“How did it go?” Coraloa asked Liv as soon as he and Langa found the girls waiting by a large tree with a clear pond of water. This was the first source of fresh water Langa had come across in this entire Gate.

  "Surprisingly well," Liv told her with a smile. "We got the token, so now all we need to do is defeat the boss and go home. I see you cleared some of the corruption in this place by yourself; impressive.”

  “I could only clear the area around the tree,” she said. “I'm getting closer to fully utilising my Higher Blessing; I can feel it. We found a way to sneak up the hill to the boss' lair.”

  "Did you guys get all the loot in this place?" Langa asked.

  “We sure did. I guess the question is if you two are up for the fight now, or if you think we should rest and do it tomorrow?” Synn asked.

  After all that emotional shit, Langa was desperate to lose his mind in speed. He didn't want to be alone with his thoughts right now.

  “Has anyone ever actually cleared the 1st Floor Gate in two days on the first clear?” he asked. “Let's do this; we might earn a Rare Achievement.”

  “Nuh, it's probably an Uncommon Achievement at best,” Liv said. “None of us has used our attributes or divine skills today, so we're all at two or three. As I said before, let's clear the Gate before the 52-hour experience bonus runs out. The Sun God will have to give us double Experience for the quest in that case.”

  They rested for a bit, and Liv informed the girls that the Gate might be impossible to clear, but they didn’t seem too worried.

  Synn crashed the fruits from the tree using the Portable Cooking Kit she'd received from the Guardians to mix them with her fermented juice. There were a few failures, and Langa got bored watching her and focused on checking if his Electrospark Colloid bombs were still stable.

  Once she was done, they began going towards the hill using the path Synn and Coraloa found. The two king larvae guards weren’t looking in their direction, but that wouldn’t last long.

  “There are, I think, three stronger guards up there. I can sneak up on them, but there’s no way you guys can reach the others without being seen,” Langa whispered, using his Avatar title.

  “Alright, go,” Liv said. “If you can take out at least one of them, that's great. We’ll get the jump on the king larvae and then come join you."

  "Here, Langa." Synn handed a flask of blue fruit juice and another clear juice as well. "I was only able to make two of this type; it will give you +1 Agility for 60 seconds. It's not much, but use it if you need it."

  "Thanks," he said, downing the blue juice and pocketing the clear one.

  [You have drunk SynnForessa's Foxy Purbla/Plum Juice (1)

  +1 VIT for 2 minutes, +1% Poison Resistance for 60 seconds

  Cool-down: 2 hours]

  [You are in Player Liv'Kungsadu's party. +10% extra damage to critical hits.]

  Langa activated Distortion, going invisible. The inside of the dam was a muddy mess with scattered ponds around it. Pink mist was emitted from the pools, making it hard to see. The only patch of dry ground was next to a guarded coccoon up ahead. The guards were giant humanoid black beetles whose bodies were covered in a black carapace. Using The Eye of Nahuke, Langa noticed a gap in the carapace, so he had to aim for that accurately.

  Pupa Guard

  Level 12

  HP: 2100/2100

  Using Jumper, he landed on the narrow ledge just above the guards, holding Tonare in its short sword form, and leapt down silently, landing behind the first pupa. The lightning-infused blade slashed it across the throat, and it fell down into the bog. Thanks to a successful sneak attack, it was a critical hit and an instant kill.

  [WARNING! YOU HAVE ENTERED THE CORRUPTED ZONE: FUNDUVUS’ BOG!]

  The others’ killing of the larvae as well as the sneak attack on the pupa alerted the rest of the pupae guards to the party’s presence. Langa sensed that there were five more of them, but the pink mist in the area suddenly darkened, hiding the pupae from sight.

  Langa felt his teammates arrive behind him.

  “Hello, mortals,” an echo of high-pitched pupae voices said. “Mother expected you on the morrow, but it seems King Maetrolugy was right. You are a special lot.”

  Langa frowned, getting an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Why would the Floor Overlord inform the boss that they were coming?

  "Show yourselves!" Coraloa said. "You have to answer for the corruption you spread in this world."

  "We spread? Mother was merely banished here when this world's Void Erupted because of corruption," the pupae said, sounding offended. “We helped Mother seal this world away, saving it from being destroyed by corruption.”

  Langa resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

  "You can't actually believe that," Coraloa said angrily.

  "Yes? Would you be so kind as to give Mother a few minutes to finish the incubation?" the voices asked. "You are agents of order, are you not? Let her finish growing her power so we can have a stimulating battle."

  "Like hell, we will," Liv said. "Positions."

  Even though the fog made it hard to see, the group took their positions. Liv in front, Langa behind him, with Synn and Coraloa at the back. Light from Liv’s aura cut through the fog and Langa held out his hand, pointing when his title caught the massive breath of a powerful creature.

  Behind the pupae was a massive, cocoon-like cylinder with pipes leading down onto dry ground like tree roots, and inside it, in a pink mist, was the breath of what Langa assumed to be the boss.

  Five humanoid swamp beetles like the one Langa killed were guarding the throne inside the cylinder.

  Liv whispered, "We can't waste time taking out the guards. They’re regular corrupted monsters, not maestrils. Langa, you and SynnForessa take the two on the right; there is no need to pull your punches. Coraloa, you're with me. We'll take the ones on the left. You bind them; I cook them. Let’s interrupt the boss' incubation. Understood?"

  Liv had put away his shield, which meant he was abandoning his role as a tank for a bit to focus on close combat.

  Langa grinned. “You got it, boss. Synn, shall we?”

  Synn nodded, already starting to mutter an incantation. "Ready when you are."

  She activated her Fire Ring and unleashed her rare artefact of a whip, setting it on fire. Langa swept Tonare at both pupae's feet, drawing their attention and forcing them to focus on him. One pupa swung its club, but Langa was too quick, dodging the blow and striking the back of its head with the glaive, then pivoting on his left leg to stab the second before it could react, leaving a deep gash under its abdomen.

  Synn blasted the open wounds with Flame Spikes, further damaging the monsters. The blow that finally took them out, though, was the bleeding effect from her whip lashing deep into the wounds with the extra damage leading to a critical hit.

  Langa could hear the sound of Coraloa's soothing flute, her song paralysing the beetles for an instant. She focused her ice bullets on one pupa and activated Sonic Blast while Liv ran towards the other two, his sword glowing with solar aura as he slashed at the pupa’s legs, forcing it to stagger. Liv's solar aura-filled foot slammed into the other dazed one's head, cracking its shell and killing it in one blow.

  As soon as the last pupa fell, the large cylinder opened up, and the maestril sat inside the cocoon made of corrupted dead branches that were held together by the maladic substance from the eggs.

  Funduvus was a large humanoid creature with the head of a massive mosquito, two sets of antennae, and two pairs of compound eyes that focused on the players who had just defeated her guards. The rest of her body was mostly made of exoskeleton.

  Inside the cylinder, she was surrounded by a large mass of glowing eggs, that could probably explode like the ones the mini-boss had. Langa could see why she was called The Cleaver. Her arms were an improved version of the maestril miniboss they'd fought. The left was extended into two sharp pincers, and the right was a long blade that narrowed into a needle tip at the end. Her proboscis was long and sharp, clearly designed for piercing damage.

  Funduvus The Cleaver ( Maestril Gatekeeper)

  Level 14

  HP: 10 850/10 850

  Karma: 10 750

  Wasn't she supposed to be level 13? And what was up with that astounding amount of health? Well, it looked like the real battle was about to begin.

  "What a fascinating party,” Funduvus whispered. “A demigod that smells deliciously of uncontrolled karma, a fallen star destroyed by the Behemoth, one who stinks of the Blessing of The Venerable One’s foe and the bonded of the deserter, who carries the persistent seraphim's desired item.”

  A blazing red Incinerating fireball shot through the air, crashing into the cocoon but Funduvus unfurled her wings and flew into the air before landing right in front of the players. Synn didn’t seem inclined to let the boss finish her speech.

  “Rude. Would you be so kind as to offer your blood as nourishment for my babies?” Funduvus asked. “You have killed their siblings, the larvae and the pupae, so the eggs are rightfully upset to be born with nothing to feed on.”

  “No, thanks,” Liv said, casually stepping forward, shielding Langa enough for him to activate Distortion and go invisible. They needed to test her defences before wasting their more powerful skills. He dashed to Funduvus’ side for his first strike using the extra speed for more attack power, and stabbed Tonare into her thorax, expecting to draw some blood, but the glaive slid off her without harm.

  [Physical Body Resistance on target = 100%]

  “Shit! She's resistant to physical attacks!” Langa yelled.

  This was a problem because it meant that he and Liv would only be half as effective against her. He would have to infuse his lightning mana into every attack and Liv would have to use his aura for every blow.

  Funduvus spun, her massive pincers in Langa's direction, and he arched back as far as he could, narrowly dodging her attack, the pincers striking the ground and sending shards of the dam’s stone flying into the air. The pincers could easily cut through his armour if they made contact.

  Liv filled his sword with solar aura and, with one hand on his shield, activated Charging Ray Burst, taunting her to focus on him as he struck it into her abdomen. Funduvus’ blade arm clanged against Liv’s shield, the force of the blow pushing him back. She reared back to strike again as Liv struggled to find his footing, but Coraloa shouted an incantation and blasted a Vibration Wave from her trident.

  The shockwave shook the ground, pushing Funduvus back slightly and causing the boss to lose her balance. Taking advantage of this, a mass of black necrotic Flame Spikes from Synn slammed into her exoskeleton, burning her up and filling the air with the scent of burning and decaying meat.

  Langa changed his grip so that he was holding Tonare in both hands, closer to the end of the shaft, and took a step forward with his left foot, using The Legacy’s Second Step, before pushing the glaive deep into the burning leg bone of the boss and infusing as much lightning as he could into it.

  He was following the strategy the four of them had come up with. Langa would deal massive damage and Coraloa would cover him until he was invisible again, while Synn hurled endless fire into the wounds Langa left on the boss, and Liv held the aggro as much as possible until they got her health low enough to use divine skills consecutively.

  “Why did you destroy this land so much?” Coraloa asked. “I know plenty of worlds where a Void Eruption wasn't the end, especially a small world like this. The Void could have existed in balance with the world.”

  Funduvus laughed. “Spoken like a true dog of the detestable one who claims to have no rival,” she said. “I was cast away with nothing. I had to feed on the blood and karma of mortals. I prevented corruption from leaking to the surrounding world. All for the glory of The Dark Void.”

  "He cast you out, yet you still worship him?" Langa asked, using Jumper to leap into the air as he aimed for her wings, hoping to bring her down, but flying, Funduvus was faster. She spun in midair, her pincers clashing against his glaive, and knocked Tonare aside.

  “Enough!” the boss screamed. "Cleaving Fissure!"

  The mana in the air trembled, her karma rapidly falling. Instead of using karma to augment her health, she was using it to bolster her skills.

  “Take cover!” Liv shouted, planting his shield on the ground like a wall and activating Solar Shield. Synn and Coraloa immediately hid behind it.

  Langa was a bit far from him since he’d been trying to sneak up on the boss in his invisible state. There was nowhere to take cover since they were inside an old dam, except for the cocoon, but that was filled with explosive eggs.

  After stabbing the ground with her pincers, fissures appeared on it. Massive metallic blades rose out from the ground, dripping with maladic fluid, forcing Langa to Flash Step away from her frantically to avoid the massive area-of-effect damage. Liv managed to shield the others from some of the cleaving blades, but even from his distance, Langa took a heavy hit with Flash Step on cooldown.

  He screamed as the poisonous blade tore into his foot, cutting through bone and cleaving right into his leg. Blood poured out of him, and he fell to the ground, losing his balance. His whole body would have fallen on top of the blades if not for Synn’s Slumbering Smoke skill that slowed his momentum. Synn's whip wrapped around him and carried his broken body behind the shield, as he couldn't think straight with all the blood loss. His mouth was forced open, and liquid was poured into it. Warmth flowed into his bleeding leg, and something was applied to it too.

  When he came to, Synn was pouring Flame Spike after Flame Spike at the boss, who had eggshells as armour wrapped around herself, and Liv was now using his sword, glowing red with demonic aura to break the massive cleavers, while Synn used Slumbering Smoke and hurled an incineration fireball at Funduvus.

  Coraloa had just finished feeding Langa another uncommon health potion. “Are you okay? Can you move your leg?” she asked.

  He tried to move, but his leg screamed in pain, and he grunted. “Fuck!”

  “Sorry, Liv’s healing skill is still Beginner. I'm glad the health potions helped,” she said, standing up. “If I’d activated Acoustic Impedance on time, I could have prevented her from using that skill.”

  “She caught us all off guard,” Langa said. Except Liv. He'd activated his Solar Shield in time to protect the other three.

  It took Liv’s healing, two uncommon health potions, and his Regeneration Skill to heal him. Langa stood back up.

  Without warning, Funduvus launched herself into the air, her wings buzzing furiously. "You killed my poor babies,” she said, looking at the dead pupae on the ground. “Don’t worry, Mother will give you a second chance.”

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  She raised her hands, and the glowing eggs from her cocoon flew towards the party. Instead of an egg explosion, however, the eggs wrapped themselves around the bodies of the fallen pupae like armour, and they stood back up. A Yolk core glowed inside the creatures, now egg golems.

  A chorus of “Thank you, Mother.” rang through the chamber from the golems.

  She created another mass of larger golems from the eggs, and all but one of them stood motionless behind her cocoon. The moving one's abdomen swelled, and the egg golem released a shower of eggs from its body towards the group. The eggs exploded on impact, releasing a swarm of diseased mosquitoes that immediately started flying towards them.

  Synn sprayed a mist and unleashed a wave of two Incinerates that burnt through most of the swarm. However, she couldn't get them all, and a few of the pests managed to latch onto Coraloa, biting through her cloth armour and injecting their venom into her arm. Red, angry welts immediately began to spread across her skin, and she downed a health potion. Langa threw a Lucent Powder bomb at Funduvus, but she dodged it with ease, her movements quick.

  “Get rid of the golems; I'll hold her off as much as I can before that cleaving skill is off cooldown!” Liv shouted, his shield glowing with solar aura as he rushed at Funduvus. Coraloa summoned a mud crab to join him, assisting in holding the maestril back.

  An egg golem charged at Synn. Its glowing shells vibrated against her Fire Ring, starting to burn up. She activated Slumbering Smoke, slowing it down before reaching inside it with her burning hand and pulling out a glowing yellow Yolk core. The golem fell lifeless to the ground.

  “Baby!” Funduvus said, hurling two massive orbs of green liquid at Synn, but they clashed against Liv’s shield, the maladic fluid dripping down it as he skilfully defended against the attack.

  While Synn peppered another golem with small Flame Spikes, Langa crept behind the second golem silently in his invisible state, then he infused mana into Tonare and stabbed into its shoulder egg, the lightning momentarily stunning it. He whirled around and kicked it on the side, knocking it into the one Synn was fighting, and she activated a chain of Flame Spikes on the egg golem, burning both it and its injured companion.

  Langa lunged with his spear just as the egg golem recovered and thrust the tip of his spear through its mandibles as Nahuke’s Left Eye pointed that out as the weakest point. In doing so, the golem jumped back, arms flailing, exposing a small gap where the egg connected to the dead beetle, and he thrust his spear into the narrow gap with the Yolk core.

  Coraloa easily paralysed two more of the egg golems, preventing them from using their blasts, giving Langa time to throw a lightning-infused dagger that struck the Yolk core of the golem, instantly killing it before it could turn around, while Synn severed the other’s Yolk core with her burning, necrotic whip.

  The last two ran and hid behind Funduvus with the remaining larger egg golem.

  Coraloa called her mud crab to her and went straight for the remaining golems, freeing the other three up to gang up on the boss. She had the highest poison resistance in the group, so when the golems poured out toxic sludge at her, she was able to deflect it with her sonic Vibration Wave. The mud crab acted as a defender, giving her ample time to fire a series of ice bullets at one of the golems' glowing Yolk core and joints, causing it to stop moving. She kept it frozen and didn't blow it up because that would be problematic for the others.

  The strategy Liv and Synn had proposed for the usage of divine skills was simple. Langa was to first use his divine skill to get her to 60% health or lower, then Synn would use hers to get her to below 50% health. This was so they wouldn't waste them while the boss used karma to heal herself.

  Langa used Liberty's tattoo and concentrated on his Faith to activate Lightning Lance. Instead of making it target Funduvus, he held the unstable spear in his hands and activated his attribute. Time slowed down as he stacked Flash Step, Lightning Lance and his attribute into one attack, hoping the 100% extra lightning damage would deal a critical.

  [Critical Hit!

  Funduvus The Cleaver -965 HP

  Bonus Lightning discipline damage: -965 HP

  +Extra Critical damage -96.5 HP]

  "NO!" Funduvus screamed, and three more egg golems formed from the broken eggs on the ground, and she absorbed them like armour to heal herself.

  While her healing the damage sucked, it reduced her karma to less than 5000, and her HP didn't regenerate to full either. She was at 65% health now.

  “I won this world through shedding the blood of the previous owners. You are the invaders in my chaotic domain," she screamed. “I have to protect my home. Every time I wipe out a party of players, The Venerable One reduces my sentence, and if I can absorb enough karma, I will be allowed to return to the void.”

  "How in The Unrivalled's Tower is this your world? You destroyed it!" Coraloa said and hastily began playing a paralysis tune to stop the golem from releasing more eggs.

  “Strange, is it not?” Funduvus asked. “That you would fight for a dead world.”

  “It's called having empathy or having lived through the surge of corruption,” Synn shouted. “You and your oh-so-venerable Chaos are opportunistic!”

  Funduvus’ karma pressure increased. “Blasphemy!” she cried. “Do not utter The Venerable One’s Name, filthy mortal!”

  Funduvus swooped down again, her leg extending like a spear. She jabbed it at Synn, but Liv efficiently raised his shield in time so that the leg clanged against the metal. Before he could redirect the blow, Funduvus flew in the air, her needle-like arm slipping past his guard and piercing his shoulder.

  "Argh!" Liv grunted in pain. “For The Sun God’s sake, SynnForessa, can you please stop taunting the boss when you’re so squishy!” he shouted, activating Charging Ray Burst again to redirect Funduvus' attention.

  The remaining egg golem's Yolk core glowed. "Guys, I can't hold this any more," Coraloa said as the egg golem began to glow, similar to the eggs they had faced back in the tunnel. It was preparing to explode and release more mosquitoes.

  “Synn, if the egg golem explosion were made of fire, how much could you absorb and reflect?” Langa asked.

  She frowned. “I'm not sure. With the mana I have now, I can probably do 50 to 80%, but that means losing that much mana too.”

  “Okay. Liv, I have a plan. Can I try it?” he asked.

  “You have a plan?” Liv asked. The fact that he wasn't even mocking him but was actually surprised made it worse. “Sure, let's hear it.”

  “Coraloa, can you switch with Synn while she takes a mana potion?” Langa asked. “I'll deal the damage. Once the explosion is up, we can reflect it.”

  They did as he asked, and he threw one Electrospark Colloid and three flask of Kiribo’s Sweat at the egg golem, then he threw an exploding fire orb into it.

  “Baby, Wait!” Funduvus said, but it was too late; the golem had already begun to flame on and charge up.

  The heat inside its Yolk core ignited the colloidal lightning, and the resulting explosion with the colloidal fire bomb tore through the air.

  “73%,” Synn muttered, and then multiple mouths appeared on her body as she stepped into the explosion.

  The Reflected Golem explosion tore into Funduvus, and even with her eggshell armour, she got hit hard. Coraloa, playing her Siren's Song caused Funduvus to be disoriented for a second and fired a series of ice bullets to slow her movements. The bullets enclosed parts of her wings and legs in ice. But Funduvus, with her enhanced flexibility, shattered the ice with a powerful beat of her wings, sending shards flying in all directions before Coraloa could make them explode.

  "Cleaving-" Funduvus started, pincers stabbing into the ground to activate her cleave again, but Coraloa ran forward, raised her hands to her mouth, and began a high-pitched whistle that filled the whole area until it was the only sound in the battlefield. This was Acoustic Impedance, meant to interrupt spells and incantations by stealing all the sound in the area.

  Funduvus opened her mouth, but nothing came; her spell was interrupted, leading to a backlash that had her staggering back. Now was the time for the second phase of the team's strategy.

  "Kelpercutieyin! Meteor Strike!" Langa hurriedly Flash Stepped back as Synn's meteor came down, and she downed a mana potion.

  The boss couldn't move as Paralysis kept her still. Another egg golem scattered into eggshells and surrounded her to reinforce her egg shield. The flaming rock crashed into the maestril, sending shards of eggs flying everywhere, the impact shaking the ground as it tore through the eggshells.

  "Filthy players!" Funduvus screamed as the dust settled. Her arm was missing, and she was bleeding from the shoulder down and limping badly as she tried to use her karma to heal herself again. Liv didn't give her a moment to gather herself, activating Charging Ray Burst and charging right for her, but she flew up with her one wing.

  “Liv'Kungsadu, the Sear’s marked her. Aim for her wings! I’ll slow her; we need her on the ground!” Synn activated Slumbering Smoke, the skill slowing the boss’ movements, and Liv threw his aura-filled sword, striking Funduvus’s wing joint. The moment it broke, ice bullets embedded themselves into the joint, causing Funduvus to falter in the air. Coraloa blew on the Siyotanka, the sound waves exploding the ice.

  Funduvus landed hard on the ground, using up over 50% of her karma to heal herself.

  Watching how seamlessly they worked, Langa felt adrenaline rush into him, setting his heart ablaze. “In the Path of Lightning, the mind must be calm and controlled, but the heart must be blazing,” he muttered to himself.

  Coraloa activated her Vibration Wave, propelling herself forward and landing on the boss’ left side so that she and Liv flanked her.

  Funduvus whirled around, turning her back to Langa so she could keep both Liv and Coraloa in her sights. This was a mistake on her part, as now that she wasn't looking at Langa, he could activate Distortion again and go invisible. Coraloa acted as a screen, and while Funduvus was distracted, Langa gathered Liv’s excess mana, combined it with his own, and concentrated on his Faith and magic circle, activating Lightning Lance.

  By the time Funduvus looked up, Langa was holding the volatile Lance in his hand, and, thanks to the adrenaline of the fight, Langa was already overworking his heart and used his attribute to slow down time, hacking away at the weak spots of the eggshell armour before driving the Lance straight into her chest.

  When time finally righted itself, he tumbled helplessly onto the ground, his stamina gone and her health down to 35%.

  Funduvus thrashed on the ground, but before she could recover, another meteor came down for her. An egg golem sacrificed itself, standing in front of her to slow down the attack. It did help the boss as she absorbed its karma, and then she converted the last of her total karma into health and armour. Still, the force of the divine skills forced her to rear back, and a blast of green goo energy soared towards them, covering the area in maladic fluid.

  "Blood Syphon!" she said, her proboscis extending, and she lashed out with her one arm, the needle nearly latching onto Langa's arm as he ate a stamina pill.

  "Rippling Body of Aquarius!" Coraloa shouted, and Langa was suddenly drenched in water as Funduvus' Blood Syphon struck Coraloa in her divine water spirit form, and she took no damage.

  Liv taunted with Charging Ray Blast again, released his overwhelming karma pressure, and grabbed the maestril's attention, baiting her with his karma.

  “Give me your karma so I can heal myself, demigod!” she said, charging towards Liv.

  The mellow sound of Paralysis floated through the air, but it only caught Funduvus for one second. Synn didn't waste this opportunity, channelling diseased fire through her whip and wrapping it around Funduvus’ legs so that even when she shook off paralysis, she stumbled unsteadily. Synn managed to send out two consecutive Incinerate fireballs that struck right under Funduvus’ pincers.

  Synn let loose Swaran Grease to exacerbate the fire. She was spotting two flaming tails that seemed to increase the intensity of her spells. Her incinerating fireballs were larger and burnt purple, as did her Flame Spikes, dealing more damage.

  Liv, as always, was amazing during the fight. Because every time Funduvus activated an egg explosion, a fissure, or a swarm to distract the crew so she could attack and kill them while they were swarmed, he alone stopped her. He alone defended against every attack, his endurance terrifying as he tanked blows that would have taken out the other three combined instantly, giving them time to recover.

  Meanwhile, Langa was lurking behind her, waiting. Langa wasn't an experienced fighter, and his Left Eye was bleeding tears of blood as he consumed his stamina to use Nahuke’s skill. In the first place, this skill was flawed because it was created by someone who'd been battling demons for a long time and knew their patterns. When facing a new kind of monster, it was not easy to predict its movements without experience.

  This was how he used his Eye. He studied his teammates and predicted them. He attuned himself to every single one of their breaths. He could tell from Liv’s stance and the subtle movements of his muscles that he was going to bash her with his shield. Langa darted in and hit her with a sneak attack that was in perfect sync with Liv’s shield bash.

  “I am losing?” Funduvus asked, her body in shreds and at 20% health. “No! I would rather bow to the seraphim than disgrace The Dark Void!” she shouted. Her karma raised it back up to 30%.

  Langa's Left Eye showed him a small area under her thorax that was still suffering from the burning plus bleeding effect of Synn’s meteor. As soon as the rays from Liv's Charging Ray Burst struck, he infused his lightning mana into the glaive and slashed right through that spot with Thunderbird's Stunning Strike, cracking her eggshell armour and drawing blood.

  The moment he pulled out Tonare, a slew of ice bullets came flying into the wound, and he hastily Flash Stepped away from her as Coraloa made them explode from the inside.

  [Coordinated Effort! Critical Hit!

  Triple Critical Hit!

  Total: Funduvus The Cleaver -2934 HP]

  Langa frowned. What was Synn doing? She could have made that a quadruple critical. He shook his head as Funduvus commanded the egg golem to scatter, and the eggs formed a wall to protect her. Langa couldn’t see what she was doing inside that cocoon, but if video games had taught him anything, it was that a boss monster buying time could only be readying an ultimate skill. He had to take her out now.

  She was less than 5% health, it was time to deliver the killing blow. Just as he started infusing mana into his magic circle to activate his final Lightning Lance, a whip snaked around his waist, catching him off guard as he was yanked away from the boss and thrown to the ground by Synn.

  “What the fuc-”

  “Yes! I almost didn't make it! Why the hell are you so fast, and why did you stand so close to the boss?” Synn asked.

  A halo surrounded her head, counting down to 14 seconds as Coraloa crawled on the ground in mana exhaustion.

  "Liv'Kungsadu! Divine Shield! Now!” Synn shouted, and even though he had no idea what was going on, Liv activated the surrounding construct of his Solar Shield, and a golden glow surrounded the four of them.

  “What happened?” Liv asked, handing Coraloa a mana potion, his eyes never leaving the boss. “Her health is like 4% now! Langa would have killed her if you didn't pull him out!”

  “That would have killed him and lost us the battle,” Synn said as Coraloa struggled to stand, her body weak. She was pointing at the boss. "Any attack right now will backfire."

  The egg suddenly began shaking, and something enormous abruptly rose from inside it. A trio of massive cleaving blades surrounded by a green beam of maladic sludge rose out in all directions, stopped only by Liv’s Solar Shield. Everything else was run through by the attack. Liv gritted his teeth and raised his arms, Langa seeing his mana sharply deteriorating on the ring as he continued to maintain the shield.

  "I don't know why, but you told me to tell you to use your attribute on her," Synn said.

  Liv's red eye glowed gold as he stared at the maestril, still maintaining the shield. “What the hell? Seraphim can't sponsor maestrils!” he said indignantly. “They aren't deities!”

  “Actually, they can if they receive an Authority from a god,” Coraloa said through gritted teeth. “But nobody really does that much because they can only offer Daeva contracts to sapients, and it means the seraphim's soul will be indentured to the god whose Authority they used!”

  The exceedingly terrifying Cleaving Fissure finally stopped, and Funduvus re-emerged from the cocoon.

  She was still a humanoid insect; her body was no longer slender, but now she had a lionlike torso that was elongated and covered in exoskeleton and muscle. Her elongated proboscis was dripping with maladic sludge, and her eyes were unnatural and hypnotic. Two massive veined wings extended from her back, and Langa could almost taste the bloodlust filling the air.

  "I Invoke The Deathly Conch Ensnares all, for there are no holes to escape through," she said, voice hoarse.

  [You are under the Lesser Authority of The Demon King of The Thousand Undead Knights.]

  [WARNING! Maestril Funduvus the Cleaver: has been upgraded to Tier 2.]

  Daeva Funduvus (Maestril Gatekeeper)

  Level 20

  Karma: 25 678

  HP: 21 235/21 500

  [WARNING! A System Violation has occurred! Please vacate the area immediately!]

  [All players within the Gate: Funduvus’ Swamp are to be removed. Please Wait.]

  [System Administrator: Error! Players signed a Binding System Contract: There are only two ways to leave the Gate: Death or Killing the Gatekeeper.]

  “So…we are screwed,” Synn said matter-of-factly. Coraloa didn’t have to say anything. The disrespect to The Unrivalled’s rules seemed to have left her speechless and furious.

  "Twenty-one fucking thousand HP?" Liv said in outrage. "25 000 karma?"

  The fact that Liv was cussing at all proved that the situation was dire. Langa seethed in anger. Even if he dialled up Liv's mana to 100%, there was no way in hell they were beating this Daeva. Of course, the mastermind of this entire thing was Mictlantecuhtli.

  [The Unrivalled Tower Master warns the seraphim, King Maetrolugy, that he is not permitted to use the Lesser Authority of his non-patron deity inside the Tower]

  [The Onslaught of The Dark Void states that since Funduvus' Swamp is a chaotic domain, it is a void territory outside the Tower and within his jurisdiction. Since the stars of Tlaloc have aligned, he allows the Lesser Authority until the last day of Huey Tozoztli.]

  [Multiple deities from far-reaching clans watch the unending battle between Chaos and Order with interest]

  [The Unrivalled Tower Master issues a Divine Judgement against King Maetrolugy. Once the Huey Tozoztli lapses, as long as he remains a seraphim, he will be stripped of his karma and he will be wiped from existence.]

  [Multiple deities wonder if the seraphim will be able to Ascend before the lapse of Huey Tozoztli or will be wiped from existence]

  [Mutiple constellations inform their seraphim to lurk outside of King Maetrolugy's domain, ready to battle for his Stars should he be wiped from existence.]

  "You vultures preying on my downfall will taste my fury once I Ascend," Funduvus, no King Maetrolugy, said through her. “Lay down your weapons, children; you cannot defeat my Daeva.”

  “What business do you have with Mictantecuhtli? You’re not bound to him,” Langa asked.

  "Langa Zulu. The Thousand Undead's messenger directed me to you," the Daeva said. "He said I should tell you this: 'Power justifies all actions. For if you cannot protect the power you have, then you do not deserve to wield it.'."

  Langa knew that quote. It was Kindaro's favourite line from The Relgte of The Thousand Undead. Shock filled him. Fi fucking Kindaro was screwing with him. He had laid a trap for him, and it worked. Langa swore he would make sure that bastard suffered when he killed him.

  “You do not need to battle my Daeva,” King Maetrolugy said. “If you give me what I want, I will let you go.”

  “What could we possibly have that you, a seraphim, would risk losing the entirety of your karma that you've spent centuries gathering for?” Coraloa asked, perplexed.

  The Daeva looked at Langa's chest, and everything fucking clicked. “You want my Star Fragment," he said.

  “Precisely,” King Maetrolugy said with a smile.

  Both Liv and Coraloa gaped at Langa. "You have a-"

  "Now's not the time, guys," Synn said as eggshells started gathering below their feet.

  "You do not all have to die. I just want Langa Zulu," King Maetrolugy said. "The rest of you are free to leave once I lift the Authority."

  Langa frowned. "Synn, you should take his offer," he said, knowing that she was on her last life.

  "No," she said, shaking her head. "I gave you that Star Fragment. This is my fault. If I, once again, leave someone I care about to die, I couldn't live with myself. I won't do it again."

  "Coraloa-"

  "Don't even think about it. This seraphim dares to ally with Lord Chaos and shirk The Unrivalled's Rules. As a future Guardian Knight, I have to stand and fight for my master's honour," Coraloa said.

  Langa sighed in resignation, and Liv raised his eyebrows. "Hey. How come you're not asking me to give up?" he asked.

  That made Langa laugh bitterly. "Because you'd walk laughing, straight into hell with me, even if I begged you not to," he said, and Liv grinned.

  "So, you want to die together, then? They are all yours, Funduvus. Kill them and get me that Star Fragment," King Maetrolugy said, and the eyes returned to the compound colour of Funduvus'.

  "Fine by me," she said. "Divine Cleaving Fissure."