A mid-teens girl stepped out of the portal, long black hair trailing after her. She wore a pitch-black dress stained with a disgusting mottled pattern, and her eyes shone in an off-putting greenish-brown hazel, reminiscent of the scum atop tainted water.

Aster shook his head. Not her. Just another Dungeon Spirit.

Wait, another Dungeon Spirit? Then… is she the Dungeon Spirit of the invading dungeon?

“Daiyo! Right there!” Aster shouted, jabbing his finger at the girl.

“I see her!” Daiyo shouted.

Before he or Daiyo could close in, the cyclops bent down and scooped the girl up, setting her on his shoulder. He turned and howled at Aster and Daiyo, so huge that he had to stoop even in the labyrinth room.

The girl on his shoulder giggled and shook her finger at Aster. “Not so fast! Now, where’s that bossless Dungeon Spirit…?”

A second later, she froze and turned back, narrowing her eyes at Aster. “Eh? Humans? Huh?”

In the moment of her surprise, press the attack! Aster looked at Silas. “Debuffs, now!”

Silas nodded and began to sing a dirge. A haunting, low tune emanated from the lute.

“Milo! Heal the cyclops. The white heal!” Aster shouted.

“Eh? Oh! Disease-type monsters, heals, right, right!” Milo nodded. He began to chant as well, the sound rattling against Silas’ song.

The black-haired girl wrinkled her nose. “What are humans doing in a dungeon battle?”

Stella pointed at the girl. “What are you doing in my dungeon?”

“There she is! Attack!” the black-haired girl shouted, jabbing her finger at Stella.

The cyclops roared and hefted its single arm, slamming it down toward Stella.

Next to Stella, the white snake reared up and wound its body protectively around her. A wall of slimes hopped up on the outside of the snake.

“Stella, no!” Aster shouted. I shouldn’t have left her alone!

As the snake closed around Stella, she grinned. “Alice!”

A shadow dropped from the ceiling. Black claws swiped for the black-haired girl’s neck.

The black-haired girl screamed. She dropped to her knees.

Aster pumped his fist. “Good going, Stella!”

To the contrary, Stella’s expression remained stiff. “Alice, return!”

Alice leaped back, quickly retreating off the cyclops’ shoulder.

The black-haired girl snapped her arm out. Her hand barely missed Alice’s neck, but blood spurted from the cloth-like folds anyways. Alice plummeted, plunging into the monsters at the cyclops’ feet.

“Alice!” Silas shouted. He broke off his song and jumped off the wall, wading into the fray.

“Silas—Silas! What the hell?” Milo asked.

Ah, shit! I forgot. He’s not the type to show his affection. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about her! Aster thought, gritting his teeth. But what the hell happened with the spirit? Didn’t Alice—

No, that’s right. Stella can turn intangible for a few seconds a day. The other Dungeon Spirit must have the same power! Stella knew her attack with Alice wouldn’t work, but she wanted to trick the other Dungeon Spirit into using her intangibility.

Well… as long as she’s wasting her intangibility, let’s attack! “Daiyo. The ankles!” Aster shouted. He hammered the cyclops’ heel tendon with all his strength.

The cyclops cried out and lifted its foot.

The second it did, stone spikes jutted out of the earth into the sole of its other foot. Screaming, the cyclops fell sideways, crashing into the labyrinth’s walls and bowling over two, three, four layers all at once.

The black-haired dungeon spirit snickered. “Go forth!”

From across the room, Stella gritted her teeth. “Slimes!”

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The little slimes leaped out from the previously sealed-off part of the dungeon and ran toward the newly crushed walls, chasing the diseased monsters. The diseased monsters moved faster. In no time, they escaped the labyrinth and sprinted toward the inner doorway that led to the boss room.

“If I destroy your boss, it’s over,” the black-haired Dungeon Spirit smirked.

The cyclops under her climbed back to its knees, but faltered there. It hesitated, looking down at its bloodied feet.

“Come on! Stand!” the Dungeon Spirit insisted.

The cyclops howled mournfully.

She scowled. “Fine. Sit here. Useless.”

Stella narrowed her eyes. A stone slab slammed down over the door, blocking it off. The lead monster, a giant, tattered cat, smashed its head into the wall and bounced off. Stunned, it shook its head and tried to climb back to its feet, only for the other monsters to trample over it. Cracks appeared on the stone slab under the force of the rushing monsters.

“That’ll only last a moment,” the other Dungeon Spirit said, shaking her head. “Become infected, as I was! Watch as your dungeon quavers, falling under the weight of this illness. There’s no escape for you anymore!”

Aster’s ears pricked up. He looked at the girl.

“What is it?” Daiyo asked, hammering at the giant cyclops’ ankles with a businesslike attitude. Bone protruded from its foot, shattered and bloody.

Aster winced. This thing isn’t getting up again.

“I have an idea. Daiyo, can you get me up to her?” Aster asked, turning away from the cyclops.

Daiyo tilted his head. “She’s invulnerable right now. Even if you get up there, she—”

“I know. I just need to get close,” Aster said, clenching his fist. It’s a wild guess. But if I’m right… if I’m right…!

Daiyo looked at him, then nodded. “Alright. Here. Stand on this.” He twisted his hand as if to open a bottle, and a flat stone twisted out of the floor.

Aster hopped on top of it and knelt, stabilizing himself on three limbs. “Now what? A pillar?”

Daiyo raised both his arms, his hands trembling with effort. “Something like… that!”

With a heavy grunt, he slammed both hands down. A stone peg hurtled out of the floor at high speed and smashed into the bottom of the flat stone Aster stood on. The flat stone flew into the air, directly up at the cyclops’ shoulder.

Aster clung onto the stone, his eyes wide. Holy shit! Wasn’t expecting that!

The stone lifted him to the cyclops’ shoulder. Aster met the Dungeon Spirit’s eyes. She stared, equally as surprised at him. “Huh?”

The stone began to fall. Aster hopped off, kicking the stone down as he jumped onto the cyclops’ shoulder beside her. She backed away, raising her hands. “You—”

“Wait. Hear me out. You don’t want to be a disease-type dungeon, do you? Someone inflicted it on you. That’s why you’re trying to inflict it on Stella,” Aster guessed.

She scowled. “What do you know?”

Drawing back her hand, she slashed at Aster. Remembering what happened to Alice, Aster yanked up his hammer even though her hand wouldn’t reach him. In a split second, too fast for him to see clearly, her nails shot out and cut toward his throat. With his hammer in the way, they bounced away rather than slicing his neck open.

Aster hopped back, keeping his hammer at the ready to block her blows. “Let’s talk it out. You’ve lost a great many monsters. Surely this isn’t beneficial for you?”

The Dungeon Spirit grunted.

In the distance, the cracks cut across the entire stone slab. Stella bit her lip, nervous. The fire slimes caught up with the last of the monsters and began wreaking havoc, but the lead monsters were far from the back of the pack. They drew back again. A crack rang out through the cavern, echoing off the walls.

“I can see it in your eyes. This isn’t what you want, is it? This is revenge for what someone else did to you,” Aster sympathized.

“As if! I want to get stronger. Have a bigger dungeon. Aside from plundering other dungeons, how does that happen, huh?” she returned, glaring at him.

“Cooperation. Trading resources. Rather than plundering, why don’t you and Stella figure out a way you can work together to make both of you stronger?” Aster suggested.

“Even if I do… so what? My monsters are all diseased. There’s no fixing that. Once hers are diseased, too, then we can talk,” she replied, laughing.

“We can fix that,” Aster replied.

“There’s nothing you can—huh?”

Aster nodded. “We can fix that. We have a priest.” He pointed at Milo.

The Dungeon Spirit’s nose wrinkled. “So what? Human priests can’t—”

“He can heal monsters,” Aster returned.

“Huh?” She blinked at him, taken aback.

Aster gestured around him. “How do you think we’ve taken almost no casualties so far? We have a healer, who can heal monsters. He’s a little unreliable, but he can cure your monsters’ disease.”

She stumbled back a few steps and shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”

The cyclops raised its remaining arm and slapped at its shoulder. Aster charged the Dungeon Spirit. She raised her hands protectively, but he dodged past her and hunkered in the nook of the cyclops’ neck, dodging the slap. “Why not give it a shot? What do you lose by trying?”

The stone slab cracked again. Shards began falling down, rattling over the monsters below. Stella threw her hand out, trying to close the gaps in the stone, but the stone continued to shatter.

The Dungeon Spirit shook her head. “It can’t be that simple. I don’t believe you. All this time, it can’t be…”

Aster looked at Milo. He nodded. “Show her. Heal a monster.”

“Er, I…” Milo cast about, confused.

“Heal Alice,” Silas demanded.

He waded out of the monsters, carrying Alice in his arms. She drooped against him, her black fabric skin somehow wan, red eyes fading and half-shut. Blood stained her front, from her neck to her waist. Silas gripped her tight, his knuckles white. The lyre hung on his back, bloodstained and half-forgotten.

Milo’s eyes widened. He turned to Stella. “Goddess, grant me strength.”

“Eh? Okay!” Stella agreed.

The light on Milo’s staff turned blue. He held it out, whispering his spell. Blue light accumulated around Alice, then burst toward her. The wound on her neck glowed blue. Her fabric-like skin twitched. Ever so slowly, it knitted shut. The blackness of her skin returned, and she blinked, her eyes coming alive again.

Silas watched closely, nervous. “Alice…”

Alice sat up, then jolted and pushed away from Silas, jumping away to land on her own feet. She chittered at him, shaking her head.

The concern on Silas’ face faded, and he laughed instead. “Yeah, yeah.”

Up on the cyclops’ shoulder, the Dungeon Spirit drew a breath. “You… she… you healed her?”

Aster nodded. “We did.”

“You can heal diseases?” she asked. Her eyes shimmered, almost tearing up.

“We can.”

“You… you can…” The Dungeon Spirit sniffled. She rubbed her eyes and reached out, hands becoming material as she latched on to Aster. “Please! Heal us!”