Chapter 91:A problem

The next time his body was transported across time and space was no different from his first.

That was to say that it hardly felt like anything, he was in the crystal zone for a moment, and next, he was inside the dungeon.

That was where the experiences diverged from his first. For one thing, his own bonded monster girls were on a tight leash and kept in the gear forms. If they come out, it was an instant disqualification. They would not have allowed even that, however, monster girls with at least a partial bond automatically transferred to a dungeon with their tamer regardless of where they were in existence. So the best they could do was prohibit Tamers from using them.

Another difference was the dungeon itself, his last one looked like a magically expanding jungle, and this one was a large square stone room with a single pathway out of it. The difference was staggering and despite knowing this to be the truth it was still hard to reconcile the fact that there were hundreds of thousands of known dungeons in the world, each with a different internal design.

"Is this it?"

His thoughts were broken by the high and squeaky voice that was his companion.

Simon turned to see the pudgy young man. He was looking around with quite a bit of consternation on his face.

Given that he was dressed in the complete opposite style of the dungeon he could understand. The dungeon was a mono-tone grey, and Richard wore a very audacious and colorful dress robe that made him look like a blessed one(students were normally only allowed to were the black robes designated by the university, the only people Simon had seen that broke this up till now were the blessed).

"I guess so?" Simon replied, even though he was not sure what to expect. This was only his second delve after all.

Richard gave him a nod before letting go of his hand(For two Tamers to enter the same location at the same time they needed physical contact and holding hands was the fastest and easiest option).

He looked around the drab room and sure enough, there was nothing to see. The only thing of note was that the whole thing was lit up although there were no light fixtures anywhere.

Thinking of light fixtures made him look down at the book he still held in his hands. This little thing was supposed to give him all the information he needed on the dungeon and now was as good a time as any to learn.

Simon was about to open to the first page when he noticed his companion walking out the door. He asked,

"What are you doing?"

Richard turned to him with a questioning look.

"Solving the dungeon?"

Reasonable enough Simon thought but his overdressed acquaintance had forgotten something.

He waived the book up in the air as he asked.

"Shouldn't we read the book first?"

The answer he got back was surprising.

"This is a tier 2 dungeon. While I agree we might need it in higher tier dungeons, I believe both of us grossly outclass this one."

Simon could not understand Richard's statement. He had learned from a very early age that power could be overcome by strategy. Only when one was grossly overwhelmed that stopped being true. His Dad loved to use the example of a bondless child fighting him.

So he asked.

"Isn't a measured approach safer? And are we not limited to tier 2 monster girls? How do we grossly outclass this dungeon?"

The answer he got back was swift and full of authority.

"There is a time for cowardice and a time for action. I believe it is a time for action! Even if we are not allowed to use our bonds, just by their passive presence we are stronger than anything the dungeon can throw at us!"

"Right..."

Simon thought that this would be when Flora would weigh in, but she kept very very silent. He wanted to ask for her opinion but he had been told that he could not ask Flora for any guidance. Unlike the person in question, he kept his word.

So that left him to his own judgment whether to accept Richard's proposal. Not that he had much time to decide because his query did not seem to care about him.

Richard casually left the room vanishing outside which made Simon's eyes go wide.

He immediately leaped after his fat companion but he found absolutely no one outside. To add insult to injury, the door behind him disappeared. Meaning the safe zone was no longer available.

"Fuck!"

Simon shout out a curse as he desperately looked around trying to see any sign of Richard. But all he found was a massive long sideways hallway made of the same grey timber with the same form of luminescence.

He did not have a minute to himself, however, as within moments he saw figures rushing at him from both sides.

As they closed in Simon got a good look at the beings and immediately knew they were not friendly.

The beings were lifelike statues mirroring the feminine form of monster girls. Except they had motion and were rushing at him with the speed of a boulder rushing downhill.

A fight was on and he had done no prep at all. This could only go well.