The ground was covered in multiple ponds filled with larvae and Langa and his teammates used them for training, getting used to working together as they blasted through the creatures.

  Their teamwork was getting better, and the more fights they had, the more Liv was able to keep his feet planted without getting knocked down. He was also able to switch quickly between his shield and sword.

  Most of them didn’t drop anything, but Liv still picked up every single body and threw it into his inventory. They also picked up anything unique or that seemed valuable, including a few herbs and corrupted plants that they saw along the way.

  Langa took the opportunity to practice the skill he'd gotten from The Thousand Undead, Two Eyes of Nahuke.

  [Two Eyes of Nahuke (Unranked)

  Active Skill

  Effects: A skill created by the demon hunter Nahuke during his time in Miclantecuhtli’s second hell. The Left Eye grants the ability to see through the demonic fog of hell as far as Mind/2 metres and observe motion in detail, making it easier to see an opponent’s weakness and anticipate their movements.

  The Right Eye can only be opened in the presence of demons.

  Cost: Left Eye: 5% of total mana/second + 5% of total stamina per second.

  Cooldown: 30 seconds.

  This skill is Unranked, and is therefore permanent to the player and cannot be unlearned.]

  When he'd sparred with the Guardians' guild master and tried to use it, nothing happened. It hadn't worked on Merreddyd but maybe that was because she was just too high level for him and had no weaknesses. He could only use the Left Eye at the moment. It was demanding on his MP and Stamina and unlike his other skills, it didn't take a fixed amount, but a percentage per second.

  It took him a while to understand how the skill worked, but he eventually learned how to control it.

  As they followed the map up a hill, the four players came across what appeared to have once been a large settlement buried in the mud. All the stone buildings had sunk into the swamp, and they could see broken pieces of what used to be the gate into the city.

  More ponds with King Larvae were hidden around the gate preventing them from entering the destroyed city. Thanks to their training, they made quick work of the King Larvae.

  When they tried to enter the gate, the wet ground beneath them rumbled, and an army of corrupted snakemen emerged from the mud. They were short, muscular creatures whose bodies were covered in green snake scales and wearing tattered armour. Some of them had shackles either on their feet or their hands. Langa fell back immediately, letting Liv take the lead as the snakemen observed them with disdain.

  “The minions of the maestril Funduvus have returned, comrades," the snakemen leader said. "We cannot allow her to breach our city walls. Advance! Defeat her corrupted aides."

  "Uh, is he talking about us?" Langa asked as the snakemen got into formation and attacked, their movements slowed by their shackles. Why were corrupted creatures calling them corrupted?

  "Shut up, maestril dog!" the snakeman shouted, his sword targeting Langa even as he dragged his shackles behind him.

  They didn't look strong, but there were many of them, rushing the group. Langa spun Tonare at high speed in front of him to deflect the arrows their archers shot.

  "We must protect the water plant at all costs!” the leader said as the army attacked with corrupted weapons. “The Alchemists will create a remedy to purify our water supply and defeat the encroaching Void!"

  Liv's legs were planted firmly on the ground, his shoulders low and tense, and his upper body leant forward as he held his shield with both hands. He ran forward, glowing with his Charging Ray Burst, drawing all the snakemen's attention. They ganged up on him and rammed onto the shield with a force that caused it to emit a whirring sound. Most of them were sent flying back and the rest remained dazed.

  Synn activated and released Incinerate, but Coraloa suddenly threw up a Vibration Wave pushing the snakemen back, so that Synn’s attack missed.

  “Don’t attack,” Coraloa said. “They are remnants of corruption."

  "Do not falter!" the head snakeman said, trying to hack through her Wave.

  ”What the hell? I know,” Synn said through gritted teeth. “That’s why I wanted to quickly put them out of their misery.”

  Seeing this probably reminded her of what happened in her homeworld of Zamone when her world fell to the maestrils.

  “There’s a better way,” Coraloa said. “Liv, your holy light aura can purify them, right?”

  Liv tensed, watching the scrambling snakemen. “I’ve never used it for that before.”

  ”You’re a Paladin. This is something you’ll have to learn to do. I'll help you out now. When I tell you, begin the prayer,” she said. A beautiful hum sounded as she started singing softly. Waves of sound flowed from her mouth through the Vibration Wave into the ears of the snakemen and they stopped struggling. The bracelet she wore came alive and her chameleon, Fulimi spit out a wave of water as she sang.

  Langa felt his Darkness Resistance fall as she unequipped the Blessing of Aquarius and switched to the Blessing of The Unrivalled. "We are not agents of the maestril boss. The Unrivalled sent us here to clear the corruption and save this world from the Void," Coraloa said in a singsong voice, and the creatures' eyes glazed over.

  "Blessed child of the Holy One!" the snakeman leader said and bowed. "You have come to save us."

  A tear ran down Coraloa's cheek. "Liv, now please," she said, raising her Siyotanka.

  Langa saw Liv hesitate, but he touched her Siyotanka and coated it in his solar aura, mumbling a prayer. Light shone from him as Coraloa shot golden ice bullets reinforced by Fulimi's water into the dazed snakemen's hearts and her Sonic Blast made them explode. The sound explosion tore through the creatures and into the surrounding pools of corrupted water, which suddenly cleared, and everything the golden light touched lost its corruption.

  Liv stepped back and looked at his hands as if he couldn’t believe something so pure had come from him. “Did you amplify it using The Unrivalled’s Blessing?” he asked.

  Coraloa wiped her tears. “Yes. They won’t rise again. I can’t believe the maestril would conquer them and then use their corrupted bodies as her obstacles,” she said, clutching her Siyotanka tightly. "We have to destroy that evil witch.”

  The light faded and the snakemen's broken shacklesclattered to the ground. There were four pairs of them, and Langa inspected them as Liv picked them up.

  [Manacles of Arcane Suppression (DAMAGED)

  Item Rank: Uncommon.

  Description: Manacles crafted by a skilled enchanter for transporting mortal prisoners. They are made from mavaled steel inlaid with three glyphs and one Arcane rune. Repurposed by Funduvus the Cleaver to force residents into submission.

  Effects:

  Arcane Nullification: When worn, the manacles suppress a mortal's ability to cast spells by creating a mana dampening field around the captive. While the manacles are active, the wearer cannot cast spells of Intermediate Rank or lower.

  Duration : 5 minutes.

  Binding cost: 50% of target Mana Pool. May be re-bound after 5 minutes for the same cost.

  Restrictions: May only be used on immobile targets lower levelled than the binder or a maximum of 5 levels higher.

  Durability 3/20]

  "Did that work to improve your Blessing to a Higher Blessing?" Synn asked.

  "I don't know," Coraloa said. "The Higher Blessing Quest is stuck at 99%. I don't know what to do. At this rate, I won't complete my Class Change in time. Being stuck with a basic Mage Class at Tier 1 means I'm losing out on a lot of stats."

  "Maestrils are dark creatures," Liv said. "I think if we can slay the Floor Boss, your quest will be complete."

  "Can I have those manacles?" Langa, who was only half-listening to them, asked before Liv could put the manacles into his inventory.

  Coraloa eyed him suspiciously. "Why do you want them? Those are dangerous items, and I'd rather we just destroy them than have them fall into the wrong hands. Can you imagine if voidents had those manacles on top of their Void Gems?"

  "I won't misuse them. I need them for Bounty Hunting," he said.

  "Why? Don't you have Deiform Artefacts?" she pressed.

  "The Deiform Artefacts only work on voidents," Langa explained as Liv handed the manacles to him. "But our guild will go after normal players too, so it's better to bind them and hand them over to the NPC authorities than just kill them without knowing where they will respawn."

  "Oh," Coraloa said. "That makes sense, I suppose... please don't lose them."

  He nodded and decided not to tell her that he was planning on disenchanting some of them to learn the runes or glyphs used so he could make more manacles for his guildmates.

  "I don't think they will be too useful, though," Liv said. "I mean, those who don't rely on magic and use physical attacks or aura will be able to break free, won't they?"

  "Not necessarily," Synn said. "They are reinforced with mavale, and that suppresses all lucents, even Physical Body ones. Aura is a bit complicated though. I think the main issue is the cost. Langa wouldn't be able to bind people from races with naturally high mana like you or Vavuciadsforenkka."

  She was right, of course, but Langa was sure that as his Lucent Enchanting Skill levelled up, he'd be able to tailor the manacles more to his specifics. However, mavale crystals were hard to come by and only available outside the Tower, in places like Gates or the tutorial. It would be a struggle to get the materials.

  After that, they explored what remained of the settlement in silence. The group searched around any building that they could enter for items but there wasn't much left as the whole city was buried and corrupted by the swamp.

  After searching all standing structures, they had to give up because they kept getting attacked by swarms of mosquitoes and gaining nothing. Still, Liv picked up the building materials of any building he could lift, throwing them into his inventory. It made Langa wonder how much inventory space he had.

  *

  “I think we might be able to complete this quest by tomorrow,” Liv said, looking at his map. “The maestril boss’ lair isn’t far. If I look at the distance we’ve travelled, we should be able to reach her in less than twenty kilometres.”

  Langa paid close attention to the map since he would be the one walking at the front. It showed the large tree they had used to enter the Gate, then the wide swamp field where they fought against the larvae, as well as multiple mosquito swarm farms they had passed through to get to the buried settlement and the small clearing they were in now.

  “According to the map, we have to follow this path through those two enormous trees up ahead,” he said. Damn, he hoped the path was wide and not a closed space; otherwise, it would be difficult for him to lead the team through it.

  It seemed the largest area on the map came after that tree path. It was something called the Agoda Ruins where there was the Pond of Trust, which Langa guessed was where the Trial of Trust would take place. After that was Funduvus’ Bog, where the Boss resided.

  “The problem is that this map only shows the key areas; any of those could hold the maestril miniboss,” Synn said, chewing on her lower lip. “The mosquito swarms weren’t on the map until after we defeated them.”

  Coraloa sighed, “The map is better than nothing, but I think we should rest for a bit before we continue.”

  Langa shook his head. “We can’t rest here, we need to cover more ground. We got here in the morning, but it’s already getting dark. I don’t think this place has a sun to start with,” he said. “I won’t be able to navigate this whole area in the dark!”

  “But rushing into the tunnel without a plan is too reckless,” Coraloa argued. “I know we are on a schedule, but we also need to be careful. Maybe you can go check out the tunnel first and let us know if it’s safe.”

  Langa resisted the urge to smack Tonare into the ground in frustration. "That is easy for her to say when your life in danger at the front, you'll be waiting at the back," he said crossing his arms.

  Coraloa levelled him with a look. "Yes, at the back, where I'll be ready to shoot anything that tries to attack you."

  “Still, it's too dangerous. I don’t mind scouting ahead, but I don’t want to face any monsters alone while you guys wait out here. We should all go in, you guys closer behind me so that if I spot something, we can engage it before it spots us,” he said.

  Her face seemed to say that she thought it was worth the risk, so the two of them turned to Liv, since he was the party leader. He seemed only to be barely listening to their conversation as he and Synn pored over the map.

  Liv looked up. “You’ve both got a point, but we should cover more ground. We need to consider our safety as well, we don’t know if there are more swarms nearby either. We were able to detect them thanks to Langa, but staying here isn’t safe."

  "I agree. We’ll rest after we get out of the tunnel.” Synn pointed at a small dot on the map, next to the ruins. “In Inscription terms, that symbol means there’s a safe zone there.”

  “What symbol?” Langa asked, seeing nothing but a dot.

  “Yeah, I don’t see anything either,” Coraloa said, squinting her eyes.

  “It’s probably something only those with an Inscription Skill can see,” Synn said in realisation. “The point is, there will be a safe zone where monsters can’t spawn and we can rest there after we get through this tunnel.”

  “If we get through the tunnel,” Coraloa muttered, disgruntled.

  Liv placed an arm around her shoulders. “Hey, if we run into something we can’t handle, you’re free to use your attribute, Coraloa.”

  “What?” she asked, her grey skin paling even more. “Sure, let’s just sacrifice 50% of my total Mana and Health, why not?”

  Langa was about to ask how strong her attribute had to be to take away that much power, but he sensed over a hundred breaths of life coming from behind them. “There’s like four swarms incoming, let’s go!” he shouted, and the other three did not need telling twice. The mosquitoes were annoying to deal with and it would waste time.

  The fog filled the air as Langa and his party entered the tunnel between two mangrove trees. Their roots were submerged in the wetland, and the upper parts intertwined, creating a natural tunnel. The water beneath was dark and murky. The mangrove leaves arched overhead, forming a shade that barely allowed any light to penetrate.

  Langa led the way, Tonare held tightly, his Avatar title nearly driving him crazy with how much insect life was in this area. His steps were silent despite the squelching ground. He prodded the ground ahead with his spear, testing for hidden traps.

  The ground beneath their feet shifted slightly, and Langa's heart skipped a beat. He motioned for the others to stop, as he focused on his title on the source of the disturbance. Synn held a small flame in her hand, the light making it easier to see. There, partially hidden among the roots, was a wooden gadget with multiple glyphs and symbols inscribed on it. It emitted a rotten breath that he’d come to associate with poison.

  "Trap," Langa called back to the others. "Coraloa, freeze it."

  Coraloa held her Siyotanka over her shoulder and fired a bunch of ice bullets into the wooden gadget and it froze, but she didn't Sonic Blast it. Langa carefully approached the trap, and bashed it with Tonare’s shaft, shattering it.

  "Clear," he said, motioning for the others to follow. He picked up the pieces, hoping he could disenchant them later, and learn some new enchantments.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  "Don’t go too far ahead," Liv called out to him, his voice barely carrying through the dense fog. "Visibility is too low, and we might lose you."

  “I know,” Langa said.

  He had to skirt around rotting tree stumps and tangled vines and almost turned off his Avatar title. After keeping it on for nearly the entire day, his head was ringing, and he could not concentrate with all the breaths he was sensing. It made his head spin, and he would rather navigate by sight.

  He noticed a low-hanging hive of wasps from one of the trees and he instructed Synn to burn it before the insects came out to sting them. The further into the tunnel they went, the darker it became. Langa prayed that it didn’t narrow any further because he could feel his claustrophobia rearing up. It would be embarrassing for him to have an episode right now.

  Still distracted, Langa felt a shift in the ground where there was a sudden influx of dormant life that set his instincts on edge.

  "Stop!" he shouted, holding up a hand. "There's something bel—"

  But his warning was too late. The ground beneath them gave way, their bodies sinking into the mud and they plummeted into a hidden pitfall. Synn activated her Slumbering Smoke spell, and black smoke surrounded the four of them, slowing them down as they continued to fall.

  “I can’t hold four people for long,” Synn said as they hung in the air. “Can you see if we won’t die immediately as soon as we land?”

  Did she think Langa's title was that specific? He could only sense traps if the life of the one who set it still remained on it. Even that didn’t happen all the time. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore his ringing head. Titles had no cooldowns but he was beginning to see the side effects of keeping one active for too long.

  “I don’t sense any traps, but I do sense life below us,” he said finally. “Liv, please keep your shield ready as soon as we land.”

  “Got it,” Liv replied as they fell into a dark, cramped space, filled with strange, glowing monster eggs the size of basketballs that were covered in thick shells.

  The moment their feet touched the ground, the eggs started to glow even brighter. There was barely anywhere to move around as the eggs were all over the place. The breath Langa felt from the eggs was no longer dormant, instead, it was unstable, as if the mana inside was on the verge of bursting apart.

  “Liv, cover us. I think they are going to explode!” Langa shouted.

  To his surprise, Liv didn’t move. He stood frozen still, and Langa was horrified as he realised he might be caught in another trap. He'd told him to have his shield ready, but now it looked like something was holding him back.

  "Shit! Brace yourselves!" he yelled to Synn and Coraloa. "I'll use my speed to push you out of harm’s way."

  "There's no need." Coraloa stepped forward. “Stand back,” she said. “I'll handle this.”

  The eggs began to quiver and then erupted in an explosion, sending shards of chitin and bursts of toxic maladic gas into the air. But before the shrapnel could reach them, Coraloa raised her hands, causing the air around the group to vibrate with a loud rumbling sound. The Vibration Wave absorbed the impact of the explosion, the force pushing the shrapnels back. The gas emanating from the exploding eggs was pushed back by her wave as they slowly moved back.

  "Thanks, Coraloa," Langa said, breathing a sigh of relief. When he was about to use Legacy of The Tonare Thunderbird Spearmanship’s defensive stance to relieve her, she stopped him.

  “No. Conserve your mana, both of you.” Her breathing was heavy as she struggled to keep her Vibration Wave active, pushing away the force from the exploding eggs.

  “But we can help,” Synn said, confused.

  “Yeah, we need to get this over with so we can figure out what's wrong with Liv,” Langa agreed.

  “He's fine.” Coraloa’s eyes scanned the area. “Listen. In about three seconds, I will be drained of mana completely. When that happens, you two must do whatever Liv tells you, no matter how absurd it sounds, okay?”

  Liv was still standing completely still, and a halo was slowly forming over his head. “What’s wrong with him?” Langa asked in concern.

  “Let’s just say you’re about to find out why I’m The Unrivalled’s Blessed,” Coraloa said.

  “You used your attribute?” Synn asked as Coraloa’s Vibration Wave dissipated and she fell to the ground, kneeling in exhaustion and clutching her head in pain.

  Synn activated Slumbering Smoke again, this time to neutralise the toxic gas from the broken eggs. Coraloa didn’t have to answer as Liv snapped awake. He suddenly charged forward, his breath of life so overwhelming that Langa nearly choked on it.

  Liv's mana surrounded him like a tumultuous wind as he called it forth. Three massive golden shields taller than Liv materialised from thin air and surrounded the four of them. The dreary atmosphere of the underground was suddenly warm and welcoming as if they were basking in warm sunlight.

  Langa was about to ask Liv why he’d just activated a divine skill out of nowhere and why the hell there was a halo around his head counting down from 30 seconds, but Liv started dishing out instructions.

  “SynnForessa, take three steps back, prepare your most powerful Incinerate fireball, and in exactly 12 seconds I want you to fire it at a 45-degree angle high to your left, understood?” he said.

  “Sure,” Synn said, stepping back without questioning it, so Langa thought maybe he was the odd one out since he didn’t fully understand what Liv said next.

  “Langa, in exactly 4 seconds, I want you to leave the Solar Shield and strike the monster on the rear with your highest damage skill while it's disoriented,” he said.

  What monster, Langa wanted to ask, but he figured if Liv had time to explain, he would. Langa infused mana into Tonare, activating Thunderbird's Stunning Strike.

  From the foggy remains of the eggs, a dizzyingly fast breath of life lunged at them and slammed into Liv’s shield. Liv gritted his teeth and kept the skill active as the monster stumbled back. Only then did Langa see what it looked like. A mantis-like creature lunged at them. It was a terrifying fusion of a mantis and mosquito, with strong chitin armour covering its entire thin body. It had a head, long thorax, an armoured abdomen and thin but firm legs.

  Its blade-like forearms shone in the light, and it shook its head when Liv slammed one of the shields into it again.

  Langa opened Nahuke's Left Eye, looking for a weak spot as he Flash Stepped behind the monster. It was like he was wearing a visor over his left eye, and seeing two different layers of reality. Two dots appeared on the creature's back, one yellow and one red. From the time he'd practised on the larvae, Langa knew that red dots meant weak spots that he could get a critical hit from, while yellow was regular spots where he could score a hit.

  He stabbed Tonare deep into a red dot on its upper back.DamageLightning sizzled and burned through its armour until it struck flesh and drew green blood. The extra damage from Flash Step scaled with the skill.

  [Critical hit! (???: -701HP)

  Lightning Discipline damage! ???:-701HP

  Extra Damage: 70.1HP ]

  [Backlash! (Langa Zulu:-87HP)]

  The backlash from the skill was bearable, and Langa barely noticed it as the monster screeched and he reacted instantly, aiming for the creature's joints. But it was fast, parrying his strike with one of its bladed arms. The arm stretched out, trying to stab him but one of Liv’s golden shields moved until it was in front of Langa, protecting him.

  At the back, Coraloa was kneeling on the ground, face screwed up in pain, and instead of a single highly concentrated incinerating fireball, Synn stitched her mana through her Musco's Corrosive Whip. Both the whip and her hands were coated in Swaran Grease and again she threw a vial of Kiribo's Sweat at the ground to enhance her fire damage. She unleashed a pair of purple fireballs at the area Liv had told her to target. There was a startled yelp, and she released another purple fireball.

  The yelp came from a stick-thin creature that fell from the shadows above her, and it landed just outside Liv’s golden shield.

  Its head resembled a mosquito, complete with a long proboscis and it had eyes that glowed with a red light. Unlike the other one, its front limbs weren't blades but thin with needle-like ends. The wings on its back were transparent but veined with a dark, almost oily substance.

  Once down, the creature’s arms swelled up and the hairs on its arms turned into tiny needles. It expelled the needles at Synn, but thankfully, one of Liv’s golden shields was in front of her, protecting her. Now that both creatures had shown themselves, a description was available when Langa scanned either of them. It seemed they were two parts of one monster.

  Twin Mantisquitoe (Maestril Miniboss)

  Level 11

  HP: Needle-Arm - (2662/3731)

  HP: Blade-Arm - (1317/4714)

  Karma: 6235

  Both of them counted as one level 11 maestril. If the boss was going to be level 13, then this was a test for the group, as everyone knew that maestrils were not like regular monsters, and the system advised that a party of at least five members of at least the same level or one level lower than the maestril should face it. Three of them were level 11, with Liv at level 12, so if they couldn't defeat this miniboss, they had no chance against the boss.

  Liv’s shields surrounded the group as Coraloa finally stood up after taking two mana potions and a health potion, looking refreshed. Both twins of the maestril circled them, watching for weaknesses in the shields.

  “What happened?” Coraloa asked. “Were the maestrils too strong? Why did I send you back?”

  “The eggs exploded, and I managed to protect us. The shield was still active when Blade-Arm attacked,” Liv said and covered his arms with solar aura. “Needle-Arm over there ambushed us while we were dealing with the other one. It targeted SynnForessa who has the lowest health, and since I was occupied with the other one, Langa tried to tank for her, but-”

  “Did he die for me?” Synn asked, looking horrified.

  “No, but those needles are dangerous and paralytic. It broke his leg and he couldn't move for a while. We were screwed, as his damage was pitiful without his speed,” Liv said.

  “I have no idea what you guys are talking about,” Langa said, keeping his eyes on the twin maestril. Blade-Arm kept hacking away at the solar shield while Needle-Arm watched them unblinkingly.

  “That's what happened before I sent Liv 30 seconds back in time,” Coraloa said, looking at him.

  “30 seconds?” Synn gasped. “I thought you could only do 10 seconds!”

  “Yeah, The Unrivalled’s Blessing is really boosting my attribute,” Coraloa said excitedly. “The downside is it makes it harder for me to summon my familiars. If I can get the dual patron deities, I could control the backward flow of time even more!”

  All alertness was forgotten as Langa gaped at the mermaid. “Your attribute allows you to turn back time,” he asked, awed.

  Her smile was infectious, as she explained. “Not exactly. It allows me to distort a gap in the space-time continuum and send someone else's consciousness back to-”

  “Hey! Focus, all three of you! I'm losing 50 mana every second keeping these shields active. You need to counterattack before I run out because I can't use any other skills as long as Solar Constructs is active!” Liv shouted at them.

  “Right, sorry,” Langa said, remembering that they were still in the middle of battle. He'd known that Liv had a massive mana pool, but 50 MP/second for over 15 seconds was still insane. He would only be able to keep a divine skill like that active for 4 seconds!

  “Synn ignite these for me!” Langa said, throwing three of his enchanted lucent powder bombs at Needle-Arm. A few Flame Spikes later, and Needle-Arm's entire lower half exploded in flames.

  Blade-Arm screeched and a strange green substance came out of his mouth. Too late, Langa realised it was a swarm of small mosquitoes and tried to step away. The mosquitoes left large blisters several centimetres wide on his skin. The blisters were full of fluid, and when he scratched them, they became loose before breaking open. When they ruptured, the skin underneath was moist and unbearably painful.

  Langa tried to hold it in, but a pained gasp escaped him.

  [You have been infected by maladic spores. -41HP/s]

  He hastily took a health potion and the blisters disappeared. Just when he thought he was safe, they reappeared a second later.

  [Maladic spores have reinfected your skin -41HP/s]

  [Your Skill: Regeneration (F) has cleared the blistered skin malady]

  [Maladic spores have reinfected your skin -41HP/s]

  [Your Skill: Regeneration (F) has cleared the blistered skin malady]

  [Maladic spores have reinfected your skin -41HP/s]

  "My regeneration isn't working. The malady keeps coming back," he shouted, unable to use his arm.

  "If it's a corrupted malady, only holy magic can clear it!" Coraloa shouted, firing ice bullets at Needle-Arm. "Hurry, get Liv to heal you."

  Liv laid a hand on Langa's arm, closing his eyes. "Nishkur Lord Amun-Ra, cast your holy aura over this corrupted malady."

  The healing this time was a warm sunlight that washed over Langa and the blisters on his skin disappeared. They did not return, even after a couple of seconds.

  "Thanks," he said, relieved.

  "Sure," Liv nodded. "I should probably take that one on. SynnForessa, can you use your divine skill to strike one of the maestrils down?” Liv asked as he blocked Blade-Arms parasitic spores.

  She shook her head. “No. I can only summon my meteor from the sky. Even with my superior mana control, it would be hard to target the maestril accurately at Tier 1. If I summoned it, we'd all be flattened along with the maestril when the tunnel buries us.”

  “Crap, then-”

  “I can use mine, but I also have trouble controlling it," Langa said. "So if any of you have lightning resistance lower than 25%, you might want to steer clear of it.”

  "Alright, use it when Needle-Arm is below 50% health. I will kill the other using my Solar Constructs too," Liv said with a nod.

  Now that Liv’s solar shield disappeared, he instructed Langa and Coraloa to focus on Needle-Arm while he and Synn took on Blade-Arm. Synn tried to strike at Blade-Arm but its chitin armour resisted her Incinerating fireballs, the flames sliding off its surface. She had more success when she coated her whip in flames and lashed the creature's torso, its diseased effect eating at the armour.

  Liv charged in, his sword burning with solar aura. He swung with all his might, aiming for the creature's head. The Blade-Arm dodged to the side, countering with a slash of its arm. He raised his physical shield just in time, the impact sending him staggering back. Synn lashed at it with her flaming whip again and Blade-Arm knocked away the whip without looking, but the action distracted it enough for Liv to thrust his sword into the joint between its leg and abdomen.

  It screamed once more, trying to stab Liv with its blade, but he parried with his shield. The blade cleanly slid across the surface of the shield, and Synn blasted it with two fiery hot incinerating fireballs.

  Meanwhile, a quick flurry of ice bullets rained on Needle-Arm from Coraloa’s Siyotanka as they were the only things that could reach it when it flew above them. It flew down alarmingly fast, its needle poised to stab her. Langa closed the distance and raised Tonare, deflecting the incoming needle-like arm with the edge of his glaive. Unfortunately for him, the creature's other arm slipped through his guard, striking his thigh. The needle tore through his flesh and shattered bone. It was excruciating. He could feel his body flying backwards until it hit a protruding root of the mangrove tree.

  Thankfully, Coraloa's Siren took hold of the maestril, causing it to stop moving, and she took aim, and fired a mass of ice bullets at the creature, aiming for the joints in its armour. The Sonic Blast she sent through the ice bullets chipped away at the chitin and slowed the creature's movements.

  While he downed a health potion, Langa decided to use Two Eyes of Nahuke and when he focused on Needle-Arm, he felt his mana and stamina drain as the Left Eye opened. Four dots appeared on Needle-Arm's iced joints and eye. Three yellow and one red.

  He hastily closed the Eye so it wouldn't drain his already low Stamina.

  Coraloa played Siren, and instead of paralysis, she caused the creature to be disoriented. Langa dashed forward, infusing his spear with electric energy. He aimed for the red dot, the exposed joint between the creature's thorax and abdomen, driving his spear deep into the vulnerable spot. The creature shrieked, its body convulsing as the electric energy surged through it. He had to use Lightning Lance to finish it off before it consumed its karma to heal itself.

  "Watch out, Langa!" Liv shouted, and Langa barely had time to dive down as Blade-Arm's maladic spores filled the air, targeting wildly, now that Needle-Arm was critically injured.

  Liv lifted his blue shield to stop the barrage, but while most of the maladic spores were stopped by the shield, the ones he missed flew in a straight line and buried themselves in Synn’s arm. She let out a loud agonised scream as Langa hurried to relieve Liv so he could heal her before the malady could spread. This left Coraloa to hold Needle-Arm by herself.

  Maestrils were sapient creatures who had been studying their group dynamic, therefore, it shouldn’t have caught them off guard when, while Liv placed his hand on Synn’s arm, repeating the prayer, Needle-Arm broke free from Coraloa's paralysis and made its move.

  Coraloa hastily chugged down a mana potion as both of Needle-Arm’s arms swelled alarmingly and the hairs on its arms were released as multiple tiny needles.

  “Oh shit!” she screamed, using her Vibration Wave to try and get away, but the maestril could fly, so it was faster. The maladic needles struck her body, no matter how fast she tried to dodge.

  “Liv, switch!” Langa shouted as the maestril’s proboscis attached itself to her neck and it began to suck from her neck.

  He prayed for Coraloa to hold on as he drew inside himself, concentrating on the magic circle Liberty drew for him. The auink came alive as he infused his mana into each glyph, symbol, and rune slowly and carefully. The page from Nitract's Ravine helped to improve his Casting Speed.

  He could feel Adtonifulmin in the lightning that coursed through his veins, so he concentrated on his belief that Adtonifulmin would want him to save his friends. He used that as his Faith and he felt his mana leave him.

  It connected in the air to form a large spear, only three metres long. Streaks of electricity sputtered out from the lightning lance as he tried to control it. The magic circle was the plug, his nerves were the wire, and his mana was the current. To control the output of electricity, he had to control the way his mana circulated in his nerves.

  The more mana he circulated through his nerves, the more pain he felt, and sparks of electricity heated the air as he gripped the lance, willing it to shrink to just two metres. He bolted towards Needle-Arm holding the volatile lance in his hand. Coraloa’s body, still covered in needles like a pincushion, had gone limp as when he reached her. Shit, she couldn’t summon any creatures to help her after using her attribute. He was worried that she wasn’t moving as he stabbed the lightning lance into the feeding maestril’s back.

  The lance burnt a hole right through its armour and made it scream as blood poured out of the wound. In doing so, it detached itself from Coraloa. Its karma began rapidly decreasing as it used it to heal itself.

  He placed his hand on her back to steady her, but to his surprise, his hand went through her, and her whole body dissolved into a pool of water below him.

  “What the hell?” He'd seen this before from her match with Vos, but holy Aquarius, it scared the shit out of him when the pool reformed into her, in her mermaid form. She took a deep breath as he helped her out and transformed her tail back into legs.

  Synn pulled out her whip, and there was an outpouring of zigzag-shaped bolts of fire, along its length. She threw out the whip, wrapping it around Blade-Arm's leg, restricting his movements as it howled hearing the death throes of its twin. It threw its entire body at Liv, and while his shield held strong, he staggered back, meaning that strength-wise, the maestril was better than him. Skill-wise though, it was pitiful, and after throwing in a series of his strong, excellent martial arts, his sword lengthened like a dragon's talon now that he didn't have to tank for everyone anymore. He left multiple cuts on the maestril's body, but it used the last of its karma to heal itself.

  Synn used her half-healed arm to fire Flame Spike after Flame Spike at it while Liv attempted to cast his divine skill. Three golden shields emerged from Liv’s hand, and they went flying and pierced through the chitin like it was butter, the sunlight energy frying the creature's brain. It let out an ear-piercing shriek, but before it could even attempt to use its karma to heal itself, Blade-Arm collapsed, its body twitching from the instant kill.

  The group stood there, breathing heavily, their eyes scanning the surroundings for any more threats. The fog swirled around them, but the immediate danger had passed.

  [You have killed a level 11 maestril mini-bosss.

  Rewards will be issued by contribution.

  Please wait.]

  The miniboss dropped a few poisonous items none of them could use, and they each picked a reward. Langa took the most interesting thing he saw. It was a green necklace, woven from thin poisonous reeds from the swamp.

  [Maladic Reed Necklace

  Item Rank: Uncommon

  Effects:

  While wearing the necklace, the wearer gains +1 Skill Level to two Poison Discipline skills of Intermediate Rank or lower.

  Restrictions: Poison Affinity: 10% or higher. Level 15 or higher]

  No one in the party fulfilled the equipment restrictions so Langa picked it up as it was a perfect gift for an alchemist with expertise in poisons. It matched her eyes.

  "That could have gone really badly," Synn said. "Liv'Kungsadu, your planning is in dire need of work.”

  "It's a good thing I have you to constantly point out my mistakes, then," Liv replied, sheathing his sword, and hurrying to heal Synn again as he chugged another health potion.

  While the two of them argued, Langa was searching for a way out. Using his boots, he activated the Jumper skill and jumped out of the hole they'd fallen into. He made sure he was balanced before checking out the surroundings for threats and monsters.

  Once he was sure it was clear, he helped the others out of the pitfall trap. There were no major issues as they followed the map to get out of the tunnel. They were attacked only once more by another swarm of mosquitoes, which were easy to defeat.