Let's rewind time a bit.
It happened the moment Alex, and they were about to engage the Elder Lich.
Strange things started happening everywhere in the dungeon. Monsters would indiscriminately attack everyone they saw; only a selected few were not attacked. The time for their respawn became almost automatic.
The group targeting Gracier had finally made a move; they were behind this dungeon's unusualness.
On the eighth floor, Leon's group was surrounded by a bunch of monsters, black goblins.
Boom!
After obliterating a group of black goblins, Leon sighed.
''Seriously, what up with this dungeon? Must something have gotten wrong? Maybe someone is behind what's happening? Either way, I need to search for my friend's sister and lovers quickly.''
Leon's group proceed to kill more monsters before trying to go down to the next floor.
On another floor, just two floors below Maria and the others floor was Sera (Zero). Currently, she was surrounded by a group of orcs.
If it were only that, it would have been fine; a bunch of orcs are no match for her, however, mixed among those orcs were numerous people in black; they kept firing magic at her before she could finish off the orcs.
Sera's expression changed; she was getting more and more annoyed; she knew what their goal is, to tire her out.
''Dimensional Slash !''
Not wanting to waste too much time on this floor, Sera used her unique ability to kill all monsters alongside the men in black.
''Phew! Using this move is sure tiring. I need to go up asap.''
She tried to dash toward the door to the next floor; however, halfway through, she jumped back.
Boom!
A huge fireball came crashing where she was going; if she had not jumped back, the fireball would have clashed against her.
After the explosion died down, another group appeared on the other side; unlike the previous group dressed in black, this group had an unusual shape, they stood over two meters tall, black skin, black eyes, there was no white in their eyeballs, they had a hideous face, black misma was oozing from their bodies.
''Grrr!"
''Grrr!"
These black-skinned men were making inhumane sounds; considering their current appearance, it was to be expected.
''Seriously, how many poor guys do that organization caught to turn into this? I truly pity you lots; I shall send you away as fast I can.''
Switching her weapon, from the black sword to two black daggers, Sera chanted.
[Thousand Steps]
Her body vanished, like a ghost she passed through the black-skinned men, it was as if she was taking a walk in the park, her steps appeared slow, yet none of the black-skinned men could detect her presence, even though they are fallen experiment, not successful one as 007, they are still superior to low ranked adventurers, their senses are sharper as well; however, they couldn't detect Sera's presence at all.
Silently she walked between the group to appear on the other side, behind them, then.
Puff! Puff!!
Strangely, one by one, the black-skinned men head started rolling on the ground.
Having accomplished the feat of killing seven men in less than a minute, Sera didn't look pleased in the slightest; on the contrary, her expression turned grim as she coldly announced.
''Black cloak!"
A black cloak made from dark element got wrapped around Sera's body.
In the next instant, the body of the killed men exploded in a series of explosions.
Boom! Boom!!
It took five minutes for the explosion to die down; from the other side, Sera's figure could be seen, the black cloak was still wrapped around her, she did not suffer any injury, however, at the moment her expression was ice cold, so cold that it affected reality, the temperature around her turned cold, looking into a certain direction she coldly declared.
''You are truly an asshole, to think that you won't even leave their corpses unused after experimenting on them, you truly disgust me. Come out, stop hiding.''
''Hahaha! As expected of the strongest assassin. If the first time, I may have attributed what you have done to luck, this time, it is not. Your senses are truly sharp, so sharp it's scary. Sorry, you will stay on this floor with me. I can be having going over to disrupt our plan. We must secure the eighth sister.''
The man that plotted with Maddog to get Gracier's eyes stepped out; he was hiding in a special dimension watching Sera's fight. After the latter detected his presence, he was forced to come out.
''Fufufu! You may be strong; however, if we were to fight, I dare say you will not last a minute. I don't know what you want by going after Gracier, but let me tell you I won't let you succeed.''
At the end of her words, Sera's figure disappeared as if she had turned mist, and when Sera reappeared again, she was already behind the man with golden eyes; her black sword was going straight toward the man's heart.
However, the man looked unfazed; he was even smiling even though death was approaching; Sera's expression did not change she continued with her attack; however, just as her sword was about to come into contact with the man back, a slender hand appeared and caught the blade, stopping Sera's attack.
''Finally, you appeared.''
Sera said after jumping back; she looked at the newcomer, it was a girl, unlike other her human appearance remained, however, her skin was pale white as if she was suffering from ischemia, her hair was gray, her eyes red, there was a horn on her forehead.
The man with golden eyes started to clap, and after clapping for a moment, he announced.
''Hehehe! This is my masterpiece; I called her Alice. Alice says hi to miss Zero.''
At the man's instruction, the girl named Alice slightly bowed her head; no word came out of her mouth, no change on her face; she was like a doll, existing only to follow her master's orders.
''Good Alice. It's the first time you have come out. I want to use this lady here to sharpen your sword, to learn.'' the man with golden eyes declared.
Sera's expression did not have the slightest bit of change even though the man was indirectly mocking her. She was more preoccupied with the girl in front of her; everything emits some kind of aura, even though concealed, it still could be sensed; however, this girl in front of her did not emit the slightest aura, almost as if she was blank, it was what makes her dangerous, unpredictable.
''Alice, go!"
The man with golden eyes ordered before retreating to the corner.
Alice nodded her head before taking out a white sword, and then she disappeared.
Sera's expression changed; she used her black sword to block Alice's sword.
Clangs!
Surprisingly, it was Sera who got pushed back; however, it wasn't what shocked her the most; it was the fact that Alice just used her movement skill, the one she used to disappear and reappear behind the man earlier; Alice copied it almost to the perfection.
If previously Sera think this girl was dangerous, her danger's level had now increased to a terrific degree; she couldn't let her live; someone who can copy other's people abilities just by seeing it once could not be left alone.
Using thousand steps, Sera moved.
For a moment, something seemed to flash within Alice's eyes before she imitated Sera's skill and chased after her.
The two moved at a fast speed exchanging blows.
Only the sound of their blades clashing could be heard, not their figures; after exchanging a hundred moves, the two stopped and put a reasonable distance between them.
Sera knew that she must waste time here, as she was fighting here, the girls might be in danger, 007 was not present with this man, which means that she was among the group that went to capture Gracier and knowing how strong the latter is, there was no doubt about the outcome if Sera didn't go to assist them, Maria and others will lose while Gracier would be captured.
Taking a deep breath, Sera closed her eyes for a second before reopening them; instead of her usual brown eyes, her eyes were currently dark, the black sword in her hand vanished.
''No good, Alex, do not try to use your ability, go on defense, use that shie-"
Before the man with golden eyes could finish warning Alice, Sera moved; Alice lost her sword-handling hand. The second time Sera moved, she was going to crush Alice's heart; however, at the last moment, she disappeared completely.
''Dammit, we got played. She fled; I even thought that after seeing what you can do, she would prioritize your elimination over the rescue of that girl; however, it seems that I was wrong. Let's immediately go after her. I believe she would be tired after using spirit possession. We can't let her join the others; if not, everything will be in vain.''
The man with golden eyes urged Alice to go after Sera immediately. However, Alice showed no response; she just stood there, surprised the man approached Alice to see black veins appeared all over her body; Alice's lips became purple, she was shivering.
''Shit! Poison. I have forgotten about Zero class.''
After feeding Alice some detoxification potion, the man left Alice to catch up later; he couldn't let Sera spoil their plan.
While this was happening, Gracier and the others were experiencing the most brutal fight of their life.