My mind was clear and decisive, my movement exact and powerful, and my arrows accurate and deadly. I feared nothing, for nothing could stand in my way. And assuredly, everything I did ultimately became fearlessly reckless because of my own stupid arrogance, even forcing Odelia to push me out of the way from attacks I didn't view as threatening but she apparently did—always prioritizing my safety first above all else.

Focusing mostly on the lower-level monsters flanking from the sides and back, I sent an array of arrows to keep the horde at bay, while Odelia focused the higher-level monsters and still pushed ahead in the direction out of the Dungeon. However, no matter how many we killed, stronger and stronger monsters were simply drawn in by the noticeably loud ruckus our seemingly endless escape created, and it became increasingly difficult to fight through the countless numbers of the horde.

“You guys were surrounded, but you were still killing enough to make progress in escaping the Dungeon, so what went wrong?” 100 asked, intriguely observing my memory being displayed throughout his Limbo.

“I did…” I quietly admitted, knowing it was all my fault.

“Will you stop talking for once, 100? I’m watching here.” Nulla said, intently watching my memory as well.

“Fine.” 100 agreed, shutting his nonexistent mouth.

“Lord Eyes, are you sure you are alright?” Odelia worryingly asked, swiftly dismembering 20 Nalkas at once, “Those are eyes affected by the Gom’s Blood Moon, are they not?”

Diving out of the way from a thrown log from an Ogre, I countered with an Element Arrow (Ice) straight to the Weak Point I could now always visually see on the Ogre’s bare chest—piercing straight into the heart and causing it to collapse in shock. “I told you, stop worrying about me! Focus on yourself and escaping!” I shouted to her, rapidly shooting and slowing down a few incoming flying Blood Wings—large bat-like monsters with saber-teeth and long claws.

“I am simply asking because you have not been acting yourself, my Lord!” Odelia pointed out, leading a charge towards a herd of armed Minotaurs blocking our way.

Following her and sending 5 Explosive Arrows behind us, I asked “What are you talking about? I’ve never felt stronger!” Sliding under a pouncing Blood Stalker, I grabbed its tail as it passed, pulled it straight towards me with my sheer strength, and thrusted Silverthorn down into its skull before tossing what was left into the horde. “See what I’m talking about?”

“I do not think we are seeing the same thing…” Odelia sounded and appeared uneasy about my current state, but tried her best to focus on escaping for now.

Then as Odelia and I continued to slowly push through the horde, it became obviously clear to me I was having way too much fun mindlessly killing the countless monsters—only worsening the desire each time I leveled and recovered all my Stats, driving me to pick up the pace and continue without even the least bit of rest.

That increase of pace wasn’t a problem for Odelia at first, but needing to do more and kill faster to keep me safe, it eventually caught up to her. And for the first time since I met her, Odelia began visibly sweating from her body, displaying the start of her heavy breathing and slight exhaustion. Yet determined to keep me safe, she pushed through her exhaustion, and looked to have come to a decision.

“Lord Eyes, I did not want us to use our most powerful Skills to avoid the attention of the Bosses, and as to not be exhausted if one were to appear..." She paused strangely clutching her stomach, "But I think we are close enough to the outskirts that it will be alright...” Odelia tiredly mentioned, moving and swinging her sword much slower now.

“Really? Then can I use a Maximum Charge Arrow?” I excitedly asked, wanting to see how much destruction I could cause.

Though before I knew it, Odelia suddenly picked me up and threw me over her back, saying “No. Save your energy for escaping. I’ll take care of the rest...” Getting into an extremely low crouch, Odelia took a deep breath in, and as she exhaled out, her legs fully extended and we instantly skyrocketed up into the sky.

“Holy shit!” I exclaimed, barely holding onto Odelia’s body from the resulting intense air pressure pushing down onto me.

Then as we reached the apex of her otherworldly jump, Odelia strangely spoke in Elvish, telling me “I may not be there to teach you my Earth Piercer...so make sure pay close attention...my King.” But before I could respond, an explosion of purple aura erupted from Odelia’s back and enveloped her entire body.

Holding her bow in her right hand and her sword in her left, I watched as the aura split in two, traveled through and down her arms, and imbued itself into both her bow and sword. Once all the aura was infused into her weapons, Odelia used her sword as if it were an arrow, drew both it and the bowstring back, and aimed it directly at the horde of monsters below us. And as she smoothly released a perfectly aimed shot, the sword flew right off the bowstring, causing two extremely loud echoing booms; first simply being the bowstring snapping forward and breaking off the bow, and second being an deafening sonic boom created by the sword unexpectedly breaking the sound barrier.

Almost instantly piercing straight into the ground, the sheer impact of the attack caused a terrain altering earthquake to ripple throughout an entire kilometer radius below us; uprooting and toppling the tree in the area, shattering and splitting the bloodied ground into countless rubble chunks, and causing all the pooled blood to be lifted and sent flying up into the air.

Impressed, 100 whistled and acknowledged Odelia’s attack, “That was some attack! It might've even been strong enough to scratch our Characters, don’t you think Nulla?”

“You just can’t help talking, can you? But I’m sure she would’ve done more damage if she wasn’t so poisoned.” Nulla commented, noticing Odelia’s condition.

“She’s poisoned? When? Where?” 100 asked, not noticing when it happened earlier either.

“She hid it from me so I wouldn’t worry…” I answered, now feeling so stupid for not noticing earlier.

Landing on the unstable rubble ground of the forest, Odelia suddenly collapsed onto the floor; and before I could ask her what was wrong, I finally noticed a black ichor profusely secreting from her lower abdomen, along with blackened veins appearing on the surface of her grey skin. Her body trembled uncontrollably shortly after, and as she began cough in pain, black bloodied ichor spewed from her mouth.

Still speaking in Elvish, Odelia softly spoke to me, “My King...this is your opportunity to escape…please leave before more monsters come…”

Ignoring her wish, I grabbed her dropped bow and stored it in Infinity; and walking over to her sword deeply embedded into the ground, I stored it in Infinity too. Then walking back over to her, I forced her weakened yet reluctant self onto my back and began carrying her in the direction out of the Dungeon.

“My King...please leave me…I’ll only slow you down…” She weakly pleaded, informing me “This is Blood-Altering Poison...I don’t know how it’ll affect me…and I can’t risk affecting you too...” Odelia tried to push herself off my back, but I held her on as I continued running.

“You know, Odelia, I lost my Uncle Thalion because I was doing something as stupid as fighting a Combat Test during a Blood Moon.” Sharing my past with her for the first time.

“My King…”

“He died after an accident I basically caused myself…”

“My injuries aren't your fault, my King…” Odelia tried to assure me.

“No...but I am the reason they happened...” When she didn’t answer, I kept talking, “I couldn’t save my Uncle Thalion, and I couldn’t save…” Shaking my head, I promised her “I will save you, Odelia, no matter what!”

“You can’t save me...now get away!” Then all of a sudden Odelia’s body began shaking abnormally fast on my back, and in an instant I found myself tumbling forward as she forcefully pushed herself off my back.

Quickly recovering from the tumble, I shouted “Odelia, I’m not leaving—” I was completely shocked and silenced by the sight of Odelia’s body unnaturally contorting in horrifying ways.

Tilting her head back and to the side, her entire appearance somehow changed to be frighteningly gaunt; blackened veins greatly protruded all along her neck and face, black ichor spilled from her mouth, her cheeks became ghastly hollow, dark circles appeared around her eyes, and I watched as Odelia’s eyeballs blackened and her irises became the reflection of the Blood Moon.

“My King...LEAVEEEEEEE!” As a long ear-shattering scream erupted from Odelia's mouth—knocking me back from the force of the sound alone.

“O-Odelia!” I desperately called out to her, being just enough to stop her from deafening me completely.

“Y-You can’t escape from me now...” She stammered, holding herself back while her limbs horrifyingly contorted, “Y-You have to KILL me!”

“What!? No!” I adamantly refused.

“I-I will KILL you otherwise...” Showing me the long sharp nails now ripping through her leather gloves.

“But you can't die! I have to save you! There has to be another way!” Refusing that to be the only choice.

“Y-You want to save me? T-Then...KILL ME!” No longer able to hold herself back, her body lunged forwards with incredible speeds, grabbing me by the neck, and choke slamming straight into the ground—shattering the rubbled ground further.

“O...de...li…a…” Barely able to speak as her hand clasped tighter and tighter around my throat.

“M-My King...do it!” Even in her state, Odelia pleaded for her death, and as I suffocatingly stared into her completely changed eyes, I still saw the real Odelia inside.

“Blood...thirst!” And with that activation, I reached for Infinity, pulled out an arrow, and immediately casted Element Arrow (Light). Instantly, Odelia screamed out in blinding pain, releasing her death grip around my neck, and stumbling back covering her eyes. Gasping for air, I rolled over and pulled out my sheathed sword, and then stood myself over the still blinded Odelia. But as I raised my sword to strike her down, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it, regardless of my overwhelming bloodlust at that moment. “I’m sorry, Odelia...I can’t kill you…” Lowering my sword.

Then as the light from the arrow dissipated, Odelia unexpectedly recovered faster than before; though surprising me entirely, she warmly smiled and said “T-That’s okay...I’ll do it for you.”

In a single a moment, Odelia savagely lunged towards me again, and all the basic swordsmanship instincts she taught me reactively caused me to raise my sword, unintentionally driving the blade straight through her chest and into her heart. In utter shock, I couldn’t move, but Odelia approached and dug the blade even deeper inside her, until her entire body was thoroughly impaled by the blade of my sword.

Catching her as she leaned her dying body against mine, I had no words but her name to speak, “Odelia…”

“I-I never got to tell you, my King…” Wheezing as she faintly spoke, “C-Congratulations...you’re now equivalent to a Combat Archer…”

Class Change

Meeting both the required conditions to become a ‘Combat Archer’ Class or ‘Tri-Style Archer’ Class, you are now eligible to change your current ‘Dual-Style Archer’ Class to one with equal or higher potential.

Which Class do you choose:

*Your next potential Class Progression Choice will greatly change depending on your chosen Class.*

[Tri-Style Archer] or [Dual-Style Archer] or [Combat Archer]

Feeling her body lose consciousness and falling limp in my arms, I sobbingly pleaded “Odelia, stay with me! You can’t die yet! Tell me how I can save you!” And like that, the dreadful Vision I foresaw finally fulfilled itself.

“Oh, boy. You did kill her.” Nulla reiterated, “And seeing how much you're crying, she must’ve meant a lot to you, didn’t she?”

“He didn’t kill her.” 100 objected, stating “She clearly killed herself, and now he’s just blaming himself.”

“He may not have thrusted the sword, but he did raise it up; and therefore, he killed her—although only partly.” Nulla reasoned.

“So if I shoot an energy blast and you happen to be in the way and die from it, does that mean I killed you?” 100 openly questioned.

“Yes. And I dare you to try.” Nulla said, trying to instigate a fight, but even 100 didn’t fall for it.

However, trying to avoid getting caught up with reliving Odelia's death, I instead focused on clearing my still hazy memory of how exactly I got here.

“It’s not over yet! I can still save her!” I told myself, wiping the tears and blood from my face. Then taking a second to logically think, I listed the 3 most important things I needed to do, “First, I need to escape this Dungeon. Second, I need to teleport back to the House. And third, I need to get Verana's help to save Odelia.” noting, “In the worst case scenario, I still have the Tear of an Elder Cyclops that can revive her, but I have absolutely no clue what’ll become of her after that.”

Suddenly hearing the ground rumbling, I looked around and saw another horde of incoming monsters in every direction. Quickly carrying Odelia in my arms, I began running in the direction out of the Dungeon again, but ultimately being surrounded by the horde, I had to stand my ground and fight to clear a path. Knowing I needed to be stronger to deal with this alone, I haphazardly increased my Stats with the unused Available Points—mostly focusing on Agility—and accepted the Tri-Style Archer as my Class Change.

Congratulations, you have changed your current Class to 'Tri-Style Archer'! You have gained the Title: [A True Combat Archer]. You have learned the Proficiency: [Close-Combat Archery]. You have learned the Skill: [Combat Aura]. ‘Archer’s Duality’ has been proactively developed into the Skill: [Archer’s Triality]. Close-Combat Archery proficiency increased by 33 Levels. Combat Aura increased by 3 Levels.

Feeling an exhilarating rush of power, I activated Bloodthirst to increase the rush further, and allowed myself to be filled with an overwhelming vengeful bloodlust. Then sending a Maximum Charged Arrow to one side of the horde, I utterly obliterated an entire half of the endless horde.

Congratulations, you have Leveled Up 3 Levels! All Stats have increased by 6, and you gained 30 Available Points.

Not having time to cast another one, I Sprinted over to Odelia and beheaded a group of Aciks trying to drag her body away into the horde. Being split between both protecting Odelia’s body and clearing out a path, I felt myself being overwhelmed in only a few minutes; and only worsening the endless battle, Archer’s Fury finally ended.

‘Archer’s Fury’ is now on Cooldown (23 Hours, 59 Minutes, 59 Seconds).

Then all of a sudden, I completely lost control over my entire body, as a heavy club from a Lv.70 High Orc struck me right across the head; however strangely unfazed by the attack, my body simply moved on its own, creating a visible blue aura around my fist, and upper-cutting the High Orc right under its jaw—knocking the lights out of it with a single punch.

My mind subsequently became extremely clouded, as I began moving much more instinctively rather than intellectually; and on top of the overwhelming bloodthirsty instincts of Bloodthirst, I became more like the monsters I was ruthlessly slaughtering, opposed to the person I was just a moment ago. And finding an instance of space from the now slightly fearful horde, I found myself gazing back up at the enthralling Blood Moon, and began speaking to it without my volition.

“The God of Limbo, he who does not reject and accepts all! I invoke your name, Eicio, and request an audience at your godly leisure!” And in an instant, everything became a dark boundless void.

“Why did I say that?” I questioned, confused why I knew those words.

“Oh, sorry again.” 100 apologized, telling me “If a creature affected by my Blessing is intelligent enough to properly invoke my name, they will always request for my presence, for I can—you know what, why don’t you find out on your own if you dare, Seer...”

“Okay, it’s about time we end this.” Nulla interjected, mentioning “We only have 2 minutes until the Recall starts.”

“Already? Wow, time sure does fly in here, doesn’t it?” 100 commented.

“Wait! I can’t go yet!” I adamantly stated, “I can’t just leave Odelia dead in the Dungeon, I still have to save her!”

“Well there isn’t much you can do with the time remaining, the Recall is scheduled to happen regardless of what you or the other Players want.” Nulla informed me. “Not to mention, I haven’t even brought up what I came here to discuss with you yet.”

But ignoring his words, I desperately pleaded “Revive her! Your Gods, right? I’ll do anything, just save Odelia!”

“Ooooh, careful what you wish for, Eyes Thalion Ven’Thyl.” Nulla smiled widely, then disclosed “Though you may think us ‘Gods’, I the Administrator and 100 a Guide are not allowed to directly affect anything that happens in Novus—or it will result in us being severely punished by the Creator.”

“Says the guy who’s planning to do exactly that with me.” 100 called him out.

“You know Players are the fun exceptions.” Nulla smilingly replied.

“That they are.” 100 laughingly agreed.

“So both of you won’t do a thing?” And they both shook their heads, “Can you at least release me from this place before I get recalled or whatever? I at least want to say goodbye...”

“Well, I don’t mind saving our discussion for a later date where you’ll be more open and inclined to listen.” Nulla shrugged.

“And I guess I can grant you your request. After all, you are ultimately the reason I’m getting an additional Player.” 100 said, holding his left index finger out. Nulla then tapped the finger, revealing from under 100’s light an abnormally large and long red-furred finger. Walking over to me, he placed the finger on my presumably forehead, and said “Return when there is no place else who will accept you...”

In an instant, I found myself standing back in the crimson forest, surrounded by countless corpses of monsters I seemed to have savagely slaughtered on my own, and noticed the unusual collection of crimson clouds raining down blood throughout the entire area.

Finding Odelia’s body, I was frozen with guilt when I saw it again, barely being able to get my apology out to her. “I...I...I’m sorry, Odelia...” Staring at the fatal wound I created in her chest, “This...this is all my fault…I knew this would happen...but I still decided to come here…” The blood rain drenched and covered our entire bodies in red crimson, “And in a few seconds...I won’t even be here...” The feeling of being helpless again quickly boiled up inside and completely infuriated me, “AAAAAHHHHHH!! AAAAHHHHH...!!! AAAHHHH—”

A loud and echoing sound suddenly exploded in my ears, and appearing in the sky was the giant multipart magic circle that first teleported us to this world. And as the different parts of the magic circle began to turn and move, it became brighter and brighter, but all I did was stare at yet another person who died because of me.