The bus rides from the hospital to Annabelle’s apartment took a while, but went well. She lived a fair distance away, closer to an edge of the new forest near the dungeon they had met in.

  “Bianca’s isn’t really a short walk from you, how come you know each other so well?” Lucian asked as Annabelle opened the door to her apartment.

  “Ah well. I used to live closer to her! We’re childhood friends.” Annabelle chimed happily as she closed the door behind them.

  “Ha. That explains it.” Lucian put down their camping bag and shifted his backpack off of his shoulder, placing it on the floor as well. Then he stretched, yawning as he raised his arms high above his head, “That hits the spot…”

  “You’re getting more and more catlike. Just don’t knock any of my glasses off of anything.” Annabelle laughed.

  “Mhm. No breaking glasses.” Lucian laughed, “Mind if I use your shower real quick?”

  “Sure, that way. Door on the right.” Annabelle nodded off to the hallway that extended off of the open kitchen.

  “Thanks.” Lucian yawned a little more and made his way down the hall, finding the door to the bathroom and opening it, slipping inside.

  After a few moments, the sound of running water could be heard through the door, and shortly after came a satisfied sigh.

  Several minutes later, the water was shut off, and Lucian opened the bathroom door a little, “Hey, Annabelle?”

  “Yeah what's up?” She asked, poking her head around the corner of the hallway.

  “I have an extra outfit in my backpack, could you pass it to me?” Lucian laughed, “I forgot to bring it in before.”

  Annabelle laughed and rolled her eyes, and shortly brought Lucian his backpack, “You can borrow my washer.” She said, “Though your old outfit is kinda messed up, I dunno if I would even want to salvage it, personally.”

  “Yeah I dunno. I’ll figure it out.” Lucian took the backpack and closed the door. It didn’t take long before he opened the bathroom door, fully dressed and clean. “I really needed a hot shower, thanks.” He said as he walked into the living room and flopped down onto Annabelle’s sofa.

  “Sleepy huh?” She nodded, looking out the window. It wasn’t late or anything, but they had been traveling for a while, and hadn’t been getting the best sleep of their lives while doing so. “I’ll turn in early too. Are you alright on the sofa?”

  “Mhm. I wouldn’t wanna intrude any further. Yet.” Lucian laughed.

  “Right.” Annabelle smirked, “Dinner first sometime.” She walked down the hall and vanished into her bedroom, then moved across to the bathroom.

  Lucian quickly drifted to sleep to the sound of running water through the door, content to doze off curled up on the sofa.

  He awoke to the smell of food. Lucian’s eyes fluttered open and he yawned, sitting up and stretching.

  “Good morning.” Annabelle chuckled, looking over the kitchen counter at him as she prepared something, “I cooked some breakfast sausages.”

  Lucian made his way over to the kitchen and Annabelle handed him a plate with some breakfast sausages and eggs. They made their way to the table, and sat down to enjoy their breakfast.

  When they finished their enjoyable yet simple meal, Lucian decided to spend a bit of time taking care of some things he had been meaning to do. He terminated his lease on his apartment, since as far as he was concerned what happened was basically a natural disaster and his lease had a clause for that. Then he made some phone calls to his college. After some discussions, he decided to take a leave of absence for an indeterminate duration.

  Once that was settled, they decided they were going to head back into the jungle to see if they could find some smaller dungeons.

  They left her apartment and cut through the city, making their way towards the closest edge of the jungle, the way Annabelle had originally entered it.

  As they walked through the city, they heard gunfire and the sounds of inhuman shrieking. “Should we go see what that’s about?” Annabelle glanced at him.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “Yeah, let's go take a look.” Lucian looked to the side, quickly figuring out where the noise was actually coming from.

  “Don’t wait for me, go.” Annabelle patted his shoulder.

  In response, Lucian took a step away from her, and then launched forward. It didn’t take him long to see a few people running towards him, away from whatever the commotion was. He jumped over them, sailing over their heads before taking a sharp right as he landed. He shot through an alleyway and onto a wider street where the sounds were coming from.

  A giant bird with four wings and three eyes charged at a group of soldiers who fired their guns at it in response before scattering. One soldier pointed his hand at the bird as he moved to the side, index finger out and thumb up like a gun, “[Firebolt]!” A small mote of orange manifested at his fingertip before launching forward and growing into a small bolt of flame, impacting the monster’s chest. One of its wings was burnt, which Lucian assumed was from the same individual.

  He set his backpack and camping bag down and activated [Manifest Weapon], spinning his sword before running into the fray. Lucian bolted along the street towards the bird, delivering a cut across its leg, “Get your people out of here!” He shouted to the fire mage, “If they aren’t classed they won’t be able to do shit!”

  The fire mage looked momentarily confused to be given an order by someone who was clearly a civilian but quickly complied, “Everyone back off!” He shouted, momentarily checking his own Spirit with a grimace.

  Lucian led the bird a bit further away from the group as the soldiers began to retreat. He leapt up towards a building and activated his [Ring of Wall-Clinging]. The bird shrieked and stabbed at him with its beak. Lucian jumped off of the wall over the bird as it struck the building, punching a hole into it. As he moved over its back he twisted in the air and grinned, “[Cleaving Wind].” He flicked his index and middle finger together towards the monster while maintaining his grip on his sword. The air around his hand distorted, whipping into a violent gust. Lucian felt the air rush back around him as his spell slammed into the bird, cutting a gash across its back and eliciting a shriek from the monster as it freed its head from the building.

  Lucian landed and back stepped a few times, moving closer to the fire mage, he looked to the side, “How are they?” As he spoke, the bird shook its head, reorienting itself and turning to face him again.

  “They’ll live.” The soldier responded, “I’m low on Spirit, but I have a few more shots in me.”

  “Great. I'll keep it away. A friend of mine should be here soon, she can help.” Lucian said before shooting back towards the bird as it charged as well.

  “[Firebolt].” The mage shot a spell past Lucian as he moved. It struck the monster and then Lucian activated [Quickstep], closing the rest of the distance in a blink and stabbing forward with his sword. The bird shrieked as the blade stabbed into it. Its wings briefly shone with a green glow and it beat them. Lucian braced for impact as a pulse of high pressure wind forced him away, pulling the sword free as he took it with him.

  As Lucian prepared to re-engage he heard a familiar voice, “[Witch’s Hex]!” Annabelle gestured at the bird as she arrived on the scene.

  Lucian moved closer to the bird again, flicking his hand as he slipped under it, “[Cleaving Wind]!” The impact felt heavier this time, he attributed it to the fact that he was closer to his target and [Cleaving Wind] had damage falloff.

  The bird shrieked and tried to maneuver to strike at him but Annabelle wasn’t having any of it, “[Tanglethorns]!” She ensnared one of its legs, preventing it from moving much.

  The mage also cast another spell, “[Firebolt]!” He launched off a third glowing flame before blinking with exhaustion as he depleted his Spirit and took a few steps back. The flame punched a smoldering hole through one of the monster's wings.

  The monster continued to fight back, but in the end Lucian was far too agile for it to hit and his relentless attacks plus Annabelle’s [Witch’s Hex] combined with several [Poisonbolt]s whittled it down before it eventually succumbed to the poison and collapsed.

  Lucian made his way back to Annabelle as he dismissed his sword, she smiled happily and gave him a thumbs up, “I got a level.”

  “Nice! I didn’t, sadly. Whatever.” Lucian looked to the soldiers and moved to them, extending his hand to the fire mage, “Apologies for ordering you around earlier.”

  The soldier took his hand and shook it, “Apology accepted, you two saved our asses.” He smiled then introduced himself, “Captain John Fletcher, pleasure to meet you.”

  “Lucian, a pleasure.” Lucian smiled.

  “Annabelle!” Annabelle waved.

  “So you’re classed?” Lucian asked the captain as they completed their handshake.

  “Pyromancer.” The captain nodded in response.

  “Ah, a pure damage caster.” Lucian nodded approvingly, one of his options had been Sorcerer after all, “I assume you guys are responsible for keeping this part of the jungle’s border secure?”

  “Indeed we are. Some jobs we did.” He chuckled, “Thankfully no civs got hurt, past tripping as they ran.”

  “That's good. Mind if you let us through the fence?” Lucian nodded in the direction of the jungle.

  The captain nodded, “You’re classed, so no worries there. Orders from up top are classed people are allowed through.”

  “Makes some degree of sense.” Annabelle chimed in, “In a way it helps you deal with things trying to get through by potentially getting rid of them at the source.”

  Lucian and the captain nodded in agreement, “Well, thank you for the information. We’ll be on our way then.” Lucian waved to the captain as he and Annabelle walked over to his bags. He slung his backpack over his shoulders and picked up their camping bag.

  “Onwards we go then!” Annabelle smiled as the two of them walked through an alley to cut onto the next street over.

  They had dungeons to find.