"Finally," Amber muttered under her breath as she stood before the gnarled mass of trees, their giant roots twisting together to form a dark tunnel descending into the earth. Sticky strands of webbing coated the entrance, glinting in the fading light. The stench of decay and damp soil wafted out. She wrinkled her nose, and tightened her grip on the hilts of her twin Daggers.

A thrill of excitement coursed through Amber, underscored by an irritating twinge of apprehension; she did her best to stamp that down.

*****

Four days ago—just before midday—they had set out from camp and headed north.

They had reached the next fiefdom—which belonged to Tess—after several hours of walking.

Tess's eyes lit up as she surveyed the vast open plains on the western side of her new land. "Look at all this space! This will be an amazing area for training drills! Me and Charlie have talked a lot lately about large-scale battles. We could train entire battalions out here."

"Or plant farms on it," Kate said.

"Eh."

The eastern side of Tess's territory was dense forest, made up of large trees with trunks as wide as cars. One of the [Lumberjacks]—Paula—whistled appreciatively as she ran a calloused brown hand over the rough bark. Her specialization of [Timberwright] was the equivalent of a prospector to mining. She was Mexican and in her midfifties. Most people had a few pieces of [Crappy] gear by now., and Paula had a large two-handed axe on her back that was almost as big as she was.

"Prompt says these are [ShieldBark Sycamore]." She grinned at Bo. "Far more mature than the saplings back at the hill. I wouldn't be surprised if this lumber had magical properties, like the [Boldheart Cedars]. Won't know till we get some harvested."

Bo gave a relieved sigh. "Music to my ears. When we get back, we'll get a logging crew out here ASAP. Quality lumber has been getting harder to come by."

"Which I'll get paid for, right?" said Tess. "80 percent, like Chloe?"

Bo shrugged. "Yeah, of course."

"Sorry, gotta fund the training somehow."

That evening, they set camp on the open plains.

A cold front pushed through the grasses.

As Amber blew warm breath onto her hands, the adults debated whether to build a fire and risk attracting monsters, or whether to risk freezing to death. Numb extremities and chattering teeth eventually won the debate.

Even with the large fire, Amber shivered all night, and the stupid monsters didn't even show up.

This is buns.

The next morning, they resumed their bitterly cold journey north. No one had slept and they were exhausted before the hike even started. They followed the line of trees until they reached a massive cliff face that was too high to climb and seemed to stretch endlessly in both directions. After considering their options, they continued westward along the cliff's edge.

Eventually, they stumbled upon a deep crevice in the rock, which opened into a narrow passage resembling a cave. The walls towered above them, allowing only a small glimpse of sky to poke through.

They debated for what felt like forever. Then they entered the crevice and continued northward.

Stolen story; please report.

As they progressed deeper into the passageway, a new fiefdom territory map was unlocked, and Loo let everyone know the territory was hers. They were now in the top right quadrant of the Headless Dungeon block.

The deeper they went, the more grossed out Amber was by the scratching claws and insectile chirps that echoed through the close confines.

"I love it, this place is amazing!" Loo piped up behind Amber. "There is like a million caves here! All this biodiversity!" Loo ran her hand along the rock wall and rubbed her fingers together as she closely examined the slime on her hand.

Ew bruh.

Richard seemed to agree; he frantically swiped at his face as a cobweb drifted down on him.

As they pushed further through the crevice, Loo continued eagerly scanning the cliff walls, and poked and prodded at the numerous crawling and slithering creatures they passed.

An ecstatic whoop bounced off the stone walls. In an instant, Amber had her Daggers up and ready.

One of the [Miners] was jumping up and down and pointing into a small side tunnel. The pudgy White guy—Tony—spent most of his time staring at the ground, and hadn't said two words the whole trip.

"Hell yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" Tony yelled. "Look at this thing! Citrine, a whole damn vein of it. No, wait . . . it's [Sunfire Citrine], whatever that means, but it's beautiful!"

Amber checked out the yellowish crystalline protrusions. She shrugged; it looked like ugly rock candy to her.

Bo leaned in to look as well. "We don't have any blueprints or recipes that call for gems, but I bet we eventually will. Good find!"

"It has mana swirling around in it!" said Loo. "I wonder what that means . . . "

They journeyed for several more hours, and gradually neared the northern edge of Loo's territory. They encountered multiple forks in the path, but the narrow and confining crevice continued north.

With each step, they encountered thicker clusters of Spider webs clinging to the walls. The tight space made Amber feel suffocated and trapped, like there was a noose around her neck. She spent most of the walk swatting at the webs grabbing at her, which only made them stick even more.

And not one freaking monster.

They had no choice but to spend the night in the cavern. It was warmer than the previous night, but was also nasty and loaded with bugs. Amber was tired and crabby from the night before and just wanted sleep! Instead Amber swatted and kicked at bugs in her bedroll until sunrise.

The next day, they discovered more citrine deposits as they pushed through the fissure.

Eventually, the narrow crevice widened into a series of rugged cliffs and ravines. The air was fresher, but the number of Spider webs had drastically increased. They were wary as they emerged from the tunnel exit.

Their map now showed that they were in a different Dungeon block; they had left the Headless Dungeon's territory behind. Only a small section in the southeastern corner was illuminated on Amber's map.

They followed the trail of Spider webs, and headed west at a careful pace.

As much as Amber wanted to fight some monsters, she was glad to grab a few hours of sleep when they camped for the night.

The next morning, as they continued to follow the Spider webs, they finally encountered multiple groups of Wolf Spiders in a manageable but steady stream. They moved in trios, just like the ones that had attacked Raintree. All of them were strong and fast opponents at Level 5. The Spiders bit and clawed at them, and many of the non-fighters in the group yelped and cowered. However, after the tenth group, killing the Spiders had become . . . routine.

Tess had figured out the most efficient attack pattern, and she kept spamming the same 'play' over and over. Tess had made killing monsters boring. On top of that, Team One were all Level 4—besides Richard at 3—and they were killing monsters of a higher level. Which was awesome, but also is why it was so discouraging that they had still not leveled up.

They followed the webbing deeper, until they were pretty much in the bottom center area of the Dungeon block. A dark burrow was hidden beneath a cluster of trees. It was completely shrouded in thick, sticky cobwebs.

They had reached the Dungeon.

*****

The previous night—after a quick scout of the area—they had pulled the expedition a far enough distance away to feel reasonably safe, and set up camp.

Now, with the morning light barely filtering through the trees, Team One was assembled in front of the Dungeon's entrance.

A shiver ran through Amber's body. The sight of the murky webbed tunnel was enough to make her hair stand on end. She could already imagine getting caught in those sticky strands.

Her Dad had asked Amber five times whether she was all right, and whether she was prepared. It took all her effort not to snap at him to shut up.

Amber wasn't the only one with issues that morning.

Her Mom was still flipping out about transforming into a bear. The others all agreed that they needed Kate the Bear, but Kate was terrified of hurting them, and was pissed off by the others' insistence. She crossed her arms, and refused to transform unless absolutely necessary.

Tess nodded at Amber.

Amber swallowed, and they stepped into the Dungeon.

The webbing closed at their backs, blocking the feeble sunlight. As before, a couple of torches burned on the walls; their light barely cracked the wall of darkness around them.

[Level 6 Virgin Dungeon initiated. You must defeat the Dungeon in order to leave. Caretaker Purge.]

"It's a level higher than I thought it would be," Tess said.

"Can't do much about it now," Bo said.

As they stepped further into the tunnel, the webbing became thicker and stickier. It grew behind them and swallowed the tunnel. It grabbed at the soles of Amber's boots, and wafted from the walls and ceilings, sticking to her arms and legs and clinging to her hair. Every step felt like pulling apart Velcro.

Hana's [Radon Light] barely penetrated the opaque mesh closing them in on all sides.

Amber's movements were slow and clumsy. She fought not to hyperventilate.

They pushed deeper into the narrow passage until a gossamer veil blocked the tunnel. Amber's Dad pushed his armored hands through the thick strands and pulled them aside.

Amber pressed herself against her father's back as he passed through the gap. A thick string latched onto her face, and she almost yelped. She closed her eyes, growled, and swiped the web off her cheek.

The tunnel opened into a large burrow. Every square inch of the walls was coated in a layer of cobwebs. Random patches of roots pushed out from beneath the white strands like skeletal fingers. Two torches flickered in sconces at the back of the room. Hundreds of small spiders crawled along the silver walls.

Amber cringed away from them.

[Wave 1 of 10]

Corgi-sized Level 1 Wolf Spiders scuttled out from all angles, their wolf heads yapping.

Richard backed away. "Oh no oh no oh no . . . "

Amber would have thrown him a condescending look, but the scuttling movement of all those little legs made her skin want to leap off her body.

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