“This is beyond boring,” Noe said, his blades severing a wolf’s head. He leapt through the air, avoiding a phantom claw that tore through the ground. His blades softly hummed as they drank the wolves’ blood.

“You just have to do your job. That’s it,” Cera said, her voice barely audible over the howls.

“Yes ma’am. Will do!” Noe smiled, bisecting another wolf. The entire field of mushrooms was drenched in blood, the wolves cut into several pieces. They were surrounded, his companions struggling to deal with their own individual wolves.

A phantom tore through Cera’s heavy armour, mangling her left arm. It started profusely bleeding, but she ignored the pain to bring the hammer down on the red wolf, splattering its brains. She fought on, but the wolves were smart. The pack avoided Noe and instead fell upon Cera. Her warhammer wildly flailed in the air, killing another, but the pack was upon her. She fell to the ground, feeling the hot breath of the hellish wolf.

Noe’s hands trembled as he looked at the scene. The humming of his blades became louder, an aura of red surrounding his body. Moments later, his body disappeared from view, appearing next to the wolf about to kill Ceria. The crossed twin blades ripped the wolf’s head off its body, a torrent of blood showering the two. Blood rippling around his blades, the humming deafening now.

“May his light cleanse your soul,” with those words, Tenebral raised his holy symbol in the air, a portal of light emerging from the air. For a brief moment, every wolf looked up before an armageddon of shimmering lances tore through their bodies, vaporising their insides. Tenebral fell to the ground, panting from exhaustion.

Noe was the only one standing between the three of them. He looked to the ceiling above, whistling a cheery tune as the two of them recovered in the middle of the mushroom meadow. They had expected a fight as soon as they saw a treasure chest in the open, but a whole pack of crimson wolves was almost too much for them to take.

“I must have used too much mana, let’s rest a bit more. My head’s spinning.” Tenebral said, clutching his holy symbol and swaying side to side. Cera was up already, but uneven on her feet, leaning against her warhammer.

“I’m all for staying here a bit longer. Maybe we’ll see some more wolves come here,” Noe said, sitting down on the ground. His words had the opposite effect as the two began moving towards the treasure chest, healing their wounds with holy magic. Cera tossed open the treasure chest with force, spilling its contents to the ground.

The chest contained a sword, three potions, a cloak, and several hundred pieces of gold. The items would be worth thousands, more if sold on the market - enough to make an adventurer rich for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, most adventurers kept the loot and kept on fighting, eventually dying young in pursuit of more riches.

The two were so busy looking at the treasure that they didn’t notice each other’s eyes. They were crimson red. It was then that the first dispute came. As Cera was putting the gold in her magical bag, Tenebral started shouting.

“Give that bag to me. I’ll carry it, keep it safe.” He yanked the bag out of her hands, hugging it tight to his chest. Cera glared at him, kicking Tenebral in his stomach and knocking him down. She pried the bag out of his fingers, almost breaking them in the process.

“Shut up. Everyone knows you’re a greedy goblin with no respect for anyone. You should have been smitten by Lumin a long time ago!” She defended her bag, raising her warhammer. Tenebral clutched the white dove, light spilling from his hand.

“Let’s calm down a bit. What would others think if they saw two followers of Lumin fighting for mere gold pieces,” Noe butted in, his eyes perfectly clear.

“How dare you speak, you filthy dog!” Cera shouted, spit covering Noe’s face. “You and your pathetic god should crawl back to wherever you come from. Lumin’s name is sullied to even be associated with your bloodthirsty god.” Both of them turned to Noe, their faces contorted in rage.

“I would kindly suggest taking that back,” Noe said, grinning. His hands were twitching, blood seeping from his body.

“Or what? You’re nothing but a slave.” Tenebral’s face contorted in rage, arrows of light spiralling towards Noe’s head. He dodged with ease, unsheathing his blades.

“You’ve attacked me. I’ll give you one more warning. After that, it’s not my fault for anything that might happen.” He warned them, but his eyes lusted for combat. Once again, he dodged an attack, Cera’s hammer sending dirt flying through the air.

“The contract is now void. I’ve wanted to do this for a long, long time.” Noe’s entire body was covered in blood, shining like the dawn of a bloody sun. His swords started singing, voices of angels and devils together. The blood coalesced into a figure surrounding him. A grim reaper wielding a scythe of blood embraced Noe, deathly silent.

“Raegal has many forms. He is a joyous lord, partaking in music and dance. He is a sombre lord, dressing for war to protect his kingdom. He is a deadly lord, for those unworthy must be culled.” The grim reaper’s scythe cut through the air, splitting Cera’s armour in half. Her warhammer struck Noe, the blood aura rippling but not budging.

“Ah, they sing the song of death, a requiem for the lost souls.” His body was a blur, a bloody streak left behind where he just was. He swung his blades at Tenebral, a wave of blood reaching him before the blades could. The holy light surrounding his body resisted the blow, his necklace cracking in the process.

“Die, heathen!” Tenebral clasped his hands together, a shimmering crack in the ground appearing beneath Noe. From the portal emerged an angel made of multicoloured light. It shone with holy radiance. It took to the air, its wings spread wide, a golden sword tearing through Noe’s defences. The sword went through his stomach, but it only made the grim reaper’s phantom more solid.

Noe laughed through the pain, fighting on two fronts. He somersaulted through the air, his swords cleaving through the angel, the scythe meeting the heavy warhammer. The angel was quickly reforming, but it wouldn’t be fast enough. He leapt, soaring through the air like a swallow, the grim reaper raising his scythe high above. Landing before Tenebral, his blade cut once, twice, the barrier shattering on the third. Tenebral hastily retreated, scrambling to get away as fast as possible.

“Stop! You can’t attack us!” he shouted as Noe kept up with his every move, slashing his chest. Up, down, he moved like a dancer, carving Tenebral’s body to pieces. The holy light kept him enough to endure the agony of being cut, but it wasn’t enough to prevent him from dying. Even after Noe pierced his heart, he kept going until he finished the bloody dance, not a single piece left behind.

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He twirled around, blocking the heavy warhammer. Earth cracked as his bones creaked and the phantom became more ethereal, but it wasn’t enough to take him down. His blades rippled with blood, the singing turning into screams. Wave after wave, he slashed with his blades, cutting deep into Cera’s body.

Not long after, the two swords stopped screaming, his body coming to a stop. Cera was panting, her eyes becoming blood red as she breathed in the mushroom spores. Noe smiled once again, though his body was just as exhausted.

Raising both of his swords, he looked Cera directly into her eyes. “It’s time for the Grand Finale,” he said, bowing to Cera. Raising his swords, the plains faded away as an illusion reigned over both of their minds. A bloody battlefield surrounded the two, both the sky and the ground stained red from the sins of thousands.

The grim reaper lowered his scythe, putting it next to Cera’s neck. She was kneeling on the ground, her hands tied with chains of metal. Noe walked behind her, crossing his swords, her head in the middle.

“And with that. Goodbye.” Her head flew through the air, both scythe and sword flashing red, blood spraying in the air. Cera’s body hit the ground with a heavy thud, her neck gushing blood. Her body joined the thousands already here, her sins forgiven in death.

The illusion faded away as Noe panted, his body pale white. The grim reaper merged back into his body. He had lost too much blood. He grabbed the coveted bag that made the two fight, as well as the rest of the magical items. Squashing a few pesky spiders biting into his leg, he started walking further into the dungeon. Although his body was weary, his eyes were blazing with flames of passion.

For once, Viv was an uninvolved observer. The mushrooms had done their job, though it was beyond his expectation that Noe wouldn’t be affected by anything thrown at him. There was no doubt that Noe was a B rank adventurer, and a deadly one at that. Greed took over as he imagined the kind of demon that Noe would become when he lost all of his humanity.

Using another trail of bodies, Viv prepared to lead Noe to the chimera, but before he could do that, an ear-piercing whistle disturbed the peace. Looking over the floor, the Wolves of Chaos had finally engaged Devourer, an intense fight from the first minute.

“Why the hell is this thing so damn big?” Ray shouted, stabbing into the worm’s flesh. The spear burst into flames, scorching the insides. He had to quickly pull it back as the worm looped around, its massive body burrowing into the earth again. The stab wound was practically invisible on its massive body.

Three of them spread out once again as Hycan placed his hand on the ground. “Famir, dodge!” he shouted just as Devourer emerged from the ground, taking with it a massive chunk of land. Famir dodged to the left, nocking his bow. An explosive arrow impacted the worm, tearing away chunks of flesh.

“Go for the head. Be careful, it will eat anything you throw in its mouth.” Famir exclaimed, drawing five different arrows from his quiver. Ray's spear made multiple holes in its body as it burrowed once again, Ray retreating to the side. The worm was smart enough to sense the opportunity as Ray isolated himself, offering himself as bait. His aura flared as he focused on his legs, his every muscle ready to dodge. When the worm finally emerged, he leapt through the air, drawing a long line of blood alongside Devourer’s body.

In the meanwhile, Famir was just as ready. One by one his arrows struck the worm’s head, lightning shocking its body and inferno evaporating part of its head. He was out of his most destructive arrows, but the guardian was finally dead. Or so he thought until it burrowed back underground, most of its head gone, the red vortex still present.

“How the hell are we supposed to kill this thing!? Stall for as long as possible, wait for reinforcements!” Famir dodged another attempt of swallowing him. It would be death if he slipped up for even a second.

Viv closely followed the fight, analysing the situation and feeling pity for the creature. He was focused on expanding the cavern when he created the guardian, its fighting abilities secondary. Despite that, Devourer should have been at least stronger than Xeel. As soon as Hyacinth could gain access to the outside world, he would make sure Devourer could no longer be underestimated.

Viv’s thoughts aside, the titanic worm held on no matter its injuries. It took several tense minutes of near death before Kael arrived, and even he stared at the giant creature with a hint of shock in his eyes. The mechanical golem stepped up, the long tube on its arm shining with light. The beam easily tore through its flesh, but once again, the wound was too minuscule for it to matter.

And so began a war of attrition. It took fifteen more minutes for Noe to arrive at a scene of utter destruction. The ground was riddled with hundreds of holes and a humongous worm was bleeding from a thousand wounds, unwilling to give up. Wolves of Chaos were just as exhausted as he was, each attempt to dodge taking a toll on them.

“What happened to the group?” It was Kael that addressed Noe first, leisurely standing and watching the fighting. His voice was rough and raspy as if he had wandered through a desert with no water.

“They’re dead. A mighty deadly trap. Such a shame,” he said with no remorse on his face. Kael nodded, recalling his iron golem.

Reinvigorated once again, Noe took out his swords, a phantom figure wielding a sword and a flute surrounding him. His swords began singing as he joined in, his blood pumping. “Come on you bunch of no-goods. Let’s dance!” The effect was visible immediately - each of their blows was heavier, their limbs moving with ease as they followed the rhythm.

It took several more minutes of fighting to finally fell the beast. It shook the ground as it collapsed, a cloud of debris lingering for a while. The three groups gathered next to the corpse, each exhausted from the battle. The three wolves dropped to the ground, panting for the next five minutes.

“The treasure chest should be somewhere inside of it. We’ll need to cut it open. Does everyone agree with sharing the loot equally?” Famir took the lead, standing up and sitting on top of the corpse, his breath ragged.

“Fine by me,” Noe said, Kael nodding along. It was a bloody ordeal to get the chest out, especially since they didn’t know where it was. Hycan filled his bag with worm flesh, getting strange looks from everyone involved.

“It’s worth studying. It could be delicious too.” That drew even more looks. “You’re missing out,” Hycan whispered to himself, stuffing more into his bag.

“Well wasn’t that a disaster? Lost all of my party members and this fellow lost one of his golems. I loved every second of it!” Hycan wasn’t the only one being stared at, but no high-ranking adventurer was normal.

“There’s bound to be a third floor too. I can’t wait to see what it is. Let’s go!” Noe started marching into the forest, only to stop moments later.

“Aren’t you coming? I thought this was the goal of the expedition.” He looked back, pointing at each of them.

“I think it would be best if we went back to town. We need to let others know what we’ve seen here, and we still need to stock up. All of our potions are missing for some reason.” Famir said, being the voice of reason. His group had lost money instead of gaining it on this expedition, at least without them delivering the information to the duke.

“You’re all so boring. Fine.” He looked at his pale skin, lost in thought for a brief moment, his eyes darting back and forth between the exit and the forest. “Let’s go back,” he said, sheathing his blades. It wasn’t the scene of defeat that Viv had expected to see.

The first real expedition into the second floor had gone terribly, or so said the adventurers. To Viv, it was a disaster - only two people had died. He bled mana even after considering the two corpses, and the potions the wolves had didn’t even reach the third rank. He would build an even deadlier third floor to prove to both Auberon and the adventurers he wasn’t someone to be taken lightly!

Viv’s obsession had completely erased his thoughts of outside perspective. Unbeknownst to him, the “Hell’s Dungeon” was already considered one of the deadliest dungeons to emerge recently. Over fifty adventurers had already perished within only weeks. Novice adventurers would come here to die and veteran adventurers had nothing to gain besides meagre loot and the thrill of a challenge.

And so, the duke was faced with a difficult decision, pressured by the kingdom. The choice between keeping the dungeon, wasting away the kingdom's youth and potential, or destroying it completely, getting rid of something that was already developing a name.