TBATE: The god of swordsmanship

A wild chase

With a thud, the elderwood guardian's core, which I made sure to keep unharmed, dropped at my feet as I released Sylvia's will.

Everyone was looking at me with wide open eyes, completely dumbfounded, and not without reason. This little man with a mask had just not only beaten, but incinerated the most powerful monster they have ever seen in their lives. But this was no time to entertain their idle curiosity, as the whole underground started caving in on itself without the elderwood guardian to support it. 

I picked up the core, and stumbled back towards the group as massive landmasses began to fall from the ceiling. Elijah swiftly used his magic to intercept the rocks in mid air before they fell on me while Reginald began clearing out the way out which Lucas had so kindly barricaded with a bunch of rocks. Jasmine sped towards me, picking me up off of my feet and carrying me out of harm's way. 

"This damn brat! How much effort did he spend on barricading us in!" Swore Reginald as he used his 5th impact blast, still failing to clear all the rocks.

"Let's swap places." Suggested Elijah, who went to try clearing out the rocks instead of Reginald. His core was particularly underdeveloped, but I sensed there was a reason he was A-rank regardless.

With a force that seemed more like a light yellow core had done it, Elijah pushed through the rocks and crumbled them to dust, opening up the way in a matter of minutes. Just in time, as Reginald was running out of mana from blocking the falling stones, and so were the others.

I suddenly remembered that I had the glove my mother gifted me, using one of the stones on it to heal myself, as I definitely trusted her more than that idiot Oliver. It seems my mother wasn't slacking off either, as the healing was more potent than what she had used on my father, way back then.

It seemed everyone was too afraid of me to question what had happened, but I was honestly glad to not have to dodge any annoying questions. When we were at the dungeon exit, I reminded everyone. "Guys, I hope this goes without saying, but don't tell anyone about me killing the S-class beast, alright? If you do that, I'll consider the debt of saving your life repaid."

Everyone nodded silently as we made out way outside, where I was pulled aside by Brald.

"You have saved mine and my party member's lives, truly, thank you. I am in your forever debt." He said as he stuck out his hand for a handshake, which I accepted. "If you ever need assistance with anything, make sure to contact me through the adventurer's association and I will always be open to lend a hand."

A small, white fox-looking creature was standing in front of the dungeon. I immediately recognized it, it was Sylvie in a transformed form. She quickly climbed up onto my shoulder, nestling herself on the top of my head.

'Papa!'

'Hi, Sylv. Thanks for waiting. Here, I got you a present, catch!' I sent as I threw the elderwood guardian's core towards her. I had deemed this to be the most optimal usage of the core, as giving it to Sylv would make her much stronger than she was now. She easily caught the core in her mouth, swallowing it whole before going to sleep to absorb the mana from within it.

We entered the guild hall about two hours later after getting our stories straight, and told the administrator about how there had been a horrible beast, but the ceiling fell on top of it and killed it. As soon as we were done reciting what happened, or rather what we memorized to say happened, the door swung open.

Lucas let out an overexaggerated gasp, clearly mocking us. "You guys managed to make it out alive!" He said as he hid behind a group of adventurers posing as knights.

At this point, I couldn't tell whether he was that confident or just plain stupid for not just betraying us, but mocking us immediately after.

Brald and me both scoffed at the sight of Lucas as some of the others took out their weapons.