“...and that’s how we cleared the impossible puzzle without a single death on our team,” the girl finishes her explanation. She taps her temple with her index finger. “Know your opponent, know yourself, and there’s nothing that can stop you.”

  Several cheers erupt among the other girls surrounding her, about the same age.

  “You’re so smart, Layla!”

  “Aaah…! So cool…!”

  “I wish I were there… Can I come with you the next time, pretty please~?”

  Their voices overlap, excitedly talking at the same time. All but one, who remains silent. Under everyone’s gaze, Layla makes a smug smile and makes a gesture to catch the gloomy girl’s attention.

  “Do you admit defeat, Patri?”

  The question makes the girl flinch. She bites her lower lip in frustration, prompting chuckles from the others.

  “Gununu…! Fine! You win… You cleared that puzzle better than I ever imagined… B-but! This isn’t the end! You might have won this time, Layla, but you haven’t defeated me yet!”

  With a loud thump, the gloomy girl, now enraged, takes out an enormous folder filled with paper from who knows where and drops it on the school desk. Under the sudden weight, the desk threatens to break.

  The other girls flinch, instinctively taking a step back.

  As if possessed, the girl starts fiddling with the stacked papers. She flips one file after the next. Her eyes start glowing ominously. After a short while of searching, she pushes the papers forward. Now, she’s the one who’s wearing a smug smile.

  “I-I also knew how to break the previous challenge, s-so… So, it’s no surprise you beat it. But this time it’ll be different… Take a look at this!”

  Layla, curious but not even slightly intimidated, starts reading. In bold letters, the name ‘The Mad Rat’s Lab’ is the first thing that enters her sight.

  Layla’s eyes leave the title and start to scan the rest of the file. As usual, there’s a mix of dense text mixed with images, an accurate depiction of all the dangers and observations made by Patricia.

  Several ‘Caution!’ and ‘Danger!’ warnings in bright red letters catch Layla’s attention.

  While Layla reads the document and Patricia makes a proud smile, the remaining girls keep alternating between the two, not sure what to do or say.

  “Is this what I think it is…?” Layla asks, raising her sight from the paper, slightly excited.

  “Yes! This is the dungeon that’s been causing a wave in the forums. The dungeon is one thing, but there’s this puzzle I’ve been trying to crack for a while now… From what I know, nobody has cleared it ever without trouble yet. Oh, and I don’t have much info yet, but it seems the owner added a second puzzle right after the first. We can tackle the two together!”

  “Ooh, interesting…” Layla nods.

  “I knew you’d like it! So… do you accept the challenge!?” Patricia’s tone rises almost an octave, letting her pride and excitement take over.

  “First, I need to analyze everything… What’s your take on it? What’s the hardest part?”

  On Layla’s question, Patricia moves her chair closer, pulling the pile of papers towards the two. The school desk’s weight makes the legs screech as they slide.

  “That’d be reaching the place,“ she points at several pictures. “The puzzle is near the dungeon core…”

  “Is that so? And what about…”

  The two get immersed in their own world, arguing back and forth about ideas and strategies of how to beat this challenge. They don’t do so on purpose, but the three other girls are left behind, unable to keep up with the two.

  They look at each other, exchanging knowing smiles.

  “Weren’t they archenemies? Everyone in the school says so…”

  One of the girls shakes her head at the question. “I don’t know anymore. That’s what I thought, too.”

  “Don’t believe in rumors. Have you ever seen one without the other?” The third intervenes.

  “Now that you say it…”

  “...What are you talking about in secret!?”

  The duo is silenced by a deadly glare from Patricia. They chuckle in compliance. Patricia, unable to make them stop, shakes her head before returning to her conversation with Layla.

  “Come join us,” says Layla. “I’m sure Patricia won’t mind.”

  “Me? W-why would I mind? O-oh, I know! It’s you who needs help, because you can’t crack this by yourself, huh? This means I win, hahaha!”

  “Haaa…” Layla presses her temples and decides to ignore the other girl’s comment.

  The five girls start to discuss the topic at hand. Layla leads the conversation, followed by Patricia, while the other girls add and comment as they feel appropriate.

  They discuss the best way to reach the puzzle without dying, in the best condition possible, to clear it. For both Layla and Patricia, reaching the place is part of the challenge, and not an extra. A well-designed dungeon must take that into account and allow players to clear the puzzle as long as they’ve prepared well enough.

  Lunch break ends with the loud bell, and the five girls must stop their reunion. But not before another short exchange.

  “With this, I believe it’s possible,” Layla nods to herself, holding Patricia’s thick stack of papers. She offers the stack back to its owner. “What do you say? Want to come try it with me?”

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  “S-sure! I want to see you fail in person. I wouldn’t miss it even if it were the end of the world!”

  “Fine by me.” Layla shrugs and suddenly turns her head, locking eyes with the other girl. “...You won’t sabotage my plan, will you?”

  “I-I would never do that!”

  Patricia’s reply brings Layla the image of a cat with ruffled hair. To avoid upsetting the other girl, Layla has to stifle a chuckle.

  “I want to come too!” Shouts one of the three other girls. “You promised I’d be able to play with you the other day, Layla!”

  “Me too, me too!”

  At the two’s pestering, Layla asks the last girl. “How about you? We can draw lots.”

  “No, it’s fine. You can go.” She waves her hand in dismissal. “I don’t like games much… Oh, but don’t forget to tell me everything, okay?”

  Following Layla’s plan, in which Patricia had a lot of influence, despite her unwillingness to accept it, the four girls start the invasion of The Mad Rat’s Lab.

  According to their original objective, they aim for one single goal: reach the puzzle safely.

  As such, their build is designed for stealth and exploration, not combat. For safety over everything else. From the moment they enter the large cave, they start advancing at a slow pace, their route planned to the millimeter.

  The girls avoid as much trouble as possible, staying hidden at critical moments. They avoid triggering traps and check before turning every corner to ensure there’s no danger ahead.

  They evade the Beam Turtle’s attention and play illusion tricks on the Goblimps. They move unimpeded through the mushroom patches thanks to their elven Champions, avoid The Tunnel’s Nightmare’s gaze, don’t approach the Tunnel Mimics, and fight only when unavoidable, all while paying extra attention to bypass the Monster Train. They run through the Minitaur’s Queen domain by sacrificing a few support mobs, and finally enter their objective, the Waste Disposal Area, through the dungeon’s elevator.

  This is the shortest and safest path they could find to one of the access keys, which they’ll need to open the puzzle’s door. Not only that, but the elevator itself is close to said door.

  “Don’t forget,” warns Layla. “We can’t avoid combat here. Is everyone ready?”

  “Who are you taking me for? I-I was born ready!” Patricia puffs her chest. “Ask Mimi and Ana, not me.”

  Ana and Mimi exchange a look and chuckle. They’re starting to understand Patricia’s personality better after the time spent together, and know the reason she reacts like that.

  “Hehe. We’re good to go, right, Mimi?”

  “Yes. You can start anytime.”

  Watching them chuckle, Patricia snaps at them. “S-stop laughing like that! Do you think I’m blind!?”

  “Stop it, Patri… They aren’t making fun of you.”

  Layla intervenes, knowing that her friend won’t stop arguing, that she won’t stop acting bold and proud.

  “...Fine.”

  The four distribute themselves along the metal platform overlooking the meat mountain and house-sized incinerator and start observing the spectacle below.

  The girls know that, hidden within the meat chunks, multiple monsters await them, but that isn’t what they’re looking for. They’re trying to locate the access card, hidden among the corpse chunks. Their objective is to reduce combat to a minimum. A quick in-and-out operation to get the access key before the monsters overwhelm them.

  “O-Oh…! I see it!” Shouts Ana, the closest to the stairs leading down. “It’s that shiny thing between the furnace and the corpses, isn’t it?”

  The other three girls run towards her. Heads next to each other, the four girls with pointy ears squint their eyes towards the same spot.

  “I think so too…” Layla says, “What do you think, Patri?”

  “It must be.”

  “Alright. Let’s proceed with the plan.”

  The four girls nod and start moving. While Ana, Patricia, and Layla run down the stairs, Mimi throws their remaining support mobs down the railing with a skill.

  The support mobs end up in random places of the meat mountain, provoking the monsters nearby. With a roar, the mountain shakes, and several monsters come out of hiding, lead my an enormous Flesh Golem.

  A yellowish cloud starts spreading in the surroundings.

  “Don’t get close to that,” reminds Layla, “It’ll slow you down.”

  Having finished her job, Mimi sprints towards her teammates, afraid to be caught alone. She finds them near the bottom of the stairs, entangled in combat. Despite the thrown monster’s distraction, not all the monsters have been successfully pulled in by them.

  Layla waves towards her. “Come, don’t split up! We must push through together!”

  The four girls, not well-versed in combat, struggle to kill the monsters, which are designed for relatively good players. The yellowish cloud’s slowing effect makes their advance even slower.

  Patricia and Mimi wildly swing their weapons around, clearing the path, while Layla casts spells and Ana supports them with healing.

  Like this, after a lot of struggling, the four reach their destination.

  “I-I have it!” Shouts Patricia. “I have the key. We can go back now!”

  “Ruuuuuun!”

  Layla gives the order, and the four turn around, running at the top of their speed. But in the middle of their desperate run, Ana, the single one who has time to look around, suddenly points to the top of the metal platform.

  “Look! More monsters!”

  “What!?”

  Layla reacts in shock. According to Patricia’s notes, that shouldn’t have been possible…

  “M-maybe the owner changed their AI…” Patricia defends herself. “I didn’t know about it, I’m sorry…”

  “It doesn’t matter. It isn’t your fault. We must—”

  *ROAAAAAR!*

  The sudden roar makes the four girls tremble. Their eyes instinctively move towards the roar’s source, and they find a massive creature lumbering towards them. At about twice their height, the Flesh Golem feels not only massive, but deadly.

  If they struggled with the adds, there’s no way they can fight the boss…

  When they finish climbing the stairs, the four girls find the path to the elevator blocked by more of those stinky meat-dogs. Behind them, the stairs are filled with more of them, and the Flesh Golem is forcefully opening a path by squashing them underfoot.

  “We’re done for, trapped like this…!” Mutters Ana.

  Layla shakes her head, refusing to accept defeat. “No, there’s always a way.” She turns towards Patricia, pointing at the hole where all the glowing liquid pipes disappear to. “What about this hole? Do you think there’s a secret door we can use to get out of this mess?”

  “I-I don’t know. It could be—”

  Patricia’s voice is engulfed by a tremendously loud, blaring alarm siren. Red lights pop out of the walls, signaling danger.

  The three girls turn towards the last one, the closest to the hole.

  Mimi shakes her hands in a panic. “I didn’t do anything! It wasn’t me!”

  But not everything’s bad. After the alarm starts to sound, the monsters surrounding them stop moving. Like statues, there’s no reaction coming from them.

  “What’s going on?” Asks Layla. Unsurprisingly, no one gives her an answer.