Unfortunate Ending

The Imp Lord starts to monologue.

Bryce, Vane, Lest, and Althea stood up with much effort. They were clearly over their heads trying to master this dungeon. But their anger and loss fed them power and energy they knew not where it came from. They rushed the Imp Lord throwing a barrage of spells which barely made a dent on his golden armor.

As the Imp Lord conjures an energy ball his eyes begin to shake. He looked down and saw that his chest is wriggling and expanding. He mumbles in pain and fear until his ribcage bursts open in an explosion of bloody slurry. The Imp Lord falls with a muffled thud into the ground. Behind him is a wounded but definitely roughly breathing Rhald grinning through the pain of his wounds.

The body of the dead Rhald gradually disappears.

"Isn't Illusion magic great?!" exclaims a beat up Rhald who raises a thumb up.

Bryce with tears in his eyes hit Rhald hard in the back of his head.

"Hey take it easy! I'm deathly wounded, you know!" Rhald sheepishly and weakly retorts.

"Well, you should have died you, you idiot!" Bryce was panting and so angry that he was in his chibi form with sharp teeth, bulging vein on his forehead, and scrunched up eyebrows.

Rhald couldn't help but feel fuzzy. Bryce has never warmed up to him. It had been months now and Rhald has given up ever gaining his friendship. Rhald figured that it was because he spends a lot of time with Althea and that makes Bryce jealous.

Bryce was still shouting when Rhald hugged him. Their friends were so shook that their eyes and mouths grew big and wide. Althea even had lines dripping down her face. Everyone was in chibi form. Even Terrick and Ellie who just walked into this scene was also in chibi shocked by the scene. Terrick even pointing at Rhald and Bryce with his chibi arm.

This moment would shape how things would be between Bryce and Rhald. Bryce still gets jealous when Rhald takes too much of Althea's time or attention.

To take the attention from the hug, Bryce interrogates Ellie and Terrick where they were. His line of questioning implying that they were doing something inappropriate. Ellie goes red. Terrick off handedly responds that they ran into some imp generals and commanders and that it took time to defeat them.

The adventurers take an hour to collect all the drops. In total, they receive 15,000 gold coins, 8 A rank weapons, and 1 S rank weapon. There were also other drops but they were planning on selling those at the dungeon market.

Rhald received the S rank halberd since he defeated the Imp Lord. Vane claimed the A rank Hammer while Lest picked the A rank fan. Bryce picked another A rank sword on top of the katana that was already in his inventory. Althea received the A rank Bow and Ellie took the whip. Finally, Terrick selected the A rank spear. There was also a rare elvish ocarina which he got when he battled one of the Imp generals. The dungeon drops were usually geared towards the skills of party. So, it is not surprising to have drops that are so personalized to each party member.

They stop by the dungeon market to sell their other drops. The dungeon clerk was shocked at how much loot they had. She asked them how they were able to get so much. The group regales her of how they captured the Imp City. The clerk quickly calls the dungeon supervisor, who chastised the party!

"You killed the whole city of Imps? How is that even possible? Aren't you all B ranks?!"

(The beat up Rhald looks offended in the background.)

"We only allow S ranks to capture the whole Imp city. Even then, we don't normally allow that since it takes a lot more time for them to respawn when you decimate the entire dungeon! Do you not know the dungeon rules?!" He facepalms.

The party seem to shrink down in humiliation. They remembered a dungeon guide mentioning something but they were so excited that they were barely listening.

"Do you know how much paperwork I have to do because of what you did?! How will I be able to explain that a mere group of B ranks…"

*Ehem!* Rhald clearing his throat in the background.

The supervisor ignored Rhald and continues "… captured an A rank dungeon?! Do you guys know how dangerous it was to do what you did? You were only supposed to fight with the imps and other creatures that were outside the city walls. In fact, the reason we don't allow adventurers to enter the Imp city is because recently the monsters seem to have been growing stronger. The imp generals and the Imp Lord were all near S rank. We were in the middle of investigating whether we should consider increasing the official dungeon level and until that was finalized, no one was allowed into the Imp city. You guys could have been killed!"

After the verbal lashing, the dungeon supervisor left for his office in tears. The clerk hands them paperwork. Since the party has achieved the rare feat of capturing an almost S rank dungeon, they will have to be registered in the official records. This means that whether they like it or not, they are now an official adventurer party- recognized by the Dungeon Association, Magician's guild, and the Kingdom of Dearth.

After a short discussion of potential names, they landed on Lunar Light. Thus, ended a long and eventful weekend that brought even more attention to our young heroes.