Role playing

[ Narrator POV ]

"Let's just start this dungeon already, we've wasted enough time getting to know each other." Said the pale boy as he looked pass the girl as if she didn't exist.

"Haha- Ahem! Yea he's right we should start this dungeon now that everyone is here" said the redhead tank as he controlled himself from laughing more. The others also quieted their laughter and looked towards the dungeon. The woman, { GestBlinde } was embarrassed but she knew that it wasn't much she could do as of now so she also chose to forget about the boy for right now.

In front of the party were huge black double doors with reddish-orange lines that looked similar to flowing lava decorated on top of them. The area itself was neatly hidden off from the open area of Múspellsheim and was instead blocked off by large rock hills.

The group readied themselves and the man wearing the crimson-red armor along with the redhead tanker took lead and pushed the huge double doors open. As they entered the dungeon a notification popped up in front of everyone's face.

*Ding*

[ Due to being the first explorers of the dungeon { Magma Garden }, You have received a bonus 10% boost in EXP gain as well as treasures! ]

"Alright!"

"This is great!"

The group celebrated as they saw the notification everyone had gotten excited. They looked towards each other now filled with even more excitement for what's to come after beating the dungeon.

"Hm? W-wait isn't that [ Prosperity and luck ]?!" Said the ninja dressed man in all black. Anyone could hear the shock in his voice. He was looking towards the boy named { Poltergeist }, when he turned around to celebrate he had caught the boy using the scroll looking item.

Seeing that he was caught the boy replied casually. "Yeah it is."

"[ Prosperity and luck ]? What's that?" Asked one of the tanks curiously, he had never heard of this item before so hearing someone shout from shock after seeing it made him interested.

"You don't know? It's a cash shop item. Those are only items that you can get through spending real money in the game."

The others also looked at the tanker oddly, everyone knew about cash items it was a popular thing, so they couldn't understand why he was so uninformed. The tanker looked around then spoke in a annoyed tone "Tsk- of course I know about cash items what I'm saying is that I've never heard of that item. Besides it's not even in the cash item shop at all, I can check right now!" As he spoke he went through his virtual windows to reach the item cash shop. "See! It's not in here." He said as he showed his virtual window to the others.

"Oh he's right." Said the girl. The other also agreed with a nod.

"Duh I'm right, that's what I've been trying to say!" He said with a 'I told you so' tone. Everyone looked back towards the man who first brought up the item and he spoke once again. "*Sigh* of course you won't find it inside of there now, it's a old gacha item. Only OG players would know about it, it was an limited item that dropped with the release of the cash item shop itself." This news had everyone surprised other than the ninja and the boy, { Poltergeist }.

The ninja then continued "That item is one of the more popular and rare cash items due to not many people having it. Most of us back then didn't really spend money on the game so a lot of people missed out on the gacha items. Not to mention that item he just used is a item that raises the drop rate of higher class items by 50% i believe. If I'm not mistaken it should also stack with the current EXP boost we all just received a couple seconds ago."

Everyone heard this and looked towards the boy. Even though their avatars faces didn't change anyone would sense the greed. { Poltergeist } looked around then put his right hand up signaling that they should stop. "If I could then I would give everyone one, but that was my last one sorry." He said in a regretful tone. His voice seemed very honest and believable, not to mention like the ninja stated before this item was released some time ago so it was very possible that the boy was telling the truth.

Hearing that he had just used his last one the others sighed eternally. "Ah, it's fine it's the thought that counted." Said the redhead tanker. "We should continue now." He said.

Everyone started to walk again, the dungeon interior was very spacious. If one looked at the dungeon from the outside it wouldn't look so big but the inside was a different story.

As they passed throughout the dungeon they encountered many fire skeletons which were easily disposed of by the slayers in the front. The support barely even had to do anything other than cast a few spell here and there. As they passed through another set of doors the boy spoke "We're doing good right? What do you think { CrimsonSword }?" This got the attention of the man in crimson armor as he looked back towards the others with a small artifact he had raised in his hand "Haha! Your right, this dungeon has been as easy as cake and we've gotten tons of gold and data crystals from these low level mobs. I'm sure it won't be long until we reach the boss-"

As he was about to finish his sentence a tall figure jumped out and grabbed him then stabbed him three times in the chest before dropping him on the ground and jumping back. The crimson armored man fell to the ground dropping his artifact he had been using since they started this dungeon. This shocked everyone as they flinched from surprise.

"Fuck! I only have have 15% of my HP, { GeatBlinde } heal me quick!" He yelled anxiously. The girl snapped out of her shock and immediately casted a healing spell to heal his HP and the tanks ran to the front and covered him with their shields up. The only person not reacting to this was the boy, instead he oddly fiddled with his fingers slightly however no one noticed this. After being healed the man jumped up and got in a defensive stance. The monster stood still as a statue as it stared towards the group, the tension in the air was heavy. No one expected to be ambushed randomly by a monster, until recently they had been doing just fine, killing all the monsters that appeared easily.

The boy reached down picking up the artifact that the man dropped and called out to him "Oh sorry this was my fault. You dropped your artifact." He said was handing over the item. The item itself was designed to look like a all black medallion.

"Oh thanks { Poltergeist } don't worry it's not your fault, I just slipped up and lost focus." He said this but in his mind he didn't understand. 'How couldn't I sense the monster? My artifact was literally crafted for that.' He thought.

"Don't worry I've fought this kind of monster before, usually they are seriously weak to ice magic." Said the boy as he walked to the front of the group. He then casted a ice spell and shot the statue like monster killing it with one shot.

"Woah I didn't know you were so strong…"

"I know right, glad he's on our side haha!"

Everyone looked at the boy with awe, even the girl who was had got into a altercation early with him. Recently he had only been using small spells so they didn't expect to see him one shot the strong monster.

***

After finishing up the rest of the mob, the group finally made it to what seemed like the boss room. It was across a narrow bridge. The bridge was wooden and the only thing holding it was some rope that could possibly break at any time. Underneath this bridge was nothing but hot lava with no escape out of it. If one were to fall inside it would mean inevitable death.

"Okay guys we've finally made it to the boss room, now all we have to do is get cross this bridge." Said one of the tanks. Everyone agreed with him though they were still on edge since this dungeon had surprised them with something unexpected once already. With everyone ready they started to move across the long bridge. However they were stopped by the boy.

"I think we should cross in smaller groups. It would be safer for us since the bridge looks pretty unstable." Said the boy. The group had now all come to trust { Poltergeist } because most of all his advice throughout the dungeon had been very helpful to them and even they seen that the bridge was pretty suspicious.

"I think your right we should split in groups of three and wait until the first group is cross so our weight doesn't effect the bridge." Said the redhead tanker.

Following the boy's advice they moved in two different groups with the two slayers and one of their tankers going across first. As they reached the end and the other side of the bridge they turned around to look at the others.

"Okay, now it's your guys turn, come on over!" They yelled from the other side of the bridge. The voice echoed throughout the spacious cave like-room causing small pebbles to drop from the walls.

The next group to cross consisted of the redhead tanker, the girl and the younger looking boy. As they crossed the bridge the girl looked down at the lava that was bubbling like a jacuzzi she felt a slight bump which made her loose her footing. She leaned and panicked which caused the bridge to shake back and forth.

"W-what the?!"

Due to all the bridge's aggressive movements the girl end up leaning and falling over the bridge. As she fell she screamed and reached her hand out to grab hold of something that could possibly help her in this situation, the redhead tanker rushed to catch her however he was to slow. Fortunately she was caught by the boy who swiftly grabbed her reaching hand.

"I got you." He said with a soft and low voice. Seeing that the healer was safe the redhead sighed.

"T-thank yo-"

Before she could finish giving her thanks she heard a silent laugh coming from the boy then he said two very low words that only he and her could hear.

"Just kidding~"

Hearing those words her hand fazed right through the boy hand, he never let go of her hand however it was like his body itself had lost its physical form, like she was trying to hold on to thin air. She fell with only one thought in her mind.

'How- how did my hand..' before she could even finish her thought her Vision went black and all she saw was a notification in front of her.

[ You have died! ]

Back up on the bridge the redhead couldn't believe that their one and only healer had just died. The boy got up and spoke in a sorrowful voice. "I-I really tried to save her but she let go, I don't know why she let go!"

The tanker walked over and put his hand on the boy shoulder. Even from where he was standing he saw with his own eyes that the girl let go by herself. "It's alright we can still complete the dungeon with the five of us. She obviously didn't want to help us finish and instead chose to die for some reason… well it can't be helped. We should move and catch up to inform the others."

Finally reaching the end of the bridge the other three who had already made it pass the bridge were panicking. "What the hell happened? How could she fall?!"

The redhead tanker put up his hand and spoke sternly. "It was her choice for some odd reason she let go of { Poltergeist }'s hand when he tried to help her."

"What? That makes no sense, we're literally at the boss room, why would she try to kill herself? Besides she could have just went back to the exit the regular way by following the path we took to get here." Said the ninja suspiciously.

"I have no idea. But me and { Poltergeist } saw it with our own eyes. She must've been a psycho or something." The redhead said in a tired tone.

"*Sigh* this is why I hate partying with strangers… Anyway since we're here we might as well try to fight the boss."

Hearing this everyone agreed and they all entered the room. Inside of the room was a large black tree with its branches covered fire instead of leaves.

"Woah…"

"I know right, this so beautiful"

"It almost looks real."

Everyone stared at the tree since it was something none of them had seen before. It was bigger then any regular tree. After a few seconds though all of their attention was on what was moving in the body of the tree. The tree's trunk began to move and separate allowing a creature to crawl out of it. What appear was jet black monster it looked like the tree however it had legs and arms. It's face resembled a skeleton however it had sharp ears similar to an elf with horns that stretched like branches. Within each hole in its head where the eyes and mouth was situated you could see the hot fire that circulated the inside of its body. (Image here for more of a reference)

Seeing that the creature was looking directly at them they were sure that this was the boss of this dungeon so everyone got in a fighting stance. Immediately the monster reached its arm out and it grew stretching with sharp branches on the tips, it went straight for the group. They all jumped to the side dodging the sharp branches however the magic caster, { Poltergeist } was to slow and was stabbed and killed all in one shot.

The other looked at this shocked no one had expected him get hit, let alone die. "Shit! It's strong! Everyone throw everything you got at it!" Screamed the man in crimson armor. Now with their whole formation destroyed they could only rush together.

The tankers attacked and attacked however it looked like they were making no serious damage on the boss. Their build wasn't for attacking it was mainly for defending.

And just like that their team started crumbling. The first to die was the other tanker, his defenses couldn't hold anymore and he took his last hit from the boss. Next was the crimson armored man, he had got arrogant with his damage and rushed right at the exact time the boss went into its second stage after reaching 50% in health.

Now left with only the ninja and the redhead tanker they looked at each other and nodded, although they were pretty much only left with less than 5% of their health the boss was only left with 2%. They still had a chance to beat this boss. They rushed at the boss, seeing their movement it lifted both of its arms and shot sharp branches pieces at them. The tanker swiftly and efficiently moved and jumped in front of the ninja to block the attack with his big shield while the ninja jumped up over him with a two daggers in his hands. For a split second time seemed to move as slow as flowing water as they could almost taste their victory until…

"Sorry but that's enough from you to. [Twin Magic: Black Flame]!." A familiar low and soft voice came from far above them. A pale and young looking boy with the same stoic expression from their memories appeared.

"{ Poltergeist }?! WHY?!" Screamed the redhead tanker.

"You guys played your role perfectly, and for that i thank you." The boy said bowing slightly. In contrast with his stoic expression on the avatar his voice sounded to be having fun instead. That was the last thing they saw before they got a notification.

[ You have died! ]