Lakshman, Ondine and Tetra, in the form of a sword, continued their journey through the trapped rooms. Each time they reached the end of the route, they would find a Yellow Magic Circle. This is called a Trip Magic Circle, which takes them to another random location, but not the exit.

In order to not get separated, Lakshman and Ondine held hands while he held the sword. Only then does he step into the magic circle to go to a different area.

“Ah...! Not this place again!” Ondine said a while later after moving through different areas.

Lakshman blinked in surprise and said “We’re... right back where we started.”

At that moment, their thoughts were interrupted by an attacking group of Dungeon Crawlers, black looking creatures.

“Ondine! Make sure you don’t try to cut them. Remember what happened the last time you did that?” Lakshman warned as he prepared to attack them.

“I know!” she said and she glared at the oncoming dungeon crawlers.

Several minutes earlier and in a different area, they had fought another group of dungeon crawlers. At that time, Lakshman and Ondine were met with many dungeon crawlers.

Ondine attempted to cut their limbs off, but they regrew quickly. They tried stabbing them in the chest, however, none of her attempts worked. Finally, she decapitated them, but it just grew right back.

Having had enough of them, she cut down a line of them in two. For a moment, it looked like victory. Then, as they slowly moved away from each other, they extended their missing side and continued their assault at them.

“So! This is why Tetra said they’re hard to deal with!” Lakshman exclaimed in frustration.

So, he did what Tetra told him earlier and he blasted them with a wave of energy that incarnated all of them. After that, they have been fighting these creatures by releasing beams of energy at them.

However, at one point, Ondine became tired and said “Master... I’m getting tired constantly firing energy like that...”

“Y-You’re right,” he had said as he breathed quickly. Then a thought came to him and he proposed the idea. “How about we combine our energies and destroy them?”

Since then, Lakshman and Ondine used their weapons and hit them by combining their two powers. Then they hit the dungeon crawlers with a powerful energy wave that vaporised them.

Just like that, they repeated it here and caused all the black monsters to vanish. Things were looking up for them, but the current problem still remained the same. They had no way to get out of the trapped rooms they keep appearing in.

“This is... taking a while,” she said in a tired voice.

“We just need to keep moving so we find a way out! You know... we might find a magic circle that’ll get free us!” Lakshman had said encouragingly to Ondine.

“But... Master...I’m getting tired...” she said weakly.

This was another issue that was affecting them. They did not know how long they have been moving, but their constant fighting was depleting them of their energy.

“I know, but we must keep moving...” he said and they continued walking along the route.

Once they reached the end room, they saw yet another Yellow Magic Circle. Feeling exhausted, collapsed onto the ground, looking exhausted. Lakshman quickly walked over to her with a worried expression on his face.

“Ondine, are you okay?”

“Yes, master. Just... feeling weak...” she said in a low voice.

“O-Oh... but,” he said and looked around the room. Then he said “I don’t think we can rest here... can we?”

Ondine could only shrug her shoulders as she hung her head. Hey eyes were slowly opening as sleep slowly crept over her. Lakshman was worried. He did not know whether it was safe to rest there or when those nasty black creatures would attack again.

“You can rest here, master,” Tetra told him in his mind to reassure him.

“Tetra?”

“When a dungeon room is cleared of all monsters, it won’t spawn anymore monsters while living beings are in that room. It will only spawn them once they either leave the room or die.”

“That’s very informative,” he said out loud with a surprised expression.

Ondine blinked weakly at him and asked “Is Tetra telling only you important information, master?”

“W-Well... that is...” he said hesitantly.

Ondine looked at him for a moment. Then she shrugged her shoulders and said “Meh. As long as master knows what he is doing, I’m willing to follow you anywhere.”

With that, she slumped to the floor and was fast asleep in an instant. Lakshman moved over to her and tried prodding her awake.

“Ondine... um... Ondine, you shouldn’t sleep here. Hey...?”

“Master, she is fast asleep and won’t be waking up for another while.”

“Great...” he muttered as he laid Ondine gently onto the ground.

“With that, I think I’ll also go to sleep. It has been a long day,” Tetra said and he actually heard her yawn.

“Wait, what?! Tetra? Hey!” he said desperately.

There was no reply. Only silence remained in the room to keep him company. He looked at the sleeping form of Ondine and sighed. Then he remembered something his father told him some time ago.

“If you can’t beat them, join them,” Indra had told him when he was dealing with his wife, Lakshmi.

Remembering his father’s words, he sighed once more and said “In my case, it would be: If you can’t wake them, join them!”

With that, he laid the sword aside and lay down on the ground as comfortably as he could. Then he lay there, still and silent in the dark. He closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep as tiredness finally shut down his mind and body.

Lakshman awoke a few hours later. He was feeling uncomfortable with the way he slept. At that time, he also realised he slept only for a short amount of time.

Yawning, he tried to move to stretch his uncomfortable body. That was when he felt two bodies pressuring his body.

He opened his eyes and looking around. Everything was dark, but he felt sure to whom those bodies were. He was astonished to found Ondine and Tetra sleeping peacefully next to him.

“Um...” he muttered at the sight of them.

Lakshman was confused. He was sure he slept alone. So, them sleeping so close to him. The only explanation he could think of was that they slept with him. While he did not mind that, his body was beginning to hurt from staying in one position for very long.

Gently, he tried waking them by saying “Um... girls? Hello? Please wake up, I need to move...”

It was a few minutes later that they finally woke up. By then, he was basically pleading with them to wake up. Opening their eyes and turning to look at his desperate face, they quickly moved away. Free from his imprisoned state, he slowly began to stretch his limbs while groaning.

“Master! I’m really sorry!” Ondine said apologetically and bowed her head.

“Tetra is also sorry, master!” Tetra said as she also bowed her head down.

While slowly stretching, he looked over at them. With a smiling face, he said “It’s alright, although- AH! I’m aching all ouver- oww... by the way... why were you two sleeping next to me?”

“I...” Ondine began and looked hesitant for a moment. Then she said “I was scared of the dark and wanted to feel your comfort, master.”

“Tetra wanted to keep master company,” Tetra said and she smiled widely at him.

“Right...” he said in an exasperated smile on his face and continued stretching his body.

While he did that, Ondine turned to face Tetra and asked “Tetra, why are you speaking in a third person way?”

“I’m sorry? Third person?” Tetra said with a confused look.

“Like... you keep referring to yourself by your name instead of saying ‘I’ or ‘me’.”

“What is the problem with that?”

Ondine sighed and said “Look, Tetra. You’re a Sacred Spirit that has lived for over eight-thousand years! Surely, an old spirit like you, shouldn’t be speaking like some sort of child, right?”

“I’m a kid!” Tetra said firmly as she looked seriously at Ondine.

“No, you’re not a kid!” Ondine firmly replied.

“No! I’m a kid, I’m a kid, I’m a kid!” Tetra said insistently.

“Okay, okay... you’re a kid,” Ondine said as she resigned to Tetra’s choice in the matter.

“Yay!” Tetra cheered happily and she hugged Lakshman’s right arm. Then she looked up at him and asked “Master? What are we going to do today?”

“About that...” he said as his stomach growled. “I feel like I should eat, but... there’s nothing around.”

Food was also becoming a problem for them. For their mission to the Monster Dungeon, they were lightly packed. They only packed things like water bottles and other utensils that they might need.

“From next time onwards, we need to pack food and all those things, in case we end up like this again,” Lakshman said with a frustrated look on his face.

“Master, why does it sound like we’ll really get trapped again?” Ondine said apprehensively. Then her eyes widened slightly as she said “Are you, perhaps, liking it down here?”

“Huh?!” he exclaimed in disbelief at her words. “Who would enjoy being trapped likes this? Stop thinking like that, Ondine!”

“Yes. My bad, master,” she said apologetically and she hung her head in shame.

He nodded with furrowed eyebrows. Then he looked at Tetra and said “Tetra, please become a sword again.”

“No!” she said imploringly. “I’ve been in the sword form for many hours! I want to be by master’s side!”

“Fine,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders and smiled. Then, he face became a frown as he asked “So, how are we going to deal with those Dungeon Crawlers with you in this form?”

This time, Tetra closed her eyes, smiled and patted herself in the chest while saying “Just leave it to Tetra, master!”

“Alright,” he said and he smiled at her.

When he turned to speak to Ondine, he was startled to see a deep frown on Ondine’s face. It seemed she was unhappy.

“Ondine, why are you looking so upset?” he asked curiously.

Ondine, with her finger, indicated him and Tetra and said “You’re getting along well... I’m impressed.”

“What? We’re always getting along,” Lakshman said in a surprised tone to her words.

“I don’t know,” Ondine said and she made a pouting face.

Tetra, seeing the expression on her face, suddenly snickered and said “Ondine... are you possibly... jealous?”

Ondine instantly reacted and said “Huh?! What are you saying, you crazy kid?!”

Tetra simply snickered and stuck her tongue out. Ondine became frustrated and walked towards her. Tetra quickly moved behind Lakshman as if he was her human shield.

“Master, Ondine is being mean to me!”

“Who’s being mean to who?!” Ondine said angrily as she tried to get past Lakshman.

“Now, now... Calm down, Ondine,” he said as he tried to keep her away from Tetra.

“Master, please move aside. This stupid kid needs a lesson taught to her by a real adult!”

“See, master...?! Ondine is very rude!”

“Okay, okay! Enough already!” he said firmly.

“B-But, master-!”

“Ondine, we can deal with this stuff later. First, let’s get out of this stupid dungeon already!”

Ondine made a “Che” sound with her mouth. Then she took a few steps back and said “Alright. I can do with that.”

“Good. Now, let’s step into that magic circle,” he said in relief.

Ondine nodded and she walked away to pick up her swords lying on the ground. While she was there, Lakshman turned and looked sternly down at Tetra.

“And, Tetra... Behave...!” he said in a firm voice.

“Okay,” she said in a resigned voice.

Once ready, they gathered in front of the Yellow Magic Circle. Tetra held his right hand and Ondine held his left. Nodding at them, he stepped into the magic circle. Just before the yellow light, Ondine and Tetra eyed each other.

Ondine looked at Tetra with a frown while Tetra stared back coolly. Then she made a cheeky grin and the frown deepened. Just then, the yellow light swallowed them and, a moment later, they disappeared from the room.