Eternal Kingdom

"It's exhausting..."

"I know...Please, bear with it okay, just two and a half months, and then you can come back home."

Laid in a white-sheeted bed, with her pale-faced complexion. Yuri held her hand's tight and stroked her hair gently. All he wanted is to see her smile, the radiant and warm smile that she always had. He would do anything for her, his fortune, and even his life was nothing compared to her.

----

It's been three days already since Yuri and his party hunted inside Jared's Cave. The party made a decent progress and were at the last halls of the dungeons.

Jared's Cave consisted of seven large halls, connected through an interlinked long corridor. Each hall was filled with enormous quantities of skeletons inside it, wherein the last halls stood a mini-boss with its giant cleavers. The dungeons were designed to test the player's endurance, and resources management, it also served as the best place to amass experience earlier on.

The dungeons also had its share of bosses, aside from the mini-boss there is also the last boss. The mini-boss didn't have a much-complicated mechanics, and if the players were observant enough they can dodge the attack of the mini-boss quite easily. After clearing the whole dungeon from the monsters and the mini-boss. Magical influx will start to gather at the last halls and awakened the last boss.

The last boss had quite challenging mechanics, where it will chase the players through each hall, also, adding to the challenge, after the awakening of the last boss, the dungeon will start to collapse, and when it hits certain time limits. The halls will be devoured into the void starting from the last to the first.

The best strategies for this is to chip away the health of the last boss while at the same time rushing to go to the first hall. Where in there the players would have to kill the last boss just before the dungeon collapses.

Basically, the whole dungeons after the awakening of the last boss were changed from a simple dungeon sweep into a time attack.

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Yuri opened his eyes and saw Felix roasting a piece of meat in front of a bonfire.

"Where's So-Hee?"

Felix turned his head, away from his slightly brown meat, "Oh, you're here!" He smiled and continued, "She said she had a practice, and will be little late."

Yuri sat beside Felix and turned the roasted meat to the other side, "What practice?"

"Dunno." Felix shrugged his broad shoulders.

The two chatted while sharing the roasted pieces of meat in front of them. Most of their conversation was about Lillie's conditions, where Yuri disclosed everything to Felix, not hiding even one bit of it. After going through a thick and thin situation together, the two were as close as real siblings can be, even Lillie considered Felix as her real own brother beside Yuri.

The dynamic duo first met at sixth grade. They were a troublemaker in their own rights, and, the day they met was just like a predestined meeting from above.

That day, the two crossed their eyes and stared at each other. Both of their minds were telling them, if you lose this person, you're going to miss something wonderful. At first, the two just chatted casually, learning each other, time passed and the relationship grew. Since then, almost every day they hanged out together, ate together, and even occasionally slept together, just to clarify its just a sleepover.

Their bonds were getting stronger with each passing days, that was until Yuri parents passed away. Felix was there at the sibling's parents funeral, accompanied by his mother, his only family. Felix shed his tears that day, he felt the sorrow that Yuri and his sister experienced. He also experienced that before, when his father passed away when he was eleven.

Felix consoled Yuri and Lillie, even his mother felt pity to the siblings. Felix mother also dotted Yuri and Lillie, ever since their visit before both parents of the siblings passed away.

After their continuous visit to Felix households, his mother already considered both Yuri and Lillie as her own children, and when both of their parents passed away, she embraced the two, and said, especially to Yuri, 'You always have me and Felix, be strong Yuri, for yourself and especially your sister. Be strong now."

That day, Yuri finally shed his tears, not in front of his parents grave, but within Felix mother embraces, Lillie also shed her share of tears, while Felix gripped his hand tight. Resolute with his decisions to help Yuri, his close and only best friend.

Fast forward to present day, the two were a billionaire, co-owner of the biggest multi-billion company across the globe. Felix mother also living comfortably, showered with Felix, Yuri and Lillie's affections. But, there is one thing that she didn't know, Felix and Yuri didn't tell her about Lillie's conditions, that was because considering her age that was almost seventy, they didn't want her to worry too much, besides Lillie's conditions were improving better each day.

----

Time passed while the two chatted away, the person they were waiting for finally came online. Yuri was the first one that turned his head, and saw her gorgeous appearance. He was mesmerized by her countenance, but, the strange thing is, he didn't have the slightest intention to approach her romantically. He didn't know why either, he was a straight man, but no matter how beautiful she is, he just felt that she was a friend, and nothing else. This was a mystery that even himself didn't have the answer.

Felix on the other hand, was a playboy extraordinaire, he loved girls, admired them, and even worship them. But, knowing the fact that So-Hee got her eyes on Yuri, he decided to back down, but he didn't let Yuri know it either. He had a moral code, my girl is my girl, your girl is my girl, except for Yuri girl, that is his girl. Quite confusing, but at the same time, it also makes sense.

So-Hee looked took a glimpse towards Felix, and stared at Yuri with a sweet smile plastered over his pretty face, "Sorry for being late hehe, the practice is taking longer than the usual."

Yuri smiled back, "It's okay."

Felix chimed after while munching on his roasted meat, "Welp, when Yuri said its okay then its okay. You're pardoned, young lady."

So-Hee glared towards Felix, if her stare can kill, maybe Felix would be dead by now.

Yuri just shook his head, and said, "Now that everyone is here. Let's ready up and go clear the last hall."

Felix stood up and stretched his body, "I'm ready whenever."

So-Hee took a deep breath to calm her minds and said, "Ready."

Yuri lifted up his body and turned it towards the corridors that were connected to the last hall, and ordered, "Let's go then."

----

"So-Hee! Stop the skeletons on the right! Yuri! Send the skeletons towards that pillars." Felix ordered.

Felix took the role of strategist for the group, while So-Hee as the main tank and Yuri as the main DPS and also the leader of the group. The cohesion of the group improved greatly in those three days of grinding and fighting together, their level, stats and skills also improved greatly.

So-Hee was the one with the highest level of the group, her levels were ten three days ago and now it was twenty-two, with the addition of her learning new skills on her repertoires, such as [Shield Bash], [Shield Charge], and [Glimmering Presence], her most important skills that taunts nearby enemies, unique to the shieldmaiden class.

Yuri was the second highest leveled player of the group, his level was eighteen, but, the most impressive was his growth in skills, his [Lion's Roar] leveled up to two, that adds +15 STR and +15 STA to himself and his allies. His [Swift Movements] improved to level three, and his [Fist Mastery] was also improved to level three. Sadly, his [Will of Steel] and [Silent Steps] didn't improve, because he didn't find the situation where his stamina was exhausted and also there was no need to sneak up upon his enemies.

Felix was the lowest leveled player, but it didn't mean he didn't improve, in fact, he improved the most than the rest of the group, his level was thirteen, but his [Heal] skills were improved to level three, and he also got another skill that was vital in their group, [Ressurection] and [Divine Blessings]. The first one, was just like its name, to resurrect dead people, while the next was the most valuable blessing they can get. It blesses the targeted players with +10 to all attributes and also makes their attacks have the property of holy, which made Jared's Cave obsolete.

Felix scanned his surroundings, he saw that the skeletons horde were thinning and at the distance, he saw a gargantuan creature coming towards them.

"GET READY! HERE COMES THE BIG ONE!" Felix warned.

Yuri and So-Hee turned their heads at the same time, taking a glimpse towards the dungeon mini-boss.

The mini-boss was a massive skeleton holding a giant cleaver on its right hand. Its eyes were glowing with a blue flame, while at the center of its ribs a giant red crystal gleamed through its hollowed body.

Every step it took, the ground shook and tremored. The trio planted their feet to the ground while balancing themselves trying not too fall. If they would fall in this situation, they would be in a serious trouble, not only can they be surrounded by the skeletons, they also can be trampled by the mini-boss giant skeletal foot.

"FELIX! REBUFF!" Yuri noticed his status bar that had the blessings and his roar were slowly fading off.

"[Divine Blessings]" Felix chanted the spell in succession that aimed for himself and also the two, while Yuri roared at the same time to give them their roar buffs.

Felix focused his sight towards the mini-boss and found out the name of the boss. It was Rhevil the Unrelenting Soul. But, it wasn't the only thing that he found out, he also found out that the boss was ready to whack them into a meat paste if they didn't move.

"DODGE TO THE LEFT!! SO-HEE CHARGE THROUGH THE SKELETONS TO MAKE A PATH!!" Felix roared.

So-Hee trusted Felix capabilities as a strategist inside the group, after spending three days grinding together.

She raised her shield, she roared and sprinted after to activate her skills. Yuri saw that the skeletons were tumbling towards each other after So-Hee charged. He reacted and followed behind her while keeping Felix close to him.

Bang!

The ground shook once more, a cavity was made after Rhevil swung its giant cleavers. The only casualty was the horde of skeletons that were standing there, while Yuri group safely dodged to the left side of Rhevil.

Yuri saw that Rhevil giant cleavers were stuck inside the ground, he took a glance towards Felix. Felix saw Yuri glance towards him and nodded.

"So-Hee! Provoke the skeletons!" Felix ordered.

"Got it! [Glimmering Presence]" So-Hee complied.

The skeletons charged towards So-Hee and ignored the rest of the group. She blocked and deflected the skeletons onslaught, granted that she took a hit or two, but she wasn't afraid, because Felix was there watching her back, healing her when necessary.

Yuri, on the other hand, rushed towards Rhevil. He jumped towards the cleavers spine and sprinted across it to reach the giant crystal inside its ribs. He wasn't sure if that was Rhevil weak spot, but, knowing from his gaming experience, normally a big monsters with unique colored parts were mostly a weak spot.

Bang!

Rhevil let out a cry of anguish. The crystal on its ribs was cracked, while Yuri was freefalling after his first hit. In his freefalling state, he also saw that Rhevil health bar was downed by a third.

'That was easy...' He thought in his minds while tumbling his body in mid-air to land with his feet.

Do mind that their party equipment and stats were abnormal, and compared to normal players, it was like comparing a dung along with a diamond, it's completely useless and also a waste of time.

Rhevil was furious and yanked its cleaver from where it's buried, Yuri saw the behemoth was charging towards him. He turned his body and sprinted towards So-Hee and Felix.

Felix was busy to keep So-Hee alive, but once a while he took a glimpse towards Yuri and Rhevil directions. And, after he saw Yuri ran towards him followed by Rhevil, his minds worked fast, he scanned his surroundings, and deduced the perfect path for them.

"WAIT FOR MY CUE!"