A Change Of Heart

Cosmos had no idea why Rhydderch was in such a hurry. After all, it was still in the middle of the day and yet he was rushing out as if it was early morning.

"Why exactly are we going to the First Outerlayer?" Cosmos asked, wide-eyed.

"Just come with me."

Without saying another word, Rhydderch readjusted his collar and headed out of the Lomenschwaal Guild. This was a rare occurrence since the guild master never really goes out of the guild that much.

In fact, he only does it when there's an emergency.

That's why the adventurers who were in the guild were shocked to see their guild master heading out in the middle of the day.

Confused, Cosmos inevitably followed suit. She didn't really have that much of a choice, that's why she went with him anyway.

Rhydderch rushed to the back of the guild and he immediately hopped on his favorite white horse. "Come on," He called out to Cosmos, lending her a hand.

Once she was comfortably sitting behind him, Rhydderch let out a 'hiyah' and the horse took off.

By the looks of it, Cosmos could tell that there really was an emergency. After all, they were traveling there by horse, which meant that they needed to get there as soon as possible.

"Hang in there, Albrecht. Hang in there," Rhydderch kept on repeating in his head as he urged his white horse to gallop even faster.

— — —

F-Rank Dungeon,

"Can he really defeat the next dungeon? It's at least a B-Rank Dungeon, right?" Hex Cruxio asked as the three of them set up a bonfire so they could cook a warm meal.

There wasn't really anything left to do but to wait for a rescue that might not even come.

"I mean... he did single-handedly defeat an F-Rank Dungeon Boss." Erwin Knighthood reasoned out. Then again, it was a ridiculous thought that Albrecht could conquer the B-Rank Dungeon alone.

After all, a B-Rank Dungeon could only be conquered by a bunch of Gold and Platinum Rank Adventurers. And to top it all off, they need a suitable team composition in order to clear the dungeon successfully.

"A B-Rank Dungeon? There's no way he could do it." Natalie shrugged it off but at the back of her mind, she was genuinely worried for Albrecht. "Hey... shouldn't we—"

Before Natalie could say the next few words, Hex cut her off by raising his voice. "Don't say it," Hex mumbled.

Honestly, Hex was reminded of his younger days as an adventurer, free-spirited, and wasn't afraid to jump straight into danger. It was a miracle that he was able to survive this long due to how audacious he was.

After his two children came into his life, the level of risks he took as an adventurer was considerably reduced. He had a family to protect and to provide for, after all.

Nevertheless, he felt the urge to jump into action and help Albrecht conquer the B-Rank Dungeon. They were Gold Rank Adventurers themselves, and Albrecht's skills could easily pass as someone in the Platinum Rank.

However, there was too much risk involved, and that's why Hex's first reaction was to pull back and wait for rescue like a coward.

"We should... at least if he's with us, we'll have a chance at conquering the B-Rank Dungeon," Erwin spoke up. Now that he's calmed down a bit, he felt like he had just shown an embarrassing side of his to everyone.

He didn't want to be labeled as a coward, so he picked himself up and walked toward the B-Rank Dungeon.

"Screw it!" Hex grunted as he equipped his sword and his shield a second time. "We're going in. It's all or nothing."

—

B-Rank Dungeon, Ylsafa's Lair,

Detecting his presence, the dungeon boss Ylsafa let out an ear-shattering roar that almost threw Albrecht off balance. Fortunately, Albrecht didn't have a hint of hesitation in his steps, and he was able to approach Ylsafa before his first attack.

[Skill 'Saddim's Touch' activated]

[Goblin King's Pincer Lance equipped]

[Tome of Unbending Earth equipped]

Albrecht had no idea that the Tome of Unbending Earth given to him by Hldrmir (Overseer of Earth) was actually an 'equippable' weapon.

Initially, he thought that the tome only contained skills related to the element of Earth... but who would've thought it had the same characteristics as normal tome weapons.

Sensing the incoming threat, Ylsafa leaped backward before firing an electric energy ball at Albrecht. It was a homing attack, and Albrecht had no choice but to deflect it or let it hit him... otherwise, it would follow him to no end.

"I just need to hit it with something else," Albrecht muttered to himself as he summoned an earth wall behind him. Thanks to the Tome of Unbending Earth, he was able to do it without any difficulty.

He didn't have any attunement to the Earth element, but he was still able to use such a skill.

The earth wall did shatter after it was hit by the electric energy ball, but it did its job. Albrecht continued closing in on the Ylsafa who kept on running away.

Another electric energy ball was fired, and before Albrecht could prop another earth wall, a volley of fireballs shot at him.

He had no choice but to dodge all of them. Before the first one hit, he sidestepped and swung the Goblin King's Pincer Lance. He put up two more earth walls to block the incoming fireballs.

Because Albrecht had a hard time dealing with the attack combo, Ylsafa got into a comfortable position which was quite a distance for Albrecht to cover.

Then it started charging up its AOE attack.

"What the—" Albrecht let out. He couldn't believe that the dungeon boss was actually this smart. Since it had gained distance from Albrecht, there was no way he could interrupt its charge-up.

"Sylvia! Use your escape rope, right now!" Albrecht screamed at the top of his lungs. Even he had no idea whether he could tank the attack or not.

[Ylsafa's Electric and Fire Domain activated]

[Five seconds until Lightning Fire Discharge]

Albrecht gritted his teeth as Ylsafa let out a roar. It set off its unavoidable AOE attack.

"Shi—" Albrecht stabbed the Goblin King's Pincer Lance on the ground and surrounded himself with earth walls to minimize as much damage as he could.

Even then, he still wasn't confident about surviving the fire and lightning storm.

Aegis Shield!

As the AOE attack filled the entire boss room, Albrecht felt warm divine light touching his skin. A sizeable yellow orb surrounded him, shielding him from the attack. He didn't suffer a sliver of damage.

"What's going on?" Albrecht asked.

From afar, he recognized a couple of familiar faces. One of them was raising his sword to the sky.

It was Hex Cruxio, and with him was the rest of the Spiderweb Party.

"I hope we weren't late." Hex casually greeted. "Now let's clear this dungeon and get out of here."