Ank

I was a little scared. Okay, maybe a lot scared.

Why? Because, after we rested for some time at Taffy’s house, we gathered our stuff, and said our goodbyes yet another time. Then, however, the woman replied with “make sure you have all you need for the journey~”, and, I know this is what I should have been expecting in the first place, the normal answer… but:

“Wasn’t she implying that we won't come back this time?”, I voiced my concerns, reaching the place where we fought our first [Glyptodon].

“She definitely was implying we won't come back this time”, my sister agreed, looking just as tense as me.

To have that woman saying those things; the retired adventurer who kept every monster in the jungle at bay with her aura alone, the older woman who correctly guessed the result of every one of my sister and mine excursions; that we wouldn’t return to her house, was even scarier than any description of the 3rd king we could have received.

And so, as we made through the 1st layer of the jungle, and deeper into the 2nd layer, our anxiety grew larger. Not enough so we would give up; I honestly thought there was nothing scary enough to convince us to stop to pursue our revenge; but just enough so we decided to make a quick detour from our straight path, and stop by the solitary [Dungeon], Incute, just one more time to say our goodbyes. As we approached the cave/entrance, however, a green screen popped between us and the place, announcing:

[This Dungeon is in expansion right now, please, come back later]

“Oh, I see”, I commented.

Both of us, twins, were already turning our backs to the cave, when the green screens text changed and passed to display:

[“Wait, wait, wait! That was an automatic message, I can’t really change it! Do- Do you want to talk a little f- friends?”]

“Yeah, well, we came to say some proper goodbyes, Incute”, my sister said, smiling. “But, don’t worry, we’ll be going to a city, and we will tell everyone about your amazing adventure”.

[“｡ﾟ( ﾟஇ‸இﾟ)ﾟ｡ Thank you! I- I don’t even know how to express this gratitude!”]

“Tell me how you make your monsters”, I asked immediately.

“Give me another shield”, Hunah begged at the exact same time as I did.

“Oh, come on. Incute can’t just go around giving items, be reasonable”, I tried to put some common sense into my sister’s head.

“I don’t want the guy who asks such personal questions trying to teach me about being reasonable”, Hunah replied, her face even more inexpressive than normal.

[“Friends, friends! Its okay, I’m not mad nor anything! (>▂

But, I’m sorry, Hunah, I literally can't give you any items right now. And the reason also has to do with how I make monsters: 99% of a [Dungeon] energy go to make and keep the pocket dimension, where our core resides, and this includes the monsters and items that reside inside us. Sorry, Ank, but I cant teach you how to summon them like I do, for these creatures are something else, they are [Perpetual Summons]. Something between a common summoned creature, and an actual living being, but lasting longer than the first, and lacking the self-sufficiency of the second.”]

“So, is it possible to make your summons last forever?”, I closed my shaking fists, and felt the excitement rushing through my blood just by imagining it. I heard Hunah sighing, but ignored it.

[“Well, yes? If you’re strong enough, that is.”]

There was a moment of silence, for I was too concentrated in imagining myself taking over a [God]’s kingdom with an army of forever lasting summoned monsters.

[“…Nice weather, isn’t it?], and Incute immediately moved to her safe idle talk strategy after the brief conversation pause.

“Sure, but, hu… There’s something Ank told me, that has been bothering me for some time. Incute, he said that no [God] claim the creation of [Dungeons], so... where do you guys come from?”

[“I don’t know. Actually, I don’t think any [Dungeon] known. We surely don’t reproduce, but simply wake up someday, already existing. So it’s a mystery even for us.”]

Spooky, surely, but:

“Why was this bothering you? Are you finally starting to get into this monster-making world?”, I asked, a tiny speck of hope of sharing my obsession with someone for the first time igniting inside my heart.

“Nah, I was just asking myself: can I use one of these ‘dungeon dimension thing’ to store my items? Maybe there’s some knowledge about their creation that would allow me to do so~”

Aaand, the tiny speck of hope died.

In any case, we all said our goodbyes, we reassured the [Dungeon] we would really tell people about them, and we were about to go along our separated ways, when I turned around, and asked the question that may have even, subconsciously, made me have the idea to come to the [Dungeon] in the first place:

“Oh, yeah, just one more question before we go: can you tell us anything about the monsters ahead?”

[“Oh, don’t you know? I thought you did, since you’re going straight their way. But, hm~ let me see. Actually, they never seem to leave their area, so I don’t really know much about them. I’m sorry.”]

“Nah, it's okay”, I shook a hand, dismissively, smiling.

Incute quickly added, however:

[“But there’s something I can tell you: whenever I sent my collectors their way, trying to find civilization or anything that wasn’t dirt and grass to bring to me, they were completely decimated. Whatever lives in the jungle ahead, it is strong”], said the pocket dimension creator, master of multiple powerful bosses and hundreds of monsters, just like the hundred-plus [levels] taffy.

Putting on my serious face, I gave the [Dungeon] text box a nod, and walked away. As soon as I decided Incute couldn’t hear, I pointed, scratching the back of my head, and displaying a bothered, and not so confident, expression:

“That wasn’t reassuring at all.’

“Yeah, maybe talking with Incute to relax wasn’t a good idea in the end.”

Still, there was only one way to go, and it was straightforward.

My sister and I marched through the next few kilometers of jungle separating the 2nd and 3rd layer, keeping our senses sharp, attentive to our surroundings, and once we reached the most dangerous place, at each bird chipping, and each leaf crunching, we stopped, prepared to fight. This continued for who knows how many hours, until, finally, there was no more jungle at all.

“Uh? Did we… just skipped the 3rd layer entirely?”, I asked, in disbelief, for, before me, extended an old road of loose cobblestones. Though it was almost completely consumed by the wildlife, its slightly elevated rocky and perfectly straight path was still discernibly cutting through the vegetation.

I turned to face Hunah; what I was feeling was liberating, and by her surprised, yet overjoyed looks, my sister must have been thinking the same as I: we’ve made it. We really got out off that end-of-the-world of a jungle, and our journey could finally actually begin. Maybe it was this what Taffy meant? That we wouldn’t come back soon, because we were destined to go away, and not to die?

It was only when both of us had lowered our guard, that the first monster since the 2nd layer showed up, swinging its two-handed axe wildly at our backs.