Second floor… Third floor… Fourth floor… Fifth… I kept descending, leaving nothing alive behind me, only utter darkness—and even that died the moment I stepped lower. The transition zones crumbled into gray dust behind my back as soon as I passed through them.

  Twelfth floor… Thirteenth… Fourteenth… I continued my descent, with a thirst to destroy everything around me, a thirst that only grew stronger. From the fifteenth floor, monsters of the eighth and ninth classes started to appear, climbing up to meet me, but under the influence of the devouring magic, they perished and turned to dust just as swiftly as all the worthless ones before them.

  There was, however, something else. Along with their mana, they gave me a part of their instincts and memories. I didn’t care. I didn’t just want to destroy them—I had to. These abominations had no right to exist in this world!

  I kept descending without stopping. From the twenty-second floor, there were no more monsters. Most likely, they had already climbed up earlier—where I had absorbed them. It didn’t matter. I went down, consuming the sparse vegetation and the yellow mana mist seeping from cracks in the rock.

  The dungeon. It was, in itself, the one true monster that had devoured me within it. So I had to consume all of it to win. And to escape. There was no other way, and there couldn’t be. Down, to where it grows from. Closing, destroying all the floors on my path.

  Thirtieth floor… Thirty-first… Thirty-second… From the thirty-third floor, there was no path forward. A rock jutted out from the flat, table-like floor—but the passage through it had not yet formed.

  “Guhiihiiiii… Are you hiding?!”

  I struck the rock with all my strength, causing it to explode and crumble into sand. Below, a familiar massive gray stone cube protruded, covered in strange runes.

  “Come here!”

  I ordered it, dragging it up with nothing but the force of my aura. Into storage—that’s where you belong now!

  “Found you!”

  I said to the wide yellow river flowing below.

  “And was it really worth hiding from me like that?”

  I stomped the floor, shattering it for hundreds of meters around.

  “Now you’re mine! All of you!”

  I shrank the devouring circles to the size of the hole I had made in the floor and plunged them down, into the mana river flowing beneath me. The mana began to tremble slightly.

  “Hoooooo,” I said to it as if to something alive, tilting my head to the side. “You’re afraaaaid! Don’t be, I’ll be geeeentleee…”

  Suddenly, a high-level violet spell began to bloom above my head. One, two, three… Nine tiers. A ninth-circle spell! I had seen one just like that above the Chrum!

  In panic, I dispersed my devouring circles with runes and leapt to the side, hoping to escape the spell’s area of effect—but it was already too late. The light suddenly vanished.

  It vanished for a moment, then reappeared.

  But now I was no longer in the dungeon—I stood where its entrance had once been. My legs sank ankle-deep in gray sand. A table stood nearby, with a ledger left open on it, and several chairs.

  I looked around.

  My team was running toward me, along with five people I didn’t recognize—three men and two women. Powerful! The auras of three were at the level Gods of War. The other two—a mage and a sorceress—were of unknown circles.

  Damn! I had to avoid talking to them until I came up with a proper story.

  Suddenly, my head spun, and I vomited at my feet. Mana poisoning from teleportation?

  “Aneeeeeey!”

  Irgen was the first to reach me, grabbed my arm, and began dragging me somewhere.

  “Stop right there!”

  shouted a God of War, pressing his aura upon us.

  Well, well, wasn’t that the beggar Grim? Damn him.

  “What are you doing?”

  a female God of War snapped at him. “Back off now!”

  “Where… where are my puppets?”

  I asked the rector in a weak voice when my team approached.

  Raman shrugged.

  “Gone. Vanished along with the dungeon.”

  “No, no, no!”

  I dropped to my knees, clawing through the gray muck.

  “This can’t be! My little puppets!”

  I vomited again.

  “Gods, what’s wrong with him?!”

  Irgen screamed.

  “Quickly, get him into the shade! He’s suffering from monster mana poisoning!”

  the sorceress began barking commands. “And give him this to drink!”

  She handed Irgen two blue bottles.

  Shade? We were frying like on a skillet here—where was any shade supposed to be?

  Raman and Grass picked me up and dragged me to the boat.

  “I’m fine,”

  I told them once we were in the cabin and I could surround us with my aura—so intense I almost gasped at it myself.

  “But we’ll keep up the act. Who the hell are they?”

  “An imperial court team sent to eliminate the monster outbreak. The Gods of War are Munk, Grim, and Vasa—the woman. With them are Pasque, a ninth-circle mage, and Vist, a sorceress of the same rank. Aney, don’t mess with them—they’re furious about the dungeon’s disappearance!”

  The rector was clearly worried.

  “Got it. For now, just tell them I’m still too weak to talk.”

  I let my aura waver, so the War Gods would think I was unwell.

  Damn it, this was the last thing I needed.

  I had to start believing the story myself: that I fought, fought, fought and—bam! I was already outside. And nothing else. So if they asked me anything, my aura wouldn’t even twitch.

  But there were three of them.

  Damn it! Three Gods of War , and definitely not of the lower tier. It wouldn’t be easy. I had to disrupt the balance of their teamwork—and I already had a candidate in mind for that role.

  “No, Lord God of War, he’s still too sick, he can’t even stand!”

  Irgen lied to them with charming confidence.

  “Yes, Lady Sorceress, he drank your potion and is deeply grateful for your kindness!”

  I heard her spouting the nonsense with pride.

  Huuuuu.

  All right, time for the performance.

  I climbed up to the cockpit. Opposite me, five figures floated in the air.

  “Apologies, ladies and gentlemen. I assume you have a few questions for me?”

  “Of course!”

  One of the Gods of War, Munk, jumped straight to the point.

  “Tell us what happened down there, and why the dungeon is destroyed.”

  “Honorable God of War, I honestly don’t understand it myself. I descended to the first floor, and there were millions of them—monsters from the first to sixth classes. So I fought them, fought and fought, and then—bam! Suddenly I’m on the surface!”

  “Just like that?”

  “Yes, Honorable God of War.”

  “What did you fight them with?”

  asked Pasque, the mage.

  “Unfortunately, I lost my weapon down there—but it was a spear, much like this one.”

  I pulled out the spear my mentor had given me.

  A cunning mage—trying to catch me in a lie. After all, I hadn’t appeared with any weapon in hand.

  The sorceress nodded thoughtfully.

  “Are you certain there were no monsters above class six on that floor?”

  Vasa asked.

  “Honored Lady God of War, I can’t claim that for sure—but in my field of vision, there weren’t any.

  Besides, I was standing by the exit to the second floor, and during all that time, no one stronger than a class six came through. That’s why I drew that conclusion.

  Forgive me, ma’am, if I misled you by presenting my assumption as fact. That was my mistake.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “How long were you fighting them in there?”

  Munk asked another question.

  “I can’t say exactly, but by my senses—several hours. Maybe seven, maybe eight…”

  They exchanged glances.

  “He’s lying! Or he’s hiding something from us!”

  Grim shouted.

  “Oh, you’re that God of War—the beggar who takes by force what he can’t afford!

  Grim, was it?”

  “You little wretch, what nonsense are you spouting?!”

  “Ah, dear God of War, have you truly forgotten how you stole that spear from me at the auction in the city of Matan?” I said, smiling coldly. “The one you liked so much but couldn’t afford? A bone spear with a dark red aura… And now you’ve come here to take revenge for your humiliation?”

  The two Gods of War and the two mages looked at Grim. It seemed they even recognized which spear I was talking about—perhaps they’d seen it in his hands.

  “Oh gods, Grim, did you really beat up someone weaker than you just to steal that spear?” Vasa wrinkled her nose. “You’re such a piece of trash!”

  “It wasn’t like that at all!” Grim turned his flushed face toward me. “Hey, kid! Apologize right now and tell them what really happened! You stopped bidding first!”

  “Of course I did!” I spread my arms wide. “Right after the God of War struck me so hard I crashed through three rooms and nearly maimed several auction guests… Only an idiot would keep bidding after that. Isn’t that how it went, Lord Grim? There were hundreds of witnesses. Or are you going to deny it?”

  Grim’s face turned even redder as he looked at Vasa. Damn it—he had feelings for her! But had I gone too far? Publicly humiliating a God of War in front of the one he liked…

  “You really are scum! And to think you bragged about that spear…” Vasa turned away dramatically.

  “You’re dead, you little punk!” Grim snapped, completely losing it.

  Without picking a specific target, he lashed out with his aura at our small airboat, where my entire crew was. I barely had time to throw up a shield of my own aura. A thunderous crack echoed as our auras clashed. The air between them compressed and then exploded outward, slicing a deep trench into the earth between the boat and the five opponents.

  “Grim!” Munk barked. “What the hell are you doing? Get out of here, idiot!”

  Grim snarled through his teeth and stormed off.

  “We’re not finished, you bastard!” he growled as he left.

  “Always a pleasure, Lord Grim!” I called after him.

  “Alright, we’ll end it here,” Munk said, summarizing the situation. “But we’ll be escorting you to the capital—the investigation is not yet concluded. Is that clear?”

  We all nodded in unison. What wasn’t clear about that?

  “Not bad,” Pasc murmured, nodding toward the deep trench that the clash had left. “A Battleborn with that kind of aura strength…”

  He walked off, shaking his head in disbelief. Well, round one went to me. Though, as Munk had said, this wasn’t over yet. The Empire would still be looking for someone to blame for the loss of the dungeon cores, and I might be a convenient target. Something to ponder on the road to the capital.

  I turned back to the artificial horizon device and lifted the boat into the air.

  “Alright then, the capital it is!” I tapped the point on the map and switched the boat to autopilot.

  “Captain! We were so scared for you!”

  “Yeah, Aney’s right. What happened down there?”

  “Guys, I honestly don’t even know myself…”

  “You were gone for three days!” Irgen pushed through the group to get closer. “We thought it was over—we thought we’d never see you again!”

  “Three days, huh…”

  Strange. From my scattered memories of the dungeon, it felt like only a few hours had passed. Irgen finally made it to me and sat down at my side, wrapping her arms around mine.

  “Sorry for scaring you,” I said. “I didn’t expect things to go like that. But it’s alright now. And even though we won’t be diving into any dungeons for a while, you should still read up.”

  I pulled out volumes five and six of the Monster Encyclopedia and handed them to Raman.

  “What, trying to get rid of us?” he smirked. “Fine, we’ll give you a little peace.”

  I nodded toward the stern. A few kilometers behind us, the two mages and three Gods of War were still following.

  “No. But we’ll keep quiet about what must stay unspoken.”

  Everyone immediately understood.

  “Aye, captain.”

  “Aye, captain.”

  “Alright, Aney”

  In truth, no one knew whether they could hear us or not. But better safe than sorry. Were they really going to follow us all the way to the capital? Didn’t they have better things to do, or was this mission truly that important to the Northern Empire?

  Well, the journey wouldn’t be boring. I could still feel the wrath of one God of War trailing behind us like a thundercloud. Damn him—let him die of an ulcer for all I care. I needed to focus on myself.

  I’d absorbed a tremendous amount of mana in the dungeon, yet I hadn’t noticed any major changes in my body. Where had it all gone?

  I closed my eyes and began to examine myself. Bones, muscles, internal organs… It seemed only the organs had changed slightly—most of them were already partially composed of mana cells. But it didn’t seem to match the sheer volume I’d taken in.

  Suddenly, I saw it. A black steel droplet, no larger than a fingernail, just below my heart. From it stretched thin metallic strands, like threads, connecting to every one of my muscles and bones. What was that?

  I could see it, observe it… but I had no understanding of what it was.

  A new organ? Some kind of function? Or was it a disease—or worse, a parasite from the dungeon? It didn’t react to my probing at all. Completely neutral. Still, its presence deeply unsettled me. I couldn’t rule out the possibility of side effects. Damn it, some dungeon dive this turned out to be.

  I was pulled out of my thoughts by the sudden presence of a God of War’s aura nearby.

  “Sit down. No need to stand,” Munk said, stopping me.

  He hovered above the cockpit, studying me. Great. Just what I needed. What did he want now? The silence dragged on, until Munk sighed, descended, and sat beside me.

  “You’re a capable young man.”

  “Thank you, Lord Munk.”

  “You know, I like brave young people like you.”

  “You have excellent taste, Lord Munk.”

  “Hahaha, no need for flattery, Aney. I come to you with an offer.”

  “I’m listening closely, Lord Munk, and I’ll try not to disappoint you with my answer.”

  “Would you like to become my apprentice?”

  Most people would be falling at the feet of a God of War after an offer like that.

  “I’m sorry, Lord Munk. I’m truly honored by such high praise from a God of War, but I must decline your offer—I already have a teacher.”

  “Oh?” Munk raised a brow. “And who might that be? I’ll tell you now, Aney, not every teacher can compare himself to a God of War! If it’s just some Ancestor, he wouldn’t dare speak against me!”

  “It’s the Crow.”

  “What?”

  “My teacher is the Crow, Lord Munk.”

  He paused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

  “Haha! Well, I’ll be damned. That old devil finally got lucky in this life! Still, Aney, you know as well as I do that Crow is no longer a God of War. And yet you have the gall to refuse me?”

  I narrowed my eyes.

  “So what, Lord Munk? That means he can no longer be my teacher?”

  We sat in silence for a moment.

  “Very well, then!” Munk stood and rose into the air. “I respect your decision.”

  And just like that, he vanished.

  Damn, that was nerve-racking! I exhaled slowly. Gods of War really didn’t like being turned down. I remembered how furious Crow had been when I first rejected him. Well, to hell with it—I had more pressing matters. Like the new gray cube in my storage. I needed to see what was inside.

  Unfortunately, disappointment awaited me. The cube contained a yellow human rib with green veins running through it. For some reason, I’d been hoping for a foot. I already had both hands and one foot, after all…

  My brooding was cut short by the sudden approach of another God of War’s aura—charging straight for the boat. What was this, open house day? Vasa was sprawled lazily beside me on the bench, draping her arm over my shoulders like we were best friends.

  “Relax, kid. I already know you turned down Munk because your teacher is the Crow.”

  My eyes drifted toward her… impressive bust, which looked like it might burst right out of her too-tight armor at any moment.

  “So what does the esteemed Goddess of War Vasa desire?”

  “Kid, I’m not a fool like Munk. I don’t need to hoard everything for myself. How about this—I’ll be your second teacher? Even that old crow won’t mind. We’ve been friends for ages. What do you say?”

  Her arm pressed harder against my shoulder. So much for feminine gentleness… She could probably crush me like a bug right now!

  “Lady Vasa, I cannot make decisions on behalf of my teacher.” At that, the pressure on my shoulder increased to the point my bones started creaking. “But… I could offer you something else!”

  I blurted it out before she crippled me on the spot.

  “Well? Let’s hear it, then! What’ve you got?”

  She leaned in even closer—though, honestly, there wasn’t much room left unless she climbed into my lap.

  “Lady Vasa, you could be my trainer while I’m in the Empire!”

  “Trainer?” She made a face. “What am I supposed to do with that? Pffft…”

  “Please, don’t diminish the work of a trainer, Lady Vasa. It’s no less important than that of a teacher!”

  “Oh, really?”

  Oh gods… what a blockhead.

  “Of course! It’s thanks to trainers that students acquire practical combat skills. Think about it—practice without theory is blind, and theory without practice is dead! In fact, the role of a trainer in shaping a warrior can even surpass that of a teacher. It all depends on who the trainer is. Just imagine, Lady Vasa!”

  Her face shifted rapidly as she processed my words—flashes of anger, pride, and satisfaction flickering in quick succession.

  “Fine! Deal! I’ll be your trainer now!”

  She leapt into the air from a sitting position, nearly flipping the whole boat, and flew off.

  I grinned with satisfaction. I now had my own personal punching bag. Gods of War were sturdy and tough to injure permanently.

  Then, suddenly, I felt another surge of divine aura—Grim was approaching fast.

  Now what did he want?

  “Kid!” he bellowed, hovering above the boat. “I’ll forgive your arrogance and big mouth if you agree to become my apprentice right now! But if you refuse, I’ll rip your stupid head off!”

  To hell with him. I shot into the air and leveled with him, spear in hand.

  “Go ahead and try, you bastard!”