"Impossible," the Gnome said again like a parrot. It was as if that was the only word he knew at this moment. "How can you all be alive?"

The Players kept their mouth shut, enjoying the disbelief of the Gnome. They, too, didn't want to give up the precious gift that Snow had showered them with. If the enemy knew, they knew that the monsters would try to kill her.

Their hearts were resolved, even more, keeping the silence of the secret between them like a brotherhood.

"Things happened." Snow shrugged her shoulder, telling him that this was just the norm.

"Damn it. From that ridiculous force of freaks, killing off my pets and now proliferating Players?! Unbelievable."

"You know for a gnome, you say the most unintelligent things." Snow slyly said and smirked. "I heard your species were intelligent, but I guess not."

"I am so!" The Gnome was furious that he was being made fun of.

"Then why don't you join in on the fight. We were waiting for you all night, and I feel pretty refreshed. I got to thank you for this long break. It was much needed." Snow pretended to yawn and stretch.

This infuriated the Gnome even more. He shook his fat fingers at her, throwing incoherent words that sounded like gibberish. Even if she didn't understand, she could tell that he was furious at her as he shook his hand, stomped his feet, and spat saliva in anger.

Snow could guess that the Gnome was probably cursing at her with his language, but she didn't care. They didn't have the magical power to curse her anyway as he wasn't the dungeon master, nor did she feel that the Gnome had the magical capability to harm her.

It took a moment for the Gnome to calm down and look at them with a neutral expression. Even still, the end of his eyebrow perked up, saying that he wasn't calm at all.

The thought of irritating the Gnome was satisfying. These so-called game masters were all monsters to be killed.

With a deep strained breath, the Gnome spoke, "Fine." He touched his bald head once, before saying anything else, "I'll join in the fun."

An evil smile dashed across his face, reminding Snow of a snake.

"Please do." Snow retorted back. She was excited that he took the bait.

"You'll regret this."

"Oh, I will." The words that sprouted out from her mouth didn't seem convinced by what he had said. Which irritated the Gnome even more.

If he couldn't get any more annoyed, Snow confidently stared back, ready to take on the challenge that the Gnome was going to throw upon them. She knew she shouldn't be overly confident, but it was just too good to be reliable at the thought of such a monster joining in on the so-called "fun."

"You're going to die." The gnome's words sounded like empty threats to Snow's ears. She just waved it off as if it was another casual conversation that one would have with their friends.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Her silence infuriated the Gnome even more. Any further, Snow would have thought he would blow up and pop like a balloon. His face was tomato red.

The Gnome yelled, "Get up! Get up! Get up!" With a hurried, angered tone. "Kill all these bastards now!"

With a thundering roar, the ground shook. Skeletons, once again, pushed their way out from the hard soil.

"Get ready into position!" Snow shouted. The final three waves were coming. She flexed her fingers before grabbing her katana-like sword. Her eyes were glued to the emerging monsters as she took her first swing and lopped off the head of the skeleton that was coming out from the ground.

As one, the Player's Snow addressed retaliated. The sudden brash action caused the other Players to lunge into their own frenzy. Their blood boiled in excitement at the thought of fighting alongside Snow as she didn't seem tired.

Rye found it both strange and impressive that Snow, a woman, was able to command such respect from the Players. He had never seen much interaction with the Players until now. He had heard about the whispers of the receptionist from the Dragon Express. Her quick-witted thoughts caught the attention of Mr Rogers.

Such information at that time was strange, almost alien. At first, nobody believed the rumors, mostly because it seemed so fantastical. Another alien race coming from a different dimension. Who would have thought that something like this would ever happen, especially the returning of the dungeons?

Rye didn't sit back. This time, he too went in to assist. Snapping the skeleton's around him with a flick of his wrist as the whip smashed and destroyed many more. It was quite a sight to see for his whip didn't just stop with one or two, but many flurries of blur snapped around him like a tornado.

Skeletons fell to the ground in droves, taking out a whole third of the swarm. Such astronomical eradication completely baffled the Gnome, who was staring at them with a gaping jaw. The Gnome didn't expect a hidden dragon, sleeping amongst the Players. He thought he made sure to screen out the stronger Players by making them addicted to the game.

To find Snow amid the Players were annoying, but manageable. But to find another was ludicrous. He didn't expect a vampire to appear inside the dungeon itself.

"To hell with this!" The gnome was raving mad.

Already, the skeletons that the Gnome had called upon were eradicated, because of the two unforeseen forces. Snow and Rye took out more than three-fifths of the skeletons around them. The rest were easily picked off by the Players, which caused no casualties. Such a thing never happened before in the entirety of the Gnome career.

"I'm going to kill you all!" The Gnome jumped off the muscled man's shoulder. He stomped on the ground, causing a ruckus as he did a strange dance.

Snow beelined directly towards the Gnome. Excited at his impatience and change of heart. She was hoping for him to become even angrier and fight on impulse. Her sword wooshed around him like a hawk: diving, swooping, and even striking in the air around her.

Every wave of her arm, she sliced the enemy effortlessly.

If Snow didn't know any better, she would have thought they were made out of jelly on how easily her sword cut through the thick bones. The only hiccups she would have is when she found the ones that had armor. Her sword would bounce off, making her swish her sword into open areas, which wasn't as easy but doable. Her control had improved exponentially, making her attacks even deadlier than before.

Like a white panther, her graceful attacks were fierce and formidable. She slithered through the new waves and made it straight to the annoying Gnome.

If she didn't know any better, she would have thought he was throwing gang signs or flicking her off with his wild finger manipulations and chanting of an unknown language. Snow chuckled to herself for a split moment at his ridiculous gesture. The small bit of magic that the Gnome actually sparkled around him like fireflies.

A woosh of crackling power spiraled around the Gnome. She saw the magical sigil light up with a powerful force.

"Rye!" Snow shouted. Her eyes caught the darting figure from the opposite side of her. "A summoning circle!"

Rye stopped what he was doing. He raced towards the Gnome as well.

Snow whirled her magic around her sword, tightening and reinforcing it with her light magic. Not many could stare at her any longer without getting blinded. Even Rye had to squint, allowing his own force of energy to counter the blinding power that she was unconsciously summoning.

With a bellow, Snow yelled as her sword struck the Gnome in half. Splitting him down the middle. At the last moment, the Gnome, who was too focused on his chant, didn't see Snow's glowing sword and died with a miserable, but angry face.

Even still, her last attack didn't stop the Gnome from finishing off his magical summon. Snow was late by a few seconds as the magical sigil blinded her. The muscle man that the Gnome usually stood on rushed into the very magical sigil. She jumped backwards quickly, distanced herself, and tripped upon landing. Her eyes saw spots momentarily. She wobbled, catching her balance.

A grinding of bones, followed by a painful sound of tearing of flesh could be heard inside the light.

Snow could not see.

Eventually, her eyes focused.

What blessed her sight was a sizable skeletal monster with heavy armor don head to toe. It was three times bigger than her height. A sense of familiarity could be seen from the skeletal monster that had a hint of ragtag pieces of flesh dangling from its white bones.

She had misjudged her timing on killing the Gnome as it clattered with malice. It swung its large hand that was the size of her body side-to-side and tried to grab Snow.

Snow pushed off her leg, feeling a bit tense, hopping around like a jumping bean. She was adamant about not getting caught.

The skeleton stomped on the ground, annoyed. It cackled as its eyes burned eerily green. Each stomp raised the dead from the ground like roaches. More minions surrounded the giant skeleton, becoming a bit difficult to maneuver.

Rye's whip flashed across the air, wrapping it around the skeleton's arm. With a vicious tug with his thin arms, the skeleton was yanked forward.

Snow skedaddled out from underneath.