Fewer rats surged through the portal. Taking his chances, Aster leaped over to the wall adjacent to the berserker and crouched down. “Hey.”

The berserker looked at the floor. “Hey.”

“Name’s Aster.”

“Er, I… I forgot mine,” the berserker replied.

“That’s fine. Do you remember how bad it is on the other side?” Aster asked, nodding at the portal.

“Across the portal!” Stella clarified emphatically.

“Yeah, that,” Aster agreed.

A rat threw itself bodily at Aster, its black eyes gleaming red with bloodlust. Aster stood and kicked in the same fluid motion. The rat went flying backwards into the portal with a terrified squeal. It plopped into the darkness and vanished.

The berserker peeked at the portal and grimaced. “Bad. It’s real bad.”

Not what I want to hear. “Can we handle it?”

“I don’t know. I’ll fight to my death, but…” He shook his head.

“I can bring the boss here,” Stella offered.

The berserker perked up. “The dragon? She might—”

Stella shook her head. “My new boss. The crystal fire slime.”

“Crystal… fire…” The berserker frowned. “I… I don’t know.”

“But the snakes are coming!” Stella replied cheerfully.

She’s fully rebounded from when they were first attacking, now that she’s seen how easily she handled the first wave. But that might not be for the best, if the next waves are as bad as the berserker indicates. Aster crossed his arms. “What kind of monsters are in the next wave?”

The berserker shook his head. A second later, his eyes lit up. “Killer!”

“Huh?” Aster asked.

“That’s my name. Killer,” the berserker insisted.

Your parents really hated you, didn’t they? Or is it a Daiyo situation, and that’s what people called him? But now isn’t the time to probe. No matter what, this Killer almost certainly has a tragic story in his past, and we don’t need to accidentally send him into attack mode on us in the middle of a difficult battle. Still, it’s tragic, in its own way, that berserkers are treated like this. Aster shook his head, somewhat sad. After a second, he smiled. “Alright then, Killer. What kind of monsters await us?”

Killer nodded, growing serious again. “They’re disease-type monsters. All the monsters are sick and deformed.”

“Sick?” Stella asked, confused.

“It means… it means they’re feeling poorly. Their bodies hurt, and their noses might run, or they might have worse symptoms. The most concerning part for us is that sick monsters can infect other monsters, and make them sick,” Aster explained.

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“Oh. Oh! So they’ll feel like I did, when the invasion started?” Stella asked. “That’s bad, that’s really bad. And they can make everyone feel like that?”

Aster nodded.

Stella turned serious. “We can’t let that happen. No one will be able to fight!”

“That’s right,” Aster said. Besides, monster diseases? Who knows what those would do to the humans around the dungeon!

Dungeons have become infected with diseases before, diseases that are able to pass on to humans, as well! Infected dungeons are seen as a lost cause, too high of a risk to the community around them to allow them to continue to exist. The dungeons that become infected are either burned to the ground or sealed up and left to rot. We can’t allow this to happen to Stella!

Killer shook his head. “But the monsters in the other dungeon are all powerful, far more powerful than us. We aren’t prepared to take this on. Not without the dragon.”

“But we can’t back down. If the diseased monsters infect Stella’s dungeon, the dungeon is gone,” Aster pointed out.

Pausing, Killer nodded. “That’s true. Our backs are up against the wall.”

“I can’t be infected by diseases,” Daiyo pointed out.

Everyone turned. Daiyo nodded. “I’m stone. I’m immune to diseases. Me and all the stone spirits, too.”

“What about the slimes?” Aster asked, looking up at Stella.

“They’re… they can get sick, but only to a few diseases,” Stella said.

“I can get sick, and so can all you humans,” Viki pointed out. She nodded at the bats. “We should get those out of here as soon as possible, or they’ll spread whatever sickness around the whole dungeon in a heartbeat.”

“Stella, tell the snakes to retreat, too,” Aster said, concerned. Any ordinary biological monster is a risk factor right now. He shook his head. “We can’t afford to let anyone get infected. We have no way to—”

Milo cleared his throat.

Everyone turned to look at him.

Embarrassed, Milo ducked, hiding his face behind a curtain of hair, but a moment later, he looked up. “I can cast disease-curing and immunity-raising spells. I’m… actually pretty powerful against diseased monsters.”

“Oh,” Aster said. He snorted and shook his head at himself. Right. That’s so obvious, I can’t believe I didn’t think about it earlier.

“At least… until I run out of magic, that is,” Milo added at a mutter.

Aster pursed his lips. Magic-using adventurers are so troublesome. Though I suppose I can’t say I could do much about the diseased monsters. It’s not as though I have a way to cure their illnesses.

He turned to Milo. “How do your spells work? Specifically. I’m going to need to know everything about how they function. We need to optimize your spell usage, because you are absolutely essential to the upcoming battle. We can’t afford to waste a single one of your spells.”

Milo nodded. “Yes!” Wow, I’m the centerpiece of the battle? I’m not used to that. That’s usually… Silas’ role…

He frowned, putting a finger to his lips.

“What is it?” Aster asked.

Milo hesitated, then took a deep breath. He looked Aster in the eye. “Silas…”

“Silas,” Aster murmured thoughtfully.

“He’s my mana battery!” Stella protested, already annoyed.

“He’s a bard, right? Buffs and debuffs,” Aster said, nodding to himself. He looked at Stella. “If we release him, he can make all the monsters a lot stronger, and the enemies a lot weaker.”

Stella hesitated, then nodded. “Yes!”

“The real question is… will he help us,” Aster murmured to himself.

Milo clenched his staff. He stepped forward. “Let me go. I’ll… I’ll talk to him.”

Aster straightened and stretched. “How long until the next wave?”

The berserker put a hand on his chin. “I don’t have a clear memory when I’m… fighting, but they looked like they were still gathering.”

“Ten minutes? Half an hour?” Aster tried.

Killer hesitated. “Fif… fifteen minutes?”

“Fifteen minutes. I’ll go with you, Milo,” Aster declared.

“And me!” Stella said, punching the air.

“Of course you will. Who else will put him back into the crystal if he doesn’t cooperate?” Aster asked gently, grinning.

Milo glanced at the two of them. “Not… not to be er, impolite or anything… but uh, Silas might cooperate better if I go alone.”

“He’ll have to cooperate one way or another. If he balks here, in the labyrinth, it’ll be much harder to handle than if he balks in the boss room,” Aster replied.

Milo bit his lip, then sighed. “I guess that’s true. But allow me to speak first.”

Aster nodded. “Certainly.”

Daiyo nodded and gave him a thumbs up. “We’ll hold down the portal while you’re gone.”

Viki sighed. She waved her hand. “Hurry up and come right back.”

Aster and Stella waved. Milo led the way, and together, they took off for the boss room.