Dalton knew that Ozul was a murderer, but he never could never grasp how bad he was.

Until now.

At first, Dalton thought the white was snow, but when walked closer to it, he horrifyingly realized that it was bones. All of it, were bones, and it covered one side of the mountain almost completely.

Malcolm stepped up right beside him as he stared in his stupor.

“Remains are everywhere.” Malcolm whistled. “Ozul killed a lot of people.”

“I didn’t expect this many,” Dalton said.

Eira stepped right next to Malcolm overlooking down mountain.

“A lot more than I thought,” she noted.

Malcolm nodded and spotted a bracelet on a corpse. “Eira, look at that. Do you recognize it?”

Eira took a closer look. “Tim. So you did not quit after all.”

“Tim?” Dalton was having a bad feeling. “Who is that?”

“He was an employee that came after Louise. He really liked her,” Eira said. “I considered it strange that there was a resignation letter for him on my desk, considering he asked her out the day before and got a date.”

“And you did not think it was weird that he quit?” Dalton asked.

Eira looked at him weird, as if what he had just said was strange. “We had many people quit or die. I’m honestly surprised you survived until the end. Of course…that may change.”

The brief anonymity she exuded made a shiver travel down his spine. Why was that?

“Wh-what?”

Eira looked at Malcolm. “Look, Malcolm, I thought I saw some jewelry in that pile of bones, why don’t you go-”

“Mine!” Malcolm dived into the pile of bones.

When they were alone, she smiled and said one name. “Satoshi.”

Dalton took a step back. “How?”

“Unlike Malcolm, I actually read the files.”

Malcolm erupted from the bones with an wearing bracelets up to his elbows, some the size of a pebble, and others the size of a fist.

“All mine!” He yelled.

That ended the conversation between the two. She motioned and ordered him to take care of Riot, who Dalton had mistaken as a corpse, since there were crows pecking at him. Dalton pulled Riot up and threw the dueler’s arm over his shoulder.

“So, where are we supposed to go?” Malcolm leaned forward at the cliff. He used his hand to cover his eyes.

“So, you really did not read the report.” Dalton sighed. “It said north.” Dalton looked up at the sun and turned to his right. “That’s this way.” He pointed.

“Really?” Malcolm chuckled. “You can now tell what position the sun is in to tell where north is?”

“Yes.” Dalton answered in an icy tone.

“Wow, wow.” He held up his hands. “Cool down. You don’t need to bite off my head. Not like you could, because look at my neck muscles.”

“Uh-huh.” Dalton didn’t look at it at all. “What’s everyone’s class?”

“Oh, I forgot about that.” Malcolm straightened his spine. “Status!”

A black screen winked open in front of Malcolm. It must have been a good class, because he pumped his fist.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Yes! My class is an Underwear Model!”

“Excuse me?”

Malcolm repeated. “An Underwear Model.”

Dalton chuckled. “Okay, that can’t be real. That-”

He pushed Malcolm aside and saw that his class was indeed an Underwear Model. Malcolm posed. He looked more ridiculous from the gold that he had on his arms. He was clearly happy about his assigned class.

Dalton shook his head. It was alright, he was sure that everyone else’s class was good. He turned to the catatonic Riot.

“What’s your class?”

To his surprise, Riot opened his status and pushed the status window to him. He did not even read it, because he did not even care. Dalton would need to do something to raise his spirits.

He looked at the screen and he felt himself reel back as if he had been punched in the nose.

“Lu-lumberjack?”

For some reason, that seemed to perk Riot up. “Lumberjack?” He brought the screen to him and his eyes shined. “Yes! Lumberjack! I am a lumberjack!” His laugh filled the air. “Chad! I shall be the number one lumberjack! I shall take my woman back!”

Dalton let the man go. Even though he fell face down in the rocky ground, he was still laughing hysterically.

He turned to Eira. So far, they had a two-to-two for weird classes. He was hoping that she would have a useful class, like a paladin, knight, mage, or something common.

But she had something special too.

“Devil,” she told him.

“Devil?” That sounded kind of good. “What does it do?”

“I make contracts and bind people to them,” she said darkly.

Dalton crouched to the ground, blocking his eyes so he may avoid the reality setting in. They were so fucked. It was obvious what that Ingrid was absolutely setting them up for failure.

Riot came up to him. “Friend! What is your class?”

In his depression, he had forgotten to check. He was sure that it was going to be defiler.

But that wasn’t it.

Two white words reflected on eyes.

Riot craned his neck over his shoulder.

“Demon King.”

#

With a wave of her hand and a little will thrown in, a screen popped up in front of her. With a wine in hand, she watched with interest to see the start of their journey. Dalton had correctly pointed out where they needed to go.

Of course, he had grown stronger. Far faster than she had hoped he would be, and she had been afraid he would grow powerful enough to succeed in this mission.

Ingrid could not allow that to happen, so she chose the hardest mission she could possibly find.

The world was essentially boiled down as a Murder World. Every hero sent there was murdered, and the Drug Lord that had murdered the Demon King was much more ruthless as him.

Another screen opened to her right, alerting her of the powerful Lich King that wandered the area. Her lips curled in a smile. She had hoped either the Lich King or the Bone Dragon would awaken. With a few taps to the screen, she authorized a change to its path. A stalagmite blocked the Lich King’s path, and it made a turn towards Dalton and his group.

She took another sip of her wine and waited the show to begin.

#

“Oh shit! It’s a Lich King!” Malcolm yelled and pointed.

He could clearly see a giant skeleton the size of two men and in a very nice velvet robe blocking their path. It held a very old looking wooden staff with a very big shining blue gem.

“Oh!” Its red eyes flared, and it rubbed its chin. “It seems that humans have once again fallen. It seems like Fate has extended an arm to me once more.”

“A lich!” Riot was shaking in excitement. Somewhere along the trail, he had found an axe, and he pointed at the Lich King. “What excitement! Does it not make your blood boil, Dalton?”

Dalton crossed his arms and frowned. “No. It does not make my blood boil, Riot. This Lich King looks quite powerful, and it doesn’t look like it will let us move past it.”

The Lich King chuckled. “A smart man. I can’t wait to dissect your brain.”

Dalton eyed Riot. “See, he wants to experiment on us. Does that make your blood boil?”

“What are you experimenting on, great skeleton king?” Riot asked, brimming with curiosity.

“I plan to take your brain and put it in a jar,” the Lich King said. “Use your bodies to make potions for the Drug Lord. Then probably use your bones to make pets.”

“Dalton! Dalton! This is fantastic!” He hefted the axe on his shoulder and ran. “My first enemy is a King!”

Dalton grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back.

“No, stop. We should just run. Liches have high magic capabilities,” he said in a hushed tone. He did not want the Lich King to hear them. “There is no doubt he has many shields that will block your axe. There’s no point in wasting our time and energy in dealing with him. We should just run.”

“Running away?” The Lich King asked. “It’s too late. I already blocked the path behind you. It’s too bad your comrades escaped first.”

The two of them turned behind them. Just like the Lich King had said, their way was blocked by a wall of bones.

“Damn!” Dalton muttered under his breath.

“Now, I would say that you should just surrender. I promise to let your death be less painful,” the Lich King said.

“As you wish! A battle to the death!”

Riot tried to rush the Lich King, but Dalton grabbed the back of his collar on his jump suit preventing him from dying.

“No, stop.” Dalton said. “You’re not going to fight him.”

Riot bristled at that. “You heard the lich! We are trapped here! The only way out is to defeat him in battle!”

“Yeah, I know.” Dalton sighed and pulled him behind him. “That’s why I’ll go.”

“What? You will fight?” He said in a tone that he did not believe him.

“Yes.”

Dalton held out his right hand, a short sword materialized in it.

Riot gasped in shock. “You have an item box! I’m so jealous!”

Fighting a Lich King head on was dumb. His training with the Mikoto had taught him to be ready for anything. He just did not expect to face uncertainty so soon.