Tales Of Mc - Chapter 21

“What’s your goal for the future?”

“.. Revenge.”

The A-Rank Party, Golden Glory.

Famed for their fighting capabilities despite being a team comprising of just three people, they rose to fame for their quick and well maintained subjugation of the Berserk best overrun in a remote country. They led the army in a well-planned attack and stood at the forefront of the battle, ready to take on any opposition.

Their leader was a great warrior, clad in golden armor, who stood, a well-built muscular man with a height nearing seven feet. His name was Girod. He was in his early 30’s and was known as one of the most powerful active adventurers in the guild today. His leadership capabilities were will renown and his attitude of leading the battle with his unyielding spirit was often praised by his fellow adventurers.

The other members of the party were Lena, a beautiful blue haired mage in her late 20’s. She was a very skilled water mage, able to manipulate the shape, properties and texture of the water element in such a way that, she had gained the reputation of a prodigious mage. Her mana expenditure was lesser than a similar mage of near similar power.

Last but ever the least, was the swordsman, Roger Tahas, the second son of a noble, a well-skilled swordsman who was known as one of the current best swordsman in the world currently, since the demise of Sword Princess Lily. He was skilled enough to be able to cut up a boulder the size of an ogre in a hundredth of a second.

But, ever since the announcement that was heard about three years ago, that the summoned Hero Jenny Redthread had removed the level based system of combat from this world, Golden Glory has faced a heightened increase in accepting requests.

Due to the disappearance of an advantages of the level based system, like an increased life force corresponding to your level, the rate of fatality in adventurers had increased drastically. Though they trained really hard, for a world dependent on leveling by killing monsters, such a sudden change brought about an increased fear for their lives.

The party was currently trying to conquer what was formerly an upper A-Ranked dungeon. The dungeon was mainly having water based or aquatic monsters en masse. So they thought that the dungeon core might be useful for Lena to increase her fighting capabilities.

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“Roger, duck now!”

“Roger get down!”

Both his party members shouted to Roger, just as the Boss monster, struck out its tail from behind. It was aimed for Roger’s blind side and it was moving in a speed that was near impossible to predict by oneself.

Due to his team mates warning, Roger was able to quickly avoid danger and move to safety. As soon as the lizard like monster missed its attack, it lost its advantage for a moment.

That was all which was needed as Girod leapt up and bashed its head down with his shield, with enough force that its head nearly wobbled up and down. In the next instant, both Girod and Roger had sunk their blades into the eyes of the giant lizard.

The lizard struck out in frenzy, and actually caused the two to move away from it and to find an opening again. The battle had already lasted for longer than it should have, due to Lena’s magic proving to be ineffective against the lizard which was also proficient in water element.

“Girod, Let’s do it like the usual.”

“Right.”

Girod started to sprint forward and Roger ran behind him. As soon an Girod reached the opportune distance, Roger raced over and used Girod as a base to vault high into the air. Girod himself leaped forward and smashed his blade, with all his power and sunk the blade into the lizard’s skull.

Roger, meanwhile, had unleashed a flurry of stabs and slashes in impeccable speed across its back. The tough skin that the lizard usually relied on for defense was now riddled with massive cuts and tears exposing its bones underneath.

Lena, had in the background, sealed the movements of the lizard by holding its four legs with a water lock. Despite its ineffectiveness, Lena had found a way for her water magi to mesh well with the situation and help defeat the Giant Lizard.

The Lizard raised one last giant roar as it breathed its last and collapsed to the floor.

Waves of exhaustion was felt by the group and they finally gained a semblance of calmness.

“We did it.” Lena’s voice was weary and woozy, sounding like she could almost fall over at any moment now.

“Yeah. I was almost reaching my limit.” Roger concurred.

Girod remained silent and breathed heavily, his tall frame was leaning on his long sword.

In the far corner of the room was a box. This box could be said to be their final goal. The mysterious treasure box which is always found in the boss room. Somehow, the box will always be full of treasure and valuables. As Girod was breathing wearily, Roger approached the box and opened it.

“What’s inside?” Girod asked, overwhelmed by tiredness. He was finding it very hard to stand upright. Ever since he entered this dungeon, his body was quick to feel weary and tiredness easily washed over him. Over their three-day stay in the dungeon, he had to fight a huge amount of monsters non-stop and take on an increased burden since, Lena’s magic wasn’t very effective against the monsters of this water based dungeon.

“Hahaha. We struck gold. This is much better than I imagined.” Roger laughed back, delighted by what he was in the box.

“It looks like we can move forward our plans..” He suddenly said.

The next instant, Girod felt an impact over his head, and he fell down finally losing his consciousness.

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Girod was born in a farming village.

When he was young, he lost both his parents in when a monster attacked the village. Since then, he devoted his time and energy to be an adventurer and trained hard to be a warrior.

He occasionally left the village to subjugate nearby beasts and level up. As he grew stronger, he left his village for the frontier cities to be an adventurer.

Though initially it was quite hard, Girod’s earnestness and devotion to subjugate beasts slowly built him a good reputation in the guild. His energetic nature and kind smile, earned him a good number of friends.

Despite this, Girod remained a solo adventurer.

Until he met Lena.

He had once partied up with Lena for a mission, and noticing their effectiveness in combat he decided to form a permanent party with her.

Over time, they braved many near-death situations and dangers and grew closer, and eventually fell in love.

They were a very noticeable couple, with a near 7-foot-tall Girod and a 5-foot-tall Lena, always walking together, arm in arm, that they were the envy of many adventurers.

Eventually, they were joined by Roger to fill in as their main swordsman and soon the party grew a bigger reputation for their skills as the Party, Golden Glory. They rose through the ranks and reached the threshold of S-rank and needed only one more mission to cross that major barrier.

It was at this time when the level removal announcement rang out over the world. Like most of the people that were thrown in panic, Golden Glory too faced hard times as battles grew more and more dangerous.

During this time, Girod had proposed to Lena and asked her to marry him, to start a life together. She had tearfully accepted, and the group decided to go for one final mission and conquer a near S-Rank Dungeon and finally reach S-Rank themselves.

Little did Girod knew the fate that awaited him.

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When he regained his consciousness, he was tied up inside a cage and his mouth was gagged. His armor and equipment was missing. His body was resistant to his commands and he felt a lot of pain throughout his body.

As his senses awakened further, he realized that his body was filled with scars and cuts. No inch of his body was left untouched. His face to was cut up and he couldn’t hear in one of his left ear.

Across him in other cages laid two children of about twelve years of age. They looked like they were twins, one a boy and the other a girl. Their eyes were without any light or life, but they occasionally grew focused and resilient.

In the last cage laid a scaled beast with its back facing Girod, which was about as big as the children. It laid there sleeping and didn’t move a bit.

Reality sank in for Girod.

He’d been betrayed. By the woman he loved. By his friend.

And sold to slavery.