Chapter 155

Their rewards didn’t come out of a chest. Instead, in each room, a single item was laid atop a pedestal. Since she and Ana were on a time limit—and this time, of their own irresponsible creation—they scanned the area for traps, grabbed their loot, and moved to the next room. There would be time to identify the items after they’d returned to the dungeon proper, and more importantly, taken a dose of the infertility potion.

So despite her curiosity, she purposefully didn’t inspect the items, knowing they would distract her, sure to be the typical brand of ridiculousness. Though she couldn’t help but note their appearances: an ink vial, a necklace, and an arrow with a pink metal tip.

The third reward room had an exit into a familiar-looking hallway, which hosted a ladder up and a door leading deeper into the series of challenges. Which meant the event wasn’t over; they could go deeper if they wanted. That revelation made her resolve waver. Maybe they should continue. The rewards were amazing. She had hoped the challenge would conclude naturally, so the decision would be out of her hands.

But the two of them had laid out their reasoning for wanting to leave early, and a fundamental rule of dungeoneering was to not get too greedy. There was always more loot to dig up, more challenges to take on. Greedy delvers rarely made it to the higher levels. Oftentimes, they didn’t make it back to the surface. Good judgment needed to prevail.

So, sharing a look with Ana, Natalie nodded, then ascended the exit ladder. It was awkward with all their recently gained loot, and especially with her enormous two-handed hammer, but not so tricky she couldn’t manage it.

The ladder led into an opening in the ceiling, and the light from below faded as she, with difficulty, climbed higher and higher. Ana followed beneath her.

It took a while, with Natalie even working up a sweat, before something happened—though it wasn’t them reaching the top. Instead, without warning, the entire wall, ladder included, bucked, as if something gigantic had hit the stone and rattled the ascension shaft. Natalie was sent tumbling backwards, and instead of hitting the other side of the wall, she passed through open air, then started plummeting down a smooth, angled passageway.

She cursed as she tumbled downward, losing grip on her items as she went head-over-heels in the darkness. Her elbows, knees, and head banged every available surface. For a long minute—probably faster, but the aggravating descent didn’t feel like it—Natalie simply tumbled, desperately trying to get her bearings as she unceremoniously barreled through the exit chute.

The rude passageway spat her out from the ceiling, and Natalie slammed into the ground—and not gently, either. She was a level-two tank, so a mundane fall from that height wasn’t incapacitating, but that said, it wasn’t pleasant. Tougher than most people or not, hurtling from the ceiling into hard tiles would leave a few bruises, come morning.

Scrambling to her feet—there was no time to lie on the floor and groan in displeasure—Natalie realized something felt strange about her body. Something had changed while she’d been falling. She was too disoriented, and worried about her immediate safety, to make the obvious conclusion why.

Natalie scanned the room to make sure there weren’t monsters, then, hearing Ana tumbling down above her, rushed over to catch her. Their team’s mage didn’t have the physical durability she did. Hitting the ground at that speed might actually hurt her.

Natalie got in position just in time, catching Ana as she barreled from the ceiling. The thin woman landed in her arms with an ‘oof’, her breath taken as she slammed into Natalie’s grip. It wasn’t a perfect catch, but much better than hitting the ground at full speed.

For a moment, Ana blinked up at her—and Natalie at the mage, also caught off guard. Because it was Ana, cradled inside her arms. As in, Ana. In her own body. And just as oddly, wearing her flimsy mage’s robes, barely concealing her modesty. She’d come out of the shaft fully dressed.