Core and man looked at one another. After a moment, Dave asked, “So what now?”

  “Now, I sever the connection with drake Altracia, and you prepare to fight.”

  “Fight? What?” Then before the core even answered, Dave chuckled. “Ah, Eloria is conflict. I get it. You think there is more to the challenge than just penetrating the barrier.”

  “I know I wouldn’t give you a reward like a new Tier to your class just for a little mental exercise. I’d have some kind of trap or monster waiting to spring as soon as the barrier fell,” the core replied.

  “So be it.”

  “As a reminder, I likely won’t be able to help as I’ll be busy evolving once the divine spark can get through. So while I won’t have to fight, I will have to count on you to fight for me. That is typically what is required of dungeon cores anyway.”

  Dave drew his blade and thought for a moment. He should have set a Spell Trigger in case he needed it for the challenge, but it would require too much mana now. He started running through his options for battle, especially with the new spells.

  Thanks to his class and the bonus from being dungeon enhanced, he wouldn’t have to worry that much about running out of mana. His mana regen was high enough for a long fight, but more importantly, he had a full 4000 mana to draw upon. Most of his spells, even the new ones, were under 200 mana per spell.

  The tight confines wouldn’t allow him to use the new Lesser Giant Form spell, but depending on the enemies he found, he had more direct damage spells to blast them with, or if it looked like it would be all melee, he could try the new were-bear spell. Dave found that after a few days of talking, sleeping, and training he was ready to cut loose a bit.

  The gray walls started to shimmer, and a notification popped up.

  New Quest: In order to complete your Tier upgrade you must protect the core from waves of enemies. Each wave that you defeat without allowing any of the creatures to touch the core will result in you gaining greater rewards.

  Rewards for success: variable but significant, including XP and magical gear.

  Failure: you fail to defeat the first wave without the core being touched. While you will still reach Tier 2 in your class, you will lose your status and benefits as a dungeon enhanced and all contracts with the core formerly known as Altracia will be null and void.

  Accept: Yes or No?

  Dave only thought about it for a second. Defensive quests were never fun, but at least it wasn’t quite as bad as an escort quest. The loss of the benefits he got when he became a dungeon enhanced would be a massive setback, but he had to risk something to win something.

  He clicked to accept it and then watched as the gray wall took a form. It was small. Vaguely humanoid and familiar for some reason. Then that form split into three shapes. The very second that the wall had started to change Dave began casting Totem of Stillness.

  It wasn’t a spell that he used very often. The 24-second cast time was annoying, but the wall seemed to be taking its time forming the new shapes. The spell had the benefit that it wouldn’t affect him or the core but would reduce the movement and attack speed of any enemies by 25% while also making it harder for enemies to cast any spells that required verbal components.

  Shortly after the totem came into being, the first shape finished taking form. The shock or recognition threw him off for a second, but Dave quickly cast Minor Shock Shield and placed it to guard the back side of the core as the small form began splitting into duplicates. That would be one less direction he would have to worry about.

  He followed that up by casting Ablative Armor, Lesser Gazelle’s Grace, and Alacrity. He didn’t want to let an enemy through because he was too slow. As the remaining forms finished taking shape, Dave activated Frost Armor and Offensive Stance. More damage output in a situation like this was always good, and the chilling affecting of the frost armor would help. He decided not to use Mana Barrier now as one look at the enemy didn’t make him think it would be necessary.

  Standing in front of Dave were three copies of Krinnk the goblin scout. They mirrored Sara’s original monster friend down to the slack-jawed expression that looked like they were going to catch flies in their mouths. The only difference was that they were completely gray from head to toe as though all the color had drained out of them.

  Then they were all racing at him. Dave used Taunt. The bellow of sound roared into the void beyond them and then was lost, but its power worked all the same. The three goblins simultaneously lost all interest in racing for the core and instead aimed right for Dave. One, two, three sword strikes in a few seconds or less and all the gray goblins were headless.

  It was so easy that Dave almost felt bad about it. The bodies faded into so much smoke. This wasn’t over though. Eloria would never be that easy. He prepared to face the second wave. The good news though was that now he was only fighting for rewards instead of struggling to protect what he already had.

  The second wave took form faster. This time it was three copies of the goblins and two of Sara’s thumper companion, Snowball, still all in gray. Taunt once again made this wave negligible. The thumpers each took two sword strokes but with them slowed and beating themselves against his Ablative Armor and Frost Armor he could take his time.

  In fact, one of the goblins had even killed itself hitting him because of the Frost Armor damage shield. The skill now delivered 98 points of damage each time the goblin hit him, and while Krinnk didn’t pack a punch, he could move quickly, even while slowed. It was literally the perfect countermeasure to a low-health, fast-moving foe.

  The danger with what was happening now was that he would get complacent. Taunt was a powerful tool that he didn’t use often enough. Too many times there had been tactical reasons to avoid it. Other times they were simply fighting a more powerful creature that wouldn’t be affected. He steeled himself to fight efficiently but not lose himself to overconfidence.

  The third wave started to take form, and Dave thought about one of his new spells. Hopefully, he would have the full twelve seconds it took to cast.

  Elemental Enhancement: This spell adds both a damage shield and extra damage to any melee strikes made by the target. The shield can either be Fire or Cold and will provide resistance 500 against the opposing element. Any hostile target that strikes the shield will take 250 damage of the appropriate element. It will also add 100 elemental damage of the appropriate type to any strike dealt by the target. Mana Cost: 150. Cast Time: 12 seconds. Duration: 10 ticks + 1 tick/level. Tier 5

  He began but kept an eye on the creatures that were forming. Dave chose the cold version of the spell because that should stack with his frost armor and up the damage any enemy took for striking him to 348 cold damage.

  This time the forming process took almost as long as the first wave had. The gray wall receded and exposed a massive cavern. The tight confines had worked in Dave’s favor, but he had to deal with the deck dealt to him. It appeared to be a natural cave rather than worked stone, except for the ten-foot radius circle where the core lay.

  Three more goblins and two thumpers formed, but the large form in back was taking much longer. So Dave took a few seconds and quick cast Alcoholic Cloud around the core. The core didn’t breathe, at least he didn’t think it did, and that meant it would be immune to the effects, but if any of the attackers got within range, especially the small swift goblins, they would become inebriated very quickly. It was just another layer to the defenses.

  When the final shape took place, it was a thirty-foot-long drake. This was a duplicate of Sara’s bonded drake, Altracia, but made of smokey gray rather than brilliant green scales. If it had the power of the original, Dave didn’t worry about his ability to defeat it but rather about making sure he kept the smaller creatures from reaching the core while he was occupied with it.

  Taunt had worked up to this point, but when he used it this time, he got the message that one of the thumpers had resisted it. The rest fell on him. The drake was the only one he had to worry about as Dave believed his damage shields would kill the others.

  None of that mattered though if the oversized rabbit was able to sneak around the edge of the battle to touch the core. Dave triggered a lightning bolt he had stored inside his mage’s mantle and watched as it blasted through the rabbit. The damage it did ripped a hole clean through the creature. It wasn’t entirely dead but barely able to move.

  Dave dodged a slash of large gray claws and worked his way towards the injured thumper. As expected, the three goblins all died with their first attack on him, and the second thumber only survived long enough to hit him a second time. He felt a swish of air, and at the last second, he jumped over the drake’s tail that had been swung at him.

  He landed impaling the almost-dead thumper with his sword and putting it out of its misery. Then he turned on the drake. It was powerful but slowed by not only the chilling effects around him but also by the totem. He let a couple of blows land, but his armor absorbed all the damage, and the cold damage the drake took in turn removed a third of its health.

  It helped Dave to plan knowing that the drake had something like 2000 health. An impressive amount but less than his own thanks to his dungeon-enhanced status. Dave drove his blade clean through its neck thanks to the phasing effect of his Astral Black Blade. It severed the spine and dealt more cold damage from Elemental Enhancement.

  Due to the way Eloria worked, that wasn’t enough to kill it, but it effectively paralyzed the creature long enough for him to deliver three more attacks that quickly did. That ended the third wave, but Dave could already see the next wave forming up.

  This time there were six goblins, four thumpers, and a pair of drakes. Apparently, someone was getting serious. But he had more room to work with, so that gave him more options. He thought about taking the time to cast his giant form spell. He really wanted to be a giant, but he was still worried that it would limit his mobility around the core. This was still about not letting the core be damaged.

  So instead of waiting for the monsters to come at him, he ran at them as soon as they were almost completely formed. He couldn’t yell out a taunt because he was quietly casting another spell as he closed the distance. At just fifty feet out, he jumped with all the strength of his empowered body and the bonus from his buff to land in their midst.

  Then he said the final word, triggering another of his new spells.

  Artic Sphere: This spell creates a sphere centered on the caster of absolute zero. The caster is unaffected. The sphere instantly expands dealing cold and blasts all creatures within the sphere back by 30’. Radius of the sphere is 30’. Damage: 600-800+5/level. All targets within the sphere have a base 25% chance to receive the debuff: Frozen and a 75% chance to receive the debuff: Chilled. The chance goes up or down by 1% for every level in difference between caster and targets. Mana cost: 195. Cast Time: 4 seconds. Cooldown: 10 minutes – 1 tick/level. Tier 5

  It hit for 1,117 base damage, but once magnified by his Intelligence based spell damage modifier, he dealt 4,270 damage to all of the creatures. In a single instant, they were all killed. The goblins and thumpers were completely blown away. The two drakes both had much higher damage resistance, but given that the spell was dealing more than twice their total health, they had no chance.

  And then four waves were done. Dave was having fun. Enough that he laughed out loud as he ran back towards the core. It was good that he did because this wave had a new monster in it. There were six goblins, four thumpers, and two drakes again, but they all formed faster than he had expected.

  That wouldn’t have been enough for him to worry, except for the fact that he saw roots springing from the ground. Sara’s newest companion, Petal, was some sort of baby treant. It had sprouted up behind him and was scrambling across the ground for the core. Dave blasted out with Magic Missiles. Fortunately, the spell never missed; otherwise, he wasn’t sure he would have been able to hit the chaotic twisting and bouncing form of the tiny plant creature.

  It wasn’t physically powerful, so the magic missiles blew it apart like a lawnmower. Dave then spun on the others and cast Fire Bolt. He had been reckless to get so far from the core. The Tier 4 spell sent four bolts of flaming death into one of the drakes, which was enough to end it. Then he cast Lightning Bolt. His enhanced level made it stronger, but not enough to deal with a drake.

  The trick being that he had saved the self-cast version rather than the one that had been maintained in his mage’s mantle because then he could use his Echo Ring to instantly duplicate any spell he cast up to Tier 3. Two lightning bolts were enough to take out the drake.

  Then a timely use of Taunt brought the remaining goblins and thumpers to him, where he preceded to cut them apart or let them destroy themselves on his damage shields. Because of his higher level, all the buffs lasted long enough that he still was in no danger of needing to recast them, but he looked out at the battlefield and saw three drakes, six thumpers, and twelve goblins starting to form.

  They were still at the far end of the cavern, so that bought him some time to cast another new spell. It was one he had always loved in both tabletop and video games back on Earth. He smiled as he cast it, waiting to see how the Elorian version compared to his imagination.

  Chain Lighting: this spell functions exactly like the Tier 3 spell Lighting bolt except in two ways. It will leap to the nearest enemy within range (300’ + 10’/level). It will jump up to a maximum of 18 times with a reduction in damage of 5% each time. It cannot hit a single target more than one time. Secondly, the base damage is increased to 300-400+5/level damage. It has the same chance to stun as the base spell. Mana Cost: 175. Cast Time: 12 seconds. Cooldown: 10 minutes- 1 tick/level.

  The first bolt blasted into one of the drakes for 748 base damage. It hit harder than a regular lightning bolt, but what really made the difference was his increased damage for a high Intelligence. The bolt dealt nearly 3000 damage, which even with whatever resistance the drake had was enough to instantly kill it.

  Then, as he had hoped, the spell caused the first arc to go to the next most powerful creature and so on. All the drakes and thumpers were killed by the blasts that hit them. Then nine goblins fell as even 10% of the spell’s damage was enough to finish off a goblin. The last three goblins fell easily to his blade.

  Once again, the hardest part was the two gray versions of Petal. He managed to chop one in half, but its bits kept crawling. The other might have made it to the core but for the slowing effect of the totem. Dave managed to impose himself between the core and the baby treant’s attack at the last second. Its body withered from a deadly frost as it got close to him.

  That meant he had completed six waves. It was fun, but the majority of his spells were on cooldown, so he was going to be forced to hack them apart. The seventh wave started to form, but it was taking even longer. It was seriously overwhelming, but he had the perfect spell for it.

  The party that formed up this time was different. Dave had been expecting a swarm. Instead, there was a single each of the drake, goblin, thumper, and tiny treant. They were shielded by a gray barrier until fully formed and then when it dropped all the creatures were moving at once.

  Dave was waiting about twenty feet in front of the core. As they started moving, it was obvious that these creatures were faster than before. It looked like he was finally going to get a challenge. Dave grinned because it was hard not to be excited. In a moment like this, he didn’t feel the danger of Eloria but simply the fun of living his fantasy.

  The drake charged at him this time while the treant slid up onto its back. The thumper went right and the goblin left. This was definitely a new level of coordination. The goblin faded out and became almost invisible. Dave could still see him but was barely able to track him.

  Meanwhile, he heard the drake inhaling in preparation for a release of its powerful acid breath. Dave shouted out with Taunt again. Instantly, the goblin and thumper veered off their courses right for him. The drake resisted, but that was okay, he’d deal with the brute.

  Then Dave felt a tingle and saw a light flash from the back of the drake’s back. Instantly, the taunt broke on the other creatures, and they resumed trying to flank him. Dave activated Adamant Bulwark. For six seconds, he was impervious to all damage.

  Let the drake bring it. The expected acid bath hit him but was nothing more than a visual distraction. Dave felt the drake’s claws but lashed out with his blade and cut deeply into one of its front legs. He wondered if it would be able to support itself with that injury.

  Not that he could stop to worry about it. Dave cast Major Shift and suddenly was standing right in the path of the thumper, which was the closest to the core. His blade came down along with a quick cast Minor Binding. The beast was nearly chopped in half and partially frozen by the first blow. Then because it was stuck in place it couldn’t avoid a second fatal blow.

  Dave looked and took everything in so quickly. His Esoteric Sense told him there was more going on than he thought. A fifth figure was on the back of the drake. He couldn’t worry about that though as both the goblin and the tiny treant were close to the core. The small plant creature had been hurled from the back of the drake like a football and had its body scrunched up as it spun through the air.

  He quick cast Inertia Burst, which stopped all movement within a sphere that expanded out from him. The goblin was flung backward as its body was completely unprepared for the total reversal of motion. The treant had an even more violent reversal since it was mid-air.

  Dave saw a small figure leap off the back of the dragon and expand its wings till it caught the tiny treant. No, it couldn’t be. It wasn’t really her, right?

  He cried out, “Sara, is that you?”

  The winged girl looked at him and smiled as she landed with the treant. It was a perfect duplicate of Sara except she was completely gray. Still seeing her threw Dave off enough that he was caught by a surprise attack from the drake. It bit down on him while he stared at fake Sara.