"Jokes aside, if things go wrong, know that I, as the tank, will throw myself in front of any attack for each and every one of you. Some of us may not have met before today, but when we're in there, we're a team, we're brothers and sisters, and I won't let a single casualty happen under my watch."
With his rather touching speech out of the way we head towards the entrance and take our first steps into the D-Tier gate.
The energies swirl around us as we step through, finding ourselves in an entirely different landscape.
Immediately as we enter, 3 monkey-like monsters ambush us, and I cast [Fireball] at each of them.
[You have killed a level 3 Jungle Monkey]
[You have killed a level 3 Jungle Monkey]
[You have killed a level 3 Jungle Monkey]
With each of them dying from a single [Fireball], I earn myself some impressed looks, as well as one of jealousy from the other mage, and we stop to take a good look at our surrounding scenery.
It's a beautiful and lush jungle, teeming with plant life, and likely monster life too.
"Good job, Ford. Quick thinking and quick reaction time, as well as high firepower, I'm definitely glad we got you!" Justin says with a smile, and I notice as the fellow mage's eyes darken.
Her name was Isabella, and she didn't speak at all after I showed up, mostly stealing glances and giving territorial looks when I got near Justin.
'I'm physically 15, girl, you've got no competition from me.' I think to myself, shooting her a smile.
'Besides, he's nowhere near my type, and a little young for me.'
The tank, Justin, is 21, while the rest of the party is between 19 and 23, myself aside. They seem fairly new to Gate Dives, though I suppose they're probably more experienced than me.
After dealing with the ambush, I notice Isabella casting a spell. At first I thought it was a buff spell or something alone those lines, but my instincts suddenly scream at me to avoid whatever she's casting.
Using every ounce of my strength stat, as well as [Mana Muscle] and [Mana Imbuement], I jump backwards outside of the spell's radius, watching as the other 4 members, Isabella included, suddenly disappear.
Not into a sea of flames or anything like that, they just simply vanish.
Assuming it's some kind of teleportation spell, I decide my best bet would be to run around the dungeon looking for my party and the boss monster.
"Isabella! What are you doing, where are we?" Justin asks, unable to believe what just happened. He quickly looks around, and sighs in relief as he noticed Ford wasn't caught up in whatever Isabella was doing.
"I'm doing what I should have done a long time ago. Cornering my prey." She says coldly, gesturing around them to the dark and damp cave they're in, as then towards their bodies, shackled by mana and a slow-acting poison spell.
"Prey?! I thought we were friends!" Justin yells.
"Well you know what, I thought so too! For so fucking long! And then time after time you'd look for another mage other than me, time after time you'd show me that I wasn't enough! And I'm fucking sick of it! I'm sick of not being enough, so I'll show you just how capable I am, and I'll engrave it so fucking deeply into your thick skull that it'll be the only and last thought you'll ever fucking have!" Isabella practically screeched out.
The rest of the party looks around, mortified at the situation they've found themselves in.
The Assassin was the quickest to react, immediately rushing towards the woman with his dagger aimed at her neck.
"[Incinerate]." Isabella chanted, her voice just as fiery as the B-Tier spell she cast.
In a moment, the Assassin-type awakened was burned to a crisp, his defenses not being nearly high enough to take a Mage's full-powered spell head on and survive.
One by one, saving Justin for last, Isabella cast [Incinerate] on each of the party member, their shock at their long-time friend's betrayal preventing them from taking any defensive measures.
Justin, having been saved for last, finally managed to put up his defenses, and a battle ensued. Unfortunately for him, he truly had underestimated the capabilities of the mage by his side, and after a long fought battle, she coldly looked at him, and the last words he ever heard were: "[Incinerate}."
"Hahaha, this sure is fun!" I say, casting fireball at another of the low-level enemies here, killing it in one shot and enjoying seeing the XP rolling in
[You have leveled up]
"No wonder Buford loved those games so much. Nothing beats the real thing, though!" I say with a wolfish grin plastered across my face.
Traversing through the forest while stealthed, I see Isabella in the distance, walking with purpose, seeming to know exactly where she's going.
Originally I was planning to unstealth, but the look in her eyes changed my mind, and instead tail her from a distance, planning to find out what she's up to and if she'd headed to any of the others, if any are remaining.
The look in her eyes, it's one I know all too well. It's the look of someone who's just killed a person.