"Hah… cough cough!" Bob wanted to sigh, but he quickly turned it into a cough. He wiped the cold sweat off his face, glancing from left to right. The demon lord Aquarius stood on his left, and Freya on his right, "Cough cough!"
Welcome to Area 05. In this area, there was nothing but a pitch blackness. Their only source of light was the torch Bob carried. There were no doors in sight, and after feeling around, they found out Area 05 was an enclosed path that led further away from light.
"Are you okay, boss? Should I get you water?" Freya turned to Bob with a worried expression worn on her face, but her eyes were like piercing daggers. She looked around, then sighed, "I can't see a thing… how do we get water, boss? Are we lost, boss?"
"We are not lost! How do you get lost in a straight path?" Bob rolled his eyes then paused, 'Did we bargain for this? I had underestimated the danger of this prison, and used up a Hex Key. Now, I have led these two into this strange place… but, I will have to take responsibility.'
"It's your fault we got in this mess, you should take the responsibility! We should go back now, and use the door in Area 03 to reach Area 04!" Freya advised, looking around with a frown, "If we stay here for too long, we will get lost. It's not a matter of capability, boss."
"No, it's not that…" Bob frowned.
⦗Area Danger Level 0⦘
"I can't sense the path back." He added, after glancing at the screen.
Freya paused, furrowing her brows and probing the area with her senses. Her perception wasn't as high as Bob's, but she wanted to feel what he was feeling. Her lips curled after a while, "All I probe is a vast emptiness. It's sealing my senses outside of the light…"
"The darkness here is special. I guess I will have to reevaluate how dangerous this is." Bob stood, turning to Aquarius who carried the bulk of their physical load — stuff that would only clutter their inventory — on his back. He sniffed around, but refused to move outside the light.
"So, we'll need to spread the light somehow… We only grabbed three torches from the last area! I doubt we can go back at this rate." Freya sighed with a hopeless expression, then she stopped gazing around, focusing her gaze ahead, "Let's just march on!"
"Freya, if you killed an ally would you get penalised?" Bob asked, turning around to stare her in the eyes with a stoic face. She looked him up and down, refusing to speak so he added, "I don't want to kill you for XP or anything, I'm just curious!"
"I would get half the XP. Nothing more. Nothing less." Freya answered, "Backstabbing is common but useless if what you want is just XP. You can just have someone who is strong kill who you want, then kill that person. That way, you cheat the system and get the XP."
"Wow! That's… wait… Why do you even know this?" Bob stepped away from Freya, wondering why the sudden cold wind was coming from. He felt it enter his clothes and caress his skin, sending bad signals throughout his body, "Did the temperature just drop?"
Aquarius growled, and Bob got a bad feeling. He entered his battle stance, pulling out a dagger and watching Freya pull a dozen. The trio looked around the area, backing each other so they won't get attacked from behind. Bob paused, then it felt it — the ground trembling.
⦗Area Danger Level 0⦘
"It's not a monster?" Bob blurted out, but as the words fell so did a blade from the ceiling, and he turned around to block it, sending sparks flying. His heart skipped beats, and he finally realised the purpose of this room, "Keeping us holed in the light? A room full of traps we can't sense?"
"None of these should be strong enough to kill us. We were worrying for nothing." Freya took a glance at the blade that had collapsed to the ground, and it did not look that strong. She sighed, "We should remain in formation or— Bob! What are you doing?"
Bob crouched, reaching his hand and touching the blade that fell. It's texture was smooth and it was cold to his touch so it felt quite artificial. It was just a normal blade, quick big, but normal, 'If its soo normal, then why set it as a trap in the first place? To lower our guard?'
He heard something whizzing through the darkness, and as he stood up his pupils narrowed to needle point. An arrow stabbed into his chest then pierced through his back, causing him to stagger back in shock, vomiting blood from his mouth, "I was too quick to react…"
⦗Health -50⦘
"Fifty points out of nine hundred? A measly amount…" Bob spat out a mouthful a blood, wiped his face, then straightened his back. He turned in the direction of the arrow, "It did not inflict status effects, or deal any special damage. If I didn't know better, I would think this a breeze."
'Two absolutely normal attacks? I see. Rather than spending on one final boss, they're chipping away at our mental strength with these numerous 'regular' attacks.' He rolled his eyes. He figured it out in like two seconds, and was sure many before him must have figured it out too.
"We should slow down with our advance and try to—" Freya started speaking only to get Bob's all-knowing smile, "Why are you smiling like that? Hey, boss! Your face is glowing and you— you're floating? I'm hallucinating aren't I?"
"Yes, you are. It's all according to plan." Bob cleared his throat, then his expression turned cold and serious, forcing Freya to be serious as well. He nodded to Aquarius, "No that's what they want. We are not waiting here to be toyed with by those arrows — we're charging forward."
"Won't we set off more traps rushing like that?" Freya stared at Bob, wondering how foolish he could get, but she just revealed that all-knowing smile again. She sighed with a vein popping on her forehead, her blades floating around her, "What is it, boss?"
"The truth is that, the path is riddled with traps. We are going to use Aquarius as a shield, then we'll rush to the next Area. We can't freeze under these circumstances." Bob smiled because Freya did not have a choice, "We need to get to higher areas! Things would be interesting, wouldn't they?"
Freya glanced at the road back, then clenched her fists, "You are going to leave me here once I begin protesting, aren't you? Since you've made up your mind, let's go! The faster we go, then the quicker I get to find something edible to kill and eat!"
"I thought they were— never mind." Bob ignored Freya's judgemental look, patted Aquarius, then opened his mouth to speak, "You'll run ahead, and I'll carry the light after us! Make sure you don't run ahead of the light! Freya, hold our rear! I'll watch out for flanks."
"Why are you acting like this is war?" Freya asked.
To her question — no comment. They were on the battlefield and there was no time for chit-chat!