“Alright, seems like we are done here,” said Rami, “Other than Bonetta almost being eaten alive by that cyclops, I’m gonna go ahead and say that it was easier than I expected.”

“Yeah, good job team!” replied Alice.

“It was a little too easy in my opinion,” said Bonetta.

Alice looked down at the still poisoned bandits squirming around in pain getting slower as time passed. They were no longer screaming or threatening the party, being too tired and in too much pain to even speak. Then, finally they all stopped moving.

Lvl 12 Bandit defeated.

Lvl 12 Bandit defeated.

Lvl 12 Bandit defeated.

Lvl 13 Bandit Lackey defeated.

“Lackey? Is lackey a synonym of Boss in this world?” asked Alice.

“Nop, lackey means lackey,” said Bonetta with her arms crossed.

“But he said he was the boss! Grimmy, you didn’t identify him?” exclaimed Alice.

“You never asked me to!” replied Grimmy.

“Shocker! A bandit lied and Grimmy didn’t do his job properly. Never seen that before!” said Rami sarcastically.

“Not helping, Rami,” said Bonetta.

“Enough… What’s done is done” said Grimmy, “The boss must be hiding somewhere else. Probably the location where that other bandit you let go went running to. Well, nothing else to do here. We cleared the dungeon, and got the loot so might as well leave, and start investigating where the real boss might be.”

The party agreed and started making their way out of the dungeon. The party exited the loot room and entered a long hallway that led to the exit of the dungeon.

“So, Alice, you’ve met three gods in the same month. That’s gotta be some kind of record,” said Rami.

“Is it?” replied Alice.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“To meet one god in your entire life is considered rare and something only exceptional individuals experience,” interjected Grimmy, “Of course, you being the chose of Lord Death does bring a lot of attention your way, so it was to be expected in your case.”

“Yeah, Time warned me about Dream and other gods trying to harm me. What’s up with that? Is joe not popular even among other gods?”

“On the contrary, Lord Death is one of the most powerful and respected gods there is. His status as one of the four pillars is proof enough of his status among gods.”

“Then, why do all these gods want to kill me then? I did not sign up for this Grimmy. I like Joe, but I don’t think we are close enough for me to sacrifice my life for him. I know Time said I was part of something bigger now, but…”

“Time said that?” interrupted Grimmy.

“Something bigger?” asked Bonetta.

“Yeah…” replied Alice.

“Alice, if Time said that, then it must mean that there are important things at stake here, and I’m not taking about just people dying or a world being destroyed. This is bigger. When a god says something like that it means that something catastrophic is going to happen on a bigger level that will affect multiple worlds, even the whole galaxy.”

“Galaxy?” asked Alice, panic starting to show on her face. “Grimmy, what makes you or Joe think I’m suited for something of that magnitude.”

“Nothing to worry about, Alice,” said Bonetta while putting an arm around Alice, “Whatever, Joe wants us to do, we will do it together. Right, Rami?”

Rami stopped walking right about the time Grimmy mentioned the word galaxy, so he was a few steps behind everybody. “…Right… of course we will do it together.” Tremble clearly notable in his voice.

Bonetta looked at the clearly shaken Rami and looked back at Alice, “Look, the point is, you don’t have to o this alone,” continued Bonetta, “we are a team, right?”

“Yes. Yes, we are.”

“Yes, we are. So, whatever this galaxy-wide catastrophe is we will do it together.”

Alice stared at Bonetta for a few seconds before answering, “Yes! We will deal with this thing together.”

“Plus, if Joe picked you as his chosen then we got nothing to get worried about,” continued Bonetta.

“Right…” said Alice with a tone of doubt on her voice.

Bonetta noticed it but chose not to respond. Rami caught up to the party still a little shaken up and said: “So, what the plan? Are we still worrying about a group of bandits given that a catastrophe is coming?”

“Yes,” said Grimmy, “Our priorities remain the same. We need to reach E-grade as soon as possible and meet back with Lord Death. Time said they were both going to help you all advance quicker once you reached E-grade. Clearing up the system quests will give us the most experience for now, so getting rid of the bandits is still priority number 1.”

The party nodded and finally exited the dungeon.

They found themselves at the same place where they initially entered the dungeon.

“Huh, didn’t we enter through this door?” asked Alice.

“Yeah, that’s how dungeons work. If you clear it, you exit and end up at the same place you initially entered,” said Rami.

“Well that makes no sense whatsoever, who made up these rules?” asked Alice.

“Well, of course it makes sense it’s because…” Rami started thinking of a logical reason of why the dungeons worked the way they did, “you see the reason is… look, it just works that way okay. Don’t question the system.”

“Think of the dungeon as a place that is only connected to this world via a magic portal,” said Grimmy, “when you enter a dungeon you enter a place that is no longer on Sfiraz, but on its own dimension. That dimension is being anchored, in this case, by this passageway. Since that’s the only anchor point for the dungeon, then it makes sense that you enter and exit though the anchor point.”

“Thank you, Grimmy. That somehow made sense,” replied Alice.

The party exited the passage and found themselves at the edge of the mountain again.

“Well, well so you cleared the dungeon. I didn’t think you would come out of that place alive.”

The party frantically looked around to see where the voice came from when suddenly a small army of bandits dropped from nearby trees. The party was surrounded.

“You looked shocked,” continued the now visible man, “Thank you for letting my friend here get away. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be here.”

“Who are you?” yelled Alice.

“Weren’t you the one who was looking for me? My name is Jax, leader of the Chimera Bandits.”

Grimmy quickly identified the man.

Lvl 20 - Chimera Bandit Leader, Jax

“It really is him this time,” said Grimmy telepathically to Alice.