Callie states, “We only participated in one arena battle so we can’t exactly afford the best items in the PVP arena’s gift shop. It was really funny to see Jade out of place though. The last thing our enemies, the Knights of the Stars, expected to see was a raid boss from a limited time April fools event.”

“Our best course of action is to use our coins collectively and buy one uncommon rarity item for you, Zinnia. What do you think? What would you like?”

Zinnia replies, “I think that my defense is sufficient for the time being. I would like a better sword. I felt like my physical damage was sorely lacking in that last battle. I would like a more reliable manner of dealing damage when my spells are on cooldown.”

Zinnia is staring at a few weapons at a super close distance that an average person would consider uncomfortable if Zinnia was staring at them rather than an item. All of the weapons have some splash of color on them representative of the possible team colors available in the arena.

“This sword steals health from the enemy. This one has better attack speed, This one...”

“This sword has better defense penetration. I like this one.” Zinnia grabs a sword similar to the one she already has equipped with a red handle. She swings the sword around a few times. Zinnia’s common sword is replaced by an uncommon sword. The sword is now the rarest quality piece of equipment that she possesses.

Callie states, “As good of a choice as any other. Speaking of sufficient defense, never investing into many defense type spells is starting to catch up to me. The mirror match against the Knights of the Stars mage turned into a real slug fest. I am going to aim for at least one defensive skill next.”

Callie opens her skill menu. “I have leveled up! I didn’t even notice with everything going on lately. Wait, darn it. My new class is still at level one. Only my mage class and the subclass that I replaced leveled up. This must have been from an exp gain for discovering your city.”

“The best I can do for the time being is invest my skill point into a minor passive perk that raises my magical defense. Not exactly what I was hoping for but it is a step in the right direction.”

“So back to our quest, we have set up trade with Jade for mana cores. What is next on the list of materials to barter for the kingdom of Steel?"

Zinnia responds, “Types of rare ores that we have discovered cannot be acquired in the city of Marigold. Unless we chose to barter with those awful merchants."

Callie suggests, “Maybe the adventurer’s guild will know where we can find the specific ores you are looking for. The people that work there come from all regions of the world and receive quests from all sorts of niche areas. There is bound to be somebody there who can tell us where the ores come from. Plus they know all about the latest rumors and gossip."

The adventurer’s guild is a large two story building. The second floor is off limits and hides the mysterious nature of the guild leader’s office and the staff break room. There are stained glass windows visible even from the outside that depict the form of common classes that adventurers use such as tanks, rogues, and mages.

The first floor has parties gathered around tables discussing details over one quest or another. There are some vases of flowers spread around to liven the place up. The place is no library but there are two bookshelves that advertises themselves with signs saying ‘beginners basics’. There is a bulletin board advertising a few odd job requests.

There is a counter where a handful of NPC receptionists are working. They seem to be really busy with some paperwork and distributing rewards for the completion of quests. There is a considerable amount of people waiting in line.

There is a receptionist who stands out a bit more than the others. She has curly light brown hair. She has keen and sly eyes. She has a tail and ears like that of a cat.

Zinnia takes a look at a painting on the wall. “Incredible attention to detail. The climate is snowy and so different from the climate here that the landscape must be from a different part of the world entirely. Even the frame is carved with intricate artistic patterns. I wonder what kind of assets the guild must have to afford something like this.”

Callie’s eyes are elsewhere. She is staring at the receptionist. “A bountiful harvest. Why wasn’t I blessed with such a gorgeous figure? It should have been me, not her. It’s not fair.”

The receptionist is in the middle of a conversation with a player.

“You have got to be joking! Only three silver coins for these items? They were worth at least five when I accepted the quest! And what is with the poor selection of quests on the board lately? You are holding out on me. There must be some better quest available!”

“The bonus reward was only offered for a limited time in order to keep up with the guild’s dwindling supplies. Were you paying attention when you accepted the quest? We have gathered more than enough Dragon Scales for the time being, so do not expect the price to rise any time soon. The only quests that we have available are the ones posted on the board.”

The discouraged player leaves while mumbling some unflattering things about the guild.

The receptionist perks up. “The myth! The woman of the hour! The legend herself, Callie! Tell me, how does it feel to uncover a hidden city?”

“Hello, Melissa! Ha ha. It was one of the best feelings I have felt in a long time. Maybe I will bring you along one of these days and you might get lucky and uncover something yourself. For now I have a golem core that I need to turn in for a quest. Could you keep it down though? I think we should chat somewhere in private if you know what I mean.”

Melissa calls out, “Hey, boss! I am going on my lunch break!"

Melissa hops over the counter in a swift and agile movement typically expected of a rogue, assassin, or a cat. She invites Callie to the forbidden second floor staff break room decorated with numerous vases of flowers. She starts chowing down on some tuna sandwiches. “Want one?”

“No thanks. I just ate.”

“At the arena? We watched your battle taking place live. We were all wondering how you managed to convince Jade, of all people, to participate. What is up with that? Tell me all the juicy details.”

Callie pauses for a moment to think. “Ooh right. They may be NPC but they have a surprising amount of ways to learn about the world around them. They may not be able to watch live streams that players make in the real world, but there are certain places like the arena that make live streams and video archives available even to NPC.”

Callie explains, “We sought to trade with Jade to restore the hidden city. It went something like... So what is the latest gossip here?"

“We are suffocating with the amount of flowers in the break room. We are running out of places to put them so we have started placing some on the first floor too. The guild master claims that they really liven the place up. We all know that she just likes having an excuse to see the cute florist that works down the street.”

“They would make a cute couple. Too bad neither of them wants to make the first move. To think that the guild master can slay dragons but starts to feel butterflies in their stomach when it comes to romance. It makes me snicker every time I see the two of them struggling to hold a proper conversation. I like to tease them every time I see the two of them together.”

Callie waves a hand fan next to her face as though she were a noble lady. She takes a sip of tea prepared for her.

“I was wondering if there was any information about where to source certain ores from. We have come into a problem where the local merchants want to exploit trade. Naturally they refuse to disclose any information about where they get their ores from.”

Melissa rolls her eyes. “Always causing problems. I wonder how everybody just lets them get away with their absurd prices and obscene fortunes. Makes me sick. Makes me want to hurl.”

Melissa whispers, “You know, there was a discussion held by members of the guild’s information network the other day. A discussion about an upcoming series of quests related to importing goods from nearby cities. You are not the only ones who are fed up in dealing with the slime balls! An official quest has not been issued yet, so nobody really knows about the opportunity. If I were you, I would see if I could take a slice of that action before Marigold does."

“You should search in the city of Crimson Rain. Remember that you did not hear this information from me. I would get into a lot of trouble if I were caught undermining guild business. The only reason I am suggesting this in the first place is because Steel kingdom seems like they need the materials more than we do.”

Callie jests, “Hear what from who?"

“Exactly.”

Zinnia interrupts. “I thought you told the other adventurer that you had nothing available?"

Melissa crosses her arms and closes her eyes with such sass that the movements could be considered sharp. Even Callie feels as though she were caught in the crossfire. The crossfire feels like a sting as though she were pricked with the needle of a cactus.

“The difference is that I don’t like that guy. Did you know that he only has a thirty eight percent quest completion rate? Even newbie adventurers have better chances at success and they don’t start a fight every other week. He would probably fail or abandon the quest anyway."

“Do you know how many miserable and teary eyed people that I meet in a day? People who put up quests out of sheer desperation only to discover they were forgotten somewhere along the line. If it were up to me, I would not even allow that man to be a member of the guild in the first place. I swear the guild network is too lenient with their punishments.”

Callie thought to herself, “ROW would face massive player backlash if players were banned from accessing features of the game. There is no way the game developers would ban players from failing quests even if they failed them several times over. That would be such a horrible decision that would turn players away from playing any other game."

“Then again how much do I even know about the game devs? They have always been crazy by the standards of the gaming industry. ROW holds the undisputed title of the best game ever made. Would they even care about backlash? Would they even bother to make a statement about it? I wonder how much of the game I can influence."

A sinister smile appears over Callie’s face. “There is already a punishment system that can demote adventurers if they fail too many times in a row. What if you propose to the guild that the adventurers should be banned temporarily for abusing the lenient punishment system? Once there is a system to temporarily ban them, the guild will likely be more willing to outright permanently banning the worst of the worst."

Melissa snickers. “Oh, Callie. I just love the way you think! Oh, I can see it now! The title of adventurer will carry the same meaningful weight that it used to a long time ago. The name of the Marigold Adventurer’s Guild will be spoken with the utmost respect like that of the ‘Council of Mages’ or the ‘Selfless Clerics’ guilds."

She mumbles, “Plus there would be a lot less paperwork for me if there were less reports to handle."

Callie and Zinnia leave the guild with a souvenir. There are a number of decorative flowers placed into Zinnia’s hair.

“Do I look pretty? I feel like I am a fairy with this new cosmetic item.”

“Very pretty. I bet any fairy would turn sour with envy.”

Callie opens her map. “We can fast travel to the city of Crimson Rain by train. I have been there before so I sort of know what to expect. The rainy weather is one of the more obvious things. You are going to need to buy a raincoat or you are not going to have a fun time over there. I already have one for myself.”

Zinnia opens her mouth as if she were about to say something but Callie places a finger over her lips to silence her.

“And no, I don’t expect you to have human money from the current era after your long hibernation. I will cover the price for both the raincoat and tickets. The price for tickets here are very very cheap unlike the price for tickets in some other places I know.”

“What places?”

Callie turns away. “Oh you know. Train stations here and there tend to have different prices.”

Callie and Zinnia enter a tailor shop and leave wearing matching yellow raincoats. They make their way to the train station where they gaze upon the tickets and pricing to various areas placed on posters across a waiting room.

“The price of the tickets to Crimson Rain are unusually high. They are even higher than train tickets to farther places. Overall they are still cheap, but these are the kind of small details that we have to pay attention to. The world really has a love for dropping subtle hints at events going on. Are you taking notes, Zinnia?"

Zinnia looks worried. “I was not aware I was supposed to be!”

Callie buys some tickets. She asks, “What is the deal with the ticket prices? They used to be cheaper."

The person working the ticket booth replies, “You haven’t heard? Prices have increased because the area has become more dangerous lately. There is some trouble between the ‘Undead Paradise’ and ‘Blood Toll’ guilds."

“There has always been some competition between them. Call it some bad blood that has existed from day one. They were always competing against one another in the PVP arena, for quests, and constantly stealing resources from one another. Normally their guild members kept their distance despite living in the same city and could be considered ‘tame’ as far as the less reputable guilds tend to be."

“One day one of their guild masters disappeared out of the blue. The rival guild master decided to be the ‘better’ person and declared a ceasefire. All was quiet. There was peace for some time. Both guilds went about their usual business until eventually the rival guild master disappeared as well. Now there is nobody holding back the guild members. They often fight against one another on sight even in broad daylight.”

The destination is set and the train is boarded. This train is an old model runs on coal.

Callie is given a lot to think about during the short train ride. No particular thought forms other than the obvious thought of being careful to avoid being caught in the crossfire. “Why do I feel so gloomy? I have never been bothered by rival guild hostility before. Am I just feeling too emotional today? This feels familiar for some reason but I cannot place my finger on why yet.”

The environment changes from a gorgeous green grassland to a craggy brown and orange cliff area next to a sea. The train comes to a halt at a station right at the edge of a town where the duo dismounts.

The architecture is more grim in style than the theme of Marigold. The buildings are darker colors, there are ghastly towers built similar in appearance to stalactite, and places carved into caverns that make the most out of the region’s landscape. The decorations around the area such as cauldrons, skeletons, and spiderwebs make it seem as though Halloween came early.

Crimson colored rain falls from the sky. Callie extends her hand for some of the rain to pool in her palm. Callie states, “This is one of the less subtle hints that adventurers need to pay attention to. This crimson red rain is a byproduct created from the massive amounts of Crimson Ore mining that takes place here. The exact same Crimson Ore your kingdom needs. Leftover crimson dust combines with the water in the atmosphere and returns to the earth in the form of ghastly red rain."

Zinnia states, “I see a merchant guild up ahead. We should try our luck there."

The merchant inside looks as though they have not slept in weeks with the amount of bags beneath their eyes. They seem to be in the middle of filing out a request for aid directed to the adventurer’s guild.

“I apologize for the inconvenience, my valued customers. The best that we can do is trade in small quantities of ore that we have in reserve. We cannot handle any new contracts at the moment and all preexisting contracts have been placed on hold.”

“My workers are too afraid to step out of their homes for longer than they have to on account of the rival guilds clashing all the time. I myself was attacked when a battle broke out in the middle of the plaza. I was lucky to escape with my life.”

“Please come back another time. I should have all this figured out within a few months once my requests at the adventurer’s guild are posted.”

Callie states, “We happen to be adventurers. What if we somehow managed to figure out this ordeal?"

“I would not recommend trying. Forgive my assumption but you seem a little scrawny for this task. The enemies you will face are nothing like the level thirty salamanders commonly found in the area. Both of the guilds consist of members that average somewhere in the range of level seventy.”

“I guess I will have to resort to a different tactic than fighting. Maybe I can try my hand in negotiation.”

Zinnia wonders, “Maybe we could ask Jade for his assistance in the matter? He could probably beat them up and give them a good scare."

Callie states, “No, that wouldn’t work in the long run. Their clash would resume the moment that we leave the city just like the time that their guild masters disappeared. I am not going to spend my time in the city as a babysitter either."

Callie states, “I want to try to step into the guilds and figure out what the situation looks like before we try anything drastic and irreversible. How do we go about this without stepping on anybody’s toes?"

Zinnia suggests, “We could try waltzing in and posting a job request. They may be troublesome but they are still guilds at their core. Any guild would come flocking at a new job request. The injuries they cause to the townsfolk seem to be a result of unintentional crossfire, so I presume that they are unlikely to be hostile to strangers."

The Blood Toll guild is a tower with an appearance resembling that of a stalactite. There are bats perched in the between the nooks and crannies of the architecture. There are decorative trees with no leaves. The trees have long since withered away. There is a broad wooden door with metal knockers in the shape of gargoyles.

The door opens with a loud creaking sound that attracts the attention of all the people on the floor. All eyes are locked on the duo. Callie and Zinnia step inside with their hands locked together. They dance together and very slowly make their way to the guild’s counter.

Callie asks, “Is the dancing really necessary? I feel so embarrassed!”

“You have to trust me! This is what they do in the novels that I have read, they ‘waltz’ in like they own the place!”

“They suck! Throw things at them!” A vase of flowers are hurled that smashes on the floor near the dancing duo.

“See, I told you! They are throwing flowers! They love us!”

The receptionist at the guild’s counter is a vampire with sharp fangs and long fingernails. They are dressed in an elegant black outfit with a matching cape. They are sipping on some red wine in a fanciful chalice.

“That was quite the entrance. I have never seen the waltz performed in such a unique manner. What brings you to the Blood Toll guild?”

“I am a witch in dire need of ten salamander tails for my potions. I offer five silver coins which is well above the market price!”

“Is that so? I thought that you had a familiar dark elemental aura about you. That would explain the dynamic dancing as well. I have never met a witch who was not a weirdo. We would love to fulfill your request if you would just take a moment of your time to fill out this form. Proper guild procedure and all.”

Callie asks, “Where is everybody? I notice that there are only a handful of people in the room when private guilds such as this one are allowed to have up to fifty members."

“Sadly we are all that is left. Most of the guild members left once the guild master disappeared."

Callie checks on the guild’s description on her menu. She scrolls through a public chat log. The guild was founded by a player that has been inactive for so long that they were demoted from guild master into a regular guild member. A vast majority of the members consisted of players that tossed around the guild master title for a while. Eventually the rest of the players left the guild. All of the remaining guild members are all NPC including the new guild master.

Callie takes a good look at the guild hall now that she is not too busy dancing. The structure seems like something out of a dark fantasy movie made out of stone bricks. There is a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. There are golden colored candle holders on the walls. There is a piano in the corner covered in cobwebs. There are wooden tables where elegantly dressed vampires are playing cards and discussing among themselves. There is a counter and a bar as well.

Zinnia asks, “Does this have something to do with the rumors I hear about a clash against the Undead Paradise guild?”

Silence breaks out. A voice can be heard coming from across the room as a woman descends from a flight of stairs. Her name tag states that her name is Iris. Her furious tone of voice makes her seem formidable even at a glance.

“Who dares to mention that accursed name?!”

The woman that descends presents herself with grace and elegance. She is wearing a frilly black dress decorated with a single purple flower by her chest. She has hair as dark as the endless night parted on one end. She wears a cape over her shoulder to cover her arm. Callie can catch occasional glimpses at the wounded arm beneath that has suffered from severe burns. The sight is not pretty.

“I can tell you all about the Undead Paradise guild and this damn three year blood feud!”

She sings, “They have hated us from day one and we have hated them just the same! They know us by name and they dare to complain about our fame!”

“Not a week went by when they would leave us alone! Stolen quests, stolen gold and gear. Oh how they make me boil and sear! It is no surprise that they drove our ex-guild members insane! They are the ones to blame!"

A different voice from across the room shouts out, “Our fault? Our fault?!"

A screeching pale and purple phantom hovers across the room until they are standing face to face against the vampire. Her name tag states that her name is Myoso.

The phantom’s head bashes against the vampire’s but neither of them are willing to take a step back. The phantom raises a finger to poke the vampire’s cheek. The phantom is not alone. There is a gaggle of ghouls accompanying her.

One one side of the room there are members of the guild Undead Paradise. There are dullah, haunted armor monsters, zombies, skeletons, and phantoms armed to the tooth. The other side has vampires, dark elves, gargoyles, and demons raring for a battle.

The vampire asks, “You dare to invade our guild?”

The phantom responds, “I dare to do more than invade! I am here for a guild battle and I always get what I want! Before that happens I am going to expose you for your lies! Do you have any idea what is it like to spend every day waiting in the hopes that one day our guild master might return? To hope that our guild members will want to restore the guild to the guild’s former glory?"

Callie’s eyes seem to loose a little of their luster.

The phantom continues. “Have you no shame uttering something so lame? Go ahead and place the blame when your guild is the exact same!”

“Your guild was always barking at our heels! Made you sound like a bunch of seals! Thorns against our side! You were always so angry over our strong sense of pride! Such a sorrowful sight to see that even your guild master would want to flee!"

The vampire and phantom both simultaneously strike the other with a sucker punch. The scene breaks out into a brawl.

Callie motions at the door to Zinnia before they are wiped out among the crowd of high level NPC. They rush to exit the guild and start walking through the barren city streets.

Callie states, “I have no idea what in the realm of ROW is going on! I don’t know if the Undead Paradise members are the bad guys, or if the Blood Toll members are the bad guys, or if both of them are equally terrible. I came here to try to get some information, but I ended up with more questions than answers. I even have a headache."

“I am sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I have done too much adventuring for one day. I need to call it a night. We can resume our investigations tomorrow once everything has calmed down a little. I will try to collect my thoughts.”

Zinnia replies, “That is okay! I yell all the time! Sleep well!"

The following day Callie enters her apartment after a long day. She drops face first on her bed and then rolls over. She browses on her phone for a moment. She ignores the videos that are suggested to her with titles such as ‘Unexpected Complications with Military Grade AI’, ‘The Hurricane Claimed the Lives of...’, ‘Minimum Wage Drops Once Again’. She blocks the related channels for each of the suggested videos.

She searches for the names of the rival guilds when she discovers something interesting. “Both of the guilds were made by content creators that usually upload videos where they play games as rivals against each other. Their online usernames are ‘Nox the Primordial Vampire Queen’ and ‘Dread of Moldy Undead Bread’. Both of them still play ROW but they have created several different characters since they last played with their Blood... and Undead… guild characters.”

“So they like challenges and they are always on the search for similar content huh? Hello, Nox and Dread! My username is Callie Graph Reed as in the player that recently discovered a new hidden area! Welcome to this little group chat that I have created for the three of us! I have a special throwback challenge that is sure to make your older fans really happy! Did I mention that this little challenge of mine includes a few secrets related to the kingdom of Steel? Do not miss this chance for easy views!"

Callie rests her chin in her hand. She seems a little concerned. “I must be going crazy if I am going this far for a few NPC. Now all that I can do is wait to see if I will get a response.”

Callie logs into Row. She meets with Zinnia once again.

Zinnia is sitting on a stone bench in a public outdoor plaza. She has a notebook and a pen with her.

“Hello, Callie! I sold my old sword and I have bought myself a notebook with some of the money. I went around interviewing a few people from the city earlier today. I have organized my thoughts about the two guilds as well.”

“I have learned that the two guilds were formed three years ago. Both of the guilds were high on the leaderboards. They were ranked within the top ten guilds at the time and would often overcome the other and swap places on the rankings. They tried very hard but they never managed to break into the top five guild rankings and their guild ranking steadily dropped over time. Half a year later their guild masters disappeared. The guild master title was then thrown around to the remaining guild members.”

“Returning to the details relating to the present, I have learned that the new guild masters are the vampire named Iris and the phantom named Myoso. They hate each other because they blame each other for the start of their guild rivalry and for the disappearance of their guild masters.”

“Last but not least I think Iris is the better singer.”

Callie replies, “Oh really? I think Myoso is the better singer.”

Callie continues, “After thinking about it all night, I recalled that I actually used to know a little bit about their last guild masters. I remembered that they loved challenges, so I sent them a letter in the mail hoping that they might see it sometime soon. The postal service nowadays does wonders. I also recalled that you mentioned something about centipedes that sometimes attack the kingdom of Steel. I was hoping that we could challenge them to a race to see who could beat one of them first.”

“I do not understand the reasoning behind issuing the challenge.”

“Me neither. I had a feeling that inviting the guild masters to a challenge might play out in our favor.”

“Then there are a few things that you should know about the centipedes. They spew dark elemental acid from their bodies. They can break the terrain around them and hurl chunks of stone. As you may know, light and dark elements are both super effective against the other. Some other details are…”

“Alright, we have collected our thoughts. All that we have left to do is prepare for the battle against the centipede. There is no guarantee that my letter will get a response though. So I think we should do a little more investigating about the rival guilds first."

The duo visit the branch of the public adventurers guild associated with the city of Crimson Rain. They borrow a pair of books.

Zinnia states, “The Blood Toll guild was once a reputable guild with a high ninety five percent quest completion rate. They had an incredible PVP, guild raid, and guild battle win-rates of at least eighty percent in their prime. All their win rates dropped when their guild masters left and they were not able to replace their members."

Callie thought to herself, “As if they could. Most players wouldn’t want to join a guild full of NPC."

“The public started posting less and less job requests as the guild’s top players left. Their guild’s reputation was practically doomed from that point on. The remaining guild members started taking less reputable quests. The kind of job requests you would see in thieves guilds and assassin guilds. Although the new request aren’t the kind of quests to boast about, they still manage to maintain a high ninety two quest completion rate.”

Callie responds, “Undead Paradise has a similar story. Their quest completion rate used to be ninety four percent but dropped to ninety percent. Their PVP, guild raid, and guild battle win-rates were at least eighty five percent in their prime."

Callie surmises, “So they both kinda morally suck nowadays. I guess I found my answer to the question of which one is worse."

Zinnia asks, “So do you believe in redemption or second chances, Callie?”

“Sure, sometimes depending on the scenario. I find it really unlikely that they will have a change of heart all of the sudden though. They have proven through their actions that they place their guild first and foremost. They may not have intentionally involved Crimson Rain citizens into their skirmishes but according to these records they have no qualms about beating somebody up if they were paid to.”

Callie raises her finger as if lecturing. “I will not say whether it is right or wrong. Honestly I do not really care. What I will say is that I have no intention of playing judge, jury, or executioner this time around.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“I became an adventurer to have fun, discover new things, and cause a little trouble from time to time. This time around I think it would be really funny to see what happens if our plan goes through. Lets go stick our nose in their business some more.”

Callie thought to herself, “I tend to prefer the righteous course of action but at the end of the day, why would anybody play a game if they are not having fun? Or making millions of dollars streaming which I am not.”

Zinnia nonchalantly shrugs, “It is not as though we have much say in what a super strong level seventy guild should or shouldn’t do. Not with our measly levels. You are level thirty three and I am level fifty.”

The duo visit the Undead Paradise guild located on the other side of the city. The structure of their guild building looks like a stalactite as well but there are no bats hanging around. There are zombies roaming around aimlessly. There are empty tombs, graves, and headstones decorating the surrounding area. The metal door knockers resemble skulls instead of gargoyles.

The duo waltz inside to see jack-o-lanterns placed on every table that light the room. The tables themselves are decorative coffins.

Callie states, “I thought some of the coffins from the rows of outdoor decorations were missing.”

There is a heavy metal band in the middle of practice on stage. The band is made of three haunted armor monsters and a zombie with overgrown hair that looks as coarse as barbed wire. The zombie headbangs so hard on that his head comes flying off. The rest of his body goes blindly searching as the head screams, “Undead Paradise!”.

Myoso, the phantom guild master, turns their neck completely around in an unnatural movement no living person could replicate. She then turns the rest of her body around in the correct direction to match her head. She is wearing a purple dress and over that dress she is wearing some mummy wrappings as though they were bandages. Coincidentally there is a mummy at the table with missing wrapping.

“I didn’t know phantoms could get wounds.”

“We don’t. Makes me feel like the attacks hurt less though. Reminds me of the time when I was alive.”

Myoso hovers over. “Enough of my unsightly state! Welcome to the Undead Paradise guild! Did you see us win against Blood Toll yesterday? I bet you came to your senses and decided to bring your job request over here instead!"

Callie responds in a sickeningly sweet tone of voice, “That we did! That was a very impressive battle and I just know that I am leaving my job request in capable hands! I am a witch in dire need of three vials of epic grade crimson slime and I can pay top dollar for the request. Five silver coins total. Oh but please do not kill the slimes. They are already difficult enough to find! I couldn’t find a single one today!"

“Of course! Of course! Anything that our clients desire! We will find those slimes in no time!”

Callie is given a piece of paper to fill out. She notices that the guild’s request board is severely lacking in job requests. The best job requests available are staple and repeatable requests that ask for the collection of materials such as wolf pelts.

She hears the sound of some metallic banging. She peeks through the window besides the guild counter to see a zombie and a dullahan in the middle of battle.

“So noisy! What are they doing out there?"

“They are training! We have to be diligent if we wish to restore the glory of our guild someday. Not to boast but we are some of the strongest people in the city of Crimson Rain! Okay maybe I am boasting just a teeny tiny little itty bitty bit, but as of now I am level seventy seven. I am even stronger than the old guild master used to be! Isn’t that impressive?”

“That is very impressive. My main class as a Mage is only level thirty three”

“You could consider joining our guild! We could help you rise through the levels so fast that it will make your head spin!" Myoso’s head spins around until she stops her head with her hands. Her eyes continue to spin in place for a moment before loosing motion and reset into place.

“Thank you for the invitation but I cannot handle that kind of commitment right now.”

Myoso snaps. “Drat. It was worth a try.”

Callie and Zinnia leave.

Zinnia states, “There is not much else that we can do for the day. We should gather materials and items in preparation for the upcoming challenge.”

“Yeah, okay. We might as well.”

Callie and Zinnia enter a potion shop where there is a witch working behind the counter.

Callie asks, “Are we allowed to use the shop’s cauldron here?"

“Be my guest.”

Callie quickly browses through the jars of ingredients that include: snail shells, wyvern scales, salamander tails, fossilized amber, clumps of red fur, and unicorn horns. Some of the potions that she browses through include: potions of frost, elixers of mana regeneration, and potions of crystal skin.

Callie asks, “What did you say that we needed to prepare for again?"

“The most important things that we need are defense against dark elemental magic and a way to counter constant health regeneration.”

“A unicorn horn, an angel’s feather, and phoenix feather can make a potion to raise our dark elemental defense. I have no idea how to brew any potions that counter health regeneration though.”

The shopkeeper suggests, “May I recommend some explosive bottles of searing flames? I have had so many requests to make them that the quality of mine are better much than the common version you might find in other general potion stores. Not only do they deal damage, they cause a lingering burn status effect that lasts for a random duration, and they cause the ‘searing wound’ status effect that moderately reduces all healing received for a short duration of time."

“They are only one silver coin each. You would be lucky to find a better potion for the same price. A word to the wise, take extra caution when organizing your supplies. It would be tragic if you were to accidentally drink one of them."

The potion contains red and yellow liquid stored within a round transparent glass bottle. There is a small tag tied around the neck of the bottle by the cork. The tag depicts a picture of a small flame.

“We will take three and the ingredients I mentioned."

The fairy giggles. “Ooh I just love chatty customers like you. Most of the time my customers are so silent. I can never tell what adventurers are looking for. I never even have the chance to give my personal recommendations.”

“You do have a knack for this sort of thing so I think that I will ask for another recommendation. Suppose that I need a way to prevent an adventurer from moving for the longest amount of time possible with one singular use of an item. Suppose that fighting said adventurer is out of the question because they are just so much higher level than me. What kind of potion would I use? In self defense of course.”

“Oh, I see. The same reason why my potions of searing flame are so high level. Have you considered a potion of frost to try to freeze them in place?”

“One of these theoretical enemies is resistant to frost and electricity. I am willing to bet that the other has some kind of trick up their sleeve to protect themselves against status effects as well. They are some of the most skilled adventurers. I cannot guarantee that I will have the opportunity to try a second time if my first attempt fails either.”

“In that case I would recommend a potion of crystal skin. They are intended to drastically increase the user’s physical and magical defense for a short period of time. They have some nasty drawbacks that makes them unpopular with most adventurers. They drastically reduce the user’s movement speed and attack speed for an entire minute.”

The fairy leans in. “The best part is that they are technically considered as ‘positive’ effect potions. I have noticed that items that protect the user from status effects only work against ‘negative’ effect potions. They do not distinguish between the side effects of ‘positive’ potions.”

“They sell for five gold coins each.”

“Five?! No wonder nobody uses them. They are so expensive!”

The mischievous fairy chuckles. “Actually they go for four. Consider the extra coin the price for my expertise and knowledge. I know you are desperate.”

The fairy tantalizingly extends her hand while holding one of the crystal skin potions. The color of the liquid is purple. There is a label that depicts a stick of rock candy.

Callie frowns. Her eyes narrow as she checks the level of the NPC. They are level thirty. Callie’s hand reaches for her wand with a line of sight blocked by the shop’s counter. Then the strength of her grip loosens and her hand falls limp against her leg.

“Whatever. I don’t have the budget for all these items, nor do I plan on buying a hundred potions for a single battle. I will sell back the ingredients I bought and buy two crystal skin potions instead. Forget the dark elemental defense potions. We are just going to have to be careful not to die during the boss fight.”

She then whispers to Zinnia who nods in agreement. “And we are never coming back to this shop again."

Callie and Zinnia spend the rest of the day gathering materials from the dungeon caverns near the city. They fight against some phantoms, slimes, and ghouls that are within level thirty to level thirty five in the process. They mine a few common and uncommon quality ores in the area and they are lucky enough to find a rare quality ruby.

“Paying upfront for the job requests and buying all those potions really took a chunk out of my wallet. I have nothing left but a few bronze coins. I think I will call it a day once we make ten silver coins. We will sell everything that we find today except for the ruby. The ruby is a pretty good universal upgrade material that will come in handy sooner or later.”

She opens her menu to see a surprise waiting for her. “Ooh! My main class as a Mage has increased from level thirty three to level thirty four. I am still investing into passive magical defense skills in order to buy an active defense skill later. My subclass of Disciple has increased from level one to level three. The abilities that I have for this class so far is the default level one ‘Dark Bolt’ that most dark elemental classes have and a new ability called ‘Claw of Greed’ that deals dark elemental damage.”

Zinnia responds, “I am still so far away from leveling up. Fighting these low-level monsters will not help me at all. This is so sad. Shall we test the effect of your new skill?"

An enemy is found with a level similar to Callie’s. Callie casts, “Claw of Greed!" A single finger of a hand identical in appearance to Zinnia’s ‘Hand of Greed’ skill appears. The finger slashes at the enemy dealing five percent of their HP as damage and causing a very short micro duration stun that could hardly be considered a stun effect at all.

“I am not sure what I was expecting from a level three skill. I am sure that I can find another use for this ability.”

The following day the duo returns to the Blood Toll guild to check on the progress of the quest she submitted. The request has been completed and she has already paid for the request up front. She collects the batch of the ten salamander tails.

Zinnia states, “They were punctual. I was not expecting them to complete the quest so quickly after having been attacked by that rival guild who’s name we shall not dare to mention here less we dare to provoke Iris’ wrath. Plus salamanders only roam in the overworld and normally appear during daytime when vampires are at their weakest. Do you think they toughened out their latest battle wounds to go searching? Maybe they went searching around later at night when they are harder to find?”

“No kidding. They are really fast.” Callie checks her ignored and permanently muted notifications. According to her notification the quest was apparently completed within four hours during the night. This likely means that they only took a brief rest to recover from their latest wounds. She can see that she also has a notification that states that the Undead Paradise guild completed their own request within five hours.

“Now I have more salamander tails than I know what to do with and some rare vials of crimson slime. I suppose they are staple potion ingredients and I can always find a use for them later. Or should I do the insane thing of mass brewing dark elemental defense potions with all the lizard tails? Nah. Into my inventory for an eternity you go.”

“Lets take a break by that bench over there. I need to nap for about ten minutes." Callie closes her eyes as she momentarily opens a second browser to checks a few messages on social media. The ex-guild masters ‘Dread’ and ‘Nox’ have responded to her challenge asking for more details.

Callie simply responds, “A blind race to beat a new monster nobody has seen before. One that I know about but have not fought yet either. The only catch is that the monster was created in year one of the game, so I want all of us to use year one classes and characters. More specifically, I am looking at your Zombie and Vampire class characters! I will be using a human mage myself."

Both players start typing. One of them replies, “Oh, man! When you said a throwback challenge you weren’t kidding! I haven’t used that character in forever, lol! When?"

The other replies, “Sure! I am game!"

“There is no time like the present! Are you available now? It is the weekend.”

“Oh damn? Right now? Uhh, yeah. Give me a moment. How about in thirty minutes? I can meet with you at the kingdom of Steel. Does that work for the both of you?”

“Yeah.” “Sure!”

Callie’s character opens her eyes. She sees that Zinnia has closed her eyes next to her.

“You are not really asleep are you?”

“No. Why would you think that?"

Callie states, “The letter that I had sent through the mail said to meet me in your kingdom today. Since there is no way of knowing if they even saw it we better go just in case. Before that we need to buy a couple of magazines."

Magazines and arts and craft supplies are bought. Letters are cut out from the pages and then rearranged on two separate sheets of paper. Some of the letters and words are jarringly mismatched and different from the last letter either from color or font as though they were ransom notes. There are no addresses or names attached to the letters either. The new message reads, ‘Travel to the KinGdoM of Steel if you ever want to see Your Old GuiLD mAstErs again’.

The letters are sealed within envelopes. Callie waves. “Hey paperboy! Are you on your morning route? Could you drop these off for me as well to the….guilds? I will give you five bronze coins!"

The paperboy smiles. “You mean you are going to pay me even more money to do my job?! Oh heck yeah!"

A train is boarded and the destination is set.

The repairs for the kingdom of Steel are coming along swimmingly. Callie can see that the amount of ancient gears collected for the community quest to repair the city has reached around fifteen percent within the span of only a few days. Huge public segments of the city have been restored from ruins to a rather wonderful state. The scene looks like a shiny backdrop akin to that of a theatre stage or a tourist trap city that conceals the sorrowful state of the rest of the kingdom.

Zinnia states, “I cannot believe my eyes! Repairs are coming along swimmingly thanks to all the friendly adventurers! They have even started work on areas for growing crops for humanoids and water systems! Take a look at this shiny water fountain with robotic angel decorations! Soon enough the city will return to an even better state that I remember!"

Callie raises her eyebrow in doubt. “I think it might take a little longer than you expect. I think the initial progress can be attributed to adventurers being excited to assist in a shiny new quest. They might start to burn out and help less and less. I predict the progress of repair will slow down to a crawl near the end."

“I hope not! I guess we will have to wait and see.”

Soon a zombie with brown hair and torn clothing appears at the plaza. They are wearing a blue tuxedo the kind that an office worker might. His skin color is green as though they are moldy. Their character’s appearance looks as though they have been rotting away for a while but nothing too eerie or grotesque yet. Their name tag reveals that their username is ‘Dread of Undead Moldy Bread’ and they are level forty eight.

“Hey, Callie! I am ready for the challenge!”

Next a woman with long wavy hair dressed in a black and red outfit appears. They are dressed in a light and breathable style of outfit resembling that of a rogue or assassin. The few decorations belonging to her outfit are a few daggers and charms that look so pointy that they would make your finger bleed if you tried to touch them. Their username is ‘Nox the Primordial Vampire Queen’ and they are level fifty.

“Hey! Sorry I am so late. I was in the middle of something.”

Callie whispers to Zinnia, “Forgive me for what you are about to witness. It was one the only way that I knew how to convince them to participate in my challenge."

After a small meet and greet conversation, Callie starts recording. “Okay. We are live in three, two, one! What’s up everybody?! Welcome back to my live-stream. I am out in the forgotten kingdom of Steel! This time I have two very special guests accompanying me for a very special challenge! Say hello to the audience!”

“Hey guys! My name is Dread of… I am so excited to be here! I was so surprised when I was invited to a challenge featuring an undiscovered monster! It feels so weird to adventure again as a zombie. I hardly recognize myself anymore!"

“Hey everybody! Thanks for having me! My name is Nox… and today we have a bit of a special treat. We have a throwback challenge featuring an unexpected team-up with my arch rival! We are using characters made in day one of ROW! I am sure Callie can tell us all about it!"

Callie replies, “That’s right, Nox! I have discovered a new year one monster and so I thought to myself, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to fight a year one monster with year one characters?’ The rules of this challenge are simple! This will be a two versus two challenge. The first team to defeat a Centipede of Greed wins! We are allowed to use all of our spells and items but we are not allowed to attack the other team!"

Zinnia stares at the three of them with a blank expression beyond the furthest reach of a white canvas. “I will never understand humanoid behavior.”

Zinnia leads the way. She states, “The centipedes usually appear within this dungeon. They are more difficult to find than average monsters located in the area, but I promise that we will come across at least one of them if we search long enough. Their strength ranges from rare, epic, and legendary. For our purposes we shall race to defeat any of which appears."

The entrance to the dungeon is a cavern that branches off into various directions. There is no sight of any centipedes in any direction for the time being.

Callie declares, “Our challenge starts in three, two, one, go!"

Dread states, “Any direction chosen at random is just as good as any other random direction when you have no idea where you are supposed to go.”

“What?” Nox has to think that over a second time. She then rolls her eyes. “No kidding, Sherlock.”

Dread and Nox blindly run off in one direction. They ignore and blaze past some of the common undead and robot monsters in the area. They pass room after room for a solid five minutes when their stamina bars inevitably run out. They are forced to walk as their stamina regenerates.

“You have got to be kidding me! You are telling me that I don’t have a single stamina potion on this character? I can only hope that Callie’s team hasn’t already found a monster. What about you?"

“Me neither. I haven’t touched this character in years! It should have occurred to me to check my inventory before I got here. I probably would have if I wasn’t already running late. At least I have some knives on me, haha! Would have been pretty embarrassing if I had to stall the whole challenge just because I forgot to bring a weapon with me.”

“Oh, damn! I forgot mine! No, false alarm. I have some brass knuckles equipped but they are set to be invisible for the whole zombie aesthetic.”

“I do have some health and mana restoring potions on me. At least we are not about to get wiped out when we finally encounter the monster.”

Dread jests, “I have some quest related items that I never turned in. Do you think the monster accepts mana cores?"

The duo venture further into the dungeon for another five minutes until Dread stops.

He wonders, “Is it supposed to take this long? I am just going to sneak a peak at Callie’s stream and see if she has found something. No, nothing. I guess they were not kidding when they said the monster is rare."

Suddenly a massive gray part of the ‘cavern wall’ behind the duo suddenly opens. The part of the wall reveals its true nature as a massive eyelid that had been closed shut. The eye is oddly humanoid. The eye has a double iris. The iris is a brown color of infinite depth and complexity. The pupil is a pitch black color. Several sets of mouths open to reveal large teeth perhaps roughly the size of the shield that Zinnia regularly uses.

Two sets of mouths simultaneously bite into Dread and Nox’s arms dealing a critical hit for thirty six percent damage each. The centipede then laughs for with an amalgamation of sinister voices belonging to several separate sets of vocal cords.

Dread and Nox turn around and raise their guard as a reaction out of pure panic. Despite not being able to feel pain in the game, they feel a primal chill run up their spine as if triggering their fight or flight response.

The enemy in question is called a ‘Segment of the Centipede of Greed’. The rank of the monster is rare and the level of the monster is fifty. The monster has the lower body of a centipede complete with many sets of legs that run across the entire monster’s body. The monster’s upper body is an amalgamation of gray colored flesh similar to the color of the stone cavern walls.

The monster’s upper body can be divided into four individual segments that can roughly be considered round in shape. Each segment has many sets of eyes, mouths, and grotesque portly hands that all drastically vary in amounts and sizes.

Dread shouts, “I thought that we were supposed to be fighting a centipede! You know, like an animal kingdom centipede! I think I just had a heart attack!"

Dread casts, “Horde of the Undead!" Graves spawn near him and several zombie hands burst out of them. Three zombies appear ten seconds later like a miniature zombie horde that start attacking segment A of the centipede for twenty percent damage.

“You and me both! Why does it have so many legs, and eyes, and—. This is the ugliest monster that I have ever seen!”

Nox casts, “Crimson daggers!" Three crimson red daggers appear that she swipes out of the air. She hurls them one after the other at the centipede. They only inflict a combined total of five percent damage but they inflict a ‘bleeding’ status effect that deals damage over time.

Some segments of the centipede stop laughing as they realize they are being attacked. Others continue laughing anyway. Segment A starts clashing against the summoned zombies. Then the rest of the segments curl around the zombies and constrict them. All segments simultaneously attack them from all directions in a whirlpool of damage that quickly defeats them.

Nox casts, “Acid Rain!" Rain starts to fall that continuously deals one percent damage every few seconds to all of the enemy centipedes until they take ten percent damage each.

Segments B and C reach their hands out as if they were reaching out to grab a hold of Dread and Nox. Extra purple colored phantom hands appear out of thin air. They follow around the duo and attempt to crush them. The hands fly around and are not attached to the body of the centipede.

Dread casts, “An Early Grave!" He takes ten percent damage. His body sinks into the earth. The phantom hands harmlessly swipe at nothing. He then bursts out of the ground a second later.

Nox casts, “Mantle of the Night." Her body splits apart into a swarm of bats that slip through the centipede’s grasp to avoid the attack. Her health does not drop from the effect unlike Dread’s.

Dread states, “I am going in! I can’t do much from afar!"

“You are crazy! I will do my best to keep them from swarming around you.”

Dread dashes towards segment A of the monster. He casts, “Combo skill, Infectious Lunge!" He lunges at the monster and leaps to the top of them. He bites down on them for twenty percent damage and inflicts a second ‘bleeding’ status effect.

Segment A of the centipede shrieks. Phantom hands grab a hold of Dread and hurl him down to the ground. The rest of the segments of the centipede suddenly start to curl as though they were about to constrict Dread.

Nox casts, “Moonlight Slash!" An image of the moon appears that shines over Nox’s body and gathers around her dagger. She slashes with a super effective light elemental attack that adds an extra twenty percent damage to the attack’s base strength of twenty. The new damage of the attack is twenty four percent. The attack also lands a critical hit for double base damage against segment B for a grand total of forty four percent damage.

The centipede shrieks. The centipede moves away from Dread. The centipede then bashes through a cavern wall and escapes to another room.

Dread asks, “Wait a minute! Where is it going? According to my map and menu we are still considered to be locked into combat with the centipede. I can even see the centipede’s location on the map as well."

Nox responds, “This must be one of those brief respite kind of moments where the boss stops dealing damage so the players can heal and restore mana. Take some of these potions to get back to full health."

Dread takes a sip and he spits out some of the potion. “The centipede is healing as well!? This is bad, chat! We did fifty five percent damage from our basic attacks! Our double bleed effects dealt ten percent more damage. Segment A should only have thirty five percent HP left! Now it is at forty five percent! This means that the centipede can out-heal our bleed effects! Segment B which was never affected by ‘bleeding’ has healed by twenty percent as well! The rest are already back to full health!"

Nox shrugs, “Nothing has changed. We have to do is the same as before. Focus on one segment at a time. The monster was not healing while we were fighting the monster directly, so we still have a pretty good chance at winning."

“The monster is taking much too long to return. The monster is not even moving anymore, chat! The monster should have been back here by now!"

Dread and Nox awkwardly stand in place. They stare at each other with confused looks. They then realize something. They shout out in unison, “Unless the monster switched targets!”

Callie wonders, “What in the world—what kind of abomination is that?!"

Zinnia calmly replies, “A centipede, duh. They sometimes attack the city."

Zinnia perks up when she notices something. “Ooh! How lucky! Somebody already cut down a segment to half health. We better hurry, Callie! We better finish off segment A before the centipede has the chance to heal!"

“The monster has four separate health bars and can still heal?! When you mentioned that there were multiple centipedes, I didn’t think that you meant all in one like some sort of giant combo value meal! Is this what I am a disciple of? That is morbid. Kind of cool though."

Zinnia replies, “Yes and no. We are learning from the monster but we are not really ‘disciples’. The monster is not exactly holding weekday lectures like a wizard would teach their students."

Zinna pauses. “Wait a minute. Are you feeling the thing they call ‘human scared?’ It is not too late to call off the challenge and retreat.”

Callie tightly grips her wand. Her teeth gnash together. “Scared? Ahaha! I am excited! I am going to be the first adventurer from the world above to defeat that monster!"

Callie enthusiastically chants, “The sun shines with such splendor, basking my morning with glory! Morning Glory!" The spell fires off in a series of explosions that trail across the monster’s gray skin and make a path to attack one of the monster’s giant eyes.

The monster’s grotesque hands cover over the eye as though the monster was playing peekaboo to protect itself against what would have been a critical hit. The light elemental attack is still super effective, not completely block-able due to the monsters large and exposed body, and deals twenty four percent damage. All of the rest of the segments are indirectly affected by a blind effect even though they were not the targets of the attack.

A bleeding effect activates that makes the already weak segment’s HP drop another ten percent. The timer on the bleeding effects ends and the status conditions clear. The segment only has fifteen percent HP left. The centipede starts moving hyperactively and attempts to run away.

Zinnia shouts, “No you don’t!" She casts Hand of Greed to create a phantom hand to punch the monster from afar. The monster is nearly immune to the same attack the monster uses and takes half damage as though the monster were guarding without even attempting to. The monster takes five percent damage and is left with a tantalizingly low ten percent HP left.

Callie attempts, “Earth Pillar! Damn, it is out of range! Wind of the Fairy! No good! There is just no way I can catch up with that speed!"

Callie then hurls a potion of searing flames into the air. She chants, “Claw of Greed!" She flicks her wand upwards aiming at the potion and then drastically extends her arm as far as she can in the direction of the centipede. The phantom claw pierces through the delicate glass bottle and bursts out into flames. The claw then moves rapidly across the room and jabs Segment A in an attack that deals a negligible amount of damage but sets Segment A on fire.

The continuous burn damage slays Segment A. The rest of the centipede shrieks with a voice that echoes throughout the cavern. The rest of the segments B,C, and D all heal to full health. The monster makes a few weird turns across the map and then changes paths to make a line straight for the duo.

Callie shouts, “The monster is coming right for us but I don’t see the monster anywhere! Be careful!"

Zinnia warns, “Watch your feet!"

The ground crumbles and starts to crack. Callie panics and attempts to run out of range but she cannot escape the range of the attack. The ground collapses beneath her.

Callie shrieks, “Ahhhhhh!”

She extends her hand as if desperately reaching for something to grab a hold of but there is nothing to grab. Callie drops to the second floor of the dungeon and takes a massive critical hit that deals a fixed amount of sixty percent of her health.

The centipede laughs at her from an overwhelming amount of directions that makes the voice of the monster sound omnidirectional while Callie is trapped in the center of a miserable carousal. The laughter moves closer and closer. The centipede curls around her in an attempt to constrict her and finish her off.

Zinnia leaps down and lands next to her. She takes a fixed amount of thirty percent damage from the drop. She shield bashes and slashes in a combo of two attacks. The attacks strike segment B for critical hits that deal around fifteen percent damage total. The attacks make the centipede scurry away elsewhere.

“Are you okay, Callie?!"

Callie grips her head from both directions using both of her hands. She covers her ears and squirms. She seems so nervous that one might imagine she might pull out her hair next.

Callie complains, “That was terrifying! I hate heights! I can barely handle a Ferris wheel! That drop was so much worse! Is this what people mean when they say they felt their heart sink? That did so much damage too and I don’t have any healing potions.”

“Me neither, nor do I have any repair kits for myself.”

The centipede reappears back on the first floor. The centipede breaks the floor beneath Dread and Nox. Dread sacrifices ten percent of his health to cast An Early Grave and becomes immune to the fall damage. Nox sprouts a pair of wings like those of a bat and safely descends to the lower floor.

The centipede starts curling around Dread and Nox.

Dread panic casts, “Ahh! Horde! Lunge! Plague!" Zombie summons appear that swarm the centipede, Dread lunges at the centipede, and Dread bites the centipede. Segment B raises their arm in defense to protect the weak spot they are aiming for and only takes a cumulative total of thirty percent damage despite the flurry of attacks. The segment suffers from the bleeding effect of the infectious bite. The attacks are nowhere near enough to disrupt the centipede’s movements.

The centipede grabs a hold of Dread with phantom hands and raises him to one of their mouths for a bite that deals twenty percent damage.

Nox has a better vantage point from above. She has much less reason to panic considering that she is not caught in the middle of the centipede’s carousal of misery. She casts “Combo skill Acid Dagger!" She throws a dagger glistening green with acid that lands a critical hit for forty percent damage and causes a bleed effect.

The attack stops the centipede in their tracks. They drop Dread. They run away a certain distance and feign as though they are about to run away from the battle completely. They reach the end of the room and turn around to charge at Nox. Nox flies the fastest that she can out of the centipede’s path. She narrowly avoids the charge and the monster comes zooming by as though the monster were as fast as a train.

A second attack comes from another segment that creates a dark elemental ball of purple sludge that the monster spews at Nox. The attack throws her off balance and makes her spin out of control for a moment. Nox takes twenty percent damage and she can see that she is inflicted with a status condition that drastically cuts her magical defense by half.

The monster feigns leaving battle once more. The monster returns yet again in an attempt to charge at Nox. Nox manages to regain control of her spiral and this time she avoids the charge and lands on top of the beast. Segment A is already wary of her and raises their arms to cover their sensitive spots. She is forced to avoid attacking the monster’s weak-spot and slashes Segment A twice dealing twenty percent damage total.

Three pairs of phantom hands appear that simultaneously all swipe in an attempt to grasp Nox. She is forced to back away and dodges two of them before the third grabs a hold of her. She takes thirty percent damage and she is hurled away from the centipede.

The centipede tries to escape from combat. Segment A is left with only ten percent HP remaining. The continuous bleeding effects kick in and drop the segment’s HP down to zero before the monster has the chance to completely escape from battle. The centipede shrieks in the distance and the voice echoes throughout the caverns. Segments C and D still remain.

Dread states, “I am so thankful they didn’t include a sense of taste when it comes to biting enemies right now. I would hurl every time I bite that thing. We better step up our game if we want to win this challenge or Callie will pick off the segments before we realize."

Nox lands to the floor. She states, “I am out of stamina. The easy to hit critical spots have already learned to defend themselves. There is no way I will be able to land a critical hit from the ground."

Dread replies, “Save up whatever stamina that you can so that we can at least escape the instant death whirlpool. Do you have any more health potions? My Early Grave skill has a long cool down time.”

“Only one.” Dread’s HP is at seventy percent. Nox is at sixty percent but not for long. Nox drinks her potion and heals to full health. Dread’s eyes narrow on her out of contempt.

“What? I needed the potion more than you did."

The centipede clashes with Callie and Zinnia once again. Callie is at forty percent HP. Zinnia is at seventy. Segment C has dropped to eighty. Callie strikes with a Pillar of Earth that lands a critical hit but oddly only deals twenty percent damage. The monster certainly did not manage to block the attack.

“What the? That was a critical hit! That should have done forty percent damage? What went wrong?"

Dread shouts out, “You are not going to beat us that easily, Callie!"

Callie chews her fingernail. “The game is readjusting and rebalancing. The strength of the monster is has increased now that all four of us are fighting the centipede at the same time!"

More sets of mouths and arms on the creature suddenly become active. Four balls of dark elemental sludge are spewed at each of the targets. Zinnia guards with her wand and only takes five percent damage on account of her high defense. Callie guards with her wand and takes ten percent damage. Their magical defense is cut in half. Nox and Dread dodge the attacks.

Zinnia immediately counters with a lunge and attack combo where she leaps to the top of the monster and impales the centipede. The centipede is already prepared to defend its weak-spot so Zinnia instead attacks some unguarded area elsewhere. She barely manages to deal ten percent damage before she is forced to retreat.

Callie creates a spear of ice aiming for the monster’s weak spot. The spear of ice is swatted out of the air by a phantom hand that appears.

Two more phantom hands appear that menacingly simultaneously target Dread. He does not even have a chance to try to figure out a way out of the scenario before a third phantom hand smacks against him from behind his back. The attack is a critical hit dealing forty percent damage.

Dread casts horde. He rushes into battle once again with his trio of zombies. His zombies bash against caterpillar once again for ten percent damage. The centipede prepares to curl around the zombies once again.

Dread leaps over the shoulders of one of his zombie summons. His summon raises their hands like a platform that Dread uses to jump onto the top of the centipede. He lands with his hands together in a bash against the centipede for a critical hit dealing twenty percent damage.

The centipede whirlpools the summoned zombie horde until they are all slain. The centipede then starts charging.

Dread is forced to leap away from the monster as a series of phantom hands attempt to barrage him once more. A series of dark elemental sludge attacks then aim for Dread once he lands on the floor. He avoids all of them narrowly except for one.

A swarm of bats suddenly appear. They merge to form Nox’s body at the last possible second in order to body block the sludge attack. Nox takes twenty percent damage.

Dread states, “My health is so low! There is no chance I could dodge another series of attacks like that! I have to take a step back. I will spam Horde as often as I can.”

Three phantom hands reach for Zinnia. She has already seen through the ruse. She turns behind her back to counter the centipede’s phantom hand with one of her own. She narrowly dodges one of the three and quickly learns that she is nowhere agile enough to dodge the rest in such quick succession. She guards against the other two and takes ten percent damage.

The centipede charges from a long distance away toward Callie.

Callie has a brilliant idea. She casts, “Pillar of Earth!" The centipede is unable to change directions in the middle of the beast’s charge. The centipede bashes against the pillar and is momentarily stunned. Unfortunately the wrong segment takes damage. Segment D at the end of the centipede takes twenty percent damage from the attack.

The centipede is left vulnerable for Zinnia and Nox to charge in and simultaneously attack the weakened segment. Segment C is slain. Only segment D remains with eighty percent HP.

Two sludge attacks are spewed at Zinnia and Nox from a near point blank range. There is no leeway for either of them to raise their guard. Two phantom hands are created that rip chunks of rock from the pillar that Callie created. They are hurled within a moment after the sludge strikes. Zinnia takes twenty percent damage and Nox takes fifty.

A horde of zombies charge the centipede once more for ten percent damage. The summons momentarily distract the centipede and create the opportunity for Zinnia and Nox to collect themselves and step back.

Zinnia notices, “Look across the monster’s body! Some of the eyes belonging to the defeated segments are starting to open again! We better hurry up unless we want the monster to heal back to full health!"

Nox grunts. “That debuff and damage combo is nightmarish! All of us are at half magical defense except for Callie! One more nasty combo like that and most of us are dead! To make matters worse I am out of mana!”

Callie complains, “Regeneration on top of regeneration and four health bars!"

Dread advances closer to the monster. “We can’t fail here! Not when we are so close! There is no use playing safe! We all better take some risks unless we want this challenge to end with a failure and a complete party wipe!”

All of the party members are down to thirty percent health except for Zinnia who is hardly better off with her thirty five percent HP. Segment D still has seventy percent HP.

Callie commands, “On my mark! Dread and Zinnia rush the beast! Zinnia defend their escape!"

“Morning Glorrryyyy!" Callie’s shout echoes through the cave and her voice is silenced only by the sound of explosions. The centipede takes a super effective critical hit for twenty four percent damage. Segment D defensively covers over all of their blinded eyes.

The centipede starts moving faster with the intention of retreating.

Nox and Dread use basic attacks to deal a total of twenty damage. The centipede’s health drops to twenty six percent. Nox and Dread leap away the moment that their attacks connect.

An onslaught of blindly fired dark sludge and phantom hands barrage Nox and Dread’s general direction. Nox and Dread would be dead if they would have stuck around to attempt tried a second attack and if Zinnia had not stepped up to defend against the attacks. Most of the attacks miss but two of them connect. She takes a total of twenty percent damage that drops her health down to fifteen percent.

Nox and Dread exclaim, “No!” and “It is getting away!”

Callie spawns her two remaining potions of searing flames. She hurls them in Zinnia’s general direction with as much force as she can muster. She calls, “Zinnia, Hand of Greed!"

Zinnia casts a phantom hand that swipes the potions out of the air. The hand them zooms across the room and slaps into the centipede causing an explosion that sets the centipede on fire and the combination of attacks deals around twenty five percent damage that drops the centipede’s health to one percent.

The centipede leaves the room and starts to regenerate health. Two stacks of the ‘burn’ status effect deal damage while two stacks of the ‘sear’ status effect prevent the monster from regenerating health. The final result is that the potion cancels out the effects of the monster’s regeneration entirely.

Callie points and shouts, “Follow that centipede!"

Callie casts Wind of the Fairy for a speed boost. She turns around for a second while she is in mid-flight to hurl two potions of crystal skin at Dread and Nox. Their skin suddenly crystallizes into something as colorful as rock candy.

Dread complains, “You slimeball! You said we could not attack each other!"

Callie replies, “That was no attack! That was a super expensive potion with a friendly buff effect! You are welcome!"

Zinnia casts Lunge with no target just to move a bit faster. Dread has the same idea but he can barely move thanks to the downside of the slowness effect of the potion of crystal skin even with a cast of Lunge. Nox has no stamina left and can only run for a very short duration before her stamina drops to zero again.

The centipede turns around and dashes across the map to return to battle.

Callie calls out, “Is everybody watching?! I am about to be the first adventurer to kill a centipede!”

“Lets combo kill the monster together, Zinnia! Claw of…”, “Hand of…” Text appears on Callie’s menu. The two skills are combined and create a new combo skill.

Callie reads, “Combo skill Hand in Hand!" The claw appears on one side of the centipede and the hand appears on the other side. They both close in as though they are going to slap the centipede from both sides. The attack misses and slaps nothing.

The monster suddenly drops to zero HP and disappears. Callie sees a wounded crimson slime in the middle of the room where the centipede was charging. “You have got to be kidding me! The crimson slime killed the centipede?! The slime won the challenge?!”

Zinnia enthusiastically raises her hand in the air. She cheers, “Hooray!"

The duo quickly hunt the slime out of Callie’s spite and receive a vial of crimson slime. They then check what Greed dropped. They each receive a chunk of purple ore called ‘Unrefined Segment of the Centipede…’

Zinnia notes, “This is the same material that we used when creating your wand except the quality of this ore is only rare whereas the quality of the ore used to forge your wand was epic."

Dread and Nox finally catch up. Dread complains, “No way! We lost the challenge!"

Callie facepalms. “So did we.”

“What do you mean? A slime! Ahaha! I can’t think of a better way for the stream to end! Thankfully we still get rewards no matter who landed the final hit in a party.”

All of the player’s live stream chats are full of people laughing and posting emotes. Dread and Nox have to wipe the tears of joy from their eyes.

The party of four leisurely stroll towards the dungeon’s exit after a long adrenaline filled battle.

Nox breaks the silence. “That was a fun challenge. I hope we have the chance to do another one sometime. What is the name of your social medias? I will link them in my video.”

The party comes across a surprise encounter waiting for them. Iris and Myoso are sitting side by side on the stairs that lead back up to the first floor of the dungeon. There are a number of ghouls and vampires accompanying them. Iris is drenched in a disgusting amount of sweat that makes her seem as though she had been caught out in the rain. Their rivalry seems to have been placed on halt for the time being. Both of them cannot contain their tears.

Myoso’s voice quivers as she asks, “Where have you been?"

Callie pushes Zinnia along. She cannot help but snicker. She whispers to her, “Come on. We should leave."

Callie and Zinnia are blocked in with how many NPC are stacked in such a narrow space.

Callie politely asks, “Could you please clear some space so that we may pass?"

Zinnia replies, “Sure! If you say so! Shield Bash!"

“Not like that! Please forgive my socially inept friend!”

Five or so unlucky people are struck all at once.

An hour or so later Iris and Myoso are sitting side by side at the Blood Toll guild’s bar.

Myoso is a sobbing mess. Her head lays on the counter in a pool of tears. She bangs her first against the counter.

Iris is not handling the recent turn of events much better. There are empty cartons upon cartons of orange juice piling by her side. She swipes her arm at the cartons and flings them across the room.

Iris complains, “She basically dumped the entire guild!"

Myoso hiccups. She sings, “Our war was just a game and now nothing will ever feel the same. They were just having some fun while we felt like we were always on the run. We were too weak to ever reach the peak."

Iris sings, “A new guild under another name. One run by the worst guild master that is so damn lame."

The singing ends.

Iris states, “If we are to call a truce, then there is one thing that you must offer as a display of sincerity. A tradition that we uphold in my guild. Without it, you word is meaningless."

“What is it?”

“Pay a toll. A blood toll so to speak.”

Myoso figuratively begins to sweat profusely. “A blo–blood toll? Are you serious? What kind of wicked, messed up rule is this? How much blood are we talking here exactly?”

Iris opens a book labeled ‘Guild Rules and Regulations’.

Iris states, “I am very serious when it comes to upholding guild law. The case involving an oath with outsiders is very severe. I am afraid you must offer double the amount of blood that we do. The amount of bloodshed will be stain the floors and be nightmarish to clean. Tsk-tsk."

Iris raises a thumbtack to her own finger and pricks herself. She spills one single drop of blood that falls to the floor and takes less than one single point of damage.

“You must pay a blood toll of exactly two drops of blood. No more, no less. How miserable. I cannot stand to see the tragedy. I would even go so far as to say that I pity you.”

Iris raises her hand to her eyes as if covering them but she leaves wide open gaps in between her fingers. She does not even try to hide what she is doing.

Myoso casts a miniature spell that creates a thumbnail made of ice. She dares not to look so she closes her eyes. She nervously moves the thumbnail to her finger and winces as she pricks her own finger. She takes even less than one point of damage. She then realizes, “I have no blood. I am a phantom."

Iris makes a bewildered expression as severe as if her entire world has been flipped upside down. “Paying a blood toll without blood? How utterly inconceivable. What does somebody even do in such a unique case?” She spends the next few minutes calming herself down.

“Ah, a special exception shall be made for you. Just prick yourself once more.”

The heavy metal band made of three haunted armor monsters and a zombie now has new members. Their are a couple of vampires practicing with them. The zombie headbangs their head and their head goes flying off once more. They scream, “Undeeead Bloooood Tolllllll!”

Callie and Zinnia never left the kingdom of Steel. They walk together.

Callie states, “I have a feeling that Blood Toll and Undead Paradise are going to simmer down for a while. We better ask the merchants guild about those trading arrangements before they start causing trouble again."

Zinnia asks, “Should we visit their guilds to check the situation over there?"

“No way. That sounds like a terrible idea. I do not want to stick around to see the aftermath. Would make me feel really depressed. Maybe we can consider checking in on them sometime in the distant future.”

Hello! This is the author Ether Marble. Please consider donating to my Stripe or Kofi if you like my content. My goal is to provide entertaining content and I gladly accept donations.

I prefer donations directly to my stripe.

https://buy.stripe.com/6oE17O2Bqfw87Uk9AA

Kofi instead.

https://ko-fi.com/ethermarble