Liam g Major Onrabell, waiting until the fairy left and stopped before a gate leading further into the dungeon.

  “That map shows powerful artifacts which are held by the nephilim, most of them in the hands of the broken cil.”

  “Ahh, so those demons and ghosts want to steal them?”

  “Well, in their minds those artifacts should belong to hell in the first pce. Most of them have some e to one or more devils.

  The nephilim hold these artifacts sihe time they were still close with the inhabitants of hell. But now they are of limited use.”

  “Got it. So that’s the purpose of this invasion?”

  “Correct.”

  ***

  A thief wearing sharp cws on his hand appeared from stealth. He sshed at a red-skinned demon, causing deep wounds in its skin.

  The demo out an unwilling roar before falling lifelessly to the ground. The moment a grey ghost left its body, esg through the wall.

  Star Gazer lowered his staff, wearing a satisfied expression on his face.

  “Severed Fang, loot quickly. We finally got six idols.”

  “Yes, boss!”, replied the thief while reag out with his hand.

  Star Gazer turned his eyes to his trusty assistant:

  “Pen, is the map you drew plete?”

  “I have drawn multiple youts acc to the ges boss. Although we haven’t been to the red room yet, it only be in one of two possible locations.”

  “Good job.”

  “All thanks to the boss. Without your information we wouldn’t have known that this byrinth ges.”

  Star Gazer waved his hand, direg his eyes back to the thief, who held a blue idol with the number six in its hand.

  “We have everything we need. Let’s go, we leave the byrinth soon. This time we should be far ahead of all others!”

  ***

  At the same time elsewhere, Callida and four of her colleges turned a er, entering the yellow room. The rest of the party had already been waiting there.

  Whehquake spotted his wife, he immediately asked impatiently:

  “Callida, are we done here? I’m sick of these puzzles. No idea why the devs like to include such things.”

  Most of the party members echoed the leader’s words, causing Callida to let out an exasperated sigh.

  “Yes, good job everyone. F two teams should’ve saved us a lot of time. Now with six idols the order is already clear. Let’s start with this yellow button and hurry to solve the byrinth.”

  “Good. Let’s go.”, Earthquake said with a relieved expression.

  ***

  Phoenix Feather was rather anxious. She and her friends had just killed the third demon, receiving a green idol with the number 2.

  The guild leader knew in her heart that their progress was too slow. However, looking at her little sister joyfully w with the uild members to solve the puzzle, Phoenix Feather couldn’t help but show a warm smile.

  “Ah, now it makes sense!”, excimed Cherry Blossom suddenly.

  “Yes, sihe green circle is wo, it makes sehat earlier the yellow and green circles lit up together!”

  “Boss, we got it!”

  Aed mage specializing in dark magic, called Shadow of Roses, turo Phoenix Feather for firmation.

  The tter nodded slowly remembering the se when that little fairy Onrabell scouted the byrinth earlier.

  Phoenix Feather was happy with this small step forward, urging her party to tinue. She didn’t know yet that her guild was the only one among the top guilds who was apanied by the major after their healer impulsively saved Onrabell earlier.

  ***

  Within the same dungeon a small army of undead was advang like an unstoppable force. They were clearing a graveyard-like area, killing soldiers belonging to Duabalis Army, pushing them back.

  In the ter stood a stern-faced man with red hair and pale skin. All movements seemed to be under his trol, running like a well-oiled mae.

  A mage wearing a dark robe and a sinister grin stood o the man, assisting the army against more stubborn enemies. A few other pyers were mixed in the crowd, cooperating with the undead.

  “Boss, this time we from the chaos fa will definitely be victorious!”

  “I hope so. I spent quite some moo gather informatiht now, we are rather slow but once we reach that byrinth we will speed up!”

  “Of course. It is time that people learn to fear your name, Wave of Bones, once again. Graveyard of Heroes will rise today!”

  “Yes. uild will stand at the top, as it always does!”

  Graveyard of Heroes was a well-known guild which rose only a few years ago. Its name had a double meaning.

  On one hand Wave of Bones liked to employ veteran pyers who for some reason couldn’t unfold their potential in their careers. They were given a sed life by the well-known neancer, sileng all their doubters.

  Oher hand, Graveyard of Heroes had driven many outstanding pros into despair with their resiliend skill.

  For Wave of Bohis guild was his baby, which he painstakingly raised. And just as it had grown up, Fate of aboul appeared the perfect opportunity for them to unleash their full potential.

  ***

  Not knowing how others were doing, Liam and his friends gathered in front of a gate leading further into the dungeon. Onrabell waited for their ok before pushing it open.

  Immediately an eerie cold washed over the party. The sight before them was a rge area of bck soil. Broken ons stu the ground, f orderly lines. A few decorative bones and red cloth hung from the ons, swaying in the subtle wind.

  This was the graveyard area Wave of Bones was in right now. However, in the version experienced by pyers of the order fa no soldiers could be seen. Only some lonely undead roamed the area.

  Looking up from the floor one could see a tall hell portal in the distance, locked by thick red s. From time to time a ghostly figure rose from one of the graves, floating towards the portal and disappearing.

  Onrabell sed the surroundings with an anxious face.

  “Adventurers, this should be the breeding grounds for vicious ghosts. I don’t know what those demons are pnning, but we ’t let them succeed! We o se the lost souls here.

  Please, hand the blessed bracelet to me and I will take care of this pce.”

  Silver Bde was surprised that the major offered to do all the work here. But she didn’t pin, handing over the bracelet.

  Oook it and approached the closest grave. With a wave of her hand a small sphere of holy light separated from the bracelet and fell on the grave.

  For now, nothing seemed to happen, but Onrabell tinued with the grave uurbed.

  A few of the wandering skeletons on the floor tried to catch the fairy but soon had to give up.

  “Is that it? Do we just wait here?”, asked the fused Silver Bde.

  But with a go the side, she noticed Liam shaking his head.

  “No. While the major is doing her job, we o prepare for the uping boss.”

  “Would’ve been too easy…”, joked Quickstep.

  “What do we o do, expert?”, Cye asked directly.

  “Why don’t you take a step forward?”

  Cye skeptically looked at Liam’s grin, but her curiosity got the better of her. As soon as she took a step forward, the wi a shiver down her bones.

  [-2!]

  [-2!]

  [-2!]

  “Hey what’s this?!”

  Cye was startled, quickly retreating to safety. But even Liam looked ahead with furrowed brows. pared to what he remembered, the damage had directly doubled. It was now at the level of the dungeon at hard difficulty.

  However, at this point he was already used to these slight ges in the game. He calmly expio his friends:

  “The wind in this area deals sistent damage. Obviously, it will be difficult to fight a boss like this. Thus, we o get rid of the wind first.”

  “How?”

  “Do you see the two crypts at the edges of the graveyard? The wind inates from there. We o kill the two guardians and theroy the crypts.”

  With Liam pointing it out the others easily spotted the rather inspicuous crypts. They were small bck buildings protected by a tall skeleton in heavy armor.

  Being informed by Liam that the skeletons were only lord tier ehe party agreed on a strategy. They directly split up, each team of five responsible for one side.

  Silver Bde, Bloody Edge, Quickstep, Fortune, and Balm formed oeam, heading for the crypta to the left. After a few steps they already felt the horror of the wind, their HP being gradually chipped away.

  Their team didn’t dare to be presumptuous, avoiding the smaller skeletons on the way as much as possible. However, they didn’t reach the crypta without a fight. The skeletons posed no daheir only purpose being to dey the time.

  Thus, Silver Bde had already lost about 200HP wheeam finally faced the enemy.