"Jackpot."

Jaeger cracked a smile while looking at the horde of somewhat large arachnids crawling about in front of them. The sizes of the creatures ranged from as large as a human head to three times that size.

"These guys didn't make us waste our time looking for them. How nice of them."

Jaegar was stretching his neck while facing in front of him.

"Don't…"

Leonze started shaking in place.

"Don't kill me!"

He then ran toward the way the party came from. Brittanya turned her head and shouted toward the fleeing Leonze.

"Don't go too far from us, or we'll get separated—"

Even before she could finish, Leonze fell down through a crumbling part of the floor.

"And he's gone."

Brittanya turned her head back toward the spider monsters in front of them. Jaegar gave the torch he was holding to Kryllo.

"We'll look for him later. Right now, we have to deal with these guys."

He started to crack his knuckles while he still had a grin in his face.

"What magic can I use against bugs?"

Brittanya put her hands on her waist and started thinking. Kryllo held out the torch that was just passed to him toward Brittanya.

"How about… Fire—"     

"I got it!"

She got an idea while she was looking around, eventually ignoring Kryllo altogether.

"I'm starting ahead of you."

Jaeger then moved so fast that the spiders were getting instantly killed one by one. Some were splattered in place while others flew toward the walls and ceilings and then got crushed by the impact.

Brittanya picked up a large rubble made of stone, which was either previously part of the walls or ceilings.

"Bug-smashing Rock Magic!"

She threw the rubble at the crawly bugs, and appropriately they were smashed.

"There's more where that came from!"

Brittanya pointed at the remaining spiders.

Most of the arachnids couldn't get past Jaegar and Brittanya. But for those that did, Kryllo just kicked them away or swung the torch to scare the creatures away from him.

"Hey, help us get rid of them."

Jaeger stopped attacking and faced toward Kryllo to scold him.

"I… don't like… bugs..."

Kryllo answered with a straight face while swinging the torch around.

"I don't like bug juice getting on my clothes, too."

Brittanya was now attacking by throwing rocks at the spider monsters. Every one that got hit was crushed immediately.

"Take this! Rock Shower Crushing Magic Attack!"

---

"Where… am I…?"

Leonze slowly opened his eyes and sat down. He was sitting in the middle of a large room. There were a lot of stone rubble and broken pieces of old wooden furniture. He stood up a few moments later after gathering his bearings.

"This place seems like it was a safe room when it was still an active fortress…"

He scanned the room and saw skeletons lying around. Almost all of the skeletons were wearing armor or holding weapons.

He walked around looking for an exit. He then saw a skeleton holding a golden, stylishly ornamented dagger. It looked as if the person stabbed itself when it was still alive.

"Poor guy, he must have killed himself before the enemies got to him."

He knelt down and took the dagger.

"There… Hope you can rest in peace now."

He closed his eyes in prayer while he also put the dagger inside the pouch that he was carrying on his waist.

"Also, this looks like it will sell for a high price. I hope you don't mind."

Suddenly, there were crunching sounds heard outside of one of the doors in the room. He stood up and slowly walked toward that door.

"Please don’t be bugs. Please don’t be bugs."

---

"That was easy, though there were a lot of them."

Jaegar was looking around if there were any left.

"Thanks for the help, Kryllo."

He wasn't hiding the sarcasm in his tone.

"You're… welcome..."

Kryllo started walking toward inside the fortress ahead of Jaegar and Brittanya.

"I don't think you helped much at all."

Brittanya was not angry, but was stating it in a matter-of-factly way.

"So, I guess we can start looking for Leonze now?"

She followed Kryllo, who was still holding the lit torch.

"Yeah, let's go look for a way down. We don’t know how far down he went so we can't just jump down from where he fell."

Jaegar started walking behind Kryllo and Brittanya.

The three of them continued to walk inside the long corridor, which then eventually led them to a large hall. It had a high ceiling, which couldn't be clearly seen, reaching about four to five floors of height.  There were a lot of long tables and chairs that were old and broken down.

The large hall wasn't as dark as the corridor they came from, as there was some light coming from what used to be windows. The room seemed to be used as a gathering place in the past for the people that used to be inside the fortress.

"Say, do we even know what it is we are looking for?"

Brittanya was inspecting the tables intently.

"He never told us. We're just bodyguards, remember?"

Jaegar was searching for stairs that would lead them down the fortress. Kryllo just stood still and closed his eyes. Jaegar eventually saw him.

"Hey, Kryllo! Are you sleeping?"

"Yes…"

Jaegar then looked toward Brittanya and saw her crawling on the ground, intently looking around for something.

"Brittanya, what are you—"

He saw an arrow flying toward her. His body reacted quickly. He caught the arrow mid-air using his left hand before it could reach Brittanya.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

Jaegar shouted while looking upward at the broken windows.

"Who are you talking to?"

Brittanya looked up to Jaegar while she was still on the floor.

"Someone else is here. Be ready."

Jaegar kept on looking around with his eyes. Brittanya then stood up and also looked around. Kryllo opened his eyes but was still just standing there while holding the torch.

"Kryllo, use this together with your bow."

Jaegar tossed the arrow he caught earlier toward Kryllo. With the torch in his right hand, Kryllo caught the arrow with his left hand.

"A knight, mage and archer. Tell me, what are you doing here?"

The woman with long, purple hair and wearing a mask that covered the upper part of her face appeared through a broken second floor window.

"We're just bodyguards. We actually lost our client and we're looking for him."

Brittanya answered the woman casually.

"You don't have to tell her that!"

Jaegar shouted and glared at Brittanya.

"And what about you? I'm guessing you're not here for some sight-seeing?"

He then turned to the woman on the window.

"All I have to say is that now, I have to kill all of you."

She jumped downward toward Brittanya so fast that only Jaegar was able to react and threw a kick at the speeding attacker. But the woman was able to dodge the kick mid-air.

Brittanya then stomped on the ground and some stone flooring flew toward the woman. Using her hands, the woman was able to swat the stones away even before she could reach the ground. She landed a considerable distance across the room from both Jaegar and Brittanya, while Kryllo was a few steps behind the two of them.

"Oh. I did not expect that."

The woman smirked.

"She's as fast as you, Jaegar."

Brittanya was genuinely impressed as she looked at Jaegar beside her.

"No, I think she's faster."

Jaegar kept a glaring look at the woman in front of them.

"I guess that's enough for the introduction."

The woman took out a dagger from a sheath attached on her back.

"Time to get serious—"

Suddenly, a giant spider, reaching a height three times that of a normal person, dropped between the woman and Jaegar and the others. It came from way up the ceiling, that they were not able to see it the first time. It was facing toward the party when it landed.

"Well, it seems I don't need to get my hands dirty this time. I'll let this insect deal with you."

The woman jumped back up to the window.

"Or, you can get rid of it for us. Your choice."

She disappeared afterwards.

"Kryllo, you awake?"

Jaegar, while still looking at the spider, talked to Kryllo without turning back.

"Might want to use your bow for this one."

Jaegar was in a stance where he was ready to run anytime.

Kryllo looked at the items he was holding. He still had the torch in his right hand and the arrow in his left hand.

"What… about the… torch…?"

The spider attacked Jaegar and Brittanya using one of its front legs. Both of them jumped out of the way.

"I don't care, just throw it away!"

Jaegar glared back at Kryllo when he landed on the floor.

When he heard this, Kryllo looked at the spider. Then, he threw the torch at its numerous eyes. The spider let out a loud, pained shriek. It then stared straight at Kryllo.

"I think you made it angry."

Brittanya was holding her chin while stating the obvious.