The Tower in the Shadows

I do not need to be here.

She thought this as she watched Doltum and Seela discuss the copper vein in the wall. The last group she had sent through had detailed the only change to the Dungeon: the addition of glowing blue moss to the first three floors. It was a well-known fact that most Dungeons made minor changes to their floors as time passed.

Her presence here was partly to witness a Diamond-tier Adventurer in action. This was a rare opportunity that she had seized. Doltum was aware of her intentions and had no objections. He had only requested that she observe and disclose nothing about the Dungeon unless prompted. She readily agreed.

The night before, she and Ranus had spoken to the two. She had understood that the reports about their bickering were not untrue but may have been understated. At first, Seela's accent was hard to understand, but she got the hang of it. Seela often used Ya for both you and yes, which sometimes threw her. Seela sounded simple, but Elian had realised she was anything but.

Seela was as enjoyable as Doltum in her own way. Not as far along the Paths as her companion, she was equal to Platinum, tier herself the tier below Doltum. Her class was Carrier of Burdens and Resources; Elian knew this because she had asked the woman last night. Seela explained it was a class created by her original Burden Carrier, merging with her extensive skills based on harvesting resources from a Dungeon. She carried all the tools she needed with her, which was part of the reason for the almost comically large pack on her back.

Elian remembered the drunk Iron grade, who had mocked the small woman the night before. The healers had told her before she left that he would recover from the punch…. Eventually.

"It's odd that there are no dangers with this resource node." Doltum was talking with Seela and was attaching a crystal he had pulled from his belt onto his staff. His robes were open, revealing light leather armour and a belt full of pouches like Seela's.

"Ya, real strange. Not seen its likes before." Seela rubbed her hands on the vein. "Not bad vein."

"Let us continue, then." He walked towards the doorway. The crystal began glowing a soft yellow light. Elian knew it was not for additional light, as the moss was providing enough at the moment. The whole Dungeon had a surreal look to it, with everything having a blue tint. There still were large patches of darkness for monsters to hide in. Sella turned from the wall and followed, with Elian taking up the rear.

Doltum stepped into the corridor, changing how he held the staff. He now cradled it under his arm horizontally, pointing it in his walking direction. After a few steps, the crystal flashed brighter.

"Hmmm. A trap, it appears. Where are you?" Doltum muttered, adjusting his grip on the staff. The crystal intensified its glow as it was directed at the floor. Reversing the staff, he probed the floor until it pierced through the thin stone layer concealing the pitfall trap. Seela, quick to react, pushed past and shattered the rest, exposing the entire trap with her club.

"Well made. Easy to be missed by young'uns." That was Seela's opinion, her voice tinged with admiration for the trap's craftsmanship. Elian, too, understood the danger. So many were injured in this first corridor, even now. Foot injuries were the second most common after wasp stings on this floor. She knew several healers were making a good living just by treating them.

Doltum stepped around the hole and held the staff out again. He turned and walked into the first room. Seela and Elian were just behind him.

"Ah, wasps, is it?" Doltum said almost to himself as the first Dungeon monsters appeared. He raised his arm and flicked his wrist. Each time at a wasp, a firebolt spell shot from his hand. Impacting, they incinerated each wasp.

"There. All done." He was pleased with himself.

"Bloody wasting mana, ya show off!" Seela barged past him, heading to the kill reward that had flashed into existence. She bent over to pick it up. Elian was amazed she did not topple over because her pack was larger than her. Seela rattled as she walked because of all the things attached to it.

"Stop complaining. It was the fastest way to clear the room." Doltum rebuked her. She snorted at this.

"Use ya sword, ya twit." She looked at what the Dungeon had given them. She bit into it and nodded approvingly at what she found. "Old empire copper coin. Regealmus face on it."

"Regealmus. The last competent Emperor post Folly. After him, things fell apart fast." Doltum sounded lost in his memories for a moment.

"Ya, the bastard could drink too! Shame he died in that battle." Seela added.

They continued to the next corridor, where the trap was found and bypassed. The next room found Doltum using his sword and quickly dispatched the wasps within. Seela was picking up the reward as he studied the bodies.

"Well, that is strange but not unheard of."

"What ya babbling about now?"

"These wasps can be used as generic monsters by Dungeons. They naturally lean towards Air mana, but I do not see any Shadow mana infusion." Seela came over and looked at the bodies.

"Ya right. We've seen this before. Odd but not unknown."

Elian was asked no questions and said nothing. She was eager for them to see the rest of the Dungeon and get the Magus's reaction. They continued to the next corridor, not bothered by the two pitfall traps.

"Rogues and trap masters must love this floor." Seela muttered. Elian knew they did for the challenge of finding the traps.

The boss room was the next and last room on the floor. Doltum strode in and quickly adjusted to the room's layout. The giant wasp came straight at Doltum, darting to the left and right. His sword was drawn and he countered the stinger with it. He counterattacked, cutting the boss with the blade. The wasp was fast, but Doltum was faster.

The fight was a series of stabs and counters that the boss could not find an opening for. Doltum cut it to pieces with little effort. The man was an expert swordsman and a spell caster. Elian knew that few could boast both these days. His skills came from being a Spellsword at the start of his Adventuring career.

Seela picked up the reward and they walked out of the door and back to the stairwell.

"It's an interesting floor. It is an extraordinary design, unlike what you see in other Dungeons. The direct access to floors is an easy way for the Dungeon to get easy kills and grow." Doltum thought out loud as they walked to the stairs.

"Strange ya. Much we not seen before and much we have." Seela added as they walked.

Doltum stooped in the stairwell room and looked around. Elian noted the slight glow in his eyes. He was using some spell as he looked at the Dungeon around him. To what end, she was not sure.

Doltum ended whatever spell he was using and descended the stairs. The walk to the second floor was short and they were soon walking towards the first room. He scanned the path as they walked with the crystal on the end of the staff.

"If this floor is like the first, that will be the exit from the boss room." Doltum said as he noticed the door on the left-hand wall. Doltum looked into the first room.

"A water environment?"

Seela pushed him out of the way and looked inside.

"Water! I bloody hate water. Why water here in a shadow Dungeon?" Seela blurted out.

"If you stop sticking your nose, maybe I would figure it out!" Doltum snapped.

"Ya figure it out? Ya makes me laugh!" She shot back.

They broke down into a brief but intense bickering session. Elian waited for them to finish.

"I will go into the room and kill the toad." Doltum said, looking into the room again.

He went in and the toad responded as soon as it noticed him. Doltum found no challenge in the toad's defence of the room. It slashed out with its tongue, but his blade sliced it off. The toad died not long after.

Seela waded into the room and collected the reward. The water was up past her knees. Elian followed, not happy wading in, but she was ready with high-leg boots. She still felt the cold through the boots. This was the least popular floor in the winter.

They continued to the next corridor. Doltum was still using the spell, looking for traps. It was a testament to his mana reserves that he could still cast the spell without signs of strain.

"Wasps are a generic air type and now toads represent water. Add the fact that there was a sharoon, which is shadow. This Dungeon is quite the strange one." Doltum was talking. Elian was not sure if it was to them or himself.

"Ya, is right. Tis a strange one." Seela agreed with him as she looked around the corridor they were walking along.

The next room had three toads in it. Due to their numbers, they lasted only a little longer. The water slowed him, but Doltum adapted and cut them to pieces. Not their attacks nor skills slowed or threatened him. Elian was not impressed by his abilities but by the fact that he was holding back and killing all that stood in his way.

Another trap was discovered in the next corridor, which Seela revealed with her club. So, it went for the rest of the floor, corridor by corridor and room by room. Doltum's advance was relentless and he showed no signs of slowing. The only thing that broke his pace was when Seela and he started bickering.

They reached the boss's room. Here, he just incinerated the giant toad with a single spell.

"Ya wasting mana again!" Seela complained.

"Not really. This floor is different but not as challenging as expected. I desire to move on."

"Payout is good for what we are facing. These flowers are a good find." Seela was harvesting the flowers growing in the room. Elian noted the herbalist pruners that were now in Seela's hand. Her pack was sitting on the raised section where the burnt remains of the boss were pushed off. With a speed that came with practice, she harvested the flowers and stored them away. The pack was soon on her back again. Elian was sure she could not lift the thing, let alone carry it around.

"To the next floor." Doltum said with a flourish of his hand. Seela mocked him all the way to the stairwell.

The next floor found Doltum fighting boars. He danced around them, slicing and stabbing their hides, not even slowing his blade. Elian wondered at the number of enchantments on it.

In the second room, one attacks Seela. It did not last long enough to regret this as she smashed its skull in with a single blow from her club.

Doltum advanced again through the floor. Seela eyed up the corpses as she collected the rewards for their deaths but did not harvest them.

"Floor boss should be in the next room." Seela said, counting the coins from the last kill.

"I agree. Now boars an earth or nature type. I must see this Core. Guild Leader Woodland, can you tell me about it and how it will react to our visit?"

This was the first time since they arrived that he addressed her with a question about the Dungeon.

"Alas, I cannot, as no one has seen the Core, and it has hidden itself away." Elian controlled her excitement. This was the other reason she had come. If anyone could find the Core, it would be the High Magus.

"What, no one. No one at all!" Doltum was fascinated by this revelation. "Then we shall be the first!"

"That's odd. Guild rules state the Core must be seen as part of the first survey," Seela said, turning to face Elian. Her features were scowled and Doltum looked at her for an answer.

"Correct. We did not find the Core on the first survey, but divine decree bypassed the rule."

Doltum and Seela looked at each other. Elian knew not what passed between them in that look but knew that they were intrigued even more.

"Then we continue on!" Doltum declared, turning and striding into the next room. Seela sighed loudly and followed with Elian right behind.

The third-floor boss charged Doltum as soon as he crossed the threshold and died almost as fast. Doltum braced and impaled the boss with his blade through its head, killing it with its own momentum. He never moved an inch during this.

"Ya did it right for a change!" Seela pushed past him, dropping her pack. She opened it and began rummaging inside. Her back was to Elian and when she turned, she was carrying two wrapped sets of tools Elian had gathered from the appearance. Seela put them on the ground and opened them up. One was a skinning set, the other a butcher's set.

"I would like it hanging to do this but we work with what we got." Seela pulled a few implements from the skinning set and got to work. Doltum motioned Elian over to him.

"The Dungeon has created a fourth floor and more beyond that?"

"Not as yet. Our inspections of its aura are hinting it's close to the fifth."

"Excellent. The Core will then be on the next level. I will clear it and then we will see what the Core is hiding." He smiled at her as he spoke. Behind them, they heard the sounds of Seela at work.

"What do you think of this Dungeon so far, High Magus?"

"Please call me Doltum. I hate standing around on ceremony when I do not need to. As to your question…" He paused and looked around, thinking about speaking again. When he did, he sounded like a lecturer in a Guild school. "You know this Dungeon is unlike any encountered before. Every Dungeon has been centred around one mana type influencing its environment and monsters. This one is leaning towards shadow but has not fully committed. The only trap we have encountered is a well-made pitfall. We should have seen some variation on it or other types—the danger level ramps from floor to floor when it normally increases slowly. I have noted several other strange features, like the sharoon that does not attack and small passageways in the walls. This Dungeon has many secrets left to discover."

Elian felt surprised and did not bother to hide it. She knew Doltum would quickly grasp the strangeness of the Dungeon but had revealed something she was unaware of.

"What is the role of these tunnels and where are they?"

"To their location. They run through each floor, and egress points are hidden behind well-disguised flaps that look like stonework." To demonstrate, he walked over to a section of wall and, with a knife, lifted the cover, revealing the small tunnel. "To their purpose, I know not."

Elian had learned something new about the Dungeon and will have to add this to the Guilds records.

"How are you doing?" Doltum asked Seela.

"Working." Was the reply.

"As soon as she is finished, we will see what the last floor will offer us."

Seela continued skinning the boar of its valuable hide and collecting a large cross-section of cuts of meat. She worked with speed and precision. They were all wrapped up and stored away, along with the reward for the kill and flowers in the room. Seela was covered in blood and gore, but both seemed unfazed by this.

"Done." She called out, putting her pack back on.

"Onwards then."

The next floor was as difficult as the one above. Doltum advanced with almost comical ease, slaughtering the Dungeon monsters. The spiders were cut down and anyone who attacked Seela had their bodies bashed in. Elian was in awe of the power each had. This floor had pushed her best team to nearly their limits. These two were bickering about foolish things all the way.

The spiders attacked from ambush or in waves, but each time, they died and the party moved on. The rewards were acceptable to Seela as she collected some of the webbing in each room. This was the only thing that slowed Doltum's advance.

"These spiders were different from the others." Doltum observed the bodies of the two he had just killed. "They appear to be a more advanced version of the earlier spiders."

"Good chance the boss is next then." Seela said over her shoulder as she packed away more webbing. Elian knew it could be used to make spider silk and make a decent sum of coins.

"Elian, what is the rating of the Dungeon?"

"At the moment, low copper."

"Yes, I would say that is accurate. To think with just four floors."

"Ya would normally see twenty for that." Seela added.

"Let us finish this." Doltum walked forward into the boss's room.

The room was the same as the last time Elian was here. She knew some of the possible ambush locations but was silent at Doltum's request. She hung back at the entrance and waited for the ambush to begin.

She did not have to wait long.

The spider fell from the ceiling in an attempt to skewer Doltum. His reaction time was amazing, as he immediately shifted out of the way and counterattacked. For all of its bulk, the boss was no slouch.

It used its forward legs as weapons and a means of blocking. This tactic was solid against the Adventurers it had fought before, but not against this one. Doltum's blade sliced through its natural armour grey/yellow blood began flowing.

The spider began backing up, but as Doltum went to press his advantage, black tentacles wrapped around his legs. They surprised him, but he did not fall. This gave the boss the space it needed. Seela was watching intently but made no move to help.

The boss made a strange crying/singing sound and Doltum was attacked from behind by spiderlings. His armour and clothing protected him from anything the spiderlings could do, but it was another distraction as he fought them off.

The boss glowed for a brief second and charged forward. Again, Doltum's reflexes were superior and he sidestepped the boss and slashed across its side. Elian could not see the wound, but the boss's reaction was that it was profound.

It tried to back away again, but Doltum did not allow it to escape. Elian could not keep up with his attacks and she suspected he was boosting them with magic. The boss was being sliced apart and fell to the relentless assault. It collapsed dead, and for the first time, Elian noticed Doltum was breathing harder. She moved into the cave with Seela. The reward flash drew Seela's attention as Doltum wiped his blade.

"Ya worked up a bit of sweat with that one."

"Yes, it was a bit tougher than I expected. It's well worth the rating the Dungeon has been given. What do we have?"

"More spider silk and 'bout eighty copper. It's the corpse where the real money is."

"I will let you get to work. Elian, a moment if you will."

Elian met him halfway.

"This Dungeon is fascinating. There are so many strange things about it," Doltum exclaimed, smiling. He appeared to have enjoyed the whole thing. "The last thing is to view the Core."

"Indeed, but as you can see, it is well hidden." Elian watched as Seela began working on the giant spider's corpse.

"Untrue, Elian. It's a sneaking one and I do not blame the local Guild or Adventures for not spotting it." Elian's attention snapped back to him.

"You know where it is?" She asked.

"Yes. You have noticed the slight draft on all the floors?"

"I have. It disrupts the essence flow throughout the Dungeon, making it harder to spot things using some scrying magic."

"True. That is how the Core is hiding itself. The flow of essence in the air should lead you to the Core as it will attract them naturally. With this Dungeon, it or its companion has changed those flows to obscure its location. I am much more in tune with my magic, allowing me to identify its location."

That made sense to Elian and was one of the Guild's theories about how the Core was hiding. She decided to tell him another theory they had.

"We in the Guild have been thinking along the same lines, but we have also concluded that this Dungeon has no companion."

This did not surprise him.

"What is your reasoning? But I have come to the same thought."

"The layout goes against all known Dungeons, present and past, from all over the world—the lack of a mana affinity. Throw in the escalated danger level per floor… Well, this goes against everything a companion would have the Dungeon do."

Doltum nodded at every point she made, agreeing with what she said.

"It is all the same things I have noticed. This makes me even more eager to view the Core. Seela, are you finished?"

"No, I am bloody not, you old git! Go look at those cocoon things on the walls there and leave me work!"

They turned their attention to what she was indicating. On the wall were three cocoons that Elian had never seen or had reported to her. Doltum walked up to one and sliced it open.

"Elian, have you lost any Adventurers recently down here?" He asked.

"Several have died in the Dungeon recently, so maybe?" She went over and looked inside. The contents were the shrivelled remains of a man. All the liquid was gone from the body and she suspected all the internal organs. The clothing was in better condition and she recognised the coat of arms when she moved an arm.

"Thus was the end of Modus of House Seamoon of Ostrul. Lord, slaver and most unpleasant of men."

"Ostrul? I suspect they were not happy with this."

Elian told him the tale of what had happened recently with the young scion's visit.

"The Dungeon broke a magically enforced slave contract!" This did surprise him.

He fell quiet as he thought over what she had said until Seela said she was finished.

"Let us end this." He walked with purpose back to the stairwell and stopped.

"Hear me, Dungeon. I wish to view your Core. I seek no harm to you or disruption to your realm. We will keep your location secret and tell not one soul." Elian was watching him like a hawk. This was something important and she needed to observe everything for the record. She had agreed to this condition earlier before entering the Dungeon.

Doltum walked around the pillar to the other side. Several blocks of stone that would be used to make more stairs lay in a pile. He moved them out of the way. As they were large and thick, it would take a pair of labourers to do this, but he managed it alone.

He smashed his staff into the pillar, breaking through a thin stone layer like the pitfall traps. Clearing away enough, he looked inside.

He fell silent and did not move.

"What ya seeing?" Seela asked.

"I… I do…..I do not know." He sounded so confused.

Seela barged him out of the way and looked herself. She was more vocal with her response.

"By the Gods! Ya is strange!"

Elian could no longer hold her curiosity and looked inside the alcove. What she saw was something she had never seen before. Her breath caught in surprise.

The Core was sitting in the centre of the alcove and was the right size for its Dungeon, which was its only regular feature.

The Core was a black she had never seen before. It seemed to suck in all the light around it. But in it, she made out four points of light shining in different colours. The closest she could describe it was like looking at a section of the night sky through a lens.

"Eh?" It was the best she could do.