Chapter 25: Mt. Metox Cave

"Here we are!" Raditz said, as the group reached the mountain wall with a monolith, not too far from the exit of Town of Cool. "The secret entrance is here. There is this large boulder here blocking it, though. We're going to have to move it."

"That's huge…" Farleen said, staring at the immense size of the boulder. "It's going to be tough to move that thing…"

"Do we HAVE to move it?" Lancar asked. "Can we just go through it? If we don't particularly need to seal the entrance again…"

"Um… what do you mean?" Raditz asked. "It doesn't matter to me if this is left open or not, but…"

"Okay then!" Lancar said, cracking his knuckles, motioning everybody to stand back. "HIYAAA!" He yelled as he pulled his arm back and punched straight into the boulder. With a thunderous impact, the boulder broke into pieces, revealing the secret entrance to the Mt. Metox Cave.

"Let's go!" Lancar said, as everybody looked on with surprise.

"Wow…" Raditz commented in awe and admiration. "So what they say about Klausians is true… they ARE far stronger than us…"

"Nothing I haven't seen before." Albel said, as he walked into the cave. "Get moving, fools."


As the group walked in deeper into the cave, they were greeted with total darkness looming throughout the cave. Soon enough, they advanced far away enough from the entrance point so that their source of light was completely cut off.

"Man, we can hardly see anything!" Roger complained. "Shouldn't caves like this have some place to light up?"

"Well, this cave used to be a mine with lots of ores and minerals…" Raditz said, walking slowly with his hands out so that he can progress forward. "But they sealed it off long time ago after they mined everything out… damn, we should have brought a lamp… maybe we should go back to Cool to get one."

"Nah… no need to do that!" Reen said. "Remember when I said these orbs can help me with lots of things as I travel? Well, situation like this is exactly what I mean!"

Reen gathered her orbs together in a circular formation, and charged it with her heraldric energy. The orbs all rose into the air, and with a brilliant flash, lit up the entire cave.

"Wow! That's amazing!" Farleen praised Reen. "Now we can see the entire cave without any problems!"

"Hmph. You did something useful for once." Albel said, walking forward. "According to that book, it said this memoir would be hidden somewhere in the Northeast corner of the cave. Move it."

"Albel THANKED ME!" Reen said, absolutely touched that Albel recognized her. "Awww, that's so sweet ♥"

The group headed north, taking the right path at the fork, so that they can head northeast. Their walk had been peaceful so far, without any interruptions. Suspicious of the fact, Clair turned to everybody to ask.

"Don't you guys think that it's been… too peaceful?" Clair asked. "We haven't encountered one single monster so far… in a cave like this, I find that a little strange…"

"I know…" Reen agreed. "Didn't the book also say that this place was dangerous? That it was not for the weak of heart? Well, it doesn't look like it, unless you are afraid of the dark or something…"

"Keep your eyes peeled." Raditz said, looking around, his tail pointing up. "Who knows if something can appear at any time... I really doubt that my ancestors would lie about something like that."

"He's right." Lancar said. "My quad scanner isn't picking up any trace of lifeforms in the immediate area, but never let your guard down."

"Gotcha!" Peppita said as she walked ahead, looking back to the group. However, just at that moment, she walked into something hard and solid right in front of her. "AHHHH!" Peppita yelped as her scream took everyone by surprise.

"WHOA!" Reen freaked out, her heart pounding from the sudden surprise. "Peppita, don't scare me like that! Watch where you're going..."

"Uh...ummmmmm... what's…!" Peppita muttered as she stared down at what she just ran into, paralyzed with fear.

"That's!..." Albel yelled, as everybody looked at the object. There was not one, not two, but three solid rock statues in front of them, in a human form.

"Why the hell is there a statue like this in a middle of a cave?" Lancar asked. "This is certainly no place for a decoration like this..."

"Those eyes..." Clair said as she stared at the eyes of the statues. "They have the look of fear in their eyes..."

"They look like ordinary townsfolk... Whaaa?" Roger yelled as his comment was interrupted by something breaking down through the ceiling of the cave. It was a giant White Cockatrice bird, looking quite menacing and hostile.

"What the hell?" Albel blurted as everybody scrambled in reaching back for their weapons to get ready for battle. However, the Cockatrice attacked without any hesitation. As its eyes flashed, the Cockatrice shot out three quick pulses of energy beams at Roger, Lancar, and Farleen, whom were standing closest to it. Because of the preemptive attack, they had no time to evade or react to the beams.

"Gwaaa!" Lancar grunted, as all three were hit by the beam and were sent staggering back. "Damn..."

"Lancar! Roger! Farleen!" Clair yelled in concern. "Are you guys all right? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, but...I...fe..." Lancar trailed off as he felt his body becoming heavy and rigid.

"I... can't... move..." Farleen struggled to say, as her body slowly turned grey, and solid.

"Ah..." Roger yelped faintly as his body completely turned into stone, along with Farleen and Lancar.

"How horrible!" Reen cried, as she ran for cover. "Everybody, BE CAREFUL!"

"Crap!" Raditz cursed, as he leaped back from the Cockatrice. "It petrified them?"

"Sorry guys, I can't fight!" Reen said, hiding in fear. "I have to use my orbs... if I attack then I can't light up this cave..."

"Just keep yourself out of harm's way, Reen!" Clair yelled as she leaped back into her battle stance. "We'll take care of it!"

"AIR SLASH!" Raditz yelled as he shot a rapid wind blast at the Cockatrice with a swing of his sword. However, the Cockatrice avoided the attack by simply flying up in the air.

"Damn, that fat thing can fly, too?" Raditz cursed.

"KIYAAA!" Albel yelled as he jumped at the cockatrice monster, hacking away at it with his Double Slash. However, the Cockatrice evaded the blows, and flied up to charge itself in energy; eventually creating a barrier around its entire body.

"Take this!" Albel yelled as he swung back for another powerful slash at the Cockatrice. However, the slash was deflected by the solid barrier that the Cockatrice had put up.

"Shit!" Albel cursed, disgusted at the ineffectiveness of his attacks.

It was Cockatrice's turn to attack. It raised its wings, and flapped them forward, shooting numerous feathers that were sharp as needles right where Raditz was.

"RIFT WAVE!" Raditz yelled as he created a round shockwave around him to deflect the feather attack. "It's time to say your prayers! BURN!" Raditz taunted as he charged up his fist for a counterattack

"BURST KNUCKLES!" Raditz yelled as a fiery ball of energy shot out from his fist, homing in and exploding on the Cockatrice. The big bird was sent flying back from the impact, but not damaged thanks to its solid barrier.

"Shit, it's tough!" Raditz cursed.

"I'll break that barrier!" Clair said as she tossed both of her daggers at the Cockatrice like a Frisbee, yelling "FLYING GUILLOTINE!" However, the attack simply deflected off the barrier as if it just hit a wall.

"We're going to need more power!" Peppita yelled, as she ran up to get ready for a dance. "POWER TO ALL MY COMRADES!" Peppita yelled as her fluent, gracious Power Dance lighted up the ground, enhancing the strength of everybody standing in range.

"Heh, not bad, kid." Albel said with a grin, pleased with his increase in power, as he dashed towards the Cockatrice again. "DIE maggot!"

"Thanks Peppita! I can really feel the power!" Raditz thanked Peppita, as he also charged towards Cockatrice to attack.

"Here I go!" Clair yelled, as she also jumped in to attack.

With confidence, Albel, Raditz, and Clair all slashed away at the Cockatrice furiously. However, every single one of their attacks were deflected, still not strong enough to break its barrier even with the enhanced power from the power dance.

"Ka... Damn!" Albel cursed.

Cockatrice flew up again, shooting numerous feathers and petrification beams at the fighters. Everybody was forced to scramble back, having their hands full with just dodging and deflecting its attack.

"That barrier is impossible to break!" Raditz cursed as he deflected the needles away with his sword. "How are we supposed to penetrate that thing?"

'...A light beam…' Peppita went into deep thought, as an idea flashed in her mind. '! Maybe it can work!... it's kinda risky... and it's a new trick I haven't tried for the circus yet… but I have to try it!'

"I'm going to try to trick it! Get away everyone!" Peppita yelled as she ran right in front of the Cockatrice, going into another dance sequence. "Alright you big GOON! Hit me with all you got!"

"Peppita!" Reen yelled in concern. "Are you out of your mind?"

Without a moment's hesitation, the Cockatrice shot the petrification beam towards Peppita. At the last possible second, Peppita yelled "ILLUSION MIRROR!" to create a reflective, mirror-like rectangular energy barrier behind her, then flipping backwards into it. The beam reflected off from the mirror and shot right back to the source, hitting Cockatrice with its own attack. In a matter of few seconds, the Cockatrice was turned into solid stone.

"G…Great job Peppita!" Clair yelled.

"Wow, Peppita, that was amazing!" Raditz praised her.

"Way to outsmart the monster! I bet it feels stupid now!" Reen yelled in triumph.

"Hmph." Albel said, sheathing his sword. "Foolishly daring, yet effective. What do you know, the kid has more guts than I thought."

"Thanks... that was a new circus trick I was working on… I'm glad it worked…" Peppita said, rushing to the rock statues of Lancar, Roger, and Farleen in panic. "But... what about them? How do we bring them back to normal?"

"That's not a problem." Clair said, as she charged up for a spell. "DISPEL!" Clair yelled, as sparkle of light showered over Lancar, Farleen and Roger, bringing them back to their normal state.

"Hey... what the..." Lancar asked in confusion.

"Wha... what happened?" Farleen asked.

"Huh?" Roger looked around, puzzled.

"You were all turned into stone by the bird's attack," Clair explained. "Don't worry. It's all over. I'm sorry, we were in middle of a battle, so I couldn't cure you earlier."

"Alright, you can all explain it to the fools later." Albel said, walking ahead. "We're not done our search. So let's keep going."


The group eventually reached the end of the Cave's northeast corner. The group looked around the dark surrounding in search of the book, but the place looked like a dead end by all means.

"There's nothing..." Albel said, in frustrated voice. "So is this a hoax after all? Or did someone take it already?"

"Hold on for a second..." Raditz said. "This place used to be a mine... so maybe it's buried within these walls."

"I can check for that," Lancar said as he took out his quad scanner, putting it against the wall so he can analyze it. "Hmm... okay... alright... there's something behind this spot, right here. It could just be an ore, but maybe it's what we're looking for."

"Okay!" Roger said, taking out his twin axe. "Leave the digging to me!"

After hammering away at the said spot at the wall for about 10 minutes, the group finally found a small treasure chest that was hidden inside. Albel opened the chest without hesitation, and discovered a small book labeled My adventures: Roak of the past– by Ratix Farrence.

"This is it! This must be that log it was talking about!" Raditz announced the discovery with excitement. "Let's get out of this cave first, to somewhere safe... then read it, quick!"


Chapter 26: Eye of the Truth

The group exited the Mt. Metox cave, back out to the overworld that was gleaming with sunshine of mid afternoon. As soon as the group got out, Albel's attention shifted back to the book without a moment's hesitation.

"We read the book, now." Albel told Raditz. "It's time to see if it's a hoax, or if it actually tells us anything about entering the Daemoneum."

"Alright, I got ya…" Raditz said as he flipped the book open to read it. "Let's start from the beginning." Everybody gathered around Raditz, ready to listen closely to what Raditz was going to read out.

'My adventures from Roak of the past: By using the aforementioned artifact known as the Time Gate, Ronixis, Iria, Milly and myself were able to go back 300 years back in time to the Roak of the past, Galactic year 45 to be precise. However, we were all initially separated at first, forcing us on a journey to find each other before we could resume our main mission. Along the way, we were joined by new comrades and friends that I shall never forget about for rest of my life; Cius, Sir Ashlay, Fear, Joshua, Marvel, Perisie, Tinek… they were all best allies that one can ever hope for.'

"Sir Ashlay… Sir Cius…" Raditz commented. "They are all known as legends here on this land, but I didn't know they all traveled together on this journey!"

"Joshua… was one of my ancestors I think…I'm not sure." Reen said, in deep thought.

"Skip all the boring useless parts." Albel said impatiently. "Let's get to the part where he talks about Daemoneum, if there is one at all."

'… After reuniting with Ronixis and Milly at last, we finally embarked on our main journey; locating the original host of the virus. After getting the approval from Kings of all Four nations in our land, we marched onwards to a place called Parj Temple, in search of an item called the "Eye of the Truth", a crystal ball which supposedly could locate anything that one was searching for. Upon going through the Parj Temple and its highly technologically advanced Inner Sanctum, we eventually discovered that the "Eye of the Truth" was a device that was created by ancient Moorians from Earth to create Dimensional portals. By using it, we were able to enter a place called Daemoneum, the land of the demons that exist in another dimension.'

"Eye of the truth…" Albel commented. "So that's the name of the device that can take us to the Daemoneum. Perfect, now we know what to look for."

"So there IS a way to enter the Daemoneum again! That's great!" Lancar said, with his voice full of hope. "So it says we have to go to this place called the Parj Temple, huh?"

"Raditz, do you know where this place is?" Clair asked.

"I've never heard of such place…" Raditz said. "Where could it possibly be? I know my geography pretty well, too, but… this is the first time I heard about a Temple of any sort."

"Wait a minute…" Reen intervened, pondering about where the place might be. "Raditz, you know about that blocked path to the northeast on the way from Tropp to Tartaroy, right? Do you think it would be there somewhere?"

"Hmm, maybe!" Raditz said. "The guards say that the entrance to that path is forbidden because there are lots of monsters beyond that point… but maybe they're not telling the truth… I think that's the only logical place where it can be."

"Yeah… I think it would be somewhere in the Astral Continent, either way." Reen said.

"Anyways, let's read on to the end… maybe there is more information." Clair said.

"Alright…" Raditz said, as he continued to read on.

'After we successfully made our way through the Daemoneum, we entered a building called the Time and Space Lab, which was home to the King of the Demons, named Asmodeus. We had discovered then that Asmodeus was the original host of the virus that was spreading in our land. After a long, hard fought battle, we emerged victorious, and retrieved the serum that enabled us to develop the cure for the virus.'

"Did you say… Time and Space Lab?" Clair asked immediately, remembering what Romero had said back when they met at the Daemoneum. "The Demon we met at the Daemoneum said something about that place…"

"Just as I thought. That building is their home base." Albel said. "All we have to do is enter that place and find their king… then kill him"

"Well, it won't be so simple, but at least now we know what to do!" Lancar said, turning to Raditz shortly after. "So where do you think we should go next? We have to find this Parj Temple place, but we have no idea where it is."

"We should go to Astral City." Raditz said. "That's the Capital city of Roak. We should request for an Audience with his majesty, so we can explain our situation… and maybe he will tell us where Parj Temple is located and grant us the access to it."

"Good idea. So where do we move to from here then?" Clair asked.

"That's going to be more walking on our part…" Reen explained with a sigh. "We have to go back all the way to Tartaroy, and take the ship from there to Astral City."

"Alright, on to Astral then!" Peppita said. "Let's get going!"

"Let's cross the mountains to Portmis." Raditz said, as everybody got ready to leave. "We can take the ship from there back to Otanim."

"But shouldn't we go back to Clatos?" Farleen asked.

"Ships don't come by too often to Clatos because it's a small village…" Raditz explained. "But Portmis is a big city, so ships should come more frequently there."

"We're going to Portmis? Yaaay! That means I'll be stopping by home then!" Reen happily said. "I haven't been home for 2 months! I wonder how my mom is doing… I want to introduce Albel to her"

"Time to go." Albel said, as everybody advanced forward to cross Mt. Metox, to Portmis.


Chapter 27: The ambush

After a long journey up and down Mt. Metox, the party finally reached Portmis valley, a wooded area surrounding the path between Mt. Metox and Portmis itself. Except for usual wild animals and couple fellworms, the party was met with no resistance in forms of enemies on the way.

"We're almost there now!" Reen said. "As soon as we get through this valley, we'll be at Portmis!"

"Phew… for once, this trip has been without too much trouble…" Farleen commented.

"Aw, come on, Farleen!" Roger whined. "You just jinxed us by saying that!"

"Jinx? There is no such thing as jinxing something, Roger! That's ridiculous…" Farleen said. "That's just a silly superstition!"

"Well… I don't believe it either, but…" Lancar said, noticing something coming at them through the bushes in the sidepath as a group of 5 Demon wizards eventually emerged to confront them. "In times like this, it makes it really hard to believe that it's just a coincidence…"

"Mortals…" One demon wizard said in emotionless voice. "End of your world is near, and so are your lives. Get ready to be burned in flames of eternal despair!"

"Demons?" Raditz said as he reached back for his sword to get ready for battle. "Crap, now they're appearing near cities… this is not good…"

"RAY!" one demon wizard yelled, as numerous laser beams from the sky rained down towards everybody in the party. With quick enough reaction, everybody dodged the beams safely, though just barely.

"ENERGY ARROW!" Farleen countered with her own spell, as number of powerful energy arrows homed in on one of the demon wizards, ripping through it like toilet paper.

"PANIC DANCE!" Peppita yelled as her dance sequence created an area of dark energy on the area beneath one of the Demons. The energy confused the demon, using a firebolt spell on one of its allies, burning it down.

"Heh, let me finish that one off!" Roger said as he tossed a disc-like object on the ground near the confused and staggering demon. The demon stepped right on Roger's Land Mines, blowing itself up into pieces.

"EARTH GLAIVE!" one of the two last remaining demons yelled as the rocks shot out from the ground underneath the party. Though it wasn't particularly damaging to the party, it was still enough to knock them all down.

"OW!" Farleen yelled in pain. "You'll pay for that! I'm going to shut all of you up!" she yelled as she charged up for another spell. "SILENCE!" The silence spell created a magic ring around the demon's necks, making them unable to speak, or cast a spell.

"AIR SLASH!" Raditz yelled out, as he sent the wind blast towards the helpless demon, ripping it away. Albel appeared behind the final demon, decapitating it with a swift, blurry slash to its neck.

"That was too easy!" Farleen yelled, feeling victorious.

"AWWW! You did it again!" Roger yelled.

"Hmph… is it just a foolish kid's superstition…" Albel asked himself, but then quickly flinched as he felt something coming up over them. "Or is this perhaps more accurate than we want it to be…"

"Heh heh. Not bad, mortals." An eerie voice from above commented. As the party looked up to see what it was, they saw a much tougher looking purple demon with bat wings descending down from above. "That was quite impressive. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Shen, responsible for bringing this planet the wrath of utter destruction."

"Bah… you surely talk much crap out of that disgusting face of yours, scum…" Albel taunted as he went into his battle stance. "I'm going to do you a favour of ripping out that repulsive head of yours and mashing it into pieces!"

"How amusing to hear an inferior being such as yourself say such boastful things." Shen said, landing on the ground and getting ready to fight. "I'll give you a great honour of getting killed personally by my own hand. Prepare yourself, mortals."

"GYAAA!" Albel yelled as he charged towards Shen with his katana. The demon evaded all of Albel's slashes easily then knocked him back with a wave of dark energy from his hand. As Shen glided forward to follow up on his attack on Albel, Clair jumped right in front of him to stand in the way.

"LEAF SLASH!" Clair yelled, as she disappeared in storm of leaves right in front of Shen, ready to appear from out of nowhere in front of Shen with the double spinning slash.

"Heh, foolish trick…" Shen said as he simply evaded Clair's slashes with a similar trick of his own. He disappeared to evade her leaf slash, and appeared behind her to blast her back with his dark wave.

"Ahhh!" Clair screamed as she hit the ground, in pain.

"No!" Reen screamed out as she rushed over to Albel and Clair to help. "HEALING STAR!" she yelled as her orbs rose up high above the sky like a star over fallen Albel and Clair, charged up in divine healing energy. The energy then showered down on them to heal their minor wounds, allowing them to get up to their feet.

"Neat tricks." Shen commented. "But in the end you will all -"

"TWIN SLASH!" Raditz yelled as he appeared out of nowhere behind Shen to deliver a wicked flying double slash on his back. The slashes cut through the flesh on Shen's back with precision, sending it staggering forward with a big wound. "UGGHH! How… dare…you…"

"We caught him napping!" Lancar said as he ran up forward to attack staggering Shen. "ACROBAT LOCUS!" Lancar first knocked Shen upwards with a double front kick, then jumped into the air to deliver a long flurry of bone-crushing punches and kicks all over its body. "GWAAA!" Shen yelled in pain as the last hit sent him crashing hard on the ground.

"You're done for, worm." Albel sneered. "Maggots like you always get put in their place. Now, prepare to die… painfully of course."

"Why… you… stupid… mortal…" Shen struggled up, on the brink of defeat, as he charged up for one final attack. "I'll… have you… suffering… in… pain!" As soon as he finished his last word, Shen charged at Albel furiously with his hand covered in weird green energy. "VIRAL HACK!" he yelled as he made a rapid cat-like swipe at Albel.

Albel, anticipating the move, sidestepped to avoid the slash, but the fingertips of Shen still caught Albel in the chest, making a minor cut wound. At the instant moment he sidestepped the attack, Albel made a large crescent moon-like flash with his sword, right through Shen's midsection. When the dust settled, Albel sheathed his sword, as Shen's body fell apart into two pieces.

"THAT WAS SO COOL!" Reen yelled out in admiration, with glitter in her eyes.

"Now die a painful death, you scum." Albel said, spitting at Shen's upper body. "Rest of your kind will be following your fate soon enough."

"Gah… ha…ha…HAHAHAHA cough" Shen laughed hysterically, spurting blood out of his mouth. "You're… done… for! Get ready… to suffer…a…slow…painful…death! UHAHAHA…ha…h…"

"It's dead." Raditz said as he examined Shen's now lifeless corpse. "That one was really strong… We should be thankful it let its guard down, or else things could have gotten really tough."

"Hey, we just defeated one of their main henchmen!" Roger told the group in hopeful voice. "We were beaten pretty badly before at the Daemoneum, but now we're much stronger, too! I think we can defeat that demon the next time we see it!"

"Let's hope so!" Lancar said. "Let's get to the Daemoneum first, though."

"Enough talk. Let's get…go..ing…" Albel started talking, then trailed off as he suddenly felt a hot flash on his chest. His body started getting hot, and his head started becoming heavy. His face turned pale white, as he suddenly started feeling dizzy, everything around him becoming a blur. Albel dropped to his knees, as if his energy has been sucked right out of him.

"Albel!" Reen yelled, rushing to his side. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I….can't…see…" Albel struggled to say, as he supported his own body with his hand the ground, trying to get up. However, more he tried, the more energy he seemed to be losing. After a weak struggle, Albel dropped to the floor.

"ALBEL!" Clair shouted his name as she ran to him with look of panic.

"It must be that wound!" Peppita said, noticing the wound on his chest. "Maybe it was poisonous!"

"ANTIDOTE!" Clair didn't waste any time in casting her antidote spell. "That should get rid of the poison…"

"Gw…gwa…aa" Albel kept moaning in pain as the Antidote spell didn't seem to have any effect.

"H…how? AN…ANTIDOTE!" Clair tried again in desperation as she casted the spell once more. The result was the same – Albel's condition seemed to be only getting worse.

"We can't cure the poison?" Farleen asked in panic. "Even with runology?"

"That's…impossible…" Clair murmured, trembling in panic.

"Damn!" Lancar cursed as he ran in to pick up unconscious Albel off the ground "Just what kind of poison is this?"

"COME ON! We need to get him to a doctor, QUICK!" Reen screamed out hysterically, "Portmis is not too far… we gotta hurry!" At her command, everybody started to run up the path to Portmis so they can get there as soon as possible.

'Albel…' Clair prayed to herself while running, as a drop of cold sweat trickled down the side of her face. 'Please hang in there… Please…'