Antares didn't remember anything about Earth. All of the people in this Branch of the guild said they came from Earth. And according to his friends, he was from there, too. Antares didn't remember anything from before the Dark dimension. He woke up 40 miles from the Eastern regional Runesca base, and he was saved by two masked men. He didn't know who they were, nor did he know their names. All he knew was that they worked for the guild as explorers, and people called them "The Twins".
He usually hung out with them, but that wasn't very fun. They didn't speak much. The only words they seemed to know were "hmmn", "yes", and "no" during casual conversation. The only time you'd see them use proper sentences was during a mission.
Soon after learning basic hand-to-hand fighting and Sword combat, he completed his first scenario to kill an Arachnid Zenith. He rose through the ranks from an apprentice and quickly became an explorer himself.
He and the twins usually went on expeditions to the north, sometimes working on collaborative projects with the northern guild branch. He was on one such mission now. Their team consisted of the twins, who served as their vanguard. Scilia from the Northern guild branch, an arrow-conjuring mage, served as their ranged attacker. Antares himself, who used a long sword, was their rearguard. And finally, Zekros, who used intermediate thunder magic as their magic support.
Antares had just gotten to this second scenario, but most of the others here were on their third, and the Thunder Master Zekros was according to rumour, at his fourth. The power gap was noticeable. He had gotten the moniker of,
It seemed pretty cool at the time, but it didn't do much. All he got was a 20% attack boost while using a sword. In comparison, the twins with their joint title,
His second scenario was to kill 20 E-grade Zenith. That seemed pretty much impossible on his own; that's why he'd volunteered on this mission. Perhaps he could steal a few cheap kills off of the others.
The mission was simple: clear the new C-grade dungeon that had appeared in the twisted forest. Going through the forest was easy, as the northern guild master was a beast master and used her ability to get us a feline that could lead us to the dungeon.
After walking a while, he saw the large title screen.
[C-Grade Dungeon]
[Maximum entrees, 7 incarnations]
We all looked at each other. There wasn't much discourse. Probably because our vanguard was so tense. No one dared to open their mouth. The twins looked at us, their hoods fluttering with the wind.
"Any preparations left?" Asked the one on the left.
All of us shook our heads at once.
The twins both nodded and entered the translucent barrier that seemed to stop anything from beyond it from coming out the gate.
Zekros and Scilia both entered promptly. I had to enter last as the vanguard. As soon as I stepped in, I got my sub-scenario.
Sub Scenario: Dungeon Crawl - C Grade
Win Criteria:
[Clear the C-grade dungeon]
Rewards:
• Title evolution (possible)
• 1 B grade skill
• 5000 Geld
Time Limit:
[None]
Failure Condition:
[Death]
[2 deities are watching this scenario]
['Master of the backhanded sword' is looking at the party with disinterest]
['The Thunder that Burns is intrigued by the incarnation, 'Zekros']
The scenario seemed straightforward, thankfully, there wasn't a time limit. The messages were new, Zekros was strong enough to be noticed by a deity, huh. That was surprising. Then, with him by his side, we wouldn't lose.
We walked through the lush garden, a harsh sun burnt my skin. Id seen the sun a couple of times in other dungeons. But I hadn't been in a proper jungle yet. no enemies had appeared yet.
It seemed eerily quiet. Before we entered the dungeon, noises of predators and prey, birds and insects, could be heard all around us. Yet now, silence blanketed the forest. This wasn't right.
We soon approached a clearing in the middle of the forest.
"We should rest here for a couple of minutes, perhaps help ourselves to some stamina potions." We'd been moving for over two hours straight, and Scilia voiced out all of our thoughts.
"Don't you notice anything strange?" Zekros piped up. "The birds aren't chirping, there hasn't even been one enemy yet."
"Some dungeons start later than others... If any of you want to drink a stamina potion, do it as we walk." The twin on the left shut us down.
And we marched onwards. That weird premonition about not seeing any enemies. Well, that turned upside down. A group of goblin-esque zenith descended on us from the trees. Two of them were taken out immediately by the twins, who used the tree to propel themselves into the air and cut down two goblins before they even landed. Scilia was next, she had one goblin in front of her and another behind. She muttered an incantation, and six arrows appeared around each of her hands. She grunted, and they all fired away at the approaching goblins, tearing them apart on both sides. Zekros had 4 goblins surrounding him. It seemed like they knew who the most powerful was.
"Zap", he roared as his eyes started glowing yellow. Sparks generated from his fingers, as a bright yellow lightning bolt was confirmed from his fingertips. The bolt split into multiple smaller zaps as it went onwards and fried all the goblins around him.
There was just me left, and there was only one goblin Zenith; a goblin Zenith was unranked. That is, it wasn't even an F-grade. I wouldn't have any problems killing it.
My right arm clenched the long sword, as I used the full power of both my arms to lift the blade and bring it down in an arc. Howeverz the goblin was faster than my longsword. It jumped on my blade, which was now stuck to the ground. I quickly let go of my blade, and lifted my foot up, dashing back.
The goblin was still fast approaching. I pulled out the dagger in my belt, it was nothing special. An average blade, with the most basic stats needed to make it viable in combat. I had the money to buy a better dagger, but I couldn't forsake the blade that had saved my life on my first day here.
I thrust it at a fast moving target, and it hit the bullseye. I had pierced the goblin's heart, and the little thing fell like it was never alive.
I looked around and saw around 20 goblins killed. And my party members were staring at me. Scilia looked at me with contempt, Zekros with pity, and the twins with disappointment.
"You can't even wield your blade; you aren't worthy of being called a sword fighter", said Zekros with a smirk on his face.
"I'm not getting patronised about my sword skills by someone who cowers behind magic" I'd raised my voice a bit too much.
The left twin was glaring at me, I zipped my mouth.
"Oh yeah, at least I don't abandon my weapon of choice when the going gets tough..." It seemed like Zekros had something else to say, but he was silenced by the right twin glaring at him.
"It's time we move." "We mustn't linger here much longer", said the twins, taking turns for each sentence. We all complied.
While walking, I could see Zekros glaring at me every once in a while. I didn't think much of it, I didn't want to aggro the dude. He seemed a bit too powerful for me right now.
We went past the lush forest and found a large lake. This was an extremely large clearing with barely any trees and open land, the size of a football field. This was where the miniboss room was.
Every dungeon had two main challenges. The miniboss, who was a Zenith one grade below the dungeon. And the boss, who was a Zenith, the same grade as the dungeon.
So we would be facing a D grade Zenith here. Something that I'd die to if I ever fought it alone. But i wasn't alone. I had reliable members of the guild with me.
We went in, lead by the Twins. They moved ahead of us, and stepped into the center of the arena. The rest of us stood in a pre decided formation mentally preparing for a fight. After a couple of seconds, the scenario bar popped up.
[Mini Boss, D Grade, "Shadow Hog" has noticed your party]
That was the last thing I saw before I was hit from behind by something that sent me flying to the other side of the arena. I tumbled down into a bush, which somehow stopped my head from cracking open. I pushed my body to get myself up and saw the fight taking place.
It was beautiful, The Hog Zenith stood no chance. Its dark skin was getting torn apart by Scilia's barrage of arrows, as they pierced through its skin. The twins were taking turns cutting its underbelly and legs, hindering its movement. A large web of thunderbolts covered the area around the Hog, making it impossible to move without getting shocked, while clouds gathered above the beast, as Zekros was chanting a large incantation.
"-divine thunder falls upon my prey. Take its life as sacrifice and honour the God of Lightning."
[Shadow hog has been slain. Majority contributor,
I limped my way to the party, as they were splitting up the Geld recieved.
"You're finally here, huh. You did well tanking that first shot." These sarcastic words shot out of Scilia, who barely trying to hide her contempt and didn't even look into my eyes.
"Be quiet, we still must take down the boss."
The right twin interjected.
They split the profits amongst themselves. They didn't offer me any Geld, and I didn't dare to ask.
We all opened the Scenario shop, and the bright screen glowed in front of each of us.
I opened the medicine category, and bought a mini stamina recharge and a medium heal charge. It cost me about 200 Geld. Consuming both of them helped my body calm down, and my heart beat slowed and paced itself, my wounds, and the scathing pain in my back subsided.
I looked around and the others also seemed to have healed themselves up. Without a word from anyone, we started to move again.
I didn't think much of this fight, but the guilt of not being able to help my comrades weighed down on me. We didn't walk much before we saw another arena; this was much smaller than the Mini-Boss arena.
"This dosent look like the boss room" quipped the white haired arrow conjurer. Most of us looked around, as the twins entered the center again. Suddenly, a roar was heard.
"Were-Zenith.", I exclaimed. 6 Were-Zenith pounced out, surrounding us. They seemed to have been waiting for us to enter the center.
Silver hair covered their entire body, witholding their snouts. Their long legs were heavily muscular, knowing for reaching 60 miles an hour at their maximum speed. Their hands, more appropriately paws had sharp, black claws that could cut through steel. These were the E grade species, the Were-Zenith.
The twins took three together, using their fast strikes, and managed to push the Zenith back. As Zekros and Scilia ran a bit far to gain distance. I now had 3 Zenith in front of me, and I'd have to hold them back for at least 30 seconds before Zekros and Scilia took their positions.
My right hand drew my long sword, and my left clasped it to gain balance. I firmly planted my right foot in front of me and swung as hard as I could at the approaching wolves. But the blade was once again too slow. The tip managed to reach the foot of one wolf, slicing through it like butter. But I had to let go of my sword to dodge the other wolves.
I dashed back again, realising it was time for them to have taken their positions. But why wasn't I getting any backup? I looked back instinctively and saw them both watching me, grinning.
What the absolute fuck. I gripped my dagger and shoved it at the incoming were-zenith, but it simply didn't have the piercing power needed to cut through its furry skin. That's when I activated my attribute,
A green hue began surrounding me, as my blade felt sharper and my arms felt stronger than ever. I thrust even harder into the Zenith, rolling from a large punch it tried to throw and cutting it in the liver. The blade pierced the monster, and it fell over, writhing in pain.
[The deity, Master of the Backhanded Sword, respects your skill]
As I tried to pull my dagger out. I felt a set of claws digging into my backside. Oh, right, there were two others. I tried to turn around as another set of claws pierced my liver. I suddenly saw a barrage of a 100 thunder-tipped arrows, crackling as their power was augmented by thunder magic, pierce the were-zenith. They died.
Those two had killed the two creatures with one goddamn spell. They did this on purpose. I'll get my revenge on them. Zekros
My eyes were closed.
____
I opened my eyes to find flowers laid over my body, which had its arms crossed in a similar way to what the Twins did when another one of our comrades passed back in the Dead Man's Willow.
Did they think I had died? No way. I needed to catch up. I checked the scenario indicator.
Sub Scenario: Dungeon Crawl - C Grade
Win Criteria:
[Clear the C-grade dungeon]
Rewards:
• Title evolution (possible)
• 1 C grade skill
Time Limit:
[None]
Failure Condition:
[Death]
[3 deities are watching this scenario]
It didn't say completed yet, that means the main boss hadn't been taken out yet. I could still help them. That's when a sharp pain penetrated my abdomen, liver and chest. I looked down, and those cuts were still there.
I let out a harsh groan as I poured two medium heal charges on my wounds, and they closed up quickly. I felt something tightening in my chest, I guess there was still the blood loss. I couldn't exert myself much. I went and sheathed my long sword, which was placed next to me. I found my dagger thrown away next to a closeby bush, and tucked it into my belt.
On the way, i thought to myself. The jump in power from a D grade to a C grade monster was exponential. Could they all stand a chance. I mean together, they definitely could. But what if Scilia and Zekros backstab the Twins. I couldn't let them die. They were my only friends here. I had to save them.
I stopped in my tracks. What, this deity wanted to sign a contract with me. I couldn't believe it. But i remembered the first rules to a sponsor contract, never let them know you need them.
"Huh, that'd be cool, I guess. What're your terms?"
[The deity snaps his fingers and sends over a contract to you.]
I read the document that appeared in my arms. It was immeasurably bad for a contract. He would offer me a free title evolution and one of his C grade skills. In exchange I had to accept him as my sponsor and I had to allow him to take control of my body whenever he pleased.
"No nevermind" i rebuked him. There was no way Id give up my autonomy to this random.
[The deity is shocked and asks why you wouldn't sign.]
"It's just too bothersome, I can't let you take my body over. Then what about my conscience? What good will your skill and a new title do me if I don't have control of my own body?"
[The deity has sent a revised contract]
I looked at the changed text.
["The incarnation will allow for the sponsor to descend for 30 minutes every two weeks after he ascends past the 5th main scenario, with constraints on his action"]
It went on to describe those constraints as not being able to hurt his allies, not killing anyone, and not destroying his property. This might be worth it.
"Okay, sure!" I signed it with a wide grin on my face.
[Master of the Backhanded Sword wonders if he sold himself too short]
I kept smiling. This was a good day. With my new power, I could surpass Zekros and Scilia for sure. Then, two screens appeared in front of me.
[You have received C-grade skill, "Wind-Coating"]
[Your title evolution has begun]
Huh, wind coating, huh. That meant that I never had to worry about losing my sword, nor it being too heavy. The wind itself would tie my sword to me, helping me maneuver it a lot better. Although, I wish I had gotten its evolution, Blade of the Wind. That would remove the necessity of carrying a blade completely. Well, you gotta appreciate the little things.
As I was contemplating my new skill, I was ambushed by at least a dozen goblin-zeniths. This was the best place to test my new skill out.
[The C-grade skill, "Wind's Coating has been activated]
As I held my longsword, its weight seemed to drain away. I planted my feet firmly into the ground and swung in an upright axis. This one strike cut down a goblin who had attempted to make its way to me.
Three more were approaching. I used my now free left hand to pull out the dagger and coated it using my skill. I used the forward propulsion granted by the C-grade skill to throw my blade at an unsuspecting goblin as I twirled to cut down the other two. I could finally use every single technique I had learnt. I feinted and cut goblins down; I dodged and counterattacked using my sword; it was less like a sword fight and more like a dance. Soon, I was covered with green blood, and the goblins lay on the ground. I picked up my dagger and went onwards.
Soon, I reached the boss's arena. Nothing could have prepared me for what I witnessed. Scilia was on the ground, bleeding out, with the Twins and Zekros standing above her body. I ran there.
"Antares! You're alive" exclaimed both twins at the same time. They each held one of arm, as if confirming if I was real.
"But your pulse, it was long gone!" exclaimed the right twin.
"Yeah I don't know what happened, but also, I guess you figured out half the truth already. But Scilia and Zekros left me to die back there."
As I said this, Zekros moved forward and held my shoulders in the cusps of his hands.
"Antares, Scilia wasn't just an arrow conjuring mage. She was an illusioner. She made my mind fuzzy and took over my body. Sort of like mind control. I'm extremely sorry for what happened. The twins realised something was wrong and managed to cut her down in time."
I looked into his eyes, and I saw sincerity. I was a terrible judge of character, but this time I felt sure for some reason. As to why Scilia tried to take us all down, it was obvious. She did it so, she could get a higher share of the rewards, or maybe even take it all home.
"Alright, let's get to fighting the boss", I exclaimed. The twins began moving towards the crystal at the center of the huge Colloseum-esque arena.
"Brace yourselves!" screamed the left twin.
I planted my left foot backwards and my right foot forward. I activated my new skill, "Wind-Coating", and also kept "Dash" at the back of my mind. My long sword felt like it didn't even exist in my arms.
I braced my entire body for impact. But what I saw before me wasn't something I could even imagine.
[C-Grade Boss, Wingless Griffin of the Demon World has noticed your party]