Kriol Masser

**Kriol Masser** was a veteran A-Rank adventurer who specialized in defense. He was the tank of the Dire Tombs Exploration Party, where he met his untimely end at the hands of the dungeon’s S-Class mana beast.

## Appearance

Kriol is a head shorter than Reginald and has brown hair and a long, braided beard. He has a large beer belly popping out of his armor, giving him a barrel-shaped torso.

## Personality

Kriol is a kind-hearted man who offers Arthur a sandwich during the dungeon dive. He deeply cares and still thinks about his fiancé years after she passed away.

## Background

Kriol was a veteran adventurer who was part of a party consisting of himself, his leader Brald Landon, Reginald Bastion and Kriol’s fiancé Clara. Over the years the four would go on countless adventures, eventually becoming A-Rank adventurers together. Kriol and the others were met with tragedy, however, after Clara was killed in a dungeon exploration. The death of Clara left a huge impact on Kriol as he never moved on from her. Even after her passing, Kriol still remembers how to make the travel sandwiches she used to make.

## Season 3

After his leader Brald discovered a secret entrance in the Dire Tombs, Kriol joined his teammates in forming the Dire Tombs Exploration Party to explore the hidden entrance; along with A-Rank conjurer’s Elijah Knight, Lucas Wykes, Oliver Hemmbet, Samantha Tempest, and AA-Rank augmenter Jasmine Flamesworth and her partner A-Rank augmenter Note, the latter of whom Reginald was excited to meet in person.

As the party entered the first level of the dungeon, the group noticed the lack of mana beasts until Reginald noticed debris falling from the ceiling, alerting Brald that they were under attack by Batrunners. With their group in formation, Reginald fought off the undead beasts while preserving his mana. As the group continued to move, Brald rediscovered the secret entrance he had marked. As everyone climbed to the top, Brald gave one more warning to the group to stay on guard as he still has no idea what other dangers awaits them.

While navigating the second level, Samatha was distracted by the sudden rise in temperature, when Note saved her from what seemed to be a trap. Reginald, surprised by the sudden attack, questioned why Brald did not warn them of the traps in the secret entrance, only for Brald to reveal that the secret entrance did not contain any traps the last time he entered. Note deduced that it was the work of a mana beast. With the group now on high alert, they continued to march forward while enduring the rising heat from the next level. Finally arriving at the exit, Brald stopped the party from moving forward as he could sense that there was an ominous pressure coming from the cavern ahead.

While making their way through the cavern of geysers, they are ambushed by the sudden appearance of an giant Cavern Worm beast. Kriol quickly put up a barrier between themselves and the monster as Brald reveals that the monster was not present the last time he explored the level, confusing Kriol as new mana beast species weren’t usually present in a dungeon like Dire Tombs. The worm began to act strangely as it made tunnels around the party before retreating into the ground.

After Kriol put down his water barrier, Oliver expressed his desire to continue the exploration and asked Samatha to follow along behind him in an effort to impress her. Brald warned Oliver not to continue as they needed to asses the situation. Brald’s warnings only fall on deaf ears as Oliver tried to take charge and walked away from the group. As Brald attempted to pull Oliver back, Note noticed the ground was about to erupt and pulled Brald back to safety as he ordered Lucas to cast heatwave barrier around everyone. Before Note could warn Oliver to cast a barrier for himself, the entire cavern was engulfed in a sea of fire, bursting from the geysers. As the flames and steam settled, the group could only look in horror at Oliver’s skeletal remains.

As the group regain their composure, Note suggests they should move out. Brald agrees and orders everyone to evacuate before the cavern ruptures again. While they rush towards the exit, they are again attacked by the Cavern Worm. Kriol shields the group from the Worms attacks as Brald commanded Elijah and Samantha to stun the worm while it was distracted. While the duo are able to push back the worm, Reginald, Jasmine and Brald attacked the worm head on, with Reginald attempting to attack the worm in its blind spots while Brald and Jasmine distracted the beast.

While the three hold off the worm, Note took the opportunity to slice at the worm, creating an opening for Jasmine to injure the worm.

The worm suddenly retreated into the ground. Believing the situation to be dealt with, Brald ordered everyone to evacuate the cavern. Unfortunately, the group realized too late that the worm was in fact distracting them before the next eruption. As everyone quickly attempted to shield themselves, Brald noticed Samantha panicking as she was unable to quickly form a barrier in time and in the heat of the moment shielded her from the eruption at the sacrifice of his right arm.

Narrowly escaping the cavern, the party took the time to rest while Reginald held Brald down as his arm was cauterized by Note.

During their break, Kriol offered to share his lunch with Note, even recommending Note to use his fire magic to slightly torch the sandwich for better taste. Afterwards, he asked Note to do the same to his sandwich. Kriol shares that the sandwich was a recipe his fiancé created while fondly reminiscing. Note commends Kriol for having such a remarkable fiancé and asks that he thanks Clara on his behalf for the sandwich, which Kriol nervously accepts. Despite the loss of his arm, Brald insisted on continuing the exploration as his final dungeon raid, while appointing Note as the new party leader as he was the most level headed and capable of leading the group, a statement Reginald agreed to.

Making their way towards the end of the tunnel, the party found themselves at another roadblock, as the tunnel was blocked off by a metal wall. Reginald and Jasmine together bypass the wall with their combined power where the group found themselves in a forest surrounded in mist. While the group tried to assess the area, Kriol is captivated by the mists hallucination of his fiancé Clara. Kriol drops his shield at the mere sight of his fiancé and ran towards the mist while screaming for her, only to be entrapped in the vines of the perpetrator; the S-Class Elderwood Guardian.

While entrapped in the monster’s body, his life force was being drained as his body was crushed. His teammates were only able to watch as Kriol cried for Clara one last time before dying. Witnessing the death of his best friend caused Reginald to cry out for Kriol as he attempted to rescue and avenge Kriol, only for Reginald to be crushed by the monster himself.

## Relationships

Brald and Reginald: Brald and Reginald are Kriol’s longtime friends and teammates, with whom he has gone on countless adventures with. Kriol and Reginald trust Brald to lead them in their dungeon raids, having absolute faith in him. The two were close to the point where they supported Kriol after the death of Clara, even attending the funeral and cremating her with Kriol.

Clara: Clara was Kriol’s teammate and fiancé. The death of his would be wife left a huge impact on Kriol as he blamed himself for not protecting her and was unable to move on from her death. Kriol is shown to still think about his fiancé, having memorized her favorite sandwich to heart, though he feels uncomfortable bringing up her passing. When he was faced with an hallucination of Clara, Kriol was brought to tears at the sight of her and wasted no time in chasing after her, regardless of the dangers it could pose.

## Abilities & Skills

Kriol is an augmenter mage, someone who can use magic within their bodies to enhance their attacks, but also able to shoot out magic after reaching a certain level. Kriol was a veteran adventurer and the tank of his party. His endurance was so strong that he could protect a large group of people from large scale attacks. His physical strength was also worth noting as he was capable of pushing back large mana beasts. As an A-Rank adventurer, Kriol is capable of soloing dungeon raids.

**Shield:** Kriol is capable of emitting large amounts of water from his shield to protect himself and others. Kriol’s shield can also function as a weapon as he used it to fight off Batrunners to preserve his mana.

**Water Elemental:** As a dark yellow core mage, Kriol has a single specialization in water that he emits from his shield for strong defensive spells such as barriers.

* **Water barrier:** Kriol’s signature defensive spell. Kriol raises his shield high above his head before bringing down and driving it into the group as a whirlpool of water encases himself. His barrier is strong enough to defend against large mana beasts as well as high levels of heat, and large enough to protect himself and at least 8 people including himself.

## Quotes

* (To the mist) *"Cl-Clara? Is that really you? I knew you couldn't be dead, Clara! Stay there! I'm coming to get you!"*

## Notes & Trivia

* The travel sandwich recipe was created by Kriol's fiancé.

## References

1. ↑ The Beginning After The End Webcomic: Season 3 – Episode 78
2. ↑ The Beginning After The End Webcomic: Season 3 — Episode 76