“Who are you, really,” Paladin asked, his tone tired and genuine.

The man before him, DevilWalker, stopped in front of him and paused for a long moment. The moment seemed to stretch as Walker looked over him in thought. Paladin didn’t blame him, but he wondered why this mysterious man had to consider this hard to trust him. Especially about a game.

“Look,” Walker started, looking the giant of a man in the face with determination. “You should know that there is more to the story of me being stuck here in Rosengard than I’ve told you. I haven’t told any NPC’s other than Rielle and Nox; I’m not even sure Larry knows. I haven’t told him.”

Paladin gave him the time he needed to collect himself. It seemed that Walker was someone who didn’t trust easily, given how he tried to push him away after he tried to make friends with Rielle and him. Oddly, it made Paladin himself want to befriend the man even further, true to his full-screen name of ContraryPaladin.

“I need to hear from you that whatever I tell you will not spread on the internet to other Players. A few already dislike me, and if they find out what I am about to tell you before I am ready, I stand no chance at all,” Walker stated, his gaze intense. It reminded Paladin of his Grandfather, an old Marine who never lost that steady and powerful conviction in his eyes.

“Walker, are we friends?” Paladin asked, giving the shorter man a kind smile.

“What?” Walker asked, seemingly confused by the question.

“I’ll answer your question if you’ll answer mine. Are we friends? Actually, are we pals?” Paladin said with a cheeky smile.

Walker shook his head at the lame quip to his nickname; he still seemed to be adamantly against calling him, Pal. It was a pity; he honestly thought the nickname was a bit clever given his self-prescribed friendly and easy-going nature.

“Really, you decide to use that joke now?” Walker asked, smiling a little now as well. It looked good on his face, even if it looked a little foreign without it being fierce or somewhat maniacal.

“Of course, I will get you to call me by the nickname of your own free will eventually, man,” Paladin said, his grin wide and infectious. But after a moment, Paladin’s features sobered up again, and he gave Walker a meaningful look. “So, Walker, what am I to you?”

Walker sighed and looked at Paladin, “you know those are two different but similar questions, right?”

Paladin shrugged, “It doesn’t matter; the answer to either will say what I need.”

The man that Paladin had been following around the last few days went silent again for a moment. His face was somewhat impassive, but he could see gears turning behind those eyes that kept Paladin quiet. At least Walker was thinking about the question instead of brushing it off like he was afraid might happen. DevilWalker seemed like a good, if angry, man, and Paladin hoped to be friends with him. Even if only in-game.

When Walker refocused on Paladin a few moments later, he looked at the Sumo and shrugged. “I don’t know what you are to me, Paladin. In all honesty, I think we get along, and I like you but friends… I don’t know, man.”

Paladin smiled at the man who was looking at him. “Can we be friends?”

This time, Walker didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, I think so.”

Paladin nodded, the answer wasn’t what he was hoping for, but it was something he could accept. Being a bit of a loner back on Earth, he wanted to come to Rosengard for a few things. He wanted to see unexplored Lore, He wanted to replicate a Sumo’s fighting style in a world that allowed that freedom, and he wanted friends.

It was weird that he latched on to this man, but life was strange sometimes. “Then yes, Walker, I keep the secrets of my friends, and I will not share yours. I only hope to be your friend in turn soon,” The Sumo responded, his tone steady and voice calm.

Walker looked Paladin in the face again, his gaze intent on finding any falsehood it could. What had this man gone through to make him so careful with his trust that he would hesitate. Paladin himself would always welcome getting a new friend, especially a close friend, since those weren’t easy to find.

After a few moments of thought, Walker nodded at Paladin and said, “alright. You’ve put up with my shit for the last few days without much question or complaint. I honestly cannot blame you for not wanting to partake in my attack on those Players in the Auxiliary Base. And it tells me that you are a good man as a whole,” he explained. “I hope you are honest with me when you say I can trust you, man.”

“I’m a simple man,” Paladin said, a little bit of light humor in his voice. “I won’t lie, I let others be, and I do my best to be the best man I can be. Which includes keeping things told in confidence, between us.”

“Not to mention that I even told you about my wife, so that shows something about how much I can trust you,” Walker said with a chuckle.

“Then why are you dragging it out?” Paladin asked, a little confused.

“Trust me, McKenna is not one to be trifled with. Me trusting you with calling her is different because I will have to deal with the consequences. If you tell anyone, then the cat is out of the bag, and my life gets infinitely harder. Although, if I cause her any more troubles, I’m sure she’ll really want to kick my ass. Too late now,” Walker shrugged.

Walker sighed, the breath heavy and calming. “Paladin, do you remember that system-wide prompt about two months back? The one that said the Last Demon Lord Candidate has Risen and all that?”

Paladin nodded, “yeah, I got that message. According to the forums, it caught everyone by surprise. No one was expecting an in-game event, so… large scale without proper build-up. Wh-” Paladin asked, a thought hitting him a second after he started asking why. “Wait, are you…”

Walker nodded, “I am. My first and real base class is called Antagonist, and I am a Demon Lord Candidate,” he said, folding his arms over his chest.

Paladin stood there, unsure of what to say for a moment as he tried to work his way around what the Player named DevilWalker had just told him. It wasn’t too abnormal for a Player to be a part of the world’s Lore, discover ancient legends, or even discover something lost. But something of this magnitude was unheard of, to say the least. Demon Lords in typical fiction were kings or almost gods that, well, ruled over Demons. That fact alone made whatever Walker was a part of more significant than anything he had ever heard.

Screw the rumored rewards for killing the Demon Lord Candidate; Paladin hadn’t been this excited for playing the game since he discovered he could be a Sumo-type class.

A smile spread from Paladin’s face as Larry’s voice announced his annoyance. “Seriously?! You’re the last Demon Lord Candidate?”

Walker’s head turned to face his pet Incubus, an odd choice for a Familiar, a frown forming over his face. “Yes. Do you have something to say about this, Larry?” he said, a little too even and calm.

“Actually, I do. But not to you, Master. I cannot wait to go back to Hell and tell my Cohort that I am the Demonic Familiar to a Demon Lord Candidate,” Larry said, a new gleam in his eye. It was not apparent if the Incubus wanted bragging rights or just wanted to show his companions in Hell what for, but either way, Larry seemed excited.

“Yeah, good for you,” Walker breathed out. “So Paladin, any more questions, or can we move on?”

“Questions? I have a lot of questions. What sort of power did you get as an… what was your Base Class actually called? I know you said it a moment ago, but….” Paladin said.

“Antagonist,” Walker supplied, redrawing his leaf-shaped sword with the jagged teeth going down the middle. The blade looked menacing, and the tool actually looked like something that an Antagonist would own.

As Walker was about to speak, Paladin couldn’t help himself and spoke first. “So, is the sword evil too?”

Walker looked at the sword and thought about it for a moment before shrugging. “Yes and no. I got it at the same time as my Class and Demon Lord Candidate stuff. It was owned by the Previous Demon Lord Ari before she was killed by the Hero. I found the sword where she died, picked it up, and… it reverted to a Mythic Sword Blank. No powers, no special appearance, no more awesome name,” Walker sighed.

“What was it called before?” Paladin asked curiously.

“Lorelei’s Profane Nature,” Walker responded.

The Sumo was smiling ear to ear as Walker told him about this Lore. Even if he was going to tell people, which he wasn’t going to, he never would now. Lore Hunters would go and get in Walker’s way, Players would kill him for the faster advancement to level up, and many more would just attempt to take his stuff. All of this was incredible, and he wanted to hear everything the man called DevilWalker was willing to tell.

“That is awesome,” Paladin commented. “Any idea why it was called that?”

“None,” Walker answered. “I didn’t get my Appraisal skill until after the sword reverted to its Blank form.”

Paladin shook his head, a little disappointed, but it was like a cup of water on the house fire of his enthusiasm. “Damn,” he said, his curiosity-fueling his questions. “Oh well, maybe there are some written stories that say what it did somewhere.”

Walker shrugged, “maybe, but now is not the time for this. Paladin, we need to focus on the goal of defeating this Dungeon. Do you have any more concerns, or can we move forward?”

You have unlocked a new ability: Friendship! This ability is only given out for acts of friendship that are shown inside the reality of Rosengard. Thus this ability deserves the exclamation point in the name.

Every time you are in a party with a person on the list below, you gain a flat percentile bonus towards your experience gains equal to 2% per friend in party. (Max 5 people in party)

Friend list

- DevilWalker

Paladin noticed the dynamic shift in Walker’s focus, almost like a switch had been flipped in his head, and decided not to question it. He quickly dismissed the prompt, it was nice but more pressing things were happening. He’d just have to remember to reevaluate this new ability later, this could be game-changing.

“I have more questions but they can wait until later,” Paladin answered, disappointed but understanding. Then it occurred to him that his original question hadn’t been answered, “Actually, I have one last question.”

“What?” Walker asked, now getting annoyed.

“How are you using abilities from different classes?” Paladin said, then added on. “You can give the quick answer.”

“Class ability called Hubris 1. Gives me a chance to take Base Classes from players I have killed and add them to a list that I can purchase their skills and powers from. I can also learn them from being who already own the class, but I have only done that once. I will probably do that again later with Rielle and her Druid Class, if she is willing, of course,” Walker answered, looking at his companion.

She was looking away from them, her focus on their surroundings, “Y-yeah, I would be happy to.” She answered, a little taken aback by suddenly being put on the spot like that.

Walker nodded and gestured to the passages around them. “Okay, guys, we have a choice to make. We can either continue down the path we started or choose another. As much as I wouldn’t mind clearing this place room by room to get all the experience and items we can, that would take a lot of time. We still have a Golem apocalypse to deal with when we leave. Opinions?”

Larry answered, “I’m fine with going down another path.”

Rielle looked at each of the paths and focused on the door that had been busted down. She gestured at it and said, “We already started down it; I think it would be a good idea to continue down that way.”

Walker looked to Paladin, who nodded his head towards the hall they came from. “I think continuing where we started is the best choice.”

“Larry, you’ve been outvoted. Down the path we started,” Walker said.

The Incubus grunted his displeasure but said nothing as he jogged to get into his place in the formation. Paladin looked to find Rielle and Walker getting into their places, too, so he shuffled over next to Larry. It was then that Paladin noticed the floating Blood Orb-styled loot box that had been left behind from that creepy faceless Demon thing’s body.

The Sumo stopped and pointed towards the item, “Walker, I think we’ve forgotten something.”

The Antagonist, as Paladin now knew him, turned and shook his head with a light chuckle. “Thanks, Paladin. Can’t believe I almost forgot about that,” Walker said as he called for Rielle and larry to hold on a moment. When they stopped, he hurried over and touched the orb. While Paladin wouldn’t have minded the loot, Walker and Rielle were lower levels than him, and they needed the gear.

This was made even more true since that recent Antagonist bombshell was dropped. Eventually, that secret would get out, and there was nothing that anyone could do to stop that. There were already rumors of nations and cities around Rosengard setting up Status reading stations to look for the Demon Lord Candidates. People were preparing, and DevilWalker would need to be ready himself.

Besides, it wasn’t like he needed-

“Huh,” Walker said, picking up the item that formed from the Dropbox. It was a carefully folded piece of cloth that was designed with a boxy orange and white pattern. The object had a clasp at the end that made the whole thing look like a belt of some kind to the Sumo’s eyes. But Walker’s words were the thing that actually caught his attention.

“Belt of the Maori,” he said, thinking while reading the description to himself.

“What does it do?” Larry asked, walking over to take a look at the item in question. “It doesn’t look like much.”

“It’s actually kind of interesting,” Walker said. “Apparently, it enhances the Speed and Dexterity Attributes when deflecting in preparation of counter-attack. The downside is that the bonuses only apply when it is used with unarmed or with small arms attacks.”

This was the first time since Paladin joined the group that he actually wanted something that they’d found. Not that Earth Magic Skill gem, Not that Vial of Spell Aging, and certainly not of the little things they have discovered on the way here. But this was something he could actually make good use of.

“I could probably use this,” Walker said, thinking through the items description while he voiced a little of the internal thinking of his.

Paladin coughed into his fist to get Walker’s attention. When he looked up, the Sumo spoke politely, “actually, may I have that?”

The Antagonist didn’t think about it for more than a second before he passed the Belt. The action was fast enough that Paladin almost fumbled the catch and held the thing tightly in both hands. He felt the soft but tough fabric in his hands for a moment before running his hands over the rough iron clasp and really taking in the workmanship. He’d never say that he expected to find a Polynesian-themed item; he’d always say he was lucky to do so.

The Belt adjusted to fit his massive stomach, much like most magic items, and a prompt appeared.

You are now wearing the Belt of the Maori. The effects of the Dexterity and Speed attributes in regards to counter-attacking after deflecting or defending are increased by 20%. This bonus only remains active when the wielder is using Unarmed attacks or small one-handed weapons.

All Unarmed attacks now carry additional weight when being used to reposition the target. +20% additional weight to applicable attacks.

“Uhmm, Walker. Was there something you forgot to mention about this thing?” Paladin asked, smiling a little at the additional effect.

“Oh, so you saw the curse. Sorry about that, but you don’t mind a little spontaneous flatulence in exchange for that bonus, right?” Walker asked, his tone apologetic but not severe.

“No, the additional weight thing, That’s awesome; why didn’t you tell me!” Paladin exclaimed.

“I was curious how you would react,” Walker said, smiling at him as he gestured towards the open door. “Now, I know. Shall we?”

Paladin agreed, and everyone fell into formation. Paladin walked next to Larry, the Incubus looking him eye to eye as they walked through the hall. After several minutes, they eventually reached the file storage area with the broken-down walls. They hadn’t had the time to look through the rooms earlier, thanks to the Mini-hulk’s appearance and their subsequent retreat.

“Walker, do we want to take a few minutes to look around?” Rielle asked.

The Antagonist considered her for a moment, looking around the room, hedging at the thought before nodding. “Alright, take a few minutes and look around. Make a note of anything that could be useful. Especially books,” Walker noted a moment after they split.

Paladin walked into a room nearby and bent over to pick up a scroll that was crumbling under his touch. He opened the scroll and found that most of the ink had faded over time, looking much like the yellowed paper and almost vanished ink of the Declaration of Independence. Some of the contents could be read, but most of it was illegible, making it almost useless with a title like ‘Ralphs vs. Staters.’

He kept looking through the documents and items found in the room, only perusing through anything legible enough to read. The forms were primarily benign and repeated the same types of paperwork, like sign-in sheets and activity reports. A few were more interesting, mentioning confiscated goods that included weapons, magic items, money, and illegal books. He kept those pages for his own notes but didn’t have much hope of finding it. The page stated that the Base Commander had taken the goods and stored them in the hidden vault until further processing.

It was unlikely to come to anything, Rogues who specialized in detection were usually needed for these sorts of things, but you never know.

Paladin packed the pages away to look at again in a few minutes and started going through the rest of the files. A few more minutes later, Walker called them all over to see what they had found.

The Sumo told them of the pages but shrugged. “I’ve never heard of this storeroom, so it was probably ransacked ages ago before this place was a Dungeon. We’ll pay attention for anything; I doubt we’ll find anything, but who knows.”

Rielle shrugged and told them that she really didn’t find anything worth bringing along. Walker more or less said the same story, just with a few trinkets plated with silver and gold. The items would be worth a few Copper when they got the chance to sell them. Paladin noted the Party leader’s annoyance after placing both items inside his Dimensional Bag and grunting.

“Ninety-seven percent capacity,” Walker grumbled and closed the bag.

The Incubus, on the other hand, reached behind him and withdrew a book. It was small, maybe just a little bigger than the size of the Demon’s hand, and old given the wear the book had. The book was bound in dark tan leather that was dried and chipping away. No title labeled the outside of the book, but luckily, when Walker took it, he said the title aloud.

“The Marsden Files, written by J. Butch,” Walker said, raising an eyebrow. “Why’d you bring this to me, Larry?”

The Demon smirked, “I know what that cover is made from. Appraise it and tell me what you think?”

Paladin watched for a moment as a spark of power shone in Walker’s eyes as he pulled up the item’s information and smiled.

“This is an Item Quality nine-book,” Walker said, smiling.

“Oh yeah, I recognize the book leather; it’s made from Wyvern Leather,” Larry informed him, tapping the book.

“What’s the Marsden Files?” Paladin asked.

“The description said it is a series of events involving a Wizard who defended his city from the creatures that came to haunt it,” Walker said. “I will probably read it later, for now, though,” he said, a soft blue light emanating from his palm under the book.

The book disappeared over a few seconds, and Walker smiled. “Alright, let’s go. I want us to find the exit to the next floor soon so we can hopefully find the Dungeon boss while we are reasonably rested.”

Paladin had a few questions, mainly about what in the world he did to that book, but he moved on. With his Luck, Walker would just tell him that he’d answer his questions later, and he would be left with naught but curiosity. It was annoying but nothing that Paladin wasn’t used to. His Grandfather liked to be tight-lipped about his military service, no matter how old he got or how often he asked.

Larry took the lead after Walker finished absorbing the book, forming a shield on his right arm before continuing forward in the lead. Paladin took the rear behind Rielle with Walker only a few steps in front of her. If something came at them from behind, Paladin wanted to be between the enemy and those he was supposed to be protecting.

Which was a good thing, because a few minutes later, after doing some checks in another room, they passed. These rooms were nearly empty as well, the group finding some Copper Bits among the wreckage and even a pair of Copper Coins in a small decaying hemp bag.

The thing charged suddenly as they left the next sector, which consisted mainly of offices for the clerks and record keepers. The Cashier Basher, a Named Lesser Plated Demon from the floor above, ran forward with a large steel club in its hands. It swung towards Paladin with its entire body weight behind it.

Paladin barely moved as it came, just adjusting his position so that Demon’s attack would go right for his stomach. The attack hit, and Paladin grinned as one of his favorite Skills took effect.

Body Fat Armor Level 41. Your body is covered in carefully cultivated layers of fat over muscle tissue that acts as armor over everywhere covered with it. This Skill is exclusive to Sumo Warriors, and their fellows as the ability to cultivate the Body Fat Armor takes discipline that few others can match.

Everywhere except the head and spine of the skill wielder are protected by the Passive Armor that this Skill grants.

The Passive armor this Skill grants is equal to the Wielder’s Build Attribute.

The Blunt Force Trauma this Skill can negate is equivalent to this Skill’s level plus ¼ of the wielder’s Build Attribute.

The Cashier Basher may have been a named Demon, making it more potent than the average creature; it didn’t remove the fact that this was a bad matchup for it.

The Unknown Lesser Plated Demon has batted you with a Heavy Steel Club for 16 points of damage.

Paladin dismissed the message, a little astounded that the low-ranked Demon managed to deal damage past his Body Fat Armor skill. His Damage Prompts were modified to specifically tell him what his current HP was if it passed a threshold of a multiple of one-hundred.

“I got this one,” Paladin said, looking back at his companions. He was a little surprised to find that they were dealing with threats of their own.

Rielle was dueling with a Lesser Plated Demon of her own, having a duel with it, sword to sword. The girl was good with the blade; that much was for sure. But it always felt like she didn’t like getting that close to the enemy; her face seemed to show her hesitancy.

Walker, however, was working in tandem with Larry to fight back a Hunchbacked Wretch that looked more menacing. The spines on its back glowed with pearlescent runes that sent out high-toned whispers that flowed out like red-purple light. It was the eyes though, the eyes made Paladin glad he didn’t have to deal with that thing. The eyes were perpetually on fire and leaking what looked like candle wax down its face.

Paladin turned back to his opponent, the thick club in the Lesser Plated Demon’s hands turning in its hands. In its natural chitinous armor, the Demon seemed to be glaring at Paladin as it looked over the minimal damage it dealt. Its prehensile tail moved around as it moved left and right, never facing away from the Sumo.

Then the Lesser Plated Demon’s weapon started to emanate an orange-red glow as the weapon shifted in the air. Then with a shrill tongue, the Demon said, “Bash!”

With the speed of something that knew what it was doing, the Cashier Basher stepped into Paladin’s personal space and swung with the extra force the attack skill mustered.

Paladin shifted his weight around with his own strange sort of mountainous grace and turned with the club’s attack. Using a Brawler Skill called Ki Coating, Paladin covered his hands with his orange Ki energy and twisted his body. Using his protected hands to guide the skill-powered strike around, and gripped the weapon at the last moment to throw the Named Demon away.

The Demon let go of the massive metal club, ruining Paladin’s maneuver. However, the Sumo threw the weapon behind him, making sure his eyes locked onto the Lesser Plated Demon Rielle fought. The Massive club slammed into her opponent, and Paladin turned to face his own Demon before it slashed at him with glowing claws.

The Unknown Lesser Plated Demon has slashed at you with its claws for 49 points of damage.

Grunting, Paladin palm thrusted into the Demon’s exposed chest, ignoring the pain in his gut. In real life, this kind of damage and pain would make him stop and reevaluate the choice that led to the damage. Here, it just made Paladin’s focus narrow on the task at hand. The feeling of his open hand crushing the Demon’s chest plate echoed through his arm as the Demon slid back, its almost black blood oozing from the wound.

The Demon paused long enough to hiss at him in its shrill way of vocalizing as it bent down low to the ground. “Feral!” The Named Demon stated the ability as a mist of Infernal red mist light enveloped the creature.

The heavy hit that Paladin inflicted collapsed inward, a gush of Demonic blood oozing from the wound. Its Chitinous armor rippled and altered around, darkening and reinforcing around the body, interlocking in a way that seemed more flexible. Muscles rearranged under the surface, contorting with the changes to its frame that made the entire creature look even more inhuman even though it still stood. The more disturbing difference for Paladin was the creature’s new mouth that had two rows of sharp, curved teeth that became visible as it exhaled.

The Feralized Lesser Plated Demon stood up for a moment, allowing Paladin to see the hole in its chest that passed all the way through its chest. The Demon growled at Paladin for a moment before pausing and letting out a confused chitter.

Paladin couldn’t help his smile at the expense of the Demon’s confusion. This was such a disturbing but cool effect that this Demon possessed. Did other Demons have this ability? Do all the Plated Demons here have this power or just named one? He’d have to ask Walker; he seemed to know a lot about Demons. Demonic Lore wasn’t his first preference in this world, but this was cool.

The Demon just had a freaking transformation sequence, for gods’ sake.

A detail that was missed by Paladin was the upgraded Demon’s enlarged and protected fists, the appendages looking like they were encased in gauntlets. The detail became apparent to the Sumo when the Demon snarled its confusion away, crouched, and leaped at him. The Demon threw a heavy punch that crunched into Paladin’s face, knocking the man back a step before he even properly realized what happened.

The Unknown Feralized Lesser Plated Demon has punched you for 89 points of damage. You now have less than 1900 Health Remaining.

The Sumo took a moment while the Demon growled in satisfaction at the blow to rub at his jaw. Paladin pulled his hand away from his face and found blood that had trickled from this now busted lip.

“Alright,” Paladin said, his tone even. “Bring it on.”

Paladin dropped into a stance, his knees far apart and hands resting against them. He looked ready for a Sumo match, with the opponent being the Demon across from him. The Demon screeched at him angrily and pounced at him, both fists extended out towards his upper chest.

With speed and precision that belied his size, Paladin raised himself up, keeping his stance the same, and slapped the fists aside to impact the wall. The Demon reacted fast, throwing another blow a second later, the blunt attack hitting Paladin’s gut.

The Unknown Feralized Lesser Plated Demon has punched you for 24 points of damage. You now have less than 1800 Health Remaining.

The Cashier Basher swung its other arm, and Paladin deftly caught the giant fist in his grip, feeling very anime with the move. With a squeeze and sharp twist, he heard the exoskeleton armor creak and snap under Paladin’s power. With a palm thrust, Paladin knocked the Demon away and free from his own grasp, its left arm now limp at its side.

Grabbing at a gourd at his side, Paladin took in a mouthful before dropping it to his side, the string catching it before it hit the ground. When the Lesser Plated Demon charged, Paladin sprayed the concoction at it, the stream hitting it directly.

The spray potion was called Blinding Stigma, and it caused, well, blindness in the target for up to a minute. A moment after the spray connected, the Demon burst into Green-gold flame and screamed in pain. Paladin took a quick peek over his shoulder and found Rielle staring at the Demon he was fighting, her eyes covered in a layer of the same colored flame. With Rielle fire, Paladin didn’t need the full minute. Moments later, Paladin properly splattered the Named Lesser Plated Demon into a smear on the floor.

Paladin spun around to check on his party members to find Rielle done with her opponent and lighting up Walker’s and Larry’s target. The special Hunchbacked Wretch roiled in the green-gold flame while the Incubus kept its claws away from his Master. Paladin folded his arms over his chest as he watched the fight continue. It certainly was not a fair battle.

It consisted of three elements. Rielle dealt continuing extra damage with her gaze skill that dealt holy fire damage. The Incubus focused on tanking the physical hits from the Undead, blocking with his conjured shield and body when needed. His Master used his magic to support the Demon since the hall barely had the room to support the Demon and the Undead, let alone all three.

Once Rielle’s flames died out, Larry dealt most of the damage. Taking any opportunity to deal damage to the Undead until a minute later, when he finally dealt the final blow, a HellRime ax to the chest.

Paladin ignored the Experience gains towards his next level since it did not involve the words’ level up’.

Otherwise, he got nothing beneficial towards his personal growth, and that made sense. None of these opponents were anywhere close to his own level, and that would slow his Skill growth at the least. Walker and Rielle looked over their own prompts from the battle while Larry simply waited off to the side while his body repaired itself.

The group finished looking over their prompts and observed the bodies that were dissolving to become Loot Boxes.

Paladin walked over to the Loot Box of the one he defeated and activated it.

A small crystalline cube about six inches tall, across, and thick popped into being above his hand. The cube was glassy but rough and with scratches and chips across its surface. Inside the item glowed a pristine white light that allowed the transparent blue of the article to make itself known. Looking closer, some, not all, of the scratches were actually runes and sigils that looked mystical in appearance—sort of like the runes that Walker put into his own gear.

Shrugging, Paladin put the cube in a pouch on his Belt and walked towards the group that was taking a moment to simply breathe and recuperate.

Rielle was leaning against a nearby wall with her hands covering her eyes that were welling up with tears. Paladin asked her if she was okay, and she said in a reasonably calm voice that she was fine; it was just a side effect of overusing her eye skill like that. Her eyes were dry and were rehydrating.

Accepting that since she had no reason to be emotionally upset as far as he knew, Paladin went over to Walker.

Walker was looking at something that the Loot Box had given him, and it was… peculiar. It was a stained, off-white piece of bone that was about as long as his forearm. He was looking at it quizzically, a single eyebrow raised and rubbing his chin as the seconds passed.

“Hey, Brother. Everything okay?” Paladin asked.

“Hmmm? oh yeah, I’m alright,” Walker said, slowly looking away from the mysterious piece of bone in his hands. “I just got this thing from that Named Hunchbacked Wretch; its name was Peraphene. And this,” Walker showed Paladin the large piece of bone in his hands. “Is called a ‘Resonating Bone Spur.’ My Appraisal Skill says that it is a Bone Spur from an Undead with powers steeped in Mentalism. That’s it, nothing more useful,” he grumbled, opening the Dimensional Bag on his hip and sliding it inside.

“What about yours?” Walker asked Rielle.

“It didn’t form a Loot Box,” she said, shrugging. “It just died and melted away.

Paladin shrugged and let out a sigh, “I was wondering when our lucky streak would end. It was really lucky that we were getting so many Loot Boxes, but it was going to stop eventually.”

“Really?” Walker asked. “Not everything drops Loot Boxes here?”

The Sumo shrugged, “it’s not uncommon to get Loot Boxes, but at the rate we were getting them, I was starting to think you invested all of your Attribute points into Luck. I’ve heard of a few people who decided to do that, but most stop eventually, Luck cannot be everything.” Paladin mused, recalling someone he’d heard of online.

Long story short, he was a level sixty-five Brawler/ Rogue mix that only invested points in his Luck Attribute. Apparently, not only did he walk to the Visceral Queen’s Palace and find the front door unlocked, but he also managed to walk into her throne room and see the assassin right behind her. She promptly killed the assassin and rewarded him from the service. Quickly becoming a millionaire in-game.

Walker nodded in agreement. “I did put a few points into Luck but not very many. I trust Skill over the unknown will of the universe any day. Ready to go?” he asked, cleaning that Mythic Sword of his before smiling at it.

“I am,” Paladin said, quickly followed by two more agreements from the others in the party.

They moved forward through the halls and their adjacent corridors and rooms. In them, they found a few more things to kill here and there, mostly more Hunchbacked Wretches and Lesser Plated Demons. Some threats were there but not enough for Paladin to worry over. Some money was in these rooms as well; a few more Copper Coins and a lot more Copper Bits lined many a drawer, pocket, and hidden pouch. But overall, none of these rooms offered more than simple challenges as far as dangers went.

That was until they reached an entrance to a larger room that used to have a door-mounted upon it. The twisted metal bracers that would have held the door together were still hanging from the hinges on the wall. Inside the room were three beings. Two of the beings were Lesser Plated Demons, each wearing what looked like a banner about their shoulders like capes. Each wielded a spear in one hand and a round shield in the other, with both standing like statues, seeming to be ready for orders.

The one in the middle was the unique one. It wore a suit of red and black stained leather armor with blue-tinged steel gauntlets covering its forearms and hands. The helmet it wore had two curved hordes protruding from its forehead and ended in sharp points. Except for along the edges of the protective headwear, which was made of a brass-like looking material, it was made of the same blue-tinged steel as the gauntlets. What little skin that was exposed looked like to be aquatic blue-green but somehow thick and leathery.

As Paladin entered the room with Larry immediately behind him, the Armored thing reached behind its back. It withdrew two bearded axes from its back, and they began to glow an ominous orange-red.

It spoke in a harsh sounding voice that did not appear to be used to breathing air, “So we finally got another challenger trying for the next floor, Hmm? Well, guess what, Scrubs! I, Schelton, shall! Not! Allow! It!” He proclaimed, gesturing forward with his right ax. “Get them!” and his entourage of Lesser Plated Demons stepped forward.

Walker stepped up next to Paladin and looked up at him, a confidant smile playing across his face. “We got this, right…” the man got a slightly pained expression as he decided to do something. “Pal?”