Izo almost pushes her hood back with relief at the coolness of the dungeon, but the memory of the insects falling onto her causes her to halt. The air smells of moss and stone as she carefully takes a step, before placing her full weight onto that foot. Though the dungeon certainly had been well explored, there are always traps left for the unsuspecting.

A stone under her right foot slightly pushes down as Izo swiftly retracts her foot. With baited breath, Izo waits in hope that the trap hadn’t sprung. She didn’t hear nor sense anything unusual, but after the snake incident, she wasn’t trusting her senses.

Izo knew she was a bit too out of shape for her own good. Had she been in top shape, she would have easily beaten the snake without the use of the World Tree Scythe. She was going to have to get in shape the old fashion way by EXERCISING!

Time slowly passes by as Izo slowly makes her way through the dungeon floors. If it wasn’t for her skill, nocturnal eyes, she would have had to conjure a mage light. Mage lights are infamous for attracting monsters and the like. That was the entire reason she had spent months in an underground cave to gain the hard sought out skill. But Izo had to admit, though the dungeon was densely booby-trapped, there weren’t droves of monsters attacking her. It made sense as it must a low-level dungeon for newbies. Which was fine by her, she merely came to test out her current abilities and gain newbie equipment.

Time is a difficult thing to tell inside a dungeon as time can pass more slowly or faster than the outside world. Izo felt that she had been walking for hours, but she had yet to stumble across a single monster. It was almost as if a massively large creature had eaten the monsters contained inside the dungeon and when that food supply was exhausted it had left in search of more food. However, it was more likely that newbies had cleared the dungeon and the monsters had yet to respawn.

The air grows colder as Izo reaches the center of the dungeon and emerges into a massive open room. A large egg sits on the floor as no signs or traces of anything else being on the floor. Her mouth waters at the idea of making an omelet. Monster meat is terrible to eat, but the single exception was monster eggs. Almost impossible to steal, but they made for a good meal. Even now, she could still remember the distinct taste unlike anything ever eaten.

Hungry and against her better judgment, Izo sucks in her breath and tiptoes her way to the egg. With an evil glint in her eyes, Izo grabs the egg and hefts it into her back. Seeing as there are no monsters for her to fight, she will just cheat for today. Izo takes a deep breath as she visualizes mana gathering around her feet. With ease, Izo bounds at full speed through the dungeon as the mana at her feet ensures, she glides a hair length over the stone floor. The exit soon appears in the distance as she exits the dungeon.

Izo’s eyes sting in the light as she realizes the sun is rising over the horizon. She glances at the watch on her hand and realizes it’s been three days since she went inside. Izo sighs at the pointless endeavor but chokes mid-way as she stiffens in the realization that recent mana traces can still be felt in the air. Izo quickly searches for the source and locates it as the teleportation ring. Izo shrugs with relief and concludes newbies must have arrived and found that the dungeon was devoid of monsters. The newbies must have swiftly realized the situation and unlike her, wisely retreated home.

Well, waste not. With that in mind, Izo carefully places the giant egg onto the ground before gathering some firewood to cook the egg. Without any cookery, Izo results to cooking the egg over an open fire. Once the fire is roaring high, Izo places the large egg into the roaring fire and waits. Monster egg shells are nefariously tough that more than one has given up on cracking a monster egg open. But boiling the egg or heating it up, works surprisingly well on them. It was like eating the world’s most delicious boiled egg.

The hours steadily creep by as Izo periodically checks on the egg, but the egg remains intact. Somewhat angry, she fans the fire and adds more wood to the fire. Yet, the egg appears just as cool as before. Tired of waiting for the egg to cook Izo chants a simple fire spell. The mana gathers together and a simple fireball slams into the ground. The branches strewn on the ground nearby turn to ash. But to her disbelief, the egg looks the same.

Rolling her sleeves up in a pointed manner, Izo furrows her brows crossly as she chants another spell. Mana gathers together to form a giant fire arrow that slams into the area, the ground explodes in an explosion. Satisfied at the result, Izo waits for the dust and smoky debris to settle. The air finally clears to reveal a smug egg sitting perfectly intact in the middle of the blast site.

Izo’s stomach roars with anger as Izo feels the same sentiment towards the smug egg. Without giving up, she chants a spell used to vanish a multitude of enemies, “Fego Nish!” The sky turns dark as clouds gather together in an ominous circle. The clouds turn red as a pillar of fire descends from the sky and blasts into the earth. Despite the humidity in the air, suddenly the jungle catches fire at the oppressive heat. The ground, on the other hand, is hot enough to receive first degree burns from a mere touch.

The fire dissipates after some time as the gathered clouds let out a torrent of pent-up water. The jungle fire is swiftly put out as steam hisses angrily from the burning hot ground. As the smoke clears, the wet figure of Izo expectantly sniffs for the scent of cooked egg to fill the air. Too impatient to wait for the smoke to clear Izo carefully walks over to the approximate location of the egg to find the egg intact in the middle of a crater.

Izo’s mouth flops open as she lets out a stream of curses. Tired and out of breath, she narrows her eyes darkly. The glint in her eyes reveals a hidden darkness that causes the egg to almost shake in fear. Murderously, Izo withdraws a familiar scythe from her inventory. Without mercy, she slams the scythe against the top of the egg until a large crack is heard. Using the scythe, Izo pries the broken top egg shell off to find a cute pinkish jelly, octopus staring at her with big midnight eyes full of tears. They both gaze at each other for a moment until the pink jelly thing says, “Mama?”

Without hesitation, Izo grabs the broken eggshell and slams it back onto the egg. Izo tactfully glances away and returns her scythe back into her inventory. Izo minding her own business strolls back towards the teleportation until a heartbreaking wail from behind her is heard crying out, “Mama! Mama! Mama!”

Izo flinches as soft baby cries can be heard across the clearing all the way from the inside of the cracked egg. Feeling guilty, Izo walks back towards the egg and removes the top of the eggshell. The crying ceases as the pink jelly thing waves its tiny arms in the air asking to be picked up. “Mama,” the pink jelly happily crooned.

Izo hesitantly glances around hoping that the parent of the thing will arrive. But the pink jelly thing becomes frustrated and cries out, “Mama!” Izo sighs and reaches inside to pull out the ball sized pink jelly thing. The pink jelly purrs with happiness and snuggles in her arms at being picked up. The pink jelly gurgles happily as Izo shivers at the cool, weird thing in her hands. Suddenly a message pops up causing her face to pale and darken at the same time.

Young Cthulhu (Infant God)

Child of the Old Ones.

You have gained the affection of a God!

New Title: Apostle of Cthulhu.

Stats cannot be changed.

New Skills have been granted.

God’s Blessings have been bestowed.

Izo’s face twitches with a mix of violent emotions as the pink jelly in her hands begins to tremble. Suddenly feeling an executioner’s blade hanging overhead, Izo says, “I’m not angry, I’m just shocked!” The pink jelly just gurgles with pleasure and begins to shine brightly.

Izo releases the pink jelly that waves its little arms happily in the air and waves goodbye. A bright flash that leaves Izo almost blind, but allows her to see the pink jelly disappear. With a sigh of relief, Izo carefully strolls back to the teleportation ring and clearly states out loud, “Emerald City Branch,” lest anything else suddenly befall her.

*

The mage technicians having finished recalibrating the teleportation ring, after many hours finally pronounced that Ophidian Wilderness was once more open. A fan club of adventures hastily transports to Ophidian Wilderness. In a blinding flash, they suddenly find themselves in a sticky jungle. With awe, they gape at the destroyed scenery that revealed a massive battle.

A fangirl excitedly says, “The Sky Knights are the best!”

“Of course! They’re not only handsome but super strong!” Another fangirl chimes in.

The group takes commemoratory pictures in various heroic poses, before returning to the guild with proof. Their tale only grows wilder in the making as the reputation of the Sky Knights Order only grows. By the end of the day, there was no doubt in their minds that they were looking at the next A-class adventures party. And possibly even the top B-Class adventurer party of the year!