Making her way through the caves, Suzume made sure to stay crouched and keep her guard up. If she could avoid any fighting from here on out, that was of course optimal.

  The cave stretched on for what felt like forever.

  Suzume moved slowly, deliberately, placing each foot with care to avoid making noise. Her shoulder still ached a little, even after using Emergency Treatment, but at least her HP was back to full. Must have been some sort of ghost pain sensation.

  Twice, she spotted movement in the darkness ahead and pressed herself flat against the wall, holding her breath until the shapes passed. More Crawlers, maybe, or something else entirely. She didn't intend to stick around and find out.

  Eventually, the cave walls began to widen. The air changed too, becoming less stale, and less suffocating. Suzume picked up her pace, hope sparking in her chest, and then she rounded a corner and stepped out into open space.

  The swamp.

  She was back in the swamp, or at least a different part of it. The same murky water, the same gnarled trees, the same fog drifting between them like ghosts. But nothing looked familiar. No landmarks she recognized, no path she could retrace.

  [Great. So I have no idea how deep into the dungeon I am now. But, I'm out of those weird caves. That's nice.]

  She could be closer to the exit. She could be further away.

  So, Suzume stepped forward into the water, wincing as the cold seeped through her boots.

  [Alright. Just keep moving. Find the portal and get out. Easy enough.]

  And then, suddenly, she froze. There was a sound behind her.

  Suzume spun around, her right hand going for her knife, but the creature was already in the air by the time she'd even turned. Some kind of bloated frog-thing with teeth that were way too big for its mouth, launching itself at her from a patch of reeds she hadn't even noticed. It had been waiting there the whole time, apparently, and Suzume had walked right past it like an idiot.

  Three knives whistled past her head.

  They buried themselves in the frog-thing's body with wet thunks, one after another after another, and the creature dropped into the water with a splash. It twitched once, twice, and then it went still.

  Suzume stared at it for a moment, her brain struggling to catch up with what had just happened.

  "Oh, there you are."

  The voice came from somewhere to her left, casual and flat, like they'd just bumped into each other at a convenience store instead of in the middle of a monster-infested dungeon.

  Suzume turned.

  Rina stood on a raised root a few meters away, her grey hair plastered to her forehead thanks to the humidity, her wrapped arms already pulling more knives from somewhere on her person. She looked annoyed, which was pretty much her default expression, but there was a little bit of relief there too.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  "Rina?"

  "The others called." Rina hopped down from the root and splashed through the water toward her, not even bothering to avoid the deeper patches. Her eyes flicked up and down Suzume's body, taking in the dried Crawler blood on her clothes, the swamp muck caked up to her thighs, the general state of disarray. "You look like shit."

  Suzume scoffed.

  "Thanks. I appreciate that."

  Rina looked into Suzume's eyes.

  "... Sorry." She turned away. "Alright, come on, let's get out of here."

  ---

  They moved through the swamp together, Rina taking point while Suzume followed close behind. The fog seemed thinner now, or maybe that was just wishful thinking, but either way, Suzume was grateful to have someone else watching for threats.

  "So," Rina said after a few minutes of silence, her voice low to avoid attracting attention, "how did this even happen?"

  Suzume grimaced.

  "I stepped into a pit."

  "A pit."

  "Yeah. The ground gave out under me and I fell into some cave system. Fought a Cavern Crawler down there, messed up my shoulder, and then crawled my way back out."

  Rina glanced back at her, one eyebrow raised.

  "Huh. I didn't think you'd be the type to make those sorts of mistakes."

  "Yeah, well." Suzume let out a humorless laugh. "I wasn't exactly focused."

  "What were you focused on?"

  "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

  Rina looked like she wanted to push further, but she didn't. Instead, she just turned back around and kept walking, which Suzume appreciated more than she could say.

  They waded through another stretch of deeper water, the muck pulling at Suzume's boots with every step, and then Rina suddenly stopped. Her hand shot out, pressing flat against Suzume's chest.

  "Down," she hissed.

  Before Suzume could react, Rina shoved her backward into a cluster of roots and dropped on top of her, pinning her to the ground. One of Rina's arms braced against the root beside Suzume's head, the other pressed into the mud on her opposite side, and their faces were suddenly very, very close.

  Suzume could see the individual strands of grey hair plastered to Rina's forehead. Could see the flecks of darker red in her irises. Could feel Rina's breath against her lips, warm and quick from exertion.

  [Oh no.]

  Above them, something large flew past, its shadow blocking out what little light filtered through the fog. Then another. And another. A whole swarm of bloatflies, moving deeper into the dungeon, completely oblivious to the two humans hiding in the roots below.

  They waited there, pressed together, until the buzzing faded into the distance.

  Rina pulled back first, pushing herself up and offering Suzume a hand.

  "Clear. Let's go."

  Suzume took the hand and let Rina haul her to her feet, trying very hard not to think about what had just happened. Or how warm Rina's body had been against hers.

  [What the hell is wrong with me today?]

  They kept moving.

  The portal came into view a few minutes later, shimmering and beautiful, and Suzume had never been so happy to see anything in her entire life. She stumbled toward it, Rina right beside her, and then they were through, stepping out into the cool night air.

  "GUILD MASTER!"

  Suzume barely had time to register the voice before something slammed into her with the force of a small truck.

  Honoka had her arms wrapped around Suzume's midsection, squeezing tight enough to make her ribs creak, her face buried in Suzume's chest.

  "You're okay! You're okay you're okay you're okay!"

  "I'm fine, I'm fine," Suzume laughed, patting Honoka's back. "See? Still in one piece."

  Honoka pulled back, her eyes red and puffy like she'd been crying.

  "I was so scared! We didn't know what happened to you and then you weren't behind us and then Rina-san went in alone and—"

  Suzume reached out and ruffled Honoka's hair.

  "Hey. It's okay. I'm okay."

  She turned to thank Rina, but the spot where the rogue had been standing a moment ago was empty.

  Suzume looked around, confused.

  "Where did Rina go?"

  Takeo pointed toward the street.

  "She just... left. Didn't say anything, just walked off."

  Suzume stared in the direction he was pointing for a long moment.

  [Huh. Didn't even get to say thanks.]