The second hallway

Liam scanned his teammates, glad that no one appeared disheartened. But he stopped when meeting Silent Acacia's face.

The young thief looked downtrodden, quietly whispering with Quickstep.

Liam furrowed his brows as he approached the couple:

"What's with that look?"

Silent Acacia was startled, looking awkwardly at Bleary Mirage.

"Ah, nothing. Nothing…"

Quickstep only sighed.

"How can a single wipe rattle you like this? It's not the first and won't be the last, right?"

"It's not that… I'm… I shouldn't have died to such a mistake."

Quickstep emphatically patted her boyfriend's back.

"Don't worry, babe. Everyone makes mistakes!"

"But I shouldn't!"

Silent Acacia suddenly raised his voice, drawing everyone's attention. Smiling in embarrassment, he tried to adjust his state of mind.

"Sorry guys. It won't happen again."

"My friend, why are you distressed?", asked Radiant Shield with a concerned face.

The others echoed him, willing to support Silent Acacia.

But the thief only shook his head:

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

Liam frowned. But if Silent Acacia didn't want to talk about it, there was not much he could do. He patted the young man's shoulders, leaving him with a single sentence.

"We are a team, Acacia!"

Silent Acacia nodded at Liam, not commenting further.

The party could only move on, discussing the boss fight, looking for possible improvements.

Silver Blade was the first to speak up:

"I didn't block the first magical attack, causing Radiant Shield to lose most of his stance."

"I didn't dodge the fire…", admitted Bloody Edge.

A few others echoed him, mentioning the attacks they failed to dodge.

Liam nodded, satisfied that no one tried to hide their mistakes.

"Well. To summarize: it's mostly about dodging. All of you need to keep an eye on the priest's staff."

"Understood."

"We won't get wiped again!"

The party was in high spirits. With the experience form the first fight, everyone felt confident.

Silver Blade was ready to capitalize on the mood, leading the party to start the fight.

By now the lower floor didn't pose any challenge anymore. The party swept through it like a storm. Only clearing the hallway still took some time.

Soon Liam and his friends confronted the head priest again.

With Silver Blade keeping her vigilance, she effortlessly blocked the magical attacks, allowing Radiant Shield to save his stance.

Thus, the burly warrior didn't lose any HP before Fuyarhin entered the second phase.

This time, Bloody Edge didn't storm ahead, avoiding the flames. Even Fuyarhin's first skill was dodged brilliantly.

Only the second skill poised some difficulties, but it didn't deal enough damage to endanger anyone's life.

"Keep it up!"

Liam encouraged the party, watching the opponent's HP plummet.

Fuyarhin, however, wasn't ready to surrender yet, his staff lighting up in a dark light.

"Dodge!"

A wave of dark magic shot through the room. Cyclone was just about to attack, thus she didn't manage to dodge.

But luckily the damage wasn't enough to kill her. Balm looked at her friend with a wry smile, not daring to use her heal on the mage, as Radiant Shield would need it after the next attack.

Cyclone rolled her eyes, letting out her anger on the head priest. [Holy Strike]'s effect triggered, sending the head priest close to death.

Another round of attacks arrived.

"NO! Reylar! Please… succeed…!"

Fuyarhin cried out weekly. His staff dropped with a brisk sound before the priest's legs gave in, his body dropping to the floor.

"We did it!"

Cyclone beamed happily. But a moment later her face scrunched up in disgust. She watched as the black color moved along the priest's body.

A sizzling sound reminiscent of acid came from the man's skin as it dissolved like sticky glue.

A moment later only a white robe and a black liquid remained, which quietly oozed into the floor, mysteriously ignoring the solid stone.

"Eww what was that?"

"Is this the curse's manifestation?"

"Disgusting!"

The party trembled upon witnessing the eerie scene.

But suddenly Cyclone's eyes opened wide, as she spoke in a frantic voice:

"Wait, with the body gone, did my loot vanish as well?!"

The young woman shook, quickly rushing towards the white priest robe, touching it while sending out prayers in her heart.

Cyclone let out a relieved sigh as a bright blue light shone from her hand.

Everyone looked over with curiosity.

[Onadarlia's first wand

Category: Uncommon

Level requirement: 6

Attack Damage: 14-15

Attack Speed: 0,7

Effect 1: Increases all healing done by 2%.

Effect 2: Has a low chance to heal another alley every time the skill [Heal] is cast.

A long time ago this wand was given to the famous human priest Onadarlia. Maybe a bit of her magic still lingers.]

Balm's eyes lit up brightly, but she appeared rather timid. However, naturally this wand could only go to her.

Cyclone chuckled as she stuffed the wand into her friend's hand.

Fortunately, the head priest dropped even more loot, albeit only of green-magic quality.

But with a new robe for Cyclone, a new armor for Quickstep, and new trousers for Silent Acacia and Watchful Eye, the group received a thorough upgrade.

On top of that the head priest dropped a recipe for some basic traps, which was given to Silent Acacia.

"Hehe, good job priest! You didn't disappoint me."

While Cyclone snickered, light gradually turned on, illuminating the room.

The mosaics on both sides of the room drew everyone's attention.

"Huh? Who is this?"

"Looks like an original nephilim. Might be Reylar."

"Makes sense."

The party was about to dismiss the artworks when Liam coughed.

"Maybe you should take a closer look."

"Why? What's there to see?"

The others were surprised by Liam's reminder, studying the mosaics closely.

They followed the nephilim's journey with their eyes, battling various races until he eventually made contact with Refresnim.

Pondering for a while, Watchful Eye was the first to notice something.

"Look, young lady, the way Reylar is fighting."

Silver Blade rolled her eyes but didn't bother with correcting him, instead staring at the wall.

"His attacks do indeed look peculiar. Are those hints?"

When the young woman turned towards Liam, he didn't want to delay the party much longer.

"Indeed. You should keep in mind Reylar's figure before he attacks."

"Got it!"

"Damn, how can they hide such a hint here?!"

The party clamored as they followed Liam's advice, deeply memorizing Reylar's moves.

A short while later everyone felt more or less satisfied, ready to leave. But Silver Blade shook her head.

"Don't you forget something?"

"Again? What is it?"

Silver Blade chuckled as she went to the back of the room, approaching a tiny platform framed by two fire bowls.

Without a change in expression, she grabbed what seemed like a human finger, showing it off.

"Eww! Put it away!"

"Disgusting!"

Silver Blade shrugged her shoulders. Putting the quest item in her inventory, she finally led the party out of the room.

They returned to the large hall inhabited by a single statue.

At this moment Quickstep approached Liam:

"Hey, Mirage, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

"If we get wiped now, do we have to repeat the fight?"

"No, don't worry. We already have the finger, and it won't drop."

Quickstep nodded, obviously relieved.

Meanwhile the rest of the team was already staring at the hallway left of the statue, discussing how to proceed.

"Why is it so empty?"

"There is no way this isn't a trap."

"What should we do?"

The party members frowned as they scanned the hallway. It was completely empty. Only its floor was conspicuous, separated in rows of large stone plates, with three per row.

"Should we send Silent Acacia to scout?"

"Yeah."

Silent Acacia took a deep breath. The mistake from earlier still weighed on his mind. He desired to do better.

Thus, the young thief moved with utmost caution, setting his foot on the first stone plate, pausing for a few seconds with a tense body.

"Nothing…"

The thief informed his party as he took a step forward.

Suddenly a low click could be heard. Silent Acacia immediately jumped backwards as a burst of flames shot out of the ceiling.

Even Liam was impressed that the thief managed to avoid any damage.

"Good job!"

"So that's the trap."

"What now? Do we send Acacia ahead?"

While the others discussed, Silent Acacia's mind moved quickly. He readied his bow, shooting at the apparent trap.

Another burst of flames descended.

"Oh, look! We can scout the traps like this!"

"You prove to be of quick mind, my friend!"

Everyone's eyes lit up as they found a clever way to proceed. Suppressing the smile which tried to creep onto his face, Silent Acacia began to test the stone plates one by one.

Soon the party figured out the pattern. Each row had a single stone plate triggering a trap.

However, Silent Acacia's attack range wasn't infinite, thus he could only probe about ten rows.

"Don't worry, guys. I memorized the way. Let me scout."

Saying so, the thief darted over the stone plates light as a phantom.