After making our own plans and contingencies on what to do in case of certain actions from Salicia or the dragon, we finally returned to the Bandit King. At the end of the day, I still had the Return ability. It was the only reason I was willing to walk into this situation. The enemy of my enemy might be my friend, but they weren't a friend I was going to bet our lives on. As long as we didn't end up in another dungeon, we should be able to escape the situation, no matter how dangerous things got.
Even after telling myself that, I felt a bit of anxiety. This was the first time we were going up against a stronger boss. In truth, Lydia and Miki weren't strong enough. They depended on their unique lineage specializations to protect themselves in the battle. Celeste could be strong, but in many ways, she was the most fragile girl in the group. As for Terra, I hadn't fought alongside her before, so I didn't know her strengths and weaknesses. She was an Earth Golem, but I didn't know what that meant.
"Open this portal then." Salicia sneered. "Take us to my sister."
Looking across the group of 15 people she had picked, they did look like a bunch of tough people. Balrack was one of them. He seemed to be leading the team who was tasked with snatching Carmine. Balrack hadn't impressed me before, but we did get the jump on him. It was hardly a one on one fight to the death, let alone even one where he surrounded us and captured us. The point was, this was real life and the situation in which I defeated him was not necessarily comparable. Simply using levels to assess how powerful someone was or who would win in a fight was an idiot's game.
I pulled up the map and looked at the spot that Salicia's magical device had indicated. It had been about thirty minutes since I had updated the position. I didn't want to update it again. I asked Salicia if Carmine had moved from her starting point. It seemed like she had moved a little, possibly entering a cave. This was taking us directly to the point on the map. I didn't want the portal to open right on top of her. Rather, I was hoping she had moved since I had last checked. Perhaps, we could sneak up on them even.
"Portal!" I cast the portal while focusing on the spot on the map.
I was only a little surprised when it actually connected. I didn't think it would fail, but I didn't know for certain until that moment. It would have been very embarrassing if it failed in front of the bandits. I would have lost a bunch of my credibility. Before I could say anything, the teams of Bandits ran right in. Apparently, the Bandit King was giving me some of her trust as well. I could have connected the portal to a prison cell for all they knew. I assumed they'd make us go first.
"Ladies…" I gestured and my four girls ran just behind them.
I didn't want them to have time to set up a trap on the other side if that was their intention. Taking one last breath and looking across the city still being ravaged by at least another hundred Bandits, I sighed and took a leap into the portal. It was time to battle the dragon and put an end to the dungeon's lore.