The day after.....
Amongst all the middle aged men and young women among the group waiting to venture into the dungeon was the newly registered rookie conquerer waiting awkwardly by the hot dog stand . Ever since the previous day , Avaris was overtaken by a massive headache from all the complicated things that had happened to him .
He had gotten to the Hakujimo site as soon as he received a message from the guild master and hurried there on the reasoning that he was already late . Not wanting to forsake the job he had been entrusted by the boss Avaris arrived before anyone else and stood there in silence ever since. "Man I've been here for hours where's the party leader!?",he blurted out.
Almost timed , a woman with pale blonde hair stepped out of a black Rolls Royce phantom in a white robe attached with two staffs at the side. The woman introduced herself to the rest of party members as Loria Hakujimo , the cousin of the current owner of Hakujimo Enterprises.
Immediately everyone dropped what they were doing and got ready to dive into the vortex . Loria opened her bag and took out a small silver rubix cube , she put her thumb on the top and then threw the cube into the air . Afterwards a large sum of mana started gathering around the front of the cube before it completely became a circular vortex gate amassing the high concentration of magical energy in the surrounding area . Thus the Hakujimo Party went forward.
On the other end it was pretty dark and without the light provided by Loria , young Avaris would have stumbled on a mana crystal that was right in front of where he came out and as the last one to get through the vortex closed of the second he was completely out.
"Watch your step , Vari.", he was surprised to hear her call him and even more surprised that she knew his name .
"Sure.", he was still confused when he felt like he had heard something coming from the area behind where the gate was .
He removed his backpack , cleared his mind and listened carefully to his surroundings . "What is it! ,rookie? " ,the tracker of the group was dumbfounded by Vari's actions and took a harsh and loud approach which Vari responded , "Back off, old man." and got into a sort of weird stance.
To slow himself down he had to grip a pair of crystals on each side of the cave walls and even that wasn't enough , the amount of force he generated from the pace he was running completely shattered the stone orc like a fragile glass pane. However, he was still going , at the moment Avaris was stone faced in the power he was showing . On the inside he was peril , < Damnit!! , how do I slow down . The guild master only told me to use this if I sensed danger but you didn't tell me how to stop it . Damn you Maiga!!!>
"I call upon spirits of earth , folley the triumph of the sylph and take the raging hurricane in the grass , Full Stature! ", Loria was casting as she was following the mighty wind behind Avaris' speed . Luckily enough for him she tamed it before he got to the wall ."You okay?",she looked at him , his rookie looking face terrified to death of the power he used.
"Yeah ,I'm fine . How 'bout you guys? ".
"We're great kid and thanks for shutting me up , I tend to get stubborn. ", the tracker was smiling after the very essence of his abilities was humiliated. The others nodded.
Loria moved from where she was and rejoined the group ,"Well I guess we mine some crystals and return home."
"What d'you mean , we only got here right?", Avaris was getting tired of all the confusion of the day he had gotten.
She sighed , perhaps from having to explain things to rookies all the time and finally answered him, "I know but it's out of my hands , you already defeated the dungeon boss and we've got but a few minutes before the gate appears and we have to go home so I think it's best we get the crystals and make some money out of this . Oh and by the way you can keep the tusks of the orc since you are the one who killed it."
"Thank you for explaining Miss Hakujimo. " , for the first time in the whole day he noticed that she wasn't even above twenty-five. But he let it go and went on to collect the Stone Orc Tusks. And once done with their collecting the Hakujimo Party left the conquered dungeon. Shortly after , they all parted their ways some together and most like Avaris alone .
With the end of the adventure Avaris was feeling a little sad , but the feeling that encroached him that night was the fear of not being able to go through those vortex gates and conquer more dungeons and tomorrow he would inform the Guild Master that he would very much like to continue. He ended up drifting off into sleep with the thought of seeing Miss Loria Hakujimo again.
When he woke , he was quite stressed ; just as his alarm rung he held his phone to switch it off but when he saw the number of missed calls on his phone he freaked when he checked the Caller ID . He quickly got into the shower , got dressed in a blue hoodie and black jeans then left a note for his siblings as he got out of the apartment.
The missed calls were also linked with an address of the Seliforia International Treasury for Conquerers. On the train he was curious as to why he was asked to be met there. But he had a pretty strong guess when the message also said bring your gear. When he got there the Hakujimo group he had gone with was waiting to head into a dungeon for what it seemed and even his boss was there speaking to the police officer whose lieutenants were holding back the civilians eager to meet with him. But they gave up soon after he got into his limousine and left.
Just like the day prior , Loria opened up the vortex and they all went in but a bit more careful of their surroundings. No one had said a thing but when they entered one off the older men shouted to the rest of the group, "Everyone , feast you eyes upon the newly appeared Treasury Ruins!. "
For this time they got more cautious and had achieved a bond of friendship thanks to Avaris , they went on killing monsters all the way . It was the first time that they had used their abilities in a while and you can say they weren't rusty at all. Because it was a ruin the place had fewer monsters than any other place but their shortage in numbers was substituted by the individual strength.
Nonetheless they all got through , by the time they reached the final boss's room their gear and clothing was soaked in monster blood , (Nobody said that you came out of a dungeon or ruins spotless).
The others had been smiling and joyous for being able to show off their strength and powers and we're enjoying themselves. Avaris , on the other hand was withdrawn from the group as he was focusing on the party leader who was acting cold to the whole group including him too.
The tracker was on the brink of collapse and his power , Area view was about to short circuit. So the leader ordered a rest time before they wrap things up in the boss room. Everyone was glad to get some rest but they all got on their feet after hearing a mighty roar from their destination . Although it was unspoken , a decision had been made to go and conquer the ruins at once.The roar was alarming but since commonly ruin bosses appear strong turn out to be truly weak .
The mood of the room was ominous , perhaps too ominous for their expectations; when they saw the colossus sized dragon they realized what an error they had made. The dragon was of the Greater Class , the most dangerous and judging by the refined scales and magic that covered it's horns it must've been one of the mythical three.
Retreat was useless, perhaps by design the exit was sealed off meaning it was one of those scenarios where to leave you have e to kill the big bad boss . "What do we do!?",following the warrior's words everyone looked at Loria who was herself caught in shock got a hold of herself and spoke calmly , "Look everybody , we've got two A ranks , three B ranks , five C ranks and Two D ranks . If we combine our skills and strengthen each other we can beat this . I know we all agreed to take this on because we thought it was easy plus it was paying a lot . But let's show them that we are worth all that money they agreed to pay us . Let's show them that we are the strongest party in the city!. "
Everyone was motivated by that speech and got to their positions , ready to face death and beat it into a pulp. All the current mages lined up behind the vanguard of the warriors to cast a single powerful spell of legendary class , "Hear us , spirits of the east , of the north , east and the west ; heave the clouds , scatter the roses , prickle the sea and relinquish my enemy of any right to harm thee , Dark Thunder Typhoon Storm!!!! ",a large wave of elements merged into one line of black static thunder and struck the mighty dragons from all directions. The entire room was captured by a very bright light , mana pouring into the attack , the dragon struggling to defend itself and the conquerers starting to smile with hope of victory.
When it all stopped the enemy looked barbaqued , "Hahaha!!! ,you amuse me humans!. " , a deep voice echoed loudly throughout the entire volume of the room.
"How? , it didn't work!? ", everyone was crumbling in fear , uncertainty and had lost all their bearing except the rookie.
The dragon spoke once more , "If you want to live then present a sacrifice. ", the essence of this was like a sting in the heart when all of them except the innocent party leader grabbed Avaris and forcefully carried him to the dragon.
"Very well , you may leave. " ,it spoke and the exit appeared , then once they left , "It's just you and me now. ". Avaris attempted that same trick he used the day prior but he activated nothing but immense pain and all his strength was drained from his body leaving him too weak to escape. The dragon readied its attack and Avaris thought to himself while he was getting burned by the immense flame , < Funny ain't it . I trusted them whilst forgetting the one thing that the boss told me : people don't want to die and they will do whatever they can to survive. I guess I thought some easy cash could get me through life . Well I was wrong , whether in the world on in here , it's who has the upper hand , the one who is the strongest . And with that , in my next life I shall become the strongest , no beyond strong , the one who makes the strongest cower in their own weakness . And I'm gonna do whatever I have to to become the one at the top of the pillar. Cheers to that , to becoming stronger .>
His thoughts slowly faded and at last he had left all the suffering he had known in this world and gone to rest from all of this chaos. The dragon lamented to the world had lost such a potential strong person. "Farewell Avaris Lias."