When we stepped out of the Tower of Worsetingale, the first thing that hit me was the air.

Fresh air, even if it was fake, it was more fulfilling than what felt like hours in there, god, it smelled faintly of apple pie.

The scene were strangely orange, like a nightstand lightbulb, it shaded the trees, the people and the blood a hue that was… Almost nostalgic and trancing.

Then I saw them.

Just a few meters ahead, right near the forest clearing, stood three very familiar figures—Hailie, Akira, and Marc—absolutely drenched in sweat, surrounded by the enormous corpses of five brown bears. The bodies hadn't despawned yet, steam rising faintly from their ragged fur.

…They hadn't despawn yet? I have one theory for that, indeed I do.

The trio looked like they had just crawled out of a raid gone wrong. Hailie leaned on her staff, panting, while Marc knelt down, checking his armor. Akira stood upright, her posture rigid even through the exhaustion, shield still raised out of instinct.

All that… in the two, maybe three minutes we were gone.

I froze at the doorway, blinking hard, trying to make sure that my memories served me right, because something still felt… off about everything.

My eyes went first to Hailie.

She looked exactly how I remembered her… The caged bird, the second daughter of one of the most prominent tech company in the entire world… Hailie Sonder.

Fluffy white hair cascading all the way down to her lower back, glinting faintly under the orange light. Her priest robes were clean and well-woven with both red and white, a symbol of both pacifism and bloodshed, it had some bits of golden padding which made it looked like they came straight from some high-level event drop.

Her boots, the ones she told me about where Mei once stole them to enchant it without her knowing as a cool little gift, those boots were scuffed at the heel but otherwise spotless.

Even in the middle of a bloodbath, she somehow managed to look immaculate.

That was just Hailie, cheerful, surprisingly calm in the face of danger, dumb yet elegant, and absurdly classy for someone who probably just healed a full frontline through a bear swarm.

She just… Like, how to put it? She just know how to be graceful at any twist or turn possible.

Then there was Marc, our hybrid half-tank half-melee damage guy.

Curly blond hair, blue eyes, that somewhat square-ish jaw that was fitting for a stoic kind of build, Hailie told me he spoke fondly of justice and rightousness at times. I told her it sounded pretentious and could be a sign of virtue signaling, but she assured me he was a kind and genuine man, and I'll believe her word since she seemed to be morre educated than me on the matter.

His armor was the same as mind, the perfect armor for both good defense that doesn't hinder your speed, basically one of the best armor to stat-check people if you're into math… He probably chose this because he got knowledge on the game, or someone he knew does.

The armor was dented and scratched to hell, but it managed to hold.

He had one hand resting on the hilt of his sword and the other adjusting his vambrace, muttering something to Akira.

Speaking of… And then there was Akira.

Her entire body was encased in armor, no, seriously. Every joint, every inch of flesh was sealed up in glinting metal.

She even wore a helmet that covered her face completely, with only a faint dark spot where her eyes might be.

Her torso-sized shield was practically embedded into her side, scratched so bad it looked like she blocked a dozen claws head-on… Wait, it was like that when we got here, yeah, those battle scars are treasures for these tankers.

A Paladin

If we didn't already see her outside of her shell during the second court case where the Lion's Parade attacked New Destiny, I'd never even guess there was a person inside that metal cocoon, let alone such a cute and introverted woman.

If I remember correctly, her eyes were green, her hair were long and blue, darker sea blue instead of Pearl's brighter sky blue. And she was pretty average in height, taller than me, but nothing compared to the likes of Olga, in fact, I think she was around Ann's height.

My eyes flicked over the field of bear corpses again. Whatever happened while we were trapped in that time bubble… it looked like they'd been busy.

I turned slightly, glancing back at Rina.

She looked exactly as I remembered: tall, toned, a faint tan under that light, sleeveless armor that gave her a strangely airy silhouette despite how much she carried.

Her bow was slung over her shoulder, quiver rattling softly as she moved. With blonde hair so pale it almost blended with her skin, catching the wind like threads of sunlight.

"Guess that's everyone," I murmured, my voice cracking a little. "It looks… Insane out here."

"Yeah," Rina replied, quiet and even. "Looks like they held out fine."

We walked toward them together, boots crunching through the grass and twigs. The closer we got, the more real it all felt and I gradually eased up.

The smell of iron and burnt fur, the faint hum of burning fading from the corpses, probably due to Marc's fire sword skill, then Hailie's soft laughter echoed throug the air as she realized we'd finally come back out.

"Oh… Cory, Rina! Yay! You're back!"

"So soon?" Marc waved at us, still catching his breath.

I gave a smile as my eyes were drawn to the marks of the fight instead; the deep claw scratches marring Akira's shield, the chipped plates on Marc's gauntlets. Hailie, as always, looked untouched, with the fresh smell of mana after a few casts still lingering.

The two frontliners had clearly done their job. If those bears were to reach Hailie, I'd crash out.

"Five bears," Rina muttered beside me. "In under three minutes…"

"Yeah," I said, half in awe, half in disbelief. "And to think I indulged in armpits for two hours straight."

We both stood there for a second, watching our teammates catching their breath under the dim, fading sun.

The tower loomed behind us, silent now, and for the first time since entering it, I felt a strange comfort in knowing it was over.

"...You indulge in WHAT?"

She must've realized that we were the only two in that tower, so the only other person in my fake world was her.

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