18 A Sorrowful Goodbye

"DIVERGING CLAW!"

I used my skill to blow the group of monsters away from aegis. I made sure to aim it so that it hit everything except for him. Once he was in view, I noticed him on his knees clutching a large crystal. I instantly knew what had happened when I saw the look in his eyes. So that's what you look like when you've given up on everything, huh Aegis?

"Aegis, look alive. We're about to beat Anya."

"Jessica died..."

As Samantha tore through the enemies around us, Aegis stared at me with a listless expression. Knowing Aegis, he probably blames himself for Jessica's death. A completely self-righteous man like him would be the type of person to blurt out "I won't let anyone die under my watch!" and then become devasted when there's a single casualty. What should I say to him? What would Lucia say to him?

"Listen, you spent all this time telling me to be more selfless and be more kind, so now it's my turn to give you some advice: learn to be a bit more hedonistic! Be a bit more selfish! Stop living for other people and do things for yourself!"

I extended my hand toward the paladin as an invitation and he reluctantly took it. Once I brought him to his feet, he asked me what the plan was.

"It's simple: if our problem is finding a needle in a haystack, I'll just blow the entire haystack to smithereens!" I brandished my weapon as I began to chuckle.

"Are you stupid? It's not that simple. Every monster in the frontier is here-"

"VIOLET! GABE!"

"R-RIGHT!"

"I just want this fight to be over..."

The two support heroes used their abilities to buff me. While we were desperately looking for Anya, I racked my brain trying to think of what I could do to find her. That's when I thought of a solution: If both healers buff me, I'll do twice as much damage, right? With me doing twice as much damage, I'll be doing twice as much healing to myself. Besides, I thrive in battles like these. The only problem that arises is when I'm doing one on one fights with someone that's way above my level. Or when I'm getting ambushed and don't understand anyone's abilities. Like those anarchy guys that jumped me...

I just want a chance to have a civilized conversation with them...and nothing else...

Anyway, with the healers sending me the best buffing skills they got, I could feel power surge within me.

"Just do what you've been doing: Tanking" I told Aegis.

Aegis nodded, used his skill to get everyone's attention, and then began running. As the horde followed him, I used my aoe attack: diverging claw.

"GRAHHHHHHHHHH!" The screams of countless monsters echoed throughout the domain as I sent my skill tearing through the area. What would usually be an attack that was the size of a person, became the size of a building because of the buffs. As blood and crystals began to rain as an aftermath, the horde turned around. They now knew who the threat was and something was telling me they weren't going to back down.

As they all went charging towards me, I prepared for my deathly lunge and went shooting through the crowd like a star. Tearing everything that came in my way in two. I'm pretty sure I saw Aegis in the crowd and had to deliberately try not to kill him.

Once I landed, I turned around and continued my charge at the remaining members of the horde. Although some of them got hits in, I immediately turned around, one-shot them, and healed any damage they did to me.

The horde surrounded me and as I took them down with no effort and thinned the numbers, Samantha and Aegis ambushed unsuspecting monsters that were too focused on trying to fight. me. We did this until the numbers weeded out to about fifty. At this point, it was easier to look for Anya. Thank goodness for that, because I think my movement has been getting sluggish. When I began to slow down, I can't react fast enough to my surrounding and regain the HP I lost through damage.

"I FOUND HER!" Samantha pointed out Anya.

There was a lone broken off trunk of a tree that gave a faint glow. She must've transformed while we were looking for her. There's no way we would've found her under amidst the chaos.

I tried to move, but I accidentally tripped. I was about to fall when Aegis caught me. The healers joined us as we watched Samantha deliver the final blow to the demon general.

"I GAVE UP MY PRIDE AND STILL LOST?! NOOOOOOOOOOOO-" The demon general Anya of solitude let out a harrowing scream as she bursted into a thousand crystals and left behind one yellow crystal.

Confetti rained throughout the domain as the barrier that kept us in here lifted up. It was finally over. After all that fighting, and with the help of a full team of six people, I took down one of the ten demon generals. Lucia, I'm on my way...

"Congratulations" I heard a clap and looked over to my right side to see Faye.

She was glowing white and looked exhausted. Her entire body was slowly turning into white crystals and floating in the air. I looked at my level and realized I was level fourteen. This battle really handed XP to me. It must've been so hard for Faye to keep herself here. Fairies are supposed to complete the summoning at level 10, after all. As everyone else was looking through the crystals we got, I made my way to Faye.

"You did so well! Against all odds, you still pulled off another victory! I expected nothing less from the hero I summoned!" Faye praised my win, trying to keep a smile for our last moments together.

"..."

"You probably found me annoying or fake, but I genuinely wanted what was best for you at every turn. A fairy only sees the beginning of their heroes story...but as I watched you suffer...I wanted more... I wanted to see you grow into a better person!" Faye began to cry and wipe the tears from her face.

"..."

I KNOW, MATTHEW! I SHOULD JUST DO MY PART AND DISAPPEAR! THE EMOTIONAL THORN AT YOUR SIDE IS FINALLY GONNA LEAVE-"

As the moonlight shined on us, I embraced Faye. For the first time in my life since my parents died, I cried. And it was for someone else.

"YOU WERE NEVER A BOTHER! YOU WERE NEVER A THORN AT MY SIDE EITHER! YOU WERE THE FIRST FRIEND I MADE IN THIS WORLD. THE FIRST PERSON TO CRY FOR MY SAKE! YOU'VE SHOWN ME KINDNESS I'VE NEVER EXPERIENCED! I promise I won't let the life you've given me go to waste. I'll protect this world that you've entrusted to me, and I'll do my best to make friends just like you wanted!"

"That's all I could ask for..." Faye gave me a warm smile as the final pieces of her disappeared into the air.

I stood up and began making my way to the group. There was no time to waste. I need to catch up to Lucia and live up to the promise I made to Faye.

As I walked over to the group, they all looked at me. I thought they were gonna judge me for the entire scene I made with Faye, so I got a little embarrassed. That's when they presented me with our grand prize.

"We figured that after how hard you worked, you deserve the yellow item. It's most fit for you, after all."

"Well, I didn't agree-" Gabe tried to give his input, but he got smacked by Samantha.

"No one asked you."

Looks like Samantha is starting to think for herself. Good for her.

Aegis handed me the yellow crystal and examined it. The window with what exactly the item was popped up. It was a labrys that seemed to have a general theme of forestry about it. The blades of it were stained black and the middle had Anya making a screaming face. Not only was the aesthetic of the weapon cool, the ability the weapon had was no joke either:

[Even when the the Demon General Anya of Solitude threw away her pride for the upper hand, humanity prevailed! With one swing, this weapon can take an entire phase off of a demon general!]

This is simply overpowered. You're telling me I could deal a deciding blow each demon general fight?! This weapon is amazing!

Before I could say thank you or anything else, the party and I heard another rumbling throughout the woods. There's no way. I'm still tired from the fight so if the monsters respawned already, we're doomed.

As everyone looked out into the dark of the woods, we all stood there waiting for what was to come like deer in headlights.

Moments after, heroes came flooding in out of the woods and rushing us.

"Oh, so you wanna off what Anya started huh-" I was lifted up by the crowd along with my party.

"BOOGEYMAN! BOOGEYMAN! AEGIS! AEGIS! VIOLET! VIOLET!" As the crowd lifted up the other party members, they chanted our names.

We were all brought to the guild hall and immediately sat down at a table where the bartender lifted a glass.

"A TOAST TO THESE LEGENDARY FEW! AND TO THE FALLEN WHO FOUGHT BRAVELY FOR THEIR VICTORY!"

As everyone touched glasses and drank up, I looked over to Aegis and he shrugged.

"It's been made tradition that the team that beat a demon general would go out to celebrate. But that's only if you suffer no casualties. We sadly have one..." Aegis opened a couple of menus and equipped an item that dropped on a table. It was Jessica's crystal. "Everyone's probably doing this because we did something rather exceptional today.

"What are you gonna do with that?" I asked.

"When a player dies, the developers send their immediate family their crystal IRL. Technically, I'm supposed to just loot the virtual version and throw it away. But I'll keep it as a reminder..."

Aegis still seems beat up over what happened. I don't blame him, I'm still bothered by what happened to Faye. But we have to keep moving forward. That's the only thing that us the living can do for the dead.

"Sounds like you're trying to find an excuse to hit the hay early tonight. Listen up: I'm the heaviest heavyweight when it comes to alcohol and I can tell that you don't match up." I got in his face.

Aegis noticed my attempt to cheer him up and decided to play along. "That's funny, because I was actually called the heaviest heavyweight back in my partying days!"

"Can I join pweasel?!" Violet stepped to our table and she reeked of alcohol.

"Violet I think you've had enough." I scooched a bit further away from the priestess.

"CMOOOOON! JUST ONE-oh hey there, handsome." Violet immediately tried to kiss me on the lips and I successfully dodged it.

"Cmon, Ma'am. Let's get you to bed." a waitress dragged Violet into a room.

"MAMA! why are you always blocking my fun?!"

With Violet put to rest, Aegis and I engaged in a drinking game. Whoever outdrank the other, wins.

If I'm being honest, I was never called the "heaviest heavyweight." I just did it to make Aegis feel better. I hope it worked...

After hours of partying, half the guild was knocked out while the other was partying. I was about to knock out when someone different entered the room.

She was a petite girl with a large staff and a lazy look. She-you know what? I'm too drunk for this. She's a mage, ya know? And she's kinda hot. On a scale of Violet to Lucia-

NOT TO SAY THAT VIOLET IS THE WORST LOOKING GIRL I MET! But on a scale...

"Our leader Lucia has conquered the scorching sands. She said she needs backup, so the expedition quest will begin as soon as tomorrow." She had a soft and calm voice but that wasn't going to cut it in this environment. She must be new here. I'll just have to set her straight.

"HEY! DON'T YOU KNOW IT'S RUUDE TO MOOOOOOOOOOOMBLE?! SPEAK UP IF YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY-"

My drunk outburst was immediately met with a fireball to the chest that sent me crashing into the other end of the room. I instantly entered FYL. If we were outside of town I would've instantly died. What in the hell? She only hit me with one ability! How is it so strong?

I looked at her level and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

This small girl...is level 45...

"Who the hell are you?" I used all my brainpower to form a coherent sentence for the girl.

"I'm the vice leader of Diligence and the owner of the first yellow item: Roxline. Nice to meet you." The girl tipped her pointed hat.