In the afternoon, in the snow lands high in the mountains, lies piles of dead polar bears' bodies and at the end of the blood trail lies Lars. He punches a hole in the last polar bear as it falls dead, blood drips from his bloody fist as he then sees magic text appear in the air above him as he sees it:
"Task 1 - Kill 100,000 lives - completed. Task 2 - Endure a force of power of 1 billion pounds - completed."
As another text shows:
"Reroll your tasks."
He then pushes onto this button as it rerolls his current task into new tasks, he then quickly does them as time passes. He does his tasks one by one and rerolls them once he finishes them.
He takes a very deep inhale as he holds his breath as the magic timer starts to tick, as the task above him then shows:
"Hold your breath for 20 minutes."
As he then starts to do his other task that shows:
"Carry any object above your head until you have carried 500,000 tons."
He then carries a dead polar bear above his head as he then sees a magic text show:
"0.8 tons / 500,000 tons."
He then drops the polar bear as he then jumps into the far distance, hopping across the snow land in great distance with each jump as he then reaches the edge of the snow land that has a view of rushing waters. He then dives under the cold water as he swims deeper and deeper.
Suddenly the entire snow lands start to shake as it then moves upwards as Lars is carrying it, as the magic text then starts counting up in a fast pace up until it reaches:
"500,000 tons."
Moments later, he's doing another task where he then cuts his arm as blood pours from it as the task above him shows:
"Lose 13% of your blood."
Moments later, he is running across the snow land as the task above shows:
"Run for 3,000 miles."
Later, he then shouts loud as it creates a sonic boom that fires upwards into the sky as the task above him shows:
"Produce sound that reaches 1,000 decibels."
Moments later, he's doing push-ups in a very fast pace as the task above him shows:
"Do 10,000 push-ups."
Later, he's swallowing the ocean water as his stomach gets bigger and bigger as the task above him shows:
"Eat or drink about 100 pounds."
Later, he's flying through the clouds and lands onto a forest village as he then starts destroying everything, causing many explosions and killing many natives and Star players. He then gets into the treasure room that has many gold coins, he then lies on it as the task above him shows:
"Own 1 million worth of currency for 10 minutes."
Moments later he's building a big cabin in a fast pace as the task above him shows:
"Build a 500 x 500 building."
Later he lets many snakes bite him as the task above him shows:
"Be poisoned for 20 minutes."
Later, he jumps so high he goes into space as far as he could go as his body begins to be puffy and turn into ice, his body then floats back to Doom Planet as he then crashes into the ruined lands, covered in a pool of his blood as the task above him shows:
"Be near death for 30 minutes."
He keeps on completing tasks and keeps rerolling them into new tasks until he then shows up at Taeo City as he sees the giant barrier keeping the city safe as the task above him then shows:
"Stay in the digital world for 10 minutes."
He takes a step back as he is about to punch the barrier, but suddenly a portal opens nearby as a voice can be heard.
"Don't you dare mess up my plan after all the hard work I went through."
Lars stops his punch midway as he turns to see Gilga stepping out of the portal.
Gilga then says,
"We're still in an alliance, aren't we?"
Lars replies,
"We are, but the terms have changed."
Gilga's eyes shift, glowing with streams of digital code as he looks above Lars.
"Interesting... that's something new. Once a Star has completed their tasks, they may reroll them instantly. Hmmm... that's an interesting way to earn your own kind of points. I see you're trying to get 1st place on the leaderboard."
Lars then says,
"Were you not listening to me?"
His face darkens.
Gilga, calm as ever, responds,
"I don't need to listen. I can just see that you've changed. And the best assumption is that since you've become much stronger, you think you're above me."
Lars shifts into a battle stance as the aura around him begins to intensify.
Gilga puts his arms out as his mecha forms around him through nanotech.
"You're welcome to try again, but the results will be the same as before."
Suddenly the portal behind Gilga becomes larger as it then moves and takes Gilga and Lars into the digital world instantly.
Lars then charges forward with a punch, but the floor under Gilga expands, causing Lars to miss the punch.
Gilga then says,
"Have you forgotten? It's never that simple."
Suddenly the digital world around them begins to change as many digital materials form all around them, turning into two giant turrets that fire thousands of digital bullets at Lars. He blocks the attacks, that causes many explosions around him.
Gilga then flies into the air and says,
"What you're facing right now is not currently my own power, but a gifted power from another chosen Star—one that is almost as great as me. But he too is not a real Chosen by the real God!"
Lars then moves and destroys the two giant turrets with a punch each. He lands on the everchanging digital terrain and says,
" Don't you ever shut up about your God?"
He then summons his purple gauntlets onto his arms as they release tons of purple steam. Armor boots also spawn on his feet.
Gilga then says,
"If you were to know of its existence, then you would be just as obsessed with it as much as I am."
He then summons the robotic dragon's core, which goes into his mecha's chest. It glows, lighting up the entire mecha suit and giving it more power. Metal dragon-like horns and wings emerge from his mecha suit.
He then says,
"We're getting more serious than before—this time at much higher levels."
Meanwhile in the dungeon, Tomi, Vel, and another dozen Stars are in a puzzle room. Each of them stands on a tile that lights up, causing more floor tiles to float into the air.
Tomi then instructs each of them to step onto the correct tile. Each one brings them higher up in the room, until Tomi steps on the final tile that rises all the way to the ceiling. It opens and reveals a glowing energy ball. He touches it, as the energy enters his body, causing many magical tattoo runes to appear all over him.
Suddenly, many voices echo throughout the room as Tomi's eyes turn white. He too then begins to speak rapidly in strange, fragmented words that no one can understand.
The pressure in the room grows intense. Vel and the other Stars struggle to hold onto their floating tiles, their grips slipping as the air thickens.
Then, just as suddenly, the voices stop. Tomi falls silent.
The pressure vanishes.
All of the tiles in the room then fall down as everyone picks themselves up.
Vel says,
"What was that?! I can tell it's a much higher-value bonus than mine."
Tomi turns to her and replies,
"There was someone asking 100s of riddles so I had to quickly answer them all. "
He shakes his head to regain focus and calmly says
"All of the abilities are playing out in my head right now, but to simply describe this bonus—it's much more than that. It's almost like a mini Chosen power."
Vel exclaims,
"Ahh, that's it! Of course it is! I'm for sure none of us would've solved this puzzle room anyway. You've earned it!"
Tomi then looks at his hands and says,
"This power of mine is called Jester."
Meanwhile, in another part of the dungeon, Kayle is sprinting past many golems charging forward as explosions erupt all around her. She narrowly dodges one blast, rebalancing herself mid-air with her wind magic.
She summons her magic bow and fires a glowing green arrow. It soars through the chaos toward a giant nine-tailed magic white fox.
The fox barely evades the arrow. Its tails whip around and unleash a barrage of blue fireballs, incinerating waves of incoming golems.
Nearby, Nox adjusts the small crown on his head and says,
"Well, I can't manipulate this dungeon's terrain with my magic... something is off about this place. It's almost like—"
Suddenly, he sees another vision of exploding planets flashing through his mind. He shakes it off and focuses.
"Kayle, aim for the tails! It'll stop the attacks."
Kayle nods, then uses her wind magic to lift herself high into the air. While the fox is distracted fighting off the many golems, she fires another green arrow that strikes one of the tails, causing it to explode.
The fox screeches and turns its full attention to her. It leaps, breathing a stream of blue flames.
Kayle throws up a wind barrier just in time, shielding herself from the worst of the attack.
Nox launches himself upward with magic-enhanced strength and, with a single fluid motion, chops off three of the fox's tails using his enchanted shovel.
The fox spins wildly, creating a blue fire tornado that scorches everything it touches.
Kayle screams in pain as the flames begin to burn her skin.
But then, the dirt from shattered golems gathers, swirling around the tornado and forming a towering pillar of earth. The pillar seals the firestorm inside and explodes, snuffing out the flames.
The fox crashes to the ground, weakened.
Nox shouts,
"It's tired—take it out now!"
Kayle roars and fires several more green arrows while Nox rushes in. Together, they destroy the remaining tails.
The fox lets out a final shriek of pain before it magically fades away.
The entire chamber begins to glow. A massive silver magic gate appears in front of them.
Kayle, breathing heavily, says,
"It must've been guarding this door… You think it'll lead us to the Lady of the Planet?"
Nox approaches the gate and replies,
"I'm not sure. But this gate is different. It's silver. The others we've seen were bronze. That has to mean something. Maybe there are tiers to what rooms we can access."
Kayle nods and summons the Bio Dragon's Core, attempting to open the gate with it. Nothing happens.
She frowns.
"How do we open it, then?"
Nox replies calmly,
"Don't worry. This is a dungeon after all. If there's a gate, there's a key. And we've already found it."
Kayle blinks many times at him with curiosity.
"We did already?"
Nox smirks as he holds his shovel on his shoulder.
"Another Star has already found a silver key in a different room—my golems helped him solved the puzzle."
Suddenly, footsteps echo behind them. A golem approaches, holding a Star in its massive hand. It places him down gently.
It is Ortis as he's slowly getting up from his knees.
He laughs awkwardly, scratching his head.
"Hehe… Well, it's nice to finally meet the mysterious man from that mysterious place... and the lady from the commoners' team."
Nox turns to him.
"Ortis Goldenbell. You have something that I need."
Ortis raises a hand,
"Under one condition that you'll help me find my team. We were in a puzzle room earlier, and uh... me and Yuri kinda messed up. It caused the room to teleported us all to different places."
Nox sighs deeply.
"Ahh… Another task, another thought. Fine. I'll try to locate them with my golems. But open the gate first. Without my help, you wouldn't have gotten that key."
Ortis pulls out the silver key, nodding gratefully.
"You're right. I owe you. Your golems saved me in that puzzle room. I thought I was done for."
He walks up to the gate and inserts the key. It fades away, and the silver doors creak open, revealing a long stairway leading upward.
Everyone stares in awe.
Kayle takes the first step.
Suddenly, an alarm blares, echoing from above. The entire stairway flashes in red.
Ortis dives behind Kayle and shouts,
"Is it another puzzle?"
Nox steps forward, his voice calm.
"No. It's an alarm system—to warn whoever is up there that… we're coming."
Meanwhile, in another section of the dungeon, Yuri wakes up in a bed, immediately sitting up and checking his body.
"Where did everybody go?" he mutters.
He looks around the dimly lit room, confused. As he turns to his side, he sees a skeleton lying next to him on the bed.
"AHHH!" he screams, jumping out of the bed. The skeleton falls and shatters on the floor as Yuri stumbles backward, panicked.
He backs up against a nearby window and gasps,
"Oh right… we messed up big time and it caused everyone to be teleported away..."
Catching his breath, he peeks out the cracked window and sees a massive village stretching out before him.
"Where the hell am I?!"
Suddenly, behind him, the skeleton magically reforms. Before Yuri can react, it grabs and throws him out the window, sending him crashing onto the brick streets below.
Groaning in pain, he looks up at the broken window and sees the skeleton stepping out.
He turns his head—and freezes.
All around, dozens of skeletons are stepping out of their homes, wielding wooden bats, pitchforks, sickles, and hatchets.
Yuri screams again,
"OH THERE'S NO WAY!"
He runs as fast as he can, the skeletons chasing close behind.
During the frantic chase, he catches movement from the corner of his eye—a figure lands on a rooftop nearby.
Without a word, the figure launches a fireball, which explodes behind Yuri in a fiery blast, sending him flying. He crashes into a rundown food marketplace, tumbling into a pile of dusty, rotting produce.
Coughing and gagging, he scrambles to his feet, brushing moldy fruit off his clothes and patting out a small flame on his shoulder.
He looks up and sees a skeleton rising from behind the food counter, holding a rusty kitchen knife.
It lunges at him.
Yuri narrowly dodges the first strike, but the skeleton swings again with a downward slash. Yuri grabs the bony wrist just in time—the dull knife hovers inches from his face.
"Someone help!" he yells, struggling.
Suddenly, a boot slams into the skeleton's skull, kicking its head clean off. The rest of its body crumbles.
Yuri falls back, panting, as he looks up at his savior.
It's Jen, gripping her magical daggers. She glances back at him with a furrowed brow.
"Huh? You're not a Star… you're a native."
Before Yuri can respond, Ignis lands beside them, hurling another fireball at the approaching wave of skeletons.
"Watch this, Tobias!" he yells.
"I shall redeem myself—with a flashy explosion!"