Chapter 5: The Abandoned Fortress Of Maine

"So, you think you're ready?" Chris said to Kazuma.

It had been an hour after they first set foot on this grassy plain, and the hill they're on is filled with chard grass, piles of rock, blasted holes, with dirt everywhere. It was absolutely decimated. And it was all thanks to Kazuma.

He had tried every spell in his arsenal. Ranging from creat water, to snipe. His spells have greatly improved thanks to his new skill 'Mana Manipulation', and now he is stronger than ever. He tested them on the poor toads, and now he's sure he mastered the skill.

"Yeah, I think I am." He said, behind him was a decapitated toad.

"Y'know, I thought stopping you earlier would work, but it seems you just can't hold back on killing these guys." Chris had stopped him earlier to avoid killing more amphibians, but after she turns her back, he's off to kill more.

"Hey now, I'm actually helping the town by eliminating them, and I get to master my new skill at the same time. So win win right?"

Chris slapped her forehead and sighed.

"It doesn't matter. Anyways, let's go back to the guild. It's almost noon, and Ferdinand is probably waiting for us." Chris said.

"Okay!" Kazuma gave a thumbs up.

The two walked past the rotting corpses and into the walls of Maine. The guards that saw the whole ordeal were a bit scared of this thief practically commiting genocide in broad daylight, but shrug it off anyways. The town itself was as lively as ever, stalls selling the finest produce, kids running around playing, adults supervising while others drinking, it all reminded him of Axel. Though, he doesn't really want to remember to much of that starter town.

As the two walked past the market place, they arrived at the guild hall. Inside, was as bustling as ever. Adventurers that finished their quest were spending money to drink some ale, or their type of preferred drinks. Some ordered food to at least fill their hunger before going to another labour intensive quest. Kazuma and Chris walked past the overly energetic adventurers and into the meeting place where they had planned.

"Looks like we're early." Chris saw their spot had no Ferdinand in sight. "Guess we'll wait a bit." She settled down by sitting on a chair besides their table.

"I guess..." Kazuma settled down as well. A few seconds past and he already hates it here. For now, Kazuma and Chris were sitting idly by each other, not really doing anything. To Chris, everything seemed normal to her. She's just waiting for someone that's all.

But for Kazuma? His social anxiety is through the roof. He really hates the silence between him and other people. He just wants to fill the void with some noise, but he just couldn't do it. He tried to look around for something, anything to talk about.

As Chris looked on in boredom, Kazuma saw the her dagger sitting beside her belt. It sparked a lot of memories. Especially the one where he tried to steal it and caught something more valuable.

"Perfect." It seems he's got a topic to say.

"Say Chris," Chris looked back at him.

"Where did you get that dagger?" ...Is what he would've said hadn't Ferdinand just arrived to greet them.

"Hey guys!" Ferdinand greeted them as he walked towards the two.

"Oh hey Ferdinand." Chris greeted back.

"Looks like I'm a bit late." Ferdinand said, he scratched his head in slight embarrassment.

"No it's fine, we were just early that's all." Chris reassured him.

"Hey uh, what happened to Kazuma?" Ferdinand pointed the man beside her. He looked a bit dead.

"No... it's fine." He sulked. He had just conjured up the perfect topic to fill in the silence, but was shot down immediately.

"Oh yeah, what did you wanted to ask me Kazuma?"Chris remembered the question he brought up before.

"Just forget it, let's go take that quest..." He sulked some more.

After that interesting exchange, the trio then got ready to finally do the quest. With their swords sharpen, stamina refilled, potions at the ready, they were all good to go. With that, the trio moved outside the guild and into the bustling town. They travelled past many of the townsfolk, all busy with their own lives, much like their own.

After passing the gates (and the guards), the walked a steady pace on the grassy plains. It was all peaceful really, until Ferdinand noticed something.

"Wait a minute... why the hell is there so many dead toads here?" He exclaimed as he saw the countless dead amphibians, all laying around on the once green grass, now covered in craters and ash.

"It's... a long story..." Chris said, with Kazuma already looking away from the group.

After having Chris explain the whole story to Ferdinand, he looked shocked to say the least.

"My goodness Kazuma, you could have hold back a bit." Ferdinand said, shaking his head.

"Well uh, just wanted to test out you know..." Kazuma chuckled nervously, his hand scratching the back of his head.

"So how are the newbies gonna level up now?"

"Oh yeah..." Kazuma never really thought about that, only now since Ferdinand just mentioned it. "Oh well." But he brushed it off immediately, not caring at all.

"Ugh oh well. So where is this fortress exactly?" Ferdinand smacked his forehead in defeat, and proceeded to change the subject.

"Hmm, I believe it's just across that forest over there." She pointed at a nearby forest just ahead of them. "There will be a path there leading towards our destination."

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Kazuma said enthusiastically, already marching forward. The other two shook their heads and followed behind him.

They walked in the forest, the trees covering them from the heat of the sun. As they walked, Kazuma decided he wanted to know a little bit more about their mission.

"So, why was this fortress abandoned to begin with?" Kazuma asked.

"Well, the story goes that when the previous Demon king was at war, Maine was at the front lines. So, they built a fortress for the royal army to stay at. After the war ended, they didn't really need it anymore so they just took their things and left." Chris explained.

Kazuma nodded at that. He didn't even know there was even a previous demon king. He wondered how many demon kings have actually roamed the land. Maybe there were six, or eight, maybe even 100. Who knows.

"So how big is this thing anyways?" Ferdinand questioned.

"I heard it's roughly the size of Maine but in half." Chris answered.

"Excuse me?" Ferdinand was a bit shocked to hear the size of this fortress. Even Kazuma was. What type of warfare were they in when they need a fortress that big? They both wondered in their heads, still questioning if what Chris had said was actually factual.

"Yeah I know. But maybe they were exaggerating or something." Chris also thought the size of it was a bit much. She was skeptical, but had a lingering feeling that it might be true.

"Man, if that's the size of the fortress, than what's the size of the basement?" Ferdinand commented. They all shuddered in fear of what's to come. Kazuma didn't know why he had this feeling, but for some reason, he felt that something bad is gonna happen down there.

"Why do they need that much space anyway?" Kazuma complained, not understanding the rationality of having an enormous basement.

"I think it's because that's where they stored all their weapons and stuff." Chris once again explained. Due to the fortress's enormously size, it would make sense that they need a large storage to keep their stuff, and where to put that stuff other than to put it in the basement.

Kazuma and Ferdinand nodded, understanding the concept now. "Well, that's just gonna be tough for us then right?" Kazuma commented.

"Trust me, it won't. Especially since we have company." She nodded her head towards Ferdinand, the swordsman himself giving a sly smile in return.

Kazuma gave out a sigh, "I really hope this turns out well." He whispered.

At last, the trio finally arrived at the abandoned fortress. After having to walk in the forest for about two hours, they saw in the distance a tall watchtower that dwarfed the size of the trees. It was massive. To Kazuma, it kinda reminded him of the skyscrapers back in his old world. They all silently gasped as they saw the watchtower.

Finally arriving at the gates, their suspicion were all confirmed when they saw the size of the fortress. It was just like what people had said, it was nearly half the size of Maine. (For reference, Maine is the exact same size as Axel.) As they past the unguarded gates, the trio saw the true state of the fortress itself.

"Damn, I haven't seen this type of Architecture before." Said Ferdinand. He saw an old stable for horses. The roof of which is now broken down, half of it still in place, while the other now touching the ground.

"I heard it was built in 670s." Chris commented. (The current year is 725). "To think that designs would change so drastically in only a couple of years." She said as they past an abandoned barracks.

The fortress design itself was built to like like the Architecture in the medieval times. Of course, to Kazuma this is the medieval times. But to them, this design felt like centuries ago, its their own 'medieval times'. The walls were made of uncut stone, while the current times uses bricks or even wood.

"It feels like I'm walking through a time capsule..." Kazuma whispered. It was surreal. To think he would see medieval architecture with his very own eyes was astonishing.

"Did you say something Kazuma?" Chris looked back at him. She was slightly ahead of him, while Ferdinand was ahead admiring the outdated infrastructure.

"Oh no it's nothing." Kazuma chuckled nervously. The world as he know it didn't know the idea or concepts of time capsules, so he had to be careful. But truthfully, it wasn't that bad. He thought that if the world knew some of the ideas that were from his world, it wouldn't completely unmask his origins. Like pizza or kotatsus. Chris looked at him weirdly but shrugged it off.

After strolling a bit more, they saw the entrance to the fortress itself, and like everything here, it was massive. It almost looked like the doors made for a prestigious castle. The door itself was maybe 6-8 meters tall, almost the size of a 2 storey building. It was also opened, which meant that people have traveled and explored inside before.

After their momentary aww, they traversed inside the fortress to see where the stairs to the basement was.

The group was spread out, but not to the point where they could lose each other. They all agreed that they could see each others body as to not lose sight of each other. And if they got into a fight, it was easy to group up than if the were alone.

"Hey guys," Ferdinand called out, "I think I found it." He pointed towards a very open staircase leading downwards. They all walked towards it.

"Hold on," Chris suddenly halted both of them, the latter looked at her curiously. "We need a light source first."

"Don't worry, I got it." Kazuma said smugly.

He grabbed a stick that was laying around him and said 'Create fire'. The stick itself suddenly burst into flames and quickly crumbled into ash.

"Yeeaah, I think a lamp would do just fine." Ferdinand then took out an oil lamp from his bag. Chris held in a chuckle as she saw Kazuma's sunken eyes. It was safe to say that he was never lighting a torch for a little while.

After Ferdinand lighted up his lamp, the trio finally went down the staircase. It was dark, and the floorboards were creaking under every step they took. Kazuma feared that they might fall under the stairs at some point. But luckily that possiblity never happened, as they reached the bottom. Here, the basement wasn't really a basement at all. It was more like a hallway leading towards who knows where.

"Uh, you sure this is it?" Kazuma questioned.

"How am I supposed to know? I've never been to this place at all." Ferdinand answered, with a hint of annoyance.

"Well wherever we are, let's just go forward. Maybe this hallway leads to our destination." Chris butted in. The two boys followed her as they walked at a steady pace in the cobweb littered hallway.

As they walked, Kazuma had a chilling feeling go out through his body. He knew this feeling. It was a skill taught by Chris herself; Enemy detection.

"Hold it," He suddenly said towards his allies, the duo looked back at him. "My enemy detection is triggered. There's monsters up front." He said to them cautiously.

"Do you know what type of enemies they are?" Ferdinand questioned. It's better to know who you're up against so that you can strategize better at eliminating them.

"Undeads. And these guys have swords." Kazuma squinted his eyes a bit, looking at the dark hallway.

"That's strange. Undeads aren't supposed to have weapons..." Chris tapped her chin in thought. She's very knowledgeable in the world about enemies, she knows every single one of them and their weaknesses. But she hadn't heard of zombies carrying swords. Unless...

"It doesn't matter if they have weapons, their still undeads. We'll just have to kill them." Ferdinand said as he grabbed the hilt of his sword and taking it out.

"You're right," Kazuma agreed, "Chris, what's the plan?"

"Hmm..." Chris hummed as she thinks of a plan. "I think I got it." She snapped her fingers.

"Ferdinand, you'll be the vanguard, while me and Kazuma are in the backlines; sniping them off." She quickly explained. "Got it?"

The two nodded their heads in determination.

"Alright, let's go!"

Just as planned, Ferdinand rushes in on the clueless zombies, and struck them with his sword. As soon as he killed one, the other undeads were alerted of his presence. Ferdinand stepped back as one undead slashed it's sword to the ground. As the sword got stuck to the floor, Ferdinand countered by slicing through it's head.

"There's more coming!" Ferdinand shouted as he saw more undeads running towards them from a distance. He readied his blade, and said "I command my sword; Undam laminis!" He slashed downwards, his spell had emitted a light that came from his blade, and it launched from his sword. The slice cut through the hoard of undeads cleanly.

"Snipe." Kazuma whispered as he unleashed a barrage of arrows. Normally, he could only shoot one, but with his new skill, he could fire ten.

The arrows all struck the undeads heads, due to his high luck. As Kazuma began to load up more arrows, Chris suddenly leaped into the air and spun around, killing multiple undeads with her short sword.

"Woah..." Kazuma silently awwed as he saw the performance which Chris made. How her blade easily sliced their heads, as she spun in the air at high speeds.

"Now is not the time to gawk at me Kazuma." Chris smugly said to him. Kazuma snapped back as he launched more arrows to kill the undeads.

"I'll have you know that I was not gawking at you okay?" Kazuma yelled, defending himself. "I was just admiring you're skills that's all."

"Hah, yeah right." Chris rolled her eyes. "Coming from a guy like you, it's hard to believe." She teased him.

"Why you-"

"Hey!" Ferdinand suddenly butted in. "How bout' you guys stop bickering and help me out here!" He yelled as he slashed another undead.

"Sorry!" Chris and Kazuma both said embarrassed.

After a few minutes, the trio had successfully defeated the hoard of undeads. With their bodies all laying around, Chris had the time to think of why these zombie even had weapons.

"Hey Chris, what are you doing?" Kazuma asked as he saw her tapping her chin while looking at the lifeless body that layed below her.

"Oh, just thinking." She looked back at him. "I'm just, confused. Why do these guys have weapons?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you realize, the undeads you've always fought were just coming at you with their arms lifted up. But these guys, are holding swords. And it looked like they knew how to use them." She had observed how these undeads fought, and saw how they actually knew how to swing, parry, and strike with a sword. It was obvious that these were no ordinary undeads; they were intelligent.

"Really? I never really noticed. I just thought that them holding swords were normal."

"That just means you're ignorant."

Kazuma gritted his teeth in annoyance. "I'll ignore that comment."

"Anywho, it certainly isn't normal. We're probably dealing with something bigger than just you're normal everyday monsters." Chris said as turned her body to look back at them.

"This is just a theory, but i think we're dealing with a necromancer." Chris said.

"A necromancer?" Kazuma and Ferdinand both said unison.

"Yeah, a necromancer." Chris said again, as if she was confirming her suspicion.

"So you're telling me there's a high level boss down here?!" Kazuma said in shock. "I thought this was gonna be an easy job."

"Nothing is easy Kazuma." Chris said as she put her hands on her hips. "Looks like this quest changed from clearing a basement, to killing a necromancer."

"Did we just get scammed?!" Kazuma asked.

"Definitely." Ferdinand answered halfheartedly. Kazuma slumped his head in tiredness, while Chris was thinking of what to do next.

"Well, since we can't really cancel it, and since we're all the way here, why not just stick with it and kill the damn thing." Chris offered her idea. It made sense, due to the rule that if you were to cancel a quest, you can't get another one for a whole two weeks, so it wasn't worth it. With them being here already, it would be best to just do the quest without having to travel back to Maine.

"It's worth a shot. Plus, I don't really want to wait for weeks on end without doing a quest." Ferdinand agreed with her point. "What about you kaz?"

"Fine, I'll do the quest." He sighed as he accepted his situation. "But I'm still mad that we got scammed."

"Oh stop being a crybaby already." Chris got a little annoyed hearing this man just complain all the time.

"So what do we do now?" Ferdinand asked.

"What else then to go there." She looked at the direction which was opposite from where they came from, it was the end of the hallway. They moved forward with the lamp still bright. They were stopped as they saw at the end a door that was closed.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Ferdinand commented, before opening the door.

Behind the door was something the three hadn't expected, like, really hadn't expected. it was chamber, a huge one. They admired the sheer size of it, with countless stalactites hanging from the ceiling. And what's more surprising, was that there was a town, yes, a town at the bottom of the chamber. The bottom itself was probably 40 meters down. It's an underground city!

"Holy crap!" Kazuma exclaimed. "How the hell is there a town under here?" He was astonished, to think that there was probably a society living underground in this chamber was never a thought that came to his head. With the chamber's giant size, he wondered how it was even formed in the first place, and how someone thought it was a good idea to build houses here.

"I'm more impressed with how big this place is." Ferdinand admired the vastness of the cavern, with how wide, tall and deep it goes. "How did it even form?"

Kazuma had a rough idea. It could be due to the use of cheat items. It wasn't too far fetched since cheat items actually existed in this world, and that maybe there was an item which can terraform the area to which the user desires. And apparently that user wanted a big ass cave. But that wouldn't make any sense. Why would anyone even want a cheat that can transform land to their hearts desire? It wasn't really practical. But who knows, maybe it is.

Or maybe it was caused by that guy who can wish anything he wants by writing in his diary. God, he hoped it wasn't him. That maniac had caused him way too much trouble for him to count.

"Look, there's a staircase." Chris was observing the landscape and saw a staircase which probably lead towards the village down at the bottom.

"It'll probably take a while for us to get there." Ferdinand said. He saw how deep the bottom is, it'll take them a couple minutes to reach the bottom.

"No matter, that's the sacrifice for us adventurers." Chris said, "Come on, no time to waste." She says as she marched forward and began to descent.

"God I wish this world had an elevator..." Kazuma grumbled to himself.

As they walked down the never ending staircase, Ferdinand decided he wanted to know a little bit more of Satou Kazuma by striking up a conversation with him.

"Say Kaz," He spoke, "Where did you come from?"

"Hmm?" Kazuma was caught a little off guard but answered anyways. "Oh, uh I came from Axel."

"Axel? That's a pretty long way from Maine. Why did you come here?"

"Well, how do I say this, it's more of a change of pace." He didn't want to tell the real reason, so he came up with a lie, sprinkled in with some truth to seal the deal. Yeah, it was more or less to abandoned his previous party, but it also kinda helps that he had a change of pace for bit. Unless he was just making excuses for himself to hide the truth.

"Really? Well, I can understand. I always hop from town to town since it kinda gets boring when you see thee same damn quests all the time." Ferdinand recalled his previous journeys. Slaying goblins, raiding a dungeon, finding an item which is rare, it was fun at first, but it got stale once you've done them for a while. "I am an adventurer after all, so it's kinda of our thing to travel."

"I guess so." Kazuma said. "What about you? Where did you come from?" Now it was his turn to ask Ferdinand.

"Well, I'll keep it short, I'm pretty sure you haven't heard of it before but I came from a town called Obsidio." Just like what he expected, Kazuma was confused. He has looked at the map for the kingdom, yet he has never seen or heard of a town called Obsidio.

"You're confused since it isn't part of the kingdom anymore." Why's that? Kazuma thought, "Since it was annexed by the demon king." Oh, so that's why.

"Damn, sorry to hear that." Kazuma didn't really have anything to say other than sorry.

"It's fine. Its a long time ago now." Ferdinand said as they pass under a tree by the stairs. "Though, I still miss it."

"hm." Kazuma hummed as looked away from Ferdinand's head and looked down at the underground village. It seems that they were getting closer.

"What about you Chris?" Ferdinand asked the silver haired thief.

"Elroad." She bluntly answered.

"Damn that's a pretty far away." Ferdinand was shocked to hear that she came from a different country, especially with how far she is from the border. "Why'd you go all the way here?"

"It's a long story. I'm kinda lazy telling about it. If you want, you can ask Kazuma about it." Chris said.

"Noted."

It didn't take long for them to finally reach the bottom. As they touched ground zero, Kazuma suggested a neat idea.

"Say, why don't we rest up a bit huh?" He asked.

"Already? We barely even scratched the surface." Chris reasoned, she wasn't really that tired, and like she suggested, they were only getting started.

"It wouldn't hurt to rest a bit now wouldn't it." Ferdinand had sided with Kazuma, he knew it wouldn't hurt to just settle down for a bit. "Plus, I down see any enemies around here, it seems pretty clear for us to set camp."

Then suddenly, out from the distance came the undeads with their swords, but this time, they have company. With them, were undeads with bows, Infront of the undeads with swords, were ones with shields and a club. For simplicity sake, the ones with swords are called Swordsman, the ones with shields are called Shielders, the ones with archers are, well, have a guess.

"Oh just great, I thought you were immune to that curse." Kazuma complained, "Guess no one is safe from red flags." He mumbled.

"What? A curse? What the hell are you talking about?" Ferdinand was confused with what Kazuma was saying, he didn't understand a single thing that was uttered from him.

"Just forget it." Kazuma shook his head. "Let's just focus on these guys." He took his bow out, already reading it with arrows.

"You guys know the drill. Ferdinand; Vanguard. Kazuma; Backlines." The two nodded, their eyes hard on the incoming hoard.

"Let's go!"

Ferdinand immediately ran forward, Chris took her dagger out, and Kazuma shot the barrage of arrows towards the swordsmen. The entire party were all shocked when they saw the swordsmen crouching and the shielders put their shields in the air, blocking the incoming arrows. Kind of like an old Roman army formation.

"What the hell?! These guys are a lot smarter than I thought." Kazuma said as he saw the formation change and now the shielders are up front, with swordsmen in the back.

Now, it was their turn to attack. The archers all stretched their bows, and launched their arrows in perfect unison. The arrows making a faint whistle as they flew in the air.

"Shit. Everyone take cover in the buildings!" Chris shouted her command, and the trio all ran into separate buildings. As soon as they got in there, the arrows all impacted the ground, some stuck, while others bounced.

"Damn it. Looks like I underestimated them." Chris gritted her teeth. To think she would say that to an undead. How shameful.

"Chris! What's the plan?" Kazuma shouted from across the building. He was huddled up with Ferdinand.

"Hold on!" She answered as another wave of arrows flew in the air and struck the ground. She looked outside and saw that the shielders and swordsmen were quickly advancing. She had to think of something quick.

"Hmmgh." She hummed in thought, "Okay, I think I got it!" She shouted, Kazuma and Ferdinand were caught off guard but listened intently.

"Kazuma, think you can produce a fireball?"

"Uh, yes I can."

"Good. I want you to stand outside and fire right at those undeads."

"What?! Are you crazy? What happens if they shoot those arrows again?" Kazuma argued the absurdity of the idea. Not wanting to become swiss cheese.

"Just trust me. I'll protect you."

He didn't want to do this, he really didn't, but what else did they have? He had no other choice but to follow on the plan.

"Okay, I'll do it." He said, his heart beating more faster than before.

"Good. On go, we'll both go outside and you ready up you're fireball. Got it?" He nodded.

"3..." Kazuma bit his lip, and and stood up. Grabbing the edge of the table that was placed nearby.

"2..." Chris grabbed her dagger tightly, She stood up and was ready to run.

"1..." Ferdinand readied his sword Incase this plan were to fail. He stood up as well and observed the surroundings.

"Go!"

Chris and Kazuma both ran outside of their respective buildings. Kazuma stopped as he stood in the middle of the street, he lifted his hand out and began taking mana out of the air. Chris had also stopped in front of Kazuma, her left hand held out with her palm stretched, while her right hand holding her dagger was placed behind her left hand.

"Do it fast Kazuma! Make it as powerful as possible." Chris shouted from upfront, not bothering to look back.

The archers from afar saw the the two thieves and began reading their bows. The shielders and swordsmen stopped walking so that they won't get hit in the crossfire. After all the archers stretched their bows, they launched the arrows in perfect unison again. Like before, they gave a faint whistle.

"Uh Chris, that doesn't look so good." Kazuma said as he heard and saw the arrows fly.

"Don't run Kazuma. Stay put right there. Don't even think of abandoning me here." Chris said as she saw the arrows getting closer and closer.

"When I say fire, you shoot the fireball got it?" Kazuma frantically said yes.

Then, as the Arrows were just meters away from them, she did something which Kazuma hasn't seen her do before.

"Shield!" She shouted.

From her hand, came out a bluish looking shield, it was big and wide. The shield deflected all the arrows. One peculiar thing was that the shield had somewhat vibrated when the arrows hit. After Chris made the shield disappear, she shouted,

"Fire!" She then ran away and hopped in the building where Ferdinand is in.

Kazuma, having shaking off the display that was Infront of him just before, released the fireball from his hand. It was enormous, bright, and most of all, hot. The heat itself quickly neutralizing the freezing cold air that was around him. It flew in the air, and headed straight for the undeads. They were hopeless as they were all engulfed in the flames. No undeads survived. The ones that did were the archers at the back, even then, some of them were caught in the fire.

"Holy shit..." Ferdinand admired the show that happened right Infront of him. The way Chris had produced a shield that protected both her and Kazuma. A shield which he has never seen before. The massive fireball Kazuma produced which killed all the undeads that stood in it's way. It was beautiful.

Kazuma himself was impressed. He never thought in his entire life he would produce something like that. But he also has to praise Chris for a second. Her shield came in clutch as he would say. Making room for him to fire his attack. He was concerned for a bit after he felt the temperature around him drop fast, he feared he would actually freeze to death. But luckily, the heat from his spell had quickly filled in the cold air.

After the fire settled down, the trio then went on to kill the remaining enemies that somehow survived.

"Finally, were finished." Kazuma let out a sigh as Ferdinand sliced the final head of the hoard. "We really need a break." He whined.

"Can't say I disagree with ya'." Ferdinand shared the same sentiment with him. "What do you say Chris?"

"Yeah, I think we deserve a break." She says as she looks back at them.

"Let's go." Kazuma triumphantly said as he sat down on the floor, even moaning in satisfaction. "Ahh."

"Jeez, you act like such a kid." Chris whispered. Luckily, the perverted thief wasn't able to hear what she said.

"So Chris, what's the next course of action?" Ferdinand sat down beside Kazuma as well, his legs crossed.

"Well, we need to find food first." Chris was the final one to settle down with them. "We how much fighting we've been doing, it's no doubt that our energy has greatly reduced. We need more fuel."

"Easier said than done." Ferdinand commented, "Where the hell are we gonna find food here? I don't see any animals or plants here at all."

"Well, there is one option..." Chris said. Ferdinand listened closely.

"You two stay here, while I go above ground and find some food."

"Wait, why do we stay here?" Ferdinand doesn't really see the point of staying underground in chamber full of monsters, especially if their pseudo leader leaves them temporarily.

"It will be a waste of time if you follow me. Plus, you two can handle yourselves here. If any enemies comes nearby, just hide in the buildings. Their not smart enough to check." She explains.

"But Chris, what about you? Won't you be overwhelmed up there?" Ferdinand still wasn't following through her idea.

"I can handle them. Just trust me okay?" She says, giving a pretty convincing grin.

"What about you Kaz?" Ferdinand then asked his friend who was sitting beside him, listening to the conversation but not adding anything to it.

"I say we trust her." Kazuma gave his final verdict. "She always goes alone back when we weren't a team so I'd say she's pretty capable by herself."

"Thanks Kazuma." Chris thanked him, he. looked away saying, "It's no big deal."

"Anyways, it's not like I'm leaving now or anything. I'll do it after you two rest up. I highly recommend sleeping to boost your energy."

"You two? You mean you're not resting up with us?" Ferdinand pointed out her choice of wording, to which she responded,

"I mean, whose gonna protect you while you sleep? It's fine really, I don't need that much sleep anyways."

"Well, i gues that's true." He really didn't have anything to counter back. "Just, be careful out there okay?" He said, the thief only gave a nod.

"This isn't really comfortable but it will do. Wake us up if there's any danger Chris." Kazuma laid down on the hard ground, his hands laying underneath his head as a makeshift pillow. Ferdinand did the same as laid his body on the ground, closing his eyes to sleep.

"Will do." She says as she saw her two comrades finally drifting away to sleep. They must be really tired if they just went to sleep after a couple of minutes resting.

A thing which Ferdinand and Kazuma didn't realize while they were sleeping, was that Chris had emmited a faint holy glow as she fought with the numerous enemies that came at them while they slumber.

"You should rest as well Chris. Being sleep deprived is not the wisest thing to do." A soothing voice was said to another person who didn't really want to hear what this person had to say.

Ugh, I can not stand this goddes talking to me like my mom. She has been here ever since Kazuma and Ferdinand slept an hour ago, and she has been nagging and nagging about "Oh, you should sleep with them." And "I know you can handle things by yourself, but it's a lot better to do things eith you friends." Ugh, just leave me. be already.

"You know, I'm kind of flattered you would refer to me as your mom, but stating my advice as nagging is a bit rude."

Oh yeah, i forgot she can read my mind.

"What are you doing here anyways. Shouldn't you be in heaven guiding souls or something." Chris said as she sits on the ground looking onwards to see if any enemies were to come.

"Well, I don't really have any customers as of now. And since your here alone and awake, I thought it would be a great idea to catch up!" Eris said cheerfully.

"Alright fine, what do you want to talk about?" She exhales a tired sigh, and asks her about a topic.

"Well, how is Kazuma doing?"

"He's been doing fine I guess. He knows how to use it now, but doesn't know when to use it at the right time." She remembered the moment when they were attacked by the undeads. Kazuma could've used fireball, launch a massive wave, cut their heads with a wind blade, protect them with a wall, anything, yet he just didn't know what to do and asked her for help.

"I wish he could rely on himself more often. He asks for my help all the time."

"Well, that is partially because he considers you the leader."

"Who the hell decided that in the first place?" Chris said annoyed.

"It's decided unconsciously when the leader is both the loudest and most confident. Since you fit in those two criteria, Kazuma and Ferdinand decided unconsciously that you will be the leader." Eris explained.

"I hate psychology." She grumbled internally, "But my point still stands. He needs to rely on himself more. I won't always be there for him."

"You're saying like he isn't capable of himself. You've seen how he is back when he was in Axel. He could do fine on his own. So what's so different now?" Eris knew how Kazuma would do when he was his own boss. He could make do when things didn't go his way. He is able to defend on his own. Like Eris said, what makes things now so different than what it was before?

"I guess you're right." Chris admitted, remembering how capable Kazuma actually is. "I guess I'm just worried for him." She whispered.

"I too am worried for him." Eris said as she sat closer to her creation. "But we have to trust him, so that he can grow up."

"You're right." She sighs. "Never thought I would say something like that to you." She chuckled a bit.

"Ha ha very funny." Eris cutely pouted at her.

Chris then looked back at the distance, "Hmm." She hummed, "Say, I want to ask something."

"What is it?" Eris said, curious as to what her counterpart had to ask.

"Did you felt pain back when I was at that bedroom waiting for Kazuma?"

"Oh... That?" Eris had suddenly gone frigid. It seems she got it too, Chris thought.

"Yes I remember. It really was a selfish thought. I've never experienced in my entire existence that pain before." She recalls how it went down. She was in a room, talking to another unfortunate soul who passed away, when all of a sudden, her heart had been grabbed, and was squeezed hard. The hand had gripped her heart tightly, causing painful waves go through out her body. It felt like minutes, but to the outside, only a mere second. She was there, coughing in pain, when it all stopped, and everything went back to normal. She held her face, and her palm was covered in sweat. She saw the soul had a look of confusion and concern. She assured the soul that she was fine, and talked to them like normal.

After the soul was reincarnated back to their world, she sat down and thought back on what just happened moments ago. She knew what Chris had done. She knew what she had done. And they both unanimously agreed to never think or even dare to do the seven deadly sins ever again.

A devine punishment from the gods was something they had never done, but having a taste of it, they both never wanted to do it again.

"I hope you and me won't go through that ever again." Eris advised her cautiously, the latter nodding quickly.

"I hope so too."

"Well, it looks like those two might wake up anytime soon." She saw how Kazuma was fluttering his eyes a bit, before rolling over to face away from Ferdinand.

"It was a nice talk with you me."

"It was to me as well, but I prefer you not being here a lot more."

"You're such a... how does he say it again? Oh yeah, a tsundere!" Eris said while pouting."

"Really, a tsundere? I am not, okay." Chris said, annoyed once again by her creator.

"That's what a tsundere would say." Eris said. "But seriously, don't even dare to think of another deadly sin. Got it?" She said seriously, not wanting to go through that pain again.

"Yeah, I won't." Chris answered, "Now go away already. I'm sure there are some souls waiting for you up there."

"Oh, looks like there are! Well, I'll be going now. Goodbye me!" She says as she slowly turns translucent.

"Goodbye, me." Chris says as she saw her counterpart part disappear into thin air. "Ugh, she really is like a mom." She sighs.

Hmm? Looks like some enemies are on their way. These guys just never stop do they?

She got up and readied her dagger. "Let's see if you're ready for round two." She says as she ran fourth to kill the hoard that came at her.

To be continued...

Author's note:

How long has it been, 4 months? can't tell, I've lost count.

Hey guys, hope you like reading this one. Sorry for not updating sooner, I was really busy writing another book, and this one was put on hold along the way. plus, it had to go on rewrite since I wasn't happy with the first draft. Anywho, the next chapter might take a while to come out, just like this one, so sit tight alright.

That's all from me, if you have anything to say, just comment alright. see ya later in the next chapter.