Chapter 6: Descent

Kazuma slowly flutters his eyes open. He was awoken since light had hit his face. Wait, light? There wasn't light in this cave.

"It's about time you woke up." Chris teased as she was feeding wood to the fire that was Infront of her. Kazuma then sat up straight, stretching a bit to wake up his muscles.

"Ah, so that's where the light came from", he thought as he saw the fire giving warm heat to him.

"While you guys were asleep, I went above to fine some food." Chris says as she was rummaging things in her bag. "Luckily, there were a few wild rabbits close by the walls." She took out three dead rabbits, all skinned and ready to cook.

"Didn't have to go far to find these guys."

"Sheesh, your a life saver y'know that Chris." Kazuma complemented her. "Anyway to repay the debt?"

"Actually, I did think a simple thank you would do. But..." Chris drifted off to a snarky grin.

"Oh no, what the hell does she want?" Kazuma knew that face. That face spoke mischief, vengeance, and villainy. He knew it too well, since he would always see it in the mirror every morning. "Wait, no I wouldn't!"

"I don't like that face." Kazuma said cautiously as he saw her taping her chin in thought, her grin not going away.

"Say, do you remember that time when you used steal on me?"

"Shit! she's taking payback now?! I'm fucked, I need to get out of here." Kazuma panicked internally as he started sweating bullets. "Uh, yeah, why do say that...?" He nervously spoke.

"I don't recall ever getting a payback for that so..." Kazuma was already getting up.

"Hey! where do you think you're going?" Kazuma was running as fast as he could.

"Sorry Chris! But I still have some pride as a man!" He shouted from afar, not really caring for the food anymore. If he had to sacrifice that food to protect his dignity as a man, then he would do it in a heartbeat.

"Jeez, this sad excuse of a man." She grumbled as she ran as well, but a lot more faster.

"What the? How are you so fast?" He looked back and saw her already catching up with him, just a meter away before grabbing the edge of his cape and pulling him backwards. He was flung in the air for a second before hitting his bottom on the floor.

"Bind!" Now, he was truly hopeless. He was tied in a rope that he had no chance of escaping.

"Chris please! I beg mercy from you!" He pleaded, his hands gripping tight on miniscule pride he had left. He wriggled as he tried to break free. He heard her stepping forward. He looked up and saw her mischievous grin growing wider.

"Chris! Stop being so wrathful!"

"Huh?" Chris let out audible confusion. Wrathful? This was wrathful? How could taking vengeance, indulging in her enemies cries of help, and taking away his pride be considered wrathful? She gave it more thought, and concluded. Yes, this is wrathful, and she wasn't budging one bit. If this was the taste of wrath, then she will gladly do it more to this poor man. For the first time ever, she will fell the sweet joys of wrat-

"Gagh!"

"What?" Kazuma closed his eyes, fearing the inevitable words that came out from her, but it never did. Instead, he heard her giving out a gasp of pain. She was clutching her chest, then she kneeled on the ground and breathed heavily . He looked on confused, which then turned into concern. He wriggled some more to loose the rope that wrapped him.

"Chris! Chris what's going on? Are you ok?" He yelled out as he struggled to break free.

"Hah hah." She breathed out heavily as she was still clutching her chest. " I'm fine, Kazuma. I'm fine." She panted out.

"Are you sure? You were clutching your chest pretty hard. And breathing out a lot." Kazuma wasn't convinced at all.

"Stop looking at my chest idiot." She grunted out. "Like I said, I'm fine. Let's just go back to Ferdinand and cook those rabbits already." She says as she got up, still panting but somewhat more stable than before.

"Well, I was looking at your chest, but it was out of concern okay? You were clutching it really hard. So naturally, I grew concerned. Now that doesn't mean I'm a pervert okay. I'm innocent!" Kazuma pleaded his innocence as he made rapid fire excuse proving his case.

"Yeah yeah, you're innocent." She tiredly said. "Unbind." The rope that was entrapping him was then unbundled and disappeared.

"*Phew* Finally, I'm proven innocent at last." He celebrated his small victory. "Say, what was that anyways?" Kazuma wasn't ignorant. He may be an idiot, but he is an idiot with a heart. I guess.

"Oh that, well..." How should she say this, "I guess that's what happens when you're sleep deprived. With the heart not getting enough rest and all that."

"Hopefully that would work," she thought.

"I guess that makes sense." Kazuma gave it some thought. "Get enough sleep okay Chris." He patted her shoulder.

"Huh, honestly thought that wouldn't work." She thought as she saw the man walk ahead of her. "But what did I expect from a man who stole my panties. Heh, maybe next time Kazuma." She laughed internally.

Truthfully, Kazuma didn't believe her. He has been sleep deprived before, and he has never experienced any type of pain that looked like that before. The only thing that would result from it is just fatigue, bags and tiredness. Never heart pain or a heart attack. Though that last one doesn't really hold up since he himself got a heart attack which may be the result of staying up all night for weeks on end so...

Anyways, what he's trying to say is that, Chris is hiding something. But with her response just now, he won't pry it open just in case it's something personal. It would be hypocritical of him to force someone to confess about their problems when he himself doesn't want to either.

When the two got back to their camp site, they saw Ferdinand fluttering his eyes just like Kazuma did. Kazuma went to say good morning to him while Chris went to her bag to get the rabbits out and cook them.

"Woah, when did you get those rabbits?" Ferdinand groggily said as he saw her skewering the rabbits into sticks.

"She got it while we were asleep." Kazuma answered before she could.

"How long were we asleep anyways?" Ferdinand questioned.

"About 3 hours. While I was above, it was already dark out." Chris answered as she put the skewered rabbits above the fire. "We'll probably finish this quest by dawn."

"Did any enemies bug us?"

"There were, but luckily I was here." Chris said smugly.

"Damn, looks like we're lucky when you went above." Ferdinand said, "Since you were gone, we could've been pummeled by undeads."

"Oh yeah, never thought about that." Kazuma gave it some thought, and shivered slightly. "Yeah, we were lucky."

Chris definitely knew why they didn't encounter any enemies. While she is Chris in the flesh, her alter ego is still a goddess. With that, she gives off a holy aura, which then causes the undead to rush in at her. With her not being anywhere near the two sleeping beauties, the monsters had no reason to attack them, so they just left them alone.

"Yeah, you guys were lucky." She says as flips the rabbits.

"Say Kazuma," Ferdinand asked him, "Were you in a party before this?" Since he was in Axel before, he assumed he had a party before. Or maybe he was a solo adventurer like he was. He asked out of curiosity.

Kazuma was silent for a moment, before saying, "I was." He really didn't know if he should be honest or not. But the more he thought about it, there really was no harm to speak about your previous party, even if you didn't have a lot of fond memories about them.

"What were they like?"

"How do I say this..." Should he answer this honestly as well? With the other one, there was no alarm, he just said that he had a party. But this? This is asking for him to open his true feelings about how he felt about them. He wasn't really sure if it was ok or not. Like before, he was silent before saying,

"They were a nightmare."

He'd done it. There was no turning back now. It was what he truly felt, and he saw no purpose lying or hiding about it anymore. Ferdinand looked confused, it seemes he wanted an explanation.

"I had a healer, a crusader, and an arch-wizard."

"That doesn't seem so bad."

"They always say that don't they." Kazuma thought, before explaining, "Our healer was braindead. She would always accumulate debt for us and thinks it isn't her fault. She would always flaunt about her status and would drink to her hearts content, to the point where she would get debt. She would whine and whine all day about how she should be treated better, like a goddess. God, I wanted rip my ears out every time she would open her mouth."

"Then there's the crusader. She would constantly run into the enemies to get pummeled by them. Occasionally it wouldn't bother me, but when the situation is serious, she would pull that stunt out of nowhere, fucking us over. In other words, a mega masochist. Oh, and she can't hit anything, making her more useless."

"Finally, we have the wizard. She's by far the most sane one, but only by a little bit. She can only use one spell, explosion. Most of the time, it is used perfectly. But when the situation doesn't call for it, she would be useless, or she would activate it out of nowhere, fucking up everything. She's very stubborn about it, so she doesn't want to learn any other spell. I'm pretty sure by now she hasn't learn anything except improving her explosion magic."

By the end of Kazuma's little rant, Ferdinand was shocked. No, flabbergasted, bewildered, or any other weird synonyms. What kind of team was he in? let alone, how the hell did he survive it?

"Damn, I don't know what to say." His response was a bit more toned down than his thoughts were, still shocked though.

Kazuma ignored his response and said, "Yeah, I'm glad I got out of that shitty party." He put his legs to his chest, his head resting on his knees. "But..." He trailed off.

"But what?"

"But... nah, I don't miss them." Kazuma thought he would miss them, but after some thought, he really didn't. He was emotional about it at first, but after calming down and thinking about it some more, he was glad. Glad that he left them.

"Anyways, are those rabbits done?" Kazuma questioned to the cook.

"They're done!" She enthusiastically said as she lifted the skewered rabbits. She gave them each a stick to bite on.

"Man, these are good, but needs a little salt." Ferdinand commented as he bit a chunk out of the rabbit.

"Dude I am not complaining. At least we have food." Kazuma responded as he too bit a huge chunk of the rabbit.

"I guess you're right." He shrugged and continued eating.

As Chris was chewing on her unseasoned rabbit, she began thinking back on what happened earlier.

It was just like what happened back at the inn. Everything around stopped moving, and then she felt a hand grabbing her heart, and that hand squeezed it so hard, she felt like she was gonna die. It felt like minutes. The pain was that intense. She would sweat profusely, and her breath would quicken. And then, it was all gone. The hand left as quickly as it came, and everything went back to normal. Sorta.

As time moved normally, Kazuma had seen her gasp in pain, and even saw her clutching her chest. That was scary. It was a miracle that he bought that lie. He can't find out the real reason why she was in so much pain.

"How did it happen again?" She wondered. Oh right. She remembered her thoughts moments before disaster.

Wrath.

Kazuma had accused of her being too wrathful, and she even admit to it (in her thoughts), she was even a bit joyful about it.

"So that's what triggered it huh?" She thought as she chomped another bite on her rabbit.

"I need to be more careful. Or else my mom would be mad again." She thought, being more cautious than before.

She also remembered a voice being said to her in those moments of pain. It was the same voice that spoke with authority and high importance. The higher ups, or the gods.

"Wrath is a terrible sin."

Those words scared her to her very core. She didn't want to hear it again, let alone the pain that comes with it. What happens if she does it again? Will it be the same punishment? Or would it be something different since she's done it the third time? Oh her, she didn't want to ever know.

"Hey Chris, what'chu thinking over there?" Kazuma saw how deeply she was thinking. Looks like they noticed.

"Oh, just thinking about the way we're gonna kill that boss." She lied smoothly.

"Oh, well think of something good alright. I don't want to die again." He mumbled that last part.

After the trio were done eating, they all recollected their gear and we're ready to head out once more.

"So, you guys ready?" Chris asked her companions. They all nodded. "Alright then, let's go!"

They travelled inwards in the abandoned town. The place had shops, houses, and even a clocktower. It was hard to believe that this town had civilization, but the more they explored, the more the idea seem to be plausible.

"How old is this town...?" Ferdinand mumbled to himself as he saw an abandoned stall which probably sold food or other trinkets.

"How was this unknown until now?" Kazuma wondered as he definitely didn't hear anyone talking about an underground city which no one uses anymore. It was hard to believe that this place had been kept secret for so long.

"Guys," Chris called out, they all looked at her. "I think I know where our target is." She looked on at the distance. The other two looked at where she was looking and saw a massive building with a dome. The doors were big, and multiple swordsmen were coming out of it.

"I think that's the town hall." Ferdinand inspected the architecture of the building and how big it was. It was no doubt about it that this was indeed the town hall.

"And that's where our necromancer's living at." Chris commented.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Well," She took a deep breath before explaining, "You and Kazuma will take a detour around the town hall. Find a way to sneak in there without alerting the undeads. I will distract the swordsmen who are patrolling around the perimeter of the town hall. It will give you guys a chance to sneak in." She took another breather as she finished.

"Hold on, how the hell are you gonna handle all those swordsmen?" Kazuma pointed out. He was all in on it except the part where Chris was the bait to give them time to sneak in.

"Trust me, I can handle them." For the millionth time ever, she said the same thing as before. Trust me.

"Okay, you really need to start using other words other than 'trust me'."Kazuma deadpanned.

"Hey, it's still true alright."

"Alright then, we're counting on you." They both knew how Chris would do. They have seen her sore through the air, killing her enemies. They had seen her protect Kazuma by summoning a shield, blocking the incoming arrows. She could handle herself. And everytime she would say 'trust me', she would fulfill her words. So there was no reason to doubt her anymore.

"You guys ready?" They both said yes. "Let's go!"

Kazuma and Ferdinand ran off to one direction, while Chris was running opposite of them. The two boys ran in the alleyways and and emerged in the open where they can see the town hall. They saw how there were numerous windows on the side that they can climb up to with a rope. The only problem here is that their were tons of swordsmen all patrolling around the perimeter.

"Looks like we have to wait a bit." Ferdinand said. They didn't have to wait long however as many of the swordsmen were suddenly halted, they turned to their backs and ran off to one direction.

"It seems Chris did her job." Ferdinand commented as he saw the coast being clear, "Come on Kazuma."

They both ran towards the town hall.

Meanwhile, Chris was running away from the hoard of swordsmen running after her. She didn't struggle, she was actually breathing at a steady pace, not a single drop of sweat was running down her face.

"Man, this is too easy." She said confidently as she ran much more faster than before, the undeads were lagging behind. She ran to the left into an alleyway, and parkour between two buildings, going upwards and stopping on the roof.

The undeads of course couldn't climb up, so they were stuck there, clueless. She stuck her tongue out to them and ran off, hopping from building to building. Heading straight towards the town hall.

"Hopefully those two should be able to climb up those windows." She said to herself as she jumped a long distance between two buildings.

"Alright, now that we're here, how the hell are we gonna get up there?" Ferdinand and Kazuma were both under a window that was two stories tall.

"Don't worry, I know a trick." Kazuma stepped forward and lifted his hand up towards the window, "Bind; grapple." A rope and grapple launched from his hand out of thin air, and it travelled towards the window, breaking it and and getting hooked from the inside.

"I'll climb up first, you go next alright." Kazuma said to him as he began to climb up. That little spell was taught by non other than Chris herself. Thanks Chris.

Ferdinand nodded as he saw Kazuma scaling the wall. He climbed up the building and went inside through the broken window. Ferdinand saw his teammate finish so he grabbed the rope and climb up as well. Soon after, the two were inside the building.

"Phew, looks like we made it." Kazuma said, "That was easier than I thought." He said as he walked around the room.

"So what now? Do we wait here for Chris?"

"Guess so." Kazuma answered as he looked around, "Huh, there isn't an enemy anywhere."

Suddenly, the door banged with violence. With growling voices coming from it. It was no mistaking that these were undeads.

"God damn it! I was the one who set it off?! God I hate this world." Kazuma mentally slapped himself for raising a flag. It seems he wasn't immune either.

"No time to beat yourself Kazuma. That door would break at any second, prepare yourself!" Ferdinand shouted as he took out his sword.

Kazuma snapped out of his rage fit and began chanting a spell. They both waited cautiously, the banging on the door not calming down. Then suddenly, the door was knocked down to the floor, and a hoard of swordsmen came rushing in.

"Creat water!" Kazuma shouted as a massive ball of water was sent flying towards them, speeds that would equal to a car at 60km/h. It was devastating as the mass of water crushed the skulls of the undeads, sending their bodies out of the room. His ball of water not only killed the swordsmen, but also destroyed the doorway by blasting a massive hole.

"Woah, I didn't know an adventurer could do that..." Ferdinand mumbled to himself. Suddenly, he and Kazuma felt cold. Really cold. It's like they were climbing a tall mountain with snow.

"Holy shit! Why is it so cold." He wrapped himself with his arms, trying to warm himself up. Kazuma jittered his teeth, his hands wrapped around his body as well. And like how it came quickly, the cold soon faded out in a second. The warm air now calming down the two boys.

"Kazuma, what the hell was that?" Ferdinand took a deep breath as he questioned his only other teammate right now.

"It could be from me." He started, "You see, if I use a powerful spell like I just did before, the air around me would get cold. If I'm not careful, I could freeze myself to death if I make it powerful enough." He explained as he turned his body to look at him.

"I should've been more careful..." He whispered to himself.

"Well, that would explain that. But why though?" Ferdinand still didn't understand. He has never heard of a spell or skill that could make the air around them cold enough where it could be deadly.

"Let's just say that it's a curse." Kazuma said. It was the only explanation that would be convincing enough without telling him the full truth.

"Alright then," Ferdinand accepted it as that and moved on.

As if they thought they were done, they suddenly heard loud steps hitting the ground. The steps getting louder and louder, as if it's coming towards them. Well, it's because it is.

"Looks like we're not done yet." Ferdinand commented, "Hey Kaz, do you know a spell that could block us away from these pests?" He asked him.

"Actually, I do. It's called create earth: wall." Kazuma answered as he moved forward.

"How bout' sealing us in here till Chris gets back. Sounds good?"

Kazuma only nodded, he stepped forward and began commencing the spell. After a few seconds, he shouted "Create earth: wall!" The ground beneath him shook and came out a massive wall made of rocks. The wall blocked the hole which Kazuma made, sealing them inside the room.

"Perfect." Ferdinand said. The two felt the cold air again, but not as intense as before and it quickly faded out into warm air. "Now, we wait."

Meanwhile, Chris hopped down from a building and ran towards the town hall. She looked up a bit and saw a broken window with a rope hanging down from it.

"That must be where they went in." She thought as she got to the bottom of the rope. She grabbed it and climbed upwards.

"What the hell was that?" Kazuma said as he heard something coming from the window. He saw how the grapple was sticking against the window frame. He inspected it by looking out of it and starring down. He quicky calmed down as he saw Chris climbing up the rope. She looked up and waved at him.

She climbed up some more before reaching the window and hopping inside the room.

"So, what did I miss?" She said as she saw broken wood laying around and a wall made of rock presumably blocking the door.

"Some undeads came in and Kazuma destroyed the door." Ferdinand explained. "Oh, and he also blocked them by making this wall from the ground." Which didn't make sense. Where did the earth come from if they were inside a building two stories up?

"So not a lot." Chris commented, "Well, it's useless waiting here doing nothing. We're gonna bust through that wall and head down."

"My plan here is that the necromancer may be down at ground floor or somewhere underground. If we just go downstairs, we could find where this guy is hiding." She explained her theory.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to try right? Let's go with the plan." Ferdinand said.

"I agree. Let's find and kill this guy. I'm getting kinda tired being under this basement." Kazuma agreed as well.

"Then... Kazuma break down that wall. Ferdinand, use that trick you did while we were up there." They both nodded.

Kazuma began consuming the mana from the air and shouted "Create earth!" earth started coming out from his hands and quickly formed into a massive rock much bigger than him. The rock launched from him and into the wall, breaking it and killing the undeads that were trying to get through.

Ferdinand rushed in as chanted "I command my sword; Undam Laminis!" A wave of light, sharp as a razor, came from his sword, he swiped down and sliced the swordsmen that came in his way. The trio ran outside the room and began scouting around.

"It seems were on the second floor." Ferdinand said as he looked around. Where they were at was a corridor. On one side were rooms, the other side was open which showed the bottom of the town hall. The town hall was circular so they saw how the corridor wrapped around them.

"We have company." Kazuma said as he looked towards their front and saw swordsmen, archers and shielders.

"We just have to fight through them." Chris said, "Ferdinand, think you can handle them?"

"With pleasure." He said smugly as hee ran towards them, Kazuma opted to help as he got his bow out and sniped the archers from the side.

Chris ran in by taking out her blade and running at speeds that looked like a blur to Kazuma and Ferdinand. She jumped upwards and spun around, slicing the undeads.

"Heeaagh!" She whizzed through multiple swordsmen, killing them by swiping her dagger. She spun her blade, holding it upside down, and jumped up. She front flipped above the swordsmen and landed behind them.

"Ferdinand, you deal with the front! I'm gonna deal with the back." Chris shouted she she run towards the shielders who were at the back.

"Got it!" Ferdinand said as he swung his sword, killing more undeads. He narrowly dodged an incoming blade and fired back by slicing the arm of an undead. He finished the job by swinging downwards, crushing its skull.

"Ferdinand duck!" Kazuma suddenly shouted, he listened by ducking quickly. "Creat wind: blade!" He shouted as a gust of wind sharp as a sword came from his hand and sliced the heads of the undeads, dealing with Ferdinand's batch.

"Thanks Kaz!" He said as he got up.

"Heagh!" Chris shouted as she threw her dagger into the undeads, killing the ones who were unlucky. She jumped upwards and landed behind the shielders, and picked up her dagger without forgetting to do some gymnastics. She landed and began running towards them and chanted a spell.

"I command my sword: Goddess's blessing." She whispered to her dagger and ran at speeds that were unimaginable. She was just a blur as she ran between the shielders, swiping their napes with her dagger. To her, it was all slow motion as the shielders were moving so slowly you could dodge them with ease.

Everything went back to normal speed as she stopped Infront of the undeads, and saw them all collapse to the ground.

"Holy shit Chris! How did you do that?" Kazuma asked as both him and Ferdinand were running towards her. They stopped when they reached her.

"It's a secret." She winked as she placed her finger under her chin.

"It doesn't matter. Great job Chris." Ferdinand shook his head and congratulated her. He then went to pat her shoulder.

"Thanks Ferdinand."

"Anyways, let's find the staircase downstairs." Kazuma said to them. They all went together as they walked in the ruined halls. They eventually found the stairway and headed downwards.

As they reached the first floor, it was weirdly empty. There were no enemies in sight, not a swordman, a shielder, or an archer, nothing. They saw on the other side was the stairway leading to ground floor. For some odd reason the staircase was not one continuous stair leading upwards or downwards, but instead it was on either sides of the building. Very inconvenient for the trio.

They walked along the empty corridor, the floorboards were made of wood so they creaked under every step they took.

"Hey Chris," Kazuma started, "If we do find this necromancer, how do we kill it?" He asked.

"Hmm," Chris began to think, "Well, usually a water spell could work, since they are undead after all. But they'll easily regenerate. To truly kill necromancer, we have to either A, stab it in the heart with a holy sword. B, drown it in holy water. Or C, incinerate every last bit of it's body." She finished explaining.

"Well, the first option is somewhat doable. We just have to find a holy sword right?" Kazuma commented. "I mean, where would we find holy water? I did know a person who could summon holy water, but that didn't really end well." Kazuma said as he remembered the time where Aqua summoned a mountain of water from the air, which flooded the town and destroyed its gates. And ended up as a huge debt for the party to pay.

"If we were to incinerate it, it would be hard since a normal fireball couldn't fully destroy it's body." Kazuma thought about the third option. "I guess it only works when you're close to a volcano."

"You're right. We'll just have to go with the first option." Chris said.

"And where are we gonna find a holy blade?" Ferdinand asked. As far as he knew, non of them were carrying anything holy or has religious powers.

"Don't worry, we already have one." Chris said as she took her short sword out.

"Wait, that thing's a holy relic?" Kazuma asked. He was shocked to say the least.

"It is. A dagger enchanted by the Eris Church." She said as she looked at it some more before spinning it on her hand and placed it on her hips.

"But we have to be careful. A necromancer isn't just a normal enemy which you can deal with ease. It's very cunning, and will do tricks you won't see coming. So just follow my lead, and we'll deal with it." Chris warned them.

"Got it." Both him and Ferdinand said at the same time.

At last, they reached the other side of the hallway. There, they moved downstairs and went to ground floor. They didn't know what enemies were lying down there, so they stepped down cautiously.

They soon reached the bottom, a door was the only thing dividing between them and the other side.

"Wait, hold on guys." Kazuma suddenly stopped. He felt a feeling that was all to similar; enemy detection. But this time, the chill he felt was a lot more stronger than before. It must mean that the enemy or enemies behind this door must be stronger than the ones they've faced before this.

"Enemy detection?" Chris asked, he nodded in response. "Shoot, I'll have a look." She said as she stepped forward to the door, and opened it slightly, peeking through.

She then closed the door immediately.

"So, what did you see?" Ferdinand asked.

"A minotaur." She said.

"A minotaur?" Kazuma said slightly panicked. He knew how minotaurs were, with their sheer size and strength, and with their surprising agility. It was an opponent he never wished to face against.

"Yes, a minotaur." She said, as if confirming him.

"What the hell are we gonna do." Ferdinand was a bit scared. He has experienced a lot of enemies in his life, but a minotaur was where he would stand down and run. He remembered his last experience with it. It was something he wished he could forget. It was a story for another day.

"Listen, I might have a plan." Chris assured. She did have knowledge in the enemies of this world after all.

"Like every enemy, it has a weakness. The weakpoint is its nape. If we just get on his back and slice It's nape, it would die instantly." She explained.

"But how are we gonna get on its back?" Ferdinand questioned.

"We just need a distraction and someone agile enough." She responded. "Think you can handle em Ferdinand?"

"Sorry Chris, but... I can't." He reluctantly said, his eyes darting down to one direction.

"Huh? But why?" Chris was confused, so she asked him for a reason.

"Listen, it's something very personal to me. I just... can't do it." He explained.

"Oh, well if that's the case. How about you Kazuma?" Chris completely understood his situation and moved on to her next person.

"I think I can. You're agile enough Chris, so you'll kill the minotaur alright?" Kazuma said.

She nodded, "I will. Anyways, I think that's all. Kazuma, get the minotaur's attention and try not to die, while I go and climb its back and kill it." She explained.

"What about me?" Ferdinand asked. He heard her explanation and found out that he wasn't in anywhere of her plan.

"Since you can't fight the minotaur, just be on guard if there's any enemies nearby alright." She said to him.

"Oh, I guess that's doable." Ferdinand responded. "Alright, I'll do it."

"That's good to hear. Kazuma, you ready?" He nodded in return.

"Then let's do this." She said as they all went to the door and opened it. The trio got out of the room and into the wide space which resides in the town hall. It stretched far and wide, with the ceiling being way up high as it was actually the dome of the building. There, they saw their enemy up ahead; the minotaur.

It was big. A lot more bigger than our trio of adventurers. His body was purely muscle, every single inch of his body was trained to perfection. His body was swole, his arms are as big as his torso, though his legs are a bit small, they are still agile enough that he could catch up to them in seconds. All in all, he was a formidable enemy.

"Okay, now what?" Kazuma whisper to Chris.

"We grab his attention." She said out loud.

Just by her saying that, the minotaur then looked at our trio and began breathing hardly. Breath was visible coming out of his nose.

"Well we definitely grabbed his attention." Kazuma said.

"Everyone split up!" Chris shouted as she ran off to one direction. Ferdinand paying more attention also ran off the opposite direction. Now, we are left with Kazuma in the middle as he saw the minotaur staring at him deadly. Ready to run at him at a moments notice.

"Oh shit." He said defeated. The minotaur ran at him in high speeds. He began to panic as he chanted a spell which could block him from the upcoming attack.

He then thought up a spell that might work. "Creat earth: wall!" A wall was erected from the ground up. This wall was much more thicker than before since he put a lot more mana into this one.

The wall then broke into a million pieces as the minotaur rammed straight into it. Luckily, the guy stumbled to the ground after he hit it, giving Kazuma time to-

"Run!" Ferdinand shouted.

Kazuma quickly ran off as the minotaur was getting up. Now, it was really agitated. He saw the adventurer running towards somewhere that didn't have a minotaur. The minotaur himself then chased after him. He was on all fours.

"Oh shit. Oh shit! OH SHIT!" Kazuma heard the ground rumble as he looked from his behind and saw the minotaur approaching him closer and closer.

"Holy crap, Kazuma don't bring it here!" Ferdinand saw Kazuma running after him with the minotaur tailing him. He then ran off, with Kazuma joining him. Now, there were two guys running for their lives.

"Ugh, these guys." Chris complained as she saw the two running off. She whispered to her dagger, "I command my sword: goddess's blessing." The blade then emitted a faint glow and she ran to them like lightning.

She ran towards the minotaur and slided across the floor and swiping behind it's ankle. The minotaur, realizing his feet doesn't work anymore, stumbles on the ground. His body tumbling and sliding across the floor.

"What the hell?" Ferdinand said as he and Kazuma both stopped to turn around. They saw how the minotaur was now on the floor.

"You guys should thank me y'know!" Chris shouted from afar.

"Oh man, I thought we were gonna die there." Kazuma let a sigh. "Good thing this thing's immobile now."

Suddenly, the minotaur then got up. He used his hands as legs.

"Oh for fucks sake." Kazuma grumbled in frustration. He really needed to stop triggering more flags.

"Hey, maybe we should start running again." Ferdinand suggested as he saw the minotaur breathing more harder, his eyes glowing red. It was clear that this guy is a bit pissed.

"Rooooaaaaarrrghhh!" The minotaur roared, his voice shook the room with vibrations. It then started 'running' after him by using his hands as support.

"Creat wind: blade!" Kazuma chanted a spell and created a wind blade that aimed for his right arm. It got him, but he missed his joint, meaning it could still use it.

Kazuma ran off to the right, while Ferdinand ran off to the left.

"Okay, looks like I need to mix up my spells a bit." Kazuma thought to himself. He saw how the minotaur was chasing after him, but a bit more slower than before. He knew that if he could run around the minotaur fast enough, he could use his wind blade and snipe it's joints.

"Perfect." He mumbled to himself. He then ran to his right, the minotaur did the same. He swerved to the right again, and ran a far enough distance where he could use mana manipulation and use his wind blade.

He stopped as he was sure he was far enough from it. He began chanting, his eyes aiming towards the incoming minotaur. His breath quickened as he saw it coming closer and closer.

"Come on, come on, come on!" He mentally panicked. With the minotaur meters away from him, he was sure he got enough mana and shouted the spell "Creat wind: blade, Snipe!" He then swerved to the left.

Just as he predicted, with his absurdly high luck, he was able to cut the joint of it's right arm and immobilize it. The minotaur then pummeled to the ground. If he hadn't swerved, he would've definitely been hit by its body.

"Heagh!" Chris suddenly ran in from nowhere and jumped on the minotaur's back. She ran to it's neck and sliced it's nape, killing it in the process. The minotaur then went limp and laid flat on the ground.

She then hoped off the minotaur and said, "Great thinking there Kazuma." She dusted her hands off and patted his shoulder.

"Uh, you too Chris." Kazuma was a bit taken off from the surprise congratulation, but accepted it anyways.

"Huh, we actually did it. Never thought we would be able to deal with it so easily." She said as she saw the dead minotaur. Kazuma then closed his eyes in fear, waiting for something to happen. Luckily, that fear subsided as after a few seconds, nothing happened.

"Um, Kazuma, are you okay?" Chris said in confusion.

"Phew. Good thing you don't trigger flags." Kazuma said in response.

"Heh, you can be so weird sometimes Kazuma." She chuckled a bit, before hearing a faint call from the distance.

"Hey guys!" Ferdinand called, "Did you do it? Is it dead?" He then caught up to them and asked questions.

"Yes Ferdinand, we did it. It's dead." Chris said confidently as she put her hands on her hips.

"Oh thank Eris. It's finally dead." Ferdinand let out a sigh of relief. "Y'know, I never thought in my life that I would encounter another minotaur again. But here we are now, and it's defeated." Ferdinand said to himself.

"And we couldn't have done it with this guy." Chris said as she side hugged Kazuma. He blushed slightly in response.

"Yeah yeah, anyways, what now?" Kazuma said as he pushed himself away from her, his cheeks still a bit red.

"Well, we still haven't found that necromancer, which probably means it's somewhere down here." She said.

"You're right. There's probably a basement here somewhere." Ferdinand responded.

As he and Chris were discussing with each other, Kazuma looked around the minotaur to observe a bit more of the room. It was spacious and big after all. He wondered if there was a doorway leading towards some place which could lead them to this necromancer. As he went around the minotaur's body, he saw something emerging from the floor.

"Uh, guys, i think you should see this." He yelled for them to look. Both Ferdinand and Chris were caught off guard but listened to him anyways. They went around the minotaur to see what Kazuma was talking about.

"What the hell..." Ferdinand drifted off as he saw green light and smoke coming from the ground. For some odd reason, the room suddenly went dark and the only light that emitted was from this green light in the middle.

Kazuma looked on cautiously as his enemy detection was firing at an alarming rate. The chill he felt was the strongest one yet.

"Guys," Chris said as she saw something emerge from the ground up as the pile of smoke started to dissipate. "I think i know where the necromancer is..." She drifted off as the figure finished its transformation. His body was covered in a dark cloth. His body had bits of flesh, with his skeleton being shown. He was holding a staff that had a green gem on top. And his face, while hard to see, was a head with human flesh with his eyes being a dark green being covered by a hood.

"So, you've finally defeated the final challenge." A dark grimmy voice was heard to the trio of adventurers. They felt a shiver going down their spines.

"Who are you!" Chris shouted in question. It wasn't confirmed, but she knew for a fact that this was a high level undead, and it made her blood boil to the maximum.

"I am Hostis Dei, the necromancer of the demon king empire, and last disciple of The King of Demons, Pleiades." He said calmly, but his voice was loud enough for the entire building to vibrate with sound.

"Chris, what's the plan?" Kazuma said, fear was laced in his voice.

"We fight." She said, her voice was nothing short of pure anger.

Meanwhile, back at Axel.

"Hi, I would like to join your party."

Darkness and her friends all looked back at the voice that spoke to them. What they saw was a girl in a black dress, she wore no armor except on her legs and hands. She wore gauntlets that were made of black and silver metal, with a hint of gold laced in a beautiful pattern. Her hair was brown, it's length stopped at her shoulders. She looked pretty young, maybe in her mid twenties.

"You do? Well, tell me your name and we'll get started." Darkness clasps her hands, happy to know that someone was willing to join their party of misfits.

"My name is Rosalina Alford, call me Rose or Rosie if you want." Rosalina introduced herself and offered a hand to shake.

"What's your class Rose?" Darkness shook her hand as she asked her.

"I'm a warrior, you know, the one that punches stuff." Rosalina let her know. The warrior class is basically what she had explained, they punch stuff. Usually with gauntlets.

"Oh really? I've never seen a woman take that class. It's usually the men." Darkness was surprised to say the least. What she said is true, the warrior class is usually consisted that of men, so it's suprising to hear that a woman had taken up that class.

"Haha, that's what they always say. I don't know, I'm just good at punching stuff you know. I guess that's why I took it." She laughed and explained.

"Well i can see why. Your strength is quite high than the average, and your stamina is as well. But your defense is on average." Darkness looked at the card again to check.

"Never really saw the point in leveling that one up. So, what do you say? Wanna test me?" Rosalina said pridefully as she wanted to show off her skills.

"I don't see why not, do you girls agree?" Darkness looked back at her friends, who were still lifeless as ever.

"Yeah..." Aqua let out a tired answer.

"*stare*" While Megumin only gave a cold stare in front of her.

"Um, what's wrong with them?" Rosalina asked curiously, a bit intimidated by their cold demeanor.

"Uh haha don't worry about them... Say, why don't we test out on your skills on giant toads eh?" Darkness nervously chuckled as she derailed the previous question.

"Alright!" She said happily.

After Darkness went to confirm the quest, the four went to the empty field that outside the walls. There, they would soon find numerous toads hopping around finding something to eat.

"Think you can handle those?" Darkness asked as she saw the amphibians minding their own business.

"Don't worry, I've handled much more fomidible opponents than theses guys." She cheekily said. She was already wearing gear, she clanked her gauntlets together. It made a loud metallic sound which alerted the giant toads. She then ran off to fight while Darkness and her friends watched in observation.

They don't see it but Roselina's gauntlets were remitting a faint glow. She saw Infront of her a toad hopping towards her, ready to eat.

"You wanna play? Then come and get-" She pulled back her fist, the glow growing brighter and she felt power surging through her and she shouted, "some!"

The punch landed on the toads head, and everything went to slow motion. Her impact had made a ripple effect on it's skin. After that, the head then exploded, along with it's body bursting from the punch. It then exploded into a million pieces, the guts were sent flying in the air and speed all over the grass.

Darkness looked on shocked. She has never seen that kinda of devastating blow she did on the giant toad. She was a bit impressed. Looks like they have a winner.

For a moment, the light in Aqua and Megumin's eyes ignited for a bit. A light of life, excitement, and much more. But it faded just as quickly as it came. Depression wasn't easy to beat. But inside, they held hope. Hope that Rosalina will bring back the life in adventuring like Kazuma did.

"Ha ha! Still got it in me." Rosalina shouted in excitement. She saw more giant toads coming her way, probably to enact revenge on their fallen brother. She then ran straight at them. She jumped in the air and landed a blow on a toads head. It exploded and all of it's brain matter splatted on the ground.

She ran to the next toad and smashed it into bits. Another, was lifted into the air, and she punched it it, the body flying in the air and landing on more toads. She proceeded to rampage on the toads, not remembering that she has to only kill 5 of them.

The group looked on from uphill and we're impressed. The light in their eyes slowly coming back. Though, it wasn't fully restored.

After Rosalina overachieved her quest, she went back to where Darkness and the gang were standing at.

"So, how did I do?" She asked, blood dripping from her gauntlets.

"Well, I'd say your pretty good." Darkness said impressed, she stepped forward towards her. "I think you would fit well with our party."

"Don't you agree girls?" Darkness asked the two girls behind her.

"Well, I guess she'd fit well." Aqua asked, her arms crossed. But her face looked neutral. Megumin only nodded, not bothering to speak up.

"Then I guess that settles it. Welcome to the party, Rose." Darkness said, she held her hand out to shake.

"Thank you," She took her hand and shook it, "I hope I can bring benefits to you all." She said in hope.

"I'm sure you will." For the first time since yesterday, Darkness gave a genuine smile.

To be continued...

Author's note:

Okay, I read a comment talking about how in the first chapter, darkness should've enjoyed the pain after she was shot by bandits. And after reading that comment,.I was so flabbergasted. How the hell did I miss such crucial detail? And now I'm so mad at myself for missing it until now. So what should I do? Rewrite that scene or forget it? You decide.

Anyways, that's all from me. Hope you enjoy reading and I'll see you next time.