“Eh, you’ll handle this one, buddy,” August laid down again, as if fog-bathing. What a carefree guy! S-rank dungeons certainly weren’t as scary as August and I expected them to be, but perhaps a little dangerous for those who were just attempting them. He had total belief in me. But to be fair, I felt the same about him.

Our times back in Ulanos came back to mind at that moment. Particularly when he raised his sword directly upward, an obvious sign that he was using all of his quintessence. I often imagined what a true fight between us would be like. I remembered that the Sword Sovereign’s sister wanted us to spare her brother’s life, and so I had to stop August.

But… I knew damn well, if August’s eyes of violence turned toward me in that heated moment, we might’ve levelled the city of Nuan. With my Timedials stacked up, I was more than a match for him. In fact, I’d bet he didn’t stand a chance against me. But without the time-retarding spell? Hmph… My head would fly. There was no real way to tell when his quint usage went to the maximum. August could kill me instantly with a damn butter knife; nay, with a good smack to the head.

“Could you fantasize about your man another time, maybe?” That cheeky mind-trespasser ushered my thoughts back to the present. Water God crept around me. I placed a huge sphere of extremely dense water around us.

My gay eyes locked onto August once more, and I made a mental note to brainstorm how to make both of us even stronger. Void and light. Emily’s staff. Apotheosis. I thought about the things that would undoubtedly increase my strength. But for August, what could I do? Spells? There certainly were spells extremely useful for him, but his main source of strength was quint, and I kept feeling like he should have another source. “Bitch, what did I just say?”

Right. My bad.

Hydrotendrils warped out of the sphere’s thick wall and grabbed the monsters, pulling them towards us and forcing their heads to stick through the water dome. “They’re all yours. Once the number of them goes down, I’ll remove the dome and let you survive on your own,” I told my group and August grunted. He didn’t want to get up.

Razor-furred chimps, gorillas with oversized fangs, and small, but numerous and agile monkeys. Their heads kept poking into the dense walls of water, making them vulnerable and ensuring their bodies were entrapped. The group killed off a lot of them, and eventually I removed the encirclement of water. The monkeys began skittering amongst us, using bites as their main offence.

Avatar of Earth and durability enchantments were enough to negate the bite, and subsequently ignore the annoying bastards. The chimps, posing a threat with their fangs and strikes swung by and struck Freya, who caught their attention as tank. But coming from all directions, it was hard for her to keep up. I wanted to help, and so did August by the look he gave. However, she wasn’t currently in a critical state, so I figured letting her figure out what to do would be a good thing. We let her be. Her lack of mobility as a heavy-armoured tank left her on the more useless end of the group’s spectrum.

Eventually, Scadia burnt the vines that the chimps swung from to bring them down. Phil with his dual swords and high agility dealt with the monkeys. The chimps, now on the ground, attacked mindlessly. Freya was able to take them on a lot better and thus Scarlet could ambush them with her claymore.

The three gorillas that simply watched from afar eventually charged. One of them hit Freya’s shield with a strong tackle and had her flying into a tree. The other focused on Scadia, whom was a bit defenceless after just casting a spell, but was able to keep herself alive by dipping into the void and coming back out. She blasted it with a few fireballs, injuring it.

The third placed its eyes on Phil for some reason, not exactly a flashy fighter. It swung an arm to him but he ducked easily, and placed a cut on the gorilla’s leg. It hammered down with its other arm but a calculated roll to the side put Phil in an advantageous position. He stabbed a sword through one of the gorilla’s Achilles’ heel, severing the tendons and causing it to yell out in pain. It stumbled, but kept on its feet.

The more it attacked, the more it left itself open to attacks from Phil. Phil was the lowest ranked member of our main group, but he seemed to have the most control over the situation. Amazing, I thought, watching his dexterous footwork and amazing sleight of hand when it came to his swords.

I realised then, his type. It wasn’t warrior at all. Just like August now had another dungeoneer role available to him because he had a pet, a dungeoneer like Phil was wasted with swords. Daggers would prove much better in his hands; he would be an amazing assassin type like the fellow August fought against in the challenge from the Onyx Heart guild.

Freya had it a bit hard, but once she caught her bearings and realised that fighting head on with the beasts was stupid, she dropped her shield and focused on evading its attacks. Phil, delivering the last strike through the beast’s eye and into its brain, turned his attention to the one attacking Freya. Scarlet would attack the one engaged with Scadia after every spell she cast, forming a relay of sorts.

Freya and Phil began fighting with one. Scadia and Scarlet focused on the other. But it was like they forgot the monkeys existed. A couple monkeys jumped onto Scadia’s shoulders and began pulling her hair or biting her. Luckily, they didn’t focus on her jugular. She was distracted enough to miss her turn to attack the gorilla, and it caused the gorilla to backhand Scarlet so hard that she pitched away.

I was amazed they were having this much trouble. These guys were S-ranks and up, with the best enchanted gear that could be had. Lucky thing I let them thin the numbers at the start.

“Eh, don’t underestimate them too much. Remember a group is supposed to have ten members. There are only four of them fighting right now.”

Oh yeah, you’re right. If that’s the case, then I think they’re doing excellent. At that point, I decided to use Renew through the Light Link I placed on them. Scarlet jumped up after being healed, dropped her sword and dodged the gorilla’s strike. She landed on its back and literally poked it in the eye. A bit underhanded, a bit eccentric, a bit crazy, but extremely effective. Once she kicked the monkeys away from her sword and picked it up, dealing the fatal blow to the gorilla was a simple task. At that point, the MVP, Phil, had just taken down the last gorilla. Hmm, I rubbed my chin.

As we beat more and more monsters, the fog cleared. Scadia took care of the monkeys with her area of effect spells. I healed everyone once again. Once the monsters were cleared away, the boss appeared. It was like a woolly mammoth and gorilla in one? The main body was definitely that of a gorilla, but its thick and knotted fur that of a mammoth. A woolly gorilla…

Donna laughed like an idiot at that, making me laugh as well. “Phil, Freya,” I called out to the fastest and slowest fighter respectively, “You two will fight this guy by yourselves.”

They gawked at me like I was an invalid. “Suicide is bad,” Freya commented. Phil nodded in agreement.

“Don’t worry,” I threw a strength potion at Freya, “just drink up.” Why her and not Phil? Well, Phil’s attacks might take quite the while to kill the boss, but I wanted to see his limits. And to do that, I had to reduce the chance of him being injured. With Freya’s body going into overdrive, she could properly protect him. “I’ll immediately heal should the situation call for it. Please, try your best.”

I was surprised Phil didn’t ask why I didn’t give him a potion as well, but I’m sure he was thinking it. He took a deep breath, held his blood-soaked swords tighter and walked slowly toward the boss. Freya, breaking out of her stupor, jogged to catch up to him, but he burst into a sprint, leaving her out easily.

The boss raised his hand, sweeping along the ground but missing Phil. His footwork was a gift from the gods. His sword swept along the boss’ wrist like butter, making a deep cut. The boss used that same arm to swing it sideways at Phil but he bent his body backward and ducked the blow. After that, he burst into a sprint and ran away from the boss. The woolly gorilla, enraged at the little annoyance, followed blindly.

Phil stopped at the trunk of a huge tree. Hmm, will he… The gorilla, in its maddened state, rushed in and swung its good arm downward at Phil. The man looked intently at the attack and decided not to move. The outer arch of the boss’ blow was marred by the tree and slowed greatly. Phil moved aside with movements that placed Onyx Heart’s assassin in that arena to shame. He stabbed the gorilla’s wrist and ran behind the tree immediately.

I knew it. That man is a genius and no one realised his potential. How the hell did he remain an E-rank for so long?

Donna, seeing my thoughts and suspicions prior, nodded in agreement. “He worked on movement more than using his weapons so he can dodge pretty much anything. His ability to switch directions is amazing. The instantaneousness of his sprint is the best I’ve seen since we came to Yunaris.”

Not to mention, he maintains composure in battle and has a tight understanding of anatomy. Most of his attacks strike at important places.

The boss was bleeding like crazy. He could simply just evade and conserve energy and the boss would eventually bleed out and faint. Killing it at that point would be an easy task. But he didn’t let up, even though the fight was in the bag for him. He sprinted in, dodging the now half-assed attacks of the boss and planted his swords point right into the boss’ foot and retracting it immediately. Even the way he used his swords were techniques for daggers. He sidestepped behind the boss and avoided its great arm strike. There, he stabbed its crown jewels and it fell down in pain, thrashing about.

He jumped back a couple times and began running around it to blur his location and keep the boss guessing whilst having to deal with the pain of a ruptured scrotum. Every move this man employed impressed me greatly. With ability like this, I felt like he deserved to be the guild master. If any dungeoneer saw an A-rank soloing an S-rank dungeon’s boss, they’d kill to have him in their party. I couldn’t imagine what other guild masters would do to get their grubby hands on him.

Scarlet was gaping at the performance the entire time. She now saw why I said something as ridiculous as I did. In fact, the entire group was realising his true strength. But I knew his grown was stunted by those swords. He had an S-rank boss on the ground without getting so much as a scratch on him.

Freya, who was running into the battle at the start, stopped long ago when she realised Phil had a particular strategy in mind. Probably thought she’d get in the way. But that wasn’t the case though. A tank’s ability to distract was essential, but she still left Phil to his devices.

Eventually, Phil rushed into the boss at its most vulnerable spot. Its hands covered its balls, writhing in agony. All its limbs were now at the lower half of its body. The boss’ head was exposed and defenceless. In less than a second, he dashed in and sank his sword into the boss’ throat, leaving the sword there and quickly making distance.

He grabbed some dirt with his free hand and swung it from afar at the boss, blinding it for a moment. But that little moment was all Phil needed. His other sword was plunged into the boss’ forehead with the strength of both arms. Its body twitched a bit, and eventually the gate to leave the dungeon appeared, signalling the death of a boss.

The MVP retrieved his sword and wordlessly, he exited.

“What just happened?” Scarlet, still gaping, questioned me. She, like many others, probably overlooked Phil, but the fact that some others are simply better at battles remained unmoving. Freya, who was an S-rank, performed like an A-rank, whilst Phil, an A-rank, moved like a double-S rank. He could think on his feet and his battle senses were a notch over everyone else – perhaps above mine as well. I couldn’t guarantee I would think of the things he did if I was in his situation.

We all left. I made a couple serrated daggers for him and August enchanted them. They had a poison on them that made the opponents a bit dizzy after being cut. The indestructible and extra sharp enchantments were also added, as well as the ownership enchantment. They were lightweight and easily summoned, which gave him the option of simply dropping the daggers if the complexity of the fight called for it.

We entered the same dungeon, and midway through it, he began getting used to the feel of the daggers. His performance had improved greatly and he was even more nimble. The ability to slice or stab an enemy and make them lose control of their senses and get dizzy was amazing. It gave him a lot more manoeuvrability, which gave him rein to join in on other fights near him and make fatal blows a lot more accessible.

In Phil’s hands, the daggers were utilised in ways that even I didn’t foresee. He adapted quickly to them and new tactics naturally came about. If he took a rank-up test right now, he’d at least be double-S rank, or perhaps triple-S. But I wanted to ensure the latter.

After we completed that dungeon five times, I sat down with him and began teaching him the early stages of Invisibility. It was more of camouflage than actual invisibility, and he was a bit of a slow learner when it came to magic, but his persistence put me at ease. I wrote up a spell tome for him and he’d study it in his free time.

The other members of the group weren’t happy with the attention I gave to Phil. Freya especially looked to August to teach her to be a better fighter, but unless she spent the twenty years training for the ability to even use one percent of quintessential energy, then it was pointless looking to him.

Scarlet’s envy was unmoving, despite being quite happy for Phil. She liked him a lot after all, but was of the assumption that the rest of the guild didn’t pick up on it. Scadia kept her pride and didn’t bother to ask me anything.

After a couple days of doing different S-rank dungeons, Phil managed to learn Invisibility, but it would only last around thirty seconds. But thirty seconds of Invisibility was more than enough for him. He was more suited to direct combat anyway, so disappearing constantly wasn’t needed and would only be suitable as an opener to a fight.

Another fruitful day passed by, and the morning after, we all congregated once more to continue. But something was amiss with Scarlet and Phil. They didn’t talk like they usually would, and the fact that I picked up on it meant everyone else already did; I was pretty slow when it came to these things after all. I shrugged it off as a lover’s quarrel.

They disappeared for a while, and when they reappeared, Phil had a look of regret in his eyes. Scarlet chased after him, “If you go there, don’t bother coming back to First Flight!” she shrieked over yonder.

He paused his brisk walk, gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. With a long exhale, he stopped tensing up. “Then, I will miss you, Scarlet,” he said, with a warm smile on his face when he looked back at her.

She twitched, filled to the brim with anger, but unable to take her words back. What a spectacle it was. No one dared to get involved in whatever was going on, but we all knew it was serious. He’s probably going to a stronger guild? Then again, we’re probably the strongest guild in Yunaris.

“Hmm, I don’t think he’s going to another guild. She wouldn’t have said ‘don’t’ come back’ if it was.”

An interesting conundrum. First Flight existed to make dungeoneers stronger, allowing them to attain power and join a stronger guild to pursue their dreams. Technically, we should have our arms open to anyone, which meant kicking someone out First Flight was definitely a seldom occurrence.

Whatever… I was too concerned about my void and light manipulation training to bat an eye at it. But it didn’t sit right with Donna. Despite not being able to read her mind, I could feel her vibe. I can feel the question coming. So, let me ask you, is it a request from you as a friend, or is my master telling me to do it?

She pondered, her finger hitting the side of her cheek, “I’m telling you as your master. Just tail him and make sure it’s nothing dangerous.” She was worried he’d go get himself killed or something. I stood up from my stooped position and stretched my legs.

I followed him outside and when he noticed I was walking to him, he severed my Light Link and broke off in a sprint, simultaneously using Invisibility. Sheesh, Life Perception activated, so silly. Did he forget who taught him Invisibility? His life essence was hopping from roof to roof with the greatest of ease. I flew above him in Voidwalk and shadowed him to a restaurant.

He met with another man there, one I couldn’t identify. They sat down around a small square table. The sorcerer, clothed in black raiment gave Phil a smile of victory. He was old and hunched. “Your mere presence disgusts me,” the old man said dismissively, but that wasn’t the end of the conversation. “They’ll be released once your last obligation is fulfilled. Bruno Ulyen will be Starfall Temple for the service tonight. Make sure he doesn’t live to leave.”