Michael woke up in Natalie’s arms. His leg was healed. Like a bolt of lightning, he stood up, observed his surroundings, Natalie, then his leg.

“We’re good.” He helped her get up.

“Sure doesn’t look like it.”

Michael tried to hug her, but she pushed him away and reached for her sword.

“Babe, I don’t think we’re alone.” Across from them, inside the large, dry cave, there was a fire and the smell of meat.

The teens gave each other a look and approached the fire while taking in their surroundings. Compared to the rest of the dungeon so far, this place was unusually warm. Cracks could be seen in the dried ground, and the tunnel up ahead was comparatively moist.

As they approached the fire’s light, two beast people could be seen sitting on the other side of the flames. One of them was a tall man in simple, white clothes. His eyes were closed, his back was straight, and he was sitting cross-legged right in front of a giant broad-sword that was embedded into the ground. The sword was as thick as his shoulders near the handle, and almost as tall as the man standing up.

To his left there was a girl, small and cute, with unusually large breasts, the ears of a bunny, and a cat’s tail. She was dressed in a pink skirt and blouse, and was cooking mutant caterpillar meat on the fire, on two sticks, one for herself and one for her friend.

“Come, come,” the girl waved the teens over. She even reached into a large bag, pulled a caterpillar head and threw it at Michael. “They’re really tasty.” She showed an innocent smile.

After giving each other another look, Michael and Natalie sat down across from her. Michael threw the caterpillar’s head onto the burning logs, and they all watched it cook from within.

“My name Josie Phuh” - the beast girl gave a large bow - “and this is Kane. He doesn’t speak much.”

The man to her right nodded slightly but did not open his eyes.

“You work for the adventurer’s guild in Phoenix,” said Natalie.

“Yes, until it was disbanded. It was the perfect disguise too, but the higher ups got anxious.”

“How so?” asked Natalie.

“Our funding was increased threefold, and our beneficiary’s a bit insane, so…”

Kane nudged her arm, but Josie shooed him away.

“They’re not going to tell. We’re killing them anyway, we should at least tell them why.”

Michael clenched his fists, but Natalie put a hand on his shoulder. “Yes Miss Phuh, tell us.”

“As I was saying, the big man with the purse is a bit cuckoo, so if we don’t deliver on

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his untimely donation, then…” Josie dragged a finger across her own neck.

“So, you killed a bunch of kids?” asked Michael.

“We reduced future reinforcements, weakened the empire in the long run; so when the war breaks out, you guys won’t put up as much of a fight.”

“Against who?” asked Natalie. Kane grabbed his colleague’s hand, but she flicked it away.

“Not sure, but I’ll give you a hint. You might find the answer on the sixth floor.”

The beast girl leaned forward to whisper this, and as soon as she was finished, Natalie tried to slice her open. Unfortunately, Josie escaped and hid behind Kane, who finally opened his eyes and stood up.

The man dressed in white had unusual vision, a mix between a hawk’s eyes with the irises of an octopus. He pointed at Michael, then at an open space in the middle of the cave, and without a word, he proceeded to walk there.

“Hey, you forgot your sword,” said the brawler.

“No,” Josie corrected. “That’s mine.”

The bunny girl jumped up with surprising agility, grabbed the handle of the oversized sword, pulled it out of the ground, and flung it over her shoulder.

“One on one,” she grinned with confidence. “Let’s do this.”

“Sure.” Natalie swung her sword through the flames, sending burning wood at Josie. While the little girl hid behind her weapon, Natalie went around it with the intention to stab. However, before the rapier could strike, Josie smacked her with the side of her blade. The teen went flying into the eastern wall, jumped off of it and attacked once again.

Clashes of metal rang inside the cave, while some distance away the two men had yet to throw a punch. Like Michael, Kane too seemed to be unarmed. He formed a weird stance with the heel of his front foot raised and all of his weight on the back one. His guard was not up and his palms were open, as if he was about to do to Michael what he did to the assassins in Phoenix.

“Are you mute?” asked the brawler, to which Kane opened his mouth and wiggled his tongue.

“Then, are you too stupid to talk?”

Kane jumped forward, sending the heel of his foot straight towards Michael’s nose-bridge. The teen dodged and grabbed the foot, when suddenly, Kane dropped on all fours, swept Michael’s legs with his arms and somehow landed on top of him right as he hit the ground.

“Silence is wisdom,” said Kane while throwing a fist into Michael’s guard. “Talking is not.”

A flurry of punches landed on Michael’s forearms as he tried to wiggle out from underneath. A straight punch to the temple, one towards the nose, another to the jaw and a fourth to the throat.

Suddenly, Kane stopped the assault.

“Your guard is weak.”

“Huh?”

He then threw a punch towards Michael’s nose and the teen guarded with his forearms. Midway, the punch turned into a knife hand, slipped between Michael’s guard, then turned and pierced into both of his eyes. The teen screamed at the top of his lungs, and Kane started pounding his vitals with a surgeon’s precision.

Suddenly, Natalie went flying above their heads, pushed against a wall, and swung her blade, forcing Kane to retreat. While Michael smacked his fists together to heal, Miss Phuh pulled the caterpillar head out of the fire, split it in half with her bare hands, and gave one piece to her partner.

“Let’s have a meal break,” she smiled with glee. “You can strategize in the meantime.”

“Should we cook some caterpillars?” asked Natalie, and to her surprise, Josie nodded cheerfully.

Five minutes later, after plenty of whispering from both sides and no trace of cooking from the teens, they all squared up against each other once more and prepared for battle.

Like before, Kane pointed to an empty side of the cave, and then towards Natalie.

“No thanks.”.

“Eat shit,” said Michael.

“How rude…” Josie lifted the giant sword above her head while Kane took another unusual stance. Slowly but surely, he opened his mouth:

“Let’s fight.”