The dungeon reminded Beatrix of an insect's den as she made her way down into it. The walls were not made of stone, but rather were made of packed dirt. It was as though the place had been created by ants or something. The corridor leading down was narrow and filled with curves that could serve as points of ambush. Even though she should be more than a match for anything that came at her this high up in the dungeon, being cautious was one of the things she had learned to live by over the years.

Normally, a full party of mid-level adventurers would be needed to tackle a place like this one, and they would be foolish to not bring a priest along for healing emergencies. The dungeon had been active in this city for nearly a hundred years and it had been allowed to grow strong so as to produce more wondrous treasures. as she carefully delved deeper into the place. Beatrix liked the idea of a challenge, and eagerly looked forward to conquering it. 

It wasn't that she sought glory or fame, it was that the only time she could really feel alive anymore was when facing insurmountable odds. The dungeon was eerily quiet, and she knew that that was likely not a good sign. After several more minutes of winding her way downward, she came to her first large room.

As predicted, there was a large group of monsters here waiting for her. They were the same type as those she fought topside, and were fighting over scraps of some bloody remains of a human. She twisted her mouth in disgust and stepped all the way into the room. The monsters sensed her presence and turned towards her, mandibles clacking viciously. They reared up on their insect legs and screeched loudly before charging recklessly towards her.

Impudent beasts. 

Beatrix effortlessly smashed the first one that dove towards her in the head with her heavy shield. Its body crunched against the force of the impact and it flew limply towards to her left. It crashed into the dirt wall of the room and she didn't bother to look and see if it had been destroyed. Beatrix moved to meet the other monsters that were now rushing toward her in a heap and activated her Elemental Blade skill, this time focusing on making the blade burn bright with a red-hot flame. The clear crystal that made up the blade of Requiem burst to life as the magic went to work, and she grinned excitedly as she faced the enemies that were foolish enough to challenge her.

With precision she quickly dispatched a dozen of the creatures, dancing between them, bringing burning death to all who dared oppose her. The insect monsters hadn't even managed to put a scratch on her. The fight had ended in moments, and she hadn't really been able to cut loose. Disappointing. She stepped over the burning corpses and out of the other side of the room.

A dungeon of this age would have grown to become quite expansive, and she was sure that it would take her at least the entirety of the day to find the core. She also needed to make sure she kept track of where she was going so that she didn't get too lost. The passageway continued to wind around for a while until she came to another small room that branched off in three different directions.

Instead of choosing blinding which way to go, she activated Minor Detect Life, and found that there were ethereal red shapes nearby in two of the three directions. It was important to think things through and she needed to decide which way to go first.

I will need to exterminate all of the enemies in the dungeon. The narrow passageways could end up with me being attacked from both sides if I'm not careful. It will take time for the dungeon to respawn its monsters and as it does so, the core will deplete precious mana that it will require for defending itself when I arrive. Forcing it to spend mana on respawning is the smart move I think.

Rather than go towards the signs of life, she decided to investigate the passage without anything. It was probably a dead end, but it would be good to be sure that was the case and that it wasn't a longer passage leading further into the dungeon. After a short walk, she found that it was as she had suspected; a dead end. There was a small chest sitting in the middle of the dirt floor. Beatrix opened it up for the hell of it, and found that there were a few coins tucked away inside and nothing else. She hadn't expected much from a treasure chest spawning this high up in the dungeon, but it didn't cost her anything to grab the money.

With this corridor checked off her list, she could now backtrack and take one of the other corridors. She decided to go towards the one with the fewer signs of life to the right as the signals had been closer. The passage was also quite short and soon she found herself in an open room. However, there were no monsters to be found. 

Beatrix scanned the room and then looked up just as some giant insect larvae began to fall from the ceiling like rain. She reacted quickly and avoided having one of the large grub-like monsters landing on her head. The insect monsters immediately began spitting acid at her the moment they hit the floor. Beatrix was hit on the left shoulder with some and it sizzled as it reacted with her magical armor. Some seeped through and she could feel it eating away at her skin.

She gritted her teeth against the burning acid and raised her shield, side stepping as many projectiles as she could. The acid hissed as it hit her shield, but it couldn't get through. Her shield was heavily enchanted and the likes of these would pose no threat to it. Beatrix charged in with Requiem raised and slashed through the grubs easily dispatching them. 

The acid was really starting to burn and she reached into her bag and grabbed a potion, downing it in one swig and then retrieved another potion and dumped it onto the wound. The smell was disgusting, but it negated the effects of the acid and neutralized it. Now that she was as good as new, it was time to take the final passage and head deeper. 

Being ambushed like that could have ended badly for her had the monsters been smart enough to rain acid down on her from above. Even worse, if she hadn't noticed them and one had dropped on her face unexpectedly, it would have easily burned her face off, fancy armor or not. It would be a slight waste of mana, but she decided to do the smart thing and continuously cast Minor Detect Life from here on out. They wouldn't catch her off guard again.  

The final passage wound downwards at a steep incline and she felt that she probably dropped down a good fifty feet before it leveled off again. Ahead in the passage, she saw that the ground was covered in a mysterious looking yellow goo. There was no way around it without walking over it, so she weighed her options before just blindly walking over it.

The yellow material appeared to be stuck to the walls and the ceiling as well, and it spanned a fair distance down the hallway. She poked the material with the tip of her boot and found that it was extremely sticky. She had to pull with all of her might to just pull her foot free. If she had walked onto it, then she would have been stuck for sure. 

While she was thinking about what to do the sound of carapace came skittering her way. Atop the ceiling at the far end of the tunnel she saw a group of three arachnid monsters headed right for her at breakneck speed. Had they detected something caught in their trap? Yellow goo seeped from their fangs and glistened in the dim light of the dungeon. Why does this blasted place have to be full of bugs? I hate bugs. 

The arachnids' bodies glowed with a dull yellow in the rear and Beatrix could tell immediately that these things could potentially spell trouble. She stepped backwards a couple paces to give herself some room to maneuver as the spiders split off into three directions. Two charged down the wall towards her while the remaining one stopped at the edge of the goop at the top of the ceiling.

Beatrix saw the one on the ceiling turn and aim its spinnerets in her direction. The yellow substance flew through the air like a cannonball and she was unable to completely evade the attack. The ball of goo slammed against her shield arm hard and plastered her to the wall.

She was stuck and would now have to fight one handed as the other two monsters were right on top of her. This was it, this was the feeling she longed for. She felt herself growing excited at the prospect of fighting these things one handed. The beasts had thought they had her and charged in close recklessly. Beatrix ignited her blade and stabbed the nearest one right in its large grouping of eyeballs as it came in to bite her. 

The arachnid screeched loudly and the stink of burning spider meat filled Beatrix' nostrils as it flopped backwards onto its back, curling its legs inward as it burned and died. The other spider had moved back and now the two beasts were preparing to fire more goo at her. If she didn't move, then she would be suffocated by the stuff and be dissolved into their lunch. 

Hoping against hope that fire would do the trick, she gritted her teeth and brought the flaming blade of Requiem up against the edge of her shield that was affixed to the wall. The goop was highly flammable and went up in a fiery inferno around her arm. Luckily, her enchanted armor saved her from getting burnt too badly and she was able to move away from the wall just as two large blobs of yellow goo slammed into her previous position.

Now that she was mobile, she charged towards the spiders that were now both on the sticky trap in front of her. She made sure to slash the balls of goo as they flew towards her as she dodged, setting them on fire in order to prevent herself from getting tripped up later. 

Now that the distance had been closed she swiped towards the one on the wall. It was just barely within her reach and her blade slid easily into the abdomen. Flames engulfed the creature and it fell onto its back on the goo. The final spider dove for her and pinned her down on the ground.

Her sword clanged to the ground at her side, just out of reach and only her shield kept the monster from getting at her face. Venom dripped from the arachnid as it tore at her trying to finish her off. She balled up her gauntleted fist and punched the monster again and again in the abdomen. It screeched and dug at her more furiously than ever, but she didn't relent.

She just needed a small opening. Pound. Pound. Pound. Beatrix finally felt something give as her fist slammed into the side of the creature and she felt insect guts spilling onto her armor. The monster let out a cry of pain and she activated the elemental magic in her shield.

The metal grew hot and it took everything she had to keep the heavy arachnid from pushing the metal down onto her face. After what felt like forever, the spell activated completely and the monster began to be burned by her shield. The spider let out another hiss and tried to back away. She pushed her shield up against it as it moved and finally it retreated.

She rolled onto her side and grabbed her blade once more. The enemy was severely injured, but it had ranged attacks that could allow it to continue to harass her from a distance. Since it wanted to fight at range, then so be it.

The monster started to turn its back to her in preparation to fire, but she moved faster. She reignited Requiem and then took aim in a fraction of a second and threw the magical blade at the monster. It spun through the air and hit its mark. The blade sunk into the monster and it fell from the ceiling into the goo below. The entire section of the passageway burst into flames.

The spider shrieked and shrieked as it was roasted alive in its own trap. A fitting end for a vile monster like that. She stood back and watched as the bright flames burnt away all of the goop and in just a couple minutes, her way forward was now clear. Beatrix stepped over the scorched earth and kicked the smoking husk that remained of the spider to the side and retrieved Requiem.

This place had already turned out to be more interesting than she had initially thought. She hadn't really ever spent much time exploring the dungeons of the world, as for most of her life she had been the captain of the queen's guard and was tasked with keeping the royal family safe. That left her little time for adventuring. 

Even just the brief memory of her duties stung her deep down into her soul. It had been years and years since she had failed to save the princesses during the coup, but she had never stopped blaming herself for their deaths. Beatrix gripped her sword tightly as she thought of what she'd do if she could get her hands on those responsible for that tragedy.

Beatrix lost herself in thought for a while as she mindlessly wandered the dungeon, dispatching monsters whenever she came across them. The vast majority of what she had run into were either the acid spitting larvae or the ant-like monsters from above. After an hour or two of searching she found herself in an expansive room. This must be what people called a boss room. There was a large passage leading down deeper into the dungeon off at the other end of the room and between it and her was something new.

The enemies gathered in this room were still insect types of monsters, but they were humanoid in shape. They had thick carapace and sharp looking barbs on their forearms. The group of monsters were blocking the way along with a giant antlion like the one she had encountered in the desert on her way here. She wasn't at all surprised to see one of the monsters here, as it was widely known that dungeons had monsters resembling the habitat around them. 

As she strode into the large chamber, the antlion roared and the entire group of humanoid insects jumped into action. The entire group of enemies surged towards her in a charge, save the antlion which held the back line. Beatrix deftly moved between the enemies as they came for her. They were fast and the barbed ends of their natural weapons scraped against her armor as she fought them off.

Surrounded and outnumbered, she felt the thrill of battle fill her. She used her Blade Dance skill to allow her to move quicker and slashed through several of the enemies. The insectoid enemies continued to converge upon her from every side, but she beat them back with her superior skills.

She cut a path straight through the enemies and focused on the antlion, which was the larger threat as she saw it. The enormous monster reared back and shot flames towards her as she approached, but she blocked them with her shield and pressed on. The beast swiped at her and she ducked under its enormous claws and slashed at its forearm from beneath as she rolled to the side and back up onto her feet.

Moving quickly, Beatrix severed two of its rear legs, causing the heavy enemy to lose its balance and crash onto its side as it roared with impotent rage at being unable to kill her. Before she could deliver the coup de grace, the insectoid monsters were once again upon her and she managed to take a cut on her left cheek. The wound stung but what was worse than that was that she felt her senses growing duller and her movements almost immediately became sluggish when compared to normal. She slashed and removed one of its rear legs and then another. 

The beast lost its balance and crashed to its side roaring in rage. It could no longer support itself. The insectiod monsters were once again upon her and she took a cut to her cheek. It was inconsequential other than the fact that the blades seemed to be covered with a type of venom. She felt her movement's become slower.

Paralysis venom. 

With the last bit of movement she could do she managed to dispatch the enemy that had cut her and reached into her bag and pulled out an expensive potion. The monsters smelled blood in the water so to speak and began to frenzy. She batted them away with her shield as best she could as she felt herself going more and more numb by the second as she raised a shaky hand to her lips and popped the cork out between her teeth.

She downed the potion and relief came almost immediately as it worked against the venom in her bloodstream. It was hard to not trip over her own feet and she needed to keep herself away from the thrashing antlion, which was still not completely out of the fight. She tossed the small glass bottle into the face of the nearest insect, hitting it in one of its multi-faceted eyes. 

Enough Games.

Beatrix was already feeling a lot better, and she retreated back towards the entrance. She was just a few steps ahead of the monsters, and the antlion had managed to get back up on its remaining feet and was lumbering in her direction as well, albeit much slower than the rest of the enemies.

Once she reached the entrance, she turned to face her foes once more, they were just a few paces behind her, but it would be enough time. Beatrix dropped her sword to the ground and reached up, grabbing the pendant at her neck and focused. The artifact began to glow with a green light. The light seeped between her fingers and began to pulse.

Beatrix continued to back into the hallway as she focused on activating the pendant. When she finally let glow of the pendant, the glow had transferred to her hand and she held it out, palm facing the enemies in front of her and released the magic. Green energy sprayed forth and painted the floor in front of her in an instant before the ground itself became her weapon.

Massive spikes of stone erupted from the ground and impaled the enemies that were just about on top of her. The enemies squirmed and ichor spurted out of the wounds as they were each bled slowly by the earth magic. Beatrix didn't spend time watching the insect humanoids die and picked up her blade once more. It was time to deal with the antlion that was still lumbering towards her location.

It roared and fired off a gout of flames in her direction once more. Beatrix casually blocked it with her magical shield and pressed forward. The shield glowed a dim blue and frost shielded her from the hot flames. Once the antlion had exhausted its attack, she dashed forward and stabbed the beast in one of its large eyes. She pushed Requiem as deeply as she could into the creature's face and held back her own desire to vomit as purple goo leaked from the eye socket of the beast as it thrashed violently trying to pull away.

Beatrix didn't pay any mind to the fact that she was getting covered in slime, as a veteran soldier she had long since gotten used to the dirtier aspects of the job. After a few painstaking moments, the antlion's thrashing grew weaker and weaker until it finally stopped altogether. She yanked her sword free and swiped it at the air, to clean some of the goop off. The passageway to the next level of the dungeon lie ahead.

The monsters had already begun to disappear into the dungeon, being reabsorbed into the system. She didn't have a ton of time to waste. She cleaned up as best she could using some water skins from her bag and she opened the shiny bronze chest at the back of the  room by the passage leading down to the next level.

This chest contained a small pin with a ruby affixed to the top. She didn't have a way to identify it for now, so she stowed it away for later. The item was probably magical in nature, but it wouldn't be nearly on the same level as her magical rings and pendant. There might be something good in the final room of the dungeon. On that note, she took one more glance back at the heap of corpses she had left in the room, and then after taking a deep breath to calm her nerves once more, she began taking the crude stone stairs down towards the next level of the dungeon.