BAB3 -Chapter 8

# Chapter 8: Dungeon Domination 3

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**Cosmos Academy Dungeon Floor 4: Fungal Wastes.**

The group was immediately greeted by moist air and the musty scent of rampant mildew.

There were also mushrooms—lots and lots of mushrooms. They were absolutely everywhere.

Fungi of every height and color blanketed a soft, squishy landscape, most glowing faintly blue and purple in the gloom.

Wisps of greenish-yellow fog drifted lazily across a single, flat path ahead.

“How does it smell worse than the undead here?” Lexi half-gagged, covering her mouth and nose.

“Biological warfare,” Kimi winced, covering her nose as well.

A gentle wind stirred around them, blowing the dank air away while carrying the cleansing scent of eucalyptus and wildflowers.

Tyra hovered slightly off the ground—and a soft teal light enveloped Willow, transforming her into a perfect clone of Tyra through *Full Glamor*.

“We’ve got this floor,” Tyra said, grinning widely.

She tossed Willow her armor storage ring, and a second, white set of Quantium armor auto-equipped itself on her.

Xay stepped closer. “Do you two have this?” he asked in a calm, professional tone. “I need verbal confirmation.”

Willow glanced at him, then coldly looked away, her expression unchanging—a stark contrast to Tyra’s usual smiley demeanor.

Xay sighed. He was going to get the haughty owl to crack one of these days.

Tyra spread her arms, and the ground beneath them began to tremble.

In a perfect circle around the group, writhing vines burst upward, rapidly forming a half-dome with their ends angled out.

She had activated *Heart Vine*.

***Heart Vine (Caster Sphere)** - Connect to the heart of flora. Grow, shape, and command vines freely.*

Not only was it a more prolific display than her old *Bramble Vine* technique, but the new vines were also visibly different.

They were fused with the various aspects of nature under Tyra’s command, creating natural green vines, white wind vines, blue rain vines, and crackling teal lightning vines.

The display was stunning, and Xay had to remind himself again that her Sphere Skill belonged to the Mender Sphere.

He and her were both proof that you couldn’t judge a skill by its sphere—with Bloodlines and effort, anything was possible.

Willow took off first, gliding across the mushroom-covered ground like a skater on ice.

She quickly encountered the first monster—a short, humanoid plant root half-covered in pulsing white fungus.

**Mycelium Mandrake (F-Rank) Lv. 10**: *A shrieking root-creature fused with fungal growth.*

When it noticed her, it opened its crooked mouth and let out a high-pitched, piercing shriek aimed directly at her.

Willow, however, vanished—activating *Wild Aspect* and briefly phasing into the mushrooms beneath her feet.

***Wild Aspect (Caster Sphere)** - Phase into nature’s aspects. Travel through flora, lightning, water, and wind.*

She reappeared behind the screeching monster, a single lightning-charged vine from her own instance of *Heart Vine* snapping out to catch it by the neck.

Without a word, Willow turned away, bored, as the vine lifted the creature and slammed it into the ground twice—bursting it into a spray of essence.

Xay was thoroughly impressed.

Their long hours of survival training sessions with Chad had turned Willow into a fine combatant—especially in Tyra’s form.

And not only did Willow have access to Tyra’s abilities, but it seemed that they could also share their mana pools.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the path, Tyra had already drawn her gnarled white staff and zapped two more Mycelium Mandrakes.

She skipped across the soft terrain, teal lightning leaping from the ends of her staff as she spun it around her body—her Innate Talent, *Staffsmanship*, in full effect.

***Staffsmanship** - Innate mastery of wooden staves and staff-based combat.*

Xay, Lexi, Kimi, and Dragon quickly followed the dangerously whimsical twin Tyras as the original elemental *Heart Vine* amalgamation moved autonomously forward with them.

It blew away the smell and mycotoxins, while also striking down any monsters that got too close with vicious speed.

Xay watched mandrake after mandrake get electrocuted, sliced in half by razor winds, or somehow straight-up drowned—and that was just from the vines surrounding them.

The two Tyra’s out front were even more impressive, moving in perfect sync as they shredded monsters and turned the floor hazards into playthings.

When a swarming cloud of sentient spores sprouted in their path, neither of them missed a step.

**Blight Spores (D-Rank) Lv. 12**: *A floating mass of fungal spores. Infects flesh with rot and spreads rapidly when destroyed.*

The two Tyra’s grew vines straight through the center, channeling *Nature’s Blessing* down their lengths.

***Nature’s Blessing (Mender Sphere)** - Cleanse poisons, curses, and abnormal states by channeling the energy of the natural world.*

The cloud sparked and popped, before fizzling and collapsing into nothing.

As they moved forward, Tyra’s nature vines began to take on more complex properties.

They became toxic to the mandrakes, disintegrating them on contact—without the use of any additional techniques.

“Tyra is this floor’s worst nightmare,” Lexi murmured, lightly shuddering.

Kimi quickly nodded in agreement.

Tyra was actively creating a type of monster-fungicide, which was honestly kind of terrifying.

Xay briefly imagined a Poison Princess standing beside the Dark Empress—before quickly shaking the thought from his head.

Tyra was far too silly to go that hardcore. He hoped so, at least.

They eventually reached a four-way intersection, but the other three paths were blocked by massive, floor-to-ceiling tangles of hyphae growth.

Tyra whipped one of the blockages with a single teal lightning vine—but the others immediately reacted.

Tangles of hyphae uncurled and rushed across the ceiling to reinforce the spot she aimed for just before the strike landed.

All three blockages immediately healed themselves, but for just a second, a solid wall was visible through the gaps in the blockages that had reinforced the other.

Tyra and Willow glanced at one another with the same face. Without a word, they targeted the blockages opposite each other and sent multiple vines lashing forward.

The last remaining tangle of hyphae unfurled and split apart to help reinforce the others—while also revealing the path forward.

“Needs more oomph,” Xay called from behind them.

The two dropped their hands to the ground, and the floor rumbled with a low, growing creak.

A second later, twin tidal waves made entirely of writhing vines erupted from the ground and slammed into the same two blockages with crushing force.

The hyphae blocking the path forward completely withdrew in an attempt to reinforce the others—but the twin attacks were so powerful, that they were all decimated anyway.

Xay winced. With how bubbly she was, it was easy to forget how explosive Tyra could be when she really let loose.

And it seemed Willow was the exact same.

Giving each other a high-five, Tyra and Willow charged dauntlessly ahead.

After traveling down a narrow corridor, and slaying a few more mandrakes, they finally reached the first Safe Zone.

It was a hidden depression surrounded by large mossy rocks next to a small fresh-water spring. There were no mycotoxins, bacteria, or smell in the air whatsoever.

Tyra and Willow took a short break on a stone bench.

“You two have been doing great so far,” Xay praised them earnestly once the original instance of *Heart Vine* dissipated around the group.

“I had no idea vines could be so.. Devastating? Elegant? Versatile? Creative?” He paused, struggling to find the right word. “Honestly, all of the above.”

A slight blush crept onto Tyra’s cheeks. “Thank you. I.. just wanted to make sure I could keep up.”

Xay snorted. “You’re doing far more than just that.”

While they talked, Willow glared down imperiously at Dragon. Dragon huffed, crackling smoke escaping her snout.

The owl had all but declared war—and Dragon fully intended to put her in her place on the next floor.

After their rest, Tyra conjured another revolving elemental *Heart Vine* half-dome around the others, while she and Willow led the way to the next area.

It was a more wooded path, with stout trees covered in black, fungus-ridden bark.

There were far more Blight Spores now, as well as yawning sinkholes scattered throughout the soft ground.

They also encountered a new monster type.

**Poison Husk (E-Rank) Lv. 15**: *A rotting bark creature that leaks toxic sap and launches venomous pin needles.*

Tyra and Willow safely negated the needle technique using wind and vines.

Then, while Willow held the monsters down with more vines, Tyra broke them into charred pieces with her teal lightning-charged staff.

Each impact cracked like thunder as lightning arced wildly across her body.

Xay almost felt bad for the monsters—almost.

Tyra and Willow continued dismantling every enemy as the group quickly made their way to the next Safe Zone.

After a short breather, they stepped into the Boss Room—a glowing, fungus-covered cavity pulsing with twitching hyphae and free-floating spores.

At the center sat a grotesque mound of half-detritus, half-pustule. It had hollow eyes and a gaping mouth that vomited out Mycelium Mandrakes while spewing Blight Spores.

**Blighted Mound (C-Rank) Lv. 20**: *A writhing fungal abomination that spawns mycelium growths and emits blighted spores.*

“Ugh, that’s just foul,” Lexi grimaced.

Tyra and Willow stepped forward and slowly rose into the air.

The atmosphere thickened, growing heavy and almost eerie, as a dark cloud spread across the entire room.

The humidity climbed sharply, and flashes of teal flickered within the clouds, slightly dazing the monsters below.

Xay’s ears popped as the air pressure around them plummeted.

Tyra and Willow had activated the same instance of the same technique in a devastating combination.

***Perfect Storm (Caster Sphere)** - Conjure and control a powerful thunderstorm over a wide area.*

In the next second, the clouds cracked open and unleashed a storm like Xay had never seen.

Multiple tornado funnels tore across the chamber, and pounding rain slashed sideways as it swept away all lesser monsters.

But at the center of the room, something far more terrifying took shape.

Six thick bolts of teal lightning crawled from the edges of the storm. They twisted, arced, and then braided together before slamming down onto the boss.

In a blinding flash, the Blighted Mound was utterly eviscerated, vaporized in a fraction of a second.

By the time the technique ended, Tyra and Willow had completely scoured the entire chamber, revealing the polished stone beneath all the filth.

The two dropped back to the ground, panting—clearly winded from the insane display.

Xay, Lexi, and Kimi stood frozen, staring slack-jawed at the duo.

“Holy shit,” Kimi—of all people—cursed.

“What she said,” Lexi muttered.

Xay just pointed at them, nodding in stunned agreement.

The portal to the next floor flickered into existence, and Tyra turned to the group with a bright smile.

“Well, ready to move on?” she asked in her normal, chipper tone.

Willow stored the white set of armor once more and shrunk back down to her owl form.

Eeveryone entered the portal silently, still unable to find words for what they’d just witnessed.

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**Cosmos Academy Dungeon Floor 5: Hollowing Cliffs.**

The party was immediately buffeted by harsh winds atop a jagged, rocky canyon.

They stood at high altitude, surrounded by a sun-beaten expanse of narrow ledges and sheer drop-offs overlooking seemingly bottomless ravines.

Before anyone could react, Dragon elongated—stretching to thirty feet in length using *Adaptive Size*.

She nudged Xay with her snout, sending him stumbling forward.

He chuckled, his Jetnir Orbs speeding up their rotation. “Alright, I guess this one is on Dragon.”

Xay leaped onto Dragon’s head, while Lexi, Kimi, and Tyra climbed onto her back. Willow, of course, refused—choosing instead to fly on her own.

As Dragon flapped her magnificent butterfly wings and lifted into the air, Lexi quickly sat down.

Her Bloodline had cured her vertigo, but high-speed heights still made her nervous.

Kimi sat beside her and gently took her hand, while Xay formed a *Force Ward* around the group, shielding them from the wind.

It was just in time too—because the higher Dragon soared, the more turbulent the air became.

But within moments, the sun was nearly blotted out by a massive flock of giant, decaying bird monsters looming ahead.

**Corpsebird (E-Rank) Lv. 12**: *A carrion-feeding bird of prey with toxic breath and razor talons.*

They had spawned from seemingly nowhere.

“I don’t think this floor appreciates us flying over its obstacles,” Kimi mused.

Dragon’s clear aura flared to life, shifting instantly to a deep, dark blue.

She opened her jaws and unleashed a ten-foot torrent of wispy frost flame, sweeping it across the sky.

Corpsebirds froze by the dozens, locking up mid-flight and plummeting to the rocky cliffs below.

“I don’t think Dragon cares much about what the floor appreciates,” Xay laughed.

He didn’t need to look down to know she was wearing one of the smuggest grins imaginable.

Through Omni Flame, Dragon had access to multiple types of flame—and she was raring to use them.

Willow barely kept pace as Dragon’s serpentine body sliced cleanly through the air.

They soared above twisting, narrow bridges far below—some of which Xay noticed would’ve collapsed seconds after anyone stepped on them.

“This floor must really suck for anyone who can’t just fly through it,” Tyra giggled.

To its credit, the dungeon floor was doing its best to force them to land, spawning wave after wave of airborne monsters.

Dragon just powered through them, though, switching between searing red flames and frost flame depending on how far away the enemies appeared.

Eventually, they reached an invisible perimeter—the outer boundary of the floor. They literally couldn’t fly forward any farther.

“Hmm,” Xay murmured, rubbing his chin. “I think we skipped the actually floor. We can’t spawn the exit portal like this.”

“We’ll have to go back,” Kimi said, gently patting Dragon’s back.

Slowly—and with a visible pout—Dragon turned around and began flying lower. She refused to land, though.

Just as stubbornly, she also refused to meet Willow’s gloating, unblinking stare.

No Corpsebirds spawned on the way back, and soon Xay sensed the path they were actually meant to follow.

Beyond a narrow ridge, he spotted an alcove where several four-foot-tall, scorpion-like monsters made entirely of stone lurked in wait.

**Stone Scorpion (D-Rank) Lv. 15**: *A scorpion made of living stone. Resistant to physical damage, and its tail strike causes petrification.*

“I hate it,” Lexi murmured, peeking past Dragon’s wing.

Hovering midair, Dragon’s aura flared to a vibrant red, laced with flickering white sparks.

She reared her head back, took aim, and unleashed a massive sphere of lightning-charged, ionized plasma.

The lightning flame hit fast and detonated instantly, ballooning outward in a flash of electricity.

The blast obliterated every monster—and took out half the alcove with them.

Shaking his head, Xay used *Psychokinesis* to clear the path forward.

Dragon blasted apart several more Stone Scorpions before they finally reached the first Safe Zone.

It was a shaded nook beneath an overhanging oval-shaped rock—one that Dragon promptly flew straight past without a second glance.

She was determined to make up for lost time. And with her crystalline metallic scales’ ability to store mana, she didn’t actually need a break.

Xay paid close attention to the half of her tail slowly darkening. When Dragon’s scales were empty of mana, they dimmed and lost their luster.

Farther ahead, they came upon a twenty-foot-deep snake pit teeming with dozens of venomous monsters.

**Skank Viper (D-Rank) Lv. 18**: *A venomous desert serpent that exudes a noxious musk, disorienting prey.*

Beyond it lay a rocky dead end, which led Xay to assume the snakes had to be dealt with before the path would open.

Dragon landed just before the pit.

Sensing her intent, Xay used *Psychokinesis* to scoop up Lexi, Kimi, and Tyra before leaping off her back.

Dragon’s aura slowed to a crawl, swirling in dense shades of blackened red before falling completely still.

Then, dark crystallized flame encased her body, reinforcing her scales as it surrounded, extended, and sharpened her fangs, claws, and horns.

This was crystal flame.

Dragon dove claws-first into the pit—and what followed was two minutes of absolute gore.

She ripped, tore, and shredded through monster snake flesh with unrestrained ferocity. She even flowed through several forms of Southern Dragon Style Kung Fu.

Retaining access to Xay’s base-form techniques, Dragon also activated *Flurry*, boosting her speed and stacking damage multipliers.

Xay watched with a slightly manic glee, his Jetnir Orbs wobbling in tight spirals.

“Huh,” Lexi said flatly. “I think I might be having a traumatic experience right now.”

Xay snorted. “Nah, this is fucking awesome.”

It was a complete bloodbath—one that quickly turned into a shower of essence.

When the final Skank Viper died, the walls around the pit began to shake violently.

Dragon immediately activated *Blink* and teleported back to the others.

Xay greeted her return with voracious head pats as the wall split open, revealing the path forward.

This time, it was Willow who refused to meet Dragon’s smug stare as everyone climbed back onto her back.

The remaining monsters on the way to the final Safe Zone were little more than speed bumps to Dragon.

Xay found his past self laughable for ever regretting spending half a million neon on the Lesser Tortoise scale for her.

Dragon was basically a flying calamity at this point.

She blew past the final Safe Zone and straight into the boss area—a wide cirque with overhanging, concave walls.

At its center stood a massive, twenty-five-foot Stone Scorpion, with dozens—if not hundreds—more scorpions coiled into tight balls along her back.

**Scorpion Queen (C-Rank) Lv. 25**: *A colossal matriarch that births stone scorpions and commands the hive.*

Dragon’s aura shifted rapidly into a brilliant purple.

Xay threw up another *Force Ward* just as she began circling the Scorpion Queen at high speed.

Dragon opened her maw and unleashed a piercing, high-intensity purple laser.

It instantly melted a deep channel into the boss’s body with a tightly concentrated beam.

It was the flame she had eaten during the Aero Cup Opening Ceremony—the devastating purple fire from the explosion.

Because of the way it behaved, Xay had named it laser flame.

As Dragon soared in tight arcs, she carved chunks of living stone from the massive boss, slicing through the Scorpion Queen and her coiled offspring with surgical precision.

The boss didn’t last a full minute, quickly reduced to a smoldering pile of rubble that dissolved into essence.

Dragon came to a full stop and shrank back down to a foot in length. She zipped around before diving into Xay’s arms, where he lavished her with profuse praise.

She licked his face as he smothered her in pets. She deserved it all.

More than half her body had gone dim after that last attack. But she had done amazingly well—and cleared the whole floor on her own.

Also, on top of being thoroughly entertained by Dragon’s antics, the entire group gained a level.

**Level (+1)**

**All Stats (+300)**

- **Level**: 27

- **All Stats**: 5,600

They stepped through the portal to the next floor, all showering Dragon with compliments—while Willow just silently pretended not to notice.

***

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**Cosmos Academy Dungeon Floor 6: Reflective Forest.**

They stepped through the portal—and the world fractured.

A forest of shiny trees shone with impossible symmetry in all directions. Every leaf was silver-glass, each tree trunk a mirrored twin of one another.

Light bent in unnatural ways, scattering and looping in disorienting flashes.

The air was crisp, but it carried a strange pressure—like being watched from all sides at once.

Even their reflections moved wrong.

Kimi paused mid-step as her mirrored self hesitated a beat too late. Lexi reached for her bow—but her reflection reached for a blade.

The ground below was a shifting lattice of metallic roots.

And far above, sunlight streamed through treetops that might not have existed, refracting through thousands of hanging, glimmering leaves.

Then, dozens of voices echoed all around them at once:

“You’re all going to die here. Want to know how?”

It was the sound of Mirrorlings hiding in the trees.

**Mirrorling (C-Rank) Lv 15**: *A small humanoid creature that instills terror by repeating the deepest fears of targets.*

Xay laughed.

None of this was real.

Just smoke and illusion—twisted psychic force layered in simple patterns.

He could see through it all. It was nothing like what he’d faced with the Latch Stalker.

The monsters here were stronger than the lower floors—they’d finally need to coordinate their attacks. But with Xay’s *Extrasensory Perception*, they wouldn’t be fooled or get lost.

He fed mana into his Jetnir Orbs, creating four additional spheres that immediately began to orbit around him.

“On me,” Xay said easily, stepping forward into the maze.

He was excited for the real challenge to begin.