The third floor opened before Cassian like a gaping maw.
A long corridor. Dark stones. Flickering torches.
And at the end, a door.
Not like the others.
Bigger. Much bigger. More ornate. Engravings snaked along the frame—intertwined skulls wrapped in dead vines.
“Of course,” Cassian murmured as she advanced cautiously. “The boss room. As if it wasn’t obvious enough.”
Her bare feet made almost no sound against the cold stone.
At least going barefoot has that advantage. No one hears me coming.
She moved slowly down the corridor, scanning every corner, every crack in the walls.
Traps. There have to be traps.
But the corridor was strangely empty.
Just… a long straight path leading to the ornate door.
From where she stood now, about ten meters from the entrance, she could see into the room.
A skeleton.
Back turned to her.
Completely still at the exact center of the room.
No equipment. No weapon. No armor. No shield.
Just… an ordinary skeleton. Like the ones from the previous floors.
Cassian narrowed her eyes.
“Easy target,” she said under her breath.
Wait.
Something’s wrong.
She studied the scene more carefully.
The skeleton. Back turned. Perfectly motionless.
Why is its back to the entrance?
Turning its back to the only way in?
“That’s stupid,” she muttered. “Really stupid.”
So it wasn’t stupidity.
“It’s a trap.”
Obvious now that she thought about it.
But what kind?
Only one way to find out.
Cassian took a big step forward, as if she were about to cross the threshold.
Her foot almost touched the boss room floor.
Then she violently spun, leaping backward into the corridor.
CRASH.
A skeleton slammed down exactly where she had been standing a second earlier, dropping from the ceiling like a giant spider.
They stared at each other.
The skeleton—wearing a worn breastplate, a dented helmet, light pauldrons and incomplete greaves, a sword in its bony hand—seemed… disconcerted?
Its empty sockets stared at Cassian as if it couldn’t understand how she was still alive.
It didn’t think I would dodge.
Cassian blinked several times.
“Well.”
The skeleton recovered first.
It lunged forward, sword raised above its head.
CLANG.
Cassian parried with her mace.
The noise drew attention.
The other skeleton slowly turned.
Its empty sockets fixed on Cassian.
Then…
It vanished.
It reappeared directly in front of her, fist already in motion.
WHAM.
Its fist sank into Cassian’s stomach.
She was hurled backward, sliding several meters down the corridor.
“Fast…”
She gasped, forcing herself upright.
The sword skeleton was already charging.
Cassian swung her mace.
The fast skeleton vanished.
Again?!
THUMP.
A kick to her back propelled her forward.
Straight toward the sword skeleton.
Which was already raising its blade to impale the off-balance Cassian.
The tip gleamed in the torchlight.
“Dangerous!”
Ice exploded from the floor beneath the sword skeleton.
Massive spikes—thick as tree trunks—erupted with brutal violence, lifting the skeleton to the ceiling.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
Its body shattered into fragments against the stone, crushed between ice and rock.
Stolen novel; please report.
Bone shards rained down.
Cassian collided with the ice she had just created, her forehead slamming hard against the crystalline surface.
“Ow!”
But she recovered immediately—adrenaline masking the pain—spinning to face the fast skeleton.
Her teeth clenched.
I overreacted.
Sure, it was no longer two against one.
But she could have handled it far more efficiently.
Less mana wasted. Less self-inflicted damage. Less stupid panic.
She locked eyes with the remaining skeleton.
“Okay,” she said in an icy voice. “Now it’s personal.”
---
Somewhere deep in the dungeon, the Dungeon Core pulsed with rage.
MY SKELETON.
SHE DESTROYED MY SKELETON.
IN TEN SECONDS.
The perfect trap.
It—the Core—had waited on the ceiling inside the equipped skeleton. Calculated the exact timing. Positioned the boss—specifically chosen because it looked exactly like an ordinary skeleton despite its unique abilities—as bait at the center of the room.
A perfectly coordinated lightning strike. She was supposed to die instantly.
Instead?
Total and complete failure.
Was it too obvious?
The Core analyzed frantically.
Or did she just get lucky? Or… is she really that competent?
Maybe the corridor was too long. She had time to analyze the situation. To see something was wrong.
It now focused on the remaining boss.
This was its last card. Its best card.
The skeleton it had just lost was supposed to support the boss. Divide Cassian’s attention. Create openings.
Not die in ten seconds to an ice pillar.
If she kills the boss…
The Core shivered—an alien sensation for a crystalline entity without nerves.
I’ll have no defense left. No mob capable of stopping her.
It had used every resource on this boss.
This was the most powerful monster it could afford in the dungeon’s current state.
All I can do now…
Is hope she dies.
Please. Die. Just… die.
---
Cassian never took her eyes off the boss.
Not for a second. Not a single blink.
At first she thought it was just extremely fast. That her eyes couldn’t track it.
But watching now…
No. It’s not speed.
It teleports. Actually teleports.
She watched it disappear and reappear several times, analyzing the pattern.
“Okay,” she murmured. “I get the trick.”
Five possible directions.
She counted mentally.
Right. Left. Forward. Backward. Above.
Never below. Always at ground level or higher.
Doesn’t matter.
She backed toward the massive ice pillar she had created, putting her back against it.
The surface was cold against her back.
At least my rear is protected now. It can’t appear behind me.
That reduces it to four directions.
The boss vanished.
Cassian extended all her senses.
It reappeared in front of her, fist already moving.
She swung her mace with full force.
The skeleton vanished a fraction of a second before impact.
The mace cut through empty air.
The skeleton reappeared in exactly the same spot once the attack passed.
Its timing was perfect.
WHAM.
Its fist slammed into Cassian’s stomach.
She doubled over violently, air forced from her lungs in a painful gasp.
Can’t breathe.
Can’t…
The skeleton grabbed her by the shoulders—bony hands gripping tightly—tearing her away from the ice.
Then it threw her.
Cassian flew through the air, crossing the boss room threshold.
She hit the stone floor hard, rolling several times.
Shards of pain exploded everywhere. Back. Ribs. Left shoulder. Right elbow.
It hurts.
She looked up, vision slightly blurred.
The boss was in the air.
Falling straight toward her like a guided missile.
Cassian rolled desperately to the side.
The skeleton vanished mid-fall.
Reappeared.
Landed exactly where she had rolled.
On top of her.
The full weight of the skeleton crashed onto her back.
Cassian screamed—a raw cry of pure pain.
Her fingers loosened involuntarily.
The mace slipped from her hand, rolling out of reach.
---
The Dungeon Core felt reassured for the first time.
She’s going to die.
Finally. FINALLY.
It already began planning, its crystalline mind igniting with excitement.
With her body…
I can add two new floors. Maybe three if I’m economical.
Rotating blade traps. New skeleton types…
The possibilities are endless.
---
The boss’s fist began to descend.
An ice dome exploded around Cassian.
The expansion was so rapid, so violent, that the skeleton was hurled backward like a rag doll.
It bounced off the crystalline wall with a resounding CRACK.
The dome was small at first. Just big enough for her to stand without being crushed.
Too small for the skeleton to have space if it teleported inside—it would be trapped in the walls.
Cassian rose slowly, trembling, panting.
Every breath was agony.
“Okay…”
Her voice was hoarse.
“New strategy…”
She extended her hands, focusing her mana.
The dome began to grow. Slowly. Gradually.
Two meters in diameter.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Enough space now to fight. To move.
Come on. Enter. I’m waiting, bastard.
The skeleton hesitated outside, circling the dome like a predator sizing up prey.
Cassian stared at it through the semi-transparent surface, her gaze glacial.
“What’s wrong?” she shouted. “Scared now?”
The skeleton stopped.
Behind her. Best angle. She won’t react fast enough.
Then it vanished.
WHAM.
The mace—recovered while the dome grew—crushed its skull before it could raise its fist.
The impact rang like a bell.
Cassian had simply predicted. Calculated probabilities.
Behind me. That’s where it would go. The perfect blind spot.
It was dangerous to ignore the other angles—front, sides, above.
But her instinct had screamed behind.
And she had listened.
It paid off.
The skeleton staggered, cracks appearing on its skull.
It immediately teleported, seeking distance.
Three meters from Cassian now.
It looked up at her.
Cassian smiled.
A terrible, cruel smile.
Bad choice, idiot.
The dome transformed instantly.
Hundreds—thousands—of spikes erupted from every centimeter of the inner surface.
Like a giant sea urchin closing its spines.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
They pierced the skeleton from everywhere.
Arms. Legs. Torso. Skull. Every bone.
Each spike gave birth to more. Secondary branches. Tertiary.
The dome became a deadly labyrinth of crisscrossing, interlacing ice lances, forming an impossible structure.
The skeleton was impaled on ten spikes. Twenty. Fifty. A hundred.
Impossible to count.
Cassian stood at the exact center of the dome.
In a perfect circle where no spikes had grown.
The skeleton twitched weakly. Tried to teleport.
But the spikes held it in place, piercing its bones, preventing any movement.
Then it stopped moving completely.
---
No.
IMPOSSIBLE.
The Dungeon Core couldn’t believe it.
HE WAS MY BEST. MY STRONGEST.
THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ENOUGH.
SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE.
WHY?
WHY WON’T SHE DIE?!
---
An opening appeared in the dome, the ice slowly dissolving.
Cassian stepped out slowly.
She massaged her stomach. Ribs. Shoulder.
“It hit… really too hard…”
Every muscle protested. Every breath stung like needles.
“And it moved everywhere too. Fucking annoying with its shitty teleportation.”
She looked at the spike-covered dome, the impaled skeleton visible through the opening.
“But in the end, I’m the one standing.”
A metallic sound echoed somewhere in the room.
She turned cautiously.
A chest had appeared in the opposite corner of the room, literally rising from the stone floor.
“Finally,” she muttered, limping toward it. “Something good. A decent reward for almost dying.”
She lifted the lid with anticipation.
Three dirty bandages. Twenty arrows with broken fletching.
And a basic bow that looked a hundred years old.
“…Seriously?”
Cassian stared at the contents with absolute disgust.
“THIS is my reward?”
She picked up the bow anyway. Drew the string with difficulty—her arms still trembling.
Tried to aim at the opposite wall.
The string slipped clumsily from her fingers, the bow twisting in her hand.
She tried again. Missed completely. The arrow simply fell to the floor.
“Total failure. As expected.”
She dropped the bow back into the chest with contempt.
“I’ll take everything anyway because I’m not stupid. But I didn’t bring anything to carry this crap.”
Her gaze swept the boss room one last time.
No other door. No descending stairs. No sign of a fourth floor.
That means it’s over. Three floors. That’s all this dungeon has.
Small.
She headed for the exit, passing the slowly melting ice dome.
Then she stopped dead, one hand on the door frame.
Ever since she had arrived on the third floor—no, since she had entered the boss room—she had felt… something.
A pull. Subtle. Constant. Like a whisper at the edge of hearing.
Mana.
Not just normal ambient mana.
Something concentrated. Dense.
She slowly turned, staring at the walls of the room.
It’s coming from here. Somewhere in this room.
She approached the farthest wall, the one behind where the chest had appeared.
Reached out cautiously.
Her hand passed through the wall.
No resistance. As if the wall didn’t exist.
“Invisible wall. Or illusion.”
She stepped through without hesitation.
The hidden room was small. Maybe three meters by three.
No decoration. No torches.
Just bare stone.
And in the center, floating above an ancient stone structure…
A crystalline orb.
Blood-red. Pulsing gently with inner light.
It constantly drew mana from the surrounding air—she could see it, the invisible streams converging toward the crystal like rivers to a lake.
Cassian approached slowly, fascinated despite herself.
NO.
PLEASE.
LEAVE.
I BEG YOU, LEAVE.
The Core was in distress.
IF YOU COME BACK TOMORROW, THE MOBS WILL RESPAWN.
IT WILL BE BETTER FOR ME.
SO MUCH BETTER.
SO LEAVE. PLEASE. LEAVE. LEAVE. LEAVE.
“I need to destroy this,” Cassian said simply.
Cassian raised her hand, mana swirling.
An ice spear formed—long, sharp, deadly.
The spear pierced the Core.
It exploded.
The crystal shattered into hundreds—thousands—of glittering fragments that scattered across the small room.
Some as big as her fist.
Others small as grains of sand.
Cassian stared at the scattered pieces on the floor for a long moment.
“What the hell was that exactly? A concentrated mana crystal? An artifact?”
She frowned, confused.
“Aren’t dungeons supposed to end when the boss dies? Or… am I missing something basic about how dungeons work?”
Maybe this dungeon was different.
She knelt cautiously, examining a larger fragment.
That’s how I located it. The mana was constantly being drawn toward it. Like a magnet.
But why?
She picked up a piece, turning it in her hand.
The surface was smooth.
It was absorbing mana before I destroyed it. Constantly. Without stopping.
That’s not normal.
But if…
An idea.
She brought the fragment to her palm. Used her absorption technique—the one she used to drain ambient mana.
Drew.
Her eyes widened.
Mana flowed from the fragment into her body.
Not a trickle.
A stream.
Pure. Dense. Already completely refined.
No need to process it herself. No need to purify. No need to refine.
Just… absorb directly.
Her reserve increased. Not enormously—the fragment was small.
But it was there.
Cassian slowly looked at the dozens—hundreds—of scattered fragments across the room.
Big. Medium. Small. Tiny.
How much mana is this in total?
She did a quick mental calculation.
If this small fragment is worth about… and there are at least two hundred visible… plus those under the debris…
Then another memory hit her like a hammer.
The mana stones. The ones I ignored throughout the dungeon.
She had seen dozens. Easily. Embedded in walls. In the floor.
She had ignored them because she didn’t know what to do with them.
But if they’re like this…
If they’re already refined…
Her mind slowly, very slowly, processed all the implications.
This dungeon…
A smile began to spread across her face.
Wide. Almost manic. Her eyes gleamed in the dim light.
This isn’t just a dungeon.
It’s a mana gold mine.
Walking down the third-floor corridor, she spotted something on the ground.
The helmet.
The one from the sword skeleton she had crushed against the ceiling.
It must have fallen during the ice explosion.
She picked it up, examining it.
Simple metal. Dented.
She tried it on anyway.
Too big. Way too big.
It immediately slid down, completely covering her eyes.
She adjusted it. Tried again.
Same.
“Not everything is fabulous in this dungeon,” she muttered, removing it with disappointment.
---
Night had fallen long ago.
Cassian stood on the highest part of the manor roof.
A night sky stretched above her, sprinkled with countless stars shining like diamonds on black velvet.
She waited.
Calmly.
Patiently.
In the distance, a silhouette approached.
“Finally,” she murmured. “I was starting to get impatient.”
The mosquito.
Bigger than the previous night.
The size of a cat now.
Its body was covered in faintly gleaming chitinous armor under the starlight.
Its wings buzzed with a deep, menacing sound.
Cassian took a step forward.
Into empty air.
Then walked on air, rising to meet it.
The mosquito stopped, as if surprised.
Cassian smiled.
Not her usual arrogant smile.
Something softer. Gentler.
“I missed you,” she said softly. “I was starting to think you’d left me for someone else.”
The mosquito vibrated, uncertain.
Cassian’s smile widened.
“I want to share this night with you.”
Her blue eyes gleamed in the darkness.
“So come.”
“Let’s celebrate your return.”
