Location: The Dungeon, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

It was one thing or another with this dungeon, and it was all exhausting nonetheless. The puzzle room had a certain charm, with it being dubbed Totem Room by Benkei. She was happy to get some treasure out of the deal. As well, the next room’s challenges were much more terrifying than they first thought. In terms of the super close call of that troll’s sneak attack on her, thankfully, she had a bracelet protecting her. It was pretty much one of those things that made her life flashing before her very eyes, but she refocused herself. The initial shock of being sneak attacked was over, but it was in the back of her mind. One small mistake could’ve costed her life, and this dungeon wasn’t playing by standard game rules anymore. It means the reality they see themselves in is now what they are in.

’ Oh god, what’s going to be next… Hopefully, we are close to the exit of this dungeon...’ Kalie thought to herself. She felt expatriated and couldn’t help but feel the world's pressures were hell in a handbasket. It then came to her, and the Chasm was the next room in this dungeon. If it weren’t for her dark sight, she would be so much more afraid. She always had a fear of heights since she was a little girl; it’s the reason why she would rather tread carefully than get up high. On the one hand, Kalie didn’t recognize anything out of place but stayed away from the Chasm’s edge as a precaution.

It was a bit shocking that Alex noticed something that she didn’t take notice of. Kalie was grateful for Alex’s skills to see things over her, trying not to panic. She smiled gratefully and giggled with a sigh of relief coming from her. It did help; she waited until after Benkei said his peace to Alex before she spoke. ” Alex, thank you for figuring it out. And you did a great job too.” Kalie said happily with a definite relief in her whole body. As such, she did go up to Alex and high-five him since it's not a good idea to leave someone hanging like that. It’s only because she had no way to get past this obstacle, unlike Alex had done. She has been noticing something wrong with Benkei, but it’s slight things here and there, but he kept calm and as a leader should.

Kalie did notice Benkei’s refocusing himself, slightly in how his body language is. She knew something must be ahead of this Chasm, what’s next, more Goblins, like what happened much earlier in the dungeon. It seems reasonable to assume there’s always a pack of monsters before the dungeon's end boss. ” Thank god… I want to so get out of this dungeon-like before we got in it… Let’s do our best together, please? Benkei, you are doing a great job leading us.” Kalie said, complimenting Benkei’s leadership so far through the dungeon. She felt like he needed some encouragement to keep going because it wouldn’t be right if their leader fell apart before the end. The burden on everyone was great; they need to make sure there were no mistakes or die. She had a bad feeling about what’s going on with Group A; hopefully, they are alright. As such, all she could do was smile, for everyone on this team needed encouragement.

It didn’t take too long to remind her to look at Kazuki with a slightly pained look of I’m gratefully sorry for being a bitch earlier. Kalie gave out a sigh and smiled at him. ” As plain as it is on my face, I am gratefully sorry, Kazuki. I do hope you can forgive my outbursts… but I was roleplaying as a bitch...” Kalie spoke sincerely to Kazuki. She got that off her chest at least, since she needed to genuinely and sincerely to Kazuki. It would be better to start on a new leaf instead of keeping her first impression the same. She hoped Kazuki took her apology much better than the other times she said it.

Location: The Dungeon, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

The sudden loud noise of giant moving chains occurred as the bridge began to lower from his placement above them.

But as people congratulated Alex Rael heard a chittering and then the sound of movement. She had thought she heard heavy breathing before Alex shot his shot, but she wasn’t sure. She wish she had asked if anyone else had heard it. It unnerved her and the entire group heard a loud, guttural hissing scream that filled the echoes of the cavern from above—from the top of the bridge that was now being lowered. What the hell had they just woken up?

In a few moments Rael realized what that answer was.


A dire bat.

The group pushed backward, away from the bridge to put some space between them and their new foe. As they did so it appeared they had the worst luck as the sound of tumbling, cracking rocks from behind them. Before long several of the walls of the room collapsed to reveal gnoll resting spots and another group of cave gnolls armed with bloodied pickaxes came running at Graves and the entire back-line. Gnolls at their back and a dire back at their front.

“Get them!” One of the gnolls hissed, though Rael had immediately kept her focus on the bat that was four times her size in front of her.

Rael eyed the creature as she kept her composure, though she noticed one particular thing about the creature. ‘It’s injured?’ The thought was pretty easy to connect now that the creature had swooped down from its slumber on the raised bridge. One of its eyes was clawed shut and its wings were bloodied and ripped. Dried blood covered its entire torso as it shambled forward, growling with all the force it had left. Another twist in the game. Minibosses tended to not have quirks like this, but at least it was injured. At least Alja was by her side to face the bat head-on.

“Alex, go give Graves support! Now!” She ordered, telling the archer to shoot at the amount of gnolls coming at them from behind. She wasn’t the leader, but it was her instinct. Alex could shoot more gnolls than help against the main threat and the faster the gnolls went down the sooner Graves could join them to finish off whatever was left of the bat.

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

The Moonlight Potion had tasted bad enough that she nearly preferred the darkness. Nearly.

While Alex drew his bow and took aim at the “weird stones” across the room, Seele meandered to the chasm’s edge, giving Graves a warm smile as he passed, and joined their tank at the cusp into the dark. Before the glitch, a pit like this might very well have gone on forever, and players unfortunate enough to take the plunge would just be code falling into code until the system decided to spit them back out at the entrance. Now though, she wasn’t so sure. Was there suddenly a bottom? Had the glitch tacked on one more pointed, ugly facet of reality to this place? Or was it still as she’d imagined it was; bottomless, not from code but from…well, magic, she supposed. That was the only explanation in her mind.

The saying was: “It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the landing,” but they appeared to have found the exception. It made her teeth itch, made her brow damp, but it wasn’t fear. She was no stranger to heights, in fact there had always been something serene about them to her.
…you… …promised…
She would have taken the moment to chat Rael up—they hadn’t said too much to each other so far that wasn’t strictly-business. The girl at least looked like she was holding up spectacularly well, but it never hurt to reach out and make sure.

It’d have to wait.

Expecting there to be only the puzzle was perhaps a bit naïve, it hadn’t even been deadly. When the direbat’s shriek filled the room, Seele backed away with the group, only to find gnolls waiting for them. She’d mispositioned herself wandering off from the backline, but while she was here she might as well make herself useful.

“Alja! Rael!”

With a turn of her wrist and a flex of her fingers, Seele cursed their weapons. Ghostly vapor drifted from the haft of Rael’s spear, warm to the skin like mist from a bath, and the sharp point of its tip glinted with an uncanny glow. Her Moonlit eyes would find sudden difficulty in defining its edges, as though they were sucking what little light there was away.

Alja’s great flail was touched differently, being a thing of magic. Umbral light budded within its icy frame like the embers of a newborn fire, growing steadily into a violet roar that emitted no heat. The same ethereal mist wafted from its bulk, thicker than Rael’s spear, almost like smoke.

That would do for now. She’d gleaned that the direbat was wounded—strange, but undeniable—so she hoped they’d be able to handle it well enough. Part of her wanted to throw Alja an extra shield, but with how close those gnolls were getting, she had to trust the icy warrior would be able to handle herself.

To her relief, Kazuki stepped in and with a curt incantation, brought a fury of wind to bear against the incoming creatures. It granted Graves a moment of reprieve, and herself an opportunity to compound Kazuki’s efforts. Seele took a strong stance and whipped up her hands, aiming finger-guns at the recovering gnolls. Dark-bright light flared in her eyes, and she invoked the Fivefold Path. Denial.

Thin, quarter-sized rings of arcane light flashed into being at the tips of her index fingers. She flexed her thumbs, the rings flashed violet, and one by one the gnolls caught in her manicured crosshairs would find themselves fighting a devilish affliction to their speed.

The amulet’s effects were beginning to show themselves. The spells she’d casted were minor, but she’d thrown a fair number of them out, and the frayed end of her inner power was closer than she was used to, or comfortable with. She’d have to be a bit more conservative with her efforts going forward, or risk running herself empty.

Location: The Dungeon -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

It was all coming apart. Their way forward was blocked by an enormous, wounded dire bat. Their way back was blocked by ravenous gnolls. And Benkei was remembering. It was always in these situations, wasn’t it; when the tension was highest that the most calm broke down? When the pressure got too high?

You’re a tank and you don’t have any enhancement magic? That’s stupid! Public games were always like that, weren’t they. Players ready to make the first comment, to insult.

I don’t need enhancement magic with what I can do. I’m the best tank around because I don’t rely on buffing myself, but protecting my party. He’d always been proud of how he’d found a way to use a different school of magic to help build his defensive skillset. Earth sucked, people said. There weren’t many good ranged abilities, and you required your terrain to fit your needs.

Dumbass. Without enhancement, your DPS as a tank will suffer. You’re slow enough using the Greatsword path. If we tried to PVP right now, I bet you wouldn’t last ten seconds.

Ten seconds later, and it was over. Benkei’s skills weren’t all focused on defense after all.

Benkei looked out at the charging group of gnolls and his comrades engaging them. With Rael engaging the bat, he knew that meant he had to mop up the trash. Off tanks were usually in charge of picking up the adds, after all. He dashed to Graves' flank, but before he entered the fray he quickly slammed his blade into the ground. “Earthern sprites, heed my call!” The ground began to shift around them, just like earlier when he’d conjured up a pillar of earth.

This was different, however.

“Skewer my quarry!” Spikes of earth erupted from the ground in the middle line of the charging gnolls, much like the deadly spikes from the trap room they’d begun this hellish dungeon in. They erupted out of the ground at an angle, piercing the breasts of any of the gnolls too foolish to keep charging into the fray. Benkei hefted the blade from the ground, and continued his charge now, with the aim of providing backup to Graves in the front line while Alex fired away at close range. Benkei hoped that his spell pissed off enough to draw their attention to him now.

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Packs of laughing dogmen came streaming into the chamber. Stumbling, leaping, crawling over one another to grab their next meal. All their beady, ravenous eyes were locked on the two smallest party members at the back-- Seele and Kazuki. Weak, vulnerable; easy prey. The gnolls bounded forward with such ferocious speed and singular intent that it was already too late. They were just too fast. They'd be tearing into their quarry before anyone could peel away from the dire bat. A perfect ambush, save for one, fatal flaw:

The screaming locomotive of muscle and steel charging right back at them.

"Come on!" Graves's sword sang as it left its sheathe, meeting flesh and bone. One of the laughing dog's went silent, the contents of its throat spilling onto the stone. Two more ran over its falling corpse to get at its attacker. Pickaxes flew. The first was hacked off at its haft but the second found purchase in Graves's thigh. The man roared, grabbing the back of the gnoll's head and jamming its face into the other end of the it's own weapon. Adrenaline kept Graves moving as he pulled the pickaxe out, tossing it aside just as another group of gnolls joined the fray.

One of them pounced on his back, claws burrowing into his shoulders to keep it there. Graves kept swinging at its friends, nodachi twisting through the air in wide, deadly arcs. The beast climbed along his back-- leaving long cuts along the flesh as it did-- until it was close enough to lean down and bury its teeth into Graves's throat. The man's wordless bellows sputtered out into wheezed coughing, and his sword slowed in its swings long enough for the rest of the gnolls to rush him. They clamped down on his arms and began to wail away at his chest, peeling apart his armor like a tin can to get at the meat inside.

Kazuki shouted some nonsense and a spell erupted around Graves's body, flinging his attackers in every direction. He stumbled backward onto a knee, shooting the support a crazed, furious look-- don't get in my way.

His palm hit the ground, channeling arcane magic into the pools of fresh blood laid out around him. It came crawling through the air toward him, rushing into his open wounds, his finger nails and his pores to get at his bloodstream. Seconds went by before his wounds began to stitch themselves closed. An ugly, painful experience, where new flesh burst forth from the old and slithered across his skin to fit itself into Graves's injuries. It took the longest to repair the bite in his neck.

"Fuck!" Graves coughed up blood, rising to his feet. "Come on, come on, AGAIN!"

Seele was quick to follow up on Kazuki's spell, launching some kind of purple energy through the air. It hit each of the gnolls one by one, slowing them down. What were once rockets of mangled fur became sluggish, tired-- easy to kill.

Just as Benkei reached his side, Graves was running forward again, bellowing and hollowing. Blinded to the pain. Blinded to whatever was going on around him. The only thing he was tunneled in on were the next group of gnolls standing in front of him. Then he was on top of them, nodachi ready to sing through the air again...

And giant bolts of sharpened rock came crashing through the ground, impaling the beasts around him. Graves tried as best he could to avoid the sudden eruptions, but they were numerous and all targeted at the gnolls-- the gnolls he'd put himself right in the center of. Pain kissed his side, his leg, his arm. He yanked himself off the spikes and called more blood up to him.

He'd never felt more alive.

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Alex's moment of victory had been cut short when what looked like an oversized bat clambered throughout the now cramped bridge. It was greatly wounded, fortunately, but that was of little comfort to him. Surrounding both the creature and his party were a pack of beasts that looked like bipedal canines, their oversized claws scraping against the stone ground with every oversized step. They lurched and tumbled rather than ran, their movements monstrous yet human enough to be far more disturbing than if they were only the former.

Bow drawn, his silver eyes drank the traces of light with fervor. Despite their uncanny movements he was able to pinpoint their strange bodies with ease, the exotic markings on their bodies stretching with every breath all over whatever their rags couldn't cover.

"Seele!"

They had advanced, and fast. Within what felt like only seconds a stray had bounded towards the caster, as if it were ignoring every other player. But Alex was faster. A fully retracted bow with an arrow that was meant for one of his kin at a distance had instead streaked towards the surprise dogman, only a few feet in front of him. The arrow didn't pierce the creature's warped head so much as it liquified it, setting loose a riptide of blood that sprayed in every direction. He felt the warm liquid hit his face, metallic, sharp.

This was no longer a game, it was a life or death situation. Every single situation that involved combat was. Even the ones that didn't posed the possibility of painful injury or death, as he had first seen in the room of pressure plates. Rather than think about any of the risks or danger, he conjured a second arrow. This was his one and only chance at living a happy life, and for these disgusting, lowly creatures to try and take that from him? It filled him with a fury he didn't know he was capable of. If it was him or them, they were all going to die.

The second arrow fired far faster and dug itself into the abdomen of an injured one, trailed by two more. He fought like this, ignoring the dire bat entirely in favor of being a constant nuisance and threat to the dogmen. Every exposed belly or pair of legs was a warm recipient for metal, a target that could be incapacitated and made wet and crimson. The rest of his party followed through in this, with walls of earth and wind and curses beginning to make even reaching their human a battle in of itself. Their group was following a rhythm it seemed, each of its members finding congruence with one another.

Just as he settled for making sure the incapacitated remained that way or worse, a pair that had recovered from Kazuki's wind bounded for him. He used an erratic burst of wind to launch himself sideways, colliding bodies with a beast that had been shambling. It turned around sluggishly, revealing that half of its entrails were on the floor. With a dull thud, it collapsed. But what if that hadn't been the case? His wind could have helped him, but that needed to be closely monitored now. He cursed under his breath, at not being careful enough. The pair had their sights set on him, and there was no turning back. No running away, no hiding, no depending on any other player. He grounded himself and unleashed a rapid stream of arrow after arrow.

The first creature collapsed from enough hits to the skull, letting out a whine of agony as the arrows embedded in its legs snapped and dug themselves further with the force of the fall. The second reached Alex and carved into his upper chest, sending him falling on his rear. He kicked the creature with a leg and sent it toppling with a burst of wind. As the pair skidded on pools of blood Alex rose faster.

"You're not gonna kill me," he hissed. As his opponent struggled to get up, he fired rabidly at its arms and head, ignoring his injured body's protests. For a moment, it seemed as if the battle was going to wage on, but an arrow that popped its eye signalled the beginning of the end as many more accompanied it. It was dead.

Location: The Dungeon, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

She’s doin’ it again.

Rael held a cautious stance guarding the front of the bridge as Alja moved forward, rushing to fight the bat. She had hoped they’d kite the bat into their position, what with it being injured and their being gnolls at her front. Traditionally, this wouldn’t matter, but the game wasn’t acting as intended. This was clear to Rael as she followed Alja to take the left side as she took the right.

Rael had gotten hit by tundra glass before. It was annoying and she rarely liked working alongside someone who built their build in such a way. Alja was a capable tank and DPS member for dungeons, though that capability seemed a lot more complicated when the shards of ice splintered like missiles. For the first time since she arrived in the dungeon Rael now understood how painful getting hit by shards of ice felt like. She weaved her head, trying to dodge what she could, but it still got her along her right shoulder and upper-arm.

“性交!” Rael cursed.

Sharp things hurt. Cold sharp things hurt worse.

As Rael took her free hand to remove the shard of ice, the pain remained. Hanako had never felt this kind of pain. She wasn’t an athlete who used to broken bones or mishaps. She hadn’t ever been in a car accident. This was the first time she felt genuine pain, though she had come close in the trap rooms and with the ogre. She spat blood out of her mouth and onto the bridge as Alja moved forward again with the grace of a blindfolded elephant, swing the flail backward to prop for another devastating strike. Rael had managed to get some jabs in with her spear before she got hit but nothing critical. Nothing close. The smell of bat was disgusting, too.

In a flash of magic and the force of Alja’s weapon, a surge of ice appeared behind the creature, holding it still; the ice cracking from the bat’s jerking movements. Rael knew it wouldn’t hold it long and she had an idea where it was going to go when it began flapping its half-torn wings, growling in a terrible shrill as it did so.

Rael gritted her teeth, “No.” She muttered, “You aren’t getting away from me.”

The red-haired girl channeled magic into her legs like she had done in the first room of the dungeon. In a split second she rocketed herself into the air, gripping her spear with both hands and driving it into it’s back as it attempted to fly away.

It didn’t hold. The spear’s blade ran down the bat’s flesh, nearly going right through it. Rael dangled in the air as the bat began flying into a tumble before hitting the chasm wall. As Rael caught sight of the endless void beneath her she had to wonder if she had made a mistake. She was still adjusting her playstyle to the real world consequences by the hack. Her brows furrowed as lightning magic surged around her and she turned the spear to direct the bat as best as she could. It wasn’t listening. She didn’t care. She had one shot to get the bat back on the ground and all it would take is some incentive. She blasted through her spear with lightning magic again before her own vision started to get blurry as it slammed into another chasm wall. This time she couldn’t hold onto her spear and she fell.

She fell as the dire bat crashed toward the remaining gnolls.

She fell towards the void.

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Blood flew, screams from man and beast echoed in the cavern, the ringing of metal and the sounds of rending flesh were savage to the senses. More than once Seele nearly slipped on the slick, red carpet spreading across the stony floor. The gnolls had almost reached her many times, but each attack was thwarted before it could land, be it by Benkei’s earthen assault, Alex’s keen eyes and keener reflexes, or Graves’…

That boy worried her.

She fired off a few shields to those closest to the gnolls, but her reserves were thinning out. With a flick of her wrist, Graves’ wicked blade grew wickeder, its curved edge wavering like a ghostly, serrated tide. If more damage meant more life, then hack away, she supposed. A snap brought one more shield to Benkei before the direbat let out an absolutely horrifying shriek, and her attention whirled around. She half expected to see it there, rearing on them, but instead it was up above, and it looked very, very hurt.

As it slammed into the far wall, Seele saw her. Rael. The wild girl had practically pinned herself to the thing with her spear, but not tightly enough. Lightning sparked from her, it was clear she was trying to bring the thing to heel, but its pain and panic had rendered it utterly uncontrollable. The direbat thrashed and plummeted towards them, and like a magic trick, Rael was gone. A cold fist gripped Seele’s heart, stole a beat. No, not gone. That smudge in the dark, trailing traces of bright static, that was her. She was falling like a ragdoll towards the chasm. She was—
I can hear—
“Stop!”

What a silly thing to say.

Seele dashed like a madman for the chasm’s lip, nearly tumbling over. She shoved herself off the stone, pushed off the balls of her feet. If she’d still had her hat, it would have flown from her head, impractical thing. The direbat careened past overhead, tattered wings and broken claws scraping by her; she didn’t even hear the impact. She made it within feet of the edge and skidded to a halt on her heels, hand thrusting out.
PLEASE
The chain coalesced from her sleeve, flew with the speed of an arrow and sunk into Rael’s body, as if it meant to anchor in her very soul. Seele felt the will there—thank god—and ripped her arm back so fast and so hard she might have thrown her shoulder out of socket. The chain retracted, Rael’s vertical journey took a sudden, horizontal detour.

Directly into Seele.

Normally the spell would have deposited her target safely and gently before her, but, as she was now discovering, that was going to require a little more explicit focus than she’d applied. Thankfully, Rael wasn’t particularly big or heavy, but that didn’t stop her from taking Seele off her feet, and the two of them tumbled back onto the ground.

To her credit, Seele did technically catch her.

Things were sore. She’d cushioned their fall with her, well, herself, and as she found the air to groan, she realized she was clutching Rael with a grip like a corpse.

“Sohry…” she wheezed. Nope, not ready for words yet. She let go of the other girl and let her head fall back against the stone. The direbat was still there, somewhere. To heck with it. If she had to choose right now between moving and dying, then at least she wasn’t going to have to worry about resetting her shoulder.

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Steel clanged against rusted iron as the last of the gnolls met Graves in combat, unafraid of the death that awaited it. They were each exhausted, unable to howl at the other-- all they could do was stare hateful daggers and push. It was a tug-of-war match and whoever won got to plant their weapon into the other's throat. Graves was moments from overcoming the dogman just as an arrow soared right by his ear, burying itself into the creature's eye. It died with a whimper in its throat.

"I had that one-" He started to snarl, turning to face Alex just as the incident on the bridge reached its crescendo. Seele was screaming, Rael was following into the abyss's dark embrace and a heap of broken Dire Bat was moments from turning Graves and Alex into a pair of DPS-shaped skid marks. It was a lot to take in. A swirl of emotion, of fear and panic and rage, replaced the ecstasy of combat.

A quick look around and Graves took a dive toward the nearest bit of cover: those spikes Benkei had stuck him with earlier. What had been his bane would soon save his life. The bat tumbled, wing over heel, bouncing off the ground like a stone across water. It reached its apex when it impaled itself upon that spiky field. The beast's massive body lurched with pain. Blood spurted from its innumerable wounds. And yet, despite that, it raged on. All screams and howls of violent defiance.

Its unwillingness to die would've been something to admire under other circumstances. For now, Graves was busy pulling himself out from under its heaping mass, crawling along his belly until he was safely able to rise. It snapped its teeth toward him. If he'd been even an inch closer it may've gotten hold of him.

The killing stroke was quick, precise, but far from clean. Gore sprayed like a fountain all over Graves and anyone else in the splash zone, catching him in its innards. The thing went into its death throes, tossing and turning until it snapped the spikes inside of it and began to wiggle loose. He stumbled backward onto his ass to avoid catching one of those claws in his chest.

The Bat went still a few moments later.

And Graves was back on his feet, sword left in the dirt as he ran toward where Seele was laying near the chasm's edge. He saw Rael laying over her chest. He didn't see her moving. "Nonono you tiny moron, don't tell me you played hero and..." His voice trailed off, something else playing in the back of his mind.

'Don't fuck it up.'

The panic died in his throat once he was close enough to see Rael was still breathing. Just as he came to stand above her and Seele, Rael stirred awake from the daze.

“Did we—Did we get it?”

His shoulders sank a foot as he sighed out his response: "No thanks to you."

Location: The Dungeon -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Oh no.

In a single battle, most of the frontline had been wounded. And Benkei couldn’t judge how bad the wounds were. They’d almost completely lost Rael when she fell to the void; but Seele proved incredibly useful. The girl he was worried about holding them back? She’d saved their lives numerous times.

And she didn’t have any DPS at all.

Benkei’s entire worldview was at question now. In a normal game environment, a player like Seele would be completely useless. But here? She was invaluable. It was the same with anyone who could support and protect. Even though his spikes had screwed up with stabbing Graves in the leg; they’d been helpful in finishing off the direbat.

The era of game meta was over, at least for now. As long as they were in this weird state of the world, the things they’d previously learned and knew were completely out of the window. What else had changed during this “hack” as the moderator called it? They felt hunger, they felt pain, all of their senses were enhanced; no that was incorrect. Their senses were unlocked; it was as if they were really there.

And who was to say they weren’t? In this game of dreams, what marked the difference? If he lost an arm here, would he suddenly lose the function of his arm when he woke up? Would they ever wake up at this point, or were they all just braindead vegetables laying in their beds, couches or futons as they experienced one last gasp of consciousness before the oblivion of death?

They still need your help. Snap out of it Kazuma.

”Kazuki! Alex! Seele! Kalie! We need to treat our wounded!” Graves obviously had multiple lacerations and a puncture wound. They’d need Kazuki’s magic and some healing draughts to close his wounds. But what if they fell into an even bigger fight, and received more wounds? Would they need to conserve their medicine for more serious wounds?

He looked to Rael, who was wounded by the debris from Alja’s attack. That meant that friendly fire was on; or maybe the idea that spells could avoid others, that game-idea, was gone and replaced with reality. If someone launched a fireball, they’d incinerate everyone, friend or foe now. Just like with his spikes and Alja’s ice. Rael also probably had multiple bruises from her tumble. He hoped she hadn’t cracked anything internally. Alja also had received multiple cuts as well.

If they had first aid kits, with things like gauze and bandages, even someone like him could at least treat some of these injuries. They wouldn’t need Kazuki to exert himself and to constantly use their dwindling supplies of healing potions. But right now, they had to make do with what they had. “Let’s get everyone treated, and then re-think our formation. We can’t keep over-exerting ourselves.”

His heart pounded in fear. How much farther until the end now? And what would they face there? Would they all make it out alive?

Location: The Dungeon, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

The quickness and escalation of this battle happened so quickly for Kalie that she had no time to react. All because the healer's sharp words, before it got so much worse, stung a lot. It was terrifying, almost losing Rael to the Chasm, but thank god for Seele saving her. She did give out a small sigh of relief to that since if it weren’t for Seele’s spells, they would have lost the one who stopped her from panicking earlier. She tried to calm herself down and focus on what’s needed to be done, but the words of Kazuki echoes in her head. ’ I need to focus on this dungeon; no one needs to die. No one. It sucks… I should’ve just created a different character avatar with no ties to my older sister… but no, I stuck to this one. But I was scared of change...’ Kalie thought with deep regret in her facial features. She didn’t want to bother the healer again, however, with how he’s been lately.

Kalie did notice the front line’s injuries; it hurt her psyche in seeing the friendly fire, which means she has to be careful with her magic too. It is mostly because her Darkness Blast spell is an aoe dark magic spell, which can be used at a distance. She chalked up that spell in the non-usable section until a point of actually using it safely. Basically meaning, she’ll have to warn people before using it and making sure people are out of the radius blast. ’ It sucks, massively. I cannot use my most powerful spell, which is also an area of effect spell… It’s mostly because I can’t risk injuring my team… Darkness Blast. I should have learned more non-area effect spells over area effect spells. Got to be pretty careful with Dark Crescent Slash since it travels to the target. Pretty quickly travels though, but it still travels, need to make sure no one is in the way.’ Kalie thought to herself with a serious look on her face about her arsenal spells. It made her think hard on using the spells in her arsenal that aren’t aoe spells or travels to the target type of spells.

It was a good idea to think about the proper counter plays to ensure no one is injured. Kalie was grateful she knows her spells well since it’s like second nature to her. It caused her to keep an eye on everyone so that they can get out of this dungeon. Assassins are supposed to assassinate targets. All these thoughts were interrupted by Benkei yelling out to her and the others to help the wounded out. She looked at Benkei with a smile. ” I will do my best to help treat our wounded, Benkei.” Kalie responded to Benkei. She would do what she must in terms of helping the injured, and there were many injured. She helped gather people to be around Kazuki since the healer did mention gather around him.

Kazuki’s song that he started to play to heal everyone’s injuries was beautiful and struck a chord. She smiled slightly at all the notes and listened to it all, even though it was nice to listen to something so beautiful. In the back of her mind, she felt as if she hadn’t ever been truthful with herself or others. Because of how badly her sister was mean to her constantly, she always intent on scaring her to high heaven or some other thing. However, she did notice Kazuki clutching his chest because he did look exhausted after that song. She was worried about him but did see he took a potion.

Kalie looked to Benkei and looked at him seriously, and sighed somewhat to rethinking the formation. It was after, with what Benkei said, that she has begun to speak. ” I got something to say, Benkei. I have two spells in my arsenal that are incredibly dangerous now. In terms of knowing that area of effect spells are dangerous. It’s my Darkness Blast spell and my scythe’s darkness weapon attack, and it’s called Dark Crescent Slash. The latter has to travel to the target as your spikes did. In contrast, the earlier has an up to a 10 feet radius, which I can launch from a safer distance than being up close a personal with my target. I have a feeling with all that is known with the new reality we are stuck in. I wouldn’t want to injure any of you with the Darkness Blast casting or activating the enchantments on my Scythe to use Dark Crescent Slash. I should have honestly focused more on single target magic than having a mixed build of magic...” Kalie said with an acknowledgment of what’s going on and telling the others of her spells. However, she did make sure no one was in the radius of her magic, mostly when she cast them previously. She was strange in being courtesy with her aoe spell casts, usually cast the aoe spells before a pull to start a battle. It’s why she was the 70th DPS in Pariah Online because she would instead start the fight over annoying anyone with her aoes.

Her admitting what two of her spells did wasn’t hard for her to do; she usually tells people her area of effect spells over not telling them. It’s mostly because it would be better for people to know than be in the dark, the only way she felt relieved. She always played this game a bit weird, but it was her weird. ’ Ugh, fewer tools to use but better than having anyone end up dead, that’s for sure… I wouldn’t want that at all.’ Kalie thought with a look of sadness at the whole situation.

Location: The Dungeon, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Rael had rolled off of Seele, before moving herself to nearby wall, pressing her back against it as she remained on the floor.

Her body was sore, shoulder bleeding, and her back had sharp pains from colliding with the chasm wall twice-over. But it wasn’t the pain that had gotten her. What had gotten her was the g-force from the bat spinning in the air. She wondered that even if Alja hadn’t injured her arm on shoulder if she could’ve held on. She was certain that if they hadn’t gotten the announcement about the game being hacked she might’ve died already. Her eyes looked to Seele who was absolutely drained of stamina from jumping out to help her with her weird support abilities.

She heard Kalie mumbling something about AOE spells. How she couldn’t figure out what to do without harming people after seeing Alja’s tundra glass splinter into Rael’s shoulder. It was a good point. Rael had AOEs, targeted, and close-range spell-like strikes. She had rush-in’s. She had leaps. Rael had trained in the world to make sure she could do a lot of things, but mostly it was to keep the monster’s attention. But there was no agro generation anymore. The only way a monster focused on you was if you made it. She wondered if she would had to drop back to an auxiliary role. Rael’s mind told her no. She had to be the center. Without her, the center wouldn’t hold. But Hanako began thinking differently. She was free and didn’t have to worry about her parents anymore, but she still had to play smart. She didn’t like pain. She didn’t want to die.

The two natures screamed at her while her body pained. She looked over to the dead bat, her spear standing out like a sore thumb.

That’s when Kazuki started playing some kind of harp. Lyre? Was that the right name? Euphoric energy filled her body as she felt renewed, though the regenerating skin and bones cracking back into place cause her to nearly scream out in sudden pain. She gritted her teeth, refusing to show such weakness. When it was finished she managed to get to her feet and she arced her back before hopping once or twice.

Healing magic was weird, but it was a good sort of weird. She wanted to say “Thank you.” to Seele and Kazuki but she didn’t, instead opting to move over to the bat while everyone talked about strategy, holding her hand out towards the spear.

“Recall.” She muttered as magical energy linked between her and her weapon as it removed itself before returning to her hand, as if she was a jedi or esper.

She spun the spear around. Everything was normal. She felt good. But there were still things to consider. Friendly Fire. Agro generation. Formation. She moved back to the group, giving a look to Graves as she did so. When she had snapped back to normal she had asked if the group managed to take down the bat and he had the gall to say “no thanks to you”. Rael wanted to deck him in the face. What would he think would happen if she didn’t force it to land? What would’ve happened if the bat swopped at Alja and knocked her into the chasm? Or picked off Kazuki before dropping him? What if it had long-ranged magical attacks? There were many factors Rael put into thinking when she chased it down, but it wasn’t simply because she was playing like normal. Creatures with that kind of mobility and threat needed to be grounded and pinned.

She sighed, listening to Alja talk to Benkei, asking to be the tank. Asking to be the center.

“Are you going to rush into the next bosses face?” Rael remarked, partially out of spite. She looked to Benkei, “Don’t disagree with changing things up, though. You should be up front. You have better defense than I do.”

Location: The Dungeon -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

” I got something to say, Benkei. I have two spells in my arsenal that are incredibly dangerous now. In terms of knowing that area of effect spells are dangerous. It’s my Darkness Blast spell and my scythe’s darkness weapon attack, and it’s called Dark Crescent Slash. The latter has to travel to the target as your spikes did. In contrast, the earlier has an up to a 10 feet radius, which I can launch from a safer distance than being up close a personal with my target. I have a feeling with all that is known with the new reality we are stuck in. I wouldn’t want to injure any of you with the Darkness Blast casting or activating the enchantments on my Scythe to use Dark Crescent Slash. I should have honestly focused more on single target magic than having a mixed build of magic...”

Benkei listened to Kalie intently as his brother played the healing music. Apart from a few scratches from their previous encounters, he was in perfect health, and he knew that meant he should take the lead for the last leg of the dungeon. Rael was beaten up and Graves was worse for wear. And then Alja walked up as Kalie finished speaking.

"I'm with Kalie. Pretty much all of my damage abilities are AoE in some way. I'll defer to you--you seem good at this leader thing--but I think I'm better off tankin'. Don't want to risk blowin' up our backline by mistake if enemies get too close, right?"

Rael heard Alja speak, and made her own snide comment, before adding “Don’t disagree with changing things up, though. You should be up front. You have better defense than I do.”

Benkei nodded and began to mull over the situation. “It doesn’t seem like tanking skills are working anymore, anyways. I wasn’t able to pull aggro like I'm used to. Which means that tanks are more useful in the front lines than how I had envisioned our marching order. I’ll take point, and Alja can tank for the main group. Kalie, don’t count out not using your AOE abilities. Instead use them when there are no allies in your area. Same with Alja. And...same with myself.” He looked over to Graves, frowning that he had caused hard to his ally as well.

Rael would be useful as a DPS. And Graves was trying to be the unstoppable man. Alja had tanking experience, and could protect the backline...this could work. “Right, we’ll swap out. Alja and I will tank, and Rael will move to DPS. Not that...titles even matter at this point. None of the systems are working and the enemy behavior feels...completely wrong. We just have to get out of here and find somewhere safe to lay low until this...thing...passes.”

Location: The Dungeon -- The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Once the adrenaline- the rage- had faded, Graves could barely stand. Pain washed over the whole of his body, submerging him from head to toe. It dug deep- rooting itself in the depths of his bones and refusing to leave. It took all he had not to collapse in a heap once the battle was done; he tried to hide his limping as he joined the rest of the party around Kazuki. It was a brief yet all too welcome respite. Kazuki's healing was different than Graves's. His was a warm summer's light. It was a dance through a field of flowers. The snapping of bone and the scarring of wounds hurt just the same, sure, yet it was...duller. More easily swallowed.

When Graves healed himself it hurt nearly as much as the injury itself. Like he was reliving each stab, each bite, each cut again and again.

"You play well," he muttered once Kazuki set his lyre aside. A welcome reprieve, to be sure.

Then the talk of strategy began, and it was time to work again. They could hurt each other now in a way that had never been possible. Benkei's earthen constructs, Alja's ice, Kalie's...weird shit- it was all too dangerous to use without careful planning. Graves didn't say anything. He was pissed off that he'd been hit but he knew it wasn't worth getting into. They couldn't afford to be at one another's throats when they stood on the precipice of death. One wrong move meant the end of any one of them.

He looked to Rael, who's decision to play the big damn hero had nearly caused her to plummet to her own demise. If Seele was just a second too late, if she'd ran just a little slower...Graves shuddered. He wondered what it felt like. The pain he knew, sure, but what followed? Was it the cold embrace of the void? Or would Rael have woken up on the other side just long enough to feel the peripheral tear her mind asunder?

'Do you die twice?'

Graves tried best he could to shake the thought from his mind as he stood back to his feet, slipping his armor back on. He would know soon enough himself.

Location: The Dungeon, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

So this was it.

The silver-haired healer hadn’t seen it coming and it was entirely his fault. He was trapped while the rest of his friends screamed and scrambled.

He was cold as he tried to use what was left of his magic to sustain himself long enough. Long enough for Kazuki and the others to get here. Maybe… maybe they could pull him off the jagged piece of rock and they’d all rejoin Aaginim and the others and they’d all, save for Atlas, come out of this dungeon with their heads held high. He laughed at the thought, coughing up more of his blood as he did so. What a bizarre thought. But he wasn’t sure how much he had left in him and he knew once he passed out he wouldn’t wake up this time. He had been terrified before. He thought back to his older brother’s cancer diagnosis and how the world for the first time didn’t make sense. It was what made him jump to Med School. But now he was going to never get a chance to even do his internship.

That was just his luck.

He thought to Luci and the others. He had failed them and now they didn’t have anyone to heal them in the face of whatever… that thing was. His hand shuffled into his pocket, retrieving a copper key and gripping it with his hands. He was out of magical energy; out of energy in general. His vision began to get blurry and soon the darkness took to him. That’s when he heard footsteps coming toward him and the room he had been thrown out of. By the time the group would find him he would be gone.

And Enos wasn't coming back this time.
-
-

Location: The Dungeon, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

After the chasm had been goblins. Creatures they had not fought since the beginning of the dungeon, all grouped around a larger goblin, a hobgoblin.

The battle didn’t take much of the group’s time. Goblin’s were fast and sneaky, but outside of sheer numbers were generally easy to deal with. The group had good reflexes and the more melee capable fighters of the group relished in doing massive damage to the thirty-or-so goblins that laid in their path to get to the final room of the dungeon. Kalie’s scythe made short work of the goblin’s leftmost horde and a combination of Rael and Graves made short work of the right. Alja at the center took the core of the goblins on before initiating one-on-one combat with the hob.

The goblins had been guarding a treasure chest lined with various items; four bags of ancient gold coins, a few artifacts that were unidentified, unmarked potions filled with strange liquid, bundles of arrows, and a silver ring with runic inscriptions on it. Benkei made sure they collected what they could quickly, deciding that divvying things up was a waste of time given the severity of the dungeon.

That’s when they left the room and moved toward the final room.

Benkei would be the first person to see it. The large opened giant doors, the sound of fighting inside.

“Hey, there’s something up ahead.” Benkei’s voice uttered as the group approached the giant, open door of the final room. His voice nearly cracked when he finally reached the base of the door and the adjacent jagged rock formation. “Oh no.”

As the body of Enos, impaled on a rock formation, caught everyone's attention their eyes immediately snapped to the room after a few moments of silence. A sharp, desperate scream filled the air. It was Luci’s.


As Alja rushed in at the sound of Luci’s voice, that’s when she saw it.

A giant demon, taller than an ogre and so much more frightening as it held Aaginim in its hand, his armor reduced to that of a crushed tin can. Blood dripping from the monsters claws. It’s yellow, soulless eyes met her own and it bellowed out one word in a booming monotone as it tossed the corpse of Aaginim aside as it redirected its attention on her.

“Fooooooooood.”

The other members stood in various corners of the room as Luci befallen with grief rushed to Aaginim, retrieving one of her potions in hopes it’d revive him. Priscilica was passed out in the corner as smoke fumed from her staff. Siegfried stood in a defensive position in front of his sister. Atlas wasn’t present from what anyone could see if they were looking for him. Leaves was arched up high, on a wooden platform trying to shoot the creature but all her arrows seemed to do was bounce off the creature’s armor-like body. It was here that it reached out for Alja intending to grab ahold of her like he had done with Aaginim.

This was Arnaakus.

And he was hungry.