They got out of the gateway to the shelter on the same hill. Serena looked at the gash in reality that led to the shelter and couldn't help but ask.

"What happens if you die and someone is inside?"

Nero waved his hands around him. "Everything not created by the shelter that is inside pops out around me if I cannot pay the upkeep at midnight. And it is the midnight of wherever I am at. No matter if it is a Dungeon or the outside world."

"The house-tree? The picket fences? The whole hill?"

Nero counted on his fingers. "Yes, yes, and no. The hill, grass, water, and the original tree are part of the shelter. The doors, windows, and other objects aren't. And maybe the archway that holds the portal."

They called Bruce and Daisy. Nero unslung his rifle, used [Shadow Coating] to muffle the sound, and aimed at a turtle. He poured four points of mana and stamina and shot. He fractured the shell and fried the turtle, but it was still alive.

"I can't get used to these screeches," Altia lamented.

Serena was more interested in the shelter. "Cool. How much is the upkeep?"

Nero shot two times and the turtle died. "Ten mana. I kinda cheated to lower it."

They descended the hill. Nero sent Bruce to gather the turtle's drops and was waiting for his rifle to cool.

"He made a Class build just for creating the shelter," Altia explained.

Nero took the crystal and put it in his pocket.

"Yes, that might work," Serena agreed. "Nero is the only person that can use these crazy builds."

"You haven't seen a thing. He burned down a whole Dungeon to clear the monsters. I think my husband's head has a jammed cogwheel."

They reached a good range for the next turtle. Nero aimed at the head, used another four points of stamina and mana for [Empower Attack] and shot. The head vanished in a red mist and bruce ran to get the loot.

"Mana, please," He asked.

"Yes, what was that huge fireball? It caught half the forest!" Serena asked, astonished.

"He burned a whole Dungeon, I told you."

He took the card, a green Skill for dagger [Rogues] and swordsmen. [Sharp Edge], makes slashing weapons sharper, dealing more damage and ignoring a small amount of armor.

"And I was holding back. I didn't know where you were. I can make it reach three times that size," He boasted.

"But that's all he can do, in that build," Altia snickered.

"It is still amazing," Serena remarked.

They reached a large river and Nero swapped to his Earth manipulation build. He moved stone to create a narrow bridge across, then a single handrail. He crossed.

"Nero! Daisy won't be able to cross this!" Altia warned him.

Nero changed back to [Archer], shot another turtle, then finished unloading his rifle to kill it. He held Bruce back this time. There was another turtle too close.

"Yeah. This will take a while. Daisy is too heavy. I need to brace the bridge."

Another half-hour and they were on their way again. Nero had to use [Structural Analysis] from his [Gadgeteer] Class to check the bridge for defects.

They kept killing turtles and crossing rivers until they reached an open grass field. Few trees here and there dotted the giant plains. The surface seemed smooth without any depression or hill.

"This is strange. I don't see any monster," Nero said.

His goggles were not helping. The density of Essence was higher here, meaning they were near the boss. The two girls looked around. Finally, Nero decided to do a test.

"Badger two, run to that tree, scratch its bark and come back."

"His name is Bruce," Altia explained to Serena and the nereid nodded sagely.

Bruce ran through the grass and reached the tree. He clawed the bark and it erupted. Roots rose in fifteen feet around the tree, grabbing the badger and squeezing him. Nero unloaded his rifle's chamber on the tree, breaking some branches, dropping leaves but without much visible effect. Serena fired her [Holy Bolt] and Altia her [Magic Arrow].

The tree monster killed Bruce and finished unrooting itself. Nero had to summon more ammunition and reloaded two rounds. He aimed, shot once at the trunk and charged five points. The second shot ignored twenty-five percent of the monster's defenses and opened a big hole on the trunk. Nero swapped for his [Mana Bolt] build and fired with the girls.

It died under the magical barrage. The dissolved and Nero went to retrieve Bruce so he could resummon him later.

"Poor Bruce," Altia sighed.

"Yes, but he did us a great favor," Serena added.

The Grasping Tree, provisional name, was tough. Nero examined the crystal. "One thousand, three hundred and thirty Essence! That's..."

"Level twenty," The princess answered and bragged. "I did a table of all the possible values."

"Is this even a rank-I Dungeon?" His question was rhetorical. He knew it was rank-I. The Arbitrium said so, and the shelter demanded only a thousand Essence to attune with the Dungeon.

"On the verge of an evolution," Serena said.

The grass plains seemed to extend forever. The trees were all visible.

"I am going to snipe all of them. This may take a while."

Nero summoned a pile of bullets. Aiming at the next tree, he prepared and charged [Piercing Shot] for five Stamina. Once it was ready, he used five points of mana and stamina for [Empower Attack] and pulled the trigger. The trunk of the tree burst and the tree canopy fell down before dissolving into particles of light.

"One shot! Marvelous," Serena celebrated.

"One minute to charge, ten stamina and five mana," Nero said as an explanation.

"Range?" She asked with a serious tone.

"One hundred and thirty-seven yards. I can't guarantee a hit."

Serena's face was serious. She creased her brow and narrowed her eyes. "Reach three hundred yards and you have a job as an assassin."

Nero raised an eyebrow and asked Altia with just a look. She raised both hands and put the fingers pointing up along her head. A crown. Prince Tyre, her kidnapper and tormentor.

"We shall see, Serena. I promise that if I ever have an opportunity, I'll make him pay."

This tree was level twenty-three. Seventeen hundred Essence.

They walked to the next tree and Nero repeated the trick, with four points in [Empower Attack] this time. The shot broke most of the trunk but the tree monster came at them. Nero shot five times until it died.

"This will take some time, but these monsters are way out of our league."

Two hours of wandering in the plains later, killing trees and recovering stamina, they found a new feature. A thicket with tall trees and thick bushes blocking the way.

"I think we found Rafflesia," Altia guessed.

"Yes, I believe so," Serena commented. "I just don't know why we didn't see it before."

"I have a theory. From one side of the flower glade, you can barely see the trees on the other," Nero speculated. "And the rivers flow in the same direction forever. I bet they loop around the forest. Finally these plains and the thicket ahead. I think this Dungeon is a ball."

"A ball? Like, round? If I walk in a straight line ahead, will I reach the rivers?" Serena asked almost mocking Nero.

"Yes. If this Dungeon was entirely flat, we would see the rivers from here," He tried to remember something. "This is a sphere, that's the term. And the way down changes."

"I must admit, there were some philosophers that speculated about the world being round but I doubt the Dungeon is like that. Anyway, our target is there. I want to try charming one of these trees before we start our attack."

There were some around. The trees were well-spaced, with some five hundred to eight hundred paces between them.

"Sure," Nero agreed.

It cost her five points of mana each, proof the monster's level was between twenty-one and twenty-five. Serena got her two charmed trees. They stopped about three hundred yards from the thicket.

"I am starting the combat. Everyone stays here until we see the boss. There's no idea what she can do."

Nero switched to the fire [Mage] and summoned a hundred flames.

"Is he..." Serena asked.

"He is," Altia confirmed.

Nero threw a [Fireball] at the thicket. It exploded and reached the full two hundred yards of range, covering the whole thicket. Before the smoke settled, he was already casting another. Altia refilled Nero's mana every other fireball. On the fourth [Fireball], they heard a scream.

"Who is the treacherous bastard that is tainting my lovely trees!" A female voice boomed over the plains.

The smoke settled and they glimpsed at a giant figure, the silhouette of maybe a woman with a strange dress whose skirt was upturned at the end and folding outwards. Nero didn't wait. The fifth [Fireball hit that silhouette straight-on but this time he didn't enlarge the area.

"Stop burning me!" She whined. "I'm going to kill you all! My vines will flail the flesh off of your bones!"

On the seventh [Fireball] it was obvious it was Rafflesia. Probably thirty feet tall, she was a mix of the upper body of a dryad clad in vines and the lower body of a giant flower, red with yellowed dots and five round petals. She walked on vines that spread around her like an octopus' tentacles. Her entire body was burnt and charred. Tongues of flame licked her whole body, causing even more damage due to Nero's damage over time Skill, that now lingered for eighteen seconds.

"She must be over level thirty!" Nero guessed.

"Rafflesia has some pollen and spores that cause abnormal status, like confusion, charm, or sleep. Don't breathe if she releases some colorful cloud," Altia warned them. She studied the Dungeon extensively before delving the first time.

"Yeah, that's a huge nope. We are not getting anywhere close to her," Nero said. "[Fireball]! Let's back off away from her. I'll keep the barrage."

He could swear he saw flakes of ashes falling from her body. The giant plant-woman was fast and Nero couldn't move at his full speed while casting. Altia and Serena used her spells but the damage was minimal. It was expected because Rafflesia was a purple boss.

"I'm sending my charmed trees! They should be immune to the spores!" Serena called. She shot another [Holy Bolt] at the plant woman.

"Okay. I'm shooting all my flames and then I'll switch to my rifle."

The trees moved to engage the Dungeon boss. The three Adventurers moved away but there was one problem.

"Daisy is too slow!" Altia warned. "She is falling behind! [Magic Arrow]!"

Nero drew his sword. "Serena, tell Daisy to not fight me!" She did, and Nero cut off a patch of moss from her back. "Put this in your dimensional pouch! You can bring her back later."

They moved away to gain more distance while the three plant monsters engaged the boss. Now that they could see, Rafflesia's vines had thorns, because why not? She entangled these vines with the trees' roots and the lesser monsters struggled to keep the boss from squeezing their trunks. Daisy approached and tried to slam the petals. As soon as she hit them, a cloud of green spores flew into the air.

"The petals! They release the spores!" Altia said. "[Magic Arrow]!"

"Incoming flames!" Nero shouted.

He sent a hundred flames straight at Rafllesia's head and torso. The boss screamed when her upper body caught on fire. Nero changed to his [Archer] build and aimed his rifle.

"Here it goes!"

He charged his sniping Skill while the fight between the plant monsters raged. A vine whipped and wrapped around Daisy. Rafflesia flung the shambler away and Daisy fell forty yards away. One of the tree monsters broke and died. The other would soon have the same doom.

The last tree also died and Rafflesia ignored Daisy to get the pesky Adventurers that dared set her beautiful petals on fire. She crossed half the distance and Nero's skill charged. He lost seven points of stamina because of the boss's high level. He poured another seven points of mana and stamina on [Empower Attack] and pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit the mid-section right where the dryad torso met the flower. Ignoring more than half the boss's defense and dealing more than five times the normal bullet damage, Rafflesia's stomach burst open, showering everywhere around her with white sap and plant bits. She didn't have entrails. Her innards were fibrous and resembled tangled reeds. The lightning charge swarmed around her, snapping a few vines around her body and making all of her creeper thorny vines shake and drag furrows along the ground. Her arms flailed wildly.

Altia was throwing low-grade healing potions on Nero even though he wasn't hurt, recovering a point or two of stamina and mana with each one.

"Argh!" Rafflesia shouted in pain. The upper body swung, without much support. it bent to the side as if she was sleeping.

"The rifle is overheating. I can't shoot again," Nero said.

He gave the rifle to Serena, who quickly shoved him down her dimensional pocket. They ran away from the boss while she was recovering and Nero swapped to the [Mana Bolt] mage. The fire spells were too long to cast.

"Girls, what is your spells' range? Mine is a hundred-fifty."

"Two hundred," Altia said.

"A hundred and eighty!"

"Okay, give her hell but keep moving!"

They fired their spells, pelting Rafflesia and breaking tiny chunks of her body. She recovered her senses and yelled. During the sharp scream, she shook her petals and released colorful clouds of spores. Pink, green, gray, yellow, and blue.

"Out of mana!" Serena said.

"I'm low too. Let's run."

They turned around and ran through the plains. Altia used more mana potions on all of them while they moved. Behind them, Rafflesia was picking up the pace but a few of her walking vines broke, reducing her speed a bit.

"Tree ahead!" Nero warned.

"Mine!" Serena shouted. "[Charm]! Damn, six mana!"

The tree, whose level was above twenty-five, uprooted and moved past the trio to intercept the boss.

"Serena, I need another bag of potions!" Altia asked.

"You will pay for trespassing my domain!" Rafflesia threatened.

The tree and the boss crashed on one another. Rafflesia didn't want to waste time but had no choice when the tree entwined its roots on her vines.

"I'm shooting another [Fireball]. Aside from my alpha strike with the rifle, it is the only thing that is doing significant damage to her."

While Rafflesia broke the tree limb-by-limb, Nero changed his Class and cast his fireball. He didn't wait for Serena's charmed monster to die. The boss disappeared in a world of fire and Serena's Arbitrium chimed.

"Agility!" She said. "[Holy Bolt]!"

The magical flames vanished, leaving some sticking tongues of fire burning the boss.

"She's not dead. [Potion Toss]. Another fireball, Nero!"

Another two walking vines broke. They were too dry from the flaming barrage. Three of the petals were nothing more than embers and flaked off. Rafflesia was moving with difficulty now that she was lacking some forward-facing vines. She was favoring her left side heavily. Nero's next [Fireball] destroyed another petal and caused the reeds inside the hole his rifle shot created to catch on fire. Rafflesia was burning from inside, the hole in her stomach now a furnace.

Nero shot one more fireball. Rafflesia collapsed to a side and burned. His and Altia's Arbitrii lit up, while Serena's chimed again.

Compatible Boss Anima detected. Grade purple. Energy absorbed above the threshold. Processing upgrade. Weighing Attribute strain.

For defeating a foe fifteen times your level, you gained +4 Willpower.

Serena gained Willpower and Altia, Reason. That was the fruit of their extenuating magical battle. Serena clapped, Nero punched the air. Altia stole a french kiss from her husband. Serena blushed. Bruce whined, forgotten at their side.

"Let's go and get our loot!!"

They backtracked through the ravaged grasslands. Raffflesia's loot were six cards, one big Essence crystal, and one Anima crystal. She dropped 3,630 Essence. While Nero checked the Essence, Altia used the Anima crystal, gaining a point in Willpower. Serena looked at the cards.

"Three [Egress], two epic cards and one ultra-rare," She said.

The two ape-kin eagerly looked at the cards in Serena's hands.

[Rafflesia's Thorn Whip] - purple Equipment - Main Hand. Requires level 4. Dexterity +25. Agility +25. Willpower +25

+2 Strength

+2 Agility

+4 Dexterity

+2 Reason

+2 Willpower

+2 Perception

"My vines will flail the flesh off of your bones! - Rafflesia"

Special: Attacks with this weapon against enemies that have flesh and are able to feel pain have a 50% chance, reduced by Vigor, of causing extreme pain, stunning the target for 1 second and slowing their reaction and move speed by 50% for 3 seconds. These debuffs' duration is reduced by Willpower.

Special: Critical hits with this weapon on valid targets automatically inflict the debuffs at double the normal duration, without resistance.

Special: If the user is knocked unconscious or dies, this weapon will fight on its own, with the user's Attributes for five minutes, attacking hostile targets only.

Effect: This weapon deals piercing and slashing damage based on Strength, Willpower, and Dexterity. The range of the weapon is Dexterity feet.

[Amber Flower Ring] - purple Equipment - Ring. Requires Reason +15. Willpower +15. Perception +15. Charisma +15

+4 All mental Attributes.

"The first flower of Spring forever crystallized in amber. May it forever keep beauty."

Special: The user's resources recover twice as fast.

Special: The user's wounds never infect or leave scars.

Effect: Increase all resource pools by 33%. Reduce all resource use by 20%.

[Sunlight Seedpod] - Yellow equipment - Accessory

+2 to the three lowest Attributes.

"After a century bathing in sunlight, this seed pod absorbed the vigor of the sun."

Special: This item is destroyed when it runs out of seeds.

Special: This seedpod contains 50% more seeds.

Special: The user is immune to hypothermia.

Effect: The pod contains six seeds. Break one seed and consume it to gain +1 to the three lowest Attributes and +3 to your highest Attribute for 1 hour. The pod regrows one seed for every six hours of sunlight it absorbs.

"Whoa! Those are some serious pieces of gear," Nero exclaimed. "Who gets what?"

There was a moment of tension. This kind of loot was exactly what made party members kill each other. No doubt someone using all three would gain a massive boost to their power. Not to mention the value of them.

"The whip and the ring are treasures worth of Royalty," Serena remarked. "Let's think carefully, shall we?"

"Nero can't use the whip. It has a level requirement," Altia pointed out.

"I don't want the whip," Serena said. "The seedpod is very interesting but I'd rather have the ring."

Princesses and their vanity. She was probably eyeing the immunity to scars, Nero guessed. But Serena was a caster. It made sense that she picked the caster item. And the pod would be very useful to Nero. He could use all Attributes and even change which ones he would gain with his different Classes. The ring would be very handy to him too.

"I can use the whip. It is better than my staff and it didn't click with me," Altia said.

"You can have the ring, Serena," Nero agreed. "The seed pod is very useful to me."

"I have the pink cards here if anyone wants to get their new equipment now," Altia offered.

They all agreed. Altia gave a [Permanency I] and a [Enchant +2] for each one of them. They used the cards and hoped for the best.

[Rafflesia's Thorn Whip +2] - Main Hand. Bound to Altia.

+4 Strength

+4 Agility

+6 Dexterity

+4 Reason

+4 Willpower

+4 Perception

Special: Attacks with this weapon against enemies that have flesh and are able to feel pain have a 52% chance, reduced by Vigor, of causing extreme pain, stunning the target for 3 seconds and slowing their reaction and move speed by 52% for 5 seconds. These debuffs' duration is reduced by Willpower.

Special: Critical hits with this weapon on valid targets automatically inflict the debuffs at double the normal duration, without resistance.

Special: If the user is knocked unconscious or dies, this weapon will fight on its own, with the user's Attributes for five minutes, attacking hostile targets only.

Effect: This weapon deals piercing and slashing damage based on Strength, Willpower, and Dexterity. The range of the weapon is Dexterity +2 feet.

[Amber Flower Ring] - Ring. Bound to Serena.

+4 All mental Attributes.

Special: The user's resources recover twice as fast.

Special: The user's wounds never infect or leave scars.

Effect: Increase all resource pools by 33%. Reduce all resource use by 20%.

[Sunlight Seedpod +2] - Accessory. Bound to Nero.

+4 to the three lowest Attributes.

Special: This item is destroyed when it runs out of seeds.

Special: The user is immune to hypothermia.

Effect: The pod contains [twelve] seeds. Break one seed and consume it to gain +3 to the three lowest Attributes and +5 to your highest Attribute for 3 hours. The pod regrows one seed for every four hours of sunlight it absorbs.

Nero saw his Perception, Charisma, and Endurance go up by four points. Serena's [Enchant +2] didn't stick but the scalable bonuses were good enough.

"I have more than seventy points of mana now," The nereid bragged.

The whip was a long strand of wiry vine, full of thorns. Altia was afraid at first but the thorns didn't hurt her even if she tried to slash them across her hand. They just retracted into the vine. She now had a melee range of forty feet and the weapon promised to be painful. But the item was useful just for its ridiculous twenty-six points of Attributes.

Nero examined his seedpod. It was a golden bean pod that shed a faint light. It was warm to the touch but not hot. The [Enchant +2] messed up with the item's effect greatly. First, it increased the base number of seeds from six to eight, then added a half of that for a total of twelve. It increased the duration and decreased the time to recharge.

What mattered was that everyone was happy with their chosen item.

While they checked their new bling, Bruce returned with a bunch of crystals and cards. Probably from the monsters they threw at Rafflesia. Or those that were with her in her thicket.

"Okay. TIme to get out of here. Serena, you are going to hide in the shelter with all the loot, including our new gear. We are going outside, and entering again, if you want."

She was looking at her ring. It had a very beautiful miniature orchid trapped in clear amber, set on a silvery metal band.

"Oh, I want to see the whole drop list of this boss. After this beauty? I'll run this Dungeon as many times as you want."

Nero created the portal and Serena went away. The couple slotted their [Egress] and held hands before vanishing from the Dungeon.