CHAPTER 175: THE INTERSECTION.

When the monsters suddenly appeared, both groups fought side by side, quickly cutting them down.

Following Roven and Felix’s advice, Steve stayed at the back, finishing off the wounded monsters that slipped past the frontlines.

As he fought carefully, his thoughts drifted to the mission at Wuller Town, where he had once relied on a forbidden technique to force out his aura to fend off the Rank 2 bandit.

Manifesting aura was something a Rank 4 could do with ease, but for anyone below that level, it was a near-impossible task unless there was a matter of luck, talent, and fate.

He then recalled the potions he had gotten from Samatha, the Underworld’s alchemist, through Mr. Dealer’s help, which she said could temporarily reawaken his nerves.

’I can’t fight shit... Should I use those potions now?’, Steve hesitated, his grip tightening on his weapon.

The potions weighed heavily on his mind. Samatha had warned him that once he began using them, his nerves would have only a month to recover. Beyond that window, without a cure, the damage would become permanent.

’I’m scared of not getting a cure.’, he couldn’t bring himself to take the risk, so he kept the thought of drinking the potions to another time.

A monster suddenly collapsed in his direction, snapping him out of his thoughts and forcing him to leap aside.

Cling! Clang!

Two blades struck at once, driving clean through the creature and dropping it instantly. The swords’ owners locked eyes the next moment.

"Oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to...", Warren apologised quickly.

"No, it’s fine. Two swords are better than one, I guess...", Steve chuckled.

"Hmm?"

Warren froze in his spot, scrutinising the man before him with the green hair who looked familiar.

"Have we met before somewhere?", he asked.

Steve glanced at the man carefully, who was also staring at him with a sharp look.

"I don’t know, maybe you got the wrong guy."

"That’s weird... really weird.", Warren muttered before hearing a few growls from their sides.

"Heads up, more incoming!"

Warren and Steve got busy again as they were surrounded by wounded monsters on all sides.

"Watch my back?", Warren asked.

"Sure. You watch mine.", Steve nodded and turned around in a battle stance.

The two of them fought together back to back, taking down the monsters that came their way while constantly rotating slowly.

Both of them were only at Rank 1, so they couldn’t directly jump into the fray like Felix or Roven as even Rank 2 monsters could be seen around, but their combination proved fatal to the weaker and wounded monsters who fell as quickly as they came.

Roven, Felix, and Eric, from their different positions, noticed their teammate and even paused for a few seconds to check if they were seeing right.

’Steve’s fighting side by side with someone?!’, they all had the same thought.

As far as they knew, Steve wasn’t the working-together type. He was someone who would do things at his own pace, which was a terrifying and terribly problematic pace.

So seeing him battle alongside someone except for them three, maybe not Eric too, was a miracle itself.

The monsters were quickly dealt with, making Felix easily gain another 400 skill points.

The only Rank 3 monster that appeared was brought down by Keliot, Nicole, and Paul, as Felix decided it wasn’t necessary to just steal their prey and shock his teammates to death by killing a monster that was two times higher ranked than him.

’It’s a shame I couldn’t kill it, but well, I’ll get more chances later... This dungeon just seems to have an endless number of monsters, not that I have a problem.....’, Felix thought as he turned on the map.

"That was the last of them. We don’t have any more monsters in our reach and we’re also quite near our destination now."

"Good.", Keliot nodded with a smile. He was now more at ease with the traitor group and had lowered his guard after a few battles together with them.

"Let’s move on then. We’re almost there.", he instructed as the group started waking again.

Felix and his team grouped back together, moving onwards as they chatted.

"Well, that was a rare Steve moment," Eric smirked. "Since when did you learn to fight alongside someone else?"

Steve scoffed as he shook his head.

"Since you couldn’t watch my back, idiot."

Eric twitched his lips and tried saying something meaner, but he was interrupted.

"Hey, Steve, right? Mind if I walk beside you?", Warren appeared from behind and asked with a smile.

Steve’s three teammates stared at them speechlessly. One battle together and they were already friends?

"Can I ask why?", Steve was genuinely curious, even a bit caught off guard, no thanks to the strange gazes his friends were giving him.

"Oh you know...", Warren shrugged as he narrowed his eyes on Steve. "I really do believe that we’ve met somewhere before. I’m sure of it."

Steve frowned, not knowing what to say as he didn’t want to ruin the relationship between the two groups, but Eric beat him to it without a care.

"Maybe you both were soulmates in your past lives? That sounds romantic but both of you are male, so one must be...."

Eric seriously started imagining scenarios in his mind and didn’t stop muttering his weird ideas, not until a hand smacked his head.

"Stop that shit, Eric! I swear you got a filthy gutter jammed in your head!", Steve exclaimed in disgust and slight anger.

"He’s right, Eric. That definitely didn’t sound right...", Felix shook his head, despite the slight twitch of his lips.

"Come on, man. Past life soulmates aren’t that bad a thing...", Warren interjected without much thought as he shrugged.

"You shut up too, idiot. Do you even understand what you’re saying?!", Steve perked up again, his face turning slightly red.

Felix couldn’t hold back anymore as he stifled a few chuckles while covering his mouth.

"Oh fuck! Come on guys, that ain’t funny!", Steve groaned weakly.

Roven looked at them chatting and making jokes as he sighed, wondering whether they were ever going to turn serious at all.

And amidst laughs and talks, their party gradually advanced without any trouble.

*****

About half an hour later, after fending off a few more monster attacks, their group finally returned to the intersection where they had first split from the main patrol.

Technically, their orders had been to sweep their assigned tunnel for at least four full hours before regrouping. Yet here they were, back after barely three, an entire hour earlier than expected.

Keliot’s gaze swept over the others, lingering on the traitors with a sharp look in his eyes.

"So... do we wait here for the rest to return?" he asked, his tone calm but his eyes carrying an unspoken weight.

"Or do we head straight back to the base?"

Now that they came across the traitor group, who had information regarding their ex-guilds which was very much required back at the base, Keliot’s first thought was clearly to return.

But considering the rules that were set for the patrolling team, which rigidly mentioned that the groups arriving earlier must station at the intersection, he couldn’t go against that.

"I think we should head back to the base."

"Agreed. The base needs these people there for better planning and new strategies."

"Maybe we can wait. Nothing’s gonna happen if we wait for a while until the others get back...."

People spoke their thoughts, some urging to go back to the base using the traitors group as an excuse, and others getting too lazy to move and wanting to take some rest again.

Felix and his group were from the latter part, though they weren’t being lazy, even opposite as they found the base a bit depressing and boring without anything much to do there.

Keliot was confused about his decision, but he couldn’t just stay silent so he tried saying something too.

Except he couldn’t even start because from one of the tunnels at the intersection, a pleading cry echoed out.

"HELP!! WE NEED HELP!!"