"This place seems familiar..."

I peer down the long narrow hallway at the grey spinning portal near the back edge. The place feels oddly similar to the small dark hallway that I crossed to get to the Boss room during the C-Class exams.

It's just like the Boss room portal at the top of the Labyrinth.

I open my link with Ember and hear the Dragon's voice in my inner ear.

"It seems we've made our way to a Lower-Floor Boss. You did say this was the 20th right?"

I nod, walking down the hallway while I reply.

"It should be the 20th, yes... I wasn't exactly expecting this... What's a Lower-Floor Boss?"

Ember's flames fill the narrow room, illuminating our surroundings as he explains.

"In larger Labyrinths, levels of difficulty are usually split into 20-floor segments. Each segment has a floor boss, protecting their assigned portion of the Labyrinth. It allows the Demon and Dragon up top to safely continue absorbing mana, while hunters face the bosses below."

I grin, coming face-to-face with the portal at the end of the long hallway.

Ember continues.

"These boss rooms are usually pretty big and intricate. There tend to be more monsters to farm inside, you'll be able to train before the fight if you wish. I'd like to do some hunting myself."

I step through the mass of spinning mana, motioning Emebr to follow.

"Sounds good to me."

Moments later both of us slip through into the 20th Floor. Or rather, the 1st Lower-Floor Boss' Lair.

Immediately, I go back into attack mode from the extreme heat that shocks my system.

It feels like I've been thrown into a pit of flames.

In fractions of a second, sweat beings to drip from my pores as my body attempts to cool itself.

I hit the floor with a thud.

The black-scaled Dragon and I both land on a hard dark grey rocky surface.

It's a fairly flat stone that juts out about 20 meters in all directions. The exit portal spins right behind us, and the view before my eyes leaves me in a state of shock.

For as far as I can see in all directions, there's a bubbling pit of lava. It's dark red and orange, with hot steam coming up in the air. It makes the atmosphere waver in my line of sight.

Small boulder-like islands just like the one we're standing on peek through the molten rock every couple hundred meters for as far out as I can see.

It'd be near impossible to navigate this dungeon without a flight ability...

I can't picture any normal hunter making it far into this hellscape without burning to a crisp.

I gulp, but grin soon after, opening my link with Ember.

He's the first to speak.

"The Floor Boss isn't far, the one you call the Behemoth. It's about 3km in that direction."

Ember points a front claw off into the distance. I nod with appreciation, but I could have easily figured this out myself... There's something else he wants to say.

I look up at the Dragon, who seems to be deep in thought.

"What is it...?

"..."

Ember replies after a pause.

"Well, that was a good battle we just fought. Though, to face what's ahead your mana control needs a lot of work."

I stare out into the open lava pools, spotting the shadow outline of an ominous structure towering high in the sky near the back of the dungeon.

I reply.

"Understood. We're just getting started."

I air-step upward to hop on Ember's back, continuing my thought.

"Let's see what kind of mobs spawn in this dungeon. You're right, I'll need to get some training in before we face the Behemoth but let's at least get to that structure back there so I can set a Dungeon Walker spawn point."

I pause for a moment.

"If worst comes to worst, we can make a quick pit stop by the Great Plains. I'm sure there's been more than enough time for at least one Titan to come crawling back."

I smirk as Ember nods his head.

"Agreed."

With a strong flap of his wings, Ember lifts off from the island in the middle of an ocean of lava. We begin our flight towards the back of the Lower-Floor Boss room just like that.

This is the final boss of my assignment. The monster at the back of this dungeon separates the normal hunters of the world, from the Elites.

I can't hold back the smile that creeps across my face. One life-threatening battle after the next.

I missed this so much.

Although Ember is right, I need to work on my control. Charging up attacks for a full minute isn't exactly a technique I can use for every battle. It'll become rather troublesome the higher up I progress.

To be honest, It already has... It's just hard to admit it.

I speak to Ember through our link.

"How exactly do you produce mana shielding? In that last battle, I watched you make a shield denser than anything I've seen before. You even covered your claws with it to use as an offensive technique. Could you teach me how to do this too?"

As we soar up into the sky and the air gets much cooler. The lava pit below is the source of this dungeon's immense heat.

Ember responds.

"Mana shielding comes naturally to me. For you, it's not such an easy task."

"Why's that...?"

"Monster's are much more adept at shielding and other mana techniques at lower levels than humans because we're made entirely from pure mana. Humans were born into a realm of pure mass, only to be invaded by foreign mana from our realm."

I pause, taking in this information as the Dragon glides further into the Dungeon and closer to the shadowy rectangular-shaped outline that keeps getting bigger and bigger.

"Humans are able to wield mana, but aren't entirely born from it. It has seeped into your atmosphere and become one with the world you live in. You'll need to consume much more pure MP if you'd like to master this technique. There are workarounds, but you don't possess the skill necessary at the moment. You'll just need to consume more mana. That's the only way."

I remember back to when Fisher said that mana shielding was a Tier 1 technique. He also said I'm a Tier 0...

It seems Ember and Fisher are in agreement here. I need more mana, and much more training with said mana.

"I need to get stronger."

We continue to fly higher up, further from the bubbling rock below us making our way toward the backside of this dungeon in the meantime.

It's much cooler up here. The hot stream from below rises and dissipates more the higher in altitude we climb. There's no ceiling to this dungeon, or at least not one that I can sense.

I take a breath of fresh air as the wind flies by me on all sides.

Looking far into the back of the dungeon, now that the heat waves and stream clouds are below us, that ominous structure comes into full view.

I whisper under my breath as I take in the sight before me.

"Is that... a castle?"

The outline of an impossibly large stone castle looms in the distance.

Ember flies downward to get a better view.

It sits on a large land mass that rises high above the lava pools below, making steep cliffs. The circular island looks to be 1km in diameter and juts up over the lava about 100 meters high.

The stone castle at the center of the high-risen island looks desolate and gives off an eerie hum of mana.

There seems to be a wide-open arching gate at the entrance that leads to an abandoned courtyard. Touches burn on high pillars welcoming us toward the massive structure before us...

Ember flies down to hit the hard ground, 50 meters or so in front of the open front door, begging us to come inside.

I jump off his back, gripping my sword and beginning to charge an attack out of instinct.

Something about all of this doesn't feel right.

There's a dense sensation of mana in the air all around me, and a light buzzing noise fills my ears. Something is definitely nearby...

I activate my All-Seeing Eye along with my enemy detection skills and I'm hit with a whirlwind of notifications. There's dozens of level 430 monsters nearby, but they're nowhere in sight.

I gulp. Still charging my sword and inching closer to the stone archway in front of me.

Ember follows.

We make our way through the gate. My jaw is clenched and I hold my breath, darting my eyes back and forth to try and spot one of these enemies popping up on my radar.

The ground in the courtyard is made of square stones. There's a high wall another 40 meters away with a tall locked gate.

It's the main entrance to the castle.

Looking left and right, the wall stretches to the far side of the island and curves around it on each side. I stare up at the high wall and think about air-stepping over to get into the inner castle walls.

My thoughts are rudely interrupted by the heavy clicking sound of metal on metal from behind the front gate.

I watch the massive iron doors slowly open and a glimmer of silver armor peeks through. The heavy doors scrape across the stone floor as it opens letting out a disturbing sound.

I continue to charge my blade and move closer in toward the danger. The enemies behind the Iron door finally come into full view.

"It looks like someone came to greet us."