Dark Magus Returns

Raze had arrived at the location that had been given to him by Fixteen. The area seemed like barren land as the orange ground was beneath their feet, and as far as the eyes could see, there looked to be next to nothing in the area.

There was no forest, no beautiful landscape of hills or mountains; instead, just a few large rocks that would stick out here and there.

It was the same place as where he was at right now. There was a single large rock that covered the sun, allowing him to get some shade.

The thing was, it was quite clear that he was in the right place, and that was due to all the people that were around.

There had to be at least fifty other warriors, each of them with weapons in their hands, and their bodies or on their backs.

Most of the people had gathered in groups, ready to enter the dimension gate that could be seen up ahead.

Set up next to the dimension gate was a makeshift building. It wasn't a tent or anything, but a building that looked like those in Repton City.

It was wide with a slanted roof but had these large sliding doors that were currently slid open.

Inside, there was a man sitting at the desk, and there were a few others behind him as well next to the gate.

Looking at his wrist, right now Raze had a bracelet that he had already received from the table.

'Fixteen had already paid for everything and set it up for me. So all I had to do was head over and give them the fake name of 'Jake.' I thought they might have recognized me or asked what was up with what I was wearing, but I guess I'm fine,' Raze thought to himself.

Those that were protecting the gate and were set up in the building were the Behemoth Clan. Raze had recognized their symbol and clothing and now knew who to avoid in certain situations.

He felt somewhat happy that he didn't wear his robe because he saw them immediately reject some who were wearing robes, telling them to change.

They must have quite the large hatred for the Dark Magus at the moment.

Right now though, Raze was wearing his special blazer that had been made for him, and he had bought an iron grey mask to place on his face.

Dame currently still had the transformation mask, and since Raze was a student of the Dark Faction Academy, there was a chance that someone would recognize him in the future if he did just show his face around the place.

Which was why he had decided to wear the mask in the first place. Some others were wearing masks anyway, so Raze didn't feel like he was a complete idiot.

'I wonder how much the payment is from each of these. It's clear that they're not from the Behemoth Clan and are wanderers as well as other clans. It must be quite profitable for them.'

"We're looking for a fifth member!" A man shouted with his hands cupped by his mouth. "We need a fifth member to join the expedition."

"Come join us; we give fair distribution among all!" Another person shouted.

It was as Fixteen said. There were groups that didn't have the five required to enter the portal standing outside looking to recruit others.

Entering dimensions wasn't always the order of their clans, and it seemed like some people had decided to enter just to gather crystals or train up.

However, there were also always wanderers that wished to enter the dimensions, and most wanderers worked alone. So they would need to team up with clans or other groups of people to enter the dimension.

'He said I wouldn't have a problem, but that means I need to go forward and try and join one of these groups,' Raze thought.

There were so many to choose from, and Raze could see some of the groups already talking to individual wanderers. He just didn't know who to approach.

In the end, he decided to just go and head toward the group of people that were closest to him.

The group itself looked like a clan. All of them were wearing the long martial arts cloth on their bodies, dark in color with a dark blue trim around.

There was a female archer and a male archer in the group, a spear user, and a sword user. The male with long hair wrapped up in a ponytail was the one that shouted and was asking for recruits, so Raze assumed he was the leader of the group.

"Would it be okay if I joined you guys? I'm a wanderer, so I don't belong to any clan," Raze asked, giving them the line that Fixteen had prepared for him.

Raze could see that the young man and other members were looking him up and down, trying to assess him.

"What weapon do you use? And what position do you usually fight in?" The man asked.

Raze was a little confused by this question, but he pointed to the sword that was on his side and on his back. The real swords that he had enchanted with various effects so they could help him out in a number of situations, including the ghost blade.

"Ah, a swordsman I see. Well, the issue is we already have a swordsman; in our party, we were really looking for someone who is more of a brute or knows some defense techniques to protect the group."

"That wouldn't be a problem," Raze said. "I can play any role you want me to; I can even support from far away if you want.

"I just request that there is some time where I can kinda do my own thing."

The request from Raze was a real head-scratcher for the group, and judging by the way Raze was answering, they could only think one thing.

"It's your first time, right?" The guy said. "I'm sorry, but we don't want to waste our time looking after someone in all of this; we're hoping to get a lot out of this raid, so it's best you look for another group."

Raze didn't argue; he also didn't want to waste his time, so instead he walked off to another lot.

"Thank the heavens you turned him down," the archer said. "That guy, we would've had to have held his hand the entire way. I mean, did you hear his voice? He didn't understand a thing. He'll be lucky if he comes out of this entire thing alive."

Raze continued to head to other groups, and many of them were turning him down due to the odd requests he would make.

For one of them, Raze thought the distribution of crystals was unfair. What if he killed twice or three times as much as them? Why should the crystals be evenly split between them all?

To which, Raze continued, until he found one group, a young man with a friendly smile on his face, along with three other girls in his group, as if he was running a type of harem party.

"Hey, you're free to join us; we need one more. The name's Plon," the friendly man said with a large shield on his back.

The other girls had swords, while one of them had a spear, but there was no archer in the group like most of the others had.

"I overheard you speaking; you said you could play any position, right? Do you think you can help support us from the back in a way?"

Raze looked at his swords; without using his magic, it would be a little more difficult, but he could still help out.

"I have a couple of requests; I need to go off on my own for a little while at the beginning. Are you free to wait around until I'm ready, and the distribution of power stones. What I kill, I get to keep."

The woman standing in the back didn't particularly like Raze's tone of voice or the way they were talking to the young one.

"Hmm, that will be hard to do; why don't we do it like this? If we fight beasts together as a party, those will be split, if we're going against one beast, but whatever you kill on your own, you're free to keep."

It seemed like the best deal Raze was going to get, so he nodded in agreement.

The other groups which had denied Raze all were looking at him, and had overheard their conversations.

"How does he expect to support with a sword? It's not like he has sword Qi or anything like that," one of the groups said.

The original group that Raze had approached was being led by a clan member named Fin. "We all know what it's like to desperately want to go on one of these raids. I don't blame him for saying he's happy to fill any position."

"But the way he was talking about the power stone distribution. It's almost like he's looking down on the other groups. I guess to be big-headed is the trait of the young."

With all the parties set up, the Behemoth Clan had made an announcement. They were ready for each of the groups to enter, group by group, and begin their hunt.

"Please remember to continually communicate with each other about how many beasts you have killed. If the Dimension boss is summoned, all groups must exit immediately!" The man shouted.

To which everyone nodded, heading inside.

Back at the city of Repton, the Crimson Crane had just arrived. After the scuffle they had, they were now hiding themselves a bit more, for fear they would cause another chaotic mess with the Behemoth Clan.

They had to arrive though because they were meeting up with Fixteen, to buy more of the Dark Magus' product.

In a hooded shape, Alba was sitting across a table in an inn with Fixteen.

"He did what!" Alba shouted, nearly jumping from her seat. "He went in there all on his own… we… we have to help him."