Ryu's Pov

"Where in the hell!?" I couldn't help but shout as my eyes opened in this unknown place. The first thing I do was obvious,

Ignoring the client in front of me, who was visibly confused, I looked straight up and almost shouted,

"Safe!!"

There was no empty, endless white sky above.

I am alive. I didn't die of blinking again. I was so relieved that I signed in relief and finally took a notice of the client who was staring at me, baffled by my reaction.

'Man, these people with no experience of sudden teleportation,' I thought and laughed inwardly even though my own experience in teleporting is 3 and only 2 if we count sudden ones only,

"Any idea where we are?" I asked the oblivious client. He ought to have some information about the dungeon, as he was the one who reserved it for himself.

"I don't?" he replied in a low voice. I heard it but still asked again,

"What? I didn't hear?" the purpose behind this is clear. I need to one-up on him otherwise I have to keep up with his prideful act in this complicated situation of separation,

'Jue protect yourself and Aiena wherever you are,' I thought as I waited for him to repeat,

"I don't know anything about dungeon insides. I thought it would be a simple young emerged dungeon and reserved it!!" he replied at the end, putting pressure on his voice trying hard to sound domineering,

"How in the world!? Who in the hell reserves a place without having any information about it! Are you a newbie?" I asked him while making a confused and pissed impression, and he fell for it.

"It was my fault, but let's proceed. I have studied about teleportation traps in the book about dungeons, they are usually in deeper parts of this dungeon seems an exception," he continued to explain how teleportation trap just separate party members and that the simplest one only works on the same floor,

'He is really smart, then why?' I wondered why he acted like such a meathead, but before I could think or ask anything few unknown shadows came rushing toward us.

"I can't see them!!" the client shouted,

"Yea and I can see them clear as day!! You fool," I replied as I threw multiple daggers from my dagger holder, but they just passed by the monsters. Are they ghosts, shadows, or something? I wondered.

"Come here!!" I asked the client and using a dagger, draw a light glyph on his armor. It was fun drawing on an expensive armor in the face of an emergency.

"What are you doing!!" he shouted, and I just answered,

"Channel your mana in it!!" the monsters were quadrupedal shadows but still, their speed was slower,

He started channeling mana and his armor began glowing sending a straight ray of light as if a torch, this has two benefits first, monsters will be attracted to him more, and second, due to light being close to his eyes he wouldn't be able to see the way I fight,

As light falls on monsters, their identity becomes clear,

"They are slimes!! In wolf shapes?" the client shouted as he marched towards them like a battle maniac, but I can see he was intentionally rushing slower, so I can reach the monsters before he does,

"[Dagger shot]!!" I used my skills aiming for the nucleus inside the monsters, making short work of 4 wolf-shaped slimes before they even reached the client. He seemed shocked.

"How? The daggers went right through!!?" he questioned, being a basic level assassin skill [Dagger shot] is well known and the penetration my dagger did was beyond what a newbie could with [Dagger shot] but I just twist his question.

"How did you rush this slow!?" I asked, and he went quiet,

"By the way, can't you make a light orb!? This glyph makes me look like a walking lantern!!" he said, irritated, but I answered,

"I can't keep making them, again and again, bear with it" and he nodded, we started walking again the path was straight with only front and behind direction to walk towards, going forward we came across more wolf-shaped slimes but what was funny was that despite having perfect outline they were featureless as if a melted plastic toy,

"I have heard that for acquiring features slime, need the blood of the dead being itself? But I don't know how much truth it was," the client casually said,

"By the way, why do you do this?" I asked him straight as he didn't seem to be hiding it anymore.

"Do what?" he asked back, trying to act oblivious to my question.

"Why act like a muscle head stupid?" I put it as straight as possible. He and I kept walking for a while quietly. It seemed as if monsters were taking a break too. He finally spoke,

"What if your father was famous for his strength and straight-headed or as you say muscle headed way of acting, and he died leaving you and your brothers behind," saying this far he looked towards me and I nodded, and he continued,

"And your siblings both elder and younger are exactly like him, but you are not, studying and planning is your forte which in actuality fit the inheritance better but loosely saying the inheritance and position of my father will fall in stronger siblings hand or the one who resembled him most, how many chances I got?… so I decided to act like him, but seriously the position requires brain more,"

"You accepted this all right away?" I asked him, shocked he readily accepted the acting.

"What else can I do? In this situation, I cannot have you wary of me or overstate my strength. Life is, important," he answered as he sighed and asked,

"What about you? You don't seem regular newbie adventure too?"

"I don't need to reveal anything for remaining alive, you know?" I grinned at him and he started laughing,

"Really interesting you! But I can't let you have all the show," he said as he pulled his sword out and throw it forward, and it went straight through the approaching wolf.

"After all, I too am a beginner in moon arc sword style" he rushed forward jumping toward the sword and pulling it out instantly making an arc on the left side towards slimes killing 2 in one go, it was a special type of martial arts, I was at awe of the arcs he makes killing 4 slimes wolf he looked towards me pridefully,

"You see…" he tried saying something but fall forward,

'What the f@ck' I thought and rushed towards him as more wolf-shaped slimes were coming towards him, without much thought I used [Dark Reinforcement IV] on daggers and threw them towards slime due to its effect more monsters would be scared to approach for a while,

"Oii, what happened to you!? You are not dead, are you?" I asked the fallen client. The mana he was circulating in the armor had stopped. The surroundings were dark. I draw a bigger light glyph on the ground and started channeling my mana into it,

"[Pouring]!!" I used pouring skill while moving my hand above his face, and he finally moved, opening his eyes as he stared at me,

"What was that!? I thought you died or something!?" I asked him explosively, although he was just sitting back.

"I am sorry I overdid it… actually, I have anemia and high blood pressure, and stunveril disease. If I give fighting my too much, it makes me like that," he said with a stupidly casual look.

I don't even know what to say, and before I knew it, I smacked his head instinctively,

"Are you stupid or something!! If not for me, you will be dead" I shouted at him with this many diseases he shouldn't be coming into the dungeon,

"I am sorry, I just couldn't help it. I wanted to look equal…" I just stared at him for a while,

"Stand up and don't try fighting again!!" I told him. He stared at him. I knew something was off, and he smiled awkwardly as he speaks,

"Stunveril disease renders my arms or leg useless for half an hour when I force my body too much"

This bastard is more irritating than past Jue. Even though he is older than me, I picked him up and put him on my back.

"You know one thing?" I asked him,

"What?" he asked back with a questioning gaze.

He was smart enough to not struggle with being put on my back completely different from how he initially portrayed himself seeing him like that, I answered.

"If a bird races a horse and decided walking is the only way to win in the race, the bird is stupid!!" this was one of my beliefs the bird has his advantage so the bird should be exploiting them rather than stupidly trying to run beside the horse,

He went quiet and didn't speak all the way. It was a bit hard fighting monsters while carrying him on my back, so I sometimes put him down and he didn't complain.

It was going smoothly until I saw slime human-shaped, many of them, but what was shocking was the one in the middle of them and I remember what the client said just before it resounded in my head.

'I have heard that for acquiring feature slime, need the blood of the dead? But I don't know how much truth it was'

"Why Jueeee!?" I couldn't help but shout as I saw a yellow-colored slime exactly looking like Jue without a second thought I let the client fall from my back and the rings in my hand changed into swords my blood was boiling and I rushed towards them,

[Author's note- hope you enjoyed it]