She came to me in a dream.

She picked me up and held me tightly. She was warm and for a moment I felt safe.

The sound of ocean waves crashing in the distance were soothing and filled the silence.

“Are you happy?” she asked. I tried to look up at her face, but no matter what angle I looked at her, her face was blurred and gone.

“I don’t know… I don’t know what happiness feels like,” I said truthfully. “I don’t even know what emotion I’m feeling until after it happens.”

She laughed as she stroked my hair. Her laugh sounded soft and warm, and that too made me feel safe.

“You will learn soon. But first you must keep digging.”

“Digging?” She wasn’t making any sense but then again none of this did.

She laughed again. “Yes, digging. You have to find the truth Leo, find the truth and root it out so that all can see. Dig deep into the world.”

“How do I do that?” Something about her felt familiar, felt warm, felt nice. She continued to stroke my hair and suddenly I was 9 again, in my mother’s arms.

“By digging in the dungeon mijo,” she said, caressing my face. For a moment I could see her face, clear as day. Bright oranges eyes and a warm smile full of teeth. And then it blurred and suddenly it was my mother, with soft green eyes and dark hair, smiling at me.

“You must dig until you can dig no more, and all the answers will become true and apparent,” she continued, now speaking in my mother’s voice.

“Shh don’t cry mijo it’s gonna be ok,” she said, wiping tears from my face that I didn’t even realize I had shed.

“This isn’t real, you’re not real,” I whispered back. Even as I said it I wanted to be wrong as I held onto her tightly.

“Maybe, maybe not, but does it matter?” she asked.

I bit my lip and shook my head.

“I don’t have much time but I just want you to know I’m proud of you.”

“H-How, you don’t even know me. Y-you’re not…” I choked back the words “you’re not my real mom,” as I looked away.

She laughed as she kissed the top of my head. “Maybe I’m not but that doesn’t mean I’m not proud. And I know she would be too if she was here.”

I started to cry again even though I tried not to as the dream faded. The tears fell down heavy and fast and I woke up in bed, sobbing into my rough makeshift pillow. Even though there wasn’t any real light in my room except for the small lantern I knew it was already morning. I bit down on my hand, trying to stop myself from shaking and crying as the memory of my dream faded.

I finally regained my composure and stopped to take a deep breath. This has been one shitty thing after another and it just made me exhaustive. I wanted to sleep in, if it wasn’t for the fact that I didn’t want to have anymore strange dreams, so I just stayed in my room, curled up under my blankets.

I heard shuffling outside and figured it was Johan, who was usually the first to wake up. Next would be Clair and Alfred, who’d help check if everything was fine since last night while Patty took care of Moby and Goby. Darnelle and I were usually the last to wake up. It was only a week but it was pretty easy to memorize everyone’s routine. I imagined everyone going through their daily routine while I pretended to sleep, trying to invision just what they were doing and maybe what they were doing. It was weird and maybe a little creepy but it was definitely better than thinking about everything else that happened yesterday.

That’s when I heard the screaming.

Layette was having a horrible atrocious day. No scratch that, a week. She had been in the care of a shady caravan thanks to her penny pinching 【Merchant】 of a father. He insisted on hiring some half baked, green 【Adventurers】 instead of genuine 【Soldiers】 who would’ve had the decency to treat her with respect or at the very least have some manners around a lady of her caliber. As much as she harrumphed and hawed to get her way, her father insisted on them. What came next was the biggest screaming match she ever had in her life, and even that did not solve her problem. So now she was stuck riding with a bunch of country bumpkins who would rather see her fall in a pile of dirt than save her like they were supposed to.

To make matters worse the 【Adventurers】 refused to carry her normal carriage and equipment meaning she had to sleep on the ground like some commoner. The mere thought of it had sent her into a large fit of tears but that had not changed anyone’s mind. She was forced to roll out a bedroll like the rest of them as they camped out on a small abandoned dungeon cave instead of continuing in the dark towards the nearest town.

“I don’t know Kaleb, this is a dungeon entrance,” one of the mages, a slender but tired looking woman, said.

Kaleb, the swordsman, snorted. “Relax Sasha, this dungeon has been cleared already. Besides a dungeon this size probably has at most two goblins and maybe a slime, it’ll be fine.”

Sasha frowned and turned to the eldest adventure, a 3 star ranked adventure who went by the name of Erwin. He spoke little but his opinion was held in high regard as he was the only one with experience unlike the rest of them, who were 1 star stone ranked adventurers; the lowest of the low.

“Dungeons always dangerous,” he muttered as he started cooking over their small fire they had started.

“See! Erwin thinks it’s too dangerous!” Sasha quickly shot back with a smirk.

“If this dungeon is as dangerous as you claim it to be, I demand we go to the nearest town this instant!” Layette shrieked, scowling at the group of adventurers.

“Didn’t say wasn’t worth it,” Erwin said, unperturbed by Layette’s outburst. “Just means gotta be aware is all.” He began ladling some foul smelling liquid into everyone’s makeshift bowls and Layette felt her stomach curdle.

“I’m not eating that slop!” she protested in disgust.

“Listen here girly, you either eat what you’re served or you starve,” Kaleb said sharply, already tired of Layette’s noble lady act already.

She spluttered indignantly as the other adventures save for Erwin snickered softly behind her back. “I AM LAYETTE COLIN, OF THE HOUSE OF COLIN, AND YOU WILL TREAT ME WITH RESPECT,” she shouted, her small frame shaking with rage.

“Guess you don’t wanna eat,” Kaleb said with a shrug of his shoulders and Sasha held back a giggle as she looked at Layette.

“You should eat sweetie, you won’t have any energy if you don’t,” she said in a soothing voice.

“I refuse,” she said obstinately, turning her head from the group and laying in her bedroll, absolutely fuming. When she got to the capital she would have them all punished to the fullest extent of the law. She would see to it.

Luckily for both her and the 【Adventurers】 she fell asleep quickly in her anger and they all could relax now that they didn’t have to deal with their snobby charge. In the group there was two mages, Sasha and her friend Mari, Kaleb a swordsman, Tini a scout, and Erwin, who was a mix of a rogue and a shieldman. With the exception of Tini who was a halfling, they were all more or less humans, and like most humans, fell asleep after the finished eating and put out their fire.

“Shit,” Claire muttered, staring at the group of adventurers camped at the entrance of their dungeon. Johan swore in orcish before turning to Claire.

“Get m’lord and the others, we’re going to wait and see if they leave but if they don’t we’ll have to fight.” Claire nodded and thought back to Patty, to the goblin twins, and to their unborn children. She gritted her teeth and carefully walked back, trying to stay as silent as possible.

Johan began muttering under his breath, most likely weaving some sort of illusionary spell when he heard the gasp. And then there was screaming.

Layette had an absolutely horrid night’s rest and was now half awake, unable to go back to sleep. So when she heard the mutterings of someone that didn’t belong to the rest of the caravan she quickly forced herself to sit up, and she stared at an orc mage and the back of what she could only assume to be a giant. So she did the only logical thing in that situation: she screamed.

She screamed loudly and without warning, forcing all the adventurers to wake up immediately, their weapons in hand.

“FUCK,” Claire shouted somewhere behind Johan, rushing back towards him in order to buy him some time from the adventuring party that was hellbent on attacking.

SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT.

That was all I could think of as I tried to put on my pants as I hopped out of my room, one leg in and the other still halfway through.

[WARNING: YOUR DUNGEON IS UNDER ATTACK. YOU CANNOT UPGRADE OR CHANGE YOUR DUNGEON UNTIL YOUR DUNGEON IS NO LONGER UNDER ATTACK.]

No matter what I did the notification wouldn’t go away, always hitting me in the corner of my eye. I didn’t have time to deal with it right now though, seeing as we were apparently under attack.

“PATTY, PATTY WAKE UP,” I shouted, only to belatedly realize she was already awake and trying to calm down Moby and Goby who were sitting in the corner, absolutely terrified.

“Oh gods Johan,” Darnelle said in horror somewhere behind me and I realized the situation at hand.

“Albert stay here with Moby and Goby, Patty I need you to be in the front and in the air, Darnelle stay behind me ok,” I said. I was working on pure instinct now, and I had no idea how it was gonna help me but damn it I had to do something.

I grabbed Albert’s sword. Even though it was chipped and the edge wasn’t as sharp as it could be, it would be better than nothing. We slipped out of the room in our formation and I all but ran towards where the shouting came from. And was still coming from.

“DIE YOU MONSTERS,” a voice shouted and I felt my blood go cold.

I stopped and turned to Darnelle who stared at me in confusion and Patty who landed next to him.

“Darnelle do you know like, any magic that can confuse people?” I asked quickly, looking behind me periodically to see if anyone was coming at us.

“Y-Yes but it’ll affect anyone in front of me meaning Johan and Claire would get hit.”

“That’s fine that’s all I need, Patty I need you to carry as many rocks as you can and when the invaders are confused drop them on them. The bigger the better. I’m gonna get the slimes ok.”

They nodded nervously and I rushed in the opposite direction, praying that everything would work out.

I made it to the slime hutch in record time. I didn’t even hesitate to break down the fence with Albert’s sword, letting loose the slime hord. Somehow they understood what was going on and began to march dutifully forward, following the command of Coffee as I rushed back to the entrance.

What awaited me was complete and utter chaos. Darnelle was singing like his life depended on it, which it sorta did, while Claire was covering both him and Johan from a guy holding a sword. Patty seemed to have taken out one of the other adventurers (something I found out afterwards), a mage or some sort of magic user, as well as a small… halfling? Either way it meant there were three adventurers left plus a little girl who still wouldn’t stop screaming bloody mary.

“HEY ASSHOLES,” I shouted, momentarily catching the sword wielding adventurer off guard long enough enough for Claire to punch him hard with a right hook.

The other mage, a girl with blue hair and the most stereotypical magical staff I’ve ever seen, shouted in worry and anger and turned to look at me with tear filled eyes.

Oh uh. Never piss off magic users, that’s the smartest rule any gamer knew. That and don’t take an arrow to the knee.

She began chanting loudly, using words like “holy light” and “divine cleansing” and I nervously jumped into the battle, hoping to stop her. She dodged a swing of my sword and kept chanting, even more enraged and determined now. Shit, shit, shit, this isn’t what I wanted at all.

A lightning strike hit nearby and I knew instinctively that it was from Johan, who was also trying to stop the mage. Whatever magic she was going to use, it was heavy duty since Johan usually went for the tanks.

“OH GOD OF LIGHT, HEAR MY CRY AND DESTROY THIS HEATHEN OF DARKNESS IN FRONT OF YOUR LOYAL FOLLOWER!”

Oh fuck that definitely didn’t sound good.

A wave of hot bright light suddenly hit me, sending me flying and I felt my vision blur for a moment. It was as I had gotten a bad sunburn all over my skin only times ten, with the addition of someone putting me in a sauna immediately afterwards. Then they rolled me in a bed of hot coals and needles. That’s the sensation I felt in that millisecond of pain.

I heard someone shout my name as I collapsed to the ground, free from the burning light. I gasped, taking a shuddering breath as a I stared up at the form of the horrified mage.

“T-THAT CAN’T BE Y-YOU’RE STILL ALIVE?” she screamed, and it was in that moment of distraction the slimes descended.

They grabbed at the mage and the fallen adventurers, hungrily eating anything and everything they could put in their mouths, dissolving it in a matter of seconds. I watched in morbid fascination as the slimes began to eat chunks of the mage’s skin, showing the patches of muscles and even bones in some parts. She screamed loudly and horrifically as she tried to knock them off with her staff, screaming for help.

But none of us moved a single muscle. Not even Johan, who for all his talk of fairness and equality and judging humans unbiased did not move at all. We watched as she cried, staring at us in horror like we were monsters.

And she was right.

I stood up, legs shaking as I walked towards her.

“P-PLEASE HELP ME,” she begged, snot and tears running down her face. “MERCY, SHOW MERCY, DEMON PLEASE.”

I smashed the sword on her head. She screamed and I smashed it down again and again until she finally stopped screaming. She lay on the ground, her face contorted in a look of horror and pain as my slimes continued to consume her and the other fallen adventurers.

“Boss…?”

I turned to look at the others and try as I might I couldn’t even muster a weak smile. I stared back at them. “Yeah?”

“We had to,” Johan started but I shook my head.

“No we didn’t. But we did it anyways. And we’re gonna have to live with that.” They were quiet as I sat back down, waiting for the slimes to be done.

“Where did the fifth adventurer and the child go?” Johan suddenly asked and we all looked around nervously.

“Shit,” I heard Claire whisper and I looked out the woods. “Boss we need to go after them.”

“No.”

“W-what, come on Boss after what we just did we can’t let them escape,” she said, trying to reason her point to me. I shook my head again.

“No, let them go. It’s better this way anyways.”

I heard Darnelle gasp and Johan looked at me with a complicated expression.

I kept staring at the woods, trying to keep the thunderstorm of emotions bottled up.

“M’lord, what you’re planning… it can spell our destruction,” he said.

“Then let them come. We’ll be ready,” I said.

When it became obvious I wasn’t going to say anything else they reluctantly went back to the hideout to check up on Albert and tell the twins everything was going to be ok. I stayed where I was, making sure the slimes finished eating the adventurers and swiping away the multitude of notifications that spammed my line of vision.

“Man… what a terrible way to start the day,” I muttered to what was left of one of the corpses.