The possessed Cyclone turned towards Bloody Edge. She might be angry that she received damage form a friend. Or not. No one could tell from her indifferent face.

This didn’t stop her, though, from swinging her wand and sending an attack at Bloody Edge.

[-705!]

“Damn, have you always been this strong?”, asked the thief with an exasperated expression.

Forced to helplessly watch this scene Silver Blade gradually turned anxious. Obviously attacking the boss didn’t work. Were they forced to kill their controlled friends?

Just as the tank was about to give the order, she remembered the scene when Liam disappeared. His words echoed in her ears.

Remember to use the bracelet when…

Silver Blade’s eyes lit up brightly.

How didn’t I think of this?

With a flip of her wrist the bracelet carrying a divine blessing appeared in her hand. It spread a gentle, warm glow. Suddenly it seemed to have felt something.

The bracelet’s power concentrated, shining on Cyclone and Radiant Shield.

The two players spectating from the sky felt a strong pull. With a jolt they abruptly returned to their bodies.

Cyclone looked left and right, blinking her eyes, and shaking her limbs.

“Am I back? What a strange feeling…”

The blond woman shivered, hoping never to experience something like this again.

Noticing their two friends’ lively movements, the others exclaimed gladly:

“Shield, Cyclone, are you back? Finally!”

“Did the skill break? Can we kill the boss now?”

“Let’s go! Good job Silver Blade!”

A wave of relief swept over everyone.

“I’ve been waiting for this! Die!”

Fortune let out a shout, venting her emotions. Her eyes had turned a red color, revealing her struggle to hold back the skill, which had finished casting.

A foreboding pressure engulfed the room. Large amounts of mana gathered on Fortune’s staff before racing towards the sky. A gorgeous but oppressive cloud made of sparkling blue mana formed below the ocean.

It brewed for a second before a pulse ran through the cloud, compelling it to condense into one majestic spear floating above the boss’s head.

The ghost servant’s faces turned upwards, showing despair is if it knew that its end was near.

Accompanied by a thunderous roar the magic spear crashed into the ghost’s head.

[-282!]

A violent explosion shook the whole room. The ghost servant trembled, letting out a saddened howl.

Suddenly the boss dissolved into hundreds of small ghosts. Only the original seven ghosts stood out somewhat, being slightly bigger.

At this point only the black banner which the ghost servant carried on its back remained standing in the air. It swayed eerily, surrounded by black magic. A suction force came from the banner, absorbing all the ghosts.

The original seven held on for a bit longer but eventually no ghost remained in the hall.

“You will pay for this!”

A familiar raspy voice sent shivers down everyone’s spine. It came from a small black portal which had suddenly opened. A red-skinned hand reached out of the portal, retrieved the banner, and disappeared again.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

From one moment to the next silence fell on the room.

The friends glanced at each other, seeing the complicated emotions in each other’s eyes, filled with relief, joy, and worry.

When Silver Blade let out a sigh and was just about to talk, another voice came first.

“Adventurers! You did it! I knew I could count on you.”

Major Onrabell descended from the sky, looking somewhat weak. Cyclone eyed her skeptically:

“Hey, we fought such a difficult boss. Where have you been?”

Before the major could answer the sound of a gate being opened caught everyone’s attention followed by a laugh:

“Don’t blame the major. She separated the connection between the boss and the black river or else that old ghost would’ve shown some more tricks.”

“Liam! Are you fine?!”

Silver Blade exclaimed happily, even using the wrong name. But no one cared as the party swarmed Liam, asking about his situation.

Liam felt a touch of warmth feeling everyone’s care for him.

“Don’t worry guys. I’m fine now.”

“Then I’m relieved, my friend.”

“Good, good.”

“But… what about the future?”

Silver Blade’s question made everyone frown.

“Today it was Mirage who got attacked, tomorrow it could be us. What should we do?”, asked Silent Acacia with a heavy voice.

“I…”

Silver Blade just wanted to answer when Onrabell’s impatient voice sounded.

“Adventurers, our army can’t hold out all day!”

“Let’s talk about it later. I have some ideas.”, said Silver Blade, postponing the discussion.

Liam nodded while taking the lead to walk to the other side of the room. Although he was safe now, he didn’t forget his promise to crush everyone else’s dreams of getting the first clear.

Onrabell saw the adventurers finally focus back on the dungeon. She floated above everyone’s head, pushing open a smaller door at the other side of the room.

The party followed her, stepping into the next room. A strange scene presented itself. In the room were a row of tables with lifeless demons lying on them, their bodies looking well preserved as if they could open their eyes at any time.

Everywhere in the room were all kinds of magical devices, tubes containing strange liquids, and various herbs.

A few black banners hung from the ceiling, emitting a cold, ghostly feeling.

Cyclone looked around, her face turning more and more unhappy:

“What is this? Where is our reward?! That stupid boss didn’t drop any loot!”

Liam chuckled. Not wanting to test Cyclone’s patience he approached another door to the side and opened it.

“Here, take whatever you want.”

Immediately everyone’s eyes lit up looking into the small room containing two treasure chests and various racks with armors and weapons.

“Haha, watch me get the best equipment ever for us!”, boasted Cyclone happily as she reached for the first chest.

After a moment a pair of trousers appeared in her hand. She proudly posted its information in the group chat.

It was a piece of rare equipment for mages with the effect of increasing the damage of the first skill used in combat. A fight immediately broke out between Fortune and Cyclone.

Fortune didn’t dare to roll the dice against Cyclone. She spent a long time convincing Cyclone that this equipment was more effective in her hands.

Eventually Cyclone gave in when Fortune reminded her that she already had her own rare equipment.

Feeling like she made a loss, Cyclone prayed an extra two seconds before opening the next chest. But her luck wasn’t good, at least in her opinion.

The chest revealed two pieces of equipment, both part of the red tiger set. Silent Acacia was almost tempted but with the equipment mainly strengthening INT he could only reluctantly give up.

“What is all this? Have I gotten possessed for nothing?”, complained Cyclone in annoyance.

Seeing her like this, Silver Blade could only chuckle.

“We already got a rare item. Don’t be too greedy.”

Cyclone rolled her eyes unhappily and focused on the other weapons stored in the room.

“Huh.”

The mage let out a curious sound, inspecting a small dagger.

[Cursed black copper dagger

Category: common, cursed

Level requirement: 18

Attack Damage: 13

Attack Speed: 0,9

Effect: Deal an additional 4% damage to members of the order faction.

Curse: Each time you use this weapon to attack, lose 100 HP.

A basic dagger mass produced for the inhabitants of hell. It has been imbued with a curse during an experiment.]

“A cursed weapon? That’s new!”

Cyclone’s exclamation drew everyone’s attention. Intrigued they looked at the other weapons and armor in the room. Most of them were nothing special, only interesting because of the air of novelty they carried.

But a few of the party members still found some equipment which could serve them well.

The luckiest among them was Balm who received a pair of uncommon boots, which carried an area healing spell, with the only drawback being that her damage would be reduced.

Having emptied the small treasure chamber the party returned to the first room.

Taking a look around they found Onrabell hovering before a map hanging above an alchemy table. She basically radiated an aura of ‘talk to me to continue the quest’.

Silver Blade approached the fairy, studying the map as well. She found that it showed some islands located within Deavin Ocean. A few points were marked separately with more information.

Everyone looked curiously, studying the map until a familiar name fell into their eyes.

“Look guys, her Holiness Lewriova!”

“Right. But what’s that written next to her name? Sigil of the Thousand-Year-War?”

Hearing the party members’ voices, Onrabell suddenly appeared startled as if only now perceiving their presence. She waved her hands quickly, rolling up the map and letting it disappear.

“Hmm what was that?”

“Haha, don’t worry about it adventurers. Just forget whatever you saw…”

Cyclone narrowed her eyes, staring skeptically at the fairy.

“Why are you so flustered?”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“Fine. If you don’t want to tell me, I will just ask our walking encyclopedia!”

Showing a beaming smile Cyclone averted her eyes from the fairy, looking at Liam.

“Do you really want me to spoiler you?”, asked the young man chuckling.

“Yes!”