The three warriors are lying on the floor panting heavily.

“So slow.” Claire complained. “It took you forever to kill them. So many wasted moves. What were you three doing out there. I would have used my strongest move from the start.”

“Yeah, I would like to ….*Breath* ….see you fight them with your limiter on.” Tulda retorted. “Plus that damned wolf was fast.”

“I would have killed them in a single attack.” Claire replied smugly as she stood on Tulda’s stomach who was now wincing in pain.

“Get off me!! You heav…” Tulda never got to complete that sentence as he was sent flying away with a kick.

“That may have been pushing it.” Crayford said as he went over the battle in his mind. “Boze, you need to work on defense. Your offense is quite good but still lacking.”

Boze agreed with his eyes. He didn’t have the strength to talk.

“And Hem. What was with those silly attack moves?” Crayford asked in annoyance. “Those stupid poses nearly got you killed.”

“I was only going easy on them.” He lifelessly defended himself.

“Didn’t we agree this was training? What is the point of having limiters on, if you are going to play around.” Crayford was angry.

“Aww…come on Master. Don’t be like that. You know as well as I do that monsters of this level are nothing we need to worrrryyyyy…..” Hem was the next one to be sent flying off by Claire.

“Don’t be rude Hem!” Claire shouted out. “We are here training. Our real right begins after this dungeon! There is no meaning to this if you take it with such a laid back attitude! Master, didn’t have to accompany us for this training, we specifically requested him. Do you not know how precious Master’s time is? For you to be squandering his precious time is as good as insulting him!”

Hem slowly got up and apologized. “I will take it seriously next time.”

Crayford raised his hand, “It’s alright. Just think about why we are really here. We can kill a hundred of those monsters. But if we plan to go up against the Empire….then we need a lot more than stupid poses during battles to win…You remember what it was like a hundred year ago?”

The eyes of four warriors shined fiercely when Crayford mentioned the Empire. Clearly, they held some hatred against the Empire.

“Remember the battle at Feladonia?” Crayford asked in a heavy dark tone.

“I will never forget it.” Hem replied.

“Looks like you took it too lightly….maybe our total defeat wasn’t too humiliating for you…”

“Master, please stop. I am sorry. I swear on my name, I will take this training more seriously henceforth. That humiliating defeat…” Hem clenched his fist in anger as he recalled the battle.

“If we want to have any hope against those monsters called Cardinals, we need to go all out in preparation and treat each training like it is the real thing.”

Everyone nodded quietly. A long silence, hung in the air as the three warriors quietly reflected on their battle.

“Let us move on.” Boze suggested breaking up the heavy silence.

***

“Gatekeeper!! Those intruders cleared the third floor instantly!!” A tiny goblin wailed as it ran down the stairs.

“They defeated all four bosses?” Sora asked with a hint of surprise. “Didn’t you assure me it was impossible for a party to clear four Gatekeepers at the same time?”

The tiny goblin crashed in front of Sora holding the crystal ball. Why am I being blamed! No one has cleared those four monsters of monsters before with such ease!

Sora picked it up to view the recording of battle.

“Oh so they are martial artists to the core…..” Sora spoke with a certain vague and mysterious delight. However, he stopped speaking when he saw the battle unfold. “Two of them didn’t fight?”

The goblin nodded.

“And they are holding back…they are faster than this…..” Sora said as he watched the recording and assessed the party’s strength.

There was a certain troubled thought that spread across Sora’s face. “Those guys…..this is training for them? It might be impossible for me to defeat them.”

The tiny goblin looked at Sora in shock upon hearing the declaration of defeat.

“If that is their level of strength….then their true strength should be three times? Four times that…I can’t gauge their strength because I have never fought against these monsters nor have I ever met anyone from the outside….honestly, they are quite skilful. And they are also being guided by a very smart fellow. It is definitely impossible. If it were just those four, they would have been contained to the fourth floor – that maze is impossible to beath. However, this man….will figure it out. Can’t you assassinate him?” Sora asked as he looked down on the goblin.

“Impossible Gatekeeper! He is stronger than the other four!”

“Tch…there is nothing more that can be done in that case.” Sora nonchalantly replied.

“But Gatekeeper!” The tiny goblin wailed.

“What?” Sora asked out of irritation as he handed the crystal ball back to the goblin.

“Our lives are at stake!”

“I thought you said, everyone is dead?” Sora asked with curiousity.

*Yikes*

“Oh so you lied to me….”

“No majestic grand Gatekeeper!”

Sora began cracking his bones. “Let this Grand Majestic Gatekeeper hear all the details, in that case.”

After beating the goblin to pulp and having extracted the truth, Sora lay back on the beach chair.

200 Goblins left, most of them are non-combat type. Other than hiding there is nothing else that can be expected of them. If those five are foolish, I can defeat them however if they are seasoned fighters….then it is impossible for me.

“Come warriors. Those skills which you have displayed is very similar to the martial arts I have studied….this might be interesting in more than one way….” Sora spoke with a satisfied smile. “I never intended to play this role seriously, but if you are that strong, then why not.”