“Why are you guys stoppin’?” Steven looked around with a confused frown. “I just need that hunter over there. Y’all keep up with the skirmish practice. It’s awesome.”

“Pras!”

Before anyone else was able to react, Rushvatte and Tier’s other friends scrambled to the scene while riding on their mount. They quickly stood guard in front of Tier while Manna and Renma healed their allied combatant.

“Tch.”

Lyra snarled annoyedly. With a gesture, she commanded Slicer to leave them all. This seemed to cause Steven to get even more confused.

As Lyra cleared off from the area, Manna quickly approached Tier. There was a rather sad smile on her lips when she said, “Thank God Grok made it in time.”

Grok overhead her words. While sheathing his sword, he shook his head and chimed in, “I was late, boss. But your man is awesome. He got guts.”

“Grok, we are deskmates.”

“Whatever, boss. What I know was that hunter of yours fended off four people single handedly before we came. I thought I was too late, but he was alive. He’s the most metal thing I’ve seen since Varen.”

“Varen, who?” Flick, who finally relaxed after Lyra was completely gone from their sights, asked as he put his axes back to their straps on his hips.

“A dragoneer from SW, my cute boy,” Sami answered. “Strong, handsome, swift, deadly, and above all… very daring. Even Lyra had problems facing him last time. Oh, yes, she did have a lot of trouble.”

“Is Lyra that strong?” Rushvatte asked. “I thought she was just a bully.”

“Not gonna lie, kitty,” Sami shrugged. “I surely had a hard time facing her. She’s a cut far above her gang, she’s even superior to that girl, Arkengrad.”

Rushvatte frowned in disbelief then snorted, “You spoke as if Arkengrad is that strong.”

“You got it easy, bro,” Grok chimed in. “The level difference definitely helped you and, unlike Slicer or Xildur, Lyra seemed to not be at her true strength when facing you. I saw it just now, either she got dull or she felt that going too serious was pointless. Arkengrad has a worse temper but definitely softer than her, she is definitely not doing this griefing stuff wholeheartedly.”

“I can attest that was true about Arkengrad,” Nubram finally spoke. “She was definitely reluctant, except against Macepaw. She even agreed to let us get away if Renma gave some gorilla potion to her. Until someone interrupted and agitated her….”

“Ahem,” Manna cleared her throat. “What is important is that we are all safe… for now.”

“You’re right, girl,” Sami nodded happily. “To be frank, I was lucky to survive that encounter with Lyra. But at least Grok was right, she did get dull. Perhaps because she spent too much time fighting newbies that gave no real threat. Though, again, she seemed a bit more serious when fighting me.”

Grok chuckled, “Though, serious or not, it doesn’t change how metal these new bros are.”

“My, my.” Esferta pat Tier’s head softly. “What great boys~ no wonder Mana insisted on guiding you all.”

After his brain went blank and his body motionless for the whole conversation, Tier's ears finally twitched. There was a clear lack of an extra ‘n’ when Esferta mentioned Manna’s name, they probably know each other personally. However, he also sensed a bit of discomfort coming from Manna due to Esferta’s action.

As if also sensing the discomfort, Grok protested at Esferta, “Bro, don’t lay a hand on other people’s man.”

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“Grok, how many times should I tell you not to call women ‘bros’?” Esferta retorted.

The bald orcish warrior just shrugged indifferently. He then raised a metal hand sign and said, “Everyone with guts are bros. Just keep on rocking, bro.”

Sami sighed. “So are you metal or rock?”

“Just the same, bro. I like both.”

“I give up,” Esferta sighed. “Can you do something about him, dear? As his acknowledged boss?”

“My, my, Rina,” Manna chuckled. “My policy on Grok is to let him loose.”

“That’s my boss.”

“Keep on rocking, Grok,” Manna replied impassively while returning the metal hand sign.

“Sure thing, boss.”

“Enough, dudes and dudettes, your weird bromanship conversation confuses me,” Steven finally spoke after spending some time checking something on his semi transparent window.

As he walked towards Tier, he continued, “I should be even more confused as to how on earth you guys are here, not in Clashing Realms. Did Rosdan discharge your two divisions from the battle again?”

“You gotta ask that bro, bro.” Grok answered. He pointed at Esferta who was having some reunion greetings with Manna by holding and shaking hands in a cute manner.

Tier really felt something was off about the two since they have a very polar opposite appearance, colour scheme, and impression. As if he was witnessing the friendship of an angel and a devil.

“Let Rosdan be, Grok my bro,” Esferta said lazily. “Bingo and us took major risks on the previous assault without Rosdan’s approval. But look at the bright side, it was a success and we can help these promising saplings today.”

Manna nodded. “Yes, Rina had consulted me before taking action. I believe you all made the right choice. And also, thank you for helping us today.”

“Okay, if the boss said so.”

“Talking about saplings,” Steven mumbled. He was still kneeling and busy checking on Tier. “Grok, explain what kind of exploit was done by this definitely not small sapling.”

Grok rubbed his chin as he answered, “He kept his distance like a hunter should. But… I don’t know, bro, his speed was rather normal for a hunter. But there was something amiss.”

Sami sighed. She took over the explanation, “I’ll take it from here, darling. He meant that the boy moved before an attack came. As if….”

“... he knew their intention?” Steven interrupted, prompting Sami and Grok to nod in agreement.

“But that was not all, bro, I was here a bit earlier,” Grok interrupted Steven’s conclusion. “That hunter bro over there, was moving very weirdly.”

“How weird?” Steven asked.

Grok rubbed his bald head as he explained, “You know the kneeling stance that some archers do to look cool? For a quick moment I thought this bro over here was doing that. But he wasn’t. He was kinda crouching almost the whole time, he even ran half squatting or something. He also did weird swaying movements as if he was taunting them.”

“Taunting? What on earth are you talking about?” Tier protested. But as soon as his words ended, a weird sharp stung his brain.

“Ask yourself, bro,” Grok shrugged. “You even have the audacity to play and twist your bow like a fan or something.”

Renma tilted his head questioningly. He asked, “You mean like a dance? A sitting dance movement? With a bow as a fan?”

“I don’t know.” Grok shook his head. “Still metal as hell, though.”

“Owh, I did not know you could dance, deskmate,” Manna chimed in abruptly. She had a rather interested look at Tier who was frowning in confusion.

Steven caught his expression. The head GM asked curiously, “You didn’t realise that?”

The hunter shook his head. “I just… moved, but…” he answered while his mind kept roaming to his memories. A dance, as Grok and Renma said, had caused him to wonder if it had anything to do with the traditional dancing lessons he had scrapped for a gaming tournament long ago.

“Kebyar duduk….”

“What?” Steven frowned questioningly.

“Nevermind.”

Steven sighed, then his careless attitude turned serious when he proceeded to ask Tier, “What did you feel, dude? Were you using [Cobra’s Manoeuvre]?”

“My instinct was red, okay?” Tier retorted. However, Steven was staring solemnly at him as if urging him to think harder. The problem was, it was hard for Tier to keep thinking in this condition.

Tier closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly tried to remember what had happened. He can’t clearly recall each moment, but he could at least say about the sensation he felt.

“My vision was blurry,” he said. “But… I felt their positions and movements very clearly. Not just them… everything, every single thing here. All their gestures and intentions...”

“And you reacted based on that?” Steven asked, Tier nodded.

The GM then let out a long sigh. He stood up and gave his judgement, “You are banned from playing for at least one or two days. Real time.”