"That one!"

Ariel pointed at the middle door while Eric covered her eyes with his hands.

Darell approached the door and after reading the writing on it, turned to the group and said, "It's room 05."

Emma shrugged and said, "Let's go with room 05 then."

After fighting the beasts on room 04, the group saw three doors, each leading to different rooms with different beasts. They were stuck and had to make a choice. So, they decided to have Eric cover Ariel's eyes while she points at any door. It was a fun little activity that made them feel better after spending hours in the dimly lit dungeon. When they entered room 05, an unbearable stench of blood entered their nose, almost making them puke. However, they controlled themselves and covered their noses quickly.

Ariel covered her mouth as well and said, "What the fuck is that? That smells so disgusting!"

Eric looked around and said, "This isn't the smell of beasts. This is the smell of humans."

Darell, who also had his nose covered, said, "You are right. This is the smell of human blood."

Eric sighed and said, "Let's hope there isn't anything dead here."

Unfortunately, he was wrong.

A stream of blood was flowing along a channel carved into the floor. There were two corpses, each lying in a corner of the room. One of the corpses was lying flat on the ground while the other one was leaning against the wall.

"Is that...a student?" Darell said in a low voice.

He had recognized the corpse which was leaning against the wall.

"Oh my God..."

"They are really dead..."

Eric and Emma exclaimed while staring at the two corpses.

Ariel looked around the room and said, "What the hell happened here?"

Darell frowned and said, "They died because they fought over the treasure. The one sitting against the wall has a sword wound on his stomach. And the one lying down has a bite mark on his neck."

Ariel looked at the two corpses and said, "The one with the bite mark probably got bitten by a beast."

Eric walked over and said, "The other one is missing his right arm. He was killed by his teammates."

"So, it's the same story in this room too..." Emma sighed and said.

Ariel looked at Darell and said, "Darell, you know these people, right?"

Darell nodded and said, "Yes, I know them. The one leaning against the wall is named William. He is a first-year student. The other one is named Richard. He is also a first-year student. I saw them in the library often."

"Why did they have to kill each other?" Emma mumbled to herself.

However, before she could get her answer, the ground started rumbling.

* RUMBLE *

* RUMBLE *

Darell shouted, "Something is coming!"

Everyone turned their heads and looked in the direction from which the rumbling was coming. Then, the wall broke open and a huge humanoid beast stepped out. The beast had the appearance of a human except for the fact that it had no face. Instead, there were only a few eyes and a mouth all over its body.

"It's a rank 02 Faceless Beast!" Lilith shouted.

Darell took out his sword and activated his skill.

"Burst!"

His muscles grew and he burst toward the beast who swiped the hammer in it's hand when he closed in on it.

* WHOOSH *

* WHOOSH *

The swing from the beast was fast, too fast for a regular rank 02 monster.

'It must have broken through a rank limit.' Darell thought to himself.

* BOOM *

He stopped his charge and blocked the attack with his sword. The ground where he had stood was smashed and the shockwaves spread across the room. Lilith and the others, who had just taken their weapons out, were skidded back a couple of meters.

'Shit! This is going to be troublesome.'

Darell looked at the beast and teleported beside it. He aimed and slashed his sword.

* SCHICKK *

* SPLURT *

"ROOAAAR!"

The beast let out a roar. A cut appeared on its arm and blood dripped down to the ground. However, it turned to look at Darell and that's where it made a mistake.

* WHOOSH *

Darell teleported back in front of it and drove his sword into it's head.

* SCHICKK *

The sword dug into the beast's skull and the beast stopped moving. Darell pulled his sword back and watched as the beast fell on the floor.

* THUD *

He turned around to look at the platform that emerged and said, "So, who's going to collect those?"

"Me! Me!", Lilith shouted and ran over to the platform excitedly.

After Darell took out the core from it's chest, they moved on to the next room. Darell opened the door to the room and walked in with the others. The room 06 wasn't empty. There were several trolls, each the size of an adult man, inside. They had green skin and they all wielded wooden clubs.

Darell and his group hid behind a boulder and examined the room.

"How many are there?" Lilith asked.

"Thirteen." Darell replied.

"We have 13 beasts in front of us and we would fight them like we have fought the others before. Each one of us will take on three trolls and quickly kill them off, okay? If you need help, just call."

"Understood." Eric replied.

"Got it." Emma added.

"Okay!", Ariel said.

They nodded and started attacking the trolls.

Lilith charged toward the trolls, leaving a trail of frost behind her and activated her skill.

"Ice Chains!"

Chains of ice shot forth from the ground and coiled around two trolls tightly. She drew her sword and swung it one of them.

* SLASH *

* SCHICK *

Her strike severed the troll's head and it fell on the floor. She followed through with another slash which was aimed at the other troll.

* SLASH *

* SCHICK *

This time, the strike cleaved open the chest of the poor beast causing its innards to spill out. Her eyes fell upon the third troll as she activated her skill.

"Mist Bomb!"

She hurled the bomb conjured by her at the troll, resulting in an explosion.

* BOOM *

* SPLAT *

"Spiked Ground!"

* BOOM *
Eric struck the ground with his fist as he activated his skill, causing spikes to erupt from beneath the surface.

* SCHICKK *

* SCHICKK *

* SPLURT *

The spikes impaled the bodies of the two trolls before him killing them instantly.

Emma used her daggers to attack the trolls with such speed that they struggled to keep up, their vision clouded by her rapid strikes. With each precise attack, she skillfully carved through the trolls' bodies.

Ariel, on the other hand, first disoriented the beasts. Then, using the opportunity, she hurled her chakra and severed their heads easily.

* BOOM *

* SPLAT *

Darell drew his fist back and gazed at the scattered remains of the troll he had obliterated just now. He sensed the spirit troll approaching him and immediately drew his sword and slashed at the beast.

* SLASH *

* THUD *

Darell watched as each part of the troll fell on the floor and thought, 'I thought it would fight back, at least. Well... it's easier for me anyway.'

After killing every troll in the room, they saw a similar platform emerge from the ground with rewards which they eagerly took and took out the beast cores from the dead beasts, and moved on to the next room. They cautiously entered room 07 and saw several fire giants. They were humanoid beasts, but their size was that of a giant and they had flames instead of hair.

"Fire Giants!" Darell shouted and took his sword out.

Eric clenched his fists and said, "I'll take care of the one on the right."

Emma took out her daggers and said, "Let's kill them quickly!"

"Yes," Darell nodded, drew his sword and charged toward the Fire Giants.

* THUMP *

* THUMP *

His feet pounded on the ground as he ran toward them. He noticed the giants charge up their mana and conjure Fire Arrows which flew toward him.

* WHIZZ *

* WHIZZ *

* WHIZZ *

Darell evaded the arrows by teleporting directly in front of a giant and brought down his sword at it.

* CLANG *

However, the giant parried his attack and leaped backward to create some distance between them. Darell smiled and relentlessly attacked the giant again and again, forcing it to retreat while defending itself.

* CLANG *

* CLANG *

* SLASH *

* SLASH *

* CLANG *

* CRACK *

Cornered against the room's wall, the giant's armor quivered under the force of Darell's blows, eventually succumbing to it and shattered in a shower of debris. The exposed giant's body was pierced by Darell's sword.

* SLASH *

* SPLURT *

* THUD *

Another head dropped on the floor and Lilith turned around and swung her sword at another giant.

* SLASH *

The giant's arm fell on the ground and Lilith observed that the beast turned around and ran away.

'Oh no, you won't!', Lilith thought to herself as she activated her skill.

"Ice Spear!"

An ice spear materialized in her hand which she aimed and hurled at the fleeing giant.

* WHOOSH *

* SCHICKK *

* SPLURT *

* THUD *

The spear flew in the air and pierced the chest of the giant killing it instantly and it dropped on the ground.

* BANG *

Eric shattered the sword wielded by the giant in front of him.

* WHAM *

He punched the giant's chest causing it to stumble backward. Using the opportunity, he punched the giant's abdomen and destroyed its armor. After that, it was a gruesome display as he repeatedly punched it till a hole formed in its abdomen.

"Sound Bullet!"

Ariel activated her skill and turned the surrounding sound waves into small bullets which she shot at the giants.

* BANG *

* SPLAT *

The bullet pierced the giant's skull and orangish red blood poured out of the hole. She did the same with the other giants and killed them instantly.

The battle finished after a few minutes and they collected their rewards from the platform and extracted the beast cores. After that, they approached the door leading to room 08 and stepped through it. They were relieved to see it devoid of any beast and Emma glanced at her trusty clock, and said, "Its about to be midnight soon. We should rest and continue tomorrow."

Eric, who was panting slightly, nodded and said, "I am already drained and can't go on."

Darell sighed and said, "I agree with you. We should rest here and leave tomorrow."

Everyone nodded and they sat down and rested their tired bodies.

Darell yawned and thought, 'This place is safe and has no beast. So, I'll go ahead and take a nap.'

"I am going to sleep. Wake me up in the morning."

He laid down on the ground after setting up the tents and everything, and closed his eyes, slowly falling asleep.

Eric, Ariel, and Lilith were sitting and chatting while Emma was sitting beside Darell, stroking his hair.

"Are you not going to sleep?" Lilith asked when she saw her.

"I am going to stay awake and guard. I'll wake him up if anything happens."

Lilith smiled and said, "I didn't know that you could be so considerate."

Emma frowned and said, "I am his girlfriend. Of course, I would take care of him."

"Hahaha! Of course, I know that! I'm just messing with you!", Lilith chuckled when she saw her face.

Emma smiled and said, "You are a mischievous girl!"