… Nowhere is the influence of adventurers felt more than the church, however.

All records we have recovered confirm that there was only one church in the early years of Placeholder. The church of System. It was not an overly active body, but [Kings] did well to heed any [Prophecies] or [Oracles] that were given to them as they often contained crucial foreknowledge about coming events.

While that still holds true today, of course, the key difference was that that was essentially the church’s only contribution in that period. It bears little resemblance to the church of today.

The reason is once again the otherworlders. It wasn’t until after adventurers came in with the new class of [Cleric] that the church of System really expanded its tenents. Focus on healing, non-violence against any of the sapient races, and also the absolute destruction of the undead wherever they should be found.

When the first and third of those tenents were proposed by [Arch Bishop] Samuel Grey (of Doom Fury fame), it raised quite a stir among the other church constituents. However, his famous quote is as follows.

“In a world like this… Isn’t this our job? Isn’t this what Placeholder expects from us?”

And so, it is hard to overstate how much his vision has shaped the church. These days you’ll find nearly one in every town because who else would heal conditions or diseases?

Though, the otherworlders did try to also create a rival organization. Records show that they called it a “hospital?” They had all these strange ideas about tiny invisible monsters that spread diseases and “emergency care.”

Ha! With health potions to take care of any rapid HP loss and [Healers] to clear up any conditions caused by particularly close brushes with death, it’s no wonder such an organization didn’t last!

Excerpt from A Brief History of Placeholder, Volume 1. Chapter 1

-----

Sam watched in horror as Jake, the Savior of the world and her good friend for more than 50 years, died in front of her.

The System confirmed that for her in more ways than one.

System: The Demon Lord has slain the Hero! As the Hero has named no successor, a new Hero will be chosen

System: Party disbanded. Party leader is no longer eligible.

“Titus!” she screamed as she fell to her knees. “How could you!?”

He answered with a laugh. “He murdered, so I murdered. All is fair.” He looked upward and closed his eyes. “Now the reset. The server will go back. Maybe way back. Long reset. Maybe. Save me from this. Don’t want this. Any of this.”

Nothing happened for a moment, and then with an irritated grunt, he [Fire Strike] kicked Jake’s body.

“Not dead? No. Is dead. Then why?” Titus rambled.

Then he looked stricken.

“No,” he said quietly. “No!” he screamed. “[Hero], get up!” he shouted as he started shaking Jake’s body. “You can’t be dead! No!”

“Get away from him!” Garrett yelled as he charged forward with his axe.

Meanwhile, Sam felt… deflated.

What’s he doing? Sam asked herself. There isn’t anything we can do. Doesn’t he know that we’re usele- She got the same fuzzy feeling in her head that she always got when she was about to break the terms of her duel.

The aura! She realized. Without Jake there to protect them, both she and her husband were sitting ducks for the madness.

At least, they were for a second.

“I won’t believe your lies anymore,” she said through grit teeth as she forced herself back up. She beat back the intrusive thoughts that kept targeting her psyche as she took step after step deeper into the aura.

Meanwhile, her darling husband, who was practically a pacifist these days, was screaming and chopping Titus with his axe over and over again.

Sam didn’t know whether it was fortunate or unfortunate that Titus didn’t fight back.

“Murder again,” Titus said as if in a daze. “Another murder. Double murder.” He ignored Garrett’s attacks and cradled Jake’s body. “Didn’t want to. Wanted to. Why did I want to? Why did I?”

“Garrett!” Sam yelled. “You have to stop! If he goes into a second form, we can’t stop him!”

Garrett’s only reply was a wordless yell as he kept up the attack.

“It wasn’t me,” Titus said. “I didn’t do it. It was the madness. The madness wasn’t me. I wouldn’t. No.” His voice turned to a whisper. “No. It was. The madness was me. I was the madness. I did it before. I did it again. I DID IT AGAIN!”

The aura kept increasing in strength, and Sam struggled against it.

Somehow, she reached Garrett.

On Earth, there was no way that Sam would be able to overpower him. A 5’2 woman versus a 6’4 man who chopped down trees for a living.

However, they were not on Earth.

Sam practically tackled Garrett and then dragged him away. At level 25, even a mage has decent strength, after all.

“We have to get out of the aura!” she shouted to her husband, who was still actively fighting against her pull.

“Sam,” Titus whispered.

The way he said it made a shudder run through her body. She turned around briefly as he said one final word with a clarity that he had lacked this entire time.

“Run.”

He started laughing as a health bar appeared in her hud.

Demon Lord of Madness.

-----

Describing madness form is a bit trickier than wrath form.

I mean, being angry enough that you lose your senses is at least somewhat relatable, right?

However, madness form was… different. The best I can describe it is that my already broken mind shattered into a multitude of pieces.

One was focused on the death of Megan.

Another on my still-fresh murder of Jake.

A third on the isolation and loneliness that I’d been ignoring all of this time.

A fourth on yet another memory I’d repressed… and a fifth… and a twentieth…

There were too many to keep track of. Each shattered fragment fixated on one singular thing.

And once all of them were gathered and ready… They began to speak.

-----

Sam could only watch in horrid fascination as Titus’ skin cracked and then began leaking black sludge.

However, instead of spilling out along the ground, she watched as the sludge coalesced. It built a jet-black monster roughly the size and shape of the giant dave they had fought in the earth dungeon so long ago.

However, as soon as the sludge finished pouring out, and Titus had long vanished, the monster in front of her lost any comparison to the earlier boss. It suddenly sprouted several grotesque tentacles, grew dozens of mouths, and just when she thought it couldn’t get worse, hundreds of blinking eyes formed.

As the boss health bar finished filling up, all of the mouths began wailing.

“Megan, my love, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“[Hero]. No, not you. Why? Why did I do it? Why? Why?”

“Is anyone there? Please! I’m so alone. Don’t leave me!”

Unlike the last [Demon Lord], Sam wasn’t quite sure what the threat was from this one, even with his ghastly appearance. However, she found out the main one inadvertently when she made the mistake of making eye contact.

Thoughts immediately assailed her.

You couldn’t save him.

You weren’t good enough.

You are never good enough.

It’s no wonder Lindsey left.

Sam might have been stuck in inaction if it weren’t for Garrett, who was still yelling and trying to break free of her grip. A particularly strong tug lurched her enough to break the eye contact, and she suddenly came back to herself.

A quick glance at her health bar also told her that the damage she took there wasn’t just mental.

“Okay, honey,” she said to the struggling former [Berserker]. “I’m gonna need your help, so sorry about this.” She forced him to face her, grabbed his shoulders to bend his head down a bit closer to her level, and then slapped him with all her might... Which was still just 1 damage since she didn’t have a hand-to-hand combat skill.

However, it worked. Garrett’s head snapped to the side, and he stood there blinking for a moment.

“Thanks,” he said. Then he started to look behind her, but Sam jerked his head down to meet her eyes.

“Don’t make eye contact!” she said. “That’s how this form attacks!”

“But, Sam…” his eyes drifted behind her again.

“No buts!”

“No, it’s- Look out!”

Garrett pushed her aside, and Sam finally realized what the warning had been about. His battleaxe appeared and cleaved through two tendrils that had been speeding their way. They both flopped to the ground and began writhing.

However, the attack wasn’t done. A third one wrapped around Garrett’s ankle, yanked him off his feet, and started dragging him away.

It didn’t get past “started.”

Sam immediately activated [Quick Cast] and chanted, “[Air Bolt]!”

Even as the cylinder of pure air severed the tentacle, Sam raced forward and helped Garrett to his feet.

It took only a nod, and the two of them took off away from the [Demon Lord] together.

They barely got out of sight before they realized something.

“Why isn’t he chasing us?” Sam asked.

“Maybe it lost aggro?” Garrett replied hesitantly.

The two backtracked after the [Demon Lord] and found it using its tendrils to move surprisingly quickly in the other direction.

“Faroff,” they both said in unison.

“I’ll try to lead it away,” Sam said. She deactivated [Quick Cast] as she had the troubling feeling that she would need to conserve as much mana as possible and then chanted. “Air, blast my foes. [Air Bolt]!”

She sent it careening into the [Demon Lord’s] side, but there was barely any indication that she had even hit him. Even the health bar barely moved.

“Well, if that didn’t work,” Sam frowned. “Guess I step it up a bit.” She activated [Dual Cast]. So much for saving mana. “Wind form a blade with which I will strike down the enemies that stand before me. [Air Cutter]!”

“[Air Cutter]!” her voice echoed out again.

The two thin blades of air shot out, lopped off a few tendrils, and hit the [Demon Lord] hard enough to push him back a few feet.

Unfortunately, he gave no indication that he even noticed Sam except for one mouth that was now saying, “It hurts,” over and over again.

Even that’s not enough? Sam had one last thing she could try, but she was a bit reluctant to use it. However, it was her last chance to try to lead Titus, or at least what was left of him, away from Faroff.

I still think this skill has to be bugged, she thought. Then, stowing her air-based wand and pulling out her ice and earth ones, she used it.

“[Elemental Echo]! [Ice Cutter]!” she made a slashing motion with her ice wand and then immediately stowed it to pull out her fire one. “[Earth Cutter]! [Fire Cutter]!”

She made sure to cast each spell with the best wand for amplifying it and then watched the blades of the three remaining elements fly towards the [Demon Lord].

Why did Sam think it was bugged? Well, she had been assured by every [Magic Researcher] she had talked to that [Ice Cutter], [Earth Cutter], and [Fire Cutter] as spells were impossible. So were [Earth Ball], [Ice Ball], and [Air Ball], but she could cast them all the same as long as she used a [Fire Ball] with her [Elemental Echo].

However, all of that would have been fine. She didn’t think it was that weird for the System to hand out spells that were impossible to cast when she had hit a level 25 class. No, the reason that she thought it had to be bugged was… it echoed her [Dual Cast] as well.

“[Ice Cutter]! [Earth Cutter]! [Fire Cutter]!”

6 elemental blades shot towards the [Demon Lord] as Sam nearly emptied her mana bar in a second. They impacted one after the other, but only the earth ones seemed to do noticeable damage.

Sam frowned. Dang it, he still has resistance to fire and ice.

However, even though it hadn’t been her main goal, her spells still lopped off a decent number of the tendrils, and she had done more than a quarter of his HP in damage.

The [Demon Lord] also stopped.

“It hurts,” one mouth said. Those words were echoed by all the other mouths one after another.

Okay, now follow the [Sorceress], Sam thought.

Unfortunately, it didn’t move anywhere. Instead, it kept repeating those two words, and all around it, the dismembered tentacles started crawling back to the main body.

As soon as they reached it, they crawled up to the mouths, and the [Demon Lord] started eating its lopped-off remains.

“I’m… definitely going to have nightmares about this,” Garrett said as he shuddered.

Sam almost gagged, and both of them looked away.

And that was how Sam noticed that the [Demon Lord’s] HP bar was going up.

“He’s healing off that?” Sam asked incredulously. “That’s cheating!”

The [Demon Lord] didn’t heal to full, but he did recover a significant portion of his missing health. Then, to make matters worse, it still didn’t go after Sam but instead continued on its way toward Faroff.

“Sam,” Garrett said. “We need to go warn Faroff.”

“But…” Sam trailed off. “Jake’s body.”

Garrett clenched a fist and looked away. “We’ll… have to come back for it.”

She nodded, and the two took off.

“Don’t look at its eyes. The aura gets stronger as you get close, and don’t get grabbed by the tentacles. Anything else we need to warn them about?” Sam shouted to Garrett as the two ran through the forest.

“Maybe tell them how you snapped me out of its madness?” Garrett shouted back. “How did you know to do that anyway?”

“That was always the key in anime! When your friend gets mind-controlled, you just beat the crud out of ‘em!”

Sam thought she heard him mutter, “I can’t believe such a stupid idea worked.” However, given their more than 40 years of marriage and the current crisis, she was willing to let that slide… For now.

Side by side, the two raced off with an eldritch horror coming hot on their heels.

----

As the alarm bell jolted Richard awake, and he saw the System message, he hurriedly put on his gear.

“It’s just a routine visit to the Faroff guild, she said,” Richard complained. “You haven’t inspected them in a while, so now’s a good time.”

Richard knew his slave-driver of a [Secretary] had cursed him when she had called it a routine visit.

“Nothing in this town is ever routine,” he muttered as he took off towards the alarm.

By the time he made it to the bell tower, several adventurers had already gathered around and were wandering and talking to each other aimlessly.

Rich snapped into [Guild Master] mode immediately.

“Fall in and wait for orders!” he shouted.

“Yes, sir!” they shouted in reply.

Richard strode into the bell tower and nearly ran into the panting [Mayor] who was on his way out.

Richard caught him. “[Mayor], what’s the meaning of this alarm?”

“[Demon Lord]… at the obelisk… went into the woods,” the [Mayor] replied in between huffs.

Richard had already known that was going to be the case. It was too much of a coincidence otherwise.

“Regain some SP, and leave this to me,” Richard replied.

Another [Demon Lord]. There was a part of Rich that was excited. Maybe now would be the time when he could claim the same glory, and level, that Jake had so long ago. However, that was tempered by his duty and the gravity of the situation. What could the [Demon Lord] want?

There was the town itself, but the [Demon Lord] apparently appeared right next to the obelisk and didn’t claim it.

He could also be making a beeline for the earth dungeon. There was little Rich could do to stop that. With Jake off heroing, who knows where, they wouldn’t even be able to claim it. Though, he could perhaps have a [Ranger] with [Tracking] help hunt the [Demon Lord] down to kill him before he got there.

Either of those seemed fine, but something nagged at him.

The dungeon! Rich finally realized. The town wasn’t in much danger, but if the [Demon Lord] claimed the dungeon first, they would be wide open for a monster wave.

He didn’t have time to waste. He addressed the gathering adventurers.

“As the System has so graciously told us, there’s a new [Demon Lord]. And it’s our lucky day because we get to be the first ones to kick his asp!” Rich roared.

The adventurers cheered back.

“All adventurers lower than level 10 to my left!” he shouted. As they shifted, he continued giving orders. “Sorry, but us old farts don’t need you youngins in our way. Your job is evacuation! If the bell tolls 3 times, get the civvies out of here!”

He addressed the other adventurers. “Half of you will be guarding this town’s obelisk, and the other half is going to the dungeon! We won’t let the [Demon Lord] have either of them!”

His orders were actually going to be for them to cut and run if the [Demon Lord] was too much for them at the dungeon. However, you can’t be a [Guild Master] for long if you don’t understand the importance of morale, which means not even mentioning defeat.

He began assigning the newbie parties into squads and gave them sections of town for the evacuation. Meanwhile, the older and more experienced parties split up, with one group volunteering to head to the dungeon.

His order giving was interrupted when he heard a thunderclap from off in the woods.

He was relieved for a moment.

Jake, you asp. What are you doing down here? You could have at least came and said hi to an old rival-

His thoughts trailed off as he saw the System message.

System: The Demon Lord has slain the Hero! As the Hero has named no successor, a new Hero will be chosen

Rich was stunned for a moment.

“No,” Rich whispered. “It isn’t possible.”

Jake was a living legend. The immortal [Hero] who could slay anything with a single blow. The first one to ever master a skill.

Richard felt hollow inside.

He looked at the literal hundreds of adventurers gathered before him and suddenly wondered if he had nearly enough.

He was not the only one who was thinking that.

“Wasn’t the [Hero] level 25?” one murmured.

“I don’t want to fight whatever could kill him,” another replied.

“We need to get out of here, or he’ll kill us all!” a third shouted.

No. Richard thought. “Not in my guild,” he whispered.

The murmurs continued, and the crowd continued getting agitated.

“Not in my guild!” Richard roared. As the crowd looked up at him, he continued. “Not in my guild. Anyone who wants to retreat here can go with my blessing but know this. The adventurer’s guild will be closed to you forever. I can understand fear. I can understand shaking in your armor as you prepare to face a foe that is leagues beyond you. But…” he paused. “Conquering that fear. That is what an adventurer is. It isn’t someone with flashy sword skills or who has mastered a spell. It’s someone who is willing to put their life on the line for other people. Who will fight when others have given up hope. Who will take up arms against an impossible circumstance and come out the other side!”

He bellowed out. “For too long, we’ve grown stagnant! We’ve cleared the same dungeons, fought the same monsters! If we don’t seek out and challenge the new, then we’ve shamed the name of adventurer!”

He pulled out his sword and raised it above his head. “I go to defend the dungeon against this new threat. Who’s with me!?”

Somehow, that speech did it. There were still some at the edges of the crowd that snuck away, but the majority had raised their voices in a shout in response.

The only problem was that he now had too many volunteers. Some people still had to stay and guard the obelisk after all.

He quickly split the group into two equal parts as best as he could and then took one of them with him.

As they raced off to the dungeon, Richard couldn’t help but realize he might have gotten carried away.

If the [Demon Lord] isn’t actually attacking… Ethan’s going to give me so much ship about this.

-----

The [Demon Lord] was not headed for the dungeon, but fortunately, Sam and Garrett met up with Richard and his crowd of adventurers while he was still on the way.

After getting them turned around and headed back into Faroff, Sam relayed the information that they knew about the [Demon Lord].

… Most of it.

Sam debated whether or not she should tell him, but in the end, decided that he needed to know.

“Rich,” Sam said. “We need to talk when you have a moment.”

Richard finished barking out orders for the different parties and then nodded.

Sam led him and Garrett away into a nearby alley and then sighed. “The [Demon Lord]… It’s still Titus.”

Richard’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their socket. “What? But he’s been dead for 50 years!”

Sam shrugged. “Uhh… He got better?”

Richard frowned. “If it’s still Titus, should we be going for a non-lethal takedown?”

“Yes,” Sam said.

“No,” Garrett said at the same time.

Sam rounded on her husband. “He may be in a different form, but that’s still Titus in there! Why would you want to kill him!?”

“He killed Jake!” Garrett shouted back. “Why are you willing to let him get away with it!?”

“You saw him! He wasn’t in his right mind. He needs help! Not for us to kill him!”

“And how many people will die for us to get him help!?”

“Please,” Sam begged both Garrett and Richard. “Just give him a second chance. We just need to cure his madness-“

Rich cut her off with a raised hand. “Sorry, Sam. Doom Fury already gave Titus a second chance.” He turned and walked off.

Sam looked over to Garrett, who was shaking his head softly. “And we gave him nothing but second chances. It has to end sometime, and I draw the line at murdering Jake.”

She watched as Garrett followed after Rich.

Then she leaned up against the wall and slid down it.

She didn’t know if the System actually listened to prayers like the [Priests] said, but she figured it couldn’t hurt. Please. Let everyone stay alive.

Almost as if to mock her prayers, Titus’ boss health bar reappeared right at that moment.

There has to be some way to stop him without killing him, right?

Her eyes widened at that. She shot to her feet and took off into the woods.

She had one last gambit. One that only she could make.

She just hoped that she could make it in time.

-----

Meanwhile, Richard was making some last-minute preparations.

“Sir,” an adventurer came up and saluted with a fist to his chest. “We’re prioritizing the evacuation along the route to the obelisk, but it’s slow-going. We’ll need to buy them some more time. Also, a [Message] has been sent to the other group. Reinforcements are on their way.”

“Good work,” Rich replied. “Fall in with your party. I have a few final instructions.”

He raised his voice to be heard by all the gathered adventurers, many of whom were up on the top of the houses that lined the street.

“As far as we can tell, the [Demon Lord] is making a beeline for the obelisk. We have no idea what will happen if it reaches it, but it definitely won’t be good.” Richard paused for a second before roaring, “That’s why we aren’t going to let it get anywhere close!”

Rich waited a moment for the resulting cheers to die down before continuing.

“Since it’s making a beeline, it will have to come down this street. We’re going to pepper it from range! Melees, you can’t get in close because it has an aura effect! Keep the [Rangers] and mages safe! Finally, don’t make eye contact! It applies some type of debuff that does damage! If one of your party members is caught up in it, smack some sense into them! Literally! Even 1 point of HP damage should be enough!”

He had barely finished speaking when he heard the wailing coming from the forest.

The entire gathered crowd turned towards the forest, where the [Demon Lord] was now visible. It was pulling itself along and flattening trees in its path without a care.

As Richard watched the [Demon Lord], he couldn’t help but shudder at its grotesque form. However, he didn’t hesitate.

“Fire at will!” Richard shouted. “If any of you miss something that size, don’t bother coming back to the guild tomorrow!”

Arrows and bolt spells flew and practically showered the [Demon Lord].

Richard watched in satisfaction as its health dropped steadily. However, it didn’t last long. As soon as the boss had lost a quarter of its health, it paused and began eating its own dismembered tentacles.

A part of Rich watched that completely clinically as if it was just another raid boss like he had fought back on Earth. However, that was only a part of him. That has to be the nastiest form of health regen I’ve ever seen, he thought with an involuntary shudder.

Either way, that was over soon. And after that, it grew dozens more tentacles and took off towards the town with redoubled speed.

To make matters worse, it also hadn’t lost as much HP as Rich hoped.

He did some rough estimates.

We’ll still be able to grind it down, Rich determined. If it doesn’t gain aggro based on attacks, we just have to follow it along the rooftops all the way to the obelisk.

It was going to be an easy fight.

However, there was one thing that Rich miscalculated.

As the [Demon Lord] drew closer, it was not headed for the street.

Rich’s eyes widened. “Everyone! Off the rooftops! Get down!”

The [Demon Lord] crashed into the first building as the adventurers dove and rolled off it.

Unfortunately, they were now in range.

The [Demon Lord’s] tentacles lashed out. Some of the [Warriors] and [Knights] were fast enough to dismember them as they came, but all of the others were not so lucky. They were grabbed and dragged towards its main body.

“Shoot them down!” Rich shouted.

The one piece of good news with the [Demon Lord] grabbing onto so many adventurers was that it lost its ability to move towards the obelisk. It was a sitting duck as the archers and mages who weren’t caught up in the attack shot the tentacles and got everyone down one by one.

“Fall back from the [Demon Lord]!” Rich called out.

Most of them headed his call. They ran back towards the rest of the group, and only a few of them needed a slap to rid them of the aura’s effects.

However, there were a few that stood locked in one place.

“[Mage Bolts] on the stragglers!” Rich shouted. When the [Sorcerers] and [Wizards] hesitated, he called out. “Now!”

Somewhat hesitant [Mage Bolts] flew. However, it was enough. The 4 damage spells knocked enough sense into the remaining adventurers that they were able to flee from the [Demon Lord] under their own power.

“Trail along behind it!” Rich shouted. “It won’t attack if we’re back far enough! Keep pressing the attack!”

The [Rangers] and mages now had to take their shots at a run, but that was nothing for a seasoned adventurer.

The only issue was that as the [Demon Lord] propelled itself through yet another house, it inadvertently gave itself cover. That, combined with the limited space to follow behind it, meant that ranged attackers were starting to step on each other’s toes.

Richard split off several of the parties to go ahead to the next street and cut it off. He decided to go with them since the group that he left seemed to have things in hand.

The [Demon Lord’s] health was back to going down steadily. As he ran with the group, he started second-guessing himself.

Will this be enough? Will we still be able to take it down before it reaches the obelisk?

Rich and the rest of the group settled in and waited for the [Demon Lord] to burst through the final house on the street.

Looking at the [Demon Lord’s] HP bar, Rich nodded. We’ll make it. We have to.

There was just one problem.

The reinforcements.

“There it is! Charge!” came the shout from further down the street, right as the [Demon Lord] burst through the final building.

“No!” Rich shouted. “Don’t get in close!”

It was too late. Several [Warriors] and [Knights] had already closed the gap and begun hacking at the monster’s body.

They only lasted at that for a few seconds. One by one, they froze in place as they made eye contact with one of the [Demon Lord’s] many eyes.

“[Mage Bolts]!” Rich shouted. “Quick!”

His group opened fire. However, the reinforcements balked at the command, and then it was too late.

Several of the charging adventurers joined in with the [Demon Lord] in wailing.

“It hurts. It hurts,” one said as he ran and slashed at a [Ranger] who stood there dumbfounded.

“Snap out of it, Eric!” the [Ranger] called back. He avoided the first blow but didn’t avoid the second. “Alright, you asked for it.”

The [Ranger] drew and let loose.

The [Warrior] staggered backward a bit… and then continued pressing the attack.

“I thought you said damage would snap them out of it!” the archer yelled in panic as he tried to dodge his friend’s attacks.

Rich was stunned for a few moments, and that was all it took for the fight to devolve into chaos.

The adventurers who had lost their minds started overpowering other adventurers and then dragging them over to the [Demon Lord]. After being forced to look into its eyes, they soon got back up under its control. That included ones that had been dropped below 0 HP.

Rich needed to give the order to take the brainwashed adventurers down… but he couldn’t.

What if it kills them? I can’t force them to murder each other!

Faced with the rapidly deteriorating fight in front of him, Richard had only one thing that he could try to salvage the situation.

Please let this work, he thought desperately. “[Duelist’s Challenge]!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.

The effect was immediate. The tentacles immediately dropped all of the adventurers, the ones who had gone crazy suddenly came back to their senses or collapsed to the ground, and every single eye on the [Demon Lord] turned in Rich’s direction.

I can’t believe it worked… After last time I thought it would be immune.

Rich had tried the [Duelist] class’s signature skill against a [Demon Lord] a long time ago, and it had utterly failed.

Now, he just had to deal with the fact that he had used a skill to challenge a [Demon Lord] to a 1 v 1.

At least I don’t have to win. Rich chuckled humorlessly to himself as he stepped forward.

“Get everyone out of here!” he shouted. “Sound the alarm bell! I’ll buy you time!”

Most of the adventurers took off. However, one [Ranger] apparently didn’t like the sound of that and shot an arrow at the [Demon Lord].

It phased through harmlessly and hit the ground on the other side.

Rich laughed. “Nice try, but the skill doesn’t allow any interruptions.” Rich turned to the [Demon Lord] and pulled out his sword. “Now… Come at me!” he roared.

The giant tentacled beast lunged forward, and Rich was soon in the thick of it.

Rich slashed through one tentacle that grabbed at his ankle, dove to avoid a second, and popped back to his feet with a roll.

However, the physical assault was just one half of it.

You’ll always be second-best.

“Shut up,” Rich said as he sliced another appendage off the monster.

Even Jake lost. Why do you think you will win?

“Shut up!” Rich shouted as he cleaved two more tentacles off his opponent. “I’m going to make you pay for what you did to him!”

However, as if sensing the direction of Rich’s opposition, it changed tactics.

You looked up to him, but even he was insignificant.

He wasn’t worth the praise that you gave him.

The goading worked, and Rich’s attacks got more reckless as he charged towards the monster.

One tentacle snaked behind him and managed to trip him up.

You fell for it.

You’re too stupid to win.

He was yanked into the air, and his sword fell out of his grip.

Richard was furious and-

He paused and took a deep breath.

I won’t let it win with such a cheap trick! He thought as he rallied himself.

Pulling out his spare sword, he cut himself down and landed heavily.

More thoughts tried to assail him, but he tuned them out.

Nothing more than sword drills.

Pouring all of his focus into his technique, he fought his way through the dozens of tentacles that almost continuously lashed out at him.

He could have gone that way until his SP ran out if the [Demon Lord] hadn’t cheated once again.

Another tentacle lashed out but stopped just out of sword range.

However, Richard had looked at it, and that was all the [Demon Lord] was going for.

It had somehow managed to grow an eye on the tentacle.

Rich started falling into its madness but pulled himself out just in time to dismember a tentacle that had captured his ankle.

However, with that new trick up its sleeve, Richard was no longer a match for the [Demon Lord].

He had to hesitate whenever he saw movement, and soon the [Demon Lord] had simply surrounded him with eyes that were just out of reach.

His only recourse was to completely shut his own eyes and attempt to fight that way.

He managed to track and cut tentacles simply by the sound they made as they whistled towards him. However, it was his first attempt at blind fighting, so the fact that he lasted nearly a minute was laudable.

One tentacle finally snaked its way through by simply moving too slowly for Richard to detect it.

He was yanked off his feet once again, and from there, it was over. A second tentacle disarmed him, and he was brought in closer to the main body.

It was planning to use its eye-based weapon to turn him against anyone else that they came across.

There was just one issue for the [Demon Lord].

Richard still didn’t have his eyes open.

That actually ended up stalling the [Demon Lord] for another minute or so, as some of the mouths started arguing about what to do.

However, it resolved that issue by just slamming Richard into the ground over and over again.

After one final slam that actually dislodged him, Rich was free.

He tried to stand back up… and couldn’t.

Out of HP, Richard was left lying on the ground.

He chuckled. “Well, Jake. Maybe in the afterlife, you and I can finally go on an adventure together.”

He kept his eyes screwed shut. There was no way he was going to let his life end as a lunatic.

Noticing the lack of resistance, one of the tentacles grabbed him, and Rich found himself drug along.

I have to admit, after all of that, I didn’t expect to die to bleed-out damage.

Then suddenly, Rich felt the tentacle go slack.

“Looked like you could use a hand!” someone said to him. He felt himself being picked up off the ground and wondered if he had gone mad despite his best efforts. Curiosity got the best of him, and he decided to open his eyes. When he did, he realized it was Garrett carrying him away from the [Demon Lord].

“Thanks for the assist!” Rich replied. “But… Did it really have to be a princess carry?”

-----

Sam had made her way through the evacuating throngs of people to where she was sure Titus was headed.

Then she sat by the obelisk and waited.

She wasn’t kept in suspense long.

Titus’ great monstrous form crashed through yet another building on the edge of the square and continued in a straight line towards the obelisk.

Sam stood up and walked towards Titus with her hands clasped behind her back.

Surprisingly, he stopped… At least, mostly. Several tentacles were still trying to propel him forward, but a few in the front had planted themselves on the ground so that he was stalled in one place.

“Hey, Titus, do you recognize me?” she asked. It was a bit awkward talking to the giant form in front of her without looking at it, but she eventually settled her gaze on the ground in front of it.

Most of the mouths continued their dark muttering and wailing, but not all of them.

“Sam,” one mouth said.

“Sam,” another agreed.

“Tried to kill us,” said a third.

“Is going to hurt us,” said a fourth.

Sam shook her head. “No, I’m not going to hurt you, Titus. But I know that you don’t want to hurt people. You don’t want to claim the obelisk. That just isn’t you.”

“She lies.”

“Just like last time.”

“Will hurt-“

“No,” Sam said as she nodded towards her shoulder. “Can’t you see who I brought along with me?”

Perched on her shoulder and completely oblivious to the gravity of the situation was a dave that had been alive for more than half a century.

Several eyes rotated to look at it.

“David Junior.”

“Wouldn’t bring him to a fight.”

“It’s a trick.”

“It’s a trap.”

Sam shook her head. “No, Titus. It isn’t a trick. I don’t want to fight you, but… You need help.”

“Won’t be tricked again.” One tentacle snaked towards her.

“No.” Another tentacle slapped it away.

“Run, Sam!” Titus said as a third tentacle snaked towards her.

She held her ground, even as a fourth slapped it away.

“I’m not running, Titus,” she said. “And I know you can fight it.”

“Trying to fight it.”

“Won’t fall for her trap.”

“Can’t fight it.”

“Run, Sam!”

Sam watched as Titus struggled against himself. More and more of his mouths started saying her name. Some said it in panic and worry, others in anger.

Meanwhile, his body slowly inched closer and closer, and Sam slowly gave ground until her back was up against the obelisk.

One of them snaked past her and touched the obelisk.

She had failed. He was going to claim it… Or so she thought.

The tentacles suddenly disappeared, and the main body of the [Demon Lord] began shrinking. The eyes and mouths vanished, and eventually, all that was left was Titus, who was lying on the ground.

He struggled to his feet and looked over at Sam.

“The time limit. Time was up. At the limit,” he shook his head. “Next time, run. Was dangerous. Would have killed. Didn’t want to kill, but would’ve.”

Before she could respond, he [Flash Stepped] away and took off in an awkward run.

Sam slowly unclasped her hands that had been trembling throughout the entire exchange. Then she unceremoniously collapsed to the floor.

She couldn’t help the tears of relief that flooded her eyes as she clutched David Junior to her chest.

She was alive. Faroff was safe, and…

“He’s still in there somewhere,” Sam whispered to David Junior.