Adventurer: Combat References, Stories & Token

No one knew which town he came from, nor could anyone say exactly when his adventures began. By the time anyone first laid eyes on him, he was already a seasoned adventurer.

Rumor had it he once tracked a target through dense jungle for days after running out of supplies; that he could deduce a monster's wounds and likely path from nothing more than a single shed scale. Some claimed to have seen him deflect an Anjanath's charge with a long sword; others said he once held a narrow canyon pass alone with a switch axe, covering an entire supply convoy's retreat. One injured adventurer swore he'd picked up her dropped lance and single-handedly lured away the wyvern that had been closing in on her.

Faced with these stories, he never once boasted. He'd only say that hunting had no fixed method. Mastering more weapons was simply what let him respond calmly to any monster, in any environment.

During his solo travels, he crossed paths with Freya's Crimson Crest Adventurers on several occasions. The first time was in a dense forest, where he sensed a large monster closing in from unusual tracks and warned the group to change course; before long, another monster cut off his own retreat, and the Crimson Crest turned back without hesitation to fight alongside him.

By their next encounter, his supplies had nearly run out. The Crimson Crest shared what they had, and in turn he guided them through monster-infested terrain. Along the way, both sides kept covering each other's gaps with uncanny precision, as though they'd been comrades for years.

After several such encounters, he came to recognize the Crimson Crest's strength and conviction, and the group in turn came to understand this quiet lone wanderer. When Freya invited him to join, he still declined, citing his preference for traveling alone. Freya didn't press the matter, simply smiling and saying, "Since we're walking the same road, we're bound to meet again."

Their next encounter came beneath the blazing Aurora. Following a trail of strange phenomena, he found himself once again crossing paths with Freya's Crimson Crest Adventurers on a field bathed in light. No one seemed surprised to see him—they greeted him with easy familiarity, as if he'd always been part of their journey.

Upon learning they were both chasing the truth behind the Aurora, Freya once again invited him to join the Crimson Crest. This time, he didn't turn her down as he had before. After so many encounters and battles fought side by side, these people had already become comrades he could trust at his back.

He took the Crimson Crest's emblem and pinned it to his chest, gazing toward where the Aurora stretched into the distance, a faint smile crossing his face.

"Then I'll be counting on you all from here on out."

After joining the Crimson Crest, he led his squad through countless adventures, both great and small. What started as slightly awkward teamwork gradually became an unspoken understanding, forged through crisis after crisis, until they were comrades who could trust one another with their backs turned.

The storm that once swept across their path had left everyone certain they couldn't press on. Yet under his leadership, the squad made it through the tempest without losing a single member. From that day on, they carried a name of their own—Storm Squad.

And through all that wind and rain, all those adventures, he truly became the leader everyone trusted. As long as he stood at the front, the squad would never lose its way.

"Storm Squad, move out."