"Yep, it was only a level two mob. Alex, you did a perfect job. I never knew you were that good with a sword."
As Katherine complimented, she gently started patting Alex's head before turning over to the two.
"You two did a good job, too. That orb of light was impressive for only a level one mage."
After gently patting both girls' heads as well, she finally led the three of them back to the end of the dungeon.
To the kid's surprise, a chest had appeared when it wasn't there when they ran to the end earlier.
"Wait, don't open it yet... I don't remember there ever being a chest at the end here."
All three of them stopped just as they were about to open it.
They remember what Katherine said right before they entered the dungeon, with something abnormal about the dungeon.
As Katherine slowly walked up, she began casting some sort of spell, trying to scan what was inside with her mana.
"Huh... I can't scan what is inside."
Katherine signaled the three to take a few steps back as she moved back away from the chest as well.
With a small little chant by Katherine, a shadow figure suddenly appeared out of thin air, opening the chest for them.
"Shit! Don't breathe in the air!"
A pinkish smoke began coming out of the chest as all three of them quickly held their breath.
But it was far too late as all three of them fell unconscious, with Katherine the only one standing still.
"What the hell is that smoke? Why do I want to go to sleep so bad?"
Katherine wondered as she immediately checked all three of them, only to find their pulses still normal.
It was some sort of drowsiness inducer, as they clearly were asleep peacefully, with Katherine trying her best to stay awake.
As she headed over to the chest to check it herself, she was surprised to find a book sitting inside.
Taking it out, the chest disappeared along with the smoke as she read the front cover of it.
Once again, to her surprise, she couldn't understand a single word of the book at all.
However, she could recognize it enough that it was clearly some sort of written language that had a meaning.
As she flipped past the first page, it was more unknown words with hand-drawn pictures next to it.
"Why would someone put this kind of stuff inside a book?"
Katherine's face blushed as the picture was of a woman having sex with a man, with the next several pages all in different positions.
Not wanting to see more of it, she flipped to the last page of the book, only to find it blank.
However, suddenly, her face appeared on the page, scaring her as she dropped the book onto the floor.
"What the fuck was that?"
As Katherine picked the book back up, she opened up the first few pages again, only to find something even more shocking.
The entire book was now blank inside, with the only thing inside being a hand-drawn picture of her on the last page.
Mary panicked as she tried to scrub all of it off, only to find it even more disgusting now that her hands were full of it.
"I got no clue... Do you guys remember what happened after the chest opened?"
Alex asked as he stopped bothering trying to remove it with his hand.
Both of the girls shook their heads until Katherine finally woke up from her sleep on the bed.
"Hm? A-Alex?"
Katherine seemed a little shocked. She couldn't recognize Alex at all if it weren't for his voice.
"Mom, what happened inside the dungeon? Do you know what happened to our body?"
Katherine thought for a second before suddenly blasting a stream of water at all three of them.
As she looked down at her hand, she realized she had the same issue, which caused her to blast a stream of water at herself as well.
The dead skins were now mostly washed off, with a little bit remaining in place.
"Sorry, I just couldn't look at you guys' faces... You guys fell asleep after the chest was opened.
I managed to teleport us back to the camp before falling asleep on the bed as well."
As all three of the kids began to realize it had to do with something regarding the smoke, Katherine got up from the bed.
"Ahem, we all need to go take a shower now. Come on, get up from the bed."
All three of them quickly snapped out of their thoughts as they followed Katherine outside of the tent.
The sun was already setting on the horizon, with the moon rising in the sky already.
"Take off your clothes, and I'll pour water at you guys."
They all quickly took off their clothes, revealing the dead skins that were underneath the whole time.
With no hesitation, Katherine began casting a ball of water above them, letting it drop down as it broke apart in contact.
After repeating it several times, their bodies were mostly clean, with only a few remaining spots that stuck.
Katherine quickly removed her clothes, doing the same thing to remove the dead skin from her body.
Unsatisfied with the small particles that remained on their body, she pulled out the bathtub again and filled it with hot water.
"Come on, get inside."
All three of them quickly followed before Katherine pulled something out of her pocket dimension.
It was a bar of soap similar to the one they used back at home, but it instantly dissolved when she put it in water.
Within seconds, all four of them could feel the water rapidly turning from hot to cold.
At the same time, they could feel their skins being pinched, almost as if it was inside some sort of acid.
"Don't move. It's just a cleaning inducer. It won't hurt your skin," Katherine reassured herself as she submerged herself.
All three quickly copied, submerging themselves underneath the water as the water began cleaning their faces and hair.
After a while, the temperature of the water suddenly began rapidly climbing again.