I've Turned Into A Fox Girl?

Now motivated to grow stronger and beat Klaus, the first step was to level up. Having a tier 8 dungeon in front of them would allow them to speed level through tier 6. With Himeko's help, their combined strength should suffice to face the monsters of this dungeon.

It was a scary feat facing off monsters 2 tiers above you, almost as if each mob was a mini-boss. Still, as long as they were able to single out the enemies it shouldn't be too difficult for them.

"Alright, it may not look like it, but my original role is a tank." Although there was nothing about Himeko that screamed sturdiness, surprisingly her great sword was more than enough for her. However, the group were still perplexed and couldn't help but have their doubts.

"Don't look at me like that, I may just have a massive sword, but that's exactly what enables me to tank. If you don't believe me just watch." Himeko understood their confusion, but she didn't think it was that complicated.

"NYAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" Suddenly a scream echoed from the staircase behind them and everyone turned to see what it was. They spotted a blue dot at the top of the stairs falling towards them. Stepping out of the way, they waited for whatever it was to land.

None of them were too worried since they could feel that it was someone around tier 8, so it was most likely not someone from the pope's entourage.

"Ow, shit, fuck, help, damn it." As the dot got closer, the group were able to tell it was a female that was falling down the stairs.

"Should we brace her fall?" Elanor felt bad for whoever it was and wondered if they should help.

"No let her fall, she could be with the pope, so let's see if she is human first." Himeko preferred to err on the side of caution. If it really was an enemy, at least they won't be able to put up much of a fight after tumbling down all those stairs.

"Wait, I can check." Shaman tried using her inspect skill to verify if they were human or demon.

[Luna]

[Race: Demon cat]

[Tier 8]

"It's a demon car." Shaman informed everyone of her race, verifying that it was someone unrelated to the pope. Of course they couldn't know for sure but it was most likely the case since to their knowledge the invasion should only consist of the Pope and the admirals which were all humans.

"I see, well let's wait for her then." Himeko was a lot less worried now. At any rate, it was only a matter of time before the demon cat arrived.

A few seconds went by and Luna finally landed at the bottom of the stairs. Landing on her face she slid across the ground until she hit a rock. Everyone watched wondering if they should approach or restrain her.

"That damn Issac throwing me in here for protection. I'm the fucking healer for demon's sake! I can just out-heal their damage." Luna shot up from the ground frustrated that she was just thrown away.

"I need to get ba-." Turning around she was greeted with a group of people all looking at her curiously.

"Stay back! I have a wand and I'm not afraid to drown you all!" Luna pointed her wooden wand at the group. It was an expertly carved stick encased with a blue mana crystal at the top.

"Woah we are not your enemies." Shaman didn't want to start a fight and definitely did not want to needlessly antagonise a tier 8.

"Hmmm." Luna scanned through each of them and saw that one of them was a demon. She didn't like the fact they were all half-beasts since they shouldn't be here, but they weren't human either so she was inclined to believe they are not associated with the pope.

"You, demon! State your name and why are you with a bunch of half-beasts." Luna wanted to hear from the person who should be native to the demon lands.

"My name is Clara and we just travelled here to meet with the demon queen Ela, but as you can see the pope got here first. We came down here to wait out the attack and try to le- try to tier up." Clara hoped mentioning the demon queen would convince the demon cat rather than having the opposite effect of aggravating her.

"Eh? How do you know her nickname is Ela? Who are you?" Luna was sceptical, but since they knew the queen's nickname, it must mean they are somewhat close to her. Unfortunately, she had no recollection of these people.

"Does Freja ring a bell?" Shaman interjected with Freja's name wondering if Luna knew who she was.

"N-no." Luna shivered as memories suddenly flashed in her eyes.

"Okay, she clearly does." Himeko could recognise the face of trauma anywhere and clearly, Luna had been through something.

"Why did that demon… wait! that makes no sense… Why did that thing send you." Luna, forgetting she was also a demon now, realised a little too late that she was indirectly insulting herself, so she tried to come up with a different retort.

"We don't really know, she just ordered us to go see her. Apparently she would have something for us?" Elysia found it odd that they weren't given a specific reason, but at this point, they were used to Freja working on a need-to-know basis, holding back details until the moment they are needed.

"Well, at least I can somewhat trust you... The name is Luna, but right now I need to get back into the fight." Glad that they were not enemies, Luna decided to give them a pass. She had already spent way too much time talking and was eager to get back.

"Why are you even down here?" Silver was too curious as you don't often see a demon cat being sent flying a set of stairs.

"We were trying to get to the queen, but as we got near the dungeon one of the admirals showed up and targeted me. My friend Issac then proceeded to body slam out of the way and I ended up down here." Luna explained as she walked past everyone.

"Anyway, don't die and hopefully I will see you around if we get out of this alive. Cya." Luna waved while she conjured up jelly under her feat. She then swiftly went up the stairs but when she reached the top the door didn't open.

Hitting face-first into the door, she bounced back and fell down the stairs again. Everyone in the group couldn't believe this was happening, but this time instead of letting her hit the ground, they cushioned her fall.

Shaman created an ice slide to make Luna fly into the air and using Elanor's wind, they slowed her fall down. Landing on her feet, she was now embarrassed that this was the second time. The first time was understandable, but now it was inexcusable.

"Well uhh looks like I'm locked in here." Luna didn't know what to say as now she was awkwardly locked in the dungeon.

"That doesn't sound right, shouldn't the doors open? I know the doors have anti-magic prevention on them so they shouldn't be shut." Himeko was rather concerned as it meant they were trapped as well.

"Weellll you see, my friend Issac, he uses earth magic, but what he does is bring things up from the ground. So, technically… if the door is shut then he must have literally manipulated the ground to cover the door. So technically because it is all natural the doors can't do anything about it." Luna knew her friend well enough to figure out the most likely case. The fact there was no light seeping through the slight cracks of the door further proved that there was something behind it blocking the way.

"Hang on, why hasn't this been abused?" Shaman felt like this was an extremely fatal flaw and thought there would be more cases like this.

"Don't worry, it does." Himeko, having heard the explanation, reminisced about similar events that happened in her own city.

"There is a reason why the dungeons are monitored so heavily. It's so people don't go tampering with them, you know, but there are always some bad actors." Luna had seen it a lot with demons since conflicts always arise.

"I see, my other question is how did she end up with us? Aren't the dungeons instanced or were we too close to the stairs that we hadn't really entered the dungeon yet." Elysia noticed that no one should have come through, but they were still close to the entrance so it was possible they hadn't gone far enough in.

"Oh no, the dungeon isn't instanced. Because it's tier 8 all the magical power in the dungeon is used to keep this place running and can't support that much power." Himeko explained and it made sense since tier 8 is quite powerful.

"Hang on, can't the pope catch up then?" Shaman felt like this was a bad thing and it is only a matter of time before he arrives.

"The next floor is instanced which also houses the boss, so as long as we don't take too long we will be fine." Himeko understood their concern, but she believed they won't take that long.

"Alright…" Shaman was very sceptical, but they had no other choice as going outside was a no-go.

*Sigh* "Now I really don't know what to do. The anti-magic doors make it impossible to break the earth wall behind them and there is no telling when will it crumble naturally, unless Isaac dies or someone destroys it from the outside that is." Luna was lost on what to do since she needed to be out there helping the elite squad out, but now she was out of commission.

It was also a scary thought that she had no idea what was going on outside and for all she knows everyone died.

"Well how about this, you help the girls and boy here who are tier 6 clear the dungeon and boost their tier. In return, Once the door can again be opened if their tier is high enough we can help fight.." Himeko tried to negotiate with Luna not that she had anything better to do anyways.

"...." Luna gave it some thought since she didn't want to waste her energy, but having more helping hands in the fight will be super useful.

"Fine." Luna was going to be conservative with how much she helps, but at least this way even if they are tier 6 they will still be able to clear the dungeon easily.

"Sweet, I guess the next question is, what is your class?" Himeko was able to gather she had some sort of a support role, but wasn't sure if she was a specialised healer.

"Oh you don't know? I'm of course the best healer in the demon lands, Luna!" Speaking very proudly she hoped for an excited reaction but instead got nothing. The group had no idea if it was true and it looked more like stroking her own ego than the truth.

"Oh come on I'm not lying, just watch me." With her pride kicking in, she was going to make sure to show off while helping them.

"Alright, hope you don't disappoint." Himeko saw the opportunity to poke at her pride and hoped it got Luna properly motivated.

"Just you watch, hmph." Luna pouted while crossing her arms.