The Dwarf wearing the bandana said "I'm Joe". Joe looked around awkwardly for a while. Shogi ignored Joe and said "Is everything alright" speaking to Jahlal but he just whispered to Shogi " I have a bad feeling about him". Shogi nodded his head and said "But leaving him here would be kind of harsh, don't you think?" Besides, we were strangers just moments earlier as well." Jahlal knew Shogi was right and said " If he turns out to be bad news will you take responsibility?" Shogi knew he was insisting on him killing the man but that was something he wouldn't know he could do until the opportunity presented itself . Shogi whispered "Have you ever killed someone". Jahlal said "No I couldn't, that's why I would rather leave him." The chains could be heard dropping to the floor as the next level became available. They turned and walked towards the door but Joe began screaming "If you're just gonna let me rot at least have the decency to kill me with your own hands. Leaving me here is akin to a death sentence anyway." tears left Joe's eyes as his head slammed against the gate. Shogi stopped and said "I can't leave him like this. If he turns out to be no good I.. I will.. I will deal with him." Jahlal and Erika just nodded their heads in acceptance.
Shogi made quick work of the cage. Joe looked up excitedly and said " I thought you guys were going to leave me for a second." Shogi said "we were but we had a change of heart. You're a stranger. Which means you're dangerous." Joe scoffed saying "I'm no more a danger to you then you are to each other. You nearly blew up your own friends." Shogi had a really bad feeling about Joe and was beginning to regret his decision. Shogi ignored Joe's comment and walked forward. The group went through to the next area as the door behind them disappeared. No enemy presented itself this time. Shogi feared that the enemy had a stealth skill and activated mana sight but nothing out of the ordinary was detected. Jahlal and Erika sprinted up to the cage. Jahlal said "Lila, I thought I would never see you again." They broke through the cage quickly. Jahlal was excited and introduced everyone to Lila. The greetings were cut short the moment Shogi said "Don't yall find it strange that every room had a chaos beast except this one." Erika said "yes it is rather strange". Shogi tampered with the door but nothing worked. Eventually everyone grew tired except Shogi and Joe. The fatigue grew so thick that everyone began to fall asleep as Joe looked over at Shogi and said don't you want to take a quick nap too? " I can stand watch."
Shogi reactivated mana sight and saw something strange. It looked like everyones mana was going towards Joe. Shogi looked at Joe and yawned, saying am a little tired. I guess I can take a quick nap too if you really don't mind. Joe grinned from ear to ear as he watched Shogi's eyes close. After waiting for 10 minutes he checked to see if anyone was still conscious then Joe took out a dagger foaming with poison as he drew closer to Jahlal's neck but suddenly Joe was blasted away by a powerful energy freezing the right side of his body. Shogi walked forward and punched him in the gut knocking the wind out of him, dropping him to the ground. Joe coughed up blood grabbing at Shogi's pants as he said " How are you still awake?" Shogi said "I am resistant to all poisons." Joe began laughing as he phased into the shadows. A shadow spike shot up out of the ground but Shogi didn't even bother to dodge it because he had holy armor active. The spike hit him pushing Shogi back for a second but this did not deter Shogi from looking for Joe's mana upon finding it he jumped in the air as he said "Mana Blast light" this caused him to fall immediately cursing his bad luck. Joe said "You going to kill me now." Shogi just nodded his head in affirmation. Shogi darted forward to land a decisive blow as holy armor deactivated but right when he got to Joe. Joe slashed up at Shogi barely missing but the poison from the blade landed on Shogi's face burning it a little bit. Causing him to grab his face because of the pain. Shogi reactivated Holy armor and began his assault again. But it seemed like the longer the fight dragged out the stronger Joe got. Joe was dodging everything Shogi threw his way and eventually started to add counter attacks to his defensive position. The exchanges grew more in Joe's favor as he was now faster than Shogi. Now Joe was attacking and Shogi was defending and Holy armor deactivated again. Shogi made a bold decision. When Joe went for another slash Shogi stepped in allowing the dagger to penetrate his side the burning pain was excruciating. Shogi laughed as he thought back to the evaluations at Armadia academy. He remembered how surprised he felt when Freya headbutted him and remembered the feeling of hugging her. Shogi wondered why he was thinking about this now. Shogi slammed his foot down on Joe's foot and said "I have never killed someone. Honestly I'm scared as hell but if I don't kill you you're just gonna keep getting stronger. It's time to end this now" Shogi poured a lot of mana into his mana blast skill. Joe saw the mana blast getting bigger and was scared but Shogi's foot was pinning down his. Joe began frantically slicing at Shogi screaming "I don't want to die". Cuts were appearing all over Shogi's body until he said "Rest in peace may the light be your guide" This blast was the strongest one he had ever generated as he slammed it into Joe's body he said "Mana Blast fire". He could hear Joe's screams distorting as he changed forms upon his death He transformed into a pink hairless Chaos beast.
The chains dropped to the floor signaling the next floor was available. Everyone was still asleep for another hour. When everyone woke up they saw a bloodied Shogi. Erika was the first to say "What happened." Shogi said " Joe turned out to be the Chaos beast guarding this floor". Jahlal just threw a potion to Shogi saying " Us demons are sensitive to hostility and can sense bloodlust. This is why I wanted to leave him before." Shogi wondered if they would be able to move forward if they didn't kill him. Lila smiled and said "Thank you, it looks like it was a hard fought battle." Shogi shook his head and said "It was difficult". Jahlal said "Is everyone ready to advance?" Shogi was cleaned up but he was starting to feel a little fatigue because he had been the main fighting force. Shogi thought just a little further and this will be over. Shogi said "I'm ready". The group proceeded to the next room as Shogi began to notice they had 1 person from every race, the only one missing was a beastman.
When everyone walked into the next room they were all greeted with a bolt of lightning. They all immediately jumped out of the way with rapid flurries of different attacks of every element hitting everywhere. Shogi finally had time to look at the Chaos beast and it looked like the body of a crocodile with 5 heads that looked like a different animal. The first head looked like a griffin and it shot out bolts of lightning. The second head looked like a lion and was spitting out a rapid burst of fireballs. The third head looked like a snake with acid dripping from out of its mouth. The attacks were dangerous but seemed to come out slower. The fourth head looked like a polar bear and was attacking using ice shards that came out in moderation. The fifth head was the most mysterious because it was shrouded in shadows forming the head of a dragon. This dragon has yet to attack but it had a calculating look to it. Shogi activated Holy Armor and shot mana blast of the light element but to his surprise the dark head turned into a light head sucking in the attack.
Jahlal took the initiative as he summoned his frost eater ax. He shouted "Lila now." Lila said "Enchant" causing his ax to gain a tented glow. Jahlal said "Erika now". Erika said "Safe realm. Guys you have about 30 seconds, the attacks are strong." Jahlal said "Unison" the ax Jahlal held became the embodiment of destruction as it produced every element on it. Jahlal threw the ax at the beast as it clashed against an invisible barrier. Shogi snapped out of his stupor being mesmerized by the attacks and combination attacks. Shogi assaulted the beast barrier with physical attacks until he got blasted against the wall by the Chaos beast. Shogi felt helpless thankfully he had an endless supply of mana right now but right when he was about to get up he heard a shattering sound like glass breaking and saw the head of the griffin explode. This caused all the heads to roar as the light dragon head changed into the dark head again. The dark head erupted a black flame that crashed against the barrier and encased Shogi. To Shogi's surprise there was no pain but he did feel sluggish and realized that holy armor would not activate. Shogi was scared because the only reason he was so brave was because no damage could be done and he was moving about 30% slower. Shogi activated swift and still felt sluggish.
Shogi ran to the Chaos beast dodging it's attacks as fireballs were coming in, he slid underneath and jumped to the side dodging the ice shards. The Head that looked like a snake spit the acid at Shogi but Shogi just blocked it with his forearm as it left a burn on his skin causing him to bleed and vaporizing his shirt. Shogi jumped up and tried to punch the lion head in the face but he before he could he got hit with 2 fireballs direct burning his skin allowing the smell of rotting flesh to fill the room. Shogi stayed conscious some how and punched the Lion head hard in the mouth making it swallow the next fireball and as Shogi dropped to the ground the Chaos beast could be seen trying to stomp on Shogi's body. Jahlal said "thank you Shogi" Thanks to Shogi's distraction they had enough time to load up another attack as it blasted the lions head clean off with the explosion causing severe damage to the snake head that was now squirming out of control. Jahlal left the others and darted in Shogis direction as he got there he picked Shogi's body up until he felt a piercing sensation causing him to drop to a knee Jahlal realized some ice shards were piercing his body he reinforced his grip on Shogi in his hands until he saw the next attack was unavoidable so he threw Shogi and his bag towards the others as he conjured an Ice wall that was barely on time but the acid ate through the wall. Erika grabbed Jahlal's bag and retrieved a healing potion and poured it down Shogi's throat. Erika looked at the recovering Shogi and said "we have to do something or Jahlal is going to die" Shogi was still recovering from the last attack but managed to dart forward use mana blast ice to stop the acid before it could swallow Jahla. Shogi looked at Jahlal and said "Let's finish this beast.