Hera, Blue, and Silah took some time before heading back to the tunnel. The fight was exhausting, and it was a lovely day despite the cold. With the sun shining above their heads, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. To top it all off, the view from the plateau was amazing now that the looming threat of death was over. They could see a large snow-covered mountain range that spread throughout the horizon. It was the first time that Silah saw this view. She spent her entire life inside the mountain. But, even if she had seen the plains in the dungeon, it didn't change the fact that she never left the city.

"It's so beautiful," tears were running down the blacksmith's face.

"It really is. As long as we don't look back," Blue glanced to the other side of the plateau. About two dozen griffon bodies were littering the place, not to mention the Sky Ruler, "How are we going to take all this to the city? I mean the small ones we can carry, but what about that?"

Hera didn't even look back. Instead, she just adjusted herself by placing her arm around Silah, "10 minutes."

"What?" Blue turned to her.

"I want another 10 minutes without worrying about anything else. Then we can figure that out."

"That's fair," Blue replied, looking back to the mountain range.

They sat in silence, enjoying the view and the sun. Then, Hera noticed that Silah was shaking slightly and held her tighter, "Are you ok?"

"I'm… I'm fine. It's just… You could've died. I could've died. Why did we come here?" Silah kept staring into the distance. The realization of the risk she took by getting into the fight had just dawned on her.

"Because of that," Hera pointed to the horizon, "Now you guys are free. You can go anywhere, see beaches, forests, deserts, everything. I know I'm doing all this because I miss my friends and want to see them, but that's only part of it. I also want to show you everything in my world."

"So this is it? You can go home now?" Silah turned to Hera.

"Well… not yet. But the next part should be quicker. We have to get another key inside a dungeon, and then we can open the doorway," Hera explained.

"What? But there is no key in the dungeon. I'm positive we would've found it already."

"Not the Wooly Plains. There is another dungeon here. I told you about the tunnel that leads to the doorway, right? The one that Blue and I sometimes go to."

"Yeah. You said you guys go there when you are feeling down. What has that to do with anything?"

"Well, there is a dungeon there, too. We tried to go inside it, but it says we can't enter without the key. And before you get all worried, this dungeon should be on the same level as the Wooly Plains. So the monsters shouldn't be stronger than the sheep or the rulers we see there," Hera said.

"How can you know for sure?" Silah turned towards Hera.

"I guess I can talk more about that now. Remember when I told you we are inside a place called MAZE?"

"Yeah, but I still don't get what that means."

"I'm not sure how to explain, but imagine that we are inside a dungeon right now. However, it never resets. This dungeon has an entrance, right? That leads to another dungeon, and another, and another."

"So it's basically a bunch of dungeons connected?" Silah asked.

"Exactly. But unlike actual dungeons, monsters don't dissolve, they don't reset, and we don't get quests just by entering them. To make it easier to tell the difference, we call these non-resetting places Rooms. There are cities, villages, and a bunch of places with different people and races."

"Other races? Like more than just humans and dwarves?" Silah's eyes had a glimmer of excitement.

"Oh yeah. Some just look similar to humans but have pointy ears, and others have animal ears. It's a shame that on lower layers, their population is kind of small."

"What's a layer?"

Hera kept explaining, but each answer created another question. Even Blue helped with the discussion. After a few minutes, a voice came from the direction of the tunnel.

"By the mountain!" Naka fell to her knees while looking at the bloodied body of the Sky Ruler.

"What happened?" Lija moved over and froze after seeing the result of the fight.

One by one, the other dwarves left the tunnel, and all had similar reactions. They were just stopping and gasping in awe at the sight of the dozens of griffons dead by the corpse of the Sky Ruler.

"We'll talk more later, ok?" Silah turned to Hera.

"Sure," just as she replied, Silah got up and walked over towards the dwarves. It was only when arriving directly in front of the captain that she stopped, "What the fuck was that?"

Naka snapped out of her daze and turned to the blacksmith in front of her, "What?"

"I asked what the fuck was that? Why did you run away?" Silah yelled.

"I… I was afraid."

"So you just left Hera and Blue to die? Weren't you the one who always said that you would protect us? So that was all a lie?" Silah's voice became more frantic.

"No! Of course, I would protect you, but they…"

"Don't even dare finish that sentence! They are members of the guard just like any one of us."

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"But it's different. None of you would do such a reckless thing," Naka defended herself.

"Only because you never gave us a choice! Not a single member of the guard is free to push their limits."

"I'm just trying to keep you all safe!" Naka yelled back.

"Then why did you run away like a coward?" Silah stared the captain down.

Before things could escalate any more, Hera jumped in, "What's done is done, and the Sky Ruler is dead. If you guys want to complain and yell at each other, can we do this someplace else? Despite everything, I'm worried about causing an avalanche."

"What's an avalanche?" Ogryn asked.

"It's when the snow sitting on the mountain falls. So if we yell, that might trigger it, and we will end up buried under the snow," Hera explained.

"If that were the case, that would've happened during the fight, wouldn't it?" Lija asked.

"Maybe, but voices can trigger that more easily than other noises," Hera explained.

Blue knew that Hera was lying, but the dwarves all seemed to believe her. This could help now, but Blue made a mental note to correct that information later. If they kept thinking that they could make loud noises but couldn't speak, they would end up in trouble.

"Ok, does anyone have any ideas how to bring the body to the city?" Blue asked.

"Chop it up and take the pieces?" Hera suggested.

"I thought of that too, but that will take a long time. We could just push it off the edge and try to drag it to the front gate. You know those large double doors we found when we first arrived," Blue replied.

"Yeah, but what if this is not the right side? Or worse, what if it ends up going all the way down the mountain?" Hera scratched her head.

"Anyone have a better suggestion? Ogryn, can you like, open a hole to the city or something?" Blue asked.

"Unfortunately, I cannot. Well, in all honesty, I've never tried such a thing, but if we just drop it, many could be injured," The elderly mage was staring at the Sky Ruler's body.

"I think the idea of cutting it into pieces is the best option we have," Totrak said.

"I agree, but I believe we should give our brave warriors some respite. We can take care of this. Well, maybe the captain can send for more members of the guard to aid us," Ogryn suggested.

"Honestly, I wouldn't mind that. I'm exhausted, and Hera needs a bath," Blue pinched her nose and moved away from the explorer.

"I'm the one who got a very close whiff of that thing's breath, and you are complaining? Really?" Hera rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, you still smell."

Before heading back into the tunnel, Hera and Blue gave a few tips about disassembling the bodies, including how careful they should be while removing the Sky Ruler's parts. Powerful monsters could have some organs that could generate mana. Although Hera never saw one personally outside a dungeon, she still gave them a warning about it, just in case.

Just as the three were heading back to the city, Naka walked over to them.

"Silah… You were right. I was a coward and put my men… women in danger," the captain turned to Hera and Blue, "I'm sorry for abandoning you."

"I know I was right," Silah huffed and kept walking.

"Thank you, captain, but don't worry. Having you join the fight was never a part of the plan. The idea caught us all off guard," Hera replied before entering the tunnel.

The trio walked for about five minutes, but Silah still had a weird expression on her face.

"Don't let Naka bother you. Everything ended up fine," Hera softly pushed her girlfriend with her hip.

"Oh, it's not that. I'm thinking about something you said," Silah replied.

"About how beautiful you are, or about the other places I'll take you to?" Hera smiled.

Silah chuckled, "No, not that. But you mentioned you needed a key to open a dungeon, right? I don't think I saw you getting any key. Did the Voice of the Mountain give you one?"

Hera and Blue stopped walking and stared at each other.

"Did you get a key?" Blue asked.

"No. Did you?"

"God fucking dammit," Blue turned around and started heading up the tunnel while stomping her feet. Hera sighed and followed the controller.

"Where are you going?" Silah asked.

"We need to find the fucking key!" Blue cried.

The three headed back up and helped with butchering the Sky Ruler. But even after they checked every piece of meat and skin of the creature, they could find nothing that seemed out of place. They did find a large cloud mana crystal. It could recover 1 point of mana every minute but could store over 100 000 mana. This crystal followed the lifestyle of the creature that created it. Since the Sky Ruler spent almost all its time standing still, it made sense that it focused on increasing the amount of mana it had, and not how fast it would recover it.

The night had come around, and the entire area went dark. If it weren't for the light spells that everyone was using, it would be impossible to move around. After getting all the pieces of the Sky Ruler down, everyone was now searching for a key in the field. Hera and Blue climbed up to the side of the plateau and found where the monster slept. There were some bones and a gigantic pile of feces, but nothing that could be a key. For a moment, they considered it could be in the middle of the droppings, but that didn't make sense. The wording on the doorway was that they should get the key from the Sky Ruler. Unless it ate its own feces, there was no way that the key would be in there. Or at least that's how they justified not searching through that.

Frustrated, Hera and Blue came down the mountain and headed straight to the palace. They wanted to check the doorway and the dungeon. Silah had gone back after nightfall. She tried to help as much as she could, but at a point, it was clear that she wasn't comfortable being near Naka. Hera knew how much that could eat someone up and convinced her to go back home and rest together with the group, taking some of the meat down with them. That way, she could cool off her head a bit.

Hera and Blue left the plateau and saw that the entire place was in a frenzy when arriving at the city. When the news that they had killed the Sky Ruler reached the people, everyone started a celebration. There were many dishes of chicken being prepared, and Fethy had all the tailors working overtime. It was one thing to have something made of griffon feathers, but another to have them made of the Sky Ruler feathers.

Everyone started cheering and clapping when the humans emerged from the tunnel. Luckily, since they were still covered in blood, sweat, and guts, no one tried to get too close. Under the praises of the crowd, the two headed straight to the palace, followed by Naka and Ogryn.

King Rutigan was overjoyed with the news, and he didn't seem to care about the dirt covering the humans. He gave them both a warm hug as they arrived and started asking about the fight, but Hera stopped him.

"Sorry, Rutigan, but can we first check the doorway? We didn't find any key as it was said and need to double-check that."

"Of course, of course," the king nodded and guided them towards the hidden path.

The king was kind enough to allow the humans to check the doorway first, and with a deep breath, both Hera and Blue touched the passage.

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Doorway locked

To unlock the doorway, follow these steps.

- Retrieve the key from the strongest monster in the room.

- Use the key to unlock the Weeding Disaster dungeon.

- ???????????

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"Do we have the key, then? I mean, this second line wasn't there before," Blue asked.

"Maybe," Hera turned to the king, "Can we see the other dungeon?"

"Of course," Rutigan guided them back towards a side tunnel, and they reached a small stone door. When Hera touched it, a notification appeared.

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Dungeon Locked

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"Crap," Hera sighed.

Blue touched it too, and a loud sound of a door unlocking echoed through the tunnel.

"Are you serious? The legacy was the key," Blue turned to the dwarves, "You guys can check the information too."

Hera stared at Blue. She was also confused about why the legacy was the key. Not wanting to waste too much time with that, she touched the door. As the notification appeared, Blue was already laughing by her side.

"This is so stupid. Since when does the System makes puns?"

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Weeding Disaster Entrance

Type: Dungeon

A door leading to the castle of a dwarven kingdom that is in the middle of preparing for a wedding ceremony. A spell went awry, which resulted in the flowers overgrowing and covering part of the castle.

The first clear of this dungeon may not be completed by any descendants of the people present in this event.

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