The Smith stood there, panting, hammers in both hands. There wasn't much else he could do. Slowly, he relaxed, and his Earth War Hammer slipped from his fingers to the ground with a thud.

The Ice War Hammer remained in his grasp, but not by choice.

James lifted his visor and looked down at his right arm, seeing that the frost had spread over the entire arm and only now was starting to melt and sublimate starting from the shoulder, and slowly working its way down. Mist oozed off the head of the hammer, falling to the floor and spreading before disappearing in the heat.

He had insulated the handle. He had been wearing his mole monster hide gloves. He had been fighting in a floor so hot it melted any other metal than Red Iron.

He couldn't feel his right hand.

For the moment, he focused on catching his breath. The hot air burned his lungs. He was sore all over, and was sure that when he finally removed his armor he'd be covered in bruises.

Looking down at his armor he saw gashes cut straight through the armor, revealing the Fire Lizard Hide underneath. He couldn't see any blood, but that didn't mean much in this heat.

He needed to get moving and find somewhere safe to rest.

With a groan he straightened up and started walking towards the far end of the room. The dragon carcass could wait. When he arrived at the far end there was a treasure chest, the promised reward for adventurers who delved this deep into the dungeon and slayed the boss monster of the floor.

It collapsed into a pile of dust as soon as he poked it with a shovel.

James bit his lip, then turned to the staircase.

He needed to get out of this heat, and walking all the way back through the floor was simply too far.

Whereas the previous staircases had been exceedingly dark, so dark you could barely see the next step down, this staircase was brightly lit with a multitude of glowshrooms. As soon as he stepped down the first step, the intense heat started to fade, and he was able to reduce his usage of the cooling strips, giving his mana a break.

The walls, normally a dark grey stone close to black, shifted in color to a shiny white. Small crystals embedded in the stone sparkled in the light of the glowshrooms.

The light grew brighter and brighter as he descended.

He lowered his visor and continued for another minute, and then stopped.

It was too bright.

The heat had almost entirely faded, but surrounded on all sides by brilliant, dazzling light, James had a new problem: he couldn't see.

And his eyes hurt.

On top of everything else in this damn Dungeon, he couldn't see and his eyes hurt.

Tears sprang to his eyes, purely because of the dazzling light of course.

The Legendary Smith who would go on to save the kingdom reached the end of his rope. This was it. He couldn't bring himself to continue. After clearing four floors of the dungeon, he was done.

His armor rattled as he trembled, realizing what he had done. He had fought a dragon. Like it was normal. He didn't even have a combat class! Even adventurers with two combat classes, in large teams, didn't just go and fight dragons!

Thunk

The Ice War Hammer finally slipped from his grasp, and with an instinctive thought James swept it into his magic bag, unwilling to touch it directly.

He still couldn't feel his right hand.

The Smith could go no farther. After months and months of living in the Dungeon, it was time to leave. Even if he wanted to continue, how could he keep going blind?

He'd have a better chance trying to sneak away from the slave camp, if it was still there at the top of the mountain. If he was lucky, after all this time, the slavers would be long gone and he could find some Lord to serve in exchange for protection. Maybe even trade work for help getting back home.

Finally, at the thought of home, James shook his head and focused. He was still in a dungeon and currently blind. And the staircases weren't necessarily free of monsters anyway.

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He climbed back up the stairs, feeling pins and needles in the flesh above his right elbow.

The light faded to a level where he could see and his eyes merely hurt, and the heat increased to the level he needed to use his cooling strips again.

Here he stopped and checked for his shield before realizing that he'd left it up with the dragon carcass.

He was losing it.

He was getting sloppy.

He took a break and ate and drank some of his water. He felt better after a meal, and with a little more focus he returned to the boss room. The dragon's carcass lay still some two-thirds of the way down the cavern, and beyond that the iron door to the previous floor remained closed.

He chipped his Red Iron knife trying to see what kind of magic stone or jewel the dragon had and gave up.

He retrieved his Earth and Terra Rosa War Hammers, which thankfully were still in good condition even given the heat and after being bit by the dragon, and picked up his shield where he had dropped it.

[Appraisal]: Red Iron Round Shield, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 8/16, Enchantment: Reflect (30)

The front face was gouged deeply, and it had weakened the overall enchantment. Still, it would have to do.

He managed to get his numb fingers wrapped around the handle of the shield. All he had to do was hold it tightly, and he could rely on his armor for protection from the fireball-spewing lava serpents. He walked up the steps and opened the iron door, which swung open freely, and he thought about propping it open with stone, but why bother?

He just left it ajar.

He took out his Green Iron Tower Shield at the last second and held it in his left hand and made his way across the lava as quickly as he could. As soon as he made it back into the labyrinth he put the tower shield away in his magic bag and took a short break to shift his focus from dodging fireballs to navigating the labyrinth.

Fortunately, he didn't encounter any monsters on his way back.

Soon enough, he was through the labyrinth and he climbed the stairs back to his base camp. Having been packed up, it was just a cold, fireless forge and smelter, but he stayed there to rest for a day.

By some miracle, the dragon's claws had failed to reach his skin, but it was a near thing. In several places his armor was totally slashed through, and in one, even the Fire Lizard hide was cut through.

That didn't mean James emerged unscathed.

Large, nasty purple and yellow bruises covered his body. His ribs were sore, possibly on the verge of a fracture, but the worst of it was his right arm.

Frostbite.

His hand was completely numb from his fingers to nearly his elbow. The skin, though, was bright pink. He could only hope that it would heal quickly.

By the next day the color had improved, though his hand remained numb.

He re-armored himself in his Wind Armor and left the arena, re-entering the third floor of the dungeon with its gusty winds. With his large iron Tower Shield on his back, he walked the long path up and along the ridge, through the rainstorm, and across the windswept plains, continuing without stopping and without encountering monsters all the way to the crab boss room.

There he stopped only to eat lunch and change into his Water Armor with both his heating and his cooling strips underneath. In his still-numb right hand he carried his Blue Iron Round shield, and in his left he carried his Earth War Hammer, to deal with any crabs in the hot springs room.

But there were none, and the Smith was able to walk easily and undisturbed to the entrance to the snowy passage.

The localized blizzard raged as fierce as ever, and the Smith took his Red Iron Hammer in hand, enchanted with [Heated Blade], ready to deal with any snow golems or ice specters, but none appeared. He merely followed the chain through the passage to the other side, emerging before the lake cavern. The area was still, but James was in no mood to fight monsters anyway.

He advanced cautiously, but even the bird monster nesting ground after all this time was empty, no new monsters nesting in holes in the cliff.

James spent the night in his old alcove, with warding stakes set and tucked into the little crevasse he had mined out for himself. Finally he could relax, except…

His hand was still numb. The skin was looking a little better, but that was it.

The next morning he made for the stairs, climbing them back up, now wearing his Green Iron Armor. The [Air Resistance] wasn't necessary for the first floor, but it was lighter and therefore easier to move in, especially with the boost in Strength from his level nine Smith class.

The Pangolin boss room was empty. James figured the spider monsters must have scavenged the boss monster's carcass, and in the dim light he moved cautiously, but he encountered nothing, not in the boss room, nor in the large cavern, nor in the small room, nor in the very first cavern, where he saw the remains of his forge and smelter.

And the small tunnel back to the old iron mine.

He set up a large ward and removed his armor, stowing it in his magic bag, and he carefully crawled through the tunnel. The iron mine was dark and still. James felt a wave of relief rush over him: perhaps the slavers had never returned?

In the dark he navigated confidently though he stepped carefully, and he easily reached the caved in entrance.

All that was left was to dig out, and hope nobody was around.

Although his right hand was still numb, it wasn't totally unusable. Shifting the dirt and stone was easy enough with one of the shovels he had forged what seemed like a lifetime ago, and soon he reached twisted, melted stone. He pulled out a pick-axe and gave it a few test swings, ensuring that he didn't have any pulled muscles and he could manage it with his hand.

After confirming there were no problems, he took a light swing, letting his [Mining] skill do most of the work.

Plonk

There was a weird sound and the pick-axe jolted in his hands.

James frowned. He'd never heard an ore or stone make that kind of sound when struck before.

The iron mine was nearly completely dark, with only the faintest light coming from the tunnel to the Dungeon. He stroked the stone in front of him with his left hand, feeling the strangely smooth, lumpy and twisted stone, when his [Ore Identification] skill managed to work.

[Ore Identification]: Cursed Dragon-Fire Melted Stone

James hadn't even known stone could be cursed.

He recalled the wyvern that had attacked the slave camp, breathing fire everywhere… Was it a cursed wyvern?

Still, James wasn't one to give up just yet.

He returned to the dungeon and relit his forge and, with some trouble due to his numb hand, forged a new pick-axe of earth-essence infused Brown Iron, and then he enchanted it with [Heavy Blow].

This done, he returned to the iron mine and lined up his swing. He was going to get out of here. With a might overhand swing, pouring mana into the enchantment, he activated his skill.

[Mining]

[Heavy Blow]

Plonk

James panicked.

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