The Dungeon Child

Argus viewed the humans wandering through his halls with nothing less than disdain. They were a high-ranking band of adventurers, equipped with legendary-grade weapons and armor, and likely quite a lot of artifacts too. They’d smashed through his first forty floors, gone a little slower through the next thirty, and had positively slogged through the thirty after that, but they were on the hundredth floor and the final boss before Argus’ core lay behind the door they were currently opening.

As they walked in, one of them set up a healing grid, likely a druid of some kind. They were annoying to have in an enemy party, due to their tendency to horrifically buff their allies. A group could last quite a lot longer with a druid on its team.

Argus’ colossal spider emerged from its ornately decorated cave, the webs sparsely scattered throughout the colosseum-sized room giving it the advantage. Excited, he waited to see what would happen to the group of adventurers.

Instantly downing whatever mana potions they had available, the adventurers scattered, firing bolts of magic at the creature and only marginally damaging it. Three of them stayed behind, a monk and two mages. Argus would have frowned if he had a face. What were they planning?

His spider leaped forward with stunning speed, devouring one of the adventurers. Argus laughed. Of course, it would succeed. The final boss monster was his crowning achievement, and it deserved to be. Originally his very first monster, Argus had poured millions, if not billions, of mana points into it, and its level now exceeded a hundred and thirty.

An axman leaped towards it, yelling a battle cry, and his jagged axe glowed red, severing one of the spider’s limbs at the base.

Argus was annoyed at the attack. It was a Mythic-ranking attack done with several buffs and a Legendary-grade weapon improving its power, which meant it had dealt more than enough damage to slice through even adamantite with ease. And he apparently had plenty left in the tank.

It was only a few irritatingly short minutes later that the adventurers defeated the spider, and it faded into sparks of mana that dispersed into his floor, leaving behind weapons, armor, and a massive pile of gold. The dungeon was a little frustrated. It would take several days, if not weeks, to regenerate a monster of that quality back to full power and would likely be expensive to boot. Well, at least some of the humans had died too.

A cracking sound broke Argus’ thoughts, and he realized that the humans had knocked down the door leading to his core. He felt further annoyance. They had already destroyed his monster, couldn’t they at least respect his buildings?

One of the humans strode forward, red mana pouring off of them in waves as its teammates tried to slow it down. It raised its hammer above Argus’ core, yelling as it did, “This is what you get for killing my friends!”

Argus was stunned. It was trying to break him? Breaking a core was incredibly illegal, not to mention idiotic! The equipment he provided the city above was invaluable!

The human’s allies seemed to agree, grabbing its arm as it tried to attack me, convincing it into submission. The dungeon felt smug at their cooperation. Of course, they wouldn’t break him. That would be positively-

The human spun around and smashed the hammer down on the core, and it shattered instantly.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

What’s going on?!

I flailed in terror, limbs going everywhere as I panicked. Since when did I have limbs? Since when could I panic?

Everything was white and blurry, with large swathes of motion crossing my pathetically small field of view. Why couldn’t I see anything? I should be able to see everything around me?

Something is shoved in an unfamiliar orifice in the front of my core, and I protest before a creamy sensation hits me.

I’m immediately appeased. What is this strange sensation? Have I been unable to have the advantage of - what did those goblins call it - ‘taste’ my whole life? This is clearly a major issue that I’ve never-

Suddenly, I remember back to my early days as a new dungeon, using spiders and mice to fight my battles for me. I can recall gaining my second floor, and my third, and then the rest seemed… less important. I remember the battles, the monsters, my spider that had been by my side for centuries, and I calm down. I can still feel faint streams of mana, though they’re smaller than I’ve ever dreamed that they could get.

...Why is everything getting dark? There’s an intense pain under my core, and the creamy sensation isn’t helping for some reason. I can hear yelling in a language I don’t understand, and then everything went black.