Chapter 41

Our preparations for the dungeon didn’t take long. With Tori’s help, Zoe put on Tori’s spare jerkin and then returned the favor by helping Tori into her main one. Meanwhile, I picked up food for Mari, brought it to the room, and—while they changed—found myself watching their bodies in various states of undress.

When we were ready, we left the room open for Mari. We were not leaving anything valuable inside, so I wasn't worried that someone would rob us. And if Mari decided to run away, there wasn't anything she could take either. I glanced toward the bathroom, wondering if she would be here when we returned.

I would lose money if she did, but I let her make the decision. I wasn't going to keep her by **** as my ****. Perhaps I should take the collar off anyway.

I pushed the thought aside for now. First, she had to stay. If she did, then I could think about the rest later. After leaving the tavern, we followed Tori toward one of the gates.

My thoughts centered around Azura’s laboratory, as I tried to think of a way to find this place. In fact, I had even less information than Gemma, and she didn't manage to find this place, despite knowing this world much better than I did and working on the case for much longer.

My chances of finding this place didn't look great. Azura was my only hope, but she didn't remember anything useful. Or I was asking bad questions.

The gate, just like the one through which we had entered, consisted of three entrances. As we passed by guards through one of them, the symbols on our hands shone but vanished immediately after we passed the wall.

Tori led us along the road, but almost immediately Azura hummed loudly. I glanced her way, and it wasn’t hard to guess what she wanted, as she stared somewhere at my chest.

“Tori, wait. Azura wants to change,” I said, stopping our guide.

We stepped off the road, between the bushes to give Azura at least a tiny bit of privacy, when she stripped naked before her transformation.

“Before we enter the dungeon, she will need to shift back,” Tori said as we stepped back onto the road.

“Why?” I asked as we walked. Zoe held my hand, and Azura trotted by my side, her tail wagging.

“The Mage Guild records who and when enters the dungeon,” Tori explained. “What levels do you have?” she asked immediately.

“From first to ninth,” I replied.

Tori glanced at me, frowning. “You told me that you had never been in a dungeon.”

“That’s true,” I answered. “Is ninth level high?”

Tori didn't reply, but her gaze shifted to Zoe, and her frown relaxed as she nodded to herself. “Zoe is much older than she looks, isn't she?” she asked.

“I’m not old!” Zoe gasped.

I chuckled, squeezing her hand. “It’s a little more complicated. What level do you have?” I asked Tori.

She hesitated for a moment. A few days before, when I had asked her the same question, she had refused to answer, but things had changed between us.

“Eleven,” Tori replied.

“Not much higher than Zoe,” I commented.

“That’s why I was surprised,” Tori replied. “Well, both of them are not really super high. I wasn't going to dungeons very often, and even if I did, I was only with… there were two of us, so we couldn't hunt stronger monsters.”

“How does a dungeon even work? How does it look?” I asked.

“Do you know anything about them at all?” Tori asked instead of answering.

“Not really,” I replied. Anything I knew about them from my old world might not be true here, so it was better to assume I didn't know anything.

Tori sighed, thinking for a moment. “Every dungeon is different. The one we’re heading to is tied to darkness, black magic, and the undead. Quickly going over the key points—on the first floor, it’s a labyrinth. We’ll mostly run into skeletons, small demons, and wraiths. Honestly, the only ones you really need to watch out for are the wraiths. I’ll take care of the skeletons and demons, but wraiths can hide in the shadows and strike from out of nowhere. Still, all you need to do is hold them off long enough—I’ll deal with them quickly.”

“And what happens after killing a monster? Do I just get experience points for my class? Even if I didn't kill it?”

“Yeah, when we enter the dungeon together it treats us as a team and splits the experience points between all of us.”

“If I have more than one class, will it further split between all of them?”

Tori glanced at me. “Do you have more than one?”

“Is that strange?” I asked. Zoe, just like me, had three classes, but she was a hybrid, so that could be a reason. I wasn't even sure how many classes a normal person had. Azura, who was held in the laboratory and then lived the rest of her life among the animals, probably didn't count as a normal case.

Tori shook her head. “Yes and no. Humans, if they had any, most of the time had only one class. If they are strong, they can have more, and it's not so uncommon actually.”

“Is it different with demons?”

Tori nodded. “Every demon has a class from birth. Some of them even have two. And they have a tendency to get more classes more easily than humans.”

“Why?” I asked.

“I have no clue,” Tori answered.

“If demons have classes from birth, how do humans get them?” I asked. Gemma had given me a class, even two, but I had no idea how she had done it. I hadn’t thought of asking her that before.

“When a human enters a dungeon for the first time, they get a class,” Tori answered. “As long as they have enough mana. But you can't check how much mana you have before you have a class, so humans—well, mostly women—enter dungeons at least once in their lives to check if they get a class.”

I nodded, realizing that wasn't entirely true, because Gemma had checked my mana amount before I had my class when she arrived in my world, but I had no idea how she had done that, and I didn't see a reason to correct Tori.

I was going to ask her why men didn't have mana in this world, but before I did, she spoke, pointing forward.

“It’s here.” She pointed at a building that was far away. Even from afar, its distinctive shape was clear—tall, pointed windows, a soaring tower, and thick stone walls. It looked like a church.

“This is the entrance to the dungeon?” I asked, watching the structure grow larger as we approached.

“It’s the Mages’ Guild building, built around the entrance. All dungeons are controlled by the Mages’ Guild. They regulate who goes in and charge a fee—unless you’ve got a guild member in your party. So with me, you’re getting in for free.”

I nodded. “So, anyone can enter as long as they pay?” I asked.

“Yes, they don’t restrict access,” Tori said, stopping on the path in front of the building. “Azura should shift back now.”

Azura dropped her head and tail, but immediately started to transform in the middle of the road. Fortunately, there was no one around us, and Tori quickly pulled out clothes for her. After Azura reluctantly put them on, we headed toward the building around the entrance to the dungeon.

In front of it stood two middle-aged women with swords, who talked and laughed together. As we approached, Tori had a small black stone ready in her hand. She raised it high, and it shone with a green symbol.

Both guards glanced at it and over our group. “Welcome,” one of them said.

“Welcome,” we all replied, passing by them and entering the building through large doors.

Inside, the building no longer looked like a church. Paintings lined the walls—scenes of battles with monsters mixed with portraits of women. I glanced over them quickly until my eyes landed on a familiar face. Gemma.

Her portrait hung on one of the walls. It felt strange seeing her for the first time without her typical blue-and-purple witch outfit. The one she wore in the painting covered much more of her hot body.

Had she worn that other outfit just for our conversations? I smiled slightly, realizing she probably had. Maybe, during our first meeting, she wanted to distract me a little. But now? Now she didn’t need to—unless she still wanted to dress sexy just for me.

Tori led us to the counter on the left, where a young blonde woman was seated. She looked to be around twenty, dressed in a black shirt that didn’t show much—but it didn’t hide much either, since she was fairly flat-chested.

“Hey, Tori,” the woman greeted cheerfully. “Another expedition, huh? Nothing going on in Ortas?”

“There’s something stirring, but today we’ll see how things go in the dungeon.”

The woman nodded, flipping through the thick ledger in front of her. She stopped on one of the pages and began writing something down. When she finished, her gaze shifted to me, Zoe, and Azura.

“New party?” she asked, still smiling.

“Yeah,” Tori replied simply.

“I’ll need your names and surnames.”

I glanced at Tori, who simply nodded.

“Tobias Nerton,” I introduced myself. I wondered for a moment if I should lie, but this surname didn't mean anything in this world anyway, and going into a dungeon didn't seem like something I needed to hide.

The woman wrote it down in the book and then glanced at Zoe, looking her up and down.

“Zoe Drazathis,” Zoe said quietly.

“From the Drazathis family?” the woman asked, narrowing her eyes at Zoe. Tori also turned suddenly, focusing on her.

“No!” Zoe gasped, moving closer to me and grabbing my arm.

The woman behind the counter nodded and wrote down her surname, but I noticed Tori kept watching Zoe a little longer. I glanced at my little demon girl, but she avoided my eyes, staring down at her feet.

“Azura Nerton,” Azura said, cutting through the tension and drawing attention away from Zoe—who turned toward her in surprise.

It struck me that Azura didn’t know her mother’s surname, so she didn’t actually know her own. But why did she choose to take my surname? She avoided eye contact, though that wasn’t unusual for her—it was just how she was, not necessarily because of the situation.

“All right, you’re good to go. Good luck,” the woman said.

“Thanks,” Tori replied, leading us further into the building toward one of the many doors.

“Drazathis family?” I asked Zoe. I knew her surname before, but I had no idea that it was some well-known family.

“Not here,” Tori whispered, before Zoe even had a chance to answer.

I glanced her way and realized that talking about something discreet in the center of the mage guild building wasn't the best idea, as I had no idea who could listen to us. But I also wasn't sure why Zoe being part of this family would be a discreet topic.

The next room was empty, except for a black crystal standing in its center and several paintings hanging on the walls. On the ground around the crystal was a black circular platform, made of the same material I had seen before in the magical stones.

Two women sat in the room as well, swords resting by their sides. Tori showed them her stone with the green symbol again, and they simply nodded without interrupting their conversation.

“Everyone standing on the platform during the transfer will be treated as a party inside the dungeon,” Tori explained as we stepped onto it.

She took her place next to the black crystal in the center. Up close, I could now see that it didn’t just stand on the platform—it grew out of it, as if it were part of the structure. When Tori put her hand on it, the crystal lit up, and from the platform’s edge, a dome shot upward, closing around us. It looked like it was made from the same metal, but in a liquid form—shimmering and rippling as it slid over our heads.

As the dome sealed shut, darkness fell. The only light came from the faintly glowing crystal at the center. And when the dome opened again, the world outside was no longer the same—we weren’t in the guild building anymore.

We were surrounded by thick, oppressive gloom, as if light itself was **** to enter this place. Cold, black walls rose on all sides, stretching so high that they disappeared into a gray mist that hovered far above. There was no ceiling in sight—only a vast, lifeless void.

The mist pulsed slowly, almost like it was breathing, hiding whatever might be lurking above. The ground beneath our feet was bare and dark—almost black—hardened as if countless feet, or something far heavier, had trampled it for centuries. Cold seeped up from the stones, and a clammy dampness clung to everything, slipping beneath clothes.

“So here we are,” Tori said. “As you can see, it's nothing special. Zoe, are you from the Drazathis family?”

“Umm…” Zoe hesitated, avoiding Tori’s gaze and looking at me.

“Who are the Drazathis?” I asked.

“The royal family in Liraveth,” Tori replied.

“Wait, wait, wait. Zoe, are you some kind of princess or something?” I asked, turning to her. That would explain why Gemma left her with me in that cave. I didn’t really believe it was just meant as a gift.

“No!” Zoe protested. “But… the queen is a distant relative of mine.”

“So you are from the Drazathis family?” I asked.

Zoe sighed, lowering her head and shoulders. “I was… they disowned me,” she added. “But I’m not closely related to the ones who rule. It’s a very distant connection.”

I nodded, wondering if that was reason enough for Gemma being interested in Zoe—even if she was disowned and banished from her lands. But how could Gemma even know that? How did she even know that Zoe lived there in a cave in the middle of nowhere? I doubted Gemma would answer these questions if I asked her.

I frowned, realizing something that probably should have come to mind earlier. I didn’t want to believe it, but what if everything Zoe had told me so far was just a bunch of lies? What if she hadn’t really lived in that cave? What if she was actually part of Gemma’s guild, and Gemma had planted her there with me? But why would she lie and come up with that whole story? That would explain why Zoe had such a high level—maybe she hadn’t gotten it from hunting animals. Maybe she had been in a dungeon before.

But there was one thing that didn’t fit. Her succubus level. We had barely had sex two or three times before she reached level two, and that meant she hadn’t done it with anyone before me. So she really had been starving all those years. And if she hadn’t been in the cave, she would’ve fed on someone.

And all those emotional moments—I didn’t want to believe they were lies. They couldn’t be. I believed they were real. But maybe I should ask her more, try to fish for clues… see if she knew Gemma beforehand. Maybe she had been placed there for me on purpose. Or maybe, just like me, she was only a part of Gemma’s plan.

“Master?” Zoe asked silently, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Maybe I should use your surname next time?” Zoe asked quietly, glancing toward Azura—who had already shifted into her wolf form—and then back to me with her pink eyes, pouting sweetly.

When she looked at me like that and asked a question like this, it was hard to believe she might be playing me, or that everything she’d told me was a lie.

I stepped closer to her. “Do you want to take my name?” I asked, towering over her and watching her face from up close. “Do you know what that would mean?”

“I already belong to you, Master,” Zoe whispered, her cheeks turning slightly red as she held my gaze.

That was another reason that only confirmed she wasn’t working for Gemma. She was my ****. My magically bound ****. Forever. Who would agree to that if all of this was just an act?

I cupped her chin and kissed her briefly. “Alright,” I said. “Better not risk anyone linking you to the royal family again.” Then I kissed her again, this time longer, as her cheeks deepened in color and her hands rested gently on my chest.

“I know the succubus has charmed you, but we came here to kill monsters,” Tori said with a soft smile.

I glanced her way and snorted. I grabbed Zoe’s ass and pulled her tightly against me, pressing hard, my fingers brushing the base of her tail. Zoe clung to me with a sharp moan of pleasure.

“Who charmed who here?” I asked, smiling.

“Master!” Zoe gasped, swatting my arm lightly.

I let go of her and she stepped back, adjusting her skirt. Her tail, which she had kept hidden during the journey and in front of others, slipped out from beneath it.

I looked over at Azura, now in her wolf form, sniffing around the ground nearby.

“Let’s focus on what we came here to do,” I said, unfastening the shield strapped to my back.

“You’re taking the backpack,” Tori said, stuffing Azura’s clothes into it—she’d simply tossed them on the ground. I put the backpack on. It wasn’t very heavy, and with Zoe’s help, I strapped the shield onto my forearm. I held my spear in my other hand.

“Everyone ready?” Tori asked, and once we all confirmed, she led us down one of the three corridors branching off from the room with the teleportation platform.

We moved through the dungeon’s corridors. The passages were fairly wide—easily over five meters—and everything around us felt vast, like we were wandering through an endless labyrinth. We walked in silence for several minutes. Tori listened intently, and Azura kept sniffing the ground nearly the entire time.

“There’s something ahead. A skeleton,” Tori said suddenly. “I can hear it down there,” she added, heading toward one of the paths at a fork.

“You know the paths in this labyrinth?” I asked, a bit worried we could get lost.

“Very well,” she replied, drawing her sword. “Stay back. I’ll handle it.”

After the next turn, I heard what she must’ve noticed earlier—a faint clatter and scraping, like something hard grinding against itself. Azura growled, and then I saw it—a skeleton.

It looked like one of those anatomy models from biology class, except its bones were real—some cracked, some chipped, dirty, and yellowed. A black mass glowed in its eye sockets—not eyes exactly, but clearly focused on us. In its bony hand, it held a rusty sword, and it began to move toward us. It was slow, limping on one leg—missing part of its foot—and it swayed with every step like a puppet with loose strings.

Tori charged to meet it.

The skeleton tried to swing its sword, but its movements were far too slow. Tori dodged easily, then slashed at its wrist. The bone and sword both dropped to the ground, and with a smooth turn, Tori followed up with a single, clean strike that severed its skull from the spine.

The head rolled across the ground while the rest of its bones clattered and collapsed into a pile on the spot.

“That’s it?” I asked.