Early in the morning, everyone had gathered in front of the path leading to the dungeon, just like the previous time. Their weapons and armor were on in case of any attack from random monsters in the dungeon.
Everyone around had a smile on their face. This was due to the fact that they actually supported what Neal wanted to achieve. This seemed to be the case for everyone except Xavier, who was silent since the moment he got there.
As the leader he could naturally tell somethings the team wanted and what they did not. From what he could tell, they wanted Neal's success. Hence, he was only here to see if he would actually kill a Lizard man.
Meeting eyes with Evans, the two stared at each other for a few seconds before he broke the gaze. Naturally, Evans felt a little bit frustrated that he did not want to support Neal.
However, he was sure about two things. The fact that Xavier wouldn't try to interfere in anyway and the fact that he still had the team's best interest in heart. Him being before them was a huge thing on it's own. It meant he was willing to see how much Neal had improved.
"Neal, are you ready?" Evans questioned him as he sheathed his weapons.
"Yeah. I sure am."
Walking through the large door, the team headed into the dungeon. Upon reaching the pillar, the rest did as they had done the previous time. They went into the environment in hopes of isolating a single Lizard man.
While this happened, Neal stayed by the pillars, clenching his weapons tightly to cool his anxiety. As usual, Evans noticed this before chuckling a bit. This drew his attention as one would expect.
"What's wrong?" Neal asked.
"It seems like you tense up before every monster battle. That isn't a good thing to do before a fight."
"Yeah, yeah. I get it. It's just that I am scared that I will fail again."
"Don't worry. After all the hard work you have done, there is no way you will fail," Evans encouraged him. "Piece of advice though. Finish the fight as quickly as possible."
Upon hearing this, Neal came to a realization that Marcus had said a similar thing to him before his last fight.
"Why is that the case?"
"Do you remember what I told you. Will determines everything in the tower. Funnily enough the monsters in here understand that as well. So if you give them an opportunity to get riled up, there is no telling how dangerous they can become," Evans explained.
Remembering his first battle with a Lizard man, he could remember how it's strength and speed had skyrocketed after he stabbed it in the eye.
'Was that really, all because of will..' Neal thought to himself in disbelief.
Just then, Marcus arrived at the scene from the interior of the dungeon. From the look in his eyes, they could tell it was time. Following his lead, the two arrived at the area where the monster was kept.
Before him was the one thing he believed he had to conquer in order to prove himself to everyone as a capable individual. Stepping into the middle of the circle, Maya and Luke stepped out heading to guard the area.
"Don't let us down Neal! You got this!" Maya shouted as she ran off in the opposite direction.
With Evans and Marcus taking the position of the two, they looked on in anticipation for the battle. Unsheathing his blades, Neal stared down the beast full of determination as he prepared for battle.
Neal's arms shook and his thoughts seemed to waver in that moment. All of a sudden, some kind of feeling came upon him, cooling him of his anxiety. He did not know if this had something to do with his Combat class; however, he was grateful for it.
After a minute of hesitation, the Lizard man charged at him aggressively with a variety of raw attacks. Neal who already anticipated most of these evaded them with ease.
Jumping from side to side, he attempted to build up a reasonable distance from his foe, but it chased him down like a missile.
A quick stare to the side by Neal reminded him of what Evans had said earlier. He had to finish the battle as quickly as possible. Keeping that in mind, he used a feint to trip the beast over with his feet.
With no form of hesitation, he moved backwards, launching forward at full speed. The end result was a barrage of strikes by Neal, creating multiple shallow cuts on it's body.
Xavier who had witnessed this could not help but be astonished. It was obvious that he improved because of his training. He did not fret though, as the look in Neal's eyes told a different story.
Moving backwards, Neal gritted his teeth hard. His momentum filled attack had hardly done any damage to the beast. This caused a bit of panic in his mind, but it was dealt with rather quickly by the mysterious force from before.
The Lizard man charged at Neal once again, more aggressive than last time. Having the distance he needed, he decided to strike one more time, but with something different.
Locking his gaze on it's neck, he dashed forward with great speed, thrusting his dagger hard to the side of it's neck. Taking advantage of this situation, Neal added a significant amount of his body weight to the strike.
Just then, the dagger went all the way in, getting rid of the foe. Momentum multiplied by weight gave him the result he so desperately needed.
Staring at his lifeless foe, Neal pumped his hands back, shouting out with a sense of accomplishment. He had done it. He had done what was apparently impossible for the Combat class, Assassin.
The others who saw this could not help but smile in joy. All of his hard work seemed to have paid off. Just then red particles sipped out of the creature's body, catching Neal by surprise. It was something he had not quite seen before. Deciding to leave the matter for another they, he ignored it.
With their mission completed, Marcus cut a bit of the Lizard skin before all of them returned back to the safe area. Upon reaching their destination, Neal wasted no time in walking up to Xavier who had not flashed a single smile since his victory.
Everyone around them wondered what this was going to be all about; however, they found out from the words that left Neal's mouth.
"I realize now that my mistake back then was taking your words as some kind of crutch; however, I won't make the same mistake anymore. From now on, I will take those words as a challenge. A challenge I intend to overcome in order to prove you wrong," Neal declared with determination burning hot in his eyes.
Xavier who heard this did not react in anyway, other than keeping his gaze on Neal for longer than usual. Soon after he left the area, leaving the rest to themselves.