The dungeon greeted us with a cheerful blech of swampy air.

  Sern tensed, squeezing the end of her now-soaked dress.

  “Well this is new,” I muttered.

  The exit out was still a door, materialized behind us, but it connected to nothing, standing freely in a field of long grass, over a plane of muddy bog-water, teeming with bugs. Birds nested on nearby vines, and fish swam in the knee-high waters, brushing against our feet.

  Further ahead, the waters dropped down into abyssal blackness, dotted with the occasional lilypad.

  It wasn’t a dungeon so much as an entire swamp, expanding who knows how far into the distance.

  {1-Star Dungeon : Gauntlet of the Swamp}

  [Dungeon Core : Active]

  I swatted the notification away. “Fitting.”

  The mud gave a shudder, and plumes of dirt rose up, from the distant water, before bolting in our direction.

  Sern whimpered, hugging me tighter.

  “Yeah, I know,” I whispered, dropping her hand. “Please, get behind me.”

  A thrashing barracuda shot into the air, and I attacked Crapshovler at my side, cleaving the fish in half.

  Its corpse dropped, staying the water black as it disintegrated, leaving behind a small white orb.

  In response the other fish started jumping, then more, until I couldn’t possibly have the time to defend against all of them, switching more to defense than offense.

  A barracuda, substantially larger and thicker than the rest, swam behind me, before bolting toward Sern.

  I twisted, smashing its face in with a well-placed heel.

  {Greater WaterFin}

  [(-32) 29/60 Hp]

  “You're pretty strong,” I grumbled, grinding my foot into the mud. The fish thrashed, churning the waters, but unable to escape. We were at a standstill, yet I had to keep my attention on the smaller fish attacking from the front.

  I sighed. “I really need another weapon.” Before the barracuda squirmed away, I gritted my teeth and pushed my health to its limit. The heel suddenly found itself four hundred pounds heavier and effortlessly popped the fish’s head like a grape.

  Something crystalline shattered beneath me, and I felt a rush of soothing energy.

  [(+150) 202/600 Exp]

  The other fish started writhing, attacking in a frenzied rush to kill me as fast as they possibly could.

  The added weight of my health was slowing me down, I dropped it down to ten again, resuming my pattern of attacks. Crapshovler wasn't very sharp, but that didn’t matter much if you put enough brute force, allowing me to carve two or three fish in a single strike.

  By the time I was finished the waters were pitch black and reeked of rotten mana. I wasn’t in great shape myself, dropping to my knees with my hair plaster in sweat.

  “Sern? Are you alright?”

  Serenity clutched my shirt, face pressed into my back so she wouldn’t see what had happened. The ends of her blond hair had been dyed black in the water, but other than that, she was fine.

  “Sern,” I whispered, leaning close. “They’re gone.”

  She opened one eye, glancing down at my hands—then staggered back in shock, almost falling into the water.

  I almost grabbed her, before stopping myself as I saw my own hands, slick with the black mana-infused blood of monsters.

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  How would that look to her, right now?

  I knelt down, washing my hands until the blood floated away. “There, how’s that?”

  Sern shivered, no longer willing to hold my hand. Not that I could blame her.

  “Monsters bleed too, Serenity,” I sighed. “That doesn’t make them any less dangerous.”

  She reached down, filling her cupped hands with black water.

  “Sern? We need to get moving.”

  She let the water run down her fingers, before standing.

  We waded through the swampy waters, coming to a noticeably dryer section of the dungeon. I don’t mean to say it was dry—thick layers of met mud still covered the ground—but it was at least dry enough to stand on.

  I sighed, glancing down at my bare feet. “I’ve really got to buy some shoes.”

  Sern wiggled her toes in the mud.

  After the barracuda, there were other monsters, most notably a massive beetle with thirteen points in defense—giving a substantial two hundred exp. Otherwise, nothing I fought took more than one blow to go down, and even when there were a lot of enemies, they were never in quite the numbers that Sern was in any real danger.

  “How big is this place?” I asked, scanning the endless muddy forest for the upteenth time. We’d been following akong dirt path for the better part of a half-mile. That wouldn’t have been so bad on its own, but the swamp was suddenly deserted of monsters. “I can’t seriously have killed them all already, could I?”

  I hesitated. “Could I?” This was supposed to be an easy dungeon, after all. Perhaps I’d already beaten every monster. But the Core should still be around here somewhere, right?

  I glanced back at Sern.

  I didn’t see her.

  “Sern!” I shouted, heart pounding, turning back with a pivot and running at full strength, back down the path, spraying mud and dirt. “SERENITY!---”

  She looked up, having crouched in a muddy puddle, petting a cute blue ladybug.

  “What are you doing?” I sighed.

  She nuzzled the bug, and it started crawling up her face.

  “Sern?” I asked, taking the bug into my own hand and gently setting it on a nearby log. “I know you want to explore, but this isn’t a safe place to do it. Okay?”

  Sern crawled toward me and hugged my ankle, before taking my hand in hers.

  As we walked, I could help but notice how she kept picking at the loose ends of her ragged dress.

  I sighed. “When this is over, I’ll buy you nice new clothes.”

  She tilted her head.

  “Clothes?” I repeated, gustoring toward my dirty outfit. “Like a dress. Or jeans and a t-shirt, if that’s more your style.”

  She stopped paying attention, spotting another lady bug, a bright yellow one.

  “You don’t really care, do you?” I huffed.

  She pointed toward the yellow bug, nudging me toward it.

  “Sern, we can’t stop every time—”

  She stopped walking and stared me straight in the eye.

  I stammered.

  Sern squinted.

  “Oh fine, go crazy,” I grumbled, pushing her toward the wood.

  She nodded to herself, reaching a hand toward the bug, only to stop halfway.

  “What?” I asked.

  Sern pointed.

  Just besides the ladybug, there was a second, much fainter path, branching off, into the depths of the swamp.

  “Ah,” I said, with a fresh smile. “Bonus treasure.”

  We brushed back the undergrowth, making slow progress down the crowded path. Rocks appeared in the muddy dirt road, then boulders, then a paved stone path, marked with bricks and mortar, all caked in dirt and assorted vegetation.

  “This doesn’t look much like a side road, does it?” I grunted, pulling Crapshoverler from my inventory.

  As we neared the end, massive stone ruins rose from the dirt, covered in vines and tree roots. They’d been broken and cracked some time ago, but they’d been recently moved and shifted, into a loose wall. A haze surrounded the ruins, and they drifted in and out of focus.

  “Please stay behind me, Sern,” I whispered. She didn’t need any encouragement.

  Crapshoverler started twitching erratically, emitting a blue white light.

  I blinked. “That’s new.”

  The light wasn’t very much, but it was enough to make shapes in the fog.

  Up close, the ruins were a lot worse off than I’d initially thought. Their sides had been worn down, and the rock crumbled easily. I held a hand up to the stone, feeling ridges and bumps—then a massive valley, sinking deep through and around the rock..

  I took a step back.

  The ruins were covered in claw marks—slashes, cuts and gouges.

  Something big lived here.

  We moved slower, inch by inch, until we came to a large lake, directly in the center of the ruins.

  Here, on the other side of the water, there was a slumped figure. He sat in the mud with a knife, cutting at a piece of wood, chipping flakes off, one by one.

  We just had to stay quiet—

  A red notification pinged.

  {1-Star Dungeon : Gauntlet of the Swamp}

  [Dungeon Core: Active]