Chrysalis

The expedition had been proceeding smoothly so far, something Mirryn was exceedingly grateful for. The royal guards and the Legion had cooperated in the clearing of the upper levels and hundreds of lower levelled monsters had been destroyed in preparation for the wave.

It normally wouldn’t take long for such high level warriors to move through this area of Dungeon. To the higher levelled Legionaries this place was simply no threat at all, they could probably walk through with six monsters hanging off them and hardly take any damage.

To be completely thorough and clear out every side tunnel, every passage and all of the branches systematically took a lot of time and effort. With two forces as sharp as the Guard, who only accepted the best, and the Deep Legion, who lived for this kind of fighting, the task was done as quickly as it realistically could be done.

"Don’t they look relaxed over there" grumbled Donnelan, indicating the senior Legionaries standing by the tunnel wall chatting and laughing together.

"I wouldn’t stare too much if I were you, and keep your voice down" Mirryn whispered back, keeping her hands on her crossbow and her eyes on the tunnel, "Aurillia is rumoured to have incredibly advanced hearing skills. If they hear you whining you’ll be digging latrines into the rock".

"It just doesn’t seem right that us lower levelled trainees with weaker jobs have to do all the heavy lifting whilst the full Legionaries stand about and watch. I’ve launched so many fireballs in the last ten hours my fingers have almost burnt black" Donnelan moaned.

Donnelan usually wasn’t the type to whinge and complain when he was on the job but fighting monsters and being on constant alert for the better part of half a day was enough to get anyone in a foul mood. To make matters worse, even the trainees were high enough of a level that they received very little experience for using their skills or killing monsters this high up in the Dungeon.

"Hold on a little longer you sook" Mirryn admonished, "we’ll make it down to the first Expanse soon and set up the advanced camp. We’re scheduled to rest once the fortifications are in place".

"Great, more digging".

Mirryn could only roll her eyes at Donnelans’ continual complaints. She couldn’t blame him too much. Mages who specialised in fire magic like Donnelan were often called "Blast Mages" because they were effective in wiping out large amounts of lower levelled creatures, Donnelan had been forced to work much harder than she had.

"How are you two travelling? Managing to stay awake?" laughed one their Centurions, Alexi, as he approached to check on them.

The two trainees immediately saluted. "Just fine Centurion!" Donnelan declared, his voice full of vigour, "I’m ready to serve another ten hours, easily".

Alexi snorted. "No you’re not, in another hour you’ll be snoring on your feet."

well-built officer gave them both an encouraging slap

rite of passage. Expect that you’ll be worked extra hard. By the time we’re done you’ll feel dead and reborn at the

winced and Donnel audibly groaned, causing Alexi to

closer to whisper conspiratorially, "you

"What? Because the

ambient levels in the Expanse is just baaaaarely enough. You’ll see some

a shout from

snapped to attention. "Yes Tribune

centurion, then I suggest you take the trainees to the supply cart

Donnelan almost wept.

trudged away, cursing silently at their Centurion,

so hard on them?" Aurillia asked, one eyebrow

massive axe resting on his shoulder. Instead of

into paste, put

officers I’ve ever seen. We don’t coddle Legionaries Aurillia, we liquefy them so we can pour them into our mould. If those kids aren’t crying themselves to sleep

"And Alexi?"

"I’ll have a word with our

commander Titus, Alexi wouldn’t be speaking for some time. The healing

the Royal Guard clear on their duties

the Dungeon entrance and the upper tunnels to them. I’ll have to thank the Queen personally

it was necessarily the best idea for

it was time to make the push into the Expanse. This is where the true strength of the Dungeon began to reveal itself, as well as its wealth. Monster cores were just one of the valuable materials that could be harvested from the depths, minerals, powerful crystals as well as the raw

amount of time on the surface. He wasn’t built for up there, writing letters and managing the budget. With his axe in

the Dungeon. Titus positioned himself