And just as suddenly as it began, the man stopped, and they were back in the room.

"I hope this answered your question about whether there would be enough crypts for you to hunt essence from monsters," Crypt Master asked them.

"Listen, if you want to end stage one, then you must hunt all those crypts I showed you. Or only when the time is right on my end."

Stallus looked at the man curiously. "What if we don’t hunt and decide to just wait the time out?" It was a genuine question; what if they did just that?

Crypt Master shook his head. "You can try. But if you don’t hunt a crypt in a certain time, then all the high-level monsters will hunt you down, or I’ll come myself, and that is something you should avoid."

"You can always test me."

It was enough. They had seen enough crypts that they thought possible. Crypt Master stood above them. "Then, I will see you at the end of stage one. Or, if one of you dies. I’ll come see you then!" Then he laughed, and it was as if his laughter was a wave that smashed into them and carried them away.

When they woke up, they found themselves in a forest. It was day, but the sun was low and the weather dull. They picked themselves up.

"Why is everyone in this place so rude?" Alex was complaining about how the Crypt Master just sent them spinning away like that with no warning.

"He gave us food," Catena mumbled.

"And he sent monsters to us," Alex countered. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Azaroth had already drawn his sword and was listening intently to the sound of the forest they were in. It was silent. There were no insect calls or birds chirping.

At first, Azaroth thought that a monster might be near, but then he remembered that this was a crypt and everything would not follow the normal pattern.

Still, they had seen the monsters that roamed these forests, and Azaroth was not eager to meet any. "Let’s look for a crypt and begin the first stage."

Crypt Master was smart. He didn’t tell them what time they might take off from hunting crypts. He wanted that fear to stay with them.

Azaroth turned. It’s not as if he hated the thought of hunting crypt after crypt. In fact, it was something he absolutely liked, since it came with the promise of getting him strong.

He turned to the three who had attached themselves to him and were leeching off him. Time to set things straight with them. "I’ll be going off alone now. If you follow me, know that I will be hunting crypt after crypt until my body collapses and then I’ll begin again. You following or not will add little value to me."

Alex bristled, but it was Stallus who spoke. "Don’t you want to be a team? We did well together as a team. What do you think?"

"I think you should learn how to use your skills before you start saying anything about doing well together," Azaroth spoke coldly and evenly.

Stallus looked as if she had been slapped, and Alex was laughing at her. Her eyes narrowed, lips held tight. Then she shook her head. "You are right. It’s only fair."

She continued, "I think we should stick together, and since the training has officially started, we have nothing else to do but to train too."

Azaroth turned and began to look for a crypt then. It didn’t take long to locate one; it was anchored in a crumbled building, and the portal spun gently.

They didn’t say anything to each other as they went in. They found themselves in another forest, but this time, they knew they were in a crypt. Still inside the training crypt, but inside the crypt they would hunt down.

The forest was different too; at least there were some sounds. Not just from insects or animals. It was a pained moan that traveled all through the forest. And it wasn’t just one. More than that.

It was zombies. The undead. They stumbled towards them, hands and claws outstretched. Azaroth cut the first one down with three slashes of his sword. But several still came forward.

Azaroth spun his sword and jumped to meet them, the others following behind him. They didn’t even have to use skills as they cleared the zombies and made their way to the center of the forest, where they hoped to meet the boss.

People don’t like crypts with zombies. They are dirty creatures and they carry diseases. But they are still classified as monsters, and they bring essence just like any monster would.

The boss was also a zombie, but also not. It was taller than the rest and walked straight instead of hunched. Its claws were long and looked like bones picked clean by the elements.

The monster turned to them and opened its mouth to shriek. There were no fangs or teeth in there. Azaroth thought it would charge them, but the boss bent and touched the ground.

A moment later, the ground shuddered and several places split around to reveal more zombies. Alex groaned. "Great! A boss that can summon more of its kind!"

The new zombies that the boss just summoned were fast and strong, and their claws were quick to come after flesh. Azaroth kept an eye on the boss as he fought.

The boss stayed back and was looking at them without making any moves. But then the creature snapped upright and ran towards them, using its zombies as cover.

Fast, Azaroth thought. The boss was fast! He quickly covered himself in essence as the boss drew near. He dispatched the zombies in front of him and waited for the boss to come to him, but immediately it got close.

The boss leaped above his head and went after the others. Azaroth was surprised. Did the boss just use him as a smokescreen to reach the others?