Riri held her staff close as the ominous door opened. They could only see a black wall once it opened fully. A strange dark aura leaked out. “I have a terrible feeling about this. Can we please go?” Riri asked.

But no one shared her sentiment. “I will make sure it’s safe,” Lion’s Heart leader said and traversed the black fog.

He came back relatively quickly before Riri could worry any more.

“It’s safe,” he said with a grin. “The first floor is a cave, as you’d expect.”

Without much ado, the lion went back through the fog. This time he was followed by his team. ‘The Wall’ entered next.

“Hey, wait for us!” Jugon called out and ran to the entrance. The other two boys followed him.

King Tallow sighed. “It looks like we have no choice anyway.”

“Getting second thoughts?” Marcy asked. “Your arm is shaking.”

“Hardly. More like anticipation.”

Hela sighed. “They are already forgetting the formation.” She paused and looked at Wood and Tank. “I guess it’s party rules on this one. Well, it should be fine since it’s just the first floor.”

Their party entered, followed by the King.

The only ones left were the remaining girls of the heroes’ party, Marcy, and the ace, Eerie.

“We should follow them in,” Marcy said. “I guess for now the five of us will be a party.”

The group nodded to her words and walked forwards. Riri stared at the wall of black, almost rooting her in place. When she thought she wouldn’t be able to move forward, Sumire grabbed her hand. “It will be alright, I promise.”

Riri nodded before they reached the barrier. Pushing through the black haze was an odd sensation, she’d never felt before. It was sort of like penetrating a thick bubble with her body.

True to the lion’s words, the other side was a cave. Stalactites jutted out from the ceiling, and drops of water poured down slowly. There were no monsters to greet them.

“Where is everyone?” Sumire asked.

Riri gasped. Everyone that had entered before them was nowhere to be seen. Sumire’s words echoed along the cave, and no one called back to them. Riri turned around to gaze at the entrance, but there was none.

“Everyone, the entrance is gone!”

“That’s impossible,” Marcy said. She walked back to where the entrance used to be and touched the wall. However, her hand didn’t push through. “How come he was able to leave?”

“You girls can’t see that door there?” Eerie asked. “I suppose this is something like a barrier. I think my trick from before will work.”

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“Eerie, what are you going to do?” Marcy asked.

Instead of answering, the witch walked to the wall. “Open Sesame.”

A wave of magic power emanated from Eerie’s voice, almost forcing Riri to the ground from the reverberation. The cave shook, and some of the stalactites fell and shattered. The wall was blown away to reveal the forest they came from, and beyond that, the carriages were ripped apart and flew away. The trees nearby toppled over.

Everyone looked to Miss Witchhat who grinned from ear to ear. “See! I told you it would worffff”

Marcy had already started to pull on her cheeks before the witch finished. “Tell someone next time you are going to do something like that! Look at what you did to the carriages!”

“I was just trying to help, I’m sorry!”

“Whatever,” Marcy said, looking at the rest of us. “Are you all fine?”

“We are good. In fact, I feel safer now,” Riri said.

Marcy sighed. “Shall we continue? I think the dungeon separated us. I have never heard of this happening before.”

“It doesn’t matter what happens, witch will win,” Sine said and hugged Eerie.

“I hate that I can’t argue with that,” Sumire said.

“You two are great flatterers!”

“It’s not flattery!”

The group continued on down a slope. After a while the floor started changing. The walls became less jagged, eventually looking like regular castle walls. The brown stone walls matched the floor. Light was provided by the candles on the sides as they entered a hallway.

Riri started to open her mouth, but a groaning sound echoed from further in. Ahead of them a zombie entered from a side passage. The first thing she noticed was the stench. It smelled of rotting meat and had scales along its body, along with a thick tail. But that wasn’t the oddest thing.

“A candle?” Sumire asked.

The head of the scaled zombie was a white candle with a small flame.

More groans echoed from where the hallway that zombie came from, and before long more began to round the corner. All of them had been like the first with candle heads.

“I could take care of this now that I am a B-rank adventurer,” Eerie said with a smug grin.

“Please, don’t do anything unless I say so!” Marcy chopped the witch on the head.

Sumire raised her staff and pointed it at the zombies. “I will take care of them.” A red magic circle spread out from the tip and a bright flame formed. “Fireball!”

The blazing fireball—half the size of the hallway—lurched forward. Right before it reached the leading zombie, it lowered it’s head. To Riri’s disbelief, the fireball was sucked in by the candle. The flame on the undead’s head went from red to blue, and the zombie’s eye’s changed the same. The once red-glowing orbs now lit up the hall with blue light.

“I thought zombies were weak to fire!” Sumire complained.

“There, there,” Eerie said and pat her head. “I can take care of—”

Marcy delivered another chop. “You will do no such thing!”

Riri panicked and pointed at the leader zombie. With the blue flame it sprinted down the hall and leapt towards Marcy.

“Look out!”

Marcy’s fist collided with the chest of the once living lizardmen. It splattered all along the hallway, guts spraying everywhere.

“Don’t interrupt me,” Marcy said. She grabbed another zombie right on the flaming head and squeezed. The candlewax burst and splattered on her face. Riri barely noticed Marcy’s eyes turn into slits as the woman turned her head to face the zombies. “This is why you guys piss me off.”

As another zombie reached her, more guts splattered.

“So, is that small glutton getting cocky now that I am gone?” Marcy said as another head splattered. “And I thought I would be able to live in peace now!” She screamed like a demon and swung her arm. The appendage collided with three more zombies sending them crashing through the wall. Marcy’s body became a blur while she pushed through the horde.

Riri wanted to vomit with all of the entrails covering the place. Her only saving grace was the candle wax melting the bodies into the floor.

As soon as Marcy’s rampage started, it was over. The entire hallway was cleared before Riri could even think of casting a buff.