We successfully appeared in Grimsburg Mage guild's magic circle and soon were greeted by one of the receptionists. She was unfamiliar to me, but as soon as we mentioned our names, she took as to see Mesmer.

  - Avone and Nelly it has been a long time even for me, - high elf smiled at us, and Nelly run towards him and hugged her master.

  - I missed you, - she looked up and smiled at her former master.

  - I missed you too, - he patted her head and stepped back, to get a better look at her: - You have grown up. I also heard that you arrived here using Guild portal?

  - Yes. My Wisdom is finally at master level, and I learned that spell.

  - Congratutions, little one.

  - Thank you master. Can I register as a master magician now.

  - Yes, - he warmly smiled and nodded at the receptionist: - Please prepare the necessary documents. I need to talk to Avone in the meantime. We will talk ter.

  Nelly nodded and with a bright smile left the room. She finally reached pinnacle of magic mastery, and I was not jealous of her. Not in the slightest - I sighed.

  - Avone, few times I entertained the thought that you were dead, but, once in a few years, I receive surprising requests, which let me know that you are still alive and scheming something again.

  - Yee, sorry about that, - I scratched back of my head.

  - Well, as inconvenient as it was, I did make a lot of profit, so I will not compin too much. But first let me inform you about some deals that I made, - he took out several artifacts from the closet and pced them in front of me: - First the bad news. Some of your coffee supply went bad, and we used it as fertilizer. It took some experiments, bad we managed to at least get some use out of it. Then things changed, after merchants from Romanium started to buy your share. We made some modifications to your deal, and steady supply of coffee now goes to Dark continent. Cannot say that it saddens me. In my opinion they overpay for it considerably.

  We also expanded your coffee farm, apologies, pntation as far as Tanot's barrier allows us, and now as long as nature is generous you get six hundred pouches every year. Three hundred of them goes to Romanium, another fifty I keep for Theodoric and other customers, and finally one hundred fifty goes to another hero from Holy Griffin Empire. Which leaves you with hundred pouches every year. Sugar amount is also considerable and waiting for you.

  - Sounds good. But what's with that other hero? How is he paying?

  - He already paid. Fifty years in advance, - Mesmer sighed: - Not a very pleasant man, that one.

  - Caused any problems?

  - Nothing, that I could not handle. And his price was - impressive.

  - Really? - I examined artifacts. Among them was a bottle and a tablecloth. Nothing that looked that impressive.

  - Yes. This is Endless bottle of water, you can guess what it does, and this one is Magic tablecloth. Ones you open it, it creates food, enough for even gluttonous person. It can be used twice a day, every twelve hours or so.

  I whistled: - Impressive indeed. But I am surprised that you agreed to pay that much?

  I really could have used both of the artifacts in dungeon not so long ago. I already decided to keep them for myself, so I could use them for emergencies in the future.

  - Yes. He was unpleasant, and mostly I agreed to pay his price, because I do not expect him to survive that long.

  - A-aa, that's wise. Good. I approve completely.

  - I am so relieved, - grimaced Mesmer: - Also, I spend some of your coins to make pntation safer, to pay Tanot, buy more golems, and of course taxes, since we are trading with Romanium now.

  - I hate taxes.

  - Everyone does. Still, you managed to earn one hundred and twenty eight orichalcum coins, by doing nothing. Should I give you them to you now?

  I scratched myself all over, but finally nodded.

  - Yes.

  Mesmer nodded and brought me fat looking wallet.

  - What are your pns now?

  - Visit pntation and renew my coffee supply.

  - Yes. I expected you to do that sooner.

  - Nelly just now learned Guild portal spell, and I was busy, - I sighed.

  - Yes, I heard about your successes. Conquering ancient dungeons. That's quite impressive. Gathering Iron mountain king's artifacts, are you?

  - That's a secret, - I grinned.

  - Yes, of course. But you should be careful. Even kings will desire them, if the word spreads.

  - I will keep it in mind, - I nodded: - Well if you excuse me, I am dying to get some coffee. Sounds to me that everyone is drinking it except me.

  Mesmer nodded, and I almost run out of his room, hurrying to get to the pntation.

  * * *

  Nelly registered as a master magician in a mage guild, and I allowed her to register as B rank adventurer in Grimsburg Adventurer guild. Local guild master owed me a lot, and I convinced him not to report Nelly's sage job, just her levels.

  We returned to Mina a week ter and resumed our dungeon conquering. Days went by with us hunting in the dungeon, then taking some days to rest, buying all avaible potions and then returning to dungeon again.

  Nelly, learning high ranking spells, made a lot of difference. I was kind of jealous of her, but even a genius like Nelly needed two month, only to learn three high ranking spells. Someone like me would need more than a month to learn a single spell, and I did not have enough time for that. After a year, I did order everyone to take a month vacation, but I did it, so I could return to Bcksmith cave and do some hunting in the dungeon. Instead of resting, Nelly of course used an opportunity to learn one more spell, but we all secretly were counting on that.

  Trevor and Luara also learned magic, and I as well continued my education with Light magic spells.

  After that, we continued our dungeon conquering, and many month ter reached floor one hundred.

  - Frozen nd! - said Nelly and entire cavern in front of us got covered in ice. Giant, tyrannosaurus rex like monsters, also were frozen and then fell apart.

  - Good work, like always, - I said, and Nelly happily smiled. She turned into a real powerhouse and could annihite whole cavern with high ranking monsters, with a single spell now. She even took out several floor guardians with a single spell, and even their natural magic resistance was useless to them.

  - What now? - asked Luara: - Do we continue or go back?

  I checked my bag. Last few floors were difficult even for us. We had to fight swarm of monsters without rest and used up almost all our potions. We already run out of mana potions, and mine and Nelly mana recovery speed could not restore all our magic power, with the huge amount of monsters around us.

  - We need to resupply. But as long as we are here, let us take a peek beyond that door and then go back. If our counting was right then this should be the st floor. But who knows how rge it is. Not like we have to hurry, so let us return and then come back, better prepared and rested.

  - I wouldn't say no to a bath, - sighed Trevor. He did smell, but among us he was the only one who was wearing full set of armor, and metal armor was not known for being good for the breathing.

  - Then we are agreed, - I nodded, and we approached huge wooden door.

  Just in case, we prepared our weapons and slowly approached the door, which I noticed in the other part of the dungeon. In the dungeon, doors usually led to troublesome pces, but we all hoped that it would let us to treasury, filled with gold and artifacts.

  - Be careful and be ready to run away, - I reminded everyone.

  - So our usual strategy, - joked Luara. Nelly giggled, but then covered her mouth with her hand. Keeping quiet was always part of our strategy, when we approached unknown.

  I slowly opened the door and peaked inside. Behind it was a rge room, as big as the biggest throne room. Room was not empty, there were carpets and even some furniture in it. I noticed another door in the opposite part of the room.

  - I see no one, but there is another door.

  - Let's go inside and check it out, - whispered Luara. These days she was most impatient among us. She could not wait to gather all relics of an ancient king and become more powerful.

  - I don't like it.

  - Maybe we should go back, - added Trevor, whose slow and safe approach did not change, even after all these years.

  - We are already here, - objected Nelly.

  I sighed, but opened the door wider. We went inside and noticed near the left wall a throne, with someone resembling undead king on it. Near left wall was a pillow. On it was sleeping small fox, with fan of tails.

  Loud boom sounded behind us, and we turned around. Door smmed shut behind us, cutting off our escape route.

  Undead opened his eyes and got up from his throne.

  - You should not have come brave adventurers. Now your path will end here, and your bodies will become nourishment for the dungeon.

  Fox also opened its eyes and yawned. He shook himself and bared his fangs towards us.

  - Nelly take care of the fox. Trevor, Luara distract the undead.

  They nodded, and our knight and panther-girl moved towards the throne.

  - Be honored since you will be killed by a man, formally known as the King of Iron mountains, - continued undead.

  I almost lost my concentration, while preparing the spell, but pushed the identity of our opponent to the back of my thoughts.

  Nelly was also preparing the spell and finished it first. Lightning struck the fox, but monster jumped aside and avoided the attack. He again bared his teeth, and started to grow. Fox grew as big as an elephant and run towards Nelly.

  Nelly casted Swamp spell and fox sunk into the floor.

  - Sun light! - I casted and bright light enveloped whole room. This light could purify even high ranking undead and was my most powerful spell, against such monsters.

  - Dispel magic! - said the king and clicked his fingers. Light disappeared and unharmed king stepped forward: - Not bad, but not good enough.

  That was bad. He looked like an experienced swordsman and, from his dispy, was even better mage than Nelly.

  I prepared my next spell and used Remove resistance on undead. He nodded, but again used some kind of spell, and I got a feeling that he dealt even with my Primordial magic spell.

  - Even better, - he nodded: - But still not enough. Now it is my turn. Sacred arrows!

  I paled, he used one of the most powerful attacking spells, and it was directed at me.

  Trevor and Luara run towards him, trying to stop undead from casting, but it was too te. Several dozen of light arrows flew towards me. I jumped aside an avoided most of them, but three of them wounded my legs. I fell on the ground, bleeding from heavy wounds.

  I groaned in pain and touched my Female purse. I was in no shape to cast, but managed to take out elixir and spshed it on my wounds. They started to close, and I was able to look around.

  Trevor and Luara engaged undead in a sword fight. That was not the best decision, but that was the only way to prevent him from casting the spells.

  In the meantime Nelly prepared her next spell and casted Volcano eruption. Earth opened beneath the fox and bright burning va flowed beneath it. Fox squealed in pain, but managed to jump and nded beyond affected area. In pces its fur was burning, and fox suffered some bad looking burns. But it did not stop the monster. He run towards Nelly, and our archmage did not have enough time to cast another spell. Nelly avoided foxes first attack by ducking and jumping aside. Foxes paw went harmlessly above her head, and girl hit the fox with her staff.

  I cursed and casted Magic arrow, and it hit foxes side. Giant monster stumbled, and it gave Nelly a chance to jump back.

  Fox turned toward me, but his movement turned out to be a distraction. He used his tails and hit Nelly. She tried to avoid the attack, but avoiding nine tails at the same time turned out to be impossible. Nelly flew back and smmed into the wall. She fell on the ground, bleeding from several wounds.

  Fox bared his teeth and instead of attacking me, jumped back and stepped on Nelly.

  - No! - I involuntary screamed and then cursed. I through one of my poisoned knives, but fox used its paw to hit it aside. But by doing so, dagger still scratched foxes skin. That was more than enough. I took a deep breath and grinned at fox: - You are done now.

  He looked at me, with question in his eyes. That was a mistake on foxes part. Nelly extended her arm, and casted her spell. Wind hit the fox, and this time monster smmed into the wall. It was stunned for a moment, and it gave me enough time to through my second knife. This time knife went inside foxes side till the hilt. Fox grabbed it with his teeth and removed knife from the wound, but it was too te by then. Blood came out of its mouth and fox staggered. Its size changed back, and little nine tailed fox fell on the ground.

  Nelly fell on the ground as well. Her st spell used up st of her strength, and she was not moving. At least she was still alive, and we could take care of her wounds ter.

  I turned towards undead. Things were looking bad, for my party members. Both Trevor and Luara used their swords and shields, but they were no match for the former king, who was using a single sword. Trevor casted Light aura on his sword, but it did not bothered the undead. King of the Iron Mountains bended back avoiding Trevor's attack, and his counterattack hit Trevor's helmet. Knight fell on the ground unconscious. Even monsters strength could not cut through adamantium, but attack stunned Trevor.

  Luara pierced monsters side, but undead king just ughed. His used his sword to attack Luara, and she defended herself with her shield. Undead king's sword, cut her shield in two, but her Dragon scale gauntlets, saved panther-girl's arm.

  I did not have time to cast and run towards them. I threw my dagger, and my bck bde distracted the king for a moment. Dagger harmlessly hit his armor and fell on the ground. King gnced at bck, scary looking bde with surprise, and Luara was able to jump back and shook off pieces of her damaged shield. Panther-girl took out her dagger, with her freed arm, and moved to the opposite side of me.

  I also armed myself with two swords and carefully approached undead.

  - Holy aura! - I casted on my main sword, and undead king nodded.

  - Life magic as well. Impressive for someone so young. Let us see how good you are with your swords then.

  He jumped towards me, and we crossed our swords. His strength was overwhelming, but my increased stats allowed me to stand my ground. Luara joined me, and we engaged former kind in a swordfight.

  We managed to hit him several times, but cuts meant nothing to the undead. He bended to the side, and my sword missed him by a hair. His counterattack came from unexpected angle, and he cut off my arm. I was stunned and looked at my left arm, flying into the sky. King of the Iron Mountains kicked me, and I flew back a dozen meters.

  I fell on the ground, with blood spshing from my shoulder. Luara unched desperate attack, and her sword pierced king's shoulder. His right arm was immobilized, but he just ughed. His left fist hit Luara's face, and she flew back and hit the wall. Luara fell on the ground and did not get up.

  - That is it then, - King of the Iron Mountains removed Luara's sword and dropped it on the floor: - Little disappointing.

  He turned towards me and grinned.

  I felt tiers running from my eyes. If only those doors would not shut behind us, we could have escaped. We could have survived and returned better prepared. If only we would have casted all protection spells before entering the room, then things may have been different. I tried to get up, but fell on my knees. My life was leaving me with the blood, that was flowing from my wound. I had time for one more spell, and then it was it. Too te now, but I still used Protection from sun spell. Why could I not use my Teleportation spell to escape? But it did not worked through closed doors. Maybe I still could get through the door, then use Regeneration spell to heal me and survive. I looked at Nelly and felt my heart being overwhelmed by despair. May remaining sword fell on the ground, and it sounded like a chime of a funeral bell.

  * * *

  - Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

  Nelly heard a scream and looked at Avone. She was screaming at the ceiling. Her remaining hand was clutched in a fist that he raised in a way that people did, when they were threatening someone.

  Avone took her sword and got on her legs. Nelly noticed tears, flowing from Avone's eyes, and Nelly's heart squeezed in her chest. Nelly wanted to get up and use Cure spell to help her friend, but she could not move and had no mana left. Nelly bitted her lip so hard that blood run down her face. She was defenseless and useless again. Even after she learned level five spells and increased her skills to master level.

  Avone started slowly running towards the king. Undead king looked at her and shook his head. He extended his arm and said the name of his spell:

  - Sacred arrows!

  That was high ranking spell, but undead king casted it faster than Nelly could cast level one spells. Dozens of light arrows approached Avone. Nelly expected that they will pierce Avone's body, but when some of the arrows hit her body, they disappeared.

  King again extended his arm and this time used Fire magic spell.

  - Inferno!

  Fire covered part of the cavern and set on fire furniture and carpets, that covered the floor. Fire created using magic did not harm Avone and she continued running. Her speed was slow, but she was approaching undead king.

  But when magic fire died down it left behind burning wood and wool. Magic fire did not harm Avone, but she was not protected from an ordinary one. Nelly saw how Avone's face grimaced when fire burned her, but elf continued her attach. She was less than ten meters from undead king, when he used third spell.

  - Hammers of defeat!

  Spell was unfamiliar to Nelly, and Avone's magic resistance did not protect party's leader this time. To Nelly it looked like Avone was hit dozens of times by invisible enemies. She stopped and fell on her knees. With her st strength Avone threw her sword at dungeon core. Undead king cached it and threw it back. Avone was still on her knees and did not move. Sword went inside her neck.

  And went through her body. Next moment undead king's magic gem shattered and his bones fell on the ground. Nelly saw Avone. Elf was standing behind the king, with one of her arrows in her hand.

  Nelly wanted to scream from happiness, but then blood came out of Avone's eyes, nose and ears. She fell on undead kings bones.

  Nelly screamed in fear and used st of her strength, to crawl towards their leader. Carpets stopped burning, but floor was still hot and burned the girl. Nelly ignored her pain and continued crawling towards her friend.

  Avone was still breathing, but her breath was weakening. She was dying, and did not had much time left. Nelly took out a vial, with Gods mead elixir, and poured it over Avone.

  Avone's wounds healed and even her arm regenerated. Her breathing improved, but she did not regained her consciousness.

  - Avone, Avone, - Nelly shook her friend in desperation.

  - She will live.

  Voice behind her belonged to undead king. Nelly turned around and saw a spirit floating next to her. She shielded Avone with her body. That was the only thing that she could do.

  - Do not be afraid. I will not harm you. Your friend defeated undead monster and freed my spirit.

  - Will she be all right?

  - Yes. You used the only thing that could have saved her. Gods mead is the most powerful healing potion. Without it she would have died.

  - Why? What did you do to her?

  - It was not me. She used two spells at the same time. She used Light magic Illusion copy spell to fool me and at the same time used Teleportation spell to get behind me. As a mage you know that it is impossible to use two spell circles at the same time. Your friend succeeded, because she used two different magic schools, but it would have killed her. Even I, at my best, would not be able to do something like that. But she did it and defeated me. And in my time, I faced in battles even ancient dragons. Long ago I died in here, and my spirit was chained to this dungeon. Dungeon core brought my body back to life and turned me into its final guardian. But now it is all over. You will find the dungeon core beyond the door. There are no more traps, and I was its final guardian. But I wanted to ask a favor of you, young mage.

  - What is it King of Iron mountains?

  - My name is Herculian, child. I would ask you not to kill my friend, - he pointed at nine-tailed fox. Then he used one more spell and foxes wounds healed: - His name is Takazuchi. Please do not kill him. He is not a monster, but a sacred animal. He was bound to me, as a contracted being, and for that reason was unable to leave this dungeon. Now he is free and will not harm you.

  - Fine, - Nelly sighed: - I will not harm him anymore.

  - Thank you, - ghost looked at Luara: - Your friend is using my artifact. So your leader gathered them, but gave them to her? - he shook his head, but them approached Luara and pced his hand on her head: - I just gave her my blessing: - He expined to Nelly: - It will be easier for her to use my artifact that way. As my final deed in this world I will grant your friend a reward for defeating me. I will evolve her Swordsmanship skill into Master swordsman skill. Once she levels up that skill into its master level, she will be able to use a very special and powerful attack.

  Light enveloped Avone, and Herculian bowed to Nelly and disappeared.