-Order of Light City-

I was able to sleep in the Tavern and replenish my fatigue. And now, I'm about to meet the others but they should be here by now. It's impossible to get lost. Maybe I should whisper Elou.

"Hey Elou, are you there?" Hoping he could hear me.

"Yeah yeah, we just arrived. The city is so awesome, dude!" He sounds like he's having fun.

"Ok, wait for me at the south gate. See you!" I said.

I finally arrived and they are already waiting for me.

Hmm, is it just me, or they are carrying a lot of stuff? Maybe they hunted or something.

"Hey. What's with the bags, guys?" I asked while walking towards them.

"Oh, we just went shopping and found some tasty food," You can see Elou almost drooling. The other girls are blushing maybe because they realized they bought too much.

"So, what's the plan, Scy? We're kind of clueless on what to do here. Maybe you've got some info," He asked.

"Well, I heard a rumor that there is a dungeon nearby. It's near the hobgoblins area. You want to check it out?" I'm pretty sure they're up for more dungeon runs.

"Are you sure about that, Scy? I mean, we heard that there is a psycho lurking around the hobgoblins area and we don't want to be the next victim," I know he's being cautious but I can see he's trying to hide his fear.

"I'm pretty sure he will not target us.," Yeah, it's because I'll be with you the whole time.

"Sure... if you say so. It will be a lot easier if we have you right," Maybe, I hope the dungeon is not that hard or it will be troublesome for all of us.

"By the way, if you don't mind me asking. What are your Ranks? It would be good to know what the team's capable of, right?" Trying not to sound like I'm spying or anything.

"Sure, our Ranks are all still the same which Rank D after we fought with the Goblin Rider Boss. Range and spellcaster classes basically rank up slower than any other masteries because we don't get hit that much so our defensive capabilities are quite low," Yeah, it's really reasonable, unlike me who specializes in melee combat, I hit and get hit a lot. Though I already expected that they're still Rank Is.

"Of course. It sounds good. The surrounding areas only have a few strong monsters so it wouldn't be that hard. I'm not that sure about the dungeon, though. Just make sure to be ready and be alert always. It's already night now so ambushes would be great," I need to calm them down before going to the dungeon.

-West Forest of Order of Light, near Hobgoblin's Area-

After buying and restocking our supplies we decided to move out.

It was really dark here outside. Moons and stars are hiding behind the thick clouds making it darker as usual. I concentrated my mana to my hand and created a small fireball. Maintaining one fireball with mana makes it last longer but slows down my mana regeneration.

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While walking, we heard some scratches on the bushes. I'm pretty sure I killed most of the hobgoblins so it should be some wild animals roaming around.

"KYAAAAAAH!" The girls panicked! I was startled by their shouts. Don't surprise me like that!

"Don't worry guys, it's just the wind. I'm familiar with this place," I eased them up.

-Hobgoblins Area-

We are now in the hobgoblins area, just southwest of Order of Light city. The corpses of hobgoblins are everywhere, covered in blood. Even the grass is red as a ruby. I overdid it. I should control myself sometimes. I was in my zone at that time.

"Scy, shouldn't we wait for sunrise? This is bloody scary as hell," Elou's worried. The girls are almost crying in fear. Jeez, this is the best opportunity to ambush.

"If we arrive at the dungeon, it will be a lot easier. It's just that this place is the remnant of the bloodshed left by the psycho, right? I'll protect you no matter what so just trust me. I'll lead the way," It somehow convinced them to go on.

Though, I feel like we are being watched. I'm sensing an anomaly in the air. Even I am trembling but I'm doing my best to hide it. This is really strange. It wasn't like this the last time I'm here.

Hmm. I don't see any lake? Did we walk in the wrong direction? I think I'm making a mistake here. Tall grasses are nowhere to be found. The light of fireball I created can't reach any end of this place. It feels like we were in endless darkness.

Our feet are covered in some kind of black fog.

"Hey Scy, are you sure this is the right way? I don't see anything around this area. It is like an empty map. We don't even see what we are stepping on. I'm kind of feeling bad about this. We should head back." Elou whispered to me. I can see on his face that he is really not feeling well.

"Guys, it seems that this is not normal. We should be at the lake by now. But I think we are trapped in an illusion or something. The place shouldn't be like this. Are you aware of abilities that alter what people see to create confusion? I'm entirely sure this is like that. Only a coward or weak monster would do this," I hope what I'm telling them is really what's happening.

"Are you sure? Because if we're not, we will be in some kind of trouble, right? I am telling myself not to be afraid. It feels like this is a horror movie or something. I want to get out of here as soon as we can," Akko said. We need to do something or we will be trapped here until morning and achieve nothing.

"Should we just log out? I think it would be better?" Elou suggested.

"No, that would be a bad idea. You do know that if you logged out of the game, there's a ten-minute time that you will leave your character, still online, right? That's why we should log-out at places where it is safe,"

"At least we won't see what will happen here," Damn it... stop being a coward for a second Elou. You're a man, dude up.

"Don't panic, I have a plan. Hey, Akko and Lili, are you still ok?" I asked them knowing that they can't move on anymore.

"Maybe. So, what's the plan?" Akko answered.

"Just create simple fireballs and throw it in some places far ahead, so we can see more," I suggested.

The girls threw fireballs at some random places. I hope we are far away from grassland or we'll create wildfires.

I threw a fireball at my side too but...

"PSSSSSHHHHHH," My fireball hit something but in an instant, it died, leaving a sound of a fire touching water.

I knew it! This was an illusion! It must be the doing of a monster!

"OOOOOOOOHHHHH!" A deep loud noise can be heard below the ground!

A giant Shadow looking monster popped up! It was a Shade they called the Death Shadow! A Rare Boss Type monster! I saw a picture of it online and they said that no one survives against it and it shows up at night where there are dead spirits, maybe it was attracted by the dead hobgoblins. It's probably eating the hobgoblins souls.

(DEATH SHADOW BOSS RANK: B

-A Rare boss that only appears to gather souls of enemies and mostly attracted by corpses. Uses high-rank dark spells related to illusions and kill their targets on their sleep, yet defense of this monster is way too low.)

"Guys this is our chance to defeat it! I know you're freaking scared right now but it is now or never! We will defeat that Death Shadow!" I shouted trying to boost our moral back!

"Of course! Lock and load guys! This will be a hell of a fight!" You've got that right Elou!