When they reached the bottom of the stairs, made of artistic cast-iron panels, they found the first riddle. There were three tunnels, and each had its own sign. ‘The Town’, ‘The Another Town’, ‘Also a Town’.

  “That looks promising. If Dungeon Mistress did something terrifying here, she wouldn’t be joking.” The Grand Forge Master observed.

  “We will see.” The General Seretor answered.

  King Alduin wasn’t sure. He may have just started getting to know Naomi better, but he observed that she sometimes made strange jokes when nervous. That could count as such a situation.

  They chose the tunnel with the ‘The Town’ sign. Tunel was short, but carved with high precision. It ended with a bridge spanning an enormous cavern filled with gigantic mushrooms. On the other side of the bridge were houses built around brass-pipe pillars. And everything looks like Dungeon Mistress pushed her skills to her limits. The whole town was looking so restrained that even most nobles wouldn’t complain about staying in such a place. Only the strange paintings were a little disturbing. They depict scenes from a war that never occurred, but warriors were indeed at war. Elves, dwarves, beastkin, and humans were present. And the paintings were disturbing. Warriors don’t stand in shining armour. There weren’t stands with shields up. There weren't glorious cavalry charges. Instead, all were grey and dirty from mud, soot, and who knows what else, light garments, crawling, hiding in holes. Around them were lands scorched and scarred by spells. And all carried the same weapon. They recognize it. It was a gun. The drawings circulated, and Aki’s air gun was also similar.

  “Those paintings look scary,” Nonisa commented. “Thanks, the gods, it’s just fiction.”

  “I don’t think so,” Selphie answered. She was chosen as head scholar to help catalog everything. “Dungeon Mistress mentioned a few times how horrifying wars in her worlds were. She never spoke about details, but this could be a recreation of what he heard or saw in someone's paintings.”

  “There are well-documented descriptions about what wars in their world look like. Especially, the dungeon master from the City of Adventurers has detailed knowledge about that topic.” General Serator answered.

  “Our wars are bad, raised to the ground villages, zombies, orcs, but this is something else. Our warriors don’t need to hide to fight. We can face our enemies, standing side by side with other warriors. This is wrong.” Crall commented.

  “This is a possible outcome of our choice.” The King Alduin said.

  “Choice, my Lord?” The General asked.

  “Dungeon Mistress expresses her wish to end the invasion as fast as possible. She isn’t ignorant and understands that we are doing our best already. That's why she created something on this floor. Most likely a functional version of the rumored guns. But her gift is as dangerous to the cultists as to us, despite her making some precautions. Now it’s up to us to make a choice. We listen to her plead and use that new weapon and risk that kind of future, or we decline and risk countless lives to win this war.”

  “I need beer.” Nurmela breaks the silence. “Thanks to the gods that I’m nobody, and I wouldn’t be deciding, but I still need to drink something strong. Maybe even get drunk.”

  “Before any discussion or making decisions, we need to unveil the secret hidden on this floor. Only then would we be able to understand what is waiting for us.” General Serator decided.

  Groups were formed to search the whole town. It was a safe area of the floor. Houses, while small, could easily accommodate adventurers during their stay. There were also workshops, where basic repairs could be done if needed. Searching for a mysterious weapon doesn’t take long. Next to the lift, which provided access to the ground floor, was a guard post. An inside was an armory. When Balki and Thora from Crall’s team found that place, they stopped frozen for the moment. They may not have been craftsmen, but they knew when they saw something extraordinary. Thora runs to find the expedition's leaders.

  “We found it.” She said, visibly distressed.

  “Can you tell me what you found?” The Grand Forge Master asked.

  “I don’t know how to describe it.” Wolfkin female answered.

  When they entered the armory, they agreed with her. On the rack were placed five long versions of the gun, and on the shelf, in the boxes, were small ones. And none of them could properly describe them. The best description was something like a masterpiece, an ancient treasure, or a holy relic. For a few minutes, no one dared approach the rack, let alone touch one of the guns. Then King Alduin stepped forward.

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  “Precountions indeed.” He muttered, smiling. He takes one from the rack. “Grand Forge Master, Young Scholar, I request your assistance to learn how to use this weapon.” He said, pointing at the paintings on the walls depicting different important topics of how to handle the rifle.

  “Certainly,” Eriser answered.

  “At once, my Lord.”

  Learning to use the rifle wasn’t difficult. The artifact was complicated, and there wasn’t a way to understand how it worked just by looking at it, but using it was straightforward. Don’t put fresh mana stones if the safety switch is off and the bullet is in the barrel. The bullet came last. Watch where you're pointing the gun. Soft ground, sky, or enemy is ok, everything else is not. Of course, they need to understand how to put mana stones, bullets, or adjust the length of the rifle stock. That means they need to manipulate different parts of the artifact masterpiece. The only good thing was that it was a dungeon item, and if it got damaged, it would disappear and then reappear on the stand as if nothing had happened. Still, all those gathered watched with unease as the whole process unfolded.

  After an hour or so, King Alduin decided he was ready. He exited a guardhouse and looked around for a suitable target. He found a mushroom approximately a meter and a half high at a distance of less than three hundred meters. He put five mana stones into the designated places on the top of the barrel. The riffle hummed with arcane power. Only grand spells could rival this artifact. King Alduin steadied his breath and took a stance from one of the pictures. Because the rifle was a ranged weapon and its handling was similar to that of a crossbow, his related skills kicked in. He aimed and pulled the trigger. There was a bang, followed by an instantaneous explosion of the mushroom.

  “Oh.” He commented, shocked. “I guess that should be expected. It’s our Dungeon Mistress creation after all.”

  He, however, doesn’t dwell on that, and instead calls his team to try the rifle in real battle conditions. One of his officers took another gun, and the other one a pistol. Other adventurers want to follow, but hesitate about taking the weapon from the armory. Only when the Grand Master of the Forge assured them that these weapons, even though they belonged to the dungeons, could be safely used did they dare take two rifles and three pistols. Eriser took the last ones to examine them.

  Expedition leaders met in the tavern, which they claimed as headquarters. All guns were returned to the armory, and before being placed on the rack, were thoroughly cleaned. They belonged to the dungeon, and after an hour, they would return to pristine condition. But those were also priceless treasures, and it would be disrespectful to the Dungeon's Mistress if they didn’t do that.

  “King Alduin, General, please sit and tell me what you found down there,” Eriser told, sitting on his chair and sipping an ale.

  “We indeed found a lot down there.” The elven king spoke after sitting. “The most important thing is that we understood the Dungeon Mistress's plan. Her wish was to end that invasion fast and with as few casualties as possible.”

  “Until now, we charged through hordes of monsters to reach the cultist hiding behind them. Now we will be able to reach them without risking anyone's life. Armies could wait for the moment when cultist ranks would break and then charge to destroy what was left.”

  “They are that powerful?” The Grand Forge Master asked.

  “Yes. My best shot was around one thousand steps. Adventurers weren’t far behind me.” King Alduin answered. “Down there is a forest of mushrooms, and it’s impossible to test this weapon range. But all skills for ranged weapons applied, so someone, after proper training, should hit targets even further.”

  “Also, the ammunition is made from enchanted metal. Blessings on them should be much stronger than usual. The only question is if we can recreate those guns.” The general said.

  “We can’t,” Eriser answered. “Maybe in the First Forge they could, but even for them it would take years, if not decades, to do. Ammunition is something that could be made outside the dungeon, but not right now, and it will cost you even two gold pieces by piece.”

  “Dungeon Mistress told me she made precautions to stop the uncontrollable spread of this weapon.” King Alduin nodded. “I guess she was very thorough in her work.”

  “She was. Currently, the only way to acquire this gun is to complete the challenge on this floor. We will need to find someone to study this artifact if we want to build it ourselves. I have my duties as Grand Forge Master and don’t have time for that kind of thing.” Eriser said.

  “So it’s as I expected.” King Alduin answered. “I will organize my men to concentrate our efforts on this floor. The details of the challenge need to be revealed as fast as possible.”

  All leaders agreed. While there was a lot of uncertainty around the new weapon, the whole idea of shooting cultists from afar was tempting.

  The first rifle was acquired after a whole month of constant fighting in the mushroom forest. The ever-changing forest and countless golems were challenging even for the sun elves. Only after reinforcements from the second expedition arrived, adventurers managed to find an exit from the floor and chest with the rifle and fifty bullets.

  It goes to King Alduin, the team's leader, who reached the floor's exit first. Once a way to obtain the rifle was confirmed, the Adventurers Guild and the Grand Merchant Venancijs announced they wouldn’t be buying either the rifle or ammunition for guns. Neither guild has the money to do that. However, it was a formality. Adventurers who went to the sixteenth floor and saw the rifle up close or even tried shooting at golems wouldn’t take one for themselves anyway. The official price wasn’t announced, but it was clear that such an artifact was worth a dozen if not hundreds of gold pieces. Walking with such an artifact was asking for trouble. And only kings could afford to be such a prince's treasure. But adventurers understood one more thing. Dungeon Mistress made those guns to end the war. Instead, they concentrated on helping paladins get more rifles and ammunition, and they were rewarded for their effort anyway. Dungeon Mistress ensured that rewards for fighting golems were generous.