Chapter 14

“If you promise to help me find a way to unseal myself...” She smiled. “I’ll be yours.”

Half of her face had reflected the light seeping in from the door. Light glittered in her eyes like it created its own glow. Kazu could hear her breathing as she closed in on his face. She was close enough for Kazu to see his own reflection on her eyes.

“What?” Kazu asked. “Be mine... as in your body?”

“What?!” Mel jumped back with a flushed face. “No! I meant I’ll help you if you help me… that’s how it works right?”

If the lighting were any brighter, Kazu would’ve saw her ears in a bright red colour and her cheeks as red as a rose. And just as Kazu narrowed his eyes to focus, Mel turned around to hide her face before Kazu could take an even closer look.

“But what do I exactly have to unseal?” Kazu asked.

Before answering Kazu, Mel bit her lips. Irritation caused her to scratch her thumb with her index finger. Then, at last, she looked back at Kazu.

“To release me from this sword.” Mel pointed at the rusted sword lying on the ground unattended. “I was sealed into this sword. And since you’re converting, I think you’d have a chance at it.”

“I don’t even know what I’m getting into. How can you expect me to accept just like that?” Kazu barked.

“Ah…” Her shoulders drooped down at Kazu’s answer. The look of disappointment from her forced smile put a heavy burden on Kazu’s heart. “Then Its fine… but at least help me get out of this dungeon.”

Kazu wanted to retort again, but couldn’t help but keep quiet. The disappointment that ran on her face guilt tripped him too much. Was it because of his jealousy of her strength? He thought. No, it was deeper than that. He couldn’t bare to see a girl that looks and sounds like Aiko. To him, she was fake, an illusion. Having her by his side will hurt him in the long run—that was Kazu’s logic.

Soon after, the ghost disappeared and light flowed back into the sword. Its heartbeat rhythmed again on the metal and handle of the sword.

After picking up the sword, Kazu left the room, determined to escape the dungeon.

***

Bam! Clang! Clang! Clang! Bam!

Kazu danced with the rusted sword facing the same full armoured cyclops. Dodging or blocking every attack of the cyclops, Kazu’s skill was no longer equal to it. The memories of the graceful dance ingrained itself to his body. His movement now moved in fluid motions in and out of combat with the cyclops.

What Kazu lacked now was insight cultivated by continuous fights, battles, and wars. Each stepping stone must be treated with care. His first stepping stone—the cyclops in front of him.

Shiiiin!

Sparks flew as Kazu deflected the blunt weapon of the cyclops, but he didn’t stop there. The sword seemed to grasp the wooden bat of his opponent and throw it behind him. This sequence of moves caused the cyclops to tumble in imbalance.

Kazu took this chance to do a point blank >.

With that, the match ended. Counting from his encounters of the cyclops, he had a total of 3 attempts facing the same opponent. On that 3rd attempt, Kazu won.

Mel: Watch your footwork. You took too long to end that fight when you were clearly better than the opponent.

No trace of change in his facial expression when he heard her say that. The sweet voice from a few hours ago now sounded cold. This was a given as their relationship turned sour when Kazu declined her earlier. Their talks in between fights also became non-existent. However, he didn’t mind it.

Mel: To the humans, these cyclops are usually classified as high B rank monsters. Up ahead, ogres. Low A rank monsters. Don’t let your guard down, they’re stronger in groups.

Kazu nodded.

>

Step by step, he closed in on the lone ogre. It had its back away from Kazu, walking away. Pustules on its back and arms protruded from the skin. The ogre didn’t seem to be on alert as its face showed no sign of focus. For a while, Kazu followed the ogre and found out that it was moving in circles. It was patrolling, he thought.

>

Opponent must be equal or lower in level.

Tch, Status!

StatusNameKazu TomoeLevel31Strength518Vitality440Wisdom397Intelligence412Agility524Stamina502Endurance595Luck31Phys. R10237Mag. R.12202Unique Traits:

Hero Stats

Artifact "Exended Status"

Even knowing that the status was just an assist method, some had full reliance on it. > skill was one of these. From the beginning he acquired the skill, the skill took control of his body whenever he activated it. Trying to do the skill on the ogre, Kazu confirmed his suspicions about the skill.

Mel: Kill it.

On the sound of that command, Kazu lunged his sword at the back of the ogre; also breaking the stealth’s effect. The sound of the wind attracted the attention of the ogre making it turn his head to the back. Its eyes widened as Kazu took a full swing at its upper spine. Surprised at the sudden encounter, the ogre tripped forward letting out a weird grunt.

Kazu’s sword took a full swing and a miss. But his next attack come at a ferocious speed. It didn’t let the ogre have any time for recovery, at least, that’s what he thought.

A shock came to Kazu. As the ogre got up from the floor, it had kicked Kazu up. He flew back several meters. Had it not been for his quick reaction, blocking in time would have been impossible for the normal human.

[[ Due to successful block, Phys R. neutralized the damage ]]

“Grooooaaarghhh!” The ogre screamed.

A smirk appeared on Kazu’s lips. Last time it screamed, a terrifying debuff fell on him. This time, however, such effects didn’t attach to him.

Mel: Do Rising Wind to close in and cancel the 2nd sequence. After that, jump up to strike at its head.

>

Kazu lunged at the ogre from several meters away. Air around him gathered, creating an ear piercing noise. At that speed, he stomped the ground just below the ogre. The sword swung upwards with all the momentum and wind gathered at its tip.

Mel: What are you doing?!

Yet an impenetrable wall presented itself in front of Kazu. The ogre had put up its defense with its two hands that seemed to cover its whole body. In that moment, the swung was already in mid motion.

Clang!

Mel: Run!

The ogre deflected the sword as it twisted its body in an unbelievable angle to avoid the sharpness of the blade. Its ugly orange eyes caught contact with Kazu’s. Both anger and caution presented itself behind the eyes of the monster he faced. A split second after the block, its fist, covered in gauntlets, set in motion.

Boom!

The fist slammed him into the ground. He bounced up in the air from the force and before he could recover, another fist came at him.

Boom!

The slam sent him flying tens of meters away. Kazu recovered in mid air and used this chance to escape. As he ran away, his head turned back to look back at the ogre. It didn’t move from where it stood and a smirk appeared on its face—a rebuttal of his earlier smirk. Kazu’s eyes furrowed and clenched his teeth in irritation.

After running away through a few more corners, he stopped in the middle of the hallway. No monsters appeared in his range of awareness. The area around Kazu had no bones nor signs of any battle. Small tables situated on the walls still kept their original form. It was safe to say that this area is well outside of the battlefield.

Mel: Why didn’t you follow what I said?!

“Alright that one was my bad.” Kazu’s grip tightened. “The ogre looked slow so I…”

Mel: Don’t underestimate anyone, ever. If you followed my instructions, you would have past through his defense. So predictable, so predictable!

“I get it!” Kazu shouted. With each conversation they had, all they did was fight. If she had a different appearance, maybe he would be able to accept her more easily, he thought. Nevertheless, she had the appearance of her.

***

Wandering back into the red area, he took each step with caution. He followed the soft breeze of the wind flowing through the hallways hoping that it would lead to freedom.

In the distance, an ogre appeared. Its arms held on to a trunk of a tree and the signature pustules covered its body. The smell of its stench reeked even more than the ogre he met before. As usual, it was walking away in a patrol like demeanor with its sloven face.

Without waiting, Kazu lunged a pre-emptive strike at the ogre. Since it was a surprise attack, Kazu aimed for one of its legs. The air made a sharp noise and upon contacting with the thick leg, the flesh cut apart like butter.

“Graaarghh!” The ogre screamed.

It dripped into its own bloody mess, yet the spurting blood halted in just a minute. Its regenerating capacity was even more scary than the cyclops. Kazu saw it with his own eyes. The moment the ogre fell on its cut off leg, it reattached its own leg and the fibers of its muscles reattached like worms hugging each other.

Yet, its breathing became ragged.

Mel: Now’s your chance! Finish it off with Forward Gale!

Whoosh!

The air split into a blades hurling itself from point blank range. Those blades came from below the ogre that stood towering over the being that caused its manifestation.

Slice, slice, slice.

However, what awed Kazu was not the ogre dying so quickly. He followed Mel’s instructions to the word so he didn’t have time to do a proper stance for Forward Gale. He struck with Forward Gale from Rising Wind’s position. It activated and the noise felt more clean. The sound it made sounded more like Rising Wind than the actual Forward Gale.

Mel: That’s right. Depending on the temperament of the stance, Forward Gale’s properties will change.

Although Kazu couldn’t see her, he imagined she would have a proud smile on her lips from saying that. Even though he couldn’t accept her, he admitted, in his mind, she knew more about the style than himself.

Thud...

The ogre dropped dead with numerous gaping wounds on its body and its eyes showed no signs of life. Intestines and stomachs bulged out from the wounds on its abdomen. Its stench made Kazu’s eyes water, but he did not hurl. Killing hundreds of zombies steeled his nerves against such a sight.

Kazu’s eyes narrowed at such a scene. The taste of complete victory rested on the top of his tongue, but he didn’t show satisfaction. He knew that this was just the beginning.

—And there it was.

A cloud of dust far away in the distance of the hallway headed its way towards him.

“Mel.” His sterned his own stance and prepared for the battle. “I’m counting on you!”

Mel: Of course. The beating heart of the sword grew fast.

Two ogres came. One of them wielded a tree and the other wore gauntlets. When Kazu saw the one with the gauntlets, anger ran through his veins.

As he gathered strength to his legs, his grip tightened. When they reached the distance of 20 meters, his body shot itself like an arrow low on the ground. The air let out a sharp noise as he streamed through it.

The ogre with tree shaped like a bat prepared a baseball player like stance. As soon as Kazu reached the perfect distance for his tree, Kazu pushed up on the ground. His body flip forward and now, he was behind them.

Mel: Go for the gauntlet, he’s more dangerous. Rising wind then jump like last time.

>

Kazu appeared below the gauntlet ogre. Its fists already positioned in defense like an unbreakable wall. However, the gauntlet ogre’s eyes widened when it looked up. Kazu positioned himself above, completely passing through the gauntlet’s defense.

Whoosh! >

But it wasn’t over there. The other ogre kicked away the gauntlet ogre. In turn, the ogre’s leg blew apart, but not without striking Kazu.

Bam!

The ogre hit Kazu like a baseball, sending him flying tens of meters away. Blood dripped from the corner of Kazu’s lips and his breathing became ragged.

Mel: This is bad. Ogre teamwork is notorious, just run!

“No!” Kazu shouted. “I need to… to win!”

Mel: Don’t be careless I said! You can’t win right now...

“You have no idea what I’ve been put through.” Kazu cried. “I would rather have died back in my world where my friends were… where she was!

“When I first saw you as a ghost… I was surprised. But now, I think I regret meeting a sword like you.”

Mel: W-wha…?

“I’m saying you look exactly like her!” Kazu collapsed on the floor, coughing up blood. “I can never see her again. So tell me… how can I ever accept you?”

The ogres closed in and the first to reach him was the one with the gauntlets. Its fist created a violent gust and the giant wall of a fist came hurling at Kazu.

Looking at this sight, Kazu’s blood boiled even further. A state of overload ,he felt during the verge of his life, steeped into his blood. The movements he saw became even slower. Details of the scenery looked sharper and he felt every centimeter of the wind around.

He would have rather died back on Earth than to be put through all of these miseries. At least dying with friends, he wouldn't be alone and she would be beside him. It was all taken away from him. Stolen.

Yet in this world, power ruled over everything. The fist of the ogre in front of him symbolized all of that as it laid down an arrogant smirk. There was no way to go back—without power. No way to live—without power. No way to see her again—without power.

In a swift movement, Kazu moved his arms that held the sword right in front of the fist. Using the blade instead of the flat, he slashed open through the metal into its bones. His eyes furrowed in pain, the amount of concentration it took gave Kazu intense fatigue. Every fiber of muscle in his body screamed at him to rest.

But he continued.

“Grooooorrgh!” The ogre screamed.

Mel: Hold the sword high and slide down into a spin right below the ogre with the tree.

Ignoring the disoriented gauntlet ogre, kazu slid towards the ogre holding the tree like bat. As soon as he got between the legs, he spun, slicing both legs at the same time.

Mel: Forward Gale.

In that exact moment, he took on the normal stance and let the sonic boom of the Forward Gale. The wind skewered the ogre and the gauntlet ogre in a line. Mince meat blended in with metal splashed all over the wall. More blood coated the floor and turned it into an even deeper red.

With the guidance of Mel, much to his distraught, Kazu convincingly killed both ogres in a small amount of time.

Few hours passed by encountering all sorts of monsters. From ogre shamans to ogres of all kinds to spider bees and cyclops. With the guidance of Mel, Kazu survived all of them. Yet during this time, Kazu and Mel avoided all casual topics or conversations.

Ogre shamans were easy as they didn’t have any physical strength nor skills to run away. They casted weak magic that didn’t even make Kazu flinch with his innate magic defense as long as he blocked properly. During the time he met the shamans, his scan ability leveled up and now named itself “Detailed Scan”.

Detailed scan gave out information on the opponent’s stats, however, it consumed 5000 mana. Each time Kazu used it, he would feel slight exhaustion. However, he was still able to use the previous version, “Scan”. And through this new ability, he found out that his stats were generally higher than the monsters.

At any rate, ogres of all kinds ranging from fully armoured to ones that wielded huge metal poles took on Kazu with much more effort. The full armoured ones surprised Kazu with their extreme agility much like the cyclops he had a hard time with. What irritated him was that there were more of them than he imagined as he has not encountered an armoured cyclops in a while.

He freely used Forward Gale with no care about attracting attention. In fact, he used it to wear down the upcoming battle with Euopth. Since Euopth would always run after him when it heard the sonic boom, he ran around with no care each time he used Forward Gale. Staying at one spot too long became a bad idea.

However, he took short breaks in between to fill himself up and to get rid of the built up fatigue. The amount of effort he put in all went into one goal—to get out of this damned world. Even with his lung cancer back on Earth, this place felt like hell and Earth felt like paradise.

“Status”

StatusNameKazu TomoeLevel46Strength518Vitality440Wisdom397Intelligence412Agility524Stamina502Endurance595Luck31Phys. R10237Mag. R.12202Unique Traits:

Hero Stats

Artifact "Exended Status"

In the span of those few hours, his status reached a level of 46 with monstrous stats. Since he himself became a monster through conversion, he was confident that he could take on Euopth after tiring him out.

“KRAAAARAK!” Euopth screeched.

With furrowed eyes, Kazu smiled. The 4 meter tall towering beast presented itself—Boss of the 2nd floor. its body was wide, almost covering all of the 10 meter wide hallways. Yellow and black stripes covered its insect like fur. On its stinger, an eye looked at Kazu with bloodshot like red linings.

The anger on its eyes could also be seen on its heavy breathing. For hours, it kept on chasing Kazu. With that said, who would not be angry at their prey continuously running away? The prey it saw also had an arrogant smirk on its lips. Blood boiled even further as Euopth saw this.

Suddenly, Euopth let out a barrage of needle poles at Kazu.

>

StatusNameNeedle PoleTypeOrganic Metal, Poisoned, PhysicalAttack Rating???-???Armour piercing, Unblockable.

The battle of his lifetime came with Euopth’s initiative. Kazu ran seeing as there was no chance of blocking the needle poles. From the first time he saw Euopth, he had scanned her. From her HP alone, he figured Euopth won’t be able to take much damage. He only needed one chance—one clean strike!

Kazu ran through the halls searching for areas suitable for fighting. Behind him, Euopth kept up with her large body and surprising speed.

After running for a while the numerous intersections stopped. He persisted following the direction of the wind until a large hall presented itself in his vision. It looked like a place where people entered the building—an entrance hall. Except it was huge. The entire hall could fit over 500 people, he thought.

There were stairs that lead up. From behind him, he could hear Euopth’s crawling speed. Kazu ran up the stairs to continue following the wind without hesitation. The path became straight, but he didn’t care. As long as he followed the wind, he wouldn’t get lost.

Then at the end of the path, 2 huge stone double doors blocked his path.

“Mel, you think we can cut through here?” Kazu asked.

Mel: Forward Gale should be able to cut through this thickness.

BOOOM!

The stone doors shattered, but not completely. The wind busted a large hole onto the door. From that large hole, cracks permeated from it. With no hesitation, Kazu entered the unknown room.

His eyes widened in disbelief as he saw the hall.

“Ephermal Labyrinth Dungeon, Hall of summoning, Austere Church of Fae the Light God.” Kazu whispered.

This place began everything in his new life. From the highs and lows of his short life on this world, this place started it.

Kazu looked at the paintings everywhere and the sculpted pillars. It wasn’t as big as the entrance hall, but it could fit 100 people inside. Chandeliers above glowed a dim light showing the artistic paintings of a single light purging the dark. However, the hospital bed and the medical equipment were no longer there.

Bam!

“KRAAARARAAAAK!” Euopth smashed through the stone double doors.

Immediately shooting out her needles at Kazu, she jumped up far using the darkness in the ceiling to conceal herself.

Kazu managed to flip backwards to dodge her couple of shots. In retaliation, Kazu shot out his own ranged attack, Forward Gale. Continuous streams of both needles and wind shot in multiple directions aimed at each other.

Euopth still used the low visibility from ceiling to its advantage. However, that’s when Kazu smirked. As Euopth changed her position, huge rocks fell on her when she stepped onto a different platform of the ceiling. With her weak defense and vitality, those rocks might injure her.

Mel: She’s coming down. Slice up her legs first before anything else. Her agility will hinder you in the future if you don’t take care of them now.

Kazu nodded.

Euopth climbed down one of the pillars. The red in its eyes became an even deeper colour. Anger piled up on top of anger made her body shiver.

“KRAAAAAAAAAKKKK” She screamed.

Such treatment was not fit for the queen of the 2nd floor. Everyone that dared stand her way would have been killed by now, so why has the little insect not died? These thoughts ran through her head as she spat out countless of needles at the human.

However, the human zigzagged through them. Each needle only missed by a hairline. Why couldn’t she hit him?!

Slice.

Her front leg broke off. Splashes of green acidic liquid splashed all over. A few drops fell on Kazu’s chest.

“Agghh.” Kazu groaned.

Mel: Tch, it has acidic blood. Again! But follow up Rising Wind with Forward Gale. Also she’s going to use her bleeding to prevent your movement.

Euopth crawled at Kazu with amazing speed. She waved her broken leg around to splash acid everywhere. No longer did she see Kazu as prey. Instead, she now saw him as a threat. To her, it became a kill or die situation.

Each droplet of acid in the air caused the surroundings to heat up. Kazu avoided all of the droplets just by a bit, but some still managed to land themselves on him. It was obvious he’s going to have to break through such tactics through force. With only Mel’s guidance, the beginner Kazu could not avoid all of the droplets.

Again, Kazu rushed in with Rising Wind. This time, he used Forward Gale to cut one of the limbs-

Boom!

One of other limbs kicked him up, a mistake on his part not factoring in the other 7 legs of the spider. Now mid-air, there was nothing he could do and the expected needle came piercing at him.

Kazu twisted his body to minimize the damage. The needle scratched his side just above his waist. But still, it caused a lot of pain and poison started running over his body. He fell several meters away, landing just behind a pillar.

Mel: Kazu!! She cried out. Can you hold out?

“Yeah.” Kazu groaned while holding his side. “Tell me what to do.”

Mel: But you’r-

“Just do it!” Kazu screamed.

Mel: Play dead like you’re hurt and can’t move anymore.

On Mel’s command, he put full trust on her.

Kazu pretended to be hurt, making the rusted sword support his weight. He breathed heavily to make it even more believable. And sure enough, it walked towards him at a leisure pace like it had already won.

—But it was all a ruse. Due to its sadistic nature, it will finish off most of its prey through an execution style. And since Kazu pretended to be hurt, his status reverted back to that of a prey.

When she came in range, she showed her stinger just in front of Kazu’s face. Euopth narrowing her eyes on the stinger, she slowly brought out its stinger like the time she finished off the ghoul; truly a sadistic behaviour. Kazu’s eyes narrowed, choosing where to strike.

Then suddenly, Euopth’s eyes widened looking at something behind Kazu.

Mel: Do it now!

In that instant, the beast jumped back in defense. Kazu took this chance to attack with >. When he got into attack range, he aimed at the stinger, assuming it was the head. Kazu’s rusted sword was now in mid motion towards the stinger.

CLANG~!

His sword was blocked by a needle, also losing all the wind built up by Rising Wind. Irritation swelled up in Kazu’s stomach while he was still in motion.

>

He used it again, keeping up his spacing with the beast’s jump.

“AAAAH!!” Kazu screamed.

Mel: Forward Gale from Rising Wind!

As soon as the beast and Kazu landed in unison, the swing came in already in motion with its storm like wind. A slice upwards created a beam of light produced by the rusted sword’s reflection of the dim light.

Following that light, a storm of razor sharp winds shot up at Euopth’s body. Numerous cuts appeared all over its body; all of its legs were cut up by the wind; and lasty, it was made into minced meat once the effect of the wind was over. The fatal flaw of Euopth: weak body.

The one chance showed itself. There, it ended it in an instant.

Silence fell upon the room. Only the sizzling sound of Euopth’s blood made disturbed the silence. Looking at the hall, the whole thing became ruins. The pillars remained, but most of the ceiling sat on the floor of the hall.

Step… step… step…

Kazu looked back at the sound coming from the stone doors he entered from. A man in dark robes covering his face stepped in from the destroyed stone doors. He had heavy metal bracelets covering his wrists and loose metal chains that hung from it. The staff he wore glowed in ominous green with a skull on the top of the staff. 2 ghouls in butler suits stood in each of his side.

Clap…

Clap…

Clap…

“Child… well… done…”

Mel: This is bad. He’s not someone you can win against. Run.

“Now child…. give… me… that… sword…”

Confused, Kazu walked the other direction. He knew where the portal was and as long as its functioning, he can get out of this dark place.

But his troubles weren’t over yet, a ghoul blocked the door he wanted to exit from. It stood at a cat like stance, ready for an attack.

Mel: Kazu! Run now!

Suddenly, hundreds upon hundreds of ghouls ran down from the pillars and dropped from the ceiling. The sheer amount of ghouls shocked Kazu. He was confident in fighting them one on one, but this became a totally different matter.

“Kill him!” The mysterious man shouted.

Kazu pounced at the ghoul blocking his way. The ghoul twisted its body into an impossible pose causing Kazu’s pounce to miss! However, that wasn’t Kazu’s goal. He continued his speed and passed the ghoul.

“Stop him!” The mysterious man commanded.

The scenery of the familiar hallway sped through his vision. Kazu took each turn with aggression, although his speed wasn’t enough to outpace the ghouls. His earlier battle with Euopth took a hefty amount of his stamina and endurance. But finally, he reached his destination.

Mel: That’s…!

The platform glowed an ominous yellow. Still active, he thought.

Despite that, hundreds of ghouls screamed at him from behind as he entered the room. Once he took on the platform, he needed a minute for it to activate. The amount of time it needed to activate was too long!

A battle of attrition begun.

>

Ghouls flooded the room up to the ceiling, damping the whole area black. Kazu stood at the center of the room on the platform being the only light in the room. A storm of blades came dancing out every second with him being the center. Every time it shot out, numerous ghouls would die.

But even then, endless amount of tendrils lashed at him. He endured the ones from the back and blocked all of the lashes coming from above and in front.

Mel: Kazu!

Their teeth put a fright on his face. The ogre from yesterday died by one of these and eaten clean to the bone. It was not a death Kazu wanted.

All he could do was endure the pain.

Half a minute passed. Hundreds of ghouls died and Kazu’s body ragged with whips.

Kazu’s sword slipped off his hand and a bright shining light enveloped Kazu like an orb. Mel took on her ghost form and blocked all the incoming attacks using her last bits of energy.

Suddenly, the platform initiated. The runs around the platform spun until it reached a velocity in which it made a solid line. It became brighter and brighter until light filled the room that seemed to purge the darkness.

Mel: Kazu-kun, Good-bye. Tears formed around the corner of her eyes as she looked back at kazu.

Aiko?!

The teleportation begun

His vision became distorted, then faded into the light. But before that, he forced his hand to grab the hilt of the sword.

The scenery, now, was a dripping moist cave with light passing through the cracks of the cave’s ceiling. He could hear the chirping birds, the leaves scraping against each other from the breeze wind, and the warmth of the sun.

“Aiko!” Kazu shouted. “Don’t joke with me… Aiko!”

Kazu punched the floor of the cave as he looked at the sword on his other hand. Its heartbeat was at its weakest.

***

“Brett, you can’t be serious.” Mizz exclaimed. “We’ve been looking for him for almost 2 weeks. Don’t you think—”

“Mizz.” Krey grabbed on to Mizz’s arm to stop her from saying that last word.

“Mizz, if you want to go back, you can.” Raym turned her head towards Mizz as her eyebrows turned down. “We’ll keep going until we find him.”

“Careful!” Mizz shouted. “There’s an ogre just around the corner!”

“Alright, stand back. I’ll be in the front. Krey, back me up. Raym, make sure to look for an opening and Mizz, make sure to keep an eye out on other monsters near us and heal whenever one of us gets hurt.” Brett commanded.

“”””Understood””””

The ogre came around the corner, setting its eyes set on the group.

“GROOOOOOOARRRGHHH!”

The atmosphere shook as the ogre shouted with all its might. Everyone’s expression tensed as they saw its tree sized club it used for its weapon.

However, even with its menacing size, with Brett’s team’s perfect composition, the ogre was clearly outmatched.

In a blink of an eye, the ogre laid dead on the ground.

“Eeeww.” Mizz gagged. “Fortunately these things are only troublesome in large groups. At most its low A rank right?”

“Mizz, keep your eyes focused. We’re not here to play around.” Brett snarked.

Mizz eyes widened after Brett’s comment. “There’s a group of humans coming our way. Brett, your friends?”

“Don’t recall. Everyone, guards up.”

Two men with purple hair came over from the corner. Adraine and Nedraine, Ned for short. They had their weapons drawn, obviously looking for a fight.

“Well, well. Look what we have here.” Adraine smirked.

“Older brother, let me have the nayan bitch.” Nedraines eyes were full of lust as he stared at Raym.

“Look, we’re not looking for trouble. If you leave us alone, no one gets hurt.” Brett commented.

“Huh? Who’s going to get hurt?” Adraine put out his hands as it to intimidate Brett. Arrogance and pride permeated all over his body. Even more so with his prided armour with multiple gems.

“Brett, his armour and those gems…” Krey commented.

“Aah, I know.” Brett replied.

#####################

Thanks for reading.

Spoiler : I don’t think anyone wants to go through 4 more chapters of pure fighting in the dungeon so I summarized it.