"Just head straight, they should be at the end of this tunnel, pretty sure there are a lot of other penguins in there too, no idea why," I said as we headed further down the ice cave toward the central chamber. I moved to take the lead since my control over the dungeon was likely to make it easier for me to stop any potential attacks. But oddly, nothing came.

Not one thing impeded our progress, and soon I could see light coming from the larger chamber. I knew from my weird new sense that that was where Karlinovo and the dungeon core were. Strangely, though, as we got closer, I could hear something else going on in the area. I could swear someone was clapping.

I released Beta from storage, as they were the smallest of the tools, and let them carefully scout the room ahead. A chat window popped into my view within seconds.

>Beta: Penguins, many happy penguins. Are they guarding their master?

>Corey: There are a lot of penguins in here, and even stranger, they appear to be dancing for what I think is the dungeon core and a human, who I am guessing is Karlinovo.

>Dave: Does he look to be conscious?

>Corey: Beta is not close enough for a good look, and I do not believe it is a good idea to send them closer alone.

>Dave: Got it. Beta, wait where you are, we will be in shortly.

I closed the window after sending my last message and nodded back to the others. Then I took several steps forward into the room and saw exactly what Corey and Beta had also seen. There were dozens of penguins dancing, their feet hitting the ground were the claps I had heard. The other two figures just seemed to stare at them. What the hell was going on?

"Hey, can you two hear me?" I yelled, no longer concerned with potential danger. If anyone tried anything risky, I'd just start shielding everyone and everything in here. Neither of the figures moved at all.

"Something is wrong here," Rabyn whispered, as he crept up next to me.

"Yeah, I kind of got that from the dancing penguins, didn't really think that was a normal thing," I replied quietly, letting a bit of sarcasm into my tone. "Any guesses?"

"There is something else in here, but I can't entirely feel it. It's like an emptiness pushing against the dungeon. I've never felt anything like this before in one," Rabyn replied, ignoring my tone entirely.

"Damn, I think I know what this is. Gramps is either going to be thrilled or kill me when he finds out," Connie said, pushing past Rabyn and me.

"Wait, what? Where are you going?" I said, trying to keep my voice down as some annoyance flared.

"Need to help the penguins, they are the only thing keeping us all alive. Once I get the music going, you need to get those two out of here. No point in stealth, it knows we are here," Connie said, walking further into the chamber as her phantom instruments started appearing around her.

"Does anyone have any idea what she's talking about?" I asked, looking at the others, expecting Elody to be the only possibility. All I received was a round of returned head shaking. "Then I guess we just do what she says, and hope she knows what she's doing."

"Get the dungeon core onboard the bus; that should be enough to break the connection," Connie yelled back moments before a new, alien melody hummed to life from her. The song was like nothing I had ever heard; none of the notes seemed to produce any sort of harmonized flow, but despite that, the music was incredible. It reverberated through the entire dungeon.

I could see the lines of song mana infecting the other mana flows, changing it, and pushing it. Wait, it was pushing it against something. I took a deeper look at those mana lines, and suddenly realized that I could also see what was in the room with us, and now understood what Connie had said. This was a monster from beyond. It didn't belong in this world, and it was trying to force its way inside.

"Listen to Connie, we need that core outside right now. I don't entirely understand what's going on, but I can somewhat see the creature now, thanks to her music and my dungeon authority. I'll stay with Connie!" I yelled the orders, now terrified of what would happen if that thing got a foothold here.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"You heard Dave, we will get the dungeon core, Rabyn, grab Karlinovo, Elody, stay with them," Elicec yelled while I chased after Connie, watching the mana streams as closely as I could. The music was working, but it wasn't going to be enough. I had a feeling once the dungeon core was outside, things would take a turn for the worse.

>Dave: Alpha, stay with Rabyn and the brothers. Beta and Gamma, can you both see the mana flows like I can right now?

>Beta: Yes.

>Gamma: Yes.

>Dave: Okay, we need to try to tie those off. The second the dungeon core is gone from here, the dungeon should be entirely in our possession. With Connie keeping the thing under control, we need to entirely seal it out of here. I think if we do it right, we can even do so without collapsing the growth of this place.

>Gamma: I agree. I want to discuss this monster later when there is a much safer time to do so.

>Dave: Of course.

>Corey: I will guide you two. I have the knot pattern calculated that should work best.

>Dave: Perfect, let's do this.

I closed the window, confident in the core's abilities. Even if Beta was a bit odd at times, my belief that they really just wanted to find their place in the world had radically increased following their performances in the last level of the Arena. My trust in Corey had become near absolute, and it was quickly growing in the other three.

"Elody, I'm going to try to tie these mana flows into a knot with the dungeon cores the moment the other core is outside. I suspect that when that happens, the monster is going to make an attempt to attack Connie. I'm not sure what it is, but you might be able to detect it similar to how you did the soul hunters," I said, spotting Rabyn tossing Karlinovo over his shoulder. The man still seemed stuck in the pose he had been in when we entered.

"I tried, it didn't help, but I can somewhat make out an absence of area where it is trying to break into this reality. At least I think I can, it may actually just be an effect of Connie's melody that I can detect anything at all there. I will do my best to keep her safe, though," she replied, two books appearing in front of her, floating around her head. Her top set of eyes immediately moved to focus on them.

Connie screamed in pain, several of her instruments vanishing as she did so. All of the dancing penguins fell to the ground at the same time. The monster had made its move. I could feel a yanking on the mana flows, an attempt to rip them free from this reality. Focusing my will as hard as I could onto them, I clamped down and drove my feet into the ground. I just had to hold long enough for the cores to tie off the flows.

"Elody, get Connie out of here, whatever it is is after her now," I yelled through my gritted teeth. The mana flows themselves were starting to burn. I could feel the pain cycling up through my channels, but Corey was able to hold it off from hitting my core. The pull against me was becoming unbearable.

>Dave: How much longer on the knot? I'm not sure if I can hold this for very much longer myself.

>Corey: It is more difficult than I realized. Though I believe I now understand what Gamma already realized. Alpha, we will need you back in here immediately. Grab the mana flows with Dave and help him hold them.

>Alpha: Coming.

I closed the window after that message, spotting Alpha seconds later. I wasn't entirely sure how they had done it, but I could feel their strength adding to mine, pulling against the monster. A loud roar erupted across the cavern. We had managed to yank it into our reality before it could firmly attach itself to the dungeon. The creature's hold on the mana flow loosened as it tried to get itself back to safety.

Beta and Gamma, under the orders of Corey, were able to use the moment between where it vanished again from our reality, but before it could take back up this tug of war, to tie the mana flow into a strong knot, sealing it from the dungeon entirely. The earlier control I had felt grew with the monster's forced exit.

The penguins started standing back up. Each of them gave me a strange look before they started trumpeting at each other. I wasn't sure they had any idea what had just happened. Not that I had much of a better one.

"Come on, let's go find the others I need to talk to that dungeon core!" I yelled to the other cores as I turned to race after Elody and Connie. What the hell had that thing been? And for that matter, who controlled the dungeon now?

I knew that once a core was separated from a dungeon that the growth of said dungeon would collapse. The core's energies were what mutated the local life and connected the dungeon's mana flow to our reality. But now I could feel the slightest draw on my own core from the dungeon. Did this dungeon now belong to me?

My target is in sight. They won't escape me. I have a job to do and I will not fail. If there's one thing I've learned in my life, it's that there is only one thing that really matters to all beings in the multiverse. The one true rule joining us all as sapient creatures. From abyssal horrors to overly intelligent grasshoppers, they all agree. The pizza delivery must never be late.

Alex of Nino's Pizza

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