Outside the gate of Terminis Dominion stood the two boys he had seen the girls with on the first day, dressed in their armor.
The blonde boy clad in thick metal armor while the other with messy black hair had form-fitting black armor.
They walked up to them.
"Hope you guys are prepared for today, because we need to go deeper to find beasts," Liana said.
"Why are you obsessed with going deeper into the Dreadwoods?" the blonde boy asked. He turned to Jareth. "And why is he still with you?"
"Guys, let me introduce you to…" Liana placed her hand on Jareth's shoulder. "Jareth, my long-lost brother. You can see the striking resemblance in our hair; red and red."
'When did I become her brother?' The edge of Jareth's lip twitched.
"Sorry?! Resemblance in hair?! Yours is like fire while his is like blood," the blonde boy replied.
'It's burgundy, but I'll accept that,' thought Jareth.
"But it's still red," Liana argued.
"You can't just claim brothers from nowhe—"
"We don't have all day for that, but what is he doing with us?" the boy with messy black hair interrupted with a frown on his face.
"What's with that expression, Spooky?" Nadia cut in.
"He's dressed in armor, which means he's hunting with us. So our kills will be shared five ways. But I don't see the need for him in our team." He stared at Jareth, who looked back at him calmly.
Nadia became silent.
"Fine. I will share mine with him," Liana snapped from the side.
Jareth turned to her, almost chuckling at her angry expression that looked cute. "You don't need to. I will—"
"No! I've decided!" Liana placed her hands on her waist with an aloof expression. "How can I watch my little brother be bullied?"
"Uh?!" Jareth was speechless at her antics.
"Let's introduce ourselves before we leave," Nadia cut in. Then she pointed at the boy with messy black hair. "That's Nathan, a spooky boy who is our scout. He's an archer, and his wind power complements his archery."
Nathan glared at Nadia.
Nadia ignored him and pointed at the tall blonde boy. "He's Alven Crestwell. His power augments his body strength, so he can take a beating."
"Not beating; I block attacks!"
Nadia nodded exaggeratedly in a way that displayed her disbelief.
"You already know about us, but I'll still say it. I'm a healer. Lastly, Liana is a deadly fire user… who likes to burn things but is restricted by her little mana, so she also uses a sword."
Then everybody stared at him.
"I'm a fire user, like Liana, with the same spear-like spell," Jareth said calmly.
It was his only presentable group spell.
"The same spell?!" Liana blurted in surprise. Then she turned to Alven with a smug smirk plastered on her face. "Hair might lie, but spells don't lie."
Alven stared at her before throwing Jareth a suspicious look. He squinted and stretched his neck, turning from Jareth to Liana, and back to Jareth as he searched for resemblance.
Jareth looked back with a helpless expression.
"Okay, Spooky, where are you taking us today?" Nadia asked.
"A hidden beast lair," Nathan muttered before turning around.
The rest followed beside him.
Liana drew closer to Jareth. "I'll show you a thing or two about fire spells, like using an explosion for a quick escape."
Nadia advised, "You should use your spells intelligently, as we might stay in the Dreadwood forest for a long time. A high-rank beast might emerge at any moment."
Jareth nodded in appreciation.
Her words made him remember he could use the fire spear only ten times before he ran out of mana when he compressed it to the limit.
'Maybe I'll make the spear shorter and reduce the compression level. Half the length of a spear will suffice. Although when it's loose, the firepower and piercing strength will drop, and it'll explode easily, it was never a real spear to begin with but an explosive flame,' he mused to himself while nodding half-heartedly to Liana's unending speech.
When they were close to the forest, they all summoned their weapons. As they crossed the border and entered the forest, they became vigilant, with Nathan leading the way.
Jareth quickly did the same, leaving the sheath in his arcanist badge.
Nathan vigilantly led them in a particular direction, but what captured Jareth's attention was his ears periodically twitching.
They walked through the woods for about thirty minutes before they stopped behind a tree.
Tilting his head to trace Nathan's gaze, Jareth saw a big cave covered in moss and suffused in darkness. However, there was nothing in sight except scattered boulders.
Nathan turned to them.
"When I followed a Rank 1 rock troll, I spotted their den and a Rank 2 rock troll. So, we will wait in the trees with Alven going forward to call them out, and I'll snipe any Rank 1 rock troll coming from inside until the Rank 2 rock troll comes out, and we do our thing," he explained.
"So that was why you left early?" Liana questioned.
Nathan nodded and gestured to Alven toward a tree, distance ahead. "We will use our previous formation. So, Alven, you'll be close to prevent it from hurling boulders. Lest I forget, the spell of the Rank 2 rock troll is impact slam, so you shouldn't let it slam its arm on the ground."
"Why?" Alven and Liana blurted at the same time.
"Impact Slam sends a strong and powerful rippling wave around the rock troll. Since you're going to be defending against it in close combat, you better take note," Nadia warned.
Both of them nodded in realization, while Jareth stood beside them, looking calm but also clueless.
"Just aim well and try not to burn my back; keep your aim accurate," Alven warned, warily eyeing Liana before jogging forward. He paused and turned to Jareth. "And you too."
Then he quietly continued jogging.
After he got to a short distance from them, that wasn't too far from the cave, he agilely climbed the tree.
Nathan eyed Jareth before turning to Liana. "Keep him with you, or he might spoil our organized work."
With that, he dashed lightly toward the right.
Jareth turned to see Nadia running in the opposite direction of the cave.
Apart from being confused about their formation, Jareth noticed that they all ran lightly, trying to make the least noise possible.
"Don't get distracted. Keep up." Liana's voice pulled him back.
He snapped his head around and saw Liana sprinting diagonally forward in the direction Nathan had taken. He quickly followed, running awkwardly as he tried to mimic their silent running.
She soon halted in front of a tree and climbed. Jareth quickly sent his sword into his badge and did the same, which wasn't difficult due to his enhanced physique.
Seeing Liana crouching on a branch and facing the cave while holding her sword in her left hand and her short staff in her right, he copied her stance.
He also made a mental note of their arrangement. Nadia positioned far behind, and the rest were arranged in a triangular formation; Alven at the apex, followed by Liana, who was on the left and close to Alven, and lastly, Nathan, who was positioned on the far right.
A few seconds later, Jareth saw a fist-size rock fly out of Alven's tree into the cave.
Everything went silent for a moment before multiple roars erupted from the cave.