Chapter 179 - Heated Debacle

"Marvin, Cleo," Tom said in a steady voice as he approached his two friends. 

"Don't worry, we are done with the boss," Cleo smiled happily as she turned her face towards her lover. But upon noticing Tom's expression, her smile instantly soured. "Let me guess, you want to go back to fighting?" she muttered, averting her eyes. 

"That's exactly the case," Tom nodded his head. "I'm still overly sensitive, but I need to get back to fighting as soon as possible," he said, only to whip out his spear and roll it around in the air, proving that he was already as agile as he was back before entering the dungeon for the first time. 

"Tom, you don't need to do that yet," Marvin entered the discussion, shaking his head. 

From the look on his face, he wanted to stop his friend from risking his health given how Tom has yet to return to his prime...

But he knew Tom for long enough to realize that this matter was already settled the moment Tom brought it up. 

What looked like a request for approval for others was no different from simple information for Marvin. 

From now on, Tom would return to active duty. 

That's what his appearance spoke to those who knew him.

"I think we are all in the know here that if you decided something, then there is no talking you out of it," Marvin said with a sigh. He then shook his head before gluing his eyes to the floor for a long while. "In the end, can you at least tell us what did those golden stones did to you?" Marvin asked.

"I wish I could tell you what happened for sure." Tom bit his lips. While he had his guess about the reality of what happened, it was just that, a guess. 

From one side, Tom was no different from talking about his guesses as per something set in stone. That was how he tackled the experience of the dungeon as a whole, where nothing was certain, and everything appeared only to be nothing more but a possibility. 

But for some reason, using that kind of treatment in regards to what happened...

'It feels like insulting the memory of Faunaris,' Tom thought, tightening his hold over his spear. 

He met that monster only for a few short moments. Most of the time that he interacted with it was filled with an overwhelming weight of his death looming above Tom's head. Every second of his interaction with that faun was etched as the most dangerous moment in Tom's life in his brain. 

Nevertheless, there was no denying that in the end, Faunaris never hurt him. He even went to the highest ends, made the highest sacrifice, just to show Tom just how insanely overpowered one of his early skills was. 

"I think those stones brought forth an evolution of sorts in me," Tom said, finally deciding to break the dams on what he was guessing about the situation. "Instead of raising my levels, it raised the quality of what those levels mean," he added, only to turn silent as he approached the wall. 

This time, Tom didn't bother to use his spear. After all, it would be no wonder if he managed to cut the stone wall with his blade, as it was something he was capable of doing for a long while already. 

Instead, he just stood by the wall for a few moments. Then, as if finding the perfect timing and mindest to do so, he suddenly swung his arm and smashed his fist into the wall. 

Crack. 

From the point of impact, the cracks spread out for several meters, turning the place where Tom struck the wall into a small site crater. 

Once he removed his hand, the wall appeared as if some kind of a small meteor struck it, not Tom's hand. 

"Do you see it now?" Tom asked, turning his head to his friends. 

'If I can do this much while I'm still recovering?' he thought to himself, looking down at his hand. 

Even though he didn't hold back at all, even though his senses were heightened, he didn't even feel a tingle of pain. 

"That was..." Marvin was at a loss for words, clearly not expecting this kind of showcase. 

"That was amazing!" Cleo turned out to be the simpler one, revealing her excitement and shock with simple words. 

She rushed to Tom's side and placed her hands on the cracked wall as if trying to learn more by closely observing it. 

She then turned around and sent Tom a long glance. 

"It doesn't appear to be tampered with by magic or anything," she muttered in a voice that almost didn't make it to her brother while causing problems for Tom to distinguish the words. Only when she repeated her sentence did the meaning of her words reach both of the men's minds. 

"Does this mean..." MAvin gulped down a mouthful of saliva. 

It was one thing to crack a wall in a dungeon. But it was something completely else to do so without using even the tiniest hint of magic!

'If he can smack so hard without using any of his skills...' A weird thought appeared in Marvin's and Cleo's heads for a moment. 

"Then what he would be able to do once exerting the full power of his muscles and skills combined?" 

"Huh?" Suddenly, another party entered the discussion. And it was the one the three friends grew most reluctant to believe to hear. 

"And here I was worried about your health," Kira whined in a tiny voice before suddenly noticing how her words somehow managed to reach everyone's ears. 

"I guess now she knows your strength as well," Cleo sighed, clearly unhappy with his random outcome. 

"Oh, come on," Kira protested openly. "I'm taking care of this kid for a long time already. What's more, I was by Tom's side when he was at his weakest!" she pointed out, screaming the facts back into Cleo's face. 

"What are you implying?" Marvin asked, squinting his eyes as if to intimidate the girl into telling the truth. 

"I do not expect you to treat me as an equal now, nor to change my status or fate," Kira was quick to stand up and make a point where she stood in the current situation. "If I really wanted to harm him, I would've done so already," she pointed out, only to fall down to her knees and start rolling forward and backward on her bottom in the middle of the boss's room. 

Even though there were no outside stimuli to change her looks, Kira looked like the perfect embodiment of the word hopelessness. Her hair was in disarray, her eyes lacked their usual shine, her face was filled with grief and a struggle that neither the three friends nor anyone else who wasn't in Kira's position could understand.

The grief of a person that missed the opportunity to join a great party and now was nothing more but a powerless slave of said party. 

"I will ask again," Marvin's tone turned even colder than it was before. "What are you implying?"

"I don't fucking know!" Kira cried out, breaking down in tears. Given how long she managed to hold on without showing any signs of emotion despite being forced into the dungeon right after her entire world collapsed, it was no wonder that something like this happened. 

It wasn't the matter of if it would take place, but rather of when and where it would happen instead. 

And from the looks of things, the current situation with Tom was a catalyst, only for Marvin's harsh attitude to the girl to turn into a spark that set her raging emotions alight. 

"What you said before is right," Marcin continued with his chilly-cold voice. "You are not qualified to ask questions like that, nor are we qualified to believe you seek to harm us directly," he added only for a vicious smile to appear on his lips. "After all, if we were to perish, how would you be able to make it back to the first floor?" he asked. 

For someone of Online's Hub allegiance like Kira, returning back to earth was the only option, the only way to report to the organization she faithfully served for. 

The second she would step into the new world, though, Tom was quite sure she would never even entertain a thought of going back to that messed-up place. 

"Still, it's true that you never harmed Rufus but took exceptional care of him," Tom said, proving that by their earlier discussion about the war, the girl scored some brownie points with him. "What you... No, what we ALL need to do right now," Tom closed his eyes as he started speaking, only opening them wide as he shouted the rest, "is to shut the fuck up and get moving!" Tom scolded everyone, himself included. 

"Who knows, maybe once we enter the next floor, the bones of our compatriots might already be waiting there for us."