Ren and Lionel faced each other in silence as the crowd watched on. Both fighters seemed far too relaxed for the occasion, but I supposed that was to be expected. Ren and Lionel both seemed like similar people – the kind that found it difficult to take things seriously.
Still, when the fight began, it was no less exciting than my own. Ren burst forward the second Najam stepped off the ring, moving with the speed that marked his style. He seemed to have understood that these adventurers – or at least, the four with Najam – were far beyond our capabilities, and knew to hold nothing back.
Moving like a dark blur, Ren approached his opponent’s tall, armor-clad frame with an unerring focus on his throat, his dagger already unsheathed. Lionel smiled under the threat of Ren’s approach, bringing his greatsword down on the boy as soon as he entered its range.
The blade was a good meter and a half long, double-edged and a foot wide. Lionel wielded the thing like it weighed nothing, but it was undoubtedly a hefty weapon. And the way that it descended upon the ground was a testament to that; the ground coughed up a cloud of dirt as it was struck by the weapon.
Fortunately for Ren, his superior reflexes allowed him to sidestep the blade with ease, and as he did, he struck out with his dagger, the tip of the blade racing toward Lionel’s throat like a homing missile.
But before it could reach its target, Lionel brought the handle of his sword up and knocked Ren’s arm to the side, letting the dagger pass wide of his neck. Following up, Lionel swung his blade at Ren’s side, but Ren, in the fraction of a second that he had, ducked under the blade and then shot back up, driving his knee into Lionel’s gut as he did.
As Lionel’s breath rushed out of him, Ren followed up with another kick to his side, then an uppercut just as Lionel bent forward slightly. Then, as the large man reeled, Ren backed off to reset the fight. He stopped a few meters away from his opponent, poised in a slight crouch.
A few whoops rang out from the crowd as the excitement of the clash settled. Ren’s showing of speed and precision had genuinely impressed the people, I could tell. After all, Lionel was probably known for his strength, so to be able to land such hits on a man like that showed incredible skill on Ren’s part.
But as the fight carried on, it soon became clear that despite his speed and ability, Ren had nowhere near the raw strength he needed to overcome Lionel’s defenses. Lionel’s armor, coupled with his innate toughness, made it a struggle for Ren to even leave a scratch on the man, even when he managed to strike directly on Lionel’s skin with his dagger.
Still, that didn’t mean Ren’s showing was anything less than amazing. Everyone present realized the utter epitome of skill and talent that was Ren, when it came to fighting. It was the first time that I’d even been able to witness Ren fight without distractions, so I had much the same reaction to Ren’s skill that everyone else did. I’d known he was beyond talented, of course, but I’d never really seen exactly how good he was.
And he was good. Good in a way I hadn’t known a person could be. His every move was like a step in a dance, so fluid and graceful he was. He knew exactly how much to move, exactly where to be, and seemed to have an almost infinite control over his own body. Every attack he received was dodged by only the barest sliver of space, and every attack he gave in response would have been lethal for anyone of lesser strength. He was like a well-oiled machine, whose entire purpose was to kill the opponent as efficiently and cleanly as possible.
Lionel, for his part, lived up to his reputation. The man wielded his blade with expert control, using its length and weight to its fullest potential. I was captivated as I watched, drawn to the destructive power of its style. There was a strange beauty in the contrast between the grace of the blade and its savage force.
As with my fight, Lionel’s purpose seemed to be more to let Ren display everything he had, and less to try and win – and so, like my fight, the fight came to an end only when Ren had nothing more to give, his body failing him as he finally fell to the ground. He fell straight to his back, sprawling out on the sandy ground as he breathed hard, a wide smile stretched over his face. His dagger was still loosely held in his palm, and the sweat plastered his inky hair to his forehead.
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Lionel, standing at the other edge of the ring, was in better condition, but not by much. He was sweaty, his armor was scratched, and he bled just a few drops from a shallow cut on his neck. It was closer to a paper cut than a wound, but it was a mark of honor for Ren regardless, considering the wide difference in strength levels.
Lionel was grinning as he dropped to the floor himself, the satisfaction of a good fight written all over his face. The crowd clapped for the pair as they realized that the fight was over, and Najam let the air of excitement settle a bit before stepping up into the ring.
“Alright, alright, that’s enough of that,” the boy said as he gathered the crowd’s attention. “Those were some exciting spars, but we all have plenty of work to do, and the day’s not gonna get any younger.”
His words elicited no shortage of grumbling from the people, but eventually, the crowd picked themselves off of the floor and began to disperse, talking amongst themselves as they did.
Najam and his group made their way over to where Ren lay, and I joined them as they sat down in a circle.
“Now then, with that over with, we can finally talk strategy,” Najam began, sounding more excited than I believed anyone should be about strategy. “As for your styles, they’re more or less exactly as I’d expected. Ruby, you’ll be very useful for the zergy hordes, since your flames are more suited for widespread damage. And Ren, you’ll be needed for the first boss, the Zergyll Origin, and her protectors, since they’re much harder to kill.”
Lionel nodded at that. “Indeed. Those things have these plates of hardened skin that wouldn’t lose out to any steel armor. And the few places they have soft skin are very hard to hit, but with your skill, you should have no trouble sticking that slippery little dagger of yours right in them.”
Ren grinned. “Sounds fun.”
“Now, as for what to expect from the dungeon,” Najam continued, “I’ll give you a quick summary of the place first, and then we can go through the details properly afterward. Sound good?”
Ren and I nodded.
“Alright. So, the dungeon is ranked at three stars, and it's got three stages to it, with two mini-bosses and one master boss. There’ll be a mini-boss at the end of each of the first two stages, and the master boss will be at the end of the whole thing. So far, we’ve gotten to the last mini-boss, which is the Zergyll Origin.”
“And that’s a problem,” Gyda jumped in, “because the Origin is supposed to be a master boss, not a mini one.”
Najam nodded. “Exactly. Because the Origin appeared earlier than expected, the final stage may have an entirely different monster type altogether. And not knowing what they could be puts us at a great disadvantage, since we have no way to prepare for them. And that’s why this run’s purpose – the ideal outcome – would be to get past the Origin and figure out what awaits on the other side. That’ll put us a step closer to clearing it, since we’ll be able to go in the next time fully prepared.”
I scoffed at that. “What? Why would we not aim to try and clear the dungeon from the beginning?”
The people gathered smiled knowingly. “You say that now, Ruby,” Najam said, “but you’ll understand when you see the dungeon for yourself. There’s a reason there is an entire industry behind clearing dungeons. Taking the first clear on one takes meticulous planning and preparation. Usually, a team has to run a dungeon dozens of times before they can achieve the first clear. After all, the master boss itself usually takes a few runs to fully understand.”
“Pff, that’s lame. It’d be so much cooler to just run through the thing first try,” I said. Obviously, I understood that in the real world, things didn’t work the way I’d have liked them to, but the systematic and formulaic way it seemed these people cleared dungeons didn’t jive with me. I was a free spirit, and I disliked their overreliance on predetermined plans.
Still, it was Najam’s call, after all, so I would behave for their sake.
Najam moved on after my little interruption, going into the exact details of the plan, from what path we’d take to what we had to pack. The entire conversation took about an hour, and then another as we – really Najam’s group – went about packing and gathering the materials. By the time we were done, the sun had just about risen to its zenith. And so, under the pleasant warmth of the overhead sun, our group finally set out to the dungeon.