BOOM!

The Death Knight and the other mini bosses turned their heads towards the sound.

There was a medieval-looking iron door on the wall where there hadn't been one before. It had a fist imprint in it.

BOOM!

Another fist imprint appeared.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—

The fist imprints multiplied. The iron door bent inwards.

CRACK!

The iron door flew off its hinges and slammed against the opposite wall.

From out of the smokey doorway, a large figure stepped into the chamber.

A suit of adamantium plate armour. A flowing red cape. His right eye burning through the visor of his helmet.

An Adventurer.

Who the hell is this? thought Emma.

The Death Knight turned fully around to face the Adventurer. He spoke with a deep, rumbling voice. 'MMMONSTER SLAYER!'

The Frankenstein's Minotaur, Vampire Bat Man, and Skeleton Centaur went berserk. They charged towards the Adventurer as though they held a grudge against him.

Monster Slayer's right eye blazed.

He took the charging Frankenstein's Minotaur by the horns, snapped them off, and impaled its eyes with the points. The Vampire Bat Man flew at him, talons outstretched, so he grabbed the monster by the ankles and ripped it in half. The Skeleton Centaur lunged at him with a bone spear. Monster Slayer sidestepped the strike, kicked one of the mob's front legs in two, and smashed its skull apart with the hoof.

Emma's mouth fell open. Jesus Christ!

The Death Knight stampeded in and swung down on Monster Slayer. The man caught the greatsword between his gauntleted hands.

Monster Slayer had a deep English accent. 'Death Knight, eh? I'm afraid I don't have any holy weapons on me today, so how's about we settle this with force instead?' He smashed his fist into the Death Knight's face.

BOOM!

Amazingly, the mini boss staggered back.

The Adventurer cracked his knuckles. 'Force it is!'

From there, Monster Slayer unleashed a salvo of punches which sent the Death Knight reeling backwards.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—

The Death Knight's greatsword burst.

It's war door shield shattered.

It's plate armour cracked.

The Death Knight roared. 'MMMONSTER SLAAAYER!'

Monster Slayer pulled his right fist back. 'DIE, MONSTER SCUM!'

He punched the Death Knight's head off.

The monster's body fell to the floor.

THUD!

Silence filled the room.

What...is he?! Emma looked at her Fortune Die on the floor: it had come up a perfect 20! What the hell did I summon?!

Monster Slayer turned to look at her. The fire in his right eye dimmed. 'Are you alright?'

Emma inspected the bloody gash across her chest. The adrenaline from seeing the Adventurer fighting had kept the pain at bay, but now the agony was returning tenfold. She coughed up blood. 'No'—she nodded to Akumi—'we're not.'

Monster Slayer nodded and called to the smokey doorway he'd come in from. 'You can come out now, Bunny-Bear!'

From the smoke, a small figure hopped into the chamber.

It was a chimera, like the ones Emma had seen in the forest, only this one was humanoid. It had light brown fur, one rabbit ear and one bear ear coming out of long, dark brown hair, and big black eyes. What's more, it had bear paws for hands, rabbit feet, and a white cottontail. It was a rabbit-bear girl!

Bunny-Bear frowned at the sight of Emma and Akumi. She had a Texan accent. 'Goodness gracious! You poor babies! Don't you worry none; momma's gonna heal you right up!' She took a run up, jumped, and fly kicked Emma in the face.

Emma fell back, her whole head throbbing. She sat up and balled her hands into fists. 'What the hell?!' Then she noticed her body was tingling and shining with yellow light. Her wound was healing; the pain fading. 'What?!'

Bunny-Bear grinned with big buck teeth. 'I'm a paladin! I heal people by hurtin' 'em!'

Emma made a face. Is that how paladins work?

Bunny-Bear crouched over Akumi and punched her repeatedly in the face.

The girl shined with yellow light. The grievous wounds all over her body disappeared.

Akumi suddenly sprang up. 'Who?! What?! Where?! What's going on?!' She looked from Bunny-Bear...to Monster Slayer...to Emma. She blinked. 'The Cowardly Lion, the Tin Woodsman, and the Wicked Witch of the West?!'

Emma gave the girl a black look. 'These two just saved our lives...Flying Monkey.'

'Oh. Cool. I'm sorry, I feel a little dazed. Who are they again?'

Bunny-Bear got off Akumi. 'I’m Bunny-Bear, and this here is my partner Monster Slayer. We’re Silver-Rank Adventurers from the Adventurers Guild.’

Monster Slayer grunted.

‘I see...' Akumi nodded with big baffled eyes.

'Thank you both,' said Emma. 'Those mini bosses had us down for the count. I’m Emma Emet, the Call of Honour Online World Champion, and this is Akumi Fuji, the Dungeons & Drakes Online World Champion, or Gun Girl and Monster Girl if you'd prefer. How did you know we were in trouble?'

'That was easy!' said Bunny-Bear. 'A goblin came running into Babel quicker than a cat-bat on a hot tin roof! He was screaming his lungs out abou'cha, so the Adventurers Guild sent us to come and save your bacon!'

This 'Babel' must be the hub area. Emma got up, walked over to the Fortune Die lying on the floor, and picked it up. This thing is incredible! She shoved it in her trench coat pocket before Monster Slayer and Bunny-Bear noticed.

'No way!' said Akumi. 'Weasel actually stayed loyal even though he ran away?! I'm going to make him the leader of my slave army now!'

Bunny-Bear raised her eyebrow.

Monster Slayer crossed his arms. ‘What the bloody hell are No Rank Adventurers like you two doing in a Bronze Rank Dungeon in the first place?!’

Emma and Akumi looked at each other for help.

‘Um.’ Akumi rubbed the back of her head. ‘I’m sorry. We don’t understand.’

‘You’re not Adventurers from the Adventurers Guild?’ said Monster Slayer. ‘Then who are you? What universe did you come from?’

‘We’re...Players,’ said Akumi, 'from the…Player Universe.’

Bunny-Bear swatted Monster Slayer's arm and hugged Emma and Akumi to her fluffy chest. ‘You beast! Can’t you see they're in shock?! There there, babies. It’s alright, momma's here now.’

Monster Slayer shrugged. ‘Maybe they just walked into a Dungeon Gate by accident.’

‘What’s a Dungeon Gate?’ said Emma.

‘Odin, you really are yokels. They're portals to the Dungeon Universe, like the door Bunny-Bear and I just came through, or the cave entrance outside.’

‘What’s the Dungeon Universe?’

‘It's what you're in right now.'

'Oh.'

Akumi tapped Emma on the shoulder. She had a troubled expression. 'Emma, I'm going to log out now. The pain in this game feels real. It's scary. It's probably illegal now that I come to think of it. I'm going to contact the police. I knew that Nanosoft was shady, what with Multiverse Online being made of stolen assets from other VRMMOs and all, but I didn't think the beta test would be as crazy as this.'

Emma sighed. 'You're right. I'll do the same. I think the sick fucks have been using us as lab rats to test Player pain tolerance. There's probably a Covenant Not to Sue in the contract we signed. Still, we have to let the world know. It's the right thing to do.... It's such a shame, too. It's a good game.'

Akumi nodded. 'The best I've ever played....'

They stood up and said the deactivation password together. 'Game over!'