Nathan's words seemed to have snapped the rogue from his brief spell of being frozen. The fear that had been so apparent on Pirlo's face morphed into a blank one as the rogue took a step back from the monster corpse and went to stand beside a tree a few feet away. Pirlo's face was impassive, but his eyes were unfocused, as though the rogue was lost in thought.

Look at that, I must've struck a chord.

Pirlo's open defiance to his order could have been due to a myriad of possibilities. Maybe he felt an overwhelming sense of loyalty for Ciara, maybe he just wanted to piss Nathan off, or the biggest maybe of them all: maybe he assumed that Nathan just wanted to isolate Ciara away from her squad so that when she'd be killed by the Rapid Soza, Nathan could just take over the reins of leadership.

I've got news for you, buddy. I ain't interested in leading you guys.

Was what Nathan wanted to say, but no one had asked a question, so he kept his words to himself. A second to mull over the accusation his subconscious had thrown at him made him realize that indeed there was a little bit of weight behind the unspoken accusation. If Pirlo hadn't been beside Ciara, maybe the mage would've been dead by now, as Nathan only got there because Pirlo had served as a distraction.

What am I even doing?

Nathan ended that line of thought with a grunt. At no time had he envisioned himself putting Ciara in a situation that could hundred percent kill her. Maybe that was how it seemed, but he'd never callously waste a human life like that. It simply wasn't something he was cruel enough to do.

He snapped out of it. While Pirlo had isolated himself after Nathan's quick jab at the group as a whole and his undisguised grin at the look of fear in the rogue's eyes, Ciara was already on the move, gathering her squadmates and giving them pats on the back and words of encouragement as she sought to comfort them.

Yin and Yang.

Maybe he loves her.

"Helllll yeahhhhhhhhh, did you guys see that?" Ruben said excitedly. "I thought for sure Pirlo was a goner."

The other berserker's words caused him to discard the line of thought, the squadmates gathering around the corpse of the monster he stood over.

"Same, it looked grim," Yola said quietly.

"Naahh, a damned snake isn't going to be what will kill Pirlo," Daniel said with a grin. "He's too bull-headed for that. Maybe a bull with the ego he has would actually get the job done."

Nathan resisted the urge to chuckle at the group's input on the matter. It relieved him a little to see that they hadn't been ultimately crushed by the disparity in strength between them and the Rapid Soza. Sure, he'd expect them to step it up a notch, but losing their personalities entirely because of that would be terrible.

"At least he did something, you mocking cowards," Tasha chipped in, judgment seeping into her tone. "The rest of you guys did nothing but hide, like house cats."

House cats?

It took a moment for him to realize what the female ranger actually meant, and when he'd finally clocked it, he had to resist the urge to chuckle at the insults which clearly left Ruben and Daniel red in their faces.

"We-ll, we didn't see you try to do anything," Ruben stuttered.

The berserker was only saying that to try and save face, but he could tell that most of the squad actually agreed with him. The Tasha that was judging the rest of the squad had been the first to hide behind a tree. Throwing stones at others when she lived in a glass house, Ruben's words seemed to have struck a nerve as the ranger huffed audibly before keeping mute, glaring daggers at the dwarf.

Too bad she doesn't have laser eyes.

That would've certainly helped against the Rapid Soza, but alas, the system hadn't designed it necessary to mutate them to the point that they could shoot burning hot lasers from their eyes. Maybe it could happen in the future, hopefully.

"Stand down, everyone," Nathan said, trying to close the rift. "You guys made the right decision by hiding. Ciara wasn't going to be able to protect you all if you were clumped together."

He couldn't even imagine a best-case scenario if that had happened. Surely by now they'd have been mourning the loss of a member or two, but they were all intact, if just a little bit shaken at the moment. Nathan's words seemed to be enough to close the gap that was starting to open up within the squad.

"All you guys have to do now is get stronger," Nathan said. "And you have to do it fast. So are you guys going to hit an E-ranked dungeon with me or an F-ranked one by yourselves?"

As far as he was concerned, he was done babysitting. They could handle the least dungeon by themselves, so he no longer had to watch over them while they fought. Of course, if they did decide to hit the E-ranked dungeon with him, he'd have to do a little supervising before he focused on improving his own growth, which he'd been neglecting for some time.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Speaking of growth, status.

Name: Nathan Orion

Moniker: N/A

Level: 25

Archetype: Blood Berserker

Class: Blood Pawn

Imprints: Balls of Steel, Demon Slayer, Skull Crusher, Bronze Dungeoneer, Wrong Underdog

Strength: 26

Dexterity: 13

Vitality: 12

Constitution: 18

Perception: 11

Dao: N/A

Ra'hal Coins: 19,490

Free Points: 4

He had quite the urge to chuck some of his free points into his Dexterity but suppressed it. The monster who'd been behind the urge was already dead without the increase in the particular stat. The realization caused Nathan to question if the ability to look at his stats somehow took away the opportunity to utilize his full potential.

With a subtle shake of his head, he dismissed the screen, coming back to the present where the squad was throwing light banter amongst themselves. Ciara was looking intently at him, her eyes uncertain. A raised eyebrow from him seemed to alert her that he'd dismissed his stat screen, which was no doubt what everybody thought he'd been fiddling with when he'd zoned out.

"We'll take the F-ranked dungeon … alone," Ciara said firmly.

Her words cut straight through the nervous chatter that the rest of the squad—excluding Pirlo—had been partaking in. The impression of her words left was louder than the words themselves. Eyes flitted between mage and berserker, everyone waiting with bated breath.

Nathan turned to the rogue who'd isolated himself from them. Pirlo seemed to have heard what Ciara had said clearly and had the look of someone who wanted to protest the decision. Instead of doing that, the rogue let out a dramatic sigh and muttered something under his breath that Nathan's ears couldn't pick up.

Well, it's their funeral.

"Sure," Nathan said with ease.

"Okay, so has anyone ever had snake meat? Because I am tiredddddd of eating fruitsssss," Ruben said.

The words of the berserker cut through the thick tension that threatened to suffocate them. Nathan had never been more grateful to hear the blabbermouth speak than at the moment. A couple of chuckles left the lips of the others, and a smile appeared on Nathan's face too.

"I haven't tried it," Nathan admitted with a shrug.

Murmurs of agreement echoed around the clearing, but a couple of squad members kept their mouths shut. He found out why in a second.

"It's actually kinda nice. My grandma taught me how to make it," Yola muttered.

Just like that, cheers exploded amongst the group. They might not have agreed on the way forward when it came to leveling up, but everyone was pretty much looking forward to eating something that wasn't a fruit. After all, variety was the spice of life.

"Uhmm, are we supposed to eat monster meat?" Nathan asked uncertainly.

It had been one of the first questions he'd debated on after being dropped on the island by the freaking apocalypse general or whoever or whatever had dumped him here. The rapid degradation of the corpses and the fact that they were alien entities made Nathan wary of eating anything, so he'd stayed away from anything like that. For the most part.

"Desperate times, my man," Ruben said. "Plus the system told us that as long as we're fast enough in preparing the meat, we should be able to avoid it degrading to the point it becomes inedible."

"Ohh."

A few chuckles rang out at his response, but Nathan didn't mind one bit. The earlier tension had dissipated into the wind, and now the atmosphere had turned lively. Even Pirlo let out a laugh at his ignorance with Ciara, using a fake cough to disguise her laughter.

"How are we going to get it back to Blood Rock, though?" Diane asked.

Nathan couldn't help but smile at the question. It was the first time someone else had called his stronghold that without a hint of mockery seeping into their words. The priestess had said it like it was a normal name, not something silly.

"Yeah, Ruben's head is spacious, but I don't think we can force the entire thing in there," Daniel said with a chuckle.

Ruben turned bright red at the subtle jab that had been thrown at him by the ranger. The rest of the squad seemed to laugh at the joke, reveling in the berserker's discomfort. Nathan, on the other hand, was brainstorming ideas until he came to one that left him feeling a bit peckish, but the idea was still a solid one.

"We'll cut it up into pieces, and I'll chuck it into my bag of holding," Nathan said grimly.

The rest of the squad didn't seem to share his sentiment. In fact, most of them were openly joyous that a solution had been found to their immediate problem.

So without any other thing left to be said, they got to hacking apart the monster. When Nathan said "they," he meant himself. The rest of them weren't strong enough to land hits that could pierce the monster's skin, even though it was dead. It reminded him a little about the time the bunny had incapacitated him but couldn't kill him.

Another reminder for the smart ones.

Blood erupted as he continued to slash and hack apart the dead monster into pieces. He was sure the minds of those who were overthinkers like him would be whirring by now. They should've come to the conclusion that even if the snake had stood still and done nothing, they still wouldn't have been able to harm it. Which said a lot about their current abilities.

"And that's that for that," Nathan panted as he rose to his full height, blood covered his arms and sword.

Without waiting for any acknowledgment, Nathan started chucking the chopped-up pieces into his bag of holding, his mind a little bit relaxed at the monotonous nature of the activity. Soon enough he was done, and some of the squad members were staring at him, eagerness shining in their eyes.

"To Blood Rock," Nathan said.

Cheers rose up from the squad, and he couldn't resist the childish grin that covered his face. He had people cheering him on, and it felt pretty good. Of course, he knew that it was only the promise of food that was behind the enthusiasm, but still, a man could dream.

The walk to Blood Rock was fast and chatless, mostly because of the anticipation that had been building up since they'd agreed to eat the monster. The moment they got into the cabin, preparations were made, and within moments, the Rapid Soza was sizzling over a fire.

Jokes were being tossed around, and Nathan didn't know if it was the conversation or the smell of the burning meat, but a monster had decided to come crash the party.

"Of course you showed up," Nathan said with a sigh.

He glanced at Yola's face, and their chef seemed to be battling with multiple emotions. Even Ciara seemed like she was ready to shoot up the floor she'd been sitting on at the sight of the monster.