The pitch-black darkness welcomed them. Even seeing one's own hands was a struggle for the four of them.

None of them were lucky enough to have a skill like Grey's eyes of omniscience. The veil of darkness couldn't be cleared in front of their eyes, except for Lenore, as being a vampire, the darkness was the perfect environment for her hunt.

With a shing of metal, Blaze pulled out his sword. His amber aura flowed out, covering his whole sword as a flame ignited, turning it into a blazing sword of fire. Letting the three of them finally grasp their surroundings.

Though Grey had cleared the dungeon earlier, other eclipse beasts had taken their place inside again. Since after the fall of the eclipse, the outside grounds except the cities were left barren.

The sun didn't shine much for the day, only a few hours, leading to these spaces like caves and other abandoned palaces as their resting places, turning them into dungeons.

So, no matter how many times one clears a dungeon, they are refilled with the beasts again.

"Keep your guards up and move with caution." Blaze warned, as the others nodded in response.

Aeron pulled his sword out. Lenore held the handle of her scythe tighter while aura flowed out of Zenon into his handguns.

All of them were tense, beads of sweat running down their foreheads, as they slowly moved forward.

Though they confidently agreed to Grey's proposal, when thrown into the real battlefield, keeping the brave front up was next to impossible, the eerie silence, the blinding darkness and the moist air was giving them chills.

This was the time, when their true self and their worth would be laid bare.

Right after waking a few meters inside, growling noises came from their front. The silent cave now got filled with the sound of claws striking the stone floor, as two pairs of red eyes came out of the darkness.

"Get ready! Aeron and I will deal with one. Lenore and Zenon, you two take the other." Blaze instantly threw out commands calmly.

His heartbeat was racing, his heart about to tear out of his chest. But he calmed himself down without wasting a second. He knew if he hesitated here, then his whole team would have to pay the price.

The three of them nodded and immediately sprinted into action. Emerald aura covered Zenon's handguns as he fired two shots at the eclipse beast at the back.

The beast swiftly evaded the shots. Baring its fangs at him, it rushed towards Zenon, ignoring Blaze and Aeron at the front, who were dashing towards the beast at the front.

"Water blade." Azure aura covered Aeron's blade as a curved aura slash of water, zoomed out from his blade, missing the beast by just an inch.

The beast leaped forward, its claws strike slashing towards Blaze. But Blaze immediately bent his knees, sliding along the stone floor with his blazing sword slashing in a vertical motion.

SCREECH!!

The beast screech in pain as Blaze's sword formed a deep cut in its underbelly. Blood splashing out like a fountain.

Appearing on the other side, Blaze stood up in an instant, taking stance again with his sword held up, the blood smeared on the blade was sizzling from the intense heat of the fire.

On the other hand, Lenore was swinging her scythe continuously without pause, desperate for a single slash to touch the beast. Zenon was firing shots after shots, annoying the beast continuously.

Just when a shot struck just below the beast's eye, it closed the lids for a second. With her sharp vision, Lenore didn't miss it. She dashed forward and swung her scythe in a horizontal motion.

SLASH!!

The beast screeched in pain when the blade struck its face, forming a deep cut along the protruding jaw. The beast retreated back, whimpering while blood still dripping on the floor below.

Lenore pulled the blade of her scythe near, wiping the blood from the blade with two of her fingers, she then licked the fingers, tasting the blood.

Immediately her eyes glowed crimson. The blood of the beast that was on the floor started flowing towards her. She waved her hand when the blood that was still flowing out of the wound from her scythe, gushed out uncontrollably.

The beast wailed in fear and agony, but it was no use, within a few seconds, all its blood was drained out, the skin struck to the bone as the body withered and crumbled, and finally, one shot from Zenon right at the neck, turned it into dust leaving the beast core on the stone floor.

"Filthy!" Lenore's face showed pure disgust for having to taste the beast's blood.

"What was that?" Zenon, who remains silent and expressionless most of the time, blurted out in shock.

"That's my skill, it's kind of like a secret. So don't go announcing it to everyone, okay?" Lenore winked at him, saying in a playful tone.

Just then Blaze and Aeron had dealt with the other beast too. The two of them moved near Lenore and Zenon with the beast core.

"It wasn't that tough. I believe we can definitely do this." Aeron said, a trace of confidence now taking over his expression.

"It was just a warped class. And two of us dealt with just one. What would you do if four of them come at once, or even ten of them." Lenore chuckled at Aeron's words as she gave him a reality check.

"We took this much time to deal with a single one. I can't even imagine what would we do if tens of them appear at once, or even a scourge class appears."

Aeron's face went pale hearing Lenore. He was getting overconfident dealing with just one of them. Her words pulled him back from the sky, fear and nervousness rushed back again.

"Grey deal with a shadowheart alone. We're still miles away." Zenon said in his cold and expressionless tone.

"We are here to grow strong. Why would we be here if we could have dealt with these beasts alone?" Blaze said.

"I believe as we progress through this dungeon, at the end, all of us would be able to beat our past selves without any effort. I believe in Grey! He wouldn't have sent us here for no reason. Let's deal with his dungeon together, and come out stronger." Blaze said, raising his fist up with blistering confidence.

The three of them were hyped up. A smile spread on Aeron and Lenore's face, while Zenon nodded with his stoic face.

Boosting themselves up, they started moving forward. Their guards up and keeping full check of their surroundings.

Just when they disappeared further inside within the darkness, a figure appeared out of thin air from his invisible state, wearing a demon mask with sharp teeth and four long canines, and two small horns on the top.

It was Grey, who was keeping an eye out on them, staying invisible with his illusion mask of Tiaman.

"He's the hero for nothing!" A chuckle escaped him.

Though Blaze was the weakest among them right now, unknowingly, he was keeping the team together, passing commands and being their acting leader, and there was not a single objection from the three of them.

"Let's see how you deal with the boss." Grey said as his smirk could be seen behind the mask and he slowly vanished again, becoming one with the darkness.

****

"Piercing shot!" an emerald bullet was released from Zenon's handgun as it pierced right through the neck of an eclipse beast, turning it into dust.

The four of them were dealing with five beasts in total. Lenore was handling two of them, swinging her scythe frantically while the beasts kept evading and occasionally striking at her with their claws.

The rest of them were dealing with one beast each. Aeron was struggling the most. There were multiple wounds of claws in his body, his clothes were torn here and there, but he was somehow managing, defending with his sword up.

Just after Zenon dealt with one, he rushed to Aeron's side. Lenore waved her hand as the blood of the eclipse beasts pooled around her transformed into two huge arrows and pierced right through their necks, killing them on the spot.

Blaze slashed his sword, the blazing sword separating the head of the beast from its body. Finally, along with Zenon, he dealt with the last beast, saving Aeron.

"T-Thank you guys." Aeron said in gratitude. All four of them were gasping for breath. This was too tough a fight for them, taking a huge toll on their stamina.

"What could be behind it?" Lenore asked curiously, pointing at the huge door in front of them.

"Don't know. Maybe there is a scourge class inside? Looks to be the boss of this dungeon." Blaze said, taking a guess.

"I-If it's true then...would we really be able to deal with a scourge class?" Aeron asked in a fearful tone.

"We have to, there's no other way!" Blaze said in a grave tone.

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