“What did your squad do before our… attack?” Nilu felt great curiosity about the “being” revived from the portal, that dark-skinned man who rode a llama with remarkable mastery, moving across slopes and undergrowth with the ease of a panther, and who now followed him like the most loyal of warriors.

  But he felt even greater curiosity about the origin of those mysterious portals that had appeared in his country like a plague of locusts. That resurrected llama rider could help him solve that riddle.

  “Like many peoples of the Mountains of Endless Mist, we texce were dedicated to mining. When your lordship arrived in our lands, we were guarding the westernmost mine of our quarter. At first, I was nothing more than a villager devoted to excavation, like nearly everyone in my town, but I grew tired of the bandits from enemy tribes raiding me, so I joined the militia.”

  He does not see himself as the monster of a portal, thought Nilu, as he rode alongside the mountaineer across a barren plain, whose irregular mounds stretched as far as the eye could see. His horse and the llama of his companion kicked up yellow dust as their hooves struck the stony ground. That was the third portal with such an aspect they had attacked that week. He sees himself as a member of a tribe, and us as the invaders. This only confused the Ixtalite even more.

  The only possible conclusion was that those portals were worlds in themselves, as if the gods had decided to set a menu of universes to battle each other through those interdimensional windows.

  “Curious, since I had never heard of the Mountains of Endless Mist. In your village, had you ever heard of Ixtul and its jungles, or of Anen and its imperial power, Illaqu?”

  “No, my lord. Our mountain range is surrounded by valleys and deserts like this one. The nearest jungle lies thousands of leagues to the north. We had never heard names such as that of your country,” the lancer, with dark skin and slightly slanted eyes, seemed as confused as Nilu himself. “Since you brought me back to life, my lord, and took me away from my mountains, I have stepped into a completely new world.”

  The two warriors rode for a long while across the wasteland, without any trace of enemies. As they ventured into higher-level portals, tracking the monsters became more difficult.

  As the sunset began to shine on the horizon with a gradient of reddish, indigo, and yellow colors, Nilu remained deep in doubt.

  It was the fifth portal they had entered that week, near the jungle close to the core. Though he would have liked to go with more companions, he had only been able to bring Illaqu, since Vidul was still at the Dungeon Core’s temple, trying to save Naya with his magic. The mage had looked gaunt and on the brink of starvation the last time Nilu had seen him. He didn’t even want to imagine what he looked like now.

  “We still have some time,” he said after a while, when they finally spotted the first tracks of what seemed to be portal monsters, enormous elephant-like footprints that, despite the darkness, were easy to detect thanks to the ethereal vision lenses Nilu wore. “I sense this portal must hold a great treasure, although it is very strange that it is the third one we’ve visited with this desert-like appearance. It’s as if they all belonged to the same… world.”

  “Perhaps the gods have decided this barren wasteland should merge with your jungles, my lord.”

  Dawn illuminated the world once again when they finally spotted in the distance the group of monsters: enormous stone golems, just like the ones they had already faced in the previous portals.

  “My specialty,” said Nilu, unsheathing his longsword. Indeed, any tank-type creature was weak before an experienced fighter like him. “We’ll use the same strategy as before, but keep your eyes wide open. These ones look bigger than the others.”

  As he had thought, the four stone giants fought with more synergy than the previous portal monsters, which had seemed oblivious to their companions. These, on the other hand, defended one another, forming tight formations and hurling massive boulders that flew dangerously close to Nilu and Illaqu more than once.

  But they were not clever enough to defeat the two seasoned explorers. While the mountaineer distracted them with his llama’s swift movements and his spear, Nilu dispatched them one by one with swift thrusts of his blade aimed at their sturdy necks.

  In the end, their leader crumbled into rocks after being attacked on both flanks by the two companions. His remains raised a mountain of dust.

  Nilu’s interface shone before his eyes, while he was still catching his breath from the battle.

  You have gained 15.000 experience points.

  You have reached level 25.

  3.000 experience points for your dungeon core.

  Nilu sighed in satisfaction. Among the rocks, several bright red rubies gleamed under the ever-intensifying sun. Though they had barely enough time to collect the loot and return to the portal’s entrance before it closed forever, those gems would fetch a good price at Rava’s market, the only one still open in Ixtul after the invasion began.

  They spent much of the day extracting the gems, and it was nearly dusk when they galloped at full speed toward the portal’s entrance. For a moment Nilu thought he would be trapped forever in that rocky wasteland, but life returned to him when he saw the gateway in the distance, just wide enough for both riders to pass through.

  The smell of damp earth and the distant murmurs of dragonflies told him he was back in Ixtul, and though it was the depth of night, a blanket of stars clearly marked the path back to the core through the dense jungle.

  Though glad to be in his land again, Nilu hurried along the narrow path surrounded by palms and ferns, for the portal had appeared near a village of huts where a large Aneite squadron still camped.

  The reality of war saddened him, as a burning desire for vengeance grew in his chest. He felt the impulse to ambush the invaders in the ruined enclave. He knew he would kill most of the enemies before they could finish him and his companion off, but in the end, they would both die.

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  I’ll be more useful if I continue growing Leye’s dungeon with my skill, he thought as he rode swiftly through the forest. Something told him that in that budding city hidden in the jungle lay the salvation of his people.

  Thanks to the moonlight and the stars, they managed to navigate the jungle path with ease, and soon they arrived at the dungeon itself, now called Emol, which by then was a proud settlement with marble buildings and wooden huts everywhere, among which three stood out: the castle that protected Leye, the wide coliseum, and the temple of the goddess Tlaloc.

  A town without people, Nilu thought, as little by little he began to feel energy return to him as he walked among the mana pools. He hadn’t realized just how exhausted the dungeon incursion had left him until then.

  “You may rest, Illaqu,” he told his companion, who looked more worn out than he did. He had to admit his work distracting the golems had been remarkable. Somehow, Nilu felt as if the levels he himself had gained also caused Illaqu to grow stronger.

  “Yes, my lord,” said the warrior, and headed with his llama toward his favorite pool at the other end of the dungeon.

  Nilu, for his part, went straight to the temple. There he found Vidul just as he had imagined: hands outstretched over Naya, casting healing spells, while the archer lay flat on her back on the main altar.

  The mage brightened upon seeing his leader, but his expression soon darkened again. He had panda-like dark circles under his eyes, and his green robe did not hide the fact that his limbs were nearly skin and bone.

  “How is she?” was all Nilu dared to ask.

  “She has never been this stable, but still shows no signs of wanting to wake up.”

  Nilu’s heart sank. That woman was by far the best warrior in the squad, and with her precise arrows and cunning, she had saved them from countless predicaments, especially in portals where all had seemed lost. Thanks to her, their levels had risen like foam. Moreover, she was the only one able to communicate with Leye. But she remained in a deep vegetative state.

  “You’ve done a great job. I’m sure your effort has not been in vain. I’ve tried to get another healer so you could rest, but with the Aneite attacks so intensified, the tribes cannot spare a single one.”

  “It’s no problem, my lord, I can still endure a little longer. Fortunately, the mana keeps flowing from afar, which allows me to continue casting my spells. Soon she will be stable enough to…”

  Vidul suddenly fell silent and looked eastward, as if an imminent danger loomed over them.

  “What is it, brother?” Nilu did not like his emaciated companion’s expression one bit.

  “Something is coming this way. I feel a powerful energy.”

  Nilu soon felt it too. It was the aura of a power far beyond his capabilities. He recalled the distant afternoon when Yowo had appeared as an imminent threat, when that settlement had been nothing more than Leye’s rocky core buried in the earth.

  But it could not be the swordswoman. According to reports from the scouts, she was at sea, fighting the pirates allied with the empire.

  This could mean only one thing: an Aneite squadron was heading straight for them. His worst nightmare was about to materialize: Leye was about to be discovered by the enemies.

  “How is it possible they managed to penetrate this deep so soon?” Vidul looked distraught, his pupils dilated. Fear made his appearance even more wretched.

  “I don’t know, but we’ll have to prepare. Stay with Naya, I’ll call you if I need your help.”

  Nilu left the temple. The lights of dawn already shone over the ceibas and palms, as well as over the mana pools, which gave off a faint bluish, frosty smoke.

  The swordsman longed to bathe in one of them, as he had planned, but there was no time. The enemy power was increasingly palpable, which could only mean they were getting closer.

  He began to evaluate the dungeon’s defenses. The four stone archers around the castle looked as ready and prepared as ever, their stone bows well drawn. Their enormous faces glared in every direction, as if sensing danger.

  They provide good defense, but they won’t be nearly enough against an imperial squadron, Nilu thought with a shiver.

  He also analyzed the marble towers at the edges of the fledgling settlement… they would have been a solid defense… if only archers had been stationed atop them.

  We should have recruited people long ago. But then a hollow in his chest reminded him why they hadn’t brought people there: precisely because of the fear the core would be taken from them. Now, paradoxically, that was about to happen.

  Then, the sound of a bush rustling at the edge of the forest made him quickly draw his sword from its sheath. From it emerged a warrior mage clad in a bright green robe, with parts of his body protected by obsidian armor—helmet, pauldrons, and greaves.

  His heart leapt back into place when he recognized him: it was Elluth, one of the warlords of Ixtul’s defending forces, surrounded by several mounted archers.

  The mage recognized him immediately as well. They had fought together twenty years earlier during the empire’s first incursions into the northern border, when the invasion was no more than a rumor.

  His old companion looked as relieved as he did at their reunion, but bore the same symptoms of fear Nilu had seen just moments before in Vidul.

  “Praise the gods, old friend,” he said, breathless from the ride. “I didn’t know you had a hideout in this western point.”

  “It’s a long story, brother,” sighed Nilu. “But what are you doing with all your forces in such a remote corner of the jungle? And what is that malevolent energy looming over us?”

  “It is an Aneite squadron,” replied the mage-swordsman, as more allied warriors emerged from the undergrowth, all with terror etched on their faces. “One of the most powerful. We’ve been stalking them from the shadows for several days. We believe their leader is among them. We tried to harass them with a guerrilla strike while they camped on the banks of the Tlexcel, but for some reason, they haven’t stopped chasing us since.”

  Nilu sighed. There was no time to blame anyone for what was happening. The only thing they could do was act.

  “Listen, Elluth, there’s no doubt the Aneites will pass through here. We’ll have to defend this settlement with everything we’ve got. Do you think you have enough archers to man those towers?” He pointed at the marble towers at Emol’s borders.

  The mage studied them for a moment, while the rising sun reflected off his robe. The obsidian’s shine outshone the jungle’s omnipresent green. His face had barely changed in the last decades, save for a few wrinkles around the eyes, like Nilu’s own, and a few gray hairs in his black mane.

  “Yes, old friend. Can you give us access to them?”

  “Yes. Let’s go.”

  The next half hour passed at a frantic pace, with the two warlords placing the troops in the best positions—archers in the towers, and swordsmen and melee fighters stationed so that the mana pools and huts shielded their flanks like improvised walls.

  The enemy’s presence could already be felt just a few leagues away when from the undergrowth emerged a burly humanoid warrior, half-feline, half-human, with a mighty mace in his hand and a gleaming obsidian helm on his head.

  A notification appeared before Nilu’s eyes.

  Zar Quar, son of Leye and melee tank warrior.

  The feline being recognized Nilu as a hero linked to his father’s dungeon and bowed before him. The swordsman could not help but thank the goddess for having such a frontline fighter in that moment, and he directed him to one of the most strategic positions to defend, blocking one of the paths that led straight to the temple. At his side was Illaqu, now fully recovered thanks to the mana bath.

  “The time has come to show your skills, son. We must defend our land with our lives,” he told the jaguar warrior.

  “So I shall, my lord. If need be, I will sacrifice my life, but I’ll take down as many enemies as possible. My father will not fall.”

  Then the swordsman leader returned to the temple. Vidul was still casting healing spells over Naya, but looked as uneasy as the warriors ready for defense.

  “Do you think you can leave her alone for a while? We’ll need your help out there.”

  “Yes, my lord, though not for long, or we risk losing the little progress I’ve made in her recovery.”

  “Let’s hope it’s enough. And let’s pray this temple is not destroyed along with everything else.”

  Before leaving the sanctuary, the two explorers entrusted themselves to the serpent goddess Tlaloc, asking for her aid in the battle about to be waged.

  When they stepped into the open, the sun was already high, and the first enemies began to emerge from the undergrowth, clad in heavy iron armor, while arrows rained down from the towers. The moment of truth had arrived.