"Hey, are you listening to me?"

  "I... I was just... running from a ghost. Or whatever they're called," he admitted, though it stung a bit. "I have no idea how to kill them."

  "You don't know? What level are you?"

  "Leave the boy alone," said another one of them.

  "Level two. I started yesterday. What about it?"

  "Then what are you doing in this dungeon? It's for people level eight minimum."

  "What are you talking about? On the Quest it said..."

  He choked on his own words. He didn't need to finish the sentence either.

  The girl frowned.

  "I see. Someone must have played a nasty trick on you. Hoping you'd bite it."

  "What?"

  "It's competition, kid," she crossed her arms. "Isn't it obvious?"

  "We should get him out of here," said one of them. "Anyway, I don't think we'll accomplish anything against the boss today."

  "With so much descent," said the apparent leader, "it would be difficult to go back without a portal. And there's no portal until we finish off the boss. And the cavalry is a level two kid."

  "Well, we're screwed," said the last one.

  "I understand you looking down on me because of my level," James said. "But what's with calling me a kid? I'm sure we're about the same age."

  "What are you talking about, boy? You look like you haven't even left high school yet."

  "I'm twenty-five years old."

  They all opened their eyes wide.

  "Fuck. What the hell?" one muttered.

  During the time that passed since he left the orphanage, he spent a great amount of time at home in front of the computer. After all, that's where he did his work and most of his hobbies. His skin hadn't seen much sun, maybe that had helped him look much younger than he was.

  Whatever it was, it was a fact that, despite being on his way to thirty, he looked like he hadn't left high school yet.

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  The four girls introduced themselves. Then they sat or leaned against the wall to rest and prepare for the next attempt, which would probably be the last one way or another. His pulse quickened with the thought. The four girls, stronger than him, had failed. What were the chances they'd succeed this time, especially when the only help was him, six levels below what was recommended?

  "We have no choice but to try again," Mary said.

  She was slender, which stood out with the company she kept. Her companions had well-defined muscles; you could tell they worked out regularly.

  "Any ideas?" asked Lea.

  Her eyes were green as spring grass. He'd never seen eyes like that in person. She could have been a model, but instead she was risking her life down here.

  "I'm working on it," Mary finally responded.

  Jaime was lying on the floor, polishing her sword on her knee. She muttered something under her breath, but James couldn't hear what.

  He approached the last one, Natalia, a redhead who was also quite stunning. That girl's cold look cleared any nonsense from his head. He simply couldn't visualize her doing that kind of thing. Breaking someone's neck, well, that wasn't hard to imagine. He'd approached her because she was the only one doing nothing; simply standing there, waiting for her moment.

  "What are we facing?" he asked.

  Natalia slowly turned her head.

  "You can take a look yourself, if you want, through the boss door," she responded normally, pointing with a finger.

  Not too far away was a green, viscous portal. You could see something through it. James approached to see better. He instantly regretted it. The thing on the other side had everything and nothing good. He seemed to see saws, tentacles, hands where the eyes should be and eyes where the hands should be. A living nightmare. He took a step back.

  "That doesn't look like something a human being can defeat."

  "We're not human beings, James," Mary said. "When we drank the water, we abandoned our humanity. I think that's clear. We couldn't do all these things otherwise."

  He supposed it didn't matter. He didn't have to be human. What he wanted was happiness and the elusive peace of mind. As long as he achieved that, he'd accept becoming something non-human without thinking twice.

  And anyway, I'm not very sure what humanity I had, he muttered.

  "What did you say?"

  "No, nothing. You're right."

  Not much later, the girls finally stopped circling and approached.

  "The sooner the better," Lea said. "I don't think we can prepare any more."

  Everyone agreed. They'd explained their abilities to him so they could work better together. For the same reason, he'd done the same. Of course, due to his level and lack of experience, he didn't have much to explain.

  "Ready?" Jaime responded. "God's will be done."

  "None of that," Natalia said, pushing off from the wall. "Our will be done."

  James wasn't very sure about this, but as they'd all said, going back on foot didn't seem very realistic. So he accompanied them, going through the portal. Without the greenish energy in the way, he could see it much more clearly. It was a horrifying sight, that's for sure, but he'd been more scared with the ghost's hand on his chest, to be honest. And, well, what good was fear? It was this or nothing.

  He took a deep breath, raising his sword and shield, preparing for the fight. He wasn't sure he could contribute.

  But he wasn't going to stand here while those girls fought and put themselves at risk in his place. Better to die than live in a pathetic way...

  He'd had enough of being pathetic.

  Even against something that looked like it came from Lovecraft's stories, minus the whole looking at it induces madness thing, of course.

  Or maybe he was already crazy for preparing to fight something like this without thinking twice.

  In any case, the fight began.