“. . .”
“. . .”
“But what about the rest of the dungeon?” Rafaela asked worriedly.
Silvia briefly looked at Ren’s direction and said, “I have an idea.”
Ren seemed to know what he was doing. She’d ask his help later . . . with money involved, of course. She had enough of Robert and his companions anyway.
“It’s just an item, you guys,” Pamela said, voice like bells gently ringing a lullaby. “I’m okay leaving this place empty handed as long as we get firstblood. Isn’t that what we agreed upon in the first place?”
Silvia cast an appreciative smile in Pamela’s way. Leave it to her best friend to make everyone’s temper disappear.
Rosie took in a deep breath. “Fine.”
“It’s just infuriating since they didn’t even do anything,” grumbled Alicia.
With the majority agreeing, Robert and Vida both equipped the items while Silvia approached Ren.
“Ren, can I talk to you for a second?”
“What is it?” Ren asked when the girls approached him.
“We can’t continue like this,” Silvia started, staring at Ren seriously, “If we continue like this, attacking all over the place, we will surely die.”
“I’m glad you know.”
Silvia’s lips twitched while the rest giggled.
“Can you be the substitute leader? That is until we reach Vulcan’s Cave. I’ll up your fee if we manage to get to the Boss’s Room alive.”
Ren didn’t have a problem with that. He was going to do that anyway, even if Silvia didn’t ask.
“Yeah, no problem.”
The women’s faces lit up, and their impression of Ren became favorable . . . even though he was a money-hungry mongrel, at least his services were brought. Unlike Robert, who promised them the full package but later on had a hidden charge for everything.
“However,” Ren chimed in, cutting the women’s exciting faces, “You have to follow my orders to the letter.”
The women looked amongst themselves and shrugged.
“Sure,” Alecia replied.
“I’m okay with it,” said Rafaela with a playful wink.
“Whatever.” Lucia flipped her hair.
Pamela and Ruru just gave a thumbs up.
Rosie tilted her head and crossed her arms under her bountiful breasts. “Whatever you say, leader,” she slurred the final word.
Ren looked the other way and cleared his throat. “From now on, all of you are forbidden to use MP related spells.”
“Huh?” That didn’t sit well with Lucia. “If we don’t fight then–!”
Ren held a hand. “Let me finish.”
The women who were about to make their complaints shut their mouths.
“My damage output is high, and I have a skill that lets me regenerate MP. So you guys leave the monsters in this area to me while all you have to do is heal Nikolai while he takes the aggro on him and anyone that needed healing using Potions. Understand?”
“. . .”
“. . .”
None of the ladies answered before Lucia broke the silence.
“What kind of spell that generate MP?”
“Lucia,” the others reprimanded.
How many times do they have to tell her that Ren’s ATP and list of skills and spells were secret?
Lucia’s eyes widened, and she defended herself. “I’m just curious. Don’t tell me that all of you aren’t?”
Silvia shook her head while sighing at the ceiling, “Don’t mind her. Continue.”
Ren then stated his team’s mistakes after having observed them earlier in the fight with the Lava Hounds.
“Nikolai.”
Nikolai stood straight in alarm. “Y-yes?”
“You’re the ST, in this case, the most important character in this group at this point.”
Nikolai’s eyes shone. “The most . . . important.”
“Don’t be afraid of facing the enemy head-on. Use Taunt whenever possible. Don’t hesitate to use it again after its cooldown.”
Since Nikolai had [Mana Potion], his MP wasn’t going to be a problem. Bedsides [Taunt] wasn’t dealing any damage, so its MP cost was only about +5. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
Nikolai fisted his hands and nodded. “R-right!”
“Silvia, if you’re going to help, then just use your normal attacks. But be careful not to OT. Meaning having damage output higher than Nikolai causing the aggro to switch on you.”
Silvia’s fist hit her palm and a light bulb appeared on top of her head. “Oh. So that’s what it is.” And she faced the girls in glee. “We should have controlled our attacks and made sure that the aggro doesn’t shift to us!”
Lucia and the others nodded in understanding. Seemed doable. They thought.