It was time. Yes, the moment Erebus had been craving was finally upon them. The one thing that had been constantly on his mind.

The dungeon was open once again! Erebus’ heart pounded with delight. Finally! He remembered how exciting the unexplored dungeon had been. It was full of splendid surprises. An unknown treasure his for the taking.

Once more, he and his subordinates headed into the dungeon. The tree root stairs leading to a place full of happiness.

Yvick waved his goodbye to them and then walked off. He had been in the middle of an experiment when Erebus entered (barged) into his humble abode. Erebus had demanded he guide them to the dungeon opening.

He had completely forgotten Erebus was coming back and he didn’t bother hiding his displeasure. Seeing his face once every decade or so was perfectly fine, but seeing him so many times in one year honestly made Yvick grow tired of his old teacher.

Also, Yvick was convinced Erebus was breaking doors just to piss him off. And, well, his thoughts weren’t completely unfounded as Erebus had always displayed an amused expression at Yvick’s reactions.

Really, you’d expect a dragon, thousands of years old, would have more maturity than a five-year-old brat.

Of course, Yvick did not voice these types of thoughts.

But anyway, that’s beside the point of it all.

The group progressed quickly, as they already knew what was coming up to a certain extent. Lilian transformed into a rabbit and settled on top of Erebus’ head during the enclosed space with the spikes. This time, they didn’t freefall from the cliff and instead worked out Vyne flying Tear downwards and Lilian in Erebus’ arms as he jumped.

Within a short period, they arrived at the hidden chamber where Vyne, Tear, and Erebus had fought the humongous animated suit of armor. The four were shocked to discover that there was no trace of the epic battle left.

This was the strangest thing of all. In the forest, there had been rotting corpses and craters from their last expedition. But in here, everything was fixed back as if it never existed. The enormous magic circle was gone, too.

“Perhaps, someone was here?” Vyne questioned as Erebus searched for any trace of magic residue.

“Possibly...” Erebus removed his eyepatch, scanning the area with his augmented eye. “To fix such damage would require a large amount of mana, there should still be hints of it left in the atmosphere.”

Mana swirled around in his vision, his eye darted around, looking for anything that didn’t fit.

Magic normally took a long time to completely dissipate. Even small magic could remain for a few days. But the magic that took up a considerable large amount of mana could last for months, sometimes years. It wasn’t unheard of going to an old battlefield where an epic battle occurred and still being able to sense the leftover remnants of the past.

“There’s nothing,” Erebus said softly. “Not even traces from the magic used during the fight. It’s possible to use a certain type of magic that completely rids it from the atmosphere. But practitioners of that technique are few and far between, and those that are this good are even rarer.”

Lilian suggested, “Maybe the dungeon itself was enchanted?”

Her master shook his head. “That doesn’t seem to be the case here.” He placed his eyepatch back over his eye. “Well, whatever. Let’s proceed.”

Tear looked a little hesitant. “Shouldn’t we get to the bottom of this? There might be something extremely powerful lurking inside of here.”

“I’m sure we’d be able to handle it,” Vyne said dryly. “He’s a dragon. Lilian’s powerful, I’m strong. And you’re relatively good at magic.”

“Relatively,” the High Human muttered under her breath. “Can’t you just admit that I’m a sizeable opponent, too?”

Vyne shook his head. “Seeing as the only useful thing about you is your bow and arrow, I can’t really say you’re all too special.”

Tear rolled her eyes, opting out of furthering their conversation. “Lord Erebus, as I was saying, I think it would be good if we inspected the mana for just awhile longer.”

He sighed. “Tear, the mana traces have been erased. As good as I am, I cannot turn back time.”

She pouted a little but accepted the words that he had said. Erebus was right, it was basically useless for them to even try searching for any longer.

With that, they headed to the grand set of double doors. Vyne pushed open the heavy doors with a grunt. Was he getting out of shape? Doors of that size would normally be of no problem to him. He had been neglecting his physical training recently...

Vyne allowed his mind to wander as they walked down a winding corridor.

“I feel as if we’re going in circles,” Tear complained.

“We probably are.” Lilian pointed to a vertical slash on the stone walls. “I’ve seen that section before.”

She cocked her hip and folded her arms. “How do you suggest we fix this dilemma?”

Erebus laughed. “Easily.”

With a swift movement, he kicked a gaping hole into the wall of the corridor. It was big enough for them to walk through.

Tear grabbed his bicep. “What a great idea, Lord Erebus! How could I have doubted you for a moment? I deserve to be punis--”

Vyne tore her off of his master. “Damned leech-pig. Stop touching Lord Erebus so casually, you’ll taint him with your impurity.”

“Leech-pig? Is that even real?” Tear retorted.

“No, it’s a new species that I discovered after observing your actions,” Vyne shot back. “It’s amazing, I thought you were a simple pig, but you evolved yourself beyond that.”

Lilian and Erebus moved on. If they stayed any longer, they would be dragged into the argument.

It had happened countless times before, leaving them in an awkward position. No matter what either of them would try, the other two would not let them go until they all came to a consensus on who was correct.

Vyne had once written a ten-page essay as to why Tear was invalid. Tears had started to well up in Erebus’ eyes when he beheld the sight.

Bad memories... bad memories.

Go to your happy place, Erebus.

Anyway! When Erebus had kicked a hole into the wall, it lead them to an underground oasis. There seemed to be nowhere out except for turning back from where they came or walking through the expanse of sandy land.

“How does this place even work?” Vyne groaned. “How is there a desert... underneath the ground! How is there a sky? I don’t understand. I don’t understand this place.”

The others shrugged. None of them really cared. Rather, they wondered why Vyne was so concerned over this.

“Well, we can progress through the desert,” Lilian suggested. “But, I have no idea where we’re supposed to go.”

Everything looked the exact same in all directions. The tiny oasis was their only marker as to which way was which.

Tear sighed heavily.

Of course, let’s travel through the dry heat. No, what sense would it make to go back in the corridor until they found a way out.

What? You mean it will cause her to pass out due to heat exhaustion... Banish the thought! She may be human, but at least she’s a high one!

Wait, that came out wrong.

Gah, the heat was already doing things to her mind.

They trudged through the heavy sand which managed to find its way into their shoes and grind itself into the soles of their feet. Tear chugged through the only canteen of water they had in a desperate attempt to regulate her body temperature. The others weren’t as bothered, but this heat was damn near unbearable.

She could literally feel her sweat glands giving up.

Tear muttered to herself incoherently as the day faded into night and the stars came out. Vyne continued to question the logic behind this place.

Underground palaces and buildings he could deal with. But a desert with a sky simply did not make any sense to him!

The two went through their own silent conversations.

Lilian and Erebus were engaged in their own debate as to how they were going to get out of this place. They had been walking for hours, but there was no end in sight.

Their (Tear’s) legs were starting to burn from the extra weight added by the sand.

“This place is set up so that we can fail,” Lilian spoke in a somewhat irked voice. Honestly, whoever the maker of this dungeon was needed to be scolded. This place was not fun at all.

Erebus, on the other hand, did not really mind. He had gone through so many mind-numbingly boring things that this was barely enough to call bothersome. He had existed in a time when there was quite literally nothing to do. All he could do was talk to the same ten others for centuries while flying around and stretching his wings.

When the other races emerged, he had been rather excited by it all. Everything that he had seen so many times turned into a brand new spectacle for his eyes. He had witnessed the birth of the planet’s lifeforms.

So, compared to centuries of waiting, a few hours walking was nothing. Still, it was pretty boring.

“Well... weather’s nice, isn’t it?” Erebus joked. He figured he had to lighten the mood somehow, the quietness was making him somewhat uncomfortable.

His jovial attitude was met by glares.

They loved him, they really did. But it was too hot, they were too tired, and the fact that he was smiling and laughing made even Tear want to rip out his eyes.