Rangers Endgame

Aoi was the first to act, performing a quickdraw maneuver and flicking her wand in Yakeru's direction as a green aura embraced him. Yakeru didn't have time to react before the philorium sack struck the ground before him.

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮!

His vision flashed with white in an instant, the explosion hurling him backwards. He couldn't even scream as the air came blasting out of his lungs.

Soaring through the cavern, he slammed into Fuyumi before they both tumbled. Though his new armor was more heat resistant, the gaps allowed the heat to burn the exposed parts of his body. Although the blast scorched his skin, the green aura that enveloped him soothed the pain and began healing his wounds.

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮! 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮! 𝘒𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘮!

Ear-splitting explosions quickly filled the dungeon's now fiery interior. Without time to think, they sprung to their feet and dashed back toward the exit. Aoi flicked her glowing wand toward Kazeki just as a shockwave slammed him into a wall, the aura nullifying the pain shooting through his back.

"Kazeki, look out!" Kenji shouted.

𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘤𝘬!

The ground fractured, giving way beneath him as he began descending into the pit. Thinking quickly, he unraveled the light chain around his arm, revealing the dart at the end of it. Spinning the dart, he generated enough momentum to fling it above his head and securely wrap itself around a tree root.

𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨!

The chain produced a sharp snap when he reached the end of his line, immediately halting his free fall before the darkness below could swallow him whole. As he dangled there above the abyss, he realized how hard he was breathing.

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮! 𝘒𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘮!

Thunderous roars ripped through the cavern, growing louder with each passing second. Yakeru's body acted on its own, yanking Aoi by the wrist and tugging her away. However, he couldn't run very far as he couldn't move faster than a staggering pace. The initial explosion had burned his legs and although Aoi reacted quickly, she didn't have nearly enough time to heal all of his injuries.

𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬!

Aoi screamed as the floor beneath them opened up and soon they tumbled down into an abyss.

Fuyumi sprinted away from the chaos. Leaping over sinkholes and sliding under falling debris, she made a desperate attempt to get herself to safety only for the ceiling to cave in front of her. She skidded to a stop as the ground sliced open before it too could no longer support her weight, giving out underneath her.

When the smoke cleared, all Kazeki, Kenji, and Kateshi heard was silence.

"Yakeru?! Fuyumi?!" Kenji shouted with a shakey voice.

"Aoi?!" Kazeki screamed out but the sounds of loose rocks tumbling into the abyss was the only thing they heard in response.

Kenji tightened his shaky grip around his staff. He couldn't help but draw parallels to their first mission. At least back then, Yakeru and Kaneki fell into a river which, somewhat, broke their fall. The blackness below made it impossible to determine how deep the pit went. However, unlike the last time this happened this time, he had a means to track them.

After their battle with the Ripper, he'd purchased a brand new talisman. However, its radiant signature had to be retuned to synchronize with the ones Yakeru and Fuyumi already had. This fact alone was enough to settle Kenji's nerves even if not by much.

"Miss Aoi?!" Kateshi shouted in distress. "Sir Yakeru?! Miss Fuyumi?! Can you hear us?!!"

"Shush!" Kazeki pressed a finger against his lips, desperately trying to quiet down the brute. "We're still not in the clear. Look."

He pointed a finger behind him. To their surprise, there were still several more philorium sacks that survived the chain reaction from earlier. Kazeki's arm began succumbing to numbness as he continued to dangle over the pit. Swinging his legs back and forth, he generated enough momentum to fling himself to Kateshi who caught his arm, making sure he made a stable landing.

Retracting his chain dart, he assessed his current state. Although his armor had absorbed some of the damage, his body still had scorch marks and blood oozed from his many wounds. Had it not been for Aoi's quick thinking, things would've been a lot worse for him.

"Are you okay?!" Kenji asked as he rushed over to check his condition.

With a shaky hand, Kazeki fished around in his satchel.

"Y-Yeah...I just...need to drink this..." he stammered, pulling out the health elixir they bought a day prior.

He carefully cocked his head back and downed the liquid. Seconds later his wounds gradually began to mend before Kateshi helped him to his feet.

"...we're going after them," Kazeki ordered.

"Right, but we need a plan," Kenji replied, pulling out the talisman from his satchel and flashing it to them. "We can track them with this. But it might be a while until we can reach them. We don't know how many kobolds are down here or how many other traps they've set."

"Just leave our enemies to me. I will slay all who oppose us." The hulking brute reassured.

As if on cue, they heard pebbles shifting from down the cavern accompanied by slithering.

The trio turned their heads to the source of the sound only to discover a set of glowing orange eyes piercing through the darkness. A scaly snout poked out from the shadows before the rest of its lizard-like body followed. It wore a tattered brown cloth around its groin and wielded a primitive spear made up of a basic wooden shaft and a sharpened stone.

Its tongue flicked in and out of its mouth as more of these bipedal reptile creatures emerged from the shadows with makeshift weapons of their own. Kenji shoved the talisman back in his satchel, studying the monsters approaching their cornered prey. This would be the first time he's encountered such monsters so he had no prior knowledge of their combat capabilities. He was certain of a few things though.

'They're smart enough to build weapons and set traps. But the fact that they need weapons to begin with probably means they aren't very effective at hunting without them.'

However, they barely wore anything that could protect them in combat which meant their scales probably served as armor. Kenji turned to Kateshi. Compared to him and Kazeki, who by now was only armed with a chain dart wouldn't be as effective at killing these things as the brute.

"Do you mind taking these monsters?"

"I shall slay them where they stand." Kateshi grinned as he infused his battle axe.

There were dozens of lizard men closing in on their position. Although they were mere D-tier monsters, they had strength in numbers which meant Kateshi might have to go all out. However, if it came down to that, it might do more harm than good in close quarters. He didn't know what kind of power an A-rank possessed but he didn't want to chance it and cause the ground to give out again since now they knew it was hollow.

"I'll do what I can to support you from behind," Kenji said, raising his staff. "Just try to hold back. We don't want this place to collapse on top of us."

"Agreed. Now, to battle!"

He lunged forward with his axe held high as Kenji willed radiance into his staff. Kateshi's blade swooped down across his massive frame, slicing two kobolds horizontally in two.

"Kreeik?!"

"Kreeeeik!"

The scaly beasts rushed toward him to avenge their fallen comrades, preparing to thrust their spears into his chest. However, before they could launch their attack, a suffocating amber aura appeared around them, hindering their movements.

"Kreeik?"

As Kateshi spun around, a streak of gleaming light sliced through their necks and their heads collapsed to the stone floor. Kateshi continued dismembering the kobolds one by one as Kazeki narrowed his eyes. The monsters' movements were slower than before. He turned his attention to Kenji who'd been holding his glowing staff forward. It didn't take a genius to put the two and two together.

"How are you doing that?"

"It's a long story..."

By inhibiting the monsters' movements he could make it significantly easier for his teammates. Although his radiant channels were permanently damaged, hindering his body's ability to absorb and output radiance, his control over radiance remained intact.

'Yes! I can still support my team like this.' he exclaimed inwardly with a satisfied grin.

𝘚𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘵!

Another kobold fell under Kateshi's blade as three new kobolds had their movements impaired. Though Kenji's newfound power was extremely useful, even after rigorous training during his temporary ban from the guild, he could only debuff three targets at a time.

As the brute cut down the hindered monsters, the unaffected kobolds took the opportunity to ambush him from behind. Kazeki stepped forward in response.

"I'm positive the big ape can handle this on his own, but..."

Radiance gradually crawled down the length of his chain until it reached the dart, allowing it to levitate. With the flick of his wrist, the dart zipped across the cavern at lightning speed, gauging out the kobolds' eyes in rapid succession.

"Kreeik!"

"Kreeik!"

"Kreeeik!"

The creatures toppled over one another, grasping at where their eyes used to be, green blood gushing from their sockets.

"Woah..." Kenji mustered, transfixed on the jumbled mass of reptiles squirming in pain as the dart returned to its owner.

"You got your tricks and I got mine," Kazeki remarked, looking back at Kateshi who gave him an appreciative thumbs up.

As the helpless beasts writhed, Kateshi finished them off one by one. Kenji was relieved to see that these two rangers proving themselves in combat. Judging by Kazeki's surprised expression earlier, it was safe to say the feeling was mutual about Kenji's unique ability as well. Kateshi pulled his axe out of a kobold's head as it collapsed with a thud.

"That was the last of them. Appreciate the assist you two." Kateshi shot them a grin.

"Anytime, big guy."

"Okay," Kenji once again pulled out the talisman. "We should get moving then."

Down in the abyss below, Yakeru's eyes flickered open. His blurred vision was only able to spot faint blue lights scattered here and there. As his senses returned, he started to make out his surroundings.

The part of the cave system he found himself in looked no different from earlier except it was more spacious. How spacious, he didn't know since the scarce glitter bulbs around him provided limited lighting. The tree roots poking through the walls had been destroyed by the ceiling collapsing on top of them. He could still hear loose rocks trickling down the large chamber.

He groaned, slowly placing his burned and bloodied hand under him, but immediately after pushing, an intense wave of pain shot through his entire body. As he plopped back down, letting out a hoarse yelp, he noticed he couldn't feel his right leg.

Panic began to set in. Was it gone? Would he have to make an agonizing crawl to the exit? Would he bleed out before that even happened? Was he truly alone in a dark cavern?

The gravity of the situation hit him like a sack of bricks as his breathing became erratic. Closing his eyes, he took deep breaths to tame his nerves.

'Calm yourself, Yakeru. You won't get anywhere if you panic.'

He wasn't sure how much time had gone by as he continuously breathed in and out. The unrelenting pain ate away at his body but eventually it subsided, albeit not by much.

'It's good enough...'

The torrent of negative thoughts had somewhat disappeared, allowing him to think more clearly than before.

He remembered he'd fallen into this pit with Aoi yet there were no signs of her from what he could tell. Although he found it troublesome to turn his head to scan his surroundings, his yelp from earlier should've grabbed her attention. Unless she was already...

'No! Don't think like that.'

Gritting his teeth, he forced his head to tilt down and could barely make out the shape of a flat boulder resting on top of his leg. Relief washed over him.

'It must've cut off my circulation.'

Returning his head to its original position, he carefully inched his hand for his sword so he wouldn't agitate his wounds. The boulder didn't seem too large so perhaps he could break it in two to free himself. Grabbing the handle, he slowly began pulling the blade out.

𝘛𝘪𝘯𝘨...𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨...

The awkward position he was in prevented him from unsheathing his sword. He was lying flat on his stomach and the hilt repeatedly hit the floor every time he tried removing it from the scabbard. He shifted his body slightly only for another wave of pain to surge through it.

"Agh!!"

He lay there motionless once more, contemplating his options. He couldn't even reach his satchel to grab his health elixir with the amount of pain he was in. Even if he could unsheath his sword, could his weakened body even generate enough force to put a scratch on the boulder?

'It's no use...I'm trapped...'

The inky blackness amplified every sound and sensation, the dripping of water and shifting rocks the only stimulation for his ears. Time became distorted as minutes and hours blended together. He became aware of how dry his mouth was and cramps began to form as he remained in the same position for who knew how long. He tried to recall the last thing he said to Akari but in his weakened state his mind had begun to fog.

His eyes were fixed on a blue hue across the room, the only light within his field of view, as he was confronted with the fragile existence of man. It didn't matter how much he trained his body or how far he pushed his mental fortitude as there will always be limits. And he was discovering his as the light began to warp and the sounds he was hearing became harder to distinguish. Eventually, he started hearing new sounds, faint whispers and footsteps that seemed to be just outside his peripheral.

Perhaps the surviving kobolds had found him and were preparing to finish him. Good. They'd be doing him a favor. As he stared at the now dancing blue light within view, he was about to accept his fate until a voice whispered through the darkness.

"Hello...?"

He couldn't tell if his mind was playing tricks on him. The fabrications of his mind had already begun to bleed into reality. The voice spoke again, this time sounding slightly closer.

"Yakeru...?!"

He couldn't believe it. The familiar voice alone restored hope as the moving blue light went back to its original position and the ambient sounds started to die down.

"...Aoi...?"