Where they were, or if they were even in a physical location, Flint couldn't say. Flint paced angrily around Boggan's private chamber. “You see what I have to put up with? Get me out of this dungeon!”

  Boggan looked up at him. “You know I can't do that. I must admit that we've been watching the two of you with great interest. If you were running things, Jeremy would be a higher-level, possibly stronger, adventurer.”

  “So put me in charge!”

  Boggan chuckled for a long time. “However, your willingness to accept our kind offer and leave the dungeon tells us everything we need to know about you. You lack conviction, Flint, and are not worthy.”

  “It was a test! You were never sincere!” Flint glared down at the smaller being. If he could have killed Boggan, he would have.

  “The offer is sincere, but only for Jeremy. I'd suggest you return to your companion. You know what will happen to you if he dies.”

  “My companion is completely insane!”

  “We know.” With another chuckle, Boggan vanished.

  With a snarl, Flint ineffectually kicked the wall of Boggan's private chamber before returning to the third floor to search for Jeremy.

  ***

  As soon as Jeremy closed the heavy stone door, it vanished, leaving nothing but a stone wall behind him.

  The buzzing, scratching noise was quieter in this part of the dungeon, but still present. Jeremy put on his poisoned cloak and walked down the passage, alert for anything new.

  Even in the dim light, he could tell these creepy crawlies differed from the others and were much prettier. They were smaller, their wings and bodies covered in blue, yellow, and red that seemed to glow and glitter in the dim torchlight. In addition, this passage was more sparsely populated than the ones he'd cleared previously.

  He sent Squeak to scout ahead. Squeak, now pony-sized, crept down the passageway, avoiding the notice of its many inhabitants.

  Jeremy and Squeak were in a long, creepy-crawly-filled passageway. In the distance, the passageway forked into two empty but ominous-looking tunnels. Squeak's range ended before it could discover what lay beyond.

  Jeremy stepped forward, keeping Sneak activated. And used Identify.

  A blue and violet-colored cockroach-like insect Identified as—Creepy Crawly dungeon monster. Mana-enhanced bite. No other attack abilities.

  A bright green and purple cockroach-like insect--Creepy Crawly dungeon monster. Mana-enhanced bite. Painful sting.

  A bright yellow and gold beetle the size of Jeremy's hand—Creepy Crawly dungeon monster. Mana-enhanced bite. Electric attack.

  A bright gold centipede—Creepy Crawly dungeon monster. No attack abilities.

  A bright silver wasp-like insect—Creepy Crawly dungeon monster. No attack abilities.

  If anything, they seemed less dangerous than the ones he'd dealt with previously. And he'd been bitten and stung plenty of times. At this point, his skin was tough enough that bites and stings didn't hurt him.

  ***

  Maintaining Sneak, Jeremy stepped on one of the creepy crawlies and checked his experience. He had just enough time to see he'd gained fifty experience points for a single creature and begin to calculate how much experience this one hallway might get him, when every creepy crawly in the hallway attacked him at once.

  Jeremy was simultaneously shocked, bitten, and stung. The bites and stings went through both cloaks and armor and were so painful that he would have screamed if he hadn't been paralyzed. The electric attacks were far worse than what he'd endured previously, but even that wasn't what had paralyzed him.

  He stared up at the dungeon ceiling, somehow having fallen on his back, unsure how he'd gotten that way. He was unable to move or even blink.

  “Squeak!” He could feel Squeak's distress. These creepy-crawlies were attacking his familiar, and they did have the ability to hurt the shadow wraith. They somehow released energy that damaged it, causing it to lose essence rapidly.

  You Have Been Electrocuted!

  You Have Been Subjected to Acid!

  You Have Been Poisoned!

  You have been infested with mana-eating parasites.

  You have been infested with mana-eating parasites.

  You have been infested with blood larva that will soon take their mature form and eat their way through your body to freedom.

  You are under mental domination.

  You have been cursed with lesser rot.

  A centipede crawled slowly up his neck and onto his face. He was able to roll his eyes downward just enough to see its antenna. Still unable to blink, he did Identify.

  Creepy Crawly dungeon monster. No attack abilities.

  For a time, that was it. Then more words appeared.

  This creepy crawly, however, uses its mental abilities to paralyze its host, crawl through the host's eye socket, take over the host's brain, lay its eggs there, and force the host to walk to a suitable location to raise its young. The host dies when the creepy crawly eggs hatch and eat their way out of the host's brain, emerging from the host's mouth and eye sockets.

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  Jeremy tried to scream. The centipede-like creature's mandibles were directly in front of his right eye. All he could do was watch in horror.

  “Squeak!” Squeak would defend its master!

  The monster on Jeremy's face thrashed as Squeak wrapped itself around it, crushing it while attempting to drain its life force, freeing Jeremy from its paralysis.

  With a scream, Jeremy turned over and forced himself to his feet while using his cloaked hands and arms to smash every creepy monster he could.

  “RUN!” Flint shouted, sword flashing as he chopped wings from one flying dungeon creature after another, causing them to fall impotently to the floor.

  Jeremy hobbled forward, crying out in pain, left leg so filled with agony that all he could do was drag it along. Flint urged him forward until they came to a small opening on one side of the passageway where the wall met the floor, hidden by the shadows that Jeremy wouldn't have seen if he hadn't been bent over from pain.

  Seeing little choice, Jeremy flung himself forward and dove into the hole in the wall. He pulled off his pack and spider silk cloak and placed them over the hole he'd crawled through. Thankfully, that was the room's only entrance.

  He was in a stone room, ten paces long and five paces across, high enough for him to barely stand up in the center without hitting his head. There was just enough light for Jeremy to see that, aside from himself and the monsters that had poured in after him, the room was empty.

  Something stabbed him in the back with a red-hot sword. He screamed, spasming backward, so he landed on the creepy crawly that had just stung him, crushing it with his weight. His back spasmed again, and he forgot to breathe. Another creepy crawly zapped him with electricity, lighting up the room as it did so. His leather armor provided some protection. He crushed it and got zapped a second time for his trouble.

  Flint spun around and, with no warning, swung his sword at Jeremy's right shoulder, cutting deeply through his armor and skin, causing Jeremy to cry out in surprise and pain. Flint turned away and rejoined Squeak, battling the dungeon monsters. Flint cut them with his sword while Squeak slowly drained their life force.

  After what felt like an eternity, Jeremy recovered enough to pull the velociduck tape from his pack and tape his spider silk cloak over the hole. Then, with a groan, he piled several stones over the cloak to further block up the entrance, blood still flowing down his shoulder where Flint had cut him.

  He collapsed on the floor.

  Darkness. It was so dark that even with Jeremy's high perception, he couldn't see his hand in front of his face.

  He created a small light mote, lighting up the room.

  A blue-gold centipede-like creepy crawly dropped from his leg and curled up and died as Jeremy's poison took effect. Jeremy crushed it with the roll of velociduck tape, too sick and weak to move.

  His light mote went out. He was out of mana.

  “Jeremy Wilkins, you are dying,” Flint said, plainly visible in front of him despite the pitch darkness.

  “Squeak?” Squeak was worried.

  “I'll be fine.”

  Squeak could sense shapes in complete darkness. Jeremy used Squeak's senses to check the room for surviving insects; thankfully, there were none.

  Jeremy pulled out a healing potion, a poison potion, and his yellow cure-disease potion. The glow from the three potions provided enough light that he could see a few feet in front of him.

  He was suddenly starving. He pulled out a dungeon ration and stuffed it in his mouth.

  “I would avoid drinking those potions,” Flint said. “The parasites infesting your body absorb mana. What do you think is in those potions?”

  “You cut me,” Jeremy said.

  “One of the dungeon insects cast a lesser curse. If I hadn't acted, black rot would have eaten through your shoulder, eventually killing you. My actions slightly prolonged your life.”

  With great reluctance, Jeremy pulled up his stat sheet.

  You have been infested with mana-eating parasites.

  You have been infested with mana-eating parasites!

  You have been infested with eggs that will soon hatch and eat your body from the inside!

  You have been infested with worms that have entered your digestive tract and will share your meals. Once they get large enough, they will eat their way to freedom, becoming beautiful dungeon monsters.

  You have been infested with dungeon insects that have entered your body and are eating you from the inside.

  You have been infested with blood larva that live in your blood, soon to take their mature form and eat their way through your body and emerge as beautiful dungeon monsters.

  Jeremy felt things move inside him. With a shudder, he used the glow from his potions to examine himself. Worms and insects crawled underneath his skin, growing larger as he watched. His body shook with fear. “What do I do?”

  “You die.” Flint looked tired. “You could have left the dungeon, but no, you had to come here instead.”

  Jeremy started hyperventilating. He pulled out Book. “Book. What do I do?”

  Book somehow looked frightened and miserable. Jeremy used the light from his potions to read.

  Beeg Dumi never worried about dungeon insects, but then one bit him, infected him with parasites, and he died a slow, painful death when they ate him alive from the inside. And now he's miserable. Smirt Giy always wears the finest armor to be sure he never gets bitten by dungeon insects and keeps a high-level cleanse potion with him, just in case.

  Jeremy slammed Book closed and threw it across the room. “Beeg Dumi isn't miserable! Beeg Dumi is dead! You stupid book!”

  Something flashed on his stat sheet. Arkys had given him a new spell.

  Divine Fury

  A deep anger at the injustice of the universe fills the caster, raising the caster's strength and vitality for the duration of a battle. The longer the battle, the longer the time before the spell can be cast again.

  “Uh, Arkys, how about an anti-parasite spell?” he asked.

  There was no response.

  “Anti-infestation? A cleansing spell? Anything useful? Please?” he asked the air.

  No response.

  “Look at the walls,” Flint said. “You are not the first.”

  Jeremy raised the glowing potion vials with a shaky hand. The wall was covered with writing in different languages. Using his dungeon translator, he read.

  I am Bolo of the Teesl clan. They are eating me from the inside. Gods help me!

  Underneath was

  Duslo of Arpeth. Soon to be dead.

  Teeg Swordarm. I'm frightened. I pray the gods will guide me in the afterlife.

  Bobo, follower of the healing goddess Stinius. My high-level Clenze spell removes parasites, even ones that absorb mana. I've cast it on myself and my group, and we survive. We will now throw ourselves on the mercy of the dungeon and beg for freedom from this foul place.

  “Arkys,” Jeremy called out. “A Clenze spell. Please?”

  No response.

  Similar writings covered the walls of the small cave. Strong cleansing magic seemed to work; everyone else was toast. The few parties with a strong healer all thanked the gods for their survival and begged the dungeon for mercy.

  No wonder Boggan expected him to die in here.

  The knowledge that he wasn't the only one to go through this somehow calmed him down. “Why hasn't the dungeon absorbed this writing?” Jeremy wondered.

  “Perhaps the dungeon is trying to make a point,” Flint said.

  “Why did it take you so long to show up back there?” Jeremy asked.

  “I was trying to convince Boggan to take me out of the dungeon. Obviously, I failed.”

  “Too bad for you.” Jeremy pulled a red crayon from his pack, crawled over to an empty part of the wall, and wrote.

  I'm Jeremy Wilkins, and I have a plan. It's a long shot, but I have no choice. If I don't write any more, you'll know it didn't work.