“Run!”

Sain shouted and dragged Miriel and Serena who were the most affected by the monster's fight spirit and ran. Raven, Shadow and Lyndis were behind him as they all ran away immediately not even trying to face the monster that was 3 metres tall and head was hitting the ceiling of the dungeon floor.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

Naturally with prey running away from it, the creature ran chasing the group at great speed that was unlike it's large body type to begin with. The only thing between it and the group that made up for this difference was only one thing.

The level difference or rather the difference in strength. The difference in levels was so high that it was as fast as the group which was by no means slow even by normal standards.

“Why is it chasing us?!” shouted Lyndis in annoyance. Sweat appeared all over her body when she saw that creature. It was a feeling of helplessness in front of an unbeatable creature.

Minutes passed and the group went and ran through different turns left and right and even double backed a couple of times but the creature in some strangeness kept on finding them and chasing them in the end. Soon enough it gain even more speed that it would soon catch up to the group.

“We have to at least slow it down!” shouted Sain turning around to run backwards now. He aimed his staff at the right leg of the creature that was no way light but very very heavy.

“Mana Bolt!”

7 mana bolts flew out of his staff and immediately hit the knee area in a tight area to deal more damage.

“ROOOOOOAR!”

The creature shouted in anger with smoke coming out of the point where Sain's mana bolts hit. There was no effect at all since the damage was so low.

“Shit, Run!” Sain immediately reminded everyone again even though they were all running at full speed again.

'There has to be a way to get everyone out of this damn situation alive! What is it...what is it....wait...it may be cruel but it can work!' thought Sain quickly on the move with the others.

“Everyone split into two groups! Shadow, Lyndis you two are with me! We're going to lure it away from the others!” The group was running to an even split between paths and it seems that it won't merge for a while at least enough for the others to escape safely.

“Mana Bolts!” Sain aimed and hit the eye areas of the creature that was actually quite small. Most of his shouts hit the area around it but still managed to piss it off greatly as he attracted all the attention and hatred of the creature that was 3 metres tall.

“ROOAR!”

Sain, Shadow and Lyndis immediately ran to the right path with Lyndis shouting, “Pocket Fireball!” firing something that was even smaller than the usual fireballs other players have at the creature as well drawing it in this path completely.

“ROOAR!!”

BOOM BOOM BOOM

The creature immediately ran to chase the three and didn't even noticed that the 6 turned into 3 after a certain point.

'Looks like it's brain is much smaller than it's already small head' thought Sain with a smile as the creature ran and tried to kill him in particular. Tens of metres passed as the three ran for dear life and then Sain suddenly said to Shadow:

“You be bait so we can escape.”

“....”

Shadow had a look of disbelief as Sain continued.

“Attract it's attention as much as possible and then disappear from it leaving it to catch up to us and the others. If you of all people can't escape it then no one can. The meeting place will be the fifth battle we fought on this floor!” reaffirmed Sain also the plan itself was a very cruel thing to do.

After a while and when time was running out Shadow said, “Alright” and went to a stop and dash in the direction to the creature filled with courage.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Shadow dashed to the creature, with it's speed and his own it did not even take a second for them to collide. But they didn't as at the last moment Shadow took out his dagger and leaped into the air.

Stab!

Critical Hit!

Fatal Hit!

Zolerd will from now be blinded in one eye since it cannot regenerate it

These three messages appeared as the Zolerd as it was called looked at the 'sudden' Shadow in disbelief and then rage; lots and lots of rage.

“ROOOOAR!!!”

Bang!

The force from the roar itself was enough to blow Shadow back away in the direction to Sain and Lyndis who were still escaping. For Shadow who was skilled at disappearing, it was a simple matter to push the rage towards those two and save himself but he didn't.

“Bring it on!” Shadow shouted with rage like the Zolerd and like a hero in the moment.

With it's large clever, the Zolerd swung down with great force diagonally to Shadow who leaped up to the right wall.

Bang!

Shadow kicked off the wall and did a flying kick to the Zolerd's other eye. With this he looked back and no longer saw Sain and Lyndis at all which meant they have escaped. Shadow sighed in relief for a split second but then sensed danger from everywhere.

By some instinct or some force Shadow knew that this was the end. However as he saw the hand was immediately grabbed him about to crush into into pieces or the large clever that was about to slice him in half, he could help but feel that he could get out of here alive and without a scratch.

Poff!

His body slipped through the hands of the Zolerd and reappeared metres away from it. Enough distance that Shadow could escape in time. But he didn't since he did not understand what just happened at all.

Then a message from the game appeared

You have generated the skill: Become Mist

Become Mist Beginner Level 1

Shatter your mortal body for a few moments to escape even from the grip of Dragons. In this form you will take on the form of a small mist and will be able to slip through anything physical and will not take any damage from physical attacks. However doing so will have a heavy cost.

Health will be halved for the next 24 hours per use (This effect stacks)

Cool Down: None

“What the hell?!” shouted Shadow in shock. He did not expect this kind of skill to appear at this moment. He checked that his maximum health was indeed halved for a period which was going to be a full day in game.

However shouting at this moment caused the Zolerd to see him who was just about to be killed by it's hand.

“ROOOOAR!!”

The Zolerd with it's low intelligence charged at Shadow trying to kill him once again. It was about to kill Shadow for real this time.

However Shadow then shouted, “Become Mist!”

Shadow's body 'disappeared' from the Zolerd's sight and never appeared again leaving it in a fury which would be then vented on a certain two parties at the stairs to the first floor.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

An hour passed as Sain and Lyndis regrouped with the other three. Since while in a dungeon you are unable to contact other people at all, they had nothing to go on but hope that he survived. Sain did say where the meeting place was but there was still a chance that the creature killed Shadow or he died on the way here. There was no real way to know until he actually appeared in person and said so.

“I'm back....” said a Shadow that was tattered more than you think. Most of his equipment had rips and holes at certain places. To be precise at the knees and elbow areas.

“What happened?!” asked Sain who was shocked the most of his appearance. Last time he saw, Shadow was all fine before he literally ordered him to death or near death. The others were already on the verge of lecturing him on his orders, especially Miriel and Lyndis. He really did not understand why they were angry at him.

Comments such as 'Cruel' and 'Heartless' for some reason poured out of their mouth even from Lyndis who was there when it happened and didn't even stop him. To Sain it was very strange since he did the correct thing because if it was anyone else, then they would've died for certain.

“Long story short I escaped though not completely unharmed” said Shadow calmly even though Sain could see that his health was lower, much lower than it used to. To Sain's stare above his head Shadow immediately said:

“I gained a skill that allowed me to escape properly in exchange of halving my health for a day.”

Sain also despaired a bit seeing that Shadow's health was only at a quarter right now and had no indication of increasing even though Serena casted her healing spell on him.

“Then....” muttered Sain.

“I used it twice, first time I didn't know what happened when I escaped from certain death, second time I accidentally used it incorrectly and my equipment ended up like this and my health was halved again” explained Shadow calmly as if it was natural. Shadow had always been the patient type though could get a bit arrogant at times during doing something great.

Sain thought about these words carefully and then asked Shadow, “What are the chances that a normal monster can hit you?”

“Very low if everyone does their jobs right” Shadow looked at Lyndis and Raven for confirmation on this, “My presence is quite low and with stealth it's even lower. Most of them time monsters only notice me if I attack.”

“““““!”””””

Although the entire group already knew this from the numerous fights that had together with Shadow immediately 'disappearing' due to the others focusing on the enemies, it was still surprising to hear it from his mouth. It was like a short person admitting he was short even though he and everyone else avoided that subject. Sain and the others believed that Shadow had a number of mental scars due to his lack of presences. In that way the entire group was the same and grew up mostly isolated even if it didn't show.

“Anyway the good thing is your alive” said Sain with a soft smile though he could still feel Miriel and Lyndis' stare at him.

“....”

'When will they stop staring at me like I'm the villain here?' thought Sain.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Miriel was at the back of the group thinking about what to do now. To her, there was no clear solution on dealing with a creature that was 70 levels high than them right now. The easiest way was to get out of this dungeon and travel to another one to hunt but the next nearest dungeon was kilometres away and the average monster level there was too high for the group right now.

'We need to get to at least level 50. Until then we have to continue hunting in this dungeon...though we can go back one floor to increase our levels a bit before heading back down. But that will take too long and Sain wanted us to get stronger faster as well....damn I need a spell that alerts me to enemies...' thought Miriel frantically. In actual fact, magicians and the likes do have a spell that will alert them and their allies to enemies but it is an intermediate spell that you can only learn after level 60 from the mage guild.

In the end Miriel had to ask Sain on what to do even though his plans recently have been getting more and more demanding and wasn't exactly considering lives. Even though Miriel was the calculating type, she wanted to make sure there was the least amount of danger to everyone while getting some results, but Sain is doing the exact opposite wanting to gain the most results with the most danger. As such Miriel and the others heard Sain's answer to what they would do:

“It's simple, fight until we get stronger than defeat that creature which was called...Zolerd right? If we kill it, then we will gain lots of experience at once but we need to get stronger...a lot stronger before we even have a chance against it. Being at level 40 or will do.”

“....”

Miriel was speechless on this. Even if they all gained 10 levels from level 30 to level 40, there would still be a 60 level difference between them and the creature known as Zolerd. Not to mention it was a boss monster as well!

In Royal Road, monsters are classified into three types. Normal, named and Boss; normal monsters are the regular fodder players fight against most of the time with average difficulties and rewards. Named monsters are a tier higher than normal monsters with greater difficulties and rewards as a result. Sometime named monsters will drop rare items or materials when killed which makes them a clear target for stronger parties.

However Boss monsters are a tier or more above that. Usually with abnormally high health and damage, only the truly prepared would face one of these types of monster. Boss monsters literally ruled the dungeon they lived in and even guilds have to use numbers to take them out. If there were any players that could solo them even in small numbers than they would be considered first-ranked players or monsters themselves due to the high difficulties. Not to mention most boss monsters have some characteristics that made them even more threatening. A Lich like Bar Khan in the past was literally immortal unless you cut off his power supply from Miriel read on the adventures of Weed. Even for the strongest player in this game, he had to use every mean to take them down.

'It's impossible to defeat it now...and not to mention it IS strange that there isn't a higher levelled party here taking care of that Zolerd that has been killing players left and right' thought Miriel as they intentionally made their way to avoid the Zolerd and still fight against other monsters.

“I guess we have to fight goblins then” said Sain out loud enough for the others to heard it and pale at the suggestion.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Mana Bolt!” chanted Miriel as she shot them rapidly at one of the goblins. The goblin casually took the hit taking little damage due to it's higher defence compared to her attack power. To this Miriel let out a 'Tch' since it was harder to handle them with so little spells under her belt.

“Ram!” shouted Raven as he covered for Miriel smashing aside the goblin ignoring the one that still attacked him. Shadow appeared again and stabbed the goblin that was on tail on Raven and quickly disappeared again since he only had a quarter health left.

It had been an hour since Sain made a horrible suggestion that almost killed them several times. Not to mention it was a stupid idea, it was borderline insane to even think about!

Goblins were at least level 50 while they were level 30 with a 20 level difference plus they were not alone! Facing 3 goblins was like facing 10 Kobolds at once with their speed, power and defence even though they lacked a number of things like teamwork.

“Kill the humans!”

“Kill Kill!”

“Argggg!”

At the start things went well with the goblins being split into individual battles with Raven, Lyndis and Sain taking the lead. However soon it was very apparent that the difference in skills and levels was too high. Raven was at half health, Lyndis on a third and Sain was casually going from critical to normal once in a while.

“Ha....Minor Heal!” Sain casted a healing spell on himself though it only increased his health by a bit to get him out of critical as he dodged the attack from the goblin with it's machete. Jumping backwards he casted, “Mana Bolt” with a shout aiming at the hand with the machete.

Bang!

The attack didn't work and the goblin started to attack Sain again.

“Minor Stamina Regeneration!” chanted Serena was Sain.

'Oh, it wasn't just Raven she cast her spells on' thought Miriel humorously while in grave danger with the rest of the group. Most of the time as the main tank, Raven needed the most healing so Serena naturally focused more power there than the others.

'Mana Bolt can recast in another few seconds....need to recast defence buff'

“Cracked Barrier!” chanted Miriel aiming at Lyndis who was steadily getting to critical health like Sain. Lyndis blocked the attack taking a bit least damage than normal and counter attacked slicing off a bit of the shoulder of the goblin in return.

“Ahh! Kill Kill!” the goblin shouted going berserk at Lyndis. However Lyndis unlike her normal self was fully concentrating on this battle and simply dodged and parried attacks while occasionally attacking back. However Miriel noticed her health was going down too quick, more than the others.

Miriel pointed her staff at the goblin attacking Lyndis just as Shadow appeared to help as well.

“Mana Bolt!” “Back Stab!”

Miriel's mana bolts and Shadow's back stab hit the goblins at the same time with Miriel's attack stunning it while Shadow's attack dealt 4 times more damage with just a critical hit since stunned enemies takes more damage than usual, about 2 times. Then....

Miriel felt something like a inspiration to a new spell to use seeing this happened before her eyes.

'If I can stun the enemies like this then....'

Miriel gathered mana in her staff with her Sound Magic Mastery that was still quite low since she didn't actually have proper spells to use it with. She could only have some noise using mana from the mastery skill. Miriel gathered the sound in the staff and let it burst out at once letting out a huge shriek throughout the battlefield.

Shhhhhhhrieeeeeeeeeek!!!

For some odd reason, only the goblins were affected by this. It was like only Miriel and the goblins could hear this sound though it didn't harm her at all as the caster.

You have gained the spell: Shriek

Shriek Beginner Level 1

Gather sound and blast it out to cause an insane outburst of noise that damages the enemy's hearing and balance enough to stun them. This spell is more effective against those with good hearing and less effective with those who have poor hearing. The spell does not affect the caster nor the party members when used.

Mana Cost: 30

Cool Down: 2 Minutes

“Ahhh! Poison sound!”

“Noo! Hearing Bad!”

The goblins screamed in pain as the others took the quick chance to take them out. In a few minutes when the goblins were stunned then turned into a state similar to confusion, the group managed to take them out when Miriel used the 'Shriek' skill again when the cool down finished. Naturally after the battle finished, the others immediately seek out what was that new spell.

Therefore Miriel calmly told them:

“Seeing Shadow dealing more damage than usual even with a critical hit, I remembered that all living creatures will be stunned if they hear a sound loud enough in their ears or minds at least. So I think I formed a spell based off that and used it....the mana cost and cool down at acceptable as well” Miriel was quite pleased that she gained a new spell since everyone else besides Serena gained one during their trips.

Hearing this, Sain smiled which lead to Miriel staring at him again and said:

“Good good, now we can face more goblins at once!” he was a bit too enthusiastic and it was like his personality changed after the danger passed him and the others.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Seeing that Miriel also gained something new during this hunting trip that was still going, Serena was depressed since she was the only one standing still right now. Although she can heal, it was less effective immediately then Sain's healing spell even if it heals more in the end nor can she attack the enemies at all which led to her healing spells becoming more powerful as time goes on.

Serena's Minor Health Regeneration spell was reaching the beginner level 5 mark now with a few more battles which would mean it would heal 160 health over 100 seconds which equates to 1.6 health healed per second and it could stacked up three times at once so later in the battle it was more like 6.4 health healed per second which was quite high at the early stage of the game under level 100.

Serena sighed quietly to herself as the group moved on to find more goblins which were now the main source of experience to the party.

'When will I become more useful....?'

Serena could not help but to think like that since a long time ago. Even before she was called useless and always failed compared to others in results and progress. Even in this game, everyone else was slowing being stronger while she was standing still although her healing spells were indeed becoming stronger. Serena was feeling depressed since everyone else in one form or another were getting new skills and spells. Because all she did was heal, she didn't have the chance to even try to attack at all.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

The next batch of enemies were Kobolds that numbered 5 this time. The group was roughly the same level as them but had the advantage in tactical skills. When the battle started, Miriel started things off immediately with her new spell.

“Shriek!”

Shhhhhhhrieeeeeeeeeek!!!

Immediately from her staff, some sound that Serena could hear but yet did not affect her covered the entire area they were in. The Kobolds in pain tried to cover their ears but it had little effect on the power of the spell and they were rendered stunned for a few moments.

“Ram!” “Mana Bolt!” “Fire Blade!” “Double Strike!”

The other four getting into the battle as well, without mercy used their skills on the stunned Kobolds and dealt large amounts of damage at once. Raven took 2 down with his 'Ram' and continued attacking without stop, Sain fired his 'Mana Bolts' then stabbed them using his spear in the other hand, Lyndis cut them with her 'Fire Blade' covered sword and finally Shadow didn't bother sneaking and was just attacking without restraint.

Seeing this, Serena couldn't think that they needed a healer at all if the others were already this strong. Having a healer was important against strong foes but when they are weak, the healers have nothing to do. Such a situation was Serena in now. Along with Miriel's minor after her first spell, the Kobolds were easily taken down without much difficulties which made Serena sort of sad since she didn't do much at all.

You have gained Experience

This message appeared for Serena as well as the others. Serena was thinking of how much experience she really got compared to the others that did all of the work. Would she fall behind in levels sooner or later?

Then....

“Kill the humans!”

“Elvish Blood!”

“Die Die!”

Then on both sides of this path the group was in, a total of 10 Kobolds appeared on both sides. They were surrounded and outnumbered as well.

“Shit! Were there 2 more Kobold groups around?!” said Sain under his breath. He then immediately called out orders to everyone else keeping his calm.

“Raven you're alone with Shadow's help! Lyndis with me on the other side!” he shouted leading Lyndis with him to block the charging Kobolds.

From both sides, the Kobolds used their numbers to try and take down the others. Serena already knew what to do.

“Minor Health Regeneration!” Serena casted the spell on Lyndis first since she was one of the more likely to die without that great armour or defence.

“Melody of Health!” Miriel set up a buff for the group immediately while she can.

Vitality increased by 14% for 10 minutes

“Fire Blade! Life Burn!” Lyndis wanted to turn things around as fast as possible before it gets bad. Her body was set ablaze and her sword as well cutting down Kobolds. One..two...fell before her health was too low and she couldn't use her most powerful skill anymore. By then Serena's 'Minor Health Regeneration' was finished cooling down but she did not cast it on Lyndis.

“Minor Health Regeneration!”

The light that came from the spell fell on Raven this time. He was taking on 4 Kobolds at once while Shadow was keeping them away as much as possible taking great chances of being killed since his health was still at a quarter due to his skill's side effects.

“Shield Bash!” Raven was being pushed back literally with the 4 Kobolds even though he stuns one or two at a time, the others still attack. But that was not the mos worrying thing on that side right now.

“Let the light burn, Fireball!” the Kobold at the back shouted, it was a Kobold Mage. A variation in the types of Kobolds you can face. Something that was very power and dangerous to fight against.

Fire formed into a ball and was shot at Raven who blocked it with his shield. However the heat and the impact went through causing him to immediately lose half his health from that spell. On the other side, Sain and Lyndis were taking on 3 Kobolds while Shadow and Raven on the other side was taking on 5 including a mage type Kobold as well.

“Mana Bolt!” shouted Miriel aiming at the Kobold mage.

Bang!

However the attack did little damage at all, only causing the Kobold mage to get pissed off.

“Ahhh! Attack Attack! Kill them all!” the Kobold mage shouted to it's breathen. With this the attack against the group was getting even more intense with everyone's health decreasing quite quickly that Serena's healing was only stalling for death at this point.

Eventually, a Kobold slips through via Raven and Shadow who were dealing with 5 at once and attacks Serena.

“Ahh!” Serena let out a cry as she managed to block the first attack though was sent flying back a bit by the sheer force.

“Shit!” shouted Sain as he looked behind while blocking an attack from another Kobold.

The Kobold was about to land a second hit but Serena was a split second faster than it fortunately.

“Mana Burst!”

A large amount of her mana, namely most of it was consumed to send out a flare of mana at the Kobold turning it into ashes. Until another 'Mana Burst', this one can only consume part of the mana a person has and does not have the same power as the 'real' one. It's just this one didn't need a chant to use and was something you could use multiple times in battle.

However since they were immediately attacked before fully recovering from the previous fight, Serena's mana dropped down to just 100 which was only enough for a few more healing spells, no just 10 more if she only heals. But she was not thinking of healing right now since she just experienced her first kill in this game.

The feeling that gave her energy for some odd reason like something awakened. Serena felt this and wondered if the others experienced this feeling as well. It was a feeling of learning something new that can be used and be formed into a new spell.

The remainder of her mana as well as part of her health mixed into one forming a blue and red colour as it flowed out of her and into her staff. The name automatically appeared in her head as she shout:

“Blood Burst!”

The red and blue thing that came out of Serena turned a dark red and flew out as an orb hitting several of the Kobolds like it had a life of it's own even though Serena was controlling it. The red orb flew around and also hit the Kobolds on the other side as well.

Nothing happened for a few second then...

BANG!

All of the Kobolds exploded into pieces as their blood boiled to the extremes at once and their bodies burst like balloons.

You have gained Experience

You have levelled up

You have generated the skill: Blood Burst

Blood Burst Beginner Level 1

Using a mixture of forbidden magic and healing magic, you make contact with the blood inside of the targets and cause it to boil to the point that the body cannot take it and explode in pieces. You can target multiple things as long as it has liquid in it for the spell to work.

Mana Cost: 100

Health Cost: 100

Cool Down: 5 Minutes

A powerful spell that was much stronger than the others' appeared for Serena as the tide turned for the worse. The enemies didn't even have a chance to attack her when she used that spell on them even though they thought it didn't affect them at all.

“....”

“....”

“....”

The others stared at Serena who looked happy at the gain of a new spell to use, especially one that was very useful against enemies. They could only fear her more than before now that she gained such a 'evil' spell.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Hahahahaha! To think such a skill would be form by THAT girl of all things!” laughed Eden watching the six fight against foes that gradually became stronger the more they went.

“Although I was very sad that they ran from such a good monster to fight at their level....”

When they ran from the Zolerd that he delivered for them, he was a bit disappointed since he faced enemies that strong when he was their level though it was interesting enough when Shadow gained a new skill at the last moment to escape for his life. Before that Raven completely smashed a Kobold to pieces when things went wrong and Sain was about to die from a hit.

“The one with little presence is a bit interesting in his nature while the quiet one when he snaps is so like Alexandra” muttered Eden while remembering some things.

Then there was Miriel gaining a sound based skill that stuns enemies, it would be very useful in lone parties but not in large scale operations since it would affect allies that were not in the same party as you. Because of this, it was not a very popular choice of spell even though it was powerful. Finally there was Serena who gained the most blood thirsty spell so far making it literally rain.

“Both magic users are slowly being shaped will determine how the group will form from now on. I wonder when I can drag them into my guild...the others wanted me to let them grow on their own for a while....don't they understand that the Guild's training will make them so much stronger compared to them learning thing bit by bit” complained Eden when he remembered a number of people who have been avoiding him for a past few years coming back and pleading with him.

Naturally as their teacher in some things with Alexandra and Viv, he had trained them a bit more resulting in them being a bit stronger though all six of them, those masters of the other six were completely exhausted and near death when he was finished with them. The only way to become stronger after the mind and body was developed enough was to push the limit of both continuously. Facing someone much stronger was one way of doing this.

“Guildmaster....” muttered someone on the ground that had the courage to hide from him for a while getting drunk and playing games all day.

“What is it Gen?” Eden asked the man on the ground trying to rest while stepping on him with an evil smile on his face.

“Please....spare me, take the others instead..I need to teach that brat some more stuff later....” said Gen betraying the others for his ow goals.

“Damn you Gen! All of us need to teach them some things later as well! I don't want to die because of you” shouted Mel on the ground as well.

The others nodded and then suggested to Eden:

“Take Gen instead since it seems his apprentice knows what to do already while the others are still needing of some training”

“What?! Are you selling me to this demon?!” shouted Gen back at them like he was surprised at this outcome.

“Hmm....” Eden thought about it for a bit. From what he saw, their training was incomplete since they didn't have all the core skills and spells but they were gaining some interesting ones instead which made up for it and more. Plus it mainly had to do with the 'fragments' that Eden made these people put on them.

These 'fragments' were presto-mana fragments that only boosted their growth slightly. The only effects Eden noticed was that their mana gain by levelling or from stats doubled for some odd reason as well as the increased chance they may gain a new skill or spell when the time comes when they need it. Both of these effects would cause them to at least become top tier players in the end.

Perhaps those six in time will become stronger than their masters in a decade or so. Of course this would only happen if Eden trained them leaving nothing spared.

“A healthy mind lives in a health body....I need to train them, especially the mage and druid later...yes I will use 'that' method” muttered Eden while he was determining their ultimate fates in this game.

“....”

Those six masters of their own fields could not help but pale when they think about 'that' method Eden was going to use later on. They had all experienced it personally as well and it gave them nightmares.

However they didn't know that the version they experienced was toned down a lot and Eden had to go through the early versions which was something worse than torture itself! It was only through that his mind started to twist in weird ways when it comes to training. Only by experiencing an endless hell will people will become strong! Eden has always been in this kind of hell because of Alexandra, it was only natural he would become strong.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Several Weeks passed and the supplies the group brought at the very start was near rock bottom. They would have to return to the city in order to sell the increasing amount of loot they had in order to later buy more supplies and possibly new gear since they were in need of it now. The group now all at level 43 went down to the third floor in order to face Goblins that were up to level 60 there!

Because of this, the group's stats were now like this:

Status WindowSainShadow[quart=Race: Human,Race: Human]Type: Neutral,Type: Neutral[/quart][quart=Level: 43,Level: 43]Class: Shaman,Class: Rogue[/quart][quart=Title: Tactician,Title: Dark Walker]Fame: 15,Fame: 15[/quart][quart=Health: 1759,Health: 1461]Mana: 779,Mana: 318[/quart][quart=Strength: 63 +12,Strength: 56 +3]Agility: 65 +11,Agility: 145 +11[/quart][quart=Intelligence: 58 +11,Intelligence: 10 +1]Wisdom: 57 +11,Wisdom: 10 +1[/quart][quart=Vitality: 66 +1,Vitality: 53 +1]Stamina: 41 +1,Stamina: 58 +1[/quart][quart=Fighting Spirit: 26 +2,Fighting Spirit: 32 +2]Endurance: 17 +1,Endurance: 13 +1[/quart][quart=Leadership: 9 +1,Leadership: 0 +1]Luck: 4 +1,Luck: 29 +11[/quart][quart=Offense: 16,Offense: 12]Defence: 15,Defence: 26[/quart]

Status WindowRavenLyndis[quart=Race: Human,Race: Elf]Type: Neutral,Type: Neutral[/quart][quart=Level: 43,Level: 43]Class: Shield Footman,Class: Sword Priest[/quart][quart=Title: Shield-Bearer,Title: Blade Dancer]Fame: 15,Fame: 15[/quart][quart=Health: 2818,Health: 1547]Mana: 373,Mana: 588[/quart][quart=Strength: 107 +12,Strength: 103 +2]Agility: 61 +11,Agility: 68 +1[/quart][quart=Intelligence: 10 +6,Intelligence: 58 +4]Wisdom: 15 +6,Wisdom: 12 +4[/quart][quart=Vitality: 105 +11,Vitality: 55 +1]Stamina: 65 +6,Stamina: 44 +1[/quart][quart=Fighting Spirit: 28 +7,Fighting Spirit: 16 +1]Endurance: 27 +6,Endurance: 14 +1[/quart][quart=Leadership: 0 +6,Leadership: 0 +1]Luck: 0 +6,Luck: 2 +1[/quart][quart=Offense: 22,Offense: 18]Defence: 36,Defence: 35[/quart]

Status WindowMirielSerena[quart=Race: Night Elf,Race: Half-Elf]Type: Neutral,Type: Neutral[/quart][quart=Level: 43,Level: 43]Class: Magician Bard,Class: Druid[/quart][quart=Title: Sound Maiden,Title: Nature Wielder]Fame: 15,Fame: 35[/quart][quart=Health: 542,Health: 524]Mana: 1289,Mana: 1124[/quart][quart=Strength: 10 +2,Strength:9 +3]Agility: 54 +1,Agility: 53 +1[/quart][quart=Intelligence: 149 +13,Intelligence: 103 +11]Wisdom: 60 +13,Wisdom: 97 +11[/quart][quart=Vitality: 10 +1,Vitality: 10 +1]Stamina: 18 +1,Stamina: 15 +11[/quart][quart=Leadership: 0 +1,Leadership: 0 +1]Luck: 0 +1,Luck: 1 +1[/quart][quart=Offense: 10,Offense: 10]Defence: 10,Defence: 10[/quart]

And their skills were like this:

Skill Window[third=Serena,Miriel]Lyndis[/third][third=- Magic Mastery Beginner 4 (45/100)

- Nature Mastery Beginner 3 (58/100)

- Mediation Beginner level 2 (43/100)

- Mana Burst Beginner level 1 (6/100)

- Minor Health Regeneration Beginner level 5 (54/900)

- Minor Stamina Regeneration Beginner level 4 (79/700)

- Quicken Death Beginner level 1 (0/100)

Language Comprehension Beginner level 1 (0/100)

- Blood Burst Beginner level 2 (18/300),- Magic Mastery Beginner 4 (15/100)

- Illusion Magic Mastery Beginner 2 (68/100)

- Sound Magic Mastery Beginner 3 (70/100)

- Magic Control Mastery Beginner 3 (96/100)

- Mediation Beginner level 2 (14/100)

- Cooking Beginner Level 2 (93/100)

- Identify Beginner level 1 (70/100)

- Magic Bolt Beginner level 4 (122/700)

- Clairvoyance Beginner level 1 (46/100)

- Melody of Sound Beginner level 4 (470/700)

- Cracked Barrier Beginner level 2 (855/1200)

- Shriek Beginner level 2 (5/300)]- Sword Mastery Beginner 5 (76/100)

- Fire Manipulation Mastery Level 3 (33/100)

- Cooking Beginner Level 2 (19/100)

- Pocket Fireball Beginner level 3 (4/500)

- Fire Blade Beginner level 5 (73/900)

- Life Burn Beginner level 2 (80/300)[/third]

Skill Window[third=Raven,Shadow]Sain[/third][third=- Spear Mastery Beginner Level 4 (75/100)

- Shield Mastery Beginner Level 5 (95/100)

- Shield Bash Beginner level 5 (31/900)

- Double Strike Beginner level 4 (53/700)

- Footwork Beginner level 4 (122/500)

- Repair Beginner level 1 (988/1000)

- Ram Beginner level 2 (20/100),- Dagger Mastery Beginner 5 (55/100)

- Stealth Intermediate Level 3 (86/100)

- Hearing Beginner level 4 (25/100)

- Dark Vision Beginner level 2 (15/100)

- Night Vision Beginner level 2 (89/100)

- Locate Trap Beginner level 1 (30/100)

- Disarm Trap Beginner level 1 (12/100)

- Backstab Beginner level 4 (399/700)

- Double Strike Beginner level 4 (14/500)

- Climbing Beginner Level 4 (82/100)

- Become Mist Beginner level 1 (2/100)]- Spear Mastery Beginner Level 4 (12/100)

- Identify Beginner level 2 (20/100)

- Party Scan Beginner level 3 (40/100)

- Mana Bolt Beginner level 5 (155/900)

- Mediation Beginner level 3 (15/100)

- Summon Familiar Beginner level 3 (4/500)

- Minor Heal Beginner level 4 (150/700)

- Weaken Beginner level 3 (64/500)

- Bursting Will Beginner level 2 (17/100)[/third]

While many of their skills and spells were like this, the group was certainly making slow and steady progress in becoming stronger as time went on. Right now they could face against level 60 goblin groups fine with some of their unique skills and spells that they only heard of since they gained them.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Right now the group was facing the guards to the boss room to the Dunxix Dungeon. There were 6 of them which matched the group but they were a lot stronger than other goblins with proper armour and weapons.

“Kill Kill!”

“Cut them all!”

The goblins, short in nature and only a bit shorter than Serena used their fury to immediately attack leaving the defence to their armour. There was a goblin shaman in the enemy group as well which made things more difficult without a cleric to buff their side as well.

“Let the blood drench and become strength! Strengthening!” shouted the goblin shaman as the damage the group took increased by 20%.

“Blood Burst!” shouted in the middle of the battle aiming at all of the goblins at once, the spell hit the goblins without them noticing that it was dangerous.

BANG!

However it was only their armour that broke into pieces at places and only dealt a low amount of damage to them instead of instant killing them like other monsters. Serena and Sain realised immediately that it was due to the armour that the spell targeted that instead of the bodies of the goblins. If this was the case then Serena would have to aim at the gaps between the armour in order for it to be effective enough.

“Mana Bolt!” “Shriek!”

Both Miriel and Sain at the back line activated their spells as well. Sain's mana bolts hit the shaman preventing it from casting at spell while Miriel's shriek spell stunned the goblins for a while. Some minutes later, the goblins including the goblin shaman all died leaving the way to the boss room free.

“That was too close” said Lyndis breathing heavily since she and the others almost got killed a few times during this battle. Even though the levels of the goblins were the same as the other ones they faced on the third floor of the dungeon, it was apparent that they were much stronger due to proper armour that were better than the group's though lower quality and they also had a number of skills which they used to their advantage as well.

“True” said Sain in response, “They were a lot stronger than the other goblins, as expected from the Goblin Guards.”

“Besides that we should check the loot we got from that battle” said Miriel as the rare and strong goblins they just faced actually dropped a number of things.

Sain and the others went through the drops. In total there were around 20 Gold, some metal scraps that they can sell and a number of useless junk mixed in as well. However there were 3 pieces of equipment that were dropped.

“Identify!” said Sain on those items.

Violent Staff of Nature Durability: 30/30 Damage: 5-7

Made from the bones of other goblins in order to strength the effects on them, this staff process a violent nature that affects the user greatly. In the hands of non-goblins, they will become angered at the sight

Restrictions:

- Level 30

Options:

- Increase effects of spells on goblins by 30%

- Spell effects will last 20% longer

- Healing and Buffing spells will cost 5% less

- Intelligence +1

This was a rare item that was perfectly suited for Serena and was several times better than her current wooden staff that needed replacing either way. Serena gladly took the staff although it was a bit heavier than she thought and she almost dropped it.

“Identify!” Sain identified the second item.

Blood Cleaver of Cutting Durability: 50/50 Damage: 20-25

A clever that has high cutting power! It has a higher chance to cause enemies to bleed when cut and is light as well.

Restrictions:

- Level 32

- Sword Related Class

Options:

- Increase chance of inflicting bleed by 25%

- Very light though made with low quality material, increase weapon speed

This weapon went to Lyndis immediately although she was not completely used to these types of weapons since she was using a regular iron sword. The Cleaver though the same length was much thicker in width as well and was actually a kilo heavier than her previous sword even though it was suppose to be 'light'.

“Identify!” finally it was the final equipment item that dropped.

Helmet of Great Sight Durability: 25/25 Defence: 8

Made of iron poorly mended together, it processes low durability and defence as a result of poor workmanship. However it has a special effect of greater insight of all things to a small extent.

Restrictions:

- None

Options:

- 1% chance of negating blindness debuff

This helmet was actually quite bad though no one in the group had a helmet yet. Eventually the helmet went to Sain who had the most pitiful gear of the group so far. With these extra points in defence he would not die that easily now. The next thing was to perhaps inherit armour from either Raven or Shadow if they get new and better armour. Sain was already showing signs of being cheap at this stage.

The group after sorting a number of things looked at the boss room door where there would be a Goblin Chief in there. They opened the doors to face it.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Opening the door to the boss room, they were faced against the Goblin Chief which was a large goblin that was the same height as Sain and had armour that had features stuck on them as well as a large feather hat that reminded him of the Native Americans he learnt in history. The Goblin Chief dual wielded a pair of cleavers that were the same size as Lyndis's.

“Humans who have invaded Goblin home....” surprisingly enough, it seems the Goblin Chief has a high amount of intelligence, “DIE!”

Immediately after casting what seems to be a spell that increased it's agility, the Goblin Chief charged at the group at the other side of the room at frightening speeds in a room that was 20 metres long. Within a second it was already in front of the group.

“Footwork! Ram!” shouted Raven as he headed towards the Goblin Chief immediately. Serena also prepared a healing spell but did not have enough time to cast it. Beforehand, Miriel casted 'Melody of Sound' on the group so she didn't need to at the start of the battle.

In exchange she was preparing the 'Shriek' spell to use against the Goblin Chief.

BANG!

Raven and the Goblin Chief collided resulting in Raven being thrown back across the room as the Goblin Chief's charge stopped in front of Lyndis and Shadow.

“Double Strike!” using his agility Shadow moved in with a frontal attack against it.

Clang!

Both hits were blocked by two cleavers that were about to slice at Shadow.

“Pocket Fireball!” Lyndis swung her hand throwing a few small fireballs that hit the eye area of the Goblin Chief which left enough time for Shadow to disappear and go into stealth mode avoiding taking any damage which from what Sain saw would be fatal.

'Around level 60 at least...maybe level 70?' though Sain evaluating the strength of the Goblin Chief. Usually in this dungeon, the Goblin Chief would be backed by other Goblin Guards which would require at least 2 or 3 parties in total to deal with at level 50-60. Fortunately, this time, the Goblin Chief did not have any guards and was just by himself so this battle wouldn't be so bad.

Seeing the battle through the helmet he just obtained, Sain started analysing the battle while giving out commands and support fire and healing while he can.

Bang Bang!

'Goblin Chief seems to have a few skills that may be troublesome to handle. It's better to make it waste all of it's mana on Raven while we heal him to make things easier' thought Sain shouting:

“Raven! Be the meat shield and make it use all of it's mana!”

Silently agreeing to this, Raven naturally did his best to provoke the Goblin Chief that was quite large for a goblin. Shorter foes were easier to handle since their weak spots, the head was much easier to hit.

“Shield Bash!” Raven went straight to the Goblin Shield swinging his shield in horizontal to the Goblin Chief hitting it at the edge of the shield instead of the flat side.

Bang!

“Shriek!” chanted Miriel.

Shhhhhhhrieeeeeeeeeek!!!

With both 'attacks' hitting the Goblin Chief at once, it blocked it's ears and let out a shout as well.

“HAAAAA!”

Shriek had no effect

This message appeared for Sain as well as Miriel due to his party scan skill. It looks like the Goblin Chief's fighting spirit was too high compared to the skill level of Miriel's 'shriek' spell. While ineffective it could still however be used as a distraction at least which was Sain thought immediately seeing the effects it had.

“Serena, focus healing on Raven” commanded Sain as he chanted, “Minor Heal!” on Lyndis increasing her health by a bit.

As 'Minor Heal' was at Beginner Level 4, it could heal 95 health at once using up only a minor amount of mana. Combine this with Serena's 'Minor Health Regeneration' on a single person and they would rapidly gain lots of health at once even if it is Raven who has nearly 3000 health. However it still does not compare to the massive healing powers of a cleric that can easily heal half of Raven's health at once.

“Miriel, we're going to aim at the limbs using mana bolts” said Sain pointing his staff at the Goblin Chief:

“Mana Bolt!” “Mana Bolt!”

A total of 18 mana bolts flew at the Goblin Chief at once hitting it at various places though most of them were aimed at the arms or legs. Although it did little damage, a total of a few percentage from what Sain believes, it is flashy and allows another person to attack.

“Backstab!” Shadow appeared behind the Goblin Chief using the mana bolts as a distractions and stabbed his dagger in the Goblin Chief's back.

“Ahhh! Die!”

However the Goblin Chief was very fast and managed to swing one of it's sword hitting Shadow before he could escape in time.

Bang!

Even though he blocked, the blow knocked him to the other side of the room in one hit.

“Life Burn!” Seeing Shadow was in trouble, Lyndis used this skill and started drawing the attention of the Goblin Chief. Fire was thrown at the Goblin Chief which endured it taking some damage, most likely around 10% or so.

“Footwork! Ram!”

Going at high speeds against the Goblin Chief again, Raven managed to get a decent hit in.

Bang!

The Goblin Chief though was not thrown away due to the skill, was hit back taking minor damage as Raven then with Lyndis attacked at once while they had the chance. The Goblin Chief recovering swing both his swords at them in a wild fashion with each blow taking large chunks of their health.

“Minor Health!” Sain aimed his spell at Raven this time since he was the one getting the most pounding between the two. Then Sain saw Serena was about to use 'that' spell again.

“Raven, Lyndis! Get out of the way!” shouted Sain, he did not want them getting caught up in that spell no matter the cost. The two backed away immediately hearing this as Shadow just got up from the damage he took a few tens of seconds back. It looks like he took a serious amount of damage since he lost 60% of his health at once with a single hit.

“Blood Burst!” shouted Serena consuming a large amount of health and mana to use this skill. The red orb appeared and shot at extremely high speeds at the Goblin Chief.

Sensing danger from the spell Serena used, the Goblin Chief tried to dodge but it hit him several times as the orb looped around and hit parts of his body.

BANG!

Then suddenly as the Goblin Chief thought the spell was a dud, various parts of it's body and armour exploded into pieces. Blood soaked it completely as it lost one arm and an eye due to the spell.

'No matter how I look at it, this spell of hers is extremely powerful and dangerous. I think most players not matter the level would at least take serious damage against this spell' thought Sain as the battle was about to conclude.

A few minutes later with the Goblin Chief clinging to life with only at half strength with the lost of an arm and an eye leaving it at low health, the following messages appeared for the group and especially Sain.

You have killed the Goblin Chief Nubgone

- You gained 20 Fame

- All party members gain 3 Strength, 2 Agility and 1 Fighting Spirit

- You have levelled up

- You have levelled up

- You have levelled up

- You have levelled up

- You have levelled up

Party Member Serena has gained the stat: Fighting Spirit

Party Member Serena has gained the stat: Concentration

Party Member Miriel has gained the stat: Fighting Spirit

Party Member Miriel has gained the stat: Concentration

With this the entire group's level increased from 43 to 48 which was very near to level 50. If they hunted for a few more days against the goblins of the same level, they would probably get to level 50 if they wanted to even if the hunting will have less gain than before. However...

“First of all, let's see what we got from the Goblin Chief” said Miriel collecting some of the loot that was dropped from the ground. Unfortunately there was no pieces of equipment that were dropped when the Goblin Chief died which was very sad. However another 30 pieces of gold coins were collected in total along with a number of scrap metal and some feathers and string.

“This was actually quite bad in the loot department” said Lyndis a bit dissatisfied, “The Goblin Guards from outside this room had much better drops although getting more Gold doesn't hurt at all.”

“At best the Goblin chief would drop another one of those Cleavers or the feather hat which I doubt anyone here wants to wear” said Shadow popping up into the conversation.

“True, besides the weapons which only Lyndis would want to use, there wasn't much to gain...except the armour though it was of poor quality compared to Raven's one. We could've sold it for a few gold pieces if it dropped” commented Sain calculating the money they could've gained.

The group quickly placed points in their status window to make sure they were stronger than before and the results was a lot smaller compared to before when they started out. Before 5 levels would mean they would be several times stronger than before but now it only partly makes them stronger. To get the same increase in power as before, they would need to gain 20 or so levels at once. But that was not the main issue right now.

BOOM BOOM

It had only been a few minutes and the group was still in the boss room that was in the deepest part of the dungeon.

BOOM BOOM

There was only one way out and a certain creature was blocking the way.

“Damn looks like we really have to defeat it now” said Sain with a grim face. Just now they struggled with a level 70 boss monster and now they had to face a level 100 boss monster after that?

“No choice” said Lyndis with a shrug.

“Let do our best...!” said Serena with some confidence now.

“Need to take it down” said Raven looking at the Zolerd with malice.

“Can't escape this time...” said Shadow thinking back on what happened before.

“Looks like everyone is ready to fight” said Miriel sighing. She wanted to avoid this if possible, there was too much of a high chance that they would all wipe against this thing. The group drew their weapons and faced the Zolerd on the other side of the corridor to the Boss Room.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Ohhh! Finally! I was thinking of teleporting it near them and it goes to them by itself!” Eden was excited on the upcoming battle like he was watching a good T.V show. He was watching a screen that only he could see which was due to due to one of his skills.

Eden looked over to various things and eventually said just before the actual fight began, “Perhaps I need to set up that trial for them now....but....”

He was still unsure that the group could beat the Zolerd as it was double their level and was also a boss monster as well. Eden estimated they would gain a lot of experience, akin to around 10 levels at once if they manage to kill it even with 6 people. He himself on many occasion had to face these kinds of situations alone and gained tons of experience in both levels and skill proficiency like this.

“It should be fine, there are 6 of them after all”

Eden stopped watching them in order to set up the 'trial' in which they had to later face to join his guild.

“If they failed then I have to train both master and apprentice. After all, the master's teaching is the apprentice's results. Both of them need to take responsibility if they manage to fail.”

The fates of another six people have been added to the victory or defeat of the group against the Zolerd.

“Please at least spare us guildmaster....” muttered a person that heard this conversation. This person was one of the masters of the group. They all stood silent hoping that their apprentices lived with victory else they all would have to be trained by this 'Demon' once again. Decades passed and the mental traumas they experienced by Eden has yet to heal.

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

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Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 9700~

- Volume is almost done!

- This chapter was more or less the same as the last one with the group gaining levels. Well plot armour is relevant next chapter so....