“Right,” the Mage said. “But do you guys know what we’re up against?”

“Well, actually . . . the dungeon lord . . . he’s just a bad magician. That’s it. This should be easy work.” Malik remembered very clearly how Lucas had turned tail and run after stealing the princess in Waldberg. “This fight will be no problem at all.”

“Good,” the Mage said. “Because I can’t afford another one of those bombs.”

“Me neither,” Malik agreed, doing his best not to think about the real-life equivalent in cash he had spent on the thing.

After shoring up their resolve, they stepped forward and opened the door, revealing a smiling Lucas, who was holding a book in his left hand.

In front of Malik was Nick, also grinning as if there were an inside joke that everyone but Malik was in on. He didn’t see the fox girl who had been with the boss last time, but he did see the princess, the girl they had come to save, in chains by Lucas’s feet.

“Please! Please save me, young adventurers! My fortune will be yours if you can just free me from this mad man!” She cried out before falling face first onto the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Don’t worry!” the Mage behind Malik shouted. “We’ve come to save you, and we don’t need your treasure to do so! We’ll free you from this madman’s evil clutches and bring him to justice!” the Mage shouted.

“Will you now?” Lucas said, his smirk growing even wider. “I think not. I think I know exactly what you’ll do, and it is indeed noble. You’ll provide important nutrients for my garden, which will grow my plants and feed my allies. Your corpses shall become the valued pillar of support you could never be in life, you worthless trash.” Lucas then threw his head back and laughed.

“You basta—! Glghgh.” Before Valerie could even finish a word, her lungs were pierced by two daggers that appeared out of thin air.

Malik turned and watched as the missing fox girl materialized and killed his friend. He raised his weapon to try and cut her down, only to be caught in the face by a large fist of Ice that flew up from the ground and smashed into him.

The punch took off three-fourths of his bar and knocked him back through a set of doors. He bounced off a wall on the other side and landed in a giant heap. Once he collected his senses, he saw a Naga Archer that had been hiding behind one of the pillars fire off two arrows and skewer his two allies, killing and freezing each of them at the same time.

With his party already dead, and almost instantly at that, Malik knew what was coming. But he couldn’t give up. A part of him always fought till the bitter end, so as he stood up and readied his sword, he felt calm, steady. “Come at me. I’ll take one of you with me,” he boasted.