Nox moved without thinking. He leaped in front of the party’s scout and raised both of his hands in front of himself. Nox conjured two mana-elongated mana discs large as tall as him and one-and-a-half times his width. The first stood six inches from his hands and carried a potent Slow cantrip. Meanwhile, Nox actively weaved Crystallize Essence into the second.

  The projectile lost half of its momentum the second it touched the first barrier. When it touched the second, all the luminous purple flecks solidified and clattered on the stone floor, along with a few green fragments. The rest of the vile fluid splashed on Nox’s face and hands. Hot itchiness spread across all patches of exposed skin like an angry allergic reaction. Lillin was on him a second later, emptying a large vial of alkaline solution on his face. It instantly killed the enzymes eating away at his skin and neutralized the acid. Nox took a healing pill as the melee fighters rushed the elite.

  Victor’s mysterious spell launched him along the cave floor. It looked as if he had cast Attract on the elite lizard and made himself the spell’s focus. He raised his sword in front of him as he flew. The creature snapped its acid whip. Green-and-purple droplets rained on the floor. All contact points sizzled and released plumes of smoke. Victor changed trajectory mid-flight, landed in a controlled crouch, and relaunched himself. He shot past the elite, and his sword ripped through a shoulder.

  A high-pitched screech burst from the humanoid lizard as its weapon-carrying arm fell to the ground. Much to Nox’s horror, several similar calls echoed through the cave system. Annabelle stiffened as loud, scraping footsteps followed.

  While the party engaged their reptilian opponent, Nox raced toward the cavern’s entrance. He skidded to a halt as a second elite emerged, but the creature ignored him and sprinted to its friend’s aid. Instead of helping the others, Nox took two Trap Foam vials from his coat pocket and smashed them on the ground. White bubbles grew and expanded like enchanted lather and spread through the entrance and across the floor. It hardened the floor instantly, and the entrance was just big enough for a human. A heartbeat later, two elite heads shot through the entrance, and the beasts chirped, struggled, and snapped at each other while trying to get through.

  Even though it was dangerous, Nox risked his bottled essence. Powder left over from the Tincture of Sigil Awakening pulsed with orange light reminiscent of magma. Alchemists called it burning heart essence. Its source came from the heart of boss-class beasts who specialized in concepts like living fire and purging through burning. Nox emptied the ground glass into a spherical essence cage, fused it into a rough, cloudy ball, triggered it with Galvanizing Touch, and threw it at the monsters.

  Thundering screeches filled the cavern as scales, hide, and flesh caught on fire. Nox leaped out of the way as flaming streams of acid burst from the heads and bathed where he had stood moments ago. The attack eventually stopped, and the thrashing heads went still. The flames didn’t die but charred and melted the remnants. The surrounding Trap Foam blackened and crumbled under the bodies’ weight, too.

  Then the world tilted. The cavern entrance rippled and extended like a mouth opening wide for an extra big spoonful. Roque had successfully beheaded one elite while the one-armed specimen continued to bounce around, spraying venom at anyone that got close. Everyone, including the surviving lizard, lost their balance and slid down the now-tilted floor. The tunnels wriggled ahead of them like serpents. Dead ends and forks moved out of the way, removing opportunities to find footing.

  They passed through the cavern entrance and down a long corridor. The bioluminescent patches grew blindingly bright. As they picked up speed, the amorphous clusters of light shot by, creating almost disorienting patches. Nox closed his eyes and tried to decelerate but failed. He resisted casting Slow on himself since it would only delay the inevitable and separate him from his friends.

  Only Victor succeeded at slowing. First, he used Attract to bring himself and Lillin together, then Repelled himself away from boulders in the path and pulled himself toward the wall. Gravity orbs slowed their descent, but something in the air destabilized the magic, and it flickered in and out of existence. Meanwhile, Roque hacked at the ground using his handaxe. Despite his strength and the arcanically sharpened edge, the weapon failed to find traction.

  After several heart-pounding moments, the descent ended. The world righted itself, and the party slid through another cavern entrance into a giant, domed space. A tall, humanoid lizard stood at its center. It was sleek and almost elegant, unlike all the specimens they had encountered so far.

  Roque didn’t waste a single breath and launched himself at the creature as soon as he landed. He moved with the speed of a fighter enhanced by Haste, and his raised axe glowed bright enough to blind.

  “Watch out!” Annabelle screamed. “It’s the boss.”

  Her warning fell on deaf ears. Roque didn’t slow. The corners of the upright lizard’s mouth curled upward, revealing long, sharp teeth. When Roque leaped into the air, its mouth opened, and a long tongue shot out. It wrapped around the aspiring Aether Warrior’s neck. A panicked look flashed across his face. He raised his axe, but it was too late. The creature jerked its head backward, pulling him off balance. It leaped forward as soon as the axe fell out of his hands. The long, narrow mouth opened and grew much like the cave mouth, and it snapped close around Roque’s head. His decapitated body crumpled to the floor a moment later.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  WHO IS LILLIN GREY?

  The boss lizard spat out Roque’s head. Acids had warped and melted the skin. It looked like someone had poured Thinner Brew on a painted kettle, and the paint had wrinkled and parted from the metallic surface, waiting to be peeled and ripped away.

  “Foul,” a raspy, feminine voice said. It sounded as if the owner had spent the previous night chatting in a loud tavern. Now, their throat was hoarse from yelling and drinking. The creature’s golden eyes focused on Nox. “You taste better?”

  The lithe lizard stepped on Roque’s immobile bloody. Bone and metal armor crunched under the giant, clawed foot.

  “Come.” It waved at Nox. “Get in Mistress Maraka’s belly.”

  Anger flared inside Lillin. She refused to let anyone threaten Nox. He was her person. He was her friend. Victor lay stunned next to her. His pale hands clasped her forearm and waist. Lillin peeled free of the lordling and conjured gravity orbs as the beast shot at Nox.

  An uncomfortable tug blossomed at the back of Lillin’s eyes as she used nothing but intent to drive her conjurations forward. Her star needed to grow more to have the gravity for another planetoid. If she successfully created one now, it would likely collide with her Gravity planet and shatter. The fully formed heavenly body would absorb the mana, and the rest would join the cloud around her star. She desperately needed Manipulation. With it, keeping Nox safe would continue to be an easy challenge.

  The alchemist didn’t know how many times Lillin had saved his life over the years. More than one assassin had attempted to sneak up on him during excursions. A few had dared to infiltrate Mou’s house and attempted removing his slumbering head. Lillin stopped them all. She then killed them.

  Mistress Maraka proved more intelligent than the creatures serving her. She dropped onto all fours and skidded to a stop before the gravity orbs reached her. The spheres reached the edge of her mana zone, and the force guiding them disappeared. They arced and landed on the floor. The ground cracked between them. Fragments broke free of the stone, and conflicted forces ripped them apart.

  Much to Lillin’s relief, Nox didn’t waste the opportunity. He grabbed Annabelle and pulled her to the cavern’s entrance. The stone came alive and slammed closed before he could retreat.

  Meanwhile, Victor leaped to his feet and zipped toward the boss-ranked beast. Despite the night they spent together, Lillin did not attempt to stop him or push herself to protect the man. Instead, she prepared a more complicated spell, using spellforms she kept secret from all but Nox.

  Lillin couldn’t deny Victor’s skill and instincts despite his spoiled upbringing and despicable personality. He had displayed his ability to read and predict attacks even without his sister’s prompts. When the lizards attacked while Nox and Annabelle were away, he commanded the team, predicting projectile attacks and attack patterns. Roque would’ve fallen to the first stalker they encountered if not for Victor foreseeing the attack and pulling him away. Lillin liked his magic. It had incredible compatibility with her Gravity magic.

  Victor changed trajectory without touching the ground, avoiding a darting tongue. Then he corrected his flight again, skimming the ground parallel to the fleshy, pink appendage. His sword adopted a fiery glow and flashed. It moved so fast that Lillin struggled to see its path through the growing luminosity.

  A guttural screech burst from the mistress as she retracted what remained of her tongue. The smoking remnants of the rest fell to the ground with a fleshy thwack. Streams of luminous fluid shot from the boss monster’s mouth a second later. They shot at Victor and left sizzling puddles wherever they landed. The rising fumes continued to glow.

  An unusually bright mana arrow shot past Lillin. Her keen mana sense detected the dense essence in it. Unlike the juggernaut lizards, the boss wasn’t overly bulky. The time field covered the creature’s entire body, and it didn’t break free straightaway.

  Lillin waited until Victor skewered a limb with his longsword and then retrieved it before launching a trio of spiraling gravity orbs toward it. The familiar headache that accompanied powerful, intent-driven magic followed. Lillin ignored it and ran after her attack, ensuring the spell remained within her mana zone, allowing better control.

  The opposing forces ripped the hide and flesh from the creature’s arm. Mistress Maraka broke free of Slow’s effects, screeched, and fled from the gravity spell. Victor got off another follow-up attack and removed the injured limb.

  A globe of luminous venom blossomed from the beast’s mouth. Instead of shooting at anyone, it rose toward the ceiling. Spell circles lit up around Mistress Maraka, and she sped along the distant wall, dodging Nox and Annabelle’s projectiles. Clouds billowed from the sphere and spread across the ceiling. Then venom drizzled on the cave floor.

  Lillin used gravity magic to make her body lighter. She tapped into her hidden powers, too, increasing her speed. She retreated to where Nox and Annabelle stood. A black disk emerged from her hands and grew above their heads. The venom rain disappeared through the opening, protecting the trio from Mistress Maraka’s spell.

  The ground sizzled, and large, fuming puddles formed. They ate into the ground, making the already rough terrain uneven and hazardous. Victor didn’t retreat as Lillin expected. Instead, he shot after Mistress Maraka. The rain didn’t touch him. Instead, the droplets changed trajectory mid-flight and fell on the ground around Victor. The pools in his path parted, giving him a wide berth. Despite the distance, Lillin felt the repelling essence radiating from him.

  Nox’s arrows missed the speeding boss monster. Annabelle’s pellets didn’t fare much better, either. The creature was much too fast. Lillin didn’t attempt firing another gravity orb. Instead, once the rain stopped, she conjured two more and let them orbit around her. She ran at Mistress Maraka, approaching from the opposite direction of Victor.

  The boss-ranked monster’s eyes widened. It skidded to a halt and sprayed a stream at Lillin. She opened a spatial dimension and let the liquid disappear through it into a storage space. Meanwhile, Victor caught up to Mistress Maraka and closed in with a two-handed slash. She spat luminescent venom at him, and the fluid curved around her. However, her claws reached him and raked his shoulder. A pained yell escaped the lordling, and his blade missed her torso. Instead, the weapon cleaved through her tail.

  A mana arrow struck Mistress Maraka’s leg and ripped into the scaly hide. It failed to pierce through but dropped her to one knee. Lillin refused to miss the opportunity. While Victor retreated, clutching the injury, she attacked. The gravity orbs shot across the six feet between her and the lizard. The spheres spiraled and connected just over Mistress Maraka’s chest. She screeched as they bore into her. The boss-ranked monster’s rib cage imploded.

  “Hit her, Nox!”

  “Heard!”

  An especially bright mana arrow struck Mistress Maraka just as more glowing venom burst from her mouth. It turned into essence glass before leaving her throat. The beast collapsed. Then Lillin heard someone fall in the distance. She knew it was Annabelle. Lillin wasted no more time and opened her mouth as wide as possible. The toothy orifice on her head remained closed. Instead, the exposed bit of skin between her blouse and trousers parted. A fleshy tongue as wide as her neck whipped out of the fleshy maw and grabbed Victor around the waist.

  “What the⁠—”

  The bewildered cry ended abruptly as Lillin’s torso expanded to twice its size, and the tongue pulled him into her. His head and most of his torso disappeared into the giant maw before it slammed shut. His left arm fell on the ground, but Lillin got the legs before they touched the still-fuming puddles. She glanced at the hand and forearm on the ground. The tattoo on it glowed silver. It was ready to move on to someone new. Lillin left it alone in case Nox wanted to steal the sigil.

  The real Lillin Grey never made it out of the Sundarshahar Ruins. Nox was the only human that survived the godfall. He only made it out because of the Sigil of Immunity and the entity now called Lillin Grey.

  When the Sundarshahar Ruins turned into a dungeon, its new lord started the usual process of filling it with life. An overwhelming quantity of ancient furniture filled the halls. The furniture reacted like all the textbooks said when formless, life-giving essence flooded the ruins. They came to life as mimics. Scholars called them the lazy and underprepared dungeon lord’s weapon. The current Lillin disagreed. She believed no dungeon creature more perfect than mimics existed. Therefore, dungeon lords created them first, and reportedly, all dungeons housed them.

  One mimic in Sundarshahar differed from the rest. It wasn’t happy lying dormant and waiting for its acute mana sense to detect an alien presence approach. The mimic wanted more. First, it consumed a pair of humans, who it later identified as Lillian Grey’s parents. The mimic learned about human sensory organs and the tools they used for communication by studying their corpses. Then it emulated them, too.

  The ruling lord’s presence weighed down on the mimic when it tried to leave. It recognized the mimic’s intellect and strength. The entity wasn’t happy that one of its first creations already had a mind of its own and wanted to act outside of the dungeon’s interests. So it attempted to bind her.

  Then the mimic met Nox. The boy was weak, lost, and terrified. He dragged a dying girl and man with him, and the mimic’s mana sense told it that the second child was as good as dead. The lord’s toxic essence had twisted two of the three bodies from the inside. It had studied the boy and his companions, wondering who to consume first. Then wisps of knowledge from Lillian Grey’s parents flooded the mimic. It understood magic and identified the energies in its body. An idea formed in the devious creature’s newborn mind, and it offered the boy a deal just as his father stopped breathing.

  The mimic gave the boy a choice: either they make a deal, or she would consume him, his friend, and the dead man’s remains. Though terrified, the child agreed to listen. The mimic wanted to switch shells to Lillian Grey’s body and then use the boy’s presence to leave the dungeon. Afterward, it wanted the boy’s help to feed on humans rich with interesting essence. The mimic wished to grow strong enough to build or claim its own domain. In exchange, it would protect the child with its body, essence, and mind while fulfilling all his needs and desires until it ascended.

  Much to the mimic’s surprise, the child argued despite his terror and haggled. It thought grief would make him pliable. Nox didn’t trust the mimic and disliked the ambiguity of the terms. The boy listed the dangers of housing and feeding a dungeon-born beast. They debated and eventually agreed on timeframes, ensuring a six-month gap between feedings. Nox wasn’t satisfied with his benefits, either. He wanted power to avenge his father someday and demanded strength to fight the dungeon’s lord even after the mimic, and he parted ways. They failed to agree on the nature of the strength since neither of them knew enough about the world, dungeons, or their lords but agreed to figure it out as they grew. In the meantime, it agreed to share a fraction of the strength gained from feeding. However, if Nox missed a feeding more than once, the creature had the right to consume him, too.

  Then the mimic became Lillin Grey.

  “You can come out now!” Lillin yelled. She absorbed Miss Maraka’s residual essence, grabbed Victor’s hand, and marched back toward Nox. Annabelle lay unconscious next to him. Lillin picked up Roque’s corpse on the way. “I won’t hurt you, friend. I just want to talk.”

  “Who are you talking to?” Nox asked. The cavern’s mouth had opened behind them. It surprised Lillin when he successfully picked up Annabelle and carried her out into the tunnel behind them.

  “Shush.” Lillin pressed her finger to her lips and scanned the giant cavern. There was a time when human actions and sounds had felt alien to her. Now, they were second nature to her. In fact, Lillin no longer knew how dungeon creatures behaved, what they desired or thought. “I killed the infiltrator. The rift is yours again. Don’t you want to thank me?”

  The ground shook and parted. A worm as thick as the tunnel mouth broke through the stone. It had no eyes, only a mouth full of more rows of teeth than Lillin cared to count. The lone orifice faced Lillin.