101-110

101 Progression

– Shaman POV –

There was no sign of Himeko for the past month which caused her ministers to worry about her safety. However Shaman was getting nervous as it was about time that they made their escape.

Shaman and Elysia decided together with Clara to finally clear the dungeon and face off the skeleton knight that had traumatized Shaman.

During that month there were many incidents of Shaman almost breaking down, as whenever she stumbled upon anything resembling the room or the knight, it would trigger her trauma. Thankfully it was not common, but it had interrupted some of the training they were going through during that month.

Shaman, Wolfy and Elysia had also gone into the dungeon to grind out levels and put what they had learnt into actual battle. They were now very close to evolving to tier 5 and with that significant power boost as well as adding Clara as their new member, they believed they could finally enter deeper into the dungeon.

Shaman was currently looking at her status, feeling proud as she has raised all her elements to tier 4 and has raised her mana by almost 2000 points just by meditating. She has also raised most of her skills to level 5, with some even reaching level 7

Shaman Shiroi

[Age: 18]

[Gender: Female]

.....

[Race: 4 tailed Fox Girl]

[Level: 96]

[HP: 4300/4300]

[MP: 8000/8000]

[Elements]

Wind – Tier 4

Fire – Tier 4

Water – Tier 4

Ice – Tier 4

[Attributes]

Vitality: 400 +30

Agility: 500 +45

Intelligence: 560 +60

Strength: 550 +50

Dexterity: 500 +38

Defense: 450 +50

Shaman was happy with the results of her training as it also helped her make the memories of the past owner's training her own. She no longer had to rely on her instincts and the bunch of memories that came with her new body.

"Hey Shaman, why don't you check the memories, it has been a while." Rea was told to remind Shaman after they left Ebonscale, but since Himeko made no sign of returning, Rea thought it would be a good opportunity to look through them.

"I want to Rea, but I don't know what Himeko wants and it could be information about my family, so it's better if I don't find out till I am completely free of Himeko.

"Understandable, I guess I will wait till you are free." Rea understood and did not press any further.

Shaman who had been sitting on the edge of her bed leaned back landing her head on Elysia's lap. Elysia had been casually sitting on the bed also looking at her status. She had felt Shaman land on her thighs but paid it no attention and started to unconsciously pet Shaman as it had become a normal occurrence.

Elysia continued to look through her status, which arguably improved even more than Shaman's.

Elysia had learnt how to use a spear and progressed her archery skills even further. This was a huge boost to Elysia's combat potential as she was no longer bound to long range fighting.

Elysia Dahlia

[Age: 18]

[Gender: Female]

[Race: 4 tailed Fox Girl]

[Level: 95]

[HP: 3000/3000]

[MP:9500/9500]

[Elements]

Fire – Tier 5

Although Elysia had less HP than Shaman she made up for this in mana as she poured a lot of her points into intelligence because she was a long range fighter. She had also finally learnt how to meditate, increasing her mana by at least a 1000 points.

'I hope Arsia comes in today with my new spear and bow, otherwise we won't be able to leave this place before Himeko comes back.' Elysia had actually requested from Arsia to have new weapons made for her as her current weapon was starting to fall apart. This was also the thing that was holding them back from leaving which had annoyed Elysia.

Wolfy on the other hand was chilling by the window, enjoying the cool breeze. Even though he was somewhat influenced by the system through his connection to Shaman, he still had no way to access his stats.

Wolfy had raised to level 97 making him the closest to tier 5, which was rather exciting for him since he had yet to go through an evolution due to him starting out as a tier 4.

As everyone was resting, it being one of the few days off they had from training, a knock on the door could be heard followed by a female voice.

"Elysia~ I've got your weapon." Arsia was at the door and excitement rose in Elysia as finally her weapons arrived.

Elysia quickly got off the bed, letting Shaman's head fall on the bed and forcing her awake from her day dreaming.

Over the last month they had gotten quite fond of their trainers and even though they were treated rough, they were also treated fairly which helped them develop mutual respect for each other. Elysia and Shaman wished they could escape with them but it would be biting off more than they can chew.

Elysia opened the door for Arsia who held in her hands Elysia's new spear and bow.

Elysia's eyes brightened up and Arsia extended her arms telling Elysia to take them.

Elysia grabbed hold of the 2 weapons and quickly ran to the middle of the room where there was a bit of open space. Elysia put away the bow in her inventory and started to spin the spear around to get a feel for it. The spear was exactly the same height as her since she was unsure if further evolutions would make her taller. This way, even if she does grow, the spear would still be comfortable to use.

Shaman had also noticed that although Elysia called it a spear, it resembled more of a Bo or a Staff, but Shaman assumed this was another case of this alternate world being slightly different from hers.

The spear handle was completely black with the pommel being the shape of a golden bird wing. The blade was a blood red with slight wing etchings going out from the middle. It had a double edged blade and underneath it could be seen a golden phoenix emblem, marking it as a weapon made by the Ado family. There was also a decorative gold cover on the handle just underneath the blade giving it that final touch making it look like a royal weapon.

Shaman was mesmerized by Elysia's movements as she looked like she was dancing with the spear making her look elegant.

Elysia had abruptly stopped in front of the bed looking at Shaman, anticipating her response.

'See that Shaman? Look at how cool I was, I was amazing right?' Elysia did not speak as she was too embarrassed, but her eyes gleamed with excitement wanting praise from Shaman

"T-that was beautiful." Shaman stared back intently as she was impressed by Elyisa's performance.

Although Elysia kept a straight face, in her mind she was jumping up and down as she had received praise from Shaman and all her hard work had been repaid.

Arsia had started to clap and a proud smile could be seen on her face as she started to walk in the room.

"You have progressed so much in so little time. If we had a whole year to train, you would have definitely surpassed me." Arsia was surprised with the amount of progress Elysia had made in only a short amount of time.

"Aha thank you." Elysia felt a little awkward and started to fidget a little.

"Anyway I just wanted to let you know that Clara will come by after she's done with her assignment. I know she has been itching to hangout with you guys so make sure to treat her well." Arsia informed them that Clara would be paying a visit which lined up perfectly as they could finally make their way to the dungeon and free Clara of Himeko's influence.

"Thank you Arsia for the weapons, I will make sure to take care of them." Elysia felt greatly indebted to Arsia and felt a little bad that they were going to leave, but she reassured herself as they planned to come back once they were stronger.

"Don't mention it, and since I have things to do, I will be taking my leave now. Make sure you get plenty of rest before Himeko gets back." Arsia had quickly taken off in a rush which was a little odd to Elysia and Shaman but they figured she was just busy since Himeko was not around.

"Well Elysia, looks like we should get ready to leave seeing as Clara will be arriving soon." Shaman did not want to waste any time as this could be the only opportunity they have and she did not want to waste it.

*sigh* "I guess so." Elysia stored the spear in her inventory and started to pack her belongings.

The reality was starting to kick in as this place started to feel like home and they were just about to abandon it, which was hard for them to do. But despite their circumstances they did live rather comfortably and were going to miss the luxury of having a place to go back to.

And as time went on they had started to think 'what if Himeko was not intentionally controlling them?' Shaman dismissed those thoughts, as it was necessary for them to move on, since Stein was a living example of what they could become and she would rather not have her memories wiped.

'We have overstayed our welcome and we need to leave before we fall further down the hole.' Shaman wanted to leave as soon as they could so they could avoid the fate of being another one of Himeko's puppets.

Their next stop was to search for the Freya forest to seek answers about Himeko and the family she has in this world. It was also Wolfy's origins which gave them a more compelling reason to skip Elfhiem and head to the fox realm instead.

102 Clara ????

Shaman and Elysia had packed their belongings and were now waiting for Clara to arrive.

They planned to clear the dungeon first before Shaman used [blessing of the fox] to clear Clara of Himeko's influence, since they had no idea what kind of trauma or damage Himeko had done which could possibly make Clara incapable of fighting.

While waiting, Elysia pulled out her bow as she had yet to try it out and was itching to put it to use.

The bow followed the same theme as the spear with golden wings at each end of the bow with the limbs of the bow being decorated with a bit of gold. The top wing also had the similar insignia underneath it representing the Ado family.

Although it was a little distasteful in how it would be a constant reminder of their troubles in Ebonscale, Elysia was able to look past it since it will also be a reminder of the time spent with their instructors.

The string also had a slight red glow to it, which contrasted well with the black bow and Elysia found it pleasing to look at.

Elysia played around with the bow pretending to shoot arrows and ran around the room like she was fighting a monster.

Shaman was sitting on the bed watching Elysia jump around the room with Wolfy resting his head on her lap.

However while Elysia was jumping around, Clara had abruptly opened the door making a grand entrance.

.....

"HELLOO, I hope you are not doing anything spicy!!" Clara walked in with her usual black dress that was embroidered with purple gems.

But when Clara walked in she had closed her eyes just in case they were having some private time. Although she could have knocked, she wanted to surprise them and since she wasn't being yelled at, she opened her eyes, only to see Elysia flying in her direction.

Elysia had not realized Clara had entered the room and ended up crashing right into her.

Clara tried to dodge but was unable to react in time, causing both Elysia and her to fly out of the room crashing into the wall.

A crash could be heard just outside the room and a little bit of dust flew back inside. Shaman winced a little as she could imagine that would have had to hurt, especially for Clara.

Elysia came out fine as her fall was cushioned by Clara, so she got back up perfectly fine. However Clara on the other hand was in pain and felt dizzy from hitting her head relatively hard on the wall.

Elysia quickly headed over to check if Clara was okay and thankfully she had no injuries, but Elysia could clearly see she was in a daze.

Shaman had gotten up as well to check if Clara was okay and used inspect on Clara to see if there were any problems.

[Clara ????]

[Race: human/?????]

[HP: 3975/4000]

Shaman was shocked to see the question marks as it had raised so many questions about Clara's past but before she could say anything Rea interjected.

'Shaman, before you ask, I do not know why Clara is like this and my only guess is that she has yet to find out what she truly is. It would be best to not say anything yet.' Rea spoke in a serious tone which was rare as there was always this aloof nature to her.

Shaman was a little suspicious of Rea as she should technically know everything about the world but for her to suddenly say she does not know made Shaman a bit cautious of what Clara could be.

'You know I can tell what you are feeling and thinking, right? Trust me, I am telling the truth when I say I don't know and your assumption about me being all knowing is far from the truth, I was just trying to give you advice!' Rea sounded annoyed as she could clearly feel Shaman's doubts.

Shaman felt a little embarrassed as she kept forgetting it was almost impossible to hide things from Rea with the only exception being when Rea wasn't paying attention.

'Hmph' Rea pouted and went back to being silent.

Shaman sighed as she had no real concrete way to ascertain Rea's claims and gave up on thinking about it.

While Shaman was talking with Rea, Clara was beginning to recover from her dizziness. As if having a moment of clarity, she froze while staring straight ahead without moving a muscle.

Elysia started to panic a little as she was unsure what to do and wondered if it was her fault that Clara had become like this.

Clara continued to stare blankly till tears began slowly falling down her face. This confused Elysia even more and caused her to start freaking out.

"Clara? Are you okay? What's wrong?" Elysia tried to snap Clara out of it but she had no clue on what to do.

Shaman had finally stopped talking to Rea and was confused by the strange turn of events that was happening right in front of her.

"What did you do Elysia?" Shaman wanted to figure out what happened and even without asking she could see that Elysia had no idea what's going on.

"I don't know, she seemed to be coming back to her senses but then she suddenly became like this." Elysia turned to Shaman hoping she could do something, however it was then that Clara started to speak.

"Please, don't kill them." Clara had only whispered those words but Shaman and Elysia could clearly hear her.

Shaman had realized something and she quickly grabbed a hold of Clara, causing a system notification to pop up.

[Person is aware of influence. Do you wish to remove it]

[Yes/no]

Shaman's eyes widened and she motioned to Elysia to come look at what she was seeing. Elysia quickly came to Shaman's side and looked at the same message, sharing the same reaction.

The same thought went through both their heads and any good feelings they had towards Himeko had vanished.

"Don't tell me Himeko murdered Clara's family and manipulated her memories just like she did with Stein." Elysia had given voice to their thoughts as she shared a bit of her disbelief.

"We can't be sure it was Himeko but I'm betting that something more than just a fire happened and Himeko was not the hero of that story." Shaman recalled back to what Clara told them about her past and believed that Himeko may have manipulated her memories.

"Is it a good idea to get rid of the influence? I have a feeling it is not going to go down well." Elysia started to imagine what could happen if all of Clara's memories rushed back to her and it did not look pretty.

"I'm not sure if it is a good idea Elysia but the longer we leave it the worse it's going to get. We should 100% clear the dungeon first, then we let Clara free and continue from there." Shaman did not want to leave Clara alone and felt a sort of responsibility for her.

"Okay, I understand but we should keep quiet about it."

"Yes." Shaman agreed with what Elysia said as it would do them no good to bring it up before they help Clara.

Clara had suddenly woke up from her dazed state looking around confused and could see the stressed faces of the girls.

"Huh? What happened, are you two okay?" She scratched her head and got up from the floor.

"Fuck, why is my back so sore." Clara stretched out her back causing it to make cracking sounds.

"Aha, well that's because I was jumping around the room pretending to fight and as you entered the room I sort of accidentally crashed into you causing us to crash into the wall." Elysia let out an awkward laugh as she explained what happened to Clara.

"Oh, so that's what happened, anyway I should be fine and since it looks like you are ready why don't we get going." Clara brushed off what happened and instantly got back to what she originally came for.

Shaman was a little thrown off with the sudden change of mood, as they just learnt some possibly terrifying news.

'Honestly this may be the thing I need, so much has happened in such a short amount of time and Clara's spontaneous attitude can hopefully relieve that.' Shaman let out a sigh as it was odd to see Clara back to normal so quickly

"Yes, we should, we were thinking of actually going to the dungeon so if it is okay with you, do you want to come with us?" Elysia kept the conversation going as she could see Shaman still deep in thought.

Clara had pondered for a moment and after a short moment her eyes had lit up with excitement.

"YES!! Since I have pretty much the whole day off I don't need to worry about leaving early." Clara was excited as she wanted to show off to the girls since she had not been able to join them before.

"Great well let's start heading over, Wolfy we are going now!" Shaman wanted to leave as soon as possible so she quickly called Wolfy over.

"YAY!" Clara cheered and quickly wiped her face.

'That's odd, why was I crying?'

103 Whip blades

The girls and Wolfy made their way to the dungeon to finally clear the entire thing.

One thing Elysia was concerned about was the skeleton knight that was deeper in the dungeon as she wasn't sure how Shaman would cope with it.

"Shaman, are you sure you will be okay when we face the skeleton knight?" Elysia could imagine Shaman freezing in place or even passing out if they entered the room.

Shaman froze for a moment at the mention of the skeleton knight which worried Elysia even more.

"Aha, I should be fine, but it may be a little difficult to beat." Shaman did not sound confident and Elysia gave her an unimpressed look.

"Oh what's the worry, I will be with you this time so if things go wrong I will bail everyone out with my lightning." Clara interjected and wrapped her arm around Shaman.

Elysia's face instantly changed into a death glare, and the air around Clara suddenly became cold causing her to let go of Shaman.

"Jeez, is it just me or did it get cold all of a sudden." Clara rubbed her arms and Elysia stopped her glaring.

Shaman let out a sigh as she was forced to remember what kind of girl Elysia was.

.....

'This past month we have had so little contact with others, so Elysia hasn't had a need to show that side of herself and I kind of wish it would stay like that.' Shaman enjoyed not having to deal with a potentially yandere girlfriend and could only hope Elysia can keep it under control in the near future.

Elysia had also taken this opportunity to grab ahold of Shaman's hand and started to pout.

*

They arrived at the dungeon, passing by the guards with ease since they were regulars and had no need to show any proof of entry.

They entered the initial part of the dungeon they were all familiar with and prepared themselves for combat.

The tattoo on the back of Shaman's hand started to glow a little till finally kotetsu appeared in her hand. Elysia brought out her new spear as she wanted to give her new fighting style a go and was eager to murder a few hordes of Terikin. Wolfy had no need to get ready so he waited for the others to finish.

Clara on the other hand pulled out 2 midnight purple whips which shined under the bright crystal light of the dungeon. Shaman was fascinated by the weapons as they did not look like normal whips, but rather blades that were stringed together. The handle was black, the pommel gold, and the hilt was adorned with the symbol of the ado family, small wings coming out to either of its sides.

Clara noticed that Shaman was eyeing her weapon and could not help but brag about it.

"You see these bad boys, they can rip through hordes of monsters with ease. Now, you might be asking yourselves, how do I not hit myself? Well that is because I use my lightning for protection." Clara puffed her chest feeling proud, while Shaman was still staring with curiosity.

Elysia on the other hand felt like Clara had rehearsed this many times suggesting that a lot of people have already had the same question.

"Well could you show us? We have yet to see you fight and it would be helpful for figuring out how we can synergize." Shaman wanted to see Clara in action as she could see herself accidentally getting caught in the crossfire and thus wanted to learn how Clara fought.

"Sure thing! Let me take on the first horde of Terikin we come across and I will clean them up in mere seconds." Clara was excited and could not wait to show off a little.

"Actually wait till we get to a deeper level and then you can show us." Shaman changed her mind as she wanted them to save their energy for now, so they can go all out deeper inside the dungeon. She could also feel that Clara was going to go overkill and did not want Clara to exhaust herself before they even reached the next area.

Clara's excitement died down a little as Shaman had a valid point, realizing it wouldn't be a good idea to go all out just to show off.

"Don't worry, you will have plenty of opportunities once we are deeper into the dungeon." Shaman felt a little bad for killing Clara's mood, so she tried to reassure her that she would get her chance. Luckily, it worked like a charm and Clara's excited mood came back.

"Alright let's GOO!!" Clara took off and everyone else followed her lead.

*

The group had made it to the main cathedral at the back of the dungeon without fighting any Terikin as they were mainly triggered if you stepped over the graveyards.

Clara had still insisted on fighting some but Shaman wanted to have every bit of energy they could gather for the fights in the deeper part of the dungeon. This in turn pushed Shaman to take the lead as previously Clara kept veering off course in an attempt to trigger hordes of Terikin, only to be stopped by Shaman or Elysia.

However when they arrived the entire cathedral was surrounded by a graveyard, forcing them to trigger a horde to get inside.

"Well, it looks like we will have a warm-up battle before we enter." Elysia had also wanted to fight a horde before they entered so she was all rearing for a good fight.

"Finally I can show off, I mean show you what I can do." Clara let out an awkward laugh but Shaman let out a little chuckle as she found Clara's behavior rather cute.

"Alright Clara, I will let you deal with this, so if you need any help just call out." Shaman gestured for Clara to go ahead while Elysia, Wolfy and her watched from a safe distance.

Clara sprinted towards the cathedral, running through the graveyard that surrounded it. She arrived halfway through the graveyard and put a stop to her running, waiting for the Terikin to rise from the ground.

The screams of the terikin began to emerge and ghostly hands pierced the ground from below. Slowly, the Terikin pulled themselves upwards and out of their graves.

Those who were already out began to slowly surround Clara, while new ones continued to pull themselves out.

"Oh, how nice of you to wait for your pals to get up before you attack hehe~" Clara had let the blades of the whip fall to the ground and patiently waited for the Terikin to get out from the ground.

The screams of the Terikin continued to cry out till finally all of the Terikin were fully emerged. A joint scream echoed throughout the dungeon causing Clara to wince a little from the ear piercing shrieks.

After the scream came to an end, the group of Terkin began to close in on Clara. The Terikin had formed a wall of sorts all around Clara as the sheer number of them forced them to start climbing on top of each other to try and reach her.

The circle was slowly shrinking and Clara had yet to make any move, which had Shaman and Elysia worried, but they trusted her enough to come out unscathed.

The circle was beginning to get dangerously close and the wall of Terikin grew higher creating a massive wave of Terkin.

Clara cracked the whip, infusing it with purple lightning. Small lightning bolts could be seen appearing along the small little blades of the whip and the purple tint of the blades had become more apparent.

Lightning flickered around Clara and the purple gems embroidered in her dress were also starting to glow.

Clara then disappeared in a flash of lightning and reappeared high above the Terikin. Due to how close the Terikin were they crashed into each other, leaving a pile of Terikin where she once stood, while others were sent flying to the sides.

Lightning began to once again manifest around Clara and the lightning around the blades began to get more violent.

Clara then shot down to the ground with a trail of lightning behind her, resembling a lightning strike. Clara used her whip blades to shred through the middle of the Terikin pile like a drill till she reached the ground. Once she had reached the ground a burst of lightning stretched out killing multiple Terikins at once. Once Clara landed she began spinning around with her infused whip's blades, shredding any Terikin in its path. As she spun, the blades stretched out even more, increasing in range and leaving behind a zone of carnage wherever she stepped.

To Shaman, Elysia and Wolfy it had looked like Clara was elegantly dancing as she spun through the pile of Terikin.

Lighting had also come off the blades striking the cores with precision while the blades went through the slimy bodies of the Terikin. A few moments of spinning went by and Clara decided to put her 2 whips together in one fluid motion, then slammed them into the ground, causing an explosion of lightning. This had finished off most of the remaining Terikin in one fell swoop, leaving the group to watch in awe as Clara had killed over 150 Terikin in such a short span of time.

Clara's lighting was destructive and pairing it with her blades amplified that destructiveness, reeking havoc on the battlefield.

Some Terikin had survived and tried to rush at Clara in one last pitiful attack, but were quickly finished off with one swing of Clara's whips. Clara, after finishing off the stragglers had turned back to the group to tell them it was now safe, but to also seek praise.

"So how was I? I was super cool right?" Clara wore a proud smile and put her hands on her hips as she waited for praise.

Shaman and Elysia chuckled a little as they just witnessed a destructive murder machine start acting cute.

Wolfy on the other hand deeply admired Clara's destructiveness and simply stared at her with amazement.

"Hey don't laugh, that was hardly 10 percent of my power." Clara pouted a little as she could hear the girls laughing.

Both Shaman and Elysia stopped chuckling as they let Clara's words properly sink into their minds.

"Ehhhh? That was only 10 percent?" Shaman and Elysia spoke in unison with the shock of what they just heard.

104 Accidental discovery

"I'm only kidding, I don't even know how I would put that on a scale other than it being low effort." Clara giggled, as the reactions from Shaman and Elysia were priceless.

Shaman and Elysia let out a sigh of relief as they were worried about having to fight her if she lost control after Himeko's influence was gone.

"Anyway we should get going, the faster we get to the boss the quicker I can go all out." Clara turned towards the cathedral and started walking towards the front door.

"Well someone is eager." Shaman grabbed Elysia's hand and followed Clara's lead with wolfy bringing up the rear.

The group stood in front of massive twin metal doors with skulls engraved and no handle in sight.

Failing to find a proper handle, Clara decided to just kick down the door. Little did she know all she had to do was push.

The metal doors flung open with one slightly coming off its hinges. Clara's kick had also shook the cathedral slightly causing some unlit candles in the hall to fall over.

Shaman had face palmed as she was about to speak up but it was too late.

"Oh, my bad." Clara let out a nervous laugh and scratched her head out of embarrassment. Shaman let out a sigh and continued forward into the cathedral in search of the entrance to the deeper part of the dungeon.

.....

The cathedral was dark as none of the candles were lit and the only thing illuminating the area was the giant crystal at the top of the dungeon which gave them rather low visibility.

The cathedral was a massive hall with pillars to either side, shaped as skeletons holding up the ceiling. On the other end of the cathedral was a stained glass window that showed a skeleton raising his sword in the air.

Elysia wasn't pleased with how dark it was, so she went around lighting the candles with her fire which brightened up the cathedral's walls. Rows of disorganized seats could be clearly seen now and different imagery of what seemed to be a skeleton god adorned the now well lit walls.

"Maybe it's the boss we will be fighting." Elysia was examining the sculptures and depictions of the skeleton god which showed it as more of a warrior rather than a priest.

"That's odd. Compared to your standard cathedral, everything here seems far more focused on violence and war, but to each their own I suppose." Elysia, who had seen a cathedral outside the dungeon due to how long she's been in human territories, could not help but make comparisons as the cathedrals up above were a lot more elegant and peaceful.

Clara had taken a less practical approach and began to swing on a chandelier full of candles. Instead of being helpful she had decided to have a little fun.

The chains that held up the chandelier were rusted, which was a little concerning but the rest felt that since it was Clara doing it, it should be fine.

Although Shaman was a little annoyed, she was also relieved as she felt like Clara was being more useful by not getting in their way.

Wolfy however was utilizing his nose to investigate every part of the cathedral, trying to find anything smelling different than the musty old building.

Shaman's initial guess was for the entrance to be hidden under the pedestal at the other end of the cathedral, so she made her way over to it.

'If my time playing video games has taught me anything, it's that secret entrances are always the most obvious, especially since this is a dungeon so surely it is under the pedestal.' Shaman drew on her gamer knowledge and began to examine the pedestal in front of her which was a concrete slab with a red carpet on top of it.

Shaman kneeled on the floor to see if she could feel any draft coming from underneath and fortunately her guess was right as she could slightly feel a cold wind come from below.

"Wolfy can you come over here and sniff this out." Shaman wanted Wolfy to sniff out anything unusual as they did not know what could be under it.

Wolfy dashed over quickly and slightly slid on the concrete before coming to a stop right next to Shaman. He began to sniff the ground around the pedestal but as soon as he started he recoiled back.

"Ughhh smells like rotting corpses, how the hell can you not smell that?" Wolfy was repulsed and almost wanted to vomit.

"I guess your nose is just that good." Shaman was a little surprised she did not smell it as it seemed like a very strong smell.

"Elysia! We found the entrance, we just need to find a way to open it. That or we can try to blast right through it." Shaman yelled out to Elyisa which also caught the attention of Clara.

Clara jumped off the chandelier but her foot caught on the edge, causing her to pull the chandelier down with her. Instead of breaking like expected a mechanism could be heard and a section of the floor started to open.

Floor and pedestal alike began to move, revealing a hidden staircase.

Shaman was confused about what had caused it all, but when she turned and saw Clara hanging from the chandelier by her feet and the moving chains on the ceiling, she got her answer.

'How the hell were we meant to figure that out?' Shaman sighed in disbelief as for some reason the chandelier was the trigger for the hidden entrance.

Elysia walked over watching the upside down Clara hanging off the Chandelier and could not help but laugh at her.

"HEY!!! Don't just laugh, help me out here!!" Clara did not appreciate she was getting laughed at and waved her hands in protest.

"Sorry, no can do, looks like we will fight the boss ourselves while you hang out." Shaman turned to the stairs and as soon as Clara saw her leave she instantly used her lighting to get herself to the ground.

Clara quickly ran up and jumped down the stairs passing Shaman but when she landed on the staircase her nose was assaulted by the smell of corpses.

"Oh what the hell." Clara instantly covered her nose and began to cough as the smell was overbearing.

Shaman climbed down with Elysia and Wolfy, covering them in a wind barrier which made the smell bearable. When they walked past Clara, Shaman extended the range to cover her as well, allowing her to recover.

*cough* "Th-thank you." *Cough cough* Clara still coughed her lungs out but still made sure to stick near the group.

"Next time, don't be so rash Clara, otherwise next time it might not be just a bad smell." Shaman enjoyed teasing Clara, but was also trying to indirectly warn her not to blindly charge in head first.

"I- I understand." Clara realized that she had been acting a bit reckless as she forgot that dungeons can be rather dangerous and not just a playground.

*

The smell eventually dissipated, but they never really discovered what caused it which confused the group. On the other hand, they were somewhat relieved they would never have to find out

The group made their way down the stairs till they reached the bottom and were met with the same looking hallway that they ran through before fighting the skeleton night.

Shaman recognizing this began to feel a little dizzy and the walls started to distort.

'Shit not this again, you can do this Shaman, it's just a damn hallway.' Shaman tried convincing herself and shook her head which had helped a little with the dizziness.

Elysia could see that Shaman was not feeling too well and could not help but stress out, worrying that Shaman might not be able to handle the encounter.

Shaman started to wobble as she walked deeper into the hallway making Elysia even more concerned. After walking for a few more minutes yet still not having been disturbed by any skeletons, unlike their last time, the end of the hallway could finally be seen, causing Shaman to stop in her tracks.

'Maybe I shouldn't have come back.'

105 Puppeteer

Shaman felt like she was suffocating as the massive hall that opened up in front of her was the same one where they had previously fought the skeleton knight.

Shaman fell to her knees and tried her best to breathe. Elysia grabbed hold of Shaman's arm, trying to catch her fall, only to fail and end up kneeling alongside her .

'Shaman, it's okay, I am here with you, just take deep breaths and we will get through this together." Elysia hugged Shaman trying her best to comfort her.

Clara was a little perplexed on what to do but not wanting to be useless she started to pat Shaman's head to try to comfort her. Wolfy nuzzled his nose against Shaman's back, trying to cheer her up in his own way.

Shaman's breathing began to stabilize and the fog clouding her vision cleared up, and so did the fear that was festering within her.

Shaman let out one last breath before letting Elysia help her back to her feet.

'I am much stronger now! As long as I have my friends by my side I should be able to cope.' The encouragement Shaman got from her friends allowed her to continue forward. Although she had not known Clara for long, she knew she was trying her best to be sincere and Shaman was rather touched by her attempts to comfort her. The fear from her trauma still lingered but she was now able to suppress it as it wasn't nearly as overwhelming as before.

"Sorry, let's keep going." Shaman continued to walk into the same open hall that they fought in previously.

Shaman's hand trembled a little, but she held strong and continued to push forward. Elysia noticed the shake and grabbed tightly onto Shaman's hand.

.....

Just as last time the hall was lit up by torches mounted on the pillars and walls, whose light completely illuminated the room.

Shaman looked around and noticed they've entered near one of the hall's corners, meaning they were pretty far from the knight who therefore was likely still dormant.

"Let's see if we can locate the knight without him waking up and if I'm able to cope, I shall fight with you." Shaman wanted to test her limits as they did not have a backup plan if things went wrong and so by testing the waters Shaman would hopefully find the courage to participate.

They began slowly making their way around the edges of the hall, trying to locate the knight they expected to find at its center without alerting it. It was only when they neared the halfway point that they could finally find their target.

Shaman had shut her eyes and tried to mentally prepare herself as she had no idea how bad it would be seeing the real thing. She slowly opened her eyes, staring right down the middle.

The skeleton knight could be seen sitting limp in the middle of the room as if it has yet to awaken, which was a relief. Shaman then locked her gaze on where its eyes would be as suddenly they began to glow red.

A system notification went off but before Shaman could read what it said, she had passed out falling onto Elysia.

[Curse of the puppeteer detected]

[Blessing of the fox has been activated]

[Blessing failed, user is not aware of the curse]

Elysia read Shaman's messages and began to panic as she was unsure if Shaman was going to recover.

"Clara get ready, I have no idea what's going on and I don't like where this is going." Elysia's mind started to spiral a little as she was once again left in a position where she was unable to do anything.

Clara was very concerned and so was Wolfy. However they were unsure what to do since the looming threat of the skeleton knight was too close for comfort.

"Uhhh We, we need to move her somewhere, staying here will only pose more trouble." Clara tried to think of the best choice and concluded it was to escape. However that conflicted with their main objective of helping Shaman face her trauma, leaving them unsure whether to wait for her to wake up .

Elysia nodded and began to lift up Shaman but stopped when she noticed white strings originating from Shaman's body.

Clara noticed this and instantly realized what phenomenon was happening.

"ELYSIA GET AWAY FROM HER NOW!!" Clara shouted and picked up Wolfy quickly putting distance between her and Shaman.

Elysia took a moment to react but when she remembered what the curse was called she realized what might be happening.

Elysia quickly jumped back and watched as strings started to pull Shaman up until she was standing.

Purple mist also started to flow out from the strings and circle around Shaman just like it would the skeleton knight.

'Elysia, good news is that Shaman is fighting it but the bad news is that her body is being possessed so make sure not to harm her.' Rea quickly spoke up in distress as she told Elysia what was going on in more detail

'So we just need to wear her down so she breaks free herself?' Elysia wasn't too happy as she wanted an immediate fix but she was glad to hear that there is a way out.

'Sadly yes but you need to focus on staying alive, also don't worry about the skeleton knight as whatever entity was controlling it before is now controlling Shaman.' Rea spoke quickly as it seemed like she was having issues on her end.

Elysia nodded and took a deep breath as she waited on what the puppet Shaman was going to do.

***

"Urggg what the hell happened." Shaman found herself on a pitch black floor and was rather confused about where she ended up.

Shaman stood up and felt rather disoriented as she couldn't even tell if there was ground beneath her. She looked around trying to get her bearings but everything around her was shrouded in darkness, all but a single ball of light sitting above her head.

Shaman had also noticed that all 4 of her tails were out and she was unable to make the extra 3 disappear.

'That's odd, why the hell can't I get rid of them.' Shaman began to get extremely worried as she was unsure what was happening.

Suddenly the surroundings changed and she was once again in the same hall as before. However this time Shaman did not feel the same fear as she did before and was rather confused.

'Things are getting weirder by the minute and clearly I am in some form of imaginary space.' Shaman guessed she had passed out and her consciousness is either trapped inside herself or is in another mind space.

Shaman tried to use her skills and pulled up her system but nothing worked which supported her theory that she was not in control and this wasn't reality.

'Shit, shit, SHIT! How the hell am I supposed to get out of here.' Shaman tried to think but the stress was starting to get too much and her ability to reason was deteriorating until a voice spoke.

"Vixen, you are no longer in control of your body and now belong to me, you have fallen for my curse where you will be a slave to this crypt till you are reduced to nothing more than bones." Shaman looked up and could see purple mist floating which was the same mist that controlled the skeleton knight.

"Curse?" Shaman was a little confused but things were starting to make sense for her.

"Yes, now enjoy counting your days as this will be the only place you will be seeing, AH HA HA HA." The mist had a raspy voice and sounded like it was speaking from all directions.

Shaman's stress had started to calm down a little since she was given crucial information that could help her break out.

'So this is possibly the dungeon boss and he's able to manipulate living being's minds through a curse. So technically my Blessing of the fox should be able to break free of the curse!' Shaman's eyes brightened a little and the mind space started to shake.

"YES!"

Cracks started to form all around Shaman and it seemed like the blessing was about to break her free of the cursed mind space.

"What th-" the mist was confused for a moment but realized what was happening and disappeared out of sight.

The shaking grew weaker and the cracks began to heal all of sudden.

'Wait the mist can fight back the blessing?' Shaman was confused how it could be and instinctively tried to pull out her sword. Surprisingly, it came out with ease..

'Wait did the blessing allow me to have some control back?' Shaman instantly tried to use one of her elements and although weaker, it had worked.

Shaman smirked as now she had some tools at her disposal to try to break the space she was in.

106 Shaman Vs Elysia

Outside the mind space where Shaman was trapped, Elysia was currently face to face with a Shaman that was being controlled by the mist.

Clara and Wolfy were positioned behind Shaman, trying to think what the best course of action was.

Elysia, who had just finished speaking to Rea, relayed the same information she received to Clara and Wolfy, making them reconsider their approach.

Clara pulled out her whip blades thinking of using it to trap Shaman but changed her mind once she remembered they were double edged blades and would hurt Shaman more than trap her.

Wolfy was a little lost on what to do as most of his skills were geared towards killing and was unsure what his role could be. Just then, it dawned on Wolfy that he could just manipulate the shadows to whatever shape he wanted, but since he was so used to making them into blades he had forgotten that his shadows were capable of much more than that.

"Clara, I will try to use my shadows to block attacks and if the opportunity arises, I will trap Shaman." Wolfy had also projected his thoughts to Elysia so she knew what was going on.

Elysia pulled out her spear, figuring that with her being the most familiar on how Shaman fights it would be safer for her to be the one keeping Shaman busy.

Elysia felt rather nervous as she was forced to use her spear and did not expect she would have to use it against Shaman.

'My bow is a no go, Shaman will be able to close the distance too easily, hopefully I'll be able to keep up with her attacks.' Elysia tried to mentally prepare herself since for her, even on a good day it was difficult to go against Shaman's wishes, and yet now she had to outright fight her. Although the fact that Shaman was being controlled made it easier for Elysia to face Shaman it still made her uneasy.

.....

'I just need to focus on keeping her attention for as long as possible till Shaman breaks free of whatever is controlling her. I should be able to take her on alone without help.' Elysia was concerned that after Shaman was free, the skeleton knight would wake up and so she wanted Clara and Wolfy to stay back for now.

"Small change of plans, Clara! Wolfy! I want you to stand down while I keep Shaman busy, please save your energy for any other enemies that come!" Elysia shouted her plan. Clara was about to respond but got interrupted as Shaman dashed towards Elysia.

'Damn it, I want to help.' Clara gripped her whips tighter and was now conflicted on what to do as Elysia made a rather valid point.

Elysia and Shaman began to fight, leaving Clara and Wolfy to watch.

"Clara, let's listen to her, she knows Shaman better than anyone else and if it's looking bad we can always jump in." Wolfy knew that they would most likely get in the way and could feel Clara's frustration.

"I guess you're right." Clara let out a sigh. The two stood in silence for a few moments, before Wolfy's sensitive ears picked up on the sounds of a massive group approaching.

"Clara, I think we have guests." Wolfy assumed it was the neverending skeletons that came after them last time.

Clara turned to one of the entrances to the hall and could see a mob of skeletons rushing towards them.

"Looks like we are going to be busy." Clara and Wolfy slowly moved closer to the entrance and waited for the wave of skeletons to approach.

*

Shortly after Elysia called out her plan, Shaman suddenly dashed towards her, slashing down with kotetsu. Elysia was able to successfully block the attack with the middle of her spear but struggled as Shaman's strength was significantly higher than her own.

'If it wasn't for me balancing out my stats in the last 20 levels I don't know if I would be able to handle Shaman's attacks.' Elysia was slightly struggling but it was nothing she couldn't handle.

Elysia redirected Shaman's blade to the side causing it to hit the ground. Some shards of stone flew out from the impact of the blade.

With Shaman's side wide open, Elysia used the bottom of her spear to hit Shaman, thrusting it right into her ribs.

Unintentionally, Elysia had used too much force and made Shaman roll across the ground violently.

'Shit.' Elysia wanted to do as little damage to Shaman but was beginning to feel it would be unavoidable.

Shaman slowly got up from the ground and without wasting time instantly charged back at Elysia.

This time her attack was a little more frantic and did not contain as much force as before. A detail Elysia picked up on was the fact that whatever was controlling Shaman did not have access to her skills or her fighting style. Elysia felt like she was battling someone who was just randomly swinging their sword.

Elysia kept slowly moving back while blocking all of Shaman's attacks with ease. She even began thinking that she would be able to easily restrain Shaman due to how lackluster the fighting style was.

However suddenly the barbaric way of fighting shifted to Shaman's normal way of fighting which caught Elysia off guard.

Shaman had used her leg to sweep Elysia's feet from under her while also slashing towards her neck.

Elysia quickly slammed her spear on the ground to use it for support and kicked Shaman in the face causing the attack to stop.

Elysia quickly pushed herself away with her spear and regained her footing. Shaman however did not let up and continued to attack but this time it was like Shaman was actually fighting. Shaman's attacks were precise and fast, making it even harder for Elysia to block or dodge them.

Their exchanges were getting faster and faster which was testing Elysia's skill at using the spear.

'I need to find a way to weaken her.' Elysia knew she couldn't keep up with Shaman at this rate.

For starters, Elysia activated [Fire coat] which engulfed the spear in flames except where Elysia was holding it and the flames would move whenever she changed her grasp, as if avoiding her hands on purpose. This had surprisingly slowed down Shaman as she was now more cautious of Elysia's attacks and tried to keep her distance from the fire to avoid getting burnt.

Fortunately due to Elysia having used this skill quite often, she had developed a unique way to use the fire coat. Elysia waited for the opportunity to parry Shaman's attack, so she could execute her plan.

Elysia had pretended to let her guard down, baiting Shaman to go for an attack to Elysia's head with a thrust. Elysia parried the attack causing Shaman to lose her balance and left her open for a followup attack.

Elysia used her spear to go for a sweep and just as expected, due to Shaman being controlled like a puppet was able to block the attack. As if her body was being held up by strings, Shaman's arm was moved in a position to block the spear and was able to withstand the sweep despite it looking physically impossible.

However Elysia wanted this and controlled the flames on the spear to wrap around Shaman. Although the flame was not life threatening, they started to burn Shaman's skin.

The mist controlling Shaman jolted her back to detach itself from the spear. Due to the sudden jolt Shaman's shoulder had dislocated causing her arm to go limp.

The fire on Shaman's body began to fizzle out due to losing its connection with the skill. Light burns could be seen along Shaman's arm, but to Elysia's disappointment, Shaman was completely unaffected by it.

The mist controlling Shaman popped her shoulder back and Elysia could visibly see Shaman crying from the pain. Elysia had also noticed Shaman's burnt arm shake, having trouble keeping a grip on her sword.

Elysia, seeing this, hated herself for hurting Shaman. Even though she knew she must find a way to incapacitate Shaman, seeing her cry had set something off in Elysia.

Elysia had a look of determination as she was more than motivated to save Shaman and beat the shit out of whatever is controlling her.

107 Partial Transformation

A red aura started to form around Elysia as the sight of Shaman had set something off within her.

A system notification suddenly appeared but Elysia only got a brief look before focusing her attention back to Shaman as she was more concerned about her than a notification.

[Bloodline A-

Elysia's eyes turned blood red, and black fur started growing and covering her limbs. Although her figure remained human, outwards she now looked more like a fox. Even her face saw some changes, with streaks of red now coloring her cheeks and a new set of whiskers appearing under her nose.

Elysia's 4 tails had also come out and this time they had bright red tips instead of being fully black, alongside her ears whose tips were colored red as well.

The fire on the spear grew more violent, with some of the flames coming off and circling Elysia, creating rings of fire.

The puppeteer had finally recovered Shaman's body to where it could fight properly but upon seeing Elysia, the puppeteer hesitated to attack.

Elysia was not going to wait around, so she decided to make the first move. Due to her transformation Elysia had gained a temporary boost to all her stats making her faster and stronger. She unleashed a continuous rain of attacks, each one targeting a different spot, keeping the puppeteer busy and with no chance at retaliation.

This time the puppeteer was struggling to block each hit as now Elysia's strength has far surpassed Shaman's.

.....

Elysia's use of the spear has become more proficient and to show off the bit of confidence she has gained, she began to incorporate spinning the spear in combat. Elysia looked even more elegant as she fought as her movements all blended together smoothly, creating a memorizing dance.

Shaman continued to struggle and was slowly getting pushed closer to the wall. The mist started to swirl around violently, Elysia was unsure on what to do and therefore continued to keep up the pressure, waiting to see how the mist would react.

However to Elysia's surprise Shaman suddenly used the [Spatial rift] skill, escaping the barrage of attacks. Elysia became more vigilant and waited for Shaman to reappear since she knew Shaman had to come out after a certain amount of time.

A rift opened up above Elysia but instead of Shaman coming out of it, fire started to gush out. Elysia stood there without moving and took on the flames head on.

The rift closed and Shaman reappeared behind Elysia waiting to see the damage she had done. The mist around Shaman began trembling as Elysia easily dispersed the flames with her spear, coming out unscathed.

The red tips of Elysia's fur began to glow and that red glow slowly creeped further up her tail.

The fire began to swirl faster and a smile appeared on Elysia's face. She felt her body brimming with power and was excited to put it to good use. The mist seemingly got the message and stopped controlling Shaman, heading towards the slumped over skeleton knight.

Shaman's body had fallen limp and Elysia caught Shaman before she hit the ground. Elysia then picked her up and moved her to the end of the hall so that Shaman was a safe distance away.

Elysia could have stopped the mist but she was too high on power to let slip this opportunity of facing off a strong opponent. Elysia had also noticed the mist had left a part of itself on Shaman and quickly used her flames in an attempt to get rid of it. Just like a gas, the mist-like being was evaporated by the flame, leaving no traces of it on Shaman.

Elysia was unsure why the flames did not work on the knight before but had to guess it was because the mist would move, if fire ever got too close.

'Seems like the weakness has been in our faces all along, we just needed to hit the damn thing.' Elysia knew what she had to do and so she walked to the middle of the room and waited for the skeleton knight to rise.

The skeleton knight immediately transformed into its death knight form, knowing full well that if it didn't, it would be defeated rather easily.

Elysia's smile grew and her eyes glowed red, almost looking like she had gone crazy. The skeleton knight had finished its transformation and instantly began its attack. Unlike last time Elysia was now able to see clearly through the knight's attack, reading the trajectory of its greatsword and easily deflecting it, causing it to crash into the ground right next to her.

Elysia stepped forward quickly and spun her spear hitting the skeleton Knight right in the ribs, sending it flying into the ceiling.

The knight fell to the floor and Elysia slammed down with her spear on its back, creating a fiery explosion. Some of the mist was caught by the fire, causing a chunk of the mist to fizzle out, reducing its overall size.

The skeleton let out a dark energy, making Elysia quickly jump away from it. The dark energy started to converge on the great sword, coating it in darkness. Elysia did not like the looks of it and wanted to avoid getting hit by it at all costs.

'This better not be dark magic, it should be forbidden and no normal monster should have access to it.' Elysia now wanted to finish this as soon as possible instead of playing since dark magic could be involved.

Before the skeleton could rise, Elysia pulled out her bow and made an arrow combining all of her arrow skills. She had also infused it with more mana than usual creating this blazing arrow. Elysia jumped back creating as much distance between her and the knight, trying to make sure she doesn't get caught up in the blast.

The knight started to rise and the dark energy had now engulfed it's entire body. Elysia looked over to Shaman who was now laying on the floor, double-checking she was out of range.

With Shaman at a safe distance, Elysia kneeled on the ground to balance herself and fired the arrow. The arrow shot through the hall at high speeds giving no time for the knight to react. The arrow hit the knight picking it up from the ground and continued flying down the hall till it reached the very end.

The knight crashed into the wall and the arrow exploded, the combination of all the fire arrow skills created many mini explosions which then merged into one massive boom, evaporating everything it touched. The dungeon shook and the explosion was so great that it collapsed a part of the ceiling, creating a hole that led directly to the graveyards above.

The explosion burst out through the hole in all its glory, then slowly receded until finally vanishing completely. The skeleton knight had literally been turned to nothingness and Elysia had finally reached level 100 meaning tier 5 was just around the corner.

*

Shaman began to slowly wake up, her mind reeling from the massive earthquake that Elysia has caused.

She opened her eyes just to see the skeleton getting vaporized into nothingness and Elysia standing in front of her. Seeing this, Shaman finally got a little piece of mind, having just been through an internal struggle which felt like going to hell and back.

Seeing her loved one kill that which has haunted her for the past month allowed her to let her fears slowly fade away.

'Dammit if it was as easy as seeing Elysia kill it I wouldn't have been so adamant on defeating it myself.' Shaman was now fully awake and this grating thought crossed her mind making her curse herself.

'Can I even call this getting over it myself? well let's hope it doesn't come back to bite me.' Shaman was rather worried for the future as she was unable to tell if her trauma had gone for good or was just suppressed temporarily.

***

"Tch, this fox is so hopeless, feels like i need to keep giving her handouts." The fox goddess wore a rather disappointed face as she watched Shaman on the same holographic screen.

"Oh well she needs to get out of there as soon as possible before she meets that stupid human boy."

"Lets hope she can make use of this blessing as it seems like I won't be able to help you much longer."

The same rumble could be heard just like last time before an old man spoke.

"YOU DARN VIXEN!"

108 Facing fears

Shaman held kotetsu in her hands and looked down at the cracks that formed when the blessing tried to break her free.

A bright light shined through the cracks which gave the idea to Shaman, that this was her way out.

Shaman used kotetsu to stab into the crack but before it could reach the light something had grabbed a hold of the blade.

A skeleton hand had grabbed a hold of Shaman's blade using it to pull itself out of the floor. As if coming out of a pool of darkness the skeleton knight slowly emerged.

Shaman unsummoned kotetsu and fell back upon the sight of the skeleton knight. Shaman crawled backwards as fast as she could. She thought she would be free of her fears in this alternate space, yet now they all came flooding back.

Cold sweat ran down Shaman's face and her mind began to spiral as the trauma was all coming back to her. Attempting to calm herself down, Shaman quickly slapped herself and began taking deep breaths.

'It's not real, this is just an illusion created by whatever entity created this space.'

'Get angry, This was the very thing that almost killed your beloved.' Shaman was talking to herself trying to fight against the fear that has been paralyzing her.

.....

Shaman used her emotions to fuel her anger, as she glared at the skeleton knight, her eyes filled with hatred.

Shaman got up from the floor and prepared herself to fight the fake skeleton knight that was in front of her. She summoned kotetsu and held it in front of her, focused on killing the knight.

Shaman entered a meditative state, but instead of focusing on her mana core, all she could see was the skeleton knight. She could see every small movement it made as it emerged from the floor.

Shaman's hidden tails had also appeared and Shaman noticed a small boost in her power.

'That's interesting, I guess since we hid them straight away, we could never tell if hiding them affected us.' Shaman felt freer than ever. It was as if up till now something was chaining her down, but now that all 4 tails were out, that feeling she never knew she had was gone, making it easier to focus on the knight.

Once the skeleton knight was fully out of the ground, it grabbed it's great sword and charged at Shaman.

Shaman stood still quietly, waiting for the skeleton knight to approach her. Unlike last time when her eyes couldn't keep up with the knight, it was now as if its movements had slowed down.

'Heh. it's not nearly as fast as Stein, this will be easy.' Shaman's confidence grew and she believed that she did not need to use any elements to beat the knight.

Shaman let the knight get behind her but before it could move its greatsword, Shaman quickly turned and slashed upwards across its chest. The knight was pushed back but Shaman did not stop, following up on the attack Shaman stepped forward slashing downwards towards the knight's chest. This time the knight was able to block the attack successfully with its great sword.

Shaman quickly used her [spatial rift] and appeared behind the skeleton knight in an instant. The knight was unable to react and was cut in half by Shaman's blade like it was a piece of butter. But to Shaman's annoyance the knight turned into mist and reappeared in front of her.

"Tch, so you won't die so easily." Shaman was getting frustrated, realizing she might be stuck in an endless battle.

The knight stood in silence, as if it was waiting for orders until suddenly it transformed its body into a shadow version of Elysia. This infuriated Shaman even more as it was using her lover against her.

Shaman was not willing to wait and took the initiative to attack the knight first.

The knight's greatsword transformed into a spear and started to copy Elysia's fighting style. This time it was able to keep up with Shaman, easily parrying her sword towards the ground and locking its movements.

Shaman, who had a creative idea, quickly created a spatial rift below her sword and let go of kotetsu. Shaman then reached up in the air, opening another rift and pulled out kotetsu, slashing downwards.

The knight was cut in half again but the results were the same,, as the knight's body quickly re-formed completely unscathed.

Shaman had figured out a method of using her spatial rift ability to do small teleportations while training with Stein. Although Shaman did not possess the space element she was able to control it to a certain degree and so she was able to distort it making objects inside the rift move positions.

'Looks like normal attacks are never going to work, I should try using one of my elemental skills.' Shaman immediately thought of using the [Blade of Flamescion]. Until now, this skill was too dangerous for her to use. But now that she was at the peak of tier 4 and was in a mind space, it would be a great opportunity to test it.

However before she could activate the skill the mindspace began to shake violently and the pre existing cracks started to grow bigger. The shadow Elysia started to fade away into the darkness showing no signs of reappearing.

Soon the room was full of cracks of light until it finally shattered and Shaman was engulfed in light, slowly disappearing herself.

***

Shaman hit her fist on the ground out of frustration as she was so close to beating the very thing haunting her in her mind but Elysia had beaten the knight before she could. Although seeing the knight being burned to death had brought her great satisfaction, she still felt like the kill was stolen from her.

After complaining to herself, she finally noticed that Elysia looked different.

'She almost looks like a full fox' Shaman saw how most of Elysia's body was now covered in black fur and all her tails were out. Another striking feature Shaman saw was the red tips on the tails as she only remembers Elysia having pure black tails.

'Wait, could Elysia be a lot more special than I thought and that's why she hasn't told me about her past?' Shaman became a little suspicious as she felt like there was more to this transformation and may have to do with Elysia's secretive past.

'I have been very patient with her but I need answers.' Shaman was willing to wait but she wanted to know as soon as possible as Elysia's identity could have unknown implications.

Shaman tried to get up but when she went to move her left arm, a surge of pain flowed through her.

"ARHH!!" Shaman let out a groan of pain and quickly looked over to her left arm. Shaman saw that her left arm had been completely burnt. Although not serious it was still really painful for Shaman to move.

'What the hell did Elysia do?' Shaman was now wondering how the hell it got to this as she knew she was being controlled but didn't think Elysia would use such aggressive tactics to fight her off.

Shaman moved her right arm which was slightly in pain but nothing too bad and used [heal] on her left arm. Slowly the burn marks started to disappear and the pain was slowly going away.

'I am so glad I got this skill, it has become so handy for healing wounds.' Shaman felt grateful for her choice of getting a healing skill as it had cut so much time for recovering injuries.

Once Shaman fully healed her arm she was finally able to get up from the ground.

Shaman then started to slowly walk over to Elysia who had been standing still staring at what little remained of the knight. Shaman had kicked a stone while walking which grabbed the attention of Elysia.

Elysia turned and glared at Shaman with her new red eyes she had acquired during the transformation. Shaman felt threatened by the stare and stepped back quickly as she was unsure if Elysia was still herself.

"Uhh, Elysia, it's me Shaman, are you okay?" Shaman quickly spoke up and as soon as she did Elysia's face changed from a cold glare to a joyful one.

Slowly Elysia's body reverted back to her human form and all the fox features except the tails and ears vanished. However the red tips and eyes remained which got Shaman even more curious to who Elysia is.

"SHAMAN!" Elysia ran to Shaman giving her a hug and almost starting to cry.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Elysia squeezed Shaman tightly, making Shaman feel like her back was going to get snapped.

"I-it's g-good to see you are okay t-too, b-but could you lighten up on the hug." Shaman struggled to speak, hoping Elysia would listen to her request.

"Oh sorry, I guess I got a little carried away there." Elysia let out an awkward laugh and lightened her hold on Shaman.

"Anyway what is with the red eyes?" Shaman couldn't help but ask about it but when she did Elysia froze.

"W-wait, they are red?" Elysia let go of Shaman and put one of her hands over her eye.

"Yep." Shaman's suspicions were confirmed. There was something more going on with Elysia than she initially thought.

"Oh no, why is it happening now?" Elysia began to panic and looked distressed.

"Can you explain what's going on?" Shaman was now worried as it seemed like this wasn't something they'll be able to ignore for long.

Shaman was initially worried that Elysia's secret identity might put them in danger, but Elysia seemed more concerned with her condition rather than her secret being exposed, leading Shaman to believe her identity might not be that big of a concern.

"Not right now, Shaman but I think it's time I stopped hiding the truth and tell you where I'm from once we leave the dungeon." Elysia started to take deep breaths, calming down.

Suddenly they noticed Clara in the distance with Wolfy walking beside her.

"HEY BITCHES, WE ARE BACK!" Clara waved as she walked over.

109 Clara and Wolfy's boring fight

Clara did not like the fact that Elysia would be fighting Shaman alone, but the oncoming horde of skeletons also had to be dealt with.

'Let's hope I didn't misplace my trust.' Although Clara knew they had gotten much stronger, she could not help worrying that they might not be ready.

'Elysia knows Shaman more than I do, so she should be more than capable of fighting her.' Clara shook her head and faced one of the many entrances where the sound of the skeleton horde was coming from.

Elysia and Shaman's battle had moved further in giving them a third of the hall to themselves to fight the skeletons.

Wolfy stood next to Clara as he believed Elysia was going to be alright and therefore decided to help Clara instead.

Wolfy noticed through his highetend hearing that the horde of skeletons was not one small group but rather what seemed like an entire's country's worth of skeletons charging at their location.

"Clara, this is going to be a long battle." Wolfy was unsure if he could survive long enough as the sheer amount of skeletons could overwhelm them.

"Great so I can't go all out, I have to conserve energy." Clara let out a sigh as once again she had to hold back.

"Well, I don't think this is even the final boss so don't worry, we still have more of this dungeon to explore." Wolfy picked up bits of information from Shaman about the skeleton knight which made him believe that it isn't the final boss.

.....

"I know, I have been in here before, but the anticipation is killing meeeee." Since Clara was already at peak tier 4, she had already gone into the dungeon to train.

Wolfy felt a little stupid as it should have been rather obvious that Clara has already attempted it before.

Wolfy shook his head and concentrated on the hallway in front of him, waiting for any sign of the skeletons. The rumbling slowly got louder and louder until even the sound of bones grinding against bones could be distinguished from among the cacophony.

Eventually Clara and Wolfy saw a contingent of skeletons appear at the end of the hallway charging towards them. Each skeleton carried a different rusted weapon alongside having the same purple mist within its skeletal body.

"Wolfy I have an idea, make sure they don't come from the other entrances." Clara quickly rushed to the entrance where the main charge was. Wolfy followed Clara's orders and kept an eye on the other 2 entryways. These 2 entryways were located on either side of Clara which had made it harder for Wolfy.

Clara stopped once she reached the side of the central entrance, then quickly whipped her whip-blades across the doorway, lodging them in the wall on the other side. The 2 blades rested one above the other, separated by over a meter.

Clara smiled, and purple lightning started flashing around her, making violent crackling noises. Clara gripped both of her whip blades tightly and pushed her lightning through the blades. lightning surged through the blades, streaking its way both along the blades and in between them.

The lightning got more and more violent, until its movements finally stabilized, forming a permanent fence covering almost the entirety of the entrance.

Clara had created an electric barrier of sorts over the entrance with her whip blades. The skeletons, seemingly mindless, continued to run at full speed without a care of the barrier.

The skeletons barged through the entrance, only to get turned to dust as soon as they passed through the lightning barrier.

Clara however had to keep supplying mana to her blades to keep the barrier up and realized it might not be the best way to conserve energy.

'Shit this was a bad idea.' Clara could feel her mana getting sapped away, so she quickly pulled her whip blades and jumped back. Wolfy had not seen any activity in the other entrances and decided to quickly go back to Clara to help with the oncoming wave.

The skeletons flooded out of the entrance and instantly locked onto Clara. They all rushed in her direction holding their weapons up high ready to attack.

Before Clara could attack Wolfy had jumped in front of her. Wolfy's shadow started to expand across the floor till it was underneath all of the skeletons. Wolfy then howled which was followed by hundreds of shadow scythes rising from the ground. Each scythe spinned in a circle, destroying the spines of the skeletons. The charging skeletons soon found their upper and lower halves detached from one another and quickly toppled to the floor, the mist being unable to keep their broken bodies together.

"Thanks Wolfy." Clara felt like Wolfy's help was unneeded but still appreciated what he did.

Wolfy's scythes disappeared as it was too costly to keep up for a long period of time and was not worth the struggle.The skeletons continued to rush out the entrance and charge at them.

Clara sighed but nonetheless got to work immediately and used her whip-blade's range to her advantage to kill as many as possible.

Clara started to spin like a beyblade into the clump of skeletons without hesitation. Lightning was also infused in her whips making each hit more destructive. Clara went through countless skeletons until she was bored of spinning around. Clara stopped spinning and slammed her blades together creating a shockwave of lightning that eviscerated all the skeletons around her.

Clara was already getting bored of the endless stream of skeletons as it was not satisfying for her to kill.

Clara, to cure her boredom, started to swing randomly around letting her lightning fly everywhere and pretended to dance. This was a lot more entertaining for herself as she went through killing the endless waves.

Wolfy, who had a stream of skeletons come after him, was using [Shadow sword] to hack and slash his way through. Wolfy also took the opportunity to improve his agility and was trying to kill as many skeletons as he could as quickly as he could. This helped Wolfy to not get bored, allowing him to keep his rhythm during the fight.

Wolfy was jumping around with sword in mouth using the bodies and pillars to move around quickly. He would also incorporate shadow blades coming from the ground if he found himself in a spot where he was unable to react quick enough.

'I hope this ends soon.'

*

After mindlessly killing skeletons for what felt like forever they had finally killed them all and were able to take a break.

"Why the hell do basic skeletons carry weapons they hardly use to attack, in such a dungeon." Clara was complaining about how easy the fighting was and wondered why on earth such basic monsters were in a high level dungeon.

"Who the hell knows." Wolfy was exhausted as he had to individually kill each skeleton.

As Clara and Wolfy were resting a sudden earthquake occurred and a bright orange light was coming from behind them. They both turned and saw a massive ball of fire at the end of the hall. Clara was rather shocked as the impact of the explosion was shaking the dungeon.

"Quick, let's head over." Clara wanted to regroup as soon as possible and realized that the massive ball of fire was the doing of Elysia.

110 Elysia's family

The group was all together and Elysia was contemplating if she should also let Clara in on her origins.

'She is going to be joining us anyway, so if anything Shaman can use her blessing a little earlier than expected.' Elysia figured Clara would find out anyway so there was no use in hiding it.

"Woah Elysia, when did you start rocking a new colour, it honestly suits you." Clara got a good look at Elysia and rather liked the red tips her hair had gotten.

"Aha thank you, but there is something important you should know about this certain colouring, I was just about to explain it to Shaman, but since we are all here, I will just tell everyone." Elysia had also winked at Shaman to let her know that she was okay with it as she imagined Shaman was internally freaking out.

'WHAT THE HELL, WHY DOES CLARA GET TO KNOW, EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE HARDLY KNOWN HER FOR A MONTH.' Shaman was internally freaking out and felt a little jealous that Clara was going to know as well.

Shaman stared at Elysia with a little annoyance but Elysia ignored her knowing full well what she was thinking.

"Ohhh~ Please tell me." Clara was too intrigued to notice Shaman's annoyed look and waited patiently for Elysia to explain.

Elysia took a deep breath as she could feel the anxiety rise in her because was not sure how they were going to take the news.

"Before I begin, I do not associate with what I am about to tell you, as it's rather something I wish wasn't a part of me." Elysia moved her tails in front of her so she could look at the red tips.

.....

Shaman, Wolfy and Clara were paying close attention, seeing that the situation is going to be more than a bit of fur and eyes changing colour.

"Clara, you wouldn't know this, but the colour of our tails signifies our social standing in fox society. For example, Shaman has black tipped fur which indicates she is nobility. It is hard to distinguish between the different families but that's where names come into play." Elysia's brief overview caused Clara to look at Shaman as she was unaware that Shaman was of noble birth.

"Wait, why isn't this common knowledge amongst everyone." Shaman was rather confused as the fur patterns seemed obvious to her.

"Sham, you dumbass, remember that the fox realm is closed and they rarely contact other countries, let alone release information about their internal politics to outsiders." Elysia almost yelled, but then she remembered that Shaman was rather ignorant of the world.

"Sham? Where did that come from, and you know even after reading all those books it really didn't help with understanding this world." Shaman was thrown back a little by the nickname but was not against it.

"Oops, I didn't mean to call you that yet, but yes you are right, those books gave us more of a headache than actual knowledge." Elysia held her head remembering the pain of absorbing that information.

Clara giggled a little as she knew most of the books that are in the library are just old fairy tales with vague explanations and couldn't believe they spent their time there.

"Ahem, anyway, My point is, I am from a certain family in the fox realm and my black hair with the red tips represents a branch of that family. My red eyes are where it becomes problematic, it shows that I'm from the main family line." Elysia's words became a little shaky but she continued on.

"I do not know much of what my family has done. All I know is that my parents tried to escape it and e-ended up getting k-k-killed by my relatives. I only know this thanks to this small journal that I keep with me, which was written by my mother." Elysia reached into her breasts pulling out a small journal.

'Huh? Where the hell did she put that during sex?' Shaman was rather confused on how Elysia was able to keep a small journal hidden but decided to let it slide because of how important it was to Elysia.

"In her journal, my mother talked about how they are the reason why the different races almost became extinct over a hundred years ago and that our family was supposedly wiped out by the current royal family. So that's why Shaman's family is in power as they were the ones to protect all fox kin as well as the other races of beastmen. So collectively they voted for that fox family to rule over all beastmen land, renaming those territories to the fox realm to commemorate the current royal family that has been in power since the massacre." Elysia looked through the journal picking out points to explain what kind of family she originated from.

"There was a decree for any fox that had red tipped hair to be executed, and they had gotten most of the house, main and side branches alike. Only a few survived, keeping low and trying to rebuild the family in secret. I don't know why my parents needed to escape, the journal only mentioned hiding me away when it was clear they were not going to make it. I was left all alone and didn't know what to do. I distrusted both my relatives and the royal family, leaving me with no one to turn to" Elysia explained how she was too young at the time and did not have a proper understanding of her situation.

"Now this brings us to the present, Everybody thinks they are dead but from what my mother said, There are still a few members alive trying to revitalize the family. If they find out I'm alive, they are going to try to bring me back no matter the cost as I am a member from the main house, making me one of their most valuable assets. Although I do not know how they have been able to stay alive for this long, all I know is that their ideals haven't changed and we must try to avoid them the best we can." Elysia's face was filled with worry, concerned about her future and what would happen if she was actually caught.

"There was also one last message in the journal from my mother. She told me "if you ever get the traits of the family, you need to make sure your remaining relatives never find you. Otherwise they will take you back and I don't want to imagine what will happen to you." Then the journal ends." Elysia's eyes threatened to tear up, but she refused to cry, holding back her tears as best she could.

Elysia closed the journal and put it away, as it was the last thing she had of her mother and looking at it any more would make her cry.

Shaman had no words and all she could do was go up and give Elysia a hug. Shaman also needed time to think as now there was the threat of another group coming after them.

'Why the hell does everyone want our tails, can't I just get strong peacefully without needing all this drama.' Shaman complained mentally as everything was getting more dangerous as they leveled up.

Clara had also sat in silence as she thought about what Elysia had said. Wolfy wished he could hug Elysia but all he could do was rub his head against her leg.

'Why did such an innocent girl get pulled into such a fucked up situation.' Clara could not see Elysia being a part of such a ruthless family and felt a sense of duty to help the girls.

"T-thank you Shaman, I will tell you in more detail what happened with my parents but right now I dont think it's a good time as we still haven't cleared the dungeon." Elysia realized that they hadn't gotten the quest rewards, meaning that they still had more to clear.

"Oh shit you're right, we really should get going then. Also it's okay I will always be here to listen when you're ready Elysia" Shaman understood why Elysia was so hesitant and was willing to be patient if Elysia needed more time before she told more of her story.

"FINALLY, I can show off." Clara was excited to hear they were finally moving on.

"Pfffhahaha, Let's get going, I want to kill something." Elysia was eager so she could take her mind off her circumstance.

"Let's hope this boss isn't too hard for us." Shaman felt the mood rise and was happy to see that Elysia was back to her normal self.

"Well uhh where do we go now though?" Wolfy asked the obvious question but the group genuinely didn't know. Shaman and Elysia looked at Clara as she had been in the dungeon before.

"Don't look at me I haven't gotten this far, Himeko didn't allow me to go further." Clara put her hands up and answered quickly.

Shaman and Elysia sighed as now they had to find the boss in a labyrinth-like crypt.