Looking down at his phone, Katsuya read the message from Jill.
{Jill: Me and some members from our party are heading to a B-rank dungeon. I would like it if You came along as well. P.S be sure to text back fast, we're going to leave in about an hour.}
"Maybe...I should go check on them. But, how do I find out which dungeon they're at?"
An incredible stabbing pain pulsed through-out Katsuya's back as he fell to his knees, grunting.
"...What is this pain?"
A blue light flashed from the side then disappeared as Sora's white haired figure appeared.
She looked down at him with a concerned look in her eyes as she spoke.
"You're not going anywhere. Your body is worn out from the monsterization. I was honestly surprised you were able to clear as many floors as you did. So basically, the recoil from the skill caused major damage to your nerves and such. Even for an adventure, that should take about a week to heal."
Katsuya's trembling arms were barely holding himself up. He then posted up on one knee, attempting to stand as his legs seemed very unstable.
"....I have to go. I have a bad feeling. I need to see if Jill is alright."
Before he could even fully stand, he collapsed and fell onto the floor, knocking up dirt.
Thump.
Sora shook her head, letting out a sigh.
"Don't worry, with your permission, I'll go check on her. Though, you have to stay here and rest."
Katsuya's neck muscles were using every bit of strength as he looked up at her and asked.
"...You can really do that? ….How do you know where she is.?
"Actually, I don't know where she is but, using your phone, I can track where she last was before she entered the dungeon. Finding her from there should be pretty simple.
Katuya let his head gently fall back on the floor when he sighed in relief.
"Thank you, Sora. You're a big help."
"J-Just focus on resting. Here, let me move you over against a wall."
Sora walked over to him and started dragging him by the arms until they approached a wall to the cave. She sat his body against it and patted his head.
"There. You should be alright until I come back. I better get going."
Sora turned and faced the trees as her eyes flickered red.
The wind shook and boomed as she sprinted forward, disappearing from view.
Boom!
She was nowhere near Katsuya's running speed but she was definitely faster than the speed of sound. He smiled and slowly closed his eyes, muttering one more "Thank you."
___________________
Meanwhile...
(B-rank Dungeon)
"Catch Fire!"
Jill thrusted her hand through the air as a great ball of fire blasted into the goblins face.
Boom!
The monster was turned to ash on impact. Looking down at its disintegrated corpse, she breathed heavily as she had fought many of the creatures. Jill glanced over to the others to see how they had done against the goblin they were fighting. A pile of deceased goblin bodies laid in the middle of the floor surrounded by puddles of blood. The 3 B-rankers and 1 C-ranker had done exceptionally well though, they stood in surprise when they looked at Jill.
"Are you even a D-ranker anymore? I mean, your skill with magic puts you on the level of any B-ranker." said the C-ranker.
"I'm just fighting with everything I have. I can't let Nicolas's sacrifice go to waste. I will do my part in making sure we get out of here."
One of the B-rankers tightened his fist and held it into the air.
"We're all with you. We'll play parts as well until we get out."
And all the others agreed too.
"Yeah!"
"We can't just leave everything to one D-ranker."
"Till the end, we'll fight with all our blood and sweat."
"Well, I'd actually prefer if you fought with your fists instead of bodily fluids."Jill replied.
"W-Well, You know what I mean."
Jill's body turned and faced towards the deeper and darker part of the cave.
"Let's keep going."
Then, after 10 minutes of restless walking, they made it to a giant pair of red doors. It was the boss room. They all were hesitant to go in as it would be even more difficult to win due to the loss of their strongest member, Nicolas. Jill had known that the monster behind the door was one that they would have a low chance of success against but, if they wanted any hope of escaping, they would have to face the beast with everything they had.
Looking back at the others, she put her hand on the door and nodded.
"It's time."
Her hand pushed the door open and they all walked in. There was a familiar feeling inside of Jill, the same one she felt when a boss was nearby. It was a feeling of uneasiness and fear, the feeling of eeriness as they all heard a pair of footsteps begin to walk toward them at a slow but steady pace.
Tmp...Tmp...Tmp...Tmp…
The footsteps stopped with a sudden stomp of the creature's foot.
Stomp!
No less than 30 feet away from the team stood a skinny creature with hardened skin. It's eyes were shining white like a flashlight and it had animal-like teeth. It's fingers were long and scissor-like and the creature's body was surrounded by a slight glowing purple light. These kinds of monsters were called 'wanderers' but this one was a 'general wanderer'
Creatures known for torturing their prey and traveling in groups, they were the definition of absolute evil.
{General Wanderer
Level: 10
Hp: 150,000 | Intelligence: 89 | Mp: 37,500 | Atk: 18,750 | Speed: 150
Endurance: 670}
A truly powerful monster which there was no doubt that it was at the top of the B-rank powescale amog bosses. Even a B-rank tank wouldn't be able to take more than 1 strike from it. The monster stood in place, grinning with blood-lust as the adventures all looked at eachother.
Each team member took a step forward, guarding Jill. One of them turned back to look at her and spoke.
"We'll fight it while you try to find an opening for your attack spell. Don't miss or we're all doomed."
"I'll try not to." She replied.
"Do your best."
Each of the adventures rushed forward at the wandered and began attacking as it would dodged each of their strikes.
One hit missed, 8 hits missed and 20 hits missed.
Jill watched from a distance as they tried their best to land a hit. Still, none of their strike had struck the target. Fists swinging through the air, bodys pacing around, this was the view of the battle.
Jill's eyes followed each of the monster's speedy movements but it wouldn't stay still long enough for her to even chant.
She couldn't take the risk of missing so, she continued to watch the movements closely. I was no use, she had no clear shot.
"The monster keeps moving, I won't be able to hit him with my spell if I cast it. How do I time it right? I might have to take a risk but first, I need to calm myself."
She closed her eyes and her mouth would breathe calmly. One long breath in, one long breath out. One breath in, one breath out. On letting out one last breath, Jill opened her eyes and aimed har hand out.
Her gaze constantly followed the movement of the wanderer as she focused on getting her timing right.
"Now...FIRE BOLT!"
Faster than the eye could see, a red bolt of lighting shot through the air and pierced into the creature's chest.
Boom!
A gaping hole in its torso had dark smoke emitting from it. The wanderer stood in silence before wobbling and falling onto the ground.
Thump.
[Leveled up x13]
[Max Level has been reached]
The amazement in everyone's eyes showed greatly. A relieved vibe ran through all of the adventurers' bodies as they looked at the monsters life-gone corpse.
The plan that had a very very slow success rate had gone smoothly. As a matter of fact, it was a little too smooth, leaving Jill to think "Something doesn't feel right. The boss is gone but I still feel a presence nearby."
After killing the boss, they were all supposed to be transported to the dungeon entrance. Instead, they all stood in the same spot with nothing changing. This left them all to question the situation.
"Weren't we supposed to be teleported back to the entrance?" The C-ranker asked.
Shortly after his important question, the B-rankers replied.
"Yeah, what happened?"
"Is the boss really dead?"
"Maybe it just needs a minute till it happens."
Jill's heart thumped violently, leaving fear in her eyes as drops of sweat ran down her face. It wasn't just one presence she had felt, it was many. Despite not being able to see any monsters in view, she was able to feel 1 particular presence among the many. It was one so great that it even surpassed the General Wanderer.
The others saw her expression and one of them asked.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
The slow and chilling sentence that would leave her mouth would leave the hairs on everyone's arms to stick up.
"...That wasn't the boss. The boss is….there." When she finished her sentence, she turned her head in a specific area of the room that was now starting to fill with a grey-like mist. Eventually, the entire area was covered and each adventure looked ahead with their eyes widened. Their vision was limited but they were able to notice the outline of the many monsters that stood ahead with glowing white eyes.
Jill's gaze scanned each individual, then she saw the one she feared, a tall wanderer with purple shining eyes.
Bump. Thump. Bump. Thump.
A feeling of pure uneasiness filled the air.
The 1 C-ranker, the 3 B-ranker and Jill, all of their hearts dropped and beat with stress when they saw the word above that monster's head.
{King Wanderer}