***

  The group crawled through the narrow passageway and quickly managed to reach the chamber where they had massacred the horde of monsters.

  It would not be long before they reached the exit of the cave, and before they escaped the forest.

  Before they could enter the tunnel leading to the outside, however, Verity felt something. It was miniscule, almost insignificant, but he felt as though he’d grown stronger for a reason he could not explain.

  [The skill -Accumulate- has reached level 2. Your proficiency has increased.]

  He raised an eyebrow. ‘Huh?’

  He was curious, but quickly shook his head. Ultimately, that could wait. What mattered most now was escap–

  [System notice: Your Sponsor is granting you a gift.]

  ‘Why now…?’

  [Your Sponsor forcefully increases the proficiency of the skill -Lesson Learned-]

  Verity narrowed his eyes in confusion.

  [Warning: this may have consequences.]

  ‘Wait what!?’

  [The skill -Lesson Learned- has reached level 4. Your proficiency has increased.]

  Verity was surprised to find that he had felt no negative effects from the sudden act. He quickly tried to ask his Sponsor why exactly she had done that, but he could not do so before the system spoke again.

  [The skill -Lesson Learned- is being activated.]

  This was something he hadn’t heard in quite a while, which startled him. Then, an intense headache suddenly overcame Verity, and he was forced to stop, making the others turn around to look at him.

  He gripped his head.

  Once more, a hazy scene with indiscernible silhouettes played in his mind. He managed to recognize some of them, but others he was not familiar with. As a whole, the scene was hard to make out, and Verity was unsure which crucial clue it was attempting to show him.

  Had it continued in that way until the end, Verity might have gained nothing from it, but this time, the images did not come alone.

  Verity felt something well up within him and he fell to his knees.

  “NOOOO!!” Verity’s voice tore through the silence, raw and broken, making the others whip around in alarm.

  He did not understand why he had screamed so loudly, but he had been unable to hold back. Inside of him, a storm was taking place.

  A storm of emotions.

  Emotions that he could not remember feeling. Anger, sorrow, fear, and most importantly…Hatred.

  Tears trickled down Verity’s cheeks as he clutched his head. “S-stop it!!! Stop it!”

  Marco was the first to react, snapping out of his confusion. He placed a hand on Verity’s shoulder, leaning next to him. “A-are you alright, buddy?” He asked.

  Verity did not answer. The storm within him had yet to settle as the imagery within his mind swirled and showed something resembling some sort of battle. The display was barely comprehensible, but his state as he witnessed them could only be described as…despair.

  One by one, the silhouettes disappeared in a cloud of mist, until only one remained. There was no way to be sure, but Verity knew deep down that this last silhouette was him, and before disappearing, it turned to look at him.

  It’s mouth moved. Slowly, carefully, its lips shifted, but Verity could not understand and that is where the scene stopped.

  [Usage of the skill -Lesson Learned- was successful. You have gained experience.]

  Verity’s breaths came in short bursts, and this time Felicia crouched before him. “It’s that, right? It’s the same as in the first trial, right?” she whispered.

  She’d had her suspicions, she never had the chance to confirm it.

  Midnight, agitated, pointed toward the exit. “I don’t get what’s happening, but whatever it is, deal with it later! We need to get out of here!!” she told the group.

  Verity shook his head. There was one thing he had understood from what [Lesson Learned] had told him. They weren’t his memories. And yet, the fury. The pain. The hatred—it was all his.

  He knew it. No matter what, they could not escape through the main exit. “...We have to find another way,” he said, slowly rising to his feet with Marco’s help.

  Hoshino pursed her lips. “Not to doubt you, my dear Knight, but perhaps this ordeal has shaken you…,” she said, glancing back and forth and eager to leave.

  “No!” Verity snapped. “We have to take another route, or hide, or I don’t know! We just can’t go through there!”

  Midnight pinched the bridge of her brows. “This isn’t the time to–”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Felicia nodded and stepped beside Verity. “Let’s find another exit, then,” she said with no hesitation in her voice.

  She decided to trust him, just as she did during the tutorial.

  Seeing this, Midnight let out a chuckle of disbelief. “We’re right there! I understand, you’re afraid, but this isn’t the time to—”

  This time, it was Marco who crossed his arms, and stepped to stand beside Felicia. “This guy’s got good intuition. Let’s do what he says.”

  He remembered that it was Verity who had discovered the effect of goblin blood on orcs, and decided to follow him solely based on that. If anything, Marco firmly believed in Verity’s judgment.

  Taken by the flow of things, Hoshino awkwardly joined them as well. She did not really know the trio nor had any reason to trust in Verity. Rather, she had done so simply because she was also from Earth. “W-Well, he is the Knight of Truth, after all! It would be wise to trust him!” She exclaimed, trying to convince herself.

  It was now four against one.

  Midnight, struggling to believe what she was seeing, let out a low growl. She had positive feelings towards them, especially Verity, but in the end, they weren’t worth her life. Or at least that’s what she believed at the moment. Who knew what could happen in times of desperation?

  In any case, she clicked her tongue. “I see... Then, I’ll go by myself…I wish you–”

  Verity grabbed her arm. “No, you’re also coming with us,” he said, staring straight into her eyes.

  She stared back, and saw her own reflection in his fiery pupils. There was such certainty in them that even Midnight could not discard it as momentary lunacy. She glanced at those behind him who had already made their choice, and then to the exit.

  She glanced back and forth a few times.

  Beads of sweat rolled down her temple.

  “Argh! Fine!”

  She pulled herself from Verity’s grasp and clicked her tongue. “Let’s do what you say… but I hope you’re right about this.”

  A smirk tugged at the corner of Verity’s lips. “Now then, we need to find another exit.” His gaze fell on the narrow passageway. “Our tunnel was a dead-end, what about you guys?” He asked.

  Felicia shook her head and adjusted Knight Jerin on her shoulder. “Same for us.”

  But Hoshino smirked. “Ours was not! It extended to the very depths of the underworld itself! The wind spoke greatly of how far it extended!”

  ‘Pathfinder’, a wind element spell that could be used as a radar and one that Hoshino used frequently.

  “That’s right. We only turned back because our mage had a bad feeling about that flower,” Marco added.

  Verity nodded. “Then let’s go, we really can’t waste any more time.”

  Again, they crawled through the gap, and reached the second tunnel, where they promptly rushed into the tunnel Marco and Hoshino had gone in at first.

  As they ran furiously, Verity turned to Midnight. “Midnight! If we destroy that flower, can we slow the advance of the demons in any way!?”

  Midnight shook her head, a grim expression on her face. “No! The Thorn of Sin is symbolic! If destroyed, it’ll simply sprout again moments later! It needs to be purified to affect the demon in any way!”

  Felicia's ears perked up. “Purified? Does our mage not have such a purification spell!?”

  “Right!” Marco chimed in. “Empire Ray, wasn’t it?”

  Hoshino, who was using a wind spell to ride her wand, wagged her finger. “It is an Empyrean Ray, as in the summit of the divine!”

  Marco rolled his eyes. “Sure… Anyways, can’t you use that to purify the flower?”

  Expectant eyes from the group turned toward her. Even Midnight held a certain hope within her as she realized she had not even considered that option.

  Hoshino, however, averted her gaze and cleared her throat. “W-Well, punishing evil is quite the strenuous task, I’m not sure if–”

  Verity cut her off, he knew what that meant. He had a lot of experience when it came to conversing with those who had a few screws loose. “That means she can’t do it.”

  He clicked his tongue, they’d have to think of something else.

  “What?” Midnight raised an eyebrow. “But earlier, the light didn’t hurt us at all and you said it was because it only punished evil! Why can’t you just do that once more??”

  Again, Hoshino cleared her throat. She felt that she had to tell the truth due to the gravity of the current situation. “Ahem, Y-you see…Forcing a spell to avoid human and human-adjacent species is quite common… and only requires a few additional parameters…,” she replied, still averting her gaze.

  As soon as she said this, the flicker of hope in using her magic to stop the demon’s advance was extinguished, and the group now knew not to take the words that came out of her mouth literally.

  Pressing forward as fast as they could, they ran for nearly half an hour. The tunnel was truly tremendously vast, and Verity even wondered if they were still in the forest, or somewhere else entirely.

  Suddenly, a frown formed on Hoshino’s face. “...Dead end.” She muttered.

  Verity turned to her. “Are you saying it’s a dead end ahead?”

  “...Yes, I’m afraid. My Pathfinder tells me so.”

  ‘Sh*t, what do we do…?’

  There was no time to turn back. Who knew if the demons were following after them? However, there was also no point in moving forward if it really was a dead end, they’d only be wasting more time.

  ‘Damnit…!’

  Felicia increased her pace and placed a hand on Verity’s shoulder. “How about this? Let’s reach the end first and see if Hoshino’s spell missed anything before doing anything.”

  Marco agreed, his usual optimism apparent. “There might be another narrow passage! Though…if it’s any tighter than the last one…I might not be able to fit,” he said, half-jokingly.

  Midnight stayed silent, she was not in the mood to talk.

  So, the group continued until they reached the end of the tunnel where a wall of stone stood before them.

  There hadn't been any side passages or exits on their way, so they all made sure to look around them properly. Still, despite Midnight making full use of her eyes which could see perfectly fine in the dark, they found no such a thing as a secret passage anywhere.

  Her fist slammed into the wall. “Dammit!!” she snapped.

  Verity bit his lip, the memories of the vision he’d gotten still vivid. They had wasted so much time to reach here. They couldn’t possibly turn back now.

  Yet, it seemed they had no other choice.

  Before Verity could say anything, however, Marco’s lips parted.

  “Wait… do that again,” he asked, staring straight at Midnight.

  She raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”

  “Your fist, punch the wall again!” He demanded.

  Midnight was quite confused, but at this point, what was the harm? She punched the wall again, and Marco frowned.

  “I see…,” he said, stroking his chin.

  Hoshino leaned toward him, eyes narrowed. “What do you see, my Knight? Perhaps you sense some ominous, dark energy that might swallow us who—”

  He pushed her face away with his palm. “No, that’s just not what her punch should sound like.”

  It was Midnight's turn to frown. “Are you seriously critiquing my martial arts right now…?”

  Marco shook his head. “No, that’s not it! Something’s wrong with this wall…I’m certain of it.”

  Felicia unsheathed her sword. “Are you saying there might be something more to it?”

  “A magical artifact! I shall decode it!” Hoshino exclaimed.

  Verity raised his spear, and Midnight unsheathed her daggers.

  “I have a simpler solution.” They both said in unison.

  Marco, however, stepped forward, passing them both. “No…I’ll do it,” he said confidently. “I might not be the best at combat, but if it’s destroying things, I don’t think there’s anyone who beats me here.”

  He cracked his knuckles and lowered his stance.

  Sensing the pressure gathering toward him, the rest instinctively stepped back.

  Marco remembered his teacher’s words as he prepared his strike.

  Kid! I’ve mastered nearly every martial art out there, and do you know what enlightenment I’ve gained? A real Martial Artist only needs to know how to take a beating and throw a punch, Haha!! Now get ready for this next one!

  He winced. It was not a pleasant memory.

  Then, he focused his all onto his fist, and exhaled sharply.

  “[Power Surge].” Steam rose from his body as his power increased exponentially.

  He then gathered Aura to his arms, compressing it again and again until it reached a near-singularity point.

  When his preparations were made, Marco’s eyes opened, and he spoke only three words.

  “First Fist - Mountain Splitting Strike!”

  BOOM

  A cloud of dust was raised, and the entire cave, or perhaps even the entire forest shuddered. The strike itself had almost made Verity lose his footing and the wind pressure created from it had left him gasping for air.

  ‘What the hell!’

  Verity’s eyes widened. If that strike had hit him, he sensed he would have turned into a splatter on the floor.

  The others were equally as shocked, but their shock only grew when the dust settled.

  Marco’s strike had created a hole into the cave wall that spanned several meters in height.

  Behind, another chamber was revealed, but this one was much unlike the ones they had seen before.

  “Let’s go!” Midnight commanded.

  Caution would have been wise here, but they were in a hurry, so they had to move.

  “Amazing!” Hoshino exclaimed as she flew past him.

  “Great job Marco! We seriously need to spar when we get out of here!” Felicia added a smirk on her lips.

  Marco stood with a proud smile. This was his best strike to date.

  ‘That crazy old man wouldn’t have believed his eyes…!’ His shoulders slumped. ‘Ah…who am I kidding? He probably would have said it wasn’t good enough and given me another beating…’

  Verity was on the verge of crossing and offering praise of his own, when a chill ran down his spine, and he whipped his head around.

  A silky voice echoed through the chamber, soaked in disdain. “Well well well, it seems a few maggots have invaded us.”