Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Zack Lee's morning had started normal.

He went on a run after he woke up, returned home to wash up and then met Mira so they could have breakfast together.

It was only after they separated, Mira went to hang out with some friends and Zack to train, that things went to shit.

If Zack had to describe it, then he would say that it was similar to how the apocalypse started in that one novel his cousins made him read but instead of a small furry creature appearing out of nowhere, monsters and strange plants appeared out of nowhere with a light blue barrier appearing around Zack at the same time as a screen that showed some cards appeared in front of Zack.

“Choose a class…in three minutes?!” Zack exclaims as he tries to read the cards as fast as he can but none of them, by name, seem to match well with his fighting style so Zack started to panic “What should I do…wait, what is the fourth slot?” Zack mumbles as he realizes that while it showed three cards, there where four slots so he quickly read what it said below the fourth one “A gamble…well, it looks like the best option” he says and clicks just before the time ends

Zack sighs in relief at that before remembering that there were monsters around so he ran to find a safe place to hide to read what card he got.

“Here should be safe enough” Zack sighs as he finds an empty house while mentally apologizing to its owners “Let’s see what card I got then…The Way Of The Cows?! What type of name is that?! And it is a strong one?! Was the bastard who started this unoriginal?” Zack says in disbelief

He decided to ignore how stupid the name of the card sounded and started reading the information only for him to be more in disbelief and believe that instead of being unoriginal, the one that started this whole mess was a pervert.

“Wait…it says it will change my appearance” Zack mumbles and goes looking for the bathroom to see what changed

Surprisingly Zack's appearance hadn't changed that much, he had only gained small parts of a cow’s body(ear, horns and tail) and…his chest zone seemed to have grown a bit bigger.

“Shouldn't the fucking gamble know when the person is male or female? And even then unless the person and their lover are into that or they have a baby, no one in their sane mind would want to fucking lactate” Zack mutters glaring at the card before sighing “At least all the rest matches well with my fighting style…but I can't just tell anyone I meet what my card actually is and that I lactate…are cows and bulls that different in appearance? I should be able to lie that I got bull powers…and if I lactate I can say I sweat a lot in my chest or…cover it with blood and dirt” Zack decides as he takes a look at the bathroom’s window as sees a monster pass nearby “I should grab food and anything else useful in here and then look for my friends…especially Mira” he decides and goes to grab a bag and anything that he thinks might help him on his journey like clothes, food, medicine, knives in case his boxing isn't enough, etc

Once he had everything, he went to the only room and locked it before putting the bag beside the bed and laying on it since he should sleep for a bit before starting his journey to find his friends and Mira.

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A few weeks had passed since this apocalypse-like thing started and Zack had joined a party temporarily since it was easier to deal with monsters when in a party than when alone.

He had been lucky that they had to fight monsters often enough that the could use their blood to cover that he was lactating but he knew that he either should leave his party or tell them as he couldn't forever cover that he lactates by bathing in monster’s blood especially as he would need to buy special bottles to store his milk at some point(and not forgetting that not milking himself left his chest hurting and feeling heavy).

“A second selection?” a member of the party mumbled confused as after they defeated some monsters, the same barrier and screen from the first time appeared but it surprised Zack that while he could see the barriers around the others, the screen with the cards wasn't visible to anyone but the one inside the barrier

“Be careful when choosing the card” the leader of the party reminds them and they all nod before looking at their own screens

Zack at first was thinking of reading the three cards but in the end he chose to gamble his luck again as he couldn't get anything worse than his first card which didn't match the gender he was born as.

New Discovery!

Appeared in front of Zack before his new card did which should have given him a clear hint that this card would surprise him or be something unexpected.

‘Mother Nature?! How can that br a fucking card?!’ Zack thinks as he internalizes his screams as he still hadn't read what the card was about but only by the name it gave overpowered vibes which wouldn't be good for others to know even his party as he didn't trust them completely ‘And why the fuck does it say it was made for me because of my first card?! Couldn't it just give me something like super strength or berserker mode? It didn't need to fucking create a new card just for me’ Zack thinks and starts to believe that the world either hated him or loved him for making this happen ‘Whatever, let's see what this card do beside probably making me connected to nature’ with that Zack starts to read his second card which like his first was was made for a girl and not a boy ‘...If I ever find the thung behind this shit, I will kill them’ Zack curses as he reads the last part of his powers which made his otherwise notmal milk become healing milk ‘And of course that this power is op as it lets me heal anything, even myself, and can make me immune to certain things…I can't tell if they are serious aviut giving me such a op card or when I least expect, it will give me a limit or something so I don't use too much’ he thinks rolling his eyes

“Hey, Zack!” another party member calls him “What card did you choose?” he asks as they were telling their leader which cards they got

“Plant manipulation” Zack says as from all the powers he received with gis new card, that was the most normal of them and that would match well with his supposed bull card

“Hmmm, a good choice” the leader comments “We should move on to make a camp before more monsters appear” he says and with that, they all start preparing everything and get moving to find either an abandoned house in a good state or a big free space where they could make their tents and a small fire

Everything continued the same until dungeons started appearing in the middle of each city which gathered many people’s attention and curiosity since maybe finishing the dungeon would make all monsters disappear or at least make the dungeon a safe place.

Of course Zack's party wanted to go to the dungeon but Zack didn't want to as he still hadn't found Mira and his friends and they could not be in the dungeon or even in Seoul as Zack didn't have a schedule of where and what all his friends were doing.

This ended up with Zack having an argument with his party which ended up with Zack being kicked out of the party by the leader.

“Whatever, let's find Mira and maybe join another party” Zack mumbles once his ex-party had disappeared from his view in direction to where the Seoul Dungeon was

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“Bastards” Zack mutters as he finishes off the last member of the party he asked to join but they immediately attacked him

Any party he tried to join to make it easier for him to survive had attacked him or did not trust him because of his classes being ‘bull’ and noob ‘plant manipulation’ which was so fucking stupid as no one started this fucking apocalypse-thing being the strongets and knowing how to work their new powers but people seem to think themselves higher than others that seem to have ‘weak’ classes.

It was tiring and annoying being alone all the time and that he couldn’t find Mira or any of his friends meaning that they could be dead, in another city or that they had entered the dungeon.

“What should I do?” Zack mumbles unsure of which option he preferred(well, he was sure of the one he didn’t prefer for sure) of those possibilities of what may have happened to his friends

As he was thinking of asking in the community posts if anyone had seen any of his friends or if they could answer back if they were alive, Zack hadn’t done it until now since it cost money and he was keeping his money safe to buy food when he couldn’t find any or to max up his skills in a life or death situation, he received a notification that someone had posted and the post started with his name.

Zack Lee, I’m fine. I formed a party with the friends I was with and we have entered the dungeon, currently we are studying the dungeon as we have noticed that if you get hurt or die inside it, you can recover or some back to life in exchange for things the dungeon requests us unlike outside it where if you die or lost a leg you can’t come back and will always be missing a leg.

-Mira Kim

Zack sighed in relief at knowing his best friend, he had long gotten over his feelings for her but acted like he still liked her to keep perverts away from her, was safe and with trusted people.

‘But…why do my powers seem to do what the dungeon does?’ Zack thinks as he rereads the message and notices that the way Mira describes how the dungeon can heal people, matches his healing milk ‘Could all this be connected to the dungeon? Does the same thing happen in the other dungeons or are they different?’ he continues thinking as Seoul wasn’t the only city with a dungeon so it made him curious about if they all worked the same or had different characteristics ‘Whatever, I will not get any answers about this anyway…should I create a party to go to the dungeon, stay here helping anyone who needs help or enter the dungeon alone?’

(I find it funny that only now that I am writing the idea, do I realize that Zack had many hints that he would be very connected to Seoul’s dungeon xD)

While lost in his thoughts, Zack was walking around while keeping away from monsters until he heard fighting coming from somewhere which confused him as this zone didn’t have many monsters and the ones that had were easy to deal with.

So, he went to where he heard the fighting sound only to be surprised by the sight he was greeted with.

A party was attacking another person.

Not just another person but someone Zack knew even if not as well as Daniel(because only Daniel would be able to befriend anyone, Zack wouldn’t be surprised if Daniel was able to befriend a mafia don or something like that), it was the bastard Vin Jin.

Maybe if it was an equal fight, Zack would have left it be but the party wasn’t even given time for Vin to attack and they were attacking to kill not to send him away.

So, Zack jumped into the fight and started to get rid of the party as while he and Vin didn’t have the best relationship, he wouldn’t let him be killed even if he had no context of what had happened before they started attacking Vin.

“Why are you helping him?!” one of the party members shouted “You don’t know the situation or how dangerous that thing is!” he says but Zack ignores him because if Vin was as dangerous as they said, then Vin would give much more of a fight than he was able to do

In a few minutes, if not seconds, Zack had killed all of the party members which thankfully gave him points and let him level up.

“Now to Vin” Zack says and turns to the other boy only to realize that he was missing at least an arm and half of leg besides being losing too much blood “Shit!” Zack cursed as he ran to where Vin was and took his shirt off before maxing up his healing milk ability “At least it will be of use” he mutters before he grabs Vin and brings his mouth to his nipple “Drink this shit before you die bastard! I didn’t max up my ability for you to die because of stubborness or stupidity” he demands and thankfully Vin starts sucking Zack’s nipple and drinking the milk despite of his unconsciousness or almost unconsciousness state

Once Zack was able to see that the healing milk was actually healing Vin, he used his plant manipulation to create a root barrier around them so no one could see them or attack them(he would have created it sooner but in his panic he forgot about it but thankfully the now dead party were the only people in the space around them so no one saw what happened) before making Vin switch to his other nipple as he still wasn’t fully healed and the other breast was already empty of milk.

When Vin had stopped sucking the milk, Zack looked over him to see if everything had been healed as it should and he was relieved when he realized it had, even if he was surprised about how sharp Vin’s nails were which made him curious about the other’s class.

“...Will I need to tell him the truth about my class?” Zack asks out loud because not even someone from the healer class would be able to heal someone like Zack had done “Fuck!” he curses as he was sure Vin would make fun of him

Zack wasn’t looking forward for when Vin woke up but for now he decided to see if the dead party had any item or something like that which would be helpful for him but the only think he really found that could help him was a jacket that collected mana which would help him with some of his powers that needed mana like animal manipulation, plant powers and the low level healing powers he had outside his healing milk.

“I feel sleepy” he mumbles and as if the world was waiting for him to say that, he heard growling as giant wolves appeared near the root barrier “Ugh, I don’t feel like fighting!” he wines before he remembers he has a power that could help him “I can make them guard the root barrier for me to take a nap!” he says happily before using his power to make the wolves guard the barrier “Now to sleep!” he exclaims as he lies near Vin, in case the other woke up, and fell asleep even if mentally he cursed the ground being so cold

As they slept, Vin unconsciously let some traits of his class come out and cuddled into Zack to keep both of them warm as they slept.

Chapter Text

Vin Jin’s life was always full of ups and downs but mostly the last ones.

So, it shouldn't have surprised him when everything went to shit out of nowhere like creatures and very strange looking plants appearing out of the air and with them came a blue barrier and a screen with a few cards.

“...Select a card?” Vin mumbles confused but he sees someone nearby click where he supposed is their screen so he simply shrugs and looks at his cards to choose one “So I have Cook, Bard and…Shaman” he shivers as he reads the last card out loud as just the word brought up bad memories “I will go with Cook since I already know how to cook and Bard sounds kinda lame” he ends up deciding and as he does that, the blue barrier disappears leaving him open for the creatures to attack him ‘Well, fuck’ he thinks as he dodges some creature that resembled a wolf but it had two heads and was red ‘I need to find a safe place and try to understand how this new shut works’ he dodges the wolf again which ends up with the wolf hitting the side of the building and getting dizzy which gives enough time for Vin to leave and look around for a safe place ‘I think that house would work’ he thinks as he sees a house that didn't seem very affected by the changed and runs to enter it and then lock it “Let's see if there is more information in the card or anywhere else that can help me understand this” he mutters as he takes a sit in the couch and starts reading his card

By what his card said he could prepare meals with buffs and even cook skill points to upgrade skills and level up.

Which he didn't understand very well but he was sure he had heard some classmates using those terms while playing games on their phones which meant that whatever was happening seemed to be based in a game or something like that.

“Just my luck” he says as he knew jackshit about games “I will need to find someone to leech of until I at least understand this terms and how to do things” he concludes with a sigh “But it can wait until tomorrow or a creature invades the house” he adds before just laying in the couch and falling asleep

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Weeks had passed since the beginning of this apocalypse-like thing, or at least some people he had partnered up to learn how this game like things worked called it like that, and Vin had learn more about how his card worked and all that even if sometimes he still got confused with certain terms used or why some classes were considered weaker or made fun of.

He still hadn’t found a party, or at least that was what he was told the groups that fought together and helped each other were called, but he had joined some duos or trios as he adventures through Seoul.

Being a cook was a good class to leech of others as his powers permitted him to let people up their skills, get buffs, etc while being protected by the rest of the group.

So, when one of the duos he helped had told a party about him, said party didn’t take long in finding him and asking him to join them.

At first Vin wasn’t sure if he should join them as they didn’t give a good vibe to him and they seemed to enjoy insulting the creatures and people whose class was linked to beasts by calling them monsters which of course that made him feel uncomfortable but they were the strongest group he had seen until now and they could protect him well.

So, with no one better to refuse them for, Vin joined that monster-hating party while making sure his glasses couldn’t fall off easily as he was sure they would call him a monster if they saw his eyes as many did before.

It wasn’t long after he joined his party that the second selection of a card happened, he had been preparing their meal while the others were gathering things to start a fire and to mount the tents.

“A second card?” Vin hums as he looks at his choices but none of the ones offered to him seem to be good ones for him “I will take the gamble then” he decides and clicks in the gamble option

He knew that choosing to gamble could get him in trouble but he had hoped his bad luck wouldn’t affect him this time.

But Vin was wrong as the card chosen was a rare and legendary one named ‘Dragon’s Successor’ which while a good one in terms that the powers he got were really good ones and would help him with defending himself if needed, it didn’t help him at all with his party that hated monsters.

‘Just one more thing to be hated for’ Vin thinks as he quickly makes sure that no dragon traits are being shown before his party returns

“Hey, Vin!” the leader of the party calls as he returns with another of the party members “What did you choose as your second class?” he asks

“Firebender to make it easier to cook and also help with setting the camp” Vin answers, deciding that lying was the best choice for now especially as this party wasn’t really kin into letting anyone leave it for other parties

“Smart” the other member comments with the leader nodding his head in agreement

Vin just hoped things didn’t go to shit so soon after this and that at least he was able to leave before his party found out the truth.

.

Well, he had cursed himself when he thought that.

Not too soon after the second card selection, dungeons started appearing all around Korea so his party decided to do as many did and make their way to the Seoul’s dungeon as it could give them more items or a chance to level up even more.

On their way there, they encountered many other parties and fought most of them with a member of Vin’s party being the reason why most fights started but Vin couldn’t say anything as it was better that the attention wasn’t on him.

But as expected of his amazing luck, the party leader started a fight with the leader of a party that had a member who could see others' cards.

“Shit! Kyung, they have a rare and legendary card in their party and it is related to dragons!” the member says as soon as his eyes rest on Vin who mentally curses as he hears that

Kyung, the leader of the other party, opens his eyes in surprise as he hears that as people with rare and legendary cards were pretty rare and they had only heard about them but not seen any of them until now.

“Tch! You are lucky” Kyung tells Vin’s party leader before he leaves with the rest of his party

This left Vin’s party confused but also distrusting as they started to look at each other with distrust to try and see who had been the one that dared to lie and betray them by choosing to become a monster.

No one talked until they had set up camp and then they started talking about who could be the monster while Vin quietly cooked their meal.

“Why aren't you saying anything, Vin?” a member of the party asks

“I never talk while I cook” Vin reminds him as he hopes they won't think it is him even if he knew that sooner or later they would connect him to being a dragon for having fire powers as most dragons had fire as their power too

The others nodded at that but they all still didn't seem to trust him or the others so the following days were filled with distrust being it during fights or in the camp.

But one day, two weeks after that incident, the leader of the party unfortunately connected the points after a fight against another party

“It’s you! You are the monster!” the leader exclaims as he realizes that how Vin used his fire power was different from how the actual firebender of the party they had vren fighting did

And in seconds Vin has one of his arms cut off by the leader's sword and the others don't lose time in getting into fighting stances and start attacking him.

Vin revealed his full form to try and fight back but not being used to this form and his inexperience in fighting other players beside it being six against one, Vin found himself losing.

Not even the buffs and gifts the dragon spirits gave him helped and soon Vin had lost his other arms and half of one leg besides losing control of his full form and returning to look human.

He had been sure he would die there as he felt so dizzy and close to passing out.

Vin wasn't sure when he stopped feeling his ex-party’s attacks and was left alone but the only thing he could remember before actually passing out is someone dragging him close to them and then something creamy and sweet on his mouth.

After that, he was sure he had died from the injuries he received and no one would let someone so handicapped like him live as living without their arms and half of a leg wouldn't be easy in this new time.

.

Vin was extremely confused.

He woke up when he believed he had died.

His limbs were all intact and he had no injuries.

And he was cuddling an unknown person.

This made absolutely no sense.

Even if he had been inside the dungeon, Vin had read a message in the community post that talked something about people coming back to life all that there if you pay something, this would make no sense as no one would sacrifice anything for him(maybe Mary would but he doesn't consider himself worthy of any sacrifice even if deep down he knows Mary loves him as a brother…which scares him as he remembers the young girl he saw as a sister who died at hands of a bastard and because of the same bastard he lost his teacher).

But that wasn’t important at the moment.

He needed to know who the man he was cuddling was and if maybe he was a necromancer as that was the only thing that made sense to him that could bring him back to life even if it didn’t explain him having his limbs back.

Before he could get even more lost in his thoughts, Vin felt the other man start waking up so he faked still being asleep.

“Ugh, I’m hungry” the other man mumbles and the voice did sound familiar but Vin couldn’t pinpoint where he had heard it or who it belonged to “Eh, a tail? Oh! It belongs to him” he heard him mutter as he gently touches, more like pets, Vin’s tail

Vin didn’t move as the other seemed to move around to look at him before grabbing his arms to look over them and a few seconds later doing the same to his leg.

“Thank god I had spammed all the skill points I had for that skill and it was enough to heal limbs back to normal” the man sighs in relief once he is done

Then Vin felt the man move again but into a position that let him see Vin’s face better.

“Cute! You have horns too” he hears him and he fights back the blush that wants to take over his face “But yours are different and bigger…I think they actually called antlers or something like that” the man mumbles a bit unsure before they hear the man’s stomach grumbles “Hey, Vin! Wake up, we need to move and I am hungry after healing you” he says as he softly shakes Vin

Vin is confused how this man knows his name but when he opens his eyes and looks at the man, he finally recognizes his savior.

His savior was no one else but the boxer from the fashion department of Jaewon High School, Lee ‘Zack’ Jisung.

“How the hell are you alive?!” Vin exclaims while mentally cursing himself because he hadn’t think that anyone he knew was alive as he hadn’t met any of them until now

“Excuse me?! If I wasn’t alive, you would be fucking dead now!” Zack says offended before his stomach grumbles again “Stop starting a fight, I’m too hungry for that shit” he adds while glaring at him

“Yeah, whatever” Vin mumbles finding this strange but since Zack had saved him he could cook something for him as a thanks “I can cook, these roots look good enough for a meal and I have some scraps…oh, right they probably got destroyed” Vin starts only to curse at the end since the fight made him lose his bag and it would a miracle if the scraps he had weren’t destroyed

“I can use my powers to make some veggies in case these roots aren't enough?” Zack offers and Vin id a bit surprised by that but if Zack could create this roots then him being able to create other plants, veggies, etc shouldn't really surprise him

“That would be nice…now, where is my cooking pan?” he says as he looks around since while he lost his bag, it shouldn't be too far from where they are

“Cooking pan?” Zack asks confused and then Vin realizes that there was no way for Zack to know his first class

“My first class is cook…this dragon thing came with my second class, Dragon’s Sucessor which fucked me over as the strong party I was part of had a thing against all creatures but also didn't eant to let me leave their party because my class was pretty useful. They were a bunch of assholes” Vin explains and Zack nods as he hears him talk

“Well, they are dead now so you don't need to worry about them” Zack says and Vin looks at him with a raised eyebrow in surprise and disbelief

“You defeated them with your plant powers?” Vin asks to make sure he heard right

“They looked pretty tired so it was easy to deal with them and my class, The Way Of The Cows, gives me the skill of berserk. So I was able to defeat them with pure fighting…The plant powers are from my second class which I am not good with yet" Zack admits as Vin stared at him before deciding to just go cut some roots for their food as he tried to understand what Zack just said

“You have a card that is for women?!” Vin asks as he stops once his mind realized what was the name of Zack's first card

“Yeah, I got it through gambling which seems to give you really any card no matter your gender” Zack says as he makes a face “And my second card seems to have been made specifically for me, it is a type of legendary which had put my in a though spot” he adds to his explanation “Oh, if you want I could go and try to find that pan of yours” he offers as he looks at Vin who had enough roots to cook already but nowhere to do it

“if you find my bag, I have an item that lets me carry anything and there are multiple pans and other cooking tools” Vin says since it had cost him a lot of money to get all that so he hoped it hadn’t been destroyed “The item looks like a medieval money pouch” he adds

Zack nods at that before he leaves the root barrier to look for the bag or money pouch as Vin puts all the roots he cut in the same place.

Once done, Vin walked outside just to be suddenly scared by the presence of the wolves around the root barrier.

“Don’t be scared” Zack says as he comes back “They are under my command thanks to my second class and a item I got” he explains and Vin relaxes at that since while he was healed, he wasn’t ready to have to fight right now “Also, I found your bag” he says offering the bag to Vin

“Thanks Vin says as he grabs his bag and opens it

“Can I help with anything else?” Zack asks as it didn’t sit well with him to let Vin do all the work

“Could you try to make some veggies?” Vin asks before listing the ones that he thinks will go well with the roots

“I can try” Zack says as he goes to try and make the veggies requested by Vin

As Vin started cutting the veggies Zack was able to make, a recipe came suddenly to his mind but he sighed as he wouldn’t be able to do it as he had an ingredient missing

“Something wrong?” Zack asks as he hears Vin sigh

“I just had a recipe come to mind but I would need milk for it and I used the last I had on the last meal I did for my ex-party” Vin answers “What a bummer” he sighs once more

“Well, I’ve never thought of drinking my own milk but it could work” Zack says and Vin freezes for a few seconds before looking at Zack

“Why would you suddenly say that?!” Vin asks shocked but Zack was confused by his reactions

“Did you forget that I lactate? I saved your life by giving you my milk? You drank from my breast?” Zack says as he looks confused but then he himself looks shocked “You mean I could have hidden this from you?! Shit! Now you are gonna make fun of me!” Zack curses

“So that creamy dessert like sweetness was your breast milk?” Vin asks surprised and Zack nods his head at that! Wait, you healed me and restored my limbs with your milk?" he asks a few seconds later confused as he remembers that shouldn’t have been possible

Zack sighs before he reveals his second card and explains how it connects to the ability to lactate that he got from his first card.

“Before it seemed just like fetish/kink thing but with my second card it became an op healing potion” Zack explains “As I leveled that skill the most I could at the moment, I was able to regrow your limbs and I have also now become immune to certain poisons” he adds and Vin nods at that with his eyes open as big as his face permitted it since it was really a powerful skill and if anyone had known about it, Zack would have been kidnapped and used(probably also experimented) to study that ability and how far it could actually go

‘He truly is a walking healing potion’ Vin thinks before he remembers that he needed to make food for them “Can you milk yourself on the pan?” he asks and mentally winces as the words did not sound good but he had no idea how to make them sound better

“J-just don’t look” Zack says completely red and Vin nods at that so he turns around as Zack tells the wolves to also not look before he milks himself to the pan

‘Ahhh, I feel so much better’ Zack thinks as he sighs in relief, his breasts didn’t hurt anymore and felt lighter now that he had gotten rid of a bit of milk 'Getting kicked out of the other party was a good thing for sure’ Zack thinks as if he didn’t relieve himself of the milk, it would be pretty painful and with the other party he couldn’t do it so he was in pain more often than not

Once Zack was done, Vin got back into cooking and was surprised when he saw the buffs and everything with his skill stats as he did it.

“Wow, your cards might be embarrassing but you are fucking op as hell” Vin says “I’m going to turn these buffs into skill points so you and I can put them to good use” he adds and Zack’s eyes widened open

“Wait, you can cook skill points?” Zack asks in disbelief as he didn’t know cooks could do that but then he realized that there had to be something special about that class or it wouldn’t be offered

“Yeah” Vin says looking amused at Zack

“We should team up!” Zack says excited “You milk me and use it to make skill points so we can get stronger” he adds

“Sure, sounds like fun” Vin says even if the way Zack had said it, did sound a bit wrong but there was really no better way to say it and what Zack said was true since with Zack’s op milk and Vin’s cooking they could get stronger without needing to fight monsters and other people to get skills and buffs

Just as Vin agrees, he finished making the food so they sat down in the ground and started to eat with Zack eating most of it since he was recuperating from having to heal Vin and then using his plant powers besides him needing to eat a lot to produce more milk(Zack didn’t find this part fun but his milk was needed). Vin didn’t mind that Zack ate most of the food or having to cook for him, Zack seemed to enjoy his food and didn’t treat him badly despite them not having had the best relationship at school so cooking for him wouldn’t be bad for sure.

As they ate, they talked more about their skills and cards besides telling each other their fake card identities since going around saying they had a rare and legendary card and they possessed some op skills wasn’t the best option, especially in Zack’s case, so if they met another player who asked them about their or each other’s cards they could lie about it without fear of revealing what they shouldn’t.

Chapter Text

Since that day, Vin and Zack started traveling together while leveling their skills and stats by using Zack's milk and Vin’s cooking skill.

They kept themselves away from the dungeon area but still close so they wouldn't find that many players even if most of the players probably were already inside the dungeon.

But they still decided to be careful especially as they preferred to camp hidden from others so Zack would milk himself in peace.

“Shit! It is going everywhere” Zack curses as the last bit of milk starts rolling down his nipples to his chest instead of the bottle as it should “Hey, can you give me a towel to clean myself?” Zack asks

“You are going to waste it?” Vin asks as thinking about any if the milk going to waste annoyed him

“Yeah, or do you plan to lick it off me?” Zack says rolling his eyes but then freezes when he notices Vin’s pensive look “I was kidding, you bastard! Unless you are dying again, you won't be licking or sucking any milk off me!” Zack says blushing as he glared at Vin

“Why not? Didn't I do it once?” Vin says casually

“I already said no” Zack says because Vin had been dying but now he was alive and conscious which would make it embarrassing to have him lick or suck the milk off him

“But your milk is too good to just let even a drop go to waste” Vin reminds him but he, himself, isn't sure why he doesn't want any of the milk to go to waste

“...You are annoying” Zack groans as he hides his face in his hands

“You already knew that” Vin points out and Zack glares at him “So?” he asks as he didn't plan to give up

“...Okay, you can…lick it off my chest” Zack ends up agreeing after a few minutes of silence and Vin mentally celebrates it “Just hurry up” he adds embarrassed by this

“Of course” Vin says before putting his hands, more like tongue to work, to work as Zack hide his red face in his hands

‘I will kill him one day’ Zack thinks as he tries to ignore Vin licking the milk in his chest

Somehow this became something that happened everytime Zack had to milk himself so when they found an item shop, Vin decided to go to the mother’s section and buy something that would make it easier for Zack to milk himself without any milk getting wasted besides buying more bottles to store the milk.

“Where should we go next?” Zack asks as he returned from buying better fighting gear and also other items that they may need at some point

“I’m not sure” Vin says since they could go to the dungeon and actually level up so no player would find it strange how high their skill levels where but they hadn’t leveled up “We could just go to the dungeon like the rest or wait a bit more before doing it” Vin adds

“Hmm, maybe the dungeon?” Zack says “I want to see if Mira is alright and we should actually level up…unless you want to fight some more monsters to train your fighting in your half-dragon form a bit more” he adds and Vin doesn’t know why he doesn’t like Zack mentioning Mira as he didn’t have anything against the girl so he decided to ignore it and ponder over what Zack said

“Maybe train a bit more, the dungeon could be more dangerous and I need to be ready in case I need to use my half-form or my full form” Vin says and Zack nods at that

“I will have some birds look around for monsters but while they do that, we can spar” Zack says as he starts to walk towards a open space where he could create a big root barrier so no one would see them fight

“Sure” Vin agrees since he found sparring with Zack fun especially how Zack would pout when he lost(and there is the part of him that finds a fighting Zack hot, he does not deserve love and everyone and their mother knows that Zack Lee is completely in love with Mira Kim so he wouldn’t even have a chance with him)

Soon they were sparring each other while being careful to not send one of them against the roots as if they used their full strength, they would end up ripping the roots which could end up with someone accidentally finding their secret.

“Ah, I won!” Vin says as he pins Zack down in the ground

“You were just lucky” Zack grumbles he pouts which makes Vin laugh as he lets him go “What are you laughing about, bastard?!” he asks glaring at Vin

“At how adorable you are for pouting after losing” Vin answers amused

“Shut up!” a red Zack says as he turns around but that only makes Vin laugh once more “Stop laughing, you idiot!” he says but he sounds more like a whine to Vin

“Of course, of course” Vin says as he tries to calm down but he couldn’t be blamed for his reaction when Zack was so cute with his reactions even when he got mad

“Whatever” Zack mumbles before he opens his barrier a bit for a bird to enter “There is a pack of monsters a few meters from here, wanna go deal with them?” he asks after listening to the bird for bit

“You can count me in” Vin smirks so Zack makes the roots leave and makes the bird guides them towards the pack of monsters

“Do you want to deal with them alone to evaluate how far you have come since we first met?” Zack asks since Vin had been the one not used to fighting as he had been carried around by his ex-party except for the few times he used some skills for self defense when they got through someone of his ex-party

“That sounds good” Vin says as he knew he had evolved since that time but never really paid attention to see how much better he had gotten at fighting so doing it now, would be for the best

Soon they arrived where the pack of monsters were so Zack stayed hidden behind some trees while Vin went to deal with them.

The monsters Vin went to fight weren’t the strongest they had encountered but also not the weakest, they were in the middle ground but since it was more than five it would make it harder for one person alone to fight them, meaning it would pose a challenge for Vin and let them evaluate how far he came better as he before he would need help or have difficulty dealing with them without getting very hurt.

A few minutes later, Vin kills the last monster of the pack and turns to Zack smirking as he had done it without help and gotten only a few scratches.

“Not bad” Zack says as he walks to Vin “You have grown a lot since we first started going around together, I think that we are ready to enter the dungeon but we can also stay at least one more week here to train even if I believe we are ready to enter the dungeon” Zack says as he gives a low healing potion to Vin

“Hmm, let’s stay here one more week” Vin says “Just to make sure there won’t be many people trying to enter the dungeon since that could lead us to have to fight them and reveal the skills we want to hide” he explains and Zack nods at that

“Yeah, that is true” Zack agrees “Let’s find a place to camp or a house in good condition for us to stay during this week then” he says

With that they went to do what Zack said and luckily they found a house in good condition to stay since both missed sleeping in an actual bed even if the futons they bought in the item shop were comfortable, nothing would be better than an actual bed.

For a week they stayed in that house while leaving to fight monsters from time to time before they made sure to have everything necessary and made their way to the dungeon, neither being sure of what they would find in the dungeon but feeling like they would get some answers about their classes in there.

Chapter Text

The first floor didn’t look like anything they expected.

It was more like a small community where people decided to stay as there weren’t any strong monsters in there, a safe haven for those who weren’t good fighters or didn’t wish to fight.

But because of that, the first floor was too crowded and they almost lost one another there so Zack grabbed Vin’s hand to not lose him.

“Do you think Mira could be on this floor?” Zack asks Vin because he hadn’t heard anything else from Mira since the first message and unfortunately, there were no private messages system so he couldn’t just text her to see if she was safe

“It’s a possibility but she didn’t look like the type to just settle in a safe space without verifying everything else” Vin says while giving his opinion of what little he had seen of Mira

“True” Zack sighs as he just wished to see his best friend again(he also wanted to know if Johan was safe but the other boy had cut contact with them and Zack wasn’t sure if he would even tell them he was alive if they made a post in the community posts as Johan could be quite stubborn) “Let's just go around the first floor to see if we find someone we know and ask someone more about the dungeon” he says

“Sure” Vin agrees and they keep walking around observing everything and everyone around them

It was as they reached the part with the first group of houses made in the dungeon that Zack saw someone familiar to both of them.

“Hey, isn’t that Duke?” Zack asks as he shakes Vin’s hand and points where he saw a familiar figure

“Uh, where?” Vin says as he looks towards where Zack is pointing “Yeah, it seems to be him” he says as he recognizes the figure as the boy he used to bully

“Let’s go talk to him” Zack says and was about to walk towards him but Vin doesn’t move making it impossible for Zack to walk as they were still holding hands “Vin?” he calls with a raised eyebrow

“Are you dumb?” Vin asks

“What did you say, bastard?!” Zack says glaring at Vin

“I bullied him and now you want to approach him with me?” Vin says and Zack looks at him for a few seconds before giving him a deadpan look

“If someone still cares about who bullied who when an apocalypse or whatever this is started then I think they should check their priorities” Zack points out and Vin has to give him a point about it but he also knows that certain feelings stay with a person forever like his hate and wish for revenger against Taejin “Then I will go talk to him alone while you wait here for me?” Zack offers as he notices that Vin still doesn’t seem too into going to talk with Duke

“No” Vin says and Zack looks confused at him for saying that “We don’t know if there is anyone who can see our cards here so it is better if we stay together at all times” Vin explains as he tries to ignore the possessive feeling that was the reason why he said ‘no’ no quickly as Zack isn’t his and also isn’t an object for him to feel so possessive of(if only he paid more attention to his dragon’s instincts…)

“Oh, right…” Zack mumbles having forgotten that Vin had told him that the reason he was found out by his ex-party was that they met a party with someone who had a skill that let them see others cards “...But it would be good to talk with someone we know…and he might know where Mira is” Zack pouts while looking sadly at the ground and Vin just can’t deal with seeing Zack looking like that

It is stupid that this affects him so much when before they two would curse and insult each other without caring how that affected the other but here is Vin, feeling uncomfortable at the thought of Zack staying far from him and at seeing him looks sad.

“Fuck!” Vin mutters “Let’s go then! Just don’t whine if Duke doesn’t want to talk because I am there” he says and Zack cheers up at that

“Then move!” Zack says grinning as he drags Vin towards where Duke is

Vin sighed but let himself be taken towards Duke, who at first hadn’t noticed them approaching him until the person he had been talking to pointed it to him.

“Duke!” Zack says as the other boy looks at them

“Zack…and Vin Jin” Duke says looking happy to see Zack but then seeming awkward to see Vin which he couldn’t blame him for feeling like that

“How have you been? Beside this idiot, I haven’t seen anyone else from our school” Zack says, ignoring the awkwardness or simply choosing to continue talking as he really wanted to know if Duke knew anything about their friends

“I have been good, I was lucky with my cards and that I was already in the part of the city this dungeon came to exist as here had less monsters than the other parts” Duke says and that explained why Zack and Vin had noticed a decline of monsters the closer they were to the dungeon even if at first they had thought that most monsters had been killed by other people “And you?” he asks

“Same, had some problems with some skills but I am getting better or used to them” Zack admits “Have you heard from anyone? I know Mira is safe but I know nothing about anyone else” he asks what he had been wanting to know all this time

“I…only know that Daniel had been making his way to Cheongliang for some reason that Zoe went to visit a cousin at Busan but nothing else” Duke says and Zack sighs while Vin ignores the mention of the city he was born and where he was hated simply for being born as he was(more often than not, the bad memories he had in Cheongliang come to the front instead of the good ones) “But, I have met someone whose skill lets you know if someone is alive or not” he adds and that makes Vin and Zack look curiously at him

“And where is that person?” Vin is the one to ask because he also wanted to know if Mary was okay

“That’s my problem” Duke admits as he sighs “I know about them and where they could be but I haven’t been able to create a party or a group strong enough to go find them as the person seems to be currently in the second floor which has many monsters and most seem to be stronger than the ones we have already fought before” he explains

“And those who are strong for that have immediately gone to the second floor, right?” Zack says and Duke nods at that

“So, should we just go up?” Vin says turning to Zack

“You plan to go alone?!” Duke says not having expected that

“Actually, we plan to ask around a bit more about the dungeon and see if Mira is on this floor before we go up” Zack explains

“Are you sure you are ready to deal with the stronger monsters? Most people stay at least a month in here to train before going up” Duke says sounding worried

“We have trained a lot outside the dungeon” Vin says and Duke nods at that

“...Follow me, I will take you to someone who can give you a rundown of everything it is already known from the dungeon and then guide you to the place that will take you to the second floor” Duke says and Vin nods at him in thanks

“What about Mira?” Zack asks hopefully

“Sorry but if she is in the dungeon she must be in another floor” Duke says, feeling a bit bad that he couldn’t give better news to Zack about his crush but he was being honest

“Oh, well…” Zack sighs but accepts it “Then lets go” he says and Duke starts guiding them to a place far away from most confusion where they suppose the person who has all the information is

An hour later the trio was making their way to the place that will permit them to go to the second floor as Vin and Zack thought about the information they were given.

The dungeon had eight known floors but there are rumors there is a 9th floor but no one has been able to confirm it since they haven’t found the way to get to said floor. While there was at least one party that has slowly moved into each floor, the first floor is the only one known to be made to let people live so as to make a floor liveable someone had to defeat the boss of said floor.

Most monsters that had been found were plant based ones or ones with dragon traits if not actual dragons but it is said that the bosses were connected to korean shamanism since the boss from the first floor that had been defeated has been the ghost of a well known and powerful shaman. They couldn’t be sure if the other bosses were also ghosts of korean shamans or creatures related to it as they hadn’t found them despite many parties having gone to try and find the boss of the second floor(Vin wasn’t looking forward to meet any of the floors’ bosses as they sounded perfect to bring forth his trauma).

Not really much had been found out as it was hard for the ones that went to higher floors to come back to the ones below and not many had classes that allowed them to communicate with people in other floors.

In the end, they would have to adventure through each floor to find out more and also for them to find out why Zack had the ability to heal anything with his milk which was very similar to how people could be healed and returned to life in the dungeon.

“This is the entry to the second floor” Duke announces as they arrive in front of a giant wooden door which was decorated by vines and different flowers “I hope you will be safe in your journey” he adds looking at them

“Won’t you join us?” Zack asks, not looking like he wanted to separate from Duke as he was the first friend he saw after so long

“I think I would just be on the way instead of helping” Duke says laughing

“You are one of the people who can communicate with others even if they are in different floors, if you came with us you could give more information to that man and his helpers” Vin points out despite not being very happy for Duke to join them as it would be awkward especially when Zack would have to leave them alone to take care of his little problem but he could see that Zack really didn’t want to separate from Duke and for some reason, he wanted to see Zack happy and not sad like Vin was sure he would be if they left without Duke

“Still…” Duke says looking unsure as he didn’t want to be a bother and he had never tried to leave the first floor since he arrived

“If you don’t want to, it’s okay” Zack says while internally he sighs sadly

“I-it’s not that!” Duke says and he nervously plays with his hands “My first class is warrior but I am not the best fighter so I may be a bother” he explains

“So? Vin wasn’t the best fighter when we met but know he is better” Zack says and Vin glares at him for telling Duke that “Just accompany us through the second floor then, and then we can bring you back to the first floor” Zack says and Duke looks from Zack to Vin as to make sure that Vin wouldn’t mind him joining

“I don’t care, do whatever you want” Vin says as he notices Duke’s looks

“Then…I will join you for now” Duke decides and Zack grins at that

“Let’s enter the second floor then!” Zack says as he drags Vin, they are still holding hands, to open the door and enter the second floor with Duke following right behind them

Chapter Text

The second floor was…not very different from the first one except that the houses and shops were ruins and it had many more monsters.

“They are kinda cute” Zack says after they have a monster that looked a lot like a panda, a very deadly pink one but still a panda

“I…can see it…somewhat” Duke mumbles as Vin sighs at Zack's comment and Duke agreeing with him even if he is keeping his distance from the creature unlike Zack

“Do you think that once a floor is completely cleared, we could get any of the monsters as a pet?” Zack asks mostly to himself but he gets incredulous looks from his two companions

“Let's just find a place to camp” Vin says not even wanting to try and understand what was going inside Zack's mind while ignoring the insistent voice on his head that tells him to give Zack everything he wants

“Okay” Zack says pouting as neither of his companions answered his question but he was getting a bit angry besides his chest also starting to hurt

With that the trio walked around until they found a plain space which didn’t have many monsters around and that they could defeat them easily.

“I will start setting the tents” Duke says as he grabs his own spatial bag which serves to keep their tents and things like that

“Can you go grab some wood?” Vin asks as he notices the subtle discomfort that Zack showed which meant that he needed up milk himself “And if you find any fruits or anything we may be able to eat, out it in the pouch” he adds as he gives his pouch to Zack after taking out what he needed to make their dinner

“Sure” Zack answers, feeling relieved that he could go get rid of the discomfort in his chest without Duke finding out about him lactating(he considered Duke a close friend but they hadn’t interacted enough for him to trust him yet…which was funny to Zack since he hadn’t even been friends with Vin before all this but he is the person he trusted the most at the moment)

While Zack left to get wood and milk himself, Vin started cutting and preparing the ingredients for their dinner.

Once Duke was done setting the tents, he went to watch Vin before Zack arrived and he helped him prepare the wood for Vin to cook and also to warm them as they ate and talked before going to sleep.

“What are you making Vin?” Zack asks as he takes a seat nearby where Vin was starting to cook dinner

“A rendition of alfredo pasta but with milk and no meat” Vin hums as he doesn’t even look at Vin

“Alfredo pasta? I have never eaten it” Duke comments

“I had it once at a fancy party my father forced me to go, it is tasty” Zack tells Duke

“Fancy party?” Duke asks surprised and Vin is asking the same thing in his mind but confused

“Yes…oh, right! You guys wouldn’t know about it” Zack says first confused and then hitting his head as if calling himself stupid for forgetting something “My parents are the owners of Hummingbird Fashion” Zack says and Duke looks in shock at him while Vin looks a bit confused as he rarely bought clothes(it was Mary who bought most of his clothes as she said he didn’t have the best fashion sense) and hadn’t seen anything about that brand in the shops he normally went to so it must be a really expensive brand of clothes which he would not be able to buy in many years(probably never now that this apocalypse thing happened)

“I heard you had money but I didn’t think it was…that much” Duke admits and Zack laughs

“I never really cared much about my family’s money and even then my family lived as a normal person or otherwise I wouldn’t have met Mira and Johan” Zack says

“Johan?” Vin asks because while he had heard Zack mention Mira, he had never heard the name Johan

“It’s an old friend, we haven’t talked in…a very long time” Zack says but something in his eyes made his two companions decided to change the topic of their talk

“The food is almost ready, could one of you grab the plates and utensils?” Vin asks as he point to the pouch

“I will do it” Duke says and gets up to grab what Vin asked for

Soon the three were eating their dinner in a comfortable silence, or as comfortable it could be when Zack seemed a bit lost in his memories, before Duke said his goodnights and went to sleep since it was Zack’s turn to wash the dishes.

“So, you actually wanted to have one of those pandas as a pet?” Vin asks as he observes Zack wash the dishes

“Hmm, maybe” Zack answers “Me and Mira always had this strange love for cute but scary things which Johan said was a bit creepy but always showed us anything like that when we hanged out” he says

“Oh? But aren’t you afraid of ghosts?” Vin asks since he would think that Zack wouldn’t be the biggest fan of creepy things with his fear of ghosts

“I am…but ghosts and creepy but cute monsters are different things” Zack says and Vin hums since that was true “But why do you ask?”

“Just…curious” Vin says as he couldn’t tell Zack that something in his mind was telling him to give Zack everything he wanted “Never thought you would like those things” he adds

“Not like we actually know each other” Zack points out and Vin knows that is true since they at most were acquaintances that took every chance they met to fight but for some reason since they met after the beginning of this apocalypse like thing, they have trusted each other

“Which is quite funny when we have been trusting each other with almost all of our secrets” Vin says

“True” Zack hums as he guards the last dish in the pouch as he finishes drying it “Should we go to sleep?” he asks turning to Vin

“How is your…problem?” Vin asks instead of answering Zack’s question

“My problem?” Zack asks confused and Vin points to Zack’s chest which makes him blush “It’s…fine” he answers embarrassed as he doesn’t think he will get used to this so soon

“Did you get along with the pump or did you have any problems?” Vin asks since Zack hadn’t used the pump Vin bought him until now since Zack had milked himself before they entered the dungeon and hadn’t been affected or annoyed by his milk until they finished fighting the pink panda

“It is…strange but it certainly is much easier to milk myself with the pump than with my hands…” Zack says as he looks to the side as he remembers that Vin used to clean his chest of any milk that had ended up on it instead of the bottles of milk

“That’s good, if you need any help just tell me” Vin says as he gets up

“I…will” Zack says as he tries not to think of the type of help Vin could be talking about since that would be embarrassing

“I will take the smallest tent and you take the big one” Vin says as he pats Zack’s shoulder and makes his way to the smallest tent since the middle one was occupied by Duke

“Goodnight, Vin” Zack says as he walks to his own tent

“Sleep well, Zack” Vin says before closing his tent

That night, the trio all slept well and woke up early the next morning to continue adventuring through the second floor while looking both for the person they wanted to find and the boss of the second floor.

Chapter Text

The group of three met some parties as they adventured through the second floor and asked them if they knew the person they wanted to meet but at most the parties had only heard about them and knew nothing more so the trio continued going through the dungeon.

It was as they were passing by a certain part of a forest that Vin suddenly froze as he looked towards a certain part.

“Vin?” Zack calls worried

“Did you see anything?” Duke asks as that was the only thing he could think that would make Vin freeze suddenly but it also confused him as he wasn’t seeing anything

“The floor bosses…what was the information about them?” Vin asks making his two companions confused

“Not much but since the boss of the first floor was an old and powerful shaman, it is assumed that the bosses of all floors are somewhat related to korean shamanism or mythology” Duke answers

“Why do you ask?” Zack asks as he walks closer to Vin and looks towards he was looking and pays attention to any sound that could be coming from that part

As Zack paid attention to that zone, he started to hear something similar to music but didn’t seem to be something a bard or someone with a similar class would do…it sounded like the music Zack had heard as his parents took him to watch a talchum dance when he was a kid.

“Talchum?” Zack mumbles but is heard by Vin

“Yes, there are talchum dancers in that way…” Vin says while trying to hide how it is affecting him a bit what he is seeing as the talchum dances do remind him of Cheongliang and how things went after the ‘sacrifice’ part of the rituals

“So you think they are the boss of this floor?” Duke asks as he approaches them even if he wouldn’t be able to see or hear them

“No one had mentioned them before, right?” Zack asks and Duke nods at that “So, they probably are the second floor bosses” he says

“But why talchum dancers when on the first floor it was the ghost of a shaman? A shaman is more powerful than a talchum dancer, right?” Duke says confused about how it seemed that the boss of the second floor was weaker than the boss of the first floor

“Not necessarily” Vin says as he takes his eyes away from the talchum dancers before he got too lost in memories “If they are dancing for a god, then they could be given power by the god they are praising” he points out making the other too nod at that since it made sense

“Should we approach and try fighting them?” Duke asks since they were also here to try and fight the bosses not just to find the person they were looking for

“That wouldn’t be a good idea, my party did that and some ended up becoming some of the talchum dancers” a sudden voice says but before Vin or Duke could say anything, Zack runs to where the voice was heard and a shadow was noticeable

“Mira!” Zack says and as he hugs the person, he brings her to the light so now they could see who it was

“Hey, Zack” Mira smiles as she hugs her best friend back

“God, I missed you so much” Zack says as he finally lets go of Mira

“Me too” Mira admits because they had gotten used to having the other always nearby and the apocalypse starting it made them realize that

“So, you have been here for a long time?” Vin asks not liking how close Zack and Mira were

“Unfortunately, yes” Mira says as she turns to Vin and Duke but only then did they notice that she had her hair in a bob style cut unlike how long she had it before “We had come here to try and defeat the boss and so we could study this floor too as we did the second but from what I said before, you can guess how it ended” she sighs

“Did all of them become talchum dancers?” Duke asks as Mira had only said some but he wasn't sure if she was counting herself or not

“No” Mira answers and there is a sad look around her as she does it “Our party leader died as she used a spell to get me and our youngest member to this side of the second floor so we wouldn't turn into talchum dancers or die as it happened to them” she adds and the trio winces as this probably wasn't something easy to deal with

“And where is the youngest member?” Vin asks since there was only Mira there

“I asked another party that we met to take him to the next floor” Mira says and Vin nods at that since it is understandable that Mira didn't want the kid, or teen since Vin had no idea about the other person's age, away from a place where he saw someone die and others turn into enemies

“Why did you stay?” Zack asks looking at Mira worried since she could have left already

“...They seem to sense whenever I am close to either of the portals to leave” Mira says and they look surprised at that

“Why?” Duke asks because what could make Mira so special that they would somehow sense whenever she tried to leave unlike the other party member

“I think it is connected to my classes” Mira admits and while Duke is a bit confused as most classes offered are pretty normal, Vin and Zack completely understood her as their own classes where special

“Let's camp, and you can tell us more about this” Vin says before anyone could say anything as he can guess that Zack won't want to leave this floor without taking Mira with him so they would need to defeat the talchum dancers(he tried to ignore the shiver that he felt at the thought of being close to the talchum dancers)

“That's a good idea” Duke agrees since he could write whatever Mira told him to later inform Minseok, the person who gives the information to everyone in the first floor, about it

“My camp is in that direction if you wanna join” Mira says as she points to the opposite side the talchum dancers are

“We will take you in that” Zack says grinning as he grabs Mira hand and both guide the way to Mira’s camp

For some reason Duke feels like there is fire and a dark aura beside him as he goes to follow the two best friends but when he looks to his side, he only sees a disinterested looking Vin following the two friends so he shrugs and assumes it was just him imagining things.

.

Who would have thought that Kim ‘Mira’ Minji was the person they had been looking for before.

Her first class was Necromancer which seemed a bit out of character for Vin and Duke but Zack seemed to find it fitting even if he made a face at Mira mentioning that sometimes she could feel the presence of ghosts.

But her second card was the most interesting for them, it was called ‘Name It And I Shall Know’ which permitted her to know the status of anyone she knew kr was told the name of.

“I can only see if they are dead or alive and their level for now since I didn't see a reason to upgrade it besides how far my ‘sight’ goes as maybe knowing someone's class might be dangerous for me” Mira explains which is pretty understandable especially for Vin and Zack as with the cards they got, they wouldn't be surprised if there were more powerful or amazing cards around the world

“So you are the person we have been looking for” Duke hums

“You were looking for me?” Mira asks a bit surprised as she could understand Zack looking for her but not the other two

“Yes, we wanted to meet the person that could tell us if our other friends were alive” Duke says and Mira hums at that

“Well, I can say that the others from the fashion department are alive” Mira says looking at Zack who looks relieved at that “From the architecture department I only knew Vasco and Jace’s name and they are also alive but from the music department I only knew Mary and she is also alive but otherwise I don't know anyone's name” she adds and Vin relaxes a bit at knowing that Mary is safe “Anyone else you wanna check?” she asks as she understands the need to know her friends are safe

“I don't have anyone else” Vin says as he knows that it is better if he doesn't asks about the others from the Cheongliang fam

“Me neither” Duke admits as he already knew his grandma was safe as she was residing in the first floor as one of the seamstresses

“What…what about Johan and his mother?” Zack says looking unsure of asking this which is a strange look on his face, one that Vin does not enjoy seeing

“...They are safe, Zack” Mira says as she looks at Zack softly who offers her a small smile

Vin and Duke look at each other unsure of why they were acting like that but knowing it is something neither should ask about for now.

“So, you had said that you think the talchum dancers are targeting you because of your classes?” Vin says as changing the topic seemed like the best choice even if he wished to never being reminded of his past

“Ah, yes” Mira says as she gives Vin a thankful smile “I don't know much about talchum dancers but a member of my party studied it and said that talchum dancers could be praising a god or mocking nobles” the other three nod at that “I think that their god might be the boss of another floor and said boss knows about my classes…all the other necromancers in Seoul that have entered the dungeon and gone up it are all dead except for me and those in the first floor” she says

“Oh! I had forgotten about that!” Duke says as he remembers hearing news of a party losing one of their members in the third floor and said member was necromancer as more news about things like that appearing from time to time

“But why haven't they killed you yet?” Zack asks because while he is extremely happy that Mira hasn't been killed, it is also strange that she is only being kept locked in the second floor

“I would say it is maybe because of my second class? It would be easier for the boss if he knew the classes of everyone in the dungeon especially if any have a rare or legendary one” Mira answers but Vin can see that she sounds unsure of what she is telling them

“Something wrong?” Vin decides to ask making the other two notice the unsure/uneasy look in Mira’s face

“I…It’s nothing” Mira says waving her hand as saying for them to leave it be and for bow the trio decide to do that as she would tell them when she wanted

“Do you have any other information about the talchum dancers?” Duke decides to ask and Mira nods at that

With that, she tells them more information about the talchum dancers from what she saw when her party fought them and the times they appeared when she tried to leave or saw them far away. They also talked about how they should approach them to fight them without any of them ending up as a talchum dancer or killing someone who actually wasn’t a talchum dancer but someone forced to become one

“Vin, Duke, why don’t you go prepare our food and tents? I need to talk with Mira” Zack says after they came up with a basic plan

“Sure” Vin says getting up as he starts thinking of what he could make for the four of them

“...Okay” Duke says a bit confused but if Zack wanted to talk privately with his crush, he wouldn’t be the one to get in the way

“Zack?” Mira says after Zack grabbed her hand and made them walk a bit far way so if someone had to hear them, it would only be Vin even if Mira didn’t know that

“I know you told us about your classes because it was needed” Zack says but Mira is still confused about what he was trying to say “But I wanna tell you about mine because I trust you and you are my best friend” he adds and this makes Mira pause as she thinks that if Zack had common classes then there was no reason for him to say that

“You…you have a rare or legendary card?” she asks and Zack nods “Are you sure it is safe for you to tell me?” she asks worried that someone could get that information from her and hurt Zack

“Yes, Vin already knows it and if we end up traveling together it is better if someone beside him knows it” Zack says and Mira is a bit surprised how Zack seems to trust Vin so much seeing how they acted whenever they met each other before but she also feels relieved that Zack trusts someone else outside of their classmates and Vasco

“Okay, I promise not to break your trust” she says

“I know you won’t but…you will probably laugh” Zack says making Mira raise an eyebrow at that “Well, I got my two classes from gamble as the others that were offered to me didn’t fit my fighting style at all” he informs her and she could understand her as she only knew which classes to choose because she played games often with Zack and had read some novels that happened in apocalyptic world, a guide/esper world and many more that somewhat translated well to what was happening at the moment to their world(this makes her think that this may be Kyungsoo, their class president, fault as he once said he was curious how living in one of those world would be like when Yui asked them how they thought they would react if they were part of the novel she was reading at the time)

“Okay” she says as an encouragement for him to continue since she still didn’t see what could make her laugh at him

“My first card is called ‘The Way Of The Cows’ and as you can see by my appearance I have many characteristics from them” Zack says and Mira looks him over before her eyes stop at his chest which she had noticed that seemed fuller but she thought it was because of the shirt he was wearing but with the information he just told her, she didn’t believe so anymore

“Do you…you know?” she asks as he makes a gesture towards his chest and Zack makes a face as his cheeks get a bit red

“Yes, I do lactate” he admits and while this amuses Mira, it isn’t something she would laugh about “Yeah, yeah, I know this only amuses you but I haven’t finished talking” Zack says and Mira nods at that as she tries to think if his second card had to do with clowns or something for her to laugh as he said she would “My second card is called Mother Nature”

“Mother Nature…like that mother nature?” she asks surprised that such a card exists since nature is something they always around them so if Zack had powers related to it then he will be very powerful

“Yes” Zack says and Mira can understand why he seems to keep it a secret “But…that isn’t all” he adds and Mira looks at him curious “As I said before I lactate and…with my second card I got a…special ability related to it” he says

“What special ability?” Mira asks confused

“I…my milk can heal anyone from anything, even bring them back to life” he mutters

Silence surrounds them for a few minutes before Mira starts laughing as she digests what Zack had just told her.

Maybe many wouldn’t find what Zack said funny as they would say it is an amazing ability but those people hadn’t been raised beside Zack and Johan so they wouldn’t know about the many jokes the trio had connected to Zack having had a bigger chest compared to Mira when they were kids and that once Johan said that he wouldn’t be surprised if Zack started lactating or even if he did that his milk would be magical.

Mira missed those times but right now she is thinking how amusing it is that this happened to Zack and also that maybe Johan had jinxed him even if none of them ever knew this would happen.

“Have you laughed everything?” an embarrassed Zack asks after some time

“I have” she says as she calms down “Johan really jinxed you, didn’t he?” she asks and Zack sighs

“Seems like it…I didn’t even remember that until I remembered it a week ago…I’m sure he would laugh even more than you did if he was here” Zack says and Mira nods since she could see that “I…I miss him” he admits in a whisper

“...Me too” Mira says with a sad smile “Maybe we will get to meet him again, there is no rule that says we can’t leave the dungeon and go to other cities so…how about we go look for him when we finish the dungeon?” she asks

“I would like that” Zack says “We can even take Vin and Duke with us since we could meet Mary and Daniel on the way” he adds and Mira agrees with that

They talk for a bit more before they join Vin and Duke who are already putting the food Vin made in the plates so they help them before they enjoy dinner while the four talk about random topics(mostly Vin and Duke look in disbelief at Mira and Zack as they talk about adopting one of the pink pandas or raising a baby one)

Chapter Text

The following days were mostly the group of four training, fighting monsters and working on a more detailed plan on how to deal with the second floor's boss.

"I believe that if we destroy the masks, it will free the ones who became talchum dancers unwilling" Duke says as he observes the information they had compiled and their almost finished detailed plan

"But how will we identify the ones that were turned and the real ones?" Zack asks

"The real ones have a pouch around their waist while the turned ones don't" Mira says as when the first member of her party was turned into a talchum dancer, she had noticed that they had no pouch unlike the talchum dancer that turned him

"Could it be that the masks they use to turn people are in the pouch?" Vin wonders

"I think so but their movements when grabbing a mask were too fast for me to notice if it really is that" Mira tells him making Vin hum at that

"Should we target the pouches?" Duke asks unsure

"Well, you are better with long distance weapons so you could do that or try to break the masks" Zack comments as he had noticed that despite being a warrior, Duke was better with arrows, guns, etc then swords and all that typical things of warriors

"That's not a bad idea but there is the case of the talchum dancer with ribbons" Mira points out "I'm not sure how far his ribbons reach and he seems to be the leader of all of them" she adds

"Then if we deal with him first, would the others become weaker?" Zack wonders

"It is a possibility" Duke says

"But there is also the question of how powerful their god is and if he can keep giving them power ups" Vin says making the other three groan

"Isn't there any way to make it impossible for them to reach their god?" Mira asks

"Their dance is what shows their worship if the god but dancing and fighting can be considered the same for some people" Duke says and Mira sighs

"That's true...maybe if we destroy their masks it will also affect them? Aren't the masks an important part of the talchum dancers?" Zack says

"It might work" Vin hums as Zack wasn't wrong so destroying the masks of the real talchum dancers may make them weaker or lose communication with their 'god' "We will also need to find the temple of their god and destroy it" he adds

"So our priority will be to get rid of the masks of the ones transformed talchum dancers and the ribbon dancer first?" Mira asks and the other three nod at that "Then Duke instead of helping fighting them, could look for the temple and destroy it...for security I can send a part of my undead army to help and protect him" she adds and Duke feels a bit relieved that he won't have to fight the talchum dancers face to face as he isn't secure enough on his fighting abilities

"That's a good idea, maybe we should train how to work together now instead of doing it individuality before we give our try in defeating the talchum dancers" Zack says and everyone nods at that so they put their things in a secure place before making their way to the training ground Zack made for them when they decided to train without the use of defeating the monsters in the second floor

.

.

.

A few days later, Duke and Mira were talking about which of Mira's undead soldiers should go with him as he went to look for the temple as Vin and Zack were to the side just finishing putting the weapons and healing potions they would need in a bag.

"...Are you okay?" Zack asks as he finishes putting a few bottles of his healing milk in their first aid bag

"Why wouldn't I be?" Vin asks not looking at Zack even if he knew that with the sunglasses, Zack shouldn't be able to read his emotions as he kept the same expression on his face and his only give away were his eyes but for some unknown reason, Zack seemed to be able to read him well despite all that

"I have noticed that you have been quite tense since you saw the talchum dancers and get even more tense as today arrived" Zack says because he wanted to know what got Vin like that even if he knew that they weren't close enough for Vin to tell him anything like that, he just felt the need to make sure Vin was safe and comfortable

"Just...they bring back not so good memories" Vin decides to say a bit of the truth as he doesn't think he will ever be ready to share his whole past with someone

"Will you be okay fighting them? We can change with you being the one to go with Duke instead of a part of Mira's undead army" Zack says, understanding how it was to have to confront something that brings back no good memories as he hadn't been able to be near people wearing completely white since the cult incident(he was thankful that his older cousin's wife had been kind enough to choose a not completely white wedding dress when she heard about Zack's fear and how his cousin wanted him as his best man)

"No need to worry, I don't think they will affect me too much" Vin waves Zack's worried offer away as he closes the bad

"If you are sure..." Zack mumbles put keeps in mind to pay attention to Vin when they finally confront the talchum dancers

.

Vin takes back what he had told Zack.

If he had known that the ribbon talchum dancer would be wearing red, the ribbons being those colors and his body being similar to the reason why he lost his mother he would...Vin would still deny that it would affect him and still go confront the talchum dancers with Zack and Mira.

He needed to ignore those memories, a slight distraction could end up with one of them dead or becoming a talchum dancer.

Vin took a deep breath and tried to push any memory about that shaman deep down in his mind so it wouldn't come up during the fight.

"Duke got a hint about where the temple could be...are you guys ready?" Mira asks looking at Zack and Vin

"Not really but let's go" Zack says while Vin simply nods even if he definitely is not ready(he also fears what could appear in the other floors that might bring him bad memories)

"My undead will try to attack the bags and masks but will also jump in front of us if we are attacked and don't realize or don't have time to defend or get out of the way" she reminds them and Vin was thankful over Mira being a necromancer as he could only imagine how dangerous this could be without her undead army...he didn't even want to imagine how strong the boss of the other floors would be like

With no other choice, the trio make their way to deal with the talchum dancers while hoping everything would go well as none of them wished to die or lose one of the others.

.

The talchum dancers much better fighters than what Zack thought and they were pretty fast, he knew that there were fighting styles that were also considered a dance or sometimes people looked like they were dancing when fighting but he would have preferred to not have to deal with having to fight a monster that fought as dancing and was this fast.

They had been able to free three of Mira's ex-party members with one of Mira's undead soldiers taking them away before the talchum dancers could try to control them again or kill them.

"How many more members had your party?" Zack asks Mira as he lands a punch in a talchum dancers' face and steals his bag which he throws to the air before Vin sends a fireball to it to destroy it

"Five but I think members of other parties have been targeted too" Mira answers as she defects an attack and is almost grabbed by a sudden ribbon if it wasn't for Vin's fire burning it before it could touch her "Thanks, Vin" Mira says and Vin simply nods

This makes Zack realize that Vin hasn't talked since they went to fight the talchum dancers and while Vin could just not do it because he was more focused in the fight, he knew that Vin had fun annoying is opponents so this behavior wasn't normal but unfortunately Zack had to ignore it for now as he had to concentrate in the fight to not be killed or transformed into a talchum dancer as while from what he realized the transformed ones didn't have access to their class abilities, he didn't want to take a chance at him controlled using his abilities against Vin and Mira.

"Any notice from Duke?" Zack decides to ask as he destroys the mask of a talchum dancer who turns out to be a controlled person, to which an undead suddenly appears and takes the person way

"Nothing" Mira answers "It is almost impossible to get near the ribbon dancer" she adds as the ribbon dancer was using the other talchum dancers as a shield for them not to reach him while using his ribbons to attack them especially when they were distracted with another dancer

"I know" Zack agrees as he jumps as a ribbon almost grabs his foot and then stabs it with a knife he had on his jacket

"Try to use your vines to fight his ribbons or grab him" Vin finally talks and if Zack wasn't in the middle of a fight he would have hit his own head for how stupid he was for not having thought of using his plant manipulation powers against any of the talchum dancers but especially the ribbon dancer

"I'm such an idiot" Zack mutters "Thanks Vin" he throws as he uses his vines to try and grab the ribbon dancer who attacks the vines with his own ribbons to not grab him

"Protect Zack!" Mira tells her undead since Zack needed to be concentrated to attack the ribbon dancer so it was for the best if her undead formed a buried around him in case a talchum dancer escaped Mira and Vin and went to Zack

Taking cue from Mira, Vin made a fire barrier around Zack as the talchum dancers were very affected by fire because of their clothes and the masks being made of wood.

With Zack keeping the ribbon dancer occupied, Mira and Vin were able to free the other controlled people and just had to fight the real talchum dancers which compared to what Zack had to deal with was easier.

"Piece of shit!" Zack curses as the ribbon dancer was very good at avoiding his vines which was annoying but at least he had been able to get rid of his bag which he had his vine bring to the fire buried around him so it could be burned

"Duke found the temple!" Mira suddenly shouts which bring a bit of relief to Zack as destroying it could make the talchum dancers weaker

"Can he destroy it?" Zack asks

"There are some monsters around it but he has my undead fighting them as he plans to throw a few grenades and explosives to the temple" Mira says and Zack nods at that since that was a good plan

"Don't get too distracted" Vin tells Mira as he grabs a talchum dancer who planned to attack Mira by the face and slams him into the ground, breaking his mask and probably a few face bones, if not the dancer's neck, by the sounds they heard as the dancer's head hit the floor

"Thanks" Mira says as she pays attention to the fight knowing that Vin had been right about it being better for her to not get distracted "Do you think your vines can be surrounded by Vin's fire to fight the ribbon dancer?" she asks as she makes a face that she only does when she has a plan

"No, they burn" Zack says as he points to the vine that he had bring the bag to be burnt by the fire barrier around him

"Tch!" Mira mutters as she was sure that it would be easier to deal with the ribbon dancer if Zack could use fire too

"...I can try to make the fire surround the vines but try to not make it touch the vines?" Vin offers but that would take too much of his concentration

"...Wait!" Mira exclaims as she slays one of the talchum dancers "You can create vines from any type of plants, right?" she asks

"Yeah, I can" Zack says confused

"So, there are certain plants that do not burn easier so if you can create vines of them then Vin could use his fire on them" she points out

"...That's true" Zack mumbles as he tries to think of one of those plants 'Thank god, Kay had a time where he was obsessed with plants' he thinks as he remembers that maplewood didn't burn easily so it could be a good one to try "Pay attention to the ribbon dancer as I try to make maplewood vines" he adds

"We will" Mira says and Vin nods

As Mira, Vin and the undead army fought the talchum dancers, Zack concentrated on creating the maplewood vines and once he had done it, he used the fire buried around him to verify if he got them right.

"I did it!" he says once one of the maplewood vines he did, didn't start burning the second it touched the fire barrier

"Good" Mira says in relief as there were only more three talchum dancers and the ribbon dancer to get rid of "Duke also passed the message that the temple is on fire and crumbling down but there is a strange statue that doesn't seem to be affected" she adds as she received a message from the mentioned

"So, the temple being destroyed doesn't affect them?" Zack asks disappointed

"It does" Vin says "They have became slower" he points out since before it was almost unnoticeable when the talchum dancers moved but now they could see them even if they were still faster than what normal where

"True" Mira says as she realizes that "So, are you two up to try what I said?" she asks and the two boys nod before Vin sends fire to surround Zack's maplewood with Zack immediately having the vines attack the ribbon dancer

The trio smirks as they watch the ribbons that try to stop the vines starting to burn so Vin and Mira concentrate on killing the other three talchum dancers.

"Vin! Careful!" Zack suddenly shouts as the ribbon dancer goes in Vin's direction after Mira killed the last talchum dancer

"Shit!" Vin curses as he deflects the attack and sends a fire attack that starts burning the ribbons dancers, at the same time as Zack sends his vines to grand the ribbon dancer to stop him from trying to attack Vin again

Mira, Vin and Zack watched as the ribbon dancer seemed to be cursing them in an unknown language as he burned into nothing.

"...Well, at least he is dead" Mira says even if the three of them were still breathing fast from the scare they had of the ribbon dancer almost getting Vin

"Let's...let's go meet Duke after we burn all the dancers bodies and make sure the ones that had been controlled are fine" Zack says

"Good idea" Vin says and doesn't lose time in burning all the bodies to make sure none of them would suddenly come to life again

With that, the trio makes their way to the people they saved that were being tended by Mira's undead army. They talked a bit with each person to make sure they were safe and gave them the options of s'going with them, staying in the second floor or return to the first one with most deciding to stay in the second floor and start making it a home for themselves and other people while the rest choose to return to the first floor.

"So, this is the statue?" Mira asks as they reach where the temple once was and see the huge statue of a man she had no idea who it was "Do you think this was their god?" she asks looking at Duke that had taken the time they took to come to explore the destroyed temple and the area around

"Surprisingly, no" Duke says which gets him a raised eyebrow from the members of his party "While the temple burned down, I noticed that the statue seemed to be in a bad state but as the temple was burned down, it seemed to be healed until it became like this" he explains

"So, whoever this person is must be hated by the dancers' god" Zack mutters as he observes the statue and notices that the man looked similar to someone put he couldn't point his finger to who it was and at the same time Vin thought the statue seemed familiar but couldn't tell why since he is sure he has never seen this man in his life

"Did you discover anything else?" Mira asks Duke who shakes his head negatively

"Nothing but maybe the next floors will have some clue of who this man or the dancers' god is" Duke says

"Well, lets rest here and then make our way to the third floor" Mira says as she looks at the three boys to look for their opinion as she wasn't sure if they would continue as a group or not

"Sure" Vin says, not having any problem with what Mira said

"Sounds good" Zack agrees

"Food and sleep sound amazing" Duke smiles at Mira who grins at the three of them

With this, Zack and Mira go away for a bit since Mira said she needed to relieve herself and asked Zakc to come with her in case a monster appeared as she wanted her army to rest(she actually asked Zack to come with her when she received a look from Vin who gave a pointed a look at Zack's chest before looking at Mira, which she understood as Zack needed to pump his milk and she would be a good excuse for him to go to that without Duke knowing) while Vin and Duke take care of making the food and setting the camp.

Chapter Text

"What the fuck?!" two voices exclaims which make Mira and Duke wake up and look towards their other two companions

New Task!

Eat 10 monsters to obtain new skills (0/10)

Vin and Zack looked in shock at the notification they got the second they had woken up, they hadn't received any task from the system(?) despite having heard some of the others mention some small tasks the system had given them. They had assumed as they had always been working on leveling up their level or skills that the system saw no reason to give them a task but now here they were looking at the sudden task given that made no sense.

"What's wrong?" Duke asks between yawns as he gets up at the same time as Mira

"I got a...strange task from the system" Zack says with Vin nodding in agreement with him

"That's normal, I had to dig a grave as a task before" Mira says not understand what could be so shocking about a task given by the system

"It's telling us to eat monsters" Vin says and Duke and Mira can't stop themselves from making a face at that

"...They edible?" Duke asks because he couldn't imagine the monsters to taste good

"Well...some of them are pretty similar to cows, horses, pigs, etc...so maybe?" Zack says but he also looks unsure if it is safe or easy to eat monsters

"Makes sense..." Vin says as he tries to think if he would be able to use the monsters meat to try new recipes

"I think that the only way to know is to kill a monster and have Vin cook it" Mira says and the others nod in agreement since that is true

"Wait! You guys will also eat?" Zack asks since the way Mira and Duke talked was as if they would also eat the monsters too

"We can't let you suffer alone or be the ones to taste meat that tastes divine, right?" Duke says as Mira grins which makes Zack laughs and Vin shake his head in disbelief

"Whatever" Vin says "I will go catch a monster and we can try it now for breakfast before we leave for the third floor" he adds before he leaves

With that the other three start cleaning their camp except for what would be necessary to make their breakfast once Vin returns.

"I found this salamander like monster and he doesn't seem poisonous so I will cook him" Vin says coming back with said monster hanging from his shoulder like a sack of potatoes

"Let's hope it will taste good" Duke says before he helps Vin taking the skin off the salamander and cut it to cook while also storing whatever is left of the monster's meat as he wouldn't cook all of it now

A few minutes later, the group of four were in a circle as they looked at their breakfast plate with monster meat while trying to gain courage to try the monster meat.

"Here goes nothing" Zack mutter and takes a bite of the monster meat

"So?" Mira asks her best friend as she and the other two look curiously at him

"It...it tastes good" Zack says surprised "It is like eating rabbit meat...which is strange since salamanders are amphibians not mammals" he adds

"Uh, interesting" Duke mumbles as he takes his own bite and sees that Zack was right

"Hopefully the other monsters we encounter will taste just as good" Mira says as Vin nods in agreement

Once they finish their breakfast, they wash the dishes they used and store them in Vin's bag before they start making their way to the next floor.

"Let's find out what waits us in the next floor" Mira says as they open the door and enter the third floor

.

The third floor was a bit strange.

It seemed to change its appearance every few minutes.

From a forest to a deserted village to what seemed like the top of a small mountain or ravine.

While the others found it strange, Vin hated it.

The forest he could ignore how it reminded him of the forest around Seongji's house and the top of the mountain/ravine he could gaslight himself to believe it was just a random one and not the one where he beat up the man who took his mother from him but the deserted village? It was exactly like the one he was born and raised in nost of his life.

"Should we stay in one of the houses? Or would it be safer to camp in some random place as we don't know if it simply moves places or changes appearance?" Duke asks after they killed a monster that Vin said would work well for their next meal

"I think a random place...there should be somewhere that looks almost the same whenever the floor changes" Mira says as she starts looking around to see if that place existed

Vin knew that such a place existed, he had passed by it very often in the past.

The entryway from the village to the forest was the same of the forest to the mountain/ravine and from what he noticed, even if he had been doing his hardest to ignore all this similitudes with things of his painful past, it stayed always in the same place as the floor's appearance changed.

But Vin wasn't sure if he would be able to say it out loud as that would only feel like confirming that this dungeon seemed to be connected to his past somehow.

"Maybe I can ask one of the a-plants!" Zsck says, quickly correcting himself when he was about to say animals as Duke still didn't know the truth about his cards

"That sounds like a good idea" Duke says with Mira nodding in agreement

Relief flooded Vin's body at this as he let Zack call a few birds to ask for that place which they were guided to a few minutes later.

After getting their camp set, Vin prepared their food and once they had eaten, they chose to explore a bit more after making sure their camp stayed in the same place while the floor changed its appearance.

.

"Hmm, I'm curious about what could be the boss of this floor" Mira hums as she and Duke walk in front of Vin and Zack

"Probably something that is connected to how this floor can change" Duke says

"Maybe a Dokkaebi?" Zack offers

"They would target everyone who entered as they are considered playful" Vin points out

"True" Mira agrees but she had to admit that Zack's guess wasn't a bad one

"Maybe instead of changing its appearance or illusions, it could be connected to controlling the earth and plants?" Duke says and he looks back at Zack

"...Well, the plants of this place do feel different then the others but I can't be sure" Zack admits

"We will have to find out later" Vin sighs and the others nod in agreement

"I will go hunt for our dinner" Duke offers as they are almost back to where they set their camp

"I will accompany you" Mira says while the other two nod at them and they take a different route to find a monster for their dinner

"Are you alright?" Zack asks Vin

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Vin answers as he tries to think if he had done something that obviously showed his discomfort

"You seem pretty tense" Zack pinpoints which Vin realizes his true as he forces his muscles to relax

"It's because if not knowing what is the boss of this floor" Vin throws as this is the most believable excuse at the moment

"Hmm, okay" Zsck says but Vin as the feeling that he doesn't believe him but thankfully Zack does not push him to talk

.

Zack does not believe Vin but he decides that the best option is to not push Vin and let him talk when he feels ready.

Besides, he wanted to try and understand why most plants in this floor felt so different and if it is somehow connected to who is the boss of this floor.

The plants didn't feel as alive as they did outside the dungeon and the other two floors but it also didn't feel like they were having their energy absorbed to feel like that.

'Maybe they don't feel so alive because of the constante change in the floor?' Zack thinks but it still doesn't feel like that is the right answer 'A monster or being that can change a places' appearance but mute down how alive things feel...could it be a kumiho? No, if it was one then any player who entered this place would have died...unless she is somewhat feeding off of the taelchum dancers' god? They follow those with a greed for power more often than not and I think they are good with illusions like kitsunes...' Zack thinks as he tries to feel all animals, because kumiho despite everything are foxes, and feels one which seems powerful like the monsters but doesn't feel like a monster

"Something wrong, Zack?" Mira asks as she arrives with Duke and their catch to see Zack looking nowhere shocked

"I think I have an idea of what is the boss of this floor" Zack says and the other three look at him both surprised he got it so fast but also curious to hear what he had to say

Chapter Text

“A kumiho?” Duke says after Zack told them his idea

“I know that it doesn't seem like it makes sense but somethings feel like illusions and while it doesn't make sense people surviving this floor because of how kumiho’s feed on people, they could be given specific targets or just feed on those who happen to appear in front of her” Zack explains and the other three look thoughtful at that

“Maybe…but how do we know we won't be affected by her illusions if we encounter her or how to kill her?” Mira asks but Zack shrugs as he doesn't remember how Kumiho's died in the tales he heard and how to fight a powerful illusion

“I could ask someone?” Duke offers

“What do you mean?” Vin asks confused

“My other class” Duke reminds them

“The one that lets you communicate with others even in another floors?” Zack asks and Duke nods

“I'm sure someone must be from a class with strong illusion powers or remember how Kumihos were killed” Duke says

“That sounds like a good idea” Mira syas with the other two nodding in agreement

“We should stay close and just leave to hunt for now” Vin says since as rhey don't have a confirmation of the boss being a kumiho and how to kill it, they should keep it safe for now

It was two days later that Duke received the information they had requested for and gathered by the fire pit after eating a dinosaur looking but that tastes like a pork monster.

“So, what did they say?” Vin asks

“They say there isn't much information on how to kill a kumiho but they found that their counterparts die by being beheaded, if we destroy their heart or by starving them so they assume the same would work on a kumiho” Duke informs them “They also said that there are tales where the kumiho takes the form of woman they killed or might be important to the ones they want to eat so we should find a code word or something in case it tries to take Mira’s form to get to us” he adds

“Can they access people's memories when they take their form?” Mira asks

“I'm not sure, one tale had a kumiho take the form of an old lady and then go to her family but someone warned them about it being the kumiho and not the old lady” Duke answers and Mira makes a face at that since either the kumiho had followed the old lady before and knew the way to her house or she got the old lady’s memories

“Are their scent for any animal, creature and monster still the same no matter their form?” Vin is the one to ask as he had  a pretty good nose now thanks to his second card and for the others, they could try and adopt two monsters with a good sense of smell as their pets to always be beside Duke and Zack until they find the kumiho

“Yes, there is a story about that” Duke confirms

“So we just need to get a pet” Zack concludes and Duke nods at that

“Let’s have dinner and rest so tomorrow we can go look for a monster similar to a canine we can try to tame to help us” Mira says and with that, Vin goes to make their dinner with Duke getting the plates and the rest ready while Mira and Zack leave because Mira needed to ‘relieve herself’(meaning, Zack chest was hurting so he needed to milk himself again) so they a few minutes later were talking about nothing in concrete while they enjoyed how this monster they caught tasted like pork

.

.

.

The next day, Vin and Zack went to look for small monsters or baby monsters they could tame to help them.

At first Zack was only looking to see if this floor also had the pink pandas he and Mira wanted as a pet but it only lasted a few minutes as he wasn’t sure if pandas would have a good enough sense of smell to notice a kumiho or even care if one was present.

“What type of monster should we look for?” Zack asks as he looks around

“Maybe something like those wolf-like monsters we fought before we entered the dungeon?” Vin asks

“Hmm, so basically a monster that resembles a canine?” Zack says

“Or a feline, both have amazing senses of smell” Vin comments and Zack hums at that

As they looked around, the floor’s appearance changed once more which would have ruined their hunt if they hadn’t only found plant-like monsters or a few that they couldn’t point out what animal it reminded of.

It was as Vin was ready to give up since he wasn’t very patient when he noticed two small canine shadows hiding behind a bush.

“Hey, what is that?” Vin asks Zack who looks towards the two shadows that Vin was pointing at

“Let’s see” Zack says and approaches the bush only to be ‘attacked’ by a small coyote-like monster that seemed more like a baby “Awww, sorry little one but you aren’t big or strong enough to hurt me” he says easily catching him and not minding it biting his arm

“...Doesn’t it hurt?” Vin asks in disbelief at Zack’s reaction

“This is like any dog or cat abandoned who attack anyone who approach them as they don’t know if they are going to hurt them or not” Zack points out and Vin simply sighs “Anyways, I think this little one was trying to protect his sister” he adds as he carefully grabs the other coyote-like monster

“So…are we taking them?” Vin simply asks since coyotes had good sense of smell and Zack could use his ability to calm them and make them accepting of the group of four

“Yep, let me just calm them and heal my hand before we go back to Duke and Mira” Zack says and Vin simply nods

A few minutes later they were finally arriving at their camp.

“You guys are back!” Mira says once she notices them

“And brought someone with you” Duke adds as he notices the two babies in Zack’s arms

“Yep” Vin says sitting beside them while Zack carefully put the two coyote-like monsters in the middle of them

“These are Aqua and Misty” Zack says pointing first to the male monster and then to the female one

“Those are such adorable names!” Mira exclaims as he lets them smell her hands before she pets them

“Why those names?” Duke asks curious, not having expected that the monster/animal they caught to help them would actually be named as a true pet

“We discovered that Aqua has water based attacks and Misty as mist based attacks” Vin answers in place of Zack “It seems that once you adopt a monster or animal, you are given information about them and what powers they have if they are a monster” he adds and Duke nods at that before notting the information Vin just gave him somewhere to inform others about later

“Now, we just need to look for the kumiho and warn any player we see about her” Mira says as she puts Aqua in her lap just as Misty falls asleep at Vin’s feet

“I think that the hardest part will be finding the kumiho as if they are like their counterparts then they enjoy mischief and playing games with people a lot” Zack sighs with the other three nodding their heads in agreement with what he said