Galen

"How boring!"

The man with the iron knuckleduster surveyed the surroundings and sighed, giving Kyron a cursory glance. Surprise flashed in his eyes at finding another seemingly normal young man.

An aura of innate ferocity emanated from his sweeping gaze, sending a chill down Kyron's spine - this was no ordinary person.

The two girls finally stopped shrieking after several minutes. The man who had been face-down cautiously stood up, leaning against the rock wall after ascertaining there was no danger.

"Where are we? Why are we here?" One girl nervously asked, instinctively covering her chest with her hands as she eyed the strange men warily.

"You don't know how you got in here yourselves?" Kyron couldn't help but retort. The girls' earlier screaming had startled him.

"I...I just saw this pretty rainbow portal...thought it looked nice...so I touched it and then..."The girl stammered.

"We hit the jackpot, this is a secret realm dungeon, there should be treasures inside!" The burly man declared casually, maintaining his half-crouch stance.

"Secret realm dungeon? Treasures?"

The bespectacled man adjusted his glasses and perked up at the muscleman's words, venturing out curiously.

Neither the muscleman nor Kyron moved. The two girls hesitated, staying put when they didn't.

The bespectacled man exited the cavern.

Outside, he realized they were inside a massive mountain belly, with cliffs in the distance where a waterfall cascaded down, forming an underground river.

"Water? There are fish in the water?"

Having not eaten, the bespectacled man grew excited seeing fish swimming about.

Assured it was safe, the muscleman cautiously emerged too, scanning their surroundings. Kyron and the girls followed behind.

Spotting the river, the girls' eyes lit up at the clear water.

Not having bathed in two days, they reeked.

They snuck glances at the men, but the timing wasn't right.

The bespectacled man excitedly ran towards the river's edge. Cupping the sweet water to drink, he tried scooping fish barehanded but failed, the fish too slippery.

Just then!

Swish!!!

An arrow shot from behind a rock on the opposite bank, piercing his neck with lethal speed and accuracy, going straight through.

The poor bespectacled man didn't even have time to cry out, eyes bulging as his glasses flew off. He collapsed face-first into the river, instantly staining half the stream red with his blood.

Instead of eating fish, he became fish food.

"Ahhh!"

The stench of urine - the girls, having never witnessed such grisly scenes, started shrieking again.

The muscleman didn't spare them a glance.

He and Kyron focused on the area behind the rocks across the river.

Two skeletons emerged, one with a longbow, the other a massive axe, advancing towards them.

With the shallow river, the muscleman glanced at Kyron who nodded, both ignoring the screaming, cowering girls behind.

Survival was the priority now.

The charging skeletons fired arrows as they closed in.

"Go!" The muscleman roared without turning back, every muscle exploding as he burst forward.

Facing a dead end, to live they had to charge through. Kyron grit his teeth, nocking an arrow to follow the muscleman's charge.

The brave prevail when paths converge.

The longbow fired but the agile muscleman deflected it with an iron-clad fist as the two sides rapidly converged.

100 meters, 50, 30...

Sprinting head-on, Kyron loosed an arrow that the axe-wielder easily deflected. But Kyron's bow had short range and he could rapid fire - one arrow pierced the axe skeleton's skull before it could react. As it reached to remove the lodged arrow, the muscleman erupted into a burst of speed, closing the remaining dozen meters in an instant to brutally pummel the skeleton with his iron knuckles.

Even from 20 meters behind, Kyron could hear bones cracking from the ferocity of that punch.

The muscleman shattered the axe skeleton's ribcage with a resounding, eerie screech. Showing no mercy, he rained blows upon its head, extinguishing the flames of life within the skull.

"Ding!"

The fallen skeleton soldier dropped a green weapon card onto the ground.

The distant longbowman skeleton halted abruptly, clearly not expecting such savagery from this man. It cried out and turned to flee.

Kyron loosed three rapid arrows. Though not very damaging, his aim was true - one arrow lodged in the skeleton's ankle. Mid-sprint, it lost balance and tumbled to the ground.

The muscleman charged over and, like the mighty Hulk subduing the west, brutally pummeled the skull into pieces with his iron fists.

Leaving only a scattered pile of bones.

Another green weapon card dropped.

Panting, Kyron caught up as the muscleman calmly collected the cards. Kyron didn't contest it - this man's combat ability was profound, his eyes betraying the fact he had killed before.

The muscleman approached and tossed Kyron a card. "That bow is useless, and you have limited arrows. Use this instead."

Kyron received a green dagger.

[Frost Dagger (Excellent): Damage 2-4, Speed 1.3. A standard combat dagger, extremely fast.]

"My name is Kyron, please take care of me!"

"Galen!" The muscleman's cold, emotionless tone carried no sentiment.

At that moment, a faint beam of light shone down from the cavern ceiling onto Galen's face. A hint of a smile graced his gaunt features, exuding an inexplicable, bizarre charm to Kyron's eyes.

Domineering, confident, cruel, and composed - an apex predator brimming with an indescribable aura of majesty.

"Well? Keep up!"

Compelled by the words, Kyron unconsciously took a step forward before snapping out of it and taking a deep breath.

Galen pocketed the axe card he had obtained earlier, retrieving the actual battle axe as he headed upstream along the river.

The two men seemed to have forgotten the two screaming girls behind them.

Perhaps there were more than just those two skeletons in this secret realm, or even more than the five of them.

Each step could determine life or death.

Leaving the girls might be the greatest mercy.

The cavern ceiling appeared studded with gems, emitting a dim radiance that provided some light, though areas out of its reach remained pitch black.

Galen's axe-wielding hand was steady, his back exuding unshakable composure.

Following behind, Kyron thought: "Is this my first time joining a dungeon party and ending up with such an incredible carry?"

"If he was a minor character, this guy must be akin to Aragorn, if not quite at the level of Gandalf."

.....