"I see, Claude said. That's how you caught my men off-guard. It won't work on me who is a blessed child of G.o.d!"

"I figured it wouldn't when you blocked that attack near the entrance." h.e.l.l said. Thinking this could have been over if he just used Rapid Move then. This guy wasn't that fast, he was a fool for not having done so. "Well, it seems we both have some regrets. So…" h.e.l.l said. "Why is your arm not bleeding?"

"You will die without knowing!" Claude again spoke up with fervour.

"Well, see, mate. You would have to close the distance for that. That armour looks heavy, too. I wonder how long you will be able to keep swinging that sword around."

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d." Claude mumbled and activated his Aura of Justice. This particular skill that caused light to spread from his being and upped his strength by 15 points with a 30 mana cost per second it was activated. He wanted to finish this quickly and return to his brother to report his shameful failure. If only he was here, this man would have been long gone. The trust he had in his brother was unfathomable.

"Take this!" Claude lunged with an attack and followed with another. It seemed his attacks were faster, now that his strength was increased. One of the attacks suddenly changed path mid-air and grazed h.e.l.l's brow.

"Cheeky b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you know how to use swords, aren't you?" h.e.l.l said.

Claude didn't answer, focused on killing h.e.l.l, following with one attack after another. He then turned off the light that came out of him soon after.

"Does it cost a lot of mana?" h.e.l.l grinned. "That is quite sad."

h.e.l.l focused on tiring him out as his armour looked high quality as well, he didn't know the extent of this guy's abilities.

"Boss!" h.e.l.l suddenly heard someone yell.

"Vaun?"

"I brought them to help you!"

h.e.l.l smiled after seeing Leon and barely distinguis.h.i.+ng Leila behind him. She was great at blending into the environment.

"More will be coming!" Leon yelled as he rushed to help h.e.l.l.

"Your evil allies shall also fall here!" Claude yelled as he lunged at h.e.l.l with all his might. The sword's tip actually slightly punctured h.e.l.l's stomach, then stopped there, it seemed Leon was using his Telekinesis. h.e.l.l looked at the infuriated Claude as well as the sword still slightly puncturing his belly, his smile turning into a wide grin. "Shame. Game over for you!" h.e.l.l yelled as he attacked with Imp Needle, targeting his head to finish the job quickly while using Rapid Move.

Just as he had done so, however, the light was seen from him again and he was momentarily free from the Telekinesis. With Rapid Move's speed, it had still penetrated Claude's throat as he held his throat, trying to take some potion out as he let go of his s.h.i.+eld. h.e.l.l didn't allow him, disoriented as he was, couldn't protect himself properly as he randomly swung his sword.

"I am chosen by G.o.d! I can't die." Claude could barely get the words out along with his gurgling.

"I will. Kill!" Claude yelled once more, his face full of vigour now pale as he collapsed after h.e.l.l impaled his head with his next move. Claude's eyes were full of regret as they moved backwards, his lifeless body hanging from Imp Needle.

*A player has been defeated*

*+20 mana acquired*

*Skill: Knight-Demon's Vitality acquired*

*Skill: Aura of Justice acquired*

*You have levelled up*

He gave 5 stats to mana this time to see how much he would gain. It turned out he gained 50 mana per stat he invested. 250 mana was a great investment.

*Mana: 1325*

"Cool." h.e.l.l said, identifying Claude's items and threw the s.h.i.+eld and sword to Vaun. "Have these."

*s.h.i.+eld of Justice: Awarded by the System to the player Claude for vanquis.h.i.+ng all evil the player has seen in level 1 as well as almost sacrificing his life for the people

+15 to the defence of the wearer and -1 to wearer's dexterity*

*Sword of Justice: Awarded after the player has shown great care in level 2.

+15 to the defence of the wearer, +10 to the strength of the wearer, -1 to wearer's dexterity*

*Armor of Themnek: Gained after killing the demon-knight of level 2.

+10 to the defence of the wearer, +10 to the strength of the wearer, -5 to the vitality of the wearer*

h.e.l.l also asked if Leon wanted to take this guy's armour as it was a good one also. However, Leon said they didn't have time to take the armour of a corpse. "Take your permit and let's leave. We are no longer welcome here in the slightest."

"Alright, I'm ready to go. You made the right decision, my friends." h.e.l.l said and he went to get his permit. He put 25 coins into the hole in the middle and a permit suddenly appeared in h.e.l.l's hands.

Leon stepped up after h.e.l.l got his permit, they got one for Vaun with the coin pouch from Claude and he spoke in an audible voice. "Invite the player h.e.l.l and player Vaun to party."

h.e.l.l saw a party invite message in front of him. Vaun was only looking at h.e.l.l, seemed he didn't see anything. He accepted it and suddenly could feel each other's presence better. This seemed to be functioning like a map you could see your friends on, replaced by a vague feeling of their position. This was a great feature, nonetheless.

*Condition has been cleared*

They all heard System's voice as Leon got two options in front him as the party leader.

*Move to Stage 2* and *Cancel*

*Move to Stage 2* Leon chose and they were suddenly transported to a completely different clearing as they are, seeing a message from the system in front of themselves.

*Starting from Stage 2, players will have a chance of encountering other players. Players will also be physically present in the world*

[Impossible Nightmare System – Stage 2-Level 1]

*Stage 2 has been initiated*

*Leon's party joins the session*

*Enemies are being chosen, defeat the bosses and clear the level*

*Enemies are chosen, defeat The Djinn of Manipulation, The Demon of Pride and The Player Killer*

Everyone looked at h.e.l.l after it said: "Player Killer".

"Hey, it probably wouldn't ask you to kill your own teammate!" h.e.l.l exclaimed. "That would also mean my own mission is to kill myself, too! Come on."

"Let's get him." Leila said with a sarcastic voice.

"No, he is right. Each one of us has killed players, after all. I guess we just instinctively searched the psychopath among us." Leon added.

"Well, thanks." h.e.l.l said. "But I sure would like to meet the gentleman who got the t.i.tle "Player Killer".

"I highly doubt that." Commented Leon as he gazed at the ma.s.sive jungle ahead. They were on a plateau, away from the uncharted and rather dense forest down below. "We could never see something so beautiful and fantastic had we not accepted becoming players."

The sun was just setting in this place they were thrown to, and they had 3 separate bosses they needed to kill.

"Should we camp for now? I am tired anyway." h.e.l.l whined.

"Also tired." Leila added.

"Well, I don't think it'll be as easy getting up on here, so that would be our safest bet. Where will we get wood for some fire, though?" Leon said.

"Can't you grab some of the branches with your freaky mind ability?" h.e.l.l mocked.

"And use all my mana for some branches? Are you insane?"

"I'll go." Leila interjected.

"What? No, h.e.l.l is plenty strong, he should go."

"Hey, mate, p.i.s.s off, right?" I was gonna give you some more skills, too. If you are gonna act like this however…"

"Well, Leila, you better go if you want it so much. Can't you see our dear friend is in so much pain?" Leon sarcastically said with a sharp glint in his eyes.

"Alright." Leila said as she headed toward the path she could go down from. Indeed, this time of the day was when she would be at her best.

"Wait!" h.e.l.l yelled behind her, a wolf responded from the jungle.

"Idiot." Leon whispered.

h.e.l.l caught up to Leila and asked: "Would you like a skill before you go?"

"I am surprised you are distributing such valuable things left and right. Shouldn't you want to keep them?"

"I see this as an investment. As long as you let me finish off stronger stuff, I'll give you the skills I don't have much use for. Also, not like they are lost forever just because I gave them to you." h.e.l.l replied quickly.

"What is it?" Leila asked.

h.e.l.l smiled. "Remember those throwing knives you picked up earlier? You can use the skill Multiplier to create 10 identical copies in the air after you throw them. Cool, right?"

"It is really cool." Leila said with more pa.s.sion this time. The excitement visible in her eyes.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

h.e.l.l put his hand on Leila's chest and transferred the skill. Leila felt again a power rus.h.i.+ng toward her and into her heart, receiving the skill. She checked her character page.

"Open Menu."

Player: Leila

Age: 19

Occupation: Shadowmancer

Level: 15

HP : 90/90

Mana : 250/450

Stats

----------

Strength : 13

Defence : 10

Dexterity : 66 (81)

Mana : 450

Vitality : 9

Stamina : 11

Unused Stat Points: 0

Items: Dagger, Cloak of the Night Hunter, Throwing Knives of Blending

Dagger: +10 piercing attack

Cloak of the Night Hunter: A cloak belonging to the Night Hunter. +15 to Dexterity while wearing it.

Throwing Knives of Blending: A set of 6-throwing blades that are hard to distinguish in the dark. +5 piercing damage.

Skills:

*Shadow Reach: 250 mana for each use, allows the player to use the shadows she can see in a 40-meter radius to materialize them and mimic her own attacks with them*

*One With Shadows: 25 mana for each use, allows the player to use the shadows around to hide her existence for 5 seconds, the player is hard to distinguish but not impossible to see*

*Undead's Vision: 10 mana per second used, allows players to see perfectly up to 200 meters as well as in the pitch-black darkness*

*Multiplier: 50 mana per use, any object thrown by the player can be multiplied into 10 identical copies in the air*

"Multiplier, cool." Leila said and went down the plateau to find some burning wood.

"What's up?" Leon asked when h.e.l.l returned.

"I gave her a skill. I have one for you, too." h.e.l.l said with a beaming smile. He felt what he was doing was basically strengthening his own troops. This was also fun. He liked these people, he felt an innate connection between them and himself, like they were siblings. He couldn't explain it, but if they ever betrayed him, he would just plunder his skills back anyway.

"Are you sure?" Leon asked.

"Yeah."

"Alright then, what is it?"

"First, do you believe in G.o.d?"

"I mean, I would like to think something like that exists."

"Well, I'll give you a different skill, then, it allows you to trade your HP for a stronger attack. You didn't level your strength so you can't deal damaging attacks, right?"

"That could actually be perfect for me. You are absolutely right. Are you sure you don't want anything in return?"

"We are friends, right? We shouldn't even mention these things."

"Right." Leon said with a bright smile. He didn't know h.e.l.l was this thoughtful.

h.e.l.l put his hand to Leon's chest just the same and transferred the skill. Leon checked his character page soon after.

"Open Menu."

Player: Leon

Age: 28

Occupation: Warlock

Level: 14

Stats

----------

Strength : 10

Defence : 10

Dexterity : 11

Mana : 2650

Vitality : 22 (32)

Stamina : 10

Unused Stat Points: 0

Items: Cloak of the Night Hunter, Dagger of Elmain, 2 healing potions

Cloak of the Night Hunter: A cloak belonging to the Night Hunter. +10 to vitality while wearing it

Dagger of Elmain: Dagger belonging to the demon Elmain, can be summoned to its user. +25 piercing attack, +50 when covered in fresh blood.

Skill:

*Telekinesis: Mana usage varies depending on the strength exerted with this skill, 10 mana per second in the least. A range of 60 meters. Allows the player to move objects

using his mind.*

*Sundering Attack: Costs 0 mana, the player uses any amount of HP in return of the same amount of attack*

"Alright." Leon said. "This is good. Thank you."

"Don't mention it. By the way, this place really isn't that cold, are we sure we even need something to burn?" h.e.l.l asked, lying down and looking at the stars. This world had 2 moons in the sky, as well as a myriad of stars s.h.i.+ning perfectly in the air. It was a beautiful view. h.e.l.l wanted to sleep this way.

"I don't know, but we probably should be prepared before we freeze." Said Leon as he also stood against a tree and watched the stars, eyeing the place Leila went down from every few seconds, expecting her to come up.

"Hey, about keeping watch, let's not do that and sleep. We are safe here." h.e.l.l yawned.

"Hey, stop yawning, we should be vigilant at all times." Leon said, yawning.

So the two men spoke about how they made each other yawn for a minute or so, h.e.l.l then fell asleep.

"What a reckless kid." Leon said and went to the verge of the plateau, looking down to see Leila if he could. It was quite improbable that he would see her, and she should be safe, but there was something bothering him. This was a 50-meter drop, to say the least. He carefully held onto the soil as he looked down searching for her. He saw her after around 30 seconds of searching with his eyes. She had collected a lot of sticks to burn. This was a ma.s.sive jungle with a dense treeline right under the plateau after all, it was good enough, she could come up now. His heart was somewhat at ease now, this jungle had a terrifying energy to it. He also saw something small approaching her as she made her way to the path upwards. Right as she got out to a clearing without trees, the small creature lunged at her.

Leila turned around and stepped back in fright. Her hands were full, she couldn't attack in that instance, but it was relieving to see it stand immobile where it jumped. She looked up, that's where her brother was as she thought. Leon used more force to break the creature's windpipe. It was a small creature of around a meter. It didn't require much mana to do so. Just as she turned back to make her way again, more of these creatures got out of the jungle, chasing her. "Run!" Leon wanted to yell, it was too much trouble gathering this much attention to themselves and h.e.l.l was still asleep, happily snoring. Leila used all she had to leave these creatures behind. Although they were fast, they still didn't compare to Leila. They followed her for a good portion of the way and left one after another.

"f.u.c.king dinosaurs?!" Leila said, catching her breath after arriving at the top.

"Seems so. I don't know how it can be possible for us to handle prehistoric monsters of the old if there are larger creatures here, also. We'll have to be careful as we make our way tomorrow." Leon said as they both turned to h.e.l.l, hearing him snore.

"He gave me a skill, too. A double-edged sword, but a strong one nonetheless."

"He is being quite generous." Leila said. "Why did you invite him to our party back then?"

"He is strong. He uses his strength recklessly and without much of a plan, but I saw how he attacked. Someone like that is bound to get stronger." Leon said, drank some water from his waterskin and continued: "The third level of the system wanted players to make teams of at least 4. Some found strength in numbers but it will also be just as hard for them all to grow properly. A small team of above average players should be the way to go."

"I see." Leila said.

"Also, the system is bound to pit players against one another. I'd rather be in his team than against him."