A Lonely Dungeon was one of the first stories that I ever read on Royal Road, and very memorable despite being a fairly short story. I remember reading this when I was looking for dungeon core stories and being pleasantly surprised.

(The only reason that I didn’t put it into my tier list a few months back was because I had recently read a lot of titles, like LOTM, and so forgot about it a little)

  
Disclaimer: I am not cathfach and was not involved in the writing of this story. It can be read legally [here](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/37231/a-lonely-dungeon).

  
Overview: A Lonely Dungeon follows a dungeon as it tries to find out why no one’s visiting it. The truth might be more than it’s bargained for, though.

  
What to expect: It’s a story that follows the dungeon trying to figure out the truth behind some mysteries, and never really gets dark >!besides the mention of the war!<.

  
Major content warnings: >!Mention of genocide!<



Strengths (why I would recommend this):

\-The introduction is quite interesting, and it sets up a lot of mysteries for the world. For example, there is the question of >!why monsters can’t exit the dungeon!<.

\-The dungeon (later >!Erryn!<) is a refreshing POV character, considering that it isn’t some generic isekai protagonist but an actual native dungeon core. Hence, it has a very unique moral compass and way of thinking (though this is mainly shown in the sequel, An Unbound Soul).

\-The story has a great conclusion, with Erryn >!defeating and purifying the cluster of souls!<, which is thematically appropriate, as it shows that she is >!giving the world a fresh start!<.

\-The story is also well-paced, and doesn’t drag for very long due to its shorter length.

\-The dungeon progresses from a normal dungeon to a >!god!< at the end of the series. Even besides that, it grows in power throughout the series, so I guess it loosely fits the theme of the subreddit.

\-The prose is great, and the story only has minor grammatical errors.

  
Neutral (neither liked nor disliked):

N/A

  
Weaknesses (possible detriments to one’s reading experience):

N/A

  
Overall: Very Highly Recommended

Recommendation: A Lonely Dungeon by cathfach