I paused and turned to look at her. “Here?”
“Of course, silly! Besides, there aren’t any monsters here.”
She was right. There weren’t even any traps. I did as she asked—putting my hands on her shoulders and drawing her toward me. I pressed my lips against hers and suddenly remembered something she’d said when we were younger. How she’d always wanted to be kissed in a dungeon.
“So,” I asked. “Did your dream finally come true?”
“Aha ha! You remembered? Yeah, it did. I’m so happy!”
This time, Emma was the one who kissed me. I wanted to take a break until my Dungeon Elevator skill had cooled down, so we took our time.
After we resumed our search, it wasn’t too long before we found the stairs down.
“There they are!” Emma cheered. “We made it!”
“Yeah. Hopefully there will be some clue about how to save my master on the next floor.”
My heart was pounding as we headed down the stairs. The air was so cold against my skin. As we reached the fifteenth floor, the space opened up, revealing gray walls and a large stone monument standing at the back. As we got closer, I realized it was a human figure, bound in chains. It all looked strangely familiar.
“Wait,” I said. “It can’t be…”
But it was. The chains were attached to Olivia.
“Master?!”
She didn’t respond. I couldn’t hear her usual telepathic chatter at all. Besides, this couldn’t be Olivia, right?! She was still up on the second floor.
“Hey, look at this,” Emma said.
She was looking at the monument. It had some words carved into the base.
“Release her without killing her, and the path shall open,” I read.
The whole monument was huge. Much bigger than it needed to be for so few words. At least the message was easy enough to understand: Release this thing that looked like Olivia and we could move on to the next floor. I figured the chains around the figure were Death Chains, but there was another set of thin, gold-colored chains wrapped around them. They were called the Chains of Creation and had an S-Grade skill called Duplicate. The figure’s abilities weren’t obscured either.
Name: Death Chain Olivia Copy
Level: 420
Skills: Get Creative; Editor; Bestow; Fireball; Fire Dragon Strike; Improved Fire Elemental Magic
Did that mean this figure was actually made from Death Chains? The copy had the same three god-like skills I’d inherited from Olivia, but only had three other skills besides those. That meant it couldn’t be my master after all. The real Olivia had dozens of other skills, and besides, her level was way higher. Had the dungeon somehow used the Chains of Creation to duplicate her and some of her abilities? Even if it wasn’t a perfect copy, it was still terrifyingly strong.
“Does it look exactly like her?” Emma asked.
“Yeah. But it’s not her. The dungeon must have found a way to make a duplicate of her. Or maybe she found a way to do it herself. This might explain why the real Olivia is in pain.”
“So should we release her? Looks like that’s the only way to advance.”
“I guess so. I mean, even if we have to fight her, we’d have to cut her free first.”
“Right,” Emma said. “Leave it to me!”
She fired off one Wind Slash after another, cutting the chains that bound Olivia’s double. The wind was sharp as a blade, and the chains crumbled to the floor like string.
“Nnnnnnngh…”
The double stretched like she was awakening from a long sleep. She looked identical to the real Olivia, but she could speak, move around, and open her eyes. It was weird hearing her actual voice. I didn’t know how to feel about it. I wanted the real Olivia to be able to move around like this.
“Are you the ones who set me free?” she asked. “Like, massive props to you. Li’l old Olivia couldn’t get herself out of those persnickety chains.”
Even her mannerisms were the same. So why did I feel so angry?
“The monument said that, if we released you, the path to the next floor would open,” Emma said. “Tell us where it is?”
“Sure!” said the double. “Least I can do, isn’t it?”
She waved her hand artlessly. Suddenly, I had a bad feeling about this. I grabbed Emma and threw her out of the way—just as a massive fireball struck the stone monument, pulverizing it to dust.
“Ah!” Emma cried. “That was close.”
The double shrugged. “Soz. Wasn’t trying to, like, attack you guys. See? Look there.”
The monument was gone. In its place, a narrow staircase led down into the dark. So that’s why the whole thing was so oversized.
“Going straight down?” asked the copy.
“Yeah,” Emma said. “Are you going to try to stop us?”
“Why would I do that?” asked the copy. “Li’l old Olivia here is much more interested in taking advantage of her newfound freedom, after all!”
That was it. I couldn’t hold my anger back any longer.
“Don’t pretend to be my master!” I shouted. “You know full well she’s still trapped in those Death Chains.”
“Awwww, you caught me? I’m, like, so shocked…psych!”
“If I defeat you, will it free her?”
“Beats me. But it sure would be fun to test out my powers.”
She was smiling at us, speaking slowly and calmly. The air was starting to turn cold. She was unquestionably strong, but she was an imperfect copy—so we had to have a chance, right?
I fired off a Stone Bullet that was small enough to be quick but large enough to do some serious damage.
Fwomp!
The fake Olivia jumped and kicked the stone up toward the ceiling.
Oh, dear.
“My turn!” she said brightly.
She summoned a dragon made of flames. Even from a distance, I could feel their heat. That had to be her Fire Dragon Strike skill.
She let out a yell, and the fire dragon shot forward. Both Emma and I managed to get out of the way, but the dragon turned around to chase me, almost as though it were alive. I managed to keep out of its way with side steps, but this guy just wouldn’t quit! How much longer was this spell going to last? Given that the fake Olivia had Improved Fire Elemental Magic…
I might be in trouble.
While I was running for my life, Emma turned to attack the double.
“Oh, lemme guess!” said Fake Olivia. “B-Grade or A-Grade Dual Wielding Daggers? You’re not even gonna touch li’l old Olivia with that!”
She dodged all of Emma’s attacks, waiting for an opening, and kicked her.
“Argh!”
Emma tumbled through the air as though she weighed nothing at all.
There was nothing we could do. She was too strong. We had to get out of here. I rushed over to help Emma up off the floor.
“Come on,” I said. “We’re retreating.”
I summoned my Dungeon Elevator and leaped into the hole with the fire dragon still right behind us, trying to give chase.