Like the first time, there was no sensation of physically touching anything when Ritzy’s and Gerhart’s hands were in the same place as the dungeon entrance. There was, however, a slight attraction as if something was drawing their hands further inside. And the more of their hands that entered, the stronger that feeling got.

Ritzy’s grin came back in full force as he willingly plunged the rest of his arm and his entire body inside. Gerhart was still wary. After all, even if Lenny had told him what was on the other side, he still didn’t know for himself what to expect.

But when Ritzy dove in with overflowing enthusiasm, Gerhart couldn’t afford to lag behind, and he took a large step forward into the mossy dungeon entrance.

Vertigo washed over the two due to a feeling of having their existences, body and soul, warped like a piece of paper before being unwrapped and returned to their original flat and smooth selves.

“Woah! Let’s do that again!”

“Fuck. Never.”

Gerhart held his head and massaged his head while Ritzy’s eyes sparkled.

Gerhart looked up with a start.

“Wait! What about Talia?!”

He abruptly noticed the lack of her body resting against his back that he had gotten so used to during their trek through the forest. He looked back and found empty air. Fortunately, Talia lay sprawled on the ground just below it. But the absence of a dungeon entrance – exit – was alarming.

“She came through. Was it because she was touching you, you think?”

Ritzy crouched next to Talia and prodded her pale cheeks.

“Could be. Our gear and clothes came with us, after all.”

Gerhart looked around and scoped out their surroundings.

“Rit. Do you know how to leave a dungeon?”

“What? We just got here, and you’re already thinking about leaving? Don’t we just clear it?”

“What happens if we can’t clear it?”

“Oh my, you’re such a worrywart. Of course, we’re going to clear it. But even if we don’t, isn’t this place quite nice? It’s a lot better than that stupid rain outside, at least.”

“Food?”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“The grass? Worst case, we have to munch on a little goblin. Is fine.”

Ritzy shrugged off Gerhart’s worries and bent down to go through his bag.

“Our target’s that village over there, right?”

“Should be. There’s literally nothing else on this plain. I mean, there could be something hiding underground. But I doubt it. It’s a Novice Dungeon, so it should be as straightforward as clearing out the goblin village.”

Ritzy stood up with two sticks of Bone Chalk and a wide smile.

“Hooh, boy! I can’t wait.”

An air of impatience and excitement filled Ritzy as he grabbed the two sticks of Bone Chalk tightly, tight enough to turn the knuckles on his hand white.

Gerhart took several wary steps back and away from Ritzy. He moved over to Talia to check on her condition. Although the climate was a lot friendlier inside the bright dungeon than it had been outside in the wet and cold night, Talia was in a bad situation. But there wasn’t much Gerhart could do other than remove the wet blanket and try to warm her up.

Ritzy ignored his surroundings and focused on the two sticks of Bone Chalk. He hadn’t seen any goblins on the plains, and even if they did show up, Gerhart was there to deal with them. It would have been a waste to give him the knife otherwise.

It was Ritzy’s first time doing a quick summoning, but he could tell from the name of the method that it was supposed to be quick. He had also read in the introduction to necromancy books he got from Old Man Kelps that quick summoning was simple. There was no real need to concentrate or do anything other than imbue the Bone Chalk with some mana.

So, after sending some mana into the Bone Chalk in his hand, Ritzy threw them away from himself and at the ground a couple of meters away.

The sticks broke in an excessive burst of smoke. The first step of the quick summoning had succeeded since the magic smoke had appeared. And when the smoke began glowing, the third step was also complete. Now, only the third and final step remained.

Ritzy’s eyes shone with excitement. He could hardly wait. Yet, the memories of his past attempts at summoning flashed through his mind and dulled that excitement. Even after seven attempts, he hadn’t gotten anything that would help in clearing the goblin village. The bone club was good, but even Ritzy had to admit that it was too heavy and unwieldy for him to use against the goblins.

Ritzy gulped as the smoke rose and became impossible to see through. And when it finally began dispersing, Ritzy realized he had forgotten to breathe, but that was the last thing on his mind as he wanted to see what he had summoned.

The smoke seemed to be stubborn as it dispersed at such a gentle pace. But Ritzy didn’t mind since he could see shadowy silhouettes of the creatures he had summoned.

“Two? …is it because I used two sticks? Shouldn’t that just increase my chances?”

Ritzy was about to be caught up in his muttered musings when the smoke dispersed enough for him to see the two skeletons standing next to each other.

The smoke still clung to them as if it didn’t want to let go. But Ritzy was still overcome with joy. He had summoned a pair of skeletons!

“Yes!”

It might still be a little too early to celebrate since they could be skeletons that didn’t like being solid, being on the ground, or having a body, whether that meant leaving the body or blasting it into smithereens. But since there wasn’t a need to form contracts with quick summons, Ritzy snapped the leash and held back his worries.

The smoke finally dispersed, and Ritzy got a clear view of the two skeletons.

“T-that’s not right?”

Ritzy’s ecstatic smile turned into a dumbfounded expression as he tilted his head and inspected the two skeletons.