Alex knelt down beside Arthur and checked his injuries frantically.

“Are you alright?!”

Arthur weakly chuckled, “Aside from the fact that a flick could kill me? Not so great.”

Above Arthur was his health bar on the last digit.

Alex choked on his words and said, “I-I'm just so glad you’re alive.”

“...You brought an entire army?” Arthur asked.

“Yeah…” Alex sniffled.

Arthur looked at him, his face displayed his confusion, and asked, “Why… Do you care so much about me? We rarely know each other.”

Alex frowned and stayed quiet.

“Fine, keep your secrets. I'm grateful you came to save me so um, thank you…”

“It's alright.”

Alex called in a healer to help Arthur recover. Once Arthur had been healed, he stood up from the ground.

He sighed as he felt his body recover from the fatigue and injuries he once had, “Let’s finish this up, it's time for round two.”

The two walked side-by-side toward the boss on the field, the army of players followed from behind and scattered out as they got close to the monster.

The boss was now surrounded by an army of 55 players, including Arthur and Alex.

Arthur and Alex led the attack and charged in, Arthur blocked its attacks, and Alex commanded the people to attack once an opportunity presented itself. It didn’t take long for the monster to draw its last breath to one of Alex’s arrows.

[The Bog Witch’s familiar slayed]

[+120 Exp gained]

Arthur panted with exhaustion, “Do you even know how much I struggled with this guy?”

Alex looked at him with a smirk, “Your fault that you tried to do a raid solo.”

“Wait this is a raid?!” Arthur asked.

Alex stared at Arthur without uttering a word.

Arthur awkwardly averted his eyes from Alex, “Ahah… no wonder the rewards were so good…”

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Fuck… So that’s what I got myself into?

After Arthur got over the stupid mistake he had made, he felt the ground shaking beneath him, he was reminded of the time he suddenly got flung to the forest. His eyes darted around as he looked for what might cause it.

Alex noticed this and shouted, “Everyone keep your guard up!”

It was silent for a while until the trees that once retracted in the ground all converged into a massive tree in the middle of the field–It had multiple blood-red orbs hanging off of the fleshy branches, inside was the previous boss monster they had fought.

Arthur looked at the orbs as they all fell to the ground and opened. His face had a grim expression, “That wasn’t a boss?”

Considering how easy it was for the entire raid party to slay the last monster, it definitely shouldn’t be a boss, or perhaps they had brought too many players for the raid and the system decided to increase the difficulty.

The players brandished their weapons and charged at the monsters that had spawned from the tree, Arthur took the lead and helped by attacking the weak spots he had discovered in his solo fight.

***

[21 The Bog Witch’s familiar slayed]

[+2520 Exp gained]

It was a long and drawn-out fight, they fought waves of the monsters until the tree no longer had any more orbs to drop.

Everyone was exhausted by now. They fully understood how Arthur struggled against it alone and commended him for it.

After deciding that they’d stay at the field for the night for a rest, some agonised over their choice of not bringing camping gear, though they did not feel that for long as one of the supporting players in the army had brought a bunch of camping gear and felt that they had to share.

Arthur sat on a log at the campfire where everyone shared the food they cooked over the fire. Alex approached the campfire where Arthur was seated and sat on the log across from him.

“You done talking to your people?” Arthur asked.

“They aren’t my people, but yes,” Alex replied.

…

It was quiet and there was an awkward atmosphere around the campfire.

“...I'm sorry.” Arthur apologised.

“Do you at least know why I am angry, Arthur?” Alex asked with a hint of frustration in his voice.

“...Yes.”

The rest of the people gathered around the campfire felt uncomfortable and decided to give the two some time alone.

Alex sighed, “I know how important he is to you, but you can’t go running into places where you could get yourself killed.”

“But-”

“No Arthur!” Alex yelled, “Do you value your life so little that you would give it all away if you were given even the slightest chance of getting him back?!”

He continued, “If this continues, then you will die before you can save your brother!”

“After we’re done with this raid, promise me you won’t do this again?”

Arthur looked down at his hands clasped together and his lips quivered as he tried to answer him, “O-Ok”

Arthur was on the verge of tears and Alex decided to leave it at that.

“Get some sleep, we have a long day ahead of us,” Alex walked away, leaving Arthur at the fire alone.

After some time Arthur got up and went to his tent.

The day ahead of them will be intense and as much as he hates to admit it, Alex was right.

Arthur stared up at the tent fabric from his bedroll, his hand raised with a look of determination in his eyes.

“I’ll find you.”