"You, who blessed me with great affinity. Heed my call and punish those who opposed my will: Wind Scythes!"
A small surges of wind that cuts sharper than that of a sword eliminates the monsters in range.
"Nice, Liam! But nowhere near mine!" Theo starts chanting his spell, attacking monsters in front of him. "Hurricane Cut!"
Monsters are perfectly beheaded with a single surge of wind from Theo's attack. "Heheh, see that?"
"Look out!" Art yelled as he releases his spell to cover and protect Theo from an attacking calydonian. "Vine Guard!" Vines gathered together making a thick, sturdy and thorned shield which knocked out the boar.
"Woohahah... that was close." Theo laughed nervously from the near death experience.
"Always stay alert, dumbass." Art scolded, though in a stoic tone.
"Hahaha! Fucking good for you, Theo!" Percy mocked, but Art also make a remark for him. "You too, Percy."
"Tch... you know I can do better than all of you." Percy preyed the monsters in tow and started chanting. "You, who blessed me with powerful affinity. Heed my call and burn those bastards with my command: Flame Lake!" A scorching sea of fire burned the remaining monsters to death. Percy arched his lips confidently, or should I say, arrogantly.
"I still can't understand why it's called 'Flame Lake'. Can you, Art?" Liam commented and Art just shakes his head.
"Right? What's with a flame and a lake anyway?" Theo also gave his sentiments and the smirk on Percy's face slowly distorted, turning it into a frown.
"What do you call that? Ironic? Did I get the term right, Aries? Is it Ironic?" Liam turned to Aries and Kash who's busy sorting out their inventories.
"Yeah, but I'd rather call it stupid than ironic, Liam."
"You lot are the stupid ones here! It's just a name, like a, uh- a metaphor!" Percy retorted.
"Oh, the explanation is rather convincing." Kash said with a playful tone and everybody laughed.
In the cold and dark cave that only glowing red stones are the natural source of light, where in any moment a monster could appear and attack from any sides, their laughter subdued any form of discomfort.
Clearing the dungeon with Liam and his gang is unexpectedly a good experience, the four are all good magicians and easy to be with that made Kash wished they could continue this until they reach the top Floors and clear every Dungeons. Nevertheless, gaining experience points and leveling up seems to be a bit slower because of the party numbers. Kash and Aries are still stuck at their current level, 13 and 17 respectively.
"Should we take a break here?" Liam asked as they finish eliminating all nearby monsters in the area.
The Hard stage dungeon, unlike the Normal, could take days to clear. Same goes to Hell stage that sometimes could take weeks or months to finish not only because of its difficulty, but also its wide area.
"Yeah... We can also stop from here and continue tomorrow. Kash is also tired." Aries puts down his baggage and so is the others.
"I'm not THAT tired! Hmph!"
"Oooo---kay?"
But as soon as they set up their sheets and the bonfire, Kash immediately drifted to dreamland.
"Told 'ya, he's tired." Aries tuck him nicely to keep him warm as Kash sleeps like a baby.
"You two are really close, huh?" Liam sat down beside Aries to chat a little.
"We've known each other for ten years now. Though our first meeting wasn't that good... erm." A light distaste with mischievous smile formed on Aries's face upon remembering their first meeting ten years ago.
It was so happen that that time was the day Aries heard that his beloved father died from poisoning. Aries was then filled with anger and negative emotions, he ran and wander around the city, looking for something or someone who he could vent those feelings.
"At the very secluded area of the city, I saw Kash being bullied by those who's stronger than him. You know, typical scenario when a bunch of high rank idiots ganged up to beat an F-rank wimp." Aries couldn't help but sigh on his own story.
"Oooh! Is it where you jumped in to save the weak and be the hero of justice?" Theo butt in, getting curious as to what happened next.
"Hahahaha!" Aries laughed his heart out upon hearing that. "N-no! Haha! It's the opposite. I joined the bunch who's bullying Kash and started kicking his ass, cussed at him and insult his whole being."
The others seemed shocked about it, who would have thought that Aries, who acts like an overprotective father to Kash, actually hit Kash on their first meeting.
"And then I beat him nonstop until the other idiots got scared because of me. They ran with a horrified look on their faces while muttering 'he's a psychopath'. I beat Kash, with my fists, and for some time, with my skills."
That scene is still vivid to Aries like it just happened yesterday.
"As I asked him why he's not fighting back, he started crying so bad that it made me stop."
Aries continue telling their story, although seems like sleeping and turned his back, Percy is quietly listening.
"He didn't stop crying even though I stopped hitting him. He just cried, albeit he's already 17 years old, he seemed like a toddler that time. So small, and fragile. Eventually, it made me cry too. Haha!"
"Heh, why did you cried?" Liam asked while his chin is resting on the back of his palm.
"I don't know. Maybe because I was still, in fact, hurt because of my father's death at that time and seeing him cry in pain made me feel like crying my heart out too."
Aries smile to himself. Remembering the feeling of relief when the burden gets out of your chest as you cry the pain, is something he should be forever thankful of Kash.
"After that flood of tears, I apologized to him. I became his very first and only friend in the city. And since then, I promised that I will protect him no matter what." Aries finished his story like a tear jerker in movies.
"You're both lucky to have each other." Liam said, his lips are smiling yet his eyes are deadpan.
The party divided into three shifts for watching the area while the others sleeps. Hours passed by and they continue raiding the remaining area in the dungeon. The same process were continued in the following days and weeks of the dungeon raid, thus no casualty occured.
Being accompanied with Liam and the others for this long time, Kash and Aries started trusting and lowering their guards on them. They even gotten close to Percy, who's hard to mingle with due to his attitude, and even joked around Art who's really serious and cold sometimes.
"Hey, Aries." Kash tapped his friend's shoulder. "It got me thinking... that maybe even after our raid on this Floor, we can still be in a party with Liam. And... well..." Kash trailed off, fidgeting his fingers.
"What?" Aries urged him to continue.
"And maybe we can start a guild. Y-you know, it's my dream to start up our own guild." Kash continued.
"Silly, we can ask them later after we clear this dungeon." Aries flicked his forehead then continue walking until a group of calydonian boar appeared and they started eliminating monsters just like the previous days.
An hour later and they finally reached the boss's territory.
"We're finally meeting the boss! Let's make this flashy." Theo's wind almost creates a roar as he gets fired up to the tension.
"Let's do this as we strategized yesterday! Kash, Aries, just give it your best shots to hit it and we'll support you from the rear." Liam instructed and they all get into positions.
The mages started chanting their spells while the two who's playing the vanguard attacks the enraged Hus Kalydonios of Artemis. Aside from its enormous size, its tall and sharp tusks makes it even look more formidable than any foe they've encountered so far. Its eyes are emitting red lights that if you look at it intensely, it will be a warning sign for you to stop any advances.
"Aries! Watch out!" Kash warned. As big as it is, the Hus Kalydonios have swift feet to corresponds with its violent nature.
The two have been so concentrated with their fight with the boss monster and are giving their all but nothing seems to be happening at all. They took too much damage and their health bars dropped orange indicating that they just have less than half of HP.
"Argh! Aw!" Kash was hit directly by the monster's tusk, his HP dropped too much and any further damages will cause him death.
"Kash! Stand back for a bit and get some potions to heal yourself, I got this." Aries commanded, still focusing on the fight.
"Okay." Kash runs towards their safe zone to search for their belongings, but he can't find it anywhere.
"Liam! Have you seen our bags?" He approached Liam on the side together with the other three.
He then realized something as he looks at them. "Ahh, your bags? We secured it, don't worry." Liam smiled.
"What are you guys doing?" He asked for a confirmation. There's no way he'd believe just because his eyes sees that the four are just sitting comfortably inside the barrier that they made for themselves while he and Aries are fighting rigorously.
"You're supposed to back us up! Throw attacks from the rear to reduce its HP so that we can finish that monster and clear this dungeon! What are you guys doing here doing nothing?"
"Ah ah, so noisy." Percy stepped out of the barrier and faced Kash.
"What do you think, loser? We're waiting... waiting for you and your dumb nanny to get killed so that we can get your credit points and loot your items. Duh!"
"Y-you assholes-! Urk..." Kash was about to hit Percy, but the latter was way faster and he ended up getting punched in the stomach instead, causing him to crouch.
"You're really irritating the hell out of me. The only good thing in you is this dagger!" Percy snatched the mythril blade that Aries gave him before they entered the dungeon.
"Give it... back!" He struggled.
"As if! You better worry about your friend than your weapon now, right?" Percy looks at Aries which is still fighting the boss. He's battered up but still going on, without realizing what is currently happening on his back.
Kash looks like his sanity left him. "N-no... Aries will... Aries will die at this rate!" He was about to get back to Aries but Art suddenly grabbed him. Incapable of escaping Art's grip, Kash yelled in order to get Aries's attention.
"Aries!! Aries!!! Stop!!"
"So fucking noisy!" Percy hit him, enough just to make him quiet but he persist. For this moment, it doesn't matter to him if he was in such pain, his friend's life is more important. He yelled and called until Aries noticed him.
By that time, Aries already took down the Calydonian Boar boss. However, his HP already reached its red zone. "Kash!!" He immediately go to Kash and was surprised by what he came across.
"I gotta give it to you, Aries! Wow! You really killed the boss alone?! Hahaha!" Liam praised with a hint of mockery.
"Put. Him. Down." Aries ignored the former's remark and instead, turned his gaze to Art who's holding Kash. Without much of an explanation, he understood what's happening before his eyes.
"Put him down, Art. As if he can ever hit back with that state." Liam ordered. "Sigh... I was planning to get rid of the boss myself so that I could gain the experience points after it killed you both, but now you just ruined my perfect plan."
They didn't know what to do, because in every plan that they came up with, it always ends up with a bad result. That both of them could die, by the hands of the people they chose to trust. They are both exhausted, out of HP, and don't even have a proper weapon to fight four strong Heroes.
"If only I could at least save Kash." Is what in Aries's thoughts.
Until he came up with the only solution he's capable of doing.
"Kash... you can still run, right?" Kash turned at him and nod.
"Good..."
At a spur moment, he grabbed his friend and threw him all the way, far from them and he was left behind with Liam and the other three.
"Kash! RUN!"
As fast as you can, and never look back.