Artemia: Journey To The Thirtieth Floor

6. King Leon

I cleared my throat because it seemed like Freya and Dylan didn't like the way Blake spoke. Well, I have to admit that he sounded like he was looking down on us. I don't think he had that sort of intention...but it was a bit off. However, we can't pay attention to that now because I feel the presence of several monsters. It'll be dangerous if we're just standing here, confronting him.

"Be alert," I said, even though I know that they already are.

As much as I remember, the monsters in these parts are either goblins, slimes, giant boars, and more around this place. And we're at the foot of the mountain, so I doubt we'd have a hard time if we stuck together. I'm pretty sure that Blake will save us if we somehow get in trouble. Yes, I'm relying on him.

Just as Blake was about to pick a fight with the two because of the way they looked at him, I took my katanas out and attacked the goblins that came running towards us. The two immediately stopped and joined me in fighting them. I was on offense with Dylan while Freya kept supporting us with enchantment spells. She can totally go on offense, but she said that she's planning to remain as support until she reaches a certain level.

All of a sudden, I felt subtle tremors on the ground, so I motioned the two to back away. The goblins also did the same, and that was when we confirmed that their leader was coming for us. Oh, s**t. Based on the tremors, it seems like this one is really big. I gulped, trying to think of what we were supposed to do against it. I'm not at a level where I can take such a thing. Dylan doesn't seem like he can get away without a scratch, either.

"Blake..." I called when I realized that he was the only one who could take it out.

He smirked. "As you wish, Milady..." he whispered and took the front.

Dylan looked at me like he couldn't believe that I ordered Blake to take the goblin on. We're a team, so we need to work together at these times. Besides, we'd be able to measure the strength of the goblin if Blake acts as a decoy. Blake already mentioned that he doesn't want to take the XP, although I'm not sure why, but we just went with whatever he said.

"I want Ivory to deal the final blow," Blake said and looked at me. He wriggled his eyebrows at me, which made me laugh despite being in a serious situation. "I'll weaken it for as much as I can. Cut its head off when you get the chance."

My eyes widened after hearing what Blake said. Dude, I don't think I was given enough time to process everything he said! But the goblin appeared before us, so we got ready to fight according to Blake's strategy. To be honest, I'm still confused because of what he wants to happen. He would get more XPs if he took the monster alone, so he should have taken it for himself. Especially since he'd be carrying us anyway. He's really a complicated guy!

Ah, whatever. I can't think much about it because the goblin in front of us is really big. If I want to take it out, I would have to put in as much strength as I can. This is the only time that I'd thank myself for being a bit athletic. Perhaps I can use it here. I'm not that good, but I'll have to bring out the best in me. Freya smiled at me when she saw me looking at her.

"You can do it," she mouthed, trying to give me some support.

I took a deep breath and began to gather as much strength in my arms and feet to allow myself to jump around. I haven't tried this before, so this is actually the first time. While Blake was trying to deal as much damage on the goblin as he could, I closed my eyes and took my stance to prepare. Freya cast an enhancement spell on me, so I felt power surging within me at some point.

"I can do this..." I murmured as I held the guard of the sword.

When the goblin stumbled, I quickly ran and cut its head off with my katanas. It fell on the ground and slowly dissipated until there was nothing left. I placed my katanas on their sheathes and checked the main menu. Oh, I went three levels up just with that. I smiled to myself after that. Maybe Blake was doing things on purpose to help me gain confidence, but I didn't mind.

"Bravo!" they exclaimed as they clapped.

I chuckled and approached them to see how much they leveled up. Each of us should have at least advanced once because there were plenty of goblins, and we assisted each other in taking that big one earlier. That should have done the trick because that goblin was on a different level. I heaved a sigh of relief after seeing that they also leveled up. Blake refused to let me see his stats, so I didn't prod.

Blake winked at me. "Congratulations, leader. Now we just have to find more mobs with these two."

I smiled at him, something he didn't really expect. "Thank you."

I could see Dylan watching from my peripheral view, but we weren't saying anything. Honestly, I was panicking so hard inside because I didn't want them to fight again or anything. Freya was also watching Dylan like a hawk, but she wasn't talking or anything. I stopped talking to Blake and looked around instead, trying to watch out in case there were more enemies.

Freya, Dylan, and I are still on level four right now, so we need to keep going in order to get to floor one. Now that I'm starting to get the hang of my abilities, I think it would be a bit easier than before. I turned to Dylan for a high five, but he looked at me like he was feeling bad, and I don't know why. Meanwhile, Freya kept nudging my elbow with a teasing grin.

"Shut up," I told her.

"I wasn't saying anything."

I rolled my eyes and looked in front, only to find Blake looking back at me. What's with him? It seems like he has bad mood swings that are directed at me! Just yesterday, he was acting cold and all to me. And now, he's been smiling at me a lot. Oh, gosh. I really don't understand him, but I prefer it when he's like this. At least he's not acting all indifferent, right?

I sighed when he looked away because I felt drained just by dealing with him and his weirdness. Whatever. I'm just grateful that he's reliable and not some sort of troublemaker because I would have kicked him out of the team if he was. Or...not. Who am I even kidding? I would have gotten concerned about him if he was.

"He really likes you," Freya told me. "You know, I always thought he was just messing with you, but it seems like he's planning to get serious now that he found his rival."

She's talking about Dylan, I guess. If that's the case, then I'd prefer it if none of them likes me. I'm not trying to act like some superior b***h who has boys swarming over her, but that's what I genuinely want. Blake is really competitive, but so is Dylan. At least that's what I noticed based on his games. He's a sport, but he hates losing to someone. I'd rather not have the two of them fighting all the time.

"Hey," Dylan greeted me as he walked beside me.

"How was it? Fighting those goblins, I mean," I said.

He chuckled. "Pretty easy. I didn't even break a sweat."

Eh...? I pursed my lips, trying to stop myself from smiling too much. He's normally not this cocky, but I feel like he's trying to show off. Or maybe this is how he normally is? I don't really know, but I don't think it matters whether he's arrogant or not because I know someone who is even worse. I'm not saying that it's Blake, though.

"Yeah, I guess they were. But that big one was really tough."

"You looked cool back there," he said with a smirk, which made me feel flustered. "I'm not kidding. And you were brave for going face to face with that big monster."

I smiled. "You're not lying, are you?" I squinted my eyes at him.

"Why would I?" he asked, chuckling a little.

But then I remembered that I was only able to achieve such a feat because of Blake. Hmm, maybe I should think about how I'm going to thank him for helping me out. I feel like he'll be carrying the team until we reach his level. And I'm not sure how we're going to do that. He's too skilled, and I feel like he's unreachable at this point.

"I guess so..." I trailed off.

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

I tried to smile brightly. "Nothing. I was just thinking about the tower, like how it looks from inside and how difficult the challenges are," I lied.

To be honest, I felt bad that I was lying at his face, but if I mentioned that I think Blake carried the team, he would likely be upset. Although I know that Dylan is not the type to be mad at that sort of thing, I still remained quiet about it. I mean, the two of them seem like they would fight even if the reason's not that serious! Ha, I'm somehow turning into a babysitter.

Dylan bought my excuse and turned to the road because we sensed a couple of presences coming from different directions. Oh, no. I think a group of monsters is charging towards us! This is bad! I think I summoned them because I released too much power than I should have. I swallowed the lump on my throat as I observed them.

Blake looked at me and showed me a gesture that was telling me to hurry up and make a strategy. Right, I'm the leader. I have to do something because we're not at a level where we can easily get rid of the number of monsters headed for us. The rank that we're in isn't enough to allow them to face off with all the monsters. Blake and I can do something about them, but we'd likely run out of power immediately.

Ah, this is so frustrating!

We can't run because if we do that, they will follow us until the very end, which would be too risky. Then I guess we have no choice anymore. If Blake took them all alone, he would probably succeed. But I refuse to leave him alone and let him do it alone. I'm worried that he would get hurt or something. He's a member of my team, so I won't just let him go.

"Everyone, prepare to engage in combat! We're going to take them on!" I said and took my katanas out.

Blake laughed. "As you wish, Milady..."

We got ready, and as soon as we saw the monsters running in our direction, we started slicing them up while watching each other's backs. Since earlier, Freya has been casting enchantment spells that take up a lot of elemental energy, so I made sure that she's fine whenever I make a move. However, she noticed what I was doing and told me to focus on killing the mobs.

I shook my head a little and froze as much as I could, even though it wasn't of much help. Now I can only rely on my physical power because my elemental one isn't enough yet. I have to wait until I recover it, which might take longer than expected. But I have no choice right now! I have to rely on it if I really want to survive in this fight!

So far, we have been doing well, but that's not what I'm concerned about. It feels like their number isn't diminishing. There are way too many of them in this area! No matter where I look at it, something's wrong with this. I don't think it's possible for them to be gathered in one area for absolutely no reason. Sure, I released too much power earlier, but that doesn't justify this!

"Everyone, let's retreat for a while!" I shouted.

"Why?!"

"There's something wrong here! Freya!"

Freya immediately understood and ran in a certain direction. We quickly followed while watching our backs because the monsters were still following us. The small ones are way too fast, and we had no choice but to slay them while running. Since Freya was the one who studied the map, we left the navigating to her.

"Where are we heading to?" Dylan asked.

Freya grumbled. "I don't know, but it should be a lot safer than here!"

My eyes widened as I glanced at her, still trying to parry the goblines that came from nowhere. It's unusual for Freya to not know the direction because she has been studying them for a whole day. But I still trusted her, so I kept following her. I was worried that there would be more mobs, but my gut feeling told me that there won't be any.

"What? You don't know? What if there actually are ogres there?!"

"Stop saying stupid things and have faith in me!"

"Ivory!

Oh, come on! Didn't I order Freya to lead us to a safer place?! If I already trusted her to do that, they should do the same. I mean, Freya was the one who studied the map! They were all waiting for whatever I said, but I didn't do s**t. As I have said, I'm leaving it all to Freya. If they don't trust her, then that's their problem.

I don't think things should have taken a turn for the worse if it weren't for the interference of something or someone. Because it's too strange that we encountered that many monsters within a single fight! Especially when we're still starters! No matter where I look at it, it's hella strange! There must be some sort of problem with the system, right?

"Is that...a shrine?" I asked and pointed at the end of the place we were heading to.

"What shrine?"

They looked ahead and saw what I was referring to. There was an abandoned shrine that had a statue of a lion, which reminded me of the lion that we saw yesterday. I felt a chill running down my spine when I looked at it. This thing just irks me up! I don't understand why, but it just does.

"Huh, King Leon...?" Freya murmured as she looked at the carvings below the statue.

King Leon...? Then this is that guy's shrine...