Clara reached out toward the special item just as the monster noticed and rushed toward her and Andrew. The monster was much faster and Andrew knew it would reach them before either him or Clara could reach the special item.
So he made a quick decision and propelled Clara using his shield once more.
"Don't stop to look back. Use what you can to end this game."
Andrew told her before he threw everything he had in the shield. Even a single second could be the difference between their life and death.
"I-I got it-"
Clara yelled back as she quickly reached the end. The same second, a heavy body collided with Andrew, throwing him back.
His shield started to lose strength and he was sure it would break at the next attack. He braced himself for the pain, only to suddenly feel stronger.
[Player Lilianna has casted buff on you. Your stats have increased by 1% for 10 minutes]
That 1% made a lot of difference. Especially when Andrew used my own mana to buff myself.
The shield withheld one attack, allowing Clara enough time to grab the 'special item' in time.
"I-I got it-! This is over now-!"
Clara huffed as she held the special item, the crown, high up and the monsters cried out before they started to fade away.
Andrew let out a sigh of relief once the weight of the monster was gone from on top of him. He could finally breathe freely once more.
"W-We did it…! We survived."
Lilianna's legs gave out and a smile bloomed on her face. She looked exhausted but happy.
[Congratulations. You have cleared the fifth game. Time taken: 2 days 13 hours]
[You have placed second on the world rankings.]
"Second? No way-! We are not first? Then who the heck is first?"
Clara questioned as she looked at the rankings.
Andrew felt surprised as well, so he decided to use his skill to find out.
[Rank #1 - Time taken: 2 days 1 hour]
[Players: Slayer, Queen, Mandraine, Money King, Thief]
That sure sounded like a party…and a weird one at that. But Andrew was not concerned about this. Coming first in this kind of game was not that advantageous compared to a solo game.
"Hey, sorry man. Did we hold you back? I feel like you could have come in first if we did not hold you back."
Clara apologized and Andrew just shook his head.
"It's fine. I did not expect to come first all the time. Besides, we need to focus on our growth as a team for now. The future games will be tough if we are not all at the same level."
Andrew's words made Lilianna and Clara feel better, but they still felt a little sorry that had made him drop in rankings.
The dungeon began to dissolve around them before the space turned white. Once the light faded, the trio quickly noticed that they were not alone in the room.
There were more people (it looked like a party) who were already there.
The leader of that five-person party headed toward Andrew and extended his hand.
"Hey, are you Mark Dawson? My name is Park Minso, but you can also call me Thief. I have a request for you."
The man paused before he took a deep breath, almost as if he was preparing himself for something. And then, he spoke up.
"My ability allows me to see the future. That is how I was able to take first place this time. And because of that, I want you to join my team. If my ability and your power joins, we can win any game…"
"Not interested."
Andrew immediately turned down the Thief's proposal.
"Huh-! Why would you-? Don't you think my ability can be of extreme use? With that, you won't have to worry about the future challenges and also-"
Andrew finally got annoyed and decided to give Thief an answer.
"I am not a fool, kid. The system is really 'fair' so I doubt you can use your ability for free. And I also doubt you can see much in the future. You better not rely too much on your ability if you want to survive and instead, get stronger yourself."
Andrew was not saying this without reason. He had already checked Thief's profile.
[Player Name: Park Minso (level 14)
Title: The god of bad luck, One who knows this world
Skills: Future Sight (has a 20% chance to see a future outcome. Limited to 5 seconds. Cannot be upgraded). Story board (one-time skill. Already used. Allows user to know the future of this world up to a certain point. Cannot go past game 10)
Profession: Thief
Strength: 3
Speed: 5
Intellect: 10
Luck: 0]
"Hey, how dare you say that to Minso? Tsk, you just don't know how great he is…"
Queen got angry and quickly headed toward Andrew to hit him. But she was stopped by Thief.
"There is no need to pick a fight here, Queen. Mr Dawson is not interested right now, but he will be in the future. And we will need his help as well during upcoming games. We should not make him our enemy."
Thief calmed Queen down and she gritted her teeth but pulled her anger back.
"Fine! If you say so, then I guess I will calm down for now. But that does not mean I like you. I will kill you if you try to harm any of my friends again."
She told Andrew but both Clara and Lilianna quickly stood in front of him.
"You'll have to go through us first."
The girls sound resolute.
Before Andrew could say anything, someone whistled as they walked in.
"Wow-! Looks like I dropped right into a party. This seems like a fun time. Care to allow me to join in as well?"
The person seemed like bad news and Andrew immediately took a look at his stats and abilities.
[Player Name: Emperor (level 14)
Title: The king of skills
Skills: King of weapons, King of magic, Absolute command.
Profession: Returner (0/10 chances left)
Strength: 13
Speed: 15
Intellect: 6
Luck: 20]
'What the hell are those stats? And that title? I have never seen anything like this before.'
This man...he was different. But was he a threat? Or a potential ally? That remained to be seen.