They Wanted a Hero. They Made a Monster: Born at the Bottom
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 26: Danger on the Fifth Stratum
Unlike his frantic journey to Fenrad, Dylan’s return trip took more than a month.
He kept his face wrapped in bandages the entire way, making himself look like a mummy.
He avoided populated areas whenever possible and bought supplies only at coaching inns or villages.
When he finally returned to Hushwind, he did not linger. He hurriedly purchased provisions and entered Amethyst Deep alone.
He did not visit the tavern for information. The dungeon had been the same for thousands of years. How much could it possibly have changed in two months?
Inside, Dylan followed routes with few resources and equally few monsters. They were relatively safe, and profit was not his purpose this time.
He wanted to see that marsh again.
He did not know what he expected to find. Yet every time he imagined hiding from the world, his mind returned to the scene he had witnessed in the Treasure Chamber.
He had considered the possibility that this urge was some form of mental suggestion caused by the parasite, and that returning would lead to his complete consumption.
In the end, he had decided to come anyway.
If it killed him ... then so be it.
Dylan walked down the bluestone stairway between the Fourth and Fifth Strata, a passage dozens of yards high. His heels struck the steps, and each click echoed between the walls.
His were not the only footsteps.
A party of adventurers appeared below him on the stairs.
As they passed, both sides tightened their grips on their weapons.
Caution was essential. A dungeon attracted every sort of person.
“Friend, wait.”
Dylan turned. The speaker was a young man in leather armor with a curved blade hanging at his waist.
He looked no older than twenty, yet he had climbed back from the Fifth Stratum. The youth clearly possessed enviable talent.
“What is it?”
As he spoke, Dylan descended another two steps to widen the distance between them.
The young man noticed but merely offered a friendly warning.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but something strange has happened on the Fifth Stratum. No one has figured out what’s going on yet. You’d be better off not taking the risk.”
“Something strange? Have the Parasitic Trees gone berserk?”
“No, it’s the Puffcaps.
“A swarm of mutated Puffcaps has occupied most of the stratum. We don’t understand their behavior, but people have reportedly died in there. We tried to skirt around them and reach the caverns, but every passable route along this corridor was blocked by Puffcaps, so we turned back.”
The young man truly seemed to be warning him out of simple kindness. Dylan gave him a small nod.
“Thank you.”
Then he continued down. The Puffcaps were precisely what he had come to find.
“Tch. What a suspicious freak. Vera tries to help, and he doesn’t believe a word of it.”
Dylan had not gone far when the party’s female archer jeered at his back.
“All right, all right. It’s a normal reaction. Let’s go. We still need to check the other passage.”
The young man’s voice gradually faded behind him.
Dylan rather liked people willing to help strangers, though his approval was probably worth very little.
As for the archer’s mockery, he had long since grown too old to take such things to heart.
Three corridors linked the Fourth and Fifth Strata. This one emerged near Poisonmist Lake.
Dylan drank a Poison Resistance Potion well in advance. When he stepped out of the passage, however, he could only stare.
The lake was still there, but where was the poison?
Green mist had once covered the entire lakeshore. It was not only toxic, but thick enough to obscure almost everything.
Now Dylan could see far into the distance at a glance.
Several Puffcaps wandered beside the distant shore. Just as the young man had said, they blocked the route toward the caverns.
The poisonous fog existed because Emerald-Eyed Frogs lived here. Day after day, they spat green poison until the mist enveloped the whole lake.
Only then did Dylan realize that despite the clear view, he could not see a single Emerald-Eyed Frog.
Only a few scattered Caustic Slimes and Water Sprites remained.
What had happened here?
Dylan continued forward with growing unease.
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