After stabbing Salicia, Calypso didn’t choose to wait. Instead, she turned and leaped from the box down into the arena. Without hesitating, she bolted straight toward the exit and the safe room. As this happened, blood came from Salicia’s mouth, and as she collapsed forward, I recovered and caught her in my arms, guiding her down to the floor.
As soon as she reached the floor, I immediately healed her. The wound started to close, but just before it did, it resisted, not sealing completely.
“Miki!” I cried out.
“On it!”
Miki climbed up to the box with the help of Celeste’s wind. As she kneeled next to the dying Salicia, I stood up and looked out over the arena. During the brief moment I had taken to aid Salicia, the others hadn’t remained still. Lydia had followed Calypso, leaping down after her. Perhaps, she could have caught Calypso, but all of the girls had already exhausted their various modes. Lydia was back to being a normal catgirl, Celeste’s body reformed, and Shao was no longer in the Demon Lord state.
As Calypso reached the exit, Terra created a wall blocking her as a last resort. When this happened, I felt an intense pressure, as if I was doing something I shouldn’t be. It caught me off guard, and I stumbled for a second, catching the edge of the arena. Calypso, who was now trapped, spun around with her knife in hand, looking like a wild animal who had just been trapped. She noticed me looking pale and smirked.
“You feel that? Blocking me from exiting violates the tenants. It’s Dungeon law. Now that you’re a master, you’ll learn more about that soon.”
I had always known that dungeons fundamentally had to allow people to escape. Apparently, this wasn’t just a trend, but a rule built into the dungeon. The dungeon had to follow certain specific rules. I had never heard of the tenants before, but they were apparently more than just a recommendation.
“Get her!” I ordered.
The girls besides Miki began to surround Calypso. They didn’t immediately attack though. They were all wary of the knife in her hand. If she cut any of them, it would be disastrous. She kept them all back, occasionally swinging her knife wildly.
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“You can’t kill me!” Calypso yelled. “If you kill me while restricting my freedom, then the backlash from the Dungeon will kill you as well!”
I didn’t know if what she said was true, but the pressure on me seemed to be growing with each second. If I hadn’t already consumed so much miasma and absorbed it as part of my soul, then I would have already collapsed.
“I don’t need to kill you, just restrain you! Girls!”
I impatiently glared, swinging out my hand and ordering them to attack. Of course, I didn’t want any of them to get hurt, but Calypso couldn’t be allowed to escape either. If she reached the safe room, it was the same as sending her to the first floor. At that point, there was no stopping her from leaving the dungeon and then causing even more problems.
Celeste ended up being the one to move first. She sent wind flying at Calypso’s wrist. She tried to block it, but Celeste sent out several puffs, and the second struck Calypso’s wrist and sent the knife flying. Celeste waved her hand, sending the knife far out of Calypso’s reach.
“You’re done!” I shouted as the remaining girls attacked.
Even though she was severely weakened, she was still a powerful Dark Priest. Even without the support of the dungeon, she was formidable. At that moment, she created a black wave that exploded out from her body. Lydia, Terra, Celeste, and Shao were all thrown back.
“This isn’t over!” Calypso shouted, a dark smile forming on her face. “We’ll meet again!”
At that moment, a Portal suddenly opened behind her. My eyes widened in shock as I looked through a path suddenly created to the outside world. I wasn’t so much surprised by the fact that she was able to create a Portal into a dungeon. With Terra blocking off the path, perhaps it affected these so-called laws, and allowing the Portal to form could be called letting them have a means of escape. It was also possible she had left an opening in the dungeon, or maybe toggled the no-portals tag. I just didn’t understand enough to say one way or the other.
The shocking part was who made the Portal. On the other side of the Portal, it was Siti who had summoned it. The bright light from the outdoors streamed into the dungeon, and she stood at the entrance with her arms up like she was the one who casted the spell.
“Siti! What are you doing? Why are you helping her?”
The girl cocked her head as if my question was confusing. “Why wouldn’t I help Mistress?”
A dark grin formed on Calypso’s lips as she leaped back through the Portal. “Sorry, but I’ll have to leave for now.”
As she spoke, she gently stroked Siti’s face while laughing maniacally. Siti put on an expression like a dog happy to see its master. The other girls had recovered and were racing toward her, but the Portal closed just as they reached it, the light darkened like a light bulb being flipped, plunging my group into relative darkness.