23 Episode 4: To Start Over (8)

"Hah... I'm beat..." As the battle finally came to an end, the young man stood there in a daze, letting out a tired sigh as he stared at the monster's corpse with tired eyes. "To think that I'd try this hard against an F-Ranked boss..."

Back when he was an S-Ranked Marksman, Jace always had it easy. When it came to fighting against big dungeon bosses, all he had to do was aim, shoot and dodge. There were only ever a handful of cases where he had to put his all into the fight.

But now, ever since his class change, he had found himself needing to exert more energy into the fights to keep up. Whether it was because of his low-damage output, his multitasking or his skill usage, Jace felt pressured as a Synergist.

He knew not whether it was because of his new class, or because of the fact that the "Linking" mechanic was discomforting for Jace. But, from his retirement to now, he had only felt dissatisfaction with this entire fiasco.

This feeling was even more so when it finally dawned on him that this was his first proper fight since his abrupt class change. He had been hesitant till now, wanting to avoid the usage of his new skills. But yet, after it was all said and done, this fight marked his first link: Landon.

"Hello?? Lazy Eyes?? Are ya there?" Whilst Jace was in deep thought, a hand abruptly waved in front of his face. "Are you already tired after a single fight? You didn't use up all your mana did you?!"

"Ah... I guess you could say that..." Snapping back into reality, Jace shook his head, yawning out the next second. "I must've mismanaged my MP... My bad. Though... You know that this isn't my first fight, right?"

"Now is it?" Landon raised his brow in doubt. "With the difference between this boss fight and any other fights I've seen you in today, you might as well call this your first battle!"

"I mean, I have been helping out in all the fights..." Jace helplessly replied. "But whatever... I'm tired. Once this is all over, I'll head home and take a nap."

"Eh? Hold it!" At his words, Landon cried out. "You're not going anywhere!"

"...huh?" The young man blinked.

"The last time I heard you say you were tired, you up and left the arena!" he frowned. "So this time, I'm not letting you go anywhere!"

"...what?" Jace raised his brow in confusion.

"Since we finished our first dungeon... This calls for a celebration!" Landon raised his fist high up into the air. "You, me and the rest of our party will go out and have a big feast!"

"Wait, hold on... Go out...?" Unable to get the memo, Jace was left stunned at Landon's words. "You don't mean to say that you're going to drag me out to lunch—" As he was about to continue his sentence, a loud shout from the distance interrupted him.

"Yoo!! Jace, Landon!!" Turning their heads over to the direction of the sound, the two men noted that a brown-haired man was excitedly rushing up towards them. "You guys were awesome! I didn't know you two could pull off that amazing feat!"

"Aha! It's all thanks to Lazy Eyes here!" Landon grinned, patting Jace's back. "This guy was crazily shooting out bullets left and right, shielding and blocking attacks for me at the same time! I told you he was reliable!"

"It really was an amazing sight!" Derek's eyes sparkled with excitement. "But man... If only I didn't get caught up by that attack... I could've joined in as well!"

"Hey, at least you didn't get hurt!" Landon ruffled Derek's hair. "Penelope and Toriq really came in a clutch there!"

"Yeah, yeah..." he sighed. "I have them to thank that I'm still alive and well."

"Indeed," Toriq smiled, walking up to the group. "You getting caught up by that attack there really took us all by surprise... I apologize. I should've been more thorough with my warnings."

"I-It's fine... I should've been more careful as well..." Derek scratched his head.

"Hmph... And so the Synergist decides to make a move at the last minute..." Slowly walking up towards the rest of the party, Penelope rolled her eyes. "He could've given a helping hand in saving Derek, but instead, he rushed to the boss all on his own, causing the entire party to be at risk if things go south."

"What? Rushed to the boss all on his own? I was there, you know!" Landon refuted. "And what do you mean causing the entire party to be at risk??"

"..." Jace kept quiet, lazily glancing over towards the unamused girl.

"Are you kidding me right now? Do you not see what's wrong here?" she frowned. "This guy waited till the very last minute when Derek was in danger! Just because you two managed to deal with the boss, doesn't mean his actions should be excused! If he had wanted to help, he would've done so from the very start!"

"Jeez, Penelope, just what's your problem here? Jace and I literally went in and caused a good distraction for you and Toriq to save Derek!" Landon scoffed. "We gave way for you guys by having the attention of the boss on us!"

"Master Landon, Penelope, enough!" Toriq shouted out. "Don't get into any unnecessary fights. At the end of the day, what matters is that you all cleared the dungeon. You guys should be happy! After all, this is officially your first dungeon clear, no?"

"Right... It is!" Moving his attention away from Penelope, Landon nodded his head. "We should be celebrating this occasion!"

"Yeah!" Derek grinned. "So, where are we going this time?"

"Hmm... That is indeed a good question!" The blonde-haired man thought to himself. "But that can be answered later! First things first..." As his words began to trail off, Landon began to use his elbow to pull Jace closer to him. "Lazy Eyes is coming with us this time!"

"...what?" Jace uttered.

"You heard me! You're coming along with us to celebrate!" he smirked. "I'm not letting you off the hook!"

"Wait... But..." Just as the young man was about to say his woes, Landon placed a finger against his lips, shushing him.

"Remember? You're supposed to explain those skills of yours to me." Leaning in closer to Jace, Landon whispered. "Do it while we're out celebrating!"

"...seriously?" he sighed. "Fine..."

"Yipee!" Landon cheered, soon making his way forward the next moment. "Off we go then!" At the same time, the blonde-haired man began dragging Jace along with him.

"H-Hey... Landon... I can walk by myself...!" Jace cried out.

"Nope! Not risking you running off as soon as we exit the dungeon!"

"Landon..."

"No buts! We're going!"

"..." Jace helplessly sighed, surrendering himself in exhaustion.

"Poor guy... He received the Landon Grip..." Derek shook his head.

"Haha. His work was truly impressive," Toriq nodded his head. "Come now, let us get going as well."

"Right!" he nodded his head.

Meanwhile, from behind the two men, Penelope could still be seen with folded arms.

"..." Remaining silent, the girl rolled her eyes, soon making her way forward the next second.

...

Within a deserted plain ravaged by flames, a ginger-haired man could be seen holding onto a spear, eyes locked onto a giant wyvern before him. To the side of him, a silver-haired man could be spotted, nervously reading through a tome.

"..." As the man and the monster stared at each other in a deadlock, the former raised his spear. "Hyuk, go!"

"O-On it...!" Closing the tome in his hands the next moment, Hyuk began chanting out a spell. At that instance, scriptures and words began to wrap around the giant wyvern, soon entrapping it in a cage.

"Rarrrr!!!" As the words acted like a chain, the monster screamed, attempting to struggle out of Hyuk's magic.

"S-Soren, hurry! I don't think I can hold on for much longer!" Hyuk cried out.

"Haha, no problemo~ That's all the time I need!" With a smirk, Soren leapt forward. "This guy's already dead."

In one swift motion, the ginger-haired man soared through the air, sending out multiple instances of attacks towards the monster. In the blink of an eye, Soren's combos of attacks came to an end as his spear plunged straight into the hard scales of the wyvern, ending its life.

"Alright, onto the next one!" he casually said, shaking his spear left and right in order to get rid of the wyvern's blood.

"Soren..." Hyuk gulped. "Just how many wyverns are we going to kill?"

"Hmm..." The man thought to himself. "As many as possible today! After all... Some bastard decided to not answer my calls again."

"R-Right... We'll kill as many as you want!" Hyuk shivered at Soren's tone of voice.

"Haha, chillax. I'm just joking!" With a chuckle, Soren patted the silver-haired man's back. "This should be our final wyvern for this dungeon. I'll say, today's haul is pretty good!"

"It is, huh?" Hyuk sighed, moving his attention over towards the countless dead wyverns all lying on the ground. "I almost feel pity for them..."

"Hmm? Why so? These scales make pretty good armour, you know!" he laughed. "If we wanna get the gear ready in time, we'll need to cut the slack!"

"Say, Soren..." As the ginger-haired man began walking away, Hyuk stood in his place, calling out to him the next moment. "Will you be seeing him anytime soon?"

"Hmm?" Turning his head over towards Hyuk, Soren's mouth curved. "Let him enjoy his break~ There's no rush!"

"Right... There's no rush..."

"Haha!" Soren smiled. "Don't worry about it! After a few more dungeon runs, everything will be A-Okay~"

"S-Sure... Whatever you say, Soren..." Hyuk shuddered.

"Come now, let's head back!" Stretching his arms the next moment, he yawned. "Today's a pretty tiring day if I say so myself!" As the two men began leaving the deserted field together, countless monsters could be seen lying on the ground from behind them, all mercilessly killed.