Shesmu walked towards Leo with steady steps. Every time his feet would touch the ground, they would leave a bloody trace behind them. Once he reached Leo, he offered his hand as support to Leo. The latter smiled before taking it.

"How was it?" Shesmu asked, his eyes proud of Leo. "How did standing in the limelight feel?"

Leo scratched his nose and laughed in response. "It felt good.." His eyes drifted to the ground, and he paused for a few seconds before continuing. "When I was standing there, in front of everyone. I had this undying fire raging within my chest. It felt like I could do anything. At that moment, I wondered if that's how you and Ryan always felt."

"I don't know about Ryan, but for me, knowing that everyone's expectations and hope are on my shoulder only brings me more strength." Shesmu smiled at Leo before continuing. "So yeah, in that sense, we're very similar."

"You two really made one hell of a scene out there."

"Woah! Master and mister were so cool!"

Shesmu turned around to find Sakura and Ryuji making their way towards them.

"Master, that last fight, I have never seen anything like it before!"

Shesmu smiled at Ryuji and said, "You did great too. You have definitely improved since before."

"D-Do you really mean it? Master!" Shesmu's praise made him teary-eyed. The latter couldn't help but back out when looking at Ryuji's expression.

"Goddammit Ryuji, can you drop the master already?"

"Yeah, that's a futile effort. You should have understood so already by now," Sakura said before turning back her attention to Leo.

"But forget about that, shouldn't you guys be more worried about Ryan." She then looked around before continuing, "Also, talking about him, where is he?"

"I put him outside of the golden circle before facing the Boss," Shesmu responded. He looked in the direction of where he put Ryan's body only to find that the golden dome that surrounded the players just a few moments ago no longer existed.

Leo looked at Shesmu before saying, "It's time for me to go, Shes."

Understanding that Leo was about to log off, Shesmu hugged him and said, "You did great."

Leo was surprised by the sudden hug, but his surprise turned into a smile before he responded, "Thanks."

"Aww, look at you too. Aren't you the cute little couple."

Sakura's teasing made both Shesmu and Leo uncomfortable. They quickly separated and avoided eye contact.

"Hahaha, you guys are just too great. This is too funny."

Somehow, Shesmu felt that even though Ryan was unconscious, his spirit still lived on in that little devil. He gritted his teeth while Leo coughed a few times to change subjects.

"Anyway, off I go guys. Bye."

Leo waved his hand at his friends before muttering, "Log off."

"Bye, mister!"

"Bye-bye, Leo."

Shesmu looked at Leo's flickering figure and smiled before saying, "Bye, Leo. Until we meet again."

Leo's body shone with a thousand colors before dissipating with the wind. Once he logged off, Shesmu's heart was filled with complicated emotions. The past hours he spent with Leo and Ryan were truly a bliss. Something that he would never take for granted, especially since he was already stripped off them once before.

Riding this train of thought, Shesmu couldn't help but think about his wife. Sophie, where are you now?

"Aww, are you missing your little friend, already?"

Sakura's mischievous looking face snapped Shesmu back to reality faster than anything could. Ryuji stood behind her, silent but with an expression of surprise and bewilderment.

"We need to make a party."

Shesmu invited both Ryuji and Sakura, to the dismay of the latter.

"Hey, why do you get to be the party leader? Why not join my party?"

"Well, first of all, because you're a little brat. But also.." Shesmu's eyes drifted towards the unconscious Ryan. "How are we supposed to invite Ryan to your party?"

"Oh." Sakura's expression switched from that of an annoying brat to a more serious one. "Yeah, sorry about that."

Ryuji accepted Shesmu's invitation, and Sakura did soon after. The trio walked towards Ryan's body, and on their way, Ryuji asked Shesmu different questions.

"Ehm, master. Is it possible for you to tell me how you were able to pierce through the Boss's breath attack with your sword?"

"Sure." Shesmu unsheathed his sword to demonstrate. "The way I did it was that I coated my sword with all of the Ki that I had in reserve, then focused all of it in a single point, right at its tip."

All the while Shesmu was explaining, he demonstrated his steps using the sword he unsheathed. From the gathering of the ki to its concentration right at the tip. He then waved off his sword and dissipated the energy concentrated within it before putting it back in its sheath.

"That process gave my blade enough power to pierce through the Boss's attack. But that's not all, I also used some of my leftover ki to coat my feet with it. That gave me enough power to cover the distance towards the wolf king."

"Ohh, so that's how! As expected of master! Not even a day has passed since the opening of the game, and you're still able to fight at such a high level."

"High level, huh."

Shesmu cringed at the mention of high level. He couldn't help but compare his current self with the feat of his past and sigh in defeat.

The party finally reached the unconscious Ryan. Shesmu carried him on his back before looking around at the chessboard. By that point, almost everyone had already gone through the portal to the second floor. Only Arthur's party was still talking next to it.

The latter looked at Shesmu, and their clash of eyes was thunderous. Tension rose in the air before Arthur broke eye contact first. He entered the portal and led his team to the second floor.

"What's going on between you two?" Sakura asked Shesmu as she looked at the two swordsmen's faceoff. "Do you have some past beef or something? I have seen you clash eyes at the main fight against the Boss too."

"Is Arthur master's enemy?"

Shesmu just shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter for now. I still don't have any evidence against him, so anything I say doesn't have currently any backing or value."

"Huh, so you think that he is the disguised monster?"

"Really?" Ryuji was surprised at Sakura's assumption.

"Well, it's not something that really matters for now. We just need to wait until he loses his patience and starts enacting his plans."

Plus, it's not as if we're going to meet him on the second floor. So there is no reason to worry about that.

With those thoughts, Shesmu led his team to the portal. It was now time for their second challenge.