"It's a…" Sun-young's expectations were high and reality was low. She didn't bother touching what lay inside the treasure chest. "...staff."
A length of black steel lay inside the chest, untouched and without shine. It was as though it denied all light.
"Well, would you look at that?" Kazi lightly pushed his armoured pupil forward. "A gift for Marta."
"M-me?"
"You're our resident Mage, so yes you."
"Go ahead," said Sun-young. "Might as well take it."
Marta bit her lip and accepted the staff. Its weight and length seemed to catch her off-guard. Like using a spear for the first time, she clunkily spun it with her fingers. After putting into her inventory and properly equipping, she read out the stats, "It's C-rank, says it boosts magical might by 40 points, and increases dark magic by 25%."
"What is it called?" Kazi asked.
Marta hesitated. "Shadowshade Staff."
"Edgy," William commented.
"I think it's cool," Kazi said.
"Let's get going." Sun-young raised her katana. "You said there were seven cracks. Let's check them all."
Kazi checked on Marta. 'With a staff like that, her magical ability should be good enough.' She was level 13, seven levels below himself, but she had already placed ten points into magical might. To speak of Marta's potential was to describe clear water—there wasn't much to it. She lacked potential. She lacked physicality, drive, and a sense of self. She had a goal, she desired strength, but so did everyone else. Everything important to fighting, Marta didn't have it.
He didn't want to give up on her though. She was young and her eyes shined with a naïve desire to change. He wanted to help her as best he could. Even if she gave up, he wanted to at least give her the opportunity to try.
In the end, Kazi didn't say anything. They went with their original plan, with Sun-young at the front and Kazi right behind her, lighting her path.
Walls were destroyed. Treasure chests were discovered.
"Seriously, man. How are you even seeing the cracks? They're so small," William remarked.
Kazi winked. "Call it an archeologist's eye."
"You guys investigate in pitch black?"
"Yep."
"Man." William shook his head. "Archeologists sure have it hard, eh?"
Another wall, another treasure chest. So far, their rewards weren't absurdly special. He could tell Sun-young was growing disappointed bit by bit. Nothing appealed to her, despite Kazi finding utility in what they discovered. A D-ranked holy staff, a C-rank basket-hilted sword, two dozens worth of potions with various effects, a D-rank hatchet for William to curiously look over, and finally, a Shadow Essence.
Kazi took a particular interest in the shadow. It was a ball and clearly the same type of item as the Divine Essence. The others were slightly intrigued but didn't care enough when he said he wanted it.
They kept moving and running and deflecting. Sun-young persisted in her deflection like a machine incapable of mistakes.
"Left!" Kazi announced.
Then stopped as she heard William slamming his axe again. Standing still and deflecting was surprisingly harder than running and deflecting. Five, eight, eleven seconds passed and William was still bashing his axe in.
An arrow sliced Sun-young cheek and flew past Marta.
"Hurry up, please!" Marta exclaimed.
"This wall!" William grunted. "Isn't! Breaking!"
The stone chipped away. Kazi wasn't wrong, however. A tiny crack encompassed one of the bricks up high, invisible to anyone but Kazi. William, despite not seeing it, believed in him and kept going.
"Stand back! Flameburst Cleave!"
A rush of fire wrapped his axe and he destroyed the wall with an invigorated yell. This time, he managed to create a small hole.
William immediately slapped a hand over his mouth. "Ugh! What is that smell?"
"Don't stop! Keep going!"
His words didn't help. William gagged, stunned by the foul smell.
Realizing they were on the cusp of being overwhelming, Kazi slammed Fire Ball into the hole, causing the stone to redden, and summoned Touch of Thunder. Darkness would have fallen, if not for Kazi casually stealing a flying arrow and getting himself to bleed again. The blue candles lit up like a divine miracle.
"Super Spark Strike!"
Following Kazi's attack was another Flameburst Cleave. Progress was being made.
Marta nervously stood by, watching Kazi and William work at the wall, watching Sun-young push past her limits.
"Mmph!" Blood was drawn again. Sun-young's elbow was struck, her chainmail tunic absorbing the thick of it. She slowed down by a beat, an arrow escaping her katana every now and then.
A minute must have passed. Sun-young couldn't afford another injury.
Bam! The hole broke open. The fiery axe succeeded. Beyond the wall was a strange light. A reflection, maybe, which he was unable to fully analyze as a red screen appeared.
[ Warning! You are approaching the end of the map! ]
[ Warning! You are approaching the end of the map! ]
[ Warning! You are approaching the end of the map! ]
[ Error! You have reached outside Gate 4's parameters! ]
[ Error! Error! ]
Kazi glanced at William, who ignored the warnings and hopped in. Marta soon followed, and Kazi had no choice but to do the same.
Stepping inside, Kazi felt his shoes splash into a puddle. Everything was dark and he lit the space with a Fire Ball.
"Where are we? And seriously, what is that smell? It's like…a rotten corpse or something," William said. Behind them, Sun-young arrived, her step creating a distinct splash. Looking down, the group could see their reflection, dark and wavy. The water—
'No.' Kazi blinked and stared at his reflection. Dark as the liquid was, one would have assumed it was plain water. It wasn't. The thickness and the smell were distinct. 'It's blood.'
The radius of light went further with each step. The Majin-ken katana vibrated and the liquid underneath their steps trembled even further.
Was this…fear? No, it couldn't be. That was impossible. Kazi had discarded such fleeting emotions a long time ago. So what was this? Shivers ran down his spine. His hands were precipitating, the hairs on his arms standing up.
The light unveiled the darkness and what was revealed was that which they should not have seen.
A grotesque, towering figure, nearly twice the size of a person. Its emaciated form seemed almost inhuman, as if it were a nightmarish creation born of some ancient curse. Its desiccated skin clung mercilessly to its skeletal frame, its bones pressing out against its parchment-thin surface.
The creature's complexion bore the ashen pallor of death itself, its sunken eyes like dark voids buried deep within their sockets. It resembled a ghastly skeleton and it did not move as the light touched it.
[ Error! Error! Incorrect monster inbound! ]
Tattered and bloody remnants of lips hung, burdened by eternal hunger. A health bar floated above its head. No health bar and no name.
"What is that…?"
William's voice was less than a whisper and gentle enough to soothe a predator. Yet that set the creature of death off into a frenzy. Its scream shook the world and the group winced and covered their ears.
Its grey arm was a bladed weapon of its own and in five rapid steps came down at William. Kazi had never seen a person get sent flying that fast. He slammed into the wall and the creature swung its other arm at Kazi, who went under its deadly swing and leaped after Marta, grabbing her and rolling away.
Recovering, they watched as Sun-young's katana clashed with the creature. Smoke erupted between them. The creature backed off and Sun-young ran after it, just to stop midway. The creature hissed at her, its hands clenching. Was it trying to heal...?
Marta cried out, "What the hell is that thing!?"
"I don't know," Kazi admitted. Whatever it was, it wasn't a part of the hidden objective. This went outside the boundaries of the gate. Was this...some sort of error?
"Y-you—we can't fight that!" said Marta, shaking. His arm draped over her back, he felt her rising up. Fighting against the safety he was providing. "We have to run! We have to get away from here!"
The fear eroded her eyes and she almost slipped from him. But with a firm hook, he put her back down. "Marta, you said you wanted to get stronger. So don't run. Don't look away."
"I…" Her blue eyes stared at the creature and she gulped. She couldn't blame her either. He felt a chill going down his spine. A kind of coldness he had never felt in his existence, abnormal and subtle.
Marta whimpered. "I don't wanna die…"
"You won't. No one is dying. I won't let it happen. Trust me. So stay."
A humanoid with an ashy, boney structure, and blood that seemed to endlessly flow from its lips. Acting on pure instinct, it continuously classed with Sun-young, causing hisses of smoke between flesh and metal. The swordswoman was at her low end, her knees bent as she went into a defensive stance. Blocking and trying to understand its movements was all she could do. The latter was quite easy, as the creature telegraphed its attacks like a child.
On the other hand, its strength and speed was absurd. Its lashing arms either pushed her back or lifted her from the bloody surface. If it wasn't for her phenomenal footwork, she would have long lost her equilibrium and died.
It went faster, faster, faster, till—
"Sun-young!"
She cried out in pain from the blood draining from her wrist. It wasn't just a knick, he could see the monster had nearly cut it off whole.
"William!"
"Yeah!"
Kazi wasn't going to let her die nor was he going to jump in like an idiot. By coordinating with William, his Super Spark Strike swords and William's Gust Slash axe slammed into the monster and blew it across the lake.
"You got fast," Kazi noted. "You put all your stats into agility?"
"I did. Sun-young had almost twice the agility as me and she was struggling." William stepped back, head straight, and asked the kneeling Sun-young, "Are you alright?"
"No." Blood was falling madly. There was no cauterizing the wound, it was too deep. Her arm was trembling and she took long, agonizing breaths. "That thing, whatever it is, it doesn't like anti magic."
"Anything else?"
Her throat bobbed. "Don't die."
The creature was healing, its purple health bar filling back up. It tilted his head, looking at the two opponents, and shifted close. A sick red burn coloured its ashy chest.