Confused by Eri’s comment, Liam questioned, What’s interesting?

There was silence for a moment before Eri stated, I won’t say much, but I will say that the Elf swordsman, the Dryad girl, and that human who are standing in the middle are in a similar situation as yourself?

Liam looked at the Plant-human hybrid and thought to himself, A Dryad huh?

Similar situation? Liam asked as his brows furrowed while redirecting his thoughts to Eri. What do you mean by that?

I won’t say anything else. Eri said. Time will reveal all.

Not liking Eri’s answer, Liam decided not to push since she wouldn’t divulge any more. Instead, he turned to Mercer and stated, “Looks like you were right about Jude being one of the three.”

“Of course, I was right,” Mercer said giving him a faux look of offense. That look quickly disappeared as he then asked, “So what do we do now?”

Liam looked at his group then back at the groups in the middle of the room. “We need to figure out what’s going on here.”

The others nodded as they stepped forward into the room.

Artem and Blair walked in front while Avery and Roman walked behind them. Liam was in the middle of the two while Ariyana and Mercer took the rear.

As soon as Ariyana and Mercer fully entered the room, the doorway behind them started making noise.

The group turned around to see a stone slab slowly go up to close the path they had just entered from.

“Looks like there’s no going back,” Roman commented as they turned back around to see everyone in the room turn to look at them.

Liam and his group stared at them, not sure what to do or say.

After a brief moment of silence, a voice yelled out, “I knew it!”

The groups turned to see Jude walking through them, making his way towards Liam’s group.

“I knew I felt something different in you from all those other weak trashes out there,” Jude stated with what Liam could guess was a grin.

He wasn’t able to tell if Jude was actually smiling or scowling since his bone snake head helmet kind of hidden some of Jude’s facial features.

Feeling annoyed with the man, Liam stepped forward out from the middle of the group and replied back, “I can’t really say I’m surprised to find you here with how things have been. However, I am surprised that you were in here before me since they restricted us from coming here.”

As the three groups stared with confusion, realization dawned on Theodore, Mia, and Henry.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Theodore stated as he stared at Liam, Blair, Roman, and Mercer.

“Why are they here?” Henry scoffed.

“Do you know them?” the cat girl questioned as she looked at the three.

“Not all of them, Mica,” Mia started.

“That Tiefling in the back was our old boss,” Theodore chimed in. “We fought and lost to that guy with the goggles, that Dragon-kin, and the damn fox. The rest are unknowns to us though.”

“Oh?” Mica muttered as she looked at them. Her eyes fell on Liam and noticed his eyes. Not really his eyes, but his pupils. As she stared at them she recognized something familiar. A playful grin grew on her face as she commented, “Looks like he’s a Cat-folk like me.”

The members of her group turned to look at her.

“How do you know that?” Henry questioned.

“Call it a girl’s intuition,” Mica smiled playfully, not wanting to say more.

Henry clicked his tongue at her response. He really didn’t like how coy she was at times. Instead of trying to get more out of her he just faced forward and watched the exchange between Jude and Liam.

“Of course, I would get here first,” Jude stated. “I wanted to prove that I was strong enough to do this without any other groups. Also fuck the restrictions. I don’t care about what they think. They are just annoyances trying to hold me back.”

Liam let out a sigh as he commented, “Doesn’t surprise me that that would be how you would think given with how our last encounter went.”

Jude let out a laugh at Liam’s comment.

“What about you two?” Liam asked as he stared at the Dryad woman and the Elf male. “Do you share the same mindset as this muscle head?”

Jude didn’t take offense to Liam’s words as he turned to look at the two Liam addressed.

The Elf swordman and the Dryad slowly walked up to them with assessing gazes.

“Please don’t lump me up with a brute like him. It’s insulting,” the dryad woman stated with mild annoyance.

“I’ll take that as a compliment, Inyis,” Jude grinned.

Inyis gave him a look of disgust while rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

“As much as I would love to prove that I am stronger than everyone here, I wouldn’t do it in a way he would,” the Elf swordsman stated as he approached them.

Liam noticed the man looking at something behind him. The look on his face was one of curiosity and confusion. This made him turn to see the one he was staring at. It was Avery.

Liam raised a brow at Avery who was frowning at the Elf. Her frown was slowly turning into a scowl which made Liam think she didn’t appreciate the man staring at her.

Wonder what that’s all about. Liam thought before looking at the Elf once more and said with a cautious tone, “I’m Liam and you are?”

The man turned his attention to Liam and looked him up and down. “I’m Aranis. Tell me, are you a rogue class?”

Liam stared at him for a moment. Without hesitation, Liam replied, “No, I’m a Crafter.”

Aranis and Inyis raised a brow as they looked at the man once more.

“A crafter?” Aranis repeated.

Liam nodded.

“Aren’t Crafters considered a non-combat class?” Inyis questioned, her bored and aloof facial expressions from earlier turning into a more curious one.

“Are you even useful in a fight? I don’t think Crafters would have any useful attacks,” Aranis frowned.

“I wouldn’t look down on nor underestimate him Aranis,” Jude started. “He lasted longer than you against me in the arena and that was before he made it past the fourth floor.”

Aranis raised a brow at Jude with a slight look of shock.

“Interesting,” Aranis said then asked Jude, “I take it you won the fight?”

Jude scowled, “I don’t count that fight as a win. As much as I hate to admit it, if it wasn’t for outside interference I don’t know who would have won that fight.”

This brought a look of shock and surprise to Inyis and Aranis. Both now looked at Liam with a new light.

“If that is the case then I’ll hold any more comments for after I have seen you in battle,” Aranis finally stated. “Since you have revealed your class I will tell you that I have the Swordsman class. I do have some Illusion and other magic.”

“I am a Plant Mage with some Mental type of magic and some earth as well,” Inyis joined in. “I do have some healing capabilities, but it isn’t my strong suit.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“If you don’t already know, I have the Warrior class,” Jude stated with a grin. “What you probably don’t know is I have some fire magic, but I have focused more on body magic.

The Warrior starting class was one Liam hadn’t heard of before yet. He knew there were many different starting classes, but he had seen a lot of the same thing throughout his stay in the Tutorial Area.

“Aside from my class as a crafter I have focused in several different aspects. Such as daggers, elemental magic like gravity, and some…other things,” Liam divulged as he looked at them.

“Gravity magic huh?” Aranis inquired as he looked at him. “Isn’t that one hard to level since the cooldowns are longer than most of the other magics?”

“It does have some long cooldowns, but when placed in the right area as well as timing when to use it, it can be quite useful. Also, I like the crowd control capabilities it has,” Liam stated.

Aranis and Inyis nodded to what he said, agreeing that having some form of crowd control was useful.

“So, what’s going on in here?” Liam asked, changing the subject. “Why have you guys been standing around here?”

“Apparently this floor is almost similar to the first where there is only one boss fight,” Inyis started. “The difference of course is there were monsters at the entrances, and we can have more people here. However, to enter the boss room you need a minimum of four teams to open the door.”

“Yeah I met those monsters not too long ago,” Liam grumbled, which brought up a question. “You said entrances…as in more than one?”

Inyis nodded. “Yes each group entering this floor is sent to a different entrance.”

“That explains a lot,” Liam muttered.

A look of confusion grew on Jude’s face as he asked, “By the way, what took you so long to enter the floor?”

“I wasn’t originally going to,” Liam said. “We were told no one was allowed to so I thought no of you were going to be in here. However, after almost getting kidnapped, I ran in here to escape the battle between Nalia and my would be kidnapper.”

The three looked at Liam with wide eyes.

“Nalia was fighting someone?” Inyis asked.

“Why would she do something like that?” Aranis questioned.

Liam shrugged his shoulders. “Your guess is as good as mine. I’m more curious on who that man was.”

“Was it that Steve guy?” Jude inquired while narrowing his eyes.

Liam shook his head. “I’m not entirely sure, but the smell was worse than what he had.”

“Smell?” Aranis, Inyis, and Jude questioned as they stared at him.

“Yeah. I’m half beast-kin so I have heightened senses,” Liam explained.

The three looked at him again with a questionable look.

“What?” Liam asked.

“You don’t have any beast-kin features so I never would have…,” Aranis started to say until he saw Liam’s pupils thin into sharp lines. “Ah, okay now I see. Your features are more perceptive, and sense based than physical.”

“You could say that,” Liam said, leaving it to that.

“So, if it wasn’t Steve, then who was it?” Inyis asked.

Liam shrugged as he shook his head and said, “Don’t know. I’m sure someone will figure it out sooner or later, but for now I just want to focus on getting out of here a live.”

“I agree with that,” Aranis said. “Do you think they know what’s going on in here yet?”

Liam was about to say something, until Mercer popped in. “They do have knowledge that this is a Forbidden Path.”

The four turned to look at Mercer.

Liam was surprised to hear that and was about to ask, but was stopped as Mercer added, “Before we came in here to find Liam, we ran into the Overseers and some officials who were taking care of what happened before Liam got in here. A messenger arrived to inform Phorge that the other two Black dungeons in the other Tutorial Areas were determined to have Forbidden Paths going on as well.”

“So those other two Tutorial Areas are experiencing the same thing we are,” Inyis commented.

“So, they know?” Liam questioned.

Mercer nodded.

“It doesn’t matter if they know or not,” Jude stated. “What we’ve been going through doesn’t effect what those who died went through. Unless they too found a Forbidden Path, which I highly doubt since they were so weak, this path we all found has nothing to do with their deaths.”

Inyis formed a slight scowl at Jude’s words. She was about to comment on what he said until Aranis butted in, “I agree. I hope they don’t try to pin this on us since we are potentially perfect targets for blame.”

“I don’t think they would,” Liam stated. “Nalia could, but I think Adva and Phorge wouldn’t.”

“I agree that that Weasel bitch would do something like that,” Jude frowned.

Unconsciously, Liam let out a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Jude questioned as he stared at him.

“We can agree on something and that’s Nalia is a weasel bitch,” Liam replied.

Aranis and Inyis nodded their heads in agreement. Inyis tried to hide the chuckle she let slip before schooling her face once more.

“Ok, so what’s the plan here?” Liam asked as he brought his laughter under control.

“What do you mean?” Jude asked. “We go in there and fuck shit up.”

Aranis, Inyis, and Liam turned their attention to him with a disdainful look.

“What?” Jude questioned, taken aback by their facial expressions. “I think it is a great plan.”

“As much as I can’t really argue that it is the fact what we are supposed to do…,” Liam started cautiously. “We need more tact to it.”

“What do you mean more tact?” Jude argued. “We don’t know what to expect in there. So instead of planning for something that might not work we should just go in there and attack with all we’ve got till we kill the bastard.”

Inyis and Liam let out a sigh as Aranis stared at him, unsure what to say.

Liam looked at Jude’s group and asked out loud, “Has he been like this the entire time?”

“Yup,” Mica replied back with a giggle. “Not much for strategizing that one.”

Liam shook his head as he looked back at Jude.

“You know I’m right,” Jude tried to argue once more.

“You’re partly right,” Liam stated. “You’re right on the fact that some parts of the planning might not work, but that’s what improvising and adjusting is for. As for what to expect in there, that’s where you’re wrong.”

Aranis, Inyis, and Jude looked at him.

Liam pointed to the wall that ran up to the Lion headed door. More importantly, he pointed to the hieroglyphs.

“Those hieroglyphs,” Liam started then added as he looked at Jude, “Or pictures on the wall…”

“I feel like you’re attacking my intelligence, but I’m going to choose to ignore it,” Jude stated while narrowing his eyes.

Inyis let out a giggle at the banter.

“Tell us what we will be facing,” Liam answered.

Aranis looked at the hieroglyphs Liam pointed at. “How do you know this?”

Liam looked confused. “Because it was like that for the last floor.”

The three looked at him with surprised looks on their faces.

Liam stared at them, trying to figure out why they were giving him those looks until it clicked. “You guys didn’t catch that did you?”

Inyis averted her gaze from him while gripping her staff and staring at it.

Aranis looked away with an embarrassed look while Jude just kept staring at him.

“From my brief interactions with him, I can understand he wouldn’t have caught it, but are you really telling me you guys didn’t catch that?” Liam asked.

“Hey!” Jude shouted.

“I just never looked at the walls on the last floor,” Inyis said with a cough.

“She said it was pointless to look at stuff that didn’t make sense to her,” the Nature Fae in her group called out.

“I was just too focused on the task at hand,” Aranis said.

“He only has the sword on his brain,” the Tiefling in his group shouted out.

Liam let out a sigh as the members of their groups started laughing.

“I’ll go figure out what we’re going to be up against,” Liam said as he walked out to the wall.

To Liam’s surprise, Inyis, Aranis, and a few others walked over to the wall with Liam.

As soon as Liam approached the end of the wall where the pictures started he saw a figure wearing a cloak standing before walls and buildings.

The next picture showed the cloaked figure kneeling before an audience of people and someone sitting on a throne.

Is that the Askith Pharoah? Liam thought as he stared at the figure sitting on the throne.

The one after that showed the cloaked figure standing in a crowd of people passing them some sort of item. These people looked like they were commoners in the kingdom.

The three after that showed the cloaked figure talking to a few notable figures handing them some sort of item as well.

Liam recognized them as the Askith Commander who turned into the Askith White Commander, the beast Tamer, and the mage they were supposed to fight instead of Binky.

However, Liam had noticed an outline hovering behind the cloaked figure in the one where the Beast Tamer was in.

“Interesting,” Liam muttered as he looked back at that picture after barely catching it.

“What is?” Mica asked as she stood next to Liam looking at what he was staring at.

Liam turned to see not only her, but the Tiefling from Aranis’ group, and Inyis was looking at him.

“I’m Mica, a Cat-folk beast-kin,” Mica introduced. “You’re one too right?”

Liam nodded. “How’d you know?”

Mica pointed to her mesmerizing light blue eyes. Liam noticed they turned into thin slits.

Realization dawned on him as he noticed this. “Ah okay. Anyways…these pictures so far have shown that the figure that keeps appearing in each one has had contact with each boss we had to go up against in the last floor.”

Liam pointed to each figure. “The commoners who turned into the Undead with the Wrathful Mohrg. The Askith Wight Commander. The Deathloc that was eaten by Binky…”

“I remember that creature, she was super hard for someone like me to deal with,” Mica stated.

“I didn’t like her either,” Inyis agreed as she looked at them.

“She was a pain,” Liam nodded. “There was also the Beast Tamer who was taken over by the Demonic Dybbuk and the Askith Pharoah Mummy Lord. However, what I found interesting was the fact that the Demonic Dybbuk was there when the cloaked figure made contact with the Beast Tamer.”

“Really?” the Tiefling questioned, clearly enamored by what Liam had informed them of. “I’m Joshua by the way. You can call me Josh.”

Liam got a better look at the man and noticed he had blue skin and crimson orbed eyes. His horns were small and didn’t elongate a lot, unlike Mercer’s were.

Liam nodded as he pointed to the faint outline of a jellyfish. “Yeah, right there.”

The three peered at what Liam had pointed out and after a few seconds they were able to see it.

“Huh, that’s pretty cool. But what does that mean?” Josh inquired.

“It means the creature was either there all along or was brought there by the cloaked individual,” Liam explained. “These pictures show some sort of information about the target we’re about to face. So far it has clearly shown this person has had some influence on their changes or something of the like.”

“Why do you think that?” Mica asked, curious about the whole thing.

“The items the figure keeps giving out,” Liam said as he pointed to each one. “So far it’s been handing them out to each person for some reason.”

“Any idea why?” Inyis questioned.

“Not yet, but I’m sure we’ll find out as we continue down the pictures.”

After Liam finished he looked at the next one and saw the figure standing next to the Pharoah. Both the figure and the Pharoah had an item each and it looked like they were exchanging them.

The figure now held a jar of some kind, while the Pharoah held a book.

Liam narrowed his eyes as he stared at this.

Is that the same book I got after killing the Askith Pharoah Mummy Lord? And did he give the figure one of his jars? Liam thought before moving on to the next picture.

The next picture showed a temple with stairs leading up to the top. It had several different copies of the cloaked figure making its way up to the highest floor in the temple.

As Liam looked at the next picture he let out a slew of curses making the three stare at him with very concerning looks.

“What’s wrong?” Aranis questioned as everyone turned their attention on him.

“We’re dealing with a god damn fucking Necromancer,” Liam grumbled loudly.