[NO ONE P.O.V]

 

As soon as the gang reached the castle’s underground entrance, they encountered three different paths. But the question was… which route to take? As the Oracle told them that there were 3 crystals, it meant that each path would lead them to one crystal. Since time was short, the gang divided in three groups as each one of them took a different way and promised to meet back at the castle’s lobby. Wishing each other the best of luck, everyone marched to their own destiny…

 

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* Dungeon

The gunner and the warrior strolled carefully down the wide and dark dungeon. The scenario was something typical from an epic movie. Although the place was really dark, they could see some torches at the end. With their weapons ready, they kept their guard up. The place looked abandoned; but Jesse and Tiffany knew very well that Zen likes to surprise them.  Minutes later, they were reaching the end of the dungeon when they saw a familiar item shining from some kind of altar. They recognized the object as Tiffany spoke loudly in relief:

 

"Look, Jessi! It’s the crystal that Hyori told us! Now, we just need to destroy it!”

 

“Tiffany, wait! Don’t!”

 

Jesse quickly snapped as he reached Tiffany’s wrist instantaneously; she frowned in confusion and asked, puzzled:

 

“What’s wrong, Jessie?”

 

He gingerly removed his grasp and asked earnestly, not removing his eyes from her:

 

“Steph, do you really think that Zen would leave thiscrystal unprotected? Of course not, this surely is a trap!”

 

“But what are we going to do? We have to destroy that thing!” She answered back into a hopeless tone. After a moment, he sighed and pulled his gun from his holster. Then, he passed by her and grabbed her hand gently. Not looking back, he whispered cautiously:

 

“You are right. But I go first, and you stay behind me. Don’t let go of my hand, okay?”

 

Tiffany only nodded as she let Jessi lead the way. Maybe the words died on her lips when she felt her hand on his; he still had this huge effect on her. Her cheeks blushed considerably as she kept her head down in shyness, still admiring his cool demeanor with her heart making loud thump-thumps. The gunner looked around in suspicion as the dungeon was deadly silent. He aimed his gun at the large crystal on the altar, getting ready to shoot. When he was about to pull the trigger, he froze when Tiffany squeezed his hand and yelled in horror:

 

“JESSIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! LOOK OUT!”

 

In a blink of an eye, he had himself thrown onto the ground, pulling Tiffany along. It was so fast that he only had time to see two slimy tails. He recovered quickly when Tiffany yelled again in despair:

 

“JESSIE! THE STING!”

 

Jesse looked to his side and gasped. Thinking quickly, he rolled with Tiffany on the ground when the long stings aimed to slash their bodies. He immediately pulled the warrior from the ground while they ran behind some tall pillars. Their eyes scanned around. Seeing that the coast was clear, Jesse turned to Tiffany and asked gingerly, while inspecting her body:

 

“Are you all right?! Any injuries?!”

 

 “I’m fine, Jessie.”

 

She answered softly while she held his frenetic hand, trying to calm the worried boy, yet touched by his care. However, their moment ended when they heard the monster charging towards them. Jesse widened his eyes and grabbed Tiffany’s hand again, shouting:

 

“RUN! Let’s go the altar and destroy the crystal!”

 

However, when they looked behind them, the monster had disappeared again. Yet, once they looked forward, Tiffany’s blood was drained from her body and the torches finally revealed their enemy… a giant insect. Her eyes and mouth widened in terror when the monster opened his large mouth.

 

* Enemy # 1

When the monster roared, Tiffany screamed in despair and started to run like a madwoman:

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~~~~~”

 

“TIFFANY, WAIT! DON’T RUN! YOU ARE GOING TO ATTRACT THE MONSTER!”

 

Jesse yelled hopelessly, trying to reach out to grab her but it was of no use since the underground was dark. Trying to get the monster’s attention, he shot at the insect, yelling:

 

“Hey, you! Your nasty thing! Come and get a piece of me! Leave her alone!”

 

He kept running , but gasped after seeing the giant insect was charging towards him. Despite the number of times he shot at the monster, it continued charging. Apparently, his bullets weren’t making any effect.

 

“Damn it! I must think of something! Hmm, I know!”

 

Jesse used his bullets to shoot at a sharp stone at the dungeon’s ceiling. His shot was successful as the big rock fell onto the monster’s eyes, blinding it that very second. Now, he used this chance to run to find Tiffany and a shelter. The latter still was running like mad, trying to escape from the monster’s sight. Her legs were wobbly due to fatigue as she walked cautiously by the dungeon’s cracking walls. However, her body froze when she saw the monster right before her, just a few meters away. In terror, she was about to yell in despair when out of sudden, something pulled her to small corner behind the wall.

 

“Hmmphphmm!”

 

“Calm down! It’s me!”

 

The warrior momentarily sighed in relief when she saw Jesse before her with his hand on , blocking her scream. He looked at her softly and asked in a whisper:

 

“I’ll remove my hand, but you have to promise that you won’t scream, okay?”

 

Hesitantly, she nodded while her breathing got slow. Once he removed his hands from her, she wrapped her arms around him and sobbed, clearly in shock:

 

“Oh my God, Jessie! You are fine! Jesus Christ! You scared me! I thought that it wa---wahhhh! Why it has to be an insect!? From all monsters! Yikes! Disgusting!!!”

 

“Keep your voice low, I blinded that thing, but still it can hear us!”

 

Jesse whispered in a refrained tone while looking around at their surroundings through the crack. However, when Tiffany was about to complain about the disgusting monster again, her eyes widened again when she felt something on her back, like a hot breath. Once she turns around, her body froze when she saw the monster’s long tongue touching the walls to find them. She looked back to Jesse with her double – sized eyes as he mouthed carefully:

 

“Don’t scream.” She shook her head and whimpering in agony:

 

“J-Jess, I – I don’t t-think I w-will hold a-any longer…”

 

The gunner saw her despair due to her pale face, shaking body and trembling lips. She clamped and eyes, but he knew  that she would explode soon. When she was about to scream, something pulled her to a tight and warm grasp. At the last second, Jesse wrapped his arms around her and kissed her lips chastely to calm her. When he was young, his mother told him that kisses always made people better or calm, and she was right. Carefully, he eliminated the gap between them, giving a deep and breathtaking kiss on her trembling lips. 

 

Tiffany, on other hand, whose eyes widened due his bold move, let herself blush madly while her heart thumped wildly. Her shaking body stopped moving as her arms dropped immediately at her sides due his touch. Slowly, she let her eyelids drop as he cupped her face tenderly, deepening the kiss. When they were about to get more passionate, Jesse pulled back reluctantly once he realized that the monster had left. Once he looked to dazzled girl, he stifled a laugher at her dumbfounded form. Bit a bit, the flabbergasted girl fluttered her eyes open, disappointed that the kiss was brief. When she was about to scold the gunner, the latter grinned in love as he caressed her cheek gently:

 

“Don’t be mad at me, I was trying to make you calm… so, it worked?”

 

Redder than a tomato, the warrior dipped her head down in embarrassment while stuttering:

 

“Ye-yeah… but… you own me one after we end this.”

 

“As you wish, I’ll be looking forward to it,” He said into a seductive tone while winking at her. Before they could lose themselves in their moment, he turned around and gave a light squeeze on her right hand, saying:

 

“I’ll go out to see if that thing went away.”

 

“What?! No! What if something happens to you?!” Tiffany whispered harshly while holding his hand, refusing to let go. So, he sighed and cupped he face gently again:

 

“Don’t worry, I can hit the monster while I am far. We just need a diversion so you can destroy the crystal, okay?”

 

“But-“

 

“Nah ah, missy. You know I am right, now, at my sign, you run to the altar and slash that crystal.”

 

Before she could even complain, he pulled her in for a tight hug and kissed her forehead, whispering that he will return. He sprinted back into the wide dungeon hurriedly, yelling:

 

“Hey, where are you big roach?! Come and face me!”

 

When the monster ran to his encounter, Jesse made a signal and Tiffany hesitantly rushed to the altar. He kept shooting at the monster. Tiffany’s heart stopped when she heard Jesse’s grunt and the monster’s roar. Looking around quickly, her blood froze to see that the monster pushed Jesse violently against a pillar, creating a huge crack. He stood up with some difficulty and a deep cut was formed on his forehead. Deeply worried, she yelled at him in horror:

 

“JESSIE!”

 

“TIFFANY, GO! I’ll hold this thing! Arghh…”

 

Even before finishing his words, the monster squashed him against the wall. Not giving up, he kept shooting at the monster’s head, but nothing happened. Jesse kept yelling at Tiffany to leave, but she refused. So, taken by a huge courage, Tiffany’s bracelet started to shine into a pink light that brightened the entire dungeon. Out of sudden, her ultimate weapon was ready.

 

* Tiffany ultimate weapon

Holding her swords and shield tightly, Tiffany marched towards the monster, while gritting her teeth angrily. No one hurts her Jessi! Bravely, she shouted at the monster:

“Hey you! You better let my Jessie go or else be toasted!”

 

“Tiffany, get out of here!”

 

Jesse said in despair, flailing himself to be free. Still, she walked to the monster, which finally dropped the gunner on the floor and charged towards Tiffany instead. With a cocky smile, she added loudly:

 

“Now that I have your attention… YAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

 

“TIFFANYYYY!!!”

 

Jesse could only watch apprehensively as the warrior ran towards the monster. When the latter was about to swallow her, she slid under him with her flaming sword ripping the monster’s tummy from the neck to the tail. Once she rolled around, the monster already turned into a stone statue that disintegrated at the cool wind, disappearing entirely. Not wasting time, she charged against the shining crystal and slashed the object with one move. The crystal shattered into million off pieces as she felt the entire place shaking, but it returned to normal again. Once she brushed the dust of her clothes, she looked around and grinned to see an agape Jessie. The latter literally swallowed his drool at the sight of this ultimate and y Amazon walking towards him while swaying her hips seductively.

 

Now, before him, she tilted her head to the side cutely and eye-smiled at his stupefied form. Carefully, she closed his hanged open mouth with her hand while adding nonchalantly:

 

“Did I leave you dumbfounded?”

 

“Gosh, woman… You were amazing…”

 

She looked down, blushing at his compliment. Quickly, she shot her head up when she remembered something. Now, Jesse stared at her quizzically due to her unreadable expression:

 

“Steph, what’s wro--!!”

 

His sentence was interrupted when a pair of warm and plump lips engulfed his own into a fiery kiss. When he was about to return the kiss, Tiffany pulled away quickly while speaking in a teasing tone along with a mischievous smirk, though her face was as flustered as Jessi’s:

 

“This is for you kissing me without my permission. And this…”

 

Her expression softened as she cupped his face to kiss his lips tenderly. Their hearts thumped madly as he embraced her caringly and her hands caressed his cheeks gently. Once she pulled, her face showed concern as she used her tissue to clean the blood of his forehead. He watched her lovingly as she placed her forehead on his, whispering:

 

“Next time, don’t go without me. You promise? ”

 

He smiled genuinely as he brushed her bangs and kissed her lips softly, saying:

 

“I promise… now, let’s go… our friends need us.”

 

"Right! Let’s go, Jessie!”

 

Their hands intertwined as they exchanged a lovingly smile. Together, they marched towards the dungeon’s exit to join with their friends.

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The first quartet went to the rest to destroy another crystal. Sunny, TaeYeon, HyoYeon and EunHyuk rushed to the dark aisle where they encountered an unexpected scene. The route had led them to the castle’s low prisons. They could see many cells, but they were all completely empty; actually occupied by dozen of skeletons. Sunny and Hyoyeon sighed in sorrow after realizing how many lives Zen has destroyed. Taeyeon and EunHyuk gulped at the pile of bones present at every corner. Out of sudden, Eunhyuk said seriously while raising his sword:

 

“Let’s go, the crystal must be nearby!”

 

They kept walking; trying to keep focus, but scene was too dreadful. Soon, they spotted a crystal hovering atop an altar. Before going forward, the half gang looked at each other in suspicion knowing that something was very odd. TaeYeon raised his bow and aimed at the crystal. Yet, when he was about to launch his arrow, he heard a sound like chains. The quartet looked around and down the corner, a pair of angry and yellow pupils glared at them. Sunny looked in horror when the giant troll broke his chains and charged towards TaeYeon:

 

* Enemy # 2

“TAEEEEEEEE!”

 

The latter was so shocked that he couldn’t move, however, when the troll’s trunk was about to smash him, he was abruptly pulled by something. When he shook his head to recover himself, Hyoyeon looked down at him and spoke quickly:

“No need to thank, but woahhhhhhhh! Look out!” *SMASH*

 

Hyoyeon pushed Taeyeon rapidly so they managed to avoid the monster’s attack. EunHyuk had drawn his sword in anger while fac