.....

"D-rank!?" Ivery couldn't believe her eyes

"Tsk.." Luther looked at his adventurer's license with disappointment

"All adventurer's start off with D-rank adventurer licenses, if you complete high-level quests and bring back high-grade materials, you can get an upgraded adventurer rank." Danya explained

"Oh..." Ivery sighed

"Well...how about we take on our first quest then." Ivery looked at the two of them with a determined expression

"The quest-commission board is over there, once you see a quest you'd like to take, you take the commission paper off of the board." Danya pointed at the giant board full of papers

Ivery walked over to the quest-commission board and slipped herself in between the crowding adventurers.

Ivery looked over the board and saw one quest-commission in particular that caught her attention.

She tore it off of the board and squeezed herself out of the crowd.

"We're doing this one." Ivery held up the paper in front of them

"An Rank abyss quest?! Defeat the giant abysmal knights?" Danya went pale as she took the paper from Ivery's hands

"It seems like a fairly easy quest." Ivery said

"F-Fairly easy?" Danya couldn't believe what Ivery was saying

"Do you know what the abysmal knights are!?" Danya shouted

"Not exactly.." Ivery shook her head

"They're the dark temple guardians, they guard an ancient demon lords weapon in the abyss, it's said to be called 'The Black Reaper'." Danya explained

"Every adventurer that has tried to defeat the dark temple guardians, never came back...whether they're dead or alive...the abyss is a terrifying place to go for anything..that's why the abyss quests remain untouched.." Danya said

"Hey! You!" A deep voice shouted out

Ivery and Danya turned their heads and saw a tall red-haired man in bulky orange-tinted iron armor, standing behind them.

"I saw that you took the dark temple guardians quest, I was going to take that quest after I replenished my potions and repaired my armor." The man said

"Well, now we're taking it since you didn't." Ivery told him with a slight smirk

"How bold you are! May I see your adventurer ranks?" A bulging vein appeared on his forehead

"Why?" Luther narrowed his eyes

"Since you think you can defeat the dark temple guardians, you must be high ranking adventurers." The man faked a smile

"I don't see how it's any of your concern regarding our ranks." Ivery crossed her arms and coldly glared at him

"Alright then, how about we form a squad to take on the dark temple guardians together, my squad and yours." The man offered

"We don't need help." Ivery refused

"Not as help, just to reap the benefits fairly." The man said

"Reap the benefits fairly? Then that would mean that if we share this quest then my squad has to share the rewards and that makes it less for us to cash in when we'll be doing all of the work." Ivery said

"The guardians aren't easy monsters, it's best not to get too c.o.c.ky, not even a thousand soldiers can hope to make it out alive and unscathed, let alone just the three of you can't possibly hope to take on the guardians." The man was losing his patience

"Then what makes you think your squad will offer much if it'll take that many people to hope to defeat the guardians?" Ivery asked

"...." The man ground his teeth together

"Ivery, just let his squad come with us...it'll be better for us...because he's right, the temple guardians aren't monsters to take lightly." Danya whispered to Ivery

"....." Ivery sighed

"Fine, your squad can share the quest with us.." Ivery said

"Good choice." The man grinned

"But."

"The squad that makes the kills get most of the rewards." Ivery smiled

"Sounds fair enough." The man smirked, obviously feeling confident

...

Ivery, Luther, and Danya waited beside the abyss portal, waiting for that man and his squad to arrive.

"I think that's them." Danya pointed

Ivery turned her head and saw the man and three others walking towards them.

"So you're here after all." The red-haired man stood in front of them

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ivery asked

"Don't get so defensive, most people tend to back out once the time arrives to do the quest." The man answered

"Well, we're here..." Danya said

"Where's your armor?" A dark blue-haired woman carrying a staff, wearing turquoise tinted armor, asked them with a sneer

"We're already wearing armor." Danya told her

"I surely can't see it." A young short brown-haired man carrying dual swords, wearing black armor snickered

"Oh? I'll make sure you won't be able to see anything if you keep running those mouths of yours." Luther grinned

"Now now, we're not here to joke around." The man interrupted

"Since we're going to be working together, I think it's best to learn each other's names." The man said

"I'm Harrisen." The red-haired man told them

"Fenila." The dark blue-haired woman said her name

"Ternold." The young brown-haired man said

"Ernis." A white-haired woman carrying a giant spiked iron hammer, wearing slightly revealing purple-tinted armor said

"I'm Danya." Danya introduced herself

"Ivery..." Ivery didn't know if she even wanted to go through with fighting alongside these people, they all gave off a bad vibe

"...." Luther didn't say anything

"Sir...how about you?" Harrisen said

"You'll be fine not knowing." Luther's cold words felt like a winter breeze

"A..Alright then.." Harrisen wasn't going to pressure him..he wasn't interested in knowing these people personally...his only objective was to kill the dark temple guardians

"Let's stop wasting time talking and go." Luther turned around and entered the portal with no hesitation

Ivery and Danya entered the portal after him.

Harrisen's squad all took deep breaths and entered the portal.

....

Ivery looked around.

Under their feet were bones, human bones. The sky was pure black and the atmosphere was so foggy that she could barely see 2 feet in front of her.

It was dark but they were still able to at least see each other..

The oxygen was very thin, just being in the abyss was dangerous alone.

They had just arrived and it was already getting harder to breathe every minute.

"Ivery....why'd you have to go and take this quest..?" Danya hid behind Ivery

"The rewards for completion are a lot." Ivery said

"Don't get scared now, it's too late to turn back." Harrisen said to Danya

"I'm not scared..." Danya stepped away from Ivery

"Then let's go!" Ternold started walking

"I don't think you should aimlessly walk off in this place without being able to see your surroundings..." Ivery spoke to Ternold

"What? We can't just stand here and do nothing." Ternold looked annoyed

"Do you think you can find the dark temple just by walking around? I'm a.s.suming the abyss is a vast place." Ivery raised an eyebrow

"We have a greater chance of finding it if we walk around, don't get in our way." Ernis told Ivery

"Let them go, we didn't want to do this quest with them anyway." Luther told Ivery

"You're right." Ivery nodded

Harrisen's team slowly walked further into the abyss.

....

"But still, how are we going to find the dark temple in such a dark place?" Danya asked

"Hm.." Ivery thought about it

"Lutris...call Erebus.." Ivery looked at Luther

"Alright?" Luther wondered why she wanted Erebus to be summoned

"Erebus." Luther said out

"What is it?" Erebus appeared beside Luther

"Another talking cat?!" Danya couldn't believe it

"Why are you guys in the abyss?" Erebus looked around and recognized his surroundings

"Do you know your way around?" Ivery asked

"I do, I've been here one too many times." Erebus said

"How about the dark temple? Do you know where it is?" Luther asked him

"Oh, that place with the guardians? I know where that is...but it's a little far from here though." Erebus's night vision activated

"Can you take us there?" Danya asked him

"Sure." Erebus nodded

..

"Ghouls!"

Ivery, Luther, and Danya turned their heads at the sound of Harrisen's voice.

Emerging from the darkness, crowds of ghouls surrounded them all.

"Ghouls, corpses that were reanimated by the vengeful souls that died here in the abyss." Erebus said

"I guess that means I have a reason to put this thing to use." Luther held out his hand and a dark mist swirled around his arms and to his hand

The mist transformed into a katana sheath. Luther pulled the katana out of the sheath and a long black katana with a golden handle slid out of it.

The katana dripped with a blood-red liquid although it hadn't made contact with anything yet.

"Then I finally get to try out the 'mountain cutting fan'." In Ivery's right hand a light blue folding fan with a golden monture materialized

Ivery flicked the fan open and she saw that beautiful cherry blossoms were painted onto it and painted behind the cherry blossoms was snowy mountains.

As the ghouls walked closer to them, Luther swung his sword in a horizontal motion.

A purple light spiraled through the air and in an instant, the heads of several approaching ghouls were sliced clean off.

"It's decent." Luther looked at the katana, not all that impressed with it

"Decent?" Danya's eyes stretched wide...

He just took out almost thirty ghouls at once with the katana...and that was considered 'decent' to him?!

The moment Ivery waved her fan, a powerful wind gathered all of the ghouls and blew all of the ghouls around them upwards.

As the ghouls soared in the air, Ivery waved her fan once more and their bodies were cut into several chunks.

Harrisen's group were shocked as they saw chunks of ghoul parts raining down from the sky.

"This fan is quite impressive.." Ivery smiled

"Quite impressive...?" Danya couldn't believe her ears...

Who were these people!?

..

"Now that we're done with that, Erebus can you lead the way?" Ivery asked

"Of course..but just so you don't lose me.." A large cloud of black mist surrounded the area

A tall handsome man with long black hair stood in front of them, dressed in a long black silk robe made out of an odd texture. His eyes were a mix of green and violet,

He gave off a wicked aura.

"So that's your human form?" Luther looked at Erebus

"Correction, this is my G.o.d form...I wasn't and have never been human." Erebus smiled

"Oh right, you're a fallen G.o.d." Luther smirked

"Hm...I feel like you're making fun of me in your head..." Erebus narrowed his eyes at Luther

"Hurry up and take us there, it's getting harder to breathe here." Luther ordered

"Right.." Erebus started walking

Ivery, Danya, and Luther followed Erebus

..

"Where are they going?" Fenila asked

"I'm not sure..but we should follow them just in case they know where to go...we need to kill the temple guardian's first..or else, they'll get all of the rewards." Harrisen told his squad

Harrisen and his squad followed Ivery's.

..

It was just as Erebus said, the walk was a bit of a distance from where they started.

They encountered more ghouls as they walked further into the abyss, and even managed to run into skeletons.

Skeletons were fully decayed ghouls that have been rotting for a long time..

The skeleton's weren't too much of a difficulty for everyone..

That was until the ghouls and skeletons started coming at them together, with weapons.

"This might get a little harder..." Ternold pointed his swords at the ghouls walking towards him with flails, swords, axes, and bows

"Let's just smash our way through!" Ernis yelled as she jumped up and smashed her giant hammer down, squas.h.i.+ng the ghouls and skeletons with her attack

"They're just a bunch of small fries in groups just so they can look threatening!" Fenila cast an ice storm spell, making hundreds of icicles pierce into the ghouls and skeletons that were so unfortunate enough to be caught in her attack

"Right!" Ternold slashed at the ghouls in front of him

Harrisen threw his summoning spears at the group of skeletons.

The spears glowed and exploded. Taking out the skeletons, leaving flying bones remaining.

..

Ivery, Luther, and Danya watched as Harrisen's group fought against the incoming monsters.

Ivery flicked her fan open and waved it, the h.o.a.rds of ghouls and skeletons were blown up into a tornado.

Harrisen's group watched as the ghouls and skeletons that were in front of them get pulled into a tornado.

As the tornado swirled, it blew out pieces of the ghoul's and bones from the skeletons. Just as more monsters came, they were immediately sucked into the powerful tornado.

"Shall we move on?" Ivery smiled

"Follow me, we're almost there." Erebus walked off

As Ivery's group was already ahead, Harrisen's group ran up to them to catch up.

...

"Here we are." Erebus stopped walking

Everyone looked in front of them and saw the dark ominous building.

"Let's go then!" Harrisen walked towards the temple

"Wait! You're going to-!" Erebus was interrupted as a rumbling and ground shaking feeling was felt by everyone

A giant black hand came out from the ground.

Another giant black hand popped out of the ground.

Two giant heads came out of the ground their bodies followed.

Black, slim giant ghoulish monsters emerged and stood 30 feet tall. They were covered in obsidian armor from head to toe.

They carried black large swords.

They both roared as they saw the humans below them, their eyes beamed a ferocious red color.

"Let them try first..since they aggravated them first." Ivery grinned

..

"There are our targets! Don't stop until they're dead!" Harrisen yelled

"Right!"

Fenila cast another ice storm spell, but this time larger icicles came falling down.

The dark guardians stood unphased by the attack at the icicles. .h.i.t them.

"No way..." Fenila was shocked her attack didn't work

"Don't back down Fenila!" Harrisen shouted and thew his summoning spears at both of the guardians

The spears. .h.i.t them and exploded.

Yet they once again stood unphased.

"Take this then!" Harrisen summoned two larger spears, equivalent to the size of a full-grown tree

"Harrisen! You know the larger spears drain your magic! The more you make the more you strain your prowess core!" Fenila yelled at him as she cast a fireball attack

"It doesn't matter! As long as we can take out these monsters, it'll be worth it!" Harrisen threw the spears at the guardians

The spears lodged themselves in the legs of both of the guardians and instantly exploded.

The guardians were forced down to their knees as both of their right legs were blown off.

One of the guardians roared again and swung his sword across the area.

Harrisen, Fenila, and Ernis managed to dodge the attack. But Ternold was. .h.i.t.

Ternold put all of his magic into forming a s.h.i.+eld to block most of the impact.

Ternold slid across the ground and coughed up blood.

"Ternold!" Ernis yelled and ran towards him

"Ernis don't!" Fenila yelled

.

.

Instantly the guardian swung down his sword and crushed Ernis.

.

"Ernis!" Harrisen and Fenila screamed

As the guardian lifted his sword, Ernis's squashed body and organs dangled from it

Fenila and Danya gagged at the sight.

"That was stupid.." Luther lightly laughed

"Certainly." Ivery agreed

"H-How can you guys look at that with such calm faces..?" Danya asked, ready to throw up

"He's done worst." Ivery pointed to Luther

"I've done worst." Luther admitted

"You've killed people?" Danya asked

"Yes." Luther nodded

"...." Danya didn't know how to respond to that

"You too?" Danya looked at Ivery

"No, I haven't." Ivery shook her head

"Oh.." Danya felt a bit of relief

"Well, it seems they're having a bit of trouble.." Ivery sighed

"Let's go." Luther unsheathed his katana

"You're still going to use that after you said it was 'decent'?" Ivery asked with a grin

"It gives me a bit of a challenge." Luther smiled

"But you're still using that fan when you have Excalibur." Luther said

"It's pretty fun to use." Ivery fanned herself with it

"Should you be doing that with it!?" Danya asked Ivery

"What? Fanning myself?" Ivery laughed

"Yes..isn't it a weapon?" Danya asked

"Yeah..but I control it..so I wouldn't hurt myself with it, it's harmless if I don't put any power into it." Ivery told her

"Oh.." Danya understood

Ivery took Danya's hand and she and Luther jumped up.

They both soared in the air and looked blow them and saw a better view of the battle area.

They descended to the ground and stood in front of the guardians.

"I'll take the left one you take the right one." Ivery told Luther

"Alright." Luther nodded

"Are you crazy!? Didn't you see what just happened to Ernis!?" Fenila yelled at Ivery and Luther as she cried

"Us and her are on two different levels, she died because she decided to stupidly run across the battlefield with no second thought about herself and the enemy." Luther turned his head and looked at Fenila with cold penetrating eyes

"How...dare you insult the deceased!" Fenila shouted

"She's dead...she can't hear me..can she?" Luther sinfully smirked

"Y-You heartless b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Harrisen ground his teeth

"I sure am." Luther said

The guardian's legs quickly healed and they stood back up.

"They can heal themselves!?" Harrisen's jaw dropped

"If the wound isn't fatal, guardians can heal any part of their bodies." Luther told him

"That's why you always aim for their vitals when attacking." Luther informed him

The guardian swung his sword down at Luther.

Fenila and Harrisen closely watched, anxiously waiting for Luther to get crushed.

Danya closed her eyes, not wanting to see another gruesome scene.

...

"You guardians aren't much, are you?" Luther smirked

Luther easily stopped the sword with the tip of his finger.

Harrisen, Fenila, and Danya slowly opened their eyes and saw the unremarkable sight..

He stopped the sword with his finger!?

Luther jumped up and landed on the guardians' sword.

He ran up the sword and headed for the guardian.

He jumped again and slashed his sword through the air. A spiraling purple light cut straight through the neck of the guardian.

The guardians' head slowly slid off of its neck and dropped on the ground, brown goo spilling out from the neck. The body dropped on the ground.

Ivery flicked her fan open and waved it twice.

A powerful wind blew and hit the guardian, instantly the guardian's body was sliced in half and before its upper body fell on the ground, its head was sliced clean off.

Brown goo oozed from its body and neck. The head rolled on the ground.

"Easy." Ivery smiled

"Impossible..." Harrisen looked at the dead guardians

"....." Danya was speechless

"You're amazing when you fight.." Luther walked towards Ivery, having an aching need to touch her

"So are you.." Ivery smiled

Luther pulled her closer to him and leaned down to kiss her.

As their lips touched, Ivery hooked her arms around his neck. He lifted her up off of the ground and kissed her deeper.

"They always do this.." Erebus sighed and covered his eyes

"Um.." Danya walked closer to them

"Do..you think now is the right time to..do this sort of thing?" Danya nervously asked

"Oh, right." Ivery blushed as she parted lips with Luther and he hesitantly put her down

"Tsk." Luther sucked his teeth

"Erebus, go get that sword they've been guarding." Luther shouted

"Alright." Erebus shrugged and walked to the temple

"So..so to prove you defeated the monsters..you have to bring items back..like carve their carca.s.ses or break pieces of their armor off and collect it." Danya explained

"Okay.." Ivery nodded

"Hey!" Harrisen yelled

"Hm?" Luther looked at him

"One of our members died! We should get most of the rewards as compensation!" Harrisen shouted

"That wasn't the deal." Ivery narrowed her eyes

"The deals off then!" Fenila wiped her tears

Ternold limped towards his squad..

"We're not giving you most of the rewards when we killed the guardians with no help from you, just because one of your members died, it doesn't have nothing to do with us." Ivery crossed her arms

"We're taking the rewards, and that's final!" Harrisen yelled

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"That's not fair!" Danya yelled back

"How about a new deal then?" Luther stepped forward

"If you can kill us, you get all of the rewards." Luther smirked

"Sounds good to me." Harrisen summoned his spears

"So it comes to this..." Ivery flicked her fan open

"Now, who's going to die first?" Luther s.a.d.i.s.tically grinned

.

.

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