The creatures stood about three or four feet tall and looked like cutesy white-furred beavers with drawn-on angry eyebrows . The only menacing thing was the fiery aura that surrounded the creatures . Which wasn't saying much for the trickster-sp.a.w.ned monsters .

Sponsored Content

Sub-abyssal puff beaver

Level: 89

Type: Monster

Work under: trickster demoness sp.a.w.n…

Special: none .

Weakness: water and electricity (and all of their attributes . )

Resistances: fire and ice .

[Your party has entered combat!]

Alice beat Clyde to the first charge, laying on an onslaught that made the young man wince .

"We don't have time for this!" she snapped as she plunged h.e.l.lbreaker through the throat of a monster .

Clyde aimed a hand with five targets in mind .

[Clyde activated Tier 2 skill: Neptune's Water Edge . ]

Not only did he receive a critical but also a technical—a rare but welcome set of bonus damage .

[Tear activated—]

The beavers screamed .

"Run! She's too strong! The succubus is attacking . "

The monsters had no hope . The woman unleashed a giant gale of energy, red lightning, and death, killing the rest of the enemies . That also included everyone else's foes .

[Tear used Tier 1 skill: Maiden's Unforgiving Knife . ]

[Battle completed . Victory! Reward: 52,000 EXP . 10,000 dollars . 1 Full Health Potion . ]

Sponsored Content

A full health potion, not bad, not bad at all, Clyde thought . This was the first time one had ever dropped . Tear was definitely getting something epic for his appreciation . He chuckled to himself . Fighting for one's life, mixed in with the thrill always pa.s.sed off as a good motivator to make him in the mood for buying someone a "thank you" gift . Not many people do this on Earth—comfy and mundane lives didn't permit this . Satovia wasn't Earth .

"We've better hurry along before more of them sp.a.w.n," Tessa said . "I don't know about you, but I just want to get out of this place and take a bath . "

Clyde took the group to the elevator without missing a beat . The echoing screams of the students and guests seemed to grow louder . This festival was done . No one would want to stay after this .

Dark, Harumi, and Chizuru held the glowing tablets up to the elevator . They winked out of existence, along with the barrier . The inky blackness that guarded the stairs remained .

"In we go," Tear said .

Clyde pressed the b.u.t.ton to the fourth floor . The second b.u.t.ton lit up instead .

"Is it really going to make us go through every floor?" Dark said . "The great lord of the dark is not liking this . "

The minute they stepped outside the elevator, Clyde took notice of a young woman with blonde hair and blue streaks sitting in a corner of the hall seemingly hiding from something . He really looked, noticing the blue and green wings and talons .

"Great, a harpy, I'll—"

"Don't," Dark said, "she's with us . That's Myriad . "

Hearing the commotion, Myriad turn to them, s.h.i.+fting to a human form—lack of wings and talons—and running into Dark's arms, crying .

"What in the void happened to you, Myriad?" Dark asked the sniffling girl . "Nothing ever stoked your uncaring att.i.tude . "

"I want to get out of here, Dark," she cried . "This place is terrifying . "

One of the paintings laughed . A long purple tongue oozed out of it, wiggling .

"Ah, she runs, she runs, but it's just another chicken to me and I'm hungry . Come 'mere, chicky chicky . Get in my stomach!" The painting with a man on it fell to the floor, shaping into something . Instead of giving it the time to take form, Clyde hurled magic at it .

[Clyde activated Holy spirit wave . ]

The contact with the spiritual and holy magic caused the monster to explode into a purple mist without so much as the breath to scream .

"That's confirmation that no one is safe in this place," Clyde said . "f.u.c.k, I hope Melody and the others are doing fine . "

"Yuki said she was going to focus on locating and rescuing the guests," Tear said .

Clyde nodded .

"Good . Let's find out how to get this elevator to mov—"

It opened, as if inviting them inside . When the party piled in, number three lit .

"So killing the painting was the key," Alice said .

"No loot for it," Tessa said softly .

"I know right?" Clyde told her, chuckling .

When the elevator reached the third floor, a prompt flashed into Clyde's mind .

[This is the last floor before you meet the Overseer . ]

[Yuki has rescued several students and guests in the name of Team Stone . ]

Sponsored Content

Clyde's eyes widened, but he definitely approved . This will reveal to the school once and for all that his team were here to keep the a.s.sholes from overstaying their welcome . Civilians only wanted to live their lives, not get caught up in the crosshairs of supernatural d.i.c.kwads .

"After this bulls.h.i.+t, we get to meet whatever f.u.c.king horror Amaterasu set up for a dungeon boss," Clyde said then started forward .

"Great," Dark said, voice unenthused .

The halls turned out to be empty, not even with doors to cla.s.srooms . Except a bathroom .

"d.a.m.n, why does it always have to be the bathroom," Clyde said . The entrance was so dark, it looked like sludge .

"Do we have to?" Dark said .

"You first, mister great lord of the dark," Clyde said .

"Yeah f.u.c.king right normie," Dark protested . "The great lord of the dark does not approve of suicide orders . "

"Oh quit being such a baby," Alice said then aimed a hand at the entrance .

[Alice activated Tier 1 skill: Super Radiant Raid crus.h.i.+ng beam]

The beam of gradient pink and white magic blasted the blackness into nothing, replacing it with a dimly lit normal bathroom .

"That upgrade worked nicely," Alice said with a chuckle .

"d.a.m.n," Clyde said . "You know what, I'll just file this in my folder of s.h.i.+t that makes no sense and move on . "

"I'm with you there," Tessa agreed .

"So this is what a boy's bathroom is like in real life," Alice said, causing everyone to nearly fall backward .

"She's sometimes too innocent for her own good," Tear said, almost in an apologetic voice .

Chizuru and Harumi both sighed, waiting outside . Clyde found the answer to the elevator switch within thirty seconds by moving a lone book . It released a chime which everyone heard, and at the moment knew something happened .

"This isn't exactly what we were hoping for," Clyde heard Harumi say . When he exited the bathroom to see what she meant, his eyes widened . Of course monsters would sp.a.w.n in front of the elevator .

There were at least a dozen or so green-skinned creatures with long pointed ears and nose, shark-like teeth, dressed in ragged brown clothing . They stood three feet tall and ready to kill . However, one of them looked completely different .

He was a humanoid standing about five feet ten or so dressed in modern human clothing—black s.h.i.+rt, black jeans, caring a hockey stick . He also had a black ballcap on his head, backward . Clyde definitely had to a.n.a.lyze them . He started with the short creatures .

Generic Goblin .

Level: 89

Type: Monster

Work under: trickster demoness sp.a.w.n…

Special: none .

Weakness: fire and lightning . Big surprise, I'm sure .

Resistances: none .

Sponsored Content

Generic Hobgoblin- Hooba

Level: 92

Type: Monster

Work under: trickster demoness sp.a.w.n…

Special: none .

Weakness: Fire .

Resistances: None .

Trickster-sp.a.w.ned hobgoblins were certain to be weaker than the real thing, Clyde believed . In many tales, movies, and games, they were always a pain in the a.s.s to deal with . Then again, among the goblins were also magic users . The beings moping about in front of them weren't even real .

[Your party has entered combat!]

"The hobgoblin's mine," Chizuru said .

"Wait, that's my—" Clyde didn't get to finish the complaint as the party rushed to battle . Tear placed a hand on his shoulder . "Don't get hung up over these small fry . We've got something much worse to deal with on the fourth floor . "

The goblins were by no means fair opponents . They fought dirty, from tackling to hopping on backs, screaming and even running away only to return with a buddy .

Clyde and his team still easily dealt with them . Chizuru killed the Hobgoblin within seconds . Harumi and Alice took the most kills this round .

[Battle completed . Victory! Reward: 125,000 EXP . 10,000 dollars . ]

The elevator door opened, and it was at last time to deal with the Overseer . The elevator's fourth b.u.t.ton was lit with red light instead of the typical tan . As the tension rose, Clyde turned to observed the faces of his team . They were ready .

When the door opened, Clyde and the others found themselves on the rooftop . The sky was an eerie void-purple and somehow worked for a fake school with a name called h.e.l.l-Cademia .

No one seemed to be around at first until he heard the voice of Melody's mother . Amaterasu .

"Well done," she said as she manifested a dozen yards ahead of them . Clyde wasn't sure which of her names were fake . Juliette or Amaterasu . Probably both .

She was a woman with crimson hair and glowing gray eyes that made anyone who looked into them very uncomfortable, wearing a white summer dress . Melody didn't bother to call her out on the names for some reason .

[It is because in Melody's world, one can have two names . Your social name and your blood-shedding name . It is attuned to the middle name of an earthling . Amaterasu Juliette . ]

"You're probably wondering what's going on," Amaterasu continued . "Or maybe you're here to face the Overseer . "

"So, it's you," Clyde said . "Why are you wasting our f.u.c.king time with this s.h.i.+t?"

"Boredom to be honest," she answered . "My dear ole daughter left her mother to be with her lonesome . I was fine with watching your events until the brown-haired idiot decided to ruin the festival . So while stopping the panic, I decided to cause even more . A fitting test to see if you're even worthy of my daughter . "

"I don't think you actually care about her," Tear said . "Because if you did, you'd know how much work she put in to help set it up . Did you watch her play?"

"Sure did," Amaterasu said . "I hid with a pretty good illusion . I will admit, that girl has a voice like her mother . " She smiled, revealing pearly white teeth on the smile of an evil woman .

"G.o.d this lady creeps me out," Dark said .

"Same," Tessa said lowly .

"This is overkill for some test," Clyde said . "I would've been happy to tell you about myself over dinner or something . "

The trickster demoness laughed, blus.h.i.+ng .

"Charm the daughter, go after the mother I see," she said .

"W—what," Clyde said, nearly falling backward . "Don't misunderstand . "

"It is too late to take those words back," Amaterasu said . "Still, I'd rather test you my way . " She winked . "Of course I won't hesitate to kill you . "

"We're not letting him fight alone," Tear said .

Selkie stepped forward .

"You really messed up this time, She Who Dawns Time . You know trapping an ent.i.ty in an illusion dimension like this is breaking the pact of the stone-viper games . "

Amaterasu grinned .

"Fine . If you want out, I'll let you out . "

She waved her hand and just like that, the green-haired ent.i.ty was gone . "Oops . " She laughed . "So let's see here . The Stone, my daughter's two friends, the crusader champion, the Leaf, the Wind, and…well another one of my daughter's friends…A Kitsune . How interesting . "

Dark's mouth hung open .

"A fox waifu—I mean girl . Will you m—"

Myriad whacked the chuuni on the head .

"We don't have time for your jokes and banter . She's a real threat, idiot . " The harpy folded her arms and harrumphed like a tsundere .

A trickle of sweat dripped from the back of everyone's heads, except Dark . Even Amaterasu sighed .

"You know, on second thought…Never mind, you've made it this far . Come . And I will try to kill you . "

"And we'll kill you back," Alice said, voice filled with venom . "Where's Natalia?"

"No idea who that is," Amaterasu said with an expression of someone who had no cares in the world . "Oh! The child . She's over there . "

They turned to see Natalia tied to a cross, as if awaiting a Roman-style execution . "I must say, she's a crafty one . Snuck past all traps . Almost disabled the entire illusion, but you see, no matter how talented you are, how much of a genius runs through that mind, I will always be one step ahead . " She chuckled . "She took the pain and torture by magic like a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t . "

Eyes almost frantic, Alice bolted toward the friend, whom was like a sister to her .

"Alice, it's a trap—she's not real," Clyde yelled, but it was too late . Amaterasu's aimed hand unleashed the magic .

Clyde flashed stepped in front of it, spirit s.h.i.+eld up . And he felt like a train rocked him as he fell backward . His team proved themselves to be ready . Harumi's strongest healing smothered the young man so fast, he almost told her to stop just so that he wouldn't feel like a patient being shocked back to life .

"Ah, so you're willing to die for your harem," Amaterasu said .

"You think an attack like that would kill him?" Tear said, purple aura raging around her . "I think we've waited long enough—I'll end this . "

"No, Tear, it's fine," Clyde said, his voice tinged with the power . "There is no telling what kind of tricks she's got planned . We all watch each other's backs . "

Abruptly Clyde felt the intensity of Alice's aura .

"No one plays with me like that," she snapped . "NO ONE!"

Clyde nodded .

"Let's f.u.c.k her up, Alice . "

Amaterasu grinned .

"Do you lot really think you have what it takes to even touch me?"

Clyde drew the wind blade from his inventory, taking a one-handed stance from the light weapon . This was going to be perhaps his most difficult fight to date . He did not like the a.n.a.lysis .

Sponsored Content