“Dammit!!” Enar was kicking dirt.

An hour had passed since the [Dungeon] had imploded, many people ran out of [Stamina] and were trapped underneath a mountain made of rock. People were already trying to help; the kingdom even sent down soldiers to help move it.

The trio of Enar, Atogin and Nicko were all in utter shock, Harrian, in the direst times, sacrificed himself with a [Skill] that no one knew. They were also helping the rubble, each of them sweating.

For three hours, they slaved off moving rocks, trying to help any survivors, especially the one who was buried the furthest. Harrian might’ve been still down there, alive, that was their motive.

With everyone working, something surprising happens. A white coach, with the spiral of the Kilvian family, stood up at the top of the crater. Tifian came out of the coach and ran down towards the trio.

She passed them not blinking the Eye and picked up a bit of rubble with her right hand, examining it before putting it down. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, looking at the trio with anger. She appeared before Enar and asked her a question, with her head looking down.

“Tell me, did you leave him?” She asked, with anger in her voice.

“N-no, your majesty… Harrian had defeated one of the original seventy-two pillars,” Enar stuttered at the start.

“I see, how did he? Defeat a [Demon] with that much power,”

“He was weakened, due to the [Heroes Seal], three thousand years ago, but Harrian, he became some sort of beast, able to land a hit which damaged him,”

“I see, so he might still be alive,”

“But how? Harrian would’ve suffocated, and we don’t how long it’ll take to find him,”

“True, but I just have a feeling, [Item Summon].” The dagger that was the opposite of Harrians’ weapon, [Chaos Row] appeared in Tifians hand.

She unsheathed it and looked at it very cautiously, before grabbing the blade with her left hand and slitting her palm, blood flowing onto the edge. [Chaos Row] began to absorb the blood, and Tifian placed the tip of the blade onto the floor, looking down.

“[Chaos Series blade arts: Duo series: Chaos Connect].”

The ground began to shake, everyone began to run, all except Tifian, looking straight ahead. The field started to open wide, revealing the rubble underneath the rubble, and it kept going, as the old debris was pushed back into the depths of the [Dungeon].

After a while, it stopped, and large chunks of broken marble had appeared, she walked onto the rumble and began to scour through it, hoping to find someone. She was halfway up the mountain of rubble before she saw three shadowy figures. Yelling for the trio, they ran to her and also saw them, three dark characters, each of a different size.

One noticed them and pointed them out to the other two, Atogin took this as a threat and ran as fast as he could towards him, trying to attack the one in the middle. His attack was stopped by another [Demihuman], as now he could see in a better light.

The [Demihuman] seemed to be a fox of some sort, with three tails, making it even more dangerous. Atogin noticed this and jumped off the [Demihumans] tail, fearing for his life. By then, everyone was caught, and there they saw it.

A suit of armour, Androman, the seventy-second pillar was present, with two other cloaked figures. A three-tailed [Fox Demihuman], and a person, with blue scales, it’s eyes were pinned towards Nicko. Andromane saw this and put a hand on the scaled being, whispering something in its ear, before the three of them turned to smoke and disappeared.

The group shook for a moment before they snapped out of the trance and moved to where they stood. A large piece of rock, oddly shaped like a giant cross was on top of something, it was clear it fell on top of someone, but what made it worse is what was underneath it. Blood was pouring out from the bottom of the rock, and everyone was shocked.

Enar had to catch Tifian, as she lost feeling in her legs. Nicko looked away, trying to cover the tears which were happening. Finally, Atogin looked down, clutching his left hand, tears overflowing from his eyes, before yelling out.

“HAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

“Shut up, Atogin, i’m still alive,” Everyone’s tears stopped.

“I mean, your underneath a rock shaped like a cross, I had to do it,”

“Don’t care at this moment. Now lift this rock!”

The four of them then quickly lifted the large chunk of marble revealing what was underneath. A pink [Slime], the same colour as Harrian’s hair was present in a pool of blood, and a white spider was next to it. The group was immediately on guard, seeing the aggression, the [Slime] made appendages and raised them in the air.

As that was happening, Tifian noticed two [Nucleus] inside the [Slimes] body, an occurrence not recorded. Suddenly, one of the [Cores] turned around, revealing that it was the [Eye of elements], Tifian picked up the Slime and squashed it, saying it’s name over and over again.

“Harrian, Harrian you survived!”

“Not exactly how I wanted to though, and now it’s simple, i’m now completely a [Slime],”

“Well you’re still our Harrian.” Nicko began to rub the Slime with his left hand, in retaliation, Nicko was pricked by Harrian, before the [Slime] wriggled back into the creases and came back with clothes and [Chaos Column].

Harrian then lined the clothes up, and his form began to change. Four appendages began to grow from around him, filling the torn clothes. After a while, an almost complete Harrian was there, as he threw up his tophat and put it on his head, Rache crawling into it. They were all silent before Atogin broke it.

“Sooooo, what just happened?” He asked.

“Isn’t it simple? I gained a [Taboo Skill],”

“What!”

“It’s when I was launched into the wall, I got the [Status Board], and I accepted.”

“So what did you get?” Nicko asked.

“To be honest, I don’t know at the moment, but when I pricked you, I took a sample of your blood, so that I could turn into this form, I think that’s thanks to my [Taboo Skill],”

“Whatever, you need some rest,”

“I-I think you’re ri-” Harrian fell onto the floor, his body becoming slimy again. He looked up one last time before losing consciousness. Tifian made the guard pick him up and put the liquid Harrian into a large wooden box.

They sealed it up and put it on the back of the coach, where the group headed back to the capital. There was no celebration, twenty-five were confirmed dead, and another twenty-five were missing, no one was happy, not even when it was revealed that Marchosios, an original seventy-two pillar, was defeated.

A large amount of dead [Monsters] was excavated and sold, many of the groups financially recovered, but some of them lost friends. Almost all the groups had an injured teammate, but each one did recover.

Cordelie safely found her way towards Gold, two massive men harassing her while she was looking for him. Gold saw her and put Cordelie behind him, and they were angry and tried to punch Gold, when he dodged and used his [Price eye] to examine one of the men’s fingers, finding a high price for potions that used fingers. They quickly scattered, and the two of them began their route towards Koumides, stopping on the small village which the [Heroes Party] helped.

It was fluttering again, fences were built, and [Slimes] were everywhere many a colour. They had no black [Core] in them, so they had not [Evolved] yet. Gold decided to stop there for the night, there were no taverns or inns, but the two of them would sleep inside their wagon.

The village chief, Martin welcomed them and told Gold and Cordelie of what had happened since they had last seen them. The farms which were a barren wasteland began to grow crops, some potatoes which Gold had given them had been planted and eaten.

The scraps went to the [Slimes] or to compost, where it would’ve been turned into [Slimeballs] or fertilizer. The men and women had a bit more muscle than last time, the [Evolved Slimes] even helping in hunts for wild boars. Gold chuckled, and Martin thanked the two and the [Heroes Party] which was not present.

“Again we thank you kindly [Merchant], since we didn’t pay you last time, we would hope you would accept our offering, fifty [Slimeballs],” Three men then appeared with three crates, filled with the jelly-like substance.

“For me?” Gold asked, scratching his head.

“Who else?” Martin smiled, showing his worn down yellow teeth.

“On the other hand, do you have any alcohol?”

“Like beer?”

“Yeah the cheap stuff, do you have any?”

“Well, we have some in production, three bottles for the festival,”

“I’m not going to ask, may I take a look?”

“Of course.” Martin took the two of them into the most significant building, where there were three large barrels in the corner of the room.

Looking at them carefully, Gold nodded at Cordelie, and she ran outside before coming back with chalk. Very quickly, she drew patterns within circles on the ground, before putting the barrels on top. Putting her hand onto the barrel, her Eye’s began glowing, and she began casting a [Spell].

“[Ferment], [Ferment],[Ferment]...” She chanted the same thing for five minutes before losing feeling in her legs, Gold now carrying her on his left shoulder.

Intrigued, one of the guards opened one of the barrels and immediately noticed the smell, before looking back and yelling ‘This is beer!’, Martin ran and immediately put his hands inside the brown liquid and scooped out a handful of the juice.

Putting it to his lips, it entered his mouth, and there it stayed, his face showing a range of emotions. A large gulp was heard, and he looked back to Gold and Cordelie, with tears in his eyes.

“Thank you for this beverage; the festival is today, would you like to join us? It’s not religious, just a harvest festival, we haven’t had one in a year,”

“We would love to stay and drink.” So they did, for a while, still wondering how everyone else was doing.

There was nothing Gold could do to help, what Mitch gave him was a present from ‘the Creator’, it was known as [Weak Ambrosia], saying it could have disastrous effects if used wrong. Only one bottle was made for the event, and Gold couldn’t deliver another one, all he hoped, looking at the dark sky, is hope.

But the hope was not everywhere, as night wavered all across the land, a time to strike, and that’s what happened. The elven forest of Grandage, a place home to [Demihumans] and [Elves], two beings close to nature, something was happening.

In the middle of the kingdom, a throne lay, and a man in it. It was a perfect fit; the man seemed old but very much healthy, his physicality was massive, even his fingers were an inch thick. He had no hair on his head, except for a long and white beard, gracefully from his neck, touching the floor.

His head was looking down, and the beginning of the beard was stained with a red liquid, still dripping from his nose and mouth. The drapes he was wearing, were rugged, and a hole was present within his chest, nothing bleeding out.

A dark figure slowly walked up to the throne; steps were heard throughout the room. It’s eyes were yellow, wings of an insect, and was holding a two forked spear. The person put his hand on the old man and began to talk.

“You did well, Oberon, but unfortunately, your time it up,” He pushed the head up, and the dead body disappeared as a swarm of bugs, going into the darkest places of the room before the buzzes the bugs made seemed silent. The person then sat on the throne himself, putting both his feet on the right side. A single man clapped then, walking out of the darkness to reveal himself as Ligo, before bowing.

The veins that were a part of the throne, pulsing cyan, began to turn black, making the veins aggressive, as it quickly spread up the tree that the throne was connected. Something was happening that no one knew at the time, an apocalypse of Grandage had just begun.