Chapter 21: The Arrival of Moonlight Riders

Chapter 21: The Arrival of Moonlight Riders

While following the scream, both Ary and Erica ran toward the right, and soon enough, they found themselves on the dark ground full of stinky dark mud.

"What is this?"

Ary called out while glaring at the mud with an uneasy expression on his face.

"Yuck! It smells so awful."

Erica covered her nose due to the foul smell coming from the mud.

"S-Stay away from me!!! Somebody, help!!!"

"Hmm?!"

They both shifted their gaze to the right and saw a girl with black hair and a pair of blue eyes trembling in fear as a goblin got nearer to her.

"Hmph."

Ary responded, and while tightening the grip of his blade, he ran toward that goblin.

"Wait, Ary!"

Erica tried to stop him since she thought that it would be dangerous.

However,

"Ice blade!!"

*SLASH*

While yelling for an attack, he slashed the goblin in two.

"Eh...?"

Just by glimpsing this, Erica was left dumbfounded.

While swinging his blade to remove the purple blood of the goblin, Ary glared at that girl and asked,

"Are you alright?"

"Th-Thank you..."

That girl replied, still petrified by the incident that happened to her.

"Don't worry, he won't harm you anymore. Here, get up."

Ary comforted her and extended his right arm toward her to get up.

"Um, thank you..."

She seemed impressed by Ary's gentle nature.

However,

"That witch... staring at my Ary..."

With a terrifying voice, Erica mumbled while giving her furious gaze at that girl.

"Ding!"

Suddenly, the book of Almita made a dinging sound.

"Hmm?"

Ary responded as his eyes fell to his right shoulder.

<Skill upgrade:- Lifeforce Assimilation LVL 2>

Instead of unlocking another skill, it upgrades skills.

"Wait, what? Why not another new skill?"

Ary asked. It was new to him to know that there was no new skill this time, even after doing an action.

<Host, you should focus on strengthening your skills as well. It would be problematic for you if you only got skills but no upgrades.>

Almita reported.

"Ah, fine."

Ary replied, still not completely satisfied.

"Wow...your book can talk."

That girl was left stunned after seeing Almita talking.

"Hahaha. Yeah, it can."

Ary replied with a little laugh.

"Mary!!"

Suddenly, a soft voice was heard from behind them.

"Hmm? Ah, Mike, Emily."

That girl, Mary, called out as she saw a boy and a girl coming toward her.

"Hmm? What?!"

Ary glared at them and was left startled as they saw their appearance.

"J-Jack...Jinne..."

He called out in a low yet surprised voice.

"Hah, thank goodness, you're fine."

Emily said in a relieved voice as she arrived in front of Mary and gently grabbed her hands.

"Yeah,"

Mary assured them while glancing at Ary. She admitted,

"He saved me. If he wasn't here, then maybe I would be a goner for sure."

"Oh!"

The boy reacted.

Then, he stepped toward Ary, and while bowing a little, he thanked him, saying,

"Thanks a lot, man."

"A-Ah, yeah, no problem."

Ary replied in a slightly apprehensive voice.

The reason why he was shocked was that both that boy and girl, Mike and Emily, had the same appearance as Jack and Jinne. It seemed like both Jack and Jinne had been resurrected.

"Um, Ary. What's the matter?"

Erica asked after seeing him spacing out.

"A-Ah, it's nothing."

Ary lied and pondered,

'It might be some kind of coincidence.'

Unexpectedly, a voice brought him back to his senses.

"By the way,"

"Hmm?"

Ary reacted as his attention shifted to Mike.

Mike forwarded his right hand and introduced himself,

"I'm Mike Shanahan."

Then, he pointed his index finger toward Mary and Emily and commented,

"And they are my friends. Emily Willians and Mary Jim."

After introducing themselves, Mike gave him a friendly smile.

Ary smiled back and introduced himself,

"Nice to meet you, Mike. My name is Ary Inochi."

Yet again, after hearing, "Inochi," all three of them were left startled.

They didn't reply but glared at Ary.

Ary showed a fake smile as he understood why they were gazing at them and responded,

"It's just a mere coincidence that my surname matches that of the 1st Warrior. Nothing special. Please don't mind it."

After hearing Ary's testimony, they seemed to believe it.

After realising that they believed him, Ary showed his right palm at Erica and introduced her,

"And this is Erica Kisai. My friend-Ouch!!"

After getting called "friend," Erica kicked on Ary's right foot and then showed a smile at Mike and others and introduced herself again, saying,

"Nice to meet you all. My name is Erica Kisai. Ary's fiancee, not a friend."

Then, she glanced at Ary and asked, in a terrifying voice,

"Right~ Ary~"

"Y-y-y-yeah, right. Hehehe."

With a fake smirk, Ary confirmed.

Actually, he didn't want to reveal this, yet Erica felt jealous after being called a "friend,"

"Pfft. Hahaha hahaha."

After seeing this play, Mike burst out in laughter, while Mary and Emily were just smiling. And then, while removing the tears from his eyes that had come because of laughter, Mike said,

"Hahaha. Man, you two are so hilarious."

Then, with a smile, he suggested,

"By the way, since we are all together, what about we hunt monsters together? Let's form a team."

Then he glanced at Ary and asked,

"What did you think?"

And Ary, who had already thought of it, nodded and replied with a smile,

"Yeah, sure."

The reason why they agreed that easily was because Mike and Emily got confident that Ary and Erica were good since they saved Mary. n--OVElbIn

And as for Ary and Erica, Erica agreed since Ary agreed, and Ary agreed because he saw the reminiscence of Jack and Jinne in them, which prompted the unconditional gratitude in his heart.

Yet their decision was right because the dungeon was full of dangerous monsters. If they didn't work together, then maybe they would face another danger. That's why it was better to face it together than face it alone.

While tightening the grip of his blade, Ary stepped forward, but suddenly he halted. He pondered,

'Why am I getting a bad feeling now?'

Unexpectedly,

"RARRGRRRRRR!!!!"

"Hmm?!"

They all got alerted as they heard these howling noises.

"W-What's that?!"

Mike said, in an alerted voice, and out of worry, he extended his right arm and called out,

"Warmita!"

A scythe with a sharp blue edge appeared on his right arm.

"Armina!"

Emily called out, and a fierce bow with blue stripes appeared on her right arm.

"Mataton!"

Mary called out, and a healer's staff appeared in her arm.

"Ah..."

Ary saw that healer's staff in Mary's hand and realised why Mary was helpless before. She was a healer and didn't know about combat.

While standing on alert, Ary glanced at Erica, who was standing while tightening her staff, and pondered,

'It seems like we have two healers in our group. Though I have to protect Erica and others no matter what!'

"Grrrrr!!!!"

While howling, a group of unknown beasts appeared from the inner side of the dungeon.

"W-What are they?"

Emily called out in a slightly confused as well as fearful voice.

"Ding!"

Suddenly, Almita made a dinging voice.

"Hmm?"

Ary reacted as his eyes shifted to Almita.

<Moonlight rider has been discovered.

Ability:- Fire burn and Dark Beam.

Weakness:-None.

Rank:- S-ranked beast.>

Almita reported.

"What the-?!"

Mike was left flabbergasted after hearing the rank of the beast.

"S-ranked...?!"

Mary and Emily were left scared since they may have been ranked lower than this.

The beasts were made of dungeon rock, with lava-covered eyes and a dark aura surrounding their bodies.

Their appearance looked kind of scary.

"Ary..."

Erica called out in a slightly uneasy voice after hearing the ranking of the beast.

Ary didn't respond but tightened the grip of his blade and mumbled in a serious tone,

"This is going to be one hell of a battle."