Campanella was the first one to act, and started teasing his enemies with his famous move, "Shuffle Time". The sands of time began to churn. Not literally of course, considering time was now at a halt. It did not take Ouroboros long to clear this Instance Dungeon. The Shadow Jaegers, while unique to what kinds of weapons they carried, still did not pose much of an issue to them. This is Ouroboros, after all. They're one of the strongest groups of particular individuals on the continent. Excluding Jaegers or soldiers.
The group saw that all fifty Jaegers were accompanied by a Boss. One of the five Shadow entities. They each controlled a group of ten Shadow Jaegers. Because of this, it made it quite easy to challenge. Campanella took to one group, and fought Shadow Craig the Red. McBurn immediately spotted Shadow General Vandyck and concluded he was the strongest of the five Bosses and went after him. Arianrhod paid him no mind, and challenged Shadow Celestin. Vita, Tamamo and Grianos went after Shadow Major Neithardt, while The Faceless challenged Shadow Marquis Hyarms.
They didn't have to rely on Naoto's Gamer System. Most members of Ouroboros have long gotten used to fighting. It wasn't like there wasn't any risk, since every single Shadow Jaeger received enhanced battle qi. It did not take long at all. At the very least, McBurn no longer found himself burned. He lit up in a fiery blaze, striking Shadow General Vandyck with all he had. With the constraints of the Gamer System that is, since it was a Level 50 dungeon. Most of the Ouroboros group felt their strength restricted, rather than empowered. Tamamo, on the other hand, was the opposite. She was bursting with energy, and enjoyed fighting against Shadow Major Neithardt.
Still, these Shadows were classified as Monsters. None of these Monsters gave Tamamo any experience points. It was all rewarded with zero. The reward would come after in the form of 300,000 EXP. The concepts of Levels didn't really matter to Ouroboros much. Just knowing that Naoto can create "Dungeons" like this was satisfactory.
Just like that, they pushed through, and routed the entire village. The Instance Dungeon rewarded the Party with two options: A Craft, or exchange it for increased Parameters. Increasing one's Parameters is basically getting a power-up. It can range anywhere from a mere couple percent increase to one's Stats, or in the tens of percentages. Numbers do not matter for them, so it would be equivalent to a huge surge of energy waiting to be refined. Very similar to how eastern martial arts stories play out whenever they eat those pills. And that is exactly what happened.
Arianrhod was the first to decide on the latter. Shortly after, a huge surge of energy swelled inside her body, allowing her battle qi to thicken. She had already thought she reached the pinnacle of her strength, but the Gamer System is now saying otherwise. It showed Arianrhod a new light. Hope.
The Faceless also opted for the latter. It did not increase his Combat Parameters, unlike Arianrhod. No, what he got was new knowledge. Similar to how one's Intelligence Stat would increase in other stories. This Gamer System did not have that, but it still worked for The Faceless. He obtained new knowledge on False Stigma applications. As to whether he can actually use this knowledge to further strive for his goal of creating an artificial Stigma, that remains to be seen. The Gamer System is impartial. It did not regard people as heroes or villains.
If the Gamer System assigned a Quest to a Party and one of its Party Members just so happened to be a villain, then it would still reward them. The Faceless knew well who it was who gave him such a reward, and now, he owed Naoto a favor. And The Faceless hates owing favors. He will have to keep this in mind, should he try to wipe his own existence away from Naoto's memories.
Naoto was also interested in Stigmas and the theory behind how they worked, and whether or not he could manifest one himself. If he could, he would receive a huge power boost from his Gamer System. Just the villa raid alone placed a mental strain on his body. He had no Artifact around him at the time to see if he could awaken a Stigma. Tragedy played one part of it, but having an Artifact nearby played the other role, so a person can borrow the Artifact's power to manifest their own. And if The Faceless successfully creates one, Naoto could potentially take that knowledge for himself, all thanks to the favor The Faceless now owes him.
Regardless of the direction The Faceless goes with this, it will still be dependent on his efforts.
As for McBurn...he began to see Naoto in a new light. He also opted for the latter, of course.
What McBurn essentially received is something called Flame Essence. Raw, fiery, energy that solely contains the element of Fire. McBurn's entire being is basically composed of Fire, and he didn't even know it was possible to strengthen his flames.
Shortly after the conclusion of the Instance Dungeon, this prompted McBurn to go into secluded meditation so he could dive further into what he received. He quickly said goodbye to everyone after the completion of the Hamel Tragedy.
As for Campanella, he was the oddity of the bunch, and opted to choose for a new Craft. His abilities were mysterious and wacky. So adding another layer to that may cause some bad implications to certain people down the line when they come to fight him, like the SSS. As to what will happen exactly, that too remains to be seen.
Perhaps the one who received the biggest reward was Vita. She chose for the increased Parameters, and received a huge spike in her Mana pool. Think of it like this. If a person has 1000 EP, that becomes 2000 EP. If a person has 2000 EP, that becomes 4000 EP, and so on. She felt such a strong surge in Mana that she felt giddy for a good moment. At the same time, Tamamo suddenly collapsed, which made Vita panic. It wasn't out of exhaustion, so Vita felt relieved. No, something else triggered this. Before this happened, Tamamo went through the Gamer Notifications. This part was still linked to Naoto. He basically did an entire Instance Dungeon without being there in person!
[Ding! Instance Dungeon II - Hamel Edition has been cleared!]
[Ding! Party Members have received their rewards. Time will now flow again.]
[Ding! Gamer Naoto and Tamamo have received 300,000 EXP. 20 Random Quartz of Tier I-III have been deposited into Gamer Naoto's Inventory. Vermillion-Clad Boots has been given to Gamer Naoto.]
[Ding! As Gamer Naoto was not in Party, Title: True Harem Seeker will not trigger. Total EXP Calculation: 300,000.]
[Ding! Familiar Tamamo has Leveled Up! -> Lv26.]
[Ding! Familiar Tamamo has Leveled Up! -> Lv27.]
[Ding! Familiar Tamamo has Leveled Up! -> Lv28.]
[Ding! Familiar Tamamo's Current Level: 28 (73,700/86,800.]
[Ding! Gamer Naoto's Current Level: 28 (73,700/86,800.]
[Ding! Gamer Naoto's Stat Preview has been adjusted.]
[Ding! Familiar Tamamo's Stat Preview has been adjusted.]
[Ding! After completing Instance Dungeon II - Hamel Edition, Familiar Tamamo has acquired some of the unknown essence slumbering within Hamel from its Proving Grounds. The unknown essence has been determined.]
[Ding! Familiar Tamamo has received some energy from Divine Knight Zector!]
[Ding! Familiar Tamamo is now entering a state of slumber to refine this energy. Please have someone look after her. During this time, Gamer Naoto will not be able to call Familiar Naoto back into his body.]
"Tama...", Vita uttered, seeing Tamamo now in a deep, peaceful slumber in her embrace. She didn't think this would happen. All Tamamo mentioned to Vita was something about experiencing a growth spurt or something. Vita didn't know how long it would take for Tamamo to end her slumber. But one thing for sure was that she will grow stronger after. As to what, Vita didn't know.
All in all, the Instance Dungeon was conquered. The Hamel Tragedy came and went. Ouroboros stayed around the entire three days. Most of them, anyway. McBurn had to leave so he could begin his meditation on his newfound flame essence. He wanted to refine it entirely. He reacted very similarly to Tamamo. Different sources of energy, but same result.
As for what happened inside the village, Loewe ended up fleeing with Joshua in the direction of the closest military site. Campanella made sure to keep track of these two as they fled. A third child of the name Johan ended up fleeing toward the closest city to the north, only to be picked up by an information broker who called himself Miguel.
The girl who perished in Loewe's arms that fateful night, was in fact, Karin Astray. Joshua Astray's older sister. Naoto was no savior by any means. One reason why Naoto saved Kasia Osborne was because Kasia was his mother. It was as simple as that. Naoto didn't know what implications would be caused toward Loewe and Joshua, and by extension, Johan, if he saved Karin. With so many unknowns, Naoto decided against it.
Naoto's next target for this forbidden incantation won't be for quite a while. It is none other than Emma's mother, Isola Millstein. Her battle where she perishes against Black Alberich has not taken place yet, and won't happen for a couple more years. Naoto will still have plenty of time to prepare for this.