Chloe descended the spiral staircase in front of Lilac, sticking close to the outer wall as they spiralled downwards so that she could maintain a good view on what was below her. Before long, the two came to a landing at the bottom of the stairs that veered off to the right through an Archway. On the other side of said archway was a smaller landing and a set of straight stairs that descended to the floor of a large antechamber. The antechamber was a work of art; the floor, ceiling and the pillars connecting the two were covered in faded mosaic tiles that still managed to hold onto enough colour to bring warmth and character to the room. In the roof at equidistant points crystals were embedded into the stonework and incorporated into the colourful mosaic with expert precision. These crystals combined gave off enough light to ensure that no spot within the chamber was shrouded in darkness. This light also shone strongly on the walls, the only part of the chamber not covered in mosaics. Instead, pictures and text filled the space. At the far end of the room was a large stone vault door flanked on either side by life-sized humanoid statues, each one holding a large hammer.

  "This place..." Lilac ran a hand gently over the mosaic tiles on one of the pillars "I've never seen anything like it in real life before..."

  "Yeah, same" Chloe walked up to one of the walls "There's a lot of detail here, too bad we can't read whatever this text is supposed to be"

  The Martialist continued to examine the images on the wall when she felt a sudden shaking. Turning to her side, she saw Lilkac halfway down the hall, stopped mid stride with eyes wide. Chloe followed her gaze to the stone statues. They had begun to move.

  Chloe swore loudly, as loud as her voice would let her, and rushed to Lilacs side to help her. The sentries approached slowly, unhurried; seemingly waiting for them to make the first move. Chloe summoned a longsword with [Spirit Weapon] and moved to attack the first sentry with a shallow strike so as to not damage the blade too much, like what had happened with the Ents. The Golem was undamaged by the strike. Chloe jumped back, avoiding a counter swing as she did. That was a first; the first time she'd ever dealt 0 damage. Lilac supported Chloe's retreat by firing off a [Fire Arrow]. The spell connected and did seem to do some damage. The Sentry responded by coating itself in a film of shimmering magic; likely a barrier of some kind.

  At that point, Ashley and Lily had made it down to them, Lily's spirit beast moving towards the Sentries who had begun to move forward more aggressively. The Canid pounced, slashing at the second Sentry with it's claws and doing nothing. The hound was bashed by one sentry into the other, who promptly finished it off. Lilac raised her hands to cast at the second sentry and it responded by deploying the same magical shield it's partner had. The Pyromancer used [Chain Cast] to send three near simultaneous [Fire Arrow] spells towards the Golem. The shield broke under the barrage, the Sentry taking a chunk of damage. however, it wasn't enough to take it out. Lily fired an arrow enhanced with [Power Shot] at the moving statue. Chloe could only watch as the arrow bounced off harmlessly, doing nothing to slow down the Sentry as it made it to Lilac and swung down. At the same time, Chloe's Sentry launched it's own offensive.

  Chloe activated [Skinshield] along with a quick burst of [Body Strengthening] to help endure the strike. The hammer of the Sentry glowed and it struck with magical power, bypassing the Martialist's DEF. Unfortunately for Chloe, her RES just wasn't that high and the strike hit hard. Her barrier shattered easily and she still took damage equal to about a quarter of her maximum health after that. As Chloe hadn't been exactly fresh when the fight started, she was now only barely still in double digits. The strike had even managed to knock her to the floor, forcing Chloe to roll out of the way of the follow up swing that would have likely managed to take her out had it connected. She stood slowly, let out a soft sigh as Ashley's healing magic washed over her and took away the residual pain.

  "they can switch between Physical and Magical attacks as will!" Lily called out

  "Lovely" Chloe sighed "Lilac, how many more of those fire barrages can you do?"

  "Realistically, One." Lilac blinked hard "Two if I forgo defensive spells, but that'd put me at 0"

  "Not ideal then" Chloe grit her teeth as she parried another swing as best she could "Last thing we want is for you to get Mana Exaustion"

  "Mana what?"

  "Ah right, you weren't there" Chloe chuckled "When fighting the Ents I went down to 1 MP, practically passed out"

  "It sucks," Lily called out "I was having a migraine at 4"

  "... I can just not use Chain Cast, Fire Arrow on it's own is free for me. Or Two MP for Flaming Cannon" Lilac suggested as she moved backwards "But I'd probably need to stay in the backline"

  "And that leaves us in a war of attrition with these two and limited resources" Chloe grunted as she dodged another strike "... fuck... getting tired"

  A second strike hit Chloe hard. Ashley's magic healed her and Chloe managed to parry a third blow at the last second, but her weapon was shot and she was forced to summon another. The healing was doing wonders for her physical injuries, but her mind was starting to slip. It was late and Chloe could feel the physical toll of each dodge on her stamina. "... Fall back"

  "What?" Lilac seemed ready to start attacking

  "Just go. I can't hold off both of them right now. And we don't even know what their limits are." Chloe parried another blow as she took a step back "And we still need to get back to the cave."

  The trio behind Chloe didn't need more convincing, moving back rapidly as the Martialist held the line. Every time she parried a strike, she summoned a new weapon, taking full advantage of the free summons as she moved back. She stumbled right at the last second, forcing her to take a magical hammer strike. Thankfully, this one was weaker than the first and the barrier managed to absorb all the damage, though it did still break. Chloe recast [Skinshield] as she regained her footing so that she'd have some extra protection. As she made it to the stairs, she dodged one last strike and used the momentum of the movement to push herself up the stairs and rapidly away from the Sentries.

  When Chloe made it to the top of the Spiral and stepped back out into the main hall of the Chapel, she turned and listened. She could not hear any sounds that would suggest that the Stone Sentries had followed her, instead all she could hear was the sound of her rapidly beating heart. Chloe let out the breath that she had been holing in. "They're staying down there, it seems"

  "well, they are sentries. It'd be bad if they were easily drawn away from their post" Ashley placed a steading hand on Chloe's shoulder "you okay?"

  "uh, yeah" Chloe chuckled "Just bloody exhausted. It's been a long day"

  "I still think we could have won" Lilac smiled "But if you want to leave"

  Chloe shook her head "We probably could of. But I just don't think it's worth it. What if behind those Sentries was a Mini-Dungeon or something? We'd be risking our resources and lives for nothing, as we wouldn't be in a position to challenge something like that at that point."

  "... fair enough, I suppose" Lilac sighed "We'll come back later, maybe"

  "If we can, maybe" Chloe smiled "It's late, and we probably only have just enough light left to get us back to the forest so lets-"

  "... head... back?"

  The girls stared at the notifications for a seconds and then all glanced at stairs down to the basement. Lily began walking rapidly towards the front door. Chloe watched as the girl reached the stone gates and froze in place, terror plain to see on her features. Chloe walked over to stand next to her and looked outside herself. There, amongst the houses of the flooded village, humanoid shadows shambled about, just looking at them made Chloe feel uneasy and caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up. On instinct, she pressed the System for details and what she saw didn't make her feel at all better.

  Chloe blinked rapidly, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. This felt wrong to even look at. She turned to Lily "Help me close the door!"

  It was Lily's turn to blink now, Chloe's words knocking her out of her stupor "Wha-"

  "Do it now!" Chloe had already begun closing one of the doors

  The air suddenly began to grow cold, dark clouds forming above the village. Lily rushed quickly into action at the sight and the two of them managed to get the doors closed with time to spare. Chloe, ever curious, gazed out of the Chapel windows between the planks. A bolt of red lightning emerged from the clouds and struck the village directly. As it did, any remaining warmth vanished instantly and Chloe felt her eyes being to sting and water as if someone had started to cut onions. Next to her, Chloe's System window flickered in time with the strikes.

  She pulled herself away from the window and towards the rest of her group "We're staying here tonight"

  The other three turned to her in shock "Why?" Ashley's voice was uncharacteristically shaky

  "Because we don't want to go outside while whatever that is is going on" Chloe shuddered as another crack of thunder echoed from outside. "Hopefully, it will be over by tomorrow morning. Ash, are you okay?"

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "Uh... yeah. Just... remembering what happened at the farm"

  Chloe wrapped her arms around the trembling form of her girlfriend and hugged her tight

  Tyl watched the rain of lightning strike the ground with fury through her scrying magic and couldn't help but wince at the sight. Her meddling so far had been essentially within System Limits, so she be safe. But still. That the System could even call down a Heavenly Punishment was very much unexpected. The way she gad force-loaded region data into the System for the tutorial was likely the reason the echoes were there and strong enough to manifest. Tyl could only hope that the Judgement wouldn't also strike the original, or that could cause her some Karmic Issues.

  "what's that?" The human Tyl had performed the Fleshsculpter ritual on was suddenly stood by her side.

  "Uh, Heavenly Punishment. It shouldn't have any impact on our plans." The Indigo Queen looked over at the woman. She'd known about the Physical changes; paler skin, leaner body, the golden eyes. She'd also expected the change in her mana, having becoming a thick layer of very pure Death Mana that permeated her entire being. What was odd was the change in demeanour. Sure, the pain would probably have had some effect, but the way she stood spoke somehow of a deep change. The hyper, slightly scatter-brained girl from before had been replaced with a calm face that was full of focus. "You okay?"

  The Sculpter raised an eyebrow in surprise and gave Tyl a confused stare "What?"

  "You seem different." Tyl swallowed the sudden lump that formed in her throat "From before, that is"

  "Oh? You actually care enough to notice?" The woman grabbed Tyl's chin and angled it upward "You didn't seem all that found of me before." She brushed a lock of Tyl's hair from her face with a smile "Do you like the new me?"

  The Indigo Queen stammered for a few seconds before pushing the Sculpter's hand away "I just want to make sure my business partner didn't go insane."

  "Hm, well" The Woman stepped back with a smile "I did learn some things during the Ritual. Not to worry though; it shouldn't have any impact on our plans. Now then, I'm going to go get used to this new power of mine."

  Tyl couldn't help but feel a bit guilty as her partner left the room. After all, she'd roped her into all this; turned her into a super-undead and apparently changed her personality. And Tyl, monster that she was, couldn't even remember her name.

  Ashley awoke slowly, morning light filtering through one of the high windows at just the right angle to land directly on her face. Her eyes opened and Ash saw that she was still in Chloe's arms, having fallen asleep last night in her girlfriend's loving arms. In terms of the relationship, Ashley didn't much care at the moment that this had happened so fast, that she'd practically jumped feet first into the deep end with this relationship. At this moment, despite the System made hellscape around her, she was happier than she'd been in months. Maybe even years, but that was harder to tell, with the shell of horrid experiences that defined much of her recent life. The Healer gently nuzzled herself into the Martialist, enjoying those first few moments of the day without a care and wishing silently to herself that these days will continue forever. The morning did not last as long as she wanted in the end, but that was hardly surprising. And she was definitely still very happy with what she got.

  Breakfast was a simple affair, just some left over wolf meat. They had managed to grab a bit of a surplus thanks to the ones that had attacked Lilac after all, so they were just making sure it didn't go to waste. The plan for the day was simple; go check out the Brass thing they'd seen, then some hunting to stock up as they were burning through food quickly, then come back here. The Sentries hadn't come upstairs during the night so it deem seem likely that they were bound to the area they were defending. It made sense and meant that the ground floor was basically free for them to use. No one really complained about the idea of moving here in the end, it was nicer than a literal cave after all.

  The group moved slowly down the sloped path towards the village proper, the air getting slightly colder as they did so. The 'Heavenly Judgement' the System had called down had lived up to it's name; almost everything was charred rubble. What's more, the feeling that the village had had before, the sad, yearning nostalgia, was entirely gone. In it's place was something unsettling, and aura that made that eyes sting. Ashley felt at times as though she was staring at a scabbed wound or a scar as she looked around the ruins. Suddenly, something caught her eye, glinting as it was in the morning sun from under some slabs of stone. Pulling it out, she held in her hand what looked like a Sapphire at first glance. Where her fingers touched the gem, her flesh was numb. When her eyes beheld it, they felt as though they had turned to jelly. And to top it off, it also made Ashley's throat feel dry and scratchy

  Ashley turned the gemstone over in her hand, marvelling at it's beauty as she ignored the physical irritation it caused her. Despite everything, she felt a strange connection to it, as if something inside her was calling out for it. The Healer shook her head and quickly stashed the gemstone into her inventory before rushing to catch up with the others. She'd have time to worry about the crystal later.

  The walk across the marsh was relatively uneventful and they made it to the cliff face in only an hour or two. There, embedded in the cliffface was a large brass archway that would be capable of granting passage to a creature three times Ashley's size. the brass frame was inscribed across practically every visible surface with esoteric symbols and embedded with gemstones. On the other side of the arch was a tunnel with paved floors and stretching through the centre of the Archway was a barrier to prevent access to the tunnel.

  "So...." Chloe began "The tunnel look familiar Lilac?"

  The Pyromancer nodded "Same paving as in the flooded tunnel, so I imagine it leads to the Cathedral as well"

  "Lovely." The Martialist tapped a finger on the barrier "So, just gotta figure out how to get past this"

  "The markings and gems must have something o do with it" Lily prodded at one of the crystals

  "So... would you guys say that this is probably made by the same people who made the Cathedral?" Lilac got a little closer to the barrier

  Ashley thought for a second, then nodded "I'd imagine so. Why'd you ask?"

  Lilac ran a hand along the amulet that hung around her neck and took a breath. Then she placed her hand on the barrier. Or tried to at least. Instead, her hand went through, causing Lilac to stumble forward due to loosing her footing. She took a few extra steps forward to right herself and managed not to end up sprawled out on the floor on the other side of the archway

  "I mean..." Chloe let out a small giggle and a sigh "That works for one of us I guess?"

  "I can have a look on this side" Lilac began walking forward slightly "See if there's a way to shut it down?"

  Chloe considered it, but shook her head "No, I don't really want to leave you alone on the path that leads to the place we thing the Final Boss is" she sighed "Just... come back for now. We can figure something out later."

  "Alright" Lilac began to walk back, but stopped "Huh... interesting"

  "what is it, Sis?"

  "Some kind of indent on the frame of the Archway. Looks magic-y"

  Ashley moved up towards the barrier and tried to see it "It's tucked away so it's not visible from here, must be important. Mind taking a picture?"

  "Phone's dead. Forgot to bring battery banks" Lilac giggled "I want to try something though" The pyromancer stuck her hand though the barrier "Hold on for a sec."

  Ashley did as she was asked and Lilac proceeded to pull her. For a second, Ashley was worried that she'd hit her face against the barrier, or that her hand would get crushed. Instead, she passed through with no difficulties, only stumbling a bit on the other side as the expected barrier did not block her movement.

  "Alright, nice." Lilac grinned manically "I can pull people through so long as we're touching. We have a plan!"

  Ashley just walked over to the indent. A flat stone surface was embedded into the metal, it was engraved with various markings and featured a red gemstone at it's centre. She gently ran her fingers over the gemstone. Then she quickly pulled them back as she felt the gem starting to drain her Mana.

  "You okay?" lilac tilted her head in worry

  "Yeah, I'm fine. Just was a bit surprised." Ashley sighed softly "It tried to drain my Mana, but I managed to pull away before it could"

  "Not like you'd notice anything" Lilac giggled "Not with your massive MP pool"

  Ashley gave Lilac a light smack, causing her to giggle some more. Outside the tunnel, Chloe and Lily could also be heard giggling.

  "Right then." Ashley extended her hand "Lets get back to the other two"

  Lilac nodded and took the hand before leading them both out of the tunnel.

  "Discover anything?" Chloe smiled

  "The way they power it, I think. Not entirely sure" Ashley smiled "Lets deal with that later. Food?"

  "I want more Inferno Bear!" Lilac smiled "I miss it"

  "We'll see if we can find a few then." Chloe smiled" We're eating a lot, so we'll need a big one"

  Lily shrugged "We've been mobile and active almost constantly. Add that to whatever the System does to supercharge out bodies self-repair functions and frankly I'd be surprised if we haven't lost weight since we came in here. By the way, you got any water?"

  Chloe shook her head "None, I'm afraid. Couldn't find any water sources to distil like I was doing before, so I've barely got enough left for myself"

  Lilac tossed her sister a bottle of water "Here. the System Store sells a 4 Pack for 25 Tokens."

  Lily caught it "Thanks. Though I could have sworn this was supposed to be survival based"

  Ashley giggled "We did almost get mauled by a bear day one. And we did also only get store access after we levelled up"

  "It's a safety net" Chloe took a quick swig of her own water "Tokens are valuable. we've only gotten a handful so far and if we spend them on water or meat then we're not spending them on skills upgrades or whatever else. A Foundation skill costs 100 Tokens. A Basic Skill 200. Upgrading a Foundation Skill to a stronger Basic one is 100 Tokens. Lilac's Skill wants you to gain levels or spend tokens to improve it. If we have to spend them to survive, we can. But it affects our future growth"

  "Says the one who spun the Gacha for 50 Tokens" Ashley gave Chloe a gentle poke

  "Yeah, and I got Culinarian. If not for that pull, we probably wouldn't be able to stomach this monster meat at all."

  Ashley hugged Chloe from behind "My stay at home wife~"

  "Keep this up and I'll under season your piece of the meat"

  The girls all laughed as they continued their trek back to the forest. AS they walked, and the conversation naturally dimmed, Chloe took up the front of the group. Just before the quartet reached the treeline, the foliage shook and something began to emerge. A large and familiar shape broke it's cover and dashed madly towards the group

  The four girls reacted quickly, Chloe rushing forward to meat the beast partway and grab it's attention. AS she parried the first strike, a [Fire Arrow] from Lilac struck at the same time as a [Water Shot] from Ashley. The bear staggered back and an arrow embedded itself into the beast's skull. Then, with a solid slash from her sword, Chloe finished it off.

  The quartet hadn't even had enough time to build up any adrenaline, the fight was over just as suddenly as it had begun. The did, however, feel a sense of pride at how well the fight had gone. That was the same kind of beast that had almost killed them not even a full two days ago, and now they'd beaten it back without too much issue. After a few seconds, Chloe glanced back over to the forest.

  "So," She began "what made the bear leave the forest, it's territory, to charge at us?"