“Yo” said Lyndis walking to to him bandaged up after the night. It had been stressful since everyone barely had enough sleep since they were too worried that someone would sink a dagger into their ribs while they were sleeping.

“Ah, hello” Sain replied with a soft smile moving Miriel to wake her up, “It's been a while.” He smiled at her though he was a bit worried about her appearance with all of those bandages around her body that made her look like a mummy,

“Had to sleep else that battle yesterday along with other fatigues made up sleepy” she yawned. Soon enough they were joined with Raven and Shadow who were in similar states as well.

From what she said, they had asked around to find Sain and the other two since the remaining players that numbered 37 in total slept quite far away from each other in groups like packs of wolves controlling their territory.

“Hmm? Why do you all look like mummies?” Miriel asked immediately recognising Lyndis and the other two even though they were as such through their equipment and physical features like height and size.

“Had to fight three of those meat monsters....don't let them combine since it goes all muscular and becomes even more annoying to deal with. We were quite literally on our last leg when Lyndis decided on a suicide attack” Shadow said.

“Suicide attack? I would never let myself be killed like that!” she complained.

“Didn't stop you from throwing half a dozen fire bombs while we couldn't escape with it trapping us” Shadow pointed out.

“Our health were near the bottom when I did that! Plus we did survive in the end” she said affirming her case.

“Our equipment on the other hand was banged up a lot due to that as well” Shadow continued to say showing off that his weapons were dented by using them too much and form the blast.

Seeing this, Raven took the weapons and repaired them. He had the previous day already repaired his own gear as well as Lyndis' when she complained but not his yet so he did so now.

“I should have went with you” he said immediately seeing that this was the results of them not having a proper healer. Elsewhere some other players saw Raven repairing Shadow's weapons and asked of him to repair theirs as well.

As such Raven left them to do so as the others continued with their conversations.

Lyndis flicked his forehead suddenly that caused him a slight reaction and said, “You needed to take command of the other players remember?”

Sain out out a wry laugh and said, “I only command them as much as the let. The moment that they find something they don't like, they will turn on me. Otherwise I can only hope to make sure you guys don't get hurt because of me.”

“I and” Lyndis glanced at the other three, “Everyone else can take care of themselves at this point. Even you can take care of yourself like those players foolishly decide to turn on you nor will we let you fight alone at this point.”

She then let out a grin and said, “Besides, we had Eden and Viv train us remember. If anything, we are stronger than most of them either way.”

Hearing this, Sain also let out a small grin while breathing out. They now turned to Serena seeing that she looked like was itching to say something to them.

“D-Do you need me to heal you?” she asked to Lyndis and Shadow though also looking over at where Raven was with crowds of players giving him their near broken equipment to repair. Lyndis smiled at her and rubbed Serena's head saying, “Not at all! Our wounds long since healed. Save your mana for something else.”

“Then explain why you still look like a mummy” Miriel said poking at Lyndis' arm.

“Ouch!” Lyndis exclaimed.

“See, you are still wounded, Serena heal these idiots” Miriel said in a proud boastful tone.

“Yeah please heal me already. My arms and legs ache when I try to move them too quickly..plus I think Raven has some trouble breathing from time to time as well since yesterday” Shadow added causing Serena to mutter a “Ah” before running to Raven to heal him.

“Great” Lyndis looked at Shadow with scorn, “We just lost our healer again.”

Sain sighed and then said, “If you recall I can heal you as well you know. I DID tell you all that I have a stronger healing spell now that is on the level of what Serena's own healing spells.”

Lyndis thought about it and remembered with a “Ah” as well. Going a bit red of her mistake and unintentional insult to Sain she asked, “Can you heal me then?”

“Of course. Moderate Heal!” Sain placed his hands on her back and healed her wounds bit by bit with his spells.

While bandages may be able to close wounds and stop bleeding, it was not as effective as healing spells as until a certain point in the skill 'Bandaging' does not recover health at all which means Lyndis, Raven and Shadow had been depending on their natural health regeneration to regain their health.

And with the wounds that haven't fully closed, their health was unable to recover completely even with a few hours of sleep.

When both Lyndis and Shadow and from what Sain could see, Raven as well were healed, Miriel started questioning Lyndis on some things, “So from what I remember you were the one who found those...things right?”

“Yep” Lyndis replied in a upbeat tone, “Are you going to blame me for it?” she said cautiously to not get castigated by her.

Miriel sighed, shook her head and then said, “Not at all. If you haven't, sooner or later, more sooner, everyone would be led to believe that it was safe and there would be more deaths as a result. Also from that mad man declaring it, he would have let them loose either way.”

“I see...thanks” Lyndis replied in a small voice little more than a whisper.

Miriel then turned to Shadow and asked, “Did you find anything so far?”

Shadow frowned and then said, “Most of this place looked like it had been looted already...though recently. There are lots of places where there is nothing and more where there seem to be something but nothing in the end.”

Then in a whisper he said, “I really don't like this place...there seems to be 'other' things here though we cannot see them”

“I agree...though we are all trapped here in the end. It's laughable that one day in and we are already in quite a horrid situation” she let out a gloomy laugh that was not replicated by the others.

Miriel looked more gloomy compared to when she arrived in the city. It was evident enough that she had expected to sleep on a soft bed after doing so on a hard rock or two for 6 months straight.

“You okay Miriel?” he decided to ask.

She looked puzzled at the very least at this question and asked, “Why wouldn't I be?”

“You look stressed” he replied as well.

Miriel sighed seeing that Sain wasn't exactly good in this area of observation of other people and replied with, “Over a year we known each other in this game and yet you only ask this now.”

With Sain looking confused and the other four watching the two interested at the very least, Miriel continued after dragging him to a secluded corner where there was no one watching.

“Of course I'm stressed! I have to keep in mind what we have to do later, the responsibility of making sure someone doesn't screw things up! What skills and spells we would need as well and now we are trapped in this damn laboratory with a mad man dictating what he wishes for us to do! How can I not be stressed right now?!” she said rapidly pulling her arms around him and her face into his chest.

“....” Sain could not say anything but had his mouth gaping open for a while now. Before he could say anything Lyndis started commenting to the others.

“There is literally too much in this game for me to learn about. For every known fact there are countless secrets in them and even when finding those secrets there are even more hidden underneath. It seems be more like a...a...”

“A whole independent world?”

“Yes that” Miriel sighed and Sain tried to encourage her.

“Miriel don't think about it too much. There's no reason for you to be able to do everything” he said calmly as Lyndis and Shadow decided to leave them to themselves for a while as they discuss something that he could not hear.

A sad smile creped on her face as she said, “I can't since this is the way I lived for so long. I can't change that quickly.”

“In that case what can I do to help you?” Sain asked wanting the best for her.

“Don't worry about it. You're already doing what you need for me” she replied leaving him puzzled to do something else .

xXx

An hour passed and the hunch came true with the heavily barricaded area being the location of where the stairway to the 6th floor. There were three separate barricades in the way to the stairway which made everyone even more nervous.

Would the next floor be even more dangerous than this one?

What lies there?

These questions plagued the mind when one's thoughts wondered too much. Most of the players here were inexperienced and new to the game as Sain and the others were, only that they were not used to such a stressful experience yet.

“We should get going. There's no point in dwelling here any longer” Miriel advised to which Sain agreed.

As such Sain ordered everyone to the location of the stairway to the next floor. Due to the place being quite hidden away, they stopped at the large room before the corridor which leads them to the stairway as Sain spoke some words of encouragement to them all.

'No...it's better to not get their hopes up else they might snap quicker' he thought rearranging his speech as he spoke.

“I just want to say one thing. Make sure you live else it'll be more difficult for the rest of us.”

Those words were met with complete seriousness for a few while there were still some...ignoring Sain as much as he was ignoring them. They were those who disapproved of him taking charge in the first place though not having enough voice to say otherwise or guts to take action.

“Please move in your own groups one by one down to the next floor” he then said starting the descent to the 6th floor of this laboratory.

The groups of players walked down the stairway, in groups of six. On the way down and onto the sixth floor there didn't seem to be anything wrong.

The no accounts for screams and terror told those who followed that. The first and second group to walk down were particularly tense since of what happened when they first descended onto the 5th fifth floor and the immediately death of a player.

They were like everyone else to at least some extent afraid of the unknown that would come to them as they walked nearer to it.

However at the same time, the floor they entered was very surprising and interesting at the very least.

“What is this, a water park?” Miriel asked looking around. There was water. Lots of water around.

In fact the room they entered to had a large pool at the centre while they walked onto the edge of the room to make space for everyone else coming down.

“At least there won't be those meat monsters...unless they can float. They'll look like meatballs floating in water!” Lyndis was a bit happy that she did not need to face those meat monsters anymore.

While the fact there was lots of water was interesting, it also made them curious. How did the water relate to how this floor will try to kill them? This made Sain...and many others uneasy not wanting to get near the water at all.

So far there had been no traps at all but who could say there would be none even now.

“Shadow...check for traps” Sain said.

“Right....” Shadow started using his 'Detect Traps' skill and soon replied, “There are none else they are intermediate level or higher traps.”

His words relieved some players but Sain still had to ask, “You think there is anything in the water?”

“No idea” Shadow replied immediately.

When some of the more curious and yet brave or foolish depending went to touch the water to see what would happen, a large clanging sound was heard like someone dropping something metal on the ground.

“Sorry Sorry! That was me~” The mad man's voice came back again. Nonetheless no one was happy to hear this voice as something bad always happened when he spoke.

“How long has it been since you came here? I dare say it was a day long~ Getting tired? Well I will give you this chance to sleep...with the fishes, or are they fishes? Well you will find out later~”

Splash...

Immediately when the mad man said those words...the players could heard sounds of something moving in the water and quite quickly backed away. There was a good possibility that they may be dragged into the water to drown or worse.

Whatever it was, whatever creature it was, it was certainly not good.

“Ahhhhhhh!” and then someone let out a scream and everyone looked.

A hand...a cold wet hand appeared from the water and grabbed onto several people's legs at once. Everyone was stunned at these turns of events, much to their lack of experience that they did not do anything but stare.

“Help!” one player plead as the hands tripped him over and was quickly about to drag him under. Then several players acted.

“Sonic Blade!” one player shouted cutting off the hands that were coming out of the water. When he did the water turned blood red...no it was being mixed with blood.

“Don't tell me these creatures also use...humans as their materials?” one player scorned at the thought that they would need to watch out for the dead as well else they will come back and drag them in as well.

After some panic and flashes of spells and skills some of the water creatures were killed at least for were injured that they did not come up again.

However the body of one of the creatures...dead floated facing up.

No face.

That was the first thought everyone had and it sent chills down their spine.

The face was blank as the body was naked with no clear characteristics except that on the legs that there were some fish like features and on the back there were fins.

“....What the hell is that?” a player asked in an astonished voice.

No one could answer even if it was lying dead in front of them.

Player eventually said, “I think...this is worse than the meat monsters.”

There were some who agreed and some who did not but it remained that this was the treat they had to deal with now...instead of dying normally they would be drowned to death on this floor.

“What do we do now?” one player asked Sain pushing more responsibility onto him as well as their hopes and fears.

“I think...we should watch the water from now on” he said calmly. He had rubbed his right hand for a moment wishing that the 'mark' that Eden placed on him would activate. When it did, he feared nothing.

Walking forward onto the edge to the next room, the style of the rooms changed at least a bit back and forth between two styles.

The first was the one they saw when entering the floor. With the centre having a pool, they would have to walk on the edge to get around. The second was the opposite with the edge being filled with water and a central platform being the only way to cross.

This also extended to the corridors much to their dismay that even there they had to pay attention to the water.

A few minutes passed and nothing happened. Everyone relaxed their guard down a bit but not to the point where they were helpless lambs. No, it was just that the fear of dying, being dragged down to the cold water wasn't as prominent in their minds as a few minutes ago.

However it was much to the dismay of those who had not paid proper attention...nay it happened too quickly.

Someone was dragged under.

“Buhufaafgahhelp!”

Splash Splash...

Several more hands appeared grabbing the head of the player that it was dragging down forcing water to enter his mouth and lungs as he tried to escape making splashes everywhere. Several tried to help but when the hands tried to drag some, they retreated a bit causing the lost player to truly be lost to the waters now.

The count of players was now 35.

“What...the hell? Is these waters that deep? To the point that a whole person would be dragged under even with all of us here?!” one person said in a angry tone.

While his hate wasn't directed to Sain he could tell that he was being blamed by the other players silently.

“....”

Sain expressed nothing but only the interest in how these no face fish creatures worked. Would that player come back without a face as well? What of his equipment and clothing on him? Would it melt? And how does one's body transform like that?

With silence as Sain's approach to this while thinking there were some complaining now.

“Shit you got to be kidding me. I'm going back to the previous-damn, the exit is blocked!” one such player shouted drawing the attention of the other players nearby.

They, some players ran back to go back to the stairway but they immediately found that the water that once levelled so much...no the platforms themselves sunk into the water cutting off their escape.

“We now have no choice but to move forward. That mad man is forcing us to go forward no matter what” said Sain really regretting that they can only go forward now.

Soon as they continued forward much to the grudging of some, they entered a rather large room with water at the centre pool again.

There, lied six paths to take.

Six corridors that would lead to rooms and from there...unknown.

And then the mad man spoked again.

“What to do, what to dooooo? Six paths but I am ever so kind to you all~ All paths lead to one path but all paths are not the same! Can you tell the difference? Oh and by the way one path will be attacked so make sure you prepare for that~ Also if you kill another person then I will make a special exception for you to be unharmed. If six people are killed all of you will be unharmed by my cut cut pets~”

“....”

“I guess this means we will have to separate here then” said one player looking at Sain not caring about what the mad man said. Sain nodded in reply as everyone got ready to split up from there. But things weren't as simple as you could think.

“They're attacking! They're attacking!” someone shouted as those no face creatures came from the waters as they quickly cut off any escape from where they came and to where they can go from now.

'Something is wrong here....why did they attack only now and only now? Surely attacking all of us when we are separated is more effective...'

But Sain quickly found his answer.

Three dozen of those no face creatures could be seen. Through the rapid attacks from everyone, they were quickly dispatched as they floated dead back into the water. Thankfully they did not revive like the meat monsters forcing the players to burn them as well.

However Sain thought there must be some hidden trick that would be fatal to them later on.

As the battle ended someone said, “These are easier than those meat creatures.”

Others agreed but once again they were attacked by the no face creatures forcing to defend themselves a second time quickly. A player was also dragged in this time only to be just saved. He was pale coming out of the water.

And then the no face creatures came out a third time from the central water pool.

“Attack! Attack!” one player shouted commanding any range players to take them out now.

Everyone did until they realised something strange was happening. While their attacks hit there were no reactions at all. Whether dead or alive, these no face creatures acted like dolls.

'Some are fake...some are real...and we can't tell...great' he thought getting a better understanding why the mad man would show them this.

Sain felt like sighing since this will be another issue altogether with them not knowing where the enemy would be. The enemy hiding from view was one thing but the enemy hiding in plain sight...not knowing which one is an enemy is far worse.

“Don't waste mana or arrows attacking them” Sain said, “Those are fake, just dolls that look exactly like the real thing.”

The other players listened to his words since they seemed correct. Compared to the two earlier attacks nothing happened at all.

But at the same time this raised the issue of what was a threat and what was not. Could these no face creatures pretend to be fakes when attacked and only to attack from behind when they are not looking?

It was a stressful thing to think about.

“You all seem more stressed than before. Have you considered killing the other player? It might be that I could let the rest all free of you do~”

“....”

With nervous tension of the unknown in plain sight the players moved forward taking a path...for what fate may have for them.

xXx

Splash Splash Splash...!

The sounds of something coming was very obvious to the group now alone from the other players in the path they had chosen.

“Damn we have the worst luck” Shadow complained though he had the best stats in luck out of everyone in the group.

“Well get ready for battle already!” commanded Miriel though Sain was suppose to be the leader here.

Sain looked at the water and then asked, “Miriel...couldn't you just freeze the water as we go to prevent them from attacking us?”

“....”

There was a sudden pause in everything was Miriel and the others had that realisation as well.

A “Tch” could be heard from Lyndis while Shadow commented to Lyndis, “Didn't you say the other day that you didn't want to fight?”

“Yes, but only those meat monsters. I'm more than fine with these fish creatures” she snapped back causing much surprise to Sain, Miriel and Serena that Lyndis's considered not fighting for once.

After a few moments with possible enemies coming their way, Lyndis a bit disturbed by the silences that her comrades were giving her asked, “What? Why are you all silent like that?”

“Well....” Sain started to say when Miriel interrupted with, “Are you fine? Do you have a fever” touched Lyndis on the forehead.

Angered by being treated like a child or sick patient she knocked away Miriel's hand and shouted, “I'm completely fine! Why is when I decide not be fight you all think of me as strange while when I do you think of me as a violent brute?!”

“Because that's how you usually act?” Shadow pointed out causing her to hit him on the head while Shadow cursed under his breath about something involving Lyndis being something else. Lyndis glared at him and he stopped mid way in his cursing though.

And just when Lyndis was about to say something, a hand grabbed her leg with a splash.

“Freeze!” Miriel chanted quickly shooting the stream of freezing air at the hand which quickly froze onto Lyndis' leg.

“Great, now I have a leg stuck on me. A cold bloody hand” she complained with an extremely irritated tone considering what happened a few seconds ago for all terms and purposes, she was pissed off right now.

She chopped the hand off while using 'Fire Blade' and then said to Miriel, “Cast that spell that makes us more alert.”

Miriel nodded not exactly disagreeing with Lyndis as well as feeling a bit guilty on hurting her feelings and chanted, “Tune of Alertness!”

Party in range will be affected by the spell 'Sound Tune Variations'

Party will now be more alert to enemies and traps, -5mp/sec

Miriel's 'Sound Tune Variations' was a spell in which used sound magic to affect the party in more unusual ways compared to 'Melody of Sound'. 'Tunes of Alertness' was one such part of the overall spell in which comprises of many different tunes.

While 'Melody of Sound' focused more on directly increase the abilities of a person with stat boosts, 'Sound Tune Variations' focused more on indirectly increasing or decreasing the abilities of a person as she can manipulate several status effects on them.

Another thing that rather than directly taking a set amount of mana for a certain amount of time, the spell constantly drains mana from the caster per second and without a large enough mana pool, the effects can only last a short amount of time.

Furthermore Miriel was not limited in using only one effect of the whole spell unlike 'Melody of Sound'. She could use many of the at once in cost of having a larger mana drain from the spell than normal.

After Miriel casted the spell onto the group which made their senses sharper, they continued down the path for a while being attacked once in a while. They completely ignore any of the no face creatures unless they moved and attacked them.

And as they went on Shadow commented on how the other groups are nearby or at least some of them and they were making a lot of noise as well.

“Any clue on what that means?” Sain asked him.

“Hmm...” Shadow started thinking about it, “There are a couple. They might be attacking all of the no face creatures on the way...or are being attacked...or attacking each other I presume.”

“None of them seem like good news” Miriel commented. They turned to Lyndis to hear if she had anything to say but she did not and gave them a light glare and started looking at one of the no face creatures instead.

In the end, Sain said, “Hopefully nothing bad happens to them. We still need them at least for their numbers and nothing else” revealing his intentions of them.

'Other players weren't as important as us right now nor do I have the luxury to be thinking of them as well. I don't intent to help them if it means harming them' Sain thought about what he had to do.

They continued for another minute and then the corridor ended to a room.

“Ah, we about to reach a large room” said Sain looking at the end of the corridor. On the other end there was a fairly large room that had the same design but was clearly larger than normal with water at the edge.

It would be a perfect place to be ambushed however.

“Sain, another group is at that room as well” Shadow warned. There was a lot of concern on his face as he said this as well.

“Is this some sort of trap?” Shadow muttered again thinking about it.

“....”

The group was silent to this speculation. If so, then they would be forced to attack other players...something many would not like to do unless they had to normally.

The exception are in large battles or wars of course but normally players don't think about attacking other players since they are 'human'. In their mind, players were placed higher than NPCs though here was a group that did the opposite.

To them, the NPCs are more likeable than players as there are little hidden motive you have to watch out for.

'Do we go or not....either way we have to go' Sain thought about the risks and then said, “It's unlikely that something bad will happen and besides....there is only one path and we have to go through here...”

He started walking into the room. The other group of players were already there from what it seemed.

The others though trusting on Sain but not completely trusting of the other players kept their hands on their weapons. They looked at each other a bit worried about Sain and cautious of the other players.

“Hey!” Sain called out. The other players looked at him with strange expressions.

There, there were six other players. Three of them were swordsmen, one of them was the wind mage, then a cleric and the last was an archer.

“Are you guys-” Sain was suddenly pulled back as an arrow shot down at him barely missed with someone pulling him back instantly at the moment of danger. Sain felt on his butt as he looked only a bit surprised of this.

'So in the end...'

The other party of players had frightened faces unlike what he had ever seen...no he had seen them before. The faces of broken people who would blame others in the end to save themselves.

Sain right now had no quarrels on whether to kill them or not. They were a danger to them, they had to die.

Ziiiiiiiiiiiin!

The sound echoed in the dead silent room. Several people drew their weapons and were at the stand point of the fighting.

“You okay Sain?” asked Lyndis. Sain looked to see that it was Lyndis who saved him in time and was making a deathly face at the other players.

It looked like she was directing her hate to the enemy now.

“What the hell was that for?! Why did you attack?!” she demanded. However the other players did not respond but with hardened faces to attack.

“Need to be free...escape...” one of the enemy players muttered strangely.

It looked like they had snapped and became a pawn to kill other players now. Sain was surprised that they did not attack each other first before them. Either way they had to fight now.

xXx

Lyndis holding her sword in one hand and the back of Sain on the other stared at the enemy. The reason of why she had one hand on Sain was to make sure that that archer wouldn't snipe him immediately since he doesn't have the reaction time to dodge an arrow yet.

'Better protect him now...better than him dying on me and the blame falling on me' she thought insecure about herself a tiny bit in what could happen next.

She looked at Miriel who was prepared to attack immediately and so were the others.

'Is this fine?' she thought, 'They are players as well right? Should we be attacking them as well? But...'

“Shadow...” Sain muttered addressing his intent to Shadow. It was at that moment Lyndis made a choice.

'Better follow what Sain wants in these kinds of situations.'

Shadow immediately knew what he had to do. Whether it was to attack the enemy from behind or be bait was unknown to Lyndis however.

All she had to do was make sure Sain didn't die and kill the enemy since she made her choice.

“Shit” Shadow muttered while disappearing using stealth at the same time. It was at this time the enemy moved and so did Sain in his mind at least. Lyndis immediately prepared herself to fight and killed off her hesitation at this point.

Taking his mind into the battle, Sain shouted, “Serena! Restrain them!”

Serena started chanting...no was already halfway finished chanting when Sain shouted those orders. By now, they were quite good at knowing what Sain wanted unless it was completely unpredictable though very precise.

'It's better to attack than defend!'

“Flame Strike!” Lyndis shouted creating a burst of fire that was thrown as a large arrow of flame at the enemy. The brilliant lighting the spell had could have made Lyndis smile if not for the current situation.

The attack went straight and true and was aimed at the swordsmen at the front. There were three of them and though Lyndis had confidence she could take on one or two easily...the risks on taking three at once were too high for her to do so.

And beside there was an archer and mage to consider as well.

'What will they do...?'

At the same time her attack was dodged, the three enemy swordsmen charged in with their mage and archer attacking at the same time. The cleric was doing something but Lyndis did not care.

“Root Bind!” Serena chanted though at this point already, Lyndis was focusing on the swordsmen that were charging at Raven and herself.

Clang!

Raven moved in front of Sain blocking an attack from the archer with his shield and then started blocking the attacks from the three swordsmen. Meanwhile Lyndis moved to the right and planned to attack but a series of arrows and some magic attacks came her way.

She took a glance and they were quickly suppressed by a noticeable amount of vines climbing on them.

“....”

Though silent, Lyndis dodged the few attacks that still came through.

“Sonic Blade!” “Power Strike!” “Great Impact!”

The melee enemy players started using their skills on him. There was some impact when their attacks hit the shield but Raven wasn't blow back...or even wavered by it at all. Lyndis was a bit impressed seeing that she would normally dodge such attacks.

Not wanting to be done, Lyndis moved in to attack the enemy from the side. She slashed once and the player crippled before the near fatal blow, before she could deal the finishing blow, another one of the swordsmen turned to attack her.

When she was about to dodge...

“Paralyse Shot!” Sain chanted and shot a bullet where it hit one of the enemy swordsmen. That player suddenly stopped moving to which Lyndis at the same time moved in for the kill instead of dodging.

“Fire Blade! Speed Strike!”

She used 'Speed Stance' at the same time as these two skills with her blade red hot cutting through the enemy player at once.

You have killed a player

Due to the nature of the kill and due to being in a Guild Quest where the player killed was interfering in, there will be no reciprocations for killing the player

Two windows appeared in front of Lyndis when she killed the player where the corpse fell limp.

She got annoyed by it and completely ignored it as she and Raven quickly finished off the two swordsmen with Miriel shooting one of her 'Ice Bolts' at an attack that almost hit Raven in the head.

'She always seems to be good timing at these things...though her mouth is quite bad..' she thought with a smile.

Elsewhere when Lyndis looked, Shadow killed the other three players with Serena restraining them with her vines.

'That was...quite easier than I thought...'

The battle ended and Lyndis sheath her sword.

xXx

To be honest, Sain was quite surprise. Other than that one surprise attack on him when he didn't completely expect it, his reaction speed wasn't enough to dodge an arrow..., the enemy was far too weak.

Besides that their reaction time was quite slow...slower than Miriel and Serena who were mages who were not used to high speed close combat, their strategy was terrible.

In a nutshell they used their pieces incorrectly. On their side they had three melee swordsmen, a mage, archer and cleric. Against two melee, 3 mages of different types and a stealth type, they had the wrong approach.

First why would they attack Raven and Lyndis first? The mages are obviously the larger danger here. Unless you were that terrible, one player could take on two for at least a while while your team-mates attacked the more vulnerable enemies.

Second was that the this was the same for their back line. Why attack Raven and Lyndis when they could have attacked him, Miriel or Serena. Plus they completely ignored Shadow as well until he started killing them from the back.

Thinking about how...low cut the enemy was, Sain sighed in disappointment.

“My my~ What do we have here~? Six players dead right now and then~ And yet...how? Interesting, I thought the drug would take effect already~” the mad man spoke.

The group listened on since it was unlikely there was going to be Q&A with him at all.

“Such good little samples coming to me so quickly and quickly~ Remember, if you kill another player, you get a free ride to the next floor~! Annnnnd here's a new special special rule~! Kill the killer and you can leave! Now~ Which one should you kill? Or should you kill them all~?”

The voice cut off there. It was strange how the mad man knew of what happened all the time and would twist and tell things his own way.

Either way they had to continue. Not wanting the bodies of the players they just killed...Lyndis burnt them and then said something important.

“Did you guys get that strange message about not getting the murderer mark or something?” she asked.

“Yep” Shadow replied, “Three times in fact for each kill.”

Sain also said, “I got it as well since it is transmitted to the 'Party Scan' skill. Basically we can kill in self defence when we are on a guild mission like now. I suppose it's so it makes it easier for players on a guild mission to not get attacked so easily by other player.”

Miriel nodded and said, “But I'm presuming that if you kill indiscriminately, you get even more backlash due to this. Abusing power is the easiest way on making a bad reputation for yourself.”

“I-In...t-that case...are we going to b-e attacked by other p-players?” Serena asked frightened of the possibility. The world of blood and gore was not on for one so young. Sometimes Sain regrets that Serena was part of the team as she was so young.

“No...” Sain said thinking about it, “Other players expect us to have the murderer mark on us but we don't. That means they think we didn't do anything.”

“But they can still attack us either way” Lyndis pointed out.

Sain nodded and continued, “Yes but without getting the murderer mark...we can avoid a lot of issues now and later on at least when we're on guild quests.”

“Speaking of the quest, how is it different from what the other players got?” Miriel asked.

“Hmm....from what I know the only difference is that our quest involves taking this place down while theirs' only tell them to investigate it” Sain replied, “Naturally our one is a lot more difficult...plus I think none of the other players are part of an Independent Guild.”

“Of course. Independent Guilds are the cream of the crop, the elite of the elite. Failing is not acceptable and you are punished heavily if you do” Miriel said, “Plus so far this quest doesn't seem so bad...compared to demons and dragons being involved” she sighed at the end thinking about it.

“Anyway we should continue” she said with Sain nodding.

xXx

Another half a day passed with the mad man saying something things once in a while.

The mad man also for some reason reported the number of deaths that occurred when the other players killed each other. So far the group was attacked twice by other players though no one died those times as they ran away when their health and life were at risk.

But still, the other players killing each other, the number of players left including them decreased down to half compared to when they started this floor.

Only 18 players left after two floors of deaths was too sad to say.

However still the players left including the group did not seek out each other at any rate. The threat of them fighting were too high. All it took was a suspicious movement for them to fight. Other than the group who did not acquire the murderer mark, almost all of the other player did.

And as such they no longer trust anyone even the ones who didn't have the mark, though all who passed by the group attacked them and were thus killed by them.

It saddened Sain that they were so weak. Miriel did not really care as long as things were progressing. Lyndis was disappointed the fights were dull. Serena felt that them fighting was a waste. Shadow thought of it as a bore. And Raven...

'What should I think of these circumstances?'

Raven walked near the back of the group. He was tired of fighting other players already as it made him think of the past...though the one who was weaker and stronger were reversed now.

From his memories, the one winning should be happy right...?

'But why do I still feel that same crushing feeling even now...?'

Memories of being insulted, attacked and targeted came back. Was there a point in players attacking each other? Sain explained it as the mad man simply manipulating them to do so. It was unknown why they were unaffected like the others.

Raven looked at his right hand.

All but him and Shadow 'awakened' it. He had no idea what was to come if he did but at the same time it couldn't be worse than before and hopefully not as right now.

Continuing walking...looking at the false enemies. Those creatures with no faces. Raven wondered if they were all real but chose not to fight. Yes, that would make things more gentler.

“Hellooooooooooo~!”

The mad man started to speak and everyone stopped to listen. Though most of it was junk and simply did not make sense, there was a surprising amount of details that he reveals to the players. Tips and promises are only a part of it.

Usually he tells on what was to come and warns of the dangers ahead.

It was as if he wanted for them to come and find him.

“Only 18 left~ 3 groups~ I had the very nice, very nice urge to balance things out for you all~! Now now, you can thank me later but first I have to ask you. How do you fare with holes? I mean do you like the giaaaaaaaaaaaant ones or little tiny ones? That's all for now~ And yes, you have all lived for the next floor~ How wonderful that you can see my 'collection' in full. Then again, there's a lot of seeing recently~ Ha!”

“At least that means we don't need to fight other players” said with a sigh of relief. It was strange how he was so calm in these situations.

“For now” Miriel added.

Sain nodded and replied, “For now.”

Likewise Miriel was similar in how indifferent she was to these situations. From his observations, Raven found that Lyndis looked and acted tough but at the same time was quite soft and fragile. Serena was the opposite in that sense willing to so the unspeakable at time while usually being inverted about herself.

Then there was Shadow. To Raven he was a particularly interesting person. He gets along with everyone but Miriel and Serena. He even gotten along with Raven who did not speak much at all.

On one hand he was a particular quite person like he was at times, and on the other hand he was quite chatty when he could. Although Miriel had her own preference, Raven preferred Shadow speaking rather be completely silent like him.

“By the way” Sain started to ask, “How much experience did we get for killing those players?”

“Umm...not sure” Lyndis replied trying to think about it.

'Then why did you try?' Raven wondered.

“Who knows, it's a bit more than normal monster isn't it?” Shadow asked.

“Huh? I thought that the game didn't give experience normally when you killed players to discourage it” Miriel said remembering something.

“Hmm....maybe that's why we didn't level up after those fights” Sain wondered aloud.

'Perhaps..but it's more like the levelling rate is slowing down' Raven thought though he did not say or express it at all.

Soon enough they reached the end of the path...and staring at them was a pitch black hole that was the size of the room...no was the room itself.

Looking down at it, there was the unknown. A slow and sudden fear creped onto Raven. What was down there? Would he survive falling down there? Is this another trap?

Those thoughts poisoned his decision as he and the others looked to Sain.

“Well...” he said disturbed by the hole as or more than the others, “I suppose we have to jump in...but at the same time I really DON'T want to first. If only there were other players than we could use them but...”

It was then that there was a rumble from behind them. Raven turned to see that the very air itself was vibrating heavily. Then it stopped.

“What...is that?” Lyndis asked.

Shadow was the first to answer, “We better jump now. I rather not face that.”

“Wait, what do you know?” Miriel asked.

Shadow took a deep breath and said, “You know those 'fake' creatures that didn't attack us...”

“Yes...oh god no.”

“They are all coming for us...and-”

The rumbling began to the point that it sounded like a hundred people running and jumping at once. With his split decision then, Sain grabbed Miriel and Lyndis while Shadow grabbed Serena and himself and leaped into the hole.

To where ever it takes them.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

xXx

Elsewhere....at a place that no living creature would currently dare to come near.

“Lightning Spear!” Eden shouted. Next to his arm came spears made of lightning as he shot them rapidly at the Fallen King of Knights....no the King of Ghosts now.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The King swung his silvery white blade rapidly cutting through the lightning spears like a dance, a dance that was like a typhoon in it's wake. The King charged at Eden as he continued to fire his lightning spears at him and in an instant, one step, got close to Eden and slashed with all his might that could split seas into two.

CLANG!

However there was a dull metallic sound of metal hitting each other.

“A golden sword...?” the King muttered before Eden kicked him away while summoning more weapons at hand.

“Geez...to think there was another person who could force me to use this” Eden said in a calm manner though at the same time holding back his urge to fire everything at the King. In his hands were golden swords that were perfectly identical as they were copies.

Around him were a dozen more of them waiting to be used. And at the same time all kinds of magicks were being formed around Eden, all designed to kill the King.

If not for his armour that blocked all but the most powerful magic and blows...if not for his sword that can cut through even magic itself. The King would be dead by now.

“You are a worthy foe dragon” the King said, “I ask again. Join me!”

The King raised his hand for Eden to take but all Eden did was stare and smirked.

“Enough chatter already. I want to know what else you are holding back. Your swordsmanship is powerful itself but that can't be all to your power. I know you made a contract and gained that something. If you do not use that, you will die right now.”

Eden closed his eyes and expanded his power even more. The King could feel that faint Dragon power become larger and larger every moment to the point that it rivalled a great ancient Dragon in strength.

“Dragonic Overload!”

The Golden aura around Eden expanded and strengthened as the King stared gripping his sword. Even with that, the King believed with one stroke...he could end Eden's life then and there.

“Still not doing it?” Eden asked disappointed, “Then I will force you.”

The King blinked and Eden disappeared. His senses blazed forward to it's limit on survival. His body immediately swung to his left for the killing blow.

“Too bad, it's the right.”

A hand gripped the King's head and threw him afar. The King toppled but regained his balance in inhuman speeds. Gathering his power in his sword and legs the King moved to the extreme speed combat with Eden.

Even with this, the King could keep up with Eden. It was just that Eden timed his attack at the sole moment the King would relax by a slight bit.

“Aura Blade!” the King shouted causing his sword to glow with energy to the point that it doubled in size and power.

As he swung, Eden also swung at him. The King with his knowledge of battle knew that his sword with certain will prevail with his aura reinforcing it.

But at the same time he thought this, Eden let go of his sword and used another to swing at him. The King immediately reacted and changed his attack at the same time. Again Eden did the same and abandoned his sword halfway when he attacked.

After a dozen of these exchanges with half a beat passing the King knew what Eden was doing.

“Aura Impact!”

He exploded his aura out blowing away all of the swords with them. The moment his attack ended he sensed danger from above and dodged. Eden's hand struck the ground breaking it with his aura covering his hand like a blade.

“Well, that's my preparations done” he said amused. The King sensed around him and found...

“What is this impossible amount of magic?!” he could not help but to exclaim. All around him for at least a kilometre in the air and sky was filled with magic projectiles.

“It took a while but...die” Eden sung his hand down signalling all of the attacks to fire at him.

In that instant, he knew he had to use that to survive. He had no choice else he would fail once again.

“Come! My Brethren!”

His voice echoed in the empty sky as light shone around him, protecting him from the attacks. However some attack pierced through the light that came down like a message from the Gods. He easily cut them down with his sword or endured with his armour and body.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG...!

For a full minute the attacks continued but in the end they stopped...and he survived.

“Wow...” Eden started clapping wide eyed that someone could survive that. He knew only someone like Alexandra or Viv to do that in their own way.

Alexandra would face all of the attacks at once and yet survive with nearly not a scratch on her while Viv would counter with magic and the same would happen.

At the same time as the light that surrounded the King and the area around him faded away, came another eleven knights with transparent bodies if not for the great aura that they have.

“My knights continue serving me even now” the King said looking at the knights that were once part of his Knights of Round, “Even the traitors and those who left me.”

The King looked at Eden with a savage look, “But this is not all.”

Behind the King came more and more of these 'ghosts'. All of them knights and they numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

“You will be a part of this and my kingdom when you die!” the King shouted praising Eden in his heart by forcing him to use this.

His ultimate skill, 'Call of the Kingdom'.

“Hmm~?” Eden made a strange face, “This is actually really interesting. I can see some old friends in there as well!” he exclaimed as if happy to see them again as enemies. Naturally his skill cannot possibly summon all of his knights at once, only a portion can be called at a time.

“Well I can't hold back now can I? Facing an whole army like this. Too bad I can't use [Magic King Drive] right now...but...”

Eden's eyes changed colour and looked like they saw through everything. A wide grin was on his face that was more happy than anything else.

“Do you think this is enough to defeat me, as weakened I am already from the meddling of the Gods? Dragon Transformation!”

The King felt a great power...coming from Eden. The mana itself became visible to the naked eye and formed....in a giant Dragon.

Pitch Black in all it's might.

A true Dragon that was a hundred metres large staring down at him and his army. But...this, this much was enough for the King to defeat for he had the blood and soul of a Dragon as well!

“Come foul dragon! We will slay you!” the King shouted leading his knights into battle. Ghost horses appeared for them all to ride into battle.

Eden in his dragon form flapped his giant wings and flew in the air and shouted in his might.

[Come Knights! I am the Black Dragon King of Golden Despair, Eden! Face your death here and now!]

And thus an army of hundreds of thousands of knights and a giant black dragon started their battle.

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 9100~

- This came out a bit more differently than I planned. There was suppose to be a greater focus on player vs player action here but...that can come next time where it is the main focus

- And now in the background of the story...comes a seemingly more interesting story! Haaa...it's so hard to write about enemies that are overpowered and make them seem stronger than Eden...which in my mind is impossible most of the time which makes it so hard. An army of ghost knights...vs dragon Eden....results are as expected...only to be revealed later.