Chapter 14: 014 * Bonus Chapter *
Alex had arrived at the dungeon with 15 minutes to spare, and he had also barely reached level 18. He assigned his 5 stat points all to sense, bringing his sense stat to 40 and 38 because of the malnourished body penalty.
While Alex was lost in his own thoughts about the raid, the people around him couldn't stop staring at him and whispering amongst themselves.
"Hey, isn't that Lucifer? Why is he here? The Fire Cave doesn't have a Solo option."
"I don't know, maybe he's looking for someone?"
"Do you think it has anything to do with the Flower Castle guild?"
"Maybe? They might have recruited him, or he's paying back a debt to a friend."
The people didn't stop speculating and making up guesses. Many people here believed his appearance had something to do with the Flower Castle guild. A few people tried to talk to Alex; however, he completely ignored them as the only thing on his mind was how to start up his guild. To create a guild, a few things are needed: a minimum of 5 players, 1 gold coin, and at least a player at level 15. Most players were finally getting their guilds officially created as they reached level 15. Alex didn't want to create a normal guild that was mostly about numbers. He wanted an elite guild because, while in the beginning, the difference in levels didn't make much of a difference, in the later game a huge gap could be seen between tiers and people with better combat standards. The world had advanced rapidly, and people began to train their bodies a lot more. This led to breakthroughs in the human body's limits and the use of their strength. In Alex's life before the regression, he wasn't even at the lowest level of the recognized combat standards. The realms for this level of control over their bodies were called the Transition, Precognition, Void, and Absolute Realm. The Transition Realm focuses on perfecting your control over your own body. The Precognition Realm focuses on predicting your opponent's actions from their breath, unconscious movements, and more. The Void Realm pushes your senses to the limit, making it seem like you can feel everything. Once you can feel everything, you would have advanced to the Absolute Realm. In the Absolute Realm, you can view everything happening inside a given area around you. When someone is in the Absolute Realm, nothing can beat them inside that area unless there is an overwhelming difference in power.
Alex recently felt that he had progressed into these Realms when he had almost died by the Sky Wolf. He didn't believe he was inside the Transition Realm; however, he might have touched it. He wanted to test how much he had improved in this dungeon and how much he still needed to improve. While he was still lost in his thoughts, a group of three women began to walk toward him. If someone used "inspect" on them, they would find out they belonged to the same guild. Of course, some players had already noticed them and used "inspect."
"Well, that confirms it. Lucifer is here because of the Flower Castle guild. That's their guild leader, and two people from their core group."
"That is true."
While people were gossiping about the Flower Castle guild and Alex being together, the people from the Flower Castle guild had arrived in front of Alex.
"Hello Lucifer, as agreed, I brought 3 people to participate in the raid."
"That's good, and just to be clear, I'll be the party leader for this raid."
"I understand."
"No! Why would you be the party leader? You're merely a solo player. Our guild master should be the leader as she has more expertise."
"Rose, that's enough! We are mercenaries, in a sense, at the moment, and he's our contractor."
"Tch! Fine, but don't come crying to us when you die."
"I have no plans on blaming anyone. I just hope you don't hold me back."
"That won't be a problem, Mr. Lucifer."
"So, do you girls want to introduce yourselves?"
"Well, I'm Rose, a healer."
"I'm Blossom, a tank."
"I'm Claire, the mage."
"Well, while I would ask all of you to share your status information, I doubt that you would comply, so I won't."
"You're right, we won't. That information is personal and extremely important to keep secret. I'm sure you understand."
"Well, that's fine. Is everybody ready? We should get started as soon as possible."
"We're ready whenever."
"Alright, here are 5 fire resistance potions for each of you. Make sure to only drink the fire resistance potions when I tell you to. I also hope you brought sufficient healing items."
"We do have healing items, along with Rose, our healer, so we should be fine."
"Alright, let's create a party. I'll invite everyone."
Alex created a party through the system and invited Blossom, Rose, and Claire. When they joined, he put his hand on the blue portal and looked at the system messages.
[Fire Cave, recommended level 15-20]
[Difficulties: Normal, Hard, Hell]
[Max Party Size: 4]
Alex then chose the Hell difficulty and watched as the blue portal turned black with a golden outline. The guild members from the Flower Castle guild looked at the portal in shock.
"What the hell! You never told us about challenging the Hell difficulty!"
"Lucifer! I want a good explanation for leaving this out!"
"What do you mean? You never asked, and I didn't think it was all that important."
"Lucifer, wipe that smirk off your face! Ugh! Fine!"
"Wait, what!? Guild master, we're going along with this!?"
"We're under a system-enforced contract. We have to unless we want to pay the breach of contract."
"Well, let's go then."
Under heavy protests from Blossom, Rose, and Claire, Alex and the others walked into the black portal with the golden outline. The players watched in shock and intrigue as Lucifer once again challenged a Hell mode dungeon. Some even snickered to themselves, thinking how Lucifer was just going somewhere he's comfortable. They all asked the question: why would the devil have any problems with Hell?
The inside of the dungeon could very well pass as Hell. The dungeon seemed to be a single large cave with no places to hide or run. The cave had lava streams all around, and the ground was producing steam. The main monsters inside this dungeon were Fire Elementals. They hid inside the ground, walls, lace, fire, and would attack you when you were most vulnerable. Their appearance was molten rock that surrounded a core that looked different based on strength. They didn't walk; they levitated. However, they did have two arms formed of molten rock. Their entire bodies were on fire, and they would leave behind a trail of fire wherever they walked.
Alex and his party appeared inside the cave, and immediately a few fire elementals attacked them. Luckily for them, when Alex noticed the surroundings change, he immediately activated his Warp skill.
He was able to notice 3 elementals attacking them, 2 in front and 1 behind. Luckily for him, his Sense stat was high enough to notice them. Their cores had a slight green inscription, signaling they had a Rare tag. He knew they were probably level 15 or 16. Their weak points were their cores, and the party was positioned in a way that they covered each other's back. Sadly, this wouldn't work, as someone on their team was a healer. As Alex was running out of time, he decided on his next course of action.
Time seemed to return to its normal pace for Alex, and he first shouted, "Blossom, one to your 9 o'clock, and Claire, one to your 3 o'clock. Everyone get into a triangle. Rose, get in the middle. Blossom, move 3 more feet to your left. We also have one to our 6 o'clock. I'm sure I don't have to remind you how to fight as a team."
"You don't, Lucifer. We know how to properly work as a team."
"Good, as they are about to attack us."
That's when three Fire Elementals sprung out from the steaming ground. They immediately went for the nearest players to them. Of course, Alex knew this and positioned Blossom in a way that the 2 in front would target her.
"Alright, I'll take care of the one at 6 o'clock. You three should be able to at least stall the other 2, if not kill them."
"Alright, I got it."
"Blossom! What do you mean? He is way too cocky!"
"It's fine. You need to remember he completed the Wolf Den on Hell Solo. He should have enough skill to take care of one monster."
"Grr! Alright, I'll believe your assessment."
Alex didn't pay any attention to their conversation and focused his attention on the third Fire Elemental. He wanted to end this as fast as possible, so he used the skill he had bought specifically for this dungeon: Extinguish. Their bodies were strong because of the fire, as that was their fuel. Take away the fuel, and they become a lot easier to kill. Alex used Extinguish and immediately went for the core he could barely see. The core was hidden away behind hard rocks; however, with his Seeker Eyes and high Sense stats, he was able to see the parts where it was visible. He thrust his sword through the crack, now that it was safe and he wouldn't get burned. With great control and precision, the sword went through the cracks and stabbed through the core. The once-bright core began to lose its color and become dim.
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A/N
Hey everyone hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Have a good rest of your day or night!
If you like this book so far you should check out my other work, A Last Wish!
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