Harsh Realities

Theo was looking at the men in front of him, he knew that the worst-case scenario was that they would kill him. And from what he saw, it was what they were planning to do but he was not going to let them touch him without giving them a fight. 

"What in the world is wrong with you?!" Theo said as he pulled out his weapon, it was a staff that could be extended into a 272.9cm spear. He was not going to let his guard down knowing that they were up to something. "Tell me, what in the world is your deal?!" 

The leader of the ghastly ghouls let out a sigh, he was looking at Theo and he knew that there was nothing funny about an A-rank preparing for battle. He was going to make sure that one of them would go down. 

"Geez I wish there was a way for me to explain but you won't be able to understand a thing I say." He walked closer to him, an odd grin on his face. "Like the F rank said, bless his poor soul. Humans are rats, but it turns out that I am leading one of the biggest pack of them." 

The ghouls began to taunt Theo with their laughter, they were looking at him knowing that he was outmatched and there was no way for him to even do anything to walk away. 

"We didn't join you because we needed a mission or the money, but yeah we need the money why else would we be doing this." The leader turned to look at his team, they began laughing again. 

'I have had enough!' Theo thought to himself, he took his stance looking at the warriors in front of him. Theo leaped into the air, his target was the leader, determined to take him down with one blow. 

"Look out!" One of the ghouls gave his boss a heads-up, and the leader turned blocking Theo's spear before it hit him. 

"Now Mr. Sung, we dont want to do that do we now?" He pulled out a mace, he was looking at Theo. "It won't be a fair fight if you knock me out like that." He used the mace to push Theo back. 

Theo moved back one foot, he was standing in front of the cave knowing that he was going to be facing all of them at once. 

'Nathan Cruz, A rank combatant former B rank Berserker now he is the leader of the third deadliest mercenary guild in the association. On top of that he is also a fire elemental, this is not going to be easy.' Theo was looking at them, his thoughts running wild for options and he saw that there was no way for him to walk out of this without breaking something. 

Nathan tilted his head while looking at Theo, "If you think facing me, is going to make a difference then you must be delusional. This is the fun part of it, I can watch as the poor leaders of the squad we join think of a way to deal with us but then they find out that nothing is going to save them." 

Theo's eyes widened, he was shocked when he heard Nathan's words. "You have been doing this for a long time?!" 

"Of course! Why do you think I picked you? Do you think we needed it?! This is the last one before we form our guild, so the compensation fee will be nice. After all, you and that F rankFrankdn't be worth anything." 

Theo was enraged when he heard that, he held his spear firmly. "You animal!" 

He yelled as he launched himself towards Nathan, but when in the air a warrior loses balance to dodge any attack coming from another angle. The ghouls had anticipated the attack. 

Theo's attack was blocked, and Nathan held it down with his mace. 

"Now don't rush into anything without calculating Mr. Sung," Nathan said before he kicked Theo back, Theo trying to catch his breath noticed the other ghouls coming for him. They all attacked him at once not giving him a moment to think of a way to counter, he was being pushed back to the cave entrance as he watched them throw various attacks on him. He tried his best to block them off, but Theo showed them that his rank was not a joke. 

"This guy is impressive! He is blocking everything we throw at him!" One of the ghouls said with a smile on his face, Theo was locked into the battle. He was trying to break the ghoul's synchronization he knew it was the only thing that would be able to give him an edge to even think of winning. 

Despite being outnumbered five to one, Theo fought with such skill that would have given two A-rank trouble. Theo was able to push one of the ghouls down. He had taken down one of the attackers making it easy for him to see who he was going to be facing next. 

'Now if I am going to be able to keep this up then...' Theo turned to see Nathan coming for him, he blocked the blow with his spear pushing Nathan back. 

"Come on now Mr. Sung! Don't tell me you are getting tired already!" Nathan began delivering barrages of blows, Theo deflected Nathan's stikes with error-free movements, his grip tightening around his spear. He knew amongst all the enemies there, Nathan was the real danger. 

"I am not going to back down!" Theo struck his spear to the ground sending a blast of wind that brought the other ghouls down. He was now facing Nathan alone, he would make sure that he would end the fight before long, and he was not going to risk dying there. 

"Very good, Mr. Sung! Very impressive! Give me more!" Nathan increased his speed, seeming to enjoy the fight. 

Every blow Nathan threw at Theo, he blocked, trying his best to give it back to him sharper and faster. He managed to stand his ground, pushing Nathan back. 

Nathan seeing this was impressed, he knew that Theo was not just a joke and he would not find it easy to even win if they were alone. "Very good! But you see Mr Sung, on the battlefield you have to be open to anything!" 

Theo hearing this looked to his side and saw that the mage in Nathan's squad had conjured up a spell. Before he could dodge the spell hit him breaking his balance. 

Theo was about to catch his breath, but they were not going to let him get the chance to do so. Using his mace Nathan managed to hit Theo so hard that he was pushed into the cave, bringing an end to their fight. Theo was trying to get up when Nathan used another fireball to send Theo flying into the cave, lucky for him he used his spear to block the attack so he would be able to reduce the damage.

"Now that's done." Nathan had a smile on his face, he placed his mace back into his holder, he turned to his squad. "Block that cave entrance," 

They nodded, and without wasting any time they sent blasts to the top of the cave bringing down rocks with a large thud closing Nathan and Darius in. 

Nathan smiled before he turned to look at his team. "Now they are going to be the monster's problem. Let's roll out!" 

The Ghastly Ghouls turned to leave the dungeon, leaving Theo and Darius to their fate. 

***** 

Theo had landed inside the cave, he was barely conscious given that he had managed to take hits that should have killed him. He looked up to see that there was no way out for him, he also knew that there was no way for him to escape this place alone. 

'Damn it!' He cursed under his breath as he stood to look around to see Darius lying on the floor. He got up and walked closer to Darius, he was not sure if he was still alive or if there was going to be a way for him to do anything to save him. 

When he got to Darius he looked at him and noticed that the warrior's body was unscathed, he was only knocked out but he wasn't dead. 

"What in the world is going on here?" Theo looked at Darius, trying to understand what was happening. Suddenly, a cold chill ran down his spine. He realized that he was in the boss's cave, and this was no place to be thinking about what was going to happen next. 

He turned, and he immediately went pale when he saw what was there. He struggled to keep breathing, the pressure from what he just saw had thrown him into confusion. 

"It can't be! This is a D-ranked Dungeon, how are these monsters here!" Theo's grip tightened around his staff, his breath shallow as his eyes locked onto the massive creatures before him. He had seen dangerous creatures, but this…. It was something on a whole different level! "The S ranked Blue Kamuri Cobra, And the SS ranked Red Kamuri Cobra!"