Tabbris and his warriors slowly moved through the underground tunnels.

With one side already fully explored, all that was left was the road where Gerald broke the ceiling and flew out.

The expedition this time was quite tranquil as they met no living beings on the road. But the quiet stone halls didn't give them any respite, quite the opposite. The air was heavy and cold, accompanied by a certain feeling of dread that every man there felt.

"Be alert, we don't know if any more beasts are hiding in the shadows," Tabbris quietly warned.

The tunnel gradually expanded, and they started hearing quiet sounds of running water. It was an underground river. The ceiling was quite high, and it was cracked in some places, letting the light of day shine through.

The group came across more stone prison cells, however, they were empty. Only patches of blood remained dried on the floor. Many warriors audibly gulped, with the strain on their psyche gradually increasing.

"What is that?" one guy pointed to the front. The tunnel expanded even further, already turning into a grand hall with naturally formed stone pillars supporting the ceiling.

"Is this… an arena?!"

The group became warry and gripped their weapons tightly. The arena, and its surroundings, were covered with blood and bones, as well as torn human clothes and broken weapons. It was quite easy to imagine what happened.

"Bastards! These animals know no self-restraint!"

"Leave the curses for later, we need to see if there are any remaining survivors first. Let's go!"

"Yes, sir!"

They walked along the underground riverbank with their leader, Tabbris Northendark, at the front.

He focused all of his attention on the darkness in front of him and listened for any suspicious sounds that might come his way. However, due to the roaring water beside them, it was quite difficult to do so.

Suddenly, a sharp pain ran through his head, and screams of horror rang out behind him.

A dreadful feeling gripped his heart, and he turned around as fast as lightning. What he saw made his eyes bulge out in terror.

Where his men once were, now two dozen grotesque Orcs stood, covered in blood and grinning at him. At their feet was what was left of his friends and teammates, torn and chopped apart like rotten vegetables.

A powerful smell assaulted his nose, making him feel sick. As his body spasmed uncontrollably, blood filled the capillaries in his eyes, making them look like the crimson orbs of a mad animal.

An inhuman scream escaped his throat as he launched himself forward with sword in hand, determined to slaughter every single Orc, even at the cost of his own life.

'Get him!'

'Chop him to piecessssss!'

'Devour the human, hehehe…'

'Break his Soul, break his Soul!'

"Shut up…"

'Stupid humaaaaaan, hee-hee!'

'Claw his eyesssss…'

'Twist his neck!'

'Break his ssssspine!'

'Break, break, break…'

"Shut the FUCK UP!" Gerald roared and swung his spear towards the annoying pests that were dancing around him and attacking his face.

Woosh!

The Toothpick went straight through them, as they weren't real. That's because they weren't. It was all in his head.

He was listening to these pricks for a few days already, and he was nearing his limit. The Goblins and Hobgoblins acted like little naughty children, while the Orcs tried to strategically attack him from all sides.

It was giving him a damn headache!

"I swear to god, if I ever get my hands on you…" Gerald hissed through gritted teeth.

'Hehe, stupid human!'

'We are already dead!'

'Heeheehee…'

'You can't hurt us anymore….stupid!'

"Grrrr," he growled, but continued walking forward in a bad mood. The voices in his head continued taunting him without end, but he couldn't do a thing about it.

He was now deep underground, far deeper than last time. He had already gone past the place with the arena.

Suddenly the sounds of battle traveled to his ears. They were accompanied by human screams and shouts and gave him a sense of urgency.

"Tsk, what now?! They fell into a trap again?" Gerald hurried along the underground river until the corridor expanded into a cavern.

"I'm here!" he shouted. "What's happen-" The words remained stuck in his throat, and his eyes suddenly bulged out in shock.

With his gaze glued to the battle, he could say only one thing.

"What the fuck!"

What Gerald saw could only be described as madness.

Phoenix Knights, fighting each other like mad dogs, with the rest of the warriors joining in the slaughter. It was perfectly clear that something went wrong. The intensity with which they fought was as if their lives depended upon it.

"Wha- What!" Gerald was almost rendered speechless. He had to gather his composure for a moment. "What the fuck are you doing?! Have you all gone insane?!" he shouted. He was just about to rush forward when an unbelievable pain assaulted his mind.

He collapsed to the ground in agony. The only comparable pain like this was felt when the King used some sort of a mental attack, and even then it was less intense.

Luckily it didn't last long, and he quickly got back on his feet. Only by then, the battle between the warriors changed. Some were now fighting against Orcs and a few of them were lying dead on the ground in puddles of blood.

He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, but when he looked back, he could only see the ground covered with human corpses, and Orcs victoriously celebrating among them.

'Hehe, yes! Die stupid humans, die!'

'Useless struggle, you cannot beat us!'

'He-he…'

'Ha-ha…'

"Great, just what I needed right now…"

The monsters living in Gerald's mind rent-free once again took the opportunity to make themselves heard as if the situation wasn't hectic enough already. What's even worse, was that another monster appeared in his periphery.

It was small and ugly, about the size of a child. An oversized head was sitting on top of a scrawny body, with sickly yellow skin and two pairs of transparent wings on the back.

It was rubbing its hands and grinning with an oversized mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. It flew soundlessly, like the apparition it was, coming closer and closer, clearly intent on joining in on the fun.

Gerald felt another wave of pain hit him when the beast looked at him.

"Eww, what the fuck is this?!" His face scrunched up. "So ugly! Get away from me you freaky ghost!"

Pow!

He punched it with all he had, expecting it to disappear into thin air like all the rest, but surprisingly, the punch landed on solid flesh!

Greeee!

The thing screamed in pain.

"Huh?" Gerald has freaked out a tad. However, he didn't have time to be confused, as the shouts and screams from the Orcs' celebration soon became loud wails of pain coming from humans.

He looked back once more, and saw the group of warriors he was familiar with alive and… That was about it, actually. They were anything but well.

Most of them suffered severe wounds and were at the edge of death. Even if they somehow survived, many would have life-long deformities. Alongside all of this, they also appeared extremely confused and anxious, seemingly in deep emotional trauma.

Gerald watched it all with slack yaw, unable to comprehend what just happened.

"Hold on," a thought suddenly crossed his mind. "Could it be…?" He turned around to where the monster should be.

Only, there now lay a young girl, in her early twenties at a first glance. She appeared to be scared and in pain. She was also completely naked in all her glory.

Gerald looked at her in sheer disbelief as she walked towards him with unsteady steps, using the wall as support.

"Than- *Cough*!" she choked on her words. "Thank you for saving me, I was trapped in here for so long…"

As she approached him, Gerald started to feel uncomfortable. He got this feeling of wanting to protect the girl, but that clashed with his unreasonably analytical mind.

"God damn it… I don't like this…" He forced himself to make a move. With a quick spin of his body, he made the strongest round kick he could muster in this sluggish state.

"Ugh!" It hit the girl squarely on the chest and sent her flying. She hit the wall with the back of her head and released a painful grunt.

But then her body started to warp. Her human shape shrank and blurred, soon returning to the form of the child-sized monster. The thing shook its head and growled at Gerald. It was quite clearly pissed off.

"Fucking illusions," Gerald cursed and spat on the floor in disgust. "I knew some weird shit was going on here… So you are the prick responsible for this mess, eh?!"

"Wreeee!" the beast screeched and jumped towards his face. Sharp black claws extended from those tiny fingers in hope of shredding his pretty face.

At the same time, another wave of pain hit Gerald's mind, almost paralyzing him again.

"Get the fuck...!" he shouted and threw a wild haymaker. "Out of my HEAD!"

Bam!

The monster suffered another punch in the face, and soon it was bouncing off the wall for the third time.

Gerald wasted no time and immediately rushed to restrain it. With only one working hand it was not easy. He placed his right knee on the monster's back and punched it every time it would try to struggle free.

Aware of its physical inferiority, the tiny monster tried to use one of its mind illusions. However, being prepared for such an attack, Gerald persevered through the pain, and keep beating the monster no matter what it showed him.

Surprisingly this little thing was quite resilient. Even after a few minutes of taking Gerald's punches it still had the energy to struggle.

Granted, he wasn't using magic to reinforce his body, so his strength had to be limited, but any normal person would still succumb after just one or two of his strikes. And this thing took hundreds of them! It certainly piqued his interest. After it finally gave up resisting, Gerald grabbed it and went to see what was happening with Tabbris' group.

The men were currently in a dreadful state. Depression, regret, guilt, shame… Emotions such as these were high among them as they wrapped their wounds and took care of the dead.

It was especially so for Tabbris. He buried his face in his palms and grieved silently. He killed his own people! Instead of protecting them, and guiding them to victory, he was the one that took their lives.

It was the worst feeling in the world.

"Hey," Gerald called. He was standing before him.

Tabbris looked up with his red eyes full of tears before wiping them off. "Gerald… Why are you here? What is…"

The words remained stuck in his throat as his eyes landed on the thing in Gerald's hand. His face contorted in anger and the Hurrican Blade appeared in his hand out of nowhere.

"Pixie?!" he growled and Mana started flowing through him, empowering his body.

"Woah, wait! What are you doing?!" Gerald stepped a few steps back to distance himself from the enraged man.

"That's the monster!" Tabbris shouted. "That's the monster who did this! Move away Gerald, that thing's dangerous! We need to kill it!"

"Or maybe..." His eyes reflected a dangerous sheen, "You are just an illusion too?!"