"Oh thank fuck! Thank fuuuuck!"

The military-like man named Mark, looking like a grizzled veteran who had seen wars from his countenance, shouted with absolute joy and revelry as he crouched and put his hands over the sides of his face. His face looked ready to cry, as though everything he had been holding up to now was finally being released.

That honestly took Mikella back a step, and Janet a few steps more. She certainly didn't expect this man to look this relieved to find out that they were getting help from supposedly strong strangers.

That, and showing him their real levels was enough to prove that all of their problems would now cease to be.

"See, Mark?" Elly crouched to the same level as him, showing an ecstatic smile. "I told you things would go our way at some point!"

"Yeah," Mark said back, still looking at the ground with a relieved expression. "Finally, your overly bursting positivity finally had a goddamn use."

"Hey!" Elly protested. "It's only natural! Better than to be some silly negative goose like you!"

"It's not negativity–it's realism," Mark said, sounding as though he had this conversation with Elly multiple times before but never quite stuck with her.

He rose up to his full height, though now he looked more relaxed. His muscles released their tension, showing Mark for who he truly was–a scared man in his twenties who was clearly way over his head in this situation.

She had to admit, Mikella had to give credit to this man. He knew the situation was bad, and everyone would instantly rely on a man who had military experience–at least that's how she saw the man in his getup–to lead them out of this mess.

If it was her, she would gladly dump all of this responsibility and grab Clara out of here in a heartbeat. So in short; she respected this man. That, and especially for having to handle Elly and her… eccentricities. She had a good feeling that these two were linked like Zeke and herself, but that was still up in the air.

"Sorry about that," Mark apologized, though his face never returned back to having that intimidating air around him. "It's just… it's been a lot. And with the other camp being what they are…"

"I get it," Mikella nodded. "I'm glad that you're okay with us being here. I know how hard it must be, and we would've understood if you didn't trust us."

"Not like I have a choice," Mark shrugged. "With your levels, you could've easily killed us all with one finger. Probably."

Mikella decided not to comment on that. "It's no different than using a gun in a crowded area. I have no intention of hurting anyone."

"And," The man replied easily. "What about the ones who committed crimes? The ones that attacked us? Are you going to save them too?"

There was an edge to that tone, and it was easy to tell why. It was also easy to answer.

"I will," Mikella answered truthfully. "But don't worry–just because the law isn't here to protect us doesn't mean they can get away with it. I intend to… teach them a lesson they'll never forget."

She smiled, and the look of her yellow eyes caused Mark to visibly shake. He shook his head, staving off the shivers down his spine. She didn't mean to scare him, but hopefully it would prove that she won't forgive criminals.

"And there are more of us too, but we got separated when we arrived here. For now, can we speak somewhere privately? I'd rather not get everyone in high hopes since this might take a while to go through."

"Of course," Mark nodded eagerly. "Elly, can you bring everyone in charge to my tent? And also–don't tell them about what we're going to talk about before we head there. Just be casual, alright?"

"Alright, alright," Elly waved her hand in annoyance. "Geez, what do you take me for, a kid?"

There was a look on Mark's face that showed exactly what he thought about her, but he refused to say anything else as he led the two women to his tent. While it sounded dirty-minded, the man couldn't look any more excited than hearing that there would be extra food supplies to a starving settlement.

"Mikella, what do we do about the others?" Janet asked. "Is it really okay not to find them before trying to help these people first?"

"Right now, this takes more priority," Mikella said. "Helping them is our main point of being here. After that is clearing the tower. Once we reach that point, we can try to find the others with some added help on our side."

"Ooh, I see," Janet nodded understandingly.

"And don't worry. So far the monsters here aren't that strong, so I think even if Lyle was alone, he can handle himself. Besides, I have a feeling that Zeke might be near him too, considering his luck and all."

"Wow, you think so?" Janet tilted her head quizzically. "What makes you so sure?"

"Zeke has a way of getting under my skin sometimes with this crap," Mikella rolled her eyes. "He makes me worry like mad, then he shows up out of nowhere with a way that would help all of us. He's a bastard like that."

"Sounds like you really rely on him," Janet said with a warm smile. "Sometimes I'm a little jealous that you have such a good boyfriend."

Mikella paused. Her eyes widened for a moment before turning to Janet who also stood still, surprised at her reaction.

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"He's not my boyfriend," Mikella said, offering a disarming smile. "He's just, like, my best friend and partner, like you and Lyle."

"Uhh, I'm pretty sure best friends don't make out in the dark to the point where it turned Rated R," Janet answered, raising a brow while making a crooked smile.

"You saw that?!"

"Well, yeah," Janet's head hung back. "I was still on the mission to assassinate Zeke. I couldn't do it at the time, but yeah… I saw everything."

This time, Mikella's eyes widened to the point of her pupils dilating. She instantly grabbed Janet's shoulders, shocking Janet. But what made her truly terrified was the absolute look of desperation in her eyes.

"Don't. Ever. Say that to Zeke. Promise me. Promise. Me. Now."

She looked shocked, but after figuring out what she said, Janet's eyes turned from shocked to mortified.

"He doesn't remember? Wait, did you do that while he was… Oh… oooh…"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Mikella let go of Janet's shoulders, waving them around frantically. "It was consensual, alright? He even told me how good I smell and everything! It was totally legit, just… just not really something he needed to know before I'm good and ready."

"...He told you that you smell good?" Now Janet had that look on her face as though she was staring at something horrifically degenerate. "And you took that as an excuse to attack him? Mikky, what the hell…?"

"It's not like that!" Mikella shouted. "You're making this way worse than it actually sounded! I mean–"

"Hey!" Mark shouted to the girls, looking annoyed at their lagging behind. "Are you coming or not?"

"C-Coming!" Mikella shouted back, but not before turning to Janet with a crazed look in her eyes. "Not. A. Word. To Zeke. You understand?"

"Uhh, sure," Janet narrowed her eyes.

Mikella glared at Janet who seemed to be totally willing to just drop the whole thing, but she didn't trust that. Before turning back around, Mikella turned to Janet one final time, pointed at her own eyes with two fingers, then pointed them back at Janet.

Janet just looked at her with pure incredulity. Shaking her head, Janet followed the clearly panicking Mikella to the leader's tent.

…..

The inside of the tent was bare-bones, except for a table filled with scraps of parchment that were used to write, though the product itself was barely passable as a writing tool. There was one single table put there by Mark himself at the center of the large tent, which was also used as a meeting hub for the ones in charge.

As for them, Mark was clearly the leader, being the only one with enough military experience. Another was, surprisingly, Elly. Apparently while she may be a chatterbox with a broken off button, she was the sort that would keep moving and ensure everyone was alive, healthy, and even offer to help hunt monsters to get more loot for themselves. Her Class allowed her to create these simple furniture, such as the table and tent, allowing her to use the items they gather while also creating some crapshot weapons to attack monsters–at least when they were weak enough for them to handle.

There were several more people, but they looked more disheveled and unkempt, and didn't look like they had as much of a standing at the tent than the two Mikella knew.

There was one another guy, sporting accessories like a ring around his nose and lip. Spiky blond hair while wearing a tank top and jeans like any other fratboy in the old world. There was also another girl, on top of Elly's friend, who had a black ponytail with some blue dye across her bangs. She looked worse for wear, but she had that look that pretty much screamed that she was done with this and wanted to just finish this whole ordeal.

Janet and herself, on the other hand, stood opposite of the entire group, showing no sign of hostility as she wanted. It was clear they were still uncomfortable, especially since Mikella's wings took up nearly an entire side, and her scales probably didn't give off any peaceful vibes. Still, there was nothing she can do about that.

They've been talking for a while now, about an hour or so of Mikella explaining the situation as best she could. She did have to avoid telling them certain terms that would only confuse them further, such as the angels Zoan and Hyralc, and the gods responsible for putting them there. For now, she decided to play with the idea of mystery that they were all forced to go through, and once they were in a better position–Zeke can handle the rest.

She certainly wasn't going to go the extra mile to explain the stuff going on. She just wanted to swing her weapons around.

After she finished, Mark looked down at the table with a studious gaze.

"I see…" Mark nodded his head. "So we're still not in the clear yet, then?"

"Not yet," Mikella explained. "But once we find our allies that came with us, we can head over to the bosses ourselves and take care of them. We've been through enough to know that the monsters would grow stronger as time passed."

"Time… that makes sense then," Mark nodded slowly, getting the others to follow. "At first, the monsters were easy to handle, at least when in a group. But lately the monsters have gotten pretty strong. They've gotten strong to the point where we mostly had to run from them."

"So that means the longer we play around with the other camp, the worse it'll be for all of us?" The frat looking guy pointed out. Mark closed his eyes with a deeper frown.

"And of course they won't listen to us and just keep on killing us," Another woman replied. The very same friend that Elly had, a redhead that stretched down to the upper part of her back. She turned to Mikella. "Are you absolutely sure you want to help them? Even after everything they've done to us?"

Mikella only stayed silent, but she glared at the woman. She instantly wilted, taking a step back from her gaze.

She can't blame her, but she didn't want to let them think that human lives can just be ignored. She promised she will deliver judgment, so she will. But she can't ignore them.

How can she face Clara then, if she did?

"That's not our decision to make," Mark said, putting down the tense atmosphere. "Right now, we'll focus solely on getting out of here. If they want to help the other camp, that's on them. But I only plan on getting us out of here… I hope that's okay with you."

While Mark seemed more than happy to leave the other camp to stay and die, that didn't mean that he wanted to get in the way of Mikella and the others. Mikella nodded to his response.

"That's fine. I just want to keep everyone notified of what we're about to do. Honestly, I wish I can help everyone here now, but the best I can do is kill the monsters that might be around us. Right now I need to know where to find the boss of the dungeon."

"A boss of a dungeon…" The frat guy said crestfallen. "I still can't believe this entire place is a dungeon. It just feels so wrong."

"And another world outside?" The woman with the blue dyed hair spoke up. "It's really hard to believe in that sort of thing, but right now everything's pretty much possible isn't it?"

"That's the truth," Mark said, getting the two to quiet down for him to continue. "As for the boss… we're sorry. But we have no idea where to find them. We had enough difficulty trying to survive this hellhole."

"That's okay," Mikella assured. "After seeing this, it's not surprising. For now, I'd appreciate it if you can tell us if you found our group members. Especially the one in a white jacket–that's my partner, and he's a healer."

Their eyes widened at the word. Clearly, everyone's injured enough to want one around, and most likely they have injuries that normal regeneration can't handle.

"And he loves to help. It's almost a disease for him," Mikella smiled. "But for now, let's see what we can do for the camp."

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