“Alright, when I open this door, there should be a spear-wielding kobold hunter with a pet salamander,” Ian said, putting his hand on the door.

  “Lesser salamander,” Jen corrected. “It is only about six feet long and around 180ish pounds. Unlike a normal salamander, it doesn’t actually breathe a continuous blaze of fire but only short bursts next to its mouth. It does have a high resistance to fire attacks, though.”

  “Right,” Ian said as he handed a vial over to Jen. “Remember the plan?”

  “Of course!” she exclaimed, as she applied the scorpion venom to her quiver of arrows. “You are going to kick the door open and move to the right before throwing your spear at the hunter. I’m going to quickly try to get an arrow into the salamander to slow it down. If the poison is effective, I switch to the hunter and try to get an arrow into it as well.

  “And after they die, we loot the hunter and get my sweet, sweet new chest armor that will scale with me until I’m in the ultra-tier.”

  Ian chuckled. They both knew the chance of that particular item dropping was nearly non-existent. The dungeon curator tracked all item drops for the keepers, even if it didn’t let them know who received the loot. Out of the tens of thousands of times this dungeon boss had been killed over the past ten years, the chest had only dropped a few dozen times.

  “Most of that,” he finally said before putting his hand back on the door. He looked back at her and asked, “Ready?”

  At her nod, Ian took a deep breath. The world seemed to slow down as he shoved the door open and darted into the large hall that housed the boss. His eyes instantly assessed the giant throne room. Much like the rest of the keep, it had walls made of polished dark gray stone that showed signs of age and disrepair. The dais on the other side of the room held a large throne that was draped with worn cloth and leather.

  On the throne sat a kobold in deep reddish-brown colored leather armor. It had the exact same hue as the scales of the large komodo dragon like creature laying to the side of the throne, chewing on a goblin arm.

  As they rushed through the door, the kobold’s head snapped up to follow Ian as he moved. The salamander barely seemed to notice the noise and hadn’t even bothered to stop chewing on the arm. After Ian cleared the doorway, the kobold stood and growled, causing the salamander to stand. It had seemed reluctant to drop its meal, but it only took a moment for it to begin to lumber towards Ian.

  As Ian cocked his arm back to throw his spear, two arrows rapidly shot across the room. The first one hit the salamander, and the second was slapped out of the air by the kobold’s spear. Ian adjusted his target and threw the spear at the rapidly approaching salamander. It had attempted to jump out of the way but hadn’t managed to fully clear the path as the spear embedded itself in the creature’s back leg.

  Ian heard the monster roar in pain, but was immediately distracted as a sense of danger made him turn to his left, finding the hunter nearly upon him. His sword appeared in his hand just in time to deflect a spear thrust aimed at his chest. His mind was momentarily jumbled, as he hadn’t even seen the creature advance on him.

  He swatted three more jabs aside before launching himself back to give himself some space. The kobold growled and suddenly vanished from in front of him.

  “Shit—”

  Ian dove forward, just barely avoiding getting impaled by the monster’s spear. He finally understood what Jason had been talking about when he had mentioned an adventurer’s dungeon sense the other day. He felt the direction the creature was coming from, and he didn’t like the feeling it gave him. The creature had additional mobility and reach on him, which was usually the advantage he had over his opponents.

  He rolled back up and sidestepped a thrust. The creature swung the spear at him as he jumped back again. This time he felt a burning sensation where it had grazed his bicep. He didn’t have time to look down at the wound, but he could still hold his sword, even if the leather was quickly starting to stick to him.

  The pain snapped him out of his panic, and his breathing immediately began to even out. This was just a kobold. Sure, it was stronger than the other kobolds he and Jen had faced, but it was still only level 385. Bosses were stronger than normal monsters, but not to the point where they would be if they were in a video game.

  The creature quickly moved into range and jabbed at him twice in rapid succession before committing to a lunge at his chest. Unlike the previous times, Ian was ready. Instead of just dodging, Ian tucked a shoulder in as he moved to the side and charged towards the kobold. He didn’t even bother to bring his sword up, instead slamming his shoulder into the monster with all the strength he could muster.

  Both of them went down, though the kobold was launched over ten feet before it hit the ground and rolled. Its spear clanged to the ground off to Ian’s side, and his sword had been dropped during the collision.

  Ian stood to find the kobold also regaining its footing. He watched as it pulled a dagger from a strap on its leg before it leaned forward to hiss at him. Just as it tensed up to charge him, its body jolted as it grabbed at the side of its chest. Just as both the kobold and Ian realized an arrow was sticking out of the creature’s ribs, a second arrow took the creature in the side just below the first. The creature looked up at Ian, its eyes losing focus before it fell forward onto the ground.

  Congratulations! You have achieved level 357. You have been awarded 20 skill points!

  Reading the prompt, Ian was sure the boss was dead. His mind caught up, and he turned to help Jen with the other creature.

  Congratulations! You have defeated the boss of the Suri Caverns. You have been granted 6 bonus levels. You have achieved level 363. You have been awarded 120 skill points!

  He sighed in relief, knowing the danger had passed as he dropped back to the floor.

  “Shit, you’re bleeding all over the place,” Jen said as she ran over to him and put pressure on his arm. “Hurry up and heal yourself!”

  Ian blinked before realization kicked in, and he reached over to grab his arm. Activating his soothing touch ability, he shivered as he felt the skin begin to pull itself back together under Jen’s hands.

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  “Hurry up and say something,” Jen told him.

  “What? What’s wrong?” he asked, looking into her eyes.

  “Good, you don’t sound like you’re in shock, but it can be hard to tell,” she said with a relieved sigh. “I can’t see your eyes or anything, so it’s harder to tell if you are alright. You lost a lot of blood. I think the boss may have nicked a vein or artery.”

  Ian just nodded. His head did feel a little fuzzy, but it was beginning to clear now that the pain in his arm was gone.

  “Thank you,” he said after a moment. He glanced past her to see both of the bosses dead.

  Jen just smiled and stood up before offering her hand, which Ian graciously took as she helped him up.

  “Damn, I’m a little wobbly,” Ian said, taking a moment to steady himself. “Let’s get them looted before we get booted out of here.”

  Jen pulled one of his arms over her shoulders as they walked over and looted both of the bosses. Ian opened his mouth to talk, but the second the salamander was looted, a bright light enveloped both of them as they appeared back at the beginning of the first floor.

  “Wow, that’s an experience,” Jen said, nearly losing her balance from the teleport.

  Ian chuckled, “First time finishing a dungeon?”

  “Surprisingly, yes,” she admitted. “My group grinds mobs because it’s relatively safe. That boss is exactly why most people avoid them.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head to clear it. He couldn’t seem to get his mind to work right. “What do you mean about the boss? My mind is a bit fuzzy, and I feel like I’m only running on two cylinders right now.”

  “Not surprising,” Jen said with a small laugh. “You lost a lot of blood in there, so that feeling probably isn’t going to go away until you get some warm food and a good night’s sleep. We heal faster than most with our high endurance, so you will slowly get better until then, but we are still human.

  “Anyways, I meant the inherent skill that the boss had that allowed it to blink.”

  Jen must have realized Ian was still not getting it, so she continued, “Blinking is a short-range teleport skill. It is kinda like the spell, but either doesn’t have a mana cost, or has additional stipulations on its use. One of the most common is for rogues to be able to blink between shadows once an hour.

  “Without that skill, I’m pretty sure you would have torn that boss apart. It would probably be even more effective with that poison you gave me, though I used all ten arrows that were coated on that stupid salamander. Even with you destroying one leg and hamstringing it, it wasn’t a good match for me. My arrows are too cheap, and half of them broke on the scales. The ones that did penetrate only went in a few inches, and it ended up dying from the poison in the end.”

  Ian nodded. “Well, I had planned to be here for a few more hours, but I think we should probably head back so we can split the loot and get something to eat.”

  “No shit,” Jen snorted. “If you wanted to go back in now, I’d knock you out and drag you back myself. Battle fiend or no, Keeper Withers would probably kill you if you made it back out alive.”

  They both chuckled as they walked towards the portal.

  “Why is it so bright out here?” Ian said as the afternoon sun hit them. “Now I feel like I’m hungover.”

  “How much you want to bet your keeper is on her way here?” Jen said as she began looking around at the crowd.

  “No bet, but let’s go sit down for a few minutes.”

  They both moved to a bench in the shade to rest. After a moment of sitting down, Ian saw that Jen was bleeding from two of her fingers.

  “What happened?” he asked, as he reached over and grabbed her hand to activate his healing ability.

  She looked down and grunted. “Just the result of shooting too many arrows over the course of the day. I’m pretty used to it. My bow is right on the edge of my strength level, so my endurance isn’t high enough to shoot it all day without ripping my fingers up pretty good. Even with my current stats, I’m not used to constant fighting. It usually takes half an hour for an area in the dungeon to respawn, so I had to push to keep up with you today.”

  Ian turned to look at her.

  “I can picture that disapproving look, even if I can’t see it,” she said with a sigh. “I just didn’t want to be the one to slow you down.”

  Ian released her hand and turned it over to show it completely healed over, “Even if I forget it sometimes, I do have a healing spell. Besides, this has been the most enjoyable dungeon dive I have ever been on.”

  “You almost died.”

  “Yeah, but the company was fantastic,” Ian said, still looking at her. After a moment, he said, “You can’t see it, but I’m smirking and giving you a wink.”

  Jen snorted again and punched him in the shoulder. He let himself fall sideways onto the bench, causing them both to start laughing.

  “I see you two are having fun,” Claire said as she approached—being escorted by a member of AO security. “Thank you, Luke, I appreciate you letting me know where they were.”

  “My pleasure, Keeper Withers. If you need any additional assistance, please let us know. We’ll make sure the vultures stay out of your hair,” the man said before heading back to the checkpoint.

  “So,” Claire said before looking back at the reporters and recruiters. “You guys know that there are already people talking about how you two are probably dating, right?”

  Ian and Jen looked at each other before they both burst out laughing again.

  “Screw ‘em,” Jen said after a moment. “They already think you and he are an item as well. Besides, you aren’t even in uniform this time. I’m digging the pajama pants, by the way.”

  Ian stopped laughing long enough to take in Claire’s wardrobe. She was dressed very similarly to how she had been when he originally met her.

  “Hey,” he said, looking at her feet. “Where are the monster slippers?”

  Claire’s face flushed, sending them both back into fits of laughter.

  “Oh my god, you are slapstick right now,” Claire said with a sigh. “You must have lost more blood than it seemed. I’m almost terrified to see what the inside of your armor looks like right now.” She activated her item box and pulled something into her palm. “Here, drink this.”

  Claire moved to sit down next to Ian and handed him a small vial filled with a glowing, red-orange liquid. She pulled the top and held it in front of Ian’s shadowy mouth.

  “Hurry up, it tastes like cherry.”

  Ian grabbed the vial and quickly drained its contents into his mouth and swallowed. Then he had to immediately stop himself from throwing up.

  “Cherry my ass!” Ian said, making a gagging sound. “What the hell was that?”

  “Minor healing potion,” Claire said, chuckling. “It’ll heal you and restore lost blood, but I’ve also been told they taste like rancid sewage water.”

  “Well, I’m glad we aren’t dating, because there is absolutely no way anyone would want to kiss you after you put something like that in your mouth,” Jen said, giggling.

  Ian pulled out a bottle of water from his storage and rinsed his mouth out before downing the rest of it.

  “Glade, do you think you can help me get him to the car? I really need to get him checked out before I’m going to feel good about letting him out of my sight.”

  Jen nodded before standing up and helping Ian to his feet.

  The potion was working, he could feel it as it slowly soothed the pain throughout his body, even if he still felt kind of lightheaded when he moved. As they walked past the crowd at the checkpoint, they just waved and wished everyone a good day.

  A black SUV pulled up behind the crowd, and a man got out to help them all into the back. There were plastic covers already over the seats, so his blood wouldn’t ruin the upholstery.

  “I guess I do look like an axe murderer,” Ian said, climbing into the vehicle.

  “Yeah, but that blood is all your own,” Jen said from his formerly injured side.

  Ian looked over to see that she had large amounts of his blood on her as well.

  “Sorry, Jen. That is going to be a pain to clean.” Ian sighed, his head now beginning to clear enough to make real sense of the world around him again.

  “No biggy,” she said, nudging his shoulder with hers. “I had a great time, and we both gained a ton of levels today. Literally months of leveling in just a few hours.

  “Besides, I’ll just shove my armor on the cleaning rack when I get back to my dorm room. I think everyone needs a shower before we can do anything else.”

  “Definitely,” Claire agreed. “How about you go take a shower and grab a snack or something, and we can all meet up in my office in a couple of hours? That will give me time to get this goober checked out and freshened up.”

  Ian just nodded. He could see in her eyes that Claire had meant it when she said she wasn’t going to let him out of her sight until she was sure he was fully healed. Surprisingly, he realized he didn’t have any reason to argue with her treatment of him. It wasn’t like he wasn’t happy that someone actually cared enough about him to make sure he was safe and healthy.

  The realization that someone cared that much about him hit a lot harder than he thought it would.