(King Robard's Roundtable)
As Ace Entered the room, the King was utterly shocked by his presence.
"Ace! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be overseas."
Ace nodded as he began to reply "Yes I'm supposed to. If Akemi didn't call for my assistance, I wouldn't be here. Luckily, she did. If not, everyone would have lost their lives. The survivors are seeking medical treatment as we speak."
King Robard looked at the floor in disappointment, knowing that the raid was another failure. He had believed Amaya's power was enough to clear it, but Ace's presence proved that wrong.
"How many adventurers died?" asked the King.
"I do not know how many you sent in. All I can say is that there were only five survivors when I made my appearance." Ace replied.
The king went on to say that the number of adventurers that had been sent in was 299 in total, meaning that there were 294 deaths.
Ace shook his head and shot a mean look at the king.
"Sir, I respect you, but this was very sloppy thinking. A bigger force should have been gathered. Even if I wasn't available to lend my help, you could have called on Anguis or the other protectors. If Akemi didn't summon me, you would have lost five of your best rankers in that dungeon."
The King had no response to defend himself. Even if he did, no excuse to cover is poor thinking. So, he was left with no choice but to be honest.
"You're right. At the very minimum, I should have asked our neighboring kingdoms for help. This failure is my own fault."
Ace explained that now that he's here, it will be taking time away from focus on the threat overseas. Even if he left this very moment, a boat would take 2 weeks to get to the Kingdom of Ashetira
"Now that I'm here. I might as well help clear the dungeon with the help of the other protectors. I'll be sure to explain my absence to the Ruler of the Ashetira Kingdom. Though I'm sure he won't be all too happy."
Hearing this, King Robard nearly stood from his seat.
"You'll help clear the dungeon?! When?"
None of the other protectors weren't even in the same kingdom. Theoretically, he could clear the dungeon by himself if he took breaks, but there was no telling what skills and abilities some of the monsters would possess. This was why he wouldn't dare to go in alone.
"As much as I'd like to bear the burden and clear it alone, it just wouldn't be smart of me. Us protectors are not immortal. I wouldn't want to repeat the Leona incident."
Leona was a nice and friendly girl who was dubbed as one of the protectors. Sadly, she was too overconfident in her abilities and was badly injured by the dark king. In time, she succumbed to her injuries and passed away.
"You'll really help?" The king asked.
"Yes. Afterall, It's my duty as a protector. However, when I'm done, I'll need you to find me a ship as soon as possible. There's still a great threat overseas in Ashetira."
"Of course. I'll make arrangements in advance." The king said in a reassuring voice.
Ace opened the room door, looking at the King and speaking before leaving.
"Remember, Sir King, try to fully think thing's out. I won't always be able to use my card swap to save the day."
[Card Swap] was one of Ace's skills. A skill that allowed him to teleport to a card which he had given to someone. But, it comes at a cost, draining most of his mana and slowing his movements for a while.
___________________
(Town: Mareve | Location: Adventurer Medical Attention)
Amaya quickly awakened and nearly flew out of bed. Immediately, her memories of the dungeon flooded in.
'What happened to everyone?' She thought to herself.
The last memory she had was of Ace Skymen defeating the Ice Leader. After that, Amaya passed out after realizing that her arm was really gone.
She then remembered how Atsuya and the others were turned to Ice as they tried to help Akemi.
'Did they somehow make it? I need to find out.'
She was able to recall how she lost her arm and Ace Skyman's appearance.
"If he didn't show up, me and Akemi would've both died. I wonder if she's okay."
Amaya got out of bed and went to reach for the door, but she stopped as she realized something. She still had both arms attached to her body.
'My arm. It's back? But how?' Amaya wondered.
Her hand pulled the door open and she quickly raced down the hall until she spotted a nurse.
"You. You're supposed to be in bed." said the nurse.
"No. I'm okay. Is Akemi okay?" Amaya replied.
The nurses expression seemed to lighten up when hearing the question.
"Oh. Miss Akemi? She recovered pretty quickly. We released her a couple hours ago. She's doing well."
It was good news to hear but, Amaya still needed to know about Atsuya and the other 2.
"How about Atsuya? Or Alison. Or what about Humbert? Are they okay too?"
The nurse seemed confused and replied "Sorry. No patients came in by those names."
This only meant one thing. Atsuya, Alison and Humbert never made it out from the dungeon.
'So they really didn't survive being frozen.' Amaya thought as emotions started to overcome her. Her leadership was unable to save the many other adventures who were killed through-out the many monster encounters.
In a fit of sadness, Amaya ran off, down the rest off the hall until she fled the building. A fog began to block her clear thinking and she emerged and made blind decisions.
'I don't care! I don't need help! I will go back there and face that dungeon alone! I'm strong, right? Nobody else is just like me. This is something only I can do!'
Tears flooded her eyes while she ran down the stone roads, trying not to stumble.
"Yeah, that's right. I need to do this. I have to do this."
['Gate' has activated]
Amaya jumped through the portal that appeared in front of her. When she came out the other end, she was now at the entrance to the dungeon.
(Legendary-rank dungeon)
"Now, I do this."
Tmp. Tmp. Tmp.
Amaya turned as she heard pairs of footsteps steadily walking towards her.
It was Ace Skyman, along with two others.
"Huh? Oh, Amaya, it's you. Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" Ace asked.
"I'm okay. All I care about is clearing this dungeon." Amaya replied.
Ace shook his head.
There was no need for Amaya to clear it anymore. Ace and the two others by his side were all protectors. Having adventures come to the dungeon was something unnecessary now.
Ace tried to reassure her that it was fine now.
"I've already spoken to the king. Me and my trustworthy friends will take it from here."
"No, you can't," Amaya replied.
Seeing that she was worried about something related to the dungeon, Ace tried even further to assure her.
"You don't need to worry. The dungeon will be dealt with."
Looking at the dungeon entrance, Amaya slowly unfolded a sentence.
"No...you can't...because."
A serious and worried expression formed on the face of Ace Skyman.
"Because what? Amaya, what's worrying you? Are you okay?"
Amaya swiftly turned her head, glaring at Ace. And as Amaya spoke, she was clearly disturbed emotionally.
"...Because I'll be the one to clear it. Alone with no help. I….I will push my limits and do it."
In that moment, all the issues Amaya had were rapidly running through her mind. Atsuya, Alison and Humbert were killed and so were the many other adventurers. By killing the monsters and clearing the dungeon, Amaya felt as if she could avenge them. But this was something she had to do alone as her leadership skills were what caused their failure and deaths. After this whole dungeon was dealt with, Amaya would find a way overseas and get Emi back. Even if she had to kill dark mages to do it, it was going to get done, one way or another.
A shadow gradually started to cover her face,until fully embedding it.
['Rage 2' has activated]