Chapter 7- The Temple:
After waking up from a night's sleep, the Elgang head towards the temple. Everyone readied their weapons as they prepared to enter. It's time to put their training to the test. They walked cautiously through the broken-down door. It was quiet at first but within a few seconds, hundreds of glitter monsters and stone golems revealed themselves. The gang was taken by surprise but they remained focused.
"SHARP SHOOTER SYNDROME!" Chung initiated the fight with a powerful spell, killing most of the monsters surrounding them.
"GENERATE BLACK HOLE!" Eve generated a black hole and pulled all the monsters in, she then triggered it to explode finishing the remaining monsters.
"Nice job guys." Elsword complimented the two before they continued through the temple. Together, the gang cleared out waves after waves of monsters.
"VIOLENT ATTACK!" Rena yelled as she finished off the last glitter spearman. She landed on the ground safely.
"How's your ankle?" Raven asked Rena as the gang moved on through the temple.
"It's fine but that last attack did hurt a bit."
"Are sure you'll be fine?" Raven questioned in a worried tone.
"Yeah of course. Besides, it only hurts when I over exert it."
"Ok. Tell me if you need help."
"I will. Thanks Raven" They gave each other a smile and continued walking. It wasn't long before the gang discovered a door the size of a three storey building.
"Careful guys. I can sense a menacing aura from behind." Aisha warned and suggested.
"Ok. Thanks for telling us." Everyone awakened themselves before Elsword kicked the door. It was lighter than he expected so it swung open easily. They entered the circular room which was dimly lit by the torches on the walls. There at the back of the room stood a huge knight in grey armour. It held a demonic shield and sword and instead of having a head, it had a purple fire floating above its neck.
"Inturders?!" It bellowed in its low voice. Eve scanned the monster.
"That's Dullahan Knight. Attack it from behind to avoid the shield." She said.
"Got it. Aisha, Rena and Eve, wait for our signal and then attack. Chung, back us up with a shooting star." Everyone nodded as they processed Raven's words. "Let's go Elsword."
"Ok!"
"ARCH ENEMY!"Raven summoned four black javelins before charging towards the Dullahan Knight with Elsword by his side.
"SHOOTING STAR!" Chung sent his twelve missiles towards Dullahan Knight but it blocked them all with its shield. Using this moment, Raven and Elsword quickly got behind it with 'Shadow Step' and 'Roll'.
"FLAME GEYSER!" Elsword launched Dullahan Knight into the air who was then caught by Raven in a deadly combo. He continued the combo until all four javelins impaled the dark knight before knocking it down with 'X Crash'.
"Now!" Raven signalled to the others to attack.
"CHAIN BURST!"
"PHEONIX STRIKE!"
"HORNET STING!"
"ARGH! You… win…" Dullahan Knight said before its purple aura disappeared and its body collapsed on the floor, lifeless.
"Woo hoo! We did it! That was easier than I thought." Aisha cheered.
"We may have won that fight easily but we mustn't let our guards down. There are still much more powerful monsters to fight until we get to Berthe." Eve said bluntly. Aisha sighed.
"Jeez thanks for ruining the moment …"
"I am merely saying the truth. If you're gonna be so carefree and relaxed all the time, you might as well give up now." Aisha glared at Eve.
"What's wrong with being carefree and relaxed? Oh wait, you're a Nasod so you wouldn't understand. Having a Nasod life is so boring."
"Don't you dare insult the Nasods in front of me!"
"I didn't insult them. I just said the truth. Sheesh…"
"H-Hey… I don't think you guys should fight with each other… Please, let's just get al-"
"Shut up Chung how do you expect me to get along with this emotionless 'Queen'. Why the hell do you like her anyway?"
"Wh-what?!"
"Leave Chung out of this Aisha.
"He was the one who got himself involved."
"SHUT UP. BOTH OF YOU!" The mage and Nasod stopped their bickering and stared at the elf.
"What's wrong?" Elsword questioned as he approached the girls. Raven looked at Rena who shook her head, signalling him not to talk about it. Raven understood and stopped Elsword from prying any further.
"Anyway let's get going. It's not good to hang around here." Said Rena. Everyone agreed silently and followed her through the corridor at the other side of the room. They walked in an uncomfortable silence until they heard the growling of more glitter monsters. The dark filled with noise as the monsters charged towards them. The Elgang reacted quickly to the sudden attack and were able to defeat the mob without any casualties. They continued to walk in silence until they saw two portals. Eve scanned the portals to see where they lead but came up with nothing.
"We're gonna have to pick a random one to go through then." Elsword said as he headed for the portal on the left but was stopped by Raven. "What's wrong Raven?"
"I think we should find a different path instead of walking through the portals."
"Why? There are no other paths to take."
"But you don't know where they lead."
"You won't know until you try." Elsword said as he shrugged off Raven.
"Elsword!" The red knight stopped in his tracks and stared at Raven.
"What?" He said in a pissed off tone.
"I said we should take a different route." Raven said slowly and menacingly.
"Ooo… scary. Mister emo dude's gonna rip me to shreds if I don't listen to him." Chung and Rena tensed when they notice Raven's nasod arm begin to glow.
"H-Hey Raven calm down. You don't have to get so worked up over this." Rena tried calming the Reckless Fist down.
"What would you do Rena? Would you go through the portal or would you find a different route?" Raven questioned the elf. Rena was taken aback by his fierce tone but she stayed calm.
"Arghh… this is going nowhere. I'm just gonna leave without you guys." Elsword glanced at Aisha before he disappeared into the portal.
"Elsword wait!" Aisha called out as she followed him in. Rena sighed in exasperation.
"So what are we gonna do now?" She said.
"I'm gonna find a different route, you guys do whatever you want." Raven said as he turned and walked away.
"Will you two be alright if I left?" Rena asked Chung and Eve.
"Yeah we'll be fine. You just go with Raven." Chung said with a smile. Rena nodded before running to catch up with Raven.
Chung and Eve watched as they disappeared from sight.
"So what are we going to do?" Chung asked Eve.
"We'll go through the other portal." She replied. He watched her enter the portal before following close behind. He knew something wasn't right. It was as though everyone had been corrupted. If so, what was the source and why didn't it affect Rena and himself?
