Juli followed without hesitation, one hand on the wall and the other resting on her pommel.

"For the record," she said behind him, "if we die in here, I’m haunting you forever!"

Eli huffed a small laugh.

"I’d expect nothing less. I’d feel really lonely if you weren’t around."

Her cheeks flushed slightly before returning to normal.

The daylight shrank above them with every step of the way, until it was just a thin silver of green and gold. Even that was gone when they reached the twentieth step.

When his foot touched flat ground, he gestured for Juli to stop and take point. Since there was no knowing what lay inside, they had to keep their voices down.

Ahead stretched a corridor of pale stone, its walls lined with moss and streaked with some kind of black stain. The ceiling was low enough that Juli could touch it if she raised her hand, which meant Eli was nearly as tall as the passageway.

The air hummed with a faint static noise, like the labyrinth itself was breathing, and they were inside its body.

Juli led the way, replacing words with gestures.

They crept through the corridor for what felt like hours. The moss thinned out the deeper they went, and the black stains on the walls grew thicker.

Then, all of the sudden, Juli raised a fist.

"Stop," she whispered.

Eli froze.

She pointed ahead. The corridor opened into a wider chamber, and from the far end, he could hear the rapid clicking of claws. It wasn’t just one set, but multiple at once, harmonizing with each other like a chalk choir.

Then he saw it — three shapes burst from the darkness at the end of the chamber, sprinting straight toward them.

They were low to the ground, lizard-like, with elongated bodies covered in dark, ridged scales. Their legs moved in a blur, and their jaws hung open, revealing rows of needle-thin teeth.

"It’s something-I-forgot-the-name, so stand back!"

The first one was already closing the distance.

Juli stepped forward and drew her sword in a single motion. The lead runner lunged, and she brought the blade down through its skull before it left the ground. It crumpled and slid across the stone floor.

The second vaulted over its fallen packmate without slowing. Juli pivoted and slashed horizontally, catching it across the jaw. The force sent it into the wall with a hard crack.

The third, however, was smarter. It saw the weaker Eli and broke left, slipping past Juli.

He already saw it coming. It was fast, but not fast enough for [Maid’s Intuition] to alert his body. And because it broke momentum, its path was predictable.

He wanted to step inside the zone, just as he had with the Mossback. However, he recognized the monster.

’Stone Geckos. E-Rank, or 2-Star.’

He didn’t have the stats to take on an E-Rank, even if it looked hittable up close.

Instead, he angled the blade to deflect. The gecko lunged, jaws snapping for his throat, and Eli brought the flat of his sword up to meet it.

—Clank!

The impact rattled through his arms and nearly ripped his sword from his grip. The gecko’s weight slammed into the blade and pushed him back three full steps.

’Holy shit! It’s so heavy! Way heavier than a Mossback!’

The gecko scrambled off the blade and coiled back for another charge. Eli kept the sword between them, angling it in a way to redirect some of the weight.

When it snapped at him, he tilted the blade and let the teeth scrape down the edge, sending the gecko’s head sliding past his shoulder. Its claws raked his sleeve but missed the skin.

"I can’t keep this up! Juli, help!"

The gecko’s hind legs tensed for a third strike.

Then, a blade came down from behind it and split it from skull to tail in one stroke.

Juli stood over the two halves, barely breaking a sweat.

"I was letting you have a go at it."

Eli let out a wild breath. His arms were shaking.

"...It’s E-Rank, Juli. E-Rank!"

Juli approached him and patted his shoulder.

"You did well! I know you could at least play with it a little."

She looked at the marks on his sword.

"We should probably get a new sword for you soon."

Eli looked down at the blade. The edge was chipped and worn from fighting Frostfangs, Mossbacks, and now the Stone Geckos.

It was a borrowed sword from the House’s armory, meant for soldiers rather than knights.

"You’re right. This thing is on its last legs."

He sheathed it carefully and followed Juli deeper into the chamber. The ceiling opened up here, and the walls widened alongside them.

Juli whistled, far more relaxed than when they’d first come in. The sound echoed back three times.

"Echo! Hello! My name is Juli and I’m stuck in a creepy dungeon because my dearest Eli is insane!"

Eli frantically tried to clamp a hand over her mouth, but she slipped away with ease.

"Hey! Can you not announce us to everything living down here!?"

Juli stuck a tongue out.

"Relax! Look, we ran into... whatever its name is—"

"Stone Geckos."

"Ah! I knew it was Stone something! Anyway, this dungeon isn’t all that dangerous if low-rank monsters like these geckos can roam free here. We don’t have to be careful anymore!"

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

"Did the Academy or Julius teach that to you?"

"Well... sorta... no. But! In my experience, it’s like that always. Trust me! If there’s more of those gecko things, I want them to come to me! Saves us time, you know."

’And she dares call me crazy!’

They walked further into the desolate chamber.

Juli ran her hand along the wall as they moved, fingers tracing the stone.

"Ugh, it’s slimy. Elise, feel this."

’Hell no!’

Eli stepped back involuntarily.

"No... I’m good."

"No, seriously, feel it! It’s like... wet leather? But cold?"

She wiped her hand on his sleeve.

"JULI!"

"What! Your sleeve was already ripped! I’m just giving it a piece of leather back!"

"You..."

Eli lunged after Juli with his sword raised, but she danced out of reach, laughing like a madwoman as she tore down the corridor.