They all walked over to the coffin, the spiritual pressure only increasing as they drew nearer.

They had finished the second objective, now they just had to defeat the [Hollow Baron]. All of them had forgotten to retrieve the keys from the bodies of the [Ember Knights]; except for Veylan of course.

They had gotten the keys, and Dorian took the opportunity to ask Dain to reforge the helmet, to which he said that he would when he next had an opportunity.

The coffin had five key holes, and the party each brandished a key. They looked at each other and nodded. It was time to finish the floor.

They keys were inserted, and they twisted them on the count of Veylan.

The coffin's door creaked open, it stood horizontal, so gravity did not weight the door down.

Nothing's happening. Dorian frowned. He moved toward the coffin slowly, but before he could take a step, the door swung open with force, flying into the distance.

Out stepped the [Hollow Baron]. And he was... not right. He was supposed to be leading the Ashen Legion, and yet he had no fire affinity?

The [Hollow Baron] looked like a glass sculpture, emitting a cold aura. Within his chest, was a glowing golden core. He did not have internals, for want of a better word, he was hollow.

Dorian was still confused, and a System message popped up to quash all his troubles.

[The Ember Vault]

Welcome to [The Ember Vault], this battlefield was the last stand of the Ashen Legion - an elite army tasked with protecting the sleeping [Flamebound King].

Betrayed by their own, they slaughtered each other, their souls bound to the battlefield by a powerful curse.

Now, they awaken, eager to fight only through the will of those who have cursed them. Beware, adventurers, there is no chance at negotiation.

The army has been defeated, not a soul left standing. Instead, the souls of the fallen will be recycled into the [Ember Knights], empowering them further. Each knight holds a key to the coffin they protect, what is within... no one knows.

The mystery solved, as the [Hollow Baron] steps out of the coffin. Not the [Flamebound King], you ask? Well, you see, the [Flamebound King] was abducted by the Shardborn Order, a group of crystalline creatures that have warred with the Ashen Legion for ages. In retaliation, the [Ember Knights] tried to abduct the leader of the Shardborn Order to swap them back around. They failed, only managing to take the [Hollow Baron].

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Not wanting to demoralize the troops, they hid the abduction of their King and instead pretended that he went into the seclusion in the temple, to break through and win them the war. Of course, this wasn't believable by itself, so they built a coffin for the [Hollow Baron] which only allowed the aura to leak, the Baron and the King were similar power levels, so it became a believable story.

[Objectives]:

- Destroy the cursed Ashen Legion's army (12,432/12,432) [COMPLETED]

- Kill the [Ember Knights] (0/5)

- Kill the [Hollow Baron] (0/1)

[Rewards]:

- Revealed upon completion. Rewards depend on contribution.

Dorian was shocked, the [Ember Knights] had not displayed a lot of intelligence when they fought. Likely because this wasn't the real Ashen Legion, only cheap imitations made by the System for the dungeon. And yet, they had managed to turn the horror of losing their King into a boost of morale for their troops.

This also cleared up some past confusion Dorian had felt, like why the final boss wasn't the [Flamebound King], as he didn't appear in the objectives. This resolved his confusion.

Dorian used [Cat's Eye] on the Baron, and was shocked by what he saw.

[Hollow Baron Lv. 130]

He was only 8 levels above the [Ember Knights] they had fought. But he felt so much more powerful, that meant he was a powerful species, which he could probably tell by the way he looked. He doubted that there would be [Epic] opponents on only the first floor, so the Baron probably still only had a [Rare] class like the knights.

The [Hollow Baron] seemed to quickly orient itself, as it turned to Veylan and attacked him rapidly.

The [Hollow Baron] wasn't super fast, but definitely significantly faster than the [Ember Knights]. It was still a relief, as opponnets whos specialised in Speed were incredibly annoying to deal with.

Dorian quickly used [Slash] and his sword tore at the back of the Baron.

A large force jarred his arm, and Dorian dropped his sword. He looked at where he had hit the Baron.

There wasn't a scratch on it.

The Baron turned his head to him, disengaging from Veylan, who seemed okay. It seemed that the [Hollow Baron] had decided that he was more of a threat then Veylan. Probably because Veylan hadn't even attempted to attack it.

Dorian looked at Veylan with wide eyes, he only chuckled and said something he did not want to hear right now.

"I don't need the contribution on this floor, I'll leave it to you guys to defeat the Baron, unless you really need my help."

"Seriously?" Isolde said, but her face showed she wasn't even surprised. She was probably used to his antics.

But Dorian was not annoyed anymore, he realised he had immediately looked for the protection of Veylan when he was in some trouble. He hadn't even tried his luck yet, and frankly he was a bit embarassed and ashamed of his reaction.

He didn't need anyone, he was a one-man army.

He looked to the rapidly approaching [Hollow Baron] and steeled himself.

He would take it down, even if he had to do it all by himself.