“Well then time to dress you up~”

[Wait....Noooooooooooooooo!!!]

Alexandra dragged White away with force. It was such a pity to Eden that there was another victim to the whims of Alexandra....but in this case it meant that he would be teased a lot less....at least for a while before she becomes bored with White. When that happens Eden would make a deal with White in exchange for freedom....if Alexandra doesn't get bored of White....then Eden only had pity for him.

“....”

Eden turned to the others ignoring that sight for now and said, “Anyway...let's get back to business here. First of all...the reward from the Order of Knights...Summer was it?”

Summer with Lielm next to him nodded and replied with, “Yes, I will tell the order of thee achievement slaying a formidable Demon King so near to the origin.”

“Wait...why the hell are you trying to speak like that again and also, what do you mean 'origin'?” questioned Eden.

Lielm giggled and teased Summer, “Looks like you won't be able to use that fake knight accent now~”

“Shut it you...”

Summer sighed and then started explaining things, “Demon Kings are....creatures that lead the demons who have defied the will of the gods. All of them are exceptionally powerful and are able to increase their strengths to outmatch their enemies in certain area...like pure attack, defence or speed. There are two types of Demon Kings....the possessed ones like this idiot here who are the weaker ones and the origins one that are capable of creating other Demon Kings at will.”

Eden frowned since there would be more of those annoying things running around.

“Does that mean there was a source to these Demon Kings....?”

“Yes though we do not know what it is. All we know is that sometimes there are Demon Kings that are capable of creating other Demon Kings and we call them origins of Demon Kings. How these origin Demon Kings are created....we do not know. Perhaps sometimes when one is possessed they could also become an origin Demon King or after enough time and power...the possessed Demon Kings would....”

“I see” said Eden while thinking aloud now, “I think I recognise that power...that black mud from somewhere.....just don't know where I faced it before....”

“You have?” Summer was more confused than ever now. The 'black mud' was something all Demon Kings could use and only Demon Kings could use.

“Well, I can think about it later. First I would need you two to go off on your honeymoon...I mean back to where ever your base is and return telling me of your marr-I mean reward” said Eden correcting himself mid sentence a few times.

“....”

Summer stared at Eden with disbelief that he would fine this kind of things entertaining as Lielm was rubbing her body on Summer's.

“This person knows what's going on~ Let's go get marr-I mean their reward!” said Leilm enthusiastically.

“Wait why did I feel there were some dangerous words in there?” asked Summer begin dragged away similar to how White was being dragged away by Alexandra.

With all these distractions gone...Eden turned to the group which were promoted to regular 'recruits' of the guild and said, “Now...to take a break for a while....do what you wish...”

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Following Eden's words and the fact that they stayed in the game for a while now...to be precise, a few days in a row. The group immediately logged out in order to get back to real life. Following getting out of the capsules, their bodies were a bit stiff to the point that it took a while to get used to walking around.

“Haha, to think walking would get so difficult after a while in this body” said Maria holding part of the wall to support herself as her legs were numb.

Ian also added in with a sarcastic voice, “I'm surprised that we can move at all considering the time spent not moving in real life.”

“The capsules have a in build feature there maintains the muscles of all players in the game to make sure people don't get paralysed due to the game. What's we're feeling right now is just us not used to these bodies like when we started the game” explained Hina.

“So we just have to get used to these bodies again?” asked Maria.

“More or less...it's better to get some exercise with these bodies to make sure we don't completely fall under the dependant route where we can't move well. That in built feature for the muscles isn't perfect and only deteriorates the muscles much slower so a few days won't be that bad” replied Hina.

“It's been a few days and we're like this!”

“I think it's because this is the first time so we are having a bad reaction to this feeling.”

The group took heed of her words and asked for Simon, the butler that also supervises them from time to time to give them some exercise since they needed to move freely with these bodies as well. After a few minutes of exercise which more or less allowed them to regain all feelings in their body; they gathered up in the lounge room to talk once again.

“First of all...” started Peter since he was the 'leader', “I feel like we are being swept up with the eye of the storm known as Eden. The moment we joined the guild it felt like everything was going as he planned and we could only move by his will...like a puppet.”

These words made the group a bit depressed since there were some truth in them. The moment Eden appeared and took charge of them were they really doing what they wanted for was Eden manipulating everything for his own amusement?

“Anyway it's been a little more than 6 months since we started the game in game time that is” continued Peter, “So far we gained an average of 65 levels and some good skills...although the 3 month trip with Eden caused us to lose out on a number of levels; we gained fame and contributions as well as more information on the guild.”

Peter took out a terminal which could display things from the game and expanded it out larger for everyone to see. Basically technology progressed so much that these terminals that was once considered the work of science fiction became part of the reality they lived in.

Independent Guild Information

Guild Name: Sleeping Sheep Centre

Rank: S (Highest)

Guildmaster: Eden, Alexandra and Viv

Size: Small

Members: Roughly 2 dozen with the majority extremely powerful

Guild Vault: Unknown (Rank too low to see)

Current Ranking of Guild: 11th

Influence: Extremely high, connection with majority of high ranking personals in kingdom

Base Location: Witchelm City, also several towns and villages surrounding it

Description: Known as the once most powerful guild in the continent; many legends have been made by this guild and it's members. In particular they have resolved many crisis that have helped the newly formed kingdom that spanned over the whole continent to stabilise through their actions. It is also known as the oldest of Independent Guilds and the first Independent Guild among a small number of people in the higher echelons of the Kingdom. Recently for the last few decades, this guild has remained in the Shadows for unknown reasons and recently they have accepted new members.

This window appeared in front of the group as they read it. There was a lot more information compared to before where only the name and member numbers of the guild was shown. Now there was even the influence and base locations listed in the information as well not to mention that several things were now listed.

“Rank....S?” muttered Serena confused on the rank the guild has since Eden explained it as only the strongest guilds having that rank.

“Also ranked 11th as well” commented Mark pointing a bit lower.

Maria could not help but to exclaim, “What the hell kind of guild have we joined? Wasn't the first 10 ranked guilds all the major powerhouses?”

Hina nodded in surprise as well, “Yes all the top 10 Independent Guilds are some of the major large guilds that have perhaps several hundreds of thousands members each and have a large number of connections with other guilds as well. The only thing is that only the top 10 guilds have their names shown publically as a way to competition but anything from rank 11 and down are not....”

Peter understood Hina's words as the guild intentionally made their rank go down to the 11th place in order to get off the eyes of the rest of the world. If they were not in the top 10 then no one would know their rank at all. However then Ian asked:

“How many guilds have the rank 'S'?”

Everyone turned to Hina since she was most likely have the answer to this. To this she immediately criticised them saying, “What?! Do I look like a walking encyclopaedia to you? Go find out things for once!” before actually telling them:

“From what I know, only the top three guilds have that rank and that was only due to massive disasters happening that they luckily managed to get through. Eden said ranks did not consider size at all so...how could a small guild like this resolve a large disaster without anyone knowing....? Unless they did it in the past and everyone forgot about it....like when the Independent Guild system was only just introduced.....”

Hina went into her thoughts but her words stuck a chord with the rest of the group as well. They looked further down in the guild information and it did say that this guild was the first one...and the oldest one....as well as once the most powerful one as well.

“If it was the only one then it is natural that they were considered the strongest since there was no one else to compete with!” said Ian trying to find faults of the words that he sees. He couldn't have possibly landed himself in some legendary guild....right? This wasn't like some sort of story like you would often read right....?

“I doubt it since...considering Eden and Alexandra....you would think they would be able to do those extremely difficult quests on their own with their unlimited strength” said Peter, “Plus we have another problem....namely what we are to do now.”

“I say wing it” replied Maria immediately. Hina sighed to this and said, “Winging it won't work since we'll be dragged around by the guild. Getting stronger should still be the main goal though I'm not sure when we start the search now. Perhaps we can ask Eden later to help.”

“So...how do we do that? I don't think Eden is the type to take up time consuming tasks like this” said Ian.

The group thought about it for a bit but could not think of a good way of making Eden helping them willingly or not. How could you get someone like Eden to help you other than begging since that's more or less sets you up to be used by him completely.

“Trade in contributions” said Mark giving the solution.

The others immediately thought about it and then...

“That would work thanks Mark.”

“Looks like this discussing is over~”

“Time to get some rest before getting back into the game.”

With this the meeting was over since they found their goal. Peter reminded the group, “Remember, we need as much contribution points to the guild to order to trade them in. That means we need to complete quests and more over, get much stronger as well.”

Time passed with the group eating food more calmly than before in this mansion due to Alexandra's excellent cooking skills and as they slept resting their minds rather than bodies.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Eden was lying on one of the sofas in the guild building trying to get some sleep. He really didn't like beds for reasons that were in the past. One time he was forced into the Underworld and forced to take on the highest difficultly quest involving killing a certain major God in his own turf.

Because of that, Beds were a big no to Eden now even decades or even a full century after that event. While trying to sleep...no while he was sleeping; he felt that something lifted his head and was placed on something soft.

“Didn't think you were the type to like these things” said Eden to this person named Alexandra. Only she would do something like this at this moment to him.

“Weren't you just asleep just then?” asked Alexandra as if she planned all of this beforehand.

“I was....then you came.”

“Aw~ Still attentive to me?”

“Not at all”

Eden opened his eyes to see Alexandra and then immediately shut them since he thought he saw something scary like Alexandra in make-up that makes her look like something from a horror movie. Pure artificial white face, thick red lipstick and purple stuff around her eyes to the point that it was several times larger than her eyes.

“....”

“Why don't you look at me?~” she asked as if she knew about Eden looking and trying not to see her in this state.

“Get that off your face else I will burn it off” threatened Eden even while resting his head on Alexandra's thighs.

Although he could not see it, Eden felt that Alexandra was pouting saying, “What a boring reaction.”

Eden sighed hearing this and got up now sitting next to Alexandra who wiped off that horror like make-up from her face.

“Why are you here anyway?” Eden asked a bit annoyed since he likes to sleep most of the time at night. The days where he had to stay awake and fight were long gone now.

“It's about the kids.”

“Kids? You mean the brats? Are you going to call them kids now? I think two of them are almost adults already.”

“And what about you calling wither brats or recruits. Decide on one and stick to it.”

“...Brats it is then.”

The two of them stayed silent for a while before Eden asked:

“So...what about them?” he asked.

“What do you think of them?”

“Weak” Eden immediately replied with hesitation at all.

Alexandra frowned and then said, “Not about that; but their future possibilities. Back then, we literally had no choice but to go down this path we're on but they have the choice to become strong or remain a part of the weak. What do you think will happen later on.”

“You've suddenly become talkative...do you like them that much?”

“Hmm....I think so. Answer my question or I'll hug you to death~”

“....”

“I'll take that as a yes~”

Alexandra moved in to wrap her arms around Eden tightly to the point that he couldn't escape at all even with all he got.

“No stop!” Eden cried trying to break out but like White earlier in the day, it was no use against this inhuman strength that could take down Dragons with punches alone. After some moments of struggling for his life...literally; Eden answered her question with:

“I don't know! I'll just drop them down to the Eternal Dungeon to see where they get to!”

With that; the fates of six people were exchanged for Eden's life being hugged away.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Logging back into the game, the group was greeted once more by Eden who had an evil smile on his face. The group immediately paled seeing this. Right now they were all in the guild building which meant that there was no escape from Eden at all since he controlled everything here. Next to him; Alexandra was humming a light tune which was also quite strange since usually this combination....

“You guys will get a new form of training.”

A lever appeared next to Eden and when he pulled it, he gave some advice.

“Don't die.”

(Sound of lever being pulled~)

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Six screams were accounted for as they fell down this bottomless pit of darkness.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

THUD!

You have entered the Eternal Dungeon

- To escape you must reach floor 10 and activate the teleport device guarded by a boss monster

- A set amount of monster will spawn every once in a while on each floor

- Once you move down a floor, you cannot go up again

- Food ans supplies as well as equipment are shattered around each floor. There are generally 2-3 areas where food and water is accessible

- Monsters will scale up a bit higher than current level

“What the hell is this....?” muttered Sain getting up from the ground where they all fell down to. He looked up and the hole that appeared suddenly by the whims of Eden already disappeared which meant they were really stuck here for a while.

Sain looked around and found that the others were somewhat okay. Surprised, shock but still okay. Miriel and Lyndis in particular were already scouting the area around them while Serena was checking everyone's health and status.

'The girls in this group are awfully dependable' thought Sain seeing them.

“Right...”

Sain looked around as well and they were in a labyrinth style place....no dungeon with brick walls that looked sturdy enough. Examining the paths where they landed from; each path led somewhere though he did not know where exactly and were evenly spaced out so there was a 5 metre gap between each wall.

'This means the battles in general will be quite tight. Raven and Lyndis won't have much room to dodge powerful attacks. Better to have only one of them tank enemies here'

Sain and the others looked around some more. The place they were dropped to was a large space of around 20 by 20 metres of just nothing surrounded by the walls with a ceiling that was a good 3 metres tall.

'Air circulation in this place seems good enough plus there are 4 paths which we can take from here. 6 if we include the ones that immediately leads to dead ends from sight alone.'

While thinking about this; Lyndis suddenly called out to the others:

“Enemies! Lizards!”

This immediately alerted the others as they rushed to Lyndis who was at one of the paths that they could go through. At the end of the corner which was 20 or so metres away, there was a humanoid lizard...called a lizardman and next to it was a overgrown lizard that you could see in real life that was twice the lizardman's size.

“Raven! You head to the front, Lyndis and me will form the second line, Miriel and Serena will form the third line! Shadow; you make sure to tell us if enemies were coming from the other paths!” shouted Sain immediately since he already thought of a general plan to take care of things...at least for now.

“Cracked Barrier!” chanted Miriel casting the spell on Raven who was the sole tank right now. Serena also casted healing spells on the group as well as usual.

Raven stood a total of 3 metres in front of the second line with Lyndis and Sain while the third line was another 3 metres behind the second line. At the very back; Shadow was guarding the back line ready to fight any time soon.

“Which one do you think is harder to fight? The human like one or beast like one?” asked Lyndis who was next to Sain.

He thought about it quickly and replied, “The beast one since there's a lot of room to fight here.”

Lyndis nodded and replied, “Right, Flame Strike!”

Fire burst out of Lyndis like an arrow of flames that was half the size of a person and flew to hit the large lizard on the head. It screamed in pain when the flames hit it and charged straight ahead aiming for the group being attacked.

Seeing that it's comrade was attacked, the lizardman charged straight behind the giant lizard as well. Seeing that when Raven dodges the first attack the second attack from the lizardman will come with the giant lizard's one to himself and Lyndis and dangerously close to the third line, Sain ordered:

“Raven take the hit!”

Not questioning the order, Raven held his spiked shield and slammed it into the burning lizard's face the moment it got close. At the same moment, Sain prepared the 'Magic Arrow' spell when the lizardman attacked.

“Garararara!”

The lizardman let out a strange laugh as he moved to the right and went straight to Sain.

“Magic Arrows!” said Sain immediately firing them at the lizardman's body hitting him twice.

“Ice Bolts!”

A further three ice bolts which came from Miriel also hit the lizardman's body a moment later as well. Finally Lyndis moved in and sliced at the lizardman shouting, “Power Strike!” forcefully cutting it into two and killing it.

“Root Bind!” next was Serena creating the roots that came from the ground and restrained the giant lizard that finally was put out of fire via Raven exchanging hits with it. Sain quickly checked Raven's health and it was about 80% even with blocking and acting defensively.

“Focus ranged attacks, Raven retreat a bit” said Sain preparing another set of 'Magic Arrows'.

“Magic Arrows!” “Ice Bolts!” “Flame Strike!”

Three sets of attacks rained down on the giant lizard and killed it in one go.

You have gained experience

From this battle, the group gained a bit more experience than they expected. It was roughly around 5% in total which meant that the enemies they just faced were around level 70 or 80 due to inflated experience points when you fight stronger foes in terms of levels.

“That was easier than I thought” commented Lyndis seeing that they were about to die in one shot or something along those lines. Miriel sighed and added in, “True though it was mainly due to Eden's 'training'...compared to that, this is easy even without Shadow supporting.”

Shadow nodded and said, “As long as the enemies don't reach more than 4 or 5, things should go well enough that we won't die” adding himself in future battles as well when things would get too difficult without him.

Just as the others were discussing how much stronger they were, Serena pointed out, “Umm....how do we get out?”

Raven immediately replied, “By finding the exit on the 10th floor.”

“And....how do we do that?”

“By going down the floors one by one.”

“But...how do we find the stairs down...? We can easily get lost here....and we don't have much food left as well....” Serena reminded the rest of the group of their current situation.

The group immediately checked their inventory to see how much food they had. Adding up, they had around 60 pieces of barely bread as a safety line, some canteens of water that can last for a couple of days and a few pieces of meet that is uncooked.

Sain sighed and relief and said, “We can at least last a while until we find a place with food. The message did say there are 2 or 3 places with supplies....though I'm worried about where they are and how large each floor is....”

The others could almost literally feel the worry on Sain's forehead. He was rapidly aging to the status of an old man after all. Seeing no way of getting out of this any time soon, Sain needed some comfort and therefore chanted:

“Wolf Summon...”

The dimension barrier between space broke and Luna popped out.

“Arf!”

And then immediately ran into Sain's arms being petted by him almost instinctively. As Sain looked at Luna, for some reason he felt like things will be all right. However when Sain thought about Luna more, he frowned saying:

“Eden said you would grow up....but when? And also....ah we can make it so you level up as well!” Sain turned from gloomy, confused and then excited in mere moments. It was like a comedy route that the others looked with interest.

Sain turned to the others and asked, “Will you share some experience with Luna here? So he can grow up a bit quicker and help out?”

Option to share 10% of experience gained to Wolf Summon: Bright Luna

Seeing Luna's puppy eyes that are an instant kill for all living creatures; the group immediately pressed the 'yes' option without thinking too much about it and this message appeared in front of them.

From now on, when Bright Luna is summoned; 10% of experience will be transferred to Bright Luna

With this, Luna would grow at a steady rate until it could take part in level. Knowing this, Sain checked Luna's status window wanting to know at what point it could fight.

“Open Bright Luna Status Window.”

Status Window

Name: Bright Luna

Species: Hybrid Wolf

Level: 1

Other Notes:

- Very cute

- Likes hugs

- Can battle when it grow to adult size (Level 30)

“30 levels until we have another member of the team eh....” muttered Sain seeing this status window. Meanwhile Miriel seeing that they were in a maze now could finally use one of her spells that she hasn't used for months.

“I knew picking up this spell was a good idea...even though training it was a pain and it never reached beyond beginner level 1.... Clairvoyance!”

A bright light in the form of a line appeared in front of Miriel point at the direction they had to go. The light curved the corner and continued until it disappeared after a few seconds. Seeing this, Miriel then explained how her spell worked.

“Basically the light only goes for 10 metres but it is in the right direction so we don't need to doubt where the light goes combined with the minute cool down and the low mana cost, I can spam this giving us an easy time through this place.”

Including Sain, Raven, Serena....basically the rest of the group; they were amazed such an convenient thing existed and Miriel had it. They clapped while Miriel was blushing from the sudden attention and praise she was getting. But then Lyndis asked:

“What happens when there are two correct paths?”

“Then the light will split into two and we have two ways of going. Plus I can target things as long as I know it is there else the spell will fail. Say....if I want water and use the spell; the light will direct me there as well. I can probably find the equipment as well though I need a more precise idea on what to look for.”

With this the group had a way through and a steady supply of monster to fight against.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“So all the paths at the beginning leads here....” muttered Sain seeing that there were a total of 4 entrances behind them and 4 new exits in front of them in this generally wide open space similar to where they started off at.

A few minutes passed and there were no enemies at all through the path as they made their way here to this open space.

“Clairvoyance!” chanted Miriel using the spell once again. When she did the light split into four at each of the exits that the group could see.

“Looks like in the end they all lead the same way” she commented at this situation. While the spell was useful; it didn't mean much if the end result was the same either way. Because of this; Miriel was pouting a bit knowing that her efforts were in vain. However she did gain a bit more skill proficiency with 'Clairvoyance' to the point she was now more than halfway there to Beginner level 2 with the spell.

“So...which way to go?” asked Sain not knowing which path would be the best one. When you think of dungeon, you think of a challenge with monsters....though sometimes they also included traps as well.

Lyndis not being the one to think about these things too deeply immediately walked through the exit to the far left. The other quietly followed her since they really didn't care on which path to take as long as they were safe.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

As the one responsible for scouting, Shadow played his role and returned to the others reporting in what lied ahead.

“There were a few traps but I managed to disable them. There were also no monsters on the way...at least for the next hundred metres or so” he reported in.

“Good, we can on go on with ease” replied Sain thanking that Shadow could detect and better yet disable traps. There have been many stories where parties of players have died in dungeon due to traps. Unlike monsters, when you fell into a trap; you are likely to die if your health and defence isn't high.

With Shadow leading the way just in case, the group progressed forward to the next open space with more paths.

“Five paths this time...” muttered Sain seeing that there were one more path than normal.

The group all looked at Miriel who was already chanting the spell to be used.

“Clairvoyance!”

From Miriel came 4 lights that went into the paths except for the central one. It seems that the middle one either led nowhere or worse, at the same time trapped which would at least deal major damage to the group.

“Well then, let's take the left most path this time” said Sain leading the way before telling Shadow to scout ahead once again.

Some time passed with the group walking forward and Shadow returning with a report that there were no monsters or traps on this path. Eventually the group came to the end of this floor with a quite literally hole which lead to the next floor down in front of them.

“I think...this is why you can't get up a floor once you go now...”muttered Sain seeing this plain obvious way down. Like the time when Eden triggered the lever, the gap will most likely close when they dropped down.

There was only one question now.

“Will the hole close when we all jump down at once or when all of us are down there...?” he asked.

Raven simply picked up a rock from the side and threw it down the hole immediately to check how deep it was.

….

“....”

There was no sound at all. Did this mean that the hole was infinitely long or was it just that there was something that cushioned the fall at the end.

Lyndis then pointed out, “Either way, we have to get down there. See you guys in a bit” before jumping. Next to jump in were Shadow and Raven as if they didn't care at all what could be down there.

“....”

Sain, Miriel and Serena looked at each other and each jumped down as well.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

When Sain reawakened again due to the impact of dropping so far....actually there was a slight problem with that theory since they would be several tens of metres underground by now and yet....

“The air level seems a same?”

The further up or down you go in the world; the thinner the air is. In the thin atmosphere this is natural but for underground, it's mainly due to the lack of flesh air being circulated with other gases being more prominent and thus makes you feel like there is a pressure when breathing naturally.

But Sain did not feel any of those at all. In fact he could breath the same as if he was on the surface. Sain looked around and the other members of the group were more or less waking up or exploring the place now. Sain also looked around and found that they were in another labyrinth maze.

However this time the place feel....ominous like there was something out to get them, the sort of feeling you would find in horror movies or stories. Sain quickly checked if any new messages from the game appeared and in fact one new message appeared.

You are on floor 1

Conditions to clear

- Find the exit

- Slay the monster that hunts you down

“....”

The first condition was fine....it was natural but the second was most likely the source of the bad feeling. Before Sain could think more about it, Shadow shouted:

“Hey, I found something!”

With that, the group gathered where Shadow was which was near the edge of the space. There was some sort of transparent 'thing' that strangely look like a map in front of them. When Sain and the others touched it, the following message appeared in front of them as well.

Obtained Ever Growing Map of Eternity

- Map will only work in Eternal Dungeon

- Will auto-map area explored

- Can be taken and stored in inventory at will

'Interesting...this would definitely make things much more easier for us though...I suspect there is a catch like it won't show hidden areas or something like that. Such an convenient thing related to Eden could not possibility be good.'

Sain had that thought but still decided to let the group use it. It was TOO good to not use after all.

After that the group found that there were a dozen paths to take and with Miriel's 'Clairvoyance', all the paths lit up which made things very difficult. It was most likely that if you walk around in certain directions you would eventually get to the exit but it was a matter of when you get there and how many monsters and traps you will encounter until then.

But 'Clairvoyance' could also be used to avoid dead ends as well plus the auto-mapping helps a lot as well. From what Sain could see the paths were the same size as before in the floor above and the general style of it was the same as well. Picking a path, the group went into the labyrinth.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Some minutes later and the ominous feeling growing a bit stronger, the group encountered the first set of enemies in this floor. It was a group of lizardmen that numbered 4. A tall total but they were unable to rush all at once since the gap only let 2 or maybe 3 at once.

“Take Formation!” shouted Sain to the others prompting them to move quickly with Raven already blocking the first attacks.

Shadow slipped by from around the lizardmen without them noticing and attacked from their flank aggravating one of them to himself. Meanwhile Lyndis took another lizardman while Raven took on 2 at once with Sain, Miriel and Serena supporting.

“Magic Arrows!”

Sain fired his spell at the second lizardman that Raven was taking on hitting the leg and arm stopping an attack from striking Raven.

“Shriek!”

Shrieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!

A high pitch sound came from Miriel's staff that didn't affect the group at all. The lizardmen covered their ears to this sound which let the others to attack more and more with each of the taking one down in a matter of seconds with lightning fast attacks to critical and vital areas over and over again.

“Root Bind!” “Magic Arrows!” “Ice Bolts!”

Serena immediately restrained the last one and Sain and Miriel both in a combination attack hit the lizardman squarely in the body killing it in one go.

You have gained Experience

Magic was indeed a powerful thing though Sain's magic was a level lower than Miriel's and even Lyndis' which kinda saddened him a bit.

'The true worth of a Shaman is not the power of his spells but the variety and combination of spells that he can use.'

Sain repeated those words in his mind whenever he had such depressing thoughts. After all, he was capable on learning spear skills as well later on as well as more and more spells as well. Sain considered getting a buffing spell to increase weapon damage after this dungeon to help with the offence some more.

Bright Luna levelled up to Level 2

Sain nodded to this message since Luna who was staying near the back line was gaining experience as well and would be in another 28 be able to fight with them.

The group walked on further with Miriel using her 'Clairvoyance' to make sure that they are not led into a dead end. Sain through all of this could still feel that something was following them and from the looks of the others, so did they. Even Luna was not was cheerful due to this feeling.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Flame Strike!”

An arrow of blazing fire came from Lyndis and burnt the last enemy into ashes.

You have gained Experience

Bright Luna levelled up to Level 5

It had been a day since they have arrived on this floor and food was slowly becoming an issue. This was the 4th battle they had been through and it was still early in the 'day'. Since yesterday there were some level ups as well as skill level ups as well.

Miriel gained a level in 'Illusion magic mastery' to Beginner Level 3 as well as 'Clairvoyance' to Beginner Level 2 due to her rapid use of it. 'Shriek' which was another common spell Miriel would use also levelled up. Although no other spells levelled up they all increased greatly in experience and would sooner or later level up as well.

Serena levelled up both 'Magic Mastery' and 'Nature mastery' at the same time since they were about to level up either way to both Beginner Level 6. Both 'Minor Health Regeneration' and 'Minor Stamina Regeneration' increased by a level for the same reason to Beginner Level 8 and 7 respectively. However both 'Root Bind' and 'Heartbeat Healing' increased by 2 levels each to Beginner Level 5 as well due to her rapid use of these spells.

On the other hand in the complete opposite side, Raven did not gain as much skill level ups as the first two. Only 'Repair' reached Beginner Level 3 with the equipment repairing by Raven while no other skills levelled up at all. On the other hand most of his spells...no all of his skills increased by around 40% due to the experience gained from the fights and were mostly about to level up soon as well.

Shadow was in a better position with a number of skills levelling up during this time as well. 'Stealth' naturally went to Intermediate Level 5 with his talents even in battle whether he liked it or not and 'Dagger Mastery' also increased to Beginner Level 7 as well. Both 'Hearing' and 'Backstab; increased to Beginner Level 6 as well do to the constant use of them at the same time. However the greatest jump was 'Locate Trap' and 'Disarm Trap' which went straight to Beginner Level 4 ever since he learnt it and never used it at all. All other skills increased fairly well since he was using them as well.

Lyndis was a massive power user in her skills to the point that her mana was often low by the end of it. Due to her constant attacking and more attacking 'Sword Mastery' increased to Beginner Level 7 with little issue and 'Fire Manipulation Mastery' to beginner Level 4 and on the verge of levelling up as well. 'Fire Blade' along with the three 'Strike' sword skills as well as 'Flame Strike' were skills that she would commonly use often and as a result all increased by one level with 'Fire Blade' to Beginner Level 7, the 'Strike' skills each to Beginner Level 4 and 'Flame Strike' to Beginner Level 5.

Sain on the other hand had some progress at least as the middle man in everything. 'Spear Mastery' increased a bit but not enough to level up. Since he didn't have 'Magic Mastery' he couldn't gain the advantage of using magic more and more to increase the power of other weaker spells like that. As a result, 'Minor Heal' and 'Weaken' increased to Beginner Level 6 with 'Weaken' increasing by 2 levels. 'Bursting Will' by some surprise also increased to Beginner Level 3 and 'Magic Arrows' also increased to Beginner Level 5, a total of two level ups there. Unfortunately Sain hasn't been able to use 'Mana Bolts' that much since the area of battle was quite tight and there was a high chance of him hitting other people as a result. Due to the presence of Luna as well Sain was unable to use 'Summon Familiar' due to his summon limit and since he only used 'Wolf Summoning' once, that spell didn't increase in experience as well.

Seeing this level of progress of the others compared to him, Sain sighed once again. Miriel was fitting into her role was support in both buffing and attacks, Serena was getting more powerful in healing, Raven was slowly but gradually increasing in strength as a tank, Shadow as becoming more useful in all ways and Lyndis was getting much more powerful in attacking.

Compared to that, Sain's spells only got a but more powerful with 'Magic Arrows' increasing to three attack instead of 2 now. It was a small gain but a good one for Sain but was still minor compared to the rest of the group.

'Nevermind that...we all gained 3 levels from yesterday alone...this level of progress is quite high already.'

The group was slowly increasing their level and was nearing level 70 now with Serena at level 69 while the others were at level 67 each. Compared to when they got the +10 to all stats bonus from that Guild Quest, this amount of progress wasn't much....well not much can compare to +10 to all stats.

“Let's go” said Sain leading the group once again ahead.

A few more hours passed until they settled down to eat and rest.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Why is it that the food quality seems to have dropped?” asked Miriel in a cynical tone to Lyndis.

“That's because someone had to use all the good quality ingredients yesterday and left nothing much for now!” retorted Lyndis back at her, “Plus our cooking is nothing compared to Alexandra's....her food was heavenly even with the same common ingredient.”

Miriel gulped her saliva thinking about it as well. Alexandra was one of the few grand masters of cooking. Total there were only a small number of grand masters in the game which didn't even reach a dozen despite the game 25 year long history and Alexandra was one of them.

If you tallied up the number of grand masters they would look like this.

1 Sculptor Grand Master

3 Blacksmith Grand Masters

2 Tailoring Grand Masters

2 Cooking Grand Masters

1 Fishing Grand Master

1 Architector Grand Master

1 Enchanter Grand Master

1 Bard Grand Master

Basically none of them were of the combat class at all but all of them were on the same level as them and all had special unique skills along with them.

The Sculptor could manipulate time itself.

One Blacksmith could make the best armour that was twice as strong as normal and had four times more durability with the right materials and method.

One Blacksmith could make the best weapons that had a soul in them quite literally.

One Blacksmith could make the change the space of already finished products at will increasing and modifying their stats.

One Tailor could produce some of the best clothes on the market being able to stitch together rare materials with boosted effects.

One Tailor could enchant clothing using certain methods and double their effects for a while.

One Cook could make permanent stat increasing food with common to rare ingredients.

One Cook could increase the effects of foods to more than double the usual and increase the time they last as well.

One Fisher could lure in and dragged and hook even a Dragon and any other creature with a single rod at hand.

One Architector could design the most complex buildings and make it last longer and stronger than all others while using ordinary materials.

One Enchanter could enchant all things with anything he wanted including spells and other skills into common items as rocks or sticks to use.

One Bard had such an heavenly voice that all allies would have a massive amount of buffs set on them as if the Gods were blessing them.

They were the eleven Grand Masters that were produced after so long. Of course many others 'mastered' their skills but weren't able to get or finish the secret quest that comes with it leaving them incomplete and not a Grand Master but a simple Master instead with above average skills.

Talking about this something said:

“I wonder if Eden is a Grand Master of something...”

“Highly doubt it, everyone literally knows when a Grand Master is born after a while and there hasn't been on in years” someone else replied.

“But what if Eden was still hiding a special skills unknown to the world...?” someone asked.

“What? The Grand Master of blowing things up?” someone else replied cynically to the question.

The group chatted away and eventually got to hunting and exploring the floor once again.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Meanwhile....

“Achoo!”

Eden sneezed all of a sudden since he felt someone was talking about him.

“Are you sick?” asked Alexandra in an almost laughing tone. Never once did Eden get sick when he wanted to and not get sick when he didn't want to. This almost seems like the latter case once again.

“No....someone was talking about me and about stuff about Grand Masters....” replied Eden in an annoyed tone. He could just tell those kinds of things for some reason.

“Hahaha”

“This is no laughing matter...”

Alexandra still laughed despite that and said, “Speaking of Grand Masters...didn't Viv gain that title a while back as the 'Grand Master of Torture'?”

“....Don't speak of that event....we agreed never to speak of it ever again” replied Eden shivering from that day. There was so many screams that he drowned the heavens itself.

“Well I'm a 'Grand Master of Cooking' since I'm the most normal of our lot and you're literally the only being with a Dual Grand Master Title.”

“So?” asked Eden not getting her point and especially not getting when she said she was the 'most normal'. None of them were normal at all and in fact it was better to say 'least abnormal' compared to her wording.

“You are the 'Grand Master of Creation and Destruction'. A being who has the same power of creation as Gods and the power as a Destroyer to take that all away as well.”

Eden started remembering that day...but stopped asking:

“And what is that point of this?”

Alexandra fiddled with her hair and said, “The world knows including me there are 11 Grand Masters in the world but in fact there was 13 in total with the last two too powerful and frankly frightening to the point that no one wants to acknowledge you two.”

Yes...Viv and Eden were both 'Grand Masters' but in a different way to the rest. While their skills were recognised, Viv and Eden's were either too revolting or too heretic to even mention. Who would want to meet someone was great in torture or destroying things in normal circumstances?

[p=center]xXx[/p]

At the end of the first floor...

“Enemy boss monster!” cried Lyndis blocking the sudden attack.

Bang!

She flew a good distance away from where she was a second ago and hit the wall behind her with a solid thud. She was alive but her health was immediately decreased to 40% with that one hit.

“Minor Heal!”

Even though his healing spell was nothing compared to Serena's at this point, Sain could still heal a good bit of health...actually it the amount healed was less than 200 health which was very minor. Sain cursed under his breath once again and figure to get 'Moderate Heal' which should have a base healing range of 1000 health at least.

“Shadow distract the thing quickly!” shouted Sain seeing that the boss monster which was a giant lizardman that was twice was large and four times more powerful than a regular one was about to attack with it's sword once again. On it's right hand was a large sword and one it's left was a shield to block attacks. It was truly a powerful creature to reckon with.

“Shriek!”

Shrieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!

The high pitch sound came out of Miriel's staff but the giant lizardman was not at all affected by it. Did it have a status immunity to these kinds of things?

Bang Bang!

The giant lizardman sliced twice at Shadow who was jumping around the place with the second attack almost hitting him if not for him using 'Become Mist' at the last second and escaping. By this time Raven moved up in the front lines as well and Serena was about finished casting her group healing spell.

“Heartbeat Healing!”

Health will regenerate for 11 points every second for 10 minutes

Due to her increased skill levels in various places, the effects of the group healing spell increased dramatically as well to almost doubled from before during the trip with Eden a few months ago. It was truly a rapid growth the power of the spell.

As a reference, 'Minor Health Regeneration' at Beginner level 8 has a base heal power of 275/100 sec and with the bonus from the mastery skills it increases to 605 Health/100 sec or 6 health per second which is only half of the 'Heartbeat Healing' but has only 1/10 of the costs at 10 mana per use compared to 100 mana and you can stack the spell over itself.

Raven who was small compared to the giant lizardman as well as using a small shield was getting his health reduced a bit faster than the health regeneration could heal him. The giant lizardman was only using it's sword against Raven from a range where he couldn't even counter. His spiked shield with lowered durability could only slowly break against this foe.

“Backstab!”

Clang!

Shadow tried to hit the head area but the giant lizardman was heavily armoured with most of it's body covered in metal with the exception to the sides and some areas to allow freedom of movement. Shadow simply did not have the power to pierce through metal like that at the moment.

“Flame Strike!”

Getting up from her earlier setback at the beginning, Lyndis fired off her spell straight at the giant lizardman.

Bannnng!

The attack which was an arrow of flames was blocked by the shield on the left hand but spread around that area giving it the 'burn' status defect though it won't last long. Seeing that it was hurt, the giant lizardman let out a loud shout at the group.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaar!!!! Die Humans!”

The giant lizardman charged forward easily pulling Raven back with brute strength as it was heading to Lyndis who damaged it.

“Root Bind!” “Ice Bolt!” “Magic Arrows!”

The three magic users at the back, namely Serena, Miriel and Sain himself fired spells at the giant lizardman at once seeing that it was recklessly charging. Several parts of it's armour were blown off due to these magic attacks.

“Miriel, us mana bolts with me!” said Sain quickly thinking of something cleaver.

“Right!”

Both of them look a second to charge up the spell before chanting at the same time:

“Mana Bolts!” “Mana Bolts!”

A total of 26 mana bolts flew out and hit the giant lizardman like it was fireworks dealing minor but enough damage to knock some armour off of it. The armour of the giant lizardman was surprisingly weak!

“Raven, Lyndis and Shadow! Continue distracting it while attacking parts of it's armour at times. We're going to finish this in one go soon!” said Sain seeing the victory before them.

“Right!”

All three of them moved in while Serena bound the giant lizardman in place though just barely. It's strength was that much higher and took a lot of concentration from Serena to maintain the spell properly.

“Double Strike!” “Precision Strike!” “Burst Speed!”

All three of them went into melee and started slashing and stabbing at every place they could hit with the armour on the legs and lower bits of the body suffering the most. After a few seconds of this, the giant lizardman finally broke out of the roots but it's armour was in wreckage right now.

But before it could attack, Lyndis said:

“Burning Touch!”

Setting it's legs ablaze just like that before retreating from the other side with Shadow leaving Raven to maintain the defence for the other three.

Sain looked at Serena who was by the time the giant lizardman broke out, chanting another spell that was still much more powerful than what the others could deal.

“Blood Burst!”

A red orb appeared and burst through the air hitting various places of the giant lizardman though mainly the legs and the parts where there wasn't that much armour for a few seconds while it was being distracted by the flames. By the time it regain concentration to fight the group, the spell was already finished.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!

The giant lizardman suddenly burst out with blood spaying everywhere and quickly died from blood lost.

“No matter how many times I see it....” Sain felt like he was being to vomit due to the extreme scene played in front of him but another things look priority right now.

You have killed the floor 1 hidden boss

- Able to advance to floor 2 now

- You have levelled up

While the giant lizardman was quite strong it seems that it wasn't that much stronger since they only gained a level from it. It could be on the level of a mini-boss or named monster however. The group quickly gathered their supplies and went to the next floor.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Later on...at floor 4 where they were suddenly facing the boss monster already....

SMASH!

Raven was immediately flattened like paste into the ground.

Party Member: Raven has been killed

BANG!

The giant fist hit Lyndis and smashed her into the wall with ease

Party Member: Lyndis has been killed

“Burst Speed!”

Shadow tried to escape but the creature was too powerful in both power and speed. It easily caught up due to the small space in which Shadow could run to and body slammed him as well.

Party Member: Shadow has been killed

“Serena attack with Blood Burst NOW!” shouted Sain already trying to figure a way out of this.

The creature was already next to Miriel about to kill her as well.

“Noo!” screamed Sain seeing that another comrade was going to die. After all they went through at this point.

“Ice Burst!”

From Miriel sprayed a large amount of ice at once at the creature. However it blocked and only it's large arm was bleeding. Miriel was quickly crushed seeing that she couldn't escape, defend or even use another spell like that.

Party Member: Miriel has been killed

“Blood Burst!”

The most powerful spell came out of Serena flying at the creature hitting it several times at once.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!

The creature burst into blood but it didn't die....in fact it only had surface wounds at best and even that was healing at a fair rate.

“ROOOOOOOOOOOOAR!”

Charging forward with that, in an instant before Sain or Serena could even react, Serena was pierced by the giant horns on it's head and was killed just like that.

Party Member: Serena has been killed

“What the hell?!” cursed Sain seeing that they were easily wiped. Before the creature turned to him and kill him, Sain remembered that he had seen this type of creature before. Creature of Labyrinths with great size and thick muscles and fur as defence. It's arms were particularly thick and it had large horns as well.

A monster that was rare but equally as powerful

A Behemoth.

Something that was definitely out of their league right now appeared.

“Damn it....”

BANG!

You have died

With that, their exploration of the dungeon ended. They have lost against it.

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

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Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 9500~

- Well this was a bit easier to write compared to the other recent chapters since I mainly focused on Sain this time round. I have been adjusting the writing style a bit to be similar to the early chapters a bit more. Well this chapter was mainly on them in a dungeon growing...not much to say on character development besides Sain

- On another note...I just realised that 'mana bolt' in the skill window for Miriel for the longest time was 'magic bolt' instead....yeah.....not going to go back and fix that.... [th_093.gif]

- If I have time, the next chapter may be up in a few days...otherwise there are RL stuff to take care of including several assignments at once...I want to try and finish this volume before that though....