Maria’s heart was pounding.

According to Irra, they were only a few hours away from arriving at the entrance to the secret passageway. A few miles back, they had veered off the main road to Trumhere Fortress. The horses trotted over the uneven surface of the dense forest. Despite the calming breeze and quiet air, the closer they got to their destination, the more Maria felt like her chest was caving in on itself. She sat behind Chariot, leaning against her as she steered the horse along after Irra and Torrin on their valiant gelding, while Yarina and Tanalia took the rear on their horse, the elf ready with her bow in case anything were to unexpectedly jump out at them.

She tried to hide it, but Maria couldn’t recall ever being this nervous. This didn’t feel like just another attempt. They were heading into the lion's den, there was no escaping if anything went wrong. She had to have faith that they would succeed. Maybe now was the time to pray to the lunar goddess. Would she even accept a prar from the daughter of the man who destroyed the moon?

“We’re getting close,” Irra called back to the two pairs riding behind her.

Maria gazed up at the mountainside. Strangely, the mountains were all starting to look the same. When she first came here and looked over the world from atop a cliff, it was like looking at something that wouldn’t exist in real life. Walking through the farmlands and rolling valleys outside Oxfell, and gazing upon the distant mountains was like walking through a painting where she never thought she would walk that far. Then, climbing one, it felt surreal. But seeing mountain after mountain again and again, they all started to blur into one. This mountain looked no different than the one she had done battle on with the griffon. Pine trees rose into the sky like war pikes, and ascending the steep slope atop horseback was like climbing the hill of a roller coaster. What a fun thing she missed. In the few times she had been to amusement parks, she always loved riding them. Like the time when— Maria paused. She glanced back around her. This wasn’t like a roller coaster at all. She was just trying to distract herself, but one look at the world around her, and what she was wearing, and it snapped her right back.

Everything was going to be fine.

They were going to kill him.

After a short ascent, the group had ridden onto a small flat on the mountain. The slope was gradual, and lining the walls of the steeper cliffsides over them was a lush overgrown thicket of vines, thorns, bushes, and moss. Though the clearing was strangely shaped, like there were once trees here that had been cut down and moved aside for something important.

The group dismounted their horses. While Yarina lined the horses up, keeping them away from the cliff edge, Irra started walking around the foliage. “The secret door should be around here somewhere?” Irra grumbled and started pulling away at the vegetation.

“Here, I’ll help. Step back,” Torrin said. He drew a smaller hatch from his inventory and started hacking at the fines, efficiently cutting away at them.

Maria stood by her party as they watched. She glanced around and noticed to her left a small incline. Curiously, she approached it. Looking at her minimap, though she couldn’t see the fort yet on it, it should be in this direction.

Maria climbed over the hill and got a clear view down to the ruined fort below. Just as Irra had said, there was a large, man-made moat built around the fort, making an inland island. The water within the moat held a murky brown hue, resembling more of a muddy sludge than clear water, the kind of thing Maria would expect to see in a swamp, let alone the valley between two peaks. Ruined towers were strewn about like discarded toys, with heaps of stone and fallen debris amidst the overgrown grass. Gazing over the fort, it was rivaling the size of a small village. While the outer walls hadn't been completely decimated, there were some major gaps left behind by catapults and explosives from the looks of it. They had to be around thirty feet tall, and maybe five feet thick. Most of the minor structures in the courtyard had completely collapsed though, including the central chamber, which had partially imploded in on itself and was left as a pile of rubble.

Yet, amidst the scene was one thing Maria couldn't ignore— the massive circus tent pitched in the heart of the large courtyard. It was stripped in red and black, with large flaps peeled back and allowing access to the inside. There was an assortment of smaller tents surrounding the remnants of the fortress, along with some makeshift shelters that had sprung up. Walking amongst the grounds was the demon king's army, knights dressed in spiked shoulder plates and gauntlets. They carried a variety of weapons as they patrolled around the fort, such as swords, halberds, longbows, and shields bristling with spikes. It was difficult to make out from so far away, but there was something almost, inhuman looking about the way their bodies were shaped. Regardless, there was no way they were getting through all that on their own, especially not if they just walked straight for the gate.

“You know…” Maria said to Chariot as the knight approached her from behind. “Maybe this isn’t such a great idea.”

“Having second thoughts?”

“A little.”

Chariot gazed down at the small army of soldiers below in the ruined fort. “It’s intimidating, but I know we can do it. You killed a giant snake, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but that was one giant thing. It’s a lot different going up against a hundred normal-sized things.”

“Maybe, but you have us at your back.”

Maria sighed and nodded. “And I have yours.”

“Come on, Irra found the entrance to the tunnel.”

“Already?”

“Didn’t take her long apparently.”

Irra had pulled away the foliage to reveal a perfectly smooth rock surface. Maria looked it over and raised an eyebrow. There were no cracks, protrusions, or any sign of a door being there whatsoever. “Here it is!” she said proudly.

Maria looked over the smooth stone surface and raised an eyebrow. “Do we need to say the magic words or something?”

“No, just walk through it.” Irra reached out and tapped her hand along the wall before she found the exact spot she was looking for. Her hand seemed to clip into the stone. Maria’s eyes widened, as Irra grinned, and stepped forward, walking through the stone. There was no rippling or effect, it was as simple as her stepping through solid matter.

“What the fuuuuuuuuck?” Maria hurried to the wall.

“Boo!” Irra’s head poked out, startling Maria. The girl couldn’t help but laugh as she stepped back through.

“What is this?” Chariot asked, and reached her hand through curiously.

“The secret passage.”

“But what is it?” Yarina asked.

Irra shrugged. “I never question it. I just discovered it one day coming out the other end, and learned that there was just this invisible doorway here.”

“You stumble over the fact you can just clip through this rock surface and don’t question it?”

“I was young.”

“Young enough to not question it?”

Irra crossed her arms. “Just step through it.”

“Fine, fine.” Maria glanced back at the solid stone and hesitantly reached out. As her hand clipped through the rock, she paused. It didn’t feel like there was anything there at all. She waved her hand a little and stepped in a little slower. Once on the other side, she was faced with a long stretching dark hallway. Light only stretched so far before being swallowed by the darkness. When she looked back, the invisible wall was gone, like it was never there in the first place. Maria stepped outside again, and sure enough, it was still there— She was still clipping through the rock face. “I’m never going to get over this, this is cool,” she chuckled. “I’m going have to start feeling up every wall from now on.”

“It’s safe?” Tanalia asked from the other side.

“Yeah!”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Irra asked.

“We have a history of people leading us into traps,” Chariot said and walked through the doorway.

Maria cast {Summon Light}, and spawned the bright orb over her palm. She yelped immediately as a thick blanket of spiderwebs was blocking her path. Hundreds if not thousands of spiders were crawling along the massive roadblock. It’s silver seemed to glow in the light of her spell. A chill ripped up her skin as she stepped away. Maria drew her Serpent Blade and slowly swished at the silk wall. It caught fire, and rapidly spread, incinerating the webbing as the wall of flames traveled down the length of the tunnel. The bright orange light just kept going and going before vanishing downward. The rest of the group wandered in.

Maria pursed her lips and looked back at the group. “I cleared the path.”

“Was that necessary?” Irra asked.

“What? I just touched it with my sword, I can’t help that the entire thing ignited. Sorry if I’m not keen on walking through all that.”

“You get used to spiders working in the mines,” Torrin said. “They aren’t that bad.”

“Says you.”

The corridor was just wide enough for two people to walk alongside each other. If there was anything in these tunnels, chances are Maria would have to take care of it, seeing as she was in the lead. After a while, she arrived at a spiral staircase that led further deeper into the mountain. She threaded slowly, making sure no spiderwebs had managed to escape her wall of flames. Her hand traced along the smooth stone walls. They were strangely well-maintained for being so ancient.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“You were just exploring this place as a kid?” Tanalia asked Irra from the back of the group.

“I was a curious kid.”

“Nothing wrong with a little exploring,” Torrin said. “I was a bit of an explorer myself.”

“You grew up in the mines though,” Yarina said. “That’s a given you would be.”

“And? Your point?”

“No point, just pointing out how you dwarves have always been a curious lot.”

“You aren’t seeing another dwarf behind my back are you?” he asked teasingly.

“No. You’re still the only dwarf interested in exploring me.”

Maria shuddered.

Irra scoffed. “Do you two need to be discussing this?”

“I don't know, I want to hear more,” Tanalia said.

“You don’t.”

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Maria was faced with yet another long tunnel. Thankfully, it looks like her spell had burned all the webs away from here as well. At the furthest end of the passage, the group entered into a wider chamber. It was abandoned, mostly empty, save for some furniture items like two stone chairs, and a stone table tucked into a corner. An old chest was beside them, though it was empty.

“Finally, we’re here,” Irra said. She pushed past Maria and stepped into the chamber. There were still remnants of burnt webbing lingering about, and thankfully it looked like what little furniture down here was left unscathed by the scorching wall. “I spent so much time in this place.”

“This mostly empty room?” Torrin said. “You must have been real board as a wee lass.”

“I was. There wasn’t much for a young girl to do in this fort. I could just take my dolls, come down here, and treat it like it was my own little house.”

“That’s kind of cute,” Maria chuckled.

“Are you saying you’ve never done that?” she spun around, hands on her hips.

“I never had a basement, so no. The best I got was my closet. Never had tea parties in there though. Only feelings.”

Irra rolled her eyes and gestured to the right corner of the room. Several bricks had been dug out to form a ladder embedded into the wall. She approached it and pressed her hand against one of the stone bricks. A glowing yellow outline of her hand sparkled as she pulled it back, and after a moment, a stone hatch above her slid out of place with a gravelly rumble. Daylight shot into the chamber.

“Oh, we’re just going right in?” Maria said.

Irra nodded. “Let’s get this over with, take them by surprise.”

“Let’s have some plan. I suspect he’s in that large tent in the courtyard,” Chariot said.

“No, that’s too obvious,” Tanalia said sarcastically.

“We can handle the soldiers,” Yarina said and brandished her axe. “Demons are easy to kill when you know how to fight them. You three can go after the Ringleader while we keep his army distracted.”

“Aye, sounds like a decent plan to me,” Torrin said. “A little chaos to start the morning right? If we finish them all off, we can come help you.”

Maria nodded. “Thank you. If you see him, be careful. Remember, he’s tall, has red hair, wears a mask, and… well, you’ll know him when you see him.”

Irra climbed the ladder and poked her head out. She scanned around and gestured for the others to follow her. The secret hatch led the group into the throne room… or what was left of it. The throne room of Trumhere Fortress was small and partially destroyed. The throne was missing, and all that was left was a room with a blown-out roof. There were two doors, one of them, Irra explained, led into other parts of the fortress, while the large doors directly across from where the throne would have been, led out into the courtyard.

Maria approached the doors and took a deep breath. If what she saw up on the mountain was right, then it was just a straight shot to the tent from here. She just had to get through the army of demon lord’s knights.

No problem…

“Remember your potions,” Chariot said as she came up behind her. Maria nodded and drank both a Magic Power Potion and an Ironskin Potion. Tanalia drank an Archery, Thorns, and Swiftness potion. chariot, on the other hand, drank an Endurance, Ironskin, Thorns, and Titan potion.

“Bleh,” Tanalia said. “Swiftness and Thorns don’t taste so good together.

“You’ll get used to it. Are you ready?” Chariot asked.

“I know I am,” Tanalia said.

Maria nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready. Well, one more thing.” Her ring glowed as she held out her palm, and opened her new buffs menu. She activated the damage buff for her party. “Now, we’re ready.”

Irra, Torrin, and Yarina moved in front of the main trio, and prepared themselves, drinking their potions. Irra And Torrin both drew swords, while Yarina gripped her battle axe firmly. The barbarian woman kicked the wooden doors, flinging them open with a loud crash. The courtyard was filled with the demon king’s knights. An open, ruined field strewn with haphazardly pitched tents, assortments of weapons, and other provisions. Campfires were set up all around with some knights sitting around them cooking slabs of meat on makeshift griddles. When the doors burst open, their collective attention was drawn to the group. Irra and her party charged forward, striking first. A devilish howl ran through the air as the knights rose to their feet, and grabbed their weapons.

Maria heard one of them speak. “Pretty little thing, aren’t you? You’re the one he told us to look out for, aren’t you?”

One of the knights that had turned to face Maria drew a long, jagged blade. Their eyes were glowing red like magma, and their skin was ashen and rough, almost looking like a rugged terrain. Pointed horns protruded from their forehead, and their mouth was wide, lined with razor-sharp teeth.

The knights weren’t human at all.

Demon Grunt - Lvl 40

Oh, duh.

Maria dodged aside from the demon's sword and parried the monster. She stabbed the beast through the neck and stumbled forward as it collapsed, pulling her with it. Immediately another demon was on her, bringing its axe down. Chariot dashed forward, bashing the demon to the ground with her shield, before driving her Crimson Rose into its skull. The demon cried out, but as the monster's red health bar appeared over its head, it only drained a little bit. The knight was pushed away as the demon kicked her.

Maria looked down to see her demon was still alive. It too kicked her away, and rose back to its feet, leaving her sword embedded in its neck. Blood gushed profusely like a broken water hose.

"Stupid girl. I shall relish tearing your flesh apart!" it said.

“You should burn me first, it’ll be easier to peel off then,” Maria said, preparing a spell.

The demon stopped and tilted its head. “You understand me?”

“Somehow, yeah. Ugly bastard.”

The demon snarled and ran at her. Maria dodged to the side as it unleashed a flurry of wild and heavy swings. She cast {Incinerate}, and unleashed a torrent of flames from her palm. They engulfed the demon, and it stumbled away, flailing as its health drained much quicker, and dropped dead.

It was good to know demons weren’t immune to fire.

She ripped her Serpants Blade from the monster's neck just as it exploded into a shower of polygons. Several items were added to Maria’s inventory, but she didn’t pay mind to them. She turned to Chariot as she dueled the other demon. Maria whipped her sword forward, lashing the demon to the side, and staggering it so Chariot could deliver a killing blow.

“Thanks!” she said and hurried back to Maria. The two ran further into the courtyard.

Tanalia was a few feet away, dealing with two of the demons at once. She blocked attacks from both of them simultaneously with her duel blades. She used {Onslaught}, and crossed her blades into an X, sending an X-shaped blast of white energy forward, knocking the demons to their feet. Another demon came up from behind, but as Tanalia stepped forward to finish off the other two, her dagger flew from her hip, and flew up into the demon's lower jaw, skewering it and lifting it into the air, keeping it dangling as Tanalia killed its allies, and spun around. She combined her weapons, and drew an arrow, firing several of them into the demon.

“Tanalia!” Maria yelled, gesturing for her to follow. She nodded and hurried over, the dagger flying back to her waist, and dropping the demon's corpse. It exploded into polygons as it hit the ground.

The army of demon knights was flooding back into the fort, and encroaching on the group.

One of the demons with a halberd charged at Irra. She dodged aside and grabbed its polearm to prevent it from swinging. The warrior lunged forward and slashed repeatedly at the demon. Just before she could kill it, she was struck from the side by a demon with a jagged sword. It howled and hissed.

“Stupid bitch!” it cackled.

Irra fell to the side and rolled away as the demon swung wildly at her.

“I'm going to kill you until you're so dead you can't be alive!”

Maria cast {Firebolt}, and struck the demon, knocking it away from Irra, and towards Torrin. The dwarf spun around and hacked its head off. Irra jumped back to her feet and ran back at the halberd-wielding demon to finish it off.

Yarina let out a loud battle cry as she ran into a crowd of approaching demons. She twirled with her battle axe, knocking them to the ground. Torrin cast a spell, and thrust his sword downward, causing large stone spikes to burst from the earth, knocking each of the demons into the air. Yarina then hurled her axe and sliced through one of them as it twirled away. She opened her palm, and recalled it, taking out two more. Torrin finished off the fourth as it crashed to the ground.

Maria could see the tent entrance just ahead. The flaps were pulled back, almost beckoning her inside. She hurried with her trio across the massive courtyard but was struck in the back by an arrow. She yelped and tripped forward. Tanalia spun around, and fired an {Enchanted Shot}, at the demon, sending it flying backward, and crashing into a stone pillar.

Chariot pulled the arrow from Maria’s back, and helped her up. “Are you alright?”

Maria checked her HP. {1467/1767}. “Yeah. Those arrows hit like a train though.”

“A what?”

“Nothing, just keep moving.”

From the left and right, two groups of demons came at the trio. Tanalia dashed ahead of her group and sliced at the demons as she ran by. She grabbed some of their attention away from Chariot and Maria. The knight blocked with her shield and swung accordingly with each demon. Maria moved back and cast {Enchant weapon: Fire}. Chariot and Tanlia’s weapons lit ablaze as they slashed and burned through the demons. Maria defended herself, swinging and casting {Firebolt} and {Fireball} to any demons that got too close. Eventually, she resorted to constantly casting spells, hurling flames at the demons and knocking them away for her party to finish off. She was burning through her MP.

The chariot shield started to glow. As the next demon came up to her, she bashed it with her shield. The sheer force of the damage dished onto the demon caused the creature to explode in a shower of viscera and blood. Chariot stumbled away as it got into her eyes, and tried to wipe it out. A demon howled as it ran up on her side. Tanalia’s dagger flew forward, driving itself into the demon's skull, and knocking it to the ground. Maria ran up, and swung downward, slashing the demon until it was dead.

Name: Maria Marigold

Lvl: 26 >> 27

HP: 1467/1767 >> 1517/1834

MP: 345/476 >> 355/494

Total Defense: 148

Total Attack: 83.1

“You alright?” Maria asked Chariot.

“I’m fine.” She spat out some of the viscera in her mouth.

Tanalia finished off the last of the demons blocking their path. “Come on!”

Maria and Chariot ran with Tanalia into the tent as Irra and her party continued fending off the demons outside. Just as Maria ran through the tent flaps, however, she skidded to a halt, and her eyes went wide.

“What the…”