again as I charged forward after the last monster of the dungeon. The fight wasn't over until the monster was dead on the ground and I was looting its corpse.

  My forelegs lashed out like blades, and the chimera tried to dance away. The beast was too slow, its movements sluggish from my venom. My razor-sharp legs sliced deep into its flank, drawing a roar of pain and rage from the lion's maw. Blood sprayed, staining my carapace crimson. I didn't let up. With lightning speed, I scuttled around to the chimera's blind spot. It tried to turn, but I was already upon it. My mandibles clamped down on its hind leg, venom pumping into the wound. The chimera bucked and thrashed, but I held on tight, my eight legs finding purchase on its matted fur. The lion's head whipped around, jaws snapping at me. I released my grip and leapt away just in time, feeling the rush of air as its teeth clicked shut inches from my face. But the damage was done. The chimera's movements were growing even more uncoordinated, its breaths coming in ragged gasps.

  I circled warily, and I began firing off clumps of web. I'd harry the beast until it was tied down in my webs, unable to move, or it died from the venom coursing through its body. The chimera's eyes blazed with fury as it struggled against my webbing, but its movements grew increasingly sluggish. I could see the venom tightening its grip on the monster, sapping its strength with each laboured breath. Still, I remained cautious. Even a cornered beast was the one most dangerous, I knew that better than most.

  I scuttled sideways, keeping my multiple eyes trained on the chimera as I fired off another volley of sticky webbing. The strands wrapped around its legs, further restricting its movement. The lion's head roared in defiance, but the sound was weaker now, more of a strangled growl.

  As I watched the creature's final throes, a system notification demanded my attention.

  I felt a strange tingling sensation course through my body, centred around my venom glands. It wasn't painful, but it was certainly odd. It reminded me of the strange crawling sensation I got when I gained a large amount of stats at once. It was decidedly odd and a little uncomfortable, but well worth the gains that would come with it.

  I grinned at the level I gained, the chimera had pushed me the rest of the way to level twenty five. Five levels for a single dungeon run, a few hours of my time, was a nice boost. I was still hanging onto my free points, though and now I had fifteen in reserve for a rainy day. There was a part of me that wanted to just dump them all into Charisma, just to see what would happen. I held off for the moment. There were other concerns at the moment.

  Like loot.

  And a new notification from the System.

  The timer ticked down, and I watched it for a few moments. It reminded me of my final moments in the Soul-Sheer. If that was what a dungeon collapsing was like, then I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

  No sir, no ma’am, I’m good.

  I changed back to my human form, approaching the corpse of the chimera.

  The same notification I'd gotten with the manticores appeared.

  I was admittedly torn. On one hand, I suspected I'd be able to make something interesting from whatever the Chimera gave me if I used [Spirit Forge]. On the other hand, it might give me something better than I could make if I looted it normally. In the end, I decided to take the risk and use [Spirit Forge]. I felt my internal mana stores drain down to well under half. Once again, the information flooded my mind, leaving me reeling, unable to process it all. The same options were present as before. Loot as normal, unique material for later use, and the inaccessible myriad that lay somewhere in between. I went with the material, the same as I had with the manticores. The light show was much the same as last time, only this time it was a single, much larger stream of gold, running through with vibrant green and a bright violet colour. The process was faster this time, taking only seconds to coalesce into an orb that reminded me of the tawny colour of a lion's fur, with streaks of green and violet running through the small orb. Interestingly, I felt something else enter my [Inventory] at the same time. More than one drop from the boss, perhaps? Maybe I could only [Soul Forge] a single thing at a time? I stowed the orb away in my [Inventory] before looking around for the drone. The little orb was nowhere to be seen.

  A blue glow filled the cavern, causing me to look around with wide eyes. All over the cavern, rocks shone with a blue light.

  Not rocks, crystals.

  I could feel the mana they were emitting; it almost came in waves.

  "What in the hell are those…" I trailed off, staring at the crystals that dotted the surface of the entire cavern.

  "Those are what we're here for, boyo." I whirled around to face the entrance to the cavern I'd come through earlier. To find an older-looking man with a hat that seemed to be decorated with some kind of teeth.

  "How you be boyo, you must be Carl's nephew." The man Australian accent was thick enough to cut with a knife. Or a knoife. I snickered at the thought. The Aussie man paid me no mind and kept rambling on. "Neat trick with the spider legs, not my knacker you understand, but neat all the same. I'm Jack Marlz. I head up one of the recovery teams for the Banner."

  The man gestured at the glowing crystals. “These here be like condensed mana in a solid form. We use ‘em for all kinds of stuff like powering enchantments and what not. It’s me and my boys job to harvest ‘em and anything else we can get out of the dungeon before it collapses after you fighty types clean it out for us.”

  “Huh, neat.” Was the only thing to escape my mouth before Jack rambled on once again.