They followed Arlo through the hallway to the next room, it was really spacious and lit by torches, the walls were covered with paintings and weird texts in a foreign or ancient language. Alfreda was first to start a conversation about it.
"I can't read those words, but by looking at the pictures, I can assume that this might be about the demon lord Baal's revival" said Alfreda with an unsure expression.
"Hmmmm, this picture probably depicts a sacrifice. Perhaps they use all of the adventurer's that die here as sacrifices??? That makes sense that they basically invite you in here with that big entrance in front of the pyramid if my theory is correct" said Alfreda with a questioning expression.
Alfreda's theories made the other two think a lot "Baal's revival?" "How many sacrifices left until baal is resurrected?" "Did the other party members death finish his revival?" "How much will he pay if I help revive him $_$" they were blankly staring into the wall, so Alfreda smacked them both in the back of their heads.
*WHACK!!!!!* *Whack*
"Come on guys, let's get going"
"Hey, you smacked me a hundred times harder!!!" Shouted Arlo, who noticed he could feel physical pain now.
Alfreda ignored him and Alice made ice for the bump on his head. They finally came across the next room, it was a big room with pillars made out of sandstone scattered around. A huge door was at the other side of them, with a humanoid figure guarding it. The figure had the head of a dog and a staff like object on its right hand, it had nothing covering it's torso and a skirt like cloth covering the lower part of it's body.
They approached the creature cautiously, holding their weapons firmly and making small steps in case of traps, before stopping in front of it. The creature spoke to them first.
"If you wish to enter the door then you have two options to prove your worth. 1. You win against me in a one on one duel. 2. You solve my riddles three" said the creature with a soft, soothing voice.
"I'll solve the riddles then" said Alfreda with a confident expression and her hands on her hips.
The creature looked a bit nervous, it was emptying it's pockets and looking all over for something.
"Umm... Now where did i put that riddle sheet?" Mumbled the creature to himself.
"Are you looking for this???" Said Arlo while holding out a sheet of papyrus.
"The mask that I'm wearing allowed me to change my class into 'phantom thief' so if you look down again, you'll notice that your legs are gone kekekekeke" said Arlo while laughing.
The creature looked down and noticed that his legs were still there, but the sheet he was using as pants was missing as well as all the jewelry it was wearing. Even the staff it was holding went missing, the only thing it had left was a loin cloth. Alfreda was giving Arlo the stare of disapproval -_-.
"Hey, give those back you bully!!!" Said the creature, holding back it's tears.
"Oh I'll give them back, but you'll have to pay me a thousand gold coins first $_$"
"I Can't, you stole my coin purse o.0"
"If that's the case, then we'll chose duel instead. Your opponent will be the girl to the left (Good luck, Alfreda)" Said Arlo while giving Alfreda a thumbs up.
Alfreda gave Arlo the stare of pure anger, but was surprised by a punch from the creature.
"Pay attention to the fight" said Arlo while enjoying the show.
Alfreda ran out of mana from the wall, so she was helpless against her foe. She evaded some of the punches, but the creature had monstrous speed and strength, the punches that hit hurt like hell. The counter punches she threw didn't seem to faze the creature, even after enhancing her fists with divine gauntlets, using the little mana he had left.
Alfreda got caught by a mean left, closing her eye from the damage sustained. She got her leg swept and fell to the hard sandstone floor, full force. The creature mounted her and threw a flurry of punches, all she could do was block.
"Will you guys help me already?!?!? I'm going to die at this rate"
Alice was ready to help, but Arlo held her back.
"You know, you said you'll pay me five months worth of your salary, but you never told me how much gold that is? So how about you toss in an extra bucket full of gold $_$?" Said Arlo, while rubbing his hands together.
"Fine!!! I'll raise your pay, now get this creature off of me" said Alfreda with a frustrated expression.
Arlo made his way towards them and activated his 10% of abyss power that he can only use once a day. If the creature is stronger than the 10% power, it'll survive the attack, but if it's weaker, then it'll die in one hit. Arlo approached the creature from behind and placed his hand on it's shoulder.
"SOUL STEAL!!!"
The life disappeared from the creature's face and it's soulless body fell down. Arlo touched the soulless body to absorb it and that made every trace of it's existence disappear. The new powerful soul made the voices in his head more rowdy and loud. He stayed calm and barely managed to suppress them by domination, he was sweating profusely and feeling fatigued from the toll all those souls were giving his mind and body. From this moment onwards, he decided to only use 'soul steal' as a last resort.
The door opened not long after the creature died.