Calamity Upon This World

In an empty room with weird, incomprehensible engravings on the wall, a massive throne was affixed to the end of the wall in the centre.

Sitting atop the throne was a black-coloured humanoid statue with a round horn protruding from its head and shaping what looked to be a crown.

The eyes of the statue still had smoke coming out of them, and in front of the statue were 14 people and one dead body who were standing in front of a now-closed giant stone door.

The lower body of the dead miner fell to the ground with his upper body completely erased, with no traces of it left.

It all happened far too quickly for anyone to react, and before they knew it, their barrier was destroyed, with one of their men dead.

"Ahhhh!!! " Jasmine screamed in panic as she moved away from the corpse in fear and ended up breaking the discussed formation.

She was still young, and this was her first time seeing a corpse, so her reaction was expected, and no one could blame her, but her panic started a chain reaction amongst the still-living miners as they realised that they had almost just died.

"Ahhh! Please,  I don't want to die."

"Someone save us."

"You promised you would protect us."

"Tony, my friend!!! "

The miners started separating and trying to run with some, even trying to bang on the dungeon door to try and escape, but sadly, it was useless as the door didn't open despite their best efforts.

And to their horror, the eyes of the statue started glowing as it prepared to fire another laser from his eyes, this time to kill all of them.

While a few miners closed their eyes, Max moved in front of the laser and created a wall of stone to try and protect everyone.

Sadly, it was nothing but a useless last-ditch attempt at retaliating, as even Max knew that his shield wasn't strong enough to stop a laser that even John couldn't stop.

'It doesn't matter if it can stop the laser or not; I'm not going down without a fight.

However, just when the laser was about to collide with the wall and break it, a thick and massive block of ice appeared in front of the stone wall.

~Sizzle~

The laser tried to burn through the ice, but it was eventually stopped and failed to get through.

Invisible strings of mana ensnared all the miners and cleansers and trapped them all in one place, with 10 thick barriers of mana emerging in front of them to protect them.

Everyone was confused about what was happening until a familiar voice called out.

"Sit back and relax; not everything needs a reaction," William, or rather Edge Lord, said as he stood in front of the party.

His appearance was now different from before two wings made up of water sprung from his back; his black eyes and hair were now blue like water, with a royal crown made up of water adorning his head.

Everyone was shocked at the sudden shift in his appearance and had many questions, but now wasn't the time.

"John, stop the joke. You might be strong, but you can't fight against that thing on your own; we're supposed to be a party. Let us help you, please." Max cried out as he tried to break the nigh invisible strings binding him, only to fail and give up.

"I agree with Max; let us help you, please," Jasmine chimed in, trying to convince John.

"No, you guys are too weak to try and fight against that thing; I'll handle it myself," William said as he turned away from his party, who were still crying out to him to free him as he faced the monstrosity sitting on the throne.

**

A few moments earlier

'What the fuck just happened?' William thought as he looked at the corpse of the miner who had just died in front of him.

It all happened far too fast for him to react; before he could do anything, the miner who he was supposed to protect was dead.

'I let someone under me die again'

'Wasn't it my responsibility to protect him? '

'How am I supposed to meet my party and the other miners after letting one of them die?'

(William, snap out of it now isn't the time.) Wiz cried out inside his head.

'Ah, you're right, my bad. I'm not sure what just happened to me'

For some time now, William had been feeling weird; he'd randomly zone out and have an inflated sense of ego.

He didn't know why this was happening, but he never wanted to let those who were counting on him down.

And it wasn't for some weird moral reason, like one would expect.

But rather, it was his pride; every time he failed to do what he had promised or failed to do something, his pride got hurt, and he hated that feeling.

William was quite sure that he wasn't like this. In his past life, in fact, he was fairly shameless.

But in this second life, he was willing to even risk his life just to not let his pride get hurt.

(William, what are you doing? They need you.) Wiz cried out inside his head.

'Ahh, I did it again'

Despite finding it weird, now wasn't the time to ponder about it.

After all, it was time to not let any more of his men down and fulfil his responsibility.

[Spirit Ascension:Water Sprite Dive]

In his current situation, Agni and Sera were automatically listed out due to his location, as well as their already being associated with William thanks to the little stunt he pulled at the birthday party.

Gionne was currently resting, so Wiz was the perfect choice for the situation.

And after turning up the suppression ring to 5, William was ready to kill the boss and protect his people.

**

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