"Wait - captain!"

"You weren't the only one stalling for time."

"—!"

Below!

The ground had begun to vibrate and shake. Tremors spread through the ground as cracks started to appear under their feet.

"What the—"

"Watch out!"

Ais halted her charge, spinning to the side as the ground exploded in a shower of rubble. With a roar, a massive figure reared its head as it broke through the floor.

"It… It's a Lambton!"

The massive snake like monster stood over the battlefield, its forked tongue flicking in and out as it turned its amber eyes to face them.

"What's it doing here?!"

The monster was estimated at a level 5 and was capable of traveling between floors. The massive snake was known for taking parties by surprise and wiping them out before disappearing into the ground.

"It's… huge…!"

Even with most of its body still underground, it was clear that this was no normal monster. It stood at over 5 meters tall, and from what Ais could see it had to be no shorter than 10 meters long.

However, it wasn't just the arrival of the blue scaled beast that was the problem. Yet another figure was standing on top of the snake's head.

"You…!"

She jumped down from the beast, landing without a sound.

"Revis."

The Beast Tamer smiled as she joined the battle.

"Nice to see you all made it this far."

She walked over to Ein and Olivas as she spoke.

"Thank you for the assist, Revis."

Something is off…

"Wow. Look at all of you."

She scanned the crowd of adventurers before her with her sickly green eyes. Her gaze lingered on Ais for a moment, before moving to Ottarl.

"You should've killed me when you had the chance, you know."

The King merely grumbled a response.

"It wasn't my place…"

Wait… Bell…?!

With a sudden realization, she spun to find the boy only to be too late. In a flash of white, Bell disappeared.

That was… too fast..!

The boy seemingly vanished from sight, leaving behind only a slight cloud of dust as he rushed forward in a single jump.

"Don't!"

She shouted out to no avail. The others seemed to be just as surprised at the boy's speed, all of them failing to notice his movement until it was too late.

All except Revis, that was.

With a loud crack she lashed out. In a perfectly timed counter, she brought her fists down and sent Bell straight into the ground. Without a sound, he remained still, his face turned away and hidden from view.

No!

"Looks like he remembers me, huh?"

"Ariel…"

"Ais! No!"

Finn's words fell on deaf ears as Ais screamed out her magic.

"Roar… Tempest!"

Black and green wind swirled at her feet as she accelerated, her sword already drawn.

"Atta girl… come on!"

In a spray of sparks, their blades collided. There was no time for small talk, no drawn out villain's monologue. She wouldn't allow it.

"You..!"

"Damnit! Gareth! Get that snake out of here! Everyone else, let's go!"

The Dwarf nodded and turned his eyes to the massive beast as the others all rushed forward.

Ais had pushed Revis back with the sheer force of her charge, their blades still locked in a series of silver flashes.

"We won't let you interfere!"

Ein and Olivas had stepped in front of them, ignoring Ais and instead separating her from the group.

"Damnit! Move!"

Tione and Tiona met them full force, the twins focusing on Ein as Bete and Finn rushed towards Olivas.

"Show me what you got shrimp!"

Finn made contact first, ducking under Olivas' slashes and kicks, his knife flicking in and out with precise strikes.

"Bete!"

Finn had parried Olivas' strikes with extreme precision, utilizing his tiny dagger with unmatched levels of proficiency.

"Got it!"

Bete vaulted over the Prum's head, planting both of his feet squarely on Olivas' chest.

"Gah!"

Olivas gasped as Bete knocked the air out of him. He hit the ground, Bete still standing on top of him with a satisfied smirk.

"Go, now!"

Bete lifted his head from his opponent towards Ais and Revis. In an instant, he leapt into motion. He passed by Finn with a smile, not even bothering to meet his captain's eye. Instead, he only continued to move forward.

"You're not going anywhere!"

Ein shouted out, turning his head as he moved to intercept the werewolf.

"Where do you think you're looking!?"

Behind him, Tiona almost laughed as she grasped his cloak in her two hands, yanking hard.

"-urk!"

Ein stopped in his tracks, grasping at his throat as Tiona dragged him to the ground by his own cloak.

"Take this, asshole!"

Tione jumped into the air, her fist pulled back behind her smiling face.

"You-!"

In an explosion of dust and debris, Tiona slammed her fist into the ground, sinking all the way past her elbow.

"Damnit, he got away…"

Beside them, Ein rolled to his feet, gasping for air. In his hands was a silver dagger, and in Tione's was a section of his severed cloak.

"Slippery bastard…"

"You're not getting away next time."

"You… pests! Revis!"

Ein shouted out, drawing the Tamer's attention to the incoming threat. Bete sprinted forward at top speed, his lips curled into a snarl.

"Ais!"

He called out her name, leaping into the air. Instantly, the girl understood. She hopped back, breaking distance between her and Revis, before sending a swirl of wind towards the Vanargandr.

"You're dead!"

His greaves came to life with a swirling emerald aura, infused with the power of Ais' Ariel. However, before he could make contact, movement caught his eye.

Crack.

Revis whistled twice, and with audible snap, the Lambton's tail whipped through the air. The beast swatted Bete out of the air like a fly and sent him crashing into the ground.

"Agh!"

"Damnit, Gareth!"

"I'm trying over here!"

Finn turned his eyes toward the dwarf, barely catching a glimpse of his burly figure holding back a pair of massive fangs before being interrupted.

"You know, Valleta told me about you…"

Finn grimaced as he swerved to the side, narrowly avoiding a blade aimed for his throat.

"Confident enough to chat while fighting, huh?"

Olivas cackled as he continued to swing his sword with reckless abandon.

"Not nearly as confident as gah—!"

His smirk and sentence was cut short as a Finn lunged forward suddenly, burying his knife to its hilt in his chest.

"Gotcha…"

"Y…You…."

Finn moved to disengage, when he was stopped by a forceful grip on his wrist.

"You missed!"

What the —!

Olivas took full advantage of the opening, releasing a flurry of devastating blows to the Prum's body. In just an instant, Finn was forced back, blood dripping from cuts and slashes across his body.

"Ahahaha!"

Olivas let out a merciless laugh as he grasped the dagger in his chest.

How…!?

"You look surprised, Prum. Allow me to help you understand…"

Before Finn's widening eyes, Olivas began to cut through his flesh, tearing through his skin until a large gash had opened up in his chest.

"Take a good look…"

Inside, in place of his heart, was a glowing gem.

"You… you're a monster…!?"

"Hehe… Lady Enyo offered me a new life after she found me dying that day…."

He pushed his chest back together.

"An offer that I couldn't turn down!"

He rushed forward, his blade once again turned against the shocked captain.

I can't… stop this!

"Captain!"

Tione's voice rang out in his ears as he was pushed back under the hail of unrelenting attacks. The prum silently cursed as he was left with no choice but to slowly step back, weaving and ducking past every swing of his attacker's blade.

"What's the matter?! You're slowing down!"

Olivas continued to press his advantage, gaining more and more ground on the exhausted captain with every move.

"—ah!"

Finn crossed his arms in front of his chest just in time to block a particularly strong kick from the 'monster' in front of him.

Crack.

"That sounded like it hurt, Finn! Don't tell me you're done so soon!"

"…ghh…!"

My… arms…!

Finn stumbled back, his broken arms dropping to his side where they hung freely. His breath came out in ragged gasps as the tired captain was beginning to lose his fight against exhaustion.

"Well, well, well…. Guess you actually are out of steam, huh?"

Olivas raised his blade and leveled it with Finn's eyes, aligning the silver tip with his strikingly blue irises.

"If it's of any consolation, at least you won't be alone in death."

The man curled his lips into a sick smile.

"I'lll be sending the rest of your pathetic Familia right after you after all!"

"We'll see about that…!"

That voice?!

"What?!"

Finn looked back, a smile already creeping onto his face as a bolt of lightning flew into sight. It arced through the air, striking Olivas in the blink of an eye.

"—agh!"

In a burst of light, the bolt exploded upon impact with Olivas' side, sending him tumbling to the ground.

"You guys…. You made it…!"

"Gareth!"

The dwarf, known for his strength, his endurance, was losing a battle of force. The brawny stature he had so placed his pride on, was failing him.

"I'm trying over here!"

He shouted out as he swung his Warhammer once again, striking the jaw of the snake with a solid blow.

"C'mon… you had to have felt that, right?!"

Tssssss….

The Lambton merely hissed as it lowered its amber eyes to face him. His blows had failed to break past the cerulean scales nor inflict any lasting damage onto the snake.

"You damn beast…"

His cherished hammer seemed to be growing heavier and heavier in his arms as his body continued to be drained of stamina.

"Whew… you're really makin' me work for it!"

"Gareth!"

It was a new voice, one he hadn't heard in a while.

"Raul?!"

The young swordsman had stepped up behind him, his sword drawn at his side.

"Here!"

He held out his hand. In it was a vial of blue liquid.

"It's from Riveria!"

That 'ol lady, eh?

"Aight then, why don't you help out this old man, Raul!"

"Yes sir!"

But before they could move, the sound of footsteps made them pause.

"Hey…"

"Well isn't this a pleasant surprise. Freya Familia's finally caught up to us, eh?"

"Shut it, dwarf. It's your fault for being stuck on a worm that we have to do extra work…"

Freya Familia's Vana Freya… Allen Frommel.

The sleek cat man twirled his gleaming silver spear in his hands as he stepped up next to them.

"Just this once, we'll help you out."

"Ahaha… like we needed the help!"

We..?

In front of them, the Lambton began to pull its body back in preparation for a lunge forward. Its head dipped low to the ground, and its tongue flickered in and out as it got set to charge.

"Lemme show you kids how it's done!"

Gareth flung his hammer to the side, throwing his hands out in front of him. In an instant, the snake unfurled like a spring and sprang forward. Its jaws opened with a hiss, revealing two gleaming white fangs amongst a row of smaller razor sharp teeth. In an act of pure strength and stubbornness, Gareth slammed his palms into the incoming fangs, catching them in his hands.

"RAAAHHHHH!"

The Lambton charged forward, pushing against Gareth with all the force of its ten meter long body.

"Bring it on!"

Gareth opened his mouth to bellow out his challenge as he dug his feet into the ground and gave it everything he had. The pure force of the snake drove him back, digging his feet through the ground and leaving two long trails in his wake.

"AHAHAAAA!"

"He's insane…"

Allen sighed as he listened to the dwarf laughing and shouting at the top of his lungs.

But then, it was over. The Lambton had fallen short of forcing the dwarf to buckle, its charge slowly dying away to a stop. The dwarf had overpowered the beast, forcing it to halt its movement.

Crack.

It was one at first, then the other. Cracks began to spread along the massive fangs of the beast as Gareth continued to push back.

"Hnggghh!"

With a grunt of effort, Gareth lashed out, shattering the fangs into pieces. With a mighty roar, the Lambton recoiled in pain and tried to raise its head.

"Out of the way!"

Allen leapt past Gareth, slamming his spear into the bottom of the Lambton's mouth, piercing it and pinning it to the ground. With a slight hop, he jumped onto the base of his spear with cat-like agility before springing off and back.

"There…. It should be easy enough for even you to kill…"

"Thanks…!"

Raul rushed forward as Allen stepped back, his sword raised before him.

"Haah!"

The young swordsman leapt onto the creature's head, his sword raised above his head, before driving it down right through the center of its skull.

With one last shudder, the snake burst into black ash as its body returned to the dungeon. Two metallic clangs sounded out as Allen's spear and Raul's sword were left free to fall to the ground.

"Well done, lad!"

"T-Thanks Gareth!"

"Hmph, as if finishing off a snake is anything worth celebrating…"

"Hehe… now, let's see how the others are doing…!"

"Captain!"

"Tione! Watch out!"

Tione jumped back as Ein neared her, his dagger accompanied by the fluttering of his robes.

"Goddamnit you bastard…! Get out of the way!"

With a quick step back, the masked man circled around, once more positioning himself between them and their target.

"You're not getting by me that easily."

The sisters backed up, standing next to each other as they regrouped.

"We're not getting anywhere like this…"

"Can you keep fighting…?"

"Of course I can!"

The sisters raised their voices, egging each other on.

"I admire your courage to continue fighting…"

Ein spoke out, bringing their attention away from each other.

"…but with those injuries, it's clear what the outcome of this battle will be."

He was right. Even just standing there was taking significant amounts of effort. Every passing second was filled with pain as they continued to press their bodies to the limit.

"Shut it."

"Hah… let's see how much longer you can keep up that brave front."

Once more, Ein charged forward, his dagger flashing before him.

"Bring it!"

In a flash of silver and gold, the amazons met him head on. The screeches of metal scraping against metal rang out as they clashed. While Tiona's heavy Urga wasn't especially a good matchup for Ein's dagger, her lack of strength made it easy for him to dance around the deadly blade. Tione's dual kukri on the other hand were a much more dangerous foe.

"What's the matter, is dodging all you can do?!"

Tione laughed as she watched Ein once more duck into a roll below a swing of Tiona's Urga.

Seeing an opportunity, Tione lunged forward, crossing her blades against his knife.

"You surprised us at first… but you're not even a first tier adventurer, are you!?"
She smiled as she pressed her advantage, taking the man's silence for a yes.

"In that case… we got nothing to worry about!"

Behind them, Tiona had jumped into the air, her Urga raised above her head.

"Dodge this, you bastard!"

"Agh!"

Before Tiona could make contact, a black figure came crashing down from above, slamming a massive hammer into Ein and sending him sprawling to the ground.

"What the hell…!?"

"You're welcome."

"Geez, it's about time you guys showed up…"

Tione breathed out with relief as she sheathed her knives and placed a hand on her hip. In front of her, a prum she recognized as one of Gulliver Brothers had seemingly dropped from out of nowhere.

"We had him right where we wanted him!"

"Sure you did."

Tiona didn't share her sister's relief.

"So this means that the rest of you guys are…?"

"Yes. Our members are spreading out to assist your fights as we speak."

"Ah! Wait, he's still alive."

Tione fell to the ground, sitting back as she pointed to the robed figure a little bit away from them.

"Damnit…!"

Ein cursed as he held his crumbling mask together. The lower half of his mask had already fallen away, revealing his lips curled into a scowl.

"Next time, you two won't be so lucky…"

He turned to look at the now three first tier adventurers before him. In the next moment, he turned, fleeing the battlefield with a whirl of his cloak.

"You gonna let him get away?"

The prum with the hammer shook his head.

"He won't get far."

As they watched, Ein continued to run only to be stopped by three other prums with almost laughably oversized weapons.

"Oh…"

Tiona whistled as she watched them mercilessly beat the masked man into the ground.

"Wow, they really aren't letting that guy off the hook."

The prum beside them nodded.

"Our orders were to exterminate all remnants. We will not fail."

"You guys…. You made it!"

Finn breathed out with relief as he turned. That magic was not one used by either Riveria nor Lefiya - it was lightning magic.

That means…

Behind him, two new figures approached him. Both were tall slender elven men, one being a dark elf.

"Ah… Hogni and Hedin, was it?"

The two young men nodded.

"Thanks the help."

"Lady Riveria sends her regards, as well as an apology for not being able to assist your fight."

"Ah… so she's okay, that's good news."

The dark elf drew his sword as the other raised his staff.

"Please rest. As per Lady Riveria's request, we'll take it from here."

Finn smiled as the two continued to move forward without another word.

It really is nice to have comrades, isn't it?