With a groan that reverberated around the darkened enclosed space, Sally wrenched her sword from the dying goblin. Her arm ached, and she felt overheated in this armor without the ability to sweat. “That’s a lot of goblins,” she grunted, turning to see Poppy pulp the last of the group with the bottom edge of her shield.

“You cut through them rather effectively,” Claude said, dabbing his forehead with a cloth. “Despite us not being a full Party, at least you are a proficient swordswoman.” His eyes went over to where three zombie goblins now stood.

“Eh, I’ve not used one much, to be honest. I did recently participate in a sword tournament, however.”

[Poppy: How did you do??]

She grinned and raised an eyebrow. “I beat my first challenger, but then had to face my adoptive father.”

“Oh,” Claude nodded. “That must have been very conflicting for you both.”

“He broke my leg, cut out my eye, and removed the fingers on one of my hands.” Her grin didn’t waver at all.

The healer, however, twisted his face into a grimace. “Ah, that’s… bad. You look like you… recovered well, at least.”

“Hmm.” Sally looked down at the cat, who was stretched on the floor - possibly napping. “How much do you guys know about, like… the greater cosmos?”

[Poppy: Barely anything!]

Claude exhaled through his nose. “Just as Poppy says. We came from a shared world and were brought to Thrimble by some unknown force. Outside of that, our knowledge is as devoid of light as an overcast night sky.”

“Bet it was Othea, right?”

The pair exchanged a glance before returning cautious nods to the zombie.

Sally smiled. “It’s too early in our partnership to blow your minds with more answers, but there are similar worlds with Systems just like here.”

[Poppy: And you’re from one of them?]

[Poppy: An angel from the stars themselves?]

“Nothing quite that romanticized.” She shook her head in response. “But I like that. I’m adding it to my resume.” Sally yawned. “You said two more chambers? Let’s get this finished before nightfall.”

Claude shook away his roving thoughts about their world and what everything could mean. “I believe so, yes. One with more grunts, and then a boss chamber is pretty standard.”

[Poppy: I always feel bad about killing goblins…]

[Poppy: They’re like angry green toddlers;;]

“I’ve been called that a few times.” The zombie put her sword down on a shelf of loose brickwork so that she could stretch her arm out properly. It wasn’t even that the sword was heavy, just the movements she was not used to making with the longer weapon in these tight spaces were awkward. “My world has a bunch of goblins who are friendly.”

“I suppose a place where a flesh-eating zombie could be so affable would be just as likely to have other monstrous groups not hell-bent on destroying Players.” Claude rubbed at his chin.

“The Party I saved my world with included a Mummy, Vampire, Shade, and a Death Knight. Sometimes a Demon, too.”

Archie cleared his throat.

“Oh, and this cat,” Sally added. “Of whom I will say no more at this junction.”

[Poppy: Traveling with him has been great!]

Emerald eyes looked between each of them, before the cat deflated. “I hope you realize I have not been able to see any Chat messages that Poppy has sent.”

“That’s really sad.” Sally put her hands on her hips. “I can’t invite you to the Party, though. Sorry.”

“No matter.” Archie stretched out. “I have some other good news before we proceed with murdering things.”

----------------------------------------

Theo slid to a stop and put a hand up. “Woah, woah, woah.”

Borin paused, his mace stopping mid-swing. His brow furrowed as his opponent started to walk away from him. “I’ve had people begging and pleading before, but none so casually ask me to cease beating them to a pulp.”

The vampire grinned to himself as he took a couple of steps up the staircase before turning and sitting. His eyes off up in his STAR after a quick press of his glowing cufflinks.

[Theo: Hey~]

[Sally: Theo!!!]

[Sally: Tell me everything in under seven words.]

[Theo: You first…]

[Sally: grimdark dungeon crawling double knight gal gang]

[Theo: You’re a knight?]

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

[Sally: Unholy Knight - even got a sword and some actual armor.]

[Theo: Get Chuck to take some pics when you get video up?]

[Sally: Of course, but let me earn a few cool scars first! Okay, your turn, pup.]

[Theo: immortal champion weapon mastering duel with respawning]

[Sally: A respawn world! Lucky punk ass.]

[Sally. Anyway, in the middle of a dungeon. Love and miss you.]

[Theo: Love and miss you too.]

He closed down the window and sighed, leaning back on the steps with a wide smile.

“I had thought you were doing well to stave off the insanity.” Borin grunted and lifted his mace back up to rest on his shoulder. “Seems you have started losing the plot.”

“Hmm? Oh, sorry.” Theo put his hands behind his head.

[Warhammer (+5 exp)]

[Warhammer Rank 2 Achieved]

[+10% Speed, +10% Damage, +10% Defense]

That was good to know. He didn’t have to die to get the experience from the battle - just be out of combat for a certain amount of time. No skills yet, but he felt that he was only scraping the surface of what could be gained here. His crimson eyes went back up to the waiting champion.

“I appreciate the stay of your hand. Emergency, you see - as I just received a message from the love of my life.”

Borin narrowed his eyes. “I will not share your delusion, blood-drinker.”

“Feel that way if you must.” Theo shrugged. “Her name is Sally, and she is my world. I could say a lot more mushy things if that makes you uncomfortable or is the true way of defeating you?”

“No, it is not.” The cracks in the man’s disbelief were starting to show on his face. “You are saying you have a way to communicate outside of this world?”

“Only to her, really.” A bit of a lie, but Theo wasn’t too sure how much truth to give out at this stage.

Borin tilted his head. “And you are telling me you willingly left a lover behind to come to this world?”

The vampire grinned and stood back to his feet. “You pick things up pretty quickly.”

“But why? Even if you defeat me, you will be stuck here as the new champion instead. Only death or eternal fighting exists for those unlucky enough to be stolen to this existence.”

Theo grinned, his fangs picking up the odd light of the spherical world. “Oh, I don’t intend to kill you, Borin. I am going to farm you for as much experience as possible, and let you survive and destroy me so I can continue the process.” He licked his lips. “Maybe after I max one weapon out, I’ll just switch to another.”

“Foolish!” The giant held his sword out at him. “Come closer so that I may cut that reckless hubris from your weak flesh.”

----------------------------------------

Sally hummed to herself as she spun to the side of a jabbed spear. An arrow bounced from her breastplate, totally deflected. She grabbed the extended weapon with her left hand and thrust her own sword at the goblin, slicing just beneath their chin through their windpipe. [Eat Brains] and then she flourished the stolen spear to throw at the one with the shortbow.

Her current zombies had chewed through two of the pack, while Poppy left a bloody trail in her wake. The knight was a lot more proficient than she had expected - although, the enemies were much lower level than the mute woman. Thankfully, the goblins didn’t seem to talk. Or at least couldn’t speak the Common language of the System. Screeches and chatterings that were quickly cut short by one of the two of them.

Mostly, she was just glad to have heard from Theo. While she wasn’t dependent on him, he was the biggest contributor to keeping her mind calm. Another day or two here without hearing from him and she might have started gnawing on Claude. She shot him a quick glance as her new zombie rose to its feet. It would be interesting having a few older Players at Sanctuary.

Some of the Uniques were of differing ages, of course. Humphrey’s dubious insistence that the world had only been around for a few months once she had awoken in the diner hadn’t been disproven, even after she bugged Chuck for a solid answer. Theo’s wave of Players was the first - she was pretty sure about that. But many Uniques had deep backstories and life experiences. Norah especially.

Then again, she couldn’t really imagine Edward as a baby either.

[Poppy: That’s this room done ^^]

[Poppy: Being overleveled for an area is niceeee]

[Poppy: How’s the experience?]

“Ah, not amazing. I don’t think I’ll level up from this one - but the next Dungeon maybe?” Sally pulled a face at having a visible experience bar for a change. Sixty-five percent, but each chamber of little green monsters had only given around eight percent in total.

Claude thumbed at his belt. “Something tells me you like to burn the midnight oil and level as quickly as the System will allow?”

“Not to a fault.” She pushed a zombie away that was stumbling into her. “I’m efficient, but I like to sleep.”

He nodded in return. “That makes two of us. One consequence of the Dungeons spawning is that there are no wandering Monsters anymore. So we should be able to camp out of range of the Dungeons and not have to go back to the Keep.”

“Really?” She pouted. Perhaps she was more right than she first thought when she told Theo it was a dungeon-crawler type world. “Now that we’re bound by blood and me getting stabbed by Kenny, I think you both owe me some proper exposition when we settle for the night.”

Claude looked over to Poppy, and the knight gave him a brief nod. “Very well, Miss Danger. I think that is only fair that you have all the information you could want if you intend to save this world.”

[Poppy: And I have some questions for you too!]

[Poppy: Mostly about other worlds and where you come from…]

[Poppy: Maybe some about Theo too! <<]

The healer rolled his eyes. “Not that I hold any disdain for needed levity, but shall we kill this boss and complete the Dungeon now? I’m getting antsy having these zombie goblins constantly stare at me.”

Sally clicked her fingers. “Ah - ah. Cut it out, you little gremlins. Not food. Friend.”

“Somehow, that makes it worse.” Claude pulled a face.

She didn’t need to remind them - it was almost programmed into their nature not to attack those in the same Party as her. The man was just the freshest looking meal in the room as present, and had drawn their attention even if they had no intention of-

“Seriously?” She pushed away the one that was bumping into her again. Her off-hand grabbed at their skull and held it at arm’s reach. “Your legs are fine, and I didn’t do anything unusual with your brain. Are you just a little silly, or you want hugs from momma?”

Archie sighed from behind her. “Don’t infantilize your zombies.”

“I brought them into this world,” she sneered and turned her nose up at the cat. “What happened to your archaic tone?”

“I’ve adjusted now that we have a better connection.” He licked a paw and rubbed at one of his ears.

Sally nudged the clingy zombie away, and it stumbled back to her. She sighed. “I’ll not name you, as that is a recipe for disaster… I know how these things play out. If you don’t give me some space, I’ll either stab you by accident or you’ll cause me injury. You don’t want to hurt momma do you?”

The zombie groaned and shambled back away from her, falling into the Dungeon wall instead.

Claude sighed and rubbed at his temples. “I picked the wrong month to stop slamming back opium.”