A crumbled chapel, Cigfil's holy bastion, met the trio as they grew closer to it. The building was hundreds of years old, built using stones that MC recognised.

"This came from Terra, the Gælic Highlands to be precise. I recognise that lime and sandstone mix and match. They used the same stuff for castles around Celtanicca, where I and Wardi came from." Filled with pride, MC cracked a smile and felt a warmth rise on his face. 'It's nice to see things from the old world; I feel normal again seeing things from my trips around the country.'

Horace stayed quiet, but he could pick up on how happy MC was. I hope there's a place you can call home here, bro. I'd miss you if you were gone. Walking on ahead, the smell of the chapel hit his nose: burnt lumber and stone piled up around a recently used stove. He sniffed the air and noticed that there didn't seem to be anyone around. I wonder if they went in the dungeon?

"Can you find anything, Horace?" He shook his head at the question.

"The bookie is in here...I think." Dillee yelled, and the pair headed inside, avoiding the crumbled ceilings.

I, the bookie San, ask of ye, dare you face the three-star dungeon ahead? The trio are used to seeing animals as bookies, so for them to see some random man acting in place, they were hesitant to proceed. Speaking up out of concern, MC interacted with the supposed bookie. "Mate, where's the bookie? For real, don't make me slap you."

"I am the bookie… Temporarily."

With brows raised, MC asked, "Temporarily? I don't think either I or he have ever heard of such a thing with the bookies."

Sighing and looking deflated in his white toga and barefoot, the alleged bookie replied, "It's a new scheme the job centre is running. They're using us to fill in for PTO workers." "HA!" Horace piped loudly.

"Well, you can't expect to just sit around getting free money all the time, can you?" Dillee groaned.

"I feel you, pal. How long have you been job hunting?" MC had to ask, because assumption generally isn't a smart indicator. "Turned 16 in 2042, so six years now."

Never mind, he was right to judge.

"You've been on welfare since obtaining system access!? Why don't you be an adventurer!?"

"It isn't easy, mate! They want people with certain classes and skills these days."

"Yes, it is! You have the potential to do ANYTHING WITH THAT SYSTEM. You lazy shit, ha!" "Ugh, stop judging me; all of you are the same! Are you going into this dungeon or not? I'm done with this convo."

Horace, in the background, coughed. "SPONGER." cough cough. "FUCK YOU~" the bookie responded.

MC laughed at Horace's insult and spoke up, "We wish to enter."

The floor split in two, and the trio fell down towards a large circular arena.

What the fuck? Why didn't anyone warn us that this was going to happen?

"Adventurers suck!" the temporary book yelled down at them

MC panicked in these thoughts, unable to process what was happening.

Dillle and Horace were unfazed and were freefalling without a care in the world. They could survive a drop like this; MC, on the other hand, can't… Probably.

"This fucking SUCKSSSS~"

The free-falling procedure has now stopped.

Stopping just before they hit the ground, the trio floated inches away from it. MC had barely been able to not wet his pants and felt the sudden urge to rush off and relieve himself.

"HEY, where are you GOING? THE boss is there."

Serilia be damned, this is a bloody embarrassment. I feel OLD.

"I thought I was going to die then; my bladder was going to burst. I'll catch up shortly; you guys start without me!"

"Let's go, Horace, old boy; this foe needs to be dealt with." Dillee was excited to go another round in a dungeon, especially since Murph's gauntlet was a bit of an anticlimax for him.

Readying his crossbow and Dillee transforming, the pair started approaching their foe.

"Ye fools that enter here… You dare to challenge me in my domain? I, the fabled Ciglil, shall end you!"

Horace activated his ability, upgrading the turret. The pact breaker .

They faced off against a knight wearing a full suit of plate mail. It was far larger than they were and heavily armed. Two orbs levitated next to one that glowed green, and the other glowed orange.

***

MC turned around expecting a little bit more of the boss; he thought it would be taller. That's a relief… I wasn't exactly up for pissing my pants in front of the boiz. This thing doesn't look too much of a challenge… surprised it's not towering over us.

Horace unleashed the first shot; a bolt flew through the air towards the knight. The green orb next to him, however, came into action. blasting a wave of wind, stopping the bolt dead in its tracks

"God damn you're NOT GETTING A WIN OVER ME," Horace shouted.

"What does the red one do?" MC shouted to Horace,

Horace shrugged, "How the hell should I KNOW? We only just started this DUMB FIGHT."

"Ruff ruff," Dillee barked. Not that we had any idea what that meant, but we'll assume he said, "That's right."

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Cigfil laughed at Horace's attack being deflected away. "Ha, you stupid brats. One does not simply walk into my domain and expect to defeat me in such a petty manner." Cigfil readied a warhammer, tapping it into his gauntlet, as if he were some sort of clock. Clang, Clang, Clang.

"That noise was going to get old pretty damn fast."

"New plan! Horace, fire at the red one; Dillee, attack the green one!"

Dillee jumped into the green orb; his fists clashed against the swing of the hammer as it tried to attack him mid-jump.

"Grrruf, grufff, gruff!" Dillee barked at the foe when he landed.

The orb was unattackable, however. The bolt Horace fired into the red orb passed straight through but came out of fire, erupting into flames as it hit the back of the grey stony wall behind it.

Dillee swung around blindly, wondering what to do next; a hammer connected to his thick stomach. Stumbling back slightly, he returned the attack with a jumping haymaker. DONG~ rang out as his fist connected with Ciglil's helmet.

"Great shot, bud."

Annoying laughter, however, came from the knight as he composed himself.

"Yahaha! Did you think such an attack would defeat me so easily!? You fools, this armour is impenetrable. My armour is as hard and forged as my mind. Your puny attack didn't leave a mark!"

"Dillee, get BACK!"

The weapon platform unleashed an unrelenting barrage of missiles and bullets on the knight. The room was too small for such an attack, and the flames from the fire could be felt from far away; there was no escaping the sound of the explosions. Dillee remained unfazed due to his natural toughness, while Horace and MC were deafened by the attack.

"DO YOU THINK WE GOT IT?"

"I DON'T KNOW, LAD; PROBABLY. THAT'S A LOT OF DAMAGE, YOU KNOW!?"

"GARUUU," Dillee snarled, trying to join in with the pair.

"An impressive attack indeed. And yet here I stand, silly adventurers, still ready to fight ye three ants. Try harder next time, and PERHAPS you may defeat me."

The trio weren't worried, but they were perplexed by the situation. Dillee jumped in of his own instincts, keeping the foe distracted whilst Mc and Horace discussed a strategy.

"Well, this is a little unexpected. Didn't think he'd take a full-on assault from that and live to hurl insults at us a few seconds later." MC was trying to understand the arena and the orbs.

Horace synthesised a regeneration shell for the pair and loaded it into the turret.

Is there something I'm missing here? The green one blows back, and the red one sets the bolt on fire… MC asked Horace for ideas.

CLANG, TWANG rang out among the fighting as Dillee and Ciglil traded blows.

"What do you think, bud? Have you got any ideas? I currently have got nada."

Horace took a moment; looking around, he was hoping something would catch his eye.

'Dunno, maybe this can only be beaten with Arts.'

"I get the FEELING THAT, maybe, we need Lucy for this."

MC sighed, placing his hands up, stretching, before bringing them down, resting to the sides.

Nah, there has to be a way. That would be a cop-out.

"Let's think on it a little. Maybe the foe can only be hit if it stands in one of the orbs?"

It would be a little simple if that were the case, though, surely.

Dillee wasn't showing any signs of tiring, though his barking and snarling were starting to get a little out of hand; little buddy was frustrated for sure.

"Eyyy, buddy. Keep it up. We're going to figure this stuff out, ok? You keep kicking ass in there."

Horace looked at MC, wondering why he did that and raising a brow. "Motivational support. Don't want him to lose focus and the big guy to start paying attention to us instead. Hey Dillee, take his sword, punch his head off~"

"RARGH," Dillee shouted as he jumped in, grappling with the knight. The knight was much stronger than the rest of the group, but Dillee was easily fighting and winning. He started swinging the knight around, trying to loosen his grip. "Unhand me, foul broc-head, lest you go into the pot for tonight's broth."

Dillee didn't take kindly to the species-ist words; they were the long-distance cousins twelve times removed.

Snatching the sword out of the foe's hands, he started trying to slash with it; his leafy appendages, however, couldn't quite grab the blade.

"Ah, feck. He really can't use weapons, Horace. He's trying to pick the sword up, but it keeps flopping out of his hand."

Horace snorted; he found it too funny to see poor Buddy, he thought, as it chattered on the floor, constantly bouncing up, metallic sounds ringing out.

"A blade as fine as that is no good to such an abomination against culinary and floral delights."

This guy is driving me nuts; I want to smelt him down and fire him off to sea.

"Ok, bud. Enough with the monologues. Sheesh. Horace, fire that shell into the area; let's just try anything here, bud."

The pair re-joined Dillee, but attempts at figuring out the mechanics were going nowhere. MC tried different weapons, hoping that one of them might exploit the foe's specific weakness. Pings and plonks were all that came from it; as blows bounced off the foe, the trio's frustrations were really getting out of hand.

***

"Silly adventurers, did you not listen to my words? My armour is too tough for the likes of ye."

"Oh, shut the fuck up, will you!"

MC threw a dart javelin out, though the foe dodged out of the way. It passed through the red orb, and the long needle and thread it was connected to ignited as it did so. The green orb blew the dart up and straight through the head of Cigfil, setting it ablaze.

"Jesus fucking wept, that was a shocker haha."

"NOO, YOU FIGURED OUT THE MECHANICS, DAMN YOU, ADVENTURER!"

Cigfil collapsed to the floor and disappeared in a flash, the body replaced by a treasure chest.

Dillee transformed back into his usual self, and the three headed over to it.

"I do hope this will be fruitful for us again." Dillee shimmied his stem around while celebrating.

"WEIRDO, learn the high five jive. COPY ME." Horace held his hand up to start. MC was more interested in the chest drop.

"Hopefully it drops something; the rest is going to Labaley, don't forget!"

The chest was a brassy colour, and the light it emitted once opened wasn't dissimilar. It was a familiar sight for MC, with a single new addition:

*Booffal leather pieces

*Arache silk

*Bazarn ingots

*Reinforced hard hat

"Hey Horace, up for a trip down memory lane? Come check this out."

As he walked over, his eyes rolled IT'S ALL THE STUFF we're using currently."

"Heck yeah! Now, tell me what the stats are for that cap."

Diligent labourer's helmet: +30 defence

vitality + 10

Reduces blunt damage by 25%

"Holy shit. That's frigging awesome; I'm having that!"

"A fine addition to your look, sire, and you can use it on a building site too!"

"No more dungeons now, though, eh? Labaley can take the Arachne and buffalo items, while we can hopefully sell those ingots…

The dungeon propelled the trio upward and back to the cathedral entrance. Crashing down on the floor, MC got up and spoke, "I'm glad I already went to the bathroom; that would have definitely ruined my bladder."

"THANKS FOR LEAVING ME AT THE ATOLLS, YOU ARSEHOLES." A familiar voice barked at the trio.

"Oh SHIT. We forgot all about you, Norman!"

"Of course you did, you frigging JERKS."

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