*OLIVIA’S POV*

At first, we thought that it would be really hard to end this Mock Dungeon, after all, we were only seven members when all the other teams had eight. But, thankfully, we could do it without any problem.

We did have to work a lot though, after all, going through each stage was hard work when you had more than fifteen monsters in each stage. The salamanders and the slashers were the most worrisome ones, while the peanut flames were merely a problem with their numbers.

If I’m not wrong, I don’t think that Cube would let a team go through the same place as another team. This means that everyone that comes through the same path, would have to fight the same amounts of monsters.

After ending the hellish path full of peanut flames, we ended up in some kind of long hall… Though what surprises us the most wasn’t the hall itself but the people waiting inside it. And among them, I could see one guy I knew. That asshole was there waiting, looking at us as we made our way inside towards them.

The conversation wasn’t all that abnormal, just talking about the boss and how to fight it. It apparently isn’t a mana puppet but a real monster. And so, we made a plan, and now we’re running towards it. Ready to fight.

{I don’t know if it isn’t a mana puppet or not… But coming from him… I don’t think he would be lying… He might be an annoying bastard, but he hasn’t told the first lie yet… Also… Why would someone as strong as his need to lie?}-I thought as we got in range to attack.

“Sharpshooters. Get ready!”-Said one girl from Cristopher’s team. I know her, she’s Choi Minseo, Rank 36. From World Class. “Shields. Attack! Warriors behind them!”

Being a sharpshooter, I was asked to attack from afar. So right now, I took out my daggers and prepare myself to attack. When the shields engage, I’ll be able to start attacking. That way the monster would keep its attention on them. But… Something is wrong… I don’t know what, I just have this really bad feeling…

While I was thinking that, the Shields got in range to attack. And that was also the moment the monster made its first movement. Contrary to any expectation we had, the monster didn’t attack the shields in front.

It jumped straight forward while spinning with its glaive once, obliging every warrior in the front to either evade, block or duck on the floor. After getting on the floor, it went directly towards the supporters.

“MARK! YOUR CHAIN!”-Cristopher shouted. While one of the guys in front that ducked down, stood up to attack the monster with a chained sickle.

“Sharpshooters! Attack!”-Choi Minseo also screamed as she took out her two daggers ready to engage the monster.

I quickly started throwing as many flying knives as I could, two at once with each movement of my hand, and with almost perfect accuracy at this range. After all, the monster wasn’t that far from us. The other sharpshooters also started attacking, we were barely three, as the World Class team didn’t have one.

Magic arrows, reinforced bolts, and knives flew towards the monster, but it either evaded or stopped them with its glaive while dashing towards the supporters that were in front of us.

That is, until a chained sickle passed by him and turned left toward the monster, trying to stop its path while we kept it distracted with our attacks. It worked for merely a second, but that monster, even with its size, only had to lower its body enough to evade the chain.

Still. That gave us a chance. And so, all of us sharpshooters started to throw everything at him, and some of the attacks connected. Even Choi Minseo threw one of her daggers, I still don’t know why, but she should have a good reason.

Noticing how our attacks were connecting with him and how the warriors were already on the follow and close to him, it decided to maximize its glaive’s range and spin on the floor, stopping the warriors and making the supporters back off.

Or so I thought before I saw Rachel, cadet rank 3, jump over the glaive’s trajectory to attack the monster, while Cristopher passed by it just by lowering his body. Both of them without stopping their momentum.

When the monster noticed, it decided to use its tail to counter-attack, but it only had one, and they were two. So, he didn’t have other choices than using its left arm to stop Rachel’s sword, while attacking Cristopher with a low swept of its tail.

*clank*

Cristopher jumped while using his sword to make a cut towards the tail, but it sounded like metal hitting metal.

While Rachel could actually hurt the monster, making it bleed.

“That’s… Blood… The monster’s bleeding…”-Said a horrified archer beside me. And I know why.

{He was right… That thing isn’t a mana puppet.}-I thought to myself, without stopping any of my attacks. {And being honest… I’m barely giving it some scratches with my knives… And it’s also really resistant towards magic arrows. And only a few of the reinforced bolts are hurting him…}

“Hey! Shot at the already made scratches!”-I shout at the crossbowman from Cristopher’s team. “You too!”-And also at the archer.

“Roger!”-The archer answered.

“*tch*”-While the other guy only clicked his tongue. {What’s wrong with him?}-With that last thought, I turned my eyes towards the monster and started attacking different spots, opening as many wounds as I could, no matter how shallow they were, just so both sharpshooters could make extra damage to it.

While that little plan of mine happened. The monster focused its attacks on Rachel and Cristopher, who were both evading as much as they could. But that guy was really fast.

Behind it, Choi Minseo rushed and jumped to try and attack him from the back with her dagger. But as if it had eyes on its back, it merely spun its glaive around, making her defend with the dagger and sending her flying back to the ground.

The rest of the supporters were trying to keep our team in the best condition they could, throwing magic towards everyone who needed it. Thankfully, we had one healer and one buffer on our side. The warriors and the last support finally made it back into combat. With four shields going in front to try and stop its attacks as much as possible, closing it in some kind of square, with one shield in each corner.

“Keep it there! Don’t let it move!”-Gary shouted towards the rest of the shields while he tried to grab the attention of the monster with his mace. That thankfully was a good weapon against any monster with hard skin.

“Shit. This bastard’s real!”-An enraged Choi Minseo shouted between her teeth.

“Told you!”-Came a shout from afar, probably from Cristopher. {What’s he thinking! Annoying his teammates in this situation!}- I thought while trying to hit the monster’s leg, but they were covered by a cape, and it made it difficult to see where the legs were precisely unless it moved, but the movement also made it hard to shot them.

“Shut up!”-The crossbowman beside me shouted, kind of angry.

We were in some kind of stand-off, with everyone trying to hit it as much as possible, and the bastard defending, evading, and attacking with great precision. It was like seeing a warrior proficient in using a glaive. Add to that its tail, its big size, and hard scales, it was a really hard fight for us. Though, thankfully, with each attack, the wounds keep increasing in its body, all thanks to Rachel, some attacks from Choi Minseo, and the combined efforts of us three sharpshooters. I don’t know why. But Cristopher isn’t fighting at his best.

{That bastard… He sure is hiding something!}

“BACK OFF!!!”-Right when I was thinking about why would he be hiding his strength, he suddenly shouted while looking at the monster with a frown, which, by the way, started spinning its weapon in the air.

“What!? WHY!? We’re hurting it!!”-The pink-haired girl from his team shouted. {She’s right… Why would we back off when it is basically giving us free rein to attack it?}

“JUST FUCKING BACK OFF!!! NOW!!!”-He shouted again.

“Everyone! Back off!”-I don’t know why, but Rachel also said so.

“Back off! Now!”-Even Choi Minseo ordered.

With the three of them shouting. We all decided to jump back off. And it was precisely in that moment that we could see how the glaive started shining in a red hue, right before igniting itself in a fire while the monster stopped to thrust it down as if spearing the floor.

““Cristopher!!””-Both Rachel and the guy with the chained sickle shouted. That made me see Cristopher now in front of the monster and still running towards it with a frown on his face, disappearing and then reappearing in front of us. And just when I was about to shout towards him, the glaive thrust the floor, and a fire outburst suddenly raged around the monster, sending waves of flames everywhere and sending everyone flying back from the explosions.

***

*CRISTOPHER’S POV*

We have been fighting this bastard for a little while, and we could finally stop it from going towards our supporters or sharpshooters. The four shields had it trapped, while each warrior or close-ranged combatant attacked whenever they found a chance.

{This bastard has really hard scales… But I can’t imbue too much mana in my sword, or it will break faster. Though… Having it clashing towards its hard scales isn’t that good of an idea too…}

Just as I was thinking about how to bypass its defenses, I felt it.

The fucker started to spin its glaive over its head, and the Natural Energy around me started moving. The fire attribute Natural Energy in this place was slowly condensing in its glaive.

{Just… How… Shit… The bastard’s going to do something and it’s not good at all!}

“BACK OFF!!!”-I shouted toward everyone.

“What!? WHY!? We’re hurting it!!”-Lee Ha-Yun shouted back. {Fuck! Now is not the moment to verbally between us you, pink-haired woman!}

“JUST FUCKING BACK OFF!!! NOW!!!”-I shouted again while I started running towards the bastard to see if there’s a way to stop whatever shit he was intending to do, but a lot of them are giving me frowning glances as if asking why the fuck should they do that.

“Everyone! Back off!”-Rachel shouted too after giving me a quick glance.

“Back off! Now!”-Even Choi Minseo shouted for them to back off, it seems she somewhat trusts my eyes. And it’s great because the fuckers finally did as they were told.

Right in time for when the amount of mana energy was reaching the peak of the weapon, and its blade started turning red to finally ignite itself in a fire.

At that moment, I looked right into the monster’s eyes while running towards it. And I could see them. Clear as water. The bastard was more intelligent than any normal lizardman, of that, I’m sure now. While the thought crossed my mind, it prepared to thrust down the glaive in its hand, as if wanting to spear the floor.

{AOE attack! Shit! I knew it was better for them to back off!}

Thankfully, I alerted them before the bastard could finish its preparation, though, I’m not sure the actual range of the attack, it’s still better for them to be as far away as possible. I thought as I was now right in front of him, preparing to make a quick rush towards the other side of the bastard.

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““Cristopher!!””-I heard the shouts of Mark and Rachel. But honestly, I didn’t care. Using fire against me was useless, so I at least had to try and redirect as much fire I could from the attack.

With that said, the monster started to thrust the weapon down, while I concentrated an enormous amount of mana in my legs and basically made an instant movement towards the other side of the monster.

Right when the glaive pierced the floor, enormous amounts of fire outburst appeared everywhere. Like a big firestorm exploded right from the glaive.

I concentrated my Natural Energy in my sword and made it spin in front of me, redirecting the raging fire to spin around it, while I was covering myself with mana in order not to burn my clothes as much as possible, doing something like a small barrier in front of me. Thankfully, the cadets’ uniform was really resistant, so it helped a lot.

Thanks to using my own Natural Energy, I could reflect most of the raging fire towards the lava rivers at while just a little bit of it went past me towards the supporters and sharpshooters, thankfully, it wasn’t enough to make any real damage.

And in the case of the warriors, they at least had enough vitality and they also had the shields, which make it easier for them to resist the attack. Or at least I hoped so.

The only bad thing was that I didn’t allow the freaking Park Min-Ho to turn to ashes… But well, not that it was an urgent matter.

When the firestorm started to placate, I jumped back, out of the range of the lizardman’s glaive. Looking around. Both the lizardman and I were surrounded by a circle of fire, probably an outer ring of fire that went up the floor when he attacked.

I tried to look out of the ring of fire, and I could look that everyone was fine, some of them a little hurt with some burned clothes, but still fine. No one died at least.

“*sigh…* At least…”-I sighed out of relief when I saw Olivia with only burned sleeves, but without any dangerous injury.

*You’re strong.*-A coarse voice suddenly sounded.

“Why would you say that?”-I asked the lizard in front of me.

*You stopped my Fire Outburst, that’s not something anyone can do…*

“That Little fire show you threw? Nice name. To mere firecrackers…”-I said while grinning.

*I’m For’Nag, a champion warrior from the great tribe of Ig’Haund*

“And I’m ‘Who Asked You’ from the tribe ‘Shitty Lizard’.”

*You’re insolent human, and brave. But sadly. You’re going to die here.*

“And who said that?”

*I did. At least, you’ll have an honorable death, fighting one on one in this ring of fire!*

“*sigh…* You know, I met someone like you before. Long ago. He was a muscle-brain that only lived to fight. He always went around saying how it was an honorable death to die by his hands in a fight.”

*He sure sounds like a great warrior.*

“Nah, was an idiot through and through. And died like one. He pissed off someone who shouldn’t be pissed off.”

*And who would that be?*

“Me. You idiot.”-I said while preparing my sword.

*… I’ll make you pay for your insolence. Though, I do have to ask… Would you fight with that?*-Said the For’Nag while pointing his glaive towards my right hand.

“Mm?”-I looked where he was pointing and I could see my longsword… Well, what was left of it… Merely a little bit of the blade and the handle, it seemed more like a dagger now… Not even a short sword. “Yes… I’ll have to…”-I said trying to stop the twitching of my eye.

*…Kuhum… Well, you know what they say… It’s not the weapon that matters…*-The lizard said while averting his eyes…

“…So good that you said it, will you willingly throw your weapon? And we can then fight like men?”-I said while smiling with my eye still twitching.

*…*-He looked his glaive for a moment. *You see… Beheader and I have gone through so many things, that we can’t be apart…*-He says with a blank stare.

“…”-I blankly stared back at him. “You know? Whatever. Let’s do this.”- I said while retaking my stance.

For’Nag also prepared himself. And right when we were about to run towards each other. Something entered the fire ring from behind me. Well, not something, more like someone.

“Cristopher!!”-Olivia shouted after rolling on the floor and standing up. “Are you okay!!??”-She asked me while running towards me.

“*sigh…*”

*Sigh…*

Both the lizard and I sighed. It’s funny to see a bipedal lizard sigh, though I don’t know why would he do that.

“Yeah, I’m fine, what about you? What were you thinking throwing yourself over a wall of fire?”-I asked her.

“YOU ASSHOLE!! I WAS WORRIED!!!”-She shouted at me. Making me lift my eyebrow and tilt my head.

“Why would you? You know that I’m strong…”-I asked her.

“… Well… That was a strong attack… And I was kind of worried that something would happen to you… After all, who will be training me if you die…? I kind of didn’t think things clearly… And just went and jump right through the fire…”-She said while looking all around the place…

“*sigh…* Whatever. Stay put, don’t do anything.”

“What!? Why!? I came here already, let me help you!!”-She shouted.

*Tell that little girl that she can’t interrupt a warrior’s fight.*-Said the bipedal lizard.

“What? What’s that thing saying?”-Olivia asked.

“You can’t understand it?”-I asked, kind of intrigued.

“Of course not! I don’t know how to speak lizardmen!!”-She shouted at me.

“Oh… Right… He says that you can’t interrupt a warrior’s fight.”

“What? Wait… How can you understand it?”

“My gift?”

“…”-She blankly stares at me. “You know what… Whatever. I’m not even asking… Now I know how Hajin feels…”

“Wow… Did it take you so long to understand when to stop asking? Man…”-I looked at her with pity.

“…”-She glared at me. “Asshole.”

*Will you fight? Or will you breed with your partner?*-Asked the lizard while picking his nose, or snout… the nose’s holes.

“She’s not my girlfriend! Let’s end this, you! shitty lizard!!”-I shout at him while pointing my sword.

“Yeah! I’m not this asshole’s girlfriend! You! Shitty lizard!!!”-Olivia also shouted.

“Well said.”-I turned and gave her a thumbs up.

*Sigh… Let’s fight already!!!*-For’Nag shouted while running towards me. And I also ran towards him.

“Come on!!! You freaking gecko!!!”- I shouted while rushing with mana on my legs. Appearing right in front of him.

He answered with a sweep of his glaive towards me. That I evade, only to meet his left claw following the sweeping attack.

I used my sword, or what was left of it, and thrust in a reverse grip towards it. I almost stabbed his palm, but the bastard turned his hand and grabbed my arm, right in time to spin his glaive and then thrusting with it towards me.

*DIE!*

I barely smirked. Shifting my upper body so his glaive passed by me without even scratching me and with my left hand I grabbed it.

“Let’s spark things up a bit. Will you?”-I said while sending an electric shock through the spear handle.

*AAARRRGHHHHHH*-The monster screamed while being electrocuted.

“You may be fire-resistant, but what about lightning?”-I asked him while smirking.

*GRRRR!!!*-He grumbled while letting go of his spear and trying to throw me away.

I let him do that, though, I just had to easily step on the floor a little far away from him.

“So? What now? It’s that all you got?”-I asked him with a mocking grim. “Now… Come!”-I said, finishing with the cliché move of extending my arm and calling him with my hand. {A classic.}

*ROAAAAR!!!!*-He roared before running towards me.

At that moment, I could see two things coming from the fire behind him. And once again, more than things, they were people.

“Cristopher-ssi!!”-Rachel shouted while landing.

“Dude!!! Are you alive!!!???”-Mark asked after rolling on the floor just like Olivia did.

{How did he not tangle himself with his chained sickle?}-I thought before running towards For’Nag. “Yeah! I’m fine!! Focus on the bastard!!!”-I shouted at them while giving a quick glance to Olivia who, luckily understood.

She also started attacking the monster from afar. Throwing knife after knife as if she had an unlimited supply of them.

“Okay!!”-Mark shouted before taking out his weapon, while Rachel merely ran towards For’Nag with her rapier out.

*YOU BASTARD!!! THIS IS FOUL PLAY!!! THIS ISN’T A ONE VERSUS ONE!!!!*-Shouted the lizard while sweeping his glance towards me.

“Sorry. Don’t have the time.”-I merely say while evading and attacking the guy with an accelerated cut, putting some mana in my legs to augment my speed suddenly.

Thankfully, this time I didn’t have to put too much mana in my sword, as, first, I cut his abdomen, and second, it seems that my lighting slightly affected his scales, lowering their defense.

*AAAARRRGGGHHHH*-He screamed from the pain. I may had infused a little bit of lighting in my sword while cutting him.

“Nice!!”-Said Mark while also throwing some cuts toward it. This time, actually making some damage.

“…”-Rachel didn’t say much, she just attacked whenever she could, evading For’Nag’s tail and going for his legs or back.

I kept focusing on his front, while Olivia still keeps throwing knives at him.

*AAAAARRRRRGGGHHH*-He screamed after I cut him once again after evading his claws.

Right then, more people started coming inside the fire ring.

The first one was Choi Minseo, followed by Pinky, Gary, Adrian, the rest of Olivia’s Team, the three guys from World Class that came with Olivia, and whose names I won’t even bother asking, and finally, the little bastard Park Min-Ho.

Once they looked at the monster and how we were attacking, they started doing the same. With Gary at the front with me and Choi Minseo at the back with Rachel. The three other shields intervened whenever a serious attack would get close to hitting Rachel, Choi Minseo, or me. It honestly made the fight easier for Rachel and the self-proclaimed leader.

Funnily enough, now I could see what Choi Minseo called debuffing. For’Nag was getting slower with each attack that Choi Minseo connected.

{I’ll give it to you. You’re tougher than I thought. Not like I’m using my all, but still.}-I thought while evading his glaive once again and making a cut in his leg. Making him fall on his knee.

“Olivia!! NOW!”-I shouted before jumping back out of his reach.

“Ok!”-And she shouted back while spreading her arms, which started to tremble while she started sweating.

Immediately, all the knives that she had been throwing before, shot up and stayed right at her head’s height everywhere inside the ring.

“Everyone! Duck!!”-She shouted again before crossing her arms towards For‘Nag, making all the knives floating in the air shot towards the lizardman while everyone else ducked to not become a porcupine.

*GAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGHHHHH*-The lizard screamed as a lot of knives pierced his scales. Becoming some kind of lizard porcupine.

*Huff… Huff… Huff…* After that, he just stayed there, on one knee, barely supporting himself with his glaive while glaring at me.

Everyone else was waiting away from him, not wanting to be the one to receive his last breath’s attack.

{I kind of feel bad for him… *sigh…*}-I thought while getting ready to go in again. {Better end this fast.}

“Sorry. But this wasn’t my fault. If things were different, I would surely love the idea of fighting with you.”-I murmur, only for him to listen. After that, I start walking towards him at a slow pace. What was once my longsword now resting in my hand, not even reaching the size of a short sword, ready to attack and end him.

*Huff… Huff… Huff… You know… I didn’t accept a contract with a Devil… I thought that would be something dishonorable… But… What you did was worst… Betraying the sacred ritual of a warrior… So… Don’t blame me for doing this. I’m doing it in order to avenge this betrayal.*-He said as he glared at me.

{Oh no…}-I thought while starting to run towards him. But it was too late.

BOOOOM!!!!

An explosion of demonic energy sends everyone flying away, while I hold my ground while crossing my arms in front of me and lowering my center of gravity with a wide stance. Even the fire ring disappeared letting all of us look around.

[Boss monster accepted a pact with a Devil.]

[Connection to the Demon Realm has been temporally made. Increasing power of monsters.]

[Corrosion percentage has increased. Monsters would get stronger and contact with the outside world will be temporally sealed.]

[Demon Realm is affecting the Dungeon Lava’s Trial. Transforming into Red Devil’s Warrior’s Trial.]

What was once a mere hall with lava rivers and rock columns at the side with some kind of arena in the center, now transformed.

It was still the same hall, but the rock columns from before now had some kind of demonic charm to them, being proper man-made columns, or maybe demon-made. The floor was now made of something that looks like red marble, and the ceiling was the same.

The lava rivers now had a red color. More like rivers of boiling blood instead of lava, but with even more heat than before.

/Now… We can keep fighting for a little more…/-Suddenly said a slowly standing For’Nag while being surrounded by demonic energy.

/I’ll avenge the betrayal you did to a warrior’s ritual. Cristopher./

“Mmm… So, would you tell me how you know my name all of a sudden?”-I asked him while lifting my eyebrow.

/Someone that you already met tells me to send his regards. He also found your name inside my memories, it was just that I didn’t understand those humans' language, but he was nice enough to tell me the name of my enemy./

“Hoho… Really? And who may that nice gentleman be?”-I said while looking towards the rest of the cadets around. All of them passed out with the explosion of demonic energy from before.

/That’s for you to discover…/

“Not nice man…”-I said while taking off my cadet’s uniform’s upper jacket and tying it around my waist. “And sorry to say it… But selling your soul to a Devil… That’s the worst choice you could make…”

/It doesn’t matter. I was going to die anyway… Better take you with me./

“*sigh…* This is why idiots are idiots… They can’t even recognize the difference between our strengths…”-I said while throwing what was left of my sword aside.

/Let’s see who’s the idiot… ROAAAAARRRR!!!!/-He took off his cloak before roaring. The demonic energy around him started to form a red armor over him, transforming him into some kind of lizardman knight. Even his glaive got a more demonic look and a red hue.

{That’s why it didn’t say an unidentified being from the Demon Realm… I already knew the Devil he made the pact with.}

“Tell Zepar that these little dates are making me tired. If he wants to say something to me. He should better come himself. Or at least send some big breasted onee-san, or should I say noona?”-I asked while rubbing my chin.

/… So you did discover it… It was fast… Not like it matters now./

“Of course. It’s not the first time I fight with one of his servants. Also… Duke Zepar, demon number 16 in the Ars Goetia. Dressed in armor and red clothes. Like a knight. Pretty obvious don’t you think?”-I said while making a fighting stance, that was basically a boxing stance with bot arms up high in front of me.

/Enough! Let’s end this Cristopher!/-He shouts at me while preparing to jump at me, with his stance ready to shot at me at the minimal movement and with his glaive ready to sweep at my neck and behead me.

“I’m the one who should be saying that…”-I murmur while lowing my center of gravity and slightly bending my knees to rush at him the moment he moves. {I’m starting to hate dungeons… I can’t be encountering this clown each time I go inside one…}