"Rahhhhh!!!"
With a burst of agility, Jake lunged towards the Lich.
~WHOOOSH!~
His daggers gleamed as he struck at the ancient creature, but the Lich effortlessly parried each blow with its bony hands.
'N-no…!' His widened eyes leaked out tears.
What exactly was he expecting? That he could win against the likes of an A-Tier Monster?
No… that was impossible.
The undead mages closed in, surrounding Jake with an impenetrable wall of death.
Yet, despite it being so far out of reach, why didn't he want to give up? Was this because of his desire to live so badly?
Or was it the pride he had as an Adventurer—as a human who craved FREEDOM!
"[Slither]!"
Channeling his rogue Skill, Jake vanished into the shadows, evading the grasping hands of the undead.
He reappeared behind the Lich, aiming for a swift strike to its spine.
"DIEEEEEE!!!" The daggers pierced through its ethereal cloak, but the Lich merely chuckled.
"Loihjn edhndie," it sneered, turning to face Jake.
Undead mages unleashed a barrage of spells, forcing Jake to dance through the chaos.
He dodged and rolled, narrowly avoiding the deadly magic that crackled in the air.
Jake didn't know how he was still moving, despite all the odds. As a Rogue, he was indeed the fastest of his comrades, but there was no way the Lich didn't have any means to capture him.
There was a chance that he was simply being toyed with by the Monster, but Jake didn't care.
Exhaustion clawed at him, but the Rogue pressed on.
In a final desperate gambit, Jake channeled his remaining strength into a flurry of attacks.
"URAAAAHHHHH!"
The Lich's defenses seemed to waver, but that was only an illusion that Jake desperately wanted to see.
In that moment, he already knew he had lost.
~VWUUUM!~
The undead mages closed in, casting a binding spell that snaked around Jake like ethereal chains. He fought against the magical restraints, his muscles straining with the effort.
'I-It's no use…' His blurry vision looked around and saw just how outnumbered he was.
This truly was the end.
The Lich raised its staff, preparing a devastating finishing blow.
Jake's heart raced, knowing he stood at the precipice of oblivion. As the dark magic surged towards him, the rogue closed his eyes, bracing for the inevitable end.
Then—
"Chaos Blade… STRIKE!"
In that moment, a deafening resounded in Jake's ears as the destruction of several bones instantly filled the air.
Almost as soon as the voice roared, a powerful wind blew and instantly sent every other bony construct around Jake into the realm of destruction.
All of it happened in the span of a few seconds.
By the time Jake opened his eyes, the Monsters were no more. Only one man and a woman stood in front of him, as well as bunch of other Adventurers behind them.
He recognized the two—who wouldn't?
There were the rising stars of the Adventurers City—Jet and Lux!
*********
'Found another one. Looks like I was a bit too late for the others, though…'
Rey looked around the room and saw the corpses of about five people. They looked barely humans, as their skins seemed to have somehow fused with their bone and become darkened with decay.
They were mere husks of their former selves, and if left alone, they were doomed to become Undead.
Rey turned back and looked at the couple hundred Adventurers that stood at a safe distance and watched him.
"Anyone with Fire Magic, please use it on these corpses." Rey didn't need to explain any further, as Adventurers already knew what he implied.
A few Adventurers stepped forward for the role, so he looked away and focused on the Adventurer he had just saved.
'He looks just a bit over twenty. If I had just been a little late, he would have died… just like that.'
This wouldn't be the first time he had saved people in this Dungeon when they were on the brink of death. It had happened several times already.
Ever since the Mass Teleportation Incident, he and Esme had been traveling from one Zone to another, trying to find and save as many people as possible. Of course, they had to save a lot of them at several instances, so there was also that.
'The problem is that I've not found any of my friends, and the people I save end up sticking to me…'
Even now, as he looked at Jake—learning his name and details thanks to [Absolute Appraisal]—he could barely contain his disappointment that it wasn't his friends he encountered.
Till now, he hadn't found Alicia, Adonis, Noah… anyone of interest to him.
'Just these weaklings that keep clinging on to me like parasites!' Rey knew his thoughts were unkind, but he couldn't help it.
The Adventurers were slow, weak, and overly frightened. Their fragility and overdependence on him was truly infuriating, but he had to endure.
'To make the work faster, I already sent my other duplicates to other Zones to look for everyone.'
He made sure his clones were disguised as random strong-
looking Adventurers, so there would be no connection made to him.
The plan was to make them seek out survivors, bring those survivors to him, and then they would go and seek out even more survivors.
That way, the search would go on faster.
'It's been nearly a day since we got separated, and I can already see the exhaustion on these people's faces…'
Rey knew he would have to set up camp soon, and the thought of that annoyed him even further.
'Endure, Rey… endure!'
He returned to his Jet persona and knelt before the pathetic-
looking Adventurer before him. Jake was still shivering, obviously not recovered from the trauma he had just faced.
Rey's eyes glowed brightly as he used [Compulsion] to make all of that go.
"Are you alright? Can you stand?" He asked, stretching his hand while planting a calm smile on his face.
"Y-yes…" Jake looked surprised that he could move properly.
He soon rose to his feet, bowing several times as thanks to Rey—or rather, Jet. As one would expect, he waved it off and smiled at the man.
"I'm just glad you're fine."