The formation had Stephanie at the front with John beside her. Behind them were Gaia and Titania. Finally, there were Griff and Fergus. Malachite was with Stephanie, Liv had already integrated into Gaia’s armor, Shadow was beside Fergus and Antonio was on Griff’s shoulder. Griff and Gaia’s roles were support during the fight with her bonds being a second layer of support. Titania and John were attackers and distractions since the Oni likely couldn’t injure them too badly due to the difference in rank. The Guild Master was there to ensure no one died, she would only join the fight to keep everyone from being killed. She also wanted to see their teamwork and how they fought to give some advice.

  As soon as Stephanie entered the floor, the Oni dashed forwards and slammed its weapons into her shield. It was enough to push her back a few inches, but John swung at it making it back off. The others funneled into the floor a moment later and the Oni spotted Gaia. Its gaze lingered on her left arm before it immediately became enraged.

  “You not only stole it, but killed it and now wear it?! You monster! I had said I’d kill you last, but now you will never die! Instead, I will flay you and keep you alive in agony for as long as I live!” It roared.

  After the outburst, it sprinted forward much faster than any expected and slammed into Stephanie’s shield much stronger than before. She fell from the force of the charge and the Oni grabbed for Gaia when Malachite, who had dashed off immediately after entering the floor, slammed into it with a shell bash knocking it out of the formation. The Oni flew for a couple dozen feet from the force before rolling back to its feet and approaching slower.

  Stephanie had already gotten back on her feet and was ready to block or attack if it got close. At this point, Gaia had already activated her ability, and a translucent bubble popped up around each of the party members. It was close to their skin and was wrapped around their bodies. This was also when Shadow activated Shade’s Protection and everyone was surrounded in a black haze. The Oni seemed more cautious and moved in to attack.

  It swung its clubs where it could just make out Stephanie, but it missed as she was slightly further away from where it could see her. She took this chance to swing her enchanted multi-weapon to slash it. Fergus also fired an arrow at it to block it from dodging the other way. The Oni caught the arrow before getting slashed by Stephanie since the haze also helped to hide where their weapons actually were. Fergus’ arrow sadly didn’t get the same effect from the haze, since it wasn’t being held by anyone.

  The Oni quickly jumped back after getting slashed and moved around the group. It was enraged because of Gaia and had just dashed in without thinking before. Now that it had been injured, it backed off to assess the group. Gaia couldn’t move since her ability was active, so her party had rotated around her as the Oni circled. It circled for a few more seconds before dashing back in. It swung its clubs from both sides hoping to hit someone. It worked as it felt the clubs hit two different targets. One it could tell was Stephanie’s shield since it had hit it before while the other was something different. The wooden club hit something and stopped for a moment before moving rapidly again. When it glanced at its weapons after the exchange, it noticed the wooden club was no more. It was just holding the club’s handle and saw the clubs other half on the floor at John’s feet. It had swung its club straight into a swing from John that cleaved it in half.

  Now that it was stunned as it looked at its weapon, Stephanie swung at it while Fergus rapidly fired a few arrows using his multi-shot skill and Volley ability. The slash and arrows struck true as the Oni had another gash on its side and four arrows sticking out of its chest. Now that it had lost one of its weapons and had been injured, Stephanie and Fergus pushed the guardian with more slashes and arrows. It had to use its iron rod to block the slashes from John and Stephanie while arrows from Fergus struck true. Titania also threw a few daggers to slow its responses to the others assault.

  The Oni slowly started to rack up injuries and was bleeding. When it looked like it was going to give out, it suddenly healed a bit, and another pair of arms burst from its shoulders. This pair was different from the regular ones as they had three joints and were much longer. The hands were also three times the size of its others with eight digits in each hand. When this happened, the Oni burst into flames and dashed forwards as if berserk.

  It dropped its iron rod and threw punches or kicks at anyone that came within reach. It slammed one of its new hands into Stephanie’s shield and sent her flying. It seemed the new hands were much stronger as well. The only upside to its new state was that it was no longer trying to block any attacks that came for it. All of their attacks were landing and dealing damage, but it also seemed to take less damage than before. The party focused on the Oni and fought defensively. Gaia’s new ability and shield she could conjure came in handy during this phase of the fight.

  She could block an attack for Stephanie so she wouldn’t be sent flying and another such shield for John when he blocked for them. This allowed her to cycle between conjuring a shield for each while the cooldown for the shield was in effect for the other. This lessened the burden on both drastically. While John could block the attacks, they seemed to be strong enough to push him back.

  The fight continued for around ten minutes, during which everyone used their abilities as soon as they could. It wasn’t until the Oni was almost dead that something else changed. It used all four of its arms to slam into Stephanie, Gaia seeing this used her shield which shattered as soon as its hands reached it. After the shield shattered it jumped back and charged at the group. It hit, but all of the damage was nullified thanks to Gaia’s skill. It then reeled back to strike again and Gaia teleported to where it had shattered. Stephanie immediately stepped forwards pulling Gaia into a hug to put her tower shield in front of her. With Stephanie’s shield blocking, Gaia activating her ability once again, and Liv’s controlled appendages bracing the shield the Oni’s hands slammed into them.

  The first thing to happen was the Oni’s flaming hands hitting the shield. Gaia’s ability was active so its hands had to break though a bubble that was as strong as Gaia’s resistance. It shattered the bubble, but some of the strikes force dissipated. Then it hit Stephanie’s shield with its force being distributed through her arm and Liv’s appendages that braced it. Liv’s appendages broke first since the force was still massive. Then Stephanie’s arm broke, but the last of the strikes force was shunted into the ground and Gaia’s immovable form.

  This hurt both girls, but Griff had already noticed and cast healing shots at them to start the healing. Stephanie was able to slash at the guardian with her good arm by turning the multi-weapon into a glaive. Fergus had also fired a few arrows that struck it just before Stephanie did. This was the last attack the monster could take though, as the glaive’s blade slashed through the Oni’s chest, embedding itself in the Oni’s spine. Stephanie let the glaive go as she felt the souls enter her, the others all relaxed when they noticed the same.

  Griff was the only one who hadn’t relaxed as he still cast healing shots at the two girls. Stephanie’s arm was going to be broken for a while longer whereas Gaia’s injury was odd. Since she was in her immovable object form, the damage hadn’t been isolated and instead was spread throughout her body. This reduced the burden on the specific area that was struck but caused minor damage throughout her entire body. It wasn’t enough that it would cause any problems, but it would be slow to heal, and healing was less effective within her aura.

  She soon came out of the form and just felt an aching over her entire body. She reigned in her aura and helped Griff heal Stephanie completely. Then, she cast a healing shot on herself until she was healed. By the time she was fully healed, the group realized the Oni had disintegrated. In its place was another small box like they had gotten from the statue on the first floor. Griff grabbed it and brought it to everyone. Gaia had once again expanded her aura so she could sense everything.

  “We got another box for beating the Oni. I wonder what’s inside.” He wondered.

  “Go ahead and open it then. No use waiting until we get back.” The Guild Master stated.

  Hearing Delilah’s statement Griff gave the box to Stephanie to open. She had been the linchpin of the fight so he figured she should open it. She did so after fiddling with the box, as it didn’t have a latch. Once it was opened, she pulled out an item. It was an Oni mask. She asked Gaia to analyze it and she happily did.

  Mask of Ignition – A bright red Oni mask that seems to shimmer as if flames were flickering. Magical item. Allows the wielder to coat their weapons in flames dealing fire damage on a hit. Must be worn to use. When worn, the wielder can see normally as if the mask wasn’t there.

  Gaia relayed the item’s information and everyone thought about its uses. They weren’t sure what the next floor would look like or how to clear it yet. They did remember that it was supposedly the Wendigo’s floor though. They searched the floor for the way down which was once again in the center of the floor. They went down the stairway a bit before returning to the floor. They were hoping the pillar in the center would appear and thankfully it did. They exited the floor through the pillar and went up the floating stairway in the hole. They reached the surface soon after and moved towards the camp. They were planning to celebrate that night.

  They reached the camp not much later and went straight to the mess hall and tavern to celebrate. They all ate and drank, except Gaia and Fergus, while telling the tale of their battle before heading to bed that night. The next morning came sooner than some of the party members would have liked, but they reluctantly got up and got food. After eating, they finally discussed what to do with the Oni mask.

  “What do we want to do with this thing?” Stephanie asked.

  “We can sell it or keep it for our own use. I’m fine with either.” Griff stated.

  “I say we hold onto it and we can sell it when we get back to the city. You never know when something can come in handy.” Gaia added.

  “I agree.” Fergus stated.

  “So we should hold onto it for now? I don’t mind, but should we test it first?” Stephanie asked.

  “Yeah. If you want to put it on to try it feel free. You’re the only one who really uses a weapon that could gain any benefit from it.” Griff replied.

  Stephanie went ahead and pulled the mask out at this point. When she held it, it seemed to be warm to the touch and had a shimmer like a fire reflecting off of it. When she put it on, she could see as if it wasn’t there and she couldn’t feel it on her face. It also seemed to magically stick as it didn’t have any band or clasp for it to be held on. She pulled her great hammer out to try the item’s ability. When she did, flames spread across the entirety of the hammer’s surface, including the staff.

  The flames were strong and gave off quite a bit of heat. Stephanie couldn’t tell since it was similar to her portable forge’s heat, but the others could. She didn’t seem to be effected by the flames and realized the mask may have an additional ability that wasn’t included in the description. She could see the others as an orange and red hue like infrared vision.

  She took a few minutes to get used to and understand the masks abilities before taking it off. It took her a moment to figure out how to take it off. She had just put it to her face to put it on, but wasn’t sure if that was how to take it off. If she just needed to pull it with her hand she figured that would be a weakness since someone could just grab it and pull it off in combat. Thankfully, she just needed to will it to release and pull it off. This meant the mask likely needed the wearer to will the mask to be removed for it to be taken off.

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  “It seems like it’ll be quite useful actually. I got not only the flames on my weapon, but I could see everyone differently. You all appeared to be shades of red, orange, yellow, and blue.” Stephanie explained as she took the mask off.

  “Oh, cool. You got infrared vision? That could be really useful.” Gaia stated before going silent and thinking.

  “Infrared vision?” Griff questioned.

  “Ah, right. It’s not something you guys would know. It’s something my world had through technology. It allows someone to see the heat signatures of the environment and beings within. It reminds me of how my mana field was, but you can actually turn it off or on and see normally.” She explained.

  “That could be extremely useful. It would allow you to see someone who might be laying in ambush when we couldn’t normally see them.” Griff stated.

  “Sounds really useful. I don’t know if we should sell it then. At least until we get something more useful or does something similar.” Fergus added.

  “Agreed.” Everyone said almost simultaneously.

  “With that settled, I think we should take today and tomorrow off to rest. Then we can dive into the sixth floor. How does that sound.” Griff asked.

  “Sounds fine to me.” Fergus stated.

  “Same for me. I want to check on my garden. I think I can harvest some more tomorrow.” Gaia added.

  “I’ll tinker in my forge during this time. I think the mask might help me keep the metal warm when I hammer.” Stephanie mused before mumbling to herself.

  “Alright. It’s settled then.” Griff finished.

  The party split up to do what they wanted for the day. Stephanie spending most of the day in her forge and Griff checking the stalls for new books. Fergus helped around the camp or spent his time with Gaia. Gaia, as usual, went to her garden and checked on her plants. Most were fully grown and would be ready to be harvested the next day. She did her usual routine of watering them and casting some growth magic on them while her bonds plucked the weeds.

  The day passed slowly with the party being able to focus on what they wanted. The next day was much of the same, but Gaia’s garden was ready to be harvested. It wasn’t big but it still took a while for her to harvest everything. She made her way to where Yort was and handed her crops over. He was overjoyed when she gave him the crops. There weren’t a whole lot, but it would help alleviate the food situation. Food hadn’t been an issue in a while due to the gardens.

  There were many gardeners or farmers that were in the camp so the gardens had a large area allowing all of the needed crops to be grown. The monsters that attacked frequently helped with the meat situation as many dropped meat when killed. The biggest issue was that people were getting tired of eating the same things constantly. Thankfully, the gardeners had areas where different crops were grown, allowing a variety of vegetables to be served.

  Harvesting the crops from her garden took Gaia until around lunchtime since she started late and it took her longer than most. She did most of the harvesting herself through touch and smell she was able to determine whether something was ripe or ready to be harvested. She had a couple plants that wouldn’t be ready to harvest until the next day, but the majority was harvested. She let Yort know when she gave him the crops that there were some more in her plot that would be ready the next day.

  She wasn’t sure if she’d have time tomorrow to harvest them, but Yort told her not to worry and if he didn’t see her by noon tomorrow, he’d go ahead and harvest them for her. She was glad he was understanding and knew she wouldn’t need to worry so she went back to her plot to do the usual upkeep like weeding and watering the plants. Once Gaia was done, she returned to the inn and relaxed. The days they relaxed passed by so quickly that she couldn’t remember many of them. She knew they had occurred but they seemed to be so focused with the ruins over the last months that everything revolved around them. She was ready to be done with them and return to the city, but couldn’t bring herself to leave before they completed the entire thing. She bet her companions felt the same, they’d discussed it before and everyone wanted to return to Boundary. They all had the same drive to become stronger and finish what they started. Once they returned to the city, they planned to rest for a while before going back to doing requests. They figured the income they’d get for the commission, once it was finished, would let them relax for a while and not have to worry about requests. They’d slowly get back into the rhythm of requests after relaxing.

  Gaia was cuddling with Fergus and relaxing when Flora and Legion either woke up or got back and talked with them for a while. Even they were ready to return to Boundary, but weren’t planning to leave until the exploration was finished. They also told the others about what had been happening while they were training or in the ruins. Monsters still attacked the walls regularly and all, but the monsters also seemed to be getting stronger. More bronze rank monsters had been attacking than before. It wasn’t at a point where it caused a problem yet, but if it continued it may become one. After talking to the groups for a while they split up to do what they wanted or needed to do.

  Everyone relaxed for the night after that and soon it was the next morning. They planned to check out the sixth floor today so they all grabbed what they needed and checked the stalls for any extra items. They didn’t find much that they thought they may need, but they found some items they decided to grab. These were mainly things like rope, water and some extra rations. They could always come back for the free regular meals, but for most other food it cost them a little bit.

  They didn’t plan to explore the floor extensively today, so they weren’t expecting to use everything they bought. It was more for the possibility of if they ended up in a situation like they had on the second floor, the first time. The sixth floor was supposed to be the Wendigo’s floor so they weren’t sure what to expect. It could be anything from a desert to a forest or even a mixture of multiple environments. They were just trying to prepare for anything that could happen.

  After buying the items they stopped by the Guild Master’s house to see if anyone had scouted out the floor. They found the Guild Master there, but she was slightly disheveled like she hadn’t slept for a few days or had been stressed. It took her a few moments before noticing the group which was also unusual.

  “When did you guys get here?” She asked.

  “Just now. Don’t worry. Are you alright?” Griff asked.

  “No, not really. I’m guessing you’re here to see if we’ve scouted the sixth floor, right? Well we have, but it’s not looking good.” Delilah replied.

  “What’s wrong?” Gaia asked.

  “Well, many things. First off, the floor is weird. It seems to be a forest but is extremely overgrown like a jungle, making traversal difficult. Secondly, we haven’t found any other monsters on the floor aside from some small mundane animals and the guardian, which we have proven is the Wendigo. This would be odd in and of itself, but we discovered the worst part of the guardians abilities. It possesses people and uses them to kill others. It can possess someone without anyone seeing it then it uses the person to slaughter their companions before leaving the victims body. The victim of the possession is then controlled by the creature to seek more slaughter. It seems to be able to control people even without possessing them as well. We’ve lost multiple groups of scouts to this already. Thus while there aren’t any other monsters, the other monsters of the floor are those controlled or possessed by it.” Delilah explained grimly.

  “That’s really bad.” Fergus stated.

  “Yes, it is. We’ve also proven the Wendigo is nigh immortal since any attack that hit it either healed immediately or bounced off the nightmare’s hide. I’ve even attacked it once and it just took the attack. I can tell its only stone rank which makes this even more terrifying.” She replied.

  “I’m guessing we have no idea where its den could be then?” Griff asked.

  “No. We haven’t been able to explore most of the floor due to the monster’s presence. Anyone that enters is stalked by it until getting deep enough that no one could assist them. Then, the monster strikes and causes bloodshed with only a few lucky survivors being able to flee back to us. The worst part is that after a group is slaughtered if another group finds the area they were killed, there aren’t any bodies just bloodstains. We’re not sure if it takes them or what.” She finished.

  “I’m guessing we shouldn’t go in yet then.” Griff started before continuing a moment later. “Have we figured out when the Wendigo strikes? Like can we explore a certain area before it tries attacking? Even if we can’t we need to explore the floor to find its den, right?”

  “No. Kind of and finally yes. It strikes different groups in different areas. Like if the group is large it waits longer before attacking. We have explored a small section before it started hunting our scouts, but I’m not sure if it would just let us search a small area without harassing us. As for finding the den, I have no idea. I don’t even know what to look for. It could be a cave or could be nest in a tree for all we know. Although with it being called a den I’d guess a cave or burrow of some sort. Based on its size I’d say it would have to be rather large, though.” Delilah replied.

  There was silence for a while before anyone spoke. It was Griff who broke the silence.

  “We need to explore the floor no matter what in order to kill the Wendigo. Since it can’t be killed by attacking it, that means there likely something keeping it alive that’s hidden somewhere. Likely its den considering the myth and how one was killed before. It takes longer to attack larger groups so we may want to make a larger group to search the floor. I would suggest bronze rank groups at least since it’ll probably be unable to possess or control beings higher in rank than it. As for us, we may be safe since we all have strong wills, but I wouldn’t say we’re completely safe. Gaia might be the only one completely safe from possession or control due to her unique situation. She would also be the best bet to search for whatever keeps it alive due to her Aura or Mana sense.” Griff rambled in an almost commanding tone.

  “So, you’re saying make a group with bronze ranks to explore the floor and possibly Gaia since she might be safest from being controlled. She also may be able to sense the mana from whatever is keeping it alive?” Delilah’s asked.

  “Essentially yes. Although her protection from being controlled or possessed is just a guess. I don’t know if she will truly be safe from it. Same thing for the bronze rank members.” Griff stated.

  “I can say that anyone that was bronze rank that went in came back. They weren’t completely okay since they had some injuries, but none were controlled to my knowledge.” Delilah added.

  “Then let’s plan to do that. I’d prefer not to put Gaia in danger, so if you have someone who has a similar or better ability to sense mana then I’d like them to go instead. If there isn’t anyone else though I don’t know if we have a choice.” Griff stated.

  “You want Gaia to go in there when we’re not sure if it can possess or control her?” Both Stephanie and Fergus asked incredulously.

  “I mean, I don’t mind doing it if it’ll keep more people safe.” Gaia replied.

  Everyone ignored Gaia’s response as they all expected something along the lines of what she said from her.

  “I don’t like it either. I don’t want her to, but if we can’t find someone else then we don’t really have a choice unless we want more people to die.” Griff explained.

  “I’ll look through the people here and see if we can find someone with a comparable skill or ability to hers. If I can help it, I’d rather not put her in harms way when against an immortal enemy. Once we have a way to kill it that’s a different story though. I think you all feel the same way, right?” Delilah asked.

  “Yeah. If we can kill it, then we can all help. Even if it is dangerous. I don’t like it when it’s just one of us in danger. I hate feeling helpless.” Fergus replied. Stephanie and Griff also nodded to Fergus’ statement.

  “I’ll start searching through my information now. You guys stay in camp for now, I’ll call you when I have a group prepared. Then we can decide how to proceed based on the members.” Delilah stated.

  Everyone agreed and they went back to the inn for a while. When they returned, Stephanie and Fergus turned on Griff and started questioning him.

  “What was that?!” Fergus asked angrily.

  “Are you trying to send her into a possibly deadly situation?” Stephanie cried.

  “No. I was thinking through everything logically! I didn’t like half of what I said, but it was a logical analysis of the situation. I don’t want anyone in this party to get hurt! Based on the information we had and the Guild Master’s state she couldn’t think straight. I had to take her position in that conversation!” Griff exclaimed.

  There was silence for a while after Griff’s outburst. It took a little while for everything he said to sink in.

  “You mean you were thinking without any attachments or emotions?” Stephanie asked.

  “Yes. The Guild Master has already had multiple people she cared for and was responsible for die. She was stressed due to the loss and couldn’t think logically or strategically. I did so for her. I hated it but it helped me understand the decisions she makes whenever she sends people into the ruins. There’s always a chance they won’t come out. I understand that since I’m the one that makes decisions for the party during combat. One mistake in my command and any one of us could die.” Griff explained before stopping for a minute to breathe. Everyone stayed silent until he finished his next thought.

  “We needed the information she had and needed to figure out a plan of action. I took the information she gave and thought up the best plan I could. Yes, the plan puts people in danger. Yes, it puts people that that we care about in danger, but it’s the best plan we have. No one else was in a state to come up with a reasonable plan that would have the lowest possibility of deaths. I don’t like thinking how I had to, but it was needed.” Griff finished with a regretful sigh.

  Everyone was silent for a bit as they realized Griff hated that he needed to think like that. They understood the logic behind the plan and that it was likely the best plan they had. They were just so caught up in their emotions and own thoughts at the time to realize the situation. After a few more moments of tense silence Gaia just walked over and hugged Griff. She had guessed that he was thinking about it in the Guild Master’s place after hearing the tone of his voice change. Their other companions took a moment before apologizing to Griff for misunderstanding what occurred.

  They stayed like that for a little while before they were all back to their usual selves. After talking for a while they decided to go man the walls since they couldn’t stay still. It was a good thing they did since they could hear a ringing from the southern wall. They ran to the wall to check the situation and were extremely worried when they realized what was attacking. The attacking group almost appeared to be zombies.