“-idea!”

Lakshman finished just as the veil of blue light, surrounding him, vanished. He froze once he noticed where he was. The entire area before him was like an underground cavern. There were lights that were hovering magically above. The whole place gave off a strange aura that frightened the inexperienced Lakshman.

He started to scream and his voice revibrated from the walls. A few seconds later, he suddenly got hit on the head and he winced.

“Ouch!”

“Stop screaming, you’ll wake the dead!”

Rubbing his head, Lakshman turned around and saw his companions; Indra and Ondine. Ondine wore a surprised expression but Indra was smiling broadly. It seemed he enjoyed seeing his son screaming like a little girl.

“What was that for?!” Lakshman said in annoyance. “First you trick me and then hit me out of nowhere.”

“What do you mean, out of nowhere?” Indra asked. “We got teleported here like you.”

“Oh...”

Lakshman was surprised to discover that. Then he started looking around for something.

“What are you looking for?” Ondine asked.

“Just wondering what floor we’re on,” Lakshman replied and continued looking around.

“Look behind you, you goof!” Indra said and pointed behind Lakshman.

Looking behind him, he realised they were standing at a dead-end. Nailed to the wall the name plate read “F1”. He nodded before widening his eyes slightly.

“We got teleported here, but... is there a way back?”

“Of-course there is,” Indra said and pointed at the floor beneath the name plate. “That’s our Magic Circle that’ll take us out of here and back to F0.”

“Ah, I see,” Lakshman said and nodded after seeing the blue circle.

He paused for a moment, thinking about something. Then he nodded and said “Ok, I’m leaving. Bye!”

He tried walking quickly to the Magic Circle but his father caught him. Struggling, he was forced back to the front.

“You’re not going anywhere but this way, mister!” Indra said and seemed to be enjoying himself.

“No! This is dangerous!” Lakshman said, breaking free of Indra’s grip.

“Which is why I’m here,” Indra said brightly. “Besides, this is for you to gain experience by fighting against monsters. Quitting now only means you are nothing but a chicken.”

“Say what?!” Lakshman said in disbelief.

“Of-course, feel free to walk out, but I will stop you,” Indra said and he smiled.

Lakshman gritted his teeth and closed his eyes before saying “Fine! Let’s go monster hunting!”

“That’s the spirit!”

With that, they set off. They walked down the winding path while all around them were rocks and spiked rocks surrounding them. It really did look like a place like an underground cavern.

“Where exactly are we?” Lakshman asked after a while of silent walking.

“We’re underground,” Indra said. “Isn’t that quite obvious just by looking around?”

“What? No! That’s not what I meant,” Lakshman said indignantly. “I meant, why are we underground?”

“Oh,” Indra said, sounding surprised. “Well, dungeons are underground.”

“But why?”

“That’s just the way it is,” Indra said.

Lakshman wasn’t convinced by Indra’s answer. Then he realised his father didn’t exactly care about the particular details like the dungeons and where they are located.

After some time of walking in silence, they finally arrived at an entranceway. It leads them into a room that was quite wide. Then they noticed the monsters lurking in different parts of the room. The monsters looked towards them once they noticed their presence. Then they suddenly charged at them.

Lakshman, Ondine and Indra readied their weapons to battle.

“Five One-Horned Rabbits,” Indra said. “Shouldn’t be too difficult to defeat... Ok! Well, do your best you two.”

“What?!” Lakshman and Ondine said just as Indra winked at them before disappearing.

“What’s the?!” Lakshman said and he quickly looked around to find Indra. “Where’d he go?!”

“You two fight them to gain experience in fighting real monsters!”

Looking behind, they were startled to see Indra standing outside the entrance. He calmly sat down and watched them as if he was watching a battle.

“What are you doing?!” Lakshman shouted.

There was no time as the One-Horned Rabbits drew closer. Lakshman pulled out his sword and parried the monsters. Ondine did the same with her two swords. They quickly edged and were soon back to back while the monsters surrounded them.

“This is a hopeless situation,” Ondine said.

“You don’t say,” Lakshman said.

“You got any plans?” she asked.

“Well... Dad wouldn’t have left these things to us if he didn’t think we could defeat them,” he said. “I think for now we need to DODGE!”

He shouted the last word and they both leapt into the air. At that very moment, the five rabbits charged at them like a team. They avoided getting stabbed by the horned on their heads. Up in air, Lakshman and Ondine pushed each other away and landed separately.

“Take this!” Lakshman shouted and charged at the nearest monster.

He was quick and just his sword was about to cut down the monster’s body, another horn intercepted his sword. His eyes widened in surprise before he felt a heavy impact in his stomach.

“Gah!”

He jumped away and clutched his stomach which hurt painfully. Looking over at Ondine, he noticed that she wasn’t having much luck as well. She was flourishing her two blades quickly at the monsters but their horns keep getting in their way.

“We need to do something about those horns...” Lakshman thought.

His eyes widened when he suddenly thought of something. He focuses on his sword and applied Weapon Force to it. His sword emanated a dim yellow light as energy flowed through it. Then he took a stance and targeted another rabbit.

“Here goes nothing!”

He charged at the monster rabbit and aimed at its horn with his blade.

“AAH!”

With a mighty force, Lakshman cut off the horn on the monster’s head. Then he jumped into the air and sailed before landing next to Ondine.

“Wow,” Ondine said, looking surprised at what he did.

“Now, THAT’S how you do it!” he said proudly.

Ondine smiled and nodded.

“Got it!” she said and she also applied Weapon Force into her blade. Together, they quickly cut down the monsters.

In a short amount of time, all five One-Horned Rabbits were lying on the ground. They were pleased with the result, especially Lakshman when he finally remembered to use his Weapon Force.

“Good job, you two,” Indra said as he walked towards them with a wide grin on his face.

“That’s unfair!” Lakshman said, rounding on his father. “Leaving us to fight those things without warning!”

“In real combat, things can happen just as easily as how I separated from you,” Indra said. “You should be capable of working under such situations. When a hairy situation becomes a complete mess, you must fight on regardless of whether you have companions or not.”

“I see,” Ondine said and she nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Maybe.”

Lakshman wasn’t happy at the thought, but he understood such situations can happen anytime. It’s why they are called the unexpected occurrences. Just then, an entryway appeared before them which led them into another winding path.

“Once you defeat monsters in a room, a passageway opens up to let us go through,” Indra said.

“Good!” Lakshman said brightly.

Together, they moved on. After a few minutes of walking, they finally arrived at a dead-end. Like usual, name plate was nailed to the wall stating the floor they were on. This time, however, they found two pair of Magic Circles on the ground.

Lakshman looked at them in surprise.

“Why are there two?”

One was emanating blue light and the other emanated green light.

“Ah,” Indra said. “Looks like further explanation about the Magic Circles.”

“Excuse me?” Ondine asked with a puzzled expression on her face.

“You see, there are several different types of Magic Circles you can find in a dungeon,” Indra explained. “Those colours range from Blue, Green, Yellow and Red.”

“Blue, Green, Yellow and Red,” Lakshman muttered.

“Each of these coloured Magic Circles work differently. Take for instance the Blue Magic Circles which are also referred to as the Two-Way Magic Circles. They work as a two-way transport system connecting between rooms. Then there’s the Green Magic Circles. They return the people to the original floor or F0 if you want to call it that. Yellow Magic Circles are slightly different to both Blue and Green. Among the adventurers, we call the Yellow Magic Circles as the Trip Magic Circles.”

“The Trip Magic Circles?” Lakshman asked. “What’s that mean?”

“This particular one acts as a trap,” Indra said. “Teleports people, unfortunate enough to lad on it, to random areas in the dungeon. You may end up in a room crowded by monsters. You might end up in a room only to find another Trip Magic Circle. Lots of people got lost and most of them never survived it.”

“Damn...” Lakshman said quietly. “That’s horrible.”

“It is,” Indra said and he suddenly looked away.

For a few seconds, they remained silent. Then, Ondine realised there was one Indra didn’t answer.

“What are the Red Magic Circles?” she finally asked to break the silence.

“Ah,” Indra said and smiled. “Red Magic Circles, also called the Boss Magic Circles, are ones that teleport you to the Dungeon Boss.”

“Dungeon Boss?” Lakshman and Ondine asked in unison.

“That’s right,” Indra said and nodded. “They are the strongest monster to exist in a dungeon. Their strength can rival those above the Saint rank. That’s why you should never EVER dare to enter into the Red Magic Circle unless you are absolutely certain you can handle it!”

“I... see...!” Lakshman said, startled by the sudden seriousness his father spoke to them in. “Is it that dangerous?”

“It is,” Indra said. “Most Dungeon Boss areas allow people to return back to their previous floor. However, there are some that will allow you to return only after you defeat the boss.”

“So, it becomes a life and death situation,” Ondine said, looking slightly shaken.

“Yes...”

A tense atmosphere hung over them. Then Indra smiled and broke the tense air.

“Today we’re not going to do that though,” he said with a grin. “However, keep that in mind for the future. Make sure you are really strong and you have companions. Otherwise, you will end up regretting it.”

“I understand!” Lakshman and Ondine said together and nodded their heads.

“Good! Now, let’s go get our Two-Horned Rabbit bodies for our mission.”

They stepped into the Blue Magic Circle and, in a veil of blue light, vanished.