The protagonist group is captured by this strange race, very human, with the difference of their dark blue skin color and a demon tail. They are led, tied up, as they walk until they reach the race's village.
"Where are we?" Safira says, observing every house in the village, looking at the children and adults who stare at them strangely.
"These monsters seem to be civilized," Freya comments. "They have a whole civilization."
The creatures talk among themselves in a different language, but their expressions and voices sound prejudiced and critical toward the siblings and the elf.
"Let me go! I'm not an animal for you to drag me tied up!" Aaron shouts angrily.
"Shut up, idiot. Or they'll kill us," Safira whispers to her brother.
They enter the giant castle of the village, pass through the gigantic corridors, observe large paintings with pictures of a family; there is a pleasant smell of flowers and the sound of maids walking by the place.
They finally reach a room in the castle that is in absolute darkness, has a damp stench, and they barely notice that there are chains and another creature of that race, chained up.
The creatures who came with the protagonist group push them into this place and chain them by the feet and hands. The creatures close the door, made of iron bars.
"Hello, friend, what are you doing here?" Aaron asks the other chained one. He clearly makes a strange face; he didn't understand what Aaron said.
"I'm a little afraid of what they will do to us," Freya's hands are sweaty and trembling; she is covered in a cold sweat.
The monster child is watching them from the barred door, saying nothing, but with sadness on his face.
"Kid! Help us get out of here! We're not hostile!" Aaron pulls on the chains, dragging them across the floor.
The child, without saying anything, leaves the place.
"Well, all that's left is to wait, right?" Safira says. "We must be patient."
"I don't want to die, Safira!"
"Then what do you plan to do, idiot? We should wait for a chance to escape! Besides, we don't have the energy to attack an entire village, we can't even do it!"
"Ah, well, you're right," Aaron sits on the floor. "This is going to be boring here."
Freya also sits on the floor, fear in her eyes. "I hope they don't hurt us."
While the group of adventurers remains imprisoned in that castle, outside the dungeon, the professors and most powerful adventurers continue attacking the entrance to open it.
"A little more and we'll open it," Rowan says. "We need more power."
Everyone continues launching magic attacks with great constancy. When suddenly a crack is heard, the dungeon door has been opened.
"Now! We managed to open it," Rowan looks at the others, but notices how everyone is extremely tired from using their Aetherian. "There's no time to rest, we have to get in quickly. We don't know if the entrance will close again."
Everyone enters the terrible and dark dungeon with torches in hand, noticing how the dungeon has infinite corridors with many entrances.
"We'll have to split up to maximize the search. If you find any adventurers, quickly get them out of here," says the elf Rowan.
Everyone spreads out in groups of three throughout the terrifying dungeon.
A group of two goblins and a dwarf walk through these super long corridors, but in the distance, they notice something: a body lying on the ground covered in dried blood.
"Comrades, look over there," the dwarf says. "It seems to be a body."
The group approaches the body and notices that it is Porco.
"It can't be, Porco is dead," the voice of one of the goblins trembles and sounds squeaky.
"What could have happened here?" says the other goblin in the group, observing the destroyed area.
"It looks like he had a fight. Look, he has two holes in his stomach," the dwarf lights up with his torch and points to the holes in Porco's abdomen.
"With this, we know we have to be very careful; this place is dangerous."
The group continues on their way normally. One of the goblin demi-humans drops his dagger; he bends down to pick up his dagger, but as he stands up, something is behind him. It looks like a shadow his size. This entity smiles, showing its blood-soaked teeth. The shadow exhales, letting out smoke, which causes the goblin to pass out, and the shadow, quickly and stealthily, disappears with the goblin.
"Hey, what happened to Karlo?" the dwarf asks, realizing his companion is missing.
"What?! He disappeared!" the goblin replies.
The two are now on high alert, looking everywhere but noticing nothing strange. Without them realizing it, the shadow approaches the goblin like a bullet with its claws, but the dwarf manages to stop the attack with his sword. It breaks upon contact with the shadow's claws.
"You have something to do with Karlo, don't you?" The dwarf throws his broken sword to the ground.
Meanwhile, Rowan's group, accompanied by two other elves, comes across an entrance with a blood-covered floor. They peek through the door, lighting up the area and noticing the body of a horned monster that is missing an arm; it is dead.
"That creature died fighting," Rowan comments. "Something killed it."
A monster child and another adult are there. They are still sad about the death of their father. They see the elves but do not react, as if they no longer care what will happen to them. Rowan looks at the monsters and, without a second thought, murders them, firing a blast of Aetherian at them.
"Hey! What's wrong with you?! Those creatures weren't doing anything to you!"
Someone shouts behind them. Turning around, the elves see a human wearing a mask.
"How disgusting they are," the masked man says.
Quickly, the three elves take an attack stance. Two elves concentrate energy, creating arrows of light while Rowan stands, observing.
"Attack," Rowan commands. The two elves launch the arrows.
The arrows go straight toward his chest, but the human moves his body and manages to dodge them, leaving a small scratch on his chest.
"What? Did what I said bother you? I only told the truth," the human yells at them, laughing heartily.
The group of elves says nothing. The guy notices this is strange and turns to look behind him, and notices how the arrows are aimed at him again. He quickly moves his body again, but now grabs the arrows forcefully and throws them back at the elves. Rowan, with his strength, launches a blast of Aetherian and disintegrates the arrows.
"They seem to be powerful elves, but I won't find out unless I attack," the masked man thinks. "I just need to get closer and attack."
The strange human moves with incredible speed along the walls of the dungeon, like a cheetah. The elves stand together, following him with only their gaze. The masked man quickly manages to put out their torch; now everything is darker. The guy lunges at one of the elves, but Rowan manages to punch him, full of Aetherian.
"Son of a bitch," he says grudgingly. He throws a punch that lands on Rowan's cheek.
A hand-to-hand fight begins; everything is very even; they withstand blows, they dodge. At that moment, Rowan steps aside and the other elves prepare to launch the arrows again. Now the guy barely manages to dodge them, but they wound his cheek. Instinctively, he moves away.
"Nah, it's impossible to win. There are three of them, and that elf is very powerful, it's not worth dying here," the person forcefully hits the walls.
The walls fall, making the area rumble. The elves move away from the collapse, while the guy takes advantage and escapes the place, leaving the elves behind.
"Who the hell was that guy, Rowan?" one of the elves asks him.
"No idea, but he's a threat," Rowan observes the destroyed place.
The human manages to leave the area and enters one of the rooms.
"Demonios, I really wanted to finish them off!"
But without him realizing it, behind him is the same entity that was with the other group. It breathes down his neck, and he turns to look.
"What happened to the other group?" he asks him. "Couldn't you get them either?"
"They are strong," the entity says dryly.
"Now we have a big problem. If they find the fragment before us, this search was in vain," The human sits on a stone that was in the place.
"I will kill them all and eat their flesh," The entity's voice is very deep and transmits hatred.
"Calm down, for now we must find the stone."
While all this is happening, the protagonist group is still in their cell. Freya and Aaron are playing while Safira is thoughtful, analyzing how to escape the place.
"Hey Freya, what are you drawing on the floor?" Aaron moves with difficulty due to the chains toward Freya.
"W-well, it's a puppy; drawing calms me down."
Aaron looks at the drawing and makes a strange face. "That looks like a dog flattened by a horse, Freya."
"I'm not that good at drawing!" she replies with a squeaky voice.
At that moment, several of the tailed guards appear and open the cell, unchaining the group.
"Where are they taking us?" Safira asks, who is being handcuffed with chains connected by her feet.
Aaron sees the guy who is sitting in a corner still chained. "See you, friend, it was fun hanging out with you."
The bluish beings lead them through the gigantic corridor of the castle, arriving at a large door. One of the creatures opens it. Seeing what is inside, they observe an incredible palace, with large windows, and at the back, there is a throne on which someone is sitting. They approach the throne. It seems to be the king, and beside him is a monster with very feminine features.