Chapter 19: The Bossy Snake and Drowning Cat

"So, now that is over," I turned to Tilly and gave her a hand chop between the cat ears.

"Owww," Tilly moaned, rubbing the spot I hit while she looked at the ground.

"You have to control your excitement! Dave got hurt because of your antics!" Lavender scolded Tilly, and then she rounded on Gretchen, like the mother of two delinquents.

"And you! What is your excuse for being so damn careless? How many times does the Hero save you from traps?"

I put my hand on Lavender's arm to stop her from going on. The way leveling worked here, everyone would be different, but when Lavender said "Hero," Gretchen's eye became lifeless, and she began to fall. I rushed and slid to catch her.

Gretchen's body sunk into my arms lifelessly. Her body felt cold and lifeless. When I pulled her eyelid back, the eye that stared back was vacant. The girls rushed to my side.

"I think this was like you before. You were cold, and we thought you were dead," Lavender explained to me.

So this means she might be going back to that time in the coffee shop? Will she remember more now? Not like I had any idea what she was thinking in that 13-year-old brain. Suddenly, Gretchen let out a gasp, and she began to cough in my arms.

"Are you ok?" I let her catch her breath before posing the question.

"I think so," Gretchen looked into my eyes as she said this, and I could see the recognition.

Now I knew for sure that she recognized me. Though, now wasn't the time, and I'm worried that trying to explain to the girls would cause one of us to blackout. So I winked at Gretchen, and her eyes went wide in a bit of recognition. I'm not sure if sure understood, but it was the best I had for now.

"Are we going any time soon?" Lavender's voice cut through our wordless gaze.

"Sorry, I feel like I just pulled my head out of water, It was like I couldn't control my own body," Gretchen apologized as she got up from my arms.

Lavender crossed her arms as I looked at her, and when our eyes met, she turned towards the now open door. I followed her, and the rest of the girls trailed behind. When we got to the opening, we all stopped.

In the room was an ant-man tied against the far wall, but he wasn't moving. It was hard to see if ant-man was breathing, but then again, does his kind use oxygen the same way a human body does? I stopped in front of the door and put my arms out.

"Alright. Girls, and you know which two I'm talking about! No entering until we have a plan. There is no door in there, and the man we are looking for is in there. So this only means one thing; this has to be the boss room."

"What do you think it will be?" Tilly asked as she tried to peer around me.

"From the carvings around the ceiling, I would say some kind of large snake," The words coming out of Gretchen's mouth sounded more mature, and even she looked surprised, so before she garnered too much attention, I spoke up.

"That makes sense. See? If you just take a second, it's easy to get a better idea of things. Give me a minute. I want to check something."

I turned back to the room and scanned around it, looking for clues. While I did that, I also tried to bring up my avatar.

ACCESS DENIED

WARNING YOU ARE IN A DUNGEON

While in any challenge mission or quest, you can not access your status menus, alerts, or inventory.

Except for that one, I guess?

"Trina forgot to tell you all about dungeons!" Came the small fairy voice behind me.

Tilly and Gretchen screamed as Trina appeared, and I turned in shock. Not that Tilly noticed her, but that Gretchen did. I couldn't see any alerts, so I didn't know if she was already a part of the party, but her scream was enough of a confirmation.

"What or who is that?" Tilly questioned, reaching a hand forward to touch Trina.

"Trina is not a what! Trina is Dave's guide!"

"What did you forget to tell me?"

"Well, Trina guesses you know about not getting into your menu, but there are some good things! All items the monsters drop, you will auto-pickup, and the monsters will disappear once you kill them. Then, in the end, the experience is divide by those that got last hit on the creatures. The items are left to the party to divide."

So, Gretchen got the last hits on the knights before, but we killed the goblins. Then maybe we should make sure she gets the boss too, even if she gets an extra level. We needed a plan, and I was no master strategist. The combat skill only helps you perform in combat.

"Do you girls have any ideas for plans? I don't think Tilly should rush in because if this thing is huge, it could cause serious damage."

"I have forty-five MANA left so I can enhance two weapons," Tilly pointed out.

"Ya, that's good! It would be best if you used it on your new toy sword and Gretchen's sword. What other ideas do you guys have?"

"I can use my Chaos Rain again, but then I'm limited on the amount of fire I can use," Lavender explained.

"You should put the Gauntlet Of The Heart to use, and I will protect you while the other two attack."

Everything decided and planned to the best of our abilities, and nothing left for us but to enter. The room smelled damp, and I could hear water dripping somewhere. Once the door close, torches lit on the wall, giving us a better view of the vast room.

There was a pool of water at the far end, and the lights gave it an oily black look in the dim room. As we walked forwards, the water started to stir and a massive snake half a meter thick pulled itself out of the water, coiling in front of Antman. By the time it had come out of the water, it was over 5 meter's long.

"Holy shit, Isn't this a starter dungeon?" My voice tinged with panic, but Lavender was already casting.

"Chaos Rain!"

As she spoke the Spell, the serpent focused on her and shot forwards, but Tilly swung at it with her now shining great sword. The snake dodge, but she still nicked it, and it continued to try and get at Lavender as tri-colored raindrops fell soundlessly. I stepped in front of her to intercept the snake, but then the strangest thing happened.

Somehow the lower half of the snakes was knotted, and Tilly has it by the tail. The black snake tried to look back, but a small figure in blue streaked along the snake's opposite side, dragging her sword. Now, torn between the Tilly tail pull and Gretchen's blade drag, the angry snake whips around to attack the blue armor.

Gretchen is ready and screams, "Riposte!"

As the snake's jaw closes on Gretchen, her sparkling blade drives home into the roof of its mouth, making the snake go limp. Before the weight of the snake can crush her, it disappears in a cloud of smoke, but I hear a splash.

I look over to see Tilly struggling in the water. When the snake disappeared, she must have fallen back into the water and well, cat+water=bad. I ran to the water and dove in as the water tried to claim her.

The water was cold, and I could see Tilly frantically struggling to get to the surface. I swam over to her, grabbed a flailing arm, and started to pull her back to the surface when something caught my eye briefly. A small red light deeper down was flashing, but I ignored it with Tilly, swimming to the surface.

We broke the surface, and Tilly was sputtering and choking, but she seemed ok. I pulled her along as I swam to the edge. Once there, the girls helped to pull Tilly back out.

"I'm going back down. I saw a flashing red light down there, so I want to check it out," I began to turn, but Lavender stopped me.

"Wait for me," She said as she took her dress off.

I tried to turn away, but I still caught sight of Lavender's shapely body. Suddenly, the water wasn't that bad and I started to have dirty thoughts about what I might do to that body, but the sound of Lavender getting into the water brought me back to reality. I tried to keep eye contact, and she could tell I was uncomfortable too from the red in her cheeks.

"Let's go. I saw a blinking red light down below," I informed Lavender before we went underwater.

After taking deep breathes, we both dove into the dark water. Once under the light of the torched helped a bit, and we swam to the red light. On arrival, there was a door, and the blinking light was a button beside it. I pushed the button, and the door slid open.

A translucent film covered the doorway, and upon entering, it seemed to wick the water from our bodies, still leaving me chilled. On the other side of the barrier, the was no water, just a dim-lit chamber with a chest in the middle. Lavender came in behind me but stood behind me, pressing herself against my back as she shivered.

The feeling of her shaking body pressed against me sent shivers down my back, but a warming feeling that crept into places not needed replaced it. I reached and pulled her forward in front of me to warm her up. The two of us awkwardly moved towards the chest.

"What do-o you think-k is in it-t?" Lavender asked in her shivering.

"I don't-t know, but-t let's get what-tever it is and go-o-o!" I sputter, letting go of Lavender and open it up.

The chest has some gold and gems, but a pair of winged boots and a cloak were the only items. We went to grab it all, without the menu's, we couldn't check any of the stuff. On top of that all, we were both exhausted, and the girls above must feel the same way. Once we picked up the items, they disappeared, so we swam back up to the top.

Once back above the water and back out into the final room, I could see the girls had already untied Antman. They seem just to finish talking to him, and he had turned to leave. Gretchen and Tilly ran back to us and helped us out.

"What did the guy say?" I asked, ask we got onto dry land again.

"Not a lot, just thanks and to come to see him and his wife at the market. I had talked to Miss Gri'Xikickic at the market before coming, so thanks for the help!" Gretchen thanked all of us, but as she did, a light blue circle filled with octograms appeared on the floor in front of us.

"What is that?" I asked, and Trina appears as if on command.

"This is a return circle! This magic circle will take you back to the entrance of the dungeon!" Trina explained to me.

"Well, are you girls ready to go?" I turn and smile at them, as I asked.

They all nodded with exhausted looks. We did it, our first dungeon completed, and we gained a new member. Our party of four walked into the circle, and a soft blue light surrounded us.