*GROOT*
*ROAR*
“I cannot believe it, the Guardian of the Sylvern Forest and Tafrec the Undying, both standing in front of me at the same time. Oh, this is a momentous occasion.”
Commoner looked at Quilbur as he spoke joyfully through the creatures war cries. The chubby archemage was gazing in admiration at the giant skeletal dinosaur, Tafrec, and Commoner looked behind him to get a better look at the tree guardian. It was around the same size as Tafrec but where the dinosaur was made of flesh and bone, the guardian looked exactly like a baby treant, a big ball of roots that somehow clung together to form a humanoid shape. The main difference was that the guardian’s roots were as wide as two tree trunks each and instead of twigs for legs and arms it had proper fingers and toes made out of roots. It was carrying a giant tree trunk it had uprooted from the ground as a weapon.
*GROOT*
‘That’s a pretty strange sound for a tree to make.’ Commoner thought to himself.
“T-this is utterly stupendous.” Despite the fact that he was standing in between two monsters that were oozing bloodlust Quilbur was quivering in happiness, “To think that I would be able to witness a battle between two boss class monsters, it’s a match up I could never have dreamed of.” He looked between the two monsters and finally seemed to notice the situation he was in. “On second thought dear chaps, perhaps these majestic creatures are best seen from afar.”
“Boy,” Astros looked at Commoner and rolled his eyes towards the archemage and made a crude gesture with his hands, “I can almost see the raw, animal lust coming off this guy.” Tafrec turned to look at the trio and Astros squeaked and hid behind Commoner, “You’re a mercenary right? How about I hire you and we fight that thing together.” Quilbur snorted in disbelief at his words but Astros ignored him, “You got the front and I got the back, down low and up high attacks you know?”
You have been offered a commission: Objective: Fight the legendary monster, Tafrec the Undying. Pay: Unspecified. Difficulty: Unspecified. Do you wish to accept?
“I refuse.”
‘There is absolutely no reason for me to fight that thing.’
*ROAR*
Commoner could sense Astros squirming under Tafrec’s glare and he could feel the trembling fingers that gripped his cloak tighten in fear as the creatures walked closer to each other and threatened to squash the trio in their stride. Tafrec raised a large scythe hand and swept it down on the players.
*GROOT* *CLANG*
Scythe hit tree trunk as the Guardian of Sylvern Forest smashed his make shift club head on into the Tafrec’s attack. To Commoner’s surprise the trunk stayed intact. The guardian lifted its club and the other monster’s scythe was forced away, pushing it back a few steps.
‘You fight me.’ The meaning behind the guardian’s actions were clear, it was the boss of this forest and Tafrec would have to listen to it or die.
*GROOT* the guardian lifted the trunk again and smashed it into the Tafrec’s side. As the creatures fought Commoner looked up at the monsters and saw that the dinosaur’s health bar was on top of its head. It was almost completely gone, a small green space was left of the bar and the rest was red and pulsating like an alarm. The guardian was the complete opposite, with a full health bar and looking pissed.
“Guys.” Quilbur and Astros looked at Commoner as he began to talk, “Do either of you think you can damage the giant dinosaur thing?”
They shook their heads. “I tried shooting it at a weak spot and even with a critical hit I did no damage to it.” Astros ran his hand across his bow as though he were comforting it.
“And I too must admit that Tafrec is beyond my power to handle at the moment. Even weakened as he is it would be near impossible for me to slay him. However, I might add that I would do a better job of it than the clown beside me.” Quilbur interrupted Astros and the two glared at each other again.
Commoner nodded his head. He had expected as much.
“Then the plan for now is to run. Can the teleportation spell you used be done for a group?”
Quilbur patted his stomach sadly, “I’m afraid that my transportation spell has a cooldown of twenty minutes. I would have teleported the two of us out from the beginning had I been able to.”
It took a minute for the words to sink in and after a few seconds Astros protested loudly “Hey! What do you mean two of us? There are clearly three people here.”
*ROAR*
Tafrec ran up to the guardian and dodged its clubbing attack to slice down on the giant trees shoulder. The shoulder and arm fell off to the ground and withered the moment they hit the forest floor. The guardian instantly lost a quarter of its health and roared loudly into the air. The giant tree still had its attacking arm attached but Commoner judged that it had no more than five attacks to live, if it could dodge or block any of them at all. He beckoned to the other two players and they quietly followed him towards the safety of the remaining trees. Tafrec was completely engrossed in his fight with the guardian and hadn’t noticed the trio’s slow shuffle towards the edge of the clearing it had made.
‘Well, that was surprisingly easy considering what my lucks been like so far.’
“SEISMIC SLASH.”
“Oh bloody hell,” The blood drained out of Astros’ face as a female voice shook across the clearing, “I thought she’d figure out the first time that she wasn’t a match for that thing.”
Commoner gazed in amazement as a female player with a glowing blue sword flew through the air and smashed into the dinosaur’s side. Tafrec looked around as though a bug had bitten him and then faced the guardian again, completely ignoring the girl chopping her sword into its flesh. Commoner and Quilbur turned to the archer.
“Explain. You have five seconds.” Commoner feared that any longer than that and the player would die just by being flung to the ground.
Astros gazed at the figure as he spoke, “Truth about before was that a random girl flew out in front of me and attacked the giant monster. She was being beaten so I shot it in the ass and distracted it. Now she’s back for more I guess.”
“Even the lowest of beings have honourable intentions once in a while.” Quilbur had taken out a staff made of what looked like marble and an angry red gem was pulsating on its top. His robe had begun flowing as though an invisible breeze were blowing through it. “Well then, it appears that a damsel in distress has appeared in front of us.” Before Quilbur had finished talking several arrows shot out from his side and flew into Tafrec’s eye sockets.
“Slow at running and slow at fighting.” Astros ran past the two and continued shooting arrows at the creature to catch its attention. He felt a strong heat from behind him and rolled onto the ground as a giant fireball flew past him and smashed into the skeletal head. The dinosaur’s skull burst into flames but it hadn’t lost a single percent of health from the attacks. It ignored the attacks and chopped down on the giant tree attacking it with both scythe hands and although the guardian didn’t lose any limbs its health dropped down to less than a quarter.
“My good man, if your strategy is to rush in to the fight head first without a plan at least attempt to hit something in a place that counts.”
“Archemage,” Quilbur stiffened as a quite yet firm voice projected behind him, Commoner had crept up beside him while he had been chanting his spell, “I’m going to jump onto the creatures back and get the girl off, but to do it properly I’m going to need your help.” Quilbur gazed at the man behind him. Even though his head was covered by a hood he could feel confidence radiating from him.
“You have a plan my good man?”
“Call me Commoner” Commoner squinted to see where the girl had ended up after the last clash, “you seem to know both of these monsters. What’s the trees weak point?” Quilbur looked at him in surprise but didn’t question him.
“The Guardian of the Sylvern Forest is rumored to have a core powered by a magical item inside its chest. Once it reaches a certain percentage of health loss the trees will open up automatically to reveal the core.” He pointed to a shiny glowing orb that had appeared in the middle of the guardian’s chest, “Exactly like that right there. It is probably too late for us to help the creature kill Tafrec.” More arrows flew towards Tafrec’s legs and the creature swung its scythes at Astros. The player dodged and ducked all the hits and continued firing his seemingly endless supply of arrows.
Commoner shook his head, “We’re not going to help it kill Tafrec, we’re going to save the girl and kill the guardian at the same time.”
“Are you insane Commoner? We’ll be killing the only thing that’s keeping us alive.”
“I agree with the pompous one!” Astros shouted at them from across the clearing, “That things the only thing between you and me meeting my grandma sue. I vote we keep it alive.”
Commoner shook his head savagely, “This is the only way it’s going to work.”
He stuck his hand out towards the archemage and invited him to join his party. Luckily he had learnt from Sasha what her leader had done to invite her into their party or else this would have been a lot more troublesome than he needed. He required the turning off of friendly fire feature that came with being in a party so that the player’s attacks wouldn’t kill him while he was in action.
Player: Quilbur has accepted your party invitation.
“I put my trust in you companion. What is your plan?”
Commoner watched the guardian smash its club against Tafrec, “Light the forest behind us on fire.” Quilbur turned around and immediately began to bombard the trees with flames.
“I do hope you know what you’re doing.”
Commoner could see that the flames had quickly lit up the forest top. Clearly the area hadn’t seen rain in weeks. The game was surprisingly realistic at times, giant skeleton dinosaurs and humanoid trees aside.
“I’m going to save the crazy person that jumped onto its back. Have you got anything to distract Tafrec for a few seconds? Or even both of them?” Commoner looked hopefully at Quilbur and the archemage nodded.
“I’ll need to prepare for a few seconds. Do give me a signal when you’re ready.” Commoner nodded in confirmation and ran towards Astros. A light bigger than the fires that were destroying the forest encompassed the area and Commoner looked back as he ran. Quilbur had set himself on fire and the flames had turned blue. He was chanting with his eyes closed. Astros stopped firing as Commoner ran up to him. He invited him to the party.
“If we die because of this, I kill you later. But I’ll do anything to save a girl.”
Player: Astros has accepted your party invitation.
“Got anything that can hold off the creatures for a few seconds?” Astros nodded, “Good, when I save the girl you use it immediately. Try not to get in the archemage’s way. Aim for the big glowing ball coming out of the trees chest”
“The things I do for the ladies.” Astros sighed exaggeratedly and his bow began to glow bright blue. As he charged he continued to dodge the creatures scythes.
Commoner took a second to look around him. He saw that they had all come together and from their movements he could see that they knew what to do. It all depended on him now. He ran towards Tafrecs backside and spotted what he was looking for, the giant beast’s tail. Although it was lashing around in the air Commoner was sure that he could reach it easily enough. Thankfully it was a flesh tail and not made of bone. He just needed to get near the monster undetected so that it wouldn’t kill him before he could grab onto the tail. He had the perfect skill for the job.
‘Activate skill: Hide.’
Commoner sensed rather than felt the ripples of power cover his body. Once again his shadow had disappeared and his hands and clothes had become completely transparent. The creature hadn’t noticed him running up to it and he reached the tail before the five second invisibility was finished. He grabbed onto the creatures tail and quickly ran up its fleshy backside. His invisibility ended and his shadow re-appeared. The creature swiveled its skull a hundred and eighty degrees to stare at him but it was quickly smashed by the tree trunk club for getting distracted.
*ROARR*
Commoner almost fell off the creatures back as its entire body rocked with rage. It was trying to shake him off. He grabbed onto the creatures flesh and looked over its sides. He saw a girl with wavy black hair stabbing into the creature’s sides with a large broadsword. She was barely hanging onto the shaking body. The scythes slashed back in retaliation and the guardians health dropped to less than five percent.
“Take my hand!” Commoner shouted to her as he put his hand out towards her and she lifted her head at him. She shook her head and continued to stab down at the monsters flesh.
‘Does she have a death wish or something? Surely she can see that as soon as the tree’s dead the monster is just going to slice her up without a second thought.’ He had wondered why the creature had no defenses on its back but after it had swiveled its head to see him he had realized the scythes could easily rotate as well and slice off anything that crawled onto its back or sides.
“Do you want to kill a giant monster?” He called out to her again and she perked her ears up but continued to slash at the monster. He smiled, “Because I know a way that we can kill both of these guys.” She stared up at him and he glimpsed a pair of bright green eyes. She looked over to the flaming Quilbur and then to Astros’ glowing bow.
‘I have her now.’
“Just grab my hand!”
She stared at his hand and he realized that she wouldn’t be able to reach it from where she was. She was one handed with the other clinging to a hole she had made in its flesh. She freed the other hand by putting the sword into her inventory and put her hand out to reach him. He pulled his stick out of his inventory and poked it towards her. She grabbed onto it and he lifted her up next to him. She equipped the broadsword again and glared at him.
“So you have a way to beat both of these bosses?”
‘Heck no.’
Out loud to her, “of course I do. You just have to do everything according to my plan. Join my party. Now.” He was curt and snappy with her because he had to be. If she suddenly went waltzing off to attack Tafrec again then he would be sacrificing his life for nothing. He held his hand out in front of her and she raised her hand to click on a message that he couldn’t see. He looked up and saw that the guardian was getting ready to attack again.
Player: Serena has accepted your party invitation.
“Alright.” He grabbed her wrist just as the guardian hit its club against Tafrec’s side. “Now we run!”
He ignored her protests and dragged her to the skeletal creature’s side, jumping into the air and landing on the tree trunk that the guardian was using for a club. The girl cried out as her hit feet the tree and she let go of him. Commoner broke into a run.
“Don’t just stand there, hurry and move before it lifts up its hand.”
The guardian looked towards the players and Commoner saw that it had a pair of glowing eyeballs stuck to some roots on top of it. It didn’t have a head per se, just an ending of a tree trunk where the eyes were attached. Commoner turned to face Serena.
“First we kill the guardian.” To his teammates on the ground he shouted, “NOW”.
“Transformation: Summon God of Flame, Agni.”
They nodded and Quilbur was the first to act. The blue flames surrounding him came alive and encroached over both the guardian and Tafrec. Quilbur himself had merged with the fire and his flesh had been entirely stripped away and replaced with blue flames. He jumped into the air and smashed a flaming blue fit into Tafrecs face, knocking the creature back and causing it to swing its scythes at him in retaliation. Commoner looked at the flames surrounding him from one side of the guardian and ran to the other side with Serena. Tafrec’s scythes ran through Quilbur’s body and the archemage grinned, he was invulnerable to physical attacks while he was in his flame form. The flames formed elongated legs and he was soon face to face with the giant creature, smashing his fists into it and sending it back a few steps with every hit.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Let me show you how to do some real damage.”
“Activate Skill: Fluttering Petals of the Twilight Lake.”
Astros’ bow’s blue glow disappeared and Astros disappeared with it. He popped up beside Commoner and shot a few glowing arrows into the guardians core before disappearing in the same second and appearing on top of Tafrec to fire some more arrows. He was disappearing and appearing on the monsters, the ground and even in midair. The giant creatures were showered with magical arrows which must have numbered in the hundreds. Commoner noted that the two players made a good team. Quilbur hit Tafrec’s skull to the side Astros would appear beside it to shower it with more arrows, then Quilbur would obscure its vision and Astros would appear in the air behind him to shoot arrows through his body to hit the dinosaur.
‘At least I hope he’s trying to hit the monster.’ A tree root jumped out of the ground suddenly and he moved to dodge it. ‘Even if they do no damage as long as they distract it, it’s fine.’
Commoner was running around the guardians back and jumping up and to the sides. As soon as he landed on a spot roots would come flying out of its body like spears and try to stab through him. Some simply flew into the sky and fell back down onto the ground whilst other stayed on its body and swung from side to side hoping to catch him in their clutches and kill him. Serena was walking around and cutting down any of the roots that entered her vision. She was some sort of warrior or tank class since she was taking the hits without stopping her stride.
“Stand back.”
For the benefit of showing Serena he was going to do something he shouted out to her and she stepped back while swatting away the growing roots. Commoner dodged more of them, he couldn’t afford to be hit even once because with his low health he would die in a single hit. He looked at the forest behind him that had been set on fire and to the transformed Quilbur who had also lit up the area. He had finally been able to find a spot where his shadow was elongated enough by the light to reach into the trees of the forest. He moved towards the core of the creature and as soon as his shadow merged with the forest he let out a shout.
“Activate Skill: Shadow Strike.”
He stabbed his stick into the creature’s glowing core. Before his eyes the entire forest suddenly lit up and he could see the ground clearer than he had ever been able to. All the shadows in the entire area had disappeared and the glowing orb his stick was stabbing into had begun to darken and crack. Some of them also leapt up and attacked Tafrec. Commoner felt a slight sense of loss as his entire mana bar instantly drained. The last smidge of health bar that the guardian had left from its fight against Tafrec disappeared.
‘It was a long range attack, this would have been easier if I’d known that.’
Shadow strike: 10,500 damage dealt. Personal shadow: 500 damage. Linked shadows: 10,000 damage.
*GROOT*
GROOT! You have slain the Guardian of the Sylvern Forest! You have gained: +31 levels. Experience to next level: 0%
‘So in the end it didn’t say anything other than ‘GROOT’. I wonder why the message told me the levels gained and not the experience.’
Commoner grinned as the tree withered and died, Serena, Astros and Quilbur also levelled up. The tree roots that had been attacking Serena shrunk and died as well. After a few seconds the guardian had shriveled up to only a meter or two in height and Commoner and Serena jumped off it easily. The guardian’s body disappeared in a cloud of darkness and Commoner picked up a large glowing object that it left behind. A sword.
“You knew that it would wither up enough to allow us to safely jump down to the ground.”
“I made an educated guess.”
In truth he hadn’t known that that would happen. He had seen the shoulder and arm wither up when it had been chopped off by Tafrec earlier on in the fight and had hoped for dear life that it would happen again when they killed the guardian’s main body. This let them fall to the ground safely. If it hadn’t worked then he would have had to try and jump off the guardian from its full height or even gone back on Tafrec and tried to jump off it. Most likely that would have resulted in both of them dying on impact with the ground. Serena stepped back as Astros appeared beside them and a pillar of blue flame placed Quilbur on the floor as well before disappearing into thin air.
“So you can become a giant flaming puffball. Pretty interesting ability I’ll admit it.”
“Indeed. The coordination between your arrow fire and constant teleporting was quite elegant. It appears that your bow is not all for show.”
“You did your jobs well. A lot better than I thought you would.” Quilbur and Astros grinned at Commoners compliment. He hadn’t expected them to be this powerful.
*ROARR*
“We still didn’t lay a dent in that guy though.” He pointed his bow at Tafrec who was turning to face the four players, “I don’t have enough time for another try at him either. The cooldown’s ridiculous on this ability.”
Astros looked helplessly at Commoner and Quilbur and they both shook their heads.
“I shan’t be using mine again either. Cooldowns are once again my downfall.”
“I have no cooldown but I need shadows to be able to use it.” Commoner looked around and other than his own shadow the shadows of the forest hadn’t returned yet. Perhaps they would never return, the skill description hadn’t specified.
They looked at Serena and she shrugged, “I can stab at it.” She ran towards the creature and dodged its swipes. Commoner sighed.
*ROARR*
Astros had immediately started running to give Serena cover fire and Quilbur followed close behind throwing small fireballs onto the creatures face. It was clear that they wouldn’t be able to harm the creature no matter how hard they tried or how often they hit it. Not to mention that its scythe had brought down about a quarter of the guardians health points with each hit, he shuddered thinking about how many hundreds of thousands of damage points it did with each hit. They wouldn’t survive a single successful hit and with the pressure of the guardian gone the monster was free to take its time to aim.
‘When all else fails and you think everything is going to go wrong. Rely on your acting, because it’s the only talent that you know is always in your control.’
Commoner shook his head as his acting instructors advice once again popped into his head.
‘Would that even work against a hundred gromp high skeletal dinosaur?’
*ROARRRRRRRRR*
The monster shouted out just like it had at the beginning of the fight and the three attackers were pushed onto the ground. Tafrec the Undying stood above them and lowered its scythe hands over their bodies, preparing to strike. Once it was done with them it would jump over to Commoner in a second and with most trees either on fire or shadowless he had no means of hiding from the giant monster. Commoner walked towards the creature calmly and gathered his composure.
‘Well, guess it’s better to die trying rather than to die like a coward.’
He imagined what Shadow had looked like before he had died. He had brought this terrifying monster down to the low health it was currently on. He had been cocky, sure enough of himself that he had been able to tell a story while he was facing death and nursing a mortal wound in his chest. He had been arrogant until the end because even if Commoner hadn’t wanted to be his successor he knew that he would get his way in the end. By the time he had stepped in front of the creature he had already gone completely into character. He was Shadow.
He pulled off his hood and the creature stepped back as it saw his mask.
‘Shadow strengthening.’
The glowing sword he had picked up from the corpse of the Guardian of Sylvern Forest grew black as he strengthened it with Shadow’s ability. The creature’s body trembled slightly as the shadows encompassed the sword.
'So I can use the ability on more than one weapon as long as the hour isn't up, interesting.'
“Perhaps you did not understand.” He took a step forward and Tafrec stepped back to match his stride. “I let you be.” The creature hissed at his words angrily, “Do not deny it. Even the Devil Mask mercenary king was enough to kill you alone. He could harm me where you could hardly touch me. If you think you would stand a chance against me then come and attack.” He held his sword to his side to gesture that he was wide open to attack. The Tafrec let out a low growl and Commoner thought that it would run a scythe through him and end it. Then it turned around and ran into the forest behind it. It moved quickly, until it entered a sprint and it cut down any flaming tree in its path.
*RUMBLE* *CRASH*
Slowly the creature went out of site.
*Rumble* Even the tremors of the falling trees had grown soft with distance.
Commoner almost collapsed onto the ground in relief. He had taken a guess that Shadow had been the kind of man to allow others to act while he manipulated them and he had also been worried that every computer generated creature in this game could see through his acting skills but apparently only the NPC’s hadn’t been affected. And maybe the ones he had met were special cases in themselves. Quilbur and Astros stood up and looked at the fleeing creature in amazement.
“So you are the famous Shadow Mask Mercenary King whose name I have heard whispered on my travels here. For you know, the guild members I passed on the way were most interested in meeting with you. They offered rewards for anyone enthusiastic enough to bring you to them.” Quilbur shifted towards Commoners left side.
“Yup, I heard about that too. Someone more famous than me and the guild ladies were offering more than a pretty kiss if I brought your tanned hide into their quarters.” Astros appeared on Commoners right side.
Serena stayed on the ground gazing at them.
'Damn.' The homepage had put a picture of his mask in the 'details' section so as soon as he had taken off his hood the two players had recognised him for who he was.
Quilbur placed a pudgy hand on his Commoners back and he tensed. Quilbur let out a hearty laugh and his entire body seemed to jiggle with him.
“Do not be a fool my companion. The petty ramblings and paltry prizes of the masses hold no sway over me.”
Commoner relaxed and Astros slapped the other side of his back.
“For once I agree with tubba-lub here, never agreed with the way those guilds did things. Always trying to recruit people with a crazy look in their eyes and treating you as an enemy if you do any less than tell them you love them and that you’ll be their servant forever and ever. They aren’t the kind of ladies I’m looking for.”
“Oh, were you still here?” Quilbur dismissed Astros’ words with a single wave of his hand, “I assure you old chap. I shall be more than enough accompanying Commoner on his journey to Kehlter. Constantly being chased by monsters you’re too weak to kill would get quite annoying you know.”
“I think I’d better stay. I’m not sure what would happen if you were to fall on him during a fight with nobody to roll you off him. A little running never did anyone any harm.”
“My girth is a sign of my prosperity you buffoon.” Quilbur poked at Astros’ skinny arms “Although I suppose one such as you has no experience with such affluence.”
Commoner sighed in exasperation, “Am I going to have to travel with two bickering ladies that cannot tell their love for one another for the entire trip?”
“Who likes who?”
“Indeed I do believe you are mistaken my companion.”
Serena looked up at the imposing figures in front of her. The Blue River Archer’s fame had reached even her ears, a man that robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. He robbed from the nobles of Marcades with gusto and taunted the armies that chased after him with a deadly rain of arrows if they dared to chase after him. She had heard that he would take on any evil if it meant saving a woman or child.
The Archemage of Fire, Quilbur, had a reputation that exceeded even the Blue River Archer’s, a noble man that acted like a scholar but when provoked would fight like a demon possessed. From the moment he had appeared in the palace of the king of Marcades he had flown solo and any guilds that got in his way by trying to recruit or kill him were crushed instantly. His raw destructive power was rumored to be within the top hundred of the game.
And finally, the Shadow Mask Mercenary King, a man that had appeared just a few days hours but was already towering over these two legends that were known for their solo playing, she had seen him featured on the front page of the Best of Best website only a couple of hours ago since he was the one that was considered closest to earning one of the twenty nine warrior titles based on class alone. A few minutes ago they had all been on the brink of death but now they were laughing heartily while hitting each other’s backs and throwing insults across the air.
“Hey, anybody home?” Serena shrieked in surprise as a hand suddenly appeared in front of her, interrupting her thoughts, “Woah there. I was just asking how long you were planning on sitting there. We don’t have all day you know.”
Quilbur nodded his head at Commoners words, “Indeed fair lady, I am not usually one to push but we must make haste. The guilds men shall be upon us soon and I fear they will flock like rats to a meat carcass.”
“What kind of picture is that to paint to a lady! And you call yourself a gentleman,” Serena took Commoner’s hand and he helped her off the ground, Astros flashed a smile at her as she stood up, “Take your time honey. I’ll take care of any pests that get in the way.” He cocked his bow menacingly and Quilbur hit him over the head.
“Arming yourself in front of a lady, were you raised uncivilized or is it simply in your genes to act senselessly.”
Serena smiled and before she knew what had come over her she began to laugh. Quilbur and Astros stopped fighting and looked at her with grins on their faces. Commoner let go of her hand and nodded at her.
“Well then,” His voice seemed to carry over the entire area, “where to next?”
Serena looked at the trio blankly, “Don’t you want to know who I am? My class or even my power rating?” She looked at them, “Because I’m not like you guys, I’m just a broadsword warrior, not even a hidden class. Power rating higher 1. I’m about as common as you guys can get. I’ll just drag you down.”
Commoner stopped walking and turned to look at her face. He was a mask of seriousness and Quilbur and Astros looked at each other with concern. He strode towards her and her shoulders dropped.
‘This is the part where he kicks me out of the team.’ She thought glumly to herself.
“W-what!”
As soon as Commoner reached her he wrapped his arms around her and brought her into a huge bear hug. She blushed and when she looked at his face she could swear she saw a tear running down his mask.
“Thank you.”
“Y-your welcome?” She stuttered and flopped around the ground as he stopped hugging her and they all grinned. Quilbur pointed towards the only section of the forest that hadn’t been set on fire.
" 'Just a broadsword warrior' she says," Astros looked at with a smile on his face, "Takes more than a hidden class to run head on into a legendary boss class monster."
“According to my memory the town of Obsten lies beyond that section of forest. Shall we go and pay the lovely inhabitants a visit? There may be some guild pests since it is on the way to Kelhter but now that we’ve formed a party I don’t think we have to fear the likes of them.”
Commoner nodded at Quilbur's words.
“Let’s go then.”
Serena walked hastily beside her companions as they exited the forest.
“To see what lies for us in the town of Obsten.”