[You have slain [Undead Clown- lvl 3] - experience has been earned. Bonus experience for defeating an enemy above your level.]

  [You have slain [Undead Clown- lvl 3] - experience has been earned. Bonus experience for defeating an enemy above your level.]

  [You have reached lvl 2! 2 SP have been gained!]

  “That should be all of them,” Noah wiped a few droplets of sweat off of his cheek.

  “It is,” Yuno confirmed, “[Analyze] says that there’s no other monsters in the area.”

  “[Analyze] is a very useful skill.”

  Yuno chuckled, “Not nearly as much as yours. We’d probably be dead without that massive AOE thing you’re able to do. Or I would at least. You could probably hold your own no matter what happened.”

  Noah flicked Yuno across the forehead, “Stop being so self-depriciating.”

  “Two Hells,” Yuno glared at Noah, rubbing his forehead, “was that really necessary?”

  “‘Two Hells’?” Noah raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s how the regular inhabitants of the multiverse talk or something like that. Apparently just saying, ‘hell’ is offensive.”

  “I wasn’t aware that you had now become a linguist in the language of the multiverse.”

  “I’m not!” Yuno laughed, “Enough of the jokes, let’s go check out the chest.”

  Noah crouched down next to the treasure chest, all cliche dungeons need treasure chests I suppose. He flicked it open, inside was a worn-out book that looked like it might’ve once been blue-ish color. Faded silvery writing on the cover said, “Ice manipulation.”

  “It’s a skill book!” Yuno exclaimed, picking the book up. He started to leaf through the pages, glancing over the book’s content.

  “A what?” Noah asked.

  “Well according to the System description, it’s a one time use item that can be used to get a skill. This skill book gives you the skill [Ice Manipulation],” Yuno explained.

  “You should use it.”

  Yuno glanced over at Noah, “You sure?”

  “You’re going to need a way to defend yourself at some point. Better that you get used to doing it sooner rather than later.”

  Yuno looked to Noah and then back to the skill book. A faint blue glow emanated from the book before dissipating into particles of light.

  “I’m going to assume that means that the book worked.”

  “It did,” Yuno confirmed. He held out his hand and several thin slivers of ice appeared, gently floating in the air. His expression morphed into one of awe, eyes sparkling with almost childlike-wonder, “woah…”

  Noah couldn’t help but let out a short breath of laughter at Yuno’s amazement.

  Yuno cocked his head, “What’s so funny?"

  “Just seeing you act like that, usually you’re not so expressive. You’ve changed since this all started.”

  “I’ve always been expressive. There just had never been as many things to be expressive about before this,” Yuno glanced over at Noah, “You’ve changed as well. Well, not really, but you’re actually showing other emotions besides cool disinterest or anger,” he reached over and squished Noah’s cheeks, turning Noah’s head as if inspecting him, “the Noah I knew never smiled or laughed in a whole entire month as much as you have in the past three hours! You haven’t been possessed or something, right? Wait, that’s a stupid question, if you were possessed, I doubt you would tell me.”

  Yuno gripped Noah’s shoulders, shaking him and demanding, “Who are you and what have you done to Noah?!”

  Noah said, deadpan, “I’m Noah, the same person you’ve always known.”

  “Nevermind, clearly you’re Noah with that flat reaction. Even Dietrich would’ve played along and he’s…” Yuno paused, trying to find the right words, “even more disinterested in everything as you are.”

  “Doesn’t that mean that I’m more likely to not be myself if I’m reacting in a way that’s a more severe version of my usual self?”

  “You do realize that you’re not exactly helping your case here, right?”

  Noah rolled his eyes, “How about we just move onto the next part of the dungeon?”

  “Can’t you just have some humor for once in your life?” Yuno muttered, though Noah doubted that Yuno was actually talking to him.

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  Wordlessly, Noah grabbed Yuno’s wrist and started to drag him down the hallway.

  “Hey, what are you–”

  “If I don’t just force you to move, we would probably have stood there for another hour.”

  “Impatient much?” Yuno made a ‘tsk’ sound but didn’t object any further.

  They wandered through the blood red-carpeted hallways, rambling aimlessly throughout.

  Yuno paused and glanced around, “Did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?” Noah inquired. He hadn’t heard anything.

  “Be quiet for a moment,” Yuno held a hand up, “I think there’s something over there. It sounds like… chewing? I’m not really sure.”

  “Perhaps we’ll get eaten alive,” Noah said with entirely too much casualness and the full knowledge that it would piss Yuno off.

  Yuno punched Noah on the shoulder, although he didn’t put any force into it, “Don’t even joke about that.”

  Noah let out a soft laugh under his breath but didn’t say anything else.

  “Should we go check it out?” Yuno looked deep in thought as he spoke.

  “I think we should.”

  “Fine by me,” Yuno crouched down and slowly started to creep around the corner but abruptly stopped, his whole body tensing.

  “Yuno, what–” Noah quickly cut his sentence off the moment he saw what Yuno had been looking at. It was an undead clown– well actually that wasn’t accurate, it used to be an undead clown, now it actually was dead. The whole thing had been mauled almost beyond recognition, the only telling sign being its ripped up clothes. Blood pooled around the body and Noah could see shards of bone sticking through the ghoul-grey flesh. The smell of iron was heavy in the air.

  Beside the clown were two tigers whose fur was matted with rust-colored blood, especially around the mouth. They both patiently sat beside the clown, as if waiting for someone.

  Yuno looked like he wanted to throw up. His face was twisted in a mix of horror and repulsion with a hand clamped over his mouth.

  “Are you okay?” Noah gently asked.

  “I’m fine,” Yuno responded, albeit shakily, “we should keep moving.”

  Noah sighed. Yuno definitely was not okay, not that he would ever admit it. He lifted his hand and let blackish purple-red flames spill from his palm and engulf the clown and tigers.

  Yuno blinked, “Why did you do that?”

  “It looked disgusting.”

  Yuno narrowed his eyes, “Liar. That kind of stuff never bothered you.”

  Noah didn’t bother with giving Yuno a response. Instead he went over to inspect the area around the clown and two tigers.

  [Welcome to the [Circus of the Undead]!]

  Noah stared at the message. That was new. He hadn’t seen something like this before.

  [You’ve entered the first floor of the [Tower of the Divine]!]

  [Opening [Chatroom]...]

  [The [Spirit Queen] has entered the [Chatroom]]

  [The [Stalking Wolf] has entered the [Chatroom]]

  [You have more unread messages.]

  “You got the [Chatroom] open,” Yuno leaned to read over Noah’s shoulder, having apparently forgotten about the monsters.

  “I forgot that you’re able to see my [System Window].”

  “Like you said, [Analyze] is a very useful ability.”

  [The [Empress of Vampires] is amazed at the speed at which you’re climbing the tower!]

  [The [Weeping Dragon] says he would expect nothing less]

  [The [Saint of Freedom] says that it’s basically just the standard for a protagonist]

  [The [Lucky Cat] points out that it hasn’t been confirmed that Noah is the protagonist]

  [The [One who Killed Death] rolls his eyes and says that it’s essentially been confirmed]

  [The [Silent Tiger] asks if they should explain the [100th Era Grand Story now]]

  [The [Oracle] shakes her head and says that it’s too early]

  [The [One Who is Chaos Incarnate] complains that the suspense is killing him]

  [The [Swift Fox] points out the that the [One Who is Chaos Incarnate] already knows about the [100th Era Grand Story]]

  [The [One Who is Chaos Incarnate] dramatically flops onto the couch and says that he means that the suspense of having to wait for Yuno and Noah to find out is killing him]

  [The [Tyrant of Fallen Angels] says that the [One Who is Chaos Incarnate] is such a drama queen]

  [The [One Who is Chaos Incarnate] retorts that drama is good for causing chaos]

  “Welcome to the life of a non-consented-to and unpaid streamer where you listen to the comments of divine beings that act like immature teenagers,” Yuno said with his usual humor.

  “How wonderful,” Noah replied, deadpan.

  [The [Monarch of Slimes] wipes a fake tear away from her eye and cries about how could Yuno possibly describe them like that?! How cruel!]

  [The [Bleeding Phoenix] flicks the [Monarch of Slimes] across the forehead]

  [The [Monarch of Slimes] swats the [Bleeding Phoenix]’s hand away]

  [The [Bewitching Snake] sighs and says that they should let Noah and Yuno get going]

  [The [Monarch of Slimes] lets out a ‘harumph’ noise but begrudgingly agrees]

  [The [Spirit Queen] tells Noah and Yuno that you should go down the left corridor]

  “Why?”

  [The [Spirit Queen] says that she can’t tell you]

  Yuno sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “How nice and cryptic. What do you think we should do, Noah?”

  “I think it’s worth it to investigate. Worst case scenario, we die because they’re sending us into something we can’t defeat.”

  “You do realize that’s like, really bad, right?”

  “We’re already at a pretty high risk of dying, what’s a little more risk?”

  “Risk is better than a guarantee.”

  “No risk, no reward.”

  Yuno groaned and grabbed Noah by the wrist, “Fine. Let's go.”

  [The [Silent Tiger] is watching you all closely]

  [The [Monarch of Slimes] complains that this is boring and there should be a skip button for parts where Noah and Yuno are just walking down some random corridor]

  [The [Oracle] explains that this builds up suspense. Noah and Yuno are going somewhere and they don’t know where it leads. It’s for the creepy atmosphere]

  [The [One Who is Chaos Incarnate] thinks there isn’t even any creepy atmosphere]

  [The [Oracle] objects and states her fear of creepy clowns and circuses]

  [The [One Who is Chaos Incarnate] tells the [Oracle] that that’s a you problem]

  [The [Lucky Cat] curses the [One Who is Chaos Incarnate] with bad luck for bullying her girlfriend]

  [The [One Who is Chaos Incarnate] slips and bangs his head into the corner of the wall]

  [The [Bewitching Snake] sighs]

  “I think they’re trying to change the genre into a comedy,” Yuno stage-whispered with a not-so-subtle smirk.

  “It’s working.”

  [You’ve arrived at the entrance to the [Undead Circus Ring]!]

  [Enter? Y/N]

  “Looks like this is it,” Noah’s finger hovered over the ‘yes’ button, “ready?”

  “No, but I know we’re going in either way.”

  [Entering the [Undead Circus Ring]...]