Blobs and blibs were thrown around like chew toys as Dillee effortlessly one-shot them in each section. He let out a fearsome 'RARGH' in triumph of his efforts.

"I know it's only a two-star dungeon, but it's frigging crazy. He's just walking through it all like it's nothing."

"YEAH. Seeing him in action, RHUA's gonna be super HAPPY THAT someone else can get SLAPPED AROUND inside the dungs."

Proceed to the next section

Blobs had stopped appearing, and now only more person-sized Blibs did so in their place. Traps had begun to activate with bleeps and cranking as walls opened at the sides. Arrows flew around as Dillee stomped forward, dodging and fighting back against the blips. Spike traps appeared from glyphs in the floor. And now as Dillee knocked his opponents into the air, they were getting killed from the impalements, not just his leafy lampings.

"There's just no stopping Dil. He is an absolute unit."

"HECK YEAH!"

"Let's just let him carry on doing his thing. Have you heard from the others yet?"

"NAH, not a peep. I'm sure they'll BUZZ US at some point."

*** Trio swap

Wardi's trio had been making their way southwards and had managed to make it to New Stonk's city for a pit stop. Lucy was exhausted from the constant jogging on/off.

"Gasp, have you huff heard from them, Rhua?" Lucy was desperate to cool down from her marathon sprint.

Rhua scanned across her. message tab, "Not a peep. It's about time we took a rest. We've been going nonstop for hours."

Wardi noticed Lucy struggling and began to carry her as they made their way through an old abandoned shopping mall from Old Terra. New Stonks City had been constructed on three levels: living quarters were built at the top level, shopping districts at the surface level, and administrative departments in the underground. Due to the sheer size of it, it had become an eyesore to the locals across the lands. The environmental whack jobs would come out in their droves complaining and trying to sabotage the building efforts.

"Heh, can you remember when the protestors used to complain about this place?" Wardi said, giggling to himself.

Rhua nodded in response, "Of course. You could smell them from a mile away. They always have that pong? It's not even a bad smell; it's just bloody WEIRD..."

"I know, right!? It has a certain 'I'm spiritually enlightened from my world travels' aroma to it."

Wardi began to think about some of the chants that were heard back then.

'We could have had an area of outstanding beauty and you built up this eyesore instead?'

'Bulldoze the mall; it's far too tall!'

"They wasted so much time trying to rise up against something that was easily resolved through a basic invisibility enchantment… Silly tree huggers, what will you do next, eh?" Wardi's joking around earned him a smile from Rhua and a huff from Lucy.

New Stonks City, like Eccles Ville. It was a place that never slept. The lights in the shopping district were basically never off, and the stores, unlike those in Ecclesville, were 24-hour stores. The mall was one of the most attractive locales in the world. It was new when it was built in old Terra, barely six months old when the world merge happened. While it wasn't ideally placed into the waters of the atolls, it was still picked to be the main city for the region due to infrastructural benefits, like cabling and plumbing already in place.

The intricate, creamy-white marbled pillars that lined the mall throughout paired well with the brassy fixtures, fittings, skirting, and balcony walkways. Smells of different food stalls and restaurants enticed the trio as they made their way towards the escalators.

Can't beat a good pie and mashed tato! Wardi caught wind of a tavern serving Old Terra-style cuisine, reminding him of his mum's cooking.

For Rhua, being the classy lady that she is, the smell of sinnamun and sweet things in the air wafted into her nostrils. I'd do questionable things for Sinnamun Ostkake [Cinnamon cheesecake] right now. That smells bloody amazing.

She loved cheesecake; it was one of the first desserts she had as a child. Creamy, jordbær goodness with a hint of vanil would really hit the spot for her.

Lucy, on the other hand, came from a family that enjoys simple, plain foods. Not the type that tantalised your taste buds. In fact, Lucy had barely eaten many types of food until joining up with this lot.

One of her favourite dishes: Lajfrazi curry. The fragrance of the curry was hard to miss; cilantro, ginger, cardamom and peberice mixed in with a hearty serving of tammaro, kapiscuma and goghurt all simmering away was hard to ignore. Particularly as the guy making it was using wind Arts to blow it around the mall. Shoppers and those living here held their noses and shielded their eyes from the strong spicy smells.

The other two weren't so keen on the smell on that note either, but Lucy and MC both shared a love of foods that tickled the taste buds.

GIVE IT TO ME. GIVE ME THE CURRY NOW. Lucy screamed in her head like an addict looking for their next fix.

"Why don't we grab takeout? There's not many queues around at the moment." Wardi's suggestion seemed to be an agreeable one for the others. "Can try to reach the other three as well while waiting in lines. Three shell phones are better than one after all."

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Rhua responded, though she was certainly feeling feisty thanks to all the food around setting her stomach off grumbling, "Yeah, all right then, let's meet at the hotel lift when we're done. Nobody rides it up, though! I don't want to go out trying to find you two. It's bad enough that I'm going to slap the other two when they rejoin us!"

*** MC

The trio came face to face with the final section. It came through as a teeny tiny Blib. flexing like it was gonna kick some ass. The expanding hallway took the three by surprise. All the Blobs and Blibs dealt with before suddenly reappeared behind the trio.

"What the heck is this all about then?"

"Something's gonna happen. We've SEEN THIS TYPE OF thing before."

The previous foes all flew towards the tiny one that came through the final portal. Flowing inside him and causing it to grow bigger as each one passed into it.

That was kind of predictable actually; I'm surprised we didn't deduce that was gonna happen ourselves, all things considered. MC thought as the previous foes flew overhead. No longer was the Blib just a silvery grey humanoid. It grew a crown and a cape as well.

"Heh, IT'S THE lord of the Blibs!"

"Lad that joke was shit." MC shook his head in disbelief

"RUDE,"

The LOTB's stood tall and proud, wielding his mighty whip that could Whopah from anywhere in the now circular arena. It flexed its spare arm, muscles bulging and veiny; it dwarfed the trio even if they stood stacked on top of each other.

Despite the change, it wasn't an unnerving experience; they have been through this sort of thing before. Though it began to implode on itself and turned into several times as many foes as before. That was a bit of a shock. Horace and MC thought together

"Yeah, we should probably give Dillee a hand this time; I'd feel bad if he had to take on all of those on his own."

Horace nodded in agreement

Well, they don't seem to be stopping anytime soon; should we just start swinging? MC thought as he readied a staff from his inventory.

"Now would have been a good time to use that ability, you lad, ha-ha."

"I KNOW."

Horace started the fight off with a shelling from behind. BOOM BANG, Although the explosions failed to break apart the dungeon flooring, Blob's and Blib's limbs and fluids were splattered around from blowing apart. He picked off the stragglers that didn't quite die instantly, delivering crossbow bolts straight through their heads. Thwonk, thwonk, MC could hear as the bolts fired from the crossbow.

Dillee used one of the Blibs as his own personal clubbing tool, swinging it around like a zerker raging his head off wildly. Bodies flew in all directions, some towards MC and Horace. "Oi, Dil, watch what you're doing; those have been coming our way, ha!" A blob crashed into MC, knocking him to the floor and dying.

"I JUST SAID WATCH OUT~"

Dillee was too engrossed in the fisticuff round 4 happening. His swift jabs as he bobbed and weaved against attacks flying back at him gave him great opportunities to punch heads off. Whopahwhopahwhopah! A series of whips connected against his back, causing him to let out a "RRRRAHG" in annoyance.

"RUFF," He barked and jumped up, body slamming a group of Blibs. Their silvery grey liquids flew out across the floor. Gotta avoid that; don't want to slip and break something. MC joined up with Horace, back to back with him. With his staff at the ready, he targeted the knees of a blob he thrust at.

The staff pressed into the fleshy knees of the Blob, sending it stumbling towards him. He swung the staff upwards, connecting a hit against a chin, before delivering a final hit against the side of its head with a loud squelch. I really need some upgrades, yeesus wept. I'm falling behind too much now.

Whilst his comrades were delivering death blows with every hit, MC was in a position where he felt like it was the beginning all over again. It had been a while since he was in a position of inadequacy. The doubts that creep up behind you, "You're not good enough," "Just quit whilst you're ahead." Intrusive thoughts filled his mind as he slowly watched the dungeon come to a close.

This just isn't good enough. I have to change; they need to know I can be useful too.

***

In the heavenly realm, Phahl had returned to the monitoring station to see what the trio had been up to. He dropped his sandwich when he saw they had cleared the dungeon.

Son of a… "Technician, what the hell happened in there?"

"What do you mean, Phahl?"

"The dungeon parameters were changed; they should still be fighting."

"Nothing caught my attention, sir; I assumed you changed your mind at the last moment."

Kaiser give me strength

Phahl searched through the dungeon history for anything unusual, trying not to throttle the technician. Typing away, the 1's and 0's came back with nothing, and he slapped the screen, blowing it up.

He reached for the microphone to announce to the trio,

"The dungeon has been cleared! Congratulations, you speedrunning cheats. Maybe next time, you can clear a more level-appropriate dungeon, eh?" The announcement spoke out.

Next time will be different, you little shits...

Dillee returned to normal and walked over to the pair standing there surprised by that voice; Horace and MC couldn't help but speak about it.

"THAT WAS A WEIRD voice. WASN'T the regular one,"

"Aye, lad. Must have been one of the gods checking in on us."

"I had the most wonderful time in here. Something with a little more bite would be nicer next time, however." Dillee chimed in, derailing our conversation.

I hope that doesn't happen again. We don't need any more shenanigans.

"I'm sure we will soon enough, bud. Either way, you have the honour of opening the loot box."

Dillee failed to notice the shiny bronze chest at the exit. Until MC pointed at it. He began to wander over with curiosity.

"Shame it's only a TWO-STAR PLACE; the loot's not going to be that great."

"I know, bud. I'm in need of some upgrades." MC was going to examine himself, but Dillee distracted him again.

"So how does one open these chests? Do I just punch it open? Use a key?" The chest opened on its own. Dillee jumped back, kicking it in a reflexive manner. Its flashing illuminated lights were mesmerising him. "What's in there, Dil?

Dillee rummaged through the chest, almost falling into it. "It appears to be some sort of circular thing …of sorts…" Getting annoyed by how he was taking Horace, went over to give him a hand, pulling him out. Dillee was standing there in amazement. A battery was in his hand.

Horace erupted into laughter. "Hahaha~ what kind of reward IS THAT!" Dillee wasn't thrilled at Horace's response, "You mock me, dear Horatio? My first dungeon clear, ruined by your mockery!" "Alright, you two… Identify that battery already, PLEASE." *Eyyyy-lemental enhanced pyro-cell battery, 10 minutes use time. Recharges once a day. Fits most electronic devices… etc*

"Nice job, Dil. Got ourselves a good find there; we have just the device for that!" Happy to hear the praise, Dillee replied, "That's brilliant, sir!"

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