I Feels so groggy today.

  6 hours of sleep. Didn't think it was this bad. Usually my schedule is 10-12 hours in this life but the sudden change of pace is too much for me I would say.

  "Not a morning person?" My mob friend said towards me whilst holding a cup of coffee.

  "Ehh, not really," I replied, too tired to even do the social anxiety bit.

  She nodded before sitting besides me.

  If you look at us, the first thing that would come to your mind would be "some friends having a normal morning." Not "this is a test that the academy put us to determine our grade."

  The main characters might be having a tougher time right about now, but us? Heh, we're pretty chill about it.

  Our other group mate however is doing his job again, scouting for potential enemies. Damn, he's so serious. Who would target us anyways?

  "In the end, no one climbed the huge ass tree. And here I'm left wondering if all we did all night was just a waste of time," I muttered, cursing underneath. My precious sleep, gone...

  My mob friend, hearing my compints, just stared at me with a face saying "you're the one who said we need a night shift."

  She doesn't actually say that, but her face somehow expresses it for some reason.

  "Anyways, you said the boss would show up in day 2 right? I don't see that thing right now."

  "Well... I did also say that it will appear in the evening of day 2. Let's just wait and see," I replied.

  Compared to yesterday, today is pretty peaceful with only minor skirmishes happening here and there.

  While that is the case, day 2 is absolutely more important than day 1.

  For instance...

  "Oh, Nicos is moving," my mob friend muttered.

  Looking at the general direction she's looking at, I could conclude that I couldn't see shit. Thankfully, I got my binocurs with ×16 zoom hd and adjustable.

  He seems to be heading to a group of monsters, specifically some goblins and an orc leading them.

  "The strategy he's going for seems to be a hunt towards small groups of goblins," Our new recruit said. Yeah captain obvious.

  But that isn't the reason why this day is important.

  In the original game, the pyer will briefly take control of Nichos and they will awaken the hidden monster beneath some ruins. I forgot the specific time frame but I'm pretty sure it'll happen today.

  "Guys..." Our new recruit shouted, gaining our attention. "There's 2 people climbing up this giant tree."

  Hmm? 2 people?

  Aren't there supposed to be 3 people? I mean, a squad is composed of 3 people unless 1 died early.

  There's another possibility too...

  I looked down the tree, trying to see who's going up and oh boy, it's one of the worse possible nightmares I could think of.

  "Isn't that Reinhardt?" My mob friend asked in confusion.

  Yeah, I would be confused too but thinking about it, it makes sense. One of the main characters would inevitably climb this humongous tree not for any special reasons, but just because.

  I mean, why put it here if you're not going to use it? Sure this was originally a game but it still have some plot, which means plot devices.

  "Oh man, what do we do here?" I asked myself with a tint of despair in my eyes.

  Contempting Abit, I made my decision.

  "Let's just jump," I decred.

  Surprisingly, both of them nodded in unison.

  Hmm, they're both crazy.

  ***

  Pov: Elise

  "Why are we going up here again?" I asked Reinhardt.

  "Well, it's a giant tree. I'm hoping to scout some potential squadrons to hunt," said Reinhardt as a matter of fact.

  "And the real reason is?" I asked again.

  He then looked at me with a surprised expression, probably not understanding how'd I've figured he's hiding something.

  "Uhh, I mean, it's a humongous tree right? It would be a shame to not climb it once."

  Yeah, this guy's an idiot.

  Ahhh, what did I expect from this guy?? Yeah, I've known you since when I was young, but still!

  Oh, wait.

  "Something's coming."

  With my report, Reinhardt turned serious all over a sudden.

  My mana detection range is about 200 meters, and someone's approaching us at a dizzying speed.

  No, there's 3 of them, an ambush perhaps?

  From what direction?

  Left? Right?

  Shit my mana detection is not refined enough. Where the heck are the signal coming from?

  Then, without a word, Reinhardt unsheathes his sword, pointing it towards his front.

  Since we're running vertically, then does that mean our enemy is currently descending?

  I focused my mana towards my eyes to enhance my vision and sure enough, they're here.

  Not just that, they're currently falling.

  What is this?

  "Elise, don't let your guard down," Reinhardt said with a harden expression.

  In a blink of an eye, one of our ambushers approached right in front of me. Swinging his sword with fast precision.

  He's fast!

  Water magic: bubble shield!

  "Too te!"

  *Cng*

  My magic failed to cast right on time.

  Thankfully, Reinhardt managed intervened right at the st second parrying the guy.

  Yet the momentum of the fall Aided the ambusher, he managed to stagger Reinhardt.

  That's not all.

  The other two came next.

  "Water magic: water pilrs!"

  Streams of pilrs of water sprang from the tree, targeting those two and everything around them.

  Yet strangely enough, both of them blocked it at the same time with their sword.

  Never the matter, I summoned more water pilrs, yet they managed to dodge everything in time.

  They dodged left and right, doing acrobatics in the meantime. They're dodging as if they have seen through my magic already.

  "What the—"

  These guys, they're different from everyone else.

  Reinhardt on the other hand, misdirects the force of his opponent.

  He leans towards the left, parrying the sword of his enemy, and letting his opponent fall to his death.

  He then focused on the other two, but an unexpected event occured.

  The two other perpetrators ignored the both of us and continued falling, accelerating under the guise of gravity.

  "Just what are they pning?" I muttered.

  And at the st moment.

  *BOOM*

  A deafening explosion coming from below, maybe the cause is some kind of magic that made then cushion the impact of falling in such a great height.

  Wait, then why ambush in the first pce? Isn't this kind of idiotic?

  "Let's follow them," Reinhardt chimed in besides me.

  I nodded, still not understanding the situation.

  The 3 of them then emerged from the smokescreen, running away from us— at this giant tree.

  Wait, why are they running?

  Then, does that mean they never intended to fight us? They just wanted to run?

  "They disguised their escape as an ambush," Reinhardt expined, rushing towards the ground.

  Shit, we've been pyed.

  Jailbreak571