Since then, a few years had passed. Sara and Tom turned 13 years old, while Helena turned 16.

Helena was at the age where she should go into the more advanced school. However, there wasn't any of such schools here in the village and she refused to be sent to the city, to live with her other relatives while furthering her education there. As you may have guessed, her reason for refusing was because of Tom. She refused to let him be with Sara all alone.

Helena was also aware of the changes happening to her body; how her breasts and hips grew. She was becoming a young lady.

She thought this would be the ace in the hole that would finally make Tom be hers. Sadly for her however, Tom didn't really care for things like that. He was perfectly fine with Sara's flat chest.

One day, a group of adventurers came into the village.

They were a party of four, consisting of the frontline swordsman, an archer, a mage, and the healer behind. They said they were going to the forest nearby, seeking to conquer a dungeon there.

When they first entered the village, no one knew what to do with them. The villagers never really met a real adventurer face to face before. They've only heard about them from tales brought from abroad. They only knew them as folks who would hunt monsters either for the adventure or to fulfill requests coming from ordinary folks.

Tom was immediately smitten by the lead swordsman. He thought he looked so manly with his big muscles and his giant sword. As any other boy, Tom always had a fancy of becoming an adventurer himself.

Helena however, fancied the mage woman more. She thought she looked so elegant in her mage outfit. And fighting with spells were the ladylike style of combat in her opinion.

Sara, on the other hand, didn't really fancy one above the others. Teamwork was very important in dungeon exploring after all.

The group only stayed for two days in the village before heading out towards the forest.

One week had passed since then, and the adventurers were nowhere in sight.

It was possible that they skipped the village after they left the dungeon but it was unlikely considering it was the only village nearby in miles and they would surely love to have a rest after all the dangers they had braved.

"It's the monsters! The monsters must have gotten to them!" Tom shouted.

Since this morning, Tom had really entertained this idea of his. He even rushed to talk about it with Sara even when the sun hadn't come out fully yet and she was still in her nightgown. He would call for Sara from outside the house to her second floor window.

Sara simply humored him while still being half-asleep.

"I knew there would be a bunch of strong monsters in there! That's why all the adults forbid anyone from entering the forest too far!" he continued.

"So?" Sara asked.

"S-so..." Tom stuttered. It seemed he just wanted to tell Sara his theories without any real followup. Now he felt dejected after seeing how she was seemingly disinterested with the whole thing.

It wasn't entirely true though. Sara was just the kind of girl that did not like useless thoughts. Even if the monsters really got them, it wasn't like there was anything she, or any of the other villagers could do. They were not fighters. They would just perish the moment they met their first monster.

Later that night, Sara had a dream.

It wasn't the usual, recurring light beacon dream, which by the way had reduced in quantity the more she got older. It was a dream about a place that she very well knew about.

She dreamed about the village.

And it was burning.

She heard screams all around her coming from every direction. She looked at the ground to see her father's bloodied body with her mother weeping beside him.

And then right behind her she felt a presence.

An absolutely evil, vile, and frightening presence.

She turned back and all she saw was a face, shaped like a goat head, with glowing red eyes, enveloped in darkness.

And then, she woke up, sweat all over her body, dampening her nightdress.

The dreams continued every single night since then. Sara knew it wasn't just because of Tom telling her all those things about the monsters.

She talked about it with her parents and her teacher. Their response was basically that it was no topic a little girl like her should be worried about.

"That goat head must be the boss monster of the dungeon!" Tom said after she told her about her dream. "And he's planning to attack the village after killing the adventurers!"

...Unfortunately, Sara could not dismiss that possibility.

Another couple of days passed, with Sara having the same dreams every night; each time the evil presence felt stronger and stronger, like an inching shadow looming upon her.

Sara knew she had to do something. But what could she do? Going to the dungeon herself to investigate? That would be too foolish and dangerous.

...No, perhaps it was not such a foolish thing after all. After all, she had something the other villagers didn't have; that mysterious condition afflicting her.

Since birth, she had never been injured. Not even a stratch on her soft feminine skin.

And she somehow had strength that surpassed what an ordinary vilage girl should have.

A couple of months back she actually managed to beat her father in an arm wrestling match.

And she once slapped a boy so hard he fell to the floor.

Her parents told her not to tell about it to anyone else, not even to Tom. Of course, she obeyed. What reason would she have to doubt them?

"I believe you are destined for a greater thing, Sara. Not to just stay here your whole life as an ordinary villager," her mother once said.

"I am proud of you, my girl. No matter what other people might think of you, I would support you 100%!" her father once said.

And so she decided. She would go tonight, once everybody was asleep.

The first part of the journey was somewhat easy. She had been into the forest a couple of times with her father, so she still remembered the way. She just needed to reach the deepest point her father had taken her and then continued from there.

The forest was pitch black. No ordinary human could walk a step before tripping into some roots or vines on the ground. However, she was no ordinary human. She somehow could sense her surroundings without her sight, allowing her to go without taking a torch with her. The only thing she took with her was a couple of healing potions stored on her apron's pocket.

...One, no two hour had passed since she left the village. She had passed the safe limit of the forest that the villagers dared to trespass a while ago. Now she was in uncharted territory.

She could feel her surroundings becoming more sinister, as silly as that sounded to describe a forest. But it was true. She kept feeling she was being watched. But there was no use on dwelling about it too much since she couldn't really pinpoint where the feeling came from.

And then, after some more minutes, or maybe hours, she finally found it. The entrance to the dungeon. She was amazed she found it without losing her way first. But perhaps that was because the dungeon was calling to her, or at least, that's what she felt.

It was a peculiar looking cave entrance situated on a hillside. It had some sort of arch in the front. She felt the texture via her hand. It was rugged and she could feel characters drawn to the pillars.

The cavern's walls were all made by the same kind of stone, also filled with graffitis, dim lights coming out from their surface. She could hear her shoes' footsteps echoing. The place was eerily silent, even more than the forest was.

It's a trap. They're telling me to go in.

At that moment, she had a thought to go back, to just forget about all this, take her dress off, change into her nightgown, and then go to sleep.

But she had gone this far. And she was the only one who had the strength to do this.

"Grrrrr...."

She heard a growling coming from behind. Quickly, she turned her body to face the threat.

"A bugbear," she said to herself.

With her limited sight yet enhanced senses, she could determine that the creature slowly approaching her was the same that her father once fought to protect her during one of her outings with him in the forest.

"This should be a nice test."

As the bugbear launched itself at her, she crouched down before giving it a hard punch with her right hand on its exposed stomach.

"G-gaaaaaaaaa!"

It then flew away, crashing onto a tree before falling down, dead.

"So this is my full power. No wonder Mother told me to calm my temper. I could easily kill with this."

For some reason, this realization which should've shocked her didn't really faze her at all. It was as if she had already known she was this strong all along.

The inside of the cave was, as she had expected, a maze. Being a maze was the basic prerequisite of a dungeon after all. She made sure to remember each and every turn she had taken, both to make sure she would not get lost and also to make sure that she had an escape route ready if things went wrong.

No monsters at all. This definitely feels like a trap.

After walking for some time through empty corridors and room, she finally reached what seemed to be the main room of the dungeon.

It was at least five stories high, as it contained a gigantic statue of a two-legged demon with a goat head and wings.

It was the very thing that she saw in her dreams.

"Finally, you came."

At its base a familiar figure showed up. It was the leader of the adventuring party, the swordsman. Behind him were the rest of his group.

"We have grown tired of waiting," the magician said.

"Now we shall awaken our master from his slumber," the archer said.

"Then he shall grant us our wishes," the cleric said.

They all said it with such a monotous voice Sara could tell they were being controlled by the demon.

...It seemed this was indeed a trap.

Without waiting for a single second, Sara bolted. She ran as fast as she could towards the exit.

"Foolish girl."

The magician casted a spell. Suddenly, Sara's legs failed her as she fell into the floor painfully, head hitting the hard rock underneath her feet. No scratches at all however. She saw her legs had been tied by a chain with a pink aura around it.

So this is magic, she thought to herself.

She exerted every single muscle on her legs. And to her surprise, she actually broke the spell.

"What? Impossible! She did it with just her raw strength?" the magician said, baffled by Sara's display of strength.

Sara ran again. But before she could get far, an arrow pierced through her back, courtesy of the archer.

"It didn't go through all the way. That arrow had the power to penetrate steel. Just how tough is she?" the archer remarked. "No matter. She will soon fall to the poison."

Sara kept running, but she started to feel light-headed, both from her blood loss and the paralyzing poison spreading through her body.

But the exit was close! So very close! Just one more intersection and then--

"Too slow, little girl!"

A big hand suddenly appeared from the intersection, grabbing her left hand and then pulling her to whoever owned the thing. It was the swordsman.

"Our master controlled this place like the back of his hand. It was so easy for him to create a shortcut for his servants to use."

Instinctively, Sara tried to pull her hand off his grip. But his grip was like iron, for even with her full strength, she still failed to escape.

"You're a feisty one, aren't you?" he said with a sickening grin.

Sara tried to punch him with her other free hand but he caught that one too.

"Give up, young lady! You cannot possibly win against me!"

Sara wasn't about to give up just like that. She still had another card she hadn't played.

Her teeth.

She bited as hard as she could to his right arm, not caring on the disgusting taste of his sweaty flesh.

"Aaaarrghh! You little bitch!"

It freed one of her arms. She quickly used that one to punch his other arm.

"That's it, I'm knocking you out!"

Before her punch made it to its destination, her head was the one who got punched first by his free hand. It was a full force punch. If she were an ordinary village girl, her head would've been off her body right now.

But, this attack only send her to dream land.

Sara fell, with one of her hands still in the grasp of the swordsman.

"Now, let's bring you to our master..."

When Sara woke up, she was back at the huge main room. She could see her body being chained to a pole, by the same chains that bind her feet. She tried to break free the same way but the chain tightened, digging into her skin, the more she struggled.

"It's useless, my dear."

She looked up to see the sorceress looking at her with a mocking smile.

"Those chains were conjured with my full power. There's no way you can break them with mere strength like you did before."

Sara looked around. All of the adventurers were here, looking at her.

"Girl, you are about to meet our master face to face. Make sure to show some respect," the swordsman said.

Sara didn't really care about showing respect. Even though she was in a bad situation right now, she refused to be disheartened. She would look the vile creature straight in the eye and told it like it was.

She then noticed a black fog coming out from the mouth of the demon statue, descending towards her.

Is that the demon? she wondered.

When the fog touched her skin, terror suddenly filled her heart. Her body shook out of fear, cold sweat appearing all over her pores. However, she still maintained her stoic look. She was a really stubborn girl.

Her sight were soon overtaken by the fog. All around her was darkness.

Then, from that darkness, a familiar face appeared.

"Greetings. I am Baphomet, the Master of this dungeon and the loyal servant of the Great Demon Lord."

The sheer evil aura overwhelmed Sara. Her dreams were nothing compared to this.

"Let us cut to the chase, shall we? I desire your body to be my vessel. Accept and you shall be granted the joy of being one with me."

"I have no wish to be one with you." Sara replied bravely, even though her voice shook a little.

"Don't test my patience, little girl. I could do away with you if I want to. I will just have to draw another to this place and then slaughter them, making me strong enough to lift the seal placed on me. Then, I shall simply seek another suitable vessel in the world. I am very sure a lot of your kind will weep with joy for a chance to be one with me. You only live now because you possess the ideal body. The body of that of a Hero."

"A-a Hero?" Sara replied. It seemed she almost remembered something about that word.

"The strongest warrior of the human race. The one that slaughered our dear Demon Lord and snatched our victory away when we was so close."

Strongest warrior. Slaughtered the Demon Lord.

Those words echoed over and over in Sara's mind.

I... I am...

"Now, what would it be, little girl? What would it be?"

I am... a hero... a hero... a hero...

Sara's eyes turned blank.

And then, it all came back.

All the memories that she had in her previous life. All the experiences, good and bad.

Everything about how she became the legendary Hero and became the champion of the Goddess of Light.

And then, her body became enveloped with light.

"W-what is this? What is this light?"

The demon retreated, ordering his minion adventurers to kill Sara right away. However, before they could even act, every muscle of their body became paralyzed. They could not move a single inch of their body.

The chains binding Sara's body evaporated. Sara then stood up with a stoic yet determined look on her face.

She approached the adventurers one by the one. First was the sorceress. Sara ignored her look of absolute fear before she gently floated a few inches above and put her hand on her forehead. The sorceress then fell into the ground.

The rest of the group received a similar treatment. One by one they all fell, their link to Baphomet severed by Sara's light.

"May you rest in peace. I shall assure you that Baphomet will pay for his deeds."

Sara then brought the palm of her right hand towards the statue.

A gentle light came out from her hand, enveloping the demonic visage. It didn't take long until it crumbled into dust.

With the power holding the place gone, the dungeon shook, whether in fear or in rage we would never know. It intended to swallow Sara within its belly.

Of course, it had no time to do so for Sara simply teleported out of the dungeon right away.

When the light faded from Sara, she returned back to look like a simple peasant girl instead of a holy being.

And a clean one at that since the light also cleaned up her body and clothes for any dirt or sweat she had gotten from the walk here or the fight. Her damp dress was now comfortable again.

"It all makes sense now. I was a legendary Hero in that other world. And now I have been reborn in this world. That is why I have this unnatural strength coursing through me."

And thus, from that day on, Sara has become whole again.