Sain and the others were now faced once more against the Zolerd, a creature that was similar to Kobolds in some ways, had a head similar to a rabbit and the body of a fat troll but was 3 metres tall and had a very large body with a giant cleaver that was easily someone's height in length alone. Trapped with nearly now way to escape this, the group decided quickly to fight rather than to just die.

In fact, the only person who has a chance to escape is Shadow with his 'Become Mist' skill that he obtained facing the Zolerd before. However that was when he was nearly 20 levels lower than he was right now. Plus now he had the help of the others as well that were intending to take it down.

BOOM BOOM

The Zolerd slowly walked to the group and looked at it with hungry eyes thinking that they were nothing but prey like everything else in this dungeon. It seems to not remember Shadow at all or just doesn't notice him yet.

“Say....what are it's weaknesses Shadow?” asked Sain a bit nervous. He knew that it was quite fast, faster than Miriel and Serena at least and was very powerful at the same time but nothing more than that.

“It's heavy” Shadow merely replied. He really had no idea what else could be used as an advantage.

“....”

Sain looked in disbelief that Shadow would joke with him at this moment but Shadow wasn't the type to joke around to begin with. Sain took Shadow's word as the cruel reality they had to face. In front of them was a creature that was definitely out of their league and they had to face it.

'A frontal attack won't work and this location doesn't give us a chance to use sneak attacks or the environment to our advantage as well. Running away from it is also impossible and there is a high chance that all of us will die as well. What can we do? Damn, is dying the only option here?!' Sain's thought took a dive as he quickly considered the most likely outcomes to this battle.

“Ahhh, damnit! We just have to fight and see what happens!” shouted Lyndis impatient on Sain. She held her Cleaver and rushed at the Zolerd without fear.

“Ah” was all that Sain could mutter before he picked himself up again commanding the others to help Lyndis out at least.

“Raven try not to block it directly, you'll be crushed!”

“Shadow try to sneak pass it and attack from behind!”

“Miriel, you try to focus on protecting Lyndis okay?!”

“Serena, focus healing on Lyndis and Raven at once!”

Sain gave out orders rapidly as he pointed his staff at the Zolerd in order to fire a spell to at least distract it at the right moment.

“Fire Blade!” shouted Lyndis covering her sword in flames as she charged without hesitation and warning to her allies, “Take this!” she shouted as she swung her sword at the leg of the Zolerd. The Zolerd responded to Lyndis and was about to swing it's Cleaver to separate Lyndis into pieces.

'Now!'

“Mana Bolt!”

Sain fired 9 mana bolts at the eyes of the Zolerd when it started to swing.

Bang!

The Zolerd without vision missed Lyndis barely with her dodging it at the last second.

“Weaken!” shouted Sain intending to make it have lower strength.

Weaken is not effective, enemy's level is too high for your skill proficiency

'Damn, can't use this spell against it' thought Sain seeing this message in front of him. The Zolerd was too strong for him to weaken it with his spell.

Slice Slice Slice!

Lyndis did a triple attack on the Zolerd's leg cutting it three times in a short amount of time.

“Damn, it's harder than I thought” cried Lyndis as she retreated.

Lyndis' attacks were by no means weak, especially since the Cleaver has more damage than the Iron Sword she had before. It was just that there was a surprising amount of muscle on the legs making it have more defence compared to other parts it the Zolerd's body.

'Legs and Arms are a no go this time without large amounts of power. The head and stomach area seems like the best place to cause bleeding'

“Lyndis, aim at the stomach area from now on!” Sain shouted.

By this time Raven and Shadow were near Lyndis in fighting the Zolerd head on. With it's vision back, the Zolerd looked in anger at the group at once.

“ROOOOAR!!!”

And let out a loud cry of hatred to those who injured it.

“Melody of Speed!” chanted Miriel.

Agility increased by 25% for 10 minutes

A pleasant sound was heard by the entire group as Miriel buffed them with her spell. 'Melody of Sound' was at beginner level 4 now so it at default had a 14% effect. However combine this with her Magic Mastery and Sound Mastery skills, and this number increases to 25%.

Shadow taking this chance went and did a sweeping kick at the leg that Lyndis hit earlier. The Zolerd moving quickly tried to hit Shadow with it's cleaver but Shadow somewhat dodged though it was still a close call.

BANG!

The hit itself hit the ground and caused a large crack splitting it a bit.

'If Raven was to be hit by that, then his equipment would break into pieces. Raven's role as the tank this time would end up killing him. Need to make sure he doesn't die at least....'

“Raven retreat a bit, Lyndis and Shadow, get on the other side and attack from there!” shouted Sain as he took out his spear to head to the front lines as well. Raven and Lyndis both attacked while dodging the attacks with Raven getting hit a few times though using his shield. Shadow disappeared as he ran.

“Backstab!”

And he lodged his dagger into the back of the Zolerd at once.

“ROOOOAR!”

Screaming at once to the attack, the Zolerd turned around to attack Shadow. Then Raven and Lyndis took that chance along with Sain.

“Double Strike!”

“Life Burn!”

“Take this!”

All three of them attacked the now turned back of the Zolerd at once without warning to the Zolerd causing it to be pushed forward it a bit suddenly due to it's naturally high health and defence. As the Zolerd turned back on the three, Serena activated her spell.

“Blood Burst!”

A red orb appeared and flew quickly hitting mainly the arms and legs of the Zolerd before it's affects..

BANG!

The blood inside of the Zolerd exploded outwards in an instant! However it did not die but was only injured to a certain extent by the attack. It's limbs and body was covered in it's own blood as it slowly regenerated, healing the wounds.

Stab!

Shadow not letting this chance go again stabbed and continued attacking the Zolerd with his dagger alone with Raven and Lyndis whom were also doing the same. If Sain had the ability to see the health of the Zolerd, he would notice that it only decreased down to 90% with the spell Serena used, taking 9% of it's health in one go. This overwhelming difference in strength was due to the level difference being doubled for the group.

However they did not know this and simply continued to attack until the Zolerd would be slain. Their mana levels were still very high since only a few minutes passed since the battle started and health was a full since the Zolerd didn't hit any of them yet.

“Mana Bolt!” “Mana Bolt!”

Both Sain and Miriel attacked the head area of the Zolerd to give cover for the others who were attacking in close range. By now, the positions of everyone was like this. Lyndis and Shadow were taking care of the back area. Raven and Sain were at the front area and Miriel and Serena were a distance behind the front area giving support to the others.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Lyndis slashed at the stomach area of the Zolerd which was mostly covered by it's metal armour which her Cleaver could only be deflected off. However there was a space in which she could attack and she was aiming there as well a chipping away slowly the poor quality armour it had on.

Lyndis checked her health and mana levels. Health was at 76% and mana was at 53% which was still fine so far. The battle continued for a full 10 minutes now with no signs of stopping any time soon. The wounds that were created from Serena's 'Blood Destruction' healed within a minute although it's health stayed the same, the bleeding effects disappeared when the wounds closed.

With just over 300 mana left, Lyndis needed to conserve as much mana as possible. She could only use 'Fire Blade' for a full minute more and 'Life Burn' for another 2 minutes at most on her own.

Clang!

Lyndis' sword hit the armour again because the Zolerd moved to block the attack like that; after so many times hitting at that point even a stupid thing like this would learn. Lyndis frowned since now Sain's instructions were more or less useless.

“Lyndis! Attack the legs for now!” Sain shouted immediately seeing this.

Lyndis moved and dodged a swing from the Zolerd cutting the thick muscles of the leg a bit as she ran through.

“Life Burn!”

Covering herself with flames that was formed via the consumption of her health, Lyndis threw some flames at the Zolerd, namely the leg areas and quickly deactivated the skill else she might lose too much health at once.

'How much more will have last?' wondered Lyndis as she continued fighting with the others.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Raven pushed forward enduring the get hits whenever they come for Raven.

Swing~

Bang!

The attack from the Zolerd with it's giant Cleaver hit his shield squarely and easily pushed him back a few metres from the sheer force of the blow.

“Tch.”

Raven was really getting pissed off right now since he hasn't been able to properly block one of those attacks the Zolerd throws at him. Even with his skills, the attacks simply are too overpowering to block against at his current level.

“Double Strike!” Raven moved in once again to attack using the little mana he had left trying to at least hit the Zolerd at this point.

Fuuush

The Zolerd surprisingly with it's giant body easily dodged the attacks that Raven threw at it. Using one hand, Raven used pure strength to continue attacking the Zolerd over and over again with one hand.

Bang!

The spear collided with the Cleaver the Zolerd was using and was deflected back easily due to the force. If it weren't for the others distracting it enough that the Zolerd wouldn't be completely overpowered Raven, he would be dead already. Lyndis and Shadow and even Sain were having a much easier time then Raven since they had much light gear on. From what Raven remembered, Sain and Lyndis had roughly the same amount of agility as him and should not be that much faster.

'If that's the case.....the fact that I cannot block attacks against this thing then I have to do the next best thing!'

As the Zolerd swung it's weapon at Raven again, he did not raise his shield at all and instead used his spear to attack at the same time, at the same direction and at the same speed and power.

Bang!

The blow smashed Raven back even though it was only his weapon that got hit. However he had a much lower health drop compared to when he attacked.

'It looks like this can work' Raven thought getting up. The act was parrying an attack was much more difficult compared to just blocking but the rewards were much greater than simply blocking an attack.

Raven ran to the Zolerd again to attack while testing out parrying.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Shadow leaped from the wall to the right and jumped onto the body of the Zolerd with ease. Thanks to his naturally high agility, he was able to more or less move much more freely than the others with his skills helping out as well.

“Double Strike!” Shadow swung his dagger twice as he moved across the side of the Zolerd cutting the joint of the left arm before running away from the attacks that came with it. Shadow naturally used Stealth to make sure the Zolerd could not see him or feel his presence and this was only reinforced by the face that there were also others that attacked the Zolerd making it much easier for him to go about this battle.

“Mana Bolt!” “Mana Bolt!”

Miriel and Sain both did another round of mana bolts, almost 20 in total at the head area of the Zolerd to help out Raven and Lyndis mainly who have not the capabilities of Shadow in attacking and running away quickly.

More minutes passed as the battle continued and Shadow honestly believed that it would end in their victory. With some ups and downs, the Zolerd managed to keep everyone's health at around half at this point with mana slowly, very slowly recovering during the battle as well. The three; Shadow, Raven and Lyndis more or less learnt how to not waste mana just like that in a burst and rather at least saved some for later to use even if it means the battle would be longer.

Then....

“ROOOOOOOOOOOAR!!!”

The Zolerd's roar filled the entire corridor with fighting spirit. The Zolerd itself turned into a bright red colour with some sort of aura coming from it's body. At this point, the Zolerd finally reached critical health which at the 10% point in which it would lose it's health until it died.

Due to facing high fighting spirit of the enemy, strength and agility decrease by 15, intelligence and wisdom decrease by 20%

The entire party, especially Miriel and Serena felt the effects of the Zolerd's fighting spirit now. Only then they knew that it was 'holding back' on them with this sudden change.

BOOM BOOM

The Zolerd ran forward to Raven and..

BANG!

Smashed him away with a single hit with it's fist.

BOOM!!!

Then it slammed it's leg into the ground causing it to rumble and the group to lose their balance at once. The Zolerd then kicked Lyndis to the wall where her health went down to critical as well so easily.

“Cough!” Blood came out of her mouth with the hit.

Shadow immediately moved in to attack almost literally flying to attack the Zolerd's eyes once again. However the Zolerd immediately detected him and dropped the Cleaver to smash Shadow into pieces with it's open hands like killing an insect.

“Become Mist!”

Detecting danger, Shadow turned his physically body into mist where it quickly gathered once more in front of Sain.

Used 'Become Mist', health will be halved for 24 hours

Shadow's health dropped down though it didn't change that much since his health before was at 52% and now only dropped to 50% exactly with the use of this skill once. Shadow quickly looked at Sain on what to do, the enemy was way too strong this time.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

BOOM BOOM

There was literally no chance for Sain to give out commands right now. Raven and Lyndis were down....and now there was only Shadow who couldn't block attacks and Sain who had no combat skills to use as the vanguard. Plus Miriel and Serena weren't that well off unless someone was protecting them so they can cast spells. With no choice and nothing else to gain...

“Serena, Miriel, focus healing and your spells on me after you get those two up!” shouted Sain abandoning his staff completely to use the spear with two hands. Damage worked realistically in the game like in real life. Of course the speed and power of a weapon would increase if they used two hands to use it.

Swing

Sain dodged the first attack sent his way and the second as well since it lacked a follow up and was very easy to dodge to begin with. Both swings were horizontal attacks and all Sain needed to do was to duck at the right moment.

'Looks like in this berserk state, speed and power increase in exchange for a number of things' though Sain as he approached the Zolerd fearlessly to fight it in close range.

Bursting Will is now active, all stats +10%

Due to the closeness to death several times in a row, this skill activated and cancelled out some of the debuffs that Sain got from the Zolerd's fighting spirit suddenly rising.

Bang! Bang!

Sain and Shadow along with Miriel in support continued to attack the Zolerd with the 'Cracked Barrier' spell being used often on Sain while he also regenerated more health with Serena's 'Minor Health Regeneration'. Because of these two things, Sain managed on his own to take down around 2% of the Zolerd's health bringing it down along with the help from Shadow and Miriel to around 5% now.

BANG!

You took 1274 damage

However at the last moment Sain was smashed backwards to the Zolerd's attack. The majority of Sain's health was gone just like that.

'It seem....it's a bit too early in facing such a strong monster for the moment....I leave the rest to you guys....'

Those were Sain's last thoughts. Due to the large impact, he fell into unconsciousness although he somehow managed to stay awake a bit longer via sheer willpower alone.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Seeing Sain being blown back like that and not getting up, Miriel lost it.

'No.......!'

“Ahhhhhh!”

Mana gathered quickly and were shot out in the form of wind. She did not know how she knew how to do this but she simply continued to send wave and wave of wind that were sharpened the more she used it at the Zolerd.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Soon enough she used up the remainder of her mana with the bar staying at a stubborn zero percent.

Due to the rapid depletion of mana, mental exhaustion will kick in

This message cruelly appeared in front of her. As a magician, a simple magician, Miriel could not protect or support Sain or the others at all. Her spell list was incomplete and there were a large amount of things that she could not do at all. It was not just her actually, everyone in the group did not have a full skill or spell list at all. They were all missing something that could be filled in by another.

When one piece breaks, the others will fall as well.

This best described what Miriel was feeling. She unknowingly started to depend on Sain for her mental well being. As long as he was fine then so was she no matter the circumstance. But now...

'Alone.....alone.....again.....'

Her thoughts went to the dark side as she remembered, all the things that went wrong. But when she looked at Serena, only hope shone in her eyes.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Raven, Lyndis and Sain were now down with still no signs of getting up again. This alone would be a miracle as they could've all died with one hit from the Zolerd. Miriel in her rage ran out of mana and Shadow had little health left and wasn't about to take on the Zolerd alone.

However Serena did not despair at all. If she did she would return back to how she was before and that was something she did not want to happen no matter what. She was no longer part of the 'weak' and now was part of the 'strong'. She would no longer tear over the simple things and would only focus on what to do, no matter how hard it is.

'I want to change and this is the only chance I got....If I don't then I feel that there is no going back here....' Serena only had this and this alone to change herself. Reality damaged her too much that it could no longer change her. But in this game, this new world, Serena seen things that she hoped to be.

Her comrades that too, want to change, her master that taught her so much and finally....that woman that lived free, without care to others as one of the 'strong'.

Right now her health and mana were the highest in the group and only she could do something now. The Zolerd had only 3% health left. A mere 3% that even she can take down. But she only had one spell that could harm it and could only use it once...twice at most and the Zolerd had already seen her spell and now knew to dodge it.

Serena looked to Miriel who despite being so strong was now so weak. She had depended on Sain too much and ended up this way.

'Then....I will only depend on myself as well as the others'

“Shadow....please distract it as much as possible” said Serena as the creature that would be the death of them all approached slowly due to it's heavy injuries. It was going to die either way but wanted to take everyone Serena knew with it.

'I won't allow it!'

“Blood Burst!”

The cast time of this spell was quite short however the cool down of 5 minutes meant that Serena could usually only use it once per battle. But this fight went on much longer than the other battles the group had been in, even against the Goblin Chief. As such, she could use this skill again.

The red orb flew out of her staff that was taken from some dead goblin guards and went to the Zolerd with get speed. Seeing the spell was in motion Shadow shouted:

“Become Mist!”

And disappeared not wanting to die from her spell. This was the right choice since the sudden disappearance of Shadow made the Zolerd distracted from the red orb that hit and went through the Zolerd several times before it noticed.

However when it did....

“ROOOOAR!!!”

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

The Zolerd in rage and desperation ran to try and kill Serena before the spell could be completed.

BANG!

Just one step before the Zolerd could hit her, it exploded into pieces with blood flying everywhere. But it was still alive. Despite all of this, the Zolerd still lived but just barely and was about to fade away.

“Die!”

Smash!

Serena took this chance to smashed the bottom of her staff into the head of the Zolerd finally killing it.

You have killed the Wandering Zolerd, the eater of many Beasts

- You gained 50 Fame

- You have gained 10 Fighting Spirit

- You have gained 5 Strength

- You have gained 5 Stamina

- All Party members will gain gain 3 points in all stats

- You have levelled up

- You have levelled up

- You have levelled up

- You have levelled up

- You have levelled up

- You have levelled up

- You have levelled up

- You have levelled up

- You have levelled up

- You have levelled up

With this, the battle really finished.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

When Sain awoke, everything was already finished with Serena, that Serena finishing off the Zolerd by herself. Sain noticed that he gained a number of stats and also a total of 8 levels from the battle with the Zolerd. However it seems that Serena gained the most benefits by killing the boss along with a total of 10 levels.

From Sain knows, while Serena gained the most bonuses, everyone else did to some extent as well. The others beside Serena gained, 5 Fighting Spirit, 3 Strength and 3 Stamina as well as the 3 points in all stats as well. When Sain checked, everyone's status windows were like this.

Status WindowSainShadow[quart=Race: Human,Race: Human]Type: Neutral,Type: Neutral[/quart][quart=Level: 56,Level: 56]Class: Shaman,Class: Rogue[/quart][quart=Title: Tactician,Title: Dark Walker]Fame: 80,Fame: 80[/quart][quart=Health: 2283,Health: 1902]Mana: 972,Mana: 407[/quart][quart=Strength: 76 +21,Strength: 69 +12]Agility: 78 +16,Agility: 184 +16[/quart][quart=Intelligence: 71 +14,Intelligence: 10 +4]Wisdom: 70 +14,Wisdom: 10 +4[/quart][quart=Vitality: 79 +4,Vitality: 64 +4]Stamina: 41 +7,Stamina: 58 +7[/quart][quart=Fighting Spirit: 26 +12,Fighting Spirit: 32 +12]Endurance: 17 +4,Endurance: 13 +4[/quart][quart=Leadership: 9 +4,Leadership: 0 +4]Luck: 4 +4,Luck: 29 +14[/quart][quart=Offense: 16,Offense: 12]Defence: 23,Defence: 26[/quart]

Status WindowRavenLyndis[quart=Race: Human,Race: Elf]Type: Neutral,Type: Neutral[/quart][quart=Level: 56,Level: 56]Class: Shield Footman,Class: Sword Priest[/quart][quart=Title: Shield-Bearer,Title: Blade Dancer]Fame: 80,Fame: 80[/quart][quart=Health: 3574,Health: 2014]Mana: 462,Mana: 742[/quart][quart=Strength: 135 +21,Strength: 129 +11]Agility: 74 +16,Agility: 81 +6[/quart][quart=Intelligence: 10 +9,Intelligence: 71 +7]Wisdom: 15 +9,Wisdom: 12 +7[/quart][quart=Vitality: 131 +14,Vitality: 68 +4]Stamina: 65 +12,Stamina: 44 +7[/quart][quart=Fighting Spirit: 28 +17,Fighting Spirit: 16 +10]Endurance: 27 +9,Endurance: 14 +3[/quart][quart=Leadership: 0 +9,Leadership: 0 +4]Luck: 0 +9,Luck: 2 +4[/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: 56,Level: 58]Class: Magician Bard,Class: Druid[/quart][quart=Title: Sound Maiden,Title: Nature Wielder]Fame: 80,Fame: 100[/quart][quart=Health: 741,Health: 762]Mana: 1582,Mana: 1468[/quart][quart=Strength: 10 +11,Strength:9 +13]Agility: 67 +6,Agility: 68 +6[/quart][quart=Intelligence: 188 +16,Intelligence: 134 +14]Wisdom: 73 +16,Wisdom: 127 +14[/quart][quart=Fighting Spirit: 10 +9,Fighting Spirit: 10 +15]Concentration: 10 +3,Concentration: 10 +4[/quart][quart=Vitality: 10 +4,Vitality: 10 +4]Stamina: 18 +7,Stamina: 15 +19[/quart][quart=Leadership: 0 +4,Leadership: 0 +4]Luck: 0 +4,Luck: 2 +4[/quart][quart=Offense: 10,Offense: 10]Defence: 10,Defence: 10[/quart]

When looking at this, Sain thought, 'To be honest, we exceeded our expectations by defeating that Zolerd creature that gave us so many levels at once...I wonder if we kill more monsters of that level then could we level up even faster...? No...this time we were very lucky and just barely managed to kill it without any deaths. Normally we wouldn't even find such a creature to begin with. Better play it safe from now on'.

Sain clapped his hands to get the attention of the others.

“Right! Let's see what this Zolerd dropped!” Sain said happily. Sain was beginning to enjoy seeing what kinds of loots they would get from killing monsters. They actually had a lot of loot to sell but the possibility of getting good equipment was even more exciting and would gain them even more gold then usual.

The group went through the loot the Zolerd dropped, a few pieces of Gold and some other random items. There was nothing worthwhile in the pile of loot.

“....”

“Sigh.”

Sain could only sigh at this since it would've been a great opportunity to gain a bit more to sell. However then Sain wondered aloud:

“Was this Zolerd not a boss monster but a named monster?”

“!”

The others looked at him with shock.

'How can such a strong creature be simply a named monster?!'

They had such an expression on their faces right now. However there was some truth in it, if it really was a level 100 boss monster than it would instantly kill them all without a hassle but if it was a named monster than it was simply just a bit stronger than the normal type monsters it came from. This kind of theory was very likely in fact since they DID manage to defeat the Zolerd without them all dying in the process.

“Anyway, I think we should return to the city now. We need to sell some of the stuff we collected plus we're low on supplies” said Sain leading the part out of the dungeon and in to the city.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“That will be a total of 22 Gold, 55 Silver and 13 Copper Coins for selling all of this” said the clerk at the general store. For a month's worth of hunting, it was enough to cover the costs of the trip and pay for the next trip further down.

To put things into perspective, the trip to Dunxix Dungeon and the month stay there costed them a total of around 10 Gold Coins for the supplies for an entire month. Due to that trip, they gained it all back and more than double the original amount. This amount of Gold was large for a level 60~ player but not to a group of six at the same level.

The only problem was that too many people hunted at Dunxix Dungeon even though it was one of the more unpopulated ones leaving less drops in money or items which resulted in this 'low' amount of Gold left to the party.

“Thank you very much” replied Sain as he took the money handing over the items to the clerk. Thanks to this, the weight that Sain had to carry was greatly lowered that it felt like he was twice as fast as before although most of which affected this was his increased agility as well as increased weight to carry was balanced during the hunting trip.

Sain walked out and went to where the rest of the group was and said:

“Got 22 and half Gold from that transaction.”

Most of the group smiled or brightened up due to this but then Miriel said, “If we had a merchant then we could've gotten at least 20% more on the price....”

Sain and Lyndis let out a sad laugh to this statement since it was so like Miriel to say that. Raven and Shadow looked on silent since it didn't have anything to do with them and Serena looked as if she understood what Miriel said but not her intentions.

“Well then, what will we do?” asked Lyndis first.

“For now I don't think we should immediately dive back into hunting....” said Miriel letting out a yawn at the end. It was the middle of the night and the group regularly logged out of the game during their stay in Dunxix Dungeon. However during the last week of the hunting trip, they didn't at all and slept in the dungeon.

“We should log out” said Sain seeing these circumstances, “We can meet our masters again after a good sleep.”

The group then proceeded to log out one after the other going to their beds from the capsules.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Did they defeat it....?” asked Gen a bit worried.

Mel was the one who answered, “Yes they did, I saw them at the town just then but they went from this world and back to theirs to get some rest I think.”

“I see....so no hell training from Eden?” asked Ron who was very gloomy right now after a long time thinking of the torturous training they would be put into later on if they failed and died.

“I hope not, Eden's the type to suddenly change his mind all of a sudden” said Gen making the mood of these masters quite gloomy indeed.

“Well then...I will be leaving to take care of the library them” said Jenny getting up from her sit.

“Oh no you don't!” said Mel with get speeds as he dragged Jenny back to her sit. Jenny gave a glare at Mel but didn't say anything at all. Gen sighed since those two never got along that well even from decades ago with so many adventures with each other. Given his current lifestyle, Gen actually wanted to go with the others on another adventure filled with danger again. At least it wouldn't be as dangerous as the situation they were now placed into.

Of these masters of the group, 2 of them were missing; namely Park and Anna who were with Eden preparing 'that' which was their worse fears.

“Honestly when will those two come back” complained Gen with a mutter. It shouldn't take that long to prepare 'that' for their apprentices. Gen hoped that Eden wouldn't fiddle with it too much and completely break those children's minds.

Without noticing it, he started to remember how he met the others and Eden.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Gen at age 12 was a apprentice lumberjack who had needed someone to succeed him in his trade for the town. Despite being one of the few lumberjacks that worked alone, the man produced more lumber than a dozen people at a time. Because of this simple fact, Gen actually volunteered to work and train under this great man.

Oh how he was so naive. On the first day of the job and apprenticeship, the man broke his spirit easily with physical activities alone. This continued for a month with his body being rapidly reshaped as fast as a freeman's in ability. Without knowing it, Gen was trained in all kinds of weapons and tactics in a single month. That was how efficient the training was even though most people break down just after a few days worth of it.

Soon enough his master said:

“Go down to the town and meet with some people and hunt some monsters and come back. You will be amazed.”

Naturally Gen followed his master's words to a point and went to town seeking a group of people to hunt with. Most of those who called for parties were freemen and didn't accept him as their own in hunting.

Frustrated Gen still continued for hours until he met another native that wanted to hunt. Soon enough they gathered more and more members that were all natives to the land but wanted the freedom that the freemen had. Months and years went by quickly and they were known as just adventurers quickly with some little acts they did once in a while when they all had the time.

At this time, Gen and his group which didn't exactly get along sometimes that well met with his master who looked at them with amusement.

“The freemen are weak and cannot be called true freemen!” he boasted to his master like that.

“I see, let me re-educate you then of how frightening some of them are” his master replied.

“How can you re educate me when you are native like me?” Gen actually got cocky there but his master didn't repute him at all.

His master pointed at the mountain that was on the opposite side of the mountain and told them to go there. Naturally as a stubborn person at that time, Gen and his group did just that. A few days later and he and the group made to the mountain where his master pointed.

“Nothing's here? Did he send us to waste some time?” wondered Gen in some sort of stubborn pride.

The others more or less his age and barely considered adults agreed to this even though one or two of them didn't actually get along with him.

Then...

“ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!!!!”

This sound filled the mountains and went to even the town. The sheer power behind that roar only pointed to one thing.

“Dragon!”

Gen had never seen a dragon before but there were many legends where a strong hero would slay it. Gen foolishly even though to kill the dragon that roared just them even though his legs were shaking with fear.

The group heard with their entire body of a creature so large that came near from the skies.

BOOOM!!!

Even landing the Dragon caused such power.

“What...is this...?” muttered Gen and the others completely in fear.

In front of them was a giant black Dragon that had golden red eyes and was almost as big as the mountain itself. Gen could only feel two things when seeing this. Fear and death. The Dragon looked at him and his companions with some sort of look and:

“ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!!!!”

The roar itself blew them away cleanly almost killing them. There were no thoughts on defeating it, no thoughts of even escaping. Before this thing, Gen realised he was completely powerless. Then another thought appeared in his head. Freemen would be able to face this thing without fear because they were immortal. Always rising after death, that were how they were. That was their lone advantage over everything else in the world that made them so powerful; they could come back every time no matter what while Gen and his companions, friends and family could not.

Gen literally fell to his knees giving up on life itself facing such a creature that was even beyond the freemen themselves.

“It's over....” said Gen letting out a small sad life reflecting on his life. There wasn't that much since he was barely over 17 years old and if anyone hears his tale then all they would think was that it was a pity to die so young.

Then something unexplainable happened.

First the Dragon disappeared without a trace of it and the second was that there was some woman in it's place.

“?”

The woman went up to Gen and the rest of the group and proceeded to beat them to the point of near death and then healed them and then beat them half to death and heal them once more before saying:

“Hey is that all you lot have? I heard from an old friend that you guys were quite courageous for natives, was he wrong? Did I just waste my time coming here to test you before the training?”

“....”

Gen and the others were completely speechless. What was this person saying?

“Oh, I haven't introduced myself, I'm Eden and I was asked by that master of yours to train you. Also I'm what you call a freeman and am a Dragon as well” the person called Eden said. There was a slight smirk on her face when she saw their reaction.

“So...what do you want to do? Rot here for years more worthless or come with me and become something stronger?”

Naturally Gen and the others that only numbered 4 right now seeing Eden's powers accepted the training and whatever came with it. Oh, if they only knew that what they had to face was enough that they wanted to return from this time and say no to everything Eden has to offer.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Gen...Gen! Wake up!” shouted Mel in his ear.

Gen looked around startled as if he didn't know where he was and said, “I thought I was at the time where we made the wrong decision in our lives.”

Jenny, Mel and Ron all sighed and said collectively, “We all have that dream sometimes.”

The simple fact that even now they want to go back in time and redo everything without the 'aid' of Eden was enough to say what they had to face and endure. In fact they were quite kind to their apprentices in their training, kind enough to supply everything to them and explain things properly. All Eden did was push them to their limits constantly with all things.

“Hey, I did explain things to you and gave you tasks that you could complete fine.”

An irritated voice resounded in the room reading the thoughts of Gen, Mel, Jenny and Ron. They all paled hearing this voice. They all thought, 'when the hell did he get the ability to read minds?!'

“And no, I didn't get that ability yet, it's just that it's so easy to read you from the expressions you guys are making” Eden sighed and further said, “The preparations are done, when your brats meet you, guide to there.”

With that Anna and Park were left with the others as Eden disappeared to do whatever he wanted again.

“I hope they don't get too traumatised....” someone said when Eden left.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Back in reality where the group of six were in a giant mansion, they wanted to know more about this place and more about the actual task since they were sort of there in getting stronger.

“Simon!” said Peter in a loud voice so he could hear, “We have some questions for you!”

A minute passed where the group looked around a bit nervous since this was not their home and they could possibly be kicked out at any time if they did something wrong.

“Yes, what is it?” Simon appeared and asked the group nicely. Naturally it was Peter who responded.

“First of all, we want to know more about this granddaughter as have to find. Being young and female literally means half the players in Royal Road you know!” complained Peter. After a discussion they realised that Simon, the butler didn't even show them the picture of the granddaughter to begin with and they had no way to search even if they wanted to before getting stronger and levelling up.

“Of course” replied Simon as he took out a photo of the granddaughter; she was quite young, around 16 or so and had long brown chestnut hair. Her figure was quite average and she looked average as well and had freckles on her face. You would think this kind of person would be from a normal family and not from one that owns such a large mansion.

“The young lady is named Asuna Vesperina Theotanasia Entheofushia” said Simon with a smirk on his face.

“....”

Peter and the other stared at him and said, “This is no times for jokes.”

Simon sighed and replied, “Seems that you guys are too young to remember that series....it wasn't that popular but was very interesting near the end. Anyway the young lady's real name is called Rebecca de Francis otherwise known as Diven in Royal Road.”

“I see, is there anything else?”

“It is likely that the young lady is someone who has adventures and does not stay much in cities else we would've found her already. The circles of those who fight monsters these days are quite tight” replied Simon, 'The majority of them are one way or another connected to Independent Guilds and even though they don't technically own anything, things get really territorial a number of times with numbers and power. Things haven't really changed that much compared to before, it's just now that the top and bottom of the chain isn't as affected while the middle part is screwed over heavily.”

Simon let out a sigh as if he had to deal with this but Peter ignored that for now.

“So we only have her appearance and name to use to search...are there any areas which we don't have to search through?” asked Peter.

“The 10 restricted zones for starters....the capital city of the Kingdom and mostly the main cities with the most number of players. She is likely to be around the western continent area unless she moved elsewhere.”

'So that's why he sent us to a city in the western continent...' though Peter thinking of his previous words.

“....”

The others dare not to speak right now so it was really just a conversation between Simon and Peter. The others were trying to suck up as much information as possible from this conversation since it affects their future greatly. Around 2 weeks pasted in real life since they were brought here and as such, 2 and a bit months in game.

“Anyway, how's your progress in the game?” asked Simon all of a sudden.

Peter collected himself and replied, “We're half way to level 60 from 50 and are around average in strength I believe for a player.”

'Well there's no need to tell him that we killed the Goblin Chief boss monster in Dunxix Dungeon as well as took down a Zolerd, a level 100 named monster afterwards immediately'.

While boasting of your strengths was a good way to advertise yourself, doing so too much even if it is the truth would result in you having a much harder time with more difficult tasks being pushed to you. Also Peter and the others only need information on the player called Diven and didn't particularly want others to notice them.

Simon smiled and with a poker face said, “Oh, I thought you killed the boss monster of the Dunxix Dungeon 20 levels below it and soon later killed a Zolerd which was twice your level. Did I here the rumours falsely?”

“!”

Peter was shocked that Simon could hear such rumours already.

“Looks like you guys haven't investigated the fame system that well after all” Simon let out a laugh and said, “No matter what you do, NPCs will notice your actions and it will spread amongst an area. I believe all you have 80 Fame each except for grace over there with 100 Fame because she did some work and was rewarded some fame during her first 3 weeks!”

'Hmm...that makes sense. Serena...no Grace must have done some work for a while to gain that Fame. It's honest work so there's nothing to complain about though...don't our masters know each other quite well?' thought Peter hearing that Grace worked for her Fame from most likely activities her master forced her to do.

“Another thing is that if you want to finish this task that the Master has given you all, it's best to join an Independent Guild and after a while of accumulating contributions to both the Guild and Kingdom, use it to track down the Young lady. Even she cannot hide if you use this method since literally every person in the continent will be helping you in finding her then.”

“I see. Is there anything else you want to add? We still have some small business in the game” said Peter to Simon since it seems there was nothing more to discuss.

“Oh?” Simon seems a bit surprised, “I thought you would want my help or know my identity in the game at least.”

Peter recalled what Simon said 2 weeks ago.

“You were called Inferna right?” asked Peter.

“Yes and do you know who I am in the game?” asked Simon with a smile knowing what the answer will be.

“No...?” replied Peter even though he didn't like being in this game Simon made with the conversation leaning to his flow.

“I am one of 13 advisors that the Kingdom has. Frankly I am a person who has the most power after the Emperor and other complicated stuff. Only the Emperor and Empress have more power than the council of thirteen.”

'Council of Thirteen....? I don't think even Hina knows about this....it seems to be a secret or something that is not that well known compared to the authority of the Emperor and Empress that usually leaves the Kingdom to self manage with trust worthy people' thought Peter hearing about this. He would later want to investigate this a bit more though not now since they had other things to do.

“Hmm....is that all?” asked Peter thinking about it.

“Yeah though there is one advise I want you to follow at least” said Simon suddenly when Peter and the others were about to leave.

“What is it?” asked Peter now a bit irritated.

“Don't be interesting else you might catch the eye of Eden.”

'Eden? Who's that....? Well I suppose that's another thing to worry about then...'

With this very sound advice from Simon which the group didn't care about, they left to enter the game again.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Entering the game, the group noticed that it was night right now. It was most likely that around 2 days passed in the game since they logged off. Finding each other, the group pretty much went to one of their master's place. Namely Gen's since that was the closest once to their closest position. On the way, Lyndis asked:

“Why do we want to meet our masters again?” she still to this point really didn't like Ron that much since he was the type of guy girls hated.

“For starters, it would be nice to meet them after a while since we DO owe them” replied Miriel, “And the second reason is to gain new skills and spells without having to rely on buying them or randomly generating them. You don't exactly plan on using that 'Life Burn' skill of yours all the time right?”

“Of course not, it drains health quite quickly.”

“Precisely, plus it would be nice to pick up some more spells to use in battle. You may be able to swing a sword any time you want but spells are something you must have a lot of to be useful all the time.”

“That's true but I rather have a few melee skills right now considering the surprising amount of fighting with a spear I needed to do in the last hunting trip” added in Sain, “What about you Raven?”

“...a new attack method would be nice....also defence move as well....” replied Raven talking in pieces.

“A better healing option would be great! I already have a strong enough offence” said Serena remembering how her 'Blood Burst' spell literally could clear out waves of enemies given the chance.

“Haha, I bet the only one who doesn't need new skills or spells is Shadow!” laughed Lyndis seeing how everyone wanted something to cover what they lacked.

“That's not true!” retorted Shadow getting informal all of a sudden, “I need a speed boosting skill since I only relied on my own movement speed and almost got killed by several creatures before like that Zolerd.” He still remembered how that giant 'slow' thing managed to catch him before he could escape. As a agility based player, that wounded his pride and he wanted a way to fix that immediately. The best and easily was to learn a technique that allowed him to escape easily from enemies.

The group chattered on to Gen's home which only Sain knew the location to and eventually, near the house itself, Gen stood there waiting for something. Noticing that something was wrong, Sain called out:

“Master!” while waving his hand to him.

“Sain!” Gen called back. Gen then suddenly rushed at Sain with such speeds that Sain and the others could only be shocked without time to react at all.

“Ah your with the others good” said Gen seeing the others as well, he took out some sort of device and said to it, “I found them, meet up at that place.”

“?”

Confused on what was happening Sain asked, “Master...? What is going on?”

Gen looked at him with pity and said, “Long story short, you...no every one of you here will be taking part in a ritual...no a trial would be more accurate. I was ordered to take you there.”

“Why?” Sain had a bad feeling about this and didn't really want part of it.

“You have no choice” said Gen with a cold voice void of emotion.

Whack! Bang!

Suddenly Sain and the others were hit several times and collapsed on each other. Then Gen took out a piece of paper with some writing on them...a talisman of some sort and stuck it on the group that was touching each other right now.

“Sorry....” muttered Gen as he activated the talisman.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

The whole group; Sain, Raven, Shadow, Miriel, Lyndis and Serena all felt a strange sensation and suddenly found themselves at some place that was underground and most likely outside the city that looked like a dungeon of some sort. There they saw 5 figures.

They were Mel, Jenny, Park, Ron and Anna; the masters of the rest of the group. Like Gen they had a strange feeling around them for some reason. The group did not know what lied before them at all and did not to think to kill themselves when they had the chance.

“Master, what is going on?!” asked Miriel while getting out of the pile which everyone was stuck in first.

Jenny looked at her apprentice, no it was better to call her a disciple now since Miriel and the others already went past the apprentice level; with sadness filled in her eyes as well as endless torment that happened in the past.

“Miriel....I sometimes regret making you my apprentice for the reasons today....” said Jenny with eyes that were void of emotions as if she was suppressing them right now for her own sanity.

“What?!” exclaimed Miriel not knowing what was going on.

As the others also tried to question their masters except for Raven who kept quiet all this time, Sain took the time to look around.

They were in some place underground and the rocks were rust coloured but at places it was pure white made of marble for some reason as well. There was in exit in sight but there was a large door with six symbols on there though they were erased like someone placed a knife there so Sain couldn't tell what they were. Nothing else could be said except that their masters were acting strangely.

“This the trial through that door?” asked Sain while everyone else was chattering away with questions of their own.

The room fell silent as Mel replied to Sain's question, “Yes, that is where you all go. There is no preparation needed, you just go in and.....” Mel could not speak what would happen next.

Creeeeeeeak

Then suddenly the stone door opened and on the other side was darkness...

“....”

Everyone stood silent, not daring to speak.

“So...we have to go in there...?” asked Lyndis.

“Yes” replied Ron.

“Do we have to?” she asked again.

“Yes.”

“....”

The group now knew there was no going out on this even though they didn't come here willingly in the first place.

“So...let's go...?” said Serena not so confidence at her own words.

Some minutes passed like this and the group entered the darkness with the stone door immediately shutting when they all went through. This was the trial Eden had prepared to separate the good from the trash in this world. Those who have not suffered have no place in his guild.

Something that has been broken once could not be broken again.

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

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Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 9100~

- Just one more chapter...well the epilogue for this volume!