Chương 154

The staircase was broader than expected, allowing several adventurers to walk beside one another without crowding the walls. Small red crystals had been embedded naturally along both sides, their weak glow guiding the route downward while casting Aiden's shadow across the steps in distorted shapes. The temperature increased gradually, but his Furnace equipment handled the difference without difficulty. Heat pressed against the armor, entered the preserved monster channels, and weakened before reaching his body.

Aiden felt warm rather than exhausted, another confirmation that crafting an entire set around one environmental hazard had been worth the cost and sleep deprivation. The stairs continued for several minutes before curving through a section of dark rock. Aiden noticed how much larger the tunnel became near the bottom, with the ceiling rising far above his head and the walls spreading wide enough that their red illumination left the center partly shadowed.

When he reached the Fourth Level, the overall environment looked similar to the Third. Dark volcanic stone formed the floors and walls. Small red crystals provided natural light. Abandoned excavation supports stood beside partially mined formations. Heat escaped through occasional fractures. The differences were mostly scale. Everything was larger.

The main corridor was broad enough for several ore wagons to travel beside one another, while natural pillars rose like towers toward a ceiling that disappeared into dim crimson darkness. Crystal formations covered larger sections of the walls, and several clusters reached the size of Aiden's torso without showing obvious signs that anyone had attempted to extract them. That alone confirmed how thoroughly adventurers had abandoned the older route.

Aiden inspected the nearest large formation with Mining but resisted striking it. The mana inside was considerably denser than the weak illumination crystals above, and the surrounding stone contained enough structural lines to suggest that extraction might produce more than loose material. Possibly a golem. Possibly several. Aiden already had enough problems without knocking on the dungeon wall and asking it to manufacture additional ones. He continued forward.

The Fourth Level's size created a different kind of silence. Every footstep traveled much farther before returning, producing faint echoes from several directions. Aiden's Perception helped separate his movements from distant sounds, but the open passages made judging exact distance more difficult than inside the narrower Third-Level tunnels. A crystal chimed ahead. Then another answered. Aiden stopped. The second sound did not come from a side passage or distant chamber.

It matched the first rhythm almost perfectly. Heavy step. Crystal chime. Heavy step. Another chime. Two constructs were approaching together. Aiden moved toward the nearest stone pillar and used its edge to break the direct line of sight. He lowered both shields slightly, allowing the curved surfaces to remain ready without restricting his movement, and listened as the crystalline footsteps approached through the broad corridor. Red light appeared first. Two sets of glowing channels moved through the darkness.

Then the golems emerged. They were similar to the constructs on the Third Level, standing around eight feet tall with angular bodies made from dark stone and reinforced by red crystal growths. The Fourth-Level variants possessed thicker formations around their shoulders and knees, while additional crystal plates protected the chest areas surrounding their cores. More importantly, they walked side by side. Not coincidentally. Not merely traveling in the same direction.

Their steps remained synchronized, and each construct adjusted its position whenever the other moved closer to an obstacle. The one on the left carried heavier growths around both arms, while the right golem possessed long crystal formations extending from its shoulders like jagged launchers. A frontline fighter. A ranged variant. Aiden stared at them from behind the pillar. The Third-Level golems had appeared alone or reached him separately.

Their attacks were powerful but predictable, allowing Aiden to dismantle one before another entered the fight. The Fourth Level apparently believed that approach had become educationally insufficient. The shoulder crystals on the ranged golem began glowing. The heavier construct advanced one step ahead. They had noticed him. Aiden raised the Furnace Claw Shield across his left side and positioned the smaller buckler near his right shoulder.

The knuckle guards remained ready beneath both defenses, while his Furnace-Step Combat Boots settled naturally against the stone. He released a slow breath.

"Prepare for trouble." Both golems began moving. The heavy one lowered its crystal-covered fists. The ranged construct angled both shoulders toward him. Aiden tightened his stance behind the shields.

"And make it double." While Aiden enjoyed what the Fourth Level considered a fair introduction involving two coordinated Red Crystal Golems, news of the cave-in spread through Ironhollow with considerably greater speed than accurate information usually managed. The first reports mentioned only a tremor on the Sixth Level, but every returning party added another detail until guild officials understood that several connected sections of the dungeon had shifted at once. The cause was almost embarrassingly ordinary.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Two adventuring parties had encountered each other inside a newly discovered Sixth-Level cavern containing several exposed veins of magical ore. Both groups claimed they had found the chamber first, and neither possessed enough patience to wait for the guild to determine ownership rights.

The argument escalated from threats to drawn weapons before anyone considered that using large-scale magic inside an unexplored underground structure might produce consequences beyond winning the fight. One party belonged to the Fire Troop. That surprised almost nobody. The first large spell struck the wall beside the disputed ore vein. The second exploded against the floor while trying to intercept it.

Several more followed as both groups began treating the cavern like an open battlefield rather than a section of rock supporting several thousand tons of dungeon above their heads. The immediate cave-in had been relatively small. A portion of the cavern ceiling collapsed, forcing both parties to retreat and causing several minor injuries. Unfortunately, the Sixth Level had already been disturbed by recent exploration, excavation, and the discovery of new routes.

The first collapse shifted pressure toward another weakened section, which failed several minutes later and triggered yet another structural break farther above. One cave-in became three. Three became an expanding chain of tremors traveling through the dungeon. No one suffered life-threatening injuries during the original fight, though several adventurers were cut by falling crystal and one mage broke an arm while escaping beneath a collapsing support.

The greater problem was that the instability forced the guild to evacuate the entire Sixth Level before another section trapped who knows how many people underground. By early afternoon, the Adventurers' Guild had stopped pretending the incident could be handled through ordinary reports. The Fire Troop clan master received an official summons, as did the leader of the party responsible for beginning the fight and the leader of the opposing group.

All three were brought into one of the guild's largest meeting rooms beneath the supervision of several senior officers. Darius sat on the right side of the long table with both armored arms crossed over his chest. The Fire Troop leader occupied enough space that the chair beneath him looked undersized, while the muscles around his jaw tightened every time the party leader beside him attempted to explain how an argument over ore rights had somehow become a magical exchange capable of shaking half the dungeon.

The other party leader sat across from them with one arm wrapped in a sling. His expression carried equal parts anger and exhaustion, though he became noticeably less vocal whenever Darius looked directly at him. Two guild recorders occupied the far side of the room, while Lianne sat closer to the head of the table with several reports and witness statements arranged beside her. Guildmaster Romus stood rather than sat. At first glance, the man looked like an elderly scholar who had entered the wrong meeting room.

He was tall but exceptionally lean, with narrow shoulders beneath layered gray robes and a long white beard that reached the middle of his chest. His arms looked too thin to carry a heavy staff, and his relaxed posture communicated none of the danger expected from the leader of one of the region's most important guild branches. Nobody inside the room treated him lightly.

Romus had once explored the Ironhollow Dungeon alone from the entrance to the Fifth Level, clearing routes that entire parties later used as official passages. Several older adventurers claimed he had returned carrying a broken staff, half a robe, and enough monster cores to purchase a district of the town. Whether the final detail had grown through years of retelling did not matter. His strength had been witnessed often enough that he no longer needed to advertise it.

A simple wooden staff rested against the wall behind him. Darius had looked at it twice since entering. Romus finished reading the final witness statement before placing the page on the table. He did not raise his voice, strike the wood, or release a threatening amount of mana. His calm disappointment created more tension than shouting would have managed.

"The facts appear straightforward." The Fire Troop party leader shifted in his seat.

"Guildmaster, they entered a vein we had already marked." The opposing leader immediately leaned forward.

"You marked a wall inside an unclaimed chamber."

"You erased our symbol."

"Because you painted it across the entrance after we arrived." Romus raised one hand. Both men stopped. He looked toward Lianne.

"The first attack?" Lianne checked the statements despite already knowing the answer.

"Three independent witnesses reported that the Fire Troop party drew weapons first. Two confirmed that their mage launched the first spell after the opposing party refused to leave the chamber." Darius's eyes moved toward his subordinate. The party leader's face lost a small amount of color. Romus turned toward the man.

"Do you dispute those testimonies?" The Fire Troop party leader hesitated before lowering his gaze.

"No, Guildmaster."

"Then we can stop wasting time pretending this was an unavoidable accident." Romus walked slowly around the head of the table, one hand resting behind his back while the other adjusted the sleeve of his robe. His steps were almost silent, yet every person followed him with enough attention that no one noticed when the background noises of the guild vanished beyond the closed meeting-room door.

"You entered a newly discovered level whose stability had not been fully assessed. You fought over materials whose ownership had not been assigned. You used large-area spells beside an active excavation vein, and the resulting collapse forced the evacuation of every guild member on the Sixth Level." Neither party leader answered. Romus stopped beside the table.

"The guild will spend days inspecting the damage, clearing unstable passages, restoring markers, and confirming that no secondary routes are about to collapse. Mining work has stopped. Exploration work has stopped. Several contracted parties will receive compensation because your argument prevented them from completing their assignments." Darius already knew what was coming. He disliked it anyway. Romus returned to the head of the table and looked directly at him.

"The Fire Troop will pay ten thousand silver coins toward repair costs, delayed contracts, and the emergency evacuation." A muscle moved near Darius's temple. The veins along his forehead almost became visible before he forced his expression back under control. Ten thousand silver would not cripple the Fire Troop, but it would consume funds intended for dungeon expansion, equipment purchases, and several merchants the clan had been preparing to pressure into agreements. The true cost was reputational.

A public fine of that size announced that the Fire Troop had created the incident and that the guild remained willing to punish them despite their growing influence. Rivals would hear about it before evening. Merchants would reconsider how completely the clan controlled Ironhollow, and weaker groups might become brave enough to refuse several demands. Darius slowly looked toward the subordinate who had caused the problem. The man did not meet his eyes.

It took every fraction of Darius's self-control not to grab the party leader by the back of the head and introduce his face to the table repeatedly. The idiot had caused more financial and political damage during one argument than several rival clans had managed through months of resistance. Romus watched Darius carefully.

"Is the Fire Troop prepared to accept that judgment?"