The transition into Undermarch Warren felt different from Hollowbreak.
Colder. Damper. The air tasted like rust and decay.
Kade materialized in a narrow corridor carved from industrial concrete, water dripping from corroded pipes overhead. Phosphorescent fungi clung to the walls in patches, casting everything in sickly green light.
[DUNGEON ENTRY CONFIRMED: UNDERMARCH WARREN]
[TIME: 00:52]
[RECOMMENDED APPROACH: STEALTH UNTIL THREAT ASSESSMENT COMPLETE]
Stealth. Right. Because that had worked so well in Hollowbreak.
Kade moved forward cautiously, his enhanced Perception cutting through the dim light. The corridor stretched ahead for maybe twenty meters before branching into a T-junction. Water pooled in the depressions of the cracked floor, reflecting the fungal glow.
Something skittered in the darkness ahead.
Kade stopped, every sense focused forward. His power coiled in his chest, ready.
A shape emerged from the shadows—low to the ground, chitinous, about the size of a large dog. Its carapace was dark brown, streaked with rust-colored patterns. Six legs ending in serrated claws. Mandibles that clicked rhythmically.
[RUST BEETLE DETECTED - F-RANK]
[THREAT LEVEL: MINIMAL]
[PACK BEHAVIOR: COMMON]
The beetle's antennae twitched, sensing him. Its mandibles clicked faster.
Then it charged.
Kade raised his right hand and pushed.
The kinetic pulse caught the beetle mid-scuttle and slammed it backward into the concrete wall. The carapace cracked. Ichor leaked. The creature twitched once, then went still.
[RUST BEETLE DEFEATED]
[ESSENCE ACQUIRED: +2]
[AMPLIFICATION: x1]
[TOTAL ESSENCE: 141/1000]
Two essence. Less than the hounds, but the beetle had also been easier to kill.
More skittering sounds—multiple sources, coming from both branches of the T-junction ahead.
[MULTIPLE HOSTILES DETECTED: 8 RUST BEETLES]
[COORDINATED APPROACH PATTERN IDENTIFIED]
Eight. Manageable.
The beetles emerged in a wave—four from the left passage, four from the right. Coordinated. Trying to flank him.
Kade didn't give them the chance.
He thrust both palms forward, releasing twin pulses of force. The blasts caught the beetles in a pincer movement, slamming them into walls on either side of the junction.
[RUST BEETLE DEFEATED x8]
[ESSENCE ACQUIRED: +15]
[AMPLIFICATION: x2]
The amplification was building faster this time. Kade could feel it—each successful application making the next one smoother, more efficient.
He was learning.
The corridor system opened up gradually as he pushed deeper. The T-junction led to a larger chamber where old factory equipment still stood—rusted conveyor belts, collapsed scaffolding, machines whose purpose Kade couldn't identify.
And movement. Lots of it.
[HOSTILE CONCENTRATION DETECTED]
[RUST BEETLES: 15+]
[SLUDGE SPAWN: 4]
[RECOMMENDATION: TACTICAL APPROACH]
Sludge Spawn. Those were new.
Kade crouched behind a collapsed section of conveyor belt and observed. The beetles were clustered around something in the center of the chamber—probably a nest or food source. And among them, four larger shapes moved with disturbing fluidity.
The Sludge Spawn looked like ambulatory pools of toxic waste—roughly humanoid in shape but constantly shifting, dripping, reforming. Each one was maybe a meter and a half tall, moving with unsettling purpose.
[SLUDGE SPAWN - F-RANK]
[ACIDIC COMPOSITION: CONTACT CAUSES TISSUE DAMAGE]
[RANGED ATTACK CAPABLE: PROJECTILE SLUDGE]
[WEAKNESS: KINETIC IMPACT (DISRUPTS COHESION)]
So they could throw acid and direct contact would burn him. But kinetic force would mess up their structural integrity.
Kade's power was perfect for this.
He stood up from cover and *pushed* with both hands—a wide-angle blast that swept across the chamber like a shockwave.
Every beetle in the blast radius went flying. The Sludge Spawn splattered—their bodies losing cohesion, spreading across the floor in puddles.
[RUST BEETLE DEFEATED x12]
[ESSENCE ACQUIRED: +22]
[AMPLIFICATION: x3]
But the Sludge Spawn weren't dead. The puddles were already reforming, pulling themselves back together with horrible wet sounds.
[WARNING: SLUDGE SPAWN REGENERATION DETECTED]
[REPEATED IMPACT REQUIRED FOR PERMANENT DEFEAT]
Of course they regenerated.
Kade targeted the nearest reforming spawn and hit it with a focused spear of force—x3 amplification concentrated into a single point. The impact punched through the creature's center mass and scattered it across a five-meter radius.
[SLUDGE SPAWN DEFEATED]
[ESSENCE ACQUIRED: +4]
[AMPLIFICATION: x4]
The remaining three had fully reformed now. And they'd learned. Instead of staying clustered, they spread out—flanking positions, using the old machinery as cover.
One of them threw something—a glob of acidic sludge that arced through the air toward Kade's face.
He dodged left, and the projectile hit the wall behind him with a hiss. The concrete started smoking where the acid made contact.
[ACIDIC PROJECTILE DETECTED]
[CONTACT WOULD RESULT IN SEVERE BURNS]
Another glob came from the right. Kade blocked it with a kinetic pulse—the force blast intercepting the projectile mid-flight and splattering it harmlessly.
[AMPLIFICATION: x5]
But the third spawn had used the distraction to close distance. It surged forward with surprising speed, pseudopod-arms reaching for him.
Kade slammed both palms down and released a ground-impact blast.
The floor cracked. The spawn's lower mass lost cohesion. It collapsed into a puddle that spread too thin to reform quickly.
[AMPLIFICATION: x6]
The last spawn tried to retreat, flowing backward toward a drainage pipe in the wall.
Kade hit it with everything he had—x6 amplification focused into a battering ram of pure kinetic force.
The spawn exploded. Sludge sprayed across the chamber. None of the pieces were large enough to reform.
[SLUDGE SPAWN DEFEATED x3]
[ESSENCE ACQUIRED: +11]
[AMPLIFICATION: x7]
[TOTAL ESSENCE: 189/1000]
The chamber went quiet except for the drip of water and the occasional hiss of residual acid eating through concrete.
Kade stood in the center of the carnage, breathing steadily. His new jacket had a few acid burns—small holes where projectiles had gotten too close—but his skin was untouched.
He was getting better at this. Faster. More efficient.
[COMBAT PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS: SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT]
[TACTICAL DECISION-MAKING: ENHANCED]
[FORCE CASCADE MASTERY: 28% → 34%]
Six percent increase in mastery from one fight. The system was tracking his progress, cataloging every successful application of his power.
Kade checked his physical condition. No injuries this time. A few close calls, but nothing that landed.
"How much essence do I need from this dungeon to make it worth the risk?"
[CURRENT ESSENCE: 189/1000]
[REMAINING REQUIRED: 811]
[ESTIMATED FULL CLEAR YIELD: 105-135 UNITS]
[RECOMMENDED: COMPLETE CURRENT RUN, EVALUATE EFFICIENCY]
So one full run wouldn't be enough anyway. He'd need multiple dives across multiple locations.
Kade moved forward, following the corridor system deeper into Undermarch. The factory ruins gave way to maintenance tunnels—narrower passages where pipes ran along the ceiling and electrical conduits hung loose like dead vines.
More beetles. More spawns. Kade cut through them with methodical efficiency, building his amplification, collecting essence.
[ESSENCE: 189 → 217 → 243 → 268...]
The fights blurred together. Kade's power became an extension of his will—push, slam, scatter, repeat. The amplification cycle became second nature: hit once to start the sequence, chain successful applications within sixty seconds, ride the x8 maximum until time expired, reset and begin again.
He was in a rhythm now. A flow state where thought and action merged.
Until he reached the boss chamber.
***
The final level of Undermarch opened into what had once been a water treatment plant. Massive tanks lined the walls, most of them ruptured and leaking. Catwalks crisscrossed overhead. And in the center of the space, a pool of sludge roughly ten meters across pulsed with unnatural life.
[BOSS CHAMBER DETECTED]
[CORRUPTED AMALGAM - E-RANK]
[COMPOSITION: FUSION OF 30+ SLUDGE SPAWN]
[THREAT ASSESSMENT: SEVERE]
[ACIDIC CONCENTRATION: LETHAL ON CONTACT]
[MASS: APPROXIMATELY 400 KILOGRAMS]
The sludge pool *rose*. Pseudopods extended, forming into something vaguely humanoid but too large, too wrong. Eyes—dozens of them—opened across its surface. Mouths formed and dissolved and reformed in different locations.
It was three meters tall and made entirely of concentrated acid.
Kade stared at it from the chamber entrance.
"That's disgusting."
The Amalgam screamed—a sound like metal dissolving in acid—and launched a volley of projectiles.
Kade threw himself sideways as globs of sludge splattered where he'd been standing. The concrete smoked and bubbled.
[WARNING: ACIDIC SATURATION HIGH]
[ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD INCREASING]
[PROLONGED EXPOSURE WILL RESULT IN ATMOSPHERIC TOXICITY]
The air was already starting to smell wrong—acrid, chemical. Breathing was getting harder.
Kade needed to end this fast.
He charged forward, building amplification. A focused blast caught the Amalgam center-mass and scattered part of its torso.
[AMPLIFICATION: x1]
But the creature just reformed, pulling sludge from its lower mass to replace what was lost.
[REGENERATION DETECTED]
[DAMAGE INSUFFICIENT TO OVERCOME RECOVERY RATE]
Kade hit it again—x2 amplification, more focused, more powerful.
Same result. The Amalgam reformed faster than he could damage it.
[AMPLIFICATION: x3]
[RECOMMENDATION: ALTERNATIVE APPROACH REQUIRED]
[CURRENT STRATEGY: INEFFECTIVE]
The boss surged forward, pseudopods lashing out. Kade dodged, but one tendril caught his leg.
Pain exploded—immediate, searing. The acid was eating through his pants, reaching skin.
[INJURY DETECTED: CHEMICAL BURN]
[TISSUE DAMAGE: MODERATE]
Kade blasted the tendril off with a point-blank pulse and stumbled backward. His leg screamed. The acid was still active, still burning.
[AMPLIFICATION: x4]
Think. The Amalgam regenerated by pulling mass from itself. It was maintaining cohesion across 400 kilograms of acidic sludge.
What if he didn't try to destroy it?
What if he *scattered* it so widely it couldn't pull itself back together?
Kade looked up at the ruptured tanks lining the walls. At the catwalks. At the structural supports.
An idea formed.
He ran—ignoring the pain in his leg, sprinting for the nearest catwalk ladder. The Amalgam pursued, flowing across the floor with disturbing speed.
Kade climbed. His burned leg protested every movement, but he forced himself up.
[AMPLIFICATION SEQUENCE EXPIRED: 60 SECONDS ELAPSED]
No. He'd lost the amplification. Had to start over.
The Amalgam reached the base of the ladder and started climbing—pseudopods forming into grasping appendages, pulling its massive bulk upward.
Kade reached the catwalk and kept running, heading for the largest ruptured tank. Behind him, the boss followed.
When he reached the tank—fifteen meters across, split open at the top—Kade stopped and turned.
The Amalgam surged toward him along the catwalk, dozens of eyes fixed on him with alien hunger.
Kade raised both hands and pushed.
Not at the creature. At the catwalk supports.
[FORCE CASCADE ACTIVATED]
[AMPLIFICATION: x1]
The metal shrieked. Bolts tore free. The catwalk lurched.
Kade hit the supports again—x2 amplification.
More bolts failed. The structure was collapsing.
[AMPLIFICATION: x3]
One final pulse—concentrated, devastating.
The catwalk broke.
Kade jumped backward toward the tank rim as the entire structure collapsed. The Amalgam, mid-surge, had nowhere to go.
It fell.
Four hundred kilograms of acidic sludge plummeted fifteen meters and hit the chamber floor with a wet explosion. The impact scattered it across a thirty-meter radius—too far, too dispersed.
[AMPLIFICATION: x4]
Kade didn't give it time to recover. From his position on the tank rim, he rained down kinetic blasts—hitting every major concentration of sludge, scattering it further.
[AMPLIFICATION: x5]
[AMPLIFICATION: x6]
[AMPLIFICATION: x7]
The Amalgam tried to reform. Pseudopods reached across the floor, attempting to pull the scattered mass together.
Kade hit them with maximum amplification—x8 force that obliterated cohesion.
The sludge stopped moving.
[CORRUPTED AMALGAM DEFEATED]
[ESSENCE ACQUIRED: +76]
[TOTAL ESSENCE: 344/1000]
[BONUS REWARD: FORCE CASCADE MASTERY +9%]
[CURRENT MASTERY: 43%]
Silence filled the chamber.
Kade sat on the edge of the ruptured tank, leg throbbing, breathing hard through the acrid air.
Three hundred forty-four essence. Still needed 656 more.
But he'd killed another E-Rank boss. Using tactics instead of raw power.
[HEALING PROTOCOLS ENGAGING]
[CHEMICAL BURN TREATMENT INITIATED]
[ESTIMATED RECOVERY TIME: 45 MINUTES]
Warmth spread through his leg—painful but effective. The acid damage was being neutralized, tissue rebuilding.
Kade closed his eyes and let the system work.
When he opened them again, dawn was probably breaking outside. He'd been in Undermarch for nearly three hours.
Time to leave before the morning patrol shift started.
Kade climbed down carefully, crossed the chamber to where a green crystal had risen, and placed his hand on it.
Reality twisted.
He appeared outside the fence perimeter, hidden in shadows. The night sky was already lightening to grey in the east.
Kade limped toward the transit station, keeping to back alleys.
Three hundred forty-four essence.
Two dungeons cleared.
Approximately fifty-four hours until his medical deferral expired.
He was running out of time.
But he was also running out of excuses to stop.