Lucius opened his eyes with a sigh, however this dungeon was not like he expected.
Instead of a cave dripping with stalactites or the suffocating darkness he had braced himself for entirely, it was a wide clearing.
Blue sky stretched endlessly above, and a sun shone warmly across the field, its golden rays spilling onto his face.
He squinted against the light, the warmth softening his sharp expression just enough to make him look annoyingly handsome.
Well at least to Vanessa, who averted her gaze, she suddenly felt the urge to kiss those lips.
"It’s not really that bad..." he muttered under his breath, almost tempted to admit it felt pleasant.
But before he could enjoy it, the illusion shattered.
The sun blinked out, replaced in an instant by a pale, glowing moon.
The vibrant clearing with its gentle breeze warped into stone walls.
Roots twisted into jagged stalactites.
The warmth vanished, replaced by the cold, damp air of a cavern.
Lucius cursed. "Figures."
That was how bad he jinxed it...
It was like the dungeon itself had yanked the curtain away, showing its true face.
He wasn’t fooled — none of this could be trusted.
When he turned his head, his arm was still locked in Vanessa’s.
She looked strangely happy, her lips curved into a small smile, as if this strange trick was all part of the charm.
Lucius stared at her expression for a moment.
’I was sore. I wanted to relax. I’d have picked a massage over this any day. And yet...’ He caught himself staring a second too long and scolded himself. ’No, idiot. Get your head in the game.’
"Are you happy now?" he asked, his tone unimpressed.
Vanessa sighed, though the smile never left her face.
"Yes, I am." She tightened her hold on his hand. "I was planning for the date yesterday when I saw a blog post online. It was about a couple who enjoyed raiding together."
Lucius’s eyes narrowed.
That was her inspiration?
A random post?
She caught herself faltering, her confidence wavering. "It... seemed romantic at the time."
Looking back at it now, even she realized it wasn’t the smartest idea.
He had literally gone through a raid yesterday.
Dragging him to another dungeon as a date wasn’t exactly kind.
Before her guilt could settle, she felt a firm tug on her hand.
Lucius was pulling her forward.
"If you took your time planning this," he said flatly, "then I won’t let it go to waste."
The reassurance was oddly gentle, even if his face said otherwise.
A low sound echoed through the cavern, these were guttural snarls.
From the shadows ahead, monsters began to emerge.
Goblins.
But not the usual green-skinned variety.
These ones were sickly brown, their flesh cracked like old leather.
Their yellow eyes gleamed with hunger, and in their hands they carried crude weapons that looked like shards of crystal lashed to sticks.
They raised them high, waving them threateningly as they formed a half-circle around Lucius and Vanessa.
Lucius tilted his head, unimpressed.
Were they really dumb enough to think those twigs would work?
The sight almost made him laugh.
"I wonder how this is romantic," he sighed.
He bent his knees, ready to spring forward, but Vanessa raised her hand first.
A tide of blood gushed forth from her palm, glowing faintly under the cavern light.
It surged like a living wave, cutting across the chamber in a flash.
The result was nothing beautiful.
It was horror.
The blood cut through the goblins like a scythe, cleaving them apart in mid-screech.
Bodies split.
Limbs hit the stone floor with wet thuds.
The walls splattered red as the monsters fell in grotesque halves.
Lucius raised an eyebrow. "Charming."
Vanessa winced.
Her proud idea looked less like a date and more like a massacre.
"The post made it sound good," she admitted in a deflated voice. "Even if the comments wrecked it... I just wanted to do something special too."
Lucius looked at her.
She was trying, even if her way of showing it was... bloody.
He let out a soft sigh and closed his hand more firmly around hers.
"Come on. We started the date, so we should finish it."
Her eyes flickered, surprised. "You’re not mad?"
"Why would I be?" He shrugged, forcing a nonchalant smirk. "It’s perfect exercise."
But inwardly, he groaned.
His bones still ached from the previous raid.
This was the last kind of exercise he wanted.
"Thank you, Lucius." Her voice was soft, and before he could respond, she darted ahead — this time dragging him along.
He didn’t even have time to adjust.
Her raw strength yanked him off his feet, and he realized, horrified, that his legs weren’t even touching the ground.
She was hauling him like a ragdoll, and he wasn’t even using his space abilities to keep up.
’Maybe I made a mistake...’
The climb was brutal.
The dungeon’s first stairs ran upward like an endless spiral, narrow stone steps coiling along jagged walls.
And on the staircase, more goblins appeared, but Vanessa’s blood made short work of them.
Lucius barely lifted a finger, partly by choice and partly because he was too busy being dragged like luggage.
She really was damn powerful.
At last, they reached the top.
Lucius let out a long sigh of relief, stretching his arms as though to savor the brief reprieve.
Then —
Fssshk!
An arrow sliced through the air, its tip gleaming with poisoned crystal.
Vanessa reacted instantly.
She grabbed his arm and yanked him closer to her chest.
The arrow shot past, missing them by inches.
But the sudden pull sent Lucius stumbling forward.
His weight toppled into her.
His face was already too close, their breaths mingling.
And then —
Their lips met.
The world froze.
’Is this how I get my first kiss in this world taken?’ He asked as he looked at Vanessa’s surprised face.
He was kissing her... he was actually kissing her...
’Not that I have anything to complain about.’ He thought satisfied.