Adon did not know how long he was out.

  By the time he awoke again, however, his resources were fully—or very nearly fully—restored.

  “We are finally all ready to descend, Adon,” Rosslyn said smoothly, and like that, the butterfly was awake and almost fully alert. Such was the nature of quiescence. He had never been truly asleep.

  Still, as the words rang through him, the butterfly’s mind was still partially in the world of fantasy that he had occupied during his semi-conscious rest period. He had been picking over the memories of the last couple of days, with special emphasis on the most recent floor. Part of it was simple pragmatism, attempting to refine his own understanding of dungeon fighting strategy. But he had also experienced some difficulty trying not to get stuck on Sir Humphrey’s memories.

  The memory of Sir Humphrey and Eliza—of the visceral experience of love—was fresh on the butterfly’s mind as he looked up at Rosslyn. The Princess had extended her hand to him before he had even said anything back, and he realized that she must be waiting for him to climb aboard.

  Glad to hear it, he managed to send. I feel pretty refreshed myself.

  Then he flitted up onto her wrist and took a couple of steps to settle himself there. The Princess made a sharp little intake of air, which he realized immediately was the result of the tips of his legs inadvertently tickling her sensitive skin.

  He thought about apologizing, but then he thought better of it, and he simply sent her a little telepathic chuckle.

  Rosslyn smiled.

  Then the group descended into the darkness of the staircase, Rosslyn and the other leaders of the expedition taking the lead with the mistake beasts riding them down.

  The stairway was long and never became well lit. It was a place of darkness and mystery. The question of who or what had carved a staircase into the dungeon, and why, remained elusive.

  As they descended, there was time for small talk, but the group as a whole was somber and quiet.

  Adon opened up a telepathic channel exclusively with Goldie, not wanting to include others with the mood in the air.

  How long was I out? he sent.

  I think it was around two hours, Goldie replied. Frederick and William thought they would need two hours to get back to full strength, and we reunited with Rosslyn after they were completely recharged.

  Other than obtaining that piece of information—which Adon knew would allow him to get a gauge of the depths of the young lords’ mana pools for later, if he had the chance to see them go all out—little of interest occurred in the stairway. Conversation died down shortly after his exchange about how long he had been out. The tunnel they moved through seemed to suck the positive feelings out of the air.

  It was almost entirely dark, once they passed out of the very slightly orange-tinted glow near the third level. Visually, the space might as well have been a pit. Spending time in such a place gave the group the feeling of walking into the unknown—which was, in this case, literally true.

  In terms of Adon’s non-visual senses, the only noteworthy tactile sensation was that the temperature dropped radically between floors—though that just meant it went from oven hot to lukewarm.

  And there was a strange change to the sound of footsteps that occurred halfway through the dark tunnel. If there had been literally anything to look at, he might have missed it, but his non-visual senses were all hyper-focused, because even Adon could not see much of anything, just outlines of those around him visible with his Infrared Vision.

  The moment came when the stairs went from a muffled, earthen sound with each step to a crisp, metallic noise.

  But the butterfly could not tell what that meant the first time he noticed it.

  It was not until they were approaching the end of the shaft that some light became visible again. Then the ground all around the party gently gleamed—because the stairs, it seemed, had been transmuted from what had seemed like solid rock, or earth, into gold.

  The slightly sharper sounds that footsteps had begun to give off made more sense then.

  There were sharp gasps from all around as the knights noticed the shift. Thankfully, they had enough dignity not to stop and begin attempting to pry loose the precious metal from the floor—though Adon sensed that more than one of them would have done so if they had been in the dungeon without any heirs to national thrones present.

  The group continued walking in relative silence, as they had been before, but it had a more ominous cast about it now.

  Every member of the party was aware of the fact that the dungeon core had at some point reached into the tunnel—the transition space, the safe zone, as most of them thought of it—and interfered in the makeup of the place at some point. It was hard to say what the message of a dungeon’s floor suddenly being paved with gold was—other than simply reminding the explorers that the intelligence that ruled this dungeon existed and was watching out for them.

  It was definitely off-putting.

  An alien intelligence was making itself known, and this mind was certainly unfriendly. The only question on people’s minds about the gold—once the prospect of retrieving it had faded into the realm of idle fancy—was whether the dungeon core had added it to the floor before or after the party entered the dungeon.

  From Telepathy, Adon gathered that despite everything he had heard about dungeons, and the common wisdom relating to them that Rosslyn, William, and Frederick shared, there was much that was unknown about these places—or considered known only through conjecture or deduction.

  Is something going to attack us, in here of all places? wondered one knight.

  Eliza, this is only a test, thought Sir Humphrey. The Goddess will bring us back together…

  Does this dungeon have the ability to reach into the spaces between levels? thought a female knight. What else can it do?

  Why would the core bother with gold-plating the floor? another pondered.

  No one truly understood how a dungeon core thought, how it worked, or what it wanted besides, presumably, survival.

  But even that raised questions in Adon’s mind, at least. Perhaps he lacked the common sense of the setting, but if the core wanted survival, why not strengthen the dungeon to the maximum possible degree before opening its entrance up to potential attackers? Dungeons could develop to varying degrees before they manifested a way in for human explorers—and a way out for monsters. Why not wait until you were as large and deep as possible, to ensure no human could possibly complete the dungeon before the monsters were ready to be set loose?

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Perhaps they could not work that way. Maybe they needed humans to come and die in the dungeon, the same way that mystic beasts needed to consume enemies to grow stronger.

  The nature of the dungeon and the core’s decision-making was one of many mysteries.

  Now the matter of the golden stairs would be added to the unending pile of questions.

  The descent continued.

  Adon, when we reach the floor below, I think we will probably ask you to scout again, Rosslyn thought loudly. After the final boss on the previous level, the value of your intelligence became obvious. Too obvious for William or Frederick to deny it. And William seems pleased to let you go into danger now. Perhaps a bit too pleased…

  I’m happy to take a look ahead, Adon transmitted. Remember, I can literally turn invisible. I feel completely comfortable.

  Well, I do not, Rosslyn replied. You take far too many risks for us—for me. I—

  Rosslyn, you know I can’t take you with me, right? Adon sent, cutting her off.

  There was a slightly sullen silence.

  Then, irritably: I know, all right? I am not accustomed to letting others fight my battles for me. Not without my presence. When I heard that the Empire was invading, I just wanted to be at the front—to be anywhere I could help.

  Adon kept himself from saying that was something she would have to get used to if she was going to rule. It sounded condescending in his head, and he sensed that she was aware.

  It’s a good thing I don’t plan on doing any fighting, he sent instead after a moment.

  She let out a little snort, and Adon felt the tension of the exchange deflate completely.

  I just wish that you were not going alone, she thought.

  Thank you, he sent. The butterfly could not help but feel a little pleasure at the Princess worrying about him. Not that he wanted to worry her, but it was nice to be someone worthy of her concern.

  They continued on and made the rest of the journey down in silence. The group arrived at an opening large enough for a half dozen people to walk through shoulder to shoulder. Across from the exit, a rock wall was visible.

  “Everyone, halt!” Rosslyn called.

  The group obediently stopped, and the Princess pulled the young lords aside. Goldie and Samson still stood on their shoulders.

  “We should make a plan of attack for the next level,” Rosslyn said briskly, not wasting any time.

  “I assumed you intended to lead the way on this floor,” William said, shrugging. “Whatever you prefer to do, we are happy to be of assistance.”

  Rosslyn frowned. “It appears to be fairly tight quarters near the level entrance,” she said, gesturing at the opening.

  William nodded. “That it does.”

  “Did that give you any ideas for how to deal with the floor, Princess?” Frederick asked.

  Adon had the sense that the brothers were playing the moment carefully, and he quickly skimmed their thoughts.

  Seems like they just want Rosslyn to be the one to suggest me for scouting duty, Adon thought. Since it’s obvious, with the relatively small space around the opening, that it would be a good place to ambush and trap new people entering the level, they know she’ll want to send me scouting.

  I think I should check out the floor, Adon sent quickly, before the brothers could bait Rosslyn any further. It worked out well on the last one.

  Rosslyn’s lip quivered slightly. Even though they had discussed this on the way down, Adon could feel she still was not quite all right with this.

  I volunteer to go with you, transmitted Goldie.

  Now it was Frederick’s turn to get an uncomfortable look. Adon felt a wave of genuine surprise from the young lord.

  Take that, Frederick, Adon thought. You shouldn’t be helping your brother mess with Rosslyn. Bros before, um, whatever you are to Goldie!

  “Is that all right with you, Adon?” Rosslyn asked. She looked slightly relieved that he might not be going alone.

  This level, as with previous levels, will be more dangerous than those previous, Rosslyn reminded him in her mind. Please just take Goldie.

  Maybe I should go, too, Samson transmitted quickly.

  Only one of you can really fit on my back, Adon replied. Sorry, man. When we flew through the forest together, both of you riding kept me from ever going very fast. You’ve both gotten larger since then. So have I, but I haven’t increased in size fast enough.

  Goldie would need to shrink down, and Adon would need to slightly grow, just to make this work with only her.

  I understand, Samson sent. I’ll just work on my mana training here, then.

  “Seems as if everything is decided, then,” William said, clapping his hands eagerly.

  “Ye—” Frederick began.

  Then the ground all around them shook slightly.

  Adon heard a rumbling noise from outside. A large number of stones falling, though he could not see any of them through the opening that stood before them.

  “You had better make this a very quick scouting trip,” Rosslyn said, furrowing her brow. Her worry was not only for Adon now. Stuck as they were in a stone tunnel until the mystic beasts returned with the lay of the land, she was conscious of the danger of a cave-in.

  Adon read that she wasn’t unduly worried, because no one had ever heard of people dying in a tunnel between levels within a dungeon—it really was meant to be a sort of safe zone, according to the known lore—but she could not be completely secure. After all, would anyone have survived to tell such a tale if a tunnel had simply collapsed on top of them?

  The group wasted little time on further discussion. Adon expanded to a larger size, until the butterfly was two-thirds Rosslyn’s height—not too much of an expansion for him, since she was not particularly large of stature—and Goldie shrunk down slightly, from her slightly-larger-than-a manhole-cover size to her old dinner plate size.

  Ready to go? Adon sent.

  Yes, Goldie transmitted.

  See you all soon! Adon sent to the others.

  Without waiting for a reply, Goldie climbed onto his back, and they took off, quickly fluttering up to the entrance.

  Adon altered his Transformation still further at that point, changing his body to its clear, almost perfectly invisible state. And after a moment, Goldie did the same.

  Then they flew outside, entering the fourth level officially for the first time.

  The arthropods found themselves in a canyon—one where the walls that had been just out of view from the tunnel looked very peculiar on inspection. Specifically, they were more full of holes than Swiss cheese. Something had been tunneling there.

  But other elements seized Adon’s attention almost as strongly as the indicator of nonhuman activity.

  One of the first things Adon noticed in the new environment was just that it was so bright—the light actually hurt his eyes in here, which was a first for the dungeon—and there was something else that he felt on top of that.

  Something that touched his senses subtly. So subtly that he wasn’t sure of quite what he was feeling.

  Adon tried to put his finger on exactly what was going on, but as he thought about it, Goldie spoke up.

  What is that? the spider sent.

  And the butterfly turned his body slightly, to try and see what she was looking at.

  Then Adon realized she had reared up on her hind legs and was looking straight up. He flapped his wings, shifted his position, and looked straight up, too, using his best set of eyes.

  He found himself staring, wordless for a moment.

  I don’t understand… Adon thought. How can that be here?