Frostfire Legacy

"Hmm..."

When Aster woke up, he was already outside, lying on the ground, and looking up at the clear, sunny sky of the dungeon. After raising his body, he realized that Kali was lying on top of him, as if he were a cushion or something, curled up with an expression warped in true fear.

Even without the small note beside them, telling him that Natalie knocked out Kali once more and dragged the two out of her shop, he would've guessed it sooner or later all on his own.

"Kali, wake up." Aster urged, gently slapping her cheeks. "We need to move. The time for regrouping is close."

"Ughhh..."

Shortly after, Kali began to stir. Her brain slowly came to life, starting to run at its usual sharpness. As if remembering what happened before, she quickly looked around warily but realized that they were already outside. She heaved a big sigh of relief shortly after.

*Creaaaak!*

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But as soon as she heard the door's hinge creaking loudly, her entire body jumped up. "Leader, I'll go ahead and regroup with the others first!" She shouted an excuse before using all her speed to run away as fast as she could.

In just moments, Aster could no longer see Kali's figure.

"Was she that scared of horror stuff?" Aster muttered to himself.

He picked up the masks he and Kali took off while inside Natalie's place and wore one, hiding his face, before chasing after the poor, scaredy cat who forgot to do that same.

---

A quarter past noon, Aster finally arrived at their meeting place—the entrance of Centuria. However, what awaited him there wasn't something he expected.

"Let go of me, you bitch! Ahhh!"

In front of Cassy, Kali, and Liz was Tina, hugging Argus tightly while being hugged even tighter—Argus and all—by another familiar face: Octavia. Of course, they were hugged against their will, as could be seen from both their expressions, filled with reluctance and annoyance.

"Oh, you're back, Aster!" Octavia smiled, seeing him approach. "As I promised, I'm here~!"

"... Yeah." Aster could tell that instead of being there for him, she was only there to see Argus instead. "But first, mind letting go of those two?"

"Hmm...?"

Octavia tilted her head before turning to Tina and Argus in her embrace and sighed. "Well, I guess..." She muttered while reluctantly letting go.

As soon as she was able to move, Tina rushed forward, legs shaking remarkably, before turning around and hissing at Octavia. She had been within her hold for over 15 minutes already, making her feel all uncomfortable and guarded toward the bird-winged woman.

To add, the faint electrical currents covering Octavia's body made it an even more uncomfortable experience, as if Tina were in an electric bath!

Aster swept his gaze across everyone, judging their expressions. Cassy didn't seem bothered, while Liz looked appalled. Kali still had a white face, but slowly recovering now that she was with everyone else. The fear in her heart was slowly fading away.

"Well... standing here chatting wouldn't be ideal; let's go somewhere where we can set up camp, shall we?" He suggested.

Together with the entire group, they began walking toward the right side of the dungeon's portal, a bit further from the city's entrance. There, after finding a nice flat ground, they decided to set up camp.

Under everyone's watch, Liz threw the cube over, letting it transform into their portable home in an instant. After it was done transforming, everyone entered and did whatever they wanted to do.

Kali was the first to run off, heading toward her room. Cassy, with Liz's support, went for the bath, while Tina went off somewhere, as if not wanting to be in the same space as the one who made her "suffer."

Only Aster, Argus, and Octavia were left in the living room, allowing them to talk to each other without disruption. As if it were the most natural thing to do, Octavia had Argus on top of her lap, patting his fur gently, as the little pup took a short nap.

Seeing the mutt's peaceful expression, Aster started to think that Argus was biased toward beautiful girls, allowing them to touch him unconditionally.

"Anyway, what business do you have with us, Ms. Octavia?" Aster decided to ignore the little puppy first and focus on the matter at hand. "You wouldn't be looking for us just because you wanted to pet my partner, did you?"

As usual, the Thunderbird didn't look like she was serious, only smiling thinly toward Aster's words.

"Correct." But her response couldn't be more direct. "Actually, Magnee asked me to join your party. As such, I'm here to relay this information to you."

"...!"

Aster gasped, almost forgetting how to speak.

Even from a glance, Aster could tell how powerful Octavia was. Having her with them would be nothing short of an extreme boost to their strength! After a bit of consolidation, Aster nodded with a serious expression and added.

"It would be reassuring for us to have someone as powerful as you within our party. However, aren't you already past the 100th floor?" He added, worried and skeptical.

"Ah, that?" Octavia simply smiled, not taking any offense from Aster's doubt. "It's actually a stroke of luck. On the 180th floor, I found a treasure chest and claimed a special ticket, allowing me to join your party."

As she spoke, she pulled out a slip of paper from between her twin bulges—her "extra" pocket—making Aster stare respectfully. Without minding his gaze, Octavia passed the paper over to him, allowing him to identify its use.

"This is a... Dungeon Progress Reset Ticket?"

Aster read the words written on the paper but still found it suspicious. After all, there were no records of such an item existing in the past—a first of its kind.

'Could it be just like with Nefra, an irregular occurrence in the dungeon?'

Aster guessed... and he couldn't have been closer to the truth. However, there's nobody present who could confirm the accuracy of his guess.

"This ticket allowed me to reset my current floor to the last Safety Floor I visited, which is the 100th in my case~!" She continued to explain. "I got this around the time we first met at the guild, actually, and that's when I learned of you too!"

"That's... quite a coincidence, isn't it?" Aster chuckled awkwardly. "Almost as if some powerful being had a hand in orchestrating this..." Before adding in a small whisper.

"Anyway, since you're all on the 100th floor, although earlier than planned, I'll be joining your party!"

"..."

Aster could tell that he, or the girls, didn't have the right to say no to this—neither did they need to. Gaining a powerful ally is never bad, after all.