Baleg was waiting for them when they came to turn in their mission report.

"That is a miracle, truly. I send you off to get one rhino pregnant, and you find ten young ones in the savanna!" Armaros rubbed the back of his head.

Yes, a miracle. One done with tons of mana. He had wanted to make more rhinos, but Leander had not let him. Saying that he would begin to use his muscles for fuel again.

"I have no idea how you did it," Baleg continued, amazed. "But your pay rose. Fifty gold coins for each rhino."

"Are you kidding me?" Jean asked, gaping. "What, were you going to send us to the two rhinos every year?"

"I was. There is no shameful quest, it is written in the adventurer's handbook," Baleg grinned at him, with a grin full of teeth. He looked fiercer when he smiled than when he frowned. The Try Hard Party wanted to be like him, one day.

"You are still going to send us next year? Forget it. Patrick doesn't want to do that fighting to the death mating ritual, period," Morris grumbled, and Baleg clapped him on the shoulder.

"Then you will have to find more rhinos," Baleg turned to look at Armaros, and he winked at the dungeon core.

"Does everyone know?" Leander murmured; a bit uneasy at the implication.

"Just the five of you, me, and the guild master," Baleg informed them, and then he turned around. "Follow me."

Dorian gave the three-finger sign and the party went back into formation, with Armaros in the middle. Proudly taking his place in the party that was saving him a spot.

Baleg led them to a full training hall. But the adventurers were not down to train. They were up on the stands.

"Baleg, what is this?" Armaros asked. He looked at everyone who were either eating or placing bets. He had never seen so many adventurers at one place.

"Well, it is time for your final test, of course. And for Jean's battle evaluation," Jean straightened up at that. He was going to get a chance to rank up again. There was no way he would miss it.

"As you know, the first rank up of a party is done by a quest quota. That is to encourage the rookies to do more easy quests, so they have more time to work on formation," Baleg explained. Loud enough so that the spectators could hear him. "But every rank up after that is a battle evaluation. Try Hard Party, do you accept the mage-archer Armaros into your ranks?"

Dorian stepped forward and placed his fist on his chest.

"We will watch his back and make sure he is never left behind," the crowd quieted down, now focusing on the ceremony that was going on.

"Armaros, do you accept to be a part of the Try Hard Party, which will either remain D rank or become higher or lower, depending on the outcome of this duel?" Armaros looked at his friends. They could definitely rank up. It was not like they were going to go up against the guild master, right?

"I accept," Armaros decided not to appear too cocky. Just in case.

"Then, get in position and wait for your opponent," they were already in formation, so, they strained their necks to see who would come down from the stands.

Then, to their horror, it was the guild master and Valerie.

"Hello F rank party, we come again," Jean began singing, much to the amusement of the crowd.

"We come to speak to you again," Morris took up his song.

"We had a grant time doing quests, but now reality has called," Leander continued mournfully.

"And we hope you welcome us again," Dorian was singing to the tune of a funeral march.

"Because we are so screwed, oh, so very screwed," Armaros finished and Alklair clapped as Valerie giggled.

"Come now, give your best instead of singing. It is five of you against two of us," the guild master's words were meant to encourage them, but he was smirking. That evil elf.

Baleg raised his arm and brought it down. Alklair made a barrier to protect himself and Valerie, and she made a ball of poisonous mana.  

"Boys, this will give you the stomach cramps of the century," and she threw the fireball-sized poisonous mana at the five. They quickly got behind Leander, who raised a barrier of his own.

But the mana ball went through the barrier and fell on the floor. Filling the air with gasses.

"I so need to learn that," Leander said, his voice muffled by the scarf he was putting on quickly.

Dorian blew the whistle four times. The signal for a mad charge. So, without questions, they all attacked.

"Fireball barrage!" Screamed Armaros, as he focused more mana than usual to make sure that the barrage would splinter in at least twenty fireballs.

"Behemoth strike!" Jean called out at the same time as him.  Aiming for Valerie.

"Mamba strike," Leander was aiming for Valerie as well, deciding that, if they hit the barrier there with two barrages, it would be more effective.

"Whirlwind strike," Morris spun and began to hit the barrier with every time he came face to face with Valerie. Dorian bashed the spot where Alklair was, just next to him, and he summoned a fireball in his hand and a wind spell on his lips.

All that was done in a couple of seconds. They had worked so much on their formations, that they had hit the barrier at the same time.  It proved too much for even a barrier created by Alklair, and it crashed.

Valerie jumped over Morris. She tried to tap his head, but he bent down and let her pass over him without her touching him. Dorian managed to pull back his strike at the last second, avoiding harming the guild master.

With their actions, they separated Alklair from Valerie. But, as it turned out, that had been the wrong thing to do. Because the two SS ranked adventurers took off the kiddie gloves. And the real duel began.