“Congratulations! You have successfully completed the Gauntlet and defeated Andrew the Abomination immediately afterwards. Your team has received +20 Exp Packs, +750 Arcane Favor and +125 Gold.” Since the difficulty of the second Boss was significantly higher than the first, it made sense that they were rewarded more generously as well.

Surprisingly though, after the cat-girl died, she actually respawned in the center of the arena, rather than within Michael’s Companion-storage. He also didn’t receive any damage or pain from the process, since it was one of the Dungeon’s effects.

A deep and long sigh reverberated throughout the room, “Damn it, now I have that stupid song stuck in my head… Ugh, anyway, you guys should probably take the rest of the day off. I wanna say ‘good-job,’ but now I have to go find a new ‘Princess Carrabelle’. The original actor quit a thousand years ago, and I didn’t really expect anyone to make it this far again. Anyway, even if you wanted to keep going, the last stage of the Dungeon needs at least a few days of prep-time. You don’t need to wait in that dingy arena though… Karian, take them to the guest-room for me.”

Before they could even distribute the loot, the seven adventurers were suddenly teleported out of the coliseum and into a hotel suite. All of them were still within Carrabelle Plains, but no longer inside of the Dungeon.

There were massive windows on the northern side of the bedroom, and outside, it was possible to see an expansive city. It was daytime, and aside from Michael, everyone else was confused by the strange structures all around them.

Dozens of skyscrapers were spread out around them, but they were certainly at a relatively high altitude compared to the others. When he looked at the zone map, he noticed that they were in the very center.

Carrabelle City was far to the northeast, and he had actually walked within a few miles of that surprisingly advanced metropolis before. Alice and Inari were both unconscious and lying on the floor, causing it to become rather filthy.

Everyone was covered in blood, grime and dust, but they weren’t exactly expecting to be randomly teleported into such a nice apartment. Suddenly, a slightly familiar figure opened the door and walked inside of the room.

“Karian the Gatekeeper, Level-20 Ancient Minotaur Reaver, Rank-D, Boss.” His identification was the same, but he was only one third of his normal height and size. He was also wearing a checkered t-shirt and baggy blue-jeans.

He ‘smiled’ at them, “Did you guys miss me? Heh-heh, welcome to the ‘real’ capital of this whole zone: ‘J-Town.’ Yeah, I know, the boss is a little narcissistic, but he’s a pretty cool dude. Johnny obviously designed and created this city as sort of ‘employee-housing’ at first, but it kind of turned into something ridiculous, huh? Makes me sigh when I think back to how I used to live on a farm, ages ago… I was literally a bull. So anyway, if ya need anything, let me know… since I’ve really got nothing better to do. Ah, yeah, the kid needs a new set of clothes, and I’m assuming you want to buy some new revolvers, right?”

Michael grumbled “Fuck my life~, Jasmine, next time you wanna commit suicide, please store your guns first… Shit, there goes another fifty gold. Hmmm, Elina, take the little brat into the bathroom. The two of you can clean up first… I can just use my ‘Aegis of Light’, and Sarah has her ‘Devouring Shadow’. Talia has something like that too, but her clothes are gonna have to be washed anyway. I’ll take care of the dog and dragon-girl. Before anything else though, there’s two pieces of loot~!”

Both items were in his inventory, and he couldn’t ‘Scan’ them himself, but it wasn’t very difficult to tell who they would go to. “Fiery Robe of the Ancient Sorceress: +18 Defense Rating, +30 Intelligence, +20 Wisdom. Reduces the cost of Fire spells by 25%. Epic Quality, requires level-20 to wear.” The moment that the stats were revealed by Talia, he immediately made it Soulbound to the snoring dragoness.

Strangely enough, the moment that he did so, it rapidly changed size, until it was large enough to fit on that orange-scaled woman. The fabric it was made out of was similar to silk, and if he wasn’t wearing gauntlets, Michael’s hands would have actually been burned by simply touching the crimson gown.

He bent over and placed his index finger on the girl’s draconic snout, and sent the item directly into her first inventory slot. As for the other piece of equipment, he tossed it to the Huntress.

“Leather Jacket of the Ancient Archer: +30 Defense Rating, +20 Agility, +15 Dexterity, +5 Strength, +5 Vitality, +5 Endurance. Reduces the wearer’s damage taken from enemy projectiles by 50%. Soulbound to Talia Aeris Ramirez. Epic Quality, requires level-20 to wear.”

The name was fairly descriptive, and the Nephilim couldn’t help but complain “Aren’t all of these items from your Dungeon kinda… shitty? I mean, the stats are great and they can still transform a bit, but compared to the gear that the vendors sell, it all looks pretty pathetic.”

Karian sighed, “It’s up to the Dungeon Master to pick the loot-tables, and Johnny doesn’t think that the low-leveled, starter Dungeons should be giving out fancy gear to noobs. Well, the Legendaries are all pretty neat-looking, but everything else is mundane. On the positive side though, when you go around in normal towns, villages and cities, at least you wouldn’t stick out… Never mind, it’s impossible for any of you people, but most adventurers aren’t like you guys.”

Elina gasped, appearing extremely offended, and Talia muttered “I thought that this jacket and the boots were both rather stylish… Is there something wrong with my fashion sense?” The equipment wasn’t too flashy compared to Michael’s glowing armor, or Sarah’s transformable Shadowy Temptress set, but it could still pass as high-class brown leather. There was even a zipper on the jacket, which was certainly beyond the cultural and technological level of most Human civilizations.

Also, the stat-values of those Dungeon drops were equivalent to or higher than the Battleground gear. They did seem to have less complicated additional effects though.

Michael’s body began changing back into its neutral state rapidly, shrinking from two-meters, down to six-feet. The teeth, claws, talons and tail were the most painful part, but returning to ‘normal’, wasn’t as agonizing as activating the spell.

He also unequipped all of his gear, almost at the same exact time as Sarah, and was then engulfed in a blinding radiance. On the other hand, the little obsidian-skinned girl was surrounded by a thick, pitch-black fog.

Seeing that, Elina sighed, “Come on JJ, stop looking out the window… it’s time to take a bath~.”

“No~! I don’t wanna take a bath, nyah~! JJ hates baths~!” The naked Slimy Feline Dwarf was hissing and scratching at the Priestess, but was swiftly subdued by a tickle-attack.

There was a huge jacuzzi in the bathroom, along with a large shower, a relatively normal porcelain toilet, and a double-sink. Fluorescent lights illuminated everything, but the technology wasn’t magical.

The electricity to power everything was being created from mana, yet the various devices and furniture were all conventional. It wasn’t quite up to par with a Player-Home, but was still a lot better than staying in the Dungeon or camping outside. There was even a kitchen, with a fully stocked refrigerator and freezer. Across from the two beds, which were larger than king-sized, was a massive plasma-screen television.

Karian walked back towards the door, “Well, I’ll let you guys screw around in here… Umm, you aren’t really allowed to leave the room though. Actually, you wouldn’t even be authorized to enter the city under normal circumstances. This isn’t a rule created by Johnny, but something that Arcana herself decided. There are a lot of other places like this after all… They’re just really well hidden. Well, you ‘can’ leave, just use ‘Fast-Travel’ to return to this room afterwards or you could head straight to the Dungeon.”

After he left, Michael turned to Talia and complimented “That jacket is actually pretty sexy… If you got rid of the blouse and zipped it up halfway, it’d be even better, hehe~. Ah, speaking of which, I probably should have asked him for a new robe for this one… This one is completely ruined. Hell, her scaly tits and ass are just hanging out…”

Sarah finished cleaning her body and nonchalantly grabbed his erection, and led him towards the bed that was farthest from the window. Watching that, Talia blushed and scowled at the same time, while swiftly leaving the room and entering the kitchen.

Unlike the others, she hadn’t eaten anything all day, so she was literally starving. In the refrigerator, she managed to find a decent amount of fresh fruits and vegetables: There was even salad dressing.

Thus, after preparing the meal, she sat down at the relatively large kitchen table, alone, and began eating. From the bedroom came loud screaming and cursing, while in the bathroom, purring, meowing, and obnoxious moaning resounded.

Of course, there was also the sound of splashing and rushing water… from both rooms. Talia smiled wryly, gently caressing her leather jacket, “One day, I’m definitely going to find a kind and ‘normal’ gentleman, fall in love, have children… Just please Goddess, protect my chastity and sanity from these perverted lunatics until then!”