A few hours ago. Before everyone started moving to the boarman's base, each group were having a discussion on how they should proceed when they attacked the base and that included Dianne's group too.
"I have decided to make the mage as the main attacker of our group attack," said Dianne. She continued, "With the mage taking the main role, the others will support them. I think it is better for us to work in a smaller group and thus, I will be dividing our group members into smaller group."
With that announcement, Dianne asked if anyone dissatisfied with her decision and apparently no one said no. Everyone agreed with her arrangement including Cade though Cade was a bit disappointed.
"I thought I can fight alone but I guess that is not happening," thought Cade as he felt dejected that he cannot fight by himself. He was really looking forward to this mission as he wanted to try fighting the healthy boarman alone.
Dianne saw Cade's disappointed face and thought, "I am not sure why you are disappointed but this is for your safety. You are the key person for us to win this world dungeon and I cannot put you in a dangerous situation."
"Hmm~ I guess I need to hold the boarman with my shield again and let others kill them," thought Cade with a bitter smile while looking at his cardboard round shield that had been playing a huge role in his survival against the boarman.
After that discussion, everyone continued their preparation before they departed. While Cade was preparing himself, someone came to him.
"Cade, can I talk to you for a bit?" said that person. It was a girl a few years older than Cade. She was not beautiful nor ugly and she was average. Her name was Lynn.
Lynn joined the group way after Cade joined them. In a sense, Cade was a senior to her in the camp. She was not someone that loves fighting and she never participated in the fight against the boarman even once.
When asked why she did not fight, she said she was scared. Then someone else asked as to why she entered the dungeon if she was scared. Her answered was that she wanted to contribute to her planet.
She thought she will be able to fight the boarman but she was filled with fear. In the end, she ended up doing other works in the camp. Cleaning, cooking and taking care of the injured. She did quite a good job at that.
However, her list of skill was that of offensive skills. With her character, she was better a healer or something closed to that.
"What is it?" asked Cade while he checked his equipment. His hands were moving slowly and carefully while checking his linked equipment. He looked extremely focused but kind of silly as he was holding the cardboard.
"Can we switch? I want to join this mission," said Lynn with determined face. When Lynn said that, Cade's hand stopped immediately. He looked at Lynn and saw her determined face.
"Can you really fight? I thought you were scared of the boarman?" asked Cade as Lynn's fear towards the boarman was well known in the camp. It was a small camp and thus, everyone knew everything that happened there.
"I want to conquer my fear. I cannot keep getting scared of the boarman. I want to change. I have thought of this properly and I want to do it now. I want to fight," said Lynn.
Cade stared at her and thought, "Is it really okay though? Fear is not something that can be conquered this fast. My fear against my family is still there although I said I will fight them if they disturb me…"
"And, I am a level away before I can learn another bloodline skill. I need to join this fight if I want to level up," thought Cade. He wanted to learn the soul bloodline skill immediately and he needed one more level before he can learn that.
"I don't think we can switch our position like that. This has all been arranged since the beginning and it will cause discoordination if we change on a whim like this," said Cade as he did not want to switch with Lynn.
"But-but- but you are not that useful in fighting too! You fight with a cardboard and what can a cardboard actually do in the battlefield? They are useless. I heard from everyone that your only use is extracting the essence!" said Lynn.
She cannot accept that Cade did not want to switch with her and thus she blurted that out. She chose Cade to switch because she did think Cade was not that helpful in fight. Lynn thought that Cade realized about it too and will switch immediately with her if she asked him.
Cade was a bit shocked when Lynn said that. His mood turned bad immediately when he heard those words. He knew that everyone thought of him like that in the group but none had ever talked to him like that.
"That is rich coming from someone who did not contribute anything at all to everyone here. Taking care of the injured? Cleaning? Cooking? Everyone did that too," said Cade extremely annoyed at Lynn.
Lynn kept saying the same thing over and over again to Cade hoping to switch with Cade but Cade ignored her completely. Lynn got angry and decided to stop asking Cade.
However, a few minutes later, Dianne came to talk to Cade asking him to switch with Lynn. Cade gritted his teeth and left them in anger after agreeing to switch.
He did not want to agree but Dianne was the one asking him to do that. He had quite a good impression towards Dianne and he did not want to refute her. Even if he was mad at that, he just said yes and left.
With Dianne decision of switching Cade with Lynn, Cade's view towards Dianne changed. He kind of like her before but not now. He was really disappointed with her decision.
However, to Dianne, she thought she made the right choice. Dianne viewed Cade as a key person in helping them in the world dungeon and thus she wanted to keep him safe.
She knew that Cade was displeased with her decision but decided to do that anyway because she thought it was for the best. No one knew about Cade's role and thus she needed to do her best to keep Cade safe.
From the camp, Cade stared at the group that were leaving with a displeased look. However, in his heart, he still wishes them the best and complete their mission properly and safely.
"Sigh… I guess, I will just scout around the area to make sure there are no enemies coming to this camp," said Cade as he looked at the other explorers left there that started moving to do their job once the group left.
***
A few minutes before Rico met with Dianne, he was running as fast as possible to Dianne's group. His heart was beating fast and he felt like something bad had happened. That feeling was getting stronger and stronger the more time passed.
Rico's face was getting worried as his heart was beating faster. His heart beating faster was not because he was running. Rico had been training since he was small and running as fast as that especially after he had awakened will not make his heart beat that fast.
There was some small explosion in the area where Dianne's group was fighting but to Rico's observation from a far, that will not warrant to him getting worried compared to the fight happening with Xing and Ben's group.
He can see in the direction of Ben's group that a huge boarman had appeared and big explosions were happening at Xing's group. He can even see Tyrren's group that were lurking around the base towards the core.
However, he did not feel that worry at them. Rico was running as fast as possible and a few minutes later, he arrived at the area where Dianne's group was fighting. Looking at the battlefield, he was surprised to see that everything was fine.
No, the situation in Dianne's group was the best among the four groups that were currently fighting. Her group dominated the fight and it won't take them long before they will finish their fight.
Rico sighed in relieved when he saw that everything was fine. However, even after he saw that Dianne's group was well, that feeling was still there. "Everything is ok here. Why is my heart still beating fast?" thought Rico.
He was looking around looking for something but he cannot see what he was looking for and then he saw a girl that was not supposed to be in the group. Rico frowned and he looked for Dianne and found her.
Rico ran toward Dianne and overheard her conversations with the explorer beside her.
"Luckily, he decided to stay at the camp or else, he might be in danger here," said that explorer.
"Cade is at the camp?!" Rico was shocked to hear that. Dianne and that explorer saw Rico and they were surprised to see him there.
Rico grabbed that explorer shoulder and asked, "Why is Cade at the camp?!" with worried face.