Levi stared down into the dimness. Faint light glinted off something he couldn't make out, but it was far below. Easily fifteen to twenty feet. Once he jumped down, he wouldn't be climbing out easily, and there was no ladder or stair. It would have to be a blind jump.

Even worse, the opening was small, barely big enough for him to fit through. There was no way to fit his whole team down there. It would be way too tight for the ogres, or even Becca - though she could teleport, so that wouldn’t be an actual obstacle.

For a moment he wondered why he felt the need to bring his minions along at all, but quickly decided that he wasn’t going to disregard his instincts. The Dark dungeon had a treasure hidden in the same room as the only non-boss + Levi had met since returning - Becca - and he wouldn’t be surprised if there was something like that going on here as well.

“Mind taking a look around?”

Becca teleported down inside immediately. She returned a moment later, flicking her paws and hissing, the rusty-orange corrosive goo that had been absent from this particular dungeon smeared across the floor where she stood.

"Interesting." Levi leaned over to look in, but the room was dramatically lit at the top and not at the bottom, ruining any chance of nightvision and concealing whatever lurked beneath. "Never seen this kind of thing before."

He considered not jumping down, but only for a moment. It was a hidden secret in a boss room! He wasn't going to pass up whatever treasure awaited him down there, even if it was protected by the destruction goo.

"Was it covering the whole floor?"

Becca nodded, still flicking her paws as her health slowly recovered, looking every bit like her fur should be standing on end. A very clearly unhappy kitty.

"I'll need your help, then." He wasn't sure about the smaller minions survival chance, and the hole was too small for the ogres or centipedes to fit down. "Maggie, you too."

The magma serpent hissed agreement and moved to Levi's side. Frosty ran up to him and jumped up and down.

"Sure, you can come if it’s okay with Gordon, but stay cautious." Since the corrosive was pooled on the floor, Frosty should be safe staying on the ceiling and walls.

Levi dropped down into the secret area, landing with a splash in ankle-deep corrosive, thick and highly concentrated. His boots began to drop in durability at once, and he knew if he stood here for too long they'd end up completely destroyed. He could repair them, but it would take almost all his mana and leave him defenceless if something came up. Still, better to lose his boots than his feet.

The tunnel walls curved, looking vaguely like an old-time sewer causeway, only without any convenient way to walk outside of the thick goo on the floor. lit by a bright orange glow on the ceiling high above and leaving the remainder of the tunnel in shadow.

Maggie slithered down, swayed for a moment hanging half in and out of the trapdoor, then dropped in the rest of the way with a plop and sizzle. She hissed in displeasure as corrosive scorched against her fiery scales, sending up a vile-smelling cloud of smoke, but at least her presence provided a faint light.

Becca teleported down, landing on the snake's back to avoid her paws landing in the corrosive. Maggie hissed at her angrily. Becca hissed back. Frosty ran along the ceiling, her crystalline legs click-click-clicking away as she scampered on ahead.

Levi didn't wait for Maggie and Becca to untangle themselves, but took off at a jog. He wanted to reach the other end of this tunnel and get out of the corrosive as soon as possible.

The tunnel twisted, then split, one branch leading down a stairway like a waterfall of orange goo, the other leading up a few steps clear of the corrosive level. Levi had a sinking feeling that the downward route would be the correct one, but turned to check the upward path first. At least it gave him a few minutes out of the constant drain of the destructive goo.

If this dungeon weren't such a low level, he'd think this was the kind of place where Essences were formed, but of course an untouched level 1 couldn't be strong enough to create something like that yet.

The upward path dead-ended in a spike trap, the walls sprouting spears that Levi only just managed to leap back away from.

"Of course it couldn't be that easy."

He reluctantly cast repair on his boots, whose integrity was rapidly nearing none, then waited for several minutes while his mana slowly ticked back up until he had enough to use his swords a decent amount of time if necessary. The whole time he mentally cursed himself for not putting his stat point into Psyche. He’d been thinking about his frequent necessity of running between dungeons and wanting to get his movement speed up, but it was getting to the point where waiting around for his mana to regenerate was growing incredibly frustrating.

Then they turned and went down the descent.

Immediately, the walls narrowed and the ceiling lowered, until Levi felt like he should duck even though he didn't actually need to. The close confines kept the caustic smoke from Maggie's presence accumulating, making Levi cough and his eyes water as it lingered in the air.

Then the depth of the corrosive abruptly doubled, plunging Levi down an unexpected step into liquid destruction up to his knees. The corrosive substance was thicker than water, making moving forward a much slower proposition. Maggie hissed angrily, and Levi saw her health was almost down to half. Becca was faring better, but not by much.

Caution told him to move slowly; practicality demanded he move faster to get through before the corrosive weakened them too much more.

Practicality won out.

"Frosty, scout ahead, let me know if you find anything. We're going to be stepping up the pace."

Frosty saluted with one leg and ran on ahead, as Levi pushed on as quickly as he could through the thick goo. Maggie had only her head visible above the liquid now, her whole body submerged, and Becca swam along at Levi's side looking as unhappy as he'd ever seen her.

Frosty came running back, waving her legs frantically.

Before Levi could figure out how to interpret her message a snarling kalvex pounced out of the darkness around the turn of the tunnel.

Level 1++

(Spined Kalvex)

Health 100%

This wasn’t one of the little Essence kalvex, this was a proper one, like a giant wolf crossed with an ox, as tall as Levi himself and bristling with mottled fur, small forward facing horns adorning its snarling canine face, a mane of spines flexing around its head and shoulders.

This particular kalvex was still smaller than those he’d seen in the future, but clearly the same sort of beast ogres rode into battle. And it was ++, the same designation he'd only ever seen on Essences before.

Levi's swords were already coming up before he'd consciously registered the attack, mana flaring out to activate both blades as he braced. The kalvex slammed into him heedless of the weapons stabbing into it.

Its weight drove Levi backwards into the corrosive with a full-body splash. He slammed his eyes and mouth closed as the destructive goo closed over his head, activating both swords and pushing more mana into them as the beast standing on his chest held him down. The weight was incredible, far too heavy for him to push it aside. If not for his health and stamina he’d have been crushed like a crumpled can. At the rate it was draining, he didn’t have much longer before it happened regardless.

Nothing to do but keep fighting. He pushed mana into his swords, still embedded in the kalvex’s chest, hoping to do enough damage to make it think twice about standing on top of him.

He held his breath in the darkness, counting seconds as he cursing the corrosive environment. With his eyes closed, he couldn’t even check on its health totals. He could bring up his own minions’ screens, though.

Maggie was losing health fast, while Becca was using her mana in big chunks, but her health was more stable. Levi twisted, trying to get free, but the kalvex only shifted its massive paw to hold him under. His mana ran out and still the kalvex stood atop him.

Levi hated not being able to see what was going on. Corrosive burned his skin and dampened all sound and sensation.

His health plummeted steadily and he began to wonder if he'd jumped into something too dangerous for him to survive. But only for an instant. He still had his swords in the enemy, and he still had other resources besides his mana. He lay still to conserve stamina, letting it tick up as long as he dared, until his lungs were burning and he felt he couldn’t last another second.

Flaring stamina in a massive burst, Levi used the swords as a lever to throw the kalvex to the side, knocking it off him and pulling himself up above the surface. He gasped for air, wiping the orange goo away from his face with one arm as he pulled his swords free.

"Back!" Levi shouted, and began backing away. Becca was on the kalvex's back, slashing it with her claws, while Maggie followed his instructions immediately and slithered away up the tunnel.

Frosty was nowhere in sight, and he desperately hoped she was still alive somewhere.

The tight confines made it hard to fight properly, but it also restricted the kalvex's movement so it couldn't flank them. Levi kept his swords pointed at it, his health still dropping, but the kalvex didn't follow him up the step into the shallower corrosive, instead slinking back away around the corner.

He’d escaped.

He didn’t let down his guard until he'd returned to the upward section that provided the sole respite from the slow drain of the destructive corrosive. Sinking down to sit on the top step, Levi tremulously allowed himself to relax as he caught his breath and wiped the corrosive away from his armor and body.

That had been way too close.