The giant devil swung her arm at Endal. An incalculable number of dense magical spheres followed her call, drowning out the righteous hero.
Flames blazed mightily around Endal. He stuck close to Tumbly's back as the basilisks swiftly weaved between the enemy's attacks. Suddenly a ripple ran through the world. Paradynim's attack faltered for a moment.
Endal's eyes lit up brightly. He didn't miss his chance. Tumbly rushed towards the devil as Endal's flame concentrated on his hand. His eyes narrowed as he prepared a fatal strike against his beloved.
Finally, the two lovers clashed. Paradynim cried fiercely, trying to mobilize what was left of her power. Dark magic surged along her skin. But Endal wasn't deterred. He aimed for the devil's chest and struck with his burning arm.
The flame suddenly enlarged and pierced into the devil's chest. Her defense faltered. The flame reached her black heart, violently burning everything it touched to ashes.
"DIE!"
The furious devil slapped at Endal with her hand like swapping away a fly. Endal groaned in pain as he tumbled through the air, but his loyal basilisk managed to stop the momentum.
Endal's face was pale, and blood ran down his mouth as he looked towards Paradynim with stern eyes.
"I won't forget you. All of you!"
The devil spoke weekly as flames consumed this clone of hers. An oppressive atmosphere spread as Endal and Paradynim stared into each other's eyes.
Finally, the devil's body disappeared in a blazing inferno. The flames died out and nothing of the devil was left.
Immediately the world began to shake. Temples fell from the sky and plants withered. The scene was apocalyptic.
The players' bodies stiffened as the world around them broke apart. The black barrier slowly dissipated.
"Ah!"
Some of the friends panicked as a large boulder was about to slam into them. But at the last second, they disappeared from the dying devil's domain.
When the friends opened their eyes again they were back in the dungeon.
"Damn, that was close."
"I thought we missed the exit."
"But the fight was great!"
"Who would have thought that Endal is so powerful?"
The players talked excitedly when two more figures suddenly appeared in front of them. Who could it be if not Endal and Tumbly?
Cyclone excitedly approached the NPC:
"E… Your majesty Endal, you were awesome!"
Endal turned towards Cyclone with conflicted eyes. Sadness, relief, and surprise intermixed. He didn't expect the adventurers to sound so enthusiastic at a moment like this. His voice was filled with emotion as he asked Cyclone:
"Aren't you afraid of being targeted by a high devil?"
"What, targeted? Is she chasing us or something? Well, if that's the case I hope she brings more high-quality loot!"
Endal stared at Cyclone for a moment before letting out a sigh.
"Truly, it is no surprise you made it here. I have much to learn from you. That kind of fearlessness and bravery in facing evil is what held me back for many years. Perhaps it is time for me to face my own inner demons. Thank you, adventurer!"
Endal bowed slightly towards the players before patting Tumbly and heading for the elevator. His back was straight, and his heart determined.
Cyclone blinked at the leaving prince with question marks in her eyes.
"What…?"
Just then the young woman's attention was instantly diverted as several announcements began to play in front of everyone's eyes.
[Accomplished achievement: Devil? So what?]
[Received title: Initial Devilslayer]
[Effect: You have a 20% resistance against all status effects when facing devils or their minions. But devils will randomly send minions to hunt you down from now on.]
[You slaid your first devil. Now you have their attention.]
[Server Announcement:]
[Please congratulate Dream Avenue on being the first to achieve the first clear of a level 30-37 dungeon on hard mode. >Achieved in: Traitor of the empire<]:
[Dream Avenue thanks Colville Constructions, St. Fabre, Dourand Electronics, Cider, and Malney & Sons for their generous support.]
[Server Announcement:]
[Please congratulate Dream Avenue on being the first to achieve the first clear of the dungeon 'Traitor of the empire' on hard mode.]
[Dream Avenue thanks Colville Constructions, St. Fabre, Dourand Electronics, Cider, and Malney & Sons for their generous support.]
[Accomplished achievement: The old dwarven hideout]
[Received title: Clean up]
[Effect: When accepting quests from dwarves you will get a 10% increased monetary reward.]
[Although most dwarves forgot about the existence of the old hideout, they are still thankful to you for helping with the clean up.]
The cave fell silent for a while as the friends had to work through the messages.
Finally, it was Balm who reacted first. Her eyes found Cyclone's and the two friends could see the relief in each other's eyes. In the end it was still Dream Avenue who got the first clear of a hard mode dungeon!
The chaos outside was predictable. The global chat immediately erupted. Force of Nature and Galaxy were both in the process of fighting Endal. Their morale immediately dropped, and they almost lost some teammates.
Star Gazer's eyes were burning with anger.
But Liam and his friends didn't care about it all. They were in a celebratory mood, even ignoring their fatigue for the moment. They cheered together while discussing the struggles along the way.
Suddenly a treasure chest appeared in the middle of the room. Yet even Cyclone ignored it for a while as she talked to her friends. It unexpectedly took multiple minutes until she couldn't hold back anymore.
"Ok, ok. Go on, Cy! I can see it in your eyes."
Silver Blade laughed brightly as she allowed Cyclone to leave, somewhat like a mother freeing her daughter from a boring family dinner.
Cyclone smiled sheepishly but she didn't hesitate to approach the chest.
Meanwhile Silver Blade noticed something else. An inconspicuous book laid on the ground not far away. It was something that Endal dropped before he left.
Curious, Silver Blade picked it up. To her delight it was a lore book called 'The Second Prince'. The young woman happily put it away to read it later.
At this moment a bright light erupted behind Silver Blade's back. She turned around and saw Cyclone standing before a brightly shining treasure chest.
But the young woman's eyes almost shone even brighter as she sorted through the loot. It was so much that it took her a while to sort it out.
The most surprising piece was definitely some purely cosmetical armor. The party received cosmetics before. Usually, they didn't care much about it but cosmetics could be worth quite a lot depending on their rarity.
Yet when Cyclone looked at this particular piece she froze on the spot and her head turned beat red.
"Cyclone? What are you looking at?", asked Balm from the side. Silent Acacia sternly looked at the young mage as he said half-jokingly:
"Hey, are you trying to keep all the loot again?!"
"Nonono. You can have it. Here!"
Cyclone hastily denied it and threw the armor towards Acacia. With just one look the hunter froze. He didn't even catch the cosmetic and it dropped to the floor. Now everyone got a good look.
As it turned out, it was actually the revealing armor worn by Paradynim in her devil form. Everyone wore awkward expressions. Some stared at the armor while others looked away in embarrassment.
"Hey, if that armor dropped here, then…"
Radiant Shield didn't finish his sentence as a shiver ran down his spine being stared at angrily by all the girls.
Suddenly someone stepped forward nonchalantly and took the armor into his inventory. Now everyone stared at Liam strangely.
"I didn't think you were into this kind of thing.", joked Silver Blade.
"Hey, don't slander me. Do you have any idea what this is worth?", retorted Liam.
Quickstep looked somewhat skeptical:
"It can't be that exaggerated… right?"
"I bet five gold!", exclaimed Cyclone. Immediately a game started. Everyone threw their guesses in.
"1 silver max."
"500 gold."
"20."
"Hey, Edge. 20 what?!"
"How would I know."
Liam laughed along as the party joked around. Finally, everyone had made their guess and Liam revealed the answer:
"Finding the right buyer I'm confident I can sell it for 50 to 100 gold."
Immediately the friends fell silent. Silent Acacia's voice shook as he concluded:
"You're telling me someone is willing to pay two, million, credits for this ingame… corset?"
"Of course. First, this is naturally a rather… particular… piece of clothing. Second, it is rare. And third, it can be seen as a trophy for defeating Paradynim."
"If you put it like this, it makes sense… I guess."
The friends looked confused after Liam's explanation. Some advocated selling the armor while others thought it was a pity to get rid of the trophy.
But no one wanted to discuss this now. Thus, Cyclone asked Liam to keep the armor for now while quickly revealing more of the loot, which instantly attracted everyone's attention.
Between abundant amounts of materials, some recipes and scrolls, there was naturally some equipment as well. Balm and Fortune were full of excitement when Cyclone revealed suitable set equipment for them.