The message I found written in Cheraneura was confusing, but something was telling me to obey it. Guiding my party into the forest on the Boss Floor, we needed to be careful around the firestarters, but I was lucky to learn from Kawa how to handle them without the detonating; apparently, firestarters are less volatile if you whisper around them. 

It was brief, meaning that whoever wrote it was either not well literate or was in a hurry. I tried to understand the placement of the message. And the location, why inside a post?

"Are you alright?" Lanie asked me, tracking the explosive bugs with me.

"Just thinking about this." I commented. "Maybe we should turn around."

"Boss!" Tuca called from up ahead. "You won't believe what I've fond!"

Rushing over to Tuca at the summit of a steep hill; making our way to the top, everyone in are party was baffled by what they saw. On the lowest floor of the Swamp Dungeon, at least a four mile hike from the only entrance across rugged terrain, with no sign of edible plants or game, was a village.

"A village?" I was understandably confused.

"Maybe there are people down there." Jo-se commented next to me. "I think we should go down and see."

"I agree." It looks like that the post was leading to here. "Proceed with caution, at any sign of danger we turn back."

Guiding them down to the village, it appears that the village was surrounded by a barren field with no sign of agriculture or livestock anywhere. Arriving at the village, we split up to find inhabitants, but found the entire place was covered in moss and vegetation, no sign of people inhabiting it for years.

"Could this be a trap?" I asked Rana.

"No, these structures look manmade." She observed the work of a nearby house, when she opened the door, she gasped in shock. "Oh my God."

Worried, I went in and found the cause of her distress. There, inside the abandoned shack, was the decomposed remains of six adventurers. "Everyone! Over here, quick!"

Jo-se wasn't a doctor, but as a Healer he was very knowledgeable about medicine and diagnosis. After checking the bodies, he came back with a diagnostic.

"What was the cause of death?" I asked. "Was it injury or poison?"

"Neither." He informed me, but had an uncertain look in his eyes. "They died of starvation."

"Starvation?" Lanie asked. "Wouldn't it take a while to die from that?"

"If you have enough water, it can take at least three weeks but sometimes a couple of months." I answered, using my survival knowledge. "They must have been trapped here and couldn't return."

"Not exactly." Jo-se removed something from his robe, a golden pendant with a crystal in the center. "They had this."

Everyone looked at it in disbelief. "What is it?" I seemed to be the only one who didn't know.

"That's a return key." Lanie explained. "When activated, it sends anyone within an 8 meter radius outside the dungeon. If they had that, why would they be dead? As long as there are no monsters above a certain threat level, it should have worked."

"Maybe..." I wondered. "Maybe there was a monster that chased into the shack and didn't leave?" Embarrassingly, my theory earned me the laughs of my party. "It could be possible." I try to defend my statement.

"Let me see if I understand." Ra'sh began, giggling. "Judging from the equipment and the ID plates we found, this party was close to the expedition leaders in strength. Second, it would have taken them at least three weeks to die. If what you believe is true; the monster that was after them was strong enough to cause top rank mercenaries to run in fear, but never been seen on this floor in all the years this dungeon has existed. Additionally, it wouldn't kill them, just sat close by and wait for them to die?"

After letting my idea blow over, we buried the remains and collected the ID's for the Guild. Finding nothing else important, we decided to head back to the expedition to give any needed assistance. We were about to walk up the hill when I noticed something odd approaching, deadly fast. 

"STOP!" I shouted as I prevented my party from going further.

-UMPH- Just a blink length's of time after that, the fast approaching curiosity hit the ground at our feet. Strangely, it looked like giant fishhook as big as my forearm connected to a glowing line. My eyes followed the other end of the line to bizarre creature; it was a humanoid monster at least 7ft tall, covered in vines and moss, and carrying the magic line like a lasso.

"What is that?" I asked anyone; I looked back and nobody had an answered. "It looks like that must be what trapped the adventurers."

"How can it exist, the swamp boss only has one guardian?" Rana was just as scared as the rest of us.

"Guardian..." A thought came to me. "What if... that giant turtle everyone fights is another guardian and this... this is the real Swamp Boss?"

The monster pulled it's hook back in and swung it around like a skilled martial arts master, signifying it was strong and skilled in using it's weapon.

"What do we do?" Cavadier asked.

As the leader, it was my call to make the tough decisions. "I'll handle it." I stepped forward from my friends, my hand at my sword. "I'll stall it while you all rush to get help."

"We can't abandon you." Rana protested.

"It can't chase all of us if we separate." I explained my reasoning. "If I can stall it's attention long enough, you can bring help to kill it. Besides." I pulled out Shaka, did some flashy moves in it's knife form, than it's spear, and finally it's sword form as I got ready to fight. "I'm strong enough to at least keep it distracted."

Rana stepped beside me. "I'll stay and help. Everyone else, run to the others." She ordered, getting her giant axe ready.

"You need distance support." Lanie twirled her pistols before aiming.

The rest of the party bowed in respect, than ran off to get us help.

"Any last words if we die?" I said, accepting the possibility. "Rana... I love you." I admitted.

She smiled sweetly. "I love you too." She returned.

"Lanie... it was an honor." I showed respect.

"I love you." She returned, I turned to look at her. "We may die, I needed to say it."

Now I was nervous for a second reason. "We'll come back to that." It was now or never, I advanced.