“Garnet… as far as saving this dungeon…”

“I know… you’ve been planning to destroy the core, right?”

“…”

“Xin already explained enough to me. These friends of mine were only shadows of a life lived hundreds if not thousands of years ago. I was blessed for getting to meet them and become part of their lives, but this place… I understand it can’t be saved. Just do what we have to do.”

“Okay.” I closed my eyes and sighed.

“But we don’t have enough time! The dungeon is collapsing early!”

“Then, let’s speed things up, shall we?” I put on the last piece of armor, the helmet.

“What are you planning?

“Can I Portal into and out of the castle now?”

There was a brief silence. “Xin says with the dungeon collapsing as it is, you should no longer be restricted. But you still won’t be able to Portal into the throne room, if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

“It isn’t,” I responded. “Bring one of my tamed monsters right in front of the enemies. It’d be best if you stayed behind him.”

“Ah… if you say so.”

I walked up to the kiosk. I only had about 35% control of this dungeon. I hoped that’d be enough. I touched the kiosk and registered, then disappeared, leaving Carmine behind. Where I was going, I couldn’t bring her with me. Hopefully, she woke up and regained her senses in time. If not, I’d have to return for her.

Once appearing in a new safe room, I walked out of a dilapidated ruin and onto the beach of a beautiful, quaint lake. Except, the ground was shaking and it didn’t look particularly beautiful anymore. The sky had turned dark, and there looked to be strange tears across it. The ground was cracked in various places and the lake was sloshing back and forth. This world really was falling apart.

I opened up a Portal, and then jumped through. I ended up in the middle of the lake. I hit the water with a splash, and then immediately began sinking. With the weight of so much armor, I had no choice but to sink straight to the bottom. My ears popped as I went, but I concentrated on holding my breath. When my feet hit the ground, I looked around the murky depths.

That’s when the mermaid appeared next to me, a bright glowing pearl still in her hand. She touched me gently with familiarity. I didn’t have the means of communicating with her like Slave Communication. I might get a Monster Communication someday, but today I had to speak with my body. I reached out my hand and grabbed her. I held on tightly, and then I brought up my Map. I selected a monster that seemed to be fighting on his last legs as the elites continued to hold the hallway leading to the throne room.

I opened a Portal. There were a few seconds of waiting, and then suction began. Water started flowing through the Portal. Resisting the flow for a few seconds, I got sucked right through alongside the mermaid I was clinging to.