Zombie Queen transmigration into a book-Chapter 132: What kind of sick joke is this?

As they got closer to the stone door, a force pulled them in, and they vanished.

Eva felt the familiar dizziness and the urge to vomit, and immediately knew they had been teleported. To confirm her suspicions, the cool, damp air brushed against her face. When she opened her eyes, she saw the flickering, crystal-dim light and the rocky, moss-covered wall of a dungeon.

’Damn, that was an entrance to the dungeon.’ Those words flashed in her mind, and then she realized she was alone; Ethan and Aaron were nowhere to be seen, which left Eva stunned.

"What kind of sick joke is this? (⁠ﾉ⁠≧⁠∇⁠≦⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠ ⁠ﾐ⁠ ⁠┻⁠━⁠┻ Do you expect me to fight monsters alone!" Eva’s shout startled Foxy, and it gave its master a confused look.

A calm wind blew through the hallway, and Eva shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. She muttered aloud, "Please go easy on me, dungeon kun, send easy and killable monsters my way, and I’ll forgive you for separating me from the others."

Obviously, she didn’t get any response except for the air, which seemed to grow colder as she moved through the hallways.

Luckily, the dungeon hasn’t spawned any monsters, giving Eva the chance to explore her surroundings. She stepped out of the tunnel-like hallway and into a wide clearing.

Blue crystals lined the walls like frozen shards of ice. A rough stone bridge began at the entrance where she stood, stretching across to the other side. Below, everything was swallowed by darkness, hinting at the mysterious and unfathomable depths beneath.

Eva hugged Foxy close as she took in the sight of the clearing before stepping toward the bridge. Curiosity got the better of her, and she glanced down into the dark depths below, even kicking a small stone over the edge to gauge how far it would fall.

But what she heard was endless silence. "Must be deep, let’s hope we cross the bridge without something popping out." She muttered to Foxy, who whined in response as they started crossing the bridge.

You know what they say about jinxing yourself; it always happens, as one might expect. As soon as Eva was deep into the bridge, she heard the sounds of beating wings coming from below. Without pausing to investigate, she broke into a run, already having a bad feeling about the sound.

Eva felt the dungeon was playing a cruel joke on her; of all places for a monster to attack, it was when she was crossing a damn bridge with an unknown depth below.

"F*ck!" Eva swore. From the corner of her eye, she saw a winged monster, half its body covered in bones, with a mouth shaped like a long, sharp beak.

Countless monsters like it burst out of the depths and encircled her, forcing Eva to stop in her tracks—there was no way to escape except by facing the monsters.

"Gaw!!!" They let out a piercing scream that shook the entire area; tiny rocks slid down the walls, the bridge beneath her feet trembled, and her heart nearly leapt out of her chest.

Eva peeked into the darkness below and swallowed hard before glancing at Foxy. It seemed to understand her unspoken thought and immediately transformed into its massive form, towering over her.

Foxy’s six tails flared open behind it, each shimmering with energy. Without waiting for Eva’s command, it lashed out, its tails surging forward to strike the nearest monsters.

"Boom!" The sound echoed throughout their surroundings, shockwaves spreading out as six monsters tumbled to the ground.

Eva didn’t give them a chance to recover and quickly pierced their necks—a gold hue floated out of the monsters and entered Eva.

She didn’t have time to feel relieved—countless monsters still swarmed in the sky, and she couldn’t risk using the same energy blast she’d unleashed on the scorpions. One wrong move could shatter the bridge and take her down with them.

"Foxy, left!" Eva yelled as she dodged the monster’s sharp claws.

Foxy swung its long tail to the left, taking down some monsters, which Eva finished off.

The battle raged on, sweat clinging to her skin as she flipped onto the back of a monster. It let out a piercing shriek and twisted wildly in the air, trying to throw her off.

She held on and stabbed her dagger into its neck, not before jumping for the monster flying closer to the bridge.

Her heartbeat quickened in her chest during her risky midair maneuver, and she began wishing for her brother’s crow.

The wind rushed to her face as her hair floated wildly at her back. She closed in on the monster she’d been aiming for and drove her dagger into its back, using it as an anchor to steady herself midair.

The monster noticed the human on its body and started to thrash around. Eva held on for her life, her knuckles turning red from the force of gripping the dagger as she tried to climb over its body while it thrashed around.

"Stay still!" Eva shouted in anger, but the monster took it as a provocation, slammed its head against a wall, and flew far from Eva’s goal, the bridge.

Eva’s eyes widened in fear as the monster scraped itself against the wall, trying to crush her off its back. Her gaze darted frantically, sweat dripping down her face as she searched for the nearest monster to leap onto—if she didn’t move soon, she’d be dead.

Her eyes locked on the monster hovering towards the left, and she jumped down instantly. Just in time, as the monster she had been on a moment ago scraped its bone-covered body fully against the wall.

Eva wasn’t that lucky. She missed her chance to grab a firm hold on the monster, and her fingers slipped from its body, sending her plummeting into the darkness below. Foxy caught the movement from the corner of its eye and leapt after her.

⸙⸙⸙⸙

In another part of the dungeon, the walls were streaked with black blood, and torn monster limbs lay scattered around Aaron, who stood in the center.

Aaron frowned, still unable to feel the warmth from the shell. He had taken it out as soon as he separated from Eva, but it stayed unresponsive—no warmth, indicating that the person he was searching for was not nearby.

He hoped she was alright, and Ethan was with her; no matter how much he denied it, she was safer with Ethan than alone.

With a worried heart, he moved toward the brown wooden chest at the far edge—this was the drop, the dungeon’s reward for killing the monster here.

Crouching down, he opened the chest and was surprised to see herbs of various colors and shapes, along with some monster cores and a silver short sword, its sharp edge gleaming against the wall.

"Since when do the dungeons give weapons?" Aaron asked aloud, confused.

He tentatively reached for it and hummed in surprise at its light weight—he wasn’t much of a weapon person; he preferred using his shadow, so he planned to give Eva this sword.

It was bigger, sharper, and far superior to her daggers. To test his theory, he swung the sword against the wall—and watched in surprise as a clean line appeared. Moving closer, he traced it with his fingers, feeling the depth of the cut, smooth and precise, like butter sliced by a blade.

He was delighted with the sword and quickly stashed it in his space ring—he couldn’t wait to give it to Eva.

With that thought, he transferred the rest of the chest’s contents into his ring and left the area with his Crow.

Meanwhile, Ethan hadn’t faced a single monster since entering, but he had no time to dwell on his strange situation. His mind was consumed with worry and fear for Eva—he could only hope she, too, hadn’t encountered any monsters.

Wolfy dashed through the rocky stairs with Ethan on its back. The maze-like steps all around them made Ethan doubt if they had truly left the area. For now, he had to set aside his worries and focus on escaping first.