Team

<Implosion >

Type - AOE burst

Skill description

: The user conjures and concentrate mana at the tip of his/her weapon and stabs the ground to release the concentrated mana inside the ground causing a destructive eruption of mana from beneath

Mp cost - High

† Iron Sword †

BoBHOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!

Winds howled and debris erupted throughout the cave's pathway, thanks to her warning most of us got to cover while Mina and Riv were shielded by Sunip and Ginj, Intoo was protected by Jan who activated his only defensive skill sword guard where he conjures 2 giant green swords crossed together to act as a shield , however even that wasn't enough to completely rank the powerful skill of our reckless leader

Jan :" Barnacles that doofus!!! "

Squeezing out most of his mana and strength while cursing Julett's reckless action to stay standing ,Jan firmly stood against the incoming debrises and shockwaves

I struggled to stay standing while still remaining on high alert as no one knew what might happen after this

And indeed

CLANG

The clanging of steel returned as soon as the skill ended

Thena who took cover behind a rock scorpion's cropse came out and was standing against the wall with looked through the dust clouds with her enhanced vision and started firing her arrows again

{ As reckless as that skill was, it killed most of the bastards atleast}" But I'm still gonna kick that girl's ass after this "

She declared as she fires an arrow through a rock scorpion's eye

And the party continued their onslaught for another 10 minutes and emerged victorious, albeit suffering some major wounds especially the tanks and Julett who were the vanguards and main crowd controllers

Julett with rugged breaths and damaged armours used her spear as a staffhold to keep herself straight,she looked back at her party that laid drained and tired on the ground, Jan was a tattered mess with his armours dented and torn open in few places, the mages had minor wounds but we're completely drained of mp ,the archers had blisters on their fingers and Riv sprained his ankle and had a broken rib while Thena was completely drained with bruises all over her body, the assassin managed herself well ,she only had minor scratches and she was only drained of mp but her stamina was still there visibly ,the tanks were the worst, Sunip's left arm broken and he was utter drained, while Ginj broke his right leg, his tibia to be exact and was immobile

Mina suffered some minor injuries but had already healed herself and then with some stamina potions from Chris she recovered her fatigue and started healing the others with divine power while Chris who was also relatively fine after his cracked arm got healed by Mina go

" Guys..... "

Julett who was surrounded by her party members with a rather dangerous look spoke with much apprehension and fear

" I'm sorry about that stunt back there "

Thena :" Dumbass I nearly lost a leg there you know !! "

" I'm sorry "

Riv :" Us marksmen need a sign before stiff like that leader!! "

Julett :" well the situation was rather dire so "..

Arguments went on and on for now but to me who's been with them for 3 years it sounded like our usual skirmishes so I didn't take too serious and used my knives to carve out the magic cores of the monsters ,since Cavebats,Ghouls and Rock scorpions are D-grade monsters they're quite profitable so from my estimate the 100+ cores here would sell for atleast 550k Averan , enough for us all to go through the month

I smiled with satisfaction as I pulled the cores out of the Ricky flesh

" Hard work should pay well I suppose "

***

After the whole battle Nemu scouted ahead and confirmed after finding a giant door ahead confirming that the loop was indeed broken, but luckily our leader decided

" We'll rest for today , I'm sure you all are tired after today's misfortune and (touches the bump on her head given to her by Thena) my reckless actions "

Thena,Jan, Merwin and Ginna nodded with approval

After that we prepare camp just outside the giant door that was atleast 30 meters tall, while I prepared dinner with Nemu ,Gonna & Merwin the mages studied the runes and symbols carved on the door hoping to get some clues on the ruler of this depth while the others tended to their wounds with Mina while the healed tended to their equipments and replaced them with spare ones from Chris's spatial bags.

Cooking instant meals on fire was basically our meal for now ,Nemu cooked the soup and that was basically our meal

Chris :" ... "

Nemu :" How's your arm? "

Chris :" mm?(turned to Nemu who was looking after the soup) "

Nemu :" Your arm, did the treatment go well? "

Chris :{ Truly,this party of mine is strange, everywhere else I get treated even worse than a dog while here and upper class Hird is actually worrying about me }" It's good as new, don't worry Mrs Nemu "

I replied with a smile

Nemu seeing Chris's smile turned back to the soup and resumed her cooking with a small smile it seemed,that was how her conversation with Chris usually went, awkward but weirdly enough

The following night or whatever time they slept, as usual Chris stayed on guard first and then Julett and then Riv to make sure nothing attacked them while they slept and after 8 hours of sleep began the second day of the raid

We all got up strech and armed ourselves after a light breakfast and stood infront of the door

Julett : " Alright guys just to be clear Ginna will explain the information they got from the door's inscriptions again so listen well, it might save our lives after all "

Indeed we listened , information like this was usually vital for every raiders after all as the door of the depth ruler room always provided information on the ruler, which had to interpreted correctly or else

Ginna walked out and started explaining what she already explained last night again to make sure all of us remember this information

Ginna :" Alright guys ,again here's what me and Merwin could figure out from the inscription, the boss is basically a demon ,size is the same as us, magic power should be <Grandmaster > rank , he uses his metal claws infused with demon magic and change to a demonic sword when cornered ,and about his rank, we should not expect him to be on the lower tier of it ".

We nodded ,and I have to say hearing this the second time didn't help with our anxiety at all ,Ginna continued

" As we all know demons are also 10 times stronger physically than the average human so reckless close combat should be avoided are we clear? (Looks at Julett) "

Julett :" Yes Yes(nodded) "

She seemed a bit dissatisfied with how she was being looked at though

Ginna :" The ruler will also be protected by his summons the shadow soldiers,who are all atleast as strong as a <Master > rank combatants and once we enter this room ,we can't get out unless we kill the ruler called Hikith the Carnage ,that is all I can say "

With that Ginna went back to her formation and Julett took over

" So then as we all heard ,the battle ahead from my estimate, we have only 49% chance of winning with everything we've got ....

The atmosphere turned cold on her words but Julett continued

..And last night I realised,apparently this dungeon is a B rank dungeon that is on the verge of becoming B+ rank "

Riv & Merwin :" What?? "

Jan :"{ That would actually explain a lot} I see"

Sunip :" Should we retreat then? "

Ginj :" Retreat? But we're already here ! After all the battle we've fought to get we should just retreat?? Leader!! "

Julett kept silent for a while before finally replying with a serious look

" Since different opinions have formed we'll make a decision based on votes ,now who wants to attack this dungeon "

Ginj, Nemu ,Ginna ,Jan and Thena raised their hands

Julett :" I am also against this so this will make this a tie I suppose "

Riv :" Leader we should just retreat, there's always another mission if we stay alive right? "

Nemu :" What about all the expenses we've made on the way and another B grade mission is bound to take a while before it appeared again ,we should just finish this mission here ".

Riv :" Oh you battlefreak "

Julett :" Guys! I've made a decision ,we will retreat for now "

Riv :" Oh thank God "

The archer sigh in relief

Thena :" I suppose being cautious couldn't hurt "

Nemu :" Haaa well I suppose I can stay as an < Elite V> for a while longer "

Julett simply showed an apologetic look to them

" Sorry after all those brave words I said yesterday,but... I'd rather dissapoint you guys for now then get you killed "

Thena smiled, Sunip smiled and even Ginj who sulked at her decision couldn't help but forgive her at her words.

Ginj :" This is why I can't leave this party leader "

Mina :" You did not disappoint anyone of us for real you know, Julie ,Ginj and the others are just being jerks "

Ginj :" Oi "

Thena :" If you aren't always reckless mid fights you'd be the perfect leader you know "

Julett :(turned to Thena)"Thanks I guess?"

Jan :" Well atleast we've collected more than hundreds of beast cores right Chris? "

Chris :" We didn't make too much profit but we won't suffer any loss at all Leader so no sweat (gave a thumbs up) "

Julett smiled seeing all her teammates agree and then took a step ahead

" I really love you guys you know that "

Jan :" Girl that's a de - "

Creaaaaaaa

Cutting Jan's words mid sentence the door slowly but naturally slid open garnering the attention of all of us, Julett who stood near the door facing us slowly turned back to look at the darkness behind the room

Chris :" { The door to the ruler's room- }

Thena :{opened by itself?} - " J... Julie? "

Julett : " What th.. "

Cutting out thoughts and words short a shadow tentacles suddenly shot out and grabbed Julett's leg and pulled her in

Julett :" Aaaaa!! "

Bhummmm!!!

Following her scream the giant door of stone, closed

End of chapter