the night

it's been months after the last events, blesi and jakul began to catching up to yuuki as yuuki was currently sparring with the two

jakul speed manage to let him blocked the mother rosaria unharmed, while blesi powerful damage manage to break yuuki guard in a few strike, but when it comes to speed though he still unable to blocked mother roasaria completely, the two began their attack as jakul manage to create flying slashes toward yuuki

yuuki simply made some slashes to hit back, as blesi take this opportunity with his crossbow running around shooting and reloading as fast as possible, while yuuki just reflect the bolts easily, with jakul quickly going for a close attack, before blesi join in

the three continued the fight as yuuki manage to handle the two incoming attack, she does struggled a bit but she manage to push back unharmed after unleashing mother rosaria at a very close distance with blesi unable to defend the attack quickly, while jakul still required some training as he got a single attack to his hand while attempting to blocked the attack completely

"i must say, you two coming a long way" yuuki said as blesi lay his sword on his shoulder, while jakul keeping his sword sheathed "compared to the last months, it was a huge improvement" blesi said as he had changed his sword to a much longer dandao

"that's good to hear, i must say i nearly couldnt beat the two of you" yuuki said putting his sword back to the scabbard as yuuki look he wonders "say, imagine if the two of you fought one another, who do you think would won" yuuki said curiously consider their skill

"well, we can try and find out" blesi said looking to jakul who remained silent as the two get ready while yuuki stand there looking at how they fought, as soon as they about to fight yuuki quickly pulled out her sword as golems appear "i guess we have to fight while end these monsters" blesi said seeing the incoming mosnters

"you two no need to worry about me" yuuki said as she began her fight as jakul and blesi began the fight with the golem and themselves, as one charge against the other before killing the golem behind them as they began to make their attack against one another while dealing with the golems, as they cant stop respawning, but blesi kept his focus on yuuki, seeing one of the golem approaching behind her

with a quick swap blesi shot his crossbow, while jakul deal with the three golem attacking them, as he kill them in a single dash before the two continued the fight while yuuki dealth with the last one of the golem, she see the two continued their fight both were quite equal in their fight, yuuki can't even be sure who would win

as the two continued their fight they both use incantations with an attack of ice and fire causing an bang that pushed the two back a few feet, even yuuki can felt the incoming impact as she look realizing that they are continuing their fight

as she quickly ran with her sword ready unleashing mother rosaria just as the two swords about to clash, the two sword stops as the tip of their sword were blocked by yuuki's flat part of the sword "enough, you two!"

she look to the two as the two began to calm down "jeez, you two really to this serious, huh ?" yuuki said originally expecting a more friendly duel not a duel to the death

"sorry, yuuki, i guess during our fight we sort of got too overboard" blesi said as he put back his sword "agree, i guess our fight with the golem changes our fight to become more intense"

"whatever it was, i just- huh ?" yuuki about to said something but was stopped after she heard a clapping sound, she look to see a fellow salamander with some small amount of army behind him as he was clapping his hand walking toward them

"what an excellent skill i see, especially from such a young lady" the salamander said with a welcoming smile "who are you ?" yuuki asked "apologize for my rudeness, my name is ragnar a leader of the small army, in fact the army you see behind me was the amount of army i had"

"so, why would a salamander be stopping by to see a duel" yuuki asked crossing her hand as she sense he came with an intention "i have heard many words of the legendary zekken, and i never though i would see her teaching two apprentice, i'm pretty sure with a nickname as legendary as you are, your apprentice will achieve the same level of skill as you are"

"just get to the point" yuuki said feeling more and more uncomfortable around him especially with how he speaks as ragnar simply chuckle "i would like to ask either zekken or the two of your apprentice to join the army, the three of you can be a great help in this"

jakul heard this emmidiatly refused without a second though "not interested" as blesi remain silent before yuuki said "i have no intention in joining any army"

ragnar heard this as he look to blesi before sigh "suit yourself then, you can come to me in case you changed your mind" he said before he left leaving the three and blesi concerned

yuuki turn around as she quickly said "we should get back, i'm pretty sure some of us want to hunt some higher level monster today"

"was it a boss ?" jakul asked curiously wondering if he can help "well sort of, it wasn't a floor boss or anyhting more like some side bosses if you can call it" yuuki explained while blesi was silent before he quickly get back into focus just as yuuki pull out the teleportation menu and decided to go back to the tavern

14:00pm

the tavern

yuuki pushed the door as blesi and jakul had entered along with her the guild were all there as they are ready to go against the boss

"yuuki, your back, so do you want to go now or do you want to make preparations first ?" nori asked as yuuki looked back at the two who simply shake their head "no need, now lets go" yuuki said as the guilds are ready

floor 15

the guild had teleported to the floor as they look around seeing a domain like place with small one way tunnels that a small guild would be able to cross it unharmed, with blesi about to took a step siune decided to check the surrounding, as blesi see it was water birds, as soon as it was summoned it began to flew around the places

"what was that for ?" blesi asked curiously "some group like to remain hidden for some sneak attack, so this finder was for just in case uses"

"so does that include the salamander as well ?" blesi asked "apparently yes, every fairy in this game can learn a different spell, though they may not be as useful as the original ones, for example you can see a far distance but compared to the cait sith eye it has limit to the range"

"is that so." blesi said as jakul find it an interesting spell "look like some people do enjoy to be unfair, huh ?" jakul said as siune nodded "most of them prefer to use it in places like this where anything can hurt us, so they can use the surrounding to their advantage, especially hate it when ones that attack after seeing people beat the bosses"

"well, i guess it was a fight or flight situation" blesi said as the two wondered through the tunnel before seeing lizardman lord spawn in front of them

"finally something to challenge" yuuki said as she had her sword ready "siune, you know what to do" yuuki said before jakul dash in front saying "no need"

with blesi followed while yuuki said "here we go again" before joining the fight

jakul manage to cut off the lizardmen arm before decapitated it in seconds, while blesi uses his crossbow as he shoot to the ones that is much more further, hoping to distract it as yuuki was running to hit the weakspot under the shield, yuuki manage to defeat them alongside blesi help as blesi see some more spawning behind them he call out to jakul who quickly help yuuki, while he, nori, and talken handle the ones behind with jun and tecchi blocking sudden attack in case as siune gave buff and heal

luckily with their help blesi manage to clear the one behind, before nori, blesi and talken quickly ran to help yuuki and jakul

with the two manage to handle the last one of them as a sudden spawn of a lamia like boss as yuuki and jakul was suprised by the sudden spawn, with blesi quickly used his crossbow and shoot

the two bolt deal little damage as it wasn't its purpose , the monster now focus on blesi, as he kept reloading and shooting while talken and nori quickly do their damage, as blesi continued his shooting he forgot to look to the ground as yuuki called out "watch out!" with blesi quickly look around him to realize a sudden red thunder coming down towards him, as jakul made a slash to hit the thunder, blesi quickly dodge, with jun help block the thunder but the thunder and slash quickly heading toward jun who intended to block the thunder as his greatsword was able to block the attack but it left him exposed to the chest as the slash heading towards him hitting some damage to him

jakul realize what he had done, blesi look to see yuuki running toward jun while jakul remain there silent as blesi see the monster about to attack nori and talken as he quickly dash forward, with jakul not realizing what had happen but before he knew it he see blesi blocking the incoming attack, before letting it push to the ground "nows our chance!" as he quickly cut of the lamia arm leaving the monster defenseless, as jakul quickly made some slashes proofing he can be useful

they all manage to defeat the boss with nori deal the last blow, blesi look to jakul who remained silent as he sheathed his sword as he walk to jun who was with yuuki as he bow down apologizing, eventhough jun think its okay he see jakul sigh as he didn't say a word

yuuki and blesi can tell he was guilty, as they return they see jakul remain the last and silent without saying a word.

quickly nightime arrives as yuuki and blesi were enjoy the feast blesi simply enjoy the party while yuuki took a glimpse of jakul who remain silent as he was deep in though, occasionally only join in because everyone was doing it other than that he is practically silent

the silent went through the night as jakul, blesi, and yuuki were the ones to stay for the night in vr, while the others decided to logout

00:00

jakul quickly got out of bed as he decided to pull out his guild as he look around he see the quit button, he sigh as he got up, he pull out a recorder crystal, before decided to wrote a letter, and speak something into the crystal

00:10

he look to the time making preparations, as he put on a cape he quickly and sneakily walk out of the tavern, once he is out he look back once more before leaving the place dissapeared into the night

01:00

yuuki woke up from bed as she planning to have a drink, but as she pour down the glass of water she reminded of jakul, and how he has been acting, she quickly got out of her room to go check up on him

she knocked the door "jakul, your still asleep ?" she see it was silent before decided to took a peek as she twist the doorknob, she realize it wasn't locked, when the door opened she see that there is no one

she entered the room see a letter and a recording crystal lay on the bed, as she realize this she quickly look to the guild member to see jakul name was gone

she sigh as she sat down decided to hear the recording of what jakul said, she activate it to hear "sleeping knight, please forget me, no more burden, no more..." the recording went silent as yuuki was a bit riddled yet she can understand why jakul left the guild

she then look to the letter as she opened them as it read

"dear yuuki,

in case you read this letter, it is assure that i had left the guild, i must say i am grateful for your help from the start, now i decided to leave especially after today incident, for fear of being a burden to the guild member, i see blesi had a more worthy part to play in the guild than i was, but no worries, one day i will return once i became stronger, so in the meantime i hope no tears were to fall for my left, do not think of me as a ex member instead as a stranger, i hope that when that day came we can defeat a floor boss as a team, and think of me as a new face that got into the guild.

from, jakul"

yuuki read this as she remain silent, she wondered if that day where they all reunite will ever came, she look to her hand remembering the condition she and her team have, now she began to cry as tears fell down to the letters one by one

blesi had got out of his room, he look to see jakul room was wide open, decided to investigate, he see yuuki sat on jakul bed crying as she look at the letter, he approach her as he ask "yuuki?"

yuuki look up to see it was blesi as she quickly wiped her tears but blesi can tell she was crying "what's wrong ?" blesi asked as yuuki quickly replied "nothing, just some dust into my eyes, that's all" blesi look to the letter before said "can i look at the letter", he see yuuki gave the letter to him as he quickly read it before ask "do you want me to chase him ?"

yuuki remain silent as her face was blue, blesi see this and decided "i'll take it as a yes" before decided to leave but yuuki quickly grab to blesi sleeve, as she shake her head in silent, blesi see this as he asked "why ?"

"it's his choice, and i dont want to force him if he didnt want to" yuuki said as blesi turn around asked "but, yuuki, your-"

"i know, but you do remember that this is a secret between me, you and all the other member, i dont want to let him felt even more self blaming from leaving a guild that he didn't know that there is a secret of, so promise me, that you would kept it hidden from him as long as you can, ok ?" yuuki asked as blesi seems reluctant at first before he sigh as he agreed

he look to the letter before asked "so do we tell the others as well ?" as yuuki simply said "yes, now that there nothing to hide i think it is best we tell them the truth" blesi nodded as he wonder when should he tell them his decision

08:00am

yuuki and blesi walk down seeing that everyone was in the tavern, though they see yuuki face without a word, they can tell that something serious happen

"hey, yuuki, what's wrong ?" nori asked as blesi had pulled out a letter and put it on the table "he left"

jun quickly look to the guild member list to see jakul name wasn't there "he's not here" jun remain silent as he wonder why jakul left the guild, nori find it pathetic "this is nonsense, i'm going to bring him back!" nori said as she about to got up only for yuuki to stopped her with blesi said "he had left a while, there no use chasing him"

nori calmed down as she look to yuuki "yuuki, why ?" as yuuki look to blesi hoping he could help with blesi said "she respected his choice, if he decided to leave we wont forced it on him, afterall, i'm pretty sure this was just a straw that broke the camels back"

"what do you mean ?" talken asked as he read the letter with blesi said "i think it's more than just guilt but i think there is also....jealousy" hearing this yuuki reminded of the look jakul had toward blesi "he want to proof himself...proof that he is capable"

"remember the duel we had, i felt the forced he used, it seems like he is willing to beat me just to proof a point" blesi said reminded of how serious that fight was as it seems like a personal duel to jakul

"so are we just gonna let him go ?" tecchi asked as yuuki simply nodded, while talken worried if yuuki was able to made i to that day when jakul return, all he can hope was for the best and hope for jakul to get back quickly

09:00

jakul was wondering around places, he look around at the places, he think it's best he had gone to fight some floor enemies on his own, he began to wonder where should he go, he took a quick look to the map, thinking of a good place he decided to just mini mini mani mo, while closing his eyes, wherever the location he was at will be the place he go first

he finished pointing as his hand made a stop, he opened his eyes to see northern borders of where the gnome lived, he closed the map as he about to take a step to realize he can't fly, which means he had to walk pass the cait sith territory and the pooka territory, just the though of walking this place is a tiring though, but he had no choice as he began by going to the cait sith territory fighting some monster along the way