The void rippled. It wasn't the violent, expulsive pulse that spat out monsters; it was a shimmer, a disturbance in the surface tension of the black mana.

  "Movement!" Perberos hissed, his bowstring drawn taut to his cheek. "Centre mass!"

  "Hold fire!" Josh roared, stepping to the very edge of the crenellations, his gauntleted hands gripping the cold stone until his knuckles turned white. "Rangers, hold fire in the middle, aim for the edges!"

  The black surface of the portal bulged outward, stretching like a membrane, before snapping back to reveal five figures.

  They stumbled out onto the cracked, blood-slicked cobblestones, blinking in the sudden change of light. It was a delver party: two humans in leather armour, a dwarf with a polished shield, a gnome clutching a spellbook, and a beastkin rogue with feline ears.

  They were laughing.

  The dwarf slapped the human on the back, saying something that was lost in the roar of the siege, his face split in a wide, triumphant grin. They looked exhausted but elated, the high of a successful boss kill still coursing through their veins. They were expecting the cool night air, the smell of roasting meat from the taverns, and the safety of an inn.

  Instead, they stepped into an apocalypse.

  The laughter died instantly. The dwarf froze, his hand halfway to a high-five, as he stared at the wall of scales surrounding their small, cleared circle. He looked up at the burning sky, at the tower raining arrows, at the devastation of the courtyard. The sheer cognitive dissonance paralysed them. They were statues of confusion in a world of frantic motion.

  "Go back!" Josh screamed from the tower, his voice amplified by the sheer desperation of the moment. "Turn around! Go back inside!"

  The human leader looked up, squinting against the glare of Brett’s fire wall. He looked confused, mouthing the word 'What?'

  The horde didn't wait for explanations. The momentary pause caused by the appearance of fresh meat broke. A dozen kobolds from the rear rank surged, screeching, their fear of the fire overridden by the instinct to kill.

  "Cover them!" Josh bellowed.

  The tower erupted. Perberos and the rangers loosed in unison. A curtain of arrows fell around the confused party, striking the charging kobolds with deadly accuracy. Brett threw his hand forward, sending a beam of molten plasma blistering through the rows of charging kobolds, blasting gaps in the encroaching line and spending mana like it was nothing.

  "Run!" the beastkin rogue shrieked, her ears flattening against her skull.

  "Back!" Josh yelled again, waving his arm frantically. "Jump back in!"

  The dwarf finally processed the situation. He saw a Scale-Breaker pushing through the mob, its maul raised. He saw the hundreds of eyes reflecting the firelight. He grabbed the gnome by the collar and threw himself backwards.

  "Back!" the dwarf roared, tackling the human leader.

  The party scrambled, slipping on the blood-slicked stone. One of the humans screamed as a kobold spear skittered across the stones, sparking against his greave. They fell backwards, a tangle of limbs and panic, and hit the surface of the portal.

  They didn't hit a solid wall. They vanished, swallowed instantly by the black void.

  The portal rippled, and they were gone.

  "Cease fire!" Josh ordered, his chest heaving. "Save your arrows!"

  The kobolds wailed in frustration, swarming over the empty space where the prey had been seconds ago, slashing at the air.

  Josh watched the portal closely. As the surface settled, returning to its smooth state, he noticed something. The colour. It had been an absolute, light-drinking void black. Now, just for a second, it looked... grey. Dark charcoal, but definitely lighter.

  "Did you see that?" Josh asked, pointing.

  "See what?" Brett panted, drinking a mana potion with shaking hands.

  "The colour," Josh said, narrowing his eyes. "It changed. Just a fraction. They banked their run. They vented the pressure."

  "So it's working?" Bhel asked, looking at the endless sea of enemies. "Because it doesn't look like it's working from up here."

  "It's working," Josh said, trying to convince himself as much as the dwarf. "We just have to keep the door open."

  The next hour was a blur of tension and violence. The siege of the tower continued relentlessly. While the main horde focused on the gate, smaller squads of climbers kept testing the tower’s defences, forcing Josh and Bhel to constantly patrol the perimeter, kicking climbers and cutting ropes.

  But the real battle was the waiting game.

  Twenty minutes later, a second party emerged. They were veterans, a trio of heavy-armoured warriors. They didn't freeze. As soon as they saw the horde, they drew weapons and formed a triangle.

  "Back inside!" Josh yelled. "Clear more floors!"

  The warriors looked up, saw the situation, nodded once, and stepped back into the portal with professional discipline. Smooth. Clean.

  Not everyone was so lucky.

  Ten minutes after that, a solo rogue sprinted out. He was injured, clutching his side, likely fleeing a bad pull inside the dungeon. He stumbled out, blindingly fast, and ran forward.

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  "No!" Josh screamed. "Go back!"

  The rogue didn't hear, or didn't listen. Panic had seized him. He saw the open space created by Brett’s fire and sprinted for it, thinking he could break through the line to the gate.

  He made it ten yards.

  He hit the edge of the kill zone just as the kobolds surged. He tried to dodge, to weave, but there was nowhere to go. A spear took him in the thigh. He went down. Before the rangers could even draw a bead, he was buried under a mound of bodies. His scream was high, thin, and cut short.

  "Damn it!" Perberos slammed his fist against the stone merlon.

  "Reset!" Josh ordered, forcing his voice to remain steady. "Eyes on the portal. Don't look at the body."

  Another party emerged. A group of mages. They were soft targets. They hesitated too long. A kobold shaman on the ground cast a Silence spell, blanketing the area. The mages panicked, unable to cast their defensive wards. One of them was grabbed by a hook-chain and dragged into the horde before his friends could pull him back. The other three escaped back into the portal, but they left one of their own behind to be torn apart.

  It was a revolving door of horror. For every party they saved, the toll of the siege grew heavier. On the tower, the strain was showing.

  One of the elven rangers took a javelin to the shoulder. It was a lucky throw from a kobold below. The impact spun him around, pinning him to the wooden door of the stairwell.

  "Medic!" another ranger shouted, dropping his bow to help his kin.

  "Leave him!" Josh barked, grabbing a heavy rock and hurling it at the thrower below. "If he can walk, get him downstairs! If he can't, prop him up and give him a sword! We need every bow on the line!"

  It was harsh. It was cruel. But it was necessary. The ranger gritted his teeth, snapped the shaft of the javelin, and picked up his bow with his good arm and made his way to the healers.

  Bhel was bleeding from a dozen small cuts. His armour was dented in so many places it looked like hammered copper. He was breathing in ragged gasps, leaning on his axe between waves of climbers.

  "I'm getting too old for this," the dwarf muttered, wiping blood from his beard.

  "You're younger than me," Perberos quipped, though his hands were shaking as he nocked an arrow.

  "Elves don't count," Bhel spat. "You age like stones. I age like… salt."

  Brett was the worst off. He was the anchor of the defence. He had to maintain his flames, blast the large groups of kobolds, and protect the escapees. He was burning through mana potions faster than his body could process the toxicity. His skin was flushed, his eyes feverish.

  "Brett," Josh said softly, moving to his friend during a lull. "How are you holding up?"

  "I can hear the fire, Josh," Brett whispered, staring at his hands. Veins of glowing orange energy were tracing their way up his arms. "It's singing to me. It wants to be let out."

  "Keep it on a leash," Josh warned. "Don't let it consume you."

  "I'm trying," Brett said, his voice trembling. "But it's so loud."

  Josh looked at the sky. The moon was high now. It had been hours. The pile of rocks in his bag was empty. They were scavenging debris from the tower floor now to throw.

  "Heads up!" Perberos called out. "Portal active!"

  Josh moved to the edge. He looked down.

  The void rippled again.

  Five figures stepped out.

  Josh recognised the silhouette instantly. The height. The ears. The massive glaive.

  It was Bun.

  She stepped out first, scanning the area with the practised ease of a veteran. Her armour was gleaming, untouched by the grime of the dungeon. Behind her came Bean, spinning a dagger on her finger, head thrown back in laughter. Choco the gnome was tinkering with a mechanical spider in his hands. Soul, the mage, was wiping his glasses. Butler, the healer, looked relieved to be out.

  They were relaxed. They were confident. Bean slapped Bun on the shoulder, pointing at something funny Choco had done, completely oblivious to the hellscape surrounding them.

  "Bean!" Josh screamed, his voice cracking with the force of it. "Go back!"

  Bean looked up, squinting. She saw Josh on the tower. She grinned, raising a hand to wave.

  "Hey, tortoise!" she shouted, her voice carrying over the noise. "Did you miss—"

  She stopped.

  Her eyes adjusted. She saw the fire. She saw the bodies. She saw the ocean of red scales pressing against the invisible line of Brett’s magic.

  Her grin vanished.

  "Ambush!" Bun roared, dropping into a combat stance, her glaive sweeping out in a defensive arc.

  But they were in the middle of the kill zone. They were exposed on all sides.

  The horde roared. The elites at the gate must have sensed the fresh prey, the high-level mana signatures. A command rippled through the kobolds.

  Charge.

  They ignored the fire. They ignored the arrows. They surged forward in a suicidal wave, hundreds of them, climbing over each other to reach the high-level adventurers.

  "Brett! Flame barrier!" Josh yelled.

  Brett raised his arms, but his hand spasmed. The mana fizzled. "I... I can't... it's jammed..."

  "Shoot!" Josh ordered the rangers. "Cover fire! Now!"

  Arrows rained down, but the press was too thick. The kobolds were soaking the damage, using their own dead as shields.

  "Move!" Josh screamed at the party below. "Back in the portal! Jump!"

  Bun heard him. She understood instantly. She grabbed Choco by the harness and threw him backwards into the void.

  "Retreat!" Bun ordered, her voice booming. "Back inside!"

  Soul and Butler scrambled back, disappearing into the black.

  But Bean hesitated. She was looking at a massive Scale-Breaker that had broken through the line. It was charging straight for Bun’s exposed back.

  "Bun! Behind you!" Bean screamed, lunging forward with her daggers instead of backward.

  "No!" Josh gripped the stone, leaning so far over he almost fell.

  Bean intercepted the Scale-Breaker. She was fast, faster than anything Josh had ever seen. She slid under the maul swing, hamstrung the giant, and drove a dagger into its throat. It collapsed.

  But her momentum carried her away from the portal. She was now ten feet out, isolated.

  "Bean!" Bun spun around, realising her rogue was out of position.

  The rabbit-folk charged forward, away from safety, to grab her friend. She swung her glaive, cleaving three kobolds in half, and reached out a hand.

  "Grab on!" Bun yelled.

  Bean reached out. Their fingers brushed.

  Then the shadow fell over them.

  From the smoke above the portal, a figure dropped. It wasn't a normal kobold. It was an evolution. A Dragon-Winged Sentinel, a monstrosity with leathery, membranous wings spanning ten feet, clad in obsidian plate, one of the elites from the third floor.

  It slammed into the ground between Bun and Bean, shattering the cobblestones. The impact shockwave knocked Bean off her feet, sending her sprawling towards the mass of kobolds.

  Bun staggered back, raising her glaive.

  The Sentinel uncurled, roaring, its wings flaring to block Bean's path to the portal and behind her, a dozen kobolds pounced, their rusted blades rising and falling.

  "BEAN!" Josh screamed, watching in helpless horror from fifty feet up.

  Bun roared, a sound of pure primal rage, and charged the Sentinel, abandoning her defence to try and reach her friend. But from the darkness of the smoke, a second Sentinel swooped down, its serrated greatsword aiming for Bun’s exposed neck.

  The blade descended.

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