'How long has it been already?' thought Tesse as she gasped for air, the hot sweat trickling down her body causing her shirt to become sticky.
The two of them had been going at it nonstop for nearly half a day, taking breaks only when one of them fainted.
So far Tesse had only managed to beat Gray twice in the past twelve hours, and on both occasions it was due to Gray fainting from Hypovolemic shock. (AN: sudden blood loss due to excessive us of the blood weapons skill,)
"It seems you're a fast learner, in the past twelve hours you've done well in keeping up with me. Even though my ability makes my attack pattern unpredictable, you've been able to defend against a good portion of my attacks."
"T-thank you master," replied Tesse as she breathed heavily, leaning on the bo-staff weapon she had been using to prevent herself from falling.
"From now on your main weapon will be the bo-staff. Out of all the weapons you fought against me with, I felt the most pressured when you used it,"
"Y-yes master,"
"I think this is enough training for today. We'll have to go searching for a dungeon tomorrow to test out the tactics we practiced,"
"Anyway, how many Arcanian points did you get from completing the first floor?" asked Gray as he returned the Mighty Sword to the mark on his hand and walked back into the house.
"U-uhm, two thousand, should I transfer them to master?" asked Tesse as she followed close behind Gray, using the bo-staff as a crutch.
"I'm not familiar with this currency system so I have no idea if transferring points is even possible., And anyway if I'm not mistaken the only items we get from the item shop right now are elixirs, so you might as well just spend your Arcanian points on those instead."
"So I should buy elixirs and hand them over to master?"
"That won't be necessary, however, based on our fights I noticed that your agility and stamina are severely lacking. Buy enhancement elixirs to make up for those weak points,"
"T-thank you master,"
"Thank you? We'll see about that," laughed Gray as he removed his clothes to take a cold shower.
"Oh, and prepare something, I'm famished," ordered Gray before stepping into the shower.
"Y-yes master," Tesse looked like she was about to collapse, however she still complied, her master's orders were absolute.
***
"Is this everyone?" asked Captain Duarte as he stood in front of seven of his men.
"It says a maximum of forty participants are permitted, however that doesn't mean all forty actually have to participate. If the other groups are late we will just have to start without them, they can follow in after, if they don't mind eating scraps that is," replied Sister Eleanor as she stood in front of seven other people dressed in white church attire.
"Very well then," replied Agent Ria, disappointment visible across her face. She had been hoping that Gray would show up at this raid since it was the first E-difficulty ruin to be discovered, however, it seemed as if Gray was as elusive as a ghost.
"Are you information guild bastards sure that you got the right details on this ruin?" asked another squad captain. He had blonde, slick back hair, and wore a black suit similar to that of the government officials from Agent Ria's squad, however it was blatantly clear that his was many times more expensive.
"Ofcourse we are, we have the ability to tell the difficulty of a dungeon, ruin or tower floor just by looking at the portal," replied a man in a brown hooded cloak, who was surrounded by at least fifteen other people with the same cloak, destroying any ideas that the guilds would've had about kidnapping him and using his abilities for themselves.
The problem of ruins and dungeons was that normally the difficulty would not be revealed upon entrance, but only when you cleared it. Meaning that people had no idea what dangers awaited them, this was especially dangerous since the only way out was through completion.
As the different groups were about to enter the portal a voice shouted out, "I hope you weren't planning on starting this party without us,"
'The Riot Guild' thought Agent Ria as she turned back to see where the voice was coming from.
"Judith it seems you made it, but where's Andre, is your guild leader so confident in you that he has failed to show up himself?" asked Agent Ria as she looked at The Riot's guild attack force with a suspicious gaze.
'They were able to amass thousands of followers within mere days, and most of them aren't your average lightweights. According to my intel, they currently control two towers and have given fierce opposition to any groups trying to take one away from them.'
'Last I heard they just recently completed the second floor of both their towers. Apparently it was all thanks to Andre, I was hoping to get a glimpse of him, but it seems both tower clearers are afraid of the sun,' thought Agent Ria as she turned back around to go through the portal.
"You needn't worry government bitch, the boss is completing the third floor of the tower as we speak. Pretty soon there won't be any country for you guys to govern, and your little tanks and weaponry will soon become useless in the face of abilities," replied Judith with a contemptuous gaze.
'Ahh yes, Judith Esparza, an orphan who had been abused for several years in the state orphanage. She ran away after killing one of the caretakers who allegedly tried to rape her, but the same government that should've been there for her locked her up instead. After that, she went through a long stint of crime, up til now she had several criminal offenses on her record,' remembered Agent Ria from the case file she had read when she was researching the Riot Guild.
'I don't blame her for hating the government, however,'
"Is that so?" asked Agent Ria as sparks of lightning bounced off her fingertips and she went through the portal.
"Best not anger her Judith. I's heard she's called Thor by some people," said one of the men who stood behind Judith.
"Thor? Like the hero? Don't make me laugh," laughed Judith as she walked through the portal as well.