Clearing a dungeon was not what I had in mind. And I didn’t plan on assisting them.

Even soo...the look on Lily’s face said enough. This was something she was thrilled to hear.

Her gaze met mine.

A grin formed across her lips, “So, Amaya. You up for a little dungeon clearing?”

I really didn’t want to. Yet, at the same time, my hand was itching to test out my freshly bought katana. I gave it a lot of thought, to the point where a sweat slid down the side of my face. I’ve had a break from bad luck lately, but this was just asking for misfortune to happen.

Eventually, I gave in.

“Sure. Sounds fun.”

I walked up to the party, tapping one of them on the shoulder.

Tap. Tap.

“Hm?” His red-haired figure turned to face me, “Ah. Do I know you?” his eyes looked me up and down, examining my every feature, “No, I guess not. I’d remember a white-haired girl such as yourself.”

“Yeah... I heard not too many people have white hair in this world.” I replied, before going on to ask my question, “Soo. Didn’t mean to eavesdrop but, we overheard that the three of you needed more people.” I gestured at Lily who stood right beside me.

“Actually, Ye-” before the guy could finish, he was abruptly interrupted by the girl of the party.

Her energetic voice spoke out loud, “OH my gosh! You'll actually help us?” she grabbed my hand and held it tightly, looking me in the eyes with a smile, “You two have the world’s best timing!” she shouted with joy.

“Wait....” As the girl turned her gaze to Lily, she paused, “There’s no way! Are you by chance...”

Lily nodded, a proud smile on her face, “Indeed, I am.”

That girl seemed way too thrilled at Lily’s presence. What was this all about?

Right after they got a good look, the other two party members came forward, amazed.

“Right when we needed help, the one and only Lily Veigo herself offered her help.” the red-head’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

And his brown-haired buddy was also left in awe, “The Whirling Demon...you’re joking.”

Not exactly sure just why they were so thrilled, but it was apparent that Lily was someone special. Very special. It’s like I wasn’t even here.

“So... it’s okay if we tag along?” I asked.

“Of course.” the girl answered, her fingertips pressed together, “Ooh, right! Let me introduce myself. I’m Olivia. This party’s healer. I know a bit of martial arts as well if it comes down to that.”

Long black hair and hazel eyes, Olivia had a joyful aura about herself. Someone I wouldn’t mind fighting alongside. She grabbed ahold of the red-haired guy’s arm, pulling him close.

“And this is David, our party’s trustworthy fighter. He’ll cut down any monster in our way.”

Red hair, and orange eyes, he was scary looking. And the blade on his hip was intimidating. He looked like he knew how to use it.

The last member of the party stepped forward, “And I’m Tim. The marksman. I assist from the sidelines. It’s what I’m good at.”

Brown hair, and fully studded leather on his body, he fit the marksman description. And that bow on his back was good quality. He was no joke either.

Olivia, David, and Tim. Now I knew all their names. They seemed like decent people. A trustworthy party. Though, the introductions did kind of give me Deja-vu back when I met that party in the tunnel system.

Anyways...

The three of them all looked at me. It was my turn to introduce myself. But how should I do it?

‘Should I tell them some fun facts about myself? Or is giving my name enough?’

I won’t lie. There was that tempting feeling to one-up lily and impress everyone with my little storage ability. I didn’t follow through with it though.

“Well, I'm Amaya. My special trait is having terrible luck.” was probably the worst way to introduce myself, I mentioned bad luck and all of their faces looked uncertain about me. I followed up, trying to fix it, “But....I’m good at fighting. I know martial arts as well. So, there’s that.” That seemed to be good enough to restore their faith in me. Their faces relieved.

Everyone then turned to look at Lily, but there was no need for her to introduce herself. Everyone already seemed to know exactly who she was. Me on the other hand, I was still left in the dark about the whole thing. I still had no clue exactly who she was.

“You wanna fill me in?” I asked her.

The answer she gave wasn’t all that informative, “I am just well known as an adventurer.”

That was obvious, but why was she well-known. That's what I was trying to figure out.

I asked again, just a different way this time.

“I mean...What are you well known for?”

Lily didn’t have the opportunity to respond, Olivia answered the question for her, “You mean you don’t even know your friend's status?”

She went on, explaining everything to me. Long story short, Lily was an S-rank adventurer. Though, being S-rank alone wasn’t enough to make you famous. The reason for her popularity all had to do with her accomplishments. Apparently, she once assisted a small squad of knights in defending a town from a monster attack. But the amazing part was that they were outnumbered by 30, and she managed to defeat most of the monsters just on her own. And because her dad was one of the four protectors of this kingdom, (Whatever that means) this news spread fast and made her famous.

Olivia smiled, nodding, “Yes, and I can go on about the things she’s accomplished since then, but I’ll spare you the explanation.” she looked at Lilly “In short, your friend here is incredible.”

Nodding, I replied, “Yeah, she is.”

‘Good for her.’ Deep in my heart, I couldn’t deny the fact that I felt like nothing compared to that story. Everyone but me seemed to have something amazing about them. I mean, come on. Lily is known as the ‘Whirling Demon’ And Katsu is the ‘Swordsman of Vengeance.

A cloud flew from my mouth as I sighed.

‘How is someone like me going to save the world when everyone else just outshines me.’

_____

We left the city’s gates and travelled on foot through the hot sun, until we reached a shady forest area. There was a short break to breathe, then we set in motion again, walking an additional ten minutes of boring, slow hiking.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

‘This isn’t how I imaged it when I decided to become an adventurer.’

Then again, this was the reality of it all. There were long, boring carriage rides, and in cases like this, long hikes before you finally reached your destination.

Our party came to a stop when we reached the entrance to a cave. Even with the sun’s bright rays giving light, none of us could see further than 5 feet into the cave.

‘So, this is a dungeon?’

It had a magical darkness to it. Just standing outside, I could sense a slight energy, like static running all throughout my body, giving me chills. The hairs on the back up my beck stood straight up.

“...Is it normal to feel this way?” I asked.

Only a single look, Lily knew just what I was feeling.

“It must be your first time near a dungeon. Am I correct?”

“You’re right but...can you pleases tell me what I’m feeling.” Honestly, this sensation was really scaring me. Couldn’t help but feel like lightning was going to strike me.

A tiny giggle came from Lily, her hand gave me a gently pat on my shoulder.

“There, there. I promise that you will be fine.”

She reassured me that with a little time, my body should adjust to it. It was just the magical energy radiating from the dungeon. Everyone experiences it the first time. A big relief.

Lily turned to face the cave, “Siriest.” a white light leaked from her palm, forming into a ball.

Instantaneously, the entire darkness of the cave lit up, as if we had the world’s strongest flashlight in our possession.

Lily led the way, the ball of light hovering above our heads, grating us vision every turn we took.

I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It was just soo weird, moving as if it had a mind of its own. And every time Lily gave it a command, the orb obeyed.

“Siriest, check that corner.”

It listened.

“Siriest, flew on ahead, search for any threats.”

Again, it obeyed. The orb flew deeper into the cave, leaving us to stand in the dark for a minute. But soon enough, it returned to Lily, landing in her palm. The moment it did, Lily’s aura turned serious. Her usual smile faded; an almost sad expression came onto her face.

“...Oh....That’s unfortunate.”

“What is it?” Olivia asked, she stood in suspense.

Whatever happened, it wasn’t good.

“Siriest detected a body up ahead.” she answered.

“A body?” Olivia, nearly jolted back, “What do you mean?”

But it was clear what she meant.

“She means the body of an adventurer” Tim answered, arms crossed, “A person.”

We all braced ourselves, drawing our weapons. Tim, aiming his bow at the path ahead.

“Keep your eyes open.” Lily started, taking the lead.

The rest of us crept behind, slowly moving up. A trail of blood became clear, leading to a turn up ahead. The closer we got, the more we saw. Dark red handprints smeared across the walls.

Bmp!

My foot rolled over something on the ground, almost throwing me off balance, “Woah!”, but I grabbed ahold of the cave’s wall.

‘What the HECK did I step on?’

Slowly, I looked down. My eyes widened and I jumped back. On the ground in front of me, and arm rested in a puddle of blood. I could see the red, meaty flesh sticking out from where a shoulder used to be.

My eyes closed; head turning away. “Ohhhh, my god...” I muttered, almost gagging, “...That’s soo gross!”

The worst was yet to come. Turning the corner, our entire party froze at the sight in front. A corpse. The mutilated corpse of an adventurer. His face had been ripped apart, and his torso was open, revealing a ribcage, and what was left of this man’s organs.

This scene made my stomach twist and turn. It took of my willpower to not fall to my knees and vomit. The others, however, didn’t seem as bothered as I was. It seemed like they've seen stuff like this before, many times. Olivia, only muttering, “That’s soo sad.”

“And there’s more.” said Lily, her gaze facing further down the cave.

More corpses laid scattered along the ground. But these ones were in worse condition. Intestines and guts were spread out everywhere, blood painting the entire floor. There was nowhere we could step without putting it on our shoes. My eyes counted at least five 6 bodies in total.

Chills ran up and down my spine as I tried to keep it together.

‘Is this really what adventurers see all the time?’

Lily’s figure kneeled, dipping her fingertips in the blood. Examining the red liquid, she rubbed it between her thumb and index finger, slowly. Swifty, she stood up, “none of the blood is dry. And these bodies still look fresh.” As fresh as mutilated bodies could be.

She stood up, “Whatever killed them is still close.”

Very close

[‘Gut Feeling’]

This uneasy feeling came over me. I’ve felt this exact same way before. It felt like danger was near. Like ‘right in front of us’ type of near.

Ba-dump! Ba-Dump!

My started to pound out of my chest. I could sense this weird presence. It felt like we were being watched.

FWSH!

My body sensed a change in wind pressure and flinched back. A pair of glowing blue eyes came towards me. Even in the light, I couldn’t even see its body, just its eyes. I leaned back as these eyes got close, close enough to strike me. A gust of wind flew past my face with the power to take my head clean off. By a centimeter, it missed, only taking a strand of my hair.

“Ahh!” I couldn’t help but scream as I reacted.

I drew my Katanna without wasting a second and leaped forward. Using my body weight to thrust it, I felt its tip stab through the body of this invisible creature.

Bmp!

I fell to the floor with it, yanking my blade from its body.

Shank!

[Exp >>>]

The spec on the ground warped and glitched like a tv screen, before a scrawny grey figure was revealed, blood pouring out of its torso. Teeth that were like nails and claws that were like daggers, all these features made this thing a horrifying monster.

I jumped back to my feet, stepping back, still in shock.

“What WAS that??!” I shouted.

Lily drew her sword and panned the room, “They’re called Horrors! If there’s one of them, there’s more!” she yelled out a command to the orb floating above us.

“Siriest, Surge Lighting! Now!” sizzling streaks of purple lighting shot out from the orb, striking the walls and wiggling up and down the floors. This went on for about 5 seconds before abruptly stopping.

We were surrounded. All around us, tall grey figures were revealed to us, a dozen different pairs of eyes glowing blue. There was a moment of silence, before the monsters began to move, spiriting forward. We were swarmed.

Lily and the others were already engaged in combat, doing their best not to fall. One wrong move from any of us, and we’d end up like those corpses. One of the Horror’s dashed at me, thrusting it’s claws at my throat.

[‘Speed Boost’]

Just barley, my body weaved to the side. I spun around, swinging my blade through the back of its neck. Like a knife though butter, its head came clean off, blood spurting all over me. As nasty as it was, my sole focus was on the fight.

Out the corner of my view, I saw another one attempting to sneak up on me.

FWSH!

A slash came for the side of my skull, but I ducked underneath and slid between its legs. A swing upwards, my Katana sliced its body up the middle, splitting it in two.

A sudden impact struck me on the side of my ribcage, sending me to the floor. The breath was nearly knocked out of my body, but my armor absorbed most of the impact. Before I could try to get back on my feet, a Horror jumped on top of me. I grabbed the handle to my blade and shoved it through the creature's throat. Blood sprayed all over my face as the monster tried to stay upright. With a firm shove, its body went limp, falling over.

Fwsh!

A chill shot throughout my body and I send a slash coming down at me. My body tensed up every muscle just so I could roll out of harm's way. My life pretty much flashed before my eyes as a set of claws stabbed into the ground, inches away from my head. The Horror’s rageful blue eyes stared into the depths of my soul, I could feel it. Overwhelming fear. It tried to pull its claws from the ground, but it looked like it was stuck pretty good. I wasn’t going to wait around and wait for it to free itself. Jumped to my feet and lifted my katana. With an overhead slash, I removed its head, sending it rolling across the floor.

Tmp. Tmp. Tmp.

The sound of footsteps rushed from behind me. I spun around and lifted my blade to shield myself. But it wasn't enough.

I was tackled to the floor, losing my grip on my sword. On hand pining my neck to the ground, the Horror raised its claws, the sharpened tips rapidly to impale my face. Grinding my teeth, I shot an angry glare into its eyes, gathering all my might to wiggle free. Still, it just wasn’t enough. The Horror was far stronger than I was, I couldn’t even move.

Fwsh!

My eyes shut tightly as the claws thrusted at my face.

There was a sudden whistle through the air, then a splat. I waited and waited for what I was sure was going to be my death. The weight on top of my shifted to the side, falling over with a thump.

“Don’t worry, I got you.” Tim's voice spoke.

What just happened? I sat up right away, seeing the Horrors dead body next to me, an arrow through its head. One thing’s for sure, his aim was incredible.

His hand reached out for my wrist then swiftly pulled me on balance.

“I gotta say. You fought pretty well for a lady.” he complimented me, seeing the monster corpses behind me.

“Yeah...” I chuckled, muttering. “But still not good enough.”

After all that, we only received scratched for the most part. The only real injury was David’s shoulder.

“Ssss. OW that hurts!” We had him rest against the cave’s wall, as Olivia examined his wound. It wasn’t exactly pretty. There was a lot of blood, soaking his shirt. Even the bone was visible.

“Looks pretty bad.” Olivia frowned.

“I know that! Just tell me, can you do something about it.” He snarled.

Olivia’s frown quickly formed into a smile.

“Of course I can. This isn’t the worst I’ve seen.”

Her gentle, soft hand touched his shoulder. Brightly, a green light illuminated his wound, and his skin and flesh slowly pulled itself back together, until the wound was completely gone. Gone, without any sign of ever existing.

Olivia went around to each of us, checking us for injuries, giving heals where they were needed. When she was done fixing everyone up, that signaled that it was time to keep moving forward.

‘I just want to get this dungeon over with.’

My armor and cloves were stained with blood. It was dry and disgusting. A bath was well-needed. I just wanted to go home. My body was already exhausted from just that one fight.

It wasn’t long until we arrived at a pair of giant red doors.

The boss room.