“Any problems after we got split up?” Elise inquired happily as the group continued onward. They moved at a casual rate, not fast but not exactly slow either. For now, Elron was leading the group, Viola and Eks were holding hands at the tail end of the group, and Elise was walking backwards at the center.

“We ran into a room full of mimics!” Viola piped up, much to Eks’s chagrin. “They almost got us, but we made it out okay.”

The elf girl’s long brown hair swayed as she gasped, her blue eyes widening. “Mimics? Really? Sounds terrifying!”

“It was. Eks almost got eaten.”

“Actually,” the cat girl interrupted them with a sigh, “it really wasn’t that big a deal. No one almost got eaten.”

“There were so many of them though,” Viola argued. “There were like an insane amount. Eks was even laying on a big one for a while. Luckily, it didn’t eat her.”

“Can we just move on from the mimics now,” Eks deadpanned, her tail swishing in an annoyed manner.

Elise looked at the two girls and giggled, a large smile on her face. “Sounds like you two were having fun. Nothing much happened with us. Just a bunch of dark tunnels. Nothing that our lanterns couldn’t handle.” The elf girl held out her lantern to accentuate her point. “What happened to your lanterns anyway?”

“Those… kind of broke,” the bunny girl replied sheepishly with a small laugh. “It’s all good though. Turns out I can pretty much double as a torch.” She held up her right hand and momentarily willed a ball of flame into existence. Her left hand was still clasped with her girlfriend’s right.

“That’s lucky. Not having a light of some sort down here would suck.” The blue-eyed elf staggered as she stepped wrong, almost collapsing. “I-I should probably turn around now. Nice talking to you two.” She spun around so that she was now facing forward. Perhaps walking around backwards in these tunnels wasn’t the best idea. At least she hadn’t twisted her ankle.

At the front of the group, Elron fell back, almost falling into Elise. The elf girl, though, managed to side step in time, leaving the blacksmith to be by himself on the floor. Something had startled him, some sort of shadow that had jumped out. A third lantern came on, and the shadow stopped being a shadow. Elise screamed, and Elron scrambled to his feet before positioning himself in front of her.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

In front of the group, a figure stood with lantern in hand. This figure looked like it had stepped out of a horror movie, wearing a heavy brown bodysuit, gloves, utility boots, and a gas mask. Well, the 157cm tall figure was kind of short for a horror role, but who wouldn’t be startled running into someone dressed like that in a dark tunnel?

“Who dares trespass in the mole queen’s domain?!” the heavily-concealed woman all but yelled at the group.

“What the heck?! Seriously, what the heck?!” Viola sighed to herself as Elron and Elise began backing away from the strange girl. “First Ri tries to eat us, then a room full of mimics, and now this weirdo. Now that I think about it, I really shouldn’t be that surprised.” “You… Uh… Mole queen was it? You mind if you just let us pass?”

The mole queen brought a gloved hand to her mask in thought. “I’m thinking no. Turn back! Your request has been denied! So has spoken the mole queen!” The mask-wearing woman struck a pose in front of them. She probably intended for it to look impressive, but it looked more awkward than anything else. “Why aren’t you running? Did I not pose hard enough?”

“Pose hard enough? Is this lady serious?”

“I got it! You’re not running because you’re after my treasure, aren’t you?!”

“You have a treasure?!” Viola’s green eyes widened, her bunny ears twitching. “Wait! Now’s not the time for that! Besides, swiping her treasure doesn’t sound very heroic, does it.”

“That reaction! I knew it! You are after my treasure!”

“We aren’t here for your treasure.”

“Jokes on you because I don’t have a treasure. Nevertheless, I will stop you from stealing it anyway.” The mole queen struck another pose, giving a goofy thumbs up. “You couldn’t tell due to my mask, but I was grinning when I gave that thumbs up.”

“She’s going to stop us from stealing her treasure that doesn’t exist. How does that even make sense?”