A legion marched out of the iron fortress of a sect, donned in majestic robes and armour, a truly awe inspiring sight. Except that one guy who was casually wearing a plain white shirt and brown pants, me. I was neither attractive nor powerful, a complete misfit in the team.

It wasn't just me who thought I didn't fit. There were glimpses from the others that looked upon me with quizzical expressions, one even with disdain.

"Pah, worthless newbie. I don't understand why the sect master allowed such greenhorns to join this expedition!"

A woman with bright crimson hair in a set of black armour sneered at me, an expression of utter contempt. I resisted the urge to punch her right in the face. Just because you have talent (quite probable) and rank (even more probable) doesn't meant you're hot stuff! Well she was pretty hot but that wasn't the point. I ignored her remark, turning my face back to the direction we were marching.

"You worthless bastard, think you can ignore me just like-"

"Enough, Reice. We are here to on a quest, not to bicker and fight." She was interrupted by a familiar voice and a tap on her shoulder, Pewjack's doing.

"We-ee-ll, if you say so." She stuttered for a second and I caught the slightest of a blush on her face as I turned. Damn, was that bastard trying to get a harem or something? (In case you don't remember, he even chats up the counter women) Pewjack gave me a thumbs up and a grin, apparently having got over my attitude from earlier. I got a quick glare from Rice right after, her face pratically screaming "LAY OFF MY MAN FILTHY BASTARD". Damn, what type of person gets mad even when their crush gets along with someone of the same gender? It's not even like they were in a relationship. Wait, are they?

"Platinium ranked monster incoming!"

A shout from the sect master alerted everyone, bringing us to full attention. Sure enough, a huge figure charged towards us from the distance, smashing down dozens of trees noisily as it neared. It was the huge scaly monster that I encountered while following the trail of destruction Pewjack and the chaser made as they ran. Damn, is that what they meant by "it's a small world"? You might be wondering how I was able to tell it was the same monster. Simple, it had a huge reconisable gash on it's back. It however, did not look the same; it's originally normal white eye with a black pupil was now completely black, and the monster was now looking quite delirious as it stumbled around unsteadily, drool splashing all over on the ground. (Many animals and monsters went crazy from the chaos wave, the people in Iodious were mostly fine because of a anti chaos formation.)

"Holy butt nuggets!" Pewjack shouted. "How strong is the chaos seed to even feralise a platinum monster?"

There were shouts of panic from the other disciples that felt alarmed at the thought of an attacking platinum beast. Rice was one of those who remained calm however (much to my disappointment).

"Flame Angel!" Rice shouted as fire enveloped her armour, somehow not burning anyone nearby. She then leaped high into the air, and a huge pair of wings even bigger than her then formed behind her back. They then made strong flaps to keep her afloat, sending gusts of hot air over the army.

"Ahh, there it is again. She always tried to show off when I'm around." Pewjerk looked exasperated as he sighed. Fucking bastard, stop showing off! Rice then flew above the beast just as it was about to attack the sect master who stood guard upfront to protect the disciples and elders. The flaming wings then condensed into fist sized white fireballs that shot swiftly toward the eyes of the beast (it was distracted by the sect master and didn't notice her).

"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH"

A scream of pain could be heard as one of it's eyes were reduced to cinders. One of the attack hit the eyes, while another hit the scaly forehead of the beast, making the scales red hot and smoking. Without the support of her wings, the "angel" fell from above. A huge sword thrice her size suddenly materialised beneath her feet, focusing the impact of her fall onto the back of the monster. The tip of the sword then shattered the scales on it's back and stabbed in, making nearly literal rivers of blood spurt.

"GRRRRAAAA!"

The beast swiped with elasticity unexpected of such a huge monster and dislodged the sword, sending the girl and her weapon flying into the distance. Her screams could be heard as she smashed through several trees away from sight.

"Reice!" The sect master looked uncomfortable at the sight of one of his top disciples (probably, I'm just guessing) attacked like that. He took advantage of the distraction cause by Rice and raised his right palm to face the monster.

"Ultimate kinetic spear!" (Seriously, why are the people in Iodious all calling out their attack names?) The transparent tip of the spear formed from the centre of master's palm, and it shot towards the burnt eye socket of the creature, the shaft of the spear emerging along from his palm as it flew out.

"ARREEH!"

The monster fell for good, the spear having destroyed it's the rest of it's mind literally. The master then flew into the air and toward the direction she flew to (ignoring the corpse of the beast), swiftly returning with the dirt covered woman and tossing her onto the ground.

"You idiot! Why did you have to engage the platinum monster? You could have gotten killed!" He yelled at (the pile of) Rice who laid on the ground.

"Sorry... I just wanted to help." She shot a weak smile at him as he chided. Damned bitch, you just wanted to show off to Pewjerk! Where did that smug attitude you showed earlier go?

"Haaaaah..." He sighed in defeat. "I know you are just trying to protect the other disciples, but don't be so rash next time, okay?"

"Yes master!" She stood up, giving him a serious stare.

"Good, good."

Meanwhile, I was biting my tongue trying not to curse aloud at the scene. Which part of her had a drop of goodwill?