I always liked to do a quick check before I went out. Living in a fantasy world had not changed that part about me. I made sure we all had our weapons. Seralyn had fixed the arrows that had been separated from their heads. Draco only brought his dual axes this time around, he also had his usual backpack of goods and rations. I had my spear. Nira had her wand and claws and Velariah had her sword.

With nothing forgotten, we set out on our way to the dungeon.

“By the way.” Seralyn started not soon after we left the building. “What happened to the chest? What did Sir Valtheril say?” She looked at Velariah for an answer.

“He said we could divide it as we wished. It’s sitting in our mansion right now. We can divide it after we’re done for the day.”

“Neat!” The brunette replied.

“There were no quests in the area?” I asked Draco.

The lizardman shook his head.

“Nothing of interest for our party.”

“Shame,” I said.

We walked past the coffee plants on our way to where we fought the hellspiders. It seemed the entire field to our right had been completely plowed and, if I were to guess, seeded as well. Now it would be up to the treemenders and time before it yielded results.

I couldn’t wait.

And I knew Velariah couldn’t wait either.

Nira asked us if there was anything special about these bushes. It seems she noticed me staring.

It looked like I had some serious withdrawal symptoms.

“Uh, not really. I was just wondering if they were tasty.” I lied.

“Yuck, no. They are disgusting.” Nira answered.

“Shame,” I said in feigned ignorance.

I had probably failed to fool Draco. He was with us before, after all. I guessed eventually they would find out, especially if I started to fill our bags with them on our way back.

Nira was a slow walker, not long after leaving the road she had slowed down significantly.

I was about to offer her a ride when she seemed to have had enough and she launched herself into the sky. A gust of wind hit my side when she leaped upwards. I looked at her soar above us. She circled in the air around our position.

She might even be able to beat me in a race, damn.

I wondered what this world looked like from above.

I don’t think she’d be able to carry me into the sky. Maybe she could carry Velariah?

“You want a ride?” I turned to the elf.

“Would love to,” Velariah answered.

“Can I join too?” Seralyn asked.

“Dunno, you paying?” I taunted her, as I lowered myself so that Velariah could hop on.

“Yikes, I left my money at home.” She said.

“Unlucky.” Velariah taunted her as she hopped on my back and I rose.

I was spoiling Velariah way too much. I couldn’t deny I didn’t like her behind me, though.

“Guys, there’s some movement in the forest.” Nira’s voice came from above. “Can’t make out what it is, I suggest running forward.”

Heeding her warning, we ran towards our destination. The wet grass didn’t make running easier for Seralyn. Draco seemed to manage just fine. Not wanting to take chances, I ran up behind Seralyn and lifted her.

“Seems you get your wish after all,” I told her as I ran to catch up with Draco.

This lizard was surprisingly fast.

Seralyn struggled briefly, but I held her in place with four arms and two pedipalps. Even if she wanted to break free, I don’t think she could manage.

After a minute or so of running, Nira sounded off again.

“Seems to be fine, guys. Not sure what it was but it wasn’t after you.”

“Thanks, Nira,” I thanked her.

It felt reassuring to have a watchful eye in the skies. Besides warning us, I imagined she could also scout for our targets on future quests.

Oh, I wanted her in our party so badly.

We soon reached the edge of the forest and the hill that had obscured our vision from the old spider lair. From here, it would be about thirty minutes to the dungeon.

I put Seralyn down again.

“How was it, Seralyn?” Velariah asked with a grin.

“Quite the ride, can’t say I enjoyed it.”

“Tee-hee, the good seat is reserved for me.” I looked behind me and saw Velariah stick out her tongue.

I chuckled.

Poor Seralyn. She deserved this treatment though.

I didn’t mind Velariah having access to the ‘good seat’. She had her arms around my belly and hugged me tightly. She was surely doing this on purpose. It only served to make me smile this time around.

After we entered the great plains, Nira landed in front of us.

“Are you okay?” I asked. She seemed tired.

“Yeah, I’m alright. I just can’t fly for too long yet, it seems.”

She folded her wings and ran a hand through them.

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“Seems I will need some more time recovering.”

“You want another ride?” I offered.

“If you don’t mind…”

I shook my head. “Not at all.”

“So everybody gets a proper seat except for me?” Seralyn asked in disbelief.

Velariah and I both chuckled.

“Seems so.” She said.

Nira hopped on my back with the help of her wings and sat down on my abdomen, her claws tightly clasped around my midsection.

“This doesn’t hurt, right?” She asked to confirm.

I shook my head. “Not at all.”

The rest of our trip was spent in silence and we soon reached the charred tunnels of what was previously a hellspider hive. Draco took out a torch from his backpack and ignited it before leading the way down.

“You guys did this?” Seralyn asked as we walked through the tunnels.

“Well, it was Miss Elania’s idea to torch the place,” Draco admitted. “It did make things quite a bit easier. She also discovered the entrance to a dungeon previously unknown.”

“You totally did a number on this place,” Seralyn said. “I would have loved to see it.”

Of course, she would.

It seemed all the hellspider corpses were cleaned up. We didn’t find a single one on our way to the entrance. When we reached the huge metal doors to the dungeon we found them closed shut, but the web I had created to keep it shut was cut.

It seemed the guild had gone inside already.

Velariah and Nira jumped off my back.

“Is everyone ready?” I asked when I pried my spear between the doors.

Everyone nodded.

“Here it goes.” I pried one of the doors open and took it in my hands before fully opening that one door.

Velariah and Seralyn stood at the ready with sword and arrow, in case anything made their way outside.

Nothing happened and I opened the other door as well.

Draco handed me the torch as he took his two axe-shields from his back.

I held the torch close to the entrance to see what was down there. There was a massive stone stairway leading down from my position. Fortunately, the doors were huge and I should be able to fit through.

I was not looking forward to walking down a flight of stairs. I had never done it before with these legs and I was worried I might break something.

“Velariah, Draco, could you guys go first? I’m not confident in my ability to walk stairs…”

“No problem.” Velariah said.

I handed her the torch and she made her way down the stairs behind Draco, who eyed his surroundings closely.

“Seems to be clear,” Draco called.

“Well, here goes nothing,” I spoke softly, as I walked my rear down the stairs first.

I held on to the stone stairs with my hands tightly as I slowly descended backward. The small claws at the end of my feet seemed to have no issue with gripping into stone. Everything went far better than I expected.

Seralyn and Nira eyed me warily as I descended. Seralyn wasn’t even condescending in her look - she looked genuinely worried.

I reached the bottom without issues and Seralyn and Nira made their way down as well.

Draco’s torch illuminated a large area and I could clearly make out the same, cave-like walls that I saw in my dream. Stalagmites and stalactites were in the wide hallway ahead of us. The hallway seemed to lead further down, slightly.

There was no sign of enemies, but we couldn’t get complacent.

Velariah handed me the torch again and unsheathed her sword. I took my spear back in my hands and followed the two closely. Seralyn and Nira made up the rearguard.

“You have some experience with dungeons, right?” I asked Draco. “Any idea what enemies may lurk here?”

Draco stopped and seemed to inspect the cave walls.

“If I were to guess? Nothing special. Maybe slimes in this area, perhaps bats.”

“Doesn’t sound too dangerous,” Velariah added.

“They aren’t a match for us right now, at all.” The lizardman replied.

“That’s not the kind of ’monsters’ I was expecting,” I admitted. “Slimes maybe, but bats don’t sound dungeon-specific at all.”

“Such is often the case with lower-tier dungeons,” Draco said. “Hold on.”

He assumed a combat stance with his axe shields and I could hear Seralyn draw an arrow behind me.

A slimy, squishing sound came from behind one of the stalagmites. It resembled the sound a sponge would make when you had soaked it with water and then squeezed it.

Was that a slime?

My suspicion was confirmed seconds later. A moving, gooey shape about 50 centimeters high made its appearance known. Its surface appeared to be the same brown color as the surrounding area. It would have made for decent camouflage, were it not that the light from my torch was reflected by its body.

A crystal ball floated around in the gooey figure and, from what I knew from fiction, that had to be its weak spot. I believe it was called a core too, right?

Draco stepped aside and I could hear Seralyn let loose her arrow.

It was a bullseye.

The core shattered the second her arrow hit it and the slime creature collapsed onto itself. All that remained was a puddle of brown goo.

It looked kind of disgusting.

“That’s it?” I asked. “That looked far too easy.”

“Well, I did tell you this dungeon was fairly low tier,” Draco said.

“If that’s the case, do you guys mind leaving some kills to me?” I asked.

“Any specific reason?” Seralyn asked.

“I’m trying to regrow my leg, I have a theory about it.”

“Uh, sure.” She said, without complaint.

I was glad she understood.

Soon enough I heard another squishing sound.

“My venom, right?” I asked the white-haired elf.

Velariah nodded.

Well, let’s see.

I walked towards the sound and found another slime appearing from behind one of the stalagmites. I walked up to it, pulled my fangs out from under me and shot a short burst of venom at the creature.

It emitted strange sounds as the venom seemed to eat away at the creature’s membrane. It burned through and made the slime fall apart. Its core landed in a brown puddle, still intact.

“Uhhh, is it dead?” I asked.

“For sure,” Draco commented. “One does not always have to destroy the core to kill a slime.”

More slimes appeared and concentrated on our position. I counted three and shot more short bursts of venom at them, conserving my reserves as much as possible while still making sure they would die. They sizzled out in much the same manner as the first and, soon, there was nothing left but their cores in a large brown puddle.

“Are those worth anything?” I asked Draco. He was the most experienced member when it came to dungeons. I was sure he was aware of the pricing of these cores.

“Unfortunately, not.” He replied. “They are too common to be worth anything. Besides that, they aren’t used as crafting material for anything.”

“Shame,” I said.

Unfortunate, but not of major impact.

We marched onward and reached the end of the hall without spotting or hearing any more monsters. There was some kind of stone gateway at the end of the room that led to a different area.

“Seems like everything is clear. This looks to lead into a large, stone room.” I said while I observed what I could see in the torch’s light.

The cave-like hall changed drastically beyond this gateway. A floor made of solid stone led the way and large, brick walls extended to the right and left from my position.

I stepped through the gateway. Draco and Velariah stepped through right after me and moved in front of me.

“What is this place?” Velariah asked.

I looked behind me and saw Seralyn retrieve her arrow from the puddle. She and Nira soon joined us in the next room.

“What is this place, indeed?” Seralyn added to Velariah’s comment. “This room is enormous.”

“Step forward, so that you may be trialed.” A sudden voice came from somewhere.

I looked around but couldn’t see anyone that could have said that.

“Trialed?” I asked.

“Huh?” Velariah said.

“Step forward and be trialed? What do they mean?”

“Who are they?” Seralyn asked me.

“Wait, you guys didn’t hear that voice?”

“What voice?” Nira asked.

“No idea, but it said to step forward and be trialed.”

“Strange.” Draco commented. “Whatever it is, it sounds like we’re in for a fight.”

That seemed like a reasonable conclusion to me.

“Forward eh? So just this way?” I walked forward from the doorway.

A few meters later, I found a large stone circle engraved on the floor.

“I think something is supposed to happen here.” I beckoned the others over. “Better take combat positions.”

This room was enormous, it probably would have allowed me and Velariah to go for our cavalry tactics, but I decided against it. I had the feeling we would need to provide extra support for Seralyn and Nira.

We spread around in the circle. Seralyn and Nira were at the center. The ceiling was high up - I assumed Nira would be able to fly away in a pinch. Draco, Velariah and I were spread around them, near the edge of the circle. Our weapons were at the ready.

“Are you ready? Then your trial begins.” The voice sounded again.

I repeated what it had said to my allies, who nodded in recognition.

I could hear the same squishing sound from before, except this time there were many, many more. Our vision was limited to about three meters from the edge of the circle on the ground, which had me worried.

Fortunately, I knew these slimes would be easy pickings.

Soon enough, waves of slow-moving slimes moved towards us. I could finish them off easily with my spear and legs. I was surprised at the aim of my legs, I managed to impale slime cores without missing a single hit on their weak spots.

I looked over my shoulder to see how the others were doing.

Velariah and Draco were plowing through multiple slimes at once. A few of them caught fire and sizzled out, leaving their cores on the floor.

Seralyn shot down the creatures one after the other with rapid arrow fire. She didn’t seem to miss a single shot.

Every once in a while, their dragon-blessed steel weapons caused a burst of flames that illuminated a far larger part of the room than my torch did, allowing us to see far better what was going on.

Nira was not acting like a healer at all.

She was literally in the front line, slashing slime cores with her incredibly sharp talons. She had no problem dealing with several of the weak creatures at once.

Screw conventional healers, I liked her style.

I killed a couple of slimes with venom but decided to save most of it. I had the feeling these weren’t going to be the only creatures in this ‘trial’.

I was almost done with my opponents - there were only three left.

I made a sweeping motion with my spear and destroyed all their cores with one swift attack.

“Nice one, Elania,” Velariah called out.

“You guys done?” I turned around and saw Nira finish the last slime.

Seralyn quickly ran around collecting her arrows.

“Looks that way,” Draco said.

“A solid start, let’s see how you fare next.” The same voice called again.

“Incoming!” I spoke loudly.

I wasn’t sure where to look but soon heard a sound coming from above us. I looked up just in time to see a large, bat-like creature making a dive for me. I quickly stabbed it with my spear and impaled it on the tip.

I took a closer look at what I had just killed.

It seemed to be a bat covered in soft, light-blue hairs. Its head resembled that of a fennec, complete with large ears and all. Its feet seemed to have large claws, though. I’d rather not get sliced by those.

It was quite cute, if I didn’t consider the fact it was out to hurt us.

More sounds from above broke me from my distraction. Tens of the creatures flew down from the ceiling. Seralyn managed to shoot down several with her arrows.

Fighting flying enemies turned out to be quite a hassle. I couldn’t utilize my legs or other weapons as well as when fighting ground enemies. My spear managed to kill a couple of them, but several flew past it and clawed away at my carapace.

Now, they didn’t do much in terms of damage, but I still felt it!

Draco seemed to be using the shields to slam into the creatures. That was a smart move, these things were annoying to hit.

I swung my spear wildly and managed to kill several more.

Seralyn did most of the work here, truly. Her aid was truly useful.

Velariah hacked away wildly and hit a couple of them. She did create several balls of fire that set nearby creatures on fire as well.

We started to make progress. Slowly the bat creatures were killed off by our combined efforts. Nira took flight and clawed several of them out of the air but she received some hits herself as well.

Soon she was down to the ground and hiding behind my abdomen.

“You okay, Nira?” I asked.

“I’m alright, I can heal myself.”

I held my torch a bit closer to check on her. She had received several claws across her back. Several cuts and blood stained her shirt.

“Just sit tight.”

Several of the creatures made their way to Nira, but I quickly stepped over her frame. The harpy curled her wings around her as I protected her with my body.

Seralyn shot a couple of arrows at the creatures in my vicinity and only missed a single one. I swung wildly and finished off more. Draco soon jumped into the fray and slammed the remaining ones with his shield.

I could see the room light up once more, a bright ball of fire coming from Velariah’s direction was the cause, and then… silence.

I stepped away and helped Nira back up on her feet.

“T-thanks.” She stuttered.

She instantly started healing herself. Her body glowed with a soft green color as I saw the wounds on her back close partly.

“Anyone in need of a potion?” Draco asked.

“Very well. It is time for the final trial.” The voice from before interrupted Draco’s plan.

“Seems we may not get that kind of time, Draco,” I answered. “The final trial is starting.”