Gray lead the others to the door, pausing as the line backed up a bit to give him and Juvia the first look inside the room.

"It's a scorpion," Gray told the others, "A big one with two stingers," he paused, "Big ones."

"Why would that surprise us?" Erza asked, pushing ahead into the room. Instantly, she bolted back into the staircase, letting out an, "Oh."

"What do you mean 'oh'?" Gajeel asked.

"This monster is different from the others," Gray warned, "We'll have to be careful."

The others realized right away what Gray and Erza meant as they entered the room, surrounding the scorpion-like monster. It had two stinger tails, but the tails also grew large, worm-like appendages with rows and rows of sharp teeth.

"Disgusting," Levy said under her breath.

They attacked simultaneously. Gray, Juvia, Cana, and Arcadios took the left side. Erza, Jellal, Gajeel and Levy took the right.

"BOULDER!" Levy scripted, attempting to crush the scorpion. It roared, the boulder bouncing off of its back, almost crushing Arcadios.

Gray tried to freeze the head of the scorpion. It roared, repelling Gray's ice.

"Not good!" Juvia yelled, trying to trap it in a water bubble. The water burst over it, making the scorpion even angrier. It jabbed one of its stingers at Arcadios, who barely dodged it. The Royal Guard charged in, surrounding the scorpion and releasing their own attacks on it.

"What if we didn't kill it?" Cana yelled, "What if we just go for the door?"

"We gotta come back through this way sometime!" Gajeel yelled back, "Unless you know of a fucking elevator we can use to get back to the surface!"

Another stinger jabbed down between Levy and Jellal. He pushed her out of the way, barely dodging in time. The second stinger stabbed straight through a Royal Guard. He cried out, then disappeared. The stinger struck again, finishing 3 more guards in the single attack.

"We're losing all our Royal Guards!" Arcadios bellowed, "We've got to finish this thing now!"

Gray surveyed the scorpion, searching for a weak spot.

"Oh hell!" Gajeel formed an iron mallet, striking for the scorpion's face. He landed a direct hit, cracking its exo-skeleton slightly. It cried out and tried to stab. He easily dodged, "Forget the tails – go for the face!"

Gray joined him at the front of the scorpion, landing ice punch after ice punch to its head.

Juvia screamed as one of the worms lunged for her, then severed it from the scorpion with a water slice. She watched it fall to the floor, disgusted by its multiple layers of teeth.

"JUVIA! WATCH OUT!" Levy screamed.

It was too late. The scorpion's tail made a downward jab, piecing her through the arm. She screeched, then fell to the ground.

Cana ran to Juvia, pulling her to the edge of the room. Mustering up her courage, she charged a card and threw it straight at the tail that had just stabbed Juvia, severing it from its body. It continued to move, even separated from the scorpion's body. A new stinger began to grow in its place. She charged another card, then another. The more she severed the stingers, the faster the appendages tended to grow back.

"This is insane!" Arcadios yelled, slicing off another worm and dicing it into pieces so it couldn't continue to bite at them, "Somebody come up with a bright idea!"

Gajeel and Gray were still landing attack after attack to the scorpion's head. Every crack they made in the exo-skeleton seemed to heal up after a few moments. It lunged at them, knocking Gray over. He rolled to avoid a stinger coming straight at him, then realized he was staring at the underbelly of the scorpion. The soft underbelly.

"SWORD!" He screamed.

Arcadios slid a sword under the multitude of legs, sliding to a stop beside Gray. He grabbed it and used both arms to slice the underbelly. Guts and blood spewed all over him, but Gray kept slicing. The gigantic body collapsed on top of him, letting out a ear-splitting death cry.

"Gray!" Gajeel kicked the scorpion, trying to move it off of Gray.

Jellal spotted an arm, grabbing it and heaving for all he was worth as Arcadios, Erza, and Gajeel lifted the side of the dead scorpion. Finally, he managed to pull Gray away. The others breathed a sigh of relief.

Gray sputtered, wiping the vile guts of the monster away from his mouth.

"Jeez…if you didn't stink before…" Gajeel adjusted the mask Levy gave him, "Gross, man…just gross."

Gray shot him a death glare, "Nice way of saying 'thanks for saving my ass, Gray…good job, Gray.' Asshole."

Juvia pulled him in for a hug, "That scared me, Gray…I thought you were dead for sure."

He smiled, then stepped back to survey the damage the scorpion stinger had done to her arm.

"Exo-skeleton," she said, knocking on his disguise, "You and I have them too."

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take," Cana sighed, "They're getting tougher and tougher."

Levy nodded, rubbing her sore leg. She took the moment to survey Jellal's side wound.

"I'm okay," he assured her. He wasn't. The pus was spreading. She applied another layer of Quaine, Gray shooting a bit of his magic to cover it.

They rested for a few minutes, nobody saying much. Juvia passed out their rations. They ate and drank some water, then all stood up, nodding to each.

"Next floor," Jellal muttered.

Gray walked around to the scorpion's head, kicking it repeatedly, "FUCK YOU, YOU DISGUSTING PIECE OF SHIT! YOU'RE DEAD NOW! NOT SO TOUGH NOW, ARE YOU?"

The others barely watched this time, heading for the next staircase.

Erza put her hand on the doorknob, her head spinning with her weariness. She opened the door slightly, then paused.

"What is it, Erza?" Arcadios asked.

She turned, searching for each face, "We did it," she whispered in awe.

"We did what?" Gajeel repeated, "We found another door? We beat the scorpion?"

"No," Erza said, swinging the door wide open so they could all see. On the other side, there was a lava river. Dungeons with prisoners inside lined the perimeter of large, volcano-like room. Screams of despair permeated the air, or lack thereof. The smell of burning flesh tickled their nostrils. There was no more need for Levy to script light magic. The glow of the lava illuminated the atmosphere in a red heat. The cavern was seemingly vacated, other than the prisoners that howled out in pain.

"Welcome to Hell," Erza stated. She glanced back at her comrades. Their mouths hung open in awe.

A Royal Guard grabbed Gray's wrist as he started to enter the cavern.

"Master Gray, this is as far as we go," he said, "We are forbidden to enter here."

Gray nodded, shaking his hand, "Thank you for your services."

"Can you do us a favour?" Levy asked, "Please check on our friends. Tell them we're still okay."

The Guard nodded, "We will send messengers," he promised, "The rest of us will wait here for your return."

The mages observed the Guards as they retreated up the last staircase they'd just come down.

"What about you, Arcadios?" Gajeel asked, still staring at the staircase, "Aren't you forbidden too?"

Arcadios shook his head, "I'm not bound to the King anymore. I'm now bound to Hisui and Fiore. My orders are to see this through with you."

Cana squeezed his hand.

"Alright then," Erza took a deep breath, "Let's go to Hell."