In the dark, where the stench of blood lingered, monsters, barely visible to normal human eyes, crawled on the ceiling, stealthily tracking a group of people. Despite the absence of light, these individuals moved confidently as if they could see in the darkness. Leading the way was a woman in a white armor adorned with a beautiful sword at her waist. Behind her, a handsome man dressed as a mage in a red robe gripped a staff with a red sphere, accompanied by a petite, beautiful girl standing at 152cm. With silver hair cascading down to her waist and captivating golden eyes, she wore a white robe embellished with golden embroidery, holding a golden staff with a green sphere. They comprised the heroes' party—Remilia Reignford, the Hero of Light; Tristan Tilecrow, the Grand Sorcerer; and Chelisa Breigan, the Radiant Healer.

"Should I blast those monsters?"

"No need."

While Tristan suggested obliterating the pursuing monsters, Remilia swiftly dismissed the idea. However, Chelisa interjected with a rationale to justify eliminating the creatures.

"But, Lia, what if the secret entrance is above us?"

"That's... There's a possibility."

Following Remilia's acknowledgment, all the monsters clinging to the ceiling falls to the ground like a sudden rain. Subsequently, Remilia fixed her gaze on Tristan, silent yet conveying a clear message. Tristan, understanding her unspoken directive, responded.

"Alright, I'll handle the disposal of the corpses."

"I'll check the ceiling. Look after Lisa while I'm away."

Following Tristan's response, Remilia flies, maintaining proximity to the ceiling as she searchs the secret entrance and gone into the darkness.

"Lisa, stand behind me."

Chelisa nodded and swiftly positioned herself behind Tristan. As she took cover, he raised his staff, causing the ground in front of him to sink, forming a sizable square-shaped pitfall. A powerful wind ensued, propelling the monster corpses toward the pit. Once the creatures were engulfed in the pit, Tristan utilized his fire magic to incinerate them, illuminating the surroundings. Returning the ground to its normal state, only ashes and numerous small black spheres remained, which he deftly collected into a pouch with his wind magic.

The black spheres are monster magic stones, forming within them. Their size varies, depending on the creature's lifespan, the number of kills, and how much they've ate. Once the magic stone reaches sufficient size, it evolves into a stronger form. Notably, these magic stones are nearly indestructible.

Examining the gathered magic stones, he remarked, 

"It's not much in terms of money, but leaving it here would be a waste."

Upon completing the collection, the ground beneath them began to glow, revealing a magic circle.

"Tch!"

Tristan clicked his tongue, attempting to evade and pull Chelisa away, but before he could react, they found themselves in a different location surrounded by a giant wall. The ceiling is a lot more higher than the last place, despite being no light source, the place is decently lit.

"Lisa, are you okay?"

"Ye- Aargh!"

Before Tristan could reach Chelisa, her chest was suddenly struck by something, causing her to be forcefully pushed several meters and crash into the wall. Despite her robe showing no visible holes, blood began to seep through from her chest.

"Lisa!"

Tristan immediately rushed towards her, using his wind magic. He promptly employed his healing magic on her and created an earth barrier to cover them. Fortunately, her wound didn't reach her heart.

"Thank you, Stan. But I-i can heal myself."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Stan. I-it's not like I'm in any danger right now."

Chelisa gave Tristan a smile to reassure him that she is okay.

"Yeah. You're right."

'She said that, but that is a pretty dangerous situation to me. What if the one who attacked her is a little bit stronger? If that attack reaches her heart... But what concerns me is the fact that the attack is able to hurt her. Does that mean the one attacking her is a corrupted monster? But it's impossible for corrupted monsters to end up here; Hakaga Continent is literally on the opposite side of the world. And what exactly is that hurting her? I thought it was wind magic, but her clothes are completely okay; it's like it just passed through them. And the fact that we are surrounded by walls-'

"Stan... Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just thinking if that attack-"

Suddenly, Tristan felt something hard hit him at his forehead, and send him flying break through his earth barrier.

'What? What happened?'

"Stan!"

After crashing to the ground, Tristan immediately got up and looked at Chelisa, trying to see if she is okay. Thankfully, nothing happened to her.

'So it's really going through inanimate objects.'

Thanks to his protective barrier applied to himself, he managed to escape unscathed. This protective barrier can shield him once from any fatal attack. The only downside is he can only activate it once every hour, and it cannot be stacked.

"Stan! Behind you!"

"!!"

Before Tristan could react to Chelisa's warning, he found himself getting impaled by a giant claw.

"Damn!"

A burst of fire erupts from Tristan's back, burning the monster behind him. However, the monster suddenly disappears, as if it never existed.

Tristan falls to the ground, pain evident on his face. Despite the holes in his body, he manages to stand with the help of his staff. Chelisa rushes towards him and immediately starts healing him. The holes slowly close as she works her magic.

"Stan!"

"Stay *Cough* close to me, Lisa. I will blow this place."

Tristan taps his staff to the ground, a crimson magic circle appear below them, the magic circle start to glowing brightly. A massive explosion ripped through the enormous room, demolishing walls and sending debris flying in all directions. The air filled with the echoes of destruction as the once-solid barriers crumbled under the force of the blast.

After his magic is done, Tristan falls to his knees, looking tired. Chelisa heals him in silence while trying to hold back her tears. She was genuinely terrified when Tristan got impaled by that monster, fearing he might not survive.

"Sorry for making you worried."

Feeling a bit better, Tristan, looking at Chelisa's face, starts apologizing without realizing it. Chelisa gives him a smile, assuring him that she is okay.

Suddenly, a beam of light appears beside them, surprising them even though it makes no sound. Looking up, they see Remilia flying towards them, bringing a sense of relief. However, their confusion deepens when they notice Remilia flying upside down.

Their confusion ends when Remilia lands in front of them with her hair pulled up in the air, realizing they have the opposite gravitational force.

"Sorry, Remilia. Did you get hit by my magic?"

"..."

Remilia speaks to them, but they cannot hear her. Realizing the communication barrier, Remilia uses sign language.

'Can you hear me?'

***

The Fallthas Dungeon is located near the city of Dersighl. There's also a similar dungeon that appears in Jartessta, a city west of Dersighl, called Valthaus Dungeon. Both dungeons have similar interiors and consist of ten floors that very similar on each floor. Even the monsters inside every floor in the dungeons are the same, making these two dungeons known as Twin Dungeons.

In the deepest floor of Fallthas Dungeon, Selia and Greg found the second magic circle. Unlike the Theticta Dungeons near Cleressa city, where only a single magic circle is needed to activate the secret entrance, in this dungeon, they need to activate two magic circles to unlock it.

"I will activate the one near the stairs."

"Leave this one to me."

Selia flies away leaving Greg in the middle of the darkness. Greg is one of the heroes party member, acting as a shield for everyone except Remilia, since she is almost as tough as him. Greg, in stark contrast, was clad in formidable black armor etched with intricate red carvings. Even beneath the armor's formidable facade, the bulging muscles of his massive, two-meter-tall frame were apparent. A colossal shield covered his back, and his visage bore the unmistakable aura of a battle-hardened warrior. His sharp, penetrating black eyes instilled an air of intimidation, while his brushed-back black hair revealed the tips of his ears.

Greg starts pouring his magic onto the ground, revealing a dimly glowing magic circle that hidden from plain eyes. This magic circle is almost impossible to detect, but Selia don't have any troubles when she found it. She even finds the magic circle that hidden on the ceiling right in front of stairs immediately.

While waiting for Selia to activate the magic circle on the other side, a monster emerges from the dark shadows and attacks Greg from behind. The monster is the same as the monsters that like to crawl on the ceiling, but it's three times much bigger. Before its claw could reach Greg, he catches its arm with his left hand and slams the monster to the ground. Then he crushes its head with his right hand. After the monster stops moving, he throws it to the side, his right hand holding a pretty big black sphere.

'It's almost fully evolve. Good thing I killed it, if not, the adventurers will not be able to fought it and will ended up dead.'

Greg poured his magic back onto the magic circle once again. This time, the circle glowed brightly, temporarily blinding his eyes. When he opened them, he found himself in a different place.

Surveying his surroundings, Greg noticed the area was shrouded in darkness. Despite using his night vision magic, visibility remained challenging. He found himself enclosed by towering walls, and as he looked up, darkness prevailed, with no discernible ceiling in sight.

'This one is different from before. Thought it will open the secret entrance, instead of teleport us to it. Wonder if Selia is also ended up here.'

Greg walks toward the wall and touches it. He finds nothing strange; it's just an ordinary wall, and he can break it anytime he wants. After checking the wall, he returns to the magic circle and pours his magic onto it, but nothing happens.

'Looks like it doesn't trigger the magic circle or activate any trap. Or maybe it's just like before, where we need to activate both at the same time to activate it.'

Suddenly, Greg hears a huge explosion, and the ground starts shaking. Not long after that, the place he is in becomes brighter as a fire blast destroys the wall from above, coming directly at him. He uses his arm to protect his face.

'Wait! This is Tristan's magic! Why he's here?!'

Even after the fire blast hits Greg directly, he stands there unfazed. Thanks to the blast revealing the ceiling, he sees it's very high above him. With all the walls turned to ashes, he can see the surrounding flat land, with distant walls.

'Looks like he blew everything here. Good thing the ground is hard enough to handle that magic. But... what made him do this?'

Greg starts running to find Tristan's whereabouts, moving so fast that he blurs. For him, moving at such speed is necessary as he's responsible for protecting his friends, training his feet to move as fast as possible. When he is running, there is a flash of light appears just a split second, he tries to find where it comes from, but can't find anything. And he starts running again.

After a few minutes, Greg covers the entire area but can't find Tristan or Selia. He doesn't even encounter a single monster.

'I'm pretty sure that was his magic.'

A bright light illuminates the area from above. He spots Selia standing upside down on the ceiling, with a big wolf-like monster behind her, ready to jump.

"Selia!"

Greg shouts, trying to catch her attention. Before he sees what happens next, darkness engulfs the ceiling, and he loses sight of Selia. As Greg is about to run towards Selia, he is suddenly engulfed by flame. A red dragon appears behind him, attempting to burn him with its fire breath.

Greg jumps out from the fire, punches the dragon's chin hard, sending it flying. Its head is beheaded by a dark shield Greg throws, which then turns into a shadow and flies back towards him, appearing as a shield again on Greg's back.

'Where is this dragon coming from? I can't even sense it approaching. It felt like this dragon just coming out of thin air.'

After a while, the dragon corpses start to glow, and then they shatter into particles of light, leaving behind a small red shard. Greg walks towards it and takes it.

'Another red shard. I guess that means this is also the monster that we are looking for.'

Before venturing into this dungeon, Remilia and her party revisited the Theticta Dungeons near Cleressa to find the monster residing in the secret room and defeat it. It only took them fifteen minutes to locate the secret entrance and overcome the monster. Following the victory, Remilia suggested splitting into two groups since the monster wasn't particularly tough.

Remilia, Tristan, and Chelisa went to the Valthaus Dungeon near Jartessta, while Greg and Selia headed to the Fallthas Dungeon near Dersighl. After defeating the monsters inside the secret rooms, they planned to regroup in Dersighl for some rest before proceeding to the next dungeons.

"Greg!"

Greg hears someone calling for him from above. Though he can't see anything due to the dark ceiling, he recognizes the voice and knows who it is.

"Cover yourself!"

Suddenly, an explosion happens on the ceiling with louder sounds from before.

***

Remilia flies near the ceiling, exterminating monsters along the way as she searches for the secret entrance. Finally reaching the stairs to the upper floor, she thinks. 

'Looks like there is nothing on the ceiling.'

Turning back to return to Tristan and Chelisa, she hesitates and decides to fly to the ceiling above the stairs.

'I guess I will try it before coming back.'

Remilia pours her magic onto the ceiling, revealing a glowing magic circle. Excitement fills her as she finds the secret entrance, but when she looks around, she realizes she is surrounded by walls.

Remilia looks around, trying to find the monster, but there's nothing in sight.

"Where is the monster?"

Suddenly, she feels something behind her, sensing an intense killing intent. Instead of turning around, she stands there, waiting for the attack.

The monster bites her upper body, but Remilia remains calm, even inside the monster's mouth.

"I didn't expect this."

The monster attempts to bite her in half with all its strength but fails. It then uses its blue fire breath to burn her while she's inside its mouth. Despite this, Remilia stays calm.

"Okay. That's too much."

After saying that, she cuts the monster into pieces with her light magic. Emerging from its mouth, she observes the huge dark blue dog-like monster, now in pieces, strangely lacking any blood.

"Another monster that I've never seen..."

Remilia looks saddened by the sight. The monster turns into particles of light, leaving behind a small black shard. She takes and examines it.

"Different from before."

The monster they defeated at Theticta Dungeons left a small red shard. It was a creature they had never encountered—a huge crimson snake leaving a fire trail wherever it touched. However, they had no trouble defeating it, treating it like any other normal monster, with only difference it's large body.

'Is this already over? How do I get out of here?'

Suddenly, the ground shakes, and the walls around Remilia are destroyed by a fire blast. She hears the sounds of crumbling walls turning to ashes but no explosion or fire sounds. When the blast passes her, she feels nothing, not even a warm breeze.

"What is this?"

When Remilia looks at the source of the fire, she finds Chelisa treating Tristan's wound upside down on the ceiling. Nearby, a big humanoid monster with mannequin heads, burly bodies, huge claws, and goat legs stands, seemingly unnoticed by Tristan and Chelisa.

The monster raises its claw, but before it can attack, Remilia obliterates it with her laser beam light magic.

Tristan and Chelisa are surprised by Remilia's display of light magic. Their initial relief turns into confusion upon seeing her.

Remilia flies towards them, landing upside down on the ceiling to face them more easily.

"Lisa! Tristan! Are you okay?!"

"..."

Tristan open his mouths, but no voices reach Remilia. Both of them realized that they can't heard each other. So Remilia resorts to sign language.

"'Can you hear me?'"

Tristan and Chelisa respond by shaking their heads. But suddenly Remilia hears an explosion coming from a far. When she looks at the explosion, she finds Selia with wounds on her back while standing upside down like Tristan and Chelisa.

***

'I will go there.'

Remilia signals to Tristan and Chelisa using sign language, pointing in at something as she flies towards it. Following Remilia's indication, Tristan and Chelisa notice a big wolf-like monster. When Tristan notices Selia, and the monster tries to attack her, without hesitation, he employs his wind magic, launching it at the monster with incredible speed. Remilia however, surprised when she sees Tristan's magic.

Tristan's wind magic passes through the monster and slashes it's body into two right in the middle. However, Tristan after that realize, his magic doesn't stop there and continues flying towards Selia.

Tristan's magic heads straight to Selia and slashes through her. Yet, nothing happens. It somehow passes through her without causing any harm. Relief washes over Remilia, Tristan, and Chelisa. And Remilia immediately rushes towards Selia.

"Selia!"

Selia turns to Remilia's call, smiling despite the pain evident on her face. Remilia is shocked to see the slash wounds on her back.

"How did this happen to you?!"

"A monster caught me by surprise from behind. And when I attacked it, it just disappeared."

Remilia is surprised to hear that Selia was caught off guard. It's quite a feat to catch someone as skilled as Selia by surprise. The fact that the monster was able to wound her like this is also alarming.

'That monster that attacked me also caught me by surprise. It's like they appear out of nowhere behind me.'

"Anyway, we need to heal you first. Let's head to Lisa. Can you move by yourself?"

Meanwhile, Tristan and Chelisa can't believe their eyes at the absurd scene before them. Remilia's body seems to clip through the monster's corpse as if it's not there.

"Looks like Remilia and Selia can't see that monster. And..."

Tristan looks to where Remilia used her light magic and notices a small green shard. Chelisa rushes to it, takes the shard, and shows it to Tristan.

"Stan, this is..."

"Yes, that's the shard we're looking for. But..."

Where is this coming from? Tristan wants to ask, but somehow he understands where it's coming from. He turned to look at Chelisa, she also seems to figured something too.

Remilia and Selia fly slowly towards Tristan and Chelisa. However, halfway there, Selia drops to the ground, but Remilia catches her just in time before she hits the ground, or from Remilia's perspective, hits the ceiling.

"Are you okay?!"

"Looks like I'm poisoned."

Selia's face becomes much paler than before. Seeing this, Remilia immediately rushes towards Chelisa. As they get closer, Chelisa and Tristan become aware of their presence. Chelisa looks at Selia and immediately runs towards her, casting her healing magic. However, Remilia quickly realizes that Chelisa's healing magic isn't working at all.

"It really didn't work."

After seeing how Tristan's magic didn't harm Selia, Remilia already expected that Chelisa would not be able to heal her. As Remilia slowly puts Selia down, Chelisa tries to help by holding her. But something bizarre happens—her hand just passes through Selia.

Chelisa start to cry, when she realized she can't help Selia. Remilia know she is crying while apologizing, even when she can't hear her. Tristan only standing behind her while clenching his hand, didn't know what to do, he also still regretting his action on before. It's true that his magic didn't harm Selia, but it happened because they're on abnormal situations, he don't want to know what would happen if it happens under normal circumstances, it probably gonna haunt him forever.

Suddenly, Chelisa stops crying, wipes her tears using her sleeves, and looks at Tristan. She says something to him, but Remilia can't hear her. However, she senses that Chelisa has something on her mind. Without questioning her, Tristan takes a pouch from his robe and gives it to Chelisa. She takes the contents inside the pouch—a small black sphere, a magic stone. Holding it with her fingers, Chelisa concentrates on the magic stone, and not long after, its color changes to light green. She makes a happy face at the change, but there's a hint of disappointment on her face.

'Can you take the magic stone in my hand?'

Chelisa communicates using sign language. She stretches her hand towards Remilia, the green magic stone resting on her palm, signaling for Remilia to take it. Just before Remilia reaches for the magic stone, she senses something appearing out of nowhere from behind. Without hesitation, she uses her light magic, attempting to strike it down. Unfortunately, she makes a mistake and misses her target slightly, and it's presence disappears into thin air.

Suddenly, Tristan raises his staff immediately upon seeing a monster appear floating behind Remilia and Selia. The bipedal monster is large and imposing, covered in a mix of scales and fur. Its muscular build suggests strength and agility. Adorning its head are sharp horns, and its mouth brims with razor-sharp teeth. It carries a sleek, ebony bow made from bone. Despite its size, it floats in the air effortlessly.

As Tristan catches sight of the monster, his instincts kick in, and without hesitation, he unleashes a barrage of wind magic upon the creature. Swift and relentless, his spells slice through the air with precision. However, the creature effortlessly dodges each attack with uncanny agility, evading his spells with ease. With a swift and calculated movement, the monster draws its bone bow. Tristan watches as the monster pulls the bowstring, but there is no arrow to be seen.

Remilia looks behind her, witnessing Tristan's magic shooting through the empty air, understanding the situation unfolding. She focuses on protecting Selia.

The monster points its bow at Chelisa. Tristan immediately realizes the monster's target and pulls Chelisa behind him, shielding her. Remilia can only watch them struggle, seeing the seriousness on Tristan's face, knowing they're in grave danger. Suddenly, Tristan and Chelisa are blown away. Remilia wants to run towards them, but she can't leave Selia's side. Glancing at Selia, she notices she's holding a small green sphere in her hand, and it begins to glow.

A little bit of color begins to return to Selia's face as her wounds start to close slightly. After the magic stone loses its color, it turns into glass, falls to the ground passing through Selia's hand, and shatters into pieces. Suddenly, a bright light emanates from Tristan and Chelisa's direction.

As Tristan gets blown away and crashes against Chelisa, he feels his right shoulder being pierced by something passing through him. Meanwhile, Chelisa feels something stab her neck, but thanks to Tristan covering her, her neck isn't injured. Reacting reflexively, Chelisa uses her healing magic to heal both of them as they crash to the ground, with Tristan ending up on top of Chelisa's body.

"I'm sorry, Lisa. And thank you."

Tristan gets up from Chelisa and helps her up. He scans his surroundings to find the monster, but it's nowhere to be found. He also looks at Remilia and Selia to see if the monster is on their side, since both of them can perceive presences. However, they don't react or attack. Making him realize the monster is still on his side, and can become invisible. Tristan taps his staff to the ground, causing multiple glowing crimson magic circles to appear below him.

"Lisa. Stay close to me."

Chelisa nods her head, holding onto Tristan's robe tightly. Before activating his magic, Tristan looks towards Remilia and Selia, believing he cannot hurt or even touch them. He realizes this place operates in a way they can't fully explain but somehow understand.

Then, something comes to his mind when he looks at Selia. He immediately uses his magic to amplify his voice.

"Greg! Cover yourself!"

Right before Tristan activates his magic, the monster suddenly appears in front of him, already drawing its bow and aiming at his heart. Despite facing imminent danger, Tristan smiles confidently and speaks with low voices.

"I will make sure you pay for what you did."

Tristan activates his magic at the same time as the monster releases its string. A deafening explosion ensues, accompanied by a blinding light and the heat on his chest as the monster's invisible arrow pierces his heart. Using his wind magic, Tristan ensures he doesn't get blown away and crash against Chelisa. Then, he loses consciousness.

***

Remilia and Selia watch the silent explosion unfold before them, feeling the ground shake violently as it begins to crumble under the force of the blast. Suddenly, Remilia senses the presence of the monster she had attacked earlier within the explosion. Without hesitation, she fires her light magic at the creature, confident that she has defeated it.

As the ground (or ceiling) starts to crumble due to Tristan's magic and the explosion, revealing the night sky beneath, Remilia and Selia find themselves floating amidst countless stars, surrounded by space. Remilia also senses three familiar presences.

"!!"

Scanning her surroundings, she sees Tristan and Chelisa, both conscious now, with Chelisa holding onto Tristan while shedding tears. Remilia flies towards them, holding Selia in her arms.

"Tristan! Lisa!"

"Lia!"

Remilia is surprised to hear Chelisa's voice, but she feels relieved at the same time. She asks Chelisa about Tristan's condition.

"He's okay. Just unconscious. I've already healed him."

"Can you heal Selia now?"

"I-I'm already healing her. Unlike the burns from the dragon in the Dead Land, her poisoning isn't that difficult to heal."

Remilia looks at Selia, noting that the color has returned to her face. Selia sighs in relief as she fully recovers.

"That was an unpleasant experience. Lia, you should go get Greg."

Seeing Selia back to normal, Remilia smiles at her and flies towards Greg's presence. She finds him drifting quite far from them.

Remilia rushes towards Greg, who is floating in space, trying to orient himself but only ending up spinning uncontrollably.

"Greg!"

"Remilia!"

Greg responds, still struggling to stabilize himself.

"What about the others?"

"They're okay."

Remilia offers her hand to Greg, and as he takes it, he gains control over his body.

"What is this place?"

"I don't know. It seems like we're somewhere in space."

"Space?"

Unlike Remilia, who attended an academy. Greg, being a former adventurer, is unfamiliar with the concept of space.

"I'll explain later. Let's go to the others."

Suddenly, Remilia and Greg feel their bodies being pulled by something.

"What's happening?!"

"I don't know."

Remilia tries to stay calm as she searches for the source of the pull. She spots a dark portal blending with the void of space, swirling with an ominous energy. Nearby, she sees Selia trying to pull the unconscious Tristan while Chelisa holds onto her, all of them slowly being drawn towards the portal. Remilia immediately pulls Greg with her, speeding towards them.

As they approach, a ringing noise fills Remilia's ears, and the portal's pull intensifies. Greg's body becomes heavier, and eventually, Remilia has to exert all her strength to pull him. Greg tries to speak, but the ringing noise drowns out his words. When Remilia looks back towards Selia and the others, they've disappeared into the portal's depths. With no other options, Remilia reluctantly lets them be pulled away.