Dakota Krout - Dungeon Born (The Divine Dungeon Book 1)

Tim moved carefully, testing the floor with each step, hand against the wall for balance. Once, the floor crumbled, and the men laughed with nervous tension as Tim yelped and jumped back. Making their way into the second room, they saw it was similar to the first, filled with mushrooms and other plant life.

“Well, would you look at that?” The swarthy man breathed. He held up his torch, the light reflecting off something on the wall. “Well men, I’d say we are going to become very rich. Unless I miss my guess, that is native iron. We’re looking at the future site of an iron mine!”

With exclamations of joy, the other men whooped and shouted! This wasn’t for nothing! Their livelihoods were saved, and they were going to become rich, influential men. Hearts much lighter, they followed Tim deeper in, almost throwing caution to the wind. This time the swarthy man took the lead, testing the floor, keeping balance against the wall, and saved them twice, when the floor gave way and when a large rock suddenly fell from the ceiling.

Entering the third room, they saw no metals, so went directly toward the adjacent tunnel. One of the men lost his boot when it got stuck in a clump of weeds and moss that must have hidden a hole. Testing their weight each step, they made it through the last tunnel without any major issues.

“What in the world is that?”

“What?”

“It’s a big-ass mushroom! Look at the size of that thing! It must come up to my hip!”

“I don’t see any more metal, but at least we're gonna eat well tonight.” The fourth man laughingly walked toward the giant red capped mushroom, intent on carving off a sizable chunk, when the young man gave an exclamation of horror.

“What?” Turning toward them, the man next to the mushroom never saw the mouth that closed around his torso, ripping him in half with a single bite.

Jumping back in terror saved the young man from the thorn that shot from the stalk of the mushroom, which instead embedded in the wall with a * twang *. Immediately shouting and vacating the room, they peeked back in, to see if it were able to chase them. A glance at its stationary position convinced them that it wouldn’t follow, and a thorn the size of a hand whistling past his ear convinced the swarthy man that it was time to leave. The room was also becoming very bright, which they took to mean bad things were about to happen.

The remaining three moved quickly down the tunnels, retracing their steps and were in the second tunnel when a puff of something was inhaled by the swarthy man, reducing him to a coughing mess. Blinded by the tears streaming from his eyes, something caught his foot as they were crossing the second room.

The young man looked back to check on the swarthy man just as his head fell onto a light yellow mushroom and a spike suddenly protruded from the back of his head with an organic tearing sound. Knowing that the fallen group member was already dead, the young man sped up to get behind Tim, who was leaving him behind without a glance. They raced to the entrance to the first room, and stopped, breathing heavily as they tried to make their minds stop spinning from the trauma they had witnessed.

“This… This is for sure a dungeon.” Tim rasped, half laughing, half gasping. “I’m going to be so… So rich.”

The young man’s head snapped up at Tim’s comment. “What? What about me?”

Shaking his head, Tim angrily turned away from the lad and viewed the room. “Boy, do I have to tell you again to shut your mouth when your betters is talkin? Do you even understand how much this is going to change my life? What would you be going to do with the money anyway? Better to let me take care of this, you stupid-“

With fire in his eyes, the young man watched the mushrooms devour the man he had just shoved into them. “You were never my better , just older than me. Much older. Also, my name is Dale, you jerk.” He left the cave, and started home quickly, preparing to become a very, very rich man.

Cal watched with great excitement, as his first explorers walked in to him. He watched them stop, and was horrified when he thought they were about to turn back. Then, they turned and walked right into the garden!! Each step was almost close enough for attack, but they somehow didn’t ever reach. A man stepping quickly never even saw a Shroomish miss its bite at an ankle. His disappointment kept ramping up, as each trap was just... walked around! Not one plant got an attack off, no traps were working… Until suddenly one did. A man shrieked and fell onto the spikes! The others exploded into motion, trying to see what had happened to him. When they lit a torch, somehow they missed seeing the reflective spikes in their haste to find a way to save the man. Suddenly, their concerns didn’t matter to me anymore.

The dead man's’ Essence blasted into me, more varied and elaborate than any I had ever had the pleasure of enjoying before. The power was so vast that it was simply impossible for me to contain it. The Essence of fire, water, air, earth, celestial, and infernal; all of the basic Essences, were pouring into me and processing themselves, releasing raw, unstable, pure Essence into my Core and the world around me as it overflowed.

Dani tried to help, “Cal! Try and collect it in a shell around you! Make a larger body for yourself!”

Through the pain of my vibrating body, I listened to her words, forming perfect facets of pure energy around me. Nearly doubling in size, my new body had barely solidified into a perfect, comparatively empty gem, when I felt the second man die. His life force flamed into me, filling my newly improved Core to the brim with energy. I was able to look out into my dungeon and see Bane chewing on something, when the third rush filled my Core. I tried to solidify the outpouring energy into a larger crystalline system, but it wasn’t working!

I screamed, the pain making my vision strobe.

“Push it out! Release the Essence out into your body, the dungeon!” Dani shouted back.

Nearly smacking myself for not thinking of it, I sprayed the condensed Essence out of me, allowing it to accumulate in the air as my vaporous, Essence-rich influence.

“They made it to the entrance, you should be ok, Cal.” Dani stated with obvious relief. I felt the fourth man die at that moment, and as the Essence ripped through me, I focused on pushing the overflow out as hard as possible. The thick energy already pouring out of me condensed further, forming a beam that shot directly upward and out of me. The beam continued for several seconds, until returning to a more mist-like form as I stopped having energies dumped into me.

I complained, an understatement if I had ever spoken one.

“Well, congratulations my F-rank eight Cal. You survived your first dungeon dive.” Dani tiredly informed me. “See how lots of people dying around you can affect your rank?”

I was carefully monitoring the Essence I had gained.

“Yeah they do. Good work. Um. How do you feel right now?” Dani inquired, oddly nervous for some reason.

I offered questioningly.

Dani looked at me then did her version of a shrug, bobbing up and down a bit. “Well, I was just worried, people did just die in here, and I thought that you might be scared, or horrified, or just plain upset.”

I considered this for a moment.

Dani agreed. “It is what you are, you’re right. Always remember, the people that come here are risking their lives to get stronger, and to get rich. It is a risk that many will not survive, but it is their own choices - and greed - that will drive them here.”