The giant stone double doors turned to open with a clink and clank, dragging a grating sound as stone slid with stone. The doors opened full way, allowing the group escape out into the main dungeon.

"It's finally open." Ruan said, pointing to the double doors. Youmu in turn wrapped Nian behind her back. They had no giant direwolf to ride on given that Amigo was regenerating inside Mat's hand, so they had to make do with walking. All their bags were gone, burnt away from the blue wave of flames earlier. Their clothes, their things, all of them were gone. The only ones left were the metal tools and weapons, but even then they were all melted and deformed, all rendered unusable.

The only bag left was the satchel on Youmu's side. It was an enchanted bag, which meant that it could carry more items than normal like extra dimensional space, but it was still very, very limited. Mat guessed that's where the potions and blankets came from.

As they turned to leave, a shimmering blue caught Mat's eyes in the corner of his vision. When he turned, he could see a portal at the center of the giant room where the giant skeleton's body was before. It looked like a floating window into another world, with a blur obscuring the features on the other side like foggy mist.

"Wait, what's that?"

"A world portal." Youmu said, with Ruan following beside her as they headed outside the boss room. "To travel from one world to the next, people use these portals."

Mat then started heading towards the portal with curiosity drawn on his face.

"I wouldn't do that." Ruan said over the distance. "There's a dungeon on the other side of that portal. A stronger dungeon with monsters on the same level as that lich earlier."

Mat immediately doubled back, heading towards the girls. He didn't want anything more to do with monsters of that caliber. At least for now. His crippled arm was testament to that.

Passing through the double doors, they started making their way back towards the dungeon entrance, walking through the winding maze of brownstone.

"Hey Youmu." Mat said.

Youmu turned back to him with a quizzical look. "Something wrong?"

"Yeah." Mat looked over himself, seeing most of his pants burned. "Do you have any blankets left?"

. . .

As the group made their way back, Mat could see faint silhouettes in the far side of the shadows of the dungeon. Through the flickering lights of the torches on the walls, the silhouettes grew nearer and larger. Mat immediately grabbed for his sword before being stopped with a hand from Youmu.

"Wait." Youmu stared off the silhouettes. Her ears were working their magic, flapping left and right like she was trying to listen for something only her ears could pick up on. She then let out a deep sigh of relief. "Not to worry, they're adventurers. I know them."

Mat loosened the grip on the hilt of his sword before letting go completely. As the silhouettes grew closer the sound of armor and steel and all metal gears were made apparent. Once they stepped out of the shadows, their features were made apparent against the light of the torches.

"Rae rabendi ai, Youmu." The person upfront gestured to Youmu, letting out words in a foreign language- Sunadiean. He had bunny ears just like Youmu, Ruan, and Nian. A mink.

"Same to you, Kun." Youmu said before pointing to Mat. She then waved a disagreeing hand in front of her mouth, nodding left and right. Mat didn't know what the gesture meant, but it must have been something along the lines of him not being able to speak Sunadiean.

"Oh, sorry." The mink Kun said with a slight Scottish accent, giving away a dangerously sheepish smile. If Mat had a thing for guys, he'd have fallen for the dude then and there. He had piercing eyes with a white mane that complimented his physique. Mat was on the short end of the height scale, and standing against the six-foot hunk that was up front, he couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the sheer awesomeness of the person.

"Why are you here?" Ruan stepped forward. Her stance made it look like she wanted to pick a fight with Kun, like a hostile cat, ready to pounce. It was pretty clear she didn't like him.

This was Mat's first time seeing Ruan so angry. Sure she'd go tell Mat off sometimes whenever he's making mistakes while helping with the cooking, but this was a first for him seeing her so angsty towards another person. That said, Mat has only known three people in this fantasy world, so it was pretty unfair of him to say that.

Kun gestured to the people on the back. "I'm taking my subordinates on an excursion mission around Garafeit. We happened to find this dungeon out of happenstance while heading back."

"We obviously weren't expecting you guys." Another person from the back stuck out a tongue against Mat and the rest. He had red fluffy hair that was opposite to his immature and demeaning personality, but what stood out most of them all was his pointed ears. He was an elf.

"I thought elves were supposed to be hot?" Mat muttered under his breath, though he didn't realize that was the end of him once he said it.

"What was that, little man?" Redhair sneered a heavy look against Mat, prompting a pulsing glow from his crippled hand. His ghost familiars could sense danger and aggression aimed against their master, and this seemed to be one of those cases.

"Just so you know, all the ladies love me and my hair." Redhair banged his own chest plate with a fist. "And you're not really one to talk fucker. Even through that blanket I know you're as thin as a stick."

"Shut up already Laro." Another person caught Mat's attention to the redhead's right. It was another elf- an elf girl- with fairly short white hair complete with a side cut. She had on many piercings on ears and lip along with black tattoos of flowing snakes and all things slithering sprawled on her arms and neck like black sleeves, interconnected to one artful piece. The tattoos looked like cloth sleeves from the distance.

She was gorgeous.

Is every single girl in this world hot?

"You're defending him Flo?" Redhair said.

"No." The inked elf met Mat's gaze before turning back to Laro the redhair. "I just really don't like you."

The two continued bickering back and forth while Kun and Youmu continued with their talks. There were two other people with Kun's party, a pair of human twins. They had pure black hair with the common haircuts that Mat was familiar with back on Earth. An exchange of quick nods was all his interaction with the twins amounted to though. They were the first humans he encountered after arriving in this fantasy world, but it didn't feel as exciting as it was supposed to be.

"Let's get back to Garafeit then." Kun took away Nian from Youmu, carrying her now to a bridal carry. "My boat is just outside the portal. Let's go."

Kun led the way through the dungeon, following close behind him Laro, Flo the inked elf, and then the two twins. Behind them were Youmu, Ruan, and Mat.

"Hold on." Mat came to a pause. "Did he say boat?"