Lillith Entered the crypt with caution. Slowly descending the stairs. Eyes flicking side to side warily as they Slowly adapted to the low light environment. Left hand clutched on a 20 shot Compact SMG With a switch to activate and deactivate their ability to fire energy bullets. Right hand morphed into a long, curved war-scythe like blade. Having come here after hearing about the supposed "Spawned resources" hoping to find some for study as well as sale. The monsters here might have interesting properties as well She thought to herself.

The Dungeon's first obstacle that one would encounter would be the Blood Seal upon the very doors itself. This Dungeon, which was both currently unexplored and massive in scope, was sealed inside and going past these doors was the only way past. However, there was a serious issue as only two people could hope to open it.

They either had to have the Blood of the Hero, as in the Hero who slayed the Demon King one thousand years ago, or the Blood of the Demon King, whose corpse should already be locked inside. In other words, only one who planned to store a part of Demon King Millen that had been discovered after his death, or the Hero or someone related to her, could enter. And because the identity of the Hero was kept hidden, it was entirely impossible to know who to seek out to open it.

Because of that, Lilith would find herself unable to enter. If she tried to force in, she would be repulsed and sent flying back out by a mysterious unquantifiable field of unknown origin, construct, and makeup. Perhaps the people at the Adventurer's Guild HQ would know how, but otherwise it appeared to be impossible to open this Crypt.

Lillith sighed at this. She knew just enough about branch of magic to be able to barely decipher it's requirements. She momentarily lamented not further studying the art of seals. Having focused more on utility runes such as storage and reinforcement or heating. "Just great. I have to get help from people I don't know" She growled. However out of curiosity took a vial from her cloak and flung some blood from one of the larger beasts to be found in Duskus onto the seal just to see what would happen.

As the blood was soaked into the seal, the doors did not open...but the entire area seemed to shake and rumble as if it was angry, or hungry, or perhaps it was something incomprehensible to humans or any intelligent life. Perhaps it was just some automated system, or perhaps some sort of haywire magic, or perhaps...there was something more.

"They will live. They will suffer. They will fight. They will hunt. They will predict".

"The cycle must continue. The power is necessary. The universe must operate".

"Everything is a lie. Everything is truth. You are not welcome! You must serve!"

"The blood is alive! They are alive! At the place of knowledge, one who wanders, at the place so ancient, and one who watches".

"These individuals hold the requirement. But those are not you! And so you cannot obstruct!"

An array of voices spoke out, as if something had broken inside it. Or perhaps, it was working right, but something that should not have happened did. This Crypt which appeared older then time itself, something was clearly wrong...or perhaps, the legends about it were wrong.

But what it did do was summon several monsters outside of the seal, wretched beasts that were like wolf and bear combined, but far stronger and more terrifying. Whatever Lilith had done, it did not seem to take it well and continued to spoke giberish that made no sense.

Lillith looked at these beasts warily before hastily raising a rectangular barrier between herself and these abominations to hold them off for a moment so she could gather herself and prepare for what was likely to be one hell of a fight. She knew without a doubt that she could not allow these monsters to escape this crypt and cause bloodshed on the streets above. She lowered her center of gravity a little and shifted the surface of her form to a chitinous hide, Leaving only a slit on the face for her eyes and pointed her SMG forward. Preparation finished,she waited for the monsters to make the first move. "Well, it looks like I have made yet another fine mess. Why do I keep doing things like this? Curiosity killed the cat I suppose" She mused to herself before adding with a smirk "But satisfaction brought it back."

The monsters, who already numbered over a dozen, all attack Lilith at once with their fangs and claws, and also their tails which had blades on the end and were threatening in their own right. They moved faster then normal too and hit harder then normal, as if they were enhanced. A strange aura emerged from the door, as if it was angry or something.

"Traitors! Twisted flesh! Kill! Kill everyone for their betrayal! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

It came from the seal, as the noise started to die down, but it felt like every monster Lilith was facing right now was saying it with the seal, even though they lacked the vocal cords to.

Something was clearly abnormal with the situation.

Lillith began to desperately block and parry. Horribly out rusty in the field of close combat she only managed to block half the attacks with her hand blade. her chitinous hide began to crack after the first moment. She knew she had to do something. Getting cut up might not kill her but these beasts could not be allowed to escape. She timed her next parry. Putting extra force into it and forcing the attacker to be off blanced before unloading 5 rounds directly into it's face. hoping to end a few she did this 3 more times before Melting into a pile of goo. SMG disappearing as the puddle she formed shot out tendrils to wrap around the necks of all the still standing beasts. Quickly covering their faces and attempting to force their way inside to devour them all from the inside. a hand formed from the puddle and made a gesture towards the only exit. Casting a strong barrier to hopefully keep these things in there. This is insane! I need to put a stop to this fast! Just then she remembered the seal and one of it's defence mechanisms. The hand summoned the SMG once more. Switching it over to energy bullet mode and aiming directly at the seal BRAZZZT 15 shots were fired at the center of the seal. Hoping it would do something.

The monsters began to spawn, more and more seemed to come after her as a barrier seemed to form at the way she came from, as if to make sure the tunnel back to the surface would not be entered or exited. Of course, unlike the barrier for the seal, this barrier seemed far weaker, but it was still there none the less.

And when she fired at the center of the seal, that was when things really got bad. The seal reacted by reflecting every shot right back at her, showing a level of defense and an ability to target. It was a fearsome and scary defense too, as multiple spikes shot out of the ground to pierce her limbs, attempting to prevent her escape.

"You must become a vessel for the Demon King!"

The Dungeon said something like that as it attacked her, trying its best to prevent her from leaving.

A hail of rounds fly over the woman, splattering dozens of the creatures against the crypt. Jeff would charge in, bearing a chain-gun. Jeff takes careful steps not to hit the woman but shouts at her. "Fall back to me!" He yells out, and the chain-gun barks in response. You would notice that he has heavier power armor, made to take lots of damage and still hold out.

Lillith Shrugged the spikes and bullets off Absorbing the bullets seeing as they had been made by her own magical energies. being a semi solid puddle currently had it's benefits. she reformed as she had been before to retreat towards the Man with the chain-gun. Jumping over a newly spawned monster stabbing it's neck with her Newly reformed hand blade. "A LITTLE OCCUPIED HERE! Clear a path and I'll gladly take refuge at your side Stranger! We Need to find a way to take care of that Seal!" She shouted. twisting her embedded hand blade in the back of the beasts neck to do maximum damage to it's vertebrae. making a sign with her free hand pointed towards the seal, Sending a kinetic wave towards it. Picking up any monsters caught by it and dragging them along for the ride to slam them against the seal with the wave. This feat however took a decent chunk of her mana pool. Chewing through about 1/10 of her remaining reserves due to her having nothing close to mastery over that particular technique. She then planted the casting hand on the head of the hopefully slain beast she had just mounted, Ripping her blade from the back of it's neck and vaulting away from an incoming lunge from another one

Jeff nods at the woman as he smashes the barrel of the chain-gun across one of the creatures. As it fell to the ground, he stomped on it's skull, crushing it. He started clearing a small and narrow path for the woman to make her way to him. He fired a steady stream of rounds into the horde, slowly turning the barrel of the weapon red. He had a load-bearing ammunition pack bolted to his armor, so the chain-gun would not run out of rounds anytime soon.

At that point, sensing the people increasing instead of decreasing, the dungeon began to activate its full and devestating power...the power it had as a defense should someone try to breach the seal improperly, a defense that could be said to be the biggest threat of all.

A black miasma began to emerge from the Crypt, and it came towards them as if it was a giant fog. Notably, aside from the monsters, anything it touched no matter if it was organic, metallic, or such, with the exception of the dungeon itself and the walls and floor and ceiling, began to degrade, corrode, and rot away. A few rats nearby, once this miasma hit them, could be seen dying and dissolving. A miasma that degraded everything it touched.

A power rumored to only be possessed by a Demon King.

Lillith glanced at the miasma in alarm before sprinting towards the stranger with the big gun while staying close to the ground. Stopping beside him. "We need to get out of here! Do you think your gun can take care of that barrier blocking our exit? I'll do my best to keep that corrosive mist at bay with another barrier but we must get out of here!" She exclaimed as she returned her hand blade to the form of a hand. Forming a small portal and reaching her hand into it she withdrew a tiny phial containing holy water in it. "Hopefully this stuff is the real deal or both of us are as good as dead." Raising both hands high above her head and slowly bringing them down in front of her facing the mist A bright yellow barrier forming a quarter bubble butting up against the red barrier blocking their exit. She manipulated the water with her mana. Depleting her reserves by a quarter of her max capacity due to not using a proper spell to do this. She coated the outside of the barrier with a thin film of the water before fully solidifying the barrier. She got a look of intense concentration, Starting to breathe heavily from the strain this feat was putting on her system. "I can only keep this up for about twenty five seconds. Please hurry!"

In the end the AI had sent out a total of fifteen out of the ship's twenty available servitors. Every servitor had once been wanted dead or alive, and after the Captain collected the bounty for their death, if no family came forth to claim it, he bought their bodies. Bezalel had taught him much about necromancy, and he found that by modifying bodies, sometimes even assembling many bodies into one, he could create useful crew members that required little to no upkeep.

The typical servitor had at least two energy weapons and two ballistic weapons grafted into their body, though each was a unique creation indicative of what Integra had on hand at the time, how he felt about the bounty, and what he needed most to round out his crew. The quadrupedal had been a load-bearing bodyguard he had grown to almost love, it had been made out of an intelligent bear almost eight feet tall and over 12 feet long that Omnia had managed to reinforce the muscles and tendons of using sky-metals and nanites.

The mindless drones couldn't think for themselves, but obeyed most commands pretty well and more often than not they were the only company Blackheart had. The small platoon of undead monstrosities sat out front of the crypt with their various gear, deathly still. They all looked at least mostly humanoid in form, and had been dressed in layers of loose flowing robes, bandages, and protective armor as to obscure their frightening visage from passer-bys; though five of them had too many arms. They stood in three lines of five, outside the passageway leading down to the crypt; most carried cumbersome loads of supplies and awaited their Captain's arrival, though they were outfitted with cameras and microphones to allow the AI to direct and speak through them when necessary.

Minsu's opinion was fair enough, if a bit too reserved for Blackheart. He had only asked because he had qualms about Necromancy himself, it just proved too efficient. I told you it would be, the shadowy demon's thoughts played across his mind as he prepared for this dungeon dive.

The Captain couldn't help but notice the malice present in Rivian's voice when they boy gave his short answer on the Servitors. Not that I blame him what with the bounty on him and the rest of his biomass or whatever. The thought idly played cross his mind, What would happen if he was whole..?"

Rivian brought him out of his thoughts with a question about whether or not he still had shopping to do. The Captain could think of a few consumable magic effects that might prove useful, but he had also figured the rest of the servitors could go out, buy, and bring them down to him if push came to shove. He almost chuckled at the thought of a lengthy showdown with local law enforcement and the servitors trying to prove their legality with Omnia's help.

A sharp click of Blackheart's boot heels caused the servitors to salute, some holding chain guns to their head with the belt awkwardly swaying from the dramatic movement. "Alright ye scalawags dredged up from the depths of society to serve as my crew. This here be me friends Rivian and Minsu, and you are ensure they come to NO harm. Have ye got it?" Omnia emulated their assent in the form of vigorous nodding and synthesized cheering as they got into formation and started down the passage into the crypt.

"Darling, there's already two people down here," the AI pouted in his ear as the first servitor's echolocation blasted down the corridor. "Whoa, what?" He said half to himself, half to Minsu and Rivian. "There's a barrier erected down there, and... people?" Darling those are people right? He asked her mentally while he sprinted to catch up with the servitors who had gotten away from them by the sheer space fifteen technologically enhanced ghouls took up.

"It appears to be a standard issue Spartan, and... another biomass?" The servitor stared blankly at the slightly red barrier in front of it, holding the two captive. The ghoul's four power swords hung loosely by it's side awaiting it's Captain's orders. Though Blackheart said nothing, the servitor received the acknowledgement it was "waiting" for and began to tear wildly at the barrier with each sword at once. Simultaneously, the undead with a Gauss "rifle" unloaded three rapid shots at the top of the barrier, ensuring they wouldn't hit anyone if the shots exceeded the barrier's tolerance.

Lillith Turned her head sharply at the sound of something pounding on the barrier from the other side. Seeing so many...Wait were those things with guns on their arms actually people? Then she remembered that she was supposed to be doing something and turned back to her barrier in alarm as it rippled and was beginning to destabilize from her lack of focus. She let shouted in slight distress as she turned her attention to maintaining the barrier and keeping the mist at bay. Sighing with relief when she realized her lack of concentration hadn't left any open spots in the holy water film.

"Dammit! That probably cost me five seconds." She cursed under her breath before turning her gaze behind her. "You can start working on that barrier any time you like mister armored guy with a chaingun! I can't do this all day and if my barrier fails while the red one still stands we are as good as dead!Get on it!"

Jeff would nod and shift his fire towards the barrier, starting to chip away at the barrier. He would fire into the barrier until finally, his gun would run dry. He chucked the chain-gun at the barrier. He pulled out a plastic explosive and attached it to the barrier. Jeff stepped directly behind Lilith, meaning to cover her. He pulled the trigger, causing the explosive to detonate. Jeff would absorb the full blunt of the blast, his shields and armor eating the fragments.

The fragments and the blast caused Lillith's barrier to crack a bit. Though the cracks quickly faded this put extra strain on her and she was quickly reaching her limit. "If you have any other ideas then go ahead and try them because once my barrier fails we will likely only have a few seconds before that mist gets to us. I can only keep it up for another 20 seconds without risking losing consciousness." She told the spartan through grit teeth. Her legs and arms starting to shake a tiny bit. Her skin beginning to discolor as she kept it up, gradually gaining a darker shade until it was a mill-scale black. She decreased the size of the half dome to save energy and reduce the strain. Breathing heavily as she did her best to keep both of them alive.

Jeff punched the barrier and shattered it."Run."

Lillith turned to observe the red barrier breaking

Jeff grabs Lilith and sprints out of the tomb with ease

As Minsu arrived at their location, she already noticed some people inside some red barrier. She was certain that was not the right area, of course those people were in danger. Blackheart of course took initiative and fired at it while the two people inside worked their way out of the barrier. The second it shattered they escaped.

Well...They walking into a strange situation. Well...It won’t get worse surely? I mean...They were after a demon king so it was going to get dangerious soon. But having everything fully loaded would be nice.

The barrier however, did not shatter immediately when the Spartan punched it. It did not look like it particularly liked being punch, probably because it was being protected outside the dungeon it was not as strong as normal, but it was not so flimsey to get destroyed with a single punch.

The miasma meanwhile seemed to corrode everything in its path, with the ability to even corrode energy barriers in seconds or less. It would keep approaching them and coming after them. And with Blackhearts help with firing at it from the outside after the Spartan had damaged it, the barrier was then finally broken.

But, that was not the end of it's attempts as it went after those two still. When Jeff TRIED to grab Lilith, before she could accept the action of her own free will or react in any other way she wanted as a character with her own will, tendrils of miasma shot inbetween them to cut them off. They would then attempt to go around and totally engulf Jeff as they came from all sides. The power of the miasma seemed to focus on this attack, and it would almost certainly completely errode and damage his armor as the miasma had concentrated which meant its power and ability would increase. It would come at all sides, move to block escape routes, and then come at him from every direction to eat through his armor and shields. When he tried to run, they would all focus on that route and make it even worse for him.

Meanwhile, to the trio that just arrived, Rivian only saw as the actions happened. He had no idea if that armored guy was even alive after that attack, but with that armor there could be a slim chance that the person inside was alive. Because of that, Rivian decided to bet on that chance and summoned his Blood Katana. He was not aware of what this miasma did exactly, but based on what he saw from the battle already, included shell casings from bullets that had been degraded, it seemed to have some sort of degenerative ability like the Demon King. In that case, Rivian's Blood Katana...or rather, the sword that was summoned from his power which he did not know the true name of, Murasame, was pulled out. Because Murasame, known as the Blood Katana to everyone as no one knew its true identity, was made from Rivian's Blood, it had the benefit of Adaptability, which meant he and Rivian could adapt to the miasma.

And Rivian knew if the miasma was a defense mechanism, then his power could get it to dispel. And so, he charged in and cut through the miasma to save Jeff, or whatever remained of him.

The moment he did, the miasma swarmed Rivian and attacked him. Rivian fell to the ground on one knee, but was enduring the pain. It was not just inside his body, he felt Adaptability working incredibly hard for something. It had never made him feel pain before, but he knew the feeling beside the pain. He felt it every time the scientists cut him open and transplanted tissue or an entire Organ into him.

And then finally, the miasma dissipated all at once as if it was never there. The dungeon stopped sending out monsters, and those still out turned to black ash. Rivian sighed with relief. "I guess this means that my ability will...work...to..."

He suddenly realized that his outer layer of clothes did not have adaptability, and were torn to shreds. Thankfully he had been wearing a jacket, so his shirt was fine, but the others were totally degraded and fell off other then his shoes. He pulled his shirt down skillfully and with extreme speed, but...

Actually, something strange happened. Rivian's clothes began to reform onto Rivian. Until he was totally back to normal, and could stop pulling his shirt down. Everything was totally restored.

"I put in tech and programmed it to regenerate. Since I heard the Demon King had some sort of degrading or degeneration powers, I thought it would be good to have clothes that not only served as armor, but would regenerate themselves but...it looks like the degeneration power is stronger then I thought. They couldn't keep up. So...so...we should probably be careful".

Rivian said that as he looked towards the door. After he took several deep breaths, and calmed down his embarrassment, he took a few steps forward.

"So, is everyone ready?"

The Captain's gaze turned Jeff, he had read somewhere that Mjolnir powered armor was constantly at risk of going haywire and crushing the Spartan within if the neuralink was disrupted; it almost scared him to look but he was painfully curious as to whether the genetically modified humanoid had survived. The man turned to his unholy union between man and machine and shrugged a question at it. The unintelligent servitor just stared back at him, it's mouth slightly agape. Rivian dealt with the miasma fairly easily, it seemed like he was INDEED trustworthy as Liam had said. As the thought crossed the pirates mind the boy's clothes disintegrated. Oh... Nanotech in the clothing brought it back, and the boy made the typical ready-check before a dungeon dive.

Blackheart couldn't take his eyes off the super-soldier though. "Well if he didn't make it; be sure one of you load up the mess to be taken back to the Bleeding Heart; no sense in all that hard work going to waste." The man nodded vigorously before laughing out loud in his most obnoxious chortle, This could prove to be a very beneficial little detour...

Had the Captain brought a specialized femtite swarm they might be able to stitch the Spartan back together from pluripotent Stem Cells; Luckily for my budget I left those on the ship... With a quick mental order to the Servitor carrying the weaponized Industrial-Grade Femtites, it dropped the container which shatter; allowing the silvery dust cloud to float over and rest on the Captain's coat. They gave him a sort of sheen, but also should serve well to serve as an emergency defense to any soul-sucking miasma he encountered by rapidly moving quarks and re-orienting matter to get in its way. Or they could tear Quarks from living creatures, deconstructing them at a subatomic level It'd be a lie to say it didn't sicken him to watch a human simply fall apart, but business was business.

The ex-Pirate turned to the "For those of you just joining this, uh... Spelunk. You may call me Captain Blackheart, or return to the surface where it's less... disintegrate....y...." The word formed weird in his mouth, but it had been said and he stood by it. "We are investigating the would-be death and perhaps subsequent Resurrection of the Demon King Millen. This was an Emergency level quest, and the risks are... well... There... Minsu, are you ready?" The man prepared to head deeper into the dungeon with or without the Spartan or Biomass, and the Servitors began to get ready to breach the seal.

Jeff's armor would literally be destroyed entirely, except for the bodyglove covering his skin. He would luckily be alive, merely knocked down by the miasma. He would dust himself off. "Got an extra gun?"

"I do not. However I do have a mutually beneficial proposition. Wear me. repairing my barrier after your attempts to break the one barring our exit damaged it took a lot out of me. Unfortunately as a result, I'm feeling rather sluggish and lethargic. wear me as a suit for time while I recover and in return I'll do my best to shield you from damage." Lillith gave Jeff a proposition before demonstrating by morphing into a less detailed replica of Jeff's now destroyed armor with an added shield mounted to one arm in order to distribute her mass and minus the polarized visor. It was also a mill-scale black. After doing so she changed back. Looking to the captain and the others. She walked over towards one of the servitors to get a better look. Leaving Jeff to consider her offer in the meantime. "What in Dawns name are you?" She queried, shuffling over on slightly wobbly legs. "You remind me way too much of the fallen for comfort. Dead, yet not rotting or immobile" She finished. Waiting for this... abomination ,to respond.

After the display of watching Riven eliminating the strange miasmic mist which seemed to eat...Well just about anything it got on. Besides him of course...Otherwise she would be packing up and leaving if he got eaten up. But that's besides the point, Riven was alive and well...Save for his clothes! Seriously! Who makes weak clothes like that!

Minsu flushed red and covered her eyes. "S-Seriously! What is wrong with you!? Have the decency to have another layer or reinforce the other layers! There are ladies here as well!" She called out. Of course after hearing him say that his clothing could regenerate she gave it a safe few minutes before looking at him. "Phew...Regenerating clothes that also count as armor here...There no doubt that in a battle up ahead, I rather...Really don't need to be going commando...I don't know why I'm talking about this...At least those two are safe, so I guess its time to get ready." She gave a sigh as she dug into her pocket.

Yanking out something almost invisible, it was like a tiny little gun. However with a snap of her fingers the weapon suddenly grew until if fit both of her hands. "I'm expecting close combat once we go in. And lots of traps. So lets keep on our toes, stop the demon kind, and we can all go home alive and well. Unlike father I'm not a cheapskate..."

Rivian blushed a bit more as the miasma's effect was brought back up, but he felt he needed to clarify something to Minsu first.

"Actually, this stuff is ultra durable as well as regenerating...the shirt was too, and it was under it. However, it was not just the clothing that it was trying to dissolve. Just now, when it engulfed me, my entire body felt like it was in pain for a good moment as if it was being melted away. In addition to my adaptability, or maybe it is a part of Adaptability, I have highly regenerative healing abilities and high resistance. The fact was, if my body had not adapted to have the genetic code that would disarm the miasma, that miasma would have eventually devoured my body. I am lucky my clothes were able to hold on that long. If they had been dissolved completely, or any quicker, and even with my regenerative ability I would have wounds all over comparable to third degree burns or worse, and I might have even lost something that doesn't regenerate so easily..."

Rivian tried to talk science to get over the embarassment, but it was no good. Because he charged forward, it was really only his back side that had been visible but...Rivian could not help but feel like he got into these situations a bit too easily. Well, the way he reacted also did not help with why people mistook him as a girl either, even if the way he pulled down his shirt for the front as well was a good indicator of male.

He then turned towards the door, and put his hand on the blood seal. In an instant, the miasma came out again. But this time, it only engulfed Riven's hand and instead of degraging it, gave it a cut to suck out the blood. And once that happened, the miasma read the blood that had already adapted, and accepted it.

The blood seal glowed blue, and the door then opened in front of them in a large manner. The moment it did, a dark and intimidating force could be felt flowing out of the Dungeon. Inside, it appeared to be that of a dark cave, only something about it made it clearly different then this tunnel. Like it was made with a different material foreign to these lands. If anyone tried to scan it, their scanners would probably malfunction, or even break and shatter.

And written on a stone monolith inside the entrance there was a simple message left there. "Demon King Millen's Crypt. Enter at your own risk. Only the strongest of the strong may have a sliver of a chance to succeed. Do not enter if you are afraid to die".

"Well then...I guess no one else is coming, so its time to start".

A slight twinge of disappointment crossed the ex-Pirate King's face as he saw, not only was the super soldier not viable to be re-animated, but his absurdly expensive armor had been eaten alive. Pfft, typical... The Captain pointed with his chin towards one of the undead abominations he'd constructed and addressed the Spartan, "Know how to fire a plasma weapon?" Without waiting for verbal confirmation, the Bleeding Heart's AI had a nearby servitor attempt to give Jeff a Plasma Rifle, while the Spartan pondered the bio-masses's offer.

As the Lilith began to wonder what the Servitors were, Blackheart also wondered what exactly Lilith was. Given the chance, would I keep adding biotech until I was nothing more than a Bio-mass? His ship's AI, Omnia, brought him back to reality as she projected a synthesized voice out of the Servitor's speakers. The voice was gravelly, sounding like the owner had JUST finished gargling nails. "Call me Servitor IV; made up of various criminals, wanted Dead or Alive. If the body isn't claimed; it's donated to Science. I am but one of many experiments in the field of Necro-crafts." The Captain winced slightly as she explained it; when said aloud it sounded so much barbaric than he wanted to give it credit for.

Fufufufu, too late to turn back now, your heart has been invariably died black. Bezalel whispered, causing Blackheart's mind to wander, once more, to devouring Rivian. Minsu said something about going Commando, which barely registered on the obsessed mercenary's ears as him and and the shadow demon inside him greedily watched Rivian undo the Seal. His blood smells so much sweeter suddenly. I can't wait until we're deeper down... Bile rose in the Captain's mouth as he tried to ignore the thing's creepy thoughts.

"P-p-probably best to let those who are already d.... Dead take the lead." The demon was thrashing inside Blackheart making it hard to concentrate, but he still managed to use Necromancy to set the Servitors up. His shadow flared slightly, becoming slightly too large and flickering as if cast by a fickle flame. The ten Servitors strapped with suicide bombs were in the lead, putting ample distance between them and the five that were much less expendable. The last five had been augmented more heavily, had four arms, and simply cost more to produce. Yes, those Servitors cost... what Five Souls? Ten? How many to satisfy your dark ambition the demon taunted the man, knowing full well it was it's own fault he'd turned to Necromancy.

SHUT UP! SHUT THE HELL UP! The spirit went quiet, leaving his thoughts, and the Captain took a moment to center himself, hoping the other four didn't notice he'd been acting out of sorts. The man turned to address his two new-found companions, "Before we begin, what're ya'lls names?" After a moment the man had another passing thought. "And... Minsu did... Did I hear you right? Did you say you were going Commando..?"

When Rivian tried to explain using science...That really helped no one...He still showed his almost natural person to her eyes which was already embarrassing enough...She did not note Blackheart's minor crisis going on, however her attention turned to face him when he had to ask her...Why did he ask her!? Why would anyone ask a lady that question!?

"Going Commando..." She muttered those words with flushed cheeks. She suddenly put both hands on her forehead before exploding out of embarrassment. Her calm reaching their limit. "I did not mean it like that for goodness sake man! I meant that I DO NOT want to go commando because there is a strange miasmic mist in there that seems to eat away at everything! Shields, barriers! Clothing and no doubt flesh! I am saying my clothes are well designed for the most intense of battlefields being able to repair themselves in the event a bomb would go off near me! Or if I am in the middle of a duel against a skilled individual which would no doubt tear my clothing!

I am not advocating me not using any underwear for gods sake man! I am not like that! I would like my clothes on my person covering my body because I don't want the whole world to know that I go nude in battle! NO! I rather we be careful in the next few hours a d not worry about dying or even the loss of my CLOTHING! I have never heard a person with the sense to ask anyone that question! Let alone a lady!

What! Because I was a descendant of a cat does that mean I would enjoy being seen without any clothing!? NO! I still have modesty! I wear clothing same as any other human! Even if I may be different I still have my morals! So I swear if you ask me if I am going commando again I will tie you up and throw you to the crocodiles! YOU!...You!...Pervert!" She slammed her foot on the ground before turning around and stormed off ahead after going on a rant.

Lillith frowned when she heard necro and experiment. "Necromancy?" She growled. "A frowned upon practice, And for good reason. It twists the soul and practitioner usually winds up Either killed by their own creations or turning into a twisted mockery of their former selves." Lillith warned before Observing Minsu blow up on the man. Also observing his mini breakdown, though not realizing it for what it was. She then heard him ask for names. Politely introducing herself. "My name is Lillith Schmitz." She said bowing slightly.

Jeff stands and thinks for a moment, contemplating if he should take the woman up on her offer. He ignored everything else that went on around him, choosing to focus on the difficult question. Should he bail out or should he fight? That simplified things. "Sure, if you wouldn't mind doing that." He said to Lilith.

.

Rivian watched as the scene unfolded before him. His own embarassment aside, he had no idea how to handle the current situation, even less then the others, because he himself lacked common sense. He was able to understand normal people wore clothes yes, and understood it was embarassing to be without them. He was able to understand a lot of things.

But, he still lacked a lot of common sense because he was locked inside a lab all his life. Incidentally, the only one who might understand that the best would be Jeff if he was a Spartan-II, but Rivian did not know that and so could not act on that knowledge to possibly gain a compassionate sympathy from him.

"Can we just, please get moving? I really need that money....and, well, you know. This is to help the people!"

Even though Rivian did not seem like the greedy type, the truth was that every Rixy had levels of greed and desire, even the more innocent seeming ones. That was because they were locked inside a lab, and were not even given clothing. They were only seen as lab rats, and the only reason they could operate as normal people to some level were thanks to their Spirit Guardians who taught them things and kept them sane, mostly.

Rivian then walked forward, but Minsu seemed to charge in first after an outburst. "Wait, Minsu! Hold up!"

Of course, the moment they did, ten black lizard like monsters that breathed fire crawled out of the dark caverns adjacent to the main one that led forward from the entrance, and attacked them immediately.

Lillith Spotted the lizards and swung her arm at one, the limb stretching and thinning out before developing barbs wrapping around one of the lizards necks . Slowly dragging it back towards her while cutting off it's ability to breathe and digging the barbs into the skin in hopes of keeping it from being able to resist her pull. her other arm merging with it to increase the strength of the pull she dragged it closer the strength it was pulled with increased along with the amount of pressure on it's throat. squeezing like a snake and beginning to cut off circulation to the brain. As soon as it got close enough to the entrance to the tunnel she yanked it out and to the side before leaping on it. Her body liquefying partly into a writhing mass which quickly engulfed the beast completely before contracting with a crunching of bone and a squelch of tearing flesh. the mass quickly deflated into a puddle as it's captive was broken down leaving only shattered bone fragments behind robbed of their marrow as well as a smear of blood on the floor as the puddle moved away with a sloshing sound.

He slightly at a loss as Minsu stormed off; after all he was next to certain that WAS what she said, but before he had moment to dwell on his confusion, the first of the two new strangers introduced herself. It wasn't that he ignored, Lilith's outburst, certainly he had heard it and was wary of her opposition to Necromancy, he just didn't know how to admit that he was the bastard stitching people together and shoving tubing and wiring into their corpses. After all, I AM starting to feel like a twisted mockery of my former self...

The way Lilith politely introduced herself took Blackheart aback, and he struggled to find an appropriate response. However, before he had need to ten black lizardesque monstrosities pulled themselves out of a nearby crawlspace. Whatever they were, they wasted no time in attacking; the Captain barked a laugh, "Finally something I AM good at!" Blackheart was used to dealing with mindless undead and all the interpersonal relationship crap was lost on him for the most part; which was growing increasingly obvious to him as he struggled to communicate with his party.

The first three servitors in the lead responded almost immediately, free of the distractions of consciousness, the hydraulics in their legs sent them each crashing into their own target with metallic claws outstretched and ready to rend flesh. Four more servitors responded, but in an entirely different fashion, raising their arms and producing hard light shields, they did their best to shield Minsu, Lilitth, and the rest of the servitors from what was about to transpire; their legs slamming pitons into the ground to brace for impact.

Of the three servitors that launched themselves at the lizards, one managed to connect with little issue, ripping and tearing through the lizard as quickly as it may. The other two were caught in a blast of fire only inches from their mark, and after the fire caused the servitors to exceed a certain temperature threshold, they exploded with more than a few megajoules of force. The Captain could feel the air rush past his face, his tricorn's trinkets and knives concealed on his person jingling as the wind moved them slightly.

"Hmmm, it sounds like I just lost some servitors." His Ai confirmed his suspicions quietly through their neuralink "Yes it looks like two of them detonated mid-leap" Blackheart smiled wildly as he started forward, racking the .45's slide back and chambering his first enchanted hollow point. Here's hoping that blast didn't cause a cave-in The remaining eight servitors readied their weapons, and followed after their Captain.

With the sudden ambush of Lizardman, Minsu was more ready to gun them down than anything after her outburst. “You want some! Come get some!” She shouted as she raised her shotgun and aimed it at the creatures...Until the strange mechanical and biological servitors charged in to engage the lizards. Some exploding and other tearing apart the creatures. Of course she did not stand idly by, taking aim at one in her sights, she cocked the weapon and sent a nice slug right through the creatures face without batting an eye.

A little warm up...But right now she had some anger to vent out and these things were the perfect solution!

Jeff looked at the new skin he was wearing quickly, as the Lizardman approached their position. He went into a combat stance, preparing for their assault but watched as the servitors charged in and blocked the attack, at the expense of their lives. Jeff relaxed his stance and followed the Captain. "Are you able to brace for close quarters? Form any type of weapons?" He asked Lillith through the 'suit' speaker.

As for Rivian, he had his blood sword out...secretly the blade Murasame, though not even Rivian knew that, and cut through the enemies in front of him, covering Minsu when a lizard popped out and tried to eat her from behind, followed by a friend who had probably been looking forward to the leftovers. And yet, something noticable was that miasma did not even have a hint of being there. It was at the seal, but it seemed that the miasma had no intention of showing up at the dungeon for this level.

"It looks like the miasma was some sort of outer defense system for the lock. Looks like we might not have to worry about it when inside!" Rivian said, as he stepped in a weird puddle. He looked down, just to make sure it was not some weird jinx, but everything was normal and not deteriorating.

It did look like it was disgusting though, and a small lizard started to grow from it and...

Rivian immediately had his body wrap itself in electricity and disintegrate the gunk. It still looked dirty, but not active anymore.

"It looks like this ooze is what is spawning the monsters! There should be some core...some primordial source where it is coming from! Likely if we find that, we find the stairs to the next level too! Lets try following this main corridor!"

Of course, from that main cave corridor thing, more lizards were coming out. Rivian prepared his blood katana, and cut through one of the charging ones. It looked like this would be a long day.

Lillith spoke into Jeff's ear in response. having oozed over to and encased him save for his eyes and nose with some space in front of his mouth to speak, the form of a mill-scale colored version of his normal armor. "I can form a blade on your arm as well as a shield. I can also extend off your arm to grab things if needed. Hold on for a second please I don't do this suit thing that often" With that everything from the middle of Jeff's right forearm onward shifted into a blade that would look like a larger version of what might be seen on a necromorph slasher , the other side forming into a hexagonal shield that left hand free. "alright there you go." Lillith said, going back to focusing on recovery.

Another lizard jumped at the ex-Pirate King, with less than a thought the femtite swarm he'd been wearing attacked the creature mid-jump, tearing it apart almost instantly on a sub-atomic level. The shiny silvery mist, satisfied with it's work, began to re-settle on the Captain's coat and he pretended to stifle a yawn as his legs carried him after Rivian. Omnia had some sort of malfunction with her scanners, and thus was unable to provide a proper layout of the dungeon. Which left poor Blackheart running around looking for some sort of core that Rivian had postulated. Liam certainly wasn't wrong about the boy, he's probably the most capable one here

Minsu's behavior was amusing to the Captain, as was the way Lilith became a make-shift suit of Spartan armor, and he couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he ran after his companions. The servitors were in full swing by now, firing off energy weapons and ballistics at the lizards the moment they came into line of effect. Thankfully the hard-light shields seemed to be holding up well enough, and no further servitors had been lost. Blackheart was leaving a majority of the work to his companions and undead monstrosities, only personally destroying the fiends when absolutely necessary.

The way the biomass had slithered around the Spartan to create a pseudo-suit had unnerved him at first, but now his mind was racing with the necromantic possibilities. Think she'd retain that characteristic after undeath? He tried to push the demon's thoughts from his mind and focus on the task at hand, but found it increasingly difficult as the thing grew more and more blatant. We've a neko, Spartan, and two perfectly unique Biomasses. Imagine what kind of fun we could make of these ~

"Would you shut the fuck up!?" The words accidentally spilled out of his mouth as he put a hollow point in a lizard's brain. Realizing his mistake, the man blushed slightly and reached into his inner jacket pocket to produce his flask. He took a long draught, and returned it to the pocket for safe-keeping. "Sorry, talking to my... AI" The man was lying through his teeth of course, but said it so nonchalantly, people would be hard-pressed to tell differently. Another lizard unleashed a gout of flame to his right, but the hard-light shield held it off perfectly as another servitor became a veritable blender of power swords, and turned the lizard into slabs of meat. The man's thoughts idly turned to lizard servitors breathing fire, and he found himself giggling to himself in a manner that totally wasn't unnerving and creepy to everyone, including himself.

As Minsu heard the pirate arguing with his A.I As he put it, Minsu was busy killing some creatures to really care at the moment. With more coming as much as she would like to go with a bunch of explosive ordinance friendly fire was a thing. Then again, there was something good about a good practice.

With a roar of her own, she used her shotgun like a makeshift metal bat and slammed it into the side of one of the Lizardman, she soon kicked it back with a surprising amount of force before taking the weapon in her hands and took aim at the creatures head before pressing the trigger and turning it into littleness more than pulp.

Of course with enemy numbers, she put the weapon on semi-automatic and began to quickly aim in the enemies general direction without allies in the way and fire. Aiming was now a luxury now, just gun down the enemy! Her weapon echoed as she blasted a Lizardman one at a time like a game of whack-a-mole.

As Rivian looked around and saw the others taking action and what was going on, he got a bad feeling about this. Rather, he knew what the bad feeling was and what was already going wrong. If this kept up, they would die before nightfall. Unfortunately, Rivian was not the best with...people...but he had to take charge.

As Rivian charged forward, he kicked a lizard coming out from behind back into a wall while he used the motion to cut through another one with his sword. He then unleashed a large scale lightning bolt from his hand pointed behind him, and hit a lizard approaching Blackheart from the left.

Rivian looked nervous, completely out of his element, and a bit awkward, but he also had a confidence and determination in his eyes.

"Blackheart, regroup with us and then cover our backs! You, if you are coming with us in that armor then watch the sides and for anything that slipped through the defenses. Minsu, the firing is a good idea in theory but since the lizards can form from any ooze puddle under us that will only keep us locked down! I will charge ahead, I need you to cover me with something cool and flashy so they get distracted! I will take the front, but we have to keep moving and do not let ourselves get locked down in a single area!"

After he had said that, he raced forward and cut another two lizards through while lightning appeared around his leg and shot off an arc that fried three more. The lizards were not particularly durable, as far as monsters went, but the fact they kept getting spawned all around, and sometimes under, them made them difficult. And sometimes, a larger darker skinned version came around that was tougher.

This was not going to be easy, that was for sure.

Lillith, slightly caught off guard allowed old habits to take control. Giving Rivian a quick salute and a "Roger!" she got to work. First off her feet gained claws that dug into the ground planting her feet as she slammed the shield into the face of a lizard thing that got too close she stabbed her arm blade into it and launching it overhead with a yell and sending it at another one as it released a torrent of flames. They collided with enough force to break the necks. Getting back in line with the rest of the group giving much the same treatment to anything else that came in from the sides Lillith set a rhythm for herself and stuck to it for the time being.

Something cool and flashy? Well she certainly had something which packed a Big Bang. And with added flashy effects. And she was speaking of custom made flash grenades. Nice, nice and very loud. She dug into her pouch and dug said grenade from it and pulled the pin. “Close your eyes and cover your ears! Flashbang out!” She yelled to warn her teamates as she tossed it into the air.

Unlike normal flash bangs, this flash would be like peering into the sun. Safe to say it was very bad on the eyes, meanwhile the bang was still deafening loud. She put on a pair of flash resistant shades and stuffed her ear with some noise canceling earbuds before taking aim and blasting apart another Lizardman.

This would certainly be one flashy and cool thing to distract those lizards.

Rivian took control of the situation, calling out orders, and quickly snapping Blackheart out of his trance. He had orders to regroup and cover the other's from behind. Tch, I can practically smell the core Blackheart, don't bother. The demon's words were tempting.... but I can't risk losing everyone on the first floor

"Will do" The Captain snapped his fingers, and began slowly moving backwards to his companions. The Servitor abominations responded to his orders even before Blackheart's middle finger hit his hand and produced the noise, rather the motion was merely for show. The Undead moved into a Crane formation around the living party members, the ones with hardlight shields the furthest back. The rest let out an unrelenting spray of their various weaponry, at lizard and ooze alike.

Minsu yelled out a warning and the neuralink immediately reacted, the femtite swarm reacted at the speed of thought and created impromptu blinders and ear-plugs. A lizard thing took advantage of the the man's blindness and lept for his throat. Unfortunately for it, the aiming software still worked and Blackheart's arm jerked up and thanked the creature's audacity with two hollow points to its head.

With the formation established, they could finally start making some more progress and head forward towards the source of this ooze, the core of the first floor. Rivian continued to slice through lizard after lizard while releasing huge amounts of electrical energy. At the same time, he also kept monitoring the others...but, as he was attacked by the larger, tougher, blacking looking lizard, Minsu threw the flashbang. If he covered his ears and closed his eyes, he would be open to a direct attack. As a result, Rivian had to take the blast as it got right into his eyes and ears.

However, at the same time, not only did Rivian prevent himself from taking any damage, but his Adaptability power caused him to adapt and recover far quicker. In exchange, the lizards who generally lived in darkness and silence, and had increased hearing ability, ended up being affected far worse. Rivian kind of expected a particle laser or something like that, but this was just as good, or maybe even better. Rivian was now able to move even faster, cut through them even more, and decimate them as if they were wet tissue paper.

Of course, the lizards began to get more and more intense, as minute after minute passed, but the cavern began to widen more and more which meant they were getting closer to a large chamber of sorts.

However, it also meant there was more room for the giant lizards to fill in and surround them, which meant increased danger and difficulty for them.

Rivian ended up stepping into another one of those ooze puddles, and even though he pulled his leg right out, from the ooze a lizard began to grow on his leg till he kicked the still spawning lizard away and got annoyed. Suddenly, a large amount of electricity surrounded him with his anger.

"I! Freaking! Hate! Slithery reptiles!"

A huge wave of electricity shot out and zapped all of the lizards around him. Incidentally, these lizards had legs and did not actually slither, but it seemed that the way they moved and felt was enough for Rivian to consider it as such.

The further they went, the more resistance they encounter. Minsu's shotgun continued to crack loudly, sending shell after shell of slugs at the horrid lizzardman. And the more bigger the cave got, the more enemies that appeared and the more targets for her weapon. Shredding through multiple opponents at once she continued to open fire until she was calm now. Seemingly finally gotten over a whole 'commando' incident.

Of course, Rivian seemed to get tired of the massive number of enemies and unleashed a massive blast of electricity. That helped but there was still hordes of enemies still coming at them. Minsu took aim and blasted more lizard creatures with her shotgun before going in to reload her weapon.

At this rate, they would be halfway through at the end of the day.

Okay, let's see here. Thirteen servitors left, going through ammunition at a steady rate, Power-Swords batteries should be a little over three quarters full still. Plenty of back-ups, should be fine, but I might actually be losing money on this job if this keeps up. Those two servitors won't be cheap to replace, and it doesn't seem like there will be many chances to haul corpses out of here... One of the Servitors in the rear, dashed forward pulling its Hard-Light shield up and blocking a lizard about to connect with the Captain's head.

"Oh? Gotta keep my head out of the clouds." The man's shadow twitched, moving of its own accord to engulf the lizard, squeezing it into a black paste, dripping to the ground before falling to the ground with a resounding 'splat' as the shadow re-formed into a silhouette of the Captain.

Not bothering to watch his step, more than a few lizards tried to grow from the black gunk stuck to his boots, fortunately for the ex-Pirate the femtite swarm responded in kind and dismantled them faster than they could form. I wonder what Omnia is up to right now? The dungeon was ultimately, bigger than Blackheart would've expected. Rivian's back is to you, we could end him right now, and drag his body to the surface. We're still not that deep in, and the mechanic has some interesting toys. Cut your losses, we can still come out ahead. Even the biomass girl would fetch a heft penny if we outfitted her with cybernetics. The demon's provocations didn't even warrant a response.

Even though Rivian had just taken them all out with that huge surge, which was not something he could just use frequently, and they continued to charge forward, the monsters would just keep spawning after and began to grow. It was no wonder a Dungeon could be called both the Ultimate Training Ground and the Ultimate Risk. If it was not for the fact that rare treasures and unique magic items were formed from the magical energies inside dungeons, and rewards that could be worth quite a lot of money, no one would ever want to accept these conditions.

Also, although it went unsaid, Rivian's declaration was probably just another reason why people kept mistaking him as a girl.

"Well then, I suppose this is why you have me right?"

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice spoke up around all of them as a huge Sparrow like creature appeared out from behind Rivian wrapped in lightning as large hailstones twice the size of cannonballs appeared around and began to bash into several of the creatures, while the ones it flew near became ash from overwhelming lightning attacks.

"Stormsparrow!"

"I can't take a nap at all, can I? Well, I suppose as your Spirit Guardian, it is my job to protect you".

As they covnersed like that, Stormsparrow opened up the path in front of them, a path that seemed to be widening and increasing in size. But, there was also another reason why one might be inclined to head in that direction. And that was...

"Tha-thump!"

A sound similar to a heartbeat.

"Come on guys! It looks like this next room is the end of this first level!"

As Rivian said that, this might cause some of them to remember that this was only the first level of the Dungeon, and that there was a lot more to go. Each level could be different and unique in its own setup. Some might be more combat based, others more puzzle based. Some might be both, or operate on a completely different set of rules they could not imagine. The point was, this was only the beginning of an epic adventure.

Lillith gazed at the devistation, looking at all the dead lizards. So much food and not enough time to eat it all. "I wish there was time for me to stay here... Oh well time to get the good bits and go!" She raised her hands towards the nearest one the appendage sharpening at the end. she then used what bit of magical energy she had regained to control it as she flung it out as a barbed tendril. Spearing it through the many bodies in a chain before retracting the tentril back through tearing out bits of innards and flesh. Ending up with a lump of soft tissues the size of your average microwave which she scooped up in a sack of biomass that she shifted onto her back to consume on the go. Breaking the contents down and "burning" them to generate more energy in preparation for the next floor or whatever may lie in wait ahead.

"Pardon, I realize that this might not be the best time to ask but I'm rather concerned about the matter in question. IF we manage to get to the bottom of this place, how are we supposed to get back to the surface? I might be able to create semi stable portals but I'm not sure that it's safe for anyone used to having a solid body to go through them! How do you all plan to get out once we go deeper?" She with a sense of urgency while a pink glow started to seep through the cracks between the armored plates of her created carapace.

With the next floor in sight, Minsu breathed a deep sigh. "Sometimes I wish things were easy..." She spoke as she reloaded her weapon. Preparing to move out once again. This was certainly a problem, some of her effectiveness was reduced thanks to this peculiar dungeon, of course the teamwork here was good enough to be considered a team. For now she was going with the flow now.

Suddenly, a large electrical sparrow appeared, in a burst of lightning and hail. Oh look Bezalel, it's like you but not a total psychopath. Blackheart had hoped the comment would take the demon aback, but it just gurgled out a sickening laugh, like something chuckling very deeply in its throat. Yes, I wonder how intimately that thing is tied to the boy, would it stick around if we made him a servitor? Musings for another time I surmise, the core is near. Pulsating, deliciously...

The Black Hound was always saying something creepy, but it's last statement was extra unnerving. The Captain decided to distract himself with Lilith's performance, letting out a low piercing whistle to show his appreciation of her unique abilities. "Very nice Lilith!" Now that is some top tier flesh. Imagine the wonders we could make with that. I'm more focused on could Rivian breathe fire if he absorbed a lizard, and if so why doesn't he? "So can you breathe fire now, Lilith, or are you just restoring lost biomass?"

What with Stormsparrow's appearance, Bezalel suddenly being willing to work, Rivian in the lead, Servitors working in a tight formation, and Minsu's hail of gunfire Blackheart found he didn't even need to shoot anything. Which means its time to gather a bit of data on my team "And what exactly are you absorbing? Organic energy, perhaps something a bit more magical? I dabble a bit in magic myself, if we work together we might be able to get a stable rift to the surface, one safe for people who aren't shapeshifters. Rivian might be fine going through without that hassle, though, he's more or less a biomass."

Captain's shadow darted forward, impaling a lizard just below the gullet, before swelling and separating the creature's head from its body. The next one I have to block gets to eat you The action barely registered to Blackheart, and he kept talking without pause. "Though, I'd rather clear out or disable each dungeon floor as we go down, and simply walk back up. Gives me more time to fully loot this place. Minsu agrees, right? More loot means more prestige which means, getting the leg up on the Russian, eh?

Lillith glanced at Blackheart. Sparing a passing look at the dead body he just made and tearing a bit of flesh from it's neck with a tendril. "I suppose I COULD study the bilogy of these lizard things to duplicate their fire breath but why should I? there's a possibility it relies on a chemical reaction or something of the sort and I already know a few fire spells. they may just be spraying a flammible fluid for all I know. As for what I'm doing, Right now I'm essentially have the nanites in my makeup burning the material I've consumed to refill my magic reserves and recover lost energy. I could also add it to my own mass to become larger but for now getting my magic back is more important."

As she said this she got an Idea in her head. She produced a tendril from her back and dipped it in one of the black goop puddles. Scooping a bit up and returning it to herself. then waited for something to try to spawn so she could get an easy meal to go. "I'm actually here because I'm interested in taking material samples from here, tissue. wall and floor fragments and anything else I can manage, there are materials here that I've never seen in my 3 or so centuries of remembered existance."

It was something small, but possibly noticable to that voice inside of Blackheart and Blackheart himself, but ever time that demon spoke, Stormsparrow seemed to look back as if he was noticing his pressence. It was unknown if there was any shielding for that which would keep Stormsparrow from directly noticing and sensing Blackheart's demon, but at the very least he could sense something whenever it spoke...

"Unfortunately, each floor resets after awhile, so that wont work. If this Dungeon follows the mysterious theme others follow, there should be safe rooms to take breaks inside of and rest, but after we clear one floor we have to keep going. Taking out the core just lets us find the way down quicker...well, supposedly the whole dungeon goes to sleep for awhile when it gets cleared, but its only for awhile" Rivian told them as they kept moving throughout the hall, heading closer and closer towards the sound until...

"Okay...that is...unexpected..."

They came into a large chamber with a giant black heart in the center, beating and beating as it seems connected to all the walls and floors, and producing the black goo that was spawning the monsters. It was clearly the core of this floor, and even though it just looked like a giant organ on the wall...something about it felt powerful and ominous.

Of course, the fact that the passage behind them suddenly sealed up was its own issue...and in fact, when Rivian realized what this meant...he turned around to warn Lilith, whose sample of Black Goo was already producing monsters that would start small but quickly grow to full size in mere seconds.

And from a center pit of black goo in front of the heart, the surface was moving rapidly. Although nothing was in view, Rivian could definently imagine what was going to be coming out of that pit.

"...well, they did say it would be challanging...perhaps that was an understatement though...

The Captain listened intently as the biomass girl explained why she was collecting bio-matter. Her words made sense, but were very intriguing, especially given his morbid hobby. "Speaking of which, Lilith, I was wondering if you'd be interested in helping with my research after this. Rivian informed the group of the fact that the dungeon fell asleep shortly. Is leaving here going to be an issue? No matter, whatever I find in here will be worth the struggle...

As the group neared the end of the first floor, the door sealed behind them and a large black heart sat in the center, beating. Blackheart fought not to laugh, and failed, letting out a peal of wild giggling. "Look, it's me!" Suddenly a voice inside his head took precedence, the ugly voice of the Umbral within.Oh, ugly host of mine. Why's Bird-Brain giving you these dirty looks?

The man's eyes snapped over to the bird, Stormsparrow. It did appear to give him a curious look whenever Bezalel spoke, something that was slightly unnerving to him. Okay... That's new, are the two beasts similar in nature? A Storm sparrow, and a Shadow Hound...? Captain Integra didn't have long to ponder the thought, before the Umbral Demon was redirecting his attention again. Blackheart, the black heart is about to produce something, ready yourself.

"Servitors, defensive positions! Prepare to fire on the big bad about to pop out of the center of the room!" His scream echoed throughout the sealed chamber, and with a flourish, the Captain sent the femtite swarm that sat on his coat into the air; a cloud of silvery flakes that floated above and around the group, and was perfectly commanded to dismantle and consume anything that would attack their small party.

The Necromantic monstrosities brandished their armaments with their free hands, using their HardLight shields to protect the flanks of the party, while aiming their weaponry towards whatever was about to emerge from the room's center. Finally, their Captain dropped the spent magazines in his gun, slamming new ones into them in less than a second via his quick feed belt, and following his aiming software to discern where the creature may erupt from it's Core.

Remember, if I die in here, you're down a host and back at square one. The Captain's shadow spread out slightly in all directions, ignorant of light conditions and forming a small circle at his feet. "Yes, yes, yes... We're not quite done yet." Bezalel's voice came out aloud from the shadow beneath Blackheart's feet, in a deep resounding voice.

testy test bluuuh
ignore and/or delete please
take out the trash, kids

“Unexpected, Yeah...I’m certain no one ever thinks that they would run into a pulsating heart that dripped black ooze that creates monsters from it. Yeah...Guess Father was not kidding when he said he seen enough of this universe to no longer be surprised...” Minsu commented of the big giant blight on the eyes.

“I recommend some heavy explosives...Maybe the incendiary option is better suited for this...”

Lillith turned towards blackheart. "Assuming both of us get out of here alive I will talk with you about helping your 'ressearch' depending on what you're willing to offer for it" Lillith glanced backwards when the door shut. Looks like going back wasn't an option anymore, bugger. She let the monsters growing on her finish before quickly killing them by stabbing them through the neck or with one of them just twisting the head off. She destroyed the goo once she had 3 of the monsters dead on the floor in front of her before quickly consuming them for mass. She doubled in size from this and once she was done she turned to look back to the rest of the goo piles. She then turned her attention to the other 3 though technically 5 members of the group. "I recommend that someone tries attacking that heart before it can produce any more of this goop" after saying this she conjured a small ball of fire in her hand and lobbed it up towards the ceiling to make sure there wasn't anything hiding up there. She also took her own advise and tossed another ball of fire at the heart.