Cave

After what felt like a walk on a lightbulb, the two finally stepped out of the light and out of the staircase as they felt a familiar feeling against the heel of their shoe – grass. Felix rubbed his eyes and Kim blinked a few times, adjusting their eyes to their surroundings. Said surroundings was compiled of rocks, bushes and long, slim trees – or, a forest. And a pretty thick one at that, and they just happened to be in the only visible opening around. Kim couldn't help but let out an annoyed "Hah?" as Felix was looking around.

["Wait, this is... the demon's lair? Doesn't this just look like a regular forest?"]

Kim was looking around too, but neither of them could figure out anything deeper than whatever met the eye. He sighed, and let go of his sword's handle, which he was holding onto tightly. Suddenly, both of them could hear a familiar "Ding!" sound, and they each received a personal Blank in front of their eyes. As usual – similar, but not identical. Of course, Felix's Blank had a more... greenish hint.

{Plot - Find The Lair.

Requirements - Find the demon's lair, and slay it once and for all, freeing the people of these woods! Good luck!

Punishment Upon Failure - ???

Reward - ???}

[Plot - Find The Lair.

Requirements - Find Alicia, the Succubus Of Lust, and assassinate her – personally. Godspeed!

Punishment Upon Failure - Termination.

Reward - ???]

As Felix let out a small sigh at that stupid condition, Kim looked at his blue Blank with a mixed expression consisting of disgust, anger and just annoyance in general. He pushed the window out of his way and started walking towards the clearest path of this dense forest – which wasn't all that better than just walking straight through the trees. Felix, left with no other choice but to follow, did so – pushing branches and bushes out of his way, his only and all guidance he had being Kim's back.

After Kim eventually kicked a big rock, his anger only grew larger as he raised his foot and prepared to shatter it, only to stop halfway through. He rested his foot back on the ground and crouched down, examining the rock, as Felix soon emerged from the bushes next to him. He asked, confused, "What're you doing, Kim?"

Kim got up, rubbing his thumb and index finger together. He hadn't said anything, but Felix's eyes confirmed it for himself anyway – that was blood. After Kim wiped it on some nearby leaf, he stepped over the boulder and kept walking, with Felix following closely behind. Finally, after a few minutes, the two reach another opening in the dense forest – in it sat a few tree stumps that were seemingly destroyed, and the mouth of a humongous cave. Kim clicked his tongue at this, and his expression turned sour.

Felix was confused at Kim's reaction as he didn't understand what was so disgusting, but then he felt it— No, he could almost taste something in the air. Instinctively, he already knew what it was, even if he's never even came close to anything similar – Felix knew it was demonic energy. He immediately threw his hand over his lips, as just the taste of it almost made him hurl, and it took him a bit to calm down. Kim, in this time, did nothing but stare inside the cave, analyzing and observing. After Felix finally stabilized his condition enough to be able to walk, the two didn't need to speak any words to one another as they already knew where their target was.

{"These levels of demonic energy... probably means it's a trap. I should let Fox know, but..."}

Kim glanced at Felix, and after noticing how his hand was already extended out ready to grab stuff from his inventory – after noticing how battle-ready he was – decided to keep it quiet. It was better to just walk into it than avoid it and face the demon immediately – or, that's how Kim had judged the situation. So, he took a step forward, and then another, towards the cave. After both of them were fully in the cave, two pink walls quickly grew in front and behind them, and a weird fog of the same color started rising from the ground soon after. Felix panicked, pulling out his shabby axe from his inventory instantly, as he started slashing at the walls – although uselessly. After a few slashes in, Felix dropped his weapon as he fell to his knees, yawning. When looking back, Kim was already knocked out cold, sleeping away peacefully. Felix couldn't help but chuckle as he saw him snoring.

"Heheh... You knew, you... asshole..."

And with that, he fell over on his side, slipping into a deep sleep. At one point, after an unknown amount of time had passed, Felix's eyelids started flickering slightly and softly. He got up with a grunt, rubbing the place on his head where he had fallen asleep on. To his side sat another Blank, this one seemingly more normal than the one before it – but still green.

[Plot - Find The Lair |2|

Requirements - You've found the demon's lair! Now, go kill it and save the people from its harm! Godspeed!

Punishment Upon Failure - ???

Reward - ???]

This seemed more like a continuation of Kim's Blank rather than his own – although this was just a guess, as he's never seen Kim's window. Whatever was changing his Blanks probably didn't want to bother changing all of the Plot's parts, so it just left it as they were originally. Or, at least, that was a theory of Felix's. He soon looked around himself briefly, and his eyes immediately landed on Kim, who seemed to be awake for a while now as he was leaning against a wall. Before Felix even went to speak, he noticed Kim was missing his sword. Felix sighed, getting up and looking around. To nobody's surprise, his axe was gone – and even if it was a pretty bad axe, it was still his only weapon for the time being.

Kim finally spoke up as Felix had fully gotten up, "I knew that would happen."

"I figured. It's better to make the demon think they've got the upper hand than rush in and fight it immediately, right?"

Kim's eyes slightly widened at his statement – as it was exactly his thoughts. He smirked, and pushed himself off the wall, stepping closer to Felix. As he did so, he started speaking, "Right. Though, I didn't plan on fighting it completely empty-handed... but I'll manage."

"You mean we'll manage?"

"When have you been useful, mister four consecutive LVCs?"

"Have you been keeping count? Is that the actual number?!"

"Mm, dunno."

After Kim finished making fun of Felix, he pointed to a hole in the wall as the two started walking towards it. As they did, Felix looked around themselves – they seemed to be somewhere deep inside the cave, as there was no natural lights. The only thing illuminating their surroundings were some crystals in the wall that produced light – somehow. After exiting through the hole, the two started sneaking around, because they could hear noises nearby. Eventually, as they were crouching near a wall and they were approaching a big "room," Kim stopped suddenly, making Felix run nose first into his back.

"Man, wha—"

Before he could finish, Kim shushed him, and Felix closed his mouth. In front of them were two hogs – similarly looking to the ones from the first floor, that were guarding the Boss room. They weren't wearing armor this time, as they looked a bit more like mercenaries rather than knights, and they were already standing on two legs with their weapons drawn. Kim could probably take on them even weaponless, but he didn't want to risk a possible injury or something worse. He sighed and mouthed the word "Blank." and soon started scrolling through his screen – but Felix obviously couldn't see what he was doing.

After a bit, Felix could see Kim grin as he waved his Blank away, closing it. He turned his head to Felix and whispered, "Can you make it across alone, no combat?"

Felix whispered back, "I mean... I dunno, maybe. Why?"

"Good. See ya' there."

Kim then turned his whole body towards the other end of the hallway as he stood up, and he soon whispered "{Shadow Step.}"

"Shadow, wut now?"

Immediately, Kim's feet seemed to dissolve in the shadow beneath them, followed by his waist, torso and head. In less than a few seconds, he emerged from the shadows at the end of the hallway, right next to the exit, as Felix's jaw fell wide open. Kim did an upwards motion with his palm, and Felix closed it back up, although still confused. He half-whispered and half-yelled, "How did you do that?!"

Kim, instead of being risky, simply signed with his hands, "You unlock a new skill at level five. Check it out."

Felix cursed him out and opened up his Blank at the same time, as he kept mumbling "You're lucky I learned sign language in high school, you fuckin'..." and soon he started scrolling through it, opening up more in the process. Amongst all the green windows sitting around him, he pressed on the Skills one, examining it closely.

[Felix Fox - Skills

-Clear Vision

-Sponge

-Stat Gamble

Choose a skill to view detailed information.]

Felix clicked on the last one, assuming it was the newest - Stat Gamble. Another Blank opened to his side and he started reading it – [Roll an imaginary twenty sided dice. Depending on the situation and roll, apply a buff or debuff to yourself.]

As he read this, Felix could physically feel his pulse rising in anger and bewilderment. He slammed his fist into the ground – gently, as to not attract the hogs – and cursed out his life, stats, and just about everything in the cave.

"Is this what I get for having a high Luck stat...?! I'm not a fan of dungeons, nor of dragons...!"

After whispering that, he sighed and sat upright. When he saw Kim's smug smirk, he started warming up by stretching his joints. Felix fixed his footing, readied his breathing, and prepared himself mentally as he spoke – "{Stat Gamble.}"

[Rolling dice. Godspeed!]

After that, Felix could hear it in his head – a small plastic die being thrown against a wooden table. He heard it spin and rumble about for a bit, before finally settling down, and deciding his very fate.

[Thirteen. Congratulations!

According to the user's needs, temporarily increasing Agility by three Stat Points.]

After reading that message, Felix stepped into the ground hard, propelling himself forwards as silently as he could. He still wasn't nowhere near as fast as Kim's normal running pace, but it was just enough to pass by without being seen by the two hogs. After reaching Kim, Felix noticed he was still leaning against the wall, but this time he had his hand raised and out. As Felix walked past him and into another hole in the wall, he high fived Kim, and he soon turned around and followed. They now found themselves in what seemed to be a long hallway, yet the walls still looked like rock and stones. As usual, they would have to start their very detailed and thought out plan – run until you see something.

And, of course they did just that. They took off running through a dark, long hallway once more – as this was common by now – but now, instead of seeing lights up ahead, the dimly lit hall seemed to only grow darker and darker as they ran. Finally, after they've reached a point where they couldn't see two feet in front of them – and the hallway forked into two – they stopped for a bit to talk. Kim asked, "I'm assuming you don't have any skills that let you light this up? Because I sure don't."

"No... I only have three... Uhh, what were them... This Stat thingy, something called {Sponge}, and... Ah!"

As if a lightbulb went off in Felix's head, he took a step forwards and extended his hand - more for style – as he spoke, "{Clear Vision.}" and immediately, the halls lit up for Felix, as he could see clearly. He looked around for a bit, even back at Kim for a second as he spoke, "This thing's got night vision... Cool..."

"Tell me where we gotta go, Felix."

"Oh, right, right."

Felix examined both ways, and could only see something on the one on the right, while the left one looked like a dead end. He grabbed Kim by the sleeve and dragged him along, "Just follow me, make sure you don't trip. Or do, I'd love a good laugh."

"I'll make sure to shove my sword in your skull. Once I find it."

"Knowing you, you're halfway joking and halfway not."

After dragging Kim around for a bit, the light seemed to slowly come back, so Felix let go of his sleeve and instinctively waved his hand in front of his eyes, as the night vision faded away. Finally, the two were able to see a big door in the distance somewhere where the cave widened, and they were cautiously approaching it. The two soon reached it, nodded to one another, and started pushing it open. Surprisingly light, the door slid open against the cave's floor, making an annoying sound, yet weirdly familiar. As they stepped in, the whole room lit up with countless of those light crystals, and at the very end of the room on a throne stood the demon – their target. A shared Blank opened up somewhere near the ceiling.

[Plot - Find The Lair |3|

Requirements - You've found the demon itself! Quickly kill it to make its influence disappear from this forest once and for all! Godspeed!

Punishment Upon Failure - ???

Reward - ???]

Finally, said demon stood up from its throne and took a step towards the two, another bigger Blank opening up above its head.

[Mini Boss – Alicia, Succubus Of Lust

Demon - Lvl 10.

Class - One Of The Seven Sins

Affinity - Demonic/Charm

—

HP - 728/619

ATK - 73/73

ACN - 54/54

LUC - 0/0

AGL - 37/37

STM - 90/90

DEF - 29/29

DEX - 61/61

Skills - Basic Charm; Advanced Charm; Lustful Expression.]

Kim clicked his tongue as he read her stats, annoyed, "Why's she got over-health...?!"

Felix waved Kim off, "No, no, that's not important... Why was she just waiting for us in the dark...?"