Early the next morning, just after sunrise, a large group of humans enters the dungeon. Led by the stoic Vulu. Behind him trails a downcast cluster of slaves. In the lead is a massive man/lizard hybrid with twisted scars over both his empty eye-sockets. A gaunt, waifish young woman clings on and directs him. She is missing her right arm and has the long pointed ears of the elven race. The third and fourth in line are a matched pair of beastmen with fluffy ring tails, either children or naturally short statured. The final slave is a snarling bipedal wolf wrapped in leather straps to bind its' arms and muzzle. All of the slaves struggle with their iron collars and connected chain as the wolfman pulls against Vulu's resolute stride.

A squad of five Sand Vipers move in formation at the back of the group. All of them appear to be full humans, mostly with the bronze complexions of the Sultanate. The lead member carries a shortsword and medium sized rectangular shield. In the middle are two members in robes, one with a clay pitcher, the other wrapped with lengths of chain. Taking up the rear are a man with a bow and a woman strapped with a brace of throwing knives. The entire motley assortment makes their way to the entrance of the first chamber and wait there as Vulu moves in with the chained slaves. In the same fashion as the previous day he shoves the lizardman forward into the pitfall trap.

As soon as the first slave drops out of sight dark forms in the pit snag his ankles and yank hard, pulling the entire pack of slaves to the edge of the pit. The false panels burst as two cybratlings with Abductors rush out. Their weapons crackle with sparks as they push the slaves into the pit after their unfortunate comrades. Their screams are silenced quickly and replaced with hissing vermin. The two outside the pit snarl at the impassive fist fighter and back slowly into their side tunnels.

Vulu sneers at their retreat and turns back into the hallway. The man with the sword and shield turns back towards him and swallows nervously. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"I was just to deliver today's meal. You must face the dungeon alone."

"W-what if something goes wrong?"

"Then you will die. Are you Sand Vipers or whipped curs?" Vulu snorts and pushes the man out of the way. The group of adventurer's move into the room and cross the side paths nervously, flinching every time their footsteps echo back to them. The cybratlings that snatched the slaves do not return and they make their way into the corridor beyond without a fight.

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My cybratlings take the stunned slaves down a long corkscrew tunnel straight down to the chambers I installed under my dome. Holly assures me that Adventurer's will always assume the floor with my core on it is the last one. They won't think to dig down below my core chamber. Beneath the floor is a reversed dome, making a full sphere with my boss room except for a flat floor about a third of the way up from the bottom. The walls are carved with two dozen cells sealed with metal doors controlled by a system Central explained to me that uses lightning element to pull metal. I can't rearrange any of this floor once I get the slaves into it so I had to build it all ahead of time

The cells are a bit grim, but otherwise the room is pleasant. Well lit. A clean well and plenty of grass and plants. Probe 100 is the warden of my little jail since he can keep focused on them while I'm busy elsewhere and Central wants the observation data as part of our deal. I asked Holly to talk to the slaves but she says Dungeon Fairies never talk to outsiders as a point of honor. They communicate with Dungeons, Contracted Monsters, and other Fairies exclusively, and usually just to exchange information on running dungeons.

I turn my attention back to my intruders as they pass through the first corridor into the second chamber. I could have the cybratlings ambush them from behind but it's important that I don't slaughter all the adventurers on my first day. That said they aren't completely helpless, the sword and shield guy is a competent defender, keeping my forces back while the two mages do the most damage. The bowman and the knife thrower hang back and fend off any cybratlings that try to circle the group. The mage with the gourd pours out water into his hand and flings it at my cybratling squads. It freezes in midair into tiny ice spikes which shoot forward incredibly fast, punching holes in any rat too slow to dodge.

"Ice mage, another combined affinity, water and air." Holly explains, "Water is a manipulating affinity along with Earth, Metal and Wood. You can summon those elements out of pure mana but the cost is so prohibitive that most mages with those affinities will carry some material with them to use their spells with. Air, Fire, Light and Dark are generative affinities which can be summoned up cheaply."

The second mage unwraps their chain which lashes out with a life of its' own, striking down distant rats with a weighted head. "That one is a simple Metal Mage, those can be really dangerous once they have the mana reserves to wear full armor and don't have to rely on absorbing ambient mana. The woman in here the other day was a pure Wood mage."

So Air and Fire made Lightning, what are the other types?

"Starting with Water, with Earth you get Mud, Air makes Ice, Fire makes Steam. Other combinations haven't been recorded. Earth with Air makes Sand, with Fire you get Magma, and Metal makes Crystal. Metal with Fire makes Forge which is usually only used in crafting and enchanting. Metal can also combine with Light or Dark to make Blessed and Baleful affinity. Wood can have a dual affinity with both Water and Earth but doesn't seem to result in a combined affinity with either one. Fire and Light makes Holy while Fire and Dark makes Infernal."

Why don't some of them combine?

"They might, we don't know. Some affinities are common while others hardly ever appear, the combinations we don't know might just be really rare." Holly glances at her magic window. "Oh look, they made it to the first boss room."

While Holly was explaining magic the adventurers cruised through the two chambers left before the boss. Both mages are unruffled but the bowman is breathing hard and holding his long knife, his bow pulled across his back. I guess the vantablack floors and rats are too difficult to shoot at range. As soon as the last member crosses into the boss room I trigger the circuit and drop a heavy iron door into the frame with a loud crash. The same circuit causes strips of tiny lights to blink into life lining the edges of the many boxes and platforms in the room. The result looks like a series of wire frames appearing out of thin air. My Cybrat King hisses from somewhere in the labyrinth as the adventurers move forward in formation. I slip into my boss and start the fight.

Rushing forward on their left flank I pop out from behind a cube and thrust with my upgraded Abductor. The swordsman deflects it with his shield so I activate the ability and it snaps to double length, striking the metal mage in the leg and catching around his ankle. I yank him off his feet and pump some lightning through the prongs making him convulse and scream shrilly in pain. I try to pull the mage with me as I retreat but the swordsman tosses away his shield and grabs the shaft of my weapon forcing me to abandon it to avoid the Ice Mage's projectiles. I duck behind another cube and direct two cybratlings into the fray with suppressors.

A pair of high pitched whines are heard for a moment and the bowman and knife thrower circle cautiously, listening for enemies. The first cybratling leaps from an overhanging platform while screeching and both adventurer's look up. The knife thrower sinks a dagger into the monster's chest before it can strike and the bowman finishes it off with a chop to the back of the neck. A flash of light and loud thunderclap explodes behind the bowman, sending him tumbling over the dead cybratling as my second minion smashes him in the back with a fully charged suppressor. Central explained how to make a capacitor which stores charge in my suppressors until they strike, multiplying how much damage they can do with their lightning affinity. The liquid metal spikes and explosive discharge shred the man's left thigh leaving little more than blackened bone and charred flesh behind. The ice mage turns and finishes my second cybratling, but he served his purpose, I can feel the bowman dying.

The metal mage is back on his feet but before the swordsman can retrieve his dropped shield I launch my rat swarm ability from one of the higher platforms, showering both him and the mage in doped up rodents. The metal mage wraps his chain around himself, links twisting to catch and crush individual rats easily, unfortunate for him as his robes soak through with tainted blood. The swords man shakes himself like a large dog, flinging rats off, but still gets bitten a few times on the face and neck. The knife thrower abandons the screaming bowman and goes on the offensive, jumping on to the platforms and sinking a throwing dagger into my upper back. The group pulls together around the ice mage, but the chain wrapped metal mage stumbles and starts to giggle. They yell at him but he is too far gone to hear them and stumbles off course.

I charge through the labyrinth and strike with my tail, which catches him in the throat and pins him to the ground. The ice mage and the knife thrower pepper me with more projectiles and I can feel my movements slowing from lost blood. I'm too slow to avoid the swordsman as he charges towards me and swings clumsily into my side. His wild eyes show he's feeling the effects of the drugs but he keeps flailing his weapon at me and I'm too injured to limp away. Three more clumsy chops decapitate my boss and I spawn the loot for the fight. The doors leading forward and back as well as to the surface all slide open and the three remaining adventurers sigh in relief. By Holly's suggestion I give them a handful of silver coins, one of the basic abductors, and a bundle of Dreamvine. They throw all of it into the swordsman's pack and scurry for the exit. One of Central's suggestions was to put a lighted EXIT above the door to the spiral stair leading back to the start for something he calls fire safety regulations. They seem a bit confused but they climb the stair and go back out my door with their treasures.

It was pretty hard holding back from killing them. Those scum probably all deserved to die, being members of the Sand Vipers, but wiping out the first group might tempt the assessment party into coming back down before I'm ready for them. They didn't even bother trying for the second floor so I send the surviving Cybratlings and Amphistas to eat and breed as quickly as they can to build up my mana reserves. The slaves in my prison complex will eventually leak their mana into my dungeon and replace it with ambient dungeon mana, but that will take a long time so I have to try and build up mana in other ways as much as possible. I can already feel a second group starting down my entrance hallway so I restock my first four rooms and get ready for a long day of dungeon crawling.

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Even further below the surface the blind lizard demi-human stirs, groans, and rubs at the raw chafed flesh where his collar should be. He feels grass under his hands and warmth on his skin, but the air smells flat and stale. He hears a soft sussuration of air a few feet in front of him but his fumbling hands reach iron bars before he gets within reach of the sound.

"[Greetings test subject.]" A harsh metallic buzz of a voice calls out to him from just inches away, startling him back from the bars. "[Do you understand me?]"

"Yeah... I do..." The lizardman's voice is a soft rumble. "Lina! Lina are you here? Are you okay?" He yells, realizing he is alone in his tiny cell. Straining his hearing he can hear a very quiet sobbing around the corner of the wall on his right side.

"[The others in your party are unharmed. It is good that you will speak with us. The others are not cooperating.]"

"Where are we? Lina talk to me. I'm here..."

"[You are currently inside the Dungeon. We have brought you here for the purposes of communication.]"

"... You're a monster... aren't you." The lizardman takes a deep breath. "Is that why the others are so afraid? What do you want with us?"

"[We have brought you here for the purposes of communication. We wish to kill your former masters. Do you desire vengeance against those who sent you here? Would you fight them if you could?]"

"I'd give anything to kill those bastards... but I can't fight... they took my damn eyes." He traces the scars on his cheeks with a clawed finger.

"[We will repair you. You will serve. That is the contract.]"

"What if I say no?"

"[You will be assimilated, your biological and magical distinctiveness will be added to our own.]"

"Not much of a choice... give me eyes, monster." A soft thump and a sharp stinging pain in his pectoral is the last thing the lizardman feels before collapsing into heavy slumber. Dimly he feels the creature grab him by the arms and pull him from the cell. He can only hope he made the right choice and that he will wake up from this.