36 Hours Later,

29 th Mazem, 1092.

Lunette rested her head against the temple's doors as she watched the early morning moon with distracted interest. Soon the sun would come and take its place, for it did not belong in the morning sky. Still, she found it oddly beautiful, maybe because it reminded her of herself.

Her name was called, and she shook her head to clear all unwanted thoughts and doubts. She had practiced for almost 48 hours non-stop, and it was time to see if all that work bore any fruit. She had managed to raise the new skills to the intermediate level, though her actual Performer class had only gained a level. Probably because of a lack of ingenuity. She had only been able to create one more original piece since then, and even that had been a Fine Piece.

She met up with the others at the grand organ.

"Are you ready?" Iggy asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "Whenever you are."

Iggy nodded. "The actual entrance to the dungeon i s a mine inside the village, but it’s crawling with monsters." He started playing a curious tune on the organ. "Diegel and I found this entrance by chance while following one of the Order's agents." The tune ended abruptly. Soon after, the floor shook with the rumblings of old gears. "This way."

Iggy led them beyond the altar to a secret trapdoor that had opened up behind. A spiraling flight of stairs descended into darkness, the air from beneath cold and moist.

"Great, another underground cavern," Syel cursed. "What happened to towers and prisons?" He released a few magelights to light their path.

Iggy nodded his appreciation as he took the lead as they ventured down the steps.

Diegel dragged Lunette aside before she could enter the trap door. "Oi, you, you're strong, right?"

Lunette frowned in confusion. "I suppose you could say so? Why do you ask?"

"Take this." He took out a book from his inventory and handed it to her.

"What is it?"

"J'st take it."

Lunette accepted the book. It was dark violet, with chains wrapped menacingly around it. Purple smoke belched from its pages , giving it a menacing and mysterious air .

Do you want to learn this skill?

YES NO

Lunette chose, yes. The book disappeared as a status window appeared, explaining the contents of the skill she'd just learned. Her eyes widened in shock as she read and understood what she'd just learned. "W-Why did you give this to me?"

Diegel shrugged. "Had to. Yer da strongest singa I met yet."

Lunette grimaced. It took a few seconds, but she calmed herself. "Thank you. You're right. This might be useful in the future. Just don't tell my brother you gave it to me."

With those words, Lunette turned around and joined the others down the stairs, with Diegel bringing up the rear.

The walls were wet with moss, and more than once, different members of the party had to stifle their frightened surprise as slimy beings slithered across their hands placed on the wall for support. They reached the end after about five minutes. The stairs landed at the door with a minotaur carved onto its face.

Iggy placed his hand on the door.

"What is it, our lord bringeth?" a disfigured voice echoed from inside the door.

Iggy sang out precise notes, which ended with a long drawn out sooo...

"And it shall be as it were."

The door grated on its hinges as it grumbled open. Iggy took a magelight that hung by the gate. "This entire area is an abandoned mine. There are too many interlocking roads that it can seem like a maze to first-timers. Stick close, so you don't get lost."

Lunette and Shadow nodded, while behind them, Syel and Shoko had already begun making mental maps of the paths they took.

"Where we headed?" Syel shout-whispered.

"First to the prison. Ziegfried and the orchestra members are captured there."

Lunette stopped in her tracks.

"What's the matter?"

Lunette frowned as she picked something from the floor. "Why was this mine abandoned again?"

"Its resources had dried up. Why?"

"I'm definitely not a blacksmith or a miner, but doesn't these look like those ingots smiths use? I think this is iron or steel, not sure."

Iggy took the item he held in her hand. His eyes widened in amazement as he realized what she had found. Th-this is neither steel nor iron. It's Platinum Ore! The only ores higher than these are Obsidian, Mithril, and Orichalcum ores! Judging by its durability, it's only been recently acquired."

"Yo, slow down, bro," Diegel interjected. "Wha you soun'ing all excited for? It's one rock. Most likely, some guy bough' a whole pack o' dem rocks 'n' forgo' dis one."

Iggy's elated eyes deflated in an instant as he realized his brother's truth. "Sorry, I think he's right," he apologized as he handed the ore back to Lunette.

"It's fine," Lunette said, as she accepted the ore. "I just thought it odd for a moment. It seems I was wrong." Despite her words, she placed the ore in her jacket pocket.

Iggy lead them to an opening from which they could see the next sector.

At the bottom, a bridge connected the current sect or across a sea of lava to a separate cavern system . A sea of lava flowed on either side of the bridge towards the north, its silent rage heating up the cavern.

"We're here," Iggy said, pointing across. "That's where they keep the prisoners. I don't know what else they do there, but it also heads down to the basement where the last boss is. If we defeat him, the suns should also be destroyed."

Syel leaned out of the clearing, eyes scanning the architecture. "Who built this place? The dwarves?"

Iggy nodded. "Most of them are collapsed now, but there are several places like this in Merriheim. High-quality ores deep in the earth were mined from places such as these."

Syel whistled. He made to turn but stopped when a group of people caught his eyes. "Who are those?" He pointed at a procession of men and women in black robes with weird symbols.

"They're the cult that captured Zeigfried. I suggest avoiding them. Their songs have serious debilitating effects."

The side of Syel's lips curled in a toothy grin. "...That so?"

"Syel, NO!" Shoko shouted.

However, her rebuke was far too late as the halben had already jumped .

Syel shot to the ground like a missile.

BOOM!

The earth cracked beneath his feet, running all the way to the procession.

The explosion caught their attention, but before they could register the cause of the disturbance, the man at the rear screamed out in pain as he fell to the ground. The remaining nine opened their mouths, but the songs never came.

Syel stomped the earth and a slab shot up at one end of the bridge, he whipped it across the bridge and into the river of death. It forced off seven of the procession into the molten lava, where their anguished cries died out in a short time. He grinned as he once again stomped the earth. Spires of rocks shot up, impaling one of the survivors. They smacked the other into the molten river, only missing the last because of her superior reflexes.

The halben dashed towards her, fire and rock coating his arm to finish her off.

Crash!

Syèl’ s fist stopped a few centimeters short of her face. The heat emanating from his arm drew beads of sweat from her forehead.

"We need her alive," Shoko warned. Despite having moved so fast, she showed no visible signs of strain or fatigue.

Syel's eyes traveled from his companion to the blade that had blocked his punch, then settled on the female cultist. The frightened wisben fell back, overwhelmed by the intensity of his glare.

Syèl’ s gaze relaxed somewhat alongside his stance. He pulled back his arm and kept it by his side, though notedly, the flames still coated it. "You, did you hear that?" He asked pointedly. "I am supposed to keep you alive." His menacing grin held a promise of her demise. "Say, is there any reason you could think of for me to keep you alive?"

"Ah~ah," Shoko sighed, interrupting him. "This one is damaged beyond repair." She inspected her sword's drained durability with a wince. "It was expensive too." She smacked Syel's head with the butt. She ignored his exaggerated cry as she tossed the sword over the edge.

Syel whistled as he watched the sword melt into nothingness. "That was really expensive. Are you sure you shouldn't have gotten it fixed?"

"Whose fault is it I had to toss it away?"

"Hey, I didn't ask you to stop me. If you had let me kill her no-"

"Your captive's escaping."

Syel turned around. "Wow, it's true." He tapped the earth with his fingers. A crack raced along, chasing after the runaway prisoner.

The wisben cried out and collapsed, clutching her foot. Tears poured out of her eyes as she pressed down on the hole in the middle of her foot.

Syel walked over and sighed loudly. "Why did you run?"

The woman’s eyes went wide with fear. She rolled onto her front, struggling frantically to crawl as far away from him as possible.

Syel closed the gap in a split second. He squatted in front of her, blocking her path with a bored expression. "Oi, are you trying to make me look like the bad guy here?"

Tears streaming down her eyes, she bounced onto her behind. "P-p-please, don't kill me. I-I'll tell you anything. Please! I only joined as a joke, I never knew they were this bad."

Syel frowned, and the playful light in his eyes disappeared . "Oi, you. Stop crying."

"Eh?"

Syel drew close, his eyes burned hotter than the surrounding lava. "I said, stop crying."

He'll kill me!

"Hey, you guys, alright!" Lunette's call drew the halben 's attention from his captive. She and the rest of the party had taken the long route through flights of stairs and tunnels.

Syel smiled. "Just fine. Would have killed them all, but our Prince wanted otherwise."

Iggy nodded his approval. "That was a commendable decision. That building is well guarded. With her help, we should be able to infiltrate without drawing too much attention."

Diegel whistled as he walked up to them. "Fuck man, yous a stone-cold killa. Ya snuffed eight guys like that." He squatted next to the wisben and chuckled, "N scared her half ta death."

"Thanks for the compliment," Syel said with a grin.

Shadow helped the captive to her feet. Her momentary smile of appreciation was cut short by the cold steel that kissed her jugular. "Lead us to where you keep the prisoners. Try anything, and I will end you." His voice was even but had the desired effect of terrorizing the poor wisben even more.

The wisben frantically nodded , eager to keep her head on her shoulders.

Lunette grasped her arm and smiled warmly. "What's your name?"

Something about the bard's voice relaxed the wisben . "H-Heri."

"Listen, Heri. We only want to save our friends. If you cooperate, I promise no harm will come to you."

"Y-you promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

Heri kissed her hand in gratitude. "C-come, follow me." She whirled around, frightened by the amused look in the blood elf's eyes. "There is only one unguarded entrance to the dungeons. Y-you might not like it, though." She led them along the edge of the building to the right side, where they stopped at the mouth of a tunnel. A foul stench emanated from the tunnel, forcing them to cover their noses with their sleeves.

"What's wrong with it?" Iggy asked.

Heri hesitated.

"Spit it out, woman," Syel warned.

"I-it's the tunnel we use to get rid of failed bodies." Heri hung her head at the ensuing silence.

Iggy was the first to break the silence. "What do you mean by bodies?"

Heri pointed at a crate in the tunnel.

Syel, Shadow, and Iggy walked over to the crate and propped it open.

!!!

"FUCK!" They screamed in unison.

"What is it!?" Lunette asked as she made towards them.

"Don't come!" Shadow yelled back. "Syel, please!"

"With pleasure." Syel's eyes darkened as he razed the contents of the crate with his most vigorous flame. He marched over to Heri and lifted her by her collar. "Explain yourself right now."

Iggy, still visibly shaken, muttered, "That should not be possible. How is that possible?"

"I-I don't know." Heri cried.

Flames burned around Syel's hand, searing her chest. "Then you're of no use to us. I'll make your death especially painful."

"Wait, wait!" Heri pleaded. "They'll kill me if I say anything."

"I don't know who 'they' are, but I am here, and I will kill you if you do not start talking."

"O-okay, I'll talk, j-just please stop. It hurts."

Syel released his grip, and she fell to her knees.

Heri looked around. There was no escape, and if she dawdled any longer, she would most definitely be killed. She had no choice but to risk it. "We are a branch of the Chaos Order and we serve Lord Razznik, the strongest god and chaos personified. Eons ago, when the cowardly gods realized they could not defeat him in straight combat, they created a specialized seal, or more accurately, a barrier between our world and Hell preventing Razznik from entering earth again. We are those who seek to return the harbinger of chaos to this realm."

"What does that have to do with t his ?" Syel seethed.

"You know that when life ends, both the body and soul turn to spirit particles, but the presence of skeleton monsters and dru gher s prove that not all bodies turn to spirit particles. Even presently, every now and then, a body would not turn to spirit particles immediately after death. Our pioneers surmised some unseen power decides which bodies turn to spirit particles and which do not."

Yes, the game system, Syel thought to himself.

"However," Heri continued, "they found that it was possible to prevent a body from returning to spirit particles by the use of Necromancy . Not only that, t hey also found that this dark process released pure negative energy, a potent and extremely powerful energy source. But harnessing this energy was difficult as it dissipated or destroyed its immediate surroundings soon after it was released."

"That explains the bodies," Iggy muttered. "How did you finally harness this energy."

Heri pointed at Lunette. "That stone, let me have it."

Lunette hesitated. Encouraged by Syel's nod, she took out the ore she had stored and handed it to Heri.

Heri examined the stone. Her eyes lit up as she clasped her hands around the ore. "Nerut!"

Bright light escaped from cracks between her fingers. Shadow's blade iced the back of her neck as she slowly opened her hands.

!!!

The party could not believe their eyes. Where there was once rock, now sat a cloudy amethyst gemstone. Its glassy red surface mirrored the lava flowing quietly just outside.

"How did you do that?" Syel questioned.

"This is transmutation, the ability to refine certain products," Heri replied. She frowned at the stone. "My ability is not that high hence the cloudy nature of this particular gemstone."

"The gemstone, do you, by chance, use it to harness this dark energy?" Iggy asked.

"Yes, the purer and rarer the gemstone, the greater the power it can store," she replied.

"I see. Useful information indeed."

"Ah, there's one more thing I forgot to tell you."

"What is it."

"Even if dark energy dissipates or is stored away in stone, there is always residual energy left in the source."

Syel frowned. "So?"

"So, it is very possible for even a cloudy gemstone to amass this residual energy given time."

Electricity sparked around Syel's hands. "Hand the stone over."

Heri grinned triumphantly. "I think I'll hold on to this. Meirut!" A burst of energy knocked her captors against the cave walls.

Syel struggled against the overwhelming pressure. "Wait!"

"See you," Heri boasted as she was swallowed by black miasma.

The pressure eased with her disappearance.

"She got us," Shoko said, staring at the empty spot left behind.

"Not exactly," Syel announced with a wink.

Shoko's eyes widened. "You, You did not?"

"Finally got it to work."

Diegel frustratedly asked, "Hows 'bout ya clue da rest of us in?"

Elsewhere, a black mandala shone on the brown earth, dark energy seeping from its markings. Nearby members of the Order gathered around, recognizing the mandala's patterns.

Heri appeared in the center of the mandala as its energy died down. A priest ran over to help he r, but s he rebuffed his aid, brows scrunched in an ugly rage.

"Heri-san, what happened?"

Heri turned to the man. "Prepare yourselves, we have int- Uack!" Heri fell to her knees, clutching her stomach as she coughed out blood. Her body shook with pain as her temperature rose to dangerous levels.

The priests gathered around her as they attempted futilely to find the cause of her pain.

Several layers of mandalas appeared on her stomach, with various elements bursting out of them. Heri's eyes widened in shock as she realized what it was. "RU-"

BOOM!

An instantaneous explosive chain reaction of elements destroyed everything within ten meters without leaving the slightest bit of matter left.

DUN! Gugugugugu!

The cave shook from the explosion several floors above them.

"Finally perfected the elemental bomb," Syel announced. "Figured since I'm a blood mage, why not power the elemental bomb with the blood of my targets. Far more effective, and I can even make them conditional now."

"That is impressive," Iggy noted.

"What was the condition you put on her?" Lunette asked.

"For it to explode if she was more than ten meters away from me." He had a most satisfied, sadistic smile. "Impressive, no?"

"It's quite the skill," Shadow said as he sheathed his dagger. "But we have to get moving, We just alerted the entire mine to our presence."

"It is said that when a man who doesn't talk much speaks, one must pay attention." Syel joked. "Okay, then, I'll lead." He activated Will o' the Wisp to light their way.

The party raced down the tunnel, each one trying to ignore the numerous crates they passed. Half an hour later, they stopped in front of a steel door. Light shone from within the cracks, letting them know they had reached their destination.

Syel placed his hand on the door. Ice spread from the point of contact until it covered every inch of the door. He punched, then shielded his eyes as it came crashing down, releasing frosty smoke.

Diegel coughed as he brushed away the smoke. "Di' ya even try opening da door?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Syel walked past the smoke into a dungeon from every videogame ever.

The air was damp with the smell of blood and sweat, and the floors and walls were reinforced with dirty stones. Each cell was demarcated by several layers of the dull rock. The cages were locked with what seemed like rusty iron, but something about them seemed off.

"Iggy, over here!" Lunette called, waving them over.

Iggy ran up to meet her. His fist clenched around the bars as a relieved smile spread across his face. "Finally found you. It's been a while, Coach."

Inside the cell, a rather muscular man raised his head. Locks of dirty blue hair was brushed aside to reveal a man in his early fifties. He twirled a baton in his right hand as he got to his feet. "As I live and breathe, if it isn't Iggy-kun. I didn't think you would make it."

"I promised, didn't I?"

Coach let out a raspy laugh. "Yes, you did."

"Oi pops, where our brother at?" Diegel asked.

Coach pointed to his left. "He's a few cells that way."

As Diegel and Iggy ran over, Syel stepped forward. "Step back, old man."

Coach complied.

Syel placed his hand on the cage and muttered an incantation. Several mandalas appeared on the cage, preventing his magic from affecting it. "Spelled huh?" He smiled to himself as he increased the output of his spell. The mandalas multiplied, popping up all over with warning sounds. The halben ignored them as he continued to raise output levels.

The mandalas cracked in several places before finally bursting apart. The gate exploded from the sudden release of energy from Syel's hands.

Coach walked out from the smoke, dusting himself as he did so. "Well done, son. My name is Lufer, but some people call me coach." He held out his hand.

Syel shook it. "Name's Syel, but some people call me monster." He added after a pause, "right before they die."

Lufer opened his inventory and equipped a white formal shirt and pants. "It feels good to finally be in my own clothes. The cage somehow prevents prisoners from using powers or accessing the inventory ." He stretched and flexed his muscles as he turned to the rest of the party. "Forgive my rudeness, I forgot to ask for your names."

Shoko relaxed her grip on the hilt of the sword. "My name is Shoko. I'm a swordsman."

"I'm Lunette," When Shadow did not speak, she added, "and he's my brother Shadow. I'm a bard."

Lufer's eyes shone at her revelation. "You're a bard? What instrument do you play?"

Lunette nervously chuckled. "Well, I play most instruments, but I mostly use my voice."

"A singer," Lufer took her hands in his, beaming brightly. "The others would love to meet you."

Shadow suddenly tensed. "We better make this quick, I sense people running in our direction."

Iggy and Diegel returned with another of themselves. Unlike his brothers, his hair was blond.

Ziegfried took Shoko's hand, a warm smile on his face. "I would love to thank the beautiful maiden, who saved my life. Ah, the peri-" Smack!

"Not now, Zieg," Iggy reprimanded. "We have larger worries. Our friends are logged out, so someone will have to go call them."

"How long will that take?" Shoko asked as she drew her sword.

"About an hour to round them up in real life, thirty if they can be rushed."

"So we have to hold this position for at least two and a half hours . M aybe even up to five hours if luck isn't on our side?"

"Yes," Iggy declared. "We will stay to help while Coach goes and calls them."

"That's perfect," Syel said as he walked up to them. "I've lost a lot of blood and mana forcing these cells open." His toothy grin raged with excited bloodlust. "I think I'm due a refill..."