Adrest collapsed to one knee, every muscle in his body exhausted and shaking. Wounds he didn’t know he received were starting to burn and throb with the lack of adrenaline, he tried to bring a potion to his mouth but dropped it as he curled his fingers around it. Every muscle in his body was exhausted.

He laughed at the mistake and was attempting to pick the bottle up to try again when Alissa came over and picked it up, fiddling with it.

“Hey Ali, could I have that? Everything’s starting to hurt.” Adrest gave no excuse for the sadistic dragon to kick him while he was down. He really wanted the little vial of green medicine she was currently spinning between her fingers.

Adrest was about to ask again, afraid of whatever game she was thinking up. But before he could speak, Alissa removed the stopper, put the bottle to her pink lips, and emptied it.

Alissa took a glance over to Belle and Rin, happy that one was half collapsed on the bloody floor, too busy healing herself to pay attention, and the other was cornering the Resha, Alissa walked to the sitting Adrest and tipped his head up a little more.

As Adrest was still confused by what Alissa was up to, his head was nudged up and his eyes were just a few inches from her own. As they made eye contact, Alissa moved closer. When their lips touched, Adrest was surprised by the softness, it was like kissing two supple clouds, it was made even better for Adrest as he felt the potion flow into his own mouth and his injuries stopped throbbing, quickly stitching together.

Adrest thought he was in heaven as he saw the blushing purple haired beauty and the blush painting her tanned skin. Just as Adrest was enjoying the sensation, it parted far too soon. Alissa was a deep red but talked through it.

“You did great Ady, that was five B ranks and almost one thousand C and D ranks. Now when you heal a little, stay over by Belle and remember what I told you. I’ll see you in just a bit.”

Alissa bounced off while Adrest was still in a stupor, he felt like he could still feel a lingering warmth on his lips. Alissa bent down to the dead tired Belle and whispered a few words in her ears before gently kissing the top of her head and walking to the entrance of the cavern Rin was currently in.

Adrest finally felt like he could stand without falling over and walked over to Belle. As he helped her up, she half collapsed into his arms, so he wrapped an arm around her for support and kept her on her feet.

“What did Alissa say to you Belle?”

“Huh? Oh, Big sis Ali said to do whatever you say.” Belle cheerily answered.

“Oh, well just stay here and rest for a bit. It’s going to be a stressful few hours.” Adrest switched between staring at the epic fight that was nearing it’s end and the beautiful dragon who was taking long, deep breaths with her eyes closed.

While Adrest was nervous, he knew there was nothing he could do to stop what was happening, If he tried anything now, it would actually be detrimental to Alissa.

A long, mournful wail ringing against the bare stone shook Adrest from his thoughts. He brought Rin back into his focus to could see her standing over a mountain of broken bones, smiling triumphantly back at them.

Rin was in an exceptionally good mood seeing her friends alive and well, just a little dirtier than she’d left them. With a light hop, Rin flipped off the pile and landed smoothly on the ground. Overall, the fight had gone as well as she could’ve hoped fighting an A rank. Only some gouges and a few fractures that were already mending didn’t count as anything serious to her, and in return she had gotten the essence of a Resha. She thought as she patted a bottle filled with what looked like a bottle of dark tar.

Rin only took a single step towards her friends, ready to hunt for anything valuable and find a way out of the cleared dungeon. With her as a voucher, she could get the three promoted to low B rank at least, then they could do more contracts together officially.

Her happy daydreams were interrupted with the sound of the mountains themselves screaming. It was mind-numbing, blood rupturing, grinding that brought Adrest and Belle to their knees, covering their ears in pain. Rin could barely form thoughts under the noise and looked for the source.

Looking behind herself, Rin saw that the entire back wall that made up the huge cavern was collapsing in on itself. In shock, Rin watched the thousands of tons of near solid stone crush and grind into smaller and smaller pieces. In only minutes in the vast walls place was a hill of fine dust.

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Rin’s hands were shaking and her breath was shallow, she focused in on the figure that was now exposed to the four invaders. Behind the wall was another cavern that dwarfed the one Rin was in. Multiple miles wide and just as tall, the difference being this walls and floor were all perfectly flat and smooth.

Sitting in the center of the empty cave was a gigantic thing. It was like someone had taken the top half of a Minotaur and stuck it to a snake's body, but with many legs like a centipede’s. It was as long as a city street and even wider. It had so many shining arm-like limbs growing from its long body that she got dizzy looking at them all.

The upper body was just as monstrous, covered in thick cords of muscle as hard as any stone, fists that could squeeze a human to a pulp between fingers with ease. The head was like a bull’s, hot steam rushing out of the trembling nose, and the strange square pupils radiated a madness and rage that bordered on obsession.

Rin was scared under those eyes, she couldn’t understand what something like that was doing here. What was an S rank doing on the border? Why couldn’t she sense a trace of it until now? Why had she brought her friends with her to an unknown dungeon? All she wanted to do was impress and help them out a bit, she knew D and C rank parties didn’t earn much and thought she could help them get a little boost.

The shaking stopped, the only sound was a deep rumbling caused by the unknown beast breathing. Then, it spoke in a deep and throaty voice that was closer to a growl than speech.

“YoU RuInEd EvErYtHiNg!”

Rin was terrified and knew she was out of her league. She looked back to the three behind her and gripped the blades in her hands until her knuckles turned white.

“Adrest! Alissa! Take Belle and run. Run as fast as you can and get back to the surface. I’ll keep it busy for as long as I can, don’t worry about me.”

Without waiting for a response, Rin swallowed down rainbow of over ten different pills and elixirs. Her body throbbed and thrummed with rampaging mana and overwhelming blood energy. her skin split and healed with every move, thin lines of blood dripping out as she grabbed the crystal she always kept around her neck. It was a muted orange, but as the blood on her hand made contact, it seemed to come alive and became vibrant.

Rin crushed the gem to powder in one hand and the dust flowed into her body, her presence went to a new level. Every motion was filled with overwhelming power, only Rin knew that the price was the burning of her vitality itself to keep her body together.

Rin took a step forward. She disappeared.

Next to the bull’s head, Rin’s sword flashed and clanged into the ear that was larger than herself. The sword actually cut through the fur with some resistance and dug into the flesh below, but stopped just a few inches in.

The beast roared in annoyance and shook the fly off. Rin dodged bach hundreds of feet and watched the monster come to a full standing height, its many legs clattering against the floor as they oscillated. It raised an arm coated in thick stone and sent a punch towards Rin. She easily dodged and tried sneak-attacking again, to no avail with a limb from the bottom of the body meeting her with deadly force.

From there a life and death stalemate kicked off, Rin focusing to the utmost to keep track of the dozens of steely limbs attacking at all angles, and the earthen fists that slammed towards her from above like a meteorite constantly.

The only thing saving Rin was the near dozen different life saving treasures she used at once boosting her strength, and the fact that she has always specialized in speed and dodging blows. She fought fiercely for every extra second for the others, she might have to die down here, but she prayed earnestly for them to get out alive at least, though she knew it was unlikely.

Rin held on for nearly 3 minutes before making a mistake. She got just barely clipped by a leg and was sent flying like a kite with its string cut. She crashed into a far wall and tried her best to get up, she hadn’t bought nearly enough time.

She was trying to force her broken arm to hold her other sword, but it wouldn’t listen. As she saw the lumbering giant slowly take step after step towards her, rapidly closing the distance, She was shocked and enraged to see a figure appear in front of her.

Alissa was actually standing in front of Rin, after Rin had all but sacrificed her life to buy them time. What could a C rank do, even if they were pretty skilled, against an almighty S rank. It was no different than coming here to die with her, wasting everything Rin fought for.

As Rin was confused and seething at the idiot standing in front of her smiling, Alissa spoke, “Just sit there for awhile Rin. You did your best so I’ll handle it from here. I hope you’ll still be our friend after this though.”

Rin had no idea what Alissa was talking about, did she go insane from the aura exuded from S ranks? Before she could ask the person in question, Alissa walked off towards the hulking monstrosity.

She wanted to get up and stop the woman, to yell at Alissa to run and leave. But all she could do was stand there confused and shocked. Every step Alissa took the aura she exuded became multiplicatively stronger. It broke the stone into nothing under each dainty foot and it alone echoed through the enormous cave. As if announcing that she was the sole authority in the area now, it was her domain and everything within was lucky to exist because she deigned it so.

Then Alissa spoke to the Earthen Titan, “Are you finished picking on a little B rank? Is it fun to throw a temper tantrum like a spoiled child?”

Everyone was stunned, even the Titan himself, who the hell would talk to an S rank overlord like they were a misbehaving child?

Alissa did not raise her voice but her words dominated the space imposing themselves on those who heard. Adrest knew that he it was time and took out the wood case, set it on the ground and said to Belle, “Close your eyes and stay right beside me.”

Seeing she did as instructed, Adrest put his hands against the lid and closed his own eyes, lifting open the box lid.

Even through his eyelids Adrest could see a blindingly bright blue light and a dragon’s roar caused intense pressure on everyone present, even the Earthen Titan felt a twinge of primal fear.