63 Bonding

"Okay everyone, since Hector got to lead the party, I think it's only fair that it's me who chooses who goes in which group. Anyone have any problems with that?"

Shesmu's statement was loud and clear. No one dared to voice any complaint after he spoke.

"Okay, I'll take that as a yes." Shesmu gazed around before saying, "Okay, I want Hector's party to merge with the assassins. And you, Blaze."

The redheaded swordsman was surprised to have his name be spoken out of nowhere. He looked around for a few seconds before he pointed his finger to himself.

"Yes, I'm talking to you. Blaze, I want you to join Hector and the assassins' along with Sakura."

Shesmu looked at the latter and gave her a subtle nod. She understood his meaning and nodded back too.

"And now for the second party, I want to be a little bit spicy." Shesmu turned around to look at Arthur in the eyes. "Arthur, would you guys mind making a party with me? It will be only your party with me on top."

Shesmu's statement made everyone look at his with surprise and shock. Even Hector couldn't help but tap him on the shoulder and say, "Aren't you going a bit too crazy here? You guys will barely have half of our numbers."

"Yeah, you may be super OP but you can't flex this hard. You never know what you can find on the other side of the cave," a player from within the crowd voiced his concern.

Shesmu didn't pay either of them any heed, his eyes were focused solely on Arthur. The latter stayed silent for a few seconds before he smiled and said, "Sure, let's do that. With you in our party, I am sure we will do great." He then looked at his teammates and said, "Plus, my teammates are chubs either. They can definitely hold their own."

"Well, if neither party has any problem, then who am I to say anything." Hector raised his hands in defeat. "That means that the rest gets to make their own group."

Since the rest of the players were more than thirty, they all laughed in joy. They knew that with their number, no matter what trial awaited them in the cave, they could pass through it easily.

"Hey, what the fuck are you thinking? Why are you letting yourself alone with the man that you suspect the most? Don't you know the meaning of fear?"

"What did I say before, Sakura? You really like making me repeat myself. I deal with Arthur, you deal with Hector. That's the deal, right?"

"Eh, master, does it mean I don't get to stay with you?" Ryuji's voice surprised both Shesmu and Sakura. He had stayed silent for so long that they almost forgot his existence.

"Dammit Ryu, you scared the shit out of me."

Shesmu looked at Ryuji and patted his head. "Sorry Ryuji, we will have to separate for now. But it will only be temporary, we will get to play together later, okay?"

"Okay, master, that's a promise!"

Shesmu smiled at Ryuji's childish behavior before focusing back on Arthur's party. They all stood calmly behind their leader, not saying anything. All but Alex that was looking around anxiously.

Shesmu made his way towards the group and said, "Hey guys, pleased to meet you."

"Hey, swordyguy!" The pink-haired lady high fived him. "You really have guts making us challenge this cave alone, but I like it! Also, why do you have an unconscious guy on your back?"

"Haha, don't make Shesmu too uncomfortable, Julia." Arthur scanned his teammates with his eyes as he introduced each and everyone of them. "So, this is of course Julia. This is Lancelot, Alex, Mordred, and finally Tybalt."

Shesmu followed Arthur's motion and looked at each of his teammates before saying, "Pleased to meet you all." He then glanced at Ryan on his back before answering Julia's earlier question. "For Ryan, he just fell unconscious on the first floor. I'm not sure if he logged out or what's happening. I'm carrying him around just in case. But either way, forget about that, let's have some fun together."

"Good talk! I've been having tons of that," Lancelot laughed. "That last individual trial was crazy—died three times in it. I didn't expect it but this game is pretty damn hardcore."

"Oh don't bring up that last trial," Julia complained. "I'll be having nightmares about that for years to come."

Lancelot's face beamed with a recalling look. "Oh yeah, you were eaten by-"

"Don't say it!"

"-by frogs…"

His last words were said in a low voice, but it was high enough for everyone to hear. There was an awkward silence for a bit before the whole party burst out laughing, while Julia sighed in defeat.

While everyone was laughing in joy, Hector made his way towards the group. "Eh, I'm sorry to cut in your fun guys, but we need to assign each group's cave. Ours took the middle one, and the other group took the left's, are you guys fine with the right one?"

"It's all good, Hector," Arthur responded. "Either way, we have no idea what lays in any of them."

"That's true. Anyway, good luck guys."

"Good luck to you too," Everyone responded.

Hector's eyes lingered a bit on Shesmu before he broke contact and made his way back to his group. After a few moments, they entered the middle cave, following after the leftmost one.

"Seems like we're the only ones left," Arthur commented. "Shall we go?"

"Sure. Lead the way, Arthur!" Julia exclaimed with an overly excited voice.

The group followed after Arthur and made their way through the right cave. While they were walking, Julia snuck next to Shesmu and said, "Hey, how was your second trial? Got any embarrassing stories to tell?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm interested too. Tell us!" The dark-robed Mordred added fuel to the fire. Soon, everyone was looking at Shesmu with glittering eyes. All but Alex, that stood within the shadows like the typical assassin.

Shesmu scratched his head and said, "I really don't have any, guys. I just had to fight a couple of monsters, go through some obstacles and that's it."

"Eh, and here I thought you would have the craziest stories of us all." Julia couldn't help but look disappointed. "Seems like our theory that it scales with the performance you showed on the first floor is out of the equation now. With how insane you and your tank went on that fight, you should have had the hardest trial imaginable."

Shesmu just shrugged at Julia's complaints, while the other players backed away a bit, giving Shesmu a little bit more private space.

"Oh, talking about your tank, where is he?" Lancelot asked.

"He had to log out. He had some problems IRL."

"Ah, that's a shame. And here I wanted to talk with him a bit. I'm still confused about how he was able to block that last attack from the boss. If I get to do that, I would be the best tank in the game."

Shesmu gazed at Lancelot's buff form and chuckled. He could easily imagine him wearing a full plate mithril armor and wielding an enchanted lance and a big shield. That would be the only way he could give his name justice.

The party's walk through the cave was uneventful. There was no monster, no traps, no magic spells—just eerie silence.

"Eh, guys, don't you think that it's a bit too calm? Shouldn't we have to fight some monsters or something here?" The white-robed priest, Tybalt asked in confusion.

"Oh, don't jinx it, please," Julia retorted with a grimace in her face.

Unfortunately, her worries came true. The moment she said those words, Alex started coughing. Shesmu turned around to find his skin had become purple. He was poisoned.