A New Party Member

Pointing her staff forward, Gwen fired off multiple flame arrows. The fire caught the Brume in the face, burning its mouth as it stumbled backward before crashing down in front of her.

Chris rushed ahead, letting out a mighty battle cry. His weapon was glowing blue as he stabbed the monster in the eye. The Brume thrashed violently, trying to shake Chris off its face, but he held on tight.

Gwen began channeling a vast amount of magic through her staff, enough that her aura was visible around her body. The earth rumbled beneath her as chunks of stone tore themselves from the ground. It formed a massive sphere of flames wrapped.

“Chris, move!” She shouted.

Chris pulled his sword free and jumped off Brume's face, landing hard in the dirt.

“Meteor!” she yelled, thrusting her staff forward. The flaming sphere slammed into the monster's face.

BOOM

The attack exploded on impact, sending Chris and Gwen sliding backwards. Gwen wiped the sweat off her face, using the staff to keep herself upright.

The smoke began to clear, and the brume more clearly. It was standing, but on shaking paws. Half of its face was gone, along with some of its fur burned away, exposing the skin underneath.

Of course, the monster isn’t dead yet, Gwen thought, bringing up her staff.

The Brume swayed, blood dripping down its face as it took a step forward.

Gwen clenched her staff and started charging up her magic. Before she could finish preparing a new spell, Clare dropped down from a tree and landed on top of the Brume.

The dagger in her hands was glowing a dark purple. She quickly brought the weapons down in an X formation, and two purple arcs shot from their tips.

They cleanly cut through the Brume’s head, stopping against the ground and leaving small marks.

“Huh, so I guess Clare got stronger since trying to be a full mage,” Gwen muttered.

Chris walked over to her, sword still in hand. “Man, I can’t believe you could injure that thing.”

Gwen shrugged and stood up straight. “It was tougher than what I was expecting; luckily I learned new spells before fighting it.”

“That was probably a boss based on how big it looked.”

“Huh, a boss? Do those appear often?”

Chris frowned. “I don’t know, actually.”

“A pity…I’d like to fight another soon,” she muttered.

Gwen gave Chris a grateful nod, then turned on her heel. She scanned the area, but didn’t have to look long when Kira came jogging into view.

“Are you okay?”

Kira shook her head. “I’m fine!”

“Good. We just finished beating the Brume, so whenever you’re ready, you can start skinning it.”

“Yeah, about that, boss. This monster might take me at least an hour, maybe longer, before I can finish getting the pelt.”

Gwen shrugged. “That’s fine, take all the time you need. I’ll use this time to recover some of my magic before we move on.”

“Then leave it to me,” Kira said, giving a small salute.

She rushed off, ignoring the two siblings talking amongst themselves. Her gaze never wavered as she started looking over the giant monster.

Looking around, Gwen saw a tree that had fallen over. She made her way over and promptly sat on the ground, leaning her back against the bark. She laid her staff against her legs and closed her eyes for a moment.

This was the first time she had run into a brume. It was strange, when they’ve been exploring the second floor for a while now and had never come across one before today.

Yet it was enlightening to learn she had grown slightly, but still had a long way to go in her training.

I might have to talk to the people at the church tomorrow, she thought.

Maybe the old priestess will take pity on Gwen and teach her a new spell. Or yell at her for being careless in battle. Knowing the old lady, it’ll probably be the second; she tends to be fond of lectures.

It might be smart to check if this body still had an affinity with dark magic, like in the anime. Since having a bit of a party would be hard to take care of, learning necromancy could help her with jobs and keeping Kira protected.

The sound of heavy footsteps broke Gwen’s musing. Snapping her head around, she saw the two siblings approaching. She couldn’t help but let out a heavy sigh of annoyance at seeing them.

Couldn’t they just leave me alone? I’m trying to think over here, she groaned.

She did her best to bury the feeling, keeping her face neutral as they stopped in front of her. Both promptly sat on the ground and stared at her.

“Thank you for the help!” Chris spoke up first, bowing his head.

“You don’t need to thank me. I was looking for Brumes anyway,” Gwen replied.

“If it wouldn’t bother you, as thanks, would you mind us joining you?”

“We don’t want any of the drops or anything.” Claire quickly added.

Gwen raised an eyebrow. “Why do you guys want to partner with me?”

“Well, we thought it would be an excellent learning experience if we worked with you.”

“I see… but I’m only a D-Rank.”

“So are we!”

Chris's eyes lit up. “Plus, it took me a while to piece it together, but you were the adventurer that saved us when we got ambushed on the first floor.”

Gwen snorted. “So, what are you going to use this information to blackmail me into working with you guys, since I didn’t report it?”

The siblings shook their heads at the same time.

“NO! We would never do that!” Chris said, his voice rising slightly.

“We also owe you a lot for saving us!” Claire added.

“We would love to work with you if you’d allow us, Gwen.” They both finished ‌bowing their heads slightly.

Gwen looked at her siblings, rubbing a hand through her hair. “Fine, but don’t blame me if one of you guys ends up dead or worse.”

“We won’t!” they both said.

“Welcome to the party then,” she said, leaning back against the tree.

She was closing her eyes when a thought suddenly hit her. “Hey, Claire?”

“Yes?”

“I thought you were training to be a mage. What made you switch to daggers?”

Claire tilted her head, tapping a finger against her knee. “After seeing how strong your magic was, I realized I needed to try something different.”

She paused, holding up one of her daggers.

“Since I was younger, my brother was always training me in how to fight with blades, and I have a strong affinity for shadow magic.”

“Just like when you cut the head off a bear?”

“Exactly!”

“Hmm, so you’re trying to be an assassin?”

Claire nodded. “Something like that. I want to strike fast and take out enemies quickly to help the group.”

“That would be very useful for me,” Gwen mumbled, her mind flashing back to fighting the goblins. “If you could handle spellcasters or enemies that stand in the back, it would be very helpful.”

“That’s the goal. Once I master being able to hide in shadows, it will help speed up the process slightly.”

Gwen nodded in agreement, and the conversation went quiet. Though it was a comfortable quiet, one that didn’t make her feel weird.

While the siblings talked amongst themselves, Gwen started focusing on group formations. With the two now added to the party, she wouldn’t have to rush as she had been.

Now she would also have to learn how to control the strength of her spells so it wouldn’t injure the other people in the party.

I can use this as training to condense my spells without having them lose strength. She thought, excitement already racing. Goodbye, wasting magic and hello to stronger attacks!