As the dust cloud slowly dissipated, Boran lowered his shield and took a deep breath. "Well... that's that."
Fire approached him, both amazement and gratitude in her eyes. "You... we couldn't have done it without you. Who are you?"
Boran smiled slightly. "Just a passerby. I saw you needed help, so I helped." He paused.
"Dude, you were seriously cool!" said Steel, putting his hand on his shoulder. "What's your name? And I'm curious about your class - never heard of any class that could get under a boss's skin like that."
"Boran. I'm a Tank class."
"A Tank? So that's why you could throw yourself in front of the boss without fear. Only a fearless person would choose to be a Tank, hah!"
He had been quite scared but chose not to respond. He just nodded with a smile. Everyone started gathering around him.
"Friends, mission complete! We can finally get out of this cursed pit," said Shadow.
"You're right. Thanks for your help, friend!" Steel replied.
The two turned to examine Mur-Azar's massive body.
"Were you following us?" Fire asked.
"Not exactly... but you could say that. I heard screams in the dungeon and thought someone might be in trouble. When I arrived, I realized you were making those sounds intentionally. When I saw you were heading for the boss—" Storm interrupted him.
"Was your aim to steal the boss?" she asked, furrowing her brows.
"No. If I wanted to steal the boss from you, why would I come out of hiding to help? I would have waited for you to die and then attacked the weakened boss. I just wanted to see its attacks before fighting it."
"So that's why you came here?" Fire asked.
"Yes."
"You mentioned that the boss speeds up when it glows yellow. How do you know this?"
"There are three types of attacks: normal, red, and yellow. Red attacks represent power, while yellow attacks represent speed. At least that's what I think. I don't know if there are other types or if what I'm saying is completely accurate."
Fire put her hand on Boran's arm. "That was such valuable information. Thank you so much. You not only saved our lives but also gave us this important insight. We probably would have died if it weren't for you."
Storm shook her head. "I still don't trust him. Whatever..." She turned and started walking toward Shadow and Steel.
"It's nothing... I just couldn't bear to watch you die. You seem like a well-coordinated team, at least from what I've seen. It would weigh on my conscience to stand by and watch such a team perish."
"But why are you in this dungeon? Don't you have a team?"
"I don't have a team. I'm only level 3. I came to complete a quest and level up."
"No team? What can a Tank do alone? But I'll give credit where it's due - despite being level 3, you withstood two of the boss's attacks. Tanks are tougher than I thought," said Light, who was listening nearby.
"Did you at least make progress on your quest?" Fire asked.
"No, it doesn't show that I killed the boss. Maybe you need to deal a certain amount of damage?"
"I didn't attack the boss at all. But I guess I made progress on the quest since I was in the team that killed it," said Light.
"I feel bad now... You helped us but got nothing in return," said Fire.
"I did it without expecting anything in return, it's fine."
"No, that won't do, we must do something to thank you. Light, will you come with me? And Boran, wait here a moment."
She started whispering something in Light's ear. After a while, Light said "Why not?" nodding his head up and down.
The two went over to their friends standing over the dead Mur-Azar. Fire quietly said something to them, Boran couldn't hear.
"What? No way! Have you lost your mind?" Steel shouted. "Okay, we said he was cool, but we didn't say he could join our team!"
"Keep your voice down!" Fire shot back.
"Everything you do usually makes sense, Fire. But I can't see any logic in this. I'm not saying anything about Light, she agrees with whatever you say without thinking. He took advantage of your good nature, didn't he?" Storm replied.
"You're getting too caught up in the details. We've been friends since childhood. We decided to form a team together. When you add someone to the team, you're not just adding them to the team, but to our friendship. I won't trust some stranger who was watching us."
"You're being too suspicious. He's just someone who wanted to help. Besides, a Tank would be really useful for us. You saw what he just did - we're alive because of him!"
"I don't know why we're still arguing about this. Let's have a quick democracy. Those in favor of him joining our team?" said Shadow.
Fire and Light raised their hands.
"Those against?"
Everyone else raised their hands.
"Motion denied by majority vote. Sorry, Fire."
Fire sighed deeply. "At least give him something as thanks."
"I can spare ten gold," said Steel and sent it to Fire.
"Ten from me too," said Shadow.
"I can give ten at most," said Storm.
Fire stared at the thirty gold she had received for a while.
"I didn't know your lives were worth ten gold," she said and walked away. Light followed right behind him.