Honestly, when the new dungeon of shadows escaped the researchers, no one paid it any mind. An A rank party, with the famous Jean as its leader, was sent to get it back from Samkiel's tomb, where it had holed up, and things went on as they always did.

But, then, two weeks past and the Firebolts did not come back. Then another, and the only news they got from Jean was a distressed call. The Adventurer's guild was a beehive of activity.

There was a protocol in place when an S rank sent a distress call. The guild went in force. All the parties ranked D and up were recalled from their quests and sent with a destroy order for the dungeon core or the monster that managed to take down an S rank adventurer.

Because Leander was a healer, and they were in short supply, his party was placed in a platoon with three others. They were to work with the Raging Bulls, a D rank party with two rogues, one A and one D, and an B rank tank. The Budding Lilies, an all-girl party consisting of three mages, a water, wind and earth one. And the Griffins, which consisted of three tanks.

They were all gathered at the entrance of Huergaz. The three partners knew the rest in passing. But, they still tried to introduce themselves.

"My name is Morris, and I am a berserker-rogue mix," Morris was smiling brightly at the gathered crowd. "This is Dorian, he is a tank-mage mix. And this is Leander. A healer-archer mix."

Florifel, the earth mage of the Budding Lilies, raised an eyebrow at that.

"Multiclassing? What, you were pants at your original classes?" Her two partners chuckled and Morris frowned.

"Baleg told us he reached S rank by multiclassing," Dorian informed them.

"Whatever. Let us go," Alberta, the wind mage, said, and they all made a step forward. Morris had expected that, as he was the highest rank, apart from Aros who was also an A rank, they would let him lead. Like how Dorian let him call the shots, despite him being the berserker. But, the B rank tank of the Raging Bulls, Alektos, made a step-in front of him.

"I outrank you," Morris snapped and made a step-in front of Alektos.

"Alektos has been an adventurer for longer. You have only the hamster dungeon to your name," snapped Aros, one of the Raging Bulls rogues. Morris noted that he and Alektos looked alike. Almost like twins.

"We have taken out the slimes of the sewers, the snow vine and..." Leander began, but then he blushed. They had F, E and D rank quests to their names besides those two things.

"I heard you also mucked the stables," Nestor, one of the Griffins' three tanks, chimed in with a smirk. "That must have been quite the achievement."

"Don't forget telling squatters to get lost and babysitting," Damian, the third tank of the Griffins, butted in. He was answered by a chorus of laughter. 

"What did Jean call you all? Oh, right, bottom feeders," Florifel finished, but Morris was having none of that.

"And now Jean wants our help. If he had put more time into formation training, he would have been just fine. The dungeon core of shadows is just E rank," at that, the laughter stopped. Everyone grew silent, the realization that they were going to go up against something that put an S rank adventurer out of commission hitting them.

"How good is your healer?" Aros's tone was more respectful. Having come to the bitter realization that the unnamed party they had been making fun of had the most important member in their platoon.

"Leander can do mana treatments with the best of them. He also took a seminar about mending bones the mana-less way. And how to do blood infusions," the members of the other three parties nodded. There were healers in parties that knew just one healing spell and that was it.

"And his archery?" Lilia, the water mage of the Budding Lilies, asked.

"I can make an arrow barrage of up to ten arrows. But, for a bigger punch, I concentrate with just three. Also, I can paralyze mobs with my arrows and I have a soul shard staff. The spells of which are rank A barrier, rank B ice icicles, rank A levitation, rank D slime, and a rank E healing spell. However, I have a rank A healing spell that I can do without the staff, as well as a couple of others that are ranged between E and B," the nine adventurers began to regard Leander with something akin to respect at all that.

"How are you a D rank, then?" Sorecal, the second rogue of the Raging Bulls, inquired. This healer, heck, the entire party, were no one-trick ponies. Why were they, apart from the berserker, so low in rank.

"We don't decide the ranks, Sorecal, the guild master does. We lucked out with a healer like this one. Unless he is all talk," Aros looked grave as he said the second part. If the healer was lying, then they could all die.

"I will prove I am being honest," Leander was standing straight, and his face was blank. He had heard doubt about his abilities before. People saw his rows of fat and didn't look past them.

But he had gone a long way. He had seven kilograms lost, and he could now walk longer distances without becoming tired. He knew he could handle healing an entire platoon.

"I still think Alektos should lead. He has been an adventurer for the longest. Entire three years. No one can spot an ambush like him," Aros's tone was milder. Like he was ready to listen to arguments, if it came to it.

Morris stopped to think. Aros was the only A rank adventurer beside himself. And he was letting his tank lead. Maybe, it was unfair of Morris to pull rank. He bowed his head and stepped back.

Alektos moved to the front and made a signal with his hand. All of them knew what three fingers in the air meant. Tanks in the front, berserkers to the left, mages in the middle, rogues to the right, archers and healers in the back.

As one, the platoon moved to their spots, and they all left Huergaz behind. To face off against the horrors of Samkiel's tomb, alongside the rest of the guild.