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CHAPTER 19: The taste of being alive

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Hiroko's POV

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        “Say, Hiroko, if you were back on earth, and met me on the street, would you say hi to me?” I hear a voice but no matter how hard I tried to reply or talk, I couldn’t. “Say Hiroko, I finally remember who you are."

        Who are you?! I asked in my mind while my consciousness limbos in the dark.

        “Say Hiroko.” I can hear him speak in pain and it suffocates my heart to hear him like that. “I wished none of this happened and we all could be friends back at our world. Even if we all get back, I can’t forgive everyone.”

        What? I couldn’t understand what’s going on.

     “But I don’t regret it. I don’t regret meeting all of you. I don’t regret…giving you the scholarship. I was happy at that moment I was able to help you.” His voice echoed in my mind over and over again.

        I need to wake up…I whisper in my mind trying to force my eyes to open. I knew I was in a dream. I need to wake up!

     "Say Hiroko, you want to know why I gave you that scholarship?" He asked me and even when I wanted to ask him why I couldn't. "It's simple and easy actually, I fell in love. It was love at first sight. I wanted to help you and see you smile. But who knew, I would forget your face through time."

      I wanted to hug him. To let him know I’m here. Come on! Wake up! I shouted in my mind over and over trying to force myself.

     But what he said pierced my heart shattering it to pieces. “I guess…I didn’t love you that much after all.”

        I hear footsteps rustling across me and the footsteps slowly are getting weaker and weaker as if he was walking away from me.  

          W-wait! Don’t go! No! Don’t go!I shout in my mind and even when I want to reach my hand out towards the dark, I couldn’t. I kept trying and trying till I suddenly woke up.

         “Don’t go!!!” I opened my eyes to the rustling of the trees. Akane grabbed my hand and looked down to me with tears coming out of her eyes.

         "Hiroko! Hiroko! Hiroko-chan!" I hear different voices screaming my name around me. I felt sick by just moving my eyes and even when they sound so close, my consciousness felt distant. I hear them calling out my name over and over again as I notice Balo’s face, Kumiko-sensei, Junpei, and Akane all looking down at me with tears running across their cheeks. Thinking it’s a dream, I gave them a smile before I fell back to sleep and wake up to my nightmare.  

        My conscious slowly eased into the sound of wood crackling in a fire. I hear the wood get shuffled and my mind managed to picture embers coming off the flames and landing onto the grass.

       Huh? I slowly opened my eyes as I hear what sounds like a river. As my vision slowly adjusts in the dark, I noticed I'm inside a makeshift hut. I'm laying down a leaf bed and to my right, Akane is huddled close to me sleeping. Her eyes seem puffy probably from crying. As I try to move my position, I see Kumiko-sensei to my left sleeping. It was difficult to sit up with them so close but when I managed to, I looked at my hands trembling in fear.

      It wasn’t a dream after all. I asked myself in my mind as I hugged myself. I couldn’t remove the feeling of my flesh being punctured and driving my mind crazy. I tried to relax myself reassuring I’m safe since I’m with them now, but I need to know how I got out. If my last memory before passing out was correct and not my imagination.

      “Ughh….” I feel like my head is splitting open. I tried to swallow my own saliva, but my throat is so dry it made me want to puke. Due to the darkness in the room, the light that's coming through the entrance is giving me a headache. I decided to close it since it's hurting my eyes and that's when I hear the boys talking to each other.

      “Fucking Rikimura. when I find him, I’m going to riddle him with holes. That fucking psychopath.” Junpei says.

      “But that’s weird. Why would he leave her for us to find her? Don’t get me wrong; I’m glad we found her with injuries we can heal. But if we look at what he did to Akane and Sawada, it seems out of character.” Balo replies.

      “I don’t really care. All I know now is that Rikimura needs to be dealt with. If we don’t deal with him now, he will come after the rest of our group later on.” Junpei says. I hear someone tossing more wood into the fireplace. That’s when I decided to step out of the tent. As I got out, I noticed we’re still inside the forest and our camp is next to a river and it's currently nighttime.

      “Hiroko!” Junpei screams as he sees me. He quickly got close to me to aid me towards the fire pit. I gestured for him to be quiet since Akane and Kumiko-sensei are still sleeping. He nods, and I see Balo coming to my side also to help me sit. I feel like my entire body went through rigorous training and every joint hurt to just even move. 

      “How do you feel? Are you all right? Can you talk? You should rest more, I’m here and I won’t let anything harm you again. Do you feel any pain? Do you-“ I interrupted him by placing my finger in front of his lips gesturing him to be quiet. His nonstop questions and concern are overwhelming me.

      "W-w-water," I whisper and Balo quickly goes to the stream and using a giant leaf rolled as a cone, he scooped up water and came running to me. As soon as he hands me the water, I gulp it down not thinking if it’s safe to drink directly from the stream. “M-m-more.”

       I gave him back the leaf cone. Balo then ran back to the stream of water and got more water. After drinking my fill, I relax my body near the fire since the night air is making me shiver. Junpei removed his school jacket and placed it over me. I leaned against a log next to it. My body feels really worn out. I feel really sluggish and exhausted.

         “Ugh…Akane…what is it... it’s night out and Hiroko needs slee----huh? Hiroko!! Junpei! Balo! Hiroko is gone!” I hear Kumiko-sensei shout frantically as both of them run out the tent with pale expressions. As soon as they seem me, I weakly waved towards them and I can see Akane crying a lot more and the color on Kumiko-sensei face slowly returned as she sighs with relief. Akane rushes towards my side and hugs me so tight I felt like I was being squeezed to death. I was about to say something, but I can feel her whole body shaking. Knowing the fact that I am able to see her and everyone else made tears pour out my eyes to the point it became uncontrollable sobs. I hugged Akane back and just cried. I cried trying to drown my tormented memories.

       It’s still the middle of the night and I can see the moon right above us. After drinking a few more times, I’m able to talk with only feeling a subtle sting down my throat every time I raise my voice. Seems like I screamed my lungs off and remembering the cave, I couldn’t remove the picture in my mind of myself, begging and screaming in pain. I tell them my experience with Rikimura-san and what I went through. I can see Junpei's eyes fueled with fury. Kumiko-sensei eyes are on the verge of tears and I can see Akane already crying like crazy. I don't blame her, we both had to go through Rikimura-san's psychopathic nature.

         "…and that's all I remember," I say to them ending my story.

        “Wait…you mean someone saved you? That can’t be possible. Remember what Luro said to us? We're the only ones here from earth. Aside from the natural inhabitants that were created with the planet, we are the only ones here from earth." Balo says as he analyzes my story.

        “Its ok now Hiroko, we'll never let you out of our sight again," Kumiko-sensei says as she hugs me and the warmth of her body was reassuring. After I calmed down, we started eating boar meat.

        “I thought it was all a dream till you guys found me outside the dungeon. It all seems to connect. I’m sure it’s him.” I say as my voice that rings out my mouth doesn’t sound like mine. “I’m sure he from earth. His back looks familiar as if he-“

        I stopped myself from talking and stared at the ground thinking of different scenarios. How can he be here?Why did Luro bring him here? He’s already having a hard time? Why him?

        So many questions ran through my mind as I watched his back in my memories over and over again.

        “Hiroko? Are you okay?” Kumiko sensei asked me, and I snap out of my own world giving her a nod. 

         “Besides, it seems like Rikimura-san also know who he is," I tell them. "The minute he saw him, he didn’t ask him who are you. He said, ‘Why are you here?’. So, he must know who he is.”

         I stare at Junpei who seems to be thinking the same thing I am. It can only be two options. One, it’s the one I am looking for and Rikimura-san and he are acquainted back at earth or two, it's Yasu. My heart suddenly beats faster at the thought of Yasu being outside of the dungeon. I started to trail off everyone presence and started talking in my mind.

       No, no no no it can’t be. As much as I want to believe it, it seems impossible for him to get out the dungeon unless Luro brought him out. Knowing his nature, he would rather watch him suffer than help him. Wait….a-am I hoping it’s not him? No…no…no don’t think about it.

 I felt a tug on my shirt and as I looked, I see Akane with a worried expression looking at me. I gave her a smile as I touch her hand which still grabbed on my shirt.

       My shirt?I say in my mind looking down and noticed I’m wearing clothes that aren’t mine. “M-m-my clothes?!”

       I cross my arms trying to cover myself as if I was naked. The humiliation of them seeing me naked is turning me red from embarrassment.

       “D-d-don’t worry. When we got there, Akane had you covered up the most important parts. And I well; I don’t need my shirt, so I gave you mine. Balo had spare pants inside his dimensional bag so he gave it to you. The only thing is uh…umm underwear… we didn’t have any.”

        Junpei says fidgeting on his spot. Now that he mentions it, he’s wearing nothing under his metal armor. I relaxed a bit knowing the fact that they didn’t see me. Then I remembered.

        Rikimura-san. He-he almost…..his…..his thing almost…

       The thought of him ravaging my insides like I'm his toy brought shudders and disgust. I started shaking from fear as my breathing became unstable. I placed my head down while hugging my knees as I closed my eyes trying to forget those nightmares.

        I never want to go through that again.Akane placed her hand on top of my shoulder and shook me awake from my thoughts. She then starts pointing at herself and a happy expression filled her face. I thought she was telling me to look at her but, it was actually something else.

       “Huh? I don’t understand. What is it Akane? Are you happy? I'm also happy to see yo--” I tell her, and she interrupts me when shakes her head gesturing no. She pointed at herself again and this time she tried to mouth her intentions.

        “ee oo emmm?” I ask her while trying to read her lips. She shakes her head again. Then her face changed like she had an idea. Then she pointed at Balo and gesture for him to stomp the ground flat. Akane grabbed the smallest stick in the ground and started writing on the spot Balo just stomped flat.  After she finished, I moved closer to read it out loud.

       “I saw him. I saw him?” I read what she wrote when it suddenly hit me. You saw him?! What does he look like?!!”

       My interest peaked way beyond what my body can handle, and I feel tired by just having a sudden outburst of energy.  

       “Relax Hiroko-chan. Your body, it’s not fully healed yet.” Kumiko-sensei tells me as she forces me to sit back down and calm myself.

      “I’m ok…I’m ok…Akane, please tell me. Tell me what he looks like.” I ask her. No, actually I begged her. This is the closest I have been to know his full appearance. Akane started writing again and I quickly turned my attention to the ground.

       “He looks really scary.” I read it out loud as she wrote it. She erased what she wrote and wrote a new one, “I saw him carrying you.”  

       “So, he was the one who brought you to us," Balo says. Akane started writing again and I read it aloud as she writes.

       “When we locked eyes, we just stared at each other.” I read and after a few seconds, she erases it and writes a new one. “He gave off a feeling similar to Luro.”

        “Wait don’t tell me he’s Luro’s henchman?” Balo asked and we all remained quiet. I see Akane erase the floor again. This time, Balo continued to read as I felt exhausted.

        “He was hurt. Blood was dripping from a wound.” The minute Balo read it my heart sank. Knowing he got hurt protecting me is unbearable. My eyes started tearing up. I wanted to run out of the forest and find him. He helped me but he's out there all alone, without no one to care for him. I really wanted to find him.

       “D-did he say anything?!” I run to Akane grabbing her arms. She was surprised at my sudden outburst but as her expression calmed down, she shook her head side to side.

       “Akane, after he saw you, what did he do?” Balo asked her and she stomped on the ground again to write.

       “He just ran away.” Kumiko-sensei read it this time and I didn’t know what to think.  

       “Ran away?” Junpei asked. Akane just nodded.

       “Huh? Why would he do that? Did he see us as a threat also?” Kumiko-sensei asked herself.  While they’re thinking about the situation, in my mind, it’s filled with him. He saved me and yet, I couldn’t save him. Here I am regaining my energy without a wound, but he’s all by himself somewhere hurt with no one there to help him. He saved me the second time. And yet I can't even save him at least once. The thought made my heart drown in pain. I rest my head on my knees while hugging my legs sitting in a fetal position. I can feel Akane sit right beside me and hugs me. Even though I can’t hear her crying, I know she is. My sobs have become loud and uncontrollable. The whole camp is got quiet, and my cries echoed through the woods. I cried through the night until exhaustion has succumbed me.

       I woke up the next day feeling a lot worse I couldn't sleep because of the nightmares I get of my horrible experience. My energy hasn’t come back even though it didn't ache anymore, I feel very heavy to just move around. I step out of the tent and see everyone moving about. I noticed Jumpei sharpening a few sticks, which made my stomach turn remembering Rikimura do the same.

       “Oh morning Hiroko, you should rest. We won't leave until you are fully healed. Just relax inside the tent. And don't worry, we'll be right here. We won't let Rikimura or anyone else harm you. I promise.” Junpei says and I nod and retreat back inside.

       I lie down and stare at the sunlight passing through small holes in the ceiling made of tree leaves.

        "I wonder what's he doing now," I say to myself as I slowly doze off.

        I woke up with another nightmare and gasping for air. My whole body is covered in sweat and I see Akane huddled next to me. I decided to step out to get fresh air and I noticed it's nighttime already. As I approach the entrance of the tent to exit out, I head a conversation that stopped me from my tracks. I worked my way closer to the entrance and listen to their conversation.

        “I’m telling you, that looked like his camp. I didn’t want to go inside just in case he there.” I hear Balo whisper.

        “What should we do? Should we get everyone else first then confront him? I think with all of us together, he can't overpower us.” I hear Kumiko-sensei reply.

        Ah, the others I forgot about them. I whisper in my mind not wanting to make a noise.Only Balo, Junpei, Kumiko-sensei, and Akane are here. The others, I guess they're back at the camp near the lake and the giant tree.

        “Should we tell Hiroko?” I hear Balo asked which Junpei replied without hesitation.

        “No. She has been through enough as it is. I don’t want her to re-live what she went through. Balo, I’ll go tomorrow, early morning. I’ll surprise attack him. If he’s sleeping, he can’t use his skill on me. Tell me how to get there.” Junpei says.

        “No dude, that’s dangerous. What happens if he gets an upper hand on you? I think we all need to go together.” Balo says. “This way, we can protect each other if he decided to use the skill.”

       “I agree.” Kumiko-sensei agrees and I can hear them lower their voice mumbling to each other. I guess they’re trying to make a plan on how to deal with Rikimura.

       I quickly lay back down my leaf bed.So many thoughts in my mind that it made it harder for me to sleep through the night. I woke up earlier than everyone else. Basically, I couldn't sleep due to my nightmares so I just lay down with my eyes closed. Balo is in night watch while Junpei, Kumiko-sensei, and Akane are all inside the tent sleeping. The next morning, they explained to me their plan and Junpei was hesitant of letting me go. I agreed knowing that, I need to get a closure or else, I’ll keep getting nightmares. I didn't want to live in fear always watching my back to see if he’s there. I wanted him gone.

       After eating breakfast in silence, we all got ready to find the hideout I was kept in. Even though I tried to look confident, I know for the fact that inside I’m scared. I’m scared to go through that again. I’m scared to even set a foot in there. But I have to. Rikimura is the only one who knows who he is.

         If going back inside Rikimura-san hideout will give me nightmares, then so be it. I say in my mind to stop myself from shaking but my hands couldn’t stop. I kept them inside my pockets so nobody can notice my fear. We walked through the dense forest while Balo leads the way. It seems like he's the one that found the hideout while he was scouting around for boars with Kumiko-sensei. After a while of following the marks he left on the tree's we found the hideout. It was a cave entrance covered in dirt and leaves making it difficult to see from far away. As we stood near the entrance, my heart palpitated so fast I felt sick. I wanted to throw up as my memories of the cave haunted me over and over again. Akane and Kumiko-sensei stroke my back trying to calm me down and after a while of trying to control my breathing, I managed to calm down as long as I avert my gaze away from the cave.

        “Ok guys, I found other caves in the area but this one was different," Balo whispers to us as we slowly crept inside the entrance. I kept my gaze down the ground and barely listened as I tried to flood my thoughts of happy memories I had back at home. My heart feels like its going to pop out of my chest. My breathing became irregular and I tried to hide it but somehow, I feel like oxygen inside the cave is getting thinner and thinner than I had to stop.

       “Hiroko, are you okay?” Kumiko-sensei quickly got beside me and I see all of them have a worried look.

       “Y-yea, I’m fine. Let's move on." I told them trying to force a smile but deep inside of me, I want to cry. Akane quickly grabbed my hands and hugged it. I can see her eyes are getting teary and I told her I’m okay. Akane gave me a smile and somehow it made me felt a bit relaxed calming down a bit knowing she’s right beside me.  

         Yes, Hiroko. You're not alone this time. Your friends are here. You can do this. I say in my mind and we all push forwards deeper in the cave.

        “There, you see that? Look at the floor. That rock looks like it slides sideways.” Balo points towards a rock formation on the wall. The floor had skid marks of the rock being pushed side to side.

        “Okay, Balo, Let’s open it.” Junpei whispers and both of them move towards the rock. The boys pushed the rock sideways exposing a bigger gap. A gust of wind came out of the inside formation and an atrocious smell exited the cave that is similar to feces and body liquids mixed together on a hot summer day. The smell was so strong that it brought us back out the cave gasping for fresh air. Balo, Kumiko-sensei, and Akane threw up while Junpei tried to hold it in. I remember being covered in my own piss and shit that it didn’t affect me as much.

        “Ugh, what in the actual fuck…” Balo says as he wiped his mouth.

        “Are you sure that’s his cave?” Kumiko-sensei asks as she finished vomiting.

        “I Don’t know. I never really went that far inside.” Balo says.

        "Well, there only one way to find out," Junpei say as he walked towards us after vomiting on a tree. After a while of breathing fresh air, we all decided to lurk inside the cave one more time. Akane stayed behind me grabbing my leather armor. Junpei is in front of us while Balo stays near the back behind Kumiko-sensei. The smell was less since it escaped to the outside but it was still strong enough to make them occasionally gag. We then got to the far end of the inside cave and another entrance was there. Once I saw the inside, I knew that this was the one. This was the cave I was tortured in. My hand and legs started shaking and my heart was palpitating so fast it felt like I was having a heart attack.

        “G-g-guys, lets rest for a minute," I tell them and they all agree so we hugged the far end wall. Junpei and Balo kept watching while Akane and Kumiko-sensei helped me get my breathing back to normal. Which isn’t working as I hoped since the smell inside the cave isn’t helping at all.

        “Are you okay Hiroko-chan?” Kumiko-sensei asks me as she rubs my back. I can see Akane getting teary as she looks at me grabbing on my hand. Even though we are the same age, I feel like she’s a little sister I never had. I smile at her then I silently say ‘I’m Okay’ while giving her a smile. Akane then smiles back.

        “I’m okay Kumiko-sensei," I tell her. “And Balo, your right. This is Rikimura-sans hideout. That place through that entrance is where I was held hostage and-.”

        I hug myself to prevent my body from shaking uncontrollably. Balo just nods and me probably telling me I don't have to continue explaining. We waited a couple of minutes and my shaking hasn’t stopped. I can’t wait here forever. It’s either now or never.

        “Let's go," I tell everyone as I stood up from my position. My shaking hasn't stopped but my desire to find clues on his whereabouts are stronger. I started walking towards the entrance and Junpei quickly walked beside me while everyone else is behind us. Akane is grabbing on my shirt like a lost child.

        As we got close to the entrance, we slowly crouched. Junpei indicated for us to stay first and follow in about 5 minutes just in case he uses his paralyze skill. Junpei managed to level up and learn the skill. On our way to the cave, he explained to us how the paralyze skill can only work on a certain radius. If we're not within the radius, we won't be affected. But the higher the level the bigger the radius gets. Junpei creeps in and we waited for him to activate his paralyze skill. If he paralyzes Rikimura first, he won't be able to do the same to us.

        “Paralyze!” Junpei shouts and my heart kept beating at a rapid pace. After a while, Junpei peeks back out and stares at us. “Guys get in here quick."  

        The minute we made our way through the entrance, the scene that we encounter baffled us, even me. Rikimura-san was laying down the ground with only one arm. He is completely naked and is covered in his own feces. Around the area was a scene I don't remember. Nails, hair, and even a stick covered in feces were scattered around the ground. He had holes in his skin similar to the one he did to me but, it seems like someone played connect the dots with them using a blade. Blood had started to dry and I can see some of them started having a puss.

        "I-is....is he still alive?" Kumiko-sensei whispers looking at the unmoving body of Rikimura-san.

        “Junpei, did you kill him already?!” Balo whispers to Junpei trying to joke around but I think they know this is a serious matter. My savior might not be as innocent as I thought he was.

       “I didn’t do it! But holy shit, this is brutal.” Junpei says as he kicks Rikimura-san body. Rikimura-san woke up and the minute he saw us, he started mumbling and screaming but Junpei’s skill prevented him from even moving an arm.

      So, this is paralyze…I Whisper in my mind and I felt furious by just looking at him. Fueled by hatred, my body moved on its own towards Rikimura. Everything around us two was gone as I only saw him. Using all of my strength, I kicked him in the gut and his body moved a few inches from where he’s at. He started coughing and vomiting on the ground. He looked up at me and his gaze wasn’t the same as before. It’s like I was looking at myself when I begged for mercy. I hated it.

        “Die!” I shouted as I kicked him again and again until I felt someone grab me from the back and pulled me away from him. “Let me go!  He needs to die!”

        “Hiroko! Relax! We need information from him!” Balo shouted as he held me back. The moment of braveness and burst of anger turned into fear as I feel scared at his presence.

        “You fucking bastard! You deserve this!” Junpei shouted grabbing him by his remaining hair. He dragged Rikimura out of the cave while Balo and Akane held me back. I couldn’t take it in here, I needed to get out. I was overwhelmed by my own feelings and I passed out.  

        I woke up to someone shouting. I couldn’t understand what was going on around me. As soon as I got a clear understanding of my surroundings, I notice Rikimura mumbling while he had his remaining hand covering his face. He was still naked on the ground as he cowers in fear in front of Junpei. I see Akane and Kumiko-sensei heling me up as Junpei tried to tie up Rikimura while cursing him out. I see Balo run out of the cave and head straight towards me. I see him holding his nose in the verge of gagging probably due to the smell of the cave. He tried to discreetly hand me something and when I looked, I see my clothes, which I quickly grabbed it and placed it in my dimensional bag.

       "Took it just in case you might want it back," Balo says.

       "T-thank you," I tell him. I say trying to avert his gaze and when I noticed, Junpei tied Rikimura to a tree. He used a vine looping it around the tree and Rikimura’s body.  

      “What the fuck," Balo says as he looks at him. “We found out, he’s missing a tongue also.”

      Balo’s voice is becoming muffled as my focus stays on Rikimura. I hated him with everything I had. I clenched my fist and stood up glaring at him. This time no one stopped me yet I hear everyone’s voice calling my name over and over again. As soon as I got close, I can see his eyes full of fear that made me smirk while glaring him down. Using all my strength, I slapped him as hard as I can. I didn't care if he had info about my savior. I didn’t care if I break his neck, I wanted him to feel the pain I went through. No one stopped me this time as I didn't go crazy but I can notice they’re wary ready to pull me back if I go insane again.

     “Now, tell me. Where is he? Who is he?!” I asked him as I stand over him looking down at his face. “ahh…I forgot you can't talk. It’s quite nice to not hear your fucking voice. Who did this to you? Did you get bored by any chance and did it to yourself?”

       I place my foot towards his chest pushing him against the tree as hard as I can. I see him mumble as he struggles to breathe.

      Suffer like this you son of a bitch.I cursed him in my mind. 

       “Junpei," I say out loud.

      “Uh-Y-y-yeah?” Junpei replies to me as he stands by my side.

       "Untie him," I reply back.

      “Hiroko, I don’t think that’s a goo—“

      “Forget what you think! Do it now!” I scream as I interrupted Junpei.

      Junpei then moves to Rikimura-san and using his sword, he cuts the vines tying up Rikimura-san to a tree. Rikimura-san tried to run and I managed to kick him to the side making him stumble to the ground. I see him cough blood while tears come out of his eyes.

      “This is nowhere close enough to what you did to us," I whisper to him, as I got close. I stood behind him and grabbed his arm pulling it back. I hear him scream in pain and I didn't stop until I dislocated his arm. He screamed non-stop rolling around the ground but, in my mind, it still isn't enough. I want to see him suffer more. He tried crawling away using his legs but it didn’t do him any good.

      “Do you really think you can get away?” I whisper as I step on his back putting all my weight on it. He’s making so much noise it’s giving me a headache. I didn’t care. “Eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth.”

       I grabbed one of my arrows and snapped it in half. I hear them scream but I didn't want to listen to anyone as I jam the arrowhead in his thigh.

      “Gaaaaaahhhhhhh!" He screamed as I twist the arrow inside his thigh. I twist the arrow more and Rikimura-san screamed until he passed out. “Fuck! Wake up!”

       I slapped him around a few more times and my hand started to hurt. But Rikimura-san never woke up he stayed unconscious as his cheeks started to swell up. I ended up sitting on the ground crying looking at my hand full of blood. I hate what he did to me but I suddenly realized, I hate what I have become because of him. All I saw is red as I grabbed the arrow and pull it out of his leg. I moved towards his head and that's when I felt an arm around me holding me back.

      “Hiroko! Relax!” Junpei shouts as I flail around trying to break free.

      “Let me go! He needs to die!” I shout as I struggle some more and this time, Kumiko-sensei hugs me from the front. I can see her body shaking and it finally made me stop struggling as her voice gets through me.

      "Hiroko! It's ok! But please! Don't be like him!" Kumiko-sensei shouts as she hugs me tight and I knew what she was talking about. She didn't want me to be a killer. I cried and cried as loud as I can, trying to drown all the pain in my tears. I slump to the ground and I couldn't control myself as I bawl out.

      "There, there, I know you have been through a lot. It's ok to cry Hiroko when your heart is in pain." Kumiko-sensei says as I tried to stop crying but all that comes out my mouth are wails of pain, regret, and anger. "I know Hiroko-chan, I know. But the one who saved you is strong enough to have survived on his own. Don’t lose hope okay? You will soon meet him. I believe in that. But don’t turn yourself to your anger.”

       Her comfort and warmth made my tears come out more and my crying has gotten louder and I cried till I couldn’t cry anymore.

      It's now mid-day and they decided to go back to camp. I woke up not long ago and decided to wash on the stream since the smell of feces and urine was too strong. We brought the unconscious Rikimura-san with us. Balo and Junpei have tied him up on a tree and kept a close watch. They also threw water at him thinking he would wake up but he didn’t. He smelled like someone who hasn’t showered for days along with the smell of urine and his own crap. We all sat around the campfire looking at the flame while Akane huddled herself to my left while Junpei sat on my right.

     “U-um—Junpei?” I call out his name.

     “Hm? What is it Hiroko?” Junpei says smiling towards my way.

     “Um—um---about earlier…..I'm sorry," I tell him. I felt bad I lashed out on Junpei earlier even though he was only trying to help me.

     “It’s ok Hiroko. I know you went through a lot. Rikimura deserves far worse than that. It's not your fault.” Junpei says while keeping a smile in his face. I looked back at the fire feeling a bit relaxed he didn't hate me and as I stared at the fire, thought of his suddenly entered my mind.  

         Yasu. I whisper in my thoughts and the guilt came back to me and made it uncomfortable to even breathe normally. After lunch, I decided to stay inside the tent. The sight of Rikimura-san brings back unwanted memories and makes me want to rip his eyes out. Akane also stayed there with me along with Kumiko-sensei. I guess Akane also felt the same as me and Kumiko-sensei is like a big sister to us both keeper us to her close watch.

       “So you're saying that he gave you his scholarship after you failed the test? Then you found out that he gave it to you knowing the fact he needs more himself. Wow…that's…. isn’t that love?” Kumiko-sensei says and the word made my heart flutter.

      “I-I don’t know. That’s why I have to find him and find out.” I tell her. I feel like my face is getting hot.

     “What happens if you do find him and he says he loves you?” Kumiko-sensei asked me.

        “I-I-I guess I would…” I stopped mid-sentence as I remember my dream. Akane suddenly grabbed Kumiko-sensei arms and brought her face to hers. Then she started mouthing off silent words.

        “My savior! I can’t live without you anymore! Take me!” Then Kumiko-sensei falls back and Akane goes on top of her still mimicking a guy. "My Savior, I shall become your first."

        Kumiko-sensei says as she pulls Akane towards her. Then both of them started laughing and screaming. Even though Kumiko-sensei is older than us, she looks so young that she can pull off being out older sister better than a teacher. My face along with my body started getting hot and I felt at peace with them even when they’re joking around. They giggle some more when we suddenly heard shouts coming outside the tent.

       “S-Sawada! Everyone! You’re here!” All three of us step out of the tent and we see all of the boys came from our camp. Once Sawada, Tobi, and Riki saw me, they came running and hugged me.

      “Hiroko! We were so worried!” Riki says as he hugs me along with the other two. “Y-You disappeared from our sight! Rikimura where is he! That bastard!”

      "He's right behind you," I tell him. Sawada started laughing and told me to stop playing around.

     “Well, I’m not. He’s right behind you.” I say then all of them turned around and see a naked Rikimura-san unconscious and tied to a tree.

     “You asshole!!!” Sawada screams and he started charging the unconscious Rikimura-san but ended up being stopped by Balo and Junpei.

      “Sawada! Relax! We will get a chance later on! For now, we need him alive.” Junpei says as he held Sawada back. Once Sawada managed to calm down, Junpei explains why I need him. After dinner, I decided to tell everyone my experience and I can see the fury in all of the guy's eyes.

      "That perverted prick!" Tobi shouts and I see the fury in his eyes. 

      “It’s ok Hiroko, were behind you one hundred percent!” Takumi, a guy from Balo’s team tells me as he stood up. “We are the newly formed Hiroko-Chan Fan club! We will protect you at the cost of our lives! We will fight that Penis-less bastard!”

      What the hell is wrong with these gu—

       “Hiroko-chan! Hiroko-chan! Hiroko-chan!” Takumi started chanting and all of the guys except Sawada, Balo, and Junpei started chanting.

       “Umm guys….” Junpei says and the chanting stopped. “Umm…H-how…..how do I join?” 

       “pfft hahaha welcome new member!!” Takumi says and he started chanting Junpei’s name and everyone started following him.

       “Hahaha, setting jokes aside, what do we do with him?” Sawada points at Rikimura who suddenly started waking up making us stand up. Then the fury inside my heart ignited. I am glad he woke up but I'm angry at the same time. A part of me didn't want him to wake up and just let him die in his sleep.

       When I tried to walk to him, Balo quickly stopped me, “It’s ok Hiroko I got this. I’ll get the information out. Your not 100 percent yet, so just sit there. Junpei, come with me.”

       Balo and Junpei stoop up and approached Rikimura-san who is looking at all of us now with fear in his eyes. Once he saw the two boys approach him, he started screaming making that tongue-less noise again.

       “Relax, Relax Rikimura. We just need information and we will let you go. Now, kindly tell who is the guy that saved Hiroko. Do you know where he is right now?” Balo says. Rikimura-san shakes his head. I know Balo is lying. He is still really furious about what happened to Akane. Balo cut the vine that’s holding Rikimura to a tree and Junpei handed him a stick to write on the ground beside him.

       “Ok, seems like you know who he is, write down his name in the floor. Now if you decide to lie and give us the wrong information. We will slowly kill you here. Understand~?” Balo says in a menacing voice. Rikimura-san started writing on the ground and Junpei read it out loud for everyone to hear.

        “The devil himself came out of the dungeon.” Junpei reads the writing confused on what’s he’s talking about. Rather than happiness, it brought some uneasiness in my mind.

       “Okay Rikimura-san, who is this devil you talk of. Is he the one who saved Hiroko?” Balo asked and Rikimura-san nods in agreement.

       “Write down his name Rikimura. And stop fucking playing around.” Junpei says while he erased the previous writing with his feet.  Rikimura then started writing on the ground again and after he finished, half of us paused, as we are familiar with the name. I started breathing heavily and I couldn’t understand what was going on.

       “Oi oi oi oi are you serious? Yasu?” Tobi whispers as he looks at the name.

       “You fucking piece of shit,” Junpei seems agitated and grabbed Rikimura-san by his neck. “You bastard! You know how to piss me off huh?! You have no right to even mention his name!!”

       Even I am furious for him writing down Yasu’s name. It pissed me off so much I stood from where I am and approached Rikimura-san. I took out an arrow from my dimensional bag and I brought it close to his throat.

      “You! You motherfucker! How dare you make fun of the dead! You, he even helped you inside the dungeon! He helped all of us! You have no right to mention his name!” I shout at him as I pull the bow back. I can see Rikimura-san shaking from fear and then he stopped. He put on a big smile and started laughing. He kept on laughing but he isn’t looking at me. His gaze is somewhere else. I suddenly hear a clap from behind us and thinking it's Yasu, I turned around with to be only greeted by Luro. Everyone now stood up and took their weapons out of their dimensional bag. Akane ran behind us and with all of our attention towards Luro, we didn’t notice Rikimura-san and he went full sprint towards Luro and knelt down in front of him like he is worshiping a god.

        “That fucking bastard.” I hear Sawada say.

       “Wow~ You little babies are something! Why not give the poor one-handed penis-less man some clothes! That is soooooo inhumane~ kekekekekekekekekekeke!” Luro says advancing towards us and Rikimura follow behind him like Gollum. He sat down near the campfire and took one of the meat cooking on a stick and started eating it. 

       “Mhm mhm mhm. Who made this?! Is soooo goooood~” He says as he kept on munching on the meat. “But, not as good as the stuff he cooks~”

       “What do you want from us Luro?” Balo breaks the silence.

      “Well, I want you all to kill me…that’s what I have been saying all this time~” Luro says without looking at Balo while he eats the meat.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

       “We would but I know we're not strong enough. Besides, you’re a hologram, aren't you? Last time we tried to attack you we couldn’t.” Junpei says remembering the area we spawned in when we died.

       “Thaaaaats why~ you all have to find my Lair and attack from there! Duuuuh~” Luro says as he tosses a piece of meat towards Rikimura-san like he’s a dog.Rikimura quickly grabbed the meat like he’s been starved for years.

       “Now, you little babies were amusing but now you all have become boring. Why is that? Let's just say this Rikimura business and that savior crap is getting really annoying. It’s like watching the same episode over and over and over again. Like, come on! Kill him already!” Luro says and he quicklystabbed Rikimura in the chest with his bare hands. They both looked at each other for a few seconds Rikimura looked down towards his chest. His eyes suddenly went white as his hand goes limp dropping the food on the ground. We all froze in place and couldn’t say anything as we watched Rikimura’s body turn into ashes.

      "Kukukukuku! This is how you guys suppose to kill a person. This is how I killed Yasu to bring him here~"Hearing him mention Yasu's name made me charged towards Luro. He just killed the only clue I have to look for him now he's telling me he did the same thing to Yasu have clouded my mind with hate and fury. While I run towards Luro, his body suddenly disappeared appearing further back into the forest.

       “Ewww. This is why I don’t want followers. Image that thing standing beside me as I sleep?! What if he rapes me?! Ewwwwwww~” Luro says as he squirms around.

       “Everyone! That’s not a hologram! That’s the real one!!” Balo shouts as he charges towards Luro with everyone else behind him. I launched an arrow towards his face and he easily dodged it tilting his head to the left.

        “That’s the spirit! Kekekekeke~” Luro replies as he opened his arms expecting a hug. Everyone’s sword went through Luro body but he just stood there. Rather than dying, Luro gave us a smile as blood flows out of his mouth. Everyone was started and jumped back while pulling their weapons out of his body. Luro made a gurgling sound chocking on his own blood before laughing like a maniac spitting blood everywhere.

       “W-w-what the fuck?! Everyone! Attack again!” Balo shouts and they all did. I sent my arrow towards his face and it went through his eye without him even blinking or flinching.

       “Ow~ that hurt’s you know?” He says before laughing at us. Smoke started appearing on his wounds, and in a quick shout, everyone has pushed away from him by force. I watched his whole body heal his wound and in an instant, it looked like we never even attacked him in the beginning. He pulled out the arrow from his head taking an eye out to only regenerate a new one in an instant. 

       "Fucking monster," Balo whispered as he slowly stood up.

       “Who me? No no no. I’m a god.” Luro smiled and it gave me chills down my spine. “Well, I just wanted to check on you guys. I'll see you when you little babies find me~ kekekekekekekekekekekekeke~” 

       He turned around not and started walking deeper into the forest. He waved us goodbye and we could hear him laughing which gradually fades into silence.

       “F-f-fuck…what is he?! A zombie?!” Riki says he slumps to the ground. 

       “I don’t know. But it’s definitely not going to be easy killing him.” Balo says putting his weapon back inside his dimensional bag.

      “Dammit! Even our skills don’t work! I used a skill on him when I lodged my sword and he didn't even flinch!” Takumi says. No one said anything after that. We all waited a couple of hours to see if Luro will come back but then we settled down in the camp. Knowing that someone or something like that exists as our enemy made us all on the edge through the night.

       I tried to sleep but my nightmares didn't disappear. I still can't forgive Rikimura-san even in his death for what he did to me. Torturing me, Sawada, Akane, and leaving Yasu to die, he had it coming. But deep down inside, I felt guilty. I also chose to leave behind Yasu. If I was given another chance to choose and if Yasu is the same as the one I was looking for, I would have picked him. I felt agitated we had to choose. 

       Yasu, are you really alive?I whisper to myself as lay down inside the tent. If you saved me, why didn't you stay…

       I close my eyes and tears traveled across my cheek. I didn't sleep that night. None of us did. In the morning, we all decided to travel back to the gold camp. There is no point for us camping here anymore. Rikimura-san was killed off and staying near where I was tortured didn't help with my nightmares at night. Getting back was a lot faster than I expected. It took us around a day to get back where we were before. I heard from Sawada that they tried to leave to follow Junpei and Balo but they took a long time for them to actually leave camp because a fog enveloped everything around them and they couldn’t see where they were going. They had to wait till the next day for the fog to clear up and they told us that, they heard noises at the night before making it impossible to sleep thinking Rikimura was with them. To which is why they never lit a fire and stayed closed together in the dark. Once morning hits and the noise were gone, they decided to leave and relentlessly walked until they found us.

       “It can’t be Rikimura," Junpei says as I hear them talk trying to figure out what made the noises at night at our camp. “Maybe it’s a boar or something.”

       “I don’t know but we heard it splashing around the water from a distance. I even heard a brief voice.” Sawada replied back and the first thing in my mind is Yasu. How nice it would be to come back into the camp and he was there. But a part of me wishes it weren’t him. Because if he really got out of the dungeon, and he’s the one I’ve been looking for, I don’t think I can take it if he hates me. I walked in silence just looking at the ground following them when I felt a presence come near me. I look to my left and I see Akane nonchalantly smiling while grabbing my arm. I was glad she stuck around me since her smile and attitude were rubbing off me and I start feeling a bit better. 

        Once we got back I suddenly slump near the fireplace. It gave off a warm feeling as the small fire kept going hanging on to its last breath. I wondered why they did such a dangerous thing leaving a fire unattended. They could have lit the whole forest on fire.

       "Guy's that was dangerous to leave the fire pit lit," Balo says as he added more leaves helping the flame get stronger. “What if you burned down the forest?”

       "Holy shit, holy shit. I fucking told you someone was there!" Sawada and the other guys who came after we were surprised looking at the campfire. "We haven't lit that thing in a couple of days!"

       “What?” Junpei replies back and we all got quiet slowly looking around. Junpei and Balo took out their swords as they slowly approached the tents. Once they got close, the suddenly opened the curtain made out of leaves and the body suddenly relaxed as they put their swords away. 

       "No one is here," Balo says looking around us and if someone were here, we would have seen him or her running away from a mile away.

        "Fuck, my jacket is gone," Junpei says as he looked around the camp. This made Balo also rush towards his area and I hear him curse to himself.

        “Ok be alert, it seems like someone was actually here. My damn good sword is gone.” He says looking around some more. I wondered why he didn’t store it in his bag but then again, I didn't want to ask. They must have left everything in a rush to come and save me, which I’m grateful of.

       What if…. what if he was here?I whispered in my mind and I felt my heart race. I quickly ran out the flat land and did a quick look around but nothing. Rikimura-san is dead now so that means it can only be one person who was close enough to this camp. Junpei and the rest of the guys run out after me. 

         "Hiroko what happened?! Did you see something?!" Riki says as he catches up with everyone and me.

         “What if it was him?” I say and they all remained silent knowing who I was talking about.

         “It can’t be, how would he know about this place?” Riki says and it irks me the way he said it. I was about to say something when Balo interrupted me.

         “It’s a possibility. Think about it, other than all of us here, who else was close to this camp?” He said and everyone didn’t reply as they all looked around.

         “So what should we do?” Takumi asked Balo.

         “Well, let's all go back and get settled. Let’s wait here just in case he comes back. If this guy is really your friend, I don't think he would be stupid enough to attack all of us at the same time. Maybe we can try talking to him. If he’s not Yasu, we need to be alert regardless.” Balo said and I felt prickling pain in my heart knowing that, if it’s Yasu, if it’s really him, I’ll have to know there’s a chance that he hates me now, and if Yasu is the same person I’ve been looking for, I can’t take it if he hates me.

         We all walked back to the camp and washed on the lake. They told me to just rest while everyone did their best to reinforce the camp, building fences to deter any animals that might come our way. They even strengthen the tent’s just in case it rains, water won't get inside. Nighttime quickly hits the horizon and everyone decided to rest while Sawada, Junpei, Balo, and Tobi kept watching but I know they probably can't sleep with all that's happening around us.

         Not worrying about Rikimura is a relief but seeing how he dies just made everything more real. We died once but being reborn made it feel like it's a game. But this time, if we die, I know we won’t be back. Since I couldn’t sleep, I decided to step out and sit by the campfire. Akane saw me leaving and followed me out. Junpei and Balo were outside with Tobi and Sawada sitting around the campfire.

        “Can’t sleep?” Junpei asked me as I approach them.

        “Mhm," I say as I sit myself down on the ground and rest my back on a log. Akane followed suit and sat right beside me.

        “You're not the only one. After what happened, it kind of scares me to go to sleep. I don’t know how Riki does it. The guy is completely knocked out.” Tobi says.

        “My nightmares get so vivid sometimes it makes me harder to fall back asleep," I said hugging my legs in a fetal position. No one said anything. I can feel we all wanted to ask the question but we didn’t. Scared of what actually might be true.

        “But why would he write Yasu’s name?” Tobi suddenly broke the silence. “Did he really got out of the dungeon?”

        “I don't know. It might be just Rikimura-san messing with us. But, what if he did get out?” Junpei wonders himself and I can see a confusing expression between happiness and fear.

       “Maybe Luro took him out of the Dungeon?” I tell them. 

"That also would make sense. But…” I could see Junpei confused as he fed the fire with more sticks. “How did he deal with Rikimura? Remember he had a non-combatant class. He couldn’t even wield a sword. Rikimura was missing an arm and looked like shit when we saw him.”

        “He even smelled like one too," Balo says making us remember the smell and I hated the idea of being captive in there. Luckily they didn't find me like that. 

        "What if, hypothetically speaking. Yasu managed to yank off with his bare hands?" Tobi asked and the silence quickly came back. Even if as absurd as it might sound, nothing in this world is normal which makes everything much scarier as the possibilities of what used to be impossible to do have started to become something we can accomplish.

        "Akane, when you saw the one who saved me, was he wearing a school uniform?" I turned to Akane and asked her. She shook her head from side to side.

       It just doesn't make sense.I whisper in my mind as I rest my head on my knees.

       “But what if he did get out?” Balo asked us making me look up to him. “The main question that we should think about is how did he get out? The gatekeeper and other elite monsters guarded our portal it should have been the same with yours.”

      "That's true," Tobi replied to him as he threw more stick into the fire. "Last time we tried to run past them, we all died. I don't think he can run pass them by himself. Those damn wolves had such a high range of perception they saw us right when we exited the door."

      "Let's not forget that your portal is broken into pieces. Unless he broke them after he got out which will be difficult only for one person. Even we couldn’t break our portal when we tried before." Balo says.

      “I think we should be careful this time," Junpei says as he leans back and looks up at the night sky staring at earth. Silence quickly came as no one said anything and I felt a pain in my heart making it harder to swallow my saliva.

      "Yeah, I think we should be more cautious," Balo replies back.

        “Last time I decided to trust a random stranger ended up sleeping at night with a psychopath. I know we can't bring back time but if I did and I knew about Rikimura, I would stay in there with Yasu." Junpei says as he looks back towards the fire. 

         "I think your right," Balo replies right back at Junpei while throwing sticks into the fire. “Don't hate me for this but, if it is your friend Yasu who saved you. That’s good he got out. But if it’s someone else, that person is strong enough to cripple Rikimura who injured three of our team. He’s strong enough to survive without a healer. So far, whoever it is, this person who saved Hiroko is similar to an overpowered game character."

         “What if it was really Yasu. If it’s him, I hope he doesn’t what we did. I don’t want him as an enemy.” Junpei words trail off as he looks towards the ground.

         "You mean he might become our enemy? Yasu?" Tobi asked.

         "Well, first of all, he might not be Yasu," Junpei says trying to lighten up the mood. “He might be another worse psychopath Luro brought to this world. “

         "I also don't want to risk my team or all of your lives at something we aren't even 100 percent sure is an ally," Balo replies back. “I have to lead everyone to find our castle. Since you’re all part of the gold district guild, that is also your castle. But that doesn't mean I will stop you if you decided to look for this individual. That choice is yours to make. I'm not Rikimura that's about to force you guys to choose."

         "I think we should look for the castle also," Tobi replied.

         "Same, we can worry about anything else after," Junpei says.

         "Hiroko? How about you?" Balo asked me. I couldn't say anything. I already asked them to look for Yasu and ended up getting Sawada and Akane severely hurt. I can’t ask them to look for a stranger we might think that’s it’s Yasu. I need to get stronger. I need to get stronger and protect everyone close to me. I need to get stronger to go home.

         “Same, I'm with you," I tell him.

        I’m not leaving them behind. I’I just need to get stronger first. Then, I'll come back. I'll come back for them. I'll come back for Yasu and my Savior.I say in my mind over and over again.

        Sun quickly rose and Balo decided to tell the rest of the group were leaving the camp today to look for the castle.

        “Ok, everyone ready?” He asked us. We all nod and we started heading out to look for gold district castle. To look for our castle.

       That’s right. I’m not a Diamond anymore. I’m a gold now. I felt bitter as I walked out of the camp. Not because of leaving our first home, I felt like I’m leaving a piece of me behind.

       Yasu, if you’re alive. Please be safe.I say in my mind as I walked with everyone.

        We decided to follow the stream we saw earlier. If people have a right sense in this world, they should be establishing themselves near a body of water. We have all the time in the world so walking and following the stream doesn’t seem so bad as we took our time keeping a sharp sense of our surroundings. Walking through the forest also doesn’t seem like a good choice since we can end up walking in circles without proper guidance. But as we follow the stream, we notice the trees would lessen and then become a thick forest again over and over. We walked throughout the whole day and once nighttime hits, we made camp near the stream and take turns keeping watch. This process repeated over and over again up until we reached a lake leading into a river.

       “Ok, guys, the water is coming in from the waterfall there and coming out from that side.” Balo points out two locations opposite of each other. “Should we follow the current of the river or, should we go the opposite and see where all this water is coming from?”

        "I think we should just follow the river," I whisper sitting down on a rock while massaging my foot. Everyone feels the same as they all sat around me resting their legs. "I hope we find something soon." 

        "Me too, my legs are going to give out if we keep walking," Riki says as he slumps back down with a smile on his face. "Ah, this grass feels nice~"

         After resting for a while around the lake, we all agreed to my proposition and decided to follow the river flow. We kept walking till the sky slowly turned orange and we decided to make camp by the river.

        “Anyone got any strings?” Tobi asked and everyone shook their head side to side. “Ah, nevermind, I have one.”

       He took out the shoelace off his shoes and tied it together. He cut out two tiny pieces of the end of the shoelace and tied the top of his shoe so it doesn't come off his feet. He sat by the river and started shaving a stick off its rough edges and by just looking at him; it’s making me sick to my stomach. It made me remember Rukimura when he was sharpening the sticks to torture me. To keep myself distracted, I helped set up tents by grabbing branches Junpei and Balo cut off the trees. Luckily, our class helps big time, as we’re able to cut branches off a tree with ease.

        Nighttime quickly hits the horizon and we all sat around the campfire eating fish. Tobi managed to catch a few fish and he easily gutted them before stabbing it onto the sticks and placing them on the fire.

        “I wonder if when will we ever come across someone. Remember he said that there are other people here. There are probably other adventurers.” Riki asked as he ate his fish without reservation.

        "Yeah. But soon we should come close to someone or a town. If we don't and reach the end of the river, we have no choice but to follow it backward." Balo says and the thought of walking back just made me feel more tired.

        "Well, if we come across the ocean, we can stay by the beach. Definitely, we will come across something." Junpei proposed and we all nod thinking it's a good idea. To be honest, I am sick and tired of seeing trees. Walking by the beach doesn’t sound like a bad idea as long as there are no monsters around. After eating dinner, everyone went to sleep while I stayed awake. I can’t sleep for too long or else I’ll have a nightmare so I only do power naps to prevent myself from dreaming.

        Morning came but this time, a fog enveloped the area. Sawada and Tobi told me this was the same fog they encountered and by the looks of it, it really does bring our visibility near to zero. We can only see what's in front of us. We kept as close as possible to the river and did a roll call every now and then to make sure no one strays away from the group.

        “Ugh! This seems like it can go on forever!” Riki says as I see him barely visible in front of me.

       “The hell is with this fog? This is the thickest fog I have seen.” Takumi says as he tried waving his hands around clearing some of the fog in front of him but it quickly came back.

       "That's what she said," Tobi whispered and they all started laughing at the joke. Even I chuckled a bit.

      "Haha. Very funny. I wonder if this world has jokes.” Takumi replied back and it made me wonder, how different are the people from this world compared to ours. Do they have religion, do they have a government similar to ours? To they wage war against their own people? So many questions entered my mind that I didn't notice they were doing roll call until Akane pulled my arm.

       “Hiroko! Are you there?!” I hear Junpei shout and it brought me back to reality.

       "Oh, sorry. Yeah, I'm here." I reply back and I can hear them sigh with relief and I gave Akane a smile.

      “Whew, jeez. That scared me a bit.” Junpei whispered and they all giggled to themselves while we walked following the river.

      “Guys stop by me!” I hear Balo shout and he kept talking as we followed his voice. Once we regrouped, I can see everyone once they're really close. 

       “What happen Balo?” Kumiko-sensei asked and he points towards above us. I didn't notice it before due to the fog but there’s no mistaking it. It's a sign.

Welcome to Boar Village

       “Anybody there!” We hear a voice distant from us making us huddle together.

       “What should we do? Should we answer?” Riki whispers to us.

       "No one says anything, let me do the talking. If it's an enemy, he'll be caught surprised by all of us. Take out your weapons just in case.” Balo whispers and we all did taking out our weapons from our bags.

        “Hello! Anybody out there?!” The voice asked again and it's making my heart pound not from excitement, but from fear.

       “Y-yeah! Sorry I can’t see anything with this fog!” Balo shouted back.

       “Are you adventurers?! You’re pretty gutsy traveling alone during the fog season!” The voice shouted back. “Just follow my voice! The village is protected by anti-fog magic, once you get through the boundary, it should clear up in an instant!”

       After that, the person kept shouting ‘here’ repeatedly making it easier to pinpoint where he is. Without any other choice, we followed the voice having Balo and Junpei in front while Takumi watched our backs. All of a sudden, the fog all around us disappeared and we’re standing on top a gravel path. We see who was talking to us and it looks like a medieval guard. He stands next to a booth looking at all of us one by one.

       “Oh, I thought you’re only one. That’s a lot of you. Sheathe your weapons and come here. He waved to us and we all put away our weapons. He was surprised to see our bags drop to the ground. "Show me your adventurer's card.”

      "Ah, we don't have adventurer cards," Balo replied back worried how the guard would react.

      “But you guys are adventurers, are you not?” He asked and we can see him a bit wary of our presence.

      “Yes, we are," Balo replied to him without talking too much. As far as we know, we can’t verify if that guard is real.

      “Can you guys call out your status window?” He asked and we all nod. “Ah, then you probably forgot to add yourselves to a guild.”

      "We're on a guild," Junpei says and it's making the guard more confused.

     “Then you should have an adventurers card. Just say, show card.” He tells us.

      "Showcard," I whispered first and a card appeared in front of me as it kept floating spinning in one place. I grabbed it and the card looked similar to our ID’s at home. It has my picture which I never remember taking. It also contains my guild, class, level, age, gender, and height.

       "Ah, a young lady so you have yours. Let me have it for a few seconds, I need to register you as a visitor.” He tells me as everyone else took out his or her cards. The minute I gave him my card, his eyes went wide in shock. “Gold district?”

       "Y-yeah, we're all from the gold district," I tell him and he kept looking at my card.

       “I have never heard of this guild.” He tells me as he began writing some information down on the paper.

       “Must be a new guild huh, well, here you go young lady, you’re all set.” He tells me as he hands over my card back to me. I inspected it more while Balo stepped up next to give his card to him.

        "Here you go sir," Balo says as he politely gives his card to the guard.

        "Whoa, you're the guild leader?" The guard asked him as he nods in silence. "This is the first a guild leader ever came to this parts of the forest.”

        “Where are we exactly?” Balo asked.

        "Young man, you are inside the boar forest. This is the boar village which acts as a rest stop for novice adventurers." The guard replied as he wrote Balo’s name down and some other markings I wasn’t familiar with.

        After Balo, everyone handed their cards one by one and it took a couple of minutes till the guard registered everybody.

        “Pa!” A sudden voice came out from our left and the minute we look, we see a little girl running towards us carrying what seems to be a basket for lunch. “Ma sent me to deliver this to to you! It’s lunch!”

        The guard left the booth to meet his daughter halfway and picked her up while taking the basket away from her.

        “You’re a good girl! That's my daughter~ Want to eat with me?” We hear the guard talk to his daughter as he walked back to the booth. The little girl happily nods and we found it as a cue to leave. Before we left, the guard stopped us as he places his daughter on his seat and the lunch on his table. "Before you go, let me just welcome you all to Boar Village. If you have items or other weapons to sell, you can visit the Boar Shop located that way. The boar's Inn is that tall building at the end of the village. Ah, and if you’re going to leave, let me know so I can write it down.”

        “Thank you.” Balo nods to him and he gave us a smile before walking away to go to his table and eat his lunch with his daughter. We all followed Balo to the gravel that leads towards the right when all of a sudden he stopped almost making me bump into him.

        “Let's go to boar’s shop first. We have no money to pay for a room.” He tells us and we all nod heading towards the left path. It wasn’t hard to find as the sign above the store was visible from far away. The minute we opened the door, a door chime rang and a lady came out of the back door to walk towards the counter. The inside was like a medieval shop displaying weapons, items, even a few clothes hanged on one section of the shop.

         “Hi~ How may I help you?” A female clerk asks us as we approach the counter. Seems like some of the guys are already attracted to her because I can see their movement became stiff. I decided to approach her instead of one of them. I have a feeling we will be here for a long time if I don't handle this quickly.

         “Hello, can you tell us how much these will go for?” I hand her the swords I had stashed inside my dimensional bag. At least I’ll get cash from the swords I collected. She then grabs one of the swords and inspected it.

         “Where did you get this if I may ask?” She looks at me with extreme curiosity in her eyes.

         "Umm, we got it inside a dungeon. I know it may not be mu—“

           “A dungeon?! Which one?! What was the monster that dropped it?!” She got too excited almost jumping over the counter as her eyes go wide with shock. After calming herself probably noticing my uncomfortable look, she goes ogling the sword in her hand like it’s a piece of gold.

          “Uh, we got them from an undead skeleton. They’re around level one.” I answer feeling confused about her reaction.

         “T-the skeletons found in the end room at the dungeon of the beginning?!” She says and she kept looking at the sword then she hands the sword back to me with a sad solemn look. “I’m sorry but I can’t give you money for this sword.”

        “What? Why?! I know it looks pretty weak bu—“

        “No, no no no no I don’t mean that it is useless.” She interrupts me. “It is the actual opposite. Its worth is too much. If I give you money based on the value of this weapon, I’m going to need to sell this shop and everything in it. This sword might look weak but the materials in it are similar to a diamond. Which is one of the hardest materials to find. In short, I don’t have enough money to buy the sword from you.” 

       “What?! This is that expensive?!” I was surprised by what she said. I can hear Riki cursing that he should have collected every sword in the dungeon.

       “It is, another factor that adds on the value is the difficulty of collecting these swords.” She continues on. “Adventurers die just from the entrance of the dungeon trying to collect these things.” 

       Somehow I can understand. We all died at the entrance also. “How about this, I’ll give you this sword and give us enough cash for us to stay at the Boars Inn and cover our food expense for a week.”

       “Are you sure? Once the trade has been made, I can’t return the sword to you if you decided to want it back.” She tells me as her gaze sticks to the sword in my hand.

       “I’m sure. How about it. Deal?” I say as I hold the sword in front of her. I had a couple more in my bag anyways.

       “Deal!” She says as she happily grabs the sword out from my hand. She then went to a back room behind the counter and came out with a pouch. I open the bag and it’s full of coin shape copper, silver and gold with no print in them. It's like someone melted the material into a circular shape.

       “I know it’s not much but this should last you for a month staying at the Forest Boar’s Inn.” She says. “It’s the best I could do for giving me such a fine weapon.”

      “Thank you. Um, were not from these lands. Were from a different, uh…continent that uses a different currency. Can you tell me the value of each coin pieces in the bag?" I ask her trying to figure out the value of the coins.

        “Oh? Sure. This is the first time I have to explain the currency but I’ll be glad to!” She then grabs a copper, silver, and gold coin chip inside the bag.

        "Ok, this is a copper chip. This is the lowest currency here on this continent. This is a silver chip. You can obtain these by collecting 100 copper chips and exchanging them for one silver chip or finding them inside dungeons. This is a gold chip; you can obtain these by collecting 100 silver chips or also finding them inside a dungeon. The highest currency that is made only for the wealthy individuals are diamond rocks. One diamond rock is equivalent to 1,000,000 gold chips. But the diamond rocks can only be found inside the dungeon or when you mine deep within the ground.” She says as she drops the coins back inside the bag in my hand.

       “Inside the bag are 1000 copper chips, 100 silver chips, and 50 gold chips. It’s all I could afford to give you. If I managed to de-materialize the sword and sell its contents, come back and I can give you more.”  She continued on.

       “No, it's fine. Were content with this. Thank you very much." I tell her as I bow to give proper thanks. She then bows back to me.

       "Thank you for bartering with us! If you ever come across such as fine material, please do tell, I would like to do business with all of you one more time." She says as she smiles at us, which made the guy's heart pound faster than they can run.

       "We will," I say as I leave for the door. I can see some of the guys are hesitant to leave the shop.

      “Guys, let's go. We can come back later. Unlike you boys, us girls need a proper bath.” I say and they all slump their shoulders and leave the store. Then the little girl guided us some more towards the Forest Boar’s Inn. Once we reached the boar's inn, the minute we open the door in the inn, everyone inside looked at us. The Inn looks more like a bar from the Wild West we see from those American movies. Now we really do stand out a lot more. Comparing our armor to theirs, our looks really high class. Even the leather I’m wearing is a lot brighter than the ones the patrons are wearing.

      “Umm guys, try not to cause trouble and let's just walk towards the bartender and ask for a room," Balo whispers to us and we all walked silently towards the bartender.

      “Whoa, you're not from around here are ye?" A burly looking man asked us.

      “Umm, no. We actually come from a different continent. We don’t have a place to stay. Do you have an available room for all of us?” Junpei says continuing the lie. We don’t know why but it feels dangerous if we indicate that we come from the planet in the sky. We’re already the center of attraction as it is.

      “Ye, I got rooms for ye young-ins’ to board. How many ya need?” The bartender asked.

      “How big are the rooms?" Junpei asked.

      “Big enough to fit half of ye adventurers.” He replied

     “Two is fine. Girls will share one, and the boys share the other one. Cool?” Junpei asked us. We all nod in agreement. Who cares, as long as we have beds or cushion to sleep on, I would share with the boys if I need to. 

      “A days’ worth of stay cost about 70 copper.” The bartender says while taking out a piece of paper. “If ye fellows going to stay longer, one week will be 4 silver chips and 90 copper. For two rooms that would be 9 silver and 80 copper in total.”

      I hand him the exact amount and he gave us two keys. Before we part, I gave half of the money to Balo for any other expenses they need in which he happily accepted. I felt excited sleeping on an actual mattress yet, I didn’t hope too much. For all I know, their beds are made out of straws. A waitress led us to our room towards the second floor and the minute we got there, it felt like a part of our home was brought here into this world. It was a Japanese style room with tatami mats on the ground and a couple of futons were laid on the ground at one corner. 

      “Inside the closet has more sleeping mats.” The waitress pointed towards a sliding door. "Please don't break anything inside the room or steal anything. If you guys want to eat, the kitchen is open from 6:00 am and closes at 11:00 pm. But the food is not part of your stay, you have to pay for your meals. Bath is open 24 hours but please maintain the facility clean. If you have any other questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to let us know~ okay then have a wonderful stay~”

      I gave her a nod and she quickly left the room gentle closing the door behind her. I walked towards the window and opened it letting some fresh air inside. Kumiko-sensei opened the closet and inside are a couple of futons or as they call it in this world, sleeping mats. There’s also a stack of blankets and pillows. There is an oil lamp hanged in the walls indicating the source of light at night. It figures I don't think this village has electricity.

        “I’m going back to the boar shop to buy shampoo and conditioner if they have some. You guys want to come with me?” I asked Akane and Kumiko-sensei. Akane quickly agrees and I can see Kumiko-sensei slowly dozing off on top the futon laid down the ground.

       “You guys go, I'm too tired. Wake me up when you’re going to take a bath.” Kumiko-sensei weakly says and we both left leaving her behind to rest. Once we got there, the clerk we sold the sword to earlier saw us and her eyes quickly perked up.

      “Hey! Welcome back!” She happily greeted us.

      “Do you have shampoo and a conditioner?” I asked her but she suddenly looked confused. "uh, like, you have anything that will help wash the dirt off our hair and make it feel smooth?"

       The minute I explained it to her, she quickly realized what we were talking about and took out two bottles from under the counter.

      "I sure do!" She then hands me a bottle with pink liquid and labeled as a head cleaner. Another bottle with blue liquid labeled as hair repair. “so you call this shampoo and conditioner from your continent huh, that sound much better maybe I should change it to that to boost the sales. Ah, I also have this.”

   She took out another box under the counter and hands it to me. The minute I open it, a wave of fragrance came through me as the smell was too familiar.

       “Oatmeal Soap!” I say as I smell the soap inside the box.

       “Yup! The best in my shop. It is mixed with aloe for a much better fragrance and the oatmeal helps moisturize the skin. Perfect for your flawless bodies. Do you call this soap? Huh, I should change it to that also~” She says as she wrote down notes on paper.

       “Ah, do you also have pen and paper?” I asked her.

       “Sure do!” She then goes behind the counter and took out a pen and paper inside a drawer. She then hands it to me and I hand it to Akane.

       "For you. This way we can communicate better." I tell her with a smile on my face and she looks at me with tears accumulating in her eyes. “Hahaha Don’t cry Akane. You deserve better than this. I would heal your tongue if I can, but I don’t have the power for that.”

       I then face the female clerk and I can see her eyes also welling up. 

       “Umm. How much is everything?” I asked her.

       “Free!” The clerk started crying. It took a while for her to stop and she didn’t accept any payment even if I tried. On our way back, Akane is happily skipping beside me as we walk towards the Inn clutching the gift I gave her with her only hand towards her chest. I can see a smile on her face and it made me feel good. I like to see her smile. I see some of the villagers or maybe adventures looking at us making it uncomfortable as we sped up walking toward the inn. Once we got back, all eyes were on us again which we tried to ignore as much as we can. I noticed some of the guys going downstairs and they waved at us the minute they saw us.

      “Hey guys, where’s Balo, Junpei, and Sawada?” I asked them.

      "We need soap and shampoo. We’re going to check the item shop if it has some. They’ didn’t want to come with us and wanted to rest.” Riki replies.

      “Ohhhhh...” I say as I pass heading up the stairs.

      “W-w-what? We are only going to buy shampoo and soap.” Riki says. I look back and I gave them a smile.

       “Suuure. Ah, you guys know where the bath is at?” I asked them.

       “Yeah, it's on the second floor, all the way to the end. There's a door on the left, it's the girl's bath." Tobi says as he walked with us towards the second floor while pointing down the hallway. I thanked him, and he quickly ran downstairs to regroup with the boys as they walked out of the inn. We headed towards my room and woke up Kumiko-sensei. It was one of the best times I had on this planet. Feeling cleaning and removing all of the dirt off my body made it feel like I just shed a pound.

      The next day, we regroup for breakfast and made up plans on what we should do next. We all agreed to stay in the village for a while till we gather enough information to head out. Even if we wanted to leave, the fog surrounding the village was still thick and according to the people living in the village, the fog would sometimes last about a week for it to disappear. Nighttime came as fast as the sun disappeared and I stayed in our room sitting by the window looking at moonlight through the thick fog that covers the surrounding area of the village. 

       Balo and the rest of the guys along with Kumiko-sensei are walking around the village to see what else they can find. So far, we found that the village has a library of its own which Akane decided to stay in for the day reading books.

       “Show DPH” I whisper.

DPH

9,000

        I don't know about everyone's damage but…does this seem overpowered?I say in my mind as I look at my attack damage per hit. I remember we barely reached 100 attack damage now it’s almost close to becoming 10,000. If I go out after the fog, I probably can one hit most of the monsters that we’ve encountered so far. I remembered, I also managed to get a new skill when I level up.

        "Tame skill description," I whisper and study my skill description.

Skill name:

Skill level:

Skill type:

Skill experience:

Tame

1

support

0%

This skill will let you tame monsters as a pet. This skill relies not only on how strong you train the skill but also your own personal level. The higher the level you are and the skill, the higher level monsters you can tame. 

         “I recently got this when I leveled up to 25. It seems like I can only tame leveled creatures, but I don’t know how low. Most of the monster in the forest are level 15 wolves or above. I haven’t seen a level 1 monster in the area.” I whisper to myself. “Tame!”

        My hand started glowing white but yet, I still don’t know how to use the skill.

        Should I touch an animal? Or should I hypnotize them with it?....either way, I can't test it until I see a low-level monster. I whispered to myself.

*Knock

          *Knock

        “Hiroko-chan, let's go eat dinner~," Kumiko-sensei tells me as soon as she opens the door.

       "Ah, sensei, you're back. Ok give me a minute, I'll head down." I tell her, and she gave me a smile before closing the door behind her. I stood up and walked into the closet grabbing the new clothes I got from the shop earlier. We've been going back and forth that the shopkeeper practically let us grab anything we want without paying. Well, it's probably because I gave her another sword. After getting dressed, I headed down and see all of them on one table. Everyone still gives us the looks from time to time but we started getting used to them. Akane waved at me and patted the empty seat beside her. I gave her a nod and sat down while a waitress automatically approached our table and gave me a menu.

       “So, you guys find anything?” I asked them.

       “Not anything new. It’s the same. They tell me it’s the stuff from the legends while others tell me it exists somewhere." Balo replied.

      “They did mention about a portal though. They say that there is a portal inside some dungeon.” Takumi says.

      “Don’t tell me it’s the ‘Dungeon Of The Sky King’?” Tobi asked.

       “Yea! That! How do you know?” Takumi asked.

       "Well, when we went and asked around what different type of monsters are around the area," Tobi replied, and he took a sip of water before continuing to talk. "Villagers said a lot of the monsters in the area are normal animals with a higher level.”

       “Oh, I heard about that," Junpei said interrupting Tobi. “I heard from the village chief that sometimes, monsters inside a portal will come out and terrorize villages. They told me about a leaping crocodile that attacked this village a while ago. They used to come every month, but they haven’t seen one in a while.”

       “Wow, Leaping Crocodiles? You mean like a frog?” Takumi asked.

       “Yea. And guess where they came from?” Tobi asked.

       “The dungeon of the Sky King?” Balo asked.

       "Exactly," Tobi replies back.

“Also, I heard from the village chief, that It had some weird story about how the Sky King abducted a castle princess," Junpei adds on piquing our interest. "A prince and along with his uncle decided to travel and look for the dungeon to save the damsel in distress. But the prince and uncle never came back. They even have a reward poster about the prince whereabouts."

       Junpei places a poster on the table that has a drawn picture of a very hot guy that has a smile that would melt every girl’s heart.

       "Oh wow, he's handsome," I say as I grab the picture to get a closer look. “Drakun Tarabay…Whoa! look at this reward?! 100 diamond reward?!”

       “Whoa, let me see?” Balo asked and I hand him the poster. “Please find him or his whereabouts. You will be rewarded 100 diamonds if you bring his sword to the king as a proof.”

       “Wait? A sword and not bring him? Do they think he is dead?” I asked. Junpei nods and after taking a bite of bread the waitress just placed our table, he continued talking.

      “Pretty much. Based on the stories I heard, the king wasted a lot of money to find his only son. Shoot I would too if he's the only heir to the throne. But now the king gave up and gave his position to his nephew who became the new king. The nephew who is a close friend of the prince decided to send out a search party to find him and even made this flyer. But they didn’t find him and wasted more money. So, before the whole royal family almost went broke, they decided to leave it to the adventurers to find him dead or alive.”

       “wow…what a story….” I reply back.

       “You think that’s the whole story? Hear this one, remember the princess who supposedly was abducted by the sky king?” Junpei asked me.

       “Yeah, is she dead?” The story fascinated me.  

       “Nah, she actually never went missing. She went on a journey to find a flower that would help the prince fall more hopelessly in love with her and finally making him propose. But she got lost in the forest, fell into a ditch, broke her leg and was stuck there for three days. She had enough food to keep herself alive. By the time they found her and brought her back in the castle, the prince already left to look for his princess thinking she was abducted by the sky king.”

      "What? Wow, he's unfortunate. Say what happened to the princess, she's single now isn't she?" Riki asked.

        “Well….” Junpei says but hesitated to continue on.

        “Oh, come on Junpei, tell us. Don’t leave us hanging.” I say to him. Junpei then smiles and took out another paper. The paper was a reward poster for the princess. This one was a higher reward to those who bring her back alive. The reward was 1000 diamonds.

        “What? She’s also missing now?” Balo asked and his eyes suddenly went wide seeing the reward. “1000 diamonds?! That’s higher than the prince reward!”

        “What happened? Did she get abducted also?” Kumiko-sensei asked. A waitress then came by and placed our food in front of us. As the waitress hands out our food, Junpei continued telling the story.

        “Ok ok. Well for the princess, as soon as she got back, no one told her about the prince disappearance. They waited for her until she recovered so it doesn’t damage her health or something along that line. Once she found out, she started training like crazy for one year and became a female knight. Then one night, she disappeared and left a note saying that she will look for her love.”

        Junpei paused a bit to cut up the steak he ordered before continuing with the story.

       "The current king which is the nephew was also in love with the princess. The princess was in love with the other prince that gone missing. It's basically a whole mess of a love triangle. After the princess went missing, the new king went psycho and sent out the whole army to look for her. They didn't find her. Thus, this very high amount reward poster."

       “Wow, what the hell...wait…how about the uncle? Who’s looking for him?” I asked. 

       “That…I don’t know. He has no information. I guess he wasn’t that important.” Junpei says.

       “Wow what a nice old tale huh?” Sawada says.

       “it is a nice tale, but as for being old...the prince went missing last year and the princess went missing just a month ago," Junpei says.

       “What?! You serious?! What the hell are we waiting for?! We need to save her?!” Riki stands up.

       “Riki calm down. The first thing we have to do is find our castle. Then once we found it, then we can go do quest like this if we need to. Remember what our main goal is? It's to kill Luro.” Balo says and Riki started sulking as he sits back down.

       “But we might save her on the way. Seems like our destination is the same. If what they say about the portal inside the dungeon leads to our castle, we need to find the dungeon to verify it.” Balo says.

       We all agreed and decided to leave tomorrow morning to look for the dungeon of the sky king. We slowly ate dinner and talked about our lives back home. After finishing our food, we headed back to our room and we fell asleep quickly and this time, for the first time in a while, I slept through the night without having any nightmares.

       Luckily for us, the fog disappeared clearing up the forest by morning time. One of the villagers decided to guide us towards the rock. He said that if we go through the forest to find it, we will get lost since the area close to the rock has the ability to confuse adventurers. The trek towards the dungeon wasn't that bad. Our guide led us through the forest and within two days, we hit the giant rock formation.

       "Ok, so all you adventurers just need to climb this rock and the portal should be at the top of the rock inside a small cave.” The guide tells us as he prepares to walk back. “No one has ever climbed the rock since its very high and consumed a lot of adventurers lives who tried to climb it. Thus, I can’t really guarantee if the portal is there. Well, this is as far as I can bring you. Ok everyone, good luck!"

         We thanked him and paid him extra for his troubles and he left to go back to the village.

          "Ok, now how do we get up there?" Balo asked looking up rock wall in front of us. Climbing it is dangerous without proper equipment.

         “Are those swords lodge on the side of the rock?” I asked squinting while I look upwards. “Holy shit it is.”

        All of a sudden, a rope ladder was unrolled from the top and it descended towards us.

       "Awesome! We can use this to climb!" Riki says as he inspects the rope later if it will give out putting his weight on it.

      "Riki wait. Don't climb yet. This looks like a trap. Remember what our guide said.” Junpei whispers as he looks upwards. “You don't want to get caught off guard climbing."

       "The guide just said people died climbing this rock," Balo added on.

       "I'll Climb first. Nobody climbs the rope ladder just in case I need to do descend quick." Junpei says and before we protested, he started climbing. We watched him as he slowly climbs his way to the top. Once he reached the edge, we can see him disappear on the top of the wall.

       "Junpei! You alright?! Anyone up there?!!" Balo shouted but he didn’t reply.

        We started getting worried when all of a sudden, I hear his voice.

        "Yeah, I'm fine! Just start climbing now! Someone is waiting for us!" Junpei screams and we all started climbing the rope ladder.

         I decided to climb last and support Akane above me. It seems like it was harder for her to climb. As soon as I got to the top, a familiar face was standing blocking us from the portal right behind him.

         "Luro! What the hell do you want now!" Balo snarls at him.

         "As I saaaiiiid~ For all of you to kill me~ and I'm just here to help you little babies climb this magnificent rock! Take in the view, the fresh air, Weeeeee~" Luro says as he runs around doing airplane gestures. "And I also came on another thing. You guys don't have to go inside this dungeon. It's not needed."

       Huh? why would he--I say in my mind.

      "Why the hell should we listen to you?!" Junpei screams at Luro.

      "Uhhhh it's uh for your own good? Yea for your own good That’s it!" Luro says.

      "Ha! Get a life you fucking demon!" Sawada screamed at him and then Luro stopped smiling and started pouting.

       "That...that wasn't nice…Well, it should be enough stalling by now. Bye~" Luro says and all of a sudden, he started running towards the edge of the rock and jumped off. We ran to look where he is going to land, but he disappeared.

       "What the fuck. That damn psycho I'm going to kill him one day." Junpei says. Then we gathered at the front of the portal.

        "Okay everyone ready?" Balo asked and we all not in agreement. "Ok then, Let’s go!"

        Balo then ran in the portal and we all followed right after him. Expecting to be attacked by a gatekeeper or elite monsters, we ran in screaming. But what welcomed us made me drop my bow and arrow as I froze in place as I read the notification. Tears poured out of my eyes while happiness filled the hole in my heart.  

Welcome to Yasu and Mole Adventure Land!

This dungeon turned into a memorial site after the death of the sky king. 

Dungeon Conquerer (Master): Yasu

Dungeon Conqueror Class: BLADE

       "Yasu. He’s alive." I say as tears ran down my cheeks.