We returned to the intersection and went with the other path, dispatching any monsters we encountered along the way. After half an hour, we stood before a three-way intersection. My TPM put his hand on his head and said, “Wait a minute…” He stood there for a good three minutes before continuing, “We take the left path first. If you notice anything weird in the surroundings notify me immediately.”

The path we took was quite short. In just 5 minutes we arrived at a wider room-like location that led to a dead end, we could see a treasure chest at the other end, but…

“An ambush…” I said.

“Yes. It’s too obvious.”

As we inched closer to the location, we could make out the shadows of Bats and Sewer Rats running amok. If Players were caught up in the excitement of seeing the treasure and beelined towards it…

“15 Sewer Rats and 10 Bats. Doesn’t appear to be a Boss room, most likely a treasure room. Now then… do you have the confidence to go?”

“What do you think?”

“I’m pretty sure we can handle it, but if you have the slightest hesitation, then we won’t do it.”

Is it worth risking my life for treasure? Should we play safe and retreat for now?

No. This was a death game. Not risking anything lead nowhere. Besides, even I think we could handle it.

“Let’s do it.”

“Make sure to ready some Potions.”

“Okay. Before we go do you mind if I ask a few questions?”

“Depends on the question.”

“Why did we go left on the second intersection?”

“Assuming the dungeon has the same scale as the city, which it should, the left path leads to the very edge of the town. From my estimates, the space remaining is probably too small to be a Boss room.”

“You… calculated that…”

“No. I’m not that amazing. Ever since we entered the dungeon, I was counting my steps. If I didn’t do that, there’s no way I can figure that out.”

“Okay. Do you mind sharing our names?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Sharing names would be a death flag in stories.”

I giggled. I wasn’t sure how serious he was when he said that, but it was funny regardless.

My TPM relayed the strategy and the battle begun…

Before entering into the wider path, I shot one of Bats with my Bow. All the monsters immediately rushed towards us. I changed into my sword and stood besides my TPM. With this, we covered the entrance of the room-like location. This not only ensured that the monsters would only attack from the front but also limited the number of monsters attacking us.

I was commanded to not use Fade Walk at all to ensure that the aggro was shared between the two of us.

Even with my TPM using Skadi’s Caress at perfect timings to allow me to interrupt the attack animations of the monsters, dodging every attack was impossible due to the sheer number of monsters.

Why was I not nervous? Despite the relatively large number of monsters, I felt no fear. I wonder why? It’s probably because… I have another person I could trust with… even though I knew nothing about him… even though he knew nothing about me… he was an ally I could trust…

“It’s over...” said my TPM after taking a deep breath his Health was at 58%

“That was easier than expected.” I said, stretching out my arms and seeing my Health at 41%.

We healed ourselves with two Potions each. I had only two left, guess I’ll buy more when we return. I was reaching 2000 Fitts so I should have enough.

We crept towards the treasure chest without facing any problems. Opening it, we acquired:

1x Elixir

Type: Item

Rarity: Rare

Restores one Player’s Health and Mana to full.

“You can have it.” said my TPM.

Should I ask why? No. He gave it to me without hesitation.

We backtracked to the intersection. After taking on that large encounter, the encounters we had felt much easier. Also, it took one less strike for me to kill the monsters now.

“Considering the right path is in the direction to the main part of the city, which would probably have the most waste, the Boss is probably there, so we’ll take the straight path first.”

Hmm… this was the first time he explained something without me asking… Was he getting more comfortable?

After another hour of walking through the path without any intersections and plowing through the same types of monsters, we arrived at… a dead end…

“All that for nothing…” I said in irritation. We wasted all our time to reach a dead end. As my temper began to rise, my TPM began inspecting the dead end wall. He would occasionally hit the bricks that composed it.

There’s probably something hidden… that thought crossed my mind… considering my TPM’s actions.

After five minutes, my TPM looked back at me and said, “Nope. There’s absolutely nothing behind this wall. There’s no emptiness behind it.”

Surprisingly, my irritation disappeared when he said that… I was amused by his checking the wall as if there was something and being wrong. Amused by his blunder, I joked, “Idiot.”

My TPM laughed aloud to what I said. Hearing this, I laughed out as well. Maybe laughter was contagious.

For the second time, we returned to the three-way intersection, taking the right path.

After an hour of moving and battling, I noticed something...

“The encounter rate… it’s increasing…”

“Yes. It pretty much doubled already…”

This means…

After another half an hour of exploring at the dungeon, we arrived at a safe zone. There was a there was a sphere and a large rusted metal door.

We touched the sphere, and a message appeared.

Would you like to return to the entrance?

Yes No

We chose no for now.

We then touched the door, and a message appeared once again.

Welcome to the Boss Room

Maximum Players: 4

Warning: Once entered, no one can leave until the Boss is defeated.

“It’s getting late. Let’s return for now.”

“I agree.” It was already 8 at night, besides the time, I was also getting hungry. We used the sphere and left the dungeon.