Dungeon Delver POV:
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Coryn and Vulcan stared each other down, waiting for each other to make a move. The two dungeon delvers trapped in the web were already being attacked by Vesta and Mors, venomous and fangs and arrows ready to finish off their targets. The last two delvers didn’t have the time to intervene as Virtus and Mars engaged each of them. The situation was dire, but Coryn had no room to spare thinking of his last few comrades. That was just how much of a threat he believed the golem before him posed. A variant is already stronger than its normal evolution, but the one before him possessed superior regeneration skills, leading him to the heart-wrenching conclusion that this golem has survived enough battles to level up its skills. In the worst-case scenario, it could have also evolved naturally from a stone golem, increasing its potential strength even higher than a freshly spawned iron golem. Sweat dripped down his brow, from exertion and anxiety, but he knew he needed to give this battle everything he had, and then some more, to take down the rest in time to save his remaining comrades. He prepared to unleash his ‘Berserk’ skill to increase his physical capabilities in exchange for his sanity. He might attack his allies as a result, but if he wasn’t quick enough, there wouldn’t be any allies to attack. Resolved, he tensed all of the muscles in his body, ready to launch himself, until it appeared.
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A second bronze golem had appeared out of nowhere. Coryn hesitated, a deadly mistake in the heat of battle, but no follow-up occurred. Vulcan’s body shifted as if looking at the new golem, and he waved his arm as if warding away the second golem. Coryn considered taking this chance to attack, but just as suddenly as the golem appeared, it started to fade away, just like the webs in the tunnel. It was just an illusion, but one with much more color and detail than it had been before. The webs were primarily white, black, and gray, so they didn’t actually differ much from the shadowy illusions created before, but that illusory golem was a step up in terms of skill. Is the monster responsible for the illusions hiding its true strength, or is it becoming stronger at an incomprehensible rate? Both possibilities chilled Coryn’s heart, but his focus returned to Vulcan, who was ready to fight again. But before he did so, he felt a foreign mana interact with his internal mana. This mana was different from the latent mana in the dungeon, which led him to conclude that this mana came from the golem before him. Through that connection, he received the abstract emotions and thoughts of Vulcan in the same way the monsters usually communicated. Vulcan sent as clear of a message as he could; they would fight with all of their strength, one on one, and no outside help. As a warrior, Coryn understood these feelings and was surprised a monster could feel them too, so he smiled in the face of this challenge, the desire to prove his strength burning in his eyes. He knew in his mind that this could be a trick to make him let his guard down to a blinding attack from a glowing orb, but his heart told him that the pride of a warrior filled his opponent as much as it did him. Dungeon Delvers were a greedy lot, so unleashing all of his inhibitions, he activated ‘Berserk’ and charged straight towards Vulcan who was doing the same.
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Steel clashed against bronze, sending molten slags of metal flying as the axe struck metal. Vulcan focused all of his training on honing his hand-to-hand combat abilities, forgoing the club he used before as his body became the strongest weapon he could wield. Despite his size, he was able to nimbly dodge and redirect the onrush of attacks from his opponent. Each swing of the axe scraped off a layer of bronze, leaving metal shavings all across the ground. Dodging and weaving, Vulcan landed blows against Coryn’s armor, leaving craters and warped steel after each blow. But Coryn had gone berserk, allowing him to overcome the pain that wracked his body with each hit, allowing him to land his own attacks in return. Deep gashes covered Vulcan’s body as he didn’t have enough time to fully recover from the mage’s earlier barrage, but now more were being added. One of these gashes had almost reached the middle of his arm, as if Coryn still retained enough battle sense to target a specific area. At the same time, his own axe was beginning to chip and crack as it endured the abuse of striking a metal target over and over. Blood poured from the inside of his armor, but Coryn did not stop; he only had victory on his mind. They continued to exchange blows, but they would soon reach their limits. Concentrating all of his strength into one more strike, Coryn brought down his axe, aiming for the deepest gash on Vulcan’s body. Sliding into place, the edge of the axe aligned itself and cut through the gash on Vulcan’s arm, slicing the arm in two but shattering one side of the axe head. At the same time, Vulcan launched an uppercut into Coryn’s stomach, causing him to puke up blood as he fell to his knees. He had reached his skill’s limit; he had run out of health to exchange for strength. Bleeding and dying, he stewed in his defeat, but he wore a smile in spite of that. Only one last thought went through his mind before he embraced oblivion.
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“What a sick joke the gods have played on us.”
His eyes had already glossed over as Vulcan watched over him in his final moments. He had lived, he had fought, and he had died. Vulcan faced his opponent with everything he had and emerged as the victor. The rest of the dungeon delvers had already been handled by Vulcan’s team. A couple had arrows sticking out of them, one filled with venom, and all of them bearing the wounds of battle and fatal blows. The main force of the dungeon delver expedition party had been wiped out. All that remained was a singular party returning to the surface from their own expedition to the bottom, and the two bases located at the ends of the first and second floors, with one more base outside the dungeon entrance. Not a single dungeon delver left believed the dungeon was too dangerous to exist, so Willow has successfully bought themselves valuable time.
