Seeing the accidental waste in mana, Figg whipped his head towards Saige, expecting him to start shouting like a madman, just like ’TheSupremeCommand3r’ the raid leader of the tutorial dungeon had done when Belladonna made a noob mistake like that.

He had played support long enough that he should have known such a thing, but he wasn’t used to having a healer who was even more perceptive than he was. Figg had been fast on his heal use, already preparing the chant of the spell the moment he saw that the attack was going to land.

However Saige had still managed to land his heal before Figg had, meaning that he had anticipated it before he did. Even if it was just a second, it was still incredibly impressive, although it had been an absolute waste of mana as there was no need for such a double heal.

Yet, despite the basic mistake, Saige didn’t scream like the ’TheSupremeCommand3r’ had. Instead, he glanced at the three of them, quickly assessing what had happened and gone wrong, before starting to shout orders instead of insults.

"Figg, focus more on crowd control. If you can grow vines, then do it and wrap up their wings. If they can’t fly, they can’t attack, and if they need to waste time hacking at the vines, even better. If you have any sleep powder or other attacks like that, use them.

I’ll leave Belladonna’s healing to you, but if you start to run dry then give me a signal and I’ll take over.

Vestra, focus on the further enemies. Bell can take care of herself, and if you are going to fire check your line of sight and what is behind it before you let loose. Although that level of penetration could be useful for multi-kills, so try line them up if you can.

Two demons with one bullet, you get me? Next time we pull a big group, I want you to see if you can clone Lilith, double our tank numbers."

His orders were firm and left no room for argument, however neither of the parties being ordered around felt that it was because of an ego that made him think that he was better than them. He had picked out their mistakes, and not only gave them instructions on what to do, but guided them on how to improve their gameplay, all from a single glance.

The two nodded, shifting their positions, as Vestra took more of a wide vantage point to pick off the stragglers with more [Mana Bullets] while Figg slammed his staff down against the stone. His antlers glowed a soft green, as the stone beneath the demons cracked and thick black vines sprouted from deep within the earth.

The tendrils of plant-life wrapped around the Eye-Spie’s wings, halting them in place long enough to get a fist through the eye or to be split in two by an axe swing. At the back of the pack, a large crimson flower sprouted from a thick vine-root, which started to fire small thorns from the centre of its plumage like a dart-gun.

The demons that these darts struck quickly became sluggish. Their movements started to slow and their eyelids drooped over their massive eyes, as some of them collapsed to the ground and even fell into a deep sleep. One that was made even deeper by that very same axe and fist combo.

Although the sedative from the thorns wasn’t lethal, and could only keep them down for a few seconds at a time, it was enough of a pest and lead to enough deaths of the demons, that a pair of them broke off from the pack and acted like demented lumberjacks trying to remove the flower from play.

By the time they did topple the mighty flower, the rest of their friends had died, resulting in Belladonna grabbing them by their round bodies, and slamming them repeatedly into the ground like she was dribbling a basketball, that very quickly deflated and left much more of a mess than a basketball had any real right to.

With that being the last of them, the party could once again get a moment to breath and recuperate after their first true time fighting with each other, if you didn’t count the mad flailing at the dragon. Naturally, all of their eyes turned to Saige, who took the attention in stride and started to once again instruct them as if it was completely natural.

"Not a bad run, although still some issues. Lilith, you know your edge alignment issues, but you need to focus more on your skills. I know its not a big deal now, but when we fight bigger things you know how much they help.

Vestra, good shots for the most part. But you seemed to be a bit wobbly on the aim. You could mostly hit on mid-range, but anything beyond that took three to four shots to get a hit. Take some time, focus on your breathing. In, slow out, and then fire once your aim is steady.

Let’s get that down to two shots to hit, for now.

Bell, good work, but I think you should tell us more about your healing factor, so we could heal accordingly and know what to just leave to you. That wasted some mana. It might not be a big deal now, but once we start needing it more, you’re gonna feel that waste.

However, it does seem like healing over time works best for you instead of burst, so Figg focus on that and when it comes to crowd control, see if you can’t get your casting times down further or spread it wider."

They all nodded, a smirk playing on a few of their lips as they exchanged knowing looks, before glancing back at Saige, who frowned in response.

"What? Do you not like my suggestions?" He asked with a tilt of his head, causing Belladonna to laugh.

She stepped forwards, planting a hand on his shoulder and shaking him slightly.

"No you dork, we like it. We just all realised that we never officially decided who is going to be our leader, but looks like you eagerly volunteered yourself for that position. So congrats, Mister Pro gamer, you finally get to be a team leader."

Belladonna told him with another laugh, slapping his back hard enough to make him stumble forwards a few steps.

Saige glanced over the others, making sure they felt the same way, before smirking to himself and shaking his head. After starting this game saying that he wanted to take it casual, here he was... leading a team that was supposed to save the world, having fallen back into the commanding position of his old life.

Things never did change, did they? Even if he had a different title now.

Lifting his head, Saige suddenly struck a cutesy pose, bringing his hands up in front of his face like they were cat paws, and giving a goofy, dorky smile.

"Well then, I’ll be a good leader for you all, Nya~!" He said, in a slightly high pitched and exaggerated voice. However, in celebration of his promotion, Belladonna decided not to give him his usual punch to correct that god awful behaviour.

She did, however, give him one that was twice as hard when he said the word ’Pwease’ in the very next sentence. Her tolerance was nowhere near that thick.