A guild is a group that can be any number of people from two to two hundred. Whether there's a limit or not hasn't been discovered. It's similar in most regards to an ordinary party, except that the members are less tight-nit, there are usually more people, and they've given themselves a cringe-worthy name.

As we'd predicted, several guilds took up the challenge to find and raid the boss chamber. The Cavelit Bats (ouch), The Hollow Birches (not so bad, actually), The Dark-End Abyss (physically hurting me) and The Moonlight Warriors (which I had to rinse my ears after hearing) were just some examples.

It was found within the week. A guild named The Crucifix Staff (which was more cringe-worthy than I'd ever imagined or hoped for, but not that bad, all things considered), lead by a girl named Saku, declared publicly that the door to the chamber was found and that they were ready to raid anytime, but needed more hands on deck. The three of us signed up immediately to meet up at the headquarters in four days.

And so, for the next four days, an elf, a warrior and a merchant in a straw hat could be seen wrecking genocide in the frozen forests around town, then disappearing with a mysterious book in hand. I believe we started a legend called "The Haunting Morons". That, or Aaron is pulling my leg again.

It was quite an interesting time for the players, although it was very difficult to access a quest for a while, since they kept mysteriously disappearing. Meanwhile, three people's levels rose like a cork out of a champagne bottle.

***

The day finally arrives. My newly gained level 22 feels like deadweight in my stomach now. I feel a certain pressure from that special drop I got out of the Repator a week ago. The fact that I've been practicing with it in secret makes me feel a little guilty, but I need some kind of trump card, or I'll most likely chicken out before I even step into the guild headquarters. That's me, King Self-Assurance.

I detect a sick feeling rising in my stomach as we set out in town, searching for the building described on the poster.

Finding the headquarters is easy. The unfortunate guild name, Crucifix Staff, is suspended over the door in the wall. I push it open and step out of the cold.

Inside, it looks like a kind of tavern, with wooden tables and barrels lining the wall. None of the served drinks are alcoholic, but it certainly gives off a guildy vibe. There are about twenty players, counting the guild members.

I look until I see Saku sitting with the rest of the guild behind the largest table. She's a young but strong looking girl (though this is to be expected, there aren't many adults in Midgard) with short black hair that sticks out on the side and flat bangs that give her an I will skewer you with a stick, fool look. Hard to explain it, actually. She looks at me briefly with piercing eyes and I see a flash of dark purple.

She's a magician, a long iron staff leans on the wall next to her. She doesn't wear the usual cloak most magicians usually wear. Instead, she's donned a short skirt that stops just below the knees with a tight vest zipped up. Atop the vest is a bronze breastplate strapped over her shoulders. She's definitely pretty, but kind of... deadly. Not that there's anything objectively wrong with that, but... you know what? I'm just gonna stop right here.

A few more people file in. Once the amount of players hit the forties or so, somebody stands on a table and shoots everyone an obnoxious grin.

"So! Welcome to The Crucifix Staffs (I did not choose the name, Saku did)! As you know, we are the amazing guild that's come face to face with the legendary Hiyouizaburou! Doesn't sound familiar? That's because it doesn't exist. At least, not anymore."

There are a few nervous chuckles. I see some uncertain looks shot around. Is this really the guys that are gonna lead us to victory? Saku scowls at the guy, then stands up and pulls him back into his seat where he lands with a heavy thud.

"Shut up, Coalpint ("I told you, my name's Colint!"). You all are here to set a raid on the first boss. We, the Crucifix Staff, have found the way in and are ready to, with your help, conquer the entirety of 100 bosses. This may take some time, but we will give it our all and we will not falter!" She says all this naturally. Not like someone who's passed through her lines in front of a mirror a million times, but one who knows what she wants to say, and says it well. "Failure and loss is not an option! You agreed to that the moment you arrived! We will win! For the sake of returning to our world!"

She grabs her staff and raises it above her head, which seems unnecessary. There is shocked silence, in which I'm afraid Saku is going to stand with her staff in the air and create a ridiculously awkward atmosphere. I'm about to set my escape plan into motion when, as if on queue, the inn is rocked with cheers. Weapons are raised and thumped on tables and floorboards. Confidence and courage in everyone's face (except maybe mine), the belief that we can do it. We can win.

Saku lowers her staff with a satisfied and somewhat relieved look on her face. Even the toughest warrior fears awkward moments.

"She's small, but scary." Aaron says into my ear as everyone files out of the inn.

"If anyone is able to smell talent a mile away, I get the feeling it's her." I agree.

Our procession gains the eyes of every person as we march through town. I wish they would stop staring. Their eyes, eyes everywhere. Prying, judging. "They're not gonna make it back" "These are the ones who are going to fight? They're mostly kids!" "I hope they win" "They don't stand a chance."

It was pretty horrible.

The guild guides us out of town and into the frosted forest of pine. The trees seem to clear out of the way as the procession of warriors march through, as if the forest itself feared us, or feared for us. I decide to go with the former.

Soon, our small army stops in a clearing. The snow fallen freshly the other day makes a crunching sound under our boots and the mist of our breaths gathers in the air.

7 magicians, 11 healers and 12 warriors. I'm the only elf, with another girl.

"This makes a total of 32 fighters." Saku says. "If one of us falls, don't falter. This is a matter of life and death."

She turns and holds out her staff towards a large oak. The bark is aged and peeling and the wood is eaten away at by termites. "Rumpo, illusio de imperator."

The tree ripples, then disappears completely to be replaced by a large cobblestone door. It looks like one you'd find guarding the entrance to a catacomb, with a single skull engraved where the doorknob should be. Not very encouraging.

There's a revering silence as Saku approaches the door and taps on it with her staff a few times. Nothing happens.

"And that's that." She says, turning back to the assembled warriors. "We can't open it."

"Erm..." Says a guy in the front. "Should we try blasting it with magic?"

"What, you think that's not the first thing we tried?" A guild member answers in annoyance.

"Maybe there's a password?" Another asks.

"If so, we haven't figured it out yet."

There's some muttering and I can feel the atmosphere dampening. "Is this what's going to stop us? A stupid door?"  "Why hadn't they called us when they'd opened the damn thing?"

Suddenly, someone steps out of the crowd and towards the levitating doors. I spot a pair of sharp ears poking through her hair. She looks like the type of girl I used to see standing by the bleachers at a dance, waiting for someone to invite her. Pretty, in a shy, reserved way. One that wouldn't be able to carry the conversation, so it would be your responsibility to do so. She bears a bob of very noticeable, pure, bright silver hair. Short and light. Just like me, she wears the elvish attire. A cloak is slung over her shoulders, and brown, fingerless gloves cover her hands.

She walks up to the door and seems to examine it. The air is ringing and I can feel that everyone is holding their breaths, as if they expect her to spontaneously combust. She scans the crowd until she spots me with my pointy ears.

She starts to make weird movements with her hands, as if writing on air. Above her head, the words: can you help? is spelled out gradually.

A deaf person in Midgard? How does that even work? Maybe the audio system of her headset glitched. Tough luck.

I walk up to her a little awkwardly. She holds up her hands against the door as if to demonstrate, then starts to sign.

Password.

I nod. "Okay."

She squints at me as I speak, then smiles tentatively and nods herself. My mind races like a cheetah, trying to decipher the meaning behind her movement. She spots my confusion and signs lip read.

Oh, that was it? I was halfway through a story about how I may have bumped into her in the streets and she recognized me and was here for revenge. Oh well, good thing that wasn't it.

"What is it?" I ask, making sure to move my mouth well. "The password, I mean. Do you know it?"

She hesitates, then blushes a little, moving her hands again. The words sign language appear above her. She looks at me quizzically, which adds a question mark to it.

Do you speak sign language?

I shake my head. Why would I? This is my first time meeting someone deaf.

She nods, trying to look understanding, but I can tell she's disappointed. She then signs secret words, know, not.

I don't know the password.

I turn to the others for help and realize that everyone is looking at us.

I'm gonna die, now. Shrink into a hole , melting into a puddle where I'll bury myself forevermore. Satan, here I come. Adios, amigos! You've got a spot next to your throne reserved just for me!

Resisting the urge to hide behind my fellow elf and yell don't eat me!, which probably wouldn't be received well, I clear my throat and speak up, summoning my courage as best I can. "So, yeah. It requires a password, we don't know what it is and... uh... she's deaf." I finish.

Great, that was only slightly less pathetic than if someone came up, pantsed me, wrote dweeb on my face, and splashed water all over me. In the back, I see Akemi slap her forehead in stunned astonishment. Aaron flashes me a perfect sign and snorts, turning it smoothly into a coughing fit. I remind myself to strangle him later.

"Does she know what it is?" Saku intones. Her eyes are nervous now and, under the tough exterior, I see an ordinary teenage girl that feels she may have majorly screwed up on her finals exam.

The other elf waves for attention, then signs dead language.

"Kill the words?" I guess. I have no idea why she signed that. "She just said dead language."

"Latin, then." Someone in the back says. "It's a pretty well known dead language, I'd say."

"Oh, right." I pointed over the deaf girl's head. "You can read that, right?"

There's a silence in which I regret being born. "Read what? Sign language?"

"No, the letters above her head." I point to them, very luminescent over her head, like a gathering of lanterns.

"There aren't any, or you're the only one who can see them. It's probably an elf quirk." Saku says, shrugging.

Okay, I've got sign language hardwired into my head. Cool.

"Anyway, the password is supposed to be in Latin, probably." I continue, wishing everyone would stop looking at me. "So... let's... let's find it?" I make a mental note to bury myself after I've strangled Aaron.

"Something related to a boss?"

"Maybe a scythe?"

"Huh? What's a scythe got to do with this?"

"Monster?"

"Beast?"

"That would be either monstrum or bestia."

"Um... nothing happened."

"Maybe warrior?"

Suggestions are thrust out at all sides. I feel kind of barraged with guesses and wish a teacher would step up and say "one at a time, now, children! Raise your hands!"

Someone tugs at my sleeve again. I'm wound so tight, I snap my gaze around like a bullet and the elf flinches back, which makes me apologize about twenty times in two seconds in about ten different ways until I  finally decide to shut up.

She signs: What makes a monster stronger than a boss?

"They're uglier?"

The elf looks at me in disbelief. Very much no.

"Um... aren't bosses supposed to be the strongest?

She hesitates, then shakes her head, pointing to the door. Markings I didn't read earlier, or maybe, that weren't there earlier, are spread out over the arching. They read Quod facio a monstrum maior quam a dominus?

She snaps her fingers and nods, looking... excited? Can't really tell, with her eyes. She's a little creepy, now I think about it.

"Um... they all respawn? Except for the bosses... where are you going with this?"

What makes monsters greater than their lords?

An idea forms in my head, a crazy one.

"Mortalitas." I intone.

Mortal.

The inscriptions around the door translate to what makes a monster greater than a lord? The bosses are mortal, the monsters always respawn.

My voice echoes as if I'm in a large cave, and the doors begin to creak open with an ominous rumble.

Another tug.

Just a guess? Asks the elf.

I nod.

She lets out a little sound while smiling, probably a laugh, it's weird, hearing a sound for the first time from a completely silent person.

There's a surprised hush, then an earth shattering cheer blasts out through the frosty forest and our army begin to rush forwards with some kind of relish. Saku yells something, but her voice is lost in the deafening roar.

She points her staff to her throat, mutters a chant, then yells again, her voice booming over the sound like she's on a megaphone. "QUIET DOWN, STAY WHERE YOU ARE, DUMBASSES!"

Everyone stops and looks at her, as if expecting a scolding.

"We have no idea what is to come!" She says furiously. "You're just going to charge in there like reckless idiots and get yourselves killed?"

There's some shuffling and mumbling, probably some really well made excuses, but she continues with the same authority.

"Split into squads of five, at least one healer per group, you two!" She designates me and the deaf girl. "Or rather, the one who can hear, listen ahead. Do you hear anything?"

I obediently cup my hands behind my ears.

Nothing, I don't hear anything. Wait, there's sniffing, something's sniffing very close by. Right next to me?

I turn. She really is smelling the air, like a cat. She opens her eyes, and signs. The word nothing appears above her head.

I shake my head. "Neither of us heard, or, er... smelled anything. The monsters are probably only set to spawn when players enter."

"Hold on." Someone in the back says. "How come nobody went to interrogate the survivors of the last expedition?"

Saku scowls in the direction of the voice. A guildmate speaks up. "We did. The only thing we got out of them was to not do it. They weren't exactly in much of a state to be answering questions."

There is more grumbling and whimpering. No one seems quite so confident anymore. I see some eyes dart back, as if wondering if it's too late to make an escape.

"For those who want to leave," Saku says, her voice even, "I give you permission to do so."

No one moves. The atmosphere taut like a string.

She nods approvingly. "Not bad, you're not completely spineless after all. To arms!"

Everyone roars and forms their groups. Akemi and Aaron are with me, along with the other elf and a healer.

Saku raises her staff, her eyes seemingly filled with purple flames. "For our world!" She yells. The cheer is repeated as the group pushes forward.

The assembled fighters burst into a chamber that is an exact replica of a giant cathedral.

Unlit braziers line the walls. It's cold, cold enough for my breath to mist. And it's quiet, empty.

Everyone is grouped up in their respective squads, back to back.

There's an eery silence, then the braziers burst into flames, earning a few shocked cries and clanking of armor that echoes through the vast chamber.

Slowly, figures begin to form from the walls. Humanoid masses of wriggling darkness. They begin to gain color and form. Then, they fall. When they've hit the ground, they've taken the form of skeletal warriors, armed to the teeth with blades and spiked clubs, light armor cover their hollow insides. Rising from the table at the very end of the chamber is a gigantic hooded figure bearing a scythe the size of a telephone pole in it's skeletal hands. Twin red eyes glint under the darkness of its massive hood, and I see death reflected back at me.

I blink five times and the name The Grim Reaper appears above it. Its damage nearly makes me pass out. If I take a direct swing from that blade, it would knock away a third of my health. It doesn't have a relatively large HP, but it has four lives, we would have to kill it four times.

It screeches like a banshee. The roof of the chamber rumbles and cracks and the warriors descend on us, intent on carving us up and killing us for good.