"Puuh, did it!"
Watching the boss fall apart the friends sighed in relief. Cyclone glanced over her shoulder where Fortune's ultimate skill slowly dissipated. Between the giant hands only some residue of the second boss was left.
"That boss wasn't as weak as it appeared on first sight.", said Balm.
"Yes. He had some tricks up his sleeves."
"Still, it's a pity that we had to kill him. He would have made a cute mascot for the guild."
Fortune raised a brow looking at Cyclone, saying:
"Why? I think our guild already has a suitable mascot."
"Really? Are you talking about Korn? Or Zorn?"
"Nope. I'm talking about you."
"Hey! Where am I a mascot?! I'm a fearless, fierce, formidable guild leader!"
The friends chuckled upon Cyclone's outburst. The fearless guild leader pouted and decided to ignore them. She walked towards the body of the boss. But even retrieving the loot couldn't improve her mood as she received a rare wand only to realize that it couldn't be equipped by someone from the order faction. They could only store it for now, waiting until there might be an opportunity to trade with the chaos faction in the future. It would be too much of a waste to trade in such a weapon for points.
Afterwards the friends left the tunnel behind and entered the next room. It was empty, small, and dark. Even without Liam the party would have figured out that there should be some kind of secret door here, but he directly shortened the process. Liam probed the stone bricks making up the wall for a bit before he found one that could be pressed.
A click could be heard followed by a rumble as a secret door opened on the wall in front of the friends. They stepped through and entered another room. The room was rather chaotic. There were no enemies but on shelfs to the left and right were some traces of mycelia. The door where the friends came from was hidden behind an old bookshelf. The wood was cracked and many of the books had seen better days. After the friends walked through, the shelf moved back into its original position.
"Silver, maybe you want to take a closer look at the bookshelf?"
Silver Blade perked up upon Liam's reminder. She remembered his earlier promise. It didn't take her much time to find a certain rather conspicuous lore book.
The name of the devil Souravnimn was written on its cover. Silver Blade opened the first side and read the single sentence written there out loud:
"Strive to rule all!"
Suddenly the light in the room flickered. A cold breeze came out of nowhere sending chills down everyone's spines. The shadows moved eerily and from somewhere the sound of heavy steps could be heard.
Slightly intimidated Cyclone looked left and right and suddenly froze.
"Has… this been there the whole time?"
"What?"
The friends followed her gaze and suddenly discovered an altar placed right next to them. It consisted of a few black steps leading up to a large painting hanging on the wall. Flickering candles stood on the steps illuminating the room.
"How did we not see this earlier?"
"Spooky…"
"AH!"
Suddenly Silent Acacia let out a startled cry. His head turned red, and he wanted to sink into the earth out of embarrassment. His friends naturally knew what had scared him like that. After all, the notification for their updated quest reached them all at the same time.
[
[Step one: Find the Shroom Fortress on top of Black Heart Mountain!]
[Step two: Enter the main castle of Shroom Fortress!]
[Step three: Retrieve the painting linked to the devil Souravnimn!]
"A painting? Is it this one?"
The friends adjusted to the eerie atmosphere and focused on the quest. Cyclone scrutinized the painting above the altar. It depicted a scene of countless people running up heavenly stairs which seemed endless. At a first glance the painting didn't appear all that devilish but upon closer observation eerie details got revealed. Like the fierce grimaces worn by those people or how in the chaos some backstabbed each other.
The others also observed the painting. Fortune stepped closer, looking the painting up and down with a finger on her chin:
"Hmm. Dear Viewers! What do you think the artist wants to tell us with his conception? Is it the eternal, unreachable strive which will lead to hatred and chaos? Or should we dig a layer deeper? Is it the tumult within ourselves, the conflict of our own emotions which stops us from achieving greatness."
"Wow, Fortune. I didn't know you were knowledgeable about art!", praised Silver Blade genuinely.
"Oh I'm not, I'm just blabbering whatever comes to my mind."
Fortune said this with a laugh, but the others still thought her words had some substance. Cyclone and Balm looked at her with starry eyes thinking they had discovered a new side of their idol and friend.
Stared at by everyone Fortune felt awkward and diverted the topic:
"So, what now? Do we just take the painting away? Don't we have to fight a real boss or something?"
"Do you hear this booming noise coming from above?", asked Liam.
"Sure. What of it?"
"That's the boss."
"So, you're saying we sneaked past it?"
The friends were somewhat surprised as Liam nodded but they understood that it made sense. There was no need to fight the boss which might only give them rewards they couldn't even use. Thus, Fortune didn't hesitate much longer and reached out to put the painting in her inventory. Her fingertips touched the wooden frame. Suddenly an all-encompassing darkness came from the painting and filled the room. Before the players could react, they experienced a feeling of weightlessness. The black light receded and there was no sign left of Liam and his friends.
When the party regained their vision, they found themselves standing in a majestic town. The buildings were constructed from solid stone, built for the ages. Towers overlooked the land, one bigger than the other. Many inhabitants planted trees in their gardens, fostering them to towering heights. But the most remarkable aspect about the town was that it was built on floating islands, connected by broad bridges flickering with magical patterns.
After shaking off her bewilderment Fortune turned to Liam with an annoyed expression.
"Didn't you agree that we can take that painting away now?"
"Pretty sure I said nothing like that…"
"But… damn!"
Thinking back, Fortune realized that Liam indeed didn't say that. He diverted their attention towards the boss. Insidious!
Fortune couldn't help but stomp her foot, eliciting some snickers from her friends. She was just about to change the topic when some loudly arguing voices reached her ears.
"What do mean yours is bigger? Are you that forgetful? We just measured it yesterday and mine clearly won!"
"So what? I measured again this morning! Mine grew by five centimes! Clearly, I have the bigger one now!"
"Five centimetres in a day? And you want me to believe that?"
"Come on, let's measure again. Only if you dare of course."
"Tsk. I'll show you!"
The friends all wore strange expressions. They curiously turned their heads to the right, watching the two arguing people. They were two tall, burly orcs standing in adjacent gardens. Behind each of the was a towering tree reaching towards the heavens. The orcs both took out special magical devices consisting of two enchanted stones which could display the distance between each other.
Placing one of the stones on the ground the orcs made use of their strong bodies to climb all the way towards the crowns of their trees, holding the other stone level to the highest tip. On the surface of the stones were lines of light which showed a certain distance if one knew how to read them.
"14,52 metres! Three centimetres more than yesterday!"
"Ha! I told you I would win! 14,53!"
"Bullsh*t! You must be cheating! That leaf there at the top looks strange! Did you deliberately place it there?!"
"Haha, accusing me of cheating?! YOU?! That's gotta be the biggest joke I ever heard."
"What do you want to say with that?!"
The two orcs continued to argue. They climbed back to the ground, again meeting at the fence, threateningly raising their fists.
Watching them Silent Acacia shook his head lightly, commenting:
"Just like my dad in the past…"
"Really? Did your dad hate his neighbour?", asked Cyclone.
"Oh no. They were best friends…"
This answer left the others with nothing to say. They pulled their eyes away from the arguing orcs and observed more about the town. Soon they noticed that the orcs were no outliers. Everywhere in the town people were arguing, competing, comparing. Who had the best bread? Who could run the fastest? Who could hold their breath the longest?
The friends began to frown, feeling that something was off about this town. Was this a real place or were they within the painting? If so, how could they get out of here? And what did the devil Souravnimn have to do with it? Did they need to face him?