26 Chapter 27: The Strongest Party

"Back me up." Said the Red-Haired lady as she cut through the minotaurs as if they were paper

"What exactly am I supposed to back? You killed them all" Said the mage

"Huh? Did you say something?" She asked with a cold look in her eyes

"N-Nothing at all." He replied

So this is what the strongest party in Atlas is like. What amazing teamwork.

We're currently 5th floor, They have a map which contains the structure of the dungeon up to the 13th floor. It's been 4 hours since we left the boss room and they've accompanied us, so far.

They haven't asked me anything regarding how I fell into the trap or told me to explain what happened in the fight before they arrived, so I'm guessing they're being considerate of me.

I'm carrying Ariel on my back, she's fast asleep, and Serena has been observing the proclaimed strongest party and see, how they work as a team.

I did the same, it was pretty interesting. If the enemy was strong enough to survive the red-haired ladies attack and attack back. She would either dodge it or have the tank block it and kill the enemy. A simple, yet effective strategy.

The mage wasn't doing anything, or rather, he didn't need to. To be honest I wasn't sure what he was doing. He would occasionally chant something, but nothing would happen.

Maybe it was a buff? Like a speed or strength boost, buff? I wasn't sure what it was, but he seemed to be working hard, so I didn't ask. The mage also seemed interested in how in the spells I used against the spider, but he also didn't ask.

For the rest of the journey back, it felt awkward. But I didn't care, I always already in a good mood thanks to Ariel being fine. I couldn't ask for more. I wouldn't mind giving them all the gold coins I had, but judging by the way, their leader, the Red-Haired lady acts. She wouldn't accept or need it.

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After 6 hours we finally made it to the exit of the tower. It was night time and the fresh breeze felt amazing. It felt like I was being purified simply from inhaling the fresh air. I took a deep breath and let the nice cool air fill my lungs as I let it out in a singular motion as I exhaled.

"Thank you very much for accompanying us back. As requested, I'll answer your questions to the best of my ability as thanks." I said

"Thank you," Serena added on

"What well-mannered kids... It's fine the boss helped you because she was worried about you. She may act scary but she's honestly really soft." Said the tank

"Shut up..." Muttered the boss as she hid her face

"K-Kids..?" Serena said

"Y-Yes, is something wrong? Ah, my bad, I assumed you were a kid thanks to your looks. I'm sorry." Said the tank

"I-I look like a kid..." Serena muttered with an empty expression

"S-Sorry, I had no idea you were older." Said the tank

She seemed to have taken some emotional damage from his words. The fact that he was trying to be sincere must have hurt even more.

"Anyways, what are your names? if you don't mind me asking." I said

"Ah, that's right we haven't introduced ourselves. My name's Lee. The soft-hearted boss of ours is called rose-"

"What was that?" Rose asked

"The mage who you see quietly reading a book is Oliver and that priest who healed you is called Alex. We're all A rank adventurers." He said

"I see Nice to you. My name is John, The girl on my back is Ariel and This kid is called Serena."

"John, what did you just say?" Serena asked with an annoyed expression

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said as I shook my head

"Um, Rose, you said you're an A rank adventurer right? You see, John here was looking for A rank adventurers to fight. Do you mind sparring against him." Serena asked

Eh? Serena, you didn't just do that, did you... Well it should be fine Rose is soft-hearted after all, there's no way she'd access-

"Sure." Said rose

"W-Well, Rose has accompanied us this far, I'm sure you're quite tired right?" I said as I began to nervously sweat

"No, I'm fine." She said

I looked towards the tank with an expression that said 'please help me' but he looked away as if he were too afraid to stop her.

"L-Looks like we have n-no choice, when is the match?" I asked

"Now's fine, there's space and if anything happens Alex can heal you."

W-what did she just say? Am I going to die

"O-Okay..." I said as I handed Ariel over to Serena

Sorry, Ariel, I thought we'd be able to talk one last time, but it looks like my life will end tonight...

We prepared ourselves for the fight and got in our positions

"Very well, 3..." Said the Lee

O-On second thought, I think I'm a bit too tired

"2..."

I began sweating and looked towards Serena for help

"1..."

Serena gave me a mischievous smile and acted like it wasn't any of her business

"Go."

The moment he said go, I felt every hair on my body stand as Rose let out bloodlust.

"U-Um Ros-"

Before I could finish rose leapt forward and swung her leg in a motion to kick me. I barely dodged it by ducking. She then used that moment to direct another kick with her left leg while her body was turned.

I blocked that kick and my arms felt numb

"You're holding back aren't you..?" I asked

"What do you mean?" Rose asked

"You're not using your sword and you were much faster when we were fighting against the spider and other monsters in the dungeon," I said

"So you want me to use my sword... Okay." Rose replied

Eh?

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"It's my loss."

While facing the sky with my head on the floor, I surrendered.

It happened in an instant. She pulled out her sword and lept towards me. I pulled out my daggers and strengthened them to block her attack but when I did, she disappeared from my line of sight.

By the time I realized that she was above me, it was already too late. She hit me with the handle of the sword in the head and I fell.

In a real fight. I would've been dead. Things might have ended differently if I used magic, but I still would've lost. I lacked experience, losing sight of an enemy in a fight is something, not even magic can save you from.

"You did well, for a kid." Said rose

Hearing her words, put a tear on my eye. Rose, a red-haired, intimidating looking women, who was both good looking and scary. However, in her nature, she was a good person.

"Thank you, Let's fight again some time. Next time let's give it all we have and no holding back." I said as I wiped away my tear.

"Sure." She said

She was a quiet person though. I wonder if she's dating anyone. She's surrounded by guys so one of them should be her boyfriend, right? Well, whoever it is. Good luck!

"So John, how did it feel? Did you enjoy your A-Rank adventurer fight? Hm? Aren't you going to say that I told you so?" Serena said as she approached me

"Argh. Yes you were right, you told me so, I should've listened to you" I said

"Huh? John's admitting it? Did you perhaps hit your head or something?" She asked with a smile on her face

Calm down john... Thanks to her everything is fine, don't lose your cool.

"Remember what you said. 'I can easily defeat A-Ranks I'm not afraid of them'"

"Okay! I get it!"

"Haha, Are you mad?" Serena asked

"How can you be so annoying!" I shouted as I began to chase her around

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"So John, can you explain to us how you and your party ended up on the tenth floor?" asked Lee

"Of course," I said

Right now, we're in one of the restaurants in Atlas. After we finish talking, we're going to the guild to redeem our rewards. I killed a few monsters with Serena while we were going down the floors so we should be able to make quite some money, not to mention the giant magic stone from the spider

And, so I explained everything that happened to them. I told them how we had defeated the boss on the second floor and after walking on the third floor, we had lost signs of life. I also told them how everything started to turn to darkness and our only option was to enter the boss room which appeared out of nowhere

"That's... That doesn't sound like a normal trap. It felt lie the dungeon itself wanted to get rid of you. Or at least something controlling it." said lee

"That's right when you said trap. We assumed you might've fallen into a teleport circle, however from what you've said, there wasn't any room you stumbled upon or any teleportation. If it was teleportation you wouldn't have seen all that darkness or the destruction of the dungeon's structure" Said Oliver

He's quite talkative if it interests him, isn't he...

"Not to mention, the curse placed on you. That can only be done by monsters found in floor 15 or higher." Said, Alex

"Oh yeah, that curse Serena and rose talked about... Speaking of floors, how many floors are there in a dungeon? What's the furthest you've guys gone?" I asked

While we were heading up the floors, the number of other parties we saw increased I think we saw over 20 people in total, especially on the 4th and 5th floor.

"The dungeon you went to is the easiest one, it mainly contains weak monsters. There isn't a need to farm it. The amount of floors depends on the dungeon, but the one you went to in particular has 30. The furthest we've gone is 20" Said Lee

"And if you're planning on completing these dungeons, I suggest you don't. The kingdom can operate properly because of them. If you complete them they'll disappear, so unless you don't wish to become an assassination target or the enemy of the nation, it's better if you just use it to farm cash. There are other dungeons out there." Said, Alex

"I thought as much, thank you for the warning, but I never really planned to complete them. I just wanted to see how far I could get, and what the final boss would look like" I said

"They're a lot stronger than you can imagine." Said rose

"That reminds me, you guys farm the harder dungeons right? what's the furthest you've gotten on the hardest one out of the 4?" I asked

"The 5th floor on the red dungeon. Never attempt going there unless you have a full party." Said Rose

5th floor? are you serious? They reached 4x further in the beginner dungeon, how hard is the red dungeon?

"Understood," I replied

"The blue flame you made and the invisible wind blade. Can you show us it one more time?" Oliver asked

Looks like he was very interested in it.

"Sure, Ignis," I said as I lifted my finger

And above it, a small Blue flame was formed.

"!?"

"I don't think I would be able to use the wind blade in store, it's a bit dangerous," I said

"You... How are you able to use chantless magic?" Asked Oliver with a curious and surprised expression

"T-That is something I am not allowed to say, sorry," I said

"A kid was able to use magic without chanting... When researchers are still trying to find a way?! Who was your master?" He asked

"I'm not sure, I don't remember, but I lost memories of my past, but I do remember him being some sort of Great sage," I said

Lies, Complete lies. But honestly, I feel like if I don't say that, this dude will ambush me at night and torture me until I tell him. Nah, he may look addicted to the topic of magic to the point where he becomes talkative but there's no way. He'll try something like that, right?

"You said you can use wind blade right? That means you can use the chantless fire magic, Wind magic and ice magic?!" He continued

"How did you know I could use Ice magic!?" I asked

"I didn't, I saw residue of ice in the chamber, so I assumed it was either you or one of your party members. Either way, the fact that you can use all of these elements without chanting is something unheard of. People could try to kidnap you just to obtain the information." He said

It's too late. They already did. The king of haulfast

"It's fine, I'll be able to protect myself," I said

"And you're party members? You're putting them at risk. You and your members need to become stronger. Strong enough to reach the 20th floor together. I suggest you find a 4th member" Said lee

"Yeah..."

With my current strength, I'm weak. The only reason I've survived this far was thanks to good fortune. I should go to a church and start praying to God and thank him for giving me a second chance at life...

After we were finished eating, we went to the guild and exchanged our magic stones to money with Rose's party.

In total, we had killed 5 minotaurs from the 5th floor, 10 spiders from the 9th floor, rested through the 8th, 7th and 6th floor and killed 10 Wolves from the 4th floor. We didn't have any more space so we didn't kill any more.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to fight any other boss as the boss won't spawn if you're climbing up. It only spawns if you're heading downwards. But it's fine, we already got the magic core needed.

"Right so, 5 Minotaur magic stones which are 5 Gold in total. 10 Big spider magic stones which are 30 Gold coins in total. 10 Wolves which is 5 Gold coins. Here's your reward 40 Gold coins." Said the receptionist as she handed it to me with a dumbfounded expression

"Thank you," I Said as I took the reward

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"Are you sure you don't want to sell it?" Asked lee as he pulled out the Spider queens magic stone from his toolbox and handed it to me

Thankfully we were in the inn and so no one had seen us. Otherwise, people would've tried to rob me while I was asleep or even awake.

I took the stone and put it into my toolbox before saying. "It's fine, I'll use it to improve my parties strength"

"Well said," Said rose

"Well then, we'll be leaving" Said Lee

"Yes, Thank you again for all the help," I said

"No worries, if anyone messes with you. Come tell us, we'll teach them a lesson." Lee said

"Yeah," Rose added

I never knew one word from one person could make me feel so safe.

"Understood, till we meet again," I said as I waved at them

They waved back and left

"Is it okay for such a kind and cool party to exist?" I asked

Their kindness had deeply moved me

"Let's go to sleep john, I'm really tired." Said, Serena

"Okay. Let's go sleep, I'm also quite tired myself." I said as I carried the sleeping Ariel on my back

And just like that, our temporary team with the coolest and strongest party in Atlas ended.