"Let's go," Porter said, lightly tapping Rean's shoulder as he took to running.
Not long after, Rean followed.
All four groups were split up and essentially tasked with clearing different coordinates of the dungeon — East, West, North, and South.
'Captain Shom said there was no logic to his pairing, but I highly doubt that,' Rean thought.
'There's no way he lets us go off that hard on our first proper raid.'
'The fact he paired Michael and Miles together means he doubts Miles' talents. I mean, after all, Michael is the best of us,' Rean thought.
'It pains me to even think this way, but it's the truth. There's no point denying the truth. The most likely pairing would be the best and worst on the team. This way Michael can do all the heavy lifting and stuff.'
'Zeta's probably the second-best performer, and Lin... well, Lin just hasn't proved she can perform yet.'
'What I don't understand is the decision to pair up Charles and Rose. What's up with that?'
'Wait, now that I think about it. The only pair that seems to add up is mine. Porter and I have proven to be very well balanced. In physical training, dungeon analysis, and mana evolution, we rank at about 4th and 5th consistently.'
'Since Porter and I are close in pretty much every stat, it makes sense we get grouped together.'
'I mean the whole reason we got split up was because the captain deemed Michael too much of an issue. He split us to avoid Michael taking all the kills. If we can't keep up with Michael then he'd get basically all of the reward points simply based on the nature and range of his spells,' Rean thought.
'We couldn't keep up with Michael, right? So does pairing him with Miles mean Miles can keep up? No way. There's just no way,' Rean concluded.
"There's just no way. None of this stuff adds up," Rean said.
Finally, he stopped staring into the void. He saw egg monsters who had been ravaged by Porter's wind spells.
"Hey Rean, what the hell is wrong with you? You remember your amount of kills directly translate to your reward points, right?" Porter shouted.
"I... I... that's it!" Rean shouted back.
Running in an entirely different direction.
"What the hell are you doing?" Porter shouted again.
'Damn, we are a pair so I got to follow him,' Porter thought.
'No you don't,' a voice from within said.
'He made his own choices. Make yours. You're on your own, which means you have twice as much chances as the others. Use that.'
The voice ended.
Porter continued on, not breaking from the objective.
"I don't quite get you, Rean, but I came here for myself. You seem to know a thing or two about self and selfishness. I happen to only be learning. Thanks to you I can safely say, lesson one learnt," Porter proclaimed with a fire burning from inside him. It was an all-new feeling for him.
Porter walked through the cave, smashing the monsters as easily as they were spotted.
Meanwhile,
Rean continued running. He was definitely heading somewhere, but where to was completely unknown.
'He split us up for more than just Michael's sake,' Rean thought.
'If I'm guessing right, this whole ordeal is meant to test our stamina. We can't outperform these egg monsters if we fight them head-on. There's probably a near infinite amount of them present. I came to this hypothesis after understanding the Multi Main skill. If I can multiply myself near indefinitely then that means every single horde we run into is a single monster. Not a pack of joggers but one singular entity,' Rean thought.
'It would be near impossible to end things by fighting head-on. However, if I read the architecture then it's possible I can find the dungeon bridge that leads to the boss's chamber.'
'Destroying the chamber should pretty much send the gate crashing in on itself. We were taught so multiple times. It's time to put it to the test,' Rean concluded.
Rean looked around. He noted his surroundings.
"Come," Rean said.
His mana skin immediately came forth.
Rean fired five mana pulse beams all in different locations.
He began writing on the floor. It was an array of symbols. Symbols that were generally used for mana calculations.
'Since the boss chamber is usually the most guarded area, judging from the circumference, the distance I ran, and the fact that a bridge must in fact exist...' Rean paused, looking at his calculations.
'It's north by at least 40 meters. Since dungeons aren't infinite in size, if I run at top speed I can make it there before Lin and Charles.'
Rean began the track.
He eventually made it to a junction where he met Charles single-handedly taking on the monsters. Lin was pretty much on the floor doing absolutely nothing.
Rean removed a bottle from his pocket. It was filled with a dying blue rose plant.
"Root Ship," Rean chanted.
Immediately leaping forward and grabbing both Charles and Lin out of the way.
The rose immediately grew and began grabbing all the egg monsters. It used its branches to smash the egg monsters against each other.
Charles immediately joined in. He used his extension to slash through the monsters as well.
"I was only struggling because I had to pretty much fight all of them. But now that this thing is here, my vision is limited, which means I can focus on only what's in front of me," Charles said.
"Thunder talent, 13th Vision Sweep."
In an instant, Charles' eyes flashed blue. Following that instant, all the egg monsters in his line of sight were nowhere to be found.
Name - Vision Sweep.
Description - an ability that instantly teleports the user to whatever is in their line of sight.
'That's impressive. He must have used a speed-type spell and instantly struck,' Rean noted.
Before long, all the monsters in the area were wiped out.
"I don't get it. Where's Porter, and why come help us? Also, why didn't you strike after your spell created that opening? I don't get you, man."
"Insignificant, all those things. I am heading for a bigger loot. I left you those small fry to compensate for what comes next," Rean said before he darted off.
"Lin, get up! Let's follow him!" Charles shouted.
Rean encountered another batch of monsters ahead. He looked behind and he smiled.
He instantly turned back.
He was leading Charles and Lin here.
"Sorry guys, I don't want anyone disturbing what comes next."
"You son of a—!" Charles shouted.
Rean continued on ahead.
'Now that Charles and Lin deviated from the path, they'll probably crash into another group and that'll reduce their total accomplishable points,' Rean thought.
'Sabotage is all well and good, but it means nothing if I can't make things work here and now.'
Rean said, finally pausing in his tracks.
Before him stood an elevating hallway.
Rean breathed in, calming his nerves. He was too on edge, too anxious.
"Ok, let's go see Mr. Boss," Rean said, breathing out.