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CHAPTER 21: Our Differences

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 HIROKO POV

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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 Conquerer Class: BLADE

       “Yasu…” I whisper to myself as I drop on my knees and tears came pouring out of my eyes. A relief has enveloped me and I couldn’t stop crying due to having too much emotion engulf me.

      “Wh-Whoa! This is insane! How did he- Yasu got out!” Riki shouted in happiness as I kept crying.  Everyone else has a happy expression except the people from the gold who kept their guard up just in case a monster attacks us out of nowhere.

     “Haha! He’s alive!” Junpei’s happiness couldn’t be contained as a smile crept along his face. It took us a good minute to calm down. As soon as my crying has become controllable, I noticed I'm sitting on something. I quickly stand up and what was written on the ground made my heart skip a beat and I can hear Kumiko-sensei gasp in surprise as she sees the message also.

Don’t die…

       The words were written in blood. As I finally notice the surrounding area, it looks like a battlefield and the ground has a huge crater. I quickly bolted towards inside the dungeon. I have to find him.

       “Hiroko! Wait! Wait for us!” I can hear Junpei shouting behind me but I didn’t stop running as my heart kept racing wanting me to get closer and closer to him. We encountered skeletons in the first room. I thought they would stand up and come to us like the undead skeletons but these seem like due to the aftermath of a battle where the flesh decayed leaving the remnants of its core.

      “What the hell…” I hear someone say behind me as I slowed down.

       “Crocodiles?” I hear Balo say and I quickly bolt towards the second door towards the end. As I got closer, another message was written in blood making it unbearable to look at as my mind went wild with different thoughts.

This is the exit.

        Seeing the blood made my chest feel tighter and I became more anxious. I ran through the door as fast as I can. The other side was another cave. A small pond and a couple of skeletons were scattered on the ground. There are black-charcoaled pieces to what looks like burnt meat and a rotting odor enveloped the cave making me hold my nose shut.

       “Ackp! What the hell is that smell?!” Kumiko-sensei says in a muffled voice as she covers her nose and mouth with one hand. She has just caught up to me along with Junpei and I see everyone else behind her.

       Riki inspects a pile of bones near the pond. “Whoa, holy shit look at the size of those bones!”

       I can't help feeling uneasy as every room I go into seems like remnants of a battle and I fear that I might walk into Yasu’s lifeless body.

     “What are these? Chickens?” Tobi mumbles as he walks around the skull. Looking at it increased the pace of my heartbeat making my mind run wild.

      If these things were this size, fighting them must have been difficult! I say in my mind. 

       I quickly advance towards another door and the rotting smell is so strong it made my eyes teary by just walking through it.

       “Umpf!" Sawada covers his mouth as we all rushed towards the other side. I see a pile of what looks like flesh rotting from the corner as maggots slowly ate it. Trying not to hurl, I rushed to the other side. Red shattered stalactite crystal was scattered around the ground dimly illuminating the area.

        “That’s…..that’s just nasty…” I hear Balo whispers as he looks towards the pie of flesh full of maggots.  "Guys, let's move on quick, I don't want to stay in this room any longer.”

        We quickly moved towards across the other side where red crystals are illuminating a door and another message was written on it.

       Hey, stupid, are you stupid, I read in my mind.

      “Why are all these written in blood?! Who’s writing these?!” I shout as I quickly open the door. A dark hallway greeted me with a similar feeling to the first dungeon we all woke up in and it brought back more unwanted memories. I quickly ran through the hallway until I reached another door.

       “How many doors are there?!” I shout getting frustrated that we come this far to just keep opening doors to empty space. With my thought on being this close to finding Yasu, I quickly open the door and barge right in.

Welcome to the Safe Zone.

        “Whoa… this safe zone is small compared to the dungeon we all started in.” Balo says as he walks inside the room looking around.The safe zone can be compared to a tiny studio apartment minus the bath. There's a bed, a table, and a kitchen area.

        “What is this...a furnace? This place looks like it was scavenged…” Balo says as he approaches the kitchen area looking through the hole where charred firewood sits. The bed was missing its sheets and pillows. Small empty bottles are scattered around the tabletop and the cabinets were emptied clean. Few loose papers are scattered around the table and floor. A chest was left wide open but it was empty inside.

        “He-he must have made it in here!” I say as I looked around. “I know he was here! Who else could have scavenged this place!”

       I rush to another door adjacent to the one we entered in. I rest my hand on the knob but I noticed my hands are shaking and I didn't know whether it's from nervousness or excitement.

        "Ok Hiroko, you can’t be nervous now.’ I whisper to myself trying to calm my hands. I slowly turn the knob until I hear it click in place. I pulled back the door slowly and hot air came in making me sweat as the door creaked open towards darkness. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, it was all black like something scorched it with fire or rubbed charcoal on the walls.

        “Guys! Can you get the torches off the walls in that hallway?” Balo shouted behind us at the boys who are just entering the room. Balo is standing right behind me trying to peek what's at the end of the darkness. "Junpei, Tobi and Kumiko-sensei, let's push forward with Hiroko while the rest of you take what you can from this room."

      Balo instruct and everyone follows without hesitation. Him coming with us and not staying to scavenge tells me that he wants to find him as much as we do. We push on while the rest of the group remains to look around what they can store in their dimensional bags. While they were busy scavenging, me, Balo, Kumiko-sensei, Tobi, and Junpei pushed further into the darkness. Beside me is Akane holding onto my shirt like a kid. The more we walk, the bigger the hallway got. At first, we started hearing strange noises that would make us stop every now and then. We kept walking and the sound suddenly disappeared.

        Tobi decided to peek towards the entrance to get a glimpse of what’s inside. “What the fuck is that?!”

        “Tobi! Get behind the wall don’t just stand there!” Junpei tells him in a low voice but Tobi just stood there with his mouth wide open. We all decided to see what made him speechless.

        As soon as we all saw what he was staring at, like in unison we all said, "What the fuck."

      "It's a headless dragon probably," Tobi whispers as pans his head around trying to look at the dragon from one end to the other.

       “Holy fuck, that bigger than the gatekeeper.," Balo whispers as he stares at the carcass. Even I'm caught off guard at what I'm seeing. I got more nervous and anxious. Even from a distance, it looks enormous. We all have never seen the gatekeeper except Junpei. From the stories Balo told us about the gatekeeper, it was a giant.

       “That thing makes the gatekeeper seem small...” Balo whispers and it somehow made us feel more nervous. I started looking around the room panning my head from left and right but I couldn’t find it.

       “The head, where’s the head?” I whisper back and everyone starts looking around also. “The only person that could have done this is Yasu. He might still be here!”

      I couldn’t wait any longer so I quickly run towards the source of the voice. I can hear Junpei shouting behind me. “Hiroko! Wait!!”

       I didn’t care. He’s right within our grasp. He's within my reach. As I arrive at the carcass and I see a head sticking out of it. “Guys! There’s a head here!”

       “A what?!” Kumiko-sensei exclaimed, as she got closer and gasped in surprise as she sees the head sticking out of the body. I quickly looked around the area and looking for Yasu.

       “Yasu! Where are you?! We’re here! Yasu!” I screamed. The head slowly woke up groaning making us all jump back. As soon as she opened her eyes, she was looking at me with a confused look until reality has managed to catch up to her. 

      “Help! Help! He’s going to kill us! We need to get out of here!” She started shouting frantically. 

       All of a sudden, I hear something scraping as if a large rock was being pushed around. I ran towards the noise on the other side of the carcass and I ran as fast as possible until I reached a blasted wall. The whole area was dark but there’s light coming from an opened door. After all this time, I finally found him. The familiar back profile that, I have longed for.

        There he is! I whisper in my mind.

      “Yasu wait!” I shout as I ran for him. A large marble door was slowly closing behind him and I wasn’t even halfway when the marble door closed shut behind him and darkness enveloped the area again. “No! Yasu! Come back!!”

       Junpei grabs my arm and held me in place as I struggle to move forward. “Hiroko! Wait! We don’t know what’s in there!”

      "I don't care! He was just here! I was so close!" I thrashed around trying to break free from his grasp. 

       “I know Hiroko relax! Guys! Get your torches and come over here!” Junpei shouts behind us and I kept trying to break free from his grasp as all I see was the marble door in front of me. The rest of the group caught up to us with torches in hand and we all quickly ran towards the marble door.  

Welcome to the Trials of the gods Hidden Dungeon. This Dungeon is not for the weak hearted. You must be strong not only mentally but also physically. To qualify on entering this dungeon, you must be or with the individual who has the title “The New Sky King.” Only then you can enter the dungeon and test you might against all odds. This is a time constraint dungeon. Which means you won’t be able to get out until the time runs out. All monsters re-spawn in the area until the time limit so you must be prepared. 

Time Limit: 8760 Hours

Status: In Progress

Do you wish to enter?

Yes

No

        “Yes!” I shouted as happiness filled my heart but it suddenly all came crashing down as another notification came up.

DENIED.

You cannot enter without the title: The New Sky King

       “W-what?!!” I felt frustrated. I kept on cursing at the door while hitting it with my fist. “Open the fuck up!”

      I drop on my knees and started crying. “Open up…please.”

       I tried to punch the door again but Junpei held me back shouting some words and I couldn’t hear anything. All I thought about was getting through the door. I cried and cried until I managed to slowly calm down, but my body shook and I couldn’t control it or stop it as I sat in the dark. My mind was going blank as I stared at the ground not wanting to look up at the marble door.

      “Can one of you get Kumiko-sensei?” Junpei says as he holds my hands. It started bleeding a lot due to my flesh being cut open. The surrounding area was turning black and blue but I couldn’t feel anything as my body started to feel numb. The fact that I can't get to him is real. I thrash around trying to break free but Junpei kept a firm hold on me. I see Akane and Kumiko-sensei running back with Sawada.

        "Hiroko-chan! What happened?! Are you okay?!" Kumiko sensei asked me as she sees me in the ground with a bloodied hand, with tears and a blank expression.  

       “She started punching at the door and I think she damaged her fist pretty bad.” I hear him say and I felt something warm envelop my damaged hand.

      “There there, It’s ok Hiroko-chan.” Kumiko-sensei pats me in the back trying to comfort me.

      "For now, let's go back outside towards the light. The darkness in here doesn't make me feel more comfortable than the giant corpse outside. You boys need to help Balo also. We've been trying to get that girl out of that thing but she's lodged in there good."

      After healing my hand, Kumiko-sensei pulled me up to my fit and firmly held on to my guiding me back to the outside. Akane went and held my shoulders helping me keep my balance as we all walked away from the marble door. I couldn’t say anything and just cried. Too much overwhelming emotions flooded through me and I passed out.

.

.

.

       I slowly woke up to sounds of a fire flickering the wood as it burned it slowly.

      “Ok guys one more time! 1…..2…….3……pull!” I hear Balo’s voice along with the others. I slowly sit up and noticed Kumiko-sensei was already at my side helping me.

     "Relax, are you okay?" She asked me and I couldn't say anything as my eyes get teary by just looking at her. She hugged me close stroking my back and I cried on her chest till I couldn't cry anymore. 

      “Ah! Please do be gentle!” I hear a girls voice while everyone struggled to pull something.

      “It’s like pulling Excalibur out a rock. It’s impossible!” Riki says and as I looked around, I noticed them trying to pull the girl out of the carcass by her head. Akane is sitting beside me looking at me with tears accumulating in her eyes.

 Sniff*

       “I'm..I'm ok Akane," I tell her, and she smiles but continues to hug my hand. I lied to her since I don't feel okay. All of my thoughts are on how I missed my chance to meet him again. How I missed my chance to explain, to ask questions, how we keep missing each other by a few seconds.

       I hear Balo scream in unison with the boys as they all shout, “Pull!”

      All of a sudden, they all shouted as the boys fell backward while the girl came out of the dragon falling on top of Balo.  

     “Finally I’m free! My body feels light- Kya!! Don't look!!” She shouts trying to cover her naked body that’s covered in blood. She sees ups and came running to us as Kumiko-sensei used her body to block her from the boys.

     “Boys turn around!” She shouts and they all did facing the opposite way.  "Um…where are your clothes?" 

     Who cares about her clothes, we need to find a way to open the door. I say in my mind.

     “I-I don’t recall removing them! I passed out when I took damage and I woke up stuck in there. I remember losing consciousness with my clothes on. That means, oh my god! That perverted bastard!!” She says as she tries to hide her body. The last line somehow lit a fire in my heart and I wanted to toss her into an abyss. But knowing the fact that she might be my only source of finding out more information I held my thoughts.

     “M-my bag! Do you guys see a bag around the area?” She asked us. I looked around a spotted a bag near the entrance where we came from. I walk towards it and I could see it has been ransacked of its contents. I picked up the bag and walk back to give it to her. But my inner feelings are telling me to toss it in the fire. She took the bag from my hands and nodded gesturing a thank you. She rummaged through her back, but her expression got worse.  

      “My…my potions!!!” She shouted as she put the bag upside down dumping all of its contents on the ground.

      “Healing potions?” Kumiko-sensei asked. So far we didn’t need really focus on a healing potion since Kumiko-sensei can heal.

     “Yes! Those potions weren’t your ordinary potions! They cost around 5000 diamonds each!” She screamed. “He took them! And my family dagger is also missing!” 

      “U-um do you need clothes? We have spare if you need them. Umm, what is your name?” Kumiko-sensei asked.

      “Oh yeah, my clothes." She suddenly realized she's naked looking at her blood covered body. She whispered some words and a ball of water appeared on top of her descending down cleaning the blood off her body. "Thank you for the offer but I also brought spare with me.   

       She went and chanted a spell silently and a zipper appeared on the bottom of the bag. Once she opened it, a small black box was inside. She opened the black box and like a magician, she took out clothes that normally wouldn’t fit inside a box that size.

       “Whoa. What is that?” Kumiko-sensei asked.

      "Oh, this? This is a dimensional compartment. This lets me store as many items as I want without worrying about space and weight." She says as she quickly puts on undergarments she took out from the box. Then wore a white blouse along with skinny jeans that hugged the figure of her legs. Then she took out a chest plate, shoulder guards, shin guards, boots, and metal gloves from her dimensional compartment and wore all of them.

      She looks like a knight class.I whisper in my mind as I see her tighten the straps of her armor.

     "Oh, like our dimensional bag," Kumiko-sensei says as she takes her bag out of thin air and the girl eyes then widen.

      “D-d-dimensional bag! Where did you get this?! This is my first time seeing one! And it appeared out of thin air!” She screams as she inspects the bag.

      "Someone, uh, gave it to us." Kumiko-sensei skipping to mention Luro's name. "Um, what's your name?" 

       “Oh my apologies, my name is Stella Crosstain. Sorry for the late introduction.” She says as she bows greeting us.

       Stella?....Oh! Its ste—I was suddenly interrupted by Riki’s voice.

       “Oh my god! You're Stella?!” Riki shouts as he ran towards us not even asking if he can turn around. Riki vigorously shook her hand and created some story on how he was on a journey to find her and save her. All she did is smile at him but I can feel she is a bit uncomfortable with all the attention she’s getting from him. Still irritated from what she says earlier, I decided to ask her a question.

       “Stella, you know you have a reward poster. We’ll get a ton of money just bringing you back.” I tell her and everyone looked at me but didn’t say anything.

       “W-w-what? I have a reward poster?” She replies this irritates me more for some reason.

 Scoff.

       “How come you don’t even know. Now, did you meet that stupid prince of yours?” I say back to her and I can feel everyone tense up but not say anything.

     “W-w-what?! Stupid?! Drakun is not stupid!” She screamed back at me.

     “Ha! He seems pretty stupid enough to me!! Chasing a princess that's not even kidnapped...that seems pretty stupid!” I screamed back at her. I didn’t care for some reason and wanted to punch her as I kept remembering her calling Yasu a pervert earlier.

      “W-w-watch what you say! Drakun is a nobleman! If-if it wasn’t for that psychopathic friend of yours, I would have his sword at least to bring back!!” She shouts back, and I just lost it. I called my dimensional bag and took out my bow and arrow. The minute she sees me holding my weapon, she grabbed her dimensional compartment and took out a sword as big as her.

      “Whoa!!” Junpei stepped in-between us holding out his hands telling us to calm down. “H-Hiroko relax. Also, you Ms. Stella please put your sword down.”

      I don’t care, come at me and I'll lodge a fucking arrow between her eyes! I shout in my mind as I kept my aim pointed at her head.

      “She’s the one at fault for calling Yasu a psycho!” I tell Junpei.

      “W-What? How the hell is it my wrongdoing?! He lodged me inside that dragon and then left me there to perish!!” She says and the atmosphere was so tense I was sure to send an arrow towards her forehead up until she slowly put her sword down. Seeing her relax a bit I also aimed my bow down, but I was still conscious just in case she initiates a surprise attack.

      She took out her dimensional compartment and placed the sword back in. “Look, I don’t want to quarrel with my saviors. I apologize for calling your friend a psycho but, he’s a demon in my standards. His strength is out of this world and his mind is not of those that are sane. He led me on saying that he will release me after I answer all of his questions but then just left me there to die. Luckily, he didn’t finish me off as I passed out from the shock and fear. If you all didn’t come, I would have been stuck there until someone found me. I couldn’t move nor do anything since all my skills work only when I hold my two swords. If no one found out that I was there, I would have died a slow painful death of starvation.”

       She started hugging herself shaking. A couple of hours passed and we both calmed down a bit. Some of us are sitting down the campfire. Some of the boys are exploring the whole dungeon corner by corner just in case we missed something.

      "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to anger you. You all are my savior and I am grateful for that. As a princess of a country, my actions reflect my people and I have shown you all an ill-mannered nature that's not befitting a princess. I apologize." Stella says as she approaches me. She then bows down gesturing an apology. Everyone around the campfire looks at me waiting for me to also say my apologies.

     “I’m also sorry. I didn’t mean to scream at you earlier.” I say as I avoid everyone’s gaze and still look towards the fire. Maybe I meant it or maybe I'm using her to vent my feelings of the situation. I can feel her attitude change as her bubbly personality came in a form of questions eager to find out who we are.

     “So, you guys are looking for me? I see that you know that person who was just here. What class is he?” She asked us, and I look at her. I can see her eyes are full of excitement and curiosity.

      "He's a non-combatant class," Junpei says and Stella's eyes widen and her jaw drops.

        “Non-combatant class?!” She exclaimed stating up from her seat.

        "Yea, he's a non-combatant," I repeat what Junpei said and she slowly sits down at awed at what we said.

      "No wonder he was asking me so much question." She whispered to herself and before I got a chance to ask her, Balo came back with everyone else. 

       “Hey Stella, we're actually looking for our castle. We heard stories and rumors that it is something beyond a portal in this dungeon. So far, the only portal I see is the one we came from.” Balo says.

       Now that I think of it, is the other portal perhaps the dungeon door Yasu entered?I whisper in my mind trying to figure it out. it can’t be since there’s a time limit on the door and it requires for someone with the title of the new sky king to enter. 

     “Hmm, there should be one somewhere here.” She says looking around and the boys went out to search again. Junpei along Tobi and Hiroko-sensei also started looking around the room for the new portal. The one that’s left sitting around the campfire is Akane, Stella, and myself.

      “Say, uhh Hiroko was it?” Stella asked me. 

      "Yeah," I replied.

      “I see that you’re really close to that fellow.” She tells me. I can see she wants to ask me a question, but she is holding herself back trying not to anger me again.

     “What is it? Seems like you want to ask me something.” I tell her. Her eyes then perk up and she stood up to sit closer to me.

     “Who is he? He has a non-combatant class, which is near impossible to get. So far in history, he is the only one in this whole world who has it. Did you come from the same guild or you formed a party with him? You say he’s your friend and comrade. I’m just curious to know. Do you happen to know what class he has?” She asked me, and her eyes stare directly into mine.

     Near impossible to get?I asked in my mind confused.

     “He’s a blade which is a cooking class. And he came from the same world we all came from.” I tell her and her expression became more excited.

      “Are you guys from another world?! Y-You mean the planet at the sky?! You’re from there?!” She asked me and I nod in agreement. She then started screaming and jumping up and down.

      “Y-y-you! All of you! Please come with me back to my city! My father shall know about this. He will be thrilled for me to know such rare individuals!” She says.

        "No-can-do Ms. Stella," Junpei says as he gets back to the campfire.

       “What? Why?! We can provide you with everything you will need to live here!” She says.

       "We're not here to get settled, Ms. Stella. A creature named Luro brought us here to kill him. And that is our main goal after we find our castle. If we kill him. We will be able to go home." Balo says as he walks up behind Junpei.

       Stella slumps down the floor feeling defeated. But then she perks right back up. "Wait….you say kill Luro? The evil god?!”

      They all nod in agreement except me who played with the embers of the fire.

     “No wonder he said the same thing…” She says and it brought my attention.

     “Says what? Who?” I ask her.

     "Your friend. Uh, Yasu was it? He said the same thing you guys just said. He told me his main goal is to get stronger so he can find Luro and kill him.” Stella explained as she sat near the fire.

      “Wh-What else?! Did he say anything else?! Anything about us?!” I told her as I grab her shoulders.

      "Ah—ah—your grip…it hurts.” She told me and I loosen but I still held on to her.

     “Well, he didn’t say much. He was really scary.” Stella continued to explain. “He told me he survives hell after being thrown in there by his enemies.”

      What she said last brought pain in my heart. Everyone else from our side had a grim expression hearing her words.

       He knows.Yasu knows.He knows we decided to leave him in the dungeon. I say in my mind as I let go of Stella. I slump down the ground and my face was caught with a blank stare. I didn't know what to think. Nothing good has been happening to all of us. My mind was so exhausted with so many different thoughts that I passed out.

       I woke up slowly with voices of people around me. "So you're saying that he beat you with a single punch and based on your knowledge, he has a very rare class that is only heard or known from legends and folklore?"

        As I slowly sat up, Akane quickly got to my side guiding me up. She then offered me to drink water from the bottle. Everyone was circling the campfire eating bread. After a while getting me up to speed, they continued their conversation as I listened on.

       “That just doesn’t make sense. He can hold a sword since your telling me he was swinging your fiancé sword like nothing. He had skills that you had to block or else you would have been cut in half?” Balo continued. “Are you guys sure his class was a non-combatant class?”

       Junpei has a concerned look in his face as he says, “I’m not even sure now.”

        “Yasu being able to hold a two-handed sword…” I hear Tobi slowly filter out of the conversation as he goes into deep thought.

       “Let’s not forget, he managed to knock her out with one attack barehanded. Which is hard to believe. What’s next? He actually took out this dragon barehanded? That just doesn’t make sense.” Balo says.

       "Well as I said before, in the history books of this planet, it is indicated that those who are non-combatant class specifications are considered as a legendary class. It is either only obtained through fate. Which means you have to be born with the fate of being a non-combatant class. But that's only about it, it's history. Not once was there ever an event that someone had those non-combatant class. Well, until now that is.” Stella replies.

       “From what I remember, Yasu couldn't even pick up a sword since it weighs a ton for him. What if Luro gave him a class change for him to survive?" Tobi says.

        “That is also a possibility he did that to pin us against each other. But then again, most of the time he would rather see us suffer than help us. A prime example is Rikimura." Junpei says and the name he mentions stings my existence.

       “Guys who cares?! All we know is he is alive and he can kick ass!” Riki says.

       “That’s exactly what we should be scared of," Balo says looking a bit worried.

        “What do you mean?” Junpei asked and it looked like Balo is mulling over something. It took him a few seconds to even respond to Junpei.

       “Well, if he is a legendary class, we need him more than ever to kill Luro. But the issue is…” His voice trails off and we all stayed quiet waiting for him to continue on.

        “The issue is, what happened between you guys. For all I know, He might turn the blade towards us because of that. If he actually got out of the dungeon by killing a gatekeeper, that’s already a big deal. Now he conquered this dungeon all by himself, he must be really strong to accomplish such a thing without proper combat abilities. On top of that, he killed this dragon, which is bigger and probably stronger than the gatekeeper. Having him as an enemy is very dangerous.”  

        "Oh and Ms. Stella, our condolences," Kumiko-sensei says as she bows her head towards her trying to change the topic. Stella gave her a nod of thanks and I was confused a bit of what’s going on up until Junpei filled me in that Stella's fiancé died inside the dragon’s stomach.

       "Must have been a devastating news," Junpei adds on also offering his condolences. 

        "To tell you all the truth, I never really did love him," Stella replied back, and we all stayed quiet to hear her story. "I like him but love wasn’t in the picture. That’s why I went to look for the flower that will make me fall in love with him. Which caused my disappearance and this whole mess.”

       "So you're saying that it wasn't because the flower was to make him marry you, but the other way around?" Riki asked her.

       “Yes. I didn’t want to marry a man I don’t love. His uncle told me of a flower that will bewitch me and make me fall in love with him. But it ended up as a hoax and I ended up trapped in a hole with a broken leg.” She says.

      “Why did you want to marry him? Could you just cancel?” Kumiko-sensei asked her.

       "I wish it was that easy. Marrying him is for the sole reason of protecting our kingdom. We have all the resources and money but what we lack are manpower and an army. Drakun's family and land had the opposite. They had the manpower and an army but lacked resources. Our marriage was to combine the two nations and help build a stronger kingdom that didn't lack anything." She explained.

      "And now, they lack the original heir to the throne, and now the princess. Wouldn't marrying the new king be the same outcome?" Balo asked her.

       "No, it wouldn't. He was already set to marry another princess and if I become intertwined with him, I would be labeled as his mistress rather than the heir to the queen's throne." She says.

       “Oh, seems like he likes you enough to leave his current one though…” Junpei says reminiscing about all the information he had acquired.

       "That would even be worse. He would be removed from the family and lose his position as the current king. Besides, the current king is a disgusting individual. Can you imagine he wanted me to be his hidden mistress? Says that if I fulfill his every need I don't have to worry about living and my family and people will be safe as long as I bore his saplings." She says, and I can see her fist clench. Before we could ask another question, she then asked something unexpected.

       “You guys know Yasu as he was your teammate. How did he become like that?” She says.

       “He’s what?” Junpei asked also confused at her question like me.

      "When I first saw him I thought he was the sky king and tried to kill him. But then as I told you he quickly overpowered me. But what scares me the most is his aura. It's really evil and sinister. He didn’t hesitate when he attacked me and the last, I remember, he had no remorse trying to kill me.” She says, and it also baffled us on his new personality. It doesn’t sound like the one we know.

       “Ah, I wish I could re-watch their fight somehow. I bet it would have been epic.” Riki says and even I wondered how it was like, going Solo with a dragon.

       “Oh, and I completely forgot, Hiroko, while you were unconscious, we found the portal but, it was shattered into pieces," Junpei tells me. He then points towards the tail of the dragon and I see a rune that's slowly rebuilding the portal to be whole again.

        “Luckily for us, Stella is here, and she has a spell that can rebuild portals, but it takes a couple of days to finish. She just started a while ago so when it is done we will depart as soon as possible through the portal.” Balo explained and I nod in agreement.

        "Since it will take a couple of days, we decided to stay here and scavenge this dragon. Stella says its scales will bring a high price if we sell it. But holy hell, this thing is really huge." Junpei says looking at the corpse from a distance. They camped near the hallway since the smell of the dragon carcass slowly rotting has started to become stronger and stronger.

         “It sure will make you all wealthy individuals. Do you have any other questions? I’ll try my best to answer them.” Stella says, and everyone decided to ask her more about this world and she told us everything.

         While they all asked questions, I remained quiet. My mind is fixated on the white marble door Yasu entered. After talking to her, we decided to rest of the time being as most of us started to feel sleepy.

        As we all lay down and stare at the remaining stalactite in the ceiling, Riki asked one question that slipped my mind. “I wonder who’s Mole...”

       My thought was replaced by someone like a hot elf or a catgirl following him around. This made my chest tighten and added to the things that would probably keep me up tonight. Everyone was fast asleep except for Balo and Junpei. Even Stella was sleeping soundly. I decided to stay up since I somehow don't feel tired at all.

      “Say, you guys, can I tell you something? But don’t take it to the heart okay?” Balo says.

      “Sure go ahead. What is it?" Junpei says and I nod.

     “We need to find a way to get him to our side. I know you guys have history but as I said earlier, we need him more than he needs us." Balo said, "But, I hope we don't end up fighting him."

       The thought of fighting him never crossed my mind.

      “If it’s to protect everyone else and Hiroko, I would fight him if I need to," Junpei replies and somehow it didn't make me feel safe or happy.  

       "I don't even know if we're strong enough to face him…" Balo says and we all think the same. "I mean look at the size of this dragon, it's enormous. And he brought it to this state."

       "I hate to admit it but right now Yasu is stronger than all of us combined," Balo says. We all just sat in silence until I started to feel sleepy and decided to sleep next to Akane. A small nudge has woken me up and I can see Akane’s face staring down at me.

      “Huh…Akane what is it?” I asked her. She then pointed towards the dark cave where the white marble portal is. I see some of the guys trying to remove the scales of the dragon while the rest have gone missing.

     “Where the rest of them?” I say trying to rub the crust of my eyes and she pointed towards the dark cave again with a happy expression. I stood up and she pulled me guiding me towards the dark cave. That’s when I see Junpei and the rest of them in front of the large chest towards the dark corner of the room. As soon as Junpei sees me, he waves me to hurry over towards to them.

      “Hiroko look! A treasure chest!” Junpei says pointing at a chest big enough for two people to sit inside.

     “We need your help to open it. There’s a riddle here in the wall. You’re the smartest person in this whole room maybe you can figure it out.” Junpei says and I approach the chest and read the riddle on the wall.

     "Those who wish to talk must first feed the baby liquid. Dragon be lenient on our dreams." I read out loud.

     “It’s talking about a baby, maybe a baby dragon? But we don’t see any eggs around the area.”Balo says looking around. I see they illuminated it more by bringing some of the red stalactites into the cave. Now I can see from wall to wall. I walk around trying to find any more writings. Nothing. I walk back towards the chest. I see the lock is engulfed in blue flames.

      “We tried breaking it but the blue flames is protecting the lock. It’s practically indestructible.” Junpei says and I try to examine the chest.

      "Can you figure it out?" Balo asked me, and I just nod. "Ok, well while Hiroko tries to figure this out, let's go and help to remove as much scales as we can from the dragon."

        Akane and Kumiko-sensei stay behind and started creating a campfire near the treasure chest. Akane helped me try to solve the riddle by using her notebook to write the riddle down.

         “Hmmm…those who wish to talk…feed the baby liquid…hmmm…does it mean to talk?” I tried saying some commands on the chest but nothing happened.

        “Dragon be lenient on our dreams...the hell is this…” I tried and tried to solve it but it’s somehow difficult. I see the guys almost de-scaled the whole dragon. It’s quite fascinating how our bag can hold so much and still weight the same. I tried one more time to look for clues and walked around the cave with Akane following me behind. I pause every time I was the marble door.

“Open” I whisper.

DENIED.

You cannot enter without the title: The New Sky King

sigh*

        I decided to walk outside and see if they completely removed the scales. Seeing the door every time makes me depressed even more. I see everyone gathered around the campfire near the portal trying to cook something.

        “What the hell, this has been here for over an hour and it’s still raw!” Tobi says flipping the piece of meat cooking in the fire.

       “What’s going on?” I say as I approached them with Akane behind me.

        “This dragon meat won’t cook no matter how long I leave it in the fire. Maybe this isn’t edible…” Tobi says poking the meat with his sword and basically putting it inside the fire pit.

       “Isn’t that rotting?” I asked, and he just gave me a shrug. “Are you sure that’s edible?”

       “I have eaten it before; dragon meat is so delicious!!” Stella says to us. 

        “Damn, all this meat is going to waste. Wait, doesn’t Yasu level up by cooking? As far as I can remember, he only got leveled up by cooking the rats.” Junpei says and we all think about why he didn’t cook this dragon and level himself up.

      "Well, maybe it took him a long time also to cook one and by the size of this dragon, it will take him centuries to even cook the whole thing," Balo say and analyze the size of the carcass.

      “But still, that’s an easier way to level up. He could have stayed here and just focus on leveling to cook this dragon.” Balo says and he does make a point.

      "Why did he go in the dungeon to risk his life?" Junpei says but we will never know until we meet him.

      “Well, I think I kind of have an idea why…” Stella tells us looking at the fire waiting for the dragon meat to even start cooking.

       “When I was training with a party, I also thought getting to higher level fast is the key to becoming strong. So I had one of my personal knights level me up. Of course, my stat rose when I leveled up, but I noticed it became harder for me to solo monsters on the same level when I got to a higher tier. That's when I noticed my skills. They never leveled up because I never used them." Stella says.

        “You mean you leveled up without using your skills?” Tobi asked.

       “Yes. I had a higher-level person weaken the enemy enough for me to deal a final strike that one slice of my sword was enough to kill them. I never really noticed till I reached level 30 where I decided to solo some monster and had a really hard time dealing with them.” Stella says.

       “Oh…” Tobi replies back.

      "That's why I can understand why your companion didn't just level up by cooking this dragon. If he is by himself since becoming an adventurer, along the way he would have figured out the leveling system and decided to focus on his skills. Unless he just wants to kill things." Stella says.

       I was about to say something when she continued talking. “But I don’t think that’s the case. You did say he goes to the smartest institute in your world. Something likes this, he would have easily figured out on his own accord.”

       We all think about what she said. Some of our skills are higher level than us. And what she said makes sense. Without our skills, we pretty much are useless. The next day, everyone decided to train their skills. They have the biggest target practice, the dragon carcass. Even I took time off trying to figure out the riddle and train my skills. Days have passed and I completely gave up on the chest. The riddle was too hard for me to figure out and we all decided to come back for it later when we find the castle. We moved and stayed in the hallway near the safe zone since the dragon carcass is starting to really smell.

      During the day, the boys will go out to train their skill on the dragon while Akane and I, stay around the safe zone telling stories to Stella about the earth. We also hear stories from her about this world and her kingdom. Kumiko-sensei alternates back and forth staying with us certain days and with the boys certain days practicing her healing.

     This has become a daily routine and I don’t even leave the safe zone anymore. I don’t feel motivated to do anything. No matter what I do, I can’t open that door separating me from him.

      Nothing. There is absolutely nothing I can do but wait. I say in my mind and I kept thinking till I fell asleep. I feel something shaking me awake and when I slowly open my eyes, I see Akane smiling at me.

     “Akane. What is it?” I tell her and she started mouthing off ‘Its time to go’ over and over again until I managed to understand it. I stand up and quickly woke myself by slapping my cheeks lightly. I see Balo and Junpei are awake already. Or maybe they didn’t sleep so I decided to walk over to them.

     “Hey Hiroko, ready?” Junpei asked me.

     “Ready to what? Is the portal fixed?” I asked him, and he nods happily. After breakfast, we all headed straight to the portal. It’s been a couple of days since I have seen the dragon and once I got a view of it, it looks horrendous. Cuts, holes, and other damages surround the body. The odor got stronger and it made me cover my nose and mouth at the same time. I look over towards Junpei and the others and they all seem fine with the smell. Before I can talk, Junpei answered my question.

        “We’ve been in here for most of the time I guess we got used to the smell.” He says as we walk towards the portal. Since I rarely left the safe zone, I wasn't used to the smell and my breakfast wants to come out.

        "Ok everyone listen up! The portal is fixed and we all have leveled our skills tremendously! But, I don't know what's on the other side of the portal so I want everyone to be prepared and alert at all times!" Balo screams over all of us as he stands in front of the portal. We all nod in agreement and Balo smiles at us. He then turns around and enters the portal first. Then everyone else followed. The last people were me and Junpei. I look over the direction where the hidden dungeon door is and I can’t shake the tight feeling I’m having on my chest. I feel like I’m abandoning him one more time. Junpei seems to notice my hesitation and he came closer to me and put his hands on my shoulder.

        Did he always seem this big?..... He looks like he got taller.I say in my mind as he looked at me straight in the eye.

       "We're not leaving him behind this time Hiroko, we will come back for him. For now, there is nothing we can do but wait. We have to wait for him. If he's strong enough to kill this dragon, he should strong enough to survive in there. Let's have faith in him." He tells me and I just nod but there’s still a part of me that wants to stay in here and wait but I can’t wait here till the door opens. I feel guilty pushing forward but I need to survive. My gaze somehow ends up towards the direction of the dungeon door.

        If only I was a few minutes faster, I would have caught up to him.I say in my mind as I turned towards the portal.

        As soon as we get to the other side, the surrounding area was covered with trees. But not like the one in the forest. These trees, they have no leaves like trees during winter. The temperature is still warm along with a cool breeze of the wind. But what caught our eyes are around the surrounding sky from a distance. We all cautiously walked and even the princess indicated to us that she has never been to these lands and it was a first for her to see something unexplainable such as that.

       What we're all staring at is snow.Snow is normal occurrence back on earth. But what’s abnormal about this snow, it’s only falling on a certain section beyond the horizon. It’s not falling on our location and the temperature is definitely summer. It’s like a force field surround the are preventing the snow from entering but also the cold wind. 

        “Ok guys wait here. Let me see first if the temperature is the same from this side compared that that area.” Balo says and he then walks towards entering the snowy region. “Oh shit! It’s fucking cold!”

       He ran back to us and I already could see his body shivering.

      "Damn, we don't have jackets," Junpei whispers making me look at my clothes. 

       “Fuck, we can’t enter that dressed like this. We need to get jackets. Did the shop back at the town have jackets?” Balo asked.

      "I think they did, I saw armors also in a display so they should have some form of clothing," Tobi says

      “But to go all the way back to just get jackets…" Balo's voice trails as he thinks of a solution. "Ok, anyone wants to volunteer to go back? I don’t think we can go anywhere dressed like this.”

        Even though Balo asked, no one answered. Getting to the dungeon wasn’t that easy. Going back will be the same and no one wanted to do the trek especially climb down the dangerous rock.

       “Um, I can create jackets for all of you as long as I have the materials," Stella said and all of our attention was brought to her.

        "You can what?" Balo asked with a surprised look.

        “I can build you guys leather jackets. I have armor crafter as my second sub passive class.” Stella says and it brought confusion yet excitement to all of us. As far as we know, we only have one class. We never knew we could have another second class.

       “Wait, you mean we can have another class?” Junpei asked.

       "Yes. You guys didn't know? It's basic for adventurers to pick a second sub passive class after level 10. I picked mine as an armor crafter. The class lets me craft any type of armor from cloth, leather, bronze, silver, gold, and diamond armor. The only things I can create by myself are cloth and leather since it doesn't require me to use a forge." Stella says.

        Some of the guys are excited to be able to pick a second sub passive class. She told us a couple of available class we can pick from but, Stella said there is a bigger list if we go back to her city and visit an adventurer’s hall. Which we all agreed to do once we have found our castle.

      "Ok, so I have most of the material but the only thing I don't have is leather," Stella says.

      We all look through our dimensional back and none of us have packed any leather at all. Everyone looks around trying to see if they can spot an animal but even if we find one, it won't be enough leather to make a jacket for all of us.

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       "Wait a minute…guys…. what about the dragon?" Junpei says and everyone looks at me.

      “Holy shit that’s a lot of leather! Ms. Stella, will that work? Will the dragon skin work as a material?” Balo asked.

       “To be honest, I have never used a dragon skin. Because well, they are very hard to encounter let alone, kill.” Stella says. “We have no other choice. There’s only one way to find out.”

      Rather than all of us going back to get leather, we sent Tobi along with Riki and Masato to get leather. Tobi is a lot more experience with skinning an animal so he volunteered to skin the dragon. It took them an hour or maybe even more to get enough dragon skin.

      "Ok everyone, give me a minute," Stella says as she places her hands over the materials. Then she started chanting a spell and next thing we know the skin started evaporating along with the other material. A bright light formed and a jacket materialized from thin air. She did this about eleven times until each and every one of us are holding a pair of leather jackets made of dragon skin.

       “Ok everyone, this is a one-time fit jacket. Which means, the minute you wear it, it will shrink to your size.” Stella says as she wears her jacket and the material shrank to her size. “Wow, this material is so comfortable.”

        We all copied her and to our amazement, our jackets shrank down to the size of our body structure making it a perfect fit.

        "This is amazing! This leather jacket looks so badass!!" Riki says feeling around his body.

       We can see a subtle scales design on the dark leather jacket. It seems like a there’s also a hint of blue in the color that shows only under the sun. It was comfortable to wear and flexes without creating a crease. Without wasting any more time, one by one we entered the snowy region after Stella created some gloves and beanies using the cloth she had in her dimensional compartment.

       "Uh, g-g-g-guys. M-my body is warm but m-my face is not. I-i-isn't it dangerous to have a quick b-b-body temperature like that?" Riki asked as he rubs his face around trying to warm it up. What he says does make sense on our world. But here, our body reacts differently.

       "I-I-I don't know. Ms. Stella, is there medicines for a fever here?” Balo asked her and the minute he finished her expression became confused.

       “Fever? What is that?” Stella asked as she tilts her head sideways.

      “Uhhh….let me see how should I explain this…..Ah! A fever is when the body gets really hot and it makes you feel like everything is spinning when you try to stand.” Balo says as he tries to explain the symptoms of a fever.

        “Ah! You mean the flame sickness!” Stella says clapping her hands one time. “Yes, there’s a medicine for that. Actually, I have them in my dimensional container. Just let me know when you need it and I will provide it for you." 

        We all walked through the snow region and the further we get from the portal, the stronger the blizzard gets up to the point that the snow is up to our waist.

        “Guys! Are you all ok?!” Junpei shouts as he looks back at us lagging behind him. I don’t know how he can see us clearly with this blizzard. Balo is right in front of him while Tobi and Sawada are behind the group to protect our rear. The rest of the boys are right behind them and after that, us girls. Stella decided to stay with us since all of the boys kept asking weird questions and at the same time, she kept watch of our rear just in case some monster comes out and attack us from behind.

        Once the blizzard has subsided, we decided to clear snow on the surrounding area to create a camp since the sun has started to set and the temperature dropped even more. This is where our skills come in handy. We cleared the ground of snow in just a few minutes. Stella threw a metal ball in the air while saying some magic words and the metal ball started floating as a light came out from all sides and covering us in a dome-like force field that stopped the now but didn’t prevent the wind.

        Since the force field was bigger than what we have cleared, we used the remaining pile of snow to build an igloo. Using branches of dead trees, we lit a fire inside the igloo to warm ourselves. We thought the heat of the fire will melt the igloo but it didn’t. I think the cold wind outside froze the igloo solid and prevented it from melting. We built three igloos close to each other. Two of them were for the boys and us girls stayed together in one. Even though we are surrounded by snow and ice, it was quite warm inside the igloo that we didn’t need to wear our dragon jackets.

       “Hiroko, can I ask you a question?” Stella says. I can see curiosity in her eyes.

     “Hm? What is it?” I asked her.

      “I have noticed, you care for Yasu quite more than the rest. And I heard from the guys that, you met him or how I should say, encountered him before. What happened?” She asked me and I can see her eyes go wide.

        I explained to her how we are all brought here by Luro with an objective to kill him to save our planet. I told her our whole ordeal in details what happened inside the first dungeon. How all of us survived the hardships to just die in the end. How all of us chose Junpei over Yasu. I told her about Rikimura-san kidnapping me. How he tortured and tried to rape me to be saved by the same person I have condemned to death. I tell her everything I know about him.

        "So you're saying that he went out to save you and after saving you, he brought you to your group and left? Why didn't he stay and waited for everyone else?" She asked and even I don't know the answer to that question.

        "I-I don't know," I tell her.

        "Well, as I told you before, it seems like he has a grudge against you guys," Stella says. "Wait, how does he know you're all alive? Didn't you say you all died before him?"

        Huh, that’s true. How did he-I say in my mind.

      "Luro," I said out loud. "There's only one way for him to know. Luro must have told him that we're all alive and he must have told him what happened after!”

      "Oh no," Kumiko-sensei says in a worried tone.

      “That’s why he hates us! Luro probably twisted the story!” I say just noticing now.

      "Luro isn't really a bag of sunshine. Imagine how he must have twisted the story to make him like that. But still, if Yasu goes to Seito High School he must have at least some common sense not to believe him." Kumiko-sensei tells us.

       “Now now, isn’t it bad to talk about someone behind their back?” A voice came ringing outside of our igloo. A voice that sounds too familiar. We all rush out and we see the boys coming out of theirs. Luro is sitting in the center with a makeshift fire that has red flames and no matter how strong the winds were, the flame never blew out.

        “L-luro! It’s Luro!” Stella shouted out falling on her ass.

        “You! What did you tell Yasu?!” I snarl at him.

        “Kekekekeke feisty as usual huh.” Luro snapped his fingers and the wind suddenly disappeared calming the night with subtle snow falling above the force field. “Me? I didn't say much...just how you all are not coming back and what type of choices you all made. You know, the usual stuff~" Luro replied and his answer infuriates me that I took out my bow ready to send an arrow to him.

        “You turned him against us! You bastard!” I shouted out trying to kill as I sent an arrow flying but it disintegrated once it got close to him.

        “Now now, I didn't sugar coat it. I told him what actually happened.” He tells us as he fiddle with the fire and then placing his hands near it trying to warm himself. “The one that turned him against you…is the dungeon itself.”

       "Lies!" I shout towards him as I prepared another arrow but I see a hand held me back. 

        “What do you mean the dungeon turned him against us?” Junpei asked in a calm tone but I can see he’s furious as he grits his teeth.

         "Like wow, Yasu has become so popular. All of you were talking about him all at the same time that made me want to come here and listen to your stories.” Luro says looking at us. Right before I say something back, he stood up and started walking around.

        “Now, I can give you guys what you all are looking for. Answers to all of your questions! But, it comes with a price. So what will it be? Find out now and deal with the price or, wait for one year until he comes out and asks him yourselves. Now, if he survives that is. And if he does, you all are in for a treat~” Luro started laughing maniacally as he sat back down the log placing his hand near the fire. “Now what will you choose?” 

       Even when he’s talking to all of us, he’s looking right at me. I feel like he specifically wants me to choose.

       “Screw you!” I shout at him and with his annoying demeanor, he acted surprised in the fakest manner.

       “S-s-screw m-me? I-I-I-I don’t know what to say. Please be gentle. I’m a virgin.” He says as he touches his face both of his hands pretending to be shy. Seeing him is making my blood boil. Right before I send another arrow his way, Balo stopped me again.

       “Hiroko wait. We can ask where our castle is.” Balo whispers to me. "Guys! If we choose one, there is a consequence. Are we all prepared for that? I want to know where our castle is as fast as possible but if one of you is not comfortable, I need to know and we won't choose one. I don't want anyone to be forced into a decision."

       Everyone nods in agreement. I guess they all want to find where the castle is located. On the other hand, I have different questions in my mind.

       “Ok. We choose to know all of the answers to our questions.” Balo says and everyone moves closer together by our side.

       “Ok little babies, go on. Ask away~” He says as he opens his arms wide inviting all of our questions.

       "Where is our castle? And how do we get there?" Balo asked him first.

       “Hmm, you’re going the opposite way. You have to go that direction. Just kept walking straight until the land turns to mist.” Luro points behinds us. "Now once you get over the other side, you won't see the castle immediately, you have to break the seal hiding it in the mist."

      “How do we break the seal?” Junpei asked.

      “To break the seal is easy. You just have to kill an animal. It’s a lizard of some sort. I call it the eyes of the mist. Kekekekekeke.” Luro says.

      And everyone seems happy now that they know where the castle is.

      “Why is Yasu like that? Why didn’t he come to us? What did you do to him?!” I started bombarding him with questions and Luro just stared at me without changing his expression.

        “Hmmm, too many questions. Let me answer them one by one. Yasu became like ‘that’ and I believe you’re referring to his attitude because of the hardships he went through the dungeon. As you all know, he a non-combatant class correct?” Luro says and we all nod.

        “But did I ever say that he cannot fight? You all and including himself categorized it as a weak passive class. But in reality, he can get much stronger than all of you since his class requires a lot more work to level up. I believe in the law of gravity. Don’t all of you do?” Luro says waiting for an answer but no one responded.

       "Tsch, what a boring bunch. Well, anyways~ what is strong will have a weakness. What is weak will have the strength. It's like a game isn't it? The weakest class triumphs to be the strongest if the player properly utilizes it~. One wrong move and the player's character become useless. Now, Yasu, is he useless? Or is he overpowered? Well, explaining will take such a long time~ so let me show you his past experiences instead~ kekekekekeke~”

        Luro then waved in the air and a holograph monitor appeared.

       “Yasu!” I scream as I see him on screen. It showed when he first woke up and it seemed like he's looking for us. We see him exit the safe room to be chased back inside by the monsters we first encountered. The video then continues on and it shows him waiting and waiting and waiting. He keeps on waiting until he runs out of food. He waited for us to come to rescue him but we never came.

        But what appeared next just made me sick to my stomach. We see him being dragged by his hair towards the skeleton room by a troll. They tied him up and started cutting his leg open removing his flesh bit by bit as he slept. After he woke up, they muffled him and kept torturing him cutting chunks of flesh every day. He begged them to kill him but the trolls and goblins just laughed and laughed as they slowly ate him alive. 

       Tears started rolling down my eyes and most of the girls including some of the guys are also crying. But we never took our eyes off the monitor. They kept cutting him and used magic to prevent him from bleeding to death. He suffered up until his expression became blank. I wanted to save him, I wanted to go in there and kill all of them but I can’t reverse the time. I felt angry with myself, at everyone, I felt angry at the world.

        “Please…stop. No more.” I whisper as I got on all fours crying my hearts out.

        “Yes! Go! Go! Go!” Riki shouted and everyone felt excited looking at the screen. The minute I look up, I see a troll carrying Yasu running through the hallway. The other trolls were behind him and it seems like they’re chasing him. One troll threw a spear and it went through the other troll that’s carrying Yasu. Using his last remaining strength, he threw Yasu towards the safe zone before falling down and in a split second; everyone was on top the troll hacking him to death.

       “Yasu! No!” I scream as I see a scene cut towards him crawling back out to the hallway and he started eating the dead troll. After a few minutes he passed out on top and I prayed that none of the monsters come back and get him. But while he was unconscious, his body stood up weirdly moving towards the safe zone dragging the dead troll with one hand. After getting inside, he passed out falling back down the ground. Right at the same moment, I saw wolves arriving outside the safe zone and if he was a few seconds late, they would have caught him.

       The scene skips where he started walking towards the wolves outside the safe zone. All the meat he lost was back but, his demeanor was different as a slowly exited the safe zone. It happened so fast but everything turned into a bloodbath. Yasu laughed as we watched him rip a wolf's mouth apart with his bare hands and used its own bone to kill everything around him. 

       “Hmmm, these blood showers are quite boring so let's skip to the good parts shall we," Luro says and the video then skips to a scene where Yasu is torturing a goblin.

       “Oh my god, what the…” Kumiko-sensei says as she watches a new form of horror unfold.

       We all watch a Yasu break the goblins hands and legs and forcibly ripped its eyelids with his bare hands before bashing its face in until it dies with its frying pan.

       "Oh my god, I think I'm going to be sick," Stella says as she covers her mouth. Then the monitor skips to another scene where Yasu is wearing a troll costume.

       “What the fuck…” Balo whispered. “Is that real?”

       “It’s real~ kekekekekeke. He’s quite a piece of work. He killed a troll, deboned him from inside and wore its flesh to just get out of the dungeon. His IQ dropped to a whole new level~” Luro says and we all are dumbfounded.

       The video then shows him being caught and he passed out in while being surrounded by the enemies. What came next was something out of a fictional story. Yasu screamed like an animal then started laughing like a maniac. The monitor suddenly was filled with blood as he slashes all of those around him with ease. The monitor then points close up of his face and we can see him laughing and smiling as he kills them mercilessly. Yet, I caught a glimpse of him staring right into the camera for a few seconds. 

      “Did he just…” Junpei whispered catching it also.

      “That I don't know. Even I was freaked out when he looked at me.” Luro tells us while looking at the scene.

      “How come he got so strong?” Junpei asked.

      "Ah, that? That my friend, that’s actually is his alternate’s debut. I would say its all of the hatred within him a formed another personality and alas, ‘Evil Yasu’ is born. But I call him Kuro since Kuro means black and that's Yasu dark side. Kuro is a befitting name for that thing." Luro says as he looks at the screen with disgust.

       After killing all of the monsters inside the dungeon, Yasu's alternate screams his lungs out while laughing afterward.

        "Ah, let me go turn up the volume~ kekekeke," Luro says as the monitor audio becomes louder.

“This! Fucking! Feels! Good! Hahahaha!! But why am I naked? I hope this doesn’t become a habit of waking up naked.” Yasu’s alternate says as he questions himself. “Hear that Yasu! Don’t bring me out when you’re naked!”

        After that, we see him collect a bunch of carcasses and pile it up onto a mound only to place him underneath. 

       “What is he doing.” Balo voice trails off as he watches him struggle to crawl under all the dead bodies. After a few minutes, he pushes the dead bodies off him as he looked around confused. It cuts to a scene where we see him run towards the portal to only explode into pieces in front of him.

       “So that’s how the portal got destroyed!” Junpei says reminding us of the scene where we come across our portal destroyed. We see a giant looking troll standing behind him with smoke coming out of his palm.

        “What is that?” Riki asked

        “That is the Gatekeeper~” Luro answered.

        This is our first time seeing the gatekeeper except for the gold district member and Junpei. Yasu charges at the gatekeeper his fights made our fights with these boars like baby stuff. Even though Yasu kept of being brought down, He keeps on standing up and charging at him.

         "Yasu," I say as more tears fall out of my eyes.

        "Holy shit, he's soloing it," Riki says excitedly as if he was watching a movie. But I felt regret and I felt guilty making it harder to watch the screen.

        What are we to take your future away?I say in my mind. I can’t help feeling this is our fault that he had to fight to the death. In the end, we all knew he just wants to survive like the rest of us. We didn't think things through and brought this hell upon him to save our skin. I felt the guilt in my heart and it’s making it harder to even swallow my saliva.

        I watch Yasu struggle fighting something we all should have been fighting together. But there he is, fighting it all alone. The fight was incredible but it was painful to watch seeing Yasu struggle so much. He started taunting the gatekeeper and it started shooting fireballs at him. Then next thing we know, the gatekeeper grabs its club and swings down towards him sending Yasu back in the hallway of the dungeon and all of the stalactite crystals fall on the gatekeeper impaling him.

      “Yes!” Riki scream I surprise and we all felt relieved he killed it.

        "Amazing isn't it? Well, let's skip the boring parts~” Luro says as he snapped his fingers. The video stops to where found an entrance in my room. Yasu follows the dark path where the water came from until he encounters a crab towards the end and then the video shuts down.

        "And that my friends are his memories of the first dungeon," Luro says

        “W-wait. How did he get out? You didn’t show us that?!” Junpei says.

        "Well, as for that, water gushed in while he was battling the crab rat almost drowning him. Since he intrigued me so much I decided to pull him out of the water on time. Aren’t I nice?” Luro snaps his finger as he laughed and another clip appeared as Yasu just briefly evaded Rikimura’s stomp.

       “Rikimura!!" Sawada screams as he gets reminded of his missing eye. By now, our entire gaze is glued to the monitor as we watch the fight between Yasu and Rikimura. With one punch, Yasu sends Rikimura flying towards a wall with ease. The scenes after that made Kumiko-sensei almost faint.

        Yasu ripped Rikimura's nails from his fingers and tortured him the way he tortured me. Yanking his hair out of his scalp then severing his arms and legs. We can see Rikimura being forced to cut his own genitals and then eating it. After that, Yasu shoves a stick up Rikimura's ass and made him crawl to the exit. That's when Yasu fainted and seem to have woken up again.

       “Was that his alternate? Ugh, I think I’m going to be sick.” Kumiko-sensei whispers and I can see her trying her best not to hurl.

       “I know right? I thought I was evil but holy baloney…he takes the title.” Luro replies. Thinking it was all over, we suddenly see Yasu yanking off Rikimura’s tongue with his fingers and forcing him to talk.

      “Is that still Kuro?” Balo asked.

      "Nope, that's actually Yasu," Luro says. Then the monitor cuts to the next scene. Yasu, carrying me through the forest. My eyes went wide.

      I knew it is him! He saved me! I shout with joy in my mind as I watched him carry me through the forest.

      “Say, Hiroko, if you were back on earth, and met me on the street, would you say hi to me?"Yasu asked my unconscious body.

      "Say Hiroko, I remember who you are," Yasu says and it made my heart beat more. "Say Hiroko, I wished none of this happened and we all could be friends back at our world. But, I can't forgive you, or everyone else.”

      “Wha- what? It wasn’t our fault Yasu! We-we-we---“ I was interrupted by his next sentence.

        "But, I don't regret. 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." What he said made my heart beat. So far I had been assuming, but now, I finally have my answers.

       Yasu is my savior. He said it himself! I shout in my mind as I happily watch the scene.

 “Say Hiroko, you want to know why I gave you that scholarship?” He asked me making my heart beat faster. "It's simple and easy actually. I fell in love with you at first sight.”

       When he said that, I felt like the world has become lighter as I felt happy hearing him say it.

       “I wanted to help you and see your face smile. But who knew, I would forget your face through time.” He continued talking. “I guess, I didn’t love you that much after all.”

       What he said made me feel like I was drowning at the bottom of the sea. And then he continued talking and I just froze in place. I can feel some gaze is at me but I didn’t pay much attention to it. I felt like running away. It was harder to breathe as I look down toward the snow beneath me. I feel some presence surround me but I didn’t look at any of them and just stared at the snow on the ground while tears run down my cheeks. I hear Junpei and the others voices through the screen and I didn’t bother looking up to it. 

       “Ah, Hiroko, you have friends looking for you. I wish I had that. I wish you guys screamed my name looking for me. I wished you guys, didn’t give up.” Yasu says and then the video goes black. More prickling pain entered my heart making it harder to breathe. I couldn’t take it anymore. I just wanted to get out of here. I just wanted to bury myself in the snow and silence the world around me.

      I couldn't do anything as my whole body goes numb. I couldn’t feel the cold wind. I couldn’t feel the snow beneath me. I couldn’t feel anything, as I wanted everything to stop. I covered my ears and shut my eyes trying to erase everything in my mind. It was our fault. It was my fault.

      WhyMy voice echoed in my mind. Why didn’t I…Why didn’t I pick him! Why!

       But all of these words are trapped within my mind as wails escape my mouth and nothing more. All I could hear are my sobs and the wind. We're all quiet. We didn’t know or couldn’t say anything. Compared to what he lived through, we all have been living a dream while he was living a nightmare. None of us knew how to react or respond.

        “Ok little babies, any more question in regards of Yasu? As you all can see, I had nothing to do with his change. It was the dungeon and you guys that changed him. Kekeke~ Ok, time is ticking, one final question.” Luro says with his arms wide open. I can feel Akane near hugging and me with Kumiko-sensei but I didn’t even move as I stared blankly at the snow.

      "I have a question Luro," Balo asked.

      “Sure, What is oh dear leader-kun?” Lurosays as he tilts his head sideways.

     “What is the best way to kill you?” Balo asked. Luro then sits back down to his makeshift fire pit. 

       “Kukukuku, That's a good question. To kill me, you must destroy two of my hearts. That is the only way to kill me~” Luro says as he puts his hands over the fire trying to warm them up.

       "How do we do that? Where are your two hearts?" Balo asked again and this time Luro stands up and started walking towards the snowing region outside the dome.

       “kukukuku, I already answered your final question. Bye Bye~" He waved at us as the blizzard appeared outside the dome and he disappeared in it.

       "Damn slick bastard," Balo says. Nobody said anything, we all stayed quiet and Akane along with Kumiko-sensei and Stella helped me back in the igloo. The boys decided to combine our entire igloo into one giant dome and we all stayed inside huddled around the campfire. I'm still in shock and couldn't say anything. No, I don't want to say anything and I pass out.

       I briefly woke up to voice around me.

       “Holy shit guys. Yasu. That’s, .that’s some insane stuff. It’s crazy how he manage to kill that gatekeeper. I can't imagine what he did to that dragon…What the fuck I wish he showed that also.” Sawada says as he sits around the makeshift fire. I feel an empty hole in my heart that won’t be filled until I get a closure from him. Until I verify that he’s still with us. But everything, everything on the video is against us.

       “Yasu will kill you guys. Or at least try when we meet him.” Balo says what's been on my mind the whole time. None of us said anything. I felt like I was drowning in the ocean. A heavy feeling enveloped me and I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to do anything. I just wanted to stay here and let the cold envelop my existence. We stayed around camp for a while. I don’t want to eat, drink, or say anything. I just sat in one spot inside the igloo replaying his words over and over in my mind.

        “Balo, once we find the gold castle, we can go our separate ways. I don’t want you guys getting caught up in this.” Junpei says and he knows for the fact that Yasu might come after us when he leaves the hidden dungeon in a year.

        “Don’t worry, we all are on your side. We already formed a bond like family. You guys are also part of gold so we all have to stick together. Besides, a lot can happen in a year, he might be different after he gets out of there.” Balo replies back.

       Please, don’t. Please don’t make him our enemy.I say in my mind hugging my legs resting my head on my knees. The day quickly ended and I fell asleep. 

        “Ahhhh!!” I screamed waking up from a nightmare.

        “Hiroko! Are you alright! Hiroko!” I can hear Junpei screaming. Tears started pouring out my eyes and I started crying uncontrollably.

       "Its ok Hiroko, Its ok. It's just a nightmare." Kumiko-sensei says as she hugs me.

        "S-s-sensei. Y-Y-Yasu. He-he—he killed us all! I begged him and begged him but he killed us all! Yasu, he….he…..he stopped becoming human! He needs our help sensei! He needs to know that we're still here for him! He needs to know he can count on us!" I tell her as I hug my hands around sensei taking in all of the comforts she's providing on my shaking body.

        No one said anything and my cries have filled the igloo. As soon as my shaking stopped, I decided not to sleep at all because I have a feeling the nightmare will come back and haunt me again. Having nightmares about Rikimura was all replaced by nightmares of Yasu killing us all over and over again. I sit around the fire pit inside our igloo and Kumiko-sensei decided to keep me company while Akane sleeps on my lap. Some of the boys are asleep except Junpei and Sawada. In all of this commotion, Stella never once woke up after falling asleep earlier after we met Luro. Seems like she’s a heavy sleeper as she slept through the whole thing of me screaming.

        "So, what now? After we find the castle, what do we do next?” Sawada asked.

       “I don’t know. Even Balo doesn’t know what to do. But for now, we have a clue on how to kill Luro.” Junpei replies. “Destroy both of his hearts huh… Damn, if only we asked that in the beginning to figure out where his two hearts are.”

       “No, not that. I mean Yasu. What now. What do we do when we see him?” Sawada asked but no one said anything and silence filled the igloo again. Morning has come and the sun replaced the night sky and shines down on leftover snow creating a sparkling horizon. I feel like all of the energy was taken out of me and still hasn't come back. But I couldn't stay there. I had to keep pushing forward to keep myself from breaking completely. We walked back towards the portal until we passed it and started trekking towards the opposite direction.

        During dinnertime, I would eat my dinner without saying a word. When the sun has risen indicating it’s daytime. I’m the first to wake up. When the sunsets indicating its nighttime, I’m the last one to sleep. This way I can cut my sleep short and the nightmares of Yasu doesn’t haunt me. I feel more lethargic than before but at least I don’t wake up screaming anymore.

        We walked and walked to what seems to be miles and miles of dead wintery forest. Not once we have come across any type of monsters. No boars, bears, wolves, there was nothing. Junpei tried to talk to me every day but I stopped responding. My mind is a mess. All I want to do is wake up in my room and think that all of this is a bad dream.

        But it isn’t. This isn’t a bad dream. It’s our reality and I have to live with it until I’m able to go home. Nightfall has come down on us and we’re all huddled near a campfire eating our dinner. It stopped snowing and the wind has subsided into a calm breeze.

      "Guys, we're running out of food," Balo says as we eat. No one-act surprise, we all notice that we eat less and less during the day to save whatever we have left. Even Stella has given us her portion but it still won’t be enough.

       "We need to find this castle quick," Junpei says as he finishes his meal. He's looking at a compass that Stella gave him for us to navigate. She has so many useful items stored inside her tiny dimensional box that sometimes it makes me wonder what else she has in there. Either way, the compass prevented us from going in circles.

        During the night, they discussed plans for tomorrow and what should we do about our food rations. I slowly stepped out of the circle and sat on a log looking at the sky staring at earth. The moon is illuminating the sheet of snow laid across the horizon.

        “We will get there soon enough.” I hear Junpei’s voice behind me. He sits right next to me and hands me a hot cup of tea. The tea powder something we also got from Stella’s dimensional box.

      “Drink this to warm you up a bit.” He says as I take the cup and wrap my hands around it. The hotness of the cup managed to keep my hands warm. Even though I should be thanking him at this moment, I didn’t say anything.

      "Even though it looks so close, yet it's so far," Junpei says looking at earth floating above us. "I wonder what my brother is doing. I hope he's defending himself. I wonder if our body disappeared when we were brought here, I sure hope he doesn't think I'm dead."

       Junpei continues to talk but I still don’t say anything. “I wonder if our country noticed our disappearance. I mean, fourteen people disappeared all at the same time within the same place… that should spark a debate.”

.

.

.

        “Hiroko, I like you.” Junpei suddenly blurted out making me choke on the hot tea.

Cough*

Cough*

         “you wha-“ I tried saying something but he continued talking and I feel like I burned my tongue a bit from the hot tea.

        “I know you like Yasu because he saved you and you two have somewhat of a history together. But I like you and I’ll try my best to protect you and keep you safe.” Junpei says and I didn’t say anything. It's not that fact that I didn't want to say anything, this time, I actually had nothing to say and didn't know how to reply. I just looked at him and he just stared at our planet in the sky with a warm smile on his face.

       "You don't have to say anything or reply, I just want you to know that I'll be here for you no matter what," Junpei says as he turns to look at me. He then smiled that made my face warm. Right before I tried to say something to him, Balo interrupted me by calling out his name.

       “Junpei! Come here for a minute, we need the compass.” Balo says and Junpei then stood up and moved towards the group and they started discussing the direction we are heading and looking at the compass.

       That night, for the first time, I slept without having a nightmare of Yasu.

       Akane shakes me awake and I was still disoriented but I can sense everyone around me is being woken up one by one by Balo and Junpei.

      “What’s going on?” Stella asks as she wakes up but was stopped from finishing her sentence by seeing what’s around us. We are surrounded by a thick fog.

      “Holy shit where did this fog come from?” Riki says as he rubs his eyes trying to see if he’s dreaming or not.

      "I don't know," Junpei says.

      "I nodded off and didn't notice the fog. When I woke up, it was like this." Balo says and we all look around can't see anything from a distance. Even when looking up, nothing. The fog was so thick it blocked everything around us.

      “Remember what Luro said? I think we’re getting closer to our castle.”Junpei says.

     "Ok guys, get ready and let's keep going," Balo says as he stands up and taking out his sword from his bag. "Keep your eyes peeled for any lizard of some sort.”

       Today I have more energy than usual since I actually got a good night sleep without having any nightmares. But we can’t deny the fact that we’re still hungry. I guess Yasu felt a lot worse than we do when he actually ran out of food. The simple thought of him made my chest tight and I tried to distract myself to ease the pain in my heart. We walked slowly this time looking around us for any lizard. We all stay close to each other since its very easy for one of us to get lost in the fog this thick if we venture out too much.

        The visibility is very low and we easily lose sight of anyone who goes in the fog away from our group. Good thing we have a rope, if anyone needs to take a potty break, we tie the rope around them so that way they have a way to come back to our group. Akane tugs my shirt and indicates she has to pee.

       “Everyone let’s take a quick break. Akane needs to pee.” I say which surprises everyone since this is the first time I have talked since we encountered Luro.

       “Uh sure sure! Everyone take five!” Balo says also surprised to hear me talk. They tied a rope around Akane, Stella and me since I needed to go also and Stella will act as our bodyguard. Akane holds my arm looking around scared thinking that anything might pop out of the fog.

        "Its ok Akane, I'm here," I say to her while grabbing my bow wrapped around me.

       “Wow, this fog is really thick," Stella whispers as she walked behind us with her big sword in hand.

         I gave her a smile and once we got a good amount of distance, we decided to do our business as quickly as possible. Having no visibility around us makes me feel anxious and I try not to show it to Akane. Also the fact that I was kidnapped while taking a piss doesn’t help calm my nerves either.

       "Ok, let's go back," I tell them and Akane happily grabbed my arm and as we both walked our way back following the rope.

       “Guys! We’re coming back!” Stella shouts and her voice was loud enough for them to hear.

       “Ok!” I hear Balo shouts back and it made me feel relaxed knowing they are still there. Out of nowhere, I feel my arms being pulled back by Akane who froze in place.

        “What’s wrong Akane?” She’s looking out towards our left without blinking.

       “Wha-what happen? Did you see something-” I suddenly stopped talking as I followed where she staring at. Even Stella remained quiet as we stared at it from a distance.

       "Guys! Come here quick!" I shout as loud as I can and I hear everyone foots steps as they ran to us.

        “Hiroko! What?! What is it?!” Junpei asked me and rather than responding, I pointed towards what we’ve been staring at.

       “What…what the hell is that?” Stella says as she stares at a yellow light from a distance.

       "Is that that might be…our castle lights!” Riki screams with joy. Somehow I’m excited but for some reason, I feel uneasy.

       “Finally! Guys lets go!” Riki says as he starts running towards the light.

       “Riki! Wait!” Balo screams at Riki who doesn’t listen and keeps on running. We all have no choice but to run after him. The more we got closer, the bigger the light becomes.

        “Ah!” Riki shouts but he suddenly stopped as he covered his mouth muffling his scream.

        “This fucking idiot, everyone run quickly!” Junpei shouts at us as we all sprint towards Riki thinking he might have stumbled upon a trap. Once we arrive, we see him on the ground trembling.

       “Riki, use your brain for once. Are you oka-“ Junpei tries to ask but froze in place as soon as he sees what we all have thought to be our castle lights.

      “w-w-what the…what the fu-” Tobi’s voice was muffled by Balo and we tried to be as quiet as possible. What we’re staring at is staring at us.

       Due to the fog limiting our vision, we can’t see whom these eyes belong to. But, its slit iris is giving us an idea who these eyes belong to.

     “Nobody…move.” Balo whispers. If its eyes are this big, its body must be enormous. My heartbeat is pounding really fast. All feelings are getting mixed up inside me. Fear, anxiety, excitement, everything is a mess and I feel like vomiting. But I don’t take my eyes off it and everyone is doing the same. It has been a minute and we all haven't moved an inch.

      “It should have blinked by now...” Balo whispers

      "Maybe it's dead?" Junpei whispers and we all hope it is.

       “W-w-what do we do?” Kumiko-sensei whispers Balo but he was clueless.

      "H-h-how about we back away from it slowly…going near it or just standing here waiting to freeze to death is not the better option." Balo whispers and we all nod. Balo then indicated to Riki to slowly stand up and back away. We all walked back slowly without removing our vision of the eye. We kept going until the yellow eye was surrounded by fog again and become a yellow blur. We went a bit further out but enough distance to keep an eye on the yellow light. If it disappears, it means its alive and dealing with it while the fog surrounds the area would be difficult.

      “Holy fucking shit! That was scary!” Riki says as he slumps down in the snow losing all the strength in his legs.

      “Riki, stop running off on your own. You could have gotten killed and all of us killed for fuck sakes.” Junpei tells him and Riki apologized for not thinking properly. Even if it’s daytime, we decided to make camp at a fair distance to where we can monitor the eye. As much as we want to verify if it's dead or not or if it actually belongs to a body, fear gets the best of us.

      “Ms. Stella, do you know anything about dragons?” Junpei asked as we sit around a small campfire. Me and Tobi are facing the eye just in case it makes any sudden movements.

      "Not much, the only information I got from books. I heard that dragons are the mystical beast that can only be seen on undiscovered lands. Not all dragons are the same. Most dragons are based on elements. Dragon of fire, the dragon of wind, the dragon of earth, the dragon of lightning, the list goes on and on." Stella explained.

        “Let me guess, the dragon that Yasu dealt with is a wind dragon?” Balo asked.

      "Yes. It was also probably an elder dragon." Stella says.

      “An elder dragon?” Balo asked

      “An elder dragons are dragons that have evolved. They are basically much more difficult to kill and one of them can wipe a city out. That’s why they are sealed into dungeons to prevent a catastrophe.” Stella explained.

      This put Yasu in a higher pedestal where we can’t reach. He faced an elder dragon and won while here we are frozen facing a dragon we don’t even know what looks like and whether it is dead or alive.

       "Damn, Yasu is really badass to kill something like that solo…we already had enough trouble killing the gatekeeper as it is in the first dungeon. For him to solo a gatekeeper and an elder dragon…" Balo says what we were all thinking on our mind.

      “Say Balo, you guys fought the gatekeeper, was he difficult to deal with?” Junpei asked. So far Junpei is the only one from our group that has seen the gatekeeper. We all died before even getting a glimpse of him and we only saw what it really look like from Yasu’s memories.

     "Well, he wasn't really a walk in the park. I lost my best friend fighting him. The gatekeeper was huge. Its eyes are as big as our body. Wields a giant club that creates huge shockwave every impact. But the main issue wasn't the strength, it was its life. It has over millions of HP." Balo says and all we can do is imagine is how terrifying it would have been.

       “The only good thing is that his life doesn’t regenerate. We had to stop attacking him since we were exhausted and when we come back the next day, he still was left with the same health as before. So day-by-day, we would shave away a portion of its health until we killed him. We got greedy in the end and one of us died in the process. ” Balo says with a sad expression and no one said anything for a couple of minutes.

      “I have stared into the gatekeepers eyes and that thing over the fog seems it's a lot bigger," Junpei says.

     “That thing is bigger, I'm sure of it," Balo replied.

      “Stella, do the books you have read indicate the level of difficulty when it comes to the dragons? Like which element is stronger to kill?” Balo asked.

     “Well, it really depends on what you specialize in. If you were a fire mage, you can do a lot more damage to the water dragon. But, in my opinion, a wind dragon is more difficult since it specialized using the wind and mainly fly around with a speed that only wind dragon can accelerate.” Stella says.

      “Hmm, I wonder. Akane is a mage she should be the perfect candidate to kill these guys.” Balo says and Akane just smiles at him.

      “Wait…Ms. Akane is a mage? What kind?” Stella asked curiously.

      “Well…that we don’t know. All we know is that she a mage.” Balo says.

      "Well, each mage specialize on an element. So if a mage specializes using fire, they are considered fire mages. What do you specialize in Ms. Akane?" Stella asks Akane uses her notebook to write the answer and shows it to Stella.

     “Aall elements?! You're an archmage?! Are you like a sage or something?!” Stella says in surprise and Akane looks confused.

      “Are Arch Mages special?” Balo asked.

      "To become an Arch Mage, one has to go through years of rigorous training and study to master the basic four elements! Then they go through more training to learn more elements the world has to offer like lighting, shadow, and a lot more! Archmages are strong individuals that control all type of elements. There are only a handful of archmages and most of them are leaders of their own mage guilds. Actually, all archmages are leaders and if not, no one dares to go against them since one mage is powerful enough to destroy a whole kingdom overnight!" Stella explained to us making us look at Akane differently.

       “Wow, Akane, you’re way to overpowered," Balo says and Akane just smiles and shrugs.

        "Most Archmages that is recorded are very old that's why we don't see a lot of them since they live a short amount of time as archmages and die of old age. This is the first to see someone so young. Oh, if you don’t mind me asking, why is it that Akane doesn’t talk?” Stella asked.

       We never really got to tell her our classes including Akane’s condition. Sawada decided to explain to her the ordeal both of them went through and Stella just looked at him listened.

      “That, that’s is so cruel! Don’t worry miss Akane, when we find your castle, I will bring you to our restoration necromancer. He can revive or restore lost body parts.”

     Stella says as she holds Akane's hands and Akane eyes light up like a Christmas tree.

     “W-w-wait….you can restore body parts?! How?! Sawada ask.

     “Well, not me but a necromancer can. As long as we bring him the right ingredients, he can restore a person body to its 100 percent condition.” Stella says and it brought hope to Sawada and Akane. I’m happy especially for Akane. She can use her magic again. I quickly hug Akane and she does the same crying but not of sadness but happiness. That moment I turn around towards the group, Tobi screamed.

        “Oh shit, shit shit shit!” Tobi cursed non stop as he stood up looking in one direction. 

       "What happened?" Junpei asked him confused about what's going on. 

       “T-the yellow light…” I whisper as I looked around but I couldn’t find it. “It’s gone!”

       “Where did it go?!” Balo asked and we all stand up to arm ourselves.

       “I-I-I don’t know! One moment it was there and next thing I know, it was gone!” Tobi says as he frantically looks around.

      “Fuck! Guys keep your eyes open! It might have moved!” Balo screams and we all look around frantically of our surroundings. I felt the ground vibrate and I tell everyone to stand still.

Thud*

Thud*

Thud*

        It felt like a hammer strike down towards the ground causing the whole place to shake. We all started backing up to each other forming a circle as the tremors get stronger and stronger.  

        "G-g-guys…it…it feels like its coming closer to us," Balo whispers as we all frantically look around. We all didn’t say anything or to best describe it, we couldn’t say anything. As fast as it went as fast as it disappeared. 

        “Wh-Where did it g-“ Riki says making so much noise.

       “Shhh…” Balo interrupted Riki. That’s when I saw it.

        A giant yellow light formed in front of me. This was way brighter and I froze in place thinking it can see me through the fog. But something feels odd. I’m sweating. Even with all this snow and cold wind, I'm sweating. I felt the water around my feet and it felt warm to the touch but the temperature slowly got hotter and hotter.

      “W-water?” I say confused and that’s when Stella jumps in front of me.

        “Everyone get behind me!!” She shouted and everyone ran behind her. Next thing we know, a huge wave of yellow fire came rushing towards us like a tsunami.

        “lights Parry!” Stella shouter her skill and the two-handed sword on her hands lit up. She brought it down towards the wave of fire slicing it in half like a prophet.

        The land around us was quickly covered with yellow flame. It was like being in the middle of a fire tsunami and if it wasn’t for Stella, we would have burned along with everything else.

      “Agrrh!” Stella screams as she tries to hold the wave of fire back as much as she can. The fire quickly dissipated “Is everyone ok?!”

        Then the monster on the other side of the fog suddenly roared so loud it felt like my eardrums will burst from the inside. We all fell to our knees and after its roar has become disoriented. Once I slowly got my vision together, I'm still frozen in place.

        "W-w-what? I'm paralyzed!" I scream. As I slowly force my head to look at my team, I can see most of us are in the same condition. The roar of the monster has cleared all of the fog including the fire and has exposed a wasteland of charcoaled trees around us.

        “It’s a dragon!” Riki shouted at the sight of the ferocious entity in front of us. It was big as a blimp. And it’s standing position shows how insignificant our existence compared to it. And it’s looking right at us with yellow lava flowing out of its mouth.

       “It’s firing another one! Get ready!” Stella shouts and we all forced our selves huddle behind her. As much as I want to fight that head-on, I don't think I can even do damage. My legs are still shaking and the feeling hasn't fully come back. The dragon shot a fireball this time from its mouth and Stella quickly brought down her two-handed sword towards it slicing it in half. The sliced fireball flew past and erupted behind us causing tremors that shook the ground violently. The area was quickly filled with fire. Looking at the damage it causes with one attack was something out of fiction movies. It quickly flattened the land and the trees that were already burnt to crisp. A black snow started to fall upon us and soon we were all covered with ashes.

ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAARRR!!!!!

        "Don't panic! We know what to do!" Balo screams and most of the gold members scream as they get ready to fight the colossal dragon. Somehow they all are able to move freely while the rest of us originally from the diamond district are still unable to even take a step. Even Akane who mostly follow me around is now standing tall beside me.

      "Masato! Summon birds to distract its eyes! Everyone! Focus on attacking its legs!" Balo screams and everyone from the gold district springs into action. We have seen them fight boars and other animals but not in unison like this.

        “Dual’s combo! Takumi let’s go!” Balo screamed and both him and Takumi sprint towards one of the dragon’s legs. Their speed has doubled as they swung their swords so fast and its hard for my eyes to keep up. Yet, the dragon’s scales deflected all of their attacks and yet they didn’t stop and kept bombarding the dragon with their swords.

        “Paper kings!” Naoki shouts and two giant Paper Mache appeared out of nowhere and knock the dragon towards its side. 

         “Great job!” Stella screams and she then jumps towards the air so fast she left a crevice on the ground. She brought down the tip of her two-handed swords towards the neck of the dragon stabbing her sword right through. The dragon roared as Stella stands on the top of it piercing its neck. The roar was so loud it paralyzed all of us again. She probably didn't notice but a tail hit Stella sending her flying across the land crashing a few feet away from us.

       “Ms. Stella!!” Kumiko-sensei shouts as she ran to her. The dragon suddenly sends a fireball flying towards Kumiko-sensei. Akane went running toward Kumiko-sensei and stood right in front of her before the fireball hit exploding upon contact.

       “No!!! Akane!!” I scream as I tried desperately to move but I couldn’t. Everything around them was engulfed in flames. Everyone was stunned. Balo dropped to his knees as he witnesses two of his teammate along with Stella disappear within the explosion. The dragon extended its wings and one with motion, the wind it generated was enough to send Balo and the rest of the gold that's near the dragon flying towards all direction. I sat hopelessly watching everyone get hurt and everyone from my team including Junpei are still paralyzed.

      “Move! You fucking legs! Move!" Junpei shouts as he punches his thigh. But it didn't work as he slumps back down when the dragon roars one more time. I see it’s mouth glow ready to launch another fireball and I know it’s aiming towards me.

       “Hiroko!!” Junpei shouts my name over and over as he tried to craw to me. I can see he's trying his hardest to move to help me but he just couldn't. I look back at the dragon and for some reason, time became slower.

       ah….this is it….I'm going to die…I whisper in my mind I sat helplessly waiting for the dragon to send a fireball my way. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Yasu.”

       I close my eyes and I could hear everyone shouting yet, it somehow slowly muffled up until it turned into silence.

      BOOM!

      An explosion happened from a distance and the wind almost flipped me over. I opened my eyes and see a cloud of dust covering the dragon’s head.

     “W-wh-what?” I stared at the dragon waving its head side to side trying to regain itself from being disoriented.

       Did the fireball explode from its mouth? I whisper and all of sudden, three icicles flew over me at high speed stabbing the dragon from the side. The dragon roared in pain as the ice jammed so far in and in an instant, it exploded as if a grenade was placed inside.

        “Where did it come from-“ I was stopped from my sentence when a magic circle appeared on top of the dragons head and materialized a giant iceberg. The magic circle disappeared, and the iceberg came crashing down its head causing the whole place to shake violently as the dragon roar from the pain. The iceberg suddenly exploded, and a white bright light engulfed everything making it harder to see. The shockwave of the impact created a strong gust of wind and before it reached us, a wall came out of the ground shielding me from the blast. The wind was so strong it blew away almost everything.

      I tried my best to hide behind the rock wall and I could see it cracking in place slowly. I tried looking where Junpei is at and I could see another rock wall covering him and everyone else. After the blast subsided, I slowly sat up and everything around us was covered in dust making it harder to see. All of a sudden, a tornado appeared sucking in everything as it moved towards the dragon. At that moment, happiness filled my heart as I saw them hiding behind a rock wall.

      “Akane!" I shout towards her and she gave me a smile waving my way. She’s holding a staff and right beside her is Kumiko-sensei who’s healing Stella. Akane looks back towards the dragon and with a quick wave of her staff, the wall protecting us crumbled. Even with the explosion, it wasn’t enough to kill it as the dragon stood its ground.

       I looked back at Akane and I can see her silently chanting as words surrounded her. More icicle appeared and like a bullet, it flew towards the dragon’s eyes. Its tails quickly deflected it as huge roots come out of the ground looping on its legs. Akane raised her staff with the only hand she has and started chanting silent words again.

       This time a lot of small blue magic circle formed in front of her and each one sent a barrage of icicle towards the dragon. The dragon’s tail came around and used it to deflect all of the icicles but Akane didn’t stop and held her ground bombarding the dragon non-stop. Balo and the rest of the group came back surprised that Akane has managed to suppress the dragon from attacking us.

       “Holy shit! Support her!” Balo shouted as he pointed his sword towards the dragon. “Dual slash!!!”

      Both his sword glowed as he started swinging wildly towards the dragon. Small crescent light came out of each swing of his sword and it flew towards the dragon creating a bigger explosion. Takumi did the same and the rest attacked it nonstop trying to shed as much of its health away. Explosions happened one after another and I can notice Stella slowly getting up.

     “Keep attacking! Buy me some time!!” Stella shouted out as she tries to regain her posture to stand up straight. She took out her dimensional compartment and pulled out another sword. She lodged it in the ground and started chanting as she held the handle. Her sword started glowing and the longer she chants, the brighter it got as orbs came out of the ground getting sucked into her sword.

       I felt frustrated. Everyone is fighting with their life on the line and yet here I am, paralyzed. I tried to stand again but my legs are shaking uncontrollably and it’s making it harder for me to gain balance. I look at Junpei and the rest of us and they are having the same problem.

      “Move! Dammit, move!!” I shout as I hit my legs over and over but nothing. The shaking won't stop.

      “Ok stop!” Stella shouted out as she pulled the sword out of the ground. Using all her strength, she threw the sword towards the dragon like a spear and it went flying so fast it created destruction on its path. The minute it stabbed the dragon on the side, it was strong enough to tilt it sideways as it fell to the ground ripping the roots that were holding its legs.

     “Everyone! Run! Get as far away as you can!” Stella shouts and I can see the sword she threw started turning red. I felt someone pick me up and as I look, I can see Akane and Kumiko-sensei holding me up as they ran away. Balo went and picked up Junpei while the rest of the guys helped Tobi, Riki, and Sawada.

     “We have to get away from her as far as we can! My sword will explode any moment!!” Stella says as she led the way and we ran away from the dragon as fast as we can. A bright light erupted behind us followed by a huge explosion and we didn’t stop running away as I felt the explosion from behind us. In an instant, all of us were sent flying forward as my body was picked up by the shockwave and I lost consciousness as I hit the ground.

.

.

.

      Hiroko.

        Hiroko.

       “Hiroko!” I woke up seeing Junpei's blurry outline. My whole body hurts especially my face. “Hiroko! Can you hear me?!”

       I couldn’t speak and my whole body felt like I ran towards a wall at full speed breaking every bone I had. I’m laying on my back and as I try to stand up straight, I felt an immense pain towards my sides.

     “Argh!” I scream in pain as I put my hands towards my left rib cage trying to catch my breath.

     "Hiroko! What's wrong?!" Junpei says as he tries to help me up.

     “My sides…it hurts…I think I fractured a few ribs..” I whisper to him as I fall back down the ground.

       “H-H-hang it there Hiroko!” Junpei says and I nod towards him. I see him run off towards one direction. The fog has completely disappeared so we much better than before. I see Junpei finding another person towards some rubble and when he helped him up, I noticed it was Balo. Then both of them ran off different direction I guess looking through the rubble for everyone else. I see Balo finding Akane and she seems like she injured her leg.

      Junpei found Kumiko-sensei and she seems fine also. But somehow my vision is starting to get blurry and I felt a warm liquid towards my palm. I look down at my palm and my hands are covered by blood. I looked back towards Junpei and I see him running with Kumiko-sensei. I can hear Junpei scream my name over and over again as he gets closer and closer but my vision is getting smaller and smaller.

      "I feel tired," I whisper towards them as I succumbed to the dark.

.

.

. 

       I see him standing on the doorway. Behind him is a white bright light. He’s smiling towards me as I lay on my bed staring at him.

       "Hey," Yasu spoke to me.

      “Yasu? Is that really you?” I asked him and tears came pouring down my face. “Is this real? Is that really you?”

       He didn’t respond and just kept smiling. He slowly walked toward the bedside and sat at the edge. His hand slowly caressed my cheek and wiped off my tears. He slowly got close putting his lips near my ears.

      “Hiroko.” His voice was comforting, and I wanted to hug him but my body froze in place as everything went dark.

      “Yasu?” I asked and all I could hear was him breathing.

       “Go die, you bitch.” His voice was full of malice and I felt his hand clamp my neck making me gasp for air.

GASP!

Cough*

       Cough*

 Hah*

       Huah*

        “W-w-where am I?” I whisper as I woke up to darkness trying to catch my breath. It took me a while to understand my surroundings as my vision slowly adjust to the dim lighting of a room. There’s a bed where I’m lying on and across me is a window that shows a full view of the moon. There’s an oil lamp hanging on a wall set to the lowest flame possible. Enough to subtly illuminate the room but dark enough for one to get a good night sleep.

        “W-where am I?” I whisper again as I look around some more and I can see that I’m wearing some type of wool clothing. I work my way to the edge of the bed and I can see slippers are set on the floor for me. I put them on and even when my body felt weak, I was able to stand slowly. I feel my body sluggish at every step and remembering my memory, I checked my sides and the wound I got was completely gone. I go towards the window and all I see is a green forest that goes as far as my eyes can see. I study the curtains and it looks like it made out of expensive material as it was soft to the touch.

      “Am I still dreaming?” I pinch myself and I felt a small sting on my cheeks. “This is not a dream.”

       I walk around still not knowing where I am or where everyone is. I walked towards a door on the other side of the room and it creaked open into another hallway. The floor was covered with a red carpet and one side of the hallway was full of windows letting the moonlight in. I walked towards the window and like the one in the room, outside was another forest. I see one side of what seems to be a castle and noticed a light at one of the windows on the lower floor.

      I turn to my left and slowly walked the corridor examining if there’s any staircase I can descend from. I notice an entrance by the end of the corridor that has a spiral staircase that leads down. It was pretty dark, so I grabbed one of the lamps hanging on the wall and used it to illuminate my way. I kept on going down until I hit another corridor that is similar to the one above. This one is closer to the ground so the window shows the body of the trees and the darkness within inside the forest.

      “Where the hell am I…” I whisper to myself. I continued to walk down the corridor towards the end of the hall until I reach the room I saw the light earlier. I quickly shut off my lamp and I can see a light at the bottom of the door escaping the room. I slowly put my ear on the door and tried to listen for any sound coming inside. I hear people laughing and their voices sounded familiar. I quickly open the door and the brightness of the room has blinded me and it took a while to adjust. I see everyone looking at me and Akane ran towards me hugging me tightly. 

       “Hiroko!” Everyone shouts in unison as they ran my way helping me get to a chair.

       “Hiroko-chan!” Kumiko-sensei says and comes over also to give me a hug. “Hiroko-chan, how are you feeling? Do you feel dizzy? Let me heal you just in case.”

      “W-w-what happened? Where are we?” I asked as Kumiko-sensei activated her spell making my whole-body glow green.

      “You don’t remember anything?” Balo asked me and I shake my head. “Well...right now we’re in our castle…Hiroko, we found our castle!”

      “After our fight with the dragon you passed out from being wounded," Junpei explained to me as he hands me a glass of water. “You landed on a wood and it punctured your right side. Good thing Kumiko-sensei managed to heal you right away or it would have been too late. But…even after healing you, you wouldn't wake up."

      “How long was I asleep for?” I asked him after gulping down the water.

      “Two weeks.” He tells me, and it made my eyes go wide.

      “Two weeks?!” I asked in surprise

      "Yea, no matter what we do you would wake up. We even had to make a choice either to keep going or head back. But since it seemed like we were closer to finding the castle, we opted to carry you around and look for it. It was the right decision we made since we found it in no time. Remember the dragon we killed? It was the Lizard Luro talked about. After we killed it and it's disintegrated, the fog around the area cleared up." Balo says.

       “So, we were right next to the castle the whole time?” I asked still confused. “Wait…when I looked outside earlier I didn’t see any snow.”

      "That's because we're in the middle of it. Remember the portal area where the snow doesn't fall? It's almost the same concept but some type of camouflage hides this castle. The only way we found it is by using the gemstone the dragon dropped. It basically lit up whenever we got close and once we got into the area, the gemstone disappeared and revealed the castle." Balo explained some more and like a great timing, I felt my stomach vibrate.

       “You must be hungry," Kumiko-sensei says as she places her hand on my shoulder while Tobi left the room. I felt embarrassed letting out such a sound, but I couldn’t help it as I nod towards her. Tobi comes back with a plate full of food. Not something was thrown on the fire but proper food, cooked with ingredients.

      “Curry chicken at your service milady.” He hands me spoon and fork and the smell of the food made my stomach grumble louder. The smell of curry chicken has made me salivate. I quickly took the first bite and the taste of chicken mixed in curry sauce along with rice have made me glad that I’m still alive.

      “W-where did you get this?” I say as I start to gobble up everything on the plate.

       "Well, the chicken came from around the area. The surrounding land is filled with animals. The spices were from the kitchen cupboard. I might not be able to cook anything else but when it comes to curry, hands down I’m the best.” Kumiko-sensei says as she hands me a glass of water.

        As I ate they told me more stories of what has been going on during those two weeks I was sleeping. Stella decided to go back to her city to speak to her father. Some of the boys went with her to sell the dragon scales and get a few more things like seeds to get us started to properly live here and become self-sufficient.

        “Live here? Don’t we all want to go home?” I asked.

       “We do, but we don’t know how long it will take us to find Luro so we need to make sure we can sustain living here. Don’t want to kill off all the animals to feed us all and next thing we know, we’re out of food.” Balo explained and as I stuff my mouth full of curry chicken.

       They told me some section of the castle is in ruins and needs maintenance. Stella offered to fix it and actually wanted to live here so she left to pick up some of her servants and workers to help us with the castle.

       “She’s also going to bring back necromancer that can help Akane," Balo says making me felt relieved. They told me after healing me, they went to where the dragon was. It's body already evaporated into dust and left the gemstone, which they used to find the castle. Even with the good news, it was difficult to take in all the information. I remember everything. I remember how useless I was during the battle with the dragon. How I didn’t even lift a finger. After I had my dinner, we all decided to sit around the fireplace on one of the rooms. Even though it isn’t snowing, it was still cold at night as if it was winter.

        “So you’re telling me, Akane have been practicing ever since we entered the dungeon?” I asked still baffled at how strong Akane really is. She fell asleep in my lap like a child but her strength right now is enough to hold a dragon at bay.

       “Yea, she wanted to try to see which of her magic spells would work without actually vocalizing it. And we’re lucky that those two spells she learned to use without a voice are actually strong against that dragon. Otherwise, if she had gone and learned fire instead, it would have been useless.” Sawada explained.

       "But how did she learn those spells? Don't we learn new skills when we level up?" I asked still confused.

       “That what I thought also, but it seems like you can learn from skill books. It seems like she went and bought herself some skills book and a new staff when we were in the village without us knowing. I guess she wanted to surprise us. Who knew she would pull through at the right time.” Sawada says, and I gently stroke Akane's head. 

        Even though she looks so fragile and weak, she’s actually the opposite. It also brought a heavy feeling in my heart. Throughout that whole time, I was useless.

       “Balo, Kumiko-sensei... I’m sorry.” I say to them and it caught them off guard.

        “S-sorry for what?” Balo asked.

       “I’m sorry I was useless at that time. I was paralyzed and couldn’t move my legs even when I wanted to.” I tell him and somehow, I couldn’t look them in the eye.

       “It’s ok Hiroko-chan. We understand.” Kumiko-sensei gently pats my shoulder as she sits beside me. “Believe it or not, we all went through the same thing back at the first dungeon.” 

        “Haha, you and Junpei are alike. He went on an apologizing marathon after that.” Balo joked around and I can see Junpei embarrassed. “But yeah, don’t worry about it. As Kumiko-sensei mentioned, we went through it before. I remember our legs froze also at the sight of the gatekeeper.”

        I can see the sadness in his eyes as he stares at the fireplace.

       “That’s why don’t feel sorry Hiroko-chan.” Kumiko sensei says. “Don’t feel sorry everyone.” 

        “Yea, We knew what you all were going through and at that moment, we had no time to react to any of it.” Balo continued as he feeds the fire with some wood. Even though I know fear also contributed to the paralysis, I still feel hopeless and weak.

        As silence filled the room different thought have come to my mind. What have I been doing? I’ll die in no time if I continue on like this. I vowed to myself I’ll get stronger yet…I need to get stronger.I want to protect those around me.

       “Well well well, who would have thought you all would survive that? Kekekekekekekekekekekeke~” A voice interrupted my thoughts and as we all turn. We see him standing by the doorway leaning against its frame.

      “What do you want now?” Balo asked and as I was about to go into my bag for my bow when he stopped me. “You’re not here to fight us, you only show up when you have something to say. Even if we try to kill you now, you won't die. So spill what you have to say and get lost.”

       “I’m beginning to like you. You're straight to the point. Waste no time I say." Luro says as he pushes himself off the door frame and walks slowly towards us laying down on one of the bed. “So you guys ready for your consequence?”

      What he said made my heart skip a beat and I know everyone felt tense.  

       "Spill it and stop wasting our time," Balo says and Luro looked at us with a smile on his face. Not a genuine smile, but a sinister one. Like he did something and can’t wait to see us struggle.

      “Little babies...” He whispered as he stood back up. “New players will enter the fray in a year.”

       The minute he said that we all knew what he was talking about and didn’t say anything. I can see Balo and Junpei clenching their fist.

     “Kekekekekekekekeke, and guess where they will wake up in~” Luro sings as he walks towards the door.

      “W-wait!” Balo shouts to him and Luro stopped by the frame of the door and without looking back he gave us a reply we have been thinking of.

     "Look for where everything started~," Luro says and he walks out the door shutting it behind him. Balo and Junpei run out and the minute they open the door, he disappeared without a trace.

     “The first dungeon...new people will wake up in the first dungeon," I whispered and somehow, the night just got darker.