"What?!" The crew exclaimed in unison.
Aaron chuckled nervously, "You see, my class system is actually a dual-wield type between a gun and sword. But that would be so unfair for you guys if I were to mistakenly kill all monsters myself. So that’s why I’m with a shield instead!" He pointed out with a wink.
"What bullshit!" Athenae spat.
Felix decided to keep calm as he silently debated if Aaron was just joking or was being serious. He himself wasn’t confident in ’mistakenly’ monopolizing all the kills, even with all his skills active.
And if there is one thing he’s come to learn about Aaron in their short interactions, it was that the boy was an incredibly intelligent and resourceful person who usually hid that behind his funny persona.
So there was a fifty-fifty percent chance that not just his current statement, but every statement he’d ever made that was perceived as a joke, might actually be true, and him being serious.
The most dangerous person in the room wasn’t him—Felix—like some would think. And it wasn’t also Athenae. Though Felix hadn’t seen her in action, his perception attribute was too high to lie to him now. Athenae was indeed strong, and Felix had witnessed that firsthand when she casually jumped off his 10-floor-high balcony, landing on her feet and walking away like it was nothing. But the most dangerous person in the room was Aaron. No doubt.
Felix made a mental note to keep track of him in the dungeon.
"So how do we get up there exactly?" Michael deliberately asked.
"Thought you’d never ask. Ballista!" Aaron shouted dramatically.
Like they’d practiced the line and role, the boy, Ballista, brought his spear up and down in a stamp. Immediately, the team felt their feet leave the floor as they levitated in unison. Halfway to the top, the room slowly began spinning with the floor moving to the top and the roof moving to the bottom.
But Felix knew better than to think the cave was actually spinning. Because that would mean the hill and waterfall were spinning too, as the cave was with it.
Now, that would be one way not to draw attention, and Aaron was definitely not stupid.
So in Felix’s theory, this was some kind of gravity manipulation skill, and they were the ones doing the spinning. But the skill was an S-Rank for a reason, which was why it seemed rather otherwise. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ novel✶fire.net
Just as the rotation was complete, their feet were touching the portal surface, and they smoothly transitioned into it, still under the influence of Ballista’s gravity manipulation skill.
[Chain Quest]: Devil Men of the Deep
Investigate the cause of the strange happenings and disappearances happening in Lumengarde.
"Ah? A—Am I the only one seeing this?" Lucy, the team healer, blurted in surprise.
"What is it, Lucy?" Aaron quickly asked, "Don’t tell me you received some kind of quest to investigate the cause of the strange happenings and disappearances happening in some place called LOO-men-gard?" He laughed and waved it off like a joke.
"Ah... Yes, that’s exactly it. How—How did you know?" Lucy asked in even more surprise, looking to the others who were more interested in surveying their new surroundings. Did that mean only she could really see it?
Aaron gasped dramatically as he grabbed her shoulders, "You know what that makes you, Lucy?" He looked her dead in the eyes.
"... The main protagonist."
"Will you stop bullying the innocent girl." Chelsey spoke as she rolled her eyes at Aaron’s antics.
Felix shook his head. Though the quest notification was new to him, it was also much unexpected as Lumengarde sounded like the name of some kingdom.
But they were currently on the Sage Island, far away from the nearest village. So how exactly were they meant to complete the quest? Or maybe as it was a chain quest, they’d do what they could that day by investigating and clearing the dungeon, then later on complete it or something?
Felix sighed in confusion.
They were currently in a dark cavern filled with knee-deep water. The only source of lighting being the bioluminescent moss covering the walls and some part on the ceiling.
Devil Men of the Deep. That was definitely hinting at some kind of aquatic monsters. With the water which further solidified Felix’s hypothesis.
Athenae swiped her hand across the water surface which instantly drew the team’s attention who were already on guard at whatever she might’ve discovered. But she simply stuck the same hand in her mouth and spat out.
"Yep. Salt water." She casually confirmed.
The team was instantly hushed by the sound of a splash that came not too far from their position. But due to the poor lighting in the cave, nothing could be made out a few meters from them.
The portal had disappeared as soon as they’d landed, so there was no turning back now—not like they planned to, anyways. But the only way to return was to see the dungeon to the end.
They quickly got into formation. Not the one they had planned about DPS in front and Support behind; they had appeared in the middle of nowhere. So it was more like an eggshell.
Lucy, the Healer and most vulnerable of them all was in the middle—the yoke. Guarded by MJ and Chelsey—the egg. Then surrounded by Felix, Athenae, Aaron, Michael, and Ballista who faced different directions—the shell.
Felix was still trying to make out what they were up against, when, "Watch out!" Ballista, who stood by his side, suddenly jumped in front of him and drew his spear in a wide arc, deflecting a projectile that Felix made out to be a trident before it dropped in the murky water.
Ballista didn’t stop at deflecting the trident, but quickly followed up by hurling his spear in the direction, and using one his skills to recall the spear back into his grasp which came along with the body of an impaled piscine humanoid with the face of what looked to be a shark.
[Sahuagin - Sea Devil Lv1]
Felix’s appraisal skill read.