A group of 25 elves stood in the middle of the plaza.
"Now, can all warriors please walk and stay to the left of me." Said Ace out loudly. A group of five elves walked up to Ace, among them was Asher who Ace had gotten to know just recently.
Asher smiled and nodded to Ace. Ace continued on. Walking a few steps away from the warriors, he said "Alright. Now can all priests please walk and stand to the right of me."
Four elves walked to Ace, among them was Jude who seemed shy as always.
Ace stood still for a few seconds, thinking about what to do. His plan was to create five groups of five people. The problem was that they only had four priests which meant one group was without a healer.
One of the priests noticed Ace's change in expression and asked. "What's the problem?"
Ace looked at the young man and noticed that almost everyone had shifted their attention to him.
"Cough... Plans have changed. What I had originally planned was that five groups of five people enter the dungeon together at a time. The problem is that we don't have five priests. It'd be really dangerous to enter without a healer."
Ace continued thinking for a few seconds and came to a conclusion.
"I know of a way we can do this but it's dangerous and we need to have people willing. The fifth group will consist of me, a warrior and the rest will be ranged. Such as hunter and mage."
Lia and Sage both raised their hand to join his party. Ace smiled.
"Then we only need a warrior and an additional hunter or mage." Ace looked at Asher in case he wanted to volunteer. He seemed like the type after all. But to his surprise, Asher had turned his back towards Ace. He didn't think much of it and started looking at the people in the crowd.
After a few minutes and no one willing to go without a healer, Ace stood back up on the wooden box and explained the monster they'll be fighting.
"The enemy we'll be fighting are kobolds who are considerably weaker than orcs. They are small gray colored creatures who often appear in packs of at least 5. While I'm not sure what the dungeon looks like, if we can have two ranged take out one of them at least. The warrior and me should be able to handle one each. As long as we keep well positioned, we won't need healing."
No movement. Everyone stayed still. Ace sighed and continued on.
"They're small. Since we're elves, their height is akin to our waistline which means we have easy access to their heads. Their movement can be sporadic if alarmed but as long as we take it easy and in a slow pace, we'll be able to manage."
Two slow hands were raised. A girl from the big group and a small statured man from the group of warriors.
"Perfect! I assume the rest of you can create your own groups. At least one priest and warrior per group. Two warriors work as well, as long as you have one tanking the attention of the kobolds".
Just as he was about to leave, he stopped and said, "Let's reconvene here tomorrow morning to see what groups we have and in what order we go in."
Everyone seemed to agree and Ace left with his group to go to the training field close nearby. Once everyone had gathered, he introduced himself.
"Hello everyone. Nice to meet you, I'm Ace." He said and held his hand out to the warrior. The warrior quickly shook it, "Hi Ace. I'm Caleb, a warrior."
He then turned to the girl. "I'm Ace, Nice to meet you." She smiled and shook his hand. "I'm Avery, a hunter."
"And you two I already know so no need shaking." Sage and Lia both smiled and nodded.
The rest of that day consisted of working on strategies they'd use in the dungeon. Ace couldn't help but notice Caleb being a little slow on the uptake. Whenever Ace told him to do something, it'd take him a second to properly perform.
He didn't like the idea of a bad teammate in the dungeons where it was life and death but he couldn't help it. Perhaps he'll get better with time and practice.
Night arrived in no time and so did morning. Walking towards the plaza, he noticed a few groups already forming. Caleb and Sage stood at the edge of the plaza and it looked like Caleb was explaining something to Sage. Approaching them, Ace noticed Sage's facial expression change from concerned to a smile once she saw him.
"Morning guys!" He said.
"Morning."
"Hi."
"I'm assuming you haven't seen the rest?" Ace asked.
"Sadly no." Said Sage.
"Well that's fine. I'm thinking we enter last if that's okay with you guys?" He asked. Being without a healer means that every wound is a risk factor. Whilst other groups can quickly close bleeding wounds, they cannot. Being the last group to enter the dungeon, they can also take a temperature check by talking with the other groups.
Sage nodded and Caleb stayed quiet.
"Is that okay with you Caleb?" Ace Turned and asked.
"Of course!"
"Great. I'll go talk with the other groups."
Ace spoke with the three groups that had arrived and explained to them that the order of groups to enter wasn't set so they could talk amongst themselves to decide. Shortly after, he said his goodbyes to his teammates and headed towards the gate.
Waving to the guard at the gate once again, he went towards the koboary territory.
***
After a few hours of hunting koboary, the blue light engulfed Ace and the addicting feeling of leveling up covered him whole.
"My god that is a wonderful feeling." He grabbed the koboary by the legs and dragged it with him to a nearby rock.
He sat down, closed his eyes and imagined the fight with the small kobolds. "What would be the most important aspect of his kit" he thought. After going back and forth, he finally decided upon increasing his agility by two.
"Since I already have a dagger, if I'm fast and dexterous enough, I can jump in and slit their throat and jump out. Then they'll bleed to death"
>Character sheet
[Name: Ace Hill] [Class: Rogue]
[Level: 3] [Race: Elf]
[Titles: None] [Languages: Elven]
>Stats<
Strength: 1
Agility: 6 > 8
Intelligence: 1
Constitution: 3
Unallocated stats: 2 > 0
================
While he rather would have wanted to take either strength or constitution, he knew that the investment in agility to prepare fighting against the kobolds would benefit him more at the moment.
A minute later, he was walking back towards the village when a low yell coupled with the sound that of clashing swords caught his attention. In a hurry, he ran through the trees towards the sound. Entering a small glade, he saw Asher walking backwards looking panicked. In front of him stood a large green orc with a great sword in its hands. The creature was a head taller than Asher and when he orc swung his sword at him, Asher blocked with his shield and stumbled backwards, falling on his back.
Ace felt adrenaline kick in as he started full-sprinting towards the orc, wielding the dagger in his right hand.
"Hey fuck face!" Ace yelled out and jumped, activating [Dagger Strike] and cutting the orcs neck before he could fully realize what was going on.
A loud growl and then snarling stared down Ace. The orc pressed a hand against the wound which started bleeding. Ace temporarily switched his attention over to Asher who still laid there frozen, fear still visible in his eyes.
"WAKE THE FUCK UP!" Ace yelled at Asher, hoping he would sober up from his fear instilled state. However, he didn't move. Asher was truly stuck in that state.
Ace had to switch his attention back to the orc as he heard heavy footsteps approaching him in a quick manner. Taking a stance, he looked at the great sword to try and predict which path it would take. Trying to dodge the incoming swing, he managed to block the sharp edge of the blade but still took the blunt part to his left arm. "Agh!" He exclaimed in pain.
Ace recovered relatively quickly and was back on his feet again. Seeing as the orc had made very large movements and strained his entire body, the wound which he had managed to create opened up and became bigger.
He chuckled and said, "Well aren't you a dumb piece of shit?"
Looking back at Asher, he had slowly crawled backwards behind a tree. At the same time, the orc ran towards Ace again. He prepared himself but saw how the orc was about to swing the same way he did before. Having noticed this, he quickly jumped back in time to dodge the swing to then, a second later, engage him again. Jumping towards the orc, he used [Dagger Strike] and drove the blade the best he could into its chest.
Escaping the orcs reach, he abandoned the dagger which was stuck in the orc's chest. The wounds together creating a waterfall of blood. The orc pulled out the dagger and threw it at the ground while slowly walking backwards, letting go of his great sword, trying to cover his wounds. However, it was too late. The orc leaned towards a tree. The green color in their face slowly turning a white tint.
Ace watched the life in the orc slowly dissipate over time, watching the ground beneath him absorb the blood. Picking up the dagger, he swallowed, steadied himself and concentrated.
"It's an orc... It's an orc..." He repeated in his mind while walking up to the hunkered down orc and slowly drew the pointy edge of his knife into the skull of the orc. The orc stayed still, giving no reaction to the blade. Once half the blade was imbedded in his skull, he slowly dislodged the dagger upwards, feeling the way flesh was cut whilst it went through its thick head.
Hearing the sound of someone throwing up behind him, he turned to see Asher using a tree as support while throwing up his guts. Ace couldn't help but feel guilty since Asher probably saw what he was doing. But it couldn't be helped. The first strike he'd made against the orc was shallow. Not because he missed, but because he felt wrong hurting another creature that walked on two legs. Thankfully, the pain from being hit by a great sword woke him up and he realized what was needed.
"I'm so stupid!" He thought, kicking the corpse's ribs. "They're here to kill and enslave us. What the hell am I thinking giving them mercy?"
Some timer later, Ace was supporting Asher to help him reach the village. Asher's legs had tried moving on his own but his legs had totally given up. Also, he didn't want to mention it but Asher reeked of piss.
On their way back, not a single word was uttered. Ace couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that one of their supposed tanks couldn't handle going up against an orc. Not the fact that he couldn't win but that he let his fears take away his control over his body. Would this be the upcoming battle, Asher would have either been deadweight, or worse dead!
It was late in the afternoon once everything had settled down. Asher was brought to his house and ace had to return home to change clothes. His stomach growled at him, making sure he knew just how little food he had consumed the past three days.
Ace sighed and went to the village plaza. Once there, he saw the three in his group sitting in a square. He felt bad having them wait for him and everyone else. He couldn't help but notice that Caleb was gone. There seemed to be a chair for him but he wasn't there.
"Is he grabbing food or something?" He thought to himself.
"Hey guys. All good?" He asked when he was in range to be heard. The group looked at each other and then back at Ace.
"Yeah we're good, it's just that-." Said Lia.
"-We have a bit of a problem." Continued Sage.
The group as well as Ace felt the awkward air around them. Something was wrong and Ace didn't have a good feeling about it.