Six years have passed since we last saw Marcel and he’s nearly 26 years old, although he still looks the same as he did almost ten years ago when he first arrived. Can you believe it? Ten years passed just like that. At this point, his perception of time is becoming as wacky as everyone else’s. He almost didn’t notice that ten Nephavion years is almost upon him since he first arrived.

Well, today isn’t about how many changes he’s undergone in the past 6 years but about a very normal adventure. That will come at another time. Priorities, right?

Sizburn’s telecircle square, a place where adventurers roam. There, clients can find adventurer’s willing to undertake specific missions if they aren’t at the adventurer inns where most live. Sometimes, adventurers also meet each other and discuss their next adventures amongst themselves.

Although technically, Sizburn's telecircle station is used as a transit point between various dimensions, the adventurers have made it a lively place with their various nonsensical arguments, gossips, occasional quarrels and couple drama; the most popular being arguments between partners who cheated with strangers, etc.

Marcel and his friends were no different.

“So, which dungeon should we conquer this time? It must be an A-class. Weaklings are unpleasant opponents.” Evan voiced his opinion.

“That’s because you have us A-class to watch your back. Without us, you’d be just another weakling, terribly weak assassin.” The terrible mouth-cannon, Silva, remarked to his earlier comment.

“Hmph! Don’t look down on us ‘weak’ B and C-class adventurers just because you’re strong. You, Shalia and Allan are freaks.” Valeria replied to Silva’s comment. She scowled, frustrated because, although she’d worked hard over the past six years, she’d only delivered as she’d expected with constant training and gradually improving her skills.

She became a B-class 2 years ago and still is like many of the others. Maybe a demigoddess, a genius witch who’s also the prophet of an unknown entity and a bodacious Sunfire elf with a unique connection to the spirits and the World Tree, sort of, are just different from regular growing ‘divine beasts’ and upcoming ‘beast spirits’.

“Okay, let’s get back to talking about the A-class dungeon before ‘Miss Salty’ poisons us all. What about the dungeon we planned to visit the last time but didn’t because a certain freaky boy got kidnapped; you know, that hundred floors dungeon with the flames and darkness?” Daniel, or Sword Thunderbeast, asked. His choice of words sucked, however. Across the sentences he spoke, he unexpectedly packed something for almost everyone.

Shalia seized up when she heard ‘poison’, remembering all the times when poison administered by herself and others almost killed her friends. Evan and Nigel were gotten by ‘flames’ in addition to the earlier ‘poison’. It brought up some very traumatic memories of an event which almost killed one of the brothers, and Marcel was gotten by ‘freaky boy’ and ‘kidnapped’. Just like that, half of the group was already down.

“Please stop hurting each other and chose already!” Kensuke pleaded in his signature deep voice. There was no use in bringing down morale before they entered a dungeon. It inhibits performance. Also, he was secretly hoping that everyone chose the darkness and flames dungeon as well. Darkness is his natural-born and most used element. Honing those abilities is always a plus for him.

* * *

Wallowing in self-pity, past traumas and slight hatred that nothing seemed to go the way they wanted, the four, along with the others, walked towards the telecircle heading for the Dimension of Dungeons.

Right after jumping onto the telecircle, about to activate it, a wild adventurer appeared out of nowhere. It was a man.

“Um, I heard you were visiting an A-class fire and darkness dungeon. Is that true? Could I perhaps tag along?!” He asked in an enthusiastic but bashful manner, trying to hold back his eagerness and excitement.

He was young in appearance, like Evan in more ways than one. He had an almost identical build to the assassin brother and they both wore black. He had dark hair and a friendly face, although it was half-covered by a scarf, very unusual as it was in the middle of summer.

In terms of aura, it was hard to distinguish which race he came from. If Silva was looking at him from afar, she would have sworn that he was of the demon race, but when he came closer, she was confused. He seemed more like a child of a demon but not fully one. It was like her excellent sight was scrambled into oblivion when looking at him. Weird!

He seemed harmless though, so they let him tag along. He was a B-class adventurer from reading his aura and magic and of the assassin class. He could watch their backs in a battle. He would be an excellent temporary addition to the team.

“The name’s Fabier! Nice to meet you!” He said enthusiastically.

And with that... Fabier, the B-class assassin of an adventurer, joined them on their expedition to clear an A-ranked hundred floors dungeon like the dungeon terrorists that they are.

* * *

Entering the Dimension of Dungeons, they headed for the purpose of their visit: an uncleared fire and darkness dungeon of the A-class. Checking the records of cleared dungeons accessible to adventurers via the Informers, courtesy of the Supreme Administrator’s influence over the Luck System, they learned a lot about their target dungeon.

Dungeon category-wise, it was a hundred floors dungeon; a dungeon comprising of hundred floors or stages, divided in a tower-like manner. With a diameter around three kilometers in size for each floor and how it pushed one towards the top when traversing it, it was a general assumption of most that its true form is that of a tower despite the unique, varying landscapes inside.

Like mentioned before, this was a fire and darkness-type dungeon with various assortments of dungeon beasts under the S-class inside, although the inside... was nothing unlike what its main elements suggested. The entrance to this particular dungeon was a rocky cavern while beyond it… nothing too different.

The rules of hundred floors dungeons are very simple. Enter the dungeon, fight the dungeon beasts and try to clear it by reaching floor 100 at the uppermost top. By clearing it, the Luck System rewards the ‘brave’ adventurers with special prizes like it does with regular landscape dungeons. It isn’t that special, but should I mention that these types of dungeons are the ones with the highest death tolls? Probably not. There’s just something about aiming towards the sky that people instinctually desire. Whoever designed this… is some kind of genius!

Ahem! Back to the adventurers.

Marcel, Allan, and the others, after leaving the cavern, started exploring the dungeon like usual, but unlike how it normally was, they had to deal with some small talk from the newcomer.

“So, how long have you guys known each other for?” Fabier asked as they entered the rocky desert that is the first floor.

When asked the question, they all exchanged glances with each other and let the talkative, but now, ‘very trained’ assassin who didn’t want a beating, talk.

“Not for very long! A few years compared to…” And so, Evan spun a nice answer with the bare minimum as trained to by his brothers and the others. All that knocking on the head and getting sat on by Valeria and Silva during that ‘traumatizing’ time four years ago was worth it in the end. They finally managed to put a secret bone or two into the walking death wish of a thunder beast. How they wished they could cure his penchant for being a badmouthed thunder and lightning.

“So, are you guys like a permanent party or like very good friends?” The stranger asked.

Soon, Fabier inquired about various other information about them which quickly turned into light conversation. They were all on guard at first, because who knows what he might be planning, but quickly, they all warmed up to him, although, they still replied with the bare minimum and even half-lies. Marcel felt so guilty, but…

Fabier was a nice guy whose aura said that he could do no harm to them. He was as ordinary as any regular demon-ish young man could be.

Amidst conversation on floor 1, their first guest arrived. They engaged a rampaging beast for their first battle.

It was a chimera-type dungeon beast with the body of a lion, a twisted humanoid face with a creepy smile permanently affixed on its visage, and a giant scorpion tail. They just entered and they were already meeting an A-class beast with partial sentience and tremendous darkness power. Amidst the winds that blew in this dry desert that seemed to extend farther than it really did, it stood, proud and ready to feast on the visitors.

Kensuke asked the others to give him some leeway and attacked first after drawing out a giant obsidian blade wrapped in several layers of brisk darkness aura and curses of ‘Severance’, creating a sharp blade. He easily dealt with the creature despite being two ranks lower than it.

How? Well, his physical strength was so enhanced from his transformation six years ago and his training over the past few years that he could easily pierce the tough skin of a B-class monster without the aid of his aura. Add that power with his threatening dark aura, calmer and sharper than ever and a few layers of ‘Severance’ curses, and tough hides get turned into butter.

The newcomer, looking at this profound display of strength that defied his prior understanding of the party members’ individual strength, bore a faint expression of shock from watching the Oni solo an enemy with far greater strength beyond his perceived one with ease. He could finally understand why this party of eight was known as the ‘Dungeon Terrorists’ and ‘the party with an unbroken success streak’ in the outside world, despite having not existed until just a few years prior.

“Hey, leave some for us too, will you?!” Valeria yelled at Kensuke who put his giant sword back inside where it came from: his blood. How? It’s the ability to summon personalized weapons for Kensuke out of his blood called [Blood Weapon Series], an ability a vampire is more likely to have, but when has anything related to Marcel followed the normal train of logic? More on that sometime later.

“Hmm!” Kensuke nodded before returning to his position, standing behind Allan.

After Kensuke put his giant sword away, Marcel stored the chimera beast’s carcass away in his spatial storage and they move on, like this was nothing at all, further increasing the shock Fabier felt.

‘These guys are way too abnormal!’ He thought.

After the first battle came several more. First, a C-class beast soloed by Evan, then a B-class swiftly dealt with by Daniel, an A-class exploded from inside out by Allan, then a B-rank fire beast chilled to oblivion by Sigurd and Marcel, more tiny threats for Kensuke to handle, same as the Sunfire elf who swiftly dealt with them with the aid of her three humanoid spirits of fire, earth, and wind.

There were the same invisible spirits that Marcel had been seeing around her since they met. Over the past six years, they had developed more humanoid features that only Marcel with ‘Spirit Eyes’ could see. They had also grown much larger, almost close to a meter and quarter. The spirits around the elven kings are freakishly tall, about 3 meters in height, so they aren’t anywhere near their level yet, especially power-wise.

Everyone knew their limits and used that knowledge to their advantage, keeping themselves in tip-top shape as they traversed across the first ten floors without any problems. At the end of the day, Fabier hadn’t fought a single battle to show his skills but had been constantly and annoyingly asking questions,

“Are you guys really B-class adventurers?” He asked, using the knowledge they’d given him before the start of today’s battles.

“I get why people who’ve adventured with you in the past call you ‘Battle Freaks’. This is way too abnormal.”

Of course, it is. You’re dealing with people from backgrounds with abnormally enhanced bloodlines with special abilities beyond normal standards with only a single C-class among them who is, honestly, probably a future freak of a monster with the skin of a hero. None of them are anywhere near normal.

That night, Fabier could only sleep with feelings of inadequacy blooming inside his heart. Despite having lived for thousands of years, he wasn’t anything impressive compared to the freaks he was currently with, despite how strong he was. He had the average slow and steady growth of a regular demon, with a D-class ranking at birth. It took him almost four millennia to get to B-class. These people haven’t even reached their first thousand years and they’ve already walked all over his achievements. How unfair!

* * *

It has been four days, and so far, everything has been going well, except, Fabier hasn’t fought one bit since he entered the dungeon with the dungeon terrorists.

“Seriously, what are these freaks made of?” This is a question he’s asked himself many times across the past few days. His confidence in his strength was tanking with each day he spent with the freaks. It’s already the fourth night since they entered the hundred floors dungeon.

As usual, Marcel cooked dinner and they all ate like the foodies they’d become thanks to the little chef, except Fabier, of course.

That night, after they all went to bed, Allan had a dream.

In the dream, he saw three things: a poison of some sort, blood stains, and the silhouette of a dagger familiar to him that, oddly enough, he couldn’t quite remember where he saw it. It was a regular dagger with an obsidian handle. Suddenly dreaming about poison and strangely, a dagger somehow familiar to him; what could that dream possibly mean?

Anyway, after he opened his eyes, thoughts about the strange dream he had slowly disappeared as his morning began… Unfortunately for Allan, this wasn’t going to be the last time he thought about that dream.

That morning, on the fifth day of their journey inside the hundred floors dungeon of fire and darkness, disaster struck…

Snakes! An ungodly amount of dungeon beasts in the form of snakes. They were everywhere on all sides, surrounding where they took camp for the night. Thousands of meter-long snakes slithering all around them, and… the barrier that Marcel used to protect them for the night had been broken.

Readying for their equipment as they usually do, they realized something grave.

“No! My magic power… won’t move!” Allan showed an expression of fright and disbelief of his current situation, flabbergasted at the fact that he can’t use magic. He’d wanted to retrieve his magic staff with spatial magic, but he can’t?

Actually, it wasn’t just that. He couldn’t access his Informer to retrieve his replacement staff either. Just what is going on?

Hearing Allan’s sudden words filled them with dread. Please let it not be what they’re imagining! The snakes are close. It won’t be long before they get to them.

Silva reached for her staff via her Informer and Valeria, her daggers, as did Kenny, Nigel, and Daniel, for their respective weapons. Evan reached for his shadow for his blades to no avail.

Oh no…

And worst of all, just when they all took fighting stances, ready to fight with the bare hands if need be, they suddenly felt a crippling weakness that crept across their bodies.

From deep within their bodies, their very life essence or vitality was being restrained by something foreign currently present inside their bodies.

No…

As the foreign force inside their bodies restrained their energies, their body rapidly lost strength and they fell to the ground.

At that moment, a flood of information rushed Allan’s head as if struck by a bolt of lightning.

Poison… poison… death… plans… snakes… fire, darkness… paralyze… premonition… death… betrayal… poison… Fabier……

Allan instantly knew what was going on. His power of prophecy had shown him what happened to them. The poison, blood, and dagger, he saw in his dream last night was a premonition to help warn him of that backstabbing guy, but he didn’t take it seriously.

“That sneaky bastard! Fabier!” He spoke.

“Yeah… where is Fabier anyway?” The elf asked as she grumbled slightly on the ground from the foreign force inside her crippling her entire body. She’d look around since she wake up after her lovely Marcel, but strangely, she hasn’t seen him the entire time and he has yet to return.

“That guy poisoned us and left us for dead. That fucking betrayer!!!” Allan shouted before, “Aah…” He groaned.

“Don’t yell like that! The thing inside us takes it as a sign of resistance and strangles your energy even tighter.” Silva also looked like she had some difficulty amassing the energy to speak as Shalia had. She was barely standing before and quickly fell to the ground with Valeria. Allan was starting to show the same symptoms as the rest of them.

“He poisoned Marcel’s food last night after he finished cooking it. That sneaky bastard snuck a timed energy restraining paralytic inside the food, and we ate it like fools. That guy used our weakness against us...” Allan said before groaning once again as the force within sensed his resistance and strangled his energies much harder.

Ah, so that’s why he never ate last night. He’d poisoned the food.

And the poison… very smart. An energy restraining paralytic which worked to varying degrees based on what energies were most dominant inside one’s body. Choosing such a weapon, looks like Fabier studied them well.

Knowing that they were all proficient in magic, in some form or another, Fabier didn’t go with his original poison for the job, a fire-darkness composite poison that would eat at the varying degrees of fire or darkness energies inside their bodies. He changed it after noticing that amongst the group, only two people seem to use darkness and fire, with the former being Kensuke and Evan and the latter, Marcel and Allan. That wasn’t going to be enough to fulfill his goal, hence the more effective choice of poison.

“Guys... I think we’ve been tricked!” Allan said with a grave expression as he stared at the severity of their situation. It was also the last thing he said before the poison grabbed firmly unto his energies, incapacitating him permanently to the point where he could speak no more. He fell to the ground like all the others. He was out of the game and so were the others. There was no hope-

Oh, wait… Marcel’s fine? How?!

Ha, this is why I didn’t skip the first debacle with the elves. Again, all the torture at the hands of the elven Sources wasn’t for nothing. I seem to have forgotten to check the guy with a resistance to a variety of natures, including poisons whose body seems to easily reject anything it doesn’t want. Oops, my mistake!

Wait, oh no! Marcel remains the only one standing. How will he deal with this increasingly grave situation?!

I just hope nobody dies. Spoiler alert, I wouldn’t count on that…