Chapter 101 20.4 Engine Woes?

Okay, I've had enough. "Can we please just focus on the task at hand?"

"I agree!" Shizu quickly seconded, her eyebrows already twitching despite her usual smile. "We have a problem right now, and arguing with each other isn't going to solve it!"

"And on that, I agree, my Princess," Shade promptly thirded. "While we can argue on how the enemy discovered our location without even so much as tripping Imperial defenses, the first thing we have to do now is to make sure we all get out of this thing unscathed."

I nodded, "Agreed. And apart from Shen here, I'd assume that we're all capable fighters?"

In response, all of the so-called fighters raised their respective weapons at the ready. Maruki raised his sword and shield, while Shizu raised her fists with an excited smile on her face. Meanwhile, Guidance and Shade held up their keyboard and rose respectively. Kind of weird in terms of weaponry choice, but who was I to judge? I was sporting dual pistols myself, which was already kind of out of place in a fantasy world like this.

Then again, [Vestyge] did have steam-powered rifles. They were literally just a tech upgrade away from gunpowder. Hell, maybe they might even make something better than gunpowder weapons.

"Wait..." Hmm?

"Guidance?" I asked out, turning to the dev with my weapons already twirling in my fingers. "Something wrong?"

"This is a dungeon," Guidance trailed off. "Which means that we'll be limited to only four people going in."

An awkward silence followed her declaration. Shizu didn't say much, as did Shen and Maruki. No... Obviously, the honor of being the one to question such an arbitrary decision would be..

"What?"

Yep...

"What kind of nonsensical limitation is that?" Shade incredulously asked with a wave of his hand. "Why would we reduce our numerical advantage just so that we can meet our opponents equally?"

"W-well..."

Oh dear... "Can we not just think about it for a minute?" I sighed. "If Guidance says that we can only have four people going in, then only four people are going in."

"What?! That's stupid!"

"I know," I sighed. "But that's just how the world works, I guess."

Ignoring the fuming Shade, I turned to Guidance and voiced out my own concerns. "Alright, four people. Who are we sending in."

"I'm not taking no for an answer, by the way," Shizu suddenly chimed in with a manic smile on her face. "I'm going in there with you two, even if it means using my princess card."

"Okay? That's one down," I sighed. "I guess Guidance will be the second as a healer and me as the third... which means..."

"We need a tank," Guidance murmured out, her hand on her chin as she mulled over our options. "Currently though, we only have one, and that's Maruki."

"Am I needed, my Princess?!" Maruki yelled out with his chest puffed out. "My shield is yours for your protection!"

[Half Party]

I blinked at the prompt that suddenly appeared above me. I guess we now had an arranged party without me even doing anything. I guess it worked on consent or something?

"Well, I guess that's all taken care of," I shrugged. "All that's left to do is to clear this thing."

Looking at the portal shimmering in front of our only exit, the four of us all readied our respective weapons. Well, Shizu and I will be the main DPS, while Guidance and Maruki will keep us all alive supporting and tanking respectively. I didn't exactly know how it'd all turn out, but at least I had the general gist of it.

"N-no way... Are you seriously telling me to stay here?"

A sudden yelp echoed out from behind us. Turning around, Shade was almost shouting out in disbelief. I guess being benched did that to people.

"I came here to protect Lady Guidance and the Princess, not to be left behind because of some random body count when we need every advantage we can get," he righteously ranted. "I demand that you take me with you."

Predictably, he looked at Shizu, who then looked at me and Guidance for help if the obvious panicked expression on her face was any indication. I guess we could try?

"Fine, we can try," I shrugged. "We might as well see if it would even work."

Shade simply snorted as he walked closer to the group, Guidance only shaking her head as she positioned herself just a ways away from Maruki and us DPSs. We all stood there waiting, watching to see how this portal would even suck as in.

...

...Hmm... Okay? How does this work, exactly?

"If you're waiting for the dungeon to suck us in, it won't," Guidance scoffed. "The party leader has to approach the portal and trigger the dungeon. Which, of course, means you, Moriya."

O-Oh... "Okay then."

"Wait, the Princess isn't the leader of the group?" Shade scandalously asked.

"I trust Moriya with my life," Shizu quickly cleared up with a serious tone in her voice. "If he's going to be the leader of the party, then that's fine by me."

"Wha-"

I shook my head as I ignored yet another brewing argument in favor of approaching the portal. Reaching my hand out, my hand was washed over by the portal's swirling light, a prompt appearing in front of me as I-

[PARTY SIZE EXCEEDED]

Huh... I guess that answered that question. "Guys, we need someone to stay here, and I guess that'll be you, Shade."

"Huh?! What makes you say-"

"We need someone to watch over Shen," Shizu mischievously chuckled. "And you need some time to cool down anyway. Besides, you'll still be with a lady, right?"

"Wha-"

"Look, can we just get on with this?" Guidance sighed, her fingers tapping impatiently on her keyboard. "The longer we stay here, the more time these enemies would get to prepare."

[Half Party]

Seeing the prompt flash yet again in front of me, I could only assume that the system had acknowledged Shade no longer being a part of the party. I then quickly stretched my arm out to the portal again.

[Call of the Deep: Level 20]

[ENTER?]

"Moriya?"

I smirked at Shizu's excited tone. Turning back to the party, I flashed them all a smile as I uttered out my answer.

"[Yes]"

"Wait-"

Before I could even hear Shade's umpteenth rant, a flash of light engulfed the four of us, assuredly taking us to the start of the dungeon. I could only hope that this worked though.

Still, this was something new. I've been itching for some action, and now was the time to have it.

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