"Seriously? You really want to register with the kiosk here too?” She looked even more irate than before.

Her sweet demeanor she had used on the surface seemed to be going away. The deeper we got, the less cute she became. The other girls didn’t interact with her at all. Rather, she had some kind of notebook she kept pulling out. She’d look at it, compare a couple of pages, mumbling to herself, and then continue on. That’s how the last hour had passed.

“I’m sorry!” Although I said the words, I left and walked into the room with the kiosk.

As the girl’s registered, I looked for the mural. I sighed when I saw this one was in even worse shape. A city was destroyed. That was about all I could tell. It seemed to be destroyed by something they created? Perhaps that was why they needed to build the guardian? They accidentally used their magic in a way that created something worse. Maybe they summoned a monster. Thus, they needed to construct a guardian to protect it? Well, these murals were usually all guesswork, but this one was even less than that.

“Master?” Lydia asked as she noticed me shaking my head.

“It’s nothing. I’m just getting an uneasy feeling.” I said. “It’s never that easy, right?”

“…”

The four of us headed back out to find Carmine standing there looking at some kind of compass. When I saw the look in her eyes, I froze immediately.

“Carmine… is everything okay?”

“I can’t believe it… The Bandit King… already…”

“What?” I blinked. “What do you mean? The Bandit King is out there. We’ve only been in here an hour.

She shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. “You don’t understand! I have a magic device that allows me to track my enemies! The Bandit King… they are already in the dungeon!

“What?”

“They must have attacked much earlier than I thought. Their assault was more impressive than I would have guessed. They’re also after the same thing that we are after. They just entered, so they’re about an hour behind us, but you better bet that they’re moving fast.”

“Calm down… what are you saying?” I said, holding her shoulders.

“I’m saying, the Bandit King wants the power of the guardian! If the Bandit King gets it, I’ll be dead meat. We must hurry! We cannot afford to take our time anymore!

“…” I didn’t mean to look uncertain, but I didn’t like the idea of being rushed at all.

This Bandit King, if we faced him here, that actually might be for the best. He would have no resurrections, so I could kill him and his strongest supporters. We could use the dungeon to our advantage, and perhaps even mount a surprise attack on him.

“Just… how strong is the bandit king?” I asked.

She shook her head. “A tier three job…. Level 50! I know what you’re thinking, but the Bandit King cannot be fought. You will definitely die if you try to battle them.”

That was what I was afraid of. The ones I had fought were just small fries. The Bandit King was the real deal. Looking at my girls, I knew I couldn’t put their lives on the line for this. We had to move faster, as Carmine had said.

“Then… I guess we go.”

“Thank you…” She kissed my cheek. “You’re saving my life. If the town has truly fallen in under an hour, this guardian will be the only way to save either of us.”

Actually, if I just used the kiosk back to the 1^st floor, I could portal out and be back in Chalm. However, I didn’t like the idea of this Bandit King getting control of the champion either. Rather, I had to just keep going forward.