"Guys! Enough fooling around, we've got company," Willow barked, pulling out a giant sword to the sounds of barking and running feet.
Almost immediately after, the monsters arrived. My vision still hadn't adjusted to the darkness, and all I could see were glowing white eyes as they stopped in front of us, panting and growling.
"Wolves," Ash muttered, holding his own sword at the ready.
That would explain the barking.
Gage cracked his knuckles, moving away to stand with Ash and Willow. The wolves growls increased in volume, but they continued to stay put. Not yet attacking, but ready.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's just kill them already!" Gage didn't hold out for permission, charging forward with an excited whoop.
Yelping sounded along with the thuds of fists meeting furry bodies as Gage slammed into the wolves like a bowling ball. The whooshing of swords came next, slicing neatly into flesh.
The whole battle was over in a matter of minutes. The wolves didn't even stand a chance against the S rankers administering their slaughter. Gage yawned loudly, making a real mockery of the wolves' efforts.
His yawn was interrupted with a smack and Willow shouting, "Are you stupid? Rushing in without a plan, that's how people get killed!"
"They were only C class," Gage responded defensively.
"Even so, how many times do we have to tell you before you get it through your thick skull to wait for the signal?" Willow demanded, not at all appeased.
Before it could get even more heated, Ash moved in and separated the two. "Enough!"
They stopped, but the tense atmosphere that remained told me it wasn't over yet. They would just continue it later when Ash wasn't watching
Such drama. I had no idea when I signed up that I would get to see a show. I should have brought popcorn.
Ash gave the command to venture forward and Angel Boy grabbed me by the elbow, helping me find my way through the sea of corpses. Struck with the need to know what they looked like, I pulled out the phone Angel Boy had bought me and turned on the flashlight.
I flinched in fright at what I saw and turned it off right away. I had been picturing the common wolf from my world, just a size bigger with more drool, since they were monsters.
What I was not expecting, though, were gaunt, mutilated lumps of rotting meat straight out of a horror movie. They were wolves, yes, but only if you were looking closely enough to see past how deformed they were.
The most haunting thing, however, were the acid tear tracks running down all their faces and burning away anything it touched. The glowing eyes that had once been the only source of light had ruptured, leaving empty sockets that were rapidly deteriorating.
The sight and smell of the zombie wolves was enough to make any normal person puke out their guts, but whatever was in the pill that Victor gave me was a miracle cure for nausea. I couldn't feel anything but mental disgust.
The bright light was painfully obvious and I had just enough time to feel I had done something I shouldn't have before Victor was snatching the phone out of my hand.
"Why the hell did you bring this thing? You just alerted all the monsters nearby our presence."
It was my turn to be scolded this time and I felt a sense of kinship with Gage in the moment. It certainly didn't feel good. However, I didn't intend to try and defend myself. I wouldn't have much ground to stand on if I did.
"It's my fault, I should have told him not to bring it," Angel Boy interceded.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on now. Don't go try to take the blame for me! I grabbed at his arm and was about to tell him so when Willow beat me to it.
Having overheard the conversation, she stormed over to peel me off of Angel Boy and held me aloft by the collar of my shirt, like how a cat holds their kittens, except she did so with loathing, not care.
"It is absolutely not your fault Milo!" she said, choking me as she shook me around. "You don't have to take responsibility for this leech!"
I wheezed and clawed at the collar of my shirt, trying to get some air into my lungs. I had planned to stay passive and let everything blow over, but that clearly wasn't an option anymore. Put me down, woman!
"Willow! Let him down, he can't breathe," Angel Boy pleaded, tugging weakly on her unoccupied arm.
She gave in, because she always does for him, and easily threw me aside. I braced myself to hit the stone ground and potentially get covered in wolf remains, but it didn't happen. Instead, I was caught and placed safely back on my feet, still in one piece.
I sucked in a big gulp of air the instant I could, welcoming the burn in my throat that meant I was able to breathe again. I looked up to see who caught me and it was Ash, still propping me up from behind.
I coughed harshly and he patted me on the back lightly, focusing his attention onto Willow. She wilted under his gaze and I could only guess at the expression on his face.
"We will talk about this later," he said authoritatively, "We're splitting up. Grey will go with Victor and I to clear the dungeon, the rest of you will stay here until I say otherwise."
"You're not letting us fight?" Gage questioned unhappily.
"Ash-" Angel Boy tried.
"Save it! If you can't follow orders and cooperate with your teammates, I don't want to hear it."
Fantastic. They are going to hate me so much more now.
We left with Ash not saying another word to them, conveying his disappointment with his silence. Truthfully speaking, I got over it pretty fast. Not forgiveness, of course, but more like acceptance of the situation and my own powerlessness.
Did I think Willow would've not let go until I died if someone didn't stop her? Yes. Did I believe it would be intentional? Also, yes. However, with everything that's already happened to me since coming to this world, I was getting used to facing death.
I was more worried about getting too used to it. Like those teenagers that cheat death one too many times and think themselves invincible. I am, most assuredly, not invincible. The C rank displayed in my status window made it very clear.
The dungeon also more than proved to me and my companions that I was a lot more fragile than they were. Several times Victor had to pull me back before a monster took a bite out of me as we went along, facing lone enemies rather than a big wave like before.
It was quite discouraging to be reminded over and over again of how weak I was. Leech, Willow called me, and I couldn't help but think she was right.
We stopped and Ash came over. "This looks like a good place. It's time to show us your skills, Grey."
I paled. "But I don't have a sword." Like that's the issue! He saw my status window, what does he think I can do, pull off a miracle? This is what I get for thinking I was treating death a little too blasely.
The excuse wasn't good enough for Ash, who pulled out a second sword from his side and handed it over.
"Ash, that sword-" Victor spoke up for the first time since splitting up with the others.
"It's fine," Ash replied, not letting him finish.
I looked down at the sword, not being able to make out much other than that it looked like a normal sword. What am I supposed to do with this?
"Give it your best shot," Ash encouraged.
There's no getting out of this, is there?