Episode 12: The Ghost Mission

"Haa…" I leaned against the wall of the Navean Guild Hall as the tachi on my back wobbled from the impact. This was the place where you could register a guild by paying the creation fee. The fee itself was not much, just a feeble 10 gold so the roadblock we encountered definitely wasn't money, it was the name.

"Blade of Swords?" Daize suggested.

"Sounds redundant." Orhaxum replied.

"The Fishermen Brigade?" M chipped in his stupid idea.

"No, M." We immediately replied in unison.

"Who would have thought that what would stop us from forming a guild would be the actual name?" Daize was getting tired of trying to come up with a name that everyone agreed on. No matter what we thought of, we agreed that we all had to agree as a team.

"We'll just have to keep brainstorming then! For now, why don't we have a temporary guild name?" Megumi skipped down a staircase nearby and stretched her arms. "We can just save up some gold and rename it later."

"You're forgetting about the upkeep cost. We'll have to pay around 700 gold each week to keep the guild up." I mentioned with a heavy expression on my face. Guilds were taken way too seriously in this game. The more members you had, the more expensive your guild tax was. In exchange, we would get weekly bonus items to add to our stock courtesy of the game itself. The entire economy of it made my head spin but I knew something like that could be managed by someone like Orhaxum with ease.

"That means we'll have to grind… again." Soran laughed softly at his idea as we dreaded the idea itself.

"Ugh." I gagged at the thought of mindlessly cutting down enemies over and over again but we still needed the cash in order to keep our guild afloat once it was made.

"I guess they're really pushing those micro transactions." M stated as he scrolled through a couple of options that allowed us to receive better bonus items as well wave the upkeep fee but they had to be purchased with real money, of course. "No wonder the player base is dwindling."

"Of course, the alternative is joining the Cobalt Rangers. Not only will that secure us a guild but it will also allow us access to resources we may need in the future." Orhaxum pointed out as I shook my head in defiance. It wasn't out of spite for Jayce, however.

"No way. I want this to be just us." I walked towards the entrance of the building once more, staring at all the players that banded together to form their own guilds. The smiles and laughter coming from them was something that made their guild special. I wanted us to have something like that too. "I'll take Megumi's suggestion and make a guild with a temporary name. We'll just have to change it later."

Before I could enter, however, a notification screen popped up. It had an exclamation point which meant that it was urgent. I also noticed that it had appeared to all the other players in the surrounding area as they all froze and tapped on the message to reveal its contents.

"Official announcement?" Daize read the message out loud before a screen appeared, showing an old man with a long white beard standing in front of a red and golden throne. He wore robes of the same colors along with a Papal tiara laced with gold. In his hand was a staff of gold with a blue crystal sticking out of its end.

"Greetings, Envoys of Gaia. My name is Belenus, the Grand Bishop of Navea."

Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA

All of us had our eyes glued on the screen. Everyone around us was confused as to what the message was for but I knew exactly what it was. "This must be the event…"

"The secrets of the mysterious Sky Tower have been revealed to me by the gods. This information is what I will share with you now." His voice echoed across each of our screens as the entirety of Navea amplified his voice. All of us uneasily shifted around in anticipation. "The Sky Tower is made up of 100 floors. Each one has a great monster you must defeat in order to progress to the next one."

"Isn't that just Aincrad?" Orhaxum sounded disappointed as he made a reference that none of us understood.

"This challenge is open to any guild willing to participate in it. However, in order gain access to the tower, you will need a Gaia key." A glowing blue diamond suddenly appeared in his hand followed by seven more, each a different color. The floating objects circled around him in a line as he continued his explanation. "There are eight keys in total scattered across the land of Azuria. Find one and your guild can have access to the tower when it opens at the end of this summer."

He paused to catch his breath and stroked his beard. "As for the reward… the eight guild leaders who reach the 100th floor will form the new elite council that will reign over this world."

"What?!" A voice rang out from the crowd followed by another. "You're kidding!"

'Elite council? And what the hell did he mean by reign over this world?'

"That ends my message. May the gods bestow upon you their blessings." The feed then shut off as we were left to contemplate the information we just received. However, I quickly noticed that the line to create a guild was attracting more and more players.

"No time to lose then." I rushed into the guild hall ahead of the others as I felt something well up inside of me. If what the Bishop said was true, then this was our chance to keep the game we enjoyed so much alive.

Clutching my magic book in my hands, I felt uneasy as we entered the hall of the Cobalt Rangers. Wairuzu had already made our guild yet we were still welcome to visit this one. I guess I just felt embarrassed about turning down Arryn's offer after the effort she went through to get me to join. Suffice to say, our Ronin was not too happy when I received an invite to come to their base. We found the head trio gathered around the long table in the main hub, surrounded by a couple of guild members.

"There you guys are! Glad you could make it." Jayce pulled away from a crowd of people examining the world map of Azuria. He was wearing some sort of mix between a traditional samurai armor and light chain-mail. "I heard you guys formed a guild."

"Yeah…" Daize scratched his head before showing him our guild menu: [Name Redacted]. "It's a temporary name until we can all agree on a proper one."

"I see…" The blue Ronin chuckled in response.

"Anyways, I called you guys over for this!" Arryn showed us the map that was laid down on the table. It displayed the different regions in the form of see-through holograms that looked like they were straight out of a sci-fi movie. "We're currently deploying scouts on the field to look for the Gaia keys. So far, we've posted players across most of the high level areas since the keys are most likely going to be a challenge to retrieve."

"I guess all those eyes come in handy." I noticed the little dots moving across the map and assumed those were the scouts. There were a lot of them from the looks of it. "Can I ask… why are you telling us this in the first place?"

"Well, we didn't expect you to form your own guild." Arryn answered with a nervous laugh. "To be honest, we were looking forward to working together as one guild. That doesn't mean we still can't work together as friends, though."

"Yeah, we can still manage as two guilds." Kage agreed with a nod as he kept his arms crossed.

"Once we've located a dungeon with a key, we'll send people to secure the area until we arrive. That way we're able to have an equal playing field when it comes to the tower raid." Jayce explained his plan further but that only made our Ronin shift his brow.

"Wait, what do you mean secure?" Wairuzu asked as he eyed the blue Ronin.

"Well, it's a given fact that all the guilds in this game are currently scrambling to find a key to the tower so obviously we're going to have to be fast in securing our own." Jayce had most likely seen the vast number of players scrambling to form a guild in order to join the raid.

"You're going to keep players from entering the dungeons?" Our orange Ronin crossed his arms and made an angry face. He did not like that idea at all. "What happened to an equal playing field?"

Scratching his head, Jayce put on a serious look. "Hey now, do you even know what's at stake, Wairuzu? The prize at the top of that tower is full control of the land. You know what that means, don't you?"

"Enlighten me…" Wairuzu said, narrowing his eyes.

"Administrative control. The guild leaders that reach the top of the tower become this game's new admins. I don't want just anyone taking those positions." Jayce glanced at his teammates before returning to us. "Right now the only people who I believe can help this game are you and me. As long as we're on that council, we should be fine."

However, the orange Ronin still wasn't convinced. "And if there's only one key left, what are we going to do? Share the prize?"

Jayce leaned the table and chuckled before smiling back at him. "Of course one of us would have to lose. We can't both share the same key. You know what, Wairuzu? If it comes to that, why don't we decide it over a match?"

"A match?" Wairuzu raised a brow.

"If there's only one key left, we'll start a one on one duel. Whoever wins that gets to have it." Jayce smiled as he reached his hand out for our Ronin to shake. "What do you say to that, fellow Ronin?"

At first I thought Wairuzu was going to refuse but then he actually took Jayce's hand and shook it with a grin. "Deal. But don't think I'll go easy on you."

Grinning back, the leader of the Cobalt Rangers reeled back before raising his voice to everyone in the room. "Very well! As of now, the Cobalt Rangers and… Name Redacted will work together to find the Gaia keys. Once we get two keys, we'll clear the floors together until we get to the top."

"Sounds great!" Arryn jumped in joy and grabbed my hands which made me jump a little in surprise. "I can't wait to clear the tower with you, Megu-chan!"

"Yeah, me too." I nervously smiled back at her, not knowing what else to say.

As the crowd dispersed, the guys went off to the armory which Jayce had opened to us to get upgraded equipment. I was busy sifting through some of my gear when Wairuzu tapped me on the shoulder.

"So what do you think?" He asked me with a lowered voice so I followed suit.

"About what?" I asked him back.

"Jayce and his crew. I have to admit, I'm a little uneasy teaming up with them." The tension was clear on his face even since he shook hands with Jayce. Wairuzu was definitely still wary about something.

"What are you worried about, specifically?" I tried to narrow down his thoughts as he scratched his head, trying to think of something.

"I don't know. Megumi, you know I'm not one to trust people easily." What he said was really an understatement. It took almost forever to finally get him to open up to me and even then, it wasn't as much as I'd hoped.

"Yeah, but you trusted me." I told him the truth as I smiled gently.

"I-" His thoughts were cut short by my statement as he tried to look away in embarrassment. It was the first time I saw him like that. It was kind of fun to tease him a little. "You're different."

"Different how?" I tilted my head in curiosity as I wondered what he really thought of me.

Instead of giving me a straight answer, he just shook his head and changed the topic. "Look, what I'm trying to say is… do you trust them?"

I pondered over his question sincerely. It was true that he had every right to be suspicious of them after everything we've been through but at the same time I wanted to believe that people could change.

"Not completely but I think it's best if we form friendships with them instead of fostering hatred, don't you think so too?" I asked him, thinking about how I wanted to see the good in Arryn despite the bad.

"I guess you're right… I'll try not to be an asshole then." Wairuzu said as he closed his eyes to keep himself from seeing the grin that had formed on my face.

'Did I actually cure his cynicism?' As I turned back to my item screen, I heard a notification sound go off. It wasn't mine since it came from the person right beside me.

"Hm?" Wairuzu examined his own screen as his eyes scanned the text written on it. Curiously, I tilted my head to see what it said.

"What is it?" Leaning over, I tried to read what he was reading but I was only met with a blank screen.

"It's another quest written in orange letters…" He glanced at me, wanting to reaffirm one thing. "You still can't see it, can you?"

Unfortunately, I couldn't. "Nope. What does it say?"

"Something about… Ozymand Temple?"

"Ozymand Temple." Jayce pointed to a giant structure in the middle of the map of Star Sand Desert. The map itself zoomed in as he waved his hands around. "It's a high level dungeon filled with all sorts of goodies."

"You think it might hold a Gaia key?" Megumi asked as I thought the same thing. I was a bit hesitant to relay the information I received from the mysterious orange text but if I wanted to go through with what the Sorcerer and I agreed on, I had to tell them.

"Checking it out is worth a shot." Kage walked in during our conversation with his battle-ax on his shoulder. "How did you get that quest anyway?"

"I don't know. It's similar to that pirate quest we got back then. Only I could see it for some reason." I thought back to when we were scanning the notice board in Helonia Coast. The quest itself popped out of nowhere and was only visible too my party members once I accepted it.

"Interesting…" Jayce held his chin in curiosity. "Since this is our only lead, we should see where it goes. Arryn, can you stay at base and keep tabs on any incoming information we may have?"

"Sure thing!" Arryn popped out from her screen. Altogether, it seemed like this entire operation was going smoothly for them. As a guild, they were totally in sync.

"Great, we can head out to Star Sand immediately. I'll go get your friends." Jayce closed the map on the table and made his way to the armory.

"Wait, we?" I asked Kage who was busy sending messages to other players.

"Yeah. Jayce wanted to team up with you guys." The Ravager answered without looking at me. "Even if I wanted to too..."

"Aw, you're so cute when you pout!" Arryn laughed and attempted to pinch his cheeks but was not able to reach them due to his height.

"Arryn, please stop…" The Ravager's voice trailed off as he seemingly died of embarrassment.

"Right!" Jayce returned from the armory along with the rest of my guild who had their brand new upgrades equipped.

Daize had extra chainmail applied to his outfit, Soran had changed his armor to a darker shade but kept the gold trimmed edges, Orhaxum had a steel armor set that made him look more like a battle mage and M had a new black hood with chains wrapped around him; he was still wearing his stupid Dagon hat, of course.

"Wait, parties have a limit of 5 people. If you're going to join, two of us are going to have to leave." I told Jayce as I counted the number of people present.

In reply, the blue Ronin merely chuckled. "Oh yeah…"

"I can leave." M raised his hand with a grin. "I'd rather fish anyways."

"Are you sure? You might miss out on something cool." Soran was saddened that one of our friends was getting benched.

"Pretty sure. Besides, I'd rather not party up with Wairuzu. Just don't raid the tower without me, eh?" He swiped through his menu and left the party. Clearly he wanted as much time away from me as possible. I didn't mind, of course.

"I see…" I replied as I wondered if our interactions were ever going to go back to normal.

"I'll accompany you. I am curious to see what the fishing system can provide." Orhaxum said after realizing he had not gone fishing yet.

"That settles it then." The blue Ronin put his hands together as he faced the Reaper. "Thanks for that, Orhaxum and Mnbb…"

"Just call him M." The Wizard told him to spare him from twisting his tongue.

"We should be the ones thanking you, though. This armor is pretty sweet." M shook the chains around his body as they rattled in almost pleasant manner. After saying their goodbyes, all that was left was for us to depart as a party.

"Shall we?" Daize stepped forward, nudging me as he glanced at the remaining party member.

"Oh, invite please." The blue Ronin smiled as I reluctantly opened my party menu. Never in a million years would I have thought Jayce would be joining my party. Nevertheless, it wouldn't hurt to see what he could do again since the last time I saw him fight was back in Helonia. I was specifically curious about that combo he had with Arryn when they took on Bluto. Was that something you could do with everyone?

"Added." I double checked the party menu and sure enough, Jayce was a member. His level 87 status was also starting to trigger me when compared to ours.

"Teleport crystal's this way, lady and gentlemen." Daize marched proudly towards the huge doors of the hall. We haven't been to Star Sand Desert yet so this was definitely going to be an interesting expedition.

The wind blew clumps of sand across a damp, dusty plain. The sun itself shone hotter than anywhere else in the game but it didn't really hinder us as we trudged through the desert. Monsters like giant scorpions and centipedes surrounded us but as long as we didn't provoke them, they left us alone. A small breeze blew particles of sand towards us but luckily, I had my orange scarf to cover my face so half of it was hidden. Daize was in front along with Soran who was using his shield as an umbrella to keep the sun from shining on Megumi. Jayce and I were pacing behind them so I decided that I would ask him now.

"Hey, Jayce?" I called out to him in between the heavy steps I took because of the sand.

"Yeah?" The blue Ronin said while keeping his eyes on the horizon.

"That combo you did with Arryn back in Helonia. Is that a skill?" I asked as I was unaware of whether or not that was an actual game mechanic.

"Hm…" He paused as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. "It kind of is, I guess. But it wasn't on any tutorials or anything. We kind of just made it up."

I was surprised by his answer. Maybe it was similar to my Enhanced Mode. If players could just come up with any skill they wanted on the fly, this was a much more powerful game than I had imagined. "How'd you come up with it?"

"Arryn would probably tell you it came from the power of love or something." Jayce jokingly winked at me as I cringed at the thought of it.

"Ugh." He laughed at my disgust before we continued treading behind the others. However, he still had something to say.

"Well, the first time we did that, it just kind of happened. It's kind of a muscle reflex you know? All of a sudden, we were attacking in sync. It's not like there's a tutorial that explains this." The blue Ronin was right. Obviously I tried searching around for the fabled combo skill but ended up empty handed.

"That's true… the only tutorial I ever got was from that one lady in Port Skandia and even that wasn't comprehensive." I remembered back to that woman in the white and blue dress whose name I had forgotten at this point. Man was she creepy.

"I know right." He leaned back and squinted at the sun which made him flinch a little. "Wairuzu, despite all that, do you still like this game?"

"Huh? Of course I do. It's my first VR game." Despite the gripes I had with it, I still believed that this game was something special.

"I love this game" Jayce grinned to my surprise as he said those words.

"Says the guy who planned to jump ship as soon as another game came along?" I reminded him of his previous statement back then when he said this game was a lost cause.

"Hey!" His footsteps scrambled as the sands ate part of his feet. "That was a long time ago, AKO's grown on me since then."

"How so?" I tiled my head towards him, skeptical of this change of heart.

"Let's admit it, in real life we are nothing. Just small people who don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. But in here…" He glanced at the rest of our party who were having their own fun conversations. Daize was telling a few jokes at the front while Megumi was worrying that Soran would tire his arm from holding it over her the whole time. "…in here, we can be anything we want to be. We can put on any mask we want to put on. That's probably why I spend more time in here than in real life. It's pretty liberating."

"Dude, are you okay?" I asked not out of concern but of worry regarding the way he viewed the world.

Jayce just nervously laughed it off. "Just some food for thought."

"You do have a point though." I admitted. I didn't even know how many hours a day I was in full dive. If you compared the amount of time in a week where I was Hiro, it would be miniscule as the time I spent as Wairuzu.

"Are we there yet?" I suddenly heard Megumi groan from the front.

"Almost. The marker is getting closer." Daize checked his mini-map as he led us forward.

"Hehe… you said that five minutes ago." Soran forced a gentle smile as he adjusted his arm which held the shield above our Sorcerer's head.

"Hey, guys? Is it me or is the wind picking up?" Megumi held her tome tightly as the gust blew more sand towards us. I attempted to step forward but was met with an even stronger gale.

"It gets stronger each step we make!" Jayce trudged forward, arms shielding his face. The blowing wind made it harder to hear him.

"Megumi, stay behind me!" Soran told her as she grabbed tightly onto his back. The two moved forward in unison with his shield raised. The rest of us pulled out our weapons and used them to get a foothold in the sand which was rapidly shifting which each step we took. As we advanced, the sand storm got thicker and thicker until we had almost no visibility.

"Are you even sure we're in the right place?!" I yelled at our special navigator who was struggling to keep his balance with his bow dug into the ground.

"Hey, if I say it's here then it's here!" He took the time to face me before spitting out the sand that he had gotten into his mouth.

"Guys!" I heard Megumi's voice beyond the wall of sand in my face. After a few more steps, I felt the wind calm down. The sun shone once more as I blinked at the valley below me.

At its center stood a tall church like structure made out of what I assumed was sandstone. It had this rough surface and jagged, broken off edges. In the arch was a wooden gate surrounded by metal with a gem in the center of it. It was orange just like the text of the quest I received. The surrounding area was chock full of ruined pillars and walls which really gave off a temple like vibe.

"See?! What'd I tell ya?! Daize strikes again!" I immediately trimmed his ego with another chop to the head which made him satisfyingly glare at me.

"There's Ozymand Temple." Jayce sighed in relief as he brushed the sand out of his ponytail.

"The Gaia key's in there?" Soran finally lowered his shield.

"It better be." I said with a narrowed brow. After all our efforts, the Gaia key had to be there.

We carefully made our way down the slope of sand and found ourselves within the ruins. It was a maze like structure with the walls and pillars towering over us like trees. Up close, it was pretty easy to get lost as the structures twisted and turned in unexpected ways.

"Now let's see…" Daize carefully examined his map once more as he analyzed the maze. "There's an intricate path through this maze, if we follow it, we can-"

My tachi slashed across the wall as it bounced off in an instant, leaving a small scrape. Stepping backwards, I repositioned myself for another swing.

"What the hell are you doing?" The archer deadpanned as my next strike scraped the wall yet again.

"Trying to break the wall. We need to finish that dungeon first remember?" It was clear at this point that normal methods weren't going to be enough to break the wall. Breathing heavily, I focused my mind again. "Enhance!"

Orange aura covered my body as I swept in for another hit. With a couple of slices, I managed to break down the section of the wall in front of us. Behind it, however, stood a skeleton with a sword and shield in hand. All of us yelled in surprise at the same time, save for Megumi who immediately fired a bolt of light at it, shattering it in one hit.

"Skeletons…?" She asked as we heard multiple footsteps converging on our location. The scattered bones on the ground started shifting as the skeleton before us gathered itself together. These things could regenerate!

"Come on! I can get us there in no time!" Raising my flaming tachi, I smashed the bones apart and slashed at the other walls in front of us as Daize leapt up onto the walls with a single bound.

"There's a lot more of them coming!" He yelled, standing high enough to see maze's interior. "They're piling over the walls!"

A dozen flaming arrows flew towards our direction and met their marks a foot away from us. Now the skeletons had archers too. I immediately proceeded to knock down each wall in front of us as we ran. Daize stayed up on the walls and returned fire, however, that didn't stop the skeletons from reaching us. One of them with a great sword brought the blade down on top of us. Soran immediately blocked the hit with his shield and sliced the monster apart with his sword. Megumi was alternating between elemental bolts, destroying any other skeletons climbing over the walls. All the while, flaming arrows were still raining down on us. One of them managed to hit Daize in the shoulder, knocking him down onto the ground before us.

"Those arrows are annoying as hell." The Archer said as Megumi healed him. I stopped in my tracks and turned around.

"We have to keep moving!" I told them as Daize got up with a groan.

"We won't survive the arrow rain in these conditions." Jayce pointed out as the barrage of arrows didn't show any signs of stopping.

"Hold on, guys! I'll try something." Closing her eyes, the Sorcerer opened her tome and chanted some weird words before shouting out her skill. "Gaia's Protection!"

A white force field emanated from her book and surrounded us. Any incoming arrows got destroyed as soon as they hit the shield, although that didn't stop the melee skeletons from advancing.

"We need to hurry. I don't know how long I can hold this up!" Our Sorcerer's mana started draining as she kept the shield up. We knew that we didn't have much time to make use of her support.

Picking up the pace, the five of us ran towards the next hole I created. Smashing through more walls, we got closer and closer to the temple. Megumi stayed in the middle of our formation, protected by Soran, Daize, and Jayce who managed to take down any incoming skeletons with swords. Thanks to Gaia's Protection, the arrows weren't a bother anymore so all we had to do was book it.

"Argh!" I held my flaming tachi and panted as I saw the doors of the temple were within our reach. Unfortunately, I was already wearing off so I deactivated Enhanced Mode. "There it is!"

"No time to waste!" Jayce sped forward and touched the gem at the center of the door. The whole thing lit up an orange hue as the surrounding structure creaked. As soon as the doors had opened, a bright orange beam of light shot up into the sky. "Everyone in!"

We hurriedly rushed into the building as the skeletons behind us made their final charge. There were thousands of them now. Fortunately, we managed to make it through with just a few scrapes. Megumi collapsed onto the ground and breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was a close one." She said as she started laughing along with the rest of us. Near death situations were only this fun in video games.

"My favorite part was when Daize got hit by an arrow." I chuckled as I leaned against the wall while our Archer sat himself on the ground.

"Of course it is…" Daize said as he grinned.

"Still, we made it!" Soran practically jumped in joy. It was surprising to see that he was the most energetic out of all of us. "Jayce you wer- Jayce?"

The blue Ronin was worriedly pacing back and forth. In front of him was a message screen connected to what I assumed was Arryn back in Navea.

"What's wrong?" The Guardian asked him as he was snapped out of his thoughts.

"That beam of light. It's a beacon for the Gaia keys. We've gotten reports that other dungeons around the world have lit up as well." He stopped and stared at the ground as his face shifted into that of worry. Why was he stressing out over this so much? "We need to hurry. Other players could come soon and turn this dungeon into a PVP zone."

"Jayce, wait!" I called out as the blue Ronin sped past us. We, of course, had no choice but to follow him. Treading deeper into the sand temple, we noticed that the interior was dimly lit by the small holes in the roof which allowed the sunlight to sweep in. We followed a path of light towards the end where a large arc stood. Beyond it was pitch black with only a faintly glowing white circle in the middle.

Jayce stopped at the edge of the arc, holding his hand up. "Careful, guys. We don't know what could be beyond this place."

The rest of us slowly stepped forward with our weapons drawn. Megumi stayed at the center of our formation as we crept closer and closer to white circle. The Sorcerer then stopped and opened her tome to cast a spell.

"Gaia's Light!" A ball of light formed in her right hand as she lifted it up to the ceiling. The bright warmth enveloped the room and allowed us to see four chests in each corner. They were red in color with gold lining the edges.

"Hey, loot!" Daize smirked as he attempted to skip forward before I grabbed him by the arm.

"Shush!" I paused as the rest of them glanced at me. My ears picked up a faint breathing coming from right above us. I didn't have time to look up though. In a flash, a gust of wind followed by a tremendous tremor hit us hard. My eyes widened at the sight before me.

"What would be guarding the sandcastle then?" Uncle RJ asked me.

"A Minotaur!"

He chuckled. "Why would a Minotaur be guarding a sandcastle? Shouldn't he be in the middle of a labyrinth?"

"That can be on the outside…"

The hooves of the huge monster stomped furiously as a gust of hot air exited its pierced nose. Two horns stuck out from its head. Paired with the glowing red eyes, it looked like a devil. In its huge, hairy hands was a giant great sword that was just as tall as its wielder. Four rows of health bars appeared beside it as the name Minos appeared above them. He was at a manageable level compared to what we've dealt with before so I wasn't worrying. Instead, this horrendous monster strangely brought a smile to my face.

'Damn it… you just had to use my favorite monster, huh?'

"Usual formation, everyone!" I shouted then turned to the other Ronin. "Oh, um…"

"Don't worry, I can support you from behind!" We nodded at each other before running forward towards the boss. It brought its sword down as Soran activated his Iron Wall. The blade bounced back after hitting the wall, allowing us to cut at its legs.

Multiple arrows dug into the Minotaur's chest and caused it to snarl at Daize who was leaping across ledges scattered around the area. The monster attempted to swing at the nimble Archer but only managed to hit a support column, knocking debris down onto the ground. Jayce and I circled back and dragged our blades through the back of its ankles, making it kneel in pain. However, it snorted and immediately spun around with its sword. In less than a second, we were knocked back into the wall. A bubble of green energy surrounded us as Megumi cast her skill. Our health bars slowly started to regenerate when Minos decided to notice us.

In a flash, Daize leapt onto the Minotaur and grabbed it by the horns. "Let's see how long I can hold on!"

This caused the monster to let out a mighty roar and swing its sword around aimlessly. The blade unfortunately hit our Guardian who was dragged backwards but remained standing. The Minotaur shook its head and overpowered Daize, sending him flying towards a wall.

"Eight seconds, tops!" I shouted before slicing the beast across the left leg.

"Do you guys always do stupid things during boss fights?" Jayce chuckled as he leapt and slashed at the other leg.

"Only when we're confident." I grinned as I repositioned my tachi to my side. "Megumi, I think we got its attack patterns down! You can switch to offensive!"

The Sorcerer nodded with a smile and opened her tome. Four large circles spun around in front of her before releasing a flurry of light bolts. They each hit their marks and blinded the Minotaur temporarily as it angrily retaliated without vision.

"Blind attacks!" Daize shouted as all of us backed up and prepared for the incoming swings.

"Copy!" I responded immediately. Usually the first one to memorize a boss's move set was our keen eyed Archer. Responding accordingly, Jayce and I wove in between the blind swings made by Minos. I raised my tachi behind me and redirected one of the swings downwards.

"Soran, catch!" I called our Guardian forward. Soran dashed directly in my direction and held his shield up to intercept the hit. The great sword clashed with the shield and let out a metallic clang that shook the whole room.

"Three second delay!" The Archer pulled out a power shot and fired it at the Minotaur's eye while the other Ronin and I sliced at the legs again. Megumi fired more bolts at the monster as it stumbled back towards us. To my surprise, it turned around and brought its weapon down on me.

Instinctively, I raised my tachi up even if I knew I probably wasn't able to carry that weight. The sound of clashing steel rang out as I shut my eyes and prepared to be knocked back but instead I opened them and found Jayce standing beside me, holding back the great sword as well.

"On three!" He grunted as we struggled against the sheer force of the beast.

"How about now?!" We released our swords and jumped to the side, sending the Minotaur's blade crashing into the ground.

Speeding towards Minos, we charged up our blades for another attack. All of a sudden, time was slowed for me. I could see Jayce right beside me as we landed the first hit. Landing on the ground, I leapt back into action as the other Ronin followed. We went back and forth, covering the beast in blue and orange lights. Jumping up, our swords sliced through the chest of the Minotaur and exited through its chin. As we floated in the air, we simultaneously shouted our finishing blow.

"CRESCENT BEAM!"

The beams of light coming from our tachi cut through the neck and beheaded Minos. Its health bar whittled to zero before disappearing completely along with its body. Jayce and I landed safely beside each other, huffing heavily.

The moment when we were in sync was still replaying in my head. "Was that…?"

"A combo?" Jayce grinned at me before affirming my suspicions. "Yeah…"

"You guys were awesome!" Megumi cheered as she ran towards us with glee.

"Eh, it was pretty cool." Daize pouted and crossed his arms at the attention being taken away from him.

"I have to admit, it was impressive." Soran faintly smiled as the both of us scratched our heads.

"Anyways, what did we get from it?" Jayce asked me as I realized that we were the ones who dealt the final blows.

I checked the reward menu that popped up and read out the items. "Just some gold and EXP."

"Shouldn't there be an item drop?" Daize asked, curious to know if there were any bows among the drops.

"Oh, yea-" I was interrupted by a loud humming. The circle in the center of the room had turned orange. From it, a similarly glowing orange diamond appeared. The sun shone through it like it was made out of the rarest gems in the land. It was beautiful in a way.

"The Gaia key!" Our Sorcerer echoed what was going through all of our minds.

Smiling, I walked over to get my reward but was stopped by a hand on the shoulder belonging to Jayce.

"So..." He nervously laughed at me. "It's now a question of who gets the key."

"Me, obviously." I immediately replied without hesitation. "I brought us here, therefore it's mine. You can get the next key we find."

"Really, Wairuzu? You're not even going to give credit to your team?" The blue Ronin waved at the rest of my party members who were just as confused as I was. I decided to ignore him and step away but found myself stuck to the ground. Looking down, I spotted glowing blue chains wrapped around my ankles. In fact, all of us were in the same situation as we tried to struggle to break free. All of us except Jayce who's eyes were now glowing blue as well with his body being enveloped in a blue flame.

"You're as selfish as I thought you were."

Ending: Yume Sekai by Tomatsu Haruka

Next Episode: The Gift of Creation