This was the third time…

Three times I’ve fallen and let others take care of me.

It felt frustrating.

I… I didn’t want that to happen again! So before my consciousness faded to black, I mustered all the strength I could to stay awake.

500 gold were at stake… And nothing would step in my way to get them.

My eyes finally blinked, telling me I had made it. My back and butt hurt like hell, and my hand instinctively closed, trying to feel the grip of my hammer, but nothing. I felt like a toothless dog.

I glanced upwards, seeing the hole that I left behind. The kick had sent me back to the ground floor, to some sort of room, actually. I’ve never been here before, so this had to be the place Dan and Steve fought the ‘creepy twin maids’. The beds, furniture, and mirrors were all torn to pieces… As my HP… I was now at 10%.

Did my current level help me survive such a thing? I’d have to investigate what all these stats do, especially this ‘Vitality’ I keep hearing constantly. In the meantime, I stood up, barely, feeling my knees shaking. The pain almost made me cry.

Oh, I forgot about you, thanks!

Like an adrenaline rush, my Passive Skill allowed me to face the constant warning signals my body was sending me and shrug them off. The constant struggle from my team reached my ears, bangs, and the roaring of fire. I couldn’t waste another second standing there. 

They were still going, and I was not present to help them. “Okay, let’s do this, Taylor.”

Then, a wall next to me started glowing. What? …No, it was more as if it was melting awa--oh, I get it.

“Firebreath!” Grace’s voice was heard from the other room, while a burst of fire almost burned my hair.

“Dammit, you freaking pyro-bitch!”

“Taylor! You’re alive!” she cried, and I could see her distressed face through the recently created hole.

“Of course I’m alive, you--!” The burned wall in front of me suddenly exploded, sending flying bricks that missed hitting me by mere inches, and for half a second, I distinguished Steve holding his shield up, trying to prevent an enormous purple humanoid from biting his neck. “What’s happening?!” I cried. “Is another boss atta--Is that Dylak?!”

“Yes, his second phase,” Grace informed, reuniting with me. “Sorry to ask this after what happened to you, but can you still fight? Because we really need you.”

How much time was I out? I quickly glanced at the timer: 7 minutes until the dungeon closed.

“What’s going on? W-where’s Charles?!”

“That bastard…” Grace said with closed teeth. She looked more upset than the time I rejected her offer to join her future guild. “He disappeared.”

“What do you mean? Did he leave us behind?”

“No. He literally vanished. I bet that one of the bosses’ artifacts he got allows him to turn invisible.” She showed me her lit eyes, as fiery as the fire she could cast, before whispering to me. “He’s probably hiding, waiting for the opportunity to deal the final blow.”

“But that doesn’t sound like…”

Wait… It kind of sounded like something he would do.

From the moment he stepped into this mansion, Grace mentioned he looked nervous, and what was his first order? To form groups, while he took on a boss all by himself. The one he claimed to have beaten before. But each one of these bosses was formidable! Could he really beat one by himself, even if he already had experience fighting him?

He could if he already had an advantage… Like an artifact.

“Come on, T.! Go and help Steve. There’s not much time left until they kick us out of the dungeon!” Grace’s hurried, bossy voice made me squint at her, too.

What if she was lying? What if Charles died, and she told me all this while Steve could not hear her? What if she’s actually the one that wants us to perish, so she could deliver the final blow?

“What are you doing down here?” I asked. 

Although she seemed reluctant to answer due to our situation, she said: “We’ve been hitting and running this whole time. Only Steve and I remained, T., what did you expect?! If he killed any of us, he’ll recover some health again. It was my idea to come all the way to check if you were still kicking.”

It sounded convincing, but I couldn’t shake off the idea of her lying completely.

What could I do?

A few feet away from us was Steve, enduring Dylak’s constant swipes and bites.

The boss acted feral as if Steve had kicked his nuts, spat on his breakfast, and insulted every one of his retainers.

I also needed to think about him.

Once we got reconnected, the first thing I wanted to ask him was if what he said to me in the library was true. Was he going to use his hard-earned gold to spend a night with me? Now that I think it through, it makes me sound like I’m prostituting myself, right?

But… If it was really true… Then, it was simple. All that it mattered was that only he and I survived. Charles and Grace could plot all they wanted.

I closed my eyes and focused, wondering if I could detect my hammer nearby.

“What are you doing, Taylor?!” Grace cried exasperatedly, but not even her high-pitched voice could distract me.

I could see the silhouettes in front of me glowing with life, but instead of trying to kill each other, they seemed to dance in slow motion. Was this also due to the pendant? Anyway, I kept searching, but my surroundings were ‘cloaked’ to me… Until… Something clearly visible and lined in blue neon light made itself set apart from all that blackness. My hammer was upstairs, on the first floor. 

“Give me a minute,” I said to a confused Grace, before jumping upwards as far as I could.

Thanks to my new ‘game-like’ strength, I jumped like… what, 8 feet? Enough for me to reach and grab the edge of the broken roof.

“Where are you going?” Grace anxiously said as I climbed up.

“Continue doing what you do best,” I said through the crack. “Channel your magic.”

“Fine,” she said, changing into a confident expression.

I then grabbed my hammer, ran 10 feet frontward, and halted. Clenching my jaw, I closed my eyes to apply mana into my pendant and pinpoint the exact spot Steve and Dylak were. I corrected my position by taking two steps to my left before lifting my hammer way up.

The ‘Hammer Smash’ special move added an extra 100% attack power, right?

I tensed my arm’s muscles. “Fire Boost, Valor,” I cast, feeling a fire aura around me. “And now… Let’s apply mana to the new ring I got…”

“300% total power, eh…” I smirked, feeling that I could tear down the entire house with this hit, even if that wasn’t entirely true. “Here goes nothing…” I took a deep breath before shouting: “Hammer Triple Smash!”

The ground beneath felt like cardboard to me, since gravity pulled me almost instantaneously. There was no recoil. Only doom from above and a strenuous noise.

I’d have loved to see Steve’s shocked expression, but no, I locked my gaze on that humanoid’s head.

When my hammer connected, a cracking sound was heard, surely his skull.

After I fell on my butt, I saw Dylak falling to his knees, facing forward. He looked paralyzed, as if my attack had really affected his brain, even though this was nothing but a simulation.

Well, a well-programmed one. I can safely say after all the sex sessions I had.

“Oh, come on!” I cried, watching the boss’ HP Bar. He was at 15%. “He should be dead after that!”

“No, Taylor, that was brilliant!” Grace cried joyfully. “That attack took 40% off his health pool!”

“Good job, Taylor,” a tired, wounded Steve said beside me, and… he winked at me! Oh, my sweet--!

“Watch out!”

I turned my gaze back to Dylak, who was staring at me, although it was impossible. Behind his chin was his back… So… how…

“We fought a pair of creepy twin maids. They could turn their heads 360 degrees!” Dan’s words echoed inside my mind.

Oh… fuck…

Dylak’s red eyes and wicked grin suddenly got closer, and I couldn’t prevent him from biting my left trapezius. Even though this was nothing more than a simulation, I could clearly feel my virtual blood being drained out of me.

If what happened to Dan repeated, Dylak would recover 15% of his health.