The dwarf huffed but took out a bag of coins. Then he paused. With a grin, he said, “Double or nothing that your tank gets his ass beat to unconsciousness in the first fight of the dungeon.”

Murr’s cat ears flattened. Kron crossed his arms. I could tell that something had changed, but I grinned, “Deal.” If our enemies would be about as strong as that small crab from earlier, this dungeon would be easy with the three of us.

Also, Val wasn’t part of our party. He was our miner, and he’d already signed a contract with Murr. I could tell that he had developed a prejudice against me once he discovered I was the party’s tank.

The dwarf waved in my direction. “I’m joking.” Then handed the coins to Murr. “Your tank must be pretty good for you to have such confidence in him. It’s just questionable if he’ll reach 300 in time. The last one who tried only reached 150.”

“Well, I don’t really have another option, do I? Besides, we’re already at level 7,” I said, then I gestured behind me where the gate swirled. “Let’s go. We need to clear out enough of this dungeon so Val can mine.”

Val smiled and used his thumb to point behind him. “I think I’ll wait out here while you guys do what you do. Come get me once the mining area is open.”

That was weird. He sounded pretty eager to swing his pickax earlier. Maybe he didn’t trust us yet. Or maybe it was his prejudice against Elven Tanks. He probably thought that us dying young was the same thing as us being shit... which was a fair prejudice, but it wasn’t entirely accurate. I wasn’t going to become just any tank since I would be the first dodge tank on Faeruled.

Of course, I first needed to figure out how to do that.

Since he was the rogue, Murr entered the dungeon this time. Then Kron and lastly, I pulled up the rear.

“Okay, now that we’re alone,” Murr said with a grin, “Let’s hide the traces of Sam’s obvious fight before Val asks for his ten gold back.”

“What?” I looked at each of them, confused.

Then Kron told me about the bet.

I frowned. “We should give him back his money since I ended up fighting a monster.”

Murr wrapped his arm around my shoulders and waved his hand in front of us like a show-cat. “You ever heard of something called an idiot fee?”

“Of course. But I don’t think Val is stupid.”

Murr grinned. “If he thinks you’re a terrible tank, then he is, and he deserves to be fined for it.”

“I agree,” Kron said. “Besides, the fact that he was willing to say we won based on how clean you looked meant that the bet was actually about you getting beat up and not about finding a monster in the entranceway.”

The rogue nodded.

Well, if that was the case… “Let’s keep those coins!”

“By the way,” Murr stared intently at my face, “what’s with that new helmet of yours?”

“Oh, this?” I grinned and placed my thumb and index finger like a V below my chin. “Doesn’t it show off my good-looking face?”

Kron rolled his eyes. “This again. You elves, I swear.” Then he grabbed some dirt and rubbed it against the wall where I’d banged my previous helmet.

“Even Belinda thinks I’m handsome!”

“I’m going to need some proof to believe that one.” Murr started brushing away some of the shallow skid marks I’d left from my dangerous dodge use.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“I have some right here!” I pulled up the item information, pinched the 2D menu between my fingers, and showed it to them. They both stopped what they were doing to repair the room to read the blue box.

Murr covered his mouth, hiding a smile.

Kron patted my shoulder, then went back to disturbing the fight remnants. “Let’s get back to work.”

“What?”

The pink-haired rogue straightened, but amusement was still plastered all over his face. “Just… no. I’ll tell you later.” Then he straightened the pickax that I’d tripped over earlier.

Damn it. What exactly was so funny?

“Also, why are you all fixing things when we can just bring a monster over here and fight it?”

The two froze. “That’s actually a good idea!”

These two.

***

We waited at the entrance to the main shaft, hiding behind the wall to surprise any enemies Murr might bring. Although I could hear them fine, not seeing had gotten to me. With my free hand, I took out a slightly dull mirror and used it to peek down the tunnel. Murr rounded a corner and became visible in the pink light of the mushrooms. As he ran toward us, his face appeared serious. The lizard-dogs behind him barked in loud, annoying yips. As they followed him around the bend, one lizard-dog running on all fours lost its footing and slid along the wet, slippery stone into a pile of abandoned mine carts.

Crash! A puff of dust rose into the air.

They yipped louder, and all five continued the chase on two legs — looking like some kind of ancient evolutionary ancestor to kobolds.

Murr almost made it to us when the lizard-dogs closed in. One nipped at his ass and that was when the catfolk used his Rogue Dodge and zipped over the threshold. Kron, who was on the other side of the shaft’s entrance, pulled on the rope we’d hidden to clothesline the monsters. I threw my mirror into my inventory and used my free hand to pull on the other side just before they crossed.

The first three we caught on their neck. They flipped over, feet first. Their back slammed into the dirt. The last two stumbled over their comrades and face-planted right into their scaly lizard crotches.

The two who had their groins face-butted, yelled, “Yuuuurp!” One of them even passed out.

Then Kron cast Life Steal on it... I was pretty sure it died from that.

While those monsters were doing their thing, I quickly pulled out Honor and Blood and stabbed the neck of the unencumbered lizard-dog. That fall must have given him a concussion because he did not make it.

Two pink balls flew toward the three remaining monsters, crashing into their faces and turning into a glowing dust cloud that slowly expanded out.

“Hey!” I took several steps back to get out of the way. “Warn me next time.”

“I can’t backstab someone if they can see it coming.”

“How can they see you coming when your hair blends in with the mushrooms?”

He scowled.

Once the luminescent cloud cleared, both Murr and I ran up and finished exterminating the monsters with our blades.

Murr looked down at the lizards. “Well, that deescalelated, quickly.”

Kron pointed at Murr. “No. No puns. If you start me punning again, I won’t heal you for a week!” The catfolk looked like he was about to say something when the glowing-eyed golem continued. “Not unless you’re about to die.”

Murr appeared to seriously consider it.

“That was a good way to handle these guys,” I interrupted. “Do you think we can do it again?”

The rogue tapped his chin. “It will be exhausting and,” he kicked some sandy blood clumped on the ground, “we won’t be able to do it here because of the smell, but I think we can clear out most of the rooms like this. At least until we reach the mining area.”

I grinned. “Sounds like a plan. But make sure you rest if you need it, since you’ll be doing all the running.”

“Who said I have to be the only one to pull a mob? We’re all pretty fast, so each of us should take turns. Besides, our goal here is to both clear out enemies and practice our skills. We can’t do that if we aren’t getting into uncomfortable situations.”

Kron pointed to himself. “You really want me, the healer, to risk my neck?”

Murr grinned. “That or let me tell whatever jokes I choose to... including puns.”

Kron looked up at the ceiling, exasperated.

***

It took us two hours, but we cleared out the mines to the first mining zone.

While pulling mobs and killing them went pretty fast, the most time-consuming thing we did was store the bodies in a place where any monsters they drew wouldn’t affect our work. Of course, when we went back to those places, both the bodies and whatever grabbed them were completely gone. It was probably just the crabs that preyed on the lizard-dogs.

Once the mines were clear, we returned for Miner Val. He grinned at us. “I see you all took your sweet time. You have to heal up or something?”

“We used tactics to our advantage, which took time. No one needed anything except minor healing.”

He stuck his lip out and nodded, seemingly impressed. “Alright. So it’s safe for me, right?”

“It’s as safe as any partially cleared dungeon can be. Even if you are a non-combatant, you’re still putting your life on the line when you choose to mine in a monster-occupied area.”

He sighed. “Hey, you don’t have to tell me that. I’m living it.”

“Don’t worry,” Murr said. “We may be New Adults but we know how to make a civilian’s safety a higher priority than our own.”

“I hope so! Now let’s go. I’ve got a mining itch. I think we’ll find some good things today!” He rubbed his fingers together and smiled, showing white teeth.