"It's been four days since they've begun the raid. Do you think they're okay?" King Robard asked.
Shinya nodded.
"It's been awhile, so it's hard to say. They're most likely alive, but I'm not quite sure if they're okay."
The king stood from his throne and walked over to the window, gazing outside.
"I suppose I'll give it another couple of days. If they're not out by then, the raid was most likely a failure."
___________________
(Legendary-rank dungeon, Area: 1)
Through-out the time that passed, many battles had taken place. Because of the extra precautions that were taken, the amount of losses have been low with only thirty deaths.
[Current Number of Allies: 130]
Resting on a tree trunk, Amaya took a large bite of bread.
Munch. Munch. Munch.
The setting all around was peaceful. Everyone was taking time to eat. There were also no monsters in sight, so this was the most time they've had to rest in days.
To fill the silence, Atsuya began a conversation.
"Amaya, I've been wondering. What made you decide to become an adventurer? When you were a student, I don't believe you even had a job."
"Well, honestly, I just wanted a way to make good money." Amaya replied.
"That's all?"
"Yep."
Humbert scooted close, inviting himself into the conversation.
"Say no more. That's how most of us start out. Even me and Atsuya did it for the money back in the day."
He went on to explain that they've had their fair share of injuries on the job, but in the end, the experience and money they earned was worth it. Lifting his shirt, he revealed a large scar on his chest.
"I got it during a mission. You wouldn't believe how it happened. We were apprehending criminals after they attacked a town. Then we ran into Ace Skyman who accidentally mistaken us for enemies. Luckily, he stopped his sword last second, only leaving a wound." Humbert didn't even want to know how things would've turned out if he was fully hit.
"If Ace didn't notice that you were an adventurer, you would've been cut clean in half." said Atsuya.
Hearing the name brought Amaya to ask a question.
"I hear a lot about Ace Skyman. Who exactly is he?"
"Well, he can be considered one of the strongest people alive. He is one of the few protectors of this world. And by the last name, I'm sure you can tell that he's related to Akemi. Let me tell you about one of his greatest feats."
A few years back, The 33rd Demon lord was working alongside the Dark King to cause chaos for the kingdom. On a mission alongside the Imperial army, Ace Skyman helped a force of 123 Knights to fight through 1,678 monsters. After that, they confronted the demon lord. Not wanting any unnecessary lives to be lost, Ace stepped forward and challenged the Demon lord to a 1 on 1 fight. Within minutes, the Demon lord was beat to a pulp. Not a scratch was on Ace. The Dark King showed up along with Abyssal Demon Leader, aiding in the Demon Lord's escape. In a single cast of a fire spell, The Dark king burned the gathered force of knights to ash.
Ace Skyman was the only one still standing. Because he was caught by surprise, he was weakened by the spell but still continued forward. That's when Ace was forced to fight using his secret family techniques. He was locked in combat with the Dark King and the Abyssal Demon King at the same time. The fight destroyed an entire forest. In the end , Ace Skyman was still standing, leaving his weakened opponents with no choice but to retreat.
"Woah. Now that's some power." said Amaya.
"Yeah, I guess you can't be a protector for nothing. If he turned evil for some reason, he'd definitely be the biggest threat." Humbert replied.
A loud whistle came from Akemi's mouth, catching everyone's attention. It was a signal they came up with, meaning that monsters were nearby.
"We better hurry." Atsuya stated.
When they reached the front of the formation, the threats up ahead were clearly visible. It was one awfully big Snow giant that had two Orks by its side. And behind them was a well-sized group of Ice Demons.
[You have used 'Analyze']
[Snow Giants: 1]
[Orks: 2]
[Ice Demons: 59]
Then far ahead, behind all the monsters, Amaya could see a giant gate with a fence that was stretched all around, protecting a castle made of Ice.
'I'm sure the boss is somewhere in there.' She thought to herself.
"Here they come!" Atsuya shouted.
The Ice Demons raced forward and soon began approaching the force of adventurers.
Before any attacks were thrown, a strange message appeared in each adventuers sight.
[Debuff has been inflicted. You will be unable to use any skills, abilities or spells]
Both then began clashing in combat and lives were being lost at a fast rate.
Three Demon's surrounded Amaya and swung their claws at her. Easily, she avoid them by jumping into the air.
As she landed, she brought the heel of her foot down, knocking one of the Demon's heads clean off.
Fwsh. Spat!
Turning around, she kicked a hole into both of the other Demons chests.
Bam. Splat. Splat.
'While the others are fighting off the demons. I'll take out the big one and his orks.'
When Amaya continued her path towards the Snow Giant, more demons flooded in and focused her.
"Stay out the way!"
In an instant, her fists pummeled 6 demons at once, clearing her path once again. Amaya leaped forward, bringing her close to the giant's side. She launched the quickest punch she was capable of, at its face.
Fwsh.
Her action was stopped as the giant caught her wrist before throwing Amaya's body into the ground.
Smash!!
Almost after impact, Amaya sprung back up then threw a kick at the Giant's chest. Again, her action was stopped as her opponent grabbed a hold of her ankle. This time, the Giant tossed Amaya into the air, striking her chest as she fell.
Boom! Thump!
She fell on her back, but got back on her feet with haste.
Now that she knew how the Giant'sfighting style was, Amaya was confident that she would be able to avoid his grasp. And so, she rushed towards her opponent in another attempt. Before she could attack, two large bodies approached her from behind, wacking her in the back.
Wack! Bmp!
For a brief second, Amaya was caught off balance but spun around to see what had hit her. It was the two Orks she had forgotten about.
Amaya took a deep breath to calm her nerves as they swung their swords at her. When the edge of the blades came within inches of her face, Amaya dashed to the side while ripping an Ork's head off.
Fwsh. Rip. Gushh.
A fountain of blood sprayed from its neck and Amaya smashed her knee into the face of the other Ork, causing it to tear apart.
Smash!
'Thanks to this little beating, I'm in the fighting mode.'
Amaya felt a gentle breeze touch her neck. She quickly leaned to the side as the Giant's hand barley missed her. In a single second, she struck it's face, chest and eyes.
Bmp. Slam! Poke!
The Giant covered its eyes in agony, stumbling around blindlessly.
Simply, Amaya kicked its knee, throwing the monster on the floor.
Thump!
She lifted her fist back, then with a great swing, Amaya's fist blew the Giant's face apart.
Bam! Splat!!
[Debuff has been removed.]
[You will now be able to use skills and abilities.]
She wiped the monster's blood from her hand as she turned to look at the others who were killing the ice demons one by one.
From the looks of it, the adventurers were going to win regardless, but Amaya still rushed over as some lives could still be lost. With firm movements, she beat down and killed every enemy in her way.
Bam! Slam! Smash! Gmp! Fwsh! Splat!
The fight was won and each adventurer took a kneel in relief. The losses were counted and in conclusion, they had lost 24 adventurers.
[Current Number of Allies: 106]
[Amaya: Hp: 84,317,376/95, 417, 376]
Amaya wasn't in any pain, but the damage she had taken was the most that had been done to her in a while.
'I guess it really is hard fighting without skills and spells. I'm glad this helped me realize that my combat ability has gotten pretty sloppy. Maybe I'll practice more when we're done with this raid.'
Atsuya walked over and sat next to Amaya.
"The others are pretty beat up and tired out from all the combined fights. I'd say let's take a good rest but, it doesn't look like that's possible, considering where we are."
Resting wasn't an option due to the fact they were in front of a castle where the boss room most likely was. Sure they could find some place in the forest but, monster attacks would be more likely to happen. But, it was the only choice they had. Fighting while being exhausted would lead them to failure, even against small numbers of monsters.
"We can find a place to camp out. Fighting while being tried isn't a good idea" Amaya replied.
"I guess you're right. We can probably get Akemi, Alison and some of the others to take turns keeping watch."
Glancing back at everyone else, Amaya decided to go on and let everyone know about her decisions. When she told the others, some of the adventurers still wanted to keep going but, the majority knew that resting was the better choice.
"Nice idea. We were all about reaching our limit anyway." said Alison.
"Yes, resting would be beneficial. We can recover both Health and Mana." said Akemi.
Humbert looked up at the sky, seeing that the moon was already coming out and that the sun was going down.
"Setting up a camp would indeed be the best option for now. Fighting at night could pose some issues. Stronger monsters usually come out then."
Nightfall….
Everyone was posted around a couple different campfires but all in the same area. Some of the adventurers were well resting against trees, some were eating rations they brought along. Those such as Amaya, Akemi, Alison and Kioshi were awake and conversing, all while keeping watch.
"You were a pretty new adventuer and yet so much news has already spread about you." said Alison.
"Really? I thought only people like the king and other adventuer knew me." Amaya replied.
"Them too, but many civilians of the kingdom are beginning to know your name."
'So I guess this means I'm kind of like a celebrity'. Amaya thought to herself.
Being famous was always a dream of hers, even if she wasn't really known in her own world.
Alison went on to point out the downsides of being well-known.
"I know it seems great but, sometimes it's really not. People always want to talk to you and sometimes other kingdoms reach out to you and make offers to handle work for them."
Akemi came over to tell her own thought on this, not surprisingly coming to agree.
"It is true. As from when we first met, I was hiding my real identity with a helmet. This is not because of my own fame. More people come to ask about my brother."
"Yeah, I've been hearing a lot about him." said Amaya.
Over from the fire, Atsuya stood up, yawning and came over.
"I got some good rest. How about one of you go on now."
Alison shook her head, replying "I'm good. I can stay up for a good while longer."
"Don't die from lack of sleep." said Atsuya before looking at Amaya and asking "How about you?"
"Yeah, I probably should take a nap." she replied.
"Okay, then. Get some rest." said Atsuya.
Amaya grabbed a blanket and scooted closer to the warmth of the campfire. As she closed her eyes, she could feel the heaviness of sleep overcoming her.
'This feels...nice….'