Author: Sunless Rain
Chapter 3 – Uncertainty
For the first time since his arrival, BURNING_ONES felt it—peril.
A danger unlike anything else
What the hell is going on? He cursed inwardly, unsettled.
Yet, uncharacteristically, his body kept moving forward, drawn toward the center of the floor. His instincts screamed at him to stop, but something else—an unknown force, or perhaps a buried confidence—pushed him on. It was as if his legs no longer belonged to him.
Then, as he drew closer, the figure opened its eyes.
And the world stopped.
"A shock of cold, like ice-water flooding his veins, crashed through him. His body froze—every nerve locked in place. A blaring alarm of peril—like the toll of imminent death—roared inside him. His mouth opened, struggling to form words, but nothing emerged."
His muscles locked tight, as if struck by a surge of lightning.
Those eyes.
They didn't just look at him. They saw him.
He felt bare beneath that gaze— it can see every fiber of his being no, it is more than that it can see his soul laid open, his essence dissected. In those eyes, he saw something terrifyingly calm... something absolute.
With a single gaze, he saw himself dying countless times, each death different from the last.
A faint, almost apologetic smile crossed Mizu Akari's face as he bowed his head
"I'm sorry, Lord BURNING_ONES…
This wasn't something I intended.
It's simply a habit.
Whenever I encounter someone strong,
I can't help myself—
To study them.
Analyze them.
Uncover their weaknesses,
Invalidate their strengths,
And envision their defeat."
BURNING_ONES raised his gauntleted right hand to his helmet, massaging the spot where his forehead would be—like he was trying to rub away an unwanted memory.
Sighing from a near-death-like experience, he remembered his objective and told Mizu,
"Do not worry about it."
As he passed by Mizu, still contemplating, after walking a few meters away he heard the voice of Mizu Akari,
"Are you going to see the new world we found ourselves in, Lord BURNING-ONES?"
BURNING-ONES stopped walking and asked Mizu,
"Do you know something about what is happening, Mizu?"
With a commanding voice he said.
Mizu smirked and replied,
"No"
BURNING_ONES . . . and said.
"Let us go out and find out then."
While the convoy continued walking Mizu did not follow right away but stared on Akasha for a moment trying to probe for a reaction but there was nothing.
"Okay then," Mizu whispered to himself
Neptuneus trailed behind his lordship from a distance, then came to a brief halt. He turned to Mizu and asked,
"Will you not come with us, Mizu?"
Mizu's expression softened. "Of course I will. I wish to see what this world has to offer me."
Neptuneus merely nodded, offering no further reply. He already understood the true meaning behind his colleague's words.
The Way of Water.
Everything Mizu did, every decision he made, was guided by desire to complete the Way of Water. From conversations overheard between their creators—the Divine Beings—Neptuneus understood that Mizu Akari's very existence had been shaped after the ideals of a peerless martial artist of old. This warrior had preached that true mastery in battle lay in becoming formless and shapeless, flowing around strength, piercing through weakness, and adapting to any style or technique with seamless precision.
After the group passed through the passage to the fifth floor, they reached the domicile of the floor guardian, Mavis Nap O'Leon.
Mavis was deep in slumber when Akasha's urgent voice pierced the air through communication magic, announcing that their lord, Lord BURNING_ONES, would be passing by her quarters on his way out of the guild base.
Instantly jolted awake, Mavis's heart skipped a beat. Panic flared—there was no time to waste. Throwing off the blankets, she scrambled out of bed, ran in and out of the bathroom with a toothbrush still dangling from her mouth, hair in wild disarray, and clothes barely fastened. She sprinted toward the door, The wooden steps of her treehouse creaked under her hurried pace as she ran . A startled squirrel-like beast darted out of her path, chittering in protest as Mavis leapt the last two steps with her little feet, landing with a thud while her hand spread out balancing. She smiled while the toothbrush was still in mouth . She fixed golden hair spilling over the shoulders and brushing at the wrinkles of her white dress . .. She landed in the front of her Lord, and performed a courtesy bow at the same removing her brush out of her mouth.
"Welcome to my home, my Lord. I hope my beloved beasts have not troubled you," she said.
Burning_Ones gave a slight nod, acknowledging her greeting.
"Not at all, Mavis. I was merely passing by to see for myself what is happening in our world," he replied.
Huh?
Mavis tilted her head, confusion flickering in her eyes at her master's words.
"I'm in a hurry, Mavis. It would be better if you came with us so we can figure things out together," he continued.
Mavis nodded, her toothbrush disappeared into her inventory then whistled sharply using the same hand that held the toothbrush. A dragon toad with glimmering orange scales and wide, curious eyes scuttled toward her. She pointed toward where her master was walking towards, grasped the saddle as the creature passed, and deftly maneuvered herself onto its back.
Mavis caught up with the growing convoy of people, falling into step beside Neptuneus. She opened her mouth to ask a question, but before a single word could escape, she was interrupted.
"You're being unsightly," Neptuneus said, cutting her off.
Mavis turned her head unto the other side and crossed her arms sulking and said
"Hmmp atleast I am . . . .
Neptuneus turned his head away, knowing it would be unprofitable to trade words with Mavis. While her blabbering droned faintly in the background, his thoughts were already elsewhere, focused on the mission ahead.
Mavis quickly noticed that Neptuneus wasn't listening at all, which only made her more annoyed. Puffing her cheeks, she crossed her arms tighter and continued her sulking, mumbling complaints under her breath. Beneath her, the dragon toad lifted its wide, curious eyes, fixing her with a silent, almost judgmental stare.
"What are you staring at?" Mavis snapped, bopping its head multiple times in mock scolding. The creature gave a low, rumbling croak, before joining her in sulking, its massive eyes narrowing to thin slits.
BURNING_ONES finally passed through the twist and turns Mavis's double dungeon maze floors, he saw its devious design unlike other floors, hers was not designed to kill level 100 players outright but to delay and exhaust them. Layered with traps, ambush points, and relentless hit-and-run tactics, the labyrinth functioned as a war of attrition rather than a battlefield of decisive blows.
As a Commander-type NPC, Mavis's build was designed to exhaust enemy forces rather than annihilate them outright. Through relentless hit-and-run tactics and the coordinated assaults of her beasts and subordinates, she forced invaders to waste precious time, health, and consumables just to advance. By the time the enemy finally breached her defenses and reached the sixth floor, they were already fractured—some arriving ahead, others trapped or delayed—allowing Mizu Akari to engage them in controlled, manageable skirmishes. The invaders who made it through were no longer a formidable force but a weakened army one: their mana spent, their strength depleted, burdened with debuffs, and their resources expended.
After a long trek, the BURNING_ONES finally reached the third floor, where a vast golden desert stretched endlessly before them. Rolling dunes shimmered under harsh light, and fierce winds whipped the sands into stinging waves that scoured the air. Like the sixth floor, this level held few standing structures—but unlike the floors above, everything here bore the mark of abandonment. Most buildings lay half-buried beneath drifting dunes, while the taller ones leaned at dangerous angles, their foundations eaten away by time and erosion.
Scattered across the desert were the remains of shattered golems and broken constructs, their forms worn down into fragments. These ruins were not merely debris; they were sustenance. The floor guardian fed upon these discarded creations, grinding them down and excreting them as fine golden sand—much like parrotfish of the sea that consume coral and leave beaches in their wake.
In truth, the third floor served as the dumpsite of the Celestial Trium, a forsaken realm where its members cast away broken artifacts, failed creations, and abandoned experiments, all slowly being reduced to sand by the relentless guardian.
After several minutes of trudging through the desolation, they reached the heart of the desert, where the ruins grew thicker and more desolate. Akasha turned toward BURNING_ONES and asked softly,
"Lord, shall I summon Gigancentus?"
No that would be unnecessary, BURNING_ONES answered
Akasha nodded and continued walking.
Mavis, meanwhile, stood atop her Dragon Toad, which lumbered behind the group. She squinted into the blinding light, one hand raised to shield her eyes from the glare as she looked back at the trail they had left across the dunes. For a moment, she noticed the sand shift ever so slightly—then caught a fleeting glimpse of something beneath it: a vast, white, metal-like carapace, curved and segmented like the body of an enormous centipede.
A faint smile crossed her face as she murmured to herself,
"I've always wondered just how long Gigancentus truly is… It would be nice to have him as a pet."
Her smile faded a little as she added under her breath,
"But that's not possible. Lord BURNING_ONES would never allow me to make a fellow Floor Guardian my pet.
The convoy reached the second floor, and unlike the other levels, the Floor Guardian himself was already waiting to welcome his master's arrival.
"It is good to see you again, my lord," Ka'el said, bowing deeply.
"Likewise, Ka'el," replied BURNING_ONES, his tone calm but warm.
"My lord," Ka'el continued, curiosity evident in his voice, "I have heard that you intend to go to the surface. May I ask what purpose drives you to do so?"
"Hmph."
A loud snort echoed from the rear of the convoy.
"I'd wager you were asleep again instead of guarding your floor," a mocking voice called out. "My lord, shouldn't we punish this idiot for his negligence…?"
A vein twitched on Ka'el's forehead, but recalling his noble heritage and unparalleled command over the arcane, he mastered his irritation. With an indignant snort, he straightened his posture, his cloak fluttering faintly as mana rippled around him.
"Hmph! There is no way our Lord would ever believe such drivel," he said, voice ringing with refined arrogance. "Do not mistake my composure for idleness, fool. I am Ka'el, the Invoker, custodian of the Arcane Codex, and wielder of Invoke Magic, an art so ancient and complex that even archmages of bygone eras could scarcely comprehend its workings."
He placed a gloved hand over his chest, bowing his head ever so slightly—less out of humility, and more as if granting the very air an audience with his greatness. His eyes drifted closed, lost in his own grandeur.
"My craft commands the elements themselves to heed my call—flame, storm, frost, and shadow—all answering in harmonious unison to my will. While others swing swords and roar like beasts, I weave the very fabric of existence into form and destruction alike. Such is the privilege of intellect… and the burden of genius."
He flicked his eyes open toward the one who had mocked him, a faint smirk playing at his lips.
"So tell me, what do you contribute, aside from noise and inso—"
He stopped mid-sentence. The wind carried only the fading echoes of footsteps and the distant rumble of beasts. The convoy had already passed him by, leaving Ka'el standing alone.
Turning his head, he caught sight of his lord far ahead, the rest of the group already descending into the distance.
Ka'el quickened his pace, hurrying to catch up with the convoy. Just as he turned, he caught sight of Mavis behind him — her face contorted into a ridiculous, mocking grimace as she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear, "Idiot."
A vein immediately bulged on his forehead, his expression twitching between annoyance and restrained outrage.
The two continued their bickering at the back of the convoy as they passed through Ka'el's apocalyptic domain—the Second Floor, the Valley of Death. The vast floor was divided into three perilous regions: Winterland, Scorched Lands, and Tempest Land.