Three of them stood in a circle of the forest. The daylight shone brightly on them past the thick leaves of the trees. Rays of the sun struck on the heads and shoulders of Arka, Banelfsing, and Mikrim. They just finished sending each other a party invitation, as all three of appear to have their party window on the left side of their HUD.

Arka exhaled assuming she was about to take responsibility as the one who will take the lead for the small group they have. After all, she was the one who brought them both on the way to their destination. "So... Let's head in," She said as she, Banelfsing, and Mikrim looked at the giant stone doors that sealed off the barrows.

Inside the dungeon, was a wide, stony area with lit, torches that hung over the walls. The floor's engravings are faded due to the earth's dust, and erosion. The walls have lined humongous stone shelves, storing numerous sarcophagi with the mummified dead in them.

The three walk through these halls in a triangle formation with Arka and Banelfsing in front, and Mikrim at the back of them for any support fire. For each step they took, an echo resounded deep into the depths of this barrow.

While they were traveling in this dimly lit hallway, Banelfsing asked Arka, "So, Mikrim's our specialist, huh...? Does it have anything to do with how she uses her bow?" Arka turned to him as he asked this. Mikrim approached closer between the two upon hearing Banelfsing mention her.

"Uhmm..." Arka uttered as she heard Banelfsing question, "You'll find out in a bit," was all she said, not wanting to spoil the surprise.

With an unchanging expression, Banelfsing thought it wouldn't be much of a revelation to him whatever it could be. After all, Banelfsing's held a certain philosophy that 'The world is full of obvious things.'— was how a part of this saying went. He got this from a popular book about a legendary detective in England, and he held onto this idea as he realized more of the current reality he resides.

Just then, after Arka looked back in front of the direction they're walking in; Banelfsing saw Mikrim at the corner of his eye. She was smiling at him, looking at his unchanging expression.

As they both caught each other's eyes, Mikrim backed away a few feet, reforming their triangle formation.

Banelfsing couldn't help but felt some form of curiosity on whatever she can do. Perhaps it was a human instinct to be curious, despite knowing what was obvious in the world.

Speaking of obvious, Banelfsing just remembered something.

"Oh, hold on." He said. Arka and Mikrim stopped in their tracks. He went behind them and removed his rucksack. After that, he took out some thick, metal pads, double the size of his hands, and set up numerous of them in a dispersed line on the floor. "What's that?" Mikrim asked him.

"Contingency plan in case we get ambushed." He said. "They're mines. I made them myself... did I mention I'm a high-level Artisan?" Banelfsing boasted as he smiled and pointed at himself with his thumb.

Mikrim's interest piqued, displaying enthusiasm upon hearing Banelfsing's profession. "Isn't that the profession where you can make mount consumables?" She asked him.

"Yeah," Banelfsing finished setting up the mines, as he slung his rucksack over his back. "Actually, I just found out recently we can make traps too," He said. "This profession's quite generalized on what it can craft. There should be other cool stuff... unlocking the next artisan item is a fun experience in itself," He said to Mikrim.

Mikrim made a slow, and agreeable hum. "That's cool," She kept smiling at him. Banelfsing smiled and quickly averted his gaze from her.

"Well, I've got the traps set up so... Let's keep going," He said.

And so, the three continued moving onwards in the barrow.

Deeper into the dungeon, more and more sarcophagi lined up at the stone walls. They eventually reached a wide area around the middle parts of this dungeon. It wasn't soon until the three stood before a humongous, hall with stone tables, ancient candelabras, and pairs of tattered banners hanging over the towering walls of the barrow. The symbols embedded on it are unrecognizable due to the cloth's wear and tear.

At the center of this great hall, lies a pit just waiting to be descended by the climbable staircase on it, leading down. The walls surrounding this pit are further filled with more sarcophagi on both sides.

Banelfsing then noticed something at the corner of his eye. "Oh... there's that chest," He pointed at it, as Arka and Mikrim looked towards it.

It was a chest at the corner of the stone walls. It was a familiar chest to him. Nothing truly stood out about it, except that it was the first chest that they could encounter in the barrow. He began to approach it. "Did any new loot, spawn...?" He said, as he knelt in front of it and started investigating the chest's contents. "Aaand, nope. Just low tier junk again," he said as he looked in.

Why am I not surprised...? Arka thought.

"Can I see what's inside?" Mikrim asked Banelfsing before he closed the chest he's investigating. "Err... yeah, sure. But I doubt you'll find anything useful," he said.

"Hmm... Maybe." Mikrim said. "Some good quality junk can still be rewarding," she said as she began to rummage through the contents of the small chest.

"You mean, by selling them?" Banelfsing asked satirically.

"No," Mikrim looked at Banelfsing. "Recycling them," Mikrim said.

Banelfsing just looked at her.

As Mikrim saw his puzzled expression, she grinned at him. "I suppose, you might be thinking, 'But what does that even mean?'" She said, mimicking Banelfsing's voice. "Well, let's just say that I like collecting things..." She went back to rummaging through the contents of the chest... whichever is useful for her. "Yep. Let's leave it at that,"

"Well then..." Banelfsing stood up, to let Mikrim have the small chest. "Knock yourself out, I guess. I'll just... plan with Ara for our strat on this floor,"

"Okay," She said.

Afterward, Banelfsing walked back to Arka. She is looking down below the stone stairs of the room; eyeing the bottom, of the large, open-pit. Arka, playing video games for a long time, already gave her the impression that a horde of monsters will spawn judging from the looks of this open space.

A wide, archway towards their next destination was visibly seen on the other side of this pit. The next room showed a dimmer pathway. Both of them couldn't scrutinize whatever was on the other side.

"So, this is the part of the dungeon where we couldn't get through," Banelfsing said.

She turned to Banelfsing. "Yeah... it's a death trap down there. Other Alpha test players were able to get to the other side, but... they still couldn't get past that area due to the difficulty of the monsters there proving far too high..." She said.

"It's even strange that this game limits us to only four members to form a party..." She continued telling Banelfsing. "It's a strange difficulty scaling, f-forcing us into a roadblock.”

She looked back at the lower floor of the room they're in. "After heading to the center, the monsters of this floor... will wake up and start ganging up on our party at that spot—followed up by a bigger one of its kind... might be the semi-boss for this specific floor of the dungeon," She said.

"Right..." Banelfsing said, with a quizzical look of her critical analysis of the dungeon.

"So... I suppose we'll be sticking with the ol' tactic, but with our new friend this time...? And I mean, hugging the walls and sticking near the staircase...? 'Cuz, that didn't end up well..." He said as he expressed a stultified look on his face that says, 'time and again'.

"No... this time, different plan. Since we already know what's gonna happen, it's pretty simple, really," She turned to Mikrim. "Krim, do you think you can quickly take down a massive crowd of weak, undead?"

Mikrim finished gathering the stuff she wanted at the corner chest of the room. "I dunno, but even my multi-shots are enough to pierce through steel,"

"That's... that's actually impressive. That'll have to do," She said.

"You sure? I wouldn't want to disappoint," Mikrim said. "Yes, I'm sure," Arka told Mikrim, with a tone of confidence in her.

After that, she turned to Ban. "Well Ban, that's it... All we gotta take care of is the big guy,"

"What...?" Banelfsing uttered. "What was the plan...? And why does—" As Banelfsing turned his look away from Mikrim, he realized something. "Is Mikrim even familiar with battle?"

"Art of war, Ban," Arka said. "If—If you know the enemy, and know yourself, you need not fear a hundred battles."

She dropped her leather satchel on the ground.

"Now, you're just messing with me, Arakar..." He said as he dropped his rucksack.

"Don't worry... we're good," She told him. "Just trust me," And then, she drew her sword, and proceeded to walk down the stone stairs. Banelfsing followed her down these sets of stairs, straight-faced.

As both of them descended, Mikrim went to the edge of the floor she was on and drew her Recurve bow; preparing for her wide-range attack. She took out a small bottle from her leg bag and placed it in the compartment of her Recurve bow. Banelfsing noticed this as he continued walking down the stone steps ahead of her.

He reached the lower floor. "So, don't want to head back for now, Ara?"

A familiar question, Arka pondered, as she heard it from a time not too long ago, though rephrased.

"No," She said with a tone of resolve. She looked at Banelfsing. "I don't feel like we have to, this time,"

Banelfsing smirked at Arka for understanding the question. After that, he spun the twin blades on his hands and held onto them in a reversed grip.

Mikrim placed a hand on her bowstring at the floor above, focusing on the floor below her for a wide-ranged attack.

Arka felt calm. A sense of confidence welled in her soul—certain of what's to come. The doubts she felt, and the thoughts of uncertainty she had, are silenced as Banelfsing and Mikrim stood with her. It's a strange feeling for Arka... How long has it been since she last felt this way...? Was this all that she was looking for over the years ever since she has locked herself up in her own home? Just a few good friends, playing a good DIVE VRMMORPG?

Thoughts like these embarrassed her. She knows thoughts like these were the result of being shut in for so long. She doesn't want to share how she truly felt with them. It was just too weird.

She questioned though, was the confidence that stirred within her, her true self all along? Or was it the one who was shy was her true self?

She wants to figure it out...

She wants to know more...

She wants to keep hanging out with Banelfsing and Mikrim and find out... just who was her true self?

Knowing the strength of her party; she is sure they will win the fight that was ahead of them.

"Let's slay some mobs," Arka said adamantly.

And after that, she and Banelfsing went off to the center of this pit.

Just as Arka and Banelfsing expected, the barrow echoed of countless sarcophagi rumbling, removing their lids and awakening the sleeping undead. The ground shook before them as it did.

Multiple explosions resounded in the distance from the way they came. Fortunately, Banelfsing set up their traps beforehand when they came into the dungeon.

Before long, the undead sleeping in the sarcophagi on both sides of the pit in their room awakened next. The stone lids these undead removed fell towards the floor. As they sat up and jumped down the pit to surround Arka and Banelfsing, they roared an aggressive tone, as if assuming dominance of their territory.

The undead they faced are humanoid in shape. Their torn flesh shows the bone underneath their flaky skin. Each of their faces was partly torn, eroded throughout the years within the barrow, and wore broken pieces of ancient armor and other clothing from a time long before; with their eyes set aglow in a zest blue. They wield rusted and ancient bladed weapons and sticks, complementing their wear.

And then, at the top of this great hall; was a giant sarcophagus that shook the ceiling of this barrow. It has a unique design showing ancient, intricate symbols—structured differently from the rest of the other sarcophagi in the barrow, forming a diamond shape. The way it opened took four sides of this container to be opened—four lids for the greater undead to break forth. Each of these lids fell at the same time, and along with it—a large shadow descended, looming over which Arka and Banelfsing stood.

A loud crash—stone and rubble broke the floor... then a cloud of dust surrounded this grand creature.

Suddenly, the numerous undead that surrounded them on both sides quickly roared, beginning to charge in at Arka and Banelfsing.

Banelfsing began to make an ascending yell. "Hey—!"

Just then, the room was washed in a bluish-white flood of rain. The horde of undead on both sides stumbled and fell on top of each other, one by one. Banelfsing almost fell backward as he got caught in surprise witnessing such a spectacle. What surprised him more was that this bluish-white rain didn't hurt neither him nor Arka. Glimpses of this rain caught his eye, as it showed not to be rain, but rapidly falling energy arrows.

Banelfsing quickly turned around and saw Mikrim with her bow held up high, emitting a bluish-white glow of energy up until her forearms. She was shooting wide missiles of magic energy aimed above, stopping in midair, and spilling traces of light on the battleground they stood.

"What?!" He exclaimed. This wasn’t an obvious thing Banelfsing has seen yet in the game.

Arka was humored with internalized laughter upon seeing the look on his face.

"Now's our chance, Ban!" Arka yelled to him.