Dungeon Training (2)

Gray already didn't like who he was paired up with. There were already two loud and obnoxious people; he wanted people that were more quiet and less annoying. One of them was a girl named Shauna Hemsworth. She wielded a greatsword that was nearly her size, with orange twin-tail hair and a very beautiful dress. She acts as if she is a queen and is pretty arrogant. What's even more, she comes from a prestigious bloodline, so kids always flock to her to try to get on her good side. Gray wasn't interested in her popularity, unlike the other kids, so he figured it was a nobility thing. "Their parents probably told them to get in touch with her; I'm kind of glad that people avoid me in general."

Because of the entire situation with Gray appearing to have no Talent at all, the Swayar family has been in a corner recently. They turned into a laughingstock, and the rest of the Swayar family worldwide has avoided contact. The only people who genuinely care about Gray are his two parents and the servants in the mansion.

Seeing Shauna constantly pestered by people trying to gain her appeal made Gray more happy about his current situation. On the flip side, his other teammate made his day worse. His cousin Zack was also here, yelling at Gray for a rematch. "Gray, I demand a rematch right now for the humiliation you've put me through!"

Gray ignored him as usual.

His final teammate was one of the blades of the school. His name was Umeris Yirorin and he was a very outgoing guy. His role was to chaperone us as we delved into the dungeon. "Now, let's all group up so we can go into the dungeon," he said with a warm smile. He was bigger than all of us, but he had a tiny magic wand as his weapon. Using his massive size, he held everybody together with his massive arms. "My job is to supervise you all to make you all safe, so behave, please." he asked very politely in a manner that they couldn't refuse. As every group began walking through their portals, we also followed suit. "Come on guys, let's try beating this dungeon before the others!" Umeris said, running through the portal in glee. Gray was uncertain about trusting someone two years older for his safety, but Umeris' confidence made them feel safer together. ("Well, it's a world with magic; the possibilities are endless.")

Exiting through the portal, they are greeted by the entrance of a cavern. Behind them is a forest that seems to have no life in it. The sight was quite nostalgic for Gray, as he spent time training against goblins in the forest near his mansion. He bullied them so much that the goblins actively ran away from him when he was nearby; it was as if Gray was a predator in the forest.

Standing in front of the group, Umeris wanted to set things straight. "Okay, everybody, make sure we are all sticking together in this dungeon so we won't get lost, okay?" Shauna, irritated, replied, "Why is someone under me giving me orders?" Zack also backed her up, saying, "Yeah, why do you have to order around someone like Lady Shauna?!" It was like Zack had a tail wagging on him, desperate for Shauna's approval. However, Zack's attempts were never noticed at all, as Shauna did not even take notice of Zack. In an awkward fashion, Umeris walked into the cave, saying, "O-Oh, right... sorry."

Inside the cavern, you could only hear the noises of water dripping from the ceiling and the footsteps that the party brought. It was quite dark as they went deeper inside the cave; the only thing that supplied light was the outside entrance of the dungeon. Further in, their visions got dimmer and dimmer before they went to pitch black darkness. "It's pitch black; I can't see!" says Shauna. In her blindness, she accidentally bumps into Zack, knocking him over and making him spout out, "O-Ow, whoever bumped into me is quite heavy!" In a high-pitched tone of embarrassment, Shauna replied, "H-Heavy!?"

Umeris chuckled before waving his wand. His wand glistened and sparked before lighting up with a flame. The flame wasn't big, but it sufficed to be a makeshift torch. The first thing that was seen when the flame arrived was Zack receiving a slap across his face.

"S-Sorry..."

"You should be!" Shauna says, stomping off ahead in a fit. As Zack stood up, he went over to Gray and whispered in his ear. "What are you doing? You should be trying to get with Shauna!" Gray looked uncomfortable, as he didn't expect such a question to arise out of the blue. "Why are you trying to tell me this?!" he whispered back. "Because, ever since birth, we've been told to make good connections. Once I marry someone like Shauna Hemsworth, my father will be very proud!"

Gray went ahead, telling him, "Okay, have fun with that; I don't care."

Zack quickly caught up with Gray, trying to stop him. "Wait, I'm just trying to ask you a favor!"

"And what's that?" Gray said, continuing to walk very fast.

"Let me get with Shauna, please! You're my cousin, so I'm begging you to help me!" Zack said it in desperation. The favor, though, seemed incredibly outlandish. Zack's first impression was horrible in Gray's eyes, and it was still bad seeing how he was acting like a total dog for Shauna. "Dude, wasn't your first interaction with me was you insulting me and then forcing me into a fight?"

Zack, having no response to this, resorted to crying like a baby. Because of all the noise happening right behind Umeris, Umeris hopped into the frame as well. "Is everything okay back there?" he asked. "G-Gray isn't helping me get a girlfriend!" he whined, pointing at Gray. Gray wanted to knock some sense into Zack but remembered that they were still kids at the end of the day. Gray would probably need to wait a few more years until he can beat some sense into him. He could imagine what Ben would do if he was here. ("Go ahead and rizz her up; we'll help you!") He would probably say this to Zack to encourage him. His issues of not being able to get girls weren't his problem anyway, so Gray decided to ignore Zack as usual. Before he could walk off, Umeris put his arms around their shoulders. "Then why not? It'll be a great team effort to help out Zack!" Zack's face brightened up. With his mood skyrocketing, he says, "Y-You both would help me?".

Umeris nodded, saying, "Yeah, for sure, that's what friends are for!" Zack hugged them with all his might, tearing up on Gray and Umeris' shoulders. "Thank you both so much!"

At this point, Gray gave up on his quiet life. With a deep and exhausted sigh, Gray submitted to their bothersome requests. "Alright, fine, I'll help you if you promise to leave me alone after this." Gray was suddenly squeezed by a powerful force—Zack was giving him a tight hug. "Thank you so much, let's get started right away!" he said, pressing himself against Gray.

"Why are you hugging me super hard? That's weird!"

"Come on, we're cousins, Gray; we should be caring for each other!"

"I didn't give you permission to even hug me; you just started hugging me on your own!"

Umeris smiled, listening to their bonding. "It's nice to see my underclassmen get together so well." Then the realization struck. "Wait, wouldn't Shauna have heard our whole conversation?" Umeris searched around their area, only seeing the rocky cavern walls with Gray and Zack bickering between them. "Uhhh... guys? Shauna disappeared from the group." Zack let go of Gray before scouring the area.

Thinking of the worst, Zack panicked. "Oh no, did she hear our conversation and run off?!" 

"No, knowing Shauna, she would probably yell at us or something about how we're annoying before walking off." Gray told him. Gray didn't want to make wild assumptions yet but wanted to build the pieces in this situation before concluding something. ("Even if something did happen to her, why was there no noise? There most definitely would be some screaming if something did happen to her.") 

While in his thoughts, Umeris shouted at him. "Get down!" he screamed. Gray quickly turned around and saw a sort of zombified knight, ready to hurl its sword at him. Gray, noticing the last second, backstepped away. The knight, who was twice his size, wielded a sword that seemed capable of cutting him with a single slash. Gray was just a kid whose main weapon wasn't good against his foe's steel armor. Despite his clear disadvantages, Gray used his amazing intelligence to go for the best option here. He scurried behind both Zack and Umeris as if his actions were saying, "Go get 'em."

Charging up his magic through his wand, Umeris shot out a gust of flames at the knight. The knight rag-dolled back, folding up like a pancake. Moments later, it arose once more, approaching them. "What's a Draugr doing here? This is supposed to be a Rank 1 dungeon!" Umeris cried. He shot out another gust of flames from his wand, piercing through its head. After being struck, the Draugr moved like nothing had affected it. Umeris shot once more, surging all of his magic power into this fury of flames. The intensity of the flames was so great that the Draugr's armor began melting. With a loud thud, the Draugr dropped to the floor. Zack slapped Umeris on the shoulder, complimenting him. "Good work, now we're saved!"

"Not yet..." Umeris said, pointing at the Draugr. Gray and Zack watched in awe as the Draugr slowly rose, even after it was hit by a devastating attack. Umeris tried to shoot once more at the Draugr but his wand didn't output anything. Umeris tossed his wand to the ground. "We need to run; my wand is out of mana!" Umeris turned his head back to see both Zack and Gray already in the process of sprinting away. Screaming in surprise, he also sprinted in their direction. "Guys, don't run off without me!"

*

*

*

Managing to outrun the Draugr, the party ended up in ruins inside the cavern. Zack raised his finger. "W-What... WAS THAT!" Zack was still gasping for breath as if they had been sprinting for hours. After composing himself, Umeris answered his question. "That was a Draugr, it's like some sort of never-dying zombie. You would need any holy magic to get rid of those guys fully."

"Wow, you're well informed," Gray said.

"Well, I am a blade of the Academy of Yorka, I'm supposed to be in advanced classes for a reason!"

Zack was still freaked out over what they encountered; the only horrible thing that had happened to him so far was getting knocked out by Gray, and in Zack's mind, this is very comparable to that. "Guys, this is serious; isn't this supposed to be a low-level dungeon?!"

Umeris nodded. "Indeed, this is supposed to be a Grade 1 dungeon, but Draugrs appear in Grade 3 dungeons." Umeris took out a rune from his pocket. "This teleportation rune must've been tampered with and sent us to the wrong dungeon." After hearing this information, Zack's expression turned to horror. "D-Does that mean someone tried to kill us?!" he asked. Umeris put the rune back into his pocket. "Well, I don't want to assume the worst, but it's probably true."

Zack burst into tears. "I don't want to die! Mommy, save me! I want to go home!" 

Ignoring Zack, Gray asked Umeris a question. "I'm new to this dungeon stuff; what are the grades for these dungeons?"

"Oh, you don't know about grades? Well, let me explain them to you. They extend from Grade 1 to Grade 5. Grade 1 is like the weakest dungeons, and simple mastery over magic could let you clear these dungeons. The issue is, we're in a Grade 3 dungeon, which is considered only for fully built parties of adventurers."

"Hmmm... I see." Gray said, tapping his foot on the ground. "So we're screwed."

Zack started wailing after hearing Gray's hopelessness. "MOMMY!!!" he hollered. 

Umeris stepped over and embraced him. "There, there, it's okay." His comfort managed to calm him down, only leaving behind Zack's hicks to echo in the caverns.

"Well guys, let's go back," Gray said, pointing to the direction from which they came from.

"But we can't; Shauna is still missing." Umeris told him. The thing is, Umeris was morally right. He can't just abandon Shauna and leave her to die here, but the chances of her even being alive to begin with are low. Why would Gray want to save someone who is probably dead?

"The chances of us surviving are way better if we just leave right now. We can outrun that Draugr guy, so we should probably just run past him and call for help." Gray explained.

"Gray, if you abandon her, I'll tell on you!" Zack squealed, still in the clutches of Umeris's arms.

Gray sighed. "Come on, you seriously are tattling on me for taking the safer option?"

"Don't worry, I still have a ton of magic weapons left to take on this dungeon; if we play it safe, then we can get Shauna and leave," Umeris said, taking out a dagger from his pocket. This dagger had a gem inside its hilt and had a dark blue hue on the blade. Umeris began walking towards the large ruins that lay ahead. "This is my first time seeing ruins inside of a dungeon anyway, so this is a great adventure for me!" Umeris said.

Zack followed suit as well, raising his arms in cheer. "Just wait, honey, your future husband is coming!"

Gray wanted to go back, but at this rate, he would have to sprint back again. Because of his laziness, he decided to travel alongside them as well. As they went through the ruins, the three encountered a frail woman crying. Her armor was tattered, and her sword was broken. They approached her, looking down on her. The woman says, "Please, save me! My party was killed, and I have no way of getting back!"

Zack did a mighty pose. "Don't worry, ma'am; we're future heroes; we will help you!" Her face brightened up with a nice smile that made Zack's heart flutter.

"Really?" she asked. Her eyes glistened with hope, speaking to the young adventurers.

Zack nodded hastily. "Yes! You will be safe with me!"

Gray began walking ahead. "Ignore her; she's weird, and we have no time for this. I just want to get Shauna and leave."

Zack held out his hand at Gray. "W-Wait Gray, she requires help!" Gray responded with. "No, she's suspicious. In a dangerous place like this, we can't risk weirdos like her anyway; she can find her way back on her own." Zack clenched his fist. "Leaving a defenseless woman like this, how cruel are you?!"

Suddenly, Zack was shoved aside by Umeris, slicing a mysterious creature that stood right beside Zack. Their skin was gray, and their eyes were red, with a gaping mouth that had an array of sharp teeth. "Zack, stand back; the woman was a mimic; she's extremely dangerous!" Umeris warned. Umeris went again to slice her in the neck, but was quickly outsped. The mimic dashed around both Zack and Umeris, finding another angle to strike in. They grasped the wound on their chest, trying to hold in the blood from Umeris's attack. "You little shits, you made me bleed! My beauty is now stained because of you!" The mimic screamed. The mimic morphed claws on its hand, lunging in to stab Umeris. 

Umeris guarded Zack while he screamed like a baby. He gulped in fear, seeing the impending doom that approached him. ("The mimic has better reach and is faster than me... I don't know if we can beat this mimic.") As he turned around, he saw Zack screaming hopelessly. "No, I'm a blade for a reason, I must defend the weak!" Umeris said, lunging their dagger at her. As he did, his flow state began to arise. And once it did, he saw it—the opening in which he would strike. There was an open spot that he could get to if he dodged under the mimic's attack. With this, he figured that his height disadvantage wasn't so bad after all. So, putting this plan in motion, he put all of his strength into one blow!

Then he tripped over the broken blade that was placed right next to the mimic beforehand.

He fell, his heart sank, and the world slowed down. ("The mimic purposely went to the spot where its blade was; I completely forgot that it was there to begin with!") And so, the mimic's claws nearly reached Umeris's eyes before he closed his eyes. ("I guess my brother is right, I'm not cut for this stuff.")

As he hit the floor, he expected to be stabbed, but nothing happened. Instead, he heard the mimic getting whacked in the face before staggering backward. He heard motions right in front of him, stepping in and out, hearing more of the blows hit the mimic. Opening his eyes, he sees Gray standing right in front of him. "This is why I said we should've just left her. She was asking kids to save her and didn't even question us being here in the first place; doesn't that make no sense at all?"

While Zack was fangirling over Gray, Umeris was surprised that Gray even came back. He thought the best option for Gray was to run away, especially when Gray wanted to do that earlier. Nevertheless, Umeris decided to protect anyone to the very end; he wanted to sacrifice himself to save them both. "Gray, take Zack and run away!" Umeris ordered them.

"No, we should take care of her right now; I don't feel like being chased after," Gray said, positioning himself in his boxer stance.

Zack stood right next to Gray, full of confidence. "Big bro, I'll help you beat that freak!" he said, charging up flames within his hands.

"Don't call me that."