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You have completed Grit Castle!

Difficulty: Normal

Number of Participants: 5 | Average Level of Participants: 37

Rewards: 5 000 Talys, Petrification Antidote x3.

Note: Monetary rewards will be given to every member and the rest will be given to the party leader.

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You will automatically be transported outside in one minute.

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Rakna saw the potions appear in his Item Box and they were transported out of the Dungeon after collecting the item dropped by Mae upon her death. When they reappeared in the desert in front of the castle, they looked at each other before focusing on the small dagger in Rakna’s hands.

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Designation: Blade/Dagger

Name: Fang of the Gorgon

Rarity: Blue

Attack power: +120

Durability: 100%

Perks:

- Petrification Blade: With every hit, the weapon will drain a silver of mana from the wielder and turn whatever it touched into stone if their resistance allows it.

- Gorgon’s Hiss: If this blade is stabbing someone, they will have to pass an END and INT check and in case of failing, they will become paralyzed.

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Rakna twirled the knife between his fingers with a hum and tossed the weapon to Nyx. “You can have this. Allan aside, you’re the only one who doesn’t have a proper melee weapon. You might as well take this one.”

The former goddess caught the weapon and expertly wielded it with a nod. “Thank you,” she said and stored the dagger.

“So, we go back in now?” Allan said. For some reason, he was oddly impatient to confront the lamia again. It had been fun fighting her. “How do we deal with the angels this time around?”

“Hm,” Rakna mused. “Let’s do it this way; we’ll go in and I’ll send my shadow wolves to keep all of them in check. Then, we’ll position ourselves back-to-back in a circle. I’ll order my wolves to set up a blind spot and then we’ll close our eyes. Normally, the angels should rush at us from the blind spot, and their trajectory will be obvious to us.”

“In that case, it will be easy to hit them back without looking at them. I will act as your sensor and warn you whenever there’s an angel in range. You’ll just have to attack forward at full strength.”

“Also, Ganymede,” the therian added as he looked at the star entity. “You’re good to go. We don’t need your help anymore,” he said and the manifested legend’s eyes flickered briefly. He responded with a nod and Rakna cut the link with his magic, effectively dispelling the constellation. He would have to research his Star Monarch more thoroughly later on.

“So, are you ready?” He asked and they all nodded before going inside the castle again. This time, Rakna selected the hard difficulty. They easily defeated the sentinel statues outside and opened the doors of the castle. They then proceeded to enact their plan.

Rakna summoned his wolves and spread them all over the Dungeon. Then, he purposefully made them ignore a certain direction. To test his tactic, he put himself first. He closed his eyes and he carefully listened to the air fluctuations as well as the minute spikes of soul power coming from the living statues.

In this way, he was able to cut apart the Skulking Angels with Sonata. Every time he hit, he would have the feeling of slashing flesh but when he opened his eyes, they would always appear as nothing more than pieces of stone.

Following that first attempt, they all spent the next hour or so baiting the angels and dispatching them one by one. Compared to the normal difficulty, they just had a slightly higher level as well as a higher speed but nothing too dangerous.

After completing the first floor and collecting their spoils, which were much less precious than during the first try, they went on to challenge the other floors and there was nothing for them to fear. They were already back to the Boss floor in a mere hour.

When they saw Mae again, she was still wearing the green dress Flavia had given her. It seemed that she was able to keep it as her own from one Dungeon run to another. She smiled happily when she saw them again and asked one more time for a duel.

“I will win this time,” she declared as she faced Allan for the second time.

“Heh, we’ll see that,” Allan retorted and started the fight. They both were already familiar with the other’s capabilities so their battle began with a close combat bout enhanced by wind magic.

The two of them grinned at each other as fists and palms clashed, sometimes breaking through and sometimes deflecting. After reaching a stalemate, they began to use more and more magic and thanks to the increase in difficulty, Mae had access to more mana and spells.

She summoned the same giant snake from earlier as well as a winged one. The two of them began to charge a wind spell and Allan was forced to hastily use his void dome. He wouldn’t be able to dodge both spells and his wormhole could only stop one while his shell was near its limit.

When darkness fell around him, he felt his agility increase and rapidly made his way to where his opponent was located. He threw a punch from behind her but his attack never landed as a wall of snakes abruptly blocked his blow.

“I said the same trick won’t work twice,” Mae’s voice echoed and a pair of slit eyes pierced through the darkness. A scaly tail wrapped around Allan, giving him no chance to react, and constraining his movements. At the same time, the void dome was dispelled and Rakna’s group was presented with the sight of Mae, who had turned back into a lamia, coiled around the blond with her tail as their faces were just a few centimeters away from touching.

“How will you get out of this one?” She asked with a sensual tone and Allan almost gulped from the proximity but the sea of snakes slowly encircling him as well as the giant ones aiming their spells at him sobered him up.

Allan gathered his cool and returned a smirk of his own. “Who knows… what about you? You can’t get through my defense without your snakes’ spells, but you can’t let yourself be hit by them just to hold me down in place, can you?”

“Why not? I’m not the one at risk of dying for good,” she replied and the giant snakes increased the energy output of their spells.

“Is that so?” Allan sneered and the two fell silent. On one side, the wind magic was about to be cast and ravage the place and on the other, the brawler’s gloves were sneakily glowing, ready for the opportunity to be used. “But I think you may get more than what you’ve bargained for.”

Mae’s eyes flashed with a peculiar light before a certain sweet feeling raised in her chest. “I could say the same to you,” she countered.

Rakna watched them from a distance with a cocked eyebrow. For some reason, he had the feeling that something was going to happen but he just couldn’t put his finger on what.

That’s when it happened. Mae suddenly smirked wider than ever before and in a blur, she leaned forward and planted her lips on Allan’s.

“Huh?!” “Eh?!” “Hm?!” The three spectating girls all had their reactions. Pronos and Tyran were a bit confused, however.

Rakna blinked dumbfoundedly. “Did she just…” His voice died down as he saw Allan respond to the kiss on his own. “…they’re just making out at this point.”

“{…why am I not surprised?}” Higure uttered in genuine confusion. “{Well, the sexual tension was indeed strong...}”

“{Hoho! So, this is what they call love at first sight! It’s my first time seeing it,}” Fray said.

“I’d call it… passion at first sight but that’s fine too.”

Meanwhile, Mae backed away after a full minute and happily licked her lips clean with her slightly elongated and forked tongue; just like a snake. “That was nice…” She whispered to the dazed blond and grinned. “I really hope you survive this one,” she then said and the snakes released their spells.

“OH, YOU-!” Allan shouted and they were both shrouded by two destructive cyclones of wind. The onlookers shielded their eyes from the wafts of wind and the large debris that were broken apart from the castle’s floor.

Rakna casually erected a GHB with extreme ease and controlled it mentally, making it fly right and left to catch the debris before they could even get close to him; something that only a perception freak like him could do. He wasn’t too worried about his friend since he had seen a few interesting elements in his status earlier. Moreover, the necklace from the Skulking Angel would reduce the magical damage.

When the aftermath was terminated, there was a large crater in the middle of the Dungeon and all the summoned snakes were gone without a trace.

In the center of the depression, Allan groaned and stood up as he cleared the dust and debris on top of him. Mae had turned into particles after the Dungeon recognized her defeat.

“That crazy girl,” he muttered but without any sort of resentment in his tone. “If I didn’t have that spell, I would have been done for,” he added and the completion notification sounded. After they were all teleported out of the Dungeon again, everyone looked at him weirdly.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” He blurted out. He already knew why but even he felt quite embarrassed about it. He didn’t need them to stare at him on top of that.

“…to be fair, it was a nice tactic to kiss you and lower your guard so you wouldn’t escape her grip before she could complete her spells,” Rakna suddenly commented. “In a sense, she did win this battle even if you were the one to survive.”

Allan snorted. “Yeah, right. An awesome tactic that was,” he uttered, his voice oozing with sarcasm.

“By the way, how did you come out of that last attack without injuries?” Evelyn inquired. “There was barely a scratch on you except a bit of dust and a few rubbles.”

“Ah, that. It’s a void spell. Basically, it’s something I can use whilst immobile and I can pretty much resist 99% of the damage coming my way with it. But it takes a lot of mana and it has a half-a-day cooldown. So, I won’t be able to use it again until tomorrow,” he said and scratched his head. “How annoying. It was my trump card.”

“Well, you’ll just have to learn more in the future to make sure you have something else to rely on other than that one. For now, let’s enter one last time. Cheer up; we’re on our way to meet your newest girlfriend for the third time,” Rakna quipped as he opened the gate of the castle again.

“Who the hell are you calling my girlfriend?!”

* * *

When they reached the final floor in the fiendish difficulty, Mae once again welcomed them from her throne, in her human form. She grinned at Allan who self-consciously evaded her eyes. She giggled at his behavior and stood up.

“This time,” she spoke up. “I wondered if you could be the one I fight,” she said whilst pointing at Rakna with a serious face.

Allan scowled at her. “What? You got bored of fighting me?”

She smiled and shook her head. “No, I just… don’t want to kill you.”

“…” He blinked in surprise.

Rakna hummed. “I see. You are probably compelled by the System to fight, right? There is no way you are allowed to simply give the victory to Hosts because of personal sentiments.”

“You’re correct. In this difficulty, my full strength is unsealed. Only you can fight me without risk to your life,” she said solemnly and Allan looked at her with mixed feelings.

“As expected, women are weird as heck …” He mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear and the lamia smiled in amusement.

“You’re a hundred years too early to even start deciphering a maiden’s heart,” she laughed and he rolled his eyes. “So? Are you ready?” She turned back to Rakna.

The therian shrugged and his scarf moved on its own into his hand and turned into a Guandao in the blink of an eye. “If that’s what you want. I’ll warn you though, I’m not gentle.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she retorted and without waiting further, opened her eyes wide and triggered her petrifying ability. Allan had been able to nullify it with his magic but that didn’t apply to Rakna. Unless he also had a method to resist it. ‘There’s no way, right?’ She thought nervously and her eyes crossed with Rakna’s. Then… nothing happened.

“Really?” She said in a defeated tone. “Why are you people all resistant to my strongest ability?”

Rakna snorted and whirled Sonata. “Your ability can bypass aura but at the end of the day, it’s just a sort of DNA altering trick at its fundamental. This means that it can be interfered with as long as the composition of my body isn’t something you can affect.”

“Then that means…”

“Yes,” Rakna nodded impassively as a cold mist finally began to erupt from his body. His hair and fur whitened as his Cold Star Reinforcement started visually displaying its effects. “Do you think you can turn a star into stone?”

Mae’s eyebrow twitched. “A star, huh? Were you that confident? What if it hadn’t worked?”

“Well, in that case, there would be the antidotes generously given by your Dungeon. I would have not minded fighting with my eyes closed anyway.”

She snickered. “Of course.”

“Now focus,” Rakna declared and gripped his polearm tighter as he took a prowling stance. “I won’t hold back. Try to keep up for more than a minute.”