“Roy, charge towards the highest-level skeleton!” Isabel commands, “Liz, take care of the two smaller skeletons, and Hilde, support Roy by rendering that skeleton immobile!”

I watched in amazement and slight jealousy as Liz charged towards the group of skeletons and separates the two smaller skeletons by swiping at one with her spear and kicking the other, clearing a path towards the main giant skeleton. Hilde takes the opening and wraps his traps around the larger skeleton, tying it up effectively. Roy summons his sword, and snow begins floating out of the blade as he charges towards the tied-up skeleton and slices its head clean off.

The remaining two skeletons crumble as their leader disintegrates into green dust that seeps into my party member’s bodies, leveling them up.

That’s right, we’re in a dungeon grinding out to gain some levels.

More specifically, we’re at a level 10 dungeon on the 9th floor or 9th level.

The level of a dungeon depends on how many floors each dungeon has.

While my party members were leveling up at a steady pace with Roy already at level 20 while Hilde and Liz were both tied at level 19, I was still on level 7 since I hadn’t really participated in any battles.

Instead of leveling up with my party members, I was in charge of collecting any dropped items.

I sighed dejectedly as I walked over to where the leader skeleton once was and checked for any dropped items. Some leftover EXP dust soaked into my body, but not enough to level me up.

“Nope, no drops here,” I say as I check for any shiny items that might have been on the skeleton.

“I swear, you’re a bad luck charm.” Isabel sighs as she finds a set of stairs to reach the final floor.

“I’d say we’re having pretty good luck so far, seeing that all the battles have been quick and easy,” I say, trying to shed some positivity on this negative-filled girl.

“Yeah, do you also notice how you weren’t needed in any of those battles?”

Ah, I dug my own grave there.

My party members head down the stairs with me following behind them. Although I wasn’t getting any action battling, my gamer brain was overflowing with excitement from watching my party members battle out mobs.

The final floor of any dungeon was always a boss fight, I’ve heard stories from Roy about the boss fights he faced while I was out cold.

At first, I was surprised that they had gone to a lot of dungeons, but it soon quickly made sense when I found out that they only went to level 1 dungeon, meaning that it was literally a basement rather than a dungeon. Usually, the final floors were supposed to be brightly lit, but this dungeon’s final floor was dark with purple torches dimly lighting up the room.

“GRRRR”

A loud growl fills the floor as my party members activate their weapons and huddle up together.

Isabel begins chanting a spell under her breath, and after a couple of words, she raises her fist and shoots up a red ball of light. The red ball of light explodes in the air and reveals a sight so terrifying, that my shield subconsciously activates on my arm.

Although the gamer side of me was excited with the thought of exploring dungeons with my party members, it wasn’t all that excited when it came to facing a towering, terrifying dragon on its fours with large dark scales covering its entire body, and a tail so long it might as well be another monster.

The dragon’s purple eyes squinted at the explosion and roared a roar that could never be described with words.

“Everyone, get ready!” Isabel commands.

Did she mean me as well?

“Shielder, you better stay out of this.” She continues, “This guy is worth a lot of EXP.”

I should have expected that.

The dragon makes its first move as it charges towards us at a surprising speed for its size. We all quickly jump out of the way and surround it.

I say we, but in reality, I just jumped out of the way and went into cover as my party members await orders with their weapons ready.

“I’m going to fire another bright explosion at its eyes, you guys use the opportunity to find a weak spot while it’s blinded!” Isabel orders as her fist glow bright red again.

Isabel begins chanting another spell and fires a brighter ball of light towards the dragon’s eyes. The dragon roars in pain as it struggles to blink away the lights.

While the dragon is blinded, Hilde extends the chains on his traps and tries to hold down the dragon. Roy charges and climbs the dragon from its tail and begins slicing at any crack in the scales he can find. Liz runs and starts stabbing at the knees of the dragon, causing it to topple onto its body.

The dragon roars in pain of Liz’s and Roy’s weapons stabbing and slicing all over its body, while Hilde summons even more sets of bear traps to throw around the dragon. The dragon struggles with immense strength under the chains of Hilde’s traps, but Hilde was surprisingly holding fine on his own.

After a couple of minutes of slashing and stabbing, the dragon falls deadly quiet.

“Yes!” Isabel pumps her fist.

To the normal eye, everything was going smoothly, but there was something that I seemed to notice before anyone else: The inside of the dragon’s throat was glowing purple, and if any area near the dragon’s mouth is glowing, any gamer knows what that would mean.

The dragon is going to fire.

Usually, dragons would take some time to charge up an attack. At least, that’s what my gamer brain thought.

I watched in surprise and disbelief as the dragon shoots a ball of purple fire directly at Isabel as soon as I realized that its mouth was glowing purple.

I turned towards Isabel to see her frozen in place as the purple ball of flame headed towards her at terminal speed.

A situation that seemed oddly familiar to me.

Hey, stop… she’s is going to die…

Wait, seriously, please stop. She will die.

No… wait…

“Isabel!!!”

My body heats up and reacts on its own as I begin sprinting towards Isabel and position myself in front of her with my shield in the shape of a Coffin shield.

Time seemed to slow as I started to realize some things around us for myself.

Hilde on the side of the dragon yelling, Roy and Liz in shock in front of me, and the massive flaming ball heading towards me.

.

Impact

.

The fireball slams into my shield as I struggle to stand my ground. The temperature around me rises instantly as a purple fireball pushes its force onto my shield.

It’s hot. My arms…feel like they’re burning.

Not being able to hold the fireball back with my arms, I put my body against the shield the same way someone would try to shut a door shut with their body. I slowly stumble backward, and my legs begin to fail on me.

I drop onto my knees, and this time, the fireball is just pushing my shield onto me.

I’m too weak… I can’t do this…

“Isabel…please…move… I’m not...” I struggled harder on my words, “I’m not going to make it.”

Once those words escape my mouth, the realization sets in.

One of the biggest reasons, if not the only reason, that I was struggling right now, was the difference in level from the dragon to me.

Since the dungeon was level 10, the boss would be around 5 levels higher, making it a level 15 dragon. I, on the other hand, was only level 7.

My defense is completely outdone by its attack.

I look behind me to see that Isabel had fallen to her knees in shock behind me. I knew that she wouldn’t survive if she stayed there as I was getting weaker by the second. My energy slowly begins draining, and with the last amount of energy I had in me, I decide to use it on my voice.

“Roy! Save Isabel!” I cry out.

In a blue flash, Roy sweeps up Isabel without hesitation and lays her down against the wall, out of the way of the fireball which is still spinning against my shield. He gets back up and runs towards me with his hand reaching out.

“Rin! Grab on!”

With tears forming in my eyes from the pain of the burns incurring on my arms, I weakly reach out an arm to Roy.

A big mistake.

With less support on the shield, my other hand on the shield gives way, dropping completely and allowing the fireball to slam into me, engulfing me in flames.

Whilst I am sitting in a pile of flames, struggling to feel a thing anymore, my vision begins to slowly darken.

I guess this is it huh?

I close my eyes and prepare to rest forever. I silently curse at the gods.

I wonder, will I see those gods again? If I do, I’ll be smacking them across the head.