46 Helmet Strategy

"Ryan!"

Shesmu's cry alerted Leo and the duo fighting their way through the pack of wolves. This sudden distraction gave an opportunity for the beast to attack. They swarmed Leo from every direction and maimed him.

Noticing the danger Leo was in, Shesmu was enraged. He teleported towards him and with one swing of his sword, killed the whole pack of wolves in a wave of dark ki.

None of his teammates had any time to fawn over Shesmu's performance. They all gathered around him, their eyes worried.

"Shes, what happened?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, you really scared me with that cry. Did Ryan die or something?"

Sakura's assumptions made Ryuji jump in worry.

"No way, right? Did Ryan really die?!"

"No."

Shesmu walked towards Ryan's body, leading the way for his party. They soon got to see their friend unconscious on the white tile. It was as if the world around him was bleached.

"No way," Leo muttered. He then ran straight towards Ryan's body, checking on him. "What happened to him?" He asked again.

"He fell unconscious, with no warning whatsoever. He just randomly fainted."

"That's… very weird," Sakura commented from the side. "Does he have a habit of randomly fainting?"

"No," Leo responded before looking down at the floor, deep in thought. "Actually, maybe it has to do with whatever happened to him this morning."

"Did Mister Ryan faint this morning too?"

"Yeah, he did." Leo looked back at Ryan in worry before continuing. "It just happened randomly. He had this massive headache as if his head was splitting in half. I had never seen him in that much pain. He then fainted on the couch as we were waiting for Ashes of Gods to be available for download."

"Wait, then why has he been playing until now? Shouldn't he be resting?"

"He should have been, right?" Leo couldn't help but show a self-deprecating smile as he responded to Sakura's question. "I told him that multiple times, but he insisted that he was fine."

��Leo." After staying silent throughout the conversation, Shesmu finally spoke. "If you want, you can go check on Ryan IRL. I'm assuming you know his house personally, no?"

"Yeah, you should do that," Sakura added. "No one here is gonna hold you accountable for this kind of thing. So don't worry about us and go."

Leo didn't respond immediately. His face showed a myriad of emotions. He bit his lips, clenched his fist, and said with a solemn voice, "I know that this is selfish of me, but I want to stay until the end of the round."

"Why though?" Sakura was surprised at the unexpected response.

"Sakura." Shesmu's was loud, louder than anyone who had spoken before. His sudden outburst gathered everyone's attention and scared Sakura. "This is Leo's own personal decision to make. If he wants to stay until the end of the round, then so be it."

"Thanks, Shes," Leo responded in a faint voice.

Seeing that the decision had been finalized, Sakura clenched her head in defeat.

"Aghh, you guys are so weird."

"Really?" Ryuji's question surprised her.

"What? Don't you think it's weird? Their friend is unconscious and they don't check on him immediately."

"Well, without Mister Ryan's shadow, this is Mister Leo's only time to prove himself," Ryuji said with a smile.

Hearing him answer as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, Sakura sighed in defeat.

"Agh, are all men selfish like that?"

Ryuji laughed at Sakura's rhetorical question before Shesmu started his speech.

"Okay everyone. Without Ryan, we have lost much of our DPS. This means that the fight with the Boss will be that much harder. Leo will of course be our tank, while I'll work as an offtank for now. Sakura, you'll be providing us with support."

Shesmu then looked at Ryuji, trying to think of what role to give him.

"Ryuji. Before we fight the boss, you'll be handling monsters on your own. I want you to stop doing those wide swings that never hit their target and focus on clean, efficient slashes, understood?"

"Yes, master!"

"Okay, good."

Shesmu's eyes drifted towards Sakura. Now that Ryuji was to fight alone, and as such the two would be separated, he wondered how she would respond. Surprisingly, she didn't show any sign of rejection of the idea. In fact, she followed after Shesmu and Leo with a big smile on her face.

Shesmu focused back on the chessboard. Looking around, he found that all the parties were slowly working their way towards the boss, killing every wolf pack on their way. The Boss on the other hand stood in front of the portal, closely guarding it.

While Shesmu was looking at the state of the game, Leo went towards Ryan and carried his body on his back.

Shesmu looked at Leo incredulously, to which Leo simply responded, "We can't let him stay there, now can we?"

"How are you going to fight with him on your back?"

Shesmu's question snapped Leo back to reality. There was no way he could do his job as a tank with Ryan on his back.

"Give him to me," Shesmu said. "I'll put him somewhere safe."

Leo handed Shesmu Ryan with caution, making sure as to not to drop him. Shesmu carried him on his back before saying, "Okay, let's go."

He then jumped from one tile to the next, Leo and Sakura following after him. The party then fought one pack of wolves after the next. With Leo as the tank, none of the beasts managed to go through him. He was able to effectively use his Ki to enhance his shield against the attacks from the wolves' fangs and claws. Meanwhile, Shesmu would decimate them with his sword techniques, while Sakura would either burn them or stun them through her magical spells.

After killing a few monsters, Shesmu noticed that Leo was absent-minded. His eyes looked ahead but they didn't focus on anything.

"Leo, is something the matter?"

Leo snapped back to reality and looked at Shesmu. "No, nothing really."

"I see, well, just make sure not to half-ass anything." He then killed the last wolf in the pack before making his way towards Leo.

"I did not mind you not checking on your friend's health right away because I knew that this matters to you. But if you're gonna half-ass it, then better log out now." Shesmu then waited for a few seconds, letting his words sink in Leo's mind.

"If you want the spotlight, if you want to prove yourself, then you need to put every ounce of your being out there. Leave nothing inside, show everything to the world. Show them all your worth!"

Before Leo could get a chance to talk back, Shesmu's attention already drifted elsewhere. He focused on a pack of wolves and led the way towards it.

Leo looked at Shesmu's back in surprise before he tightened his hand on the hilt of his sword. He then ran towards the pack Shesmu was eyeing and took over the latter. He charged at the leader of the pack with a diagonal slash, leaving a deep wound next to its neck. The pack's aggro was fully on him. He dodged and blocked their attacks, countering every pounce or swipe with a move of his own.

"I didn't need you to tell me that." Leo didn't turn to look at Shesmu, his attention was fully on the beasts in front of him. "The moment I made my decision, I was already fully prepared!"

Shesmu looked at Leo's back with a smile. The usually timid Leo didn't stand in front of him. This one was more reminiscent of the Leo Shesmu knew.

He followed after his teammate and attacked the pack from the right flank. With a flurry of attack, Shesmu killed one of the wolves, turning much of their attention towards him.

While the pack was focusing on either Shesmu or Leo, Sakura stood in the back and chanted her spells. Lightning bolt after fireball decimated the beasts, leaving them like sitting ducks for the warriors. The party wiped the pack and moved to the next.

Soon enough, they had slain their way through the chessboard. They all leveled up in the process. Both Leo and Shesmu reached sixteen, while Sakura hit the level 15 milestone.

At the same time, Ryuji was also able to level up to 14. However, more importantly, he was finally able to hit his targets consistently. Shesmu smiled while looking at his improvement. He knew that the only way for him to improve was to go through the trial of blood and fire, and not be pampered by Sakura like he was used to.

With all the monsters dead, all the parties surrounded the boss. A golden circle was surrounding it. However, before anyone could cross it, a silver-haired man led his party to the forefront and said, "Everyone, before we fight, I have a few things I want to say."