“Alright, we’re all here… Hi there, I don’t know all your names, and I apologize for that, I’m bad with names, especially with people I’ve only recently met.” Arthur’s greeting was a bit plain considering what was about to happen, but maybe that was a good thing.

Something overly dramatic and complicated was not really necessary anyway.

“As you are all aware, today we take on the second Demon Lord as a united front. Personally, I don’t see the point of that, and I’m sure most of you agree with me, but hey, we need some good public relations.” Everyone in the room agreed begrudgingly…

The incident five days before with Agent Shaun Fife fighting an Adventurer serial killer was well known now, though the public was unaware of who the assailant was or what he had done, it let them know that Adventurer criminals exist.

There was of course a sudden uprising in people who were demanding that only government sanctioned people become Adventurers, and that all current Adventurers be closely monitored to prevent such a person from appearing again.

The six Chosen teams in the room all knew that it wasn’t that simple, for the person who fought with Shaun was not a registered Adventurer, and that much like other people, Adventurers could do both good and bad things.

An Adventurer attempted to say as much on the internet, however they were immediately shot down with comments about how ‘maybe so, but the problems are certainly bigger when both sides can toss trees at one another’ and thus the Adventurer was ignored…

The only real option was either silence, or proving that Adventurers could do good as well.

So, now more than before, the six teams of Chosen had to work together to ensure that Adventurers all over the world would not be labelled as sub-human.

No pressure.

It was with this knowledge that Arthur stepped into the Podium room with the intent to calm the teams down if they weren’t already calm.

At the Podium, everyone made their teams and linked their LEV’s, the Podium was apparently allowing the creation of their ‘Raid Group’ due to how it was six teams of six.

Naming their Raid Group as ‘Chosen Six’ for simplicities sake.

Each person had a moment to check their stats and confirm some things, and once more Arthur was reminded that he could for some reason see what others could see when they were busy with the Podium.

Everyone else claimed that they could see only a light, but Arthur could actually read the stats and information of others if he looked.

At this point Arthur was pretty sure that the reason for that was his Soul Sight Skill, if he could see the Soul then reading some writing had to be easier.

Though everyone’s status was in their first language, meaning that there were some Arthur couldn’t read even if he wanted to.

He didn’t want to read others status’ though, instead focusing on his own.

Arthur Clive

Level: 34 (D-Rank)

Class: Linked Swordsman- Grants one stat point to Strength and Wisdom per level

Gives Soul Sight (Unique) Skill

Anima

Dagger of Hunger

Cloak of Will

Anima Skills

No Change

Primary Element: Lightning

Personal Skills

Tactician II (78/100) - increases Wisdom by 15% (total 130%)

Sword Sage I (164/200)- Any bladed weapon deals 20% extra damage

Soul Sight II (52/300) - Allows insight beyond mortality

Dual Wielding II (59/100) - Greater use of two weapons

Lightning Elemental II (17/200) - Use supplementary lightning spells

Stats

Strength: 45

Dexterity: 50

Intelligence: 32

Wisdom: 60 (78)

Endurance: 32

Vitality: 45

He was already close to levelling up when he heard about the fight between Shaun and the serial killer, and hearing about that person’s strength had Arthur move towards levelling with renewed purpose.

The result was levelling up two times in those five days, a pretty fast pace given that they were busy on the nineteenth floor and already above level thirty.

Not only that, but given the fight, the Chosen knew they’d have to work together and it was decided that the Raid Leader would be Arthur due to him being the highest levelled amongst the group and leader of the only team to face an intelligent Demon Lord.

Of course this meant that he got access to the (abridged) stat sheets of the other teams and could plan accordingly.

Shaun’s words of ‘the African team makes no sense’ weren’t wrong either…

They had one Warrior who liked talking about car games, and an Archer which used magic in conjunction with his shots. The other four members of the team?

All healers.

How… well, it was a given that this was real life, there was no rule saying a healer couldn’t swing around a great sword, but…

Arthur decided to ignore Loyiso’s choice in weaponry and how it grated against his sensibilities as a gamer, and spoke to the group after everyone was done.

“Alright, my team will be handing out maps so that everyone knows where we are going and which paths we will be taking. Said paths will be marked on the map.” As Arthur stated, each team got a map-booklet from one of the Einherjar members.

“We have mapped the entirety of Area two from floor eleven to nineteen. Until encountering the Demon Lord, I’m hoping that we can battle in rotation, so everyone can see how the others fight.” Arthur’s words once more got nods, it was an understandable measure if they were to work together.

“Of course, I understand some of you might not like showing others your fighting styles so to get the ball rolling, my team Einherjar will be acting first. Whoever goes second will be decided after the first encounter.” Arthur selected the Forest of the Maiden from the fast travel selection and then turned once more to the collective of thirty five people.

“By the fifteenth floor I hope we’ll be able to start working together in a fight. As we move, we’ll develop signals to work together.” With that said, the teams moved out.

Stepping out onto the eleventh floor, Arthur was glad that Shaun asked the question of ‘what if we both end up on floor ten at the same time, would we run into each other’ and got them to find the answer.

The results of their tests was that yes, they’d run into each other, but if they entered from different Dungeons then they’d only encounter each other on the tenth floor and nowhere else.

This had Shaun theorizing that Demon Lord rooms were ‘open to all servers’ and the other floors were ‘private servers’ using gaming lingo.

Entering the same Dungeon was considered going into the same private server, though you’d only run into other teams from the tenth floor onwards.

It was an interesting thing, only adding to Arthur and his view that the first nine floors were the ‘tutorial-level’ as they even prevented other people from messing with you while you journeyed.

The Raid Group moved in their original teams, with Einherjar at the forefront of the group due to the offer to fight first.

There was a very light muttering of conversation from time to time between teams and occasionally kept within teams, but they were all cautious… after all, each group had made it to the nineteenth floor, they knew what to expect.

Their encounters were simple ones really, something each group was glad for as they began to realize what a boon it was to have more people around than just their own team, now capable of fighting in rotation each team got more rest between each fight.

The first encounter against some Goblins was kind of interesting as the five foreign teams began to stare at Einherjar, or more specifically Arthur.

After recovering from the flinch caused by the appearance of Arthur’s Dagger of Hunger, the other teams stared at Einherjar’s teamwork with interest.

Michael called out that he had seen the Goblins, getting a signal from Arthur to pause, asking confirmation on the amount of enemies.

After being told of the five Goblins, Arthur nodded, signalling for Michael to take the shot.

The first arrow signalled the fight, the Goblin hit dying in one hit as his brethren ran forward in an attempt to attack Einherjar.

One of them was met with Matt’s shield, the spikes on the shield could be used for more than just breaking weaponry, as proven when one spike drove into the Goblin’s skull.

When he moved, the Goblin’s suddenly limp body moved with the shield, adding a bit more bulk and mass to defend with… a pretty disgusting tactic, but it worked and Matt sometimes did it by accident.

“Not again!” Such as now.

Another Goblin attempted to attack Matt, who guarded without even looking at the Goblin approaching him from the side, his Spatial Recognition Skill allowing him to track where everything was within his sphere of influence.

His decision was right, as the Goblin outside of his vision was attacked by an almost flying Emilia, and given her knives she was practically a buzz-saw as she removed its head from its shoulders within seconds.

As for the Goblin going for his shield, Alice was there, wielding a war-hammer with a smile on her face.

As a side-note, Alice was the member of their group that spent the most on weaponry, understandable as she needed to have a diverse pool to choose from to make full use of her Anima.

No one looked at that Goblin after seeing Alice take the swing, they expected the creature to have died in that moment.

As for the final Goblin, it attempted to run away, only for Arthur’s hands to spark, focusing his Mana to one hand as he swung his hand out as if swinging a tennis racquet.

With a strange buzz and zap, the ball of electricity landed on the Goblin’s head, burning the little creature’s skull to the point where its body vanished leaving a Soul Stone behind.

Everyone in the large group of Adventurers knew everyone else’s stats and elements, so no one was surprised about the Lightning element, instead finding interesting how quickly and accurately he took out the Goblin.

“Alright, with the exception of John who rarely joins in the fight, that’s one Goblin for each member of Einherjar. Any thoughts?” Arthur asked the other group after walking over to pick up the Soul Stone.

“One. How many times can you launch off attacks like that?” Albert asked while ignoring Ichiro’s raised hand as he asked his question.

“Well I’m working off of feel, but I think I can launch about fifty of those disregarding my regeneration.” Indeed Arthur couldn’t fine tune how much mana he used exactly, but that attack he just launched used about two per cent of his Mana.

“So it’s two per cent of your Mana… what about regeneration?” Albert was a Magician Class, clearly he was interested in magic.

“Eh, I regenerate about eight per cent every minute… why are you all looking at me like that?” Arthur was not aware of how high his regeneration (Wisdom) was compared to others.

Albert, the highest levelled mage class, has about forty Wisdom, and Loyiso who was the highest levelled healer had about sixty almost seventy Wisdom after considering whatever Stat Skills he may possess.

The idea that a Swordsman had so much Mana regeneration was really messing with their preconceptions.

“That’s the highest Wisdom amount I’ve heard of.” Loyiso was honest, getting nods from those who agreed, which was pretty much everyone else.

“Well thanks, I need the regeneration to use my Magic.” They could practically hear the emphasis on ‘magic’ in Arthur’s tone, he was talking about a Magic Skill that provided Spells.

To them, it meant that he either had a ‘normal’ spell that required Wisdom for uses, a Spell with the tag, ‘seven Wisdom per use a day’ would have Arthur capable of firing off the spell eleven times a day with his Wisdom count after boosts.

Another option was Area Spells, they were rare but Albert had one, which scaled damage to Intelligence and area of effect (AOE) to Wisdom, with a set amount of uses a day which would only increase as the Spell Skill itself increased.

Or, he had a Spell which used Wisdom as the basis of its effectiveness, most boosting Spells were like this, with Intelligence instead determining their uses.

And finally there were Toggle Boost Spells, or TBS for short.

They were not as rare as Area Spells, but TBS allowed its user to activate a Boost Spell and maintain that boost for so long as it drained Mana.

Jade, the Chosen of the U.K actually possessed one, not that she let others outside of her team know of its existence, but she did have one, so she knew it was an option…

And also, Arthur emphasized ‘regeneration’ which made Jade reasonably certain it was a TBS that Arthur had.

“It’s an impressive showing… let’s continue.” Albert said, moving forward with his team, Osobyy, the Russian word for Special.

From there the rotation began, with it starting with Einherjar, then Albert’s Osobyy.

Then it was Sheikh’s team, Salibi, which meant Crusaders in Arabic, which was sadly ironic to Arthur.

Following Salibi was Jade’s Camelot, which Arthur could admit to himself would be his first choice for team name before he remembered the term Einherjar.

Then there was Ichiro’s team with the unique name. Arthur laughed every time he imagined them introducing themselves as Team Spicy Chicken.

And finally there was Loyiso’s team, Ubuntu, the name was nice, meaning ‘humanity to others’ or ‘I am who I am because of who we all are’. It was a surprisingly meaningful term originating from South Africa… Arthur liked it.

With the rotation, everyone got a chance to witness everyone in a fight, though they all knew they were keeping at least one thing secret from each other, it would help in the Raid.

Albert’s team moved as a unit, no one moved alone, and without exception they were all capable of hand-to-hand combat to some extent, as demonstrated when Albert destroyed Forest Wolves with his bare hands.

The others in his team did have weapons, but they were all still soldiers.

For Sheikh’s team, they felt like juggernauts with how Sheikh would tank a hit and then his team would step in destroying whatever enemy he attacked, it was a team revolving around the tanker.

Then Jade’s team was similar to Arthur’s except they had two Archers along with a mage and healer, then a tanker and Jade, with Jade being their main source of physical damage as she cut her enemies apart using one of her Class Skills.

Team Spicy Chicken went in the opposite direction of Jade’s, with a tanker, three Warriors, a mage/artificer, and their healer…

A healer was a necessity in all high rank teams, without one a Dungeon dive would end quickly.

Ubuntu took everything a bit too far in regards to healing though, with four healers. The reason they have so many healers was apparently so that there was always a safety net to continue hunting.

And they were also proof that John could in fact learn to fight, and John not fighting was just his personal choice.

Arthur let John do that though… he was still working with John on a certain idea they had.

This rotation carried them through to the nineteenth floor where the Raid Group worked together to take down a Red Grizzly, the equivalent of the Lantern Brute for this Area… and the source of the bear roars they were hearing on other floors.

Red Grizzly’s began to appear starting from floor seventeen, and only alone or with other Red Grizzly’s, the most fought in a group were four.

Arthur also absently noted that the Areas had their own ecosystem, as evident when they encountered a Red Grizzly eating a Forest Wolf.

But now seeing the stairs leading to the twentieth floor, and the second Demon Lord, the Raid Group rested for ten minutes as they got ready.

“Alright, before we face this Demon Lord, I will share what information we know about them. For one, they are female and probably the maiden the Area name refers to. It is known that she was with Blade romantically and beyond that little is known, though given the Area, we should assume a plant or tree based enemy.” Arthur warned, and the group nodded, though some wondered why Arthur remembered the ‘romantic’ part.

The group rested, they moved towards the stairs…

Once more, Arthur found himself in awe of how the Dungeon could be so dangerous yet so beautiful.

The stairs were always something that Arthur paused to admire, no one really knew why though they could agree that somehow the Dungeon managed to make them nice.

The stairs to the new Area had swapped to purple gems littering the walls and ceiling, the stairs themselves seeming to be made out of a long pale grey stone of some kind as they walked down, noting the stairs had inscriptions on them, but unable to read them.

Finally exiting the stairs, the group found themselves within a forested area…

However the idea of beauty was gone from their minds, the forest was decaying, the trees slightly rotted and grey, the area lined with tombstones and graves…

The only exception to the situation was a lone willow tree in the centre of the graveyard, underneath which a woman sat, making a flower crown.

Hearing their steps, the woman looked up, a slight widening of her eyes the only proof that she registered their appearance as she stood, dusting off invisible dust from her dress, and stepped forward into the light.

Her appearance was admittedly beautiful, but something about it kept Arthur from feeling more…

It was like staring at a lush valley of trees in the rising of the sun, the crisp breeze bringing feelings of freedom and serenity.

That was it. She was beautiful in the same way an untouchable painting was beautiful.

“Ah… I have visitors. Welcome to my grave… I suppose I can be referred to by you warriors as ‘Willow’.” The woman was clearly referencing the tree she sat under originally as Arthur stepped forward, as the representative of the Raid Group…

Though clearly some like Ichiro had to be reminded to wait.

“Greetings Willow. My name is Arthur Clive, the de-facto leader of this group of warriors… I was also the one to slay Blade. You have my condolences.” Arthur admitted, and Willow smiled a forlorn smile.

“Of course… You all could only meet me due to his vanquishing after all… I regret not seeing my love on last time, but I do not fault you for his death.” Willows words drew a surprised look from Arthur as she laughed demurely.

“Sorry but that might be a bit of a lie. He was my love, and knowing he was hurt makes my heart ache… and knowing you are the one to have hurt him makes me dislike you a bit on principle. But knowing Blade, he did not hold it against you.” Willow’s words drew a nod from Arthur as his expression calmed.

“He said as much… nonetheless, I did not enjoy taking his life. He mentioned you to me and... I don’t know, I just felt like I had to deliver his last message.” Willow looked surprised at Arthur’s words as Arthur looked at her in her eyes.

“His last wish was to be with you, under your tree once more…” Arthur felt the words spill from his lips, but only after they were uttered had they registered…

How did he know that? Rather, how could Arthur say this with such confidence, with such… understanding?

“You… Ah… I understand now. Well, you are certainly an interesting existence compared to your compatriots… Ah, it’s that Dagger of yours.” Willow looked to Arthur’s Dagger of Hunger with a sly smile.

“Ah my love… you have returned, somehow… I’ll be with you soon…” Willow seemed to be speaking out loud, not actually aiming her words at any of the group, her eyes taking a far off quality… and her skin began to change, growing dull and grey as she spoke.

“But first… I suppose I must test the worthiness of this warrior… Come, Arthur Clive.” Willow began to fade, her skin becoming frail and almost like… it matched the trees around the willow tree.

With a sudden gust of wind, the body of Willow evaporated into dust, flying against her ‘namesake’… and suddenly the tree began to move…

It was first a simple shaking, then it began to clearly move unnaturally, even in the wind, then two of its branches swung down suddenly, pushing into the ground as its roots came out of the ground, the ground closing as it stood upon its roots.

The ‘arms’ expanded, becoming intertwined with other branches to add to its girth, gaining stubby ‘fingers’ while the roots coiled around each other, forming into two growths which could be called legs.

The long, thin leaves of the tree began to recede in areas while growing longer in others, until the leaves were concentrated ‘behind’ the tree, creating a long tail of ‘hair’.

And finally, the bark near the top of the suddenly incredibly human-shaped tree morphed, changing into a face… a face which did not move, despite the sudden sound of words.

“I am the second of the ninety nine Demon Lords under the command of Chronos, Elder Treant and Keeper of the Kingdom of the Dead, I am Willow… Intrigue me.” The words over, the second Demon Lord clenched her fists the face morphing into a grimace as it screamed, a horrible scream, terrifying just about everyone in the room as she began to move.

“Scatter!” Arthur called out, and everyone moved, not considering direction just yet, so long as it was away from the massive humanoid tree…

Everyone except for Matt and Sheikh who looked to each other with a glance before standing firm…

Clearly the two of them had the same thought, to see the strength of the Elder Treant and convey how much damage each of the group could take.

When Willow swung her massive arm, one could almost see the moment the two Guardians had the same thought.

‘I regret this choice’

It goes without saying that both of them flew off the moment the impact hit them, the hit forcing both Sheikh and Matt into the air and flying into some nearby dead trees, causing said trees to snap due to their brittle nature.

“Get those two a healer, try not to get hit!” Arthur didn’t even need to hear the estimations those two had.

Matt and Sheikh both focused on Endurance. There was no way that they weighed a small amount at this point, and yet both were hit flying?

Yeah, Arthur was reasonably sure that getting hit by a truck would be a good estimation on how much getting hit by Willow would hurt.

Arthur was one of the few who caught the moment John seemed to vanish, most likely using the tombstones as cover as he snuck over to Matt and Sheikh to heal them… unfortunately, the other healers weren’t aware of this, so Arthur had to stop them.

“We got a healer there, leave them! Anyone with a Fire Element or Lightning, we need some damage here!” Ranged combatants such as Michael began to attack, making sure to stay near the edge of the natural arena of trees.

Willow did not accept such attacks so simply, turning to the ranged Adventurers and roaring…

Then there was a strange bit of light around her ‘face’ that seemed almost like a magic circle, and wooden stakes flew off in the direction of the Adventurers as if the Demon Lord was firing off a machine gun of some kind.

“Hit the deck!” Michael called out immediately, waving his arm to create whatever defence he could out of his Element.

The stakes were barely defended against, and Arthur frowned as Albert appeared next to him.

“My Element is Wood, is it alright if I get the last hit?” Albert asked as Arthur frowned, looking to the Russian with a look of slight indignation.

“If you can, go for it, I don’t think we have the luxury to decide that though.” Arthur warned, and Albert’s eyes widened for a moment before he gave a tight smirk.

“I see agent Fife wasn’t wrong about you… come on, we need some advice here.” Albert said as Arthur nodded, looking to his comrades…

They really needed a communication system of some kind... for now, shouting would have to work.

“Everyone, she’s a Wood Element, probably has high defence and health, slow attack, capable of long ranged attacks and can only move fast under momentum!” Arthur shouted, summarizing what they learnt in the few exchanges already made with the massive Demon Lord…

Rather, Arthur was beginning to wonder how strong Willow was… and whether or not she was actually supposed to be fought with six people or more.

Whatever the case was, Arthur had already formatted a basic plan.

“Guardians, stick to one or two ranged fighters, defend them from the stakes! Melee fighters with confidence in their speed, stay in range of her attacks, dodge as much as you can! Slower melee fighters, take advantage of openings for hit and run attacks! Healers, rotate between the ranged group and the melee fighters where necessary! Let’s all make it out of this!”

At this point, Arthur still didn’t think he was suited for the leadership position… he still had the belief that he didn’t have the charisma or ability to be one…

“Let’s go!” Arthur charged forward, not noticing the stares he was getting.

What Arthur did not realize, yet, was that sometimes those things weren’t always necessary.

With a roar, Willow swung a massive hand towards Arthur, swinging almost as if trying to give him an uppercut, only for Arthur’s body to be enveloped by Lightning as he moved with renewed speed.

Sometimes, all a leader needed to do… was to take the first step.

Stepping to the side, it was as if a bus was driving by just next to his face, his breath laboured, and his eyes wide… and yet, Arthur felt it was the right moment, stabbing out towards the arm with his Dagger of Hunger, Soul Flame appearing in his hand as he cleaved into Willow’s arm, getting a scream from the Elder Treant.

“Follow his lead!” Albert called, barely noticing the awe on all of the other Adventurer’s faces.

This, this was why agent Shaun seemed so adamant that Arthur be the leader of the Raid Group, because somehow, despite how he sounded, despite how unreliable Arthur appeared at times…

When things got bad, he was always amongst the first to move.

A person like that was someone you could not help but follow, someone who you could not help but look at for guidance…

Up until that attack, the Raid Group was not quite sure of Arthur being the ‘Strongest Adventurer’ and felt that maybe he had only attained the title out of luck…

But following that, Arthur had acquired the (occasionally begrudging) respect of his fellow Adventurers.

The fight continued with Albert’s shout, and everyone was whipped into a flurry of movement, no one staying still as everyone began to operate to their best.

Thief-type Adventurers such as Jade and Emilia, along with Arthur, Ichiro and Albert, were among those who were constantly swarming Willow, keeping her from focusing intently on the ranged combatants lest she suffer a stronger blow from one of the closer combatants.

Heavy Warriors, such as Loyiso (who should have been a Healer) and Alice were on rotation, aiming for heavy, crushing blows when Willow was next to incapable of turning and suddenly hitting them, each of them jumping out of combat after one heavy blow.

Incidentally, Alice’s weapon for the battle was a battle axe that was probably slightly larger than the ‘human limit’ size wise.

Arthur, in the midst of the flurry, realized that Alice was probably thinking of woodcutters as she attacked, given her stance which reminded him of a batter in baseball.

The ranged fighters made sure to limit their attacks, for if they attacked too much Willow would begin to focus more on them than those close to her.

“Our attacks are a bit too thin.” Jade called out to Arthur during a swap, and Arthur couldn’t help but agree… the bark of Willow was defending her, not to mention that all her was formed of twisted and connected branches and her…

Trunk. That was the answer.

“Melee, aimed for joints, ranged, aim for centre mass!” Not everyone understood why Arthur called out for that attack pattern, though some immediately began to try and understand.

Willow, unfortunately… was intelligent.

Sure, she was currently roaring and rampaging like a mindless monster, but she was not stupid… she could understand everything they were saying.

She immediately seemed to focus on Arthur, roaring at him, as Arthur prepared to dodge the stake shots.

Instead, the magic circle appeared at his feet, surprising Arthur as roots shot from the ground, wrapping around his ankles, holding him place as Willow began to move.

Willow had three advantages.

One, she was capable of rational thought, and unlike Blade could use magic as a result.

Two, she was extremely well armoured…

And three, due to her size and strength, Willow couldn’t be kept from moving in a certain way, only distracted, but if she forced herself into one particular direction they couldn’t exactly stop her.

And this situation made use of all three advantages. Arthur hadn’t been aware that Willow could use a ‘stun’ type ability, that she would immediately catch onto his plan and try to remove him before he could explain it, or that she’d ignore all attacks to crush him…

Willow was in front of him by the time he had cut through the roots, swinging in a wide sweeping attack that was certain to hurt him quite a bit…

Instead, Arthur felt his mind focus as he sighed.

Suddenly, for just a moment, it felt as if time had stopped… Arthur looked to the left, seeing the arm approaching, and looked back to the face on Willow’s trunk.

Spark Step… not the Lesser version, but the Basic version.

Of course, it was not like time actually stopped, or that Arthur was now suddenly untouchable… but there was always that rush of speed the moment he activated it that it felt like such to Arthur.

No doubt said rush was about to vanish, but Arthur didn’t mind… he just needed to move.

It was a horrifying moment for all watching the attack as Emilia screamed out his name, but for Arthur himself, it felt as if he was moving in a swamp, his body incapable of moving at the speeds he was processing the world around him…

It was an incongruence fuelled by how Arthur’s Strength was not high enough to make full use of his speed, but his Dexterity was now approaching the point where the Spark Step could be used for a bit…

Unfortunately the Spark Step would wear off in a minute, maybe two minutes at max, despite how it would feel twice as long to Arthur.

Moving with the arm, Arthur immediately knew he could not outrun the swing from his current position, instead taking a step or two before leaping off of the ground, tucking into a near-ball shape with his feet facing the gigantic hand of Willow.

Shutting off Spark Step, time flowed correctly once more, and as the arm was about to make contact, Arthur kicked off, using the arm as a springboard as he flipped, crashing into a tree…

It looked worse than it was, though Arthur still felt pain in his legs, he knew with his Vitality he’d be up in a moment, even if no Healer got to him.

“Arthur, you okay?” Matt was already there though, having been guarding the Healers from any of the ranged attacks Willow launched, guarding his leader from further harm.

“I’m alright, bit of a pain in my legs… I actually have an idea for taking out Willow though.” Arthur said, waiting for his legs to feel marginally better…

“I’m all ears.” Matt was a brilliant teammate, despite how abrasive his attitude was to those he did not know.

“If I build up some charge using one of the Spark Step spells, I can launch off a Lightning attack larger than what I’m normally capable of.” Arthur reminded Matt, getting a nod.

“I’m thinking that, if I use such an attack, I can create an opening to her weak spot… I’m going to need a solid minute to build up charge though.” Arthur himself had almost forgotten about this technique, as it was rare that he built up enough charge to use this attack…

Helping Arthur up, Matt smirked.

“Don’t worry man, do what you need to do… that overgrown bush won’t even be able to touch you.” Matt said, turning away from Arthur as the Wall of Steel flexed his shoulders.

“Everyone! We need a minute, keep her shut down by any means necessary!” Matt shouted, stepping forward, no one really knew that it was Matt who shouted, what with him having been kind of quiet for the whole trip.

But at this point, they knew they had to trust everyone in the group. That, and it was established that the only people who would shout any orders were team leaders and or people with information from said team leaders.

“Arthur… are you sure you’re okay?” Emilia appeared next to Arthur, both of them looking towards Willow who actually tried to step on that South African warrior, who just rolled out of the way… All while screaming what was likely obscenities.

“Jou ma sé poes!” that, that had to be a curse of some kind.

“I’m okay, John healed me… Don’t worry Emilia, I’ll be fine… if you want to help, get some of the fighters to focus on Willow’s face.” It was another obvious weak point…

Then again, the obvious weak point for all living creatures was their skull.

“Got it, we… I’ll be waiting.” Emilia’s correction didn’t go unnoticed. Arthur stared at her blue eyes for a moment before looking away.

This was definitely not the time to talk about that.

Emilia left, and finally Arthur was alone…

Maybe, he wasn’t sure about John, who was constantly using his Sneak Skill to be wherever he needed to be without being targeted by Willow.

Ignoring that, Arthur focused on that feeling, summoning Spark Step once more instead of its Lesser variation, mostly because he could build charge slightly faster with the better version.

Feeling the pulsing energy, Arthur began to move, somehow the Spell actually gathered energy more when he moved…

He guessed it was somehow actually converting kinetic energy into electrical charge, but he wasn’t sure… there were rumours of devices being made to do that, but Arthur would definitely find it funny if he achieved it through a ‘magic spell’ by accident.

Arthur’s movement was erratic, and anyone seeing him running would see the sparks flying from his form as his hair spiked, but despite how irregular they were, no one could claim he was slow as he ran.

As he did so, the other team leaders had all approached Willow now, knowing that the fight would soon finish if the leader of Einherjar was to be believed.

The first to attack was Jade, her Anima being sharp wires which she could attack with in a manner similar to a certain butler with a monocle.

She was definitely not as strong as said butler, but she had the potential for such strength, as she controlled the wires to slice into where Willow would have Achilles tendons had she been an actual human, getting a roar in response to the pain.

The next to attack was Loyiso, taking his massive sword and swinging it at one of Willow’s arms which was lowered due to her attacking another Adventurer… and after accumulating damage, it was Loyiso’s attack that tore off the arm, leaving Willow to focus on attacking Loyiso.

Willow attempted to use the restraining attack on Loyiso, only for the vines to be cut by Sheikh who actually lept at Willow’s chest, driving the giant tree Demon Lord back a step, giving an opening for Albert and Ichiro.

“He’s going to get the last hit, isn’t he?” Albert said sarcastically as Ichiro chuckled.

“Yeah, but that’s okay, he’s the main character of this fight after all.” Ichiro said as they both had their attacks ready.

Using a Spell Skill, Ichiro focused Wind onto his blade creating a tiny whirlwind as he slashed, cutting a gouge into Willow’s ‘face’.

Following up on Ichiro’s attack, Albert summoned his weapon, a spear, as he stabbed upwards, channelling a Spell of his own as roots tore from the ground, a literal ‘spear of roots’ as it hit Willow in the face, damaging it even more as Willow swung her fists, roaring once more.

She was about to attack when she saw it… a blue light approaching… involuntarily looking at it, taking her attention off of her opponents, she saw him approaching.

Having discarded Soul Flame into his inventory, Arthur Clive was dashing forward, his dagger tucked close to his body as he rushed, barely noting Matt kneeling while holding his shield above him.

Ah… so this is him.

Approaching Matt, Arthur jumped, placing a foot on Matt’s shield as Matt pushed off, propelling Arthur even further.

This light is Arthur Clive…

Arthur flew against Willow who was leaning back from the force of the previous hits, as he held his dagger in two hands.

“Good bye, milady.” Willow’s wooden face actually held a small smile as a voice sounded out.

“Good bye, knight.” And with that, Arthur stabbed into Willow’s forehead, simultaneously releasing the electric charge he had held up to that point, and activating the Dagger of Hunger’s Void skill to further increase damage.

This is the Devourer.

It took barely a moment within the whole fight, but a practical explosion sounded out, the death knoll of the second Demon Lord.

And once more, Arthur did not even notice as his consciousness faded.

Waking up to his name being called out, Arthur looked around everyone as Michael explained to Albert that this happened the last time they fought Blade as well…

“Ah, Arthur… glad to see you’re awake… let’s go.” Albert showed the teleportation podium, standing right where Willow’s tree/body once stood.

Standing with some help from Emilia, Arthur stumbled slightly before walking over to the podium with some help.

Select Area:

Dungeon Entrance

Forest of the Maiden

Kingdom of the Dead

Selecting the Dungeon Entrance, Arthur’s group walked through the shining door that appeared, emerging into the Dungeon Entrance room where agent Shaun Fife awaited them.

“Welcome back. Thank you.” Was all he said as the Adventurer’s all felt some relief… yeah, their fight was over, at least for today…

Going to sleep that night, Arthur felt himself dreaming, dreaming of things he should not know.

Ah… once more you return before your appointment. Once more, you slay a mighty foe.

Am I to be rewarded once more?

No. This reward is not suited for you… but you are most certainly a greedy one.

I have to be to grow further.

That you do, that you do… don’t worry. You will be rewarded… but unlike before, it will not be evident…

What do you mean?

Rather… well, I guess it would be appropriate to call it a ‘seed’. As long as you fight, as long as you live, as long as you survive… it will bloom someday.

So it’s a possibility.

Yes… now then, awaken once more.

Arthur Clive

Level: 36 (D-Rank)

Class: Linked Swordsman- Grants one stat point to Strength and Wisdom per level

Gives Soul Sight (Unique) Skill

Anima

Dagger of Hunger

Cloak of Will

Anima Skills

No Change

Primary Element: Lightning

Personal Skills

Tactician II (86/100) - increases Wisdom by 15% (total 130%)

Sword Sage I (184/200)- Any bladed weapon deals 20% extra damage

Soul Sight II (72/300) - Allows insight beyond mortality

Dual Wielding II (63/100) - Greater use of two weapons

Lightning Elemental II (31/200) - Use supplementary lightning spells

Stats

Strength: 47

Dexterity: 52

Intelligence: 35

Wisdom: 63 (81)

Endurance: 34

Vitality: 47

As a Bonus, the stats of the other Chosen will be included. However, these stats are all from before the fight against Willow, and only show what Arthur knew of them… which in some cases isn’t much (looking at you Sheikh).

Albert Ivanov

Level: 33 (D-Rank)

Class: Vein Magician- Grants one stat point to Intelligence and Vitality per level

Gives Vein Booster (Unique) Skill

Anima (Skill)

Not Given

Primary Element: Wood

Secondary Element: Darkness

Personal Skills

Parallel Computation II (62/100) - increases Intelligence by 15%

Vein Booster II (48/300) – Use Stat Boosting Spells

Stats

Strength: 30

Dexterity: 30

Intelligence: 60 (69)

Wisdom: 44

Endurance: 30

Vitality: 60

Ichiro Kazuto

Level: 33 (D-Rank)

Class: Gale Swordsman- Grants one stat point to Strength and Dexterity per level

Gives Swordsmanship Skill and Gale Arts (Rare) Skill

Anima

Sky Cutting Katana

Primary Element: Wind

Personal Skills

Quick Reflexes II (75/100) - increases Dexterity by 15%

Gale Arts II (48/150) – Use Wind Spells to boost melee abilities

Swordsmanship III (2/200) – Use Stat Boosting Spells

Stats

Strength: 60

Dexterity: 60 (69)

Intelligence: 25

Wisdom: 25

Endurance: 42

Vitality: 42

Jade Ainsworth

Level: 32 (D-Rank)

Class: Wire Assassin- Grants one stat point to Endurance and Dexterity per level

Gives Wire Arts (Rare) Skill

Anima

Silver Strands

Primary Element: Mind

Personal Skills

Quick Reflexes II (62/100) - increases Dexterity by 15%

Dagger Arts II (21/100) – Use Daggers skilfully

Wire Arts II (63/150) – Use Wire-shaped weaponry with ease.

Stats

Strength: 33

Dexterity: 50

Intelligence: 41

Wisdom: 40

Endurance: 42

Vitality: 39

Loyiso Nanda

Level: 32 (D-Rank)

Class: Grand Healer- Grants one stat point to Wisdom and Strength per level

Gives Healing Scripture (Rare) Skill

Anima (Skill)

Not given

Primary Element: Earth

Personal Skills

Tactician II (41/100) - increases Wisdom by 15%

Hero’s Strength II (2/100) - increases Strength by 15%

Healing Scripture II (21/100) – Learn healing Spells, lowers Mana costs

Great Swordsmanship II (63/100) – Use great-swords skilfully

Stats

Strength: 60 (69)

Dexterity: 24

Intelligence: 40

Wisdom: 59 (67)

Endurance: 34

Vitality: 30

Sheikh (real name not given)

Level: 32 (D-Rank)

Class: Dust Guardian- Grants one stat point to Endurance and (Not Given) per level

Gives (Not Given) Skill (apparently Rare though)

Anima

Fortress Shield

Primary Element: Not Given

Personal Skills

(None were given, Arthur guessed these, and as such he doesn’t know what level Sheikh has them as, or if he has them)

Shield Arts- decreases Damage taken when blocking

Stand Strong- Increases Endurance by 10-15%

Stats (Not Given)