The rocky hill rising out of the mud at the end of the cavern had a flat top. The ceiling domed over it, but remained so low only Lana could walk upright. The rest of us stooped as we wove our way around occasional stalactites. The cavern ended there at another set of stairs plunging deeper. The light we’d spotted earlier blazed from a stone embedded in that wall.

  Five big wooden chests, banded with iron, stood in a row against the wall next to the stairs.

  “All right! Physical loot boxes,” Steve laughed.

  I slipped my goggles over my eyes and activated the head shield. I was going to ask if anyone had trap detection abilities, but Andy rushed over and heaved the chests open. He didn’t die, so I guess they were loot boxes instead of traps. Was that normal for dungeons? I hadn’t seen any in the Forest Glade dungeon back on stage 1.

  The first two chests overflowed with mana crystals. Laughing, Andy scooped up huge handfuls and let the softly glowing blue crystals drop back onto the pile with a musical tinkling sound. I’ll admit, it was an awe-inspiring sight. They flashed and auto-split among all of us, giving each of us two entire tier-5 crystals worth 200,000 tier-0 crystals.

  “I’m glad they got all piled up as tier-0 crystals first. So much more epic that way,” Andy said.

  The next two chests contained a bunch of low-grade loot that also flashed and auto-split among us. They included potions of resist fire, full regeneration, and poison resist, although they did not also counter lycanthropy. We each got 10 of each.

  The final two chests proved the best of all. Items floated into the air, waiting for us to claim them, and there were 16 total, enough for each of us to get 2, since Nigel didn’t care about loot. He was happy with a steady supply of steak.

  The haul included a bunch of stuff, including amulets of poison resistance that also added power to fire spells, scrolls of molten venom, fire resist medallions, and a few other cool things. Splitting the loot went pretty fast. Most of us leaned toward a particular item, then we split the rest.

  I got one of the medallions. It gave 30% fire resistance. Fire hurt, and magical fire could even hurt me in phased form, so any extra elemental protection was welcome. I immediately pressed it to my Crash Test Dummy jacket. The medallion sealed to it, fading to look like a bright red patch fused to the dark leather.

  I also got a set of 4 poisoned throwing daggers with bonus piercing damage. I lacked a lot of good ranged weapons, so they were better than nothing.

  “I hadn’t expected dungeons to let us loot monsters on the way down to the boss, then give us bonus loot for completing each level,” Jane said.

  Tomas said, “I bet the final loot will be even better.”

  “Which means the final boss will be tougher,” Scott pointed out, glancing at Lana. She looked nervous, but determined.

  “If anyone wants to turn back and wait for us up near the entrance, you can. I’ll never force you to keep going beyond what you’re comfortable with.”

  Most of them considered it. We’d gotten some good loot and already faced enough tough monsters for most of the team to get a couple levels. By all accounts we’d already had a successful trip. If we kept going, we’d undoubtedly get even more, but the dangers would continue to grow. Our big group offered a lot of protection, but we’d already seen we could get hurt. One unlucky encounter, and people could die.

  Andy raised a fist, his grin fierce. “Let’s do it!”

  Most of the rest of the team followed suit quickly. Lana hesitated the longest, but finally squared her shoulders. “We need to get stronger. Vamonos.”

  The stone stairs wound down a really long way. I counted 700 steps before we reached the bottom. A small antechamber led into a huge cavern.

  “Well that’s a sight,” Tomas breathed as we all paused in the entryway to stare.

  Unlike the mud pit we’d just left, this cavern was so brightly lit, it was almost painful. The roof rose nearly 200 feet above us and the walls stretched at least a hundred yards in every direction. Every surface was sheathed in faceted crystal that reflected and magnified the light until the entire cavern glittered like we’d stepped inside the world’s biggest diamond.

  “Now this is loot,” Ruby laughed, rushing along the wall a few feet before chipping at the crystalline structure with the hilt of a dagger.

  The blow rang like a gong and the echoes reverberated across the cavern, growing louder and louder. I tensed, ready to take on whatever appeared, but the huge cavern remained eerily empty.

  “Maybe leave the walls alone for now,” Jane urged.

  “Yeah, a cavern this big has got to be some kind of boss room,” I added. After that nasty mud pit, there had to be something big in store.

  “But . . .” Ruby said.

  “They’re probably just basic crystals. Not worth your time,” Tomas suggested. “Check it later after we clear this hall.”

  With a final longing glance at the crystalline walls, Ruby sighed and rejoined us. Together we probed into the cavern, every sense on high alert. On the far side of the cavern, tiny in the distance, a shadowed archway suggested the exit.

  The floor extended in front of us like a perfectly flat mirror, glowing with reflected light. It actually made it hard to look directly at the floor.

  “I don’t believe you can fly,” Nigel said all of a sudden from his perch on my shoulder.

  Huh? I glanced down, and only then did I see a pit slightly recessed into the floor. I’d nearly walked right into it. The hole stretched a good 10 feet, an oval about 6 feet wide, barely 50 yards into the cavern. The edges of the pit seemed somehow vague, and it fell away into darkness that the bright light infusing the rest of the cavern failed to penetrate.

  “That can’t be good,” Steve said, edging farther from the edge.

  When nothing erupted out of the hole to eat us, I asked, “Is the light in the cavern some kind of illusion?”

  “I don’t think so,” Jane said, and Lana nodded agreement. She held her crossbow in a white-knuckled grip as she scanned in every direction.

  “Stay alert. Let’s spread out a bit. A good area of effect attack could catch most of us at the same time.”

  I moved around the left side of the hole, taking more care with my footing while still scanning all around. Half the team followed me, while Ruby and Tomas led the way around the right side of the hole. Lana and Scott followed them.

  Still nothing. The cavern remained absolutely silent. Even our footfalls seemed somehow hushed. It was like the entire place held its breath. I passed the hole and glanced back a final time to make sure nothing dangerous was emerging to attack us from behind. That pit had to be a bad thing.

  Just then, the hole disappeared. The floor just returned to normal where a deep, black pit had been a moment before. An eyeblink later, a bigger hole reappeared directly beneath the other half of our team.

  They didn’t even get a road runner moment to run uselessly in midair, but just plummeted down, screaming. I dove toward them, reaching out to snag Ruby’s hand, but not even my Agility proved sufficient.

  I desperately longed to cast Tether Slide to reach them. It was the only way I could cover the distance fast enough, but I hesitated. Fulvia’s dire warning of permanent damage that could potentially cripple my abilities and spells echoed in my mind.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  My hesitation sealed their fates. They tumbled out of view and the floor snapped back into place, as solid as before. I crashed onto the mirror-smooth surface half a second later and skidded 20 feet.

  “Where’d they go?” Andy shouted, but his words were drowned out by the screeching cries of scores of monsters.

  They boiled out of the walls and ceiling, pouring in through cracks that hadn’t been there before. They were small, implike creatures with 4 arms, short, bowed legs, and squat tails. Their bodies were skinny and hard to see in the brief moments they stopped moving. It was like they too were sheathed in crystal that made them blend in perfectly with the cavern.

  And there were scores of the nasty little critters. Even as they fell toward the ground, hissing and screeching, they flung dagger-like crystal shards with all 4 hands. They seemed to pull the shards from their torsos and a literal rain of razor-sharp crystal blades filled the space in front of us.

  Jane threw up a hand and an invisible wall, angled like the prow of a ship, smashed forward through the storm of shards, deflecting them aside.

  “Go!” I shouted, leading the charge. “We have to get to the exit fast and find the others.”

  Steve fired an ice arrow. It struck a monster and the thing exploded. So their defense was stronger against light-based magic. His clones erupted out to either side, every one with a bow, and they started unleashing a devastating rain of elemental destruction.

  They killed dozens of the little beasts, but more kept coming. Identify kicked in as I focused on the horde. Most of the monsters bounded into the air again, still flinging their unending barrage of crystal shards at us.

  “Basic Crystal Shardslinger. Level 24. The ultimate evolution of environment and hunting intent, these simple creatures slaughter their prey with surprise, sheer numbers, and overwhelming volume of piercing attacks.”

  The name said it all. If not for Jane, we probably would have already looked like pincushions. Each blade didn’t look too deadly, just like each monster seemed pretty weak. All together though, they represented a daunting challenge for our group.

  I resisted the urge to sprint through the horde full speed. With my much higher Constitution, I could probably weather the storm of shards without taking too much damage, but the rest of the team would get torn to ribbons.

  As we ran across the giant room toward the still-growing horde of tiny monsters, they changed their patterns. The rain of shard blades fell to a trickle as the Shardslingers landed, then leaped again, this time aiming at each other.

  When two of the monsters collided, their crystalline bodies flared and merged, forming a larger creature. Sometimes a third and even a fourth monster jumped into the new construct, swelling it in size and power.

  Uh oh. Identify triggered on a couple of the new creatures.

  “Melded Battle Shard. Level 30. When ranged attacks fail and overwhelming violence is needed to take down tougher prey, the Crystal Shardslingers merge into these evolved forms.”

  Depending on how many Shardslingers melded together, the monsters ranged from 5 foot tall lanky things with 6 multi-segmented legs, all capped in sickle-like claws to 12-foot giants with thick limbs ending in ax-like blades or spiked clubs.

  “We should back up and regroup,” Andy shouted as we all slowed to stare at the newly formed army of giant crystal bashers.

  A distant scream echoed from the far exit. Either Ruby or Lana. They were in trouble. We couldn’t waste a bunch of time fighting monsters here.

  “No, we need to move faster.”

  I spun around and swept the entire team into my arms. They crashed into me with grunts of surprise. I lifted them all off the ground in a giant group hug and triggered a scroll of teleport, focusing on my extra power charge, a mana potion, and my Spell Weaver ability, and willing us to step to the distant exit.

  I wasn’t sure I could use scrolls without my mana restored. Cyrus had made it clear any use of mana was dangerous, but I didn’t hesitate. The orange charge of extra power winked out as it was consumed, and the extra mana potion got sucked in too.

  Yes! It worked. The world lurched in a stomach-twisting way that made my head spin, and then we landed right at the exit. I dropped my team and they staggered. Steve made a gagging sound, but held down his breakfast.

  “Warn us next time before you do something like that,” Jane shouted, punching my shoulder.

  “Sorry. Didn’t have time to chat.” I pulled another scroll out of my inventory and handed it to Steve. “Use this. Make sure your new amulet is equipped.”

  Steve read the scroll and grinned. “Got it!”

  “Come on.” I led the others through the gateway at a run. Behind us, Steve triggered the scroll of Firestorm I’d just given him. The amulet he’d just gotten in the loot from the last floor added 30% extra damage to any fire-related spell he used, so the resulting wave of superheated flames that boiled into the cavern rolled over the army of Melded Battle Shards already giving chase.

  Even with the spell pointed the other way, the heat scorched my exposed skin, despite the new protection of my fire resist amulet. If that didn’t kill them all, it would at least delay them. I couldn’t slow, not with Ruby and Tomas in danger.

  Heedless of more traps, I led the way, sprinting through the short passage and into the next huge cavern. It looked nearly identical to the one we just left, except a forest of crystalline pillars rose from the smooth floor and stretched all the way up to the ceiling.

  As I raced into the central aisle, gaze locked on the distant exit, shapes began stepping from each column. Tall, hulking humanoid forms emerged, each carrying a heavy club that looked to be made of pure diamond. The monsters’ torsos also looked like diamonds, while their limbs looked more like white granite. I focused on the nearest as I barreled toward it.

  “Radiant Guardian. Level 31. Common. Powerful defenders of the hoard, these golems take life from the light infusing their cavern. Their mighty strength is only matched by the blinding brilliance of their flash-bang spells that disorient and confuse the foolhardy who dare enter their domain.”

  Before I could warn my team, the nearest Guardian’s chest detonated with a flash of blinding light and a concussive blast like a punch to the face. I stumbled, momentarily stunned, while Nigel rolled off my shoulder and plopped to the floor without a sound.

  That Guardian had been close, and if not for the protection of my goggles, that blast would have definitely blinded and disoriented me. My extra orange power bar started filling again as the golem lumbered forward. It looked tough, but was slow, ponderous, and powerful, raising its diamond club to bash in my face.

  I launched forward, leading with my knees, and crashed into the monster. Apparently its chest was only covered by a diamond breastplate, which had shattered when it unleashed that flash-bang attack. My knees caught its white granite chest, driven forward with all my weight and momentum.

  It felt like diving knee-first into a brick wall. Thankfully the wall gave before my knees broke and I slammed the monster onto its back on the floor with a resounding crash. Its chest cracked and I punched it in the nose with all my strength.

  My hand broke, despite the protection of my Smolders Grips gloves. So did its diamond-coated head. The blocky noggin shattered like a brick and a kill notification confirmed I’d taken it out. So, dangerous, but straight-forward.

  I leaped back to my feet and shook out my hand, allowing my fast regeneration to set the bones and heal the injury. I’d barely noticed the stab of pain since it washed away so fast. Crouching, I snatched up its big club. The weapon felt good, a solid weight, not as mighty as my giant ogre club, but also much easier to wield.

  More Guardians were marching into the central aisle to face me, so with a shout, I sprinted to attack. One after the other detonated its chest plate, triggering a rolling flash-bang that shook the entire cavern and nearly threw me from my feet. The floor bucked and heaved, as if in response to their magic.

  They would not delay me from getting to Ruby and Tomas. My orange extra force bar grew steadily. With a growl of annoyance, I triggered a potion of Ground Walker. Instantly, my feet stuck to the rolling, pitching floor and I resumed my charge with perfect balance. Like a tornado of destruction, I tore down the central aisle, smashing the Guardians apart with mighty blows to the head.

  They weren’t prepared for an opponent who could stay upright during their rolling flash-bang-earthquake attack and every single one reacted the same way. As I tore past, they would raise their club to strike, leaving their heads wide open.

  One hit with the diamond club, fueled by my strength and impatience, smashed each skull. Three seconds later, I skidded to a halt at the next exit, which turned out to be a dark stairwell plunging ever deeper into the earth.

  I glanced back at the path of devastation I’d left behind. More Guardians were marching from between pillars, but every one of their diamond chest plates were gone. They’d spent all their ranged attacks in a single coordinated blast.

  “Go! We’ll finish things here.” Jane shouted as she, Steve, and Andy climbed back to their feet. They looked battered, but okay. Nigel still lay against one of the pillars, but was starting to move.

  Steve fired an ice arrow that froze the head of a Guardian, then Andy slammed the pommel of his sword into its frozen face. The ice shattered, but not the diamond armor over its head.

  The monster responded with a heavy swing at Andy’s face, but he ducked and drove the pommel of his sword with all the power of both hands into its unprotected chest. That cracked it and it stumbled. Andy followed, hitting again and again. Within 3 seconds, he broke through, then stabbed his sword through the cracks, deep into the monster’s chest.

  “Use their clubs! You’ll get a lot more force than your sword,” I shouted. Most of Steve’s clones had formed a firing line facing back into the previous cavern with the Melded Battle Shards. Apparently the firestorm hadn’t killed them all.

  Jane snatched up the club from the Guardian Andy had just killed, then she launched at the next two who were closing fast. All of a sudden, her speed doubled and she smashed the heavy club into the chests of both monsters, sending them tumbling and giving Andy a chance to snatch up another club.

  She had some kind of overclock ability that boosted her stats for a while. That would help, but still I hesitated. I’d just smashed through an entire row of the monsters without slowing, but the rest of the team were struggling to take them out. It was a stark reminded of the difference between our stats.

  Steve noted my hesitation and waved me on. “Go! They need your help more. We’ve got this.”

  As much as I hated leaving them behind, I decided to trust them. Tomas and Ruby might be facing stronger monsters. So I turned and leaped down the dim stairs just as a mighty animal roar echoed from the depths.