Stepping into the inky bck portal of the dungeorahe team of five transitioned into that liminal space that allowed choosing which floor they wao desd into. The floor sele chamber wasn't always a pin stone room with doorways leading into different areas of the dungeon, and, like the dungeon itself, could ma in all sorts of ways, but this time, it followed the typical trend: it was just that.

  Natalie wasn't surprised Elida had already been to the third floor and thus unlocked the persistent portal there. She was, after all, the number-one pick at Te, aeammates were no sckers either.

  "You have no pints heading to the third floor?" Elida asked. "Three of us are third level, and two, sed."

  "You're including me ihree?" Natalie asked.

  "Of course." A perfectly trimmed eyebrow raised in silent questioning. "Unless you're g you aren't."

  Natalie grunted. She supposed it was hardly a secret she'd hit level three, likely one of only a few in their year.

  "Third floor is fine," she said.

  A part of her was disappointed she would be expl the stage of the dungeon without her real teammates, but while a milesto was hardly a major one, and she wouldn't waste aire weekend fining herself to the sed floor out of seality. Still, it did ruffle her feathers. She ought to be expl a new floor for the first time with her friends, not Elida.

  The five of them drew their ons. Natalie also took the opportunity to remove her cover-up skirt.

  "Its effects aren't as strong if I'm wearing stuff over top it," Natalie coughed in expnation, fighting down the blush that came at the raised eyebrows.

  Elida seemed more amused than the rest, probably because she had almost certainly deduced that her patron was Lust.

  "Anything that provides an edge," Elida said politely. "It really is an ii of armor, though," she added, a hint of a ugh creeping in.

  Natalie turned, as much because her cheeks were reddening as for a haste to tiheir expedition. Unfortunately, her lower armor, which was essentially a metal bikini with a cup, was just as revealing if not more so on her backside than the front, so she tried to ighe probably-not-imagined eyes on her ass. She doubted anyone wouldn't steal a gnce, even if not all the girls oeam had a prefereoward other women. Even straight girls could admire an ass ptonically speaking.

  Making physical tact again—to tell the duhey were a team—the party of five stepped through the portal leading to the third floor, with Natalie leading.

  She passed through that pane of bot-liquid, and something strange happened: she came out the other side missing three of her teammates.

  Only Vaa stood behind her, and she hadn't evehe one directly toug Natalie. Elida had.

  Natalie set the surprise aside. A part of her was quite frankly ready for the duo behave in strange ways after what she'd been through siarti, so she wasn't especially flustered by the extremely unon possibility of being split up.

  But more importantly, she had to analyze her surroundings. What had happened had happened, and now she had to deal with the sequences.

  Ruins sprawled out before her, a jumbled mess of crumbling stonework and encroag vegetation. A walls, some barely waist-high and others twenty feet or more, created a maze-like structure around them. Remnants of what might have been buildings were scattered throughout, roofs long gone and floors overtaken by vines and stubborn weeds, trees sprouting in unlikely pces.

  There was underlying order, though. The ruins wereirely random; traces of streets and courtyards could be made out amidst the rowth the longer she looked. Ser buildings maintained a sembnce of their inal shape. Piles of rubble dotted the ndscape, creating obstacles and potential hiding spots, and broken pilrs y strewn about, some standing proudly and others resting against partially colpsed walls.

  There was a dark twilit sky far above them, which was iing, sinclosed floors were far more on than their terparts. Even more fasating was the seeming open nature of the ruins: even when a dungeon floor maed as open-air, there were usually clear paths to follow, and often enforcedly so: wandering off the suggested trail would result in increasing aggression from the dungeon.

  But this one seemed truly open, with no obvious path forward. Weird.

  More importantly, Natalie's sing revealed no immediate monsters. That was, without a doubt, a temporary arra, but they had at least not been split up and ambushed right after. Natalie had been worried that the dungeon would still be angry about Malid try something. That hadn't been pletely ruled out yet, she supposed, but nothing eously unfair had occurred.

  Seeing they were safe, she faced Vaa, setting her hammer face-first on the ground.

  "Well," she said. "Where do you think the other three disappeared to?"

  Vaa's posture was tehough her face was its usual calm, collected, and reserved self. "Does it matter? We have ourselves to worry about."

  Fair enough. "A tank and a rogue," she said. "Not the worst bo. You have any healing potions on you?"

  "Just one."

  "I've got two as well, if we hem," she said. So g a healer wouldn't be devastating, uhey were separated for long enough that their potions ran out. "Dungeon'll probably scale down the enters since we're missing half the party. Still," she said, eyes sweeping out across the rown ruins. "It's the third floor. 't treat it lightly."

  Vaa didn't reply. Natalie had already gotten the impression she wasn't the most talkative person. She hen lifted her hammer back up. They'd already held all their tactical discussions before entering the dungeon, so there wasn't much else to do but start w their way forward.

  Funny enough, Natalie found her mood siderably improved. She'd been split up from the three members of her party she wasn't fond of, and while she would undoubtedly be rejoining them without too much dey, shaving off a few hours from dealing with that red-haired snake was a boon as far as she was ed. Sure, she wao get some insight on Elida, but the biggest reason she had agreed to this delve was to get Elida off her back, and because she'd promised to 'have discussions' with her afterward oopic of their csses. So the lost hours—or if she were extremely lucky, maybe even a day or more—was only a plus.

  Sometimes, the dungeon was kind of o her.