When I open my eyes, I saw light shining down… My head is still blur, I must have passed out for a moment…

Then I remembered I had collided with something elastic and fell down backwards even before I opened my eyes. I must have hit my head.

I half expected to find dozen of bugs piled on top of me, but next second, I found out that there’s nothing weighing on my body… My arms and legs are free, I can move them about…

Feeling a bit dizzy, I sat up in a state of confusion. To my surprise, I see the face of a beautiful blonde lady looking at me, looking worried.

“Am I dead already?” I blurted out without control.

The lady looked at me and smiled as she replied “Welcome to Heaven… On Earth!!”

“Heaven… …… What??! I’m not dead?!”

“No~~ You big silly~~! We saved you!”

“What??! How can that beAA~~~H?!! Watch out! There’s a giant beetle coming out from the ground behind you! Run!! It might attack you!!” 

I screamed out loud as soon I saw a large head of a gigantic insect with a pair of large, mean-looking, death-scythe like pincers looking at us from a large hole behind the lady. I tried to push her aside and stand between her and the large bug, for fear that it will attack us…

“Oh, you mean him?”

To my surprise, instead of stepping back from the hole, the lady casually went over to the edge of the hole and went down onto her knees.

“No, no, no!! Don’t do anything dangerous!”

Then, I saw the lady put her hand into the hole to pat the monstrously big bug on the head. I felt my blood run cold at the sight. What, is she a daredevil or what? Yet, instead of having an angry bug trying to tear her apart, it just quietly stayed still and seemed to enjoy the patting.

“He’s my partner! Sandy, you scared him! …… No it's not you, people just don't know how to appreciate how splendid you look... Good~~ boy! Don’t worry, newbie, he won’t bite just anyone~~~ Except when he thinks of them as food or when he's angry! He's okay~~~ I rode him here…”

I stared with disbelief… This lady seemed to be explaining with a straight relaxed face. Either she’s especially good at lying (big fat insane lies), or she’s telling the truth.

There’s no saying what insane creature or monster will pop up again in this world… I got up and took a look inside the hole, and then I saw it… A saddle strapped onto the back of the giant insect. It made the creature look like a giant motorbike with jaws.

The lady beamed happily. “He’s not a beetle~~ He's an antlion! Majestic creature, huh? He’s only this big from the magic absorbed from his environment in its pit! He grew up in a dungeon with magic crystals infused rocks that is like a sand box to him and had all the giant ants he needed to eat all day! Isn’t he cute? He's fast underground too! Isn't he cool??”

…… This is crazy!!! The monster jaws are big enough to wrap around my waist. I’ve heard about antlions being masters of their domain, killers within their arena.

I had no words for this situation in which the lady spoke of the giant bug like a girl praises her pony... I’m just glad that it doesn’t seem to see me as food… 

“I’m really confused now… What was I doing here again? …… Oh, right! I was about to be taken down by the Zombugs! What happened to them?”

“Oh, they are taken care of already! See? Hey, guys!”

The lady pointed with her finger beyond the hole and I looked at that direction. At the spot where the chasers had been were the figure of a boy and a teenager who were having a serious conversation, who turned around to see the lady and started to walk over.

I must say they were as different as day and night…

The boy has ginger curly hair that looked as if someone set his head on fire. He wore a sleeveless red singlet which showed his lean arm muscles. He also had on a pair of black shorts that showed strong leg muscles. In his hands held a pair of red tonfas. He was approaching us while cracking his neck and twirling one arm as if finishing a warm up exercise.  

On the other hand, the teenager was tall and stoutly built, almost like a giant beside the boy. His head is covered in a fur cap with ear-warmers. He was wearing a white fur coat which was loosely worn, showing a light blue wool shirt. The pants is a slightly darker shade of blue and on his feet was a pair of fur boots. He looked as if he had come back from the mountains hiking expedition. What caught my eyes was this long sledge hammer held in his arms resting on his shoulder.

They reached a few steps before the pit created by the lady’s antlion. I saw that they are good looking people. They looked at me without much expression, although the redhead gave a feeling of frustration and the big guy seemed cold.

“….. Are they dead??”

To my surprise, the two just looked at each other, made a chuckle and a small laugh at each other and then, they simultaneously high-fived. Only after they walked around the pit to my left did I see what’s behind them.

I couldn’t believe my eyes…!!

I saw that half of the bugs are lying on the spot, curled up tightly. And the half of them had run a far way back and they are still running away.

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“Those bugs are better left alive, they’re important to this dungeon after all. There are other ways to deal with them. These guys are experts of thermal control. Brenton had used heat waves to drive some of them away and ‘Little John’ Björn here just hit the remaining ones with a freezing move!” She explained pointing to the redhead and the big guy respectively.

I am just about to sigh with relief when I remember something important! Another sense of dread swept over me and I started to panick, almost tripping into the hole in front of me.

“My silkworm buddy!! Where is it??!”

The redhead replied, “Relax! My pal has your buddy! (A few minutes together and they’re buddies huh…)”

The next thing I know, I saw the redhead cup his hands and started to chirp like a bird. For a second I thought he was toying with me and I stared at him with disbelief.

The suddenly from my far left came an orange-furred beast with a large tail, approaching fast on all fours. My first impression was it was a fox, because he was about the size of a large dog. Then, I realized that I’m wrong…

It was the biggest red squirrel I’ve ever seen!

The beast reached the redhead and stood on its hind paws, making it as tall as the boy. The redhead returned its happily petting its head. “Good boy~~~! Now, let the worm down, Scamp!”

The giant squirrel lowered its head, put down its tail and to my amazement, there was my silvery-white friend! It was hanging in a U-shape onto the squirrel’s back like a drape and was hidden in its fine mat of a tail before this!

I rushed over and I could see the squirrel flinch but quickly calmed down at Brenton’s hand that reassured him I mean it no harm. I came beside it and I started stroke my buddy. It felt my strokes and lifted its head to see me. It did not seem happy or sad, just calmly started to get off the squirrels back onto my arms.

The cooling sensation of the silkworm gave me a calm feeling from the heated situation that happened just a while ago. I closed my eyes, gave it a big hug while letting my face that is now wet with tears touch its body.

Then, I looked at the others that were watching me and gave them my thoughts.

“Thank you all very much! I really thought the both of us were gonna die… But I can’t just leave him so I’m ever thankful that you guys came to help me! I don’t know how I can ever repay you!”

[No biggie!!] A cheery voice came from the squirrel and I looked over to it!

“Wow, he can hear the voices of the Elemental Creatures. That means he’s one of us right?” This is the first time I heard the deep raspy voice of Björn. He doesn’t speak much unless it’s something important huh? That’s so like me, I think.

Brenton looks at the squirrel and he said the thoughts he had that are meant for me, “By the way, what you did back there was what I’d call a fool! I compliment you for caring for others but first you need to make sure you don’t endanger yourself… Though I don’t blame you for what happened back there, if Scamp is in trouble I’ll go and save it anyway. But, you only met it for a few moments and you’re willing to risk your life for it? What were you thinking?”

“I don’t know... I just felt bonded to it you know… I know I cannot leave it to die!”

This is the only time that I remember myself not being able to make judgments based on benefits and risks. For once, I expected the outcome of my actions to be disastrous. Not like this will be something I’ll regret of doing.

For the first time had I prayed in a long time, “God!! Please help me!!!”

For some reason, I believed that it will be okay, even in this time of hopelessness…

I really felt happy and relieved that at last my horrible day gave a turn for the better.

The lady came over to me and patted my head roughly, laughing and playing with my hair. The others just stood there and gave a light smile.

Then, I saw XQ finally reaching us from where she was. She didn’t seem too rushed but she had a mixed expression of both relief, frustration and happy.

“So you guys finally came huh? I don’t know whether to thank you or scold you guys for coming late. New guy, these 3 are fellow Dungeon Keepers. They are Justina, Brenton and Björn.”

“You don’t have to scold us… This jungle is large and we came from another entrance. Little John came first but was lost when I came… And I couldn’t ride Scamps, you know he can’t carry me, he is lighter than he looks… So we had to run all the way here.” Brenton gave his explanation while adjusting himself to give Scamp a piggy-back ride.

The squirrel had climbed and perched onto his back, holding on his shoulders with its front paws, hind legs resting on his arms and is resting its head in his rough nest of blazing hair. They looked like a pair of siblings, especially with the elder brother talking on behalf of his younger brother.

Björn just looked away as he didn’t want to admit that he had been lost but he had no excuse to say.

“Then what about you, Justina Flash?” XQ turned her head over to the blonde lass.

“Well, I was here early… But I had to run a few errands for the Boss. You know, he wanted to observe the weapon that was given to the boy… He said that there was something different than what was designed by him. So he asked me to do what I do best!” Now this lady is sheepishly behind me with arms cradling my head and putting her chin on the top of my head. In short, she’s doing the same thing as the squirrel is doing on my head.

Hmmm?? What does she know about my knife?

XQ: “What?!! You stole it from him?! You are leaving him defenseless to fight against those infected ones you know??! …… Don’t use Baby Doll Eyes on me!! It only works for Scamp cause it’s natural for him! You are just imitating him to get out of trouble! You could have killed our newcomer!! The kid doesn’t know how to use spells yet! The infected bugs had caused disturbance on his control over mana! He couldn't even mask his presence!! If he was killed it's all your fault!!”

XQ got really mad and gave the lady behind me a good scolding while I couldn’t react but open up my eyes in shock! What?!! What does this mean? Was it her who had my only weapon? When did it happen?!

Justina: “Qing Qing, relax~~ Everything was under control… I came back as fast as I could to look over him! I was back waiting at the place where I half buried the infected one that had sprouted and I assumed that I can just put the weapon back there on the floor. I saw the commotion from there and rushed here as fast as I could riding on Sandy, didn’t we Sandy~~?? Oh! Here’s your weapon, boy!” Blondie explained quickly…

Then, suddenly I saw a familiarly shaped object dangling in front of my eyes!

It’s my weapon! Thank God it’s back! ……

I find myself speechless! Like XQ said, if things went out of hand it could have caused me to have a one way trip to the depths and there’s no way I can come back the way I was. My buddy didn’t seem to know what everything was about the situation and just looked at me while I tried to process everything that had just happened…

Brenton was the first one to break the awkward silence. “Too bad we can’t see him perform as a fighter, huh? We didn’t get to check his combat abilities…”

 “Well at least we know he’s one of us, right? He seemed to be able to talk to magical creatures and he cares for them.” Justina took hold of this chance to try to compliment me…

The others smiled or just nodded to show their approval.

“I guess it’s official then! The orientation programme for our newcomer is a success!!” Justina shouted with glee!

What??! This was an orientation programme?!! ......I think I just blacked out for a minute.

How could I have known? I think it's because I didn’t get to join the orientation week in my university because of some matters…

This is karma huh? What goes around comes around…

For now I can only make a half smile with three large sweat drops on my head… I’m part of this company of weirdos who called themselves Dungeon Keepers now huh?

Is it too late to regret now? ..... Nope, I'm just glad that my buddy silkworm and I were saved...

Then why do I feel like I've just been pranked??