I hit the ground with force, though It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. Maybe the fact that my whole body hurt already was diminishing the effect, somehow. I looked at my HP, which sat at around 20. Too close for comfort.

  Crudia’s head appeared above me, a terrified expression on her features. “You okay, Shrimpie?”

  I coughed up some blood, and gave her a wide smile. “As good as I’ll be after getting hit by a damn fish-queen, I guess. Can’t take a potion yet. Help me get up?”

  As I got my legs under me, Talisha and Mark came closer, looking at what must have been our new skills. “Great job, you two! I don’t like to agree with Mark, but I have to say he was correct. This boss attack has been the single best thing to move you forward.”

  Oh god, don’t feed his ego, Talisha! Mark already had that ‘I told you so’ look on his face!

  Before I could even inspect the rewards from the hardest battle I’ve been through since appearing here, a new announcement started talking into my ears.

  Boss battle completed

  Result : Victory

  Collapsing dungeon.

  What. What?

  The others looked as confused as I did, and suddenly, the walls started… coming closer? Collapsing under some invisible weight as well. As if a piece of paper started crumbling in an invisible grip.

  “The boss! She’s still not looted!” Shouted Crudia.

  God damn it. It would never get peaceful around here, would it? “I can barely stand. Loot it, quickly!”

  Crudia looked terrified, so I gently pushed her forward toward the somehow already decomposing corpse. She gave me a scared look, but nodded and then she quickly ran forward. Just as she touched the body and presumably looted it, the cooldown finally refreshed, and I used the potion.

  The wave of relief was instant, my body feeling like a new one. Gods, the Carp Queen really did a number on me. I looked at Crudia as she pivoted toward me, and then I started running toward the door, which stood open now, no longer locking us in.

  Mark already hovered at the door, telling us to catch up. “Hurry up! Before the whole thing collapses!”

  “You don’t have to tell us twice!” Crudia barked back, dashing to catch up. The walls were crumbling and closing faster, every second with more speed than in the last one. By the time we reached the doorway, the room was half as large as when we entered.

  I looked forward, and the wide main path stood in front, the walls there closing in too, though much more slowly. The bottom part of the cavern closed faster then. We needed to hurry.

  The walls of the halls, constantly coming closer, closing what felt like just behind us with loud thuds. I could keep my pace for now, but it was getting harder and harder. We’d lose so much XP if we didn’t do the side corridors first, though. I grimaced as I realized that I had to give the point to Talisha this time around - going through the side passages ended up being the correct choice after all. Going against Mark seemed to be like a valid strategy sometimes, even if the decision stemmed.

  The walls were getting closer now, blocking the path, forcing us to run one behind another. Worst of all, Crudia seemed to have a much easier time with this all than I did! That girl just had no trouble outrunning me. In fact, I was the one lagging behind! My dexterity stat was high, but Crudia’s must have blown it out of the water. I focused, trying to pick up even more speed.

  And then, out of nowhere, I stumbled.

  Falling to the ground, I looked up, watching the walls that were closing in even faster now, as if they smelled blood. I tried getting up, but my damn leg was not working correctly, and putting any weight on it just made me feel like falling again. I looked to see what was the problem. A damn bone was sticking out of my shin. A goodamn bone! It didn’t hurt, for some reason - I might as well not have the injury. But I knew I wasn’t outrunning the walls. What to do? Punch the walls and hope that they break? Shit, shit, SHIT!

  I was desparate, my last option completely stupid. I started summoning my shields.

  And that’s when Crudia appeared, threw me on her back, and [Dash]ed out of the hall. The walls crashed together just where I had been moments ago with a heart-dropping thud.

  “Got you!” She smiled, panting. I wanted to hug her and thank her right then and there, but that would have to wait. I considered telling Crudia to put me down, but my leg still had to begin healing, so I just and looked ahead.

  A slight breeze hit me, and I knew we were close. The darkness of the night lay just ahead, and yet the walls kept closing even faster now, as if I was escaping from a trap as a hunter started closing in. The walls shut behind us, the sound of crushed rock and sand louder than my own breathing, but Crudia didn’t let up - she looked ahead, and kept the same pace.

  One final burst, and we were out, the damn walls crushing the entrance barely a moment after. We made it!

  I looked to the sky, and shouted as loudly as I could. “Sucks to suck as a god!” I knew they were watching, and that it was a stupid thing to do. I didn’t care. They should have made this escape harder if they wanted us dead! Did they think a shrimp would die from getting crushed by walls? Pathetic.

  Finally. No fishy smell. I carefully wrestled myself out of Crudia’s grip - my leg began healing, but I didn’t know if I could afford putting any weight on it yet. I landed in a small puddle of water, and just stared at the night sky, catching my breath. Heaving, actually. I wasn’t even running in the last part, but I still felt as if there just wasn’t enough air around me.

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  Wow. Would every boss battle be like this? Goddamn, I was kind of hardcore myself, but this whole thing was another level. I shivered. Not out of fear, of course, but that last run was definitely… not fun. I honestly thought myself a goner back there, more than once in fact.

  But hopefully it was worth it. Choosing to distract myself, I checked my level, and at least that seemed to be worth something.

  Level - 21

  Attribute points - 8

  The damn boss gave me more XP than all of the creatures combined. That spoke of something, at least.

  Crudia sat down next to me, caught her breath in what seemed like two seconds, and started taking out items from her inventory. A lot of them were, once again, items I had no clue how to use, or better said, if they even had a use at all. [Alchemical item] and [Magical item] only told me so much. There were some common items as well, though they seemed mostly useless. Torches, carp scales, stuff like that. The others were a bit more interesting, though.

  Garb of the fish-mama - Uncommon

  Earrings of the fisher - Uncommon

  Fish-style shoulder pauldron - Uncommon

  Ring of Water Splurge - Rare

  “Hey, guides. What do the rarities stand for?”

  Talisha just shrugged, likely due to having no clue. Mark lit up, sitting next to us. “There are 7 item rarities. I explained them to Shrimpie already,” he paused, giving me an angry stare, “but I’ll explain them to Crudia. Someone has to do the guiding for you.”

  Talisha hmphed, but didn’t offer more explanation. “Hey, rude! I just skipped over it, okay? Don’t get cheeky on me.”

  Mark ignored her. “There are common items, which are mostly useless. Or just have one use, and that’s it. Uncommon items are magical by nature. Uncommon, Rare and Epic items usually only have one to three bonuses, and can be obtained in a fairly straightforward manner.”

  “Like killing bosses?” Crudia added.

  “Yup. Legendary, Master and Godly items are different though. You can treat them like you treat evolutions - stupid hard to get. Killing very strong bosses could probably get you one. There are other ways, but I cannot explain those, sadly. You’ll have to find out about those on your own.”

  Great. Cryptic as always. I inspected the four items, and honestly, they were better than I expected them to be.

  Crudia really wanted the armor, even though she just crafted the wolf one she was wearing. Apparently, it went much better with her fur, which I just had no arguments for. The ring was a bit of a better fit for Crudia, as much as it pained me to admit it. It prolonged any effect that lasted more than 5 seconds by a large margin - useless to me, but a big deal for her Stealth. I wanted a rare item for myself, but I honestly couldn’t see myself using it much.

  That left me with two new items.

  Earrings of the fisher - Uncommon

  Whoah. What beautiful studs! Don’t they look cool? Guaranteed to turn every head for sure! They are also guaranteed to make every shopkeeper look at you funny, since they’ll surely make you look like a thug. You know, there’s something about a shirtless blue man with earrings that usually doesn’t strike the people the right way.

  This item provides +5 to strength, and [Bad boy] passive!

  Oh, sweet. I always loved more strength. I opened the passive description, bracing for the inevitable humiliation that would surely come from the description.

  Bad boy

  Type : Passive

  Oh, hey there, handsome! You look so gorgeous, don’t you? At least some people will think so.

  With this passive, you’ll bring out both the best and the worst qualities in you. You’ll be more likely to make friends with the thiefs, the druggies, the prostitutes, all that kind of stuff. Lovely, right? We are sure you’ll fit right in. You just killed a mother and all of her children, after all.

  As for the more law-abiding folk? We’ll let you figure that part out.

  Strength of the effect depends on [Charisma].

  A mother? And so what? They didn’t look friendly at all, okay? And they were ugly and they stank! I did the world a favor!

  Sighing, I took the small earrings and shoved them into my earlobes, which they pierced after the tiniest amount of pressure. It only hurt for a second, but the pain quickly passed.

  “You know you could have used the equipment menu for that, right?” Mark added helpfully.

  Well, too late now. Mark’s smug-meter was off the charts already. No need to give him the satisfaction of being right on top of that. “I like doing it this way,” I mumbled a weak excuse and I repeated the process on the other ear, letting the skin around my new jewelry regenerate.

  “You look so cool with those, Shrimpie!” Crudia bobbed her head, her excitement so pure that it immediately raised my own evaluation of the item. I had to admit they did fit pretty well, looking at my inventory menu. The silver color also didn’t clash with my skin tones at all. They looked like specks of metal floating in an ocean.

  “And what does that say about you, Crudia?. Apparently, only evil folk like it.”

  “Nuh-uh. That only applies to NPCs, Shrimpie. I don’t like saying this, but they do fit you.” Mark added.

  Was that… a compliment from Mark? Was the world about to explode? What was happening?

  Already in a good mood, I scanned the second item.

  Fish-style shoulder pauldron - Uncommon

  It’s a shoulder pauldron. It’s from metal. Carp men made it. What else do you want us to say? The whole history of how this thing came to be? How glorious it’ll look on you? Sorry bud. No.

  It’s ugly. The fishmen made it. Your mother would be disappointed if she saw you wearing this stuff.

  Gives you the skill [Battering ram].

  Would the system just have an obsession with mothers now? I’d have to get used to this stuff one day, or it would make me crazy sooner or later. I equipped the item, and honestly? It didn’t look half bad. It actually looked as if my shoulders got larger, making me even more handsome. And most importantly, it didn’t clash with my colors.

  With that done, I watched Crudia equip her own items, and that was that.

  And oh boy, was I feeling sleepy. Hopefully the night beasts weren't feeling particularly hungry. I

  was about to ask Mark about how I should split my Attribute points, resisting the urge to put them all into strength - the item gave me some anyway. But then I saw something in the corner of my eye.

  A blue dot appearing just on the edge of my mini-map. “Hey, Crudia! A player is approaching!”

  She seemed even more excited than I was, immediately up on her legs. But then her face changed, and I saw why in just a second.

  What approached was not one dot, not even two. Soon enough, the minimap was filled with 8 blue dots, heading straight toward us.

  “Eight? Mark, is that normal?”

  He scratched his head. “I thought the next group of players would be further away. We’ve had little luck with meeting Crudia, but this seems really weird. The timing is strange too. Maybe they were about to head to the dungeon too?”

  Crudia nodded, but Talisha stopped Mark in his tracks. “Waiting to attack a dungeon in the middle of night? I don’t think so, Mark. Think about it. This timing?”

  “Something’s wrong.” I stood up, materializing my weapons once again, the chitin spawning just under my new shoulder guard.

  Whoever was approaching, something told me that this wouldn't be a casual meeting.