"So what's your name, femboy?" Achilles asked, looking at Keido. In his opinion, the man reminded him of a femboy because of his short stature and feminine figure. He thought it was funny, but didn't want to laugh in front of him because of the man's genetic misfortune.
But then again, in this day and age, a lot of people liked femboys just like they liked tomboys.
Ignoring what Achilles called him, simply because he didn't know what it meant, he spoke, introducing himself: "My name's Keido, that's my sister you've got a collar on, and this is Kimsung." He said, pointing at Kimsung, who was standing.
Achilles' first impression of the man was that he looked like those CEO's from stupid women's books, imposing, a jawline sharper than a ruler, and a vibe that clearly gave off the vibe 'I'm emo and shit'.
Then, he looked back at Heidi, who had a big ass forehead, but not on that of a certain streamer's, rather one that was noticeably big, and a sniper's wet dream.
"Alright, got it. So I'm guessing you found my little surprise, since you clearly came from the west side of the park?" Achilles asked with a smile, momentarily confusing Keido and Kimsung, before they realized what he meant.
"Wait, that was you? You killed that High Tier wolf by the lake?" Kimsung asked, surprised. He had heard from Jamal that he was extremely powerful, and creative with his skill since before they had met, but seeing it for himself at the very beginning of the disasters no less, he finally understood what Jamal meant.
Another memory came back to him, one of a time when Jamal was telling him and his party what Achilles was capable of. The Shadow Samurai had once seen him single-handedly kill an A-rank in mere minutes, and carried on as if it wasn't a big deal.
He also spoke of an incident when they were surrounded by a Monster Wave, and Achilles had cleared the way alone, making a path of blood and bodies as he broke through the wave.
"Oh, yeah. That and those lions that tried to third party me and that mud monster over there. Did you know that's actually the piece of shit that was controlling all these animals?" He said in a somewhat shocked tone. He continued to speak as he removed the translucent collar from Heidi's neck: "Fuck, I even got jumped by those little shits earlier today, and I had to keep my shit up for an hour before I found that camping bitch. It just kept going into the water to hide, but I killed it because it went after your sister."
Keido and Kimsung were shocked internally. The both of them had seen how numerous the animals in the park were, and since Achilles was a Z-rank just like them, he must have wasted an exorbitant amount of mana to keep them at bay.
"So… you're unranked too, right?" Keido asked, trying to get a feel for how strong Achilles currently was.
"Oh, is that what we're called? No yeah, I still am, but I already did like… six of them by now. Shit, I even cleared the one that was right here a couple hours ago, where that mud bitch was hiding in the water." He explained, shocking all three of them. Normally, when one cleared a dungeon, they'd always receive a tenth of the rank EXP that the dungeon was categorized as. If one conquered an S-rank dungeon, they would receive 6400 EXP in one go.
So naturally, they were all shocked that he'd already cleared five more dungeons than they had, even when it took them the entire duration of the dungeon's time to clear it. Shock wasn't even a word close to it either. Kimsung had never heard of someone clearing so many dungeons that quickly, in any of his resets.
The more he interacted and thought about Achilles, the more he realized Keido was right to come for him. With Achilles, they could clear dungeons far faster than before. Not to mention, their lacking defenses would be covered by Achilles. Plus, he'd seen the wounds on the wolf.
If Achilles was on their side, any monster larger than them could be killed without a risk of being squashed like a berry. All they had to do was seal the deal, and Achilles would join their party.
"So, Achilles… Do you want to group with us? We don't have a good tank at the moment, so we could really use your help." Kimsung offered, revealing their weakness, as well as offering him to join them.
Achilles blinked twice. Looking each of the three up and down before he spoke.
"I don't know why, but Kimsung, you look like you're definitely the strongest one here, body wise. I mean sure, I'd like to join, but I'd prefer to make it a partnership. I help you, you help me. And what I want, is to fucking leave after we find something to leave this damn city. Preferably an RV." He accepted, giving a few conditions of his own. But, the important part is that he accepted their offer, and was now a part of their group.
"Oh, that's great then. My skill is an Energy-type, Heidi's is also an Energy-type, and Kimsung's got a Time-type." Said Keido, trying the same strategy Kimsung had used before. Achilles looked at him for a few moments, memorizing it in his head before standing up and stretching a bit.
"So y'all got a base or some shit or nah?" He asked, still stretching his arms and legs, then dusting off his dark green trench coat of any dust. Kimsung shook his head before responding: "Actually, we don't know this place like you do. Do you know somewhere we can stay? We're tourists, by the way."
Achilles looked at him, but didn't give eye contact, then looked away, looking at the sun as it fell in the west. Man fuck New Jersey, nobody like that shit anyway.
"So what hotel were y'all staying at before this bullshit started?" He asked, quite curious himself. Achilles had never been to many hotels, mostly because all the good ones were in large cities and cost large amounts of money to stay in for even a couple days.
"We're staying in the New Yorker, or were actually." Heidi spoke up, also dusting off her clothes. Achilles perked up at the name of their hotel, looking genuinely interested.
"The one at 34th next to the A-train? Good shit, y'all actually got some taste.