Olivia decided she hated caves. She had never thought much about them throughout her eighteen years of life, but now that she was lodged in a tiny crawl space, she was starting to realize how horrible this was. Seriously, how did cave divers do this crap?

She was on her stomach, forced to inch her way forward like some sort of worm. The oven had already been a tight squeeze, and past the door, the stone only grew thinner. Luckily, she was in long pants, but her elbows were bleeding and aching as her skin was peeled off. Her clothes became filthy, and she kept bumping her head. The real pain was in her fingernails, though, which were cracking and being pulled off as she tried to get a hold of the ground in front of her and pull herself forward.

The heat made it all the worse. She should have expected a dungeon that appeared in an oven to be hot, but somehow it didn't occur to her until she was halfway through the tunnel.

The rock was getting hotter and hotter, and sweat began to pour down her body. It was a deep pain, but she forced herself to go on, and eventually it was worth it. She reached the end of the narrow tunnel.

By that point, the tunnel had become so narrow that she was forced to keep her head tilted to the side. One ear touched the roof while the other was on the ground. It felt like she was being born again, with how tight the squeeze was, and she nearly let out a cry of relief when the tunnel began to expand and get larger once she arrived at the ledge.

Past the tight squeeze was a drop. It wasn't very far, being less than five feet off the ground, and the room opened and expanded massively on the other side. Olivia gritted her teeth, and with one last push, she forced herself over the edge and dropped down. She landed painfully on her knees but ignored the damage, pulling her knife and dagger out in case she needed to fight off any goblins. Shockingly, though, the room she was in was totally empty.

She kept her guard up for a bit longer just in case and then finally turned around to peer back down the tunnel and help the others. She stopped, though, when she saw that the tunnel was empty. All the way across on the other side, where it opened into the oven, she saw Ash, Nori, and Emma, who were all peering toward her.

"Get your asses in here!" They had just watched her crawl through literal hell! "Now!"

Her three teammates scrambled to obey. Ash was first, followed by Nori, and then Emma. Like her, they kept getting scraped across the ground since they really didn't have any way to get through the tunnel besides the tight crawl.

Ash could have maybe used a spell to carve through the stone, but that could risk an accidental collapse. He did have barriers but didn't have the ability to form a skin-tight one around himself like Rowan could, so he was forced to peel his skin and crawl like some sort of rat.

Ash did smirk, though, when he heard the whimpers or groans that came from behind him. Nori and Emma were clearly having a rough time. Eventually, though, the trio made it out onto the other side.

Olivia helped them get back on their feet. She looked back in the tunnel where Sune was, ready to help the Knight, but in a flash, the woman was already standing next to her. She jumped a bit and let out a squeak as Sune dusted herself off.

"We're in the dungeon." Ash pulled his wand out and looked around, ignoring his aching body. "What now, 'Face'?"

Olivia put her serious 'face' on and focused. "Nori, got any healing spells?"

"Of course I do." Nori snapped, white mana crackling around him. "Row Glass Mold."

Nori's magic looked extremely beautiful and intense. His white aura bubbled up around him and filtered its way into the air. It looked almost like molten glass and appeared to be gooey, but it began to solidify, turning into solid glass. It would then shatter and melt once more, pieces coming off and dancing through the air. Olivia felt a strange sensation as the liquid glass touched her skin.

It wasn't hot, despite looking like melted glass, and was very cool to the touch, especially with the environment she was now in. It swarmed over her ears, elbows, and any other part that was scraped or bruised. The glass became solid again and flickered, turning a different shade, before eventually fading away entirely, leaving flesh where it had been. All the damage done to her by the tunnel was reversed.

Nori didn't just heal her. He also used the same spell on himself, Emma, and lastly, Ash, though the noble seemed to hesitate and debate leaving Ash in an injured state before he finally did it.

Once they were all fully healed, Olivia let out a sigh of relief and then took stock of the room that she was in.

She had only ever been in three dungeons. The first was the Salamander one. That dungeon looked like some crystal cave. The second had been an open dungeon, which was when an area would drag someone into it the moment they entered it. That had been the dungeon with the whales. The final dungeon she had seen was a greater dungeon, which was a dungeon that would form a barrier around an area. That had been the snake's dungeon.

In all of those cases, she hadn't really gotten to see the dungeon as clearly as she wanted to. It was always just the first room that she saw. This would be the first time she actually got to go through a proper dungeon.

Like all dungeons, the air tasted a bit weird and twisted. Her mana was being weakened as well, as was the others' mana, so they'd all be weaker just standing in the dungeon. Luckily, they all had a decently high resistance stat, so they could stay in the dungeon for a while without having to worry about it twisting them into mutants.

If the magical mutant process did happen, then they'd all be turned into a hobgoblin, since a person would always turn into an apex version of whatever species owned the dungeon they were in when they changed. It was why Garon had also started to look snake-like, and why all the girls in Daisy had also had scales or snake eyes.

"This is the dungeon that was created for the goblins?" Ash raised an eyebrow, clearly confused at what he was seeing. "This doesn't look like a place goblins would want to live in?"

"It's possible the goblin boss just took this dungeon over and cleared it out." Nori hummed. "That said, you are right for once; this place doesn't seem good for their kind."

The room they were in was like the tunnel. It was made entirely of stone, but unlike the crawlspace, it was wide, allowing for plenty of room. There was a rocky ceiling above, and a chandelier of all things was hung up with various candles all along it. They were all out and melted. Dust covered most of the room, which looked similar to the room Davi had rested in when he was at Gray's castle.

It took Olivia a moment to realize that the room she was standing in wasn't just any random dungeon room, but instead a bedroom. A noble's bedroom.

Expensive wooden cabinets were scattered around, along with dozens of bookshelves. There was a finely carved table near a massive pair of windows, and near the back of the room was a king-sized bed that had thick red sheets across it and dozens of pillows. The room was still put together and clean, save for the dust, and everything screamed 'rich'. It was the total opposite of a dungeon, especially compared to the snake and salamander one, which caught Olivia totally off guard.

Emma and Nori looked right at home and began to walk around in awe, gazing at the expensive silken curtains and sheets. Ash looked confused and stayed put, keeping close to Sune, who was leaning against a wall. The Knight kept her blank look, but her eyes were darting around, taking in the sight. Even she seemed slightly caught off guard or in awe.

Olivia took a hesitant step after a moment, and she walked over toward the window. A loud gasp escaped her, and the other wandered over to see what caught her attention. Emma let out a quiet whistle as she also peered out.

"I guess that explains why it's so freaking hot."

The window showed off fire and a sea of lava. Whatever room they were in, it likely belonged to some castle that was built into the side of a freaking volcano! The stone was on fire, and the flames were rapidly spreading out in all directions, and there were entire lakes and rivers of molten magma that gushed downward.

Seeing it caused Olivia's body to become even hotter, and she grabbed at her shirt, fanning off a bit. She wasn't the only one. Ash also looked uncomfortable now.

"What's with you two?" Ash asked, shooting a look toward Nori and Emma, who were both flawless and not even sweating. "Why aren't you two burning up?"

"Heat Resistance." The nobles shrugged.

Olivia frowned. "You both have that?"

"I was born with it since I can use molten glass." Nori grinned and muttered another spell, causing a bubble of superheated, liquid glass to spawn into existence at the tip of his finger. "Most mages gain resistance to an element because of their core as a free passive effect."

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"I can see how that makes some sense," Olivia nodded. "How come Emma has it, though? Is Spatial magic just so good you unlocked it?"

Emma shook her head. "I spent good money to eat a flame pill."

"A what?" Ash made a face.

"It's a medicine that was created in the Rossum kingdom." Emma shrugged. "Those people are really into body-based skills and things called cultivation. They use a type of advanced drug they call a pill that they make out of monster cores. It's something only Rossum can do. These drugs are how a mage can boost their core's strength by giving it a temporary boost. Some pills have effects that last forever, but they're usually just things that will force your body to gain a resistance. I'm not shocked that neither of you have heard of it. Even a basic core-enhancing pill costs a small fortune. I've only ever taken one resistant pill in my entire lifetime, and it had been a special birthday gift from my mother. Even in Rossum, they're expensive, and they have to be exported to the other kingdoms, where they're sold at crazy high prices."

"Don't feel too bad." Nori laughed. "With how hot it is, you two might naturally gain the resistance."

"Can that happen?" Olivia winced and kept fanning herself off.

"It's hard, but not unheard of." Emma nodded. "I've never seen it done but have heard about it. If you expose yourself to something for long enough, your core will eventually adapt and force your body to evolve. Cores are able to sometimes gain random traits as the mage improves and grows, and these traits are often used to keep the mage in question alive. You'd have to be burned quite badly before the trait would become available, and by that point you'd likely be reduced to ash."

"Let's avoid that." Ash hummed.

"You think we would have run into goblins by now." Olivia looked around the room, doing her best to ignore the intense heat. "We're not being quiet and have used spells that would send out a pulse of mana, yet the goblins still haven't shown up?"

"It's also weird that this is the entrance they use to get in and out," Ash grunted. "Most dungeons can have multiple entrances that are scattered throughout the world since they can exist in dozens of different spaces at the same time, but if the goblins have been attacking Tulip, they'd need to exit through the Tulip gate, which is right here. They're not here, though? What gives?"

Olivia looked toward the back wall, where a heavy set of oak doors resided. She walked toward it and gently opened it, peering out. Often, a dungeon could have several areas that were all smashed together. This was especially the case if it was a high-grade dungeon, but this one should have been a relatively weak one, and so all the rooms would be layered together in a way that was meant to make sense.

The room beyond the door was just like the room she was in. It was made of the same black bricks, and windows showed off the lakes of fire. The hallway in question had an expensive red carpet and more fancy, rich-people things like old suits of armor. It stretched out to another door at the end, and there was a section of the hallway that twisted into a balcony that would overlook a room of the castle.

Also, along the walls were four portraits. Olivia found her eyes instantly drawn to them. Each picture was of a person, and even through the paint, she could feel the aura that they radiated.

The first was of a man. He was tall and imposing, wearing smooth white robes that were parted just enough to hint at rippling abs. He had fiery red hair and a beard. His eyes were yellow with slits for pupils, and in his hands he held a mighty war axe that looked like it could easily slice through a man and the horse he was riding on. Tucked under his arm was a large black tome, its cover worn and obviously showing its age. The landscape that was painted around the man was that of lava. Words were carved at the bottom of the portrait. It read as Sigurd of Gallenth.

The second picture was actually of two people. One of them was a woman with long black hair and eyes full of joy. She had a flirty look on her face, and her hand was raised up almost in a greeting. The clothes she wore were an outfit similar to what Ken Yuan had been wearing, that being traditional Rossum robes, but they were black and silver instead of the red and gold Ken had. What was truly striking, though, was the fact that the woman was standing in someone's palm.

A giant creature that had been wiped out along with the elves stood tall, holding the pretty woman. The giant was a man, and he had inky black skin and hair that looked like it was made out of clouds. He wore massive white robes and was casually seated on a throne carved into the side of a mountain. Just like the first picture, words were carved into the bottom. Han of Rossum. Loudest Thunder of Rossum.

The third picture was impossible to make out. Unlike the others, it was ripped apart, a blade having been taken to it. A bit of black and blue was the only thing Olivia could see. The last picture was the one that truly caught her eye, though.

The woman in it was beautiful. Actually, that wasn't right. She was beyond beauty. She was divine. Angelic. Holy. Pure. Uncorrupted. Perfect. Haru. She was Haru. Even without reading the name at the bottom, Olivia knew who it was.

The woman's skin was flawless and elegant. Thin white robes barely covered her modesty, and she rested on the ground, her long blonde hair cascading down her back like a river of gold. Despite being a painting, the sun sparkled outward, perfectly capturing every detail about her. Her hand was extended, her finger held out, and from above, another arm was coming down from the painting, its finger also pointed out, ready to touch the tip of the woman's finger—Haru of Estiria.

"What the fuck kind of dungeon did we stumble into!" Olivia's trance was broken when Ash's voice cut through the haze. He, along with Nori and Emma, was staring at the painting in stunned silence.

Even Sune had stopped being quiet and was now standing before the picture of Haru, looking up at it. The woman hesitated for a moment and placed her hand upon it. "What are the chances this was the dungeon that was selected… I know Father preached that he had been to it, but for this to be the one that was chosen for the exam is…"

"What?" Olivia asked.

Sune snapped out of it and shook her head. "Nothing. I didn't say anything. Carry on. You're still on a mission. Being in a dungeon for the long term is bad. Remember that. You can't afford to wait around."

Olivia nodded. "She's right. We need to keep moving. We still don't know where the goblins are or how big this castle really is."

"I'm more concerned about whose castle this is now." Nori whistled. "I wish my phone worked; I'd have loved to record all of this. Alas, I suppose it will have to be a fleeting moment in my memory."

"Anyone else creeped out by what we're seeing?" Ash muttered. "This feels a little much for a low-level dungeon."

"That's why we need to hurry up and finish this," Olivia stated, and she walked further down the hallway, reaching the balcony. "We need to—Holy shit!"

"What is it now?" Ash grunted, and he and the others marched over. "What are you seeing—holy shit!"

The balcony was designed so that someone walking down the hallway could peer down and see the dining room that resided below. The room was the largest one so far, being even bigger than the large bedroom, and had a massive table that ran along it as well as dozens of chairs. It was also a total mess.

Hundreds of dead goblins were scattered around. Their bodies had been torn and twisted apart, some looking like they had been crushed to death. Each goblin had been rendered to total pulp, and the room was bathed red. Further past the carnage, a massive set of double doors that would lead to a courtyard had been torn to bits, and more gore was dripping down the stairs.

"What the fuck happened!" Ash squeaked out.

"Shit." Nori grabbed at his head and winced. "I just sensed something crazy strong. There's some wild mana here. Damn it. The goblins likely stumbled into this dungeon by pure chance and took it over. Now something else has found the dungeon and is doing a hostile takeover. It's killing all the enemies here, so this can be its dungeon."

"So then the issue is solved, right?" Ash asked, trying to sound hopeful. "It'll kill all the goblins for us, and that'll be that?"

"It's not that simple," Olivia said, shaking her head. "When monsters take over a dungeon, it becomes their new home, and they get a serious power-up from it. One ability they have is the power to create new lesser monsters based on their species. If this thing is able to kill the goblin boss, that means it's stronger than the greater goblin that owns this dungeon, so its species will also most likely be stronger than regular goblins. The space of the dungeon might shift, but it might also not, and if it doesn't shift, then Tulip Village will be attacked by a wave of stronger monsters."

The snake had been a rare exception of a monster not creating smaller monsters. The snake wanted to hoard all the food for itself since it was greedy and saving up for something. It was likely that once it was done with whatever it was waiting for, it would spawn all the babies it could and take over Daisy Village.

"We were just supposed to fight goblins." Ash hissed. "Whatever this is, it's a serious threat."

"That's all the more reason you need to deal with it now," Sune spoke up, getting the attention fully on her. "Stuff like this is very common. I've entered dungeons assuming I'll fight one type of creature only for it to be another. You want to be a Knight? This is what it means to be a Knight. Shit happens. Deal with it. The test is still going on. As a reminder, if any of you are in real danger, I'll step in, but if that happens, it'll be an automatic fail. Got that?"

Ash held his tongue and nodded. Olivia forced her heart to settle and steeled her nerves once more. "Let's go."

They hurried through the hallway, making their way toward the door on the other side. More dead goblins greeted them, but they ignored the sight and went through the castle, climbing down a large flight of stairs until they reached the dining room. Olivia did her best to ignore the sick feeling in her stomach as she walked through the gore and made her way toward the torn-down doors.

Outside was the courtyard. It was wide, with massive stone walls spread out, and rocky ground that was steaming. The sky above was black, filled with smog and other dark clouds. The courtyard was also a total mess with yet even more dead goblins.

Craters layered the ground, and in the middle, a creature stood, on its last leg. It was a greater goblin. The thing was green and muscular and was wearing random bits of armor it had likely taken from the suits that stood in the hall. It also had a sword, which was now shattered, and the goblin itself was severely beaten and close to death.

Standing in front of it was a massive beast. It stood on two legs and reached nearly twenty feet in height. Red skin stretched across its flesh, and pelts barely wrapped around its waist. It was wielding a giant pillar of stone that had ripped out of the castle, and a few dead goblins were poking out of its mouth.

A red ogre had stumbled into the base and was now making its claim. Olivia felt her body shake, and she suddenly got dozens of flashbacks to all the times she fought this creature. Every single time, it killed her. Again and again and again. Through all the simulations, she saw her death.

The ogre lifted its club and brought it down on the goblin's head, splattering the greater goblin into a red chunk. Then it turned to look at them. This ogre was way stronger than any of the ones in the simulation. It was easily an alpha, being the biggest and strongest of its kind. With how powerful it was, there was a good chance it would just start to spawn other ogres and skip straight past greater goblins.

More flashes of death went through her mind, and Olivia almost took a step back on reflex, but she stopped when someone placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked over and saw Ash looking back at her.

"Didn't you say you improved and got better?" Ash questioned. His hand gripped her shoulder tighter. "Go on then. It's time you show us. Show me. You're the Face. Do what the Face does best."

Olivia managed to give a smile and nod. "Yeah." She glanced back at the monster. "We can beat this thing. I already know how."

The ogre roared, a deafening explosion coming out that shook the entire mountain, and it began to charge.

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