Party

Azriel brought his hood farther down his head as he entered the Player's Guild. They shouldn't recognize him, as he had now stolen Aldo's name and level.

The lady at the front desk bowed. "Welcome Player to the Player's Guild. Please state your business and show your token here."

He brought out the tag in front of him. "Aldo Faven, E. I'm here to join a party for a dungeon."

The lady checked his tag and nodded. "Very well. Give me a second to find a party suitable for your level." She flipped through a booklet on her desk and then paused. A second later she called out, "Mrs. Levya! I've found a party member for you!"

A agile-looking woman moved to the front desk. There were a girl and two other men behind her.

The lady pointed at Azriel. "Ms. Yone Levya, Aldo Faven, E, would be a suitable party member for you."

Yone nodded once, then twice. "Aldo Faven was it? Nice to meet you. I'm Yone. Welcome to the team!" She held out a hand for Azviel to shake.

He quickly shook it then retracted his hand back into his cloak.

Yone introduced each party member to him. "This man with the shield is our tank. He's Bane. The man with the sword is Marn. Elzya is the one with the staff. Our healer. And I'm an archer. What weapon do you use?"

Azviel dipped his head. "I use a knife." He didn't want to interfere with the party synergy by using the same weapon as someone else. He rolled his shoulder back a bit and murmured, "And it's a good time to review using a knife too..."

Yone pointed towards the exit. "We're going to be going to clear a d-rank dungeon today. Don't drag us behind."

As they started walking out of the Player's Guild, Elzya walked up him to him with her head down. "N-Nice to meet you, I-I'm Elzya." She gripped her staff between the hems of her long sleeves.

Azviel smiled just a little bit. "Hello. I'm Aldo." He patted her head with his hand. She blushed and stuttered, "I-I'll be in your care t-today." He nodded as she walked back to the rest of the group.

He let out a small breath. "She reminds me of my sister..." Azviel didn't feel any sadness nor pity, as the last two-hundred years in the dungeon has made him cold and unemotional.

After walking for around thirty minutes outside of Elthea, Yone waved a hand for them to stop. "This is where the dungeon location is marked." A swirling gray portal could be seen.

Azviel clenched his fist. "A dungeon...Where it all started..."

Bane walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Aldo! We'll take care of you."

Azviel gave a curt nod and they entered the dungeon.

~~~~~

Azviel looked around as he entered a cave-like hallway. There were torches lighting the path. Yone pointed down the hallway. "We're on the first floor. Let's hurry and get to the boss' room."

He stood in the back as he watched the party kill all the dungeon monsters. They were mainly some wolves.

"So this is what the first floor is like..."

Marn waved back to him. "Hey Aldo! Don't lag behind!" Azviel hurried up his pace as he walked through the floors. He went up to Elzya and asked, "What was the difficulty of the two-hundred year old dungeon that was just cleared?"

She shivered at the thought. "T-That dungeon was ranked..." At that moment, Yone yelled, "Elzya! Heal us!"

She let out a small yelp and a green glow surrounded everyone.

Elzya turned back to Azviel, biting the bottom of her lip. "The difficulty of that dungeon was the highest anyone has seen...I-It was ranked SSS... E-Even Prince Elway went in and died..."

Azviel thought for a moment. "Was Prince Elway a red-hair swordsman?"

She nodded. "Y-Yes...That was Prince Elway...Everyone thought he was the future of Elthea..."

He smiled just a bit. "Prince Elway certainly showed me a great time..." He patted Elzya on the head. "Don't worry, the dungeon is gone now~"

Right then, Yone called out, "We're heading to the second floor now! Make sure to call out if you sense anything!"

The party passed through a gate and when they went through, darkness greeted them. Bane murmured, "What's going on?"

Elzya cast light with her staff. "S-Stay on guard everyone!"

Azviel closed his eyes and spread out his senses. He immediately realized what was going on. "Ah...Bats."

Yone whipped towards him. "Bats? But they should only be in C-Rank dungeons!" She held up her bow and aimed towards the ceiling. "Where are they?!"

Azviel shrugged. He didn't want to help them as he nothing to with them. He only wanted the artifacts, so that he could make money.

Bane picked up his shield and shouted, provoking the monsters in the darkness.

Elzya trembled as she realized that all the bats were coming. "N-No! T-They're coming!" She hid behind Azviel, shaking.

He sighed. He really just wanted to stay in the back and not do anything.

A brown cloud flew towards them, completely composed of bats. Yone started shooting them down with arrows. She called out to Elzya, "Take them out with a large area of effect spell!"

Elzya shook her head. "I-I don't know any! I'm only a h-healer!"

Yone gritted her teeth and continued shooting at the bats. "Marn! Engage them!"

Marn swung his sword, killing multiple bats at once. "Yup! Already doing that!"

A bloody scene played out in front of his eyes. The bats were dying quickly, but there were hundreds. They were slowly overwhelming Yone, Marn, and Bane. Elzya was also running low on energy to heal them.

Azviel sighed and leaned against a wall. "How much longer till they die...?"

Someone besides him tugged at his cloak. Elzya looked up at him with pleading eyes. "A-Aldo! You must help them!"

He frowned. "What can a little level 8 do in this situation anyways?"

She started shaking even harder. "I-I don't know! But you must help them!" There was a determined look in her eyes.

Azviel got off the wall. "I don't work for free."

Yone heard that and shouted, "You must work with us! If we die, there's no way you can defeat all these bats yourself!"

"And that's where you're wrong."