"Ehhhh", Trevor exclaimed as he looked at the unconscious girl in his arms.

"She fell unconscious", Garett stated.

"I'm not carrying her." Ashley exclaimed, seemingly annoyed.

"Since youre the one who cares so much about her, why don't you do it, Trevor?" Garett said in a sarcastic yet irritating tone.

"Alright. I got it. Useless woman..."

Trevor picked her up and heaved Samantha's body across his back like a sack of grain.

A delayed message then popped up.

[You have defeated a monster that is higher level than you, and have automatically leveled up]

[Party Level 3 Experience 0/20]

[Player Garett: +1 Charisma, +1 Dexterity]

[Strength: 2]

[Dexterity: 1]

[Perception: 1]

[Charisma: 1]

[Intelligence: 3]

[HP 13/13 MP 14/14]

[Player Trevor: Intelligence +1, Dexterity +1, Perception +2]

[New skill: Powered shot (Lvl 1). Shoot an arrow with +2 Accuracy and +2 Damage. Costs 3 AP and 2 MP]

[Strength: 1]

[Dexterity: 4] (-1 For Suit)

[Perception: 5]

[Charisma: 3]

[Intelligence: 4]

HP 11/11/ MP 16/16

[Player Samantha: Intelligence +2, Strength +1]

[Strength: 1]

[Dexterity: 0]

[Perception: 3]

[Charisma: 6]

[Intelligence: 5]

[HP 11/11 MP 17/17]

[New Skill: Physical Resistance Down. (Lvl 1). Decreases an enemy's resistance to physical damage by 2. Costs 3 AP and 3 MP. Lasts 2 Turns]

[Player Ashley: Dexterity +1, Strength +1, Perception +1, Intelligence +2]

[Strength: 2]

[Dexterity: 2]

[Perception: 4]

[Charisma: 1]

[Intelligence: 8]

[Due to excessive use, Fireball has leveled up (Lvl 2)]

[Fireball]-(Lvl 2) Costs 2 AP 5 MP, Shoot a ball of fire at the enemy. 125% Damage boost after roll is calculated]

[HP 13/13 MP 22/22]

The level up had provided all members of the party with a significant boost in ability.

Well...

Except for Garett.

This was because Garett is a craftsman, and as such, his abilities did not lie within combat, but rather, within the creation of items such as potions, equipment, and technology.

Garett noticed that his improvement in abilities were lower than all the other members of the party but bit his tongue and didn't say anything.

As the three continued walking, they came upon a wooden chest. It was small, but big enough to fit a medium sized weapon in. There was no lock on the chest, but there was a place to put a lock if one wished to keep their items safe.

"We should be wary of any traps. Let me analyze this chest before we do anything else.", Garett stated, as he used his skill.

[Small chest. Contains helpful items. No traps have been detected]

With this, Trevor carefully lifted the lid of the chest.

And inside was....

2 Items, one on top of the other.

A bow, and a staff.

The bow was small, and had a relatively thin and weak looking string. It was nothing special, and the wood didn't have any sort of design or features to it. It was simply a curved arc, as if it had been created simply by slicing some bark with a pocket knife. There were some knots and imperfections in the wood, but Trevor immediately picked up the bow. Underneath, he also grabbed some arrows that were made of sticks and sharpened stone tips, and a leather pouch to hold them, and he slung it onto the shoulder that wasn't carrying Samantha.

"This stuff will allow me to fight as well, with you two. Our power as a party has just increased by quite a bit."

[Player Trevor has acquired handmade short-bow and handmade arrows. Damage is based on dexterity. No weapon boost]

Garett and Ashley nodded.

Ashley then took the staff for herself.

[Player Ashley has acquired staff of healing. +1 HP healed for healing skills]

"Ehhh...."

"It seems that staff is more fit for Samantha to use. When she wakes we will give it to her.", Garett explained.

Ashley nodded slightly, but kept the staff in hand, as Samantha couldn't carry it right now.

The party then continued down the hall, and something changed.

The stones which lined the wall slowly became more and more fancy, until eventually they became lined with marble.

And finally, they reached an iron portcullis gate. It was small, but on the left and right side of the wall there were inscriptions.

On the right side, there was an inscription that read the following.

"Trespassers will be punished. Only those who know the passcode may enter."

And on the left...

"The geese migrate from North to south in the winter."

"No matter how far apart we are, our hearts will always be the same distance apart"

"In order to find the right answer, one must first find many wrong answers"

These three riddles were read.

Garett read these out loud, and as he finished speaking, the system portrayed a message.

[Riddle is being attempted by the party. Rolling for Perception]

[Player Garett: Roll: 1 + 1 =2]

[Player Ashley: Roll: 2+4=6]

[Player Trevor: Roll 5+5=10]

The party then began to discuss what they had seen.

"Hm... it seems that this is a riddle we must solve in order to pass through the door here.", Trevor said.

"It looks like if we get it wrong we will have to fight another strong enemy, or trigger a trap", Ashley explained.

Below the riddle there were 6 buttons, in a pattern that formed 2 rows and 3 columns.

In order from the top row, there was an X mark, A filled in circle, a hollow circle with a red dot in the center, a V shape, a check mark, and a downward pointing arrow.

Garret spoke his mind.

"Why don't we just hit random buttons until it opens?"

And he walked over to the panel before he was grabbed by both Ashley and Trevor at the same time, one arm in each hand.

"You idiot. If you do that we will have to face more enemies", Ashley calmly stated.

"Think things through before you act!", Trevor exclaimed.

Garret looked annoyed, but stopped moving.

"Alright fine. What do you two think?"

Trevor and Ashley began to think hard, before Ashley started speaking.

"There were 3 parts to the riddle, so I think its safe to assume that there are 3 characters to the code."

Trevor nodded, as if he had already been on that train of thought.

"The geese migrating from North to South could be the downward pointing arrow, however.... I believe it is the V shape, since they form the shape of a V as they fly."

Ashley nodded, before speaking.

"The second part... kinda makes me sick. What kind of losers can say something as cheesy as that? Hah! As if your hearts wont get further from each other by being apart. That's naive thinking..."

Trevor seemed to mumble to himself.

"Same distance apart... no matter the location... aha!"

The two looked at him, as he seemed to understand something.

"Its the circle with the dot in the middle. Any point on a circle is always the same distance from the center!"

The two looked astonished from this deduction, and clapped their hands.

"The final one would be the check mark, right? Since were searching for the 'right answer'.", Garett asked.

"No. The opposite.", Trevor replied.

"It would be the X mark, since in order to get the right answer we must first make mistakes and get the wrong answer."

"Oh... I see..."

With this, Trevor pressed the three buttons, in this order.

[You have been permitted entry to the boss room]

"Eh?"

When this was said, all 4 members said this at the same time, and the portcullis opened.

Samantha, who had woken up, lifted her head up.

"Where am I? Put me down!"

----

"Ah, thank goodness. It looks like you're finally awake. That takes a large burden off me. There's a limit to how useless one should be, woman.", Trevor exclaimed without a flinch of emotion, as he dropped Samantha on the ground.

"Ugh!"

[Player Samantha: HP: 10/11]

"What do you think you're doing!?"

Samantha then caught memory of where she last was, and the events that had transpired before she fell unconscious, and her face puffed up in rage.

Turning towards Ashley, who was staring at her blankly, Samantha let out her anger.

"You bitch! How dare you shoot a fireball at me like you did!?! What if you had left burn marks on me!?!"

Samantha began hastily checking herself to see if there were any scars remaining.

She may be in the body of a demon, but she still wanted to keep it as perfect as she could.

Ashley merely shrugged, but she smile smugly as if she had enjoyed Samantha's torment.

Garett stepped in.

"We did everything we could to save you at the time. I understand that you feel as if you've been betrayed and harmed, but it was the only thing we could do to save your life. You should be thanking Ashley for her quick thinking. If she had hesitated like a certain someone over here, you would have been long dead."

Garett's eyes flashed over to Trevor.

Badump.

Samantha felt her heart beat.

Did Trevor actually hesitate to harm her?

No, she remembered.

He had charged at her when the slime like creature attacked, and did everything he could to try to scrape it off her.

To no avail of course.

But still, he had displayed a side of him that she would never had expected, and this made her heart beat.

"A... anyways... where are we? What's going on now?"

Garett let out a creepy smile.

"Were about to enter the bosses lair. You had better prepare yourself to do some healing, assuming we don't bite the dust before you can heal us."

Ehhh....

With that, Trevor lent a hand to Samantha, and she grabbed it to stand up.

Ashley handed her the staff.

"Take this, useless woman. It's dangerous to go alone."

And the four entered the so called boss room.

----