"So, you think he'll make it?"
Speaking rather calmly, a handsome young man stood against a tree nonchalantly, his hands in his pockets and one foot raised to the dark brown bark.
"As if. I hope he gets fucking ripped apart. How long before we leave? Aubrey, you were a total dumbass to say all that shit. Now we're not even going to get our time's worth out of this dungeon—you're a stupid woman."
His words the complete opposite of the handsome man's, a shorter man with a permanent scowl on his face spoke to both the woman, Aubrey, and the handsome man, Sunny.
Aubrey, flipping her long brown hair off to the side, nimbly approached the man, holding him from behind. "Aww, don't be so upset! Jeff, if push comes to shove, we can always enter ourselves, and get our money's worth! You'll be helpful too, right Al?"
Gracefully tilting her chin, the woman shot a glance at yet another member of the Pleiades. His piercing red glare did not linger on her, as he smiled in response. Unmistakably, he was dressed incredibly well, with a suit that surely must've cost thousands of dollars and a million-dollar smile. Lined out with gold and silver jewelry alike, his flowing white hair followed the gentle breeze of the wind.
"Naturally. I'd say we enter anyways—it's just a B rank dungeon, after all. I'd say there's at least a few grand stored inside."
The shorter man—Jeff, scoffed and turned his head away, keeping his arms crossed. Dressed in a suit that seemed to be much cheaper, and as though mimicking Al's design but failing, his long black hair wasn't anywhere nearly as beautiful as that of Al's.
"Whatever. I'm only here because it was supposed to be an A rank. If it's not, then I'm just gonna leave."
With no more remarks, Jeff began to leave the forest, passing by the handsome Sunny.
"Aww. Don't be mad, buddy. I'm here for you!"
"Shut your fucking mouth."
"Oh."
The crunching of leaves filled the air, slowly drowning out as Jeff left.
Aubrey sighed, her shoulder shrinking as she shot a final, submissive glance to the main man—Karma.
"So, what do we do? We jump in, or…?"
His gaze lost in thought breaking off from the spiraling red gate, Karma turned around. Suddenly, the winds picked up in the forest, blowing leaves around their feet as he remained with a serious expression, brushing his fluffy brown hair off to the side.
"Be more patient. It's only been a minute, after all."
…
Patching his legs back together, Rowan struggled to climb to his feet. With everything below his knee having been blown off his body, he now remained shoeless and pantless in those areas.
You…!
The giant megalodon, a disastrous beast which seemed to be the culmination of the fearsome creatures within the grand sea, simply terrified him to the point that he broke off into a sprint, fleeing to the insides of the forest.
Rapidly burning with the sensation of breathlessness, he pushed past it, his stumbling and slipping as he ran on the uneven surface. All the while, his race remained contorted in utmost despair.
Trampling along the dirt, the sticks and stones of the forest began to poke and pierce his unprotected feet. How peculiar—after all, he loathed sand when it could get into his shoes. Yet, when he ran, sand would've been the less painful option, considering it generally lacked the sharp sticks that would pierce his feet, or at least held a scarce hand compared to the spades of the dirt.
Finally, he reached a solid middle-ground, as far away from the megalodon as he could be at all times. His breaths were indeed labored. Heavy and coarse, rough and rugged, he lacked the strength to stand fully, thus crouching down as the pain of heavy breathing clawed at his throat.
"Hah…"
With one hand on a tree, there was the pain of exhaustion and the discomfort of sweat that ran all along his body. Even that which hadn't been struck, still managed to hurt.
His collarbone, ribcage, shins and even his back all collectively groaned in pain.
That's just the worst… Agh. If I'm in the middle, I should be good, right?
Shit. If only I'd just brought the others, then it wouldn't have gone like this! No, no.
"Shut up…"
Cursing beneath his breath, Rowan forcefully shoved the feelings away.
Longing for things that hadn't happened, what a fool. Mumbling lies, scratching sweet dreams into his brain, he was making a fool of himself.
His face flushing red with embarrassment, feeling a spiritual squeal of distaste for his own perverse thoughts, Rowan sighed deeply.
Closing his eyes, he felt it in his feet. With bare skin touching the dirt, the rumbling of the ground beneath only served to add to his worry, as he looked forward. The giant fin from the ocean was no longer seeming like a triangle—it was facing him.
"Hk!"
The next moment, the great megalodon launched from the water, flying towards him despite being directly on land.
With a shriek, Rowan kicked off the ground, barely managing to evade the first attack. The shark's great jaws passing him by a hair's breadth, things felt exceedingly dangerous. And when he opened his eyes, which had shut from fear, he saw an eerie sight.
A whole chunk of the island, drawn in a straight line, had been torn apart—removed by the Boss.
Swallowing his spit, Rowan grit his teeth, hearing the megalodon return to the water with a great splash. And as the water flew through the air, it returned to the ground with incredible speed, raining thunderous crashing upon his body.
Truly, that leather armor and the helmet he'd taken on was the only thing protecting him from being pierced by the heavy blast of rain.
"Agh!" Rowan screamed, falling into the crevice of the earth, sliding along. With dirt on his clothes, he stared in awe at the monster's plowing through the island itself.
That's right… if we're to grade them, then… a B rank can destroy a neighborhood. But, taking a huge leap in power, there's the A rank monsters, who can destroy a whole city.
For aquatic monsters, that test was a bit skewed. Yet, it remained the standard, and Rowan had no doubts that this megalodon, provided it truly desired to, would be able to annihilate building after building until the city collapsed if it so wished.
What do I do? How can I win this?
The shark did not cease. Far more aggressive than the turtles, it repeatedly spammed its most blatant attack.
Rowan leapt again and again, narrowly avoiding death time and time again. Yet, despite being able to avoid the monster's lethal assault, it didn't mean he was safe. In quick succession, with rapid-fire exit and entrance into the sea, the splash would come down like lightning and attack him.
There was not even a single moment of respite.
Shit… My helmet's been pierced by the water! Is there anything I can do to win!? Fuck, I need to fight back!
Once more, it circled the island, having scalped the lands five times already, before launching at Rowan. The young man fought back, raising his hand and shooting a ball of fire into its mouth as he leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding certain death and crashing into dirt.
Those who cast the spell could feel it. He knew exactly where it was.
—Likewise, he knew that it was put out by the a watery fluid immediately upon landing in the shark's mouth.
Upon sensing this, a deep desperation struck Rowan's heart, quieting his anger. Left on the dirt, helpless to flee from the island, his brain went both blank and focused, as he tried to examine what exactly he could do.
Fire, Water, Healing, and Ice. Those were his only tools.
Fire, which had been cultivated merely to boil water to help his mother and let him engage with weak monsters inside of a forest.
Water, which had been cultivated merely to hydrate his mother and wash her, when she was too sick to wash herself.
Healing, which had been lovingly cultivated so as to heal his mother's wounds, and fight back against her sickness as well as he possibly could.
And Ice, which had been cultivated merely to keep her wet towels cold and comforting, to keep her temperature down and prevent her fevers from getting worse.
He had lived and learned magic purely to keep his mother happy, to comfort her in her final years as best as he could. It was no wonder that his basic magic was simply unable to measure up to the great, overwhelming force ahead of him.
Upon that realization, his head sank lower.
By this point, the forests had been largely cleared out. Rowan was quite easy to spot, and thus, the megalodon used Water Magic, raining down a sharp spear of water. With proper weight, it acted on its intensive speed.
Moving with such force that caused sound itself to weep, the water blew apart Rowan's stomach, pushing him into the ground as he groaned heavily.
Yet, he didn't make any rash moves. He did not run to take cover under a tree, nor did he reflect on the fight.
His blood seeping into the flayed dirt of the abominable island, Rowan's mind went blank. His eyes followed, losing their focused glare and becoming dull, weak, and pathetic.
Losing. He was rapidly losing his viscera, which was quite literally his lifeblood. He motioned his hand to touch the side of his stomach, staining his palm and fingers crimson. It was his own blood.
He could call it uniquely his own.
"I…"
His fingers twitched, weakly grasping all four of the mana crystals in his pockets. He drew them out, lost in a string of pain and inability.
His blood smeared along the crimson rubies. His eyes, dull as they were, intrinsically longed to see their beauty.
And yet, as he remained on the ground, wounded and on the cusp of an imminent death, his heart did not spark with anything in particular—fear, nor rage, nor joy nor sorrow.
He simply felt unbearably empty, and perhaps deeply discontent.
His life itself had been one he could never be proud of. For in the end, it amounted to this. Nothing more than a dog's death, an idiotic statistic for the danger of being a Hunter.
"...I hate… I hate all of this."
His neck lost the strength to continue looking up. And so, he laid as though dead, plainly clutching the gems to his chest. In the end, he had fought and lived and would now die—simply for these gems.
Not for grand ideals or love, but for items.
As his back laid on the ground, he could feel the earth trembling under him. His cherry-hued eyes gazed at the clear sky, seeing a great star ahead—the sun. Yet, it did not hurt when he looked at it.
For that reason, he knew it was a fake.
Once more, now that its prey had fallen, the megalodon burst from the sea, opening its mouth to swallow him whole. Yet, this time, Rowan did not fight back, nor did he try to evade.
What was so wrong with me, that not a single person was willing to come to my aid, even as I rushed to theirs?
Covered in the shadow of the behemoth's maw, his limp body was swallowed whole.