I stood alone in the arena. My body was burnt, my limbs felt like lead. I stood up staring at the man being dragged away, his carefree smile and wave as his legs trailed behind his body. How could such a man hold that much power. How could a human be that terrifying?
As promised, two weeks later I heard a knock at our door. I opened the door to see Celdrick standing in front of me beaming his careless smile. His glasses sparkled in the red sunlight.
"Well this is quaint."
"Celdrick, what do you want?"
"Now is that anyway to greet a good friend," he said barging into the room. He was wearing similar clothes as before. "Wow such a small room and only one bed?" he gasped in an overly dramatic fashion bringing his hands to his mouth.
"Oh shut up, I'm sleeping on the floor."
"Ah yes I see that you're in no mood to joke so I'll be brief. We have a raid in an hour. I apologise for the late notice but I only just got back to town."
"All right I'll get Avon and meet you there soon." I pushed him out of the room his seemingly stupid demenor annoying me.
I walked down to the arena and stared at Avon who was panting and sweating standing in front of a pile of bodies. He had been fighting non stop since my fight with Celdrick.
"Avon! Drink this and come with me."
I tossed him a stamina potion and we walked off into town. I was hunched again walking behind Chaaya. I still felt sick at the sight of humans, it wasn't as severe but a crowd like this made me sick to my stomach.
'Alert: Skill activated - "Dragon wing" '
I flew up to the rooftops hovering above the town following Avon and Chaaya, focused on their heads as I drifted along in the sky. It wasn't long until we reached the gate, I dropped to the ground surrounded by a group of six adventurers. They all stared at us so intently, I felt sick again, their gases piercing my skull like a splitting headache. In front of me was: a woman with long black hair, she was wearing silver armour and had a long thin sword. She was the same woman who dragged Celdrick from our match. There was a large man who had a long beard and yellow eyes, he had a huge smile and an axe slung over his shoulder. There was a smaller girl who had purple hair and a long wooden staff. There was a man with short blond hair and a bow. He was skinny and wore light leather armour he had a cigarette hanging from his mouth.. There was a small kid with scruffy black hair and black eyes, he looked angry seeing us. He had a black sword. There was a giant man who towered above us. He must have been seven feet. He had a greatsword that dropped by his leg. Finally there was a heavily armoured man who had a short sword and a golden cross emblazoned on his chest plate. He was wearing a pair of glasses and stood rigid and unmoving; he looked so scared.
"Ah it appears everyone is here. Allow me to introduce the newest additions, Everyone this is Rhy he's a summon and incredibly powerful. Then there is his master Chaaya. And of course my sweet sweet brother who I love so very much Avon!"
The the first woman walked up to me and whispered in my ear
"I saw your fight with the lord, I will have my eye on you if you so much as think of hurting my dear lord I shall kill you in an instant you damned slave."
The larger man walked up to me and slapped me on the back. "Don't mind her, she's just devoted to Celdrick. My name is Raiden and She is Rina. Good luck rookies"
The next to approach us was the small girl."Um I am Fion and um I am the healer um if you get injured please um tell me."
Then the tall man came up to me with the archer. "Good luck kids and don't die"
They walked off and the angry kid came towards us. "Just give up on clearing this gate and go back to your pathetic lives you'll just slow down the master." he walked off with an air of superiority, it was one that almost all of these people gave off, the arrogance and smugness.
'Alert: Celdrick has opened an A-rank gate'
"Without further ado shall we go."
We all walked into the gate, the blue light swallowing us. We emerged on a beach. The yellow sand glowing golden under our feet. Suddenly a charging sound washed over the peaceful area. It sounded like thousands of galloping horses, but in fact it was a herd of centaurs all holding spears to their sides running through the shallow water, their spears cutting into the clear blue water. The group sprung into action like a well oiled machine, the archer fired the first shots, his arrows arching into the heads of the centaures. Then the well armoured man and the angry kid jumped into the water attacking the hybrids. I snapped out of my daze activating my wings and flying to their aid landing on the back of a centaur I stabbed it in the back then jumping up into the air I landed on the back of the centaur plunging my sword into the horse's back. Its legs buckled and it splashed in the water as I faced the hooves of the next one, my sword stabbing into the underside of the centaur, its spear slashing my arm. I jumped up again falling into the centaurs face with my sword cutting down its body. Why is this so easy? Since when did A-ranks become childs play? Damn it when did I get so strong, it seems like only yesterday I was losing to D-ranks. My sword ripped through the enemies so easily, it was like my body was moving on its own. Only a few months ago I was stuck in a dead end job and now I was fighting monsters like it was breathing. What happened to me? In what seemed like seconds the centaurs were dead. The group sat down on the beach staring out into the ocean. Celdrick walked out into the water, his feet submerged in the reflection of the sky as he entered the stone doors. A few moments later he emerged, the boss lying behind him crumbling to ash as we walked out of the gate, my face consumed by awe. He killed an A rank monster in moments. Just how much power does he have? We left the gate and walked out into the sun.