"Sure you don’t wanna come with us? They’ll probably attack again soon, you know," I pointed out.

"Yeah, I know that. But with so many high ranked Adventurers killed, Kaygee Town will be in trouble if I’m not here," Ilex shook his head in response.

"Wow, just listen to this guy. You’ve sure gotten a lot more confident, haven’t you?" Grinned Rosary teasingly.

"Well, after seeing how much all the other Adventurers struggled against the Monsters today, it’s only natural," He shrugged wryly.

A couple of hours had passed following the attack, we’d wrapped things up a while ago but the town had still sustained a tremendous amount of damage in the attack.

About a third of the buildings had collapsed or been destroyed by the Monsters, and over a quarter of the residents had been killed in the process. That includes nearly half the Adventurers as well, many of them having been wiped out by the Catastrophic Grade Monsters.

It was the four of us, myself, Ilex, Rosary and Argent, who had killed all of the Catastrophic Grades, and we’d also killed all but four of the Disastrous Grades, which the other Adventurers managed to slay, but the few survivors left had sustained some pretty severe injuries.

That’s not good, considering that the number of Monsters were a total of twenty-five, fifteen Disastrous Grades and ten Catastrophic Grades. When we went to inform the Guildmaster that we were leaving, I advised him to have their remaining high level Adventurers train deep down in the Labyrinth if they want to be capable of putting up a better fight next time.

Anyone good enough to rank at Diamond or at least Platinum as an Adventurer is potentially capable of killing a Disastrous Grade on their own...the problem is the lack of experience against Monsters of that level.

Most Adventurers tend to get used to only dealing with Common and Intermediate Grade Monsters, so when they’re suddenly face to face with a Monster that’s drastically faster and stronger than what they’re used to, they panic and fail to react quick enough, which gets them killed.

It’s just like that time with the Basilisk. Rosary and Rayven were both more than strong enough to take it down, but they struggled and were nearly killed because they didn’t know how to deal with it.

If you stay calm and alert, dealing with Disastrous Grades isn’t too difficult...but at the same time, just a moment’s hesitation can be fatal. Catastrophic Grades are, naturally, even harder to face.

Through natural means, humans can’t hope to match or keep up with the speeds that most Catastrophic Grades exhibit, so simply staying calm isn’t enough...with Disastrous Grades, you can afford to be reactive and still come out on top, but against Catastrophic Grades, you have to be proactive.

And being able to do that only comes with experience, developing the intuition to accurately predict and premeditate what the Monster is going to do, and instantly preparing yourself to respond accordingly.

Even after five years in the deep floors of the Labyrinth, I went all the way down to the forty-seventh floor, the fourth to last level, while the others all made it at least to the forty-fifth floor, and we still have trouble against most Catastrophic Grades. We also had the benefit of sparring with Izzy, who’s now fought all of us at least a few times.

So, it’s only natural that people who have little to no experience against such Monsters would get absolutely massacred. But I have no interest in staying here and risking my own safety just to protect these people, I don’t have a reason to do so.

The only one here whose death would sadden me at all is Ilex, but he’s strong enough to take care of himself, and if necessary, he’s pretty good at running away too, thanks to his Invisibility Skill. I’ve tried to convince him to come along with us, but his mind is made up.

"If things get rough and it looks like you’re about to die, there’s no shame in running away. If you die protecting people, those people are probably gonna get killed if you die anyway, so you might as well at least try to make sure that you survive. There’s nothing more you can do if you’re dead, so instead, live to fight another day," I advised him.

"Inspirational as always, aren’t you?" He replied with a wry smile.

"Yeah, my ways of doing things may not be the most righteous or whatever, but I’ve survived this long thanks to that," I countered with a shrug.

"Fair enough, I guess."

"Alright, we should get going now. It’s possible that the Knights are already in their way here right now, in response to the attack," Pointed out Rosary.

"Yeah, we really don’t want to be here if and when they arrive, worst case scenario another battle breaks out and destroys even more of the town," Added Argent in agreement.

"Right, then, let’s head out till the coast is clear and then use Prysm’s Teleportation Skill to get far away," I nodded in response.

"Well, guess this is goodbye for now, huh? I, um...I’m gonna miss you guys," Muttered Ilex, awkwardly averting his gaze.

"Heh, come on, man, no need to get all sappy...we’ll be back eventually, probably," I grinned as I patted his shoulder.

"Right...take care, guys."

I’m not really one for tearful goodbyes or whatever, though I admit I am kinda a little bit emotional right now...anyway, once we were done saying our goodbyes to Ilex, the three of us headed out the town, getting farther away from it.

Considering what just happened with the attack, I doubt there are gonna be any Adventurers or people out here, but better safe than sorry. Once we were an adequate distance away, Argent confirming that there was no one nearby in our vicinity, I opened up my Pocket Dimension and brought out Prysm and Izzy.

"Alright, time to go," I remarked, as they emerged out of the portal.

"Right, got it...I’ve locked on to one of my Teleportation Points in the forest by Kieph Town," Nodded Prysm affirmatively.

"Let’s all link up and head there right away," I replied, before glancing at Rosary, "So, where exactly are we going once we’re there, anyway?"

"Oh, well...you’ll see soon enough," She responded with a cryptic smile...

———————————————————————————

Point-of-View: Ilex Sarralot

———————————————————————————

"Huh? You’re, um, promoting me to Diamond rank?" I responded in bemusement.

"Yes, that’s right. Considering how you handled yourself against those Monsters, it would be stranger to keep you at Platinum rank. You were actually quite close to getting the promotion thanks to all the Labyrinth quests you’ve cleared over the last few years," The Guildmaster informed me.

This sure has been a hectic day, huh. Well, I have no reason to refuse.

"O-okay, then, I...I’d be honored," I nodded, feeling kinda awkward with all the Adventurers staring at me.

I then followed the Guildmaster to make the promotion official, getting my Status Bar crystal updated to reflect my new rank. This feels pretty good, I’m at the highest rank now!

"You’ve certainly come out of your shell, haven’t you? It’s a pity that those three had to leave our town, they did so much good for us during the last five years," Sighed the Guildmaster wistfully, as we stepped back out into the main hall, right as the doors burst open and a panicked looking Adventurer ran in.

"The Knights are here! They’ve just arrived in town and are heading here to the Guild!" He cried urgently.

"Hm, that was quite fast. Alright, then...go inform the mayor, if the Knights ask about the people they’ve been looking for, we’ll say that they were killed. The apartment building they were staying in was destroyed during the battle, and they were inside when it happened...as for the Monsters, we’ll say that those who slew most of them are among our casualties, and Ilex here as well," Instructed the Guildmaster, after taking a brief pause to assess the situation.

Huh?

"Uh, wait, you want me to take credit for it...?" I muttered in alarm.

"Well, yes...you’re now our only active Diamond rank."

O-oh, no...suddenly, this promotion feels like an immense weight around me. This is bad, really, really bad!

The guy who burst in already left to inform the mayor, so it’s too late to back out now...I really don’t want to do this, damn it!

But...I guess I’ve got no choice. Alright, fine, I’ll just suck it up and deal with it...after that, I’m going to need a long nap to recover from all this stress and mental exhaustion. I’m so tired.

I then gulped and steeled myself as I heard footsteps approaching from outside the building, growing closer and closer...okay, I can do this, just stay calm. I can totally do this...I think. I hope. Maybe...

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Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this Chapter! Don’t forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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