As I completed the hundredth run of the Overrun Catacomb, a system message appeared in front of me:

  ▽▽▽

  100/100 Completions Congratulations!

  You completed: [Quest #2: Obtain a Dungeon Core Crystal from the Overrun Catacomb!]

  The dungeon core condensation has started.

  It will be placed in your inventory in 48 hours.

  The Overrun Catacomb will disappear once the core is fully condensed!

  △△△

  “Finally! First core!” I muttered.

  “And just one more level and you’ll hit 25! What do you want to do now?” Alrune asked.

  “Since there’s a delay and nothing indicates the dungeon is disappearing yet, let’s grind the Goblin Cavern quickly. We will get another core, and the one level that unlocks Rank D in both guilds, giving me access to better jobs and dungeons. Should be done in two or three days,” I explained.

  “Throwing caution to the wind?”

  “How would anyone suspect me if I hadn’t touched the dungeon for two days? Besides, I want you to have a body as soon as possible, and these cores are all I can get right now. Rank C will give us a roundabout way to get the angelic wing. Rank S and access to the academy will give us a way to get the demonic horn… But for now, cores.”

  “How about the Lich’s Phylactery?”

  “We need to get lucky for that one.”

  “How come?”

  “You’ll see. Just trust me.”

  “Always,” Alrune whispered with such intensity that my hand instinctively reached up to cradle her head—but there was nothing there. The whisper came from inside me. I let my hand slip down, sighing slightly. Alrune didn’t comment; she only sighed with me.

  We left the dungeon and headed straight for the Goblin Cavern. After paying the entrance fee, I stepped through the portal.

  “Let’s make it quick,” I murmured, passing the barrier.

  The dungeon was short—a single tunnel leading to a large, round chamber. As I walked through the damp, natural serpentine tunnel, I encountered four groups of enemies.

  The first group was scouts, the most basic goblins using small blades and no armor, cut down with ease. Next came rangers, basic ranged attackers who wielded bows. Since mundane arrows posed no threat, this group also disappeared in the blink of an eye. Goblin warriors followed, using medium armor, swords, and shields; the whole group was done in one swing. The most interesting part of this tunnel happened to be a single goblin mage, sadly for all the wrong reasons.

  As he spotted me, he immediately began casting a spell. I smiled, finally seeing an opportunity to use my counterspell. Snapping my fingers, pale blue mana engulfed his forming spell, snuffing it out instantly. He panicked, trying again, then again—each spell fizzled the same way. The mage screeched and began smashing his staff against the walls. I chuckled. He charged me, using all his speed with his staff held high. When he got closer, he jumped, arching as much as he could and pushing his staff behind his back, maximizing the power of his swing. The moment he got in range, he swung, using his whole body to power up the strike.

  ‘Tink!’

  His staff got stuck on the ceiling of the cave. Still laughing, I put him out of his misery. He was already standing up, picking up his staff once more.

  Finally, I reached the chamber at the end. It resembled a small coliseum more than a cave. Descending the stairs, I saw goblins separated from me by nets, screaming and jumping with excitement. Across the ring, a VIP booth held a single heavy-armored goblin with a massive axe, sitting like a king on his throne. The moment I stepped into the ring, a trapdoor closed behind me, cutting off the escape route.

  Once I was trapped inside, the doors started opening around the arena, releasing various enemies. The first door released scouts and rangers; the second, warriors and rangers. Both groups fell to a single, decisive slash of my enhanced blade. The third released mages and warriors. This one was slightly more challenging—I had to counterspell and neutralize the mages immediately, but with only four of them, it was over in a blink. The warriors fell to a single strike. I could have done the same straight to the mages, but I didn’t want to risk one of them completing a cast.

  Finally, it was time to welcome the boss. The heavy-armored goblin leapt onto the battleground from his throne, axe raised. I didn’t hesitate. One slice, and he was gone. Dungeon complete. The boss fell, the loot was gathered, and I reset. I stopped playing with the mages and settled into a mindless, mechanical rhythm. I was even getting used to the weird smell of goblins. By the time I retired to the hotel forty runs later, I had finally crossed the threshold to level twenty-five, which gifted me with a new skill.

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  Valkyrie’s Embrace—it was once again a passive skill that negated any hit that would actually manage to harm me. The drawback was that it could trigger only once a day. With my new skill learned, I decided to pack it in for the day and enjoy a good night’s sleep.

  The next morning, as I walked toward the Goblin Cavern, I scheduled lunch with the twins for Saturday—the day after the dungeon would close—curious about the gossip. Then I dedicated myself to grinding the rest of the runs I needed to reach a hundred in the Goblin Cavern. It was easy; since I ignored the experience gain—it was already minuscule anyway thanks to my level—I didn’t have to stop after ten runs like before. With my hundred runs completed, I looked forward to Saturday’s news.

  As I approached our usual table, the twins didn’t even notice me. They were chatting away about something. I chuckled, knowing what was most likely going on.

  I greeted them both. “Hello! Did something happen? You look worried, Juliet.” Both of them greeted me back, and Juliet took the reins of the conversation, quickly rattling off the news.

  “Vic, you would not believe what happened. A dungeon disappeared! Just ‘poof!’ and the Overrun Catacomb is no more. Wait—you were running the Catacombs every day, weren’t you? Didn’t you notice?”

  “No, I didn’t! I was running the Goblin Cavern for the last two days. And what’s with that ‘poof!’ and the dungeon being no more?”

  “Ah, sure. The Catacombs are gone. The city and the king are panicking. Everybody is scared that dungeons will start poofing away.” She spoke, gesticulating wildly, visibly excited about the subject. “They sent investigators to check it out. You’re lucky you didn’t go there on the last day—they requested a list of people who completed it in the last twenty-four hours. They’re going to interrogate every single one of them.”

  “Did they find out what happened?” I asked curiously.

  Juliet just shook her head. “No. They know nothing. There was nothing left after the dungeon disappeared—not even a mana trace. All that they know is that out of nowhere, the whole dungeon disappeared, kicking out all the delvers with a message: ‘Core condensation complete!’ and ‘Closing dungeon and delivering core!’. The whole guild is in crisis mode.”

  I inquired a little longer about the case, and Juliet was more than willing to fill me in on every single detail. The investigators knew basically nothing, and realizing that the coast was clear, I sighed internally in relief and moved on to the next topic.

  “By the way, I should be able to advance in both guilds to Rank D. I reached level 25 just recently. Plus, I have loads of stuff to sell.”

  “Okay, let me go first,” Juliet said, already pulling out the black box. She bought all the junk I found while farming. Once everything was sold, they both ranked me up, giving me access to more dungeons and more jobs. Then we parted ways.

  “You are an okay liar,” Alrune spoke.

  “Not that I wanted to lie, but telling them the truth is not an option. At least for now.”

  “Oh, that’s progress. You adding ‘for now’ at the end speaks volumes. That’s good—really good. I’m happy for you!”

  I spent the rest of the day and night enjoying Alrune’s company. Waking up early the next morning, already looking forward to seeing Selah again. The walk to the orphanage took pretty much no time since I practically ran the entire time, unable to wait to see my little angel. As I arrived, she was already dressed up, waiting for me.

  First, I took her to a pastry shop, the twins had suggested earlier in the week. It was a well-known shop famous for its marvelous maids of honour tarts. Selah ended up enjoying them a whole lot; she ate three right away and packed a bunch to go.

  From the pastry shop, we went to a market, letting her pick anything she liked. She ended up with a bunch of dolls, doll dresses, and even a big doll house. The entire time in the marketplace, as I was buying toys for little Selah like a madman, I was listening to Alrune giving me a very playful talking-to about spoiling our kid.

  After this, we headed to the park, where we had a nice walk, and Selah played with little foxes to her heart's content. Once she was satisfied with how much time she spent with her pets, she ran up to me and sat on my lap, hugging me tightly. I smiled and hugged her back; then, realizing something, I spoke.

  “Selah, sweetheart, I need to tell you something!”

  She released me from the hug and looked up into my eyes, waiting for me to continue. I needed a moment to steady myself and take a deep breath; I was not sure if she was even going to understand what I wanted to tell her.

  “They told you already in the orphanage that everybody gets a tether when they turn fifteen?”

  She nodded quickly.

  “You know how normally those tethers lack their own will and are just tools to make people stronger?” Another nod came without hesitation.

  “Mine is different. My tether is of mythical rarity; she is a complete soul, with will, feelings, and desires. Her name is Alrune; she is a fallen Valkyrie.”

  Selah just looked at me, hanging on every word as if urging me to speak faster. I could not help but chuckle and ruffle her blonde hair.

  “Well, and that is not the only special thing about Alrune. We fell in love together—me and Alrune.” Selah’s eyes looked like they were about to jump out of her sockets listening to me.

  “We love each other very deeply. And there is one more person we both love very much. Can you guess who this person is?”

  She shook her head.

  “Nobody comes to your mind?”

  She kept on shaking her head adorably. I smiled, looking at her being clueless.

  “It’s you, Selah! It’s you! I know you can’t feel, see, or hear her, but it was very important for me to let you know that despite all that, she is still there for you. And that I am doing my best for you to meet her someday.”

  Selah nestled into me, resting her head on my chest and smiling gently.

  In my head sounded just a single, heartfelt sentence: “Thanks, I love you!”

  I just whispered back, “Love you too!”

  As I finished, Alrune could no longer hold back her feelings. They all came rushing out, engulfing me and bathing me in her love and possessiveness. I just held Selah tightly, basking in Alrune’s love, feeling its warmth gently linger around Selah like a careful, distant embrace.