Skullius opened his eyes and saw the figure of four people above him, their hands outstretched towards him as they released bursts of mana into his body.

‘Ah… I was right…’ he thought.

Two of them looked particularly unhappy but Skullius felt even more so despite escaping a tragic end once again.

He couldn’t bring himself to be cheery when all that happened within the place that he had been taken to by Somanda kept brushing against his mind in an unsettling way.

Something kept blaring against a memory that he was sure he could almost taste. The outline of a figure that was identical to the girl he had seen within the block of ice kept flashing before him incessantly.

‘Who is this…? Why does an emotion that I haven’t felt before try and squeeze through my bones whenever I focus on it?! Damn it!’

The revelations made by Somanda were quite frustrating to Skullius, especially when he considered that maybe he had taken Undeath too lightly. It had bothered him at some point why he was still leashed under Somanda through the first Doom Factor if he was no longer an undead and was a Null Lifeform.

Why was he still being tormented by that bastard?

If he died he would actually go to that place again?

He still didn’t know the reason why but the last notification that spoke of how Somanda was actually an Arch Lich spoke volumes about just how much his former master was powerful and why he was still bound.

He found himself questioning whether his escape that time through the portal wasn’t because Somanda was stupid but because something else entirely was at play. Somanda had said something about fate after all.

The whole encounter had stripped Skullius of his usual temperament and easy going nature._.

He had truly been somewhat indifferent towards meeting his end as there wasn’t much he thought he had to lose.

He would miss Bonet and the crew but… what else was there? The mines?

Eternal imprisonment however, was a concept that changed his perception.

Furthermore, the little ‘gift’ that Somanda had given him before he left was quite… concerning.

~~~

[You have been afflicted by the curse ‘UNCoddled’]

—–

[UNCoddled]

[The Arch Lich Somanda wishes you well on your journey to eventually return to him. However, in light of your previous attachments, he has decided to give you an additional ‘incentive’. A curse to follow you till the day you face him. You shall be bound to walk alone. Only with your strength. Any help from the outside will promptly attract FATALITY, leaving you alone till your destination has been reached]

~~~

Skullius gritted his teeth.

He hadn’t missed the fact that the notification he had seen had actually said that he was cursed a second time?

When was the first?

Upon seeing that Skullius was back, Benzard breathed a sigh of relief. His imposing air vanished as he regained his cool.

All was not lost yet.

The rest felt pretty much the same way but for different reasons.

Skullius sat up but he didn’t show much of any reaction as he simply stared at the ground with an angry expression.

“What happened?” Benzard asked.

“I don’t know,” Skullius replied with a hollow tone.

Denille gripped Skullius by the throat and showed a ferocious expression, carrying her agitation from the previous verbal altercation with Benzard onto Skullius.

“You ungrateful son of a bitch! We just saved your life! You should at least be grateful for that! You know exactly what happened! Did you try to commit suicide or something?” she bellowed in Skullius face.

Skullius didn’t shirk away from her thunderous presence this time as the feeling that he had gotten from Somanda was way scarier and fresh in his mind.

‘You’re going to kill me anyway.’

“Like I said, I don’t know.”

“Stop that, Denille! He’s still leaking out mana. We have to continue supplying it to him,” Reon said while holding back the rage he felt. “It doesn’t seem like he needs much. We probably went overboard last time. One of us supplying him with mana should be enough. Irlen.”

The shield bearer nodded and kept releasing his mana into Skullius while everyone pulled away.

“So you really don’t know what’s happening to you?” Benzard asked with a threatening tone in question.

“Nope,” Skullius replied with impassive eyes, the dangerous mana coiling around Benzard not fazing him one bit.

Benzard looked at Reon for any revelations about the situation but the results spoke of nothing that progressed the issue forward.

“I don’t know either. I thought he had cracked his core, but it’s still intact. Maybe it’s not his doing,” said Reon.

“Fine, let’s go on,” Benzard said. “Let’s pick up our pace. We’re close and we won’t be stopping until absolutely necessary. Irlen, can you carry him while giving him your mana at the same time?”

“Sure,” said Irlen with a solid nod.

Soon, the group had set off again, going at full speed towards the direction that the two Keys in Benzard’s hands showed as he whispered incomprehensible words.

Irlen had Skullius under his arm as they went. Surprisingly, he found Skullius to be ridiculously light but he paid it no mind. Reon would have noticed if something was amiss anyway.

The question one would ask when considering the unexplored relationship between Benzard and Irlen was why the bully shield bearer was loyal to Benzard?

The reason was simple. Irlen had always been a man of substance. He believed in seeing people doing something for them to deserve titles and recognition. This could be chalked up to him being a shield bearer, someone who defended and allowed others to attack without worry. After many years of living by the shield, he had become sensitive to different characters.

That said, he respected Benzard over Eobald solely because of substance. Benzard as the vice leader of the Ideal Ark was usually the man at the forefront, while Eobald was a sacred figure that only joined the fight when they had major issues to deal with.

That’s why, because of his time spend with Benzard, he respected him more. The man who told him to lift the shield while he would attack most often, proving to be someone he could relate to. Someone he could call a comrade in arms and not a figure that was meant to be revered.

The journey took quite a while as the four on foot zipped through the forest that kept changing. Their speed was slowed down after they went deeper into the forest.

More powerful creatures began to appear.

The group had to hide from overly powerful beasts most of the time while taking care of monsters that were as strong as Onumbassssss.

Each time, Skullius would absorb the Null Life Essence, seeing higher figures with the difference in the creatures that he saw. Soon, he had for the first time seen the Null Life Essence bar filled with 3000 points that he wasn’t going to be able to use until the next morning.

After almost four hours of constantly travelling and witnessing the terrifying fights that the four that were with him had to engage in, Skullius couldn’t imagine how he could survive this.

He had seen enough to know that these guys were powerful, but were still holding back.

For the labyrinth.

The terrain began to change again after another stretch of distance that was marred with the monotony of battle after battle, Irlen having to sit them all out.

From the large trees and dense vegetation, a valley appeared after a desert-like environment that looked out of place could be seen ahead.

It was unnatural. Golden brown soil that suddenly replaced the verdant green abruptly to make a massive opening that covered over a kilometre distance with a girth of just short of two hundred meters.

The group marvelled at this.

The sun seemed especially hot above this geographical feature that looked to have been dropped suddenly over the beauty of the tropical scenery that they had gotten used to.

What made matters worse was that there was a transition on the soil that made everyone including Skullius grimace.

The golden brown soil that reached from the forest side slowly turned into a darker shade as the soil descended into the depths between the two walls.

From the golden brown to a dark brown that was littered with dark stones and extremely sparse plant life that looked phenomenally poisonous.

“You’ve got to be shitting me!” Denille said, being the first to express how much she thought that this adventure had turned out to be even more dangerous than they had initially thought.