It takes them a while to find the dungeon, but when they do, it’s a cave on the edge of a mountain. The cave itself isn’t lit whatsoever, and is filled with a multitude of stalactites and stalagmites. Water drips from them here and there, forming small puddles, the splashes from their steps the only sound in the cavernous space. The light from their core powered lanterns throws menacing shadows on the walls.

The dungeon monsters are rather disappointing. It’s filled with giant green humanoids with bulging muscles, but they’re painfully slow. While Sen is pretty sure that a single hit from them can kill anyone on the team, they can’t manage to hit anyone. The only wounds they take are when their clubs hit something that isn’t part of the group, fragments of stone getting sent flying, peppering the group, leaving shallow blue lines throughout their skin.

Sen is a bit better off as the only one who has completed his skin enhancement skill, and he highly recommends everyone else do that quickly, simply for the control over their element they gain, the tougher skin being only a side benefit.

As they walk, Sen notes that has skin has gotten a bit paler from having practiced the skill, and he wonders if he’ll be white as a sheet of paper if he continues to upgrade it to C tier. As they walk further and further into the dungeon, unlike in the other dungeons, the monsters get progressively tougher.

After a while, they start using an annoying skill that causes a miniature earthquake, messing up their balance. The ogres will use that skill, then try and hit them while they’re still off balance, but the only one who has issues is Julie, the other girls simply swaying along with it while keeping their balance, and Sen using the wind to support himself.

Julie on the other hand, chose the fire versions of body enhancement skills, which don’t give any sort of support in this area, and she has to send herself even more off balance with a push of her foot to avoid the swings at her. A few times, she’s stuck rolling on the ground after a particularly large dodge, and she’s looking quite annoyed as they continue.

Eventually, they come to the boss, and as expected, it’s simply an even larger ogre. When it slams the ground with its foot, rather than the earthquake the others caused, it creates massive ripples in the floor. The ripples spread out in a perfect circle, making the ground flow up and down beneath the group’s feet.

It isn’t any faster than the other ogres, though when it slams its club into the ground, it sends massive chunks of shrapnel flying. Sen desperately parries anything heading to his vitals while ignoring the chunks which won’t seriously injure him. The other girls are better off, Julie being out of range, and the others having a shield to hide behind.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Once they eventually bleed out the boss, Sen getting the last strike on it as it stumbles to the ground, they enter the teleport array, and are soon back outside, nobody else nearby. They head back to the off-road vehicle, and bring it to the road to let it travel back alone before fast traveling back to Falan.

Once they arrive, they start to discuss something that all of them are excited for.

“So what’s the plan for the tournament this weekend?” Sen asks.

“Participate of course, what else?” Julie answers.

“It’s for six people, we only have five, where are we going to get a sixth?” Sen asks.

They look at each other, none of them having a good answer. While Sen has a few people from gladiator that he’d be happy to play with, none of them have been placed in Falan from what he’s learned in the gladiator chat rooms.

Xue lets out a sigh. “We could get my brother, he’s a good player, but he’s a bit…” Xue trails off at the end, likely not sure how to describe him.

Sen shrugs, it’s not like they have any other options. Ares is going to stick their strongest teams together, and the second string players they’ll be willing to loan out will not be able to keep up once they get to later rounds. Lynna’s other friends would be even weaker an option, and Julie doesn’t have anyone to recommend.

After everyone agrees, Xue sends her brother a message, having added him to her friend’s list at some point. They wait around at the front of the Lotus school, and soon, a boy dressed in all black, appears, with a coat that hangs down to his ankles.

“Ahahaha, so even my sister needs the help of the great DarkBlade!”

Sen pales. He’s one of those.

Xue sighs again. “This is Kang.”

“How dare you call me by that name! I am the great DarkBlade!”

Sen can see why she was so reluctant to suggest him joining the team. Lynna is holding in a laugh, Julie is shaking her head, and Jennifer just looks confused. People like this aren’t anything new in immersion games, and considering he looks to be only thirteen, it isn’t too surprising.

“We need a sixth, you want to join us?” Xue asks.

“I don’t need any help! But since you seem to need mine, I will deign to join you.”

Xue then continues to introduce us all, along with our older gamer tags. Apparently, he recognizes all of us by our tags, but when she gets to my tag from Last World Online, his eyes widen.

“Isn’t that the guy that you hmmgh,” He’s cut off at the end by Xue covering his mouth.

“If you dare say anything, I’ll.” She whispers the last bit into his ears, and he turns extremely pale. Lynna is back to laughing, along with Jennifer, while Julie seems to have figured something out.

Eventually, they all head over to the arena, signing up beforehand for the tournament in three days. Kang refuses to drop the persona the entire time, making himself seem even younger than he is, but eventually the group learns to just ignore him.