Felix arrived at a hidden cave behind the waterfall after climbing for a while. He carefully pulled himself up and into the small hole, which expanded into a wider space lit by flaming torches, that got him thinking how Aaron had taken up dry woods to make them.
Everyone was already present, and they were the last to arrive. Felix quickly extended a hand to Michael, who almost slipped pulling himself into the cave.
The female brute could be seen glaring daggers and grinding her teeth at Felix as one female S-Rank stood to her side, casting a healing skill on her dislocated shoulder, which made Felix's eyebrows shoot up in surprise as he wondered how she'd managed to climb up with just an arm. She was indeed capable, and an SS-Rank for a reason.
"Alright," Aaron clapped his hands to get their attention, "I'm happy everyone made it to this point successfully, and hopefully no one was tailed here, or we might have to be learning 'How to hide a body 101'."
The crew chuckled amusingly at his joke.
"Now, I did my assignment on y'all—sorry, but not sorry—to determine the kind of weapon and gears I might have to be 'borrowing' from the weaponry. And…"
"Felix?" Aaron spoke as he stretched his hands into the air and pulled out a steel sword, throwing it at him which he caught midair without having to move a muscle, making it float before him for inspection. But Felix was rather infatuated at Aaron's spatial ability.
"Athenae?" Twin Greatswords materialized once more from thin air and he threw them towards the female brute who easily caught them midair with a maniacal grin plastered on her face as she inspected her new blades.
"Michael?" A pair of daggers as black as the night flew in his direction, which he skillfully caught and made them dance around his fingers.
"Lucy?" An intricate staff with glowing runic symbols dancing around it was tossed to the girl who awkwardly caught it. This was the same girl that had been healing Athenae, and she was the healer of the eight-man suicide squad.
"MJ?" A legendary-looking bow was tossed at the boy with an even legendarier arrow pack that looked like it'll never run out of arrows no matter how many times one pulled arrows from it.
"Ballista?" It was a god-like spear this time around, and as soon as the bulky boy caught it and lowered its butt to the ground, there was a sudden hum that everyone felt radiating from the union.
"Chelsey?" A pair of large purple bangles flew in the girl's direction. Faintly glowing artistic runic symbols running across it, similar to that of Lucy's staff. Except the latter's runes were more crude.
As soon as the girl caught them and flicked them on, she clasped her hands together which instantly sent out a hot wave that spread across the space with visible sparks of flames dancing around.
Felix didn't understand if it were some kind of special effects from the item like Ballista's spear, when he realized he wasn't feeling cold anymore. Not because the cave was now generally heated, but because his clothes which were drenched from swimming here were now dry. Same for everyone else.
"Okay. That was cool!" Felix mused in amazement. But then his face turned dark again when he saw Aaron's weapon, which he must have brought out whilst they were distracted with the effects of Chelsey's abilities.
It was a shield. Not just any shield, but like the kind of Goddess Athena's shield from Greek mythology; sleek, shiny, and beautifully crafted that it made Aaron look like he was the main protagonist and hero Goddess Zemira had ceremoniously summoned to vanquish the darkness looming over Vastoria with the aid of his classmates. The kind that even the major antagonist was bound to among his harem.
Clang!
Felix dropped the trash of a weapon he'd been given, being the only thing in the room that wasn't awe-inspiring, and cooler than the other.
"Tell me you didn't do this on purpose?!" Felix accused as a vein popped in his forehead.
Aaron chuckled nervously, raising his hands in defeat, "All the swords looked more or less the same. And it's not like we get to keep any of this, though."
"Damnit!" Felix cussed in anger, "So where's the gate?" He asked upon looking around for any other entrances or exits into the cave but found none, when he looked back at Aaron and saw his hand pointing upwards.
Felix slowly looked up to the roof of the ceiling, where the almost indiscernible portal swimming with colors like diesel in water stood.
Felix fell silent for a moment, but he sneaked a glance at Aaron as the ultimate question still lingered—even stronger now, "What was Aaron up to when he discovered this place?"
Aaron was a sharp one to catch Felix's suspicious gaze and could instantly tell what Felix was thinking, knowing his nature. He simply shrugged in reply with his signature smirk.
"So is there anyone here who hasn't played, or doesn't know how an MMORPG works?" Aaron asked, sweeping his eyes over the S-Rank team.
Surprisingly—or not—everyone remained silent, which indicated they'd all played one, or at least had basic knowledge on them.
"Great!" Aaron clapped his hands together.
"So, what's the plan?" Athenae asked, obviously impatient to use her 'twin disaster'.
"Oh my God, Baldie, I just asked if anyone hasn't played or have any idea what an MMORPG is, and you were silent."
"What the fk does the game got to do with an actual dungeon raiding?" Athenae crashed out.
"Of course, it has everything to do with it;
"Athenae, your role is the Tank. Felix, Ballista, Michael, you're the Basic DPS. Aaron, Me, we'll be a little behind you—Mid-range. MJ and Chelsey, Ranged DPS. Lucy—Support. Let's go!" Aaron exclaimed enthusiastically.
"What's with the shitty set-up? How the fk are you—with the shield—playing mid-range with the damn assassin!" Chelsey refuted with a raised brow.
"That's because… drum rooooolll!" Aaron exclaimed as he pulled out another item with his spatial ability. One everyone was familiar with, but left them in a state of confusion at what, "What the hell is this guy's ability?"
"… I have a gun!"