“Say it!”, demanded Silver Blade roughly, obviously in a bad mood.

Radiant Shield felt like a child who did something wrong. He gulped before speaking carefully:

“A few days ago, someone passed me up on the way to the dorm. They offered me a lot of money but kept their purpose ambiguous.”

“The same happened to me!”, admitted Bloody Edge.

Silver Blade balled her fists, looking around for something to crush to pieces.

“Damn! This is exactly something Brayan and his slick father would do! But how did they…

No, the contracts were always in my office. I…”

Silver Blade’s eyes slowly narrowed. Her face turned cold, looking much more dangerous than her angered appearance just now.

Without saying anything she left the game again. A short while later she returned, her face portraying a mix of sadness and anger.

The others felt bad seeing her like this. Cyclone grabbed her hand, asking her best friend:

“Silver? What happened?”

“Nothing. Let’s not talk about it.”

The friends glanced at each other, their hearts extremely heavy. Liam hesitated before offering quietly:

“Maybe it would be for the best to postpone the dungeon raid. Let’s do it tom…”

“No!”, interrupted Silver Blade. “You were right. That’s what they wanted. But they have gone too far!

The best way to deal with them now is to clear the dungeon. But not only clear. I want to crush them!”

When the word ‘crush’ left Silver Blade’s mouth, it was accompanied by an uncharacteristic fierceness, sending a chill down everyone’s back.

Liam looked at his determined friend and nodded slowly. His face took on a serious expression the others had never seen from him.

“Ok. Let’s crush them.”

With an indifferent voice Liam turned around and stepped onto the teleportation platform. His friends were almost slow to react. Only when Liam disappeared did they remember to follow him.

The sun spent a comfortable warmth, welcoming the party to Duabalis Harbor. However, Liam gave his friends no time to enjoy themselves.

He brought them to the main road where they boarded a horse-drawn cart. The cart was filled to the brim, carrying almost thirty players. Excitement permeated the air.

Liam stayed silent as he listened to the gossip.

“Damn we are late! I’m sure all the guilds have already arrived.”

“I think we are perfectly on time! Look, Hotpot is sitting over there.”

“You’re right. Damn, Fortune is so gorgeous!”

“But why do I feel so cold when looking at Mirage?”

“I don’t know, let’s be more careful.”

The players shivered and lowered their voice, discussing the upcoming dungeon raid in whispers. Although none of them had reached level 20 it didn’t stop them from joining the fun.

Soon the scenery changed. The cart exited a smaller forest path. An extremely busy view entered everyone’s eyes.

Some distance away stood Saltae, the majestic wall protecting the island. But even the mighty monument showed some weakness right now. A breach had appeared at its base, caused by the terrifying head of a black scaled sea monster.

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The monster’s head was stuck in the wall, having no signs of life left. It’s gigantic maw, large enough to swallow a house whole, remained open.

Various inhabitants of hell swarmed out of the monster’s maw, clashing with the soldiers waiting for them on land.

Humans, elves, dwarves, and nephilim clashed fiercely with zombies, demons, and skeletons.

A large perimeter has been formed around the sea monster. Magical constructs formed barriers holding back the invaders. Only one large gate allowed entry or exit, tightly guarded by the powerful army.

The horse cart stopped outside the gate, surrounded by countless reserve soldiers. The atmosphere would be extremely solemn if it wasn’t for the thousands of players swarming the vicinity.

Chaotic voices could be heard from all sides.

“Did any of the guilds already enter?”

“No, look at the gate. Star Gazer and Earthquake are seemingly arguing. And as far as I know no others have appeared yet.”

“Over there! Hotpot just arrived!”

“Silver Blade! I’m your biggest fan!”

“Marry me, Fortune!”

“Bloody Edge, you’re so cool!”

As soon as the party arrived, they were overwhelmed by the many players. Some were enjoying the fame while others found it a nuisance.

Liam was annoyed as a crowd blocked their way, asking for pictures and autographs. The party had to push their way through, reaching the gate at an excruciatingly slow pace.

When they finally arrived at the front, their eyes immediately hardened spotting Star Gazer.

The latter was talking to Earthquake when he seemingly felt something. His eyes swiped to the right. When they fell on Liam and undetectable glint flashed past them.

His face however showed a gentle smile, addressing his cousin’s party:

“The number one party, hm? Glad you finally made it. Without you it would only be h…”

Suddenly Star Gazer’s words got stuck in his throat. Silver Blade only glanced at him with a disparaging expression before leading the party away.

Star Gazer secretly balled his fists as he watched his cousin talking to a guard at the gate.

“Adventurers! I am glad you heeded our call for aid!”

“We are also inhabitants of this city, sir.”

“It makes me happy to hear that. Are you ready to enter the battlefield now?”

[Do you wish to accept the quest ‘Kelsnim’s Invasion’?]

[Yes]

[No]

Silver Blade glanced at her friends before nodding at the guard.

“Yes, we are ready to help.”

“Great. Our priority is it to push the Dark Giant Snake back into the ocean. When you enter the gate, just follow Major Onrabell’s orders.”

“Understood.”

The guard turned his head away, signaling that he had said what was to say. Liam directly passed Silver Blade, nodded at her, and entered the open gate. A sensation of powerful magic washed over him as he and the party members entered the battlefield.

Immediately a few messages were projected before their eyes.

[Welcome, adventurers!]

[You have entered the dungeon ‘Kelsnim’s Invasion’.]

[Normal Difficulty]

[Only Players leveled 20-25 admitted.]

[The limit on deaths will be suspended within the dungeon.]

[A player can only die thrice during a single run.]

[All EXP earned will be stored and only given out upon completion of the dungeon.]

At this moment chaotic noises reached the party’s ears. The clashing of weapons, the hissing of spells, the shouts of soldiers filled the air.

Blood and sweat painted the battlefield. Groups of soldiers and infernals clashed between the barrier and the wall.

For some of the party members the scene caused quite a shock. No one expected to be thrown into a war. Except for the fact that no corpses could be seen on the ground the game didn’t hold back much.

Balm’s body was shivering when a loud voice drew everyone’s attention:

“Finally, some reinforcements! Adventurers!”

“Hey! Where are you looking?! Here, above you!”

The voice sounded obviously annoyed as no one expect Liam found the speaker. Only with a reminder did the others look up. Immediately they stared at the air in surprise, even forgetting the shock just now.

Cyclone and Balm had wide, round eyes.

“So cuuute!”

“Insolent! Adventurers, at attention!”

Cyclone grinned brightly staring at the fairy the size of a forearm flying above their heads.

Her cute appearance caused by the pink wings and long, pink hair, was contrasted by the heavy armor she was wearing. A red cape longer than her body adorned her back, with the aim to give her a heroic appearance.

“Balm, we need a…”

At this moment a loud cough interrupted Cyclone. Liam glanced at the blond woman, speaking in a low voice:

“Guys, we better listen to her. We need her in the dungeon.”

“Oh? O… ok.”

Cyclone’s face calmed down, but the sparkle in her eyes remained. She looked at Liam who saluted with one hand on his chest and copied his actions.

“Finally. I will let it slide this time, adventurers. But from now on you follow my command!”

“Yes, mam!”

“Good. You can refer to me as major or major Onrabell. I have been waiting for reinforcements for a while.

Let’s hurry up, I don’t want unnecessary sacrifices.

Our soldiers are bravely holding back these demons. But they seem to come without end. We need to get rid of that black snake.

Therefore, we need to open up space close enough to the snake so our mages can blast it away! This will be your job!”

When the fairy’s speech ended, the party’s quest got updated. A large red circle was marked close to the snake. The party was asked to kill 50 invaders to advance to the next step.

With a new mission they pushed through the battlefield, reaching the marked area. The demons paid no attention to them until the moment they stepped past the circle.

Instantly several infernals separated from the surrounding fight and surged towards the party.

Two burly demons full of muscles, two flaming demons and two skeletons armed with bows made up the first wave of enemies.

“My friends, it has been a while since we fought together!”, exclaimed Radiant Shield with a smile while clashing his shield against his burly chest.