Frostfire Legacy

As thanks for the sumptuous meal, the girls decided to leave Aster out of the night watch rotation. However, he pushed for himself to still be added to it, as he couldn't take losing out on the chance to kill monsters that came too close to their camp.

They decided to have three rotations. The first one was Aster and Liz, the second was Liz and Cassy, and the last rotation was Kali and Tina. The one to partner with Aster's turn was decided by a fair match of rock, paper, scissors, so no hard feelings were left.

Although Tina wanted to volunteer, everyone stopped her forcefully and let her fight for a fair chance to be with Aster through the night instead.

Of course, the watch wasn't as peaceful as the rest expected. Probably attracted by the smell of Aster's cooking, monsters flooded in from all directions. As such, Liz and Aster had no time to rest and were busy killing wolves and goblins that approached.

Furthermore, there were the occasional Small Cave Spiders, and Cave Rats that rushed forward. Although the rats were new to them, their strength was no different from that of the spiders, a monster that relied on large numbers to win. Without bringing a swarm, it was nothing to write home about.

It was a good thing, however, as Aster was able to practice his sword-wielding skills. After all, he didn't know much of any martial arts and was merely imitating what he had seen in the anime and movies he had seen before.

Some of those he had seen were useful, but most were nothing but useless in terms of real battle. Well, they were flashy, so they could be used when fighting against an outclassed opponent to add entertainment value to the fight.

Although the monsters didn't come in large numbers at once, the endless waves were quite taxing. Thankfully, before Aster got tired, their watch was over, and Cassy joined in. Aster decided to help them still, skipping sleep until the monster wave calmed down about two more hours later.

At that moment, he was told to go to sleep by the two girls. Cassy and Liz, respectively, said to him:

"No means no! You're just too weak to be able to skip sleep and be productive tomorrow!"

"Aster should obediently rest. Leave the rest to the two of us."

Of course, more than half the reason was that they were expecting him to cook breakfast tomorrow too, so letting him have a good rest was essential.

"Alright," Aster replied in a resigned tone. "Then, good night, you two."

"Good night! Sweet dreams~!"

"Rest well."

As soon as he entered the tent and closed the zipper, all the noise coming from outside had disappeared. This was, of course, to prevent the sound of battle from disturbing the others' sleep. As a safety measure, any sound initiated further than two meters from the tent would be silenced. As such, they could still be woken up from outside in emergencies.

Since he was moving his body quite actively earlier, the fatigue quickly caught up to him, causing him to fall asleep soon enough.

Of course, he was completely unaware of what happened after he slept. Like how Tina tried to invade his tent, causing a fight between her and Kali, which ended up dragging the monsters nearby into it.

Catfights are scary.

Thankfully, Cassy was able to heal the two as soon as she woke up, so Aster didn't have to see their wounded, bruised, and scratched figures.

When Aster woke up, he quickly greeted everyone before moving to do his job, preparing their breakfast while also setting food for their lunch break later. He spent a full hour cooking and making lunchboxes before he had time to eat his own meal.

As usual, Aster's cooked meal was potent enough to make the two cats make up with each other and forget about their "little squabble."

After resting for a bit to let the food in their stomachs settle, they packed up and prepared to resume their journey.

"We are already halfway through. If we follow the same pace as yesterday, then we'd reach the entrance to the next floor by sundown." Aster clarified.

Despite the path being 50% longer, they were following almost the same pace that Aster and his team did on the previous floor! And this was all thanks to their having two tanks, allowing them to avoid large detours around forests. And also for them having a Spatial Fanny Pack each, lessening the burden from the weight of the items they were carrying.

Soon, they assumed their previous formation and proceeded onward. However, that didn't last for long.

The monsters were still the same varieties, but their levels and numbers were increasing, making it impossible for Kali to clear everything out before they reached her. As such, small skirmishes happened much more frequently than the day before.

Thankfully, their pace remained mostly unaffected.

With two tanks, they didn't fear attacks coming from the front or back. As such, Kali and Cassy were able to focus on killing the monsters one after another. Aster himself didn't dare to dally and showed the true power of his new class.

"Mana Slash!"

Aster finally found the best moment to showcase his skill. Focusing mana on his sword's edge, he swung it horizontally, letting a crescent moon-shaped mana wave fly across. The goblins that were along the path, including the thick trees that were in his range, ended up bisected in one go!

Kali and Cassy were surprised. After all, they had been with Aster the longest and knew his strength from the start. However, this display was beyond even their understanding!

"So this is the strength of a Rare Class..." Liz muttered, gripping her mace tight, before swinging it toward a group of wolves. "Maybe I should switch to a rare class too...?" She entertained the thought.

Liz had the choice of a certain rare class, but she didn't choose it. After all, she had long dreamed of becoming a knight who protects her teammates, fighting through thick and thin!

Of course, there's also the chance of unlocking a rare higher class after completing Knight (X) and earning the right to perform a class-up.

"Amazing, Darling~!" Only Tina was showing her appreciation of Aster's new strength directly. "Over here, Darling~! I got more goblins for you~!"

She even tanked a full team of twelve goblin warriors, keeping them in one place, just for him! Aster smiled wryly before proceeding to kill the goblins she had prepared. Although he was thankful, he wished she would just kill them herself.

Time continued to pass, and just as per their schedule, they arrived at the gate leading to the next floor before the time reached four in the afternoon.

All they had to do now was fight the boss and kill it!