"A desert?" Penny groaned. "I don't even like the beach."

  "Not many shadows around," Hannah noted.

  Luke took a step forward and shielded his eyes against the sun as he looked out across the vast expanse of sand around them. "Not much of anything."

  New Quest: End the Queen's reign of terror.

  Reward: Neverending water.

  "Queen of the desert, huh?" Liza asked. "Do you think it's Priscilla?"

  Mateo brought his spear out from his inventory and pointed it forward. "I do not know a woman named Priscilla, much less a Queen known as such, but we shall end her kingdom of evil!"

  Before they set out, Luke made sure to inspect each of them, so he knew what they were working with.

  Luke. Lifeweaver. Level 37.

  Hannah. Vesper. Level 26.

  Penny. Stormsinger. Level 19.

  Mateo. Lancer. Level 16.

  Lucy. Thrasher. Level 14.

  Liza. Warder. Level 10.

  "You're level 37?" Penny asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "Yup."

  She looked at him for a couple of seconds, then continued. "You're not going to explain?"

  "Nah."

  "Great," she said. "Just great. School is making me miss out on so much."

  "Stay in school," Luke said.

  "Education is important!" Mateo shouted as he set off, going straight ahead to move down a sandbank.

  "Where are we going?" Hannah asked.

  "Stop, Mateo," Liza said.

  Mateo stopped and turned, looking back.

  "We need a plan. You can't just go in a random direction."

  While Liza lay out her ideas, Luke stepped up to Hannah and whispered, "Can I try something with you?"

  She narrowed her eyes.

  "Healing-wise, I mean," Luke quickly specified.

  "Sure."

  He reached out with a thread of mana and entered her mana channels. Continuing to her meta-heart, Luke felt like he was being watched, and not just by Hannah's large eyes regarding him, but like there was a presence in there with him. The Deep Dweller.

  "It is just a remnant. I am in control," Hannah whispered.

  Luke nodded and continued. Healing mana poured into Hannah's meta-heart, but as soon as he withdrew, it bled away.

  "Damn. Didn't work."

  "That felt weird," Hannah said. "What did you do?"

  "Tried storing healing mana in your meta-heart. I can hold on to it in mine, but it doesn't work with you."

  "Too bad."

  He chuckled. "Yeah."

  "Luke. Hannah. Are you listening?" Liza asked.

  "Yeah. Sorry."

  In that moment, Luke felt something. Like a wave of pressure coming from off to the right.

  "Did you guys feel that?" Penny asked.

  "Scrap what I just said," Liza said. "We should head toward that."

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "Into the belly of the beast!" Mateo shouted, directing the point of his spear toward whatever had unleashed that attack.

  "Whatever did that is strong," Luke said.

  Liza nodded. "We'll have to be careful and take every precaution."

  Hannah donned her Archon robe, which prompted Luke to wear his Unwavering Robe of The Fiend. That made him realize he could help the others out as well.

  Mateo paled. "My friends, you look like death come reaping."

  "Got these in the last dungeon," Hannah said. "It's a wonder it wasn't ripped to pieces when I fell off that dragon."

  "When you did what?" Lucy asked.

  Penny crossed her arms over her chest. "You guys have all the fun."

  That made Luke realize he could share the fruits of his new profession. "I can enchant items now. Want me to add some attributes or something to your clothing? There's also one that makes armor put itself back together if it breaks."

  Hannah pulled the robe over her head without a word and held it out.

  "There's a chance it'll fail, though. That destroys the item."

  "Worth the risk," she said.

  As luck would have it, the enchantment worked, and Luke handed the robe back.

  "Amazing. Thanks," Hannah said, putting it back on.

  Lucy stepped up. "Wait. So, if you enchant my shirt and it fails, I'll have to walk around in just my bra the entire dungeon?"

  "Uh, yeah," Luke said.

  Penny put a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "You've got a great rack. I'm sure it'll intimidate the queen we're here to kill."

  "Thanks, but no thanks."

  "Perhaps next time, my friend," Mateo said.

  Luke looked at him. "You said this was your last time, remember?"

  "What?" The question seemed to burst out of Penny, like there was no stopping it.

  "I am afraid so, hermana. After this, it is time I hung up my spear."

  She turned to Luke. "You knew about this?"

  "Yeah."

  "And you want him to die?" She put her hands on her hips and leaned back, speaking in a deep, raspy voice. "I am one day away from retirement. Of course, I'll go stop those bank robbers!"

  Luke sighed. "He's a grown man."

  "With kids and a wife!"

  Mateo stepped between them. "I-"

  "He'll die!" Penny shouted.

  "Luke will heal him," Hannah said, her face obscured by the darkness of her hood.

  "I-" Mateo began.

  The ground rumbled. Sand shifted beneath their feet, and some slid down the slope, looking almost like running water.

  "What was that?" Lucy asked.

  "Earthquake?" Liza suggested.

  Luke shook his head. "No. Too small."

  Another shift beneath the ground made the group step back. Something huge and insect-like exploded out from beneath the sand, reaching out for Lucy with mandibles the size of a person's arm. In the split second before it reached Lucy's midsection, she surged forward and twisted at the hip, slamming her elbow right into the monster's head. It burst apart in a shower of green and black ichor, but another followed.

  "Ants!" Penny shouted. A blue sheen surrounded her, and Luke was amazed to see her rising into the air.

  Hiveling. Level 14.

  Hiveling. Level 16.

  Hiveling. Level 16.

  Hiveling. Level 13.

  More of the chittering bastards emerged from the sand, lunging for the party members. One tore into Hannah's robe but found itself torn apart by shadows. Mateo pierced one through the middle, then raised his spear and slammed the monster down on a second ant, while Lucy killed another with a palm strike to the section connecting an ant’s head to its body.

  Liza let out a shriek as an ant got to her, biting into her arm with enough force to shear straight through, severing the Warder's forearm near the elbow. Blood gushed from the wound, but Luke was there in an instant, slamming Needle of Life into the Hiveling, cutting its monster core free while simultaneously setting Liza up for Weaver's Renewal. The arm regenerated in seconds, going from nothing to a blob of flesh before fingers sprouted like growing weeds. After that, the hand assumed its correct shape, pale and without her hand tattoo. The horror of the few seconds she'd spent without the limb lingered, though, and she sank to her knees, eyes empty.

  Strike it up,

  Storm it down,

  I’m zapping every bug around!

  Lightning arced down from above, slamming into the remaining ants, frying them. She shuddered as she descended back to the ground. "Sand and now ants? I hate bugs!"

  Hannah was on the ground next to Liza, holding her arm. "Liza? How are you doing?"

  "I don't know," Liza said. Her lips were pale, and she reached out with a trembling hand, not the one that'd just regrown, and picked up her severed limb. "What is this?"

  "It’s your arm, Liza,” Hannah said. ”Give it to me.”

  The stunned girl handed the arm over, and Hannah passed it to Luke, who put it into his inventory. Just tossing it into the sand felt wrong.

  “Can you go on?” Luke asked Liza.

  She looked up with a confused expression on her face. “What?”

  “I think she’s done,” Lucy said.

  Penny stepped closer to Mateo, whispering. “Still think it’s a good idea to stay in this dungeon?”

  “Yes,” Mateo said, without a trace of doubt in his voice.

  “I think I’d like to sit down now,” Liza said.

  Hannah shook her head. “You are sitting down, Liza. I’ll take you home.”

  “Home?” Liza asked. “Yes, I think so. I’m feeling a little tired.”

  Hannah helped her up, and together, they stepped up to the portal. She lowered the hood of her robe as she turned back. “I’ll just drop her off and come back.”

  “We’d head toward whatever unleashed that attack, if that was what it was,” Luke said.

  “I’ll find you.”

  With the group a little smaller, they readied themselves to move out.

  “We could wait for some more Integrated to show up,” Lucy suggested.

  Luke saw that Penny was writing something in the sand, using the heel of her shoe to create large letters.

  “A-N-T-S,” Luke read.

  Penny shrugged. “A little something for those who come after.”

  “We should get moving,” Mateo told Lucy. “The babysitter could only stay until 9 PM tonight.”

  “Yes, let’s rush through this so Mateo can get home to his children in time,” Penny said, her tone showing just what she thought about that idea.

  “Enough, hermanita,” Mateo chided, his voice warm but firm. “As a man with blood pumping through my veins, this is something I must do. A farewell to a life that could have been.”

  Penny just sighed.