Welcome to Level 4

Today is the day she will finally set foot at Monster Forest again, but she has a problem.

She was not taught how to ride a horse and now she is riding with Gio.

She draws attention since she is wearing a long coat with a hood like Gio and also wearing a dark veil to cover her face but most of all she stands out because. . .

"Can you really get up on your own?" Gio asked impatiently waiting for her to ride up the horse.

It's her third attempt to get up on the high horse.

'Is my legs too short or my jump was not high enough? '

"They are going now."

She put her foot on the stir up pad again and attempted for the fourth time then a set of hands pushed and placed her in the saddle.

Gio helped her. She frowned.

"Move over." He didn't let her finish, then he pulled himself up and he sat behind her as he held the reins.

It was uncomfortable to ride with Gio and his unnecessary broad shoulders and tall height.

Checking her surroundings there were only 20 knights riding on each horse. All of them looked strong, unfazed and middle aged.

'They look like veterans. Their average age must be around late 30-40s'

Theo, who is usually the commander of the Venture, stayed at the territory and was replaced by Konrad. Everyone gathered a few meters away from a gigantic worn out bronze door. It stood tall and her neck hurt from just trying to see the peak. It has doors but no walls. The forest is clearly visible from the outside.

'What is the purpose of the door?'

Konrad walks at the center of the formation with his black horse.He looks different today. He is still wearing black outfit underneath the black cloak like everyone else but instead of looking like an respected officer he looks like an ordinary knight with his light attire with princely appearance.

She checked everyone and nobody was wearing heavy armour or any ornaments. They are all wearing the same cloak with hood. She didn't notice it before but there is a dark insigma at the back of each cloak. It's a big circle and inside is a small circle with sharp sun rays inside.

'The Alexanders' Insignia. '

Konrad rode on his black horse and went to the huge gate. His silver hair shines under the sun and his blue eyes shine vibrantly.

She looks up and sees the same tall nose and sharp jawlines of his son, Gio.

'I bet he looks exactly the same as his grace if he just removes his hood.' she thought.

"What?" He sounded annoyed as he lowered his head.

"Why are you always wearing a hood?" she asked.

". . . "

The creaking sound of the huge door vibrated and Gio's hard chest hit her head as he ready himself to ride.

" . . . "

"Focus." He said.

The huge door opened slightly, an ominous feeling leaked through the gap.

"Do you remember the goal of this venture?" Gio holds the reins strongly.

"Scout and avoid unnecessary confrontation." she said without averting her eyes in the gate

"Good. Engrave your mind . . . . Hiyaaaa"

The ominous feeling becomes more and more thick as they ride near the gate. After passing the homogeneous gate, it slowly closes up behind them. Horses are running in a plain green field before entering the familiar tall trees and dark surrounding forest.

Few seconds before entering the forest. Sparks in different colors dance around, Multiple unreadable characters float in the air and one by one the knights pull out their weapons. Some were Bow and Arrow while most were long swords.

Konrad and Gio were the only ones who didn't pull out any weapons.

'Should I pull out mine too?'

"Don't even think about it." Gio suddenly interrupted her thoughts

"Huh?"

"You are thinking of getting a weapon. Stop it. I'll protect you."

She grimaced at how he sounded reliable despite his attitude. His words made her lower her guard for a moment that put her in a foul mood.

'Like father, like son.'

Several hours later, five wild huge black boars appeared on the left side plank. They were disposed of almost immediately without stopping.

'Elites.' She was awed by the fast and high precision of weapon wielding of the knights. No instructions were given.

Aside from the huge black boar, they encountered some mutated carnivore squirrel who is as big as a 7-8 year old child and other unrealistically huge mutated animals. They are all classified as Rank F just like the ogres but they can easily tear up ordinary men.

They reached level 2 after a few hours of non-stop ride. They let the horses rest while the soldiers take turns guarding the camp. The space where they were getting the supplies was convenient. Except for food they pull all the necessary camp supplies out of it.

"Is that so amazing to you?" Gio asked as he settled down beside her.

'How did he know I was watching? my face is covered in a veil.'

"Sir, the tent is ready." A bearded man approaches Gio.

"Thank you." He replied and the man bowed down and went on his way.

"You can sleep there." He said and pointed at the only tent in the camp site placed in the middle of camp.

"huh?" it felt out of place. Everyone has either a sleeping bag or just a piece of cloth and settles down. Some are even sleeping with their backs against a tree.

"what?"

"Who is going to sleep in the tent?"

"You."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"Why am I . . ."

He gave an uninterested look. She knew they were not going anywhere with the conversation. She stood up and walked towards the man who set up the tent.

She bowed down and said "thank you and I am sorry." The bearded man looked dumbstruck.

She walks away and heads towards the tent.

She folded it and put it away in the inventory. One small pillow with a comfortable sleeping bag was left.

She felt the softness of the pillow before tossing it to her inventory.

" Sir Gio, please wake me up when it's my turn to watch." Then she slumped down and closed her eyes.

"Ignore them. Ignore them" She internally chants. She can feel everyones' gaze.

In the end nobody wakes her up. She woke up and everybody was ready to go.

"Do you need help again?" Gio said as he walked the horse in her direction.

". . ."

****

In Level 2, the horses are not able to run anymore due to the thicker number of trees and blindspots. Sometimes monsters appear inside the formation but nobody is flustered.

In Level 3, ogres were expected to appear. Ogres are considered one of the strongest monsters in Rank F. She volunteered to watch or patrol but was shot down immediately by Konrad.

She overheard from the knights that Konrad had been protecting them all this time. She wanted to know more and decided to join the conversation. Gio drags her in a second before she can settle down.

"Sir Gio, How does his grace's power work?

He gave her a dirty look.

"I overheard that his grace has been protecting us from the front."

"Who knows."

Stingy. She clicked her tongue internally and slept. Gio never left her side. Gio is awake when she is asleep and awake when she is awake. She wonders if Gio ever sleeps.

Before riding to level 4, Konrad remained everyone. " We are entering Level 4. Remember to be careful." He said be careful but it sounded like a warning.

"Gio." One word from Konrad and Gio ride toward the front with her in between his arms.

Konrad pulls out the Forest Map and hands it over to her. She activated it. A hologram pops out a transparent green screen with a red dot in the middle.

"Lets go" He said and everyone rode to level 4.

The entrances in level 4 are piles of big stones after passing that of level 4. Even after they entered there was no response to the map, meaning she hadn't been in this area.

The map glows and the landscape of the map changes after a few minutes. The red dot begins to blink. The forest is like what she remembers, just full of tall trees and overgrown grass.

"Child, take us to the lake."

She looks at Konrad and the map. She points one direction after another.

The Forest is silent, so is Konrad and Gio. They rode for hours in silence while she tried to read the map. There is definitely a path showing.

'Hmm?' She thought as the silence became overbearing. She is having a hard time reading the map since it starts to fade like it was losing its signal.

Konrad halted up and Gio held the reins tighter. The horses became uneasy. Everyone gathers around and their eyes are fixed beyond the trees.

"We are surrounded." Gio said in a low voice.

She looks around and sees nothing, even the horse notices something is amiss. A second after something sent shivers in her spine. She is too familiar in this sense. She felt it numerous times.

'Ogre. ' A big green humanoid appeared behind a row of trees a few meters from her. It is bigger and more muscular than she remembers. It is holding a double head axe and smiling menacingly.

*Thump * Thump

Her blood begins to pump faster as her body remembers. One by one ogres appeared behind the large trees surrounding them. There might be 20 or more ogres. This is a chilling number but it's not the first time she saw this kind of number.

'It's not a problem since they are Rank F and Despite of being surrounded everyone remained calm.'

"Child, What do you think of this situation?" Konrad looked relaxed that made her feel at ease

"Rank F monsters should be easy to handle."

Some soldiers who heard her remark glanced at her.

"I remember you saying you can survive here alone. how will you survive this."

"Without a doubt, your grace." Challenge accepted.

'Even though it's not night time yet. They are still Rank F plus I have to test my new Title.' She went down from the horse and walk slowly towards the hordes of ogre

[Title: Ogre Slayer]

Description:

Using this title will give 20% more attack power against the Ogre's race.

[The Messenger Anklet]

'Should I try using my new skill too? but they are watching ' Her mind is actively deliberating whether to use or not her new acquired skill. Her throat begins to itch and something inside her is forcing itself to come out. She opened her mouth to let it out and a loud growl came out.

*Ting*

[Player Use Skill: 'Taunt' Lvl 1]

*Ting*

[The Player Successfully Taunted all the surrounding monsters]

All the ogres suddenly turn their eyes on her and ignore the knights as they march in her direction.

*Ting*

[Multiple Bloodlust Detected]

"Crap!"

****

"Is that?!!!" One of the knights who was still covering his ears and was clearly surprised said out loud.

"That child is full of surprises." Konrad said as he removed his hands in his ears. It wasn't that powerful but it did catch all of them off guard.

There are gasps and unbelievable remarks among the knights. They are veterans. Trained to be calm and collected in all situations but today they were surprised.

'A human who can use Taunting Cry.'

"Are you sure about this?" Gio was also surprised but he asked about the current situation. They watch her small figure at the center of angry huge ogre monsters.

"Do you not remember, that child killed a whole clan of ogres"

"Right, but then father, where did she get the idea of ogres being Rank F?"

". . ."

"It is true that Ogres are Rank F individually but it is different if it is Hordes of Ogres. This can be classified as Rank D if they have a Chieftain looking like that. . . '' Gio looks at the huge smiling ogre holding a double head axe.

"It can reach Rank C. That child almost bled to death last time" Gio continued as he watched that same child he escorted back to the estate half dead, walking confidently to her enemies.

The first wave of ogre is in front of her. She evaded the attacks coming from above easily. Now that she has the messenger anklet their attack becomes slower to her. The veil keeps her view limited but the ogres still can't catch up with her speed.

The strength of the ogre's wield is no joke; they can leave a dent in the thick trees.

She then saw an opening on the head of one of the ogres after swinging his large club from her left side. She concentrates her strength then round kicks him at its cheeks. The ogre spinned 90 ° and hit his own teammates.

All the soldiers who are watching the spectacle are enjoying her display of power.

'Was she always that strong?' Gio thought.

The girl whistled at her newly found strength. She smiled delightedly and started charging at the Ogres, weaponless.

She caught one the ogres fist then landed a kick at its forearm and broke it. It growled in pain then she kicked his shin and pulled its body down to make it kneel then she clenched her fist and landed it in its eyes and crushed its head in the process.

[You killed an ogre]

'Ugh. This is messy.' she grimaced

As she pulled out her fist in the ogre's skull the blood splattered everywhere. She showered in blood and overwhelming power. She closed and opened her hands to see if still had full control and when she did, she didn't hesitate to charge. Her veil was slightly moved and Konrad saw for a second a devious smile underneath the veil.

'That child. . . is smiling'

He knows that she is capable of defeating the ogres but to enjoy it?

One ogre tried to catch her with bare hands but she crushed its fingers and stomped at its barefoot then punched it in his chin which dislocated its jaws, and crushed its nose.

[You killed an ogre]

She ruthlessly killed every ogre on sight, Some had twisted arms, necks but majority had their skulls crushed with nothing but sheer force. Killing more than 20 ogres only raised her level by 2 levels. It was disappointing to her and the only left ones are the Chieftain and its guards.

She then felt the trembling pain in her right arm but her excitement didn't die down.

'Let's finish this.'