The alarm blared across Goldenflame Fortress, echoing like a hive of angry hornets.
The two most elite dwarven forces — the Flameguard of the Firebeard Clan and the Heavy Steel Legion of the Blacksteel Clan — swiftly assembled, fully armed, and marched toward the entrance of the Moltenfire Dungeon.
Atop the Deepforge Clan’s tower, Vemark Deepforge, heir of the family and elder brother of Torin, stood by the window tugging furiously at his meticulously groomed beard, his expression darkening by the second.
His troublesome little brother’s very first day on duty in the Moltenfire Dungeon, and he’d already caused a disaster?
Considering that the dungeon had been safe and sound for hundreds of years, Vemark found it far more believable that Torin had somehow tripped the alarm himself.
“Father’s going to flay him alive this time…” Vemark muttered under his breath. Despite his constant scolding of that useless sibling, he couldn’t stand by and let the boy suffer.
He grabbed his weapon and hurried after the troops.
But when he reached the dungeon entrance, what he saw wiped the color from his face — lines of dwarven soldiers forming a shield wall, struggling desperately to hold back the horde of rampaging elemental creatures pouring out from the depths.
…
Bang!
Glennm slammed his shield forward, scattering a Storm Elemental trying to force its way into the passage. Yet immediately more elementals surged in to take its place.
He and Torin were trapped inside the communication chamber, with only a narrow corridor between them and the endless tide of enraged elementals.
“Damn it! We should’ve just run when we had the chance!” Glennm shouted between heavy breaths, parrying a blast of fire.
Torin cleaved through a lunging Fire Spirit and gasped, “Sorry! I didn’t think— we had to sound the alarm first!”
“Forget it,” Glennm cut him off. “It’s my fault too for not dragging you out by your beard! Anyway, since the alarm’s up, all we can do is hold! Reinforcements will break through soon enough!”
He gave a bitter laugh between swings. “The last time anything happened in this dungeon was fifty years ago! Back then it was just the forge overheating and blowing a hole in the wall — nothing like this nightmare!”
They held the corridor for what felt like an eternity. Their healing potions were long gone; their arms trembled from exhaustion; still, the flow of enemies did not thin.
“Bloody ancestors! What’s keeping those guards?!” Glennm spat blood. “It’s not that far — they could’ve crawled here by now!”
Their location wasn’t far from the main gate — the reinforcements should’ve reached them already.
Torin no longer had the strength to curse. He leaned against the wall, panting, his battle axe heavy as lead.
Then, the ground shook.
A deafening voice, full of wrath and power, thundered through the entire dungeon:
“You wretched insects… today, you shall pay the price!”
The tremor intensified. Dust and rock rained down from the ceiling as if the whole mountain were growling.
Whatever had spoken — it was no ordinary elemental.
“Wh-what was that?” Torin’s voice trembled uncontrollably.
Glennm’s face was pale, but he still managed a grim grin. “Whatever it is, looks like we won’t be seeing reinforcements anytime soon…”
Another elemental forced its way into the corridor. The two dwarves exchanged a look — the same resignation in both eyes. They had almost nothing left to give.
A chill suddenly swept over Torin’s back, making him shiver.
He turned instinctively — and froze. Something familiar had appeared in the corner of the room.
Before he could react, another Fire Spirit lunged. Glennm, summoning his last strength, raised his shield and roared, “Don’t just stand there! If we’re going down, we die like warriors!”
“Die?” Torin’s eyes lit up as an idea struck him. He frantically rummaged through his pack. “Hold on! We might not have to!”
“What!?”
Before Glennm could make sense of it, a wave of flame hit him full-on. His battered shield finally shattered.
Just as the inferno was about to engulf them both, a burst of magic enveloped them.
Their bodies shrank rapidly — within seconds, they were the size of dolls.
Staring up at the now-monstrous Fire Spirit, Glennm broke down completely. “Are you insane?! You made us smaller — that’s worse!”
But Torin grabbed him and bolted the other way.
Only then did Glennm notice what Torin had seen earlier — a palm-sized spatial rift had opened in the corner of the room, radiating intense cold.
Dodging a sweeping blaze, the two leapt into the rift. The moment they passed through, the place they’d stood exploded into roaring fire.
Given the rift’s tiny size, even elementals shouldn’t have been able to follow.
Panting hard, the dwarves collapsed on the other side — but soon realized they were freezing.
“S-so cold!”
They huddled together, shivering violently as the chill bit into their bones.
“You’ve got to be kidding me… We survive that just to freeze to death?”
“You got anything to make a fire?”
“Do I look like I have something?!”
puji~
A soft sound interrupted their bickering.
Before them loomed a colossal silhouette — a puji, towering like a hill to their shrunken eyes.
As its mycelial tendrils reached forward, Glennm instantly dropped his warhammer.
He still remembered all too well what had happened the last time he’d swung that hammer at a puji.
And honestly, he was too exhausted to resist anyway.
The only thing puzzling him now was where they were. This place looked different from the puji Dungeon they’d seen in human lands.
…
To be suddenly invaded by another dungeon through a spatial rift — that was a first even for Lin Jun!
And now, of all things, two dwarves had fallen right through into his territory!
Did they really think shrinking themselves would make him overlook them?
Without hesitation, Lin Jun seized the tiny intruders and summoned several lizardmen along with a squad of pujis to guard the rift.
The heat radiating from the other side was unsettling — whatever lay beyond, it wasn’t safe. He’d have to interrogate these unexpected guests.
Moreover, the rift seemed to be expanding. To be safe, Lin Jun began mobilizing more forces to fortify the area.
He only hoped this was an accident — not the prelude to an enemy assault.
But before the reinforcements even finished arriving, the rift had grown enough for something else to emerge.
A blazing Fire Spirit burst through, towering as tall as a puji. It roared, flinging waves of flame in every direction.
And then—
Without anyone attacking it, the fire suddenly flickered, dimmed, and… with a quiet whoosh, went out completely.