Erebus stretched as he walked against the mountainous slope downward, having walked outside of Orchidia Forest to get here. The Rogue was so busy building such a wild name for himself, that he hadn't really introduced the thought of gearing up again lately. Though, it was about nearly time to do that, instead he decided to change his cloak's design, get some face tattoos, you know go real full send on the whole criminally outlaw vibe. It was nice, did bolster his confidence, and at the end of the day, he was the same guy. No harm, no foul.

It had been a good week since the event with the bats, and that asshole Kon nearly getting them ripped apart. Granted, Erebus was positive his partner on that quest was loaded in strength, after all... He was one of the most famous men in Fiore, and unless he was just full of shit, Erebus assumed he did all that as a shenanigan to push the Rogue to be in control of the flow of battle.

That would have been fine and dandy, except that flying opponents, as well as ones who don't see any damn way, basically render Erebus mute as far as tactics go. Instead he had to play brute war hero-- and wielding a dagger, that route comes with some obstacles for his type. Anyways, moving off the topic of the past, Erebus would move onto the topic of the present. His new partner would be named Ko. Erebus held a wrinkled parchment of paper to his face, and nearly jumped, flying over the mountain. He didn't fall of course, but the sheer closeness in the names there, after all that chaos from last week. It was a reasonable reaction given those circumstances.

"Wow... The letter K must be popular in the North." He finally spoke aloud, cracking a coy grin, his iris' shifted from off the crinkled paper, and down at the mine below, which is where he was approaching. He didn't see his quest companion in sight just yet, so he decided to pull a halt right there, about a hundred meters from the entrance. Erebus was some minutes early anyways. He was sure this guy wouldn't take too long. A big red S was stamped on the paper, which meant this job would be of major reward and difficulty, he trusted that his partner could handle their own. But last week had taught Erebus a valuable life lesson, dependence must always fall on yourself first and foremost.

He unhooked his dagger from his waist and pulled the cloak's neck a little higher over his lips. Waiting anxiously. The sand on this path was a brown orange, and the rocks seemed to highlight this shade with a slightly different texture, but the mine's entrnace was a more stone grey. If the legends were true, that place was home to jewels and diamonds as big around as a watermelon, they could save a whole man's legacy from poverty the next six generations over. Erebus found his eyes with stars in them, drooling.

You can take the thief out of his setting, but you certainly can't take a principle of character away from the thief. He had already decided that he was about to hit a lick here. A definite loot crate. Matter of fact he might slaughter every nasty dwarf down there, if it meant it eased his life just a bit. After all, this was a Gold Rush and those were usually bloodbaths one way or another. Erebus felt the slight approach of his darker side creeping out. He quickly shook his head, returning to less hostile thoughts... It would do everyone a good deal of sanctuary, if he didn't just lose his mind and start thinking so grim. Erebus spat at the ground, his mood seeming to go with it.

Today was a good day, no need to get so antsy.

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Erebus could hear footsteps and so, had turned his body around to face the man and his draconian companion. Interesting, Erebus had never seen dragons or their latent kin, which this dragon wyrm creature must have been. His eyes danced from the attitude-laced beast to the boisterous slayer, who was it's master. "Yes, that's me." Erebus was very skeptic of new people, especially because he was now famous enough to be recognized to those he'd never met. He didn't want to be ambushed, as he was sure that was a fate on his nearing horizons, unless of course he joined a guild. Even then, couldn't they just turn him in, or turn on him and rob his pockets? He'd need people who were outside the golden boy's laws, but be good enough people at heart to instill his trust. That was a hard world to manifest; one he was unsure if even existed. Maybe in a more perfect world, but not in this one.

"You must be Ko then, if I'm correct in leading to believe you're my partner, it's nice to meet you." Erebus raised his arm, thumb exposed and pointing towards their assignment. He would motion downwind, and speak with his body sluggishly turning to face the entrance a moment later. His hands dipped into his pockets. "Yeah man, I take these S-rank quests sometimes. I won't lie to you, they usually tend to be full of shit and way more than what we expect them to be," He smiled shaking his head. "Oh and excruciatingly fucking difficult. We'll for definite be under the worst circumstances. Probably have to kill down there, one of us MIGHT get eaten by monsters or mutilated and if we don't," He finally paused. "Well then I guess we both did our jobs right. I dunno, I basically wing this stuff most of the time. Aside from the crippling paranoia it gives me, it's a job. We're some of the only people tough enough to willingly do this, so that means we don't really have a say in the matter, we just get paid and walk." He then started walking randomly at the word, chuckling to himself as he did so. He hadn't noticed it, but this adventurer stuff had changed him.

He was now at the peak of his mountain, and it was just registering to him what that meant. "Too real, sorry about that. It's gonna be a breeze." Erebus joked playfully, having probably been more honest than necessary to a fellow adventurer, but if they were both on this quest, meeting to take on this quest. Then clearly, they were both qualified for it's dangers.

As Erebus approached the mine, the wide tunnel arc would cast shade over them as they entered, for some feet everything would be black, until the first turn down a tunnel way, from there the pathways were lit by lantern. Crystals would begin to speckle across the walling. However, these were small compared to what lied further down the rabbit hole. Erebus was possessed by the craving to pocket the lustrous ore. But he resisted his guilty pleasure... At least for now.

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Erebus chuckled in with Ko, as he admitted a guilty pleasure in the slaughter. Erebus had never thought of it that way, but it was an amusing thought. After all, at the end of the day they were still doing people favors, getting their money, and being progressive with the strength given to them. For Erebus, he had literally no exercise for his power level until he figured this hustle out, and now... Well quite honestly yeah, best damn job he ever had.

Erebus was a silent mover, and it intrigued the Rogue his quest companion took quicker notice to the absence of scent than sound. "Weird guy. You smell people." Erebus noted for future reference audibly, though he admittedly was picking on the fellow mage to break the ice of a dull cavern exploration. If looking at ores could be considered dull even, to Erebus this was pocket change but some of the nicer minerals down further could fetch a few hundred thousand. Ko seemed to be seeing if Erebus was going to take him on if he stole, to which he simply answered. "I didn't see anything, if you didn't." Erebus wouldn't say anything further. Rogues never give themselves away so he wouldn't admit to being a thief, but he wouldn't say whther he stole either. As a true sleight of hand master, Erebus pocketed items, money, women; all of it under the attention of others. That was his element, after all.

Erebus stopped, before the rumble went off. Having waited for further action, his eyes, glanced acros the tunnel, but nothing was in sight. The cieling was about five meters high, however tey appared to be drawing up on a chamber, Erebus stared outward.

There was a great opening, and webbing was casting drapes across the sides of the room. The ceiling covered in holes, which led Erebus to believe, some kind of arachnid perhaps... Or something else, with time, they would track this creature down. Erebus really hoped it wasn't one of those centaur spider things. "It's pretty clear we will be killing something, but our march isn't over yet... Maybe your thing can fly us across this open space to one of those tunnels. It'll speed up our descent." Erebus motion towards a walkway down into the large underground chamber, area reminded him to a large stadium in distance, shaped like an oval.

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Erebus allowed this featherless rooster of a companion to scoop him up, to which he grumbled upon realizing he would be traveling talon bound. Fastening goggles, that were coincidentally in a pocket on his cloak. When they began soaring, Erebus smiled wide and stupid, as if to enjoy the once in a lifetime ride with a dragon... Wyrm, whatever, tomato-- tomato. Anyways, he felt a tug from above, and threw his head back to watch Ko get pulled by some wire too thin to track for the rogue. "Shit." He said, the sound of a sigh laced in there. Turning back around, he tapped the wyrm twice on the talon to drop him below, however, as the wyrm turned itself in fear for Ko, Erebus noticed the bluish cavern sand below picking up about seventy feet away.

Erebus was grateful for the lantern light and giant gems decorating this chamber, but the dimness made trying to see whatever that thing was far too difficult. It became obvious to the Rogue, he was not going to be able to save Ko, rather... He would need to try and hold off whatever was on the way to eat them, and place his real faith in the dragon rider getting hung-up. Otherwise, they would both die scrambling to react to the situation.

"It's an ambush Ko, time for us to react!" Erebus said, drawing his dagger as he felt and hit the ground hard, thankfully he had decent endurance and constitution. Now he had to fight a creature a skill-set similar to his own. With his pace increasing, Erebus dashed towards whatever giant creature was coming his way. His speed would have rocketed, but he felt a pull from behind, as a silk thread tripped him. Erebus looked into the direction before rolling through the sand, only having been able to see a blue arm, and what looked a mandible pulling itself out of the light.

Just what were these evil things? And what the fuck put them down here.

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Nantosuelta would respond by action, dropping down to cover Erebus, just as his form appeared to go out, in this state, Erebus was hard to touch, let alone respond too. He simply aimed his dagger toward the rushing sands, and blitzed forward at his highest speed. When both invisible forces collided, the sand surrounding them was blown meters into the air, as if to send a ripple across the entire zone. Erebus ripped Phantom Dancer from the target, causing the creature to pulse, and reveal it's true size for just briefly.

The creatures head was a little smaller than a small house, but it's might appendages were full in girth and around twenty meters in length a piece, whereas it's disgusting mouth areas had large mandibles. Erebus broke from the beast, watching as it seemed to blend into it's background quite quickly, much faster than any chameleon. and much better than any to boot. While Erebus regathered his thoughts, he lunged towards one of the caverns and  sprinted until he was looking at a drider much like the form Ko was being attacked by as well.

Cute...

These ugly fucks were this things children, Erebus spat, as he beheaded the drider and launched backwards into the open range again. Hoping that Ko and his pet were surviving wonderfully. "Everything as you'd hoped it would be?" Erebus shouted to his comrade, the rogue's vision bounced from any moving objects, attempting, he began to track the invisible mega-spider.

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Phantom Rush - Sustaining
Nearly Invisible - Sustaining

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Erebus would bounce and keep lunging, heaving his body around like a spinning death-ball of power and pace. Ko seemed to be doing fine and was back into the fray quicker than Erebus, allowing his comrade a control over the board Erebus bounded away before hellfire rained and splashed half the field into a willing blaze. To Which Erebus was relieved he finally got paired with a powerful mage. Up to this point the most famous mage Erebus had been teamed with happened to be Konstantin and Kon didn't exactly put on a show worthy of his rank or title.

This fight would be snappier with Ko and his pet dragon. After the fire crashed, a long appendage was set on fire, marking the target to the invisible rogue. At lightning speeds, Erebus veered towards the hulk and began kissing the tip of his blade to different parts of the core and driving long slashed across it, until the blood produced made seeing this thing easy. The spider began to fall, and Erebus wouldn't give it the chance, with insanity in his iris. He heaved the entirety of the momentum in his shot against the beast, and forced it's giant frame backwards teen meters.

If there were any driders left, they were retreating upon death of their monster. Allowing the Rogue a moment for breath. If this wasn't the monster, it by golly counted to him. He waved a hand upwards toward Ko, and motioned for them to exit with him. Along the walk back, Erebus shoveled many different gems to his pockets, robbing enough to worth him about 400,000J on the black market.

Erebus sighed, at the entrance of the Dawncliffe Mine, the place he would part ways with the Darkness Dragon Slayer, "You know Ko, I like you. I have a feeling we'll be crossing paths again," Erebus would give one last message to his quest partner. Whether or not they would see each other again, Erebus wouldn't forget the dragon-rider, and in any case, Erebus probably wouldn't be forgotten either. He gave a cheery look to the future, and headed towards Rush Valley for pay. Which, to his unsettling surprise, would get him stuck in a game of poker in a den...



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1250/1400 MANA