Surviving as the Second Main Lead: Second Lead's POV

Nesh had not expected any big incident to take place during this outing. Special precautions had been taken to make this dungeon trip as smooth as possible.

Not only had the dungeon been scouted beforehand, but the association had also picked two experienced people to lead the group. There should have been nothing that could do wrong.

But it did not take long for the dungeon to prove Nesh’s confidence wrong. It reminded Nesh that dungeons were unexpected places you cannot place your trust in. The candidate names Howard had somehow fallen into a trap and dragged Horas along with him.

That should not have been a big deal since such incidents often happened in a dungeon and were often taken into account when planning a counter-strategy.

Nesh did not feel too worried about this news. But then Horas sent her a message about the giants and Nesh knew that things had changed.

This dungeon had been classified as a D-class one but giants were easily C-class monsters. No one in this dungeon could handle them if they came across these giants.

Even Nesh would have a hard time since she will have to hold herself back and not let her powers escape their binding. Otherwise, this dungeon would collapse.

‘Ugh, so irritating. It’s time to declare an emergency.’

Nesh was aware that she would be made fun of because of this decision. It had to be a new record for emergency declaration but she also trusted Horas’s judgment.

The headquarters replied to her request in a hurry. Even they had not expected giants to appear in the dungeon and they were in shock as well. But Horas has sent physical proof with a small recording so they had to believe him.

No adventurer would play such a stupid trick when he could be caught at any time.

Nesh had started looking around soon after, following Horas’s footsteps, and found Howard at the end of the road. He looked beaten up but his face glowed with power.

He also had the body of an unconscious giant beside him. It made Nesh suspicious about the real identity of this person but she chose to ignore her doubts for now.

“Hey, are you alright? I am so sorry that you had to go through all this. But where is Instructor Horas? Is he not here with you right now?”

Nesh could not sense Horas anywhere which made her worried. The younger tended to get in trouble too easily. Nesh was worried about him all the time.

“Instructor Horas? He stayed behind to let me escape and then I lost all connection with him. I don’t know where he is right now.”

Howard sounded out of it when he spoke. Nesh was certain that this was a sign of awakening but she had never seen anyone awaken before.

‘What should I do now? I need to take this kid out of here but I also want to look for Horas.’

It would take some time for the backup to arrive and Nesh could not leave a participant alone. She looked up toward the sky, only to notice a giant bird caring a humanoid figure in its claws.

The location sensor told her that it was Horas. It was a shocking revelation for sure.

“Kid, get out of here. I will follow you once I secure Horas. You should tell our retrieval party to follow the giant bird up in the sky.”

Nesh instructed as she ran after the huge bird. She did not want to lose sight of it.

“Hey, wait for a second. I can help you out as well. I am coming with you right now.”

Howard began to follow Nesh, completely ignoring her orders. She wanted to turn back and scold him but she prioritized following the big bird over sending the kid back.

‘Well, I will just protect the kid on my own for the time being.’

Nesh followed as far as she could and then her system lost the signal.

‘Oh shit, what happened?’

The signal did not come back until two or three hours after and it was all because of a small blob of black recording the live feed of the area around Horas.

“Hey kid, I know where Horas is now. Follow me if you want to help out.”

There was no need for Howard to help her and there was no need for Nesh to drag Howard with her to this rescue mission.

But she decided to follow her instincts and let Howard follow her. She felt a sense of kinship with him and she wanted to let him help.

As soon as she arrived on the scene, she was met with a hoard of zombies. But luckily, the retrieval squad also arrived right on time.

The giants were being led by the same giant bird Nesh had seen before. She could only believe that it was this dungeon’s boss since it had control over all the other monsters in its vicinity.

A small fight broke out between both groups which were soon broken by a loud yell.

“Nesh, you better catch me properly if you do not want to face my fury later on.”

Nesh looked up, only to see Horas jumping from the terrace of the tall building he had been taken to. His body was falling fast and would soon hit the ground.

Panic seized Nesh’s mind and her body reacted on its own. Before she knew it, she had caught Horas in her web.

“Whew, I managed to catch you right on time, huh? But can you stop pulling such dangerous stunts all the time? You are shaving years off my life like this.”

Relief flooded Nesh’s mind as her body relaxed. She could not believe how recklessly Horas had behaved. Did he want to die that badly?

But before she could scold him more or Horas could react, the boss bird decided to interfere and snatch Horas away.

Or at least, the bird tried to snatch Horas away but Nesh’s instincts kicked in and she ended up hitting the bird right before it could reach Horas.

The boss let out a startled cry, not expecting a human to interfere with its plans and it changed its target to Nesh, its beak came down and Nesh dodged the attack.

“Come at me, you big stupid bird. I will show you why you should become a cooked turkey.”

Nesh taunted as she dodged the attacks. Her defense was perfect but her attack was not as soon as it could have been. The bird was breaking through the wires Nesh was creating.

“Nesh, look out.”

Horas recognized Howard’s voice and he could only look on in alarm as Howard almost collided with Nesh. But they both avoided each other by a small margin which looked miraculous.

Things were getting out of hand since their side had to make sure they did not kill the boss. This dungeon was a precious resource they could not dissolve.

“Everyone, retreat. Hurry up and retreat right now. We cannot keep on facing the boss like this.”

The leader of the retrieval party yelled, suddenly realizing that everyone was accounted for. They had achieved their objective of finding Horas as well so this should be the end of everything.

There was no point in staying in this dungeon any longer. And everyone started to retreat,

The boss bird did not take kindly to Horas getting away from it. It let out a shrilled and angry yell before chasing after Horas.

“Shit. Horas, how did you manage to seduce a bird boss in such a short amount of time? Did you give it a kiss or something?”

Nesh questioned as she ran for her life. The boss was about to enter a berserk state which would increase its speed. It would be easily catch up to their party in such a state.

“Would you believe me if I said that the bird was crushing on me ever since it met me? I was swept up in its claws before I knew it and I have no idea why that happened.”

Horas replied in tired puffs of breath. All this while, the bird continued to close in on them. Its feathers were beginning to turn white due to the heat and it would soon erupt into flames.

"Keep on running and don't look back. The boss would soon explode, taking everything around him up in flames."

The leader of the retrieval party yelled out, her eyes moving to look back one last time. She was someone who had the most experience with such situations so she recognized the signs.

Horas was running right at the end of the ground so he would be the first person to be caught in the explosion. He could not help but curse his own luck in this situation.

"Horas, keep on running. We are almost back at the gate. We are finally free."

Horas gulped and used the last of his strength to exit that door. It was forcefully closed behind him and he was saved seconds before the explosion would have hit him.

Finally, there were all safe now and there would be no more problems.

*Cluck*

A loud yell penetrated the human side of the dungeon before a break tore down the door between them.