Civilization

Gathering the flames around his fists, David sends out a concave blast of fire, slamming into the charging Deadbeats, burning the bones until they were charcoal. The fire continues until the last Deadbeat, exploding at the end. Following right behind the flames is our crimson warrior.

Holding the trident, Kingston smashes through any skeleton that was still alive after taking David\'s attack. At the same time, he also pushes the rest of the skeletons away with a Cleave, causing them to explode, hastening the whole process. While Kingston was on clean-up duty, I got everyone to huddle against the wall with the Hoplites in the front.

I wasn\'t sure how big the explosions will be when all the Deadbeats explode, regardless these Hoplites are our meat shields. I need them to take as much of the damage as possible or else, some of us will die today.

"Are you sure this will be enough, babe?" - Rebecca

"I\'m not sure at all. There is no way of knowing how much damage the Deadbeats will do if they all explode. The best we can do is prepare and get away from them as much as possible. Is Aqua Ring ready?" - Ian

"It\'s ready but it doesn\'t heal that much…" - Rebecca

"Better than nothing and is there anything going off for your danger sense?" - Ian

"Every direction that has monsters. While they aren\'t thinking of anything I can feel their murderous gaze. It is slowly creeping closer and closer." - Rebecca

"That means more and more of the Deadbeats are exploding. Judging by the explosions it should be soon before they come closer to the front. Activate the Aqua Ring on my signal okay? And don\'t worry I\'ll stand in front of you, I\'ll protect you." - Ian

"Alright, just don\'t die on me…" - Rebecca

"Ian! I don\'t think I can keep going! I can see the explosions coming closer!" - Kingston

"Then come back! All that is left is to brace ourselves for the impact." - Ian

Seeing Kingston run back he activates a Siphol Soul on a Deadbeat, absorbing as much HP as possible before the explosion. Time is ticking and the moment Kingston arrives behind the Hoplite wall, I see the rest of the Deadbeats freeze as they light up crimson.

"IT\'S COMING! Rebecca! Everyone, cover your ears just in case and get close to the ground." - Ian

"AQUA RING!" - Rebecca

The moment the blue translucent ring envelopes around us, the world turns bright crimson as Deadbeats explode. Covering my ears, I get on the ground covering Rebecca as I do. Right after the bright flash, I feel as if my whole body is hit by a truck, wind smashes over me pushing me into Rebecca. I stabilize using my spider legs, stabbing them into the ground but even they were trembling in the might of the explosion.

After the blast of air came the flames. No word could explain how hot it felt. The hairs on my body felt like they were being burnt off as my skin cracked under the heat. The only relieving feeling was the gentle pulse coming from the Aqua Ring which counters the heat for a brief second.

[Banshee has lost all its HP, returning to nothing.]

[Spider has lost all its HP, returning to the Arachne Ring.]

[All Hoplites have lost their HP, returning to the Hoplite Bodyguard Emblem.]

A couple of surprising notifications pass through. I guess it is because normally the Hoplites and even the Spider never died. They were normally deactivated or their duration ran out. However, with this message, it means we were left without any of our meat shields. I can only hope that the residual damage will not kill any of us, as the heat blows over us.

I bring my head up and peek around, looking at everyone\'s condition. The explosion left a giant hole in the middle of the floor and with it, the gray cracks along the floor regained their color, slowly fading into purple. Color starts to flood my vision as everyone slowly looks around. A smile slowly forms on my face, everyone survived the attack but just barely.

Looking at everyone\'s stats, I saw some worrying numbers. Gibing and Gopopo were on 5 HP, while Ken was on 3. Yor, Frank, Gewari, and Kaede were on 7, 8, 6, and 10 HP respectively. However, the ones who were at the front of the attack protectins us, David and Howard were both on 1 HP and it seems like it was because of a new skill they just gained, Last Stand.

Last Stand (Active) - On the brink of death, by sacrificing 99% of a stat, you will live on 1HP for 1 min. That same stat can no longer be used to activate Last Stand. Cannot use Luck.

It seems that both of them chose to sacrifice their Dexterity, which just so happens to be the one stat that didn\'t matter for either of them. However, if they were to choose to use it again they would have to sacrifice an important stat, either Strength, Vitality, Intelligence, or Agility.

I too was lucky enough to survive on 1 HP even though I didn\'t have the skill. I might have died if the explosion lasted longer or if it did more damage. Rubbing Rebecca\'s shoulder, I see her lift her face. A relieved smile spread across her face as she sees that we had survived.

Trying to stand up, I realize my legs were trembling, and seeing my silly attempt to stand, Rebecca, giggled, bringing everyone\'s attention to me. Bursting out in laughter, Kingston points at me as he sits up, followed by Gibing and David. The laughter spreads, eliminating the serious atmosphere before the explosion. Scratching the back of my head, I let everyone laugh at my failure while I turn to explore the rest of the floor.

Glancing above us, the purple heart continues to heart at a steady pace. The pulse spreads down the cracks until it a gap in the floor, and half expecting some liquid to burst out, I instead just see a purple light. It seems the heart wasn\'t pumping a liquid through these veins but just light. A light that could steal the color in the world, but what kind of advantage was that? What was the purpose of this heart and why did Calliope just leave?

We had just finished a major battle but there were still so many questions left unanswered. The biggest question was should we try to destroy the heart?

"We should try to destroy that shouldn\'t we?" - Kingston

"Are you reading my mind? I was just thinking about it but we don\'t have a skill that can reach it other than David\'s Jahannam Naar Dire. Even with that skill, there is no guarantee we kill it in one hit, and if we don\'t we have to wait for the cooldown." - Ian

"Yea… and it doesn\'t seem like there is anything on this floor that resembles a room that has our equipment. Even Belial is saying there is nothing on the floor. Initially, something came down and took all the weapons and he said it was brought upward but now, he doesn\'t sense anything." - Kingston

"Maybe Calliope took the weapons somewhere? She did teleport away and if you look toward her throne, it looks untouched even though the massive explosion has the walls behind us burnt black." - Ian

"I just noticed…" - Kingston

"We should go back to the Krepost, babe." - Rebecca

"Ian, I agree with Rebecca. I know there is more on this floor but right now, we are tired and worn out from battle after battle. We need to rest and recuperate before moving forward." - Yor

"I know, Yor. It is sad though, there is nothing here for us to take. The skeletons killed themselves and the monster below didn\'t have anything else." - Ian

"We did gain something though." - Howard

"What did we gain?" - Kingston

"Knowledge. We now know how strong we are compared to our enemies. We also know that there are humans other than us fighting against them but we shouldn\'t trust them." - Howard

"He is right, and we also grew stronger. We need more time to get used to our new bodies and with time we can get stronger." - Gibing

"Even if we lost the weapons we had, we can always make new ones. Old man Hus will help us, and when we come back we will be stronger than before." - Gopopo

"But my Dark Spear…" - Kingston

"You can\'t cry over a lost spear Kingston." - Frank

"I guess I can\'t but still…" - Kingston

"Then, let\'s head down. Though are we even able to go down? Didn\'t the explosion destroy the floor?" - Rebecca

With Rebecca\'s comment, we all look at each other before sprinting toward the hole. Looking down the hole, we could see the spiraling staircase and as my eyes follow it up, I see on the edge of the hole the entrance to the floor. On the other side of the hole, miraculously the staircase was okay. Heaving a heavy sigh of relief, I turn to Rebecca and laugh softly.

What would have happened if that staircase was destroyed? Would we have just needed to jump down and hope for the best or would we have to wait until a different group of people came up?

"Let\'s go down and back through the Abyss Portal. After that, let\'s return to the Krepost and relax while figuring out a plan." - Ian

"Agreed and let\'s eat something when we get back. I\'m starving." - Kingston