Snow injected even more light magic into her blade to the point where Galador's wound would not heal. The holy fire burned and cackled continuously, leaving behind an ugly opening. Mr. Rogers realized what was going to happen. He rushed over to grab hold of Snow. Picking her up by the waist, he jumped off of Galador’s back.

Snow was thrown off the side of Galador. Her sword disappeared as they both free fell from the sky. Red’s blood wings extended outwards, pushing them back up into the air.

A blast of fire that vibrated the very air was shot out of Quetzal’s mouth. Galador was ravaged entirely by the fire. Her screeches were painfully high, giving Snow a terrible headache.

“Quetzal!” Galador screeched in pain. “I curse you and your human!”

A powerful spell of dark magic swirled around each and every one of them. Black and red swirls of magic from Galador wrapped around everyone, tightening around them.

Snow shouted in alarm, “Purge!”

But for some reason, the magic that she tried to conjure up didn’t work. It was as if the spell was wrapped around with a tight chain, pushing her down with its immense power. Was she out of magic? Yes, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t completely out to do one last spell.

Suddenly, a black apparition of a snake appeared out of the smoke. It hissed, reeling backward and dove into Snow’s heart. With a sudden shock, Snow was momentarily paralyzed. A burst of light magic retaliated, leaving her unable to move.

“What the hell is this?!” Mike shouted in complete disbelief. He was shaking, trying to whack the black snake away. A few times, he succeeded, the snake couldn’t get past his hand and bite down. An ugly black tattoo of a bird ran up his arm.

“What?! A curse?!” Red was quickly conjuring up magic, trying to combat the curse, trying to bite her to death. With a handful of magic that she was able to round up, she tightened a rope around its neck. The snake hissed and retaliated and bit her in the shoulder. A hissing sound followed after, leaving behind a black tattoo of a bird on her shoulder.

Mr. Rogers was unaffected by the curse. He raised up his hand, snapping his fingers. In seconds, the black energy was caged in a blood cage. His brows furrowed, his hand fought hard to crush the curse. Blood magic spiraled rapidly around his fingers, until finally, it burst, completely squandering it. Even still, the small leftover of the curse fluttered downward and snatched onto Me—Roger’s fingers. A small black tattoo appeared, leaving a slight sting.

Rodney couldn’t do anything. Just like Snow, he was cursed on the spot, but his tattoo delved deeply into both his eyes, making him completely blind.

Dairen struggled hard. He cursed sweating. Black magic around fought back, chaining the curse. It disappeared, leaving a marking down his neck and a part of his right arm.

Galador’s feathers were burnt to crisp, leaving behind nothing but a dungeon core that broke right after.

“I can’t believe this.” Red cried. “This is a legendary curse. We are going to need a miracle to undo this.”

“Calm down.” Snow said, “we just need to figure out how to undo mine first, and I can lift it.”

“Wait, you’re cursed too?” Red said in disbelief.

“Yes, I don’t know how, but one of my skills is not working.”

“That’s not possible….”

“Let’s think about this later.” Snow knew that getting out of the dungeon was a priority. They didn’t know when the dungeon would completely collapse, trapping them in the process.

The dungeon core broke. They defeated an S class monster!

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“Quit, squirming, Ms. Snow.” Mr. Roger hissed. “My blood wings can’t keep me afloat forever with you squirming around in my arms.”

“Sorry.” Snow froze. She didn’t want to die, and his wings were keeping them afloat just enough for Quetzal to come swooping from above and under, allowing Mr. Rogers to drop Snow onto his Quetzal.

Snow dropped down. Her legs gave out. She sat in place, while Mr. Rogers dropped down next to her.

“Snow!” Dairen came running over like a worried hen. He looked her up and down, finding relief that she was okay. Grabbing her shoulder, he shook her. “Are you insane?!”

Snow didn’t answer. She didn’t have much energy too and flopped onto their back.

“Let it go.” Mike had grabbed Dairen’s shoulder. “We won.”

Dairen sighed, gripping his hand into a fist. He then turned his back, unable to say anything else.

The dungeon core broke, causing the dungeon to groan. Red was jumping up and down excitedly, shouting, “I was right!” like a mad scientist.

“My theory was correct!” Red would have made a blunder if Mr. Rogers didn’t pull him out of harm’s way from falling off the side. She would have fallen. Her ignorance of the situation made Snow furrow with contempt. In her hand was a device that she waved around, testing the very air.

Nobody knew when she pulled such a device out, but they could tell that it was important.

“What are you doing?” Mr. Roger snapped. He was getting annoyed at Red’s craziness of not paying attention.

“My theory is correct,” Red said with a daze. “The dungeon is slowly reverting back to its original world. The dungeon core that just broke expelled out a large amount of magical energy, causing a huge wave of disruptions. We will need to get out of this dungeon as soon as possible.”

Mr. Rogers thought over what she said.

Snow, who was oddly paying attention, pushed herself up. “Quetzal!” She shouted.

Quetzal turned his large head and said, “Yes, human?”

“Please take us to that city building!” She pointed; Quetzal saw where Snow wanted to go.

“If you wish.”

With a powerful blast of his wing, he dived downward. It was an exhilarating ride that swooped downward. For a moment, Snow thought her heart would jump into her throat by the terrifying spiral below. It reminded her of a rollercoaster.

Suddenly, stopping in full halt. Quetzal back pumped his wings, stopping his rapid descent. This time, hovering over the building that they have first landed on. Luckily, the helicopter was still intact.

Snow slipped off, she landed lightly on her feet. The others jumped off as well, happy that they were on the ground. Only Rodney slid down with a stumble. He was caught by Snow, who saw that he was about to fall face-first onto the ground.

“Thanks,” Rodney said with a strain. “Who knew that this curse would get my eyes.”

“That is a hefty price.” Snow frowned. She wondered what the price of the curse was for her.

“Human,” Quetzal said with a booming voice. “When you leave this place, your curse from Galador will take full effect.”

“What?!” said Red with a horrible frown. She stomped her foot, angry. “Is it not contained?”

Quetzal shook his head. “A death curse is not a simple curse to undo. My powers as of now are not enough to completely eradicate it, but…” He turned his head toward Snow, “if you undo hers, her god will work through her to heal all the problems that will fail you. “Instead, I would give each of you a portion of my blessing to lessen the curse and slow the progress. You have three years before the curse goes into full effect.”

A burning fire of holy light gently surrounded all of them—a branded chain wrapped around each bird tattoo.

“This is my second gift.” Quetzal reached toward his wings, plucking out six feathers and scraping off six scales. The gifts flew toward everyone as it turned into different forms of accessory.

For Snow, it turned into a pin that stuck to her armor. It was a small golden snake with wings. A powerful lull of magic was humming in the pendant.

“This is also another part of me, growing to assist you in your magic.” Quetzal shook his head. “Now, humans. Let us not meet again.” He spread his wings, shooting up into the sky, leaving them all behind.

It was a quick goodbye that left a tinge of emptiness. Snow wasn’t a huge fan of Quetzal, but to feel the S-Class dungeon's completion brought a huge relief. The stress that she accumulated made her tired. The thought of going back home and sleeping her days away lulled her back home.

“Well, ladies.” Mr. Rogers said he was already heading toward the helicopter. “It’s time for us to get out of here.”

“Yes.” Snow agreed.

They started to get in, sitting down as the helicopter turned on.

“I hope the curse isn’t as bad as we think.” Mike dryly chuckled, trying to lessen up the sour mood, but he wasn’t exactly succeeding.

“I’m blind.” Rodney grunted, “I can’t see shit.”

“Well, you got the worst end of it.”

“Exactly, I’m a bit upset that I couldn’t kick Galador around. It's frustrating how weak I am, still.”

“I’m with you on that.” Mike let out a defeated sigh. “We got a lot of things we need to work on when we get back home.”

The helicopter took off, shaking temporarily as it flew in the sky.

Snow stared at the destruction that was left behind by the epic battle between Galador and Quetzal. She didn’t know the amount of death that was present from such a terrifying battle, but at that moment, she heard the soft screams of the dead screaming in pain and anguish of the loss of life.

With a sharp intake of breath, her body tensed.

Dairen’s hand slipped in to grab hold of Snow’s hand with concern. Snow snapped in his direction and silently thanked him. The comfort of his warm hand kept the noisy thoughts at bay, bringing in much-needed relief.

It didn’t take long for them to exit out of the dungeon.

At that moment, Snow felt something was wrong. She didn’t know what, but it bothered her. What was it?

A burst of pain erupted on her head and her heart. Her eyes watered, she blinked a few times. It took a while to get the feeling under control.

Feeling the slight tug of her hand, she looked down. Someone’s handheld hers tightly. Following the trail of their entwined finger, she looked up. A familiar but a stranger's face stared at her.

Who was he?

“Who are you?” Snow asked, cocking her head at the strangers in front of her.