“Weird…” Lily mumbled under her breath as she consulted the System’s map. “It should be right here,” she added, looking around to see if she could spot anything weird or out of place.

  “What exactly are we looking for?” Nari wondered, following the spider’s lead, helping her scout the area.

  “Honestly…” she sighed, “I have no clue.”

  “HUUUh?!” the girl exclaimed, covering her face in despair, when she suddenly gasped. “Wait, what about the key that you found?”

  “R-right,” Lily replied quietly, looking the other way. If only I knew how to summon it, she thought to herself, wondering if maybe it was a lot simpler than she believed. “System, give me the key,” she whispered, trying not to be heard by her friend.

  [The key is in your inventory.]

  “Whoa!” the spider exclaimed, catching Nari’s attention, who just looked at her with a weird expression plastered over her face. “Sorry, I just ugh… remembered something,” she explained. How was it that Otto summoned stuff from his inventory? Lily mused, trying to recall what Nari told her. “I remember!”

  “What the—” Though the sudden appearance of a key in front of the little spider surprised her, it wasn’t what made her speechless, since she had gotten slightly used to Lily doing stuff that monsters had never done. “It’s shining sooo bright,” Nari muttered, feeling warmth emanating from the object. “Look…” She pointed toward the cluster of stalagmites behind Lily.

  The spider promptly turned around, and the moment she did so, the key flew right into the pointy rocks and into the middle of the cluster, cracking the ground beneath.

  Both girls looked at each other and nodded, then, without hesitation, sprinted toward the impact zone, curious to check out what had happened. To their surprise, where ground had been before now stood a white swirling portal.

  “T-that’s it,” Nari muttered as she pointed at the opening, “it’s a dungeon entrance!”

  “That’s…” Lily stood there motionless, watching.

  “I know, they’re super cool!” Nari exclaimed, and without missing a beat, she jumped right toward it. The moment she touched the swirly light, her body phased right through it and vanished into nothingness.

  It feels so weird, Lily thought, before following her friend through the portal. “Nari?” she yelled as she phased through, looking around the moment she finally reached the inside of the portal. “Where are y—whoa!!!” she blurted out.

  Unlike anything she had ever seen in person, a massive building stood before her. The sheer size of the cave—not to mention the humongous marble-like construct—made no sense; it was much bigger than the outside, so vast that they couldn’t even see the end of it.

  “I told you these places defy the impossible,” Nari stated as she gazed upon the incredible architecture. “Look, there’s the entrance,” she added, promptly heading toward the building’s massive stairs, followed by Lily, who was speechless. “I guess it’s like a temple or something.”

  The little spider just nodded as she tapped along, carefully scouting the area while trying to feel the vibrations.

  At the same time, Nari was much less worried, nonchalantly walking ahead.

  Something’s not right, Lily thought, racking her brain as she tried to figure out why she suddenly felt so worried, like never before, at least not since reincarnation. “I have a bad feeling about this place,” she told her friend.

  “It’s just a white dungeon, we’re gonna be fine!” Nari tried to reassure her.

  “What do you mean?” the little spider wondered, turning around to look at the portal, which just swirled around against a rocky wall.

  “It’s like the Mana Crystals,” the girl replied. “White means that it’s a lesser rank, the lowest possible,” she added, “even a group of newbie adventurers can clear dungeons this weak, meaning that you could probably do it on your own.”

  “Oh, that makes me feel a bit better,” Lily cheered, taking a big breath. “But still, it feels like something’s not quite right,” she added as they climbed the stairs one by one, their eyes set on the huge entrance, more specifically, on the two half-broken humanoid statues that adorned both its sides.

  As before, Nari took the lead and rushed toward the marble creations, scanning them with sparkling eyes. “They’re beautiful,” she mumbled under her breath, almost speechless. “There’s something written there!” She pointed at the broken entrance frame. “Gorgon…” was the only decipherable word.

  “That name…” Lily mumbled under her breath. “It feels so familiar.”

  “Really? I’ve never heard of it,” the girl shrugged. “Let’s go inside,” she added, taking a step forward.

  Gorgon, why does it sound so familiar? Lily mused.

  “I wonder how that new dungeon will be…”

  “Who’s there?” Lily frantically turned around, feeling a strange breeze behind her. It’s that voice again, the spider thought, trying to listen carefully.

  “Lily? Everything okay?” Nari stopped right before taking one step inside.

  “They said it was going to be one of the hardest ones yet…”

  “N-no, that can’t be…” The little spider turned around to look at the entrance again, only this time it was like something snapped inside of her. “I remember now…” she stated. I’ve seen this exact door once already in a picture, way before coming to this world, she thought.

  “Whoa, it’s even better on the inside,” Nari cheered as she poked her head inside the entrance, grabbing the marble frame for support.

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  “We have to leave now!!!” Lily yelled.

  “W-what are you sa—” Before the human girl could finish her sentence, a sudden shockwave cut her off, knocking her inside the temple. “What the hell was that?!” she shrieked, slightly winded and trying to stand up.

  The little spider barely stood her ground by planting her multitude of legs into the rocky floor as she watched the previously white swirl turn into an intense orange hue. Then, the moment the shockwave ended, she jumped toward her friend. “Are you okay?”

  But when the golden-haired girl sat up and finally opened her eyes, she could barely react and stood there motionless, breathing heavily while staring beyond Lily.

  “Nari?” The little spider tapped her shoulder in search of a reaction. “Lean on me, we have to leave,” she said with a serious tone.

  “W-we can’t,” Nari finally replied, though it was almost as if her voice had lost all of its attitude and spark.

  “What do you mean?!? The portal is right th—” When she turned around, she couldn’t believe even one of the eight eyes she had. “T-that’s impossible…” Like it hadn’t even existed before, the entrance had disappeared, and all that stood before them was a massive marble wall.

  “There’s no such thing as impossible in dungeons,” Nari mumbled, taking a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “But we have to find another exit, and soon,” she added, brushing the dust off he clothes as she stood up.

  “So, I was wondering… if white is easy and low rank…” Lily said with an unserious tone. “What does orange mean?” She laughed, smiling from ear to ear, almost eerily.

  “Why?” Nari retorted, wondering why the sudden question.

  “Oh, just because,” she replied, trying not to alarm her friend.

  “Ugh, well…” the girl crossed her arms as she listed all the ranks in her mind. “It’s legendary!” She snapped her fingers.

  “And… is that stronger than sovereign, cause it kinda sounds stronger, ooor?” Lily wondered, still inexperienced with how powerful all the ranks were, other than lesser and standard, since she had been through them.

  “Ah, I see,” the girl giggled, getting ready for a thorough explanation. “Starting from the weakest rank, we have Lesser, which is white, then we’ve got Standard—your current rank—and Greater, which are both green, as you might have already figured out from the crystals,” she said. “Elite, Commander, and Admiral are all blue ranks, with vast differences in power, so just because we beat an elite, it doesn’t mean we could even scratch an admiral one.”

  Lily gulped loudly, waiting for Nari to call out the following ranks.

  “When admiral monsters are at the peak of their power, but not quite ready to evolve just yet, they turn into Grand Admirals, which aligns with purple, just like the next three ranks, Sovereign, King/Queen, and Emperor. The difference in power between these ranks is abyssal, basically unquantifiable,” she continued. “The list is closed out by the Legendary rank, which, as I said two seconds ago, is orange.”

  We’re so doomed, Lily thought to herself. “And what does that mean for dungeons? Are all the monsters legendary inside an orange dungeon? How does it work?” the spider wondered.

  “Oh no, no… that would be crazy,” the girl giggled. “If I’m not wrong, it just means that there are legendary monsters inside, but there could even be just one and many elite ones, or whatever…”

  Maybe we’re not totally doomed, Lily pondered, trying to decide between telling her friend the truth or not—at least not yet. “We should find a way out of here, and don’t rush forward alone like earlier,” she suggested, nudging her friend to be a bit more careful.

  “Sure thing, boss!” Nari joked. “I guess we don’t have many choices,” she said, pointing in the only possible direction in which they could proceed, waiting for Lily to agree.

  “Uh-huh,” Lily nodded, leading the way toward more marble stairs while thinking about using the map, but nothing happened. “System, show me the map,” she whispered, and yet again, no response, nothing.

  “You know, those broken statues at the entrance… and also these,” the girl thought out loud, pointing at a couple more destroyed humanoid frames. “I wonder if anyone’s ever been down here before us.”

  “But how could they have accessed it without the key?” Lily replied, carefully scouting the area.

  Nari giggled at the spider’s words. “Dungeons can have more than one entrance, just like they can also have more than one exit,” she explained. “The weird thing is, all the entrances bring adventurers to the same starting point, even though they could be in another completely different spot.”

  “So that means that there could be more than one key in the world, I see…” Lily sighed. “But even then, why destroy statues and ruin the structure? Why waste energy on that?”

  “Everyone’s different, I guess,” Nari shrugged, “it’s not like—whoa…”

  As they finished climbing the massive staircase, two larger statues awaited them, but they looked different from the ones they had seen at the entrance. They were almost perfectly intact, with maybe only a couple of scratches, and both brandished stained weapons.

  But while the statues looked almost new, the room was a mess, as if an explosion or something worse had occurred. The floor, the walls, and even the marble-looking furniture were in ruins, barely recognizable.

  Nari immediately took the lead and walked toward them, way too curious to check them out from up close, while Lily stood back and only looked around the spacious place.

  “The smell’s kinda weird in here,” Lily mumbled under her breath, while Nari didn’t seem to be bothered by it, probably because the little spider had much better senses than a human. What caught her attention most was the strange, dark-red weapons on the otherwise clean statues.

  It was only then that it finally occurred to Lily what that smell reminded her of, and worse, where it was coming from.

  “Look!” Nari called, measuring the statue’s calves against her hand. “The statue’s leg alone is bigger than me, and look inside! That thing is HUUUGE!!!” she cheered, pointing toward an even taller statue right in the center of the next room, and a strange feeling travelled down her spine. “Let’s check it out!” She rushed forward, but the moment she set foot through the doorway, a sudden, heavy sound caught her attention.

  “WATCH OUT!!!” Lily yelled as she sped toward her friend.

  “W-what…” Though the spider’s sudden shout startled the girl, the fear in her voice made her realize something was wrong. Before she could do anything, Lily pulled her away with a web. “Kyaaa!!!”

  The little spider burst forward, effortlessly catching the girl midair, and the moment they landed, a crashing noise, followed by a shockwave, echoed on the walls. “Are you okay?” Lily asked.

  “M-my head’s still spinning, but I’m fine. What the hell was that sound anyway?!?” Needless to say, the girl was shocked when she saw the crater in the floor, and even more so when she locked eyes with the culprit: the same marble statue she had just barely touched.