The mild temperature that surrounded the safe haven offered a false sense of comfort. The water drops that could be heard in the distance were more and more frequent gave a sense of uneasiness. The white walls that resembled quartz together with the natural lighting that the crystals on the ceiling provided made the small room feel empty. The only thing that could actually be heard was ragged breathing mixed with a coughing spree.

  Her normally beautiful and pink skin was battered and dirty, her blond hair was now a mix of dark red from her blood and brown from all the mud and pebbles. Her frail lips were blue from the cold and her body was still wet. Her eyes were tight shut and her jaw was shivering. She had seen better days. Something had to be done and fast or things could get nasty.

  I decided to prepare a new batch for Soleil to drink in a couple of minutes. In the meantime, I also decided to waste the entirety of our water to cleanse her wounds. There was no point in conserving water if, in the end, it meant she caught an infection. Besides, I have made up my mind. We are going to pull through this. But I need her to rest for a little longer.

  I’m freezing, my clothes are glued to my body but I don’t dare to unstick them. I rather have this false thought of them being slightly warmer than facing the reality. The boots that Harlow had lost so much time tinkering are already a mess but they will have to make do. My pants are a mess but at least the pockets are intact. My jacket is the only thing that I had that was intact but it was on Soleil so she could, at least, warm up a bit.

  With the map in front of me and with my knife, I carve the pathway I’m going to take as soon as I step out of the safety of the safe haven. We are making a run to the Brifail Woodland. It’s neutral territory and from what I have read, the Dryads are decent people. I hope.

  Here’s the plan. We slowly and steadily make our way out of the dungeon avoiding fights at all costs. My mental image may be wrong but I counted mentally every corner and road we took until we got here. My brain is the only thing I have so I need to put it to use. It will probably take about 15 minutes to reach the ground 0. From that, all we have to do is make a run for the entrance, take a sharp left, and in about 10 to 15 minutes, we make it out of the Royal Otter Grove. That was the plan. And ideally, it will work flawlessly.

  I took the opportunity to see why monsters don’t come up here. The crystals at the entrances have properties of repelling. Small villages use them to prevent attacks from them. I tried to take one with me but there’s no way unless I had proper tools to dig them.

  “Hmmmm”

  Quickly blinking, Soleil finally woke up.

  “Good morning, sleeping beauty.”

  “Where are we?”

  “Safe haven of the 1st floor of the dungeon.”

  “What?”

  I quickly briefed her on what happened and between coughs and her teeth chattering, she looked apologetic and shocked. She was about to say something when I quickly cut her off.

  “Don’t even think about it.”

  Soleil tilted her head in confusion.

  “Just… don’t.”

  I know her well enough by now to see her blaming herself for everything that happened. That’s how elves are. And this one in particular isn’t different. If anything, she is worse than the others.

  She hung her head and nodded.

  “Okay, I have a plan but I need you to be ready. So, for starters, you can drink your favorite. And we go from there.”

  “Do I have to?”

  “Is the sky blue?”

  “I don’t understand the question.”

  “Just drink the thing.”

  “Do I really have to?”

  “Okay, I’m leaving.”

  “No. I will drink it.”

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  Closing her eyes and with a quick motion, the content of the cup simply vanished. With her tongue out showing displeasure, I can only contain my laughter. She resembled a little kid who was taking some medicine that she really despised.

  “Good. Now, onto business. I’ll step outside to see if the coast is clear and you will follow only when I tell you to. You are in no condition to fight and we are going to be on the run until we reach the end of the forest. From here until we reach there, it’s going to take about 30 to 45 minutes. No matter what, just run. Turn your Aero Boost on if you have to. And don’t look behind.”

  “Understood.”

  While I signal her to take a quick look at the map I drew on the floor I start putting back the bag that was serving as her pillow, I make a strong knot so it stays in place while running. And with that, we are good to go. We are battered, bloody, and tired but we need to get out of here. Hell, I wouldn’t even mind the cave.

  With everything ready, it’s time to start operation Back to the surface. Original? No. Good name? No. Straight to the point? Hell yeah.

  I’m nervous. The sound of water drops echoes through the room and that only raises my anxiety. The ragged breathing of Soleil puts me on edge. The grunts heard from the outside of the safe haven made it even worse. The small entrance that connected this place to the outside was what separated us from the monstrosities that were there.

  I close my eyes. I breathe in. And out. Soleil probably noticed that I’m not very confident because her hand is on my back. I look at her and she looks back.

  “Let’s.”

  “Let’s.”

  The difference in temperature is felt as soon as we crouch through the safe haven. We are keeping our heads down and looking too much attention to our footing. We can’t make any sound.

  With me in the front, we slowly leave the safe haven. No monsters in sight. Only the sound of an air draft and water drops. With our bodies closer than I would’ve liked, one step at a time, we follow the route that I mapped before. I start moving ahead and I make sure Soleil stays at a decent distance from me. On the first corner of the room, they were there. A couple of goblins. Normally, easy experience. Now? Worst nightmare.

  While I’m on the corner, hidden, I manage to find a pebble. Let’s go for a favorite of mine. Attract one of them by sound. That was one of my favorite things about RPGs. The boring mission where you had to kill any enemy in front of you. I would always go for the easiest route. Not being spotted and killing by surprise.

  Here goes nothing.

  I take a deep breath. And I threw the pebble near one of the goblins. The other walked away but this one came in this direction. Good. Come closer. Slowly. I take my knife out. I can hear the growl coming closer and closer.

  I can only hear my heart beating and my irregular breathing. My mouth is dry, my mind is blank. The moment of truth. I can’t fail. I’m not allowed to.

  The goblin got closer, with its back turned against me and with a quick motion, blood splashed. The disgusting taste of this green blood entered my mouth and the urge to vomit suddenly came. Despite having a quick death, the poor monster still had enough strength to unleash a small grunt. Slowly, I remove the knife out of neck while I put his body down. Quickly checking the corner to see if the other one heard anything, I see an empty path.

  I nod at Soleil and we start moving once again. The stairs were close. So close I could feel them. Another intersection was in front of us and with that, the moment of truth. And that moment of truth proved himself to be something that I probably would never forget.

  We reached an intersection. All we had to do was go in front. The stairs were visible. From there on, we just had to make a run for the exit and run like crazy through the forest.

  But we had an issue. 2 imps, 3 goblins, and one slime were there.

  We were moving slow and her coughing was coming back. She was able to drown out the sound with my jacket. I motion my hand in her direction and she flinches and quickly tries to slap it away but with my free hand, I stop it.

  “I know you don’t like it when people touch you but you are going to bear with it no matter what.”

  I place my cold hand on her forehead and I could feel it go warm. She was burning up. She was in an awful condition. Adding the fever she probably has to her coughing and to the blood leaking out of the bandages, she was in a dire moment. We have to move faster.

  “I’m perfectly fine.”

  “You are an awful lier. You are lucky I turned off every setting on the slavery mark otherwise you would be crawling with pain right now.”

  She averts her gaze.

  My jacket looked awfully big on her but it made her look actually cute. But I don’t have time to think about that, so I simply zip it up and close every button it has so she can, at least, warm up a bit.

  “It’s highly uncomfortable.”

  “This isn’t about being comfy or not. This is about getting out of here in one piece.”

  We can try and circle so we could avoid the intersection but that could make us get lost and we would be putting ourselves in jeopardy. So I’m going to act solo for now.

  “Wait here.”

  I move across to the other point of the entrance where we were. Slowly walking so I wouldn’t get noticed. The plan is the same. But this time, draw them far. I can’t risk myself getting stuck trying to kill one of these monsters and give a chance for another to attack me. They are weaker than me but I don’t want to get hurt. I’m already in a bad shape.

  I pick several small rocks. I need to make sure every single one of them gets baited by the pebbles.

  Okay. I’m closer than I would’ve like to. Got to make this count. I can see Soleil’s silhouette from the corner of my eye. So I know she is alright for now.

  Tap. Tap. Tap.

  I threw a couple of pebbles and most of the monsters in the room followed the sound blindly like they were zombies. With only 2 imps staying in plain sight, I signaled Soleil to take the same turn as I did so we could leave this floor and just make a run for it. But the problems started there.

  A huge growl echoed. From the same place where Soleil was standing.

  This isn’t good.

  With her taking more time than it was supposed to, there was only 1 thing I could do. Getting that elf back.