First Dungeon

Draco could see the dungeon long before they reached it, a large flat disc etched into the rugged base of a small mountain range.

The entrance was massive, carved into the rock as though it had been there for centuries, untouched by time.
Thick vines draped over the stone like ancient sentinels and the stone of the plate was covered with veins.
The air itself seemed to be filled with mana, as the dungeon was radiating them.

"The Kobolds seemed to walk quite a distance," Draco said, turning to Venetia.
Her shoulders sagged under the weight of the supplies she carried.
She had taken on most of the food, herbs, and small gear.

Meanwhile, he was busy carrying the bedrolls, blankets, and other essential supplies needed to construct their camp.
His muscles strained slightly under the weight, but that would not stop him from exploring that place.

Venetia, breathing heavily, wiped the sweat from her face and responded,
“When I ran into a hunting party moving in this direction while gathering herbs.
They were talking about how their leader had uncovered some 'ancient, big and abandoned cave, filled with treasure' and that they wanted to make a small base there.
It didn’t take long for me to figure out they were referring to some kind of dungeon.

"You can hope that this is the right one," Yuki chimed in, her tone light, with a teasing smile dancing on her lip.
"If I had to walk a few more miles, I would’ve gone crazy."
She was lagging behind them, her posture relaxed and carefree, arms folded behind her head. Yuki was carrying only a bag of fish and another filled with meat.

Venetia’s eyes narrowed, clearly annoyed. She turned to face Yuki, ready to lash out.

Living together had its ups and downs, but Yuki’s laziness was starting to get under her skin.
Venetia was fine to share Draco, and while she enjoyed some moments with Yuki, especially their sex between them, Yuki’s laid-back attitude, especially in critical moments, was becoming more than just an annoyance.
It felt like Yuki wasn’t pulling her weight, and that was hard to swallow when the stakes were so high.

Yuki, sensing the tension, just smirked, her sharp eyes glinting mischievously. "What?" she asked, feigning innocence. "I’m contributing."

Venetia opened her mouth, about to retort, but Draco stepped in before things could escalate.
He knew how easily Yuki could make someone angry.

"We’re here now," Draco said, his eyes moving between them, commanding attention.

As he looked at the dungeon he could see some abandoned wooden fortifications.
"Probably the former base of the Kobolds Venetia talked about."

"This is the dungeon the Goblins talked about and I have been looking for. Let’s stay focused."

The girls were busy setting up their camp, arranging the bedrolls, and securing their supplies, while Draco ventured out to explore the mysterious area around them.
The air was cool, filled with the earthy smell of ancient stone and moss.

Ahead of him, at the base of the mountain range, he spotted the remnants of small stone foundations, crumbling under the weight of time.
These were made from the same dark, weathered stone as the massive plate carved into the mountainside.
The foundations, though barely recognizable, were laid out in what appeared to be a strategic pattern.

Draco’s eyes traced the outlines of the ruins, trying to piece together the story of what this place had once been.
Broken columns lay scattered like the bones of a long-dead civilization, and here and there, patches of overgrown vegetation clung to the crumbling walls.

As Draco walked through the ruins, his feet crunching against the loose gravel, he marveled at the scale of what must have existed here long ago.
"Was this a marketplace where people once traded?" he mused. "Or perhaps the houses of workers who maintained the dungeon in its prime?"
The ruins exuded an eerie silence, broken only by the distant wind whistling through the cracks in the stone.
His thoughts swirled with curiosity, imagining the people who lived and worked here before everything fell into ruin.

But this place was now empty, save for the shadows of its forgotten past.

The more he explored, the more questions flooded his mind. Who were these people? Why had they built this mind-boggling complex? What secrets had they left behind?
Where are the ancient civilizations from the "Ancient Dungeon Core?"

Draco’s steps brought him closer to the mountain, where the stone plate loomed large against the rock face.
It towered above him, a massive slab of stone, intricately carved with ancient symbols and designs.
He scanned the surface with his eyes, almost able to feel the coldness of the stone.

Despite his search, he could find no obvious entrance, no door, no passage leading into the dungeon. He narrowed his eyes.
"If the goblins found an entrance, I must be able to find it too," he muttered under his breath.

He inspected the plate more closely. The surface was covered in faded inscriptions and pictures that hinted at long-lost stories and rituals.
The symbols, though worn down by centuries of exposure to the elements, still held an undeniable power.
But their meaning was lost beneath layers of dirt and the creeping vines that had overtaken the stone.

He began wiping away the grime with his hand, brushing aside the tendrils of plants that clung to the surface.

As he worked, a faint sound caught his attention—a whisper.
It was so soft, so barely audible, that at first, he thought it was the wind. But no, it was something else—words, fast and low, spoken in a language he had never heard before.
The voice or voices were ancient, filled with mystery and power, completely foreign to his understanding. His pulse quickened as he listened, though the meaning eluded him.

Suddenly, as his fingers brushed across a section of the plate, he saw something—runes, glowing faintly beneath the dirt and foliage.
They flickered to life with a dim, eerie light. He couldn’t read them, but somehow, he could feel them.

It was as though the meaning of the runes was being whispered directly into his mind, bypassing his understanding of language.
A deep, primal part of him stirred, something buried within his soul that responded to the ancient magic awakening in the stone.

He felt an innate fire gushing from his soul and the itching on his back became stronger.

Then, with a loud, jarring shriek, the stone plate began to move.
Draco stepped back, eyes wide, as a narrow slit appeared in the center of the plate.
The stone groaned and shifted, and before him, massive double doors began to open with a grinding, thunderous sound.
Dust and debris fell from the ancient hinges as they slowly revealed what lay beyond—a dark, mysterious entrance carved deep into the mountain.

Both Yuki and Venetia, startled by the noise, rushed over from the camp. Their eyes widened as they took in the sight of the massive stone doors opening before them.
The dungeon had revealed itself.

Draco peered down into the entrance. A long stone shaft stretched ahead, its walls lined with a small number of primal torches that flickered, filling the dark path with some form of light.
The air coming from within was stale and thick with the scent of old earth, ****, and magic.

The weight of history pressed down on them all as they stood before the entrance.
The dungeon, a relic of a forgotten time, was now open, probably filled with goblins and creatures they didn't even know the names of, waiting for them to venture inside and discover whatever ancient power or danger lay hidden within.

The place was dark, overwhelmingly so. The few torches that lined the walls of the shaft flickered weakly, casting dim, barely-there light that hardly illuminated the cold stone path ahead.
They seemed hastily installed, likely by the Kobolds, but maintaining the dungeon's lighting wasn't a priority for them.

For Draco and Yuki, the lack of light wasn’t much of an issue. Their sharp eyes allowed them to pierce through the darkness with relative ease.
But Venetia wasn’t so lucky. She carried a torch, its flame flickering in the damp air as it cast long, erratic shadows across the ancient stone.
The orange glow barely stretched beyond a few feet in front of them, leaving the rest of the hallway steeped in oppressive darkness.

As they walked deeper into the stony hallway, Draco couldn’t shake the odd feeling creeping over him.
The cold stone beneath his feet, the worn-down carvings on the walls—it all felt strangely alive as if the dungeon was more than just a forgotten ruin.
"It’s like walking through the corpse of a person," he thought to himself, each step bringing a new wave of discomfort.
Every crack in the walls, every broken piece, every tiny detail felt like a remnant of a once-thriving civilization. Yet, it was abandoned, left to rot in silence.

Venetia, keeping pace beside him, broke the silence. "Why would anyone give up a structure like this?" she asked, her voice hushed, as if not wanting to disturb the ancient stillness.
Her eyes scanned the surroundings, searching for an answer in the ruins that seemed far too grand to simply be forgotten. "And how could you even defeat something like this? It’s like a gigantic cave."

Draco glanced at the walls, the faded carvings, and the faint smell of damp stone.
"What happened here?" he wondered silently. And more importantly, what dangers still lurked within?

The deeper they went, the more the atmosphere seemed to close in on them, like the dungeon itself was watching, waiting.

Draco decided to examine the walls more closely, his fingers tracing the cool stone as he moved along the passage.
As he did, he noticed the faint, dim glow of ancient runes embedded within the rock.
Each rune pulsed softly, sending a shiver of energy through him as if the very stone itself were alive.

The primal core inside him began to awaken, a tingling sensation spreading through his veins as the whisper grew louder, echoing in the depths of his mind like a long-forgotten song.
The air felt thick with magic, and he could almost sense the history embedded in the walls.

"I wonder what those whispers and eerie runes mean," he mused aloud, glancing back at the girls for their thoughts.
However, he was met with puzzled expressions that only deepened his intrigue.

"What are you talking about?" Venetia asked, her brow furrowed in confusion, her tone a mix of curiosity and concern.

"I don't hear any whispers or see any glowing runes," Yuki chimed in, nodding in agreement, her eyes scanning the surroundings for any signs of danger.

Draco's heart raced at their responses. Why was he the only one experiencing this phenomenon?

Was it because of the dragon blood coursing through his veins, or was it due to his identity as a dark champion?
Questions flooded his mind, swirling like leaves in a storm.

Just as he was about to voice his thoughts, his acute hearing picked up the unmistakable sound of footsteps approaching rapidly, a rhythm that reverberated off the stone walls.

He turned to Yuki, noting the tension in her posture as she subtly shifted her weight, ready to act.
Venetia, however, remained perplexed, her brow still knitted with uncertainty.

"Why are you—" she began to ask, but her question was abruptly cut off by the sound of many feet pounding against the stone floor,
growing closer and closer, their echo bouncing ominously through the dark hallway.

Draco's instincts kicked in, and he shifted his focus toward the source of the noise.
Emerging from the shadows was a small group of goblins, their eyes gleaming with malice and curiosity.
Armed with crude weapons—spears, bows, swords, and flickering torches—they formed a ragged line before them.
The flickering flames of the torches cast eerie shadows on the walls, emphasizing the goblins' sharp features and grins that exposed jagged teeth, some even missing several, giving them a grotesque appearance.

One of the goblins, larger than the others and seemingly the leader, pointed directly at Venetia.
"Hey! That’s the hot girl I saw!" he shouted, a crooked grin spreading across his face, his beady eyes dancing with lust and hunger.

Draco felt a surge of protectiveness wash over him, a primal instinct igniting at the thought of these goblins eyeing his companions with such a predatory gaze.
He took a step forward, muscles coiled and ready to confront the intruders, while Venetia’s face flushed with indignation and Yuki narrowed her eyes, her body coiled like a spring, ready to react at a moment's notice.

The goblins exchanged mischievous glances, clearly emboldened by their numbers, and Draco could see their confidence growing as they shifted closer, weapons at the ready.
The tension in the air thickened, charged with the potential for ****.