"Y-You want me to go back there?" Anya stammered, her voice trembling as she sought to confirm their words.
"This could be your chance to find proper closure," Dante replied, his tone calm and steady as he nodded.
"No!" she rejected instantly, her voice rising louder than she intended. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she added, "Don't you understand? That monster is incredibly strong and cunning. It's an
"We've taken down an
"Hey! I'm the one who dealt with it. You were—ouch!" Nathan interrupted, only to receive a sharp smack on his back, causing him to stumble before regaining his balance.
Anya stood frozen for a moment, her mind racing at the revelation. A flicker of hope sparked within her—a faint chance to avenge her best friend.
Cough. "As I was saying," Dante resumed, brushing off Nathan's interruption, "we could really use your help to kill the dreglord. And who knows? We might even find your friend's body and give her a proper burial."
His words hung in the air, both tempting and daunting. Anya's heart raced as fear tightened its grip on her. The horrifying image of the dreglord flashed in her mind, sending a shiver through her body.
"But I can't... I really can't," she whispered, her voice trembling. "It's too strong for me to face. I'll die if I stand in front of it." Her words grew quieter, fading into barely audible mutters as she hugged herself, trying to keep from falling apart.
Nathan sighed, already anticipating her reaction, but Dante thought otherwise.
"Enough!" Dante's sharp voice broke through her muttering, snapping Anya out of her daze. "You call yourself a noble, yet you can't even muster the courage to avenge your lifelong friend? You're saying you're too scared? If it were Avril in your place, she would have come with us to kill that fiend without hesitation."
He paused briefly, letting his words sink in before continuing, "But you? You want to stay sheltered? How do you plan to survive now that your guards are gone? How will you even repay us for—"
"That's enough!" Nathan's sudden shout cut him off, his voice firm and unyielding.
Dante stopped, his frustration simmering beneath the surface. As he looked at Anya with her tear-streaked face, trembling hands, and distant gaze, he realized he might have gone too far.
Sigh. "Think about it carefully and decide what you want to do," he said, his tone softer but still firm. "We'll be leaving in four hours."
Without waiting for a response, he turned and left the room, his footsteps echoing in the tense silence.
Nathan remained in the room, watching Anya as she sobbed quietly. He scratched the back of his neck, feeling awkward and unsure of what to say while silently cursing Dante in his thoughts.
"Don't take his words to heart," he said while turning around to leave. "That guy can be a jerk sometimes, but deep down, he is a kind man."
He left the room with those words, which he genuinely believed as he recalled how Dante had tried to help Aeryn.
********
As the sun began to set, Nathan and Dante sat on a wooden bench beside the entrance to the cave. The air was heavy with silence as they waited for the promised time.
Dante broke the stillness. "It's time." He stood, preparing to leave.
Nathan said nothing but stood as well, following him without a word. Deep down, however, a small disappointment lingered. He had hoped Anya would come with them.
Just as the two were about to enter the cave, a loud voice called out to them.
"Please wait!"
Nathan's face lit up as he turned, and there she was—Anya, running toward them. Dante, however, watched her silently, his expression unreadable.
When Anya reached them, she stopped, gasping for breath. The run had clearly taken its toll on her.
"So, you've decided to join us?" Dante asked, his voice unimpressed. He studied her with a critical gaze, but Nathan shot him a sharp glare, urging him to keep his thoughts to himself.
Anya didn't flinch. She stood straight, her eyes unwavering as she met Dante's gaze. "I won't cower anymore," she said firmly. "I came here to be an ascender... to be someone my family can be proud of."
Dante responded with a cold smirk, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Good," he praised, his voice laced with a hint of respect but still tinged with sarcasm. "Just make sure you can follow my orders."
Anya's expression remained serious as she nodded, acknowledging Dante's words. She then turned to Nathan, who smiled sheepishly and replied, "Welcome to the team."
"I... I will do my best," she declared, her voice steady as the group of three began their descent.
Though Nathan and Dante were the official party members who would receive the reward after the quest, Anya was more or less a one-woman party. If she managed to show the corpse of the dreglord, she could claim the reward for herself.
However, her true reason for joining them was far more personal as she sought to retrieve her friend's remains and avenge her fallen comrades.
As per the discussed plan, the three began hunting down the dregmites on the upper levels first as they moved under Dante's command.
Dante took the front, gripping his katana with both hands. The dregmites were quick and always attacked in groups, but Dante and Nathan had grown accustomed to their tactics. Dante steeled his hands with his blessing, preparing for the oncoming swarm.
Their strategy was simple. Dante acted as the tank, focusing on limiting the dregmites' movements while Nathan and Anya provided support.
A trio of dregmites suddenly lunged at Dante from the left, right, and above. He reacted instinctively, performing a roundhouse kick to knock off the ones on his sides while raising his katana to stab the one above him. The dregmite's claws collided with his blade, halting the attack for a moment. In that brief pause, a red spear pierced its body from the side.
The dregmite shrieked in pain as Nathan swung his spear, sending the creature flying into the wall.
Anya acted swiftly, her staff striking one of the remaining dregmites with a powerful blow, sending it crashing away from the impact.
Dante finished off the last one, bringing his katana down in a vertical slash, severing the creature's head cleanly in two.
"These ratty sharks are very shrewd," cursed Nathan as he pulled his spear from the corpse, wiping the blood off the blade.
"Indeed," Anya agreed, her eyes scanning the surroundings. "They always attack us in groups out of nowhere. It's like they're just waiting for the right moment to strike."
The group continued to move through the cave, Dante leading the way with the map he had been given. His steps were steady, confident, as he checked the map occasionally to ensure they were on the right path.
It only took them an hour to clear the monsters on the upper levels. Once the last dregmite was dealt with, the team decided to rest before moving on to the lower levels.
Dante, always the strategist, was the first to sit down. "Let's take a short break," he said, his voice calm but firm. "We'll need our energy for what's ahead."
Anya and Nathan nodded in agreement, taking the opportunity to catch their breath and check their equipment. They knew the next wave of monsters would be more in number and challenging, but for now, the brief respite was a welcome relief.
Nathan decided to start a conversation as he asked while hoping to learn more about Anya's background. "So, what is it like living on the upper realms?"
Anya blinked in confusion, unsure of what he meant. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, uh, how is life where you're from?" Nathan clarified, his tone a little hesitant.
Anya scratched her cheek, trying to find the right words. "Oh, you mean my home world, Nemesia? It's normal, I guess." She struggled to explain, unsure of how to describe a place she had known her whole life.
Dante, who had been listening quietly, scoffed. "She's been in that plane since birth. How do you expect her to differentiate it from the other places, idiot?" He rebuked Nathan for asking what seemed like a thoughtless question.
"Hey! I was just curious!" Nathan shot back, glaring at Dante.
Anya, sensing the tension rising, stepped in between them, hands raised in a peaceful gesture. "Ahhh, please don't fight," she pleaded, her voice soft.
Nathan and Dante paused, staring at her in surprise. After a beat, Nathan started laughing.
"Hahaha... You don't have to worry, Anya. This is the usual between us."
Anya let out a relieved sigh. "Oh, thank God. I thought you two would start trading blows."
Nathan, seeing an opportunity to tease her, smirked. "So, if the two of us fought, you'd support me, right?"
"Of course she would. You're the weaker one, after all," Dante mocked with a smirk of his own.
"Why you...."
Anya watched the two banter back and forth and couldn't help but smile. She absentmindedly spoke, "Hehe... you both seem like siblings, always arguing over the simplest things."
At her remark, both men turned to look at her, scowling in unison.