She awoke to the sound of flickering flame – a soothing orange warmth cast upon the undergrowth and her leather sleeping bag.
Her lupine eyes, brown like her tail, flickered to it. The sound of cracking wood and creaking insects like a blanket.
That is, of course, if the looming titan of a man wasn't right across from her, sitting on a tree, roots intact and all.
'Did… Did he rip a tree out of the ground with the roots?!'
Insanity, how could that be true? But then again, what couldn't be true in this clown show she found herself in.
Her eyes were wide open now, but the giant refused to move. He was dressed like a knight of sorts, maybe he was an NPC? She had yet to meet any, so he might be waiting for her to initiate an interaction.
"...Hi?" She asked, as softly as her normally brash voice would allow.
Maximus, who was completely lost staring at the fire as if hypnotized, suddenly snapped out of his trance.
He froze up for a second, trying to remember any of the various NPC prompts during dialogue.
None came to mind.
"...Skip dialogue?"
The woman blinked.
Maximus blinked.
"You're a player?!" They both shouted at the same time, one calmer than the other, and the woman jumped to her feet in excitement.
Normally, her tail wagging would embarrass her, not this time.
"Holy shit bro?! I cannot believe it! My man!" She shouted in glee, reaching out a hand to dap Maximus up before promptly realizing his hand was the size of her skull.
"Oh uh… Phew… Sorry, I just got excited is all."
Maximus quietly looked at her wagging tail, and then looked into her brown eyes.
"...I could tell."
The girl looked at her tail and blushed furiously, grabbing it with practiced ease.
'Bet she has to do that often.'
Maximus was likely spot on, but only time would tell.
She sat down, on the leather sleeping bag she had awoken in, and realized it must belong to Maximus.
"Oh. Right, the Minotaur! Did it chase you?"
Maximus gave a confused look, so she clarified, "I mean, I assume you rescued me - thanks for that by the way – So you must have grabbed me and kept running right?"
Silence descended, only broken by the cracking of wood.
"...No? I put it down. Killed it."
"Y-You did?"
Maximus suppressed the urge to smirk at the way her tail froze, "Yes. I've been running around trying to find other people for ages, and when I finally find someone, some deranged cow thinks it can kill them? No."
He crossed his arms and leaned forward, red eye glowing subtly as the flame turned a deeper shade of crimson, the furry realizing what kind of power the man before her must wield.
He killed a Minotaur, and he didn't look particularly damaged, not to mention she was healed now…
A veteran player, no doubt. She gulped and leaned back, something inside her instinctively ready to drop and run.
Maximus finally spoke.
"What's your name by the way? Mine is Maximus… Tag works fine too"
"…Spencer, nice to uh… Meet you, and thanks for the sleeping bag and all."
"It's fine. You should stick by me, its safer." Maximus quietly huffed, thinking about Charice, was he safe without him there to shield him from the world?
'I need to have faith.'
And as he thought to himself so, something continued its tenuous slumber.
Steadily, the fire's flickered continued, until the night passed, and now,they were continuing Maximus' search for others.
Spencer looked far more relaxed than ever before, and she sure felt that way too. After all, what kind of moron would try to hurt her when an over-leveled giant stood by her side?
"Fufufu…" She chuckled darkly, earning Maximus' glance.
"What is it?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
Her chuckle came to an end as she turned to him, doing her best imitation of a cute anime girl, twirling her thumbs, swaying on her feet…
The entire exaggerated spectacle for him to cringe at.
"Maximus-kun… C-Could we maybe go and… L-Level up together?"
'Hehehe, I fucking love being cringy!'
How charming of you, Spencer.
"…Mein Gott, what kind of incel do you think I am?" He groaned, casually pushed Spencer a little and felt glad he only made her stumble, not sending her through the continental plates.
Maximus continued, "Well, to be fair, I don't think any EXP I might be getting matters anyways so… I can let you have the last hit."
Spencer pumped her fist in joy, tail flickering in delight.
"Yes! Thanks bro, I can finally grind once again!"
Maximus paused, realizing something.
"People can level up still?" He asked, and Spencer turned to him with a confused, mildly cocky expression.
"Yeah? Duh? I've gotten faster than since I transferred here, the feeling is hard to describe but…" She shrugged, "I dunno, just kill things until you feel something I guess?"
The woods swayed softly as Maximus nodded, pink leaves fluttering to the earthen floor.
"Right, I think I'm good though. The monsters here are too weak for me anyway. Speaking of which, are the dungeon clear requirements known? Unless that part of the game changed in the past few years..."
Spencer went "Hum hum hum…" as she tapped her cheek thoughtfully, "Nah, the system is the same but… I think this dungeon was a survival then clear type? It was originally supposed to be easily beaten, but the timer glitched…"
Maximus took an eager step to Spencer, air shoved forth as he did so. "How much longer?"
"Huh? Eh… Ah, well, I think its like a couple… days? Its kinda hard to tell the time when… You know…"
She pointed to the sky, or rather, where the sky should be. Instead, there was a thick latex-like layer of deep black hues, the occasional flicker of red, blue, and gray shuddering through.
Maximus had never looked at it before, so it was a strange sight.
"...No sense of time then. Okay, fine. We slept, walked, and I ran around a lot beforehand…" He trailed off, doing quiet math to try and figure everything out.
"...Maybe a day left then." He said, pushing a gloved fist into his open palm, cracking his knuckles in anticipation. Finally – the time would be nigh to leave this prison.
"Maybe man, I can't be sure." It was then a light flickered behind Spencer's lupine eyes, wolf ears standing at attention and tail freezing.
'My friend has a watch… Had. He had a watch Spencer.'
But going back to that sight, even if they could find it, to loot the corpses of those she once ate with… Her stomach swelled at the thought, mind numbed in turn.
Spencer grew silent after that.