Touch of Fate

Stepping out of the dungeon portal, Mike found himself in a large cavern dimly lit by fluorescent moss. That being said, he was certain that without his ring, he would have a hard time making out any details in the poorly illuminated room. With the numerous stalactites and stalagmites, it appeared to be a naturally formed cave, and there were no less than five branching tunnels leading away from it.

As he surveyed his surroundings, a breeze passed through the chamber, carrying with it the scent of decay and the roar of some massive creature, warped and distorted by the echoing passageways. So disturbing was the sound, that Mike, even with his numerous protections against fear, found his pulse quickening in response.

"Well, that's slightly horrifying." He muttered to Audra, who was poking her head out of his pocket and looking around curiously. "I guess that's why they call it the Screaming Dark."

He pulled out Morris's notes and read through the section on the first floor. According to existing records, it contained nearly thirty rooms and dozens of tunnels that intertwined with one another in a maze-like fashion. While there are no recorded instances of traps, the monsters that inhabited the floor were known for laying ambushes and attacking when you least expected it.

The most common enemies encountered here were Ebon Widows, a variety of giant spider famous for their lethal poison and near-invisible webs. Rarely, one could encounter an Animate Shadow, a type of monster completely made of semi-intangible darkness that was resistant to physical attacks, but had a weakness to Light Magic.

[I'm beginning to see why they consider this to be a difficult dungeon. The monsters alone seem to be quite tricky for most people to deal with, and there are some fairly lethal traps that show up later on. If I wasn't playing on easy mode, I'd probably skip this place too.]

The last section of Morris's notes indicated that the sound that could be heard periodically was believed to belong to the boss on the 20th floor. So far, there has only been one recorded instance of a delving group making it that far, and they were forced to retreat after several of their members ran afoul of a trap laid in front of the boss room.

Deciding that there was nothing on this floor that should present too much of a challenge to him, Mike chose a direction at random and began walking. Almost immediately, he stepped into something sticky that clung to his boot.

Looking down, he noticed that the floor was covered in black, vein-like lines that he realized were actually webs that blended in with stone of the cavern so well, that he could only barely see them when he looked directly at them while taking advantage of his night vision.

A burst of sudden hostility from above gave him all the warning he needed as a trio of massive arachnids fell from the ceiling. They had long slender limbs and bulbous abdomens clad in black carapace that shined dimly in the ambient light.

[Not sure if I'm lucky or unlucky, getting ambushed literally at the starting gate.] He thought to himself while summoning a wave of intense fire that charbroiled the spiders while they were in midair. The still flaming corpses began the process of disintegrating before they'd even hit the ground, and in a few short seconds all that remained of them were three orange mana cores.

After bending down to pick them up, he fed one to his ravenous pocket dragon, stored the other two and resumed walking. The webs had ignited and burned with particular vigor, but thanks to his various resistances, the worst he suffered was some slightly scorched clothing.

[Well, I suppose this particular outfit is beyond salvaging at this point. Better start working on a new set here soon. Maybe I can find some decent materials here.]

Mike continued exploring for several minutes, being ambushed by the spiders every few dozen steps. He eventually encountered the floor boss, which was simply a much larger, but equally flammable, version of the spiders. By that point, he'd acquired close to twenty mana cores, a pair of spider venom sacs he could either sell or refine with Alchemy, and a bundle of dark colored webbing.

Before heading down to the second floor, he took a moment to investigate the fortuitous drop with Appraise.

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Ebon Widow Silk

Magic Material (Tier 2, Rank 4)

Harvested from the Ebon Widow spiders native to the Screaming Dark, this rare thread can be incorporated into other fabrics in order to enhance both its durability and flexibility. It is frequently used in the creation of magic items related to stealth and darkness.

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"There we go. I knew my luck hadn't failed me yet…" Mike muttered to himself before instantly regretting it. Now that he'd brought attention to the occurrence, it was likely the other aspect of his luck would come into play and he'd find himself fighting some kind of rare super monster that normally never appeared.

With those thoughts in mind, he descended the stairs to the second floor fully on alert. Thankfully, the cave that he entered into appeared to be free of any obvious enemies. So, trusting in his ability to recognize an ambush before it befell him, he stepped forward to get a better look at his surroundings.

Which caused him to activate the trap.

The floor under his feet suddenly started to glow as a magic circle, roughly 3 meters in diameter, appeared below him. In an instant, he was prepared to leap out of the area of effect, but stopped himself when a thought occurred to him.

[This must be the teleportation trap mentioned in Morris's notes. It's supposed to be quite rare, but it will take me directly down to one of the lower floors. I could avoid it, but this saves me some time.]

After a second, the world around him shifted, and he found himself in a small room seemingly built with blocks of carved obsidian. There was only a single passageway leading out, and nothing else of interest.

Skimming through Morris's notes again, Mike determined that he was currently on the 17th or 18th floor, as these were the only two that featured the dark stone blocks. The higher levels were all natural caverns and seemingly manufactured tunnels, while the 19th floor was composed of a vast, open chamber full of debris suspended in mid-air on the interconnected webs of some colossal spider.

While said monstrous arachnid had never been sighted before, he had a sneaking suspicion that he'd be the one lucky(unlucky) enough to run into it should he go down a level.

[I could probably handle the thing if it came down to it, but this would probably be a good opportunity for the others to master the art of fighting significantly larger enemies. If I avoid fighting it in my current instance, I might be able to get another usage out of it for training purposes.]

Figuring that he'd come far enough down for a scouting mission, he decided to start working his way back up, clearing the floors in reverse. Before moving, however, he took a moment to check up on what Morris said about the kinds of enemies he could expect to fight.

Apparently, the last four levels of this dungeon were different from all previous ones, featuring a greater number of humanoid and intelligent monsters. The most common of these were the so-called Shadowfolk, evolved versions of the Animated Shadows seen on other floors which had gained a sort of sentience and taken on material form. They travelled in groups, worked together with basic strategies, and were even known to use weapons and armor.

Aside from them, this particular section of the dungeon was home to two other types of enemies, the rare Crystal Ooze, a transparent creature that like to cling to the ceiling and drop on unsuspecting passersby, and the Umbral Centipedes, darkness shrouded horrors who emitted a miasma that dissolved living tissues.

Besides the monsters, this layer was also home to a number of rather lethal traps.

[Welp, there's nothing too difficult sounding in this mix, so I suppose I should just go for it.]

With that thought in mind he began simply moving forward, taking on challenges as they arose. Much like on the first floor, this section of the dungeon seemed littered with hidden dangers that would have spelled the end for any normal adventurers caught unaware. However, Mike wasn't troubled. Between his heightened reflexes and sensory skills, he had no issue dealing with any ambushes, and the traps were easily noticed and avoided thanks to Aerosense and Appraise.

As a result, he had a casual dungeon delving experience, soon reaching the stairs to the next floor without too much difficulty. On his way he encountered dozens of parties of Shadowfolk, who looked like humanoid silhouettes that moved and fought with near-human intelligence, a few of the Crystal Oozes, which were easy enough to deal with once he noticed them, and one of the Umbral Centipedes shortly before reaching the stairs.

The creature was a bit striking, since the monstrous insect took up almost the entire passageway with its black, chitinous body, dark purple clouds of gas hissing from the edges of its armored body. The monster exploded out of a side passage with little to no warning, shooting towards him with the loud rustle of dozens of insectoid legs scratching against the dark stone of the corridor.

Were it not for his enhanced Willpower, Mike might have been momentarily overwhelmed by the sight, instinctive revulsion driving any thoughts of offense from his mind. As it was, it took him a second to gather the requisite will and call forth a torrent of cleansing fire, channeling far more mana than was necessary and leaving the hallway a raging inferno that burned for several seconds and left the obsidian passageway steaming with heat.

Looking over his handiwork, he couldn't help but think that he might have gone a bit overboard.

[That was...something. Surely the mana core is still intact, right?]

Thankfully, the weird rules that govern dungeons kept the core, a mid-sized yellow, from being destroyed. Additionally, once the charred husk had vanished into motes of light, a section of carapace was left behind as another drop.

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Umbral Centipede Carapace

Magic Material (Tier 2, Rank 3)

Harvested from an Umbral Centipede, this chitinous bit of exoskeleton can be refined into a base for lightweight armor or shields. If used with Artifice or Alchemy, it has a high affinity for items that defend against poison.

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As Mike stored the large carapace section in his inventory, he wondered about what he would do with it.

[I suppose I could make some poison resistance items for the others. Not everyone has the ability to train resistance skills as easily as I do. Speaking of which, I haven't tried any alcohol since breaking through to Tier 4. If my Poison Resistance has also been enhanced...]

Dispersing that depressing thought, he continued walking and headed up to the next floor, internally comforting himself with the thought that a fantasy world must have some form of liquor capable of effecting him.

The other levels of the dungeon had nothing that really threatened him, so he found himself on the 15th floor in a relatively short period of time. This section once again resembled a cavern, save that it was littered with spiky crystalline outcrops that seemed to grow randomly from the walls and floor. Checking Morris's notes one more time, he located the section on the monster he'd come to hunt.

[Let's see, the Tenebrous Phasianidae...ah, here it is.]

According to the information his bard friend was able to scrounge up, the monster was known to resemble two-legged dinosaurs in terms of general appearance, but also had a pair of short wings instead of forelegs. Additionally, they were well regarded for the quality of the inky black feathers that covered their bodies, which were quite popular in the fashion industry.

In combat, they would often release clouds of those self-same feathers in hails of razor-sharp projectiles, before attacking with their taloned legs. Finally, they also appeared to have the ability to control nearby shadows to a limited extent, allowing them to temporarily cloak themselves in darkness for brief periods of time.

[Sounds like it would be a troublesome opponent for most delvers. Based on what I've seen on the other floors, it would likely require a well prepared group to deal with one of them.]

Rounding the corner of the passageway while still lost in thought, Mike was surprised to find himself face to face with the target of his search.

The dark, feathered monster turned to regard him with one beady yellow eye, before opening it's beaked mouth and issuing a harsh, high-pitched screech as it readied itself for combat.

Despite the obvious danger, Mike was having a hard time taking it seriously.

[...Isn't this basically a giant chicken?]