Winnoa Starchaser leaned against her cane-like staff with a heavy heart, wistfully observing the last fires in Bairan Village die out in a trail of rising smoke. The stench of blood and burnt wood hung in the air, and the cries of the injured echoed throughout the village. She clenched the wooden handle of her staff tightly, and she felt the crunching of bones as her staff cracked through the ribcage of the tainted beast corpse under her.

This beast had been the last of the pack that attacked the village. It was larger and stronger than the others, and it had two mounds of flesh on either side of its head that twisted into the shape of faces. It was as if something… or some things inside the beast had attempted to escape the confines of the beast's body. To make things worse, the beast had been able to breathe fire like a demon from hell. It was as every bit of terrifying as one might expect from a Level 5 monster.

"Chief," a gruff male voice said from behind her.

Even if Winnoa didn't turn around, she easily recognized the voice of her second-in-command. Zane Cindermaw was the captain of the village guards, and he was a distinct character due to the long scar that ran from the corner of his mouth to his left ear. As a Level 5 Swordmaster, he could've held a position in a major city, if not for his missing arm. Winnoa was grateful that she was able to procure such a talent for the village, even if it was due to unfortunate circumstances.

"What happened here, captain?" Winnoa grimaced.

"There isn't much to go on right now, but we're certain that it was a coordinated attack," Zain grunted. "There were multiple simultaneous breaches around the village and at least four of the wards were disabled from within. I don't think it's any of the villagers, but we can't be sure. Moreover, these beasts seem to have been corrupted by a strange magic."

"Necromancy," Winnoa spat in disgust. "As far as I know, only the corrupted life mana of necromancers can turn beasts into… this." She motioned to the corpse underneath her. "We need to send a messenger to the city to request an official investigation. This isn't something that we can handle on our own."

"I'll get one of my guards on it," Zain said. "In addition, there are 24 critically injured villagers and at least 70 with severe wounds. Our healers are insufficient for the task. What should we do?"

"Get the healing artifacts from the vault and use them," Winnoa responded immediately. "Also, send word to the surrounding villages that we are looking to hire carpenters for the reconstruction of homes and facilities. We will need to dig into our reserves for the next while."

"What about the payment for the adventurers who are coming to clear the dungeon?" Zain asked.

"We will have to give them our share of the rewards from the dungeon," Winnoa replied, frowning slightly as she did so. It was common practice to split the rewards fifty-fifty between the hired help and the governing body of the dungeon region, making it profitable for all parties involved. However, desperate times called for desperate measures.

"I understand. However, regarding the dungeon, there has been an… unfortunate complication," Zain said. Winnoa could hear the hesitation in his voice.

"Well, what is it?" Winnoa spun around sharply to look at her second-in-command. The human Swordmaster was resting his blood-crusted broadsword on the ground with his one remaining arm. His clothes were ragged and tattered, and bits of burnt flesh could be seen through the holes in the fabric. One of his eyes was swollen shut, but the other eye was blazing with sharp determination. Winnoa gaped at his appearance. "My god, Zain. Why didn't you go see a healer?"

"I'll be fine. The others have it worse," Zain dismissed. "In any case, one of my officers informed me that the Moondrops' children have entered the dungeon with a Guardian child."

"What?" Winnoa snapped, her eyes narrowing. Her breathing quickened. "The dungeon… why in the world…?"

"Presumably, they were forced to escape from the beasts," Zain replied. "Their mother, Rea Moondrop, was the one who made the discovery and reported it."

"What about the guards stationed at the entrance?" Winnoa asked in a voice of forced calm as she fought to keep herself from crying out in bewilderment.

"They ran to the square when the alarm was sounded." Zain looked stern and unapologetic. Winnoa knew that it wasn't his fault that the guards abandoned their post, but she couldn't help but being bitter at the current situation.

"This is a curse and a half," Winnoa muttered, and bit her lip. She knew very well what was going to happen. She felt sorry for the parents of the children, of course, but there was also a bigger problem. There was no way that a bunch of children would be able to clear the dungeon. That meant that when they died, the dungeon would break. It might even happen before the hired adventurers got here.

Considering the state the village was in, there was no telling how disastrous a dungeon break would be. Everyone knew that a dungeon break could devastate entire cities, if they were unlucky. Moreover, it meant that they would miss out on any profits that would've been gained from clearing the dungeon. Paying the adventurers would have to come from the village's reserve funds, which would leave them with little to help with the rebuilding efforts.

On top of this, she might have necromancers to deal with. Not many knew how terrifying necromancers truly were, because they would only have heard about their deeds in stories or myths. Winnoa, on the other hand, knew how necromancers were born.

Necromancers didn't gain power over life mana by merely learning some half-decent techniques or being born to a family of necromancers. No. Necromancers were powerful mages to begin with, and they would've committed vile acts of violence in worship to the demon lord to gain a fraction of his power. Winnoa distinctly remembered that the final rite of passage was to tear out the heart of their most cherished loved one and offer their soul to eternal damnation in service of the demon lord.

"Here's what we're going to do. Forget about hiring any carpenters and gather the villagers," Winnoa decided. "We're going to temporarily relocate to Rakhan Village until the adventurers get here and deal with the break. I will talk to Ristel about obtaining temporary housing for us."

"Understood. What about Rea Moondrop?" Zain asked.

"There is nothing we can do for the children. I will console their parents directly at a later time," Winnoa said. "Right now, our priority is to gather all of the villagers. We don't know when the dungeon will break."

Zain paused briefly to consider her words, then nodded briskly and turned around to carry out her orders.

"One more thing, Zain," Winnoa said, causing Zain to halt and glance back. "What happened today is unacceptable. Your guards need to be trained better. Is that clear?"

Zain's expression hardened, but he grunted in acknowledgement and swung his sword in a vertical arc to sheathe the sword on his back as he walked away. He headed in the direction of a group of guards who were waiting for him and barked commands as he approached.

Winnoa turned back to see the smoldering ruins of buildings that had once been their village. Her red hair blew across her face and glinted a deep shade of scarlet in the light of the dying embers.

A village chief needed to be strong and unafraid. That's what her father had taught her as a little girl. She herself was a mother now, and she would have to show her son, Kain, how a village chief needed to act in times of crises.

The dungeon break was truly unfortunate for their finances, but they would eventually be able to recover from it. And if there was a necromancer or - gods help them - necromancers involved, she just needed to kill them and put their heads on a stake.

…

In the tunnels of the Bairan village dungeon's entrance, four children sat resting their backs against the rocky wall opposite their dungeon guide, who was plopped on the ground with his bird feet stretched out to either side. Despite being tired, Bell couldn't help but be amazed by how the bird managed to balance himself like that.

"Ohohoho, siblings look quite different these days! Fantastic. But are you sure all of you aren't adopted, hmm?" Potootoo remarked. "I mean, look at you! One of you has hair all over your body and the other one has no hair at all. And you two, you only have hair on the tippy tops of your head! That's very strange. Very strange indeed."

"Bell, could you explain to us what happened one more time?" Leah asked, ignoring the bird and rubbing her head with her good arm. With the help of the potion and bandage, she had recovered enough over the past several hours to resume her sapient form, but her injured arm was still in rough shape. Bell had used a fresh bandage to help ease her pain, because it seemed that the analgesic effect of the bandage wore off over time.

When Bell finished retelling the story of how he had used the water from the stream to defeat the monster and how Potootoo, their dungeon guide, had helped him to procure items to heal them, Leah nodded.

"Okay, so I wasn't hallucinating the first time," she said. "I wasn't sure I heard it right through the pain."

"It looks like we have our lil bro to thank for our good health," Day grinned.

"No kidding," Leah chuckled weakly. "Bell saved our lives."

"It was just dumb luck," Bell shook his head. "I still haven't figured out why the water killed the monster."

"To think all that we had to do was push it into the stream," Day groaned. "Rea would laugh at us if she found out about this. At least we could've tried to drown it earlier or something."

"We didn't know it could just take our missiles like that," Leah disagreed. "It wasn't our fault."

"That's true," Day shrugged. "It is weird that the water killed it though. It just looks like normal spring water to me."

"Hmm, actually, it seems a little different. The mana in the stream feels way purer and denser than in the spring," Leah pointed out. "Can't you feel it?"

There was a moment of silence as Day furrowed his brows as though he was concentrating on something. Then his mouthed open in surprise.

"Hot damn, sis," Day exclaimed. "You're right."

"Yeah, and it might explain why the water had such an effect," Leah nodded.

"What do you mean?" Day wore a puzzled look.

"I think I know what happened, though it's only a guess. You remember that mana exists in two forms, right? Pure or enhanced. For example, the 'magic missile' that we use is pure mana-based, but Rea's mana has a wind enhancement, so her version becomes 'wind arrow'. The mana in that stream is super pure, so it would dilute any enhanced mana that it comes into contact with. I'm guessing that's what happened when the beast absorbed it."

"Why would that kill it though?" Day asked.

"There's only one reason I can think of. It only makes sense if the enhanced mana inside the body is keeping it alive," Leah answered.

"But that would mean…" Day frowned.

"Yup, that would mean that it's probably necromancy," Leah finished. "It would make sense given what Bell saw, with the black mist and all."

Day whistled lowly. Bell felt Kana shift uncomfortably beside him.

"Necromancy? Like raising the dead... necromancy?" Bell asked.

"Kind of," Leah said. "I'm not totally sure, because we only started learning about the different kinds of magic this year, but necromancy is way more evil than just creating undead. It's about manipulating life itself."

"Hey, but wouldn't that mean that a necromancer attacked the village?" Day growled. "That it wasn't just a wild beast attack?"

"Obviously," Leah sighed. "Wild beasts normally wouldn't be able to get past the wards in the first place, remember?"

"Then Rea and Ella-" Day started to say.

"Will be fine," Leah interjected, glancing at Bell meaningfully. "They're way stronger than some stupid necromancer."

Bell realized that Leah was trying to reassure him about their parents' safety, and put on a relieved face to make her feel as though she had succeeded. Internally, however, he was still worried. How powerful was a necromancer? Were Rea and Ella really okay? What about Taka, Kana's father?

Day coughed, realizing his mistake, and nodded in agreement with Leah.

"So, anyway, uh… Potootoo, was it?" Leah finally addressed the bird in the room.

"Yeesss?" Potootoo said, sharply turning his head to look at the sides of her face with his angled pupils. Leah appeared a little disconcerted by her inability to establish eye contact, but continued anyway.

"What can you do for us, exactly, as a dungeon guide? Can you help us get out of here?" Leah asked wincing, trying to sit upright with seemingly great physical effort. She failed to do so, and resignedly continued to lean against the wall.

"Fantastic question, ohoho! As your dungeon guide, Potootoo will do two, no three! No, nevermind. Two things. Potootoo can help you buy things from the store, and Potootoo can tell you how to clear the dungeon," Potootoo said thoughtfully. "Potootoo would love to help you get out of the dungeon. Potootoo loves to help! But no, Potootoo cannot help, no."

"Okay, then how do we clear the dungeon?" Day asked impatiently.

"Ohoho, very direct. Potootoo likes you. You must Obtain the Heart of the Life Pharaoh," Potootoo replied. Then, he raised his bowtie to his beak and mumbled something that Bell couldn't quite make out.

Pop!

A blue, translucent window popped into existence above Potootoo's head, where a video started to play. Bell was astonished. This was the first time he'd seen something like this. Why hadn't Potootoo showed him this earlier, when he had questioned the bird? Maybe it was because his siblings were awake now?

"Welcome, my dear explorers, to the Tomb of the Life Pharaoh." A man with sky-blue skin appeared in the video, sitting on what appeared to be an armchair made of white clouds. Immediately, Bell got the impression that this man's manner of speech was… noble? Charming? The man appeared to be in his late 30s, and was wearing a silky red robe with golden flowers embroidered on it. Bell could see a distinct twinkle in the man's azure blue eyes despite being semi-hidden underneath a thicket of curly black hair.

"I designed this dungeon to replicate the tomb to the best of my ability, and added trials that will truly test your mettle. There are five floors, each presenting an exciting challenge and the opportunity to obtain great powers that will help you along your journey. These abilities are only temporary, of course, but the rewards at the end for clearing the dungeon will be worth the struggle all the same. You may even choose to keep one of your abilities when you leave. However, I believe the greatest reward of all will be the opportunity to experience history. It's not every day that you get a chance like this one."

For some reason, Bell got the feeling from the man's expression that there was a deeper meaning behind those last statements, but he wasn't sure what the man was trying to get at. However, if he had heard correctly that they would be gaining some powers as they progressed through the dungeon, perhaps they had a better chance than he thought.

"While some of my colleagues may believe that an introduction should be thorough and detailed, I believe that a well-designed dungeon will speak for itself. Alas, without further ado, best of luck, my dear explorers."

With that, the man and the screen flickered out of existence, leaving the four children dazed and speechless.

"And there you have it, ohoho," Potootoo said cheerily. "The entry floor of the dungeon is just up ahead. When you're ready, Potootoo will guide the way!"

"Wait, that's it?" Day asked incredulously.

"Yeah, shouldn't we get a map or something?" Leah agreed. "That old dude said that normally we'd get more information. I want that information!"

"Potootoo apologizes, but he can only share what he is allowed to share," Potootoo said apologetically. "The creator of the dungeon probably thought it was more fun this way. But Potootoo is sure that you can learn more as you move through the dungeon. Yes, yes!"

Bell gave a worried glance towards his older siblings, who didn't look like they would be ready any time soon.

Day and Leah looked as though they might strangle the bird though. Once they saw how Bell was looking at them, however, their expressions softened.

"Sorry lil bro, it looks like we're stuck here for now. Even with these bandages, I think it's going to take a while before either of us can move," Day smiled weakly. Leah nodded in agreement.

"It's okay, I figured," Bell replied. "You guys should rest as much as possible."

"Yeah, I could use a few hours of sleep," Leah sighed. "Maybe a few days, actually. Ella says healing is faster when you're asleep, but I don't know if that's true."

"Hmm, what about food?" Day asked.

It was then that Bell heard a loud growling noise beside him. He stared at the source of the noise, a little ball of brown fur who was trying to hide her face in her tail.

There was another growl, and he realized that the sound was actually coming from her stomach.

"S-sorry," Kana stuttered.

"There's nothing to apologize for," Day chuckled. "Dinner was a while ago, and we're all going to need to eat sooner or later."

"I've already thought of a solution for that," Bell said hurriedly. "I think I can catch some of the fish in the stream with Kana's help."

"Oh, really?" Day said. "That's great news. I'm starving, heh."

"You aren't planning to do anything dangerous, right Bell?" Leah asked worriedly.

"What could be dangerous about catching fish?" Day laughed, but Leah shot him a glare that shut him up.

"Don't worry," Bell reassured his older sister. "I'm just going to lay low in the stream as Kana scares the fish towards me, and once they pass by overhead, I'll hit them out of the water."

Leah looked thoughtful for a moment, after which she wore a mollified expression.

"Okay, I'll leave it to you," she said, closing her eyes. "Be careful. I'll just get some shut eye here with Day."

"No problem. Kana, could you give me a hand catching some fish?" Bell asked, turning to the small Guardian.

"Mmh," Kana nodded, and eagerly got up onto her four paws. She stretched, and there was a distinct spark of life behind her eyes now. Bell couldn't help but feel a tinge of relief at the sight.

Bell had gradually seen the life return to Kana over the past several hours. He had avoided bringing up her mother in conversation, but she had opened up on her own accord. He learned a lot about her life in the city before they had moved to Bairan Village: the places her mom would take her on the weekends, the foods that her mom would cook for her and her dad, and so on.

It had been hard for Bell to fight back tears as he listened to Kana, but he paid close attention and made sure to let her know that he was listening by nodding and commenting from time to time. He might not be able to do anything to help her, but the least he could do was to be there for her.

If anything, listening to her stories rekindled memories of his own childhood. Though the details were vague and distant, Bell remembered that there was a point in his life when he was on good terms with his parents in his original world.

Hearing Kana talk about how her mom baked her a cake after she won the city-wide Dominion tournament for her age group reminded Bell of the time when his family had celebrated his victory at the Go tournament in his high school.

Kana's story about scaring her mom with the big beetle she had found in the garden reminded him of the time when he brought home a box full of grasshoppers and accidentally unleashed them in the kitchen, causing his own mother and father to frantically scurry about trying to catch them all.

These memories brought tears to Bell's eyes. It made him wish that he never grew so estranged from his own family.

However, it also fueled his determination to get them out of their current predicament. Kana still had a father waiting for her, and both Day and Leah had two loving mothers waiting for them on the outside of this dungeon.

'I have to get them out,' Bell told himself.

At least he had to try. After all, he had the beginnings of a plan now.

...

Bell lay flat against the floor of the stream, submerged under the water and holding his breath. He waited, patiently and unmoving, for the moment when he would strike. The water glowed all around him as if he was in a dream, and he had to strain his eyes to see up ahead. Nothing so far.

Originally, Bell was quite lost as to how they might clear the dungeon. So, naturally he asked Potootoo some questions while his siblings were asleep. He had gotten the same general rundown of the situation minus the video, but Bell had been able to get a little more than his older brother and sister had. Potootoo wouldn't answer anything about the dungeon itself, as his siblings had found out, but the guide was willing to answer any general questions he had about the dungeon.

For example, Bell had asked what kind of items were sold in the store. From what he gathered, there was much more than healing potions and bandages. There were thousands of items in there including weapons, armor, and magic artifacts. Unfortunately, most of these apparently costed tens or hundreds of thousands of credits so Bell didn't pay them much mind. For now, anyway.

In the distance, he saw a shimmer of color, and a violent chaos of bubbles behind it. None too soon, either. Bell felt his lungs, if that was indeed the organs slimes used to breathe, straining as he continued to hold his breath.

What he did pay attention to in the store, however, were the hundreds of types of potions that costed anywhere from 10 credits to 100 credits per bottle. In addition to healing potions, there were others for temporarily increasing your strength, raising your stamina, and sharpening your mental acuity. There was even potions for increasing your stealth, though Bell couldn't fathom how that would work. Would he gain camoflauge skin or something?

The problem with using the store was that he even lacked credits to buy anything. Logically, his next question had been to find out how one could accrue credits, though he expected Potootoo to just tell him that he had to go kill monsters. To his surprise, Potootoo subverted his expectations. Dungeons had bonus objectives, and each dungeon contained hidden treasure chests that would also give you credits.

He could now make out the faces of two fish - one orange and one purple - as they swam away from the monster behind them in pure terror. Yes, these fish had faces. Their eyes bulged out and their lips were thick like goldfish, but their mouth didn't just randomly open and close like one might expect from a fish. Rather, their eyes were wide and bloodshot, and their mouths were open, leaving a trail of bubbles behind them as though they were screaming.

Of all the bonus objectives that Potootoo laid out for him, one caught Bell's attention in particular. It would give him 400 credits and didn't require him to do much at all.

The fish were so close. He could see the individual veins in their eyeballs and the lines of muscle underneath each of their screaming, open mouths. As he gathered energy in his pseudopods, he saw a brown object kicking and thrashing behind the fish. That would be Kana, of course.

The bonus objective was to stay alive in a dungeon for 14 days.

'Hadooooken!' Bell thought internally as he thrust his pseudopods upwards, catching each of the fish on the underbelly.

Splash!

One of Bell's pseudopods slipped past the orange fish's body, but the other one sent the purple fish flying up out of the water and into the air.

Success!

This was the 15th time that he and Kana were attempting this, and he had failed to hit the fish on each and every one of those past 14 attempts. It was not only difficult to match the timing of the thrust, but these fish were hellishly slippery.

As the fish exited the water, Bell heard a muffled but distinct cry of terror coming from it. Creepy.

With a flop, the purple fish landed on the rocky path along the stream as it continued to scream a ghastly, bloodcurdling cry. Bell and Kana hopped out of the stream and approached it cautiously.

In fact, the bonus objective was the reason why he was planning to catch fish in the first place. His siblings needed time to recover anyway, and it wasn't like there was a time limit to enter the entry floor. With the fish for food and the stream for water, they could easily and safely stay here for 14 days. With 400 credits each, they'd have enough to buy enough potions to heal Day and Leah fully, and have enough left over for... well, they would be good for something, he was sure. If they wanted to get out of here alive, they'd probably need every advantage they could get.

Bell poked the fish with a pseudopod.

It stopped screaming for a second, and its eyes rolled to meet his. Then, it started to scream again, but this time even louder as its eyes remained locked on his.

It sent a chill down Bell's spine. This was really putting a dent in the moment of victory he should've been feeling. If they didn't need this fish for food, he might've considered throwing it back into the stream.

'But we need to stay here for 14 days, so we do need this for food,' Bell thought.

He sighed internally, and grabbed a nearby rock to knock it out.

"Maybe you should look away," he said to Kana.

"I-it's okay, I'll be fine," Kana said shaking her head. She was eyeing the fish warily, but didn't look away.

Bell mentally shrugged and lifted the rock. It was just a fish, after all. Maybe it would simply pass out on the first hit.

It didn't.