“Huh? That’s one weirdly shaped cave,” Flavia said when the group reached yet another cave room.

“Right. I suppose this was the correct path after all,” Narias commented.

“What do you mean, partner?” Flavia wanted to know.

“Ah, nothing. Let’s kill all the Pincer Ants, ok?” Narias said before turning to Growly. “Growly, you take left.”

“Got it,” Growly acknowledged it before stepping forward.

“Watch out for the adds, ok?” Narias spoke to the four girls who were staying behind now.

“Ok,” Nicky answered with a cheerful smile on her face.

“Tch… I could simply burn all of them down with my Fire Magic,” Flamiris said, crossing her arms in front of her. She was quiet enough, so Narias couldn’t hear her, but the other girls could.

“I rather enjoy watching Narias fight. He looks so manly,” Ileena commented, making it sound she was talking to herself, but she was loud enough for the other girls to hear her too.

“For sure. Narias looks totally cool swinging his sword,” Flavia added her own observation, probably because of what Ileena has said.

“Huh? Hey, let me stand here too, so I can… see better if any more Pincer Ants show up,” Flamiris declared after squeezing to stand in between Ileena and Flavia, not that there wasn’t enough space around them. The tunnels and the caves were massive and very spacious on the third floor of the dungeon after all.

“Hmm… I’ll be checking the left side then,” Nicky added with a chuckle, stepping to the side.

“Are you ready? Huh?” Narias turned around to check with the girls, finding it strange why they were standing so close to each other, but he didn’t say anything.

“Yes,” Flavia responded with a wide grin on her face while Ileena was fixing her glasses and Flamiris playing with a lock of her hair in the meantime.

“Ok. Let’s go,” Narias decided not to ask why they were standing so close to one another, turning to focus on the fight that was about to start.

“Huff,” Growly rushed forward upon hearing Narias give the ‘go’ signal.

In all honesty, Narias and his friends were taking down Pincer Ants quite easily. It was a little surprising for everyone at the very beginning, actually. The monsters on the first and second floors were easy to kill, the group basically rushing through the floors without much stopping, other than taking a long rest after killing Sabertooth Rahbitspine. Also, it wasn’t that difficult to kill the boss monster on the second floor once they’ve reached it. Since they had two Fire Magic users in the group, with Growly being more aggressive thanks to him wearing his Crystalhorn Armor too, nobody was too surprised about taking Sabertooth Rahbitspine down in a very short amount of time.

The group progressing faster was also thanks to Ileena, Flavia and Flamiris taking the lead and killing all the monsters by themselves, with the monsters on the first and second floors having no chance whatsoever against the three girls. But once the group descended to the third floor of the dungeon, Narias became worried that his girlfriends being too reckless might get them injured. However, the girls were taking down Pincer Ants without much trouble. It took a little more effort on their part, but they were doing ok. Still, with how long and spacious the tunnels and caves on the third floor of the dungeon were, Narias became worried that his girlfriends might get tired fast, leading to some unforeseen accident. Hence, the scolding he had given them earlier and taking the lead afterwards himself.

“Don’t you dare obscure my view! Flame Scorch! Fire Blast!” Flamiris blasted one of the ants that appeared as adds after the fight has started.

“Lightning Crush!” Ileena took care of the second one herself too.

“Shatter Punch!” Flavia punched the third Pincer Ant with such power, her punch not only broke through the ant’s exoskeleton, but the monster puffed up into a cloud of smoke before its body hit the wall after the impact.

“Wind Blade!” Narias finished off Pincer Ant he was fighting himself. “Right. Hmm… Are there any more Pincer Ants around?!” He asked in a loud voice.

“None here,” Growly said, standing some distance away.

“I don’t see any,” Nicky added.

“All clear, Narias,” Ileena informed after giving one more look around.

“Right, good,” said Narias, placing his sword on his shoulder before turning to give a whole room a curious look. He looked like he was dozing off for a brief moment before snapping out of it and rubbing his eyes with his free hand. “Ah, sorry. Let’s check if any of the Pincer Ants dropped Magic Crystals or if we can find any ores in this cave.” He was quick to turn away from everyone else to go check the furthest corner of the cave.

“Huh?” Growly, who was standing closest to Narias at the time, tilted his head to the side when he noticed Narias acting a little strange, but he didn’t say anything.

“Wow, this cave room sure is different from the others,” Nicky commented after coming closer to her boyfriend. “Huh? Is something wrong, Growly?”

“Ah, no. I’ll go check for ores,” Growly said before turning to look around.

“Yay! I found a Magic Crystal!” Flavia cheered loudly all of a sudden.

The group took their time to look around the half-moon shaped cave room, with Growly finding a Soft Steel Ore deposit and the girls finding two Magic Crystals in total. With the cave rooms being so big and having plants that grew taller than a human, looking around the caves took much longer than on the lower floors of the dungeon. However, it paid off to look for materials because compared to the first two floors, the group could find more and higher value ores on the third one.

“Which way should we go now, Narias?” Ileena wanted to know after they’ve checked the current cave.

“That way,” Narias pointed at the exit that was at the other end of the cave, turning to go the moment he said it.

“Hey, wait for me?!” Flavia shouted, seeing everyone leaving. She missed the message due to still looking around the cave in hopes of find something.

“Eh? What gives? This cave is… empty,” Flamiris commented after the group has reached the next cave room.

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“It looks smaller too,” Ileena said after looking around.

“Wait, it’s a dead end,” Flavia added with a perplexed look on her face.

“I guess we’ll have to go back and take the other tunnel instead,” Nicky said playfully.

“Narias?” Ileena spoke, noticing Narias spacing out.

“I just need to check something,” Narias said without turning around, starting to walk towards the other side of the cave room right after.

“That’s right, let’s check for treasure,” Flavia sprung to her feet, rushing to go look around the cave room herself.

“Ok,” Growly went to look around too.

“I don’t know what to look for, so I’ll just stay here,” Flamiris fell on her butt, not feeling like doing anything.

- ‘Smash! Crash!’ – The moment Flamiris sat down, a loud noise of wall crumbling was heard inside of the room.

“Eek?!” Flavia freaked out, overcome with panic.

“Aah!” The noise spooked Nicky too.

“The heck just happened?” Flamiris jumped to her feet, looking around and seeing the wall falling apart at the other end of the cave.

“Oh no! Narias was on that side of the cave! Narias!!!” Ileena exclaimed, remembering her boyfriend went to check something over that side.

“What?! Why didn’t you say so in the first place?!” Flamiris yelled out. “We need to… huh?” Flamiris was about to rush to the rescue, but then saw Narias being perfectly fine while standing next what it looked like a small opening within the wall.

“I’m ok!” Narias shouted, waving his left hand. “Over here! I want to show you something!”

“Huh? What? Did he just go inside that tunnel?” Flamiris exclaimed with a stunned look on her face. “Hey! Wait up!”

“Narias,” Ileena ran after Flamiris, with Growly, Nicky and Flavia quickly getting to and going into the small tunnel as well.

“Narias! Narias!” The girls were rushing to get to the other side of the small tunnel to check if Narias was ok, finding him standing inside a small room when they finally reached it.

“Huh?” Ileena gasped when she came out of the passage.

“Hey, why did you run off like that, you Crazy Mastermind?” Flamiris lashed out the moment she reached the small room where Narias was waiting for everyone.

“Woah! Is this a Supply Point room?” Flavia quickly recognized it.

“Wow, I did not expect there’d be a hidden Supply Point room here,” Nicky added.

“Hmm…” Growly narrowed his eyes before letting out a mild sigh.

“Huh? What’s wrong, Growly?” Nicky wondered, but Growly simply shook his head, hinting something to Nicky.

“Narias?” Ileena spoke to her boyfriend who was standing further inside the room while facing away from everyone.

“Eh? What’s going on?” Flamiris asked, noticing something was amiss when she looked at Narias herself.

“Are you ok, Narias? Na… huh?” Ileena walked closer to where he was standing to check on him, only to gasp at the sight when she saw his face, covering her mouth with one hand, her eyes becoming teary all of a sudden.

“Sorry, I…” Narias said, turning to face her, the others noticing him smiling yet tears were running down his cheek when he turned his head towards Ileena.

“Narias…” Ileena stepped closer, placing her arms around Narias before hugging him tight.

“Huh? What’s wrong… with Narias?” Nicky asked carefully in a half whisper.

“It’s the place,” Growly said quietly.

“Eh? What do you…” Flavia was about to ask what Growly meant, but then it suddenly hit her. “Wait… is this the Supply Point room that Narias had discovered when he was trapped in the dungeon?”

“What? Ah… dang it,” Flamiris clicked her tongue.

Everyone became quiet all of a sudden, a harsh realization hitting all of them. This was the secret Supply Point where Narias was staying at when he was trapped in the dungeon during the encounter with the red Crystal Hornhead. A strange chill ran down everyone’s spines, as if they were overcome by a terrifying feeling of being trapped here themselves. It was a surreal moment, one that wasn’t exactly real on the outside, but every single one of them could feel it in the inside.

“I’m sorry, I… I didn’t expect I’d react to this place like this…” Narias finally said after pulling away from Ileena, yet she wasn’t willing to let him go completely.

“It’s ok. You’re not trapped in here. And we are all here together with you,” Ileena spoke to him in a comforting manner, resuming to hug him again.

“Thank you. This really helps. Huh? Ah, thank you too,” Narias said it twice, because Flavia and Flamiris came over to hug him as well. They stood there for another short moment until all of them could feel the tension was gone.

“You better not think of becoming trapped inside the dungeon ever again,” Flamiris stated, pointing a finger at Narias’s chest after the girls stepped away from him.

“Ah, yeah. I’ll try,” Narias smiled.

“Narias, may I?” Nicky spoke to him suddenly, showing a caring smile.

“Yes, of course,” Narias said, letting her to give him a hug.

“Hey,” Growly was next, his fluffy hug feeling very comforting to Narias.

“Thank you,” Narias said, feeling extremely blessed. “I’m sorry for worrying all of you like that. I guess… it brought back those memories.”

“It’s ok, Narias. We understand,” Ileena told him.

“Yeah, don’t sweat it, partner,” Flavia was all smiles.

“You can… cry as much as you want around me,” Flamiris added last, averting her face away before covering one side of her face with a lock of her hair to hide her own teary eyes.

“Yes, ok,” Narias said, Flamiris’ words adding to the raising cheerful mood. “Right, there’s water here, so we can refill our bottles.”

“Nice. I was becoming worried we might be running low on water,” Nicky was particularly happy about it.

“Sweet. Let’s do just that,” Flavia agreed with Nicky.

“I think we can take a break to have some rest here. What do you think?” Narias asked everyone’s opinion.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Ileena supported Narias’s suggestion.

“Hey, is this also the place where you have found the Althyme Ore, partner?” Flavia asked after they sat down to eat.

“Ah, yes. It was… growing just about there,” Narias said, turning to show at the specific spot next to the wall.

“I wonder if we can find any the next time we come here,” Flavia said, squinting her eyes to look at the spot where Narias was pointing just a moment ago.

“No chance. It takes a long time for Althyme Ore to crystalize,” Growly said, bursting Flavia’s bubble.

“I can show you where I fought the Crystal Hornhead after we finish eating,” Narias offered all of a sudden.

“Hey, that’d be so cool,” Flavia said, becoming excited in an instant.

“You don’t have to do that, Narias,” Ileena said, looking a little worried.

“No, I want to. I think telling you all about it will actually help me put it all behind me for good,” Narias told her.

“Ok. If that’s what you want, Narias,” Ileena said, seeing some truth in that.

“Besides, I think we’ll be going back after we rest here anyway,” Narias added, making everyone turn to face him.

“What? But why? We can still keep going,” Flavia argued.

“And those Pincer Ants are not a threat to us. We can blast our way through without much trouble,” Flamiris added and she was right.

“Yes, but we don’t know where to go next from here. In addition, this is the third floor of the dungeon and not many teams have been here yet which means majority of the Supply Point rooms will have no supplies left in them. We have enough food to last us two days easily, but if we simply go forward, we will be forced to turn around sooner rather than later if the next Supply Point room will have no food left by someone in it. That’s why I think it would be better to leave extra food here, so we will have more for us the next time we come into the dungeon. And since there’s water here too, we’ll be able to explore more of the third floor and maybe even find the boss monster too.” Narias shared his reasoning.

“I see. That’s a very wise thinking,” Ileena agreed with him.

“Bummer. I really wanted to explore more of the third floor now, but if you say so, partner,” Flavia said, accepting Narias’s decision.

“Actually, I think we should try and bring a lot more food with us to the Magic Dungeon going forward. Those of us who are physically stronger could definitely carry more than we are carrying with us right now. If we want to explore deeper floors of the dungeon, we will need a lot more food. Of course, many other teams will start going to the lower floors of the dungeon eventually as well, leaving supplies at the Supply Point rooms for others to take, but if we want to be ahead of the other teams, we should take the initiative of bringing more with us first.” Narias added to what his future plans regarding the dungeon exploration were.

“Oh, wow. You really have thought it through, Narias,” Nicky gasped, looking impressed.

“Humph, leave it to our Crazy Mastermind to plan ten steps ahead,” Flamiris smirked, throwing one hand to the side.

“I can ask my dad to get us bigger bags,” Growly offered.

“That’d be great. Thanks, Growly,” Narias was glad to hear that.

“No problem,” Growly said.

“Right, so if everyone is good to go, we can go now. Oh, and make sure to keep just enough food with you for us to return home. Although, I don’t think it’d be a problem to take some from one of the Supply Point rooms on the second floor if we need to,” Narias reminded the others before starting to go through his own backpack, his group members following his example. Once they have sorted their supplies and left as much food for them to have the next time they come here, Narias and his friends were on their way.