The abomination named Muffin smiled at them, revealing rows of jagged black teeth. “It is such a pleasure to meet you all. We’ve never had anyone explore our dungeon before, though, I do suppose that is our own fault.”

“The naming sense of your creator is despicable,” Vyne told Muffin without any remorse.

Muffin elected to ignore Vyne’s input. “How may I help you all? And you still haven’t given me your names.”

They all gave him(?) their names, Muffin nodded his head cheerfully as each person spoke.

“Such lovely names!” he cried in a delighted manner. “I’ve never met anyone else except for my master, it’s absolutely magnificent!” Muffin’s fuzzy buddy shook with excitement. Unbeknownst to him, the others were simply wondering why everything in this dungeon was an overgrown bug. “If I may repeat my question from earlier, how may I help you all?”

“Is there more to the dungeon?” Erebus asked Muffin bluntly. “If this is all then I want a refund of my time.”

Muffin flicked one of his antennas in thought. “Yes, there are multiple portals inside of the dungeon. My master put plenty of time into creating this place, it is her pride and joy, other than me of course. She strove to create the first Demon Emperor ranked dungeon, possibly even Dragon.” Muffin’s cheeks grew redder, a surprising feat seeing how obnoxiously bright they already were.

“Will you guide us to the other areas?”

“That is my sole intent and purpose,” Muffin proclaimed proudly. “Where would you like to go? There is a jungle, volcano, labyrinth...”

“Wherever the strongest creations are,” Erebus spoke without any signs of hesitation.

Muffin blinked his eyes in surprise. “Well, all right! Though I warn you, there is a high probability of death in that area.” He did a one-eighty turn so that his backside was facing them. “Follow me!”

The scuttling noise of his legs scraping against the disgusting substance that acted as the ground began once more as he began to move away rapidly.

Vyne looked absolutely mortified. “I didn’t think it was possible, but I’d much rather see his front side.”

Indeed, his words were correct. Whoever created Muffin had either a sick sense of humor or a twisted aesthetic. Muffin’s backside was that of, well, a baby’s rump.

“I preferred the goliaths,” Tear agreed. “They were ugly, but Muffin creates a very convoluted sense of the utmost repugnance inside of me.” She could feel bile rising up in her throat.

“Believe it or not,” Erebus began, “I have seen worse.”

He received looks of pity from those surrounding him. Muffin was a creature crafted by the nightmares of young children, it almost pained them to think of what Erebus had to see and endure.

“It smells weird,” Tear complained. It smelled like a... dead animal that had been rotting for too long here. “It’s been getting stronger as we progress.”

The other’s shrugged, blaming the scent on the already strange surroundings. Muffin didn’t seem to mind it, so nothing was probably out of order.

“Where are you taking us?” Lilian questioned Muffin as his butt wiggled back and forth.

“To the portal area!” Muffin exclaimed happily.

“Is it a long distance?” Lilian questioned. The bouncy ground wasn’t exactly the best thing to walk on, it wasn’t as springy as a trampoline nor as firm as solid stone.

“I don’t really think it is,” Muffin answered breezily. “We have to move fast, anyway. Certain things come out at night and I don’t think you’d want to play with them.”

Erebus was curious to what would come out during the nighttime, but he didn’t say anything on the subject. Instead, he elected to ask what exactly the area Muffin would teleport them to be like.

“It’s a surprise,” was Muffin’s curt response. The monster hummed cheerfully as he continued to move across the pink and green expanse rapidly.

Erebus wanted to scream at the creature, but, once again, he did not say anything more.

Tear grasped his shoulder in order to stabilize herself, it was so very hard for her to walk right now and she really needed Erebus’ support. At least, that was the reasoning she gave Vyne when he asked (demanded an answer) about her touching their lord.

Also, it had been growing harder and harder to walk. Their feet were beginning to sink deeper with every step they took, and the force needed to yank it out was even greater.

Muffin hadn’t bothered to slow his pace, so he had gotten farther head, but not too far where they couldn’t follow.

“I regret coming here,” Lilian muttered. Unlike the others, she found more enjoyment in politics and paperwork. Lilian liked her work because she was the

only one Erebus trusted to do it. She let out a heaving sigh, honestly, she hadn’t been expecting to be gone for so long. How much work had piled up over the time she had been gone?

She’d be holed up in her office for so long when she came back...

“The lands I purchased from the Demon Lord of the Sixth Order in order to set up a lucrative trade route with the humans, I wonder how those are going... ah, I left before I was really able to get everything stable,” she whispered things like that under her breath as she walked.

“Ah, we’re here!” Muffin cried excitedly. Fifty or so meters in front of them, there was a large stone altar with multiple pillars erected with glowing, orange lettering on all surfaces. The pillars lined the circumference of the altar and made an irritating humming sound.

Tear pinched her nose.

This was the source of the smell, there was old pools of blood and decaying bodies littering the stone of the altar.

“Ugh... I hate the smell of blood,” Erebus remarked. Normally, he managed to bear it all, but this much was oppressive and made his distaste for the scent rise back in full force.

“What is this?” Lilian hissed at Muffin. “I thought we were the only ones to come through here?”

Muffin turned and smiled, showing his nasty teeth. “That was a lie. There are multiple entrances, the one you came through was unexplored. No one has made it past this point, though.”

“Because?” the beastwoman questioned even though she already knew the answer.

“I killed them. I am the Gatekeeper, and I deemed them unworthy to carry on through my master’s creation.”

Everyone instantly assumed the offensive stance.

“Relax!” Muffin yelled when he saw their change in attitude. “The entrance you all came through is incredibly difficult, if you were able to pass through it and none of you were injured, I believe you are worthy to pass through.”

His words were met with suspicious glares.

“I’m telling the truth,” Muffin spoke defensively. “For to not believe me... that hurts!” his high-pitched voice complained.

“You won’t try to fight us?”

“No way, there’s that undead that gives me this bad feeling and the one with black hair is scary, too.” Muffin’s eyes blinked rapidly.

Untitled tilted its head a little, it had tried to keep it aura restrained and it also hadn’t been speaking much. The same for went for Erebus, Muffin had a good sense, surprisingly.

“Ehm, that much aside. I wasn’t expecting anyone, so I didn’t have anytime to clean, sorry.” Muffin scuttled up to the tallest pillar. “Uh, step into the middle of the altar please.”

They obeyed, but they still watched his movements warily.

Muffin was moving around, activating the pillars in order, the tips of the pillars began to glow and sent a beam of light to the middle of the altar. When he activated the final one, a portal tore open.

“Good luck!” Muffin cried.

The quintet dropped once more without any warning.

“This again?” Tear screeched, suddenly feeling sick. Her stomach leapt up in her throat when the ground disappeared from underneath her. “Why couldn’t it be a flight of stairs? Something normal!”

She moved through the air and locked onto the impassive Erebus.

Untitled’s cloak flapped up, revealing its skeletal legs. It was like a horrifying rendition of Marilyn Monroe.

“What a rush,” Vyne deadpanned to Lilian who chuckled lightly in response.

“Where are we going?” Tear groaned against Erebus’ chest.

“No idea,” he answered easily. “Muffin said there’ll be strong things here, so it’ll be exciting, right?”

“As long as you’re pleased, I’m pleased,” she responded queasily. She had fell from dizzying rates into an unknown territory far too many times in a single day.

The ground appeared before them in no time at all. The entire landscape was white with snow and the land was completely flat. They landed in the icy and instantly felt the cold prickling their skin.

Even Erebus shivered a little. As a dragon, he was better in hot environments and not chilly ones. To be accurate, he absolutely despised the cold.

“I can see my breath,” Tear said with a lit giggle as the puff of air dissipated into the coldness. “On the downside, it’s freezing.”

The snow had soaked through the thin clothing she wore and to her skin. The same went for the others, the only one unbothered by the temperature was Untitled as it couldn’t feel.

Upon their arrival, a loud roar ripped through the air followed by the sound of thundering footsteps moving towards them.

Erebus couldn’t help but smile at the glorious sound.