Temporary Contract

A flash of light strikes down from the sky, crashing onto the top of the cathedral. 'Zap!' An electric current surges through the midnight sky, bouncing between water droplets in the sky as a gaping hole emerges from the settling dust clouds.

A screeching metal sound scraps against the side of the cathedral, a sword's tip slicing through the metal walls like a knife through butter.

Everyone looks on in horror as water pours from the open ceiling, a gaping waterfall flooding the ancient carpet. "Everyone, fall in!" The woman raises her hammer to the sky, staring deep into the full moon shining its full beauty straight into the cathedral. "[Bubblegum Bubble]!" The woman creates a pink shield around everyone, leaving the hooded man out of it.

The hooded man steps forward and disappears in a flash, a shadow left on the ground being the only trace.

"What the hell is that?" Haewon covered his ears with his hand, blocking out the screeching metal sound. "It's so loud!"

"[Charge]!" A mighty voice booms as flashes of white charge into the cathedral, ripping through the metal infrastructure and piercing the wooden walls. Instantaneously, five skeleton horses charged through the cathedral, narrowly avoiding the bubble shield. One of the horses nicked the edge of the bubble, scraping it with its sharp metal-plaided armor.

[Saebom's Bubble: 892/1000 HP]

One of the horses stopped dead on its track, reveling in the midnight spring. Its off-white bone appendages glowed with an ominous dark tint, shreds of skin pulled from its bone, looking more like pieces of cloth. Its eyes were sunken and empty, its soul and everything that made a horse a horse had been stripped. Left nothing but an empty carriage of a carcass.

From the several holes in the cathedral appeared the main boss of the raid.

[The Black Knight: ???/???]

[<Raid Boss Approaches>!]

The Black Knight was a creature of myth, a tale as old as time used to keep children in bed. He was the boogeyman you sent to kill the boogeyman. The original bounty hunter.

"Humans!" His jaw opened like a latch, revealing blue flames that erupted from the side of his mouth. "I'm starved!" He wore a ginormous suit of armor that was reflective yet absorbed all of the Moon's light. It had a giant skull in its chest, revealing an empty ribcage with a beating flame as a heart. His head was on fire like hair made of embers. He rode on a skeleton horse that had feet made of blue flames, easily gliding over the wet floor.

The Black Knight raised its sword into the air. A ginormous blue-black blade that was nearly the size of his entire horse. "[Execute]!" He swung down onto the bubble with all of his might, creating an aura of blue flame around the edge of the blade.

"[Thunderdome]!" Hacchi withdrew his hammer, causing the water droplets in the air to slow down momentarily as a surge of magic filled the air. 'Zap!' lightning strikes from the sky and smites his hammer, forming a giant shield of electricity as the blade crashes into them.

"[Angel's Blessing]!" A Mage reached her hand out to support Hacchi and feed him more magic to block the incoming attack.

"[Soul Search]." As the blade made contact with both shields, a pitch-black veil covered the bubble, casting a secondary bubble over everyone. "Impure souls are always the easiest to harvest." The Black Knight states as everything flashes back to reality.

Haewon had been thrown across the cathedral, lying against a wooden bench as other bodies littered the interior. Haewon felt a sharp pain down the side of his chest, a large wooden splinter had stuck itself deep into him. He coughs up blood as he covers his mouth. "[Basic Heal]." He places his palm over the wound as the wooden splinter slowly moves out of the side of his chest, the flesh closing.

The Black Knight moves forward, standing directly underneath the hole in the roof. He gets soaked and covered in water, yet the blue flames in his mouth and the horses' feet seemingly burn even brighter.

He reached for his sword to pick up the same healer from before, slicing through her stomach with ease as he picked her up with his sword. "Such a heavy soul." He reaches out his left hand, the hand covered in rings and jewelry, and twists his wrists. "[Soul Harvest]." A black aura seeps from his armor sleeves and envelopes his hand, reaching deep into the healer's wound and pulling out a blue flame.

Her body slides off the tip of the blade, crashing onto the wet carpet floor. Her blood fused with the damp gray carpet, staining it a blood red.

[Angelina Liers: 0/347 HP <Eliminated >]

Her body glitches in and out of reality, her body disintegrating into ash as only her blood left a trace.

The Black Knight grabbed the floating flame in the hair, gripping it tightly with his fingers. The flames ignite from between his fingers, beating with the soul of a live heart. He unlatches his jaw wide open, molten blue liquid magma spilling out from his gaping mouth as he puts the flame into his mouth.

His entire body ignites with a blue flame, burning everything in a close vicinity. The droplets of rain above him instantly evaporate before even making contact with him.

[The Black Knight: ???/??? : 1x Soul]

"Shit!" Haewon gets a jolt of deja vu. "The more souls he eats, the stronger he'll become," Haewon remembers this exact dungeon with minute precision. Every wall, every cutscene, every boss. Everything was just like it was.

But that meant he'd already beaten this dungeon once.

"[Midnight Whisper]!" The same hooded man jumps from the roof, showering down onto the Knight a waterfall of knives that embed themselves deep into his back. His sharp knives penetrate his armor, causing the flames on his body to burn even brighter.

"Agh!" He exclaims as he stretches his back outwards, causing the knives to shoot out from his back.

The hooded man lands on the ground, his footsteps landing gracefully onto the ground as the water remains undisturbed. He looks around and sees everyone in critical condition except for Haewon who is healing himself.

"My name is Four." Four teleported beside Haewon, whispering into his ear. "You're a healer aren't you?"

Haewon nods in agreement as the gaping wound on his side slowly closes.

"Good. I'll be needing you." Four extends his palm out to Haewon, a large laceration extends the whole width of his palm. "Make a blood pact with me." Four passes Haewon a blue blade. "Hurry!" Four glances over to The Black Knight who was already recovering, the blue flames melted his armor back to its original form.

Without hesitation, Haewon trusted Four and grabbed the knife, cutting deep into his palm. "Thanks." Four grasps Haewon hand firmly, making sure both of their blood mix and fuse. "With this pact, I shall form a [Temporary Contract]."

"A temporary contract!" Haewon realized the brilliance in this situation. Temporary Contracts allow players to share a mana pool but also share health. However, when paired with a fighter and a healer, where the healer will constantly self-heal, it creates a self-healing damage-dealing cycle.

"Accept!" Both of them say simultaneously as a panel appears in front of him.

[Temporary Contract Successful]