Time Elapsed: 2:01:32

The dungeon entrance lay at the face of a tunnel, roughly 100 feet into the Ironback Mine. It wasn't hard to find, if one dared to venture into the abandoned side tunnels, but no one bothered to visit it. Not only was it located in the unfriendly Ironback Mountains, but everyone who knew of the "Deep Mines" dungeon considered it to be broken.

And now Severance finally understood why: it needed a key.

"I've heard of this place," Kiah said. "No one's been able to get past the first room."

No one answered. They watched as Severance approached the dungeon entrance.

Unsure of what he was supposed to do, Severance gingerly touched the swirling gray-purple light. It made his fingers tingle, like he'd caught a mild electrical current. He frowned and pulled his hand away. None of the other dungeons had made his skin prickle like that before. It had always felt like just walking through a bright light, along with the faintly disorienting feeling of being teleported.

The System chimed, and a familiar voice spoke.

Keybearer recognized.
Name: Severance
Clan: ...
...
Error. Clan unlisted.
Affiliation unknown
...
Keybearer registered.

Welcome, Severance. Your team may enter Instance FX3N8.

It is recommended you prepare accordingly before entering. System access is limited within Instance.

"Whoa." Snow's pale eyebrows lifted. "You all get that?"

Kiah looked thoughtful, her gaze upon Severance. "Yes, I did. What does it mean?"

Though she spoke lightly, he could feel the weight behind the question. It made him remember that she was an outsider to the team and didn't know what everyone else did about his mysterious clan. Which wasn't much, really, but still.

His gaze slid to Jack Coyote. As if knowing what he was thinking, those golden eyes narrowed into a warning glare. Don't, they said.

Severance looked away. Sometimes, it made sense for Jack's caution. Other times, it felt entirely unreasonable. He made a silent promise that if things went well this run, then no matter what Jack thought, he wasn't going to keep a teammate in the dark.

He ignored the tiny voice that accused him of already doing that.

"That means we're going in," Jack Coyote said. He moved to stand near Severance, so that he too, was right next to the dungeon entrance. "From that notification, we can assume that we won't have access to some System features. Most likely communications or teleports, like in this area."

Snow shrugged. "You can't teleport in a dungeon anyway."

Jack ignored the comment. "We'll go for an hour and test things out. Severance, play it safe until we know what we're dealing with. Snow, you're on crowd control. Kiah and Valentin, you'll be our main attackers."

Kiah's gaze shifted from Severance to Jack, and she looked like she wanted to say something. But in the end, she didn't. Instead, she drew her twin short swords from her Inventory. They were single edged and along the style of a gladius, with dark leather braided along each hilt.

"I'm ready," she said.

"Same." As a cryomancer, Snow didn't exactly have weapons. He wore a set of bracelets that acted as foci, allowing him better control over his skills. It meant he never had to bother with stashing clunky weapons in Inventory.

Ever silent, Valentin loomed nearby, his long glaive easily held in one hand. His strange blood-red eyes seemed to glow in anticipation. The knightglaive never talked much, but he was always one of the first to jump into a battle. Severance had long since suspected that the guy lived to fight.

"All right. Let's go." Jack Coyote was the first to step into the gray light of the entrance. Severance waited until the tank had been swallowed up by the light before following. If something was waiting on the other side, it was better to let Jack get a handle on it first.

He came through the other side wearing a grimace. His entire body tingled as if it had been zapped by a particularly strong static shock. While the rest of the team came through, he shook out his hands and took a look around.

The place looked nearly identical to the tunnel they'd just left. The only difference was the walls were further apart and the ceiling significantly higher. Each end was made of a relatively smooth rock face, as if they were the unfinished ends of a tunnel that had yet to be mined.

Severance turned in a full circle, uncertain about what he was seeing. They were in a room formed out of rock, with no sign of an entrance or exit. It wasn't a large space either. If all five of them stood side by side and stretched out their hands so they touched, they'd easily be able to reach either side of the room. It felt rather claustrophobic. Even the light was gloomy; there were eight oil lanterns hung from the walls on short chains, providing yellow light that seemed to cast deep shadows across every surface.

"We're supposed to fight in here?" Snow eyed the walls dubiously. "There's hardly any space to move."

Jack's usual frown deepened. "We'll have to be careful of friendly fire. That goes for you too, Severance."

"Yeah, I know." Severance didn't need to be told that. He was sure that a single Suppress would fill the entire space, and would stun his entire team as well as the target.

"Look, the floor," Kiah suddenly exclaimed. "There's something there!"

The ground abruptly bulged upwards, as if it were sand rather than solid rock. Cracks splintered across its surface, little stones breaking off and tumbling down.

Severance immediately moved back, getting clear of the area. His war fans were in his hands, his attention fixated on the strange event. Something was coming through.

The rest of his team reacted similarly. Pale light blossomed around Kiah as she summoned five translucent blades. They were mirror copies of her short swords, and they floated in midair, slowly spinning around her in a circular motion.

The air temperature dropped abruptly, to the point where Severance shivered. He glanced at Snow warily, only slightly relieved to see that the cryomancer emanating an icy mist rather than a gale-force blizzard.

More rocks broke free, and a dark furry shape poked its head out of the rocky mound. Severance caught a glimpse of round little ears and a pair of glistening buckteeth before it leaped out of the hole.

Whatever it was, it threw itself at the nearest person, who happened to be Jack. He presented his shield and the critter bounced right off. The blow didn't rattle it at all. It just rose back up on all four legs and gave its head a little shake.

Like this, it looked more cute than threatening. It had a long rat-like tail, which was black and hairless. It had digging claws though, which looked far too big to fit on its tiny paws.

"Is that a mole?" Kiah asked.

Snow had a distinct look of distaste on his pale face. "Looks more like a giant rat to me."

The thing hissed and leapt at Jack once more. With a single bound, it soared a startling six feet in the air.

"Focus!" Jack Coyote snapped at them. Once more, he caught the rat-creature on his shield. Its claws dug into the heavy metal and raked long jagged furrows into the solid metal.

Severance's blood ran cold. That shield could withstand missiles. Yet here was this tiny creature, cutting it up like it was scratching a pound of butter.

"I got it." Kiah moved past Jack. "Quick Slice." Her blades struck the creature one after the other with perfect precision. Its head fell right from its neck.

It was impressive work, but Severance wasn't given the chance to admire it. The ground bulged beneath one of his feet, nearly throwing him off balance. Alarm bolted through him, and he immediately leapt away. "There's another one!"

A second furry head poked up.

Valentin was the one who reacted first, his crimson eyes narrowed. There wasn't a lot of room to maneuver, not with everyone so close to each other, so Valentin kept his glaive tucked close to his body. He stepped into a sharp thrust, the sharpened tip of his glaive piercing right into the creature's skull. When he withdrew his weapon, the critter dropped back into the hole it had made, as lifeless as the rock around them.

"Over here, too!"

Frost sprang up one of the tunnel walls, leaving a white dusting that gleamed yellow in the lanterns' light. Not even a second later, Snow cheerfully said, "Okay, not anymore. These things aren't that tough."

"The walls," Jack hissed.

As one, the team looked up. Bulges appeared all over the walls, easily numbering a couple dozen. One even began to protrude from the ceiling.

"Oh no," Severance breathed.

"Oh yes!" With a wild whoop, Snow raised both of his hands. "Freeze Storm!" Wind and snow howled out to cover the walls above their heads. In the light of the lanterns, it sparkled with golden stars. Ice began to spread, encasing each of the rock bulges.

Valentin leapt above their heads with the ease and grace of a dancer. His calm voice floated down like a whisper. "Rapid Spin."

It was such a contrast to the sheer brutality that followed. His glaive spun in a wide circle, so fast it blurred. The frozen formations exploded on all four walls. Battered furry shapes fell from the holes that were revealed. Most hit the ground, already glowing with death sparkles, but a few still clung fiercely to life.

One landed near Severance. He kicked it away, towards Kiah, who immediately thrust her sword through its skull. Two more were fairly close, so Severance dispatched them with quick swipes of his fans. The rodents died easily enough.

No new bulges appeared, so the team spent the next minute dispatching any survivors. The room lit up in purple as the bodies disintegrated into violet sparks.

Room 1 cleared.

"Room 1?" Kiah shook the blood off her blades. "How many rooms are there?"

"I hope there's a lot." Snow grinned. "That was fun. A bit too easy, but still fun."

Fun? Severance looked up at the rock overhead. Although the bodies were fading, the holes in the rock remained. Something about them made him uneasy. Snow was right. This hadn't been difficult at all. And that only made him suspicious.

"Stay sharp," Jack Coyote commanded. He maintained a ready posture, his eyes scanning the walls, the ground, even the ceiling. The moment something happened, he'd catch it.

Severance took the time to check the health bars in the party list. No one showed any visual signs of injury, yet he still relied on the list to show if anyone had taken hidden damage. Each bar was full. They'd cleared room 1 without even a scratch.

Great, he thought. And then, like Snow, he wondered how many rooms there were. No exits were appearing anywhere either, leaving them trapped in this small space.

"I hear something," Kiah suddenly said. Her brow scrunched, her attention abruptly going to the closest wall. She turned to face it fully. "I think it's coming from the holes."

The holes? Severance looked at the one beside him. It was about shoulder height, which meant he could peer straight inside. The poor lighting from the lanterns failed to illuminate much further than the crumbling edges, so all he saw was darkness.

Yet, when he leaned a little closer, he could hear a scratching sound. It was continuous, like something scraping against the rock as it passed by. After a moment, Severance realized the sound was getting closer. And louder.

Alarmed, he recoiled. Something black flew out. He ducked and it sailed overhead. Behind him, Kiah let out a loud cry.

Severance whirled, only to see her flailing at her hair. Her lip twisted into an enraged snarl as she grasped something and flung it to the ground. It flopped wildly like a fish out of water.

Kiah brought her swords down with a shout, but the blades simply bounced off like they'd hit a hard rubber ball. Her eyes widened in shock, as did Severance's.

What the heck was that thing?