Following behind Yuki, who acted as an impenetrable wall, protecting me from the Gargoyle's relentless attacks, I snaked around her side and sliced down at the monster that was attacking Yuki, though since I didn't aim for anything vital as I didn't want the monster to evade, I slashed at one of its wings, cutting through half of it, yet it moved too fast for me to cut through the rest of it; however, that still seemed to hamper his speed, just not by substantial amount.

"Just like that, Alexander! Whittle the monster down while it's focused on me. ARGHHHH!" Yelled Yuki seriously with a faint smile as she eyed the monster, which had just changed its attention to Alexander, prompting her to release a ferocious roar.

Wincing slightly at Yuki's voice, I saw a wave of mana emit from her mouth, causing me to remember the skill or, actually, trait the centipede guardian used on me that had stunned me for a moment; however, when the wave of mana reached the monster, I saw it's expression scrunch up into something similar to anger, followed by it ignoring me and lunging at Yuki, slashing it's stone claws at her, though they merely left slight scratches on her massive shields.

While I was slightly confused about what skill Yuki had used, I decided to think about it later and dashed toward the monster attacking Yuki, using this opportunity to inspect its status, which I'd been holding off on doing as I didn't want it to direct its attention to me, but I don't think that's going to be a problem right now.

////////////////////

Species: Gargoyle (Rare)

Age: 4 days

Tier: 2

Level: 187

Experience: [96%]

Class: Elite-Monster

Lifeforce: [94%]

Mana: 1,450/1,450

Vigor: 1,256

Endurance: 1,250

Agility: 1,008

Dexterity: 449

Intelligence: 145

Perception: 454

Traits: Soul Sense(Rare), Stone Body(Rare), Flight(Uncommon), Claw Slash(Rare)

Condition:

////////////////////

Examining its status, I couldn't help but inwardly whistle while slashing down at the monster's back, leaving behind a large gash, but not one deep enough to kill it, though I did notice it didn't seem to be bleeding. The Gargoyle was significantly stronger than that stone centipede boss I fought, not to mention its stats were a little more balanced as well, though it did focus more on its physical capabilities, which was reasonable; if anything, I'd be worried if a mindless monster had extremely high intelligence, since that either means, it's not actually mindless, or the monster's physical stat's are just that incredibly high.

Either way, the monster's stats, excluding intelligence, of course, while pretty high, were roughly the same as mine, with only his vigor being a little bit higher; its traits were rather weak, if I'm being honest, not really noteworthy, except maybe [Stone Body], I'm sure that would make it difficult for people with bladed weapons to inflict substantial harm, though, I doubt Zarth or Trina even noticed.

'This monster isn't anything special; just from its status alone, I'm pretty confident I could kill it without using any mana.' Mused Alexander lightly as he raised his two greatswords into the air and slashed them both down, launching two blades of wind at the monster, aiming directly for its already broken wing.

With both attacks aiming for the weak spot of its wings, the first one didn't manage to slash right through it fully, but the second finished the job and cleanly sliced the wing off, causing the stone wing to hit the ground and crumble into tiny bits while any vitality within it instantly dissipated, returning to normal stone.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Almost instantly, after the wing crumbled, the monster stopped attacking Yuki and glared at me; just when he was about to lunge, Yuki powerfully stomped her food on the ground, causing the entire area to shake while the monster lost its balance and fell, prompting her to charge into the monster, though it must've sensed it's death as it dodged out the way, yet it wasn't fast enough since it's second wing crumpled against Yuki's shield.

"Nice job, Yuki!" Yelled Alexander with a faint smirk as he glanced at Yuki's charging figure while lunging at the monster, which was doing the same.

Once the of us got within striking distance, the monster rapidly slashed at me, its one-thousand points into agility being put to good use; however, mine was the same, and with my slowed perception, it couldn't land a single hit on me, not to mention, mana was coursing through my body, greatly enhancing all of my physical capabilities. Slicing the monster's hand off, I concentred a decent amount of mana in my throat as I used [Fire Breath]; opening my mouth, I spewed out blazing hot flames directly at the monster, forcing it to take a step back while it's body slowly took on a slight reddish glow.

Adding wind mana to the mix, the fire-spewing from my mouth suddenly jumped in ferocity as its reddish flames turned orangish, which forced the monster back even further while its whole body started to glow from the intense heat; however, my flames weren't hot enough for the monster to start melting, I'm sure if I added more mana, I could achieve it, but I didn't need to, after all, I had a partner.

Suddenly closing my mouth, stopping the torrent of flames, I leaped into the air while doing a backflip over Yuki, who charged right at the monster; the monster tried to move, but, thanks to its scorching body, its actions were much slower, allowing Yuki's shield to smash right into it while it's body practically crumpled into numerous pieces as was strewn across the floor.

Landing on both of my feet, earning a perfect ten from both Zartha and Trina, I sheathed them on my back and warily approached the pile of rocks since I wasn't trying to be sneak attacked, as I could still see signs of life in the biggest piece of stone.

"It's still alive, Yuki; mind doing the honors? You did give the finishing blow after all." Asked Alexander as he turned and glanced at Yuki while reaching down, picking up the biggest stone, which happened to be half of the face of the monster that tried biting him.

"No, it's fine, you should have it. It's your first time killing this guardian, and you performed exceptionally, much better than I predicted, honestly." Said Yuki with a slight smile as she removed her helmet, causing her words to resound through the cavern in her beautiful feminine voice while she shook her head.

"Heh, well, I did tell you I wasn't just an average F-rank adventurer. I do those gathering quests mainly because I like the peace, though are you sure you don't mind, Yuki? We're not in a party, so I'll get all the experience, and that's not really fair when you did a lot of work as well." Remarked Alexander with a smirk as he moved some of his white hair before frowning and outstretching the hand holding the monster's head to Yuki, who pushed it back to him.

"It's fine; I've killed that monster numerous times before; besides, it was on the weak side this time, so it won't provide nearly as much experience. Though thanks, it's rather rare for someone to offer up experience so willingly; that stuff is usually seen as more precious than gold to us Adventurers." Stated Yuki lightly as she glanced at the stone head in Alexander's hand before smiling, displaying her four canines and sharp teeth, a sight that would frighten the average person, though to Alexander, that smile looked beautiful.

"Alright, if you say, Yuki, just don't come crying to me later." Said Alexander with a nod as he squinted his eyes at Yuki and turned around, whale protectively holding the stone head, causing her to laugh.

Tossing the head into the air, I grabbed Zartha off my back and cleanly sliced right through its stone head, causing it to crumple and disintegrate into dust right as it touched the ground, along with the rest of the body. Putting Zartha away, I opened my status panel, curious to see if I had leveled up, and while I did, it was only four times, not nearly as much as I was hoping for, nor was it as much when I killed Orcus.

'Tsk, those leeches, taking all of my experience.' Mused Alexander with a slight frown as he looked at his party members, inwardly cruising to himself.

Making a mental note to call Marlin so he could kick me out of the Gypsies since, right before Master's passing, she gave leadership to Marlin, and as a member, there are only three ways for me to leave a party I'm part of. One, I die, which isn't something I'll ever plan on doing; two, I join another party, which will automatically kick me out of my current one, and I don't really want to do that either; and lastly, the leader of said party kicks me out.

Closing my status panel, I looked back at Yuki, curious if we would head deeper since I was still feeling quite good.

"So, Ms. Leader, should we head deeper or not? We're both feeling quite good and have no injuries." Asked Alexander with a raised eyebrow as he approached Yuki and stood beside her, looking up at her side profile, which he found quite stunning.

"Sure, but we're not going to the tenth floor. I've fought the second guardian a few times before, but let's just take it easy for today; this is your first time in this dungeon, after all." Replied Yuki with a nod as she put on her helmet and glanced at Alexander, who smirked, before turning and heading down the opening opposite where they entered from.