I tried getting up again as the walls shook for the third time. I was regenerating slowly, still without a potion. I just needed to hold on for a little more. If this was Xila outside, then I was probably just done for.

  I looked at the map again. 2 player dots, and the red dots of the ants were.. retreating? They seemed to be evacuating the ant nest for some reason that I couldn’t discern. My voice was still raspy and painful. I didn’t feel like talking anyway.

  Shrimpie: Can you go out to look if that’s Xila outside?

  Mark: On it.

  He went out toward the wall, but didn’t manage to even get halfway to them before the wall collapsed, and a player stood in front of him. It took me a few moments to realize what exactly I was even looking at.

  I could definitely not confuse this guy with Xila, that much was certain. In front of Mark stood a giant, twice as tall as I was. Yes, twice. He held a giant anchor that still had chunks of the white mushroom on it, stuck to the iron from sheer force.

  Scratch the ‘he’. She had short hair, sure, but it was undoubtedly a woman. Her muscular arms were as thick as my torso, bulging muscles straining under the weight of her weapons. Donning a patterned skirt and top, her barefoot feet hit the ground with thuds like no other.

  What the hell was she? Barely conscious, I used [Analyze].

  Player - Bryga

  Race - Blue whale

  Level - 24

  Class - None

  She shook her body, as if stressed. “Hey, little man. Is the fun over already?” She said, her deep voice genuinely curious with a hint of amusement. She looked at Mark for a split second, and then brought her deep-blue gaze back to me.

  “Little man? I’m fairly tall, I’ll let you know! And yes, I killed the boss, if that’s what you’re asking. What of the ants?” I quickly finished the sentence, placing a hand in front of my mouth to stop the blood from covering the floor.

  “Ah, bummer. I was looking forward to a worthy opponent! As for the ants, they let us through. They talked, funnily enough!” She laughed at that, as if her finding was the funniest thing in the world. He laugh was… stupidly loud.

  “I know. Who’s the other guy with you?”

  “And where are your guides?” Added Mark, looking behind the woman.

  She jumped, her arms in front of her, looking at Mark with an expression of utter amazement. “Your guide… he speaks?”

  “Ummm. Yes, I do? I’m right here?” Mark said, as confused as I was.

  The walls around the boss arena crunched, the mushroom beginning to be pressed by the surrounding walls. The dungeon was collapsing. Of course!

  Finally, my health potion cooldown over, I commanded one to be used, and I rushed toward the corpse. “How about we talk after we get out of here?”

  “Good idea, little man!” Said Bryga, and gave me a thumbs up combined with a cheeky grin. God, were all mammals this lively? Dusk was the calmest one I’ve seen so far.

  “Whatever. Let’s talk later.” I looted all of the items from Majorica, resisting the urge to inspect them. Oh, how I wanted to look at them. Majorica was confident in her drops being useful, after all. But I simply had no time.

  Turning, I wanted to sprint toward the exit, seeing Mark already going through. Bryga stood just beyond, after all. But a hint of blue at the corner of my eye stopped me, just beyond the corpse of the queen.. I looked closely, recognizing the shape.

  “Anthony? How did you get here?!” And why was he here?

  He approached, his steps lacking the vigor they had just an hour ago. His eyes went to the queen, but then he raised his head to watch my face. I even thought he might attack me.

  “So, this is how it had to be? Her majesty… a tragedy.”

  “I didn’t want to…” I began speaking, but all the things I could say sounded weak to my own mind. I chose silence.

  “I know, tall one! I know her majesty had more knowledge than the whole hive combined! And that she made me and the other soldiers leave just so she could share a fraction of her wisdom with you. It is a travesty. But worry not!” His voice was back to its previous, endearing tone. “We will honor her wishes! Our home is now compromised, however. I need to leave, as has my cohort. We cannot hatch a new queen here, I’m afraid.”

  He came closer, one of his six legs awkwardly extended in a human gesture. “I will believe in the choice of our queen. We need not to be enemies, tall one.”

  “I’d like that.” I said as I took his leg in my hand, having to lower myself to be able to reach.

  “And so would I! I will also honor our queen’s respect for you, prince. If you ever find yourself in need of help, please, do try to find me.”

  The use for that offer came immediately. “There’s a dragon attacking a city in a week. You think you and the other soldiers can help?”

  His antennae shot up, fully extended. “Ah, a fight? We will be busy with settling down. But I shall see what I can do, your highness.” The wall cracked as he finished speaking. “But I need to go now. Until next time!”

  And with that, his little legs trod on the ground, leaving through a hole I’d not seen before. I’ve never expected to feel that way, but I would actually kind of miss the guy.

  But I could ponder on that later. I sprinted toward the hole in the wall which Bryga created, and continued sprinting at full speed from then on. I saw the other player that was there with Bryga - undoubtedly another mammal, a man smaller than I was, wearing some manner of black leather clothing. I’d analyze him later, I promised to myself, and continued running.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  The giant chamber started collapsing completely as I reached the tunnel, pieces of rock and larva falling onto the mushroom.

  The other player, confused, started running after me, shortly followed by Bryga.

  “Who’s that, Bryga?!” he barked, rushing to keep up with me.

  “Another player that I discovered! He killed the boss! Isn’t that amazing? I want him!” She laughed again, her giant steps shaking the ground under my feet. It was even worse here, on the rocky floor instead of inside the mushroom. What the hell did she mean by ‘Want him?‘

  The man gawked. “Killed the boss? Alone?”

  Their voices seemed to come from the same spot suddenly, as if it was a two-headed man speaking instead of two players. I went to look back, but I didn’t get to do so- instead, I was picked off the ground, a giant hand wrapping around my belly, and put on Bryga’s shoulder, who gave me a wide grin. “You run too slow. Watch your head now, little man!“

  In that very moment, a rock I didn’t spot on the ceiling before hit my head.

  The mammal man sat on the other shoulder, curled around a strip of clothing that he held on to. He waved to me, and then held on with both of his hands. I copied the same thing, watching Bryga’s path.

  And then she increased her speed. I was fast on my feet, and Crudia even more so. I was fairly confident in the fact that Bryga didn’t even have that many points in Dexterity, and that she was a fellow Strength user. That didn’t matter in deciding her running speed at all.

  She ran as if sped up by invisible jets, the tunnels that I had to walk through for minutes appearing and disappearing in mere seconds. Her long, muscular legs provided her with the ability to make such long strides that nothing else simply mattered. Soon enough, we were out of the cave system, breathing fresh air.

  It was already dark outside, but I could still make out the color of the trees, which were blue. I was in the same biome that the Clobbers attacked from. Was I deeper inside, then?

  I thought back on the path, how the ants just simply disappeared. This whole tournament, this entire floor, was just weird. Wrong in all the ways. I knew that it was probably constructed just for us, but that fact didn’t make the whole thing any less eerie.

  The big hand wrapped around me once more, and softly put me on the ground. ?“You alright there, litt-? Her eyes looked over my face for a short while. ?Shrimpie? What an original name!“ She laughed again.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,“ I said as my feet finally had ground under them again. “And thank you! It’s a beautiful name for a beautiful creature, isn’t it?“

  Mark sighed behind me. And that’s when two more blue figures appeared, the same movement as the one that brought Mark to me when we got separated. The two guides were not dissimilar to Mark – male, about 20 years old. They did look different, sure, but just not enough for me to be able to tell any big difference. The biggest difference was, however, that they didn’t move at all. No snarky comments like Mark or talisha. No quiet curiosity like Timmy. The two just stared forward at nothing at all.

  Bryga looked at them, and then back at Mark. “Ah, right. Wanted to ask you. How come you speak? The first message said that the guides should teach us stuff, but my guide has been like this since the beginning. I’ve met Fink four days ago, and his guide has been the same.“

  The small guy, Fink, nodded and came closer. I used [Analyze].

  Player - Fink

  Race – Hooded Skunk

  Level - 24

  Class - None

  That put them both at level 24, the maximum. Were they the players that got evolutions as well? I expected the evolutions to be visible at first glance, but I haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary on neither these two nor Xila and Max.

  Mark came closer to the two guides, moving his hand in front of their faces. If they saw it, they did not let any reaction show. “We were left alone for two years. With nothing to do but study. No human contact, nothing for us to do but sit and look through books. It was.... hard. I think some of us just. took it better than others. A kid in our group doesn’t speak at all either.“

  Was that why? And here I thought that they maybe lost a battle that Mark won while preparing to be guides. But was it just boredom? Humans and their eccentrics.

  The two looked from one another, and then back at me. Fink was the first to speak. “You have a group already? Why fight the boss alone then?“

  Oh shit. Yes, I had a group, and they were locked in a dungeon as well.

  Shrimpie: Hey guys, how’s it going?

  There was no reply, not even after a few moments. The two players watched me curiously, waiting for my answer still. “Mark, can you watch the chat for a bit?“

  “Sure thing.“

  I turned back to Fink and Bryga, their eyebrows raised in expectation. “We’re a group of three. Me, a raccoon dog, and a Narwhal. I guess he’d be something like a cousin to you, Bryga? Anyway, we also met another group, and I’d advise to not talk to them. Their leader, Xila, likes to steal names.“

  That seemed to confuse them, but they didn’t ask for more info on that front. Bryga looked a bit sad, in fact. “I kind of wanted to ask you to join us, actually. This is a bit sad. The second player I meet, and he’s already spoken for. Why does this floor have to be so sparsely populated?“

  I reached up my hand, offering a handshake to both of them. “Why not join us, then? We’re already on a quest to defend a city from something that’s collecting the hordes from the surrounding biomes.“

  The two looked at me with wide eyes, then at each other, and proceeded to tap their fingers in the air. What was that? Texting? Had these creatures no notion of etiquette?

  I sighed, and left them to it. There was still no reply from my team, and I had to admit that it made me somewhat nervous. Would the first fight without their leader be their undoing? I knew I was the best player there was, but I also believed in the two of them. They’d need to win their fights if they were to be my bodyguards.

  I should still try to find them. A flash of imagination, the thought of Crudia, dead on the ground, went through my head. The thought was sudden, but I suddenly couldn’t think of anything else. I needed to find them. Quickly. Where did I need to go, though?

  “Hey, you two. Any idea on where I’d find my team? We entered this biome from a region with black grass.“

  Their fingers stopped moving, and they looked at me, confused. Fink spoke softly. “I think that’s to the south. But, shouldn’t the path there be on your map?“

  I tsk-ed, kind of embarrassed of the explanation to that whole charade. ?I got teleported here by a skeleton mage epic boss.“

  Mark’s eyebrows shot up, and he laughed. “He’s lying. It was a walking mushroom, guys. They were the silliest creatures I’ve seen here so far.“

  Damn that guy. I wondered how he’d do in my shoes back there! The two other players chuckled, but they didn’t jab at me at least. “And I guess your team is still there?“ Said Fink.

  “Not exactly. They entered the dungeon that housed their boss. Involuntarily. So, have you two decided? Are you going to join?“

  The two exchanged a look, and then nodded. It was Bryga’s turn to speak this time. ?We’ll see this team of yours first. No promises to join – we like to have our own path. Or better said, I like having my own path, and Fink likes following it if it means that he gets carried on my shoulders. But yes, we’ll come. We need as many boss items as possible anyway, and you just took out one of those.“

  Finally, they came closer and clasped my hand in a handshake, adding them to my friend list. With that, we turned south, and continued.

  Crudia: We’re fine! The boss was an uncommon, but we managed to beat it with just the two of us! How did your fight go, Shrimpie? Did you fight? Or get away? The two of us went through...

  The message went on and on, classic Crudia style. I couldn’t help but chuckle as a huge boulder got lifted off of my heart. The two of them were safe, and I couldn’t be happier.

  I considered telling the info to the two new players, but I judged that they were likely to leave if I told them that there would be no chance of fighting a boss. Surely I could tell them later, right?

  With a smile on my face, and new companions in tow, I went to meet up with my teammates.

  But I realized something. The feeling of being watched. I did feel it while underground, but now it was back, stronger than ever. Whatever was watching me, it did not want me to survive this floor.

  Too bad. I had a new promise to keep now. I’d either win the tournament.

  Or end it forever.