Beneath Suvron’s Pass.

27th Mazem, 1092.

Kashi led his party to the end of the abyss , which turned out to be a rock expanse roughly the width of a house that rose beyond the 'black zone'. He placed his hand on the rock-face and then frowned.

"It's a dead-end," Hektor muttered.

Kashi shook his head. "That's what I thought too." He stepped back and released a multitude of magelights. They lit up the 'wall,' and Hektor balked.

A straight 'gash' set in the middle ran as high as the eye could see. Separate gashes arched off both ends of the wall to meet beyond the 'black zone.'

It was clear this was a door. But this begged the question: How large was the rest of the building? And more importantly: What being needed doors this large?

Kashi punched the door and then placed his ear against it. He shared a worried look with Kira, who shook her head.

"What? What's up?" Hektor demanded an answer. He hated being the only one not in the know.

"We can't breach it," replied Kashi. "It's far too thick. I'd wager a meter at the least."

Hektor cursed. "How do we get in then? Unless you wanna turn back?"

The daeben flashed a knowing grin. "No, we're in the right place. You smell that?"

Hektor sniffed the air as hard he could. "Don't smell nothing."

"Sorry, I forgot. ” Kashi reminded himself that not everyone was crazy enough to specifically train their sense of smell. “ Anyway, we're good where we are. We just have to wait for a bit. It should open any second now."

"How're you so sure."

"Well, becau-" Kashi stopped talking and readied his bow. "Ready your sword. They're coming."

"Eh? Wh-" Hektor's words died in his throat. He readied his sword as the trio stepped away from the wall, which had begun to slide open.

Surprisingly there were no accompanying noises from the gears or the door itself. It was no wonder they had not heard a sound throughout their brief stay in the abyss.

Kashi did not have time to ponder how the machine worked , because as soon as the gap was wide enough for a man to squeeze through, a beast rushed out at them.

Short but terrible, it resembled a bi-pedal cross between an ant and a rat. It sported two giant funnel - like ears, with orange beady eyes. Its skin, like most other monsters down there, was layered with a hard material. Its armor was blue, and the extra armor down its middle was dirt-brown. It was an interesting color palette for a being of the darkness.

He rewarded the enthusiastic prey with an arrow to the temple. Hektor finished it off, and Kira gouged as much of it as she could before the next came.

Probably because of its size, the door opened at a snail's pace.

The trio was glad for this as i t forced the monsters to come at them one or two at a time, which made it easy to dispatch them.

You discovered a new species!

Name it?

"Skittles!" Kashi screamed distractedly as another of its kind was already rushing out the door.

As the opening widened, so did the number of skittles that ran out. Like rats, they charged together, running over each other to reach their target.

Kashi's hands moved at blinding speed. He notched, drew, and shot more than seven arrows at a time faster than some respected archers would one. He continued firing, but they just kept coming, almost single-mindedly.

"RAAAA!" Hektor yelled his battle-cry as he cleaved through hordes of skittles. They had no visible mouths and did not scream as they died, which irked him. A skittle jumped onto his head, and he bellowed at the top of his voice. "GET OFF!" The skittle fell to the earth, where it stayed absolutely still.

The skittles around Hektor seemed disoriented, and he took full advantage of this.

A sickening grin on his face, Hektor begun mowing them down mercilessly.

"Hektor! Your arm!" Kashi called from within a swarm of Skittles. He'd abandoned the bow but was still using the arrows he'd fired earlier. He ducked under Skittles' charge, picked a bolt from the ground, and stabbed it right into the skull of another. He lifted the limp body and smashed it into a third. He removed the arrow and then flung it.

Whoosh!

It missed Hektor by a hair and pierced a s kittle that was creeping on Kira.

Hektor grabbed a skittle by its throat and held it there as he checked his arm. An unfamiliar insignia hovered above his armor. Upon closer inspection, it resembled Sram's peculiar mallet. The skittle he held dug its claws into his arm. He crushed its neck and noticed the base of the mallet light up.

Kashi also noticed it. His eyes widened as he figured what the insignia was. "Hektor, kill as many of them as you can!"

"Wat, does it look like I'm doing?" The teen shot back as he cleaved through the never-ending horde of skittle. With each kill, the glow rose up the handle of the mallet.

Ahead of both men, Kira laid waste to all. Her teeth and claws tore through armor, flesh, and blood alike. Her fur was hardened to the point where none of their attacks even fazed her. Whenever they seemed to swarm her, she would let out a furious bark. The intimidation skill either froze them in their tracks or forced a retreat. Whatever outcome, she hunted them down immediately and without mercy.

"Jump!" Hektor yelled at the top of his lungs. He did not understand how or why, but the second the mallet fully shone, he instantly knew what to do next.

Kashi fired an arrow into a skittle. He hopped onto the arrow before the beast could fall over and launched himself into the air. Kira, on the other hand, mowed through the skittles, dove at the wall, kicked against it and then launched herself as high as possible.

His party out of the way, Hektor held his breath as he stomped his left foot against the earth. His muscles bulged, his veins popped as his sword sliced through skittles in an arc.

An arc of condensed energy cleaved through the rest of the skittles. It did not slow in its decimation until it was done. Only then did it suddenly dissipate.

Hektor collapsed to a knee, his breathing labored and hard. Profuse sweat soaked his armor; his bones and muscles ached.

Kashi dropped to the earth beside him. He placed a hand on Hektor's shoulder and was slightly taken aback by the warrior's shuddering. "You'll be ok," Kashi reassured. "It's only like this because it's your first time. It should hurt less the more you do it."

Hektor swallowed hard as he rose to his feet. "I'm fine. Was just a little tired."

Kashi decided not to press the issue. There were also clear signs that Hektor's vitality was restoring quickly. It was probably a penalty of the skill to be weakened for a few seconds. After one last glance in his partner's direction, he pressed on.

You Have Entered Suvron's Lair!

Your levels are too low for this dungeon

It Is Recommended You Return with an appropriate Party.

Kashi's brows furrowed at the prompt. Throughout his experience in L.N.E, he had never received level warnings. It was almost like the game was designed to let players perish for being too hasty. This was why this particular prompt irked him. Why would there be a warning here? Was the dungeon really that difficult?

Kashi looked to Hektor, who was flexing his arms. It did not matter either way. They could either press on or perish in the abyss. "Too weak am I?"

"What's wrong?" Kira asked, picking up on his distress.

Kashi shook his head. "The gods think we're too weak to enter. They say we should retreat."

The direwolf's eyes burned with rage. "I am not weak!"

"Don't look at me like that, ” Kashi revealed a wry smile. “ I never said you were."

"I ain't weak either," Hektor challenged.

Kashi grinned. "Perfect. We're a bunch of suicidal maniacs." On that note, he advanced. To his surprise, the earth behind the door lit up as he walked . With each step he took, the light spread further.

Hektor and Kira walked up to him, puzzled by his sudden halt. They took a look at their surroundings, and their eyes widened in amazement. They watched, amazed as six giant crystals lit up in the darkness, each a unique color of the rainbow. Their collective glows exploded and blessed the entirety of the sanctum with their light.

"Holy fuck," Hektor muttered as he walked to Kashi's side.

Suvron's lair was comprised of a lake in the middle of a meadow, which several never-before-seen creatures inhabited. The beasts all seemed to be herbivores and had strange black spikes growing out of their bodies. The 'room' if you could call it that, was as large, if not larger than a football field. This was all encased in circular walls that stretched high above them.

The walls had alternating semicircular balconies on opposite sides, each higher than the last with no clear passageways connecting them. The floors balconies all had a single room which they were connected to, but the trio could not see the inside of the rooms as they were carved into the wall itself.

"Kash i , above us," Kira called , and Kashi followed her sight-line.

A t the very top of the tower, a figure was encased in a beautiful, violet stone.

Kashi knew why this scene felt familiar. "Seems we've run into the holding cells for one of the gods."

Hektor squinted at the crystal. "If this is a prison, den where a re the guards?"

Sharp cries drew the trio's attention to the lake to see the strange creatures fleeing in terror. Bubbles rose and popped at the heart of the lake . Over time, the frequency between ripples intensified.

Kashi grimaced. "You had to ask..."

A long black column shot out of the lake, spraying water onto every corner of the room. The column arched unnaturally, then curved downwards, where it paused as it locked onto its prey.

Kashi swallowed hard.

The snake (?) was thicker than three carriages and at least longer than Riven's walls. This was considering that a good portion of its body was still hidden underwater. It had no eyes, but two long feelers grew out of where they would have been.

Suvron : Lv???

Kashi drew to full length and used [ Drill ] to fire at its exposed mid-riff.

C lang!

The arrow bounced off without so much as a scratch.

Suvron arched its neck and let out a bloodcurdling roar. It opened its mouth, and a swirling mass of water formed between its jaws. [ Water Cannon ] fired off tempestuous balls of water capable of crushing anything it came across.

ROOOOAAR!

"Oh, fuck," Kashi cursed as he dashed away.

The ground just where he'd been exploded as the cannon crashed into it.

Kashi's eyes darted around the room for a clue on how to escape. He noticed the previous beasts huddled around the stones. "Kira!"

Kira picked up on his cue. She barked at Hektor, and he hopped onto her back.

Kashi covered over 25 meters in a second as he pushed his body to its limits for the first time. The earth erupted around him as Suvron continuously fired off his cannons. Kira ran past him and skidded to a halt by the closest crystal. He joined her side, then spun around to face Suvron.

To his surprise, Suvron had stopped firing. It seemed reluctant to hit the crystal.

Suvron stretched down towards them at a steady pace. If the humanoids thought they could hide by the crystal, then it would just eat them instead of using the cannon. It suddenly accelerated.

"The crystal. Smash it!" Kashi screamed as Suvron bore down at them.

The trio struck the crystal with all of their might.

BAM!

Suvron swallowed the crystal together with everything withing ten meters of it. It reared its head back and ate everything.

*Shing!

Suvron let out a shrill cry as the red crystal appeared back in its spot, having teleported from within its stomach. It roared at the crystal as if promising to destroy it.

Above it on the first floor, Kashi, Kira, and Hektor appeared inside a room that held a smaller version of the red crystal. The walls were made solely of the black crystals that grew on the herbivores' backs.

Kashi reached for the red crystal, but it blasted him away with extreme prejudice.

It pulsed like a heartbeat as a hundred skittles appeared in front of it.

Faced with the overwhelming numbers, Kashi clenched and relaxed his fists around his bow. Ah, these should serve to relieve some stress.

He placed his bow in his inventory and equipped five sets of quivers around his body. He pounded his fists together and activated [ Gaia ] .

The skill imbued his fists with earth energy, raising his attack by 50%, his critical chance by 8%, and dealt additional 50 Earth Damage.

Kashi drew two arrows and flung them with all of his might. They tore through four Skittles each, then buried themselves in their respective fifth victims. Kashi then sped past the startled Skittles. He yanked his arrows out of his victims and then , with a stomp, f ive tall earthen walls rose around him.

Bam!

Kashi kicked at each of them with all the strength he could muster.

The room was rather small, so the skittles were bunched each other. This heavily impeded their escape. They screamed in terror as the slabs mowed them out of the way before smashing the unlucky ones against the wall.

Ping!

Through Continuous Use, You Have Invented Your Own Unique Style.

1000 Arrows Technique:

A hybrid between Realm Piercing Bow, Earth Shattering Martial Arts and Archery Mastery

Can now use Archery and Realm Piercing bow Skills even without a bow equipped.

Ssss!

Instinct urged Kashi to jump back . As a result, he barely dodged a vat of poison that melted a nearby skittle.

Kashi turned to his assailant. "What the?"

Kashi was shocked to see a hydra glaring at him. The hydra, a being with two stout feet, a long tail, and seven snakeheads, was quite small at barely twice his height. Its seven heads hissed and roared at him, but he couldn't feel an iota of fear. It was like seeing a baby Godzilla. He had to hold back his laugh. Instead, he scanned his surroundings.

His earlier attack had opened a lot more room, but there were still a good number of skittles. He shared a look with Hektor and Kira.

The warrior and dire wolf engaged the skittles while he squared off against the baby Hydra.

Hydra spat at him, but he skillfully dodged its attacks as he edged closer. He drew and held three arrows in both hands, eyes set on Hydra's heads. Once he was close enough, he flung the arrows. Using [ Drill ], they spun rapidly as they smashed into their target.

Hydra hissed as it staggered backward. While the force had affected it, the arrows failed to pierce its skin. It noticed the shocked dismay on Kashi's face and dashed at him with surprising agility. Some heads spat poison while others lunged at him to bite off his head, arms, or whatever.

Kashi dodged all its attacks at the last second, but he was eventually hit with a bit of the poison. Luckily, his poison resistance had significantly increased. It only took 5 HP every second as opposed to 30HP every second.

Kashi kept dodging while backing away until he hit the wall.

Seeing its prey trapped, Hydra's head struck with reckless abandon.

Kashi let his legs give way.

He fell just below the Hydra's attack, but what he saw next fascinated him.

The Hydra cried out in pain as it reared back its heads. Black blood oozed from where it had struck against the wall. It hissed bloody murder as it struck down against the daeben.

Boom!

Hektor body-slammed Hydra against the wall from behind.

Enraged, Kira instantaneously doubled in size as she dove over Hektor and latched onto one of Hydra's neck with her teeth. Her teeth ripped through its scales, as her claws dug into its body.

Hydra split its next attack. Two heads lurched at Kashi, two twisted around and spat poison at Hektor while the last two bit away madly at Kira's impervious skin.

Kashi had expected its attack. His bow was already equipped with four arrows, notched and drawn. He fired two arrows each into the Hydra's open mouth. The arrows ripped through and out, then pinned against the ceiling. So its insides were not as strong as the outside. Good to know.

This Kashi thought as Kira ripped off the head she had been working on.

The Hydra ceased its attacks as it reared its heads in pain and staggered back.

"Like Hell!" Hektor screamed as he grabbed the beast by the tail. Mustering up his strength, he lifted, then whipped the entirety of the creature back against the wall. It cried out again as the jagged rocks ripped through its skin.

Kashi did not give it a moment to rest. He rolled to his feet, grabbed a head, and then jammed it against the wall. The rock ripped the head apart, but he did not stop ramming it against the wall until it was completely deformed.

A piece of the wall broke off, and he grabbed it mid-air. He kneed Hydra in the midriff, and it fell over, already weakened by the loss of two heads.

Kashi stabbed its exposed chest with the rock repeatedly until a large gash appeared. He punched through the wound and searched its insides until he felt the tell-tale beating of its heart. "You might have seven heads and seven brains, but you only have one heart!"

As if realizing what he planned to do, all its heads converged on him.

* CRUNCH!

Five heads fell to the floor, lifeless.

Kashi withdrew his hand, panting as he rested against the beast's body. He looked at his bloodied hands and rocked his head back in animated laughter. He had never thought to try that before, let alone actually execute it. It was almost scary how good he was becoming at killing.

Hydra's body dissipated, leaving its scaly skin behind as a drop. Kashi gladly took it. It had proven more durable than anything he had. It would be a fine crafting material. He then used [Identify] on the black stone.

Obsidian Ore [ Tier 3 Crafting Material]

Stronger than Steel, this glass ore is created in the depths of volcanoes.

Can be used in the manufacture of spellstones, weapons and decorations.

Requires Intermediate Mining to acquire.

Requires Intermediate Blacksmith to refine.

Can also be obtained from select fauna.

Scree!

Kashi's respite was short-lived as outside their floor, Suvron's pained cries permeated the very fabric of their existences.

Suvron brought its head level with their floor and 'peered' into the room. It suddenly went mad with rage, screaming at the top of its lungs. It smashed against the balcony repeatedly in an attempt to get into the room, but luckily the balcony held. It drew back and prepared a larger than normal water cannon.

With the layout of the room, even if the dodged the initial attacks, they would either drown or be washed out by the water.

Kashi searched around for somewhere they could hide when his eyes met the crystal. Everything seemed to come back to the crystals.

"Fuck, this better work!" Kashi flung the obsidian shard with all he had against the crystal.

*crack

The crystal shattered, and almost instantaneously, a platform shot out from beneath their floor. The platform shot upwards at an inclined angle towards the opposite second floor.

It caught Suvron and pinned it against the opposite wall, pressing against the snake as it doggedly tried to reach its destination.

[Water Cannon] exploded in Suvron's mouth, disorientating it.

Kashi, Kira, and Hektor hopped onto the platform and then ran up the slope. Once they were close enough, Kashi grabbed Hektor's arm, spun around, and then launched him with the force of a cannon.

Hektor's Mallet Insignia glowed brightly as he screamed and cut through Suvron's neck.

The blade, wrapped in Sram's energy, tore through Suvron like butter while the rest of the energy severed through.

Hektor dropped to his knees as Suvron's neck and the head fell into the lake below.

Kashi picked him up and hopped onto the second-floor balcony as the platform completed its journey,

Before they could even catch their breaths, two heads identical to the one that just dropped burst out of the lake, roaring at the top of their lungs.

"Fuck..."

Suvron was a Hydra...