Chapter 10

Inside the abandoned church and right before they would jump in, Shadow had to ask, “Why are we doing this again?”

It was a real pain in the ass to do so. Why should they, people under level 200 plus one whose level was high but unknown go into a place where there were demons level 400 or so? It was completely irrational to do so!

Normal people would not even think so.

“Because I feel like it?” said Alena though it sounded like a question...she went over to the hole where they would jump in with some of the others.

However this person...no, none of them were normal in the end...

He himself fought against a Boss Blue Tiger that grew in size and power for long enough that the others came back to back him out...though he fainted immediately afterwards...

That was embarrassing to speak but a normal player would not be able to keep up that long at all.

And here we have the daughter of two complete monsters that were separate from the thoughts of anything ordinary. How could she be normal at all...that smile was only a fake face to conceal this face it seems.

“That isn't exactly an answer there...” Shadow sighed hearing this.

“And also it's boring without company here” she added.

Lyndis patted on on the shoulder and said while nodding, “Give it up, we're all on this together.”

'What do you mean by together? I will be the first to suffer.'

He was the scout in the group...though sometimes he wondered if he was just a good decoy. Sain uses him like that though when monsters were around or a good knife to kill them quickly.

With low defence and average health, there was a good chance that he would die in a hit from an ordinary monster. Well in this case all of them will die in a hit since the enemy now are level 400 Demons after all.

Even Raven's high health and high defence can't do anything about that.

“Though it means we have to suffer together we can still run away” said Miriel, “And that means we won't let you off on the suffering as well.”

“....”

Shadow could only be silent at these words. In order words you will make it so he would have no choice to suffer in the end? How unlucky of him to be comrades with this person.

Meanwhile Alena, Sain, Serena and Raven were checking out the tunnel and called them over.

“It's quite dark...” Sain said creating a ball of light using his mana and sending it down to light the way. As usual now, Miriel was strapped onto Sain's arm...or back...or even fronts if she felt daring.

Shadow felt it was strange on how that cold Miriel turned out so...warm and attached to Sain...though it most likely had to do with that change in personalities due to the use of the 'Mark' over time...she never did that stuff in reality.

And he found her squirming around hitting herself of what she did in game...

Shadow thinks that Miriel did not notice the effects in game while reviewing her actions, she does in reality. Though that means...how did he change in game? What twisted way did he become without knowing so and the others do?

Sain turned...well he was normal and nothing changed even though he used the 'Mark' the most. Lyndis was the same as she used it was second most. Those two were probably honest to themselves to the core either way so there was nothing to change there.

Miriel seemed to change in ways he thought of already. Raven...he was not sure, he did not speak much. As for Serena, he was not that close to her...though they can speak to each other a bit now. That however was most likely too, the effects of using the 'Mark'.

'At least it seems something good happens when using the 'Mark'...Serena seems more open now' he thought looking down into the hole of darkness.

This light revealed the mines in which most likely spanned all underground.

“Damn that space looks quite small to get into” commented Shadow on the gap they need to go through. He hoped that he, the thinnest person here did not need to go in first to test it out. Bad things happens to the person who goes first after all.

“And what are you implying there...stick man?” asked Lyndis.

“Nothing at all and I didn't look at you when I said that” said Shadow quickly.

“It should open up a bit later...” said Serena on her thoughts on the matter though at the same time she was worried and said, “What if it collapse with us.”

'And that is why I don't want to go in first..considering that the one who goes first dies first' he thought.

“Considering that it hasn't and this place was occasionally rumbling due to the battles, unlikely” said Miriel assuring Serena. Serena nodded and then looked to Sain where he said, “If we have to go in, we better go in then.”

'But we don't actually need to go in...there is no point for us to go in there.'

“Yeah!” Alena cheered, “We need to kill the boss of this place to make that Galeiran's smirk fall off!”

“Somehow your personality is reverting to one really similar to Alexandra's now....” Sain muttered under his breath though Shadow could hear everything.

Shadow thought that they were exactly the same though he did not know that in fact that Alena was quite serious most of the time like Eden but at time when her personal feelings were involved and a hint of madness, she was a lot like Alexandra.

Actually she leaned more on the side of Alexandra rather than Eden, it was just that for so long, she was holding back.

Grabbing onto Shadow first, she dropped him in first, with the others next and then jumped in next.

“Son of a-”

“Yahhhooooooooooooo!!!”

As such all of them were dropped in like that.

xXx

Getting up, Lyndis groaned as she felt like hell with pains over several places over her body. Being dropped like that was not how she intended to get down here at all. It was a 40 metres drop and even those high levelled players went slow with this.

But she had to admit, this made things quicker with Alena dropping her down like this.

“You okay guys?” she asked looking around. It was quite dark but with Sain's balls of light-or rather just that one ball of light, lighting up the place, she saw that everyone seemed to be in one piece at least.

“Yeah” replied Sain not even paying attention to her, he was looking at something else. Miriel was stuck next to him again, she wished they would stop with that love-love atmosphere they make like that. She seemed fine as well.

Over to the other side was Serena sitting down with Raven, both looked fine as well. One that did not speak much and one that struggled to speak with boys together was an interesting combination she had to admit. She would need to tease Serena about this later.

Then there was Shadow...that prick had this irritated look on his face again. Well his mood was quite bad recently with Alena of course. Lyndis had no idea what the hell was his problem. Everything she suggested, he rejected of course.

“Well at least he's go with weapons...still a prick most of the time though” he mumbled in an extremely low tone that even Shadow could not hear, or at least he did not let her think he did.

Lyndis looked around more and did not find Alena so she asked, “Where's Alena?”

It had to be Shadow responding but he said, “She's out exploring the place to see if there are any Demons around.”

“Isn't that your job?” she asked him. He in turn responded in a cold voice and scuffed his boots onto the ground saying, “Yes, me going out there against monsters twice my level is a good idea.”

Lyndis felt the sarcasm quite easily from his tone and choice of words but still didn't like his attitude. She wondered how the hell could Sain and Raven get along with him at all. He was just filled with taunts and comments that make you want to hit him...

Or was it was just her?

Either way she said, “It would indeed be a good idea if I wanted you dead.”

“Meh.”

And that was how the conversation between her and Shadow ended for now. She thought it could be blown up several times as they try to kill each other like how Miriel almost killed him once for teasing her.

Lucky for Lyndis, she was close enough to Miriel for that to not happen...though she still found that her being stuck to Sain all the time now distracting for more than one reason.

A couple of minutes later, Alena returned and Lyndis asked immediately, “Did anything interesting happen?”

Alena shook her head in disappointment and replied with, “Unfortunately those other guys can clean this place up quite well.”

Hearing those words, Lyndis was a bit disappointed as well. This would be a good chance to see Demons again close up since the last time Eden and Alexandra took care of everything and even then they only saw a slight bit of their kind while running away.

“Well that just means we need to search a bit for them then. I did mention that I intend for us to steal the kill of the final boss here right?” asked Alena.

Lyndis made a silent 'Yes!' in her heart as she said, “Yeah you did” with a grin on her face.

“In that case follow me” said Alena walked forward with her and the rest of the group following through. Lyndis walked next to Miriel who was stuck with Sain. Ahead of the three were Raven, Serena and Shadow though Shadow was on the far right of things.

Seeing that there was nothing to do, Lyndis decided to chat Miriel up a bit.

“Hey Miriel-”

Lyndis saw that Miriel was gazing strangely at Sain with a dangerous light in her eyes. It was one look of a predator had for prey and Miriel was that predator and Sain was her prey!

'At this rate, Sain will be 'eaten' by Miriel!' she thought about to stop Miriel. But then immediately thought it may be entertaining to let Miriel do this and then realised of what she did in reality...but the game prevents those under 18 from doing such things as well so....

She didn't need to do anything but watch amused at the sight of those two

She noticed that Sain was now struggling seeing something wrong with Miriel whispering, “Miriel, Miriel” though that was only encouraging her.

Such a scene reminded her of a person trying to get his lover off of him.

It made her stick to core to be reminded of such a scene but with those she knew involved in such a thing, she could not help but to be amused.

“What are you watching there?” asked Shadow in her ear without warning.

BANG!

Lyndis let out a kick at him without knowing and instead hit the wall with her leg.

“Ow ow ow...”

She held her leg in pain as she hit damn solid rock there. Cursing several times, she almost shouted at Shadow, “What the hell was that for?!”

“What was what?!” she could tell that Shadow was a bit angry now-well really angry now, “You were the one who suddenly attacked me! Was I suppose to take that hit!?!”

“YOU were the bloody one who whispered something in my ear! That's damn sexual harassment there!” she shouted back at him.

Shadow stared at her in anger while she did the same to him as well. She wanted to draw her sword and cut him up. She knew she had the ability to-well most likely since he had twice her speed but she had twice his strength.

Plus she had her Fire Manipulation skills as well. She could take him at a range while he can't. And in this close space that only allowed so much space to run, she had the advantage. But just when she was about to draw her sword...

“What's going on here?” asked Alena who stopped and came back hearing loud shouts from Lyndis.

“This crazy bitch attacked me!” said Shadow with a glare at her.

“This asshole scum sexually harassed me!” said Lyndis with a glare back at him.

“....”

Alena could only sigh at both of them. She muttered under her breath, “This is like dealing with mum and dad arguing....again.”

Hearing that, Sain had to ask, “So their relationship was once like this?” looking at the two.

“What the hell?!” Lyndis moved to kick Sain but Miriel moved in to block her. Miriel sent her a glare as well like an animal protecting her cub so Lyndis was forced to stop.

“Yeah...there were a lot of stories where things went south with the two but in the end they packed things up again each time...which went on for years until dad-”

“Enemy!” Shadow shouted pulling his weapons out pointing at a direction. Looking at Shadow all serious, Lyndis knew this was not a joke. This was the only thing he would not joke at.

Draws~

Lyndis drew her sword as well as whatever enemy was coming was getting closer. To her side, Lyndis saw that Alena was frowning and so were Miriel and Sain as well whom Lyndis noticed was using 'Boost' right now for the 'All Knowing Eyes' effects.

And the dangerous being that appeared was....a child?

xXx

Right now, Sain's senses were on full alert. Right now in his right hand was his spear and in his left was a 'Magic Arrow' spell to which was about to fire if anything went wrong...even at that child. Him being alert to a child was especially concerning.

Using his current knowledge of what was going on, he could tell that something was wrong...though at this point he could not tell what. He did not have enough information for that at least for now.

When he noticed that Lyndis and soon Shadow was about to drop their weapons, he warned them saying, “Don't lower then yet” in a commanding tone. Lowering one's weapon at any point in such a situation was a bad idea.

Alena seemed to agree with him and advised, “Sain is correct. There is some very wrong with this situation.”

“What is wrong?” asked Lyndis frowning. She clearly did not see how a child in these mines was very wrong in this situation.

Before anyone else could speak on the matter, Sain then said, “Raise your weapons, children should not be here where Demons swarm the place” and explained the reasoning at the same time.

“Right, though children aren't harmful correct?” she asked next.

“Though they may screw us over without realising it...” said Shadow. He was acting very cautious right now also feeling that a child here was a very bad thing for many reasons.

“Ah” the child said noticing them since he was looking down since he was walking towards them, “Are you big brothers and sisters here to play as well?”

“Play?”

The child looked brightly at them and held out a box for them to see. It was a plain box...on the surface but Sain was having an extremely bad feeling thanks to this.

However Lyndis looked at the child warmly and asked, “What kind of playing do you have here?” and was about to approach the child but Raven stopped her.

Lyndis took a glance at him before looking back at the child.

“Ah, the uncles said we will have some visitors coming soon. Everyone else went off to greet the others that came!” the child said excitedly.

“Uncles?”

“Oh boy...” Alena muttered feeling the bad feeling as well, “Most of the guys here are either paladins or priests, they will never suspect a child...even if they knew it was a trap of some sort.”

Feeling this was bad news, Sain took a look at the child. It certainly wasn't a demon...that child was human but that box...

“And...” Sain asked, “What kind of things will be done in this playing?”

“All I have to do is open this box and everyone can play together!” The child started to open the box.

“Shit!” Shadow swore in the process of figuring whether to run up to grab that child into safety or to retreat away from whatever was going to happen.

Sain's hunch made or more than clear that opening that box was a bad idea. He released the 'Magic Arrow' spell on his left hand and fired it at the child to at least knock the box away from him.

But it was too late....and he missed.

The box was opened at that moment as well and he made eye contact with Miriel hoping for a barrier to appear just about now. Thankfully Miriel reacted in time shouting, “Ice Barrier!”

A barrier made of ice appeared as a physical entity in front of them all as what was in the box, when opened exploded consuming the child next to it as well.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

The explosion that was a firery mess broke through the 'Ice Barrier' and was about to hit them as well but Alena jumped in front of them and made a block using her arms and her hand gauntlets.

A bright light appeared in front of Alena and formed a light screen which blocked the flames and explosion away from the rest of them.

When the explosion and flames stopped, someone asked, “What was that?”

However whoever said those words was drowned out quickly as a large series of rumbling sounds were crashing around them.

“What's going on?!” asked Lyndis in a shout.

Sain had this bad feeling and he was right as Alena shouted, “Cave in! Get together now!”

Moving quickly, Sain dragged Miriel who was next to him next to everyone else. Shadow seemed to have grabbed Lyndis while Raven grabbed Serena to Alena. She in turn gathered that light in her gauntlets and spread it around them.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Rocks dropped from the ceiling and onto the light shield. The rocks cracked upon hitting the light shield but at the same time as time passed on, cracks appeared on the light shield as the pressure increased on it.

“Damn, it won't hold out!” Alena warned to the group as they prepare to die from this.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Seeing her light shield was more or less going to break any moment now, Alena made a stance to the wall.

“Haaa!”

BOOOM!

After that, there were only several flashes but Sain realised that at least him, survived else he would be kicked out of the game from dying.

xXx

Sain was not sure how much time passed but by the time he did, he realised that some time must have passed as he was unconscious due to the cave-in. Looking around, he saw the others lain in a row.

And another thing was that they were in a close enclosed space, around 8 by 4 metres in size.

“....”

Walking over, he checked that each and every one of them were fine and nothing bad happened to them. All five of them seemed so close now that they were like this...

“They are all fine, I made sure to heal them and you when you guys were almost crushed by rocks” said Alena. He looked over and found that Alena's equipment were ragged a bit more than usual, most likely due to rocks ripping it apart at parts.

Sain could see some more skin than usual at places on Alena.

“If you keep staring, Miriel will be mad at you.”

He decided to look at Miriel at that moment, though he did not want to admit that he was staring at Alena a bit too much. It was only quite interesting on how Eden and Alexandra's features mixed into one.

But even so, having only one eye for sight was still quite troublesome for him...his aim was off again. Even when looking at them lined up like this, he couldn't tell the distance to them well enough.

“If you keep staring at her, Miriel will be quite happy about it” said Alena in a chuckle this time. It did not seem like a warning.

“In that case, it's fine though I wasn't staring at her” he said while correcting her at the same time.

“You say that but your eyes-well remaining eye goes to her all the time though you had difficulties looking at her with her stuck on your right side all the time” she continued.

“It's not like I lost my actual eye.”

“But you lost your right eye's sight due to using Mankai. Anyway enough about that depressing talk, let's move on to discussing something even more depressing....”

“You mean the child?”

“Yes, your opinion on that?”

Sain thought about it for a second and all things considered, that child was essentially a suicide bomber...though not knowingly. It left him a bad taste since it had been years since the last child soldier in the world had been killed, the world changed a lot with such things eventually being eliminated.

As such Sain said, “Honestly it is good tactics to use something that most will not suspect and few will be suspicious as well especially in these circumstances where there will be many that are unable to suspect children.”

“Personally I think it is bad taste to use children either way, most likely Lyndis would rage at whoever would even dare think about it” said Shadow getting up awake.

“Oh, you're awake at last” commented Sain seeing that Shadow was awake now so he could input into the conversation now, “What's your opinion on what happened?”

“What is there to say?” Shadow sighed, “Child was used to deliver a bomb to us and died as a result. Though the only question is how many.”

“How many indeed....” Sain could feel a sigh coming up, “This is something we really should discuss when the others are awake as well.”

“We have one person who doesn't talk, another who is reluctant to talk, one that a hot head that is quite predictable and another that might or might not make a good input but depends on whether she wishes to piss me off.”

“Point taken.”

“Well it would be still interesting to know what they think about the whole situation...until someone gets us out of this” Alena said looking around.

“Speaking of situation, what's out current one?”asked Shadow.

“Stuck in this space which I made by digging through, enough to fit all of us here with a bit of room. Bad news is that if we try to escape from in here, then I fear that it is likely that this small space will collapse on us” explained Alena.

“So....we are stuck here” said Shadow.

“That seems like it” said Sain with a sigh.

“Well....we can't do anything with the others not awake yet...” said Shadow looking closely at Lyndis. Sain could have sworn that there was this strange light in his eyes then....most likely because he wanted payback for what Lyndis did.

xXx

Several hours later....

“SHADOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!”

Lyndis swung her sword to kill.

“Fortified Barrier!” luckily enough, Miriel placed a barrier onto Shadow which protected him from the surprise attack. However it would be destroyed in a few hits due to her high damage when attacking.

Raven and Sain then moved in to restrain Lyndis as she herself looked like a Demon trying to kill him with her killing intent spilling out all over the place very apparently. Alena laughed seeing Lyndis like this while Serena looked on worryingly.

“Miriel.Why.Are.You.Helping.Him?!” Lyndis demanded.

Miriel sighed though could not help but to chuckle seeing Lyndis' face. Though she didn't like Shadow at any rate, she did like what he did to her face.

“I must admit that my handiwork makes you look better” said Shadow mocking Lyndis as much as he could.

“Dancing Dragon Art-” Lyndis prepared to attack Shadow using her 'Art Skill' though which one was not known to the group which one of her skills she would use; hopefully not her final skill which would leave her near dead afterwards.

“Ah~~~~Raven help me hold her down some more!” Sain shouting to Raven next to him as they both tried to pin her down as she was using her skills even with them on her.

In the end however, Sain let out and pointed his hand at her chanting, “Paralyse Shot!”

The attack hit Lyndis but there was no effect.

“Are you attacking me?!” she shouted in response.

Sain tilted her head questioning and replied, “Just trying to make sure you don't kill Shadow which is most effective when you can't move.”

As such Sain shot Lyndis several more times using 'Paralyse Shot' to stop her and eventually paralysed her. With a sigh of relief, Raven was able to let go of Lyndis now since he was not sure on where he should be touching.

However even he almost burst into laughter seeing what was done to Lyndis' face.

Serena walked over to the paralysed Lyndis and said softly, “It isn't too bad...”

Lyndis almost cried hearing that and asked, “Can you clean it up for me?”

“Sure...” Serena replied with a kind smile on her face. Seeing this, Lyndis let out a light smile.

As such Serena started wiping Lyndis' face from all the...markings Shadow made on her face. Shadow turned Lyndis into a very cute cat...with the whiskers and all. Sain watched Shadow doodle all of that onto her face with amusement.

Later on, with a mirror and a scream, everyone else that was still sleeping all woke up at once.

“Is....ne here....he...scream.”

“What was that?” Sain suddenly asked hearing those fragmented words.

“'Is anyone here, we heard a scream?' they asked” said Shadow confirming what was said. Quickly enough, several loud shouts from Alena later, one of the walls from the side was broken down.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Crack!

The hole that was made continued on being made larger and larger via the hilt of a sword being continuously hit on the side until there was enough room for a person to get through. And the person that came in this gap first...was one that made Alena look at him with slight repulse.

“Hell Alena, nice for you to stop by as well” said Galeiran in a calm voice though he looked humoured at the thought of Alena being trapped in a hole like this.

“Out of all people...” Alena sighed, “Why the so called Great Holy Knight?”

“Because I was the one who got here first and am the Great Holy Knight” said Galeiran passing Alena and moving on to look at the group, “And it looks like you are dragging people around again. That hobby of yours did not make my day back then Alena.”

“You owed mum several favours and dad wouldn't let me out back then without a powerful guard” said Alena with her arms crossed. She had a displeased look on her face.

“You mean a series of powerful guards plus hidden assassins to take out any and all potential risks to you. Your sister never had this problem” he sighed shaking his head as if lecturing a young child.

“Sis would rather stick with dad on his spare time-that's not the point right now! You had encounters with those....children right?” asked Alena after cutting short her statement.

Galeiran frowned and nodded his head, “We were...close to that child when he....”

“Fortunately the one with us went...boom further away which meant we didn't take any loses” replied Alena.

“Fortunately for you, unfortunately for the rest of us, a lot of players died from the bombs first and then the cave in second.”

“Not my problem.”

“It is all of our problems if and when they would use children in their plans!” he shouted in rage. He did not like the fact that children were used a weapons when they were clearly innocent no matter what.

Galeiran took a glance at Alena before looking at the group and asked, “What happened to her?” gesturing at Lyndis. Shadow made a short laugh before the effects of the paralyse on Lyndis wore out.

Lyndis looked at Shadow wanting to kill him but stopped in some respect to the Holy Knight in front of her. It would not be wise to kill Shadow in front of him.

“....”

Seeing no one answered him, Sain answered that question since everyone else didn't seem to want to, “She was about to kill a comrade in this small space. Those things happen....sometimes in such situations.”

Galeiran nodded and said, “That would happen all the time with Eden and Alexandra when I travelled with them.”

“Eden and Alexandra would fight all the time like that?” asked Sain with eyebrows raised.

“All the time...got better when they weren't trying to serious kill each other by then. Mind you that this was before the Guild was created and Eden asked and I rejected his offer to join” he continued.

“So...you are not a member of the guild but one close to it?”

“Yes. I do some favours here and there at time, there's really not much that they ask in the end compared to what I got off them. Anyway we should move together...else some people may die here.”

Galeiran looked behind him and motioned at several people, there the group saw around a dozen people move in formation with Galeiran leading them.

Alena looked displeased at this and with a disgruntled look said, “Let's go, we better get-”

Crack!

“Hmm?”

And then the ground fell from under them.

And finally Alena and Lyndis let out, “Son of aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa------” together

xXx

You took 10 damage

“Ow...” Sain rubbed his ass and wondered why he only took 10 fall damage. He was thankful enough that he took only 10 damage from the drop...and from the looks of it it seems the others were fine as well...though strangely taking only 10 damage each.

“Everyone okay?” asked Miriel looking around.

“Yeah....” Lyndis groaned rubbed her backside, “My ass hurts a lot though.”

“Yeah my one too” said Shadow doing the same until he saw Lyndis, “Lyndis what are you doing with your weapon-” He immediately tried to back away seeing her attacking him but he hit a wall and Lyndis was approaching quickly.

Bang!

Lyndis' sword hit and cut down on the wall and slide down to where Shadow shoulder was making only a slight cut. With a huff and puff she said in a haughty tone, “And this is for the sexual harassment from you and the drawings on my face. Any problems.”

“Well...” Shadow looked into Lyndis' eyes and asked, “Why didn't you cut me down just then?”

“Because for one we need you right now as our scout” Lyndis looked at the others and then said, “And for two I will never cut down my comrades, no matter how much of an ass you are.”

“Heh.”

Shadow made that sound which may look like he was taking this very lightly but it was simply him recognising and acknowledging Lyndis' words.

Sain looked around further and noticed that Alena wasn't here and asked, “Where's Alena?” to the others. They too did not respond but looked around as well and at last, Serena pointed at a hole and said, “She dropped there....”

“....”

“....”

Sain could not believe that Alena managed to drop through two holes in a row...

However considering her bloodline, it was highly plausible. In any case, Alena was actually safer than the group now considering that she was a powerful person who they were weak people stuck in this place with no way out.

“Exit is over there....” said Miriel pointing at a hole in the wall of the hole they were in.

“Any chance it won't lead to our deaths?” asked Sain.

“Doubt it” shrugged Miriel, she was not that interested in whether they would live or not, since this place was an entire death trap for them who were only this level.

“Anyway there's nothing to do staying here...we should see what's on the other side at least” he said moving to the hole and climbing through. There, he found that there was a tunnel through this way which seemed to be some hidden path or something like that.

“Interesting...”

With the thought of seeing something interesting, Sain moved forward with the rest of the group behind him. The space in the tunnel was small to the point that they could barely fit a person, though thankfully an adult person so most of them had an easy time going through, especially Serena.

Going through they did not dare speak as they might attract the attention...of some things they don't want to face right now. Namely monsters that were twice their level.

After several more minutes, they reached the end of the tunnel and through some sort of covers. Sain and the others saw that they were currently in this dim dark room with nothing much in it except that it was made using black bricks which gave it an ominous feeling.

“Where is this place?” wondered Lyndis in a low voice, she took Raven with her when she peered out of the open door; most likely to use him as a meat shield immediately when things went bad.

“No enemies around...I hope” she added seeing that there was nothing out at the corridor.

“There are none, nothing is moving around this area” said Shadow affirming that fact, “You could have asked me first.”

“Well I just almost cut you down.”

“And I already let it go already.”

“Really? I thought you were the type to keep grudges.”

“If I was, then you would be dead ten times over by now” said Shadow while clicking his tongue at her.

After this, the group went off to explore this new place that they had landed into. It was quite a maze but in the end after a few hours, they were drawn to a place that had an ongoing battle in it. Peering through....the group watched.

xXx

The Great Holy Knight Galeiran rapidly swung his sword in all direction in a cross like fashion cutting through the Demons that were stuck on him as he charged violently. There was no time to be wasted even to save a comrade.

After the cave-in, he had searched the place and only found two dozen of the possibly hundreds of players that was down with him.

And all of these people were battling Demons as well with no care in their lives, only to stop what was happening over there on the other end of the room.

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!” With a great swing, he let out a wave of energy similar to one done by a certain woman at the target.

BAAAAAAAAAANNNNNGGGGGGGGG!!!!

However even so, his attack was blocked by that barrier that surrounded them. The reason why he was so determined to do whatever it takes right now he that there are a dozen or so people lined up in a circle preparing to summon a High Demon.

These people from what he knew were demon worshippers. Heretics that denied the grace of God in order to gain evil powers. But that was not the main problem here.

Demons were powerful creatures, even the weaker ones. Minions could and would be level 300 while the lower rank ones level 400 and it only goes higher.

At the top of these Demons were Demon Lords, nobles of the Demons and Demon Kings, their rulers. A High Demon was a being that sat between Demon Lords and Demon Kings in strength, extremely powerful and must not be let out no matter what.

And here he was fighting to make sure it wouldn't be summoned.

“Grand Cross!” he shouted shooting down several more Demons with his Holy Magic. There were a hundred Demons in this room and he alone was taking half of them at once since he was strongest here.

But even so, with their numbers alone, they were able to stop him. As such he was prepared to destroy everything in this room to stop the summoning of a High Demon.

“O Grace of the Beings of Light gather in my hand and radiant through the darkness that grant the Blessing of Holy Night! Heed thy contract to this mortal and turn into thy weapon that slays evil! Holy Sword!”

In his hand, a great large Holy Sword appeared that was made with pure Holy Energy. It was a sword to cut down evil and one that was really good at cutting down Demons and Devils as well. With a swing he took down one Demon and moved onto the next and next almost running to the end of the room.

“Damn! He's getting closer!” one of the demon worshippers shouted.

“Holy Strike!” he shouted swinging his sword down on this magical barrier in which started to crack under the pressure he was giving it.

“Darkness before the crevice of the cracks of justice. Dark Blast!”

A wave of dark energy was blasted at Galeiran but at the same time he increased the around of Holy Energy around his body to endure the blast.

“Haaaaaaaaaaa!!!! Impact Strike!” Galeiran used that warrior skill to increase the damage in which he dealt to the barrier but at the same time-

Slash!

From behind he was attacked by a demon and his attack was interrupted which saved the barrier. With a 'tch' he made a kick behind him killing that Demon due to the large level difference between the two and once again attacked the barrier.

He was more than sure that this barrier was either created with great care or from an extremely powerful person or group of people or both.

But at the same time, Galeiran was even more so.

“Light gather in my hand!”

Galeiran gathered and increased the power of the Holy Sword in his hands and struck again at the barrier.

BAAAAAAAAAANNNNNGG!!!

That loud echoing sound resounded in the large room as the barrier was destroyed. The demon worshippers looking worried took out their staves which had skulls on them.

“Too late” he shouted swinging his sword down on them as well. He quickly cut through them as fast as he could.

“Too late indeed” one of the demon worshippers said with a laugh. The magic circle in which they were activated glowed a dark red colour.

Cut!

Galeiran instantly cut through it using his sword and that was that. Or not-

Bang!

Galeiran was knocked away immediately to the other end of the room. He felt that impact quite a bit considering that his defences were quite high due to him being of a paladin type class. He looked to see something he really did not want to see right now.

In front of him was a 5 metre tall demon with twin horns and long arms.

And from the pressure that it gave off, it was certainly powerful, at least on the same level as him...

“Damn...” he cursed under his breath and saw that there were three demon worshippers still alive...they need to be eliminated later on. He hoped they would not escape from this place but it was unlikely.

But right now he needs to focus on taking care of this High Demon in front of him.

xXx

“Three of them are escaping, need to get to them quickly” said Sain rushing back into the tunnels the moment he saw that back door they went through being connected to the tunnels.

He would just need to find them and finish them off to-

“Why the hell are we chasing them?! They are probably stronger than us and will kill us in one hit!” shouted Miriel. Sain only realised that she was following him while the others were still watching the battle.

“Because they are of the magic class plus they must have used up all their mana from what I saw summoning that demon. Any questions?” said Sain running forward.

“Yes, why the hell are we chasing them?!” asked Miriel this time.

“Why are you following me?” he asked her as well.

Out of all the things that he did, this time, it went back to the usual reckless stuff he would do. She had no choice but to revert to her usual self for now...she had enough of banging her head into the wall and letting off silent screams of what she was doing to Sain in game.

She rather not have to avert her eyes when they meet in reality due to the stuff she did in game.

“Because you will get yourself in trouble again-why are we chasing them down?!” she retorted.

“No time they're here!” Sain shouted still running and just spotted the three men.

Right now only Miriel was with him unlike the rest of the group whom were more than content on allowing Sain to do his own thing.

Just as Sain said that, three middle aged men ran in front of them and quickly noticed them as well. One of them swore while stopping while the other prepared a spell to use against them. The final one still ran away from them.

“Astral Bind!” Sain chanted hitting the one that wore and stopped by accident instead of the one who was chanting a spell. Neither Sain or Miriel had enough time to cast a spell against the one that was in the process of attacking them or the one who was running away.

“Curse and echoes of firery rage come upon me! Hell Fl-”

Bang!

All of a sudden a figure of a person hit that person and smashed him to the wall. Sain immediately knew who that person was and smiled at the sight of her.

“That's for putting that damn trap door there! I thought I was going to di-ah, why are you guys here?” asked Alena seeing the group while at the same time strangling the second person that was bound by Sain's 'Astral Bind' in her arms crushing him.

“Long story” said Sain noticing that the third person was getting away.

With his spear in hand, Sain threw it and by some miracle hit the fleeing man in the back. Blood dripped onto the floor in this tunnel of carnage.

“Damn you!” he shouted pushing the spear out of his back with sheer force and muscle even though he was some sort of mage and letting it drop onto the ground as he turned to look at him.

There was a glare filled with enough hate to curse someone.

That man started chanting a spell to use but Sain was faster this time, “Magic Arrows!”

Bang! Bang! Bang...!

The attack hit the man several more times and he was bleeding more and more mainly due to the fact that his 'Compress Magic Mastery' skill was released now and was getting a greater bonus to magic strength here.

As Sain moved in closer to the man wary of any attacks, the man opened his eyes one last time and lunged at him.

“Ah.”

He struggled with the man a bit before pushing him off.

“My life ends here but surely our Kings will rise up and kill you all! The Seven Demon Kings will never forgive the Gods for giving this plane to the weak mortals!”

With those words, the man died bursting in black flames that almost hit him leaving many questions to be answered...

You have killed a Demon Worshipper that is a danger to the Kingdom

- You have levelled up x4

- Fame +100

Seeing this, he realised that his level increased to 186 and his fame increased quite a bit as well. But there was one thing he was wondering right now...

“Seven Demon Kings?” Sain wondered picking up his spear. He heard the others plus Alena walk up behind him. He turned and looked at him and said, “It was kinda a waste for him to die...could have gotten so much more information off him.”

Alena hit him on the head and said, “I was more worried that you would have been killed going up near him before he burst into flames.”

Holding of the body of one of the Demon Worshippers, she looked at the man and then to Sain and then asked, “What exactly is happening here? I was kinda trapped in a den of demons for a while before meeting you lot after seeing some fleeing men.”

“Ah.”

It was only then that Sain remembered of what was happening in the other room.

“Galeiran is fighting a High Demon that was summoned by these guys, we need to go help him!” he said quickly before rushing off.

However a combination of Alena grabbing him and Miriel holding him back, he was stopped. With a laugh and a strange gaze from Miriel who said, “You are NOT going to risk your life like again OKAY?!”

“....”

Sain could only nod in response to that command and Alena could only laugh seeing the situation he was currently in.

Alena also added, “There is nothing to be worried about. Galeiran is more than capable of taking a High Demon out.”

“....?”

“Why do you think he is called the Great Holy Knight? A person who has reached the limits of his class is something that most people cannot comprehend. The word 'strong' can only describe him. Plus what can you, as weak as you are do?”

“....”

With those words, the three returned to where the others were and saw the scene of Galeiran slaying the High Demon in time. Galeiran's sword pierced through the head of the High Demon as it burst into ashes when it died.

There was a cry of victory as he slain the High Demon.

Alena let out a smile and said to Sain, “See, not a problem.”

A few moments later, Galeiran looked to see Alena and the group at the side and walked up to them after several people congratulated him. Seeing Galeiran walk up to her, Alena smiled and brought of the two bodies in her arms.

“I got the rats that ran away from the oh Great Holy Knight” she said in a mocking tone. Galeiran did not react much seeing this kind of tone since he was used to it due to babysitting duties.

“There were three of them” said Galeiran in the same tone pointing at the two bodies.

“The last one burst into flames though said some interesting things before he did” she explained to him in a low tone.

“I would like to hear about it later then” said Galeiran. He motioned and whispered something to a couple of people before Alena could respond.

“You'll hear it in my report” she replied. Alena turned to the group and then said, “Well, back to Lily City then.”

The group nodded and made their way out but first...

“How do we get out?” asked a certain Alena to no one in particular. She and the group dropped in to this place literally.

It was only some time later that a certain Alena placed her pride aside and asked Galeiran for the way out..for they got lost several times and even managed to find a Giant Ant Nest while trying to get out of the tunnels somehow.

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 8100~

- Final chapter of the volume except for the epilogue that will come out tomorrow and the Arc epilogue that comes the day after that. Was actually planning on writing a full length battle scene but decided not to considering that the group aren't strong enough. Makes more sense that the stronger players took care of everything while the group just watched. Considering this, the title is kinda misleading for most of the chapter there is no mention of them.