Liam stood before the corpse,
the notifications from his System slowly fading
He took a deep, shuddering breath, the immense power of twenty new levels settling into his bones.
but the victory felt hollow, tasting of ash and loss.
A few yards away,
the survivors of their doomed party were a portrait of grief.
Seraphina and Zarya
together, their faces buried in their hands,
Garrus, the stoic shielder, sat on the ground, his back against a scarred tree,
his gaze empty as he stared at the spot where Kaelen's body had fallen. They had lost their leader,
Liam himself was at his limit,
the massive expenditure of magic to heal himself leaving him feeling scoured from the inside out. Beside him,
Nyx and Luna stood with a rigid stillness, he knew they must also be feeling sad.
They had been taken, incapacitated, and forced back into a desperate fight.
They were his responsibility, and he had nearly failed them.
He had failed Kaelen completely.
Finally, Garrus moved. He pushed himself to his feet.
locking onto Liam.
He stomped over, his grief transmuting into anger.
"What was that?"
"That… thing. That was not an ordinary monster. That was a creation , to kill everything in its path.
Why was it here?"
He got closer towards Liam. "You knew, didn't you?
You knew something like this was here.
You are not what you say you are. How can a healer be so powerful?
How can you use dark magic?
We all saw it!"
The accusation hung in the air.
"I told all of you to go back. On Floor 40, I gave you the choice.
None of you listened to me.
Kaelen chose to press on.
You all followed him.
Now you want to pin his death on me? You believe it was my fault?"
"No," Seraphina said softly, looking up.
"We don't say it's your fault, Liam. But he's right.
We don't know what you are.
I'm your protector now, whether I liked it or not.
"If you talk about my power that's another story for another day,"
He turned his attention to Luna and Nyx,
"Thank you,"
"I only won that fight because of both of you."
Nyx and Luna turned to him and bowed .
"We are happy that we could be of assistance, Master," Nyx said,
"Master?" Zarya said,
"What's going on? Why did they bow to you? Who are you, Liam?"
Luna.
"He is our master," she stated simply. "Our General."
The confusion on their faces was absolute. General? Master? The words made no sense in the context of the quiet,
Liam sighed, pushing his fatigue aside. There was no time for this. "What we do now is what matters,"
he said,
"And you will listen to me this time."
"Take Kaelen's body. Carry him back to the safe zone on Floor 30. From there,
you will exit this dungeon and return to Oakhaven. Bury him. Make a proper grave for your leader."
"We will go up. We will clear this dungeon."
There were no arguments this time.
The brief, bloody horror of the 50th floor had stripped them of their arrogance.
They nodded silently.
The hours that followed were a blur of grim work and a somber parting. Liam stood guard while the three survivors wrapped their fallen leader in a cloak and began the journey back down.
As he watched them go, a silent promise formed in his mind. Kaelen's death would not be in vain.
"Let's move," he commanded Nyx and Luna.
What followed was a conquest.
The remaining fifty floors became a testament to Liam's power. He, Nyx, and Luna moved as a single, unstoppable unit.
On Floor 60, they entered a vast, pillared hall. The ground trembled as two monolithic figures of stone and earth rose from the floor.
> Enemy DETECTED (x2)
> * Name: Golem Sentinel
> * Level: 190
> * Strength: 1100
> * Agility: 100
> * Type: Construct
> * Health: 80000/80000
>
Liam didn't hesitate. He blurred forward, his own fists glowing with Dark Force, meeting the Golem's stone hand with a crack like thunder. Nyx and Luna were phantoms on the periphery, their blades striking at the Golems' joints, chipping away at the enchanted rock with impossible speed.
> ENEMY ELIMINATED (x2)
> * Experience Gained: 10,000
> LEVEL UP! (x10)
> Liam – Level 216/∞
>
They didn't stop to rest. They moved upward, a whirlwind of destruction. On Floor 85, the challenge changed. They entered a chamber filled with swirling mist and disorienting shadows.
> Enemy DETECTED
> * Name: The Shadow Weaver
> * Level: 220
> * Strength: 500
> * Agility: 1500
> * Type: Shade
> * Health: 40000/40000
>
The Weaver was a creature of illusion, a master of stealth. It flitted through the mists,
But it could not fool them. Liam's senses, honed by his multiple attributes, cut through the illusions like a knife.
He located the Weaver hiding in the shadow.
He blast him with a dark spell.
The creature shrieked as the energy seared its form, and Nyx was there in an instant, her sword ending its existence.
> MINI-BOSS ELIMINATED
> * Experience Gained: 5,000
> LEVEL UP! (x5)
> Liam – Level 221/∞
>
They reached the 100th and final floor.
It was a vast,
empty throne room,
eerily similar to the one where he had met Valerius,
but this one was silent and unoccupied.
The second powerful being, the other guardian they had been warned of, was nowhere to be found.
in the sunlight outside the dungeon, Garrus, Seraphina, and Zarya stood before the dungeon.
As they stood in silence, a booming, disembodied voice echoed across the land,
speaking to all the dungeon's challengers.
"DUNGEON CLEARED.
Everyone YOU WILL BE TRANSFERRED OUTSIDE IN 10 MINUTES WITH YOUR REWARD."
Tears welled in Seraphina's eyes. He did it. Liam actually did it.
Ten minutes later, Liam, Nyx, and Luna materialized in the open area
a short distance from the dungeon's entrance.
At their feet, a small chest appeared. Inside were piles of gold and silver, and resting atop them, a single, thick, leather-bound book.
Liam took the book. "This is for me,"
The others didn't care. They silently divided the gold and silver, their share of the prize.
They said their goodbyes, and headed back toward Oakhaven.
As Liam watched them go,
he wondered. Where was the other boss?
Did it die? Or did someone else kill it?
In the Demon Lord castle.
The Demon Lord sat upon his throne, a perfect darkness.
"Sir," a guard announced. "The 5th General wishes to see you."
"Let him in,"
The 5th General, a hulking demon clad in black iron, strode in and knelt. "Sir! I was in the First Dungeon, as you commanded. The mortal, Liam, was there. He killed the 6th Light General!"
The Demon Lord leaned forward,
"Ok. Then you killed Liam and came to tell me the good news You think it is a good news,
but well done,
I guess. We will have to wait some centuries for my plan to come to fruition, but a victory is a victory."
Before the General could respond, one of the Demon Lord's personal guards,
materialized. "May I speak, sir?"
"Yes."
"He did not kill Liam, my Lord he ran away.
He does not want to admit that he was scared. Liam cleared the dungeon and has received the book."
The silence that followed was terrifying. "WHAAAAT?"
You are a Demon General, and you did not fight? You coward!
For what purpose do I have to let you live? The others will mock me! Their General died fighting for their god,
and you… you ran away!"
He stood, and with a wave of his hand, the 5th General was ripped from his kneeling position and flew across the room into the Demon Lord's grasp.
The hulking demon, a being of immense power, was held in the dark fist and simply… crumbled, turning to black dust that sifted to the floor.
"Guard,"
"Yes, sir."
"Find another demon that can fulfill his role.
"Ok, sir."
Liam, with Nyx, and Luna ,were walking away from the dungeon. Suddenly, the earth began to shake violently. Liam's System flared one last time.
> SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT
> * The First Dungeon has been cleared. It will now disappear and reappear in a new, random location.
>
The colossal structure before them vanished completely, leaving only an empty patch of land behind.