The kobolds readied themselves for battle.

They’d been fighting, dying, respawning for nearly a full week, and finally had a day of respite when the cycle changed. It was always obvious when the cycle changed; a wave of magic pulsed through the dungeon, moving everyone back to where the Admin decreed they should be. Usually after that, it was a good month before they had to fight again.

Not this time.

They watched the entrance with trepidation, moving uncomfortably in armor, fiddling with whatever weapons they had been provided.

This wasn’t a battle they were predestined to lose. This was a battle they could win. Somehow that changed things. It made it more about… pride. Honor. The enemy wasn’t a player, some dungeon crawler who thought they existed to be killed. This time the enemy was like them. A group that knew they were people, and agreed to fight on principle.

A multicolored glow grew in the entrance, signaling the arrival of the enemy. The kobolds stood, moving into formation. Behind them Bonecrusher the Black growled, moving to block the exit.

As one, the kobolds grimly glared at the entrance. They would win this first battle against the catgirls, if even only one of them remained standing at the end.

*****

Dear Diary,

I noticed I have ranch dressing in my ingredients inventory. I’m not quite sure what to do with it. I mean, I know some people eat ranch on pizza crusts, but no one has ever asked for it. Maybe it should go on the chicken sandwich? But that sounds kinda weird. It sounds… Actually, hold up, I have to try that.

***

Yeah, it’s not terrible. It tastes unhealthy, more than anything. With a couple layers of tomato on it, it’s pretty good. But it isn’t an official menu option, so I don’t know. I’ll write it on there, just in case? I really don’t know what to do with the ranch dressing.

And why is it called ranch dressing? Was it invented on a ranch? Another thing I wish I had Google to check.

Oh well.

We had our first fight against the kobolds today. It was intense. I put maybe thirty of them to sleep? But mostly just healed everyone. Yeah, I know my sleep spell is lvl 25 now, but that doesn’t mean I will always catch twenty five kobolds in the aoe. I have to be careful not to hit anyone in my group, and since I’m at the back, that’s easier said than done.

I think Kimi had the most fun. Then Staab, then Aya. I think Mika was kind of scared, honestly, since she’s a melee fighter who has never actually fought a real opponent. Slimes don’t count. Lilly I don’t think had fun, but she wasn’t scared, either. She was mostly analytical. Usually Aya is the analytical one, but Aya was too busy lightning-ing people to death. She’s got super long hair, and when she sent off a bolt it would poof up from static electricity, and it looked epic. She knew it, too, which is why she had so much fun. It’s hard not to have fun when you look that cool.

But in the end we lost. After Kimi went down, a group of kobolds snuck around behind us and took me out, and it wasn’t long after that that the rest of us were dead. I think we took out maaaaaaaaybe two thirds of them? Which is more than I thought we’d be able to do. Of course, there’s still the dragon to fight when we take out all the kobolds, but that’s a Future Nikki problem.

Having premade race tracks has made the marble prelims go super fast. We’re already done, so tomorrow (after fighting the kobolds) we can start on the first real race. My marble this cycle is Mo.

I wish Mo the greatest luck. Or at least better luck than Mimo had…

We’ll find out tomorrow!

Goodnight, dungeon!