The expedition encountered no more [Monsters] after that, it seems that the [Alpha Gargoyle] had commanded the rest of the [Hordes] to attack all at once, that's what most of them expected since they walked for another six hours.

Finally, some people saw some light at the end of the tunnel and pointed towards it. Most of the expedition were relieved and began to run towards it, the ones who didn’t were the people who weren’t connected as much towards their group.

Cordelie was still carrying the tophat and met up with Nicko. She gave the [Dragon-Kin] the tophat before sitting with him and asking him about his expedition. Nicko said the monsters were weak, but he did [Level up] quite a lot and gained new abilities thanks to [Glutton], one of which he liked.

It was called [Combo Seer], it allowed Nicko to see the best place to punch next, as long as the one before landed. Although he couldn’t show Cordelie, he stated that it was like these massive orange circles would appear in his vision, so he would punch there next.

It was during a fight where Nicko faced a [Boss Monster] alone, it was a massive [Earthen Cyclops], which he enjoyed. Cordelie asked if that [Boss] was followed by a massive amount of [Monsters], much larger than the ones before.

“Yeah,” Nicko stated “It was much larger than before, although [Glutton] didn’t give me any new [Abilities] and [Skills],”

“I see, Harrian finished a [Boss] by himself, one which also had [Goblin] origins, I also said to him how Aelors group gained power,” Nicko went quiet for a second, putting his right hand to his chin before he gave Cordelie an answer.

“Tell me, how did he and most of his team gain that power?”

“Well, you see…”

Cordelie told Nicko the story, she was about halfway through, right about when they found the creepy door. Nicko was seriously intrigued by the story, that he didn’t realize that someone had sat next to him.

Enar, the [Hero], had sat next to Nicko, also intrigued about the story. Both of them nearly had the same reaction, and only by the end of the story, Nicko then realized that Enar was next to him. He was slightly shocked, but he could guess why she was able to sneak upon him.

“It seems that everyone is almost here,” Nicko chuckled.

“It seems so, now where is that [Demihuman]?” Enar replied.

“The one who was behind Nicko before Enar arrived, thanks to [Stealth],” A familiar voice then said.

The duo jumped, looking behind them to see Atogin, happily waving to both of them. He sat down and began to preen his feather with his hands. Everyone silently agreed again, Atogin had grown even more bird-like again.

“Man I tell you, that final [Boss] was tough, I had to fight it alone,” Atogin was looking down still preening, although Enar, Nicko and Cordelie took it the other way.

“Harrian and I had the same problem, the final [Boss] singled us out, like it was hunting us,” Nicko replied.

“I encountered the same problem,” Enar began to think hard herself “ but what [Monster] did each of you face?”

“Harrian fought an [Alpha Gargoyle], he’s resting in his [Infinite Item Box],” Cordelie said in a weak tone.

“I fought an [Earth Cyclops], got a great [Ability] with [Glutton]!”

“Fought a [Black Shadowed Dark Hobgoblin Leader], something much worse than what you fight back in Newtown,”

“And I fought some sort of [Chimera], it was between a [Hobgoblin], and a snake, not only that, but it was like it was made to counteract me,”

“Does everyone see the same thing, they all came from [Goblin] origins, as if, some had forcibly [Evolved] them,” Cordelie explained.

“So what would that mean?” Nicko asked.

“It would probably mean, some sort of [God] might’ve done this, as I would think they would have the power to do so, does that mean?” Enar continued.

“That this was planned,” The tophat suddenly spoke.

The group went silent and looked at it. Suddenly, Harrian with Rache on his shoulder came out of the tophat and sat down quietly. He was still in his tattered clothes, which were fixed to the best of his abilities, all his wounds and blood were healed, and Harrian’s right eye was visible again.

“I’m not sure what happened to your duel, but during it, mine began to speak in that encrypted language,” He continued “Had a resistance towards [Magic] and had this [Skill] that made it so every attack would happen twice, also, Nicko, try to get it,”

Harrian opened his [Infinite Item Box] and pulled out the left arm of the [Alpha Gargoyle] which he threw at Nicko. The [Dragon-Kin] eagerly grabbed it and began to eat it, it wasn’t long until he got a [Status-board] and slammed his hand to the ground.

“Dammit, all I got was the [Ability] to speak to [Monsters] which know the [Common Tongue]!”

“It’s not that bad, now we have two people that can speak the [Monsters Common Tongue], now we can discuss even more with them,” Enar explained.

“Yeah and I’m tired, did Harrian bring our tents?” Atogin asked.

“Right here,” Harrian began to pull out long and thin wooden pieces.

The party quickly set up camp and fell asleep, most of the other groups did as well. Although some tried to sleep Harrians [Insomnia] was a curse to him, so he decided to wander around, looking that most of the torches were put out, and the ceiling was revealed.

It was like stars in the sky, overlooking that the expedition was probably about ten kilometres underground. He was looking around, before finding a path that led upwards, following that path, it came to a clearing, overlooking the tents like a balcony.

Harrian sat on the edge, seeing many other people still awake, doing quite shenanigans. He then took off his tophat and used the [Infinite Item Box] to pull out a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

Normally, Harrian would drink by himself, and Rache didn’t take alcohol, and she was asleep in the [Infinite Item box], still recovering from the collision with the [Alpha Gargoyle]. The reason why Harrian brought out two glasses was that someone was behind him.

Harrian quickly used [String Control] to shape his cape, trying to hit anything that was behind him. Before long, Harrian heard a “please stop” and turned around to reveal Atogin there, with his hands up.

He quickly sat down with Harrian, before talking to him.

“So every [Boss] that we faced, was [Evolved] from a [Goblin],” Atogin sighed.

“It was just a guess, I mean, they all had [Goblin] origins, and what I saw was amazing to me,” He softly replied.

“Yeah yeah, you got a [Alpha Gargoyle] and I got the less cool-sounding [Chimera], also aren’t those things supposed to guard castles back in the middle ages?”

“We are not on earth Atogin, it’s fair game for what ‘the Creator’ will do,” Harrian opened the bottle and poured until the glass was about a quarter full before handing it to Atogin and doing his glass.

“Did you gain [Insomnia]?” Atogin asked.

“*Sigh* Yes, it’s such a pain in the ass,”

“Hey, you’re part [Monster] and I'm a part owl, a nocturnal animal, we both have it a lot worse than other people with the [Skill],”

“What [Level] is yours at, and do you know when it [Changes] so we can control it,”

“[Level 7], had it for four weeks, and I think it [Changes] at [Level 15],”

“Ugh, dammit, you’ve had it for four weeks, and it’s only level 7, if this goes on, it’ll [Change] in a bit over six months!”

“Just take some sleeping pills with that weird one no one knows about, by the way, what are those for?”

“Either find a [Mage] called Harrien, an imposter who was interpreting me, or drink with me until I tell you,”

“You’re part [Slime], your body will just [Absorb] it and terminate the alcohol, only some of it will make it into your system,”

“And you’re half Irish, so it’s fair game!” Atogin was silent for a second.

“I guess you’re right, now you’re on.” The two clinked glasses and began drinking.

Atogin and Harrian began to drink, and as they both suspected, they drank the bottle dry, so Harrian got out a new one. Even though they were having a great time, Atogin was still trying to win using dirty tricks, he would use his [Alchemy] skills to concentrate the alcohol contents in Harrians glass and diluted his own. Although they were tied for how many they drank, Harrian won in the end, as he didn’t pass out first.

The two of them woke up to voices of Cordelie and Enar over them. Harrian had realized what they had done and was up as soon as they told them to, although Atogin was a whole different story. His head felt like shattering into a million pieces, only vaguely remembering the times of yesterday, even his fight with the last [Boss].

“You thought that it would be a SPECTACULAR idea that you drank... I don’t know how many bottles are there,” Enar began to punish the two with her cold-hearted attitude.

“I think it was four bottles for the two of us,” Harrian replied.

“And how would you know that! Atogin used [Transmute] to change the bottle to replicas of the original two glasses!”

“One moment,” Harrian began to make gagging sounds and as a cat, began to throw up [Slimeballs]. There were only two, but Cordelie and Enar were shocked about how big they were, the [Slimeballs] weren’t handheld, they were the size of a melon.

Very quickly, Harrian used [Scan Analyze] on the massive [Slimeball] to see that it was a variant.

[Giant Slimeball]

[A [Slimeball] variant that is a common phenomenon occurring in [Slime-like] creatures]

[Much bigger than their smaller counterpart, they are more concentrated as well as it’s larger size]

[They can be sold for moderate prices in shops]

“I think that would be four bottles of whiskey,” Harrian continued “I mean, look at that! Each one is twice the size of a bottle.

“Get up Atogin!” Enar continued “We are about to open the [Door] with their [Strength Stat], if we’re low, we might need your help with [Limit Break].”

Atogin then clumsily got up, almost falling off the edge of the balcony, before positioning himself in front of the group, Nicko now behind them solving a Rubix cube. His feathers were in a ruffle, and his eyes were bloodshot with giant bags under them.

The [Demihuman] then opened his mouth and began to talk like he was about to fall asleep at any moment.

“Can you use one of those [Prayers] to get rid of this hangover?” Atogin yawned.

“Even better,” Enar placed her hand onto his body and began to cast [Spells] “[Purify], [Wake], [Numb], [Recover], [Cancel:[Numb]],”

Atogin’s overall body improved and the group jogged back down towards the Gate. A lot of muscly people that were a part of the [Strength] expedition, put their hands onto the massive gate, all of the expedition were able to do so and they began to push.

The force they put in made their muscles bulge, a lot of the girl [Players] were looking at them blushing, but a lot of them saw what was happening. The struggle was in their eyes, and everyone knew it, realizing that they weren’t powerful enough.

After a while of seeing Nicko flexing his muscles, Atogin sighed and joined it, then Enar, and then many other people, all of them pushing the massive door. Harrian saw what they were doing, but he really couldn’t do anything, so he decided to command the [Mage] expedition again.

“Everyone cast [Area of Effect Spells] on them, to increase their [Strength] and [Stamina]!”

All the [Mages] began to light up their orbs, and many of the people who were pushing at the door began to show it. Slowly and steadily, the rusty door was opening. After a final push, it was open and everyone was panting.

People said that the [Dungeon Boss Door] revealed how strong the [Boss Monster] is, and everyone knew that this [Boss] wouldn't be like any other they had seen before it.