Chapter 198: Return (6)


    "...yawn," by the entrance of the caverns, the brawler who had just woken upFrey, tiredly stretched her arms whilst ncing around the area. However, at the moment she did so, she was greeted by the sight of acking amount of headcount. "...mmm, where is everyone? Did they leave me behind or something...?"


    At the thought of it, her eyes drowsily closed shut as she muttered out. "Oh yeah... Probably they left me behind..." she continued to yawn. "Probably because I overslept or something..." With her line of thought fading away as she was about to enter back into sleep, Frey''s eyes suddenly opened wide at the next moment. "Wait... THEY LEFT ME BEHIND?!"


    Abruptly standing up, Frey frantically began to look around the area. "Noooo!!! Everyone left me" whilst crying out, her mouth soon shut closed as she noticed that a slime who had been standing directly below her was worryingly ncing at Frey.


    "F-Frey...? Did something happen?" Erith uttered out. "Did you get a bad dream or something?"


    "Ahahaha..." Frey uttered out in aplete dumbfounded tone. "Um... Please excuse me..." soon letting out a cough, she slowly sat down to the ground once again. "I-I was just... Thinking about something funny that''s all!"


    "...you thought that people leaving you behind was funny?" Yer seemed to be ncing at Frey with a questioning tone. "...are you okay? Did the snow get to your head?"


    "No way!" Frey refused. "I just ended up saying something funny and everyone just helplessly walked away because it was too funny of a joke to notugh at, that''s all!" she reasoned. "It isn''t because I misunderstood the situation or something! Totally! Ahaha!"


    "...right, I believe you," Erith red at Frey as he leapt over towards the campfire. "Yawn... But in any case, it looks like you''re thest one to wake up. So now all we need to do is wait for the rest of the humans to get back and..."


    "Oh right!" Shaking her head, Frey interjected. "Where''s everyone? Where did everyone go?" she titled her head. "...t-they... They didn''t leave me for real did they?!"


    "No, what are you saying?" Yer frowned. "They wouldn''t leave you, um well... They wouldn''t leave me! Cough, again..." he uttered. "But they wouldn''t leave us! We''d die if so!"


    "Yeah! You''re right! They wouldn''t leave us!" Frey nodded her head. "But seriously, where''s everyone? Master? Ethaniel? Raina? Those new people with met? Rustly and Reru! Everyone''s missing!"


    "Hmm? Who says we''re missing?" Upon ending her sentence, a female''s voice soon protruded out. "I''m right here, you know!"


    "Huh? Who? What? Where?!" Shocked by the sudden voice that protruded out of nowhere, Frey jumped in caution with her fists tightly gripped in preparation to initiate an attack. However, as she turned towards the direction of the voice, she noted that it was the priestHikari. "Ah! The priest! Or was it some mage? I don''t know! But anyways... You surprised me! When did you get here?!"


    "Ah, oops! My bad..." Hikari chuckled. "I wanted to surprise you since you were fast asleep earlier~ That''s all!"


    "Ahem, what Hikari means is that we just got here from checking outside of the caverns for a bit," Crowelin exined. "We were just curious about the situation outside."


    "Oh, right... There something like that, huh?" Frey pondered. "How bad is it?"


    "Not that good, I''m afraid," she shook her head. "It''s only been a day and the ce has gotten far too dangerous to even stay out for five minutes. At that point... You''ll need a lot of cold resistance to withstand that."


    "Not to mention that the beasts in the area are far ferocious now..." Crowelin shivered. "I think their level spiked from the original 70s to the average of the top rankers? No... Probably even higher than that," she stated.


    "Yikes... That bad?" Frey bit her lips. "It was already a struggle going up against those normal enemies... But you say they''re much higher than the top rankers?! Ahh! I can''t imagine that! But wait... What are top rankers? Are they monsters too? Eeek! They sound powerful!"


    "Um... Well," Hikari considered exining to Frey. However, remembering the words from Shinto, she was rather reluctant. "To put it simply, they''re adventurers or in other words, top yers whose level is currently at the highest at the current game''s progression. S- Arceus, a Zephyrous Swordsman is as of the moment, 1st ce with Kaisus leading second and Rie leading third."


    "Arceus? Kaisus? Rie? Who?" Frey tilted her head in confusion. "Who are these people?!"


    "Cough... Hikari, please don''t confuse the poor girl," Crowelin sighed as she turned to Frey. "She''s basically saying that those three are the current top three yers. You don''t need to know them if it doesn''t interest you. They''re just veteran yers whose been around since the sameunched."


    "But, it''s interesting!" Frey''s eyes glittered in excitement. "Just who are they? Arceus sounds like a cool name! You said he was a Zephyrous Swordsman ss or something? Cool ss! He must be a cool and awesome guy!"


    "...cough. Arceus? Cool and awesome? In the same sentence?" Crowelin coughed slightly as she reluctantly mumbled out with a flustered expression. "Ahem... W-well i-if you''re so interested... You could perhaps watch gamey vid-" as she suggesting to Frey, Hikari quickly tucked at her shoulder.


    "...Crowelin? Are you okay?" Hikari whispered. "If Frey searches for Arceus''s gamey video, the top video at the top would be his and Zay''s fight!"


    "...ack I forgot," Crowelin instantly replied back. "Frey''s praise on Arcerus when she didn''t even know him... It kind of um... Felt... Uh..."


    "...good?" Hikari asked. "Hehe~ Well, that''s nice! But, Zay would probably kill you... Well, not in-game due to the circumstance. But probably in real life or something..."


    With the new discovery of Shinto''s support ss, Shinto wouldn''t be able to do anything fruitful against Crowelin with hiscklustre damage and the like. However, the case was different in real life. Shinto could very well barge into her home and give off a menacing aura against her.


    "Eep! I''m sorry alright?!" Crowelin continued the whisper as she soon turned back her attention towards Frey. "U-Um sorry about, I was lost in thought for a bit! But where was I? Ah, right! The top rankers. Well... If you''re that interested... You could drop by against one of their matches and see them in action if you''d like."


    "Oh really?! When?!" Frey''s eyes continued to glow with excitement. "Today? Tomorrow? The next day?"


    "Err... Well," Crowelin uttered out in uncertainty. "I don''t remember the schedule but... The next match... Should be next weekend? Thest match was yesterday with Vainblood and Ten Swords. Now it should be Desperado and Knightly Heavens..." continuing to be lost in thought, another male''s voice soon protruded out.


    "The next match is between Desperado and Knightly Heavens, yeah," with a blue light indicating that a yer had logged in, the appearance of Ethaniel stood before them as he muttered out without thought. "...wait. What''s going on? Why did I log into such a topic...?" he questioned whilst his awareness had yet settled in.


    "Oh, Ethaniel! Did you know about the top rankers? They were just exining it to me!" Frey stated. "Come and join us!"


    "..." Ethaniel''s eyes turned to Hikari and Crowelin as he soon red at Frey. In the next moment, he sent a whisper to her. "...Frey, the heck are you doing? Didn''t I mention that already?!"


    "Oh yeah! You were talking about Shinto of the top ranks..." As Frey was replying to his whisper, a thought soon came to mind. "Hey... I have a question! Do you know Shinto of the top ranks?"


    "...?!" Upon hearing the sudden question uttered out by Frey, the adventurers within the room were all struck by dumbfoundedness.


    "S-Shinto of the top ranks...?" Hikariughed in an awkward manner. "Why the sudden question...?" It was a shock for everyone in the room to hear such s question from Frey. Neither Hikari nor Crowelin expected this.


    "Um well... I heard it from someone!" Frey muttered out, deciding not to mention Ethaniel''s name. "I was just curious! Where does he fall on the ranks?"


    "Shinto of the top ranks..." Crowelin mumbled out in uncertainty. She wasn''t sure how to answer this. From the earlier questions in regards to rankings, it was all within boundaries. However, for this? If they answered without a thought, Shinto would directly be damaged. "...uhhh... How do I put it in a way..."


    Whilst still in deep thought on how to answer the question, a familiar voice resounded through the area, soon taking everyone''s attention. "Shinto of the top ranks? I''ve heard he from some guy in Lavida that he was originally first ce, but soon fell due to some unknown reasons," the familiar voiceShinto answered. "I don''t think asking these two would be any good since it might be rather personal? Just my thought on it from my understanding."