Fynn tapped Amelia a few times on the small side of her neck. For a few seconds, she held on strong, her cheeks so puffed they looked like a squirrel's. Then she laughed.
"Stawp!! That tickles!"
Fynn smiled as he said, "Good. I need you to get attacked by monsters for me." and then grabbed her arm and jumped to his feet, yanking her with him.
She finally let out the pent-up squeal, "AHHHHH!!!" Landing on her feet safely, she gave one meek look at the 2 new members of her team before turning away in embarrassment.
The second she turned, her armor changed back to her original armor–exposing her nearly bare butt to everyone.
'Well, if I'm not allowed to swear, at least I can still have this.' Nick the pervert thought, noting how weird the game world's censorship was.
Swearing? Nope.
Dismemberment, blood, gore, and mountains? Absolutely.
But who could complain with the way her hips swayed when she walked...
"Hmmph."
A cautioning grunt from beside him pulled his gaze from Amelia–who he was sure he didn't remember from Aether Babes. He looked into an angry Juliana's eyes.
'Shet.'
He was expecting a kick to the groin or a zap of lightning, but all she did was twirl her hair and place her other hand on her side.
"I don't know why you wouldn't bind her. She seems useful. If nothing else, she can distract you and all our enemies while I do the real work."
She said the last part almost teasingly, slightly biting her lip. Why did she have to be so hot?
The third member–Fynn–slapped his back, saying, "Well, when Yck recovers from the sudden lightning cloud, we'll be ready."
Nick nodded and Yck groaned.
...
It turned out that Amelia was the breadwinner of the group and covered the entire cost of the dungeon all by herself. Nick still couldn't fathom paying to enter a dungeon rift but chalked it up to game mechanics. It was a bit nicer than assuming political corruption or something crazy like that that obviously didn't exist.
Amelia gave the guard the entrance fee–1,000 gold. She was still in her gamer-friendly armor, so the guard was blushing as he escorted them to a blue rift: D-Rank. Apparently, Amelia was completely oblivious to her current situation because, thinking that she messed up somewhere causing the guard to blush, she gave him additional gold as a sorry.
Of course, he continued blushing. Her butt was very plump...
Even though the guard was the one escorting them, it almost felt like Yck was because he did his absolute best to keep himself at the front of the line. Of course, he wasn't very successful because the guard was an actual fighter.
Yck probably just carried that huge broadsword across his back to look intimidating.
'Well, we'll be thrown into a life-or-death situation soon enough. Maybe he'll surprise me. Or maybe I'll have to go out of my way to save him.'
Juliana stayed close by, staring at Amelia the entire journey. A small part of Nick was wondering if she was secretly Lesbian. That would suck.
Somewhere behind them Fynn was following in the shadows. Scary archer business.
Overall, Nick felt safe. They were just starting their journey after all. The first dungeon shouldn't be too bad...
...
>--< Welcome to Oblivion >--<
'O-oblivion? The hell?'
Nick looked around an empty throne room. Those were a dime a dozen these day-
'Where's everyone?'
He took another glance, sure his eyes deceived him. But no, he was alone.
So much for a simple dungeon raid and leveling up.
Sighing, Nick summoned the [Fang of Finality] as he walked down the aisle. This throne room was completely different from the one in the Divine Lounge and also foreign to him.
As far as he knew, no throne existed like this in Aether Babes. And considering he was probably more knowledgeable about the game than even the creators, he would know if it did.
'I should just start expecting everything to be completely different than the game this world tried to replicate.'
The room was lit by 6 different candles that formed a hexagon. This hexagon area was directly in front of Nick now, and beyond it lay the empty throne.
>--< The First Seal is Found >--<
[You have one chance to comply. Failure to complete this quest may result in the need for a new Progenitor of Destruction]
'What the hell? What kind of objective is this?!'
--(Kill a member of your squad. You have exactly 25 raids to perform this task)--
...
"Hey, Nick?! You awake?"
Awake?
His eyes shot open with vigor and... well, he felt as awake as ever. Juliana was mere inches away from his face. If he wanted to, he could reach and pull her into a kick...
Kiss!
Yeah, that's not how that would go.
Nick laughed some of his worries away. He probably just hit his head on some kind of rock when they entered the dungeon and had a crazy dream. That was a very valid explanation.
He was worried all the same so he opened his quest interface, and then he felt at ease. It was empty. All it was was a dream.
"Took you 5 whole minutes to wake up, huh? Never raid a dungeon before, greenie." Yck's grating voice raked across Nick's ears. Maybe it would've been best if the quest had been real.
Amelia and Fynn stood a few meters away, stealing glances at them every now and then. It turned out he had become the center of attention. If only he had an invisibility spell...
'Note to future self: don't get knocked out.'
Juliana offered a hand but because he was already feeling energized Nick jumped to his feet himself. She turned away, puckering her lips and doing her best not to feel miffed.
'What's her problem?'
Completely lost, he moved his attention to his surroundings. He didn't understand girls, but he understood dungeons.
They were starting at some kind of gravesite. Nothing but tombstones and wilted grass existed for miles in any direction.
Even after arriving, he couldn't see any quest marker, so he assumed that meant this dungeon probably sent waves of energy instead of having a specific quest to follow.
Nick summoned [Fang of Finality] with a grin. He knew dungeons were the right move.
>--< Wave 1 Starting >--<
[12 D-Rank Fallen summoned]
[8 warriors; 2 mages; 2 healers]
'Fallen? Like the-'
As if to affirm his suspicion, the ground beneath him began shaking. He planted his feet into the ground while studying it, waiting for any bony hand to fly out. None did, and instead, the earthquake only intensified.
Clank!
Somewhere behind him, Amelia had fallen. Her armor clanked again as she struggled to her feet.
He felt the light touch of Juliana's shoulder pressing against his as they covered each other's flank. Somewhere in the distance, he heard Yck swear and Fynn draw an arrow.
Nick steeled his grip on his sword as he became acutely aware of his surroundings, especially the ground.
Then the smell of death filled the air as 12 corpses entered the land of the living with clacking bones and groaning laughter.