The aftermath was not very pleasant to smell, but went more smoothly than Amelia had anticipated.

Ktalos was defeated, slain from an expert slice by a flying Phelia, and then several decisive follow-up attacks from Mino and Mike. Otto, too, but he was more concerned with eating the leftover goop of fallen melanoids than with actually fighting the legendary beast to whom he was closely connected.

Amelia, though, spent most of the remainder of the battle laying on the ground, too tired to go anywhere.

Her system was not malfunctioning. Her body was fine. It was simply exhausted, like any half-human body would be after teleporting itself a half-dozen times across vast distances without enough practice and then fighting waves and waves of melanoids. The soul gems helped restore her power, but she really just needed a few moments to rest.

Fortunately, no one pointed out her end-stage faltering once she was back on her feet. Instead, there was much celebration to be had from all parties.

Especially Phelia. Phenomenally Phelia. Holding a whole hoard of small treasures pulled from Ktalos, but her smile beaming brighter than any of the metal items.

“I did it! I completed my Tribal Quest!” she exclaimed.

Once she finished it, she explained, a brief aura surrounded her and a little sparkle flew around as if in some sort of magical, miniature fireworks celebration. Nothing on the outside changed once the aura disappeared, but she suddenly felt stronger, somehow. Like she could take on the whole world whereas a few hours ago, she could not.

Amelia wished she could say the same. But she was extremely happy that her friend Phelia had finally fleshed herself out.

“Brood Quest, down. Tribal Quest, down,” she said. “Next stop... Personal Quest. I actually thought I would have—Well, I’m not allowed to tell you the quest, but I’m surprised I haven’t finished it yet. I think it must be a little bit harder.” A shade of darkness fell on her face—only to vanish completely into a sharp-toothed grin. “I’ve got to keep trying!”

Mike, now missing their hat for some unknown reason, leaned over Phelia and gave a thumbs-up. “You did a lot better than me, today. You’ve got that real adventurer spunk. Give it a while, and you might beat me.”

“Really?!”

“No. I’ll always be the best.”

“Well, we’ll see about that...”

Mino folded her arms and looked sternly at the felid hunter. “So, how are we dividing the treasure? I assume you’re looking for a whole bunch of it?”

They shrugged. “There’s so much of it. We just take what we can carry. Leave the rest for stragglers to stumble onto. Maybe hide some of the goodies for seconds, if we’re greedy. Long as North Sunwell doesn’t scoop it all up, I’m fine.”

Mino nodded slowly, very obviously trying to keep her cool about running into what might become a gigantic sum of money someday soon. She mostly failed.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Then she looked down at Otto, and so did the others, as they simultaneously realized something about him.

“...He’s gotten bigger, hasn’t he?” Mike asked.

The olm sat still, panting, not aware that everyone around him was staring at the fact that he had grown considerably in size since before the battle with Ktalos.

Mino, again, nodded slowly, this time more in befuddlement than anything else. “Guess I’ll have to start feeding him more at home.” She grumbled something about the treasure going to waste for the hostel’s food bill, and began stuffing more items into her bag than she could likely feasibly carry.

Phelia petted Otto. “What a good boy. What a super fantastic boy. You helped me fight a giant monster, you know that?”

No response, since he was an animal. But he did enjoy the pets.

“Maybe I’ll get really big too when I finish my last quest. Yeah, that’d be totally amazing.”

Mike gave their parting words in exactly the manner Amelia expected: They handed Mino their business card. Did a little curtsy. Tipped their hat.

“Add it to your index roll,” they said. “In case you need me later. Always open, for a price. And luckily, your help here today’s made me a rich felid. The bounty on Ktalos, the extra treasure... I’m well pleased. You’re well paid for a few freebies, if you ever want.”

“Are you flirting with me?” Mino asked.

“Yeah, of course, my beautiful lady.” Mike reached out their hand and Mino let them take it. They leaned over and smooched it. Amelia clenched her fist, but Mino merely laughed. They pulled away and said, “But when it comes to hunting, I’m all business. Something tells me you three are the types to get attracted to trouble like humans to honey.”

“Attracted to trouble... Tell me about it,” Mino groaned.

Amelia stepped forward and extended her right arm forward. “Mike. It’s been good.”

“May we never be on the opposite side of a battle.” Instead of shaking her hand, they flicked up their revolvers in a quick draw and pointed them both at Amelia’s forehead. Whiskers wiggled. “Aha, see you sometime, my mysterious warrior friend.”

“Bye.”

Mike filled up their bag with as many treasures as they could fit, and they were off. Amelia hated them, but in that sort of way where she just knew she would see them again.

Amelia, for her part, got the greatest treasure of them all from this fight—they absorbed as much of Ktalos’s soul as possible into her store of empty soul gems, and used the energy to refill her spirits. She still ached in soreness, but she also felt honestly amazing. Just amazing enough to become the pack mudbeast for the group as she carried massive amounts of treasure on her back, all the way up to Floor 1.

The three of them, heaving from the pain of so much heavy metal, finally made it to a shop in the middle of Floor 1and sold it all as bulk treasure. Sure, some of the treasure might have been extremely valuable if appraised by a collector or a mage, but they were not in the business of spending that much time on a bundle of swords and armor and various other trinkets. They were in the business of relieving their back pain.

Mino and Amelia were just about dead after the trip had finally concluded. But Phelia was as chipper as ever.

She stopped on the street and turned back to them, grinning from horn to horn.

“Yeah?” Amelia asked.

“I can’t wait for our next adventure,” she said. “It’s going to be so much fun.”

“Yeah...” Mino could not help but roll her eyes.

“This has been one of the most exciting days of my entire life, and I’m glad I was here with you two. And you, Otto. It’s the story of a lifetime.” Then Phelia turned back around and looked up to the ceiling of Floor 1, with its massive basement-towers shooting up into the sky in every direction. “I’ve got someone special to tell about all this.”