The orb holding the pocket dimension that served as the prison called the Soul Grinder was held in a perfectly sealed room. There were no windows, no distinguishable point of entry or exit. There wasn’t even a door. To enter, one had to drink a potion which allowed them to temporarily pass through a wall like a ghost.

The strict security measures were almost excessive, as such, the chances of anything escaping from the orb were practically nil. Hedonia just couldn’t risk it, even the infinitesimal chance of just one of the monsters from the deepest layers of the Soul Grinder escaping, was much too terrifying a thought.

Luckily, the group wouldn’t have to face any of those monsters. The Soul Grinder was divided into five layers, each layer dividing the monsters according to their power. They would only visit the first layer.

The Soul Grinder was not only a prison, but it was a forbidden item as well. As such, one had to be escorted by an Archmage to even be able to look at it.

As they were walking beside the Archmage, being lead to the orb, Helios noticed something strange.

"I don't think I've seen you before." Helios's father was the leading Archmage of Hedonia. While he didn't have absolute power, he was an leading figure that held a lot of influence. As his son, Helios knew pretty much every powerful person at Hedonia.

"I can't blame you, there are a lot of Archmages, I'd be surprised if you remembered me." The man responded.

The response did make sense, but Helios still felt like something was off. But he just couldn't put his finger on it, so he brushed it off. Maybe he was just too on edge, returning to that damned prison must've been making him too nervous.

The group arrived at their destination fairly quickly, so Helios didn't even have the time to put any more thought into it anyway.

Passing through a solid wall was a weird experience for James, but it made him kind of happy. He felt like a kid again, back on Earth he was so jaded, cynical and bored. It got to the point he had a severe dopamine deficiency, nothing gave him pleasure anymore.

And yet, now he was in a world where one could pass through walls. There was a sense of mystery and excitement to life again. Something so simple made him so happy. Having two good friends next to him was definitely the best part though.

As the entered the room, they could immediately feel the dreaded orb, whose sheer presence was enough to makes James sweat.

Helios thought something was off again.

"What's with the color of this thing?"

Swirling inside the orb seemed to be a haze of viscous liquid and gas, obfuscating the prison inside. That part wasn't surprising, but what did surprise Helios was the actual color of the haze.

"I remember it being more of a rose color, much lighter."

Now it was an off-putting, alternating mix of dark red and dark purple.

"Memory is a fickle thing, I suppose." The Archmage answered nonchalantly.

Something didn't sit right with Helios. But it was too vague a feeling to actually do anything about it. He looked carefully at the tall Archmage standing beside him. The man seemed perfectly normal, but he rubbed Helios the wrong way for some reason.

His mind was drawing a blank though, so he turned to James to discuss their plans.

“You can still have the option of leveling in other ways, even though they are slower. It wouldn’t be shameful to turn around and abandon this plan.” Helios wanted to give James one last chance to change his mind. The risk couldn’t be understated, over the past few days Helios had told him the same thing over and over.

“I’m 100% sure.” James answered, not an ounce of doubt in his body.

Helios felt proud, this kind of resolve was something anybody could respect.

“All right, so let’s go over the strategy. Lunaris will be the support this time around. She’s quite skilled at supporting, even though she usually prefers to deal damage and control the battlefield. But we absolutely need a dedicated support, since she'd be able to constantly buff us and shield us and all that, it's absolutely necessary in this hellhole. And she's a lot more skilled at that than I am.” Helios stated with praise and admiration in his voice.

“And with her shield and buffs, you’re absolutely sure I won’t die from a single hit, right? Especially with the curse and all. I mean, that’s why I’ve developed these skills to help me dodge rather than get hit.” James wasn’t scared, but he had to make doubly sure he won't just get annihilated by a stray arrow or something.

“That’s exactly why I’ll exclusively be supporting you guys this time around!” Lunaris answered with passion. “It’s not really healing that will be necessary. But I’ll be constantly casting shields, buffs and various other damage reducing skills throughout the fight. Even with you taking extra damage because of your curse, I’ll cover you in so many spells that you should take around 1/5th of the damage you usually would! Although, since I’ll be busy doing that, I won’t be able to help you guys deal damage. That will be exclusively your job.”

Helios’s face suddenly turned serious.

“Now hold out your hand.” Helios told James.

James knew what was going to happen. Helios had told him what he had to go through.

He held out his hand, and Helios immediately slashed it with a dagger.

James however didn’t react at all. He didn’t make a sound, didn’t move a muscle.

“Now cast a spell.” Helios said.

James began casting. But Helios slashed again, even deeper this time.

However, James’s concentration was absolute, he was able to cast a water ball without a single error or delay.

Helios then smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “You are indeed ready!” The thought of hurting his friend was unbearable, but it had to be done.

James smiled as well. Passing such a test was crucial. If he wasn’t able to endure this amount of pain during combat, he would quickly perish. And with this test fresh on his mind, he'd definitely remember the lesson once inside the orb.

Because of the curse, the pain he’d have to face would be greater. And he’d have to fight and dodge while completely disregarding the pain, no matter how great it was. A second of pause could be deadly.

Lunaris immediately healed the wound, and just a few seconds later it was as if he hadn’t been wounded at all.

All the preparations having been made, each of them placed their hand on the orb, and they were then transported inside instantaneously.

The Archmage then quickly waved his hand over the orb, sending a wave of magic from his palms that enveloped the orb. He then hurriedly left the room, with a faint smile on his lips.

They trio found themselves in an immense room, so big that the ceiling was hard to see. The building was an actual prison, so it had to be big enough to house powerful monsters, whose sizes greatly varied.

"We can use the building's layout to our advantage." Lunaris said, passionately explaining like a true scholar. "The rooms are huge, and the whole prison is like that. Just room after room, only interrupted by corridors which lead to more rooms. But the size of the rooms is a good thing, we can turn tail and run or kite the monsters, assuming our speed is superior. Also, there's plenty of room to dodge and roll around as you please."

Helios spat on the floor. He hated this place. While he was excited to see the monsters killed, it didn't make him hate the place any less.

They noticed that the room was eerily quiet. It felt like they were being watched, but there was definitely no one inside this room. The only things that were around were chewed bones and blood that stained these walls an ungodly amount of years ago.

"I don't know which monsters are inhabiting what rooms now. They shift around all the time, it's a weird ecosystem. Although I suppose the stronger ones may have settled permanently somewhere, we don't know what awaits us even though I've been here before. So be on maximum alert at all times." Helios warned them.

As soon as Helios had finished his warning, James’s SARM activated and he was launched across the room. Creating a spell that would do the dodging for him was definitely the right call.

Even with Combat Clairvoyance, James couldn't dodge in time, his reaction speed just didn't compare to that of true warriors. Hell, it didn't compare to that of normal people. But with SARM, the subconscious impulse to dodge was sent as soon as Combat Clairvoyance had sensed something.

James himself didn't even have to react, he only had to brace for the landing.

A giant creature that vaguely resembled a tiger had leapt at James, barely missing by an inch. The monster’s eyes were completely black, a dark miasma emanating from them. The eyes lacked any semblance of sanity. It was a being meant for killing and nothing else.

Its fangs were the size of James’s arms. If those had touched a vital spot, no amount of shielding from Lunaris would have saved him.

“Where the hell did it come from?” James shouted in disbelief. He was sure this room was empty, he thought they were in the lobby or something. Even with Helios's warning, he didn't quite expect to be attacked so suddenly. "There was nowhere to hide, where did it come from?

Before anyone could answer, the tiger leapt at Lunaris. In the seconds it had watched them, it was able to assess their roles, and chose to attack the support.

But they weren’t about to let it do as it pleased.

Before it could even reach Lunaris, Helios charged at it with a shield. Even with his level dampened, Helios’s speed was incredible.

The damned monster knew it wouldn’t reach Lunaris before being bashed by Helios, and so it changed directions in the middle of its leap, propulsing itself with wind magic toward James.

James was preparing a Razorice Saw, but he had to abandon the cast and dodge away from the giant tiger pouncing at him.

It was clearly much more intelligent than any monster James had fought against before.

James then quickly moved towards Helios and Lunaris, sticking behind Helios’s shield.

Safe for a short while behind the shield, he started preparing another Razorice Saw.

But just as he started casting, another, identical tiger leapt towards him. Before he knew it, his SARM had launched him across the room yet again.

“Are you kidding me? Where the hell did this one come from? Are they materializing out of thin air?” James screamed, frustrated that he was flung across the room twice already. Using SARM in actual combat felt a lot different than using it in training. Not only that, but he wasn’t even able to cast his spell.

Helios had a new shield this time around, made from much tougher materials. So he was able to keep himself and Lunaris safe from one tiger.

But the second tiger changed things considerably.

The tigers were very powerful, but their main advantages were their speed, and apparently their stealth.

The tigers were also coordinating. James had to do something right away, or else one tiger would attack Lunaris while Helios was blocking the other one.

James wouldn’t try to use Razorice Saw anymore in this fight, these bastards were just too quick.

He had to buy even just a few seconds of time, so he leapt back towards his friends and prepared his Mana Chains.

Right as the two tigers jumped towards them, James used his Mana Chains, completely immobilizing one of them.

But James knew the chains wouldn’t last for more than a second, so he had been preparing a Magmafrost Bullet with his other hand. He had to make it count. He aimed it at the tiger’s eyes, a vulnerable area of all living things. The bullet was one of his second most powerful spell, if this didn’t do the trick, he'd be in trouble.

But as he unleashed the bullet, the tiger dodged. Not only did it dodge, but from its seemingly immobilized state, it leapt towards Lunaris!

Lunaris was almost immobile herself, constantly refreshing shields, buffs and minor heals on Helios and James. She was fully dedicated to her support role, she couldn’t spare a second. One good hit and both of them could die, so her support was vital.

But the intelligent beast had pretended to be momentarily immobilized. While the chains did affect it, they didn’t immobilize it nearly as much as the tiger pretended to.

Seeing the giant monster attacking Lunaris, James subconsciously wanted to jump to save her. SARM reacted to that impulse, throwing James at the tiger. The spell that was meant to save him from danger, had to throw him at the danger. All because this beast outsmarted him. It clearly had more combat experience than he did.

Luckily, James was able to make it in time and the tiger didn’t reach Lunaris.

Instead, James was thrown right at the tiger’s head. While James did manage to push the tiger away, he didn’t do so without consequences.

The tiger managed to react as well. With its giant fang, it penetrated James’ left bicep.

His arm was now limp, blood pouring out of the giant hole that used to be his bicep.

He managed to save Lunaris, but he would have to go the rest of the fight with just one hand.