New Game Plus: I crave challenges

Liam was free of worries as he flapped his wings to ascend higher. After a few seconds he reached another gap in the cliff, serving as a good spot to fasten the rope ladder.

Taking out the item he unfurled it, letting it sway freely in the wind. Next, he took the metal hooks and attached the ladder to the cliff side.

The others felt their stomachs churning ever more the higher Liam traveled. After attaching the second rope ladder, they saw him grab onto it and stop moving.

"What is he doing?"

"Maybe he also got afraid…"

The party whispered among themselves when Liam's wings suddenly vanished. As soon as his item's effect had run out, gravity pulled on his body as if angry about his defiance.

Liam held onto the ladder, groaning as he felt the strain in his arm. He dangled dangerously in the air for a second before activating the second charge of Refresnim's orb of flight.

Fortunately, he was already close to the top of the cliff. With a solid push from his wings, he came to a stop above the rocks, quickly installing the last rope ladder.

Silver Blade gulped as she watched Liam happily waving from above.

"Damn, why is Mirage the only one with useful wings?"

"My friends, I think you have to tread this adventure without me."

"No way, you're coming with us!"

The party joked around to hide their anxiousness. Eventually it was Silent Acacia who stepped forward bravely, setting an example.

"Don't worry. If you drop something upon your inevitable death I will take good care of it."

Silent Acacia's eye twitched as he stared at Radiant Shield. Before he could say something, Quickstep kicked the tank's butt.

"Hey, don't curse my boyfriend like this!"

"Let's go guys, I think it can't be that bad."

With those words Silent Acacia reached for the lowest ladder, beginning to climb up.

A low breeze played around his body, causing the rope ladder to sway dangerously.

Don't look down… don't look down…

Hypnotizing himself the hunter steadily scaled one rung after another.

Eventually he managed to pass the first ladder. But his stomach sank looking around as he found the next ladder blown to the side by a few meters.

Silent Acacia could to nothing but wait in 40meters height, until the second ladder swayed back to him.

The others watching from the ground cursed Liam for putting them in such a position.

Eventually Silent Acacia was finally able to grab onto the second ladder.

Wishing for his ordeal to be over he gathered all his courage, climbing up like an agile monkey.

Liam was impressed as the hunter soon made it to the top.

"Good job!"

Unfortunately, Liam's praise was met with a punch to his chest.

"What a stupid idea!"

Liam only smiled wryly without commenting further.

Following Silent Acacia's success, the others finally felt emboldened. They began to climb up one by one.

At this point the differences in stats were clear for all to see. Those with high agility found the task easier while the mages struggled the most.

At least not counting Radiant Shield, who took a long time to convince himself before every single move.

But even so, he made it, falling on his knees on top of the cliff.

"I… did it! Never… again! Never ever!"

Liam patted the man's shoulder in encouragement, deciding not to mention the fact that they had to get down somehow as well.

Meanwhile the rest of the party had more than enough time to take a look around. They found themselves on a smooth plateau.

A few plants grew sparsely along a ragtag wooden wall blocking their sight not far away.

The steam which could be seen from the bottom of the cliff came from behind the wall.

"Mirage? What now?"

"Let me see…"

Liam trailed off as he looked left and right. Soon, he found a hole in the wooden wall, peeking out behind some shrubbery.

"There!"

Liam pointed it out, bringing the party over. His friends sighed as they figured out what would follow next.

Pushing aside some annoying branches Liam went on all fours, crawling through the hole. Reaching the other side he still didn't dare to stand up, signaling everyone to hide until the party had gathered.

The others complied while scanning the surroundings. Metal cages could be seen lining the walls, containing a bunch of prisoners.

Most of them were goblins, but a few humans and beastkin were mixed in as well.

From their positions the party members had a good view. They observed what looked to be a bandit camp, noticing the tightly guarded long road up the cliff.

Still, the decision between scaling the cliff with rope ladders and fighting through a hundred bandits was a tough one.

Gazing at the bandits Silver Blade didn't doubt Liam, questioning carefully:

"So, who is our target?"

"That guy."

Following Liam's pointed finger, the party members gazed at a goblin in large yellow trousers far to the left. He certainly didn't look like the first person one would invite to a boss fight.

"Is he some hidden bigshot or something?", asked Silent Acacia skeptically.

"Nope. But he has an item we need."

"Ok. So Bloody Edge sneaks over, gets the item and we leave happily?"

"Unfortunately, not."

"Thought so."

"We need to kill the jailer so that guy can have his revenge. Then he will give us a reward after freeing him."

Alright. And the jailer is that burly fellow over there?"

Liam nodded as Silent Acacia pointed at a large man. He looked incredibly ferocious in his bloodstained clothes and with his scarred, bald head.

Not even his colleagues dared to get close. But this was exactly what Liam counted on to defeat him.

"Is everyone here?"

The others nodded, their bodies tensing up for the fight.

"Good. Acacia, you need to pull him over here. Don't forget guys, we need to fight him close to the wall without alerting anyone else."

"Got it."

With Liam's warning the party positioned themselves along the wall, forming a long line as they watched Acacia sneaking forward.

The hunter moved carefully, stopping as soon as he got into attack range.

But before he could shoot an arrow, a pair of cold eyes already turned towards him.

"Well, where did you come from? Did you break out of my cages?"

The jailer spoke in a rough voice sounding as if his throat was injured.

Silent Acacia felt a shiver run down his spine. He turned around, quickly returning to the party.

"Let's go, guys!"

Silver Blade encouraged the party as she inspected the enemy.

[Deserter Jailer Maliff

Rank: Lord

Level: 19

HP: 4200/4200]

Silver Blade drew a sharp breath:

"Damn, level 19."

"So strong?"

The party felt a heavy pressure on their shoulders as they began attacking.

[-44!]

[-29!]

As always, the mages' attacks arrived first, the damage serving as appetizer for the party.

"This guy's defense doesn't seem weak…"

Maliff's jagged knife spun in his hand. His eyes turned towards Cyclone as he fletched his teeth like a rabid dog.

The mage felt disgusted. Fortunately, it wasn't her job to engage the jailer.

Radiant Shield had recovered his bearings as he approached the tall opponent, slamming his shield against the man's chest.

"Go back into your cage!"

Maliff spoke maliciously as his knife hacked at Radiant Shield. The tank raised his defense, feeling a powerful blow traveling along his arm and shaking his core.

[Stance -18]

"Maybe I can defend four hits."

The tank's face was grim as he spoke.

"Then we should hurry up!", exclaimed Liam, swinging his swords.

[-20!]

[-10!]

Liam's damage was almost pitiful. But at least Cyclone felt happy, finally confronting an enemy with more physical than magical defense.

"Wait guys, let me use my ultimate!"

Silent Acacia called out, recalling his new skill. The young man had changed to the class of a beast hunter.

Using his ultimate, a bloody red mark appeared above the jailer.

"What does it do?", asked Silver Blade, knowing that it was important to understand her allies' abilities.

"It increases damage done by allies."

"It's pretty strong!", praised Quickstep as she attacked, dealing more damage than Liam.

Even Watchful Eye and Bloody Edge were able replicate this feat.

Naturally Maliff didn't stand around and allowed the party to hit him as they pleased. He never stopped swinging his knife, putting pressure on Radiant Shield.

Soon the tank was almost out of stance while the jailer barely lost somewhat over 500HP.

Suddenly a small explosion went off above his bald head. Everyone stared in shock at the damage number produced by Liam.

[-265!]

"Damn, expert how did you do this?!"

"Well, not many opponents have defense against holy damage."

"What about other types of damage?"

"You need to try."

Listening to the conversation, the others longed for additional types of damage as well.

Liam could only placate them, promising that more advanced classes would fulfill their demands later in the game.