The World's First Dungeon Vs Zane

Zane's heart kicked into overdrive as all the questions burst from his mouth.

"Bell, how do you feel? Did the Healing Touch work? Did your Constitution change? Did it—"

Before Bell could even reply to the first question, the rest kept tumbling out. She ended up laughing—really laughing—but this time, it was full of joy and life. Zane froze mid-sentence, eyes wide, before stepping forward pulling her into a hug, spinning her around in joy.

"Put me down! Put me down!" Bell squealed, smacking him lightly on the head.

He finally let go, still grinning like an idiot. Bell couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him look so happy—like a kid who just got every present he ever wanted.

Zane just stood there, staring at her in stunned silence until she asked, twice, "The potion, Zane?"

"Oh! Yes, yes!" he said, snapping out of it. He fumbled into his pocket, pulling out the red vial with trembling hands. "Here."

Without hesitation or ceremony, Bell took it and drank.

A moment later, a soft green aura—brighter and fuller than the one Kai had conjured—surrounded her whole body. Bell blinked. The ache in her bones, the weight in her chest, the constant whisper of pain that had begged her to give in… it was gone.

Gone.

The void where the cancer had been—emptied out like it had never been there.

"It worked," she whispered.

The three men stood frozen for half a second, blinking in disbelief. Then Kai stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her.

Zane joined in next, arms tight but careful.

Finally, Tarni muttered, "Well, bugger it," and threw himself into the mix.

It became the best group hug any of them would ever remember.

Sometime later, as the warmth of the moment settled into a quiet calm, Tarni looked over at Bell.

"So…" he asked, one brow cocked, "did your stats change?"

Bell frowned slightly, squinting into the air in front of her as she struggled to focus on the System interface. After a few moments of awkward silence—and one false swipe that made Kai snort—she finally managed to bring it up.

Her voice was soft when she replied, "No… they're all the same."

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Tarni let out a disappointed grunt. "Figures. One miracle at a time, eh?"

Zane gave Bell's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "We'll figure it out. This is just the beginning."

With Bell resting in the shade of the shed, Zane, Tarni, and Kai huddled together to make a plan. The goblin attacks were becoming too frequent, and they couldn't risk another ambush, especially not with Bell's constitution so low.

First priority: fortify the house.

It wasn't elegant, but effective. They took out the wooden stairs leading up to the decking around the house—chainsawed them clean off—and replaced them with a sturdy aluminium ladder. It could be pulled up or dropped down as needed, keeping any unwanted green guests from waltzing through the front door.

As they worked, sweat glistening under the sun, Zane glanced over the paddock and muttered, "Next time they come sniffing around, we'll be ready."

Tarni wiped his forehead with the bottom of his shirt. "Damn right. Let's go goblin hunting."

Kai looked between the two of them, then up at the ladder now bolted to a pulley system. "Y'know," he said, "this actually feels smart. Like, proper Mad Max-smart."

Tarni grinned. "Mate, we're bush-prepper geniuses."

Zane just laughed and picked up his machete. "Let's make sure they don't come back."

With Kai staying at the house to keep Bell safe—well, moderately safe—Zane and Tarni had geared up in their leather patchwork armour, machetes and makeshift weapons strapped to their backs, and disappeared into the bush. Their boots crunched through leaf litter, voices fading as they slipped into the undergrowth, eyes sharp for any flicker of green skin in the fading light.

The sun had dipped behind the trees a while ago, casting long shadows that slowly merged into dusk. The cicadas had quieted, replaced by the soft hum of night-creatures, and now the moon was rising—a pale, fat disc climbing above the treetops, silvering the world.

Back at the house, Bell sat alone on the raised deck, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders more for comfort than warmth. Her fingers curled around a chipped enamel mug of tea—well, half a cup of lukewarm water with a dried gum leaf in it. Kai had offered to make it fancy, but Bell had just smiled and waved him off. She didn't want fancy. She wanted quiet.

She looked out across the paddocks, where the dew was beginning to settle and ghostly mists curled low to the ground. Somewhere far off, a night bird cried.

The fishing spear gun sat beside her on the bench, cleaned and carefully reloaded. She hadn't let it out of her sight since earlier. It wasn't just a weapon now—it was a turning point. Proof. A line drawn between then and now.

Bell breathed deep, letting the cool night air fill her lungs. For the first time in months, it didn't burn. It didn't ache. It just… felt like air. She let the breath go, slow and steady, and reached for a battered old notebook she'd tucked beneath the bench.

It was one of hers—a journal from before the hospital stays had become too frequent to bother writing in between. Most of the pages were filled with quick, scrawled thoughts or little to-do lists that never got done. But the last few pages were blank. Waiting.

She flipped to a clean one and started to write.

Nothing dramatic. No poetry or profound reflections. Just simple things. Observations. The moon's reflection in the rainwater tank. The sound of Kai quietly moving about in the kitchen. The way the stars were coming out, slow and steady like they always had. Like they always would.

"I don't know what tomorrow looks like," she wrote. "But I think I want to see it."

She smiled faintly, then closed the notebook and set it gently aside.

Down below, Kai had turned on one of the battery-powered lanterns and was sitting cross-legged in the grass with his back to the house, quietly fiddling with some of the gear Zane and Tarni had left behind. Bell watched him for a while, then turned her eyes back to the treeline.

"Come home safe," she murmured.

Then, with the spear gun beside her and the stars above, she waited.