Chapter 9 - Professional Raid

"Okay, let's rehearse," Tom said, taking a seat on a small bench at the wall of the playroom.

"Sure. You will push up to the twenty-fifth floor, then I will take over until the fiftieth one. Then, I will take an hour-long break. Once I return, we will swap. After exactly an hour, we will continue until the sixty-fifth floor." Claudia repeated the short version of the tactic the two of them figured out last night.

'I can already see how people would ridicule me for not making use of the opportunity,' Tom thought, rolling his eyes at the idea. Such a cutie was in his room, yet all they did was to discuss their plan of conquering the dungeon with the two of them.

'I need to be wary not to tell anyone I actually slept with her, though,' Tom added in his mind, barely stopping a smirk from forming on his face. 'After all, they would never believe me if I were to tell that we did just that. Slept together when we both fell asleep from the exhaustion.'

"Hey, are you even listening to me?" Claudia asked, noticing the absent look in Tom's eyes.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about the details," Tom quickly explained himself, raising both of his hands up, trying to look innocent.

"It surely didn't look like that," Claudia replied, raising one of her eyebrows. She didn't pursue the topic, though, opting to take Tom's words at face value.

"Okay then, how about an emergency while the other party is out?" Tom asked. After all, everything they knew about the dungeon was nothing more but a bunch of conclusions from the prior experiences of others. 'While its unlikely something strange will happen, we cannot write such possibility off either,' Tom thought grimly.

"Try to defend, if impossible, attempt to retreat to the lower floor. Preferably, before going for the break, we should go back to the entry of the level." Claudia answered without even a shred of hesitation.

"And what if retreat won't be possible?" Tom asked with a light smile on his lips. "What should we do then?"

Claudia didn't answer right away. She took a deep breath before lowering her head and emptying her lungs out. Then she raised her head and looked at Tom.

"Everyone takes care of themselves." She replied. That was the ultimate rule of the dungeon raiding. It was impossible to reach the bottom floors without taking breaks, especially with a small party.

This popular rule was set in place in the community, not because of some shady moral clauses, but because it was the most rational decision. Rather than managing and silencing the conflicts, it was better to prepare everyone for a potentially disastrous outcome right off the bat.

"Good, then let's stop wasting time, and let's go!" Tom said, standing up from the bench. He stuffed his mouth with the last piece of the caloric candy bar he had on himself, munching on it as he split with the girl.

One logging sequence later, they meet at the lobby, surrounded by the familiar mass of sexless mannequins.

"Shall we?" Claudia said as soon as she noticed Tom. She then dropped a graceful curtsy while at it.

"Yeah, there is no point wasting time in the lobby," Tom said, directing his steps to the gate.

Soon, the boring part of the dungeon's raid begun. Tom covered himself in flames, cleaning up the way. Claudia followed fewteen steps behind, taking care of all the stragglers that somehow survived the liquid fire of Tom's spell.

The first change happened just like planned. Tom turned his everblaze spell off as soon as the tall body of the floor's boss fell to the ground. Claudia prepared herself for her turn.

Floor by floor, the two of them continued to push deeper into the dungeon. Their speed slowed down the deeper they went, as more and more powerful monsters continued to fill the corridors.

On the forty-fifth floor, Claudia asked for her first pause. Synonymous to a break in the dictionary, it had a different meaning during the raid. Because rather than logging off, Claudia sat down on the stone floor and closed her eyes.

"Why are you sitting down?" Tom leaned his head over his shoulder in curiosity.

"To recover stamina. Isn't it obvious?" Claudia answered with her own question, cutely leaning her head to the side as she embraced her knees close to her chest.

"Wait, you are not using mana?" Tom asked, startled by the sudden discovery.

"Huh? You didn't know?" Claudia almost jumped when hearing Tom's question. "I'm a brawler. Why would I use mana for in the first place?" she asked as she rubbed her chin.

"Well, that makes sense. Our skills are distributed in line with what we consider crucial to the rise of our strength, right?" Claudia asked after a moment of thought. "Since I never used mana, having stamina seems like a logical outcome." She added with a smile.

"Well, yeah..." Tom said, to dodge the topic. 'Her words make sense, but why I have this feeling that I'm missing something?' he asked himself, refusing to accept Claudia's logic.

'I know it's just a hunch,' Tom thought, closing his eyes for a moment. 'Or is it?'

A sudden idea popped up in Tom's mind. His mouth twitched, almost making him utter the reckless question right away.

"I can see you still want to say something," Claudia said as she put a small smile on her lips. "There is no need to hold back. Just ask away." She encouraged Tom, unknowingly only making it harder for the man to pose his question.

'Fuck it, I held back enough in the school.' Tom decided, raising his eyes on the girl. "Would you mind telling me how does it feel to run out of stamina?" He asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Claudia replied with a question on her own, sending a curious stare on Tom's face. "Just like in real life. My avatar turns heavy, my movement slows down." Claudia shrugged her shoulders. "Only the pain of exhaustion is missing."

"Huh?" Tom involuntarily left a small shout of surprise. "I see." He added after a moment, pretending to be satisfied with the answer.

'Just like running out of mana?' he asked himself. 'But even if I run dry, my movements won't be impaired at all!' Tom's mind spun in confusion. 'Is this just a matter of perception? Or...?'

The other explanation was so startling that Tom didn't even dare to voice it out in his thoughts.

"Okay then," Tom suddenly spoke up. "Let's start the real break right now," Tom announced.

"Excuse me?" Claudia's eyes turned wide open. She froze for a moment. "If you think I can't go on," her avatar spoke up, instantly burning through all the stamina she recovered.

"Don't waste your strength." Tom shook his head. "You can recover quicker. It seems to work the same way as mana." He shrugged his arms and rolled his eyes.

"In the worst-case scenario, we will learn something new," Tom said, revealing a charming smile. A smile unbefitting his avatar's cloaked face. "Girl, just take some rest," he added after a moment.

"Fine, I get it." Claudia shook her arms before sitting on her knees by the corridor's wall. Before long, her eyelids fell down. Her entire body went lumpy in a flash.

'Still,' just in case, Tom hid his worries by keeping them in his thoughts rather than voicing them out. Just in case the girl has yet to disconnect. 'The idea of this game actually being real...'

"No," Tom said against his own wishes, "it's too terrifying to think about that."

The young graduate took one last look at the lifeless body of Claudia's avatar before focusing on his own state.

He didn't use this during the invasion dungeon. His tactic was too rapid for that. But now, going for a fully fledged raid?

Tom didn't have any interest in holding back.

'Focus on every muscle.' Standing still, Tom familiarised himself with the avatar.

As if it was his original body.