《Maximum Status.》


 Calamity.

    "The din of battle was all I could make out, but it all stopped when that horrible scream crunched the earth. Only the raid team knows what happened in that dungeon."


    Those were the words with which, later, a member of the containment group described the moment at the end of what would, in the future, be known as the first dungeon to be classified with the grade of Calamity.


    Deep in those catacombs illuminated with old torches of blue fire and huge crystals of spectral glow a duo of individuals were in a large room, separated by a huge crowd of opponents, a man of strong body and covered in scars was fighting against a myriad of skeletons covered with armor while wielding weapons of a purple and shiny crystal, that man went through the enemy ranks with ease, wielding a pair of hand axes shattered both the crystal armor and those who carried them, falling to the ground the crystals shattered into fragments, in turn these lost color and the skeletons wearing the armors quickly turned to dust after being defeated.


    "Easy with those crystal shards, Yaga! They look fragile, but they are as sharp as obsidian," - shouted the long-haired fellow, feeling how, with every careless and rough lunge, the skeletons around him did not miss the opportunity to attack him, cutting his flesh and making him bleed slightly. This man''s aggressive and feral fighting style explained the scars on his body. Leered was the name of this individual.


    "Ha! Don''t tell me you''re already full of wounds, you little humans are that fragile?" -answered a corpulent figure. it was Yaga, belonging to the race of giants, a man with prominent musculature. His silver and black hair swayed in the wind with every word, as he stood before a figure of similar dimensions to his own approach. A huge crystal golem was exchanging attacks with the giant, carrying heavy masses in each hand. It was striking at Yaga''s burly body, while Yaga was only throwing himself slightly backwards to cushion the blows.


    "Do you think the others had to fight commanders this boring?" -asked Yaga as he caught his enemy''s hands just before delivering another blow.


    "Claymore said there were 3 monarchs, this is supposed to be the one with the diamond army" - Leered said as his blows became more violent, his axes moving swiftly and with each lunge they began to glow, one with an orange glow, the other with a blue glow.


    "If this is a commander, then you and I are Gods of war" -at that moment Yaga launched a powerful knee strike that quickly threw his opponent several meters backwards, greatly damaging that heavy armor revealing that inside that Golem was a skeleton of enormous dimensions, quickly the beast took one of his mallets while he rejoined, beginning to release a silver glow which collected the crystal fragments around him and returned them to their original position, restoring the armor.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Enough testing big one, the others must be waiting for us, let''s get serious, smash the core of that thing and lets meet up with the crew!"- shouted Leered as his axes now seemed to give off a strange energy as his eyes lit up.


    "I thought you''d never ask, humie."said the giant as he cracked his knuckles with a clash of fists, arrows of a deep red color beginning to forge in his hands as his eyes glowed like his companion''s and a mischievous smile spread across his face.


    Quickly the giant launched himself against his opponent, taking advantage of a small crack that had not yet finished regenerating in the heavy armor of the enemy, Yaga raised his arm while forming a fist, the line that before was only drawn on his hand now ran along his arm glowing as if it was about to ignite in flames, "Direct Hit!" shouted the giant while in the blink of an eye his arm had pierced the armor of the monster, pulling from inside a multicolored sphere, like a huge pearl that glowed in purple, pink and green colors, tearing it from inside the monster while the creature let out a loud groan as his armor began to lose color, On the other side of the room Leered was not far behind, while his comrade pierced the armor of his opponent, the human full of scars gave a big jump while his weapons reached the peak of its brightness, it seemed as if at any moment they were going to explode, after a few seconds in the air Leered rushed against the horde of crystal warriors, falling as he delivered a strong blow accompanied by a warcry "Twin wolf fangs: perpetual howl! ",echoed throughout the room as a wall of sun-white flames shot through the enemies, who were devoured by the flames although they did not fall with them, the army stood completely still as the flames dissipated and once they disappeared the armors began to fall one by one, they had all been hollowed out after Leered''s attack.


    "Not bad for a simple humie!" -said Yaga who had blocked the wall of flames using his opponent''s body, throwing it aside once it dispersed and with it breaking that big black pearl in his hand, releasing a huge green glow, after that he simply cross fists with his partner.


    "I can see why those with a penchant for Ignis are so popular with the children, those flames of yours are very showy"- said the giant as he kicked one of the crystal armors onto a hole in the wall, shattering it on the spot.


    "If we wanted to finish quickly the best thing to do was to launch an area attack to finish off all the little guys, but well, shall we go, you know how Claymore and Anvil are, if we don''t finish off the dungeon boss more powerful monsters will keep coming to the surface and I don''t think the containment team can keep fighting forever."If we wanted to finish quickly the best thing to do was to launch an area attack to finish off all the little guys, but well, shall we go, you know how Claymore and Anvil are, if we don''t- Lee was saying, walking towards that narrow gap in the wall that he assumed must be the entrance to the next level of the dungeon.


    "Hey the rank system is good for something, maybe the bronze rankers and some silver ones will die, but also a few gold ones on up will get their level up, it wouldn''t hurt the organization to forge more Adamantine level heroes, would it?" -said the giant as the figure of his human companion faded into the shadows, so he only limited himself to slouching a bit to follow him into that tunnel.

 Minerals.

    The sound of the giant''s heavy footsteps echoed through the dark passageway accompanied by the cracking sound of Leered''s weapons constantly clashing together with each step he took, old and torn paintings among the stalactites and rocks that had slowly devoured what once seemed to be the halls of a marvelous castle.


    "Don''t you think one of your colored flames would be handy?" - Yaga replied with a mocking tone as he wagged a finger in circles.


    "Remember where we are, even if it''s a tiny flame, using the natural nexus consumes mana, I''m a warrior, and I didn''t specialize in magic focused classes, it''s not like I have too much to waste on our comfort" - replied Leered as he checked his most recent wounds, they had already healed, luckily for him a small health potion had proved enough to stabilize him.


    "Besides, don''t you think you could use some perception training, you never know when you could use a critical hit on a weak spot" - said the human to his giant friend while little by little a thread of light was distinguished ahead, they were close to the entrance to the next level of the dungeon.


    "Ha, am I really listening to my greatest opponent admit to needing such a cowardly strategy?, you don''t need critical hits or weak spots when you have enough strength to make any of your blows lethal!" - Yaga vociferated while scratching his head and it was understandable, among the giants tribes while it was well seen to learn from a melee style of combat or focusing on the use of powerful spells, giants commonly developed a fighting style and honed it to its limit, which is why Yaga trained to develop things that favored his fighter and tank classes, neglecting things like perception or agility, things that would take their toll on him as he tripped over a huge rock which was hollow and gave in to his weight, throwing him off balance and causing him to fall.


    "Remind me why didn''t we just use reinforcement techniques to punch through the rock like it was smoke!" - The giant asked again, now furious.


    "Because we already did that 3 dungeons ago, don''t you remember it was necessary for all the platinum healers on up to use their best techniques on both, yes, bearing the weight of a mountain was great training, but we narrowly killed everyone in the group on that raid." - said Leered as he walked through the exit with Yaga joining in behind him, this new hall was curious, it wasn''t as big as the one where they faced the diamond general''s army, but you could tell a good fight had happened here, beast claws on the walls and huge cracks in the floor were proof of that, In the center of it all, pieces of dented and torn armor, of a beautiful golden color it seemed as if the gold they were made of had been fake just by looking at the disfigured state they were in, in the middle of the room a huge pile of armor pieces was formed as someone on the other side of the room was throwing those pieces.


    "Inspection, fuck, gold king, this in dwarven lands could hardly be considered brass!" - A female voice said in annoyance just before throwing a huge war helmet which Yaga caught, it seemed to have a crown embedded in it plus a dragon shaped face shield resembling that of the great general he had defeated.


    "Inspection, oh, finally!, finally something good!, come with mommy!" - said the stranger, now with joy, the sound of metal being smashed with hammers flooded the whole room, the roar and the enormous force of those blows shook the huge pile of accumulated pieces of armor until finally making it fall, revealing two familiar figures for the warriors.


    A guy with reddish skin and a tail that ended in pointy tip was resting on the back of a large sleeping wolf, the face of that stranger was covered by a hat and at his sides a pair of crystal weapons could be seen, like two small hand cannons, being apparently asleep was not inconvenient for the individual because as soon as the figure of Yaga and Leered was seen behind the pile of armor the man quickly wielded one of his cannons in the direction of the warriors.


    "Freeze." was all the nonchalant individual said, still with his hat over his face, lifting it slightly with the help of his tail to check who it was, under the hat a reddish horn was hidden inside the hat, a pair of predator-like eyes peeked out, there was no doubt, it was a demon that was now evaluating them, "Oh, they are just the two idiots that finished a raid by throwing the qhole dungeon on the boss head, nevermind", he said to immediately drop his hat again and put the gun away.


    "Nice to see you guys defeated your commander too, by the way, thanks for that welcome, Pein." - Leered said with a smile to the summoner and marksman of the group, though his attention was quickly stolen with a loud hammering as there was still one figure left to assess, right in the center of the room and on the body of what was once a commander of this dungeon now stood a small figure, a pair of huge greyish braids were shaking from side to side while on the creature''s chest a dwarf was trying to pull something out of the armor chest with a pair of tongs, After a few seconds of pulling she finally managed to pull out what seemed to be a small plate of a whitish metal with a blue glow, while this was happening Yaga quickly threw that helmet she was holding against the lazy demon at great speed, being the projectile destroyed just inches away from Pein by a quick shot propelled by sleepy demon.


    "Nice try, mud muscles, next time it''s my turn, I wonder if with those horrible speed points you could do the same as me" - Pein said.


    "Don''t make me laugh, you lazy beet, as if your wimpy weapons could pierce the skin of the future king of giants!" - Yaga replied while slapping his chest hard.


    "Jackpot, I was just saying, there must be more to this damn dungeon than just fooling stones and metals that only humans would be interested in!" said the dwarf named Anvil as she danced with her short arms up high shaking that small piece of ore like a trophy, her celebration remained like that for a few seconds until she finally noticed the burly man who was now looking at her with an expression of joy and doubt on his face.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    "Oh, hello Lee, do you have any idea what this is," said the dwarf excitedly, "sacral steel, do you know how hard this is to find, do you know what it costs!!!" - said the dwarf with a pair of eyes brimming with excitement, in the dwarf''s eyes you could tell by a blue glow that she had been using the skill "inspection" to find out if there was anything good among her opponents.


    "From your excitement you show, I imagine it is something as valuable as hunting a huge black ice boar during the winter festival" - said Leered ignorant about those topics that do not involve combat, so he related the excitement of her friend with the value of the biggest delicacy of his hometown, although he quickly noticed the blue glow fading little by little from the dwarf''s honey colored eyes, quickly grabbing her cheeks and bringing her closer to him with difficulty because despite being small, the muscle density of dwarves was higher than humans so they were very heavy "Anvil, do you remember what Claymore said about spending mana on whims? "


    "Don''t give me lessons, mister intensive training with mountains, unlike you I specialized in my Master creator class, so I have trained so that my stamina and mana sources are large enough" -she said while removing Leered''s hand from her face with a slap.


    "And don''t interrupt me again, this is important, this is sacral steel, a single nugget of this material is capable of modifying the purity and capabilities of the weapons or equipment it strengthens!!!, it is said that strengthening a weapon with a single piece of this will make it a leegend worthy weapon even if it is not forged by the best blacksmith, do you have any idea how strong a weapon forged using only sacral steel is?", the dwarf said with total seriousness while now she was the one who had jumped to grab her companion''s face, holding him by the beard to bring him down to the floor level with her.


    "Claymore''s relic weapon?" - Leered said with a grimace of pain on his face just before he was released.


    "That''s right, I''m not surprised he''s the one with something like that, I mean, eldest son of one of the oldest and richest families in Elfinghard, who would have something like that but that rich guy." - The dwarf said as she carefully put away that valuable ore.


    "[Everyone, gather on the floor of the penultimate level of the dungeon]"


    It was as if a thought invaded everyone in the vanguard team at the same time, it was Claymore''s voice, the leader of the group summoned them to the top floor before entering the dungeon boss area, it was time to attack with everything so the four present in that room took their things and started their way to that room.


    "I hate that stupid astral communication magic, makes my brain itch" - said the demon while scratching his pointed ears with annoyance.


    "Anvil, pass me the statstone quickly, I want to check if I will blame Claymore for wasting our time" -said Yaga as they walked, to which the dwarf quickly threw him an elongated multicolored crystal which Yaga quickly began to squeeze with his hand.


    The statstone was a type of stone valuable in the world for more than its seemingly infinite hardness but for its reading capabilities, when in contact with a living being the statstone stops showing a colorful rainbow and begins to show colors one by one, those who studied the capabilities of the mineral noticed that depending on the color present in addition to the intensity and brightness of it the stone visually represented the physical and magical abilities of the one who touched the crystal.


    Blue for speed and agility, gray for defense, yellow for perception, red for strength, purple for magical power, pink for agility, orange for accuracy and green for luck.


    The moment Yaga pressed the crystal a huge light illuminated the dark stair corridor highlighting mainly at the moment the color was red and gray, "That damn commander didn''t make me improve in anything!" shouted the giant.


    "Calm down big boy, ours was quite similar, besides, for an accurate measurement of the statistics you know well that you have to go to a statistics center and do that crystal capsule thing." - said Pein while now he took the crystal to measure if it had any growth.


    "Will they all be there by now?" - asked Leered.


    "Probably, Claymore ordered Beo to look for some hidden entrance to the boss room or possible hidden traps, as soon as we finished with our commander, Igra decided to go check if Argo and Acante''s group were ok, you know what they say, if you corner a mage he''s finished." - Said the dwarf as she descended those stairs aided by the light caused by her powerful companions as they gauged her abilities.


    "I guess Wado and Muramasa will be busy in the containment team" - Leered said looking at the ceiling after spotting the end of the stairs.


    "It stands to reason, after all, all of us Adamante rank are here, those two are the insurance of the association, if we all die down here at least there will be someone who can finish the fight on the surface." - Replied the dwarf.


    "Aren''t you interested to know what your level is after that commander?" - Leered said curiously.


    "Ha, unlike you idiots, I don''t need a number to confirm to me that this dwarf body is hard as granite, those freshly pressed gold sheets are proof enough for me, besides the wit of a blacksmith can''t be counted with simple numbers." - Said the dwarf with some arrogance and satisfaction in her voice.


    "We heard that" - said both the giant and the demon, they quickly threw the latter tossing the statstone to Leered, asking him to please put it away.


    As they went down none of those present thought to ask Leered if he was interested in a reading, after all, not long ago in a reading center everyone had already witnessed the level of his companion, at the moment of contact with a living being the statstone takes a deep black color, after that it begins to review the statistics, the only color that the stone never showed was white, some thinked that maybe it was because whoever showed a white color would be someone with null capabilities to analyze, others believed that the crystal simply could not show it, the truth is that it was very difficult for everyone present in that reading because the brightness that the crystal capsule showed when reading Leered stats was something that mowed down each and every one of those in charge of the reading and members of the Adamante grade present there, for everyone it was impossible to see that those colors reached a level of brightness bordering almost white, that same color was the one that showed for an instant the statstone just before Leered kept it in his back pocket, a green bright that was about to become white.

 Theory.

    Behind those seemingly endless stairs, a small thread of light peeked out and with it, the faint sound of voices, doors of thick ivory corrupted by the passage of time and zero care had transformed what once might have been two beautiful pieces of a craftsman''s work into little more than two sheets of heavy rock that stood guarding the penultimate room of the castle-turned-dungeon.


    "By the grace of our mistress of power and vitality, what were you two thinking?" - Scolded a raspy female voice in an aggressive tone.


    "Do you have any idea what would have happened if your enemy had been faster, or if he had even had enough defense to resist one of your attacks?" - That voice said almost shouting as the metallic clanking of armor echoed through that room.


    "Relax grandma, you Trolls are too overprotective, why do you think I took the princess with me?" replied another voice. - replied another voice, this one had an annoyed tone, plus she sounded younger as opposed to her companion''s voice.


    "Miss Igra, please don''t worry so much about us, Acante just wanted to try a new spell, luckily our opponent was so fragile that it wasn''t even necessary to use any healing spell" - said a male voice with some sorrow, delicate and trembling as if it was about to break.


    Rough was the noise made by that pair of heavy ivory doors, one pushed by Anvil and the other one by Leered, finally noticing all the figures gathered there, Igra, a Trollid kind with a big armor, what stood out the most about her was that on her back she carried four heavy swords which could become shields, each one for her four arms, being a paladin was rough her duty as a heavy fighter was vital so resistant weapons were important for her work. In front of her were two people, a human of slender and delicate appearance, long blond hair that seemed to shine with the strength of the sun itself, only highlighted his refined appearance by the large staff that now carried lying between his hands, it was Ergo, the healer. Above them a floating figure stood out, it was Acante of the tribe of the Yokais, a girl with reddish hair, her face seemed to wear a mask because although her skin was somewhat brown, at the moment of reaching her face it was colored with an intense red, Her majestic wings stood out above the figure of almost everyone present, a pair of huge wings of a more intense red than her hair, those wings kept her suspended in the air, with a grimace of displeasure Acante, the strongest pure magical fighter in the world directed her gaze towards those huge doors.


    "Igra, stop scolding the brat, you fought a commander like us, you know that perfectly well even a gold rank could have defeated him." - Said the giant as he passed through that hall accompanied by Anvil, Leered, Pein and his wolf companion.


    "Very well, we all gather then." -said a figure in the middle of everyone, his voice was just like the one that minutes before everyone in that dungeon had heard in their minds.


    Suspended in the air a few meters above the ground compared to the Yokai that was flying over the heads of their companions, the slender figure of a man who was in a meditation pose, silver hair, delicate and beautiful as the silk went down his head, ending in a shiny silver tips, He was wearing a thin armor that seemed to emit a glow that made it look like it was made of crystal, around him a couple of rocks were floating, from his body seemed to emanate a faint green light as he meditated but after a few seconds he simply said "Come back, Beowulf", the man finally stopped levitating, placing his feet on the ground, revealing his porcelain smooth skin and a pair of pointed ears, this man was none other than Claymore, the leader of the heroes of Adamantine rank, former regent of the nation of Elfinghard, a pair of black gloves of fine chain mail completed his armor, which, although it seemed delicate and fragile, could not be more wrong at the moment, that armor possessed great defensive and offensive capabilities, its delicate appearance was a self-imposed challenge by the same elves who forged it, looking more like a suit worthy of wearing to the most exclusive galas than an armor designed for a profession as risky as it could be the work of a hero. At the call of the leader a figure emerged from another tunnel, walking on all fours Beowulf stood upright on his two legs the beastmen made a gesture as if trying to tear his chest, a classic greeting among beastmen.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    "Doll man, why in the name of the great mother did you send Leered and I against a general so far beneath our power?" - Yaga yelled to Claymore with an annoyed tone.


    "I don''t want to be rude but I think I understand Yaga''s frustration, there''s nothing better than a good fight and the taste of this one was very bitter, did you underestimate us or overestimate our opponent" - Leered remarked with his eyes planted on the ground while he was somewhat frustrated, he was not willing to be as rude as his partner.


    "Precisely that confirms to me the suspicion for which I gathered you, at the time of entering this raid the monsters seemed to be of at least the level of a gold rank hero, it was that reason we asked Wado and Muramasa to stay and assist the containment team, I allowed the separation of the group for a simple purpose, to investigate and test a hypothesis" - said the elf.


    "that you were strong enough to go ahead and steal the limelight from these two muscle brains by killing the boss all by yourself?" - said anvil with a sarcastic and mocking tone as she put her heavy warhammer on the floor to sit down.


    "What?!, you damned elf, that was my last hope for a fight worthy of securing my entry into Valhalla!" - Said the giant now with more rage as he made his way to the leader of his group.


    "Anvil, I understand that our ancestors have had their conflicts during the runic war but I ask you not to spread rumors about me, and Yaga, I will ask you to never again think that I could have reasoning worthy of you two, unlike everyone in the guild, I do what I do for the sake of this, our world." - replied the mild-mannered Claymore now with a stern tone and more power in his voice, making those present there look at each other, the seriousness in their leader''s words made them make a group decision not to interrupt the annoying captain of the vanguard team anymore.


    "I continue, as we went down the levels of the dungeon I noticed that depending on how far down we were in the dungeon, the enemies were getting weaker and weaker, the enemies guarding the entrance to the dungeon were platinum level and the lower we got, the lower the level, the normal in any dungeon is the opposite, the weaker creatures tend to escape from those that prowl the lower levels, but great was my surprise when I arrived at this room where we are now gathered and after doing a mana reading to the room in front of us I came across this. " - Claymore quickly turned around, raised his palm in the direction of the massive doors that enclosed the dungeon boss and said "Wind Burst", in an instant a huge green light shot out from the elf''s hand to those doors, which yielded to the powerful spell and fell quickly, releasing a huge cloud of dust which was quickly cleared as what Claymore had used was a spell of his elemental magic Aer, wind magic.


    "Come in." - The elf said as his figure entered that room.

 Parasyte.

    The immense cloud of dust slowly dissipated thanks to the residual wind from the spell used by Claymore, the roar of that strong gale dissipated as the members of the vanguard team entered the supposed boss room, those using weapons quickly drew them while the magic casters and ranged fighters joined in to cover their backs, both the wolf summoned by Pein and Beo quickly rushed to enter the room, looking for any available information regarding the dungeon boss, but, seconds passed, the dust ceased to be a problem and the team realized somethin obvious, the room was a chaos, countless years ago this great hall may have been a beautiful throne room where a venerable King attended to his people, but now none of that remained, the walls full of holes, large cuts and collapsed columns, the floor full of craters, totally deformed, this throne room had witnessed an epic fight, worthy of legend, the only thing that each and every one of the heroes gathered in this room thought was "Somebody was here before", because this entire sight was the spitting image of what was remained from a boss''s hall after eliminating him, but this could not be possible, this raid appeared out of nowhere, the monsters outside were as strong as some platinum and gold rank heroes, no one besides an Adamante hero could have made it this far, it was a nonsense that someone could have been able to take on the dungeon lord alone.


    "You all understand, don''t you?" - The elf said as he stood in front of all the incredulous people present, showing a serious countenance he merely said.


    "The dungeon master is not in his area, all the enemies in this dungeon became weaker depending on how close they were to the throne room, there is no trace of any enemy, and his tracks are hidden to the point that he didn''t even leave mana remnants around the room, those are the facts." - Said the leader of the group while directing his gaze to a strangely colored spot on one of the walls that surprisingly seemed to be undamaged.


    "I had heard something about some powerful dungeon lords keeping memories of the life they once led, some dungeons don''t start as raids, they were just corrupted by a strange force." - Ecate said as she flew over the room looking for any enemies from above.


    "Do you think that strange force killed the boss before we did?" - said Anvil the dwarf as she washed up and wielded her hammer, approaching the strange blob that Claymore had set his sights on.


    "Beo, tell me, did you find anything when I sent you out to look for hidden entrances or traps?" - Claymore asked.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "I found passages that connected to the throne room, there were no traps but there didn''t seem to be any traces of any kind either, whatever got in here, it must have had the strength of an Adamant warrior if it managed to defeat the lord on its own, besides, it managed to get this far without using powerful spells or if it did use them this individual has such great mastery of magic that it managed to control to a perfect level it¡äs mana usage as to have left no traces whatsoever." - The beast-men said as he took a step forward, trembling slightly.


    "But, that''s impossible, Claymore and I managed to introduce magical abilities to our melee style, not even someone with monstrous magical talent who trained their whole life in magic use like Ecate or Ergo can use a spell without leaving a mana trace of any kind, that can''t be." - Leered said as a couple of beads of sweat poured down his forehead.


    "Ha, don''t lose your heads little guys, all the opponents in this dungeon have been absolute wastes of mana and stamina, haven''t you thought that the boss was probably just another weakling and that''s it?" - Yaga said?


    "I wish you were right, big guy, but unless this guy used an army to wipe out an ant, I don''t think you that''s it." - Anvil said as she rested his hand on that spot that seemed to emanate a strange aura, that green stuff seemed to glow slightly, even if it was a magical mineral, there was no record of something like this in any dungeon.


    "You got it right, Anvil, do me the honors." - The elf said as he began to levitate using his Aer-type magic abilities, approaching the dwarf.


    Without hesitating a single second the dwarf quickly stepped back to have enough space and to hit a powerful blow with her hammer, that great hall seemed to have vibrated while the hollow sound of a dull blow went through the tunnels of the dungeon, a light curtain of dirt crossed the room, but behind that cloud a second surprise was hidden in that hall, a small hole between the earth showed an opening, Anvil quickly approached to check it and was even more puzzled.


    "This, it can''t be, we dwarves are known for our ability to make tunnels that only we can take advantage of but this, not even the smallest of us could crawl through here" - said the dwarf with naivety in her voice.


    "It''s almost as if an Ectus worm had crawled in here." - Yaga mentioned as he saw the hole, those worms were well known among the giants as they were huge worms that crawled through the earth to form a nest.


    "Someone got to this dungeon before us, but he is neither a hero nor a beast." - Pein said.


    "So, this thing arrived some time ago, finished off the boss, and just stayed in the dungeon?" Said Ergo and Igra in unison with a look full of doubt.


    "I''m afraid we are not facing any dungeon master or some beast empowered with dungeon magic this time, think about this, every dungeon is practically a living thing, an ecosystem on its own, whatever is here with us fed on everything in it to such an extent that the most powerful living things that were not consumed by it would rather the surface than stay here, we are facing more than just a parasite, this is an unprecedented evil." - Claymore said.

 Disease and hunger.

    "It wouldn''t be the first time in which a creature from our world managed to sneak into a dungeon produced by the raids and defeat one of the monsters in it, but, if that were the case, that means that our guest arrived and defeated the boss, which would have ended up closing the raid and as you can notice, that still doesn''t happen, Ergo, you before being convoked as a hero were a student at the AintAol academy, what could you add to this hypothesis?" - Claymore said as his eyes lit up with a blue glow, his magic cast ability was so developed to the point he can conjure spells without reciting it, he used inspection at the moment.


    "I suppose the master of this dungeon must still be alive, the shattered state of this room was not the result of a fight." - Said the golden-haired young healer as his eyes widened.


    "He was just testing his new arsenal." - Leered, Anvil, and Yaga said.


    "Y-yes, in the academy I read that there are some creatures that are dedicated to parasitizing stronger ones to steal nutrients from them, feed, and continue living, but that only happens with small insects, something capable of infecting a dungeon monster to that extent shouldn''t even exist, it has no precedent whatsoever." - Ergo was saying as he tightened his grip on his staff.


    "What if this parasite manages to access the memories of that which it infects?" - The winged Yokai asked as she held her wand ready to cast any spell.


    "It would know exactly where to hide in case it''s being hunted." - Pein and Beo refuted.


    The beast-men''s pointed ears quickly perked up as every single hair in his fur, the beast-men threw himself on the floor and stuck his ear against it, just a few seconds passed until the ground began to shake, small rocks on the floor bounced effusively, the dust began to fall from the walls, with each passing instant the vibrations on the floor became louder and stronger.


    "He set a trap for us!, Ecate!, keep the guard from the sky!, everyone!, form a perimeter with Ergo in the center!" - Leered shouted with maximum adrenaline, countless stories were about groups of heroes being overwhelmed by enemies that caught them off guard, these men and women were practically his family, cold sweat ran down his skin covered in scars as his worst fear seemed to be near, he quickly wielded his axes, he surrounded the team healer, with Anvil on his right and Yaga on his left, he struggled to stand as little by little the floor gave way.


    The floor quickly began to crack, and the dungeon seemed to be collapsing, from the outside, for the containment group it might seem that the fight was devouring part of the dungeon but only the members of the vanguard team could see the purple glow that peeked through the cracks in the floor, this was not a simple collapse, this had been caused by a powerful technique, little could the heroes gathered there do as quickly the floor began to give way and everyone fell into a darkness that seemed to be endless.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "Heavy Ground!" - Yaga shouted


    "Protective wind force!" - Claymore shouted.


    The giant''s hands first clashed sharply and then quickly slammed into the collapsing ground, a red energy began to transmit through the earth and rock floor as Yaga shouted, and the ground around the heroes slowly compressed, creating a solid platform upon which they now fell, luckily the quick action of the group leader assisted the giant in this situation as underneath the rock platform a bright swirl of wind began to form. Thanks to the efforts of the giant and the elf the impact was slightly softened, resulting in the majority of the group only having a spectacular but not fatal fall, from the surface Ecate quickly descended.


    "The dungeon fell, we''re out of the way!" - Shouted the winged woman as she rushed to rejoin the team.


    "Sacrum Magma!" - shouted Igra as she wielded her heavy weapons with her four arms, she quickly launched a couple of magma-imbued slashes towards the sides of where they had fallen, taking care not to harm anyone, the magma penetrated the rock and resulted in some slight illumination so everyone could have some visibility.


    "Guide fireflies." - Pein said seconds after his companion as from between his hands small pinkish-colored lights flickered around the place, illuminating it perfectly.


    "There." - thought everyone present at the same instant as a faint glow shone in the distance, the glow of an old armor returning the light created by the heroes.


    Old ruins were all that the adventurers could see, pieces of the castle, large rocks, and earth devoured the scenery but most of all the attention of the heroes was drawn to a silhouette several meters away, as Pein''s guiding fireflies spread across the stage the heroes clung tightly to their weapons, there in the middle of the stage a thin and inert armor seemed to be watching them, its intense red color was being devoured by a texture similar to that stain in the throne room, this was without a doubt the dungeon master, a monster capable of meaning a danger to an entire nation had been practically devoured by whatever was now hiding under its armor.


    The reason behind why the weakness of all the monsters was quickly understood thanks to the aura of rottenness and death emanating from that thing, it is not that it defeated all the strong opponents, it stole their power like a disease sucks the health from a healthy body, it did not kill them and fed on them, it stole their lives little by little, they were not facing a simple monster considered the boss by others, they were facing a monster whose slender figure enclosed the strength of an entire dungeon in a single being, an amalgam of hunger and death stared at them as if it pretended to be a simple empty armor.


    "Igra, Yaga, and Leered, the four of us will go ahead, Anvil, Beo, and Pein, you defend both Ecate and Ergo, if we lose the defensive potential of the support magic or the offensive potential of the best magic caster, I fear our probabilities are reduced to something very close to 0." - Claymore said as he wielded his relic weapon, quickly the spear transformed into a one-handed sword as with the other hand the elf began to conjure a wind spell, a green colored bubble like figure spinning at high speed took hold of the group leader''s right hand as he gave a strange look to his back line companions after observing Leered leading the offensive.


    The sound of the wooden grips on Leered''s axes accompanied the screeching of Igra''s heavy swords and the cracking of Yaga''s neck as he smiled like a little boy excited to play, now on his hand, again a red arrow was drawn like the one that appeared when facing that monster from before, it seemed that the giant had something in mind.