“Get back!” Snow shouted, pushing the Players behind her.

A dangerous silver blade cut from above, a few inches away from her nose.  Snow gulped, sweat slipping down her face, realizing how close that was for comfort. She was glad that she listened to her instincts, telling her that there was something dangerous in front of her. 

“Thank you, S-s-saintess.” The young female Player stuttered, realizing that she almost died. 

“Do we have a trap specialist here?” Snow asked, she could unravel most of the magical traps, but the ones that didn’t have any mana was a lot difficult for her to find. 

“I can.” A young boy, which Snow thought could pass as a ten-year-old, ran over with his hand waving over his head. Seeing someone so young disabling traps made her feel uncomfortable and putting him in the front of all this danger spurred her forward to stop him. 

The young boy stopped in front of Snow and, with a very serious expression, spoke, “My name is Jose. Let me do this, Saintess. I want to earn my place.” 

Snow felt stifled by his dedication, mostly because she didn’t expect it to come from someone so small. She knew that they had a few young players, but didn’t really keep tabs on them as they were all handled by Olgom. 

She stepped out of the way for him to work his magic. His small hand slipped through the crack in the wall that Snow hadn't even noticed.

It didn’t take long from a click to be heard, Jose turned around with a proud expression on his face. 

“Nice job, kid,” Snow said, brushing past him and heading up the stairs. Each step she took, it was much more careful than before. Sometimes, too slow for her comfort, Jose made his way towards the front and took the lead. 

One after another, Jose disabled the trap without any effort. Her respect for the kid grew even more and more, knowing full well how dangerous it was. Many of the people behind Snow felt embarrassed that they weren’t as useful as before.

Eventually, they came to the top floor, bypassing at least seven deadly guillotine traps. Snow reached over, patted the head of the kid once again. He blushed. 

“Thanks,” she said. She flicked a small bracelet at him. It was a unique bracelet, more for decorations than use, but there were a few small abilities behind it that she thought would be useful for Jose. It could increase his nimbleness and speed. There was even a unique skill that could only be met with a certain requirement. 

Hopefully, Jose would find out. 

“This is?” Jose fumbled, catching it in mid-air. 

“A gift.” Snow walked past him. She arrived on the third floor. 

“But-” Jose raised his hand with the bracelet, but Snow didn’t reply back or ask for anything. She felt like that wasn’t enough for his assistance. 

“Just keep it, kid,” Olgom had said, he patted Jose’s head and followed behind Snow. 

After a slow climb, they appeared upstairs on a tight hallway that at least could accommodate six to seven people side-by-side. Compared to the main floor, the welcoming air around them was a lot more dreary than before. 

Torch lights were on, bringing in the much-needed light to see. Dirty red carpet laid messily on the floor, and dirty picture frames of black silhouettes were painted hanging off the wall. Old, rusty armor was displayed in rows, some missing parts of their arms, legs, and even helmets. 

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Jose reached out to take one of the armor’s spear weapons, but when he touched it, it turned to powder. The heavy metal spear clunked loudly on the ground, causing everyone to snap their attention towards him. 

“Um..” Jose bit his lips, embarrassed at what he had done. “It just...fell.” He tried to cover it up. 

Snow shook her head. She brought her attention back to the dim hallway. The walls were tattered and yellow, flaking off the sides. Every time she moved, she thought the shadows in the painting moved in different positions. Even when she summoned up a ball of light to give more light, the unsettling feeling wouldn’t disappear. 

Why was it so different than the first floor? Snow thought. She raised her hand a bit higher to take a good look at the picture that caught her attention. It wasn’t like the rest of the pictures that they had passed by but was the only one with a full portrait of a young woman in a blue dress. Her hair was tied tightly in a bun, and her gaze was cast out back to the viewer with a pleasant smile. 

“Do you think she’s the owner of the castle?” Olgom asked. He came up next to her with a torch in hand. 

“Possibly,” Snow replied, she turned away from the painting and continued forward. 

The players took turns to look at the painting, burning the image of her in their mind. They, too, were curious about why all the pictures had only a black silhouette of a person in an environmental background, and this lady was the only one who wasn’t in such an odd circumstance. 

“I hope not, because that is one creepy picture,” Olgom spoke in a quiet voice. “I have never gone through this way before nor understand what's ahead. Our group got spirited away somewhere else and ended up in the dungeons below.” 

“So, you’re saying you guys split up?” Snow asked.

“Yes,” Olgom shook his head. “Black River Guild and RedVelvet decided to go different paths and meet up again on the main floor, but that never happened. We waited for the Black River Guild for three days, wondering if they had left us behind and eventually went searching for them. But after that…” He shuddered. 

“Could you tell me a bit more about what you guys encountered in the other pathway?”

Olgom shifted, trying to figure out words to put together. He quietly gazed off into the distance for a brief moment. A few different emotional expressions ranging from anger, grief, and fear, washed across his face until he finally reverted to his usual serious self. 

“Well, it wasn’t much. Honestly, we found a few rooms and came back right to where we began. There were instances where we tried again, but the scouts reported back with something strange.”

“Like?” Snow wasn’t sure if she believed everything that he had said. She felt that there were a few things that he was hiding from her. 

“An empty dressing room for a woman.” 

“I see.” 

“Either way, we found nothing there as well and came back. We then decided to search for the Black River Guild members. You know we had over five hundred players, and the Black River Guild had over seven hundred. It's honestly a miracle we can fit so many people in this castle. I have a wild theory about it.” 

Snow curiously stated. “Such as?” She had her own opinion of this castle herself. 

“I believe it’s alive, and it grows with the number of people entering this castle.” 

“I agree.”

“You do?!” Olgom said in surprise. 

“Yes. I can read the magic on the walls. It’s moving. That’s not normal.” 

“Ah…” Olgom raised an eyebrow, but spoke smoothly, trying to hide his worry. “In that case, lets us be even more careful than before.” 

“For sure,” Snow agreed. “Though, were there any other named monsters or the dungeon lord you guys have a chance to find?”

Olgom shook his head. “If we did, we wouldn’t be here.” He dryly chuckled while he clasped his hands and looked around slowly, shadows flickering across his worn face. The next words came a bit hurriedly as if he wasn’t sure if he wanted to share with her. 

“Rumors have it that our guild leader had found them.” 

“Them?” 

“Yes, but this is just a rumor. Our guild leader has been missing for five months now. The guild is disbanded, and we don’t even know if he is still alive.” 

Olgom shook his head, grasping at air with his hand a few times before he pulled his hand to the side. “Saintess, if you ever see the guild leader, ask him why he had broken the guild.” 

Snow went silent. She didn’t agree or nodded as she too was thinking about what to ask of it. 

Quietly, they continued onwards. The deeper they went through the hallways, the darker and much more sinister it felt. Cobwebs decorated more heavily around the area, broken chairs, windows, and even painting on the wall were scratched up. 

The wooden board underneath their feet also creaked and groaned, making everyone step around a bit more carefully. 

Olgom and Jose walked carefully amongst each other, silently chattering to one another. The other Players huddled in wary steps, making sure that they weren’t left behind. 

Whenever an unsuspected squeak pierced the silence, it caused the rest of the group to jerk in alert towards the sound. It was often rats that scampered across the ground, leaving behind muffled cursing words for scaring them. 

The deeper they went, the ceiling above them was riddled with old, decayed wood and broken stones that allowed the moonlight to cascade down, pooling around them with a soft hint of hue. They even doused down the lights to see a bit better as the harsh light from the torches, and the moonlight clashed amongst each other like water and oil. 

Coming around a bend, the old majestic double doors stood proudly closed. Upon coming up towards it, they saw broken helmets, armors, and even skeletal remains laid out all over the floor. Many were still locked in their own epic battle or slain by arrows and swords. Up next to the door were two large skeletons hunched over on the side. In its body were riddled with arrows and broken shafts of swords. 

Olgom rushed towards one of the two skeletal soldiers, he bent down and picked up a trinket in his hand. “This? How is it here?” He spoke in confusion, “My best friend’s bracelet.”