“Are you sure you want to go with us?” I ask.

  Cari looks up from rummaging through her pack, eyes narrowing.

  “We’re not having this conversation again, Emi. I’m going. Everyone is going,” she says.

  There’s a note of finality in her tone, so I let it drop with a sigh. I don’t want to see her hurt again, and she doesn’t want to lose me.

  We’re just a mess of over-protectiveness from both sides.

  All around us, more than fifty Delving teams gather, their ranks ranging from E to B and levels spread just as wide. The lowest I’ve seen so far is a level 15 team. It really feels like every Delver in Bephis is being pulled into this expedition.

  At the front, nearest the gate to the Tunnels, stand the highest-leveled Delvers—myself and Cari among them. We’re supposed to lead the charge and clear the way, making it safer for the lower-level teams that follow.

  If these dungeons work anything like the wild magic zones from before the update, then clearing them out should stop them from bleeding monsters into the lower layers. Each cleared layer will be left to teams suited for its difficulty, allowing the stronger Delvers to press on.

  First layer: teams up to level ten. Second: up to twenty. And so on, until the fifth and final layer. That’s where the real powerhouses step in. Like Guildmaster Folly. And... me.

  That thought sends a shiver of excitement down my spine. I’m one of the strongest people here. In the grand scheme of things, I’m a small fry. But here, I matter.

  Unfortunately, when Cari says everyone, she means it. Even Darius is here. With Agora and Derek nowhere to be seen, he replaced them with two reedy-looking men I don’t recognize.

  Human Mage

  Level 46

  Human Rogue

  Level 48

  No Carrier in sight, even though nearly every other team has one. Solo Delvers like Cari and I don’t really count.

  “Why am I even thinking about him right now? What a waste of time,” I grouse.

  Cari bumps my hip with hers. “Sure is. Now focus—we’re about to set out,” she whispers.

  Still, I can't stop my eyes from wandering. All around us, people looking on. Some watch us with excitement and hope, others with fear and trepidation. Then my eyes catch on a surprising sight.

  A pair of familiar twin girls peer at the gathered Delvers through the crowd, their eyes full of wonder. I'm not sure why they're here, but I figure it's safe to assume they're helping with the clean up and repairs around the city, what with all the dust caking their clothes.

  Or maybe they just wanted to buy some sweets with the money I gave them and got distracted by us.

  It doesn't really matter. What does matter is that they're staring right at me.

  I give them a little wave, and they return the gesture with so much exuberance that their little bodies wiggle back and forth from the force of it, almost as if they have tails of their own.

  It's so adorable that I have to mentally recite all the reasons I can't adopt some random kids right now. But... I'm not opposed to making their lives a little better when and where I can.

  “Move out,” Folly says, almost instantly pulling me from the moment.

  His voice isn’t loud, but it travels through the air with masterful precision to each and every ear in the square.

  One day I’ll figure out how he does that so well.

  We pass between rows of guards, each standing firm as we enter the tunnels. As soon as we’re through, they close ranks behind us, blocking the way. As unlikely as it is, someone might get the bright idea to follow the expedition, thinking it would be safe. The guards are there to make sure that doesn’t happen.

  The entrance is just as ominous as always. A giant monument of cracked earth, like a miniature mountain cleaved open. Time has long since smoothed its craggy surfaces as countless people came and went.

  But every time I see it, I feel like it’s calling to me. Beckoning. Drawing me and so many others in like moths to a flame. Every entrance is older than any city or nation I know of. Probably even older than the Elderwynd Academy.

  The magics of the tunnels are just as ancient, and far more mysterious.

  Even so, the first layer—while still filled with monsters—is treated like a trade route. That's because the magic within makes it possible to travel vast distances in a fraction of the time it would take overland.

  A three day trip on the surface can be made in one through the Tunnels.

  Because of this, it wasn’t long before cities began building inside the first layer. Some even have entire undercities designed to support travel and trade. Bephis isn’t one of those, but we do have a railway that’s maintained by the Capitol.

  So while our excursion to the first layer would be dangerous to some, it's incredibly boring to us Delvers. As is the second layer. While it definitely isn’t clear, low level goblins, kobolds, and insects aren’t exactly a threat. Rather, they’re killed so fast that I don’t even get to raise a fist before it's done.

  It still takes three days to clear them out.

  I make sure to peek at each of the dungeon entrances I get close to though, figuring it couldn’t hurt to get a little experience through my Dungeoneer Class. Only a few stood out to me, their names reminding me of the wild magic zones I’d been in before the update.

  Dungeon Discovered!

  Scarlet Woods

  Difficulty: Insignificant

  Participants: 1 - 5

  Restrictions: Level 10+ (Overridden.)

  Dungeon Discovered!

  Isle of the Lost

  Difficulty: Insignificant

  Participants: 1 - 5

  Restrictions: Level 10+ (Overridden.)

  Dungeon Discovered!

  Wormhaven

  Difficulty: Insignificant

  Participants: 1 - 5

  Restrictions: Level 20+ (Overridden.)

  As it turns out, they remind me of the zones because they are those zones.

  Thanks to the Update, instead of wild magic zones that nobody has a way to discern the danger of, dungeons make it pretty clear what to expect. Or at least, what the level of danger would be. I also found that, while my System Waker title overrides the restrictions, it still shows them.

  On the morning of the fourth day, I’m woken up by a thoroughly snuggled Cari.

  “Emi, I need to get up,” Cari says, her voice flat and unimpressed.

  “Mmph…” I mumble from her chest, squeezing her tighter.

  “Emi!” she says, giggling. “We have work to do, now let me go or I’ll attack your tail again.”

  “Noooo… you’re so warm.”

  I feel her hand slide down my lower back, right for the base of my tail. “You asked for it,” she mutters, and I finally release her with a groan as she squirms away.

  “That’s what I thought,” she says, and I can hear the smugness in her voice.

  I glare sourly at her, but she ignores me, so I flop around on our shared tent's sleeping mat like a child throwing a fit. That gets a proper laugh out of her.

  I was just happy to help her relax. While I found the first two layers boring, she'd only grown more and more tense with each passing day. I understood why. Before the update, the first layer had been dangerous for me. Deadly, even.

  Now it’s… nothing. Cari and I could probably clear the first two layers by ourselves in less than a week.

  But Cari hasn’t always been a Delver.

  While catching up, she told me how hard she fought to even get the chance to enter the tunnels after Guildmaster Folly locked them down. How she spent the past nine months climbing from level 22 to 43, all while searching for me and arguing with Folly every step of the way.

  She’d learned to give this place its due respect as a matter of course, and it was becoming more and more apparent just how seriously she was taking this.

  So what did I do to help her?

  I stole her tent.

  This forced her to stay with me in mine, and my plan to help her relax worked like a charm. Even if she abused my innocent tail for the trickery.

  When we step out of our tent, most of the others have already been taken down and packed up. I quickly toss mine into storage with a touch and ignore the grumblings from across the campsite.

  To the best of my knowledge, only the weight of whatever I'm storing seems to matter, not how much space it occupies, or even what's inside it. Storing and retrieving my fully set up tent out of storage multiple times has gained me no small amount of jealous glares, but I couldn't blame them for it.

  It is damned useful.

  “Alright everyone. From here on, things will be different. Fifth layer monsters have made it to the third layer, so we need to treat it as if it’s the fifth layer until it’s clear. Understood?” Folly says, his voice serious.

  A smattering of “Aye’s” and nods follow, and he calls for everyone to form up.

  Cari and I are still near the front alongside Folly, Darius’s sham of a team, and a few others. The rest of the other high leveled teams are spread out, surrounding the expedition's remaining Delvers protectively.

  Before, we didn’t bother fully surrounding the lower level Delvers, as they would benefit from the experience they’d earn by killing off a small pack of kobolds ambushing them from a side tunnel. Now, though, with the threat of monsters up to, or even over level fifty?

  We can't just leave them to their own devices.

  This time, our advance is slow and methodical. Hours pass as we advance through the layer, dropping off team after team at every dungeon that cropped up at each known wild magic zone.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  But there’s nothing.

  Nothing. No monsters. No sound, except that made by the expedition itself. The layer is almost like a tomb, and it's finally starting to have a visible effect on the group. But even at the end of the day, when we finally set up camp, nothing changes.

  Because we don’t know what is actually going on, Folly has all of us stronger Delvers on watch, letting the lower levels stay in camp where it’s safer. They wouldn’t be much use against the statues if they showed up, or really anything else from the fifth layer.

  I’m on second watch with a few others, each of us on a tight patrol through the caves near the camp. While we’re all split up, we all stay well within shouting distance of the camps. It’s a small perimeter, but even a twenty second notice is twenty seconds more than we’d have otherwise.

  Just as I’m about to turn back towards the camp to check another section of the tunnels I’d been assigned to watch, my Sense Danger skill flares up. It’s not fast enough, though, and there’s a sting in my neck, quickly followed by a sudden bout of dizziness.

  I pluck out a dart no larger than my pinky from the side of my neck and stare at it.

  Well shit.

  Good news is I can move. Bad news is I’ve been poisoned. Good news again, I have poison resistance and crazy regeneration. But also more bad news, the poison is apparently strong enough to punch through all of that, at least a bit.

  I can feel it actively fighting my regeneration, slowing it down significantly. I’m sluggish and woozy as all hells, and even grabbing the needle felt like trying to move my entire arm through syrup. But I’m rapidly getting better, and I can feel that my healing is quickly winning the fight.

  That’s when a familiar figure steps out in front of me, and I freeze in place, instantly settling on pretending to be paralyzed. Still, anger surges through me at the sight of Darius and his two goons.

  Punish.

  He hadn’t gotten enough already? Is he fucking serious?

  I almost lunge at them right then and there, but I hold back. The poison is still slowing me down, and if I can just buy some time…

  “We’re good now?” Darius asks the Rogue, who just nods. Then he looks at the Mage, like the Mage is the one in charge and not Darius.

  That thoroughly confuses me.

  “Tsk. You had your chance, Miss Emilia. Generosity has its limits, you know. Now I’ll simply have to take what you were too foolish to sell,” the Mage says, his smile razor-thin.

  Huh?

  “It’s always such a shame when someone confuses pride for value. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure it ends up in far better hands than yours.” His eyes gleam. “Mine.”

  He glances to the side, and Darius grins maliciously.

  “Besides… a little nobody like you never should’ve had a storage item in the first place. Consider this a re-balancing of the scales.”

  Oh. Ohh.

  Of course it’s him. The bitter little appraiser who couldn’t stand hearing ‘no’. All this over a damn storage item. Pathetic.

  I almost roll my eyes at his monologue, but I keep pretending to be paralyzed as my regeneration and resistance works through the poison in my system. I figure they expected me to be unable to move, so I stand there like a statue as Darius takes a step forward.

  “You ruined everything,” Darius growls, voice low and trembling with barely contained fury. “You—you—are the reason my life fell apart. Not just because you’re Faulted. Not just because you’re cursed. But because the gods marked you as a blight. A walking omen. And I saw it. I knew it from the start. I tried to save everyone from you.”

  He takes another slow step, then another, hands clenched white at his sides.

  “I did what no one else had the spine to do. I thought that would be enough. But no. Agora, damn her, she couldn’t see the truth. She beat me bloody in front of the whole guild and walked out because of you. Derek followed like a dog. Neither of them’s been back since.”

  His eyes gleam wild with fanaticism now. “You bewitched them. I don’t know how. I don’t care how. But I know they haven’t returned because you’re still alive. Because your curse still festers in this world.”

  He draws his weapon with slow deliberation.

  “But that ends today. I don’t know what filthy bargain you made for that power, but I’m going to cleanse it. I’m going to make you suffer a hundredfold for every crack you put in my life. I will be the hand of justice, and when I say I’m going to enjoy this…”

  He grins, teeth bared.

  “I mean it.”

  Then all hell breaks loose. Sense Danger screams to life once more, making the air thick with the scent of death and rot. The quiet clicks of stone on stone fills my ears, drawing my gaze upwards. Darius’ eyes widen at the small movement, then he gasps when he sees what I see.

  ???

  Level ??

  ???

  Level ??

  ???

  Level ??

  Three statues are perched on the ceiling, their glowing blue runes and cracked, oozing surfaces as still as death itself. And they’re looking right at us.

  One leaps off, spearing through the air right towards the Rogue so fast that he doesn’t even realize he’s dead until the statue slams into him full force. Blood splatters as his head and most of his torso is obliterated, and the statue slams into the ground with his remains.

  The Mage flinches away from the sudden movement, but he’s too slow. A second statue slams into the ground right next to him and stabs forward with its stony arm. Before he can raise a hand or utter a spell, it skewers him through the head, killing him instantly.

  The third statue both Darius and I see coming. It’s going for Darius, but scumbag or not, Darius is a good fighter. He’s already shoving a shard of arcanite into his mouth and swinging his sword at the falling statue.

  His blade slams into the thing’s head, shattering it in a burst of stone and sinew. The body crashes back into its companions in a heap, but none of them stay down. Even the headless one stands, as if nothing was done to it at all.

  Then he turns to run back towards the camp.

  Oh no you fucking don’t.

  Just like when I was being tested for C-rank, I grab hold of the mana flooding his system from the arcanite he ate and rip it away. It’s not a part of him, not something he can absorb. That makes it ambient mana, and I can manipulate that with ease.

  So I vent it into the air around us. He stumbles on his first step, and the three statues are on him before he can take another. The one that punched the appraiser is the fastest, reaching Darius first with a lunge.

  Darius pushes it aside, but only just. The headless statue is there next, grabbing at his free arm, and it’s only then that I realize he doesn’t have his shield. He tries to twist away, but the third slams into his other side, clawing and scrabbling at his armor with so much force that it knocks Darius off balance.

  That’s all it takes. He topples, crashing to the ground as the three statues attack him like rabid animals.

  “No! Emilia, help!” he shouts, then screams as the third statues punches into his stomach, piercing the armor with surprising ease. "Please!” he garbles out.

  I take the time he's buying me to check myself over. After a quick hop, I find that the poison is almost entirely gone, and I’m back to my usual self. I’d activated all of my buffs the instant I saw the statues, but I still didn’t move to help any of these treacherous fucks.

  Darius’ pleas fall on deaf ears as I roll my neck and shoulders, readying myself for the fight that’s to come. With his screaming, the camp will have already been alerted to the attack, so I don’t have to do anything but wait.

  When he finally stops struggling, the statues turn on me. My claws extend, and I lower myself into a ready stance.

  Then, just as fast, they’re on me.

  Once more, the fastest one lunges... but it’s not as fast as me. I don’t have time to be shocked though, as all three of them are within a second of each other. I twist in place, letting its fist pass through air instead of my heart before I jab the creature in the head with a fully empowered punch.

  Arcane Strike and Bloodmist Fist slam into the stone, shattering it and crushing much of the flesh beneath. A small mist of blood bursts from the area, flowing up my arm and soaking into my skin. With it, the mana packed into Arcane Strike also surges into the creature, and I can see it visibly disrupting the runic magics laced throughout its body.

  The thing screeches in agony as it’s sent flying from the force of my attack, wailing so loud that I feel my ears actively healing through the damage. Then the other two are there.

  They seem to be trying to do the same tactic they did on Darius, so I move. Twisting again, the uninjured one tries to tackle me to the ground, only to meet my knee as it comes up, slamming into its craggy face.

  Unfortunately, it wasn’t empowered by my skills due to their limitations to working on just hand and feet attacks. But with Fae Ferocity and Enhance body active, my knee is backed by the speed and force of nearly 1900 Dexterity and over 480 Strength.

  More than enough to make the thing regret running right into it.

  It gets launched into the ceiling, slamming into it with a crunch of stone as the last one reaches to grapple me. Using my claws and Skills, I swipe right through its stony forearm and cleanly sever the limb entirely.

  The mana released into it from my attack makes it screech as well, and I’m starting to realize that they might have a weakness.

  To test it out, after dodging another of its swipes, I give it a gentle slap on the arm. The slap is fully empowered, but I’m not trying to physically hurt it this time.

  It screeches in pain.

  I grin.

  Slap after slap lands on the creature, and each one seems to slow it down significantly. Like it’s being drained of stamina and is too tired to keep fighting. Even when its two buddies come back, beat to all hells as they are, it’s easy to keep them at bay with gentle slaps alone.

  Not even twenty seconds later, they lie in slowly crumbling heaps of stone and petrifying flesh. Grinning, I quickly make my way back to camp, ready to kill more of the things, only to find the fighting nearly over already.

  The camp is in chaos, but not disorganized, as nine more statues attack the entrance. I quickly move in behind them, punching, clawing, kicking, and slapping. The instant my attack lands on one, its attention instantly shifts to me, even going so far as to ignore any injuries it receives from other delvers.

  I use that to my advantage, gathering the attention of another three of the things as quickly as possible and pulling back slightly. While the Delvers heavily outnumber these things, the front liners are clearly having a hard time.

  While they aren’t necessarily easy for me to fight, they’ve got a pretty big weakness that I can exploit. After another half a minute, the four I took on are crumbling away, and I’m moving back into the fray once more.

  Two more lay dead on the ground, but three remain attacking the front liners with wild abandon. At the same time as I move in, another two Delvers come from the other side of the tunnels, and I recognize them right away. They’re two of the three other night watchers.

  The fight ends quickly after that, with the statues being pinched between us and the camp. Then Folly’s voice rings out through the large cave, bringing everyone to order in moments.

  The instant I catch sight of Cari running through the camp with a panicked look on her face, I call out to her. Her face immediately brightens with relief.

  She looks completely unharmed, as if she wasn’t anywhere near the fighting at all. I let out a sigh of relief at the sight. Even so, when she slams into me with a hug, I pulse a little Arcane Regulation into her, just to be sure.

  It doesn’t take long for things to calm down, and only one of the night watchers failed to return from their rounds. Once everyone else is back, the camp is kept at high alert while Folly calls a meeting of the C and B tiers.

  Three people died from the attack, if I include the watch that didn’t return. It wasn’t much, but it’s three more than we expected this early in the delve.

  Ah. Right.

  Six.

  Not three.

  Folly’s going to lose his shit.