Just Like The Old Days

Dawning his violet coat, Wolf carried with himself a rustic greatsword. He'd left it behind at the guild a year ago, and thankfully Felicia kept good records. Covered in chipped pieces at the edge, the blade was far from ideal for killing the Salamanders, however, with his reliance on weapons being too minimal, he only carried the sword to get a slight bump in his overall stats.

『 Rustic Greatsword

 Grade: D

 Durability: D

 Str: 150+

 Def: 20+ 』

Due to the lack of upkeep, the weapon's stats had degraded tremendously. But that mattered little to Wolf as he had two perfectly working fists to replace it in case it broke mid-battle. Carrying the sword over his shoulder, the dull side resting by his neck, the barbarian followed Renee close as her party leader led the group deeper and deeper into a cave.

A bit distracted, he decided to take a quick look at his stats and strategize for when they finally run into a giant salamander. Closing his eyes while still following Renee by the sound of her footsteps, Wolf began skimming through his abilities. A clear sheet with golden borders appeared in his head, it was nothing new, but the fact that such a thing even existed in everyone's mind, was fascinating to him always.

『Wolf De' Didact

 Class: Elemental Barbarian

 Class Type: Hybrid - [Magic+Physical]

 Occupation: Aristocrat

 Status(With Equipment):

 Str: 4950

 Def: 1960

 Dex: 400 

 Agility: 2550

 Mana: 5400

 M.Atk: 8xB - [Magic Skill Multiplier]

 M.Def: 400

Spells:

 Aris Magna

 Aris Blizza

 Ifrit Magna

 Yukki Blizza

Active Abilities:

Magi-fusion - [Caster can use spells to strengthen physical strikes]

Elemental Brawler - [Caster can infuse its body with mastered elements]

Passive Abilities: 

Barbaric Rage -[ Caster gains a boost in adrenaline and stats during battles]

The Rush of Battle - [Caster's body resists fatigue and pain during battles] 』

"Hey? Wolf!" Getting nudged on his side by Renee, Wolf finally came back to his senses. Upon opening his eyes, he noticed everyone looking at him. He'd been lost in thoughts trying to figure out what skills would be best against the salamander, not realizing that his not paying attention to the present was far more dangerous than charging in without a plan in the future.

"Sorry, I was thinking about how to handle the monster…" He said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

Clicking his tongue in response, Kein spared not a second to let his frustrations be known. Staring at the barbarian with a razor-sharp glare, he was being held back only by his girlfriend's hand tugging him forward.

"Try not to daydream too much, we're not on a picnic!" He screamed and his voice echoed throughout the dank cave. The rippling effect of his voice through the cave made everyone's ears ring for a moment, however, unbothered himself, Kein continued moving forward.

"What's his deal?" Wolf mumbled and with a light tug on his hand, Renee got his attention.

Keeping their distance from the deranged couple, Renee explained to Wolf everything that she knew about the perverts. From drugging young female adventurers to trying to drug her as well, she detailed to him everything that she'd experienced while traveling with them. But then arose the obvious question.

"Then why are you still with them?" Wolf asked, not entirely sure of Renee's intentions.

"Because–" Right as she was about to answer, a loud screech came rushing from the front. Something was moving and the singular path of the cave ensured that it would run into them soon enough. As rocks began falling from the mud ceiling, the group tried to rush back, but out of nowhere, a giant salamander's hand tore through the walls behind them. 

Digging more and more, it only took the creature a few seconds before its green scaly head poked out of the crater. Slithering its tongue like a rattle, the monster sensed them through their odor that lingered in the air. Blind in those deceptively sharp-looking golden eyes, it turned towards the men and women, its claws ready to tear them apart and gorge in their innards. 

"GYAAAAAA!" Screaming in their faces, the creature sprayed the party with its poison breath. And while it didn't bring the party to its feet just yet, their lungs grew heavy and they could feel their windpipes closing ever so slightly.

"F-fuck!" Yelped Kein as he tried to step back. Tripping on an expected rock just behind him, however, he hit his head against the hard floor, nearly knocking himself out. 

With the salamander to their front closing in on them, neither Wolf nor Renee could afford to turn around and help him. Keeping up their defenses, they left that task to Terra but just as she turned to her boyfriend, she noticed something that froze her in place.

"S-salamander! ANOTHER ONE!" The red-scaled salamander chasing them was just a mere few feet away from Kein. Charging in his direction, the creature had its mouth wide open to gulp her boyfriend whole as soon as it gets to him. 

"Deal with it yourself! We're busy here too, you idiot!" Still upset about the two having picked the salamander quest, Renee didn't want to help them at all. If anything, the best possible result of this expedition would've been the both of them being eaten by the monsters.

"W-what the hell was that?" Watching Keign getting up and paired with Renee's scream, Terra managed to pull herself together. And although still quaking in her boots, she stretched her staff towards the charging creature and yelled.

"ARIS MAGNA!" Concentrating on the spell, she shot a massive fireball at the salamander and the moment it hit him, the creature crashed into the wall next to him. The smell of its burnt flesh quickly flooded the dark cave, but the creature wasn't yet defeated for in just a few seconds it got up and this time, it looked at the mage and began charging at her instead.

As it all happened, Renee and Wolf wrestled with the green-scaled female. Wasting no time as the creature was charging at him, Wolf threw the giant sword in his direction and its rustic edge barely dug into its head. 

"YAUGHHH!" Falling to the strike, the monster struggled for a moment but then wrapping its tongue around the sword's handle it twirled the weapon in the air before throwing it back at Wolf and Renee. 

Dodging the attack without much effort, the two gave each other a knowing glance and charged at the monster instead of waiting for it to charge at them. Sensing them getting closer by their body heat and odor, the salamander turned around and tried to whip them with its tail. However, being outmatched in agility and dexterity, the creature couldn't hope to hit either of them–especially not while being in immense pain.

"What rank are these again?" Wolf asked Renee as the two took a firm grip on opposing walls of the cave. With the salamander in their middle, the two spared a few seconds to chat with each other. "I remember them being tougher."

"Probably a juvenile, the mature ones must be deeper in guarding their eggs!" Renee responded, and in turn with a nod, Wolf leapt towards the monster's head, his fists raised high and his hands frozen under a solid brick of ice.

"AUGHHH!" Screaming his heart out as he slammed his fist against the monster's cranium, he felt his passive activate–giving the barbarian a sudden rush of adrenaline. "DIE YOU FREAK!"

The first strike brought the salamander's head crashing to the ground, and from there, the barbarian wasted not a second to land the next blow to its mouth and knock its teeth down the monster's throat. His fist still frozen, Wolf swung his fist like a sledgehammer trying to bring an entire building down. Creating a bigger and bigger crater with every strike, it wasn't lost before the monster's head was nothing but a pile of mush in a ten-foot ditch.

"That should do it," still under the rush of battle, the barbarian cackled to himself for a while, but then hearing Terra's voice struggling against the salamander, he knew that his job there was not yet done.

'Fucking amateurs, why come here if you can't handle the weakest encounter?' By the time he was done smashing the head of the male salamander into mince, both Kein and Terra had fallen unconscious from breathing too much of the poison. And that should've been all for the day, but then Renee found something unexpected on their bodies while checking up on them.

'These fuckers! I KNEW THEY COULDN'T BE TRUSTED FOR A SINGLE SECOND!' It was a stack of notes the two had passed to each other while walking at the front. Trying to hide their intentions from the two following them, both Kein and Terra talked about sending Wolf and Renee forward as soon as they encountered a salamander; and once the battle was ongoing, Terra would cause a cave-in with her magic–effectively trapping the duo from escaping. 

"Is everything okay?" Asked Wolf. Having noticed her reading those notes, he wondered what they could've held to have her so visibly disturbed.

"I'm fine, let's head back for today," and with that, Renee decided to end the expedition.

However, not in the least was she done with her party members, and thus parting with Wolf for now, she decided to take them somewhere special–a place where they would face the consequence of their actions.