An hour passed by in relative silence as we explored what awaited us next from the safety of the tunnel, waiting for my mana pool to fill once again. Marisa explained to me that this room had been an empty cavern just days ago, the same as the one that had housed the black fox, meaning the dungeon avatar had just recently come around to give them purpose. This once again made me question just how fast this dungeon was growing.

If the ratkin’s story was true, this dungeon wasn’t even a month old. Although dungeons grew much more rapidly during their early stages, one would expect a few small rooms filled with a handful of monsters each at this stage. Carya, the avatar of Emerald Grove, had been very open about the inner workings of her dungeon, thanks to my status as Zaleria’s champion. The woman, who only appeared as a cloud of pale green, nature–attributed mana, with her real body being a World Tree in the core chamber, had taught me many things about dungeons, some of which had been proven vastly wrong by the dungeon I was currently delving.

The rooms we had seen so far were very large, which, while not impossible, was certainly strange for an early floor. They also had far too many monsters living in them as one would usually expect about a third of what we had seen, and maybe even less. But what was the strangest was the existence of this many volcanic features, as it was proof for an advanced theme, something that should only be found in much deeper floors as it was both expensive to set up as well as requiring a decent amount of a currency Carya had called dungeon points, which could only be obtained by killing delvers. This meant it should have been impossible for a new dungeon to choose a theme that fitted what I saw. Also, young dungeons did not have access to avatars, at all.

There was only one possibility that allowed for this to happen, which involved a much older dungeon that hadn’t been detected or simply been forgotten for unknown reasons. It was known that dungeon breaks allowed dungeons that had been left to grow for some time to start anew and use advanced themes, traps, and concepts even on their very first floor, but Marisa had told me the avatar of this one had been human before. This meant she used to know the girl, and, given Marisa used to be human, that couldn’t have been long ago either. Maybe a few years at best, maybe a dozen?

“How old was this dungeon again?” I asked her.
“I was first told about it five weeks ago,” she explained. “I am not sure how old it really is.”
“And the avatar used to be human?”
“I saw her change right in front of my eyes,” she explained. “Her body was enveloped in a white light that grew brighter and brighter by the second before it suddenly exploded into a large cloud of holy mana.”
“Holy mana?”
Marisa nodded. “It took a few minutes for the cloud to disappear, but when it did, there were all these white furs and she was lying right in the middle of them.”
“And she was changed.”
“Yes.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Well… about four weeks ago.”
“Why would the dungeon change its avatar? Aren’t they always shaped by their gods?”
“Well… that is a long story…”

Marisa took a deep breath, before explaining to me just what had happened at this place. And there was too much to grasp, way too much, almost making me wish I had some of that legendary dragon mouthwater to help me forget just what I was hearing. Not only had a father dragged his own daughter into a dungeon to sacrifice her to Cohold using long–forbidden rituals in an attempt to fuel his own ambitions and greed, but he had also tried to take over the god’s possession in the process, both of which at the risk of becoming cursed for the remainder of his life.

Fearing that she would be killed for her betrayal, Marisa didn’t dare to prevent the ritual from happening but told the girl to dedicate her prayer to Cilia instead, hoping the goddess would resolve the issue in her stead. And that is exactly what happened, as the Sister of the Forest not only adopted the girl and turned her into a foxkin to treat her as her own daughter, but also effectively stole Cohold’s dungeon to gift to her. Even as Zaleria’s representative I knew this was way above my pay grade, as I had no idea how the dwarven god would react to all of this. Still, there was something good to be found in her story.

“The Sister of the Forest has a daughter… Zaleria has a niece?!”

Marisa nodded slowly, likely confused about the fact that this was the first question that had come out of my mouth after hearing all of this. But in the end, this was indeed what the elders would point out to be the most important revelation of the whole story I had been told. We couldn’t do anything about Cohold and the whole stolen dungeon situation, nor could we freely investigate the girl’s father while he was likely hiding somewhere in the human kingdoms. The elders would ensure we had both good relations to the dungeon’s avatar as well as those in charge of the town being built surrounding the entrance, but other than that, there was little any of us could do.

I shoved the matter aside, deciding to leave it to the elders to deal with. Instead, I stood up before helping Marisa to her feet. My mana pool was almost full, leaving me with more than enough to deal with a few monster–filled rooms. There wouldn’t be too many of them left anyway, as Marisa had revealed to me that there were only three more rooms waiting for us, including the one we were currently seeing.

This room, as well, was home to Lava Foxes, who were already waiting for us, or rather me, to step into the room. I counted a total of three of them, who were floating inside of the lake of molten rock and close to the rocky, curving path one had to take to traverse the room in relative safety. There were big formations of blackish rock to be seen everywhere, some of them looking like pillars and connecting to the room’s ceilings a few dozen meters above us, others much more needle–like in appearance. They offered good hiding spots for more of these monsters, so playing it safe was a must.

Still, not seeing much of a challenge here, I quickly summoned a thick bubble of water magic to once again surround the two of us, thus shielding us from most of the heat. I then led Marisa towards the path we had to take, making sure she was staying close so I could both protect her and the foxes would be less likely to attack, as they seemed to favor or at least respect her. This, too, was strange, as not a single one of Zaleria’s dungeons had monsters willing to give me free passage. But given they wouldn’t flee either, that could pretty much be a question of their mental capabilities as plant monsters, other than corrupted dryads, were severely lacking in that regard.

The path through the lava lake soon widened, creating some kind of miniature arena for one to fight at. But the foxes did not give me this honor, as they waited for us to be on the much narrower path again, before finally making their move. Two of them now summoned large balls of molten rock, placing them right in the middle of the path and thus blocking it almost entirely. Even with the protection of my water magic, I could easily feel the intense heat of these barricades, forcing me to thicken the shield with freshly summoned and thus colder water. I then shot a spout towards the closest of the barricades, causing it to almost instantly solidify and explode into large pieces. A steaming pile of blackish rock soon replaced the thing, looking almost every bit as uninviting as the former barrier had been. This wasn’t at all what I had in mind, but at least it allowed us to pass, at least after I gave the rocks some more water to cool down.

I dealt with the second barrier the same way, before shooting tiny water balls at the foxes, every single one of them infused with water-attributed mana so as to allow them to survive a little longer against the intense heat of the molten rock they would soon impact. This would not be enough to kill them, but would easily turn a small part of their bodies solid, teaching them a lesson they wouldn’t forget anytime soon.

Soon, this idea of mine was rewarded, as a cloud of vapor exploded from each of the hits, quickly blocking our view and hiding away the foxes who were now yelping in pain and panic. When the white veil dissipated, both foxes had already saved themselves by jumping back into the lava lake, a series of large, solidified spots now to be seen on their bodies.

Upon seeing just how effective these small balls of water were, each of them about as big as a fist, I decided to deal with the remaining foxes in the room the very same way, pelting them with a few attacks each before they could even think of placing down another barricade or facing me in melee which would make it a lot harder to keep them alive.

The last foxes of the room didn’t even need that, as a single spell was enough to tell them they were outmatched. I simply shot the small projectiles of water right in front of the foxes’ bodies, thus solidifying the molten rock they were about to swim through. This didn’t hurt the foxes at all, but showed them what was to happen should they intend to fight me. And soon, they were already making their escape, hiding behind pillars of rock and watching our every move.

When we finally reached the other side, I let out a sigh of relief before leading Marisa into the tunnel that would, if her information was still correct, lead us to the boss chamber. It was a short tunnel with a sharp turn to the right that soon led us to a large cavern that had a river of lava illuminating it. To the left, there was a wide opening that connected this supposed boss chamber to a likely much larger room, with a series of metal bars allowing sunlight to pass through. The same metal bars could be found on the other end of the cavern we were standing in, separating a partition of it to allow for some kind of workshop to be present. The room didn’t have the best lighting, so I couldn’t make out much, other than a small area covered with white fire right in the middle of it, that was.

Sadly, it appeared I was once again limited in my magic, as the rock below our feet didn’t allow for a single one of my seeds to take hold, regardless of how much mana I would nourish them with. As such, I was once again limited to my water magic alone, which, quite honestly, wasn’t making me feel too confident. And, as I looked into the distance, this feeling became only more tangible.

Three monsters were waiting for us to make our way towards the rocky arena, all of them little more than specks of blue in the distance. Only when we came closer and Marisa separated from me did they make their own move, allowing me to take a first good look at them. I was surprised, to say the least, as one of the supposed monsters looked like a foxkin instead, though older than the girl I had seen earlier. Her blue hair wasn’t like anything I had read in the sacred texts. It still had white and black tips for the tail and ears, telling me exactly what she was, but other than that she looked rather foreign. Another trait that the stranger had was four tails that were seen behind her back, fanned out in an attempt to intimidate me. And that certainly worked, as I knew a foxkin’s strength could easily be seen by looking at the number of their tails.

The two foxes to her side were more expected, at least when it came to this dungeon. Rather than the animals that had lived in the past, these once again lacked fur and could be better compared to elementals, albeit highly intelligent ones if the past encounters were anything to go by. Knowing this, this fight was very likely going to be the hardest of the day, which seemed especially true with the color of the flames these monsters featured. If what I feared was true and this really was the flames the dwarves deemed holy, I was at a clear disadvantage even with my water magic.

Marisa wasn’t feeling threatened by the display of power. She was already walking towards the three, leaving me behind. Before I could even decide on what to do, she was already chatting with the blue–haired foxkin, likely explaining what had brought me here. Sadly, she wasn’t having any of it. Her tails were still fanned out threateningly, and she soon forced Marisa aside with a gentle push before walking up to me, likely about to toss me out.

“You better leave now,” she told me.
“I am here to talk to the dungeon avatar,” I explained. “I brought gifts for her!”

I was about to take off my backpack and show her the fruits when she stopped me with a single wave of her hand.

“She is terrified of you.”

This wasn’t unexpected. The men and women outside didn’t seem threatening at all. Even a few dozen of them would likely give me no trouble if I didn’t let myself be surprised or tricked. And dungeons, being able to feel the strength of those that delve them to some extent, would likely prefer them over me, as they were far less of a threat to their core. Even as an avatar that could think, adapt, and memorize, as compared to instinct-driven cores, she would still feel an existential threat resulting from me just being inside of her dungeon. This was even more true now, that I was likely very close to the dungeon’s vulnerable core.

It didn’t matter. I had to talk to this girl, even more now that I knew what had happened to her and who she was. So I placed my right hand on my chest, straightened my back, and swore by Zaleria’s name that I wasn’t her enemy and didn’t mean her any ill will. This seemed to take the foxkin aback, as she likely knew how much swearing on the goddess’ name meant to us. Still, she wasn’t about to go easy on me, as she soon showed.

“You have to go through me first,” she decided.
“We do not have to fight.”
A chuckle came from her. “Oh, I have to. It is kind of my duty.”
“Your duty?”

Only now did it click with me. There was this big arena and the supposed boss room, but only two common monsters were guarding it. So where was the guardian I had to fight? What was the last line of defense this dungeon had? It couldn’t be these foxes, even though they were likely stronger than everything I had faced so far. On the contrary, the only being in this room that gave me the vibes of being a really tough opponent was this foxkin girl. And given she had that weird, unheard-of hair color, it even made sense for her to be special in some way. But… she was sapient, and not corrupted like the dryads in Emerald Grove. She could clearly talk and communicate, make demands, and even threats! All of this spoke against her being my final opponent: she was no mere monster.

“You– what are you?!”
“The name is Myra,” she introduced herself. “Adventurer, smith, artisan, dungeon boss...”
“What…?”

She didn’t give me any further explanation. Instead, she pulled forth a sword that had a pattern of running foxes carved into its blade. She didn’t make a secret out of the fact that she was fully intending to fight me. The foxes, too, were now spreading out, ready to fire their magic at me, whatever shape it would take.

I sighed, before distancing myself with a few quick steps. Seconds later, I was already surrounded by a thick shield of cold water, which would hopefully buy me enough time to make this girl reconsider. The foxes saw this as their sign to attack and quickly tested the strength of the barrier by flinging up their tails, which caused daggers of blue fire to shoot towards me, faster than I could react. The magic spells dug deeply into my barrier, blinding me with a cloud of vapor and causing the once cold water to boil just with this single volley of attacks.

“This is dangerous…”

Knowing that time was quickly working against me, I sprang into action, dashing towards the foxes that had pelted me with their magic. The monsters were likely clever, way too clever for my liking, but they were still surprised when I ran up to them to explode my shield of water right into their faces. Shrill yelps could be heard as the water sprayed in all directions, paying those monsters back and buying me some precious time.

Just when I was about to summon a new shield, I noticed a movement in the corner of my eyes. The foxkin girl was swinging her four tails in my direction, causing balls of blue fire to be launched at me. The magic luckily missed by a large margin, being too inaccurate to cause me any harm, but it still impacted the rocky ground surrounding me. Wherever it did, it exploded into a carpet of blue flames that lingered around, stealing away my path of escape. And this path was desperately needed, as there was soon a flash of blue light and the foxkin appeared in the middle of the flames, right next to me. She tried to strike me with her sword, but I could luckily dodge the attack by making a jump backwards, before forcing some more distance between us with a big spout of water.

My opponent was carried away by the attack a few meters, giving me enough time to finally summon my shield again, and it wasn’t too soon, as there were once again daggers of flame thrown at me. The monsters didn’t allow me to catch my breath, instead, they shot another time, then a third, quickly evaporating the shield and flooding the arena with boiling hot vapor. I screamed in pain before enveloping myself with healing water, trying to soothe the pain while buying me the chance to counterattack.

I let myself drop to the ground, hoping that this would allow me to dodge the next magic thrown at me, before summoning a sword of water. With how things were going, it was impossible for me to win this fight, so I had to take the initiative for now.

Nodding to myself, I reached out for the sword, summoned a wave of water to shoot into all directions, and began running in the direction I had last seen that girl. I swung my sword, still blinded by the steam, but there was no such luck. Either she had used her teleport spell again, or she had simply made her escape using my moment of blindness.

It took several seconds for the cloud to clear, precious time I spent refreshing my shield over and over again, as it was rapidly heated by my boiling hot surroundings. When I then finally saw the fiery blue silhouette of the foxes, there were no longer carpets of flames for them to use, as the wave had luckily carried enough water to wash them away. I immediately attacked the two monsters, sending slash after slash of the sharp–bladed water magic at them.

They were taken by surprise. All of my strikes hit just like I wanted to, cleaving the foxes into two–or at least that should have happened. Instead, they stumbled, but their bodies of pure, blue flames somehow held together. There was a line of paler flames to be seen where I had struck them, as their body seemed to have taken some kind of damage, but it wasn’t enough to defeat them just yet. Still, they were wary, or at least I thought so, before they suddenly flung up their tails again, forcing me to drop to the ground as another six daggers of flames passed through the air where my head had just been.

The foxes had just waited for this chance. They came running at me as I was trying to get back at my feet, spreading more and more flames with each step they took. They then threw themselves at me, attempting to burn me alive, but I forced most of my remaining mana out of my body in a desperate attempt to fend them off.
A wall of water sprang into life in front of me, about a meter thick and easily towering over my opponents. The foxes, being caught off guard, couldn’t stop in time and ran straight into my defense, their pained yelps ringing in my ears.

Once again, I was enveloped by steam, this time without any shield to save me. My whole body was burning as I dropped to the ground once again, trying to make me as small as possible as I enveloped myself with a cocoon of water. But sadly, my mana had almost run out by now, leaving me with little chance but to take the intense heat head-on.

My agony lasted for a few breathtakingly long moments, all of which I spent screaming and fighting against the pain as I healed my wounds over and over again. This luckily, did not waste as much mana as a proper shield, but it still stole all of my remaining strength, leaving me utterly drained, even when I used my nature magic to boost the healing a little further.

Still, I lifted myself to my feet one more time and readied my sword for my final stand, only to find the two foxes had escaped with their lives, their whole bodies now a mere shadow of what they had once been. Instead of a vivid blue, they now burned in reds and oranges, and even those flames seemed to slowly die off. Weak yelps could be heard coming from them as they seemed to call for help.

Their calls were certainly heard, as, just in this moment, the pile of white flames in the workshop suddenly came alive, revealing themself to be small, two–tailed foxes. These foxes, a whole group of five of them, ran up to their wounded comrades and, after slipping through the metal bars that split the room and walking up to them, began enveloping the dying foxes with white flames. The visibly weakened flames were enveloped by the fire within seconds, blocking my view.

It was only seconds later that I realized just what the little foxes had done. All hope left me as the vivid blue flames reappeared. My opponent’s body was once again ignited, returning with all the vigor it once had. Now, all the foxes made their move. The small ones were making their way towards Marisa, who had been watching all of this happen open-mouthed, while the much larger, three-tailed monsters disappeared into flashes of blue light, only to reappear right next to me, ready to strike me once again. But their help wasn’t needed, as I could suddenly feel the touch of hot metal against my neck, indicating that I had long lost the fight.

A glance over my shoulder confirmed what I already knew. The foxkin girl had found her way behind me as I was too busy watching the monsters. The soft grin on her face was more than enough for me to know I had messed up. With a sigh, I let my makeshift weapon drop to the ground. A splash and a fizzle could be heard as the water slowly spread out, the dark rock under my feet heated up enough to make it boil.

“Anything left?” She asked me.

I shook my head. I had played all of my cards and had spent all of my water-attributed mana, leaving me with no further options to continue fighting. If only I had fought on earth or grass, I would likely have had a chance to at least entangle the girl using some vines, but this whole dungeon felt like it was rigged against me in some way or another. I didn’t have a chance from the beginning.

“Empty your remaining mana,” she demanded.

I stared at Marisa, looking for help, but although my fellow champion was slowly making her way over to us, holding one of the white flame foxes in her arms and being followed by four more, she didn’t look like she was about to step in. Still, a soft smile could be seen on her face, indicating that she didn’t believe in this situation taking a gruesome turn.

This little smile of hers gave me the courage I needed. I soon forced all my remaining mana out of my body, first slowly, just to see their reaction, then quickly and without giving it any shape or purpose. Naturally, this left me entirely defenseless.

As the thick cloud of blue and green dissipated into the surroundings, I resigned myself to my fate, whatever it would be. The girl had won, and I could only consider myself lucky she was still making demands rather than just killing me for threatening her master.

“I will talk to her,” she told me. “Don’t move.”

The girl gave a sign to the two foxes, who were more than eager to listen to her orders. Soon, they were sitting right in front of me, their tails fanned out as they were staring daggers into me, daring me to move as little as a single finger.

I didn’t. Even as the girl picked up one of the little, white foxes and made her way over to the workshop with it in her arms, I didn’t dare to try anything. I knew I could no longer hope to fend off a single monster or escape with my mana pool being this empty.

The girl, upon reaching the barrier separating the arena from the workshop, swung her tail, spreading out flames and creating a single carpet of blue flames on the other side of the metal rods. There was a flash of blue as she teleported herself straight into the vividly burning fire, and then she was already making her way toward a door further in the back. She soon disappeared in it, leaving me behind with her underlings and a sighing Marisa, who only now dared to talk to me, trying to find words to soothe my fears. She promised me nothing would happen to me and that the dungeon’s avatar was a nice, loving girl who couldn’t hurt a soul and I, strangely, could find myself believing that.

The foxes still looked very eager to watch me burn, but I wasn’t giving them the honor, now that I saw a way out of the mess I had found myself in. Instead, I waited, together with Marisa, hoping that the dungeon’s avatar would be willing to see me now that I was no longer a threat to her. She should already feel better, now that I had no more mana left to fight…

 

 

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