As Banelfsing looked in front, he saw the titanic undead which they faced before that stood in front of Arka and Banelfsing. What was different about this undead was that it has glowing runes and other intricate symbols surrounding its body, emitting a blue light throughout. It wielded an ancient, two-handed maul that looked like it was enough to squash either one of them in a single hit.

Arka and Banelfsing immediately charged in with their weapons at the ready at this beast.

As they both quickly closed their distance, this undead creature reacted by seeing the first target it saw. It swung its maul at Banelfsing rapidly and slammed it down on him. Its size proved to match its speed.

The great undead's maul smashed on the floor. However, Banelfsing swiftly avoids this hunk of ancient iron.

With forward momentum, he grabbed onto the grip of the beast's maul like a pole and spun his body on it like a topspin. He stepped on the maul, and then went straight running up to its arm. The beast flayed its arm to fling him away, swatting him like a bug. But Banelfsing was able to avoid all this in the last second as he jumped towards the undead's face; proving to be the faster combatant.

He swung his daggers in an upward motion in his reversed grip, tearing off more of the undead's face, revealing its whole skull. It staggered back.

Arka quickly went for a jumping slash, swinging her sword upwards at the creature's face. The creature further staggered upon a successful hit.

And then, Mikrim shot a concentrated magic arrow at the undead, aiming for the head.

The arrow left behind trails of bluish-white light, in the air, as it pierced through its neck instead. Half of its neck sliced off making the undead partly headless.

The undead fell, as Arka and Banelfsing delivered multiple stabs and slashes on the incapacitated creature to halt any more of its movement. Its torso riddled with multiple holes thereafter, and its skeletal structure mangled in a bizarre form because of their unrelenting blows... all this without a drop of blood from the being.

5 EXP earned. This appeared on their HUDs as the experience split among the three of them, as another small text appeared beside their HUDS—Greater Atrophy's Terror registered to the index.

Arka and Banelfsing sheathed their weapons in sequence. After that, Banelfsing turned to Arka. "Was that magic just now!?" Banelfsing exclaimed.

Arka wondered for the best way to explain it to Banelfsing as she glanced around the room hoping for a good way of presenting her answer at that sudden moment.

"Uh-huh," Arka said to him with a nod.

She felt pretty stupid now that she came up with a reply as plain as that.

It has been a while...

"No way... that's pretty groundbreaking...!" Banelfsing said. "How did she do it...?" Banelfsing asked Arka.

"Uhmm... I-I don't... wanna bother explaining, you see," Arka shrugged as she said this like a casual teenager. She talked slowly because of her stutter. "You can... just go ahead and ask her," She pointed at Mikrim with her thumb. 

Mikrim went down the steps, unharmed and clean in her chainmail. Banelfsing briskly walked towards her with a flap of his gambeson.

They began talking as she began explaining to him about the magic she did with the use of magic dust and the other objects she needs as she held onto her small bauble to him.

Apparently, the magic she did on the horde was called Storm Arrows and she was able to summon a rain of up to 30 arrows within seconds, while the concentrated shot was simply called Arrow Shot [Concentration] which amplifies the amount of damage on the next arrow shot she deals.

Arka watched Banelfsing and Mikrim, as they interacted with glee with one another.

Soon, the trio cleared the next two rooms of the barrow. All they had were the same boss and hordes of undead with varying looks and degrees in equipment. They were all doable and done with ease, mostly thanks to Mikrim' Storm Arrows and Arrow Shot [Concentration]. She proved to be the most powerful member of their party.

It didn't take long—dead end after dead end, treasure chest after treasure chest, and stone door after stone door in the barrow; they finally reached a room dimly lit by a blue flame in a humongous brazier at the center

Arka, Banelfsing, and Mikrim broke their formation as they all stood together with their bags almost filled with the dungeon's treasures and items. Arka stood in the middle of them.

They all looked up, and saw the grandiose chamber, as its ceiling towered in a curved angle, dimly lit by its light source—Etchings and illustrations, barely seen.

"This is incredible... this is... we've reached the last room." Banelfsing said. "No one's done this before! I think we're the first players who're able to do this Ara!" He said.

"Yeah... I can't believe we did it," Arka said, also astonished at their achievement.

Banelfsing and Arka turned to Mikrim.

After that, Banelfsing walked to her. "Mikrim, thank you!" He said as he held her arms. "Without you, we couldn't have done this...!" He told her, with a smile.

"Yeah," Arka said as she turned to Mikrim standing right next to her. "No one's done a dungeon before in this game... but now, there's a chance for that. And it's all thanks to you Mikrim," Arka said behind her helmet with a happy tone.

Mikrim looked in awe at the relieved expressions Arka and Banelfsing are showing. Banelfsing let go of her. She smiled at them.

"I'm glad to have helped. But I really couldn't have done this on my own without you guys," She said. "I should be the one thanking you two for letting me come with you,"

Ban and Arka smiled as they heard Mikrim's reply.

"Likewise, Krim... Likewise," Arka said with a pleasant tone.

"We should celebrate after this..." Banelfsing said. "One drink at the tavern before logging out!" He exclaimed joyously.

"What? There's actual drinking in this game?" Mikrim asked Banelfsing.

"Yeah...!" Banelfsing said. "Oh, don't tell me you haven't tried it yet? It does these fun, effects and...!" Banelfsing held off on what he's trying to say, not wanting to spoil Mikrim about the drinking mechanic. "You know what? It's easier to just show you! Just come drink with me later!" Banelfsing said with both of his hands on his hips.

"Alright! Let's go drinking later, Ban," Mikrim said with enthusiasm at the thought of trying the drinking mechanic. Banelfsing smiled as she called his name.

Arka turned to Banelfsing. "Just what's your definition of one drink, Ban...?" She asked him.

"Good question, Arakar..." Banelfsing said. "Well, one drink is to one glass, so..." Banelfsing gestured each of his hands as he said 'one' to Arka.

"One bottle... on each hand...!" Banelfsing said showing both of his hands.

"I knew you would say that," Arka said.

"You knew? Well, drinking should help you forget that," Banelfsing laughed while Mikrim blinked frantically at his joke with a kept smile.

"Well then..." Arka said. "What're we waiting for? Let’s... let's start looting this place! Then, we can drink," She said.

Banelfsing laughed. "I like that, Arakar!"

And so, they began to look around the room for the dungeon's main treasure. It was a dimly lit room, so they can hardly see in it. They searched near the walls, while carefully searching at the end of the room.

Eventually, Arka noticed something at the center of the room. Near this brazier, she noticed a stand with a large, metallic, blue button placed firmly at the center, just waiting to be pressed.

Out of curiosity, Arka pressed this button. Suddenly, the blue flame in the center of the room blazed stronger. It was enough to light the whole room, showing what was present in it.

Everyone scanned through the room as it was now visibly seen.

The walls are etched with various illustrations inside wide, metal plates. The floor, now visible is engraved with a giant, unfamiliar symbol of various spirals and circles, all leading towards the center of the blue flame in the brazier.

And lastly, the ceiling, also discernable; allowed Arka to examine this. What she could make out of the ceiling, was that it seems to present a person, holding something in one hand, with an etching of another symbol. It looked to be a small circle, with various shapes within it... this small circle looked like the earth.

Arka then looked down from the ceiling, and in front of her, she saw the floor divide itself into two as the stand sank beneath the open floor.

"Hey guys, I... I think I found something," Arka called Banelfsing and Mikrim. They walked to her.

As the three witnessed the flooring divide, and restructure itself, a stone table soon appeared with a small, stone box on top of it. Upon closer examination, the box has intricate etchings and symbols around its edges, as an unfamiliar, rune was engraved on each side. Bizarrely shaped, twisted handles with an otherworldly design protrude on both sides of this box meant for carrying it. The etchings, symbols, and runes illuminated a faint, blue, glow.

It seems to have a lid that was easily openable with an effortless lift of the wrist.

"What is it...?" Mikrim not knowing what it was, asked the two experienced players with her. However, they were also utterly clueless about this as well.

"No idea..." Banelfsing said.

Arka not sure of what it was, admired its beauty. "I don't even know... but I'm gonna open it," She said.

"If video games tell me anything, it should have some kind of powerful artifact related to this game." Mikrim said. "And if anything else, the end of the world..." Banelfsing looked at Mikrim. He made a glance at her, contemplating the scary idea.

Arka was unnerved as Mikrim said this making her hesitate in opening the small box. "D-Don't just go saying things like that. It's making me think it's really gonna happen," Arka said.

"Te-he-he~!" Mikrim chuckled.

Arka inhaled, and let out a breath indicating her ease. "Well... I'm going to open it now," she said.

Arka opened the box.

Suddenly, an immediate, soft, gust of wind blew past them. With it, the blue glow of the engravings on the box disappeared. As the wind blew through them, the center torch of the brazier turned to an ordinary color of orange flame, shrinking down, dimming the room once more.

As Arka saw the inside contents, the object within sounded a soft hum, as it also illuminated a faint, blue.

Arka took out what was inside.

It was... a circular object that fits in the palm of her hand. A wicked design it had, as it's silver-colored metal twisted and turned and coiled around as if protecting its glowing blue light.

"That's cool," Banelfsing commented on seeing what Arka held.

Arka held onto the strange object. "I guess it's... it's time we get out of here. Afterward, we can decide what to do with this," She said.

"Nah, I think you should keep it." Banelfsing said. "I mean, you did find it first, and you led us all the way here," Banelfsing said as he gave her a thumbs up. "You deserve it," He said.

"I agree. If there are things like that in these dungeons, we can just run this again." Mikrim said. "There should be a lot more of that lying around at the end. Besides, you both got me now, so I'll keep up the support with my magic, and dungeons should be a breeze!” Mikrim suddenly made a quick wink and a peace sign.

"Aww... thanks, guys," Arka said. "T-This is pretty sweet," She chuckled.

Soon, Arka, Banelfsing and Mikrim backtracked from the dungeon, heading back from where they came from. They saw all the corpses of the undead they have encountered. Inanimate, and lifeless on the ground,

Just like how the dead, should just stay dead.

"So, you're an alchemist too, huh?" Banelfsing asked Mikrim.

"Yep. I can give buffs for you guys the next time we run a dungeon. I forgot to prepare any as I was busy making new magics," Mikrim said.

"You mean your alchemy and your magic aren't the same...?" Banelfsing asked her.

"Yes, they're pretty different from one another, you see..." Mikrim said.

The stone doors of the dungeon finally came into view in front of Arka, showing their exit.

"Exit's near, guys. I can't wait to get outta here!" Arka said.

"Drinks! Drinks at the tavern!" Banelfsing said.

Mikrim smiled as they all walked along together in the party.

They finally reached the stone doors of Great Atrophy's Barrow. As they pushed the stone doors away, they've finally reached the egress they've all been yearning for.

As they each stepped outside, an unfamiliar scenery greeted them.

The sun was gone, and the ever, bountiful forest they once stood, has its fauna and vegetation, disappear. Instead of tree leaves, dead branches are the ones that appeared in front of them to acknowledge their return. The familiar light that bounced off the heads of these three people was replaced by dark clouds, with the sky dyed in the deep, brown, color of rust.