Grimmand kicked a heavy slab of the Void Knight's black armor. Unlike the biological creatures they had faced, the construct's remains did not dissolve into magic. They stayed exactly where they fell, comprised of high-grade void stone.
"We have a logistical problem," the dwarf said.
He grunted while trying to lift a pauldron as large as a beer keg. "This material is worth a fortune. Every smith in the capital would kill for a supply of void stone, but this piece alone weighs eighty pounds. My bags are full, Tamsin is carrying a mountain of cores. Carlos, unless you want to strap this to your back and crawl toward the gate, we have to leave it behind."
"We are not leaving void stone," Elara said, eyeing the loot hungrily. "That is essential for high-tier mana conduits, but Grimmand is correct. We are at capacity, so we physically cannot carry it with us."
Jacob stepped forward, adjusting the strap of his large burlap sack. It looked like a typical farm bag, the sort used for carrying a lunch of bread and cheese, yet it hung loosely against his back despite his own supplies being inside.
"I can take it," Jacob said.
Tamsin let out a short snort. "I appreciate the spirit, kid, but that pauldron is larger than your torso. You would snap under the weight."
"I mean inside the bag," Jacob clarified. He swung the sack off his shoulder and pulled the drawstring open.
Carlos watched with growing curiosity. The bag appeared barely large enough to hold a melon. Jacob walked over to the massive stone pauldron and held the mouth of the sack open. "Grimmand, drop it in."
The dwarf looked at Carlos, who simply shrugged. "Humor the boy."
The dwarf heaved the eighty-pound slab of jagged stone into the air and dropped it toward the small opening of the sack.
It should have ripped the fabric apart. It should have at least gotten stuck in the opening.
Instead, the mouth of the sack seemed to ripple. The fabric stretched impossibly wide, swallowing the massive object whole without a sound. The pauldron vanished into the dark interior.
Jacob pulled the drawstring tight. The bag returned to its original, small size without looking lumpy or strained.
He swung it back over his shoulder with a single hand.
"There," Jacob said. "I have plenty of space left. I enchanted the weave with a flexibility aspect so the fabric stretches without tearing. I also added a lightness lattice to the bottom so the weight does not pull on the straps. I was finishing the work last night while we were taking turns resting, and it turned out like this."
A sudden stillness took hold of the group. Tamsin stared at his own expensive leather pack, which was currently bursting at the seams and digging painfully into his shoulders. He then looked at the farm boy's plain burlap sack.
"You built a Distortion Bag," Elara whispered. "Spatial magic is supposed to be a forgotten art. High-tier enchanters charge thousands of gold for a pouch that holds twenty pounds. You created a sack that is capable of eating boulders."
Carlos felt that familiar prickle at the back of his neck.
Combat Insight Triggered
Target: Rough Canvas Sack
Analysis: Spatial distortion detected. Internal volume exceeds external dimensions by 500%. Mass negation active.
Anomaly: Enchantment method non-standard. Weave altered at fiber level.
Strategic Suggestion: Do not let the Merchants Guild see this bag. Economic destabilization risk: High.
Carlos closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Of course you did," Carlos sighed, the exhaustion finally winning out over the surprise. "Why wouldn't you?"
He looked at the remaining void stone rubble. "Load him up. Give him the stone, the extra hides, and the heavy cores. Apparently, our asset is also a pack mule."
"This is the most profitable escort job of my career," Tamsin declared, dumping a heavy stack of raptor claws into the bag.
"Let us move," Carlos ordered, turning toward the gate to the fourth floor. "I want to stop asking questions before I get answers I'm not prepared for."
"Another floor, another roll," Tamsin said, wiping void dust from his daggers. "I'm starting to like this anomaly life. It is very generous."
The blue notification hovered in the air, offering the third skill upgrade of the dungeon.
[Reward: Upgrade for one skill (one per team)]
"My turn," Grimmand growled, stepping up to the interface. "If I lose this one, I am filing a formal complaint with the System."
"You cannot file a complaint with a metaphysical construct," Elara noted, though she looked tired. The constant spellcasting on the third floor had drained her reserves, even with the potions.
"Watch me," Grimmand muttered. He punched the holographic die.
[Grimmand rolls: 18]
"Ha!" The dwarf pumped a fist in the air. "Eighteen! Beat that, you luck-stealing rogue."
Tamsin rolled a four. Carlos rolled a ten. Elara, rubbing her temples, produced a three.
"Justice!" Grimmand roared. He selected his skill immediately.
[Skill Upgraded: Iron Skin -> Mithril Weave]
Effect: Passive physical resistance increased by 15%. Active activation hardens skin to withstand piercers and crushers for 10 seconds.
"About time," Grimmand grinned, tapping his chest. His skin shimmered with a faint, metallic sheen for a second. "Now I can actually take a hit without denting my ribs. Let's go see the boss of this place."
They moved through the gate.
The transition to the fourth floor was jarring.
The purple grass of the third floor did not just stop. It rotted.
The ground beneath their feet turned from firm earth to a sucking, wet slush within eighty paces. The air grew heavy, smelling of sulfur and stagnant water.
"Terrain change," Carlos warned as his boots squelched in the mud. "Watch your footing. We are in the swamp biome now."
The arena was massive. It was a partially submerged basin where the dying grasslands bled into a murky, black bog.
Skeletal trees jutted out of the water like grasping hands. Patches of dry land were scarce and connected only by treacherous sandbars.
In the center of the bog, something massive was waiting.
It stood on four legs with the sheer, muscular bulk of a prize bull, but that was where the similarity ended.
Thick, moss-green scales armored its shoulders and flanks as they overlapped like the plating of a swamp lizard. Its tail was long and thick, thrashing the water into foam.
Its head was a nightmare of biology. It had the snout of a bull but was armored with bone plates. Two massive, forward-swept horns looked designed to punch through stone walls.
It snorted, and a cloud of black gas hissed from its nostrils.
Combat Insight Triggered
Target: Swamp Behemoth (Dungeon Boss)
State: Empowered (300% Mana Density)
Aura: Necrotic Miasma. Continuous area-of-effect debuff.
Suggested Action: Purify the air immediately. Do not engage in melee while Miasma is active.
"It is empowered," Carlos hissed. "Three hundred percent density. That is not an F-rank monster or boss. That is approaching a D-rank calamitous spawn."
The Behemoth saw them. It did not roar. It simply lowered its armored head and charged.
The ground shook. Water sprayed twenty feet into the air as the monster tore through the bog, closing the distance with terrifying speed.
"Shields!" Carlos yelled.
Grimmand stepped forward with his new Mithril Weave skill flaring. He planted his feet in the mud and locked shields with Carlos.
"Brace!"
The Behemoth hit them with the force of a falling boulder.
CRUNCH.
The impact drove both tanks back ten feet. They plowed deep furrows into the earth as dark sludge sprayed up to their waists.
Carlos felt the impact distribution enchantment on his chest plate flare as it struggled to dump the kinetic energy. It began to glow white-hot against the strain.
"Hold!" Grimmand roared. His skin turned silvery as he ate the force that should have crushed his bones.
The Behemoth reared back. It seemed annoyed that the little metal men had not popped. It opened its mouth.
It did not bite, instead, it exhaled.
A thick, oily cloud of black fog rolled out to engulf the frontline.
"Miasma!" Tamsin choked as he retreated instantly. "It burns!"
Carlos felt his strength sap instantly. His limbs felt like lead. His stamina bar plummeted.
[Status Effect: Necrotic Rot. Strength reduced by 50%. Stamina regeneration halted.]
"Elara! Light!" Carlos gagged. He swung blindly to keep the beast back.
"I am on it!" Elara yelled. She raised her staff and began chanting the incantation for Solar Flare. It was a light spell designed to burn away impurities.
"Orio-Lantis... "
The Behemoth's eyes snapped toward her. It knew. The dungeon had given the creature intelligence.
It stomped its front hooves. A wave of black mud and water erupted from the swamp, carrying the concentrated miasma with it. The wave crashed over Elara before she could finish the next syllable.