Chapter 49：Rise of the Devil

MEANWHILE...

"I'm still not convinced. I'm just coming along because the others aren't responding." Nathan said.

"I'm not here to convince you. When we reach there you'll see that I'm telling the truth. Now drive faster!" Arnold replied.

Since Arnold was panicking so much, Nathan had little choice but to help him out. From how Arnold had described the scene after using his 'foresight', it felt like there had been a dungeon breakout. Initially Nathan didn't believed what Arnold was saying. Monsters in an B rank dungeon would never have enough power to break through the dungeon, moreover Joshua and Orla were already there. They were not new to the scene, even if there would've been a dungeon breakout, Nathan was pretty sure they would be able to handle it.

But when Arnold didn't stop blabbering about the others, Nathan decided to contact them but something was wrong as he couldn't contact them. Fearing for the worse both him and Arnold, took his mustang and drove to dungeon at top speed.

"I just hope that you're hallucinating and nothing more..." Nathan shook his head and stepped on the gas.

*****

BACK IN THE DUNGEON...

The Lion charged. Nina lashed out with her right hand, but Justin's sword was shorter than hers and didn't have the reach but because of this she lost her balance. The panther to the advantage and charged into her. Before she could react the panther bit hard into her right leg. She screamed in pain and swung hard with her longer sword at the panther but it dodged the attack.

The rate at which she was losing blood was too much, her legs gave out. The beasts charged in once again, this time the Lion lead the attack. She knew one of them would try to distract her while the other one would attack. Even though she couldn't stand, she won't let them kill her teammates, not while she was breathing. She held her swords high enough to stop the Lion and the panther from charging in carelessly.

"COME ON YOU FU*CKING P*SSIES!" She shouted with all her might thinking that they were scared of her and her swords.

But in reality, they are only playing with their prey. They knew that the others won't be able to go very far, and sooner or later, decide to abandon the injured ones, but the case as such seemed highly unlikely.

The Lion jumped in, Nina jabbed her sword at it's shoulder, but she wasn't fast enough and the Lion managed to bit a part of her thigh away. Before she could recover from this wound, the panther charged in an bit hard at her torso. Her armour was like a sheet of paper for the panther to bit through. But it wasn't in vain because Nina finally managed to cut a vein protruding through the panther's left shoulder.

The amount of blood she was losing, kept increasing with every wound, the adrenaline rushing through her veins was working against her as the blood was leaking through numerous wounds on her body. She vigorously shook her head, she had to buy the others some more time. But she was weak and helpless. She could barely hold he swords anymore.

She looked at the panther. It was in pain but it wasn't enough to stop it from attacking her again. The beasts looked at each other and nodded as if they had decided that the playtime was over, and prepared themselves for one final attack.

Nina knew this was it, her final moment. She let go of the swords remembered the various people who were important to her, her parents, her guildmates, The family, Nicole whom she had grown to like a lot and of course, her brother Arnold, his mischievous smile, weird cosplays and his creations... though they never talked much, it felt that she understood him better than the rest of the family.

I'd... have never thought that a weirdo would grow up on me. She thought, in her last moments. She had a good and privileged life till now and was glad about everything she ever did. She was prepared to die.

At this moment she heard someone shout.

"KILL THEM ALL!"

The Lion was about to jump at her, when numerous wolf like creatures jumped over her and started attacking the panther while a man wearing a black track suit was fighting with the Lion.

Through her fading vision, she saw a figure dressed in black robes, rushing towards her, with guns in his hands. Various creatures who were made of stone silently stood behind the man. The man said something to one of the stone creatures as it slowly lifted her off the ground and carried her out of the dungeon.

"Be... careful..." Saying so, she collapsed.

*****

"I will." Arnold said and turned back to face the beasts. Nathan was occupied fighting with the Lion-like creature while Cerberus was leading the attack against the panther.

He stared at the blood soaked floor. Too many people lost their lives here... he saw the lifeless body of Coco, his eyes were still open. Arnold could feel the pain and agony the guy would've felt before dying. Anger and regret consumed Arnold. He felt like something flipped a switch in his mind.

_________________________

Conditions met : [REMORSE FOR THE DEAD]

Special skill unlocked!

• [DEVIL'S RAGE] : (Active ability) When activated, instantly boosts user's attributes by 400% and resets the cooldown of every ability the user has. The damage taken is reduced by 80%. Furthermore the ability temporarily boosts the user's rank. The number of ranks boosted is completely arbitrary.

[Rank : ]

[Mana cost : none]

[Cooldown : none]

[Lifetime usage : 06]

Additional effect : [DEVIL'S ADVOCATE] (Passive skill) : The user is immune to true damage. The effect of this skill is permanent.

The skill has been automatically activated. The user won't be charged for the activation cost.

Rank has been temporarily boosted to : S

Duration : 5 minutes

_________________________

The dungeon was shrouded in a strong and dark aura. Everything inside the dungeon was overwhelmed by this sudden appearance of such a strong force. Cracks appeared on the walls of the dungeon. Everyone who was concentrated on fighting a moment ago, came to a halt, everyone's attention, foes and friends alike, was fixated upon the source of the ominous aura.

"A-Arnold... y-you okay?" Nathan stuttered for the third time in his life. The first two times when it happened, he was sparring against Johnny who was a SS ranked warrior and right now Arnold's aura seemed just like Johnny's yet it seemed different... it was way too dark. As if the devil himself was standing in front of his eyes.

Arnold didn't replied to Nathan's question, and darted in the panther's direction. The panther panicked but before it could figure out what was happening. Arnold appeared in front of him and grabbed the panther's head before squashing it like a watermelon.

The Lion saw this and only one thought ran through his mind - He had to escape. The lion shoved Nathan aside and ran with all his might. He was inches away from the entrance when something grabbed his tail.

"Where do you think you're going?" Arnold said in a calm voice, but his eyes were different. They were blood red, the pupils of his eyes were missing. With a single thrust, he threw the Lion deeper into the dungeon.

"I know you're no beast, because beasts would fight and die, running away isn't their nature. They won't run away like you. The question is why would someone attack us... was it for revenge or for money?" Arnold said as he slowly walked up to the beast.

The Lion slashed it's claws at Arnold who easily dodged the attack and ripped off the lion's leg with sheer strength. The Lion howled in pain as it stumbled down and fell.

"You're gonna talk now, or shall I rip your body into pieces?" Arnold grabbed the lion's another leg and was about to yank it off when the body of the lion started to change its shape to that of a hairy naked man, he looked more like a werewolf than a lion.

"P-Please d-don't kill m-me! We were paid by an anonymous p-person to kill anyone who enters t-this dungeon." The naked man stuttered.

"Not good enough." Arnold shrugged and ripped off the man's remaining leg. "Come up with a better answer."

The man howled in pain and tried to crawl away using his hands, but before he could get far, Arnold pinned the man's right hand with his leg.

"P-please have some m-mercy! I-I don't know anything!" The man started crying, begging for mercy.

"Did you show them any mercy?" Arnold nodded in the direction of Coco's body, "Either way, since you don't have any information... you're better off being dead."

"N-no... N-NO! P-PLEASE FORGIVE ME I'LL DO ANYTH-"

Before the man could say anything, Arnold snapped his neck with just a finger. He then turned towards Nathan.

"Could you leave me alone for a while?" Arnold asked politely.

"S-sure. I'll be waiting outside." Nathan stuttered and walked out of the entrance.

Arnold looked at the blood around him. "Tsk. Only a fool would waste this opportunity."