Dungeon Diving 203

Bruce Sentar

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Copyright © 2024 by Bruce Sentar
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 Contents

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Afterword
Also By

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 Chapter 1

K enClass:
Nagato
Emperor
Secondary Class: Demon Lord
Level: 31
Experience: 97%
Strength: 118
Agility: 240
Stamina: 181
Magic: 129
Mana: 134
Skills: Dark Strike, Earth Stomp, Charm, Metamorphosis, Sprint, Absorb,
Discharge, Dark Blades, Shadow Arm, Camouflage, Shadow Ambush,
Elemental Shield, Portal [Special] [Restricted], Mana Burn, Vampire
[Elysara], Cleave [Fayeth], Spell Mirror, Dungeon’s Blessing, Blades of
Shadow, Mana Implosion, Shadow Wave [Desmonda], Revive [Charlotte],
Shadow Phase, Dodge, Liminal Speed, Eyes of Wisdom [Crimson],
Delirious Pleasures, Triple Breach, Arcane Singularity, Static Swords
I stepped into the raid once again, along with the rest of Class 2-A. The
raid event was the same as the last time we had visited.
Worn limestone lined the floor, punctuated by random pillars of some
ancient, dilapidated civilization. Raids weren’t something to take casually
even with my [Liminal Speed]. Most fights would require the whole raid to
survive a variety of mechanics that involved everyone. It took trial and error
to reach that level of coordination.
The ruins and the ambiance in the dungeon weren't real. Neither were the
monsters. Even if there were humanoid ones, they often performed the same
repetitive tasks: moving a log back and forth, swinging a hammer on an
empty anvil, or sewing string through the same hole only to undo it with the
next stroke.
The dungeon was a facsimile of reality. These ancient ruins didn't
actually belong to an ancient civilization. Instead, they were modeled off...
well, I wasn't quite sure what they were modeled off.
The prevailing theory among the nekorian, the elves, and the humans was
that the dungeon was a living creature. It enticed people to enter and go
deeper, feeding off the bacteria and dead cells that they left behind. There
was never any dust in the dungeon, and anything left too long would be
consumed by the environment.
“We are really doing this.” A hint of nerves was etched into Charlotte's
tone as the green-haired druid carried Bun-Bun.
It had only been a few days since we had gone through the DPS check
and the celebration of my victory. Now, my class and I were starting the
raid. But this time, we wouldn't have high-powered tanks and healers on
hand for us; we'd be diving into this by ourselves.
That said, we did have a teacher from Haylon who had come to ensure
that if we wiped, we would be able to survive. Not that there was no danger
to ourselves. Many adventurers, after dying too many times, never returned
to the dungeon.
"Which way do we go first?" Fayeth asked.
I turned to see the rest of the class all looking to me to lead. I scratched
the back of my head under their gazes. "It makes sense for us to start with
the easiest first and work our way up. If nothing else, it would give the
entire class more time to come together as a cohesive raid group for when
things really get tough. Also, getting some high-quality loot would make
everything easier later on."
While we had all been working hard to level and train our stats, we were
a little behind on our gear. And in the upper levels, gear started to make a
bigger and bigger impact on total stats.
 "No, we should start in the middle because it's clear we have enough
damage to do the early bosses," Helen disagreed with my assessment. I was
not the fiery-haired paladin’s favorite person.
"Ken has the right idea," Candice defended me. "If nothing else, consider
it a warm-up." The arcane weaver put her hands in her pockets. Calm and
collected was how I would describe her.
I glanced at Elysara, and she just shrugged. The elven princess tried to
stay out of any conflict within the class. But I got the feeling she was
enjoying a break from politics while she was away from the elven court.
"I'm just here for a tour," Ely said.
Fayeth rolled her eyes at the other elf, but she started charging through
the raid, her giant glaive over her shoulders like a shark's fin leading the
group. It looked a bit ridiculous given Fayeth’s thin frame.
We soon found our first monster. Fayeth stood in front, drawing her
glaive and blowing across her hand, using the skill [Agitating Spores]. A
thin cloud came off her hand and swept over to the beetle. As soon as the
ability hit, the large monster turned and focused solely on her.
"Shields up!" Helen shouted, jumping between Fayeth and the monster
and taking the first strike.
"I have this," Fayeth said angrily, sweeping her glaive through the
monster and getting its attention again.
"With your two-hander, you can certainly do more damage than I can,"
Helen said, her shield glowing as she battered into the monster. "I have to
take damage to deal anything of value."
The monster swung at Helen again, and she gave a demonstration, her
shield glowing on impact with golden light that seared the beetle.
I had paused to watch, wanting to see the dynamic of our group. It was
generally polite to wait until the tank had at least some of the monster's
attention before going all out. Fayeth and Helen fought over the monster's
attention, and I watched before deciding I had waited long enough to get
into the battle.
Two of my daggers came out of the inventory in my CID. I started normal
attacks into the monster and worked on building up my stacks of Liminal
Speed. Spells began to fly over me as the casters and the rangers of the
group started their own attack.
Penny filled the spot next to me in what quickly became a line of melee
fighters. Her sword was covered in a layer of frost as she cut into the
monster, creating patches of vulnerability.
"Aren't you going to fight over aggro?" I asked her as we swapped spots,
and I attacked the brittle, frozen patches of the monster's carapace as my
stacks began to climb.
"Nah, Helen's got it," she said, tucking back some of her blue hair
between swings. "Plus, fighting her is like, well, trying to fight a dungeon
monster sometimes." Penny laughed.
"She is a pretty solid tank," I was forced to admit. I'd seen her in action
multiple times. Her class had more mobility than Fay's and great protective
abilities both for herself and her party members.
Her class’s flaw, and a rather heavy one at that, was that she didn't really
deal damage unless she was being attacked. She couldn't really do much of
anything unless there was a monster or a PKer.
I partially wondered if the dungeon gave her a class like that because she
had an abrasive enough personality that she was often attacked.
Fayeth and Helen continued to vie for the monster's attention, but their
squabble was short-lived. With the entire class attacking the beetle, it was
defeated in less than a minute. My stacks hadn't even ramped up to their
insane capacities.
On to the next one.
Fayeth charged ahead, leaving the loot behind.
Candice stepped up, absorbing the items into her CID.
We had already agreed that she was the most impartial one to hold the
loot. We would determine the payouts for everyone later, after the raid. It
was crucial not to get too engrossed in that and to use our limited time to
push as hard as we could.
"You should have gone and gotten the next one," Helen snapped at
Fayeth. "Ken and several others would have maintained their DPS better if
we could chain the monsters one after the other." Helen was always trying
to optimize.
Fayeth glanced at me as if seeking confirmation. My only response, and
the correct one, was to shrug at my Adrel. While Helen was right, I wasn't
about to side with her over the elf I had harmonized my soul with.
"It would probably be beneficial," Candice, the logical one in the group,
said. She ran her hand through her straight, blonde hair and tugged at her
uniform, which was always immaculate.
 "It might also keep you two from figh—" Penny started to speak, only to
be silenced mid-sentence by a glare from Helen. "I mean, that way you can
trade-off. One of you can tank one while the other goes to get the next one."
Charlotte raised a hand. "We should probably have a healer stick with one
of them. It's important that they don't get too hurt while dragging the next
monster back to the group."
I nodded in agreement. Charlotte had a good point; the last thing we
needed was a tank to wander off and die. Everyone was starting to pitch in.
We’d settle out how to do everything better this way.
"We can just have Helen go get them all the time," Des suggested. "She
has all the mobility."
I cleared my throat. "Can we just continue? Fayeth can get the next one,
and then Helen can retrieve the one after that." I looked around the group to
see if there were any other objections. The other tanks in our group, Myrtle
and Penny, remained silent.
Actually, of the tanks, Myrtle was probably the most well-rounded. She
had a good amount of self-defensive techniques and mobility, but she
lacked anything to aid the rest of her party.
There was no one correct type of tank throughout the dungeon, especially
in a more complicated situation like the raid. Diversity was best. That way,
we had someone who could specialize in a variety of tasks when it was
inevitably needed.
"Alright"—Helen crossed her arms—"Fayeth can get the next one."
There was almost a collective sigh of relief from the rest of the class as
Helen acquiesced to what I hoped would be the new normal.
"Onwards!" Harley shouted from amid her slowly growing harem of
healers.
Fayeth gave Harley a glance before nodding at me. Then she moved on,
not wanting to be ordered about by Harley.
It seemed the tanking situation was going to be a little prickly during the
raid. I shrugged and kept up a quick march with the rest of the melee DPS.
We were just here to kill some monsters.
Taylor was ecstatic, wielding two maces. Well, one was a mace, and the
other one was a wooden club with generous stats. The athletic woman had
been forced into a tank position because of the party she had been put in
with the class. But she was actually a melee fighter.
 While everyone else was arguing over who had to tank, she was just
happy that she had gotten back to the role of damage dealer. She had a giant
grin on her face as she twirled her weapons.
Penny was a little slower but kept up. Like many of her classmates, she
wore the white and gold uniform of Haylon with a few added touches. She
had knee-high leather boots that had some sort of hard plating around them.
Meanwhile, she had a heavy gauntlet on one hand and a pauldron strapped
together with a heart guard that ran across her chest. Her chin-length blue
hair blew behind her as she worked to keep up.
"Ken, do you think when the next group comes into the raid, we could
rotate to one of the harder quadrants?" Penny asked.
I shrugged, unsure what the rules would be. As it was explained to me,
each college would get priority on their part of the rotation. If we could
grind the raid while another group had a priority that was different in a
separate quadrant, that would remain to be seen.
However, I was intensely interested in being the first to complete the raid.
Not only for the prestige of my dungeon college, but also because Prince
Albar had made a bet with me regarding Crimson. The money from that
could launch Silver Fangs into the spotlight and future with ease. Though,
Crimson had baited it.
The woman—I let out a mental sigh—had put herself up for the bet and a
hefty price tag on the other side. It wasn't about earning the money. More
so, it was about not losing Crimson because the woman had a penchant for
pushing me. My teacher had also become my lover, and I was never willing
to let her go.
"We'll see," I told Penny. "This is all still very new to me as well. I do
hope we can get a couple bosses done."
Penny nodded. "This is the easiest quadrant. We should be able to make
quick work of it, I hope. Your damage during the DPS competition left quite
the impression." Penny flashed me a smile and blushed slightly at her
words. Her eyes watched me intently.
I scratched my cheek, slightly awkward at the intensity of her gaze.
"Well, I just gave it my all."
"Your all is really something." Taylor was close enough to overhear the
conversation. "You didn't just crush the rest of the class; you crushed the
other three colleges as well. I'm sure that prince has ground his teeth so flat
he'll have to get more gold ones."
 "His teeth aren't gold," I said. Having met the man multiple times, I could
confirm.
"That's not the point." Taylor rolled her eyes. "The point is he's an
asshole, and if he could have gold teeth, he'd have gold teeth."
I snorted at her statement because I had to agree. He was an asshole.
"Quiet up. Weapons out," Fayeth called as she dragged the next beetle
back to the group. This monster charged around several pillars before
slamming into the elf. She cleaved her glaive through it several times before
shouting for the rest of the group to begin combat as well.
Our movement through the raid began to go more smoothly as we fought
our way through the basic mobs of the raid. Fayeth and Helen were starting
to get along. The monsters flowed smoothly. Most of them were the large
beetles we had tried for the DPS test, but a few of them were larger packs of
small beetles.
Our two tanks rotated in such a way that Fayeth was often taking on the
larger pack. Between her [Agitating Spores] and her [Cleave] ability, she
was the better of the two at keeping packs of mobs under control.
Of course, Myrtle and Penny pitched in whenever there were large groups
of monsters. They ensured that the monsters never went for the healers.
After all, the healers were the lifeblood of any raid group. They kept people
on their feet and fighting.
When we reached the first boss of the raid event, it was no surprise that
the boss was a giant golden scarab beetle.
"Alright, everyone, let's get ready for this," I said. As the raid leader, I felt
responsible for ensuring everyone understood the fight. However, if there
was one person who could explain the strategy best, it was our resident
nerd, Candice. "Would you like to run us through it?"
The blonde cleared her throat and didn't even have to look at her CID for
notes. "The boss has several abilities that we need to be concerned about,"
she began. "Firstly, it takes reduced damage and can heal itself by eating
smaller scarabs."
"I don't see any smaller scarabs," Taylor interrupted, looking around the
room.
"They tunnel up and spawn during the fight quite frequently. There are
three types: a really small one that tends to spawn in groups of three to five,
two medium ones that spit and stay at range, and then a big golden one that
charges around the room. You have to be careful about the golden ones
because if the boss eats those, it'll heal almost 10% of its health."
"10% of its health," a couple of people in the raid echoed, letting out soft
whistles. We all knew 10% of a boss's health would be substantial.
"Got it. Sounds like a job for ranged DPS," I said. If one person charged
around and the other was at range to begin with, throwing our melee DPS
around to keep up with them and chase after them was going to really hurt
their output.
"Unless they aren't able to keep up, I think that's a good place to start,"
Candice said, looking around the room at the other casters. "I think if we
drag the group of small ones to the boss, the melee could deal with them
quite quickly."
"So we'll have"—I nodded at her assessment, coming to a decision for the
rest of the group—"ranged damage take care of the medium spitters and the
big juicy ones. Meanwhile, we'll get"—I looked among the tanks and
nodded to Fayeth—"Fayeth to get aggro on those ones and bring them over
to the boss."
She nodded in agreement but looked slightly upset at not being the tank
for the boss. Her eyes slid over to Helen, a clear rivalry forming.
"Meanwhile, Myrtle should tank the boss." All the tanks looked slightly
surprised at the statement. Myrtle was a large girl with a bowl cut that often
hid her eyes.
"Me?" Her voice was whisper soft.
"Yes, you. You are one of the sturdiest, are you not?"
She bobbed her head without saying anything more.
"Helen, if we need a tank for these spitters or the ones running around,
you have the most mobility, so I want you on point."
Helen seemed relieved that she had a tanking duty and puffed herself up.
Finally, my gaze landed on Penelope. "As for you, I think we'll stick you
on the boss with Myrtle. Candice, are there any effects where they need to
tank swap?"
The blonde shook her head. "No, this one's fairly simple. Very much a
get-your-feet-wet boss of the raid. For the tank, it's just tank and spank
while the trick comes in dealing with the other beetles that spawn."
I nodded at that but still looked at Penny. "You still have an important job
to do. Even if everything goes okay, you can be a backup in case Myrtle
gets too hurt or if Fayeth gets overwhelmed. There's no reason we shouldn't
be doing any of these without plans for backup."
The whole class seemed to nod at that idea, a grim determination
sweeping across their faces.
During raid bosses, especially the first time fighting the boss, people
tended to die. It wouldn't be permanent. There were multiple people with
[Revive] now. And a minder from Haylon Academy would be standing in
the back of the room to make sure we wouldn't be dead for good, even if the
whole party wiped.
This was still our test of learning how to raid on our own.
Ideally, when it was going to be a wipe, one person from the party with
[Revive] would slip out the bronze boss doors and wait for everyone else to
die before coming back in to revive them. It was a grim job, but it was one
that was needed so that they could get back on their feet to dive the
dungeon another day.
"Alright, everyone, warm up. Let's do this." I met the eyes of everyone
else in the classroom, and they all prepared to fight the boss.

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 Chapter 2

T hethe boss room was constructed of the same limestone found throughout
rest of the raid. It was a simple, square room, measuring about a
hundred yards in each direction. The boss, a giant golden scarab beetle with
blue accents, dominated the room.
It stood thirty feet high and a little over thirty feet wide. Sand covered the
floor, occasionally revealing the limestone beneath, but more often forming
large drifts. The beetle shuffled between two drifts, maintaining its position
in the center of the room along the far wall.
Fayeth raised her hand. "Ready check," she said.
The rest of the class responded by raising their hands, thumbs up,
signaling to the tank that they were prepared to begin.
Fayeth then nodded towards Myrtle, who would be the one actually
tanking the beetle.
The large girl leaned forward, her greaves sounding on a bare patch of
limestone before landing with a swish in the deeper sand as she charged the
boss. Her shield came out, and she drew back a mace that splattered the
boss with mud upon impact.
I had never heard a beetle roar before, but the boss rubbed its two front
mandibles together, producing a noise loud enough to resemble the roar of a
car on the road.
 Myrtle remained silent, focused on the task at hand as thunks on her
shield indicated the impact of the boss's first attacks. The boss alternated
between swinging its front legs at her and attempting to bite with its
mandibles.
After several hits, I knew it was time for the DPS to start. "Let's go!" I
shouted, rushing in without using any of my abilities. I anticipated the boss
to have an armored stance and started off with a [Triple Breach], to get
things going.
The other melee joined me moments later, and we all piled on DPS to the
boss. For a moment, it was a simple fight. Everyone was doing their best to
damage the boss. But that all changed quickly.
"Beetles!" Des shouted from the back as the sand quivered and sank as
holes appeared in the ground.
Quickly, Fayeth broke away from the boss to see what else needed to be
tanked.
Two different groups of beetles emerged from the sand. One group
consisted of five beetles, each the size of a dog. The other group had two
beetles, each the size of a horse. All of them immediately scattered, rushing
towards different healers in the raid, likely drawn to the healers by their
healing magic.
"Fayeth, over here!" Charlotte shouted.
Bun-Bun peeled away from the boss to chase after the two scarabs that
had chosen to harass Charlotte.
"Bun-Bun, stay on the boss. Fayeth will protect Charlotte," I admonished
him.
The stubborn rabbit pointedly ignored me and dove towards the scarabs,
successfully diverting their attention away from his druid.
Fayeth came sweeping in a moment later with her glaive, getting the
attention of the beetles and continuing to run around the room to collect the
others. Thankfully, her [Agitating Spores] covered a lot of ground and
helped her pick beetles up.
The ranged DPS had already spread out around half of the room because
the two medium-sized beetles started spitting large globs of acid that
splashed on impact, making them move away from each other.
If anyone was too close to each other, they were getting caught up in the
attacks. Helen had left the boss and was trying to get the ranged beetles to
focus on her, but her attempts were ultimately a failure. They didn't seem to
pay any attention to her and instead continued to attack other members of
the raid at random.
"Ranged DPS, you need to be focusing on the beetles!" I shouted, in
hopes of leading the group. I was angled such that I could watch the whole
fight as I went through the familiar motions of my fighting.
While we had quickly come up with a plan before starting the raid, it
seemed everything was going to fall apart with just a little chaos.
Des activated her metamorphosis and grew a few inches as her skin
turned pink, and a spaded tail emerged from the back of her dress. Her
spells grew noticeably more powerful as they flew from her hands one after
the other, faster than before.
She wasn't alone in using powerful cooldowns.
Regan activated something as her bow turned golden, and the arrows she
fired off were larger than her arm as they punched into the beetles.
The idea of using cooldowns rippled through the raid, and most, if not all,
of the ranged DPS activated powerful cooldowns to kill the spitters.
I grimaced at the display, knowing that we had only just started the fight,
and we likely should have saved those for later.
Penny had once again taken up the spot next to me as we fought in melee
range, hammering into the side of the beetle. "This isn't looking good," she
said, also keeping an eye on the rest of the group.
I shook my head. "That's an understatement. But this is the experience we
need to be able to take it on next time." Raiding rarely went well the first
time.
Penny turned to look over her shoulder as a large beetle the size of an
elephant pulled itself free from the sand. Knowing that in the spots we
could see there was limestone under the sand, part of me had to ask where
these beetles were coming from. Then again, the dungeon didn't quite have
to follow the rules of reality.
As the large beetle pulled itself out of the sand, it rocketed across the
room. Several ranged DPS threw themselves out of the way before the
beetle slammed itself into the wall and wavered there, dazed, swaying back
and forth.
The ranged DPS, already burning through their cooldowns, quickly
turned on the large beetle and began to hammer its health down.
"As long as we stay up on the adds, the boss should go down eventually,"
I said, watching as many of the ranged DPS did their best to split their
attacks between the boss and the add. Adds were summons or additional
monsters that spawned during a fight.
Many of the ranged DPS, including Des, tried to keep damage-over-time
abilities up on multiple targets. It was a trick that many could do to increase
their overall damage.
As for me, my own attacks were increasing in tempo. [Liminal Speed]
stacks were quickly gaining as I cut into the boss. At the moment, my job
was simple, but I couldn't help but keep my head on a swivel, trying to
understand what was happening in the raid fight in general. It was important
for me, as a leader of the group, to understand what went wrong so that we
could fix it for our next run.
The big beetle went down before the boss could eat it. However, just
before it died, the boss turned and started to march towards it.
There was a collective sigh of relief. We’d just barely made it. I nodded,
worried about the next wave, but that one had caught the tail end of many
of our damage dealers' cooldowns.
We had only just defeated the large golden beetle before several more
beetles poured out of the ground. This time, there were even more of the
smaller ones that began racing in every direction, hunting down the healers.
I could see the frustration on Fayeth's face as she tried to rush around and
gather them all as many of them started to select healers at random and
spread out. "Healers, you need to collapse," I instructed.
One of the closer ones to me gave me a confused expression. She was
from Felicity’s party.
"All of you group up when the little ones come out, then Fayeth can pick
them up more easily," I explained.
"She's doing a good enough job," the healer retorted. She had been one of
the first who Fayeth had managed to pull the beetle off of and seemed
content to stay near the melee and heal Myrtle while occasionally smacking
the boss with her staff. Everyone was doing their best to add what damage
they could.
More spitters came up, and I could feel it as one focused on me and spat
acid, hitting a total of eight melee fighters at once.
The nearby healer scowled at me as she worked to put us all back to
rights. "Now if you guys could not take so much damage." She rolled her
eyes.
 I would have to tell Harley about this one's attitude to see if she couldn't
correct her.
The boss fight continued until the next large beetle add popped out of the
sand and started rushing about. It pushed through the melee group,
knocking a good half of us down. It clipped Myrtle, and for a second, I was
worried the boss was going to get a shot at her while she was recovering.
However, Helen flew into place, blocking that strike while the large beetle
continued to run rampant.
"Helen, get the big beetle." I gestured at it as it knocked over two of our
healers.
"I don't think it has an aggro table. It just runs wherever it wants." She
threw her hands in the air. "I feel like it's a waste of my time."
I rolled my eyes but decided any commentary on what we could do better
would have to be saved until the fight was over and people's blood was
running a little colder.
Damage picked up on the beetle, but it was too slow. The boss turned and
charged across the room after it had been alive for perhaps a minute and
chomped down on it, swallowing it in one bite.
I could see the cracks in the boss's carapace, and some of the goo that had
seeped out of those cracks began to mend until the beetle was nearly
pristine again.
All around the raid, I could hear groans of disappointment, and I could
feel the mood of the fight shift. No longer were we happy to cleave through
the boss. Now people were seeing that progress was lost, and I could feel
the momentum fade with it.
"Come on, that was just a setback!" I shouted. "Make sure we blow some
cooldowns on the next one."
The rest of the raid perked up slightly at my encouragement, and several
other people echoed my thoughts, shouting that the boss hadn't fully healed,
and it would just take a little longer.
I glanced over at Harley across the room. She shook her head with a
grimace, and I knew what that meant. Our healers were losing their mana
faster than we were killing the boss.
We were just too inefficient. Even the time spent at the vampire event
hadn’t prepared us to be a cohesive group for a raid.
I hoped that my [Liminal Speed] would make up the difference if we
could pull this out long enough. My stacks were already at the point where I
was attacking three times as fast as when we had started, and in several
more add waves, that would only get faster.
I leaned into my damage, continuing to hammer away at the boss. Penny
stayed at my side, rotating with me occasionally to give me access to frozen
patches of the boss’s shell so that I could deal more damage.
When the next golden beetle came out, Felicity blew a cooldown. Her
elementals swelled to twice their size and dove into the beetle with gusto.
The beetle died quickly, just moments before the boss would have turned to
devour it. Seeing the beetle die without the boss eating it rallied the raid.
However, the excitement lasted only for a moment before more beetles
spawned than in the previous cycle.
"I think this is a soft enrage," Penny said.
Most bosses, if fought for too long, had a mechanic in which they got
stronger and enraged to end the fight. Other bosses had more subtle
mechanics. In this instance, more and more beetles would spawn every time
they did, and it would get so overwhelming that, at a certain point, it was
impossible to keep the party alive.
Fayeth once again had trouble gathering up the beetles, but Helen, having
abandoned her task of trying to tank the others, assisted her, mitigating
some of the panic from the healers.
From my point of view, it seemed a lot of healers were wasting mana on
themselves when they were attacked by the small beetles. It wasn't
uncommon for healers to overheal themselves a little bit in panic when they
were attacked, but I hoped they would learn for the next fight.
The next large beetle came up. I stepped away from the boss, using
[Shadow Ambush] to appear behind it and my [Liminal Speed] to keep pace
with it as it charged around the room.
My blades pinged against its golden shell, but I continued doing as much
damage as I could, knowing that this beetle needed to die. My attacks were
quick, and with the help of the ranged DPS, it also went down in time.
With that one down, I switched back to the boss. I could see that its armor
once again was cracked, goo seeping out, showing that it was moderately
damaged. The real trouble came in the next round. More and more beetles
continued to spill out. Both ranged ones and the numerous little ones, but
this time, the ranged ones were numerous enough that the healers were
starting to have trouble.
 Two melee damage dealers went down after they were hit with several
splashes in quick succession. I could feel the acid eating at my skin, but
Charlotte had prioritized me and kept me alive.
When the next golden beetle popped up, it was not alone. Two of them
appeared this time. Dread filled me as I raced around the room, killing one.
The second one was nearly untouched by the time the boss turned around
and managed to eat it.
The boss healed a moment later. It didn’t heal enough to close all of the
cracks in its armor, but it was enough once again. Seeing progress lost
began to shift the raid’s mood.
"I think we should send someone out for a wipe!" Harley shouted.
I grimaced because as soon as she said that, all of the healers started
rushing towards the door.
"Harley!" I snapped. "Don't call for a wipe."
She shrugged helplessly as people started to die quickly, with the healers
focused on running out. Several damage dealers died to acid spitters, and
Myrtle went down to a swing from the giant boss.
As soon as Myrtle went down, the boss went on a rampage through the
melee group.
My [Liminal Speed] was active, but I wasn’t sure that I could take down
the boss between all the adds that would spawn. I knew even [Liminal
Speed] would be pushed past its limits in dodging all of the globs of acid.
And if I took too long, I could possibly draw out the fight to the point that
we would no longer be able to revive the class.
So rather than go down fighting, I zipped towards the door, throwing
Charlotte over my shoulder, being one of the few healers who had stuck
around even though Harley mentioned the wipe. I tore out of the bronze
doors with Charlotte and watched as the rest of our classroom died due to
the beetles.
It was a brutal scene, and not one I cared to remember, but I also knew I
would see this scene more than once over the coming days.
As soon as everyone in the room was dead, the adds dug back into the
ground and disappeared. The boss lumbered back over to the center position
on the far wall and started sniffing around a pile of sand as its wounds
healed rapidly before my eyes, and its goo sank back into its carapace.
"Well, that was a shitshow," Dolly said as she began casting a revive. The
pink-haired masochistic healer wore a dour expression.
 "Yeah, it was," I admitted. "Though, our first raid boss was supposed to
be one of the easier ones, it wasn't unexpected for us to wipe on our first
time." I tried to soften the blow for the rest of the group.
Our Haylon minder, Professor Sai from Class C, walked up to us as we
started to revive the group. "It's perfectly normal to die in your first boss
attempt. Most people go in with the idea of learning the fight and not
surviving."
I nodded at her words. They made perfect sense; however, it still felt like
a failure. I could see my fellow classmates and my friends’ bodies strewn
across the floor. Perhaps once we finished reviving all of them, I would feel
a little different.
"We should get Harley up first," Meredith said, running one hand through
her hair to straighten it as she cast the spell with the other.
I looked at Penny's cousin strangely. "Is there a reason for that?"
"Yeah, Revive costs a lot of mana. Getting Harley up first will help us get
everyone else up faster," she argued with the kind of tone that was just
begging to get into a fight.
I shrugged. I knew Harley was sleeping with her again, and that might
have weighed into her decisions, yet her idea was valid.
Harley would help all of us recover our mana faster.
I was, in fact, fairly surprised that after Harley had called for the wipe
that she had not made it out, and instead, she had stayed behind to make
sure her healers got out first.
However, I had half a mind to think Harley had stayed behind to earn pity
points with her healer hero and be taken care of after the raid.
Yeah, the more I thought about it, that was Harley to a T.

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 Chapter 3

I stood with the healers casting [Revive] one after the other until our entire
class of twenty-five was back on their feet.
Technically, two of our original classmates had quit adventuring, but we
had brought Elysara and Felin to make up for the lost spots. So, with a good
half of us having [Revive] spells of our own, we brought the raid party back
to life in short order.
Professor Sai cleared her throat once we finished and clapped her hands
to get our attention. "Now, I know I'm not your normal teacher," she started.
"Crimson is out doing a job for the UG, and to be quite frank, most of the
other colleges believed she would cheat if she were left here."
I shrugged. Crimson did what Crimson wanted. It would not be outside of
her personality to cheat through some of the bosses that she thought
wouldn't offer us enough of a challenge.
"That said," the professor continued, "I would still like to offer you all
some advice. As I was telling the healers, your first boss fight should be
expected to be a wipe. You should go into it trying to learn, and so I would
ask you, what did you learn?"
Several people all started to speak at once, but I raised my hand to silence
them. "Let's raise our hands. Fayeth, you start first." Sometimes leading just
meant providing order.
 My Adrel rubbed her chin. "It was difficult getting all of the small
beetles. They went after the healers, and it was difficult rounding them up.
Everyone is so spread out."
I nodded at that. "We could have the healers collapse into a group when
the small beetles come out," I offered, only for a healer to immediately
counter me.
"But then we'll get hit by the acid spitters."
I shrugged. What she said was a possibility. "It would only be for a brief
moment before Fayeth can get them under control."
Several of the healers crossed their arms, not excited about the prospect.
Helen raised her hand, and I nodded to her.
"The healers could run to the closest tank if they have beetles on them.
That's pretty standard healer protocol," she said as if it were obvious.
Helen gave a good option but with poor wording. Several of the healers
grumbled.
"She’s not wrong," I mused.
It was fairly standard that when a healer pulled aggro, they were
supposed to run to the tank so that the tank could get them off.
“In that case," Fayeth offered, "I could try and stay in the center of the
room. That way, healers could run to me from wherever they're stationed.
And then I could quickly move the beetles into the melee group to die."
I nodded at that. It was a good idea. However, I didn't think the little
beetles were our biggest problem for this fight. They were certainly causing
chaos and complexity. But ultimately, we needed to figure out how to deal
with the large beetles, especially for when two of them spawned.
That would be a longer topic, so instead, I moved us on to the spitters.
They had actually killed the first of us during that last attempt. “What about
the spitters?"
"Spitters are stupid," Helen grunted, then raised her hand, so I pointed to
her. "The spitters are stupid," she repeated. This time, though, she at least
spoke once called on. "They don't seem to have aggro tables. Neither does
the big one. So both of them are just running rampant, which leaves me
with nothing to do.”
“Do you have any stuns?" Leah, the geeky ice mage, asked. "I noticed I
was able to freeze one of the spitters."
Helen nodded. "I have one. But if all I am is a single stun, I'm not much
at all. You’d be better off replacing me for the fight." She was still being a
little bratty about not getting anything to tank.
I shrugged. "We don't always get to be the star of the show. I'm certainly
not the star of the show for this event." That statement earned a few smirks
from the ladies.
Penny raised her hand. "If it's stuns that we need, I have a few."
Several other people raised their hands, saying that they had stuns as
well.
"Well then, we could try and throw our stuns out on the spitters as we
can," I said, looking at the range DPS. "It would be best not to overlap. So
perhaps we should call it out before we use it."
They looked at each other and nodded, coming to a quick agreement.
"That'll help reduce the damage a lot," Charlotte said. "I didn't think it
was too taxing. We could keep everyone alive until those spitters all hit the
melee group at once.”
“Maybe the melee group should spread out," someone suggested.
"There's not a whole lot of room to spread out. The boss’s butt is only so
big," Taylor argued.
"Well, those of you who don't have much AoE, maybe you could go on
the far side?" The group continued to throw around options to reduce
damage from the spitters.
I thought it was a good and productive conversation and let it go on. The
important part was that we were focused on working out improvements for
the last fight. Wipes were a huge mental drain on a raid group.
Ultimately, several DPS, such as myself, who didn't have much to offer
for fighting multiple targets, were sent to the back end of the beetle so that
we wouldn’t catch extra damage from the acid spitters.
And finally, we came to the biggest problem of the fight: the big golden
beetles.
Des was the first to answer that one. "We all blew our cooldowns on the
first one. That was a problem."
The ranged DPS all nodded in agreement.
"We could split our cooldowns," Des offered. "But I definitely think Ken
needs to leave the boss and help us with the golden beetles after the first
few. Especially when there's two.”
“Did we not split our DPS well enough for the two?" I asked Des.
She shrugged and brushed her hair out of her face only for it to fall back
into the familiar position. "We could try. My big concern is that while we
might be able to eke out killing two if we get more efficient, we certainly
won't be able to kill three."
The group all nodded, and we realized that three big beetles would be the
point of no return for the boss fight. We would have to call it if we ever got
there.
"That puts Ken in a little bit of a tricky situation. Because if he's one of
our top damage dealers on the boss, every time we pull him away, we
reduce his overall damage and how quickly he builds his stacks. Even if he
can stay on the small golden beetles, they're moving enough that he's
certainly sacrificing his DPS."
I nodded at Des’ assessment. "That's absolutely right. But I think I can
manage well enough if I can stay on the boss for the first two," I said,
wanting to pitch in for the pain point for the fight thus far.
Professor Sai clapped her hands again. "The next thing you guys need to
understand is, while you can strategize all day, it's best not to. Take some
learnings, make some adjustments, and do the boss again. The important
part when fighting raid bosses, or even party bosses that you haven't
experienced before, is to understand how you can improve and understand
each other's strengths and weaknesses enough to be able to work better
together next time. This raid is not only important for you guys learning
how to fight as a larger group, but it's important for you guys to learn how
to one day dive the dungeon to a point where you may not have all of the
guides written out by the UG."
We nodded at that. Several of us had giddy smiles, certainly filled with
our own fantasies. It was every adventurer's dream to be at the forefront of
diving the dungeon and exploring its unknown depths.
Our group readied itself once more for the boss. After a quick check to
ensure we were all prepared, Myrtle launched an attack on the boss,
initiating the fight.
As was my usual strategy, I slipped in and began dealing damage to the
boss.
Penny was beside me, creating patches of vulnerability, only to retreat
when the spitters began their attack. She had three different stuns at her
disposal, which she used to immobilize one of the creatures for over ten
seconds, significantly reducing the damage it could inflict.
The first few waves of beetles were dispatched without a hitch. This run
went smoother than the first time. Healers who had poison beetles chasing
them brought the monsters to Helen or Fayeth.
During the fourth wave, I stepped away from the boss to assist the ranged
DPS in killing a lone beetle without any cooldowns. This ensured that
everyone would be able to maximize their damage output on the next wave.
So far, the boss hadn't managed to consume any of the beetles and was
visibly weakened.
I rushed back, maintaining my damage output as best I could. The fight
felt like it was taking hours, but in reality, less than five minutes had passed.
The next wave was the same one that had wiped us out the first time. The
melee DPS spread out as much as possible, dispersing the splashes of acid
the spitters spat out one after another. Harley shrieked something about a
beetle ruining her dress.
I glanced over just in time to see two golden beetles appear
simultaneously from a sand dune.
Stepping away from the boss, I used [Shadow Ambush] to latch onto one
of them, then [Metamorphosis] to attack as fiercely as I could. The ranged
DPS activated their cooldowns, and the golden beetles fell one after the
other in quick succession.
The boss was severely wounded at this point. Many of the ranged DPS
were still riding the high of their cooldown as we refocused on the boss.
Several new abilities appeared—abilities that I recognized from past
experiences with adventurers of my class. A red-hot sword appeared above
Taylor as she drove it in with a smack of her mace. Meixie made a skull
image with her twin daggers that pressed itself in the boss’s side.
They were execute abilities, which could only be used on a monster with
low health. I grew excited and attacked with renewed fervor, trying to kill
the beetle before another wave arrived.
Groups of smaller beetles spawned throughout the room, followed by
more spitters.
Des shouted over the din of combat, "I think we should focus on the boss
when the golden beetles come."
I nodded in agreement, glancing at the boss and using my CID to gauge
its health. It was at 14%. I thought it was still a bit high, but with some of
the execute abilities being activated, I suspected we might prevail.
I shouted back at Des, loud enough for the rest of the raid to hear,
"Everyone, once the spitters are down, ignore the adds and focus on the
boss!" I took my own advice and struck with my daggers in rapid fire,
dealing significant damage.
The sounds of more big golden beetles coming out of the sand behind me
made me pause before redoubling my effort.
As I fought with all my might, the boss's health continued to dwindle. It
looked severely wounded just before it turned and began to cross the room
towards the two golden beetles.
If it reached either of them, it would regenerate its health. Given their
current health, adding 20% to the boss's health would be a significant blow
to morale, especially knowing the difficulty we had in taking out the next
round of golden beetles. If there was a third beetle, we would surely lose
the fight.
However, I wasn't without options.
I activated the second phase of [Liminal Speed], and the world between
the beetle and me shattered as everything froze. Everything, that was,
except for me. I attacked as quickly as I could, watching my stacks of
[Liminal Speed] decrease along with my own speed.
While this second phase of [Liminal Speed] was active, I couldn't gain
stacks. Instead, they were slowly spent to freeze time for everyone but me.
Cracks in the beetle’s shell grew, its armor cracking and its legs losing
their rigidity. As soon as my stacks were almost depleted, I dismissed
[Liminal Speed]. The boss disintegrated into black smoke.
I wiped my brow, relieved at how narrowly we had escaped defeat. In
hindsight, we should have just killed another wave of big beetles.
"Phew," I said.
Des came up behind me and handed me a bottle of water she had pulled
out of her CID.
"You just used the second phase of your ability, and we barely made it,"
she said, kissing me on the cheek. Her pink eyes were nearly glowing.
"But we made it." I smirked and glanced over at the loot glittering on the
ground.
The raid bosses all dropped epic gear, and some of the final ones of a raid
might even drop legendary gear from time to time. The rest of the group
crowded around the small pile of four pieces of epic loot. I could tell by the
gleam in each of their eyes that we were about to have a bidding war on our
hands.
 “Alright, everyone.” Candice cut through the group, a sports drink in her
hand as she took a sip. “Let’s go over the loot.”
Everyone already had their CIDs out, scanning the gear.
I was no exception.
[Golden Staff of The Sun - Stamina +30, Magic +50, Mana +50]
Candice held up the staff. The thing was entirely golden with a decorative
circle at the top radiating out waving streaks of metal. All along the shaft, it
was intricately designed with hieroglyphs that made absolutely zero sense
to me.
“That’s a pretty stat stick.” The group was practically panting over it.
“We never discussed loot distribution,” Helen offered.
“Bah, just let her roll it off,” Harley scoffed. “I’m not keeping track of
some stupid merit metric.”
Candice glanced at me, and I shrugged. In this instance, I agreed with
Harley. However, we had all chosen to leave this up to Candice.
“Alright, raise of hands for who wants it.”
All of the healers put their hands up, along with most of the casters.
Candice silently counted off before tapping her CID and then counting up
to five again from the left. “Leah, congratulations.” She handed the staff
over to the ice mage.
The short woman took it excitedly and bounced on the toes of her feet. It
didn’t go with her abilities at all, but it was a strong item.
Next, Candice held up a pair of golden pants that were quite puffy but
tight around the ankles. “Alright, who wants to look like MC Hammer?”
[Pharaoh Leg Guard - Strength +60, Stamina +20]
“Fuck it. Count me in.” Taylor raised her hands. “What? They are
hideous, but they have great stats.”
Competition wasn’t fierce. Only Penny also raised her hand.
Candice clicked her tongue. “Rolled a 1. That means Taylor.”
“Shit. Almost wish I lost.” Taylor took the pants, and with a few taps on
her CID, they equipped to her legs, replacing the athletic shorts she’d been
wearing. Only instead of the baggy appearance they’d had when Candice
had held them up, they were tight on every inch of Taylor’s legs.
“Hey, they don’t look so bad,” Des tried to make it better.
Taylor twisted a little in them, checking herself out. “I feel like a party
girl at a club.”
 “Good thing you don’t look like one,” Kendra, the leader of her party in
the class, said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Taylor growled back, causing her party
leader to raise her hands in surrender while trying to stifle a laugh. She
looked up at me. “Let’s ask the man in the raid.”
“Nope. Ken’s terrible at fashion. If it were up to him, he’d wear all
black.” Des came to my rescue.
“I look good in black,” I argued.
“Mmmhmm.” She patted my arm. “You do, but variety is the spice of
life.”
Candice cleared her throat and just held up the next piece, a shimmering
full-length gold dress with some complex-looking sleeves.
“Dibs!” Harley shouted at the top of her lungs.
“It isn’t even poofy.” I stared at the bard.
“Doesn’t matter.” She stuck her arm up higher in the air. “I want it.
Who’s fighting me for it?”
Half the raid raised their hands.
“Aww.” Harley sagged as Candice rolled, and it went to Meredith. Then
Harley glanced at her girlfriend with shining eyes as she put on the dress.
“It’s amazing!” she squealed, clearly already over her disappointment of
losing.

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 Chapter 4

M yweback slid down a limestone pillar as the group took a breather before
went after the second boss. After the first boss, we'd been clearing
trash for about an hour and a half.
Much of that time I had spent at accelerated speeds with [Liminal Speed].
My thighs ached as I massaged them with one hand while fishing through
my CID for a sandwich with the other.
Felin plopped into my lap, making me wince from my sore thighs. She
wiggled, a giddy laugh on her lips, and her tail batting at my nose.
"Having fun?" I asked her, grabbing her hips and trying to hold her still to
save my sore legs and my growing erection.
"A lot of fun," Felin said, snatching the sandwich out of my hand and
taking a nibble from it before handing it back to me. "I've never been in a
raid before." She was excited to explore the raid with the class.
"Well, I'm glad to have you along. Between you and Elysara, you're
helping make the twenty-five-party-member raid full."
Felin grinned and leaned back at me, thankfully stopping wiggling in my
lap. My body couldn't decide between enjoying the sensation and the pain
of my sore thighs. I wasn't a masochist, and frankly, my body was confused.
"Lots of fun," Felin repeated. "If only we didn't have so many of these
stupid crocodiles." Most of the raid agreed with her assessment.
 The farther we'd gone from the first boss towards the second, the more
the raid shifted. While the first half had all been ruins and sand, the closer
we got to the second boss, the more plants had taken root amid the cracks.
Even several streams had cut their way through the limestone. Life had
managed to take root, even amongst the hard stone. The ground had
continued to get greener, and at this point, the second boss's room was
nearly a lush tropical paradise.
Amid the tropical paradise and the rivers that cut through it, there were
crocodiles. Lots and lots of crocodiles. Bushes that were far too small to
hold the scaly bastards were somehow filled with them.
They would spawn out of the smallest bushes. Crocodiles the size of a
tiger would rush the party from every shrub. Unlike the giant scarabs that
were largely single-mob fights, the crocodiles came in large packs,
sometimes as large as twenty. They were giving our tanks a run for their
money as they tried to defend themselves from so many beasts at once.
More than once, a ranged DPS or healer fled from an ambush only to
trigger a second.
Felin was rubbing her tail, reminding me of the time earlier when a
crocodile had managed to chomp down on it. She had yowled and screamed
like an upset cat before she utterly obliterated the crocodile with a strike of
her spear filled with magic.
I held on to her while I continued to nibble at my sandwich. She pulled
some jerky out of her pouch and let out a sigh of contentment as she relaxed
against me.
"Are you at least comfortable raiding with us? Do you miss your
people?" I asked, curious how Felin was doing. She had been away from
other nekorians now for long enough that I was worried she would start to
grow homesick. But instead, she just shrugged.
"It's all the same to me. Adventure with humans, with nekorians." She
dipped her head back and forth, causing the white and blue ears on top of
her head to bounce. "It's different but not bad."
She seemed rather flexible, which was certainly true in more ways than
one.
I rubbed a hand along her thigh, covered in thin leather pants.
"Well, let me know if there's anything we can do. Last thing I want to do
is inconvenience a nekorian shaman, given how you are helping us so
much."
 She twisted in my lap and planted a kiss on my cheek. "Not a problem."
She winked, only for Charlotte to sit down next to me, plopping Bun-Bun in
her lap.
"Phew!" The green-haired druid let out an explosive breath. "I don't know
how this is so much more exhausting than everything else we've done."
The answer was on the tip of my tongue, but Des beat me to it as she sat
down with the rest of our group. Fayeth and Elysara joined us as well.
"It's the focus," Des said. "Being so intensely focused for so long is
draining in its own unique way."
"Yeah, but we've had to focus plenty when we were doing the vampire
event or training," Charlotte argued.
I shook my head in agreement with Des. "The raid is different, especially
with how many times we've died."
That brought a somber expression to many of their faces. We'd only died
once to the first boss, but especially with the crocodiles, most people in the
raid had died at least once when a swarm spawned unexpectedly. They
could quickly chew through the health of one of the raid members if they
were the target of the ambush.
I think Felin was the only one who hadn't actually died yet in this raid.
Then again, the nekorian was incredibly quick on her feet for a support and
tended to stay back and out of range most of the time.
The rabbit in Charlotte's lap huffed and started nudging her hands around,
causing the druid to roll her eyes and pull out a large bed of lettuce for him.
The rabbit quickly started munching. Everyone took that as a cue and pulled
out a light snack and something to drink as we relaxed for a minute before
we returned to the raid and its second boss.
"What do we know about this boss?" Elysara asked as we were all eating.
"Well," I said, gesturing through the bronze gate ahead of us, "it's a giant
fucking crocodile." Everyone looked into the boss room that had a river
running down the center and a very obvious giant crocodile swimming in it.
"And from what I understand in raids, most of the time, the mobs leading
up to the boss give you a hint as to some of the boss mechanics. I'm
guessing we're going to get swarmed by crocodiles," I said flatly, not
enjoying the idea any more than the rest of my group.
"That's gonna suck," Elysara said.
"Yeah, it will," Des agreed. "Which is why we have to figure out how it
works. And we're gonna go in the first time assuming we're going to die
horrible, crocodile-horror-fueled deaths…" Her words trailed off towards
the end.
It was an adjustment, knowing that we were walking to our deaths every
time we walked past those bronze doors.
Going into the fight with the idea that we were going to learn rather than
defeat it on the first try was mentally taxing. Dying went against every
human instinct we had. But I also knew this was something that adventurers
had to get over, especially those who would eventually be at the forefront of
exploring the depths of the dungeon.
Deaths happened. The trick was making sure that you would come back
from them each time.
After a moment of quiet amongst the group, I smiled and tried to bring
everyone's mood up. "It's a good thing our healers are so cute." I squeezed
Charlotte next to me and Felin in my lap, giving them both a peck on the
cheek.
Charlotte blushed as red as a rose, and Felin turned to get more of a kiss
from me, her greedy lips sucking on mine.
Des chuckled beside me, her eyes shining. "That's what we have to do.
We have to remind ourselves that it's all worth it in the end."
"Yeah," I agreed. "This is how we get rich."
"And powerful," Charlotte added on.
"It's how we maintain order." Elysara wasn’t one to be left out.
"Order,” Des echoed with a frown before winking at me. “It's how you
get the good ones."
Felin laughed at that, and I glanced at the woman in my lap, curiously
raising an eyebrow to see why she wanted more. She just shrugged. "Life
under the Great One is all I've ever known."
I frowned at that, still not having a clear picture of Felin's upbringing.
Obviously, we all knew that nekorians worshiped the dungeon as a not-so-
benevolent god. However, Felin rarely spoke of her childhood—if she had
one. Every time she spoke of her past, she was always in the dungeon.
"And what about you, Fayeth?" I asked the last member of her group,
who had remained quiet.
She shrugged with a small smile. "I'm just here to protect all of you. To
make sure we can live a happy life."
I pulled Felin off my lap to move Fayeth into it, wanting to snuggle the
petite tan elf for her words. There was a collective coo of awe from the rest
of my ladies. I cleared my throat to clear the air.
"I hope you all know that I am not walking out of this dungeon without
all of you in tow." My heart thumped in my chest with those words.
Charlotte put a hand on my thigh. "I think it goes without saying, but all
of us feel the same." They all nodded along.
I held Fayeth tighter in my lap, a feeling of warmth in my heart.
My grandparents had once pushed me to be more open to harems, saying
that they were good for adventurers. Only after knowing the affection
between me and these five women did I really understand what Grandpa
meant.
Even then, most of these relationships were still fairly short, considering
the lengths of our lives. And so far, our affection and bonds together had
only grown stronger.
"Time's up." Candice was standing, tapping at her CID, speaking loud
enough to get everyone's attention and people back on their feet.
The class grumbled and groaned as they all pushed off walls and pillars,
getting their feet underneath them and preparing for the boss to come.
I was still on the ground, Fayeth in my lap. "Candice, why don't you run
us through what we know."
The blonde tugged her clothes that never needed straightening. "This boss
is a giant crocodile." She pointed through the doors. "We have to be very
careful. The river runs through the very center of the room, and we can’t
stay in the water. One entire side of the room is going to be flooded. If
you're on the flooded side, crocodiles will spawn rapidly and endlessly until
you get to the other."
Taylor raised her hand. "How does that work? Physically? Shouldn’t it
just run back into the river?"
Candice shrugged. "We're going to have to find that out. Because from
here, everything looks flat to me."
The rest of the raid agreed and decided we would just have to learn on the
fly.
"The other concern," Candice said, "is that the boss will occasionally grab
one of the tanks and drag them into the water, thrashing and dealing a large
amount of damage."
I could feel Fayeth twitch in my lap.
Helen raised her hand. "That means we're rotating tanks." It was more of
a statement than a question.
 "I think that will be part of the plan." Candice nodded. "That way you
guys can use cooldowns, if nothing else, to reduce the pain you feel."
All of the tanks nodded at that.
"Finally," Candice said, "every now and then, someone will be marked."
There was an immediate interruption. "What's the mark look like?"
Candice shrugged. "I'm sure it will be fairly obvious. The marked person,
after several seconds, will become the focus of every crocodile in the room,
including the boss."
"Please tell me that only affects tanks." One of the healers raised their
hand.
Candice sighed. "It does not."
The way some of the ranged DPS turned absolutely green told me we
were going to have a little bit of a panic problem when this ability first
triggered.
I pulled Fayeth off my lap and got to my feet. "Well then, we will just
have to go in and see this firsthand."
Candice nodded, as did many of the others. In a lot of dungeon situations,
the best choice was often to go and experience and understand the challenge
head-on. Continuing to dwell on fears wasn’t going to do anyone any good.
"We'll go in, spread out as much as we can in the room, and, Myrtle, are
you okay taking the first round?" I asked.
The big girl, with a bowl cut, nodded her head, her voice coming out
whisper soft. "Sure."
"Alright, everyone." I dusted off my pants. "Let's get to it."
We were all spread out in the boss room in short order. When Myrtle
charged right up to the water to get the boss's attention, everyone was
staring at her.
I paused, waiting for the tank to get aggro before I began. However, the
boss fight did not start as we expected.
Myrtle got the boss's attention by getting close enough, and she smacked
it once on the snout with her mace. In the blink of an eye, it rushed her,
closing its jaws around her waist and slipping back into the water, thrashing
and spinning with Myrtle in its jaws. The response from the healers was
immediate. They began to throw spell after spell at the tank, trying to keep
her alive.
The other tanks rushed up and tried to get aggro on the boss. Every
person whose feet touched the water started to spawn alligators that rushed
one after the other out of the water to them. Of course, then the healers
spamming their spells to keep Myrtle alive attracted the attention of the
adds.
"Out of the water, everyone, out of the water!" I shouted over the chaos
that quickly ensued.
The tanks staggered back, taking measured steps as they tried to get the
attention of the adds with wide-sweeping attacks. Myrtle, still in the water,
continued to spawn adds.
However, unlike the beetles we'd experienced in the last fight, these
crocodiles went down quickly with a little help from the ranged DPS.
The crocodile released Myrtle, and I rushed up to grab her hands, pulling
her from the water. She looked dizzy and disoriented, her eyes unable to
focus on me. The healers were still slinging spells onto her, making her
glow like some sort of valiant angel.
Penny had picked up the boss's aggro and was slowly pulling it out of the
water while walking backwards and defending herself. Myrtle got herself
under control and pushed me off.
"We should probably start dealing damage," she said.
I gave her a quick nod and jumped back into the fight, my blade scoring
along the boss's side, leaving scratches in its thick hide as I worked to deal
as much damage as possible.
"Holy fuck, that was rough," Taylor chuckled beside me as she glanced
over at Myrtle. "Talk about a heavy start."
I watched as the tank got herself back under control and rejoined the
fight. I shook my head at Taylor. "This is why I'm glad I'm not a tank."
"Me, too," she replied, looking a little extra relieved that she’d shed her
shield for the raid group.
The fight continued for another minute before the boss opened its mouth
and began spewing a giant column of water as it swept from side to side.
"Other side of the river!" I shouted, guessing this was how one of the
sides flooded. The water gushing out of the boss quickly pooled on this side
of the river, washing away loose soil. Strangely, it seemed like the other
side slightly rose up. The dungeon once again defied physics as the
landscape shifted in front of us.
As soon as I waded into the water, a crocodile materialized behind me,
starting to snap at my hips. I smiled at the easy target to keep up my
[Liminal Speed] stacks and slashed at it with my daggers as I moved.
Before I finished the first, a second was already on me, both crocodile
attacks nipping away at my health.
"Gather up on Harley!" I called.
Harley was one of the first to reach the other side, playing her flute as she
waded through the river. Sparkles of magic, most likely her [Haste] ability,
danced off her as she played.
No one argued. Everyone quickly gathered around Harley and began
unleashing their AoE abilities one after the other. The crocodiles were
quickly dying. As soon as someone brought theirs to the group, it expired in
just a few seconds.
However, as this continued, the boss swam through the water much faster
than it had moved on land. It emerged to grab Penny when she was only a
few feet out of the water. Its jaws snapped around her and pulled her into
the river, spiraling in a death roll just as it had done to Myrtle.
The healers, already caught up in trying to heal the group, were now
strained trying to heal Penny as well.
Meanwhile, an alligator-snout-shaped arrow began to flash over
Meredith.
"Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Not me. Not me," Meredith panicked.
Harley turned to her girlfriend and played the flute at her, giving her
haste.
"Run," Des said, shoving the healer.
I saw Felin whip her spear around, and a gust of wind blew Meredith
away from the group just in time. Alligators surged out of the water and the
boss with them, abandoning Penny as all the monsters in the room rushed
after Meredith.
I had never seen the priest run so fast in her life.
She sprinted as if there was an entire pack of crocodiles nipping at her
heels, which there was, including one that could swallow her whole. She
ran, unfortunately, to the corner of the room, suddenly backed against it,
realizing she had run out of space to maneuver.
The boss reached her as well as all of the little crocodiles.
The healers layered on spells, and Felin cast her bubble of ice that had
protected our party on multiple occasions.
But it all shattered just as quickly as it came, the wounds piling up on
Meredith faster than the healers could mend them.
 Meredith screamed something unintelligible before she collapsed on the
ground, and the red arrow above her head faded. We all stood where we
were stupidly for a moment as one of our raid members died.
"Shit," Taylor cursed next to me. "How the heck are we supposed to
dodge that?"
I glanced at the room and realized that, when we crossed the water, it
probably would have been best for us to go to one of the sides, giving
whoever got marked a longer runway. I stowed that thought away for the
next time, seeing as we were now faced with the boss and several dozen
smaller crocodiles.
Helen was the first to get the boss's attention back on her. The paladin,
more than happy to take a beating, was hit by the large crocodile before
searing light poured off her shield into the boss and the rest of them.
I was already there, just behind the crocodile's jaw, cleaving into its
shoulder, trying to deal as much damage as possible.
Damage dealers picked up back on the boss, throwing out area-of-effect
attacks, the small crocodiles quickly dying as soon as they came until the
boss squatted low, and water began to pour out of its mouth again.
"Everyone, follow me!" I shouted, using [Shadow Ambush] on the person
farthest through the water and then activating sprint. I hurried ahead, getting
two crocodiles on me as I ran and using them to keep up [Liminal Speed].
Unfortunately for me, I killed both too quickly. By the time I got to the
other side, the land was rising, and I had nothing to attack.
The others were hurrying to gather on me. I had chosen to hug one side of
the room. Others had gone towards the center again and were having to
correct themselves, rushing down the strip of land towards my location
while crocodiles nipped away at their health.
This run wasn’t going terribly, but it was plain to see that chaos was
seeping into every moment of the fight already.

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 Chapter 5

I hurried towards the others as my stacks started to drop off, catching some
of the crocodiles and using them to restore some of my stacks on
[Liminal Speed]. Another giant arrow appeared, this time hovering over
Felin. The nekorian let out a sound that was half frustrated cat, half
excitement.
"It's on me," she said as more crocodiles started to pour out of the water.
Poor Helen was coming up for air after being thrashed by the boss,
though the boss’s attention had now shifted to Felin.
Felin wove back and forth on the half of the room that was land. More
and more crocodiles came out of the water to swarm her, but she used her
spear deftly to bat those that got too close and jump out of reach when they
tried to snap at her tail. She kept just inches ahead of them, using up as
much of the space as she could.
The boss bore down on her, but as long as she stayed away from the
water, it was struggling to catch her. Apparently, the boss was not very fast
on land.
She used up about two-thirds of the strip of land before the arrow above
her faded, and the crocodiles turned to rush the healers. All four tanks were
back on their feet and threw themselves between the crocodiles, the boss,
and the healers. Spells and melee abilities crashed down on everyone as we
ground away the adds and worked on killing the boss.
 I was already there amidst the writhing carpet of leather and scales.
"That worked really well!" someone shouted,
"Too bad we aren't all agile cat girls!" Kendra spat, looking at Felin with
a little jealousy.
I rolled my eyes.
What Felin had done was wonderful but also not entirely needed. I
figured by all the ground that she used up, just about anyone could manage
to keep the adds off them if they ran diagonally across the space from one
corner of the dry side to the other. But now we understood how long the
target lasted.
My damage continued to increase as [Liminal Speed] soared, my blades
making quick work of any adds that spawned. Sweat was rolling down the
side of my face as I pumped my arms like my life depended on it, which it
probably did.
We went through another round before we rushed to the other side, and
much to my dismay, a giant red arrow flashed above my head.
"Fuck me," I spat.
More and more crocodiles came out of the water, all of those that were
still chasing members of the raid switched to me, and I had a really stupid
idea.
Rather than run away from these crocodiles, I backed away onto the dry
land and focused on dodging each one of them, using my daggers to try and
keep up the stacks on [Liminal Speed] with the occasional smack on the
boss.
If I had just run, I most likely would have started to lose my stacks. This
way, I could keep them up as high as possible and even let them climb a
little while I was being targeted.
At first, dodging a handful of the crocodiles was no problem. But then as
that number grew to nine, ten, and even more, I was unable to get out of
their way with each attack even with my increased speed.
I activated my [Shadow Phase], reducing the damage I took as I focused
on dodging the boss's attack first and foremost, and avoiding as many of the
adds' attacks as I could.
My strategy wasn't perfect, but with help from a few healers, I was able
to make it through, and hopefully, I was also able to keep the boss still so
that the damage dealers didn't have to stop.
 As soon as the mark over me ended, Fayeth managed to pull the boss's
attention back to her, and we started the cycle yet again.
The fight went on like that for about eight rounds before the massive
crocodile fell to the ground in a puff of black smoke. We had lost three
people during the fight, but we had managed to pull ourselves through.
The healers all seemed to pause for a moment, ready to sit down and rest,
only to see that no one was actively working to revive the dead. That was
quickly remedied as Harley nudged a few of the healers to bring Meredith
back up.
"Hey, we got that one in one shot," Harley tried to pep everyone up,
Meredith included.
The blue-haired priest scoffed at her. "You weren't eaten alive by
crocodiles."
"No, I was not." Harley smiled. "There's always next time, though."
Her peppy but dark statement caused the raid to chuckle.
"We can't all be Ken," Selene said. "When he got targeted, he was all
whoosh, whoosh." She juked back and forth. "You can't catch me. Nah, nah,
nah, boo, boo." She continued to juke back and forth.
As the raid laughed, Meredith shook her head, not understanding. Harley
leaned over to fill her in on what she had missed.
Professor Sai walked over to our group. "I'm glad you are all still able to
laugh. Even though you did defeat this boss on your first attempt, I think
there is still plenty for you all to learn."
The group stopped laughing and nodded in agreement.
"Ken, why don't you start?" Professor Sai glanced at me. "It seemed you
learned something on how to dodge the arrow mechanic.”
“Loot first, and then I'll explain on the way to the third boss." I flashed
the professor a smile, wanting to keep moving. We only had one day to get
as much of this raid done as possible before it would be handed over to
another school’s class. It was important to me that we kept moving.

***

When two white daggers appeared as loot, I felt a flash of hope, only to
realize they gave extra intelligence as their main stat.
More interestingly, both daggers were part of a set, though they would
both need the second item to complete the set. The set offered a simple
bonus of 5% mana reduction on healing.
With that, the healers of the raid went wild for them. The rest of us were
happy to let the healers have them as they were the ones who kept us alive.
Dolly ended up with one, and the healer from Felicity's group got the
other. A pair of swanky crocodile leather boots found their way to Harley,
and a jagged, rough-looking mace ended up in Taylor's hands.
None of the loot was too exciting for me, but the earliest bosses of a raid
had the worst gear. The last few bosses were where the loot got exciting and
special.
We moved on from the crocodile boss room towards the third boss.
Professor Sai gave me a look that suggested I should start talking about
the issues with our raid.
I cleared my throat, getting the raid’s attention as I spoke up. “The trick
with dodging the frenzy of crocodiles is that they require more room than
the dry side provides. So, a small loop at the end or running diagonally
across the full length of the dry side is how you can avoid the whole
frenzy.”
"I'm sorry, Meredith," I said, looking towards the healer. "On our first
experience of the mechanic, we started in the center, and you didn't have
enough runway to avoid the ability's full duration. That was a flaw in our
initial planning."
Meredith pouted, but Harley was quick to hug her girlfriend. "We are
learning," the priestess said, holding tight to Harley. It seemed she’d be
fine.
I continued. "Also, I think more people need to be using their movement
cooldowns when the frenzy targets them. We shouldn’t use movement
cooldowns for getting across the water. Those crocodiles weren't too bad,"
Taylor added. "The ones that spawn when you're rushing across the water
only take a couple hits to defeat."
"If you're a damage dealer," Bonnie added.
I glanced at her and the rest of the healers. They had a bit of an attitude
problem. I was willing to let us continue in hopes that it would resolve
itself. However, it was on my mind that we were having some issues with
healers panicking or being somewhat unwilling to listen.
Of those people in the raid, the healers had been those who had faced the
least amount of danger so far diving the dungeon.
 In a small party experience, or even in the larger event, the healers were
able to remain safely behind the damage dealers and tanks. It's only now
that we had these mechanics in the raid that targeted random raid members
that they were really experiencing danger for the first time.
Not to mention, on some of the five-man party fights, the healer was the
one who always stayed near the door so that they could slip out and come
back in to revive their party.
"Next time we fight it, we know that we have to go to the side. That way,
if you get targeted by the crocodile frenzy, you have enough room to run
away," Desmonda mediated.
Professor Sai was nodding along with our words. "What about the
tanks?" she asked the rest of the group.
Helen, always quick to offer her opinion, spoke as her hand shot up. "We
were able to rotate and use our cooldowns. Thankfully, the structure of the
room made it very easy for us to pick up all of the small ones." She glanced
at the other tanks for their input.
Personally, I thought this was a fairly easy fight to tank—besides the
whole getting eaten part. I noted that they all seemed happy in a fight where
they rotated off who was tanking the boss. Even from talking with Fayeth, I
noticed a sense of pride in being the one to protect the group from the big
monster.
I had to wonder how the dungeon chose what class we got. If it wasn't
based on our personalities to some extent, I would be absolutely shocked.
For every study done on it, though, there were plenty of outliers.
Our conversation was abruptly interrupted as skeletons began to pull
themselves from the ground. However, these were not humanoid skeletons;
they belonged to some four-legged creatures, either tigers or lions.
They charged at our group, their bones creating an oddly musical noise as
they ran.
I ducked in between two members of the raid, my blades out and digging
into the monsters only moments after our tanks got their attention.
A few seconds after the fight began, one of the leonine skeletons jumped
away from their tank to pounce on Regan and start mauling her. I was there
a second later, using [Earth Stomp] to stun the monster to stop its attack.
“Don’t pull aggro.” Helen was there right after my [Earth Stomp]
resolved, getting the monster to focus back on her.
 “I swear I didn’t. I was focusing on the other one. It just leapt on me!”
Regan, with her wounds healing, hauled herself to her feet.
Helen opened her mouth to argue before another of the monsters ignored
its tank, leaping over and onto a healer. “Crap.”
She jumped, angel wings expanding from her back as she landed next to
the monster and stunned it to get it off the healer.
We managed to take the monsters down, but a few members of the raid
started to get jumpy whenever the skeletal lions shifted.
The farther we pushed towards the third boss, the more the landscape
dried up, and the more skeletons we faced. In several instances, there were
half-skeleton, half-alive monsters. These weren't buried but instead were
used as markers for where there might be monsters buried beneath.
It was a shorter trek through the raid between the second and the third
boss, taking us about an hour before we faced off against the giant bronze
doors that marked a boss's room.
Peeking inside the door, I noticed the entire area was filled with graves.
And deeper inside was a hunched-over figure that stood about ten feet tall,
looming in the back of the room.
I glanced at Candice, our wonderful boss-fight explainer. "What should
we expect?"
Candice opened her mouth and out poured an explanation that was far too
complicated for most of the group. I noticed a number of head tilts as she
continued her explanation and raised my hand to get her to stop.
The fight had a huge variable list of summons, and depending on which
ones we got, it would be a completely different fight.
Rather than watch the rest of the raid nod off, I thought some experience
would sharpen their interests. "All right, we'll just have to experience it
ourselves. This is the third fight in this section of the raid. Most of the
wings get harder as you go through them. Expect this to be the most
difficult fight of the three we have faced so far."
I pointed at two of our healers, picking Charlotte and Bonnie. "You two
are to stay as close to the doors as possible, and if for some reason you are
about to die, just run out the doors. We are preparing to wipe on this one so
that we can learn as much as we can."
The raid party nodded once again, a somber expression falling over the
rest of the raid. Preparing to die was never fun.
 "All right, we ready?" Fayeth asked, holding her thumb up, and the rest
of the raid agreed.
Professor Sai leaned against the raid door, watching with anticipation.
The tanks charged across the room, Helen using an ability to get there
first and picking up aggro on the bent-over figure.
He turned, and it was an old man filled with magic. His cape billowed as
sparkling purple magic leaked out from his sleeves and the bottom of his
robe. He raised his staff high, and when he slammed it on the ground, the
graves quaked.
Bones shot up from a handful of graves, and different figures emerged.
One was the bones of what appeared to be a scarab.
However, scarabs didn't have bones, so it was wildly confusing. Once
again, the dungeon didn't follow the laws of reality quite as well as I would
have liked.
Another pulled itself free. This one was humanoid, and finally, the third
shot out, flapping its skeletal wings and taking to the air as it squawked like
a parrot. All three of these new monsters were large enough for our whole
group to circle around and fight.
Something about raids made everything seem larger than life. Even the
hunched-over old man stood probably ten feet tall while hunched. As the
skeletons crawled out of the graves, the man stuck his staff in the ground
and remained still.
I watched as Helen tried to smack him again. There was an eerie green
barrier wrapped around him. Bones flew through the air from the three
monsters and added to his aura, preventing Helen from dealing any damage.
"All right, we have to fight them," I said, turning my attention to the
beetle. It seemed to be the slowest of the three, and I needed to get my
stacks of [Liminal Speed] going.
Yet even as I rushed over to the beetle, the flying skeleton squawked
again, its cry causing the air above us to ripple with a physical force that
impacted me, sending me flying to the side. I wasn't alone. There were a
number of other raid members that were hit by the blast.
Candice was trying to coach us as the fight continued. "You have to take
care of the parrot first. It's the most dangerous. Range DPS on the parrot."
She was able to get most of the raid following her orders as arrows and
magic flew into the air.
 Unfortunately, I couldn't hurt the parrot, having very little range attack. I
focused on the beetle instead but was once again disappointed as the beetle
began to charge around like the giant beetles of the first boss.
It wasn't paying attention to the tanks and instead charged like a bull
through our raid, a painful reminder of our disorganized nature.
I fixed my eyes on the final figure. "Let's see what we got."
The skeleton man had blue bolts of water conjuring in his hand as it flung
them around the raid with wide sweeps. This one, however, paid attention to
Fayeth as she used [Absorb] to suck in the bolt flung at her before the
skeleton switched to swiping with its claws.
I joined her using [Earth Stomp], [Absorb], and [Discharge] to stop
various attempts to cast. The other melee damage dealers joined in to help
me, but we weren’t terribly coordinated in our efforts.
I focused on the skeleton, approaching from behind. My daggers slashed
into its hip bones, trying to inflict as much damage as possible.
It was somewhat unfortunate that this monster lacked flesh or anything
else that would register my attacks. It was frustrating, but I continued to
strike with as much force and power as I could muster. My [Liminal Speed]
began to stack, and I couldn't help but grin, eagerly anticipating the moment
we could attack the actual boss.
The parrot flew overhead, releasing another sonic blast that knocked
Fayeth, me, and the rest of the melee aside.
We all scrambled to our feet, ready to rejoin the fight, only for the giant
beetle to charge through our group, sending us sprawling. However, the
beetle collided with the other skeleton, stunning both of them long enough
for us to regain our footing.
I ran, my daggers glowing black with [Dark Blades] as I continued to
damage the two skeletons standing side by side. Other melee DPS took
advantage of their AoE abilities, and we tried to inflict as much damage as
we could together. After about fifteen seconds, the beetle resumed its
rampage, and the skeleton continued to cast spells.
The problem arose when I noticed that my health was at half, and I wasn't
receiving any more heals. I wasn't alone in this realization.
Taylor shouted over at her healer, "Bonnie, I could use some heals!"
"I'm working on it!" Bonnie snapped back, throwing a heal in Taylor's
direction before returning to heal the rest of the raid. All of the healers were
barely paying attention to the monsters, instead casting spells as quickly as
they could.
It was clear to me that between the parrot, the rampaging beetle, and the
spellcaster, the entire raid was taking a significant amount of damage. It
was one thing for these healers to focus on healing the tanks, but quite
another to heal every person in the raid.
Dolly was accumulating wounds as she transferred the injuries of the
party members to herself. Every now and then, she cast a dark bolt of magic
at the parrot, causing her wounds to slowly heal.
Selene was probably the most effective of the healers for healing the raid.
Her class allowed her to heal the rest of the party members and the entire
raid at once while dealing damage. So she focused on dealing damage not
to the parrot but to the caster.
My guess was that it was standing still, making the process easier for her.
Finally, the parrot fell from the sky, and the ranged DPS switched to the
beetle, while the rest of the melee stayed on the caster. The caster died
second, and the melee switched over to the beetle, chasing it around the
room as it slammed into the walls.

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 Chapter 6

F inally, with the three adds dead, the man in the corner lifted his staff
from the ground, raising it high. The bones from the monsters that hadn't
disappeared in black smoke, an oddity for the dungeon, began to swirl
around the room.
I knew that something would come of them when they hadn’t followed
normal patterns. A bone hit me in the side, and I felt my ribs ache, forcing
me to dodge through the sudden storm of bones whirling through the room.
"There's an open spot in the center!" Candice shouted over the roar of the
bone storm.
With hundreds of bones flying through the air, each one made a dull
noise, occasionally a musical chime as they hit someone. We all rushed to
the center of the bone storm to avoid taking damage and to give the healers
a moment of respite.
Harley was playing her flute like a mad woman, trying to restore mana.
From all the damage the raid had taken, the healers were taking a moment,
trying to recover.
In the center of the bone storm, I grew frustrated because after six
seconds, my [Liminal Speed] stacks started to decay. And I wasn't alone.
Taylor and Meixie both seemed agitated at being unable to attack.
Wendy's wolves were standing with her, whining amidst the storm as
Wendy took potshots with her crossbow at the boss, but that wasn’t a big
part of her damage. The ranged DPS were all able to focus on the boss,
slinging spells and arrows through the storm of bones.
After what felt like an eternity, the bone storm finally ended.
I activated [Sprint] and rushed towards the boss. My daggers hit it maybe
a dozen times before it stabbed its staff into the ground, summoning three
more adds. Each of these was a different beast than the previous round.
The boss had the audacity to chuckle at me as my next attack bounced off
the eerie shield once again.
A groan of frustration ripped itself out of my throat.
"This is ridiculous," I said, charging away with Taylor to see which of the
three adds would be best suited for melee damage.
"Tell me about it," Taylor said. "I feel absolutely useless. More like a
liability."
I grunted in agreement. Running around like this was making us far less
effective than the ranged DPS. Not to mention, we were taking more
damage with all the effects flying around the room.
The fight continued in this manner, though it was clear we were barely
able to damage the boss before he would spawn a new set of adds. The
healers were groaning and moaning, quickly running out of mana.
"I'm out," Meredith said, throwing her hands up in the air and rushing out
of the boss's doors. Her retreat caused a cascade of the other healers to
follow suit.
With the healers gone, the ranged DPS were next, rushing out the doors
behind them.
I, however, did not have such a luxury.
One of those casting adds was in front of me, slinging bolts of water that
split and hit the entire raid. Bolts of water that, if I stopped interrupting,
were likely to kill more of the group.
So rather than run, I stayed and fought for a moment longer to buy them
some time. But without heals, the tanks died quickly, and I was soon to
follow as a rhino skeleton slammed into me.

***

I sat up with a gasp, looking at my chest. Being resurrected never felt

comfortable, especially when I was killed by a skeletal horn through the
chest. It always took me a moment to adjust and realize I was still alive.
 "All right, what did you guys do wrong?" Professor Sai was already in
teacher mode.
It seemed I was one of the last to get back on my feet. I wasn't sure how
many people had run out, but judging by the number of people sitting on the
ground trying to restore their mana, I could assume a decent number had
escaped without dying.
Candice raised her hand. "If we had been completely prepared and
understood what we were facing, that would have gone smoother."
Helen raised her hand. "If we had spent all day listening to you talk about
the various tactics for each and every combination, well, I'm pretty sure we
wouldn't have any more time to raid."
I glared at Helen. This was not the time to be fighting.
"You were all taking way too much damage," Meredith said.
The only healer not to nod in agreement was Charlotte, who cast me a
glance while waffling her head. I knew Meredith was at least partially right.
We were certainly taking more damage than in previous fights. However, I
was not sure that was going to change much in this raid.
Elysara raised her hand. "I could switch to healer."
"We're already killing the adds too slowly," another spoke up.
"What's with that? Our DPS in the exercise was so much higher," Regan
asked, her eyes turning to me. There was a hint of accusation in them.
I held my hands up. "What am I supposed to do? Learn to fly?" As soon
as I said that, I realized it was a mistake.
Tensions were rising in the raid group as a whole. As the leader, my
words had been a spark.
Patting the air, I tried to get people to calm down. "Everyone, quiet down.
We wiped. That sucked. Clearly, there were a number of problems. The
adds were not dying fast enough, which, in turn, put a greater strain on the
healers."
Everyone seemed to nod in agreement.
"I think the only people who didn't screw up were the tanks." I got smiles
from the four tanks.
"Right. So the problem came when we had two adds that the melee DPS
couldn't effectively attack. They could have gone after the beetle," Felicity
said.
"I could have wasted my time. You're right." I gave her a not-so-friendly
smile. "However, the beetle was charging around far faster than any of us
could keep up with. And only when it impacted with the caster were we
able to effectively damage it at all."
"I think both of them were taking bonus damage when that happened,"
Candice said.
"That's great, but it's hard to engineer the situation," Taylor added.
"Not entirely," Desmonda disagreed. "Maybe from your position as melee
it was hard to see. But it was clear who the beetle would attack next. It
would turn and focus on them for a moment before charging. If we
positioned ourselves such that we were in a cluster and the person who was
getting targeted rushed to line up with the other add, we could essentially
send the beetle flying like a missile towards the other add."
I pointed at Des, nodding along. "That's a fantastic idea. Anyone else see
anything?" It was a little over-complicated, but once people got used to
Des’ strategy, they’d manage it just fine.
Candice's hand shot straight up in the air.
"Yes, Candice?"
"Most of the adds have some interaction. If you can get them to hit each
other with any of their abilities, it seems to weaken the others," she said
quickly.
That was good to know, but it was a hard weakness to target. There were
so many abilities that these various skeletons possessed that I wasn't sure if
the entire raid could keep them in their head. In the middle of combat,
especially combat where death was the consequence of a misstep,
sometimes it was hard to keep a bunch of new information in mind.
"We'll just have to practice, then," I said, glancing around the group.
"If it's the parrot, then should we all stack?" Taylor asked.
"No. If we all stack, we'll all take damage together," I said.
The healers nodded at that, happy that I was helping reduce the damage
taken.
"Regardless of what we do, I think we need our healers to be in a better
place. And I don't just mean having to do less heals." I glared at the healers.
"Most of you need to understand, you're going to have to heal the raid
plenty for this. Pick amongst yourselves who is helping each tank, assign
someone to the melee group, and then assign someone to the rest of the
raid."
Being told what to do seemed to put some of the healers off. However,
Harley gave me a wink, telling me she would make sure it happened. I
hoped she could handle the healers.
"Let's take ten and then try again." I clapped my hands together and
moved off to the boss doors to lean against them. The rest of my small
group came to join me, along with a surprise guest, Professor Sai.
"Yes?" I asked the professor.
She smiled at me politely, that kind that usually came before teachers
started asking leading questions. "You're doing a great job, Ken. But..."
I liked Crimson better. She would just tell me what was wrong and leave
me to fix it. "But?" I urged her on.
"But in a fight like this, you might not be the person to lead the raid. In
melee, you're caught up with a number of priorities, and you may not be
able to see the whole room appropriately."
I frowned at her statement, though she did have a point. I glanced at my
ladies, thinking who would be the best, my eyes landing on Elysara, who
held up her hands in protest.
"Nope, I'm not here to lead, I'm here to have fun and follow." She lost the
humor from her face. “Taking a break from being empress, remember?”
Next, my eyes skipped over Felin, causing the nekorian to pout, and
landed on Des. "People respect you and will listen to your orders."
She shrugged. "For this boss, I'm happy to take charge. I think I
understand most of what Candice said. But I'm not the raid leader," Des
clarified. "I'll just be in charge of calling out what formation we have to
take."
That was good enough for me. I smiled at my lovely warlock, happy she
understood everyone well enough to find her place.
"The healers are becoming a little bit of a problem, though," she said,
voicing what was likely on most of our minds.
I couldn't help but nod in agreement, glancing over to the professor, who
had still chosen to linger by my group. "What do you think, Professor?"
"It's not uncommon for the healers to be the most skittish part of the raid.
Nor is it uncommon for there to be conflicts among the various groups. The
best solution I can offer for you is to make officer positions for the healers.
It already seems that Harley is at the center of the healers. Meanwhile, it
might be best for you to take the center of the melee damage."
I thought about that, and after a moment, I couldn't help but agree. Giving
them a dedicated leader offered a voice in what happened, and it took
managing them off my hands. Harley, despite her flippant attitude about
most things in life, would be serious about the role. "Thank you for the
advice. We'll get this working."
It would be a big step. Now, if only Crimson would come back.

***

"This is ridiculous," Crimson said, looking at the other people in the

boardroom. Among them was the lawyer that the UG had sent with her, a
representative from SJS Financials, along with their small team of lawyers.
"Why are we going through this again?" Crimson asked her lawyer. The
president of the UG had recommended him, and he had come without
complaint.
Crimson knew just about nothing about the bespectacled man who
adjusted his glasses and his tie and then clicked his pen.
These people were going to drive her insane.
"This is just a meeting between the two parties. Your job here, Crimson,
is to maintain calm, rational behavior and answer the questions," he
explained.
Crimson leaned back in her chair, her leather bodysuit creaking as she
glared at the office worker across from her. He was probably someone
‘important’ while simultaneously being a pencil pusher.
She didn't care. All of these pencil pushers around her, she could crush
them with her bare hands.
"All right, let's get this over with. I have far more important work to be
doing," she said.
"Yes, and what would that be?" the SJS lawyer asked. "Please speak into
the mic."
Crimson rolled her eyes. There was no reason to hold back. These people
were clearly here trying to push her around and waste her time.
"Actually, the UG has asked me to investigate strange disturbances in the
dungeon," she said.
She was not making that statement up either. The president of the UG had
noted that there was some level of magical activity that had shifted within
the dungeon. What it meant, no one knew. It could just be the dungeon
sneezing, but it was a wonderful excuse to get out of this conversation.
"Noted," the SJS lawyer said. "I would also like to remind you, Mistress
Crimson"—he read her name off the paper as if he didn't recognize her
—"no one is above the law, yourself included. While adventurers might
have rules about what happens in a dungeon, stays in a dungeon, you have
clearly infringed upon matters that involve the finances of a law-abiding
corporation."
Crimson thought his tie would make a wonderful noose. All she'd have to
do is flip it around, pull it a little tighter, and then off would go his head.
Sadly, she couldn't actually act on that impulse. She would have to sit
here and let the pencil pushers, unfortunately, push her around. While she
might be able to blow through most things with force, this was an
unfortunate necessity if she were to maintain a positive reputation on the
surface and continue her Haylon teaching career.
At least, those words were how the current headmistress had framed the
situation.
Of course, that was important to Crimson. She was unwilling to give up
teaching Ken and the rest of his class.
"Is it true that you've interfered with a betting situation involving SJS
Financials President Prince Albar?" The lawyer made a note on his pad.
Crimson groaned. "I have done nothing but my job as a teacher. If me
helping my students is considered influencing a betting situation, then I
would have to ask why this betting situation was allowed."
"That's not part of this discussion," he quickly dismissed. "Please answer
the questions. Nothing more than the questions, Crimson." He said her
name this time, but there was an almost nauseating tone to it as he spoke it.
"Fine. I have not affected the outcome of the betting situation." Crimson
wanted to get done with the discussion and go back to the class.
"Well, we find that interesting," he said.
Crimson threw her arms up and rolled her eyes. "If you already assume
you know the answer, why the fuck are you asking me?"
"Please stick to answering the questions," the man said into his
microphone.
Crimson began considering another rampage once she was done with the
nonsense in front of her. There was nothing more infuriating than the legal
system.
"Okay. So please inform me how I have affected this betting situation in
some sort of unlawful manner." Maybe she could go strangle the
headmistress for forcing her to play this game instead of ignoring it in the
dungeon.
 "Wonderful. I'm glad you understand your position," the lawyer
continued.
Red sparks danced across Crimson's cheek. The sparks caused the whole
group to jump in their seats.
"Please no use of abilities while in here."
"It's a passive," Crimson said with an eyeroll.
"Okay. As I was saying, you provided high-level potions to your student
during the DPS competition. I would also note that you seem to have placed
a bet on your student. It is believed that you rigged this for your own
gains," the lawyer continued.
"Is that supposed to establish the motive? Because I can assure you, what
I put on Ken was a pitiful amount." It was just her spare cash on hand.
The lawyer held up a piece of paper, reading down the spectacles on his
glasses. "Four hundred million is a pitiful amount?"
It was Crimson's turn to laugh. And laugh she did, holding her stomach as
the fancy office chair nearly fell backwards. "Yes," Crimson said, laughter
punctuating her words. "Four hundred million is a pitiful amount for me.
Do you realize how much I come back with every time I dive into the
dungeon?"
Crimson pulled out a red mana crystal. "Do you know how much this
goes for? A mana crystal? One mana crystal is a black mana crystal." She
pulled another one of those out of her CID. "Roughly equal to one Ren."
Then she pulled out a purple mana crystal. "This is equal to ten Ren. This
is a hundred Ren. This is a thousand Ren. Ten thousand. A hundred
thousand." She continued to pull out until she got to an orange mana
crystal. "One million." From when she slaughtered her way through the
naga, she had filled her CID to the brim.
She tapped on her CID. Red mana crystals spilled out all over the table,
creating a mound around her as she gave a sweeping gesture to the crystals
in front of her. "There you go. The biggest problem for me is I can't turn
these into Ren fast enough."
Crimson swept all the mana crystals back up with her CID. "Now explain
to me why I have a motive to make… how much was it?" She stared around
the group.
The lawyers cleared their throats. Several of them had loosened their jaws
at the sight of so much money. "That isn't the purpose here. It would be, for
legal purposes, considered a substantial amount of money. One that could
sustain his motive." The lawyer spoke into the microphone as if he was
trying to argue to a judge at the table.
"Sure, keep telling yourself that, buddy." Crimson sat back and crossed
her arms. "Since logic's not going to work, please continue. How did I do
this again?"
"You gave Ken"—he read the sheet in front of him—"Nagato
performance-enhancing potions prior to the event."
"I did, did I?" Crimson frowned. "He's my student. I've probably given
him health potions. So has every other teacher."
"So you have given him high-level potions?" He scribbled down on a
sheet of paper in front of him while speaking into the microphone.
"No, health potions would have no impact on his performance.” Crimson
realized she fucked up and wanted to smash the microphone and the
computer recording everything.
“But it does set a standard of you having given him potions in the past."
The lawyer latched onto her mistake.
“Yes, but Ken did what he did all on his own. There was no influence
from me.” She crossed her arms. “Prince Albar is just a sore loser.”
“And then is it also true that you are in a relationship with Ken Nagato?"
the lawyer asked pointedly.
Crimson hesitated. “I don’t see how that’s relevant.”
“Are you refusing to answer the question? That would be an admission of
guilt,” the lawyer pressed.
“No, it wouldn’t.” Her lawyer stepped in. “You don’t have to answer his
questions here.”
"Yes, that is true," Crimson answered instead. Lying would probably do
more harm than good.
Though she was worried more than anything else about Headmistress
Marlow discovering that she was in a relationship with one of the students.
The headmistress was a prickly woman, and there was a decent chance the
headmistress would make the situation harder for Crimson.
Crimson also realized the secondary goal of these lawyers wasn't to find
her guilty but simply drag her through the mud and cause her enough issue
that she gave in. Crimson did her best not to smash a chair and storm out.
She fucking hated lawyers.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 7

O urat the
raid party was taking a lunch break after several more failed attempts
boss. The fight was complex.
While we had nearly gotten the boss down at some points, when he hit
low health, he summoned nearly every skeleton still in their grave at the
same time. The party had wiped, and since then, we hadn't been able to get
back to that phase, only instilling more frustration in the rest of the raid.
"Do you think we should head to a different area of the raid?" I looked
around at what had become an officer's meeting after our most recent wipe.
The officers of the group were Harley, Penny, Des, Candice, and myself.
Each of us represented healers and support, the tanks, the ranged DPS, and
the melee DPS.
Candice was added in for her expertise in the raid details. Plus, she could
flex between ranged and support.
"We've gotten pretty consistent," Penny said, her sword laid across her
lap as she did some simple maintenance on the blade. "It's just when we get
the parrot and the tiger together, people just seem to go down hard."
Harley held her hands up. "There's nothing the support can do. The parrot
tends to drop everyone's health low enough that when that tiger pounces,
there just isn't enough time to save whoever is the target." Harley shook her
head, the little bell tied into her ponytail jingling with the gesture.
 "I know this wing is supposed to be the easiest, but how does this boss
compare?" Harley asked.
"It's likely up there, at least in the top third of the raid bosses for
difficulty," I said.
Des twirled her hair. "Candice might have some insight, but I think she
would have the same opinion. We should move on to another boss, which
means heading over to another wing."
I grimaced. It wouldn’t take too much time. There were no monsters in
the way, and after the first and second boss, shortcuts opened up to help us
get back, so the trip would only be about twenty minutes. But it would still
feel like admitting defeat.
"Don't look like that." Des nudged me. "This is how raids work. You die a
lot, and when you're done dying, you move on to something else."
Harley and Penny nodded in agreement, and finally, I let out a breath.
"Well, we made a group of officers so that I wouldn't be the only person
making the decisions. If this is what you all think, then so be it. We'll head
over to one of the other quadrants of the raid. Maybe we should pick the
other three-boss wing and save the six-boss wing for later."
The raid was a fairly simple design, though there were plenty of twists
and turns. It was shaped somewhat like a trident, with the wings that had
gone to the left and to the right being shorter than the one in the center. That
prong extended far away from the entrance and had twice as many bosses as
either of the other wings. It was down that route that you would find the
final boss, and the last three bosses were considered the hardest.
"All right, we killed the rest of the raid. We'll go over to the other wing.
What's that one called again?" I glanced at the others.
“It’s called the Path of Sands in the guidebook," Candice said.
I grumbled, not loving the idea of fighting elemental monsters because
that's what it sounded like we would be doing. Either way, we had little left
to do here, and I got moving, everyone from the officer group scattering and
getting their own parties backtracking to the entrance to the raid.
"Are you doing okay?" Penny asked, coming up beside me as we moved
back through the raid, hurrying to the other wing.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I tried to brush my feelings away. "It just sucks to walk
away from a boss."
Penny nodded, sticking with me. "Yeah, but we only have one day here.
So it's important for us to try and get as much gear as possible. Think about
it that way. Because once we've been in here three or four times, hopefully
we'll have enough gear that we can kill that boss. I really think that if we get
the healers kitted out and a little more power on the damage dealers, we'll
be able to do that one smoothly."
I chuckled. "Not more gear for the tanks?" I asked.
Penny shrugged. "A lot of people think that way. That tanks should get
first priority because they are a single point of potential improvement for
the raid. However"—Penny gestured to the whole group—"I take less
damage if everything dies faster. And if we upgrade a healer, not only does
it help me survive the boss, but it helps all of the damage dealers as well.
But yes, I would like all of the gear." Penny grinned.
"Thankfully, we don't have many melee DPS," I said. "No one else is
using plate or two-handed melee weapons."
Penny once again grinned. "Don't you know we tanks designed it that
way? So we could get all of the gear." Penny seemed to be in a good mood
despite having to walk away from the boss.
"Do the wipes or any of the other stuff bother you?" I asked her. Tanks
were always taking damage in the dungeon. Maybe she had a secret to help
the whole raid.
"Pain is temporary," Penny said. "Getting cut by a boss hurts no less than
my sore muscles after a day of training. The only difference is this is a
different type of training. This training gives me shiny loot at the end of it.
Almost like shopping, but paying with pain."
I raised an eyebrow at her, wondering what her pain tolerance measured
up to.
She must have taken my look to mean something else because she
blushed furiously, her red cheeks standing out, framed by her blue hair.
"That was weird. I didn't mean it to be weird," she hurried to correct the
misunderstanding she imagined.
I laughed and stopped her from continuing to ramble. "It's fine. It wasn't
weird. I just haven't quite thought of it in the same way. You know, training
is something we all do to ourselves and push ourselves through. Yet,
somehow, the damage we take in a fight feels different. Sharper. And more
painful."
"Well then"—Penny smiled—"you should think of it as training. You are
a training maniac from everything we've seen."
 I glanced towards the healers, who were the real problem of the group.
"What about them?"
"You have to remember that the healers haven't done nearly as much
physical training as you or me. Nor have they taken as much damage during
the dungeon. This is something they're going to have to get used to if they
want to dive deeper. My father once told me that sometimes getting healers
to stick around was the hardest part of holding a group together.” Penny ran
a hand through her hair; the bright blue was eye-catching.
I nodded along. Everything she said fit my own experiences thus far.
“The problem is that they're in such high demand that so many of them
feel like they can walk away and find a group that will protect them better.
Instead, the real gems amongst the healers are those who can bear the pain,
grit their teeth, and stick to the fight. By the time this is all through, we
might even lose one or two, but that's just the natural order of diving a
dungeon. As a tank, I get along with the healers swimmingly given I am up
front to protect them."
I chuckled, "Maybe I should have the tanks talk to the healers. That is, if
Harley struggles at all."
Penny rolled her eyes. "My cousin and she seem to get along
wonderfully.” There was a slight edge to those words.
“Do you have a problem with Harley?" I asked. Our future raids would
go poorly if people began to hold grudges.
"Only that she's corrupting my cousin."
I raised an eyebrow at Penny. "After everything you write, I don't think
you're pure enough to comment on Meredith's corruption." We hadn’t really
had a conversation about her writing yet, but I was aware of what she was
writing.
Penny sputtered at the mention of 74 wives. "What? No. It's not like
I've..." She struggled with what to say.
"It's not like you what?" I pressed while she was off balance.
"It's not like I've actually done all of that." Her face was now bright red,
flushing all the way from the tips of her ears down to her collar.
"I don't think you've actually done that," I said to her. "It would be pretty
hard to organize lining up 74 ladies and going down one by the other." I
couldn’t help but crack a smile.
Penelope sputtered at that. "You don't actually read it, do you?" She
hesitated.
 "Do you want me to?" I asked, seriously considering it if she said yes.
"No, no. It's just a hobby," Penny said, quickly waving her hands in front
of her to fend me off.
"Alright then. I won't read it, but enough of the ladies talk about it that I
understand the gist." I didn’t let on all I understood. Des had asked me to
reenact a few scenes. Apparently, Penny was quite the creative writer.
Penny's blush couldn't grow any further, and she took the first
opportunity to step away and talk to one of the other raid members. It was
almost like watching someone pull their parachute.
I chuckled at her embarrassment. She was cute, but I was full up on
ladies.
My focus shifted back to moving through the empty hallways towards the
new wing of the raid. The embarrassed Penny was quickly replaced by
Elysara, who slid up next to me with a raised brow.
"Not you, too," I said, with a mock gasp.
Elysara had switched out her abilities and currently had a pair of fox ears
above her head. Her hands were some sort of tiger paws. It was all probably
to make her faster. She kept up with our rushed walk without even
breathing hard.
"Leading is hard, isn't it?" She smirked.
I held up my hands in my defense. "Much harder than anyone ever told
me. I was fairly certain that getting to be a leader just meant I got to boss
people around. Now, suddenly, I actually have to do something." I
emphasized the statement with a gasp.
The princess laughed. "Most of the time, I think being a leader is just
being able to listen to others long enough to get out of your own way.”
“It would be great if you could tell the rest of the class that, too," I shot
back.
Elysara shrugged. "Being able to listen is also part of it, and this is why I
am very happy not to be leading the raid. I don’t want to listen to everyone
else. I want to be a part of something."
I couldn't really blame her. So far, the excitement of leading the raid had
begun to wear off, and instead, I was now being filled with a sense of duty
and a whole host of problems that I needed to solve.
Now, I had to make sure that people didn’t get weary of dying and make
sure we all made enough progress to keep people’s spirits high and thirsting
for adventure.
 "And how would you suggest I do this better? After all, you have a little
experience leading people." She was the future empress of an entire world,
and she had filled in for her father when he ran off to fight the naga.
Elysara let out a light chuckle. "I find the best way to do it is to surround
yourself with competent people, and I think you're already well on the way
to figuring that out." She glanced around at the officers I had built for
continuing the raid.
I looked over them, too, nodding in agreement. The other players were
doing a fantastic job. It was my job just to polish them and make sure it all
worked out.
"By the way, where are your censors?" I glanced at the princess. “We've
been running through this whole thing, and I was absolutely shocked to not
have Neldra or any of the others breathing down my neck."
She pointed to Professor Sai. "She's in charge, and she's actually not low-
level. Neldra is currently stationed at the entrance to the raid. Tish ran
through it beforehand to make sure no one was lingering. If anyone tried to
enter, she would break their necks. The way they explained it to me is that,
right now, my biggest danger is someone coming in, not what's inside the
raid."
I could understand that concept. Right now, the raid itself didn't pose a
risk. It was something stupid like Prince Albar sending another set of
assassins after her that would really put her life in jeopardy.
Of course, we all hoped that the prince wasn't that stupid, especially
because the UG was aware of the first attempt and would only back the
elves further if he tried something else.
When we first brought the issue to the president’s attention, he had been
aghast that it had even gone as far as it had. He gave Elysara the full
reassurance of the UG that it would never happen again.
So far, that remained to be seen.
However, I had faith that the president of the UG would follow through.
In my experiences with the man, he had been nothing but helpful, and he
deserved the benefit of the doubt.
Elysara must have sensed my worry. She stepped up to place a kiss on my
cheek. "Don't you be all frowny on me. I am perfectly fine, and the prince
will never lay a hand on me," she said with the utmost confidence.
Then again, with her position amongst the elves, confidence was one of
her greatest strengths.
 "How are your people?" I turned the tables on her. "Over the summer,
there was a lot of strife. Has it improved?" I asked, having not really talked
about her nation since she had returned.
Elysara shrugged. "Everyone is doing just fine. With my father being
forced to return"—she smirked—"hopefully, he can get his shit together."
I gasped at the way she talked about her father, and she rolled her eyes
playfully.
"The old man really needs to figure some of this out," she said. "While I
might be next in line, it's still his problem. After all, it was on his watch that
we had the rebel faction attempt to kill me." She puffed out her cheeks,
clearly having not forgiven her father for the trouble the previous summer.
The situation had not been directly his fault. But I knew there were plenty
of people holding Elysara responsible for everything that happened in the
elven kingdom. It only made sense for her to put the same level of rigor on
her father.
"Aren't you being a little harsh?" I asked her.
"Not in the slightest." She was adamant that it was her father's
responsibility to fix things among her people. "One of these days, the old
man's going to retire. He better not leave me a mess to clean up."
I laughed. Elysara could do entirely what she wanted. She was, after all,
the princess of the elves. And despite being far younger than her father,
from the time I had spent in the elven kingdom, she proved herself to be a
fantastic future empress.
"Speaking of..." Elysara trailed off. "I have to ask. In the future, will you
be spending your summers with me?" She blushed enough that her cheeks
matched her ruby hair. "After all, my people would love to see their future
empress's husband more often. Not to mention that your presence would
really help the tensions between elves and humans."
I kissed her on the cheek. "We will have to figure that out. Now that Des
has the portal ability, we'll have to get her over to the elven kingdom."
Elysara jabbed me in the side with one of her thumbs. "Or you could
work on your mana, and you could get the portal."
I chuckled. By the end of the school year, I expected all of my Adrel to
have access to the portal ability. And with that, hopefully, we would be able
to travel between the elven and the human worlds more easily. It would
make spending time with Elysara simple and easy.
 Her hand shifted from the paw of whatever monster she was mimicking,
and she laced her hands in mine. The tan elven princess was pretending to
be shy for a moment, pulling me closer.
I wrapped my arms around her hips and pecked her on the cheek as we
were still moving through the raid. I couldn't slow down to do more.
"Don't worry, Ellie. I am going to make you a very happy woman for as
long as I can."
"Promises, promises. When we get back to the elven world, I'm going to
make you sit on my throne," she said with a low purr coming from her
throat, telling me exactly what she wanted to do with her throne.

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 Chapter 8

I nmonsters.
the sand quarter of the raid, we were quickly confronted by elemental
A large golem, made of square limestone blocks, thudded
through the hallway. The monster had a stiff-legged walk that caused it to
thump with each step. We heard it far before we saw it.
The raid party spread out and prepared for combat. Unlike bosses, we
went in blind, unsure what to expect.
Myrtle went in swinging, along with the rest of the tanks. After a few
seconds, we all dove in.
My blades were fast, chipping small pieces of stone away from the
golem, though it was hard to maintain my form as each strike was jarring.
My arms reverberated with a small amount of pain every time I hit the
monster.
The fight seemed fairly simple at first. But then the golem shook, and a
small sandstorm rolled off it, picking up the chips and the dust that had
fallen and creating a whirlwind that slowly moved through the raid.
Everyone got out of the way. The whirlwind was slow enough that there
were no problems with the rest of the raid avoiding getting blasted.
Once we got the golem to half health, the situation changed. The golem
shook, throwing out another tornado, the first one still active, but then the
golem split in two, its blocks falling apart and reforming into two golems
that were half the size of the first.
 The tanks got in front of them and grouped them together so that
everyone could exercise any cleave ability that they had.
I was continuing to work with [Liminal Speed] to build up the ability. As
I tried to kill one of the golems, both of them shook and created what were
now four tornadoes.
At this point, it was getting more complicated for the raid to avoid the
sandstorms.
They split, finally, a second time. Now there were four golems standing
eight feet apart, with two golems standing eight feet tall. They were pulled
together, and this time, the DPS switched, and people started throwing out
AoE attacks rather than single-target or cleave abilities.
The golems went down, and I looked throughout the raid. There were
actually two people who needed to be revived.
I raised an eyebrow at Candice, wondering what had happened.
"They got caught by the tornadoes," she explained, "and they were unable
to get out. It got a little hectic back here, even with how slow the tornadoes
were moving."
I winced. Most of these trash mobs had been proving to be practice for
the boss, meaning we were most likely going to be dealing with these sorts
of tornadoes during the boss fight.
"Better to learn now," I said as the raid picked back up, and we continued
through to fight more monsters.
There had actually been two types of monsters as we cleared our way to
the first boss. One was the golems that we had just fought, and the second
was whirling sandstorms that did not take melee damage or physical
damage of any kind.
Only magic damage could stop the sandstorms. Thankfully, I had [Dark
Blades] that provided some damage, but it was significantly blunted. Poor
Regan only had her arrows and piercing abilities. She ended up throwing
her bow to the side and storming away after trying and failing to injure the
whirlwinds.
We continued the raid, killing two more bosses.
The first was a two-monster boss, a golem and a sandstorm, that required
us to kill them at the same time, only for them to split. We had to kill the
splits at the same time for them to go down. It required some coordination
and damage, and we got it on our third attempt.
 The next boss was a giant sand dune that continually spawned monsters.
This boss was interesting because we could not damage the sand dune;
instead, each of the monsters took health away from it when they spawned.
When we finally got rid of all of the sand, there was a large totem that we
destroyed to defeat the boss. The totem itself used dark magic, pulsing and
sending it out into the raid, dealing an extreme amount of damage.
The damage blast was a final DPS check—one that we passed with flying
colors.
The third boss in this section was apparently one of the hardest in the
raid, and rather than take it on, we left and finished one more boss in the
main branch of the dungeon before we had to call it a day.

***

As we returned to the safe zone, our party was met with the familiar sight of
the camping tents for all four schools. We had pulled up our camping gear
on the 28th floor and moved it here to the 32nd. We wanted to be able to
maximize our time inside the raid, and the rest of the schools were doing
the same.
Prince Albar was waiting outside the raid, a sneer on his face. "Did you
all have fun wiping? Any of you ready to quit? I'd understand if it was too
much for you." He sneered at me, clearly trying to chip away at my group's
confidence. "I hear every time you die that you lose a little piece of your
soul."
"Stop talking," I told him, not one for bullies. We had a bet. One that, if I
lost, would make me lose Crimson.
Prince Albar was certainly not above trying to do emotional damage to
my raid in order to get a leg up. Really, I didn't think he was above any sort
of foul play. The prince was just the kind of man who didn't care for a fair
fight if it meant he could win.
Elysara gave him a rather sinister smile from behind me. "I'm glad you're
still able to pick a fight. It would have been a shame after the business deals
fell through if you lost some of your ferocity."
He glared at the princess behind me. "I knew it was you."
Elysara smirked. "Then you shouldn't have sent someone to fucking kill
me." She turned her nose up at him and pulled me away from the prince.
I glanced at her. "Have you already started shifting business?" I asked.
 "Of course. So, then comes a complication. Because some of these
contracts require that we go through human courts, others elven courts. As
for the elven courts, it's quite simple. The human courts seem to have a
large bias towards him." She made a face. "Either way, the business has
stopped or been rerouted through Silver Fangs, bleeding them. All he can
do is seek damages.”
“Leave it to our princess to slaughter the financial group." Des hugged
Elysara from behind, giving her a kiss on the cheek and making Elysara
blush.
"It was nothing. He went after Ken. And I'm going to show him just how
poor of a decision that was to make." Despite her earlier words, saying that
she didn't want to be a leader, Elysara was fierce.
I loved all of the women around me, and the princess only proved just
how much they loved me in return. The pain of the lawsuits and the
potential conflict between humans and elves was not a small matter to take
on to defend me. I felt warm in my heart, enjoying the hug that Des had
started.
Another pair of arms wrapped around me, Harley's bell jingling. "Ooh,
why are we hugging? I love hugs!"
I rolled my eyes and peeled her off me.
Harley had a giant smile on her face, making it impossible to stay mad at
the pink-haired bard.
"Nothing," I said.
"It's not nothing," Des countered. "Elysara is kicking the prince's butt.
Woe to those who pick a fight with Ken."
"Damn right." Harley bounced on the balls of her feet and punched at the
open air. "The empress, I'm sure, has quite the right hook. I've seen her
pretend to be melee DPS, and she does a good job."
Our raid party had all pulled away from the entrance, and the Royal
College didn't hesitate at all. Their raid party pushed into the area the
second we left.
I turned to address the raid. "Alright, everyone, we have three days." I
looked at them. “There were some questions on if we could split the raid
with one of the other groups. However”—I shook my head—“after
experiencing it for the first time myself, I doubt any of the other groups
would split the raid with us.”
 The bosses would respawn at midnight every night, which meant that any
group would want free reign of the raid to move through and clear it
however they wished. I was sure we wouldn't be the only group clearing it
in such a haphazard order.
"So, we have three days off?" Helen raised her hand.
"Three days off," I repeated. "Though, we should continue some training
and use this section of the dungeon to grind. But you're welcome to split up
into your parties and dive or spend some time in the safe zones to recover. I
know after those wipes that people will probably want a little downtime."
There were many nodding heads in the raid. Sometimes after dying in the
raid groups, what a player needed was to reaffirm why they went down into
the dungeon. And for many, that was spending the money that we earned.
Spending time with family or reconnecting with their party was meaningful.
I knew for myself, I was going to use one day to take Elysara out on a
date. She had made a comment after seeing Charlotte get a date that she
wanted one, too.
Smiling, I turned as Des walked up to me, grabbing my arm and dragging
me back to the tent.

***

I knew the group was tired when, after a long day in the raid, we came back
and went straight to sleep.
Even Desmonda didn't keep us up with bedtime shenanigans.
So, I was curious about who woke up before me. As I woke, the smell of
pancakes cooking in our tent wafted through the air. Extracting myself from
the limbs, I didn't check who was in the bed and who wasn't.
Padding out of the partition in the tent, I found Crimson cooking stack
after stack of pancakes. My teacher was wearing a frilly apron, and I had to
squint to see that she was wearing workout clothes underneath rather than
her normal outfit. The apron hid her top almost perfectly.
"And where have you been?" I asked her pointedly. The high-level
adventurer had been gone for her first round in the raid, and I found that
slightly suspicious. She would have normally reveled in pushing us harder.
"Things," Crimson said, dodging the question. "Pancakes?" She plopped
the food down on the table while she continued to use Fayeth's pop-up
kitchen.
 "Oh no, you don't get off that easily," I said, pulling the plate closer and
dousing the pancakes in syrup as they were meant to be eaten. "What's that
supposed to mean?"
Crimson continued to play innocent. “Nothing.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. Crimson normally bowled straight through any
issue that rose up in her path. To see her dodging questions was out of
character, to say the least.
"Oh, now you're only making me more curious," I said.
Crimson shrugged. "Sometimes, a girl has to have an air of mystery."
I chuckled, watching her. An air of mystery wasn't normally how I would
describe Crimson, but I let her get away with it this time. If she didn’t want
to tell me, I wasn’t going to force it.
Instead, I ate, letting the silence do the work.
"There's something happening in the dungeon," Crimson blurted out after
a moment. "The UG was having me check it out. As I expected, there was
nothing for me to actually find." She shrugged helplessly. "It's not like the
dungeon would open up to me and say, 'Ta-da! Here's the answer that you
were seeking,'" she grumbled and continued to flip pancakes.
"Well, did you find anything interesting?" I asked.
"Oh, definitely something. But nothing that I think was the cause of the
UG’s concern. In several branches of the dungeon, they had large seismic
activity," she explained.
"The UG is suddenly worried that the dungeon is going to erupt?" I
asked. The only reference I had for seismic activity was volcanoes, and I
really hoped the dungeon wasn't about to erupt.
"Let's hope not," Crimson said shortly. "Until we figure out what it
actually is, though, I'm on task to figure out what is happening. Which, right
now, means running about the dungeon like a chicken with my head cut
off," she grumbled. "I swear, these guys have no idea how important I
actually am."
She waved a spatula around, painting an interesting picture of ‘important’
as she was currently cooking the rest of my ladies and me pancakes.
I was sure many would argue that was not the best use of Crimson's
talent, but they wouldn't find the argument from me. Crimson was a
fantastic chef, even though her culinary expertise leaned towards efficiency.
"Well, until they send you on another errand, you get to hang out with
us," I tried to give her a better option.
 Crimson looked away, and that's when I knew she wasn't going to be
sticking around as much as I'd hoped.
I grimaced. "How often are they going to be sending you out?" I asked.
"Well, you know, constantly," she deadpanned. "Right now, they have me
running errands because of my portal ability. I'm able to get around and get
back to report far more quickly. None of this stuff is sending signals
through the dungeon. Mostly, it's me running equipment and setting it up in
the dungeon so that they can get more test results for things that I can't
begin to pronounce. Then I have to run down, download the stuff, and bring
the files back. They pay me damned well, and frankly, I don’t have much to
do with you stuck in the raid."
I felt like there was more she was not saying, but seeing Crimson be
dodgy for the first time made me not want to press, and instead, I let her tell
me when she was ready.
"Good news. We defeated five bosses on our first trip," I changed the
subject.
"Only five?" she asked, a slight upturn of her lip telling me what she
really thought about that number.
"Only five?" I shot back. "We worked hard for those five."
"I'm sure you did." Crimson made another stack of pancakes for herself.
Her own application of syrup was just as copious as mine.
"I think we did just fine." I was only a little bitter at her downplaying
what little success we had achieved.
"Sorry, did I hurt your feelings?" Crimson said with a mocking tone.
"In fact, you did," I told her, and she had the gall to look properly
chastised at that.
"Look, I expect you guys to tear through that raid once you get settled."
She took off the apron and sat down next to me, digging into her own
pancakes. "The thing about raids is that no one does them right at first.
Everyone has their own ideas of how things work, but once you get in the
habit of defeating a boss, it becomes like riding a bicycle, and your raid
party will start clearing them all very quickly. You'll make quick work of
the raids from then on." She shrugged. "It's really just a matter of time
before all of you have it cleared."
"It took so long for us to do five," I admitted. "The real problem is the
healers."
 "It's always the healers," Crimson said. "The prissy lot would ask all of us
to dance on eggshells if it would keep them from dying."
I raised an eyebrow at her tone.
"Don't look at me like I'm wrong. We both know I'm right. Let me guess.
The healers were disorganized, overhealing themselves every time they
took damage, and running straight into monsters' jaws." Her words were
punctuated as she chomped down on some pancakes. She didn't pull her
punches.
"You just about got it," I chuckled, thinking of what the healers would
think of her phrasing.
"It's always like that, but in good news, it does get better," Crimson said.
"They're going to realize that they will die in most fights, and they'll go into
it with a new, grimmer determination. It just takes time. If you were hoping
that I could solve this one for you with a few simple tips, well, I'll just say
that I wish I could, too."
She seemed not only to be talking about the raid but likely what else had
been bothering her.
“What did you do when healers were a problem?” I asked. “At some
point, you were diving with parties.”
Crimson smirked. “Strangled them and then revived them. I reminded
them that damage dealers are in charge. Kill things and look good doing it.
Like I said, it's just going to take time. You guys will have this down by the
end of the month, though. I'd be shocked if it takes the rest of the semester
for my Haylon class to do it."
I realized that Crimson was setting some unrealistic expectations for us
once again. Not that I minded. I, too, wanted to complete this raid.
"Alright, if you're not going to tell me what's actually bothering you," I
said, "then you can tell me what we're going to do. What do you have
planned for the class during this break?"
Crimson grinned like a loon. "Just that. I'm going to give you guys an
actual break."
I gasped in mock horror. "No! Are you okay, Crimson? Are you dying?" I
teased her and put a hand to her forehead.
She rolled her eyes. "Not dying. Not yet, at least. You guys need a break
just as much as I do. Raids are tough on everyone. So, instead of pushing
you further, and, let's be honest, breaking most of your minds, I'm going to
let you guys take the days off. Besides, I’ll be busy running about for the
UG most of it anyways."
Feeling that she was a little down, I nudged her in the side. "Make sure
that you're not too busy. You need to set aside enough time to go on a date
with me."
Crimson perked up and glanced at me in surprise. "A date?" she asked
excitedly.
"A date," I confirmed. "You know, the thing where usually the guy takes
the girl out." I put a hand on her hip, and she pushed into the sensation.
Before me, she couldn’t really be touched and still reveled in being able to
now.
Crimson squealed in a very un-Crimson-like manner and gave me a side
hug as red sparks danced out of her eyes, and she nearly crushed me. "I
haven't been on a date in forever," she said excitedly.
I squinted at her, trying to guess what kind of date I should take Crimson
on.
I knew that she would love it as long as we did anything that avoided her
being Mistress Crimson and let her be a normal person. I'd have to think
about how to hide her identity as we went anywhere. She was incredibly
recognizable. However, at the moment, I was looking at her in her workout
outfit instead of her signature red leather bodysuit, and I realized that that
might be a wonderful way to get her out incognito.
No one would expect Crimson to be wearing a dress.
"What are you looking at?" Crimson squinted at me.
"Oh, nothing, just making plans." I smirked right back at her, enjoying
keeping the secret of what we would do for the date in slight petty revenge
for her keeping whatever secret she had from me. I wasn't going to pry, but
I wasn't above petty revenge.

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 Chapter 9

D esstiffly.
wandered out of the bedroom partition, still half-asleep and walking
She passed Crimson, who was sitting at the counter, and pecked
her on the cheek.
Still a morning zombie, Des walked over to the pan and looked at the
available pancake mix before staring back at the pan as if waiting for the
pancakes to magically make themselves.
I got up, walked behind Des, and gently grabbed her by the shoulder,
scooting her over to the chair. "I don't think you're in a state that I should be
letting you play with fire and hot things," I said.
Des yawned in the seat. "Probably for the best. So, where have you
been?" She glanced at Crimson out of the corner of her eye.
Crimson started to talk, but I talked over her. "She won't tell us. Well,
she'll tell us about the UG thing, but not where she's really been," I said.
That statement seemed to wake Des up a little. "You mean Crimson has a
problem she can't solve?"
"I can solve it. It's just going to take time," Crimson snapped back.
Des hummed in response. "Sure you can. If you didn't know it, Ken's
family is a clan of assassins. If someone's causing you problems, you can
hire Ken to..." Rather than finish the sentence, she drew her thumb across
her neck and stuck her tongue out.
 "Oh, I'm well aware." Crimson laughed. "And if it gets any worse, I
might just do that."
I frowned. That confirmed there was something Crimson was hiding.
Des glanced back at me. "See, now you know what to get Crimson for her
birthday."
"My birthday?" Crimson perked up.
"Don't worry about that," I said a little quickly. Crimson squinted back at
me.
"Anyway…" Crimson drew out the word and glanced over at Des. "It's
not important where I've been. What is important is that Ken is planning a
date for me."
Des made an appropriate ooh and ah. "Where are you going?"
"He won't tell me," Crimson said.
Des looked back at me, bouncing her eyebrows. "Should we make it a
full group date?"
"I don't think that's necessary. It would be good for Crimson and me to
have some alone time, especially because you'd get me all day for the raid,"
I pointed out.
Des pouted and melted onto the table. "That hardly counts. We're just
throwing ourselves at the raid, dying repeatedly while listening to healers
bitch and moan."
I rolled my eyes but started another round of pancakes for Des. "Crimson
said it just takes time.”
“Everyone is sounding like a broken record," Des said, "saying the same
thing. But if enough people are saying it, then I can only assume it must be
true. Or at least there is some truth to it."
Crimson continued to work on her three plates of pancakes. Two were
already gone, her eyes flitting to where I was piling up a new stack as I
cooked.
"I'll give you another round after I finish with Des."
Crimson had a giant smile on her face before she stuffed it full of more
pancakes.
Laden with so much syrup and butter, I was a little worried for her before
I once again looked at her waistline and realized that worry was completely
worthless.
Adventurers weren't really human after they had been in a dungeon too
long. Not only were they capable of burning massive amounts of calories,
but the mana flowing in their bodies helped keep them in what they saw as
their ideal form.
"So, Ken has a secret date, and Crimson has a secret problem," Des
confirmed. "So, what's my secret?"
"You don't have a secret," I said.
"You could help me extract Ken's secret," Crimson offered.
Des smiled. "That's easy. All you have to do is tie him up and make him
beg."
Crimson pouted back. "But he won't let me tie him up. It's a man thing."
Des shot back, "Or you could let him tie you up and make him beg."
I flipped out my first pancake. "I have a feeling all of Des' answers are
essentially going to boil down to 'make me beg'."
She smiled. "You know me so well." Her pink eyes glittered with unsated
lust.
We hadn't gotten up to any antics after the raid because everyone had
been exhausted mentally and physically, so I knew my temptress would be
at it today. It also seemed she wasn't alone in waking up to the smell of
pancakes.
Elysara was rubbing out her bleary eyes. The princess sat down at the
table on the other side of Crimson, pulled out a tea cup with gold framing
on it, and began to make a pot of tea. The pot was just as decorative, with
gold vines and leaves wrapped up around the white porcelain.
"Really?" I asked, looking at the tea set.
Elysara shrugged. “I’m a princess, dammit."
Crimson was eyeing the teapot and cup. "Would you like some?" Elysara
asked, taking out another matching cup.
"Yes, please." Crimson pulled out her own cup, rather than take the one
rimmed with gold, with gold vines and leaves painted on it. Crimson's cup,
as you might call it, was a dented-up metal mug that likely weighed twenty
pounds by how thick the metal looked.
"You'd drink out of that?" Des asked, aghast.
"Look!" Crimson held her hands up. "It's gotten me through the worst,
and it's durable enough that it survived… It survived being thrown at a naga
head. Well, through a naga head," Crimson corrected herself.
"Oh, yes. Wonderful. I can just see it now," Des mimed, being a
showwoman, gesturing to an imaginary cup. "Buy the mug now, the
indestructible mug, the one that can blow your head off."
 "I blew the naga's head off. The cup just survived the action." Crimson
pointedly took a sip from her mug, and Elysara did so, too, but far more
daintily.
"Just remember when you take her on a date"—Des pointed at the
indestructible metal mug—"that she has a tendency of breaking things."
"Going on a date?" Elysara perked up. "I want a date."
I held my hand up as I flipped another pancake out, finishing Desmonda's
stack of pancakes and sliding them over to the warlock. She eagerly took
them, drizzling just a smidge of syrup over them before taking a banana out
of her CID and starting to cut it up.
"I'd like some blueberries in mine," Elysara put her order in, seeing Des.
"Pancakes finished. You're after Crimson," I deadpanned, realizing I was
now stuck being the chef for the group and sliding my half-eaten pancakes
over closer to me so that I could steal a few bites in between making theirs.
"Also, I will take everyone I can on dates," I said slowly. "These next few
days, Crimson is kindly letting us recover." I pointed at our teacher. There
was no way she was getting out of it once I continued to let that spread
amongst the class. Especially with the rest of my harem all likely wanting
dates.
Crimson held her hands up in surrender. "I'm not going back on that. You
all get to relax. Don't expect this every time between the raid, but the first
few are always the hardest. You'll have more people stick around if I let you
guys rest and acclimate between them, rather than continuing to push you
hard."
Des gasped. "Crimson? Realizing that people have limits? Alright, what
did you do with our Crimson?"
We all laughed, except for Crimson, who was busy rolling her eyes.
"I have enough experience to know when to let up. This isn’t my first
rodeo," she pointed out.
"Yes…" I trailed off, wondering what was bothering her. "Let's just say
most people expect to nearly die every day of class with you."
That statement only made Crimson smile wider. "Good, then they have
the right expectation coming into it. I don't have any interest in teaching
soft students. The dungeon requires all of us to be at least a little hard. Just
not so hard that we turn brittle." She punctuated the end by raising her
eyebrow.
I nodded along. "Thus, the breaks."
 "Exactly!" She smiled. "I knew you were my best student.”
“Do you treat all of your best students like you treat Ken?" Des bobbed
her eyebrows.
"No, Ken is special. To be honest, after you guys graduate, I doubt I will
go back to teaching at Haylon."
We hadn't ever discussed the topic of her future teaching before. But on
some level, I knew Crimson enjoyed the teaching, and I was somewhat
surprised to hear she wouldn't be going back.
Crimson must have read my face. "Because you and I will be diving as
deep as we can into the dungeon," she clarified, flashing me a grin as if to
say, ‘and you are going to like it.’
It was my turn to hold my hands up and surrender. "Of course, we'll go all
the way to the bottom.”
“I wonder what's at the bottom," Elysara rejoined the conversation,
leaving her tea to cool. "It's been a topic of debate amongst elven scholars.
Do humans have any theories?"
I looked at the other two, both of whom shook their heads.
"Not really," Crimson answered on behalf of humanity. "Probably like the
elves, there are definitely some people who have thrown out some wild
guesses. But there's no data that we can really use to guess with any
certainty what's at the bottom of the dungeon. Or if there even is a bottom.
For all we know, the dungeon could expand in some sort of infinity. For the
most part, the dungeon has been outside of science's ability to explain."
Elysara nodded along and continued to sip at her tea.
The others seemed to wake up one after the other. Charlotte then came
out and sat feeding Bun-Bun just before Fayeth came out and sleepily
shooed me away from her kitchen so that she could take point.
It came as no surprise when Felin was the last one to wake up, yawning
and stretching with one of my shirts on. She made her way over to where
we were all sitting enjoying pancakes. Some of us were on our fifth serving.
I glanced at Crimson, who was demolishing yet another plate.
Felin crawled into my lap and made herself at home before she began
eating what was left of my second serving of pancakes.
I gave her a poke. "Get your own."
She only wiggled deeper in my lap, her tail curling around my hips to
keep herself seated. "I am hungry. And isn't it your responsibility as my
mate to make sure I have enough energy?" She threw out a lazy excuse, and
my pancakes disappeared. A moment later, a large, satisfied smile appeared
on her face as she rubbed her stomach.
"What's the plan for today?" Des asked.
"Well, I was hoping you could find a way to keep Crimson busy." I
glanced at Des. "Meanwhile, I thought I might gonna go on a shopping date
with Fayeth."
My Adrel perked up at that. "Wonderful. I was just hoping we could go
shopping." Fayeth smiled as she cooked four skillets of pancakes at a time.
"I think I'd like to go shopping for a few things myself," Des said,
glancing at Crimson. "Not to mention, I would appreciate it if you helped
portal me around so that I could get more locations for my own portal
ability."
Crimson rubbed her chin. "I can do something this morning, but this
afternoon, I have to go run another errand for the UG. Unless you want to
come along, Des, in which case, we could run you through a few dead
branches of the dungeon and give you portals."
Des nodded at that. "I would appreciate it."
Crimson shrugged. "If Ken will tell me when my date is going to be, I'll
make sure I'm free." She leaned against my shoulder and batted her lashes
at me.
"How does tomorrow night sound?"
"Perfect," Crimson was quick to agree. She gave me a side squeeze
before handing another empty plate to Fayeth, who gave the insatiable
woman a long glare as she served her up what I assumed would be her last
stack of pancakes.
"I'm making Felin’s next, then Ken’s replacements," Fayeth said, taking
out a small carton of cream and a whole stack of bacon.
Felin's tail wiggled so hard in my lap at the sight of cream and bacon that
I knew the nekorian would be absolutely satisfied with Fayeth's newest
creation.
"That leaves me at odd ends," Elysara said, "but I have plenty of things I
can take care of.”
“Such as demolishing SJS Financials’ trade deals?” Des asked.
Elysara gave her a feral grin. "Precisely."
Charlotte pulled Felin out of my lap. "And I will take this one and do my
best to keep her out of trouble."
 Even as she said the words, Bun-Bun was inching away towards Fayeth's
cabinet. The elf dropped a cleaver in front of the rabbit with a hard glare.
"You might want to recruit help. It seems you have two troublemakers on
your hands," Fayeth said to Charlotte.
"I think Penny was wanting to spend time with me," Charlotte offered,
"and Felin seems to get along well with her."
Felin gave all of us a toothy grin. "She's the one who writes the sex
story."
I groaned, rubbing a hand against my face. I had to assume it would all be
fine. All of them were grown women, and they could handle themselves.
But sometimes, I wondered how they all survived in this world.

***

Fayeth, even if she had spoken casually while cooking earlier, was taking
the shopping trip seriously.
She was dressed to the nines, wearing a pair of heels that I had never seen
before along with one of her Saintess dresses, though this one was a lovely
blue and white that went with her eyes.
“Aren’t you lovely today.” I took her arm and hooked it in mine as we
stepped through the portal that Des had made out to the surface. It dumped
us out in an outdoor mall.
“On the rare chance I get you alone, I hope I’m lovely.” She pecked my
cheek. “What are you looking for?”
“Resistance potions. We never really used them in the past, but I was
curious if there’d be anything for that boss. The parrot’s sonic attack was
what really kept wrecking the raid,” I said. “But that’s just a single stop.
After that, we should look at the non-adventurer-related shops.”
It was just for a moment, but I could almost feel Fayeth’s disappointment
that I was shopping for the raid.
“Which ones?” she asked.
“That one there is going to be filled with dining and cookware.” I pointed
out the housewares store. “Then that one is semiformal clothes.”
“The complexity of your formal-semiformal-casual part of English is
beyond confusing,” she said, picking at her dress. “There are some
conventions for stations, but in the elven world, my people simply wear
nice things to impress people.”
 “I tend to agree.” Chuckling, I led her through the mall. It was a lovely
space, with a little playground for the kids to congregate along with
peaceful seating by a bubbling fountain that was clean despite birds
flocking over it.
Simply walking through the mall with Fayeth lifted my spirits.
“Oh. What about that store?” Fayeth pointed at a jewelry store with a big
poster of a woman dripping in diamonds.
“You know exactly what’s in that store,” I chuckled. “Unless you were
pointing at the underwear store next to it.”
Fayeth gave me a pair of puppy dog eyes that I couldn’t resist.
“Let’s go check it out.” I couldn’t help but notice that she fiddled with the
simple ring on her finger, the one that had caused the confusion when we
had first met. I had been kneeling to pick up loot when the elves first ran
into me and was supposed to offer elves a gift on our first meeting.
The loot in question just happened to be that ring she was still wearing.
Perhaps I should upgrade it.
Walking into the store, Fayeth caught a saleswoman’s attention before she
did a double take, staring at Fayeth’s ears.
“Welcome to our store.” The woman’s eyes flitted down to see the CIDs
on our wrists, and a smile bloomed on her face. Contrary to the store's
audacious sign, the woman was in a simple suit and skirt, with a few thin
pieces of jewelry on her rather than the diamond-dripping woman in the
picture. “What would you be looking for? You’re an elf, correct?”
Fayeth nodded. “Yes, I am.”
“Wow.” The woman blinked. “I’ve never seen one before. Then again,
I’m not an adventurer diving deep into the dungeon. You two must be high-
level to still look so young. Levels are better than any beauty cream; I just
never had a taste for adventure.”
“It takes a certain type,” I agreed. “Fayeth here is our tank.”
“Good thing I won’t be throwing any damage your way.” The woman
drew us over to the display cases as she talked. “I’m afraid I don’t know
elven customs. Is there any particular piece of jewelry you’re looking for?”
Before Fayeth could speak up, I grabbed her hand and showed the woman
the ring. “It’s a long story, but I proposed with a ring from the dungeon. It
has some sentimental value, but I was wondering if your store did custom
jewelry. Could you give this one an upgrade?”
 Fayeth glanced at me and then nodded sheepishly with a giant blush on
her face.
I knew I’d picked up one that she wanted. Fayeth was sentimental enough
that throwing it out for a new one wouldn’t sit well with her. But upgrading
the old ring? That was perfect.
“It’ll lose its stats if we melt it,” the woman said. “We don’t have anyone
skilled enough to actually give it stats.”
I waved away her concern. “It’s only a plus one stamina.”
She nodded and then slid us over to a case full of glittering rings. “Which
one catches your eye, sweety?” She turned to Fayeth.
The elf’s eyes shone with the glittering rings reflecting in them. Like two
wide pools of stars, she hesitantly picked one. “That one.”
“Let’s try it on and see.” The woman pulled out all of the trays like she
was going to let Fayeth wear each one.
I smiled, letting Fayeth enjoy the moment as she moved between the
trays, letting out little squeals of joy and comments as she looked over the
options.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 10

A sbare
I walked out of the shop with Fayeth, she was fidgeting with her now-
finger.
"Miss it that much?" I asked the beautiful elf. As she took my arm, we
continued about the shops in the outdoor mall.
"A little," she said, thumbing the spot until I pulled out a low-quality ring
that I had in my CID from our other adventures.
I crouched down on one knee, holding the ring out for her. "Then, will
you be my Adrel?"
She smiled at the gesture, and there was a clapping from the crowd as she
took the jewelry from me.
I got up laughing. “It was a joke,” I explained, but people didn't listen.
Instead, they were just smiling and happy to see a young couple in love.
I would not have guessed I would have already found love. I hadn't been
with Fayeth all that long, but we were Adrel. This meant that our souls had
harmonized, and in the elven world, all we were missing was a ceremony.
Fayeth took my arm again, this time near-giddy with excitement, and
almost skipped to her step as we went into the housewares store.
"Oooh. These are interesting designs." Fayeth looked around. She picked
up a set of bowls, spinning them over in her hand as she studied them.
They were a... I didn't quite know the word for it, but they had a texture
to them like they’d been hammered. They were plain white porcelain bowls,
but they were uneven because that was the current trend.
"If you like them, we can get them," I said, looking at the price tag and
feeling oddly comfortable with not worrying about the number.
We weren't Crimson-level rich, but the amount of mana crystals that we
had harvested throughout the event on the 28th floor left me with quite the
sum of cash. I certainly had more than a college student really needed. We
had bought some things for adventuring that were expensive, but knowing
we’d be gearing up in the raid had stopped us from blowing it all.
Heck, I could even put a down payment on a house if I wanted to set up
on the surface.
"Maybe we shouldn't." Fayeth put the bowl back. "We should save for
gear."
Even I didn't find her tone convincing. Picking up the bowl, I put it in her
arms. "Let's look around and see if there's any you like more than this."
Fayeth took two steps before she found a long, rectangular plate. "Ooh, I
could do sushi on these." She looked at the plates excitedly.
Sushi was a favorite of the elves. Fish was a delicacy in a world that was
mostly dried up.
"Yes, you could. I'm sure if we look hard enough, they have actual sushi
platters."
Fayeth abandoned her current find and started going with me through the
various different sets of dishware.
Honestly, the store was a little much. All I needed was something flat,
preferably even, and a fork to eat with. But Fayeth found charm in the
various different dishes, talking about how she could plate her food more
appetizingly on them.
In the end, she was excited enough that I couldn't say no and continued to
let her shop to her heart's desire.
By the time we got to the checkout counter, I had picked up a cart and
had carefully placed the growing mound so that things didn’t spill over
while Fayeth carried two pitchers in each hand. The sales clerk looked at us
with wide eyes.
"Planning a party, are you?" she tried to make conversation.
"Of course. We have to have enough dishes for the whole raid," Fayeth
said as if the concept was the most obvious thing in the world.
At the mention of a raid, the cashier's eyes bulged even further. "You're
adventurers? Oh my gosh, you're an elf!" Her question died on her lips as
she realized Fayeth wasn't human.
My Adrel thumbed at her ears. "That's what they tell me." And then she
clung tighter to my arm.
The woman looked back and forth between us. She looked even more
excited. I was sure we would make a great story for her to tell her friends at
her next dinner.
Fayeth hummed happily as the clerk wrapped up all of the items, only for
them to get sucked into Fayeth's CID the second they were scanned.
"No need to box them," I reassured the lady. "She'll just take them away
and take them all out later. CIDs don't need packaging material either," I
continued as the woman picked up some parchment paper.
Finally, she put down the materials and just continued to scan items,
placing them to the side, watching them disappear into the eager elf's
wristband.
"Those have to be so convenient." The clerk stared at it with wide eyes. "I
hear even the cheapest one is like 50,000 Ren." The woman ticked off her
fingers. "That's like a car."
I shrugged. "They're a necessary device for all adventurers. Besides, hers
isn't basic." I pointed at Fayeth's arm. "It's actually an elven design, and
technically, she's elven royalty."
Fayeth rolled her eyes. "I hardly count as royalty, especially when
Elysara is here. I'm like 287th in line for the throne."
Clearly, that number didn't matter to the clerk who leaned over her
counter and, in a hushed voice, said, "You're in line for the throne?"
Fayeth glanced at me as if asking what she was missing.
I subtly shook my head, indicating that her royalty was a novelty.
The woman continued to scan Fayeth's items. This took long enough that
a second clerk got involved to speed up the process. Both seemed to listen
with rapt attention to Fayeth as they asked various questions about elves
and, in particular, about elven men.
They were even more interested in what elven men liked in their women.
We finished up, and Fayeth practically pulled me out of the building.
"What is with those women and elven men?"
I chuckled. "I'm pretty sure that elven and nekorian men have become a
popular topic for romance novels."
Fayeth's mouth made a wide 'O' of understanding. "That makes sense. It's
far better than that blue alien trend."
 I gave her a strange look. "Do I want to know about the blue alien trend?"
"Probably not," Fayeth chuckled. "Penny was talking my ear off about it
the other day, though."
I hummed for a moment, not entirely sure how to broach the topic.
"Charlotte's been getting along with Penny quite a bit, and apparently, she
gets along with Felin. Now you?" I raised an eyebrow, not quite asking the
question I meant to ask.
"Something like that," Fayeth said. "Penny is quite lovable. Not to
mention, she shares my penchant for romance novels."
I knew about Fayeth's love of romance novels quite well.
The only reason she was able to speak English so well when she had first
come with her father to Earth was because she read so many human
romance novels. It was also the reason that she'd so easily, or perhaps
eagerly, accepted my accidental proposal to her. It was like a dream come
true right out of one of the romance novels she so loved reading.
"Speaking of, how about we go find you a bookstore?" I looked around
the mall. Bookstores had gotten rarer, but there was usually one at every
mall.
"Let's just enjoy the walk for now." Fayeth held my arm closer. "You
always seem to move with a purpose. Part of me loves that, and the other
part of me loathes it. Sometimes, I wish you would just live in the
moment."
Taking the hint, I held her arm, gave her a peck on the cheek, and just
walked the mall with her, keeping up idle conversation.
"Do you ever think you'll stop diving the dungeon or at least slow down?"
Fayeth looked up at me with her brilliant blue eyes. "Of course, one of
these days"—she looked me in the eyes—"I would like kids." I winced
involuntarily, and she noticed, smiling as she added, "Many years in the
future."
I chuckled nervously, scratching at the back of my head. "Yeah, many
years in the future. I could do kids, just not anytime soon. I mean, I'm only
19 years old. It's a little early. It is for elves, too, right?"
"Oh, way too early," Fayeth agreed. "Besides, you and I are most likely
going to live several hundred years, at least. Getting into the 30s before
we're even 20," Fayeth said with an air of disbelief. "That's the kind of thing
you only see in the super high levels of the past generations."
 I thought about Charlotte and Desmonda's parents, both of whom looked
like they were in their early 30s, possibly their late 20s, but I knew both of
them were probably closer to 60 years old.
"Every generation of humans has progressed their children far faster than
the last," I said.
Fayeth waffled her hand. "It was similar for the elves for a while, but then
at a certain point, a lot of people drop out of the dungeon to raise families,
and only a small percentage truly push themselves to unmatched heights.
That, and the elves are only two or three generations deeper into diving the
dungeon than humanity."
I thought about that for a long moment. Only a few more generations. But
they had progressed, and their average level was significantly higher than
humanity's. I wondered if any other worlds would be found in the future.
"The thought of elves joining a couple hundred years before humanity
now would almost be just as long as the difference between elves and
humans joining the dungeon as humans and possibly some other race," I
said.
“Who knows? We have no idea how deep the dungeon goes. With the
way it branches out to worlds, by the time we reach the eightieth floor, the
number of potential branches multiplies by nine. And within the branches
from now into the seventieth floor, there are already four races connected."
She shrugged. "Statistics say with nine times the amount of connections,
there's a good chance there's at least one other race."
When she put it that way, I felt like it was almost a certainty that by the
time we would reach the eightieth floor, there would be another race to
discover. But then I paused, considering a new element.
"That is, if the naga haven't already found and killed them." I winced at
how pessimistic I sounded.
Fayeth let out a sigh. "Or the dwarves. Both of them are menaces.”
“At least the nekorians aren't nearly as aggressive," I said.
Fayeth tapped her chin. "I wonder what the nekorian homeworld is like."
She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, only for me to hold my
unoccupied hand up in surrender.
"Felin’s never talked about it. If I didn't know better, I'd say she grew up
in the dungeon itself."
"That sounds about right," Fayeth chuckled. "The woman is practically
feral."
 "Feral?" I said aghast. "She's like a tame kitten who just happens to steal
all of my clothes." We both laughed.
"Maybe we shouldn't be shopping for me. Maybe we should find you a
few more shirts." She leaned us towards a store.
"Don't worry, Des has been on it, giving me a steady flow of new shirts
every time Felin destroys one."
Felin liked to collect my shirts and either sleep on them or wear them.
However, the nekorian was not used to such fragile clothes and had already
torn multiple ones to shreds.
We continued our walk through the mall.
I was just happy to spend some time with Fayeth.
We strolled for a bit before Fayeth couldn’t resist and dipped into a
bookstore. Eventually, we came out with a tall stack that went into her CID.
All of them were the newest of whatever her favorite author had produced.
After that, we swung by the United Guilds building in the mall.
Even more popular than bookstores, every shopping center seemed to
have a UG shop. It was much like the shops that I would see at the
dungeon, only these tended to have much lower-level equipment and a
higher focus on consumable goods. This made sense because the average
person wouldn't be able to equip anything high-level. Instead, most people
were buying gear that was below level 10 and gave simple attributes like
strength or stamina to make their lives easier.
The other items there were plenty of were low-level healing potions. Not
that they solved every disease, but they could certainly help in a pinch. We
went to the back where all the potions were, passing by a large number of
empty shelves.
I met the woman at the counter. "I've never seen so many empty shelves
in a UG shop."
She let out a groan of frustration. "Tell me about it. Apparently, there's
some big delay with shipments now. I'm sorry, but if you're looking for
anything, you might have better luck somewhere else."
"Actually, I was hoping to get some potions. It seems those are at least
stocked." I pointed at the shelves behind her.
"If you want a healing potion, we got plenty of those," she said, opening
up a drawer to get out a key. Most of the potions lay behind locked
plexiglass cases.
 "I'm looking for something a little different than just health potions," I
said, waving my CID at her.
"Adventurers, are we?" she asked.
"We're definitely adventurers. We're both attending Haylon University."
At the mention of the dungeon college, she stood up a little straighter and
regarded us seriously.
"Oh, well, in that case, what are we looking for?" She went from a casual,
bored saleswoman to talking to us like we were people who knew what we
wanted.
"We've been struggling with a boss. It has an add." I pointed up in the air
for whatever reason. "It's a parrot that flies around and deals a lot of sonic
damage to the raid group."
"You're raiding? At your level?" She glanced at us strangely.
"We're in our low 30s."
Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. "And you're still in a dungeon
college? Are you seniors?"
Fayeth chuckled, enjoying her surprise. "No, we're in our second year."
The saleswoman blinked several times as if her mind was struggling to
deal with the information she had just been given. "Well, in that case, I do
have some deafening potions." She pulled them out. "Is the sonic attack
bothering your casters?"
"No, it's more like a physical wave," I explained to her.
She hummed and went through her stack of potions. "There's a stoneskin
potion." She put it on my counter. "Makes your skin hard, slows you down
a little, but a physical attack like a sonic wave would do"—she waffled her
hand—"about 15% less damage. This isn't a super high-level one, but it
should work for what you're dealing with in the low 30s."
"It's on the 32nd floor," I clarified.
She nodded and pushed the potion across the counter to me. "Then this
should work well, 15% on physical damage."
Fayeth glanced at me. "Would that also work for the pounce?"
I was thinking the same thing.
The saleswoman raised an eyebrow, listening to our conversation.
"You see the trouble we're having with the boss…" I decided to give her a
full explanation. "The parrots are keeping everyone low, and then another
add pounces on a random raid member."
 The saleswoman nodded. "And if they're already low, the pounce is
taking them out. I get you." She dug around a little more and gave us two
more options.
"This is a potion of cheat death." She tapped one on the counter. "I don't
recommend it because of how expensive it is, but I'll give you the option.
We don't have a lot of these, certainly not enough to stock your whole raid.
But I could put an order in with the stocking department, and maybe we
could get enough for you. By the time you're raiding… in a month," she
hesitated.
"Try a week." I let out a sigh, pushing the cheat death potion aside.
"What's the other one?" I glanced at it.
"This one is a stamina booster. It should raise everyone's health."
I shook my head at that. "Reducing the damage by 15% would probably
help the healers keep the raid more full, not to mention reduce the amount
of damage people would take from the tiger." I shook my head at the
stamina. I didn't think it would be nearly as helpful.
"The stoneskin is going to slow you down, though," she said.
"Slow down attacking or movement?"
"Both," she said. "Your legs are just going to be a little stiffer. It's going
to be harder to move around. Same with your arms."
I knew that might make it difficult for the melee DPS, myself included.
However, I thought it would be a worthy sacrifice if it meant we could kill
the boss. Melee was already decently crippled in the fight anyway.
"How many of the stoneskins do you have?"
She reached under the counter, opened up a cabinet, and put a case in
front of me. "I've got three of these. Each of them has 30 potions."
"And the cost?" I looked at them, not excited for the number she gave me
next.
She winced. "Each one is 5,000 ren. I'll give you a discount of 10% if you
buy it by the case."
I put a hand on my CID. The ring was absolutely nothing compared to
this. I had the funds, especially after my grandparents had paid me for my
most recent family job. Still, I grimaced.
"I'll take all three cases," I said, holding my CID up for her to tap and
drain the funds.
She gave me a pained smile. "Pleasure doing business with you. The
good news is, hopefully, you'll be able to take care of the boss."
 "I'd better," I said, stuffing the potions into my CID. Perhaps I might
charge the raid members for these. Maybe I could get some of the funds
back.
Fayeth had practically whisked me away after the official business of
buying the potions. She was eager to get back to our date, and I knew just
the place to take her.
About a block from the mall was a fancy surf-and-turf place, a Japanese
steakhouse. It was the kind of restaurant that didn't put prices on the menus.
I walked her over, a grin on my lips.
Fayeth was looking around, her head on a swivel. When we sat down,
we’d have a perfect view of the sushi kitchen.
I stepped aside and pulled out a chair so that she would be facing it.
"This is perfect," Fayeth said eagerly. "Did you know they would put us
here?"
"I asked for it." I smiled, pushing her chair in and taking my own seat
next to her. In the movies, they always sat across from each other, but
sometimes, I thought sitting next to someone was more intimate. I reached
under the table and laced my fingers in hers.
"Have you two been here before?" the server asked.
"No, but I think we can manage," I replied.
The server smiled and wandered off, the two of us opening up menus and
looking through them. I knew what I was going to order, but Fayeth turned
out to be incredibly indecisive about which roll of sushi she wanted to eat.
Eventually, we ordered, they brought appetizers, and we enjoyed the
delicious food.
We pointedly talked about nothing important, and it was filled with large
moments of comfortable silence. With both of us having spent our days
with each other, we didn't have a bunch of new stories. Not that that
bothered us in the slightest.
Instead, I held her hand and leaned against her, enjoying her presence as
she excitedly watched the chefs work their way through their sushi orders.
Fayeth turned to me, staring into my eyes. "Thank you for the date, Ken."
"Oh, no, thank you," I said to Fayeth. "If it weren't so enjoyable for me to
take you on these, I wouldn't keep doing it." She had the kind of sweet
smile that melted hearts as she leaned against me.
"I'm really happy the way everything has worked out. I know we have a
lot going for us, as well as many things that will happen in our future, but
here and now, I am happy," Fayeth said. She leaned in to peck me on the
cheek, but I cut her off, capturing her lips in mine.
"I am happy, too," I said. "Nothing else. I'm happy we will take a
moment, just the two of us."
"Me, too," Fayeth said. "I don't know when you'll add more."
I choked on those words. "Add more?" I asked. "I don't think I'm going to
be adding any more. Our party is full."
Fayeth hummed. "Now we are doing a full raid.”
I nearly died. “A full raid is far too many.”
“As the elven emperor, you can have as many as you want."
I shook my hands. "I will stick with what I have. Besides, I’m not really
the emperor, just the empress’s husband."
"That might be what you want, but I'm not sure that's what the world has
in store. After all, Penny keeps putting 74 wives in everyone's head.”
“74 is an impossible number. That would be like"—I tried and failed to
do the math but waffled my hands—"like five days a year for each woman.”
“Des has proven that you can take more than one at a time." Fayeth
bobbed her brows, staring up at me with those two gems.
I rolled my eyes. "Not you, too."
Fayeth shrugged. "You're my Adrel, and I love you. But I certainly
expanded to accept more, and I don't find the numbers to be intimidating. If
nothing else, I find myself more often surrounded by love."
I found that statement to be sweet. And it was good to know that the rest
of the ladies were treating her well.
“My grandfather always pushed for me to have a harem, saying that they
forged bonds strong enough to weather the dungeon. I now understand what
he meant, but I'm glad you are experiencing the same level of bonding, even
if it isn't always physical."
She gave me another sweet kiss before we were interrupted by the server
returning with our next course.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 11

P rince Albar returned from his raid to his gigantic tent, throwing off his
armor into a pile for his manservant to clean and polish.
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid two more have declined our request," the
servant reported.
The prince glared at the servant. That was his fault. Anyone who failed
the prince and his family might as well die.
This servant had been with his family for a while and had a fairly good
track record. However, the man’s failure to hire now six assassins was
grating on him. Not that he'd show it.
"Fine, fine." The prince waved his hand dismissively. "We will just have
to adjust our strategy. Rather than getting rid of them soon, we'll have to lull
them into a sense of complacency." Yes, this would work just as well.
"Very good, sir." His manservant dipped his head. "As always, you're
brilliant."
The prince smirked. He knew that, but it was always pleasant to hear it
stated. "Anyway, give it two weeks, and then we'll do the rounds again.
Though this time, we'll do it with a lower offering. Someone will be
desperate, see that it's going down, and realize they have a limited time to
take advantage of this opportunity. How'd the deposition for Crimson go?"
"Fabulously. Crimson admitted to her relationship with—"
 "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Prince Albar snapped at his manservant. "Don't
even want to hear it. He’s done nothing with her because she’s mine,"
Prince Albar said with such fierceness as if he could will it into existence.
"That elf fucker, and now a cat fucker, likely doesn’t even have usable
equipment. Anyways, just make sure Crimson is taken care of. We can't
have her lingering around, or we'll never be able to kill Ken and that bitch
elf princess."
"Sir, I must advise you that killing the future empress, Elysara, will have
negative consequences."
Prince Albar waved his hand dismissively. "Nothing money can't fix. And
when she's dead, the elves, their emperor, and whoever is next in line will
understand that they have to work with us in order to make the money they
want. It's always about the money, Derge."
"Of course, sir. Is there anything else you'll need?"
"Buy out all the potions, all the gear, on the 35th-floor safe zone. And
report back to my father that we should further restrict the resources
flowing. We can pin the blame on the elves and turn the community against
them. How dare they raise themselves up to try and fight me in a battle of
business." The prince sneered.
No one could rival SJS Financials’ might within the realm of finances.
Even if they were only number two, the fact that they were held responsible
by only a select few allowed them to exert far more pressure than any of the
other financial institutes.
Even the elven world couldn't stand up to them from all the information
that they had gathered. The elven world wasn't nearly as populous as Earth;
much of their world was uninhabitable.
"Increase the guard outside." Prince Albar waved his manservant out. He
lounged down on the bed where two mobile AC units pumped cool air into
his tent, making it a pleasantly chilly environment. Even if most of the air
wafted out into the dungeon itself, at least his tent was the way he liked it.
The prince would have to solve his problem soon.
The Albar family did not take failure lightly. His father had already called
to talk about his failed assassination in a fit of rage. The next time would
have to be perfect.
To do that, not only did he have to get Crimson out of the way, but he
also had to get those elven guards away, too. The prince nibbled at his
thumb. He had hoped he could hire someone competent enough to deal with
them, but it seemed he might have to take the situation into his own hands.

***

After dinner with Fayeth and a lovely evening at a hotel before we returned
to the dungeon, I found myself as light as a feather. I felt as if I could
practically walk into the sky.
"Someone's in a good mood," Censor Neldra observed, her hand on her
hilt as she leaned against our tent.
"Of course I am. Fayeth brings out the best in me," I told her.
"I'm glad that you're taking your responsibility as the Adrel seriously,"
Neldra said, pushing off the tent flap and walking with me.
I turned to the censor, raising an eyebrow at her. "And for what do I owe
the pleasure of your company?"
"Ely asked that we not only guard her but make sure you are safe as
well," she replied.
I did a slight bow. "Oh, thank you."
"No thanks necessary. If she's our future empress, then that would make
you quite important. Certainly important enough to have a measly royal
censor trail behind you." She winked at me.
"Well, I guess if that's how we're playing it, we should see what trouble I
can get up to." I rubbed my hands together nefariously.
"Please don't," Neldra said, a swagger to her hips as she followed me
through the camp.
I could see now that the Trusk tents were silent. Normally, there was a
busy swirl around their leader, Marin, the Dragon Summoner. However,
even her tent was quiet, slightly flapping in the breeze.
"I guess it looks like the Royal College is back," I said, glancing over at
Neldra. "I don't suppose any of you got information on how they did
yesterday?"
Neldra shook her head. "If they had gotten through it all, they would
already be championing their win. I suspect they did similarly to you guys.
While your DPS is certainly outstanding, from everything Ely said, you
were unable to fully utilize your incredible ability."
I made a face at her statement. "You're not wrong. It wasn't like the
scarab fight at the DPS check, where all I did was hammer on a single mob
for five minutes. Instead, most of these had me running around, chasing
things, or avoiding attacks.” Even then, we were doing the fights for the
first time, and a decent amount of my attention was on the rest of the raid
group.
“Everyone's DPS falls compared to a controlled environment, but I
suspect yours fell more." Neldra raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, when it comes to my damage, the slower I ramp up significantly
decreases the back end. Being unable to focus perfectly on damaging
definitely has its setbacks." Perhaps I needed to let go of trying to lead a
little more and focus on my damage.
The Royal College's tents were similarly quiet, but rather than the
abandoned feel of the Trusk ones, it just felt like they were sleeping—likely
sleeping off their exhaustion from the most recent dungeon escapades.
Candice caught me before I could find a quiet spot to practice my sword
work. After a day of relaxing, I felt the need to knock the rust off.
"Ken, there you are," she said.
She had straight, blonde hair that fell down just past her shoulders and a
pair of piercing blue eyes that seemed to analyze everything she saw.
Candice wore the standard Haylon uniform—a white jacket with gold trim,
though she seemed to prefer a dark charcoal skirt to go with it.
"Candice, how are you?" I asked.
"Wonderful. While I was out yesterday"—she pulled her CID out—"I
was looking for potions."
I chuckled. "Me, too." I showed her my CID where I had bought plenty of
stoneskin potions.
She peered at them and smiled. "Good idea, but I also got these." She
pulled out a few potions that would increase the main stats, agility, strength,
and magic. "I figured we were going to find some fights that would require
a little more damage. If nothing else, these will help us clear trash a little
quicker. But your stoneskin potions are a wonderful idea for reducing how
much damage we take on that troublesome boss."
She must have seen something in my face, doing her best to reassure me.
"Don't worry. Next time, we'll get it.”
“I'm sure we will," I said, not quite feeling my own conviction. "Was that
what you wanted to talk about?" I asked her.
"Not just that," she said before moving with me until we found a clear
spot amid the sea of tents. "Actually, I was hoping to practice with you."
 I raised an eyebrow at her. "No offense"—I twirled a knife in my hand
—"but you don't quite strike me as the best sparring partner."
Candice laughed. "No, not to spar. I was thinking about trying to buff
you."
Neldra, who was standing nearby, bounced her eyebrows. "Ken is the star
DPS."
"He is," Candice agreed. "I was doing the math, and I think if I spent two-
thirds of my time on each fight buffing you, I could generate more damage
than I could do myself."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I said to Candice, "but I don't want
to take that away. I know becoming support can bother some people."
Candice dismissed my words with a wave of her hand. "Mathematically
speaking, this is the best way for me to contribute. Thus, it is the best for
the raid. I wanted to understand how you fight and how I can best accelerate
your damage."
She made one of the many runes she used to cast her spells. "This one
pulses a weak version of Harley's Haste on you."
The rune lit up, and I could feel a jittery energy in my body like I had just
drank several energy drinks back-to-back. But it only lasted three seconds
before the effect faded. It came back three seconds later when it pulsed
again.
"I can only keep three runes up at a time," Candice explained. "If I time
two of these right, I could give you Haste, which would help you with your
initial stack buildup."
She then ran a hand through the rune before it pulsed a third time. "I
could also work in some of Kendra's enchantments."
Candice drew another rune in the air. The blades I had been twirling
before caught a sheen of ice as they picked up some sort of frost
enchantment. I activated [Dark Blades], and to my surprise, the two abilities
stacked on my weapons. Candice saw the test and nodded in satisfaction.
"I expect that the Haste buff is more beneficial early on," Candice said,
"whereas once you've got going, the frost enchantment will do much
better." She drew a hand through the rune before it pulsed a third time yet
again.
"What's Kendra doing?" I asked.
"Mostly enchanting the tanks," Candice explained. "Other times, she's
helping Harley with the healers."
 I frowned at that. "She’s using so much of her time helping the healers?"
Candice nodded, and then I thoughtfully played with the edge of my
knife. "I don't know if that's the best use of her abilities. I think helping the
tank out is great. It's a singular point that she can leverage to help the raid.
However, I am unsure that the healers should need this much help."
"I tend to agree with you," Candice said. "I actually think our raid group
is too heavy on healers, which is also raising the burden on them."
I frowned at her words. "Usually if you had more healers, that would
make it easier. I've seen more people throwing heals around."
Candice saw my frown and shook her head. "I know it's confusing, but if
you have too many healers, then there's not enough damage to finish the
fight. I think, in this case, we need some of our support to focus on helping
the DPS."
"That's my thought exactly. What if you gave me Haste and Kendra
buffed me?"
"It's possible," Candice said. "If Kendra focused on buffing the melee
DPS and the two bow users, between that, she could use her wand. She
actually does a decent amount of damage herself, especially if she focuses
only in burst.
"But regardless," Candice continued, "I would like to work with you on
seeing if I can't find the breakpoint between boosting you with Haste and
enchanting your weapons."
Neldra drew her sword and stepped out in front of me. "It just so happens
that I could use a little warmup." She swung her sword around dangerously.
Neldra was a high-level adventurer and one with quite a bit of experience.
I glanced at her silver hair. "Well, I guess if the gray-haired old lady
wants to fight, then we can fight." I shrugged helplessly and spun to parry
her first strike.
Neldra was not one to be insulted. On several occasions, I called her hair
gray instead of silver, and it earned the temporary ire of the royal censor.
She came at me swinging, and in order to build up my stacks of [Liminal
Speed], I had to start moving quickly, striking her sword or getting light
touches on her armor.
Unfortunately, Neldra was a consummate swordswoman, and my
attempts to do anything beyond a light tap were quickly dodged or parried.
Before I built up my stacks, she not only had an advantage in experience
but also speed.
 I didn't use my abilities, not for the sparring session. The idea here was to
give Candice some data points that she could use to make decisions in the
raid.
After several strikes, sparks of purple lightning were dancing up my
body, and I began to pick up enough speed that Neldra wasn't able to dodge
quite so easily.
A few minutes later, I felt myself match Neldra's speed as she continued
to warm up. A minute after that, I was faster than her. Even then, with
Neldra's experience, she was able to swing where she knew I'd be and
forced me back on several occasions, but at that point, I was just too fast.
Not that most people would give me several minutes to build up stacks and
defeat them, but Neldra knew what she was doing.
Meanwhile, Candice was watching. She had pulled out a small camera
that was recording. It didn't look like the bulky slow-mo cameras that they
used for DPS meters, but I assumed it filled a similar purpose. After about
five minutes, it was no longer fun to dance around Neldra, and I blew my
stacks with the second phase of [Liminal Speed], waiting in the stopped
time and pulling out a sandwich to eat. I hadn't yet had breakfast, and
pushing myself that high in stacks already made me very hungry.
Candice touched the camera before plugging it into her CID. "Thank
you," she said, staring at the screen. "I should be able to run an analysis of
this to see where you'd benefit from being faster, and where you'd benefit
more from additive damage to your weapons."
I nodded my thanks to Candice. Hopefully, small tweaks like this from
everyone in the raid would make us that much more efficient going
forward.
Neldra let out a heavy breath and put her sword away. "Now, if only we
could find a way to get you those stacks quicker." She looked me up and
down. "Once you get rolling, you're a force to be reckoned with. If you ever
figure out how to start up quicker, we would be able to trust you with the
princess."
I raised an eyebrow. "You mean no censors everywhere we go?" I knew
she was doing her own part to encourage me.
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean," Neldra said. "Though, I think they are
still beneficial. Sometimes having a guard means that you don't have to be
alert for every issue."
 Neldra poked me in my side, moving quicker than I could block her.
"After all, given your family's profession, you should understand best that
an assassin isn't supposed to be good at a stand-up fight. They're just
supposed to strike once with the perfect hit."
Neldra moved quickly and poked me in the throat before stepping out of
my reach. It seemed that the royal censors were taking their job a little more
seriously given the current threat of SJS Financials.
Of course, with Elysara waging a financial war on SJS, they were more
likely to retaliate in some form. I found it hard to believe they'd be stupid
enough to send another assassin after us. But then again, I had been wrong
before.
Grandpa appeared out of nowhere, giving me the briefest of hugs before
flitting over to Neldra. “My favorite granddaughter-in-law.” He attempted
to hug Neldra, but the elven censor held him at arm's length.
"Please don't touch me," Neldra said.
Grandpa, however, managed to evade her arm and latch onto it from the
side as if he were holding onto his lover. Neldra quickly tried to shake him
off, but Grandpa clung to her like a barnacle.
"Don't mind him," Grandma Hemi said. "He's just excited to be here."
I raised an eyebrow at another of my grandparents' sudden appearances.
The other three seemed to pop up out of nowhere. Then again, they were all
trained assassins.
"What are you guys doing here?" I asked, not expecting my grandparents
to drop in.
"Oh, you know, this and that. Coming to check on the princess who just
gave us billions in business," Grandpa said, still clinging to Neldra's arm.
Elysara's attack on SJS Financials had involved using the Silver Fang
Guild as an intermediary. Many deals were now running through the guild,
using it to soak up the profits and leaving SJS Financials with the burden of
the operations.
Grandma Akira came up behind me and squeezed me in a bear hug. "It's
not every day my grandson turns me into a billionaire overnight. I knew
you had a good eye for the ladies, but not this good." She slapped me on the
shoulder, sat me down, and laughed mysteriously.
"Leave him alone," Grandma Sakura said. "I doubt he picked her for the
money. That's not Ken's way.”
 “Well, if you're all here, the least I can do is treat you guys to a meal." I
glanced at my grandparents and instantly regretted that inviting them back
into the tent was just going to fuel my grandfather's antics that much
further.
He suddenly disappeared from Neldra, his killing intent washing over me
like a wave of blood before his sword came crashing down in the spot
where I had just been.
I spun with Grandma Sakura out of the way, just in time to avoid the
attack.
"Just making sure you're still sharp." Grandpa smiled a little too wide,
pinching his eyes closed. The old man was sensitive, and having thought
about him being a problem must have been picked up. Either way, him
randomly attacking me was nothing outside the norm.
"Alright, but you will all be on your best behavior." I pointed at my
grandparents one after the other. "Today, we are getting a rare break from
training, and the last thing I want to do is chase you around."
My grandmothers all looked towards Grandpa. Everyone in this
conversation knew exactly who I was really talking to in my statement.
"I'm sure it'll be fine." Grandma Hemi waved her hand at me. "I want to
go meet my granddaughters again. They're all so lovely. I brought
cheesecake."
I had never been one to be able to deny the sweet Grandma Hemi and led
them back towards the tent. Yui had disappeared and already slipped ahead
of us. I saw her entering the tent and picked up speed before the sadistic
woman could get her hands on anyone.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 12

rimson!" Grandpa shouted. "My favorite granddaughter!" He tried to

"C give Crimson a hug, but she slipped out of his grasp, giving Grandma
Sakura a hug instead.
"Hey," Fayeth said, "didn't you say I was your favorite granddaughter?"
"Me, too," Felin perked up. "Are you telling me I'm not his favorite?"
Grandpa chuckled good-naturedly. Being found out didn't bother him in
the slightest. "You're all my favorite." He flashed a giant smile and held his
arms wide.
"That's not how favorites work." I tried to karate chop him on top of the
head. However, as always, Grandpa was too fast, slipping out of my way
and dancing over, trying to tease my ladies more.
Grandma Akira snagged him before he got himself in trouble.
Crimson shot me a nervous glance.
"I didn't forget," I said, reading her like a book. "Des is ready with the
portal, and I have everything we need."
Crimson looked around. "I won't rush out too quickly. It's nice to say hi to
everyone." She glanced at Neldra. "Like Broken Blade here."
"That's it." Neldra went and pushed Crimson forward. "Des, make a
portal. We're kicking her out of here."
I laughed at their antics and watched Grandma Sakura and Neldra trade a
glance that spoke volumes. Throughout the morning, I noticed several of
my grandmothers had been talking to the censors.
I wondered what was up. Yet I knew that if I needed to know, they would
tell me.
With Neldra shoving Crimson through the portal, I moved right behind
her, stepping out of the portal as Des snapped it closed.
"You'd almost think they wanted us gone," Crimson said, dusting herself
off and looking at the space we’d just exited.
I could tell she almost wanted to portal back to prove they couldn't get rid
of her. But I took her hand before she could do that. "The date," I said.
"Right, the date." Crimson flashed me another one of her brilliant smiles
before looking around. "Where are we?" Other people didn’t get to see this
side of Crimson.
"About a block from where we need to be. And I've got everything you
need." I handed her a bag. Fayeth had helped me do the shopping on our
date.
Crimson took the bag and peeked inside of it before raising an eyebrow at
me.
I could always tell that when we went out and about, Crimson soaked up
the attention on one hand, but on the other, she seemed exhausted when we
finally got out of the public eye. I had a feeling Crimson would enjoy this
date.
"You want me to wear this?" Crimson asked, poking at the clothing.
"Yep, we're going to take the braid out, too."
Even now, standing by the store, people were stopping and pointing at
Crimson, everyone recognizing exactly who she was. She shrugged and
took the bag into the store to use the changing rooms.
I waited outside, looking through my CID idly as I waited for her. My
stomach jittered slightly at how she was going to take the outfit.
As always, Crimson was quick, reappearing a moment later. I had to do a
double take. If I hadn't seen the clothes, I wouldn't have realized it was her.
Rather than her signature red leather bodysuit, Crimson was wearing a
mauve sweater dress, a wide-brimmed hat, and a pair of tall suede boots.
The outfit fit her well, and with her figure, she could have just walked off
the pages of a clothing store fall catalog.
She put her hand on her hips and cocked them to the side. "This looks
ridiculous," she said.
 "Come on, I think you look great." And she did, in a sort of casual but
high-maintenance way.
Crimson blushed slightly and averted her eyes before looking back at me.
"Well, if you like it, then I guess it's okay." Crimson fidgeted a little bit with
the hem of the dress.
I looked around.
Sure enough, there weren't a dozen people turning and staring. After all,
no one would expect to see Crimson in something like this. Her signature
outfit was a large part of her identity. It was kind of amazing that putting
her in something girly immediately disguised her.
She had also taken out her usual long braid and must have tucked some of
that hair up into the hat because it only flowed down to her hips.
"So where's the date?" Crimson asked.
I took her arm and started walking slowly. "It's around the corner. Rule
number two of this date: no CIDs." I unstrapped mine and put it in my
pocket.
Crimson squinted and quietly peeled hers off before handing it to me.
"Better that you hold this. After all, you're buying whatever it is, right?"
"Of course," I said, taking her CID and putting it in my other pocket. I
held her arm as we walked down the street.
There was something a little more comfortable, a little more private about
her not being ‘Crimson’ at the moment. We weren't having a dozen eyes
staring at us at all times, making both of us feel self-conscious.
Crimson warmed up and held my arm tightly as we walked.
"A theme park?" she asked as she spotted our destination. The Ferris
wheel was the first clue that became immediately visible when we turned
the corner.
After a few more steps, laid out in front of us was a small theme park.
Not the giant corporate ones, but a cozy traveling one.
"Yes, the park," I said. "I doubt you get to do things like this very often as
Crimson." I pulled her with me, feeling proud as she gave a far more
delicate smile than I was used to seeing on the badass adventurer.
Crimson leaned against me, her eyes tracking everything. For the
moment, she seemed more relaxed than normal.
I walked up to the booth. "Two tickets, please."
The guy looked between the two of us and flashed me a knowing grin.
But there was no recognition when his eyes landed on Crimson.
 "What would you like to do first?" I asked her as I took the wristbands
and put them on where our CIDs would normally be.
Crimson hummed and tapped her lips. "We have to go on the Ferris
wheel. Cotton candy is a must. Probably funnel cakes, elephant ears, too."
"Are we just going to eat the whole time?" I asked her.
She chuckled. "Oh, we can do those while on the Ferris wheel if we need
to. Oh, and I want to play some games."
Not only were there the standard fair ride attractions, but there were also
booths of games like ring toss, getting a ping pong ball in a goldfish bowl,
and knocking over milk cans.
"How about we start you with that cotton candy," I said, spotting a cart
with a short line.
Crimson had a skip in her step as I directed her over to the cotton candy
booth. The guy running it was quickly making servings of cotton candy and
stuffing them in bags. Crimson already had two picked out.
I glanced at her. "Is one of those for me?"
She shook her head, making the man running the booth chuckle. "Seems
you have a hungry one," he said.
"Don't I know it." I paid for Crimson and then got one for myself,
enjoying walking through the park with her. A few people stopped to stare a
bit longer than usual.
"Do you think they know who I am?" Crimson asked.
I laughed, "No. They just think you're silly for double-fisting two things
of cotton candy," I said, causing Crimson to pout.
"I burn a lot of calories," she said, taking a pointed bite from one of the
sugar bundles.
"Oh, I know." I had a little bit of mine, but it was too sweet. I'd probably
end up giving Crimson half of it, mostly because I knew she would love
that.
"So, first impressions?" I asked her. I had been a little worried that such a
date wouldn't be well received.
She flashed me a smile, some cotton candy stuck to her face. "This is
incredible. No one's asking me for autographs. I get to do what I want." She
clung to me like a woman without any worry of people judging her.
I kissed her on the cheek and took the piece of cotton candy that was
stuck to her. "Well, aren't you sweet.”
 “If you stuff me with more cotton candy, we'll see how sweet I can get."
She bobbed her eyebrows, and I shook my head.
Perhaps making Crimson less self-conscious wasn't always the best idea.
Her head tended to turn towards sex when it wasn’t thinking about diving
the dungeon.
Normally, she was carefree in the sense that she could do what she
wanted because she could smash anything that got in the way. However,
right now, she seemed carefree in a different way.
I wasn’t sure why, but she seemed free. The smile on her face right now
made my heart swell.
I enjoyed walking with her down the aisles, simply being a couple.
Crimson clung to my arm, and it just felt right.
"Oh, we should play that." Crimson pointed at a stall. It was a bunch of
ducks floating along a path, and there was a stack of baseballs up front. But
most importantly, there were a number of giant, stuffed animals hanging
around it as prizes.
"All right. I bet I can win that for you." I walked up to the booth, and
Crimson put a hand on my shoulder.
"No, I'm gonna win it." She flashed me a grin. Crimson was nothing if
not competitive.
The guy running the booth could tell he had a customer. "Oh no. You’d
better let him do it," the guy running the stall goaded Crimson on.
"What did you say?" Crimson narrowed her eyes. She looked far less
intimidating in the sweater dress and the white brimmed hat.
Even though Crimson was deadly and dangerous, able to destroy this
entire theme park if she wanted to, she didn't have an imposing figure. And
without her Crimson recognition, it seemed the stall owner was perfectly
comfortable trying to rile her up.
"I said you better let your man take a shot. I don't think you can do this
one." He put his hand on the balls as if to stop her from grabbing one.
Crimson walked right up to the stall, handed me her cotton candy, and
snatched up one of the balls. "Ken, pay the man." She tossed the ball up and
down. "I'm going to hit all of them with one ball."
The man chuckled. "I'll give you three." He put two more balls in front of
her. "You know, for when you miss the first one."
A little bit of sweat started trickling down the side of my head at the sight
of Crimson getting worked up. She gripped the first ball tight enough that it
was starting to deform.
"Watch your mouth," Crimson said. This wasn't the fun, happy Crimson.
This was the Crimson who destroyed armies. She wound up to pitch, red
lightning snaking out of her eyes.
Her [Limit Break] clearly started to activate. Crimson was worked up,
and this man had no idea what was coming.
This was a disaster in the making.
"Crimson, don't!" I tried to stop her with one of the batons of cotton
candy.
The stall owner must have seen his own death because Crimson started a
pitch with enough power to blow a crater in the middle of this park. He
fainted, crumpling to the ground with his eyes rolled up, and I could have
sworn his soul tried to escape his body.
The red lightning from [Limit Break] that had been snaking around her
arm touched the ball as she threw it, causing it to disintegrate into ash, yet
the motion of her throw was powerful enough to generate wind that
knocked over all of the ducks, blew the hat off the fainted stall owner, and
knocked the signs down.
Crimson had a satisfied smile as she straightened her dress and made sure
her hat had stayed on. "I told you I could do it with one ball," she said to the
unconscious stall owner. "Don't mind if I just take my prize."
She walked over, and I thought she was going to go for the giant stuffed
egg. Instead, she pulled a rabbit from behind it. One that looked strikingly
like Bun-Bun. She held it to her chest. The thing was almost as big as
Crimson.
"Are you proud of yourself?" I asked her.
"Cotton candy, please." She opened her mouth, unwilling to let go of the
stuffed animal.
I tilted one of hers her way, and she took a large bite.
"Yeah, he said I couldn't do it, and I fucking did it." Crimson squeezed
the stuffed animal with a smile so wide that I couldn’t find it in me to be
upset.
I just shook my head. The poor guy didn’t know who he was goading
when Crimson walked up.
"You know what, Ken? This was a great date. I really liked the fair," she
said.
 Taking one last look at the unconscious stall owner, I reached into my
pocket. “I’ll hold onto that.”
Crimson chided me. "No CIDs. Carrying this around is part of the
experience." She clung to the stuffed rabbit.
I waved my hand and cast a heal on the man, watching as he blinked
himself back to consciousness. It was the least I could do.
"Thanks, sir," I said to him. "She's already grabbed her prize," I said
awkwardly, unsure how to deal with this moment.
He held his head and groaned, sitting up and seeing Crimson happily
squeezing the stuffed animal before glancing over his stall. Not only were
the ducks that Crimson was supposed to target knocked down, but so was
everything in the stall.
"Uh, sure," he said, still rather confused, and I put my hand around
Crimson's hip and urged her on, not wanting to stick around for when the
man realized what had happened to him.
"We should go on the Ferris wheel," Crimson said, glancing at the slow-
moving ride. I imagined any of the ones that were supposed to provide a
thrill were a little weak to provide any thrill for Mistress Crimson.
"We can do that," I said, holding out another chunk of cotton candy for
her. She chomped on it happily, carrying the giant stuffed animal with her.
"Ooh, if we finish the cotton candy, we should get funnel cakes," she said
excitedly.
I knew then that there was no need to go to dinner after all we were about
to eat. Crimson could get any food she wanted any day of the week, but it
seemed what was special here was getting fair food. It had a novelty given
it usually was only at places where she would be bombarded by people.
Crimson continued to munch on the cotton candy as we got in line for the
Ferris wheel. Another couple near us glanced at Crimson and me.
"You two are so cute. I remember what it was like when we first dated,"
the man in his forties said, pulling his wife a little closer to him. Their
gaggle of little kids were pushing and teasing each other, ignoring the two
adults.
I chuckled and scratched the back of my head. "Yeah, something like
that."
Crimson squeezed herself next to me. "He's just shy. Thank you for the
compliment." She kissed me on the cheek, causing the guy to wink at me
and the woman to turn back to her kids.
 "What was that?" I turned to Crimson as we continued to wait.
"It's not often we get to just be a couple," she said. "This is the best date
ever." A giant grin spread across her face, and I pulled her even closer.
"I thought maybe taking a break from being the badass adventurer
Crimson was just the thing you needed." I didn't bring up whatever issue
had been bothering her, but I could only assume it would follow her as long
as she was being Crimson.
"I wouldn't have guessed it for myself," Crimson said thoughtfully. "I
would have never picked going to the fair, but I'm loving it. And I won
myself a bunny." She held it out in front of her for a moment before
squeezing it to her.
"It kind of looks like Bun-Bun," I told her.
She pulled it away, aghast. "No, really?" She tilted it to the side. "I guess,
he's a rabbit, it's a rabbit, but this one is so much cuter." She hugged it back
to herself, and I could only smile.
"Well, if you like it, that's what's most important."
Crimson leaned against me, her eyes trailing over it, the kids making
noise in front of us. "Do you want kids?" she asked.
"Not for a while," I told her honestly. "You?"
"I had never really thought of myself as much of a mother." She held her
hand up, and the red lightning crackled in her hands. "Especially after this.
There was one point where I threw the idea out the window. But now…?"
She trailed off.
I had to wonder if this was what had been bothering her lately.
"Maybe in a really long time," she answered after a long moment. "I want
to dive the dungeon… I want to be all I can be before I take on
motherhood.”
“You can be a mother and an adventurer."
Crimson made a face. "Sort of, but not really. At the very least, you have
to take a break from the dungeon. Even then, after that, you have more
depending on you. Most of those who have kids become fairly risk averse.
After all, who would want to leave their kids parentless?" Crimson said,
hugging the bunny tight enough that I was worried she was going to pop the
stuffing out.
This conversation might be better left for another time.
"Well, of course. After you and I go all the way to the bottom of the
dungeon, we’ll have all the time in the world." I handed her more cotton
candy, which she took greedily, sucking what remained off the stick.
"Exactly," she mumbled around a mouthful of cotton candy. "We'll crush
all the way through the naga and what lies beyond. Who knows what is out
there? It's so exciting to think about the new challenges and new
adventures."
I loved that Crimson and my goals were so aligned. We both wanted to be
the best and push ourselves to our limits.
"Next." The operator at the front was motioning everyone in and urged us
forward. He saw that I still had cotton candy in my hand. "No food on the
ride."
Crimson leaned over and sucked down an entire stick of cotton candy in
one go before she talked around it. “What food?”
He chuckled and waved us through the gate and onto the ride.
"What am I going to do with you?" I said as we got into our little private
carriage. She put the stuffed rabbit down in the seat next to her before
looking at it with a frown.
Then she moved it and put it on my bench before grabbing my hands and
pulling me to sit next to her. "Much better," she said. "This is how a proper
cute couple date should be."
I held her hand as the ride started, and there was an opportunity to see the
city from above. It wasn't quite nighttime for the beautiful view, but it made
me want to see it.
"Maybe we should come back and do another ride when it's dark out," I
told her. "I think the city would be very pretty."
Crimson hummed and kissed me on the cheek before sliding out of the
bench and down to her knees.
"What are you doing?"
She shushed me, putting a finger to her lips. "Isn't this what couples are
supposed to do on the Ferris wheel?" She unzipped my pants, and the idea
of where she was going suddenly had me hard in her hands with only a few
pumps.
"Crimson, we can't," I hissed.
"Why not?" She licked my shaft, coaxing it with her hand. "No one's
recognized me or you," she said, kissing the tip and licking it several times,
keeping eye contact with me.
I was almost painfully hard. The excitement of almost being caught was
working quite well on me.
 Crimson smirked. "You like this?"
"I am not an exhibitionist," I told her quickly.
"You don't have to be to find it exciting." She swallowed the tip, bobbing
up and down on me several times, her tongue adding a fantastic pressure as
she squeezed it in her mouth, drawing shapes along the shaft.
I grabbed her head by the hat and made her work up and down more
quickly. I wanted to finish this before we got caught.
"Don't be in a hurry," she said, her words mumbled around me.
"I want to enjoy it, and I want not to get caught," I said, only making
Crimson's throat vibrate as she pushed me deep and chuckled.
Crimson actually gave fantastic blowjobs, and I felt myself quickly rising
in pleasure as she suckled me on the Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel
suddenly stopped before I was done, and Crimson grinned at me.
"Hurry up," I demanded.
Crimson wasn't one to be told what to do. And my words only egged her
on. She slowed herself down, licking just the tip and keeping me on edge.
I growled at her as the wheel moved just a little bit, disgorging its
passengers one carriage at a time.
The ride was almost over, and we only had several minutes before we
would be asked to get off. By the time we got down there, what we were
doing would be painfully obvious.
I grabbed Crimson's head and tried to push her down on me again, but
she resisted, continuing to tease me. "Crimson, we have to hurry."
She gave another slow bob, painstakingly slow, and it wasn't enough for
me to finish.
I tried to thrust myself into her lips, but the wheel moved again, and I
turned to realize there were people down below who might be watching.
Crimson didn’t seem to mind one bit.
I pushed Crimson off. "Crimson, we need to stop," I said.
She wiped her wet lips with a finger and sat down next to me, her hand
snaking into my pants and giving me several languid pumps as people
continued to get off.
"Don't worry, I'll finish you," she said, her fingers running around the
ridge, and her hand stroking me quicker.
Yet the tension of everyone being there, the distraction, was making it
hard for me to finish. So much so, that the carriage before us was emptied,
and we were pulled down to be let out.
 I slapped Crimson's hand away, buttoning my pants. "We have to get
out," I told her.
She took my arm, once again becoming a cute couple. As we stepped out,
an older man stared at Crimson, and I thought we had been caught on the
Ferris wheel, but he pointed at her.
"Do you know you look like Mistress Crimson," he said, shaking a finger
at her. "I could have sworn for a moment you were her,"
Crimson laughed. "That's the best compliment I've gotten all day. I think
she's taller, though." She put a hand over her head as if to say how much
taller Crimson would be.
"Of course," the man said.
I laughed because so many people thought Crimson was taller than she
was because she put out a larger-than-life presence "You troublemaker," I
told her. “When we get back, I’m going to make you pay for that.”
She laughed. “Promise?” There was a dangerous glint in her eyes.
As we left the Ferris wheel, she pulled me past one of the stalls that
appeared to be closed for the day.
"Where are we going?" I asked her.
"I can't leave you like that or else you’ll punish me later." Hidden among
the crowd, her hand snuck down and grabbed my crotch.
I was aroused enough that I wasn't going to say no. I ached to finish what
we started.
Crimson pulled me behind the curtain in the closed booth. As soon as we
were past, she pulled my pants down.
"We need to hurry. Who knows when they'll be back?" She just had to
add that bit of excitement before she went back down on me. And I
struggled to have any objections as my body ached for release.

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 Chapter 13

T hreeAt weeks had passed since my party had started raiding.

first, progress came swiftly. We managed to take out six bosses the
second week on our second and third trips in. Next, we managed seven,
then finally, eight.
However, we were beginning to get stuck at eight. We had spent several
weeks grinding the bosses that we could defeat, with only minimal time left
to push into the newest challenge.
Finally, now on our seventh trip into the raid, we ignored the two wings
that we had been able to clear completely and pushed straight to the boss
that had been giving us trouble. We spent the whole day fighting that boss,
wiping repeatedly, but we were prepared to go again.
"Damn, this one is tough," I muttered.
Charlotte sat down next to me, handing me a water from her CID.
"If only I could stay on him," I said, "the DPS check would be a piece of
cake."
Since we had made the change in how we fought to focus less on
supporting the healers and more on supporting the DPS, many of the fights
had become shorter and easier for the raid as a whole.
"Why don't we try just that?" Des suggested. "Maybe we could get Felin
full-time shielding you during some of the blasts."
 This fight frequently had the boss throwing down large stone tablets that
the raid had to hide behind. The boss pulsed three times, which would kill
anyone but a tank if they stood out in it.
The other problem we were facing was that the boss was essentially a
DPS check. Its other abilities grew stronger the longer the fight went on
until the tanks couldn't keep up anymore.
"I could do that," Felin said, leaning against her spear. "Operation Keep
Ken Alive."
"And I can put healing over time on him before each," Charlotte added.
There were already a decent number of people in the raid who were
supporting me, including Candice and occasionally Kendra. On some of
these bosses, I had proved to be absolutely invaluable by focusing the
support on my damage.
The first beetle boss we were now able to kill before the third wave. We
hadn't brought down an official DPS meter yet, but I was fairly sure my
force would compare to the rest of the damage dealers combined in that
fight, which wasn't entirely fair as a measure given the multiple supports
helping me out. My hits were really the combination of several members of
the raid.
"So, are we going to give it another go?" I asked the ladies around me.
The rest of the raid had taken a quick break, enjoying snacks. Tish was
off to the side, having come in to get the princess's attention.
Elysara’s censors were still checking and clearing the raid every time
before we went in and then stationing up at the entrance, the only entrance
and exit, to prevent others from coming in. It turned out that they had
recruited my grandparents for assistance in analyzing their protection.
At the same time, Miriam was frequently going to the nearby safe zones
and establishing a small network of informants to ensure that they weren't
caught unaware of any plans.
So far, Prince Albar and SJS Financials had been relatively quiet, but I
knew that Elysara had done enough damage that they would eventually find
a way to retaliate.
Tish moved to leave the raid, and Elysara walked back over to us.
"Anything we need to know?" I asked my Adrel.
"It seems they've caught wind of some high-level players moving towards
us," Elysara scowled. "Tish and Miriam are going to go intercept."
"And Neldra is staying here?" I asked.
 "That's the goal as I understand it. All of them would be much more
comfortable if Crimson decided to stick around. She's still running all those
errands for the UG."
I shrugged. Crimson hadn't told me much about what was actually
bothering her, yet it seemed that she was being kept quite busy.
The tremors that had been occurring in the dungeon had been growing
more frequent and more common, though, so far, nothing so extreme that it
had caused difficulty. A few adventurers claimed to have gotten injured
because they lost their footing while fighting. Other than that, the dungeon
just seemed to be rumbling for some unknown reason.
"Elves have never seen something like this?" I asked Elysara.
"Supposedly not," she said.
I glanced over towards Felin.
She shrugged. "The Great One does what he wants. We are at its mercy,"
she said.
The nekorian shaman didn't seem to be any help, so I wondered if we
could use her to ask the dungeon someday.
Candice stood up and clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "If
you're done, let's get back to the boss room."
I nodded at her and my ladies. This was my cue to get us all moving.
Tapping Candice on the shoulder, I said, "Felin and Charlotte want to play a
game of Operation Keep Ken Alive. They want me to try and tank the
blasts. I just wanted to keep you informed in case you had anything for
that."
Candice shook her head. "I could try and time it"—she squinted—"but
those pulses are about two seconds apart. And even if I put a temporary
enchantment on you and timed it perfectly, I could only reduce two of the
blasts." She waffled her head from side to side. "But that might be worth it."
"I'll take it if you can do it," I told her and got into the room and into
position, ready to kick off the fight.
Everyone was taking this boss quite seriously. Several of the casters
churned spells in their hands before the tank had even started. Given that
this room had become an extreme damage check, we weren't even waiting
for the tanks to have solid aggro. Instead, we were forcing them to manage
aggro as quickly as they could.
"Everyone ready?" Fayeth asked and put her hand in the air. People put
thumbs up. Many of the spellcasters’ hands were backlit by the spell
churning in their hand.
"All right, on three, two, one…" Fayeth dropped her hand.
Myrtle and Helen hurtled into the boss, the two of them being the faster
of the tanks. Immediately, spells lobbed from behind me.
I ignored everything else as I stepped into range of the boss with a
[Shadow Ambush], coming up the side of it.
I had quickly figured out that while it was important to watch the raid and
learn as much as I could to help make decisions, after a few attempts, it was
on me to give my combat my full focus.
I started off with a barrage of skills. [Triple Breach], [Shadow Strike],
and more came out one after the other. I quickly built up stacks of [Liminal
Speed], keeping [Dark Blade] for later.
This boss used shadow damage, and I had found that my [Static Swords]
ability was doing more. It paired with a frosty chill that came over my
blades before Candice's pulsing [Haste] hit me, and I felt myself grow
faster.
The initial part of this boss fight was incredibly simple. For the first 10%,
all I had to do was stand behind it and slam my daggers into it as fast as I
could. My muscles ached with the incredible effort that I had applied to my
form.
The boss's health dropped rapidly. It was a humanoid that stood about ten
feet tall, carrying a wicked bone staff and wearing nothing more than a pair
of linen pants. Its body was so heavily tattooed that it might as well have
been clothed.
The boss hit 90% health and slammed its staff into the ground, teleporting
to a side of the room. I activated [Sprint], rushing after it. Between [Sprint]
and [Liminal Speed], I was the first one to reach the boss and resume my
damage.
It slammed its staff on the ground again, darkening a cone of the room.
The healers and ranged DPS scattered, while I sidestepped out of the cone,
maintaining my damage.
In between these abilities, it swung its staff at the tank.
Helen's shield sparked, absorbing the strike and driving her several feet
back. I knew, from experience, that a smack from that staff struck far harder
than it looked.
The boss continued to chant, swinging its staff over its head.
 I activated [Absorb], holding my hand out. A blob of dark energy was
sucked into my ability. I immediately spat the spell back out at the boss
with [Spell Mirror] and continued my damage.
Everyone in the raid started to glow, including myself, as healers threw
out [Wide Effect Healing]. The boss smacked its staff, creating another
attack. It teleported across the room before creating another cone area of
effect. The tanks and I were already rushing to get back to the boss.
"Interrupt that," Helen said, joining me on the boss.
The boss started to spin up a large bolt of darkness, and I stomped down
with [Earth Stomp], the ripple of ground interrupting the boss's cast. My
weapons blurred in front of me, striking against the humanoid target's tough
skin. My attacks failed to find purchase. Hitting this boss was like striking
steel. It didn't matter, though. Slowly, we were whittling down the boss's
health. This cycle repeated until the boss hit 50%.
This time, when the boss raised its staff, the energy it produced was a
different color. Instead of the previous purple, it turned an eerie green as it
teleported to the very center of the room.
Three large stone tablets fell from the air. The raid members threw
themselves out of the way. I, however, rushed straight to the boss,
completely alone. My blades found him, continuing to build up stacks.
Someone unaware of Operation Keep Ken Alive shouted at me to get
behind the pillar, but I ignored them. The downtime of rushing behind the
pillars and waiting for the blasts was long enough that my stacks would fall
off.
Instead, a bubble of ice wrapped around me, and I could see green vines
of magic wrap up and down my arms.
Charlotte and Felin were going to do their best to keep me alive.
Just before the boss pulsed, I suddenly felt denser like I could run through
a brick wall. The first pulse hit me like a punch to the gut. The magic ripped
something from me, only for two heals to land on me and bring whatever I
had lost back.
I gritted my teeth and let the second wave hit me. It almost brought me to
my knees before more heals piled on, and Felin's ice shield reappeared for
the third blast.
This one hit me hard enough to make me cough up blood, which splashed
on the boss before my daggers carved designs into my own liquid life.
 Taylor landed beside me, her mace slamming into the boss. She didn't
utter a word about me sticking around, though she shot me a sharp glare.
The boss continued, and my blades danced along its hips.
"Are you sticking on the boss?" Taylor asked as she arrived a moment
later.
I dodged to the side as the boss sent out two cone areas on each side.
"That's the plan. Otherwise, I lose too many stacks when I have to go hide
behind the pillars," I told her.
She nodded, attacking with two very shiny-looking maces, having gotten
new weapons. In the weeks leading up to this, everyone's gear was looking
a little shinier.
At this point, we had killed forty to fifty bosses, each dropping three
pieces of gear, which meant everyone was looking fairly epically equipped.
It was good that we had upgraded our gear because this boss was tough.
Random magical explosions started to dot the room, and the healers were
struggling to keep everyone alive.
My attack grew faster until I was blurring to the side every time the boss
attacked. I knew now that he had hit 25% because the color of the boss’s
magic changed once again. It was now blue as he threw himself into the
center of the room, and stone tablets dropped from the ceiling.
Everyone else threw themselves behind the stone tablets.
I rushed to the boss using [Shadow Phase] to protect myself just in time
as the first wave of blue magic hit me. With [Shadow Phase] and Felin's
[Ice Shield], the blasts barely fazed me, and I kept up my damage through
all three.
At this point, [Liminal Speed] had reached ridiculous quantities. I was
moving around the boss like a phantom.
The second and third waves ripped out, but with the healing and the buffs
on me, I weathered both. My blades continued to churn against the boss.
I watched as he almost immediately dropped into the 15% mark, where
he started teleporting right back into the spot he had been. More tablets
dropped from the ceiling. I didn't pause, I didn't think. Instead, I kept my
damage up on the boss, letting the support and healers hit me with their best
cooldowns.
However, the transition from the last one to this one may have been too
soon.
 I felt Felin's shield, but I failed to receive Candice's damage reduction,
and [Shadow Phase] was still on cooldown as well. The first blast knocked
me off my feet. Yet I was back up even before the second.
I drew a potion from my CID and slammed it back with one hand while
the other continued to attack. I didn't think that I would survive this round
without the cooldowns. I activated the second phase of [Liminal Speed],
stopping time.
Using all my abilities, I continued to hammer the boss. I thought about
retreating to safety in this frozen time. However, my stacks of [Liminal
Speed] were high enough that I had nearly a minute of uninterrupted time to
damage the boss.
Watching as his health slowly chipped away, I smiled as his steel-like
skin began to crack. The boss was looking far the worse for wear.
My stacks of [Liminal Speed] hit zero, and the second blast ripped me off
my feet, tossing me in the air, only to land with a hard crunch before
everything went dark.

***

I gasped as Charlotte brought me back to life, and people were oohing and
aahing over nearby loot.
"Did we get it?" I asked her, sitting up.
"We got it. He went down about five seconds after you." Charlotte held a
hand out, and I used it to pull myself up.
"Damn, really?" I perked up, knowing that those blasts should have
triggered when he was at 15%, meaning I nearly took him down in that
frozen time. “Just a little more gear and stats, and I won't have to die for it
next time.” I smirked at her.
The rest of the raid group was talking about the loot, and I walked over to
join them.
"There's Ken," Harley said. "It looks like Operation Keep Ken Alive was
at least a partial success." She laughed. "To reward you and maybe help you
next time, why don't you take this?" Harley picked up a dagger from the
pile of loot and tossed it my way.
I snatched it out of the air. The blade was a dark, umbral color with little
dots of twilight inside the metal. I turned it over in my hands, checking out
the stats as a giant grin spread across my face.
 [Umbraheart Sigil - Agility - 55, Strength - 15, Stamina - 20]
"We have to follow the normal rules," I told Harley.
Candice heard my statement and asked the group, "Raise your hand if
you want the dagger."
The whole classroom looked around with big smiles as no one raised
their hand.
Chuckling good-naturedly, I held up my hand.
"Congratulations," Harley said before Candice got a chance. "You get the
dagger." She took my hand with the weapon and pushed it gently towards
me as if to say she was right all along.
"Well, thank you. This will certainly make our fights better." I took the
dagger that had been in my left hand and put it away in my CID before
moving my right-handed dagger over and replacing it with the brand-new
one.
This even beat out the box of weapons that the Harem Queen had given
me before. Every melee DPS loved getting a new weapon.
"Well then, this just leaves the final three bosses, doesn't it?" I said as
Candice started to give away the other pieces of loot.
"Before you know it, we'll have it done”—Des leaned on my shoulder
—“and you'll secure Crimson.”
I rolled my eyes. The bet with Prince Albar was public knowledge by
now among the class, and Des had no issue teasing me.
But before I could utter a response, the dungeon shook. The shake was a
low rumble that I could feel in the soles of my feet before it picked up, and
people were grabbing onto each other to keep themselves on their feet. The
ramp-up only lasted a few seconds before everyone was falling on their
asses, the shaking becoming a full-blown earthquake.
The earthquake in the dungeon only intensified.
People's eyes were wide as they looked around, wondering what the hell
was happening. If these were the disturbances that Crimson was looking
into, I completely understood why the UG was worried.
This wasn't just rumblings of the dungeon; this felt like something far
more.
After what felt like forever, the earthquake slowed down to a dull rumble.
I could still feel the vibrations in the soles of my feet as I got up.
"There might be aftershocks," Taylor said quickly.
 "I don't know if there are tectonic plates in the dungeon," Candice shot
back. "There could be anything."
"Should we stop the raid for today?" I asked the group, looking around.
Everyone was filled with worry, and I could tell that we weren't in the best
mood to continue anyway. If another one like that hit us during a boss fight,
it would be an instant wipe anyway.
"Come on." I tilted my head to the side, urging the ladies to come with
me. There was no point in continuing this raid. We needed to get out and
find out what the hell had just happened.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 14

B efore our party could even make it halfway back, the blur that was
Neldra solidified in front of us.
She spotted Elysara and quickly grabbed her arm to keep us near her. I
raised an eyebrow at the royal censor as she easily kept pace with those of
us in the raid.
"With you coming in, I assume that those quakes were outside as well," I
said.
Neldra gave me a sharp nod—a clear sign that she was very much on
duty right now. Her head was on a swivel as she looked back and forth, alert
to danger.
"Outside, you're going to find that most of your tents have collapsed," she
said with a grimace. "Everyone's tents have collapsed, and there's a lot of
confusion." She stayed glued to Elysara's side and kept me within her line
of sight.
An idea occurred to me, and I turned to Des. "Would you open up a
portal? We need to get somewhere so that we can inform the UG what's
happened. Crimson has been looking into these earthquakes."
Des held out a hand and then frowned, jerking her hand forward again.
"Performance anxiety?" Harley quipped.
"No." Des's tone was serious. "It says that I have no known locations."
She frowned. Her frown deepened as she pointed her hand forward, and a
portal appeared ten feet in front of her.
"What does that mean?" Neldra glanced at me, which I guessed was fair
because it was my ability. However, so far only Des and Crimson were
actively using the ability.
"Not a clue," I said, frustrated at the development, but there was no sense
in dwelling on it. "Regardless, let's get outside and figure out what the
situation is. Neldra, would you be willing to go to the nearest...?"
The censor held her hand up to cut me off. "I don't leave Elysara's side.
Until Miriam and Tish get back, I will be planted next to her. Chaos is
always the perfect time for someone to strike, and that means you should
stay with me as well," Neldra said.
"Alright then, sounds like we are making a trip to the safe zone." Neldra
was our greatest asset. Might as well bring her along for the trip.
"You aren't going anywhere without me," Des said in a hurry.
"Nor me," Fayeth chimed in.
I could see from the eyes of the rest of my immediate party that there was
little chance of me going anywhere without them.
It was over the normal group of five. However, that was just going to
have to be a reality. With Neldra in the group, it wasn't like this dungeon
floor would bother us.
"What about the rest of us?" Harley asked.
"Stay put. We'll get out of the raid, we'll go get some help, and then figure
it out from there." There was no sense in everyone running off. Besides,
they were safe here.
Harley still looked nervous; however, I could see several of the other
leaders within the group nodding in understanding. I knew they would do
their job and try to keep everyone calm.
My smaller party exited the raid to find the scene much like Neldra
described.
The oasis that looked like a tropical paradise outside the raid was covered
in collapsed tents. The earthquake had been heavy enough to dislodge the
stakes the other adventurers had put in the ground.
People were still pulling themselves out of the tents and shouting at each
other, trying to understand what had just happened. Our exit from the raid
didn't go unnoticed, causing heads to turn our way.
Machen spotted me and started jogging my way. The berserker was the
leader of Pendulum Academy. His mohawk was lying across the side of his
head.
"Do you know what's happening?" he asked, several of his ladies
catching up with him.
"We're gonna go find out. My party is going to go up to the 30th-floor
safe zone," I told him.
Professor Sai had been quiet the whole time that Neldra had been there,
but as we started discussing the plan, she spoke up, "I've been unable to
communicate through my CID." She tapped away at her device. "There
might be a larger problem than we think," she said. "I'll go down to the
35th-floor safe zone just in case something went wrong on the 30th-floor
safe zone."
"What do you want us to do?" Machen asked the professor.
"Just wait. Continue as if you normally would." She pushed on her
glasses, suddenly a figure of authority.
A moment later, Marin made it over, as did Prince Albar and Professor
Gafar from the Royal College.
“This looked like a group to discuss a plan.” The prince strode into the
center of the huddle.
I resisted rolling my eyes at the prince.
"We're going up to the 30th floor to try and contact the UG, and Professor
Sai here is going to go down to the 35th floor as a backup," I said. There
was no reason not to keep everyone informed.
"I'll come with you." The professor from the Royal College glanced at
Professor Sai. "We should probably leave someone to help keep everyone
calm."
Professor Sai glanced around at the chaos of the collapsed tents. "The
students are strong enough to deal with the monsters on this floor, and I
would advise that no one go into the raid without supervision." Professor
Sai pointedly glanced at Prince Albar. "Right now, understanding what's
happened and why we've lost communication on the 32nd floor, it should
route through the 30th-floor safe zone."
Professor Gafar glanced at his CID again as if to check it was still not
working correctly. "So checking the 35th floor is important. Who knows if
that earthquake affected multiple floors? It could have affected systems on
the 30th floor.”
“Or just the repeater relays that cross between floors." Candice was
standing behind me. The professor frowned at her, but the blonde shrugged.
"That's how they work. That's how we keep between floors. No signal can
actually penetrate between floors of the dungeon. It's only with repeaters
that they use at every entrance that we're able to keep any communication."
The professor seemed upset that he had a student explaining how the
UG’s technology worked to him. However, he calmed himself and
straightened his uniform. "Of course, I too understand the basics of how the
UG keeps communication up."
Candice pursed her lips, not believing a word he had just said.
Regardless, I tried to clear the air. In times of crisis, it was best not to let
people fight and cause more discord. We needed to keep calm, no matter
how much I disliked the professor. "What is important now is that we re-
establish communication. If what Candice said is correct, then the best
solution might just be to get one floor up and down from here and see what
communication we can send out. If you still don't get anything, continue to
the safe zones."
I glanced around to see if there were any disagreements and was not
surprised by who spoke up.
"I think the elf should stay here," Prince Albar said, pointing at Neldra.
"After this disaster, who knows what could happen in the dungeon? I would
feel far safer if the highest level here remained with the rest of the group."
Neldra didn't even glance at him or give him a response beyond stepping
closer to Elysara.
"Well, that's settled. We'll get moving. Good luck, Professors," I said and
broke away from the impromptu huddle. That discussion had moved past
being productive. Apparently, even a disaster couldn’t keep everybody civil
long enough.
"Don't just ignore me," the prince spat.
Entirely ignoring him, I continued to move away and towards where I
knew the entrance to the 31st floor lay.
As soon as we were clear of the camp, I picked up to a run. The rest of
the group joined me. I had Felin, Des, Charlotte, Fayeth, Neldra, and
Elysara with me.
Candice had stayed behind, talking to the others in our class and doing
the best at damage control. I could see Marin and Machen doing much the
same. The two of them were trying to calm their class by getting them to
rebuild their tents.
 "All right, is anyone else freaking out a little?" Charlotte asked as soon as
we had gotten away from everyone.
"Personally, I like Candice's idea. I’m going with the idea that the
earthquake knocked out the equipment between the floors,” Fayeth said,
sounding like she was trying to convince herself.
“That doesn't explain Des's ability having issues," Elysara pointed out.
Her brows were pinched down in a look of concern.
Neldra echoed her, "I, too, think we have a greater problem. But I have
very few theories about what is causing this latest development."
I was also at a loss. The dungeon was full of surprises; however, this was
a touch further than I had ever experienced. Amongst our group, there was
one oddity: Felin. I had never seen a cat girl look so scared before. At that
moment, she looked positively terrified.
"Felin, do you know what's going on?" I asked.
She jerked to attention. "No, I don't think so."
Everyone in the group was giving her a weird look.
"It's probably nothing," she said a little too quickly as her ears pinned
back.
"Well, if you have even an inkling, it would be a better place to start than
the rest of us have," Neldra pushed her.
"If it's..." She paused. "Let's just get to the safe zone. And then we can
talk," Felin said.
Everyone could tell that something was wrong with the nekorian. But that
wasn't what mattered right now. What mattered was getting to the safe zone.

***

Crimson was in a meeting between the lawyers on the advice of the

president of the UG and the lawyer he'd given her. She had come to offer a
settlement. One that was egregiously priced, in her opinion.
However, getting this all to go away was more important after being
jerked around to several meetings with lawyers as well as the strange
quakes that the UG had been detecting. She wanted to settle this so that she
could spend time with the class.
To be honest, she wanted to stick around Ken, especially with how
worried Broken Blade had been and the news that several assassins had
been contacted, according to Ken’s grandparents.
 "Are you paying attention?" her lawyer said, making her look away from
her daydream.
"Huh? They accept?”
“No, you dolt," one of the SJF's lawyers said to her.
A little crackle of red lightning snaked out of her eyes. "This was beyond
stupid. But we're not done yet?" she said, exasperated. "I was hoping this
farce would be done soon. I'm paying you more than SJS even stood to lose
with the bet.”
“That's not the point here. It's a matter of legality," the lawyer said, "it's
not about money. That's not what the law is about."
She groaned and put her cheek in her hand. "No, it's about wasting my
time, isn't it? Can we get this over with? Would you like more? Would you
like a signed statement?" These were options she'd been coached on giving
with probably less sarcasm.
"Well, listen here." The lawyer puffed himself up about to spill into a
tirade.
While the SJS representative worked himself up, Crimson’s CID started
pinging one message after the other with a wild amount of urgency.
She glanced down at the device, tapping in and seeing that her connection
to Ken had flickered. Her CID was repeatedly pinging messages that his
signal had been lost. She frowned. She had gotten the UG president to set
her up to track Ken’s CID. She’d been willing to pay his price if it meant
she would have the information she needed if ever separated from Ken.
She frowned at the messages, which were quickly followed by messages
coming from the United Guilds requesting her immediate assistance.
"I'm sorry, I have to take this," Crimson stood. Anything was better than a
meeting with the lawyers.
"Sit back down," the SJS representative demanded.
Crimson raised an eyebrow at his tone. She was sick of this. "Yeah, you
don't tell me what to do. In fact, I think it would be a good idea to take the
settlement. And we can just all get on with our lives."
He reeled back like he’d been slapped.
She gave him a smile that turned out to be more of a grimace as she
looked at several more messages coming from the president of the UG. She
almost couldn't believe her eyes.
"Excuse me, I do need to go," she said.
 A guard from outside the door, because the SJS group insisted that there
were guards every time they met with her, blocked her path.
Crimson gave him a mirthless chuckle and grabbed his skull with a hand,
crushing it with a flick of her wrist.
"You can revive him," she said, tossing the corpse aside. "In fact, I think
that's going to be a new thing. Every time I come here, you're going to have
to revive him. And probably the SJS representative, and probably all of the
lawyers, too, because I am just sick of these meetings."
Crimson stared down the room before she left. "If I have to come here
again, I will start popping heads. And if you keep pushing this, I know a
surefire way to get out of the lawsuit." She shrugged. "If there's no
company to sue me, then this is all over."
She flashed them a smile, and with a wave of her hand, she obliterated
half of the building she was standing in.
"See?" She smiled. "You probably have a few more people to revive. Best
get on that."
Crimson swaggered out of the building as a portal opened in front of her,
feeling like she might have just solved her legal troubles. She may have just
created several troubles for the president of the UG and Headmistress
Marlow, but she could handle them. These lawyers were driving her insane.
The content of the messages was of utmost importance. She stared down
at her CID, hoping that the United Guilds had made a mistake. Otherwise,
she was about to embark on a rampage through the dungeon.

***

It took us less than an hour to reach the location where the 30th-floor safe
zone should have been. However, dwarves were pouring out of the entrance
to the safe zone.
From what I had learned in our previous encounters, these seemed to be
drones. I crouched down next to a sand dune with the rest of my party.
"Dwarves?" I asked. "Could they have broken through the 25th floor and
come all the way down here?" I looked at the others for answers.
"I have no clue," Neldra said.
Felin's fidgeting had grown worse. Once we had spotted the dwarves,
Felin shook her head vehemently, making her ears flop around. "No, it can't
be," Felin insisted. "You should go up there and see if the dwarves have
taken over." She pointed up at the safe zone.
Neldra glanced at the stairway, then back at the group. "I will be right
back," she insisted. "All of you are to remain put." Her focus landed on
Elysara. "Especially you. I will be back in less than a minute, and you will
all still be alive." She said the statement with conviction.
Then she launched herself from her hiding spot. Dwarves were cut in half
as the elven censor exploded up the stairs.
"Well, she did a really poor job of keeping us hidden," I said as many of
the drones turned in our direction, determining where Neldra had launched
from.
I pulled out my weapons, and the rest of the group did as well. The
drones that I'd been scouting around started collapsing on our position.
"All right, these aren't monsters. Ely, take a durable melee build. You,
Fayeth, and I will meet them up front with Des and Felin behind us, then
Charlotte bringing up the rear." I made a quick plan of attack, then glanced
down at the rabbit. "Bun-Bun, if anyone gets close enough to hurt
Charlotte, I want you on them."
The rabbit gave a quick salute. He would always prioritize Charlotte's
safety. I knew I could trust him to stay on task.
I came over the ridge of the sand dune, but no farther, so that I could stay
in line of sight for Charlotte and Felin.
The dwarves rushed at us. Fayeth's glaive caught the first two before
Elysara rushed one. She had a pair of wolf ears and what I thought were
bear paws as she muscled one of the dwarves and threw it down the sand
dune.
The one still focused on Fayeth tried to stab the elf.
I stepped up behind it, my new knife working wonders to cut through the
dwarven drone's thick skin. It wasn't exactly a listed stat, but stronger,
higher-level weapons tended to cut through more easily.
The drone swung for my head, and I ducked under it, stabbing twice more
in its abdomen before coming around the other side. This time, its back was
to Fayeth, whose glaive cut a nasty wound from shoulder to hip, possibly
nicking its spine as the dwarf's movements became incredibly sloppy like
one of its legs wasn't working.
A blast from Des hit it in the side of the head, and the dwarf tumbled
down the hill. I didn't think it would be getting back up.
 But my focus was on the next half-dozen dwarves that were reaching our
sand dune to replace the one we had just eliminated. I was glad I had saved
my abilities for the larger group.
The next dwarf that reached the top of the dune was hit with a [Triple
Breach]. The second and third hits blew large chunks out of the dwarf's
body, enough to stagger him down to one knee.
I slipped around his side, my knife carving a sanguine smile across his
neck.
Charlotte threw a heal at me just before another dwarf reached me and
landed a good fist to my chin.
I stumbled to the side.
Fayeth stunned that dwarf before he could get another hit on me. The
petite elf suddenly had vines spilling out of the shield on her arm, wrapping
around her shoulders and all the way down her torso to make an armored
skirt.
This happened just in time for a few more dwarves to reach the top of the
dune. She blocked one with a shield while she braced the back end of the
glaive on the sand, fighting with it like a sword.
Elysara made a gesture with her hands, a large paw print exploding from
her hand, causing them to slide back down the sand dune. Elysara put her
fists up like she was ready for a boxing match, punching her hands out.
Each punch made a smaller image of a paw that worked very well in
pushing the dwarven drones back.
Thankfully, they were on loose sand footing, which provided no help in
resisting Elysara's ability.
I was back on my feet, slipping a dagger into another of the dwarves and
using [Earth Stomp] to stun those on Fayeth. Waves of darkness came from
Des, hitting the dwarves, as well as curses flying over my shoulders to the
ones Elysara was keeping at bay.
More drones continued to pour out of the entrance to the 31st floor until
they all stopped and slid in half just a moment before Neldra reappeared in
front of us. The dwarves that had been there with us were killed.
"We need to go." Neldra's tone brooked no argument, and I turned and
started running. The rest of the girls were in lockstep with me.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"That is not the 30th-floor safe zone that we came from," she said. "If I
understand the dwarves correctly, what I saw was likely the hive of a
dwarven queen."
Neldra dropped an absolute bomb on our group. The ladies all had a
haunted look in their eyes. I knew I likely had one myself.
"How?" Des asked.
"It didn't look like a recent addition," Neldra said. "I have no clue. I've
never heard of or seen anything like this before."
The only one in our group who didn't have a look of horror was Felin.
Felin had a look of sudden clarity.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 15

T ish and Miriam moved as if they were a black streak through the
dungeon.
"Where is your contact?" Tish asked, turning to the older elf.
Miriam was an odd one, very mercenary in everything she did. She had a
strange class that relied on her making money to retain her enormous
strength.
The older elf had only recently rejoined the censors after being dug up
from the Underroot, where she had been operating as Madam Root. The
emperor had originally removed Miriam from his services and put a bounty
on her head, causing her to go into the criminal underground of the elven
world.
So, it was no surprise that when they needed to build a group of
informants among the human sections of the dungeon, Miriam performed
fantastically. She worked her way through the seedier adventurers, creating
a network of people who would look out for assassins after the princess.
Miriam led Tish through the crowd, slipping past the pristine United
Guilds establishments that lined the front of the streets and into the back
alley of the dungeon safe zone. She paused at a door, knocking in a strange
beat.
Tish raised an eyebrow.
"It's some famous song." Miriam shrugged. "I don't make this shit up."
 The door cracked open an inch. A man with spiky green hair peered
through the crack. "What do you want?"
"You're the one who sent me a message," Miriam retorted, putting her
hands on the door and shoving it open.
The human adventurer was no match for her strength, and she plowed
right through into the room.
"Hey," the man hissed. "Damn it." His head whipped back and forth as if
to see if anyone had seen them.
Miriam closed the door behind them and sat down, pulling a chair over to
sit in front of the door. "This is Tish." She gestured to the other elf. "You
said there were high-level adventurers moving through?"
"Yeah, earlier today," he replied, looking to the side as if he suddenly
didn't want to be in the space. "Look, if it's alright with you, I would just
like to get my money and get out."
Miriam laughed in his face. "Yeah, you get the money after we confirm
the details." She slapped her hands together with urgency.
"Fine. There were four of them. They met up with the professor from the
Royal College," he said.
Tish leaned forward when the informant mentioned the professor. "Are
you sure they weren't with the college?"
The man with spiky green hair shook his head. "No, I know the type.
They are not good people."
"Well, neither is the professor," Miriam muttered. "Then again, shit tends
to attract flies."
Tish sighed at Miriam's use of language. Try as she might, the older elf
was never going to be anything but brash, unless a lot of money was
involved. At that point, Miriam could be the sweetest woman on Earth.
"So, four of them…" Tish tried to get the man to continue talking.
"Yeah, four. Three guys and a girl. They met up with the professor. Some
things traded hands. I couldn't see what they were passing. They did it all
with their CIDs. And then they vanished."
"Vanished?" Miriam asked.
"Yeah, they were fast as fuck or it was a stealth ability. Whatever ability
they used was very quick."
"You mean they're already gone?" Tish slammed a hand down against the
door. "They're already fucking gone. Why are we here, Miriam?"
 "Information," the older elf chided her. "I doubt they're going to sprint
down there and attack the princess without any information. Besides,
Broken Blade's there."
Tish sighed. "Don't call her that."
"Crimson does."
"Yeah, Crimson can get away with calling Neldra Lyntean whatever she
wants. You and I cannot," Tish retorted.
Miriam shrugged with a smile on her face. "Maybe you can't."
Tish rolled her eyes. How she had become the junior one amongst the
censors was anyone's guess. It was her fault that she was paired with two
old monsters on this mission to protect the princess.
"All right, four of them. Crazy fast. Any more information?" Miriam
looked at the man.
"I told you I got it. I had information." He held out his hand for money.
Miriam threw out two black mana stones. "For this level of information,
that's all you get."
"What?" The man slammed his hand down on the table as he stood.
Miriam didn't even get out of her chair before she grabbed him by the
lapel of his shirt and lifted him off the floor. "There's nothing here. They
met the professor. That’s all you gave me.”
The man was trying his best not to be intimidated. But any normal human
would be very much intimidated by Miriam. "Look, I've told you what I
know. They wore masks. You need to pay me appropriately." His voice
shook slightly.
Miriam sighed a little more. She pulled out a single red stone and put it in
his palm. "Just remember next time to get more than this before you call
me." Miriam stood up, still holding the man, and then set him down before
whipping her chair away from the door. "Tish, let's go."
But before Tish could activate her ability to zip them out, the ground
shook underneath them.
The vibrations were a low rumble for just a moment before they escalated
to the point that Tish had to hold onto the door lest she fall over. On the
other hand, Miriam stood there with her arms crossed and her brow
furrowed. The man, on the other hand, fell on his ass.
"What did you two do?" he asked accusingly, ducking under a table.
"This isn't us, idiot." Miriam stared down at the ground and kicked hard
enough to break the floor of the building before sticking her hand in the
hole and feeling the ground for the dungeon. The whole dungeon floor was
vibrating.
"Some big fight?" Tish asked.
"No," Miriam answered quickly. "Even when Crimson was going
ballistic, all it did was small vibrations. No, this would be like a thousand
Crimsons going all out. This isn't anyone. This is the dungeon itself."
Miriam picked her hand up and opened the door. The earthquake was still
happening, but the older elf walked with stable footing out the door. Tish
grimaced, activating her ability to scoop up Miriam and herself before
zipping through the safe zone back to the princess.
But as Tish reached the staircase that would lead them back up the
dungeon, she was met with a moving stone wall. She canceled her ability,
landing halfway through the staircase.
For once, Miriam was speechless. She reached her hand out to touch it
and jerked her hand away.
"It's hot." Tish frowned. It must be from the friction of movement, which
meant they were traveling quickly.
"I think this safe zone's moving." Miriam's words echoed Tish’s thoughts.
"No shit." Tish frowned. "The question is, where are we going?"
Miriam crossed her arms and tapped her foot. The woman was still stable
despite the shaking dungeon floor. Tish, on the other hand, was bracing
herself in the stairway.
"Maybe we should get out of the stairs.”
“It's just right here." Miriam tapped at the space that was currently filled
with quickly moving stone. A moment later, another opening blurred past.
"On second thought, let's take a step back."
After about five minutes of movement, the stairway connected with
another and stopped abruptly.
Miriam rushed up the staircase, past the boss room, to the floor, only to
see an unfamiliar dungeon landscape.
"Maybe we should keep going," Tish offered.
"No." Miriam's tone was grave. "We have to go down as deep as we can
in the dungeon, recruiting elves along the way. Finding the princess is a
priority, but we shouldn't run around on our own." The older elf had a rather
grim expression on her face.
Tish nodded. Now that Miriam was serious, Tish wasn't going to argue.
Miriam rarely got serious.
 "Alright, let's go." Tish activated her ability, swallowing Miriam in
darkness and zipping through the dungeon, going as deep as they could.

***

Professor Sai and Gafar were nearing the 35th-floor safe zone.
Professor Gafar continued to fiddle with his CID. It seemed he had made
some sort of connection, so he started typing a message out to send back.
Lily Sai checked her own CID for connectivity but found nothing. Rather
than question the cantankerous professor, she continued their journey to the
safe zone.
She reached the boss room first and halted, seeing something she had not
been expecting in her wildest dreams.
Three naga were exiting the boss doors, clearly talking and holding up
loot.
The professor froze, grabbing Gafar and pulling him to the side.
The environment did not make for the best hiding, but they were far
enough away that Lily hoped they could hide behind the thin palm tree.
Professor Sai's heart raced seeing the naga. The last time she had seen
them was at the fight at the end of the last school year. Despite all her
efforts, she felt her pulse race and her skin prickle. She was scared for both
herself and the students.
"Who are you talking to?" Professor Sai glanced at Gafar, who was
engrossed in his own CID and not even looking at the naga ahead of him.
"None of your business." The Royal College professor shifted his CID so
that she could not see the screen. "I wouldn't worry about those naga,
though," he said.
Professor Sai glanced at him, a frown of confusion on her face. "Of
course we have to worry about the naga. The elves barely hold them at bay.
If they've made it here, then we have a massive issue on our hands. Not just
the safety of the students, but of all of humanity."
Professor Gafar gave her a broad smile. "Oh no, I just mean you need to
worry about yourself."
Pain punched through her lower back, and she couldn't breathe. She
couldn't even take a breath with how sharp the pain had been.
A masked man appeared behind her, holding onto her shoulder. He had
come out of nowhere, likely using some sort of stealth ability. His dagger
punched into her kidneys twice more, and she could feel blood rushing
down her back and over her hips.
Another man reappeared next to Professor Gafar.
The professor smiled at them. "Good, I see you were able to not get
caught in whatever this is." The professor gestured around at everything.
"You have a job to do, and currently, we have enough chaos that now might
be the perfect time."
Professor Sai felt her life as it bled out her back. "What have you done?"
she spat, blood welling up in her throat.
"We've come to settle a job," the man said and dropped her to the ground.
"Leave her, and alert the naga as we go," Professor Gafar said. "You've
wounded her badly enough that she won't survive. Besides, Ken has an
ability to detect lies. I’d like to put him at ease." The man gave Lily Sai a
slimy smile before directing his attention back to the assassins. "We have
other things to take care of. Have you investigated the safe zone?" the
professor asked the two masked men.
"It's full of naga, though they aren't at an extremely high level like the
ones that invaded Haylon," the man who had ambushed Lily reported.
"Good, then let's get the job done. Then you can get out of here."
Professor Gafar raised his hands and shouted wordlessly towards the naga,
causing them to look in this direction.
The two masked men grabbed the other professor and faded into nothing,
disappearing before Lily's eyes.
She spat on the ground, watching the sand shift as they rushed away. The
naga hurried towards her. Lily worried the assassins were the type to be
thorough, but she needed them to think she had died.
Lily waited until the naga were upon her. The first one thrust its trident
into her leg. Rather than scream, she grabbed the trident and thrashed,
pulling the naga to the ground. She hoped that this would be enough, that
Gafar and the assassins were gone, because she now had to fight.
Being a former teacher at Haylon, having been bumped down to class C
by the Harem Queen, and having Crimson as the other teacher present, she
was often underestimated. Then again, compared to those two freaks, she
really was not as strong. But she could hold her own.
Golden fire burst from Lily as she wrestled with the naga. The naga
quickly went up in flames like an oil-soaked cotton ball.
 She put a hand to her back, the golden flames licking into the wounds and
healing her as she rolled to her feet. A longsword materialized from her CID
as she flicked it back and forth to ward the other two off for a moment. Her
professional attire was ruined, but it wasn't as if she didn't have experience
adventuring. After a few more taps on her CID, ornate chainmail
encompassed her torso, and a skirt of blades wrapped around her hips.
The naga didn't wait for her healing to take full effect. Two of them came
swinging with flamberges. She blocked the first and parried the second,
dragging its large sword down to the ground where she could stomp on it to
keep it in place. More golden flames escaped her hands, scorching and
blinding the other naga.
It screamed and blindly swung wide.
A radiant bolt of fire then zipped out of her hand, burning the wrists of
the naga whose sword she had trapped.
"If you think I'm an easy target, you're wrong," she said. Her longsword
cut up and through the neck of the naga who was reeling back with burnt
hands.
It wasn’t enough to kill the hardy creature. The blood seeping out of its
wound wasn’t enough to put it down. It had let go of its flamberge, and she
cut twice more at it, driving it back, only for the blinded naga to come in
swinging.
She had to dance back, wincing in pain. Her wounds still needed healing.
She pulled a potion out of her CID and slugged it back before she unleashed
another blinding bolt of fire.
This time, the naga raised its sword, a veil of blue water encompassing
both and protecting them from her most recent attack. The one who had
dropped its sword rushed her in a slithering sprint.
Lily met the rushing naga head-on, her feet digging deep in the sand. A
golden shell wrapped around her, and she slammed into the naga, driving it
back.
The two of them hit with such force that the sand around them exploded,
and she was able to follow up with three more swings of her sword, piling
on damage to the already wounded naga.
The other tried to press her from the side, but she danced around the
wounded one, using its body to prevent its fellow from getting into the
fight. She chanted quickly under her breath before throwing a burst of
golden fire at the ground beneath the two naga.
 The fire expanded in a ring before a pillar of flame erupted around both.
This time, the naga had not been quick enough to protect itself with
mobility, and both were badly singed. The already wounded naga fell and
reached for a pouch at its waist.
With its burnt hands, it fumbled with the strings. Lily was not about to let
it draw anything from the pouch and stabbed her sword through its forearm,
twisting the weapon and then pulling back. The healthy naga was mid-
swing, and its flamberge cut off the other naga's arm at the wrist. She pulled
her sword out and finished the wounded naga with another blast of fire
before squaring up against the remaining enemy.
"I know you can't understand me," she said, staring down the length of
her sword, "but I'm about to fuck you up."
The naga said something in its own hissing language, most likely its own
taunt, before charging her with a guttural roar.
She blocked high, only for the naga to spit a green glob at her face,
forcing her to duck and try to twist around its next strike. The flamberge
scraped off her chainmail and was guided away from her flesh by the
bladed skirt. It scraped a thin layer off her thigh, but that was far better than
it could have been.
She cursed as she came back around, hurling more fire at the naga and
following it up with her sword. "It seems you can learn a trick or two," she
muttered, stomping her heels on the very tip of its tail.
The naga jerked to a stop, failing to evade both of her attacks.
Lily drew her sword back and stabbed the naga's tail, pinning it to the
ground. She then drew a large battle axe from her CID and ended the fight
with a heavy overhead swing.
Despite the naga's strength, the heavy axe was too much for it to block.
The weapon managed to cleave its skull open in a single blow.
Lily swept the axe back into her CID before removing the sword. She
held her hand to her hip as golden flames danced along her skin, still
healing the injuries that the assassins working with the other professor had
caused her.
"What the fuck?" Professor Sai shook her head, putting away her
equipment and changing back into a clean set of blouse and skirt. She
fluffed her hair, her expression incredulous. "You would think in a disaster
like this that people would put aside their petty attempts."
 She sighed. "I better get back and make sure Neldra is aware of what the
Royal College has afoot." She then re-equipped chainmail and her bladed
skirt, realizing that it was likely for the best that she had her back armored
in case they came at her again.
However, she had a feeling that the cowardly professor had already gone
down to try and kill the low-level students she was meant to keep alive.
Bracing, she charged forward despite her body’s protests.

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 Chapter 16

W esteps,
rushed back to the 32nd floor, but as soon as our feet came off the
Neldra stopped the whole group and turned to look at Felin. "I
think the kitty owes us an explanation," she said.
Felin's eyes darted around before they landed on me. She began fidgeting,
very unlike the confident nekorian I often observed.
"It's all right, Felin. Just tell us if you know what this is," I said.
"I don't know exactly if it's the same," Felin said. "Our records are a little
spotty."
I raised an eyebrow. She knew something.
"But..." she said, "I've never seen the nekorian world." She dipped her
head at me. "I'm sorry I lied. We don't really talk about it."
"What do you mean you haven't seen the nekorian world?" Neldra stood
up a little straighter, her hand on the hilt of her sword.
I stepped between the two. "Don't threaten her."
Felin's ears lay flat against her head. "The nekorians inhabit what you
would call a dead branch of the dungeon."
Charlotte gasped and threw herself on Felin in a giant hug. "You poor
thing."
Felin grumbled but wrapped her arms around Charlotte and hugged her
tight. "I was raised in here. I have only ever known life underneath the
Great One," Felin admitted as if it was painful to speak those words.
 "My people were once a group that was separated during an event in the
dungeon. They call it"—she frowned, doing her best to translate—"The
Great Disaster. All I remember from the records is that a great storm hit.
While they were within the Great One, the world rocked, and they were left
stranded away from their homes, unable to find their way back. My people
set up in a branch of the dungeon and made themselves a new home."
My jaw dropped. I joined the hug with Charlotte, squeezing Felin
lovingly. "Thank you for telling us, but I don't think that will happen again."
My voice was filled with confidence.
And there was a reason I had that confidence. This would be a perfect use
of Eyes of Wisdom. With that, hopefully, I would be able to lead our group
back to their worlds. I even had hope I would not say that I could help
reunite the lost nekorians.
"It's okay," Felin said, "I'm sure we'll get back." She spoke the words, but
her heart clearly wasn’t behind them.
I tapped at the edge of my eye as they glowed blue, posing the question to
[Eyes of Wisdom]: which way back to Earth? A blue line extended towards
what I knew was the direction to the entrance to the 33rd floor. Of course,
the way out would be first going down. Out of curiosity, I activated Eyes of
Wisdom again, asking the ability what the quickest way to the elven world
was. The blue line went down the same direction.
Neldra was looking at me curiously. "What did you ask of the ability?
What is the way back?"
I told her, and she smiled.
Tension bled out of the group around me. Only after telling them that I
would be able to help guide us out did I realize how tense they had all been
standing.
"Good, good." Neldra nodded to herself and then glanced at Elysara.
"We'll be able to get you back. I know that this will not only have rocked
the human world but the elven world as well. This shake-up... will have
stranded many people in the dungeon." Neldra made a face. "Many of
whom we will likely never see again."
Felin let out a low groan. "My people were already separated once, and
now it's going to happen again."
I glanced at the princess, knowing that there was certainly a priority to
get her back to her people. However, after that was done, I would help Felin
find her people again. I put a hand on the nekorian and pulled her face into
my chest.
"Don't worry, if you think that I won't use this ability to help you as well,
you have no idea how wrong you are."
Des held a hand up. "While I'm happy we have a way forward, we still
have one huge problem." She pointed back the way we had come. "In case
you guys didn't notice, there were a large number of dwarves."
“Unless that's a baby dwarven queen and Neldra thinks she can cut her
way through it, we're going to have a very serious dwarf problem on our
hands," I agreed.
Neldra shook her head. "I'm not sure what a normal dwarven hive looks
like, but what's there looks very established." The royal censor shook her
head. "Fortunately, we have to go down the dungeon and not in that
direction," she said.
I couldn't help but agree with her. Going through an army of dwarves was
not my ideal way out of the current situation.
"Okay, let's go see if Professor Sai has gotten back from her trip," I
suggested. I turned and started towards the encampment outside the raid. It
wasn't on fire, and there wasn't shouting, so that was a good sign.
However, most people looked fairly anxious as we approached.
Machen and Marin jumped to their feet and rushed to us, along with
Harley and some of the others. Their groups bled out of their tents, wanting
to get an update.
"Please tell me you have good news," Harley said.
I winced. "Not the best. It seems the dungeon has shuffled the floors," I
replied. There were frowns of confusion around the impromptu huddle.
"What do you mean shuffled?" Machen asked.
"Well, as we all know, the dungeon is like an inverted pyramid that
connects to multiple worlds. Every five levels of the dungeon then connects
to three other branches of five levels. The deeper down in the dungeon the
level, the bigger and fewer floors there are. I don't know exactly how the
shuffles worked, but it seems we are not connected to the same safe zones
we were a few hours ago. We are connected to new safe zones." I always
struggled to explain the dungeon structure.
Marin raised her hand. "Did we just shuffle horizontally, or could we
have shuffled vertically as well?"
I made a noise of hesitation. "We have no clue."
 "Oh, that's comforting," Harley said sarcastically. "Well, hopefully,
Professor Sai had better luck on her end. Humanity has explored a lot of the
dungeon. Hopefully, we're still connected somehow.”
“Or the dungeon is impossibly vast and the part that humanity has
explored could really just be a very small percentage." A Trusk student
pushed up his glasses.
"Yeah, let's not think about that." I cleared my throat, seeing another
figure approaching the camp.
The figure was Professor Gafar from the Royal College. Professor Sai
wasn't with him.
I waved the professor down.
He jogged up to us, panting. "I hope all of you are safe," he said, looking
around the group. There was a splash of blood on his clothes that were torn
slightly, causing me to frown.
"Professor, are you okay?" I asked, worried that he had encountered
something on his trip.
The absence of Professor Sai made me momentarily hope that she had
stayed behind to communicate with whoever was at the other end of the
safe zone. Yet Professor Gafar's appearance told another story.
He shook his head. "No, the safe zone was filled with naga. She stayed
behind so that I could escape." He shook his head again and then glanced at
Neldra. "We'll need you to help clear the naga if we are to survive."
Neldra put her hand on her sword. "Not a chance."
"What do you mean?" The professor puffed himself up. "We are
connected to a different safe zone, one filled with naga that could
potentially flood this floor and kill all of the students. Are you saying that
you won't help?"
Prince Albar smirked as he spoke. "I thought the elves and the humans
were going to have a working relationship, but you can't even step in to
save some of the pinnacle representatives of humanity?"
Neldra grimaced and looked at the prince like she wanted to wipe him off
the face of the dungeon.
Unfortunately, while 'everything in the dungeon stays in the dungeon' was
a wonderful motto, now surrounded by so many adventurers, it would be
very difficult to keep killing the prince quiet.
I, too, had had several thoughts about sneaking into his tent at night and
making sure he would never be a problem again. However, life wasn't
always that easy. We had to continue, and in the current situation, it would
be best to learn to work together.
"Alright, I have worse news." I gestured at Professor Gafar. "The 30th-
floor safe zone we're connected to is filled with dwarves."
The professor's face fell. "You mean we're surrounded?"
"It would appear so." I rubbed the back of my head and looked at the fake
sky that was the ceiling of the dungeon. "What we need to do right now is
figure out a way through either the naga or the dwarves. What level were
the naga?" I turned to the professor.
"They were in the mid-forties," he reported.
I pinched my brow. "Far from ideal, but I think dealing with mid-forties
naga is more doable than fighting through the masses of dwarves and
potentially a dwarven queen."
I paused, thinking back to Marin's earlier question. Did we just move
horizontally in the dungeon and get shuffled around, or did we move
vertically instead?
I put my hand over my eyes. "If the naga were that high-level, that means
that safe zone, we could assume, was deeper than 35."
There was confusion from about half the faces in the group, though
Candice spelled it out. "If that was a safe zone of naga that high-level, it's
safe to say it was likely the 40th or the 45th floor before the shuffling."
I nodded. "Which means we might have shuffled vertically either deeper
or higher into the dungeon. The monsters are still Level 32, though,"
Machen said.
"Well, at least that's good"—Des twirled her hair—"because if they
suddenly leveled to fifty, we'd be screwed."
"The Great One always provides a path to survive." Felin hummed. "I
think it is likely the monsters will slowly adjust the level to whatever this
dungeon floor should actually be in the future.”
“For now, let's just keep calling it the 32nd floor," I said, not wanting to
add more confusion. "But we all understand that this dungeon floor could
actually be higher or lower than it was previously."
"What about the raid?" Prince Albar asked.
"Are you really still concerned about the raid?" I asked him. "We're
pinned on both sides by hostile races, and the monsters on this floor might
be leveling on us," I said, trying to paint a realistic picture of the challenges
we faced.
 "We had a bet," Prince Albar said, "and I'm not one to give up a bet."
I rolled my eyes.
"I think running the raid is still important." Candice surprised me with her
opinion, and I must have shown it on my face because she continued, "If
this floor begins to level, then it stands to reason the raid will, too, as will
the drops it produces. If we want to keep up our strength and prepare to
fight these higher-level naga, running the raid might be in our best interest
to keep up with the increases."
I thought about what she had said for a moment and could only nod in
agreement. As we were right now, we would be relying entirely on Neldra
and Professor Gafar to try and clear what was likely a safe zone of hundreds
of mid-forties naga. At the same time, Neldra's body language was making
it clear that she didn't want to stray far from Elysara.
"We'll have to modify how we do it, though," I said.
"What do you mean?" Machen asked.
"Well, if we want to optimize levels and loot, we should probably have
one team rotated out, and three teams rotated in. Each team gets a wing."
"Hold on, that's not fair," the prince said. "One of the wings has twice the
bosses."
I sighed. "Of course, we'll have to rotate who gets which wing. It's really
the best option we have."
Even though the 32nd floor was quite large, it would be difficult for all
one hundred adventurers to farm the space. The raid, on the other hand,
provided strong monsters that took a raid to kill, and thus, it might be a
better way to keep everyone occupied, increasing their strength. It seemed
we would need to be far stronger in the near future.
“Alright. It’s been a day for us. I’m going to rest up. Remember to keep a
watch rotation now,” I said, stepping back.
Des pulled me aside as we moved off towards our tents, breaking from
the huddle with the other colleges. I was happy to see someone had righted
our tent.
"That's what they're going to do. What are we going to do?" Des asked.
I glanced at Neldra, and she shook her head. "With everything that's been
going on, especially after Miriam and Tish just went to follow up a lead, I
am not leaving Elysara alone." She made herself perfectly clear, and I didn't
really have it in me to argue with her.
 Instead, I thought this would be a great time for the rest of the class and
me to level. We had gone through some intense stat training from Crimson.
We were now starting to get powerful gear and were well ahead of the curve
on stats for our level. It was now time to catch our level back up to our stats
and push ourselves higher.
If the floor leveled, we’d just have to keep up.
"We'll do as I said," I told Des. "We grind, we level, and we make sure
that we can get back home. If we have to go down the dungeon, there's a
good chance we're going to have to go past not just that safe zone but
several more. I don't know if we are strong enough to do it as we are right
now."
Des made a face. "Can't you just spin [Liminal Speed] up to insane
numbers and go slaughter the naga?"
I smiled back at her. "I might just do that. However, all of you better have
a massive feast for me afterwards. I'm going to look like a shrunken husk
after how many calories I'm going to burn."
Her idea wasn't a terrible one. I had been thinking similarly, though there
were enough abilities out there that I could find myself in serious trouble if
I took on too many powerful naga. There were certainly abilities that were
not dodgeable or blanketed a large area. For me, it was still too dangerous
to try and take out all the naga, especially when I had no one to revive me.
We made it back to our tent, and I watched as the other colleges started to
rally their people. Machen jogged over.
"Since you guys just finished up the raid, we figured you would sit out
first," he said awkwardly.
"That's fair. Go ahead. You three can all go in the raid, and good luck."
"Thanks. I think, if nothing else, it'll be a good distraction for my class."
Machen scratched the back of his head and dipped himself awkwardly
before hurrying off to manage the rest of his class.
I'd just come out of the raid looking for a solution. I was exhausted. But
before I could go to sleep, I looked around. "Who's got the first watch? We
need someone on watch at all times. It'd be even better if we could get a
group to stay on watch from the class."
Neldra nodded. "It would be important right now. We have to treat the
dungeon as hostile. Never know when naga could strike." She clearly left
out the unvoiced 'or assassins'.
 Charlotte raised her hand. "I'm still good to keep watch. I'll get some
other girls from the class."
I dragged myself off to the bed in the back to make sure that we got rest
for what was sure to come. It was only a matter of time before we found
ourselves once again in danger.

***

I woke up with a start, someone's hand over my mouth. An unfamiliar face

hovered above me, and a dagger flashed in my hand before I recognized the
woman as Professor Sai.
I sat up and blurted out, "You're supposed to be dead." I was loud enough
that several of the girls in bed stirred.
While I was happy to see her alive, Professor Sai was in chain mail and a
bladed skirt, a long sword strapped to her back. This was far from the
professor I had known thus far. In fact, she looked quite ferocious.
"Gafar has four assassins on the floor with us," she whispered.
Neldra, who had been dozing on a chair, went bolt upright at that
statement, drawing her sword from its sheath as if ready for combat. I held
a hand out to stop her.
"I appreciate the heads up, but if that's the case, why am I waking up to
you and not a blade in my throat? Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset." I
chuckled, but no one else was laughing.
"I don't know either," Professor Sai said. "If anything, I would bet that
he's holding off until they can remedy or at least understand the current
situation.”
“Do they know that Ken can find a way out?" a sleepy Felin asked.
Professor Sai gave me a strange look. "A way out?”
“Our current theory is that the dungeon floors have shifted. Currently, the
30th-floor safe zone has been replaced by one that has a dwarven queen
established in it, and then it sounds like the 35th floor, or what we thought
was the 35th-floor safe zone, now has naga."
The professor nodded. "Great. It seems like the 31st through the 35th
floors have remained the same.”
“Or moved together in a unit," I said.
Professor Sai stood up and started pacing. "We could quite literally be
anywhere in the giant complex that is the dungeon. Getting back would be
almost impossible unless we knew the way."
I tapped my eyes as I activated [Eyes of Wisdom]. They glowed blue. "I
have an ability that Crimson has shared with me."
That statement caused the professor to raise her eyebrow.
"It's a long story," I continued, "either way, know that I should be able to
guide us through the dungeon.”
“Can that also see invisible assassins?" Des asked.
"It absolutely can." I smiled and glanced at Neldra, who gave me a
vicious grin, her sword still at the ready. "Point me in the right direction,
and we won't have an assassin problem any longer."
Professor Sai held a hand up. "They were strong. Strong enough to
incapacitate me quickly, and I'm Level 48."
Neldra wrinkled her nose. "So they're probably around the low 50s,
which is the top end for humanity." She glanced over at me.
"What?" I shrugged. "Because they're assassins, I'm supposed to know
who they are?"
Neldra waffled her head. "Kind of.”
“While I might formally be an assassin, my grandparents would be the
ones who know everything. But that doesn't matter much. If I can spot them
and send you to them, like you said, they won't be a problem. But I am
concerned that, if they took the job, they may feel confident enough to
defeat you."
Professor Sai nodded at my words. "Regardless, I think between Neldra
and me, there's a chance we can take care of them. And I would rather go on
the attack. We just have to time this right."
I pulled myself out of bed and tapped at my CID until I took my yoroi out
of it. "Well, if we're assassinating them, you can't leave me out."
"What about us?" Des asked.
"If we kill the assassins, then you should all be safe." I flashed her a
winning smile, but she crossed her arms in response, raising an eyebrow.
I sighed. "Look, it's dangerous for you guys."
"It's just as dangerous for you," Des shot back.
Neldra cleared her throat. "I would feel better if all of you were here to
protect the princess. Only then would I feel comfortable leaving her."
Elysara glared at the royal censor. "Don't use me as an excuse."
Neldra only flashed her a humorless smile in return. "Sorry, Princess. You
don't get to join us."
 Neldra grabbed me by the shoulder, and the world around us blurred as
she ripped me out of the tent.

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 Chapter 17

T he"Des
blurring world halted in its tracks as the 32nd floor stopped moving.
is going to be pissed at you," I warned, glancing at Neldra who
had stolen me away.
"She can be pissed," the elf retorted. "But if she had her way and came
with you, it would have been that much harder to convince Ely to stay put. I
will not have the princess in danger."
Professor Sai joined us a moment later.
"Go ahead and use your ability," Neldra instructed.
I activated [Eyes of Wisdom], asking it to reveal the assassins' location. A
line appeared, leading us farther away from the encampment. I pointed in
the direction, telling Neldra which way to move.
Professor Sai looked at me curiously. "Can you keep the ability up?" she
asked.
I shook my head. "It fades every time I blink, and the mana cost is quite
large," I explained. "Crimson has a ridiculously large pool of mana because
she enjoys having more stats than the rest of us. It's not very useful in
combat. Using it three or four times in a row is enough to deplete my
mana."
Neldra nodded and handed me two mana potions. "Then you'll need
these. The last thing we need is for these assassins to escape us."
 I took the potions and tucked the vials into my belt. "Then let's go deal
with them."
Neldra grabbed me, and the world blurred again, moving at an incredible
speed. She stopped and put me down, nodding for me to use my ability
again. This time, [Eyes of Wisdom] didn't give me a line but instead placed
four dots on the horizon.
"I can almost see them," I said.
Professor Sai took a few seconds to catch up to us. Neldra was already
moving in hurried steps forward. "Try not to blink," she advised.
I was holding my eyes open as we went, but not blinking was always
harder than I anticipated. I certainly wasn't going to make it all the way.
Neldra's sword flashed, and a nearby monster puffed into black smoke.
"I don't see a camp," the professor said.
"Neither do I. In fact, I don't see anything else out there." Neldra kept a
hand on my shoulder, and unfortunately, I blinked. The dots vanished, and I
quickly downed one of the mana potions to replenish my energy. “It’ll be
incredibly suspicious if we just waltz up. Neldra, would you like to have an
impromptu training session out here?”
The elf smirked at me and drew her sword. “I thought you’d never ask.”
My blades pinged off her sword a moment later. I had to really go at her
to get [Liminal Speed] to activate. With this level of fighting, I’d seriously
injure someone from the class, but Neldra could hold out against me easily.
"They are fanning out around us," I told Neldra, checking on the
assassins again. "One of them is perhaps a hundred yards away. To our left.
There, a hundred yards."
Neldra disengaged from me and moved like a rocket, closing the space
between where we were and where I pointed in a flash. She drew her sword
in an arc, and the dungeon in front of her exploded in a wave of sand and
shredded shrubbery. Her blade cut an arc through the air that grew to the
size of a house and shot out to blanket the area.
A figure appeared in the air, blocking as blood splashed out from his
arms. A moment later, Neldra had practically teleported behind him, her
blade cleaving down from above and cutting him from shoulder to hip in a
single motion. She landed, spun, and shot another wave to her side.
"There's nothing there," I told her and pointed. "The other three are
running that way."
 The high-level elf moved so quickly it was like she teleported six times in
quick succession, carving up large areas with wide-sweeping attacks every
time she appeared.
She caught another.
This one seemed more prepared than the first, blocking her slash and
rushing towards the professor and me.
Professor Sai drew a longsword from her back. "Stay back, I've got this. I
owe them at least one stab," she said. The professor rushed to meet the
assassin.
Meanwhile, two more reappeared on Neldra.
Both were incredibly fast. She blocked one and spun to kick the other,
only for them to bury a knife in her calf. If the wound bothered Neldra, she
didn't show it at all.
She continued to fight off two of the assassins, both of whom fought in a
flitting style as they disappeared and reappeared around her. The
movements caused her enough trouble that she wasn't able to instantly end
them like she had the first.
My attention was drawn away from her as a slimmer assassin, this one I
assumed to be a woman, struck at the professor's side. I had not been aware
of what kind of class the professor had before, but now it was clear she was
some sort of magical swordsman.
Gold fire erupted from her hands before she spun with the large two-
handed blade and tried to cut the assassin in half, only for the assassin to
flip past and come straight for me.
The assassin's disappearance caused me to blink, once again losing my
[Eyes of Wisdom]. My weapons were in my hands a second later as I
blocked and pushed off the ground.
Despite the woman clearly being an agility class, there was enough
strength in the blow to knock me backwards.
I quickly took my feet off the ground to not take that blow head-on,
letting the blow move me.
It was more important that I protect my body from a direct hit from their
blades. I still did not know exactly what abilities this assassin used, but I
knew they could likely shred me.
[Dark Blades] activated, and a purple sheen wrapped around my weapons
as I squared off against the assassin, only for her to disappear from where
she stood. I twisted to the side and blocked with an [Elemental Shield] as a
dagger pierced into my ability.
The move bought me enough time to twist my weapon into the way. What
was technically a parry ended up pushing me out of the way rather than the
assassin's blade.
In that moment, I activated [Triple Breach], my other weapon striking
three times along the assassin's shoulder. The first two hits barely scratched
past the high-level armor, but the third punched through.
The assassin hissed, twisting to throw a glob of darkness at my head.
I used absorb, sucking the hit into my hand before I switched it around
using [Spell Mirror], throwing it back at the assassin. But the assassin was
too fast to get caught by the hit, once again vanishing and reappearing
behind me.
Professor Sai threw a bolt of golden fire that was so bright that I had to
close my eyes and roll, hoping for the best.
The afterimage of the assassin burned into my eyes by the blinding blast.
I heard metal on metal and knew that, thankfully, Professor Sai had
matched up against the assassin once again.
Their weapons were ringing out in a rapid staccato to my right.
Blinking my blindness away, I came back up and joined the fight, coming
for the assassin's back. But she was quick, her booted foot going for my
chest without even looking behind her.
I sidestepped the attack, getting two shallow scores with my weapon.
From the fight so far, purple lightning had started to race around my hands
with a buzz of static, helping level the playing field as far as speed went.
I used [Shadow Ambush] to reorient myself based on her shadow, coming
up on her left, swinging as Professor Sai had already been mid-swing on the
right.
The assassin ignored me, focusing on blocking what she considered to be
the larger threat. My daggers weren’t able to penetrate her high-level armor.
On the third strike, I managed to nick where [Triple Breach] had already
made a cut, and she spun in a flurry of darkness before reappearing on the
other side of Professor Sai to escape me.
"Fucking assassins," the professor spat before stabbing her sword into the
ground. A blast wave of golden fire erupted from her in every direction. The
assassin dodged, only for Professor Sai to bring her hand down, and a
column of fire slammed down on top of the assassin.
 My instincts kicked in, and I struck out to the professor's left, my blade
meeting the assassin's and buying the professor enough time to dodge the
sudden ambush. Whoever this assassin was, her kit was completely full of
movement techniques as she flitted around the fight with incredible agility.
"Now would be a good time to pull some trick out of your hat, Professor
Sai," I said, meeting the assassin's gaze and pushing the woman back. She
watched the two of us, spinning a knife in her hand.
But I didn't have the luxury of a pause mid-fight; I needed to keep up my
stacks of [Liminal Speed]. I rushed the assassin, even as she wove to the
side to dodge my attack and come in from my side.
She was fast, her blades pushing me back even as I scrambled to block
each attack.
I was out-leveled by the assassin—that much was clear. Using [Dark
Strike], I altered my attack at the last second and met her blade with my
own. I only caught one of them with my second knife, scoring a nasty gash
along my side. But the attack at least kept up my stacks of [Liminal Speed].
The assassin wove behind me, only for Professor Sai to cover me.
"It might be best for you to get out of here and let me deal with her on my
own."
"I don't think she's going to allow that," I shot back at the professor.
I wove around to attack the assassin again. This time, just before she
reacted, I activated the second phase of [Liminal Speed].
The world around me shattered, and everything froze. I finished the
attack, cutting through the mask and straight into her throat. The stop time
only lasted long enough for me to finish the attack, but it was enough.
The assassin reached for her throat, stunned by my attack, only for me to
follow up with two more strikes from my other weapon.
Professor Sai capitalized on the moment, sweeping the assassin's legs.
She tumbled in the air and tried to catch herself, but I used [Earth Stomp]
as soon as her hand touched the ground. The ripples of earth stopped her
from getting a steady purchase, and she fell to the ground, only for
Professor Sai's sword to cut deep into her leg as she tried to roll away.
I wasn't about to let her escape and recover. I pressed the assassin further.
She was bleeding badly from the throat and the leg. Even if she was at a
high level, there was a limit to the human body.
She blocked my next attack with her forearm, and the hard vambraces
were tough enough to make my weapon spark before Professor Sai grabbed
and jerked down on the high-level assassin with enough strength to force
her to a stop.
After that, it was up to me to weave in. [Triple Breach] was available
again, and I used it this time on her chest plate. This second instance of
attack pierced through and made the assassin cough up blood. I pulled back
just in time to lose half an inch of hair as the assassin tried to take me down
with her.
Professor Sai threw out an ability that took several seconds, but a ring of
fire encased the assassin, followed by chains that pinned her down.
"I've got this from here," the professor said, walking over to the assassin
with an axe now in her hand. She swung with all her might and dealt a
finishing blow to the assassin.
I stood up, wavering on my feet. Though I'd only received one attack
from the assassin, it was a rather deep wound. Professor Sai saw me
inspecting the wound and flicked a hand at me. Motes of golden fire seeped
into my skin and burned the wound closed.
I hissed under the pain. "Warn someone before using an ability like that."
I quickly turned, remembering that Neldra was still fighting the other
two. One lay dead, and the other had clearly tried to run. Neldra was a
hundred yards away, finishing him off. The elven censor pulled a blade out
of the assassin's gut and picked up the body to drag it back to us.
"Professor, do me a favor and revive this one. He seemed like the leader."
Neldra threw the body down in front of the professor before pressing her
sword into its gut.
"You want me to revive him with your sword in him?"
Neldra gave a vicious smile. "Yes."
"Ken, can you check to tell me if there are any more?" the professor
asked.
I asked [Eyes of Wisdom] to show me where the assassins were, and the
four bodies in front of me lit up. There was no other indication in my
vision.
"I think this is all," I said.
"You think?" Neldra asked, raising an eyebrow. “I’d like to be surer than
that.”
"This ability doesn't come with an instruction manual. It, however, does
say these four are the assassins and gives no other indication."
 Neldra's brow pinched down, and she turned her focus back to the
professor. "Revive him."
The professor seemed somewhat uncomfortable with the request, but fire
shot out from her hand into the assassin's body.
He gasped and sat up, only to scream as he clutched the sword in his gut.
"Who sent you?" Neldra demanded.
"I think we all already know the answer," I told her. "It was Prince Albar,"
I said, staring down at the assassin.
The man grimaced but said nothing.
I reached down and ripped the mask off his face, only for a blade to try
and take my arm off.
Neldra, however, was faster and knocked the weapon out of his hand.
I got a good look at the man and held up my CID to take a picture. I
would be able to ask my grandparents later for information.
"He's clearly not answering," Professor Sai said. "Just kill him and be
done with it."
Neldra, however, was still fuming like she hadn't had enough fighting to
take her stress out on. She stabbed the man several more times in the gut.
"Answer now or you are dead."
The man gave her a bloody smile. "I already am."
With that, Neldra killed him and flicked the blood off her sword.
"Alright, that's it. I am going to go kill that prince and the whole fucking
Royal College." Neldra turned like she was going to do just that, but I
grabbed her arm to stop her.
"Look, I feel the same. We have already given the prince too much
leeway."
Neldra narrowed her eyes, but she urged me to continue.
"But if you go and kill twenty-five students right now, you're going to
cause panic in what is already a very tricky situation." Putting a knife
through the prince would be oh-so sweet. However, then it would be
impossible to get Pendulum and Trusk to work with us.
"I'll be able to sleep at night," Neldra said without an ounce of mirth.
"I would be able to, too," I told her frankly. "But if you would, allow us
to do this a little neater."
"And how exactly would you propose that?"
Neldra, at least, no longer looked like she was about to rush off and
slaughter people.
 "We have dwarves, we have naga, and we have a raid that they should be
in theory dying in," I told her. "We use one of those three so that everyone
can't accuse you and me."
The professor cleared her throat. "Have you forgotten that I'm here?"
Neldra gave the professor a very unfriendly smile. "I can make you
disappear if it's a problem. This man has sent people after the princess
multiple times now. That is unacceptable."
Neldra grabbed Professor Sai by the lapel and lifted her off the ground,
reminding her who was the strongest present.
"So get on the same page as us"—Neldra scowled—"because he is not
walking out of the dungeon again."
The professor tried and failed to brush Neldra off, realizing now how
serious the censor was in her duty to the princess.
"I won't get in your way, but I will not participate in the murder of
students."
The professor moved away from Neldra the second the elf put her down.
"I'm not murdering a student," Neldra said. "I'm executing a criminal.
Turnabout's always fair play, or what is it humans say? What happens in the
dungeon stays in the dungeon. Time to live up to your motto."
"This is different. This is a college-sanctioned event."
I held my hand up. "One that is currently faced with a considerable
amount of turmoil," I reminded her. "Turmoil that he is clearly using to
further his own agenda. Do you think, for a second, that if he successfully
killed Elysara and myself, he would leave the rest of them alive? Didn't he
leave you for dead with the naga?" I pushed.
It seemed Professor Sai had a little streak of righteousness in her, one that
was currently ill-placed if you asked me.
She huffed. "Like I said, I won't get in your way."
"Good," Neldra said. "If you rethink that, remember, you're currently
trapped in this part of the dungeon with me and someone who can always
find you." She put a hand on my arm, smiling threateningly at the professor.
Professor Sai put her weapon away before dismissing her armor with her
CID. "I'm heading back." She shot away towards the encampment outside
the raid.
Neldra stood next to me for a moment with her hand still on my arm. "Is
she going to be a problem?"
 "Not if I can help it," I told her. "I think the prince, for once, had the right
idea."
Neldra frowned at me. "What?"
"We were surrounded by professors all the time. There was nothing I
could do to strike at the prince. But just as he concluded that we were alone,
and used that as an opportunity to prepare, I think it is completely within
our rights to strike back. However, Neldra, I would ask that you let me be
the one to kill the prince."
She gave me another humorless smile. Then her expression changed, and
she gave me a brilliant smile. "I'll do you one better. I, Neldra of the Royal
Censors, wish to hire Ken Nagato for a job."

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 Chapter 18

A fter a fight with four assassins, I knew I wouldn't be getting any sleep.
Instead, I invited Elysara out for some tea and set up a table right
outside the raid exit.
"You're just goading him now, aren't you?" She looked at me through
half-lidded eyes. She was enjoying this just as much as I was or the ruby-
haired elf wouldn’t have gone along with me.
I smiled at the elven princess. "Where's the fun in winning if you don't
get to celebrate?"
Beside the table were four grotesque trophies: the heads of the assassins,
put on stakes. It was admittedly not my favorite ambiance for tea. However,
I wanted to see the prince's face when he saw that his assassins were dead.
Elysara poured more tea into my cup.
Neldra was nearby, though the royal censor had a knack for not being
seen when she didn't want to be. This was contrary to most of the time
when she wanted to be seen and wanted the world to know that the princess
was being guarded by the best. She thought Prince Albar would be stupid
enough to make a move after seeing his assassins dead and Neldra not
present. I disagreed.
"Well, we're winning in multiple ways." Elysara did not seem perturbed
by the fact that we were now stuck in a dungeon. Instead, the elven princess
was taking it like an extended vacation.
 "And how's that?" I asked.
"Right now"—she poured more tea for herself—"SJS Financials is
getting absolutely crippled.” Elysara smirked. “If the dungeon is disturbed,
like we expect, that means all their operations are currently not up and
running. And all our operations related to the dungeon will be able to get
trade routes up and running using your ability.” She sipped at her tea to hide
a mischievous smile.
"After we get you back," I pointed out. “Besides, I might just deal a lethal
blow to them when I come back and claim the reward for the bet with the
prince.”
"And after we get me back, we need to help Felin and her people."
Elysara made a face. "It's a lot for you to take on.”
“I thought you’d understand. I have the ability, and I want to make a
difference. Besides, how much do you think the United Guilds or the elven
royal family will pay me to hunt down people of interest?" I flashed her a
smile.
She put a hand against her chest. "How mercenary."
"I prefer assassin," I quipped back, causing her to laugh. Elysara really
was beautiful. She had regal poise along with the delicate elven beauty that
she and Fayeth shared.
Our conversation was cut short as the other three raid groups began to
exit.
Machen stopped and stared at the heads before glancing back at me. "Are
those what I think they are?"
"Depends on what you think they are," I replied smoothly. "If you think
they're the heads of four assassins hired by Prince Albar, then you would be
absolutely correct." Turning people against him was going to be easy.
"Slander!" The prince stormed out from between the other adventurers.
"You have no proof."
"Wow, you seem really defensive." I calmly sipped my tea.
Everyone else amongst the exiting adventurers cast the prince a wary
glance. It wasn't just me, but everyone could read just how sensitive the
prince appeared to be to this new development.
"Don't worry," I said to the prince. "Neldra is still around and happy to
help. It would be an absolute shame if you had hired four Level 50
adventurers here and instead of helping this entire group out of the
situation, you used them in an attempt to kill other adventurers."
 That statement soured the expression even of several of the Royal
College students.
The prince puffed up his chest and got himself back under control.
"Baseless accusations. We have so many people who are the children of
influential figures; those assassins could have been after anyone."
"But they weren't." I shrugged calmly and sipped my tea. "Either way, we
now know we are assassin-free. And I hope it stays that way. Because we
have the naga and the dwarves bookending us on either side. It's likely only
a matter of days before they wander over and find this raid event. Just
imagine the danger that would come down on us if they were to come into
the raid while we were all busy fighting bosses. We need to organize better,
and it would be best if we stopped fighting," I said, coming to a realization.
"Ken is right. It's a real risk that they'll attack us. In fact, I would say it
goes beyond a risk. It's not a matter of if they attack but when," Machen
agreed.
Hiding was our best option for now. "We should move our encampment
into the raid and hide it. The naga are too strong for us based on Professor
Gafar’s experience." I left out the fact that Professor Sai was back. She was
going to hide herself for the time being.
Frankly, if I were her, I would have already stabbed a sword in Professor
Gafar's back. But it seemed she was a woman of principles and morals that
outweighed common sense. She and Helen would probably get along.
"We might be able to do that." Machen frowned, looking over at the rest
of the Pendulum students. "There isn't exactly soft ground to drive our
stakes for our tents, but that big first room could probably hold everyone's
tents if we got real comfortable with our neighbors."
"We might not be able to fit the prince's tent," I chuckled. "Or perhaps he
has a more modest one with him."
The prince rolled his eyes and walked farther out of the raid. He headed
back to the aforementioned tent, which was absolutely ginormous. It was
nearly the size of a small house.
Once the classes were all mobilized around the same goal, we became
incredibly productive. We moved our tents inside the raid to the large first
room. Meanwhile, another group started hauling sand with wheelbarrows,
buckets, and anything else they had in their CIDs. They dumped it over the
entrance to the raid, attempting to disguise the area as another sand dune.
 The work was progressing well, but it presented a singular, very
troublesome issue. As we finished creating the sand dune, someone would
have to stay outside to complete it.
But that issue was resolved when a student from Trusk stepped up and
demonstrated that they could summon sand elementals to finish the task.
With everything completed, we barricaded ourselves inside the raid. The
next task was to start grinding for gear and levels. One group would have to
sit out every day, but we agreed to let them farm some of the trash that was
normally skipped in pushing through the wings. This allowed us to continue
to grow.

***

Crimson flashed through the dungeon until she found yet another safe zone
of humanity. As soon as she appeared, the members of the UG practically
fell to their knees at the sight of her.
The green-vested men and women stared at her with hope and awe that
made her skin itch.
"Crimson, where did you come from? Do you know the way back?"
She put her hands on her hips and cocked them to the side. "Of course I
do."
“Please, we need to get back,” the manager begged.
She laid down a sheet of paper and began to map out the way back to
Earth for this safe zone, identifying a few potential risks. In the process of
helping the UG remap the dungeon, she had found multiple safe zones for
humanity and the elves.
She was helping them get reconnected so that they could stay supplied
and help each other through the disaster. It wasn't every day that supply
lines were quite literally rearranged.
Ken’s portal ability had essentially had its memory erased, and doing this
was also a great way for her to recover its use.
Crimson activated [Eyes of Wisdom] to check on Ken. A line drew from
her deeper into the dungeon. He had the elven censors with him. It was
unlikely he would run into any trouble for the moment.
As much as she hated to admit it, her time was likely better spent helping
out the whole of humanity. Her [Eyes of Wisdom] were currently the best
way that the UG had to quickly reconnect with the safe zones—the
hundreds of them that contained adventurers not prepared for a long stay
potentially deeper in the dungeon.
It didn’t hurt that this development had also helped her relationship with
the elves. They stopped screaming every time she appeared in a flash of red
lightning, many of them talking in their language as if she was some savior
rather than their boogeyman.
"All right," she said, sliding the piece of paper over to him. "Do you have
any information about the surrounding safe zones?"
The man shook his head. "Once we realized we had moved, we told all
the adventurers to stay put so that once a way is found, we can help
everyone make their way back swiftly."
He took the piece of paper that Crimson had drawn a crude map on and
held it like it was a life raft amid the ocean. "Most of us just want out," he
said, staring Crimson in the eye.
Technically, she could open a portal and help him out, but that would take
time to get the safe zone evacuated. They had a clear shot to the surface.
“Alright, then you have your way out. Good luck.” She nodded and
activated [Eyes of Wisdom] to locate the nearest safe zone for humanity.
She then continued down into the dungeon to reconnect everyone.

***

After the colleges had all sealed themselves inside the raid, people
extinguished the campfire and started making dinner.
I glanced over at the people in the classrooms from the colleges.
As Des came and leaned on my shoulder, she said, "You know, we're
probably going to run out of food eventually."
"I know," I replied.
My own CID held several weeks' worth of food at any one time, and
knowing we were coming down here for the raid, I had packed a month's
worth. I knew I wasn't alone. Even amongst our classroom, there were
definitely a few hoarders whose CIDs were stuffed to the absolute brim.
"But I am hoping we have enough to get us through," I told Des. "I think
it's time that I worked on my ability to see just how fast I can clear trash in
this dungeon."
A knife came out of my CID, and I flipped it over my fingers. "Because
we really need to start pulling out all the stops and level as quickly as
possible."
Fayeth came up to me and grabbed my hand. "No brooding, and no
planning. Let's celebrate the win of sealing up the raid. You can brood and
plan later."
"But that's like half his personality." Des chuckled, following me as
Fayeth dragged me over.
"And we love it so much," Fayeth added. "But Ken certainly has a
penchant for brooding."
I rolled my eyes and followed along. I did feel better knowing that we
had managed to kill the assassins and were relatively safe. I knew that, if
given the opportunity, the prince would certainly want to finish the job.
But he had hired the high-level adventurers for a reason. With Neldra
here especially, he was highly outgunned.
I looked over to check on Neldra. She was sitting down by Fayeth's fire,
and I noticed a few beads of sweat on the side of her head. Smiling at
Fayeth and Des, I excused myself and went to sit down next to the elven
censor.
"Neldra, is everything okay?" I asked. The woman frowned at me, and I
handed her a handkerchief in response. "I don't think I've ever seen you
sweat before."
"I sweat," Neldra said. "When I was in the training room with Ely, I
sweated every day." She tried to play casual and declined my handkerchief
as she wiped it away with her gauntlet.
"Yeah, but that's when you're artificially putting tons of weight on you." I
squinted at the elf. "A high-level adventurer really shouldn't be sweating
just by moving around some sand."
I activated [Eyes of Wisdom] and asked the ability, ‘Is there anything
wrong with Neldra?’ A red line looking much like a wound appeared on her
hip, and I reached down to touch it.
Neldra quickly spun away from my hand. "What are you doing?”
“What's under your armor?" I pointed at her hip, answering her question
with one of my own.
She looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to us. A couple
of my ladies were looking our way, but she, as discreetly as she could,
shifted and pulled away a piece of her armor to show a puckered purple cut
on her hip.
 "Shit, that looks nasty," I said. There were dark veins leading away from
the wound.
"I'm well aware," Neldra said, replacing the piece of her armor.
"Can't you heal it?" I asked, already pulling out an antidote ready to give
it to her.
"I've tried," she said flatly. "Better potions than you have." She put her
tongue in her cheek. "Whatever that bastard used on me isn't going away."
She looked at her CID as if to read the details of the debuff. "Even if I die
and am resurrected, this poison is only going to get worse the more I heal."
"Neldra, that's…”
“Bad news," she finished for me. "Very bad news."
It seemed that the prince’s assassins were more prepared than I expected
to have such a nasty poison on them.
The elven censor looked incredibly frustrated. "I need a high-level healer
in order to get rid of this. I used what potions I have, but all it has done is
keep whatever poison this is at bay." She gritted her teeth.
I made a face to match her concern. "So, if it's getting worse when you're
healed…” I trailed off.
“Then I'm not much good for busting through a safe zone of naga." She
sighed. "In fact, I would say I need to be reserved for only an issue that the
students cannot solve." She grimaced, and I could tell Neldra was upset
with her own weakness.
"Now I know why those assassins thought they had a chance at killing
Ely. Something like this would be able to weaken me or the other censors if
given enough time." Neldra put her hand over the wound protectively. "For
now, it's important that we hide it." She met my eyes.
"You're not even going to tell the princess, are you?" I asked.
"Neither are you," Neldra insisted. "This puts me in a place where
Professor Sai, or even Professor Gafar, could take me out." She let out a
little glare of ferocity, filled with enough intensity to tell me that should I go
spreading the news of her poison, she would make sure it was the last thing
I ever did.
I held my hands up in surrender. "Secret's safe with me, but the others are
going to want to use you from time to time. I'm sure we have a fair bit of
adventure ahead of us."
Neldra gave me a dismissing wave. "We'll just continue to tell everyone
that it's training for you to do it yourself. I will be saving my strength for
when there's something that can't be used as training for you."
I looked at the fake sky above us. "Fine, I won't tell anyone, and you
won't go causing any issues."
Neldra held a hand out for me to shake, and I shook it. "You have
yourself a deal."
While we were at it, she tapped her CID to mine, transferring over a few
pieces of high-level gear. "If at any point you come across challenges,
please do everything you can to protect Elysara." She spoke with such
grave seriousness that I found myself getting a little emotional. Neldra did
not expect to make it out of the dungeon alive.
"You have my word, but you needn't worry because you'll be there when
she needs it." I patted Neldra on the shoulder, and rather than continue to
celebrate, I pointed at Penny, Charlotte, and Felin, beckoning that they
come with me.
The three ladies looked confused as I walked away from the campfire and
out towards the raid proper.
"If we go any farther, we'll see monsters," Charlotte warned.
I summoned a dagger in each hand. "Maybe that's what I want. Look, I
understand people are celebrating; however, I am interested in continuing to
train." I looked around the group. "If the three of you don't mind…" I
glanced between them.
Fayeth clearly wasn’t about to leave her grill, and Penny was a little
stronger taking on a single target. "Between two supports and a tank here,
you could survive long enough for me to get my DPS going to incredible
levels."
"It would go faster if you had haste." Candice snuck up behind us. "And
in a small group like this, you would get more experience per monster," she
added.
"I was having a similar thought." I smiled at the blonde. She had a knack
for getting right to the point. "Your haste might make up for the experience
you would leech." I smirked at her.
Candice straightened her jacket. "It would more than make up for it. In
theory, if we—"
I held up a hand to stop her. "We don't need to work with theories when
we have actual reality." I looked around the group. "Are you all okay with
stepping away from the celebration to grind some trash mobs?"
 Penny shrugged, her sword out and on her shoulder as armor of frost
grew around her. "I think partying is a little silly right now," she admitted.
"It's a celebration that we've survived another day."
It gave the revelers an excuse, even if I felt more inclined to continue to
grind.
Felin punched her fists together. "Only with strength will we live a day
more. I want to make us all strong. Our pride will be the strongest," Felin
insisted.
I rolled my eyes but smiled at the nekorian. "Well then, let's get to work."

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 19

T heclassnextwasweek training ourselves in the raid flowed by smoothly. My

currently working on our second attempt through the long
branch of the dungeon that contained six bosses. Four were already down.
"I think we'll get it tonight," I mused aloud. We were taking yet another
break, mid-dive.
Much of our time this past week was spent grinding mobs in the dungeon,
which I was particularly good at given [Liminal Speed]. In the evenings, I
would often take a small group and grind further. My stats were looking
good, the gear really giving me a boost.
Ken Nagato
Class: Emperor
Secondary Class: Demon Lord
Level: 35
Experience: 34%
Strength: 150
Agility: 343
Stamina: 264
Magic: 138
Mana: 144
Skills: Dark Strike, Earth Stomp, Charm, Metamorphosis, Sprint, Absorb,
Discharge, Dark Blades, Shadow Arm, Camouflage, Shadow Ambush,
Elemental Shield, Portal [Special] [Restricted], Mana Burn, Vampire
[Elysara], Cleave [Fayeth], Spell Mirror, Dungeon’s Blessing, Blades of
Shadow, Mana Implosion, Shadow Wave [Desmonda], Revive [Charlotte],
Shadow Phase, Dodge, Liminal Speed, Eyes of Wisdom [Crimson],
Delirious Pleasures, Triple Breach, Arcane Singularity, Static Swords
At this point, I had managed to stack on a level above the rest of my raid.
"This one's hard," I said to Des. "I really can't get my [Liminal Speed]
stacks up with these stupid mechanics."
The penultimate boss of the raid frequently became a gush of water and
wove around the room, creating waves for us to dodge. Much to my own
frustration, I was out of stacks every time she became targetable once again.
"Well, we all have to have a boss that we can shine on." Des smirked.
The last few attempts in the raid, I had really started to dominate. With
Candice and Kendra's assistance, my DPS had soared, and on the beetle
boss that had once given us a challenge, we were obliterating it by the end
of the second add wave. All of the gear we had acquired had really made a
difference.
I put a hand to the mottled blue armor that I wore and the pair of daggers
that looked like a cutout of the starry sky. My boots were leather with bone
plating over the front, and they helped me be even faster, along with a pair
of magical rings on my hands.
One of the things about raids that helped get everyone gear was the sheer
variety of loot that dropped. Sure, we had run the earlier event to death, and
anyone who needed an upgrade on their staff or boots got what they needed,
but there wasn’t the variety of the raid. Here, there was something for
everyone and every slot.
At this point, I was close to the max stats I could get from gear. If I put
any more on, I would burn myself from the mana flowing through the
equipment. The rest of the raid party were in similar situations. No one
lacked the equipment to push themselves to their cap.
While the raid was going relatively smoothly, our concerns about the
dungeon shuffling were proven true. All of the monsters had gone up a
level. It appeared that we had gone deeper in the dungeon—as we suspected
—but at the very least, the levels were not growing at a significant rate.
"I think we can kill this one." Elysara sat down next to us. "It's just taking
a little practice to get to where people stop dying to the waves or those
water spears."
 Des and I looked at each other and nodded along. It was probably about
time to get back at it. This was one of those fights that just required
everyone to do it long enough that parts of it were muscle memory.
I stood up to get ready for the fight again, only for Felin to grab me
before we got going.
The nekorian was fidgeting, her tail lashing behind her. She had been out
of sorts since the dungeon shuffling, and she took my hand, looking up into
my eyes with her beautiful, soulful, blue ones.
"I'm sorry," Felin growled as if apologizing went against her very nature.
I put a hand on her shoulder. "You have nothing to be sorry for, Felin. If a
disaster that separated my people reoccurred, I would be just as torn up as
you are about it. You had no way to know it would happen again."
She rubbed her cheek against my arm. "Yes, but you promised to help me,
and I've still been out of sorts. I have not been a very good pride member."
She took a deep breath and said to herself, "I will no longer be out of sorts."
She nodded her head emphatically, willing the words into reality. "I will be
Felin, the fierce member of your pride. And I will kick this boss's butt."
She had died on this boss quite frequently, but she certainly wasn’t the
only one. It was good to know that she was getting her head on right.
I smirked at her and ran a hand over her head. "Wonderful. Glad to have
you back, Felin. And when this is all done, if they haven’t already
succeeded, I will help you find your people and reunite them.”
I smoothed out her hair and tickled at her ears. The white ears with blue
stripes flicked when I touched them before standing up rigidly as if being
asked to be touched again. I didn’t mind spending a moment with her.
Felin took my hand off her shoulder and kissed the back of it. Her bright
blue eyes looked up into mine. "Thank you," she said. "You have no idea
how much it means to have a pride that might not be a nekorian but is so
willing to help my people."
I brought her close and kissed her forehead. "We have butt-kicking to do
now. While you being a cute kitten is adorable, I want my ferocious
nekorian back." I slapped her ass, and feeling the tight globe against my
hand for a second made me want to squeeze her.
She growled at me and pawed at my shirt. "I am not a kitten."
"Damn right, you're not." I walked into the boss room with everyone else,
once again preparing for the fight.
 Felin lingered nearby for a moment before breaking off to get herself
ready for the fight.
The penultimate boss of the raid was a large grotesque figure,
brandishing what appeared to be a broken mast as her weapon. The theme,
as this branch of the dungeon continued, turned out to be undeath. She had
a zombie-like complexion and festering wounds over her body.
She was certainly not the prettiest sight. The boss was tough, certainly
deserving of being the penultimate boss for the raid. She fought with water,
and that was how she became untouchable, causing me headaches during
the fight.
As we all filed in, she glanced in our direction and slammed the broken
mast on the ground as if daring us to challenge her.
The other three colleges had defeated her in their most recent tries, which
meant the prince and the rest of the groups would be working towards the
final boss after today.
Machen had talked to me briefly about the final boss, and it seemed to be
a huge step up in difficulty. They were only able to see the first half of the
boss, struggling to even get it past halfway. So I had high hopes we could
defeat this one and move on to the next.
"Hopefully, tonight we can at least get a good understanding of the final
boss,” I said to the group. I really didn’t want to fall behind, and the last
thing I wanted was for Prince Albar to win the bet.
“Don't worry, we got this." Des put a hand on my shoulder.
I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Of course we do. This one just takes
practice.” I was a little concerned, to be honest, but there wasn’t much I
could individually do in this fight besides not die to all the various
mechanics.
Fayeth stuck her thumb up in the air, and everyone lifted their hands in
agreement before Myrtle hurtled herself at the boss.
The giant sea hag swung the broken mast that sounded like a gong when
it hit Myrtle's shield. Our tank’s mace with a ball of mud at the end had
been replaced with one that was a skull attached to a spine. The spiky
weapon matched the undeath theme that the raid seemed to fall into towards
the end of each of the raid paths.
I ignored what was happening with the rest of the raid party and got
under the boss, slashing at her sides with two umbral daggers. I made quick
work of her rotten flesh. Stacks of [Liminal Speed] built up, but I knew
better than to get excited at this point. Soon this boss’s ability would render
them useless.
The hag lifted the mast and slammed it down on Myrtle. I quickly jumped
over the wave of water that came from the strike.
Myrtle lay flat on the ground, stunned. She’d been flattened by the boss’s
ability. Once again, I was happy I wasn’t a tank. The attack was
unavoidable.
Fayeth picked up the boss's attention and began tanking as Helen and
Penny helped Myrtle get back to her feet.
The wave of water rippled out, leaving random puddles in the room.
Everyone moved around, giving them a wide berth. Having done this boss
fight before, I kept my focus on the boss, using my abilities as soon as they
were off cooldown and trying to deal as much damage as I could while I
could.
We hadn't tested the raid on the damage meters, and we didn't have them
for our actual group, but I figured even with my inability to raise [Liminal
Speed] to incredible levels, I was still keeping up damage on par or at the
top of the class.
The boss knocked Fayeth down, just as they had done to Myrtle earlier,
and Penny moved to take Fayeth’s place. She only got several attacks
before the boss exploded in a spray of water and began to swirl around the
room.
I felt a little bitter as my stacks stalled and would soon start dropping.
"Everybody, it's the dance!" Des shouted.
I kept my head up, looking around as the puddles of water became
vicious columns spraying high. I moved near one, keeping track of the boss
as she swirled through the air for a moment before coming down to our
level. When she touched down, she began swishing back and forth
throughout the room and around the columns of water.
At the same time, there was a thump in the room followed by a wave
from my column.
I hopped over it to prevent myself from being dragged away and slowed.
As soon as she passed by the column I was standing near, I moved to
where she'd passed, knowing that that area would be safe as she wound
around the room. Everyone was quickly moving behind the boss's path.
"Good job, everyone!" Candice encouraged the class.
 As they successfully dodged the boss, the boss’s winding ended, and she
resettled in the center of the room, only to start pounding the broken mast. I
moved towards her, hopping over each little wave that she created, trying to
get back to the boss. At this point, my stacks of [Liminal Speed] were
completely gone.
I grunted in frustration as we got back to the boss. And once again, I
picked up my damage rotation on her.
The fight continued as she smashed Penny and then Helen into the
ground.
At that point, I used [Liminal Space] and froze time to dump all my
stacks on her and deal as much damage as I could before she began winding
around the room again.
A few seconds after the ability ended and time resumed, she exploded
into a torrent of water that started to whip around the room.
This time, I found myself sharing a pillar with Penny and moving with
her as we dodged the boss. Penny hooked her arm in mine, actually dancing
with me as we dodged back and forth.
Small waves were rippling through the room, and we jumped together,
dodging them successfully. It was actually easier doing it with someone.
"Alright, I am up. Wish me luck," Penny called out as the boss reformed
in the center, and she took up tanking.
I slipped up beside Penny and began my damage rotations, using the
patches of frost she made to try and increase my damage. Unlike the other
fights, I wasn't getting as much support on this one, mostly because my
damage wasn't scaling as well as it had in the past.
Rightfully so, Candice and Kendra felt like they could do more for the
raid by supplying their support elsewhere. Still, I didn't let that keep me
down. I did as much damage as I could to the boss in short order before we
began our dances again.
I found myself paired up with Penny again. I took the initiative to loop
my arm in hers, dancing as we dodged around a pillar of water and hopped
together through the waves.
Penny giggled. "This isn't so bad. Once you get the rhythm to it, it really
is like dancing." She tapped her foot in cue with the rhythm, not so much
looking but actually dancing around the boss mechanics.
I laughed and shook my head, swinging her to the side as the boss came
around again and squaring us up so that we could jump together over the
waves. "It looks like everyone is managing it well this time," I said.
Penny grunted. "These are the easy ones."
It wasn't long before we had gone through another round. This time, not
only were we do-si-doing around the pillars and jumping over waves, but
spears of water formed randomly on the four sides of the room before
shooting across.
"Right side," Penny announced.
We twisted around the pillar so that it would block spears from the right,
then moved back to our position to stay out of the way of the boss. The two
of us had split the walls. She was checking the south and east walls while I
kept my eye on the north and west walls.
"This is really making it easier for us to pay attention to everything at
once," I told Penny.
“Who knew having a dance partner would make it all better.” She blushed
and reached up to play with her hair that had grown out since our first year
but then realized she was holding her large sword.
I tried and failed to keep the smile off my face as I realized what she was
doing. “Watch out.” I jumped over a wave and pulled Penny with me.
“Sorry. Focus,” she said more to herself than to me and started paying
attention again.
This was the most difficult part of this boss fight. Not only did you have
to sidestep around the blast of water and jump over the waves, but then you
had to pay attention to the spears as well. Like Penny said, though, it had
almost become a dance with how rhythmic the waves were now that we
were getting more practiced.
The more we practiced, the more people got a good grasp of the timing
and were able to keep their focus on the spears. There were just too many
things to focus on until some of it became a habit.
Bonnie went down this time as the waves collapsed, and we all rejoined
the boss fight.
"This is pretty good," I said, checking my CID against the boss. It was at
25%, and we'd only lost one healer. This fight, amongst all the ones we had
done, was not actually healing intensive if people were able to avoid the
mechanics.
"I know," Penny said. "I noticed even Charlotte had stopped healing and
was just throwing spells."
 I glanced over my shoulder as my blades continued to hack away at the
boss.
True to what Penny had said, Charlotte was throwing balls of storm,
which was a fantastic sign that people weren't needing her healing.
"I think we got it this time," I said, feeling that we had successfully
gotten everyone skilled enough at the mechanic. Though, without my
incredible stacks of [Liminal Speed], our DPS may have fallen behind the
other colleges. After all, they each had an ace damage dealer, and for this
one, I was not very effective.
I felt the boss was going to die and did my all to put DPS onto it. We
blasted through the boss's final few percentages of health.
Sure enough, the sea hag collapsed in on herself in a splash of water
before flooding out as she died. Black smoke rose from amid the giant
puddle of water as loot splashed down into the area where the boss had
been standing.
"We got it!" Harley shouted and jumped up and down.
"Revive Bonnie before you celebrate," I said, chuckling at her
enthusiasm. The whole class was getting into raiding and enjoying the
challenge.
I let Candice handle the loot.
The excitement for loot had dimmed somewhat given that most people
were reaching the max they could equip. However, the penultimate and
ultimate boss would provide slightly higher-level loot. And the bosses had
all gone up one level. Some people were looking forward to the slight
upgrade.
I know I would be, too, though I glanced over the pile and didn't see
anything that caught my interest right away.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 20

M ytheclass had peeled through the trash, and while Candice had explained
next boss, I had bounced from foot to foot, eager to take it down.
The boss was another large humanoid. This one was a man that was half
skeleton. Parts of his body had peeled away, revealing the bones
underneath. He raised a hand as if he was casting a perpetual spell in the
middle of a large altar. Around him were four different portals. Nothing was
coming out of them now, but I knew that would change as soon as the fight
started.
Already, Fayeth held her thumb up, and I joined her, casting a glance at
my small group. We knew that this boss would force us to split into four
groups. Each group would need to prevent each portal's monsters from
reaching the boss.
Fayeth put her hand down and charged the boss, swinging at once and
starting the fight.
The boss floated in the center, ignoring the tank, and its spell finished,
causing all four portals to glow as they disgorged one monster after the
other. At the same time, magic peeled away from the portals and wrapped a
shield around the boss that Fayeth’s glaive pinged off with her next strike.
I rushed to my designated portal and started fighting the scarab beetle that
walked out. This one held a thematic appearance with the boss. Part of its
body was decrepit—as if it was half alive, half dead—and it ignored me as
it trundled towards the boss.
My daggers pinged off its hide as Penny stepped up next to me, creating a
patch of frost for me to begin my damage. Candice's haste hit me, followed
a moment later by Kendra's enchantment to put ice on my blades, and I
began to build up stacks of [Liminal Speed].
The ranged DPSs around the room stood in the center, throwing their
might behind whichever lane needed the most help. Shards of ice and bolts
of dark magic slammed into my scarab, and I cursed, feeling like I was
behind if the ranged damage dealers were turning to help me.
I glanced over at one of the other lanes. They were fighting much smaller
monsters, and my scarab was just the largest thing present.
With the help of the ranged DPSs, we brought the scarab down shortly,
and I turned to see a crocodile, my blades quickly finding purchase on the
monster’s remaining flesh. It didn't even so much glance at me as I began to
carve the crocodile up, my speed continuing to increase.
We couldn't let any of the monsters reach the boss, because if they did, it
would empower the boss and make the next phase that much more difficult.
So I did my work, finishing up the crocodile and moving on to a mass of
skeletal creatures that came out next.
I swapped out one of my blades for a mace that had been spare loot. The
mace did far more damage against the hard skeletons than my daggers had
been doing previously. I smashed through the skeletons, feeling my stacks
build up further and further. The fight blurred past as I worked to clear out
my lane.
A large monster came barreling out of my portal next. This one was not
the passive monsters walking towards the boss. Helen responded quickly,
jumping into my lane and getting its attention as it started to beat on her.
This monster wasn’t anything we’d seen so far in the raid. Instead, it had
the skeletal head of a tiger with the body of a scarab and a pair of wings that
weren’t nearly large enough to be effective for its body. Not to mention a
few too many arms of various creatures.
Fire magic rained down on the undead amalgamation, and I tried to get
my party’s attention.
"Leave it alone. I want this one to stay alive," I said, hitting it several
times before zipping back over to the slow trundle of monsters coming out
of the portal and clearing them out before returning.
 Penny was waving her hands between the monster and the ranged DPS
and had successfully gotten them to stop.
"Are you mad?" Helen spat, a mace just like the one I was using
materializing in her hands as she smacked the large undead amalgamation.
"No, I want to use it to keep my stacks climbing," I said, swapping out
my nice weapons for a pair of training blades. The CID had labeled them as
junk, but they would do for what I needed right now. I used them to drum
on the side of the monster and quickly build up stacks before switching
back to my high-level weapons and clearing out the waves as they came out
of my portal.
As [Liminal Speed] picked up, I needed less and less help in my lane. I
dismissed Penny until it was just Helen and me. I was using the large
monster as a way to build my stacks.
A second one trundled out of another portal, and Helen cursed as she
jumped. Golden wings carried her across the space. She landed, punching
the other large skeletal amalgamation.
I quickly cleared the rest of my lane before moving impossibly fast over
to where Helen was now fighting two amalgamations. I didn’t switch out to
my training blades this time and instead cleaved through the first one in
record time before stopping next to Helen and switching back to my
crummy weapons.
"Bring it over to my lane," I said before zipping over and catching back
up on the slow trundle of monsters heading towards the boss.
Helen walked her monster over backwards, but she hadn't even gotten to
my lane before I finished clearing and came beside the monster.
My weapons continued to drum against the large monster as I lost count
of how many monsters I had destroyed from my portal, but Helen kept
bringing over the amalgamations as they spawned, and I kept them alive as
best I could to keep my stacks climbing.
"This phase is almost done!" Fayeth shouted, and I switched to my
blades, working to finish off this monster just in time for the boss to finish
casting his spell.
The portals exploded, and the shield around the boss shattered as he
continued to glow, magic pulsing off him every two seconds. Runes lit up
all over his body, but they were a dull glow. I had a feeling they’d get
brighter if monsters reached him.
 I finished the last amalgamation and rushed behind the boss where my
DPS would begin in earnest. The reason none of the other schools had been
able to kill the boss was that this final part was a massive DPS check. But
for me, it was the perfect fight, unlike the last one where I hadn’t been able
to build up my stacks. This one, I had been given the chance to build them
up before the fight began in earnest.
Purple lightning practically exploded off me as I whittled away at the
boss's health so fast that I was sure if anyone was watching with their CID
that they could see a steady drop of its health bar.
When the boss got to 50%, it reactivated the portals around the room but
continued to fight while pulsing.
The healers were shouting around the raid, straining to keep everyone
alive as the pulses grew stronger.
I ignored the mobs coming through and attacked the boss with reckless
abandon. My abilities went off in quick succession as I raced to damage the
boss before my raid group all died.
"All DPS except Ken focused on the monsters!" Candice shouted,
understanding what was happening.
My damage was ramping up at this point to insane values, and I was
likely doing more damage than the rest of the raid combined. My focus
tunneled into running through my forms perfectly, doing as much damage
as I could to the boss, and working in my abilities as they came off
cooldown.
"The monsters are coming faster," Penny warned me. "Could you clear
out the lanes?"
I glanced at her and then back at the boss, noting the boss was only at
25% before sprinting away, cleaving through one entire lane in what was
probably only five seconds. But to me, it felt like so much longer as I
ducked, dodged, and wove through the monsters, my blades finding their
mark time and time again.
Monsters were exploding into black smoke one after the other like some
sort of pyrotechnic display, only for me to shoot through the smoke, causing
it to blow away into a black mist that seemed to follow me as I rushed
about. This was so much more satisfying than the last boss.
I zipped through all four lanes, clearing the monsters back to the portal
before sticking back to the boss and hammering its health down rapidly.
 "Ignore the monsters! Focus on the boss!" Candice shouted in what felt
like just moments.
Sweat was beating down the side of my head as I worked as fast as I
could to kill the boss before it became unmanageable.
The pulses from the boss hit me one after the other, but heals came as
soon as the damage hit. The room was alight as healers threw spells left and
right. Even if the monsters hadn’t reached the boss, every time he pulsed, it
was taking a larger and larger chunk of everyone's health.
I pushed and pushed, and finally, the boss collapsed down on himself, and
a plume of black smoke puffed up in the air.
I swung through the smoke, blowing it away, not even realizing the boss
had been about to die. Everything around me was in slow-mo with the
number of stacks I had built up. I activated [Liminal Space] to dump my
stacks as I pulled out a sandwich.
My stomach was grumbling as if it was about to pitch a riot. The more I
used [Liminal Speed] and as my stats increased, the more I was starting to
have hunger issues when my stacks got too high.
As [Liminal Space] ended and I found myself four sandwiches down,
Harley jumped on my back. "We did it! What loot did we get?" Her eyes
shone over my shoulder as she stared at the center of the altar.
Lying there, instead of the usual three, were four pieces of loot. The
ultimate boss of a raid tended to have both better loot and a little more.
"Let's see." Candice walked up to the center with the rest of the raid,
everyone wearing giant smiles.
Taylor stood beside me and punched me in the shoulder. "We frickin' one-
shot it!"
I chuckled.
"You mean Ken one-shot it," Des spoke up. "Pretty sure the only reason
that was remotely easy was because Ken went absolutely insane."
I scratched the back of my head, feeling a little self-conscious about the
attention everyone was paying to me. "I just happened to be uniquely suited
to this fight."
"Yeah, yeah. Quit being modest." Harley hopped off my back and got
closer to the loot.
Candice held up the first piece of loot. It was a huge, gnarly looking
sword. The weapon was the kind of loot that made an adventurer known
when they walked around. The high-level gear was a status symbol.
 "Penny, it looks like you got a new sword." Candice held it up.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Taylor held her hand up. "I can use two-handers."
"Yeah, but when we're done with the raid, you go back to being a tank."
Kendra shot the duelist down.
"That's not fair at all." Taylor sunk in on herself. "Why do I have to be a
tank?"
The class laughed, and Candice held the sword out for Penny, who took it
with a giant grin, swinging it around a few times.
"Thanks. It's pretty incredible," she said.
Checking it with her CID, I had to agree. Two-handers had twice the stats
on my swords, and that thing was practically radiating magic. The soft
purple glow from it, if we turned out the lights, would likely be enough to
use to see.
"Well, let's see what's next." Candice held up a pair of green, tattered
robes, but they were tattered in somewhat of a fashionable sense. There was
one thing our party did not lack. It was casters. Half the raid's hands shot
into the air.
"All right, calm down." Candice waved her hands and put her own hand
up in the air, just to make sure everyone understood before she did a head
count and tapped on her CID.
"Lucky number 13," she said and held it out to Felicity, who snatched it
up and equipped it instantly.
The elemental summoner definitely acquired a new look. The shirt had a
sheer layer from her throat to her chest. Meanwhile, the sinister green outfit
had several tears along the side to strategically expose more skin. Finally, a
long, jagged rip down one of the legs drew the attention and probably made
moving in it possible.
There were some grumbles amongst the people in the party. Des slid up
next to me.
"I would look fantastic in that, wouldn't I?" She nudged me in the side.
"Of course you would. You look good in everything. Also, that’s the
lowest-level one that we’ll get because the raid level keeps rising. We’ll get
you something better." My answer must have been the right one because
she planted a kiss on my cheek before twirling away.
Candice held up a belt that was a string of skulls. "And we have more
caster gear."
 The number of hands that went up was even more. We really had too
many spellcasters in this group. Between the healers, support, and ranged
casters like Des, they made up over half our raid.
This one, however, went to Des, who happily strapped it along her waist.
The skull belt fit Desmonda's demonic mage motif far better than the dress
had fit Felicity's.
Then again, the raid was slowly all looking similar as we stacked up loot
from this raid.
Finally, Candice picked up another piece of loot. This was a sword
somewhat awkwardly sized between a shortsword and a longsword. It was
probably the length from my fingertips to my shoulder. She waffled it back
and forth, looking at Taylor and me as well as the tanks.
"It's pretty balanced between strength and agility," she said.
I checked it with my CID before my eyes nearly popped out of my head.
[Harbinger of the Endless - Agility 50, Strength 50, Stamina 30
Echoes of the Lost - For every enemy slain by the Harbinger, the weapon
has a chance to consume the soul and force it to fight by the wielder’s side
for a short duration.]
"Yeah, just give that to Ken," Taylor said, doing her best not to sound
bitter.
Everyone looked to Helen who grumbled under her breath.
"What was that?" Candice urged her.
"Give it to Ken," Helen said louder, absolutely sounding bitter about her
words.
"Well, Ken, would you like it?" Candice turned back to me, and I gave
her a giant smile.
"I'll take it."
"Going once, going twice, sold!" Candice handed me the weapon.
The unique effect on it was interesting to say the least. In a boss fight like
this with all the ads, it would enhance my damage. The idea of a small army
of those monsters joining me to fight the boss when I speed-cleared the four
portals made me smile.
"Well, you know what this means," Des said, causing me to peel my eyes
off the weapon.
"What does it mean?" I asked.
"It means we need to haul Prince Albar in here and show him that we
killed the boss."
 Several of the other people in the class perked up.
"You mean the one where he owes Ken billions?”
“Serves him right.”
“That rat bastard better pay up." Several of the classmates added their
own encouragement.
Prince Albar had been becoming increasingly disliked by the class. And
not just ours, but Pendulum and Trusk were losing their taste for him as
well. He had fought with everyone about trying to squeeze his tent into the
raid room and ultimately had cannibalized several of his fellow classmates'
tents for his own.
Anyone who had spent time adventuring looked at his actions with
nothing but disdain.
Not to mention, he had a penchant for taking even the most minor of
upgrades over letting someone else in his raid power up. That information
was leaked by a disgruntled Royal College student. He was their top
damage dealer; however, people could only stand a diva for so long.
I had even seen several of his classmates glaring at him when his back
was turned. Yet a good number of them were still sycophants for the prince.
That type always seemed to cling to the wealthiest person in the room,
hoping for increased status.
"I will go get him." Elysara perked up and motioned for Neldra to follow
her.
The censor had been our backup plan in case we needed to be revived.
The professor was still pretending to be ‘dead’. However, we had been
operating well without needing her, someone always able to escape the boss
room when needed. Professor Sai was still holed up inside Penny's group's
tent. The professor was adamant that she was going to remain hidden for
now.
The ruby-haired elven princess was already long gone, rushing back to
the entrance so that she could collect what I assumed was going to be
everyone and drag them down to show off.
I shook my head and met Neldra's eyes.
The elf was doing her best to pretend that she wasn't badly poisoned. So
far, because she had not been healing herself or straining herself, the poison
had not gotten worse. However, we both knew the amount she could help
was quite limited.
 "Wait, wait, let me get my camera," Harley said, pulling a nice camera
out of her CID. "I want to capture the prince's face when he comes and
sees." She positioned herself up by the boss's doors where she would likely
get a good shot of the prince's face when he walked in to see it was gone.
I rubbed my forehead; her antics were a little much. However, I would
ask to see the photo once she was done. Maybe frame it and put it
somewhere I could remember the moment for a good long time.
Des put a hand on my shoulder. "Do you feel better? Crimson never
would have really gone with him. It was just her way of encouraging it.”
Of course, I knew that. “A new goal had been growing in my mind. With
the financial damage that Elysara has been doing to SJS Financials, this
might be another solid blow against them. With the addition of the
disruption to the dungeon, who knows, maybe it could be a death blow.”
“Wouldn't that be nice?" Des smirked. "Wait, don't kill the company." She
leaned in and whispered something in my ear.
I laughed and put my hand over my eyes. "You can't be serious."
"Why not?”
“I don't think that's how it works," I said.
Des puffed out her lower lip. "It's how I want it to work."
"Yeah, how you want it to work is exactly how the law and corporate
finances work, right?"
She rolled her eyes. "Point taken. So now that we're all done, do we get
celebratory sex?" she asked.
I was about to say no and say we were tired, but then I looked at my CID
and realized we had actually cleared this in decent time. “The other groups
were all likely finished with the shorter wings, but we could have dinner
and rest afterwards.”
"That wasn't a no." Des grinned and poked at my side.
"It wasn't a yes either." I was just being difficult because it was fun with
her. "It's a solid maybe.”
"Well, you're one to love training, and we could work on our stats
tonight." She bobbed her eyebrows.
"I think finishing the raid is probably worth a celebration," I conceded.
In response, the sinfully curvy temptress wrapped herself around me and
planted a smoldering kiss on my cheek.
"Have I mentioned that I love you?" Des asked.
"Yes, at least twice today." I kissed her back. "Love you, too."
OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 21

H arley's camera shutter started clicking rapidly as Prince Albar entered

the room.
"Why are you taking pictures of my prestigious self?" the prince spat,
momentarily distracted before realizing he was once again in the boss room.
He wasn't alone. Elysara's announcement that we had finished the raid
had caused such a stir that everyone from all the other colleges was piling
into the room.
"You guys got it?" Machen asked excitedly. The big berserker ran his
hands along the side of his mohawk. "Damn. We couldn't even get close."
He didn’t look upset and seemed genuinely happy for me.
Des poked me. "Blame this one. The boss was absolutely shredded by
him."
I flashed everyone a smile but kept my focus on the prince as he stared at
the room, his jaw flapping open. I had to admit, his reaction was fantastic.
Harley's camera shutter clicked several more times as she giggled to
herself.
I glanced at her. "You will send me one of those pictures."
"Absolutely." She winked.
"Well, who says that you didn't just despawn the boss, huh?" The prince
puffed himself up. "Maybe you got it to vanish somehow, or it takes a long
time to spawn, and this is all some sort of con."
 I held up the weapon I had gotten from the boss. "This looks like pretty
fun loot. And you only get loot if you kill the boss. Listen, you lost the bet.
Also, that means Haylon College wins."
Not only had all the students come, but so had Professor Gafar. "That's
ridiculous. Who cares about a bet or which college won? We are currently
stuck in the dungeon, unable to get back." He waved his hands around
wildly, trying to make his point.
"He still won," Des pointed out.
"How do we know the elf didn't help?" Professor Gafar pointed a finger
at Neldra, who had moved to this side of the room. "She follows the
princess everywhere. She probably could have one-shotted this boss."
Neldra held her hands up. "I did not defeat the boss. Didn't even touch it.
If I had intervened, it would have caused the boss to enrage.” The silver-
haired censor was doing a good job of pretending not to be poisoned. If I
didn’t know, I wouldn’t even suspect it.
“One of them could have sat out," Professor Gafar said. "Simply put, you
did not have a professor of one of the four colleges attending you and
ensuring that this was a fair competition."
As he continued, I could tell we were losing people's attention. He was
successfully seeding doubt, and we were losing people's trust.
Other members of the colleges started to grumble and cast sideways
glances at their neighbors, doubting the validity of our boss kill. Which
quite frankly was infuriating given how hard and how many hours we had
put into this raid.
"If you killed it so easily, then I'm sure next week I could attend the raid
and see you do it,” the professor stated.
“Meanwhile, that gives the prince another week to try and catch up.” I
rolled my eyes.
“That's not the point. The point is, if you have a competition, we must
successfully validate it. I will have no tricksters amongst any of us." The
professor put on a good show.
However, it seemed we had an ace in the hole.
"Yes, trickery. You would absolutely abhor trickery." Professor Sai
stepped out of the crowd.
Marin did a double-take, her long hair whipping about, pointing at the
professor. "I thought you were dead." Then she turned to point at Gafar and
gasped. “You said she died to the naga to save you.”
 Her words rippled amongst the crowd. Now the attention was solely on
Professor Sai as she put a hand on her hip.
"That's what Professor Gafar hoped when he met those four assassins and
left me to die." The professor glanced at me.
I pulled their heads and the spikes I had put them on out of my CID. I
hadn't left them alone long enough for the dungeon to reclaim them.
Something told me they would come in handy again.
Professor Sai gestured at me with a look of disgust. "Thank you, Ken, for
the… visual aid. Those four assassins were Level 50 adventurers whom
Professor Gafar met with on behalf of Prince Albar. But rather than help us,
you weakened us. At that moment, you had no concern for the fact that we
were stuck in the dungeon without a way home—as you so aptly described,
Professor." She glanced at the Royal College teacher.
Professor Gafar's face had grown pale as soon as Professor Sai entered,
and he still had not regained his composure.
"I have n-no idea what you're t-talking about," he stuttered.
"Can't come up with a more creative lie than that?" She chuckled.
At this point, Machen slid up next to me. "What's going on?" he asked.
I gestured at the two professors. "Our professor has a significant bone to
pick with Professor Gafar, who stabbed her and left her for dead to the
naga," I explained.
Machen grimaced. "You didn't cheat on this, did you?"
"I swear on my life, Machen, I didn't cheat. This boss was just very
conducive to my own DPS."
The big berserker nodded. "I believe you."
"At least someone does," I muttered.
Professor Sai was still digging into Professor Gafar until the prince
stepped in between them.
"If you were here this whole time, why didn't you show yourself?" The
prince defended his professor. "You could have been here and validated."
"If she were here and validated, Professor Gafar would just say that she
was biased," I retorted. This was asinine. Excuses could be bandied about
all they wanted without consequence because here and now there was little
we could do to resolve them.
Professor Sai rolled her eyes. "Our students defeated it. I'm sure they'll do
it again next week if you would like to be certain. However, as I see it,
Haylon has won."
 "Hold on just a minute." Prince Albar stopped her. "They started this
whole rotation, meaning we haven't had a fair chance. We have until the end
of our next attempt at this branch to tie," the prince insisted. "Otherwise, it
is not a win on their part."
His professor backed him up. "Yes, exactly. Besides, who knows what
value winning this will actually have."
"There's a notarized bet," I spoke up. "He owes a significant amount of
money to me if I win."
The prince swallowed. "I must agree with my professor."
The prince wasn't looking so good. I wondered just where the money he
had bet would come from.
"We are all stranded in the dungeon, and this is not the time to be
quibbling over a… small bet." He choked up, barely being able to call it
small himself.
"Small?" I blew out a laugh. "Try twenty billion Ren?"
Everyone around us started clamoring about the large sum of money.
More than a few were sputtering in disbelief. It was a colossal sum.
"So you all understand, I am taking this seriously.” Heck, with that, we
could buy anything… We could put down roots in some dead branch of the
dungeon. I'm sure there were new ones up for grabs after the dungeon
shuffle. I suddenly liked the idea of seeing Clan Nagato and Silver Fangs
expand to the levels of the premier guilds on the backs of that money.
"Well, you certainly have the loot. The boss, I will admit, has died,"
Prince Albar said. "However, I have until the end of the day tomorrow to
defeat this boss, and then our group will potentially tie. And if it's a tie, the
whole thing is just a wash, and we can forget about the bet."
The prince was clearly grasping at straws, yet he had a little validation in
his words. "Fine, you have tomorrow. I doubt you'll get it anyways,” I
acquiesced.
If Machen and Marin had so much difficulty with this boss, I thought the
chances of the prince suddenly clearing it were slim to none.
I glanced at Professor Gafar. "Of course, you wouldn't mind if we have
someone from another college validate, right?" I said.
The prince reeled back as if he'd been slapped. "You would doubt me?”
“You quite literally doubted me a moment ago. Turnabout's only fair
play." I gave him a flat smile.
 "Fine. You can have your professor." He waved absently at her. "Come
and watch us. I'm sure that'll be fair enough." With this, he snorted and
turned on his heels, marching out of the dungeon.
Des ribbed me in the side. "Was that as satisfying as you hoped it would
have been?"
I glanced back at her. "You know, somehow anticipating it was more fun
than the actual reveal. But the look on his face was…" I paused and kissed
my fingers, spreading them out in the air in a chef's kiss. "You got that,
right?" I glanced at Harley.
"Oh yeah, I got plenty," Harley showed me her camera. "And also,
Charlotte was recording." She pointed to the quiet and often overlooked
druid who was recording the whole interaction.
Charlotte turned the recording off and smiled up at me. “Harley threw it
over to me just before the prince walked inside.”
I chuckled, turning to Harley. "Good thinking. I guess you’re worth
keeping around.”
Harley tapped her temple. "That and I keep the healers in line. Don’t
forget that part. You should definitely keep me around and give me all the
healers.”
“Of course, Harley. What would we do without you?” I knew she wanted
some validation.
She let out a breath and wiped her forehead. "Phew, I was worried that
you were going to find more ladies to stack your raid at some point."
"No, Harley. I think our raid is full. Besides, I'm not interested in
continuing to stack any more ladies around me." I rolled my eyes. Why did
everyone think I would keep pushing for more?
"Sure." Harley winked, dragging the word, clearly not believing it. "I'll
ask Des how that's going."
Before I could say anything else, Harley skipped away with a whistle
towards her healer harem.
"I think it's time to celebrate," Des said. "And there's nothing left in the
branch for us to grind. Oh no." She gently pushed my back, moving me into
the crowd as people from all four colleges congratulated me on successfully
clearing the raid.
I could tell that she was oh-so-distraught that there were no trash mobs
now that the final boss was dead. Then again, my lovely temptress had been
trying to get me to loosen up the last few weeks.
 The walk back to the camp had been lively. Students from the other
colleges quickly mingled with the Haylon class, asking all sorts of details
about the final phase of the boss fight.
Unfortunately, we had likely cleared it faster than some mechanisms had
appeared. By the time the boss was actually vulnerable to attack, my DPS
was at incredible heights, and I had plowed through the boss.
The biggest surprise came as we all split up, moving to our tents to get
ready for a small celebration. I stepped into my tent only to find one
additional guest, a student from the Royal College. She was a woman who
held regal poise and had her black hair pulled back with delicate golden
jewelry. I had never talked to this woman before, but it seemed she had
something to say to me.
"Is it true that if we can't beat the boss tomorrow night, that the prince
will lose the bet and have to pay a crippling sum?"
I nodded, wondering where this was going. She wore Royal College
colors, and I doubted she was trying to be deceptive.
She bit her lip before nodding with decisiveness. "Then I would like to
offer to throw the raid tomorrow," she said.
"Offer? Does that mean you're expecting something in return?" I sat
down on the couch as Fayeth started making tea. The elves liked it to both
relax and to stay awake.
"Yes." She glanced around and spotted Neldra in the tent. "I would like
you to ensure that I make it out of the dungeon alive." She looked away
from the elven censor, obviously coming to the conclusion that with the
elven guard, we would be the most likely to survive any disasters that
would befall the group.
"Miss…" I paused, letting her fill her name in.
"Basma," she supplied.
"Great. Basma, I simply don't think the prince is going to defeat that boss
as it is. Your offer of assurance is tempting but unnecessary. The value of
bringing you out of the dungeon is far greater than the value you're
providing. Put simply, I don’t need your help."
Her brows pinched down at those words, and her eyes shifted as she tried
to find another bargaining chip. "I would also offer to be a witness to his
attempted assassination of the future elven empress Elysara, as well as to
the bet that you have made," she hastily added.
 I sighed, tired from the raid and not wanting to deal with this additional
negotiation. But I knew I needed to play along and see what information
Basma might have to offer us.
Fayeth handed me some tea as I relaxed on the couch, doing my best to
be patient and continue through the conversation.
"I think that, with the prince's current behavior, I will have plenty of
people who would be willing to speak on my behalf. It is not like the man
has been subtle,” I replied. “Not to mention, we are recording his
interactions.”
Basma spoke up immediately, “But those witnesses are not related to SJS
Financials, and they do not hold a position of some authority. I may be a
distant relative, but I can certify that this bet happened and that he lost." She
held herself high, but uncertainty still lingered in her eyes.
I paused. The fact that she had some ties to give her more validity in the
claims did hold some merit. I had no doubt that SJS Financials would
continue to be a thorn in my side.
"Would you mind if we recorded your testimony?" I asked.
"Absolutely, I would mind." Her tone became sharp as her true nature
began to reveal itself. "My offer is only good if I survive to the end of the
dungeon."
I sighed, taking a sip of tea and wishing I was joining in the fun that I
could hear outside the tent and not dealing with this woman. "Truth be told,
I was going to bring you all out anyway. Don't throw the raid. I'd love to see
the prince try and fail."
There was always a chance that she was actually here to trick me and get
me ‘cheating’ on some sort of recording. I had no need to cheat. That might
be the way the prince won, but I could win on my own merit.
Basma frowned, but she seemed to relax after me stating I would bring
them out. She gave me a slight bow. "Thank you for listening, and thank
you for helping us all out," she added and stepped backwards before turning
and leaving the tent.
"Well, don't you look like a big, bad boss." Des plopped down on my leg
and stroked the inside of my thigh as she gave me a seductive look before
kissing me on the neck.
"I thought we had a celebration to get to first." I grabbed her ass and
pulled her deeper into my lap, liking where the night was going now far
more than a moment before.
 "We can celebrate all night," she whispered in my ear before she nibbled
just a little, sending pleasure throughout my body as she teased my earlobe.
"I promised to make it a worthwhile celebration." Her words were like a
breathy whisper in my ear.
I growled slightly at her, planting her more firmly in my lap. I kissed her
lips, pushing her chin up and leaving a trail down her tender neck.
"Yes," she hissed.
I smiled to myself, slowly kissing down her neck and moving my hands
down her body. Slowly, I worked my hands to her hips, lingering for just a
second before I quickly picked her up and plopped her off my lap and down
to the side of the couch.
I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me as her seductive, half-lidded
eyes went wide at me stopping.
"What? Don’t know what to do with being teased?" I laughed. "You
should. You do it so often. Turnabout's fair play, right?" I asked, cocking an
eyebrow.
Des narrowed her eyes on me, leaning forward and crawling along the
couch towards me, a look of hunger on her face. The temptress was
showing off plenty of flesh and making sure I was watching. "Not when
you do it to me. Just you wait. After we're done celebrating tonight, I'm
going to make you pay for that move."
I winked at Des. "That was the plan. I love it when I make my temptress
needy. She punishes me tenfold."
Des's eyes practically glowed. "One of these days, I'm not going to make
it so fun when you work me up. It seems I'm just encouraging bad
behavior." She pulled a riding crop out of her CID and smacked my hip
before she got up with a huff, puffing her hair out as she strode away and
out of the tent.
She put on a good show, but I doubted she’d be in charge tonight.
Felin popped just her eyes over the back of the couch. "I thought this was
about to get messy," she said.
I smacked my face with my palm and ran it down my cheek. "How long
have you been there?"
"The whole time." Felin flipped over the back of the couch. "I wanted to
see and maybe join," she said, sniffing the spot where I had just been sitting
before rubbing herself into the same area.
 "Ask Des maybe after the celebration. For now, I think we should enjoy
ourselves in our victory," I told her.
I tried to keep a smile on my face and enjoy the present moment. There
were plenty of challenges ahead, but we had just had a victory, and I was
going to do my best to enjoy the celebration.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 22

T hefinishing
excitement in camp had hit full swing when I stepped out to celebrate
the raid. Most of the excitement was centralized in the Haylon
tents. Five tents each from one of the parties in the class made a half-circle
set in the corner of the room.
Meanwhile, many of the Pendulum and Trusk students were joining the
celebration with a smile but not quite the jubilation of the Haylon students.
A slight dark cloud hung over the Royal College.
I couldn't imagine why. It wasn't as if their favorite prince had just lost. I
couldn’t help the extra pep in my step. It was going to take a few days
before I stopped wanting to rub my win in the prince's face.
The man was absolutely insufferable, and it brought me joy. It might be
even better than putting a dagger in his back because this way, I got to
watch him squirm for far longer.
"Drink?" Harley thrust a red cup into my hand before pouring a mixture
out of a clear, unlabeled bottle.
"Harley, what's in that?" I barely had time to react as she pulled me out of
my musings.
"It's just party punch." She clicked her tongue and winked at me.
"No, Harley, what's actually in there?" I asked.
"It's great. Drink it. You're going to love it." Harley waved me away and
then bounced off to pour some in another cup.
 I stared down at the drink and gave it a sniff. It smelled like a bag of
candy. Multiple fruit flavors were trying to vie for dominance, only for a
subtle hint of something strong enough to strip my throat raw to sneak up
from where it had been lingering in the back.
"Harley!" I called out, scolding the bard. We really shouldn’t be drinking
in the dungeon given our current situation.
Harley bounced back over, handing Des a cup and pouring the mixture
into her cup as well. Des did not hesitate like me and instead tipped the
concoction back and drank nearly half a cup in one go.
I rubbed my face with my hand. "Harley, don't get Des drunk."
"Why not?" Harley asked innocently before she topped Desmonda off.
The temptress turned to me, and I could see for a moment the eye that
was normally kept hidden by her purple hair. The heart shape of the pupil
bore into me with a dangerous promise.
"Just go easy." I held a hand out to caution Des.
"Yeah, easy." She took another big sip, watching me as she drank.
I knew when to keep my mouth shut, glad she had not downed the entire
glass.
"Tonight is a time to celebrate." Des tapped her cup against mine in a
cheer before taking another sip. I joined her this time.
The sickly-sweet concoction barely managed to ease the burn of the
alcohol. I let out a breath that I felt would catch on fire if there was a spark.
"Alright, no one's letting Harley mix drinks again," I grumbled.
Harley turned around, offended. "If it gets too bad, just take a weak
antidote potion. And if you need some, I brought plenty." She pulled a
potion out of her CID and wiggled the vial at me.
"Harley, that was for detoxing the scorpion poison." I sighed and rubbed
my forehead. We were well past those scorpions, and most people had
bought plenty. Not to mention, most groups had someone to remove poisons
now. "But you have figured out that it works just as well for having a few
too many drinks, doesn't it?"
"It works like a charm," she said and twirled back around, continuing to
pour people drinks.
It felt a little awkward, drinking in the dungeon without being in a safe
zone. Yet as I looked into the pink concoction, I decided we had earned
ourselves a celebration. And sometimes, in the midst of great trials, it was
best to give your body some time to decompress.
 "There you go." Des smiled, giving me a kiss on the cheek. "We're gonna
have lots of fun tonight. We're not gonna go farming stats or monsters, at
least. We aren't going to go kill anyone either." She said the statement so
casually, it was almost strange. "And finally, we're gonna have fun!"
"You already said that."
"I know, but I'm gonna have twice the fun." She tipped back her drink.
"You think Harley has an extra one of those, where you can just claim a
whole bottle?"
"Des," I spoke with a tone of warning, but the alcohol was starting to hit
me, and I no longer felt the same conviction I had before of not getting
drunk.
"What? If consent is the problem, I mean, duh." She laughed and kissed
my cheek again.
"That's… that's not the problem,” I grumbled. “What if something
happens?" I looked over to where we had barricaded the entrance to the
raid.
"And what if something happened in a safe zone? Someone gets in a
drunken brawl and smashes down the building? Or even on the surface of
our world. What if there's a gas leak and the building explodes?" She sipped
her drink, looking over the rim at it. "We have an opportunity. We have a
reason to celebrate. Don't let the what-ifs get to you." She poked me in the
stomach twice. "Besides, Fayeth is making sushi. When that happens, you
know it's going to be a great party."
I looked over at Fayeth, who had a Felin hustling around her, cutting up
several slices of meat and chopping vegetables. I frowned, watching the
nekorian so diligently working for Fayeth. "What's going on?"
Des had a knowing smirk. "Oh, just wait for this. It's the best part."
The nekorian finished chopping everything with blinding speed, handing
the fish back to Fayeth like she was turning in a job. I was stunned that
Felin didn’t try to eat any of the fish.
The elf reached to her CID and pulled out a bottle of Irish cream. She
handed the whole bottle to Felin. The nekorian took it like it was a treasured
possession.
I stepped forward. "Don't give her a whole bottle. Don't you know how
—" My words were useless.
Felin had already stripped the cap off and tipped the bottle upside down,
beginning to guzzle the Irish cream.
 I reached over to stop her from drinking the whole thing in one go.
"Felin."
She licked her lips. "Cream," she said excitedly, with a smile that was a
little too wide. "The Irish cream is really good. Fayeth said if I helped her
chop everything, then I could have a bottle.” Her tail wandered over to play
with my thigh.
“How about we drink the bottle in slower increments?" I offered, not that
there was any danger to the nekorian for drinking, nor any of us.
Adventurers were barely human anymore.
"But it's cream," Felin whispered and took another long sip. "Besides"—
Felin pulled the bottle off her mouth—"Des said that I should be ready
tonight." She gave me a grin, showing off her dangerously large canines.
"Did she now?" I glanced back at Des, who quietly turned away while
lifting her drink up and finishing it.
"I'm going to go get another." She waved the empty cup at me and
sauntered away, swaying her hips.
"Am I the only one who's going to be responsible?" I said, looking
around the group.
Harley was flitting around like a social butterfly, pouring drink after
drink. None of the bottles had a consistent color, and I had to wonder if my
next drink would even taste similar.
Des managed to get her refill and then swindled Harley out of a whole
bottle. She came back over to our area behind where Fayeth was manning
the grill. Someone was starting a bonfire in the middle of all four colleges,
and people were slowly forming a ring and sitting down to mingle.
"I feel like we're about to dance," Elysara said, joining me at my side.
"The two of us?" I asked. Dancing wasn't necessarily my strongest skill.
"No”—she gestured around—“everyone. I feel like we're going to eat,
we're going to drink, and then we're going to dance." It felt as if her words
had been prophetic.
Someone's portable stereo kicked up, and there was music playing in the
area.
I looked around, taking in the moment, and I could not help but smile.
"Screw it." I downed the rest of my drink as Des finally made it back
over to us with her proffered bottle.
"That's it," Des said, giving me a half-pour. "Let loose, Ken. You're
always so uptight."
 "Assassins tend to be uptight, Des," Elysara corrected her.
"All that tension and brooding is kind of hot." Des laughed. "It is. It
really is. It's even better when he backs it up with some actual skill and
then, you know, lets us participate in whatever harebrained scheme he has.
Did you know he ran off with your guard the other night? And he fought
four assassins?"
Elysara gasped playfully on my other side. “He didn’t.”
I rubbed my face. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"
"Oh, which time? You mean the time when we were in the single digits or
literally a week ago?" Des cocked a challenging eyebrow at me.
I held my hands up in surrender. "You got me. In fairness, Neldra dragged
me away."
"Oh, so we are talking about the most recent attempt.”
“The most recent one, Des," I conceded. "Again, Neldra dragged me
away. I had no say in leaving you behind." I was going to stick to that story
and hold on to my innocence as long as I could. "Besides, she just used me
for my Eyes of Wisdom to track them down."
"Uh-huh." Des didn't believe a word. "That's why there were cuts on your
robes and why you had a yoroi on when you came back."
"Something like that." I flashed her a cheeky smile and put a hand around
her hip.
"Oh, you don't get away that easily, mister." She poked my chest before
she leaned in and kissed me. The temptress was wearing a low-cut dress
that she’d gotten from one of the earlier bosses. It was light blue with gold
trim that opened down the center, flashing her legs every time she moved.
Elysara let out a soft whistle to the side. "I see you two are going to be
loads of fun tonight."
"Loads of fun," Des echoed and grabbed my head, starting to make out
with me. "I'm even going to get Ken to dance."
Elysara smirked. "I would pay to see that."
Charlotte wasn't quite the social butterfly that the rest of my ladies were.
So, when I saw her deliver something to Fayeth, I pulled away from Des to
go scoop the shy druid up and bring her over. "Charlotte, you can stay here.
I need someone to protect me from Des."
She blushed. "Who said I won't help her corrupt you?"
I put a hand to my chest. "Even you?"
 Des wrapped her arms around Charlotte's shoulders. "Don't you know
I've corrupted our cute little druid?"
Charlotte was blushing bright red, but she didn't refute Des’ words.
"Where's Bun-Bun?" I said, realizing that something was missing.
"Oh, I bribed him with a few carrots to stay out of trouble." Charlotte
glanced and pointed at Fayeth's grill. The little rabbit had curled up next to
it, soaking up the warmth.
"What a content little guy." Elysara watched him. "He's so cute."
"Yeah, cute. Tell that to all the times he's thrown a tantrum," I huffed and
ran my hands through my hair.
"He's not that bad," Charlotte defended the rabbit.
"He's bad enough," I said, knowing Bun-Bun was never going anywhere.
"Oh, all the chocolate bunnies that died," Des reminisced. "We could
have made Harley so fat, she would have eaten all those chocolate bunnies.
Feels like just yesterday that we were starting the dungeon."
"It hasn't been that long," Elysara chided her nostalgia. "You've been in
the dungeon for less than two years."
"Well, if this goes the way I think it will, we'll probably get to a year and
a half soon. And this will be quite the dungeon dive," I said, only to get
looks from all three ladies.
"No brooding," Des chided me.
"Fine, no brooding. Sorry."
"Yeah, it's almost been a year and a half. Not that long, but there's been so
much adventure that it feels like it's taken up the dominant part of my life."
The ladies around me all nodded in agreement.
The celebration continued. Fayeth stuffed me with some of the most
delicious burgers I had ever eaten.
Soon other people started to pull out drinks and pitch in, and Harley's
seemingly bottomless tap began to run dry. Or the pink-haired bard decided
it was time to start holding back. Knowing her, she likely had enough
stockpiled in there to last us for years.
Some adventurers were hoarders with their CIDs, stuffing them with an
uncountable number of things. Harley was absolutely one of those hoarders.
She had shown me her wardrobe tab once upon a time, and I nearly passed
out with the realization of how many clothes she had inside her CID. It was
entirely impractical.
“Ken!” Selene waved at me as I watched people dance.
 I turned my gaze to the black-haired healer, who was wearing a green
robe that matched her emerald eyes. She shimmied, pushed, and pulled, her
body a constant fluid motion on the dance floor. Somehow, she was leading
the taller Penny in a dance.
The blue-haired tank blushed a little, noticing our attention. Penny was
out of her gear, but she wore a white blouse and black leather pants
underneath her gear, and now, without the bulky armor, I was reminded that
she had curves.
Selene beckoned me over with a hooked finger, and I found myself
moving towards her before I even realized what I was doing. She
immediately turned her back to me, continuing to dance as she grabbed my
wrists and guided my hands to her hips.
"Dance with us," she said, then took Penny's hands, leaving mine on her
hips as they swayed and gyrated against me.
The dark-haired healer was very forward, but my attention was more
captivated by Penny. The woman was just as tall as I was, her blue eyes
meeting mine as she danced with Selene. She bit her pink lip before
executing a move that removed Selene from me and spun her around, taking
Selene's place.
Selene played along well. "You go, girl," she encouraged Penny.
I swallowed, unsure of what to do, only to be bumped from behind and
pressed firmly into Penny's rear.
The woman took that as my answer, grinding against me. She managed to
grab my wrists and wrap one of my arms around her waist, pulling herself
closer to me. Penny shot a blushing look over her shoulder before she
twisted and twerked her hips.
I could feel every inch of her rear pressed into me. The tight pants she
wore accentuated her smooth curves as she rolled them against me. As she
pushed and pulled her hips to the music, I let myself enjoy the moment.
After a few songs, she pulled away and held my arm before she started
doing a strange dance. It was perfectly in beat with the music and somehow
incredibly familiar.
My body reacted before my mind, and I found myself hopping in tune
with her before I realized it was the dance we'd been doing on the
penultimate boss to avoid all of the abilities. The realization made me roar
with laughter, and Penny beamed with a giant smile as we started really
getting into the motions.
 It took Selene only a moment longer to realize what Penny and I were
doing, and she hooked my other arm, creating something like a conga line
as we started jumping to the beat and stepping to the side as if we were
doing the boss fight.
Our little dance spread like wildfire.
Other members of Haylon joined in, and even the other colleges.
Everyone had been fighting that boss enough for the steps to be ingrained
deep into their psyches. We all joined the conga line amidst the dungeon, all
of us familiar with the beat.
All around the fire, everyone was laughing as we continued the dance,
completely to the beat of the music. When the song finally ended, the whole
group broke up, and everyone laughed.
It was a natural moment for some people to step away, and Des slid up
behind me, pressing her chest to my back.
"I'm sorry, Penny, but there was a certain man who was naughty today,
and I promised to punish him." Des smiled up at me.
Penny awkwardly scratched her cheek. Her face was flushed with
something that I wasn't quite sure of, either embarrassment or perhaps a hint
of lust.
"Go ahead and take him for the night. He's all yours," Penny said in a
hurry.
"I'll make it up to you." Des stepped around me and easily pulled the
taller woman down to her level before kissing her on the cheek and
whispering something in her ear.
Penny had a smile growing on her face before Des grabbed my hand and
pulled me back towards our tent.
“Until next time, Penny.” Des wiggled her fingers.
“And what are you planning?” I kissed Des.
Her attention shifted back to me, and her eyes looked like they were
about to consume me. "Don't worry, I already sent Charlotte after Felin. I'm
going to get us started." Des nearly sprinted as she pulled me back to the
tent.
As we stepped inside, she licked her lips and pulled me into Crimson’s
unused bed.

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 Chapter 23

D esDespulled me down as she sat on the bed, her lips never leaving mine.
built a fiery passion inside of me while her hands quested to undo
my shirt.
My temptress was beyond tempting and was going to have her way with
me.
Slowing down, I broke the kiss and looked down at her, savoring the
moment. She was panting with need, her chest heaving with each breath as
her eyes bore into mine.
Des mewled at me and pawed at the final few buttons.
"I can't help but want it. Ken, I need you." Her eyes practically glowed.
She shoved her chest forward and opened her neck to me, pulling me down
to kiss her tender flesh. "I need it." She ran her fingers through my hair.
I kissed her neck and trailed down to kiss the top swell of her breasts. Her
soft skin was like silk against my lips.
She ran her hands through my hair, dragging her nails along my scalp.
"So fucking good," Des said, her hands trailing down the back of my neck,
her nails scratching at my back.
I peeled her dress off her shoulders tantalizingly slowly, covering every
inch of her skin I exposed in kisses. I knew she was about to go wild, and
teasing her back was too much fun.
 As I expected, Des grabbed my head and fell back on the bed, her legs
wrapped around my hips like a pair of pythons crushing me to her as she
ground herself against me.
"Faster, more," she moaned.
I continued to slide her arm out of her dress, ignoring her demands for
more, knowing that working up the temperatures would pay forward
tenfold.
Des was absolutely insatiable in bed. Once I got her fully undressed, I
wasn't going to be able to tease her nearly as much. And, to be honest, I
loved teasing my sexy temptress.
Throughout the day, she loved small touches, kissing my cheek and
pressing her soft body against me. Her sinful curves molded to my every
inch, just to remind me how much fun we could have the next time we were
free at night.
If she could, she would tease me endlessly until I was nothing more than
a savage beast by the time we got to the bedroom.
However, I loved making her squirm, turning around the script until she
begged. Though she would never admit it, the temptress loved being teased
just as much as she loved to tease.
I pulled her dress down off her breasts and gave each of the wonderful
tantalizing globes a soft kiss on their rock-hard nipples. To say she was
excited was an understatement. I hadn't even fully stripped her down, and I
was already beginning to smell her arousal.
She pressed her chest into my face, continuing to run her nails along my
scalp.
I breathed against her skin, smelling Des' familiar scent mixed with her
arousal. Damn, she made me want to jump straight to the end and slam her
against the bed until we both cried out.
Des ran her hands through my hair, pushing my head back between her
breasts as she shimmied her shoulders and pressed my head between her
softness.
I kissed the softest flesh on the inside of her breasts and rubbed my face
in them, just enjoying the moment before coming up for air. Giving them
both a firm squeeze, I rolled her nipples with my thumbs.
"Careful, you're going to suffocate me," I chuckled.
"Suffocate you with love." Her eyes were now full-on glowing, and her
pupils had both changed to a pair of hearts.
 I got lost in that loving gaze for a moment before I stripped her dress
down around her ankles and twisted it so that she couldn't spread her legs.
She let out a gasp that sounded like shock but I knew was a spike of
anticipation. My lovely demonic mage absolutely cherished being
restrained. She would probably love restraining me just as much, but that
wasn't how the night normally started.
"I see you're wearing your favorite pair." I smiled, pulling down a
lavender pair of lacy panties that covered nothing but a thin strip of her sex.
There wasn't even enough fabric in it to give her the feeling of restraint.
But I pulled it down to her knees and flipped her on her side, tucking her
knees up and exposing her sex under her thighs. My finger probed along her
womanhood, teasing gently into the folds.
"Maybe I should let you drink more often," I teased.
"We both know it had nothing to do with that and everything to do with
you agreeing to tonight." Des wiggled against her restraints. It wasn't that
she wanted to be free of them. It was just that she liked to test them and feel
constrained.
To be honest, it was not a feeling I fully understood, but I had made the
effort to understand my lover. My fingers teased into her folds, finding her
little pleasure button and stroking it gently while I leaned over her and
kissed her on the lips.
"The usual safe word?" I asked, only for Des to scoff at me.
"Yes, we can have a safe word. I need you to keep going, though." She
gave me a fiery kiss and pushed my head away as my finger continued to
tease and pleasure her.
My other hand was busy unbuttoning my pants and stepping out of them.
"Where's the fun in being so eager?" I continued to tease her. "You like
making me wait."
She smirked, and I used that as an excuse to really go to town on her clit,
bringing moisture up from deeper in her folds and stimulating her with
quick strokes of two fingers running around the edge and back over the top.
Her body seized up, and Des gasped.
I loved watching my temptress come undone. The hottest thing in the
world was my partner's pleasure. Before she could get all the way over the
edge, I was stripped and pressing myself into her as I pulled her hips to the
edge of the bed.
 With her legs clamped together and going in sideways, she was tight like
a silken vise. Her paradise milked every inch of me with slick pleasure.
I groaned as I held her thigh to keep her steady and stroked slow,
deliberate thrusts into her. "God," I groaned, my fingers gripping her ass
and her supple thighs as I reveled once again in my temptress's body.
Des had the widest of smiles on her face. "That's it. Savor me," she said
in a controlled, languid tone. "Enjoy every inch of me until you can't get
enough." Her eyes glowed with anticipation. "Until you come back every
night and devour me."
I bent down and grabbed her hair by the roots, pulling her head up and
making her available to me. I mashed my lips to hers and warned, "Careful,
or I will remind you who's in charge tonight."
She bit her lip in anticipation.
I hit her with a bolt of [Delirious Pleasure], her body instantly locking up
as she threw her head back and cried out in ecstasy.
"Punish me!" she yelled.
I laughed at Des's wild antics and began to thrust into her with reckless
abandon. She had already gotten her first release, and I would get mine.
Des wiggled underneath me, shifting her body and squeezing it until she
got just the right motion. She matched my thrust, grinding her hips and her
lovely body against me.
I couldn't get enough of the feeling of being inside her. As I continued to
thrust into her, I reached up and grabbed her wrist, pulling her shoulders
back and causing her sex to squeeze even tighter.
The temptress's eyes were unfocused, staring up at me, a little drool
coming out the corner of her mouth as she gasped in pleasure. "Come in
me, fill me up," she begged.
I wanted to do just that. Feeling every inch of her slick walls squeeze my
head, I rammed into her. I felt myself grow even further for a moment as I
twitched inside of her.
"Yes, that's it." She could feel that twitch and knew what it meant as I
rammed myself all the way home and exploded inside of her, activating
[Delirious Pleasures] once again. Only this time, I left it active for more
than a faint moment.
Her entire body spasmed, her back arching as her sex twitched. Her body
began milking my still-hard cock inside of her, her own orgasm wracking
her body from top to bottom. I enjoyed seeing her toes curl with how strong
of a rush she was feeling.
I ran a hand along her hip, feeling a prickle of sweat on her cool skin.
Suddenly, a pair of white ears with blue stripes poked over the side of the
bed.
"Is she done?" Our nekorian had joined us tonight.
"Not nearly done," I told Felin. "But she's going to need a break after
that."
Felin prowled onto the bed, her tail twitching back and forth. "Well, if
she's going to need a break..." She didn't finish the sentence, letting my
imagination fill it in.
Of course, my imagination had no problem following her train of thought.
As Felin reached Des, I pulled out, sliding to the side. Felin, however,
took a moment to roll Des over and give the temptress a kiss that seemed to
revive her out of the shock from her orgasm.
Des grabbed Felin's head and held her down as the two began making
out, one naked, the other still fully dressed in her jacket and leather pants.
Both of them were wiggling and writhing on the bed as Des ran her hands
over Felin and worked to find any sensitive spots.
I reached up behind both of them and grabbed Felin's hips, pulling the
nekorian back and lifting her chest so that I could pull her against mine and
kiss her myself.
Her brilliant blue eyes pinched in satisfaction as she kissed me, her
tongue only coming in briefly. It was rough like sandpaper, and I was
careful not to let her use it on any more sensitive skin. She had a pair of
wicked canines that I could feel even through the kiss.
I broke away, pulling away to see the nekorian's face flushed and panting.
"I'm so happy you joined us." I cupped her face briefly and kissed her again
before pushing her back down on the bed.
Her mischievous tail batted at my softening cock before curling around it.
The soft fur cupped and coaxed me as she began to pump ever so slightly.
"Me, too." She stared up at me and slipped out of her jacket before
pulling her shirt off and throwing it off the side of the bed.
I undid the button on her impossibly tight pants, and she reached behind,
undoing the second button she had above her tail, letting me peel them off
easily.
 Of the women in my party, Felin had by far the most athletic build. The
only softness she had was on her chest. Otherwise, the rest of her body
lacked even an ounce of fat.
Des, her ankles still tangled in her dress, rolled over on the bed. She ran
her hands over Felin's abs and down along her toned thighs, only to sneak
underneath and cup her rear.
"You're so beautiful," Des said, staring into Felin's eyes.
The nekorian barely gave the temptress a glance, her eyes returning to
check how I felt about the situation.
"You can do whatever you want, Felin," I said. Her tail wrapped around
me and tugged me closer.
"Des is pretty, and I can appreciate that. She might make this more
interesting for me, but she will never satisfy me." Felin growled the last few
words.
Des playfully pouted, her hands cupping over Felin's breasts and cradling
the nekorian's orbs. She did her best to stimulate Felin as she began kissing
down from her shoulder. Felin's eyes did not waver from my own.
As she pulled me towards her, I spread her legs open. Rather than let her
pull me directly into sex, I dipped down and licked her sex, kissing her
lower lips before running my tongue through them. I brought moisture up
from her depth to circle her clit.
Felin arched her back and let out a low, rumbling purr.
Des's eyes clearly flashed in excitement, but I put a finger to my lips.
I pinched her thigh, telling her to be quiet as I continued to get Felin
ready for what would come next. Having crouched down on her, I had
pulled myself away from her tail.
For a moment, I ached to stick it back into something warm. But getting
Felin ready and making sure it would be another good, barbless experience
for her was my priority.
I chuckled at the thought of nekorian barbs and slathered my tongue deep
into her sex. I made sure she was ready before I pulled myself back up.
Des practically pounced on me, kissing my lips and tasting Felin on me.
Her tongue shoved into my mouth, mixing all of our fluids. She pulled
away with a gasp, and I was rock hard and sliding into Felin.
The nekorian wasn't content lying down for me and pulled herself up,
wrapping her arms around my shoulders. She kissed me as she rocked with
my thrust, carrying the motion farther than it should have.
 I held onto her hips and her shoulders so that I didn't throw her off the
bed as I thrust. The only point of her touching the bed was the bubble of her
ass. Her entire body was rigid, and her sex clamped down around me as I
pumped into her.
Felin kissed me fiercely before she pressed her forehead to mine.
A low vibration in her body carried all the way down to my cock and then
up through my spine. It was a singular stimulating feeling having the
woman vibrating with ecstasy underneath me.
I squeezed her hips, crushing her to me as I continued to thrust vigorously
into her.
“Ken,” Felin panted, kissing at my neck and begging for more. Her legs
squeezed around my hip, impaling herself on me. Each time I thrust, she
pushed a little harder, desperately wanting more. “Ken, not enough.”
Felin twisted, and Des rolled out of the way as the nekorian successfully
flipped our position, and I landed my back onto the bed.
My cock was shoved into her by the impact, but the impact only caused
Felin to moan as she quickly righted herself and began to bounce on top of
me. She thrust her hips backwards and forwards, stirring her insides with
my cock.
I reached up and grabbed her two soft globes. The blue stripes on her skin
wrapped around the edge of each breast, and I played along those stripes
with my fingers. They were not particularly sensitive to her, but I found the
design fascinating.
Des came up to me on the other side, kissed me upside down and then
down along my jaw into my neck, her fingers teasing every inch of me.
The nekorian went wild, riding atop me, her athletic body rippling. Each
pronounced muscle twitched and squirmed as she gasped and pleasured
herself on me.
My finger reached down into the top of her slit, where I found the
familiar nub and began to circle it in slow figure eights. The move only
made Felin's panting wilder as she rode me with abandon like a wild steed
bucking and thrusting.
Des came up for air, watching the two of us and whispering into my ear,
"It's so hot, the way she can't get enough."
Felin glanced over at Des. "After watching you, I want what you got.
Ken, I want you to use the skill," Felin demanded, putting her hands on my
chest and shifting the rhythm to a quick bounce. Up and down. Her sex
squeezed me tight as she closed her eyes and focused.
I redoubled my finger's attention on her clit, making several eighths a
second, and I watched as the nekorian's breath picked up, and her pacing
went to a fever pitch. She came undone first, orgasming around me.
Her sex twitched and pulsed, trying to draw mine out as well. But it was
the beauty and the intensity of her orgasm that really got me going.
I thrust several times into her as she slowed down, her body twitching too
much for a coordinated bounce. I finished off inside of her, activating
[Delirious Pleasures]. My eyes were locked on her, not wanting to miss the
moment it hit.
Sure enough, her eyes went wide, and her pupils turned into pinpricks.
She gasped, shuddered, and lost all control of her body, falling down on top
of me.
As liquid gushed out of her, Des teased, "You got her good."
Des moved around to the nekorian, pulling her off me and setting her
down to the side.
Turning her attention back to me, Des neatly pulled her hair back and
swallowed me in one go, sucking and slurping our combined juices off us
for only a moment before she switched over to Felin and dove into the
nekorian's folds.
Felin gasped and turned to me.
"You can tell her to stop.”
“Just kiss me," Felin asked.
I wrapped my hands in her white hair and pulled her close, beginning to
make out with her as Des cleaned us both up. Something told me this night
was just starting.

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 Chapter 24

U zmaki Nagato slid the sword back into his sheath with a soft click. He
stood amidst the ruins of a small city in Norway, surrounded by not
only human remains but dwarven ones as well.
Sakura landed next to him a moment later. His wife was still the
immaculate beauty he married fifty years ago.
"This even brought old men like that out of retirement," Uzmaki mused,
nodding at a giant Nordic man.
The man's gray beard was braided down, his hair pulled back, and blood
splattered all over his scarred body. He had been a rival adventurer back
when Silver Fangs was pushing the 30th-floor boss.
Uzmaki clicked his tongue. "Too bad he's gotten weak with old age."
The big man's ear twitched, and he turned angrily to Uzmaki. "What was
that, old man? Sorry, you've wrinkled so much I mistook you for a prune,"
his voice boomed.
The large warrior thumped his way over in a threatening manner. At least
the gesture would have been threatening to most.
Uzmaki tipped his head back and laughed. "You're gonna have to try
harder if you want to worry me."
With a flick of his thumb, his blade left his sheath, and the two of them
clashed weapons in greeting. Uzmaki laughed, slashing at the other old man
with glee. His once-rival was now nowhere near his match, and he toyed
with him for a moment before sliding back away and re-sheathing his
sword.
"Old age has really not done well for you," Uzmaki stated.
Rather than get angry, the warrior let out a belly chuckle and flipped his
axe, slamming the blade into the ground. "You’re telling me. I thought
becoming an adventurer would make my knees feel like I was in my teens
again. Unfortunately, old age creeps up on us all."
Uzmaki rubbed his nose. Since he and his wives had crossed the Level 40
threshold, their aging had stopped slowing them down nearly as much. He
might look like an old man, but he actually felt rather spry.
His old rival looked over the ruins. "Do you think more are coming?" the
Nordic man asked.
Uzmaki shook his head. "Doubt it. You know they sent my
granddaughter-in-law down there to take care of it." He pointed at the
dungeon entrance that had been stripped free of the UG building that once
was a shell around it.
Dwarven corpses were strewn everywhere around the dungeon entrance,
having been crushed to a pulp as if by some ferocious beast.
"Grand—da—da—daughter-in-law?" The Nordic warrior glanced back at
the dungeon. "I thought they sent Crimson down."
It was Uzmaki's turn to laugh as he put his hands on his hips and stuck his
nose in the air. "Ha ha! She is my granddaughter-in-law."
The big man gave him the stink eye. "What? No. Someone related to
you?"
"Believe it or not, Vic." Grandma Akari walked over holding a battered
and beaten shield. "It turns out his genes actually did some good."
Vic looked Akari up and down. "Glad to see you're still kicking.”
“Eyes off my woman," Uzmaki snapped playfully. He walked over,
putting his hands around the taller woman's hips. "But yes, Crimson is my
granddaughter-in-law now.”
“Then where's your grandson?" Vic asked.
Uzmaki made a face as he grimaced and looked down at his feet. A part
of him was ashamed that in all the searching they had done over the last two
months, they had yet to turn up even half of the adventurers who were
supposed to be in the dungeon at the time of the Great Shuffle.
That’s what the news had begun calling the event. The Great Shuffle.
 Besides losing so many adventurers of humanity, resources were
stretched even further because those who remained had been forced to fight
off new threats from dwarves and naga.
New paths had been woven through the dungeon, but so far, nobody had
yet found one between the naga homeworld and Earth or the dwarven
homeworld and Earth.
At this point, all that had been established was that many sections of the
dungeon that had once been claimed by either race now connected more
easily to Earth, and the two violent races saw an opportunity to expand.
"He's fine. I'm sure he is," Uzmaki stated.
As the words left his mouth, Crimson appeared from the dungeon
entrance, moving like a red ghost.
Her eyes lit up blue like there was lightning inside of them. "Ken is still
fine," she said. Uzmaki knew she had the ability to ask the dungeon
questions.
"Is it time to go get him yet?" Uzmaki asked.
Crimson glanced down at him. "School will have to come back in session
after winter break. They can enjoy their vacation until then."
Crimson smirked and vanished in front of him. The woman was being
overworked by the UG.
When humanity was in the direst of straits, it seemed the only person who
could fend off the worst of the dangers coming to Earth, or to those who
had been stranded in the dungeon, was Crimson herself. Her portal ability
was also proving vital. Once she located those stuck, she could help them
exit.
Uzmaki had been in charge of guarding more than one portal over the last
two months. Crimson had been using him, and Silver Fangs, as a buffer for
all of the job requests she had been getting.
Anyone with any sense of money in the world was throwing it around in
a desperate plea for their loved ones to be recovered from the dungeon.
It didn't help that the world news had been putting great fear into the
populace, constantly questioning when the dungeon would strike again. The
number of new adventurers had shrunk to an all-time low as the dangers of
the dungeon became all the more real. Uzmaki thought it was an absolute
shame because right now, more than ever, he needed more people in the
dungeon to remap and reorganize humanity's claim.
 It was clear that races like the naga and the dwarves had likely gone
through a similar event before as they quickly adapted and began fighting
for more territory.
"All right, on to the next job," Sakura said, getting his attention. "Since
we forgot to ask Crimson for a portal, it means..." Sakura said, pointing at
the dungeon. "Time to go down and clear out what we can. There are some
low-level adventurers coming through to move all these bodies and the
wreckage into the dungeon. It isn’t pretty, but it is the fastest way to clean
this up."
Uzmaki snorted but didn't dally. It seemed they never had a chance to
stop since the Shuffle. Never before had they been so busy.

***

Ken Nagato
Class: Emperor
Secondary Class: Demon Lord
Level: 42
Experience: 34%
Strength: 150
Agility: 529
Stamina: 296
Magic: 273
Mana: 144
Skills: Dark Strike, Earth Stomp, Charm, Metamorphosis, Sprint, Absorb,
Discharge, Dark Blades, Shadow Arm, Camouflage, Shadow Ambush,
Elemental Shield, Portal [Special] [Restricted], Mana Burn, Vampire
[Elysara], Cleave [Fayeth], Spell Mirror, Dungeon’s Blessing, Blades of
Shadow, Mana Implosion, Shadow Wave [Desmonda], Revive [Charlotte],
Shadow Phase, Dodge, Liminal Speed, Eyes of Wisdom [Crimson],
Delirious Pleasures, Triple Breach, Arcane Singularity, Static Swords
Since my raid party’s dungeon floor had moved, it had been two months
of near-endless grinding in the raid. Everyone had been working hard to
keep their level up with the shift of the dungeon. We found that dungeon
monsters leveled up one level a week. It had put a serious strain on
everyone.
 And with the time that had gone by, the most popular place to grind had
become the crocodile trash monsters that led up to the second boss in that
wing. They were the only monster in the raid that dropped edible loot.
At this point, even Harley and the other hoarders had just about run out of
food.
Thankfully, everyone in the four colleges had reached at least Level 40.
Even Professor Gafar and Professor Sai had joined them in farming now
that the monsters were Level 41.
I had stepped away from the rest of my raid for a meeting with Machen,
Marin, and Prince Albar. We were seated in the prince’s tent with all his
amenities because he refused to go without them.
Needless to say, I didn’t drink the tea he offered.
The two professors were there as well. I lifted another piece of grilled
crocodile out of my CID and popped it into my mouth. It tasted fine,
especially with Fayeth’s cooking, but I was getting pretty tired of this one
food.
"We're down to less than a week of foodstuff," Professor Sai said as she
looked through the information each college had handed to her.
"We've gotten a lot stronger," Machen said, flexing in his heavy armor.
Increasing our stats with raw training hadn't been very effective in the
little time we’d had, but we had also been leveling with the raid as well as
equipping higher- and higher-level loot as the raid continued to climb.
As a result, our stats blossomed from the gear, and we managed to keep
pace with the level expectations.
"The naga have probably leveled, too." Professor Gafar’s position had
become clear. He was against us venturing out. Instead, he seemed adamant
about waiting for help to come.
I wondered if he expected some monumental effort to be made for the
prince. I was not interested in waiting for that unlikely outcome. My
suspicion was that we were very far away, possibly lost somewhere in the
dungeon.
Without our searchers having an ability like [Eyes of Wisdom], it would
be a long time before we could be found. Part of me wondered where
Crimson was, but I realized the absolute disaster that this likely became for
humanity as a whole.
"Perhaps we're lost somewhere deep within the dungeon. We should be
strong enough to strike out," I offered before continuing on.
 "I would be shocked if the dwarves and naga haven't already come into
conflict and whittled each other down. That neither of them has found the
raid entrance is a minor miracle in and of itself. Let's enjoy the fact that
we've been given the time to train. No one would have expected us to make
these many gains in such a short amount of time. However, we already
understood the mechanics of the raid as it steadily gained levels. We were
able to upgrade ourselves with quality gear along the way as it leveled and
keep pace. Familiar with the mechanics, we have reaped great rewards." We
had all grown quickly under this pressure.
"Well, what do we do after we get out?" Professor Gafar pushed for a
plan—another stalling tactic.
"We don't know what we're going to find," I said. "We will have to
operate on the fly. But as I understand it, to get back to Earth, first we need
to go farther down the dungeon."
The professor rolled his eyes and threw his hands up. "Which you won't
tell us how you know that."
"No.”
We'd had this argument before. We'd probably had every argument we
were going to have today before. The only thing different between today's
meeting and the last several that we’d had was that our food rations were
getting dangerously low.
“I say we leave the raid," I said, lifting my hand in the air and forcing it
to a vote.
Machen and Maren raised their hands with me. The two of them had been
in agreement for a long time. On the other hand, Prince Albar sulked in the
corner. He had been that way ever since his group had failed to defeat the
final boss for another two weeks.
I had all the evidence I needed.
Not to mention he and his raid had fallen behind the others. He had been
withdrawn lately due to the general dislike for him that had spread.
Even Marin and Machen had started to avoid him.
The prince's penchant for taking every upgrade ended up slowing down
his group considerably as the raid gained levels. Even his own college gave
him glares behind his back.
Professor Gafar crossed his arms, clearly unwilling to leave the safety of
the raid. It looked like it would be another stalemate.
 For all that Professor Sai might be the strongest person here besides
Neldra, she was so incredibly passive and unwilling to act that I thought she
didn't deserve to be an adventurer.
"Fine." Professor Sai surprised me and pushed down on the table. "Our
food supplies have been steadily dropping. Even our increased efforts to
farm the crocodiles have not been successful." She grimaced at admitting
that, given that it had been her suggestion not that long ago. "We have to
leave or else we'll starve," she said. It seemed the threat of starvation would
finally push her into action. With her vote, that meant we were finally going
to go into action.
Machen stood up sharply, ready to move.
Stopping Machen before he got far, I spoke, "I think between you and
me, we need to have a plan upon exit. Because as soon as we get out of
here, we have to assume there might be dwarves or naga nearby."
The berserker nodded with grim determination.
"What about me?" the prince asked, raising his hands as if offended.
"You can join us. That would be helpful," I said with some sarcasm in my
voice. "However, this entire time, you have been in opposition to any and
everything we have been trying to do."
I had grown more than frustrated. After creating this small council, the
prince argued against everything I said. It seemed out of sheer spite, rather
than any reasonable stance.
It was only out of staving off causing a panic that I didn’t just shank him
in the middle of the night.
He huffed. "Of course, if you guys are all leaving, then I will have to as
well. It's not as if we can sustain ourselves here. However, after we make it
past the naga blockade, we will be able to get out of here safely." The prince
stood up, clearly not interested in continuing the conversation, and marched
off to the camp.
I shared a glance with Marin and Machen, nodding and getting to my
feet. "All right, I will bring my raid back, and we are going to rest up. How
soon do you think you can have the entrance cleared?" I asked Marin.
She glanced over at the pile of sand that had everyone's attention. Two
Trusk students sat near it playing cards.
"Maybe two hours," she said. "At that point, we will at least be poking
through and be able to get someone out to scout."
Professor Sai stood up. "I will be going through first."
 As the highest level here, no one had any complaints. Only Professor
Gafar seemed upset. Then again, that was his natural state of being, I was
fairly certain.
Meeting done, I burst into action, rushing down the beast section of the
raid. At this point, we had been farming it so often that I felt like I was
retracing my steps through a familiar haunt as I rushed through to find the
rest of my raid killing crocodiles by the dozen.
Felin was ahead of the raid, poking at every random bush to see if
crocodiles would pop out and spawn. Like many monsters, they would
respawn if we left an area, and the raid as a whole had been weaving back
and forth through the space between the first and the second boss, flushing
crocodiles out of bushes and farming them for meat and experience.
Candice was the first to notice me and waved at my approach.
People were talking casually as they killed the crocodiles, completely
unconcerned with the monsters. We had been farming them so much that
killing them was almost an unconscious action at this point.
"Good news and bad news, everyone," I said, pulling out my daggers and
joining in on the nearest crocodile. "Good news, we will finally be leaving
the raid."
That statement caused more than a few people to stutter in their current
actions.
"The bad news?" Harley asked.
"Bad news, we're almost out of food."
Everyone winced, but no one was surprised. The food situation had been
on everyone's mind, especially as people had started to run out of food in
their own CIDs, and we had to restrict hoarding.
"But we got so many." Penny held up loot from two crocodiles that had
just puffed into black smoke.
The crocodile tails that she held up could be skinned, deboned, and eaten,
even if it wasn't the most tender of meat. At least it tasted mostly like
chicken. Slightly tough chicken.
"Well, more good news is that we might have some more variety than just
crocodile soon," I offered.
"I doubt naga tastes any better," Helen spat, and everyone suddenly got
awkward at the direct mention of the threat that lay beyond the sealed raid
entrance.
 I held my hands up to calm everyone down. "Please. Marin is already
getting the Trusk students to clear out the raid entrance." The Trusk class
had been off today, grinding on a mob spot in the main branch of the raid.
They had likely already returned to the entrance and started clearing.
"Once you finish up"—I stabbed forward, and the crocodile in front of
me exploded into black smoke—"we're heading back to the entrance, and
we're taking down our tents. We need to be ready to leave in two hours.
That means getting everything down and resting enough so that you are
ready for a fight."
Several of the ladies swallowed loudly, and I didn't blame them. We were
going into the unknown, and for the first real time, it was completely
uncharted.
Whatever we faced likely included heavy combat, closer to when the first
adventurers had entered the dungeon or those who now pushed into the
unknown depths. We wouldn’t have more than our own raid to count on
should things get tough, and who knew what fights would be ahead of us?
I was expecting that we would find either dwarves or naga on the floor
outside the raid. It was just a question of which ones and how many. We
would have to destroy any that saw us if we wanted peace for the time
being. But inevitably, we would be pushing down into the safe zone that the
naga had occupied.
While it was daunting, I had to admit, I was a little excited as well. This
was ultimately why we had entered the dungeon—we just usually had a
safe path behind us when we ventured forward.

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 Chapter 25

A swasthethesandsound
blocking the raid entrance came down, the first thing I heard
of battle outside. Metal on metal pinged, and explosive
blasts reverberated through the fist-sized hole that had appeared at the top
of the door's arch.
"Hurry. Get it all down." I was ready to get out of the raid. Once our
location was known, we were trapped.
Professor Sai drew her blade to lead the charge out as soon as the sand
was clear. She glanced over at my group. Even Harley was looking tense,
her normal jovial attitude nowhere to be seen as we all prepared for what
we were about to face.
The summons from Trusk Academy continued to spray sand over us in a
gritty shower as they hurried to remove the sand.
No one so much as flinched. A little sand was nothing compared to what
was to come.
The fist-sized hole continued to expand, the sound of battle growing
louder. As soon as the opening was large enough, Professor Sai threw
herself into the hole and began to wiggle herself out.
The sand elementals continued to spray sand away from the doorway, the
hole steadily growing wider.
I wasn't far behind the professor. As soon as I could crouch and make my
way through, I shoved myself into the opening in the sand and made my
way outside.
It was almost surreal to be outside of the raid and not be surrounded by
limestone walls and columns. Instead, the world opened up around me to a
false ceiling and an expansive desert pocketed with oases. Not far from the
entrance, a pair of naga fought a team of dwarves.
The naga were defensively slithering back as the dwarves pressed them.
There were nine of the dwarves, and from the looks of it, all but one were
drones. The one non-drone was wearing dungeon gear, standing out from
the rest.
Professor Sai was already kicking up a storm of sand, rushing across the
distance between us and the two groups locked in combat.
I chased after her, activating [Sprint] to catch up.
Two oversized one-handed swords appeared in my hands as I prepared to
support the professor. Though the blades’ hefty size did little to impair my
fighting, with my present stats, it was unlikely that any weapon would be
unwieldy for me. I wasn't anywhere near Crimson's level of stats, but I was
proud of my progress and my current strength.
Professor Sai was ahead of me, swinging in from the right behind the
group of dwarves. She was likely going for what she saw as the strongest of
the two groups first. However, I knew that while the dwarves looked like
they had the advantage, the nagas were individually the more powerful
fighters. I swung in from the other side to try and debilitate the two naga
before their fight with the dwarves halted.
Swinging across the sand, I activated and used [Shadow Ambush] to
close the gap as soon as I got within range of the naga. I jumped on them
only moments after Professor Sai slammed into the back of the dwarves.
Her sword cleaved through two of the drones, catching them by surprise,
while the dwarf warrior spun and used an ability to block her from hurting
the rest.
I was behind the healthier of the two naga, my swords cleaving into its
back on either side of its spinal fin.
It let out a hissing scream as I raked the blades down its back before
jumping backwards, just in time to dodge a sweeping strike with its large
sword. The naga, as usual, preferred large, two-handed blades.
The male naga had a bulky upper frame supported by a short serpent's
tail. It tried to drive me back with a flurry of strikes before a dwarf drone
dropped a nail on its tail and hammered it in place. The naga twisted, unsure
who was the bigger threat, and I ducked back in, my over-large swords
giving me some additional range as I slashed twice before ducking back out
as it swung with its long sword once again.
The dwarven drones piled on the back of that naga, driving stakes into it
and hitting it with heavy mallets. Meanwhile, the warrior dwarf was holding
off Professor Sai, creating a clash of blades in the background of my current
fight.
A moment later, the second naga defended himself with an ability that
sent his group of drones flying and swung in to protect the other warrior.
I didn't have to keep them occupied very long before three dragons shot
into the sky. The summons swept along the area, breathing fire, lightning,
and ice over the group of enemies. I jumped back in time to see the drones
were dead and the naga were heavily injured.
Marin's dragons were followed up by several blasts of magic. Ice and
darkness filled the gap and finished off the two naga.
The one naga's soul peeled itself off the body and stood up before joining
behind me. Watching souls peel off was a little creepy, but in a fight, the
ability was rather convenient.
I was hoping it would help us push through to the safe zone.
Professor Sai flicked blood off her blade, having finished the dwarven
soldier in that moment of chaos. "Good work, everyone," she said. On edge,
she glanced around at the sand dunes that had a few patrolling monsters, but
no other packs of dwarves or naga were present.
The hole by the entrance of the raid was big enough that students were
ducking down and scurrying out one after the other. It seemed our starting
to fight had made people impatient. Haylon College was in front of the
group exiting, along with a few Trusk and Pendulum students coming out.
Pendulum quickly fell into ranks, breaking up and monitoring the space
around us all, finding high points around the raid entrance to get a view of
what was coming.
One of the people atop a nearby dune held up his hand before flashing
several signals Machen interpreted for me. "Three naga over that way."
I glanced around at the others to see if anyone else was communicating a
signal, and thankfully, they were not. "Then it sounds like someone’s going
that way," I said to Machen. "We'll clear out what we can.”
“I think it's in our best interest to clear out the straggler groups before we
try and push for the safe zone," Machen agreed.
 "What are we going to do about the dwarves?" Marin asked, catching up.
I grimaced at the memory of the dwarven queen that we had fought on
the 25th-floor safe zone.
"I think naga are the safer bet. They can’t repopulate as quickly. Not to
mention, that's the way we need to go to get back. If I'm honest, I would
rather not try and take down an established dwarven queen."
The berserker grunted, accepting my reasoning before flashing several
signals at the other Pendulum students. People quickly reformed into their
groups and headed out. I looked around at the other leaders of the colleges.
"Let's split up into our schools and push down to the 35th floor," I
suggested, letting my swords dip until the tips of the blades touched the
sand. "Clear out everything we can, and then, together, we will assault the
safe zone."
I received nods of agreement from Marin and Prince Albar before I
sheathed the swords at my hips.
"We're right behind you," Des assured me, giving me a sloppy salute as
Haylon did their best to mimic Pendulum's martial discipline.
Even Harley was taking the situation seriously, the pink-haired bard
falling into a group without complaint about her healer harem being split
up.
I pointed in a direction and started jogging. Our class of twenty-five
students was bolstered by the presence of Neldra and Professor Sai.
At this point, the students in the class had significantly upgraded their
strength to the point that I didn't think Professor Sai was necessarily all that
much stronger than me. If push came to shove, I thought I might be able to
beat the professor in a duel given a few of my abilities.
We crested the first sand dune, and monsters came for our group. There
was a clean switch as five ranged DPS all stopped running together and
blitzed down the group of mobs. No extra person joined them, knowing that
would have triggered an enrage function by the dungeon.
The ladies were consummate professional adventurers as we swept away
several packs of mobs and pushed out from the raid entrance into the
dungeon proper.
On the third dune we crested, we encountered a group of about twenty
dwarves. Only two of them appeared to be warriors. The Haylon class
descended on them like a swarm of locusts, Helen and Myrtle picking up
the attention of the two warriors while the rest of the class blasted the
drones apart. They then switched to the warriors and brought them down to
a bloody heap in no time.
I came out of that fight with four dwarven specters following me. The
naga’s soul had already disappeared. The ability only lasted several
minutes. But oftentimes, that's all it took to tip the scales of battle. It would
be unfair for me to keep an entire army of spirits at my beck and call,
although I wished I had that kind of advantage. I could carry them around in
my shadows or something.
Our college swept over the sand dunes, killing several more groups of
dwarves and only a scant few naga. We didn't encounter another group of
naga along the way and headed down through the 32nd, the 33rd, the 34th,
and then finally, onto the 35th floor.
On the 35th floor, we came to a halt. I spotted Marin standing with
several of the Trusk party leaders, discussing something urgently.
"There you are." She looked up. "We had several people scout ahead with
their summons. It seems your idea was not unique."
I frowned at Marin, not understanding what she meant. "Not unique?" I
asked.
The queen of the nerds shook her head.
"No. It seems that the dwarves are already assaulting the naga," she
explained. She crouched down in the sand, where someone had already
drawn what appeared to be a depiction of the floor. She had a dagger in her
hand and tapped on one side. "This is where the boss room and the entrance
to the safe zone are. And this"—she pointed to some X's that were placed
on the quickly drawn map—"is the dwarven attack line."
The number of X's seemed a little extreme. "How many are there?" I
asked, wondering which one of them was the scout.
A thin woman pushed at the bridge of her glasses. "My best estimate is
five hundred dwarves," she said, using a wand to make a large X in the
middle of the formation. "There's an eight-foot-tall dwarf right here. Is it
still a dwarf if it's that tall?"
"It's a dwarf queen," I said, understanding what they were seeing. "And
that's not good." I shook my head.
The dwarf queen I had briefly fought alongside the harem queen was
probably a foe beyond our current capabilities. Even then, from what I
understood, we had fought what was likely the weakest queen nearby given
she had been displaced by another. This one could possibly be even
stronger.
"She's not that high level," the Trusk student who had scouted said. "She's
maybe Level 50?"
I tilted my head sideways. That would be a major source of good news.
"Perhaps the safe zone with the dwarves was a low-level?" Des turned to
me with a little bit of hope.
"Or that dwarven queen could be an offshoot from the one that exists," I
said. "Either way, it doesn't matter. We don't need to deal with the dwarves.
What we need to do is get through the naga."
Everyone nodded, looking at the map in front of us. While we studied the
map, Machen and the rest of Pendulum started coming down the stairs
behind us.
"Looks like I'm late to the party," the big berserker said, an axe hefted
over his shoulder.
"No, you're just in time." I repeated the information we'd gotten from the
Trusk students to Machen, the big berserker rubbing his chin.
"If we just need to get past the naga, could we come in from the side and
flank both of them?" He tapped along the side of the map, suggesting we
run along the dungeon wall and through only a slim section of the naga to
get to the safe zone.
Honestly, I had been debating the very same tactic. After all... once we
got past, the naga would be unable to pursue us as they were still held down
by the dwarves.
"I think that's not a bad plan, Machen. The biggest risk is that once we get
past the naga, there's another danger on the floors below, and we could
potentially end up sandwiching ourselves between two hostile groups."
The big berserker grimaced and looked back at the map as if hoping an
answer would pop out for him.
"I think we might have to take the risk," Marin threw in her two cents.
"It's not like we're going to be able to farm food on these floors. Sure, they
have crocodiles, but I don't recall the ones on the floor dropping edible loot
when we farmed them previously.”
“We don't even know if the floors beyond this one are going to have
anything," I said, causing everyone to look worried.
I held my hand up. "But it's still our best bet. If there's not something
edible on the five floors below the safe zone, we can always go back up to
one of the other two routes the safe zone presents.” It certainly opened up
our options.
“And through the naga again," one of the Trusk students added, sounding
scared.
"We cut our supplies short. Finding a place to recoup them has to be one
of our priorities. Unless you think we stand a chance at cleaving through
both armies, both forces, and looting them for all they're worth?" I added.
Even as I said that, I knew it might be a possibility. If while flanking into
both forces I could build up enough stacks, there was a chance that I could
cleave through their forces and even handle the dwarven queen. In fact, the
more I looked at the situation, the more I realized the concept was a little
wild but possible. It would reduce the awareness of our broader group’s
location.
"Actually, that might just have to be the plan," I said, looking back at
Candice.
She had been my support through most of the raid. She nodded in
understanding.
I turned back to the map. "The plan will be to come in from this
direction." I pulled out a dagger from my CID and drew an arrow indicating
our forces. The scout had marked out several large dunes, and I chose one
for our forces to gather behind before sallying out.
Then I glanced at the two leaders. "Our primary objective should be
getting people into the safe zone." I nodded to Machen. "If we can get you
in the doorway to the boss with healers behind you"—I drew a quick stick
figure with an axe and several stick figures on the other side of the naga line
with him—"then I think you should be able to hold the bottleneck best."
Machen crossed his arms and gave a nod of satisfaction with that plan.
Meanwhile, I turned to Marin. "There might be significant resistance on
the other side of the safe zone." I made a line behind the healer stick
figures. "So as soon as we break through, I want Trusk to unload their
summons and create a safe spot for everyone else to come down the stairs."
I made a little stick-figure dragon for Marin and their summons.
"What about you?" Marin asked.
"Haylon is going to send most of their people with you," I replied,
tapping on the expanded map. "However, I am going to hopefully deal
enough damage to the dwarves that they don't try to chase us up the stairs."
I tapped on the X that had been the dwarven queen and glanced around the
group to see if there were any arguments.
Des did not look happy with me, but I flashed her a smile. In fights like
this, it was important I did all I could. If we held back, we would lose. We
were just barely at a point to be able to handle what we were up against.
I was sure I would have my party at my back, but much of the action
would be left up to me, especially if I could get my stacks up to the point
that I wanted. I put a hand on my knees and eased myself up from
crouching over the map.
"Now, the only question is, where is the Royal College?" I glanced
around, but Machen and Marin both shrugged.
"We ran into him one floor down from the raid," Machen supplied. "They
seemed like they were following the plan," he said.
I shrugged. "We'll wait another hour. If they don't show up by then, we'll
have to push forward without them."
The last thing I needed was for the dwarves or naga to become aware of
our plan. This only worked if they weren't expecting us. Half of stealth was
speed, acting before one’s opponent even knew there was a game afoot.

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 Chapter 26

T hemakerestthemselves
of our raid party had waited a full hour for the Royal College to
known, but Prince Albar and the rest of his college
never appeared to join us in the fight against the naga and dwarves.
I had no particular feelings about that fact. Their presence was not going
to decide the battle.
Without them, we had all moved forward and were huddled up behind a
sand dune, which had not turned out to be as large as I had initially
expected.
The dwarves and the naga were engaged in scattered fights, mostly the
dwarven drones picking at the naga line and getting diced apart for their
efforts, only for the queen to mold the dead drones back to life. The naga
had erected some sort of coral barricade in front of their line, while the rest
of the dwarven drones were actively constructing something. The dwarven
queen, standing twice the height of the rest of the dwarves, was impossible
to miss.
"We thought they'd be actually fighting," Marin whispered as we stood
near the edge of the sand dune.
"A lot of battle is staring across enemy lines and preparing for the next
clash. Though the clash might be brief and violent, that doesn't mean that
the glory is there alone." Machen spoke like he was attending a military
academy, which he was. He pointed over to where the dwarves were eagerly
working away. "I think they are almost finished with whatever they've been
building. When that's done, I think there will be a larger engagement again."
I nodded and pulled some crocodile jerky from my CID to munch on.
We had been restricting rations for the last several weeks as we felt them
dwindling, and my stomach was starting to protest with the day's activity.
Looking out over the naga, I saw more than a few stuffing food into their
mouths. I hoped that after this, we would be able to find a place with more
edible loot.
The dwarven queen was walking up and down the line of dwarves,
shouting at them as whatever they were building suddenly came to life.
The contraption was lifted up on the shoulders of a dozen warrior
dwarves, and I now recognized it as some sort of flexible battering ram,
likely for the dwarves to rush through the boss doors and down the flight of
stairs.
It made a certain sort of sense; however, humanity had not necessarily
invested much development in wars within the dungeon. Most conflicts
were solved by bringing people of higher and higher levels.
"All right, we need to prepare." I turned away from the other two leaders
of their college and slid back down the dune.
The other adventurers must have sensed my urgency. They were pulling
weapons out of their CIDs, picking them up off their laps, and equipping
any final pieces of armor.
"Everyone remember the plan? We go in along the wall and try to drive
ourselves behind the naga. It looks like the dwarves are going to rush the
boss room and stairs. Our goal will be right behind that team."
The plan felt a little riskier now that I saw it in person.
But with the dwarves' plan clear, there was bound to be extra risk. As they
rushed the stairs, we would be running behind them, and we would risk
getting sandwiched between two forces.
The battering ram could also help us. The fact that the dwarves built the
ram meant that there was a chance they had already attempted the move
once and encountered some sort of challenge. If they cleared it out for us,
then we’d escape a potential pitfall.
I had my own weapons out, then spun them to warm up my wrists.
On the other side of the dune, shouts and hisses became audible as both
sides once again clashed.
"This is it." I activated [Sprint] and rushed around the sand dune.
 Others were activating their own movement abilities, keeping up with
me. The majority of Trusk were slow and in the back. With them saving
their summons, they wouldn't be of much help.
Instead, melee DPS like Machen, Taylor, the tanks, and I made up the
spearhead of the group rushing into enemy forces.
Like the raids, I stopped paying attention to everyone around me,
focusing instead on my own fight. First, a naga on the edge of their
formation saw us coming and turned, shouting back through their ranks. A
similar moment happened with the dwarves, though they seemed far less
concerned.
I reached the group first, my blades catching the first naga.
He pushed his back to the wall to protect himself from getting
overwhelmed, our weapons sparking.
Machen jumped over the two of us, landing behind the naga. The ability
he used sent a shockwave that stunned my opponent and two others.
I punched my blade into the stunned naga's throat, then carved up his
chest with a series of swings. I activated [Shadow Strike] to swing again
blindingly fast but saved [Triple Breach] for a tougher opponent.
I used [Cleave] from Fayeth to hit my target and another one that Machen
had stunned, quickly dealing as much damage as I could, but everything
was secondary to trying to build up my stacks. The two larger blades
certainly made me slow down. Even with my high strength and agility, a
heavier weapon was always destined to be slower.
Both naga fell, specters pulling free of their bodies and joining me as I
moved on to the next, using [Earth Stomp] to stun the group of naga that
had pushed Machen back, preventing him from barreling through.
Spells and abilities flew over our shoulders.
As the naga formed a line, I used Des’ [Shadow Wave] to add more
damage to the group and stand back for a moment. I scoped out the naga
forces, thinking about where the weakest point that I could apply pressure
was.
There were healers among the naga, casting barriers and stitching wounds
closed as quickly as they could. They were the female variant of the naga,
looking far different with much larger spinal fins. Some of them had four
arms as well. But it was clear that none of them was a matriarch. Those,
much like the dwarven queens, were larger than their brethren.
 It was about this time that I saw the flexible dwarven ram disappear
through the door. The dwarves fell down upon the naga. The wedge driven
by the ram became the perfect gap for them to pitch an all-out battle.
We hadn't managed to push through the naga quickly enough, and it was
clear that the dwarves were now in control of the space in front of the boss
doors.
I hacked with my two swords, cutting down another naga, a specter rising
to join me. Our opponents had shifted.
Not only were we fighting naga, but they had pulled back, pressing
themselves against the wall and exposing the flank of our formation to the
dwarves.
The dwarves were indiscriminate in who they attacked. Drones threw
themselves at our casters and forced some of our tanks and melee to peel
back to protect the healers, which weakened the tip of our spear formation.
At this point, Machen and I were on our own ahead of the group as we
tried to shove ourselves through the naga.
My blade danced off my most recent opponent. I was faster than him.
Ducking under his large blade, I raked mine across his stomach and spun
around before using [Absorb] to block another spell.
The group of naga throwing out heals and spells was the biggest problem
I could see on the battlefield.
Taking a risk, I used [Shadow Ambush] to jump in between all of them
and immediately activated [Arcane Singularity], canceling out every spell
being cast and sucking it into me. I suddenly felt like I had stuck my finger
in a socket, too much magical energy inside of me. I quickly used
[Discharge] on the closest caster naga and cleaved into her with my blades.
The naga casters hissed and shouted, but I was determined to be the fox
that got into the henhouse.
I let my [Shadow Arm] reach over my shoulder and latched onto the
caster as I tried to burn her mana away before spinning and blocking
another warrior. The warrior was trying to drive me away from the casters.
I had ten seconds of the naga casters being unable to use their spells. My
whole goal was to deplete the mana of one of them. My [Shadow Arm] was
completing that task while I defended myself.
Blades clashed, and I ducked back, using dodge to slide out of the way of
a second longsword that had tried to take my arm off at the shoulder.
 As [Arcane Singularity] ended, I put my hand on the naga whose mana I
had been draining and activated [Mana Implosion]. The remainder of her
mana got sucked into a point just in front of my palm, creating a blue
sphere. But the second her mana was all dry, it instead pulled her flesh in,
causing an implosion that ripped her apart a moment before she exploded,
dealing massive damage to the surrounding casters.
As I used my finisher, four more naga specters peeled themselves away
from bodies, and I ducked through them, using them to protect me from the
naga warriors closing in. My blades found several weakened casters, adding
three more specters to the growing group that, at this point, were
successfully holding back the naga warriors from me.
The warriors seemed confused to be now fighting their own kind, but
before their confusion could be resolved, I had cleaved through the casters.
Quickly targeting any naga casters that had been using healing spells and
finishing them off, I made my job easier.
At this point, fourteen naga specters had joined me, and they had even
claimed the lives of one of the warriors.
I slashed over my specter’s shoulder, using them as a shield, my blade
punching into one of the warriors' exposed chests. Killing the naga and
adding more specters to the group added momentum that had been robbed
from us. I pushed forward along the wall towards the stairs, turning to the
big berserker fighting not far away.
"Machen!" I shouted. "Get to the doors!" I pointed with one of my blades
at the stairs to the safe zone. I directed my blades through the door to the
boss room, towards the stairs that would lead down to the safe zone.
The berserker shouldered forward, charging through several of the naga,
shouting at me as he went. "Get several healers to me!"
He slammed into the bronze doors, stopping there and roaring as he let
several naga pierce him with their blades. His muscles swelled, earthworm-
like veins crawling under his skin as his eyes lost their focus. He cleaved
through a naga with a single blow.
I pointed out two ladies that I knew were part of his group. "Follow
Fayeth. Get them to Machen!" I shouted.
Machen had wedged himself between the boss doors and the stairs down
to the safe zone. He was fighting like a man possessed. Even as heals and
shields layered on top of him, blood flowed freely as he stood his ground.
My growing army of specters pushed into the naga to stem the tide that
Machen was fighting. I cut through them, my blades adding to their number
as my specter army grew.
Purple lightning raced down my arms as [Liminal Speed] continued to
gain momentum. I started to become fast enough to weave in and out of my
specters and the enemy naga attacks despite the number of swinging
swords.
After another half a dozen naga went down, their ranks gave way to the
dwarves. Drones rushed me with their tough bodies and strong arms. They
tried to hold down my specters, throwing themselves at them, while a
stronger warrior came in to deal the finishing blow.
Several of my specters popped into white mist, only for their number to
be replaced by the drones dying by my blades as I continued to pick up
speed, slashing through them. I had stopped using my skills after getting a
sense of my mana levels.
I glanced beyond the dwarven ranks to the dwarven queen. She had
stopped what she was doing and instead was staring directly at the section
of the battle that I represented.
She lifted her hand, gesturing as if she could lift the corpses at a distance.
Only in this case, it did.
The drones had their bodies stitched back together, wounds sealed up like
their bodies were made of clay and a potter had just run his finger over the
cracks, crudely sealing and restoring them to life.
Even though I held their specters, it seemed that did not prevent the
dwarven queen from bringing them back.
A drone caught me by surprise coming to life at my feet and managed to
grab my foot before it hammered a stake through its own arm to pin me to
the ground. Other drones came in from every direction, their mallets and
picks swinging for me.
I had to twist and turn, my blades blocking all of them. As I moved with
incredible speed, the two over-large swords proved their worth. The drones'
weapons sparked off the large flat of the swords.
I realized in that moment that in order to defeat these dwarves, the
dwarven queen absolutely had to be a top priority. Otherwise, we were
going to be overwhelmed as the queen continued to bring the downed
dwarves back onto their feet.
I cut the dwarf's arm off that had been holding my foot down, and I spun
with my blades, using all the speed I had gained, creating a small whirlwind
around me. My blades stuck out, striking drones and warriors alike and
giving me a bit more breathing room.
I came out of the spin and charged straight to the left, slashing through
several more dwarves before I activated [Shadow Ambush] on the farthest
dwarf that I could find near the queen. I reappeared out of his shadow in a
flash, swirling and severing his head with a single strike from behind before
landing and rushing towards the dwarven queen.
The queen showed no surprise as I appeared before her. The impassive
look on her face might as well have been chiseled from marble with how
much it moved.
In a flash of purple lightning, I lifted both swords high and brought them
down together. I was trying to end this quickly, but to my shock, the
dwarven queen was incredibly fast.
Using [Dodge], a skill I recognized, she slid a foot backwards.
My blades only glanced against her chitinous armor, sparking and failing
to penetrate. She thrust a palm forward, and a blast of physical force lifted
me off the ground and threw me back.
I somersaulted through the air, landing amidst three drones. My blades
flashed out, killing them instantly, and I rushed back towards the queen.
At this point, dwarves of the warrior caste had broken away from the
fight and rushed to defend their queen. Most of them held large weapons
with reach.
When we had been scouting the situation, Des had jokingly pointed out
that they were likely trying to make up for their lack of stature with long
weapons.
The thought made me chuckle as I wove between the warriors and
assaulted the queen again, activating [Triple Breach], each strike having a
chance to penetrate armor. The third strike punctured a chunk of her
chitinous armor on her left side, but I failed to follow up as a warrior thrust
a spear, forcing me back.
I blocked his weapon and twisted with my blades, only to discover that
the warrior was strong enough to stop me. He wrestled me for a moment
before I disengaged, killing another drone and trying to re-enter the fight
against the queen.
Familiar heals from Charlotte wrapped around me as a meteor of green
fire landed amidst the queen and her warriors. Des used her strongest ability
to try and create an opening for me.
 I rushed through the still-burning spot of the impact and went for the
queen again, scoring a deep gash along her side where I had broken her
armor.
But it was not enough to stop her. She flicked her wrist, and several more
drones revived and tried to grab onto me. The queen herself drew a wicked
black sword out of nowhere, slamming it down on top of me.
I had been busy killing the drones and hadn't gotten out of the way of the
hit. I prepared for impact, but before that came, Fayeth, wrapped in root-
like armor, had appeared with her shield to block the sword from hitting me.
I took the opportunity, crossing my blades and slashing into the queen's
side as I used [Dodge] to slide underneath her striking arm and come up
behind her. I spun, slamming my blades into her back repeatedly.
Her back was far less armored than the front, and I did not have to deal
with her obnoxiously large, armored breasts that actually made it difficult to
get a good angle on her torso. Those things had been like two tower shields
strapped to her front.
Wounds quickly appeared on the queen's back. However, the dwarven
queens seemed to have some obnoxious level of regeneration, the wounds
healing nearly as fast as I generated them.
The queen tried a familiar attack, though it happened a little differently
this time. Fleshy dwarven hands reached out of the sand, grabbing at my
ankles rather than whole dwarves. She blasted Fayeth away and tried to
come for me again.
Felin leapt out of the crowd, a storm wrapped around her spear as she
stabbed it into the patch of broken armor.
Penny rushed out of the crowd of dwarves, wearing a set of frozen armor
as frost trailed off her blade. She stabbed into the nearly closed patch of
broken chitinous armor, and ice spread over the queen's side, only for Penny
to rip the sword out, shattering more of the armor with the move.
Turning, the queen backhanded Penny and sent the tank sprawling with a
single strike.
Watching that hit, I understood just how much stronger this queen was
than the rest of us. If it hadn't been for my incredible speed, I would have
likely already been seriously hurt.
With several more joining the fight, I knew we were almost there. I
activated [Metamorphosis], my long blades merging into my arms as my
claws glowed with the same green sheen that the sword normally contained.
 My frame bulked up, adding on more muscle as I stepped in to attack the
dwarven queen once again. I wasn't quite her size with my enhanced form;
however, I certainly had enough strength to feel more matched with her.

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 Chapter 27

T hePenny
dwarven queen slashed down, warding me and anyone else away.
came back up, frost trailing off her sword again as she exposed
herself, stabbing into the queen's armored thigh. Her sword barely
penetrated a gap in the chitinous armor, but the contact was enough to
freeze the armor before Penny was forced back.
I used [Shadow Ambush] to reposition myself and struck the now-brittle
armor with a fist. The queen's armor cracked, and I followed up with
several slashes using my claws, causing the queen's leg to buckle as it
struggled to support her weight.
The dwarven queen screamed and slammed her sword down into the sand
intentionally. Dozens of blade edges that mirrored the part of the sword that
had just disappeared under the sand exploded around the queen in all
directions, cutting up my thigh and taking off several of my toes.
More of Charlotte's healing came down on me. I ignored the pain in my
feet and legs, making fists with each hand and punching rapidly into the
frozen patch of weakness that Penny had given me. The chitinous armor
shattered further, and I got a claw underneath to rip off even more of the
armor. My claws raked down her leg as I ripped the armor off to the point
that the queen dropped to a knee, still trying to fight.
At this point, every dwarf had pulled away from the naga and was
rushing back to save their queen. The only reason they hadn't mobbed me
yet was that the rest of my class stood between the group battle with the
queen and the rest of her colony.
With the queen down on one knee, her neck was in reach. I grabbed it
with both hands, twisting my hips and trying to bring the queen down to the
ground.
Penny hit the queen’s shoulder using her frozen sword, icing over the
carapace. Working alongside Penny, I spun, and with all my might, I
slammed my big demonic fist into the hilt of Penny's sword, trying to help
it go deeper.
It was my best impression of a chisel and hammer.
Penny's sword broke off the chitin and stabbed into the queen's flesh,
making her scream as it turned a frosty blue. Penny wrenched her sword,
breaking off the dwarven queen's arm in a shower of frozen fleshy shards.
The queen, having several exposed spots on her body, was on borrowed
time. Felin came flying in from the side, a spear wreathed in storm and
lightning, stabbing into one of the existing wounds and locking the dwarven
queen up for a moment. The newly presented opportunity was all I needed.
As I paused time, I dropped [Metamorphosis] to get my blades back.
With the dwarven queen's neck exposed, my two blades slashed down on
the chitinous collar of her armor three times as I activated [Triple Breach].
The collar shattered on the second strike. I cut deeply on the third, and then
I brought both swords down together and severed the dwarven queen's head
as I deactivated [Liminal Space]. I still had some stacks of [Liminal Speed],
but by that point, I had lost much of my advantage.
I was panting and looking around at the rest of the party. The dwarven
queen lay dead on the ground. Everyone had grins of satisfaction.
Now that we had defeated the dwarven queen, there was still work to do,
but the hardest had been done. The smile on my face faltered as I twitched
in reaction to some unknown danger.
The instincts to dodge bloodlust were so hammered into me by my
grandfather that I reacted immediately. I flattened myself to the ground as a
giant arrow shot through the space where I had just been standing. It
skewered Penny next to me, shattering both the ability that created an ice
arm around her and her heart guard before blowing her away.
I rolled to my feet, drawing my swords to see what had caused that
attack. It hadn’t come from the direction of the battle.
 I immediately spotted the prince dropping a bow like it burned his hands
as the Royal College crested a sand dune behind him.
In that instant, I regretted not killing the prince earlier. More than that, I
was filled with a deep fury towards myself, my inability to protect Penny,
and the prince's ridiculous attempt to kill me.
All these emotions bundled into one, but I stood for a moment,
calculating my next move. Many scenarios filtered through my mind in
mere moments, but ultimately, the one that was the most satisfying ended in
my blade being dyed in the prince's blood. I bent low and then sprinted
forward.
Prince Albar smirked, drawing a saber from his CID. All of his
equipment, the epic gear from the raid, glowed twice their normal
brilliance. There was more than I expected, including a pair of gauntlets and
a cuirass as well as leather pants, belt, and boots. Not to mention the
glimmer on his fingers.
He shot forward and met my blades with a strength I had not expected.
My hands went numb from the strike and the exchange of our blades.
The prince, clearly ecstatic, spun away from our first exchange and tried
to take my head with a lightning-fast swing.
He moved quickly, and so many of my abilities were on cooldown from
the fight with the dwarven queen. I activated [Liminal Space], pausing time
for just a second to get out of the way. But the pause was brief, barely
enough time to dodge and counterattack at the prince's head as my stacks
ran out.
He twisted in his glowing armor, taking a cut on the cheek and surviving
to come back swinging at me just as hard. And this time, he was faster
because I had lost my sacks of [Liminal Speed].
"I thought you were better than this," I scoffed, watching the prince's
cocky grin as he charged at me again.
He shouted to the people from his college behind him, "Attack!"
Honestly, I was confused. Not by the prince's actions, those came as no
surprise to me. What shocked me most was that the rest of his college
would join him.
Spells and arrows began to fly over his head, blocking the rest of my
group from coming to my aid. They had no reason to attack us after
everything we'd been through. The others joining was the real betrayal to
me.
 Tanks charged in and attacked us, even as we were still busy mopping up
the dwarves. The group that had just been fighting the dwarven queen was
suddenly sandwiched between the attacking Royal College and the hostile
dwarves.
As one of the attacking tanks slammed into Fayeth and started screaming,
the scene finally made sense. They were going off about something to do
with taking all of their food. This group was starving and attacking to get
back what they thought we had taken.
I blinked in surprise and turned back to the prince, who had felt so
confident that he let me take in the scene without attacking. My instincts
prickled once again, and I activated [Dodge], sliding to the side as Professor
Gafar appeared with twin daggers in his hands.
The blades splashed poison on the ground where I had just been. The
professor spun and tried to come for me again, only for Fayeth to block him
with her shield, bodychecking him backwards and holding him at the point
of her glaive.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I warned, my breath coming out ragged
and my lack of mana pulling at my senses.
The prince held his hands up. "My professor is probably far more able
than your elf. Either of them." He smirked. "When all of this is done, I'm
going to make that red-haired bitch my pet."
"Careful, Princess Elysara might be out of your reach," I retorted.
"Censor Neldra is going to make you regret those words."
"The poisoned censor?" The prince smiled again. "I have it on good
authority from Gafar that she was successfully poisoned with healer’s bane.
Even if she killed those assassins, there’s no way she got rid of that poison.
After all, it was brought down here specifically to get the censors away
from the princess."
The prince was acting like everything was all going according to his plan
as he stood there in resplendent armor, his saber pointed neatly at me.
"You knew this whole time," I said.
The prince nodded. "I also had my butler awake every night, waiting for
you to make a stupid move," the prince said.
I barely believed that this man couldn't have actually planned that.
Besides, how would I be stupid enough to not kill his butler first?
"You don't believe me?" the prince said. "I had him with a high-level
gauntlet. It had a special effect to reverse one strike." The prince seemed
prouder than ever. "I was just hoping you'd come in and slit my throat. Well,
try to," he added.
I shook my head in disbelief that he had thought he had won. "I'm happy
to hear you were so prepared," I said sarcastically, readying my blades. "I'm
afraid you won't find this as easy as you hoped." Talking was buying time
for my mana to edge away from the dregs that threatened to knock me
unconscious.
Meanwhile, the other students from the Royal College were screaming
about their food and throwing themselves against the rest of us who had
been trapped down here in the dungeon.
The prince moved like lightning, activating an ability to close the
distance between us. His saber swung down like a guillotine.
I stepped to the side, parrying his blow and feeling just how heavy it had
been. Without [Liminal Speed], I knew I was at a disadvantage.
The specter of the dwarven queen, however, peeled itself away from the
corpse and rose behind the prince as he danced back, pointing his saber at
me, staring down the length of the blade.
It was everything I could do to keep my eyes on the prince rather than the
specter behind him. I did not want to give anything away as the dwarven
queen wound up a punch and stepped into range.
The queen's blow caught him unaware. He was too busy imagining his
victory apparently.
And the specter of the dwarven queen hit him like a gong.
His armor let out a clear, crisp note as he was thrown to the side. I didn't
hesitate, darting in at that moment and stabbing at his neck. The prince's
armor stretched upwards, the collar preventing me from piercing his flesh.
It deflected my blow to the side, scraping off only some of his hair.
I came back around, trying to get him again, but he danced to his feet and
blocked before stepping out of the way of the dwarven queen's specter.
"You need help to defeat me, don’t you, Ken?" the prince mocked.
Truthfully, he was in many ways my opposite. Whatever ability was
allowing him to equip more gear and enhance it was an instant boost to his
strength; meanwhile, I needed to build up my [Liminal Speed] to hit my
stride.
I came at him again, our blades ringing in a quick staccato. Despite me
having two blades to his one, he was incredibly fast. That gear advantage
gave him plenty of agility.
 "I don't think it's considered helping when it's one of my abilities." I
timed my next attack with the dwarven queen so that we came at him from
two angles, only for a shield of diamond to appear behind him, stopping the
queen's blow.
He then pushed harder into mine with his full focus and bodychecked me
with an ability that pushed me back and knocked me off balance.
"This is the end," he declared, his saber raising high over his head as he
came to finish the job.
I was off balance, but it didn't mean I couldn't use a skill. I stamped my
foot back, activating [Earth Stomp]. The ripples underneath his feet stunned
him long enough for me to regain my balance and meet his blade head-on.
My vision wavered as my mana pool tugged at me again.
Our blades clashed, and once again, I was reminded that his strength was
clearly higher than mine. Much of my damage was dealt in a mixture of
magic and strength, where the prince clearly focused himself on simply
high strength and agility. My blades bounced off farther than his saber, and
he came for another swing. This time, I used [Elemental Shield] to catch his
blade as I slipped around it and went for a side with one of my blades.
The prince took the cut on his cuirass, negating most of the damage I had
tried to deal.
[Shadow Arm] stretched out from my shoulder and grabbed onto his arm
holding the saber, stunning him a moment longer as I followed up with
[Triple Breach], trying to punch a hole in what appeared to be a powerful
cuirass. I needed help penetrating.
My sword rang out against that spot three times, punching a hole on the
third swing before I stepped back and readied us for another round,
breathing heavily as my mana continued to warn me that I was down to my
last dregs.
Purple lightning danced out of my fingertips and wrapped around my
wrists. A few stacks of [Liminal Speed] would definitely help me with the
edge that the prince had in stats.
The prince swung wide several times, cutting off the [Shadow Arm] and
buying himself time to check his armor with his other hand. It was cracked,
and he knew he would have to guard that side more carefully.
I came in again, focusing on his exposed side and forcing him on the
defensive.
 Rather than take it, the prince charged me again, his saber thrust forward,
and at the last moment, I used [Dodge] to have it hit off-center, scraping
along my own leather armor.
My own blades danced along that cuirass as I tried to find the crack in his
armor once again. But the prince was crafty, twisting to the side and
activating his own use of [Dodge], sliding a foot away before I could follow
up with a more precise attack.
"Don't think you can win." The prince panted from the series of intense
exchanges.
I, too, felt my breath coming out harder than it had before. Fighting the
prince was challenging, more challenging than I expected from the cocky
man. I had expected that he had top-end gear, though I thought getting what
I had from the raid would close that gap. One glance over the prince
showed that he was likely wearing more stats than I was. I frowned at the
equipment.
"Confused, are you?" the prince said as we exchanged another series of
blows, talking over our weapons.
"How are you not suffering mana burn?" I asked, deciding to let him talk
as my mana edged away from dangerous depletion.
"Because"—the prince smirked—"I am an artificer, which means I am
resistant to mana burn, I can equip more gear, and I can amplify it."
It glowed once again, and the prince slashed forward, his blade on fire,
cutting an infernal wave through the air at me.
I rushed into the fire, holding out my hand to [Absorb] the attack. The
wave of fire was sucked into my hand as I dove through it.
The prince's shocked reaction was worth it as I used [Spell mirror] at
point-blank range, sending his wave of fire right back at him. He blocked
my next attack, looking a little cooked. His armor bore scorch marks, and
his hair was singed at the ends. He came at me again, his armor still
glowing brightly, trying to push me back.
However, my [Liminal Speed] was picking up stacks. Rather than
focusing on trying to hit the prince with a lethal blow, I continued to rain
attacks down on him as fast as I could, taking advantage of the momentum
and seizing control of the fight as I grew faster.
Between my enhanced speed and catching him off guard with the
[Absorb], I pushed the prince back on the defensive. I went at him
vigorously as more and more purple lightning gathered on my hands.
 "Gafar, help me!" the prince demanded in an imperious tone. His
professor threw up a cloud of smoke, disappearing into it along with
Fayeth.
I sensed the bloodlust prickle and dodged to the side, barely being
scraped by Gafar's blade. I twisted out of the way before it oozed poison
from the tip.
The professor cursed and came swinging at me again, several more
vicious blows with his poison daggers that I barely managed to avoid. The
prince came in from the other side, his saber alight with flames once again
as the two of them caught me in a pincer.
Still, I couldn't help but smile as both of their blades closed in on me. At
the very last second, I activated [Liminal Space]. The world around me
shattered, fragments coming up at the edges as Gafar and Prince Albar froze
in time. I needed to be quick so as to not use up enough stacks that I would
struggle once this was over.
Understanding that the prince relied heavily on his gear, the first thing I
did was snatch his saber and rip it out of his hands. My blades cut off his
gauntleted hand, and I stabbed Professor Gafar in the chest before [Liminal
Space] collapsed. I jumped back, both of them reeling in surprise at the
sudden damage they had taken.
The prince screamed and grabbed at the space where his hand used to be.
"Looking for this?" I taunted, waggling his severed hand back at him.
The prince, furious and full of anger, charged me without drawing
another weapon. Professor Gafar was too stunned by the sudden bloody
gash in his chest to follow up and protect the prince.
I came bearing down on the prince once again.
Without his weapons, the prince tried to use his armor to block my blades
and headbutt me as a helmet topped with a blade appeared on his head. I
smacked his head to the side with one of my blades while the other came
down on his shoulder.
A dagger appeared in the prince's remaining hand. It glowed with far
more power than the rest of his equipment, and I understood his intention as
the blade sank into my ribs as if my armor was made of butter.
Activating [Shadow Ambush], I melted into the shadows before he could
rip that high-level dagger through me, reappearing behind the still-stunned
Professor Gafar. My blade drew over his throat, cutting him deeply as he
jerked away, stumbled, and fell to his knee.
 Both of the professor's hands had forgotten their weapons and reached for
his throat as it began to bleed profusely between his fingers.
Prince Albar was recovering from my disappearance and turning to me
for another attack. The hand holding the dagger was beginning to smoke.
Clearly, he wasn’t immune to mana burn.
The prince screamed and rushed me. Whatever that dagger was, it
provided enough stats to give him a clear boost. The last thing I wanted was
to clash with that dagger again. It had gone through my leather armor as if it
was butter, not to mention what it would do to my heart if it managed to
reach it.
I didn't have to worry, though. Instead, I activated [Sprint] and stayed one
step ahead of the prince, keeping out of his reach and using my longer
swords to keep him at bay.
His hand continued to smoke, his skin turning black and cracking like
used-up coal. I only had to fend him off for a few exchanges before his
hand was no longer able to hold the dagger.
His fingers broke off, and with them, the grasp of his dagger. He
stumbled a step, a sudden loss in stats taking him by surprise. The prince
blinked down at his hand, realizing just how bad it was.
I didn't miss a beat, stepping in and removing his head. With a [Triple
Breach], the first attack shattered his collar, and the second dug straight
through his neck. The third didn't even activate as I spun around and
swished my blade, splashing his blood upon the sand.
My vision darkened, but I stayed on my feet, the adrenaline from battle
still pumping through me.

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 Chapter 28

T heIprince was dead.

stared down at his lifeless body for a moment, blinking and looking
up. I realized that the sounds of combat around me had died down, and my
hearing hadn’t given out. I bent down and picked up his CID, finding that
the device was not locked.
Quickly swiping through his inventory, my jaw tightened as I saw just
how much food he had squirreled away, as well as loot for every level from
our current one to 50.
He had everything he needed to keep himself well-equipped, not to
mention a few items as high as Level 55 like that bow he had used to shoot
at me. The prince wasn't carrying around much cash, but the value of the
equipment in his CID was extraordinary.
Professor Gafar, still bleeding terribly from the neck, looked at the CID in
my hands. His eyes narrowed and focused on the CID. "Why don't you
hand that over?" the professor wheezed.
It was a minor miracle that he was still alive. Then again, high-level
adventurers could survive terrible monsters, so why not a slice to the neck?
"I don't think so." I took the CID and stuffed it in my pocket. I glanced at
him before casting my gaze over the rest of the Royal College. "Help us
finish up with the dwarves and the naga, and I won't kill you." I put steel in
my voice, knowing I would rather have their help with the dwarves.
 "Then you'll give us the CID?" Gafar asked.
I snorted, "No, you've lost that. You've lost the right to ask anything of
me. Even if you bent over and scraped your forehead across the sand, I
wouldn't give you my piss if you were dehydrated in this desert."
The professor's jaw tightened, and it looked like for a moment he was
going to attack me.
However, several of the Royal College students shifted and began
attacking the dwarves.
As soon as I didn't feel like I had to worry about a spell hitting me in the
back, I shot across the sand to Penny, who had a hole gaping in the center of
her chest. I slugged back a mana potion and used Charlotte's [Revive].
Picking her up in my arms with a smirk on my face, I helped her recover
from death. "We've got to stop meeting this way, Penny."
She blinked away the slight confusion that often accompanied being
revived. It was usually even worse when the adventurer found themselves
in a slightly different place than where they had died.
"Huh?" Penny asked oh-so-intelligently.
"The prince used a high-level bow and tried to snipe me." I pointed to the
side where the prince was no longer a problem. "You ended up taking the
arrow instead of me. First, it was a dwarven spear, and now, an arrogant
prince's arrow." I patted her on the shoulder. "I should really keep you
around. You're the perfect tank," I chuckled.
This was the second time she had taken a surprise attack for me.
Penny blushed. "Yes, I think you should keep me around. Keep me a lot
closer," she said, summoning the courage for those words.
I kissed her on top of the head. "We'll have to work on that later. For now,
I think we need to finish up. What do you say?" I stood up and offered her a
hand.
She grabbed my wrist and helped me pull her off the ground, moving to
pick up her sword that was lying in the sand. She had dropped the weapon
when she’d been killed.
"I don't suppose you left a piece of the prince for me to hack apart, did
you?" she chuckled, looking around and taking stock of the scene. Her eyes
settled on the prince's form, his head gone and both of his hands missing.
She let out a soft whistle. "Alright, you did a number on him. I think I can
be satisfied with that death."
 “Good. Now, we aren’t completely done yet.” I glanced over, but the
current battles with the dwarves seemed to be going okay. And I did not
currently have the mana needed to rush back into battle. Me staying on my
feet was a priority to keep the Royal College and Gafar in check.
“You’re right about that.” Penny blushed. “You owe me two debts.
Careful, I might just cash those in.” She fumbled with the words.
“I’m sure they’ll be terribly hard.” My voice dripped with sarcasm.
“Anything you want, Penny.”
Her eyes went wide with that. “Anything?”
“Within reason.” I winked.
My flirtatious moment with Penny was interrupted by the gurgle of
blood. Gafar clutched at his neck, blood pooling out between his fingers.
Felin stood not far away, twirling her spear before sticking the butt in the
sand.
I didn't even bat an eyelash seeing her kill him.
"That protected the pride," Felin pronounced, even as some of the Royal
College students hesitated in their continued attack on the dwarves.
I hadn't killed him outright, knowing that I didn't want to have to kill the
entire Royal College. At the same time, sending them off without any food
was likely sending them to their deaths. That wasn't on my hands, and I
wouldn't have to struggle to potentially risk any more of my class to kill
them.
However, I was happy to see that Gafar was no longer a problem.
"Fair enough, Felin." I started walking towards the remainder of the fight.
The specters that I had left behind had already been popped by the
existing naga, but the dwarven queen specter behind me thundered into the
battle like a bull in a China shop. The specters did not come with any way
to control them, only fighting things hostile to me nearby. Once again, the
dungeon marveled me with its ability to anticipate who and what was my
enemy.
The dwarves were in shambles without their queen. They lost any
semblance of coordination. Meanwhile, the naga ranks had thinned to the
point that, with the addition of the Royal College, they were petering out,
smashed between us and Machen holding the boss doors.
The berserker was caked in blood, one of his eyes sealed shut, even as
heals continued to flash upon his skin.
 Des fell into stride next to me. "You know, I kinda wanted to kill Gafar,"
she said, twirling a wicked dagger in her hand. "He would make a
wonderful sacrifice. You know, I have more spells than that grimoire of
mine.”
“The one you sealed the demon lord inside of me using?” We hadn’t used
that in some time.
"Yes, what was his name again?" Des asked playfully.
"He didn't give you his name," I said, swearing to myself I would never
utter the words 'Demon Lord Snu Snu' aloud. As if my thoughts of him
were stirring him, I felt pressure on my pelvis, his seal growing warm as we
crossed the boss doors and headed down the steps to the safe zone.
It might not be a bad idea to have Des check it again, though she’d think I
was just trying to get her alone. I pushed that thought from my mind,
wanting to get down to the safe zone and see how the battle was doing on
the other side.
I stepped out onto the safe zone floor and saw Trusk College rifling
through only a dozen naga corpses. I didn't even see a matriarch among
them. It seemed there wasn’t much left to do, which I was all for given my
current mana levels.
I cast a glance at Marin in question.
She shrugged. "Once we got down the stairs, they weren't very tough."
She pointed around. "I think they were servants," she said, "but we didn't
see a matriarch."
I rubbed my chin, wondering if the matriarch had fled. Certainly, she was
in a disadvantageous position with the dwarven queen. Outside the safe
zone, her naga may have been buying her time to escape.
"And the dwarves that came through in the battering ram?" I asked.
Marin pointed to a large pile of smoldering somethings that a fire
elemental was still dancing on top of. "Taken care of."
One of her dragons was flying this way, while another two were
patrolling the top of the safe zone. It seemed that this group had the safe
zone well in hand and under their control. With the battle above wrapping
up, we had succeeded.
"I was thinking we should rest up." She pointed at the safe zone.
The nagas had huts set up throughout the space. And while they weren't
anything terrible, I still did not feel entirely comfortable using them.
Instead, I thought I would just use my own tent.
 "I think after this fight, it would be good to take a rest. If nothing else,
make sure everyone is healed up and recovered before pushing deeper." I
couldn't help but reach into my pocket and check to make sure the prince's
CID was still there.
"Perfect." Marin clapped her hands and turned around to address the rest
of her college. "Everyone, set up your tents. We are going to stay here
tonight." She moved excitedly through the crowd, talking to them and
encouraging them after the fight.
I shook my head at Marin’s energy. My own was dropping quickly as I
came down from the high of battle.
The rest of Haylon made their way down the steps, a few of them still
shaking off the disorientation of being resurrected. It seemed the battle
above had ended.
Candice walked up to me. "Ken, what do we do about the Royal
College?" she asked.
"I told them that they're not welcome. If they wish to use the safe zone,
they can. However, don't let them camp next to us and keep a watch. I think
I would like to take a small group down to the next floor and scout ahead."
Candice nodded at that, turning around and quickly organizing Haylon
students.
I turned to look at the far end of the safe zone and the other stairs heading
down. Penny must have seen my look. She made her way over to me, sword
still in her hand. Although the thought struck me that she might be about to
cash in one of the debts I owed her.
"If you're going down, I’ll take a look with you. I hope it's a jungle or
something that promises plenty of food," she said, licking her lips.
I grunted in agreement, though I knew that the dungeon wouldn't always
be so accommodating. But still, one could hope.
Suddenly, Harley started shouting, holding something up in her hands. I
glanced at the bard with a frown. She held a little magical pouch, similar to
the one that Felin kept her things in, and she opened it wide, digging around
inside, sticking her arm all the way to the elbow before she pulled out a
giant clump of seaweed.
"Ken! They have food!" Harley danced and began upending the bag. Out
came all sorts of gear, weapons, and other dungeon items. But what we
were all focused on was the skinned and deboned fish filets, possibly
something like eel, and plenty of seaweed.
 Fayeth's eyes were like two brilliant stars. "Sushi," she said, putting the
items together.
"We're a little light on rice," I told Fayeth.
She waved her hand in dismissal. "You can turn almost any vegetable into
rice."
I frowned, not liking her desecrating my sacred rice but understanding,
nonetheless, that she would experiment and try to make something that at
least could casually pass as rice.
Penny nudged me. "Don't look too disappointed. She cooks good food."
"Yeah, I just have a thing about rice," I told her and started walking
across the safe zone, curious about what I would find when we scouted.
I didn't get very far before Charlotte caught up with Bun-Bun, the druid
unwilling to leave my side.
She did not ask any questions as we moved through the safe zone. I
walked down the steps, the environment growing hotter as we walked, only
to open up to a black, craggy expanse with lava seeping out of gouges in the
surface. I had a very bad feeling about our prospects for food down in this
new environment.
A woman rose up and turned around, standing as we got to the bottom of
the steps. She was human enough that I blinked, wondering if there were
other people stuck down here.
"Someone's here," Penny said, only for me to realize the woman had a
pair of black horns that had blended in with the environment. As she stood,
the horns passed by some of the red light coming from a nearby flow of
lava.
The demoness laughed, a seductive chuckle, and spun a whip above her
head, lashing out at the ground as four black lumps that had been hidden
amongst the volcanic rock rose. Each of them was a quadrupedal creature.
They looked something like pigs with skin of broken black slate. They even
let out an oinking squeal as they charged our group.
Penny stepped up first, coating herself in ice armor as she sprayed ice
upon the four oncoming demonic pigs and out past them to the demonic
woman. The woman lashed her whip at Penny, giggling, before stepping
close enough to try and hit Penny with the whip.
Most of the time when there was a monster type where one was clearly in
control of the others, it was best to kill the controller first. I activated
[Shadow Ambush], appearing behind the female demon. My blade flashed
out as I began to put my all into attacking her.
Her red skin reminded me of Des when she had used her
[Metamorphosis] in the past. The monster turned, blowing me a kiss that
expanded into a giant heart and tried to envelop me.
However, I used [Absorb] to remove the ability and continued to attack
her using [Discharge] the next time she brought her hands to her lips to
blow a kiss.
Having pulled aggro off Penny, I was on my own to dodge the obsidian
whip that flashed back and forth, trying to rip off my flesh. The demoness
managed to hit me once.
However, this monster was unfortunately at a disadvantage; I had a
particular mastery in dodging whips. Having gone through the gauntlet that
was training with Crimson, I understood how a whip moved and was able to
flow out of her attacks or take those away from the tip so that it did not do
too much damage.
The demon, who I was now thinking of as a succubus since she had tried
to attack me by blowing a kiss, had her eyes glow red and whipped one of
the pigs, causing it to swell.
The fragments of rock that made up its hide expanded to a bright red,
almost magma-like flesh underneath. However, despite her enraging one of
the pigs, she died a moment later.
I blinked, not used to how weak non-raid monsters were for a moment.
Charlotte was busy keeping Penny alive, and I ducked behind the pigs,
cutting into them. With a flash of my blades, I quickly diced them until all
four exploded, and I had a crew of specters standing at the ready.
"Come on," Penny muttered in prayer as she waved her hand through the
smoke, trying to clear it and see the loot below. In an unlikely moment of
luck, there were two packages of what the CID confirmed as demonic boar
meat lying on the ground. Penny chuckled and picked them up.
"We should go give them to Fayeth and see what she can make with
them," I said.
"What's that?" Penny pointed behind me, and I picked up a skill book
before handing it off to her.
"It's a garbage skill," I said.
Penny looked at it and then, while blushing, tucked it into her CID. "It's
not a garbage skill," she refuted. "Don't worry. I'll sell it and split the
difference with you later."
I thought [Warm Embrace] wasn’t particularly useful, but if others
wanted to pay for it, they were free to do so.
"Well, at least we confirmed there's food to be had on this floor." I smiled
at Penny. "Let's head back up and tell everyone the good news."
Before we left the floor, I asked [Eyes of Wisdom] the way back to
humanity, and a blue line trailed across the floor through this floor of the
dungeon. It seemed we would have to dive deeper if we were to go back up
and find Earth.
Following Penny and Charlotte back to the safe zone, I found Penny
already holding up the packages of meat, getting the rest of the students
excited that we might be able to fill our CIDs with food once again.
"As Felin might say, the Great One provides," I said, doing my best
impression of the nekorian.
But I also knew that we would have a hard road ahead of us as we tried to
descend through the dungeon without the support of Earth behind us.
My thoughts flickered back to Crimson, and I found myself wondering
what she might be doing at that moment. At this point, I was seriously
starting to miss her and even her near-torturous training. Because if it wasn't
for all the training she'd put us through, we likely wouldn't be in as stable a
position as we were now.
Heck, when we found each other again, I might ask her to make it harder.
I chuckled at the thought and joined the rest of the students in the safe
zone as we worked to prepare ourselves for whatever we would face next
on our way home.

OceanofPDF.com
 Chapter 29

T heProfessor
Royal College never ended up joining us. After Prince Albar and
Gafar had been killed, it seemed they had retreated in the
opposite direction. Perhaps they were in search of food, or they simply
didn't feel welcome amongst the other colleges after their attack.
Good riddance, if you asked me. Despite my promise to save Basma and
everyone else, their college's collusion with Prince Albar to attack the
others had sealed their fate.
I wasn’t too concerned with them, our own fate occupying far more of
my mind than theirs.
Fayeth had gotten to work as soon as I had brought her the demonic boar
meat. It turned out to be quite tasty. And being such a creative chef, Fayeth
even figured out how to scrape black salt out of the volcanic crags on the
floor below. Salt went a long way toward making anything taste better.
Rather than immediately pushing down, everyone had settled in, enjoying
the safety of a zone to return to at night. Even if we had to set up guards to
watch each set of stairs, it was far easier to guard four entrances than it was
to guard an entire perimeter. Plus, there was safety in numbers.
The monsters were still increasing in level, but we had some stability.
Elysara sat down next to me, tugging a ruby strand of her hair behind her
ear. She sat with the poise of a princess, which was always a tell for me
when she was being serious. "I'm sorry about ol’ Nellie," she said, a hint of
sarcasm behind her words.
"Ol’ Nellie," I laughed. "Going to use that one again."
Neldra just stuck her hands on her hips. "I'm not at all sorry for what I
did. The princess had no business in the midst of that battle." Neldra
crossed her arms.
"That's fine. I know how seriously you take guarding my love." I reached
over and squeezed Elysara's hand. "But I feel like you came to tell me
something a little more."
Elysara wiggled her nose distastefully. "I don't like it when you know that
I have bad news."
I frowned at her. "And what would the bad news be?"
Neldra spoke up for Ely. "As soon as Crimson gets back, Elysara needs to
return to the elven world. And she may not come back for some time."
The princess scowled at Neldra. "Something like that. As much as I hate
to say it, I think I need to return to the throne or at the very least assist my
father. This dungeon shuffle has been a disaster. No doubt, the rest of the
elves and everyone else for that matter has been thrown into absolute chaos.
I would love to continue to dive the dungeon with you, Ken; however, I
must be there for my people."
I squeezed her hand again. "A little time away only makes the heart grow
fonder."
She twisted her hand around and squeezed mine back, pulling me closer
until we were pressed to each other, the princess-like poise gone.
"Unfortunately," she began, "I told Fayeth..." She trailed off, my expression
turning sour.
"And she's going to stay with you?" I asked.
Neldra glanced at me. "After all of this, her level will be high enough.
Technically, she could train as a royal censor." Elysara wrinkled her nose
again at that but didn’t deny it. "I think she would like to grow stronger,"
Neldra said. "All of this has put a certain amount of strain on her, and I can't
blame anyone for seeking out strength."
Shaking my head, I didn't know what to say about it, but I pulled Elysara
into my lap and wrapped my arms around her. "You two are able to make
the decisions you wish, and I love that you both are seeking your own path.
You don't have to be with me every step of the way."
 Each of the women were their own person. I had my goals of diving the
dungeon, and I knew Elysara would always have another great
responsibility that would compete for my time. It was just a little sudden to
realize she’d be taking Fayeth with her.
My mind was wrestling with the new information, but I was happy that
Fayeth would take a path that she wanted.
She twisted in my lap and kissed me on the cheek. "Yes, but without
Fayeth here, you're down a tank. I hate that I’d be making your party
lacking."
At her words, a certain blue-haired frost knight appeared in my mind's
eye before I could stop it.
Elysara poked me in the chest. "Already lusting after others," she said
teasingly.
"No, I just had a thought."
Elysara hummed. "Well, you should make sure that they're a good fit.
After all, we will be back," Elysara said.
"It's not like you're leaving just now." I reached into her robes and ran my
hands along her skin, wanting to be closer to her. Elysara bit her lip and
glanced over at Neldra. "Could we have a little privacy?"
The older elf chuckled and did a sweeping bow as she stepped back. "I
will be just outside. The two of you have fun."

***

I left Elysara ragged, having worn the princess out, and dragged Felin in as
well. The cheeky cat girl had come in and peeked.
Only after exhausting both ladies did I feel remotely satisfied.
I checked the seal on my pelvis, seeing nothing wrong with it. With this
sudden increase in vigor, I had even asked Des to check it out. The so-
called exam had historically been our excuse for some alone time.
And while this time she took her role seriously to make sure it appeared
fine, Des did once again seduce me the moment I gave her full access. But I
always enjoyed spending more time with my favorite temptress.
After wearing her out, too, I put my clothes on to see what else was
happening.
I exited the tent to see Fayeth and Charlotte casually chatting amongst the
camp we had set up in the safe zone.
 More than a few people were going up to the bosses attached to the safe
zone. It provided a new challenge after we had finished with the raid.
People were also reorganizing back into groups of five. It was important
that after all the growth we had in the raid, people once again learned to
coordinate in their chosen groups.
I had even done a few runs with my group, though I had rotated Elysara
and Felin around, given that my harem had now gone past five. Every time
I left one of them behind, I felt rather terrible.
While the other Haylon groups were more than happy to pick up one of
the talented women and run them in their group, I still didn't like having to
pick and choose.
I stole a glance at Penny, my mind wandering back to the loss of Elysara
and Fayeth.
The blue-haired frost knight had grown out her hair since she started
school. At first she’d been openly antagonistic to me. Her father had placed
a chip on her shoulder, and she made me a target to smash in the first year.
Only after we crossed weapons and things settled, it seemed her opinion
of me had done a one-eighty, and she started writing 74 Wives, a smut story
about me and my life in Haylon.
Obviously, it was wildly embellished.
I wondered what effect me stealing her from her current group would
have for the organization of our class.
Those thoughts brought me all the way until I sat down next to Charlotte,
wrapping my arms around the shy druid's hips.
Bun-Bun had been in her lap, and I squeezed him between her legs as I
scooted her over. The rabbit squealed angrily at me, jabbering explosively
before jumping on my head, kicking me several times with powerful hops,
and then shooting off to angrily try and rifle through Fayeth's supplies in
some sort of righteous anger.
"Just let him have a few," Charlotte told the glaring Fayeth. "He's not
getting a whole lot of vegetables, and it's not like he can suddenly switch to
eating meat."
"Why can't he?" Fayeth gestured at the rabbit. "It's not like he's an actual
rabbit. He's a monster."
Bun-Bun grasped at his chest, letting out a squealing gasp before putting
a hand on his forehead and pretending to faint.
 "Fayeth, you know he doesn't like being called a monster," Charlotte said,
causing the elf to roll her eyes.
"That's exactly what he is, though."
Bun-Bun, who was already fainted on the ground, somehow rose up and
fainted once again, making the three of us laugh at the rabbit's antics.
"Fine, he can have a few carrots," Fayeth sounded exhausted, "but it's not
like we're having vegetables springing up. Right now, all we're eating is
meat, meat, and more meat."
"Yeah, but we're adventurers. We're barely human or"—she gestured at
Fayeth—"elf. We don't necessarily need the right nutrients anymore; we just
need calories. Our bodies are far more capable than they used to be, able to
make just about anything they could need, as long as they have the energy."
Charlotte glanced at me, and I shrugged. "That’s what they say. We are
really just balls of muscle running on mana at this point."
Fayeth rolled her eyes. "It's not just about nutrition. It's about texture,
variety, and complex notes that go beyond salty meat."
"Delicious salty meat," I corrected her. "Whatever this drop is that the
demonic pigs are leaving behind, it's like pork belly wrapped in bacon."
Even Charlotte hummed in appreciation. "I don't know if I'm ever going
to get sick of it."
Fayeth threw her hands up. The chef of an elf, who was exasperated with
our simple food preferences, huffed away. "Fine, I will remind you this next
time you ask for something more gourmet."
Fayeth came over and sat on my other side. It seemed the elf wanted
some physical attention, too.
Since we had defeated the naga and stayed in a safe zone, we had only
encountered the dwarves twice more, and they were scattered numbers.
A lot of the tension that had been in our group since we had been stuck in
the raid had slowly begun to evaporate. We were still pressed to return one
day, but some of the urgency that had come from the disaster was now
gone.
“Fayeth, Ely just told me about her plans and… it seems yours,” I told the
elf.
She sighed and closed her eyes, leaning against me. “I want to be as
reliable as Neldra or Tish.”
“Not Miriam?” I asked.
 The petite elf cracked an eye and glared at me. “No. Not Miriam.
Anyway, I feel like I could definitely grow here with you. But…”
“But you could grow more going off and training with Neldra. If she
could give you one-on-one training…” I trailed off as she nodded with me.
“It’s also about Ely. I think she needs someone by her side to be not just a
guard or a subordinate but a friend. Since we are Adrel, I would get to break
a few decorum rules and be there for her in a way that the other censors
can’t. That and I expect you to get enough mana to make your own portals
soon.” She smiled and poked me in the chest a few times.
“I promise,” I told her, and I meant it. It would be a great loss for me for
the two of them to step aside and focus on their responsibilities.
Yet, I’d just have to make the most of the time remaining.

***

Crimson sat in the meeting room with the president of the UG and many
other high-level adventurers. Several analysts stood across the front of the
room with projections on the wall next to them.
They were discussing various points of the reclamation of the dungeon.
Reclamation was what the UG was calling the effort to restore order in this
section of the dungeon.
The slide they had most recently put up had several hundred boxes at the
top, each one representing a city on the surface of Earth. The next line had
one-third the number of boxes, indicating fifth-floor safe zones. The pattern
continued before it began to branch out. There were several nodes noted
deep into the dungeons, ones that Crimson had been sent into and used
Portal to rescue any isolated adventurers.
Arthur Renard sat next to Crimson, a scowl on his face as he glanced
over. He wasn't happy that she hadn't gone to retrieve the Haylon
contingent. "Are they at least still alive?" Arthur asked.
Crimson's eyes flashed blue as she used [Eyes of Wisdom]. "Of course
they are alive. If I thought the answer would be any different, I would have
gone in long ago. It isn't time yet." There was a devilish smile on her face.
What the man did not know was that Crimson had already gone and
found them. She would never have risked Ken.
But what she had found was that they had sealed themselves inside the
raid using sand. At that point, Crimson had an idea. If they were barricaded
inside, just how hard were they working to grow? And that's when she
asked, with [Eyes of Wisdom], an even more important question. "Would
Ken grow stronger if I left him down here?" The answer from [Eyes of
Wisdom] was a resounding yes.
Crimson had known this entire time that though she wished to protect
Ken and the rest of the class, her presence would always be a crutch.
There were countless stories of adventurers, including herself, who had
gotten stuck in the dungeon at one point in time only to experience
explosive growth.
The more she went about saving pockets of humanity for the UG, the
more she was relearning the same fact. Adventurers often grew when there
was nothing to rely on and they needed to survive.
There were even some scientists coming up with interesting theories after
the Dungeon Shuffle. Many groups had explosive gains in levels.
There were scientists, the kind that worked on the CIDs, studying the
mana channels within humanity that allowed them to gain stats, and they
had several theories that under high-stress situations, the mana channels in
humanity were becoming even more flexible and adaptable, going through
phases of high growth that coincided with extreme strain.
Crimson had a smile on her face as she thought about Ken growing even
quicker to the point where he could join her in the dungeon. "I don't like it
that you're smiling," Arthur said. She smiled a touch wider at him.
"Deal with it.” Crimson pulled a chip bag out of her CID and popped it
open, throwing a few in her mouth with a satisfying crunch as she focused
back on the analyst and what he was saying.
“We've recovered an estimated 60% of those we believed to be in the
dungeon." The analysts finished mapping out several other potential areas
believed to house isolated adventurers.
The president of the UG turned to Crimson. "If you would be so kind as
to enlighten us."
Crimson asked [Eyes of Wisdom] once again which direction held the
most remaining humans. "Far right, 2nd from the edge." She pointed. The
analysts quickly started taking notes. Then she pointed to the very bottom,
"Deeper… uh-oh. Very deep," she said. "Possibly around the 70th floor."
The analysts paled, and the president of the UG shook his head, "70th
floor. That could be tricky for us to reach." He gave Crimson a pleading
look. They already estimated that about 20% of adventurers had perished
the first week after the Dungeon Shuffle.
She asked [Eyes of Wisdom] once again if Ken was ready or had finished
his explosive growth. The answer was a resounding no. She shrugged.
"Sure, I'll go there. Have we heard anything about the elves?" she said.
"We've had several encounters here, here, and here." The analysts flipped
through the slides quickly to one that showed encounters with other races
and continued his presentation. There were several that contained warnings
about naga and dwarves. Meanwhile, there was also a primer on a brand-
new race that had been seen once thus far in the dungeon shuffle.
Crimson looked at the blurry pictures, wondering about the winged race.
The picture held a green-skinned humanoid and a winged woman flying
behind him. They didn't know if it was a single race, or if it was two of
them, but it certainly had Crimson's interest.
"The reason I've gathered you all here"—the President of the UG looked
around the room—"is that I would like to send several strike teams to break
up the dwarven colonies we have noticed."
The analysts flipped back to the correct slide as the president of the UG
continued to talk about how humanity would reclaim the dungeon and
stabilize the region that connected directly to Earth. It was still going to be a
long road. Even after several months, they had only begun to understand the
situation.
Crimson leaned on her fist, smushing her cheek against it. She was ready
for Ken to finish his growth so that she could go pick him up.

***

Fayeth smashed another succubus aside. We’d been pushing deeper into the
section below the safe zone.
This time, the monsters the demoness commanded were a little less pig
and a little more human. They had been growing stronger on the lower
levels. At this point, luckily, the level of the monsters seemed to have
solidified. It appeared that the boss floor for this section of the dungeon was
going to be level 55.
We were still a little under-leveled, but it could have been worse. I was
not going to stop. Even if it took us all the way to the bottom of the
dungeon to come back up and rejoin humanity, that's exactly what I would
do to get home.
Fayeth looted the pig monsters of the boss floor. They had dropped even
more pork.
I shook my head, wondering if it was still ethical to eat them once they
started standing on two legs.
“Up ahead. Boss doors.” Charlotte had stepped around an outcropping of
black rocks.
Looking up, my eyes landed on the boss door up ahead, my eyes
narrowing.
Charlotte had been right; the iconic bronze doors were ajar.
I was curious to see what we would find inside. Given the demons and
succubi we had encountered along the way on the floor, I suspected the
fight might pose a danger to me.
For whatever reason, I had been insatiable lately, even exhausting Des on
several occasions. It was possible it was all just stress relief from the stress
of being stuck this deep down and having farther to go, but I had to at least
acknowledge the fact that in this state a succubus boss could potentially be
quite dangerous.
But I would not know until we tried. If it started to overpower me, there
was always retreating to try again.
Smiling to myself at the thought of progressing further, I walked with my
party towards the bronze doors, ready to see just what we would find on the
other side.

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 Chapter 30

I glanced beyond the boss doors to see what lay inside, only for the interior
of the room to look nothing like the floor we had just been through.
Where the landscape behind me was all unrefined volcanic rocks and lava
flows, the boss room had pillars of obsidian that had been intricately carved
and hung with gold, painted with a variety of red dyes. A giant mural of a
majestically large demon adorned one wall. At the far end of the room,
through the columns, lay a handsome man wearing nothing but a loincloth,
smirking amongst a pile of pillows.
I clenched my jaw to prevent it from dropping. The man lounging
amongst the pillows was one I recognized all too well. I didn't need my CID
to tell me who this boss was; I would recognize Demon Lord Snu Snu
anywhere.
The seal on my pelvis grew burning hot as the Demon Lord sealed inside
me fought against his restraints, pushing hard. I wavered on my feet, feeling
him creep into my mind.
"Ken?" Des asked, turning to see me swaying on my feet, my vision
dimming. I held onto her for dear life.
"The seal. I think it's breaking," I managed before I was pulled into a
different space.
The room wasn't dissimilar to the boss room we were in now, only
instead of a lush pile of pillows, Demon Lord Snu Snu stood amidst a
pentagram and his shelves of smut. He was currently fighting to break the
burning chains on his wrists.
"What are you doing?" I shouted, drawing my weapons and activating
[Dark Blades] on them as a force of habit. Wherever I was, I was able to
call upon the same items and abilities that I had in the real world.
Demon Lord Snu Snu looked up and smiled at me. "The time has finally
come," he said. "I've been here conserving my strength, but now..." His
smile grew even wider. "Now is the perfect opportunity for me to escape."
He pulled at the chains harder, and I saw one of the glowing links crack
under the strain he was putting on them.
"Not just yet," I cautioned him and stepped to the edge of his pentagram,
hesitating to enter it as in the past he had overpowered me. However, I
likely now had the strength to fight him, and I stepped more confidently
into the pentagram. I was now at the same level as when he’d been sealed.
It was clear that if I allowed Demon Lord Snu Snu to continue his
actions, he would break free of the seal. Understanding the risk, I rushed
into the pentagram, blades drawn, and attacked him. The Demon Lord used
the chains that bound him to block and tangle my initial strikes.
"My dear Ken"—he twisted one of my blades in the chains and spun
around to prevent me from hitting him with my other sword—"I have been
watching you fight this entire time. If anyone is an expert on Ken Nagato's
fighting style, it should be me."
He smirked and snapped his fingers over the point where my blade was
tangled in his chains. A magical fist of fire punched me in the chest and
threw me back before he pulled my sword out from where it had been left in
the chains and used it to hack at the weakened link.
"No, Ken. You're already far too late. My plan is already in motion, and
you have fallen into my trap." He grinned, a smile spreading across his
unfortunately handsome face. "I understand what I am. I understand what
you are and what's become of everything," he said.
"Did you know that once I was third in line to becoming the King of
Hell?" he asked.
I came at him again with my remaining sword, forcing him to stop
hacking at the links of his chain and block me.
Unfortunately, Demon Lord Snu Snu was apparently not half bad with a
sword, matching me with the same technique that I used. The Demon Lord's
eyes were alight with fire as he used my own form against me.
 "Ken, if I am to reclaim my rightful place as a Demon Lord and ascend to
the King of Hell, I understand that I cannot be content being sealed within
your body. The prince would have been a more suitable host." Snu Snu
smirked at the frown of confusion on my face.
My blades clashed with him again, and he lifted the weakened link. Using
it as a shield, I paused my attack, only for Demon Lord Snu Snu to twist
and come at me with a high stroke that I was forced to dodge, sliding out of
the way. Even then, I nearly had my nose cut off.
"How would you have gotten the prince?" I growled.
"Of course, through you. I needed you in this boss room with him."
Demon Lord Snu Snu waved the sword around in his hand. "But no, no
matter how much I pushed on your psyche to give the prince a break, that
stupid idiot had to go and try and attack you."
"Wait a second. Pushed on my psyche?"
Demon Lord Snu Snu gave a helpless shrug and hissed through his teeth.
"What can I say? I needed you not to kill him. It's kind of incredible the
flimsy excuses that humans can make. And I would have much preferred
Prince Albar's body, the resources I could have had at my disposal.” He let
out a long-suffering sigh. “But yours will have to do."
With that, Snu Snu struck the broken link again, my sword nearly burning
up, red-hot, as he charged up some sort of ability.
"Wait!” I shouted, wanting to keep him talking.
He ignored me. “You know, it's a shame, that thing out in the boss room.
It looks like me, but it cannot be me, for I am the only Demon Lord Snu
Snu." The sword came down again in a flash of red power.
I shielded my eyes, only to hear chains hitting the floor.
He managed to break the link, pulling his arm free of the chains that had
once bound him to my seal. He began to shift—as I had seen him do once
when I sealed him in the past. Rather than the athletic, humanoid form that
wore nothing but a loincloth, he transformed into a massive demon that
towered overhead.
I suddenly realized why the mural in the room had looked so familiar. It
was of that demonic form.
As Demon Lord Snu Snu shifted, his arms strained against the final chain
on his other wrist. He pulled hard enough to make his biceps swell, his
entire form rippling with muscle as the last chain broke.
 I went at him with my sword, trying to keep him from escaping.
However, I could already feel the tenuous hold that the seal had on him was
gone.
As Demon Lord Snu Snu broke the final chain, I woke up, my
consciousness returning to the real world rather than the one in my mind
where Snu Snu had been chained.
I screamed as a red light bubbled up from my crotch, exploding in a beam
that ripped apart my pants and bathed the entire room in an ominous red
light. The seal on Demon Lord Snu Snu broke, and he escaped my body.
Something shot out of me, followed by a massive flurry of paper.
Hundreds of smut magazines sprayed up against the ceiling and started
falling.
Des was next to me, her eyes wide with panic.
"Ken!" she screamed.
I gritted my teeth. The departure of Demon Lord Snu Snu from my body
was far from comfortable.
The room continued to fill with the same red light as the beam turned and
arched towards the boss on the other end of the room. Demon Lord Snu
Snu, who was once a simple boss, was knocked aside, his pillows exploding
in fire.
He stood back up with a cruel smile on his face and ran his fingers
through his hair amid the fluttering of magazines.
"Perhaps we should get out of here," Charlotte suggested, turning to me.
However, before I could even respond, the boss raised his hand. Glowing
chains, as if they had just been pulled from the infernal depths of hell,
wrapped around the boss door, sealing it shut.
"Oh, Charlotte. Poor, sweet, cute Charlotte." Snu Snu shook his head.
"You won't be treating me as an evil person. You won't be treating me as
any normal boss."
Another wave of his hand made chains erupt around the stairs down to
the next safe zone, sealing off that exit as well.
"You see, Ken here understands. Isn't that right, Ken?" He flashed me a
smile. "I have watched how you reset bosses and try them many times in
order to win. However, I will not be giving you that option." He held his
arms out wide. “The rules will be a little different.”
Charlotte gulped, and Bun-Bun started chittering angrily.
 Demon Lord Snu Snu shot her a charming smile as if to calm her.
"Instead, I will be taking Ken's body, and then I will be doing what he
should have done this whole time. I will turn your entire college into a
drooling harem of ladies for me to enjoy at my pleasure and use to level my
new body’s stats."
Des cast me a glance out of the side of her eye. "The demon sealed inside
of you wouldn't happen to be"—she checked her CID, scanning the one in
front of us— "Demon Lord..." She snorted and held a hand over her mouth,
stifling a laugh. "Demon Lord Snu Snu," she managed to get the words out.
I glared at Des. "Now is not the time. Be serious."
“Snu Snu!” Felin couldn’t help herself and started sputtering as she
covered her mouth.
“Not you, too!” I grumbled, getting to my feet. I tapped on my CID
several times to change into a pair of pants that didn't have the front blown
out. My two swords appeared in my hands next.
“What’s wrong with my majestic name?!” The boss roared, making the
room shake and reminding us all that we were in some very real danger at
the moment.
“It should be forgotten,” I said, glaring at the ladies.
"I think what's important, Des, is that we kill this boss as quickly as we
can," Felin frowned at the boss ahead of us, doing a complete one-eighty.
"He is quite charming, is he not?" Charlotte asked, only for Bun-Bun to
chop her on top of the head.
"Des said that Ken always had an incubus sealed inside of him. Don't let
the boss charm you. Keep your head on your shoulders, and remember that
you would like Ken in charge of Ken's body and not some stupid Demon
Lord that doesn't know how to wear a proper pair of pants. Also, can you
really respect someone named Snu Snu?" Fayeth stifled a giggle as she
glanced in my direction.
I held my hands up. "This is exactly why I never told any of you the
Demon Lord's name. He's threatening to take my body, and all you can do is
laugh at his name."
"It's pretty funny." Des smirked, her eyes pinching down as she got
serious. "But don't worry, Ken. We aren't about to lose you." She drew a
grimoire from her CID. The old leather-bound book was worn on the
corners. "And once we've defeated him, this time we will seal him
properly."
 At that comment, Demon Lord Snu Snu drew his hand through the air as
if he was grasping the pink magic that settled in it before it exploded from
his hands. Four large hearts tried to overtake the ladies of my party.
However, all four of them held up their hands and used [Absorb] to stop
the hit.
Des, in turn, launched her own charm. Demon Lord Snu Snu chose to not
fight the charm. He let it hit him, his eyes forming hearts.
"Don't worry, dear Desmonda. I will make you my queen after I take
Ken's body." Despite the sudden charm effect on him, the Demon Lord
didn't seem to change his actions in the slightest. "Now that we're all done
with the performative magics, let's get down to it. Finally, a bit of
excitement."
He wove his hand in the air, beginning to cast a larger, more sinister spell.
Fayeth rushed in, sweeping with her glaive and striking the boss.
Snu Snu took the hit without flinching before he blasted out waves of fire
that chased after each of us. It seemed he really was a boss.
Felin jumped to the side, trying to dodge hers, only for it to snake around
and continue after her.
I hadn't used Absorb because he hadn't targeted me with the charm,
letting me use it for the fire instead. I appeared behind the boss and struck
with my swords in a quick staccato, beginning to build up stacks of
[Liminal speed]. I needed to become as fast as I could, and I needed to end
this boss immediately.
Demon Lord Snu Snu glanced at me over his shoulder and gave a hearty
chuckle, not seeming to care one bit as his health was chipped away.
Given the secondary form he used inside my soul, I could only assume he
would have a second phase in this fight, even if the entity controlling the
boss's body was a more aware Demon Lord Snu Snu. It seemed he couldn't
just transition to the second phase without losing health.
He smacked Fayeth aside and turned to swing at me, his hand
transforming into familiar metamorphosis claws as he tried to take a chunk
out of me.
"You're supposed to be attacking her," I said. There was no way I’d done
enough damage to pull aggro.
Snu Snu grinned. "I have to follow some rules it seems, but not all of
them." Ignoring the tank of our party, he came at me in a wild flurry of
slashes that forced me to block and dodge.
 "More than just attack. Remember, Ken, I have seen everything, and I
know I can't let you build up those stacks." Demon Lord Snu Snu continued
to doggedly pursue me, attacking with his demonic claws.
However, I wasn't the only one dealing damage.
Des poured magic out of her hands, throwing spell after spell angrily at
the Demon Lord. Meanwhile, Felin took a more offensive approach. She
summoned ice and lightning at the tip of her spear and hurled them at the
boss, even going as far as to get in close, jabbing with her spear when she
wasn't busy throwing spells. The nekorian shaman had a wide range of
abilities and was showing them off as her spear flashed over Snu Snu's
back.
Fayeth had chosen to not summon her shield and instead wielded her
glaive with two hands, slashing at the boss with all the strength that her
small frame could muster, which was a surprising amount.
Still, while being forced to dodge and block, I was able to get in a few
swings. A nice small trickle of purple lightning sparked to the back of my
hands.
Demon Lord Snu Snu jumped away from all of us a moment later to land
in front of the mural that depicted his larger form. Infernal magics bled out
of the wall and into his body as he began to swell and transform into his
larger demonic form. Demon Lord Snu Snu roared as his body expanded,
and explosions of pink magic rippled off him and kept us away. His
transformation finished, and without being chained into the pentagram, I
saw just how large he could actually be.
The Demon Lord stood at least 40 feet tall and came at me far faster than
I expected his large frame to move. A pitch-black fist smashed into the
space where I had just been.
Having narrowly escaped the demon's attack, Fayeth was swearing up a
storm. As she attacked the boss, she sprayed agitating spores over him, yet
he refused to attack the tank.
"Where are you going, Ken?" The demon lord's voice was deep as it
boomed. He pursued me again, smashing through several of the pillars and
taking a fragment of one of them to use as a large weapon.
I threw my body to the side, rolling out of the way as he smashed the
pillar against the ground.
The whole thing exploded into obsidian shards that cut into my back. As I
rose to my feet, he came at me again. This time, the boss summoned dozens
of chains that snaked out of the ground, threatening to pin me down.
"Quit running. All I want is your life," he taunted. The chains stretched
across the room, trying to capture me. Demon Lord Snu Snu thundered
along the obsidian floor, attempting to cut me off. "I'll even let you watch,
like you did to me."
I slashed at his ankle several times, preventing my stacks from falling off,
but I was forced to escape once again as the chains exploded from the
ground, and he tried to tether me. At this point, I was barely able to do any
damage and was reliant on my four ladies as they continued to do their best
while I avoided getting squished or chained by the demonic lord who was
insistent on catching me.
Demon Lord Snu Snu could see his problem and stopped pursuing me for
a moment before throwing out enough pink hearts to blanket the room.
All of them quickly absorbed the spell, only for him to throw another
wave seconds later. These ones were not absorbed, and instead, I saw all of
them stiffen, hearts beginning to glow in their eyes.
"You see how easy that was, Ken?" Demon Lord Snu Snu roared. "That's
what you could have been doing to all of the ladies in your college and even
the ladies of the other colleges. If you had done something like this to that
Basma of Royal College, then you could have prevented her college’s
betrayal by controlling her."
The demon held his arms out magnanimously as if he had already won.
I ignored his antics and struck at his ankles. "If you think the answer is to
simply control other people, I think you and I have some fundamental moral
differences that make your advice incompatible," I retorted.
The demon lord snorted. "Oh, don't get sappy on me and talk about
something as stupid as love," the Demon Lord replied. "Something like that
can't even compete with my Greater Charm."
He waved his hands over at my ladies, only for Des to blast him in the
face and Fayeth to rejoin me in attacking him. The demon lord did a
double-take.
There was one still under the effect of his charm, Bun-Bun. The rabbit
latched onto his leg and began to hump him.
"Get off, you infernal creature!" Demon Lord Snu Snu's giant frame
stopped and tried to shake the little rabbit off.
I took that opportunity to renew my attack, launching every ability in my
spellbook one after the other, trying to deal damage to the rather large boss.
 Even Felin managed to shake off the charm ability, though she was last
amongst my ladies, and renewed her attack on Demon Lord Snu Snu.
"This is preposterous!" he exclaimed. He smacked Bun-Bun off him, only
for the rabbit to evade his next attack and try to latch onto his ankle once
again.
"No, Demon Lord Snu Snu.” Des chuckled using the name. "What's
preposterous is that you think you have even an ounce of Ken's charm."
She blasted a green meteor down on the large demon, and I couldn't help
but smile that my ladies had managed to break free of his charm ability.
And his distraction had allowed me to build up stacks of liminal speed. Not
giving a moment for him to break that advantage, I started doing
significantly increased damage to the boss.

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 Chapter 31

W ith stacks of [Liminal Speed] beginning to build up, I was able to face
Demon Lord Snu Snu head-on rather than running. He had shaken off
Bun-Bun and blown away the fire from Des's spell.
Now, Demon Lord Snu Snu had refocused on me, calling forth an
enormous number of chains from the shattered pillars, trying to lock me
down.
But I was not dissuaded, and I would not run. My blades smacked away
the chains as I stayed on Demon Lord Snu Snu and began damaging him.
"Don't kill him, Ken, I have an idea!" Des shouted. She pulled out an old,
worn, leather-bound tome and began flipping through it.
"Is this really the time for some light reading, Des?" I shouted back,
jumping over a set of chains and slashing at Snu Snu while I wove around
him. I tried to use the chains against his massive body. If they tangled up his
legs then maybe he’d stop using them.
As I predicted, he picked up his legs, trying to dance around the chains as
I threatened to tie him down. I slashed at his legs, not letting him focus on
the chains as much as he would like.
After all, he was controlling the chains with gestures from his hands,
turning it into a comical dance as he hopped from one leg to the other,
waving his arms about.
 Fayeth was staying just outside the swirling mess of chains, slashing with
her glaive, while Charlotte was throwing heals on both of us.
Meanwhile, Demon Lord Snu Snu started throwing gouts of fire to pin
me in.
I dove between his legs, coming out the other side, my blades still carving
away.
His chains managed to hook one of his ankles while chasing me, and he
stumbled. In a roar of frustration, he spun and slammed his hands down,
forcing me to dodge back as the two car-sized fists shattered the stone in
front of me and dispelled all the chains. Fire blasted out from the cracks
he’d made, waves of flames rolling towards me.
I used [Elemental Shield] to protect myself from the flames, still feeling
their heat.
"That's it! I got it!" Des shouted, holding her book and pulling a bag out
of her CID. She was holding a bunch of bone dust—a rather common
ingredient that we had plenty of, considering the raid that had plenty of
skeletons. She began pouring the bag out as she ran.
Demon Lord Snu Snu sneered at her. "Foolish mortal. That won't work. I
am no longer a drop of blood for you to infuse with Ken or a soul bound in
his pitiful mind." The Demon Lord rose up arrogantly from where he'd
smashed the ground. Though the effect was slightly ruined, his boss room
was currently littered with smut magazines.
I didn't really have an option, given the fact that Demon Lord Snu Snu
was intent on crushing me, and so I danced around him, continuing to
damage him.
Des ran around the room, pulling out more and more bags of bone dust,
making a large pentagram across the room. She sprinted like a madwoman.
Demon Lord Snu Snu took several more swipes at me as I dodged back,
using his hands as something to hit with light strikes to keep up my stacks.
Every part of his demonic form was rock hard, and my blades sparked off
even his fingers.
Bun-Bun latched onto his ankle again, infuriating the Demon Lord, who
shook his leg, trying to free himself of the rabbit who was now clinging on
with all his might and biting as hard as he could.
"Get him, Bun-Bun!" I encouraged the rabbit, who was doing a fantastic
job of distracting the Demon Lord.
 Des managed to run around the demon and draw a giant pentagram in
record time. Finishing up and going to the side of the room, her book
opened as she began to mutter under her breath.
I had to hope she knew what she was doing, and I kept my focus on the
boss.
"Where are you looking?" Demon Lord Snu Snu smashed at me, though I
grabbed one of the magazines off the ground as I rolled away, and when his
next swing came up, it stopped dead.
"Not the Baywatch edition!" He gasped, his fists stopping short of me,
and the heat coming off them, mellowing as he was too worried about
burning the pages.
I held up the magazine with one hand, while my blade struck at him
several more times, taking advantage of his indecision. It was almost
unbelievable that this was working.
Demon Lord Snu Snu looked incredibly pained as he thought about
hitting me, only to again look at the Baywatch edition, his face twisting up
in sorrow. "No! I will not be stopped!" He wound up again, and this time, I
could tell the Baywatch edition wasn't going to be enough.
I threw it at him, his fists burning bright red as the magazine puffed into
smoke mid-swing. His fists hammered down at me as I used [Dodge] to get
out of the way.
“Some may call me a demon, but that’s only because they don’t know the
horrors in which you’ve wrought upon the world. You are truly evil!” He
cursed me as he began pummeling the space in front of me with a dozen
blows.
The hits created a small crater in the floor, and my swords danced along
his wrist as I jumped and spun out of the way. I needed to stop being at a
distance, so I ran closer to him. Now he did not have room to wind up and
swing at me with his fists. He was left with the option of stomping on me.
Des held her book higher as the bone dust began to burn bright red.
Demon Lord Snu Snu laughed. "See, it won't work!"
"Get him lower!" Des shouted.
As I reached Demon Lord Snu Snu's leg, I activated [Triple Breach],
hitting him as hard as I could.
Des wasn't done yet, still chanting. "His mana, too! Get him as weak as
you can!" she called out.
 I grumbled to myself, activating [Shadow Arm] and [Mana Burn],
latching the combo onto the boss and avoiding as he tried to stomp me into
pancakes. "This better work!" I shouted to Des as I danced around the boss,
avoiding his feet that threatened to squish me every few seconds.
This was one of the most dangerous boss experiences I'd ever faced. After
all, he was a level 55 boss and continued to focus on me rather than the
tank, completely ignoring the dungeon system of aggro. It seemed while he
was bound to some rules, he was not bound to all of them.
He summoned a fistful of chains and lashed them at me like a cat o’ nine
tails. Fayeth jumped in front of me fully clad in her plant armor as she
raised her shield and created a wall of vines that blocked the attack.
"Thanks." I let out a breath, quickly dodging around her and continuing
to attack the demon lord.
The attack had been rather dangerous, the chains having fanned out in
erratic and wide angles, making it incredibly difficult to dodge.
I danced along beneath the boss, going as far as to jump up on his fist the
next time he swung. My blades carved slashes all along, up to his shoulder.
I even got up to his face.
Felin wrapped me in a bubble of ice just in time for the demon lord to
breathe fire over me. The bubble helped me survive as I slashed at his face.
"Not the face!" Demon Lord Snu Snu shouted, sputtering and trying to
knock me off his shoulder.
I ducked under his hands and wove around his fingers, coming up on the
back of his neck and jumping down, my two swords dragging along his
back as I carved long gouges in him. All along the way, my [Shadow Arm]
clung to him, and I used it like a rudder while he scratched at his back,
trying to rid himself of me like some sort of gnat.
Des shouted in triumph, and the bone dust caught fire, jets of it encircling
Demon Lord Snu Snu. The fire flickered from red to green and then settled
on an eerie purple that made me think of Des's hair. It spun up into the air,
surrounding me and the demon lord.
"Fayeth, get out!" Des said, "It's working!" She was more excited than
me at the prospect of whatever she was doing.
Fayeth rushed out of the formation, and the demon lord stared down at
me, pausing for a moment.
"This will not work," he said amid the fire as it climbed towards the
ceiling.
 Des was muttering, "I can do this," over and over again to herself.
"This will not work.” He turned to her, smirking. “When she's tired and
this is over…” He trailed off, his smirk growing into something sinister as
the flames thickened and cut us off from the rest of the party.
Now it was just Snu Snu and me amid the flames.
"No… maybe it will work," he air quoted with two fingers. "Perhaps you
will reseal me." The demon lord smiled as the pentagram fully reached the
ceiling, and we were completely encased in walls of purple flames. "But I'll
tell you a secret"—Demon Lord Snu Snu laughed—"it won't be you."
He then reverted from his massive demon form into the smaller humanoid
form, his arms out in a grand gesture, beginning to melt away into blood.
I swung at the trails of blood, my swords cutting through it but not
stopping the flow one bit.
His smile was burned into my mind's eye as he faded, but my attention
was snagged as his blood filled my vision and chased after me.
Despite my best attempt to evade, the blood wrapped around my body as
I tried to slash it away.
Demon Lord Snu Snu completely ceased to exist. Instead, a tidal wave of
blood came at me from every angle until I could see absolutely nothing.
And in that darkness, I woke up back in that space in my soul. Demon
Lord Snu Snu and I both stood within the pentagram. Rather than a giant
wall of purple flames around us, there was a low simmer of the pentagram
on the ground.
"This time, you will not defeat me," Demon Lord Snu Snu promised,
dashing forward, his hands turning into claws. He came at me with a
fierceness I had never seen from the relaxed Demon Lord before.
I blocked, quickly realizing that I still had my stacks of [Liminal Speed],
and dodged around him, slashing him several times with my sword before
abandoning them for [Metamorphosis]. There was no time to hold back. It
was time to give this fight my absolute all.
With [Liminal Speed] active as well as [Metamorphosis], I thought I
could finish this quickly. I activated [Triple Breach], [Dark Strike], and
everything I had to push as much damage into Demon Lord Snu Snu as I
could. The shock on his face was priceless as I immediately pushed him
back.
He scoffed as he blocked several of my attacks, spinning around, using
my very own fighting form to match me blow for blow.
 "I have not been idle this entire time," Snu Snu demanded. As [Liminal
Speed] lightning crawled along his arm, he added, "In fact, you can say here
we are one in the same." His eyes were alight with delight.
In my shock, I fumbled, and he managed to scratch my cheek as I twisted
out of the way. I came at him again, my claws slightly faster than his, but he
was picking up speed all the same.
Rather than sticking strictly to my form, he jumped, slamming his fists
down on the ground. The ripples underneath caused me to stumble, and he
came up, gouging a large chunk away from my chest.
I twisted back, avoiding a fatal blow, and stomped my heel on the ground,
activating Earth Stomp and stunning him for a second so I could regroup.
He had me on the defensive. If we were going to both be using [Liminal
Speed], the last thing I wanted was to be on the defensive. Instead, I wanted
to push myself as quickly as I could and build up more stacks rather than
waste my time dodging or blocking.
We both leaned into the fight, taking wounds just the same as we gave
them. It was a bloody knockout brawl as the two of us shot around the
pentagram, scoring hit after hit on each other, both fully focusing on
offense.
Demon Lord Snu Snu leaned in, his eyes glowing. I knew that effect; I
had seen it right before far too many deaths.
Knowing what he was doing, I activated [Liminal Space] at the same time
as he did. The world exploded around us, and we were both still able to
move, though my stacks were dropping at an incredible rate. The fight
didn't stop; instead, we matched each other in the frozen space, the
flickering flames of the pentagram around us, completely still amidst the
broken shards of the space around [Liminal Space].
"I have more stacks than you," he said, though I knew he had no way to
be absolutely sure. Demon Lord Snu Snu was trying to play mind games.
"We'll just have to see," I responded, matching him blow for blow, going
as hard as I could, knowing that whoever had the most stacks would most
likely win. The second one of us fell out of [Liminal Space] and froze
would be the second the other finished this fight. I could feel the sweat
bleeding down on my forehead, and I regretted that it had come down to
this moment.
Demon Lord Snu Snu froze mid-attack. Though he had been inside my
soul for a period of time, I did not hesitate.
 I raked my claws across Demon Lord Snu Snu's throat, spinning around
him and grabbing his head as I too fell out of [Liminal Speed] a second
later. I had never used them, but in [Metamorphosis], I had a wicked set of
teeth, and I used them at this moment to tear out Demon Lord Snu Snu's
throat.
I activated Elysara's [Vampire] ability and used its skill to heal off Demon
Lord Snu Snu's blood. Unfortunately, I deactivated [Metamorphosis] feeling
my mana run low. I shrank down to a thinner form while keeping a set of
wicked fangs.
It didn’t matter, my wounds rapidly closed as I drained Snu Snu.
Snu Snu thrashed, and I drew my blade across his chest, opening up more
wounds before I threw him forward. He clutched at his neck and his
stomach.
I could tell he was at the end of his line. The haughty smirk the Demon
Lord often kept on his face was completely gone. Instead, a disgusted sneer
was spread across his face.
"In all this time, to think I would lose the race to becoming the Demon
King to a pipsqueak like you," he said. Demon Lord Snu Snu smiled. "At
least win the whole thing, so I lost to a winner." With those words, he
collapsed into the pentagram, becoming nothing but a pool of blood. That
blood rushed up, wrapping itself around me in a swirling, crimson cocoon.

***

Outside in the boss room, Des was panting, her heart pounding in her ears.
She was reading from her grimoire as quickly as she could, not even letting
herself breathe.
The boss room was eerily silent. The only noise was a soft sniffle from
none other than Bun-Bun as they all stared at the cocoon of blood in the
middle of the room.
"What's happening?" Felin asked.
Des looked at her book again. She hesitated. "I'm not exactly sure."
"What do you mean you're not sure?" Charlotte screamed, charging over.
Even the cute druid had hit her point.
"Well"—Des pointed at the cocoon—"that wasn't supposed to happen. In
fact, that's nowhere in the book."
 Des began flipping through the pages and then back to the ones she had
been trying to use. Given that Ken should have already had some demonic
blood from when he first got Snu Snu, she thought she could use one of the
techniques that the Renard Family used to upgrade their own blood. It was a
perfect idea, and it would also get rid of the raging problem in the room.
Fayeth stuck her glaive in the ground in front of Des. "I will hold you
responsible for whatever happens. We could have defeated the boss."
"Have some faith in Ken," Des shot back, trying to hide her own worries.
She absolutely loved Ken. And if something happened to him, she wouldn't
need any of the others to punish her. She would certainly punish herself far
worse than any of them could manage.

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 Chapter 32

H owever, Des held firm that this had been an opportunity. She would use
it to make Ken become even stronger.
And if she was honest with herself, a slight part of her wanted him to be a
little more demonic like her. The Renard family had its fair share of demon
blood, and all of the Renards' spouses took powerful demons to build
secondary classes or use for class upgrades. Des had changed from the
effects of taking on demon blood, but Ken had never showed any difference
beyond the [Metamorphosis] ability.
Des could only assume that while Ken had gotten high-level blood,
maybe he’d been so low-level he had not fully subdued the demon. And this
time, she hoped she could give him a different outcome.
She had started the ritual with the hope that Ken would reclaim the full
power of demon blood. Her intention was good, but what was currently
happening was not what was supposed to, at least as far as the book
depicted.
She looked down at the book once more. Ken was supposed to be
unconscious on the ground, not in a blood orb cocoon thing.
"Maybe we should cut it open," Charlotte said.
"No, don't do that." Des held her hand out to stop Felin, who looked like
she was about to stab into the cocoon. "We don't know what's happening,
and I think for now we should wait," Des said.
 She glanced over her shoulder. The golden chains that had been on the
boss's doors had fallen off. She could only hope that was a good sign that
perhaps Demon Lord Snu Snu was no more, and what would emerge from
that cocoon would be Ken.
While her nerves built, the cocoon began to wiggle and squirm as if
something was trying to get out.
Fayeth took a deep breath and held her glaive at the ready.
"It's Ken," Charlotte admonished her.
"We don't know that." Fayeth looked ready for a fight.
"If it's the boss, I'll open the doors." Felin bounded away towards the
doors.
"Don't do that yet, either." Des wanted everyone to wait for the result
before they started opening the doors. If they opened the boss's doors, she
was worried the boss might respawn or reset. Who knew what that would
do to the ritual? No. She had a feeling this was the one and only
opportunity.
A hand pushed out against the blood cocoon before making a fist and
sinking back in.
"That's not creepy at all," she muttered to herself. But creepy or not, she
just wanted her attempt to work.
So desperately, she wanted Ken to be as strong as he desired. She wanted
him to be able to shoulder every burden of the dungeon that came his way.
She had helped him in the beginning. However, as time had gone on, she
had certainly lost her competitive edge. Ken's liminal speed had absolutely
blown the rest of the damage dealers out of the water.
For a while, she had thought satisfying Ken in bed was the best way to
stick around. However, it was clear his heart was set on pushing deeper and
deeper into the dungeon, and she wanted to follow him.
This was an opportunity for her to help in another way. If her family's
grimoire could make Ken stronger once again, she felt like she would earn
her keep, even though at times it felt useless to be another damage dealer
alongside Ken. He was just that dominant in damage.
The hand scraped against the edge of the cocoon again, only this time it
found purchase and gripped the edge, pulling and tearing. It seemed with a
single tear, that was all it needed as blood flooded out and the cocoon
shrank, a bodily form ripping itself out.
Des gasped. Her family's grimoire was immediately forgotten.
 Fayeth’s glaive fell to the floor, and even Bun-Bun's jaw smacked the
ground. Somehow, the man that pulled himself from the cocoon was
completely untouched by blood.
It was Ken, though his features were a little changed. He had perhaps
grown several inches, and for whatever reason, his gear was currently not
equipped. Instead, he had an athletic, chiseled body that was a few shades
paler than before. Most strikingly, his hair had turned an ivory white, while
his eyes had turned golden with a slit down the center of each of them.
Des unconsciously licked her lips and hummed, seeing what she was
currently going to dub as ‘Incubus Ken’ walk out of the cocoon.

***

I stepped out of the blood cocoon, finally rid of the stupid thing, only to see
the women in my party staring slack-jawed at me.
They were completely and woefully ill-prepared for a fight. What if I’d
been a monster? It was silent as they stared at me.
"What?" I asked, looking at my hand and somehow, but happily, surprised
that I didn't have a bunch of blood on me. Instead, I ran a hand through my
hair. It felt a little curly instead of the straight black I remembered, and I
twisted a little bit in front of me to see that it was white.
"Holy shit, my hair!" I fumbled, stepping fully out of the cocoon and
distracted from my ladies’ surprise.
Felin, who had been standing close to the doors, bounded in my direction,
and I held my hands up.
"It's me!" I yelled as I watched her prepare to attack. But the words
seemed pointless as the nekorian pounced on me and knocked me to the
floor. However, instead of a true attack, she began smothering me in kisses.
Purring began next as she pushed herself up, straddling my hips.
"Down, girl!" Des said, half-laughing, half-chiding the nekorian.
Felin let out a low growl as Des tried to pull her off me. The nekorian
resisted Des and tried to latch onto me.
"Hand, please!" Des glanced at Fayeth, who was still staring at me.
"Yeah, of course." The elf hurried over and helped pull the nekorian off
me as she shook herself out of a daze. "He's..." Fayeth started, her eyes
locking on my body and raking up and down it again.
"I’m what?" I asked.
 "Ken, you look fucking delicious." Des stared at me. "I don't know what
just happened"—she gestured at me—"but you're rocking it."
I chuckled and looked down at my body, noticing it looked like I'd been
out of the sun my entire life. I had always had an athletic form, but
something about my current body just seemed a little extra toned. Like
someone darkened the shadows and lightened the rippling muscles of my
abs. Turning over my arm to get at my CID, I tried to look at my stats, only
to get an error from the device. I frowned and began tapping at it several
more times.
The oddity of my new form was forgotten as I failed to use my CID.
"Something's wrong with my CID," I said.
"Something changed with you." Charlotte held out a mirror for me, and I
looked in it. I was myself, but it was as if someone had drawn me, trying to
perfect every inch. Somehow, white hair and golden eyes were part of the
end result. I leaned closer to the mirror, seeing that I no longer had round
pupils. Instead, they were elongated slits that ran up and down through the
iris.
"Whoa." I held my eyelids down and stared at my eyes closer, watching
as they adjusted to the shifting light. "Des, what did you do to me?" I leaned
back and glanced at the warlock.
Des fumbled with her grimoire. "Well, I tried to fix your seal. Yeah, that's
it." She continued to flip through the pages. "I don't know how I turned you
into a..." She hesitated, staring back at me and swallowing around a lump in
her throat. "Incredibly sexy demon. And I can't say I'm really that upset
about the outcome."
"Des... What am I going to do? My CID doesn't work. Heck, if I go back
to the surface... People are going to have a lot of questions.” I was starting
to freak out a bit. I didn’t want to end up as a lab rat.
“It wasn't like you were really human anyways. Adventurers aren't really
human," Des offered.
"Yeah, but adventurers aren't some entire other race. They're just extra…
human." I sighed and looked at the mirror again. "Alright, well, we can just
maybe put a little dye in my hair? Colored contacts?" I was reaching and I
knew it. Suddenly, having my body change was incredibly startling. Having
a different set of eyes staring back at me was particularly unsettling.
The demonic slit pupils gave me a sort of uncanny valley situation. When
I looked in the mirror, I was supposed to see Ken Nagato. Now I saw
something similar enough that it felt like me, yet it was clearly something
different. I opened my eyes just to see the reflection.
Felin held her hand up where Fayeth was restraining her. "I think it's an
upgrade."
I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. "Well, I'm glad you think it's
an upgrade. Hopefully, we'll"—I gestured at myself vaguely—"work this
out. I'm sure it's not the first time that something has changed about an
adventurer while diving in a dungeon." I was trying to reassure myself.
Wanting a distraction, I looked at the stairs that led down to the next safe
zone and glanced back at Des, then looked to the rest of my party. "What do
you guys say we go take a peek at what's down in the safe zone?” It would
be important to know if there were any surprises for us.
The rest of my party only shrugged helplessly, while they kept sneaking
glances at me out of the corner of their eyes.
I got to my feet, walking down the stairs and leading my party. I
somewhat hoped there was something down here. If nothing else, a pleasant
distraction from my current situation would be nice. I really had no idea
what to do about suddenly becoming a demon. At least, that's what I
thought I had become. Who knew what the proper term for my current
species even was at the moment.
I got to the bottom of the steps only for my jaw to drop. Considering the
surprise I had just received, the fact that I could still be shocked was
impressive.
As we exited the stairs, there was no flat plain like most safe zones.
Instead, I was met with a tower that ran through the center of the safe zone
and down what I would consider were several dungeon floors.
Blinking, I looked around, and there were multiple entrances like the one
I had just come from all the way along the wall. Each level of entrances had
a corresponding floor of the tower that spanned most of the safe zone. That
tower in the center was more akin to a stacked city built into the dungeon.
"Whoa," Des said, walking out behind me.
"Have the elves ever seen something like this?" I glanced at Fayeth, and
then at Felin, waiting to see if either of them knew anything.
"No. What is this?" Fayeth asked.
Felin shook her head hard enough to make her ears flop on top of her
head. "It's huge."
 The tiered city, as I was beginning to think of it, took up most of the
space. The structure had to be over 300 feet tall going from the very tip of
this open space down to the bottom. It was all carved of intricate white
stone. Pillars kept it open so the levels could be seen from up above.
Meanwhile, it was broken up into a dozen tiers. Each one was about twenty
feet tall.
As I stared, movement caught my eye.
There was a race with wings that flew out from one tier to the next.
Occasionally, a green-skinned humanoid would move between the pillars.
We stood there gawking from where we had stepped into this massive safe
zone.
There was a bridge that ran from the balcony that we stood on over to the
tiered city. Our gawking must have caught one of those flyers' attention
because a female angel-like woman rapidly headed over to us.
"What if they're hostile?" Des asked suddenly.
I didn't blame her for the question. We had dealt with a few hostile races
recently. "If they're hostile, then we get out of here," I said.
The five of us were in no condition to take on an entire city. Besides, this
whole thing screamed high-level to me. The last thing I wanted to do was
take them all on.
The angel was on us a moment later, chirping excitedly, flapping her
wings, and staying airborne. As she hovered around us, I scratched my
cheek. She didn't seem hostile.
I waved at the angel in front of us. "Hi, I'm Ken." I gave my most
charming smile.
She chirped several more times before she very clearly said, "Ken," back
and then chirped a few more times, waving her hands at me before she
flipped over midair and flew back into the tiered city.
"Did you catch any of that?" I glanced over at the rest of my party. The
ladies all shook their heads.
"No, but I really want to pounce on her," Felin said, rubbing her hands
together as she wiggled her butt.
"Please don't pounce on the new mysterious winged race," I said,
hurriedly. "I would really rather not have any misunderstandings."
"There'll be no misunderstandings," Felin said. "I want to pounce on her,
so I will pounce on her."
 "Well, don't," I quickly told her, suddenly very worried about us pissing
off the other race.
“Don't pounce on the winged lady. Please," the others echoed me.
"They might be able to help us, and they certainly won't help us if you're
pouncing on all of them," I added.
Felin pouted but nodded in agreement. "You're probably right, but who
knows? Maybe that's how they say hello."
"It is most certainly not how anyone is going to say hello." Des rubbed
her face with a hand.
"Maybe we should bring Neldra down here,” Fayeth said. “They might be
a little more respectful of her."
She paused mid-sentence as the angel that had come over and talked to us
was flapping alongside a green-skinned humanoid. As he approached along
the bridge, it was clear he was quite large. He had his own angel flapping
more sedately on the other side of him.
I gave what I hoped would be a friendly smile and a wave.
The orc, because that’s what he appeared to be, grimaced back, showing
off a pair of large, not-very-friendly-looking tusks.
"Oh, he seems nice," Charlotte said as she held Bun-Bun closer. The
more I looked at her current hold, the more I realized she held the rabbit in
a stranglehold, most likely trying to keep him out of trouble.
The second angel came up near us and landed with a small bow, her hand
over her heart. "Welcome," she said.
I blinked at her using English, wondering if there was some sort of magic
at play. I didn't question it so much as suddenly my attention shifted to the
orc, not just because he was a very large person, but because he defied my
expectation in several ways.
He wore a fine silk shirt with a vest over it and a monocle in one eye. His
tusks were capped with gold, and he had an imposing eight-foot-tall frame,
absolutely corded with muscle. He was not leaning forward aggressively.
Instead, he seemed to have a poised posture about him, his shoulders
relaxed and back as he regarded me curiously.
"Welcome," the angel spoke again, seeming to wait.
“Uh… hi. We were diving in the dungeon and got lost during the mix-
up," I tried to explain. “We've been pushing down only to find this place."
She turned, looking back at the tiered city with a proud smile on her face.
"Yes, you couldn't pronounce it, but we'll just call it Star City," she said.
 The orc seemed to be patiently waiting as we conversed in English. I
couldn't tell if he understood a word. In fact, it was rather hard to read the
well-manicured orc.
"Well, thank you for being so welcoming," I said. "We have a..." I started
to tell her about our camp in the safe zone above but then decided we
should learn more. "A need to resupply," I hurriedly changed what I had
been about to say. "I don't suppose we could trade here." I hesitated,
glancing at the orc. "Does your orc friend have anything to say?" I asked.
The angel gasped, and the orc growled at me. She turned, speaking in
another language, and hurriedly waved at the orc as if she was trying to
prevent him from crushing my skull. "You should apologize," she said
quickly. "Quickly, bow, bow!"
I didn't know what to do, but I followed my instincts and bowed towards
the orc. "Did I say something wrong?" I asked.
The angel held fingers to her forehead. "Yes, of course. You have no idea
what you just did. Do humans have a..." She snapped at her fingers several
times, trying to come up with a word. "An ancient ancestor, one that was
possibly not very civilized or not very intelligent?”
“Like a Neanderthal?" Des asked.
The angel pointed at her. "Neanderthal, yes. Calling the gentleman behind
me an orc would be like me calling you a Neanderthal," the angel hurriedly
explained.
I made a big O with my mouth of understanding and then bowed towards
him twice more. "I am sorry, I did not mean to offend you. Could you give
me the correct name for the… gentleman’s people?" Given the haste in
which she wanted me to apologize, and the way she was referring to the
definitely not an orc, made me think he was the one in charge.
"Oh, they're called orkai," she said.
I smiled at her and decided not to point out that there was only a one
syllable difference between that and what I had said.
"Orkai," I repeated, making sure to say it slowly.
The finely dressed man crossed his arms and gave me a nod of smug
satisfaction. Good, it seems we had dodged at least one bullet.
"This is going to sound strange"—I turned back to the angel—"but how
do you speak English?"
"Oh, well, you aren't the first human I have met. In fact, the one I learned
from is currently staying in the city. She only recently came, but my linguist
skill helps me pick up languages quickly. It's why I'm the assistant to our
wonderful governor here." She gestured at the orkai, and I understood why
he was the one in charge.
At the gesture towards him, he stuck out a large green beady hand in what
I could only assume was a handshake. Though when I reached out to grab
his hand, he reached a little farther and clasped my forearm. His hand
completely engulfed my forearm, and then he squeezed enough to make my
bones ache before he let go.
Despite the pain, everything about his demeanor told me that it was, in
fact, a friendly squeeze. I resisted the urge to rub my arm as I pulled it
away.
"Oh, well, maybe you could introduce us." I gestured towards the city.
"We would love to come in if we are welcome, especially to trade supplies."
"Of course, anyone's welcome. All races are welcome as long as they
don't cause trouble within Star City," she said. "I would be happy to find
someone else who could function as your translator as you settle in." She
gestured at me. "Though someone of your heritage likely has no trouble
with that." She winked.
I gave her a smile, remembering that I no longer looked very human.
"It's rare to see such a mixed party," she said, glancing back at us already
turning to show us the way. "But I'm being nosy. Come, let me show you to
the other human."

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 Chapter 33

T hecasually
orkai and the other angel moved quickly ahead of us. The way he
strolled, moving at what would be a dead sprint for me, told me
enough about his high level.
Instead, I turned to the angel who spoke English and seemed to be our
guide for the moment.
"I'm sorry, I never got your name.” I paused, waiting.
“My name is..." What she then said started with an 'L U' sound, followed
by a trill and several sounds I did not have a comparison for, before ending
in another 'L U' sound.
I chuckled. "Would you be offended if I called you Lulu?"
"Not at all. That's a lovely name," she said, emphasizing the statement
with a spin midair. She looked so free with how she bobbed and wove just
beside me as I walked along the bridge. She was off the edge, seeming more
comfortable there.
"Well, Lulu, if this is Star City, do you mind if I ask how it was made?"
After all, it seemed to be built into what was two safe zones and five
dungeon floors.
"Not at all. That's common knowledge," she said. "There was a great
warlord of the orkai. It's said he was over level 100 when he cleaved
through the dungeon floor and created a city amidst the hole he had
created." She gestured to the city in front of us. "He then went on to explore
the depths of the dungeon and left it behind for his people as a place of
respite and an attempt to tame the savage dungeon for civilization." She
gestured at the city.
"That's quite the story.” The idea of one of these orkai being level 100
was honestly more terrifying than the idea of him cleaving through the floor
of the dungeon and building the city. “What happened to the warlord?"
She shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe he went farther down in the dungeon
and made another city, or maybe he died." She said the second statement as
if it was of no consequence, though I would think a hero like that to anyone
would be rather important.
"Haven't people gone looking for him?" I asked.
"Oh, of course. But you must understand, most of the people of Star City
or any of the other cities amidst the dungeon are lifers," she said.
"Lifers?"
"Yes, for those who dive the dungeon, going up and down isn't always the
best option, though you can get quite quick about traveling. Eventually,
something like Star City gets made. Though it used to be deeper." She
gestured at the magnificent structure once again before her gesture spanned
out to the many entrances along the wall. "Each one of those leads to a
different dungeon floor. That means in a place like Star City, they can
gather and concentrate all sorts of resources. In that way, Star City has
become a huge trade hub, able to trade with a massive 70 different dungeon
floors."
Glancing around, I did a quick count. There were seven layers, each with
ten entrances. I squinted. Some of the entrances were only 20 or 30 feet
apart. "How do those lead to different floors?"
Lulu shrugged. "Don't ask me. Though, the orkai have spent many years
trying to calculate the strange spatial paradox that is the dungeon," she said.
"Some of them claim it branches into the fourth and even the fifth
dimension." Even though she said the words with emphasis, there was no
excitement on her face. "The orkai like to study everything," she said.
At this point, we were reaching the city proper, and I could see many
orkai and angels amid the pillars. Very often, each orkai was followed by
several of the angels, flying to make themselves eye-to-eye with the orkai
or sometimes flying just above. Most of the angels were women; however,
there were a few male angels. Yet every orkai that I saw all appeared male.
Well, either they were all male or I couldn't tell a male from a female.
 All of them were massive, at least eight feet tall, some even a head taller
than that. But they were dressed in finery or at least expensive and high-
level dungeon gear.
As we moved into the city, the exterior was covered with pillars, as well
as walkways throughout the city. Meanwhile, houses filled in the space
between the layers. It was truly something of grand design. I could only
imagine what else the orkai could make.
As we walked through the city, on the second layer from the top, many of
the orkai turned and regarded us, pausing their conversations to look our
group over. There was even one large dwarven queen that we saw pause and
stare at us.
However, the green-skinned humanoids made up the vast majority of the
population.
"Just over here," Lulu said, flipping around one of the columns and
heading for a building. Like the rest of the buildings, it was made out of the
same pristine white stone, though it wasn't particularly large. It had enough
size and windows that I suspected it was something like a hotel, or maybe
closer to a small inn.
That comparison proved true when she opened the door, and inside stood
the most variety of species we'd seen since walking the streets. There was a
party of nekorians, as well as a dwarven queen, and even a naga matriarch
in the corner.
I briefly wondered if she’d been the escaping matriarch from the safe
zone we were camped in.
That was forgotten as my eyes were immediately attracted to a woman at
the bar. A long black braid hung over her shoulder, and I would know that
red leather bodysuit anywhere.
Crimson spun around at our entrance and held her arms out wide. "Ken!
You finally made it!" She slammed back the last of her drink and waved us
over to the bar.
I stared at her as she stood with her arms open, and only after a moment
did I step in and wrap my arms around Crimson, squeezing her waist with
all of my strength as she shoved my head into her chest and patted me on
the back.
"There, there, Ken." She laughed.
I struggled against her, trying not to let her shove me into her bosom.
 However, Crimson in this was adamant, it seemed, as she used her full
strength to hold my head against her and sway slightly, smothering me in
her cleavage.
I patted her on the shoulder, suddenly struggling to breathe, and she let
me up. I gasped for air. "Crimson, if you were here…” My eyes narrowed
on her, quickly starting to piece together the situation.
“If I were what?" she said, giving me another once-over before she
tapped at her chin. "Something about you is different. Wait, don't tell me...
You leveled up!" She laughed. "Don't worry, you had the censors with you.
And I kept checking to make sure you were fine. There is a new theory on
Earth that with these intense shuffles people have leveled up significantly."
She gestured at me. "As you can see, it was just another round of intense
training."
I squinted at her. "How long have you known we've been down here?"
"Months," she answered, not missing a beat. But then she tapped next to
her eyes. "I knew it was going to be good for you. Also, when you
barricaded yourself inside the raid, I assume that was you that covered the
entrance with sand. I decided to let you guys hunker down and train.
Besides, the world went on without you, and there was plenty of other work
for me to do. God knows that the UG is making me work my tail off."
"Another round." She gestured at the orkai bartender, pointing at her
drink and then pointing at me and the rest of my party. "By the way, where's
the princess and her guards? I thought they would be with you.”
I stared at her, still processing what was happening. “We just went and
fought the boss, so I wasn't... We only brought a group of five." I honestly
was struggling with what to say. Crimson being here caught me off guard in
multiple ways.
"Well, I'm sure Broken Blade is going to have an absolute blast when she
sees this place, and Miriam will find some way to make a penny out of it,
I'm sure. From here, there's probably a way back towards the elves."
Crimson glanced off to the side as if seeing through the buildings into the
mini entrances that connected to Star City. She was likely actually seeing
through the walls as her eyes lit up bright blue, and she used [Eyes of
Wisdom] to confirm her guess.
"I haven't been back to see the elves," she said. "I assumed if I showed up
without the princess, they would throw an absolute fit."
 Felin sat down next to Crimson's seat and waved at the orkai before
pointing at several of the bottles behind the bar, doing her best to order
things that looked like Irish cream.
"Yeah, well, we'll have to get them back. Also, Miriam isn't with us, and
neither is Tish. Don't suppose you've seen them?"
Crimson had already gotten another drink and had it halfway to her
mouth before she stopped and slammed it down on the counter hard enough
to make the glass crack. She gave me a stiff smile. "I'm sorry, what? The
censors aren't with you?" Her eye twitched.
"Actually, it is a little worse. Right after the shuffle, Prince Albar had a
set of assassins that poisoned Neldra with something called Healer's Bane.
Even reviving her won't fix this one. It's resistant to the cleanses that we
have and also gets stronger when she's healed."
Crimson let go of the glass before she shattered it. "You mean you had
none of the censors able to help you?" Her eye continued to twitch even
harder. "Broken Blade was useless." Red lightning sparked from her eyes,
and the bartender took a step away from Crimson.
"Yep, that's about it. But on the good news, it was intense training, and
we leveled up."
She threw her hands up in the air, lightning all the way down to her
fingertips. "But you were in actual danger."
I chuckled at Crimson's concern. Yes, we were in actual danger, but at the
moment, I was glad for the progress we had made.
"Crimson, calm down,” I told her.
“You don't hate me, do you?" Suddenly, the warrior appeared vulnerable.
"No, Crimson, I don't hate you at all. It's not as if you could have
predicted what happened in the dungeon, nor could you have prevented it.
We all fought the raid with our life on the line, and yes, that was stressful,
but maybe it was worth it," I said, taking my drink as the bartender felt
more comfortable coming back over to our group.
“How are your stats?” Crimson poked at my CID that wasn’t working.
“They should be good, but that stopped working after this.” I pulled at my
white hair.
Crimson raised an eyebrow and then turned to Felin who was sipping
different white liquids with various reactions. “Can’t the pussy cat just use
the tattoo?”
 I took a sip of what looked vaguely like green beer to hide my
embarrassment. I should have thought of that, but in fairness, I was still
reeling from the multiple surprises I’d been hit with. The beer had a bit
more bite to it than I expected, but otherwise, it was actually a fairly good
beer.
The rest of my party all started taking seats.
"So, Crimson, what else is happening back on Earth?" I asked, changing
the subject and vowing to get Felin to work her magic with the tattoo the
moment we had some alone time.
She leaned back in her bar seat. "A lot's happening. Everything kind of
went to shit," she said. "We lost track of almost 70% of active adventurers
in the dungeon, and we've only reclaimed 60% of those who were lost
during the shuffle," she said, before hesitating. "That number has probably
gone up a little, but we know there's a good chunk that we will never see
again. We had adventuring down to a science, thinking we could play the
dungeon, but it seems we got a little too comfortable," Crimson said, taking
another drink. "Because when things really went bad, a lot of the groups
that got stranded down the dungeon didn't last long. Without a safe zone to
retreat to, or with more hostile forces, like the dwarves or the naga"—she
glanced at the two groups in the room—"they didn't fare so well."
I shared the glance that she sent the other races. "Should we be worried
about them? Here?"
Crimson scoffed, "No. They wouldn't dare do anything in this place.”
“Really?" I asked. "Are the orkai that strong?"
Crimson bobbed her head. "Oh yeah. If I weren't me, I wouldn't even be
so relaxed." She hooked a thumb at the orkai cleaning out a glass behind the
bar. "He's level 50, and he's just a fucking bartender."
The orkai likely didn't speak English but frowned at her tone.
"Yeah, I'm talking about you, bub," Crimson said back at him. "The naga
and dwarves here aren't nearly that high level. I saw one of the guards, and
he was freaking level 82," Crimson said. "He was a guard, not even one of
their adventurers. Though, I think he may have been a retired adventurer."
"What about the angels?" I asked, waving a finger around and looking for
Lulu, our guide, who seemed to have already disappeared. Her task was
apparently to deliver me to Crimson, and then she had ventured off.
Crimson made a face. "Not entirely sure what their deal is, but they're
fairly subservient and oddly happy about it." Crimson raised an eyebrow
with a confused look on her face. "All I know is the one I met here over
drinks. I talked to her about adventuring, and I guess her entire race pretty
much tries to become casters. Those that become melee classes, or worse,
tanks, actually give up adventuring," Crimson explained.
"They give up if they become a tank?"
Crimson hummed in agreement. "I guess, in order to fly, all of their bones
are hollow. Which means they have like half of the weight you would
expect when they take swings. Not to mention, they're apparently fairly
fragile." She shrugged, "At least by whatever standards the angel was
talking about. Then again, I think most things are fragile compared to these
big green machines."
She hooked another thumb at the bartender again, who glowered at her,
clearly not understanding but not liking her gesture or her tone.
"I fought a couple of them in this arena they have on the fifth floor." She
scratched at her teeth and rubbed something off her nails. "Dude was like
hitting a brick wall. To think these things are not only giant walking walls
of muscle but apparently more advanced than humans by a fair margin," she
said. "Rather than CIDs"—she tapped the clunky watch on her wrist—"they
actually implant themselves with something." She mimed injecting into her
arm. "And it has all of the technology, apparently powers off their own
internal mana, and does all the same shit."
Crimson held her hands up. "Not to mention, apparently, they have
hovercars."
I almost spat my drink out. "Hovercars?"
"Yup, we're talking like Jetsons-level hovercars. The angel showed me a
bunch of pictures on her little thingy." Crimson made a gesture, unable to
describe what she was talking about.
"And don't even get them started talking about math," she grumbled.
"Both the angels and the Orkai, apparently, are whizzes with numbers, and
that includes money. When I went to buy a room here, they suddenly hit me
with, like, eight payment options. All of them required more math than I
think I had even done in college. In the end, I just paid a flat fee. Besides, I
have plenty of mana stones, which is, by the way, what everything costs
here. Hopefully, you have enough for your room. If not"—she shrugged
helplessly—"then you can just bum a stay in mine."
"Is that invitation open to all of us?" Des winked from the other side. The
group had all been listening to Crimson talk.
 "I suppose it is," Crimson said. "But maybe I'll get all of you a separate
room so I can have Ken to myself. After all, I'm sure you've been hogging
him, Des." Crimson stared straight back at the temptress. "I mean, he looks
rather hunky now that he's high level." She leaned closer to me. "Ken,
something happened to your eyes."
I chuckled and ran a hand over my face. "Only now you noticed."
Crimson shrugged. "Now that I have noticed, it's hard not to notice."
"Yeah, well"—I pointed at Des—"we did a thing. It may have gone
wrong, or it may have gone incredibly right. After all, I think it looks like
an upgrade." I decided to embrace my most recent changes. "Before you
drag me off," I said, glancing at Crimson, "I think first we have a little
shuttling to do. Elysara needs to get back to her people, and that means
getting Neldra patched up as well."
Crimson frowned and mumbled into her green beer. "Stupid Broken
Blade, can't even handle herself. Why should I help her?" She said the last a
little louder.
I poked Crimson on the side. "Because, despite how much you
antagonize and tease Neldra, you still like her. Now, I think we have a little
bit more work to do before we get to relax. And we need to figure out what
to do about school."
Crimson blinked at that. "Simple." She gestured around. "We'll hold class
here. Besides, I think at this point you guys have gone far beyond the
curriculum that Haylon would have prepared for you. After all, it’s not like
they even know what each level looks like or how to prepare anymore. Why
not break free of those confines and start here? I'm sure the orkai have
something for learning how to adventure."
Crimson gave me a giant grin. "Besides, you know that going back and
trying to pretend like you're college students once again is just going to be
stifling. At this point, you are all well and truly adventurers. It's about time
we started to teach you how to dive the dungeon like real adventurers and
take the training wheels off."
I swallowed audibly because if what we had done so far was considered
training wheels by Crimson, I was afraid to see what came next.

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 Afterword

Hey Everyone!
I hope you enjoyed Dungeon Diving 203. It was about time for the world
to open up and for Ken to start to explore some uncharted territory. The
Prince be dead and I'm sure Ken will reap his rewards in the near future.
Things are going well here and I'm churning away making more books
for you all, stay tuned! Ard's Oath 5 is nearly the final section of the book
and I hope to have to ready for Dec.

Please, if you enjoyed the book, leave a review.

Review Dungeon Diving 203

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