These enemies were quite poor. Only the lancer held an artifact, while the rest used Uncommon enchanted items – some even lacked rank two weapons. Perhaps they traded in their previous items to gain their rings for the dungeon.

[Item]: Lance of Reckoning – Rank 1

[Rarity]: Rare

[Effects]: Once a day, imbue the lance with superior power, increasing the force of the next thrust.

The lancer had used one of his abilities and the lance’s effect to shatter his hippo’s barrier. It exasperated Caesar, forcing him to use the Skeleton Mage to explore the sewers. But with seven floods of essence still whirling around his summons’ bodies, he felt much safer in doing so, as it now held a greater chance to survive during the rank up.

How does this work?

Unlike living things, a skeleton couldn’t simply eat the catalyst to absorb its power. Thus, it instead placed the Geomantic Locus between its teeth and held it there, letting magical energy seep from its bones and dissolve the catalyst over time. A very long process – Caesar decided to do something else as it stood there, slack-jawed. He summoned Alta to help him while the Skeleton Mage hid inside the cellar and deposited all its bags inside.

The decision to head into the sewers first required confirmation that the remaining members of the Fox Cult posed no threat. His search and subsequent escape needed to be quick, lest their remnants call for reinforcements elsewhere.

“Alta, what do you know about their movements?”

“Many things,” she said. From what she had studied over the past few weeks, members of the cult remained in the city while their leaders disappeared for longer periods of time. “I spotted the people we killed leaving the weekly meetings, presumably for the sewers, but sometimes they’d return the next day. If there is a dungeon, I suspect they’ve only cleared most of it.”

“Most? It’s been more than a month.”

“When their leaders do return, they’re usually gravely injured. They try to hide it, but I can tell. Oddly positioned limbs, faster steps, and the occasional limp.”

“Seems dangerous. Then, I’ll wait for you to finish before entering the dungeon.”

He handed over one of the potion sets to Alta and sent her to study the actions of the Fox Cult while he looked over her map of the city. There were three suspicious entrances to the sewers, coincidentally corresponding with the plague’s effects: one with more people, another with the most silent streets, and another in between. That narrowed down the most likely locations of a dungeon appearing.

Although it seemed risky, he went for the quietest place. Not only could he use his summons to their fullest here, but it seemed more likely for the dungeon to have caused the desolate mood to appear in the area. Caesar snuck through the plagued area of the city, taking care to avoid windows, doors, and openings in the walls where eyes might spot him. Like the occasional boy or girl, who would quietly gaze outside, as if remembering the fun they used to have.

Using the Umbral Shroud to cross the most populated area, he managed to arrive at the entrance without much danger. The descent into the sewers was slow, and he sent the Kelpie down first to explore in its humanoid form. Silence after a few minutes told him it was safe, although black essence surged to keep it safe from plague.

His expectations were indeed fulfilled. When he landed onto stone, his sight immediately fell onto corpses, scattered on the murky water with slashes all over them. They clearly looked undead, with black and blueish rotting skin. A foul stench hung in the air, and he gagged. But they did not closely resemble the zombies he had fought before.

The Kelpie remained humanoid to ambush any attackers who believed them weak. They walked down the path and crossed streams of water, following their noses to a place where it reeked even more. Along the way, his skeleton finally finished absorbing the catalyst and he replaced the Kelpie for it.

[Notice]: Congratulations! Your Skeleton Mage has ranked up and reached leveled up to Level 21! +1 Free Stat Points

Skeleton Mage: Uncommon

Level 21: 1 Free Stat Point -> 0

Ability: Artillery Magic (B) – Rank 2

Facet: Earthen Emplacement (B)

Skills:

Pyromancy – Fireball

Geomancy – Boulder

Ritualism – Ritual of Replenishment

Mana: 230

Strength: 4 -> 9

Agility: 5 -> 10

Endurance: 6 -> 11 -> 12

Magic: 18 -> 23

Willpower: 6 -> 11

Spirit: 14 -> 19

It’s quite weak, but I have to use it. Don’t want to spend all this essence. He put the extra stat point into its Endurance and hoped it could stay alive.

[Artillery Magic (B)]: An ability that allows the user to increase the power and range of offensive Magic spells in return for increased cost and cast time. Ability use is optional. B-tier indicates 50% more power and doubled range in return for doubled cost and 50% more cast time. Requires full charge for positive effects to apply.

- If the user instead takes thrice the amount of time to cast the offensive Magic spell, True Strike is applied automatically upon cast without costing extra Mana.

[Earthen Emplacement (B)]: A facet that allows the user to construct a pillar of earth from under their feet, raising them up by the height of two average humans. Geomancy spells cast on this pillar will be enhanced with extra power and range. Pillar remains for fifteen minutes or until the user wills it to dissolve. Cooldown is an hour.

I should focus more on Geomancy for this fellow.

Deep inside the sewers of the city, and the plague, a dungeon appeared as he had guessed. Nobody had come to attack, so he stayed in place until Alta returned.

Dungeon Detected!

Blight Cairn

[Type]: Field

[Level]: High Rank 2

“Blight Cairn? I see,” Caesar said. So it seemed somebody had discovered the dungeon first and fled without the proper precautions. It allowed the plague to ravage the city, which the Fox Cult noticed and investigated. Although they prevented the worst of the dungeon – its freed monsters – from attacking the city, it was not for a noble purpose. Since they had not yet discovered the Fox Cult’s more powerful leaders, he presumed they were still inside the dungeon.

----

Why did the Flesh Elemental and Ever-Shifting Faces have compatibility from the start? This puzzled Caesar, and he asked her about it when she came running. The Fox Cult remained quiet.

“Alta, what did you consume as your second catalyst back in the Starry Forest?”

“I didn’t get a clear look. It seemed to look like a few dozen things – spindly things – with the clearest energy.” She scratched her brow. “Yes, and I had to eat the whole pile before ranking up.”

It had provided her with a Willpower facet, but something was odd about the situation. His thoughts became stuck. A glance swept over the room, lingering on the undead in the waters, before shifting over to his grinning Skeleton Mage.

Epiphany came to him as he saw the black essence still working to restore the new cracks which had appeared during its rank up. That’s right! The Ever-Shifting Faces had absolutely no damage on them after consuming the catalyst!

Only the most compatible of catalysts could allow one to rank up without any damage whatsoever. Usually, the facet matched perfectly with the ability, but Overload Thoughts did not resemble Hallucinate much. It was as if the things she had consumed were already a part of her.

He thought of his fusion ability. Perhaps, the opposite had been done to a certain unknown creature like the other four Elemental horrors, splitting it into the Ever-Shifting Faces and whatever she consumed during their flight. But where was the proof for this?

All four horrors seemed to resemble humans and contained their parts. Flesh, Bone, Blood, and Grief. What else do they share? Caesar remembered their primary stats immediately, revealing another piece to the puzzle with some more guesses. Strength and Vitality. Strength and Agility. Vitality and Magic. Magic and Willpower. A horror with both Agility and Willpower is missing, but the Ever-Shifting Faces was quite quick, and the catalyst did grant a Willpower facet.

All five pairs combined made it likely to form a being with perfect stats – probably an Epic.

Monsters are more compatible with each other if they can combine into something else already existing. This was obvious. But it couldn’t be the complete truth. He suspected his ability could indeed create never before seen combinations, based on its description referring to chance as if success was still possible. Perhaps if monsters have split into something, they can fuse better? That didn’t help him, either. None of his summons were that similar.

Although he had no method of knowing which monsters in a dungeon were compatible without extensive knowledge, he hypothesized it possible for them to raise it naturally through combat. Perhaps the two minions had to become friends, or brothers in arms, to raise the chances of a successful fusion. That should be one part of the puzzle, while proving a monster with their two traits combined could exist was another.

This clued him in on the most natural compatibility choice: a rider and their steed. He needed to find a monster that fit his Kelpie, and these diseased undead seemed to fit.

But deconstruction also posed another very important question to him. Who had the power to do such a thing? The thought lingered in his mind as they walked into the portal, making him feel as if he was on the cusp of another revelation.

----

Cold air nipped at his bones, making Caesar shiver even through his Vitality. Everywhere, barren trees trembled with him.

“Do you also feel cold, Alta?” he said, inspecting the dirt for abnormalities. It appeared slightly wet. Although ice covered most of the ground, a few patches of snow appeared around the area as well, indicating possible weather abnormalities. There were no footsteps either.

“No.” It seemed that Doppelgangers could control their temperature well enough to ignore the effects of cold.

He summoned his hippo and had it take down its own barrier. Nothing happened. A Domain dungeon had a more likely chance for a disease to permeate in the air, preventing anybody from moving forwards easily without the tools to counteract it. Thus, a Ring of Disease Resistance seemed less valuable for Field dungeons of disease, although that wouldn’t necessarily be true for all. Attacks from monsters could still infect adventurers.

I wonder why that man had it in his boot? Was it just his wealth, or was he also a spy for the Fox Cult? Caesar questioned past events as they moved further inwards, hugging the trees and peeking their heads out to gaze into the distance before progressing. Each step crunched on dirt, twig, or snow. He was particularly wary of the remaining Fox Cult members and also summoned the Earthlord Python to scout the area with its Divination spell.

But no enemy appeared. They wandered in a single direction, until gradually, a stone structure came into view. It loomed over the party of man, horror, skeleton, and snake as they walked closer.

Statues of men, armed with runed helmets and axes, lined the exterior of the circular platform the structure sat on. Between each pair of warriors stood individual coffins with their edges colored in bronze, silver, or gold. These colors likely indicated level or ability tier, as a rank three had no chance of appearing in the dungeon.

But none of the coffins remained closed. Instead, their lids were all on the ground and a few corpses laid there on top of them, slaughtered by somebody else.

In the middle of the two largest statues, a massive door spanning much of the wall appeared – already opened. Etched onto its sides were many symbols too small to read. Yet Alta could understand their meaning after a period of time, and merely said, “Beware.”

Clearly, opening the door had triggered a trap and unleashed the undead on whoever did so. Caesar concluded it was the Fox Cult who went in and questioned whether or not they were still inside. If so, the choice seemed simple: send Alta in to scout while he waited outside to ambush his enemies. If not, the situation became much less obvious.

“Should we explore more of the dungeon or go inside?” he asked. "Are you prepared to disarm any traps?"