"Remember, bring the bow to eye level." Mat could feel Nian from behind, her hands guiding his own as he drew the bow. He knocked an arrow to it and pulled back the bowstring before letting go, the arrow zipping through the air before hitting a stone wall on the other side with a clink.

"Your form is kinda weak and there's not much force behind the pull, but that'll do for now." Nian patted him on his back. It was weird getting a compliment from her, but he took what he could get.

After that Mat fitted on leather armor with a steel breastplate to his chest. Youmu had lent it to him earlier along with a couple of spears, longswords, shortswords, and shields, though Mat only brought the sword and shield with him. Youmu was, in every word, a walking armory.

This was all to get ready for his first-ever dungeon, a solo clear no less. Normally dungeons were done in five-person groups to clear it in minimal time but this was a special case.

The girls said they didn't mind waiting, saying it was okay for Mat to take his time moving through the dungeon. The problem was, Mat didn't know how long he would take to clear it. Dungeons have different clear times depending on their level, with low-level dungeons taking at most half a day with a well-rounded team, while higher level dungeons took much, much longer- often amounting to months even with experienced, twenty-person groups.

The girls estimated about five days, but they seemed to underestimate Mat greatly. At least, his goal was to finish it within two days day. A day if he really was feeling it.

Amigo was ordered to stay behind, mostly because the giant direwolf was an E-grade monster. He could easily outfight the monsters in the dungeon, so that was a handicap the girls put him on.

With a sword and shield and a pair of bow and quiver to his back, along with his trusty ghost bird nested on his shoulder, Mat felt more or less ready. He wasn't Lara Croft or anything but he could feel his blood pumping, feeling like nothing could strike him down.

. . .

Searing heat pierced Mat's hand. He turned, seeing a bloodied hole pierced through his wrist.

"Fuck." It hurt. It was as if a molten iron punched through, searing the muscle and bone to chars around his wrist. He dropped to the ground, gritting his teeth with cold sweat dripping on his cheeks.

"I'm going." Nian said from behind.

"Don't!" Mat said, turning to her. He was groaning in pain, gripping tightly his wrist as blood spluttered out from it. It was hell. The throbbing in his hand drowned him in pain.

Every second came with a burning pulse. Mat couldn't deny that he severely overestimated himself.

He groaned forced breaths through gritted teeth. Once, twice, thrice- as many times as he needed before slowly regaining his composure. He bit through the pain, turning to stand as he focused back his eyes to the two giant eyeballs floating around.

His ghost bird was distracting the monsters, whipping through the air like a jet and pouncing whenever it could take the chance to. The floating eyes were shooting laser beams towards it, though they didn't have much accuracy to them. Still, it only took one stray laser to hit, and it would be all over him and his bird.

"I got this." Mat took an arrow from the quiver behind before knocking it to his bow. He'd miss three shots already, and with the floating eyeballs moving and zipping around like drones, his accuracy was really tested.

He had to try something else. It wasn't enough for his shots to be accurate since the eyes could just react and dodge so easily. They also had to be distracted. He needed a decoy, and his ghost bird was the perfect one for it.

Mat whistled for his bird to pounce on one eye. Whilst the eye was busy fending off the bird's talons, he took the shot, letting go of the bowstring and sending the arrow flying. It hit the eyeball spot on.

"Nice!" Nian shouted from the back as the eyeball dropped to the ground.

Mat looked to the other eye. One more. He whistled for his ghost bird to pounce again, distracting the eye while he knocked another arrow to his bow. The eye countered with another beam of laser, directing its trajectory towards the bird. It was accurate, with the laser hitting its wing straight through, sending the bird falling to the ground.

It was now or never. A moment of hesitation could cost Mat greatly. With his heart racing and his blood heating, he let go of the bowstring, the arrow sent zipping through the air.

It pierced straight through the monster.

"Let's fucking go!" Mat let out a hurrah, dropping his bow to the ground before running towards his felled bird. He crouched to it, cradling it in his arms before slowly backing to the girls who were watching from the sideline.

"Good job, buddy." Mat beamed the bird a wide smile, shoving the painful throbbing of his wrist aside. "You were the perfect wingman back there."

Nian walked to them both, handing Mat a health potion before nudging a fist to his chest. "Good job." She beamed a smile. "For a second there I thought you were going to die, and to the weakest monsters around no less."

"Thank god I didn't." Mat downed the health pot, feeling the swirling breeze inside him. The throbbing pain from his wrist died down almost instantly, the burnt hole that was once there completely healed. He let out a deep sigh of relief. The pain has really been eating on him.

Amigo followed behind Nian, kneading his giant furry head to Mat.

"I'm glad I'm not dead too." Mat smothered his face into the giant wolf's warm fur. He could feel his body leaning to him, the cottony comfort tempting his body to just shut down and go into deep sleep.

"You do know you still have hundreds of other monsters to go, right?"

Mat groaned. "Just let me rest a bit."