Drew, Nurgle, and Sapphire walked forward into the room, only to be greeted by the same summoner.

They established their plan before they entered and started to enact it immediately.

Drew sat Sapphire down right away then took off towards the still shouting summoner. It developed a startled look on its face once they rapidly cleared the distance between them.

It quickly channeled its ice magic, forgoing the summoning circles that it had spread before.

Sapphire shot it mid-cast causing it to falter the motions required to send it forward. The lack of a shield caught all of their attentions.

They got within ten feet of the monster when it attempted to summon the ice wall to cut them off. Nurgle reeled his arm back and launched the cleaver straight at the boss. It lodged itself into the beast's shoulder, throwing it off as it was sent tumbling to the ground.

They finally reached it as it was righting itself. The staff used to cast the magic was transferred to its other hand to try and fend off the attackers.

Nurgle hopped onto the monster and dislodged the cleaver from its shoulder to wail on the relatively defenseless creature.

The slashes and chops quickly severed its head, leaving it to drop to the ground unceremoniously.

The wet slam as blood spurted out of the flesh signaled the end of the fight. Drew brought his foot down onto the fallen skull, sending more blood and bits of brain exiting its orifices before slowly disintegrating away.

+550 xp for defeating Rotten Summoner [Summon small monster] has inherited the xp in your place.

4690/9600 xp

Congratulations on clearing the Dungeon Hidden Behind the Falls floor 2 You rank in the top 50 percent of all participants for clear time. Congratulations

“That was so much easier than the first time. I feel like it's way safer than the first-floor boss.” Drew caught his breath and looked into his fanny pack.

“I believe we just developed a good strategy, and we naturally have a good match-up with this enemy type.” Sapphire deflated the ego he had attempted to cultivate and joined up with the pair.

“I guess. Well, we have a verifiable stockpile of health potions and whatever these things are.” Drew took out a series of other bottles of varying colors.

Light blue, brown, green, and maroon liquids were the most common. They sat in vials much smaller than the health potions and had small graphics on the side.

Images ranging from feet to flexing arms were attached to them showing what they might do, unlike the original potions they found.

“That’s pretty handy. We’ll have to use these for the next floor.” He stood up and began to walk to the other end.

“Master, I believe you are getting a little ahead of yourself. I think we should head home and rest then deal with some unfinished business.” The plushy glanced over his other arm where Nurgle sat on his arm.

Drew breathed in, entering into deep thought. He had been pondering it for a while now. What was he going to do about the monkeys? There were still some out in the forest that needed to pay for his mistakes.

He needed to do something about them before they came back for revenge like that chimera had. He thought about the hypocrisy he was taking part in. He needed to get revenge before the monsters got revenge.

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It was a strange world he found himself in, but there wasn’t another option with how he saw it. He needed to do something and now was a perfect time. Nurgle was nearly back to normal, and he deserved closure now that they were confident they could take it back.

“You’re right. Let's head home, rest, take care of our tools, and prepare for doing our business.” He solidified his resolve and entered the portal.

The green light offered enough light for him to sharpen his sword and Nurgle’s cleavers. The cyclops ran his finger along the new edge, feeling the sharp angle that would chop his enemies to pieces. Drew had gotten significantly better at sharpening the weapons, unlike sewing in the same time frame.

With the remaining daytime, Drew prepared armor for his small friends to give them a bit of safety and laid back to relax.

It had been a tumultuous time. He had nearly died almost a dozen times now and he only made it through those near-death experiences thanks to his summons. They kept him not only alive, but also as sane as he could be.

It would just be him trying to eke out an existence on this planet completely alone with no one to rely on. It was a terrifying thought he was glad wasn’t going to manifest.

His mind wandered with the newfound silence.

He rarely thought about his family now that he was constantly busy in this new place he called home but that didn't make times like now any easier when he allowed himself to think.

He hadn’t seen his parents or siblings for weeks now. It felt like so much longer to him because of how many life-changing events had happened since arriving.

At least they wouldn't need to worry about him like he was for them. His only job was to make it back home safely.

His musings took him to the end of the day. The sun set behind the tree-tops and the jungle life erupted into noise as darkness overtook the world beyond the dungeon.

Drew looked around him and saw his friends had started to settle down and get comfortable for the night.

He took their cue and leaned back against a pile of leather. The rough bedding did its job and lulled him into sleep.

-

The next morning came without incident, waking Drew with the bright morning lights. His summons stirred as he took to perfecting his sharpening technique. The stone-scraping noises did wonders as an alarm.

He watched Nurgle stretch his arms and search around for his cleavers. A startled look overcame him as he failed to locate his precious weapons.

“Hey buddy, I finished sharpening them for you. They can shave hair off now. Perfect for cutting into our enemies.” The silvery metal glistened in the morning light

The cyclops took them from his hands and inspected them as close as possible to his single large eye.

He raised the cleavers to the sky and shook them in glee.

“I'm glad you like them. We are gonna need to use them today. We are going to go hunting for those stupid monkeys.” A rare moment of clarity showed itself on Nurgle's face. He looked down to the ground in thought and appeared to be stealing his resolve.

“We are gonna take the fight to them and kill them all. It's going to be a war path that will erase them from this forest once and for all.”

The barbarian looked up and clanged his weapons together as a show of his metal

“Why can you understand me right now?” The dull light overtook the cyclops' glassy eye. “Cool. Okay. Whatever.”

The trio packed up their items with the summons inspecting the upgrades Drew made.

Sapphire had two of each potion strapped to the front of her chest armor for her to grab in case of emergencies. Nurgle had spikes added to the shoulders, arms, and legs in case he was grabbed. Drew had incorporated the random metal weapons into scale plating on his leather armor.

They were ready for the war that was to come. There were only a few monkeys left including the leader and they would track down all of them.

The sudden thought of leaving a large number of orphan baby monkeys dampened his mood, but war was never clean and it was never the best option.

Unfortunately for the monkeys, it was the only option they were offered.

They set out down the path, leaving their dungeon home behind with full stomachs and sharpened weapons.

The water hole was lush with life, unchanged by the monumental day that the trio was about to undertake.

The frogs leapt around with glee at the overflowing fly supply while the turtles on the opposite bank stood completely still. The main danger of salamanders that were extirpated still hadn't been replaced by any large predators looking for a new home leaving them unabated as they traveled.

The journey was uneventful despite the dense jungle brush they had to travel through.

The odd massive insect or angry rat monster was little more than a footnote to them now.

Despite the lack of support from the system, his rings’ boosts and naturally gained strength allowed him to fight on equal footing with the enemies he stumbled upon most of the time.

His summons had only gotten increasingly capable as time went on. Nurgle went from being a slightly lanky and saggy baby to a beast with flesh as hard as wood. Sapphire had gained new weapons and enhanced her existing ones.

There was confidence in the way they walked through the suffocating jungle.

The difference between when they had just arrived and now was that of night and day.