(Zhenya Pov)

“To our first official dungeon dive!” Announcing it loud and proud for my two teammates at the table. Now that our base of operations has been completed, just in the nick of time for the fall chill.

Two floors, four bedrooms, a lavatory, kitchen&dining that we were currently using. Half the first floor is dedicated to Frederica's smithy. Followed by an impressive storage room. Good’ol Dutchy spirit pulled through, getting us more than what we bargained for.

The new materials lit the creative passion in them, and the ideas haven’t stopped pouring since.

Can’t really complain. The place was top tier despite all the knight’s bellyaching over nitpicks. Had to put a kibosh to their fun. If I let them run rampant, it would have taken at minimum three years before this place would be finished. That and they would have bought out the block.

Finally, we can get back down to our usual business. “Supplies?” Su brought out satchels brimming with provisions, potions, and camping equipment. “Gear?” Freddie didn’t even need the go-ahead, already displaying our armor on the table.

“Took me a while, but I figured out how to integrate that paper into our gear.” Despite not looking any different, besides a few barely noticeable peel lines. “Ashamed as I am, these are the best I can manage for now. And only with the regular type of paper. Our armor should be lighter while being physically sturdier. Just don’t go swimming or jumping into a fire, it’s still paper in the end.”

“How?” To put it bluntly, this was a marvel. Running a hand down the leathery straps, it was easy telling what parts comprised the new material. Sort of an off textile feeling. Like metal with all its rigidness but with the feel of cloth.

“Glad you asked.” She beamed, revealing an ink well. “This inky goodness has everyone up in arms! With a little trial and error, anyone can bend dungeon paper to their will. Theoretically. The boys down at the artisan’s quarters are still pushing the boundaries.

As for what I did...” Our blank stares smacked her in the face. “Fine, I’ll keep it surface level. Basically, using this ink, we can inscribe properties into dungeon paper. It won’t work with normal paper. After that, it’s all about seeing what the paper can withstand during the smithing process.”

Noticing us wondering why her armor wasn’t included with the others. All she had to say to that was ‘compatibility issues’.

Su was already going over in her head what all this meant. While I figured the town was going to get a whole lot busier, winter be damned. Especially if this new art is as flexible as Freddie makes it out to be. On top of these advancements coming from surface-level tests.

Well, if paper and ink are going to rise in demand. All the more reason for us to start dungeon diving again.

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After getting our stuff inspected at the checkpoint, we ventured down to where we last left off.

Past that cyclopean terror, who for the life of me can’t fathom the sight of. People were lining up to feed the guy, and he was giving them honest to goddess criticisms like one of those fancy gourmands, just without the fancy pantsy accent.

Really the sentiment could be said of the entire floor. It was a lot less terrifying, what with everyone running about. Also, the atmosphere was heated, for lack of a better word.

Before long, we trekked upon a truly mind-pondering sight. Hundreds of trees impaled by ballista bolts. Ground tremors spoke of a familiar foe. A Dokkeabi. Far leaner and muscled than the previous two. Easily, ripping his handiwork from their marks.

“You desire passage? Prove your worth.” He could already tell our intentions at a glance. Before we could accept the titan’s challenge, he continued. “Choose one trial to prove. Hunt. Prey. Or you may challenge me to a fight. I would not recommend that, but if you do best myself in the heat of combat, I will grant you one boon.”

Seeing as we weren’t going to risk that last one and prey sounded like the most tempting offer in the world, we picked Hunt.

“Good. You will hunt this.” He gave a wanted poster for a wolf that looked like it was on fire, with the simple description that it was larger than the rest.

“Hey, Freddie. Nice timing on that upgrade, huh?”

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“Come on, girlys!” “Yeah, take that overgrown heater to the dump!” “Wooooooooo!”

Facing off against an alpha ember wolf, scantily armored adventurers cheered us on from the sidelines. Each having proven their worth to earn a place here.

Scantily clad or not it’s not the worst idea in the world. The ember wolves' den was worst than a sauna. I’ve already shed the extra fur under my armor.

Meanwhile, Freddie was down to just a chest plate exposing the exoskeleton underneath, with pieces of her armor laying by the wall. The only one unaffected by the sweltering heat was Su due to her attire being breathable for increased mobility. Even then, she looked done with this shit.

Catching a dagger to the shoulder, the ember wolf releases a pluming howl raising the temperature even further, much to the pleasure of our towel-covered audience.

The soot beach billowed with steam turning almost watery with the amount of steam pressure coursing through. We sunk slightly into the quicksoot trap, dipping just above our knees.

“Final push!” I called, bringing up the rear as Freddie trudged forward. She had no choice but to tank the wolf’s fiery gnashes, each one eating at her armor.

Into range, she bashed her shield into the things noggin. As I finished it off with a quick... slash....

A sudden sharp tear quieted everyone down. Su, who had given herself to the soot, reemerged underneath the ember wolf, gouging out its underbelly. In another few quick slices, she would’ve disembowelled the thing if it had any guts.

Nothing but a confused whine from the beast proceeded its death, none the wiser as what did it in. For a little long while, silence reigned. The audience left stunned from the abrupt end. Until they burst into cheers, their brains catching back up with them, bringing with it memories of the pale girl’s existence.

“Way to go Su!” Freddie pats her softly on the shoulder. Yet still manages to elicit a soft eek from the girl.

“Nice thinking.” I add in my own compliments but avoid touching, for her sake. “Good to see all that training paying off.” Su almost cracks a wry smile. By now, I think I have enough of a bead on her.

As the cheers died down, we collected our spoils. A pelt, burnt paper, and lumpy ink.

When Freddie finished slotting all the armor pieces back onto her exo-frame, we waved ourselves out and returned to the hunts master dokkaebi.

“Pelt of alpha. Messy kill but acceptable. You pass.” The hulking titan threw our game over his shoulder and started heading off. “If you find time, head east of ember den. More hunts, maybe play prey or hone skills. Do well, and I may permit you to use that cave as a resting ground. Heals aching muscle quickly and is safe. You have my word.”

Tempting offer. Sounds better than any dinky campsite we could set up, and it’s guaranteed safe from monster attacks. Committing the offer to memory, we gave the titan our word and parted ways.

“That was a nice warm-up.” Freddie stretched her body as we walked. “But our next adversary’s a floor boss. The ruler of these first two floors and possibly the strongest.” Our resident expert on all things dungeon expounded.

“The beast is a man-wolf type like the blowhard we fought before. Only this one is exceedingly agile and far more intelligent than its bulky brethren. The main things we have to look out for are its mimicry and second phase.”

As she filled us in on the juicy details of her plan, we ran into a girl donning a familiar red hood aptly named Red. Who offered to guide us through the forest in exchange for protecting her.

Fending off all sorts of creatures. None were particularly tough enough to require all three of us to be on guard. So the trip was rather lax.

Red and Su quietly connected over the younger girl’s exotic pet fox, which possessed the same smouldering quality the wolves did. Though in a softer welcoming sense. Even so, welcoming or not, the thing’s still a dungeon creature in the end. I wouldn't be surprised if it could melt someone’s face off.

Reaching the house, dreary and depressing, was the only way to describe it. A slightly rundown cottage in the middle of the woods. Forgotten by the world, or in another sense, a place that has rejected humanity. “Looks like we got lucky. No one’s here.” I pointed out. It should be sometime evening, so the lack of people willing to risk life and limb made sense.

After a brief rest to prepare our minds and bodies, we ventured into the boss’s lair... With the little girl in tow. She was convinced her grandmother lived here.

With a creak, the door sidled open, and immediately we were wafted with the wet smells of rot. From the entrance was a hallway, the immediate right leading to an open parlor room.

Slowly making our way through each room, the stench of death only intensified. “This should be it.” went Fredrica.

It was the master bedroom. What lay inside, swollen from bedside to bedside, face shrouded by dim candle’s light. “Come closer, my dearies.” The sickeningly sweet voice gurgled.

Approaching the very apparent bloated sack of meat, Freddie swallowed her fears planting her blade into it with a sickening squelch.

“And that’s the first phase!” Or so the pig-tailed blond thought. Quickly noticing the lack of anything solid in the meat heap. “ARMS UP!”

Already noticing something was wrong, Su and I were on guard. Painfully aware that the boss had changed up its tactics. The beast could be anything in the room. That calming tooth-rottenly sweet voice was near. Still speaking to Red as if nothing was wrong. As if it was right in front of her.

“To better hold you with.”

Hold?

“To better carry you with.”

Carry?

“The Sofa!” Lunging at the stained floral lump looming behind Red, that I swear was resting against the wall moments ago. Not a beat sooner, sparks erupted. My blade scraping against a furry clawed arm sprouted from that deceitful seat. Another beastly appendage took us by surprise, scooping Red up and down his gullet in one swift motion.

Tch, just our luck an irregular opening. That’s something we need to report to the association. With any luck, there won’t be any more irregularities. As the fight dragged on, the boss went through its usual tricks of mimicry, blinding speed, and devouring whatever rotten flesh it could get its grubby mitts on.

Seeing the boss gorge itself silly, put a grin on my face. Playing right into our hands, the wolf started to waver, finally feeling the weight of his bulging tummy. Instead of stopping it from eating, we did the opposite, slowing the battle down, resulting in the wolf building up more calories than it usually did.

Just one more push. Gouging into the inflated sack of fur, we were blown back by an erupting billow of steam. The heated red beast raged as it attacked us from all angles before disappearing behind a veil of steam.

We were facing down what adventurers’ past and future treaded in fear of, the boss’s second phase. One we forced, boosted to unprecedented levels, never before permitted to consume this many calories.

Pulling out a familiar red hood its effect manifested instantly, and in no time flat, the beast zeros in on me with a madness only seen once before. Finding a chill in my hand, that geezer's gonna give me an earful for this. Tearing a piece from my hood, I wrap it around the potion Fredrica gave me, throwing it at the boss.

Swallowing the hooded mixture whole without a second thought, the wolf flies past as I duck out of the way. Su, so easily forgotten, graciously landed on its snout, slathering the same mixture Rudi used to restrain the bandits.

The frost potion exploded, causing the beast to thrash in pain, rolling into all manner of things. Soon its body is nothing more than a glowing iridescent red silhouette. The potion containing a mix of that dumb experimental healing potion Rudi used on me.

Rapidly healing, the wolf’s body is forced to burn even more precious calories at a stupidly fast rate. Its body expanded as frost and heat mingled, creating a pressure differential.

Hauling ass to the furthest corner of the house and taking cover behind Freddie’s shield. A breathless moment overtook us, knowing at any moment- *Boom*

Where cold met heat, pressurized and released, the old cottage shook with the birth of a mini-tornado. Whirling in an explosion of life followed by dwindling death.

In the aftermath, we found our battlefield destroyed. A doughnut of destruction ingrained the land. And at ground zero, in the eye of the storm was Red and an old lady who I assume is her true grandma. Unharmed somehow. Despite the area looking like some magic happy explosion-loving freak decided the ground was too even.

You know what? I don’t want to know or care. Freddie’s arm was surprise surprise, a goddamn mess. We knew the result would be explosive, but not at this level! Then again, we aren’t alchemists and really should have brought Rudi on as a consultant...

Eh, hindsight. The boss was dead. We didn’t need to go through the rigmarole of physically slaughtering him. And all it took was one arm and slight traumatization on all our minds.

Receiving our prize of a book and a wolf’s head key, with the third floor now open to us. We headed towards the glimmering star in the distance.