As Arka stepped out of the shop, she looked for the player who previously asked for help to see if he's still nearby.

At a short distance, she saw the player with his back turned. A small rucksack is strapped on his back. He continues walking away as the long cloth of his padded armor, and the daggers on his waist dangled in rhythm with his pacing. He's heading back to the city square.

Arka walked faster. The metal of her armor sounded at the same pace as her movement. Then, as she got closer, "Wait," She called out to him.

Banelfsing turned around to the person calling him. He saw the dark swordsman approaching.

"Let's do your—" Arka felt herself about to stutter again. "Let's do your quest," She said firmly this time as she finished closing their distance.

"I thought you needed to go." He said.

"Changed my mind..." She said. "So, where are we headed...?" Arka asked the question slowly. She expressed it with a slight gesture of her hand.

Banelfsing suddenly raised his chin. He made a fist, near chest-level as if showing his eagerness. He livened up knowing that he finally found someone to accompany him on his adventure.

Banelfsing was grateful. "This way," he said, with excitement. He turned his back to the swordsman and began to walk, leading the way.

Arka followed him.

In Helamir, fast travel is limited. The best that players could do to venture into the world was on foot.

Dry soil, grass, and mud stuck to the soles of Arka and Banelfsing as they ventured through a lush forest. Multitude rays of light pierced through the small gaps between the thickly covered trees and struck the two for each step they took.

Soon, they arrived at their destination.

"This is it," Banelfsing said, with a parchment in his hand.

Before Arka and Banelfsing, stood a tall, rocky, entrance to an unfamiliar cave. Their figures upon first look at a distance would make them look so, insignificant as they face it.

"What's... your quest about?" Arka asked Banelfsing.

Banelfsing turned his head to Arka. He looked at her, with his eyes showing a glint of confidence.

Arka didn’t feel good about Banelfsing showing this look on his face.

After a brief smirk, Banelfsing said his carefully thought-out statement to summarize the reason for the arduous journey they've both traveled so far.

"Treasure," Was all he said.

Treasure... Arka thought as she speculates on the meaning behind the term.

"So, this is a treasure hunt... for Fels?" Arka reaffirmed.

Banelfsing nodded as he said a brief "Yeah," right back at Arka. "I got a treasure map after completing a quest chain from an NPC in the west part of the city," Banelfsing said as he showed her a rolled parchment in his hand implying that it was a map. "Then like, I saw you entered that shop. And I just thought, 'should bring one guy along,'"

So, he partied with me out of a whim when he found me at that shop? Arka recalled.

"Anyway, like, I saw this map leads to a place I'm not familiar with so, it's better to have company, right?" Banelfsing said.

"Okay... then, so... like, you just want me... to be your bodyguard?" Arka asked in her slow tone as she crossed her arms.

"Nah..." Banelfsing said with a steady tone. His eyes moved left and right, as he crossed his arms figuring out what words to say. After that, he looked at her. "You don't have to put it that way... we're a party. We'll share the spoils," He said.

I do need some more Fels... The thought passed Arka's mind, as her hand moved to her satchel.

"Sending in a party invitation," Banelfsing said.

Suddenly, a confirmation window popped up in front of Arka's HUD.

Join Banelfsing's party?

Yes • No

"Well then..." Arka said.

Arka accepted the party invitation. As she accepted, a small, new window appeared on the left side of her HUD. It was the party window. It details the status and conditions of her party members. Right now, it shows Banelfsing's window, showing his name, and below it was his HP.

"Then, let's go for now..." she said as she went past her new party member. "We can talk about my reward later," She said. Banelfsing followed after.

The cave they entered is muddled with irregular and uneven shaped rock formations, mostly at the side of the caves. It's covered in moss near the entrance. The deeper they went, the lesser it was present; and the darker it became for there wasn't any convenient source of light to reflect their path.

Due to the lack of sunlight, dead plants, mushrooms, and strange bioluminescent plants then thrived next, as they continued strolling.

However, these bioluminescent plants soon dwindled the more they went.

"It's getting dark... do you... still wanna venture in?" Arka said.

"Hold on," Banelfsing said. Arka stopped in her tracks. Afterwards, he removed the rucksack on his back, and placed it on the ground. He took out an unlit torch, some flint, and steel.

He placed the torch on the ground, and then, he took out a bottle in his rucksack. He poured some of the liquid from the bottle on the end of the torch and put the bottle back in his bag.

After that, he started igniting the torch by making a spark with the flint and steel. The torch soon caught fire.

"Take this," Banelfsing said as he handed the lit torch to Arka. She took the torch from Banelfsing's hand and she held it in her off-hand.

Convenient... Arka thought.

Arka went in front of her party member acting as the one who will light and scout ahead in the cave, as Banelfsing finishes putting his belongings back in his rucksack.

Afterward, they continued to venture their way now that they have a source of light to see their path.

Arka couldn't help but feel nervous, but also thrilled at the idea of exploring an unfamiliar cave. It's not every day someone could do something like this... despite everything being in virtual reality.

As they went deeper—

Something hit Arka's arm. It made a loud noise startling both people.

"Woah—! Hey—!" Banelfsing shouted.

"It's fine..." Arka said.

Arka then pointed the torch closer to the ground to illuminate where she last heard the object fall. She searched for whatever hit her. She eventually found an arrow laying on the cave's ground.

She went to it, knelt and picked it up from its shaft. She examined it.

A poisoned arrow... Arka thought as the arrow dripped fresh with a transparent liquid on its arrow head.

It seems the arrow only bounced off her armor. It wasn’t enough to pierce through the steel.

Arka then stood up and showed what she picked up to Banelfsing.

"An arrow hit me... what's more, it's poisoned. but it bounced off thanks to my armor..." She said.

"I see..." He said. "Good thing it didn't graze you. I didn't bring any antidotes with me." Banelfsing said.

"Then... we should be careful... there should be more traps nearby." Arka said.

"Okay," Banelfsing said.

"Unless, of course... you wanna head back for now?" Arka continued.

"No," Banelfsing said. "We can make it. We've already come this far," He said.

"Alright, then... let's keep moving... I'll protect you," Arka said.

Knowing the cave is rigged with man-made traps, Arka went in cautiously expecting more. And to Arka's hunch, this is no, normal cave where you can find treasure.

It's a dungeon.

In dungeons, you're supposed to run with a competent party — a small group of people.

Right now, there's just two of them; Unknowing what is there to expect in the cave due to the lack of information of the game.

Arka assessed their situation.

Her, a Kampilan swordsman, and Banelfsing—

—Wielding dual Kukris...? Arka thought.

In Helsfate, there are countless weapons you can choose from. Each weapon affects the type of damage a player can inflict on the game against different types of armor or the type of enemy a player deals with.

As of now, there was still a lack of information about which weapon types would be most effective against what. Arka was still awaiting any tier listings that would be publicized to know what would be the best way in the beginning parts of the game, or for any basic info of each weapon type. Everybody in the game was still experimenting.

Arka uses a Kampilan, a single-edged long sword.

"Do you have a ranged weapon?" Arka asked Banelfsing.

"Yeah, I have a crossbow. But I haven't practiced using it yet," Banelfsing said.

"I see," Arka said. "Then... nevermind... what I said..." she said.

"Oh. Okay... but, why the careful planning?" Banelfsing asked.

"Well, you see... I think we're in a dungeon... and I think we have... to maximize everything we got... Especially since it's just two of us," Arka said.

I mean, why would there even be traps in a cave? She thought.

"Ah, so that's the situation..." Banelfsing said. "Then, I'll try and use my crossbow when the time is right," He said.

Arka nodded.

About ten minutes passed on their exploration. No other problems have occurred. Arka and Banelfsing have laid low being cautious of any further traps and other unseeable things in the cave.

They've passed by several triggers already, amounting to three. Two string traps on the ground that sets off arrow traps, and a wall trap hidden with poison-tipped spears. They've also circumvented a big chasm hidden in the darkness of the cave.

Their footsteps echoed steadily in the dark cave, as the only thing that helps pave their way in the darkness is the torch Arka held— their only light source.

Arka can't help but feel increasingly that what they've come for is nothing but a stupid idea... a suicide mission. Her doubts surfaced. But she doesn't show this concern of hers in front of the person following her from behind. Unyieldingly, she continued to move forward with Banelfsing behind them.

Besides... there's no turning back now, and it would be bothersome after going so far. However, the one thing that they both have to worry about most is the death of their avatar; Wherein death means the loss of equipment and about 80% of their hard-earned currency. There are no banks in Helsfate based on what she has found, so far.

The avatar's death is the one that worries Arka. After grinding for so long— after hunting the numerous monsters she's cut down. She'd have to fight with everything she has if she wants to save this hard work that she has accumulated.

What if they encounter an unwinnable fight then? Why did she still decide to tag along for the adventure?

Is the reason for her absence of fear and recklessness due to her being self-aware that all this is just a game?

Perhaps it is... but still it's—

"A-Ara!" Banelfsing yelled out to Arka's present username, Arakar. Without a moment to lose, Arka turned to Banelfsing and see what was happening.

Arka's eyes darted everywhere, along with the torch she held in her hand as she saw her surroundings

A large group of monsters are suddenly approaching from behind Banelfsing, and eventually, behind Arka. Along with it, echoes of the traps resounded in the cave. It seems they were triggered.

The monster groups that approach are of different species.

An uneven pair of groups approached both on Arka and Banelfings's side in the cave. There were three on Banelfsing's and four on Arka's.

In total, seven of these beasts that approach on ground level possess six, small, humanoid arms, with a wide, and roundish, belly as their torso. The center of their bellies has a large, mouth with carnivorous-like teeth. Their heads are comparable to a neck of a bottle, with their eyes popping out like a crab's. Their bloodshot eyes look straight at their prey. They seem to have no control over their jaws as they jiggle along with their pinball-shaped head as they run, close to the ground with a height of about 3'8".

As Arka witnesses this, the corner of her eye caught something else. She illuminated her torch in the direction it came — more creatures came out of the gaping holes in the cave walls.

The first you could notice from them is their large humanoid-like arms, both with a pair of three claws that seem to retract from their three wicked fingers, with a head like that of a bald human's. With eyes shaped in a dark and blind rage enveloping them. Their mouths, toothless — stretch past their cheeks as their skulls lean back. Whenever these creatures open their mouths, it exposes their tongues that stretch up to half a meter. Their torso resembles that of chests of starving men, and their bottom half is that of a curved, fleshy tail that mimics a scorpion's. They come in two, disorganized groups of three, across the cave's walls as they come out of these holes.

Her eyes struck wide-open; with her mouth, almost agape. She couldn't believe what she was seeing at that instant, as this unintelligible event's embedded in her memories.

Arka quickly unsheathed her sword.

But then—

The ground beneath the two of the party member's feet immediately crumbled. And as it did, a pair of huge, eyes blinked open and gazed up at them with their feet in their giant circular mouths. Upon an overall view, it seems to resemble a face. This face was its actual body, possessing long, sharp thorns surrounding all of it. This creature started sucking on one of their legs slowly, like quicksand. As it does this, the rims of their face stretched out two vine-shaped tendrils that then wrapped a strong grip on Arka's and Banelfsing's legs.

Arka's HUD showed her, and her party member's HP each decreasing in quick increments from this creature.

Arka turned her sword upside-down and immediately stabbed the creature that was sucking her into the ground right into one of its eyes.

Her sword pierced through, as its eye bled, uttered a cry, and it immediately died.

She quickly made her way to cutting off the tendril wrapped on her leg. She held on to one end of it, and cut it— all done in one fell swoop. After that, she pulled out her leg which was buried past her ankle in the creature's mouth.

By the time Arka finished this creature, 78% of her HP remained.

She then focused on her party member. "Go for the eyes!" Arka shouted in a blood-curdling cry.

Banelfsing held onto his daggers. However, because his daggers were short, crouching could prove fatal at the risk of losing his balance and being impaled by the sharp, thorn-like armor on the creature's flesh. He had no choice but to let this creature have his leg sink into the creature's mouth to get closer.

Once he had enough reach, he went for the kill to stab the creature in the eye. However, the dagger he held was suddenly wrapped with the creature's tendrils.

This was the time when he felt it was fortunate of carrying a second dagger.

He skewered the other dagger at this creature in the eye. Along with it, His arm sunk in deep into this beast's innards.

The creature died and made its final cries.

Banelfsing had 56% HP left by the time he finished the creature.

Banelfsing pulled himself away from the dead creature's mouth. Luckily, he still has his leg, being able to stand up after that. He felt the monster's saliva through his steel-toed boots. But he didn't focus on that, instead, he remembered—

"Ara—!" He turned to Arka.

After Arka sliced one of the pot belly-like creatures in half with a strong and swift, angled vertical swing, she hopped back near Banelfsing's back. Both fighters, with their stances at the ready.

They kept near each other, circling, about to face these cryptic creatures.

Only mere moments remain before these creatures come in contact. Arka and Banelfsing didn't know a perfect approach to facing these new creatures. They heard the pounding of their chests as it rang in sync with their ears. They breathed heavily because of the surprise encounter.

What they do know, however, was that in the back of their minds... whoever loses their composure, means sudden death.