In a blink of an eye, Steak’s group got teleported to a dark area. It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. The space that they were in was a huge contrast to the white room. Large and ancient stone slabs surrounded them on both sides. There was no one else besides them in the corridor, for now.

Seeing as how they were ordered to group themselves, Steak assumed that the others were sent to a different location. Or if the ones orchestrating this whole thing was sadistic enough, they were sent to the same location, which could mean that they had to fight each other. He took a glance at the other three people with him.

The pressure of the trial finally weighed on him. He had no clue about the capabilities nor the temperament of the people in his group. And, they can influence whether he lives or dies in this trial.

“Ugh, where the hell did they send us to,” the angry man complained. Dripping sounds could be heard as he lifted one foot up.

“Oh, my, hopefully this is water,” the short timid woman said in disgust. There was something about her voice and mannerisms that Steak found annoying.

“I think this damp place is the least of our problems right now. Why don't we reintroduce ourselves so that we know the full extent of what we can do to survive,” Steak said, attempting to take the lead. It was a bit embarrassing for him, but he tried to imitate how Roald would act. He even adopted a bit of his accent as he said that.

The hooded figure noticed the accent and snickered. Steak's attempt at leading the group was swiftly ended by that. Of course, the other two didn't take him that seriously, though at least they understood him a little bit.

“My name's Jill,” the timid girl started. “The class that was assigned to me at the start was Rogue. I got the Thief subclass by the end of the first trial. The majority of my skills are centered around being sneaky.”

Steak noticed that by the end of her introduction, her demeanor and tone shifted a few times. It reminded him of how one of the Bearcats he killed acted as if it was near death while he fought it, which got him sliced in the arm. Though, that wasn't the only thing about her that irked him. There was something else that he couldn't figure out at that moment.

“Fine, I'll play along and introduce myself like some damn grade schooler,” the annoyed man sighed. “The name’s Kurt. Fighter-Heavy Warrior, if all this armor I'm wearing doesn't make it obvious enough. I'm already strong, so I don't need to use skills as crutches,” he said, patting the mace hanging from his hip.

“It looks like you're missing a few pieces of armor though. Won't you get a penalty for that? I got punished for some of my actions during my first trial,” Steak said.

“Man, look at yourself. You're not in the position to give me any tips. Anyway, it's the creepy dude's turn,” Kurt said.

The hooded person was next to Steak. He heard them sigh through their nose.

“My name's Lilith, and I was assigned as a Warlock for my starting class,” she said as she pulled back her hood, revealing her face. Lilith was a handsome woman with a sharp jaw. “I do magical shit, I guess.”

Kurt suddenly went up in front of Lilith. He had an ugly smirk on his face.

“A magic user, huh? We’re gonna have to work quite close together if we were to work as a proper team. Don't worry, I'll be your shield. You just go throw your Mana Bolts from behind me and stay pretty,” Kurt said.

“Hey dude, you don't have to be all extra like that,” Lilith rolled her eyes, amused but not impressed by him. “Why don't you chill out and take a step back. Your breath somehow overpowers the stench of the sewer that we’re in,” she scoffed at him.

Surprised by her somewhat hostile tone, he did indeed take a step back. He also let out a small breath out to check, though he wasn't slick enough for the others not to notice.

“Hey! It's not that–”

Kurt was cut off by a deafening cracking sound. Steak and Lilith instinctively ducked and covered their ears. Jill was nowhere to be seen.

“What the hell was that?” Steak asked. The sound still rang throughout the stone hallway.

It was only when he noticed Lilith's mouth move without understanding a word that he realized he was temporarily deaf from the sound. He crouched there, staring at her with a confused look on his face. The only thing that would make him understand the situation was when he followed her gaze.

Kurt crashed onto the wet ground on his knees. As Steak's hearing slowly came back to him he heard the clanging of Kurt's armor as he crashed face down. Of all the places to get hit, he got shot in the one place he wasn’t covered in metal. A large fist-sized hole was at the back of Kurt's head. His fall splashed murky water on both Steak and Lilith.

Light came from behind Kurt’s lifeless body. On the far end of the dark tunnel three rotting figures blocked the way. One of them held a torch, the other two held what Steak thought was a broom handle with a hole at the end. Only one had smoke coming out of it.

“A broom? Are they some sort of wizards?” Steak asked, squinting at the three figures at the end of the hall.

“Haha, they’re a little more dangerous than brooms,” Lilith chuckled despite the situation. “I believe those are muskets, though the size of their ammo seems to be larger than what I’ve seen in any history book. And those are ghouls, so their names should be something like .”

“How do we beat them?” Steak asked.

“Don’t worry about it, leave that to me. What you should be thinking about is how you’re going to protect the both of us from the next shot while I prepare,” she quickly said.

The death of their short-lived comrade was gone from their minds the instant that they recognized that they could be the next to follow.

He heard a metallic clicking sound from the group of ghouls, and immediately jumped behind Kurt’s lifeless body to use as a shield.

“No, no, I’m going to be needing that. It’s quite lucky and unlucky that he died this quick. Lucky for us though,” Lilith said, pushing Steak away from Kurt’s body. Now, nothing was in between him and the ghouls.

Another metallic click echoed through the tunnel. Steak instinctively activated on his forearms and hoped for the best, covering his head and most of his chest. The shot came at a delay and came at him while he had his eyes closed. However the impact never came, he only heard a metal clink followed by a splash hitting the ground near his feet.

“It worked,” he whispered to himself.

“Good job. Now, if you can hold them off for a few more seconds,” Lilith said from behind.

He could hear a lot of wet and mushy sounds coming from her side. Steak was about to turn around and ask what she was even doing during a time like this, but he stopped himself when he heard a bone snap.

“Uh, I don’t have a lot of mana left. What should I do?” Steak asked.

“What’re they doing right now?” She asked.

Steak squinted at the three ghouls. “They’re shoving something down their weapons. It looks like a rod.”

“Okay, we got a few seconds left before we get shot at again. Distract and delay them. Throw a rock or something,” she said.

Steak took a glance at his inventory. Luckily for him there actually were a bunch of rocks on him. He started chucking it at them.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Despite his efforts, another clicking sound echoed through the tunnel. Steak immediately stopped chucking things at them and activated once more, gambling that the measly amount of mana he had left was enough to block the next shot.

“Crouch down to the ground the moment that I count to three,” Lilith calmly said from behind him.

The second cocked the hammer of his gun back. Both of the ghouls were ready to shoot soon.

“Three!” Lilith shouted.

Steak canceled his skill and dived to the ground, submerging himself in the murky water.

“!” Lilith shouted with a bloody knife in her right hand.

Beneath the warlock was Kurt’s mangled corpse. His body was posed in a way that made it look like a circle when viewed from above. A very crude, and imperfect circle.

The second set of metallic clicks echoed through the tunnel. It would soon be followed by two oversized musket balls.

“Won’t you be a dear and burn my enemies for me?” Lilith asked.

“For this chance to breathe once more, I will do anything you wish, master,” something responded using Kurt’s voice.

From the pile of human flesh that was once known as Kurt, emerged a small being with wings. It could've rivaled Kurt's ugliness. The Lesser Imp had taken form. With blood red skin, it looked like a miniature old man with the wings of a bat protruding from his back.

Two explosions came from the opposite side of the tunnel. The ghouls’ gunpowder had ignited.

“Pathetic!” The imp shouted.

It stretched out its thin and wiry arms in front of itself and started muttering. A ball of flame emerged from the tips of its three fingers on each hand and started expanding.

The musket balls were swallowed by the sphere of fire, becoming liquid metal and giving it a core.

Then, as soon as the fireball was as big as the imp itself, it fired it at the three ghouls. Steak could feel the heat on his back, searing the hair off it. Even with his eyes closed, light entered through his eyelids.

After a few moments Steak felt a cold wet hand on his back. He slowly raised his head, coughing up dirty water.

“It's safe, for now,” Lilith spoke in a calming tone.

In front of them stood the bottom half of the three ghouls' legs, lit up like torches in the water.

“Gone in an instant,” Steak muttered under his breath.

Hot red hands grabbed his cheeks from above. Suddenly, the imp’s face popped into his view. The enlarged tusks that poked out of his mouth didn't make its smile look any friendlier.

“Yes, yes, burnt them good. I did!” It shrieked at him in a high-pitched voice.

Startled by the small demon, Steak crawled backwards, bumping into Lilith's knee. He raised up a shaky finger and pointed at the horrific being, which only responded by an equally ugly chuckle. Steak realized that the imp had some of Kurt's facial features.

“Kurt?” He asked.

The imp cackled in response.

“No, it’s something I summoned using Kurt’s corpse,” Lilith coolly answered his question. “Can’t really tell you anything more than that though. I’m not even sure if it really is something that came from hell. All that I know is that it only has this physical form for 24 hours.”

There was no hint of remorse in her voice, she simply stated what she had done. But Steak couldn't find it in himself to get mad at her, nor could he process what exactly made it feel wrong to him in the first place. Especially in the dire situation they were currently in, that was the best outcome.

“Hark, master, surely we can prolong this contract of ours! You can use the dirty one’s flesh cage or better yet the prime and young meat sack of the woman that still lingers in the shadows,” the imp begged as it danced around Lilith.

The little demon’s plea did not fall on deaf ears. Lilith clicked her tongue in response. Without warning, she kicked the imp in its chest, causing it to crash into the wall.

“Well, it looks like you are way more talkative than your predecessor, the first imp I summoned. Though it may be because I used a corpse that was once capable of thought and speech this time around,” Lilith said as she pulled out a knife from her cloak.

“And I am ever grateful for the gift of speech you have bestowed upon me,” the imp said, a slight shiver in its voice.

Even at the sight of the blade in Lilith's hand, the imp didn't stop smiling. No, it couldn't stop smiling even if it wanted to.

“If it is blood that you want, then I shall give it to you,” she said.

It took one step from Lilith for the demon to flinch and cover its eyes.

“Look at me,” she ordered, standing above it.

It slowly tilted its head upward, mouth slightly agape because of its protruding tusks. Without a word, Lilith sliced her palm and let her blood drip into the imp's mouth.

“With this you are no longer allowed to speak unless it is to relay information that would benefit us or to alert us of anything that threatens our lives,” Lilith commanded.

The imp said nothing, it sat there savoring her blood in its disfigured mouth.

“Yuck,” Steak said under his breath after witnessing all of that.

“Now that it's a bit more peaceful, would you mind explaining yourself?” Lilith asked.

Steak looked around him, now just remembering that Jill wasn’t with them. The moment he turned around, he heard splashing from behind him.

“I’m sorry. I was scared, okay!?” Jill exclaimed, stomping her foot. There was that tone in her voice again that Steak found irritating.

“You disappeared before those ghouls even fired their first shot,” Lilith sighed. “You knew that we were going to get attacked, and let Kurt die. He was a bit of an asshole, but he could’ve been a useful asshole,” Lilith said. Annoyance in her voice.

“As I said earlier, I got scared. It all happened so fast, and I didn't know what to do!” Jill cried out. “Besides, you didn’t think twice when you used his fresh corpse as an offering to the devil.”

“Well, it looks like we’ll have a hard time trusting each other then. Noted,” Lilith said and took a deep breath. “Okay, back to our survival. Steak, go and wear Kurt’s armor. I already took the food and other supplies. I’ll split it up among us later,” she ordered. “After blocking one of their shots, it seems that you’re the one most capable of taking hits in the future.”

Steak nodded in response, not wanting to anger the person who had control over a demon even further. He hurried over to the bloody mess that was left after the summoning. Picking up the chest piece that Kurt left, he gave it a few shakes to dry it off.

As he tried to put it on, a force sent him and the chest piece in opposite directions. Steak crashed into the wall, next to the imp, who snickered at him in response.

“What happened?” Lilith asked.

“It looks like I’m gonna be half-naked for a while,” Steak groaned as he stood up. “I can’t equip anything that has metal in it.”

“Shame. We’ll figure something out later then. First, we’ve gotta get out of here. I think I saw outside light coming from down the tunnel, where the ghouls came from. We should check that out. Oh, and have that shield skill at the ready, you’ll be taking the lead.”

“Fine, but I think I can only block one attack. After that, I’ll be out of Mana,” he said.

Lilith smirked at him. “That’s better than having no chance at all.”

The three of them walked down the tunnel. Steak held out a torch that they scavenged from the ghouls in front of him, providing them with a bit more vision than before. There was nothing around them but old stone bricks and moss.

“I think I see something,” Steak said.

They picked up the pace, going into a light jog and splashing murky water all around them. At the end of the tunnel they were greeted by a grate that led outside. Though light came through the grate, they couldn’t see anything else besides fog.

“Steak, step aside,” Lilith said.

She motioned to her imp with a simple nod. It stepped in front of them and awaited her commands.

“Blast it open,” she ordered.

With the same motions it used in its previous attack, the imp summoned flames out of nothing. Then, a beam of fire was shot at the grate, melting it open.

After waiting for it to cool down, Steak took a step forward and assumed his position in front of the group. But before he could go over the grate and step outside, Lilith grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Wait!” She yelled.

When Steak turned around to question her, he noticed the imp on the floor trying to suppress its snickering. Both of them gave the imp an odd look, trying to figure out what it found so funny.

“Let me go first,” Lilith said.

The imp suddenly stood straight up.

“Ah, I think I get it,” she smiled.

Picking up a loose brick on the ground, she held it in her hand and checked the weight of it. She tossed it beyond the grate and into the fog. Nothing happened.

“What? I don’t get it,” Steak said.

Jill stayed behind them with a serious look on her face, staying silent. Lilith grabbed what was left of the metal grate and poked her head beyond it. After she sighed, she then craned her neck sideways to get a view of what was above.

“It is as I feared the moment I saw the fog,” Lilith said, bringing her head back inside the tunnel.

Curious as to what she saw, Steak took a look for himself. There was a sea of nothingness below them, the fog continued below. It was only then that he realized that he never heard the brick land on ground.

“I don’t think the goal of this dungeon is to get out alive. I think they want us to reach the top of it,” Lilith said.

Steak looked up. His grip on the metal grate tightened when he saw the towering structure that was above them. From his point of view, it looked like a ruined castle floating in the sky.

“Kind of odd that they said that this was our first dungeon when it’s more like a tower,” she said.

“Details aside, how do we even go up there?” Jill asked.

“We’re just going to have to turn around and find another way,” Lilith shrugged, quickly accepting the situation that they were in.

“So, do we start by checking what’s on the other side of the tunnel?” Steak asked.