We continued our hike further into the dungeon coming across a few burnt trees, but not another monster body. The ground itself had dried blood stains and deep gouges from weapons.

The path started to head downhill and soon the goblin encampment came into view.

The huts were almost all but destroyed. The few still standing had large gaping holes in the walls that were surrounded by scorch marks. The place was littered with dead goblins and even a few hobgoblins, which weren't in the dungeon description.

Lukon walked past me crouching down at another body.

"The dungeon really is broken, I wonder what did this?"

He looked up and around at the bodies. Chase turned around quickly after looking at the body of a hobgoblin.

"Fuck, we need to get back to the gate and get out!"

I heard Valera grunt, turning just in time to see her cut an arrow out of the air.

We all turned to the tree line the arrow came out of and the other party walked out.

I could feel waves of killing intent that you would normally feel coming off of a boss monster. I pulled out my sword with shaky hands and stood next to Lukon.

The tank laughed loudly as he walked ahead of the rest.

"We can't leave here without gaining something, and it looks like you guys are the only ones with a prize."

Chase notches an arrow aiming at the tank's head.

Lyra sighed, stretching her arm before pulling out her sword.

"You were right Chase, these bastards really have no class."

Their archer's twisted face twitched, making me grip my sword tighter.

"No class?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Lyra glared.

"Yeah, that's the nicest way to describe merc bastards like you."

Lukon gripped his staff firmly, stepping next to me.

"What do you think will happen after you fight us huh? Something in here killed all the monsters but there hasn't been a message that the quest has been cleared."

I looked at him confused, why was he trying to reason with them?

"He's right, for all you know even if you kill us, who's to say you can even get out of here alive with our gear?"

Chase too? Was I missing something?

The tank shrugged, "I doubt there's anything in here that would kill us."

Lyra got into a stance bracing to attack.

"No use talking to them anymore"

I watched as she charged at them, swinging her sword hard. It clashed with the Tank’s.

Arrows start flying from both Chase and their archer.

I did my best to knock any flying towards Lukon out of the air as I heard him start his chants.

Valera's sword glowed green with Lukon's spell as she slammed her sword into the axes of their fighter.

Suddenly I felt a burning sensation and then I fell to the ground screaming in pain. My hands dropped down and I looked to see my leg missing. If I even had the time to feel the ripped flesh, I assumed was there I wasn’t too sure because I quickly felt more searing pain in my left arm.

I heard Lukon shout my name and I looked up at him to see his face contorted in horror.

I saw a blur run past me.

"Lukon!"

I heard a grunt and saw Chase's hand on an arrow in his chest. Then look back to Lukon.

He managed to block the assassin's blade with his staff.

"There's no way you guys are E-rankers."

I heard a low menacing laugh from the assassin.

"Oh, I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you now."

He pulled his blade out taking a few steps back quickly.

"We're all D rank, you were dead the minute we got here."

He lunged forward and I watched terrified as he easily slashed through Lukon's staff and chest. He slipped around him and planted his blades into his back.

"A mage had no chance against an assassin class."

"No!"

I tried crawling over to him desperately. Valera got there quickly impaling the assassin on her blade.

"You're much too cocky for a D rank."

She pushed him off pulling his pack and grabbing a healing potion.

"Lukon take this."

She dumped it on his chest quickly before charging back toward the enemy.

There was a hearty deep laugh and I turned to see a crazed smile on the tank's face.

"Good, good! It wouldn't be any fun if you couldn't fight back. It'll be nice to get some entertainment before we kill you."

I managed to get closer to Lukon, though I didn’t know how I managed it.

I looked around to see the ax wielder already on the ground.

Lukon stared at me with a look I never expected to see on his face.

"Give me a sec, I'll heal you."

Despite the seriousness of my injuries, I knew Chase was more important if anyone is going to get out of here alive.

"No! Help Chase first."

I managed to rip off my belt with my right arm and tried to cut off the bleeding of my left arm. Even though I wanted him to head to Chase, Lukon quickly tightened it around my arm for me. He looked at me, hesitating but headed off to Chase dodging arrows as he ran.

Lyra pulled aggro for us to get the Tanker’s attention. An arrow landed in Lukon's leg as he made it to Chase. He forced through the pain and began to chant to heal Chase. A green glow started at Chase’s chest wound.

Good, Chase was the most level-headed, he’d be able to do something.

The arrows stopped flying and I saw Valera standing over his body, panting blood dripping from her blade. She didn't have time to rest as their swordsman finally made a move. Their swords clashed.

I thought things were going surprisingly well but then I heard a shout and saw Lyra’s body impaled on the Tank's great sword.

"Just because you have one good swordsman doesn't mean you'll get out of this alive. How's the poison effect feeling right now?"

I turned to see Chase panting above a collapsed Lukon. The arrow was out of his chest but not out of Lukon's leg, I stared at him looking for any sign of movement. I saw a light glow which relieved me a little, and I looked back at the tanker who was laughing.

"You lasted pretty long it seems, but that mage. Poison's a bitch ain't it."

As Chase fell to one knee, I turned to see Valera and the swordsman on equal footing crossing swords.

"I haven't had a match this good in a while. She's mine, you can have the rest of them."

"Fine, have it your way."

The tank gripped his sword pulling it out of Lyra, about to charge when a ding sounded out.

I looked up to see a banner, its glowing letters read “The trial is completed, exit transport will commence’'

I looked down but didn’t see myself start to teleport. I looked around and saw the last glimpses of Valera, the swordsman, Chase, and Lukon enveloped in a light. The tanker yelled as his sword flew towards Chase. I felt relief and looked up at the sky.

At least they made it out.

I heard the Tank yell in aggravation. I don’t know why he was still here but served the bastard right.

I could still feel the throbbing, searing pain where his blade slashed off my limbs. It was almost all I could focus on, the pain and the lightheadedness from blood loss.

I just stared up at the sky watching the clouds slowly move across it.

Could I even call it the sky?

The word dungeon would imply an enclosed space, so would what I was looking at be the ceiling then?

But ceilings can be touched at a certain point and this one really felt like the sky. The clouds were soft and fluffy like the outside world. The light slowly faded as the sun was setting. The stars slowly became visible. I wasn’t sure if it was happening quickly or if I had just watched it for a while. I opted for quickly, I mean I was bleeding out how could it have been a while?

It was quite a nice view, all things considered.

I had a decent life I'd thought, met some good people, and had some not-too-hard adventures. Though this one definitely strayed from the average dungeon raid.

What a strange turn of events and this morning started like normal too.

Ahhhhh the pain was almost gone at this point, maybe that means I’d be gone soon.

I slowly closed my eyes...

It’s nice to know it wasn’t as painful as I thought it’d be.

…

…

…

…

…

I heard a yell, then a garbled scream.

Damnit! I thought I was going to have such a peaceful end to it all.

I heard an excited voice but I couldn’t seem to understand what was being said.

There was a break in the noise, then I thought I heard footsteps around me.

Fucking hell! How long was it going to take for me to die?!

I opened my eyes. I could see the stars more clearly now. Seriously?! Why wasn’t I dying yet?

My vision started to darken.

Oh good, there it is. Finally.