“No signs of any of them on my side, either,” Jill reported as she jogged back to Steak’s and Lilith position.

“It’s a shame that all of the doors here are locked. Seeing how this used to be some sort of guardhouse or military barracks, I thought we could gather some stuff that could help us later on,” Lilith said, rubbing her chin.

“I found stairs and a large door that seemed to lead to an open area on my side. Though it’s just like the others, it was locked,” Steak pointed behind him.

“No use wandering around here then, we should check what’s above us. The interior of this place doesn’t match the castle that we saw back in the tunnel. And I have a feeling that’s where we’re supposed to go,” Lilith said.

“There better be a pile of gold over there. Honestly, going through all of this trouble,” Jill let out an exasperated sigh.

The group set out to see the second floor of the barracks. As they walked, Steak pulled out his status screen. After the fight against the Undead Half-Giant, he still couldn’t figure out which trait to put his point in.

Specifically, he had trouble picking between and . What the group needed at the moment was someone who could fight and be a shield. But, increased his Mana regeneration which could also help increase his skills’ uptime, which would help him use more.

“Argh! I’ll just randomly choose one later,” Steak muttered to himself.

“Hm? Is something wrong?” Lilith asked.

“Ah, it’s nothing much. I just can’t decide which attribute to invest my point in. Actually, you seem knowledgeable in these kinds of things. What do you recommend?” He placed a hand on the back of his head, a prickly sensation as his hair started to grow.

Lilith furrowed her brows and gave him a look that said ‘are you actually that stupid?’

“What’s that look for?” He asked.

“Nothing. Anyways, shouldn’t you know the most about yourself? It’s like someone asking a stranger what career they should go into,” she chuckled.

“Well, I don’t even know what career I went into before all of this,” he shrugged.

Lilith rubbed her chin with her thumb and index finger. Steak picked up that she had a habit of doing this whenever she was in deep thought.

“How about this, why don’t you go for what feels correct for now. Well, not right now. Don’t want to waste the healing boon when you allocate a point,” Lilith said.

“Guess I’ll do that. Surely, one step in the wrong place wouldn’t ruin my future. Well, ‘point’ in my case,” he said.

“Heh, if only I figured it out as fast as you back when I was younger,” she sighed. Her eyes dulled as she spoke, as if transported back in a different time.

They continue up the stairs. As ancient as it looked, only Steak’s steps creaked each time. Jill couldn’t help herself and snorted at the heavy man.

The second floor led them to a hallway lined with doors, much like the one downstairs. Though, the difference with this one was that the doors were closer to each other. It had smaller rooms. And, this one didn’t have a giant on patrol.

Steak looked up at the ceiling. There was a massive hole in the roof. Trying to figure out what caused it, he shifted his gaze directly below the roof. A rusted metallic device was embedded in the floor at the end of the hallway. This suggested that the people in the castle were under attack before its inhabitants turned into undead creatures.

“These ones better not be locked,” Jill said.

“Isn’t your class thief? Can’t you pick them open or something?” Steak asked.

“I said that they were locked, but it’s more like it was barred on the other side. Besides, this whole place is a simulation. Whoever created this thing probably didn’t want to waste time making interiors of it,” she said.

“Simulation?” Steak questioned.

“That Half-Giant certainly seemed real,” Lilith added.

“Come on, you guys don’t seriously think that this is reality, right?” Jill laughed.

“Hm, This all feels less of a simulation and more of a memory,” Lilith said.

“And what makes you say that?” Jill asked.

“Don’t know. Just a gut feeling,” she said.

Much to Jill’s dismay, the first set of doors that they tried didn’t budge an inch. Even after she kicked one of them, it didn’t even shake.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Let’s give up on these for now and check out that metal thing down the hall,” Lilith suggested.

“Fine,” Jill reluctantly agreed.

As they approached the russted heap of metal, Steak noticed something engraved on the side of it. It was a smiley face with X’s for eyes. Then there were small holes on the top and bottom of the thing.

“Is this a bomb? Wouldn’t expect that in a medieval setting. Then again there was that absurdly large creature earlier,” Jill said.

“I don’t think this was a bomb,” Lilith shook her head. “See these grates? There’s some dried liquid coming out of it. These people probably died due to some sort of gas,” she theorized.

Her silent imp clapped in response. It seemed to only respond to evil actions.

“Is that how they turned into undead creatures?” Steak asked.

“Maybe or maybe not, either way I don’t think it concerns us. Nor would that information help us get out of here,” Jill crossed her arms. Then, something caught her eye. “Oh, but this one might,” she pointed.

Her finger led their attention to a set of double doors. One of them was slightly ajar. Above the doors was a sign that had a drawing of a helmet and a sword.

“It isn’t a surprise to see that a building that housed soldiers would have a room dedicated to arming said soldiers,” Lilith commented.

The group entered the room. Light from the outside shined from the window, making it lit enough for them to look through. Much like the rest of the building, it was ancient. The floors creaked under the weight of even Jill, the lightest and smallest member of the group.

“Ugh, the leather on most of these looks like my dad’s old belt, rotten,” Jill picked up a chest piece from the table then threw it on the ground in disgust.

“Shouldn’t have had high expectations after seeing the state of the entire place,” Steak said.

He perused the offerings of the armory for something that he could at least use. The restrictions he currently had with objects containing metal made it hard for him. If not for that, he could’ve been fully clothed already. Even the leather trousers with holes in them had metal in it.

Lilith was quiet. She had that same thinking expression on her face as she looked through the items.

“What’s wrong?” Steak asked.

“Nothing, it’s just that these equipment don’t have any traits or stats attached to any of them,” she said.

“They can have stats on them!?” Steak was surprised.

“Man, you really don’t know anything, huh? What did you even do during your first trial? Some items can have it, but they’re pretty rare. These ugly boots I’m wearing can make me jump a little higher,” Jill pointed at her feet.

“Really? They’re rare?” Lilith asked.

Jill gave her a disgusted look.

“I know that you’re wearing a big ass cloak that covers your entire body, but can I just ask. How many of the equipment that you’re currently wearing have stats on them?” She asked.

Lilith refused to answer and simply continued looking through the items.

“Unbelievable. You must have had a silver spoon in your mouth since you were born,” Jill said.

“I didn’t get these because of luck. I had to work hard for them,” Lilith said, a slight bitterness in her tone.

“But you’re not denying that you had it easy back in the other world,” Jill smirked.

Lilith kept quiet knowing that there was no point in trying to argue with Jill any further.

Steak didn’t even attempt to jump in that conversation. Though, he was thankful for the new information about equipment. He had something to look out for now, should he survive the dungeon.

After looking through the entire armory, he couldn’t find anything that he could use. Jill managed to find some arm guards that were her size. Lilith on the other hand was lucky enough to find a belt that increased her . Of course, this only made Jill saltier.

In her attempt to one up Lilith, Jill looked at the chest on top of a tall chest. No one in the group was tall enough to attempt to grab it. Nor did they even try to climb it for the fear of the bookshelf breaking under their weight. Greed won over rationality, Jill climbed the bookshelf.

Steak felt something shift from behind him. But he was too late. By the time he turned around Jill and the bookshelf were tipping over.

“Wait!” he shouted, then ran at Jill.

Alarmed, Lilith also attempted to catch her and the shelf. However, both of them were too late and in the worst possible position.

With all three of them in the middle of the room and the force of the huge shelf and its items, the old floor couldn’t handle all of it. It broke, and all of them fell.

They landed back on the first floor, but not in the hallway. Steak felt cold tiles on his hands. When he opened his eyes, they were in a room beyond one of the barricaded doors. A communal bathhouse for the soldiers of the castle.

The group finally got an answer when they wondered why the place seemed empty apart from the ones in the tunnel and the giant. They were surrounded by undead human soldiers.

Lilith immediately stood up and casted one of her imp’s spells, . It temporarily stopped the undead from piling on top of them.

“Jill, Steak!” She called out. “Keep them away from me as I cast my spells! Use the boon from a skill point if you need to!”

Steak responded immediately, slicing off the arms of the one that crept up from behind Lilith then beheading it. However, Jill sat there in shock at the sight of the dozens of ghouls that surrounded them.

Lilith casted another , blasting the ones near them a few feet back. She glanced over to Jill who was still frozen in fear.

“Jill, do something!” She yelled.

“We can’t fight them,” Jill whimpered.

“Then find us a way out!” Steak roared as he got bit in the forearm.

A notification popped up in his peripheral vision. it said. Steak drove through the ghoul’s head with his claws.

Some of his blood got on Jill’s face. It was only then that she started to move. Jill got on top of the wreckage that fell with them and pulled out a hatchet from her belt.

“I’m sorry,” she quietly said.

With the help of her enchanted boots, she jumped to the ceiling and latched on the edge of the hole in it with the hatchet. The two that were left in the bathhouse heard every step she made as she ran off.

Anger briefly flashed on Lilith’s face, but it quickly reverted back to her usual hollow look. She casted again for the third time.

“Twice. She had left us to die and fend for ourselves twice, so that she can save herself,” she sighed. Then, she looked at Steak who wrapped a piece of Bearcat leather around his wound. “Promise me, if we survive this and see her again, do not try and stop me.”

Steak simply nodded and went back to fighting back the horde.