The Betrayal

The sound of bones and armour scraping on the floor is the only noise that breaks the silence in the now empty boss room.
Retainer is rummaging through not just the defeated boss, but also nearby containers, chests, anything that might hold loot.
On the other hand, I’m just standing by watching over her. Because, as a trade off for her getting incredible looting speed and carrying capacity, I have next to none.
“You did really well man,” Lancer has also given up looting, letting Retainer have free reign. ”The way the others listened to and trusted you was amazing.”
“Really? I just did what I thought was the best for us to survive.” Unlike with Ranger and Priestess, I haven’t had much time to talk with Lancer, since he’s usually talking with Ka’el.
“Na man, you barely know any of us and you put your own body on the line, well, soul, body? You know what I mean.”
“I couldn’t just ask Priestess to risk her life, it wouldn’t sit right with me.”
It’s the truth. It would have been easy enough to have someone else go out with Priestess instead of me, but with the mix of my own morals and Paladins, there was no way I could put anyone else in danger like that.
“Oh, you’re one of those kinds. Paladin really suits you then, I get why you picked him.” Lancer laughs.
“Oh, I didn’t pick my character, I’m the replacement, as the Goddess put it.” I inform him.
“Really now?”

The soft padding of feet against the ground interrupts our conversation. Retainer is running back over to us, while Ka’el is making his way towards the exit door.
“All done?” I give Retainer a pat when she reaches us.
She nods in response, then hands me a note.
“She says there were a few interesting things,” I tell Lancer.
“We’ll check them with the others when we leave this floor, our time is almost out.”
I nod in agreement, we do need to leave before a Guardian spawns.
“Hurry up guys.” Ka’el is already waiting for us by the door, waving us over.
We reach the door, but Ka’el makes no move to open it or get out of the way.
“I thought we were in a hurry?” I chuckle.
“Well, there is one more thing I want to discuss,” Lancer, moves to stand by Ka’el.
“I refuse.”
My response is instant, making them both pause for a moment.
I gently push Retainer behind me, putting myself between her and the brothers, and take a few steps back.
“I didn’t even ask you anything and you’re getting all defensive?” Lancer tries to brush it off, but I can see his grip tighten on his spear. Even Ka’el tries to subtly adjust his posture.
“Then ask me once we’re through the door, surely it can’t be that important?”
“I would rather the others not be part of this.” Lancer admits. “It might make things difficult.”
“Oh, and why is that?”
Since Retainer was the one who looted everything, I have full access to everything she picked up. They haven’t noticed that I’m stalling for time, or using the ingredients we just picked up in crafting. I don’t want to use these things, but I’m getting the feeling that he’s about to ask for something I was trying to avoid.
“Give Ka’el the kid.” He doesn’t ask, he demands.

There it is. The Ka’el buff quest. The secret option.
As Lancer, before the first boss, you get two choices.
You can give up half of all loot for the rest of your run in order to give Ka’el a small stat increase.
Or, decline it, getting a small loot rarity increase for the run.
Both are decent options, the stats make him a solo clearer for the first few floors, while the increased loot rarity can make everyone in your party stronger in the long run.
But, unknown to most people because the random party set-up needs to align, there exists a third option.

If your party has another NPC, you can sacrifice them in order to greatly enhance Ka’el’s stats. And I do mean greatly. Because of how everything needs to line up for it, the pay off is incredible, it’s no exaggeration to say he could solo every boss for at least ten floors with the increase.

It’s hidden lore, but the reason this last option exists is because Ka’el is contracted to a demon, and by sacrificing someone to him, he absorbs their soul and power.

Normally, since you control everything the party does and all their choices, getting this option is such a speedrun, an easy clear. There’s no doubt that giving up Retainer as an NPC in order to get Ka’el to clear the tower for us is the correct thing to do.

But.

“I already said no.” But, it's not the right thing to do.
“I can tell, you know what I’m asking for. You know the pay off.” He raises his voice. “So why? Why won’t you give up such a useless NPC?”
I keep slowly backing away while he continues yelling. The door is behind him, but Ka’el is still blocking the exit.
“We could be done with the entire tower in no time. But you want to risk it all for a stupid NPC? I thought you were smarter than that? I thought you cared about the party? The others trusted you to keep them safe, and this is how you respond to that trust?”
He’s getting more and more worked up, his anger boiling over, his spear now raised and pointing at me.
“Wait, don’t tell me you already accepted the sacrifice?” He can’t be that stupid.
“Of course I did! It was the best option.” He is that stupid.
“Why would you accept that without discussing it first? Do you know what happens if you fail that?”
“It doesn't matter, because I’m not going to fail.” He lowers his stance, Ka’el follows suit, widening his stance to block more of the door. “Give Ka’el the girl.”

This time a box appears in front of me.

-Do you accept the request? {Yes} {No}-

I have one minute to pick. If I pick nothing, it will default to yes. But the instant I pick no, I’ll be attacked, because as long as Retainer dies, it will count as Ka’el completing his quest.
The easy option would be to just give her over, but even without being Paladin, I wouldn’t do it. She may be an NPC, but in this world she’s real.
In the corner of my vision, I watch a second timer countdown. It’s five seconds lower than the choice I have, which means I might have a way out after all.

Ten.
“You sent the others away first because you didn't want them to even have the option of helping me.”
Nine.
“Correct Paladin. Alone, there is no way you could beat me, let alone both of us. But if those two got involved, well, I would hate to lose even more of our party.”
Eight.
“And what happens after this?”
Seven.
“Who cares? They won’t be able to stop Ka’el once he gets those buffs.”
Six.
“You’d stoop that low?” I ready my sword and shield.
Five.
“Ten seconds Paladin, or are you going to let it time out, so you can claim innocence?”
Four.
“You’re going to regret this.”
Three.
“I’ll regret nothing when I get my wish after I easily clear this tower. Now choose.”
Two.
“I already told you. I refuse!”
One.
I select no.
A message appears in front of me.

-Due to Paladins decision the party has been disbanded-

“You idiot.”
Even though I’m ready for the strike, it’s still much heavier than what the Wraith knight hit me with.
The strikes and stabs with the spear are incredibly fast, so much that I can barely keep up. But barely is enough. My H.P bar isn’t going down, so no chip damage is getting through, and Ka’el hasn’t moved from the door, more worried about preventing us from trying to escape.
Retainer is still behind me. Keeping perfectly in step as I slowly cede ground in order to keep my defense up. I can’t even think about counter-attacking, not wanting to drop my guard for even a second.
“Brother, look out.” Ka’el yells from the door.
Just in time.
We both break away, jumping back, just as a blur darts through where we were just standing.
It stands, well more accurately, floats where we had just been locked. The Dark grey cloak it wears, the only semblance of a body, while two wicked knives glint brightly in its withered hands. It looks between us and gives an unholy screech.
This is what we were trying to avoid, what we were afraid of.
A Guardian. The towers defense system, preventing people from staying on floors for too long.
“Well, if it works it works. As long as she ends up dead, it’s my win.” Lancer states smugly as he runs back towards Ka’el, who’s already got the door open for them.
Once he goes through the door all I need to do is follow him, the safe zone on the other side will prevent him from turning on me.
Instinct kicks in again. I quickly raise my shield as a spear gets flung at me from the door, it barely has any force behind it, even if I didn’t block it I don’t think it would have gone through my armour.
Clang.
Damn it. That wasn’t the point of it.
The Guardian screeches at the noise of the spear hitting both my shield and the ground, then instantly closes in on me.

It’s fast. Faster than Lancer. And not only that, unlike Lancer, it’s doing chip damage. I can actually feel the pain of me losing H.P.
“Retainer, use the thing I crafted earlier, the first one. Throw it in the air.”
I can’t even spare a second to look back at her, hopefully she knows what I’m talking about.
Out of the corner of my eye I see a small vial get launched from behind me.
“Parry.” It’s an incomplete Parry, but it’s enough to knock the Guardian away from me.
I turn and cover Retainer's eyes just in time for the vial to explode in a bright, but fleeting flare of light.
I’m not instantly stabbed in the back so I know the Guardian has been temporarily blinded by it.
Exit door, need to get to the exit door.
The Guardian is between us and the exit door. There’s no way I can reach it before the blind wears off, especially with Retainer. And I can’t leave her behind, otherwise this whole thing is pointless.
Maybe if we slowly edge our way over there, will my H.P last?
Oh no. I bring my shield up again. The blind was a lot shorter than I thought it would be, the Guardian has already recovered, and it’s hitting harder and faster than before.
I’m being pushed back more and more, Retainer is trying her best to push back against me, but we’re losing ground, and fast. The door is even further away now, and my H.P is still dropping.
Suddenly, Retainer is standing beside me, and behind me is, well, nothing. My heels are now floating over empty space, as if the floor is gone.
This is what I wanted to avoid. Behind me is where the Guardian spawned from. They come from the basement floor, which is also how you start challenge mode in the game. The Basement acts as floor one for challenge mode, but of course doing so means you have to fight insanely hard enemies and bosses to get out and back in the tower, and there’s no telling how far down the hole goes, could be Basement one, or ten.
I don’t get a choice.
The Guardian penetrates my shield with the knives, both stabbing my arm through the metal.
It burns, it hurts. I want to scream out, I want to drop from the pain. But I can’t, if I do, then this will all have been for nothing.
The door is out of my reach, which means there’s only one option left.
“Shield meld.”
Because of how deep the daggers are in my shield, the guardian is forced to let go otherwise its hands would meld as well.
As soon as it does, I wrap my shield arm around Retainer, take a deep breath, and step backwards.

The safety of the fall.
If only it was that easy.
The Guardian screams and launches itself after us down the hole. The good news is, I was expecting this. Guardians never give up once they start chasing someone, unless they go through a door.
It plummets towards us, intending to collide with us and try to retrieve the blades still in my shield.
Just as it hits my shield, I thrust my sword up, it’s the only counter attack I’ve gotten off, but it’s all I need.
The force of its fall means my thrust has even more penetrating power, and it gives me enough momentum to spin us around, so now the Guardian is underneath us.
I press my shield against it as well, keeping it from even trying to move.
I don’t know how effective it will be at breaking our fall, but it should be better than nothing.
“Cover.” I use one last spell on retainer as I see the ground coming up to meet us.