“Sir Udon…Sir Udon…Sir Udon!” Huh? Whose talking? Is that Umi

“Sir Udon, please wake up”

“Huh, where are we?” I was lying down on Umi’s knees, the rocky ceiling above me was covered in wet, green moss

“Big Sister Miko isn’t going to like that Umi”

“Well, she’s not here” Is that Vnaa? I sat up and looked around, I was in a cave, the walls were damp and rocky, to the front of me was a small bottomless pond, is that where we came from?

“Where are we?” I asked Vnaa and Umi

“Don’t worry about that, you need some more rest, here” Umi forcefully pulled me back down on her knees

“Get off me!” I sat up and pushed Umi’s arms away

“Hmph” Umi puffed up her cheeks and looked away, the hell is her problem?

“Papa Udon, I’m sorry” Vnaa? Thats right! Vnaa got dragged into the water

“Vnaa!” I instinctively grabbed her and pulled her into me

“Sir Udon!” I don’t think I’ve hugged anyone since my little sister died

“Papa Udon” Vnaa said softly, she put her head into my shoulder and hugged me back

“I’m sorry I got taken, I want to be stronger, but I can’t” Why was Vnaa apologising?

“Rival Miko isn’t going to like that!” What was Umi complaining about now, I swear, these familiars ramble on about nothing all the time

“Papa Udon, you’re hugging me a bit tight”

“Oh, sorry Vnaa” I let go of Vnaa, it has been a while, did I forget how to hug someone?

“Its ok, a little longer though” Vnaa jumped back into me wrapping her arms around my waist again

“Vnaa!” Umi shouted out

“I’m glad your safe Vnaa” I stroked her hair and rested my chin on top of her head

“Sir Udon, do you know where we are?”

“I thought you would know, the last thing I remember was diving into that lake and then that was it”

“Hmm, I think we are in a secret chamber”

“Secret chamber”

“Yes, some of the floors have hidden chambers, the monsters and animals have either discovered them or carved them out themselves to avoid other monsters and players”

“Where’s that monster that grabbed Vnaa” It looked like a pixie

“I don’t know, when I dragged you out the water, Vnaa was lying on the ground by herself” This isn’t good, it must be a trap set by Neptune

“We should remain on guard, do you think we could get back to the main area if we go back through the lake?”

“I would advise against that” A womanly voice echoed through the cave

“Whose there!” The three of us jumped up to our feet and drew our weapons

“I do not wish to harm you, please put down your weapons”

“Show yourself!” I shouted out, why wasn’t my enemy detection not working!

“That won’t work little boy” Another voice appeared, this one was more manish, I guess, it was strong and musical

“Show yourself!” Umi shouted out, she was looking around frantically

“Wow, look at this cutie” The manish voice was growing louder

“Over there Papa Udon” Vnaa whispered to me, she pointed to the far wall on the right, I couldn’t see anything though

“Hear my words dungeon, I ask to be surrounded, filled and illuminated with the dungeons flowing energy, hear my plea ‘The Power of the Shadows’ Shadow Ball”

*Shadow Ball Mastery-1/10

The shadow ball smashed into the cave wall causing small chunks of rocks to fly out

“Ouch” I hit him!

“Thats quite enough” The womanly voice was now the loud one

“Sir Udon” I turned to Umi, she sounded frightened

“Umi!”

“I am not going to harm her, please put your weapons away” Umi had a short silver blade to her throat, the one holding the blade was a light brown woman, she had a snake tattoo wrapped around her right bicep, she was about the same height as Umi and wore golden cow horns with a small blue sun disk in between them on top of her head, she had an Egyptian Beaded Embroidered Collar Necklace and an Egyptian Beadnett Dress over a piece of pale white cloth wrapped around her breasts, the bottom half of the Beadnett Dress had the pale white cloth sewn into it, and to finish of her look, she wore golden sandals. An Egyptian Princess was the image that came to mind when I looked at her.

“If you aren’t going to harm her, put your dagger away”

“Once you and your comrade have put your weapons down I shall” I bit my lip in rage, I had no choice, damn it!

“Vnaa put down your claws” Vnaa and I dropped our weapons, I was still hunched over ready to pick my sword up if she made any move against Umi

“Settle down little boy”

“Ugh”

“Sir Udon!” I felt a sharp thud into the back of my spine

“Why would you do that” The woman said with a sigh

“Sir Udon” She let go of Umi and watched her run over to me

“Papa Udon” Vnaa ran over to me as well

“I only elbowed him in the back, nothing serious” The manish voice was the one that said that, I looked up to see who it was.

“The names Eros little boy” He had white angel wings, silky blonde hair and wore nothing but a white cloth around his waist with sandals, he also had a bow in his hand and a quiver slung around his back

“I’ll kill you” I managed to get my breath back, that elbow to the spine winded me.

“Will you settle down little boy”

“Look what you have done Eros, he would have been fine without you hitting him”

“Don’t worry Hathor, his not strong enough to cause us any damage”

“The last person who called me weak was begging for his life” That would be the Captain of Neptunes Town Guard

“Please excuse my idiotic partner, my name is Hathor, I am what you humans call a Demi-God, this is Eros, he also is a Demi-God but just a stupid one”

“Thats a little rude, are you hurt my dear” Eros came over and put his hand out…to Umi

“Huh?” Umi looked at his hand, she seemed flustered, Eros was like cupid in earths mythology, he is said to have the power to make anyone fall in love with him

“Are you hurt my beautiful lady” Eros bowed down to Umi extending his hand even further

“Uhh, huh?” Umi didn’t seem to know what was going on

“Get away from her!” I landed a hard sucker punch sending Eros stumbling back a little

“You little disrespectful human” Eros wiped the small drop of blood from the side of his mouth with his thumb

“Eros! That is enough!” Hathor shouted out, I turned to her, was she laughing?

“Know your place human, I swear your species is the plague on this dungeon that should be eradicated” Eros wasn’t to pleased with my sucker punch

“Not that I’m standing up for the human race, but your the ones that tried to take Vnaa!” If they set the trap to kidnap us they must be working with Neptune

“I do apologies for the misunderstanding, you see, a lot of species besides the humans have been kidnapped by the slave market ring, we believed this little caterpillar girl was a kidnapped slave” Hathor pointed to Vnaa, a kidnapped slave?

“She’s my familiar, she’s not a slave!”

“Yes, after one of our saved slaves brought her to us we realised that” Saved slave?

“Why are you telling this human anything Hathor?” Eros still looked like he wanted to punch me back

“Sir Udon” Umi wasn’t still sure what was going on and grabbed my arm

“He must have you under some sort of spell, let me release you from this humans wretched ways” Eros moved closer to Umi, he batted his long eyelashes

“Sir Udon!” Umi ran behind me freaked out at the Demi-God

“Release this beauty at once!” Huh?

“There is no way a beautiful lady such as this, will ever fall for you” Huh?

“Eros, that is quite enough! You know that this girl is not under any spell” Hathor was seeming to get fed up by her partner

“Umi was it?” Hathor approached us, I couldn’t sense any hostile energy from her though

“The love in your heart is pure, but seeing the reaction on this young mans face, you have a fair amount of work to do” What?

“What is going on!” I shouted out, I need to save Miko I don’t have time for this crap!

“Ha! A pure boy like this, what a waste of love from a beautiful lady” Eros is starting to annoy me!

“Sir Udon, help me” Umi grabbed me even tighter, her voice, it sounded so familiar, but from where, and her actions, I had been in this situation before…My sister! When Raoul was freaking her out!

“Stay away from Umi!” I smashed the end of my sword into Eros’s face, he fell over with a large bang

“Oh wow, such power” Hathor looked at her falling partner in shock

“Eros!” A group of little pixies came running out of the shadows and surround Eros

“What are those?” Vnaa asked

“They are the kidnapped slaves Eros and I rescued” Hathor explained

“Why you little shit” Eros got up, it looked like his nose might have been broken

“You dare put a scratch on my face” Eros hovered his hand over his nose and a small bright light appeared and disappeared healing the damage I had done.

“Touch her and I’ll do more damage than a scratch” I gave my signature wicked smile at him, he stood back intimidated

“Maybe I spoke too soon” Hathor smiled at Umi, Umi saw her and gave her own smile back, what was that about?

“We apologies for the inconvenience we have caused you and your party, please came back here and rest up, we’ll be happy to take you back to where you came from” Hathor started walking further down the cave, Umi followed suit

“Umi”

“I think she’s a nice lady Papa Udon” Vnaa grabbed my hand and started leading me behind them, what is wrong with these two!

“Eros and I have been searching the lower floors for any kidnapped slaves, we have had the help of the Ancient Floor Monster Arachne, she has helped get the slaves back. Pixie children are currently the main target for the slave ring, we have saved all these children from a life of slavery, but unfortunately their parents died while they got kidnapped” Hathor took us to a small room in the back of the cave, it had a rock table in the middle of it and some tree stumps as chairs

“And you thought Vnaa was a kidnapped slave and tried to steal her from me” I glared at the Pixie kid that took Vnaa, she saw my glare and ran off

“Please don’t be mad at them, they were only do what Eros had asked them to do” So it was that playboy Demi-Gods fault

“What is a Demi-God?” Umi spoke up, that was a rather interesting question, what was a Demi-God?

“A Demi-God is a player that has a small following, if a God was to disappear they would take their place, Eros and I are both Demi-Gods for the Fertility Guild” A small following? So Gods were just players that had people worshipping them!

“We need to leave, you said you could take us anywhere correct? I want to go up to the tenth floor” This was all a waste of time, I need to get Miko

“The tenth floor? Why is that?”

“That worthless so called God Neptune, stole a comrade of mine and I need to get her back” I stood up off the tree stump and punched the rock table

“I see, unfortunately I don’t have the power to transport you to the tenth floor, or any floor to be honest, I can teleport you to the stairs leading up to the floor above this, but that is as far as I can go” That was useless then

“Fine, teleport us there”

“As you wish, but before I do, I need to explain the situation behind the Gods of this dungeon, you seem to be mixed up in them already and if you aren’t carful you will be targeted by more then a lower God like Neptune”

“Lower God?” Does that mean Neptune’s a weak God compared to the others?

“Neptune is one of the weaker Gods of the dungeon” Eros said coming into the room and sitting down next to Hathor

“Don’t get me wrong, he is still miles ahead of any player, but compared to the other Gods, he is one of the weakest, he serves the Adventures Guild under the leadership of Hermes”

“Neptune is in an alliance with Luna and rumours have spread about Mercury helping him out as well along with our own Guild Leader Freya” Hathor explained to me, were the Gods at war with each other? Come to think of it, wasn’t Luna that God the Squirrel Demi-Human describe as ‘Evil Luna’ back on the first floor.

“If the Gods are at war with each other, why are different Gods from different Guilds helping each other, I’m assuming the war between the Gods are to become the leader of the Guild?” Classic reasoning

“You are not wrong, we don’t know why our leader is working with Neptune and the others, Luna is the one that runs the Demi-Human slave trade businesses, she despises the Demi-Humans calling them ugly” Hathor explained, sounds like Luna is a human supremacist through and through

“Freya and that good for nothing Cupid are most likely helping Luna and Neptune because they also despise any other species that is not a human, they wish to exterminate the dungeon of these species” Eros added, so there was Eros and Cupid…

“How does this affect me?” I hadn’t done anything particular wrong, just a little trick

“If you have gained the attention of Luna and Freya you will most likely be hunted by their top players, although, if you have only gained the attention of Neptune and haven’t impacted the others in any way, you should be fine” Hathor told me

“I’ll keep that in mind, now, will you send me to the stairs” I got the warning, be carful of Gods, not to hard to remember

“As you wish” Hathor got up and walked around to Vnaa, Umi and I

“We shall get going now” Hathor grabbed the three of us by the hand and teleported us to the stairs, a quick goodbye I guess

“As I warned you before, watch yourself going forward, if you come across Arachne she might be able to teleport you to the tenth floor and help get your comrade back”

“Yeah, yeah, lets get going” I turned around and started walking up the stairs to the ninth floor

“Umi, don’t stop trying, I can feel the want of love deep inside that boys soul, don’t be selfish either” Hathor mumbled something to Umi, Vnaa must have overheard because it cause her to giggle

“I shall capture it!” Umi shouted out, the hell was that?

“Umi! Hurry up” I shouted out

“Coming! Thank you” Umi ran up to Vnaa and I and waved good bye to Hathor