Meg let out another warrior-girl scream before pulling her sweater over her head and tossing it aside. Then she leaped over the rope barrier, jogging away from the tour group.

Like moths to a flame, the two smaller scorpids scuttled towards Meg, leaving the tourists alone. Even the two that I was fighting turned towards her.

Admittedly, I was slightly distracted, too– by her sports bra. But only for a second. It was impossible not to notice how she tossed her blonde hair as her heavy breasts bounced inside the sports bra. I already knew she was curvaceous, but I didn’t know her waist was so small compared to her hips.

Even more astonishing was her scream. It seemed suspiciously like a bonafide aggro-attracting ability. Still, I had no idea what she could do in the way of fighting. I speeded up my movements, spinning and ducking acrobatically, coming within range of the scorpid’s claws and then darting out.

A heavy pincer smashed into me, but my ward greatly reduced the impact. That was a small price for what I got in return: I’d taken out all the legs on one side of the big scorpid and damaged the joint of one arm. And the second one now had two lame legs. I landed a powerful kick to its underside, stunning it. Grabbing its claw, I heaved upwards, flipping the monster on its back.

Then, as I turned to check on Meg, a sudden pain spasmed in my back, instantly limiting my mobility. It came out of nowhere.

“Owwwww!” I shouted, clutching my back. “What the fuck!”

I noticed Meg was doing fine with the two small scorpids. In fact, I did a double-take when I saw that her skin had taken on a faint, earthy glow. Moreover, it almost looked like she’d grown in stature.

One scorpid was already on its back. The other was circling around her in a defensive posture.

She looked at me with wide-eyed concern. “Are you alright? Did you get hit?” Her eyes traced over me, searching for a bloody wound.

“No,” I said irritably, rubbing my back. “I think I pulled a muscle or something.” It had been years since I’d sparred with my grandfather. I had tried to maintain my skills and physical condition, but my body was a little out of shape, apparently.

Meg gave me a look of surprise before charging at the other scorpid, throwing herself into the air like a pro-wrestler, pointing her elbow at the scorpid’s eyes. The pincers smacked her, and its tail snapped down, hitting her, but every blow bounced off harmlessly. Her attack was on target, leaving the creature in a daze.

That was a tank move if ever I saw one, I thought, watching her.

Standing, she turned back towards me. “Wait, did you just say you pulled something?” Her eyes danced with humor.

I gave her a wry smirk. “Yes. I just moved a weird way, and my back–”

Meg threw her head back and laughed uproariously.

I rolled my eyes, but my smile was growing. “Very funny. I’m glad you’re amused.” She leaned forward, slapping her thigh.

I turned back to the writhing scorpids, landing a lethal blow on the smaller one’s exposed underside. Then I dealt with the largest one. Ignoring the weird spasms in my back, I delivered a rapid series of heavily damaging blows until the monster slumped to the dirt.

“I’m sorry, but that shit is funny” Meg said, still watching me as I turned back towards her. “You break out all these mind-blowing moves, and then all of a sudden you’re like, ‘Ahhh! My back!’” She mimicked an old-man voice and leaned forward comically, clutching her back.

I chuckled. It was pretty funny, and it was kind of charming seeing Meg joke around like that. I was glad to see she had a humorous side, because my first impression was that she was super serious.

Meg suddenly sprinted towards the sole surviving scorpid, her skin glowing with the faint luster I’d seen before. Her method of attack was very different from mine. Rather than trying to approach from the side, she jumped into the air and flew straight for its head. This put her right in reach of the creature’s pincers, not to mention its stinger.

But she let out her battle cry – which was actually kind of cute, given her high-pitched, feminine voice – and batted away one pincer. She crashed into its head with her knees and pummeled its funny little eyes. The stinger came down and hit her on the back but bounced away harmlessly.

Her armor spell was impressive. My Warding Whispers was probably not strong enough to deflect a direct hit from a stinger like that.

Before the scorpid could raise its stinger again, Meg snatched its tail and slammed the sting into the monster’s eyes, stabbing into its brain.

“Savage!” I enthused, watching Meg finish off the final scorpid.

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It was strangely quiet as we stood among the dead Dungeon monsters. Their chitinous exoskeletons glimmered dully in the afternoon sunlight. A peaceful breeze stirred the grass. It felt surreal. I’d just killed my first Dungeon monsters!

Dusting off her hands, Meg gazed at the archway’s gate, which stood open. Her chest was still heaving, her face flushed. Our eyes met.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” she said, echoing my thoughts. “I just battled my first monsters… I never thought I’d say that!”

I grinned. “I was thinking the same thing.”

She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “You were amazing! The way you fight, your abilities… It’s like you’ve had training.”

I smiled. She was not the kind of girl to be easily impressed. I wanted to tell her that I had, indeed, been trained by one of the last great Dungeon divers. But not here, with so many people in earshot.

“You were amazing, too,” I said. “Those are some impressive abilities you’ve got there.”

She smiled shyly. “Thanks. I was nervous at first… I didn’t know if I could make them work now when I really needed them.”

There were so many things I wanted to ask her, but our conversation was cut short by the dad.

“That was fuggin awesome! You guys rock!” he said, still munching on his gum. He was stepping over the barrier, pointing his phone at us. I was pretty sure he’d recorded the entire battle. Several others had at least captured parts of it, too. The dad walked towards us, followed by his son.

Other members of the tour group followed, gathering around the dead scorpids. A few more people emerged from behind the pillars. The stout guard had disappeared. I assumed he’d run to get help. But the tall one remained, looking dazed. He snapped out of it when the tourists started taking selfies with the dead scorpids.

“Hey!” he yelled at the tourists. “Stay away. They could still be dangerous.”

The dad stood there watching us through his phone for a minute with a smile plastered on his face. Then he filmed the dead scorpids. He motioned to his son. “Go crouch down beside one.”

The boy grinned, eagerly crouched beside the hideous monster, making the heavy-metal hand sign.

“Everybody, please, get away from the monsters!” The guard tried to assert his authority, but no one listened. They were practically glued to the dead monsters, “oooing” and “awwwing.” Some of them were even prodding the corpses, tapping the exoskeletons and lifting the insectoid legs.

“I’m glad we didn’t run away like the others!” the boy said. “This is metal!”

Suddenly, scratching and scurrying noises echoed from within the Dungeon, rapidly growing louder.

“Everybody get away from here!” I tried to warn them, waving my arms.

Meg’s eyes widened. “You heard him, get back!”

They were very slow to move away. It wasn’t until five scorpids poured through the threshold that they suddenly ran, screaming. Well, except for the dad. He didn’t scream, he chuckled. “Come on, son!” he said, his beer belly jiggling as he hurried his son away.

Drawn by the fleeing tourists, the scorpids began scuttling after them.

I grabbed Meg’s shoulder. “Do your Amazon scream!”

She blinked at me, confused. “Amazon scream? Oh, you mean like I did earlier?”

“Yes! Do it now!”

She nodded firmly. “Okay!” Sticking out her chest proudly, she drew in a deep breath and released her primal scream. Her cheeks flushed under my gaze.

The scorpids immediately halted and turned towards Meg. “Wow, it really works!” she said. “I didn’t even know it was a thing. I just did it because it felt right.”

“Oh, it’s a thing! Keep drawing them towards you. They’re not very bright. If you distract them, I can easily take them out.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said.

I gave her a chummy slap on the shoulder. “We’re a team now!”

She returned my gaze for a second, and her eyes sparkled. Then she strode forward to meet the scorpid head-on. “Come on, you nasty critters! Come and get me!”

As the creatures closed in, Meg’s skin glowed with her protective ability. She started bashing into the creatures, inflicting damage and leaving them temporarily stunned. Meanwhile, I approached from the side, slowing my pace to concentrate on the one offensive spell in my repertoire. Thundershot. While my grandfather had trained me extensively in melee combat, there was only so much magic he could teach me given my low level – and it was virtually impossible to level very far without going into the Dungeon.

I was a little nervous to use the spell. It had been a few years since I’d even practiced it. Still, I was confident that it would at least do some damage.

In a moment of focused concentration, I channeled my inner energy, infusing my palm with electrical power. The spell was known for its precision. The caster only needed to be skilled at focusing his will and directing it towards a target. If he did so successfully, then the spell would be almost sure to find the target.

I released the power. There was a dim flash as the shot rippled through the air. Bolts of lightning erupted around the scorpids, delivering concussive force as well as electrical damage. Two were left broken, almost dead. Another was stunned.

Meg gave me a look of surprise before leaping into the air and delivering a knee-dive on a scorpid.

“You’re just full of surprises!” she said. “How did you learn this stuff?”

“Well, I had a teacher, of course,” I said, lowering my voice. Wielding the truncheon, I delivered a series of blows on the scorpid that Meg had just stunned.

Meg’s eyes widened, as if it was astonishing to her that I had a teacher. She glanced at me with intense curiosity. I could tell she wanted to ask who trained me. It made me wonder… Didn’t anyone train her? How else did she learn her impressive skills and abilities?

But we were too preoccupied with exterminating Dungeon scorpids to stop and chat. To make things worse, I heard the dad’s voice. “Hey, the cops are coming!” He chuckled. “They’re a little late now!”

Glancing down the Adventurer’s Way, I saw about 20 policemen dressed in riot gear and carrying AR-15s, making their way along the trail towards the Dungeon site. The dad was already filming them.