Level 18

(Tyrannosaur)

Health 99%

The giant dinosaur bucked and reared, in an attempt to throw its unwelcome passenger.

Levi surged stamina and kept his grip, then ran more mana through his orange-glowing hand and into the sword.

The dinosaur's health ran down, the number dropping almost faster than Levi could read it. The dinosaur charged at the nearest wall, head lowered, intent on crushing Levi between stone and dino-skull.

The Destruction damage was faster.

Level 18

(Tyrannosaur)

Health 18%

They hadn't even traversed half the distance.

Level 18

(Tyrannosaur)

Health 8%

The instant it hit taming range, Levi switched from powering the sword to pouring the last of his mana into Tame.

Tame: Success!

He only glanced at the stats enough to get a feeling for how much health it had.

Level 18 Tyrannosaur

Strength: 9

Health: 47/850

(+13/min)

Psyche: 7

Mana: 75/75

(+11/min)

Spirit: 11

Stamina: 9/720

(+15/min)

Eight hundred. He'd done eight hundred damage in seconds. The time it would normally take him to do under a tenth as much.

He knew his damage output had been ramped up, seeing how fast the boss's health had dropped, but being able to put a number on it was something else.

+1000% damage multiplier.

No wonder there were stories about the people who used essences in battle.

Levi didn't notice he was laughing until he heard himself, the thrill of the past seconds catching up to him as frantic motion coalesced into the solution he'd been struggling for all along.

It was obvious, now that he'd seen the numbers. This Destruction power he held was vastly more powerful than he'd ever imagined.

He wasn't underpowered for the area any longer. He didn't need to keep seeing every creature solely as a deadly threat.

They were also potential resources. Not just theoretical, but actual. He could tame any one of them that he chose. Well, any non-plus.

His new tyrannosaur was not very fast, compared to Snap, but it made up for it in sheer bulk. It may not be able to outrun the flying creatures, but it could certainly stomp on the smaller ones. And in this context, even kalvex were small.

The biggest problem was its fractional sliver of health. Since it was just-tamed, it didn't have time to regenerate anything above the 5% Levi had tamed it at.

Still, the suddenness of his taming had left it with a decent amount of stamina, and at Levi's urging the dino surged it fast and hot. They charged across the river, the Giganto Gorillagus in close pursuit, the rest of the angry horde not far behind and closing in fast. Sabercats nipped at its heels, its health dropping percent by percent.

He had seconds at best before he needed another new mount. Levi hung on tight as he downed yet another mana restorative.

Though he'd started this dungeon run with more of those than anything else, he'd been burning through them fast and had only two more after this. His time as a whirlwind of pure Destruction power would come to a close soon whether he wanted it to or not. He'd have to make it count.

Then his new dinosaur stumbled and toppled sideways, its final few health unable to sustain it any longer.

He was running out of tricks, running out of time.

There wasn't a way forward, no way back. Only one way through.

He used his toppling mount's momentum as a launching point, hurling himself sword-first through the air toward the single monster that presented the largest target.

The Gorillagus swung its fist down at Levi, only to get a Bristleblade through the wrist for its trouble. Levi stabbed in with the Destruction sword, surging mana into it. He was going to have a hell of a headache after the adrenaline wore off, running himself dry this many times in quick succession, but right now the only thing that mattered was survival.

The four-story-tall monkey boss's health outlasted the short-lived Tyrannosaur, but not by enough to save it.

"Levi!"

He looked up, startled. He'd all but forgotten Irene was following him, Snip's presence a vague awareness that he'd only tracked with the edges of his thoughts. So far she'd stayed well clear of the danger, for which Levi was thankful; he had enough distractions tugging his mind every which way.

Now Snip swooped down, Irene leaned out toward him, and Levi leaped free of the toppling Gorillagus to catch her hand, even as a cresting wave of restoration flooded him. Level up, though he didn't have time to deal with that right now.

Levi pointed to the portal back down to the first floor as he pulled himself up onto the smaller roc-lobster's back.

"Through there. We need to get into the treasure room." The flood of monsters had cleared it and spread out through the larger room again, leaving a relatively open corridor.

Snip didn't hesitate, driving her wings hard. Snip couldn't approach Snap's speed, and Levi really wished she had Pulse. The swirling bladefins chased them, though after repeated clashes their numbers were notably thinned out. Levi, mana fully restored by the level, easily smacked them out of the air with enhanced Destructive Slashes that left lines of glowing orange in an uneven trail behind them.

Snip's stamina wouldn't last long, and she wasn't fast enough to keep ahead of the rest of the pack even if she hadn't been carrying two. But that was fine. Right now, as long as the Destruction essence still burned at the ready, Levi had the capacity to tame anything that wasn't a plus. Two or three more times before he ran out of his restoratives.

They veered sharply downward, diving past the turning-around crowd of monsters and back through the portal into the first floor boss room.

Sometime during their detour loop around the larger second floor room, the boss had finally succumbed to the ongoing corrosive damage.

The limp pile of bright-red fur lay surrounded by the scattered bodies of dozens of humans interspersed with the occasional deceased dire-turkey or dilophosaur.

The group who'd been systematically kidnapping and imprisoning Awakened had clearly put up a fight, but even if they could have cleared the whole dungeon piece-meal they'd been overwhelmed by facing the entire force at once.

Just as he'd planned. Two enemies, both too strong to defeat on their own, so use them against each other.

Then they were through, diving into the final treasure room and safe. While the angry dungeon may be able to do away with intermediary treasure rooms, some things were immutable. The final room was still there, still secure. The moment they crossed its threshold the last few clinging flying fish peeled away.

Snip came to a skidding halt, crashed into the treasure table, and sent Levi flying. Tokens and weapons went clattering in all directions as he crashed through, fetching up against the far wall. He didn't try to get up just yet, content for the moment to catch his breath without something trying to bite him in half or tear his limbs off.

Irene, being strapped in properly, just lay there on her lobsteroc's back, laughing and sobbing in an uncontrolled outpouring of relief.

"I can't believe we survived!"

Levi laughed unsteadily. The job wasn't done.

And what was done...

Satisfaction warred with regret. What these people had done was unquestionably wrong. Kidnapping and imprisoning people without due cause, abominable and worthy of censure.

That they'd been killed for it may exceed the requirements of justice, but given the lives they'd ruined it wasn't outside the bounds of karmic retribution. Just thinking of how many of the prisoners they'd rescued had been children strangled any instinct for mercy.

Yet the other part of Levi's mind, the part that still vividly remembered how few and desperate humanity had become, couldn't help but regret the loss.

Anyone who could have stood against the coming invasion was a valuable, essential resource. Even if they were vile stains upon humanity's honor, they were some of the highest level people they were likely to find.

Seeing them scattered and trampled by the dungeon hordes made his gut twist in visceral memory. This wasn't the first time he'd witnessed such a sight. Armor bent, shields and swords scattered, power stones cracked and as lifeless as their wielders. Others still glowing dimly, unaware that their owners would never need them again.

He'd have preferred to escape without hurting anyone. Without depriving Earth of any resources. But he'd made his choice and he refused to regret it.

His absolute top priority was ensuring Irene and Peter came out of this alive. Secondarily, he wanted the world they survived in to be worth living in. He would do whatever he reasonably could to save everyone else he possibly could.

But however much he hated being forced to this extreme, he'd do it again if he had to. However many times it took.