Down a hole of pitch black they continued to fall for a while.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

THUD!

And so they landed onto the hard ground.

“Ow ow....damn we're still alive” Miriel started complaining while rubbing her sore butt...not that she would even say that. Looking around, everyone else seemed to be fine at least.

“Yeah....I don't think I would want to live much more with this pain...my wrists are broken and I think Raven has a broken leg here” Shadow said drawing attention to himself and Raven who both looked as if they were in pain.

Shadow's hands lay opened on his legs not moving. When he did move it a slight bit, he made a pained face.

On Raven's end, things were looking worse with one of his leg pointing at the wrong direction. While he didn't look in pain as he was really really good at not expressing himself, the mood around him was more depressing than it would normally be.

“I guess having heavy armour is a bad thing when dropping from so high” Shadow said in a sarcastic tone.

“Naturally” Miriel snorted, “Please tell me you have even the most basic knowledge of physic or even .”

“Umm...I think even little kids knows that, even the dumb ones...well not really the dumb ones but my wrists are hurting like hell here!” Shadow shouted.

“Ah....” Serena started to panic a bit seeing Shadow shout like that, “Health Restoration!” Serena chanted quickly healing him of his wrists. With a snap, his wrists came back to normal, unbroken.

Sain also used in his 'Moderate Heal' spell on Raven to heal his leg...after twisting it back in the right direction which would cause enormous pain but even then Rave did not even flinch to it.

'How...much pain did he have to endure that so easily...' Miriel could not help but to think.

“Right...” Sain said looking around the place where they landed now. It was quite dark to see anything prominent at all. Miriel also couldn't see anything but there was one person in the group who may.

Therefore he asked Shadow, “Can you see anything?”

Shadow shook his head, “There's no difference whether I use my night vision or not. It's either because there's really no light here....”

“Or a spell of some sort” Miriel added at the end.

Really, the only thing that could do this remote to spell in the end. While swords and weapons stay the same for how many more era, magic keeps on going forward, but whether it goes in a straight path is questionable.

This was why Miriel chose magic in the first place.

While she knew that the sword was complicated to use in order to be truly skilled, only people like Lyndis who could do that when fighting can bring it to it's limits. On the other hand, Miriel preferred to fight from a range, weakening and then finishing off enemies.

Plus her role was much more interesting when she learnt ice magic. Sound and illusion magic were fine but to her lacked a certain impact which ice magic filled in.

“Hey Sain, what should we do now? Go forward or stay to see what could happen?” she asked. Unlike some people...she looked at Lyndis mostly, she rather not have Sain break down from all the stress that comes with leading people.

But really with normal parties, each person has a voice and the leader is only a collective voice for such times with interacting with others outside the party. Their group on the other hand...was the opposite or near to it.

Most of them didn't care what to do as long as they are doing something. Herself as well, Sain was perfect for leading them due to his kindness to help in small ways. Not as an idiot that would help with everything and anything, but one that could help in very small ways.

Now that Miriel thought about it, perhaps this was why they could endure what Eden wanted of them early on a year ago and what Viv wanted since six months ago.

They lacked a certain will and needed someone to lead them.

Sain answered her and the rest of the group, “I say we should go forward...we don't know how much time we can spend here doing nothing.”

“I agree” Miriel said with the others nodding. Really...sometimes they seem to be more yes men as long as it doesn't collide with their...finer interests.

But what these interests were...Miriel know yet. They had said nothing about it nor does she think that some of them...looking at Lyndis...would know.

Lyndis was overly fond of battle, that Miriel knew. But underneath from what she had revealed to her in the Eternal Dungeon, wished for recognition not as something simple as wanting to be seen but as a fear to be forgotten. There is a bit of a superiority complex in her which causes her to clash with Miriel for a bit but nothing serious and more entertaining to Miriel at least.

Serena while often shy and inverted in her feelings had a stronger will than Miriel and many others would think. Miriel knew for a fact that she wished to get stronger but in more ways than one. Simply living life as it would was enough for her.

Raven was....unknown to Miriel for the most part. With so little in his words but much more in his actions, Miriel could believe he is similar to Serena with his feelings. But...at the same time Miriel had seen the blankness of his eyes to be filled hotter than Lyndis' own at times and made due to not get on his bad side...

Shadow when not speaking was fine. A fine tool to be used that is. When he speaks though...she feared that only Sain or Lyndis could contain him as she does not listen to her at all. He has a bad personality that leans to being a complete show off when he can. What kind of stealth character openly attacks?!

And finally there is Sain...that idiot that she needs to look after. Having a slight inferiority complex...though he does not know it. With a mind that can process more complicated things in an instant than hers...he could be the perfect leader but chose not to. Bits of his true nature...as she sees it, makes him cold and calculating though he does not realise it and hides it even in his tone when he speaks of something normally evil.

Miriel sighed thinking of all of this. They had started to walk into the darkness. Serena was pulling her robe while staying near and she watched into the darkness....

xXx

Sain was confused on the most part. They had been walking for an hour and yet they have found nothing at all. Actually what they found made them wish that they found nothing at all.

There were no walls...no enemies...and frankly no sighs of life anywhere which disturbed him greatly. However this was soon put away they they approached some light in the distance. There...

“Other players?!” Lyndis immediately went for her sword.

“Wait.”

Raven saying that word was the one that stopped her. He placed his hand on front of the hilt to prevent Lyndis from drawing and probably starting another fight.

The players, most of them with the murderer mark was as confused as them for the most part. It seemed that they had not killed each other since there were twelve of them there and no less. However there was a chance that some of those players were actually dead and what they were seeing were their corpses since in this place it didn't respawn.

Or was this itself a trap as well...? For all the players to meet up here...

Either way, there was nothing to do but jump into the fire while they can.

“Hello” Sain said politely not particularly caring that they had killed other players. They could've done it in self defence like they did though they did not know that.

Another thing was the first thing that they needed to do was establish communication again.

“Hello” another player replied to him. All eyes were pointed at him and his comrades. There were some faces of disappointment and hate but nothing more.

There was some silence before someone decided, though will an irritated and accusing face, to say something on their mine.

“Why don't you have the murderer mark as well?” one player demanded as if that mattered right now, “Didn't you fight with anyone?! Are you an enemy like that mad man?!”

One of his team-mates restrained him in his outburst as another player said, “They could have fought but not killed. Besides there are some of us who don't have the...murderer mark as well”

Sain noticed that the player that just spoke did not have the murderer mark as well.

“Then how can an entire group, them!” he pointed at the group, “Not have one that does?!”

Sain smiled and said, “We drove those who attacked off many times....when their health gets low they usually run away though we were more than prepared to kill if not for self defence....there may be some that attacked us here....”

Sain took a quick glance at the player that was accusing them.

“If I remember you were part of that group as well, the ones that attacked us. Should I have killed you to get the murderer mark as well?” The tension roes as Sain said these words.

Sain looked closer and closer at that player analysing everything about him. His fears and weaknesses are clear. If they cause trouble then he would just need to clean them up before they harm the others.

These guys are quite weak after all.

“....”

But now was not the time or place for that.

“Anyway is there anything here?” Sain asked looking around ignoring the stares of hate form one player.

Another player started to speak, “Not at all...it's just brighter here and-”

“Ho Ho Ho~!” the mad man started to speak at that moment which gave the players some fright.

“Tch” a player made that sound which Sain heard quite clearly.

“Only 18 left~ And yet, like good little boys and girls came here so so nicely~. Well I have to reward you like Santa does for all those little boys and girls that are good right~? Else I must give you coal. Well, I should show you where you are~”

A great rumbling around them on the entire floor occurred.

“Earthquake?!”

Every last player was struggling to stand up as the rumbling resembled an earthquake more than anything else. Most of them fell onto their knees or arms until it stopped.

“Wha-”

And eventually it stopped...only the for entire floor to be lit up. But everyone would prefer the darkness and the unknown to what they would see in exchange.

“Screeeeeeeeech! Screeeeeeeeeeeeech!”

“Kaaaaaaaaa!!!”

“What....the hell is this?!”

Around them were cages. An seemingly infinite amount of cages that went towards the infinite. And in all of them were beasts of all natures, twisted and defiled into...things that could not be described.

As Sain looked he had seem monkeys with octopus limbs, dogs that had the legs of a horse, even snails that were giant with their shells and had snakes popping out of the shell instead.

“What the holy fuck is this?” one player exclaimed not wanting to believe his eyes.

“I'm glad you asked~ These are my dear pets~ Well most of them anyway, The rest are simply food for the rest~ .If you all look to your right, yes~ That right, you will see the remains of those who once barge in like you...oh some time recently~”

Urged not to look by their reasoning and guts and yet their curiosity made it impossible not to, the players turned to look...

“Help....I can't feel anything” said a human voice. The voice was so tiny and fragile that it almost sounded like it came from a young child.

But that voice came from a mole head that was stuck on top of an adult human body.

“Help....”

“Please...help....”

The same was so for a dozen more bodies that were mixed with something not human in all of them. Some of them had the head of a large cat, large dogs, large horses and so on...even goblin heads and even more combinations.

“....”

“Look...at their armour.”

Their armour and weapons at their side were all to the city.

“The city guards?”

“Yeah...”

These 'people' were the guards that came before them were trapped...and most likely experimented on.

“My my~ What are those looks~? Didn't your mother tell you not to treat others based on their looks? Or did they say to but not say it in their dam ugly faces! Ha! I have to thank that brave brave little guard that abandoned all his friends to this fate~ Tell him thanks from me when one of you decide to do the same~”

Sain felt a urge that was something he rarely felt. It was something that was he felt urging in him for so long that wish to do.

He wished to destroy this mad man and his games.

“You disgust me” Sain said with all his might. They were his true feelings. Never once did he think that someone was this horrible and deserved to die.

“Well I to you as well young monster~” the mad man seemed humoured at Sain at least, “I will enjoy finding out what lies in your bodies that make you immune to my drugs~ Yes, the reason why you, well most of you went strange was that there was a drug being dissolved from the water~ But little tiny me found there were six unaffected! What a discovery~ What a menace in my plans~ But....what excitement! Let the games begin! One gate, one path to escape~ Will you flee with your life or die here~? Let it all begggggggggggin! Open da cage~!”

C-Crack! Break!

Crackling sounds of the cages being rapidly opened all around them were heard all around them.

“Shit this is bad!” Shadow cried, “How many thousand of these things do you think he has?!”

'Where....where would the exit be?' Sain thought rapidly. There was nothing where they came from but...

“Exit! Gate! Seen anything on the way?!” he shouted at the other players that seemed to already half given up though their weapons were ready.

“Not at all!” one player from another group shouted back.

“Actually yes there us”

Everyone turned to look at who said that. It was a player from the other group. He had the murderer mark but that didn't matter right now.

“It's from the way we landed, there was this gate at the wall we couldn't open no matter what.”

“Good! Run there now!” Sain said which caused everyone to start sprinting to that general direction where the player pointed. However at this time the creatures that were released from their cages at once started their move on them.

“Mages at the centre! Raven at front! Everyone else protect them, triangle formation. Six left, six right! Deflect the enemy away!” Sain shouted to the other players which in their lack of time to think obeyed him.

With Raven at front, the other groups of players went in formation though it was sloppy in Sain's mind but it had to do for now.

There were a one more mage left outside the group, as Sain presumed that the others died with their slow speeds and low defence and health. The two last archers would also be useful as well as they can move quickly and attack with ranged attacks.

“Miriel! Focus on keeping the damage off Raven! Otherwise help the others as well” Sain continued to shout as they started running.

“Cracked Barrier! Ice Barrier!” Miriel casted those two spells. One was to negate some damage for Raven and the second was to stop one of those creatures from charging them at the side as they ran.

“Anchor Howl! Ram!” Raven shouted those two skills causing the monsters to divert on him instead of the other players on the side.

BANG BANG BANG...!

With his shield up, he endured and took a beating where his shield and armour did not block. He didn't even bother to use his spear at all but just charging using his shield with his skills.

“Mana Bolts!” “Flame Strike!”

Sain, Lyndis and Shadow were on the right side of the formation and were attacking monsters there. With Sain and Lyndis casting ranged attacks, some of the creatures were hit away before they hit Raven or otherwise...them.

Shadow solely worked on preventing the rest of them being killed by taking out or distracting the other creatures from them.

There were three other players there with them as well and six player on the left side.

The three other players being purely melee players mostly blocked attacks as much as possible while Sain and Lyndis casted their long range attacks on them and Shadow finished some off.

“Backstab!” Shadow appeared and dug his dagger and short sword into a hybrid crab creature that had it's claw turned into dog heads that bite.

The creature died and he shouted, “Burst Speed!” running off to another enemy at the same time that was getting dangerously close to the rest of the players.

The five players at the centre were Miriel, Serena, another mage and two archers.

Due to the fact that mages usually cannot cast spells without a certain amount of concentration, especially when running with the exception of a few, they could not cast spells as easily. However it was not impossible to do so.

“Root Bind!” Serena chanted after taking three times as long to chant the spell in order to make it work.

“Serena! Guard the back!”

“Right!”

Vines were created where she stepped and soon turned to guard them from the back. They wrapped around the creatures that chased them from behind.

Meanwhile Miriel wished she could use her 'Melody of Sound' spell in order to directly boost everyone’s stats in one way or anther but it was a spell that took a while, 30 seconds to cast even in normal circumstances. It would take too long for her to cast without someone dying.

As such, she had to resort to using her barrier magic and ice magic instead as Sain said.

“Ice Barrier!” she chanted blocking the charge of a rampaging horse that was coming on the left side.

“Huff....Huff....”

She looked to see that the other mage was struggling to keep up...his agility and stamina was too low for anything to be done with that. If they slowed down for him, they would die.

“Double Shot!”

“Rapid Fire!”

Then she looked at the archers who were trying to help on many ways by shooting their arrows in all directions hoping to stop at least one more monster from coming at them. Ten minutes passed in this fashion with them slowing down due to the larger...higher density of monsters getting in their way.

“H-Help!” The mage cried as something ripped on his leg and threw him up in the air where he was eaten in one go. All with sounds of him screaming in fear.

“....”

The mage, Miriel knew was too slow. While allocating all his points into intelligence to increase the power of his spells, he lacked the agility to run away. Plus he must likely trained much less on his spells than Miriel did to hers as well.

She had no mercy or pity on such people.

But the same creature that ate that mage was getting dangerously close to them again. Serena's vines were helpless against the creature that was 3 times larger than a human or normal beast.

“Ice Burst!”

She shot an 'Ice Burst' at it and killed it leaving the body of the mage who was already dead in it while running. There was no time to destroy the body.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!!”

The she heard two screams from the left. Another creature managed to kill two player from the left side in an instant.

'Shit!' she thought, 'We need to get to that safe spot NOW!'

Apparently everyone had that thought as they sped up a lot more than before not caring much on their stamina at any rate. Thankfully it was not anyone from her group that was soon to run out of breath or stamina right now.

With the formation falling apart slowly, they saw a hole at the ceiling...and beyond that...a gate.

“There!” the player who told them of the gate shouted pointing. He was the first to reach the gate.

Click.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

That player died instantly perishing with two other players as well in a giant explosion that almost killed the rest of them as well. The other creatures chasing them ran away seeing the explosion.

One of those who was killed was an archer that was too near to the blast and died. The other was a nameless melee player that was really just average and got unlucky as well.

“Shit!”

“The gate is open! Run!”

The players including her and the group now only a dozen left all ran through the gate.

Crack! Bang!

As it closed suddenly, everyone looked from behind them and to see...the gate?

“....”

The players stared dumbfound at the gate which protects them now which should not be there since the explosion blew it off...

“Didn't the explosion destroy the gate...?” Lyndis asked questioning what she saw earlier like everyone else.

Shadow answered her, “Perhaps it blew the gate up or there was a second gate behind the first.”

Lyndis and the others took that answer as it was more simple than finding out and risk being throw outside it where all those altered creatures lied. Seeing the altered creatures pound onto the gate...something that seemed to be protected by a barrier or produced the barrier that prevented them escape in the first place on the fifth floor was not a good feeling.

“What now?” a player suddenly said, “There's no exit here...”

The players started looking around and found that this was true. While there was the way with the gate and such, there was no other way out of this space in the wall.

“That means...we're trapped?” another player said shaking in fear. Would they be trapped here only to be killed and eaten or the other way around of those creatures that even now continue to try and hunt them down.

“No~ Of course not~! I'm not that cruel to do so...though I very much wish to. Just filter out the trash on the more...quality goods here. My my, seeing you all...so young and innocent...I only ask why only half of you are truly afraid? I must honestly know~”

“....”

The player stood there silent. This was not good at all.

Those who were afraid of the creatures at any rate were the remains of the two parties, groups that started off.

The others...who weren't were Sain and his group.

There was a clear difference. One side was shaking and not knowing what to do while the other side were strangely calm about this and simply observed what was happening like it didn't concern them.

“Why are you not shaking? How are you fine right now?! Don't tell me you are one of THEM!”

One of the players, that seemed to have finally snapped under the pressure of things accused Sain and the others of being one of the altered creatures. None of players on both side said anything though.

“Now now~ You can play the blame game later. Actually. You can by killing each other on the next floor~! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!”

The ground rumbled and broke apart from underneath them. Surprise, shock and fear were some of the things that Sain felt, feeling that they were under the mad man's palm all this time.

And so they fell once more.

xXx

THUD!

“Ow....”

Rubbing where it hurt, Sain stood up and realised that he was only with the rest of the group and the other players weren't around him...

He quickly looked around the floor that numbered 9 and found that they were in a circular space with walls that were the walls. There were torches all over the walls as well though. He then turned his eyes on the opposite side of the giant room that was 20 metres in diameters.

“Like an arena...” Sain muttered, “No...” It could not be that...

“Hellooooooooooooooooooo~!”

The voice woke up anyone who was still sleeping due to the impact of the floor. Everyone stared at the other side where they stared back at them.

“What...going on?” Lyndis asked wondering what the hell would happen now. First meat monster, no face monster, an entire place filled with countless mixtures of monster and now this?

“Welcome~ Welcome~ To the ARENA!” the mad man started. Everyone stood there listening in on what cursed thing they had to do now.

“First! I have to congratulate you all~ Getting here so far~ I think I will have you kill each other now.”

“Wha-”

Suddenly, from the walls and the bottom the floor itself, some coloured gas came from all corners. The group backed away from the wall immediately sensing that it would be dangerous to get near it at all.

“Gah! Help!” one player shouted grabbing his throat in pain on the other side. Sain also saw that the other five players were the same as well.

All of them seemed to be choking onto the gas and...turning pink?

“This wonderful gases increases the ability of those who breath it~ It also causes them to be very persuaded to my words~ Buuuuuuuuuuuut, you six alone are unaffected. I will find out why~ So kill them my now minion~!”

“Shit” Shadow cursed again ready for battle.

An arrow was shot at Sain again.

Bang!

However Raven moved in the way to block the shot with his shield. Lyndis and Shadow moved at the front, ahead of Sain while Miriel and Serena moved next to him. Miriel patted his shoulder and then asked, “Orders?”

Sain sighed and thought about it quickly.

There was no saving the other side now...and they won't get murderer marks either way since this is a guild quest and they have to kill them so therefore...

“Finish them off as fast as possible” Sain said with a firm voice. He could feel that his right hand is tingling again and that his thoughts were getting faster and faster. By the time another three seconds passed, he more or less knew what to do.

“Everyone charge and kill them all” he said not believing that he had a chance to say this.

“Ah...” Miriel was the first to speak up, “Is...that it?” she asked.

“Yes, let us start. They're charging us right now” Sain said noticing that five players were attacking them right now. The archer was naturally staying back, whatever they were affected by seemed to not make them completely disabled in thinking.

“If you want precise orders, first Raven charge them with Lyndis followed behind him” Sain said.

Raven hearing this order started charging at the players. The next second he used two skills with his shield up.

“Footwork. Ram!”

BANG!

His speed increased dramatically as he smashed through the players he went through. Three of the players were smashed away from Raven as he charged.

“Raven continue to kill the archer, Lyndis attack the other two” Sain continued.

Behind Raven, Lyndis banished her sword out and sliced the two other players easily with her sword killed them. By them Raven had reached the archer and killed him as well.

“Now...we finish the rest off. Magic Arrows” Sain said his last order. He fired his magic arrows as Miriel did the same with his 'Ice Bolts' and the rest of the players were killed with holes in their bodies.

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

Sain got the message once again and Raven and Lyndis most likely did as well. While it said what would happen if they obeyed this rule, there is nothing on what would happen if they broke this rule. Decrease in fame, gaol time or exile if they did?

Sain wondered to what extent would the punishment would be to exploit this.

“Goooooooooooooooood work everyone~” the mad man spoke, “Timmmmmmmmmmme to meet me~!”

Rumble Rumble

“Hmm?”

Sain looked over to the edge of the wall where a fairly large hole opened up to them.

“Not at all suspicious” Shadow said with great sarcasm, “There is definitely no trap or ill fate for us if we walk there.”

“But there is nowhere else to go” Lyndis said looking around some more.

There were only the two holes in which they fell through from the previous floor. Now that they thought about it, the last two floors entrances were holes weren't they?

“I guess that is where we have to go next” Sain said with a sigh giving up escape for now. They had to clear this place out either way in the end and it made no difference how they did so.

“Let's go” he said walking first. The other followed close behind.

Walking through the hole in the wall, they were met with a stone stairway down to the next floor. The group was quite as they walked down with each step echoing a bit each time they stepped, especially for Raven who wore heavy armour.

xXx

At the very bottom there was a large door which was open. Walking in there as well..there was a man wearing a white lab coat.

“You are...” Sain muttered knowing that this was the man who caused all of this.

At last he could relieve of this aching feeling of hate.

“Yesss!” the mad man was very excited seeing the group in the flesh.

He observed them as they observed him. He was an old man that looked to be older than 50 at least, he was nearly bald and wrinkles seemed to have consumed most of his body and yet...he seemed to have too much energy in that old body of his.

There was a large sense of madness in his eyes.

“Seeing you guys and gals, you seem to young from what I 'saw' before on you~”

He took out a crystal ball and said, “This little thing allowed me to track everrrrrryone in my place~ But I can't see them no matter how much I try...” he made a sad face, “Which is why I am verrry happy for you all to come and see me~”

Sain could see that Serena backed away a bit and the others were holding tightly to their weapons.

“Your energy levels are a lot higher than it seems to be...especially on your right hands...I want them” There was a good extreme of hunger and lust from his eyes. It was a look of no caring what happened as long as he got what he wanted.

“Ew, you think we will just chop out hands off for you?” Lyndis stated, looked disgusted at the mad man.

“No no...of course not. It's never that easy” he said sadden.

He took out a staff hearing this denial from Lyndis. While normal staves were wooden for the most part, his was made of metal and looked nothing like a normal staff. It looked like something that was similar to the weapons Summer and Lielm used as part of their Knight Order.

“Therefore~ I will have to get them off you all~ Revive and play with them. Apple of Grace~” he declared.

A yellow and gold orb that was the size of a large head was created from the staff no, transported to the staff and went up to the ceiling glowing down on them at once. And from the ground...

B-Break! C-Crack!

The ground crumbled as countless things crawled up from the ground. Sain immediately recognised the 44 people that came from the ground. It was blatantly very obvious to them. The one at the front was the player with the golden shield and sword that was killed first.

The second was one of the players that tried to attack and kill the other players. The third was that bastard sword user that killed next.

“The dead?!” Lyndis blurted out.

“Yes, your kind~. However very interesting to study~” The mad man continued to say, “This and that and you are far more interesting then them~ I am very very happy that I get...flesh specimens~ Kill them~ And make sure you don't damage the hands~” he ordered the bodies.

With that, 44 creatures that were or at least resembled the bodies of the other players that died in this laboratory. They knew that they weren't players anymore, at best NPC controlled bodies that only looked like it.

However at the same time it unnerved them.

“What do we do now?” Lyndis asked immediately sweating a bit at the high amount of enemies that they suddenly had to face. The only good thing was that these enemies did not seem to have the same speed and probably power and skill was the players did.

“Running is probably impossible at this time” Shadow said looking behind them to see that the stairway...no the entire hole that let them in was gone.

Miriel added in, “I don't think I have enough mana to deal with all of this plus we don't have a large AOE attack...”

“In that case we can only fight” Sain said confirming that their exit, the hole in the wall disappeared while they were talking. It looked like all the talk was to truly trap them here to be killed this way.

Sain looked around the room. It was circular...which means they can't go to a corner to defend from...which means anywhere is good enough to defend from.

“Back to the wall! Lower the area we can fight in!” Sain shouted moving everyone back to the wall in a semi-circle where Raven, Lyndis and Shadow were at the front and Serena, Miriel and himself at the back.

“Serena! Use your vines to stop as many of them as possible! Raven, you lure them to you, Lyndis and Shadow, kill any that come close. Miriel and I will start buffing you all first then will move on to support” Sain said quickly.

“Root Bind!” “Anchor Howl!”

Both Serena and Raven used their spell and skill at the same time.

All of the enemy went for Raven instead of everyone else as vines appeared and trued to block as many of them as possible. Sain started to focus on casting his spells.

“Fire Bomb!” Lyndis shouted throwing it deep in the crowd of enemies.

BOOM!

An explosion knocked the central part of the enemies away. Roughly 5-8 enemies died from the blast and before Lyndis could use another one, the hate she got from the attack lured a few enemies off Raven and onto her.

“Fire Blade!” she shouted as she cut through a sword with her own that was blended with flame dripping off it.

She cut down another two enemies before having to retreat else being lost into the crowd. Meanwhile Shadow was rapidly attacking and parrying attacks without moving one step.

“Shadow Step” he said calmly causing the enemy to slightly miss him while he counter attacked. Unfortunately he couldn't get a one shot kill and as such the enemy often retreated before he could strike a fatal hit.

“Heartbeat Healing!” Serena casted her next spell that boosted healing speeds.

Party in range has been buffed with the spell 'Heartbeat Healing'

Health will regenerate for 15 points every second for 10 minutes

“Let the body become harder than all other! Iron Skin! Let the body become harder than all other! Iron Skin! Let the body become harder than all other! Iron Skin!” Sain rapidly chanted for all three at the front.

Party Member: Raven has been buffed with the spell 'Iron Skin'

Party Member: Lyndis has been buffed with the spell 'Iron Skin'

Party Member: Shadow has been buffed with the spell 'Iron Skin'

“Let strength gather and become the wind! Swift Legs! Let strength gather and become the wind! Swift Legs! Let strength gather and become the wind! Swift Legs!”

Party Member: Raven has been buffed with the spell 'Swift Legs'

Party Member: Lyndis has been buffed with the spell 'Swift Legs'

Party Member: Shadow has been buffed with the spell 'Swift Legs'

“Let fury overcome you and strike down all foes! Berserk Fury! Let fury overcome you and strike down all foes! Berserk Fury! Let fury overcome you and strike down all foes! Berserk Fury!”

Party Member: Raven has been buffed with the spell 'Berserk Fury'

Party Member: Lyndis has been buffed with the spell 'Berserk Fury'

Party Member: Shadow has been buffed with the spell 'Berserk Fury'

When he finally said all of those words for his spells his felt that his throats was dry. At the same time Miriel was finished casting her spell.

“Melody of Vitality!”

Party in range will be affected by the spell 'Melody of Sound'

Vitality will increase by 51% for the next 10 minutes

Everyone’s health increased by over 50% with his spell and just in time as Raven was taking a beating from the enemies. Both Sain and Serena had to combine their effects to keep him alive as well as Miriel using her barriers to stop most of the foes.

Swords, spears and magic went his way and it was just as time as the effects of 'Anchor Howl' was about to wear off, they would be attacked as well....and overwhelmed. Either way, with the enemy numbers, they were being pushed back to the walls already by brute force.

“Miriel, stun them all!” Sain shouted noticing the need to stop them all at once.

Miriel responded chanting, “Shriek!” using her staff and sound magic.

Shrieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!

There was a deafening tone that was heard from the point of Miriel's staff. All of the enemies that were cut down to around 30 now were stunned with their hands over their ears.

“Long Range attacks now!” Sain shouted to everyone over the noise.

“Magic Arrows!” “Ice Burst!” “Flame Burst!” “Blood Burst!”

With the exception of Raven and Shadow who did not have ranged attacks, the rest of the group used all of their skills and spells at the same moment.

Sparks of magic, ice, flame and a red orb flew about the room exploding in all directions killing else heavily damaging everything around.

BANG!

Eventually Serena's 'Blood Burst' spell went through and caused half the enemy to be killed instantly with exploding body parts. There were now only two dozen enemies left thanks to this. They were perhaps going to win despite the numbers.

Sain checked everyone’s health.

Raven was at the worst at 20%, Shadow and Lyndis were a bit higher at 30%. If they were going to win, it had to be now. Both the effects of 'Anchor Howl' and 'Shriek' wore off at roughly the same time.

“Serena, do your best” Sain said, “Keep healing and binding enemies but also attack them.”

Serena was startled and then said with a confidence voice, “R-Right! Leaf Slicer!”

She manipulated the vines to stop some of the enemies and then sliced them to pieces using this spell. She looked quite exhausted using so many spells over and over again.

The group continued to fight for another 5 minutes where they were pushed to the verge of complete exhaustion.

The enemy was all dead...but at the same time the mad man was more than happy for them to do so. He clapped in a disordered way to them and bowed.

“Good work~ Care for round two~? I have selected these ones just for you unlike those sloppy ones~” he said with the yellow gold orb at the ceiling starting to shine again.

“Damn...” Sain muttered. This meant that they had to get rid of the thing at the ceiling. It was the source of those bodies...

Six creatures emerged from the ground. All of them bone monsters that were twice or thrice the size of a person and each one was slightly different from each other.

One had a giant horn at it's skull, another had two blades instead of hands or claws. Another had four limbs and so on. Each of them were unique in a way that the group had never seen before. And more to the point, each of them were strong to the point that they could not beat them no matter what.

“About....level 250 I guess?” Miriel let out a small laugh at their current situation. They were facing something twice their level.

“Well I guess we could...nope. Not going to happen” said Shadow lowering his blades. It looked like he seen the futile in fighting right now. His back was a bit hunched as he said this.

Sain turned to look at Lyndis where she was leaning onto her sword said, “Our stamina is rock bottom as well.”

Sain then looked at Raven who was doing with same with his spear but at the same time looked a lot worse than Lyndis. Serena was glancing at him on what to do and indeed he was thinking on what to do.

xXx

“These 'marks' are basically a tool that allows us to draw out the inner strength that our mind and body are suppressing. You have heard of people unleashing great strength or speed at times when their lives are in danger right? This is simply the same...however the difference is that we can do that at will.”

“I see....”

Such a concept wasn't that rare at all. Miriel knew that there were players that had lifted the limits on their bodies in game and were powerful thanks to that.

“With our 'marks' however, there is another feature. It does not simply draw out inner strength but personalities with it was well that are hidden inside....”

“What?”

Miriel could not believe her ears at all. Such a thing was fundamentally impossible to do. Things like inner personalities are things of fiction or scams that certain religious people say to trick people in the end.

“Not everyone have a hidden personalities that they are unconsciously suppressing. That is why Eden actually seek out people like us in the first place. We are all people who have lost something too important to recover. The Inner Personalities are a result of our hatred and despair or something that was replaced by something new after said event. In exchange for even greater power, what was being hidden inside begins to slip out bit by bit until it corrodes your mind and personality itself.”

Jenny looked sadly at her own mark as well.

“Don't get me won't, the power that comes with this is enough that it compensates of what happens afterwards. But what is the most troublesome thing is that things get really out of hand when you can't control that 'other' personality in you. Usually these things appear after a year or so but that Sain....in a mere 7 months managed to unleash it.”

Miriel frowned, what Jenny said might have some significant but it mostly did not make sense at all, so she asked:

“So...what exactly is happening to Sain again?”

“His other personality appeared out of nowhere and Eden needs to suppress it or let it loose from there.”

“And these gloves are...?”

“A way to suppress them until the time is right to use them though our ones are much more powerful while your ones only have a small amount of power to begin with.”

xXx

“That's it....” Sain muttered...he looked to see that the mad man was waiting for them to do something. He was probably wondering what they would do now that all hope was gone. But not all hope was gone.

They still had their 'marks'. It was the one thing that would possibly allow them to break through the limits of their strength right now.

“Take off the gloves” he said to the others. They were openly shocked that Sain was saying this but he ignored hat.

“What?” Miriel couldn't believe that Sain was saying this. He knew of what it could do to them.

“Take them off” he repeated. He would not let this go so easily. He knew....he felt that this was correct decision right now.

Lyndis started to say, “But won't that-”

“Yes but trust me on this” Sain cut her off and took off his glove.

The mark of the serpent that was burnt onto his hand was glowing red and without the glove it glowed even brighter and brighter...

“That's....” The mad man had his eyes open at Sain's right hand, “Impossible that's...”

“Agggh!” Sain felt a sudden and extreme pain coming out of his right hand.

It was like his hand was being burnt off, melting from the heat. He grabbed his right hand using his left but then the heat caused his left hand to burn as well. He immediately let go and instead grabbed his wrist instead where his left hand wouldn't be burnt.

“Sain!” Miriel and the other screamed looking wide eyed. They tried to help and stop them. He stopped them from coming closer and shouted, “Take off the gloves now!”

As he watched his right hand, the mark...expanded, evolved. The serpent coiled up at the centre looked as if it was alive and the markings like a snake coiled around the rest of his hand, around his fingers and eventually stopped to cover his entire right hand.

Mark of the Serpent has progressed to the first stage

Mark of the Serpent

- Agility and Wisdom +25

- Other effects will appear as you level up

“Ha ha...” Sain let out a small laugh seeing that with the mark growing stronger the stat boost also grew.

“It worked...” he said breathlessly.

He moved his eyes to see that the others were looking at him staring at him. No...everyone was staring at him at this point since what he did was crazy beyond measure and it was to such an extent that the mad man did not do anything but watch at this point.

“Hurry up and take off the gloves” he ordered once again.

This time they obeyed and took them off looking a bit scared each while eyeing at Sain. Since he was fine they would be as well.

“Ahhhh!” Lyndis let out that cry.

Meanwhile the others were dealing with the pain in their own way. But in the end all it took was a few seconds. Raven and Shadow looked like they were in the worst pain though...most likely since their marks did not activate before.

Party Member: Lyndis, Mark of the Lion has progressed to the first stage

Party Member: Shadow, Mark of the Ripper has progressed to the first stage

Party Member: Miriel, Mark of the Fairy has progressed to the first stage

Party Member: Raven, Mark of the Star has progressed to the first stage

Party Member: Serena, Mark of the Warrior has progressed to the first stage

After a few seconds of pain where he and much to his displeasure the mad man observed them. He noticed that how each of their marks progressed looked different.

Lyndis' one looked like flames around her hand.

Shadow's one looked like blades around his hand.

Miriel's one looked like diamonds running across, glittering around her hand.

Raven's one looked like a stream of water around his hand.

And Serena's one had the look of vines running on her hand.

Then he looked at his one which looked like snakes wrapped around his hand.

Then he noticed that each of their bodies changed a bit with their marks glowing.

Shadow was fading in and out as if he was there but not there as well or there was something else there as well. The same was around Raven protecting him though it looked like some sort of...thing that was invisible to the eye. Lyndis had bits of flames floating about naturally. Serena had her green energy around her body and Miriel had ice floating around similar to Lyndis.

But there was no change in him at all no matter how he examined.

“Sain...your eyes” Miriel said shocked looking at him.

“What about it?” he asked.

“They're...well yellow and...snaked eyed” she said avoiding his gaze.

'Hmm...is this a side effect or one of the effects that this mark gives me?' he wondered.

Sain thought about it and concluded it was probably the physical change that his body had. For some...odd reason he had already knew of what changes that the others had. It was like he knew everything about them at this moment.

Then he turned to the mad man who seemed to have snapped out of it now.

“This can't be...this can't be...” he repeated thinking of something.

He then said one thing clearly as he looked at the group hurt, yes like they or someone hurt them just then.

“Kill them all” he ordered the large boned monsters.

“Rooooooooooooooooar!!!” They gave a deafening confirm on that order as they marched.

Boom Boom Boom.

As they walked slowly due to their size, they made large sounds as they moved. At that moment Sain started issuing his orders to the others as fast as possible. Since they had awakened to the first stage, they have no idea what they can do yet.

Well...most of them don't. Sain knew that some of them knew what they could do at least.

“Serena! Use that energy to boost the power of your spells to stop them!” Sain shouted.

“R-Right...” Serena concentrated and Sain saw that that green energy that was spilling from everywhere in her focused at once point in her staff.

“Root Bind!”

Vines came out of everywhere, from the ground, walls and ceiling as they all poured to the boned monsters in the hundreds and wrapped around them all.

“Roooooooooooooooar!!!” one of the bones creatures roared and snapped through the vines. Another two did the same but the vines on the last three thickened and stopped them from doing so as well.

Next Sain would have to direct the others in dealing with the rest as well.

“Raven!” Sain shouted and ordered, “Charge at the first one. Feel that strange thing around you? Use that force to blow it away.”

He then looked at Shadow next.

“When attacking and dodging make sure to focus on that feeling that you have more than one bodies and can move to each of them at once.”

With that he left Raven and Shadow to charge and attack the three large bone monsters alone. He stopped Miriel and Lyndis when they tried to go and help them.

“Footwork” Raven speed increased getting closer to one of the bone monsters that was about to strike him.

“Ram!”

He held his shield up and ran straight through the bones monster. It was blown back by some strange force before Raven even touched it and when it hit the wall that he flew to broke into pieces destroyed.

“Wa...” Miriel and Lyndis seeing this was super surprised at the scene. Something that was possibly hundreds of kilograms heavy was blown back like that?

Next they watched as Shadow battled two of those bone monsters by himself.

Bang! Clang!

The bone monsters were missing him...or rather only hitting those shadowy figures that were jumping around as well. The bone monsters despite not have a brain anymore was not dumb. It followed the real Shadow mixed in with a couple of other fake ones and strike at it.

But they couldn't hit him no matter what.

“Those shadowy things are part of Shadow in mist form and he can move from each and any of them at any time” Sain explained, “Because of this, even if you attack all of them...it is nearly impossible for him to get hit.

“And how do you know this?” Miriel asked suspicious.

“No idea” Sain answered with a smirk. When Shadow was finished with the two bone monsters he then told Miriel and Lyndis, “Now it's your turn to destroy the rest of them.”

“How?” Lyndis bluntly asked.

“Use fire and ice together?” Sain wondered though implying what he wanted them to do. Miriel was the first to noticed what Sain was talking about.

“Wait-that's impossible isn't it? Fire and Ice cannot mix!” she said denying what Sain would want her and Lyndis to do.

To this, Lyndis patted Miriel on the shoulder and said, “It would be interesting if it worked” raising her hand and producing some flames that went from the shape of simple flames to a horse that seemed alive.

“This power is interesting...if you can get other the fact that we had to suffer extreme pains to get it” Lyndis quickly said near the end.

Miriel sighed at both Lyndis and Sain who wanted to do this and said, “Fine...what is it that I have to do.”

“We do” Lyndis corrected.

“Simple” Sain said as if it was very plain and true, “Think, create and use.”

Lyndis grinned and discussed with Miriel a bit, “I'm thinking of birds.”

Miriel replied with, “Birds of ice and fire? Not bad, make it pretty at least” and a grin.

Both of them raised their rights hands with their marks glowing brighter and brighter at the remaining bone monsters that were still trapped by Serena's extra strong 'Root Bind'. As ice gathered around Miriel, fire gathered around Lyndis and were released as if it was exploding from them.

Two large birds appeared from them both. One of them was made of ice and the other of flame, both glowing brightly as they flew several as large as the bone monsters themselves as they hit.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

An explosion of ice and fire spread to almost all corners of the room. The ground was scattered and the walls looked as if they were scorched with flames. And standing on the other side of the room was the mad man dumbfound at what happened.

He was injured due to the blast but it looked like he did not care at all.

Sain looked up and saw that the yellow gold orb things was still there.

“Mana Arrow” he chanted shooting it but for some reason the spell was stopped by some sort of barrier before it could hit.

'What could be so important of that thing to the point that mad man didn't even protect himself over that?' Sain wondered.

With the battle done for the most part, Sain could not feel anything coming from the mad man at all. He told the others to put their gloves back on and they all did stopping whatever effect that came about when them taking it off.

However Sain had a feeling that those marking would not revert for at least a very long time if ever.

Walking to the other side of the room avoiding the damage that they caused in their battle, Sain had his spear at the mad man's throat to which he finally responded though not the way he expected.

The mad man smiled and asked one question.

“Oh...the Kingdom finally decided to kill me...or did that Eden send you? I told him long ago that my work takes time especially of what he asked me to do.”

“.....”

Sain and the others were shocked that Eden's name would be thrown out here.

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 9500 (Exactly~)

- This chapter took longer than expected...one due to me spending yesterday editing the first half of the chapter and two due to me pondering the future of the series. Was discussing with Ninnin who is actually writing (though very slowly) on the levelling rate of players which is an interesting topic. - And now some of the more hidden features of the 'marks' everyone got was revealed. Only a sneak peak that won't come back regularly at all for a long time.