The following days continued with more fights, and Avan had to fight in more groups of two and three against other monsters, but these fights were much easier and better with more competent fighters.

On the last day of the arena fights for the mob, as Rielta had told them, Avan had to fight one of the other survivors in single combat, and spectacularly defeated his opponent in a few minutes, as it had been one of the already wounded slaves.

And so the games ended for the normal spectators of the population of Haipu, and today the first day in The Black Ascent Dungeon tower was ahead of them. Avan was actually more nervous thinking about the days ahead, and the invisible nobles and rich spectators that they could not see from the inside, but they could be seen. The tower radiated something eerie, not only because of the black obsidian color, but also a kind of gloomy aura that gave Avan goose bumps.

As he was led across the sand and to the tower with the other slaves and a detachment of dozens of guards, he let his thoughts run free, pondering the negative feelings that seemed to connect him to the tower.

I have a really bad feeling... Unlike the only other dungeon I've entered so far, this tower gives off very dangerous vibes, almost as if this dungeon has an evil life of its own. Or something else in it that gives me the creeps... I should be on my guard.In general, I haven't seen a single beast-kin yet, even though Haipu is known for tolerating only humans and enslaving everyone else as racist as they are. So where have all these non-human slaves gone? There is more going on here than meets the eye, definitely!

The guards led the twenty-three last surviving slaves through larger tunnels that stretched through the gigantic colloseum to reach a large outdoor area on the other side, where the black dungeon tower greeted them perilously, towering above them all into the sky.

"When you saw the dungeon, did you feel the same...? an odd feeling of approaching danger?" Avan whispered, his head still facing forward.

Lea walked to his left and Nick to his right, and both had understood his question without the trio drawing attention to themselves.

"I feel... Uncomfortable. But I don't feel anything... But I think I know what you mean." Whispered the woman to his left, while Nick joined in from the right. "And since our mana is suppressed we can't actually feel anything more specific, except a vague premonition like you described yourself..."

Avan nodded in thought and with his gaze still fixed on the tower they were all heading for, and a cold feeling was getting ready inside him. Something was bothering him, and it wouldn't let go, no matter how hard he tried to shake it off.

The closer they got, the taller the tower grew, or at least that's how it seemed to all of them as they stood at the base of the dungeon, looking up with their heads on their necks.

They had been briefed beforehand by Taskmaster Rielta on how the procedure would work, and were not surprised at the continued silent escort of the guards, except that some of the slaves were whispering to each other.

The entrance to the tower was a simple black archway, which measured ten meters from the highest point of the archway down to the ground, while a good ten people could walk through at the same time, side by side.

As soon as they were led inside, black obsidian steps were seen on both sides of the tower, leading up to the magical seating stands. In front of Avan and the other slaves, another twenty meters down inside the tower, a blue glowing portal wafted, leading to a prairie, the first level of the dungeon.

Knowing what he knew now, Avan also finally realized that dungeons naturally used dimensional magic to make the levels and rooms inside many times larger than they appeared from the outside and would actually take up space.

The first level, therefore, according to the explanation and brief introduction they had all received, had a diameter of two kilometers, where it ended at an invisible wall. Air, temperature, weather and also the day and night cycle were represented and simulated in different ways on each of the levels.

He had already quietly agreed with Lea and Nick that they would go in together at any cost, and so all three held hands when it was their turn to enter.

The portal would place them all at different points on the level as they entered, and then it would be everyone against everyone against monsters. Player versus player versus environment, as I know it from some games... Avan sighed at the thought.

One by one, people disappeared into the portal with an audible pop, like a soap bubble bursting, and here and there some of the others had formed groups. One of these groups, not really to Avan's surprise, consisted of the coward who seemed to be leading two people again and had made it out of the infirmary, though he still looked shaken.

Just as he and his two cronies entered the portal, the guy turned and looked around at the remaining people until his gaze locked on Avan. An expectant grin later, the group of three also disappeared into the dungeon.

"Well then, let's go, shall we?" Avan said and marched to the portal as well, Lea and Nick in tow without comment.

Avan reached out and gently touched the portal first with his right palm, and it felt like an extremely high surface tension of water. With a sigh and due to the inevitability of the situation, he put his hand all the way through the surface and stepped into the portal holding Lea's left hand.

He shuddered, and something lurked in the background that should not have been there. Avan felt a presence, something twisted, unnatural, that seemed to be watching him and his two friends, who were holding hands. The feeling was something entirely different from what he had felt even from the portals of the god of death, but it had a certain similarity that he could not deny. If there had not been this twisted feeling of this presence.

A few steps later, the three again stepped through a gauzy, almost liquid, membrane of the portal on the other side, stumbling briefly as they found themselves on the rough terrain of a prairie.

They were greeted by a slightly parched grassy landscape that had seen too much sun and too little water, with only a few hills and sparse trees providing cover far and wide. The grass had a yellowish color and reached Avan's waist, while the trees also stood sparsely in the landscape and gave a sad impression. Above all this was a merciless sun, which burned down on them with high summer temperatures.

From the rules, the three slaves knew that from now on everything was allowed, and the only goal was to find the middle portal and pass through it to get to the second level, and so on. They landed in the outer area of each level and had to find their way around and figure out for themselves where the middle was.

Also, the slaves were only told what to expect on the first level, namely various aggressive herds consisting of buffaloes and, of course, the ugly goblin clans. At the latter, Avan's face grimaced as he thought back to the smelly and disgusting beasts.

He took a few more steps onto the level and then turned to face his team, the portal nowhere in sight.

Each of them had been given a belt with a leathern water bottle, a fist-sized canvas sack with dried meat and berries, and an arm-length bronze sword.

"Now then, Nick, Lea. Shall we?" He grinned at them in turn, tilting his head as he smiled expectantly.