The death from beneath

Mr. Magnus rode on horseback for almost six hours from the site of the biggest fight the world has seen since the Age of Heroes ended. On the way, he remembered some things from the Heroic Tales from the times when he was young and his father would tell him stories.

Since he got out of the Dungeon, the one-eyed dragon hadn't lost a fight in more than a thousand years. Back then, the gods were still feasting in the Realm of Deities (Tenkai), while their children in the Mortal Realm (Gekai) had already started exploring the Dungeon. At the start of their history, those people were called heroes. But after a while, the heroes started calling themselves "adventurers." And each of their expeditions into the Dungeon became known as an adventure.

Adventurers were going deeper and deeper with nothing but bravery and a sense of wonder. Today's adventurers, who have falna, might think it was silly, but people who lived in the Age of Heroes dealt with it all the time. Only the bravest warriors were willing to fight monsters down there. But monsters were giving them the same coin as payment. There were huge numbers of different kinds of creatures leaving the Dungeon and ruining everything they could. So, everyone who knew how to use a sword, spear, bow, or arrow and could use magic went to the Dungeon.

People, elves, dwarves, demi-humans, amazons, and pallums got together to save the world. They started making fortresses across the entrance to kill monsters when they came up from the depths. At the same time, they were setting up expeditions to see if they could find anything useful in the Dungeon that would help them fight monsters. There, they found rare metals, flowers, and other things that were hard to find on the surface. Some of the things they found were only available in the Dungeon. And it has been going on for ages

Until one time, there was a disaster. The entrance of the Dungeon began to fall apart. The surface was breaking apart and cracking, making a big hole. A few hours later, there was a terrible sound coming from this hole. No one had ever seen an "apocalypse" like this before, so no one knew what was going on. Scouts were sent to find out what was going on, but only a few of them came back. The few that did say that the Dungeon is acting strangely and releasing high-level monsters on the floors, which isn't how it usually works. A couple of explorers have seen barbarians and minotaurs spawn on floor 2 and head down to the lower floors.

The next day, there was a very big blast to the southwest of the Dungeon. At that moment, it began raining like fish and crabs instead of cats and dogs. When the adventurers got closer to the area, they saw that the Lolog river was no longer there. Instead, there was a huge area that was filled with ocean and underground water. When a new "lake" was linked to the ocean, something from the bottom of it swam to the surface. It was a huge monster that none of the adventurers had ever seen before. So, they have started making the battle lines right away. When the monster saw people on the surface, it yelled as loudly as it could and started moving toward the ocean. Those who took a chance and tried to catch this "creature" were swept away by the strong waves... While Lolog lake turned into a place where sea monsters do spawn. When the fighters got back to their camp, they said, "We saw the Lord of the Sea." And over time, this lord got the name "Leviathan."

Two weeks after that "emergency," the Dungeon has seen a new strange thing. A lot of strong earthquakes were happening all the time, and they tore up the land around the main gate. From 9 to 17 times a day, the person would shake. Also, huge monster waves came along with it. Adventurers were going through a lot of pain and were losing hope. The weak ones died in endless fights, and the broken and cowardly ones gave up on their adventures. Only the bravest and strongest mortals stayed put and got stronger and more skilled at what they did. But that was just the start of their problems...

On a certain night, strange sounds woke up adventurers. Strange screams were coming from the Dungeon. Each time, they were heard on the surface, and the ground began to shake more. After a while, everyone realized that the screams were coming from floors 1 and 2, so it was clear that the monster was making its way to the top. When everyone was ready to face a new enemy, a new type of voice that no one could mess up was sent. It sounded like pain and fear. The same thing happened again...

Like the Lolog river, the entrance of the Dungeon was blown away. The blast made everyone back up. When they went back to normality, they saw something that couldn't be true. At the center of the blast, two creatures were standing. Both of them were huge, and you could compare them to Leviathan, the Lord of the Sea.

The first one had four legs, two horns like a minotaur, and twice as many eyes as a spider. The purple color made the horns and eyes shine a little. The second one was the dark and powerful dragon. The blood-pickled claws and teeth were sharp enough to show explorers how careful they had to be.

Anyone who has seen this scene has been bound by their deepest fear on a conscious level. Those were the monsters they never saw and never fought within the Dungeon. For example, the best adventurer groups could easily beat floor bosses like Goliath, Amphisbaena, or Udaeus, no matter how strong or tough they were. Even Balor the Great, the Monster Rex on floor 49, did not stand in the way. But they haven't found a boss below the 49th floor yet...

At first look, it seemed like both of the creatures wanted to kill everyone they met on the surface. But, as is usually the case, the first perception is never right. Dragon and Bull were actually facing each other and not paying attention to anyone else. When the dust from an explosion settled, the adventurers could see the whole scene. There was blood on the dark bull. On his face, it was clear that he was scared. At the same time, the dragon was showing that he was ready to attack.

The person who could figure out that 2+2=4 already knew that the two giants were fighting each other. And it looked like the dragon had the upper hand in this fight. Some mages have already decided that the recent earthquakes were probably caused by their fights in the Dungeon. Now they are out of the Dungeon and free in the upper world. And the people who live there have to fight with them if they want to keep their lives...