VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne

Chapter 336: Puzzle Pieces

Three chests, three strange items and one singular mystery tying them all together. Opening their latest chest, they took the item out of the chest and placed it onto the ground, alongside the other pieces of the strange puzzle.

In each chest, including the first one that they found, there was a singular shard of a greater whole. Each fragment was made of the same material, the worn grey metal, and was covered in cracks that made them look ready to fall apart at a moments notice.

One of the fragments even had a crack in it that completely separated a small piece of it from the fragment, yet the piece remained. Stuck to the fragment through some unknown process. Not even Belladonna’s bloodline could remove it, nor could it affect the metal in any way as a matter of fact.

Of their fragments, two were rods similar to their first, whilst the third was a flattened wedge with a curved and flattened edge, like it had been part of a blade once upon a time.

However, even gathered together here the fragments remained just that. Fragments. They were broken in ways that didn’t fit together, and if there was a way to connect them they didn’t quite know it.

"We don’t have enough pieces." Lilith concluded, shuffling the pieces around on the floor as she tried to figure out where they would fit in the whole. If she was right that it was forming an axe, then their latest pieces were closer to the head whilst the original piece was lower down, below where the hands would grip.

"Well it’s not giving a signal anymore, right? So we must have cleared them from this floor." Belladonna added.

"If I had to guess, there will be some on every floor, possibly with more of them in the lower levels. The Bosses might drop some too... but if that is the case, then some of the other groups might have gotten them first. Hell... We found that one chest in the ruins that had already been looted. Do you think that had one inside of it? There’s no way these fragments are the only hidden loot, right?"

"Hard to say." Saige hummed in thought, "However If that is the case, then they would have either left it behind as junk loot, in which case we might still have a chance, or they would have taken them out to sell." He theorised whilst idly stroking his fluffy ears in place of stroking a long, wise beard.

In his opinion, this was much better.

"You have a merchant friend, right?" He asked, turning to Belladonna as he still stroked his ear.

Belladonna had to resist the urge to hit him, and instead just sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, I’ve got a guy. If they sold any of the fragments, I can probably find them. I just hope it’s worth all the trouble though."

"They wouldn’t go to all the trouble to hide this if it wasn’t worth it, right?" Lilith said with a confident smile and a sure fire, smouldering stare that would have been inspiring, had she not also been stroking Saige’s other ear with her free hand as she smouldered.

Those who were ridiculous.

"At the very least, it will be another thing you can throw at a monster if it comes running at you." Vestra added with a smirk, before the rest of them laughed softly and then briefly shuddered in horror as they were reminded of their last real monster encounter.

With that, they gathered up the fragments and headed onto the next floor. Naturally, Belladonna tried to steal the chests, as indestructible wood would never not be useful, even if it was in the form of a chest.

But whatever property gave them their indestructibility also made them impossible to put into her shadow. Not even when she stood on top of them and jumped on them, in an attempt to stomp them in.

Reluctantly, she had to give them up as they left the first floor and cleared their way through the second floor just as quickly. That little clearing adventure netted them not just four more fragments, for a current total of eight, but also netted the party a few more precious levels, as Belladonna herself was boosted up to level 53.

They naturally did not forget to harvest the loot from the demons, especially the ’Essence of Sin’ that Lilith eagerly gobbled down as well as the spell scrolls and magical components that the Hybrid-Lizards dropped.

Other than a few strong Roiders, who contributed the most to their levels, the second floor was rather uneventful. Mindless grinding and dungeon clearing was all that there really was, until they finally made it to the tall, double doors of the floor exit.

However this time, it was not another basic grinding floor that they would be stepping into. This level, the third level, was a mini boss.

Figg, their resident expert on this dungeon, was eager to fill them in on the details of this mini boss. As they were the first one players would encounter, even the worst runs would encounter them nine out of ten times.

So a lot was documented about this boss, with the main notes being about the preparation phase.

They downed another dose of the fire resistance potions to top themselves up, as well as taking a dose of another potion that Figg had concocted in preparation for this dungeon. However these doses didn’t go to the entire party, and instead just went to himself and Saige.

Finally, a Saige cast a slow healing over time spell on them as well as a basic protection charm, before they finally entered the boss arena.

The heavy doors creaked open as the party slipped inside, leading into a pitch black room that was barely illuminated by the light behind them.

As they wandered deeper into the hall, the doors slammed closed, plunging them into complete darkness.

They remained like that for a few seconds, before a few flames flickered to life. One by one, torches blazed to life around the circular boss arena, allowing them to finally see.

Bodies were strewn across the floor around them. Some of them dead, with deep gashes across their chests or chunks taken from their heads, whilst others were still alive. However the living ’bodies’ remained completely still as they knelt on the floor.

Their heads were pressed against the scorching hot stone, causing the smell of sizzling flesh to fill the air. However none of the kneeling bodies dared to move, as they showed their reverance and devotion to the figure floating in the very centre of the room.

"Mm, new morsels have come to say hello~ And what lovely, tasty little things you are. You just look so delicious, hehe~

I can’t wait to add you to my collection."