As the monstrous claw dissolved Uratnim slowly descended with a weary expression on his face. Clearly the skill took a toll on the devil child.
Liam and his friends didn't hesitate to rush towards the enemy. The floor bore a large claw mark due to the skill's aftermath, placing Uratnim in its palm. No one would think that the small devil child could unleash such widespread destruction.
Running on the ground the party couldn't make our its exact shape, only imagining it in their minds.
Despite the rugged terrain they quickly reached the boss, drowning him in skills. Damage numbers popped up continuously.
A while later Uratnim managed to cover himself with a shield again but the struggle was futile. He couldn't hold on under the party's attacks. Gritting his teeth the devil child was forced to sacrifice one of his beads, using the resulting power to produce a portal which allowed him to flee back to hell.
"Do you think he has an infinite amount of those beads?", asked Cyclone suddenly, drawing amused gazes from everyone.
"I don't know but I'm not eager to find out.", joked Silver Blade.
While the party got rid of the tension caused by the fight Onrabell returned and a black chest appeared out of nowhere.
Cyclone lunged herself at the chest, exclaiming happily:
"Mine! I don't even know how long it's been since I opened a chest! You better contain something good!"
The young woman eagerly stared at the progress bar urging it to hurry up in her mind. After a perceived eternity the chest finally swung open and a bow surrounded by a mysterious yellow sheen landed in Cyclone's hand.
[Meloh's shared fate
Category: Rare
Level requirement: 23
Attack damage: 22-26
Attack speed: 0,8
Dexterity: 7
Pet damage: 120
Effect 1: The next attack of your pet on the same target as yours deals 50% more damage. (Cooldown 5s)
Skill: Shared fate
Restrictions: Bound upon wearing
The wood elven hunter Meloh created this bow to strengthen his connection with his famous fox pet. But as unfavourable rumours about their relationship spread, he decided to change his equipment.]
Seeing the rare bow Silent Acacia was at first exhilarated but after reading the description he didn't know how to feel about it.
Since Cyclone posted it in the party chat, everyone got a look. Quickstep did her best to suppress her laughter but failed, causing Silent Acacia to almost refuse to wield the bow.
But its damage and the [Shared fate] skill made it difficult to refuse. Ultimately the hunter equipped the bow before jumping into the black maw, prompting everyone to hurry after him.
The world changed and they arrived in the space within the sea monster, below a vast ocean separated by a surging black river. Countless infernals advanced through the river, rushing towards Duabalis.
Watchful Eye, however, frowned, noticing that the river had changed somewhat. It was moving around the ocean more, splitting and merging randomly.
"Adventurers!"
A disgruntled voice suddenly rang out in the mysterious space as Onrabell arrived through the black portal. She held a bracelet in her hand, waving it angrily.
"How could you leave just like that?! The divine servant Phenaroa meant to pass on this bracelet to you! Without it you won't be able to suppress this invasion!"
Cyclone looked at the cute fairy, apologizing quickly before turning towards Silent Acacia.
Being stared at by the woman with an indignant expression, the hunter felt rather confused.
"What?"
"Why did you leave so suddenly? I haven't even sorted through the loot!"
"Ah... sorry."
"Hmpf. No matter what we got now, I won't give it to you! Consider this as punishment from your guild leader."
Silent Acacia blinked at Cyclone, not knowing what to say, a wry smile forming on his face.
While Onrabell passed over their heads, Cyclone browsed her inventory. Everyone waited with anticipation but seeing the blond woman's face changing to disappointment it was obvious the loot wasn't to her satisfaction.
"What did we get?", asked Silver Blade calmly.
"Stuff for that red tiger set. I'll place it in the treasury."
"Well, that's not too bad. Maybe someone in the guild can make use of it."
After sorting out the loot the party approached Onrabell. The fairy spoke a few words before diving into the labyrinth, returning swiftly, clearly confused.
But the party members stared at the towering wall with furrowed brows. This time around there were no rings outside but some kind of map. It showed nothing else but the seven coloured rooms, allowing one to roughly gauge the locations.
Balm appeared excited, eager to figure out the puzzle. But the party quickly concluded that they needed to enter the labyrinth to look for clues.
Recalling the order from the normal difficulty they decided to head towards the yellow room first.
"Acacia, your time to shine."
Silent Acacia nodded confidently at Liam. He took the lead, carefully scanning the path for traps. After only a few seconds the party arrived in front of a fork which hadn't been there before.
"Well, now we can confirm that the labyrinth isn't the same as before.", stated Cyclone with a wry smile.
The others also understood this truth realizing that they might spend a lot of time memorizing the way. Silver Blade considered drawing a map, but this might prove quite difficult should the walls move again. She decided to rather attempt to visualize the layout in her mind.
Silent Acacia agreed. He considered it a matter of pride. As the team's scout it was his job to lead them through the complicated paths.
Adjusting his mind he confidently took the left turn, continuing his scouting duty. But he didn't come far when an ominous click rang through the labyrinth.
"Ah!"
Cyclone was startled. A hellish rain of fire suddenly erupted, spreading unbearable heat through the dungeon. Silent Acacia who stood amidst the flames tried to escape but he only lasted for a second before his HP dropped to zero.
"What... was that?", asked Balm, a hint of fear in her voice. Liam sighed as he answered:
"He walked into a trap."
"Didn't he see it?"
"Obviously not. I guess we need at least someone with the [Pathfinder] skill level 2 before we can get through here safely."
"Does this mean we can't clear the dungeon?", asked Cyclone with a scrunched-up expression.
"Not quite. But it means Silent Acacia will have to die a few times."
No one gloated upon hearing Liam's words. They would rather clear the dungeon quickly instead of wasting time with some traps.
Their appearance at the dungeon had already spread in the global chat. Speculations were rife with many players guessing that they tried to break Galaxy's record.
Cyclone had an eye on the global chat noticing people joking about them, saying that even if they broke the record, it wouldn't prove anything. She contemplated announcing their attempt at hard difficulty but feared that other guilds would do the same.
Glancing at Liam ,however, she felt reassured her blind trust leading her to believe that they could overcome any difficulties.
The guild leader's eyes grew determined. An extremely conspicuous message suddenly appeared in the global chat.
"What normal mode? Isn't this too easy? If you want to prove yourself, clear hard mode!"
Cyclone's provocation immediately caused a storm to erupt. The casual players praised her fearlessness, eager to watch the excitement. Meanwhile many guilds came together for discussions. Soon, the players would once again converge towards Kelsnim's Invasion.
When Silent Acacia returned to his friends he felt embarrassed, ready to apologize, but he noticed that the atmosphere wasn't right. He saw Cyclone being reprimanded by Silver Blade. His precious girlfriend seemed to disagree with Silver Blade, showing an expression of excitement. The others were somewhere in between.
Bleary Mirage tried to keep a casual face, but a flash of excitement could be seen in his eyes as they spotted Silent Acacia. He spoke up, ending the discussion:
"Ok guys. What's done is done. Let's focus on the dungeon. Acacia, we'll rely on you."
"Sure. But..."
Watching everyone's expression Silent Acacia didn't question further. He had Quickstep silently explain to him what happened.
His eyes lit up. When Silver Blade didn't look, he silently gave Cyclone a thumbs up before being dragged away by Bleary Mirage.
Liam took Silent Acacia towards the fork, beginning to instil the art of pathfinding in him.
Although he could do it himself, Liam was prepared to spend some time teaching Silent Acacia. He never wanted his friends to become fully dependent on him.
Thus, Liam began to list various kinds of traps and hidden mechanisms before telling Silent Acacia to scout the path ahead.
Under Liam's guidance the hunter advanced tentatively which improved vigilance. With his [Pathfinding] auxiliary skill at level one the traps would be difficult to spot but not impossible.
And if he managed to level up the skill he would receive a kind of instinctive clue in his mind generated by his experience and C, making it easier to spot lower-level traps.
However, contrary to skills like [Skinning], levelling up [Pathfinding] wouldn't come without hardships.