Maria flinched away from the door— Nothing happened.

From behind her, the grinding sound of the second bolt sliding over the large, ornate door, echoed down the hall. She looked back into the spherical room. Nothing had happened. No traps, no hidden spikes in the wall, nothing. Maria scanned the walls, the floor, and anywhere where a trap might be. Maybe the traps were delayed? The trio stood tense, waiting as still as statues, and holding their breaths, but still… nothing.

Chariot breathed a sigh of relief and hurried out of the spherical room. “Thank the gods,” she said, skidding to a halt behind Maria and Tanalia.

The three hurried back up the spiraling pathway, and back to the large door. All three of the bolts had slid out of the way. Maria walked over to the lever in front of the door and hesitated before pulling it.

“What are you waiting for?” Tanalia asked.

“Sorry.” Maria shook her head. “Can’t help but hesitate anymore.”

“Nothing happened when Irra pulled her lever. Or when Chariot pulled the other one.”

“And I’m thankful for that,” Chariot chuckled.

Maria’s yank of the lever cut the two off. A loud, grinding sound scratched at their eardrums as the stone door scraped open. Ahead was a ridiculously large chamber, adorned with smooth pillars that stretched along the length of the semi-rectangular room. The floor transitioned from smooth stone to cobblestone, creating an uneven and bumpy terrain. Puddles of water had accumulated in the gaps, splashing against Maria's pant leg with each step she took. Nooks in the walls were filled with coffins, some of which had been displaced, and their contents spilled out onto the floor. Skeletons lay scattered and sprawled about as if they had tumbled out haphazardly.

At the heart of the chamber stood a solitary figure— a knight. With one arm casually draped over its knee and a long, golden scepter clasped in its left hand, the knight appeared frozen in time. Its head was bowed, maintaining an air of stillness reminiscent of a finely sculpted statue, the kind Maria always saw in museums or movies. The knight's armor was a blend of silver with traces of rust from water droplets occasionally plopping from the ceiling. The rest of the armor bore exquisite gold trimmings that glimmered as if they had been polished mere moments ago.

“Alright, everyone makes sure you’re ready,” Maria said. Just to be safe, she drank another healing potion and brought her health up to {724/1027}. She had to be careful though, she only had two remaining. Maria made a note to herself to stock up on healing potions more regularly. A small handful wasn’t going to cut it. She made sure to drink two of her mana potions as well to bring her MP back up a bit to {110/198}.

“I don’t hear any conflict,” Chariot said and drank one of her iron-skin potions, as well as a thorns potion.

“They might be done with their boss fight already,” Maria said.

Tanalia gulped down a swiftness potion.

“Do you honestly need to be moving any faster?” Chariot asked her.

“Of course. With these boots, that thing’ll never hit me.”

As the trio stepped further into the room, the door slowly closed behind them.

The knight didn’t move.

Maria looked back at her teammates awkwardly, then took another step into the chamber. Still nothing. The witch drew her Serpent’s Blade and held it at the ready as she approached slowly. It was only when Maria passed the first two pillars that the knight flinched. The clink of armor and the rattling of chainmail resonated through the chamber as the towering figure rose, now standing nearly nine feet. Through the slits in its helmet, an abyss of darkness stared back at the trio. The knight's hand reached for the hilt of a longsword strapped at its hip, and at that moment, a large health bar materialized in the top center of Maria's vision.

Banished Knight - Lv 25

The knight raised the scepter— it was golden and beautifully adorned with jewels. Both Chariot and Tanalia stepped aside preemptively. As the knight swung its scepter with force, a trail of ethereal swords burst from the ground one after the other in rapid succession. Maria dodged to the side just as a blade shot out at her feet.

The knight gripped the handle of its longsword and slowly marched over to the three. The ethereal swords burst into a flurry of glass that fell upwards toward the ceiling before vanishing completely.

Tanalia fired an arrow at the knight, but it merely ricocheted off its armor with a metallic clink. She growled, drew her elven dagger, and ran at the Banished Knight. She leaped, swinging her blade, only for the knight to turn, and swing its longsword up at her. Tanalia quickly double-jumped away. The knight moved with the momentum of its swing, however, and pirouetted, slashing at Tanalia midair. A cry escaped her lips as she was sent hurtling back toward the ground with a loud crash.

“Nice work,” Chariot said sarcastically. She pointed her sword towards the Banished Knight, channeling its magic as barbed roots shot out from the ground, coiling around the knight's armor and restraining its movements. The knight fought back, straining against the gripping vines as the chainmail under his armor rattled violently.

Maria sprinted towards the Banished Knight, transforming her Serpent's Blade, and whipping the boss. Inadvertently, she sliced away at one of the roots keeping it down when she struck it. The freed arm swung the scepter just as Chariot charged forward, driving her Crimson Petal into the gap in the knight's armor. However, a barrage of ethereal swords shot up at her, slicing into her leg. She screamed, and stumbled away, gripping her leg as blood gushed between her fingers.

The roots disappeared, and the Banished Knight rose back to its feet with Chariot's sword still lodged in its side. It advanced menacingly towards Chariot, raising its longsword.

“Hey!” Maria yelled, and whipped the knight again, momentarily grabbing its attention. It turned to face the witch and slammed its scepter into the ground. A runic glyph materialized beneath Maria. She quickly dashed aside as a swarm of Deathbats emerged from the glyph, encircling her in a frenzied dance. Maria whipped her sword around, striking as many of the Deathbats as she could, but it was useless. The Deathbats darted in, nipping and biting at her, causing her to cry out in pain. She cast {Flames} to try and ward them off, but there were too many, and she couldn’t keep her hands straight to effectively scorch them.

Scorch….

Maria quickly retrieved an inferno potion from her inventory and hastily consumed it. The scorching liquid coursed down her throat, causing her tastebuds to wither. As the flames engulfed her, an infernal ring of fire materialized, swirling around her like a protective barrier. The Deathbats were met with a swift demise, as they ignited into flames. Their anguished squeals filled the air as they perished, leaving behind trails of ember and sparks in their wake.

The battle raged on in an endless cycle, the trio launching relentless attacks at the Banished Knight, only to be pushed back time and again. Maria stayed close to the boss, having to narrowly dodge attacks while she unleashed a barrage of {Firebolt}s, {Lightning Bolt}s, and {Flame}s. The inferno potion, though slowly, began to take its toll on the Banished Knight, twiddling down its health every so slowly. She had to be careful not to hit Tanalia, as the elf would frequently jump in Maria's way to get a couple of hits in, and jabbing her elven dagger into the slots between its armor. Chariot meanwhile did her best to keep the upper hand, repeatedly binding the knight with vines and forcibly jabbing the blade deep into its gut.

The Banished Knight soon fell to its knees, and its attacks grew feeble and slow. It had only a sliver of health left.

Tanalia stayed close to the knight and used {Night's Edge} to chip away at the last little bit of health before Maria came running up. Chariot aimed her sword at the Banished Knight, and tried to restrain it one final time. However, the vines inadvertently whipped toward Tanalia, grazing her arm and causing her to wince in pain.

Maria swung her Serpent's Whip with all her might, delivering a powerful blow that severed the Banished Knight's head from its body. The knight's lifeless form collapsed to the ground with a resounding crash. The knight's body shimmered before disintegrating into a dazzling shower of reflective glitter and polygons.

Maria relaxed, and got down on her knees, panting. They had done it, the fight was over. They finished the dungeon. Her XP filled up twice over, and several tiny dings echoed within her eardrum.

Name: Maria Marigold

Lvl: 16 >> 18

HP: 1027 >> 1150

MP: 198 >> 222

Total Defense: 83

Total Attack: 45.8

Long Sword Acquired

Scorching Scepter Acquired

Banished Knight Helmet Acquired

Banished Knight Chestpiece Acquired

Banished Knight Greaves Acquired

Banished Knight Leggings Acquired

Banished Knight Gauntlets Acquired

Her health was nearly depleted, and her mana was close to empty, but she had survived nonetheless.

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After catching her breath, Tanalia came over to Maria, sheathing her Elven Dagger. “Did it drop anything?”

Maria nodded her head. “Give me a moment,” she said, holding her side as she too caught her breath.

“Are you really that winded?”

“Yeah. I wasn’t in the best of shapes when I first came here, I’m still not in the best of shapes now.” She took a few breaths. “Besides… I don’t have the energy of an elf.”

Tanalia shrugged. “A fair point. You managed to handle yourself well enough with the traps.”

“That was adrenaline, I’m pretty sure. It’s gone now…” Maria took another moment, and sat up a little more, then opened her inventory. “I got a few things... an armor set, his sword, and that staff thing he was swinging around.”

“That’s it?” Tanalia asked.

“That’s what he was using. Were you expecting him to drop a chicken or something?”

“Not a chicken, but a golden egg would have been nice.”

“At least he dropped something,” Chariot said, then looked to Maria. “Do you mind if I see the armor set?”

“You can have it,” Maria said. “I don’t think that kind of armor would suit me.” She pulled the armor set from her inventory. Each piece had shrunk down to match her size, thankfully.

Banished Knight Helmet

Defense: 40

Physical Attack Boost: +4%

Physical Health Boost: +5%

Mana Boost: -12%

Banished Knight Chestpiece

Defense: 180

Physical Attack Boost: +12%

Physical Health Boost: +13%

Mana Boost: -12%

Banished Knight Greaves

Defense: 95

Physical Attack Boost: +6%

Physical Health Boost: +4%

Banished Knight Leggings

Defense: 95

Physical Attack Boost: +2%

Physical Health Boost: +5%

Banished Knight Gauntlets

Defense: 80

Physical Attack Boost: +3%

Physical Health Boost: +5%

Chariot took each piece, looking them over with a wide smile. “Are you sure you don’t want these?”

“No, you can have them.”

She stripped off her leather chest piece, leggings, and boots, and started swapping them for the armor set.

Tanalia came up from behind and took the helmet from Chariot. “How do you even see out of this?” She messed with the visor.

“You don’t,” Chariot chuckled. “I’d rather remove the visor altogether.”

“You should keep it on,” Tanalia said and placed it onto Chariot’s head. “Keeps your face covered.”

Chariot was silent beneath the helmet, and only an echoed sigh escaped through the slots. She was completely decked out in the armor now, with only a few vulnerable points near her thighs, and shoulders, from which her braided chestnut hair draped over.

“How does it feel?” Maria asked.

Chariot looked down at herself and walked around a bit. The metal clinked against each other, but it wasn’t as egregiously noisy as when the Banished Knight had done it. The lack of chainmail under the armor probably had something to do with that. “You know, it doesn’t feel that bad,” she said. “I mean, it's not comfortable, but what armor is?”

“Leather armor,” Tanalia said. “Smooth, light, easy to move around in—”

“Weaker leaves you vulnerable,” Chariot cut her off. She tried jogging and moved a bit slower than she had before, but it wasn’t egregious yet.

“I think it looks nice,” Maria said. “What does it do to your stats?”

Chariot paused and smirked. “Good question.” She opened her menu and immediately went wide-eyed.

Name: Chariot Crowhaven

Lvl: 17 >> 21

Hp: 1177>> 1527

MP: 39>> 40

Total Defense: 376>> 585

Total Attack: 43>> 166

“Holy shit,” Maria muttered.

“Those aren’t bad,” Tanalia said. “You only went up four levels?”

“Only? Yes, I only went up four levels. Sorry if I wasn’t killing enough monsters for XP, you seemed to have that covered.”

“While you two were busy making your way down, I was busy leveling up, you know, what we came here to do,” Tanalia said and opened her stat menu.

Name: Tanalia Taymore

Lvl: 19 >> 25

Hp: 1466 >> 3162

MP: 39 >> 45

Total Defense: 322

Total Attack: 37 >> 60

“How is your HP so high?” Maria asked. “Oh… wait the boots, that’s right.”

“Mhm. Seems that despite that armor, I’m still stronger than you.”

Chariot grumbled and crossed her arms. “I’d ask to see if you want to put that to the test, but I’d rather get out of here first.”

“Maybe another time,” Tanalia teased

The loud grinding of the doors opening quickly grabbed the trio's attention. The sound echoed through the boss room as the doors slowly parted to reveal Irra’s party standing behind them. She stood with her arms crossed, and a smug expression painting her face— though she looked no more out of breath than any of the others. Torrin appeared disheveled, his beard unkempt and his countenance smudged with soot, as did Yarina, who had a burn mark up her arm. Whatever they were fighting had to be pretty flammable.

“Well, here we go,” Maria groaned and marched over to the rival group.

Irra only stood there as Maria approached. “Well, that certainly took you longer than I expected.”

“We had the lead for a while there,” Maria said, trying to keep the mood light.

“You did, but only for a brief moment. You fumbled quite quickly once you got to the puzzle room.”

“That’s because Chariot here is terrible at problem-solving,” Tanalia said, gesturing to the warrior with her thumb.

“Excuse me,” she glared at the elf. “You were no better than me!”

Irra shook her head. “None of you were smart enough it seems.”

“Didn’t you get an easier puzzle?” Tanala said.

“No, we got a light puzzle too,” Irra said.

“Wait, I thought you said—”

“We lied,” Torrin said, shrugging his shoulders. “Sorry, lass, we didn’t want you peeking at our work. After all, nothing was stopping either group from exploring the other's challenges.”

“Are you serious?” Maria asked.

Irra gave a light chuckle. “Of course. It’s like Master Eardwulf said. True strength lies not only in the gear one possesses but in the wisdom to outwit one's adversaries. Even a destitute soul armed with nothing but wit and a stick can strip a warrior of their armor and leave them naked on the street. Intelligence is the key that unlocks the path to victory, regardless of the weapons at hand. We were just smart enough to lie to you to keep you from finding the answer.”

“You know, I would be mad if you tricked us, but you have a good enough point,” Maria said. “I probably would have tricked you guys anyways if I was smart enough.”

“But you aren’t. Nor are you strong enough, nor the best in the guild. Nor… are you the winners.”

“Right, right,” Maria said, “I take it, you want your gold now?”

“On second thought, you lasses can keep it,” Torrin said. “Because we killed our boss first, we received a bonus in gold. Keep your earnings, we got plenty enough already.”

“Seriously?” Chariot asked.

“Of course,” Yarina said. “This was all just a friendly competition after all. I hope no hard feelings are left between us. You three did a decent job. You had us beat for a little while there. I’m sure with enough hard work you’ll be where we are one day.”

“Not any day soon,” Irra added.

Maria rolled her eyes. “We’ll see about that. Maybe one day we can have a rematch.”

“Well, don't get too comfortable. I won't go easy on you next time,” Irra grumbled. “But... Maybe one day we can have a proper duel.”

“Aww, so you want to do this again sometime?” Maria said teasingly. “And here I thought you hated me.”

“I- I don't hate you,” she stammered, her voice tinged with a hint of embarrassment. "I just admire your admiration to face me again. Not many would after I so easily bested them when I wasn't trying."

“Yeah. I hope we'll get to do this again another day.” Maria held her hand out to shake.

Irra stared at it for a moment, before groaning, and begrudgingly shaking it. Her face flushed slightly as she slightly averted her gaze. “Another day. I know you're busy with this important assignment the guild has given you. Don't screw it up.”

“Believe me, I don’t want to.”

“But if you do, send me a message. I’ll gladly take your place.”

“I’m sure you would." Maria couldn't help but grin. She squeezed Irra's hand gently, forcing her to meet her gaze. "If it comes down to it, I wouldn't mind a little help."

Irra's cheeks grew even redder, their eyes widening slightly. She quickly withdrew her hand, attempting to regain composure. “O- Of course. Who wouldn't want my help? I- I'd be happy to help with anything the guild needs.”

Torrin and Yarina shared a glance, before Yarina cleared her throat. “Well, we best be off. We'll leave you three to the next step of your assignment, whatever it may be.”

“Aye, there are some jobs we need to get to as well. We can’t slack off playing games for too long.”

“Right,” Irra said, stepping away. “I'll be seeing you around.” She spun on her heel and started marching off with her party.

Maria stood there, with a small smile on her face. When the rival party entered the elevator chamber and ascended back to the surface, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that wasn't that bad."

“No, it wasn’t,” Tanalia said. “At least we get to keep all the loot.”

“Mhm… at least,” Maria sighed. She opened her inventory and looked at what remained. Aside from the weapons and pieces of armor dropped by the dungeon monsters, there were still the boss drops she had yet to look over. The long sword didn’t interest her, but the scepter on the other hand…

Scorching Scepter

Damage: 35

Perk: Increases Fire spell damage by 15%

Perk: Summons a trail of ethereal swords to attack foe when swung.

Just like the armor, it had shrunken down to be more at her size. It felt more like a staff, though it weighed about as heavy as a sword. The shimmering gold pole and engravings seemed unintentionally overdone, with the jewels encrusted into it merely for show. At the tip of the Scorching Scepter, though, was the short, bladed tip. She could double this as a melee weapon if she needed it.

Maria drew her Serpents Blade, and held the Scorching Scepter in her left hand, just as the Banished Knight had. As she attempted to swing both weapons simultaneously, the sheer burden of their combined weight threw her balance. She was over-encumbered wielding both at the same time, she wasn't nearly strong enough.

“Are you alright?” Chariot asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just… hard to duel wield these.”

“Well you aren’t exactly a hulking giant, are you,” Tanalia said.

“No, but I didn’t think it would be this difficult.”

“You might just have to use one or the other.”

Maria grumbled and sighed. “Yeah, maybe. Both her Serpent’s Blade and Scorching Scepter seemed like fun weapons to use. If she could use them both at the same time, she could only imagine the cathartic chaos she could unleash onto monsters— Hurling fire, lighting, and ethereal swords at them while striking them with the whip from a distance. Maybe one day she’d grow strong enough to wield them both, but for now, she would have to settle on using them one at a time. Nothing was stopping her from alternating between the weapons mid-fight, after all, she only worried that it might leave her vulnerable for a few seconds.

“Alright, I’m heading out. You two can stay behind if you really want to,” Tanalia said.

“No, I’m coming with you.” Chariot followed close behind, but Maria stayed for a moment longer. She sighed and massaged her shoulder before swapping the Scorching Scepter for her Serpant’s Blade.

As Maria followed her teammates, her mind wandered. Despite their success in defeating the boss and obtaining some valuable loot and experience, she couldn't shake off a lingering sense of unease. The fight had been far more challenging than she had anticipated. It certainly didn't help that they were getting in each other's way fairly often. However, Maria didn’t want to think about the lack of teamwork or coordination right now. She was tired, winded, and ready to sleep like a rock. It was a long walk back home though, and they’d likely have to camp out for the night. That was fine. It was still a chance to rest up a bit for what came next.

But… what was next?

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“[NSFW] Chapter 29.5 - Punishment” is Exclusive to Patreon

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