Chapter Ninety

"Every dungeon in Avalon usually has a complete separation between each of its floors," Aelor explained, "You've seen what that means earlier when you moved from one floor to the next. One floor is always filled with one type of monster, but that same monster won't ever be found anywhere on the next floor. Floor one will always have floor one monsters, while floor two will always have floor two monsters. That's how it's supposed to be,"

Aelor and Edward were currently walking to Aelor's clan, though they were talking in hushed voices. Edward had already extinguished his flame to hide the two from any nearby enemies, though he was still able to see through the darkness just fine. As Aelor couldn't hear any monsters near him, he took the time to talk to Edward.

"Yet that didn't happen this time?" Edward asked. Aelor shook his head.

"No. Only half a dozen reasons exist for floor monsters to migrate away from their home. One reason is if a dungeon breaks, which is what happens when it isn't entered in a few hundred years. During a dungeon break, every single monster hidden inside will leave the dungeon all at once, often resulting in the destruction of the nearby surface. Of course, though, that rarely happens," Aelor explained.

"What happened in this one?"

"New residents showed up when they weren't invited," Aelor told him, "The monsters of the eighth floor were pushed out by a stronger type of creature, a race of frozen yetis. You should know that the boss at the bottom of a dungeon will affect the entire dungeon as a whole, though it can change if another monster takes the mantle as the dungeon boss. Before the yetis, the boss of the eighth floor was a champion of dark magic and curses. In return, all monsters inside the dungeon would have the same powers. Back during the days of the previous dungeon boss, my clan specialized in assassination and stealth. We were literally made out of shadow, but that changed when the yetis showed up. Now, we're all frozen undead creatures that barely hold a fraction of our previous strength."

"With the yetis' arrival, the entire dungeon changed. Everything froze, and all of the monsters became skeletons. My clan, which once was among the strongest in the dungeon, became ordinary soldiers who didn't know how to fight outside of the darkness. We might've been wiped out if the eighth-floor champions weren't suffering from the same sudden change. It's been nearly a thousand years since then, yet my clan still suffers greatly."

'A thousand years? Damn, he's old,' Edward thought to himself, though he didn't dare speak aloud. Secretly, though, his mind wandered to the scene from only an hour ago, to when the gorilla boss on the third floor exploded. It had said something about a thousand years, hadn't it?

"It's been that long, yet the champions haven't killed you all? How?"

"Oh, they have," Aelor smiled, "We've been respawning too fast for them to keep us all dead permanently. I've been killed by different champions a few thousand times, so I'm quite used to defeat. The only reason we're even trying to keep them away is so we have a place to relax and grow. Without an opportunity to grow stronger, we won't be able to resist. Come, we're getting close."

—

An hour or so later, Edward and Aelor finally arrived at the clan. Unfortunately for Edward, they didn't run into any skeleton champions on the way there. As they arrived, Edward saw two skeletons guarding the entrance to the clan. Each of them stood at the size of a large iron door and watched as Aelor approached.

Edward's attention was stolen by the door, however, as he instantly recognized it. Its tall and wide frame was indistinguishable from the boss rooms of previous rooms, though it appeared much older and in a decrepit state. The frost covering its frame was thinner, revealing a thin blanket of rust covering the door like a second layer of skin.

"Aelor, who's that?" One of the guards asked as they approached. Edward looked away from the door and turned to the guard.

"This is…" Aelor spoke, but he froze only moments later. Edward smiled and stepped forward. Then, he put his hand to his chest and gave a small bow. He wasn't sure how to act in front of these guards, but he wanted to appear cordial and easy to approach, just in case a good first impression would help him further down the road.

"My name is Edward Colt," He spoke before straightening his posture, "I've come to look for my friends, humans who go by the names of Brandon, Markus, and Leila. There is also another creature named Ikarus. I was told your clan may be able to help me find them should I help you with a problem of yours."

He chose not to mention Ikarus's nature as a dragon, for now, considering Dragons were a rare species to see. He wasn't sure if the skeletons would treat Edward well if there was a dragon mixed in the equation. For all he knew, they might attempt to kidnap Ikarus and use him for their own purposes.

The guards were silent as they listened to Edward. After a moment, one of them looked to Aelor, "Aelor, you're responsible for this human while he's inside the clan. Watch him closely, or the chief will hear about it if he misbehaves."

"Sure, sure," Aelor shrugged, "Let us in, please?"

The guards nodded, then pushed the door open. As the doors swung open, they revealed a room of similar size to the massive arena on the third floor, back when the gorilla empowered the entire room. No veil of shadow blocked Edward's eyes as they walked in, nor was there a massive moat that occupied 90% of the floor.

Unlike the rooms of previous boss monsters, however, this one had hundreds of skeletons walking around. Various sized tents were set up around the boss room in a way that made the encampment share similarities with a miniature city. The largest tent, which was placed around the center of the room, was built on top of a small hill that overlooked the rest of the camp. In total, there must have been half a thousand tents and nearly as many skeletons, all of which wore leather armor and carried various rusty weapons.

"Now that we're here, it's time for you to meet the chief. Prepare yourself, he's a bit old-fashioned."