“At least you got some conscience!”

Cyclone’s content eyes stared at the black chest resting at the maw of the sea monster.

“Adventurers! You *cough* did it! Thank you on behalf of all our soldiers.”

A clearly injured Onrabell weakly flapped her wings, struggling to reach the party.

“Right, right.”, answered Cyclone absentmindedly. The young woman waved her hand, approaching the chest. She rubbed her hands, sent out a quick prayer and reached for the chest with her eyes closed.

Meanwhile Silver Blade smiled apologetically at the fairy, taking over the conversation.

“Major, we only did our duty.”

“I’m glad you can say that. But the fight isn’t over yet.”

An ominous black air surrounded the fairy as she spoke. From time-to-time sparks of her own power tried to get rid of it but one could tell that it would be a long process.

“Major, if you want us to help just give the order. That’s what we are here for.”

Onrabell showed a thankful expression, turning towards the sea monster and looking deep into its maw which was filled with black magic.

“When you defeated Untrim I could feel a pulse of magic coming from the sea monster, even more powerful than the devil child. Even if we assist Phenaroa in killing the ghost general, someone else might block us again.

On top of that we would waste too much time.

Adventurers, I know it is dangerous, but I must implore you to enter the sea monster and find out what the infernals are planning. And if possible, stop it!”

“Don’t worry major! We won’t disappoint you!”

“Thank you. Really.”

Suddenly a massive explosion came from the center of the battlefield. The shockwave almost lifted the party members off their feet. They looked back in shock, seeing Phenaroa and the ghost general resting briefly.

The holy nephilim used the chance she fought for to throw something towards the party. Silver Blade caught the ray of light, taking a look at the item in her hand. It was a pristine white bracelet made from fine pearls.

“Adventurers!”, shouted Phenaroa with a strained voice. “Use this to weaken your enemies! I wish you success!”

Immediately Onrabell’s eyes opened wide as she spoke with joy:

“A bracelet containing divine blessing! Adventurer, lend it to me so I can cleanse myself of the devil’s curse. I will be able to assist you in this mission.”

Naturally Silver Blade had no reason to refuse. She handed the bracelet over to Onrabell. A brilliant light shone on the fairy, dissolving the black air around her.

“Hah, way better! Let’s go, adventurers! We mustn’t delay any longer!”

With those words the fairy didn’t wait any longer and plunged directly into the veil of black magic. Her body abruptly disappeared.

“Alright. We can continue.”, sighed Liam. Even he was somewhat bored. After all, he had heard these dungeon stories more than just a couple of times.

“Finally!”, exclaimed Silent Acacia as well.

Silver Blade on the other hand didn’t mind it. However, seeing the faces of her friends she knew that their patience was wearing thin. She quickly turned around and led them towards the sea monster’s maw.

Shortly before entering the darkness, Liam glanced at the back of the party where Cyclone walked, staying suspiciously silent.

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

When Liam turned his head back to the front, his view had changed drastically. A tall wall made from green-blue stone spanned into the distance.

Towards the top this wall reached into a gorgeous blue ocean hanging in the air. Strange pearls swam within the ocean, illuminating this space, looking like stars in the sky.

The beautiful scenery was interrupted by a long stream of black water, parting the ocean in half, carrying an army of infernals from the depth of the space to the front.

It ended in a veil of black magic, through with the party just entered.

“Where are we?” asked Balm, astonishment filling her voice.

“Who would have thought that there is a magical space within this monster! Those infernals must be planning something. Adventurers, we need to hurry!”

Onrabell’s voice echoed in the empty space. Scanning the surroundings Silver Blade found the fairy floating before a large gate leading into the wall. But before she could talk to her, A chuckle came from Liam:

“Cyclone, don’t you have something to show us?”

“What? Me?”

Cyclone looked around in faked confusion, even whistling a little tune. But as more and more eyes stared at her she finally gave in.

“Ok, ok. Here is it.”

[Fang of the failed ghost order

Category: uncommon

Level requirement: 19

Attack damage: 17

Attack speed: 0,9

Effect: Increase your dexterity by 9 after not being stealthed for five seconds

A dagger used by one of hell’s assassin organizations known for their unconventional tactics.]

“Well, never mind you could have kept it.”, joked Liam obviously underwhelmed.

“Just hand me this blade. I will make good use of it.”

Cyclone didn’t show much reluctance, giving the dagger to Bloody Edge. Afterwards she revealed the rest of the loot. But apart from a few health potions there wasn’t anything useful.

“Quite the stingy boss…”, sighed Silent Acacia.

“I hope not all devils are that poor.”

“Whatever, we can’t always be lucky. Let’s move on.”

“After you, Silver.”

With the loot distributed Silver Blade quickly approached the patiently waiting Onrabell.

“Major, let’s continue.”

“Of course. We need to stop these devils! Adventurers, I will scout ahead!”

Onrabell spoke bravely, turned around and pushed the gate open. She once again proved that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, easily moving the much larger gate.

A gap opened, revealing a narrow path branching out multiple times. Both sides were blocked by large walls. Onrabell turned into a pink ray of light, shooting into the path.

Something suddenly attracted the party’s attention. To the left and right of the gate were patterns consisting of seven different colored rings each. They were placed within each other from the smallest red ring to the largest violet one.

As the fairy disappeared form the view the rings chaotically lit up, sometimes two or three of them at once, but mostly only a single ring.

It only took a couple of seconds for the fairy to return with a puzzled face.

“There is a labyrinth ahead of us but even after searching all paths there is no way out. I can’t even go to the sky. The water is infused with so much mana that I might burst like a bubble from the pleasure…”

Onrabell’s small, fair face was slowly clouded with frustration. She went to the side, seemingly deep in thought.

Balm took her eyes away form the fairy, looking at Liam with sparkling eyes:

“Is this a puzzle?”

“What do you think?”

“So it is! Nice, I love puzzles!”

Quickstep stared at the patterns next to the gate. Her voice sounded somewhat dismissive:

“This doesn’t look difficult. We clearly only need to get these rings to light up.”

“Of course. But we don’t know if it is only certain rings or all of them. Maybe we need to activate them in a certain order. And we need to memorize the way through the labyrinth.”, commented Balm.

Silver Blade nodded calmly, glancing at Liam:

“Do you want to take the lead?”

Liam, though, was deep in his thoughts. Once again, the scene slightly differed from his previous life.

From his experience this dungeon should have a normal difficulty and a hard difficulty. And only the latter had a seven-ringed pattern. Now it begged the question if the puzzle was the same as the hard difficulty he remembered.

“Mirage?”

Hearing Silver Blade’s repeated question, Liam shook his head. He calmly looked at his friends, leaving the decision to them:

“Do you want to take a risk or not?”

“Well, we want to destroy Star Gazer, right?”

Silver Blade swiped her eyes over her friends, finding only agreement. She smiled faintly.

“Let’s take a risk.”

“Alright. Acacia, it’s your time to shine. You have the [Pathfinder] auxiliary skill, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Go ahead according to my instructions and keep your eyes open for any traps.”

“Got it!”

Coming to a decision, Liam waved towards the hunter. Silent Acacia understood, entering the labyrinth first. He moved carefully, his body tense.

After only a short distance he already spotted something strange.

“Stop! That one stone should be a pressure plate.”

“Huh, I don’t see it…”, said Cyclone.

Liam nodded, explaining calmly:

“Without the pathfinder skill, traps barely stand out. You need to scan everything extremely closely to notice traps. In Acacia’s eyes they are more obvious.”

“Really? How magical…”

“But even I don’t find it them easy to notice…”, added Silent Acacia. “Could something happen if I trigger it once to get a feel for it?”

“Go ahead.”

With Liam’s guarantee Silent Acacia didn’t hesitate. He took out a piece of warg meat from his inventory, throwing it onto the suspicious stone.

An ominous click could be heard before magic suddenly exploded turning a part of the path into a hell of thunder.