I turned towards the doorway that Silvy had mentioned and started to walk towards it before turning back when I realized that neither of them was following me. Instead, they were just standing there staring at each other with looks of confusion on their faces as if they had never seen each other before in their lives which only made me more suspicious because I knew for a fact that they had been together not too long ago.

"What's wrong?" I asked, but neither of them answered as they just continued to stare at each other until finally Chloe shook her head and started walking towards the door.

"Nothing," She said dismissively as she brushed past me, but I could see the look of confusion still on her face. Something was definitely going on between those two, but I just didn't have the time for these two's games.

"Keep up so I can see where I am going," I said.

I turned back and headed into the labyrinth. I had played games that had dungeons, and this was more of that feeling, so I expected there to be monsters, traps, and dead ends. I had to find the key, or in this case, the exit, but there was no telling what was down here.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Grimora said as she hurried to catch up with me. "This place feels... wrong."

"You're just feeling guilty because you know that we are going to free Silvy and get whatever reward she has for us," Chloe said as she bounced along behind us, and I could see the jealousy in her eyes. There was definitely something going on between those two that I didn't understand yet, but it would have to wait until after we got out of there because, right now, we needed to focus on getting out of this place alive.

"That is not it at all! Can you stop acting like a child for a moment? This place is obviously very dangerous, and we need to be careful," Grimora snapped at Chloe, and I could see the anger in her eyes.

"Whatever! You are just jealous because Halberd fucks me more than you, Cow!" Chloe said as she stuck her tongue out at Grimora, who just rolled her eyes before turning away from the Gremlin.

"I am not jealous! I am just trying to keep us all alive!" Grimora snapped as she turned back around and started walking faster. "Now, let's go before whatever is down here finds us."

Grimora pulled back from me, and I signed. I just wanted to explore this damn dungeon. This place was kind of like a dream come true, and I was excited to see what monsters or puzzles we would run into, but I was still looking around for traps as we walked.

We had been walking for what felt like hours, but it was probably only minutes before we finally reached a dead end. The three of us stopped in front of the wall and just stared at it for a moment as we tried to figure out what to do next.

"We are lost!" Chloe complained, and I chopped the top of her head. "Ow!"

"Of course, we are lost! Two girls couldn't listen to what I said, and now we are far underground, in a labyrinth, which is a maze. We have no map, so yes, we are lost," I groaned and then turned around. "Let's backtrack to the last fork and try a different route."

The three of us turned around and started to head back the way we had come when I heard something behind us. I turned around, but there was nothing there.

"Did you hear that?" Grimora asked, and I nodded. "It sounded like... footsteps."

"There is nothing there," Chloe said as she looked around nervously, and I could see the fear in her eyes now. Whatever was down here with us, it was not friendly. "Let's just go back the way we came."

"No, we need to find out what is down here with us," I said as I started to walk toward the noise. "It could be Silvy's captor."

"Or it could be a monster!" Chloe said, but she still followed me as Grimora did the same thing.

The three of us walked through the labyrinth, hitting more splits and more backtracking from dead ends, but there were no traps, monsters, or even puzzles. The place was just what seemed like an endless maze, and I was starting to feel like a lab rat.

"We are lost!" Chloe complained, and I chopped the top of her head again, but this was the fifteenth dead end we had hit. It was starting to grate on me as well, but we just had to keep on pushing.

"I know! Just be quiet for a minute," I said, and then looked around. The three of us were in a small room with stone walls and no exit that I could see. "There has to be something down here."

"What if we just go back the way we came?" Grimora asked, but I just shook my head. There was no telling how long that would take, and it felt like we had been walking for hours as it was, considering how tired my feet were starting to feel. No, there had to be something down here besides an endless maze meant to drive people insane.

I started to run my hand along the wall, feeling for any hidden levers or buttons that might open a secret door, when Chloe suddenly yelped in surprise. I turned around to see her standing in the middle of the room with a look of terror on her face as she pointed behind me.

I turned around, and my blood ran cold as I saw what she was pointing at. There in the doorway was a monstrous beast with red eyes, sharp teeth, and spikes running down its back. It let out a loud roar that echoed through the labyrinth before it started to charge toward us.

Something about the creature felt very rough, so I blasted it once from my gunblade and then turned to the girls when it didn’t slow down.

“RUN!” I screamed as I tried to think.

{Author note: Extra chapter are not posted to Patreon.com/Magic_}