Infinite Realm

"So this is where you found that annoying little feline." 

A team of 7 players stood before an open gate that was hidden behind a cliff. Looking around, obvious signs of wreckage and rubble were visible at the site, showing that the gate was previously hidden behind a layer of rock but had been revealed after some time.

This was the entrance to the dungeon located at a cliff in Maldora Canyon. As for the team of 7 players, they were the original members of 7 Star Glory consisting of Sato, Fudo, Xue Yan, Seiichi, Lu Zhen, Yato, and Katsuo with the IGNs Sky Blade, Emperor Wolf, Snow Bird, Longshot, Lu Zhen, Black Sword, and Hopeless Knight respectively.

"Yeah." Sato nodded as he began recalling the previous time he was here.

Back then, Sato was about to leave the area when he heard a strange sound that attracted his attention. It ended up being Milo, the weird pet with an unknown bloodline that was currently in his possession. Even till now, Sato didn't know where Milo came from, what it was or how it appeared in a dangerous location such as here despite seemingly having zero combat abilities.

'It can't be a legendary pet with high survivability skills could it?' Sato shook his head at that thought before leading the team in.

"Let's go."

Even though the surrounding 60 or so metres of the gate was covered with cracks and fissures, it wasn't a problem for the team to make it across the danger zone. With their current skills and capabilities, making a few jumps wasn't an issue.

Once the team covered the 60 metres distance, they now stood in front of the entrance which looked like a dark portal that led to another world. Without saying a word, Sato walked into it before lighting a torch just as he got swallowed by the darkness. Seeing as how Sato had fearlessly walked in, the others followed right after him with Yato coming last as he lit a torch from behind.

With all 7 players in, they began the 15 minutes descent towards the bottom of the hidden space. Unlike Sato, the rest were all at high alert for any surprises. Sato had already explored here before so he knew that nothing would appear during this descent down the staircase, however, to be on the safe side, he didn't bother to inform the rest.

*Step*

*Step*

It first began with Sato's right foot and ended with Yato's left foot as the entire team had finally descended down the staircase and appeared to the mysterious hall familiar to Sato.

The appearance of the hall had barely any changes. The 16 doors(8 on each side) were still open, since the last time Sato was here he didn't close them. The 16 pillars were also still there, propping up the ceiling of the hall, and the red flames that brightened the areas had already lit up with Sato's appearance. It didn't look like much had changed but Sato's instincts said otherwise.

"Something's wrong." Sato stated as he began scanning his surroundings. The orange-red flames were already turned on so the entire hall was visible from his spot.

"Where is it?" Sato suddenly whispered.

"Where's what?" Fudo asked curiously.

"The mural. The last time I came here, there was a mural behind that portal." Sato pointed at the spinning black vortex that hung a few inches above the ground.

The horrific mural which consisted of a horned demon with 3 pairs of eyes was nowhere to be spotted. Sato recalled that it had played an integral part in the activation of the dungeon, but with the dungeon's current stability, its presence was nowhere to be seen.

"And that's not all. The black statue feels weird." Sato turned to the opposite side as he glanced at the black statue of a seated figure.

Previously, the black statue, alongside the mural and the fragmented painting, were the 3 objects that were used to activate the dungeon. With the painting turning into the black whirlpool that served as the dungeon's entrance and the mural gone missing, the black statue was the only element left existing. However, Sato noticed that it didn't possess that regal aura it once had. On the contrary, it felt 'dead'.

"So what you're trying to say is that the entire area is quite different from how it was before?' Seiichi asked.

"Yes." Sato nodded but he wasn't too bothered about it.

First of all, scenarios like this occurred in various VR games. One could return to a certain location once again but spot a few differences. This had to do with those differences being related to either a certain plot in the story or having occurred due to a specific change brought by a player.

If it were a change brought about due to a player's interference then it would make sense. In this case, Sato suspected that his activation of the dungeon had led to the two artifacts being affected, with the mural gone missing and the statue losing its 'breath'.

However, if it were due to the original plot of the story, then there were some hidden factors behind the disappearance of the mural as well as the black stone statue losing its aura.

'However, it's not like I have any way of confirming it.'

Sato gave up at the thought of investigating the change since he had no point to start from.

"So how do we go in?" Lu Zhen asked the question that was in everyone's mind.

While it seemed reasonable to presume that they could achieve that by entering the wormhole, the appearance of the portal looked a little bit destructive and didn't seem like a safe option. No one wanted to die and lose a lot of experience points just because of some random problem.

"Isn't it obvious?" Sato looked at them.

"We enter the portal."

"Huh? You sure about that?" The others asked.

"Let's go."

Sato walked forward and placed his right hand on the black portal just like the last time he was here and similarly, he felt a slight resistance as if a wall was between his hand and the portal.

[[ System notification :

You have to be in a party of at least 5 players, with an average level of level 12 to access this dungeon. ]]

Just as Sato was about to question the system's capabilities, another notification popped up, but this time it was displayed in the interface of everyone in the team.

[[ System notification : 

Checking basic requirements...

The Party level averaged at 13.

Requirements have been met.

____________________

Do you wish the enter the dungeon, [Temple of Vasiliás]?

]]

'So the dungeon takes the same name as this place.' Sato thought.

"Alright, everybody. You guys are ready right?"

"Yeah." Lu Zhen smiled.

"Haha, time to beat some high priest's ass. Let's go." Fudo chuckled.

"We need to take this in the name of Seven Star Glory!" Yato cheered.

"Ready." Katsuo lifted his shield in front of himself.

"What's all this fuss for? Let's go already." Seiichi nudged his glasses.

"Hmm." Xue Yan simply nodded with her cold face.

Sato smiled lightly seeing the enthusiasm and readiness on the faces of his teammates.

"Alright then. On to the first dungeon raid of team Seven Star Glory.. Let's make it count."