Chapter 8: A Chamber With Hundreds of Doors

Matt saw Venus' body fell to the ground.

"Venus!" Matt dashed to the little boy, but what he was thinking of as a little boy wasn't a little boy.

It had horns and fangs, sharp claws.

Matt's leg gave out after seeing that and fell. "W-What's a demon doing here?!"

Emilia rushed to Venus, whose body had turned pale, and her breathing was so slow. Emilia immediately started healing Venus.

Darius pulled Emilia back and said, "Stop healing her. She is about to die anyway. Focus on protecting me."

"H...uh?"

Darius dashed at the demon as he yelled, "You are not getting in my way of getting the reward!"

He slashed the demon into two, and a small crystal spawned where Darius killed the demon.

"Heh! It was easy." Darius said as he picked up the crystal.

Darius looked at Matt, who was weeping on the ground.

"Emilia! What are you doing?! Start healing Venus!" yelled Brax.

Emilia shook her head and said, "She is already dead."

"Wh…at?" Matt finally stood up and struck his sword at Darius.

Darius blocked it with his sword, "What is the meaning of this, Matt?"

"It's all because of you!"

"What do you mean?"

"If we had just backed down, this wouldn't have happened!"

"It's her fault that she tried to approach that demon."

"..." It was true. Matt couldn't blame Darius for Venus' death.

Darius pushed Matt back and said, "Let's go further in. I am sure there are more weak demons like him."

'What are demons doing here? They are supposed to be non-existent. And no one has seen any demons in decades. Are there more demons in this dungeon?' Darius smirked as he thought, 'Well, this exploration took an interesting turn. I will get a bigger reward now,'

Darius dragged Emilia and Brax with him while Matt was following them slowly.

'What the hell just happened? Venus died, seriously? I can't believe it,' Matt thought as he looked back at Venus's body. He wanted to go back to her body and bury it, but he couldn't. He had to follow the party leader's commands.

The fire torches extinguished again.

"It's happening again," spoke Brax.

After a while, the fire torches ignited again. Darius waited for the demon to appear, but there was no one in their path.

"Agh!" They heard a painful scream from behind.

It was Matt. They all looked back to see Matt being eaten by the horde of demons.

"Help me!" Matt yelled for help.

Emilia tried to rush at Matt, but Darius grabbed her, "It's no use. He is already dead. Even if we save them, he will die."

Brax looked at Darius in shock and saw a smirk on his face.

'I see. So that's what he is planning', Brax smirked and said, "Darius is right, Emilia. He is beyond saving."

"But…" Emilia had a kind heart. She couldn't see anyone in pain. She was also against killing monsters for food, more than needed.

"There is nothing we can do about it. Let's avenge Matt's death by killing all those demons."

"Yes, let's kill them while they are busy eating Matt," said Brax.

Darius and Brax both dashed at the horde of demons and started killing them.

"So you are trying to get all the rewards to yourself, huh?" whispered Brax.

"Tch! So you caught me."

"Let's not go further and keep the reward into three parts."

"Why three when I can just kill you here and split it into two?"

"Are you sure about that? If you kill me, then you won't have anyone to cover your back."

"I don't need anyone's protection. I can use Emilia for that."

"If you truly think you can just kill me and get all the rewards, then you are mistaken. If I die, then I am taking you down with me!"

As they were killing the demons, they purposely struck Matt many times. The demons were dropping tiny crystals, which was unusual for Brax. But it looked like Darius was used to them.

They picked up the crystals and put them in the bag. "I have heard that demons were supposed to be strong, but they are weaker than goblins," commented Brax.

"They are lesser-rank demons."

"But what are they doing here at this dungeon? I thought they were extinct."

"You thought wrong. Demons are something which can't be fully exterminated."

Brax squinted his eyes as he gazed at Darius, "You know a lot about them. Could it be that you planned all this?"

"If I had known there are demons here, then I would have brought some more members, and after killing the demons, I would have killed them. And then I would have told 'Demons attacked us, and I barely survived,' at the guild. No one would have suspected me."

What he said was true. An S rank adventurer's words were considered absolute as they were highly respected.

"You are rotten to the core, eh?"

"Who is not? I want rewards, and I will get it."

"So coming back to the topic, let's split the reward into three, alright?"

"We will see. Who knows you might be dead until morning?"

"Try to pull a trick on me, and I will kill Emilia."

Darius's face flinched as he heard that.

"You don't want your dear Emilia to die, right?" Brax asked with a smirk on his face.

Darius glared at Brax as he said, "You bastard. Touch her, and I will rip your skin off!"

After glaring at each other for a while, they caught up with Emilia, and then they walked forward.

"Shouldn't we go back now?" asked Emilia.

"We can't go back now. We have come this far," Darius replied.

"But…"

"Think about it, Emilia." Brax quipped, "If we go back now, then Venus and Matt's sacrifice will be in vain. We have to avenge them by clearing this floor and exterminating all the demons here."

Emilia still wasn't sure what she should do. She just lost two of her party members. Even though she had just known them for only a month, they were close. Venus and Matt were the first persons she talked to after waking up from her slumber.

The three of them walked further and entered an enormous chamber with hundreds of doors in it.

The chambers had hundreds of doors— seemingly a chamber behind each door.

Darius glanced around and said, "Don't worry. They are so weak that we won't even need any caster or support."

"Yeah, Emilia, you just focus on healing us, okay? And buff us when needed," added Brax.

Emilia nodded and started chanting the spell. The fire torches went off again, but this time, it wasn't dark.

The walls radiated, and the room illuminated.

Drip~

A drop hit the ground near Emilia. She slowly looked up and screamed.

Darius and Brax immediately looked up and saw demons standing on the ceiling. Their red eyes were glowing and gave chills to their spine.

"Buff us, Emilia!" shouted Darius.

Emilia chanted the spell and buffed them.

All the demons jumped down and surrounded them.

"Are you kidding me?" Brax gulped down in fear.

None of them were lesser-rank demons. All of them were greater-rank demons, and some were arch-rank demons: big horns, big body, large fangs, sharp claws, and a deadly stare.

Brax dashed at them to attack the nearest greater-rank demon. He stabbed his dagger on its chest, but his blade broke. The demon tried to grab Brax, but he jumped back and balanced himself.

"Not good. Their body is hard as fuck. I don't think even spells can penetrate their flesh," declared Brax.

"We should avoid the direct hit from them," said Darius.

"Emilia, what are you doing?! Buff us!" shouted Darius.

"I am…" Emilia continued to buff them.

"We need more. Remember, if we die, you will die too. Do you want to die?!" Yelled Darius.

Emilia shook her head and said, "I will try better."

As Emilia was changing spells continuously, the tension in the air kept getting more and more intense.

Brax was standing on the backside of Emilia, and Darius was in the front. It was due to Emilia's protection barrier that no demons could go near them. But it was a matter of time before the barrier became weak.

"Brax, how about you try attacking it again?" suggested Darius.

"Why don't you try it?"

"I have a heavy weapon, and I can't move as swiftly as you."

"Alright, what other weapon do you have?"

Darius took out a small ax from his belt and said, "I have this. Will it work?"

"I only have four more daggers now. I don't know if it will work or not, but I think using a heavy weapon instead of a sharp one will be beneficial here."

Darius smirked and said, "I see what you did there."

"Then here I go!" Brax dashed at the same demon again and swung the ax in his hand. He then tried to attack the demon on its neck with the ax. The demon grabbed Brax's hand even before he could attack.

Brax smirked and swung his other hand, which was holding two daggers. Brax stabbed one blade on its neck and another on its eyes. The demon groaned in pain as it let go of Brax.

As Brax was about to jump back, another demon dashed and grabbed Brax before he could enter the protective barrier. Brax was so close to entering the barrier that if that demon let him lose for a second, he could have entered the barrier.

Seeing how Brax was close to entering the barrier, Emilia stretched her hand towards Brax to grab him. As Emilia's hand was out of the protective barrier, the demon tried to pull her out of the barrier too.

Emilia was the reason why the demons couldn't do anything. Even though she was a half-angel, the blood flowing in her body was dangerous to them.

Seeing Emilia was about to get pulled out of the barrier, Darius grabbed her other hand and pulled her back. At the same time, Brax was trying to hold Emilia's hand so he could also enter the barrier. But, he missed.

Brax was still holding the ax, he swung it at Emilia, and her hand got scrapped. Blood gushed out of Emilia's wound, and she fell to the floor as her blood sprayed on the demon's face. The demon covered its face and started screaming in pain as it let go of Brax.

Brax rushed back into the barrier. He and Darius saw the demon acting strange. Smoke came out of the demon's face as its body slowly burned and turned into ashes.

Darius and Brax glanced at each other and nodded.

Emilia healed her wound and tried to stand up.

Darius helped Emilia get up and asked, "Are you okay, Emilia?"

Emilia nodded, "Yes."

"Good," Darius took out his sword and stabbed Emilia in her chest.