Adon fluttered down yet another path in the tiresome, seemingly never-ending maze of the third level to the dungeon.

  This time, he had done a better job of economizing his resources to explore for much longer in the inferno atmosphere. His Transformation form was slightly smaller and leaner, and his mana use just slightly more efficient.

  The result was that he was now into his tenth path explored in the volcanic cave level of the dungeon.

  The journey was overall grueling and almost painful due to the environmental element. He was glad that he had not allowed Rosslyn to accompany him as she had suggested. Nothing within had attacked him, just like on his previous trips, but something probably would have if he had been accompanied by an adult human warrior woman. He would never have been able to stretch his resources so far or travel so quickly if he and Rosslyn had to fight every creature along the way.

  He was out of any ideas he’d had earlier about figuring out the correct path by any form of deduction. Every route appeared almost the same, just with slightly different twists and turns. This was pure process of elimination now.

  Right, I need to take a right here…

  This particular route was one that Adon had taken earlier, so he was simply taking different turns than he had last time he wandered down this particular corridor. The one advantage he had was that his Impeccable Memory would allow him to recognize if he was taking the exact same path on one of his trips versus a somewhat different route. If not for that, Adon could easily imagine someone wandering in this level of the dungeon for days before they gave up and had to leave to resupply. Though maybe that hypothetical person would be eating monster meat instead—and living on magically conjured water, perhaps.

  Adon had never encountered someone who had the ability to create water out of nothing magically, though. Considering that the knights carried water along with the rest of their equipment, it was probably either a rare or nonexistent affinity.

  The butterfly focused up as he wound into a completely new section of the labyrinthine level. After getting a lot of distance from the entrance, this path seemed to be widening out a bit. That was something new.

  The magma pits remained just as frequent as ever—No, they’re getting more common, right?

  Now that he focused on them, the glowing orange pools were definitely growing more numerous as he continued down this winding path.

  The number of monsters he sensed within the magma pits was not increasing, though. Whatever creatures somehow lived inside those bodies of liquid, Adon felt their frequency was roughly the same despite the increased number of magma puddles and pools dotting this area.

  And while the little bodies of magma had mostly been on the edges of the path—where people would not naturally step on them—now they occasionally dotted the center of the walking area, potentially forcing any human expedition to stand further apart from each other.

  That would make them easier prey for the monitors and whatever lives in the magma, Adon thought, watching as another of the monitors indifferently flicked its tongue at his approach. Just like every other creature on this level thus far, it effectively ignored him.

  Adon was quickly able to return his attention to the space ahead of him. The glowing orange cracks in the ceiling were diminishing in number as the glowing pools increased in quantity.

  This is the one right path, isn’t it?

  The butterfly felt excited and nervous at once.

  If he was right, he just needed to follow this path to its conclusion, and he would find the exit. Probably also another monster, if the conventional wisdom about dungeons was correct here.

  Adon began paying closer attention to his environment for the first time since just after he began his exploration. The walls were the same jagged rock—partially volcanic rock and glass—that he had observed throughout much of this floor. The floor was a plainer stone. The ceiling was growing less fractured, more solid over time.

  As he advanced a little further, Adon realized that the magma had suddenly transitioned from randomly bubbling pools into two solid streams, one on either side of the path, flowing slowly in the same direction he was flying.

  He swallowed a lump in his throat—it felt weird that this mostly mammalian body got those, relative to his experiences as a butterfly—and flew onward.

  The path continued to wind, but the turns were fewer and more gradual now, as if the dungeon was spiraling toward a conclusion.

  As Adon rounded another bend, he saw something in the distance.

  The shape of it was hard to make out at first in the relative darkness. It was only clear that there was a large creature standing in the shadows left by the now fully intact ceiling and the slightly smaller streams of magma at that end of the path.

  Perhaps most importantly, the light of the magma simply ceased beyond whatever this shape in the dark was.

  Adon forced himself to stop and flap in place for a few seconds as his eyes tried to better grasp what they were seeing.

  The first thing that made itself clear to him was a reptilian, serpent-like head. It had a triangular aspect to it, which his brain slowly processed as a long beak and a ridge or horn on its head.

  This thing is sort of like a dinosaur, Adon thought.

  Then, as if his vision was triggered by his comprehension rather than the other way around, the rest of the image fell into view.

  A pair of skin wings, like those of a pterodactyl, and a head that resembled that of one of those ancient monsters, were the only things this beast had in common with that dinosaur.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Its long tail gave away that it was something different, its form was far longer, bulkier, and more muscular than anything that would fit with the fossilized bones that Adon remembered from museums from another world. The sheer size of the thing dwarfed that of the Giant Lava Monitors Adon had encountered.

  And its eyes…

  How did I not see those eyes first?

  They seemed to glow gently orange in the dark. For all the talk of the Demon Empire and its hordes, this was the first time in this world that it felt a bit like he was encountering something actually infernal rather than clearly natural in origin.

  Adon had to order his currently mammalian heart to calm down and quietly tell himself that the creepy glow was actually just the magma glinting off the monster’s pure black eyes in the darkness. Still off-putting. Just not literally demonic.

  Also, you’re probably freaking out in part because this thing is an apex predator relative to you and this place. Just remember that it’s probably still not that strong. It’s just a monster from level three of a dungeon. That’s a doable challenge, right?

  He told himself that it was.

  At that point, he regained sufficient presence of mind to use Identify.

  Magma Wyvern (Female).

  Great! I put a name to the problem. At least it’s not a dragon. Now how do I deal with her?

  Something about this monster was still very off-putting, but it was hard to put his finger on it exactly.

  Adon fluttered over to one of the rock walls as he thought this and settled on one of the less jagged portions of stone.

  And the wyvern’s head turned slightly.

  Adon realized that its eyes were following him.

  That’s what was bothering me. She’s paying more attention to me than anything else in here has.

  The wyvern had been watching him carefully since the transformed butterfly came into view. Not in an idle, disinterested way like the monitors, either. And Adon had sensed it, without truly realizing what he was observing, through Telepathy.

  Shit…

  As he stood on the wall watching, Adon observed the wyvern’s head turn slightly to the side, then pivot back to looking at him. With his focus squarely on the creature’s mind now, Adon recognized what it was doing.

  She’s trying to decide whether to come after me or stay in place.

  Adon’s eyes glanced at the spot the wyvern had looked back at, and he realized there was a massive opening in the floor. It was black, because it fell completely in shadow, so he had almost missed it completely.

  That’s what she’s guarding. This is where the exit is. Right. Adon had almost forgotten he was looking for that. The way out of the level. Seems like my job is done here.

  Adon was still twenty feet away from the wyvern, but he realized he did not want to draw any nearer. Considering how intelligent this creature seemed to be—it was on actual guard duty, standing next to the thing it was guarding for the dungeon, rather than just acting like any random animal would act—he thought that getting any closer would probably trigger an attack. The butterfly might not seem like a threat to the monitors or whatever creatures dwelt in the magma pools, but this wyvern did not appear to be as benevolently careless as those monsters had been.

  Not triggering the boss fight right now, no thank you, sorry!

  Any information gathered would be of less expected value by the sheer diminution in Adon’s probability of getting back to the group.

  So saying, Adon flapped his wings and took off from the wall, flying back to the center of the cave path—only to notice that the behavior of the magma streams on either side, including right next to where he had just been, had changed. The gentle, random bubbling from before had turned furiously intense.

  Adon turned his head and noticed the wyvern had suddenly shifted its entire posture. Mana was quickly gathering toward its upper body. It was clearly preparing some sort of magical attack.

  Shit!

  The butterfly flapped hard, pushing himself to get further away from the suddenly hostile monster.

  He heard rather than saw what it did behind him.

  There was a rush of air and a sizzling noise, and then Adon could sense something vast moving behind him.

  He turned his head and saw a curtain of magma almost as tall as the ceiling pushing toward him. At almost the same moment that he turned to look, the streams of magma to the sides of the path suddenly burst upward and formed walls of superheated liquid on either side of him, stretching up to the ceiling.

  Everything had the air of a final attack. A coup de grace intended to kill off a foe that had pushed the wyvern to its limits.

  I didn’t even do anything, damn it!

  Adon flapped harder, pushing more mana into his wings, but with the corner of his peripheral vision and his head still slightly turned back, he was fairly certain the magma curtain was approaching him faster than he could fly.

  A final attack would not be slow, after all.

  All right, last backup plan, then!

  Adon flapped harder and faster, rushing up toward the roof. The magma only a few feet away, he touched down on the surface of the ceiling.

  Then he used Transformation again, his body shrinking faster than it ever had before. He only finished his change as the curtain of magma finally reached him.

  There were a few seconds of intense, almost unbearable heat from below. The blinding glow of magma up close half-blinded Adon.

  And then it moved past.

  The curtain of magma dragged on for another fifteen feet or so beyond Adon’s position. It was hard to be sure, since his vision was still glowing white from close proximity to the brightly glowing liquid.

  After a few seconds, his temporary semi-blindness faded, however.

  Then Adon was able to begin his retreat. He did not try to fly away for the moment. He had given up his wings to reach his present form, and he did not want to risk catching the wyvern’s attention again. He could tell the creature was no longer looking out for his activity. Its mind was completely relaxed now, as it had not been when it realized Adon was there.

  The butterfly crawled along the ceiling of the level, grateful that this area was not cracked and glowing orange. He still had to pour mana into his vulnerable body, of course, but this form was also far less optimized for the heat than his previous Transformation had been.

  For the first time since becoming a butterfly, Adon had been forced to turn himself back into a caterpillar. That had been the quickest way he could think of to squeeze himself into the tiny space between the ceiling and the upper limit of the curtain of magma.

  He was already so tired from the various energy expenditures of the level—from constant use of Transformation and Telepathy to further protecting his body from the heat and enhancing his wings for faster flight.

  Still, Adon forced himself to retreat slowly from the monster.

  Even if the wyvern had forced him to retreat, as long as Adon survived the encounter, he was the real winner.